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Tracking Fish Through a Coral Reef Seascape

By Guest PostSeptember 4, 2012Environment, Naturecoastal seagrass, coastal wetland, coral reef, dream divers, ear bones, ehrenbergs snapper, fish, food web, functional connectivity, gas chromatography, isoscape, isotope signature, juvenile, kelton mcmahon, king abdullah, lutjanus ehrenbergii, mangrove habitat, marine environment, michael berument, migration, northern coast, nursery habitat, ocean, offshore island, offshore reef, otoliths, plasticity, record, red sea, reef ecosystem, reef fish, remediation, saudi arabia, scientist, simon thorrold, subtropical water, tree rings, tropical habitat, tropical seascape, university, whoi

Ear-bone ‘tree rings’ provide evidence of connectivity

Ocean scientists have long known that juvenile coral reef fishes use coastal seagrass and mangrove habitats as nurseries, later moving as adults onto coral reefs. But the fishes’ movements, and the connections between different tropical habitats, are much more complex than previously realized, according to a study published September 3 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings have important implications for management and protection of coral reefs and other marine environments.

A number of studies have demonstrated a strong relationship between the presence of coastal wetlands and offshore fish abundance and fisheries yield, but it has proved difficult to develop quantitative assessment of habitat use by fish or their movement among different habitats. “The rationale for this study,”says Simon Thorrold, a biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), “was to determine the relative importance of different nursery habitats to reef fishes that spend their adult lives on coral reefs but may spend at least part of their juvenile residency elsewhere.” (more…)

iPods in Classroom can Boost Academic Time and Resources for English Language Learners

By Guest PostSeptember 4, 2012Education, Technologyacademic advantage, austin, calculator, cesar navarrete, classroom, educational purpose, ells, english language, geographic area, internet, ipod touches, learner, learning resource, map, media creation, middle school, min liu, mobile device, multimedia, online translators, qualitative, quantitative data, sociocultural capital, still camera, texas, tool, university, video camera, voice recorder

AUSTIN, Texas — Providing English language learners (ELLs) with iPod Touches, or similar handheld devices, can increase learning time and motivation, according to a study from The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Education.

To find out how ELL students and teachers would use iPods and how they would feel about using the devices for educational purposes, Min Liu, a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, examined elementary, middle and high school classes in a Central Texas school district. She found the devices might be useful tools in closing the achievement gap between ELLs and their English-speaking peers. Qualitative and quantitative data gathered during the 2010-12 school years revealed that students enjoyed educational benefits from the devices’ mobility, flexibility, connectivity and multimedia capabilities.

College of Education graduate students Cesar Navarrete, Erin Maradiegue and Jennifer Wivagg assisted Liu in this study. (more…)

Researchers Share Surprising Discovery about Coral Reef Ecology

By Guest PostSeptember 4, 2012Environment, Natureacidification, algae, algal symbionts, american samoa, climate change, coastal development, coral reef, coral species, coral tissue, david garrison, DNA, ecology, endosymbionts, environment disturbance, environmental change, environmental stress, french polynesia, functional ecosystem, future, generalists, global stressors, hawaii, himb, hollie putnam, host, manoa, moorea, nsf, ocean acidification, photosynthesis, pollution, prediction, reef corals, ruth gates, skeletal growth, skeletons, soest, stresss, symbiodinium, taiwan, temperatures, theory, threat, tissue sample

Researchers at the UH Manoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) made a discovery that challenges a major theory in the field of coral reef ecology.

The general assumption has been that the more flexible corals are, regarding which species of single-celled algae (Symbiodinium) they host in coral tissues, the greater ability corals will have to survive environmental stress. In their paper published August 29, 2012, however, scientists at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) at SOEST and colleagues documented that the more flexible corals are, the more sensitive to environment disturbances they are. (more…)

Storm-chasing Spacecraft

By Guest PostSeptember 3, 2012Scienceintensity of radiation, radiation belt, radiation belt particles, soviet nuclear test, van allen belts

A U-led experiment flies on a NASA mission to Earth’s radiation belts

The story goes that when Earth’s Van Allen Radiation Belts were first discovered, scientists were so amazed by the intensity of radiation, they thought they’d stumbled onto a Soviet nuclear test. (more…)

Tigers Take the Night Shift to Coexist with People

By Guest PostSeptember 3, 2012Naturebinoj shresthaof, camera trap, carnivore, chitwan, chitwan tiger, coexist, human, jack liu, jhamak karkiof, jianguo, michigan state university, motion detecting, NASA, national park, Nature, neil carter, nepal, night shift, road, tiger, trail

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Tigers aren’t known for being accommodating, but a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that the carnivores in Nepal are taking the night shift to better coexist with humans.

The revelation that tigers and people are sharing exactly the same space – the same roads and trails – of Chitwan National Park flies in the face of long-held convictions in conservation circles. It also underscores how successful conservation efforts need sciences that takes into account both nature and humans.

“As our planet becomes more crowded, we need to find creative solutions that consider both human and natural systems,” said Jianguo “Jack” Liu, the director of the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability at Michigan State University. “Sustainability can be achieved if we have a good understanding of the complicated connections between both worlds. We’ve found something very interesting is happening in Nepal that holds promise for both humans and nature to thrive.” (more…)

African-American Males Most Likely to Lose Academic Scholarships, MU Study Finds

By Guest PostSeptember 3, 2012Culture, Education, Generalacademic success, african american, charles menifield, culture, dormitories, Environment, holistic approach, hope scholarships, male, missouri, retention rate, scholarship, tennessee residents, university

MU researcher recommends a “holistic” approach to student scholarship retention

COLUMBIA, Mo. — College student retention and low graduation rates are the most significant problems associated with state-provided financial aid. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that African-American males are the most likely to lose state lottery-funded scholarships with academic stipulations. Charles Menifield, a professor in the Truman School of Public Affairs at MU, found that more than 50 percent of African-American males lost state-funded scholarships over the course of a four-year academic career.

“Race turns out to be one of the best predictors of scholarship retention rates,” Menifield said. “This research strongly suggests that colleges and universities that desire to maintain diversity should at minimum target minority students, particularly African-American males, and determine how best to improve academic success.” (more…)

The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate

By Guest PostSeptember 3, 2012Entertainmentdragon gate, dragon inn, flying swords

Synopsis

Three years after the disappearance of the enigmatic innkeeper Jade and the massive fire that consumed the Inn, a new Dragon Inn has risen from the ashes, staffed by a band of marauders. Masquerading as law-abiding citizens by day, they use the cover of night to continue their true calling as fortune hunters. (more…)

NASA, Texas Astronomers Find First Multi-Planet System Around a Binary Star

By Guest PostSeptember 3, 2012Scienceaustin, bill cochran, binary star, caroline caldwell, faint star, giant magellan telescope, habitable zone, harlan j smith, het, hobby eberly telescope, jerome orosz, kepler 47, kepler mission, largest telescope, m dwarf star, mcdonald observatory, michael endl, multi planet, NASA, one system, planet, primary star, san diego, secondary star, solar system, space telescope, state university, stellar eclipse, sun, tatooine, telescope, texas, transit, university, west texas, william welsh, world

FORT DAVIS, Texas — NASA’s Kepler mission has found the first multi-planet solar system orbiting a binary star, characterized in large part by University of Texas at Austin astronomers using two telescopes at the university’s McDonald Observatory in West Texas. The finding, which proves that whole planetary systems can form in a disk around a binary star, is published in today’s issue of the journal Science.

“It’s Tatooine, right?” said McDonald Observatory astronomer Michael Endl. “But this was not shown in Star Wars,” he said, referring to the periodic changes in the amount of daylight falling on a planet with two suns. Measurements of the star’s orbits showed that daylight on the planets would vary by a large margin over the 7.4-Earth-day period as the two stars completed their mutual orbits, each moving closer to, then farther from, the planets (which are themselves moving). (more…)

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