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Crabs and the Anthropocene: Bottle caps instead of shell houses
Many species of hermit crabs have started using plastic covers instead of 'traditional' shells of animal origin. Scientists from Poznań and Warsaw describe this phenomenon in Science of the Total Environment. They emphasise that this is one of the signs of the environmental changes of the Anthropocene: plastic pollution on a massive scale.
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Analyses of turtle bones help understand why the reptiles fled from land into water
The first species of turtles on Earth over time began to prefer the aquatic environment over the land one. Water helped them protect themselves from increasingly large, predatory dinosaurs. The analysis of the bones of these species, carried out by Polish scientists, helps understand the living environment of the oldest turtles.
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'Forgotten' marine reptile an important puzzle in plesiosaur evolution
The marine reptile Trematospondylus macrocephalus was described in 1858; it is one of the oldest plesiosaurs known to science. However, it was soon forgotten - until now. New research shows that it is an important piece in the evolutionary puzzle of this group.
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Biologists from Białystok to help reintroduce lynx in Poland
Polish scientists working on an international project will conduct genetic research on lynxes living in Poland. They will recommend animals for breeding at breeding farms and for release into the wild in a specific area. A database of lynx genotypes will also be created.
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Over 200,000 km of river fish habitats in Europe lost due to impoundments
Over 200,000 km of river fish habitats in European rivers have been altered due to man-made barriers and the creation of dam lakes. This fragmentation of a free-flowing rivers contributes to the loss of biodiversity in the aquatic environment.
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Remains of 240-million-year-old predators found in Miedary
Polish scientists have discovered the remains of over 1,000 specimens of extinct animals dating back approximately 240 million years. Among them are the bones of a reptile previously unknown to science.
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Teeth of Late Jurassic predatory fish under microscope
Scientists from the Jagiellonian University and the Polish Academy of Sciences examined the teeth of predatory fish from approximately 148 million years ago under the microscope. Based on their research, they have shown that differences in the structure of the teeth were one of the factors that enabled the coexistence of similar species in one area.
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Black grouse population in Poland nearly extinct, warns biologist
The black grouse population in Poland is on the verge of extinction, says Michał Adamowicz from the Faculty of Biology at the University of Warsaw. Over a few decades, it decreased from 30,000 to less than 300. The reasons include climate warming, the influx of alien species resulting mainly from human activity, and landscape changes for agricultural areas.
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AllChemy HopCat algorithm cracks complex chemical rearrangements
Artificial intelligence has cracked some of the most complex chemical reactions - carbocation rearrangements - and predicted their products. This is thanks to the HopCat algorithm, an integral part of the AllChemy software created and developed by Professor Bartosz Grzybowski's group.
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Researchers re-examine ancient crocodylomorph from Załęcze Wielkie
Scientists have re-examined the remains of a prehistoric marine reptile found in the 20th century in the village of Załęcze Wielkie (Łódź province). This distant relative of modern crocodiles was about four metres long and had a visible jaw injury, which it probably suffered in the first years of its life.
