(Phys.org) —Could there soon be a summer without the iconic monarch butterfly?

Biology - Ecology

Apr 02, 2013 not rated yet 1

The number of Monarch butterflies making it to their winter refuge in Mexico dropped 59 percent this year, falling to the lowest level since comparable record-keeping began 20 years ago, scientists reported ...

Biology - Ecology

Mar 13, 2013 5 / 5 (2) 0

Evolution, often perceived as a series of random changes, might in fact be driven by a simple and repeated genetic solution to an environmental pressure that a broad range of specieshappen to share, according ...

Biology - Evolution

Oct 25, 2012 4.3 / 5 (7) 11

One of the more difficult aspects of evolution for some people to swallow is the notion that random copying errors in DNA can add up to anything useful.

Biology - Evolution

Oct 08, 2012 5 / 5 (9) 3

Ensuring the monarch butterfly's survival by saving its milkweed habitat could result from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) studies initially intended to improve detection of boll weevils with pheromone ...

Biology - Ecology

Oct 01, 2012 not rated yet 0

If you see a monarch butterfly lighting in your backyard this year, take an extra moment to enjoy it.

Biology - Ecology

Jul 26, 2011 5 / 5 (2) 0

If you were to catch Loretta Downs loping through the shoulder-high milkweed along her alley fence come the end of June, you might not realize she was searching for something so sacred it leaves her speechless.

Biology - Plants & Animals

May 26, 2011 not rated yet 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Rising carbon dioxide levels associated with global warming may affect interactions between plants and the insects that eat them, altering the course of plant evolution, research at the University ...

Biology - Evolution

Feb 16, 2011 3.2 / 5 (9) 14 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- Monarch butterflies appear to use medicinal plants to treat their offspring for disease, research by biologists at Emory University shows. Their findings were published online Oct. 6 in the ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Oct 11, 2010 4.6 / 5 (12) 8 |

There's a war occurring each day in our backyards - plant versus plant-eating insect versus insect-eating insect. Research by UC Irvine's Kailen Mooney suggests the outcome - of interest to farmers - is a ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Mar 25, 2010 4 / 5 (2) 0 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- A Cornell study on the diversity of milkweed plants has used new techniques to prove an old theory that explains how the arms race between attacking insects and defended plants led to great ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Sep 09, 2009 5 / 5 (2) 2