For every visually recognized vertebrate species, there are an average of two unrecognized or "cryptic" species, indicating that Earth's vertebrate #biodiversity is significantly higher than previously estimated.
#Ecology #EvolutionaryBiology #Genetics #Conservation #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/03/eco03022601.html

Protected learning is a biological mechanism in which adult animals create staged, risk-mitigated developmental spaces, allowing offspring to safely acquire essential survival skills without facing immediate lethal consequences.
#ComputationalBiology #TheoreticalBiology #Ethology #EvolutionaryBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/03/bs03022601.html

Researchers identified a new species of extinct small goose, named Meterchen luti, from fossils found in an ancient Central Otago lake, revealing it is not a direct ancestor to New Zealand's recently extinct giant flightless geese.
#Paleontology #EvolutionaryBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/03/pal03022601.html

Coogee WA park has fruiting olive trees being used as food by (I think) parrots.

It's been a mystery to me why so many olives get left on the tree or on the ground uneaten by birds.

This is the first time I've seen evidence of them being eaten.
If they are good food then if a species taps into this source its population might boom.
Hoping it's 28s / ring-neck parrots. And not the invasive Eastern Rosellas.

#Perth #WesternAustralia #Birdlife #IntroducedSpecies #EvolutionaryBiology

Welcome to this week's installment of the Scientific Frontline publication’s "What Is" series. In this comprehensive research report, the focus turns toward the most intricate, dynamic, and fragile phenomenon known to modern science: the biosphere. Earth remains, according to all current astronomical observations, a solitary oasis of vitality in an otherwise sterile cosmic void.
#WhatIs #EarthScience #Ecology #EvolutionaryBiology #Environmental #PlanetaryScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/03/wi03012601.html

Why do human women have permanently enlarged breasts when other primates don’t? A new Finnish study found nursing breasts resist cooling significantly better than non-nursing ones — suggesting they may have evolved as infant warming surfaces. #HumanEvolution #Paleoanthropology #EvolutionaryBiology https://www.anthropology.net/p/the-human-breast-as-a-heating-pad

All #vertebrates #evolved from a distant worm-like ancestor possessing a single median eye, which eventually gave rise to modern paired eyes and the brain's pineal gland.
#EvolutionaryBiology #Biology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/02/ebio02252601.html

RE: https://mastodon.social/@boas_pucker/116129536732585877

We invite highly motivated and experienced students and early-career researchers to join our group in Bonn for a visiting research stay. This is a great opportunity to gain hands-on experience, exchange ideas, and work in a collaborative and supportive scientific environment with excellent computational resources.
#ComputationalBiology #Bioinformatics #EvolutionaryBiology #ComparativeGenomics #ResearchOpportunity #EarlyCareerResearchers
#PhDOpportunity #ScientificCollaboration #ResearchInGermany

Evidence Shows Evolution Favors Group Success Over Individual Combat

Why does nature choose groups that work together? New research shows that cooperation leads to better survival and more food than individual strength.

#evolutionarybiology, #groupselection, #animalbehavior, #binghamtonuniversity, #teamdynamics

https://newsletter.tf/why-evolution-favors-group-cooperation-over-individual-strength/

New studies show that choosing a productive group of animals leads to better results than picking one strong leader. In hen farming, group selection stopped aggression and increased egg production significantly compared to individual selection.

#evolutionarybiology, #groupselection, #animalbehavior, #binghamtonuniversity, #teamdynamics

https://newsletter.tf/why-evolution-favors-group-cooperation-over-individual-strength/

This week's #NewBooks at the library:
- For my birthday back in December, I treated myself to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein from The Folio Society.
- A review copy of Simon Lamb's The Oldest Rocks on Earth: A Search for the Origins of Our World from Columbia University Press (a review is forthcoming).
- A second-hand copy of Peter Godfrey-Smith's Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection from Oxford University Press. This one was withdrawn from the holdings of the nearby Devon Libraries, but has found a welcome home with me.
#Books #Scicomm #Geology #EarthSciences #Evolution #EvolutionaryBiology #Bookstodon @bookstodon

Machiavellianism is a meticulously defined, subclinical personality trait characterized by a cognitive and behavioral phenotype optimized for strategic deception, interpersonal exploitation, and unyielding self-interest. It functions as a parasitic strategy that operates in direct contrast to prosocial mechanisms of trust, cooperation, and mutual reciprocity.
#WhatIs #BehavioralScience #EvolutionaryBiology #Neuroscience #Psychology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/02/wi02222601.html

Paleontologists unearthed Spinosaurus mirabilis, a previously unknown species of giant, fish-eating #dinosaur characterized by a distinct scimitar-shaped head crest and interlocking teeth.
#Paleontology #EvolutionaryBiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/02/pal02202601.html

The disproportionately long legs of giraffes evolved primarily to mitigate the severe cardiovascular burden and high blood pressure required to pump blood against gravity to their elevated brains.
#Zoology #EvolutionaryBiology #ComparativePhysiology #Biomechanics #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/02/zoo02202601.html

🌱Takeaway: Ecological isolation, limited dispersal, and life-history traits drive both speciation and extinction risk in Homoranthus. (9/9)

👉 https://doi.org/qr49

#PlantScience #EvolutionaryBiology #PopulationGenetics #PlantGenomics #AoBpapers

🌿🌍 Join us to learn about the newly published “Geographically proximate rare species exhibit strong population divergence while maintaining intraspecific genetic diversity in Homoranthus (Myrtaceae)” in @AnnBot by Eilish McMaster and co-authors. (1/9)

👉 https://doi.org/qr49

#PlantScience #EvolutionaryBiology #PopulationGenetics #PlantGenomics #AoBpapers

@alice #molecularEvolution #PopulationGenetics #EvolutionaryBiology

I sometimes think that we'd all be better off with a lot less testosterone and estrogen.

Except I suppose that we'd probably be extinct as a species.

But those fucking hormones (see what I did there? 🤣) really do make people crazy!

#testosterone #estrogen #hormones #evolutionaryBiology #sex

This report, as part of the "What Is" series on Scientific Frontline provides an extensive, and disturbing examination of the modern phenomenon of conspiracy theories. No longer a fringe curiosity, conspiratorial ideation has evolved into a primary driver of sociopolitical behavior, a mechanism of statecraft, and a significant public health determinant.
#Psychology #EvolutionaryBiology #BehavioralScience #SocialScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/02/wi02172601.html

The history of life on #Earth is often viewed through a strictly #Darwinian lens of competition—a relentless, zero-sum struggle where every organism fights for a larger slice of a finite resource pie. In this narrative, nature is, as Alfred, Lord Tennyson famously wrote, "red in tooth and claw," dominated by predation, #parasitism, and the survival of the fittest.
#WhatIs #Ecology #EvolutionaryBiology #Biology #SocialScience #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/02/wi02142601.html