Spiders avoid areas where fire ants have been

A team of researchers at Canada's Simon Fraser University has found that several species of spiders avoid areas where fire ants have recently congregated. In their paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, ...

Flexible, stretchable fire-ant rafts

What do Jell-O, toothpaste, and floating fire-ant rafts have in common? All are so-called "viscoelastic" materials, meaning that they can both resist flow under stress, like honey, and they can bounce back to their original ...

Eating fire ants could prepare lizards for future fire ant attack

Eating fire ants might prepare a lizard's immune system to be stung by the ants, according to a new study by researchers at Penn State. The study comprehensively assessed how the immune system responds to lizards eating and ...

Plants do communicate—and kin relationship has a bearing

If you're a sagebrush and your nearby kin is being eaten by a grasshopper, deer, jackrabbit, caterpillar or other predator, it's good to be closely related. Through volatile (chemical) cues, your kin will inform you of the ...

Fish-Killing Toxin Could Kill Cancer Cells

A powerful fish-killing toxin could have cancer-killing properties as well, according to collaborative research led by Agricultural Research Service microbiologist Paul V. Zimba and chemist Peter Moeller of the U.S. National ...

New red imported fire ant enemies in place for combat

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are releasing the fifth species of phorid fly to control fire ant populations. Red imported fire ants first arrived in the United States in the early 1930s and have been expanding ...

Expanding tropical forest spells disaster for conservation

A North Carolina State University study shows that fire suppression efforts in Brazilian savannas turn many of those areas into forest lands, with negative consequences for the plants and animals that live there.

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