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Air pollution is fertilizing tropical forests
Studies at two remote Smithsonian Institution Global Earth Observatory sites in Panama and Thailand show the first evidence of long-term effects of nitrogen pollution in tropical trees. [...more]
Tag Archive | "biodiversity"
New DNA study suggests coral reef biodiversity is seriously underestimated
The first DNA barcoding survey of crustaceans living on samples of dead coral taken from the Indian, Pacific and Caribbean oceans suggests that the diversity of organisms living on the world’s coral reefs—one of the most endangered habitats on Earth—is seriously underestimated. [...more]
conservation biology, zoology Comments (0)
Meet Our Scientist: Rachel Collin, an expert in the evolution and development of snails who is working in Panama
Meet Rachel Collin, a staff scientist and director of the Bocas Research Station at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Rachel studies the evolution of marine gastropods (snails) and oversees multiple disciplines of marine biology at the Collin Lab in Bocas del Toro. [...more]
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Sea turtle “hitchhikers” ID’d in survey
For three years—2001, 2002 and 2008—on Teopa Beach in Jalisco, Mexico, researchers examined the shell, neck and flippers of female turtles that had come out onto the beach to nest, collecting and carefully documenting all the organisms—known as epibionts—they found. [...more]
Featured, conservation biology, zoology Comments (1)
Complete evolutionary tree of the Hawaiian honeycreepers traced by Smithsonian scientists, collaborators
Smithsonian scientists and collaborators have determined the evolutionary family tree for one of the most strikingly diverse and endangered bird families in the world, the Hawaiian honeycreepers. [...more]
Featured, zoology Comments (1)
Halocoryza acapulcana Whitehead
Halocoryza acapulcana Whitehead (Acapulco Saline Catarrh Beetle), described in 1966 by Donald R. Whitehead. This image is from a recent paper by Terry L. Erwin, entomologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, containing updated information on this and two other previously described species of Halocoryza Alluaud beetles (sea-side beetles of the Indian, Atlantic [...] [...more]
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Dodo bird a resilient island survivor before the arrival of humans, study reveals
A new study on the dodo’s island home of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, paints a picture of this unusual bird as an intrepid survivor on par with the giant tortoise for its resiliency. [...more]
conservation biology, paleontology Comments (1)
What makes rainforests unique? History, not ecology.
History and geology, not current ecology, are likely what has made tropical forests so variable from site to site. [...more]
Featured, conservation biology Comments (0)
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Science Spotlight
Scientists from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center have found that fledgling catbirds living in the suburbs are extremely vulnerable. Almost 80 percent are killed by predators before they reach adulthood. Nearly half of the deaths are connected to domestic cats. The team studied catbird nests in 3 suburban neighborhoods in Maryland: Spring Park, Opal Daniels Park, and Bethesda. Learn more about this 2011 study by clicking here. (Catbird photo by Gerhard Hofmann)
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