http://phys.org/biology-news/ecology/ en-us PhysOrg Team Phys.Org provides the latest news on ecology (Phys.org) -- The release of Eastern bettongs from Tasmania into the ACT’s predator-proof sanctuary at Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve last week, could be the key to help recover endangered Box Gum grassy woodlands, according to research from The Australian National University. http://phys.org/news258016762.html Biology - Ecology 2012-06-04T08:40:02-07:00 Consumer products known as "bug bombs" or "foggers" have been sold for decades for use against many common household insects. However, recent research published in the Journal of Economic Entomology (JEE) shows these products to be ineffective against bed bugs. http://phys.org/news258001982.html Biology - Ecology 2012-06-04T04:19:37-07:00 Transgenic crops that produce insect-killing proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have reduced reliance on insecticide sprays since 1996. Yet, just as insects become resistant to conventional insecticides, they also can evolve resistance to the Bt proteins in transgenic crops. Thus, to delay pest resistance, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has required farmers to plant "refuges" of crops that do not produce Bt proteins near Bt crops. But how much refuge acreage is enough? http://phys.org/news257922664.html Biology - Ecology 2012-06-03T15:00:01-07:00 The French government is to ban a pesticide made by Swiss giant Syngenta used in rapeseed cultivation that has been found to shorten bees' lifespan, Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll said Friday. http://phys.org/news257774354.html Biology - Ecology 2012-06-01T12:59:31-07:00 Early human activity has left a greater footprint on today's ecosystem than previously thought, say researchers working at the University of Pittsburgh and in the multidisciplinary Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network, created by the National Science Foundation to investigate ecological processes over long temporal and broad spatial scales. Highlighted in the June issue of BioScience, the Pitt/LTER collaboration shows how historic human actions caused changes in nature that continue to reverberate throughout present-day ecosystems. http://phys.org/news257771264.html Biology - Ecology 2012-06-01T12:09:32-07:00 A recent study of the impact of climate change on butterflies suggests that some species might adapt much better than others, with implications for the pollination and herbivory associated with these and other insect species. http://phys.org/news257770644.html Biology - Ecology 2012-06-01T11:59:15-07:00 In the early 1990s, overfishing led to the collapse of one of the most bountiful cod fisheries in the world, off the coast of Newfoundland. Twenty years later, the cod population still has not recovered, dramatically affecting the economic life of the region. http://phys.org/news257755263.html Biology - Ecology 2012-06-01T07:43:32-07:00 You don't need to spray weedkiller to remove the weeds between your paving stones. Six treatments throughout the summer with either boiling water, steam or flaming will dispatch even the hardiest of unwanted plants. This is the conclusion of a new PhD project from the University of Copenhagen. http://phys.org/news257680037.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-31T10:47:28-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Coral reefs and seashores largely look the way they do because large fish and urchins eat most of the seaweed that might otherwise cover them, but a major new study has found that the greatest impact of all comes from an unexpected quarter – small marine snails. http://phys.org/news257673123.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-31T08:52:24-07:00 The responsibility for choosing which Australian native species survive – and which go extinct – may ultimately fall to ordinary Australians. http://phys.org/news257527111.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-29T16:18:44-07:00 A deadly fungus that has wiped out large populations of bats in North America has spread to a new species, the endangered gray bat, US wildlife officials said Tuesday. http://phys.org/news257516949.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-29T13:40:02-07:00 New research shows that the efficacy of delousing efforts is greatly affected by the materials used in constructing a well boat’s tank for mixing the delousing agent. This knowledge has now led to improvements in conventional delousing methods. http://phys.org/news257413529.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-28T08:45:55-07:00 Thousands of crustaceans were found dead off the coast of Lima following the mystery mass death of dolphins and pelicans, the Peruvian Navy said Friday. http://phys.org/news257238869.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-26T08:14:48-07:00 Local governments around the world have a new tool to help share and use vast amounts of biodiversity knowledge collected in the course of their work. http://phys.org/news257160248.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-25T10:24:20-07:00 Originally endemic to the Atlantic Coast of North America, over the past 30 years Dyspanopeus sayi has been involuntarily introduced in the UK, France, the Netherlands, the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea. A study shows that in recent years the sea crab has established itself along the Western Mediterranean Coast. http://phys.org/news257159006.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-25T10:03:43-07:00 In a research partnership between Deakin University and Parks Victoria, marine scientists have captured rare video footage of fish and other marine creatures living on the seafloor off western Victoria. http://phys.org/news257153327.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-25T08:29:29-07:00 (AP) -- Global warming is rescuing the once-rare brown Argus butterfly, scientists say. http://phys.org/news257093716.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-24T15:55:27-07:00 A new study led by scientists in the Department of Biology at the University of York has shown how a butterfly has changed its diet, and consequently has sped northwards in response to climate change. Their study is published in the latest issue of Science. http://phys.org/news257081112.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-24T14:00:05-07:00 Researchers reporting online on May 24 in the Cell Press journal Current Biology present the first evidence that areas closed to all fishing are helping to sustain valuable Australian fisheries. The international team of scientists applied a forensic DNA profiling approach to track the dispersal pathways of fish larvae throughout a network of marine reserves on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. http://phys.org/news257078179.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-24T12:00:47-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Researchers from Murdoch University's Cetacean Research Unit are working with colleagues from Duke University in the US and Marine Ventures Foundation on an innovative project that will use social media to collect information on one of the world's last great marine wildernesses. Ashley Yeager from Duke University explains. http://phys.org/news257068889.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-24T09:01:43-07:00 New evidence suggests that Atlantic cod may have the ability to affect entire food webs in both benthic and pelagic marine ecosystems, according to a University of Maine marine scientist, writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). http://phys.org/news257067407.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-24T08:36:54-07:00 Pesticide use rose by 6.5% between 2005 and 2010, increasing the risk to bee populations, according to new research from the University of Reading launched today by Friends of the Earth. http://phys.org/news257062477.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-24T07:14:50-07:00 When leatherback turtle hatchlings dig out of their nests buried in the sandy Playa Grande beach in northwest Costa Rica, they enter a world filled with dangers. This critically endangered species faces threats that include egg poaching and human fishing practices. Now, Drexel University researchers have found that the climate conditions at the nesting beach affect the early survival of turtle eggs and hatchlings. They predict, based on projections from multiple models, that egg and hatchling survival will drop by half in the next 100 years as a result of global climate change. http://phys.org/news257010659.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-23T17:00:21-07:00 The Belgian Biodiversity Platform has just released a new website "IFBL Data Portal, Explore Flora Checklists of Belgium". It aggregates about 23,000 checklists of vascular plants in Belgium, compiled since 1939. Users can search a database of over 2.5 million observations of over 2,800 different species. The website will be updated on a monthly basis, in cooperation with the Florabank database. http://phys.org/news257005333.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-23T15:22:58-07:00 New research out today on the long-term impact of species extinctions suggests that the disappearance of one species does not necessarily allow remaining competitor species to thrive by filling now-empty niches. http://phys.org/news257003948.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-23T14:59:35-07:00 The emergence of weeds resistant to the most widely used herbicide is fostering a new arms race in the war against these menaces, which cost society billions of dollars annually in control measures and lost agricultural production. That's the topic of a story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly magazine of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society. http://phys.org/news256993230.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-23T12:00:35-07:00 A hundred years ago wild elephants on the Malay Peninsular could be counted in their thousands — now there are less than 1500. Over the last century around 50 per cent of forest cover in Peninsular Malaysia has been lost. http://phys.org/news256987702.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-23T10:29:22-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Street lighting is transforming communities of insects and other invertebrates, according to research by the University of Exeter. Published today in the journal Biology Letters, the study shows for the first time that the balance of different species living together is being radically altered as a result of light pollution in our towns and cities. http://phys.org/news256965154.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-23T04:14:00-07:00 Nearly 900 dolphins that washed up along Peru's northern coast since the start of the year died of natural causes, a top official said Tuesday, citing a government report that failed to convince environmental activists here. http://phys.org/news256929062.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-22T18:11:19-07:00 New fish-tagging studies of young bluefin tuna in Atlantic waters off New England by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are offering the first fishery-independent, year-round data on dispersal patterns and habitat use for the popular game fish. The availability of miniaturized pop-up satellite tags suitable for smaller (two- to five-year-old) fish helped make the research possible. http://phys.org/news256927152.html Biology - Ecology 2012-05-22T17:39:17-07:00