ecology
voltagegate | June 9, 2007Learn all about the vacated habitats of the river dolphins courtesy of the EDGE Blog.
clock | June 8, 2007Ruchira Paul alerted me to this article about a scientific fight between Robert J. Baker of Texas Tech University (who I never heard of) who alleges that the evacuation of humans from the area allowed animals to come in and multiply with no apparent bad consequences from radiation, and Timothy Mousseau of the University of South Carolina (who I have met and read and greatly respect) who finds whopping numbers of bad mutations in the region and very low fertility rates. The first argues that the populations are growing, while the latter suggests that the area is a sink for animals who come in…
voltagegate | June 6, 2007This is just what our blue crab populations need:
Chinese mitten crabs, first reported in the Chesapeake Bay, are more widespread than initially thought. Four crabs have now been caught in Delaware Bay during the last week of May 2007, and may occur in other waters of the U.S. east coast.
In total, seven adult male mitten crabs have been documented from the two bays since 2005. Prior to this, the potentially invasive species had never been recorded from coastal waters of the eastern United States.
The mitten crab is native to eastern Asia and has already invaded Europe and the western United…
chaoticutopia | June 4, 2007
Raindrops fall into the Farmer's Highline Canal in Westminster, Colorado.
Here, cottonwood trees, coyote willows, and town homes sprout along a canal, once primarily used for agricultural purposes, now supporting these suburban communities. Not too long ago, this was a dry ridge, and the only cottonwoods in the area were found along Big Dry Creek below.
All photos by the author, unless otherwise noted.
voltagegate | June 1, 2007Photo: mindrec
We established that the giant and red panda co-inhabit the same habitat, but exploit very specific parts of that main habitat, different microhabitats. Giants stick to the low lands, feeding in sparse forest, while the reds alight the long branches of rhododenrons, stripping leaves from branches.
They are said to have a sympatric relationship, meaning that both pandas became separate species (speciation) while existing in the same area. Allopatry is the opposite process; it describes speciation by environmental isolation.
When ecologists and evolutionary biologists make…
voltagegate | May 31, 2007Many would like to paint evolution by natural selection as a vicious idea, drawing upon our fears of purposelessness and elitism by highlighting the misleading phrase, "survival of the fittest."
It can be a scary idea when applied to our society; we don't want to think of the disabled and handicapped as unfit in their environment. It seems to be a cold view of the world, devoid of compassion.
I can understand the apprehension. Fortunately, evolution is a biological process, not a cultural/societal process, so when it is superimposed on societal structure, it does not exactly fit the bill.…
tsmith | May 31, 2007Today is the kids' last day of school, and just happens to be an early dismissal as well, so I'll be busy with them and not tied to the computer this morning/afternoon. However, there are tons of good things to read elsewhere.
First, Orac has a long-awaited update on the Tripoli Six: the group of nurses and doctors accused of killing children in Libya by deliberately infecting them with HIV. The science exonerated them, but that didn't change the court outcome, and I've not seen updates until now.
Next, Revere writes about the H7N2 influenza outbreak in Wales, reminding us (as as I've…
chaoticutopia | May 28, 2007It's been far too nice of a Memorial Day to come inside and blog. I can share this photo, at least. I took it while on a bike ride along Standley Lake, pausing to see the changes at my bioblitz site there. The area where I caught a poacher stealing goose eggs was rather overgrown, so I couldn't spot the nest. I looked for the pair of geese, and found they'd made some friends:
A flock of Candaian Geese (Branta canadensis) at Standley Lake
All photos by the author, unless otherwise noted.
mikethemadbiologist | May 27, 2007From Monday to Friday, I attended the American Society for Microbiology meeting held in Toronto. Before I get to some of the interesting science, my apologies to all of the people who suggested we meet up. Unfortunately, I never look at the blog (or almost never) while I'm on the road, so I missed your messages (it's best to email me directly). Anyway, here's the list of random things:
The E. coli responsible for the spinach outbreak is found in many feral swine. Hence, feral swine are a possible reservoir of E. coli O157:H7. Of course, feral pigs roaming around California in significant…
voltagegate | May 24, 2007Walking through a streamside copse of eastern hemlock in the ancient Appalachians is revealing for several reasons. First, the sheer size and age of these virgin stands can be humbling - at 45+ meters high, one tree may have been alive for more than 600 years. Second, a closer look at the forest's composition can tell ecologists two things: By assessing the pollen contained within pond sediment, you learn that these hemlocks started repopulating the eastern US about 12,000 years ago, following in the "footsteps" of the maple genus (Acer spp.) after the retreat of the massive glaciers covering…
voltagegate | May 24, 2007
A bit more ecological data has been uncovered regarding Crenarchaeota, a phylum of archaea known for their mostly acido/thermophilic nature and hallowed place in as the probable forerunners of all life.
A new study led by University of Georgia researchers and announced on Wednesday at the American Society for Microbiology meeting in Toronto finds that crenarchaeota, one of the most common groups of archaea and a group that includes members that live in hot springs, use ammonia as their energy source...
"The oxidation of ammonia was not thought to be a dominant process for crenarchaeota, but…
tsmith | May 24, 2007 Way back in a few editions of Animalcules, several of the submissions mentioned a fungus that was killing frogs. Wednesday at the ASM meeting suggested that there may be a way to protect these amphibians:
First in a petri dish and now on live salamanders, probiotic bacteria seem to repel a deadly fungus being blamed for worldwide amphibian deaths and even extinctions. Though the research is in its early stages, scientists are encouraged by results that could lead the way to helping threatened species like mountain yellow-legged frogs of the Sierra Nevada mountains of southern California…
tsmith | May 23, 2007 Everyone knows about the "butterfly effect": the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil could eventually result in the formation of a tornado in Texas by virtue of very small alterations in the initial conditions of a system. Though this description of it is often decried by people who study chaos theory as an inaccurate oversimplification, it's a useful illustration of the tiny perturbations that can have vast effects on a downstream chain of reactions.
When it comes to infectious diseases, climate change may be the beginning, but environmental effects extend much farther…
voltagegate | May 22, 2007Amazing video. Lionesses snag a water cape buffalo calf and fight over it with crocs until the herd returns to scare them off.
A Brawl In The Safari - Watch more free videos
tsmith | May 22, 2007I haven't had a chance yet to mention Seed's promotion of the Intel Science and Engineering Fair, the cream of the science fair crop. It's so prestigious, in fact, that it attracts young adults from all over the world to share their research. However, one brought more than the judges bargained for, as she also happened to be in the early stages of measles:
A 15-year-old girl from India who was visiting for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair has been hospitalized with measles, and New Mexico health officials say she was likely infectious when she was traveling and while at…
voltagegate | May 21, 2007Between upcoming graduation and finals this week, I've been a bit slow to do my share of the final counts from the Blogger Bioblitz (B3), but I finally found some time this morning.
First, some meta data:
50 bloggers signed up for the event
32 posted about their bioblitz
17 data sheets for analysis
Invertebrate species breakdown:
ARTHROPODS: 87+
Insects: 71+
Lepidopterans: 32+
Dipterans: 9+
Odontans: 9+
Hymenopterans: 7+
Hemipterans: 5+
Coleopterans: 3+
Collembolans: 2
Ephemeropterans: 2
Neuropterans: 1
Dictyopterans: 1
Arachnids: 10+
Aranaeans: 5+
Acari: 4+
Opiliones: 1
Diplopods: 1…
tsmith | May 21, 2007 I had a strange worry as a kid. I was very scared of getting bit by a tick and developing Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF). I know, weird--even for nerdy kids like me, who knows about Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever? How many readers are even familiar with it?
For those who aren't, RMSF is a zoonotic rickettsial disease transmitted by several species of ticks. Though the disease is named after the geographical region where it was first described back in the late 1800s, the bacterium that causes it, Rickettsia rickettsii (an obligate intracellular pathogen), has been found in almost all…
mikethemadbiologist | May 17, 2007
(from here)
Biologists have studied the fly Drosophila melanogaster for decades. Given its status as a model organism (perhaps the model organism), one would think figuring out what its microbial fauna is would be a high priority. Yet remarkably little is known about its microbial fauna. Until now.
A recent paper in Infection and Immunity characterizes the fauna of D. melanogaster. The authors goal was to figure out what the fauna is to use this fly as a model of intestinal disease. As far as I'm concerned, they have stumbled across something far more interesting.
The authors used a…
voltagegate | May 16, 2007This post discusses an article published in PLoS Biology reviewing Cornell Ecologist Josh Donlan's idea of importing African analogs of extinct North American vertebrates like the American lion and the mammoth in the hopes that filling these niches will restore and stabilize lost ecosystems. Two questions from my end: Are these non-native organisms truly analogous to their extinct American cousins and is it too late to make such a bold move?
Ecologists have been debating about whether or not they know enough to begin rebuilding long-lost ecosystems by replacing extinct large vertebrates with…
worldsfair | May 15, 2007"One way for ecologists to define and correlate these varied environments is by categorizing these areas by the types of plants that inhabit them. These categories are called biomes. Categorizing each biome by plant life is not an end in itself; instead, indigenous plant life acts as an indicator of the animal life, soil composition and the climate of an area."
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