What bird beaks say about tropical biodiversity

Areas of the globe where fruit-eating birds have wider beaks also have larger palm fruits, a new study shows. This sounds banal, but it provides new insights into tropical biodiversity and clues for solving species conservation, ...

More diversity needed in oil palm plantations

The growing global demand for palm oil has led to a rapid spread of oil palm monoculture plantations in South East Asia. This is often associated with the loss of natural habitat and biodiversity. Oil palm monocultures are ...

Palm trees most abundant in American rainforests

Characteristics of palm trees differ from those of other tropical trees in many ways. In a major new study led by scientists at Uppsala University, Sweden, and University of Campinas, Brazil, they have surveyed the actual ...

Light sensors detect larval pests munching on date palms

A red beetle, classed as the most destructive date palm pest, causes millions of dollars of annual economic losses worldwide. Now, a small team in Saudi Arabia has found a cost-effective approach that uses laser pulses to ...

Lake Maracaibo: polluted by a permanent black tide

Smelling like an oil refinery, the vast expanse of Lake Maracaibo has become polluted by its own reserves of crude as Venezuela's economic collapse has left wells and pipelines in ruin.

Your dead palm is a woodpecker homeā€”and that's good

At the very edges of urbanization, Northern Flicker woodpeckers live in dead palm trees raising their young. Their populations are on the decline throughout the state, especially South Florida. But Joshua Diamond was lucky ...

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