http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/biology-blog.html Biology blog from biology-blog.com, the place for information. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT en-us http://www.biology-blog.com/images/blogs/biology-blog.jpg http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/biology-blog.html 114 99 http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2009/learning-from-locusts.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2009/learning-from-locusts.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT A similarity in brain disturbance between insects and people suffering from migraines, stroke and epilepsy points the way toward new drug therapies to address these conditions. Queen's University biologists studying the locust have observed that these human disorders are linked by a brain disturbance during which nerve cells shut down. This also occurs in locusts when they go into a coma after exposure to extreme conditions such as high temperatures or lack of oxygen........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/long-term-apple-scab-resistance-remains-elusive.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/long-term-apple-scab-resistance-remains-elusive.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT There are hundreds of choices when picking a crabapple tree from the nursery, but a Purdue University expert says only a handful are resistant to a widespread fungus or other serious diseases. After reviewing 33 years of data, Janna Beckerman, a Purdue assistant professor of botany and plant pathology, observed that only five of 287 crabapple varieties had durable resistance to a serious disease of crabapple trees. The results of her study were reported in the recent issue of the journal HortScience....... ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/how-piranhas-got-their-teeth.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/how-piranhas-got-their-teeth.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT How did piranhas the legendary freshwater fish with the razor bite get their telltale teeth? Scientists from Argentina, the United States and Venezuela have uncovered the jawbone of a striking transitional fossil that sheds light on this question. Named Megapiranha paranensis, this previously unknown fossil fish bridges the evolutionary gap between flesh-eating piranhas and their plant-eating cousins........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/prairie-dogs-and-plants.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/prairie-dogs-and-plants.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT Prairie dogs may seem like harmless little creatures, but they can inflict serious injury on plants simply by snacking on them. Plants cannot flee from their furry predators, so how do they avoid becoming a prairie dog's lunch?. Dr. John Freeman and his colleagues explore the role of metal hyperaccumulation in plant defense in the June 2009 issue of the American Journal of Botany Certain plants species growing on soils with high metal content (such as arsenic, copper, selenium, and lead) accumulate large quantities of metals in their leaves and stems. The purpose of this metal hyperaccumulation is not fully known, but metal hyperaccumulation may increase a plant's ability to respond to drought, compete with other plants, or provide a defense against bacteria, viruses, and animals........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/domestication-of-capsicum-annuum-chile-pepper.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/domestication-of-capsicum-annuum-chile-pepper.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT Without the process of domestication, humans would still be hunters and gatherers, and modern civilization would look very different. Fortunately, for all of us who do not relish the thought of spending our days searching for nuts and berries, early civilizations successfully cultivated a number of species of animals and plants found in their surroundings. Current studies of the domestication of various species provide a fascinating glimpse into the past........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/plant-communication.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/plant-communication.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT -"To thine own self be true" may take on a new meaning-not with people or animal behavior but with plant behavior. Plants engage in self-recognition and can communicate danger to their "clones" or genetically identical cuttings planted nearby, says professor Richard Karban of the Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, in groundbreaking research reported in the current edition of Ecology Letters........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/dino-not-so-soaring.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/dino-not-so-soaring.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT The largest animals ever to have walked the face of the earth may not have been as big as previously thought, reveals a paper published recently in the Zoological Society of London's Journal of Zoology Scientists have discovered that the original statistical model used to calculate dinosaur mass is flawed, suggesting dinosaurs have been oversized........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/global-sunscreen-wont-save-corals.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/global-sunscreen-wont-save-corals.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT Emergency plans to counteract global warming by artificially shading the Earth from incoming sunlight might lower the planet's temperature a few degrees, but such "geoengineering" solutions would do little to stop the acidification of the world oceans that threatens coral reefs and other marine life, report the authors of a newly released study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters*. The culprit is atmospheric carbon dioxide, which even in a cooler globe will continue to be absorbed by seawater, creating acidic conditions........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/zebra-mussels-hang-on.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/zebra-mussels-hang-on.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT The zebra mussels that have wreaked ecological havoc on the Great Lakes are harder to find these days not because they are dying off, but because they are being replaced by a cousin, the quagga mussel. But zebra mussels still dominate in fast-moving streams and rivers. Research conducted by Suzanne Peyer, a doctoral candidate in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Zoology, shows that physiological differences between the two species might determine which mollusk dominates in either calm or fast-moving waters........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/reviving-american-chestnuts.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/reviving-american-chestnuts.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT A Purdue University study shows that introducing a new hybrid of the American chestnut tree would not only bring back the all-but-extinct species, but also put a dent in the amount of carbon in the Earth's atmosphere. Douglass Jacobs, an associate professor of forestry and natural resources, observed that American chestnuts grow much faster and larger than other hardwood species, allowing them to sequester more carbon than other trees over the same period. And since American chestnut trees are more often used for high-quality hardwood products such as furniture, they hold the carbon longer than wood used for paper or other low-grade materials........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/the-secret-of-a-snakes-slither.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/the-secret-of-a-snakes-slither.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT Snake locomotion may seem simple in comparison to walking or galloping. But in reality, it's no easy task to move without legs. Prior research has assumed that snakes move by pushing off of rocks and debris around them. But a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that it's all in their design--specifically, their scales........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/evolution-can-occur-in-less-than-10-years.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/evolution-can-occur-in-less-than-10-years.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT How fast can evolution take place? In just a few years, as per a newly released study on guppies led by UC Riverside's Swanne Gordon, a graduate student in biology. Gordon and her colleagues studied guppies small fresh-water fish biologists have studied for long from the Yarra River, Trinidad. They introduced the guppies into the nearby Damier River, in a section above a barrier waterfall that excluded all predators. The guppies and their descendents also colonized the lower portion of the stream, below the barrier waterfall, that contained natural predators........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/complexity-of-animal-mating-choices.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/complexity-of-animal-mating-choices.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT When female tiger salamanders choose a mate, it turns out that size does matter - tail size that is - and that's not the only factor they weigh. Findings of a Purdue University study show that animals make more complex decisions about choosing mates than once thought. The results of Andrew DeWoody's study, released Monday (June 8) in the journal Molecular Ecology, refute a theory that animals use major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes as the sole basis for mate choice. Immunologists have long known that MHC genes play key roles in the immune response, but more recently behavioral ecologists have postulated that animal mate choice is often based on MHC-type because of the function of those genes........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/bats-recognize-the-individual-voices.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/bats-recognize-the-individual-voices.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT Bats can use the characteristics of other bats' voices to recognize each other, as per a research studyby scientists from the University of Tuebingen, Gera number of and the University of Applied Sciences in Konstanz, Gera number of. The study, published June 5 in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology, explains how bats use echolocation for more than just spatial knowledge........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/corals-internal-communication.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/corals-internal-communication.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT Corals, it appears, have a genetic complexity that rivals that of humans, have sophisticated systems of biological communication that are being stressed by global change, and are only able to survive based on proper function of an intricate symbiotic relationship with algae that live within their bodies, say researchers in a paper published in this week's issue of the journal Science........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/different-genes-cause-loss-of-body-parts.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/different-genes-cause-loss-of-body-parts.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT New research shows that when two species of stickleback fish evolved and lost their pelvises and body armor, the changes were caused by different genes in each species. That surprised researchers, who expected the same genes would control the same changes in both related fish. Results of the study, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Divisions of Environmental Biology and Integrative Organismal Systems, are published online today in the journal Current Biology....... ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/coryphodon.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/6-2009/coryphodon.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT Ancestors of tapirs and ancient cousins of rhinos living above the Arctic Circle 53 million years ago endured six months of darkness each year in a far milder climate than today that featured lush, swampy forests, as per a newly released study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder. CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Jaelyn Eberle said the study shows several varieties of prehistoric mammals as heavy as 1,000 pounds each lived on what is today Ellesmere Island near Greenland on a summer diet of flowering plants, deciduous leaves and aquatic vegetation. But in winter's twilight they apparently switched over to foods like twigs, leaf litter, evergreen needles and fungi, said Eberle, curator of fossil vertebrates at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History and chief study author........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/city-rats-loyal-to-their-neighborhoods.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/city-rats-loyal-to-their-neighborhoods.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT n the rat race of life, one thing is certain: there's no place like home. Now, a study published this week in the journal Molecular Ecology finds the same is as true for rats as for humans. Eventhough inner city rodents appear to roam freely, most form distinct neighborhoods where they spend the majority of their lives........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/thanks-to-spillover-from-landscape-corridors.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/thanks-to-spillover-from-landscape-corridors.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT Recently, images of melting sea ice and shrinking rainforests have highlighted the world's biodiversity crisis and made us aware of the need to find a balance between preserving natural ecosystems while still having enough land for human use. "About 10 percent of the world's land surface is afforded formal protection. We need to manage that 10 percent as best as we possibly can to preserve biodiversity but also be mindful of human needs, such as food and fiber production," said Lars A. Brudvig, Ph.D., post-doctoral researcher in biology in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/contaminants-in-marine-mammals-brains.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2009/contaminants-in-marine-mammals-brains.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:05:15 GMT The most extensive study of pollutants in marine mammals' brains reveals that these animals are exposed to a hazardous cocktail of pesticides such as DDTs and PCBs, as well as emerging contaminants such as brominated flame retardants. Eric Montie, the main author on the study currently in press and published online April 17 in Environmental Pollution, performed the research as a student in the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution-MIT Joint Graduate Program in Oceanography and Ocean Engineering and as a postdoctoral fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The final data analysis and writing were conducted at College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, where Montie now works in David Mann's marine sensory biology lab........ ]]>