Convergent evolution of large functional traits is not uncommon in nature; consider that wings have evolved in several lineages of animals to broaden niches that animals can fill. But more specific convergence, especially in sexual and territorial signals, is rare at best and stirs controversy in the scientific world. On the surface, it would seem that if two species converge…
The British Ecological Society is convening its annual conference today at the University of Hertfordshire. The three-day conference has 35 sessions and includes several keynote speakers, including Paul Collier, an economist at Oxford University and author of The Bottom Billion. Marc Cadotte over at The EEB and Flow is attending the meeting and has said he will be blogging about…
Here’s another one of those examples where the link between scientists and the public can break down, leading to conflicting or erroneous reports. As reported by the Nature blog The Great Beyond, when the Royal Society released a report on climate geoengineering earlier this week, reporters were scratching their heads about the take-home message from the report. The British coverage…
Soil erosion in a wheat field near Washington State University. Soil erosion has always been a big problem for ecosystems, and often increases with decreased ecosystem health, such as the dry conditions often encouraged by climate change. We normally think of rivers and glaciers as the most powerful eroders, but a study out today in Nature Geoscience finds that agriculture…
As fires cloak the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California, workers are attempting to carry out controlled burns along the perimeter of the fire. Firefighters battle part of the blaze in Glendale, CA. Photo courtesy Gina Ferazzi for the Los Angeles Times. These burns will reduce the amount of fuel around the current fire so that if the fire reaches…
Well, it’s just been a week full of videos, hasn’t it. For those interested in Sen. Tom Udall’s address to ESA at the recent annual meeting, below is a video of his Regional Policy Award acceptance speech. You can also read the full transcript of the address here.
Bird songs are among the most complex and fascinating forms of animal communication. Tiny differences in bird songs can often result in “dialects”, where populations of the same species have slightly different variations on the same songs. In a study out today in Naturwissenschaften, ornithologists have taken it a step further. Some skylarks can not only differentiate among songs of…
This sketch shows the concept of the urban vertical farm, which recycles water and grows crops using hydroponics. Photo courtesy The New York Times. An utterly intriguing op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times proposes a bizarre solution to the problems with our current–purportedly unsustainable–agriculture system. Instead of converting wild lands to agriculture and destroying natural habitat, we should instead look…
The Goddard Space Flight Center at NASA just put out this excellent video about pollination, phenology and the effects of climate change. Although NASA has satellite data showing that spring green-up has been occurring a half-day earlier each year, it’s a bit harder to figure out whether a corresponding change in phenology is occurring among pollinators. The video shows beekeepers–scientists…
This post isn’t quite about ecology. But it’s about a phenomenon that many ecologists have ample experience with. A study out last week in Current Biology found that when people get lost in the wilderness, they actually do walk in circles. Jan Souman of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, and his colleagues set volunteer hikers…
Sorghum grown under acacia and palm trees in Burkina Faso. According to a new study by scientists at the World Forestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, we’ve underestimated that amount of trees worldwide that are grown in agricultural areas. Using satellite imagery, the scientists show at the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry this week in Nairobi that trees cover more than…
This posted yesterday at The New York Times: permits have been issued to construct an oil pipeline from Alberta, Canada to northern Wisconsin, bringing crude oil from the Alberta tar sands. The Alberta Clipper pipeline will run through Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin to Hardisty, Alberta. The State Department issued a permit for the construction of a new pipeline to bring…