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Texas May Be Feeding its Red Drum Fish More Than They Need, Say Researchers

By Guest PostSeptember 24, 2013Scienceaustin, breeding season, capital breeders, climate change, cynthia faulk, effects of pollution, environmentally friendly, fuiman, lee fuiman, marianna grenadier, migratory patterns, natural population, port aransas, red drum fish, reproductive cycle, spawn, survival rate, university of texas

Austin, TEXAS — It’s not the chicken or the egg, but marine scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have answered a basic question about red drum fish and their eggs that may eventually help save the state of Texas a lot of money in hatcheries management and make fish farming more environmentally friendly.

Every year the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department spends millions of dollars breeding red drum, a popular game fish, releasing between 20 and 30 million hatchery-raised fingerlings into eight different bays and estuaries along the coast. In order to maximize the numbers that survive to adulthood, the practice has been to provide adult fish a diet rich in fatty acids for nine months before breeding season. During breeding season, in order to save money and resources, the diet is less rich. (more…)

Native Delaware: Parenting’s toll

By Guest PostNovember 20, 2012Scienceandrew hydrusko, bluebirds, breeding season, chris williams, coverdale farm preserve, delaware nature society, ian stewart, immune system, migratory birds, mike moore, tree swallows

Stewart studies birds to understand trade-offs between reproduction, immunity

Does parenting take a toll on the immune system?

If you’ve ever been the parent of a newborn who demanded to be fed every three to four hours, your gut instinct tells you the answer is an absolute, unequivocal yes.

University of Delaware post-doctoral researcher Ian Stewart is conducting research to answer this question a bit more scientifically. His subjects – tree swallows – make human parents look like slouches. Both the mother and father tree swallow feed their hatchlings every five minutes, 12 hours a day. (It should be noted, though, that their parenting gig is much shorter than ours — after 17 or 18 days the young leave the nest.) (more…)

Turtles’ Mating Habits Protect Against Effects of Climate Change

By Guest PostJanuary 27, 2012Environment, Natureannette broderick, baby turtle, breeding season, chelonia mydas, climate change, DNA, egg, global temperature, global warming, green turtle, health problem, inbreeding, kimberley stokes, lucy wright, marine turtle, mating habits, north africa, north cyprus society, northern cyprus, ocean, offspring, satellite tracking, temperature, turkey, university of exeter, university of lefke, warmer temperature

The mating habits of marine turtle may help protect them against the effects of climate change, according to new research led by the University.

Published on 25th January 2012 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study shows how mating patterns of a population of endangered green turtles may be helping them deal with the fact that global warming is leading to a disproportionate number of females being born.

The gender of baby turtles is determined by the temperature of the eggs during incubation, with warmer temperatures leading to more females being born. Higher average global temperatures mean that offspring from some populations are predominantly female. This is threatening the future of some populations and there are concerns that inbreeding within groups due to a lack of males will lead to health problems. (more…)

Tag Archives: breeding season

Texas May Be Feeding its Red Drum Fish More Than They Need, Say Researchers

Native Delaware: Parenting’s toll

Turtles’ Mating Habits Protect Against Effects of Climate Change