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Thursday, January 5, 2012

ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

ScienceDaily: Top Environment News


Fish mimics octopus that mimics fish

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 12:37 PM PST

Nature's game of intimidation and imitation comes full circle in the waters of Indonesia, where scientists have recorded for the first time an association between the black-marble jawfish and the mimic octopus.

Salt water alone unlikely to halt Burmese python invasion

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 12:37 PM PST

Invasive Burmese python hatchlings from the Florida Everglades can withstand exposure to salt water long enough to potentially expand their range through ocean and estuarine environments.

Ecologists call for screening imported plants to prevent a new wave of invasive species

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 12:37 PM PST

A recent analysis suggests that climate change predicted for the United States will boost demand for imported drought- and heat-tolerant landscaping plants from Africa and the Middle East. This greatly increases the risk that a new wave of invasives will overrun native ecosystems in the way kudzu, Oriental bittersweet and purple loosestrife have in the past, members of the international team say.

Russian runoff freshening Canadian Arctic, NASA finds

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 11:21 AM PST

A new study allays concerns that melting Arctic sea ice could be increasing the amount of freshwater in the Arctic enough to have an impact on the global "ocean conveyor belt" that redistributes heat around our planet. Researchers detected a previously unknown redistribution of freshwater during the past decade from the Eurasian half of the Arctic Ocean to the Canadian half. Yet despite the redistribution, they found no change in the net amount of freshwater in the Arctic that might signal a change in the conveyor belt.

Leaping lizards and dinosaurs inspire robot design

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 10:48 AM PST

A new study of how lizards use their tails when leaping through the trees shows that they swing the tail upward to avoid pitching forward after a stumble. Theropod dinosaurs -- the ancestors of birds -- may have done the same. A robot model confirms the value of an actively controlled tail, demonstrating that adding a tail can stabilize robots on uneven terrain and after unexpected falls -- critical to successful search and rescue operations.

Magnetically levitated flies offer clues to future of life in space

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 10:32 AM PST

Using powerful magnets to levitate fruit flies can provide vital clues to how biological organisms are affected by weightless conditions in space, researchers say.

Flipped from head to toe: 100 years of continental drift theory

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 10:31 AM PST

Exactly 100 years ago Alfred Wegener presented his theory of continental drift to the public for the first time. Modern plate tectonics confirmed his ideas by flipping them upside down.

How male spiders use eavesdropping to one-up their rivals

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 08:50 AM PST

Researchers have made a new discovery into the complex world of spiders that reflects what some might perceive as similar behavior in human society. As male wolf spiders go searching for a mate, it appears they eavesdrop, match and even try to outdo the mating dances of their successful rivals, a behavior seen mainly in vertebrate animals.

In ancient Pompeii, trash and tombs went hand in hand

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 08:50 AM PST

Trash and tombs went hand in hand in ancient Pompeii. That's according to research that provides new insights into daily life of that city before the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.

The Bechstein's bat, more Mediterranean than thought

Posted: 04 Jan 2012 08:17 AM PST

The Bechstein's bat or Myotis bechsteinii lives in deciduous forests. It used to be very common in the Holocene era, but today there are only a few dispersed groups, despite the fact that a colony can be found almost anywhere in Europe. It has been rendered vulnerable by human interference and forest destruction. And this has even led to confusion about its origin.

Climate change models may vasty underestimate extinctions

Posted: 03 Jan 2012 06:10 PM PST

Predictions of the loss of animal and plant diversity around the world are common under models of future climate change. But a new study shows that because these climate models don't account for species competition and movement, they could grossly underestimate future extinctions.

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