New owl species discovered in Brazil
...t maintenance and regeneration. A minimum level of landscape connectivity is necessary to promote key ecological processes," he said. Conservationists have recommended a regional strategy that includes forest restoration and the establishment of ecological corridors to connect remaining forest fragments. Of 15...New biography details adventures of 'Fritz Muller, A Naturalist in Brazil'
...aphy of Mller "hoping to find a description of the landscape when European settlers first arrived" in Brazil and "became fascinated with the man himself." Mller had supported the theory of natural selection even when its prominence was waning. His experiences in the rich, natural world of southern Brazil, an...More raccoons may mean fewer songbirds
.....raccoons to flourish, in turn creating a hostile landscape for songbirds," says Schmidt. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that the Illinois raccoon harvest decreased from nearly 400,000 in 1979 to about 70,000 in 1990. What's bad for the raccoons is likely to be good for the birds, and Schmidt pred...UC Berkeley museum biologists to repeat 85-year-old Yosemite National Park wildlife survey
...ibit much greater change. "It's our best protected landscape in California, so we are expecting Yosemite to be the benchmark against which we can compare other transects," he said. If Thompson and Chow have their way, museum scientists will regularly visit the park to document the changes occurring in species...Search beneath lawns provides insight into backyard biodiversity
...ampled arthropods form unmowed fields in the urban landscape that were not treated with chemicals. Byrnes identified four examples of each of the three grassy areas. He took 15 soil samples from each of the plots and extracted the arthropods using a standard method and counted them. The preliminary investiga...Study shows prions stick around in certain soils
...ally stick to some soil types, suggesting that the landscape may serve as an environmental reservoir for the di...g suggests that the movement of prions through the landscape depends on the soil environment. Understanding how the infectious agent moves - or, in the case of ...Scientists estimate risk of raven predation on desert tortoises
...iam B. Kristan. The risk is distributed across the landscape wherever ravens are found, with little potential for safe havens from possible attack for these young federally listed threatened tortoises. Scientists estimate that common raven populations in the western Mojave Desert have exploded by 1,500 percent...NIH announces strategy to accelerate medical research progress
...ecent decades, andNIH-led research has changed the landscape of many diseases. However, very real and very urgent needs remain," Dr. Zerhouni said. "NIH is now drawing all fields of science together in a concerted effort to meet these challenges head-on." Developed with input from more than 300 nationally ...Mass flowering crops enhance pollinator densities at a landscape scale
...where the copious food supply was available at the landscape scale. In future conservation schemes the importance of mass flowering crops and the necessity to manage landscapes, not just local habitats as currently practised, must be considered.......aic of grassland, shrub cover and oak wood. Such a landscape often contains a large diversity of plants and animals. Management of these natural habitats requires a knowledge of how different grazers affect the ecosystem concerned....Bad Mileage: 98 tons of plants per gallon
...ces would force us to dedicate a huge part of the landscape to growing these fuels," Dukes says. "It would have major environmental consequences. We would have to choose between our rain forests and our vehicles and appliances. Biomass burning can be part of the solution if we use agricultural wastes, but oth...Researchers measure the 'heat of life,' offering clues to DNA damage
...he measurements can be used to construct a virtual landscape that traces the precise energy differences between correct and incorrect DNA synthesis. The differential energy signatures signal the presence of DNA damage, potentially repairable by protein systems inside the cell or specifically designed drugs ad...Philippines: Park expansion creates nation's largest contiguous protected area
...for years, but now we have the legal framework and landscape connectivity required to more effectively protect this region." Peablanca sits on the northeastern coast of Luzon, one of the nation's main islands. It encompasses the Callao Cave complex a popular destination for national tourists and stretches ea...Squirrel invasion sows seeds of change for future forests
... Swihart and Goheen believe changes in the state's landscape over the past century have helped red squirrels ga...cognize that the extent to which we've altered the landscape so far has really had an effect," he said. "By doing little things, such as ensuring that we have be......to use a-maze-ing corn to teach students about the landscape and its people. Students can analyze land use, topographic maps, aerial photographs, use Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, practice wayfinding, examine soils, and consider the geographic aspects of corn cultivation in conjunction with corn ...Professor uses satellites to protect Amazon forests, global climate
...urns to waste. Selective logging dominates current landscape use in Brazil and is also among the biggest threat...with tractors - further denude the landscape. That landscape of destruction attracts ranchers and farmers, who move into the newly opened space and frequently ex......canyon in the solar system its rocky, dusty, cold landscape has yet to yield signs of the ultimate prize: life. Three simple words follow the water have become the mantra of astrobiologists studying the Red Planet because the presence of water is believed to be a prerequisite for life, either past or prese...A first glance at global genetic networks
...the researchers found common ground in the overall landscape of the expression data. The transcription programs exhibit properties typical of dynamically evolving "real-world" networks that are designed to perform in uncertain environments and maintain connections between elements independent of scale. These p...Araucariaceae of New-Caledonia: endemic species in danger
...e stands of columnar pines give the New Caledonian landscape an impressively unusual character. Araucaria columnaris, widely planted near villages, also possesses a symbolic cultural value in the Kanak tradition. The five species of Agathis and the 13 of Araucaria are on IUCN Red List of endangered species (1...WCS receives $8M grant from Moore Foundation to protect Amazon-Andes landscapes
...include Ecuador's Yasun Region and the Yavari Miri landscape in Peru. Over the next 15 years, WCS plans to expand its programs in these regions to cover some 115,000 square miles, or about five percent of the Amazon Basin. Currently, WCS operates some 350 field conservation projects in 53 countries around th...