Evolution in animals is faster in regions with warmer climates

September 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Analysis of a rock type found only in the world's oldest oceans has shed new light on how large animals first got a foothold on the Earth. By analysing the isotopes of chromium in iron-rich sediments formed in the ancient oceans, a scientific team, led by Professor Robert Frei at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, has found that a rise in atmospheric oxygen levels 580 million years ago was closely followed by the evolution of animal life.

September 10th, 2009 Effects of Arctic warming seen as widespreadWASHINGTON — Arctic warming is affecting plants, birds, animals and insects as ice melts and the growing season changes, scientists report in a new review of the many impacts climate change is having on the far north. As the global climate changes, the Arctic Circle has been warming faster than other regions and scientists have documented a series of affects on wildlife in the region.

August 25th, 2009 LONDON - In a new research, scientists have found that plankton, the basis of marine food webs, might grow faster in warmed up oceans. The sheer diversity of ocean food webs has made experts fear it would be impossible to predict how climate change will affect marine ecology.

August 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - NASA-funded research has found that humans not might be walking on Earth today if not for the ancient fusing of two microscopic, single-celled organisms called prokaryotes 2.5 billion years ago, which reveals a new pathway for the evolution of life on Earth. By comparing proteins present in more than 3000 different prokaryotes - a type of single-celled organism without a nucleus - molecular biologist James A.

August 13th, 2009 LONDON - A team of scientists has used satellite images to determine that the highest mountains are located near the equator because warmer climates enhance mountain growth. Three things control how high a mountain range is likely to grow: the strength of the underlying crust, the magnitude of tectonic forces pushing upwards, and the amount of erosion wearing the mountains down.

July 28th, 2009 SYDNEY - Mammals living in the tropics are evolving faster than those inhabiting cooler regions, according to a new study. Previously, it had been assumed that rates of genetic change in warm-blooded animals were independent of climate.

July 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, scientists have found evidence that the earliest animals on Earth lived in lakes. Conventional wisdom has it that animal evolution began in the ocean, with animal life adapting much later in Earth history to terrestrial environments.

July 7th, 2009 SYDNEY - The melting of West Antarctic ice sheet, Antarctica's most vulnerable part, could raise global sea levels by up to five metres. "Polar ice sheets have grown and collapsed at least 40 times over the past five million years, causing major sea-level fluctuations," says Tim Naish, deputy director of Victoria University's Antarctic Research Centre (ARC).

June 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research indicates that high ozone conditions causes a 30 percent decrease in yield and an increase in the concentration of a group of toxic compounds within oilseed rape plants. Scientists arrived at these findings by combining the results of previous studies which have shown a decrease in oil, protein and carbohydrate content of oilseed rape seeds in high ozone.

June 21st, 2009 LONDON - Tyrannosaurus rex, the best-known predatory species, may have been far more lithe than previously thought, researchers have discovered. In a new study, boffins have claimed that dinosaurs may have been much lighter and sleeker than earlier believed because of potential flaws in the equations used to calculate their weight, reports The Times.

June 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Same-sex behaviour can be found in almost all species in the animal kingdom - from worms to birds - making the practice nearly universal among animals, according to a new review of existing research. "It's clear that same-sex sexual behaviour extends far beyond the well-known examples that dominate both the scientific and popular literature: for example, bonobos, dolphins, penguins and fruit flies," said Nathan Bailey, the first author of the review paper and a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biology at UC Riverside.

June 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An analysis has revealed that caribou and reindeer numbers worldwide have plunged almost 60 percent in the last three decades. The dramatic revelation came out of the first ever comprehensive census analysis of this iconic species carried out by biologists at the University of Alberta in Canada.

June 5th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has shown that different genes can cause loss of body parts in similar fish, by comparing how 2 species of sticklebacks lost pelvises and body armor. The research, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Divisions of Environmental Biology and Integrative Organismal Systems, shows that when two species of stickleback fish evolved and lost their pelvises and body armor, different genes in each species caused the changes.

June 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has shown that mammals change their dietary niches based on climate-driven environmental changes, contradicting a common assumption that species maintain their niches despite global warming. Led by Florida Museum of Natural History vertebrate paleontologist Larisa DeSantis, researchers examined fossil teeth from mammals at two sites representing different climates in Florida: a glacial period about 1.9 million years ago and a warmer, interglacial period about 1.3 million years ago.

March 10th, 2009 LONDON - A higher metabolism was earlier thought to lead to a shorter lifespan, but that may not be true, according to a new study. The study led by Lobke Vaanholt of University of Groningen, The Netherlands, found that mice with an increased metabolism live just as long as those with slower metabolic rates.