Press Releases — Page 51

Researchers forecast interactions between two owl species and the quality of their habitat in the Pacific Northwest

By Michigan State University 3/1/2019 African carnivores face numerous threats from humans. So, it’s a fair assumption that the presence of more humans automatically equates to decreases across the board for carnivores. New research led by Michigan State University and published in the current issue of Ecological Applications, however, shows that’s not always the case. The truth is some species…

By University of Göttingen 2/19/2019 Fairy circles are round gaps in arid grassland that are distributed very uniformly over the landscape and only occur along the Namib Desert in southern Africa and in parts of Australia. Various theories circulate about the actual cause of these unusual spatial patterns, ranging from poisonous Euphorbia plants or rising gases, to ants, termites or…

Upcoming research in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment

Researchers on a remote New Zealand island combine traditional field methods with DNA sequencing to estimate invertebrate biodiversity

By Point Blue Conservation Science 2/21/2019 How wildlife respond to climate change is likely to be complex. To better understand the effects of climate change on the bird community in the Sierra Nevada region, new research published today from Point Blue Conservation Science examines the impacts to birds from a recent extreme drought (2013-2016). The drought resulted in the widespread…

By Princeton University 2/20/2019 Tokita, a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB), is partially funded by a fellowship from the National Science Foundation. He works with Corina Tarnita, an associate professor in EEB, to create computational models for how social groups — including ants and humans — develop properties like division of labor and social networks. Read more here: https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/02/20/tokita-receives-graduate-student-policy-award-ecological-society-america

By UC Santa Cruz 2/13/2019 Sara Gonzalez, a Ph.D. student in ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, is among the recipients of the Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Awards from the Ecological Society of America (ESA). This award provides graduate students with the opportunity to receive policy and communication training in Washington, D.C., and meet with lawmakers….

By National Science Foundation 2/6/2019 Scientists find that decades of degradation created ‘resistant’ coral reefs Marine biologist Peter Edmunds was prepared for the worst. Back-to-back Category 5 hurricanes had torn through the Caribbean in September 2017. The scientist and his colleagues weren’t sure what they’d find when they visited fragile coral reefs near the island of St. John after the…

Read more about each award winner and view photos on ESA’s Ecotone blog   February 13, 2019 For Immediate Release Contact: Alison Mize, alison@esa.org, (202) 833-8773 ext. 205   The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is honored to announce this year’s Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA) recipients. This award provides graduate students with the opportunity to receive…

By THÜNEN INSTITUTE 2/4/2019 Sustainable exploitation of wild fish is possible, but only when fisheries policies are implemented that ensure precautionary catch regulations Due to overcapacities in fishing fleets and insufficiently regulated catches, many fish stocks in the Northeast-Atlantic had reached very low levels by the end of the 20th century. However, an increasing number of stocks has shown signs…

By The University of Oklahoma 2/6/2019 An OU team from the Geographical Ecology Group conducted 54 experiments in both grazed and ungrazed grasslands to determine the salt cravings of insects and the types of insects that crave salt. NORMAN–A University of Oklahoma team from the Geographical Ecology Group has published a new study in the journal Ecology on the nutritional preferences of…

By University of Tasmania 2/7/2019 Monitoring of sea urchins in Port Phillip Bay over a four-year period has revealed that booming urchin populations and the barren grounds they created by overgrazing kelp beds are likely to persist in the long term unless drastic action is taken. High-density populations of the Australian urchin Heliocidaris erythrogrammahave been monitored in Port Phillip Bay since…

By Deakin University 2/1/2019 Decades after their implementation, no-take marine reserves are coming up short in their ability to nurture the Great Barrier Reef’s shark populations back to natural levels, according to new research from a Deakin University ecologist. The research, published today in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, found that after decades of protection, shark populations on the…

In the Pacific Northwest, dry air interacts with low snow conditions to affect pika abundances at different elevations   February 4, 2019 For Immediate Release Contact: Zoe Gentes, 202-833-8773 ext. 211, zgentes@esa.org   Although it has been ranked as the cutest creature in US National Parks, the American pika is tough, at home in loose alpine rocks in windswept mountain…

Researchers say mismatches of scale between social and ecological systems are a key contributor to many conflicts involving introduced-species management   February 4, 2019 For Immediate Release Contact: Zoe Gentes, 202-833-8773 ext. 211, zgentes@esa.org   Introduced and invasive species can present big problems, particularly when those species are charismatic, finds a recently published paper in the Ecological Society of America’s…

By Simon Fraser University 1/25/2019 A species of frog endemic to the Pacific Northwest faces a 50 per cent increase in the probability of extinction by the 2080s due to climate change, according to a new study published by SFU researchers. The mountain-dwelling Cascades frog thrives in extreme climatic conditions, ranging from dozens of feet of snow in winter to…

Upcoming research in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment   Wednesday, 30 Jan 2019 For Immediate Release Contact: Zoe Gentes, 202-833-8773 ext. 211, zgentes@esa.org   Get a sneak peek into these new scientific papers, publishing on January 31, 2019 in the Ecological Society of America’s journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Parks for sharks are most successful when humans…

By Swansea University Prifysgol Abertawe 1/23/2019 A new study of Tasmanian devils has revealed that a transmissible cancer which has devastated devil populations in recent years is unlikely to cause extinction of the iconic species. New research led by Dr Konstans Wells from Swansea University has revealed that it is more likely that the disease will fade-out or that the devils will coexist…

New mathematical model shows dramatic decreases in ringed seal populations due to projected low snow conditions   January 23, 2019 For Immediate Release Contact: Zoe Gentes, 202-833-8773 ext. 211, zgentes@esa.org   Arctic sea ice is now declining at a rate of 12.8 percent per decade – 2012 had the lowest amount of summer ice on record. The drastic change has…