Wind turbines are built at an increasing pace but their effect on nature and animals are poorly known. Researchers from the Universities of Turku and Helsinki in Finland have investigated the impact of wind turbines on bat presence and activity in boreal forests. The results indicate clearly that bats don’t like wind turbines.
After conducting a research on fish populations in the Baltic sea, Doctoral Candidate MSc Giovanna Mottola found that some fish can still survive from current summer heat waves. But according to the research the general increase of temperature due to climate change all the year around can threaten this capacity.
Soil microbes can have a great impact on the spread of harmful invasive species as they can either hinder or facilitate the plant’s growth. Researchers at the Department of Biology of the University of Turku, Finland, studied the role of soil microbiota in the success of garden lupine, which is an invasive species in the Finnish nature.
A new study shows that horses can be more reluctant in new situations if they have multiple riders, have had several owners or the horse has been with its current owner only for a short period of time. The results of the international research group that studied the interaction between horses and humans also indicate that it takes time to build a good interactive relationship with a horse.
The University of Turku, together with the Universities of Eastern Finland, Oulu, Helsinki and Jyväskylä and Åbo Akademi University are collaborating in biodiversity education, and the course catalogue for this academic year has been published. Through the Biodiversity education network, students at the University of Turku have a possibility to take biodiversity-related courses from other universities.
Researchers from the University of Turku have described seven new fern species from the rainforests of tropical America. Many of the species were uncovered as the by-product of ecological research: the species diversity in tropical forests is still so poorly known that field trips and herbarium work keep discovering previously unknown species.
An international team of scientists found that sociality is not linked to intestinal nematode infection in Asian elephants. The researchers looked at loneliness and characteristics of the elephants’ social groups and found no differences in infection levels.
This year BioCity Student Symposium titled Students are the Solution is arranged on-site by PhD researchers from The University of Turku and Abo Akademi University together with BioCity Turku and InFLAMES Flagship in Cave theatre - Visitor and Innovation Centre Joki, 24th August 2022.
An international team of scientists found that sociality is linked to stress in Asian elephants. For example, loneliness increased male elephants’ level of stress, whereas having babies present reduced the stress level in female elephants.
Fish rarely feed their young. An exception are certain species of snakeheads whose offspring feed on trophic eggs provided by their parent. A new study shows that this exceptional adaptation developed in snakehead fish around 12 million years ago. This behaviour might have enabled the fish to conquer new environments and led to the high diversity of species seen in one particular group of snakeheads.