Which came first, the moth or the cactus?
...oblem for ecological theory," said Rice University ecologist Nat Holland, who co-discovered the senita moth-senita cactus mutualism in 1995 and has studied it ever since. The problem is that the moths lay their eggs inside the cacti's flowers immediately after pollination, and when the eggs hatch the moth la...Innovative tagging technique may help researchers better protect fish stocks
...ement tool remains unclear. Simon Thorrold, a fish ecologist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), would like to put MPAs to the test with a novel technique for tagging fish. Through a new research grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Thorrold and colleagues plan to use harmles...Genetic analysis finds greater threat in frog-killing fungus
...will likely fail. Study co-authors Roland Knapp, ecologist at UC Santa Barbara's Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory, and Vance Vredenburg, a post-doctoral scholar in integrative biology at UC Berkeley, have led a number of such efforts to reintroduce mountain yellow-legged frogs in remote lakes in the...ESA announces 2007 award recipients
...stributions, and Phyllis D. Coley, a distinguished ecologist who has made seminal discoveries in the ecology of...r (University of Montana). The award recognizes an ecologist for outstanding work in ecology education. Through teaching, outreach, and mentoring activities, rec...'The Man Who Saved The Sea Turtles'
...eroes of the 20th century. A pioneering biologist, ecologist and nature writer, he launched an international campaign to protect various species of migratory sea turtles all over the world. In so doing, Carr, who died in 1987, created the template for many successful environmental campaigns that followed. No...Increase in creeping vines signals major shift in southern US forests
...State, and with Rebecca Sharitz, a senior research ecologist at the University of Georgia 's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory in Aiken, S.C. The researchers collected 12 years' worth of data from six plots that each covered 2.5 acres that's about the size of a football field in an old-growth forest in Sou...Philadelphia ecologist receives top Mongolia honor
...ts considered sacred. In 1994, Goulden, an aquatic ecologist and then curator of the Academys Patrick Center for Environmental Research, visited Lake Hvsgl in northern Mongolia, along with Academy Senior Fellow Robert McCracken Peck, and recognized it as a treasure to be researched and protected. At least 2 mi...Loss of hemlocks will affect water dynamics in southern Appalachian forests
...hemlock if widespread mortality occurs, says Ford, ecologist with the Otto, NC unit where Vose is project leader. With the loss of this species, we predict changes to streamflow, streamside forest structure, and soil moisture that will have to be addressed by land managers. Hemlock woolly adelgids attach the...Invertebrate immune systems are anything but simple, conference finds
...nity, says Dr. Paul Schmid-Hempel, an evolutionary ecologist at the ETH Zurich in Switzerland. By studying the immune systems of fruit flies, mosquitoes and other invertebrates (including bed bugs, moths, crustaceans, worms, sponges and bees), scientists are finding new molecules involved in defences against ...The kapok connection -- Study explains rainforest similarities
... Research by University of Michigan evolutionary ecologist Christopher Dick and colleagues shows that kapok---and perhaps other rainforest--trees colonized Africa after the continents split when the trees' seeds traveled across the ocean. The findings, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), appea...Want to save polar bears? Follow the ice
...at the crossroads," said Scott Bergen, a landscape ecologist with WCS' Living Landscapes Program and the principal investigator for the project. "The survival of some polar bear populations depend on the decisions we make within the next year. Fortunately, by using available data on sea ice trends over the pas...When lava flows and glaciers recede, predicting how species take over
...shed in the June issue of the American Naturalist, ecologist Kristina Anderson of the University of New Mexico showed that in many communitiesranging from plants in abandoned agricultural fields to arthropods on carcassesspecies do indeed turn over most rapidly early in succession, when many new species arrive...Study warns deep-sea mining may pose serious threat to fragile marine ecosystems
...nce, and is co-authored by Rodney Fujita, a marine ecologist with U.S.-based Environmental Defense. A Canadian-based company is currently planning the worlds first commercial undersea exploration for high-grade gold and copper. They are targeting an area known as the Manus backarc basin off the coast of Pap...The Institute of Ecosystem Studies to host an international conference on ecology and urban design
...mproved? The conference will be synthesized by ecologist Steward Pickett of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies and designer Charles Waldheim of the University of Toronto. Conference proceedings will form the basis of both a book and a website. These end products will be used to connect recommendations with...Agriculture, biology and conservation
...n and other problems. Katherine Gross, a plant ecologist and Director of Michigan State University's Kellogg Biological Station, will discuss how managing agricultural systems for environmental benefits does not necessarily translate into lower crop yields. For example, she will explain how insect diversi...Smithsonian scientists report new carbon dioxide study
... plant growth," said PatrickMegonigal, a microbial ecologist at SERC and one of the study's authors."We thought that higher plant growth at elevated CO2 would either addmore carbon to soils, or at least leave it the same. We now need toconsider a third possibility-the carbon already in soils will end upback in...Antarctic marine explorers reveal first biological changes after collapse of polar ice shelves
... the case of Larsen B," says Julian Gutt, a marine ecologist at Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research and chief scientist on the Polarstern expedition. "The collapse of the Larsen shelves may tell us about impacts of climate-induced changes on marine biodiversity and the functioning...Mathematical model predicts cholera outbreaks
...vancement of Science in San Francisco, theoretical ecologist Mercedes Pascual will discuss how models that she and coworkers have developed can aid short-term forecasting of infectious diseases, such as cholera, and inform decisions about vaccination and other disease-prevention strategies. In research done o...The last wild hunt -- Deep-sea fisheries scrape bottom of the sea
...ur grandmothers," adds Selina Heppell, a fisheries ecologist from Oregon State University. "These fishes have evolved to live a very long time so they can get the chance to reproduce many times. Anything that shortens their lifespan defeats their primary way of surviving." Ecosystem Impacts Ancient deep-se...2006 AAAS International Scientific Cooperation Award goes to Arizona State U. landscape ecologist
...ientific society, has named a pioneering landscape ecologist from Arizona State University to receive the 2006 International Scientific Cooperation Award. Jianguo Wu, director of the Landscape Ecology Modeling Laboratory at Arizona State, was cited for his outstanding contributions to sustainable science, i...