Category: Plants & Animals
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Chronic Wasting Disease Cured By Lichens?
Certain lichens can break down the infectious proteins responsible for chronic wasting disease (CWD), a troubling neurological disease fatal to wild deer and elk and spreading throughout the United States and Canada.
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Seagrass Extinctions Threaten Wildlife
The first global survey of individual seagrass species has found that 14% are at risk of going extinct. More common species are also in decline, meaning both seagrass habitat and diversity is being lost. Seagrasses provide food and habitat for a variety of ocean species including manatees, sea turtles and fish such as sea horses.
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Animal Migrations Determined By Landscape
We now know some of the landscape factors that we can look at to determine the best way to manage habitat for endangered or threatened species.
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Plant trees, save koalas
The koalas would benefit from having access to multiple patches of trees so they have a few more options and don't have to compete with each other during hard times, especially with the extreme weather events predicted under climate change.
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North America’s Animal Garden Champs
Can we heal the prairie without the bison, or do they play a key role?
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Ultimate Animal Gardener?
Recently, researchers have begun to document the seed dispersal capacity of the world's largest land animal, the elephant, proving that this species may be among the world's most important tropical gardeners.
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Orchid Pretends To Have A Fungus In Order To Attract A Fly
In order to attract the fly, the orchid mimics this fungus with the spots on its leaves and the odor it releases. The scent, similar to the smell of the fungus the flat-footed flies feed on, attracts the flies and the spotted leaves visually make it look as though it is infected with the particular fungus.
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Salamanders Pass Symbiote Algae To Their Eggs
This is the first documented case of a plant living in partnership, or symbiosis, with a vertebrate. Even more strangely, the researchers think the salamanders might inherit the alga from their parents.
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Threatened New Zealand Pigeon A Forest Savior
Large-seeded trees rely on native birds for their survival, New Zealand biologists have confirmed. The researchers say this is the first quantitive study of its kind and highlights the impact losing just one species can have on an ecosystem.
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Increased Deer Populations Are Good For Plant Diversity
Over several decades, the growth in deer, roe deer and wild boar populations has spread to all of France. … researchers have shown that in spite of the damage caused, notably to bushes and young trees in forests and to crops, these animals also help in increasing plant diversity.