Models of the global carbon cycle typically include plants, microbes, soil, and the atmosphere. But they may be leaving out an important variable: Animals, from earthworms to elephants, can have a significant, though heretofore ...
Environment
Apr 16, 2024
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183
Peregrine falcon populations across North America are heavily contaminated with harmful flame retardants–including those that have been phased out for years—according to a new study published in Environmental Science ...
Environment
Apr 9, 2024
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105
Discerning what makes rattlesnakes tick is a life's work for researchers like William Hayes. So if he wants to introduce you to the biological complexity that makes them worthy of study, be prepared to follow a deliberately ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 2, 2024
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126
A rare attack by a mountain lion on two brothers in a remote area of California left one dead and the other severely injured over the weekend, with authorities reporting that the cat was subsequently euthanized.
Ecology
Mar 26, 2024
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1
The first study of humpback whale entanglements in B.C. aquaculture facilities in PLOS One found eight over 13 years, with the curiosity of young whales a potential contributing factor.
Ecology
Mar 22, 2024
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4
Killer whales foraging in deep submarine canyons off the coast of California represent a distinct subpopulation that uses specialized hunting techniques to catch marine mammals, Josh McInnes at the University of British Columbia ...
Ecology
Mar 20, 2024
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19
A cross-border science collaboration has yielded a global database that will help researchers understand how climate change is affecting ocean predators like the albacore tuna—which also happens to be an important food ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 7, 2024
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27
A theoretical experiment characterized the network architecture of a species-rich ecosystem over eight months. Predator–prey interaction networks play a key role in structuring ecosystems, but ecological research has often ...
Ecology
Mar 6, 2024
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1
Natural predators like birds, beetles and bugs might be an effective alternative to pesticides, keeping crop-devouring pests populations down while boosting crop yields, researchers said Wednesday.
Agriculture
Mar 6, 2024
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1700
A group of marine biologists specializing in shark ecology, genetics and fisheries have challenged the findings from a recent study suggesting that South Africa's white shark population has not decreased, but simply redistributed ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 5, 2024
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10
In ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator (an organism that is hunting) feeds on its prey, (the organism that is attacked). Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation always results in the death of the prey. The other main category of consumption is detritivory, the consumption of dead organic material (detritus). It can at times be difficult to separate the two feeding behaviors, for example where parasitic species prey on a host organism and then lay their eggs on it for their offspring to feed on its decaying corpse. The key characteristic of predation however is the predator's direct impact on the prey population. On the other hand, detritivores simply eat what is available and have no direct impact on the "donor" organism(s).
Selective pressures imposed on one another has led to an evolutionary arms race between prey and predator, resulting in various antipredator adaptations.
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