Tagged With: ecology
How does Chris Packham’s garden grow?
Since the completion of the human genome project, DNA sequencing has become much faster and cheaper, opening up exciting possibilities for medicine and our understanding of human biology. But it goes far further than that, as is demonstrated by this video, first shown at the Biology Week launch event in Parliament held in partnership with … Continue reading
Bumblebees’ gruesome parasites
Guest blog by Sive Finlay, a PhD student from Trinity College Dublin who recently won Best Biology Student at the 2012 SET awards for her undergraduate project Bee populations are in severe decline, an alarming and worrying trend when you consider their vital importance as commercial and ecological pollinators. Research and media attention often focuses … Continue reading
An American crayfish in London (and beyond!)
by Zara Gladman, PhD student at the University of Glasgow and intern at the Society of Biology In my last blog I waxed lyrical on the wonders of crayfish, those large freshwater invertebrates that grace our rivers, lochs and your M&S sandwiches. Today I’d like to discuss one of the biggest threats to aquatic biodiversity: … Continue reading
The many nests of the hairy wood ant
Guest blog from Samuel Ellis, a PhD student at the University of York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis There are an estimated 22,000 species of ants, and it is likely that the weight of ants on the planet is greater than the weight of humans. They are very important to ecosystems all over the world … Continue reading
Our Public Forests
Following the Comprehensive Spending Review in 2010, where the Defra budget was cut by a whopping 30% (the government average was 19%) Environment secretary Caroline Spelman MP announced plans to sell off the Public Forestry Estate: 258000 hectares of publicly owned woodland that currently costs £20 million to manage. This sell-off was met with fierce … Continue reading
Ecological and economic perspectives on sustainable agriculture
This week, the Natural Capital Initiative ran a workshop to discuss how ecologists and economists can collaborate to increase sustainability in agriculture. Two keynote presentations outlined how farmers could be given incentives to protect environmental goods and services. These came from the perspective of ecologist Professor William Sutherland (University of Cambridge) and economist Professor Ian … Continue reading
Species of the week: The Green Turtle
The green turtle, Chelonia mydas, occurs throughout tropical waters and, to a lesser extent, in subtropical seas as well. They nest occurs in more than 80 countries worldwide. Green turtles are slow growing and long lived; those that reach maturity may live to be 80 years old. Fully grown they are approximately 69 to 79 … Continue reading