Tag: Ecology - Page 4
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Modern Polar Bears Are Really From Ireland
While polar bears are famous for living in and around the icy Arctic Circle, scientists looking into the bears' family tree found that they originated from a species of Brown Bear native to Ireland around 20,000 years ago. Photo
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The Most Important Fish In The Sea
Grist has an excellent article detailing the plight of Atlantic menhaden, dubbed by many as "the most important fish in the sea." While the fish are inedible to humans, they're perfect for turning into feed for aquaculture farms, poultry farms and other
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World Bank Loans Madagascar $52 Million To Protect Biodiversity
There are few places on earth with as much biodiversity as Madagascar -- in fact, 615 new species have been discovered there in the last 10 years alone. And yet, there are few places facing as much risk of
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The Science Behind Ocean Acidification: Helen Findlay on Her Work in the Arctic Sea Ice (Interview)
In the last week there have been some very sobering reports on the extremely degraded conditions of our oceans. The general gist is that it is much worse than previously thought, which is worrying
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Japanese Astronaut to Harvest Cucumbers On International Space Station
Considering the recent hubbub over cucumbers infected with E. coli in Europe, it's not surprising some folks might consider more, um, technological ways to grow them. A Japanese astronaut plans to harvest
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Want To Keep Your Eyesight? Study Shows Getting More Sunshine Is Key Factor
About two years ago, I was at a conference and one of the presenters brought up her idea that a significant cause of nearsightedness is the fact that so many of us spend most of the time indoors staring at computer
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Liberia Barcodes Its Trees to Protect Rainforests
Barcoding seems to be the conservation concept of the day, and that goes for sparing trees from illegal logging. The latest country to use the technology is Liberia, and at least one expert thinks that barcoding trees
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Smithsonian Freezing Coral Embryos to Save Great Barrier Reef
Back in 2009, scientists posed that we should start freezing corals in liquid nitrogen when it became clear that corals are going through extreme difficulties with pollution, the chance in the ocean's pH balance, and
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Spiders Feeling The Bite of Human Encroachment on Habitat
That old phrase tossed out by parents at fearful children about spiders, "They're more afraid of you than you are of them," has never been more true, at least according to researchers from the King Juan Carlos
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Motor Boat Turbulence Poses Big Threat to Key Anchor of Aquatic Food Chains
Minuscule and often transparent, zooplankton are little noticed as they float through bodies of water, but their absence can have a big impact on aquatic ecological systems, in which they serve as a
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The Surprising Life of Banana Slugs (Video)
Like the redwoods? Then thank a banana slug.
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Extinct Plants of New York City
Of the 1,357 plant species that once thrived in New York City, only 771 are still found there. The main reasons behind the loss of most plants from the area are human-related: habitat
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More Wind and Bigger Waves Are Changing Marine Ecosystems
Marine ecosystems such as the Giant Kelp forests off the coast of California are dependent upon certain ocean movements -- the kelp receives nutrients from the passing waves, which then creates habitat for a multitude of other species from urchins to
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Microdust in Orbit Proposed as Solution to Space Debris Problem
We can now add space debris remediation with tungsten micro-dust to the many geo-engineering proposals on the table for cleaning up the mess humanity is making with our only planet. The proposal, penned by G. Ganguli, C. Crabtree, L.
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Planting "Bee Roads" to Save Pollinators (Video)
Wildlife corridors are an important part of allowing animals to move freely among ranges and slow the impact of human encroachment on habitats. By connecting wild spaces and allowing animals to move from one area to another,
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Scale of Invasive Plant Species Key To Native Plants' Destruction
The conventional environmental wisdom is that invasive species, be they plant or animal, can easily become a destructive force for native species. And that wisdom is far from wrong. But some new research adds some nuance to the situation, explaining
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Marine Microbes Found Feasting On Plastic
Plastics have officially entered the food chain, as seen in the deadly effect things like Styrofoam and bottle caps have on sea turtles and albatross, and even whales. However, how far into the food chain
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How Do Invasive Species Spread? From Rats, to Carp, to Kudzu...
We talk a lot about invasive species on TreeHugger, following the news on how species get from their native habitat to a new ecosystem and, once there, wreak havoc. Some of the most interesting invasive species are Asian carp, kudzu and even rats since
