Valerie Ross

80beats

When Large Animals Disappear, Ecosystems are Hit Hard

Volcano eruption not associated with the study. (Image Credit: LensFocusArt/Shutterstock)

Stealthy volcano eruption

Slow magma flows, small chambers, and hot rock all contribute to surprise volcano eruptions that occur without any prior warning.

Stealthy Volcanoes Are Quiet Until They Erupt Without Warning Signs – Here's Why

Large projectile point made of Gray Whale bone from the Duruthy rockshelter, Landes, France, dated between 18,000 and 17,500 years ago. (Image Credit: Alexandre Lefebvre) 

ancient whale bone tool

Learn more about the discovery of the oldest whale bone tools made by ancient coastal hunter-gatherer groups.

20,000-Year-Old Whale Bone Tools Discovered in Europe Considered World’s Oldest 

A photo of a fossil of Megalonyx, a megatherioid ground sloth from North America, on display at the American Museum of Natural History. (Image Credit: AMNH/D. Finnin)

Megalonyx

Sloth size and habitat shifted multiple times over the past 35 million years, but human hunting likely drove the slower, larger species to extinction.

Ancient Humans Hunted 20-Foot-Tall Sloths and Likely Caused the Mammal's Extinction

(Image Credit: William Edge/Shutterstock) 

Farmer testing soil for microbes

Learn about a new phylum of microbes that lives in deep soil, a layer of the Earth that supports water cycling and nutrient cycling.

Newly Discovered Microbes Cleanse Water That Trickles Through Soil

Alcohol makes male fruit flies of the species Drosophila melanogaster sexier by stimulating the production of sex pheromones. As a result, male flies are more successful at mating after consuming certain amounts of alcohol. (Image Credit: Anna Schroll)

Drosophila melanogaster mating

Learn more about alcohol's role in the mating behavior of fruit flies and how they avoid intoxication.

Tipsy Fruit Flies Are More Successful in Mating Than Their Sober Counterparts

(Image Credit: Yang Dinghua)
Artistic reconstruction of the terrestrial ecological landscape before the end Permian mass extinction based on fossil palynomorphs, plants , and tetrapods recovered, as well as sedimentological data from the South Taodonggou Section


When Large Animals Disappear, Ecosystems are Hit Hard

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