How much weight can a hawk carry?
Hawks and other raptors are impressive predators. Their eyesight can be four to eight times better than ours, for example, and many species are adapted for fast, quiet flight to help them ambush their prey. And then there are those…
Evolutionary diversity is associated with Amazon forest productivity
(University of Leeds) An international team of researchers have revealed for the first time that Amazon forests with the greatest evolutionary diversity are the most productive.
Prey-size plastics are invading larval fish nurseries
(Arizona State University, Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science) A new study by researchers at Arizona State University’s Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science (GDCS) and NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center has revealed that larval fish species from various ocean habitats are now being threatened by plastic pollution that infects their nursery habitats—at levels on average, eight times higher than those recently found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Mosquito nets: Are they catching more fishes than insects?
(Stockholm University) Mosquito nets designed to prevent malaria transmission are used for fishing which may devastate tropical coastal ecosystems, according to a new scientific study. The researchers found that most of the fish caught using mosquito nets were smaller than a finger and potentially collect hundreds of individuals.
Callum Roberts: ‘Sharks do bite people, they do kill people, but it’s more error than intention’
Callum Roberts is professor of marine conservation at York University and was chief scientific adviser on Blue Planet 2. His new book, Reef Life, details a life spent in the oceans studying the marine ecosystem. How was your first dive?It…
The Paris Climate Problem: A Dangerous Lack of Urgency
Most countries aren’t cutting emissions fast enough, and their pledges for the next 10 years fall far short of what’s needed, a new analysis warns. While nearly all of the world’s countries have pledged to cut their greenhouse gas emissions,…
Research suggests fumigants have very low long-term impact on soil health
(American Phytopathological Society) It started with curiosity. How does a fumigant, commonly used for nematode management in potato cropping systems, influence soil microbial communities? To explore this question, scientists at Colorado State University and Oregon State University used high-throughput sequencing techniques to investigate changes in soil bacterial and fungal community structure in response to the application of 1,3-Dichloropropene (1,3-D) in Pacific Northwest potato production fields. Their research found that the fumigant had very minor effects.
Researchers find 'alarming' loss of insects in large-scale study in Germany
Insects are in more trouble than we thought. A large-scale study has found that insects in German forests and grasslands have declined by about one-third in just the past decade. That follows on the heels of a 27-year study that…
Scientist sheds light on complexity of biodiversity loss
Species richness — the number of different species in a given ecological community — is not the only, nor necessarily the best, way to measure biodiversity impacts on ecosystems.
Global Warming Is Already Destroying New England’s Fisheries – The New Republic
To wake up in the Northeastern United States—as California blazes and Japan digs itself out of typhoon damage—is to experience an uneasy gratitude for all that is not burning, battered or underwater. Seven years out from Superstorm Sandy, we know…
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