By CU Denver 9/13/2019 Ecologists have long tried to understand and anticipate the compositional change of plant species, especially now, as climate and land usage disrupts the way in which plants colonize and expand their communities. Called plant succession, the study of predicting plant communities through time is one of ecology’s oldest pursuits. In 2016, Brian Buma, PhD, assistant professor of…
By Michael Kaspari Lab 9/13/2019 One paradox in the recent flurry of papers reporting insect declines is that insects—ectotherms that rely on external sources of heat—are often predicted to benefit as their environment warms. In an open access paper accepted as a Report in the journal Ecology our team of ecologists—including Michael Weiser, Jelena Bujan, Karl Roeder, and Kirsten deBeurs—all from…
By The Conversation 9/11/2019 Sometimes even the largest natural wonders can remain hidden from human view for centuries. The Amazon is a dense place, full of life with new species of flora and fauna being discovered every other day. Now, using the same technology that takes driverless cars from A to B, we – led by Eric Gorgens and Diego…
By University of Arizona 9/10/2019 The iconic saguaros on Tumamoc Hill served as harbingers in new research which sought to predict how the desert species will fare in the hotter, drier climate of the future and how topography might mitigate the effects of climate change. Lead author Susana Rodríguez-Buriticá and her team crunched the numbers in a 48-year-long dataset…
By the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research 9/10/2019 The trade of forest tree seeds is, on a global scale, not as safe as previously believed. Researchers from CABI and, among other institutions, the Swiss Federal Institute WSL, revealed that insect pests and fungal pathogens associated with seeds pose a great risk to trees and forest ecosystems worldwide. Non-native…
By CNRS 9/4/2019 Gorillas are social animals, living in groups that females will migrate to join, becoming members of harems. Though some factors motivating these migrations were previously known, a research team affiliated with the CNRS and Université de Rennes 1 has just demonstrated that female gorillas are able to avoid conspecifics liable to transmit yaws, which leads to conspicuous…
By University of Connecticut 8/28/2019 Forests in the eastern United States that are structurally complex — meaning the arrangement of vegetation is varied throughout the physical space — sequester more carbon, according to a new study in Ecology, a journal of the Ecological Society of America. The study by researchers at the University of Connecticut, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Purdue University, demonstrates for…
By University of Wyoming 8/21/2019 For every acre of mule deer habitat taken by roads, well pads and other oil and gas development infrastructure in Wyoming’s Green River Basin, an average of 4.6 other acres of available forage is lost, according to new research by University of Wyoming scientists. That’s because deer avoid areas close to such human disturbance, even…
By Northern Arizona University 8/20/2019 When Jaime Yazzie began planning her research for her forestry thesis, her adviser asked her what species of trees she wanted to save. They would use a computer simulation to measure the effects of a warming, drying environment, and she needed to select which trees to preserve. “I was a little shocked,” Yazzie said. “In my…
By Pennsylvania State University 8/14/2019 LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A fisherman’s curiosity led to identification of the correlation between microbial communities in recreational freshwater locales and seasonal environmental changes, according to a team of researchers from Penn State. Zachary Weagly, a 2018 graduate of Penn State Berks and an avid fisherman, noticed that the quality of the water where he fished changed with…
By Pennsylvania State University 8/12/2019 LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Everywhere you go there are stormwater detention basins built near large construction projects intended to control the flow of rainwater and runoff. Now, those basins might help in controlling nitrogen runoff into rivers and lakes, according to Lauren E. McPhillips, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Penn State. Speaking today (Aug….
By Virginia Commonwealth University 8/12/2019 Forests in the eastern United States that are structurally complex — meaning the arrangement of vegetation is highly varied — sequester more carbon, according to a new study led by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University. The study demonstrates for the first time that a forest’s structural complexity is a better predictor of carbon sequestration potential than tree species…
By UC Riverside 8/8/2019 They outlived mammoths and saber-toothed tigers. But without dramatic action to reduce climate change, new research shows Joshua trees won’t survive much past this century. UC Riverside scientists wanted to verify earlier studies predicting global warming’s deadly effect on the namesake trees that millions flock to see every year in Joshua Tree National Park. They also…
By Center for Agriculture and Bioscience International 7/31/2019 CABI has led an international team of scientists who strongly suggest that the global trade of forest tree seeds is not as safe as previously believed, with insect pests and fungal pathogens posing a great risk to trees and forest ecosystems worldwide. Non-native insect pests and fungal pathogens present one of the…
By Ohio State University 7/25/2019 A consortium of coral experts today published new guidelines that could help corals in the Caribbean adapt to warmer, more acidic waters caused by climate change. The guidelines are the first of their kind to offer a definitive plan for collecting, raising and replanting corals in an attempt to maximize their chances for survival. The…
By Yale University 7/30/2019 Savannas cover about 40% of the area of the tropics, yet little is known about the effects of drought on their ecosystems. A new Yale-led study published in the journal Ecology shows that a severe drought between 2014 and 2016 in Kruger National Park in South Africa killed off a large number of trees, a finding that somewhat…
By Pennsylvania State University 7/22/2019 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Plants may induce “leaky gut syndrome” — permeability of the gut lining — in insects as part of a multipronged strategy for protecting themselves from being eaten, according to researchers at Penn State. By improving our understanding of plant defenses, the findings could contribute to the development of new pest control…
By UC Berkeley 7/2/2019 Spotted owl populations are in decline all along the West Coast, and as climate change increases the risk of large and destructive wildfires in the region, these iconic animals face the real threat of losing even more of their forest habitat. Rather than attempting to preserve the owl’s remaining habitat exactly as is, wildfire management —…
By Pennsylvania State University 7/18/2019 New guidelines drafted by a consortium of concerned experts could enable corals to adapt to changing environments and help restore declining coral populations in the Caribbean. The guidelines provide a definitive plan for collecting, raising, and replanting corals that maximizes their potential for adaptation. A new paper outlining the guidelines, authored by the restoration genetics…
By University of Liverpool 7/19/2019 A study by the University of Liverpool and Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) has found that parasites reduced female seabirds’ reproductive success by 30%, whilst seeming to have little effect on male seabirds. A seven year study of European shags on the Isle of May off the East coast of Scotland sought to explore the impact…