ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Dating between modern humans and Neandertals
• How to restore native grasslands in the interior Pacific Northwest, U.S.
• Northern conifers youngest of the species
• Duck-bill dinosaurs had plant-pulverizing teeth more advanced than horses
• Insects a prime driver in plant evolution and diversity
• Insects shape genetic landscape through plant defenses
• Ancient carbon resurfacing in lakes challenges current models of long-term carbon storage in lakes and rivers
• Climate change beliefs: Political views trump facts for some
• Fox squirrels show long-term investment savvy when hoarding nuts
• Life cycle of blue-crab parasite unraveled
• The smell of mom: Scientists find elusive trigger of first suckling in mice
• Bacterium in a laser trap: Light tube can grab and scan even tiniest of unicellular organisms
• Anthropologist finds evidence of hominin meat eating 1.5 million years ago: Eating meat may have 'made us human'
• Lakes react differently to warmer climate

Dating between modern humans and Neandertals Posted: 04 Oct 2012 05:10 PM PDT To discover why Neandertals are most closely related to people outside Africa, scientists have estimated the date when Neandertals and modern Europeans last shared ancestors. The research provides a historical context for the interbreeding. It suggests that it occurred when modern humans carrying Upper Paleolithic technologies encountered Neandertals as they expanded out of Africa.

How to restore native grasslands in the interior Pacific Northwest, U.S. Posted: 04 Oct 2012 12:06 PM PDT Weed scientists in Oregon have found that the timing of herbicide application along with reseeding of native grasses offers the best recipe for restoring native grasslands while controlling invasive weeds. Grasslands are a valuable resource for ecosystems, providing soil conservation, food and fiber production, and wildlife habitat. When threatened by invading exotic species, the quality and quantity of forage for wildlife can be reduced, fire frequencies can be altered, soil moisture and nutrients can be depleted, and the costs of land management can increase.

Northern conifers youngest of the species Posted: 04 Oct 2012 11:17 AM PDT Dramatic shifts in the planet's climate and geography over millions of years changed the course of evolutionary history for conifer trees, according to new research.

Duck-bill dinosaurs had plant-pulverizing teeth more advanced than horses Posted: 04 Oct 2012 11:17 AM PDT A team of paleontologists and engineers has found that duck-billed dinosaurs had an amazing capacity to chew tough and abrasive plants with grinding teeth more complex than those of cows, horses, and other well-known modern grazers. Their study is the first to recover material properties from fossilized teeth.

Insects a prime driver in plant evolution and diversity Posted: 04 Oct 2012 11:17 AM PDT Take a good look around on your next nature hike. Not only are you experiencing the wonders of the outdoors -- you're probably also witnessing evolution in action.

Insects shape genetic landscape through plant defenses Posted: 04 Oct 2012 11:17 AM PDT In a new study involving aphids and the broccoli-like research plant Arabidopsis thaliana, scientists offer the first measurable evidence that plant-eating insects influence the genetic variation of their host plants through the plant's natural defense mechanisms.

Ancient carbon resurfacing in lakes challenges current models of long-term carbon storage in lakes and rivers Posted: 04 Oct 2012 10:48 AM PDT A new study reveals that a significant amount of carbon released into the atmosphere from lakes and rivers in Southern Québec, Canada, is very old -- approximately 1,000 to 3,000 years old -- challenging the current models of long-term carbon storage in lakes and rivers.

Climate change beliefs: Political views trump facts for some Posted: 04 Oct 2012 10:47 AM PDT For some people, scientific facts help determine what they believe about an issue. But for others, political views trump scientific facts and determine what information they will accept as true. It's a phenomenon that is particularly prevalent on the issue of climate change.

Fox squirrels show long-term investment savvy when hoarding nuts Posted: 04 Oct 2012 09:16 AM PDT Researchers are gathering evidence this fall that the feisty fox squirrels scampering around campus are not just mindlessly foraging for food, but engaging in a long-term savings strategy. Humans could learn something about padding their nest eggs from squirrels' diversification efforts. Of course, with squirrels, it's not about money, but about nuts.

Life cycle of blue-crab parasite unraveled Posted: 04 Oct 2012 09:16 AM PDT Biologists have succeeded in their 15-year effort to unravel the life history of Hematodinium, a single-celled parasite that afflicts blue crabs and is of growing concern to aquaculture operations and wild fisheries around the world.

The smell of mom: Scientists find elusive trigger of first suckling in mice Posted: 04 Oct 2012 09:15 AM PDT Biologists have solved the long-standing scientific mystery of how mice first know to nurse or suckle. This basic mammalian instinct, which could be a key to understanding instinctive behavior more generally, was thought to be triggered by a specific odor (pheromone) that all mouse mothers emit. But the trigger in mice turns out to be a more complicated blend of nature and nurture: a signature mix of odors, unique for each mother, which her offspring learn.

Bacterium in a laser trap: Light tube can grab and scan even tiniest of unicellular organisms Posted: 04 Oct 2012 07:40 AM PDT Scientists have constructed an innovative new optical trap that can grab and scan tiny elongated bacteria with the help of a laser. The physicists created a kind of light tube that traps the agile unicellular organisms. Optical tweezers could previously only be used to grab bacteria at one point, not to manipulate their orientation. Researchers have now succeeded in using a quickly moving, focused laser beam to exert an equally distributed force over the entire bacterium, which constantly changes its complex form. At the same time, they were able to record the movements of the trapped bacterium in high-speed three-dimensional images by measuring miniscule deflections of the light particles.

Anthropologist finds evidence of hominin meat eating 1.5 million years ago: Eating meat may have 'made us human' Posted: 04 Oct 2012 06:35 AM PDT A skull fragment unearthed in Tanzania shows our ancient ancestors ate meat at least 1.5 million years ago, shedding new light on human evolution.

Lakes react differently to warmer climate Posted: 04 Oct 2012 06:31 AM PDT A future warmer climate will produce different effects in different lakes. Researchers have now been able to explain that the effects of climate change depend on what organisms are dominant in the lake. Algal blooms will increase, especially of toxic blue-green algae.

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