Nature – Page 13 – PossibleThreat Articles

Biologists track the invasion of herbicide-resistant weeds into southwestern Ontario

September 30, 2019 0 Comments Ecology, Endangered Plants, Evolutionary Biology, Exotic Species, Grassland, Nature, Rainforests, Seeds

A 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.

News Science

Brave new world: Simple changes in intensity of weather events 'could be lethal'

September 30, 2019 0 Comments Ecology Research, Environmental Awareness, Evolutionary Biology, Global Warming, Nature, New Species, Severe Weather, Weather

Faced 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.

News Science

Multifactor models reveal worse picture of climate change impact on marine life

September 30, 2019 0 Comments Climate, Endangered Animals, Environmental Awareness, Fish, Nature, New Species, Oceanography, Weather

Rising ocean temperatures have long been linked to negative impacts for marine life, but a team has recently found that the long-term outlook for many marine species is much more complex — and possibly bleaker — than scientists previously believed.

News Science

A new, natural wax coating that makes garments water-resistant and breathable

September 30, 2019 0 Comments Atmosphere, Drought, Environmental Issues, Marine Biology, Nature, Nature of Water, Textiles and Clothing, Water, Wearable Technology

Researchers have made a non-toxic coating solution with wax obtained from Brazilian palm tree leaves.

News Science

Underwater manatee chatter may aid in their conservation

September 30, 2019 0 Comments Birds, Developmental Biology, Ecology Research, Endangered Animals, Extinction, Mammals, Nature, Wild Animals

Scientists propose a new method for calculating populations of the Antillean manatee, a marine mammal in danger of extinction, through underwater recordings.

News Science

Cooking food alters the microbiome

September 30, 2019 0 Comments Cultures, Diet and Weight Loss, Early Humans, Food, Human Evolution, mice, Nature, Nutrition, Obesity

Scientists have shown for the first time that cooking food fundamentally alters the microbiomes of both mice and humans, a finding with implications both for optimizing our microbial health and for understanding how cooking may have altered the evolution of the our microbiomes during human prehistory.

News Science

Purple martin migration behavior perplexes researchers

September 30, 2019 0 Comments Bird Flu Research, Birds, Ecology, Exotic Species, Forest, Nature, Rainforests, Trees

Purple martins will soon migrate south for their usual wintertime retreat, but this time the birds will be wearing what look like little backpacks, so scientists can track their roosting sites along the way. The researchers recently discovered that purple martins are roosting in small forest patches as they migrate from North America to Brazil, an unexpected behavior.

News Science

Urban beaches are environmental hotspots for antibiotic resistance after rainfall

September 30, 2019 0 Comments Bacteria, Civil Engineering, Environmental Issues, Microbes and More, Nature, Nature of Water, Recycling and Waste, Sports Science, Water

New research provide clear links between storm-water discharge, which sometimes includes wet-weather sewer overflow (WWSO) events, and the presence of AbR in microorganisms living in urban beach habitats.

News Science

Are humans preventing flies from eavesdropping?

September 28, 2019 0 Comments animals, Evolutionary Biology, Extinction, Insects (including Butterflies), Marine Biology, Mating and Breeding, Nature, Pests and Parasites

Soundscapes 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.

News Science

For this ocean dweller, ability to respond to warming waters is about location

September 27, 2019 0 Comments Ecology, Ecology Research, Environmental Awareness, Fish, Global Warming, Marine Biology, Nature, Oceanography

A new study seeks to tease out some of the myriad pressures that drive adaptation in small, widely dispersed marine animals called copepods.