News tagged with evolutionary relationship

Fungi shifted plant balance of power

Cooperating with fungi didn't just help the earliest plants spread across a barren, rocky landscape; it also played a decisive role in the rise of more complex plants with roots and leaves that make up most ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Escalating arms race: Predatory sea urchins drive evolution

(Phys.org) -- Nature teems with examples of evolutionary arms races between predators and prey, with the predator species gradually evolving a new mode of attack for each defensive adaptation that arises in ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

A new take on the games people play in their relationships

Human nature has deep evolutionary roots and is manifested in relationships with family members, friends, romantic and business partners, competitors, and strangers more than in any other aspects of behavior or intellectual ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 21, 2012 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Linear sequences for seed plants

Scientists have been working out the best way to arrange plant specimens in herbaria and other collections so that their order best reflects evolutionary relationships.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 21, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Genome tree of life is largest yet for seed plants

Scientists at the American Museum of Natural History, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, The New York Botanical Garden, and New York University have created the largest genome-based tree of life for seed plants ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 15, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

140 new species described by California Academy of Sciences in 2011

In 2011, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences added 140 new relatives to our family tree. The new species include 72 arthropods, 31 sea slugs, 13 fishes, 11 plants, nine sponges, three corals, ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 15, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Butterflies: 'Twice-punished' by habitat fragmentation and climate change

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, ...

Biology / Ecology

created Dec 09, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

A hitchhiker's guide to the Galapagos: co-evolution of Galapagos mockingbirds and their parasites

Along with the famous finches the Galapagos mockingbirds had a great influence on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Now, 176 years later, three of the four mockingbird species are among the rarest birds ...

Biology / Evolution

created Oct 03, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Unknown ocean bacteria create entirely new theories

The earth's most successful bacteria are found in the oceans and belong to the group SAR11. In a new study, researchers from Uppsala University provide an explanation for their success and at the same time call into question ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 16, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Like humans, chimps are born with immature forebrains

In both chimpanzees and humans, portions of the brain that are critical for complex cognitive functions, including decision-making, self-awareness and creativity, are immature at birth. But there are important differences, ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Aug 11, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers tap yeasts as source of 'green' surfactants

Surfactants, which are wetting agents that lower a liquid's surface tension, have a long list of uses, from detergents and cosmetics to paints and pesticides. Most surfactants are petroleum-based. But in Peoria, Ill., a team ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jul 28, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

New discovery places turtles next to lizards on family tree

(PhysOrg.com) -- Where do turtles belong on the evolutionary tree? For decades, the mystery has proven as tough to crack as the creatures' shells. With their body armor and retractable heads, turtles are such ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 20, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Study sheds light on tunicate evolution

(PhysOrg.com) -- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers have filled an important gap in the study of tunicate evolution by genetically sequencing 40 new specimens of thaliaceans, gelatinous, ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 01, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Fungus farming ant genome reveals insight into adaptation of social behavior

The development of agriculture was a significant event in human cultural evolution, but we are not the only organisms to have adopted an agricultural way of life. In a study published online today in Genome Re ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jun 29, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Lizard fossil provides missing link in debate over snake origins

(PhysOrg.com) -- Until a recent discovery, theories about the origins and evolutionary relationships of snakes barely had a leg to stand on.

Biology / Evolution

created May 18, 2011 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (7) | comments 2 | with audio podcast