Wild Things: Life as We Know It
Caterpillars, Frogs, Big Birds and More...
- By T. A. Frail, Jesse Rhodes, Jessica Righthand, Brandon Springer and Sarah Zielinski
- Smithsonian magazine, October 2010
An invasive beach grass (background) spreading along the coast is helping to destroy an endangered native plant called Tidestrom's lupine (foreground). (Eleanor Pardini)
Invasive species can harm native species by commandeering food or habitat. Washington University researchers have now documented a less familiar type of threat on the dunes of Point Reyes National Seashore in California. An invasive beach grass spreading along the coast is helping to destroy an endangered native plant called Tidestrom’s lupine by providing new shelter for mice, which feast on the lupine seeds.
Additional Sources
“Mechanical Analysis of Feeding Behavior in the Extinct ‘Terror Bird’ Andalgalornis steulleti (Gruiformes: Phorusrhacidae),” Federico J. Degrange et al., PLoS ONE, August 18, 2010
“Landing in basal frogs: evidence of saltational patterns in the evolution of anuran locomotion,” Richard L. Essner Jr. et al., Naturwissenschaften, July 13, 2010
“Apparent competition with an invasive plant hastens the extinction of an endangered lupine,” Emily M. Dangremond et al., Ecology, August 2010
“Visceral-Locomotory Pistoning in Crawling Caterpillars,” Michael A. Simon et al., Current Biology, August 24, 2010
“Frequency synchronization of blue whale calls near Pioneer Seamount,” Michael D. Hoffman et al., Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, July 2010
Comments (2)
Very nice Macro work
Posted by Steve on November 29,2010 | 06:19 PM
ok so scientists proved themselves wrong about caterpillars :O
Posted by BigDaddy24 on October 15,2010 | 04:26 PM