[unable to retrieve full-text content]A new study found that, contrary to widely held assumptions, farmed fish and shrimp convert protein and calories in feed to edible seafood at rates similar to livestock (i.e., cattle, pigs, and chickens)...
Read more
Ants: Master manipulators for biodiversity, or sweet treats
Symbiotic ants manipulate aphid reproduction rates to achieve a specific mix of green and red aphids, maintaining the inferior green aphids which produce the ants' favorite snack.
Ants and aphids coexist in a symbiotic relationship that benefits both species. Ants protect aphids from predators, such as lady bugs and wasps, and aphids secrete nutritious honeydew for...
Evolutionary biology: Sponges can economize on oxygen use
Sponges lack a signaling pathway that responds to low intracellular oxygen levels in more complex animals. Do they use a different mechanism for this purpose or did their earliest ancestors evolve at a time when less oxygen was available?
Gert Wörheide holds the Chair of Paleontology and Geobiology at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences...
There are more mammal species than we thought
A recent study published in the Journal of Mammalogy, at Oxford University Press, highlights that over 1000 new species of mammals have been described globally during the last dozen years, a finding that contradicts the notion that our mammalian relatives are well known. This rate of species discovery parallels that seen in global amphibians, and...
Duck faeces shed light on plant seed dispersal
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Mallards are among the most abundant and widespread duck species in the world, yet little attention has been paid to date to their role in spreading plant seeds. A new study in the Journal of Ecology reveals a number of plants that were not previously known to be part of the...
Read more
Novel research approach sheds light on how midsize predators interact
[unable to retrieve full-text content]A novel research approach has resulted in a key step toward better protecting the fisher, an important forest predator that findings show is the dominant small carnivore when present....
Read more