https://phys.org/biology-news/ecology en-us The latest science and research news on ecology Invasive plants can stay dormant for decades or even centuries after they have been introduced into an environment before rapidly expanding and wreaking ecological havoc, according to a new study led by the University of California, Davis. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-invasive-hidden-ecological-threat.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:39:03 EST news628958341 Greg Rouse, a marine biologist at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and other researchers have discovered a new species of deep-sea worm living near a methane seep some 50 kilometers (30 miles) off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Rouse, curator of the Scripps Benthic Invertebrate Collection, co-authored a study describing the new species in the journal PLOS ONE. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-deep-sea-worm-methane-seep.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:00:01 EST news628942718 The corn leafhopper Dalbulus maidis has become a serious problem for farmers. This tiny insect is now widely distributed in the Americas, from the south of the United States to the north of Argentina. In Brazil, it uses only corn plants as hosts, and little is known about its survival mechanisms in the absence of these plants. In corn, it causes damage directly by sucking sap from the phloem, the vascular tissue that conducts sugar and other metabolic products downward from the leaves. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-fungus-corn-leafhopper-extremely-pest.html Ecology Agriculture Wed, 06 Mar 2024 12:42:04 EST news628951321 Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön, within the Department of Theoretical Biology, characterized a recently discovered dynamical regime of microbial communities and used it to explain empirical patterns of marine plankton. There, strong and diverse interactions, combined with weak dispersal, fuel a continuous turnover of the small set of very abundant species, such that success is ephemeral and every species is equivalent in alternating between rarity and dominance. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-insights-dynamics-microbial-communities.html Ecology Cell & Microbiology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:31:02 EST news628947061 Global change is altering the physiology of the hibernation and behavior of bats, according to a study led by the University of Barcelona, carried out over 20 years. Given the milder winters in Spain, bats are accumulating less fat reserves in autumn, they shorten their hibernation periods and they leave their winter shelter sooner. These changes could alter the migration pattern of bats and the phenology of their seasonal displacements. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-global-affecting-hibernation.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:28:04 EST news628946881 An international team of wildlife researchers has found that the giant tortoises living on the Galápagos islands may be in danger of losing a major food resource due to the encroachment of invasive Cedrela odorata trees. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-galpagos-giant-tortoises-danger-due.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:20:01 EST news628946004 In a groundbreaking discovery, bumblebees have been shown to possess a previously unseen level of cognitive sophistication. A new study, published in Nature, reveals that these fuzzy pollinators can learn complex, multi-step tasks through social interaction, even if they cannot figure them out on their own. This challenges the long-held belief that such advanced social learning is unique to humans, and even hints at the presence of key elements of cumulative culture in these insects. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-bumblebees-scientists-advanced-social-skills.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:00:01 EST news628942848 It would be a game-changer if all members of a basketball team could see out of each other's eyes in addition to their own. A research duo at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute has found evidence that this kind of collective sensing occurs in close-knit groups of African weakly electric fish, also known as elephantnose fish. This instantaneous sharing of sensory intelligence could help the fish locate food, friends and foes. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-scientists-uncover-evidence-electric-elephantnose.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:00:01 EST news628942854 Stingless bees in the Colombian Andes are adapting to a derivative of the ubiquitous insecticide ivermectin, which the bees ingest along with pollen from pasture flowers, according to a new study. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-wild-bees-tolerance-veterinary-drugs.html Evolution Ecology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 10:08:17 EST news628942095 A new study provides insights into the role of microbes and their interaction as drivers of interspecific differences in coral thermal bleaching. The study was published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-microbes-impact-coral-susceptibility.html Ecology Cell & Microbiology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 09:00:03 EST news628938001 Kyle David, an NSF postdoctoral fellow in the Rokas lab, and co-authors have published a new paper, "Saccharomycotina yeasts defy longstanding macroecological patterns," in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This paper, which looks at the ecology of 186 species of yeast, provides evidence that not all life forms follow the rules. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-mold-ecological-norms-yeast-communities.html Ecology Cell & Microbiology Wed, 06 Mar 2024 08:56:03 EST news628937761 Scientists have confirmed the presence of a whale off New England that went extinct in the Atlantic Ocean two centuries ago—an exciting discovery, but one they said that illustrates the impact of climate change on sea life. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-whale-native-north-pacific-england.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 05 Mar 2024 13:20:01 EST news628867059 Scientists at Nottingham Trent University investigated how thousands of bees reacted in unison to a very short and weak vibrational knock delivered at randomized times to a number of hives. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-gentle-hive-reveal-health-honeybee.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 05 Mar 2024 09:50:03 EST news628854601 "War is hell" usually applies to war zones, but the Ukraine-Russian war's protracted battles can take a toll on biodiversity as far away as the United States or Brazil. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-war-biodiversity-enemy-peaceful-locales.html Ecology Agriculture Tue, 05 Mar 2024 08:59:41 EST news628851579 In a new study, published in the journal New Phytologist, a team of scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew have, for the first time, predicted the extinction risk of all 328,565 known species of flowering plants. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-scientists-extinction-world-ai.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 05 Mar 2024 08:31:03 EST news628849861 Until recently, technology limitations have made it challenging to effectively study the aggregation behavior of beluga whales. As climate change continues and sea surface temperatures rise quickly, the ability to do so becomes a priority, requiring methods that can capture data completely and accurately. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-seas-negatively-affecting-beluga-whales.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 05 Mar 2024 06:50:01 EST news628766268 In Colorado, people flock to the Rocky Mountains when the summer heat gets unbearable. Animals seek shelter too when temperatures become extreme, and forests serve as critical sanctuaries for small tree-dwelling animals like lizards. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-lizards-due-deforestation.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 05 Mar 2024 05:00:10 EST news628837206 A new study from Tel Aviv University (TAU) has examined what happens to birds that are accustomed to living around humans, when their habitat is suddenly emptied of the presence of humans. Among other birds, the researchers tested crows, ringneck parakeets (also known as rose-ringed parakeets) and graceful prinias—and the findings are surprising: While the crows and ringneck parakeets—who are characterized by their tendency to "follow" humans, are already accustomed to the noises they make and feed on their food scraps—decreased their activity, the graceful prinias, which are considered shy, actually increased their activity in the same area. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-reveals-crow-friend-humans.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:31:03 EST news628788661 Research led by scientists from University of Wyoming and Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior shows that migrating animals refine their behavior as they get older, suggesting that experiential learning is an important part of successful migration. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-migrating-animals.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:00:01 EST news628764571 Over the past 25 years, the amount of summer Arctic sea ice has diminished by more than 1 million square kilometers. As a result, vast areas of the Arctic Ocean are now, on average, ice-free in summer. Scientists are closely monitoring how this impacts sunlight availability and marine ecosystems in the far north. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-ice-arctic-ocean-complex-effects.html Ecology Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:00:01 EST news628764642 What's in a name? A lot, actually. For the scientific community, names and labels help organize the world's organisms so they can be identified, studied, and regulated. But for bacteria, there has never been a reliable method to organize them into species and strains cohesively. It's a problem because bacteria are one of the most prevalent life forms, making up roughly 75% of all living species on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-bacteria-reliable-species-strains.html Ecology Cell & Microbiology Mon, 04 Mar 2024 12:14:19 EST news628776855 An orca (killer whale) has been observed, for the first-ever time, individually consuming a great white shark—and within just two minutes. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-orcas-longer-great-white-shark.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 01 Mar 2024 17:00:02 EST news628498800 Fish and sharks living in the open ocean are impacted more by human pressure than their seabed-dwelling counterparts, according to a new study from The University of Western Australia. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-vulnerability-pelagic-ecosystems.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 01 Mar 2024 09:30:24 EST news628507820 Brown bears foraging for food in the Shiretoko Peninsula of Hokkaido, Japan, have been disrupting tree growth in artificial conifer forests, according to a new study published in Ecology. Researchers compared soil and tree samples from human-forested plots with samples from natural forests. They found that the bears' digging for cicada nymphs damaged tree roots and altered the nitrogen content of the soil, which in turn limited the diameter growth of trees. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-brown-artificial-forests.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 01 Mar 2024 00:00:01 EST news628447289 Anoles are the scuba-diving champions of the lizard world, able to stay underwater for more than 16 minutes. For animals whose body temperature depends on the environment, time spent in a cool running stream can have some tradeoffs. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-explores-cooling-effects-scuba-lizards.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 29 Feb 2024 16:29:03 EST news628446541 In a new study, scientists have discovered that viruses that infect microbes contribute to climate change by playing a key role in cycling methane, a potent greenhouse gas, through the environment. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-microbial-viruses-secret-drivers-climate.html Ecology Cell & Microbiology Thu, 29 Feb 2024 15:15:55 EST news628442152 A greater understanding of how plants and microbes work together to store vast amounts of atmospheric carbon in the soil will help in the design of better bioenergy crops for the fight against climate change. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-fabricated-ecosystems-bioenergy-crops.html Ecology Agriculture Thu, 29 Feb 2024 11:26:04 EST news628428361 An ecological imbalance in a lake can usually be attributed to increased nutrient inputs. This results in increased phytoplankton growth, oxygen deficiency, toxic cyanobacterial blooms and fish deaths. Until now, controls in lake management have focused primarily on phosphorus inputs to counteract this effect. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-nitrogen-underestimated-lake-ecosystems.html Ecology Thu, 29 Feb 2024 11:11:04 EST news628427462 For more than a decade, invasive Asian honeybees have defied evolutionary expectations and established a thriving population in North Queensland, much to the annoyance of the honey industry and biosecurity officials. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-bottlenecks-beehives-invasive-bee-colony.html Evolution Ecology Thu, 29 Feb 2024 11:00:01 EST news628421319 Crushed rock can remove about 3–4 metric tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) per hectare per year and improve crop yields, results of a pioneering study have shown. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-field-trials-reveal-boosts-carbon.html Ecology Agriculture Thu, 29 Feb 2024 10:22:04 EST news628424521