ScienceDaily: Top Environment News

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• Signalers vs. strong silent types: Sparrows exude personalities during fights
• Expedition yields unexpected clues to ocean mysteries
• Antarctic fjords are climate-sensitive hotspots of diversity in a rapidly warming region
• Domestication of dogs may have elaborated on a pre-existing capacity of wolves to learn from humans
• Silent stalkers of dark ocean waters: Killer whales hunt marine mammals at night in near total darkness
• Biology professor finds 'Goldilocks' effect in snail populations
• Companies could make the switch to wood power
• Rainfall to blame for decline in Arctic peregrines
• Tipping points: Where may abrupt impacts from climate change occur?
• Catastrophic collapse of Sahara Desert's wildlife
• Tracking fracking pollution
• Unlikely collaboration leads to discovery of 'gender-bending' plant
• Beetles that live with ants: A remarkably large and colorful new species from Guyane
• Himalayan flowers shed light on climate change
• Continuing with pledge pathways to 2030 could push climate goals out of reach
• New evidence suggests Neanderthals organized their living spaces
• Plastic found to account for the majority of marine microlitter accumulating in the food chain
• Division of labor in the test tube: Bacteria grow faster if they feed each other
• Genome for the king cobra sequenced
• Airborne radar looking through thick ice during NASA polar campaigns
• Biologist develops method for monitoring shipping noise in dolphin habitat
• Living desert underground: In perpetual darkness of limestone cave, surprisingly diverse ecosystem of microbes
• Arctic study shows key marine food web species at risk from increasing carbon dioxide
• Researchers revise Darwin's thinking on invasive species
• How bacteria respond so quickly to external changes
• Scientists discover new survival mechanism for stressed mitochondria

Signalers vs. strong silent types: Sparrows exude personalities during fights Posted: 03 Dec 2013 06:00 PM PST Some song sparrows are more effusive than others in defending territory. New findings show consistent individual differences not only for how aggressive individual song sparrows are but also for how much they use signals to communicate aggressive intentions.

Expedition yields unexpected clues to ocean mysteries Posted: 03 Dec 2013 04:11 PM PST Geoscientists have revealed new discoveries about Earth's development, following a major international expedition that recovered the first-ever drill core from the lower crust of the Pacific Ocean.

Antarctic fjords are climate-sensitive hotspots of diversity in a rapidly warming region Posted: 03 Dec 2013 04:11 PM PST In the first significant study of seafloor communities in the glacier-dominated fjords along the west Antarctic Peninsula, scientists expected to find an impoverished seafloor highly disturbed by glacial sedimentation, similar to what has been documented in well-studied Arctic regions. Instead, they found high levels of diversity and abundance in megafauna. The difference can be explained by the fact that the subpolar Antarctic is in an earlier stage of climate warming than the Arctic.

Domestication of dogs may have elaborated on a pre-existing capacity of wolves to learn from humans Posted: 03 Dec 2013 01:17 PM PST Wolves can learn from observing humans and pack members where food is hidden and recognize when humans only pretend to hide food, reports a new study.

Silent stalkers of dark ocean waters: Killer whales hunt marine mammals at night in near total darkness Posted: 03 Dec 2013 11:17 AM PST The mating roar of a male harbor seal is supposed to attract a partner, not a predator. Unfortunately for the seals, scientists have found evidence that marine-mammal-eating killer whales eavesdrop on their prey. Previous research had shown mammal-eating killer whales are nearly silent before making a kill, neither vocalizing nor using their echolocation. The likely reason, researchers say, is the excellent hearing of the seals, porpoises, and other animals the whales stalk.

Biology professor finds 'Goldilocks' effect in snail populations Posted: 03 Dec 2013 09:49 AM PST A researcher has discovered that a "Goldilocks" effect applies to the reproductive output of a tiny New Zealand snail -- considered a troublesome species in many countries -- that may one day help environmentalists control their spread.

Companies could make the switch to wood power Posted: 03 Dec 2013 09:47 AM PST Some companies could economically convert their operations to wood boilers for heat and power, according to a team of forestry researchers.

Rainfall to blame for decline in Arctic peregrines Posted: 03 Dec 2013 09:47 AM PST Rain, crucial to sustaining life on Earth, is proving deadly for young peregrine falcons in Canada's Arctic, a new study shows.

Tipping points: Where may abrupt impacts from climate change occur? Posted: 03 Dec 2013 09:47 AM PST A new report extends the idea of abrupt climate change, stating that even steady, gradual change in the physical climate system can have abrupt impacts elsewhere -- in human infrastructure and ecosystems for example -- if critical thresholds are crossed.

Catastrophic collapse of Sahara Desert's wildlife Posted: 03 Dec 2013 09:45 AM PST A new study warns that the world's largest tropical desert, the Sahara, has suffered a catastrophic collapse of its wildlife populations.

Tracking fracking pollution Posted: 03 Dec 2013 08:22 AM PST A team of geochemistry researchers has just completed the first detailed study to examine the natural quality of groundwater prior to fracking.

Unlikely collaboration leads to discovery of 'gender-bending' plant Posted: 03 Dec 2013 08:22 AM PST Biologists have discovered and described a new species of wild eggplant, found in Australia's Lost City. The plant is curiously described as "gender bending," coming from the fact that the females actually pretend to be male by producing pollen.

Beetles that live with ants: A remarkably large and colorful new species from Guyane Posted: 03 Dec 2013 08:22 AM PST The Pseudomorphini Tribe of the Family Carabidae is a group of extraordinary beetles reported to live with ants in the soil and in the rainforest canopy. Mostly dull colored and relatively small, scientists discovered the first species in the Western Hemisphere to astonish with great size and beautiful color pattern, more typical for representatives from Australia.

Himalayan flowers shed light on climate change Posted: 03 Dec 2013 08:03 AM PST Flower color in some parts of the world, including the Himalayas, has evolved to attract bees as pollinators, research has shown for the first time.

Continuing with pledge pathways to 2030 could push climate goals out of reach Posted: 03 Dec 2013 08:03 AM PST Current pledges for greenhouse gas emission reductions are inadequate and will further increase the challenge to reach internationally agreed climate targets, according to new research.

New evidence suggests Neanderthals organized their living spaces Posted: 03 Dec 2013 06:16 AM PST Scientists have found that Neanderthals organized their living spaces in ways that would be familiar to modern humans, a discovery that once again shows similarities between these two close cousins.

Plastic found to account for the majority of marine microlitter accumulating in the food chain Posted: 03 Dec 2013 06:14 AM PST Researchers have demonstrated that microplastics are transferred in the marine food web. The study also provided additional support to suspicions that many plankton organisms are unable to separate plastic particles from their natural food and that they therefore also ingest plastic.

Division of labor in the test tube: Bacteria grow faster if they feed each other Posted: 03 Dec 2013 06:14 AM PST The division of labor is more efficient than a struggle through life without help from others -- this is also true for microorganisms. Researchers came to this conclusion when they performed experiments with microbes. The scientists worked with bacteria that were deficient in the production of a certain amino acid and therefore depended on a partner to provide the missing nutrient.

Genome for the king cobra sequenced Posted: 03 Dec 2013 06:07 AM PST Biologists who have recently sequenced the genome of the king cobra, say that their work reveals dynamic evolution and adaptation in the snake venom system, which seemingly occurs in response to an evolutionary arms race between venomous snakes and their prey.

Airborne radar looking through thick ice during NASA polar campaigns Posted: 02 Dec 2013 02:20 PM PST The bedrock hidden beneath the thick ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica has intrigued researchers for years. Scientists are interested in how the shape of this hidden terrain affects how ice moves -- a key factor in making predictions about the future of these massive ice reservoirs and their contribution to sea level rise in a changing climate.

Biologist develops method for monitoring shipping noise in dolphin habitat Posted: 02 Dec 2013 02:20 PM PST A biologist has developed a system of techniques for tracking ships and monitoring underwater noise levels in a protected marine mammal habitat. The research focused on the bottlenose dolphin population in Scotland's Moray Firth.

Living desert underground: In perpetual darkness of limestone cave, surprisingly diverse ecosystem of microbes Posted: 02 Dec 2013 01:22 PM PST Researchers have discovered a surprisingly diverse ecosystem of microbes in a limestone cave near Tucson, Arizona, eking out a living from not much more than drip water, rock and air. The discovery not only expands our understanding of how microbes manage to colonize every niche on the planet but also could lead to applications ranging from environmental cleanup solutions to drug development.

Arctic study shows key marine food web species at risk from increasing carbon dioxide Posted: 02 Dec 2013 01:21 PM PST A research expedition to the Arctic, as part of the Catlin Arctic Survey, has revealed that tiny crustaceans, known as copepods, that live just beneath the ocean surface are likely to battle for survival if ocean acidity continues to rise. The study found that copepods that move large distances, migrating vertically across a wide range of pH conditions, have a better chance of surviving.

Researchers revise Darwin's thinking on invasive species Posted: 02 Dec 2013 01:21 PM PST Rebutting Charles Darwin, researchers say the relatedness of native and introduced species is not as important as the details of how they go about doing their business. The model they've developed in analyzing Darwin's "naturalization conundrum" could lead to a new way of gauging the potential of invasive species, a major ecological and economic concern as plants and animals have spread into new habitats around the planet.

How bacteria respond so quickly to external changes Posted: 02 Dec 2013 01:19 PM PST Understanding how bacteria adapt so quickly to changes in their external environment with continued high growth rates is one of the major research challenges in molecular microbiology. This is important not least for our understanding of resistance to antibiotics. A research study is now presenting a model of how bacteria can rapidly adapt to environmental changes through smart regulation of their gene expression.

Scientists discover new survival mechanism for stressed mitochondria Posted: 02 Dec 2013 12:20 PM PST Scientists have discovered a natural mechanism that cells use to protect mitochondria, the tiny but essential "power plants" that provide chemical energy for cells throughout the body.

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