Leave it to salmon to leave no stone unturned
...f fertilizing salmon streams with the carcasses of dead salmon obtained from hatcheries," says Daniel Schindler, UW associate professor of aquatic and fishery sciences. "Although this does replace some of the nutrients that salmon returning from the sea would normally provide, it entirely ignores the fact...New study confirms the ecological virtues of organic farming
... contaminating water tables and causing biological dead zones at the mouths of major rivers," he says. "This study shows that the use of organic versus chemical fertilizers can play a role in reducing these adverse effects." Nitrogen treatments The PNAS study was conducted in an established apple orchar...Sex: Why bother? Evolutionary mysteries probed at UH
...e scale. "Asexuality seems to be an evolutionary dead end," Azevedo said. "So sex must have its benefits." Many benefits of sex have been proposed over the last century, but scientists have had a hard time figuring out which ones are decisive. One being examined here, known as the mutational determi...Scientists look to the Bahamas as a model for coral reef conservation
...eaweed. Since coral larvae only grow on rocks or dead corals that are algae-free, too much seaweed can prevent corals from re-establishing damaged reefs in the aftermath of hurricanes and other deadly events. With the urchins gone, the job of chief seaweed grazer was taken over by a colorful herbivore k...Marine mammals are on the frontline of failing ocean health
..., Herpes, and Cancer In the past 15 years, 17% of dead and stranded sea lions in California have been diagnosed with a urogenital cancer, similar to cancers we see in humans. Researchers found high levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in these animals and believe contaminants, when combined wi...UF study: World shark attacks dipped in 2005, part of long-term trend
...New York City, which is to lie on the ground, play dead and give up the purse." Despite the worldwide decline, the number of attacks in the United States rose slightly, from 30 in 2004 to 38 in 2005. But that is still considerably lower than the recorded high of 52 in 2000, he said. The same pattern emerg...Declining snowpack cools off CO2 emissions from winter soils, says U. of Colorado study
...s from forest soils into the atmosphere during the dead of winter, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder study. Professor Russell Monson of CU-Boulder's ecology and evolutionary biology department said the lack of snow has decreased the winter insulation of the soils, cooling them and slow...Gene thwarts some pathogens, gives access to others, could save crops
...pathogen that can infect and obtain nutrients from dead cells on a plant and actually secretes toxic substances into plant tissue in order to gain entry. Another type of pathogen, called a biotroph, must feed on live plant cells. As a strategy to contain a pathogen, plants actually kill their own cells at...JCI table of contents, February 1, 2006
...es associated with significantly higher numbers of dead nerves in the intestine. The authors discovered that the cell death in both of these models was associated with reduced activity of a cell survival signaling pathway known as the PI3K/Akt pathway. Using genetically modified mice, the authors found th...Chronic oil pollution takes toll on seabirds along South American coast
...rther off the coast and few penguins are now found dead from petroleum along that coast. But oil remains an issue because, as Boersma noted, Magellanic penguins can swim 60 miles a day and on foraging trips during breeding season they can swim hundreds of miles without coming ashore. Their physical condit...Approaching a stem cell therapy for Parkinson's disease
...cells to eventually be able to replace diseased or dead cells with new, healthy ones. In order to do this, the stem cells must be programmed to form cells with the exact speciality needed for the treatment of patients. Parkinson's Disease is caused by the degeneration of dopamine-producing cells in a cert...Vaccine provides 100 percent protection against avian flu virus in animal study
...ays after exposure to wild-type H5N1, and all were dead within six to nine days of avian flu exposure. In sharp contrast, most of the mice immunized with the adenovirus containing either the whole or part of the HA protein showed only mild and short-lived weight loss and survived H5N1 infection. When the ...Rockefeller researchers discover a biological clock within a clock
...on this had been piecing together information from dead flies." But now, instead of freeze-frames, they had a movie. The movie allowed them to follow the interactions between Period and Timeless with a resolution never before possible. They discovered that, rather than randomly colliding, the two protein......ing an investigation of which gases are emitted by dead and fresh leaves. Then, in the laboratory and in t...ts let out some 10 to 1000 times more methane than dead plant material. The researchers then were able to show that the rate of methane production grew dras...Dogs keep dying: Many owners unaware of toxic dog food
...ies and collecting as many livers as possible from dead dogs to confirm cause of death, tracking dogs that have died and following up on the health of dogs that survive the food poisoning. The AHDC has information for veterinarians on its Web site http://diaglab.vet.cornell.edu/news.asp . "We suspect tha...Logging may hinder forest regeneration, increase fire risk
...f early re-burn, the best strategy may be to leave dead trees standing," he said. "In the absence of post-...crease it." Leaving that material up in the air on dead trees that will eventually fall, years or decades in the future, is actually more likely to reduce f...Searchers key in on ivory-billed woodpecker habitat
...itat is well-suited for the woodpecker because its dead and dying hardwoods -- tupelo, oak, sycamore, swee...non. "Bayou DeView contains the highest density of dead and dying woods," said Martjan Lammertink, a world woodpecker authority hired by the Lab of Ornithol...Ancient trans-Atlantic swarm brought locusts to the New World
...ed in the ocean, they formed huge floating mats of dead locusts," says Lovejoy. "The other locusts would land on these mats, rest and feed on the dead bodies, then take off and keep flying." Another possibility is that among the millions of swarming l...Ability to capture large prey may be origin of army ants' cooperative behavior
...ased on the observation of the ants feeding on the dead snake. They noted that raiding parties of other New World army ants occasionally sting and kill small vertebrates such as lizards, snakes and birds, but do usually not consume them. Other New World army ants prey heavily on insects and other invert...Post-Katrina: Lead in disturbed soil may pose heightened health risk
..., Presley says. Animal tissues sampled, including dead snakes and an alligator, also contained multiple metals and pesticides, but these levels were generally within an expected range and not likely to be caused by the hurricane, the researchers say. Of the 47 mosquito specimens collected in the study ar...