Tag Archives: Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Climate Change & Anthropocene Extinction 25: Congo rainforest shows drying trend – and degradation

The climate over the Congolese rainforests (in the central tropics of Africa) seems to show a drying trend over the last four decades. And although this deviation is smaller than multi-annual variation, the average decline in precipitation does lead to … Continue reading →

Climate Change & Anthropocene Extinction 13: Being small is no guaranteed climate change survival strategy

If you live inside a heap of compost in someone’s backyard, your life may already feel quite miserable. But if you’re really tiny, at least you’re probably thinking your chances of surviving climate chance are –comparatively– okay. Well, our dear … Continue reading →

Climate Change & Anthropocene Extinction 7: Species’ competition increases biodiversity loss predictions

Quickly migrating species can keep track of climate change by migrating along the optimum of their climate zone habitat. Paradoxically these species increase the pressure on slower dispersers, increasing their extinction risk. Overall, adding such complex interspecies interaction to models … Continue reading →

Noise pollution hurts plant life too

A growing body of research shows that birds and other animals change their behavior in response to manmade noise, such as the din of traffic or the hum of machinery. But human clamor doesn’t just affect animals. Because many animals also pollinate plants or eat or disperse their seeds, human noise can have ripple effects on plants too, finds a new study.

Noise pollution plants

A new study finds that man-made noise has ripple effects on plants such as piñon pine, whose natural seed dispersers tend to avoid noisy areas. Photo courtesy of Clinton Francis, NESCent.


Continue reading →

Hundreds of millions of years ago the oceans teamed with eel-like conodonts that had incredibly sharp teeth, fossils show

The tiny teeth of a long-extinct vertebrate – with tips only two micrometres across: one twentieth the width of a human hair – are the sharpest dental structures ever measured, new research from the University of Bristol and Monash University, … Continue reading →

Inter-ocean transport before the age of globalisation

What happens on a daily basis now, used to occur just twice in millions of years – for this one horn snail at least. Snail’s airlift chance before age of globalisation: mistaking heron’s leg for reed?