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Lionfish Invasion

By Guest PostFebruary 9, 2013Environment, Natureadam marsh, biological dynamics, caribbean, cayman islands, coral reef habitats, coral reef systems, coral reefs, diversity, economic threat, ecosystem, environmental, exotic lionfish, florida waters, gainesville, government permission, indo-pacific, invasive species, lionfish invasion, little cayman, mark moline, mark warner, native habitats, neil van niekerk, new york, overfishing and pollution, reducing biodiversity, reef dwellers, reef environment, shrimp, smsp, tom frazer, university of florida, venomous barbs, young lionfish

Invasive species among marine science subjects in Cayman Islands study abroad program

With a spiky fringe of venomous barbs and bold brown-and-white stripes, the exotic lionfish invaded Florida waters several decades ago and expanded its range widely from the Caribbean to New York. Native to the Indo-Pacific, the invasive species has no natural predators in this part of the world and readily feasts on small fish and shrimp.

UD students have the opportunity to observe these intruders — up-close and underwater — in a new study abroad program offered in the Cayman Islands through the School of Marine Science and Policy (SMSP). (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…)

Evolution of Earliest Horses Driven by Climate Change

By Guest PostFebruary 24, 2012Environment, Nature, Scienceaaron wood, atmosphere, bighorn basin, body size, cabin fork area, carbon, carbon dioxide, cause and effect, climate model, clydesdale, concentration, doug boyer, dwarfing phenomenon, earliest horse, evolution, florida museum of natural history, fossil, geochemical analysis, global temperature, h richard lane, horse teeth, industrial revolution, jonathan bloch, mammal, national science foundation, natural selection, North America, nsf, ocean, ornithologist, oxygen levels, paleocene-eocene thermal maximum, petm, prediction, ross secord, sifrhippus sandae, stephen chester, temperature, university of florida, university of nebraska lincoln, worland, yale

*The hotter it gets, the smaller the animal?*

When Sifrhippus sandae, the earliest known horse, first appeared in the forests of North America more than 50 million years ago, it would not have been mistaken for a Clydesdale.

It weighed in at around 12 pounds–and it was destined to get much smaller over the ensuing millennia.

Sifrhippus lived during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a 175,000-year interval of time some 56 million years ago in which average global temperatures rose by about 10 degrees Fahrenheit. (more…)

Color is Key in Controlling Flies, UF Researchers Find

By Guest PostFebruary 17, 2012Sciencebehavioral test, carrier, cholera, Cuba, dysentery, electricity, florida fly baiter, fly control, haitian refugee, house fly, hurricane, jeff hertz, joseph diclaro, natural disaster, pest problem, phil koehler, plumbing, program, robert h wells, roberto pereira, tsunamis, typhoid fever, university of florida, war fighter protection

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — As a carrier of as many as 100 types of germs, the common house fly is hardly as innocuous as its name might suggest.

Military personnel know this firsthand, and their need for effective fly control has helped University of Florida researchers create an innovative new fly control device. (more…)

Americans Overestimate Political Polarization, According To New CU-Boulder Research

By Guest PostFebruary 7, 20122 commentsPoliticsamericans, boulder, charles judd, david sherman, degree of polarization, democrat, election, john chambers, leaf van boven, misconception, overestimate, polarization, political polarization, republican, san diego, university of colorado, university of florida, voting behavior

Many Americans overestimate the degree of polarization between Democrats and Republicans, and this misconception is associated with citizens’ voting behavior and their involvement in political activities, according to new findings from the University of Colorado Boulder.

“It is clear that Americans see themselves as very sharply polarized,” said Professor Leaf Van Boven, who led the research efforts. “And that the extent of perceived polarization dramatically overstates the actual degree of polarization.” (more…)

Archaeologists Find New Evidence of Animals Being Introduced to Prehistoric Caribbean

By Guest PostDecember 13, 2011Scienceagoutis, animal remains, armadillos, arrival of columbus, caribbean, caribbean islands, carriacou, charcoal, daily consumption, guinea pigs, michelle lefebvre, north carolina state university, opossum, pig like peccaries, pre columbian caribbean, prehistoric non native animal, prehistoric villages, rodents, scott fitzpatrick, south america, tiny island, university of florida, university of washington

An archaeological research team from North Carolina State University, the University of Washington and University of Florida has found one of the most diverse collections of prehistoric non-native animal remains in the Caribbean, on the tiny island of Carriacou. The find contributes to our understanding of culture in the region before the arrival of Columbus, and suggests Carriacou may have been more important than previously thought.

The researchers found evidence of five species that were introduced to Carriacou from South America between 1,000 and 1,400 years ago. Only one of these species, the opossum, can still be found on the island. The other species were pig-like peccaries, armadillos, guinea pigs and small rodents called agoutis. (more…)

UF-led study: Invasive Amphibians, Reptiles in Florida Outnumber World

By Guest PostSeptember 24, 2011Environment, Scienceamerican alligator, bishop museum in honolulu, brown anole, burmese pythons, cargo ships, cement walls, Cuba, everglades, florida, florida museum of natural history, fred kraus, greenhouse frog, iguanas, invasion of lizards, invasive amphibian and reptile, kenneth krysko, lizards, python, turtles, university of florida, west indies, zootaxa

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida has the world’s worst invasive amphibian and reptile problem, and a new 20-year study led by a University of Florida researcher verifies the pet trade as the No. 1 cause of the species’ introductions.

From 1863 through 2010, 137 non-native amphibian and reptile species were introduced to Florida, with about 25 percent of those traced to one animal importer. The findings appear online today in Zootaxa. (more…)

UF Study Names New Ancient Crocodile Relative from The Land of Titanoboa

By Guest PostSeptember 17, 2011Scienceacherontisuchus guajiraensis, age of dinosaurs, alex hastings, ancient crocodile, ancient crocodyliform, asteroid impact, atlantic ocean, caribbean, carlos jaramillo, catastrophes, cerrejon mine of northern colombia, changes in climate, christopher brochu, colombian coal mine, crocodiles, diversity of animals, dyrosaurid, ecological changes, environmental changes, fossils, freshwater environments, greek mythology, jonathan bloch, largest snake, oldest known rainforest ecosystem, open pit coal mines, palaeontology, Paleocene, river acheron, species, the river of woe, titanoboa, university of florida, warmer climate

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Did an ancient crocodile relative give the world’s largest snake a run for its money?

In a new study appearing Sept. 15 in the journal Palaeontology, University of Florida researchers describe a new 20-foot extinct species discovered in the same Colombian coal mine with Titanoboa, the world’s largest snake. The findings help scientists better understand the diversity of animals that occupied the oldest known rainforest ecosystem, which had higher temperatures than today, and could be useful for understanding the impacts of a warmer climate in the future. (more…)

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