and how trees and birds react. Scienceinsider Nature News
#Has The Reintroduction Of Wolves Really Saved Yellowstone? The story goes something like this: Once upon a time we exterminated the wolves from the Rocky mountain West including the part that would become Yellowstone national park.
Another photo depicts a dead albatross on Midway Island in the Pacific its open stomach revealing hundreds of brightly colored plastic bits.
If 1000 pigeons were bred together in a cage for 10000 years their number not being allowed to increase by chance killing then from mutual intercrossing no varieties would arise;
but if each pigeon were a self-fertilising hermaphrodite a multitude of varieties would arise.
Q. E d. If the number of 1000 pigeons were prevented increasing not by chance killing but by say all the shorter-beaked birds being killed then the whole body would come to have longer beaks.
Do you agree? Thirdly if 1000 pigeons were kept in a hot country and another 1000 in a cold country and fed on different food and confined in different-size aviary
and kept constant in number by chance killing then I should expect as rather probable that after 10000 years the two bodies would differ slightly in size colour and perhaps other trifling characters;
this I should call the direct action of physical conditions. By this action I wish to imply that the innate vital forces are led somehow to act rather differently in the two cases
I cannot even grapple with the idea even with races of dogs cattle pigeons or fowls;
I see plainly that Welwitschia will be a case of Barnacles. I have another plant to beg
I hear has been lecturing on birds; and admits that all have descended from one and advances as his own idea that the oceanic wingless birds have lost their wings by gradual disuse.
He never alludes to me or only with bitter sneers and coupled with Buffon and the Vestiges.
These results indicate a shift from the standard bird knee-driven bipedal locomotion to a more hip-driven locomotion typical of crocodilians (the only other extant archosaur group) mammals
and hypothetically bipedal non-avian dinosaurs the researchers write in the study. So although we don't quite have any dinosaurs to double check the scientists are pretty sure this is a fair representation of how dinos strolled.
In 2011 California-based Aerovironment demoed its Nano Hummingbird. The aircraft has a 16.5-centimeter wingspan;
The audible result is the hum of a hummingbird or buzz of a bee says Jayant Ratti Techject s president.
Unlike the much larger Instanteye Nano Hummingbird and Dragonfly drones Robobees must be connected to an external power source.
But what we discovered was flapping-wing birds and insects are suited perfectly for environments where you have dynamic obstructions he trees are moving the branches are moving.
and why birds can't taste them and we even know the gene that could turn it on and off Van Deynze tells Popular Science.
Others like marsh-nesting seaside sparrows or the honey bees that produce mangrove honey rely on one or the other.
The researchers are studying effects on coastal insects and birds; whether the change will affect coastal ecosystems'ability to store carbon;
and/or endangered species like the Canary Island date palm or the Cretan date palm to the identification of hybrids having an ornamental value'.
The proposed expansion--roughly 2000 additional square miles--would encompass the largest upwelling site in North america better protecting the nutrient-rich waters that support everything from reefs and seabird colonies to endangered whales.
Scientists at the Academy dove into their collections to discover 24 other new species that live in the world's oceans.
Along with the sea fan are three new species of worm eels three colorful gobies three nudibanchs two snappers two now-extinct species of sand dollars corals barnacles and two
#Evolution of plumage patterns in male and female birdsresearch published today looks at the evolutionary pathways to differences in bird plumage patterns between males
and females--and concludes that birds are able to adapt their appearance with remarkable ease.
Ducks geese and swans are waterfowl an order known to scientists as Anseriformes. Hens pheasants partridges and turkeys are game-birds (Galliformes.
Both orders are famous not just for their flesh but also for their striking and elaborate plumages
Male and female mallards look so different that for many years they were thought to be different species. In other members of the same orders there is little apparent difference in the plumage of males and females.
and differences in plumage in almost 300 members of the Anseriformes and Galiformes orders --and focuses on patterning between male and female birds rather than colour.
She said: The colour of plumage has attracted much research interest but the exquisite patterns of bird plumage such as the spots of the guinea fowl and the barred patterns of ducks and turkeys to just name a few have received much less attention.
Since the 1980s differences in the appearances of male and female birds have been seen through a prism of genetic correlation.
In other words it was thought that female birds may have evolved similar patterning to males due to common genes but that female patterns would be lost subsequently as it is not beneficial.
It was argued that male birds developed their spectacular colours and elaborate patterning as a result of their mating patterns--they used their plumage to compete for
and attract females. On the other hand female birds needed to blend into their surroundings in order to nest safely and protect their young--so they became drab and dull to protect themselves
and their young from predators said Gluckman. My research looked at the plumage patterns of male and female birds on a separate and equal basis
--and then went on to identify similarities and differences between them. By tracing the evolutionary pathways in the dimorphism of 288 species of waterfowl and gamebirds
I reconstructed the evolutionary history of plumage pattern sexual dimorphism which allowed me to demonstrate that plumage patterns in females are not a result of genetic correlation.
and female birds have the capacity to change between different types of patterns. What's interesting is to consider what are the forces driving these changes in male and female plumage patterns
and/or whether they have a signalling function between birds of different sexes or within the same sex.
In her study of patterning Gluckman looked at the variations between the sexes of the same species and across species in order to build a picture of the pathways to similarity and differences between male and female bird plumage patterns.
Birds exhibit a fabulous number of variations and combinations of these visual patterns in females as well as males.
By emphasising similarities as well as differences in plumage patterns between male and female birds rather than
I found that sexual dimorphism in the plumage pattern of birds is nuanced highly and that there can be multiple types of sexual dimorphism.
In addition the plumage patterns of birds seem to transition easily between different types of dimorphism
if native bark-foraging birds including woodpeckers and nuthatches were feeding on the emerald ash borer.
They hoped that unlike other exotic invasive species which run amok in new regions because of the lack of predators to keep them in check the emerald ash borer might meet its match in native predators--bark foraging birds like the woodpecker and nuthatch.
This kind of bio-control would be as or perhaps more efficient than other methods to slow the spread of this pest said Flower.
the woodpeckers alter their behavior in a way that allows them to find emerald ash borers more efficiently
and woodpecker activity in the area said Christopher Whelan an avian ecologist with the Illinois Natural history Survey UIC adjunct assistant professor of biology
and painted all the holes they found in the bark of each tree--a different color each for large round woodpecker holes for the characteristic crescent-shaped holes mature emerald ash borers
and after the bark was stripped the students could identify woodpecker holes that penetrated into emerald ash borer galleries
This was looking at woodpecker foraging at a fine tree-by-tree scale said Flower.
Their results proved that woodpeckers were indeed choosing to prey on emerald ash borers--eating 85 percent of the emerald ash borer in an infested tree.
the numbers of the predator in this case woodpeckers and other bark foraging birds increase either because they were moving into the area
--which showed that the numbers of three woodpecker species and the white-breasted nuthatch the important bark foraging birds in this region increased as the emerald ash borer increased.
But that study examined the bird population response and didn't tell you what the birds were doing there said Flower.
With the numerical response they found and the functional response we found we have really powerful evidence of the potential of the woodpeckers
and the nuthatch to have an impact on the population of the emerald ash borer said Whelan.
Very little is known about emerald ash borer habits in its native environment its natural predators
or how its population is controlled said Flower. Slowing its course may give researchers time to learn more about how it can be controlled.
Woodpeckers won't save a tree once it's infested but they may save the forest.
The research suggests that the woodpeckers are likely slowing the spread of emerald ash borer.
Woodpeckers may not be able to snuff them out but they may be able to control them said Whelan.
and hawks says Varner. Few herbivores consume moss because it's so nutritionally deficient. The pikas in our study actually set a new record for moss in a mammal's diet:
Dr Simon Gosling from the School of Geography at The University of Nottingham co-authored four papers in this unique global collaboration.
For the project--'Intersectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP)'-Dr Gosling contributed simulations of global river flows to help understand how climate change might impact on global droughts water scarcity and river flooding.
Dr Gosling said: This research and the feature in PNAS highlights what could happen across several sectors
Another paper co-authored by Dr Gosling shows that without reductions in global greenhouse-gas emissions 40 per cent more people are likely to be at risk of absolute water scarcity than would be the case without climate change.
Dr Gosling said: The global-level results are concerning but they hide important regional variations.
Dr Gosling said: More water under climate change is not necessarily always a good thing.
Dr Gosling's 23-volume report Climate: observations projections and impacts commissioned by the Department of energy and Climate Change (DECC) which he jointly led with the UK Met Office addressed an urgent international need for scientific evidence on the impact of climate change to be presented in a consistent format
and wetlands are required certainly simply to ensure healthy populations of birds like the stone curlew as well as to sustain a wide range of endangered plants.
or Triceratops. Of course it's hard to tell what that cocks comb might have done for the duck-billed dinosaurs.
In roosters and some other birds bright red crests are a way to get the girls.
Two of the species feed primarily on the blood of birds and one--the common vampire bat D. rotundus--prefers mammals especially livestock.
#Bird is the word--plus some side dish science! While the word thanks is included in our country's favorite holiday's name we all know the real star of the day is the food.
#¢An organic turkey simply means that the bird has met the standards for USDA Organic certification including an organic diet
#¢Wild turkeys are birds that were domesticated not or fed by humans--they're essentially hunted for the meal.
In contrast free range turkeys are birds that are confined not to a cage but were allowed to roam and forage.
Plus in our sites it is dispersed bird which means it gets around and is in fact moving into the sites at a frightening rate.
The drawings depict an assemblage of animals including armadillos deer large cats birds and reptiles as well as humanlike figures and geometric symbols.
and sharing this knowledge with others are ways to action said Ernest Hawk M d. vice president of cancer prevention and population sciences at MD Anderson.
As part of MD Anderson's Moon shot program to end cancer Hawk and other experts have developed a comprehensive plan that addresses the burden of tobacco use in institutions communities states and nations.
and community-based services that MD Anderson can lead to end tobacco at the institutional local regional state national and international levels Hawk said.
In the Viewpoint piece Williams along with Jeffrey G. Willet Phd from Kansas Health Foundation and Gregory Miller MD MBA from the New york state Office of Mental health underscore the benefits to patients noting that collaborative
#Early bird catches the worm--for dinnerbirds such as great and blue tits scout for food in the morning
but only return to eat it in late afternoon to maximize their chances of evading predators in the day without starving to death overnight Oxford university research has found.
This'early bird'strategy was revealed by a team studying the winter foraging behaviour of birds in Wytham Woods near Oxford (UK).
) The researchers fitted over 2000 birds with tiny PIT radio tags. They then used 101 feeders
and captured the exact time individual birds found each feeder. By moving 36 of these feeders around the forest throughout the day and recording the results the team showed that birds gathered information about new food sources during the morning
so that they can then eat it later in the day. The birds studied were a mixture of great tits (Parus major) blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) marsh tits (Poecile palustris) coal tits (Periparus ater) and nuthatches (Sitta europaea.
A report of the research is published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters this week.'
'Birds have to store body-fat to avoid starving during the cold winter nights but this can make them slower
'So there is a trade-off where birds need to remain lean enough in order to'outrun'their predators
or at least the next slowest bird during the day but also store enough fat to survive each night.'
when the predation risk appears high birds delay putting on fat until late in the day.
The researchers wanted to test the idea that instead of simply'idly waiting'until the afternoon birds were actively seeking out new sources of food to work out where their next meal was coming from.'
'We used new tracking technologies to investigate how great tits blue tits and other common garden birds balance the competing risks of predation
and starvation'said Damien Farine.''Our results show that these birds display very different patterns of food discovery in the morning and afternoon;
very few new food sources were found during the afternoon whereas nearly every new food source that we put out during the morning was discovered quickly.
It supports the idea of an'early bird'strategy of scouting for food early on so that they can return to feast a couple of hours before dusk in preparation for a long winter's night.'
'Winter is a tough time for small garden birds as not only is there less natural food available
The short days and long cold nights mean that small birds can lose around 10%of their body weight over a single night
'Because small birds can't reproduce without surviving the winter they have evolved a complex set of behaviours that enables them to maximise their chance of both surviving predators
and birds including some of the most charismatic species in existence like tigers. Many of these species are exceedingly good at spotting
Israel Finkelstein and Dr. Meirav Meiri of Tel aviv University's Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near east Civilizations together with Dr. Lidar Sapir-Hen from the same department and Dr
and returned to her family the other girl ducks were laying eggs so she did the same.
As well as helping to feed these birds YPC could partially replace the fish meal used on commercial fish farms.
Phenology is the study of seasonal life cycle events such as bird and butterfly migrations seed-setting by plants and the emergence of animals--including ants--from winter dormancy.
Madidi National park alone contains 11 percent of the world's birds more than 200 species of mammals 300 types of fish and 12000 plant varieties.
Dracaena kaweesakii is a relative of the beautiful Canary Island dragon tree Dracaena draco. It is an ecologically important species found only on limestone hills
and DDE contribute to eggshell thinning in several bird species and are toxic to fish shellfish and other organisms.
Although a connection hasn't been made definitively heavy flows of nutrient-rich freshwater into the estuaries are suspected in die offs of eelgrass manatees and pelicans;
--and genomic (DNA) data from a number of species of ants bees and wasps including bradynobaenid wasps a cuckoo wasp a spider wasp a scoliid wasp a mud dauber wasp a tiphiid wasp
When birds and small mammals feed on the fruit they subsequently excrete the indigestible seeds elsewhere
For example fragmentation reduces the availability of interior forest habitat that is preferred by many bird species. There are also a number of large predators such as big cats like the tiger
and modeling it in the U s. To better understand UAH graduate student Zirnstein's work you first need to think of Voyager 1 as more like a mole than a hawk best at sensing only its immediate surroundings.
It's the IBEX satellite that's the hawk mapping the whole of space from its Earth orbit based on energetic neutral particles that stream in to it from outer space.
which contains an estimated one percent of the world's biodiversity including 20 lemur species hundreds of species of birds
'For biodiversity simple measures such as setting artificial nest boxes for bats and birds may if guided by research help bring some species back to the numbers found in unlogged areas'he said.
which are more acutely toxic to birds and mammals with uses that include home insect control insect-repellant clothing dog and cat flea shampoos mosquito control and agriculture.
A profusion of tree and plant species as well as one third of Peru's mammal bird and frog species make their home in these perennially wet regions located along the eastern slopes of the Andes mountains.
#Influenza virus in wild birds in Norwayducks and gulls are the natural hosts of Influenza a virus.
Ragnhild Tønnessen's Phd research project has characterised Influenza a viruses in gulls and ducks in Norway.
Wild birds particularly ducks and gulls are the natural hosts for Influenza a viruses which can cause disease in animals and humans.
of which the majority have been found in wild birds. Most subtypes of Influenza a virus cause subclinical infections in wild birds.
Infections in domestic chickens most commonly result in mild disease. In rare cases if introduced from wild birds to poultry some viruses of the H5
and H7 subtypes mutate and become highly pathogenic. One example of this is the highly pathogenic H5n1 virus in Southeast asia known to cause#oebird flu#.
#Due to the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus subtype H5n1 in Southeast asia a programme to monitor influenza viruses in wild birds in Norway was initiated in 2005.
A large number of samples gathered by hunters from ducks and gulls were analysed at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute.
Samples collected from Rogaland County in the Southwest of Norway during the hunting seasons (August-December) of 2005-2007 and 2009-2010 were studied.
and that the virus occurrence was higher in dabbling ducks than in gulls. The virus prevalence was lowest in December.
but not the highly pathogenic H5n1 virus. The complete genetic material from a total of five influenza viruses from mallard and common gull were sequenced and characterized.
The results showed that the genes of the Norwegian viruses resembled the genes found in influenza viruses from other wild birds in Europe.
Due to limited overlap between the routes used by migratory birds in Eurasia and America influenza viruses with different genetic material have developed between these two continents.
Tønnessen studied the role that gulls play in the transfer of virus genes between these two continents.
Genes from American avian influenza viruses were detected not in the European gull viruses studied. However within avian influenza viruses from Eurasia she found that virus genes were exchanged between influenza viruses typically found in gulls and ducks respectively.
During the breeding seasons of 2008 and 2009 Tønnessen studied the occurrence of influenza virus in the black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) at Hornã¸ya in Finnmark in Northern Norway.
Low amounts of influenza virus were detected in 5-15%of the samples from adult kittiwakes
and she discovered that more than 70%of the adult birds had developed antibodies against Influenza a virus. The majority of the kittiwakes had antibodies against an influenza virus subtype typically found in gulls namely H16.
Ducks can become infected with influenza virus through consumption of surface water contaminated with faeces shed by virus infected birds.
Most subtypes of influenza virus from ducks can retain their infectivity in water over long periods of time.
Experiments performed by Tønnessen showed that influenza virus subtypes primarily found in gulls (i e.
H13 and H16) can also remain infectious in water for several months under different salinity and temperature conditions.
To assess if a typical influenza virus subtype from gull can infect chickens Tønnessen inoculated chickens with an H16n3 virus obtained from herring gull.
Influenza virus was detected in the oropharynx of 2 of the 19 virus inoculated chickens and specific antibodies against H16 were found in the same two chickens.
These results suggest that H16n3 virus from gull can cause a limited infection in chickens.
and H16 subtypes primarily infect gulls Tønnessen examined whether the internal proteins of these viruses have particular signatures (amino acid composition) possibly related to host adaptation.
Ragnhild Tønnessen defended her doctoral research on 27th august 2013 at the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science with a thesis entitled Epidemiology and Host Adaptation of Influenza a viruses in Gulls#.
#Pest-eating birds mean money for coffee growersthis is the first time scientists have assigned a monetary value to the pest-control benefits rainforest birds can provide to agriculture.
In recent years Stanford biologists have found that coffee growers in Costa rica bolster bird biodiversity by leaving patches of their plantations as untouched rainforest.
The latest finding from these researchers suggests that the birds are returning the favor to farmers by eating an aggressive coffee bean pest the borer beetle thereby improving coffee bean yields by hundreds of dollars per hectare.
and thus a greater biodiversity of insect-eating birds fared better under attack from the insects.
A'not-so-glamorous'experimentto quantify the benefit birds provide to plantations the researchers first calculated coffee bean yield--the amount of healthy beetle-free beans that could be harvested--of infected plants that were housed in bird-proof cages
versus yield from infected plants in the open where birds were eating the beetles. Next they needed to confirm
which species of birds were eating the beetles and whether the birds required forest to survive.
This required a more unorthodox approach. We had the not-so-glamorous task of collecting the birds'poop
and then taking it back to Stanford and looking through the DNA within it to learn which birds were the pest preventers Karp said.
Five species of birds contributed to cutting infestation rates in half and these birds were more abundant on farms featuring more forests.
Depending on the season the birds provide $75 to $310 increases in yield per hectare of farmland Karp said.
The birds'activity could become even more valuable if the beetle infestation worsens. The scientists found that the closer the forests were to the farms the greater benefit the birds provided.
Specifically smaller stands of trees--roughly the size of a few football fields--situated throughout crop fields provided better levels of beetle protection than the much larger forest preserves set on the outskirts of farms.
By differentiating the financial gains of different conservation strategies--large but distant preserves versus small local stands of trees--Karp thinks the study could provide a framework for introducing similar efforts in agricultural zones around the world.
This work suggests that it might be economically advantageous to not farm in certain areas of a plantation Karp said.
In the 1970s red spruce was the forest equivalent of a canary in the coal mine signaling that acid rain was damaging forests
as a result of winter injury U s. Forest Service and University of Vermont scientists came up with a surprising result--three decades later the canary is feeling much better.
while other species that rely on dispersal by birds or wind first arrived a couple of thousand years later.
In fact there are probably as many beetle species living in dung as there are bird species on this planet.
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