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Wasp masters turn enslaved spiders into zombies to build their nests
Parasitic wasp larvae drug their orb spider hosts into altering their normal webs to create a perfect nest for them to transform into adult wasps
People associate wasps with memories of picnic invasions, BBQs under siege, and painful stings. There is a lot more to these much-maligned insects though, and with more than 100,000 different species, their life histories range from the quietly unobtrusive to the bizarre and gruesome. A new study in the Journal of Experimental Biology documents one such disturbing example of wasp larvae that takes control of their unfortunate spider hosts.
The Japanese scientists behind the study thought the host-parasite relationship between the wasp Reclinervellus nielseni (most wasps have only a scientific name) and its orb-weaver spider host Cyclosa argenteoalba could help us understand how parasitic organisms alter their host’s behaviour.
Continue reading...Draft Outcomes-based conditions policy and guidance
National Taxonomy Grants 2016–2017 Research and Capacity-Building Grants
Are plants intelligent? New book says yes
A new book, Brilliant Green, argues that not only are plants intelligent and sentient, but that we should consider their rights, especially in the midst of the Sixth Mass Extinction
Plants are intelligent. Plants deserve rights. Plants are like the Internet – or more accurately the Internet is like plants. To most of us these statements may sound, at best, insupportable or, at worst, crazy. But a new book, Brilliant Green: the Surprising History and Science of Plant Intelligence, by plant neurobiologist (yes, plant neurobiologist), Stefano Mancuso and journalist, Alessandra Viola, makes a compelling and fascinating case not only for plant sentience and smarts, but also plant rights.
For centuries Western philosophy and science largely viewed animals as unthinking automatons, simple slaves to instinct. But research in recent decades has shattered that view. We now know that not only are chimpanzees, dolphins and elephants thinking, feeling and personality-driven beings, but many others are as well. Octopuses can use tools, whales sing, bees can count, crows demonstrate complex reasoning, paper wasps can recognise faces and fish can differentiate types of music. All these examples have one thing in common: they are animals with brains. But plants don’t have a brain. How can they solve problems, act intelligently or respond to stimuli without a brain?
Northern Territory Offshore Net and Line Fishery
Flying Ant Day: the science behind the summer swarms
Did a swarm of frisky flying insects put a dampener on your weekend barbecue? Well, there’s a good reason – for a brief period each summer, millions of flying ants appear in Britain for a short frenzy of mid-air mating. This year, what’s known as Flying Ant Day fell on Sunday and colonies were spotted erupting out of pavements, spilling into gardens, bedrooms, on to sofas and even riding the London Underground.
Flying Ant Day is actually a bit of a misnomer, says Professor Adam Hart of the University of Gloucestershire. A flying ant survey he has run with the Royal Society of Biology since 2012 has found that the idea of one synchronised 24-hour period of emergence is a myth. Sometimes they come out over a few days, or even weeks.
Continue reading...Canada's tar sands landscape from the air – in pictures
A new book of aerial photographs, Beautiful Destruction, captures the awesome scale and devastating impact of Alberta’s oil sands with stunning colours, contrasts and patterns. The book also includes 15 essays by prominent individuals from environment and industry, sharing their insights, ideas and opinions. Photographs by Louis Helbig
Continue reading...Australia's leaders 'wilfully blind' about climate change, says former NAB chief
Cameron Clyne says he doesn’t think anyone has ‘grasped quite how revolutionary’ the emergence of renewable energy will be
Australia’s political leaders are “wilfully blind” to the challenge of climate change, with the country at risk from an “economically reckless” reliance upon fossil fuels, the former head of the National Australia Bank has warned.
Cameron Clyne, who was chief executive of NAB from 2009 until he stood down last year, said he doesn’t “think any of us have grasped quite how revolutionary” the emergence of renewable energy will be, warning that Australia cannot continue to be wedded to carbon-heavy fuels such as coal.
Continue reading...Climate models are even more accurate than you thought | Dana Nuccitelli
The difference between modeled and observed global surface temperature changes is 38% smaller than previously thought
Global climate models aren’t given nearly enough credit for their accurate global temperature change projections. As the 2014 IPCC report showed, observed global surface temperature changes have been within the range of climate model simulations.
Now a new study shows that the models were even more accurate than previously thought. In previous evaluations like the one done by the IPCC, climate model simulations of global surface air temperature were compared to global surface temperature observational records like HadCRUT4. However, over the oceans, HadCRUT4 uses sea surface temperatures rather than air temperatures.
Continue reading...Draft policy statement: Engage Early - Indigenous engagement guidelines
Draft policy statement: advanced environmental offsets under the EPBC Act
Cecil the lion mural painted outside dental practice in Minnesota – video
• Watch the full interview with artist Mark Balma Continue reading...
Warning - potential scam involving the purchase of puppies
Threat abatement plan for predation by feral cats
Activists hang from bridge in Portland to block Shell's Arctic vessel
Greenpeace climbers in Oregon city say they plan to spend days hanging from the bridge but Shell maintains the Fennica will be off after ‘final preparations’
A group of environmental activists rappelled off a bridge in Portland, Oregon, shortly before 3am PT, in a bid to block a key vessel in Shell’s Arctic drilling fleet leaving the city’s port.
Related: The new cold war: drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic
Continue reading...Cecil the lion's killer joins long list of big game hunters skewered on social media
From the King of Spain to America’s most famous hockey mom, proud displays of animal trophies haven’t always been met with congratulations online
In the jungle, the mighty jungle, poor Cecil the lion no longer sleeps tonight. After news broke that the beloved big cat was killed by a dentist from Minnesota, the hunter, Walter Palmer, quickly became “the most hated man in America who never advertised Jell-O pudding on television”, according to Jimmy Kimmel.
Palmer is reportedly receiving death threats and a deluge of horrible Yelp reviews, and it probably goes without saying that his patients are likely hunting themselves – for a new dentist. But Palmer is by no means the first big game trophy hunter to get skewered online for their exploits.
Jimmy Kimmel has emotional response to death of Cecil the lion - video
• Watch a longer version of this clip
• Watch archive footage of Cecil the lion Continue reading...
Richard Branson urges against shark hunting following Mick Fanning attack
Virgin founder calls for sharks to be protected, not killed in retribution, following top surfer’s amazing escape from an attack in South Africa
Sir Richard Branson has called for sharks to be protected rather than hunted down and killed in the wake of an attack on one of the world’s leading surfers.
The billionaire entrepreneur called for restraint following Mick Fanning’s encounter with a shark on the coast of South Africa, in which he fought it off by punching the predator on the back.
Continue reading...Killer of Cecil the lion was dentist from Minnesota, claim Zimbabwe officials
Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force alleges trophy hunter shot one of Africa’s most famous lions near Hwange national park
Conservationists in Zimbabwe have accused an American man of being the alleged killer of Cecil, one of Africa’s most famous lions and the star attraction at the Hwange national park.
On Tuesday, the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said the man thought to have paid $50,000 (£32,000) for the chance to kill Cecil was not a Spaniard as originally believed, but US citizen Walter Palmer, from a small town near Minneapolis. The man left the lion skinned and headless on the outskirts of the park, the ZCTF’s Johnny Rodrigues said in a statement.
Continue reading...Proposal to grant an export permit for a rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus) under exceptional circumstances
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