Species diversity can arise without influence from geographical barriers

September 26th, 2009 LONDON - American scientists have suggested that growing mountains may give rise to new species, thus making them cradles of evolution. "The major times of (species) diversification directly coincide with times of large tectonic events," Catherine Badgley, a palaeontologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, told Nature News.

September 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new revision of the taxonomic relationships among one group of moths, the subfamily Dioptinae, sheds light on the diversity of tropical moth species and presents a unique story of parallel evolution. "These diurnal moths are a microcosm of butterfly evolution," said James Miller, author of the new Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History and a research associate in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the Museum.

July 29th, 2009 TORONTO - Botanists have identified a pair of genes which can help catalogue plants worldwide, using a technique known as DNA bar coding. "Bar coding provides an efficient means by which we can discover the many undescribed species that exist on earth," said Spencer Barrett, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Toronto (U-T), who led the study.

July 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has come up with the strongest evidence yet that noise pollution negatively influences the nesting habits of birds. The study also indicates that at least a few species opt for noisy areas over quiet ones, perhaps because of their vocalisation pitches, a reduction in nest predators and less competition from other song birds that prefer quiet environments.

July 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have constructed a new time-calibrated family tree for ferns, which has indicated that while modern tropical rain forests were becoming established, ferns climbed aboard, and experienced a flowering of their own species diversity. The family tree for ferns was created by Duke University researcher Eric Schuettpelz, along with associate professor Kathleen Pryer.

July 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden have suggested that toxic algal blooms are created when aggressive algae kill and injure their competitors in order to absorb the nutrients they contain. "The behaviour of the algae can be compared to that of blood-sucking insects," said Per Jonsson of the Department of Marine Ecology.

June 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have discovered a unique species of a thumb-sized bat in a volcanic island in Africa's Comoros chain. According to a report in National Geographic News, weighing just 0.2 ounce (5 grams), the bat is a unique species, as confirmed by a DNA analysis later on.

June 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has revealed that the increasing fragmentation of forest patches by roads and development are making them isolated green islands, which can lose species and biological diversity. The study, by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers, is revealing that decades of fragmentation of Wisconsin's forests have taken a largely unseen toll on the sustainability of these natural ecosystems.

June 11th, 2009 Judge finds violation in Calif. forest planningLOS ANGELES — Federal agencies violated the Endangered Species Act by developing plans for four national forests in California without adequately addressing the impact on endangered animals, a judge ruled.

June 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has indicated that African bird species could struggle to relocate to survive global warming because natural features of the landscape will limit where they can move to. As the global climate changes, some land bird species will be forced to move to new habitats, expanding and shifting their natural geographical 'range', in order to maintain suitable living conditions.

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 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The loss of endangered species sends alarm bells ringing among conservationists, but what happens to the parasites they host? Although most people would side with the panda over the parasite, which group should we worry about more? North Carolina State University (NCSU) biologist Rob Dunn and colleagues examined the concept of co-extinction, the loss of one species upon the extinction of another. "Decline in host species could drive parasite species to switch onto alternative hosts, which could escalate the rate of emerging pathogens and parasites both for humans and our domesticated animals and plants," Dunn said.

May 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists are, for the first time, objectively evaluating ways to help species adapt to rapid climate change and other environmental threats via strategies that were considered too radical for serious consideration as recently as five or 10 years ago. Among these radical strategies currently being considered is so-called "managed relocation." Managed relocation, which is also known as "assisted migration," involves manually moving species into more accommodating habitats where they are not currently found.

March 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has found that families of animals grouped together by a similar body plan, with the greatest diversity of species, were also those with the largest range of body sizes. The research was carried out by the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) researchers in the US, as part of an analysis of body sizes across all orders of animal life.

February 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A human mouth houses a flourishing community of over 600 different kinds of bugs or microbiome. But like fingerprints, no two microbiomes are alike, say scientists.