ecology

Feb 10, 2015

Exploring the Deep Sea: Adventures of a Researcher in the Field

For centuries, scientists thought that all life depended on the sun. They were wrong. 

Dec 2, 2014

Study Finds Insects Play Important Role in Dealing with Garbage on NYC Streets

In the city that never sleeps, it’s easy to overlook the insects underfoot. But that doesn’t mean they’re not working hard. A new study shows that insects play a significant role in disposing of garbage on the streets of Manhattan. 

Nov 12, 2014

Inhabit(ants) of New York City: High Diversity Underfoot in Urban Environments

Cities have more species diversity than you’d expect. A study of ants in Manhattan found not only a wide range of species, but also significant differences in the levels of biodiversity in different urban areas. 

Sep 12, 2014

The Night of the Elephants: Adventures of a Researcher in the Field

Scientists are more likely to have adventures than many people with more mundane jobs. Stephanie Schuttler is a good example. 

Aug 28, 2014

Cities as a Glimpse of the Future

How researchers learned that cities may serve as a crystal ball for the impact of climate change on an important insect pest. 

Aug 27, 2014

Museum Specimens, Modern Cities Show How an Insect Pest Will Respond to Climate Change

Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that century-old museum specimens hold clues to how global climate change will affect a common insect pest that can weaken and kill trees – and the news is not good. 

Jul 30, 2014

Urbanization: Good for Pests, Bad for Trees

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Steve Frank, an assistant professor of entomology at NC State.The post first appeared on Frank’s blog, Insect Ecology and Integrated Pest Management. My wife is from a neighborhood outside Baltimore called Lawyers Hill. This is where, in the 18th century, lawyers (and I assume doctors and other gentlemen)… 

Jun 23, 2014

Carnivore Mystery: Why Fishers Thrive in East, Not West

For weasel-like fishers it’s a good time to live in the East. The fierce little carnivores are reclaiming historic habitats, including the Bronx, New York, where police have photographed one fisher. But it’s a different story for fishers in the West, which haven’t been as successful in repopulating areas they once roamed in the Pacific… 

Mar 13, 2014

What’s Eating You?

It’s a jungle out there. Humans can be infected by more than 1,400 parasites – viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc. It can be bad enough when one nasty parasite takes hold – it’s certainly no fun to be stricken with tuberculosis – but what happens if you have two simultaneous infections? If one infection is diagnosed… 

Feb 27, 2014

Caught on Camera: Tree-Dwelling Orangutans on Ground

When researchers in Borneo set up camera traps to monitor tropical mammals on the ground, they didn’t expect to be photobombed by orangutans. In the wild, humans rarely see the red apes come down from the trees, says Dr. Rahel Sollmann, an NC State postdoctoral researcher in fisheries and wildlife. Sollmann helped analyze a database of… 

Jan 8, 2014

Poisonous Water Leads to Bigger, But Fewer, Fish Babies

Living in extreme environments often entails taking extreme measures to survive. Live-bearing fish mothers in toxic North and South American waters try to give their offspring the best chance at surviving the harsh environment by giving birth to big babies, according to research published in Ecology Letters. The study examining nine different live-bearing fish species… 

Dec 11, 2013

Tree Change: Is Raleigh Becoming More Like Baltimore?

Could Raleigh, proudly known as the City of Oaks, end up having much less tree cover, like Baltimore? Though it’s not likely that Raleigh will have to rethink its New Year’s Eve drop of the giant acorn any time soon, planners and policy makers need to take steps to prevent the City of Oaks from… 

Aug 15, 2013

New Carnivore in the Cloud Forest

A two-pound mammal that looks like a cross between a house cat and a teddy bear has a claim to fame as the first new carnivore species discovered in the Western Hemisphere in 35 years. Today, scientists in Washington, D.C., and Raleigh unveiled the olonguito (oh-lin-GHEE-toe), a member of the same family as raccoons, coatis,… 

Jul 1, 2013

Is This Mouse a Pirate?

Did a field researcher somehow capture a pirate mouse? No! This raffish rodent is part of a study that is evaluating how harvesting plants for use in biofuels is affecting ecosystems. The photographer, NC State Ph.D. student Sarah Fritts, took the photo – and explains what we’re looking at. “Renewable energy likely will become the dominant… 

Jun 27, 2013

Art Installation? Or Research Project?

Sometimes science presents us with pretty fantastic images. When I saw this photo, from a research team led by NC State’s Nick Haddad, I had to find out what these students were doing. Here’s his explanation: “Understanding dispersal is difficult. Understanding dispersal of little things, like small insects or seeds, is nearly impossible. This photo is…