A new study led by the American Museum of Natural History puts forth the most comprehensive tree of life for malaria parasites to date. Known for being a devastating scourge of human health, with five species known to infect humans, there are more than 500 described species of malaria that infect mammals, birds, and reptiles....
Long-term study reveals one invasive insect can change a forest bird community
Eastern hemlock forests have been declining due to a non-native insect pest, the hemlock woolly adelgid. A new study from The Condor: Ornithological Applications presents some of the best long-term data showing how the decline of a single tree species (eastern hemlock) leads to the disappearance of birds specialized to those trees. The data also...
Top 10 new species for 2018
The large and small, beautiful and bizarre are among the newly discovered animals, plants and microbes announced by the College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) as the Top 10 New Species for 2018.
The large is a majestic tree that towers up to 130 feet (40 m); among the small is a tiny, single-celled protist....
Study casts doubt on traditional view of pterosaur flight
Most renderings and reconstructions of pterodactyls and other extinct flying reptiles show a flight pose much like that of bats, which fly with their hind limbs splayed wide apart. But a new method for inferring how ancient animals might have moved their joints suggests that pterosaurs probably couldn't strike that pose.
"Most of the work that's...
Amazonian 'lookout' birds help other species live in dangerous neighborhoods
Usually, birds of a feather flock together -- but in the Amazon, some flocks feature dozens of species of all shapes and colors. A new study by San Francisco State University biologists singles out one reason why these unusually diverse flocks exist: lookout species that call in alarm when they spot dangerous predators.
Researchers have pondered...
Two-and-a-half-year expedition ends in world's most biodiverse protected area
After a two-and-a-half-year expedition through the world's most biodiverse protected area, the Identidad Madidi explorers have concluded their epic quest of completing a massive biological survey of Madidi National Park, uncovering more than 120 potentially new species of plants, butterflies and vertebrates in the process, according to WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society).
The long journey ended on...