Evolution
East African Lake Fosters a Melting Pot for Cichlid Evolution
Darwin's famed finches weave a tale of evolution in isolation. Joana Meier and her research team now find that evolution,…
Tag: evolution
Behavior
Same-Sex Squid Sex
Same-sex sexual behavior exists across a wide range of animals, but the behavior has long puzzled scientists because of the…
Evolution
The Slow Burn: Slower Metabolisms May Help Mollusks Avoid Extinction
By looking at fossils found in the Western Atlantic, Dr. Luke Strotz and a team of scientists at the University…
Biology
When having babies, is quantity or quality better?
Evolution is riddled with trade-offs. One of the classic examples is how to spread maternal resources – is it better…
Sharkbites Saturday
A Tree of Life Project With Some Serious Bite
If you have any intererst in shark anatomy, ecology or evolution, find out about a must-see website designed by the…
Parasitism
Coming Home to Roost: A case of parasites relying on ancestral DNA to take advantage of a new penguin host species?
Parasites are nasty and resilient organisms, often highly specialized to fit their hosts. But sometimes, nature allows a bit of…
Biology
What killer whales tell us about menopause
Killer whales, or orcas (Orcinus orca), are amazingly intelligent and social animals. What can they tell us about the evolution…
Evolution
Swashbuckling spiders sailed the high seas
Long before the Vikings reached North America, a group of coastal spiders was already sailing around the world using prevailing…
Behavior Book Review Coral Ecology Evolution Parasitism Seagrass
Grunts and Gnathiids: One Fish’s Daily Migration to Escape Parasites?
Animals move for a number of reasons. The French grunt leaves the coral reefs at night for seagrass. A group…
Biology Modeling
The dark side of the…cephalopod eye?
Cephalopods are among the most colorful creatures in the ocean but only see in black and white. A father/son team…
Climate Change Evolution
Who benefits from more CO2? Harmful algae.
Climate change will produce both winners and losers, but we might not like who ends up winning! New research shows…
Biology
Evolution of the opercle: changing bones reflect marine/freshwater divide
The shift from marine to freshwater habitat is a drastic one, and many evolutionary changes accompany it. This article focuses…
Behavior Biology Ecology Evolution Natural History
Fooled Ya! How marine animals stay hidden in plain sight
It’s April Fools’ Day! Today’s the day when you try to prank people, convince them your lies are true, and…
Book Review Ecology Evolution Seagrass
Seagrass Fights Back Against Grazing!
If you were a plant, like seagrass, how would you prevent other creatures from eating you? Do you even try?…
Biology Genetics
Little fish, new pond – watching stickleback evolution in real-time
When most people think about evolution, they see it as an extremely slow, gradual process that occurs over almost unthinkably…
Biology Book Review Ecology Evolution
Cuttlefish “freeze-out” their predators
Cephalopods such as cuttlefish are known to use camouflage behavior to avoid being eaten. Sharks are able to find disguised…
Evolution Genetics Ocean Acidification
Like father, like son? Is survival under ocean acidification heritable?
Can marine life adapt to ocean acidification? Well, first we need to understand if these favourable characteristics (survival under elevated…
Biology Coastal Management Evolution Human impacts Modeling
Baleen whales have a bone to pick with noise pollution
CT scans of the skull of a beached whale has helped a pair of researchers figure out how baleen whales…