#ecology evolution

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New Study Suggests Coastal and Deep Ocean Sharks Have Different Feeding Patterns

An international team of researchers studying globally declining shark populations report today that they used carbon isotopes as biochemical markers in shark muscle tissue to identify where in the oceans the mobile predators have been feeding, in the hope that such analyses provide a useful tool for conservation. Details appear in the current issue of Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Michelle…

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Birds Learn from Each Other’s ‘Disgust’, Enabling Insects to Evolve Bright Colours

We suspect our findings apply over a wide range of predators and prey. Social information may have evolutionary consequences right across ecological communities

Rose Thorogood

Many animals have evolved to stand out. Bright colours may be easy to spot, but they warn predators off by signalling toxicity or foul taste.

Yet if every individual predator has to eat colourful prey to learn this…

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Bacterial Population Struggles Can Affect the Potential of Vaccines

Bacterial Population Struggles Can Affect the Potential of Vaccines

The study, published this month in Nature Ecology & Evolution, provides a clearer picture of the complex population structures of bacteria and how different strains struggle to establish themselves.

According to the researchers, the findings could help to optimise new vaccines by predicting how they will changebacterial populations in the longer term, based on how common certain genes are among…

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Mammals Switched to Daytime Activity After Dinosaur Extinction Mammals only started being active in the daytime after non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out about 66 million years ago (mya), …

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Basis of Development of Vertebrate Limb Muscles Has Been Established in Cartilaginous Fishes

Basis of Development of Vertebrate Limb Muscles Has Been Established in Cartilaginous Fishes

The development of limb muscle has been well studied in most land dwelling vertebrates such as humans and modern research models. In these species, muscle precursors, or cells that will form limb muscle, travel to the limb bud, a location in the developing embryo where they multiply and form muscle tissue under the control of genes that coordinate limb- muscle formation, such as Lbx1. It has been…

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How Flowers Use Colour to Signal Their Scent

How Flowers Use Colour to Signal Their Scent

A team from Australia, Greece, Denmark, and the USA identified the relationship among many insect-pollinated plant species growing in a scrubland habitat on the Greek island of Lesbos.

The study, the first to demonstrate colour-fragrance integration for an entire plant community, found that the link between colour and fragrance was strong enough to be regarded as a combined signal.

Associate…

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Antibiotic Resistance – Gaining Resistance Is Just the Start

Antibiotic Resistance – Gaining Resistance Is Just the Start

Scientists have discovered bacteria are able to “fine-tune” their resistance to antibiotics – raising the possibility of some superbugs being resistant to drugs which they have never even been in contact with.

Bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics in several ways. One really fast and effective way is by gaining extra DNA, called a plasmid, from other bacteria.

The plasmid provides bacteria…

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Study Sheds Light on Dog Origins

Study Sheds Light on Dog Origins

Scientists have traced the emergence of the modern dog to the domestication of a population of gray wolves that took place in Europe between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago.

By analyzing the DNA of two prehistoric dogs from Germany, an international research team led by Krishna R. Veeramah, PhD, Assistant Professor of Ecology & Evolution in the College of Arts & Sciences at Stony Brook University,…

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