Tag: "island" at biology news

Researchers discover 'acquired' DNA key to certain bacterial infection

...sponse. The researchers did not find a similar island of acquired genetic material in two similar bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium paratuberculosis, which causes Johne’s disease. M. avium exists in the environment and is thought to infect humans when the infected environmental h...

Global survey of lizards reveals greater abundance of animals on islands than on mainland ecosystems

...rds on islands around the world has confirmed what island biologists and seafaring explorers have long obser...anding observation, the study signals an alarm for island populations in a rapidly warming world. It suggests that climate change may have devastating consequ...

Scientists: As rainfall changes, tropical plants may acclimate

...on the slopes of Mount Haleakala, a volcano on the island of Maui. The sites were ideal because they share the same species, elevations and soils but have vastly different rainfall. The wettest rainforest sites receive an astonishing 196 inches of rain annually, while the driest sites in this study get abou...

Invasion of the island bats

...ed into a mathematical power function, islands and island archipelagoes have been thought of as biological d...mple. Once isolated and with fewer species around, island organisms were thought to lose their competitive edge and so they hardly ever re-colonized the conti...

Rare soft-shell turtle, nesting ground found in Cambodia

...tine region of tall riverine forest, waterways and island archipelagos where further exciting biological discoveries will almost certainly be made.?He said a further survey of the area by an international team of flora and fauna experts was planned for July 2007. The turtle survey team consisted of Cambo...

Male-killing bacteria makes female butterflies more promiscuous

...he islands provide an ideal location because every island is differently affected by the male-killling bacteria so that each has a different ratio of males to females. The researchers assessed the natural sex ratio in 20 populations and combined this data with female mating frequency and the size of the ...

Smithsonian scientists discover new marine species in eastern Pacific

...ard to imagine, while snorkeling around a tropical island that's only a three-hour flight from the United States, that half the animals you see are unknown to science," Collin said. "Overwhelming diversity," said Jon Norenburg, an expert in ribbon worms from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural H...

Female Antarctic seals give cold shoulder to local males

... seals (Arctocephalus gazella) on the subantarctic island of South Georgia. They discovered that female fur seals will travel up to 35 metres to find a mate with high genetic diversity and to avoid inbreeding (while the males will remain static waiting to be chosen). This unique mating practice enables ...

Remote sheep population resists genetic drift

...sh a herd of mouflon for sport hunting on a remote island in the Indian Ocean 50 years ago has inadvertently...at the extreme conditions on the craggy, windswept island have prevented genetic drift due to the premium advantage the more genetically diverse mouflon on th...

Massive coral death attributed to earthquake

...ts of earthquake uplift on coral reefs. The entire island of Simeulue, with a perimeter of approximately 300 km (186 miles), was raised up to 1.2 m (3.9 feet) following the 28 March 2005 earthquake, exposing most of the coral reefs which ringed the island. Dr Stuart Campbell coordinator of the Wildlife ...

Fitness has fallen since the days of Ancient Greece

...the Athenians quelling a revolt in Mytilene on the island of Lesbos in the eastern Aegean. The Athenian assembly ordered all Mytiline's men to death, and despatched a trireme to carry out this command. The next day, the assembly relented and sent a second trireme to halt the massacre. According to the recor...

New sucker-footed bat discovered in Madagascar

...er, most likely after the bat dispersed across the island from east to west. Bats are the last group of land mammals on Madagascar that have not been intensively studied, Goodman said. "Until a decade ago, these animals remained largely understudied. On the basis of recent surveys and taxonomic research,...

New species declared: Clouded leopard on Borneo and Sumatra

...e species further emphasizes the uniqueness of the island and the importance of conserving the Heart of Borneo.? Clouded leopards are the biggest predators on Borneo. Some grow to be as large as a small panther, and have the longest canine teeth relative to body size of any cat. Sumatran tigers are the ...

Napoleon's mysterious death unmasked, UT Southwestern researcher says

... illness that killed the French emperor during his island exile, a UT Southwestern Medical Center scientist ...815. The British then exiled him to St. Helena, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean. He died May 5, 1821. The cause of his death has been highly scrut...

UF scientists discover new genus of frogmouth bird in Solomon Islands

...urned up a specimen on Isabel, a 1,500-square-mile island in the Solomons. Today, the only museum specimen o...er feathers reduce maneuverability. "These are island adaptations that work to keep the bird on the island," Steadman said. Second, it has distinct ba...

New bird, bat species revealed by extensive DNA barcode studies

...the first pregnant finch that landed on a deserted island in the Galapagos Archipelago, the first cancer cell in the human body has to undergo many mutations through many generations to establish itself as an invader of different organs in the body. But once it is there, like any newly stabilized species in...

Cancer that colonizes our bodies

...the first pregnant finch that landed on a deserted island in the Galapagos Archipelago, the first cancer cell in the human body has to undergo many mutations through many generations to establish itself as an invader of different organs in the body. But once it is there, like any newly stabilized species in...

Newly discovered fish named after New York aquarium biologist

..., when a freshwater fish discovered on the African island nation of Madagascar was named after him. Dr. Paul Loiselle, who has dedicated much of his career safeguarding Madagascar's little- known freshwater fishes, received the honor from a team of biologists from the American Museum of Natural History (AM...

Smokers quit after damage to brain region

...990s, Antonio Damasio proposed the insula, a small island enclosed by the cerebral cortex, as a "platform for feelings and emotion." The Science study shows that the pleasure of smoking appears to rest on this platform. "It's really intriguing to think that disrupting this region breaks the pleasure feeli...

Nonvenomous Asian snakes 'borrow' defensive poison from toxic toads

...e, and compared them with snakes from the Japanese island of Honshu, where toads are few. The presence of toxins in the snakes' neck glands depended upon their access to the toads. Snakes without the borrowed toxins were more likely to turn and flee from danger than to hold their ground and perform a tox...

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