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Tag Archives: ecology

Infectious animals

By Amanda Leigh Mascarelli / April 17, 2013

Critters spread many germs that can sicken each other — and even kill people

Posted in Animals, Body & Health | Tagged AIDS, bush meat, bushmeat, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Columbia University, Ebola, EcoHealth Alliance, ecology, emerging infectious disease, epidemic, epidemiology, feature, flu, Hendra virus, HIV, Ian Lipkin, Influenza, Jonathan Epstein, Kristine Smith, Melissa Miller, microbiology, Nipah virus, pathogen, Salmonella, salmonellosis, SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, simian immunodeficiency syndrome, SIV, topstories, vaccination, vaccine, zoonosis, zoonotic

People can sicken animals

By Amanda Leigh Mascarelli / April 17, 2013

Wildlife can sometimes become infected with germs shed by people

Posted in Animals, Body & Health | Tagged biological pollution, bobcats, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, cats, clams, crabs, ecology, emerging infectious disease, explainer, feces, filter feeders, germs, marine mammals, Melissa Miller, microbe, microbiology, mollusk, mussels, Oysters, parasite, pathogen, Pollution, runoff, sea otters, terms: pets, toxoplasma, toxoplasmosis, wetlands, wildcat, wildlife

Fungi as carbon keepers

By Stephen Ornes / April 11, 2013

A recent study of forested Swedish islands found that tiny fungi in the soil store most of the carbon found in the forest floor. Credit: Photo courtesy of Karina Clemmensen

A common type of fungus stores most of a forest floor’s carbon underground

Posted in Environment & Pollution, Microbes, Fungi & Algae | Tagged carbon, carbon dioxide, ecology, Erik Hobbie, fungus, getinvolved, global warming, greenhouse gas, Karina Clemmensen, roots, soil, Sweden, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, trees, University of New Hampshire, Uppsala

Cool Jobs: Green Science

By Sharon Oosthoek / March 14, 2013

White spruce grow across northern North America, from Alaska to Labrador. As Arctic temperatures rise, spruce are spreading even farther north. Credit: Mark W. Skinner at USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database

Scientists get at the root (and stem, leaf, flower, fruit and seed) of the relationship between plants and their environment

Posted in Agriculture, Plants, STEM Careers | Tagged air pollution, air pollution control, albedo, allelopathy, arabidopsis, benzene, Bill Wolverton, birch, botany, climate change, contaminants, cool jobs, ecology, feature, forests, formaldehyde, global warming, greenhouse effect, greenhouse effectPlants, herbicide, houseplants, Joseph Jez, juglone, Labrador, NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, plant chemistry, plants, Pollination, pollinator, Quebec, rice, seeds, Serge Payette, sorghum, spruce, topstories, transpiration, tree line, trees, trichloroethylene, tundra, Université Laval, Washington University, weed killers, X-ray crystallography

Whale of a lesson

By Eric Wagner / March 7, 2013

A North Atlantic right whale lifts its tail to dive in the Bay of Fundy. Credit: Eric Wagner

Once given up as all but extinct, the North Atlantic right whale is making a comeback

Posted in Animals | Tagged Amy Knowlton, baleen, biology, blubber, callosity, cetaceans, citizen science, conservation, ecology, entanglement, feature, fishing, genes, genetics, keratin, mammalogy, marine policy, marine science, Mark Baumgartner, Moira Brown, New England Aquarium, oceans, right whales, Saint Mary’s University, Scott Kraus, shipping, ships, Tim Frasier, whale oil, Whales, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Predators as climate helpers

By Janet Raloff / February 18, 2013

This freshwater stickleback eats the tiny animals in stream water that graze on plants and algae. This predation allows those plants and algae to collect and store carbon, rather than letting it escape into the atmosphere. Credit: Nicole Bedford, UBC

In lakes and streams, fish and insects can help protect aquatic plants that gobble up greenhouse gas

Posted in Earth & Sky, Environment & Pollution, Weather & Climate | Tagged algae, bromeliad, carbon dioxide, climate, damselfly, ecology, ecosystem, food chain, food web, getinvolved, global warming, grazers, greenhouse gases, James Estes, John Richardson, phytoplankton, ponds, predators, primary production, Santa Cruz, stickleback, stonefly, streams, topstories, Trisha Atwood, trophic levels, University of British Columbia, University of California, zooplankton

Piercing a buried polar lake

By Janet Raloff / January 29, 2013

This 1,000-meter hose — spooled onto an enormous and very heavy container — was used as a drill to pierce deeply through Antarctica’s ice. Credit: J. Raloff/Science News for Kids

Researchers in Antarctica drilled through a half-mile of ice to reach water that hasn’t had contact with the atmosphere for thousands of years.

Posted in Earth | Tagged Antarctic Sun, Antarctica, bacteria, Brent Christner, ecology, ecosystems, Frank Rack, germs, getinvolved, hot-water drill, ice sheet, Jill Mikucki, John Priscu, Lake Ellsworth, Lake Vostok, Lake Whillans, Louisiana State University, Martin Siegert, microbes, microbiology, polar science, South Pole, subglacial lakes, Tristy Vick-Majors, University of Bristol, University of Montana, University of Nebraska, University of Tennessee, viruses, WISSARD

Cool Jobs: Delving into dung

By Roberta Kwok / January 23, 2013

Wood’s colleague, Janet Wilmshurst, studies a piece of moa poop. Credit: Jamie Wood

Scientists uncover fascinating secrets through the study of animal feces

Posted in Animals, STEM Careers | Tagged animal navigation, animal reproduction, baboons, beetles, Brazil, Center for Conservation Biology, Cerrado, chemical markers, Chinook salmon, conservation biology, cool jobs, coprolite, Dactylanthus taylorii, diet, digestion, DNA, DNA fingerprint, droppings, dung, ecology, Emily Baird, endocrinology, excretions, feature, feces, fossils, glucocorticoid, Hades flower, hormones, kakapo, killer whale, Landcare Research, Lund University, manure, moa, New Zealand, oceanography, olfaction, orca, paleontology, pollen, Pollination, poo, poop, scat, stress, Tanzania, topstories, University of Washington, Wasser, whiskers

Trees on the edge

By Stephen Ornes / December 14, 2012

A dead beech tree in Scotland. The majority of the world’s trees, including this type, would be pushed close to the point of death in a serious drought, a new study reports. Credit: Dr. Hervé Cochard (INRA, Clermont-Ferrand, France)

Serious drought is a threat to most trees, worldwide survey finds

Posted in Environment & Pollution | Tagged Brendan Choat, climate change, David Breshears, drought, ecology, getinvolved, global warming, plant physiology, plants, University of Arizona in Tucson, University of Western Sydney, xylem

Threatened coral get fishy rescue

By Stephen Ornes / December 6, 2012

When toxic seaweed (green at right) gets too close to a type of coral (yellow structure), this fish, a broad-barred goby (Gobiodon histrio), responds to a distress signal sent by the coral and nibbles the seaweed away. Credit: Danielle Dixson

When toxic seaweed gets too close to this coral, gobies fight and bite back

Posted in Animals | Tagged Acropora nasuta, Adaptation, algae, algal poison, Chlorodesmis fastigiata, climate change, cooperation, coral, Danielle Dixson, ecology, getinvolved, goby, marine ecology, Mark Hay Georgia Institute of Technology, mucus, mutualism, Nancy Knowlton, predators, seaweed, Smithsonian Institution, topstories, toxin

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