http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. An international team of researchers led by the University of Grenoble and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) has demonstrated for the first time that a high level of species diversity in alpine plants does not necessarily go hand in hand with a high level of genetic diversity. This finding suggests that new future strategies are needed to protect biodiversity in the Alpine region. The results of the study were published online in Ecology Letters. http://phys.org/news267810962.html Biology Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:56:19 EST news267810962 (Phys.org)—When people think of locusts they are likely to picture the swarms which affect the lives of one in ten people in the world through their harmful impact on agriculture. http://phys.org/news265444045.html Biology Wed, 29 Aug 2012 07:27:33 EST news265444045 (Phys.org)—Pity the male of the marine whelk, Solenosteira macrospira. He does all the work of raising the young, from egg-laying to hatching—even though few of the baby snails are his own. http://phys.org/news265397070.html Biology Tue, 28 Aug 2012 18:24:43 EST news265397070 A new international study has investigated how diseases are shared among species of primates with a view to predicting what diseases may emerge in humans in the future. The findings aim to help in the fight against these diseases by enabling scientists to develop treatments before outbreaks occur. The findings are published online this week in the journal Ecology Letters. http://phys.org/news265310484.html Biology Mon, 27 Aug 2012 18:21:30 EST news265310484 (Phys.org)—Researchers from Ghana and the UK have found that contrary to what might be expected, biomass in West Africa has been increasing during the ongoing forty year drought, leading the trees there to harbor more carbon than has been theorized. The team has been looking at more than 10,000 trees in the area and have found, as they describe in their paper in Ecology Letters, that rather than succumbing to the drought, the area has prospered as the encroachment of more tolerant species has been taking over. http://phys.org/news265274293.html Space & Earth Mon, 27 Aug 2012 08:18:22 EST news265274293 Having healthy gut bacteria could have as much to do with a strategy that insurance companies use to uncover risk as with eating the right foods, according to researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA). http://phys.org/news264874917.html Biology Wed, 22 Aug 2012 19:00:02 EST news264874917 The menopause evolved, in part, to prevent competition between a mother and her new daughter-in-law, according to research published today in the journal Ecology Letters. http://phys.org/news264783093.html Biology Wed, 22 Aug 2012 00:00:01 EST news264783093 (Phys.org) -- The Atlantic Ocean off Nova Scotia ... and off Florida. Along some 2,000 miles, its waters go from icy to steamy. Can a marine species live in both temperatures--and everywhere in between? http://phys.org/news262421498.html Space & Earth Wed, 25 Jul 2012 08:10:02 EST news262421498 Scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) are the first to document the characteristics of invading parasites, using malaria in New Zealand bird species. http://phys.org/news261758628.html Biology Tue, 17 Jul 2012 19:00:03 EST news261758628 The effect on bat populations of a deadly fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome may depend on how gregarious the bats are during hibernation, scientists have discovered. http://phys.org/news260527504.html Biology Tue, 03 Jul 2012 09:45:10 EST news260527504 (Phys.org) -- Although bird species disappear with intensive agriculture, research in Costa Rica shows that forest intermingled with cultivated land rescues biodiversity. http://phys.org/news260006833.html Biology Wed, 27 Jun 2012 09:07:28 EST news260006833 Recent years' warming in the Arctic has caused local changes in vegetation, reveals new research by biologists from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and elsewhere published in the prestigious journals Nature Climate Change and Ecology Letters. http://phys.org/news258637896.html Space & Earth Mon, 11 Jun 2012 12:51:48 EST news258637896 Chlorothalonil, one of the world's most common fungicides used pervasively on food crops and golf courses, was lethal to a wide variety of freshwater organisms in a new study, University of South Florida researchers said Wednesday. http://phys.org/news256385335.html Biology Wed, 16 May 2012 11:10:11 EST news256385335 (Phys.org) -- Ocean acidification caused by human development can alter the behaviour of baby corals, a new study shows. http://phys.org/news253776788.html Biology Mon, 16 Apr 2012 06:33:27 EST news253776788 (PhysOrg.com) -- A type of caterpillar which defends itself by regurgitating on its predators is less likely to do so when in groups than when alone, a new study by researchers from the University of Bristol and the University of Liverpool has found. Such reluctance is sufficient to cancel out the benefits of being in a group. http://phys.org/news252909816.html Biology Fri, 06 Apr 2012 05:43:50 EST news252909816 New research from the University of Adelaide could help protect one of the world's most globally threatened tree species - the big leaf mahogany - from extinction. http://phys.org/news252665203.html Biology Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:46:53 EST news252665203 Early snow melt in the Colorado Rocky Mountains initiates two chains of events resulting in population decline in the mormon fritillary butterfly, Speyeria mormonia. One effect of snow melt date was readily detectable, but the second, cryptic effect required an understanding of the butterfly's biology. http://phys.org/news251018574.html Biology Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:23:30 EST news251018574 Farmers in the U.S. and the European Union receive billions of dollars in government subsidies each year to make changes in their operations that will improve the environment. However, a new study by Paul Armsworth, assistant professor in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, finds that these government programs may offer very poor value for money. http://phys.org/news250165052.html Space & Earth Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:17:40 EST news250165052 (PhysOrg.com) -- Fish parents can pre-condition their offspring to grow fastest at the temperature they experienced, according to research published in the February 2012 edition of Ecology Letters. This pre-conditioning, known as transgenerational plasticity (TGP), occurs whenever environmental cues experienced by either parent prior to fertilization changes how their offspring respond to the environment. http://phys.org/news245492758.html Biology Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:50:08 EST news245492758 New findings by Virginie Stevens (CNRS), Jean Clobert (CNRS), Michel Baguette (Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle) and colleagues show that interactions between dispersal and life-histories are complex, but general patterns emerge. The study was published as open access paper in the journal Ecology Letters. http://phys.org/news242652745.html Biology Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:32:44 EST news242652745 North American forests appear to have a greater capacity to soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas than researchers had previously anticipated. http://phys.org/news237740685.html Space & Earth Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:04:54 EST news237740685 Species' ability to overcome adversity goes beyond Darwin's survival of the fittest. Climate change has made sure of that. In a new study based on simulations examining species and their projected range, researchers at Brown University argue that whether an animal can make it to a final, climate-friendly destination isn't a simple matter of being able to travel a long way. It's the extent to which the creatures can withstand rapid fluctuations in climate along the way that will determine whether they complete the journey. http://phys.org/news236488963.html Biology Thu, 29 Sep 2011 04:50:01 EST news236488963 Common woodland creatures, including woodlice, millipedes and worms, can help ensure the survival of weaker species of woodland fungi, according to new research from Cardiff University. http://phys.org/news235740605.html Biology Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:30:32 EST news235740605 A new study provides support for Darwin's hypothesis that the struggle for existence is stronger between more closely related species than those distantly related. While ecologists generally accept the premise, this new study contains the strongest direct experimental evidence yet to support its validity. http://phys.org/news227200044.html Biology Tue, 14 Jun 2011 01:00:01 EST news227200044 An investigation by the Spanish Scientifc Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC) reveals that the large impacts occurred during the last ice age maintain their effects on the current distribution of dung beetles of the scarab family (Scarabaeidae). The presence of these beetles in Europe seems to be more influenced by the climate of that glaciation than by the present one. http://phys.org/news226672318.html Biology Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:36:31 EST news226672318 The global spread of native trees and shrubs into open grazing land and abandoned farms can bring unexpected environmental and economic benefits, a major new international study has found. http://phys.org/news226142235.html Biology Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:18:19 EST news226142235 This week the scientific journal Ecology Letters has published a synthesis of the ecological impacts of invasive plants worldwide. This global analysis has been based on more than one thousand studies that in total describe the impacts of 135 invasive plant species. The lead author, Dr. Montserrat Vilà, a professor at the Spanish Higher Research Council (CSIC) adds: "This assessment would have been impossible to achieve ten years ago, because the evidence was anecdotal, it has only been in the last decade that well designed field studies have been conducted". http://phys.org/news225109423.html Biology Fri, 20 May 2011 11:24:02 EST news225109423 (PhysOrg.com) -- For those old enough to remember Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom” television series, the dynamics of predator-prey relationships seemed clear enough: predators thinned out prey populations, which enabled a smaller, but stronger, population to survive and reproduce. http://phys.org/news221389812.html Biology Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:10:49 EST news221389812 Kudzu, the plant scourge of the U.S. Southeast. The long tendrils of this woody vine, or liana, are on the move north with a warming climate. http://phys.org/news220269743.html Space & Earth Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:03:06 EST news220269743 Blindly copying what your parents did – no matter how stupid it may seem – could be the best strategy for the long-term success of your genes, according to research by the Universities of Exeter and Bristol. http://phys.org/news218111755.html Biology Mon, 28 Feb 2011 10:36:14 EST news218111755