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.

Alien species management in cities can be a difficult and costly endeavor. In their study, published in the open-access journal Neobiota, scientists present a new tool developed to identify non-native species likely to become the next big invader. By using this approach, species considered of particular risk are to be taken measure of well before they have established. The prioritization tool could be customized to answer the specific needs of different cities around the world.

For the first time, an international research team led by the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) has investigated atmospheric ice nucleating particles (INPs) in ice cores, which can provide insights on the type of cloud cover in the Arctic over the last 500 years. These INPs play an important role in the formation of ice in clouds and thus have a major influence on the climate.

A tidepool crustacean's ability to survive oxygen deprivation though it lacks a key set of genes raises the possibility that animals might have more ways of dealing with hypoxic environments than had been thought.

New research by an international group of scientists, from Inland Norway University, Bioversity International, Wageningen University and World Agroforestry, examines whether incorporating suitable trees into crop systems or replacing coffee with cocoa could help the thousands of families in Mesoamerica meet future climate conditions.