If pigs could fly: How can forests regenerate without birds?

Date:

April 30, 2018

Source:

University of Guam

Summary:

Research on ungulates in the limestone forests of northern Guam has yielded surprising results.

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The trunk of a native cycad, Cycas micronesica, arches gracefully over the karst floor of a limestone forest on Guam.

Credit: Lauren Gutierrez

Human activity continues to shape environmental systems around the world creating novel ecosystems that are increasingly prevalent in what some scientists call the Anthropocene (the age of humans). The island of Guam is well known as a textbook case for the devastating effects of invasive species on island ecosystems with the extirpation of most of the forest dwelling birds due to brown tree snake predation. The loss of native birds has resulted in a loss of forest seed dispersers. Recent research conducted by lead author Ann Marie Gawel, based on her University of Guam master's thesis, has found an unlikely forest ally, feral pigs.

If pigs could fly: How can forests regenerate without birds?

Date:

April 30, 2018

Source:

University of Guam

Summary:

Research on ungulates in the limestone forests of northern Guam has yielded surprising results.

---

The trunk of a native cycad, Cycas micronesica, arches gracefully over the karst floor of a limestone forest on Guam.

Credit: Lauren Gutierrez

Human activity continues to shape environmental systems around the world creating novel ecosystems that are increasingly prevalent in what some scientists call the Anthropocene (the age of humans). The island of Guam is well known as a textbook case for the devastating effects of invasive species on island ecosystems with the extirpation of most of the forest dwelling birds due to brown tree snake predation. The loss of native birds has resulted in a loss of forest seed dispersers. Recent research conducted by lead author Ann Marie Gawel, based on her University of Guam master's thesis, has found an unlikely forest ally, feral pigs.

Rugosity and concentricity: In urban planning, look to edges, not just the core

Date:

April 26, 2018

Source:

University of California - Davis

Summary:

Planners should view high rugosity (highly non-concentric) urban areas as symptomatic of vigor in urban and agricultural markets. Greater planning efforts are required to coordinated the co-joined health of both agricultural and urban land-uses. Empirical analysis is supported by land-use policies from 30 case study counties.

Traditional urban planning favors 'concentric' layouts with a downtown core surrounded by suburbs and farmland (right). But Catherine Brinkley argues instead that cities should plan for 'rugosity' (left) with more interfaces between functions.

Credit: UC Davis

Catherine Brinkley is a professor of human and community development and human ecology at UC Davis. So it's interesting that in a recent published paper, she advocates that cities should work more like coral reefs -- supporting a diversity of niches and uses for sustained vigor and resilience. In ecology and medical sciences, the term for a physical form with such topographic complexity is rugosity.

Bleaching of coral reefs reduced where daily temperature changes are large

By taking a closer look, scientists find resilience in face of heat stress

Date:

April 26, 2018

Source:

University of California - Irvine

Summary:

Coral reef bleaching is stark evidence of the damage being inflicted by global climate change on marine ecosystems, but a research team has found some cause for hope. While many corals are dying, others are showing resilience to increased sea surface temperatures, pointing to possible clues to the survival and recovery of these vitally important aquatic habitats.

Coral reef bleaching is stark evidence of the damage being inflicted by global climate change on marine ecosystems, but a research team led by scientists at the University of California, Irvine has found some cause for hope. While many corals are dying, others are showing resilience to increased sea surface temperatures, pointing to possible clues to the survival and recovery of these vitally important aquatic habitats.

Protect forest elephants to conserve ecosystems, not DNA

      date    April 25, 2018

Source:

Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Summary:

New research has found that forest elephant populations across Central Africa are genetically quite similar to one another. Conserving this critically endangered species across its range is crucial to preserving local plant diversity in Central and West African Afrotropical forests -- meaning conservationists could save many species by protecting one.

Although it is erroneously treated as a subspecies, the dwindling African forest elephant is a genetically distinct species. New University of Illinois research has found that forest elephant populations across Central Africa are genetically quite similar to one another. Conserving this critically endangered species across its range is crucial to preserving local plant diversity in Central and West African Afrotropical forests -- meaning conservationists could save many species by protecting one.

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Human impact on sea urchin abundance

In the longest running study of its kind, researchers found sea urchin populations were strongly affected by human-driven environmental change

Date:

April 25, 2018

Source:

Kyoto University

Summary:

In a 50-year study, researchers record the dynamics of three common species of sea urchins in Hatakejima Island, Wakayama.

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Arial view of Hatakejima Island, Wakayama, where the study took place over 50 years.

Credit: Kyoto University / Nakano Lab

Sea urchin populations are more sensitive to human activities than previously believed, according to a half-century observational study. Researchers found that changing water temperature and algal blooms strongly affected sea urchin populations and even caused some abnormal development of their larvae. The research is published in the journalEcological Indicators.

Rip Van Winkle' plants hide underground for up to 20 years

Date:

April 19, 2018

Source:

University of Sussex

Summary:

Scores of plant species are capable of living dormant under the soil for up to 20 years, enabling them to survive through difficult times, a new study has found.

A lady's slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus) photographed in Estonia.

Credit: Richard Shefferson

Scores of plant species are capable of living dormant under the soil for up to 20 years, enabling them to survive through difficult times, a new study has found.

Small changes in rainforests cause big damage to fish ecosystems

Date:

April 19, 2018

Source:

Imperial College London

Summary:

Using lasers, researchers have connected, arranged and merged artificial cells, paving the way for networks of artificial cells acting as tissues

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Sampling at the Brantian River, Sabah, Borneo.

Credit: Clare Wilkinson

Freshwater fish diversity is harmed as much by selective logging in rainforests as they are by complete deforestation, according to a new study.

Great Barrier Reef coral predicted to last at least 100 years before extinction from climate change

Model predicts rapid adaptation of corals despite increasingly severe bleaching events, but corals' more distant future remains uncertain

Date:

April 19, 2018

Source:

PLOS

Summary:

A common Great Barrier Reef coral species has enough genetic diversity to survive at least 100 years before succumbing to global warming, researchers predict.

Great Barrier Reef coral predicted to last at least 100 years before extinction from climate change.

Credit: Mikhail V. Matz and colleagues

A common Great Barrier Reef coral species has enough genetic diversity to survive at least 100 years before succumbing to global warming predicts Mikhail Matz of the University of Texas at Austin and colleagues. They report these findings in a new study published April 19th, 2018 in PLOS Genetics.

How well does the greater sage grouse habitat protects other species?

Date:

April 18, 2018

Source:

University of Wyoming

Summary:

Protected areas for sage grouse don't necessarily serve the needs of other species that depend on sagebrush habitat, showing that the bird might not be as much of an umbrella species as had been assumed.

Researchers in the University of Wyoming's Department of Zoology and Physiology and Program in Ecology discovered that reserve size and species similarity are the primary factors in determining whether multiple wildlife species are indirectly protected under the umbrella of a reserve created to enhance conservation for one species -- in this case, the greater sage grouse in Wyoming.

Credit: Dave Showalter

Researchers in the University of Wyoming's Department of Zoology and Physiology and Program in Ecology discovered that size does matter -- as it pertains to the effectiveness of secondary species' wildlife protection relative to the size of a wildlife reserve set aside for an umbrella species.

Better species mapping can improve conservation efforts

Date:

April 18, 2018

Source:

Portland State University

Summary:

The scientific models that ecologists and conservation biologists rely on to determine which species and habitats to protect lack critical information to help them make effective decisions, according to a new study.

These are wildflowers pictured at Lower Middle Lake, North Cascades National Park. Portland State University professor Angela Strecker says understanding where species may live in the future given climate change impacts is an important consideration for conservation science.

Credit: Angela Strecker

The scientific models that ecologists and conservation biologists rely on to determine which species and habitats to protect lack critical information to help them make effective decisions, according to a new study.

Honeybees are struggling to get enough good bacteria

Date:

April 17, 2018

Source:

Lancaster University

Summary:

Modern monoculture farming, commercial forestry and even well-intentioned gardeners could be making it harder for honeybees to store food and fight off diseases, a new study suggests.

Modern monoculture farming, commercial forestry and even well-intentioned gardeners could be making it harder for honeybees to store food and fight off diseases, a new study suggests.

Logging in tropical forests jeopardizing drinking water

Date:

April 16, 2018

Source:

Wildlife Conservation Society

Summary:

Researchers have found that increasing land clearing for logging in Solomon Islands -- even with best management strategies in place -- will lead to unsustainable levels of soil erosio

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River plume draining into the sea full of sediment from upstream logging activity in Western Province, Solomon Islands.

Credit: Wade Fairley

Globally, remaining tropical forests are being rapidly cleared, particularly in countries like the Solomon Islands where commercial logging accounts for about 18 percent of government revenue, and at least 60 percent of exports while providing the largest number of formal sector jobs. However, the loss of native forests has huge ecological and social consequences, many of which are poorly documented.

What's in a niche? Time to rethink microbial ecology, say researchers

Scientists in Canada, the United States and Europe are looking to rewrite the textbook on microbial ecology. When it comes to microbe species, they argue, niche is much more important than names

Date:

April 16, 2018

Source:

University of British Columbia

Summary:

Scientists are looking to rewrite the textbook on microbial ecology. When it comes to microbe species, they argue, niche is much more important than names. In microbial systems, hundreds of species can co-exist and perform the same biochemical functions in one setting, and switch functions in a different setting, explain scientists.

Scientists in Canada, the United States and Europe are looking to rewrite the textbook on microbial ecology, advocating a new approach to studying the most abundant form of life on Earth.

Credit: Stilianos Louca, University of British Columbia

Scientists in Canada, the United States and Europe are looking to rewrite the textbook on microbial ecology, advocating a new approach to studying the most abundant form of life on Earth.

Climate change mitigation project threatens local ecosystem resilience in Ethiopia

Date:

April 16, 2018

Source:

Stockholm University

Summary:

To increase forest cover in the Global South in order to mitigate climate change does not always have positive effects, as shown in a new study in southern Ethiopia. It can also threaten biodiversity and the survival of unique alpine plants.

Albania's pelicans return to their lagoon 'kingdom'

April 16, 2018 by Briseida Mema

Dalmatian pelicans nesting in the Karavasta lagoon, part of the Divjaka Karavasta National Park in Albania

With feathers on its head that make it look like it is wearing a wig, it does not go unnoticed—the Dalmatian pelican is back with a flourish in the Divjaka Lagoon in western Albania.

A new hope: One of North America's rarest bees has its known range greatly expanded

April 16, 2018, 

The specimen of Epeoloides pilosulus from Alberta, Canada. Credit: Ryan Oram, Royal Saskatchewan Museum

The Macropis Cuckoo Bee is one of the rarest bees in North America, partly because of its specialized ecological associations. It is a nest parasite of oil-collecting bees of the genus Macropis which, in turn, are dependent on oil-producing flowers of the genus Lysimachia.

Plants play greater role than megaherbivore extinctions in changes to ecosystem structure

April 16, 2018 by Alan Williams,

Plants may have exerted greater influence on our terrestrial ecosystems than the megaherbivores that used to roam our landscapes, according to new research.

Previously, scientists believed that the Late Quaternary extinction event, which took place between ~11,000 and 15,000 years ago across much of northern Europe, played a significant role in the subsequent expansion of woody plants and declining nitrogen availability over the last 10,000 years.

Deeper understanding of species roles in ecosystems

April 13, 2018, Linköping University

Anna Eklöf, senior lecturer, Linköping University. Credit: Anna Nilsen/LiU

A species' traits define the role it plays in the ecosystem in which it lives—this is the conclusion of a study carried out by researchers at Linköping University, Sweden. New methods can make it easier to predict the ecological role that a species will play when it is introduced, by accident or design, into a new habitat.

Crowded urban areas have fewer songbirds per person

April 13, 2018

Source:

University of Exeter

Summary:

People in crowded urban areas -- especially poor areas -- see fewer songbirds such as tits and finches, and more potential 'nuisance' birds, such as pigeons, magpies and gulls, new research shows.

People in crowded urban areas -- especially poor areas -- see fewer songbirds such as tits and finches, and more potential "nuisance" birds, such as pigeons, magpies and gulls, new research shows.

Can this ultra-thin 'sunscreen' save the world's largest coral reef?

Chemical layer is seen as a way to protect the Great Barrier Reef from effects of global warming.

by Amanda Campanaro / Apr.05.2018 /

The coral under high temperature and UV light

Isolated lakes found beneath Canadian ice sheet

By Mary HaltonScience reporter, BBC News

The lakes lie beneath the Devon ice cap in the Canadian Arctic

Researchers have found lakes that may shed new light on icy worlds in our Solar System.

Droughts mean fewer flowers for bees

Date:

April 11, 2018

Source:

University of Exeter

Summary:

Bees could be at risk from climate change because more frequent droughts could cause plants to produce fewer flowers, new research shows.

Bees could be at risk from climate change because more frequent droughts could cause plants to produce fewer flowers, new research shows.

Climate change dials down Atlantic Ocean heating system

By Victoria GillScience correspondent, BBC News11 april 2018The circulation system plays a "significant role" in regulating the Earth's climate by distributing heat around the globe.

A significant shift in the system of ocean currents that helps keep parts of Europe warm could send temperatures in the UK lower, scientists have found.