Skip to content
BioBlog

Category: ecology

unforseen consequences of megafaunal removal

November 12, 2008 | Alison | animal behaviour, ecology, evolution, new science stories, scholarship biology

 It can be hard to predict the outcomes of human interference in an ecosystem, even when it’s done with the best of intentions. This paper looks at the unforseen consequences of removing large herbivorous mammals from part of an African savannah, & demonstrates just how complex ecosystem interactions can be.

Continue reading

egg-eating foxes

November 6, 2008 | Alison | animal behaviour, ecology, new science stories

Animals may put food away for a rainy day – or at least, for a time when supplies are in short supply. Squirrels do it, storing nuts in hollow trees or holes dug in the leaf litter. How many they find later is another matter! But I didn’t know that foxes are also into caching […]

Continue reading

a three-way symbiosis

October 29, 2008 | Alison | ecology, new science stories, plant responses to the environment

Here’s a really interesting story that I picked up on while reading ERV’s blog. We hear about 2-way symbioses/mutualisms (fungus+alga & fungus+cyanobacterium in lichens, & the mycorrhizal relationship between plants & fungi) – but here’s something special: a three-way symbiosis between a fungus, a grass – & a virus (Marquez et al., 2008).

Continue reading

black robins & tomtit hybridisation

September 14, 2008 | Alison | ecology, evolution, genetics, new science stories

The black robin (Petroica traversi) is one of the world’s most endangered birds – there are only around 250 or so in existence. But it’s also one of the success stories of NZ’s conservation efforts – brought back from the brink of extinction. However, this has come at a genetic cost to these little black […]

Continue reading

can ducks count?

August 22, 2008 | Alison | animal behaviour, ecology

Of course they can’t – they’re birdbrains! Right?

Continue reading

environmental change and evolution

August 6, 2008 | Alison | ecology, evolution, new science stories, scholarship biology

I was talking with a senior Bio teacher a few days back & she said it would be good if I could deconstruct some of the questions in 90717 (patterns of evolution), as this was an area where her students seemed to have difficulty. I’m not exactly going to do that here. But one of the […]

Continue reading

interference competition in wolves & coyotes

July 29, 2008 | Alison | animal behaviour, ecology, new science stories

This post is based on an interesting paper that I’ve had in my blogging folder for a while now. The researchers (Berger & Gese, 2007) looked at the impact of interference competition between wolves and coyotes on the coyotes. The study was based in the Greater Yellowstone Ecological Area, & was possible because wolves were […]

Continue reading

tree-hugging wolves?

November 26, 2007 | Alison | animal behaviour, ecology

The university has an e-subscription to the journal Science, so each week we get details of the latest issue via e-mail. I was scrolling through one of the July issues when an article's title caught my eye: Aspens return to Yellowstone, with help from some wolves. Really? I thought. What have wolves got to do […]

Continue reading

  • « Prev
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11

Search Bioblog

Pages

  • About Bioblog
  • Archives
  • Checkout
  • Order Confirmation
  • Order Failed
Swan girl - portrait of the author as a young scientist This blog in response to comments from secondary school biology teachers. I hope to use it as a way of encouraging critical thinking, looking at scientific papers that are relevant to the Level 3 curriculum and to Scholarship.

Most Read

  • what do you get when msm channels the daily mail?
  • the last of the iron lungs
  • “killer neandertals” – a wild claim that doesn’t want to go away
  • possums, predators, and biocontrol
  • mount st helens as a model for the grand canyon? somehow i don’t think so
  • sam bailey on isolating viruses, and why she is wrong
  • the costs of transpiration
  • “killer neandertals” – does this one really stack up?
  • a sponge makes the top 10
  • no, we have no GM tomatoes

Recent Comments

  • Alison on the last of the iron lungs
  • Ronald McNeal on the last of the iron lungs
  • Alison on possums, predators, and biocontrol
  • Alison on “killer neandertals” – a wild claim that doesn’t want to go away
  • Ereskigal on “killer neandertals” – a wild claim that doesn’t want to go away

Tags

1080 acupuncture animal behaviour animal diversity anti-vaxxers Biology Olympiad biotechnology blogging books chemistry communication covid-19 creationism critical thinking developmental biology ecology ed education environment and ecology evolution extinction fluoridation genetics gmo history of science human evolution humour journalism medicine miracle mineral supplement nature of science new science stories plant responses plant structure pseudoscience scholarship biology science science & society science and society secondary schools social media STEM tertiary study transition vaccination

Recent Archives

  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • November 2022

Categories

  • Add category
  • animal behaviour
  • animal diversity
  • communication
  • critical thinking
  • ecology
  • education
  • evolution
  • genetics
  • history of science
  • human evolution
  • humour
  • nature of science
  • new science stories
  • plant responses to the environment
  • plant structure
  • scholarship biology
  • science and society
  • Uncategorised

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
© 2023 BioBlog | All views expressed on this site are the the authors on and do not represent the opinions of the University of Waikato.