Barrier Reef to die in decades

things are looking so bad that they are actually considering using shade cloths on floating pontoons to cover the reef. if you ask me i think its much easier and elegant to really start restricting energy wastage and planting more trees
link

how does sexual dimorphism occur?

"Why are males larger than females in some animal species (such as most mammals), females larger than males in others (such as most insects), and why are the sexes alike in yet other species (such as several birds)? Further, how is such sexual size dimorphism achieved when it exists? If males and females grow at the same rate, then the larger sex has to extend its growth period. Alternatively, the larger sex can grow faster......."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070129192339.htm

Snakes eat poisonous toads and steal their venom

link

Human Preference For Other Species Could Determine Whether They Survive aka Bambi Syndrome

These type of news is not exactly new to me but i hope that it starts ringing alarm bells in activists who try to conserve habitats using 'public appeal' species. A more worthwhile approach is habitat conservation but sometimes capturing public attention is the only way anything gets done.
link

Fancy having sperms with hooks? - An evolutionary advantage

Rodent sperms are armed with hooks, allowing them to attach to each other and swim faster than individuals in "sperm trains"... link posted by ysf

Virgin lizard becomes new parent

Wow... Didn't know Komodo dragons can reproduce via parthenogenesis too.. link

Heartbreak at Chek Jawa

Heartbreak at Chek Jawa
as massive freshwater flow down the Johor River
and local rainfall takes its toll, on the ubin volunteers blog
http://uvp.blogspot.com/2007/01/18th-january.html
and on the teamseagrass blog
http://teamseagrass.blogspot.com/2007/01/first-teamseagrass-field-orientation.html

excerpted from Ria's WildSiingapore

All you ever wanted to know about our very own Colugo

The COLUGO book by Draco Publishing and NUS is finally out...

COLUGO: The Flying Lemur of South-east Asia. Norman Lim.

The book launch is on 3rd Feb (Sat) at Nature's Niche and it is now going for a special price of S$20 (without DVD) and S$30 (with DVD). After the launch, the book will be sold at Nature's Niche, Kinokuniya, etc. for S$25.20 (without DVD) and S$37.80 (with DVD). Keen to check out Colugo calling & gliding? Grab the version with DVD, which include a sound clip of the Colugo calling, video clips of its natural behaviour in the wild and of course, gliding sequences.

Bizarre New Form of Life Found in Arctic Ocean

More bizarre deep sea giant squids? Turn out to the minuscule life forms often undetected by human eyes - the marine algae! More specifically, the picobiliphtyes! Indicated by genetic evidence, the group could be a high rank group in classification, hinting of even more vast marine biodiversity unknown to us... Read on...

Smithsonian Offers New Tropical Biodiversity Data And Tools On The Web

Wow!
link

ESA Launches New Project To Protect Biodiversity

ESA Launches New Project To Protect Biodiversity

It seems like biodiversity research in already in the informatics age. Never did i imagine this article to be in lockergnome..

Pesticides waft into pristine rainforests

Pesticides waft into pristine rainforests
New research shows that pesticides are transported to remote mountain areas in Costa Rica. Link

Groupers and moray eels hunt cooperatively

Cool!
"..Their normal hunting strategies are quite different. Groupers are semi-benthic piscivores, which hunt in open water. Moray eels sneak through crevices to corner their prey in holes.

Prey avoid eel predation by swimming into open water, and avoid grouper predation by hiding in crevices. ..."
link

New fish is named after Batman

" Holy mackerel - a taxonomist has named a new species of catfish after the caped crusader, Batman. ..."
link

Care needed with carbon offsets

Planting forests to combat global warming may be a waste of time, especially if those trees are at high latitudes, new research suggests. "When you plant trees to slow down global warming, you have to be careful where you do it. I think our study shows clearly the climate benefits are maximised if you plant them in the tropics" See more on BBC News...

Top Ten Videos of 2006 From National Geographic News

Title says it all :)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061208-top-videos.html

Echo from the end of a dolphin species

"The baiji, a freshwater dolphin, has used sonar to find fish in China's Yangtze River for some 20 million years. Last week, scientists declared it basically extinct. Can the end of a nearly blind cetacean help humans see the need for greater species conservation?.... " Read the full article