About half of all bird nests don’t survive due to predators, particularly in fragmented forest areas, but why? University of Illinois researchers monitored both the prey and predator to find an answer.
The northern Madagascar spider tortoise (Pyxis arachnoides brygooi), is endemic to the coastal Mikea forests of southwest Madagascar. Very little is known of P. a. brygooi’s ecology; however, it is suspected that the range is now very fragmented, with remaining populations facing significant threats from habitat destruction and poaching for food and the pet trade.
Don’t get between a salamander and her eggs. The concept usually applies to a mother bear and her cubs, but it rings true for this small amphibian as well—particularly as the eggs get closer to hatching. A study has found that female salamanders grow more aggressive in defending their nests as their eggs mature. Other factors, including the size of the mother, were insignificant.
Traditionally, biodiversity conservation gap analyses have been focused on governmental protected areas (PAs). However, an increasing number of social initiatives in conservation (SICs) are promoting a new perspective for analysis. SICs include all of the efforts that society implements to conserve biodiversity, such as land protection, from private reserves to community zoning plans some of which have generated community-protected areas.
It’s an alligator-eat-alligator world out in the waters of Orange Lake in Alachua County, Florida. Cannibalism among American alligators is responsible for a 6–7% reduction in the number of juvenile gators here each year, according to a new study. This number is based on the recovery of marking tags from the stomachs of harvested alligators.
Human activity is causing high rates of biodiversity loss. Yet, surprisingly little is known about the extent to which socioeconomic factors exacerbate or ameliorate our impacts on biological diversity. One such factor, economic inequality, has been shown to affect public health, and has been linked to environmental problems in general. Researchers tested how strongly economic inequality is related to biodiversity loss in particular. They found that among countries, and among US states, the number of species that are threatened or [...]
Invasive species can dramatically impact natural populations, especially those living on islands. Though numerous examples illustrate the ecological impact of invasive predators, no study has examined the genetic consequences for native populations subject to invasion.
Mobile ectothermic animals can control their body temperatures by selecting specific thermal conditions in the environment, but embryos—trapped within an immobile egg and lacking locomotor structures—have been assumed to lack that ability.
New findings of researchers from Tel-Aviv University show that predator-prey interactions between ground beetles of the genus Epomis and amphibians are much more complex than expected. The study was published in the open access journal Zoo Keys.
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