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UrduAquatic insects can pass mercury in contaminated waterways along to the spiders that feed on them.
Tag: Food Webs
Study: An inverse model for food webs and ecosystem stability
In a new study published, authors invert a classical approach to modeling food webs.
Predicting Changes in Microbial Food Webs
Increasing temperature or nutrients in an ecosystem can destabilize food webs, but when temperature and nutrients increase together it can be difficult to predict the combined effects. This study examined a laboratory microbial food web consisting of bacterial prey and protist predators. It found that temperature and nutrients can alter the dynamics of microbial communities by changing how species’ abundances and average body sizes relate to each other.
Reliance on moose as prey led to rare coyote attack on human
Coyotes that fatally attacked a Canadian woman in 2009 were forced to rely on moose instead of smaller mammals for the bulk of their diet, and as a result of adapting to that unusually large food source, perceived a lone hiker as potential prey, a new study finds.
Tropical wildlife follow the same daily patterns worldwide
How do animals in the wild use their time? A researcher at Rice University is part of a new study that shows what motivates the daily ramble of tropical populations.
A midge fly can be a source of currently used pesticides for birds, bats
Researchers reporting in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology have observed that non-biting midge larvae accumulate contemporary pesticides from polluted water and retain the substances into adulthood. As a result, animals that eat the adult flies could consume small amounts of pesticides daily.
Climate Change Threatens Base of Polar Oceans’ Bountiful Food Webs
A study recently published in Nature Communications suggests that displacing cold-water communities of algae with warm-adapted ones threatens to destabilize the delicate marine food web. The team was led by University of East Anglia researchers and included DOE Joint Genome Institute researchers.
’Til the cows come home
Meat and dairy played a more significant role in human diets in Bronze Age China than previously thought. A new analysis also suggests that farmers and herders tended to sheep and goats differently than they did their cows, unlike in other parts of the world — keeping cows closer to home and feeding them the byproducts of grains that they were growing for their own consumption, like the grass stalks from millet plants.
Plants that power the food web
University of Delaware researchers have thrown a spotlight on the critical plants needed to sustain food webs across the United States, illuminating a plan for how to restore ecosystems anywhere in the country.
Rutgers Expert Can Discuss Invasive Plants in N.J. and Alternatives
New Brunswick, N.J. (June 10, 2020) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick Professor Michele Bakacs is available for interviews on invasive exotic plants in New Jersey that are growing out of control, overrunning forests and other natural areas. She can discuss why this…
Algae in the Oceans Often Steal Genes from Bacteria
Algae in the oceans often steal genes from bacteria to gain beneficial attributes, such as the ability to tolerate stressful environments or break down carbohydrates for food, according to a Rutgers co-authored study.
The study of 23 species of brown and golden-brown algae, published in the journal Science Advances, shows for the first time that gene acquisition had a significant impact on the evolution of a massive and ancient group of algae and protists (mostly one-celled organisms including protozoa) that help form the base of oceanic food webs.