People linked to new sea otter diseases
... also like molluscs and sea urchins and when these prey are scarce, an otter can eat several sand crabs in a row. "Humans may have increased the prevalence of this disease by competing with otters for food, causing them to seek alternative prey," say Lafferty and Gerber. Toxoplasmosis caused up to 8% of ...Max-Planck doctoral student discovers 'living fossils'
...iddle legs indicate that the animal held on to its prey with its legs, as some insect-eating locusts (Orthoptera) do. A more detailed description of the new insect order "Mantophasmatodea" will appear in the autumn in the journal "Zoologischer Anzeiger". At the end of the year a German account will be pub......huffling ecosystems and throwing new predators and prey together as new diseases and parasites are introduced, with a majority of species having smaller geographical ranges than today. "In some local communities more than 40 percent of species are expected to turn over, which will lead to a cascade of fur...Greatest threat to Asia's wildlife is hunting, scientists say
...gered species list, and threatens tigers and their prey across the continent. Over a million kilograms (more than 2 million pounds) of snakes are imported to Shanghai, China, each year serving as a luxury food item for that city's burgeoning middle class. The international trade in birds is astonishing i...Scripps scientists find ignored species play key role in ecosystem interactions
...dies evaluating interactions between predators and prey (also called "interaction strengths") in a kelp forest community. They found that previous conclusions about interaction strength in natural communities may not be as general as some believe, and that intermediate-sized predators, pound for pound, ca...Ambushing prey may make snakes vulnerable
...eatened Australian snakes is that they ambushtheir prey instead of hunting actively. This work may helpcon...er species are threatened. Snakesthat ambush their prey need to be able to hide in thick leaf litter andother particular ground covers. Land conversion ofte...Small, slow growing urchin variety could affect commercial harvest
...t in some areas, flounder, crabs and other animals prey on urchins. However, that doesnt seem to be whats happening here." To help scientists understand why two subgroups exist, Vadas and Irving Kornfield of the UMaine School of Marine Sciences, are proposing new research on urchin genetics. In additi...Wolves decline, moose increase
...ves didn't bother to attack." Typically the wolves prey on old moose and young calves. But with little snow cover, the moose could move more freely and avoid the wolves. "Last year, two-thirds of the kills were moose calves," Peterson said. "This year, it was about 20 percent. The wolves had to work hard ...Scientists battle cold weather mold
...n of Alaska, may offer hope. The fungus appears to prey on the most common forms of snow mold, using them as a food source. Whats even better is that it does this without harming the plants upon which the snow molds are living. This fungus is what we call a hyperparasite, says McBeath. It acts as a parasi...URI Graduate School of Oceanography scientists examine the success of restored salt marshes
...l crustaceans, insects, and snails. Acting also as prey for larger fish and crustaceans, mummichogs are an ideal species to use to quantify responses to restoration. The scientific team conducted its study at Sachuest Point salt marsh in Middletown, Rhode Island. Two-thirds of the salt marsh had been tid...Tyrannosaurus rex probably could not run fast, scientists say
...n two powerful hind limbs and terrorized potential prey with its elephantine size and lethal jaws. The din...y could." This doesn't mean T. rex was too slow to prey on large herbivores such as horn-faced Triceratops or duck-billed Edmontosaurus. All were elephant-s......proved lobster traps, which allow almost all their prey to escape, as revealed by researchers using an underwater video camera. And there's Western Australia's world-leading method for predicting and managing rock lobster populations - a shining example of cooperation between scientists, managers and fish......is winged creature is unusual because it finds its prey by passively listening to prey-generated noise of ...on echolocation to acquire information about their prey and immediate environment. In contrast, the pallid bat uses echolocation primarily for general orie...Predators drive evolution of virtual prey appearance
... can promote variation in the appearance of insect prey species, particularly if the predators use "search...es" and restrict their search to the most abundant prey types. The research results of Alan Bond and Alan Kamil are published in the February 7 issue of Na......ic deserts because of differences in, for example, prey base," saySanderson and his colleagues. The experts identified and prioritized 51 jaguar conservation areas in16 countries that are important to the species' long-term survival.These areas represent 30 of the 36 regions where jaguars live. "The goal ...Counterintuitively, after extreme droughts, wading birds flourish
...ng birds because as rivers and ponds dry up, small prey fish become concentrated and easier to hunt. But Fredericks and Ogdens findings showed birds proliferated not during but after droughts. Frederick and Ogden hypothesize this is because of the droughts impact on fish populations. In major droughts, t...Scientists use seals as 'underwater eyes'
...uided, high-speed sampling device for its midwater prey provided clarification and new insights into the b...s and to record firsthand what the seals and their prey were seeing and doing. For the silverfish, this meant that the majority of the 336 fish were obs...URI oceanography models migration and foraging strategies of North Atlantic right whales
...ar and how they may cope with potential changes in prey distribution caused by climate change. Right w...number of strategies to locate feeding grounds and prey concentrations. Some have to do with long-distance seasonal migrations over weeks and months, and ot...White sharks migrate thousands of miles across the sea, new study finds
...a broad temperature range, which provides accessto prey over a wide ecological niche." Satellite data indicate that sharks spend at least five months in the openocean, "suggesting that it could be an important period in the life historyof white sharks in the North Pacific," conclude the authors of the Nat......phenomenon is called apparent competition--the two prey species share a predator that has an asymmetric im... differences in the natural histories of the three prey species, Donlan said. Feral pigs reproduce rapidly and can produce large litters throughout the year...