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I am a science writer, natural history illustrator, and ecologist.
Nature Notes
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About Animals / Wildlife
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- September 17, 2009
- 12:45 AM
- 1,151 views
Scanning DNA Barcodes in Sea Turtles
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
Little chunks of DNA can act as unique barcodes that enable scientists to identify an organism. This fact, which underpins a scientific technique known as DNA barcoding, is now helping conservationists who want to better understand sea turtles, a threatened group of marine reptiles. Since sea turtles are pelagic (they roam the open ocean and migrate vast distances), they are notoriously challenging study subjects. DNA barcoding of sea turtles offers clues about their diversity and in turn reveal........ Read more »
NARO-MACIEL, E., REID, B., FITZSIMMONS, N., LE, M., DESALLE, R., & AMATO, G. (2009) DNA barcodes for globally threatened marine turtles: a registry approach to documenting biodiversity. Molecular Ecology Resources. DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2009.02747.x
- March 30, 2010
- 01:52 PM
- 1,079 views
Chilly Chameleons Don't Miss Meals
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
For cold-blooded animals, the colder it gets—the harder life gets. As temperatures fall, lizards sprint slower, fish swim slower, and frogs jump shorter distances. Life-sustaining skills such as outrunning predators and foraging for food become insurmountable challenges. So it's not surprising that most cold-blooded animals, also known as ectotherms, remain inactive during the cooler parts of the day or avoid frosty habitats altogether. Most cold-blooded animals that is, except for ch........ Read more »
Anderson, C., & Deban, S. (2010) Ballistic tongue projection in chameleons maintains high performance at low temperature. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(12), 5495-5499. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0910778107
- December 14, 2009
- 11:15 AM
- 1,009 views
Bird Calls: Scolding Predators or Warning Fellow Birds?
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
When approached by a predator, birds often cry out—they produce what is known as a 'call'. But why would a bird do such a thing? A call draws attention to the caller and might reveal it's location, making it more vulnerable to attack. What is the purpose of such a risky vocal outburst? And when a bird calls out, to whom is the bird communicating? Predators or fellow birds?
A team of scientists from the University of California Davis conducted a series of experiments to find out more about ........ Read more »
Yorzinski, J., & Patricelli, G. (2009) Birds adjust acoustic directionality to beam their antipredator calls to predators and conspecifics. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2009.1519
- December 3, 2009
- 09:04 PM
- 958 views
The Decline of the Megafuana
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
Something dramatic happened to a lot of very big animals between 20,000 and 10,000 years ago. During this time period, 34 major groups of large animals died-out. Among those that disappeared, were ten species that weighted more than a ton. Giant sloths, mammoths, mastodons, giant kangaroos, and moa were just a few of the fast-vanishing fauna.
It has long been clear that these large animals, also known as "megafauna", perished in a short period of time. But scientists disagree about what caused t........ Read more »
Gill, J., Williams, J., Jackson, S., Lininger, K., & Robinson, G. (2009) Pleistocene Megafaunal Collapse, Novel Plant Communities, and Enhanced Fire Regimes in North America. Science, 326(5956), 1100-1103. DOI: 10.1126/science.1179504
Johnson, C. (2009) Megafaunal Decline and Fall. Science, 326(5956), 1072-1073. DOI: 10.1126/science.1182770
- September 8, 2009
- 02:33 PM
- 916 views
Rare Freshwater Fish Hold Clues to Conservation
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
As the saying goes, there are lots of fish in the sea. But that's only a half-truth. Scientifically speaking, there are also lots of fish in rivers, lakes, streams and ponds as well. Of the more than 32,500 species of fish, 43 percent inhabit freshwater habitats. Taking into account the fact that the water held in rivers, lakes, streams and ponds accounts for only a tiny fraction of the Earth's water—a mere 0.01 percent—freshwater fish are exceptionally diverse.... Read more »
Magurran, A. (2009) Threats to Freshwater Fish. Science, 325(5945), 1215-1216. DOI: 10.1126/science.1177215
- September 8, 2009
- 02:45 AM
- 898 views
Young Lemon Sharks Stay Close to Home
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
It seems young lemon sharks that live in the waters around the Bahamas are homebodies. Recent research has revealed that these "teenage" sharks stay close to their birthplace as they mature. Previously, little was known about the wanderings of the sharks after they reached 3 years of age. Scientists were uncertain whether they dispersed into new territory as they gained experience or if they lingered close to their nursery sites. These new findings reveal that more than half of teenage........ Read more »
CHAPMAN, D., BABCOCK, E., GRUBER, S., DIBATTISTA, J., FRANKS, B., KESSEL, S., GUTTRIDGE, T., PIKITCH, E., & FELDHEIM, K. (2009) Long-term natal site-fidelity by immature lemon sharks ( ) at a subtropical island . Molecular Ecology, 18(16), 3500-3507. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04289.x
- November 19, 2009
- 10:00 PM
- 858 views
Scorpionflies: The Oldest Known Animal Pollinators
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
A new study suggests that scorpionflies that lived during the Jurassic Period fed on the nectar-like juices of seed ferns, conifers, and other primitive plants. As the scorpionflies feasted on the sweet liquid from these plants, they may have also acted as animal pollinators—couriers of pollen grains that are vitally necessary to the reproductive cycle of their host plants. If this scenario is true, scorpionflies represent the earliest known animal pollinators.... Read more »
Ren, D., Labandeira, C., Santiago-Blay, J., Rasnitsyn, A., Shih, C., Bashkuev, A., Logan, M., Hotton, C., & Dilcher, D. (2009) A Probable Pollination Mode Before Angiosperms: Eurasian, Long-Proboscid Scorpionflies. Science, 326(5954), 840-847. DOI: 10.1126/science.1178338
Ollerton J, & Coulthard E. (2009) Paleontology. Evolution of animal pollination. Science (New York, N.Y.), 326(5954), 808-9. PMID: 19892970
- November 29, 2009
- 12:28 PM
- 854 views
Leaf-cutting Ants Tend Vast Fungal Gardens
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
Leaf-cutting ants have the power to slice, dice, and pilfer the foliage of an entire grove of trees in a matter of days. With impressive efficiency, swarms of leaf-cutters clip and carry leafy material in vast quantities back to their subterrainean colony. There they process the clippings into compost piles, atop which the ants cultivate crops of fungi. The ants tend these fungal gardens and in return the fungi provide a constant source of food for the ant colony.
Leaf-cutter ants and their fun........ Read more »
Schultz, T., & Brady, S. (2008) From the Cover: Major evolutionary transitions in ant agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(14), 5435-5440. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0711024105
- September 14, 2010
- 08:22 AM
- 838 views
Moonlight and Mild Temps Inspire Owl Monkeys
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
Azara's owl monkeys move to the rhythm of the moon. On nights when a full moon floods the evening sky with light, Azara's owl monkeys cannot sit still. They are so active that by dawn the next morning, they are worn out. But when the lunar cycle wanes and the moonlight fades, Azara's owl monkeys grow less active at night. On mornings after moonless nights, they are more active during the dawn hours.
The owl monkey genus is unique among anthropoids (monkeys, apes and humans) because it is the onl........ Read more »
Fernández-Duque, E., de la Iglesia, H., & Erkert, H. (2010) Moonstruck Primates: Owl Monkeys (Aotus) Need Moonlight for Nocturnal Activity in Their Natural Environment. PLoS ONE, 5(9). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012572
- September 22, 2009
- 05:30 AM
- 835 views
Photo Monitoring Ningaloo's Whale Sharks
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
Whale sharks are anything but camera shy. Between 1995 and 2006, scientists, tourists, divers, and tour guides snapped more than 5100 underwater photographs of these gentle giants at Ningaloo Marine Park, off the coast of Western Australia. The photographs weren't random portraits of fish. They were all captured as part of a long-term survey of the region's whale sharks.... Read more »
Holmberg J, Norman B, & Arzoumanian Z. (2008) Robust, comparable population metrics through collaborative photo-monitoring of whale sharks Rhincodon typus. Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America, 18(1), 222-33. PMID: 18372568
- July 28, 2010
- 03:21 PM
- 828 views
Climate and the Lion's Magnificent Mane
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
A lion's mane is more than just a bushy bunch of fur framing its face. It's a declaration of a lion's vitality, fighting prowess and dominance as well as an acknowledgement of the climate in which the lion lives. This is the conclusion made by scientists who studied nearly 300 lions in Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park.
Only male lions (Panthera leo) grow manes—females lack the long fur around their face and neck. This difference in appearance between the sexes mean........ Read more »
West, P. (2002) Sexual Selection, Temperature, and the Lion's Mane. Science, 297(5585), 1339-1343. DOI: 10.1126/science.1073257
- September 7, 2010
- 06:58 PM
- 827 views
How Christmas Island Red Crabs Fuel Their Migration
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
For most of the year, Christmas Island red crabs can be classified as pretty lazy crabs. During the dry season, these small land crabs spend long hours resting in their burrows. They emerge at dawn to feed for about 10 minutes and then return underground to escape the heat of the day. But when the dry season ends and the monsoons turn the island soggy, the crabs abandon their hermitic lifestyle. ...Read Full Post... Read more »
Morris, S., Postel, U., Mrinalini, ., Turner, L., Palmer, J., & Webster, S. (2010) The adaptive significance of crustacean hyperglycaemic hormone (CHH) in daily and seasonal migratory activities of the Christmas Island red crab Gecarcoidea natalis. Journal of Experimental Biology, 213(17), 3062-3073. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.045153
- August 11, 2010
- 05:00 AM
- 820 views
Bearded Gobies to the Rescue
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
The bearded goby is an ecological superhero. In less than five decades, this six-inch fish managed to revive an entire marine ecosystem—one that had careened to the brink of collapse. Now scientists are beginning to unravel how the bearded goby stabilized the communities around it and capitalized on conditions seemingly too harsh for life.... Read more »
Utne-Palm AC, Salvanes AG, Currie B, Kaartvedt S, Nilsson GE, Braithwaite VA, Stecyk JA, Hundt M, van der Bank M, Flynn B.... (2010) Trophic structure and community stability in an overfished ecosystem. Science (New York, N.Y.), 329(5989), 333-6. PMID: 20647468
- July 25, 2009
- 12:55 AM
- 796 views
Heating Bills Help Keep Toucans Cool
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
Relative to its body size, the toco toucan dons the largest bill of any bird. This magnificent hood ornament serves the toucan well. It functions as a refined feeding tool that enables the toucan to skin fruit and snare prey. It can be wielded as a warning flag to discourage rivals and ward off predators. And, as Charles Darwin noted, the enormity of the toucan's beak may serve as a bright beacon of virility to potential mates.... Read more »
Tattersall, G., Andrade, D., & Abe, A. (2009) Heat Exchange from the Toucan Bill Reveals a Controllable Vascular Thermal Radiator. Science, 325(5939), 468-470. DOI: 10.1126/science.1175553
- August 1, 2009
- 10:51 PM
- 793 views
Are Jellyfish Mixing Up the Oceans?
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
In the world's oceans, water circulates in currents that stretch between the continents and glide along coastlines. Water from the deep mixes with shallower water through vertical movements called upwellings and downwellings. This complex ebb, flow, rise, and fall of seawater—also known as ocean mixing—transports energy, churns nutrients, and stirs dissolved gasses. To understand the driving forces behind ocean mixing is to understand a key element of marine environments.... Read more »
Katija K, & Dabiri JO. (2009) A viscosity-enhanced mechanism for biogenic ocean mixing. Nature, 460(7255), 624-6. PMID: 19641595
- August 3, 2009
- 12:30 PM
- 762 views
Rats! Are Rodents Getting Bigger?
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
It's the stuff of low-budget sci-fi movies: rodents around the globe are growing ever larger at astonishing rates. But B movie it's not—as UIC ecologist Oliver Pergams has demonstrated, the trend is real. In a recently published report Pergams details how rodents are showing signs of rapid, worldwide changes in size and shape. Of course, the timescale and magnitude of this size change is not alarming enough to cause movie-goers to flee the cinema (we're talking about decades........ Read more »
Pergams, O., & Lawler, J. (2009) Recent and Widespread Rapid Morphological Change in Rodents. PLoS ONE, 4(7). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006452
- February 15, 2010
- 05:00 AM
- 754 views
Leaf-Cutter Ants Dabble with Nitrogen Fixation
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
Leaf-cutter ants are crafty cultivators. They tend vast gardens of fungus that they harvest to feed their minions. In return, the ants care for the fungus. They constantly clip and compost bits of leaves to form a rich substrate on which the fungus thrives. When the fungus is attacked by pathogens, the ants fight back, armed with bacteria that counteract the pathogen.... Read more »
Pinto-Tomas, A., Anderson, M., Suen, G., Stevenson, D., Chu, F., Cleland, W., Weimer, P., & Currie, C. (2009) Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in the Fungus Gardens of Leaf-Cutter Ants. Science, 326(5956), 1120-1123. DOI: 10.1126/science.1173036
- April 15, 2010
- 06:07 AM
- 716 views
Ancient Snake Dined on Dinos
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
↑ Click to enlarge image
A fossil unearthed from a remote corner of western India reads like an ancient crime scene. The fossil depicts a dinosaur nest containing two unhatched dinosaur eggs and the broken pieces of shell from a third egg. Next to the shattered shell lies the remains of a hatchling dinosaur. The fossil also features the remnants of a rather more sinister creature: an ancient snake lies coiled around the broken egg, as if caught in the act of raiding the nest.
The fossil........ Read more »
Wilson, J., Mohabey, D., Peters, S., & Head, J. (2010) Predation upon Hatchling Dinosaurs by a New Snake from the Late Cretaceous of India. PLoS Biology, 8(3). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000322
- June 21, 2010
- 07:58 AM
- 713 views
How Caribbean Anoles Filled So Many Niches
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
↑ Click to enlarge image
Imagine a hungry group of youngsters bursting into a candy store where sweets are free for the taking—no cashiers asking for money, no one at the counter putting lids on the candy jars. Children flock to all corners of the store, spreading out evenly so each can claim an entire row of candy jars as their own. As more and more children flood into the shop, they fill the open spaces, packing themselves ever tighter until each child claims just a single jar of ........ Read more »
Mahler, D., Revell, L., Glor, R., & Losos, J. (2010) ECOLOGICAL OPPORTUNITY AND THE RATE OF MORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION IN THE DIVERSIFICATION OF GREATER ANTILLEAN ANOLES. Evolution. DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.01026.x
- May 11, 2010
- 07:25 AM
- 698 views
Three Teeth: The First Fossil Remains of Chimpanzees
by Laura Klappenbach in About Animals / Wildlife
Until recently, there were no known fossil remains of chimpanzees. Then in 2005, anthropologists Sally McBrearty and Nina Jablonski published a paper in the journal Nature describing three fossil chimpanzee teeth that had been unearthed from the Kapthurin Formation, a basalt outcrop west of Lake Baringo in Kenya. This discovery offered new insight into the lives ancestral chimpanzees.
Today, chimpanzees inhabit the tropical forests of West and Central Africa and are absent from the dryer habit........ Read more »
McBrearty, S., & Jablonski, N. (2005) First fossil chimpanzee. Nature, 437(7055), 105-108. DOI: 10.1038/nature04008
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