Ecology
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Scientists have discovered that audio recordings of healthy coral reefs may help attract free-swimming coral larvae to damaged ones. The finding could be a major step toward preserving the world's coral reefs.
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Although the humble sea cucumber may not look like much, it could soon be recruited to help save the world's coral reefs. The bottom-dwelling animals have been found to play a vital role in protecting corals from harmful bacteria.
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For the first time ever, a lone orca has been observed killing and eating a great white shark. Although orcas were already known to hunt great whites in packs or pairs, one had never been seen going solo before. The finding suggests the emergence of a new hunting strategy.
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No-one has seen the Yellow-crested Helmetshrike for about 20 years. That changed when researchers embarked on a six-week expedition in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and captured the dramatic-looking yellow-topped bird in its first-known photo.
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There's been a takeover of North America's soil by scores of non-native earthworm species this past century. It's time we pay more attention to the invaders and their potentially major impact on the continent's ecosystem, says a new Stanford study.
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Ordinarily, once a fern's leaf fronds have died, the plant has no further use for them. Such is not the case with the Cyathea rojasiana fern, though – a scientist has discovered that its dead fronds become "zombie leaves" which suck nutrients from the soil.
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Hard though it may be to believe, there has apparently never been a confirmed sighting of a live newborn great white shark. Such may no longer be the case, however, thanks to recently analyzed aerial drone footage shot in California.
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It almost sounds like a fairytale: a tiny ant dramatically impacting a giant lion. But thanks to a study that reveals just how interconnected all life forms really are, researchers have just figured out that it happened on the savannas of Africa.
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If an enemy you were previously safe from turned up in your neighborhood, what would you do? That's a problem currently being faced by barnacles in northern Mexico, which are growing sideways to thwart invasive predatory snails.
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Salmon are very much a cold-water fish, so they can get quite stressed when swimming up increasingly warm rivers to spawn. A new study shows that by installing "cooling stations" in those rivers, we could help the threatened fish make the trip.
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One inconvenient truth for the clean energy industry – and a source of seemingly great concern to the fossil fuel lobby – is the indisputable fact that wind turbines kill birds. Researchers say smarter turbines could dramatically cut the toll.
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Although artificial reefs certainly do help restore damaged marine ecosystems, they're usually made of heavy manmade materials that must be formed into shape. Now, however, scientists are reporting success using readily-available dead pear trees.
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