Summaries | Headlines

Genes From The Father Facilitate The Formation Of New Species (October 8, 2007) -- The two closely related bird species, the collared flycatcher and the pied flycatcher, can reproduce with each other, but the females are more strongly attracted to a male of their own species. This ... > full story

Fossil Data Plugs Gaps In Current Knowledge, Study Shows (October 6, 2007) -- Researchers have shown for the first time that fossils can be used as effectively as living species in understanding the complex branching in the evolutionary tree of life. While many scientists feel ... > full story

New Species Of Frog Discovered: Smallest Indian Land Vertebrate (October 3, 2007) -- The India's smallest land vertebrate, a 10-millimeter frog, has been discovered in a mountain range in Western India. Indian land vertebrates (all animals with backbone except fishes), comprises of ... > full story

Thriving Hybrid Salamanders Contradict Common Wisdom (October 2, 2007) -- A new study not only has important findings for the future of California tiger salamanders, but also contradicts prevailing scientific thought about what happens when animal species interbreed. They ... > full story

City Birds Better Than Rural Species In Coping With Human Disruption (September 29, 2007) -- New research shows birds that inhabit urban areas can adapt to a much larger range of conditions than their rural cousins. In fact, new research suggests that the adaptability of many urban bird ... > full story

New Keys To Keeping A Diverse Planet (September 28, 2007) -- Human activities are eliminating biological diversity at an unprecedented rate. A new study offers clues to how these losses relate to one another -- information that is essential as scientists and ... > full story

Spatial Patterns In Tropical Forests Can Help To Understand Their High Biodiversity (September 28, 2007) -- In a study published in the American Naturalist a German-Sri Lankan research team has now undertaken thousands of spatial pattern analyses to paint an overall picture of the association between tree ... > full story

New Animal And Plant Species Found In Vietnam (September 27, 2007) -- Scientists have discovered 11 new species of animals and plants in a remote area in central Vietnam. Within the ancient tropical forests of a region known as Vietnam's "Green Corridor," scientists ... > full story

Why Are Freshwater Mussels In Decline? (September 21, 2007) -- North America's diverse community of freshwater mussels has been on the decline for decades and is presently considered one of the continent's most endangered groups of animals. Mussels are a ... > full story

Why Are Some Groups Of Animals So Diverse? (September 20, 2007) -- A new study on finger-sized Australian lizards sheds light on one of the most striking yet largely unexplained patterns in nature: why some groups of animals have evolved into hundreds, even ... > full story

New Light Shed On Hybrid Animals (September 18, 2007) -- What began more than 50 years ago as a way to improve fishing bait in California has led a researcher to a significant finding about how animal species interact and that raises important questions ... > full story

Coral Reef Fish Harbor An Unexpectedly High Biodiversity Of Parasites (September 13, 2007) -- A grouper fish found off New Caledonia was found to be parasitized by 12 species of microscopic monogenean worms. This diversity of parasites has just been confirmed also in the malabar grouper, ... > full story

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Flying squirrel -- The flying squirrels are a tribe of squirrel. There are 43 species in this tribe, the largest of which is the woolly flying squirrel. The term "flying" is somewhat of a misnomer, since flying ... > full article

Great albatross -- The great albatrosses are seabirds in the genus Diomedea in the albatross family. Great albatrosses are the largest of the albatrosses and are amongst the largest of flying ... > full article

Anatidae -- Anatidae is the biological family that includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swan. The Magpie-goose is no longer considered to be part of the Anatidae, but is placed in ... > full article

Orangutan -- Orangutans (also spelled orang utan, orang-utan, sometimes incorrectly orangutang) are two species of great apes with long arms and reddish, sometimes brown, hair. Orangutans are highly endangered in ... > full article

Cockatoo -- A cockatoo is any of the 21 bird species belonging to the family Cacatuidae. Along with the Psittacidae family (the true parrots), they make up the order Psittaciformes. Cockatoos share many features ... > full article

Growth ring -- Growth rings (or "tree rings" or "annular rings") can be seen in a horizontal cross section cut through the trunk of a tree. Visible rings result from the change in growth speed through the seasons ... > full article

Transgenic plants -- Transgenic plants are plants that have been genetically engineered, a breeding approach that uses recombinant DNA techniques to create plants with new characteristics.They are identified as a class ... > full article

Dodo and related birds -- The Raphinae are a subfamily of extinct flightless birds colloquially called didines or didine birds. They inhabited the Mascarene Islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues, but became extinct through ... > full article

Chytridiomycota -- Chytridiomycota is a division of the Fungi kingdom. Some chytrid species are known to kill frogs in large numbers by blocking the frogs' respiratory skins; the infection is referred to as ... > full article

Somatic cell -- A somatic cell is generally taken to mean any cell forming the body of an organism. Somatic cells, by definition, are not germline cells. In mammals, germline cells are the sperm and ova (also known ... > full article

Trout -- Trout is the common name given to a number of species of freshwater fish belonging to the salmon family, Salmonidae. Trout are usually found in cool, clear streams and ... > full article

Emu -- The Emu is the largest bird native to Australia and, after the Ostrich, the second-largest bird that survives today. Like all birds in the Ratite group, it is flightless, although unlike some it does ... > full article

Snapping turtle -- Snapping turtles (or snappers) are large, New World freshwater turtles of the family Chelydridae. Snapping turtles are noted for their powerful beak-like jaws and pugnacious disposition. They have a ... > full article

Species -- Aspecies is the basic unit of biodiversity. A species is a group of organisms that can interbreed in nature to produce a fertile ... > full article

Hominidae -- The hominids are the members of the biological family Hominidae (the great apes), which includes humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. The exact criteria for membership in the Homininae are ... > full article

Pollock -- Pollock is the common term for either of the two species in the Pollachius genus. Both P. pollachius and P. virens are commonly referred to as pollock. Other names for P. pollachius include the ... > full article

Arabidopsis -- Arabidopsis (rockcress) is a genus in the family Brassicaceae. They are small flowering plants related to cabbage and mustard. This genus is of great interest since it contains Thale Cress ... > full article

Hawk -- The term hawk refers to birds of prey. In February 2005 the Canadian scientist Dr Louis Lefebvre announced a method of measuring avian IQ in terms of their innovation in feeding habits. Hawks were ... > full article

Newt -- Newts are small, usually bright-coloured semiaquatic salamanders of North America, Europe and North Asia, distinguished from other salamanders by the lack of rib or costal grooves along the sides of ... > full article

Hadrosaurid -- Hadrosaurids or duck-billed dinosaurs are members of the superfamily Hadrosauroidea, and include ornithopods such as Edmontosaurus and Parasaurolophus. They were common herbivores in the Upper ... > full article