Biodiversity stories
Since the beginning of time, we’ve told stories to make sense of the world. Here, biodiversity comes to life through articles that blend science, wonder, and curiosity. These stories inform without overwhelming, explain without oversimplifying, and bring you closer to what keeps life in balance: the intricate beauty of nature.
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Healthy ecosystems: the northern park midge
Its discovery in a Milanese park demonstrates the effectiveness of environmental restoration efforts.
Protecting the environment can lead to concrete and significant results: this is demonstrated by the unexpected discovery at Milan’s North Park of a small arboreal rodent, the dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius). The discovery was made by researchers from the Biodiversity Conservation Laboratory at the University of Milan-Bicocca, led by Olivia Dondina, an NBFC researcher specializing in the protection and restoration of biodiversity in urban areas.
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Acidic oceans, resilient sponges? Depends.
Two compared species demonstrate very different adaptive capacities. And the picture becomes more complicated.
When it comes to ocean acidification-that is, the process of continual change in ocean chemistry due to the absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, a phenomenon that can lead to a loss of biodiversity-sponges are usually considered “winners”: they tolerate a wide range of stressful environmental conditions, and they possess a siliceous, not calcareous, skeleton, which makes them less susceptible than corals and mollusks to ongoing changes. But not all sponges react the same way.
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Dolphin laughter
The open mouth is for communicating good intentions and responding to playmates
In playful interactions, the open-mouthed facial expression of bottlenose dolphins(Tursiops truncatus) corresponds to laughter. This is the finding of research in which the universities of Pisa and Turin participated, conducted using an observational approach on captive specimens.
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Discovering the earth’s oldest ocean
Gaia Blu, the CNR oceanographic ship, will explore a window into Tethys’ past with the Sirens campaign
The study of Tethys, the very ancient ocean arm that separated North Africa from Europe and Asia between the Permian and Miocene, is extremely difficult: it is usually covered by sediment. However, there are unique geological windows, where rocks usually located more than 20 km deep rise to the seafloor, crossing lithospheric faults responsible for some of the most devastating earthquakes and tsunamis in the history of Italy and Europe.
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Why tachinid flies are at risk (and why we should care)
The decline of these guardians of biodiversity has serious consequences for mountain ecosystems
One species declines, another increases, and mountain ecosystems are paying the price. According to a recent study by the University of Rome La Sapienza, published in PNAS, high-altitude declines in tachinid flies, attributable to climate change, may reshape mountain ecosystems.
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Longevity: the case of the Greenland shark
Through DNA repair mechanisms and a specific protein alteration, it reaches 400 years old
Longevity and health are worthy goals that are under constant investigation, and mapping the genome of the Greenland shark-the longest-lived vertebrate on the planet, with an estimated lifespan of about 400 years-may be a step toward unlocking its secrets.
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Holobiont: a new perspective on life
An innovative approach to the study of living organisms: from an individualistic to a holistic analysis
A paradigm shift in the study of living organisms. This is what was proposed in a study just published in Science by theHolobiont Biology Network, an international consortium that includes researchers from numerous institutions including the University of Padua, Penn State University, the University of Copenhagen, NTNU University Museum, the University of Pittsburgh and the National University of Colombia.
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Plastic in the sea: help comes from satellite
Demonstrated ability to detect plastic debris through satellite monitoring
An unprecedented map. This is the result of a study published in Nature and carried out by an international research team-including the Institute of Marine Science (ISMAR) in Lerici-that has found a way to use satellite imagery to map marine litter pollution in the Mediterranean Sea.
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Cold case: light on events millions of years ago
International team discovers the true extent of the Messinian Salinity Crisis
A study published in Science reopens a cold case of the oldest, and through a multidisciplinary approach rewrites the history of Mediterranean biodiversity.
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Allies to safeguard: swallows
By feeding on flies, they protect the health of livestock and avoid the use of insecticides
A study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, in which the University of Milan, MUSE – Trento Science Museum and Lipu participated, highlights the valuable role of swallows, effective biocontrol agents of flies in dairy cattle barns. The benefits of their presence are innumerable; yet, this function is little known, and not enough is still being done to remedy their drastic decline.
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The music of animals
Of all types of calls, chicks prefer consonant sounds, which have a positive valence
A recent study by the University of Trieste and La Sapienza University of Rome hypothesizes that the preference for consonant sounds (translated into notes: the intervals C – C; C – F; C – G) shares humans and animals, including non-singing species such as chickens. To prove this, scientists recorded and analyzed hundreds of chick calls. The main premise of the research was that the preference for consonant sounds, observed in several animal species, including humans, might have biological roots and be reflected in the animals’ natural calls.
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The world heats up: what about dung beetles?
Research investigates thermal tolerance of these insects, indispensable guardians of biodiversity
A study conducted by the University of Turin investigated how climate change, and in particular global warming, affects the activity of dung beetles.
