Category: Ecosystems
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Marine Plants That Create Sand
Its a unique plant in a number of ways, but one that’s quite interesting is its production of rock
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Developers vs.Conservationists… in Malaysia
Sitting in the fast developing suburb of Petaling Jaya, the forest is in the centre of a dispute between local residents and the state government over the conversion of some 140ha for a mixed development project.
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Disappearing Leaves? Disappearing Frogs!
A decline in the amount of leaves on the ground could be behind the rapid demise of frog species.
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A Plant Needs Its Neighbors
Researchers found that a rare plant, Trochetia blackburniana, benefits from its proximity to Pandanus plants because they house high densities of geckos responsible for pollination.
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You Can’t Restore Habitat if You Can’t Get The Seed: Rainforest Version
Using the essential oils of fruit to attract bats for seed dispersal… would be an easy way of increasing the flow of native seeds to the area, and of ensuring a high diversity in the forest.
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Competition Makes for Drama, But Benefactors Set The Stage
The stage is set by those species that create habitat… The organisms and interactions that occur within the habitat, such as crabs eating snails or annual plants competing with one another, are just players and roles that we see because of that stage.
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Brazil Nuts Save The Communities That Protect Them
Help is at hand for the Amazon rainforest and Brazil's poverty-stricken rural people – courtesy of the country's famous native nut.
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Natural Succession Cannot Be Ignored
Lavender and cypress grown together and inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi under glass showed significantly higher growth than when they were cultivated and developed separately.
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Seed Dispersal Makes the Forest Go Round
Trees with smaller fruit tended to be less widely dispersed than trees bearing larger fruit, strengthening the argument that larger-bodied birds and mammals, in eating larger fruit, carry the seeds of these plants over larger distances. Wind-dispersed seeds were observed to have a surprisingly tight cluster radius, likely explained by the dense forest canopy stifling wind speeds.
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Responding to the Loss of the Aral Sea
Two radically different solutions to this environmental nightmare are being tried out by the two countries that share the remnants of the sea.