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In an article published in Nature Ecology & Evolution today, the leaders of a new global initiative explain how research during this devastating health crisis can inspire innovative strategies for sharing space on this increasingly crowded planet, with benefits for both wildlife and humans. View the full article -
Forest conservation areas in oil palm plantations play a vital role in storing carbon and boosting rainforest biodiversity, a new study on palm oil agriculture in Borneo has revealed. View the full article
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A research team led by a University of Rhode Island ornithologist had birds fly in a wind tunnel to simulate migration and found that birds that consume dietary antioxidants before and during fall migration can reduce the endocrine stress response triggered by long-duration flights. View the full article
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Northern bobwhites are attracted to a habitat based on whether other bobwhites are present there, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign report. This phenomenon, called conspecific attraction, could aid conservation efforts. View the full article
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An article published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation presents a five-step protocol to mitigate the mortality of birds of prey due to accidents with infrastructure (power lines, ponds, etc.) and other unnatural causes (direct hunting). The protocol, which could also be applied to the conservation of other terrestrial vertebrates, including marine species, is a new scientific contribution from the Conservation Biology Group, led by the lecturer Joan Real, from the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio) of the University of Barcelona. View the full article
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Humans are not the only ones who have beliefs; animals do too, although it is more difficult to prove them than with humans. Dr. Tobias Starzak and Professor Albert Newen from the Institute of Philosophy II at Ruhr-Universität Bochum have proposed four criteria to understand and empirically investigate animal beliefs in the journal Mind and Language. The article was published online on 16 June 2020. View the full article
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New research suggests that the first dinosaurs laid soft-shelled eggs—a finding that contradicts established thought. The study, led by the American Museum of Natural History and Yale University and published today in the journal Nature, applied a suite of sophisticated geochemical methods to analyze the eggs of two vastly different non-avian dinosaurs and found that they resembled those of turtles in their microstructure, composition, and mechanical properties. The research also suggests that hard-shelled eggs evolved at least three times independently in the dinosaur family tree. View the full article
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A new study in The Auk: Ornithological Advances suggests that wildfires change the types of songs sung by birds living in nearby forests. View the full article
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A new study of albatrosses has found that wind plays a bigger role in their decision to take flight than previously thought, and due to their differences in body size, males and females differ in their response to wind. View the full article
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A team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions in Portugal and the U.S. has found that a single enzyme is responsible for gender-based plumage color differences in mosaic canaries. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes narrowing their search for the factors involved in gender-based color differences in canaries and what they found. In the same journal issue, Nancy Chen with the University of Rochester has published a Perspective piece detailing the history of the study of gender-based color differences in birds, and outlines the work by the team in this new effort. View the full article
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Around 194 million birds and 29 million mammals are thought to be killed each year on European roads, according to a new study that has ranked the most vulnerable species.An international research team used 90 roadkill surveys from 24 European countries to create a new method of estimating both the birds and mammal species killed most often on roads, and the species most vulnerable to being wiped out of certain areas.The research, published in Frontiers in Ecology and Environment, found that the species killed most often were not necessarily the ones most vulnerable to disappearing completely. This means action to preserve wildlife when new roads are built risks being targeted at the wrong species based on current methods. View the full article
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A unique global study has found that wealthier neighborhoods in cities have more biodiversity in comparison to poorer ones—a pattern that scientists have called the "luxury effect." However, this study found that this 'effect' is far greater in the more arid regions of the world. View the full article
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Six little vermilion flycatcher chicks have hatched in the Galapagos Islands, officials said Tuesday, in a boost to the dwindling numbers of the brilliantly coloured songbird. View the full article
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A simple and low-cost method of 'listening' to chicks may allow welfare issues to be picked up at the earliest possible opportunity, according to new research. View the full article
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Princeton University researchers may have solved a long-standing mystery in conservation that could influence how natural lands are designated for the preservation of endangered species. View the full article
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A new study of a migratory songbird shows that when fathers abandon late-season nests during flight-feather molt, the nestlings suffer no ill effects; deserted females effectively double their maternal efforts and completely compensate for the loss of male care. View the full article
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Knowing when to fight and when to flee is a big part of many animal societies, including our own. View the full article
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Australia's most elusive bird, the Night Parrot, may not be much better at seeing in the dark than other parrots active during the day. View the full article
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Some of the world's largest, most spectacular and unheralded mammals are silently slipping away, species like Tibetan wild yaks and Patagonia's huemul, Bhutan's takin and Vietnam's saola. Even Africa's three species of zebras and wildebeest have suffered massive reductions over the last several decades. View the full article
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Bright pink flamingos are more aggressive than paler rivals when fighting over food, new research shows. View the full article
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Prairies once covered an enormous area of North America, but today have been reduced to a small fraction of this historical range. Imagine an area the size of Texas, the second largest state, shrinking over the course of decades to an area the size of Massachusetts, the sixth smallest state. View the full article
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After a particularly long week of computer based work on my Ph.D., all I wanted was to hike somewhere exciting with a rich wildlife. A friend commiserated with me—I was based at Newcastle University at the time, and this particular friend wasn't keen on the UK's wilderness, its moorlands and bare uplands, compared to the large tracts of woodland and tropical forests that can be found more readily abroad. View the full article
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The yellow-billed cuckoo has soft brown wings, a white belly, a long tail with black and white spots, and is running out of places to live. The cuckoo's population in its native breeding range in the eastern United States has declined in recent decades due to urbanization, heat waves and other factors. Climate change will likely further reduce its suitable habitat. View the full article
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A University of Wyoming researcher led a study of great gray owls in a four-state region, showing that range discontinuity could lead to genetic drift and subsequent loss of genetic diversity in these birds. View the full article
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From March to December every year, Humboldt penguins nest in vast colonies on the Peruvian and Chilean coasts. The lucky ones find prime habitat for their nests in deep deposits of chalky guano where they can dig out sheltered burrows. The rest must look for rocky outcrops or other protected spaces that are more exposed to predators and environmental extremes. View the full article
