A new advance in animal husbandry involving a popular aquarium fish should speed the pace of discovery in laboratory studies of host-microbe interactions, researchers report.

Few among us appreciate being called cheap, yet this term has a useful application in bird world. A new study published in the Journal of Raptor Research, “Factors Influencing Nestling Sex Ratios of Suburban and Rural Red-Shouldered Hawks, 2004-2016,” finds that male Red-shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus) are the cheaper of the sexes, meaning hawk parents prioritize producing female offspring when conditions are optimal. This means that higher quality territories could result in more females, offering biologists clues about habitat health, which is important intel as the species adapts to urban environments with increasing frequency. 

Falcons are lauded for their speed and agility. The Eurasian Hobby (Falco subbuteo), skilled at snagging birds and insects out of the air, is no exception. However, during twilight on one fateful day in October, researcher Apostolos Christopoulos observed several hobbies feeding on something else in a protected wetland in Greece — bats from the genus Pipistrelus. Bat predation by Eurasian Hobbies has only been recorded a handful of times before and the species is relatively unstudied, making this discovery an illuminating one. 

Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) may not be beautiful, but they are certainly adaptable. A new study published in the Journal of Raptor Research, titled “Turkey Vulture Aggregations at a Water Barrier Provide Evidence of Later Migration and Increasing Population Size over 25 Years” suggests that Turkey Vultures in western North America are increasing in number and delaying their migration departure date. Both findings could be correlated with climate change, although more investigation is needed to confirm. This study presents a new counting method that could prove useful for studying other soaring raptor species, especially at topographical “bottlenecks” like large water crossings.

A celebrated scheme for human-wildlife coexistence is now at risk of failing due to lack of long-term government investment, new research has found.

Tokyo, Japan – Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have revealed key parts of the biochemical pathways connecting stress to sexual dysfunction. By studying Drosophila fruit flies, they showed that the neurotransmitter dopamine was responsible for determining how long male flies showed persistent courtship suppression after being confined in a small space, but not whether mating was suppressed in the first place. Their findings in a key model organism illuminate neurobiological factors causing sexual dysfunction in other organisms, including humans.

Oceans began losing oxygen nearly 8 million years before the end‑Triassic mass extinction, according to new research. The findings could offer a road map for today’s warming oceans.