“Everything is so alive in the forest. After a nice summer rain it teems with insects, birds and the famous coquis, Puerto Rico’s native frogs. The song of the coquis take a little getting used to, but they soon lull you to sleep in the humid nights,” says Jennifer Mendez, a student in the first class of the Summer Ecosystem Experience for Undergraduates in Puerto Rico.
In a gigantic and remote rainforest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a team of scientists have discovered a new species of Old World monkey known as the “Lesula.”
The SEE-U Puerto Rico course provides students with a total immersion experience into the ecology and dynamics of a fragile and threatened environmental system.
As holidays approach and we plan our ‘seasonal’ migrations to see our families, many other species are making their own migrations — though with a few more snafus than we humans might hit.
African-born, Oxford-trained biologist Lucy King recently won an award for a promising solution to a longstanding problem in Africa—elephants raiding crops.
S. Amanda Caudill is currently evaluating mammal biodiversity in coffee dominated regions in Turrialba, Costa Rica. Her findings will help determine which habitat parameters are important to the mammals and shape suggestions on how to enhance the habitat.
When researchers observed activity in the brains of plain-tailed wrens while singing, they discovered something striking: In both sexes, the neurons reacted more strongly to the duet song than individual contributions — they are seemingly wired to enhance cooperation.
Scientists report in a recently published article in Nature that the fungus Geomyces destructans found on bats afflicted with White Nose Syndrome is the primary cause of the disease. However, amidst all the muck of doom and gloom, researchers report in the July issue of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases that affected bats can be nursed back to health with constant medical attention, food, warmth, and water. With no signs of the infection slowing and more than one million bats succumbing to white nose syndrome in the past five years, the conservation community should be on high alert.
The Center for Environmental Research and Conservation at Columbia University provides professionals with the knowledge and tools to be effective environmental leaders and decision makers in the 21st century. It is an evening program in which environmental issues are discussed, debated and examined, where participants develop an in-depth understanding of conservation science and practice through case studies and a focus on Environmental Policy, Management and Finance.
A robotic bug’s attempts to fly were no match for gravity – the critter was unable to soar above the ground. The findings shed light on a longstanding debate about the evolutionary origins of flight, as scientists have long debated whether birds first evolved flight as ground dwellers or tree jumpers.
