Discoveries Archive
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Winners and Losers in a Maturing Forest
While Vermont’s forest and wetland bird species are generally doing well, a recent survey documented a significant decline of grassland and shrubland birds. The Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas, carried out every 25 years, is a population survey that aims to map the distribution of all of the breeding birds in the state. Using a grid system of 5-kilometer blocks, about… (more)
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Poplars Separated at Birth
Most gardeners are familiar with what has become known as “the nursery effect,” in which genetically identical plants acquired from different nurseries grow and respond to stress differently. According to Malcolm Campbell, a professor of biology at the University of Toronto at Scarborough, these differences arise because of a kind of “molecular memory,” in which a tree’s previous experiences influence… (more)
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Outsider Disrupts Relationship
One of the most important relationships in the forest is between mycorrhizal fungi, a highly diverse group of soil microbes, and a wide variety of tree and understory plant species. The fungi attach themselves to plant roots and create a network of fungal filaments that extend the plant’s root system. The plants’ photosynthesis provides energy to the fungi, while the… (more)
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The Wind and the Willows
While it is well known that wind causes trees to sway, University of Connecticut researcher Mark Rudnicki says that the movement of trees also affects the wind. “Wind gusts have a structure that moves like a wave,” said Rudnicki. “You can see those waves moving through a field of grass, which is called honami in Japanese. In a forest, the… (more)
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Migration and Infection
Global travel raises concerns among public health officials that a disease outbreak in one part of the world will quickly and easily spread elsewhere. The same is commonly believed to be true with wild migratory animals, especially birds, as was the case with the rapid spread of West Nile virus. But new research by a University of Georgia scientist reveals… (more)
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Lichens Break Down Prions
The chemical compounds in lichens have long been known to have antibiotic and antiviral properties. Pharmaceutical companies have been studying these properties for years. But recently, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center found that those same compounds can break down the infectious proteins that cause chronic wasting disease, a devastating neurological disease fatal to moose, elk,… (more)
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Seasonally Affected Dating Disorder
It appears that Sadie Hawkins Day has made its way into the butterfly world. Or, more likely, the sex role reversal when women ask men out for a date got its start with insects and only recently migrated to the human world. But for butterflies that produce young in more than one season each year, it all depends on the… (more)
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Trees: Now With Thirty Percent More Absorption!
While it has long been known that plants absorb carbon dioxide for use in photosynthesis, a new study has found that plants play a larger role than previously thought in absorbing certain types of air pollutants from the atmosphere. A study led by Thomas Karl, a scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, used direct measurements, gene… (more)
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Evolution in Small Spaces
When Mark Urban noticed that some vernal pools contained an abundance of certain salamanders but the same species was scarce or absent in other nearby pools, he wondered why. What the University of Connecticut researcher found was quite surprising. The difference in the abundance had little to do with the environmental conditions in the various ponds and a great deal… (more)
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Where Have All the Pollinators Gone?
Pollinators make the world go ’round, but according to a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences, their populations are in rapid decline. Shrinking numbers of insects, bats, birds, and other animals that pollinate the world’s 240,000 species of flowering plants, the report warns, could affect plant survival everywhere, including that of many agricultural crops. The report states that… (more)