Tag: "amphibian" at biology news

Researchers find 24 species believed new to science in Suriname rainforest

... sources clean enough to support abundant fish and amphibian life. Among the 24 species believed new to science are an Atelopus frog with brilliant purple markings, four Eleutherodactylus frog species, six species of fish, 12 dung beetles and an ant species. The scientists also found 27 species endemic to t...

Caribbean frogs started with a single, ancient voyage on a raft from South America

...e Caribbean Islands have the highest proportion of amphibian species threatened with extinction. Hedges and co...ctylines -- have been considered a "black hole" in amphibian biology because of the poor understanding of their evolutionary history," explained Hedges. Scienti...

Amphibians in losing race with environmental change

...nce. "We know that there are various causes for amphibian population declines, including UV-B light exposure...y at OSU and one of the world's leading experts on amphibian decline. "But looked at in a different way, it's not just that there are threats and pressures am...

Leeches ferry infection among newts

...ht not be as contagious as other leech-transmitted amphibian parasites. That is because this particular parasite lodges itself in muscle tissue instead of blood. A leech would have to be feeding right on top of a newt's infected muscle in order to transmit the infection. However, it is still unclear if the spo...

Ancient amphibians evolved a bite before migrating to dry land

... termed "sutures" -- in the tops of these fish and amphibian skulls reveal how these extinct animals captured p... that in one key transitional species, the aquatic amphibian Acanthostega, the shapes of the junctions between adjacent skull bones are consistent with biting pr...

Recently discovered species gain protection

...and belongs to one of the most globally threatened amphibian groups, the harlequin toads. In addition to the piha, the reserve also contains populations of many other rare and restricted birds, including the black tinamou (known from one other site in southern Colombia, and one in central Peru), sharpbill, S...

Salamanders suffer delayed effects of common herbicide

...raise concerns over the role of atrazine in global amphibian declines. The results also suggest that while imp...my of Sciences, could have implications for global amphibian declines. "Salamanders, and amphibians in general, are crucial to ecosystems, as both predators ...

Global map shows new patterns of extinction risk

...l mean that large numbers of endangered mammal and amphibian species will also be protected. The new study show...into 100km x 100km grids, and all mammal, bird and amphibian species within each grid square were counted, using a variety of pre-existing, but never-before comb...

Newts which regrow their hearts

...archers working with Thomas Braun in Nauheim. This amphibian comes from the wetlands of North America, but it also feels quite at home in the Institute’s aquaria. It is a small animal that scientists find interesting for a particular reason: whereas humans cannot regenerate damaged heart muscle adequately af...

LSU professor discovers new species

...re than 80,000 specimens in the LSUMNS reptile and amphibian collection, are important because taxonomy ?the science of describing, naming and classifying organisms ?has implications for basic and applied fields of science. "We can't conserve what we don't know we have. It is imperative that we know what spec...

'Killer' B cells demonstrate evolutionary link between fish and mammal immune systems

...research also showed that a significant portion of amphibian B cells retained their digestive traits. "The immune systems of amphibians and fish are far less advanced than ours," Sunyer said. "When you only have a rudimentary adaptive immune system, it helps to have more phagocytic cells to compensate, whic...

Race to halt global amphibian crisis boosted by rediscovery of endangered Colombian frogs

...t time to prevent chytridiomycosis from wiping out amphibian populations, but now we have discovered what appea... more endangered species of mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian and plant. It listed the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta site as one of the most crucial to protect. I...

Major initiative proposed to address amphibian crisis

Fifty of the leading amphibian researchers in the world have called for a new Amp...$400 million initiative to help reduce and prevent amphibian declines and extinctions, an ecological crisis of growing proportion that is continuing to get worse...

Study shows frogs can play key role in stem cell research

...show that mammals have adopted the function of the amphibian PouV proteins to maintain their embryonic stem cells. These features of dividing without limit and giving rise to many types of cell are thus ancient features of early embryonic cells, crucial for the correct development of both frogs and humans." ...

Colombian frog believed extinct found alive

...believed extinct due to a killer fungus wiping out amphibian populations in Central and South America. The dis...hazards threatening the survival of a third of all amphibian species around the world. "The scientific importance of the finding must motivate us to adopt urgen...

Crucial site for endangered frogs and birds saved

... more endangered species of mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian and plant. It listed the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta site as one of the most crucial to protect. "This represents a great leap for avoiding extinction," said Alonso Quevedo, president of Fundación ProAves. "Not only is creation of the reserve a lan...

African amphibians make extreme parental sacrifice: The skin off their backs

...d on their mothers' milk, the young of the African amphibian Boulengerula taitanus nourish themselves by stripp...nal Nature. Hatchlings of B. taitanus---a legless amphibian that looks something like an earthworm---are born with specialized teeth for peeling and eating skin...

Extinctions linked to climate change

...obal warming to the recent extinction of dozens of amphibian species in tropical America is more evidence of a ...an OSU scientist who pioneered the study of global amphibian decline said this is another key example of unanticipated and complex impacts from climate change. T...

Rare Chinese frogs communicate by means of ultrasonic sound

... Nature, represent the first documented case of an amphibian being able to communicate like bats, whales and dolphins, said corresponding author Albert S. Feng, a professor of molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Feng, a researcher at the Beckman Institute fo...

New amphibian species result from exploration, not from rule changes

Researchers have discovered amphibian species at an accelerating rate in recent decades,...t, contrary to some published expert opinions, new amphibian discoveries are a consequence of increasing exploratory effort, not of changing criteria for recogni...

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