ScienceDaily: Plants & Animals News

New tool aids US conservation, management of whales, dolphins and porpoises Posted: 06 Mar 2015 10:27 AM PST Researchers have identified more than 100 areas within US waters that should be considered biologically important when making management and regulatory decisions about human activities that could affect whales, dolphins and porpoises.

Turning yogurt waste into new products Posted: 06 Mar 2015 10:25 AM PST With exploding consumer demand for Greek yogurt, production is up. That’s great for food companies’ bottom lines, but it also leaves them dealing with a lot more acid whey, a problematic byproduct of the Greek yogurt-making process. Scientists are developing a way to transform this trash into treasure.

Stuck-in-the-mud plankton reveal ancient temperatures Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:27 AM PST New research showing how tiny creatures drifted across the ocean before falling to the seafloor and being fossilized has the potential to improve our understanding of past climates, scientists say.

Female fish that avoid mating with related species also shun some of their own Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:27 AM PST A new study offers insight into a process that could lead one species to diverge into two, researchers report. The study found that female killifish that avoid mating with males of a closely related species also are less likely to mate with males of their own species -- if those males come from an unfamiliar population.

Evolving to cope with climate change Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:26 AM PST Researchers have successfully measured the potential of the Atlantic Silverside to adapt to ocean acidification. This is the first such measurement for a vertebrate animal.

Onion extract may improve high blood sugar and cholesterol Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:25 AM PST The extract of onion bulb, Allium cepa, strongly lowered high blood glucose (sugar) and total cholesterol levels in diabetic rats when given with the antidiabetic drug metformin, according to a new study.

Sap-feeding butterflies join ranks of natural phenomenon, the Golden Ratio Posted: 06 Mar 2015 07:25 AM PST Researchers observed that the coiling action of the butterfly proboscis, a tube-like 'mouth' that many butterflies and moths use to feed on fluids, resembled a spiral similar to that of the Golden Ratio, and decided to investigate.

Researchers connect climate change to food safety Posted: 06 Mar 2015 04:38 AM PST Climate change can affect our food safety in a number of ways. In a European study, researchers state that there is often a relationship between long-term changes in temperature and rainfall and vegetable and fruit contamination. For example, flooding may result in increased concentrations of harmful bacteria that can be quickly broken down again by UV light. Similarly, in one region fungi that produce toxins may increase due to global warming, while they decrease in other regions.

Mice don't need the cortex to sing their songs Posted: 06 Mar 2015 04:37 AM PST The human language is unique in that we can refer to objects, events and ideas. The combination of syllables and words enables humans to generate an infinite number of expressions. An important prerequisite for language is the ability to imitate sounds, i.e. to store acquired acoustic information and to use this for one's own vocal production. Cortical structures in the brain play a crucial role in this. While songbirds and certain marine mammals are capable of such vocal learning, there is very little evidence for vocal learning in terrestrial mammals -- not even in our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees. Nonhuman primate vocal production is largely restricted to an innate repertoire of sounds.

Moves to automate identification of Saimaa ringed seals Posted: 06 Mar 2015 04:37 AM PST Moves are being made to automate the identification of Saimaa ringed seals. This would bring new kinds of real-time information on how the extremely endangered species behaves, the movements of individual seals, and what happens to them. The final aim of an ongoing study on machine vision is to get a biometric passport for each individual Saimaa ringed seal. This happens on the basis of the unique fur patterns of each individual seal, using computer-based smart calculation and digital image processing. The aim is to store the information in a so-called Saimaa ringed seal database.

Green lungs of our planet are changing Posted: 06 Mar 2015 04:37 AM PST Are leaves and buds developing earlier in the spring? And do leaves stay on the trees longer in autumn? Do steppe ecosystems remain green longer and are the savannas becoming drier and drier? In fact, over recent decades, the growing seasons have changed everywhere around the world, according to research based on satellite data. The results are expected to have consequences for agriculture, interactions between species, the functioning of ecosystems, and the exchange of carbon dioxide and energy between the land surface and the atmosphere.

To reduce body fat, eating less fat may be more effective than eating less carbohydrate Posted: 05 Mar 2015 12:18 PM PST In adults with obesity, lowering dietary fat may lead to greater body fat loss than lowering dietary carbohydrate, a new study finds.

Nuts may help lower teenagers' risk of metabolic syndrome Posted: 05 Mar 2015 12:18 PM PST Modest consumption of nuts every day is associated with an improved cardiovascular risk profile among adolescents, a new analysis of a large national database shows.

How drowsy microbes in Arctic tundra change to methane-makers as permafrost thaws Posted: 04 Mar 2015 04:02 PM PST As the Arctic warms, tons of carbon locked away in Arctic tundra will be transformed into the powerful greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane, but scientists know little about how that transition takes place. Scientists looking at microbes in different types of Arctic soil now have a new picture of life in permafrost that reveals entirely new species and hints that subzero microbes might be active.