This post contributed by Nadine Lymn, ESA Director of Public Affairs Conjuring up a scene from a B-rated science fiction flick, new digital images show hundreds of king crabs moving closer to the sea stars, sea urchins and other bottom dwellers that have lived free from such predators in Antarctica’s coastal waters for 40 million years. Onboard the U.S. research vessel…

Birds are not the only animals that communicate by singing—gibbons, apes more closely resembling monkeys in size, sing to strengthen social relationships, announce their territory and find a mate. Crested gibbons in the genus Nomascus live in the Asian rain forests of China, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and sing for a specific purpose. “The songs are specifically adapted to travel…

Frequent visitors to EcoTone might notice a few changes to the look and layout of the blog.  Instead of one long list of posts, for example, the most recent posts are now presented with a photo and brief summary. That way, all of the news in ecology is together on one page for easy browsing. Sharing links with friends and…

This post contributed by Monica Kanojia, Administrative Assistant/Governance for ESA While a vegetarian lifestyle is a choice made by omnivorous humans, the panda population may have been forced to convert  to a vegetarian diet between 2 and 7 million years ago to ensure survival. The preference for bamboo is unusual for pandasbecause they are classified as carnivores  even though their…

This post contributed by Cristina Eisenberg, conservation biologist at Oregon State University Over the past three years I have conducted thirteen hundred focal animal observations on elk in the northern and southern Rocky Mountains. This involves patiently watching one animal at a time for up to twenty minutes and recording its wariness–that is, the amount of time it spends with…

Oysters proposed for cleaning up New York’s rivers, mall music has a bigger impact than boosting sales, cephalopods advance research in neuroscience and robotics, how gut bacteria might be shaping brain development and behavior and E.O. Wilson discusses a life of research on ants. Here are the remaining links from January. Oyster-tecture: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a study…

Here are some highlights from the latest ESA Policy News by Science Policy Analyst Terence Houston.  Read the full Policy News here. HOUSE: REORGANIZED COMMITTEES TAKE SHAPE Congressional leadership has spent the past few weeks reorganizing House committees, which will now be led by Republican chairmen. In proportion to the new majority gains, minority committee rosters will also shrink as…

As the Northeast of the United States was hammered by thundersnow this week, students, parents and perhaps those working from home had the opportunity to indulge in outdoor winter activities. For many, being in the snow again is losing its luster. As an Associated Press article noted, “The Northeast has already been pummeled by winter not even halfway into the…

An impressive work of wasp art is discovered in an ordinary attic, lizards that use venom to lower the blood pressure of prey could contribute to new medications, researchers translate prairie dog alarms and discover a language, contestants submit ideas for bridges designed to prevent wildlife from becoming roadkill and street art in China raises awareness of wooden chopstick waste….

The unseen world of soil microbiota is full of surprises: Take, for instance, tiny animals called water bears that thrive in almost any location on Earth (and even outer space) through suspended animation. And even a shape-shifting slime mold that cultivates bacteria in order to  harvest it in the future. These are only two of the organisms populating soil—yet there…

A study published this week in Nature compared the U.S. economic downturn with a current ecological issue: a decline in biodiversity. In the study, economist Andrew Haldane of the Bank of England and zoologist Robert May of Oxford University basically described the financial system as having similar weaknesses as a monoculture. That is, if all banks are run equally, they…

Video games that guide the movement of paramecia, dogs trained to aid in data collection, the evolution of seeds in the Amazon Rainforest, environmental degradation captured as art and the successful rescue of more than 100 bats stranded by the devastating floods in Australia. Here are stories in ecology for the third week in January 2011. PAC-mecium: Stanford University researchers…