Herbivore | Jotup

Morocco dinosaur discovery gives clues on why they went extinct

Retrieved on:

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Giant, Great Plains, Darkness, Cretaceous, Dust, Bird, Deer, Tibia, Flood, Foot, Geography, Food, Dinosaur, Elephant, Fossil, Ecosystem, Herbivore, River, Asteroid, Drowning, Science, Food chain, Chicxulub crater, Museum, Environment

And that suggests their demise came suddenly, with the impact of a giant asteroid.

Key Points:

And that suggests their demise came suddenly, with the impact of a giant asteroid.
The discovery of the 180km-wide Chixculub asteroid impact crater in Mexico suggested a sudden extinction of dinosaurs and other species, driven by the impact.
But others have argued that a long, slow decline in dinosaur diversity contributed to their extinction.
It’s not just that dinosaur fossils are so rare; the fossil record is also patchy.
Because it’s such a huge landmass, Africa probably had far more dinosaur species than North America.

What we’ve found

Dinosaurs may have swum out to islands searching for food, as deer and elephants do today, and some might have drowned.
Other dinosaurs might have been washed out to sea by floods or storms, or drowned in rivers that carried them downstream to the ocean.
And so, studying marine beds, and working over many years, we’ve slowly put together a picture of Africa’s last dinosaurs, bone by bone.
It was smaller than Chenanisaurus, about five metres long – small by dinosaur standards, but large compared to modern predators.
If so, that means dinosaurs were cut down in their prime; burning out rather than fading away.

What our findings show

For over 100 million years, they evolved and diversified, producing a remarkable range of species: predators, herbivores, aquatic species, even flying forms, the birds.
Then in a single, catastrophic moment, everything was wiped out in the months of darkness caused by dust and soot from the impact.

Nicholas R. Longrich does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Your unique smell can provide clues about how healthy you are

Retrieved on:

Friday, February 9, 2024

They give clues about who we are, and how healthy we are.

Key Points:

They give clues about who we are, and how healthy we are.
Since ancient Greek times, we’ve known that we smell differently when we are unwell.
While we rely on blood analysis today, ancient Greek physicians used smell to diagnose maladies.
This discovery has led to research programmes involving Joy Milner to identify the precise smell of this disease.

Where do VOCs come from?

Sweating produces extra nutrients for these bacteria to metabolise which can result in particularly odorous VOCs.
Odour from sweat only makes up a fraction of the scents from VOCs though.
Scientists think skin VOCs can offer insights into how the microbiome’s bacteria and the human body work together to maintain our health and protect us from disease.
We use mass spectrometry to see this as the average human nose is not sophisticated enough to detect these VOCs.

What has science shown about love pheromones?

Mice for example have microbes which contribute to a particularly smelly compound called trimethylamine, which allows mice to verify the species of a potential mate.
Scientists have yet to fully decode skin – or other VOCs that are released from our bodies.
But evidence for human love pheromones so far is controversial at best.

Aoife Morrin receives funding from Science Foundation Ireland.

If plants can pick fungi to help fight pests and diseases, it opens a door to greener farming and ecosystem recovery

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Partnership, Nutrient, Fungus, Plant, Research, Agriculture, Life, Soil, Carbon, Ecosystem, Herbivore, Truffle

This alliance between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi is one of the oldest biological partnerships on Earth.

Key Points:

This alliance between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi is one of the oldest biological partnerships on Earth.
Going back almost half-a-billion years, this relationship paved the way for plants to make it onto land.
These early plants, simple and without the complex root systems of plants today, forged an alliance with fungi.
These fungi grow into roots where the plants supply them with the carbon (as sugar and fat) they need to survive.

Harnessing the ancient alliance

Studies show AM fungi can have huge benefits for ecosystem restoration by supporting the establishment of native plant communities.
While there is ample evidence of the benefits AM fungi can provide for crops, results in the field are inconsistent.

Do plants pick their fungal partners for defence?

The benefit a plant gets from its fungal partners is, in part, determined by which species are present within its roots.
We can apply AM fungi to the soil but this doesn’t mean these fungi will actually partner up with the plant.
Plants provide the fungi with carbon they need, and the fungi provide benefits to the plants.
Given that we know plants can play favourites, could they select their fungi to boost defence?

A complex question with big implications

When a plant is under attack by pests, this compromises its ability to supply carbon to its fungal allies, as its carbon resources are strained.
It has big implications for farming, conservation and restoring damaged environments.

Knowing how plants select fungal allies would pave the way for better-defended crops, reducing the need to apply synthetic pesticides.
The possibility that plants can identify and select fungi based on the benefits they derive opens up exciting new frontiers in ecological research.

Carlos Aguilar-Trigueros receives funding from the Research Council of Finland and the Humboldt Foundation (Germany).
Jeff Powell receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the NSW Department of Planning and Environment and the Future Food Systems Limited Cooperative Research Centre.

Animals keep eating precious plants – we used ‘smell misinformation’ to keep them away

Retrieved on:

Monday, February 5, 2024

Nature Ecology and Evolution, Deer, Plant, Survival, Smell, Agriculture, Research, Herbivore, Food, Seedling, Tree, University, Animal, Eating, Water, Forestry, Risk, Farmer, Elephant

In places where we need to protect valuable plants – whether for ecological or economic reasons – local herbivores can cause significant damage.

Key Points:

In places where we need to protect valuable plants – whether for ecological or economic reasons – local herbivores can cause significant damage.
But this is increasingly unacceptable due to animal welfare concerns and social pressures.
Recently, our team discovered that herbivores – plant-eating mammals – primarily use their sense of smell to tell which plants they want to eat or avoid.

Herbivore-induced headaches

They can devastate revegetation efforts and post-fire recovery, destroying more than half the seedlings in these areas.
Every year, they cause billions of dollars of damage in forestry and agriculture.
Read more:
How to fool a mouse: ‘chemical camouflage’ can hide crops and cut losses by over 60%

A landscape of smells

In navigating a scent landscape, herbivores use odour to recognise and select among plants and plant patches. Odour is key in guiding the foraging of marsupials in Australia, elephants in Africa and Asia, and deer in the United States. With this in mind, we explored whether the smell of a plant they don’t like could be enough to nudge animals away from highly palatable native tree seedlings.

Studies have shown having too many swamp wallabies around can limit the number of eucalypt seedlings that survive to become trees.
Swamp wallabies also have a fantastic sense of smell – they can find just a few eucalypt leaves buried underground among complex vegetation.
Using odours instead of real plants is a type of olfactory misinformation – it sends a deceptive message to the animals.

Real and virtual neighbours

We also compared if virtual neighbours were as good as the real thing in protecting eucalypt seedlings from being eaten by wallabies.
Five virtual neighbour vials or real Boronia pinnata plants were spaced evenly around single eucalypt seedlings the wallabies would find highly palatable.
Seedlings were 20 times less likely to be eaten when surrounded by virtual neighbours than for both controls.

A highly effective approach

The success of our study indicates we could use this approach as a new management tool – one that works by influencing the animals’ behaviour rather than trying to get rid of them.
We believe the concept behind developing virtual neighbours is directly transferable to any herbivore, mammal or otherwise, that uses plant odour to forage.

Clare McArthur receives funding from the Australian Research Council, NSW Environmental Trust and NSW Department of Planning and Environment.
Peter Banks receives funding from the Australian Research Council, NSW Environmental Trust and NSW Department of Planning and Environment, Hermon Slade Foundation and Manaaki Whenua.

What happens to the ocean if we take out all the fish? A marine ecologist explains the complex roles fish play in their ecosystem

Retrieved on:

Monday, January 8, 2024

Kid, Bird, Sand, Nutrient, Whale, Herbivore, Human, Environment, Eating, Mammal, Plant, Animal, Water, Salmon, Food, Parrotfish, Growth, Nitrogen, Carbon, Reptile, Life, Aquaculture

What would happen to the ocean if we took out all the fish?

Key Points:

What would happen to the ocean if we took out all the fish?
– Reny, age 12
What would happen to the ocean if we took out all the fish?
– Reny, age 12 The ocean is massive and covers most of the surface of our planet.
These fish perform all kinds of roles in their ecosystems that support the lives of other organisms around them.

I’m a scientist who studies fish, their diversity and all the ways they contribute to ocean environments.

Fish as food

Fish play important roles as both predators and prey in ocean ecosystems. Thousands of species throughout the ocean and terrestrial ecosystems rely on fish for food – including people. In coral reef ecosystems, small fish are eaten by larger fish and other marine animals. This means the little fish form the base of the food web – they provide energy to the bigger fish and other creatures.

Outside of the water, many birds, mammals and reptiles eat fish and rely on them as an essential source of protein.
Even land plants can benefit from the presence of fish.
Humans also depend on fish as a food source.

Fish maintain habitats

As fish themselves forage for food, they can create and maintain important habitats for other organisms.
Without the help of these herbivores, or plant-eating fish, the algae would rapidly grow and smother the coral, effectively killing it.
Other fish create habitats for other animals and influence their environment by disturbing sand while they feed.
Despite the fact that many types of fish are confined to the ocean, their presence can be felt across many habitats.

Kory Evans receives funding from National Science Foundation.

Crocs love feral pigs and quolls have a taste for rabbit – but it doesn't solve the invasive species problem

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Rabbit, Poisoning, Biodiversity, Cat, Male, Diet, Herbivore, Snake, Sheep, News, Mammal, Rat, Plant, Ant, Quoll, Rodenticide, Name, Amphibian, Goat, Culling, Horse, Deer, Time, Reptile, Fox, Michelin, White ibis, Female, Environment, Hunting

Across the vast Australian continent, feral pigs, feral deer and European rabbits roam in their millions.

Key Points:

Across the vast Australian continent, feral pigs, feral deer and European rabbits roam in their millions.
By different names – wild boar, venison and lapin – these could all be served in a Michelin star restaurant.
Feral and invasive species are becoming popular meals for native wildlife too.

Of crocs and pigs

This seems like a much-needed good news story for the environment – a natural way to limit feral pigs, one of Australia’s most widespread and damaging invasive species.
At present, though, we don’t know for sure that crocs keep pig numbers down.
Together, this means feral pigs can endure relatively high predation rates and still persist in ecosystems in large numbers.

Of quolls and rabbits

Unfortunately, quolls are now absent or still declining in many places, due likely to competition or predation with the bigger, heavier predators Europeans introduced: feral cats and foxes.
As quolls have disappeared, rabbits may have taken advantage of the predatory void and expanded.
Fast-breeding rabbits are now arguably Australia’s worst invasive alien species.

Dangerous dinners

Cane toads have devastated some native species such as northern quolls, which naturally prey on native amphibians but cannot survive toad toxin.
Regrettably, a recent attempt to train quolls not to eat cane toads appears to have failed.
European house mice and introduced rats can be easy prey for owls, snakes, and many other native predators.

Invasive prey aren’t going away

As time goes on, invasive prey species can become regular meals for native predators – and part of the food web.
When we try to remove invasive prey species from ecosystems, we must take a big picture view and proceed with great caution.
When feral cats were killed off on New Zealand’s Little Barrier island, it was done with the best intentions: protect the seabirds nesting there.
But with the cats gone, invasive rat populations surged and soon began killing the seabird chicks.

Euan Ritchie receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Action. Euan is a Councillor within the Biodiversity Council, and a member of the Ecological Society of Australia and the Australian Mammal Society.

'The boss of Country', not wild dogs to kill: living with dingoes can unite communities

Retrieved on:

Monday, October 2, 2023

They are arguably our most maligned, misunderstood, and mismanaged native species.

Key Points:

They are arguably our most maligned, misunderstood, and mismanaged native species.
Since colonisation, Australian governments and land managers have trapped, shot, poisoned and excluded dingoes from large parts of their Country.
By collaborating and drawing from both Indigenous and Western knowledge, we can find ways to live in harmony with our apex predator.

How are dingoes currently treated?

In the Northern Territory, Queensland and Victoria, dingoes are managed as protected wildlife in National Parks and conservation areas but they’re unprotected on private land.
In Western Australia, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales, dingoes are unprotected wildlife.
This is based on the mistaken belief that interbreeding between dingoes and dogs was widespread across Australia.
Read more:
New DNA testing shatters 'wild dog' myth: most dingoes are pure

Stark contrasts in dingo management

Stretching more than 5,600km across Australia, the dingo barrier fence is the longest continuous artificial environmental barrier in the world.
In South Australia, dingoes south of the “dingo fence” are declared “wild dogs” and subject to an eradication policy.
The existence of an isolated and threatened “Big Desert” wilkerr (dingo) population on the border between these two states highlights their differing approaches.

What do dingoes mean to First Nations peoples?

Despite the harms of colonisation on dingoes and First Nations, Indigenous people continue to feel and nurture this connection to dingoes.
Maintaining their culture means fulfilling the general cultural obligation and rights of First Nations peoples to protect this sacred animal.
The national dingo declaration is clear: First Nations peoples want an immediate end to the “genocide” (deliberate killing) of dingoes on Country.
The recent Victorian decision to maintain lethal control of dingo populations against the wishes of First Nations peoples is extremely disappointing.

Non-lethal ways to protect livestock

While lethal methods have historically been used to protect livestock from dingoes, there is growing awareness of their limitations.
Firstly, these methods have not been consistently effective in eliminating livestock losses.
It may also alter how successful they are at hunting kangaroos, causing more attacks on livestock.
These guardian animals establish protective bonds with livestock and effectively deter dingoes from approaching, reducing livestock losses for graziers.

Working and walking together

We would like to acknowledge retired graziers Angus and Karen Emmott and family from far North Queensland.
Bradley Smith is an unpaid director of the Australian Dingo Foundation, a non-profit environmental charity that advocates for dingo conservation.
He also serves as a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) dingo working group, which is part of their Species Survival Commission (Canids Specialist Group).

Meet the gigantic extinct reptile that weighed as much as an adult black rhino

Retrieved on:

Sunday, July 30, 2023

They were among the first large terrestrial animals to evolve and did so rapidly, quickly becoming some of the most abundant plant-eating animals worldwide.

Key Points:

They were among the first large terrestrial animals to evolve and did so rapidly, quickly becoming some of the most abundant plant-eating animals worldwide.
At least 21 separate species evolved before all pareiasaurs were wiped out about 252 million years ago during the Permian-Triassic extinction event.
One large, abundant species, Bradysaurus, from the middle Permian Period, was found in South Africa and scientifically described in 1892.
That means both of these pareiasaurs, from different hemispheres and living in different times, weighed in at about the mass of a large adult black rhino or a large domestic bull.

A new method

These formulas were derived from large sets of measurements of the limb bones of modern animals whose masses can be measured directly.
These animals often had a sprawling posture and, as a result, thickened bones.
Read more:
Technology and planning help museums manage outdated exhibitions
We used a new volumetric method to determine a more realistic mass estimate.
If they were accurate, the density of the animal’s tissues would have been greater than sandstone or concrete.

Body size in herbivores

Bradysaurus’s large size is best explained by a negative relationship between food digestibility and body mass.
It predicts the evolution of large body size in herbivores that ingest copious, low-quality plant material.
Plants are hard to digest, and a plant-based diet typically results in a large body size – herbivores are typically substantially heavier than other dietary groups in living animals.
Alternatively, or maybe in conjunction with the evolution of herbivory, the large body size of Bradysaurus may also have evolved as protection from co-existing predators.

How to move without legs or wings: Helping trees migrate to new regions

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

While it is true that individual trees are immobile, as a species they can actually move and migrate as well as birds do!

Key Points:

While it is true that individual trees are immobile, as a species they can actually move and migrate as well as birds do!
We hope you have a pleasant — and informative — walk through the forest!
This is what we will explore in this article, the first in our new summer series.
As researchers in forest ecophysiology, we study basic tree physical functions and relate them to broader ecological dynamics.

The moving forest

After some time, these seedlings will start producing new seeds and contribute to this slow geographical expansion.
However, new seedlings require years, often decades to grow and produce seeds that can migrate further than their parents.

Fast changes, slow trees

No natural warming event in the past has occurred at a comparable rate.
Such rapid changes are putting great pressure on forest ecosystems, particularly by modifying habitat conditions.
The migration speeds of the vast majority of tree species are slower than the shift of favourable habitats.

Helping trees migrate

This motivates researchers and forest managers to consider new approaches to solving this problem, including assisted migration.
Artificial seed transfer and planting can accelerate the natural migration process and help overcome geographical barriers, such as mountain ranges or large water surfaces.
Since the latter presents higher ecological risks, it is generally only considered for the conservation of endangered species.

A Canadian example

At the same time, researchers have found that areas near the northern limit of maple’s range are becoming increasingly suitable for this species.
In this case, assisted migration could help northern forests adapt faster to new conditions, and provide valuable services such as maple syrup production.

Pioneers

In 2019, the University of Québec in Chicoutimi (UQAC) established an experimental sugar maple plantation at the northern edge of its range, in the Saguenay region of Québec.
In a few decades, excellent maple syrup may be produced here, in addition to all the valuable scientific data collected up to that point.

Trials on migration

Here, the effects of factors such as microclimate, herbivore browsing and plant competition on tree establishment and growth can be tested.
This type of experimental study provides valuable information on the characteristics that can help or hinder the success of assisted migration projects.
Implementing scientific trials today can help us fully understand the dynamics and risks of assisted migration, so that we can make the best forest management choices for future years and generations.
She has received funding from the Green Economy Plan of the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks of the Government of Quebec.

Pablo Escobar's 'cocaine hippos' are a problem -- but a lot of thought is going into preventing their spread

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Euthanasia, Association, Male, Human, Method, Solution, Research, Attention, Sale, Animal, Population, River, Time, Poisoning, Water, Fertility, Magdalena River, Herbivore, Pepe, Hacienda, Environment, Female, Lake, Drug, Hunting, Animal husbandry, Agriculture, Trapping

A car collided with the animal at speed leaving it dead on the road.

Key Points:

A car collided with the animal at speed leaving it dead on the road.
Hippo attacks on people are on the rise and an illegal trafficking industry has developed around their capture and sale.
By excreting waste into lakes and rivers, hippos can change the composition of the surrounding water.
But how to best manage them has long troubled the country’s environment ministry.

Managing Escobar’s hippos

The culling promptly ended and the fate of the remaining hippos is now to be decided by two ongoing legal cases.
It is, however, a controversial strategy and would involve up to 30 hippos a year being killed.
Those who oppose the strategy argue that it is clearly not in the interests of the hippos.
The fertility control programme will use a drug called Porcine Zona Pellucida to reduce the fertility of the female hippos.

Good invasive species management?

Controlling hippo fertility will not immediately reduce the wild population.
As a result, it risks prolonging the threat of conflict between humans and hippos.
Funding may be diverted away from conservation efforts elsewhere in favour of humanely tackling Colombia’s rising hippo population.

Moving Forward

Many countries allow invasive animals to be killed by any means necessary to control their population.
The Colombian hippo case demonstrates that invasive animal species can be controlled and have their interests taken into account at the same time.
But it is important to recognise that when compared to other invasive species, these hippos may have been given preferential treatment.
There are, however, some aspects of the Colombian hippo case that could be applied to invasive species management more broadly.