Genetic analysis of giant pandas has shown that features of their landscape have a profound effect on the movement of genes within their population. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Genetics found that physical barriers, such as areas lacking bamboo plants and other forest foliage, can separate giant pandas into isolated genetic groups. [...]
Archive for the ‘Ecology’ Category
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Hijacked Supplies for Pathogens: Legionnaire’s Disease Bacteria Tap Into the Material Transport in Immune Cells
July 26th, 2010 Legionnaire’s disease bacteria tap into the material transport in immune cells. When it infects the lungs, the Legionnaire’s bacterium Legionella pneumophila causes acute pneumonia. The pathogen’s modus operandi is particularly ingenious: it infiltrates deliberately into cells of the human immune system and injects a host of proteins which then interfere in the normal cellular processes. [...]
New Research on Rapidly-Disappearing Ancient Plant Offers Hope for Species Recovery
July 16th, 2010 Cycads, “living fossil” descendents of the first plants that colonized land and reproduced with seeds, are rapidly going extinct because of invasive pests and habitat loss, especially those species endemic to islands. But new research on Cycas micronesica published recently as the cover article in Molecular Ecology calls into question the characterization of these plants [...]
Human Sperm Gene Is 600 Million Years Old, Scientists Discover
July 16th, 2010 Just as styles in sexy clothes or fashion change from year to year and culture to culture, “sexy” genes, or genes specific to sex, also change rapidly. But there is one sex-specific gene so vital, its function has remained unaltered throughout evolution and is found in almost all animals, according to new research from Northwestern [...]
Incidence of Malaria Jumps When Amazon Forests Are Cut, Study Finds
June 17th, 2010 Now, however, a team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, writing in the current (June 16, 2010) online issue of the CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, presents the most enumerated case to date linking increased incidence of malaria to land-use practices in the Amazon. The report, which combines detailed information on the incidence of malaria [...]
Citizen Science: Birders Contribute Valuable Data on Invasive Plant Species
June 10th, 2010 In an effort to assess ties between birds’ feeding habits and the spread of nonnative invasive plants, researchers provided ornithologists from four U.S. states with questionnaires on daily bird-plant encounters. The 1,143 unique interactions reported by the birders laid the groundwork for a study on the role of native birds in the seed dispersal of [...]
Dinosaur-Chewing Mammals Leave Behind Oldest Known Tooth Marks
June 9th, 2010 Paleontologists have discovered the oldest mammalian tooth marks yet on the bones of ancient animals, including several large dinosaurs. They report their findings in a paper published online June 16 in the journal Paleontology. Nicholas Longrich of Yale University and Michael J. Ryan of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History came across several of the bones [...]
Gene Discovery Potential Key to Cost-Competitive Cellulosic Ethanol
June 5th, 2010 Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are improving strains of microorganisms used to convert cellulosic biomass into ethanol, including a recent modification that could improve the efficiency of the conversion process. Biofuels researchers and industrials have generated improved mutant microorganisms previously, but authors of a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy [...]
Water Oxidation Advance Boosts Potential for Solar Fuel
March 18th, 2010 Emory University chemists have developed the most potent homogeneous catalyst known for water oxidation, considered a crucial component for generating clean hydrogen fuel using only water and sunlight. The breakthrough, published March 11 in the journal Science, was made in collaboration with the Paris Institute of Molecular Chemistry. The fastest, carbon-free molecular water oxidation catalyst [...]
Large Mammals Need Protected Areas, Forest Cover in India
March 15th, 2010 A study of extinction patterns of 25 large mammal species in India finds that improving existing protected areas, creating new areas, and interconnecting them will be necessary for many species to survive this century. The study, by a team of researchers from the United States and India, appears in the March 10 online edition of [...]