News by Subject Biology

Researchers from the University of Missouri have shown in a new study that restoration of pine woodlands, through the combined use of intentional, managed fires and strategic thinning of tree density, has a strikingly beneficial effect on a diverse array of birds, some of which are facing sharp declines from human-driven impacts like climate change and habitat loss.

By analyzing records in countries of the Amazon and Orinoco basins--which include Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador -- a paper published today in Oryx -- The International Journal of Conservation, categorized 85 past and present initiatives or projects that work to preserve the South American River Turtle, or charapa (Podocnemis expansa), a critically endangered species. These projects are protecting more than 147,000 female turtles across the basin, an unprecedented figure.

When you think of national parks, you might picture the vast plateaus of the Grand Canyon, the intricate wetlands of the Everglades, or the inspiring viewscapes of the Grand Tetons. You probably don't envision 100 million pounds of mashed water bottles, barbecue-smudged paper plates, and crumpled coffee cups -- but that is the staggering quantity of garbage that is generated in our National Parks each year. And handling that amount of waste is becoming a huge problem.

Tadpoles can be used to measure the amount of radiocesium, a radioactive material, in aquatic environments, according to new research from University of Georgia scientists.

North Carolina State University researchers have developed the first portable technology that can test for cyanotoxins in water. The device can be used to detect four common types of cyanotoxins, including two for which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently finalized recreational water quality criteria.

Kentron, a bacterial symbiont of ciliates, turns cellular waste products into biomass. It is the first known sulfur-oxidizing symbiont to be entirely heterotrophic. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology now report about this unexpected bacterium that turns waste into food.

A new publication in the journal Estuaries and Coasts investigates the use of a fluorescent dye to track movements of young oysters. The publication, 'Field mark-recapture of calcein-stained larval oysters (Crassostrea virginica) in a freshwater-dominated estuary,' provides new knowledge on methods for tracking oysters in low salinity environments common to coastal waters, particularly in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Discoveries by Brazilian and German researchers may facilitate early sexing of pirarucu (arapaima) and its reproduction in captivity while also paving the way for genetic improvement.