News tagged with prey species

Winged predators seek certain trees when foraging for caterpillars

Location matters for birds on the hunt for caterpillars, according to researchers at UC Irvine and Wesleyan University. Findings suggest that chickadees and others zero in on the type of tree as much as the characteristics ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 26, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Study finds some desert birds less affected by wildfires and climate change

A new Baylor University study has found that some bird species in the desert southwest are less affected, and in some cases positively influenced, by widespread fire through their habitat. In fact, the Baylor researchers ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jul 19, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Rapid venom evolution in pit vipers may be defensive

Research published recently in PLoS One delivers new insight about rapid toxin evolution in venomous snakes: pitvipers such as rattlesnakes may be engaged in an arms race with opossums, a group of snake-eating American marsup ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 18, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 25 | with audio podcast

The winners of mass extinction: With predators gone, prey thrives

In modern ecology, the removal or addition of a predator to an ecosystem can produce dramatic changes in the population of prey species. For the first time, scientists have observed the same dynamics in the ...

Biology / Evolution

created May 02, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

NOAA scientists find killer whales in Antarctic waters prefer weddell seals over other prey

NOAA's Fisheries Service scientists studying the cooperative hunting behavior of killer whales in Antarctic waters observed the animals favoring one type of seal over all other available food sources, according ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 30, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Food forensics: DNA links habitat quality to bat diet

All night long, bats swoop over our landscape consuming insects, but they do this in secret, hidden from our view. Until recently, scientists have been unable to bring their ecosystem out of the dark but thanks to new genetic ...

Biology / Ecology

created Mar 03, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Tigers and polar bears are highly vulnerable to environmental change

Large predators are much more vulnerable than smaller species to environmental changes, such as over-hunting and habitat change, because they have to work so hard to find their next meal, according to a new ...

Biology / Ecology

created Nov 24, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Climate change driving Michigan mammals north

(PhysOrg.com) -- Some Michigan mammal species are rapidly expanding their ranges northward, apparently in response to climate change, a new study shows. In the process, these historically southern species ...

Biology / Ecology

created May 12, 2009 | popularity 1.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Playing Dead Increases Survival Rate at the Expense of Active Neighbors

A study published in the Proceeding of The Royal Society B entitled "Tonically Immobilized Selfish Prey Can Survive By Sacrificing Other", authored by researchers at Okayama University in Japan point out de ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 30, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 weblog

Scientists examine effect of wolves' absence and see an ecosystem 'unraveling'

No trace remains of the wolves whose howls ricocheted for millennia down the lush valleys of the Olympic Peninsula. Settlers and trappers killed them all in little more than three decades.

Biology /

created Jan 29, 2009 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (5) | comments 1

Big cats, wild pigs and short-eared dogs -- oh, my!

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) released photos today from the first large-scale census of jaguars in the Amazon region of Ecuador—one of the most biologically rich regions on the planet.

Biology /

created Jan 27, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (5) | comments 0