Okay, so people have seen this video about owls five million times since zefrank1 published it on YouTube last July (photo: ear of an owl). Zefrank1 owls is still one … [Read full article]
Tag: prey
Trapped Western Screech Owl Flies Again
Western Screech Owl (Megascops kennicottii) from Montana (source: nice-cool-pics.com). Last week, a small, grayish tufted screech owl found itself in big trouble. Softly gliding at dusk through a forested northern … [Read full article]
Googling for Extinction – Popular Algorithm Finds Food Webs' Critical Species
Two ecologist discover that by adapting Google’s Page Rank algorithm they were able to “reverse engineer” the collapse of food webs, and thus determining which species in a given web are most critical to the web’s existence.
'Harmless' Fish Species Survives 'Dead Zone', Turns Predator & Restores Ecosystem
The ‘bearded goby’ (Sufflogobius bibarbatus), a small, common, prey species of fish, has become adapted to the “toxic” conditions near the sea floor of this pelagic zone. Analysis of the fish’s gut has shown that up to 60% of its diet consists of jellyfish–a marine creature few animals prey upon due to their venomous stings. Remarkably, the fish has become the pivotal player in a newly emergent ecosystem.
World's Marine Plankton in Peril – 40% Decline Since 1950
Phytoplankton–tiny, marine plants that formthe basis of our oceans’ food chain–absorb and sequester large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere and generate half of the world’s oxygen supply. Given such an important ecosystem service as this, one would hope that our oceans’ algae numbers stay high…but, the results of a three year data analysis are anything but encouraging.