Category: Plants & Animals

Fruit-eating birds, or frugivores, vary in their appearance and numbers. In this study, the researchers observed small birds like bulbuls, and larger ones like hornbills, which eat a variety of fruits from different trees. As the size of the birds varies, the size of fruits they eat also differ. Hence, the researchers not only observed…

“Employing ants is a great defensive strategy for a plant, since ants can attack enemies both large and small, But our study points out a really important caveat, since the activity of ants is tied to environmental temperature. So when it’s cold out, these plants are basically sitting ducks for herbivores, which is a pretty…

Providing more pollen and nectar rich flowers on farmland is certainly part of the solution. But this new research shows that if we want to be most effective, we must consider the timing of both food supply and pollinator demand. (Click on title for full story.)

Our results showed that the Qinling Mountains could experience large-scale bamboo flowering leading to a high risk of widespread food shortages for the giant pandas by 2020. The Minshan Mountains could similarly experience a large-scale bamboo flowering with a high risk for giant pandas between 2020 and 2030 without suitable alternative habitat in the surrounding…

We see some intriguing patterns, where certain plant families seem relatively preferred or avoided by male bees, or where males have relatively less appetite for visiting flowers that only produce pollen and not nectar.That could help pinpoint the right mix of flowers to improve bee conservation down the road. (Click on title for full story.)

Strategic grassland management benefits monarchs in two ways. First, monarchs lay more eggs on young milkweed – new growth after mowing – the sole food source for the butterflies in their larval stage. Second, fewer predators visit immature milkweed; more come during its mature stages, such as when it flowers. (Click on title for full…

The region is warming at such an accelerated pace that the trees won’t be able to adapt, scientists say, and will need help migrating to areas where the climate is predicted to be suitable for them in future years. (Click on title for full story.)

“Pandas are found in different kinds of forests in China,” said the study’s lead author, Wei Wei, an associate professor at China West Normal University. “Old growth forests provide large tree cavities for den sites, but pandas living in forests without these large old trees must use cave dens instead. We studied the microclimates inside…

“We had strong, preconceived ideas about what we were going to find, to the extent that, based on the expectation that most pollinator activity would be between dusk and dawn (when rodents and shrews are most active), we even initially set most of the motion-trigger cameras to record only during the night, to save battery…