Keyword: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

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Popular Herbicide Weakens Bumblebees’ Colour Vision

13.10.2022

Researchers at the Universities of Turku and Oulu, Finland, found out how Roundup, a herbicide containing glyphosate, affects the learning and memory of bumblebees. Already a small dose affected their ability to learn and memorise connections between colours and taste. The weakened fine colour vision can severely impair bumblebees’ foraging and nesting success.

Migratory bird species get a different early start than non-migratory species

25.05.2022

In all vertebrates, mothers transfer variable amounts of hormones into eggs and embryos, which influence development and traits of offspring in later lives. In a recent study the researchers looked at the transferred hormones in different bird species eggs, and found a hundredfold difference in the thyroid hormones, which control development and growth in birds. Migratory and precocial bird species provide the highest levels of thyroid hormones to their offspring.

Protected Areas Help Waterbirds Adapt to Climate Change

21.10.2020

Climate change pushes species distribution areas northward. However, the expansion of species ranges is not self-evident due to e.g. habitat degradation and unsustainable harvesting caused by human activities. A new study led from the University of Turku suggests that protected areas can facilitate wintering waterbird adaptation to climate warming by advancing their range shifts towards north.

Childhood Trauma Affects the Timing of Motherhood

04.06.2020

Women who have experienced childhood trauma become mothers earlier than those with a more stable childhood environment shows a new study conducted in collaboration between the University of Turku and the University of Helsinki. The trauma children experience form living in war zones, natural disasters or perhaps even epidemics can have unexpected effects that resurface later in their lives.