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University study uncovers the secret lives of UK garden snail

By Guest PostAugust 25, 2013Environment, Natureangiostrongylus vasorum, dave hodgson, fatal lungworm parasite, fatal parasite, five vet practices, led lights, long grass, lungworm parasite, royal horticultural society, secret live, slugs, snails, time lapse photography, uk garden snail, university of exeter

Researchers track nocturnal snail activity for the first time, using LED lights and time-lapse photography. Snails were tracked over 72 hours, with researchers measuring their speed, distance travelled and exploration habits. Snail numbers have risen in recent years due to favourable breeding conditions. Slugs and snails can carry the lungworm parasite, Angiostrongylus vasorum, which is potentially fatal to dogs.

A ground-breaking study of UK snail behaviour using LED and UV light tracking has found that the nocturnal creatures can explore the length of an average British garden in just one night, reaching a top speed of one metre per hour. (more…)

Ship noise impairs feeding and heightens predation risk for crabs

By Guest PostJuly 23, 2013Environment, Natureandy radford, animal behaviour, behavior, bristol, crabs, ecologically critical effects, ecosystems, feeding, marine invertebrates, metabolic rate, play dead behavior, potential predators, predation risk, ship noise, shore crab, steve simpson, university of exeter

A study published in the journal Animal Behaviour found that the noise of passing ships disrupts feeding for the common shore crab.

Perhaps worse, the team from the Universities of Exeter and Bristol also found that when threatened, crabs took longer to retreat to shelter and lost their natural ‘play dead’ behaviour.

In coastal seas around the world noise caused by humans is a dominant feature, with construction and transportation fundamentally modifying ocean soundscapes.

Working with the same common shore crabs that children delight in catching on crablines in UK harbours, the team found ecologically-critical effects of ship noise-playback on behaviour. (more…)

Further destabilisation in the Middle East possible according to new report

By Guest PostJuly 10, 2013Politicsaleppo, arab gulf states, assad, China, crisis in egypt, damascus, destabilization, east west stand, Environment, ex cathedra manner, gareth stansfield, geopolitical flux, hizbullah, homs, interests of israel, iranian nuclear targets, Iraq, jordan, lebanon, levantine neighbours, michael clarke, middle east, neo imperialist, proximity to europe, proxy, proxy war, region wide war, revolutionary guard, rusi, russia, saudi arabia, sectarian hatreds, security council, security institute, south lebanon, strategy, sunni islamist militants, syrian civil war, turkey, un, university of exeter, western capitals

The crisis in Egypt is already having a negative effect on the Syrian civil war and contributing to further destabilisation of the wider Middle East according to a major new report.

Professor Gareth Stansfield from the University of Exeter’s Strategy and Security Institute and the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies wrote the report, for the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), an independent think-tank for defence and security which advises governments and the wider policy community.

‘The Remaking of Syria, Iraq and the Wider Middle East’ report suggests that important as events in Cairo are, they distract Western attention from the much bigger game being played out in Syria which significantly risks changing the Levant after a century of relative territorial stability. Professor Stansfield who is also an RUSI’s senior associate fellow analysed the impact the Syrian civil war could have on the future of the Middle East state system across the Levant. (more…)

Older males make better fathers says new research on beetles

By Guest PostJune 27, 2013Sciencebeetles, birds, blackbirds, hypothesis, infidelity, megan head, nerc, offspring, older males, paternal care, paternity, perception of paternity, robins, species, university of exeter, younger males

Researchers at the University of Exeter found that older male burying beetles make better fathers than their younger counterparts.

The study found that mature males, who had little chance of reproducing again, invested more effort in both mating and in parental care than younger males.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London – B, considered how the likelihood of paternity influenced the way that males cared for young. Older males were good fathers and looked after the young even when they were unsure whether the offspring were theirs. Younger males, who had a higher chance of reproducing again, tended to care less for offspring, particularly when they were uncertain of their paternity. (more…)

British butterfly desperate for warm weather this summer

By Guest PostJune 11, 2013Environment, Naturebritish butterfly, climate, computer modeling, fluctuation, habitats, jenny hodgson, jonathan bennie, microclimates, silver spotted skipper, summer, sussex wildlife trust, temperature, university of exeter, university of liverpool, university of york, variable climate, warm weather, warmer conditions, zoe davies

Butterflies are extremely sensitive to changes in temperature and new research has revealed that when summer weather turns bad the silver-spotted skipper battles for survival.

The butterfly, which previously faced extinction from habitat loss, is recovering following conservation efforts but the recent cool wet summers in England have almost stalled its progress.

A 27 year study by researchers at the University of Exeter in collaboration with the University of York, the University of Liverpool, Sussex Wildlife Trust, the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the charity Butterfly Conservation has been published in the journal Ecology Letters. The study estimated changes in temperature across a range of silver-spotted skipper habitats and found that localised fluctuations in temperature lead to extreme fluctuations in the butterfly population size and in the probability of the butterflies colonising new sites. (more…)

Female company directors are better judges of longer-term company performance

By Guest PostJune 7, 2013Economyaim stock exchanges, alan gregory, company performance, company value, corporate performance, director, emma jeanes, female company directors, gender, groundbreaking research, hostile environment, longer term, male director, michelle ryan, negative perceptions, rajesh tharyan, uk, university of exeter

Groundbreaking research by the University of Exeter Business School reveals that female company directors defy negative gender stereotyping by astutely valuing future company performance.

The stock market responds more positively to trades made by male directors in their own company stock than their female counterparts, new research reveals.

However, over the longer term (3 – 12 months), returns made by female directors’ on trades in their own company stock are at least equal to, or exceed, those of their male counterparts.

The study by the University of Exeter Business School analysed over 80,000 legal trades made by directors of companies listed on the London and AIM stock exchanges. It is commonly assumed that when a director buys shares in their own company, they believe it to be undervalued by the stock market and this frequently leads to investors buying more stocks in that company and pushing up the share price. (more…)

Astronomers find evidence of hungry young exoplanets

By Guest PostMay 22, 2013Scienceasteroids, astronomer, complex, disk material, distorted formation, evidence, Galaxy, hungry young exoplanets, mystery, planetary childhood, planets, stefan kraus, the mechanics, university of exeter, v1247 orionis, weird

While astronomers now know that exoplanets are exceedingly common in the galaxy, the mechanics by which they are formed aren’t well understood. Planetary childhood remains a mystery.

Young stars start out with a massive disk of gas and dust that over time, astronomers think, either diffuses away or coalesces into planets and asteroids.

“The speculation is that as planets form they clear out a region of gas and dust around them, forming a telltale ‘gap’ in the disk”, said Stefan Kraus, from Physics and Astronomy at the University of Exeter. (more…)

Bugs produce diesel on demand

By Guest PostApril 27, 2013Environmentbiofuel, bugs produce diesel, carbon dioxide emissions, cell membranes, diesel fuel, drop ins, e coli bacteria, global oil price, global requirement, oil molecules, professor john love, rob lee, shell, shell research ltd, synthetic fuel, Technology, transport fuel, university of exeter

It sounds like science fiction but a team from the University of Exeter, with support from Shell, has developed a method to make bacteria produce diesel on demand.

While the technology still faces many significant commercialisation challenges, the diesel, produced by special strains of E. coli bacteria, is almost identical to conventional diesel fuel.

This means that it does not need to be blended with petroleum products as is often required by biodiesels derived from plant oils. It also means that the diesel can be used with current supplies in existing infrastructure because engines, pipelines and tankers do not need to be modified. Biofuels with these characteristics are being termed ‘drop-ins’. (more…)

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