News by Subject Biology

Longline fisheries around the world are significantly affecting migrating shark populations, according to an international study featuring a University of Queensland researcher. The study found that approximately a quarter of the studied sharks' migratory paths fell under the footprint of longline fisheries, directly killing sharks and affecting their food supply.

Biologists Erol Akçay and Marco Smolla of the University of Pennsylvania used mathematical models to show that societies that favor generalists, who have a wide range of skills, are less well-connected than those societies that favor specialists, who are highly skilled at a smaller number of traits. The findings, have implications for improving information flow and problem-solving in settings from business to academia.

'Birds of a feather flock together' or rather 'opposites attract'? The recently published study on male macaques in Thailand speaks for the former: Behavioral biologists from the German Primate Centre -- Leibniz Institute for Primate Research and psychologists from the University of Göttingen have observed that the more similar male Assamese macaques are in their personality, the closer they get and the stronger their social bonds.

Beachgoers are becoming increasingly aware of the potentially harmful effects UV filters from sunscreens can have on coral and other marine organisms when the protective lotions wash off their bodies into the ocean. Now, researchers have studied how sunscreens release different compounds -- trace metals and inorganic nutrients -- into Mediterranean seawater, with unknown effects on marine ecology. They report their results in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

New research by Clemson University scientists Shari Rodriguez and Christie Sampson in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, examines the effects non-carnivorous species such as feral hogs and elephants can have on humans and livestock and the potential consequences of excluding these animals from research focused on mitigating wildlife impacts on livestock.