BES Facebook pagePress Releases 2010
25 November 2010
Whale Sharks Do the Math to Avoid That Sinking Feeling
They are the largest fish species in the ocean, but the majestic gliding motion of the whale shark is, scientists argue, an astonishing feat of mathematics and energy conservation. In new research published today in the British Ecological Society's JournalFunctional Ecology marine scientists reveal how these massive sharks use geometry to enhance their natural negative buoyancy and stay afloat.
19 November 2010
Paw prints and faeces offer new hope for saving tigers
How many tigers are left in the wild can now be monitored accurately from their paw prints and scat (faeces), ecologists have shown for the first time. The new technique - reported this week in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology - at last gives conservationists a low-cost and reliable way of assessing tiger numbers, information that is crucial to saving the species from extinction in the wild.
10 November 2010
Ecologists get fish eye view of sexual signals
Ecologists have developed an ingenious model of a fish's visual system. By providing a more accurate picture of how sticklebacks see colour, the model sheds new light on how female fish use certain colours on a male's skin to select a mate. The study is published this week in the British Ecological Society's journal Functional Ecology.
22 September 2010
Ecologists find new clues on climate change in 150 year-old pressed plants
Plants picked up to 150 years ago by Victorian collectors and held by the million in herbarium collections across the world could become a powerful – and much needed – new source of data for studying climate change, according to research published this week in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Ecology.
14 September 2010
Time travel, landscapes of the future and death of the nimby
We already live in one of the most densely populated countries on Earth, but what will the UK look like in the future? A group of leading ecologists and geographers will outline the challenges we face and the decisions we must make about our future at the British Ecological Society's “Landscapes of the Future” event at the British Science Festival on Tuesday 14 September 2010.
7 September 2010
Inbreeding among bumblebees increases risk of extinction
Some of our rarest bumblebees could be at greater risk of extinction because of inbreeding among their now small and isolated populations, ecologists are warning. Speaking at this week's British Ecological Society Annual Meeting at the University of Leeds, Penelope Whitehorn from the University of Stirling will reveal new results on inbreeding and its effects in the moss carder bumblebee.
7 September 2010
HD video could help monitor ecological effects of wave energy
Finding better ways of monitoring the potential ecological impacts bof wave energy generation is crucial if this form of renewable energy is to be fully exploited in the waters around the UK. Ecologists from Plymouth and Exeter have developed novel monitoring methods, which will be presented at this week's British Ecological Society Annual Meeting at the University of Leeds.
3 September 2010
BES Member Stars in London Photo Show
British Ecological Society member Laura Vickers, a NERC-funded PhD student from the University of Birmingham, will feature in a major photographic exhibition on show in London this month.
2 September 2010
British Ecological Society Annual Meeting,University of Leeds, 7-9 September 2010
Thousands of ecologists from around the world will gather next week for Europe's largest ecological conference, the British Ecological Society’s Annual Meeting, being held at the University of Leeds from 7-9 September 2009. Hundreds of scientific papers and posters will be presented at the meeting. See the press release for details of conference highlights.
August 2010
Satellite Data Reveals Why Migrating Birds Have a Small Window to Spread Bird Flu
In 2005 an outbreak of the H5N1 ‘bird flu’ virus in South East Asia led to widespread fear with predictions that the intercontinental migration of wild birds could lead to global pandemic. Such fears were never realised, and now research published in the British Ecological Society'sJournal of Applied Ecologyreveals why the global spread of bird flu by direct migration of wildfowl is unlikely but also provides a new framework for quantifying the risk of avian-borne diseases.
8 June 2010
Crocodiles ride ocean currents for ocean travel
The mystery of how the world's largest living reptile - the estuarine crocodile - has come to occupy so many South Pacific islands separated by huge stretches of ocean despite being a poor swimmer has at last been solved by a group of Australian ecologists. Publishing their new study in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Animal Ecology, they say that like a surfer catching a wave, the crocodiles ride ocean currents to cross large areas of open sea.
29 April 2010
Ecologists pay homage to the 'most studied wood in Britain'
Leading ecologists will gather at Wytham Woods today to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Wytham Woods near Oxford is probably the most studied wood in Britain, and the celebration includes the launch of a new book - Wytham Woods: Oxford's Ecological Laboratory - at a special meeting of the British Ecological Society's Forest Ecology Group on 29th April 2010.
13 April 2010
Endangered quolls taught to turn their noses up at toxic toad
Ecologists in Australia have successfully trained a critically endangered marsupial - the northern quoll - to turn its nose up at toxic cane toads. Their results, including fascinating behavioural video footage, are published today in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology and could provide conservationists with a vital new weapon in the fight against invasive species.
18 February 2010
Native meat ants to diminish cane toad population
With cat food as bait, scientists from The University of Sydney's School of Biological Sciences have succeeded in showing that native meat ants can assist in controlling the spread of cane toads.In March last year Professor Rick Shine and colleagues Georgia Ward-Fear and Greg Brown found encouraging evidence of the deadly effect of native meat ants on young cane toads
