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Flying birds molt their feathers when they are old and worn because they inhibit flight performance, and the molt strategy is typically a sequential molt. Molting is thought to be unorganized in the first feathered dinosaurs because they had yet to evolve flight, so determining how molting evolved can lead to better understanding of flight origins. View the full article -
A trio of researchers, two with the University of Cape Town, the other the University of the Witwatersrand has found evidence that suggests wetland-dwelling lithornithids from the Cretaceous, likely used remote touch to find food. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, C. J. du Toit, A. Chinsamy and S. J. Cunningham describe their study of remote touch in modern and ancient birds. View the full article
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What do you do when COVID-19 safety protocols and travel restrictions mean you can't do your research? That's what these three scientists have had to figure out this year, as the global pandemic has kept them from their fieldwork. View the full article
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When European settlers began arriving to eastern North America in the 16th century, they were met by staggering numbers of seabirds. View the full article
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A record-breaking rainy season has left the River of Grass looking like a real river. View the full article
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Increasingly, exotic animals and plants are being intentionally and unintentionally introduced into Europe from areas where they naturally occur. In Germany alone, more than one thousand invasive alien species (IAS) are registered. Invasive species cause significant changes to species communities and ecological systems and are considered one of the most important risks to biological diversity. Because they transmit diseases or serve as intermediate hosts for pathogens, they threaten the health of humans as well as pets, livestock and wildlife. The EU Commission estimates the annual economic and health damage caused by IAS in Europe at 9.6 to 12.7 million euros. In the course of globalization and the increasing population and settlement density, invasive species are also attaining increasing significance in cities. View the full article
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This week, as some of the largest wildfires in decades continue to burn across U.S. western states, a group of pro-logging scientists and activists reignited the debate about spotted owls and wildfires by publishing a comment article critical of a 2018 synthesis of all scientific evidence on the topic. Federal and state authorities are pushing plans to increase government-subsidized logging in national forests, claiming such logging would protect spotted owls from wildfire. View the full article
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Under the current pandemic conditions, activities out in nature are a popular pastime. The beneficial effects of a diverse nature on people's mental health have already been documented by studies on a smaller scale. Scientists of the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, the iDiv, and the University of Kiel now examined for the first time whether a diverse nature also increases human well-being on a Europe- wide scale. View the full article
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There would be at least four times as many flightless bird species on Earth today if it were not for human influences, finds a study led by UCL researchers.The study, published in Science Advances, finds that flightlessness evolved much more frequently among birds than would be expected if you only looked at current species. View the full article
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Many birds are able to change their egg-laying date to cope with variable conditions, new research shows. View the full article
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Most of the money for protecting and conserving wildlife and habitat comes from government programs, philanthropic organizations, or the public. But conserving Earth's ecosystems and species requires hundreds of billions dollars more than what is currently spent. Fortunately, there might be another way. A new report called Innovative Finance for Conservation: Roles for Ecologists and Practitioners, explores how private investment could boost conservation in a big way. The report, which has just been released by the Ecological Society of America, offers guidelines for developing standardized, ethical, and effective conservation finance projects. View the full article
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Two genes that are important for the diverse colors and patterns of warbler plumage have evolved through two very different processes, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers. These evolutionary processes could help explain the rapid evolution of these songbirds into so many unique species. View the full article
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Last week, a progress report from the New York Declaration on Forests announced that the world is not on track to meet the declaration's goals to reduce forest loss and promote sustainable and equitable development. The report identifies lack of transparency as one of the main barriers to progress, and calls for greater involvement of civil society and grassroots movements while planning and implementing large-scale development projects. View the full article
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The ancient inhabitants of the American Southwest used around 11,500 feathers to make a turkey feather blanket, according to a new paper in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. The people who made such blankets were ancestors of present-day Pueblo Indians such as the Hopi, Zuni and Rio Grande Pueblos. View the full article
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A Cretaceous-age, crow-sized bird from Madagascar would have sliced its way through the air wielding a large, blade-like beak and offers important new insights on the evolution of face and beak shape in the Mesozoic forerunners of modern birds. An international team of researchers led by Ohio University professor Dr. Patrick O'Connor and Stony Brook University professor Dr. Alan H. Turner announced the discovery today in the journal Nature. View the full article
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U.S. pollution regulations meant to protect humans from dirty air are also saving birds. So concludes a new continentwide study published today in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Study authors found that improved air quality under a federal program to reduce ozone pollution may have averted the loss of 1.5 billion birds during the past 40 years. That's nearly 20 percent of birdlife in the United States today. The study was conducted by scientists at Cornell University and the University of Oregon. View the full article
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Last summer, many Australians were shocked to see fires sweep through the wet tropical rainforests of Queensland, where large and severe fires are almost unheard of. This is just one example of how human activities are changing fire patterns around the world, with huge consequences for wildlife. View the full article
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If songbirds could appear on "The Masked Singer" reality TV competition, zebra finches would likely steal the show. That's because they can rapidly memorize the signature sounds of at least 50 different members of their flock, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley. View the full article
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The medieval Belgian city of Bruges has rounded up dozens of the swans that glide through its picturesque canals to shelter them from the spread of bird flu. View the full article
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It hasn't been more than a year and a half since the international researchers' network SPI-Birds started officially. Together they collect, secure and use long-term breeding population data of 1.5 million individually recognizable birds... and counting. Big questions in ecology and evolution can be answered using this data. Today, the publication of SPI-Birds' first scientific paper in the Journal of Animal Ecology coincides with receiving the Dutch Data Incentive Prize for the Medical and Life Sciences. View the full article
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Vertebrate populations—from birds and fish to antelope—are not, in general, declining. Despite what has previously been thought and said. View the full article
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,City living appears to improve reproductive success for migratory tree swallows compared to breeding in more environmentally protected areas, a new five-year study suggests. But urban life comes with a big trade-off—health hazards linked to poorer water quality. View the full article
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Nearly 200 years ago, Charles Darwin noted striking diversity among the finches of the Galapagos Islands, and his observations helped him propose the role of natural selection in shaping species. Today, some biologists focus their attention on a related group of birds, the finch-like capuchino seedeaters of South America, and their studies are deepening our understanding of the forces that drive evolution. View the full article
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Picture the Amazon. You're thinking lush rainforests teeming with animals, right? It turns out, the Amazon Basin contains other less-famous ecosystems that have been under-studied by biologists for years, including patches of habitat growing on white sands. Scientists are starting to turn their attention to these "sand forests" and the animals that live there. In a new study, researchers examined birds from the region and found that unlike birds in the dense rainforest, the white sand birds travel from one habitat patch to another and interbreed. It's a characteristic that could change the way conservationists protect the sand forest birds. View the full article
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Animals that migrate "live fast and die young", new research shows. View the full article
