https://phys.org/biology-news/plants-animals en-us The latest science news on plants and animals Urbanization and human activities have transformed a significant proportion of the land on Earth, resulting in the formation of urban environments. These urban environments are man-made habitats that often impose several selective pressures on their inhabitants. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-urbanization-trigger-evolution.html Plants & Animals Evolution Fri, 20 Oct 2023 14:00:01 EDT news617009730 In an article published in the journal Flora, researchers at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil examine some of the strategies developed over eons of evolution by plants in the Cerrado, Brazil's savanna-like biome, to protect themselves and resprout quickly after fire. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-cerrado-combine-strategies-survive.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 20 Oct 2023 12:49:04 EDT news617024941 A team of marine biologists with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Alaska Fishery Science Center has solved the mystery of why approximately 10 billion snow crabs vanished from the Bering Sea back in 2018/2019—the water there was too warm for them. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-billion-crabs-starved-death-bering.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 20 Oct 2023 10:16:05 EDT news617015762 Every 13 or 17 years, billions of cicadas emerge from the ground to reproduce in eastern North American deciduous forests. One of the largest emergence events of these insects happened in 2021 when the Brood X cicadas emerged. Researchers who studied that once-in-a-generation event are now unveiling the impact this occurrence had on forest ecosystems, specifically on birds, caterpillars and trees. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-unearthing-ecological-impacts-cicada-emergences.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 19 Oct 2023 14:00:01 EDT news616929643 An international team of biologists, animal management specialists, geneticists and forestry managers has discovered a new species of "dragon lizard" in Laos—one with very impressive camouflage capabilities. In their paper published in the journal Zoological Research, the group describes how the lizards were found and what they learned from two samples they captured. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-dragon-lizard-species-camouflage-capabilities.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 19 Oct 2023 10:20:37 EDT news616929629 Scientists have discovered the deepest known evidence of coral reef bleaching, more than 90 meters below the surface of the Indian Ocean. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-scientists-deepest-evidence-coral-reef.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 19 Oct 2023 10:02:04 EDT news616928521 The devastating tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011 set off a series of events which have long fascinated scientists like me. It was so powerful that it caused 5 million tons of debris to wash into the Pacific—1.5 million tons remained afloat and started drifting with the currents. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-animal-traits-journey-species-globe.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 18 Oct 2023 12:30:01 EDT news616850658 Purdue University scientists are unraveling the complicated toxicity of a mixture of what are often called "forever chemicals" found in many consumer products. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-bio-impact-toxic-chemical-cocktails-environment.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 18 Oct 2023 09:44:04 EDT news616841041 Singing a gentle lullaby can help put a human baby to sleep but its usefulness in the low grassland swaying nests of Australian songbirds takes maternal 'singing' to even greater heights. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-baby-birds-hatch-ability-mimic.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 18 Oct 2023 06:48:39 EDT news616830493 Research conducted by marine biologists from the University of Sydney has found juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish can withstand tremendous heat waves well above levels that kill coral. These starfish then develop into carnivorous predators that devour reefs just as they begin to regrow. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-reef-devouring-predator-survives-coral-feasts.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 18 Oct 2023 03:00:01 EDT news616779552 Humans and wildlife, including large carnivores, interact at an unprecedented scale as they increasingly share the world's landscapes. A new University of Michigan-led study of human-lion interactions found that lions tend to avoid human-dominated areas unless they are facing food scarcity and habitat fragmentation. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-lions-interactions-humans-diminishing-habitat.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 17 Oct 2023 12:02:03 EDT news616762921 Now is the time to identify the conditions that cause plants to die. Doing so will allow us to better protect plants by choosing conservation targets more strategically, UC Riverside botanists argue in a new paper. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-extinction-demise-alive.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 17 Oct 2023 11:18:00 EDT news616760277 The factors affecting coral's resilience—its ability to adapt to and survive environmental changes—seem to be more nuanced than scientists believed. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-discovery-coral-resilience-reefs-survive.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 17 Oct 2023 11:05:04 EDT news616759501 Rising lake water temperatures threaten the survival of marimo, unique algal balls found only in cold lakes. Kobe University researchers clarified that the warmer it gets, the more the inward decomposition outpaces the outward growth of these life forms, making them increasingly fragile. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-unique-marimo-threatened-lake-temperatures.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 17 Oct 2023 11:04:03 EDT news616759442 A new study has provided evidence that young chimpanzees are capable of vocal functional flexibility; a known building block in human language development. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-reveals-similarities-language-chimpanzees-humans.html Plants & Animals Evolution Tue, 17 Oct 2023 09:49:03 EDT news616754941 The extraordinary lifespans of bats could be under threat from rising global temperatures, according to new research published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-climate-havoc-extraordinary-lifespans.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 17 Oct 2023 09:18:12 EDT news616753090 Plants emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere upon mechanical damages or insect attacks. Undamaged neighboring plants sense the released VOCs as danger cues to activate defense responses against upcoming threats. This phenomenon of airborne communication among plants through VOCs was first documented in 1983 and has since been observed in more than 30 different plant species. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying VOC perception to defense induction remain unclear. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-real-time-visualization-plant-plant-communications-airborne.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Tue, 17 Oct 2023 05:00:01 EDT news616687311 Antarctic fur seals that were hunted to near extinction have recovered but now face dangerous decline because of a lack of food, new research suggests. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-lack-food-threat-antarctic-fur.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 16 Oct 2023 13:42:11 EDT news616682528 Viruses are a threat to all organisms, including plants. A small group of plant stem cells, however, successfully defends itself from infection. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-biologists-salicylic-acid-rna-antiviral.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 13 Oct 2023 10:22:04 EDT news616411321 The Texas ocelot (Leopardus pardalis albescens) is endangered due to historic hunting, habitat loss, inbreeding, and traffic collisions. Today, only between 50 and 80 ocelots remain in the U.S., exclusively in Willacy and Cameron counties in southern Texas. These two populations are isolated from the larger one in northwestern Mexico by highways and urban development. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-special-wildlife-exits-busy-roads.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 13 Oct 2023 00:00:01 EDT news616332053 Dynamic and changing Arctic Ocean conditions likely caused three major mortality events in the eastern North Pacific gray whale population since the 1980s, a new study has found. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-gray-whales-major-population-result.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 12 Oct 2023 14:00:01 EDT news616320087 The young offspring of a frog native to Southeast Asia display an "unusual color pattern", probably to camouflage themselves "as animal droppings" to escape predators, according to a study. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-young-frogs-camouflage-animal-poo.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 12 Oct 2023 11:21:41 EDT news616328494 We all know that there is nothing like hanging out with your friends for a big meal, and new research from the University of Aberdeen has shown that this is also true for Scotland's bottlenose dolphins. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-dolphin-friendships-fishy-feast.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 11 Oct 2023 15:49:03 EDT news616258142 Orchids, mosses, ferns—or epiphytes, defined as nonparasitic plants that grow on other plants—are crucial for Earth's biodiversity and play essential roles in forests around the world, building habitat in trees for myriad other life forms, from bacteria and insects to birds and reptiles. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-epiphytes-amazing-moss-bromeliads-trees.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 11 Oct 2023 15:00:01 EDT news616237052 A new study shows that, contrary to previous assumptions, female common frogs can reject males and have developed a variety of mate avoidance behaviors to do so. The research was led by Carolin Dittrich and Mark-Oliver Rödel from the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin and was published in the open access journal Royal Society Open Science. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-female-common-frogs-fake-death.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 11 Oct 2023 12:06:42 EDT news616244797 Have you ever waited in a long queue only to find the ice cream flavor you wanted is gone? What did you choose instead? In the field of behavioral economics, researchers have shown that people make very predictable second choices if the item they want is sold out. So much so, that it is possible to use unavailable items to nudge people into buying certain products. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-phantom-decoys-human-shoppersbut-bees.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 11 Oct 2023 11:38:03 EDT news616243081 In a new study published in Nature Communications, EPFL researchers shed light on the axolotl's unparalleled limb regeneration abilities, challenging long-held beliefs and offering new insights into potential mammalian limb regrowth. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-decoding-axolotl-path-limb-regrowth.html Plants & Animals Cell & Microbiology Wed, 11 Oct 2023 10:54:03 EDT news616240441 A team of wildlife researchers from the U.S., South Africa and Eswatini (formally known as Swaziland) has found via experiments that ungulates (hooved animals) living in game reserves in Eswatini fear elephants as much as they do leopards. In their study, reported in the journal Biology Letters, the group played animal noises over speakers and recorded the reactions of the ungulates. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-field-ungulates-elephants-leopards.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 11 Oct 2023 10:44:11 EDT news616239845 Both elegant and fierce, killer whales are some of the oceans' top predators, but even they can be exposed to environmental pollution. Now, in the largest study to date on North Atlantic killer whales, researchers in Environmental Science & Technology report the levels of legacy and emerging pollutants in 162 individuals' blubber. The animals' diet, rather than location, greatly impacted contaminant levels and potential health risks—information that's helpful to conservation efforts. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-killer-whales-diet-important-pollutant.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 11 Oct 2023 10:16:02 EDT news616238161 Named after its habitat preference, Paroedura manongavato, from the Malagasy words "manonga" (to climb) and "vato" (rock), is a bouldering expert. Part of its "home range" is also very well-known to rock climbers for its massive granitic domes. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-bouldering-south-central-madagascar-rock-climbing-gecko.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 11 Oct 2023 09:51:23 EDT news616236679