Ecology and the Environment

Is there anyone out there who has a map of the world (as it was thousands of years ago) where the various waves of human migrations are marked with arrows with the arrows also having dates? I'm talking here of course about the migrations that occured while we were still hunter-gatherers. If possible it would also be very interesting if someone could tell me what the pain push and pull factors for humans were at that time.

Has anyone used Rock Dust on your garden? What was your opinion of it usefulness?

Would it be possible for humans to survive in underground tunnels that were completely closed off from the surface with plants providing oxygen through photosynthesis from artificial light sources? Could plants even grow under ground?

The impact on the environment leaf beetles (Cassida vibex L.).Thank you for your responses.

Hello World! Can someone please explain to me, what ecologists understand by the term "habitat functionality"? Much obliged, basseur

Hello there, I would be most grateful for reptile data in the following format: - Adult Sex Ratio (ASR; proportion of males in the adult population) - Sex ratio at any other life history stage (e.g. juvenile, hatchling/neonate) - Sex-specific mortality or survival rate at any life history stage (preferably this should be annual, but I will also accept data over different time periods) Unpublished as well as published data is more than welcome. Many thanks in advance, Gregory Milne University of Bath, UK.

Hi, how it is with fern at home? my mum already had lot of them but they are usually dying after about half year... i had one as well, and no matter if i water it a lot, or very rarely, after some time its leaves are getting brown and it is dry... even if ground is wet... i tried to optimize conditions, but why is that? how to water it and keep it in a good condition for a long time? Thanks!

5 years ago, I convinced myself I was doing it right; or at least better than using weed killer chemicals by lightly spraying gasoline localized on the leaves of unwanted weeds, or a couple of drops into the center were young leaves emerge. Which kills them quickly and very dead. Fully evaporates and does not drip into the soil. Those dandelions cannot resist the octanes. Would that be right ? Can there be any concerning traces in gasoline that do not evaporate that may be as bad or worse than massive commercial/gardening weed killers washed by rain into aquifers ?

How are decomposers affected due to the usage of non biodegradable substances?

Hello, I was doing EAG of Culex pipiens with odours of Thymus pulegioides essential oils. I know I can do quantified comparison of response to different compounds and it gives me information about presence of receptors in C. pipiens anntenae and it's sensitivity. But I also noticed that the shapes of EAG curves are different depending on compound. For example, curve of carvacrol are going up, while all others - down (see attached file). So my question is - how should I explain this phenomenon? Thanks! Austinys.

The Earth is swarming with all kinds of animals. Most of these don't seem to help human survival. Why do we want them hanging around? Recently I found a leaflet in my weekly Science magazine. The leaflet was about the Siberian tiger, or some kind of tiger. These tigers are apparently getting scarce. Only 700 left, or something like that. The leaflet exhorted me to pay some money to "sponsor" one of these things, so they wouldn't die out. Well, frankly I don't really care whether they die out or not. They don't seem to be contributing anything to my life. Or human life in general. Who'd miss them? The only animals we'd miss, are the ones we eat. Lik…

Hi Everyone! Tori here from advertising link removed by moderator We are starting a service for researchers to make the grant application process faster and easier. Our platform aims to guarantee you’ll never have to look for grants, fuss with complex (and super out-dated) applications, or spend hours formatting your submissions, again. We help a wide variety of researchers within the life sciences. However our team specializes in the ecological and environmental sciences. For example: biodiversity, wildlife biology, conservation, evolution, marine/ fisheries sciences, paleontology, etc. We would love feedback on our new site. Since you have the perspective of …

I'm sure they can thrive in an enviroment of rotting wood but can they actually eat the wood? If you have an enviroment of dry and rotting pine, cyprus, acacia, and dry grasses (hafagrass) made into rope is it natural to have crickets? No other insect life is actually reported.

I am interested to explore the possible ecological significance (in terms of structure and function) of creation of fine scale (@10 m) patches in forest ecosystems which are relatively more uniform (in terms of plant species composition) and distinct (in terms of micro-environment) than rest of the forest. It is to be noted that patches are created due to bio-genic activity of some soil insects - eight or more such patches occur in one hectare forest area (most tropical deciduous forests at 600 amsl). Are such patches good for future forest sustenance or will they eventually lead to forest degradation? what if the patches are increasing or decreasing? Kindly share your …

Some microorganisms are claimed to be capable survive without light and instead use pure electric current to reduce CO2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbial_electrosynthesis If scientists will use genetic modification to make plants to have the same ability someday, will it mean the end of agriculture as we know it? All kind of plants could be grown in a watts supplied by nutrients and there will be no more need for a farmland, agricultural machinery and pesticides? Not a bad deal... Is it also possible to use genetic modification to make all plants be capable to fix nitrogen from air and have no more need for nitrogen fertilizers?

Or rather what is the biological pathway of the aromatic compounds, and where or what organelle? Just curious. Still looking on google LOL major fail on my part...I just needed to change my search keywords.

Some type of device or structure that can collect almost all the water from plants transpiration (For example in a garden) could be used as some type of "Filter" if you water the plants with non drinkable water(from rivers, lakes...). This method could be used to eliminate all the contaminants and pathogens from the water and still use the plants to generate food?

Hi everyone, I am about to start the final project for my MSc in Ecology and evolutionary biology. I have time till July for the project. I would like to do a project on Coleoptera. One of my ideas was to measure the frequency of sexual dimorphisme in Coleoptera, though the use of literature and spacemen. I sow that the reference are scarce and that there are so many family in that genre that would be impossible to check them all. Does anyone as an idea??? I will be happy to have any suggestion also on other topic, keeping in mind that I have 4 or less months for the development of the project.

Recently two fisher men caught in tape an alive Giant Squid in Japan This is the video: Link to a monumentally stupid video of someone's fish tank removed by Moderator Please leave your opinion

Red wine is a source of polyphenols. Green tea is analogous. Colored capsicum have identical properties. Is there a relation between color and antioxidants ?

I am trying to do an experiment for my school's science fair where I, in part, measure how different atmospheric compositions effect plant growth, but I might of hit a minor roadblock and I was hoping someone could help me out. I was wondering if anyone knew of a device or method to measure the percent composition of different components of air, specifically oxygen and carbon dioxide, in a closed environment. So for example I would want to manipulate the environment so it was say, 5% CO2, but I need a device to measure when it gets to this 5% level. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Either naturally or if either of the two could be inseminated. They're both Mustelids afterall. They could probably also produce offspring with a giant otter, right?

Who do you think was the most dangerous prehistoric predator? Maybe an ice age mammal: Smilodon, cave lions, Andrewsarchus, or even Neanderthal. Or would you go with a Mesozoic dinosaur. Utahraptor, tyrannosaur, allosaurus, dilophosaurus perhaps. Or was it even a predator at all? Maybe a ceratopsian, or a stegosaur. What do you all think, and why? I'm hoping we can use this thread to determine who might have been the baddest prehistoric animal. 😄

I was surfing the net on some unrelated topics, when i stuck on a picture that led me to this horrible crime: http://raw-outdoors.com/?page_id=71 My initial ingenus thought was as the picture was minimized some conservationist showing some drugged awesome felidae in an eco work. But that red spot called my attention and on maximizing i remembered once more, that sometimes the death of a human is something to celebrate as the world becomes a better place for us all (us includes all living beings). Well i wanted to show the embarrassment i feel now for any uneducated country to allow this. And to tell you that if you think this is right, or normal, i can te…

This thread is primarily in response to those who insist that homosexuality is an abomination, or that it harms peoples morals, or any of the other stupid nonsense people say after they've been poisoned by religious teachings. Also, it's just an interesting topic of conversation. http://seedmagazine.com/news/2006/06/the_gay_animal_kingdom.php Male big horn sheep live in what are often called "homosexual societies." They bond through genital licking and anal intercourse, which often ends in ejaculation. If a male sheep chooses to not have gay sex, it becomes a social outcast. Ironically, scientists call such straight-laced males "effeminate." Giraffes have …