Monthly Archives: August 2018

For the first time, scientists are putting extinct mammals on the map

Researchers from Aarhus University and University of Gothenburg have produced the most comprehensive family tree and atlas of mammals to date, connecting all living and recently extinct mammal species -- nearly 6,000 in total -- and overturning many previous ideas about global patterns of biodiversity.

While others have tried to map the ranges of all mammals...

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Hybridization boosts evolution

Animals that have either migrated to or been introduced in Central Europe -- such as the Asian bush mosquito or the Asian ladybeetle -- feel extremely comfortable in their new homes due to changing climatic conditions. If these newcomers are genetically compatible with local species, they may crossbreed and produce hybrids, which can continue to...

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Expedition probes ocean's smallest organisms for climate answers

Satellite images of phytoplankton blooms on the surface of the ocean often dazzle with their diverse colors, shades and shapes. But phytoplankton are more than just nature's watercolors: They play a key role in Earth's climate by removing heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.

Yet a detailed account of what becomes of that carbon...

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Surviving large carnivores have far-reaching impact

Anywhere large-bodied mammalian carnivore species are present, other, smaller carnivores are less likely to occur, according to an international team of researchers that conducted the first global assessment of carnivore interactions using camera trap data.

This finding is important because populations of large mammalian carnivores are declining as habitat is lost, and often where large carnivores...

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Ability to taste RNA speeds the growth and increases survival of fruit fly larvae

Fruit fly larvae can taste ribonucleosides, the building blocks of gene transcripts, according to a new study publishing on August 7 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Hubert Amrein and Dushyant Mishra of Texas A&M Health Science Center and their colleagues. Moreover, the ability to detect ribonucleosides in the environment helps promote the rapid...

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