There's a widespread notion that climate change encourages the proliferation
of new animal species.
Marshall points out that the relatively fast appearance
of new animal species in this period is not driven by new genes, but rather by evolving from existing genes through «rewiring» of the gene regulatory networks (GRNs).
Not exact matches
Now he reviews a
new book on ethics and writes,» [The author] agrees with what now seems to be a near - consensus among philosophers that «speciesism» - the view that we are entitled to take theinterests
of animals less seriously than we take human interests, simply because humans are members
of our
species - is not a morally defensible position.»
This
new species belongs to a group
of animals called synapsids.
And quite apart from humans, nature itself, we believe, has produced
new species of plants and
animals,
new environments, and other important
new facts.15 To interpret this use
of the word «creativity»» from the standpoint
of our metaphysics, we may claim that the production
of such novelty» has to do exclusively (with the exception to be discussed below) with characterization.
Now, on the 10th annual Endangered
Species Day, Shedd, Lincoln Park Zoo, Brookfield Zoo and the 226 other accredited members
of the Association
of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) are harnessing their collective knowledge and resources in a
new initiative, AZA SAFE: Saving
Animals From Extinction.
In January they reported a host
of unusual
animals living near the vent, including a seven - armed sea star, a «ghostly white» octopus, and a
new species of yeti crab, its underside covered in hairs.
Two
new public television shows explore the connection between our
species and the rest
of the
animal kingdom, with surprising results.
Resurrecting long - dead
species, bioengineering friendlier
animals, and creating robot creatures made
of artificial tissue: These are some
of the concepts proposed by prominent zoo directors,
animal behaviorists, conservationists, and architects at a first - ever symposium about the future
of zoos, held in Buffalo,
New York, this winter.
The changes shown through 2050 could lead to lost habitat, the isolation
of some
species and the rise
of «dispersal barriers» — like a wall
of new development that prevents plants and
animals from migrating.
Dr Rhonda Snook, a co-author
of the study and Reader in the University's Department
of Animal and Plant Sciences, added: «Understanding how
new species form remains one
of the most enduring problems in evolutionary biology.
Today's frogs, comprising more than 6,700 known
species, as well as many other
animal and plant
species are under severe stress around the world because
of habitat destruction, human population explosion and climate change, possibly heralding a
new period
of mass extinction.
Larsson is at the forefront
of merging paleontology and molecular biology in an effort to connect major evolutionary changes — the development
of new species and
new characteristics,
new shapes and structures,
new kinds
of animals — to changes in specific genes and in how those genes are regulated.
According to herpetologist and co-author David Wake, a University
of California, Berkeley professor
of the graduate school and a curator
of the Museum
of Vertebrate Zoology,
new frog
species likely radiated rapidly throughout the world because so many environmental niches were available after the
animals occupying them disappeared.
The crew found the three
new species of Loricifera (jellyfish - like
animals less than a millimeter long) in the sediment
of L'Atalante Basin, a zone
of salty, oxygen - depleted water at the bottom
of the Mediterranean.
Dr Vallejo - Marin said: «The fact that the
new polyploid involves a non-native plant is poignant, given the fact that human activities are transporting all sorts
of animal and plant
species well beyond their native habitats.
The ugly will include the need, for example, to brace for the ever more jarring effects
of extreme weather patterns, the extinction
of a huge range
of animal and plant
species, and the invasion into
new latitudes
of predators and pests.
A
new study by University
of Arizona biologists helps explain why different groups
of animals differ dramatically in their number
of species, and how this is related to differences in their body forms and ways
of life.
In a 2011 paper published in PLoS ONE, Evans, Hughes and Simon Elliot (
of the Department
of Animal Biology at the Federal University
of Vicosa in Brazil) described four
new species of the Ophiocordyceps fungus that were found in just a small section
of rainforest in Brazil's southeastern state
of Minas Gerais.
In simple terms, the overkill hypothesis states that modern man exterminated many
of the large
animal species on arrival in the
new continents.
This
species common name is the «pocket shark,» though those in the field
of classifying
animals refer to it by its scientific name Mollisquama sp., according to a
new study published in the international journal
of taxonomy Zootaxa.
The ambitious census was born 3 years ago, after marine biologists realized that
new technologies — from sensors that can track individual fish and whales to genetic «bar code» readers that can speedily separate microscopic
species — could revolutionize efforts to document the diversity, distribution, and abundance
of ocean
animals.
To mitigate the trend and support conservation efforts, scientists at the University
of Toronto (U
of T) are sharing a way to predict which plants or
animals may be vulnerable to the arrival
of a
new species.
The findings shed important
new light on the kind
of evolutionary tradeoffs
animals must engage in to ensure the survival
of their
species.
Other fossils found in Mongolia also seem to belong to this
new species, and further flesh out the life history
of these
animals.
The Wildlife Conservation Society's George Schaller talks about his
new book, «A Naturalist and Other Beasts,» which covers his 50 years
of documenting important large
animal species in the field.
And with more than 500
species of plants and
animals now threatened with extinction,
New Zealand's ecologists are keen to make the most
of the isolation provided by the country's 600 offshore islands.
On islands, scientists sometimes see a «sped - up» version
of evolution — when
animals are closed off from the rest
of the world, in places where there are few or no predators or competitors, they are able to branch out into special adaptations, eventually forming
new species.
The study suggests there may be «many more such instances
of misidentification
of animal species» — especially considering that the sunfish is relatively large and hard to miss — says Byrappa Venkatesh, a geneticist at the Institute
of Molecular and Cell Biology in Singapore, who was not involved in the
new research.
Hammerhead sharks, which have recently received
new protections from the UN Convention on the Conservation
of Migratory
Species of Wild
Animals, are experiencing drastic population declines in excess
of 90 % in several parts
of world.
«Discoveries
of new species of animals like Ichibengops are particularly exciting because they help us to better understand the group
of animals that gave rise to mammals,» said Field Museum's Kenneth Angielczyk, PhD, associate curator
of paleomammalogy.
These changes, by affecting how
animals identify potential mates, are key to the creation
of new species, says
animal behaviorist Michael Ryan
of the University
of Texas, Austin.
Zooarchaeological studies
of the most popular domestic
animals such as cattle, sheep, goats and pigs have demonstrated repeated introductions as well as failures
of new species in different regions
of the world.
Yet, according to a
new study involving 147 cities worldwide, surprisingly high numbers
of plant and
animal species persist and even flourish in urban environments — to the tune
of hundreds
of bird
species and thousands
of plant
species in a single city.
Range and Virányi developed their
new portrayal
of dogs and wolves by giving a series
of tests to socialized packs
of mixed - breed dogs and wolves, four packs
of each
species, containing anywhere from two to six
animals each.
«While urbanization has caused cities to lose large numbers
of plants and
animals, the good news is that cities still retain endemic native
species, which opens the door for
new policies on regional and global biodiversity conservation,» said lead author and NCEAS working group member Myla F. J. Aronson, a research scientist in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources at Rutgers, The State University of New Jers
new policies on regional and global biodiversity conservation,» said lead author and NCEAS working group member Myla F. J. Aronson, a research scientist in the Department
of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources at Rutgers, The State University
of New Jers
New Jersey.
If further experiments show that the hologenome theory applies to
animals like mice, it would not invalidate the basic idea
of natural selection giving rise to
new species.
New research, publishing on December 8th in the open - access journal PLOS Biology, shows that local extinctions have already occurred in 47 %
of the 976 plant and
animal species studied.
Exactly how elephants do this has been a mystery — and while solving that mystery is not
of first - order importance in understanding and preserving this largest
of land
animals, it would add
new insight into how a whole range
of species up and down the size scale vocalize.
Based on the photographs, taxonomists had thought that the grayish - brown monkey with its long, curling tail and the crest atop its head was a
new species of mangabey, though it lacked that
animal's distinctive call.
Even as
species around the globe are rapidly falling prey to extinction, and countless others are threatened, scientists are still turning up
new species of plants and
animals every year — thousands
of them.
The authors cite examples
of animals that migrated from mainland environments to colonize an island for which they were too large and those
species that grew in response to a
new, relatively colossal home range.
The
new study, by Professor John J. Wiens from the University
of Arizona, used these range - shift studies to show that local extinctions have already happened in the warmest parts
of the ranges
of more than 450 plant and
animal species.
Scientists have discovered three
new species of animals in a rainforest «lost world» in Australia, protected for millions
of years by almost impenetrable stacks
of granite boulders.
Checking the types
of animal bones at other early Homo fossil sites out
of Africa could show whether the mix
of prey
species changed when hominins colonized a
new site, supporting a «naïve prey» effect.
The toxicity
of new livestock medications therefore needs to be verified in ecotoxicological tests with individual
animal species such as the common yellow dung fly, the barn fly or a dung beetle.
Previously only a single
species of prehistoric octopus had turned up in the fossil record, so the
new finds represent an explosion
of information about the
animals» history.
So - called assortative mating, in which
animals that look similar are more likely to mate with each other, is one
of the causes
of new species development.
The intact fossil
of a
new scorpion
species shows that the
animals could have evolved for life on land earlier than thought
Scientists studying the potential effects
of climate change on the world's
animal and plant
species are focusing on the wrong factors, according to a
new paper by a research team from the Wildlife Conservation Society, University
of Queensland, and other organizations.