animal behavior – envirobites

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Combine Crickets and Lockdowns and get an Unlikely Experiment

August 5, 2021August 4, 2021 Brianne Palmer 0 Comments animal behavior, COVID-19, crickets, entomology, urban ecology

In the spring of 2020, we all dealt with lockdowns in a different way. In urban parks, animals were suddenly exposed to a world without humans, and this disrupted ongoing urban ecology experiments. But resourceful ecologists used the sudden silence near businesses and the uptick of outdoor recreation to understand how shifting human behaviors change timing and duration of chirping urban crickets.

Animal behavior Science through time

Clues to the Past – What fossils tell us about ancient animal behavior

December 3, 2020December 3, 2020 Brandi Pessman 0 Comments animal behavior, dinosaurs, ethology, fossils, paleontology

Hundreds of millions of years ago, Earth was teeming with life. Since humans weren’t around back then, we have to rely on fossils for snapshots into that world. Fossils give clues on how animals and their behaviors have evolved throughout geological time and can help with today’s conservation efforts. But what can fossils tell us about animal behavior, and when were some of the earliest behaviors? That’s a mystery worth digging into!

Animal behavior Cities Environmental Science

Does wearing a face mask make humans less scary to tree sparrows?

October 7, 2020October 7, 2020 Kevin Aviles Rodriguez 0 Comments animal behavior, behavioral ecology, FID, urban ecology

Environmental conditions can change quite quickly. In this case, due to the global pandemic of COVID-19 we’ve all been wearing masks when we venture outside. How might this sudden change in our appearance affect animals that frequently live amongst us? Find out how Eurasian tree sparrows responded to wearing masks in two provinces of Sichuan, China.

Animal behavior Case Studies Ecosystems Environmental Science

Large Carnivores on the Rise

July 13, 2020February 9, 2021 Elisabeth Lang 0 Comments animal behavior, humans and wildlife, wolves

Many large carnivores have been increasing in number along with people, which could lead to more conflicts between the carnivores and people. Wolves in particular are starting to make a comeback after their population sizes were reduced due to hunting and loss of prey. It is important to bring wolves back because they play an important role in maintaining the balance of an ecosystem by controlling the population size of their prey. Their reintroduction and increasing population sizes have led to research to figure out how wolves and people can live peacefully together.