News tagged with seed dispersal

Related topics: seeds

Rainforest plant developed sonar dish to attract pollinating bats

The researchers discovered that a rainforest vine, pollinated by bats, has evolved dish-shaped leaves with such conspicuous echoes that nectar-feeding bats can find its flowers twice as fast by echolocation. The study is ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 28, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (6) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Diverse ecosystems are crucial climate change buffer

Preserving diverse plant life will be crucial to buffer the negative effects of climate change and desertification in in the world's drylands, according to a new landmark study.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 12, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Are all alien encounters bad?

The pages of ecological history are filled with woeful tales of destruction from non-native species -- organisms that originated elsewhere.

Biology / Ecology

created Aug 30, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (5) | comments 12

Climate change driving tropical birds to higher elevations

Tropical birds are moving to higher elevations because of climate change, but they may not be moving fast enough, according to a new study by Duke University researchers.

Biology / Ecology

created Dec 08, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Genetics of Arctic plants under serious threat from climate change, study says

A new EU study by a team of Austrian, French and Norwegian researchers has found that rising temperatures as a result of climate change will have differing genetic consequences within single Arctic plant species. ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jan 30, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Toucans wearing GPS backpacks help Smithsonian scientists study seed dispersal

Nutmeg-loving toucans wearing GPS transmitters recently helped a team of scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama address an age-old problem in plant ecology: accurately estimating ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 28, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0

War on willows

Willows are major environmental weeds of riverbank habitats across much of south-eastern Australia. They obstruct water flow, increase water temperature, change water chemistry and can displace native riverine ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jul 29, 2011 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Uncertain future for Joshua trees projected with climate change

Temperature increases resulting from climate change in the Southwest will likely eliminate Joshua trees from 90 percent of their current range in 60 to 90 years, according to a new study led by U.S. Geological Survey ecologist ...

Biology / Ecology

created Mar 24, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Overfished Amazon fish disperse seeds long distances

(PhysOrg.com) -- The gamitana fish, a close relative of the flesh-eating piranha, mostly eats fruit and can carry seeds down the Amazon River as far as 3 miles (5 kilometers), reports a new Cornell study, ...

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Hikers spread invasive plant seeds accidentally

Hikers may be inadvertently helping to spread invasive plants across the largest national park in Australia's New South Wales, a study has found.

Biology / Ecology

created Jul 25, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Researchers link oceanic land crab extinction to colonization of Hawaii

University of Florida researchers have described a new species of land crab that documents the first crab extinction during the human era.

Biology / Ecology

created May 16, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast