ecology
edyong | November 21, 2008Over the past decade, some coastal waters have started turning red with alarming frequency. The cause is not some Biblical plague, but dense concentrations of microscopic algae called dinoflagellates. Red tides can often contain more than a million of these cells in a mere millilitre of water. Many are harmless and essential parts of the ocean environment, but others produce toxins that can kill local wildlife and risk the health of humans who eat their poisoned flesh.
These "harmful algal blooms" are more common in warm waters that mix poorly and are unusually rich in nutrients. Their…
grrlscientist | November 16, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of a wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that currently are, or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is edited by me and published here for your information and enjoyment. Below the fold is this week's issue of The Birdbooker Report which…
grrlscientist | November 12, 2008tags: ecology, exotic species, introduced species, non-native species, invasive species, monk parakeets, quaker parrots, Myiopsitta monachus, Michael A Russello, Michael L Avery, Timothy F Wright
Monk (Quaker) parakeets, Myiopsitta monachus, with nest.
Image: Arthur Grosset [larger view].
Invasive species are everywhere: from plants such as Scotch (English) broom, Cytisus scoparius, whose yellow flowers bloom prolifically along roadways of North America, Australia and New Zealand to mammals such as human beings, Homo sapiens, which are the ultimate invasive species because we have…
grrlscientist | November 9, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of a wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that currently are, or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is edited by me and published here for your information and enjoyment. Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by which lists…
edyong | November 8, 2008On the surface, plummeting populations of sharks do not seem like much cause for concern for humans or, for that matter, other sea life. But this simple viewpoint relies on splitting animals into two groups - predators and prey. In practice, this distinction is far too crude. Too put it bluntly, there are predators and there are predators. Those at the top kill those in the middle, and stop them in turn, from killing those at the bottom. As the old saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
The rise in shark fishing is mainly driven by a growing market for their fins. Shark fins soup…
hrynyshyn | November 4, 2008The conventional wisdom is that you have to get a PhD if you want to be a serious scientist. I don't have one, but I'm not a scientist, just a journalist with a BSc who can't claim to have advanced any particular branch of marine biology. There are accomplished researchers out there that have managed to make significant contributions to their field without the cache of a graduate degree, though. Today's New York Times offers a profile of one such scientist, a hero of mine named Alexandra Morton. It wasn't easy and it took years of suffering contempt from "real" scientists before her work was…
clock | November 4, 2008The next Sigma Xi lunch pizza in RTP will be noon MONDAY, Nov. 17. Come hear Rob Dunn, assistant professor of zoology at NC State, talk about "Climate Change and the Neglected Majority." Dunn, among other things, is interested in insects and how changes in their distribution affect ecosystems.
Sigma Xi's Pizza Lunch speaker series is free and open to science journalists and science communicators of all stripes (feel free to forward this message to anyone you would like to be included). RSVPs are required to cclabby@amsci.org.
clock | November 2, 2008The list is now final. Here are the top 13:
#13 Deep-sea corals
#12: Yeti Crab
#11 Venus's Flower Basket
#10: Echinothuriid Sea Urchins
#9: Bathynomus, the GIANT ISOPOD!!!!
#8 Red Lure Jellyfish
#7 Predatory Tunicates
#6: Giant Sea Spiders
#5 Barreleye Fish
#4 Gold-Footed or Scaly Foot Snail
#3 Flesh Eating Sponges
#2: Bone-Devouring Zombie Worms from Hell
#1 Vampire Squid
grrlscientist | November 2, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that are or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is published here for your enjoyment. Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird…
edyong | October 29, 2008Our amphibians are not doing well. Populations of frogs, toads, salamanders and newts the world over are falling dramatically. Their moist, permeable skins and their need for water to reproduce make them vulnerable to a multitude of threats including drought brought on by climate change, a deadly fungus, and other infectious diseases. Now, we can point an accusatory finger at another culprit - a chemical called atrazine that is second most commonly used pesticide in the United States, and perhaps the world.
Jason Rohr and colleagues from the University of Florida found that atrazine exposes…
edyong | October 27, 2008Most of the planet's ecosystems are made of a multitude of different species, rich tangles of living things all interacting, competing and cooperating in order to eke out an existence. But not always - in South Africa, within the darkness of a gold mine, there is an ecosystem that consists of a single species, a type of bacteria that is the only thing alive in the hot, oxygen-less depths. It is an ecosystem of one, living in complete isolation from the Sun's energy.
This incredible and unique habitat was discovered by Dylan Chivian from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, leading a…
grrlscientist | October 26, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that are or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is published here for your enjoyment. Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird…
laelaps | October 21, 2008As soon as you have anything to do with the gorilla the fascination of studying him begins to grow on you and you instinctively begin to speak of the gorilla as "he" in a human sense, for he is obviously as well as scientifically akin to man. - Carl Akeley
There are few places that I find as stimulating at the American Museum of Natural History, but the great halls of stuffed animals always put me in a somber mood. The organic parts of the reconstituted creatures were collected long ago, and large metal letters on the wooden frames telling the viewer who had donated the skins to the museum.…
clock | October 19, 2008About half have already been posted:
#27: Brachiopods
#26: Pig Butt Worm
#25: Crawling Crinoids
#24: Tube Worms
#23: Dumbo Octopus
#22: Xenophyophores
#21: Phronima
#20: Swimming Sea Cucumbers
#19: Black Devil Anglerfish
#18: Venus Fly-trap Anemone
#17: Tripod fish, Bathypterois
#16: Chaunax, the red-eyed gaper
#15: Spookfish, Rhinochimaera pacifica
#14: Alviniconcha, the Hairy Vent Snail
Keep checking for others....
grrlscientist | October 19, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that are or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is published here for your enjoyment. Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird…
awild | October 14, 2008
Iridomyrmex reburrus
Highlights from the recent technical literature:
Savanna ants more resistant to fire than forest ants. Parr & Andersen. 2008. Fire resilience of ant assemblages in long-unburnt savanna of northern Australia. Austral Ecology. doi: 10.1111/j.1442-9993.2008.01848
Abstract: Tropical savannas and rainforests contrast in their flammability and the fire resilience of their associated species. While savanna species generally exhibit high resilience to burning, there is much debate about the fire resilience of forest-associated species, and the persistence of forest patches…
grrlscientist | October 12, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that are or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is published here for your enjoyment. Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird…
chaoticutopia | October 8, 2008Some folks say that bison belong here, not the ’burbs. The great herds once covered the plains, shaping the prairie in their nomadic graze. They were a keystone species, holding the ecology of the plains in a state of equilibrium. Native Americans who lived on the plains depended on the bison for survival, using the animals as a primary source of materials and food. Hides were used as clothing and shelter, bones were used as weapons, tools, and farming impliments. It may have been the most healthy lifestyle on earth at the time, at least nutritionally, if height is a judge of health. These…
awild | October 8, 2008
Cataulacus brevisetosus - armored arboreal ant (Africa)
Cephalotes rohweri - armored arboreal ant (North America)
Tetraponera natalensis - elongate twig ant (Africa)
Pseudomyrmex pallidus - elongate twig ant (North America)
Plectroctena mandibularis - giant hunting ant (Africa)
Dinoponera australis - giant hunting ant (South America)
Dorylus helvolus - subterranean ant predator (Africa)
Neivamyrmex californicus - subterranean ant predator (North America)
grrlscientist | October 6, 2008tags: DonorsChoose2008, education, public school education, fund raising, evolution education, nature education, bird education
Today's featured project is below the fold.
This teacher's proposal has only 26 days left to be funded, but only $25 has been donated so far! Mrs. R, who is starting her second year as a teacher, needs another $513 to add a special science lesson to her curricula. I think that Mrs. R has shown a lot of initiative by completing summer workshops that prepare her to teach science in her classroom, and when you read her proposal, you will find that she is especially…