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Construction of New Rock Spawning Reefs Will Help Great Lakes Native Fish

By Guest PostMay 13, 2012Environment, Naturebelle isle, boat traffic, boulder, bruce manny, center of excellence, connecting channel, crevices, delta, detroit, detroit river, erie, fighting island, great lakes, huron erie, huron erie corridor, jennifer read, lake sturgeon, lake whitefish, lakes huron, michigan, michigan sea grant, middle channel, middle channel reefs, mooneye, native fish, northern madtom catfish, physical characteristics, reef project, river bottom, river redhorse sucker, rock spawning reefs, rock structure, sport fish, st clair river, U.S. Geological Survey, walleye

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The first of nine rock reefs is under construction in the St. Clair River delta northeast of Detroit. The goal of the project, which is led by Michigan Sea Grant, is to boost populations of lake sturgeon and other rare native fish by providing river-bottom rock structures where they can spawn.

The rock reefs are designed to assist several native species that are considered threatened or endangered in Michigan, including lake sturgeon, mooneye, the northern madtom catfish and the river redhorse sucker. Walleye, a popular sport fish, and commercially important lake whitefish should also benefit. (more…)

Ecosystem Effects of Biodiversity Loss Could Rival Impacts of Climate Change, Pollution

By Guest PostMay 10, 2012Environment, Natureacid deposition, air pollution, algae, bacteria, biodiversity loss, biological diversity, bradley cardinale, california, canada, climate change, david hooper, ecosystem, environmental change, environmental stress, environmental stressors, extinction, forests, fungi, global warming, henry gholz, impact, leslie gonzalez, nutrient pollution, oxygen, ozone pollution, pollution, san josé, serpentine grasslands, Sweden, united states, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Loss of biodiversity appears to impact ecosystems as much as climate change, pollution and other major forms of environmental stress, according to a new study from an international research team.

The study is the first comprehensive effort to directly compare the impacts of biological diversity loss to the anticipated effects of a host of other human-caused environmental changes.

The results highlight the need for stronger local, national and international efforts to protect biodiversity and the benefits it provides, according to the researchers, who are based at nine institutions in the United States, Canada and Sweden. (more…)

Biologists Turn Back the Clock to Understand Evolution of Sex Differences

By Guest PostMay 9, 2012Nature, Scienceabderrahman khila, antlers, battle, darwin, ehab abouheif, evolution, hooks, locke rowe, male guppies, mating, mcgill university, moose, peacocks, plumage, rheumatobates rileyi, rna interference, sex differences, sexes, traits in nature, tusks, university of toronto, walruses, water striders, wild colours

Battles of sexes shown to spur adaptive sex differences

Sex differences account for some of the most of the spectacular traits in nature: the wild colours of male guppies, the plumage of peacocks, tusks on walruses and antlers on moose. Sexual conflict – the battle between males and females over mating – is thought to be a particularly potent force in driving the evolution of traits that differ in males and females.

However, the genetic processes responsible for producing such traits are not well understood, nor how they evolved from their simpler less elaborate ancestral forms. We tend to assume that each tiny step in evolution is an advantage. But are they really? (more…)

Handful of Heavyweight Trees Per Acre Are Forest Champs

By Guest PostMay 5, 2012Natureandrew larson, biomass, carbon dioxide, dynamic process, fir, incense cedars, james freund, james lutz, little ice age, mark swanson, photosynthesis, plant tissue, sandra hines, sugar, temperate forest, trees, trunk, university of montana, university of washington, washington state university, yosemite national park

Big trees three or more feet in diameter accounted for nearly half the biomass measured at a Yosemite National Park site, yet represented only 1 percent of the trees growing there.

This means just a few towering white fir, sugar pine and incense cedars per acre at the Yosemite site are disproportionately responsible for photosynthesis, converting carbon dioxide into plant tissue and sequestering that carbon in the forest, sometimes for centuries, according to James Lutz, a University of Washington research scientist in environmental and forest sciences. He’s lead author of a paper on the largest quantitative study yet of the importance of big trees in temperate forests being published online May 2 on PLoS ONE. (more…)

Science Fair Winner Publishes New Study on Butterfly Foraging Behavior

By Guest PostMay 4, 2012Natureadrian duehl, agricultural fields, alexandra, alexandra sourakov, andrei sourakov, blue morpho, blue morpho butterfly, butterflies, butterfly, butterfly rainforest, clipper butterfly, ecology, electroantennography, evolutionary biology, fermented bananas, foraging behavior, gas chromatography, honey, insects, labial palpi, lepidopterist, mango, mass spectrometry, moths, pollinators, teenage daughter, university of florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida lepidopterist Andrei Sourakov has spent his life’s work studying moths and butterflies. But it was his teenage daughter, Alexandra, who led research on how color impacts butterflies’ feeding patterns.

The research shows different species exhibit unique foraging behaviors, and the study may be used to build more effective, species-specific synthetic lures for understanding pollinators, insects on which humans depend for sustaining many crops.

In a study appearing online in April in the journal Psyche, researchers used multi-colored landing pads and baits in the Florida Museum of Natural History’s McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity on the UF campus to determine that some butterflies use both sight and smell to locate food, while others rely primarily on smell. (more…)

Earbones Accurately Record a Fish’s Life Travels

By Guest PostMay 1, 2012Natureearbones of trout, fish movement, fish tracking techniques, lifetime movements, stream water, strontium isotopes

Studying the earbones of trout can reveal their lifetime movements in a large river system, according to a study released in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. (more…)

Researchers Give Long Look at Who Benefits From Nature Tourism

By Guest PostApril 28, 2012Environment, Naturebeauty, change, China, christine vogt, governmental official, guangming he, habitat management, junyan luo, kenneth frank, michigan state university, Nature, nature based tourism, panda preserve, social connection, southwestern china, tourist, wei liu, wolong nature reserve

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Using nature’s beauty as a tourist draw can boost conservation in China’s valued panda preserves, but it isn’t an automatic ticket out of poverty for the human inhabitants, a long-term study at Michigan State University shows.

The policy hitch: Often those who benefit most from nature-based tourism endeavors are people who already have resources. The truly impoverished have a harder time breaking into the tourism business. (more…)

Blood Samples Show Deadly Frog Fungus at Work in the Wild

By Guest PostApril 27, 2012Naturechytrid fungus, deadly dehydration, electrolyte balance, frog population, fungal infection, vance vredenburg, wild frogs, wildlife diseases

Pathogen leads to dehydration, other ill effects

The fungal infection that killed a record number of amphibians worldwide leads to deadly dehydration in frogs in the wild, according to results of a new study. (more…)

Category Archives: Nature