Biosentients - Science Biology… etc

The ocean’s smallest swimming animals, such as jellyfish, can have a huge impact on large-scale ocean mixing, scientists have discovered. “The perspective we commonly take is how the ocean–by its currents, temperature, and chemistry–is affecting animals,” says John Dabiri, a Caltech bioengineer who, along with Caltech graduate student Kakani Katija, discovered the new mechanism. “But there have been increasing suggestions that the inverse is also important, how the animals themselves, via swimming, might impact the ocean environment”……..

After 12 years, an experiment focused on forest growth and climate change comes to an end, and scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are eager to collect and analyze data to see if their predictions match results. With the Department of Energy-sponsored free air carbon dioxide enrichment experiment, known as FACE, three plots of sweetgum trees were the control sites and two plots of sweetgums were exposed to increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere at 550 parts per million, the concentration that is projected to occur in about 2050 if current trends continue. The atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration has been rising steadily because of the burning of fossil fuels and global land use change……..

The first ever genetic linkage map for a non-avian member of the Class Reptilia has been developed. Scientists writing in the open access journal BMC Genomics have constructed a first-generation genetic linkage map for the saltwater crocodile Crocodylus porosus. Dr Lee Miles, from the University of Sydney, worked with a team of Australian and international scientists to study a population of saltwater crocodiles from the Darwin Crocodile Farm in the Northern Territory. He said, “This map will be a valuable resource for crocodilian researchers, facilitating the systematic genome scans necessary for identifying genes affecting complex traits of economic importance in the crocodile industry”……..

The research team tested the squirrels’ ability to learn to choose between two pots of food after watching another squirrel remove a nut from one of the pots. One group was rewarded for choosing the same pot as the prior squirrel, the second group was rewarded for targeting the other pot. Those that were rewarded for choosing food from the other pot learned more quickly than those that were rewarded for choosing the same pot. This suggests that grey squirrels learn more quickly to recognise the absence of food……..

For avid fishermen and anglers, the largemouth bass is a favorite freshwater fish with an appetite for minnows. A newly released study finds that once they evolved to eat other fish, largemouth bass and fellow fish-feeders have remained relatively unchanged compared with their insect- and snail-eating cousins. As these fishes became top predators in aquatic ecosystems, natural selection put the breaks on evolution, say researchers……..

Movement through a complex meshwork of small branches at the heights of tropical forests presents a unique challenge to animals wanting to forage for food safely. It can be particularly dangerous for large animals where a fall of up to 30m could be fatal. Scientists found that dangerous tree vibrations can be countered by the orang-utan’s ability to move with an irregular rhythm……..

The eyes of nocturnal bats possess two spectral cone photoreceptor types for daylight and colour vision. Reporting in the open-access, peer-evaluated journal PLoS ONE, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt and the University of Oldenburg have detected cones and their visual pigments in two flower-visiting species of bat. With electroretinographic recordings, they found an increased sensitivity to UV light in cone-stimulating light conditions. The scientists conclude that bats’ eyes are adapted for both daylight and UV vision. The UV-sensitive cones may yield many advantages for bats, including improved visual orientation at twilight, predator avoidance and de tection of UV-reflecting flowers (a benefit for those that feed on nectar)……..

The first ever overall nation-wide estimate of the tiger population brought a positive ray of hope among conservationists. The figures announced by the Nepal Government’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) shows the presence of 121 (100 194) breeding tigers in the wild within the four protected areas of Nepal. The 2008 tiger population estimate was jointly implemented by the DNPWC, Department of Forests (DOF), WWF, National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) with support from Save The Tiger Fund (STF), WWF-US, WWF-UK, WWF International and US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)……..

Evidence buried in the chromosomes of animals and plants strongly suggests only one group — mammals — have seen their genomes shrink after the dinosaurs’ extinction. What’s more, that trend continues today, say Indiana University Bloomington researchers in the first issue of a new journal, Genome Biology and Evolution…….

In a study released online on July 22 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, scientists at Arizona State University and Princeton University show that ants can accomplish a task more rationally than our multimodal, egg-headed, tool-using, bipedal, opposing-thumbed selves……..