(Phys.org) —As is the case in all areas of science, our understanding of evolutionary biology is… well, evolving. Two such areas are macroevolution (any evolutionary change at or above the level of species – that is, ...
A new paper refines estimates of when herbivorous dinosaurs must have traversed North America on a northerly trek to reach Greenland, and points out an intriguing climatic phenomenon that may have helped them along the journey.
Earth Sciences
Feb 15, 2021
10
435
A meat-eating dinosaur species (Majungasaurus) that lived in Madagascar some 70 million years ago replaced all its teeth every couple of months or so, as reported in a new study published today in the open-access journal ...
Archaeology
Nov 27, 2019
2
546
Researchers have been baffled by tropical rainforest diversity for over a century; 650 different tree species can exist in an area covering two football fields, yet similar species never grow next to each other. It seems ...
Ecology
Mar 14, 2019
0
63
The first Australians hunted giant kangaroos, rhinoceros-sized marsupials, huge goannas and other megafauna to extinction shortly after arriving in the country more than 40,000 years ago, new research claims.
Ecology
Mar 22, 2012
25
1
Models of the global carbon cycle typically include plants, microbes, soil, and the atmosphere. But they may be leaving out an important variable: Animals, from earthworms to elephants, can have a significant, though heretofore ...
Environment
Apr 16, 2024
0
308
Dense branching and spines are common features of plant species in ecosystems with high mammalian herbivory pressure. The combination of dense branching and spines is likely to produce the most effective herbivore defenses, ...
Evolution
Mar 12, 2024
0
11
There's a hidden threat looming among subtropical seagrass meadows—turtles in search of milder temperatures.
Plants & Animals
Feb 21, 2024
0
61
For millions of years, a variety of large herbivores, or megafauna, influenced terrestrial ecosystems. Among many others, these included elephants in Europe, giant wombats in Australia, and ground sloths in South America. ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 9, 2024
0
170
New research published today in the journal Science has concluded that eradicating animals on the basis that they are not native in order to protect plant species can be a flawed practice costing millions of dollars, and ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 1, 2024
0
590
Herbivores are organisms that are anatomically and physiologically adapted to eat plant-based foods. Herbivory is a form of consumption in which an organism principally eats autotrophs[page needed] such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria. More generally, organisms that feed on autotrophs in general are known as primary consumers. Comes from the Greek suffix "vora" (Greek -βόρα) meaning "which eat".[citation needed]
Herbivory usually refers to animals eating plants; fungi, bacteria and protists that feed on living plants are usually termed plant pathogens (plant diseases),and microbes that feed on dead plants are saprotrophs. Flowering plants that obtain nutrition from other living plants are usually termed parasitic plants.
A herbivore is not the same as a vegetarian, a human who voluntarily undertakes a primarily herbivorous diet.
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