News by Subject Biology

Researchers from FSU's Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science suggest that projected increases in air temperatures, rainfall inundation and blistering solar radiation could significantly reduce hawksbill hatching success at a selection of major nesting beaches.

Hundreds of dams are being proposed for Mekong River basin in Southeast Asia. The negative social and environmental consequences -- affecting everything from food security to the environment -- greatly outweigh the positive changes of this grand-scale flood control, according to new research by Michigan State University.

A team of researchers led by wildlife ecologist Theresa Walter analyzed over 1,100 fox sightings made by the public as part of the citizen science project StadtWildTiere (www.stadtwildtiere.at). The joint team of researchers from the Vetmeduni Vienna and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) now showed that foxes prefer specific city areas and environments. The study also revealed that reports of fox sightings correlated with the educational level of the population.

Team praises widespread commitment but calls for broader participation to better protect global marine ecosystems.

Four growing seasons after the engineered spring flood of the Colorado River Delta in March 2014, the delta's birds, plants and groundwater continue to benefit. The diversity and abundance of birds of special conservation concern remains high in the restoration sites, groundwater was recharged and some of the trees are now more than 14 feet (4.2 meters) tall, according to an International Boundary and Water Commission report prepared by a University of Arizona-led team.

Michigan State University scholar Andrea Glassmire and her colleagues have revealed how the mixture of chemical weapons deployed by plants keeps marauding insects off base better than a one-note defense. This insight goes beyond the ecological convention of studying a single chemical compound a plant is packing and offers new ways to approach agricultural pest management. The research was published in today's Ecology Letters.

With the help of novel miniature sensors, an international group of biologists that included University of Maryland Biology Professor Gerald Wilkinson found that bat species foraged socially if their food sources were in unpredictable locations, such as insect swarms or fish schools. In contrast, bats with food sources at fixed locations foraged on their own and did not communicate with one another while foraging or eating.

A new study shows that fecal bacteria from sewage are living in far greater quantities in near-shore sediments of the Hudson River than in the water itself. The river's pollution levels are generally monitored based on samples of clear water, not sediments, so the findings suggest that people stirring up the bottom while wading, swimming or kayaking may face previously unrecognized health risks.

Population data for European mountain birds have been for the first time combined in a recent study, with worrying results: the abundances of mountain-specialist birds has declined by as much as 10% in the 2000s.

Organically farmed food has a bigger climate impact than conventionally farmed food, due to the greater areas of land required. This is the finding of a new international study involving Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, published in the journal Nature.