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Glow-in-the-Dark Millipede Says ‘Stay Away’

By Guest PostSeptember 28, 2011Nature, Scienceaequorea victoria, bioluminescent millipedes, charity hall, clay models, dan papaj, enzymatic reaction, genus motyxia, giant sequoia national monument in california, glowing and non glowing individuals, grasshopper mouse, green fluorescent protein, hypothesis, jellyfish, metalsmith, millipedes, motyxia, mountain regions in california, multi legged invertebrates, nocturnal predators, onychomys torridus, paul marek, santa monica mountains, southern sierra nevada mountains, tehachapi mountains, vegetarians, wendy moore

*The world’s only bioluminescent millipedes use their glow as a warning signal to nocturnal predators, a UA-led research team has discovered.*

As night falls in certain mountain regions in California, a strange breed of creepy crawlies emerges from the soil: millipedes that glow in the dark. The reason behind the glowing secret has stumped biologists until now.

Paul Marek, a research associate in the University of Arizona’s department of entomology and Center for Insect Science, and his team now provide the first evidence gained from field experiments of bioluminescence being used as a warning signal. They discovered that the nightly glow of millipedes belonging to the genus Motyxia helps the multi-legged invertebrates avoid attacks by predators. (more…)

Over the Hump: Ecologists Use Power of Network Science to Challenge Long-Held Theory

By Guest PostSeptember 26, 2011Nature, Sciencealpine tundra, british ecologist, bugle lily, ecologists, effects of environmental change on biodiversity, elizabeth borer, emperor new clothes, global sampling, grime unimodal pattern, habitats, henry gholz, hump shaped model, j philip grime, mt gilboa, national science foundation, peter adler, plant and animal species, productivity of the habitat, scientist, South Africa, utah state university

*Global sampling of 48 sites on five continents yields unprecedented data set*

For decades, ecologists have toiled to nail down principles explaining why some habitats have many more plant and animal species than others.

Much of this debate is focused on the idea that the number of species is determined by the productivity of the habitat.

Shouldn’t a patch of prairie contain a different number of species than an arid steppe or an alpine tundra? (more…)

Smells May Help Birds Identify Their Relatives

By Guest PostSeptember 25, 2011Nature, Sciencebirds, brookfield zoo, bryan d neff, chicago zoological society, convergent evolution, heather coffin, humboldt penguins, hunter college, jason watters, jill mateo, mark e hauber, monogamous pairs, penguins, penguins at zoo, potential mate, preen gland, spheniscus humboldti, university of chicago, university of western ontario, zoo

Birds may have a more highly developed sense of smell than researchers previously thought, contend scholars who have found that penguins may use smell to determine if they are related to a potential mate.

The research by the University of Chicago and the Chicago Zoological Society, which manages Brookfield Zoo, shows how related birds are able to recognize each other. The study, published Wednesday, Sept. 21 in the article, “Odor-based Recognition of Familiar and Related Conspecifics: A First Test Conducted on Captive Humboldt Penguins (Spheniscus humboldti),” in the journal PLoS ONE, could help conservationists design programs to help preserve endangered species.

“Smell is likely the primary mechanism for kin recognition to avoid inbreeding within the colony,” said Heather Coffin, lead author of the paper. (more…)

When Plants Go Polyploid

By Guest PostSeptember 15, 2011Natureanimal evolution, diploid lineages, evolutionary gamble, hereditary information, plant lineages, polyploid lineages, polyploidy

Plant lineages with multiple copies of their genetic information face higher extinction rates than their relatives, researchers report in Science magazine.

While duplication of hereditary information is a relatively rare event in animal evolution, it is common in plants. Potatoes, coffee, bananas, peanuts, tobacco, wheat, oats and strawberries, to name but a few, all carry multiple copies of their genetic material, in a condition called polyploidy. (more…)

New Video/Images of Walrus Haulout

By Guest PostSeptember 14, 2011Environment, Naturealaska, arctic basin, chukchi sea barrier beach, female walruses, human disturbance, icy cape, inupiaq community, native village of point lay, pacific walruses, point lay, radio tracking walruses, radio transmitters, sea ice, usgs alaska science center, walrus haulouts, walruses

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The USGS Alaska Science Center has released new high-resolution video of Pacific walruses hauling out near Point Lay, Alaska, in late August, 2011.

Also available on the USGS Alaska Science Center walrus website are animations of the walruses’ movements as tracked by radio transmitters, and FAQs on the ongoing walrus studies. (more…)

A Tale of (More Than) Two Butterflies

By Guest PostSeptember 14, 2011Nature, Scienceappalachian mountains, appalachian tiger, appalachian tiger swallowtail, battus philenor, canadian tiger swallowtail, canadian tigers, diversity of life on earth, eastern tiger, eastern tiger swallowtail, harvard university, hybrid speciation, krushnamegh kunte, larry gilbert, marcus kronforst, north american tiger swallowtail butterflies, p canadensis, p glaucus, papilio appalachiensis, pipevine swallowtail, poisonous butterfly, sam scheiner, tiger swallowtail butterfly, tom juenger, university of texas at austin

*Appalachian tiger swallowtail butterfly is hybrid of other swallowtails*

Flitting among the cool slopes of the Appalachian Mountains is a tiger swallowtail butterfly that evolved when two other species of swallowtails hybridized long ago.

It’s a rarity in the animal world, biologists have found.

They discovered that the Appalachian tiger swallowtail, Papilio appalachiensis, evolved from mixing between the Eastern tiger swallowtail, P. glaucus, and the Canadian tiger swallowtail, P. canadensis. (more…)

Are New England’s Iconic Maples at Risk?

By Guest PostSeptember 5, 2011Naturealb eradication, alb infestation, alb outbreak, asian longhorned beetle, longhorned beetle, maple trees

Invasive Asian longhorned beetle has potential for wide reach in region’s forests

Are new England’s iconic maple trees at risk? If a beetle has its way, the answer may be yes. (more…)

Fossil Discovery Represents New Milestone in Early Mammal Evolution

By Guest PostAugust 26, 2011Nature, Scienceancestors of mammals, carnegie mammalogist, carnegie museum of natural history, China, chong xi yuan, chuck lydeard, dna based methods of dating evolution, earliest known fossil of eutherians, eomaia, eutherian mammals, evolutionary hypotheses, fossil, fossil record, genetic data, john wible, juramaia sinensis, jurassic, jurassic mother from china, kangaroos, mammal evolution, marsupials, metatherians, molecular clock, monotremes, national science foundation, northeast china fossil, nsf, paleontologist, placental mammals, platypus, qiang ji, qing jin meng, shrew like mammal, zhe xi luo

*Northeast China fossil provides new information about earliest ancestors of today’s mammals*

A well-preserved fossil discovered in northeast China provides new information about the earliest ancestors of most of today’s mammal species–the placental mammals. (more…)

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