#plants & animals

Silent lakes ahead? Long-term study finds common loon productivity is dropping across North America

The eerie call of the common loon has long been the sound of North America's northern lakes, but new research shows it may not be that way in the future. A new study led by Birds Canada analyzed breeding attempts across nine Canadian provinces and seven U.S. states. The researchers found a widespread, long-term plunge in loon chick production across their range.

Phys.org · EN

Wherever there are people, there is also wildlife—though not necessarily at the same time

Human-induced global change has reached an unprecedented scale and intensity. Through intensive land use and the associated loss of species, humans are permanently altering the habitats and communities of wild animals. "How do predators manage to find their way in landscapes heavily shaped by humans and establish their niche? It is precisely this question that interested us," says Kathi Kasper, a doctoral student at the MRI PAS, the EBD-CSIC and the Leibniz-IZW and an author of the study.

Phys.org · EN

Monarch butterflies get tiny trackers to help scientists follow their mysterious migration

As a child, Rebeca Quiñonez-Piñón wondered where monarch butterflies stop for a meal and a night's rest on their long migrations across North America. Now she and other scientists are attaching tiny tracking devices to hundreds of butterflies to find those critical stopover locations before they disappear.

Phys.org · EN

The Art of the Thousand Bloom Chrysanthemum

How do horticulturists coax more than 1,000 flowers from a single plant? The answer lies in a centuries-old Japanese tradition. The post The Art of the Thousand Bloom Chrysanthemum appeared first on JSTOR Daily .

JSTOR Daily · EN

From wild to mild: Friendly foxes show changes in brain region

Scientists studying the neurology of tame foxes identified changes in a part of the brain that has previously been associated with aggression, according to a new paper that compared the brains of domesticated, aggressive and wild foxes. The changes occurred in an area at the base of the brain called the ventromedial hypothalamus, which is known to drive aggression, control decisions related to energy use and play an important role in maternal instincts and social behaviors in mice.

Phys.org · EN