https://phys.org/biology-news/plants-animals en-us Phys.org provides the latest news on plants and animals A giant panda gifted by China to Taiwan has given birth to a second female cub after being artificially inseminated, Taipei Zoo announced Monday. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-panda-gifted-china-birth-cub.html Plants & Animals Mon, 29 Jun 2020 03:58:39 EDT news512621891 A deep-sea soft coral garden habitat has been discovered in Greenlandic waters by scientists from UCL, ZSL and Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, using an innovative and low-cost deep-sea video camera built and deployed by the team. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-soft-coral-garden-greenland-deep.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 29 Jun 2020 03:30:09 EDT news512620185 As the "king of beasts," majestic lions have been used as a symbol of courage, nobility and strength by rulers for over 6000 years. A lion became the symbol of a Norwegian king at least as early as 1280. It still stands proudly on Norway's Coat of Arms. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-pantera-leo-family-tree.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 26 Jun 2020 11:03:17 EDT news512388192 The sweeping pink salt lakes across Australia's interior are all that remain of the lush green places three species of pink flamingos once thrived the outback. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-leg-australia-flamingos.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 26 Jun 2020 10:14:00 EDT news512385237 Ancestors of a distinctive pollinating bee found across Australia probably originated in tropical Asian countries, islands in the south-west Pacific or greater Oceania region, ecology researchers claim. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-aussie-bees-flew-asia.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 26 Jun 2020 10:11:02 EDT news512385060 Most plant features arise from complex interactions of genes, proteins and metabolites. The identification and analysis of these genetic traits is very challenging, especially when the sequenced genomes are fragmented. In his thesis, Bastian Schiffthaler has improved the genome information from European aspen and developed bioinformatic tools that help to analyze complex genetic traits in plants. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-software-package-complex-tree.html Plants & Animals Molecular & Computational biology Fri, 26 Jun 2020 09:37:04 EDT news512383013 As the world wrestles with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which arose after the virus jumped from an animal species to the human species, University of Delaware researchers are learning about new ways other pathogens are jumping from plants to people. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-bacteria-ways-immune-defenses.html Plants & Animals Cell & Microbiology Fri, 26 Jun 2020 09:06:37 EDT news512381190 Scientists working remotely with Schmidt Ocean Institute, one of the only at-sea science expeditions to continue operating during the global pandemic, have completed afirst look at deep waters in the Coral Sea never before seen. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-remote-at-sea-science-australia-coral.html Plants & Animals Thu, 25 Jun 2020 15:31:04 EDT news512317860 Dogs play an important role in human life all over the world—whether as a family member or as a working animal. But where the dog comes from and how old various groups of dogs are is still a bit of a mystery. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-sledge-dogs-year-old-ancient-dog.html Plants & Animals Evolution Thu, 25 Jun 2020 13:43:38 EDT news512308324 No year has been as hot and dry as 2018 since climate records began. Central European forests showed severe signs of drought stress. Mortality of trees stricken in 2018 will continue for several years. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-climate-extremes-forest.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 25 Jun 2020 13:10:06 EDT news512308819 Marine biologist Henri Jokinen investigated how and why flounder populations have decreased in Finnish waters over the past decades, and found that the story involves not one but two different flounder species, as well as environmental changes both at home and elsewhere. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-declines-flounder.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 25 Jun 2020 13:00:49 EDT news512308844 One of the main challenges for salmonid aquaculture is the threat of parasitic infestations from sea lice such as Lepeophtheirus salmonis. These parasites have been shown to survive for more than 190 days post attachment to the host fish, and during this lifetime can produce more than 10 broods (egg strings), each containing approximately 150 eggs per string. (Heuch et al., 2000). The problem with sea lice infestations is that they can cause stress to the host fish, cause skin lesions and secondary infections, can infect wild populations of salmonids and in some cases, can cause death of the fish (particularly smaller smolt stages). https://phys.org/news/2020-06-fishtreat-sustainable-medicinal-dosing-fish.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 25 Jun 2020 12:58:59 EDT news512308736 Northern bottlenose whales live in deep waters off the coast of Nova Scotia and southern Newfoundland. An endangered species, they were targets of a century of commercial whaling across the North Atlantic. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-decadesold-teeth-life-bottlenose-whales.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 25 Jun 2020 11:08:56 EDT news512302132 Paper wasps eavesdrop on fighting rivals to rapidly assess potential opponents without personal risk. This new finding adds to mounting evidence that even mini-brained insects have an impressive capacity to learn, remember and make social deductions about others. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-tiny-brains-big-eavesdropping-wasps.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 25 Jun 2020 11:00:02 EDT news512286999 A new study demonstrates for the first time that dolphins can learn foraging techniques outside the mother-calf bond—showing that they have a similar cultural nature to great apes. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-shelling-dinner-dolphins-foraging-skills.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 25 Jun 2020 11:00:02 EDT news512286911 Climate change leads to longer growing seasons in the Arctic. A new study, which has just been published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, show that predators like wolf spiders respond to the changing conditions and have been able to produce two clutches of offspring during the short Arctic summer. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-spider-baby-boom-warmer-arctic.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 25 Jun 2020 10:12:39 EDT news512298746 New research has revealed for the first time that shield bugs use a variety of colors throughout their lives to avoid predators. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-bugs-resort-colours-predators.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 25 Jun 2020 09:21:10 EDT news512295664 Researchers have uncovered more information about the numbers and habits of killer whales in south Western Australian waters, with a Curtin University study providing the first baseline assessment of the species' occupancy patterns in the Bremer Sub Basin area. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-bremer-sub-basin-killer-whale-range.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 25 Jun 2020 09:00:01 EDT news512293328 New species-specific tests that can detect endangered and hard-to-find aquatic animals through the DNA they shed in the water has been created by researchers at the University of Adelaide and Curtin University. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-shy-species-dna-technique.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 25 Jun 2020 08:45:10 EDT news512293508 The last 30 years have not been kind to the saiga. The break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 triggered a poaching free-for-all and the loss of more than 95% of the global population, a catastrophe followed by successive mass die-off events. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-mass-saiga-calving-critically-endangered.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 25 Jun 2020 08:40:01 EDT news512292669 The world's forests play an important role in mitigating climate change. They are carbon sinks, meaning they absorb more carbon dioxide than they emit. But according to new research, the most prolific tree in North America—the Douglas fir—will absorb less atmospheric carbon dioxide in the future and therefore do less to slow climate change than once thought. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-trees-absorb-carbon-dioxide-world.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 25 Jun 2020 08:32:04 EDT news512292719 Conservation efforts that open up the canopy of overgrown habitat for threatened timber rattlesnakes—whose venom is used in anticoagulants and other medical treatments—are beneficial to snakes but could come at a cost, according to a new study by researchers at Penn State and the University of Scranton. The researchers confirmed that breeding areas with more open canopies do provide more opportunities for these snakes to reach required body temperatures, but also have riskier predators like hawks and bobcats. The study, which appears in the June issue of the Journal of Herpetology, has important implications for how forest managers might open up snake habitat in the future. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-efforts-rattlesnake-habitat-much-needed-sunlight.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 25 Jun 2020 03:38:22 EDT news512275096 Barn swallows live almost everywhere on the planet, recognizable by their forked tail and agility in the air. Yet while they share these characteristics, these little birds often look slightly different in each place they live—with some so distinct they're splitting off to become new species. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-resident-parasites-evolution-barn-swallows.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 24 Jun 2020 15:54:04 EDT news512232841 Heading to the lake this summer? While harmful algal blooms can cause health problems for lake visitors, satellite data can provide early detection of harmful algae, resulting in socioeconomic benefits worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from one harmful algal bloom event, a new study finds. A Resources for the Future (RFF) and NASA VALUABLES Consortium study published in GeoHealth examines the benefits of using satellite data to detect harmful algal blooms and manage recreational advisories in Utah Lake. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-quantifies-socioeconomic-benefits-satellites-algal.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 24 Jun 2020 15:52:37 EDT news512232755 A study published in the journal Wetlands documents an invasion happening in the Adirondacks: the black spruce, tamarack, and other boreal species are being overcome by trees normally found in warmer, more temperate forests. Ultimately, researchers from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) predict that these invaders could overtake a variety of northern species, eliminating trees that have long been characteristic of wetlands like Shingle Shanty Preserve in the Adirondacks. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-adirondack-boreal-peatlands-southern-range.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 24 Jun 2020 14:39:10 EDT news512228346 The crops we grow in the field often form dense canopies with many overlapping leaves, such that young "sun leaves" at the top of the canopy are exposed to full sunlight with older "shade leaves" at the bottom. In order to maximize photosynthesis, resource-use efficiency, and yield, sun leaves typically maximize photosynthetic efficiency at high light, while shade leaves maximize efficiency at low light. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-environment-modifications-maximize-productivity.html Plants & Animals Biotechnology Wed, 24 Jun 2020 14:31:34 EDT news512227890 Suspended, rotating devices known as "flappers" may be the key to fewer birds flying into power lines, a study by Oregon State University suggests. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-birds-power-lines.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 24 Jun 2020 14:31:15 EDT news512227869 Researchers have been surprised to find that Adélie penguins in Antarctica prefer reduced sea ice conditions, not just a little bit, but a lot. As climate models project rapid reduction of the continent's sea ice over the rest of the century, this iconic polar predator could be a rare global warming winner. Their research findings are published on June 24, 2020 in Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-antarctic-penguins-happier-sea-ice.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 24 Jun 2020 14:00:02 EDT news512209605 Brown-headed cowbirds show a bias in the sex ratio of their offspring depending on the time of the breeding season, researchers report in a new study. More female than male offspring hatch early in the breeding season in May, and more male hatchlings emerge in July. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-cowbirds-eggs-sex-ratio-based.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 24 Jun 2020 13:42:25 EDT news512224942 An international team of researchers led by University of Konstanz ecologist Mark van Kleunen has compiled a global overview of the naturalization success of economic plants, showing that economic use in general, as well as the number and nature of economic uses, are crucial to their establishment in the wild. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-economic-alien-wild.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 24 Jun 2020 12:01:08 EDT news512218866