News by Subject Biology

The fauna in the Antarctica could be in danger due the pathogens humans spread in places and research stations in the southern ocean, according to a study led by the experts Jacob González-Solís, from the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) of the University of Barcelona, and Marta Cerdà-Cuéllas, from the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA-CReSA).

Industrial fisheries are starving seabirds like penguins and terns by competing for the same prey sources. Seabirds are now the most threatened bird group.

Domestic dogs play a key role in the transmission and expansion of rabies in rural areas of China, according to a study published Dec. 6 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Huaiyu Tian of Beijing Normal University, Hailin Zhang of the Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Control and Prevention, Simon Dellicour of KU Leuven, and colleagues.

The ash dieback epidemic, caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, has swept across Europe over the past 20 years and caused widespread damage and death in ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior) populations. A recent analysis of surveys of ash dieback across Europe, published in Plants, People, Planet, reveals mortality rates as high as 85 percent in plantations and 70 percent in woodlands.

What's a feast for the human eye may be a literal feast for microorganisms that colonize works of art, according to a new study in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Elisabetta Caselli of the University of Ferrara, Italy, and colleagues. The researchers characterized the microbial community on a 17th century painting and showed that while some microbes destroy such works of art, others might be employed to protect them.

Once spring-run chinook salmon disappear, they are not likely to re-emerge, indicates genetic analysis of the revered wild fish in a study led by the University of California, Davis. Prompt conservation action could preserve spring-run chinook, as well as their evolutionary potential.