Nature – Page 89 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

UF Scientists Find State Record 87 Eggs In Largest Python From Everglades

By Guest PostAugust 18, 2012Environment, Naturealligator, anatomy, burmese python, claudia grant, egg, everglades, exotic snake, female snake, florida, kenneth krysko, leroy nunez, nicholas coutu, ornithologist, predator, reproductive capability, skip snow, snake, south florida, southeast asia, university of florida, wildlife management

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida researchers curating a 17-foot-7-inch Burmese python, the largest found in Florida, discovered 87 eggs in the snake, also a state record.

Scientists at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus examined the internal anatomy of the 164.5-pound snake Friday. The animal was brought to the Florida Museum from Everglades National Park as part of a long-term project with the U.S. Department of the Interior to research methods for managing the state’s invasive Burmese python problem. Following scientific investigation, the snake will be mounted for exhibition at the museum for about five years, and then returned for exhibition at Everglades National Park. (more…)

Study Proves that One Extinction Leads to Another

By Guest PostAugust 15, 2012Natureafrican plains, aphids, carnivore, ecosystem, extinction, food web, frank van veen, insects, parasitic wasps, predatory fish, predatory species, ripple effect, university of exeter

When a carnivore becomes extinct, other predatory species could soon follow, according to new research.

Scientists have previously put forward this theory, but a University of Exeter team has now carried out the first experiment to prove it.

Published today (15 August 2012) in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, the study shows how the demise of one carnivore species can indirectly cause another to become extinct. The University of Exeter team believes any extinction can create a ripple effect across a food web, with far-reaching consequences for many other animals. (more…)

Male Sandpipers That Sleep Less Have More Sex

By Guest PostAugust 14, 2012Nature, Scienceamanda watson, arctic circle, electroencephalogram, electromyogram datalogger, female, Germany, hypothesis, male sandpipers, mating, mating season, max planck institute, more sex, offspring, seewiesen, sleep deprivation, sleep less, stress

A study conducted by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen, Germany has shown that the male members of a sandpiper population who spend less time sleeping are more successful at mating with females and have more offspring.

The sandpiper mating season takes place during the summer in the Arctic Circle, when the sun practically never goes down. Males of the species compete to impress females by fighting with each other, defending territory, and flying over the females while making a hooting sound. (more…)

Global Bullfrog Trade Spreads Deadly Amphibian Fungus Worldwide

By Guest PostAugust 14, 2012Natureamphibian fungus, bullfrog farming, bullfrog trade, chytrid fungus, hybridization hypothesis, michigan bullfrog, sex in chytrid

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— The global trade in bullfrogs, which are farmed as a food source in South America and elsewhere, is spreading a deadly fungus that is contributing to the decline of amphibians worldwide, according to a University of Michigan biologist and his colleagues. (more…)

Hyenas that Think Outside the Box Solve Problems Faster

By Guest PostAugust 9, 2012Natureproblem solving, puzzle box, spotted hyenas, wild hyenas

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Innovative problem solving requires trying many different solutions. That’s true for humans, and now Michigan State University researchers show that it’s true for hyenas, too. (more…)

Fish-tailing Robots

By Guest PostAugust 9, 2012Environment, Naturealgorithm, asian carp, common carp, environmental parameter, fish behavior, fish tailing robots, gps position, internet, invasive fish, josh vander hook, lakes, minneapolis, oregon, patrick plonski, peter sorensen, pratap tokekar, radiotagged carp, robotic boats, staring lake, Technology, track, trash fish, university of minnesota, volkan isler

Robotic boats track radio-tagged common carp in area lakes

As a stiff breeze sweeps across Staring Lake in suburban Minneapolis, a five-foot, antenna-sporting robotic boat plies the water in a back-and-forth pattern.

On the shore, Volkan Isler follows the action as two graduate research assistants launch a second boat.

Today Isler, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Minnesota, and graduate students Pratap Tokekar and Josh Vander Hook have come to the lake to test the newer of the boats. Their mission: developing a new technology to track invasive fish. (more…)

Yale Study Reveals New Family Tree for Ray-Finned Fish

By Guest PostAugust 7, 2012Natureage of fishes, alex dornburg, bass, bonefishes, bonytongue fish, devonian period, dinosaurs, eels, evolutionary birthday, family tree, fishes, fossil record, freshwater, genetic analysis, kristen l kuhn, lineages of fish, mammals, ray finned fish, ron i eytan, salmon, second age, teleost fish, teleost lineages, teleosts, thomas near, tropical, tuna, yale university

The most common lineages of fish found today in oceans, lakes, and rivers evolved about the same time as mammals and birds, a new Yale University-led study shows.

The comparative genetic analysis of more than 200 fish species, reported the week of Aug. 6 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, gave an earlier than expected evolutionary birthday to well-known teleost — or ray-finned — fish such as salmon, bass, or tuna.

The analysis also shows that the very earliest lineages of living teleost fish were eels and bonefishes, not tropical freshwater bonytongue fish as some scientists had proposed. (more…)

Predatory Beetles Eavesdrop on Ants’ Chemical Conversations to Find Best Egg-Laying Sites

By Guest PostAugust 6, 2012Naturealarm pheromones, alarm signal, ant eating spiders, ants, azteca ants, azteca instabilis ants, azteca worker ants, catatonic state, chemical, chiapas, coffee bushes, coffee pest, coffee plantation, coffee plants, esteli soto jimenez, fly larvae, green coffee scale, heidi liere, honeydew, hsun yi hsieh, ivette perfecto, lady beetles, Mexico, Nature, overheard conversation, parasitic flies, pest control strategies, phorid alert pheromone, phorid flies, predatory beetles, predatory lady beetle

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Predatory beetles can detect the unique alarm signal released by ants that are under attack by parasitic flies, and the beetles use those overheard conversations to guide their search for safe egg-laying sites on coffee bushes.

Azteca instabilis ants patrol coffee bushes and emit chemical alarm signals when they’re under attack by phorid flies. In an article published online July 27 in the journal Ecology and Evolution, University of Michigan researchers and their colleagues show that pregnant lady beetles intercept the ants’ alarm pheromones, which let the beetles know that it’s safe to deposit their eggs. (more…)

Category Archives: Nature