Researchers have discovered that cowbirds conform to Bateman's Principle, despite investing no energy into parental care. Surprisingly, 75% of the cowbirds in the system were monogamous. Future research will expand upon these findings and broaden the understanding of how cowbirds might select the nests they parasitize, what role the males could play to assist the females, and why monogamy could be such a benefit.
Read moreA team led by biologists have identified the ways in which herbicide-resistant strains of the invasive common waterhemp weed have emerged in fields of soy and corn in southwestern Ontario. The resistance, first detected in 2010, spread thanks to two mechanisms: either pollen and seeds of resistant plants were physically dispersed by wind, water and other means, or resistance appeared through the spontaneous emergence of mutations that then spread.
Read moreScientists have demonstrated a way to isolate and grow targeted bacteria using genomic data, making strides toward resolving the grand challenge of uncultivated microbial 'dark matter' in which the vast majority of microorganisms remain unstudied in the laboratory.
Read moreFaced with extreme weather events and unprecedented environmental change, animals and plants are scrambling to catch up — with mixed results. A new model helps to predict the types of changes that could drive a given species to extinction.
Read moreSoundscapes may influence the evolution of tightly co-evolved host-parasitoid relationships. Both traffic noise and natural ocean noise were found to inhibit parasitoid Ormia fly orientation to sound, which affects reproduction of the fly and survival of the cricket host.
Read moreNew findings reveal many different structural models for viruses, which can eventually lead to developing more targeted antiviral vaccines, by improving our understanding of how viruses form, evolve and infect their hosts.
Read moreResearchers have produced some of the first evidence that shows that artificial selection and natural selection act on the same genes, a hypothesis predicted by Charles Darwin in 1859.
Read moreAn international team led by researchers has sequenced the genome of the almond tree and compared it to that of its closest relative, the peach tree. The most substantive differences between these species, so closely related in terms of evolution, are accounted for by the variation created by mobile genetic elements. The results provide some unique insights into the recent evolution of both species and will be key tools in their genetic improvement.
Read moreThe memory of the immune system is able to distinguish a foreign protein with which the organism has already come into contact from another and to react with a corresponding antibody. Researchers have now discovered in flour beetles that the immune system's ability to specifically fend off pathogens can adapt in the course of evolution.
Read more
Mosasaurs were true sea monsters of late Cretaceous seas. These marine lizards — related to modern snakes and monitor lizards — grew as long as fifty feet, flashed two rows of sharp teeth, and shredded their victims with enormous, powerful jaws.