ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Bacteria-invading virus yields new discoveries
• Cilia use different motors for different tasks
• Living on islands makes animals tamer
• New study: US power plant emissions down
• Lions are critically endangered in West Africa
• Big data: A method for obtaining large, phylogenomic data sets
• Minimalistic raiding parties of a slave-hunting ant crack castles
• A powerful technique to further understanding of RNA
• Microalgae and aquatic plants can help to decrease radiopollution in the Fukushima area
• EU policy is driving up demand for pollination faster than honeybee numbers
• Quantum mechanics explains efficiency of photosynthesis
• Antarctic emperor penguins may be adapting to warmer temperatures
• Rich world of fish biofluorescence illiuminated
• Tracking the deep sea paths of tiger sharks: Understanding the habitat-use and migration patterns of large sharks
• Ancient Cambodian city's intensive land use led to extensive environmental impacts
• Seashell loss due to tourism increase may have global impact
• Natural hybridization produced dolphin species
• Ocean dead zones more deadly for marine life than previously predicted
• Drought and drowning equal vulture supermarket
• Of lice and men (and chimps): Study tracks pace of molecular evolution
• Might more ravens -- aided by humans -- mean 'nevermore' for sage-grouse?

Bacteria-invading virus yields new discoveries Posted: 10 Jan 2014 08:36 AM PST Innovative work shows the structural and DNA breakdown of a bacteria-invading virus.

Cilia use different motors for different tasks Posted: 10 Jan 2014 08:36 AM PST Cilia -- tiny, hair-like fibers -- are widely present in nature. Single-celled paramecia use one set of cilia for locomotion and another set to sweep nutrients into their oral grooves. Researchers have discovered that those two cilia sets operate at different speeds when the viscosity of the environment changes. That suggests different molecular motors driving them, which could help explain how cilia have come to be used for so many different tasks in nature.

Living on islands makes animals tamer Posted: 10 Jan 2014 07:37 AM PST Biologists have found that island lizards are "tame" compared to their mainland relatives, confirming Charles Darwin's observations of island tameness. Darwin had noted that island animals often acted tame, and presumed that they had evolved to be so after coming to inhabit islands that lacked most predators. The researchers found island lizards were more accessible the farther the islands were from the mainland.

New study: US power plant emissions down Posted: 09 Jan 2014 10:26 AM PST Power plants that use natural gas and a new technology to squeeze more energy from the fuel release far less of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide than coal-fired power plants do, according to a new analysis.

Lions are critically endangered in West Africa Posted: 09 Jan 2014 10:25 AM PST The African lion is facing extinction across the entire West African region, according to new research. The West African lion once ranged continuously from Senegal to Nigeria, but the new article reveals there are now only an estimated 250 adult lions restricted to four isolated and severely imperiled populations. Only one of those populations contains more than 50 lions.

Big data: A method for obtaining large, phylogenomic data sets Posted: 09 Jan 2014 10:25 AM PST Scientists have developed a new method to obtain large, phylogenomic data sets utilizing long-range PCR to strategically generate DNA templates for next-generation sequencing. The method allows researchers to target specific genomic regions of interest. The method was tested by amplifying chloroplast genomes for 30 species across flowering plants, but can be used for any organism, and can be expanded to the mitochondrial and nuclear regions.

Minimalistic raiding parties of a slave-hunting ant crack castles Posted: 09 Jan 2014 10:24 AM PST A group of scientists recently described a new slave-making ant species from the eastern USA. They baptized the new ant Temnothorax pilagens -- from pilere (Latin): to pluck, plunder or pillage.

A powerful technique to further understanding of RNA Posted: 09 Jan 2014 09:49 AM PST Biochemists and biophysicists have developed a new way to visualize the shape and motion of RNA at the atomic level using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR).

Microalgae and aquatic plants can help to decrease radiopollution in the Fukushima area Posted: 09 Jan 2014 07:36 AM PST After a huge earthquake caused severe damage to the Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant in 2011, Japanese plant scientists have been working to determine the impact of radioactive contamination on wild and cultivated plants. Experts have examined the potential adverse effects of radioactivity on nature and society.

EU policy is driving up demand for pollination faster than honeybee numbers Posted: 09 Jan 2014 07:36 AM PST A new study indicates that demand for pollination services has risen five times as fast as the number of colonies across Europe. The findings indicate that, although the total number of honeybee colonies increased in some European countries, the demands for the pollination services supplied by these pollinators has increased much faster due to the increasing demand for biofuel feedstocks.

Quantum mechanics explains efficiency of photosynthesis Posted: 09 Jan 2014 06:20 AM PST Light-gathering macromolecules in plant cells transfer energy by taking advantage of molecular vibrations whose physical descriptions have no equivalents in classical physics, according to the first unambiguous theoretical evidence of quantum effects in photosynthesis.

Antarctic emperor penguins may be adapting to warmer temperatures Posted: 08 Jan 2014 09:43 PM PST A new study of four Antarctic emperor penguin colonies suggest that unexpected breeding behavior may be a sign that the birds are adapting to environmental change. Analysis of satellite observations reveals that penguin colonies moved from their traditional breeding grounds during years when the thin layer of ice (sea ice) formed later than usual to the much thicker floating ice shelves that surround the continent.

Rich world of fish biofluorescence illiuminated Posted: 08 Jan 2014 09:42 PM PST Scientists have released the first report of widespread biofluorescence in fishes, identifying more than 180 species that glow in a wide range of colors and patterns. The research shows that biofluorescence -- a phenomenon by which organisms absorb light, transform it, and eject it as a different color -- is common and variable among marine fish species, indicating its potential use in communication and mating.

Tracking the deep sea paths of tiger sharks: Understanding the habitat-use and migration patterns of large sharks Posted: 08 Jan 2014 09:39 PM PST Shark research scientists have undertaken a four year study tracking the migratory patterns of tiger sharks across the Southwest Pacific.

Ancient Cambodian city's intensive land use led to extensive environmental impacts Posted: 08 Jan 2014 09:39 PM PST Soil erosion and vegetation change indicate approximately 400 years of intensive land use around the city of Mahendraparvata in the Phnom Kulen region beginning in the mid 9th century, with marked change in water management practices from the 12th century.

Seashell loss due to tourism increase may have global impact Posted: 08 Jan 2014 09:37 PM PST Global tourism has increased fourfold over the last 30 years, resulting in human-induced seashell loss that may harm natural habitats worldwide, according to scientists.

Natural hybridization produced dolphin species Posted: 08 Jan 2014 09:37 PM PST A new study on the clymene dolphin, a small and sleek marine mammal living in the Atlantic Ocean, shows that this species arose through natural hybridization between two closely related dolphins species.

Ocean dead zones more deadly for marine life than previously predicted Posted: 08 Jan 2014 09:37 PM PST Scientists have found that low pH levels within ocean dead zones represent an additional, previously unappreciated, threat to ocean animals.

Drought and drowning equal vulture supermarket Posted: 08 Jan 2014 09:37 PM PST Researchers have discovered that vultures, rather than aggregating where animals are most abundant as previously thought, instead focus on areas and conditions where animals are most likely to die.

Of lice and men (and chimps): Study tracks pace of molecular evolution Posted: 07 Jan 2014 06:53 PM PST A new study compares the relative rate of molecular evolution between humans and chimps with that of their lice. The researchers wanted to know whether evolution marches on at a steady pace in all creatures or if subtle changes in genes -- substitutions of individual letters of the genetic code -- occur more rapidly in some groups than in others.

Might more ravens -- aided by humans -- mean 'nevermore' for sage-grouse? Posted: 07 Jan 2014 10:43 AM PST A new study suggests that habitat fragmentation and the addition of makeshift perches such as transmission polls in sagebrush ecosystems are creating preferred habitat for common ravens that threaten sensitive native bird species, including greater sage grouse.

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