PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Study finds that mild winters are detrimental to butterflies

2012-04-21
(Press-News.org) The recent mild winter throughout much of the United States was a cause for celebration for many. However, butterfly aficionados shouldn't be joining in the celebration.

A new study by Jessica Hellmann, associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Notre Dame, and researchers from Western University found that mild winters, such as the one many of us just experienced, can be taxing for some butterfly or possibly other species.

Hellmann and her fellow researchers studied caterpillars of the Propertius Duskywing butterfly, which feed on Gary Oak trees. This species of caterpillar, like many insects, has a higher metabolic rate and burns more fat during mild winters.

"The energy reserves the caterpillars collect in the summer need to provide enough energy for both overwintering and metamorphosing into a butterfly in the spring," Caroline William, lead author of the study, said.

So a butterfly needs to conserve as much energy as it can during the winter months. In the paper, Hellmann and her colleagues explain for the first time how warmer winters can lead to a decrease in the number of butterflies.

However, Hellmann and the Western University researchers found that warmer winters might not always reduce butterfly populations as much as one might initially think. They reared caterpillars in two different locations: one which often experiences more variable and warmer winter temperatures and one which generally features more stable and generally cooler winter temperatures. The caterpillars that were exposed to the warmer and more variable conditions were better able to withstand the warmer conditions, simply by being exposed to them. They did so by lowering the sensitivity of their metabolism.

However, the ability of even caterpillars accustomed to warmer, more variable winters to cope with such conditions is still limited, according to the researchers. They calculated the energy use of both groups of caterpillars and discovered that the caterpillars that lower their metabolic rates to deal with warmer winters still use significantly more energy to survive them.

"We still have lot to learn about how organisms will respond to climate change," Hellmann said. "Our study shows significant biological effects of climate change, but it also shows that organisms can partially adjust their physiology to compensate. We now need to discover if other species adjust in similar ways to our example species."

So although mild winters may be a cause for celebration for many of us, those who are concerned are biodiversity might find them to be much more somber seasons.

INFORMATION:

The research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation and the U.S. Department of Energy.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Fat outside of arteries may influence onset of coronary artery disease

2012-04-21
CINCINNATI—Researchers at UC have confirmed that fat surrounding the outside of arteries in humans—particularly the left coronary artery—may influence the onset of coronary artery disease, or atherosclerosis, which is the leading cause of death in the U.S. These findings, being presented at the American Heart Association's Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology (ATVB) 2012 Scientific Sessions in Chicago April 20, 2012, may help in identifying the molecular culprit, with the goal of creating targeted therapies for atherosclerosis before the disease forms. Coronary ...

Marine scientists urge government to reassess oil spill response

2012-04-21
Athens, Ga. – On the second anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon blowout, a national panel of researchers including University of Georgia marine scientist Samantha Joye is urging the federal government to reassess how it would respond to similar oil spills that might occur in the future. The 22 researchers, whose paper was published April 20 in the peer-reviewed journal Bioscience, noted that the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill was unlike any other oil spill encountered previously. Although the well blowout occurred at unprecedented depths and released enormous quantities ...

Internal medicine physician specialists release policy paper on reforming Medicaid

2012-04-21
(New Orleans) A dozen recommendations to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries have access to high-quality, coordinated care were provided today by the American College of Physicians (ACP). The new policy paper, Reforming Medicare in the Age of Deficit Reduction, was released at Internal Medicine 2012, ACP's annual scientific meeting. "This position paper considers the potential advantages and disadvantages of proposals to reform Medicare in an attempt to quell rising Medicare/health care costs. Options such as transforming Medicare into a premium support program, increasing ...

Radisson Blu Hotel, Toulouse Airport Introduces High-Speed Internet

2012-04-21
Radisson Blu Hotel, Toulouse is proud to introduce fiber to the home (FTTH), a 100 megabyte per second high-speed Internet access. The 100 megabyte per second high-speed Internet will provide guests of the airport hotel Toulouse with free access to the Internet in and around the hotel, making it possible to work in comfort and send attachments and large files in a few seconds. Users can download and share content at light speed while watching a High Definition video or even playing network games. Customer needs are always changing and the Internet has become indispensable ...

NASA sees slow-developing System 99P dogging Northern Australia

NASA sees slow-developing System 99P dogging Northern Australia
2012-04-21
NASA satellites have been monitoring the slow-to-develop low pressure area called System 99P for four days as it lingers in the Arafura Sea, north Australia's Northern Territory. Satellite data indicates that System 99P is likely to continue struggling because of weak organization and nearby dry air. System 99P was captured in an infrared image on April 20, 2012 at 04:55 UTC (12:55 a.m. EDT) by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument that flies onboard NASA's Aqua satellite. At that time, System 99P was centered about 190 nautical miles (218.6 ...

NJIT electrical engineers feature talks on MIMO radar, optical-OFDM, more

2012-04-21
NJIT's Center for Wireless Communications and Signal Processing Research showcased earlier this week the research of six doctoral students. The students' work was featured in presentations and displayed posters. The annual event gives doctoral students and their professors a chance to exchange information from a year's worth of work. The Center is located in the department of electrical and computer engineering at NJIT's Newark College of Engineering. Six presentations focused on the field's newest technology. They were "Spatial Compressive Sensing in MIMO Radar ...

Park Inn by Radisson Al Khobar Awarded Best 4 Star Hotel in Saudi Arabia

2012-04-21
Park Inn by Radisson Al Khobar was recently named as Highly Commended 'Best 4 Star Hotel in Saudi Arabia' at the second Saudi Excellence in Tourism Awards gala ceremony. The awards are held under the patronage of HRH Prince Sultan Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz, the president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities. Nearly one hundred thousand votes were cast in the 2012 Saudi Excellence in Tourism Awards before voting closed on Thursday 14 March. Across the 22 sub-categories there were more than 600 nominations with the most hotly contested category being Best ...

ALS patients differ on treatment choices in later phases of disease

2012-04-21
NEW ORLEANS – Two new studies analyzing treatment decisions in late-stage amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients shed light onto treatments aimed to extend the duration and quality of life in this progressively debilitating neuromuscular disorder. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that waiting until the last minute to receive one treatment resulted in not living long enough to experience the benefits. In a separate study, Penn researchers uncovered polarized preferences among patients regarding the value of an ...

NCEAS researchers offer new ecological model for deep-water oil spills

NCEAS researchers offer new ecological model for deep-water oil spills
2012-04-21
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — On the second anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform blowout, a national panel of researchers is providing new insight into what happened in the disaster, as well as a guide for how to deal with such events in the future, and why existing tools were inadequate to predict what lay before them. The study, produced by the Gulf Oil Spill Ecotox Working Group at UC Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), is published in the May issue of the journal Bioscience. It is titled, "A Tale of Two Spills: ...

BlackWhiteSourcing Launches twenn - Tweeted News Network Mobile App for iPhone and iPod, a New Way to Access, Share and Store the World's Latest Tweeted News Headlines

2012-04-21
BlackWhiteSourcing, which operates a web marketing solutions business, has launched the mobile version of twenn - Tweeted News Network for iOS. twenn mobile gives users convenient access to the latest news headlines around the world, which have been published via twitter from various, valid and different sized sources (bloggers, as well as news agencies, journalists, newspapers, magazines etc.). twenn consists of two major categories and covers: 1. International topics - English Speaking News (by Subject) - Business: Breaking News, Technology, Economy, Logistics, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Study tracks chromium chemistry in irradiated molten salts

Scientists: the beautiful game is a silver bullet for global health

Being physically active, even just a couple of days a week, may be key to better health

High-fat diet promote breast cancer metastasis in animal models

A router for photons

Nurses and AI collaborate to save lives, reduce hospital stays

Multi-resistance in bacteria predicted by AI model

Tinker Tots: A citizen science project to explore ethical dilemmas in embryo selection

Sensing sickness

Cost to build multifamily housing in California more than twice as high as in Texas

Program takes aim at drinking, unsafe sex, and sexual assault on college campuses

Inability to pay for healthcare reaches record high in U.S.

Science ‘storytelling’ urgently needed amid climate and biodiversity crisis

KAIST Develops Retinal Therapy to Restore Lost Vision​

Adipocyte-hepatocyte signaling mechanism uncovered in endoplasmic reticulum stress response

Mammals were adapting from life in the trees to living on the ground before dinosaur-killing asteroid

Low LDL cholesterol levels linked to reduced risk of dementia

Thickening of the eye’s retina associated with greater risk and severity of postoperative delirium in older patients

Almost one in ten people surveyed report having been harmed by the NHS in the last three years

Enhancing light control with complex frequency excitations

New research finds novel drug target for acute myeloid leukemia, bringing hope for cancer patients

New insight into factors associated with a common disease among dogs and humans

Illuminating single atoms for sustainable propylene production

New study finds Rocky Mountain snow contamination

Study examines lactation in critically ill patients

UVA Engineering Dean Jennifer West earns AIMBE’s 2025 Pierre Galletti Award

Doubling down on metasurfaces

New Cedars-Sinai study shows how specialized diet can improve gut disorders

Making moves and hitting the breaks: Owl journeys surprise researchers in western Montana

PKU Scientists simulate the origin and evolution of the North Atlantic Oscillation

[Press-News.org] Study finds that mild winters are detrimental to butterflies