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The article discusses the success of the U.S. wildlife conservation in Alaska, the history of the state and its wealth of natural and wildlife resources. Topics include how the U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia, the many species of wildlife that reside in Alaska including the Bald Eagle, harbor seals and the Alaskan bull moose, and the international agreement the U.S. made with other countries to protect the Pribilof seals.

Writing in eLife, the scientists explain that larger bull's-eyes contain more UV-absorbing compounds called flavonols that prevent excessive water loss. Scientists have long known that sunflower petals produce ultraviolet (UV)-absorbing pigments that create bull's-eye patterns invisible to humans but not to insects such as bees (longhorn bee, left). Now, in a study of nearly 2,000 wild sunflowers, researchers at the University of British Columbia find that sunflower UV patterns also help the plants survive by regulating water loss. [Extracted from the article]

"There was a big gap in the literature on this topic", says João Vitor de Alcantara Viana, a behavioral ecologist at the State University of Campinas in Brazil, who led an investigation into which strategies work best. Though scientists have spent more than a century observing and studying the camouflage tactics animals use to deter detection by predators, few of those efforts have compared the effectiveness of different concealment strategies. In general, the ecologists report in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, predators must spend about 60 percent more time finding camouflaged prey than noncamou-flaged prey. [Extracted from the article]

"Our results support the idea that nest types can be important factors in the ecological success of birds", writes lead author Iliana Medina in Ecology Letters. A bout a third of the planet's roughly 11,000 bird species build elaborate domed nests with roofs that would appear to provide better protection for eggs and hatchlings than open nests. [Extracted from the article]

People's appreciation for the natural world maybe increased through travel, but travel itself contributes to global warming. A flights generate tons of greenhouse gas pollutants. To offset the pollution generated by these travels, consumers can buy carbon offsets to help fund projects that support environmental projects.

Cemeteries can serve as wildlife habitats as some of them are lands that contain soil and plant communities that have never been plowed. Some cemeteries also offer natural grounds, wherein bodies in biodegradable caskets or in plain shrouds are buried. Details on several cemeteries in the U.S. that serve as habitats are presented.

The growing number of American homeowners who install solar energy systems to save on their electric bills as well as help check global warming is discussed.

Findings of ecological study of Phoenix with relation to bird behavior in the residential neighborhoods are presented.

Every year, as many as 3 billion birds migrate out of the boreal forest that stretches across the North American Continent from Alaska to Newfoundland. As most of the boreal is undisturbed, it is assumed that it would continue to be one of the world's wildlife cases for decades to come.

The researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium provide valuable information for making decisions regarding the seafood through their national and regional guides. The information about the management of the fisheries, their effect on the environment and the reasons for the depletion of the marine resources are also provided.

Some of the defensive landscaping techniques are highlighted that will help to protect homes and business from forest fires. In some places the local ordinance in the state has made property owners to clean up forest debris and reduce flammable sources that new buildings to construct only of fire-resistant materials.

The article reports that a growing body of research shows how noise pollution alters bird behavior. Topics include a research by Boise State University ecologist Jesse Barber and colleagues, which shows that the northern saw-whet owl has an exceptional sense of hearing and can hear sounds as low as negative 20 decibels, and finding of Dutch researchers that male great tits near communities have changed their mating calls to a higher pitch.

Say "thank you" to the birds and the bees that team up on farms where coffee is grown. Conducting field work on 30 Costa Rican coffee farms, researchers discovered that coffee beans grow larger and more plentiful when birds and bees join forces - with the bees pollinating the plants (Scaptotrigona pectoralis on coffee flower, left) and the birds protecting them from pests. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists report that without the combined efforts of these winged helpers - many of which have migrated from thousands of miles away - the $24 billion coffee industry would suffer nearly a 25 percent decrease in crop yields. [Extracted from the article]

In analyses of high-speed videos of black (right), pileated and great spotted woodpeckers, the researchers found that the birds do not absorb the shock of the impact with a tree. Even the strongest shocks from dozens of pecks the team analyzed appeared to be safe for woodpecker brains. Building three-dimensional, biomechanical models of the birds, the scientists also concluded that shock absorbance by the skulls would severely hinder the birds' pecking abilities. [Extracted from the article]

In their investigation, published recently in Scientific Reports, the researchers measured the number of sounds and the length of sound patterns produced by humpback populations off the coasts of both east Australia and New Caledonia. "By listening to the Australian humpbacks, we were able to see if the songs changed in any way when sung by the New Caledonian whales", says lead author Jenny Allen, a University of Queensland research fellow. After analyzing several years of high-quality underwater recordings, scientists report that humpback whales (above) from one region of the South Pacific can learn incredibly complicated melodies sung by humpbacks from another region nearly 2,000 miles away. [Extracted from the article]

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