Physical barriers are an obvious barrier to gene flow and to diversity within species—when populations can't get to each other to mix, their genes can't mix either.
Plants & Animals
Apr 3, 2020
0
25
While they can't pick out precise numbers, animals can comprehend that more is, well, more. From birds to bees and wolves to frogs, animals use numbers to hunt, find a mate, return to their home, and more—and researchers ...
Evolution
Mar 30, 2020
0
204
While domestication of plants has yielded bigger crops, the process has often had a negative effect on plant microbiomes, making domesticated plants more dependent on fertilizer and other soil amendments than their wild relatives.
Ecology
Mar 10, 2020
0
668
When El Nino approaches, driven by warm Pacific Ocean waters, we've come to expect both drenching seasonal rains in the southern U.S. and drought in the Amazon. Those opposite extremes have huge effects on society and are ...
Ecology
Mar 9, 2020
0
47
Research from Oxford University calls us to reconsider how behaviours may spread through societies of wild animals, and how this might provide new insights into human social networks.
Evolution
Dec 3, 2019
0
22
We might not notice them, but the crops farmers grow are protected by scores of tiny invertebrate bodyguards. Naturally occurring arthropods like spiders and lady beetles patrol crop fields looking for insects to eat. These ...
Ecology
Nov 5, 2019
0
202
Did a murderer walk through the room? Did a shark just swim by? Is this a poisonous mushroom? Which reef species are lost when the coral dies? These questions can potentially be answered quickly and cheaply based on tiny ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 21, 2019
0
49
With an ever-growing list of threats facing biodiversity on multiple scales, conservationists struggle to determine which to address. A common reaction is to prioritize their efforts on threats to individual species or management ...
Environment
May 23, 2019
0
184
The 2014-16 Ebola virus epidemic that ravaged Western Africa, killing thousands, was the largest in history. An analysis of the epidemic found that not all individuals played an equal role in spreading the deadly infectious ...
Evolution
Jan 29, 2019
0
44
For some animals—such as beetles, ants, toads, and primates—short-term social isolation can be just as vital as social interaction to development and long-term evolution. In a review published July 17 in the journal Trends ...
Evolution
Jul 17, 2018
0
470
