News by Subject Biology

Article Title: Evaluating toxicity of Varroa mite (Varroa destructor)-active dsRNA to monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) larvae.

Swedish researchers from institutions including Uppsala University have spent four years gathering data from the areas affected by the major forest fire of 2014. In their study of how the ecosystem as a whole has been altered, they could see that water quality in watercourses quickly returned to normal, while forested areas continued to lose carbon for many years after the fire.

New findings from scientists of Bremen will aid in the further development of biogeochemical models that include the marine nitrogen cycle

New research from the Australian Institute of Marine Science shows table corals can regenerate coral reef habitats on the Great Barrier Reef decades faster than any other coral type. The research suggests overall reef recovery would slow considerably if table corals declined or disappeared on the Great Barrier Reef.

The University of Ottawa's Positive Energy program released new survey results showing that a large segment of the Canadian public does not trust the courts to settle disputes over energy projects or climate policy. The survey was conducted by Positive Energy's official pollster, Nanos Research.

Energy communities will play a key role in building the more decentralized, less carbon intensive, and fairer energy systems of the future. Such communities enable local prosumers (consumers with own generation and storage) to generate, store and trade energy with each other -- using locally owned assets, such as wind turbines, rooftop solar panels and batteries.

Expanding urban habitats are likely to endanger a large number of butterfly species in the long term. This is reported by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Generalists that tolerate large temperature fluctuations and feed on different plants are most likely to benefit from human-modified habitats. In order to preserve biodiversity, urban and spatial planning should take the needs of specialized butterfly species into account, the authors recommend.