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Categories: Biology: Zoology, Ecology: Sea Life
Published Unprecedented increase in ocean plastic since 2005 revealed by four decades of global analysis
(via sciencedaily.com) A global dataset of ocean plastic pollution between 1979 and 2019 reveals a rapid and unprecedented increase in ocean plastics since 2005, according to a new study.
Published eDNA holds the key to safeguarding pollinators amid global declines
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have uncovered new evidence of western pygmy possums interacting with native flowers, providing an eDNA study to simultaneously detect mammal, insect and bird DNA on flowers.
Published Major North American oil source yields clues to one of earth's deadliest mass extinctions
(via sciencedaily.com) Geologists studying the Bakken Shale Formation discovered a critical kill mechanism behind a series of extinctions some 350 million years ago.
Published Paleontologists flip the script on anemone fossils
(via sciencedaily.com) Billions of sea anemones adorn the bottom of the Earth's oceans -- yet they are among the rarest of fossils because their squishy bodies lack easily fossilized hard parts. Now a team of paleontologists has discovered that countless sea anemone fossils have been hiding in plain sight for nearly 50 years. It turns out that fossils long-interpreted as jellyfish were anemones. To do so, a team of scientists has simply turned the ancient animals upside down.
Published Grassroots data vital for reducing deadly bird-window strikes
(via sciencedaily.com) Much of the progress made in understanding the scope of bird deaths from building and window collisions has come as the result of citizen science, according to a newly published study. But the study also concludes that such grassroots efforts need more buy-in from government and industry, and better funding so they can keep a foot on the gas in their efforts to reduce bird-window collisions.
Published Plant roots fuel tropical soil animal communities
(via sciencedaily.com) A research team has shed new light on the importance of plant roots for below-ground life, particularly in the tropics. Millions of small creatures toiling in a single hectare of soil including earthworms, springtails, mites, insects, and other arthropods are crucial for decomposition and soil health. For a long time, it was believed that leaf litter is the primary resource for these animals. However, this recent study is the first to provide proof that resources derived from plant roots drive soil animal communities in the tropics.
Published Bumblebees learn new 'trends' in their behavior by watching and learning
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study has shown that bumblebees pick up new 'trends' in their behavior by watching and learning from other bees, and that one form of a behavior can spread rapidly through a colony even when a different version gets discovered.
Published Does current shellfish anti-predator gear curb 'crunching' rays?
(via sciencedaily.com) It's not just humans who enjoy eating shellfish, so do marine rays. They like to 'crunch' on clams, which can sometimes take a big bite out of clammers' profits. Using aerial and underwater videos, researchers assessed the ability of the whitespotted eagle ray to interact with clams housed within a variety anti-predator materials. Whitespotted eagle rays have strong jaws, plate-like teeth and nimble pectoral fins, which make them formidable and highly maneuverable predators of clams.
Published Mineral particles and their role in oxygenating the Earth's atmosphere
(via sciencedaily.com) Mineral particles played a key role in raising oxygen levels in the Earth's atmosphere billions of years ago, with major implications for the way intelligent life later evolved, according to new research.
Published Toothed whales catch food in the deep using vocal fry
(via sciencedaily.com) Toothed whales, such as dolphins, killer whales and sperm whales communicate and catch food exclusively with sound. Now researchers have for the first time found they evolved a new sound source in their nose that is functionally the same as the human larynx.
Published Animals best to suppress personalities for group efficiency
(via sciencedaily.com) Social animals should limit individuality to conform with the behavior of the group, a study suggests.
Published Fluorescent protein sheds light on bee brains
(via sciencedaily.com) An international team of bee researchers has integrated a calcium sensor into honey bees to enable the study of neural information processing including response to odors. This also provides insights into how social behavior is located in the brain.
Published Insights into the evolution of the sense of fairness
(via sciencedaily.com) A sense of fairness has long been considered purely human -- but animals also react with frustration when they are treated unequally by a person. In a study with long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), researchers have now confirmed an alternative explanatory approach. A combination of social disappointment with the human experimenter and some degree of food competition best explains their behavior in an 'inequity aversion' experiment.
Published How consciousness in animals could be researched
(via sciencedaily.com) Animal consciousness should not be thought of as a light switch, which can be on or off, philosophers say. They advocate a different approach.
Published Bald eagles aren't fledging as many chicks due to avian influenza
(via sciencedaily.com) Bald eagles are often touted as a massive conservation success story due to their rebound from near extinction in the 1960s. But now a highly infectious virus may put that hard-fought comeback in jeopardy. New research showed highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as H5N1, is killing off unprecedented numbers of mating pairs of bald eagles.
Published U.S. birds' Eastern, Western behavior patterns are polar opposites
(via sciencedaily.com) Scientists have established what could be considered a baseline map of annual avian functional and species diversity patterns in the U.S., finding that functional diversity patterns in the West, where species and functional richness are both highest during the breeding season, are the polar opposite of what is seen in the East, where functional diversity is lowest when species richness is high.
Published Researchers provide proof of the helical coiling of condensed chromosomes
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In early cytological studies chromatids of metaphase chromosomes were suggested to coil into a spiral called chromonema. This assumption was recently supported by chromosomce conformation capture sequencing. Still, the direct visualization of the coiled chromonema confirming the helical model was lacking. Now, an international research team provides the direct proof of the helical coiling of condensed chromatids via super-resolution microscopy of specifically labelled chromonema regions.
Published Bronze Age well contents reveal the history of animal resources in Mycenae, Greece
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A large Bronze Age debris deposit in Mycenae, Greece provides important data for understanding the history of animal resources at the site, according to a new study.
Published Prehistoric sea monster may have been shorter, stouter, than once believed
(via sciencedaily.com) A big fish story? Maybe so: The greatest sea monster of the Devonian Period (Dunkleosteus terrelli) may be getting downsized. A new article contents that the famous sea monster of the Age of Fishes may not have neared 30-feet in length, as long believed, but topped off at maybe 13 feet. The new assertion brings attention to a famously fierce looking armored fish from 360 million years ago -- and maybe a new debate.
Published Mulching time of forest meadows influences insect diversity
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have examined how mulching at different times affects insect flower-visitors and larvae.