All Ecology & Evolution articles – Page 2
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NewsSediment core yields evidence of an unexpected climate feedback in Antarctica
Researchers have concluded that global warming may lead to reduced uptake of carbon dioxide than at present in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is considered unstable, continues to shrink.
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NewsFrom sea to soil: Molecular changes suggest how algae evolved into plants
A research team used cryo-electron microscopy to look at the three-dimensional structure and function of Lhcp, a unique prasinophyte LHC, from the microscopic alga Ostreococcus tauri. The team compared their results to LHCII, which is found in terrestrial plants.
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NewsCorals sleep like us, but their symbiosis does not rest
A study has revealed that corals also sleep, despite not having a nervous system, while their microbiome remains awake. For the first time, a biological day-night pattern that transcends the individual and helps sustain a symbiotic relationship has been identified in situ.
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NewsFossilized plankton study gives long-term hope for oxygen depleted oceans
A new study suggests the world’s oxygen depleted seas may have a chance of returning to higher oxygen concentrations in the centuries to come, despite our increasingly warming climate. Source: Anya Hess Scanning electron image of fossilised planktonic foraminifera. Researchers at the University of Southampton (UK) and ...
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NewsFirst known lichen in the fossil record helped structure terrestrial ecosystems
A group of researchers has confirmed the identity of the first lichens to inhabit Earth, Spongiophyton, around 410 million years ago, in great detail for the first time. The study confirms that the symbiosis between fungi and algae that dissolves rocks helped form the first soils.
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NewsStudy sheds new light on what drives evolution of gut microbiomes
A study of wild African herbivores offers new insight into how environmental conditions – not just diet and anatomy – can influence the evolution of gut microbes that play a critical role in animal health and well-being.
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NewsAncient DNA pushes back record of treponemal disease-causing bacteria by 3,000 years
Scientists have recovered a genome of Treponema pallidum from 5,500-year-old human remains in Sabana de Bogotá, Colombia. The research expands knowledge about the history of this infectious disease and its occurrence in human populations.
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NewsResurrected ancient enzyme offers new window into early Earth and the search for life beyond it
By resurrecting a 3.2-billion-year-old enzyme and studying it inside living microbes, researchers have created a new way to improve our understanding of the origins of life on Earth. The study uses synthetic biology to reverse-engineer modern enzymes and rebuild their possible ancestors.
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NewsEndogenous retroviruses promote early human zygotic development
New findings offer insight into why some embryos fail to develop past zygotic genome activation (ZGA), pointing to an unexpected root of human infertility.
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NewsEvidence of ‘lightning-fast’ evolution found after dino-killing asteroid impact
The asteroid that struck the Earth 66 million years ago devastated life across the planet, wiping out the dinosaurs and other organisms. But new research shows new species of plankton appeared fewer than 2,000 years after the world-altering event.
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NewsPaper sheds light on human impact of first known ancient pandemic
A new paper examines the Plague of Justinian and its consequences for ancient Jordan. Focusing on the first-known outbreak of bubonic plague in the Mediterranean world, it adds to the historical record on what caused the devastating outbreak that killed millions within the Byzantine Empire.
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NewsDeadly to amphibians, a fungal strain emerged in Brazil and spread around the world
The fungal infection Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is responsible for the decline of toad and frog populations across the globe. A new study has pinpointed the origin of the fungal strain.
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NewsPlant discovery could lead to new ways of producing medicines
Scientists studying a plant called Flueggea suffruticosa, which produces a particularly powerful alkaloid known as securinine, investigated how this chemical is made - and discovered that the process is driven by a gene that looks more like it comes from bacteria than from a plant.
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NewsJeremy Horowitz selected for The Oceanography Society Early Career Award
The Oceanography Society (TOS) has selected Dr. Jeremy Horowitz as a recipient of the TOS Early Career Award, recognizing his outstanding early-career research contributions, impact, and promise for continued achievement in oceanography, along with his strong record of mentorship, outreach, and collaborative science.
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NewsScientists observe infections by cancer-causing retroviruses in koalas as they occur
Scientists analysed the ongoing colonization by two retroviruses of the germline of koalas and resulting deaths from cancer in multi-generational pedigrees of over 100 koalas in US and European zoos. They calculated genetic risk scores (GRS) that can help guide koala breeding programs.
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NewsRare microbial wrinkle structures - signs of ancient life - turn up in an unexpected place
Deep water sediment layers in the Dadès Valley in the Central High Atlas Mountains of Morocco have revealed rare microbial wrinkle structures formed far from sunlight.
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NewsFirst extensive study into marsupial gut microbiomes reveals new microbial species and antimicrobial resistance
New research provides the first metagenomic data for 13 marsupial species , including the red kangaroo and the common brushtail possum. They revealed that host family, animal location, and diet all contributed towards variance between different microbiomes.
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NewsNew study reveals evolutionary and domestication history of button mushroom
A large-scale population genomic study has shed new light on the evolutionary and domestication history of the button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), one of the most widely cultivated edible fungi in the world.
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NewsThe secret room a giant virus creates inside its host amoeba
Researchers examined Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus-infected amoeba cells using a combination of sequencing methods, including Ribosome profiling to estimate the frequency of translation pausing and tRNA sequencing to determine tRNA composition.
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NewsUshikuvirus: A newly discovered giant virus may offer clues to the origin of life
Researchers have reported the discovery of a giant DNA virus that infects amoeba. Named ushikuvirus after Lake Ushiku in the Ibaraki Prefecture of Japan, where it was isolated. This discovery offers further support for the nuclear virus origin hypothesis.