Chipmunk and vole skulls from over 125 years reflect changes in diet and noise exposure In general, evolution is a long, slow process of tiny changes passed down over generations, resulting in new adaptations and even new species over thousands or millions of years. But when living things are faced with dramatic shifts in the world around them, they sometimes rapidly adapt to better survive. Scientists recently found an example of evolution in real time, tucked away in the collection…
Discovery reveals pulsing mantle plume beneath Ethiopia, where a new ocean is forming Research led by Earth scientists at the University of Southampton has uncovered evidence of rhythmic surges of molten mantle rock rising from deep within the Earth beneath Africa. These pulses are gradually tearing the continent apart and forming a new ocean. The findings, published in Nature Geoscience, reveal that the Afar region in Ethiopia is underlain by a plume of hot mantle that pulses upward like a…
Research shows these channels allow seawater and nutrients to flow in and out, helping to maintain reef health over millions of years. Volcanic islands, such as the islands of Hawaii and the Caribbean, are surrounded by coral reefs that encircle an island in a labyrinthine, living ring. A coral reef is punctured at points by reef passes — wide channels that cut through the coral and serve as conduits for ocean water and nutrients to filter in and out. These…
A research team from the Alfred Wegener Institute has for the first time gained insights into a current in the Barents Sea which affects Arctic sea ice In the last few decades, the Arctic sea ice has receded ever further, including increasingly in winter when the extent of sea ice is at its most prominent. One of the main drivers of this development is thought to be the warming of Atlantic water that flows from Europe’s Norwegian Sea into the…
In a world-first discovery, researchers have shown that Australia’s iconic Bogong moth uses constellations of stars and the Milky Way to navigate hundreds of kilometres across the country during its annual migration – making it the first known invertebrate to rely on a stellar compass for long-distance travel. The landmark study, published today (Thursday 19 June) in Nature, reveals how this unassuming nocturnal moth combines celestial navigation with Earth’s magnetic field to pinpoint a specific destination it has never visited…
New research reveals the importance of winter sea ice in the year-to-year variability of the amount of atmospheric CO2 absorbed by a region of the Southern Ocean. In years when sea ice lasts longer in winter, the ocean will overall absorb 20% more CO2 from the atmosphere than in years when sea ice forms late or disappears early. This is because sea ice protects the ocean from strong winter winds that drive mixing between the surface of the ocean and…
Trophic relationships are key to understanding changes in the distribution of certain species, according to a study led by the US, involving experts from 26 countries An international team led by the University of Seville, La Sapienza University of Rome and the Institute of Nature Conservation in Poland has studied how interactions between species affect the distribution of brown bears in Europe and Turkey. It has been found that the distribution of bears on a continental scale is largely explained…
New analysis of the remains of two ‘puppies’ dating back more than 14,000 years ago has shown that they are most likely wolves, and not related to domestic dogs, as previously suggested. The genetic analysis also proved that the cubs were sisters at the age of around two months, and like modern day wolves had a mixed diet of meat and plants. Researchers, however, were surprised to see evidence of a wooly rhinoceros as part of their last meals, as…
Plant fossils found in the abdomen of a sauropod support the long-standing hypothesis that these dinosaurs were herbivores, finds a study publishing June 9 in the Cell Press journal Current Biology. The dinosaur, which was alive an estimated 94 to 101 million years ago, ate a variety of plants and relied almost entirely on its gut microbes for digestion. “No genuine sauropod gut contents had ever been found anywhere before, despite sauropods being known from fossils found on every continent…
Tiny, hardworking cleaner fish play a role in reef microbial diversity Where do you go when you’re a fish and you need a skincare treatment? Coral reefs contain natural “beauty salons,” lively social hubs of activity where fish “clients” swim up and wait to be serviced by smaller fish cleaners. The little cleaners dart under and around their much bigger clients — even entering their mouths — cleaning their scales of bacteria and parasites like a team of car washers…
A new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution has found a simple rule that seems to govern how life is organised on Earth. The researchers believe this rule helps explain why species are spread the way they are across the planet. The discovery will help to understand life on Earth – including how ecosystems respond to global environmental changes. At first glance, Earth seems like a collection of wildly different worlds. Each region has its own species and environmental conditions. Yet,…
In September 2023, a bizarre global seismic signal was observed which appeared every 90 seconds over nine days – and was then repeated a month later. Almost a year later, two scientific studies proposed that the cause of these seismic anomalies were two mega tsunamis which were triggered in a remote East Greenland fjord by two major landslides which occurred due to warming of an unnamed glacier. The waves were thought to have become trapped in the fjord system, forming…
A combination of stressors, not sea levels alone, cause the demise of reefs New research led by the University of Sydney adds to our understanding of how rapidly rising sea levels due to climate change foreshadow the end of the Great Barrier Reef as we know it. The findings suggest the reef can withstand rising sea levels in isolation but is vulnerable to associated environmental stressors arising from global climate change. Led by Professor Jody Webster from the School of…
Flooding in coastal communities is happening far more often than previously thought, according to a new study from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The study also found major flaws with the widely used approach of using marine water level data to capture instances of flooding. “Government agencies and researchers use data from tide gauges to measure water levels in coastal areas, then use that data to estimate flood frequency in the region,”…
Frontiers in Ocean Sustainability author Dr. Mary Livingston reflects on her decades-long career as a marine scientist by Dr Mary Elizabeth Livingston In my recently published paper ‘My love affair with the sea’ I describe how from a very early age I fell in love with the sea and pursued that love throughout my younger years and at university, ending up with a 40-year career as a fisheries scientist. Political changes on how women were perceived in the workplace benefitted…
Paper documents the earliest-known example of birds nesting in the polar regions Spring in the Arctic brings forth a plethora of peeps and downy hatchlings as millions of birds gather to raise their young. The same was true 73 million years ago, according to a paper featured on the cover of this week’s edition of the journal Science. The paper documents the earliest-known example of birds nesting in the polar regions. “Birds have existed for 150 million years,” said lead…
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