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Press Releases — Page 29

Federally protected lands reduce habitat loss and protect endangered species, study finds

By Tufts University  3/2/2020 MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. (March 2, 2020)— Using more than 30 years of earth satellite images, scientists at Tufts University and the non-profit conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife have discovered that habitat loss for imperiled species in the U.S. over this period was more than twice as great on non-protected private lands than on federally protected lands. As…

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Not Falling Far from Tree: USU Ecologist Studies Seed-to-Seedling Transitions

By Utah State University 2/27/2020 Utah State University ecologist Noelle Beckman and colleagues Philippe Marchand of the University of Quebec, Liza Comita of Yale University, Joseph Wright of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, Richard Condit of Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History and internationally renowned ecologist Stephen P. Hubbell of the University of California, Los Angeles, explore these questions…

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Researchers in Kruger National Park Observe How Fire and Drought Shape Plant Communities

By University Of California, Santa Barbara 2/27/2020 Deron Burkepile, a professor in UC Santa Barbara’s Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology has been working in southern Africa for longer than a decade, monitoring the complex and diverse plant communities which populate the region. Burkepile first began doing field work in Kruger National Park, South Africa about 15 years ago,…

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Many species in mountains have to choose between higher temperatures or decreased oxygen levels

By University of Copenhagen 2/11/2020    As a result of global warming many species are currently shifting altitudinal distribution in mountain areas. Even though most move to higher altitudes, there are large differences among species, and some even shift downward to lower altitudes. A recently published paper in the acclaimed journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment from the Ecological…

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Forests bouncing back from beetles, but elk and deer slowing recovery

By CU Boulder 2/13/2020 Two words, and a tiny little creature, strike fear in the hearts of many Colorado outdoor enthusiasts: bark beetle. But new research from CU Boulder reveals that even simultaneous bark beetle outbreaks are not a death sentence to the state’s beloved forests.  The study, published this month in the journal Ecology, found that high-elevation forests in the southern…

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Polar bears in Baffin Bay skinnier, having fewer cubs due to less sea ice

By University of Washington 2/12/2020 Polar bears are spending more time on land than they did in the 1990s due to reduced sea ice, new University of Washington-led research shows. Bears in Baffin Bay are getting thinner and adult females are having fewer cubs than when sea ice was more available. The new study, recently published in Ecological Applications, includes satellite tracking…

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Predators to Spare

By UC Santa Barbara 2/12/2020 In 2014, a disease of epidemic proportions gripped the West Coast of the U.S. You may not have noticed, though, unless you were underwater. Fueled by abnormally hot ocean temperatures, sea star wasting disease ravaged these echinoderms from Alaska to Mexico. The condition, still not fully understood, wiped out a significant marine predator, the sunflower star….

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Everglades ‘remembers’ severe weather

By National Science Foundation 2/6/2020 The chemical signature left behind by hurricanes, fires, cold snaps and droughts can linger in the slow-moving water of the Florida Everglades for up to a decade, researchers report. No one expected evidence of these disturbances to be detectable in the water for so long and to spread across different areas of the Everglades, the…

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The Everglades remember

By Florida International University 2/3/2020 The chemical signature left behind by hurricanes, fires, cold snaps and droughts can linger in the slow-moving water of the Florida Everglades for up to a decade. No one expected evidence of these disturbances to be detectable in the water for so long and spread across different areas of the Everglades. Increased levels of phosphorus, nitrogen,…

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Scientists improve understanding of Mount St. Helens eruption recovery

By National Science Foundation 1/29/2020 Through research in the blast zone of Mount St. Helens, Evergreen State College scientists have discovered that plants are influencing the ecosystem’s recovery. A new paper reporting the results, “Plant sex influences terrestrial-aquatic interactions,” was published in the journal Ecosphere by Carri LeRoy and her collaborators at the U.S. Forest Service and the Science Museum of Minnesota. The research,…

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No simple answers on future problems with pest insects

By The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences 1/23/2020 While some trends suggest that insect abundances generally decrease, there is also a fear that problems with pest insects will increase in the future. The logic is simple – insects are ectothermic and should thereby be favored by ongoing climate warming. It is however not that easy to predict future damage of pest…

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New Study Provides Insights for Detecting the Invasive Brown Treesnake

By The U.S. Geological Survey 1/23/2020 (Carlisle, Pa.) – Researchers from Dickinson College and the U.S. Geological Survey collaborated on field research to understand the ability of human searchers to detect the invasive brown treesnake (BTS) on the island of Guam. Due to their nocturnal and tree-dwelling habits, these snakes are extremely difficult to detect, especially when they are present…

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Can a tiny invasive snail help save Latin American coffee?

By University of Michigan 1/23/2020 ANN ARBOR—While conducting fieldwork in Puerto Rico’s central mountainous region in 2016, University of Michigan ecologists noticed tiny trails of bright orange snail excrement on the undersurface of coffee leaves afflicted with coffee leaf rust, the crop’s most economically important pest. Intrigued, they conducted field observations and laboratory experiments over the next several years and…

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