News tagged with pest species

Race to save the devil Down Under

It's been hundreds of years since the Tasmanian devil last lived on the Australian mainland but, in the misty hills of Barrington Tops, a pioneering group is being bred for survival.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 17, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Research shows rats have best bite of rodent world

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that mice and rats have evolved to gnaw with their front teeth and chew with their back teeth more successfully than rodents that 'specialise' in one or ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 27, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

The Viking journey of mice and men

House mice (Mus musculus) happily live wherever there are humans. When populations of humans migrate the mice often travel with them. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology h ...

Biology / Evolution

created Mar 19, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Pesky ants found in Hawaii demonstrate invasive characteristics

A common pest in the mainland United States known for its tropical smell now has a tropical habitat to go along with it.

Biology / Plants & Animals

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

New bacteria toxins against resistant insect pests

Toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria (Bt toxins) are used in organic and conventional farming to manage pest insects. Sprayed as pesticides or produced in genetically modified plants, Bt toxins, us ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

NY researchers breeding rare native ladybugs

(AP) -- A year after they launched a nationwide search for dwindling native ladybugs, New York researchers are breeding colonies of them from insects found by citizen scientists in Oregon and Colorado.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Sep 04, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 0

New insect birth control strategy zaps cotton pests

Using pests as part of an insect birth control program helps to get rid of them, UA researchers find. A new approach that combines the planting of pest-resistant cotton and releasing large numbers of sterile ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 07, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Nanotechnology: A dead end for plant cells?

Using particles that are 1/100,000 the width of a human hair to deliver drugs to cells or assist plants in fighting off pests may sound like something out of a science fiction movie, but these scenarios may be a common occurrence ...

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Nov 16, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Hidden habits and movements of insect pests revealed by DNA barcoding

University of Minnesota researcher George Weiblen and colleagues have found a faster way to study the spread and diet of insect pests.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 09, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Variable Temperatures Leave Insects wtih a Frosty Reception

(PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, scientists at The University of Western Ontario have shown that insects exposed to repeated periods of cold will trade reproduction for immediate survival.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Climate change may wake up 'sleeper' weeds

(PhysOrg.com) -- Climate change will cause some of Australia’s potential weeds to move south by up to 1000km, according to a report by scientists at CSIRO’s Climate Adaptation Flagship.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Apr 15, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (26) | comments 3

Evolution, ecosystems may buffer some species against climate change

(Physorg.com) -- Although ecologists expect many species will be harmed by climate change, some species could be buffered by their potential to evolve or by changes in their surrounding ecosystems.

Biology / Ecology

created Mar 05, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Oil palms and conservation -- do they mix?

Conservation science can help protect the variety of living things in tropical landscapes even if they are being turned into oil palm plantations, new research argues.

Biology / Ecology

created Nov 24, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Study: Bat disease may increase farm pesticide use

A group of researchers says the threat posed to bats by a fatal disease isn't just a threat to the animals but to American agriculture, one they believe farmers and consumers alike scarcely appreciate.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 13, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Grasshopper outlook strikes fear on Western range

(AP) -- Grasshopper infestations have taken on mythic tones here on the arid prairie of northeastern Wyoming - they blanket highways, eat T-shirts off clotheslines and devour nearly every scrap of vegetation ...

Biology / Ecology

created Mar 28, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 2