ecology
clock | October 9, 2007Another thing I will also have to miss - the Inaugural Event of the 2007-2008 Pizza Lunch Season of the Science Communicators of North Carolina (SCONC), on October 24th at Sigma Xi Center (the same place where we'll have the Science Blogging Conference). Organized by The American Scientist and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the first Pizza Lunch Session will feature Dr.Fred Gould, professor of Entomology and Genetics at NCSU (whose Insect Ecology class blows one's mind - one of the best courses I have ever taken in my life). Fred recently received The George Bugliarello Prize for an…
grrlscientist | October 9, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, conservation, birds, ornithology, ecology, environment, endangered species
Image: Robert Linder.
I suppose this seems obvious to you city dwellers, but recently published research demonstrates that urban birds are better overall survivors than their country-dwelling cousins. Apparently, this is because city-dwelling birds are less specialized in their requirements, and thus, are more broadly adaptable to a variety of microenvironments, such as those found in large cities. While this might seem to be a mere conversational topic to many of you, this observation is…
voltagegate | October 6, 2007I've been on a serious pigment kick lately (reinforced by my little art excursion last night and my review of all of the fall leaf literature), and rhodopsin came to mind, a light absorbing pigment found in animal eyes, archaea and bacteria (often referred to as bacteriorhodopsin in the case of the archaea).
While chlorophyll is capable of absorbing red and blue light from the sun for much of the year (all year for evergreens), bacteriorhodopsin can absorb wavelengths that much of the plant world reflects, from 490 - 550 nm, or the color green (see chart below).
Bacteriorhodopsin is…
voltagegate | October 3, 2007I've been reading up on this critter for the past few days, ever since I pulled out some old mammal texts I had sitting on the shelf. I got sucked in and thought I would share a bit of what I've read.
The volcano rabbit, Romerolagus diazi, is found on the slopes of only four volcanoes in Mexico, south of Mexico city. These four - Pelado, Iztacohuat, Tlaloc and Popocatepetl - are part of the transvolcanic belt (TVB; also called the trans-Mexican volcanic or transverse neovolvanic belt), a biogeographic zone in the center of the country that exhibits a high level of endemism; in other words,…
scientificactivist | September 25, 2007Steve Irwin ("The Crocodile Hunter"), who died tragically in September 2006 from a stingray puncture to his chest, is a posthumous coauthor on a paper published today in PLoS One. Impressive. Bora at A Blog Around the Clock has more details.
clock | September 24, 2007Sarah Wallace, Matt Ford, ScienceGoGo and Jason Stajich comment on the fungus that gets its energy from radiation. I've heard of Deinococcus radiodurans before, but this is a fungus! Well, if there is an energy source to tap into, even if it is in the middle of Chernobyl, some life form is likely to find a way to do it.
voltagegate | September 24, 2007Here's a clip from Wild America illustrating the incredible agility of the lynx and the snowshoe, predator and prey. The full documentary about the Canada lynx is below the fold. It's not the greatest quality, but the footage does the animals justice.
voltagegate | September 24, 2007
A stand of Dahurian Larch beginning to change color in Northeast Siberia.
Between 50 and 65 degrees N latitude lies a globe encircling band of forest dominated by conifers and chilly winds called the boreal forest (boreal is from the Greek word for north) or the taiga (Russian for "marshy pine forest"). From Iceland's wiry birch forests to the larch covered northern areas of Siberia, the boreal forest grows in a climate where extremes are commonplace, and where much of the wilderness remains preserved.
The boreal forest is generally a cold place; it is winter in these areas for over half the…
voltagegate | September 19, 2007"...there are no coyotes in the [Sierra Madre Occidental] mountains, whereas with us there is universal complaint from Alaska to New Mexico that the coyote has invaded the high country to wreak havoc on both game and livestock. I submit for conservationists to ponder the question of whether the wolves have not kept the coyotes out?"
-Aldo Leopold, in 1937
voltagegate | September 19, 2007
Coyote population densities are much lower in areas where their territory overlaps with wolves, according to a study done by the Wildlife Conservation Society. It's not pure numbers that they're talking about here, it's how many animals can be found within a certain area, and when there's wolves about, the density drops by about 33 - 39 percent for coyotes (percentages from different study areas). Despite the lower densities, coyotes still far outnumber wolves in these areas.
So what's going on here?
It's not predation. Wolf predation on coyotes accounts for only about 16 percent of…
retrospectacle | September 18, 2007There's a discussion I was clued into recently, taking place over at a spiked, a reporting website, which describes it self thusly:
spiked is an independent online phenomenon dedicated to raising the horizons of humanity by waging a culture war of words against misanthropy, priggishness, prejudice, luddism, illiberalism and irrationalism in all their ancient and modern forms. spiked is endorsed by free-thinkers such as John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx, and hated by the narrow-minded such as Torquemada and Stalin. Or it would be, if they were lucky enough to be around to read it.
I'm not quite…
retrospectacle | September 18, 2007
Perhaps some of you may remember me mentioning the plight of the Florida manatee a few months back, specifically that their status as an endangered species was being petitioned by the powerful boating lobby. This would have meant that many of the special protections that manatees enjoyed, such as existing in boat-free zones and making boats slow down in the presence of manatees, would have been changed. Well, against my hopes, I have good news to report, as told to me by the SaveTheManatee Club:
Good news for manatees! [On Sept 14th], the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission…
voltagegate | September 15, 2007Sarda has some great posts for this months edition, perfect with a cup of coffee on a cool Saturday morning.
voltagegate | September 14, 2007Get your last minute submissions to Sarda now - sardasahney [at] gmail.com.
tsmith | September 13, 2007Clostridium difficile is an emergent bacterium. A close relative of the bacteria that cause tetanus and botulilsm (Clostridium tetani and Clostridium botulinum, respectively), C. difficile is an intestinal bacterium that can cause colitis. C. difficile has until recently been a fairly rare cause of disease, and then only typically within a hospital setting. However, the emergence of a new, highly virulent strain of the bacterium a few years ago, coinciding with an increase in the rate of serious infections it caused, put this pathogen on the map. And like methicillin-resistant…
tsmith | September 12, 2007I mentioned that it's microbiology week at fellow Scienceblog Deep Sea News. Today's post over there is on "bioprospecting" in the sea--looking for naturally-produced chemicals that we can harness for employment as drugs or other uses. For example:
Over the last 20 years at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution we have developed a culture collection containing 17,000 bacteria and fungi from deep-water marine invertebrates and sediments. We have shown that the collection contains many unusual microbes which are not known from the terrestrial environment and are fermenting the isolates to…
chaoticutopia | September 11, 2007A few posts back, I indicated that I was finished with travelling, and ready to settle into my classes at CU Boulder. Naturally, chaos has a way of affecting plans made with certainty. Sure enough, as soon as I returned from New York, I found myself packing my suitcase once again, this time to head to Wyoming and South Dakota for my grandpa’s funeral. The timing wasn’t wonderful; I had to miss a day of class, and ended up spending part of my "vacation time" studying. That’s where the chaotic parts played in.
Of course, the subjects that I’m studying are intrinsically relevant to me,…
voltagegate | September 11, 2007Oekologie #5 is coming to Fish Feet in just a few days. Have you submitted your best ecology/environmental science posts yet?
voltagegate | September 10, 2007
Perhaps the best fair in all of Western PA is the Somerset Historical Society's Mountain Craft Days, which finished up yesterday, under the threat of looming rain clouds. Fortunately, we didn't need to break out the umbrellas this year (nor did I break out the camera - I forgot it, sadly).
It's set on the SHS's ground outside of the town, and is more or less a showcase of the cream of local artisans selling their wares, combined with demonstrations of how people lived in the 18th Century Appalachians - they have replicas of cabins, cooking & laundry methods, musicians playing period…
hrynyshyn | September 10, 2007Well, for what it's worth, the U.S. Geological Survey has confirmed what just about every independent observer of the polar bear has been saying for years: time's running out. According to the executive summary of the service's initial findings as part of its investigation into whether to add Ursus maritimus to the Endangered Species list, the Alaskan population has as little as 45 years left until extirpation. The other North American populations could stick around a bit longer, but when the habitat is on the way out, things are pretty grim all over. To wit (emphasis mine):
Projected changes…