HORIZON INTERNATIONAL SOLUTIONS SITE

Results of study on prairie grasslands show differences across the months. Does it matter whether long periods of hot weather, such as last year's heat wave that gripped the U.S. Midwest, happen in June or July, August or September?  Scientists studying the subtle effects of heat waves and droughts say that when such weather events happen makes a big difference.

Precipitation and predators key in ecological regulation of infectious disease: Researchers show that just three ecological factors--rainfall, predator diversity and island size and shape--can account for nearly all the differences in infection rates between the eight Channel Islands off the southern coast of California.

It has been a basic principle of evolution for more than a century that plants and animals can adapt genetically in ways that help them better survive and reproduce. Now, in a paper published in the journal Science, University of Rochester biologist John Jaenike and colleagues document a clear example of a new mechanism for evolution.