Ecologists have long sought to understand the dietary habits of different animal species. In a recent study, researchers have explored the puzzling question of how competing herbivores in Yellowstone National Park, which feed on grasses, wildflowers, and trees, manage to find enough food to survive the winter.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-hunting-strategies-of-yellowstone-s-herbivores-nbsp">Hunting strategies of Yellowstone’s herbivores&nbsp;</h2>



Over a two-year period, using advanced molecular biology tools and GPS tracking data, the research team was able to identify not only what herbivores in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/yellowstone-tourism-generates-over-1-megaton-carbon-annually/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Yellowstone</a> consume, but also the strategies they use to find food throughout the year.



“In Yellowstone, we know vegetation changes across seasons, but until now, we didn’t know how these seasonal changes influenced what animals eat or how they sustained themselves when options were limited,” said lead author Bethan Littleford-Colquhoun, a postdoctoral research associate at <a href="https://www.brown.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brown University</a>.&nbsp;



“It turns out that while species eat similar categories of food, their diets differ from one another in cryptic and nuanced ways. And an animal’s body size plays an important role in how this is achieved.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fluctuating-food-supplies">Fluctuating food supplies</h2>



For years, ecologists have debated how wildlife should cope with fluctuations in their food supplies, explained co-author Tyler Kartzinel, an associate professor of ecology, evolution, and organismal biology at Brown.



Some experts propose that animals should diversify their diets to cater to their preferences when they have more choices in summer, Kartzinel said.&nbsp;



Others suggest that animals are more likely to diversify what they eat during challenging periods, like winter, when competition for food is fierce, and they might have to settle for less desirable options.



“These opposing predictions couldn’t both be true, so it wasn’t at all clear how Yellowstone's assemblage of herbivore species - with such a diversity of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fish-foraging-behavior-changing-climate-warming-waters/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">foraging behaviors</a> - could succeed in finding enough food throughout the year,” Kartzinel said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracking-the-behavior-of-competing-animals">Tracking the behavior of competing animals</h2>



To investigate, the researchers used two years of GPS tracking and dietary DNA data to explore how dietary variation changes during times of resource scarcity and abundance for five of Yellowstone’s most iconic species: <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-influences-the-movement-of-plains-bison/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bison</a>, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn antelope.



Staff at Yellowstone tracked the animals, while researchers at Brown, including many undergraduate students supervised by Littleford-Colquhoun, analyzed fecal samples using a sophisticated molecular technique called metabarcoding. This method helped determine what foods the animals had eaten.



The study revealed that all species took advantage of the seasonal abundance of wildflowers in summer. However, in winter, each species focused its foraging efforts on the specific plant types it was best suited to compete for.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-feeding-behaviors-are-linked-to-animal-size-nbsp">Feeding behaviors are linked to animal size&nbsp;</h2>



The researchers also found that feeding behaviors were linked to the animal's body size. Smaller species, like deer and sheep, spread out across summer meadows, significantly broadening their diets before gathering in sheltered valleys to survive the winter on leftover vegetation.&nbsp;



In contrast, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/forest-biodiversity-benefits-from-large-herbivores-like-elephants-and-moose/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">larger animals</a>, such as bison, displayed the opposite behavior: in winter, their size allowed them to avoid competing for dwindling resources, so they ventured into deep snow to access food reserves that were out of reach for smaller species.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-competing-animals-are-surprisingly-adaptable">Competing animals are surprisingly adaptable</h2>



“The study showed that these species can feed far more adaptably than anyone had previously assumed,” Littleford-Colquhoun said.&nbsp;



“All species switch the ways they search for food, but the opportunities an individual bison has to fuel its migration or survive a hard winter might only work for it because it’s big. Meanwhile, other species might need to group together for protection in winter because they’re small.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-broader-implications-of-the-study">Broader implications of the study</h2>



So, should animals diversify their diets in summer or winter? According to Kartzinel, the answer depends on the species.



“Because of the variety of ways animals behaved in our study, we learned that both hypotheses about how animals fuel their migrations were right, but in different ways and at different times,” Kartzinel said.&nbsp;



“So the question that biologists should have been bickering about for the past generation shouldn't have been, ‘Which foraging strategy is right?’ but rather, ‘When does each strategy work best for a given group of animals?’”



Kartzinel hopes that these more refined insights into foraging behaviors will encourage scientists to adopt a more tailored approach to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildlife-conservation-can-help-stabilize-the-climate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wildlife conservation</a>.



“If we want to help wildlife populations thrive, we should be maintaining a diversity of habitats and plant resources across their migratory corridors so that many animals, each with their own preferences, personalities and needs, can find what's best to fuel their journey,” Kartzinel concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240136" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Royal Society Open Science</a>.



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How do competing animals manage to find enough food?

Ecologists have long sought to understand the dietary habits of different animal species. In a recent study, researchers have explored the puzzling question of how competing herbivores in Yellowstone National Park, which feed on grasses, wildflowers, and trees, manage to find enough food to survive the winter. Hunting strategies of Yellowstone’s herbivores&nbsp; Over a two-year period, using advanced molecular biology tools and GPS tracking data, the research team was able to identify not only what herbivores in Yellowstone consume, but also the strategies they use to find...

Cats often exhibit <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/a-chemical-that-triggers-aggression-in-women-blocks-it-in-men/">aggression</a> toward humans and other problematic behaviors, yet the underlying causes of such issues have remained relatively unknown. In a new study from the <a href="https://www.helsinki.fi/en">University of Helsinki</a>, experts have found a correlation between poor socialization with humans and the development of fearfulness and aggression in cats.&nbsp;



"Problematic behavior is a remarkable welfare issue in cats (Felis catus), as it is one of the most common reasons for relinquishment. The probability of developing problematic behaviors is likely influenced by several variables, but these remain little studied," wrote the researchers.



"In this study, we examined the associations of fearfulness, aggression toward humans, and excessive grooming with nearly thirty variables in a survey dataset of over 3,200 cats."



"Poor socialization with humans and a history of being a rescue cat were associated with higher fearfulness, indicating that the proper socialization of kittens is beneficial for avoiding fear-related problematic behaviors. Overall, our study highlights the complexity of three problematic behaviors in cats."



According to study lead author Salla Mikkola, the team wanted to find out what factors are associated with the problematic behavior of cats, such as fearfulness, aggression towards humans and excessive grooming. "We utilized a survey dataset previously collected in our research, which we have already used to investigate the construction of the feline personality."



The survey included statements on the pet's reaction to strangers, sudden noises and changes at home. Survey respondents were also asked about excessive grooming and signs of aggression toward humans.  These included scratching or attempts to bite in conjunction with care, such as when being brushed. 



“We investigated the link between these problematic behavioral and personality traits, and almost 30 behavioural, environmental and biological factors. For example, the socialization of cats with humans was associated with fearfulness," said Mikkola.



"Cats who had come into contact with unfamiliar adults and children under 12 weeks of age only a few times or not at all were more fearful than cats who met strangers on a weekly or daily basis. Fearful cats also received, on average, higher scores for litter box issues, aggression and excessive grooming."



Professor Hannes Lohi noted that there was less aggression and fearfulness in households with more than one cat, but the reason for this is not yet clear. "It may be that the companionship of other cats is an important stimulus for cats, or alternatively, people don’t want to take a mate for their aggressive cat due to its nature. Research carried out through a different design is needed to explain causalities."



The research is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.105265">iScience</a>.



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Kittens who socialize with humans are less fearful, aggressive

Cats often exhibit aggression toward humans and other problematic behaviors,...

A new study led by the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign</a> has found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bats-play-an-active-role-in-plant-pollination/">bats</a> play a fundamental role in keeping temperate forests growing by helping to protect young trees. According to the experts, without bats to prey upon them and hold their populations in check, insects that mulch on tree seedlings go wild, doing three to nine times more damage than when bats are present.



“A lot of folks associate bats with caves. But as it turns out, the habitat you could really associate with almost every bat species in North America is forest. And this is true globally. Forests are just really important to bats,”&nbsp;said study senior author Joy O’Keefe, an assistant professor and wildlife extension specialist at the University of Illinois. “We wanted to ask the question: Are bats important to forests? And in this study, we’ve demonstrated they are.”



While previous studies have proven bats’ insect-control services in crop fields and tropical forests, their similarly critical role in temperate forests has not yet been investigated. “It’s especially important for us to learn how bats affect forests, given that bats are declining due to diseases like white-nose syndrome or collisions with wind turbines. This type of work can reveal the long-term consequences of bat declines,” said study lead author Elizabeth Beilke, a postdoctoral fellow in Environmental Sciences at the same university.



The scientists built large mesh-enclosed structures in an Indiana forest to exclude the eight bat species which frequent this region, while allowing insects free movement in and out. Moreover, the researchers made sure that birds had daytime access to the plots. Then, they measured the number of insects on oak and hickory seedlings in the forest understory, together with the amount of defoliation per seedling.&nbsp;



The analysis revealed that, in plots where bats were excluded, there were three times as many insects and five times more defoliation on the seedlings than in the control plots. When analyzed separately, oaks experienced none times more defoliation and hickories three times more in the absence of bats.



“We know from other research that oaks and hickories are ecologically important, with acorns and hickory nuts providing food sources for wildlife and the trees acting as hosts to native insects. Bats use both oaks and hickories as roosts, and now we see they may be using them as sources of prey insects, as well. Our data suggest bats and oaks have a mutually beneficial relationship,” Beilke explained.



“I think it’s important to stress the value of this type of experimental work with bats, to really try to dig into what their ecosystem services are in a deliberate manner. While we can probably extrapolate out and say bats are important in other types of forest, I wouldn’t discount the value of doing the same kind of work in other systems, especially if there are questions about certain insect or tree species and how bats affect them. So rather than extrapolating out across the board, let’s do the work to try to figure out how bats are benefiting plants. And before they’re gone, hopefully,” O’Keefe concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3903">Ecology</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Bats protect young trees from insect damage

A new study led by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign...

A new study led by <a href="https://www.northwestern.edu/">Northwestern University</a> has found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/electric-fish-large-brains/">fish</a> look downward when they swim. By combining simulations of zebrafish’s brain, native environment, and spatially-varying swimming behavior into a comprehensive computational model, the experts discovered that looking down while swimming forward is an adaptive behavior that evolved to help fish self-stabilize, for instance when swimming against a current.



As water moves, fish are continuously trying to self-stabilize in order to remain in place rather than getting swept away in a moving stream. While focusing on other fish, plants, or pieces of debris could give fish a false sensation that they are moving, looking at the stable riverbed below offers them more reliable information about their swimming direction and speed.



“It’s similar to sitting on a train car that isn’t moving. If the train next to yours starts to pull to away from the station, it can trick you into thinking you are moving too,” said study lea author Emma Alexander, an assistant professor of Computer Science at Northwestern.&nbsp;



“The visual cue from the other train is so strong that it overrides the fact that all of your other senses are telling you that you are sitting still. That’s exactly the same phenomenon that we are studying in fish. There are many misleading motion cues above them, but the most abundant and reliable signals are from the bottom of the river.”



These findings could inform groundbreaking designs for artificial vision systems and sophisticated bio-inspired robots. “If you were making a fish-inspired robot and you just looked at its anatomy, you might think ‘the eyes are pointing sideways, so I’m going to point my cameras sideways. But it turns out that the eyes are pointing sideways because they are balancing several tasks. We think they point sideways because it’s a compromise — they look upward to hunt and downward to swim,” Alexander concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.10.009">Current Biology</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Why do fish look down when they swim?

A new study led by Northwestern University has found that...

Australia is the fourth-worse country in the world in terms of species extinctions, and is in the top three globally for critically endangered animals. Although this week’s Federal Budget included a $224 million allocation to help protecting these species, a new study led by the <a href="https://www.unisa.edu.au/">University of South Australia</a> (UniSA) has revealed an overwhelming public ignorance of Australia’s most threatened species, a factor that is most likely significantly contributing to the current extinction crisis.



By polling over 300 zoo visitors and other community members to assess their awareness of seven <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthpedia-articles/endangered-species/">endangered species</a> at risk of extinction within the next decade – the Tasmanian devil, the Leadbeater’s possum, the eastern barred bandicoot, the helmeted honeyeater, the southern corroboree frog, the Lord Howe Island (LHI) stick insect, and the orange-bellied parrot – the researchers found that over 90 percent of people failed to recognize six of these seven species, the exception being the iconic Tasmanian devil.



“There are huge gaps in community knowledge regarding native Australian wildlife, with less than eight per cent of people able to correctly name six of seven endangered species when shown photographs,” said study lead author Elisa Pearson, a conservation psychologist at UniSA.



“Apart from the Tasmanian devil, which 86 percent of people recognized, the level of familiarity and knowledge of our vulnerable species is limited. Misidentification is also common, particularly the eastern barred bandicoot which is often mistaken for a bilby.”



The researchers highlight a clear link between species recognition, likeability, and conservation support, arguing that people are far more likely to donate toward the conservation of Australia’s iconic kangaroo, koala, and wombat species, despite them being in fact not endangered. The most likable Australian animals - the koala and the kangaroo – also reflect the “similarity principle,” which suggests that people tend to prefer animals that are more similar to them, and that when only a limited number of species can be conserved, mammals are always favored over other species, regardless of their endangered status.



“Apart from the likeability factor, our study showed that being able to recognize species increased people’s willingness to support their conservation, so that is a starting point we need to address,” Dr. Pearson said.



Endangered insects are unfortunately disliked by nearly 85 percent of people, a factor putting their survival at great risk. However, as the scientists argue, these perceptions could be changed through clever marketing initiatives.



“The LHI stick insect has some exceptional qualities, such as their resilience and survival against all odds, their ability to reproduce without males, their tendency to form large social groups during the day, or even the fact that their foot pads are heart shaped. If people knew these facts the likeability factor would likely shoot up,” Dr. Pearson concluded.



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2022.126257">Journal for Nature Conservation</a>.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Australians are unaware of their most endangered species

Australia is the fourth-worse country in the world in terms...

The evolutionary clade and biodiversity of green <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/lizards-and-other-squamates-rapidly-diversified-during-the-jurassic/">lizards</a> of the genera Lacerta and Timon - which are frequently found in the Mediterranean basin and surrounding regions of Europe, North Africa, and Asia - have not been studied extensively from the perspective of historical biogeography. Now, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.ub.edu/web/portal/en/">University of Barcelona</a> (UB) has analyzed the potential evolutionary processes that gave rise to the biodiversity of species in this group in Mediterranean ecosystems.&nbsp;



While previous studies have argued that the evolution of green lizards was a result of a combination of evolution and the conservatism of ecological niches, the relative role of geological history and niche dynamics has not yet been assessed. In the new study, researchers combined cutting-edge analytical tools to investigate the evolution of phenotypes and the biogeographic history of green lizard phylogeny, and to infer their relative contribution to species diversification. By integrating comprehensive data on changes in terrestrial ecosystem configuration and connectivity in the Mediterranean, the scientists assessed the importance of dispersal and vicariance in determining historical range dynamics.



“[Previous] inferences usually focus on a single aspect of diversification: either cladogenesis, geographic dynamics, climatic niche properties, or phenotypic trait evolution. Our study is innovative in bringing together evidence that has allowed us to contrast hypotheses about different potential evolutionary processes that might act separately or in combination to shape species diversity in the Mediterranean hotspot,” explained study senior author Antigoni Kaliontzopoulou, an expert in Evolutionary Biology at UB.&nbsp;



The analyses revealed that the biogeographic history of this group of lizards is the result of a combination of range expansions linked to dispersal events and rapid evolution of ecological niche characteristics within specific clades.&nbsp;



“As a whole, the group has diversified in a relatively steady rhythm, without changes in lineage diversification rates associated to major climatic events of the Mediterranean region, and without an apparent link to functional morphological or climatic niche divergence,” said Kaliontzopolou. “Rather, the colonization of previously empty areas promoted the diversification of new lineages through their isolation from their relatives and was facilitated, in some groups, by an increased tolerance to lower temperatures.”



The scientists provided evidence of a combined role of higher-scale niche conservatism and rapid niche evolution underlying the evolutionary history of these lizards, with several examples supporting the idea that, while niche conservatism is a common mechanism favoring the buildup of diversity, transition away from several hotspots is related to events of accelerated niche evolution – which contrasts with the situation in other geographic areas, such as the tropics, where structural niche partitioning is a crucial process of lineage diversification.



“In Mediterranean ecosystems, instead, it seems that lineage diversification is rather driven by geological events and through allopatric divergence after the colonization of new environments. In such environments, morphological divergence seems to occur in much more recent times and within already diversified groups, possibly as a response to ecological-scale events or processes such as sexual selection, not investigated in our study,” Kaliontzopolou concluded.



The study is published in the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14497">Journal of Biogeography</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

How did green lizards evolve in the Mediterranean?

The evolutionary clade and biodiversity of green lizards of the...

In humans, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/why-does-eating-late-lead-to-obesity-and-diabetes/">obesity</a> during pregnancy is associated with increased risk of infection and unusual inflammatory responses in the offspring, although the underlying mechanisms whereby the offspring’s immune system is adversely affected remain unknown. In addition, the impact of maternal obesity on the immune system of the fetus in models that resemble human development has not been investigated in detail. 



In new research on rhesus macaque monkeys, females were fed a Western-style diet (WSD) that was high in fat, or a monkey chow control diet that was low in fat. Females began on the diets at puberty and, after 5.5 years those on a WSD had significantly more body fat. All the females were then mated and became pregnant. Their fetuses were collected by C-section just before birth (130 days out of a gestation of 165 days) and assessed for the status of hematopoiesis, the formation of blood cellular components, in the bone marrow.&nbsp;



“We were motivated to investigate how maternal obesity impacts the fetal immune system during pregnancy in nonhuman primates, representing the most relevant animal model for studying human development,” says Oleg Varlamov of the Oregon National Primate Research Center.



During late development, the fetal bone marrow becomes the major site where immune cells, called macrophages and B-lymphocytes (or B-cells), are produced from precursors known as hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). In the new study, Varlamov and his collaborators analyzed the transcriptional landscape of fetal bone marrow HSPCs at single-cell resolution in fetal macaques exposed to a maternal high-fat, Western-style diet or a low-fat control diet.



The results, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stemcr.2022.10.003">Stem Cell Reports</a>, demonstrated that a WSD alters the transcriptional landscape of fetal blood stem cells in rhesus macaques. The high-fat, Western-style diet induced hyperinflammatory responses in HSPCs and fetal macrophages, and suppressed the expression of B-cell development genes. This suggests that a maternal WSD negatively affects, and potentially dysregulates, the development of B-cells that are critical components of a healthy immune system.&nbsp;



“Maternal obesity greatly impacted the ability of fetal blood stem cells to produce B-lymphocytes - immune cells that make antibodies in response to infection - and made fetal blood stem cells more inflamed,” Varlamov says.



Study limitations included the small sample size, which might limit the ability to detect weaker effects of maternal diet on fetal outcomes. In addition, the researchers didn’t explore the effects of maternal obesity on postnatal development and only focused on prenatal development. Further studies are also needed to test whether maternal obesity disrupts offspring responses to infection and inflammation.



“This study sets the stage for understanding the link between maternal obesity, prenatal nutrition, and diseases involving immune progeny of the HSPC compartment in children, and highlights the need to better understand the susceptibility of the developing hematopoietic system to metabolic dysregulation over the lifetime,” Varlamov says.



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Obesity in pregnant monkeys impacts fetal immune cells

In humans, obesity during pregnancy is associated with increased risk...

The elusive platypus is perhaps the most unusual mammal alive today. Apart from having a duck-like bill that senses the presence of prey using electrical currents in the water, it lays eggs like a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/songbirds-are-crossbreeding-in-human-altered-landscapes/">bird</a> but suckles its young on milk that seeps from a mammary patch. It is a monotreme, one of the most ancient branches of mammals, and is found only in eastern Australia where it inhabits fresh water creeks, slow-moving rivers, lakes joined by rivers, and artificial water storage sites, such as farm dams.&nbsp;



The species is listed as "near threatened" by the IUCN, and is thought to have undergone significant population declines in recent years due to several different human-mediated threats. Although platypuses spend most of their time in or near water, they do move over land in order to disperse and find more suitable habitats. In light of this, it has been proposed that the presence of large dams on rivers may have a detrimental effect on platypus populations because this may limit their movements, both upstream and downstream.



In Australia, 77 percent of all major dams are situated in regions where platypuses occur. These dams are predicted to represent barriers to dispersal, which then has potential long-term implications for gene flow, genetic variation and the ability to adapt to changing conditions. However, the extent to which dams actually restrict movements, and the genetic consequences of this, remain largely unquantified at present.&nbsp;



In a new study, published in&nbsp;<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-04038-9">Communications Biology</a>, researchers from universities in Australia and the U.S. have examined the genetic makeup of platypuses in nine river systems in eastern Australia. In five of the rivers, major dams regulate the flow of water, whereas the remaining four rivers are free flowing and are not fragmented by large dams. These included the free-flowing Ovens River, along with the dammed Mitta-Mitta River, and the free-flowing Tenterfield Creek, along with the nearby Severn River regulated by a large dam.



The researchers used DNA analysis to examine the relationships between intergroup genetic differentiation in platypus populations, and the geographic distance separating the populations. They tested whether populations separated by dams were more genetically differentiated than populations in landscapes lacking such barriers but separated by a similar distance. The experts also used genetic-based methods to infer patterns of dispersal and gene flow between platypus populations.&nbsp;



The study found that large dams are significant barriers to platypus movements. This was reflected in the greater genetic differentiation between platypus populations above and below large dams than between populations along rivers without dams. Importantly, the extent of this genetic differentiation was greater where dams had been in existence for longer, reflecting the long-term impacts of restricting gene flow between populations.&nbsp;



“We extracted the DNA from the blood collected by our Platypus Conservation Initiative researchers at UNSW. By using thousands of molecular markers, we were able to identify a strong signal indicating that genetic differentiation increased rapidly between platypuses below and above these large dams,” said study lead author Dr. Luis Mijangos, who is now at the University of Canberra.



“This is a profound result with significant implications for platypus conservation. We've long suspected that prey can restrict platypus movements, but this is the ‘smoking gun.’ These animals just can't get around big dams," said study co-author Professor&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/staff/richard-kingsford">Richard Kingsford</a>, Director of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/research/ecosystem">UNSW Centre for Ecosystem Science</a>.



Despite the fact that platypuses can walk substantial distances over land, the results of this study indicate that they cannot overcome high dam walls. In addition, large, open water bodies typically found above dam walls, as well as regulated water flow areas below dam walls, are not suitable habitats for platypuses. Major dams thus restrict the movements of individuals along waterways and act as barriers separating populations.&nbsp;



As a consequence, major dams restrict the gene flow between platypus groups and therefore increase the possibility of inbreeding and the loss of adaptive genetic variation, reduce the chances of recolonizing areas where local extinctions have occurred and the likelihood of dispersing to areas with more suitable conditions. All these factors, along with reduced habitat quality due to climate change, are expected to lower the long-term viability of platypus populations.



“We know that platypuses are declining in many parts of their range in eastern Australia, affected by many threats. This study identifies one of the main threats to this iconic species,” said study co-author Dr. Gilad Bino, leader of the Platypus Conservation Initiative at UNSW Sydney. “There is still much we don’t know about the ecology of the platypus, but given its international status as a monotreme, it is increasingly vital that we understand and manage the threats to this unique species.”



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Large dams are significant barriers to platypus survival

The elusive platypus is perhaps the most unusual mammal alive...

Madagascar is the world’s fifth largest island and is situated in the southern Indian Ocean, around 250 miles (400 kilometers) off the east coast of southern Africa. Although it is thought to be one of the last large land masses to have been colonized by humans, details of its settlement remain sketchy and enigmatic.&nbsp;



Today, this fascinating island is home to a unique assemblage of fauna, such as lemurs, tenrecs and fossas, that are found nowhere else on earth. The paleontological evidence, however, reveals that there were once impressive giant birds and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/mammals-fight-over-scarce-resources-in-brutal-environments/">mammals</a> present, but that these megavertebrates disappeared from the face of the island around 1,000 years ago. Some scientists have suggested that human activities may have been implicated in their demise but, without knowing the history of human occupation of the island, it is impossible to ascertain the impact that colonizers may have had on the island’s biodiversity.



A new study, published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.09.060">Current Biology</a>, has now used genetic techniques, local ancestry information and simulated genetic data to understand more about the origins of the Malagasy people and to retrace the history of human settlement on the island. During a 10-year period starting in 2007, Malagasy and international researchers from the Madagascar Genetic and Ethnolignuistic (MAGE) project visited more than 250 villages across the island to sample human cultural and genetic diversity.&nbsp;



Previous linguistic studies have suggested that the Malagasy language evolved from an Austronesian background and shares similarities with languages spoken in Indonesia, more than 4,000 miles away. In addition, there are contributions from Bantu and Arab-Swahili languages, indicating possible influences from the African mainland. The people who live on Madagascar today are known to trace their roots back to two small populations: one Bantu-speaking from Africa and another Austronesian-speaking from Asia. But, beyond that, the history remained rather murky.&nbsp;



Researchers in the current study used data on shared genomic fragments to understand the demographic history of the Malagasy population. The number and length of shared chromosomal fragments, called Identity-By-Descent haplotypes (IBD), are markers of fluctuations in population size over time. Data on the prevalence and structure of shared segments of DNA were thus analyzed from 700 Malagasy people, and were compared with data from 3,464 individuals sampled in other populations.



The results of the study indicated that the present-day Malagasy population carries genetic evidence of an admixture event between Bantu-speaking African and Austronesian-speaking Asian populations. This event occurred around 1,000 years ago when Bantu-speaking Africans arrived on the island.&nbsp;



Although the results could not elucidate the time of arrival of the Asian population, it did show that this group of people underwent at least 1,000 years of isolation and genetic bottleneck before the arrival of the African peoples. It also showed that, at the time of the admixture event, the Asian inhabitants of the island numbered no more than a few hundred individuals and there had been no significant genetic exchange with any other groups of people over the previous 1,000 years.&nbsp;



The authors of the study say their results cannot show whether the Asian population was isolated once it arrived in Madagascar, or whether it arrived subsequent to having been isolated for between 30 and 70 generations somewhere else. Both scenarios are possible, they say. What is clear, however, is that after gene flow from the African colonizers commenced, the Malagasy population experienced rapid expansion and growth. In addition, the time of admixture and population expansion coincides with a time during which all the island’s megafauna became extinct.&nbsp;



“This human demographic expansion was simultaneous with a cultural and ecological transition on the island,” says Denis Pierron, French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) researcher in Toulouse, France. “Around the same period, cities appeared in Madagascar and all the vertebrates of more than 10 kilograms disappeared.”



The findings have important implications that may now be applied to studies of other human populations. For instance, it shows it’s possible to untangle the demographic history of ancient populations even well after two or more groups have mixed, by using genetic data and computer simulations to test the likelihood of different scenarios. The findings also offer new insights into how past changes in human populations led to changes in whole ecosystems.



“Our study supports the theory that it was not directly the arrival of humans on the island that caused the disappearance of the megafauna, but rather a change in lifestyle that caused both a human population expansion and a reduction in biodiversity in Madagascar,” Pierron says.



While these efforts have led to much better understanding of Madagascar’s history, many intriguing questions remain. For instance, Pierron asks, “If the ancestral Asian population was isolated for more than a millennium before mixing with the African population, where was this population? Already in Madagascar or in Asia? Why did the Asian population isolate itself over 2,000 years ago? Around 1,000 years ago, what triggered the observed cultural and demographic transition?”&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Madagascar extinctions linked to human expansion 1,000 years ago

Madagascar is the world’s fifth largest island and is situated...

A team of researchers from <a href="https://www.vt.edu/">Virginia Tech</a> and the <a href="https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/">Cornell Lab of Ornithology</a> has recently received a grant from the <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/">Natural Science Foundation</a> (NSF) to investigate human-wildlife interactions through <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bird-feeders-helping-birds/">bird feeding</a>. By analyzing data from Cornell’s&nbsp;<a href="https://feederwatch.org/">Project FeederWatch</a>&nbsp;— a November-April participatory science project in which birders observe birds that visit backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other places in North America - the experts aim to learn how birds react to what people do in their backyards, how people react to what they see at bird feeders, and how birds impact people’s wellbeing.&nbsp;



“With this study, we will be able to explore how to maximize benefits to wildlife and humans in a dynamic system,” said principal investigator Ashley Dayer, a conservation social scientist at Virginia Tech. “Importantly, we aim to shed light on questions wildlife agencies are asking about how to address avian disease outbreaks. If they tell people to take down their bird feeders, how will that impact populations of birds and how will it impact human well-being if people are no longer seeing birds at their feeders?”&nbsp;



Besides exploring how to make changes to Project FeederWatch to include more minorities, such as Blacks, Indigenous people, or people with disabilities, the scientists will investigate ways of stopping the spread of a pathogen causing conjunctivitis in birds – an “indirectly lethal” disease which, although it doesn’t kill birds directly, it makes them lethargic and thus less able to feed themselves and more prone to predator attacks.&nbsp;



“We think that bird feeders ironically may help birds stay alive when they’re really sick because it provides an easy source of food,” explained co-principal investigator Dana Hawley, a professor of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech. “But at the same time, by keeping diseased birds alive and using feeders, it’s probably contributing to spread, so there’s this trade-off where you might be helping diseased birds in an area by putting feeders up but potentially hurting the birds that have not gotten the disease yet.”



“What we’re looking for are ways to prevent spread rather than treating the birds, which is hard to do for wild birds. Preventing spread at feeders would minimize how many birds get sick in the first place. We’re trying to come up with some approaches for cleaning feeders that are realistic for people but still result in reduced spread of bacteria, such as using bleach wipes to clean feeding stations.”



According to the project leaders, conservation scientists cannot continue to study any biological phenomenon without incorporating an account of human behaviors and feelings. With this project, they hope to explore how important interaction with nature is for human wellbeing and possibly design new nature-based therapies for both physical and mental disorders.



“This is truly a transdisciplinary project in which the social sciences and the natural sciences will come together in the study of a complex system with significant outcomes for humans and ecological systems,” said Joel Snodgrass, head of the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation. “The project clearly illustrates the interconnection among people, animals, and their shared environment and will provide students the opportunity to work at the cutting edge of science that addresses the complex environmental and human health challenges we currently face.”



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Exploring the impacts of human-wildlife interactions

A team of researchers from Virginia Tech and the Cornell...

Gut microbes have received an increasing amount of attention in research literature recently, as scientists begin to understand the link between their diversity and the health of their host. Most of this research has focused on humans, where a functional gut <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/covid-disrupts-gut-health-increasing-risk-of-other-infections/">microbiome</a> has been associated with enhanced nutrition, immunity and mental health, among others. In contrast, not much research has investigated gut microbes in wild animals, despite the fact that microbial diversity may be an indicator of the health of wild animals and even of the environments in which they live.



A new study has now analyzed the microbial communities present in the guts of wild American pine marten (Martes americana) living in two different areas. Pine marten are carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, related to weasels, ferrets and mink. They are found throughout Canada, Alaska and the northern United States. In the study, the gut microbiomes of marten living in a pristine habitat were compared with those of marten from a natural habitat that was more heavily influenced by human activity.&nbsp;



The researchers collected gut microbiome data from 21 marten for this study. Sixteen individuals were harvested during a legal trapping season, in an area that was closer to human habitation and influence. The remaining five were trapped safely and released in the Huron Mountain Club, which is a pristine forest area located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The results, published <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLoS ONE</a>, identified distinct differences between the two groups of marten sampled.



“Our goal here was to determine how, if at all, human disturbance of a landscape affects the gut microbiome of American marten that live in that landscape,” says Diana Lafferty, co-lead author of the paper and an assistant professor of biology at Northern Michigan University. “And the answers here were pretty clear.”



“Specifically, we found that wild marten in relatively undisturbed environments have more carnivorous diets than martens in human-affected areas,” says Erin McKenney, co-lead author of a paper on the work and an assistant professor of applied ecology at <a href="https://www.ncsu.edu/">North Carolina State University</a>.&nbsp;



Previous studies on gut microbiomes have focused largely on the variation exhibited in humans and laboratory organisms. Only recently has interest grown in the host-gut bacterial associations in wildlife species, and very little research has been conducted comparing the gut microbes of conspecifics that inhabit different natural environments. Several factors have been implicated in shaping the gut microbial communities in animals, including host genotype, life history traits and behavior, social organization, health status, diet and the environment itself.



“In conjunction with our other work on carnivore microbiomes, this finding tells us the microbial ecosystems in carnivore guts can vary significantly, reflecting a carnivore’s environment,” McKenney says. “Among other things, this means we can tell how much humans are impacting an area by assessing the gut microbiomes of carnivores that live in that area – which can be done by testing wild animal feces. In practical terms, this work is revealing a valuable tool for assessing the health of wild ecosystems.”



The researchers found that the gut microbiomes of marten in the pristine forest of the Huron Mountain Club were clearly distinct from those of the marten harvested in other areas. The finding highlights an emerging tool that will allow researchers and wildlife managers to assess the health of wild ecosystems.



“The Huron Mountain Club is particularly important for this study, because it’s relatively pristine – one of the largest, primeval forests in the eastern United States,” Lafferty says. “That makes it an excellent juxtaposition to the 16 marten that were harvested, since those were collected in regions that are more impacted by human activity.”



“This reflects the fact that marten in relatively pristine forest are able to forage at a higher trophic level, meaning they occupy a higher place in the food web,” Lafferty says. “In other words, the marten in relatively pristine forest have a more carnivorous diet, whereas marten in areas where there are more people were more omnivorous. Basically, the findings tell us a disturbed landscape results in a significantly different diet, which is reflected in their gut microbiomes.”



“It’s also worth noting that we were able to trap and release the marten in Huron Mountain Club during the dead of winter because we designed and built custom box traps to protect them from the elements,” says Chris Kailing, a co-author of the paper who worked on the project while at Northern Michigan University. “That’s of interest because it makes winter sampling possible for future wildlife research even in harsh winter conditions.”



“This is the latest chapter in an ongoing body of research that is helping us understand carnivore gut microbiomes,” McKenney says. “Carnivore gut microbiomes are inherently more variable than the gut microbiomes of other animals. This study lends nuance to the emerging picture that all of this variability is not just noise. Rather, this variability stems from the nutritional landscape carnivores have access to – and that, in turn, reflects the health of the ecosystem carnivores inhabit. And that means that monitoring the gut microbiome of wild carnivores can offer us real insight into the ecosystems those carnivores live in.”



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Carnivore gut microbes reflect the health of wild ecosystems

Gut microbes have received an increasing amount of attention in...

According to the latest<a href="https://ipbes.net/global-assessment">&nbsp;Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services</a>, climate change is currently emerging as a major threat for biodiversity, with plant and animal species facing greater risks of thermal stress as global warming pushes temperatures beyond their usual thermal tolerance. 



Now, a team of researchers led by the <a href="http://english.iap.cas.cn/">Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences</a> (IAP) has found that terrestrial <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-impacts-biodiversity-in-protected-areas-worldwide/">protected areas</a> not only offer habitat, but also provide a thermal buffer against climate change, thus serving as refugia for biodiversity.&nbsp;



The scientists discovered that, when compared to nonprotected areas which are often disturbed or even converted to other land uses, protected areas of natural and semi-natural vegetation can effectively cool the land surface temperature. For instance, such areas cool the local daily maximum temperature in the tropics, and reduce diurnal and seasonal temperature ranges in temperate and boreal regions. 



Moreover, vegetation in these areas has a higher amount of foliage in the canopy than in nonprotected areas (even of the same vegetation type), thus modulating local temperatures through physiological and biophysical processes.



“The cooling effect of protected areas on daily and seasonal maximum temperatures is particularly important because it can protect species in the wild from episodes of extreme heat,”&nbsp;explained study senior author Gensuo Jia, an expert in the impact of climate change on ecosystems at IAP. “Under a warming climate, as heatwaves are becoming more frequent and more intense, protected areas create thermal refugia.”



According to the researchers, biodiversity responses to climate change are determined by microclimate – the local set of atmospheric conditions near the ground that is modulated by habitats and landscape features at the local scale. Thus, protected areas provide shaded habitats which can moderate biotic responses to macroclimate warming.



While nature conservation has long been recognized as a nature-based solution to climate change, helping prevent carbon emissions from land-use change and enhancing carbon removal from the atmosphere, this study shows that the effectiveness of nature protection in stabilizing local climates cannot be ignored. According to the scientists, protected forests effectively slow the rate of warming, with a warming rate in protected boreal forests up to 20 percent lower than in surrounding regions.



“The slowed rate of warming is particularly important for species in the boreal regions because the northern high latitudes have warmed faster than the rest of the world,”&nbsp;said lead author Dr. Xiyan Xu, an expert in climate change at IAP. “Protected areas provide a home for threatened species, and the home is air-conditioned naturally!”



The findings suggest that protected areas can significantly contribute to climate change mitigation and highlight the need to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises simultaneously.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abo0119">Science Advances</a>.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Protected areas provide a thermal buffer against climate change

According to the latest&nbsp;Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem...

A growing collection of research suggests that the unique wing patterns found among thousands of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/how-do-oakleaf-butterflies-mimic-dead-leaves/">butterfly</a> species are all tied to an ancient set of simple ingredients. The latest of these studies, led by the <a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/">Florida Museum of Natural History</a>, was focused on the rare Atala butterfly.



“Evolution does not just mean change,” said study lead author Andrei Sourakov. “When it stumbles upon successful designs, they stick around, sometimes for hundreds of millions of years.”



In particular, Sourakov set out to test a theory from the 1920s called the nymphalid groundplan, which proposes that butterfly wing patterns are organized around distinct, concentrically arranged bands.



“Rather than a unified composition, butterfly wings are more like a collage created by wing-pattern elements belonging to different symmetry systems,” said Sourakov.



While this basic blueprint has been confirmed in several decades of research, the studies were primarily focused on butterfly species of the Nymphalidae family.



Nymphalids diverged from their closest relatives, the lycaenids, around 90 million years ago. Now, Sourakov wanted to investigate whether lycaenids have maintained the ancient pattern of wing symmetry found in nymphalids.&nbsp;



“The idea that the nymphalid ground plan applies to the lycaenids, which diverged from nymphalids when the dinosaurs were still around, is a big assumption to make,” explained Sourakov.



The Atala butterfly was chosen for the study for its unique history and its striking color patterns. The Atala is one of the only toxic species in the lycaenid family, and this toxicity is signaled by its bright red abdomen. On the Atala’s bottom wings, two spots of the same red color stand out against black scales and blue spots.



In the early 1900s, Atala butterflies nearly disappeared from their native range in Florida when their host plant was overharvested. Today, the plants and butterflies have been restored. For the study, Sourakov used a colony of Atala butterflies that is preserved at the Florida Museum’s McGuire Center.



Based on an interesting method used in previous studies, Sourakov exposed pupating insects to a blood thinner called heparin. This technique has been found to alter the wings of adult butterflies.



“Wing-pattern elements belonging to the same symmetry systems should react in similar ways to the same treatment,” said Sourakov. “By tweaking the expression of the underlying genes, such experiments allow us to understand the amazing variation that is found in butterflies and help us pinpoint the exact source of that variation.”



The experiment revealed that Atala and nymphalid butterflies shared similar responses to heparin. Depending on the concentration of heparin used, the adult wing spots either expanded, contracted, or faded entirely.&nbsp;



“Remarkably, there seems to be many similarities between Atala’s wing pattern and the nymphalid ground plan,” said Sourakov. “Future studies will be necessary for determining whether the same genes control the banding patterns and colors of Atala and other lycaenids compared to other butterfly families, but I hope these results have laid the groundwork for further inquiry.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7246248">Tropical Lepidoptera Research</a>.&nbsp;



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Atala butterflies have retained ancient wing patterns

A growing collection of research suggests that the unique wing...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Nushagak Bay, a large estuary in southwest Alaska. Nushagak runs mainly north to south and exits in Bristol Bay, a large body of water in the Bering Sea.



"The bay is primarily fed by the Nushagak River, which begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest approximately 450 km. The bay is also fed by several additional rivers including the Wood, Igushik, Snake and Weary rivers," says ESA.



"The dark colors of the Nushagak River are most likely due to tannins or lignins (chemical substances found in plants). Tannins and lignins from roots, leaves, seeds, bark and soil can leach into the water and give it a brown or even black colour. The sediments then flow southwards where it is mixed with the bluer waters of the bay."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> (ACS) reveals that proteins on flu viruses are actually flexible, tilting and waving in a “breath-like” motion. According to the experts, these proteins could be used to better defend against the flu.



"The main antigenic targets of influenza virus are two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Whereas the structural and dynamical properties of both glycoproteins have been studied previously, the understanding of their plasticity in the whole-virion context is fragmented," wrote the researchers.



To investigate, the team conducted detailed simulations of the influenza A H1N1 virion, or the swine flu. The experts concluded that the visualizations show many new vulnerable states of flu viruses, which could improve future vaccines and antiviral drugs.



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Lake Trasimeno, which is located west of Perugia in central Italy. It is the fourth largest lake in the country. While Trasimeno’s water level varies, it has a maximum depth of approximately six meters.&nbsp;



"In this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image, captured on 6 August 2022, the lake’s emerald green colour is likely due to the presence of phytoplankton. Streaks in the water, particularly visible in the west, indicate the presence of soil and sediments which have been stirred up by winds. Dark colored waters in the southern part of the lake indicate a presence of submerged and floating macrophytes (aquatic plants) as well as algae," says ESA.



"Surrounded by hills on three sides, Trasimeno is subject to heavy storms created by winds, especially from the north and west. There are three islets in the lake: Maggiore, Minore and Polvese (the largest). The lake’s shores are sparsely inhabited with only two popular villages: Castiglione del Lago and Passignano sul Trasimeno."



"Italy is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years which has affected drinking water supplies, hydroelectric power and agricultural production. High temperatures, hot winds and lack of rainfall are the main causes of drought in the Umbrian region which saw Lake Trasimeno’s drop 1.3 m, reaching the limit of the hydrometric zero in July 2022."



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes a new self-powered nanosensor that can instantly detect mercury contamination with the tap of a finger.&nbsp;



The oxidized form of mercury can be harmful when it is ingested through contaminated water or food. This makes it necessary for experts to develop sensors that can quickly and accurately detect the presence of mercury.&nbsp;



Zong-Hong Lin and colleagues have now created a triboelectric nanosensor (TENS) that can detect mercury by simply by touching a sample. According to the researchers, their TENS could serve as the basis for similar devices to safely and remotely monitor other pollutants.



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> explores the ability of salt to transform the way that foods and beverages taste. Salt is known to cover up undesirable flavors, such as bitterness in coffee or beer, but how exactly does sodium chloride change the taste of other compounds?



One previous study showed that, not only does salt suppress bitterness, but also enhances sweetness and sourness. Another study revealed that bitterness reduction by salt seems to be happening at the tongue receptor level as well as in the brain.&nbsp;



While it is known that salt taste is mediated by the presence of sodium channels in the form of taste buds, experts believe that there is also an unknown receptor responsible for how we taste salt that has not yet been identified.&nbsp;



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

How does salt makes things taste better?

[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



'The weather of Santiago resembles the Mediterranean climate with dry and warm summers with temperatures reaching up to 35°C (from October to March) and cool and humid winters that can drop to 0°C (from April to September)."



"The city lies in the centre of the country’s central valley around 80 km from the Pacific Ocean to the west and borders Argentina to the east. A tiny part of Argentina is visible in the top-right corner of the image where the mountain crest of the Andes Mountains acts as a divider between the two countries," says ESA.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Santiago, Chile in South America

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Spiral,Galaxy,,Illustration,Of,Milky,Way

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Astronomers at <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University</a> have created an interactive map of the universe, including the actual position and real colors of 200,000 galaxies. The map allows the public to access data that was previously only available to scientists.



The map was developed using data collected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. For over two decades, a telescope in New Mexico was aimed at slightly different locations to capture the night sky.&nbsp;



"Growing up I was very inspired by astronomy pictures, stars, nebulae and galaxies, and now it's our time to create a new type of picture to inspire people," said map creator Brice Ménard, a professor at Johns Hopkins. "Astrophysicists around the world have been analyzing this data for years, leading to thousands of scientific papers and discoveries. But nobody took the time to create a map that is beautiful, scientifically accurate, and accessible to people who are not scientists. Our goal here is to show everybody what the universe really looks like."



"In this map, we are just a speck at the very bottom, just one pixel. And when I say we, I mean our galaxy, the Milky Way which has billions of stars and planets. We are used to seeing astronomical pictures showing one galaxy here, one galaxy there or perhaps a group of galaxies. But what this map shows is a very, very different scale."



"From this speck at the bottom, we are able to map out galaxies across the entire universe, and that says something about the power of science."



The <a href="https://mapoftheuniverse.net/">interactive map</a> is available online, where it can be downloaded for free.



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"] Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University have created...

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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features northwest Lesotho in South Africa.



According to ESA, Lesotho is the only nation in the world that lies completely above 1,000 m in elevation. The country is famous for its tall mountains and narrow valleys, and is known as Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky."



Out of a population of around two million people, about 80 percent live in rural areas. More than 75 percent of these people are engaged in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-have-a-global-impact-on-agriculture/">agriculture</a>, including rainfed cereal production and animal grazing.&nbsp;



ESA reports that the country’s agricultural system faces a growing number of issues, with climate-related vulnerabilities such as drought, floods and extreme temperatures occurring more frequently. 



Diamonds are amongst the minerals found in the mountains. Indeed, Lesotho can truly be called the Kingdom in the Sky. Beautiful, culturally rich, safe, affordable, and easily accessible from Durban and Johannesburg, mountainous Lesotho is a vastly underrated travel destination. the Kingdom of Lesotho (Sotho: 'Muso oa Lesotho) is an enclaved country in southern Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population of around 2 million.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Dublin, the capital and largest city of Ireland. Beyond its pub culture, Dublin is known as a modern culinary destination and a UNESCO City of Literature.



"Dublin is located near the midpoint of Ireland’s east coast in the province of Leinster. The city, which covers an area of around 115 square kilometers, is bordered by the Dublin Mountains, a low mountain range to the south, and is surrounded by flat farmland to the north and west," says ESA.



"The city straddles the River Liffey, which rises in the Wicklow Mountains and flows around 80 kilometers eastwards through the city of Dublin, in which it is canalised and bordered with quays. It then empties into Dublin Bay, an arm of the Irish Sea."



Dublin has an abundance of green spaces, including one of the largest enclosed public parks in any European capital city. Phoenix Park, which was originally formed as a royal hunting park in the 1660s, includes 707 hectares of green space.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain. The image was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.



"Together with the provinces of Huesca and Teruel, Zaragoza formed the old kingdom of Aragon. Its capital, also called Zaragoza (not visible in this image) is home to around half of Aragon’s population," says ESA.



"The Ebro River can be seen winding its way through the province from west to east in this image. Between its source in the Cantabrian Mountains in the northwest and its delta on the Mediterranean coast, the Ebro River is fed by more than 200 tributaries as it flows 910 km across much of northern Spain."



Since rainfall is very scarce in this region, irrigation in the Ebro basin is critically important. In the valleys surrounding the Ebro River, many fields are used for growing crops such as corn, wheat, and barley.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> reveals the evolution of the Columbia Glacier in southeastern Alaska. Columbia is among the fastest shrinking glaciers in the world, and the video documents its rapid retreat over the years.&nbsp;



Columbia Glacier is a large, multi-branched calving glacier that flows out of the Chugach Mountains to the Prince William Sound.&nbsp;



According to USGS, Columbia had a long history of stability prior to 1980, with a length 41 miles, and small, short-lived advances or retreats.



In the years since 1980, however, satellite images have captured Columbia’s alarming retreat. By using false-color images, scientists can distinguish between snow and ice, open water, vegetation, and rocky debris on the glacier’s surface.



The series of false-color images featured in today's video were acquired over the span of 35 years. You can see that by 2021, the glacier’s main branch had retreated about 15 miles from its initial position.



The Columbia Glacier has also lost more than 50 percent of its volume, mostly due to calving. <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/nasa-reveals-3d-visual-of-an-atmospheric-river/">NASA</a> reports that while climate change likely started the retreat, mechanical processes kept the disintegration going.



The NASA images are provided by Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon, Joshua Stevens, and Lauren Dauphin using data from Landsat satellites, from the U.S. Geological Survey, and data from MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite. The structure of Columbia’s moraine played a large role in the stability of the glacier before 1980. 



Like other tidewater glaciers, the Columbia built up a moraine over time, and the mixture of ice and rock functioned like a dam keeping out the sea. It was supported on one end by the shoreline and by the underwater terminal moraine at the other.



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/&nbsp; NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the Pyrenees Mountains, which form a natural boundary between France and Spain in southwest Europe.



The mountain range is 430 kilometers in length. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Atlantic Ocean on the west.



At an elevation of 3404 meters, Pico de Aneto is the highest mountain peak in the Pyrenees, and the third-highest peak in Spain. Pico de Aneto is located in the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park, which spans more than 82,000 acres.&nbsp;



"Geological studies have revealed that the Pyrenees Mountains have been around for longer than the Alps, with their sediments first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras," reports ESA.



"The entire mountain range formed due to the upwelling of large sedimentary rocks by the collision of the Iberian and the Eurasian plate around 100 to 150 million years ago, followed by intense erosion from ice and water."



The western Pyrenees receive more precipitation due to moisture blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. The mountain range contains many lakes, several small glaciers, and some of the highest waterfalls in Europe.



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes two exoplanets that are orbiting a star 218 light-years away. A team of researchers led by the University of Montreal has found evidence that these planets are "water worlds."



The experts used data from NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. They discovered that exoplanets Kepler-138 c and Kepler-138 could be composed largely of water.



"We previously thought that planets that were a bit larger than Earth were big balls of metal and rock, like scaled-up versions of Earth, and that's why we called them super-Earths," explained study co-author Björn Benneke.&nbsp;



"However, we have now shown that these two planets, Kepler-138 c and d, are quite different in nature and that a big fraction of their entire volume is likely composed of water. It is the best evidence yet for water worlds, a type of planet that was theorized by astronomers to exist for a long time."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and Leah Hustak (STScI)



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> is focused on the melt ponds that emerge during the spring and summer on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.



"Melt ponds are vast pools of open water that form on both sea ice and ice sheets and are visible as turquoise-blue pools of water in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image," says ESA.



"When snow and ice melts atop glaciers, water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface. These melt ponds can speed up the melting of the surrounding ice since they greatly reduce the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight."



"This can create a positive feedback where an increasing number of melt ponds absorb more heat which causes ice cover to melt even faster."



According to ESA, Greenland has been hit with a late-season heatwave that began in early September. This caused the type of melt event that usually occurs in the middle of summer.



"In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now ‘inevitable’ even if the burning of fossil fuels were to halt overnight," says ESA. "Using satellite observations of Greenland ice loss and ice cap from 2000 to 2019, the team found the losses will lead to a minimum rise of 27 cm regardless of climate change."



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes a new map of Mars that is providing insight into the planet’s watery past. The map also reveals where future missions could safely land on Mars.&nbsp;



The map has been created over the last decade using observations of water-rich rocks and mineral deposits. The images were captured by ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.



"A big surprise is the prevalence of these minerals, with the map revealing hundreds of thousands of water-affected locations in the oldest parts of the planet," says ESA. "The new data will help answer exciting questions about Mars’ climate history, whether water was globally persistent or confined to short, intense episodes, and whether the conditions were ever suitable for life."



"Specifically, the map shows the locations and abundances of aqueous minerals. These are from rocks that have been chemically altered by the action of water in the past, and have typically been transformed into clays and salts."



According to John Carter of the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), our collective understanding of Mars has been oversimplified. He explained that planetary scientists have tended to think that only a few types of clay minerals on Mars were created during its wet period, then as the water gradually dried up, salts were produced across the planet.



The new map shows that the composition of Mars is much more complicated than what we thought. For example, while many salts formed after Martian clays, there are some salts that are presumed to be older than some of the clays.&nbsp;



“The evolution from lots of water to no water is not as clear cut as we thought, the water didn’t just stop overnight. We see a huge diversity of geological contexts, so that no one process or simple timeline can explain the evolution of the mineralogy of Mars. That’s the first result of our study. The second is that if you exclude life processes on Earth, Mars exhibits a diversity of mineralogy in geological settings just as Earth does,” said Carter.



Video Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes how cavefish adapted to a sedentary lifestyle over tens of thousands of years. 



The experts found that the muscle metabolism of cavefish has been genetically reprogrammed over time. As a result, the animals have experienced major changes in their morphology and behavior. Despite these changes, however, the cavefish remain healthy and fit.



The research may provide new clues about the evolutionary consequences of prolonged physical inactivity in humans.&nbsp;



“It’s no surprise that people are moving less and less as technology has advanced,” said Rohner. “With cavefish, we have a unique system where we can study what might happen if people remained couch potatoes over very, very long periods of time.”



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> some of the most incredible waves in the world, as seen by Landsat satellites.



"With more than 370,000 miles of coastline on Earth, there are plenty of places where epic waves build up, curl over, and hurtle toward the shore.- much to the thrill of surfers," says NASA. "There are some places where these waves are so magnificent that they can be seen from space."



"With the broad perspective of satellites, we can see how these iconic waves develop into the world’s tallest, longest, fastest, and heaviest."



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes why satellite images and measurements of our planet have become "essential to our survival, offering a new outlook of our world."&nbsp;



Rising sea levels pose one of the biggest societal threats associated with climate change. According to ESA, satellite altimeter missions such as Copernicus Sentinel-6 are essential in monitoring global and regional changes in sea level.



"Unbeknown to many, the island of Crete, Greece, plays an important role in the Copernicus satellite altimetry constellation and on an international stage," reports ESA.



"Satellite altimetry data have to be continuously monitored at the ESA’s Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration where different techniques have pioneered the use of transponders to provide the best measurements to validate satellite altimeters in space soon after launch."



Dr. Craig Donlon explains that, by understanding planet Earth through satellite measurements, we are able to find evidence of change.&nbsp;



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Satellites have become essential to our survival

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