Are plants smart?
Author: Samantha E Andres Source: Calvo, Paco, et al. “Plants are intelligent, here’s how.” Annals of Botany 125.1 (2020): 11-28. What is
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Ecology
Invasive Species Eradication: Prioritizing Efforts and Understanding Costs
Invasive predators can have major impacts on native prey species. Eradication, if possible, can help native species rebound, but many invasion scenarios are complex and include multiple invasive predators. How do we decide which species to target first? While such decisions can be difficult, recent theoretical work has shed light on the most effective strategies.
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Humans, Livestock, and Wild Carnivores
What comes to mind when you think of human and wildlife conflict? One major source of conflict is predation of livestock by wild carnivores. Livestock management strategies can help lessen conflict by reducing predation events, but those strategies must be based on sound ecological concepts to be most effective.
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As Oceans Change, HABs Invade
Global ocean temperatures are currently rising and have been for decades. Scientists are working to discover how this changing climate affects species around the world, from the very large to the very small. This includes phytoplankton, the microscopic marine algae that live in most bodies of water around the globe and produce half the world’s oxygen. But some of these species are toxic, and can cause harm to human and wildlife alike if they are able to grow out of control. Though a number of studies have been undertaken to try and understand more about these harmful algal blooms, much is still unknown about their growth. A group of scientists were interested in how changing ocean temperatures affected the geographic ranges of harmful algal blooms over time in order to better predict blooms in the future.
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Invader in red: the impacts of the red-eared slider turtle across the globe
I’ve always been a big fan of animals. I love visiting pet shops and looking at all the cool animals. However, movement of animals via the pet trade has resulted in the introduction of exotic wildlife to many ecosystems globally. A particularly widespread invader is the red-eared slider turtle. Read on to find out how these invaders in red have spread and whether policy has been effective in controlling them.
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What is Earth’s tree carrying capacity and how might it mitigate climate change?
Author: Samantha E Andres ARTICLE: Bastin, Jean-Francois, et al. “The global tree restoration potential.” Science 365.6448 (2019): 76-79. DOI: 10.1126/science.aax0848
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Where have all the flowers gone? Climate change is driving the loss of forbs and diversity in Californian grasslands
Science predicts that climate change will disrupt many natural processes and cycles and there is ever increasing media coverage regarding expectations for Earth’s future under these pressures. Yet there is little popular discussion about how plant communities will be impacted by these changes despite the fact that they represent the first level of the food web, support entire ecosystems of species, and contain one of the only organisms that can capture free energy to produce life. Understanding the ways that these communities are changing and will change in the future is crucially important to seeing the full picture of how climate change will re-shape life as we know it.
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The Forest-Fungi Loop
The ground under our feet might have more say in the landscape than we realize– researchers are studying the feedback loops between fungi and trees.
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Begging birds: behavioral responses to human feeding in China
Bird feeding is a popular activity enjoyed around the globe. However, we don’t really understand how bird feeding can impact the behavior of birds. A new study from China took on this question by studying black-headed gulls. Read on to find out how food provisionings affected the behaviors of these birds
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Pollution in Polish Rivers, and the Cucumber Solution
Pollution is dangerous, both to humans and the ecosystems we care about. But researchers in Poland have studied the sources and dynamic movement of pollutants in rivers, and may have found potential in cucumbers to help improve the system.
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