Articles written by John Blatchford

Individual bees react to their environment and the sum of their activities makes the hive behave as if it were a single creature.

Dec 15, 2011 - John Blatchford

Zoos need to remain commercially viable if they are to carry out their educational, research, and conservation functions.

Dec 4, 2011 - John Blatchford

The horse chestnut leaf-miner is spreading across Great Britain and damaging trees. Will native predators be able to control it?

Nov 30, 2011 - John Blatchford

Children need to experience nature early on, and both they and adults are inspired by optimistic endeavours.

Sep 2, 2011 - John Blatchford

Stinging jellyfish are becoming more of a nuisance around the world, sometimes even killing bathers.

Sep 1, 2011 - John Blatchford

Birds released in 2011 carry red wing tags with white letters so the public can report sightings of individual birds.

Aug 30, 2011 - John Blatchford

Blackcaps that breed in Germany are splitting into two groups - some winter in England, others in Spain.

Aug 27, 2011 - John Blatchford

A new study suggests that the most life has yet to be discovered, and that most will be gone before we get to it.

Aug 25, 2011 - John Blatchford

A global study has photographed thousands of elusive mammals at night in forest habitats.

Aug 23, 2011 - John Blatchford

Humans activities damage many habitats, and climate change adds an extra burden for animals.

Aug 20, 2011 - John Blatchford

Contaminated sewage from Florida can leak into the ocean and pass on bacteria to corals.

Aug 18, 2011 - John Blatchford

Amateurs record sightings of hawkmoths as comments on articles, and they can provide valuable information.

Aug 17, 2011 - John Blatchford

Marine gastropods generate a lot of amateur interest - some collect shells while others photograph living animals underwater and contribute scientific data.

Aug 14, 2011 - John Blatchford

Amateur underwater photographers can provide scientist with valuable information. One genus of much photographed opisthobranch is considered here.

Aug 13, 2011 - John Blatchford

Glaucus atlanticus dines on a dangerous floating 'jellyfish' and concentrates its poisons for its own defence.

Aug 12, 2011 - John Blatchford

The Marmalade Hoverfly had a bumper year (2011) in England. The mild spring gave their young a good food supply and they matured into swarms of adults.

Aug 11, 2011 - John Blatchford

Fire Salamanders occur all over France, while the Alps and Pyrenees add the rarer Alpine Salamander and Pyreneen Brook Salamander to the list of three.

Aug 8, 2011 - John Blatchford

Recent studies show earlier Ruby-throated Hummingbird arrival dates and range expansion in Québec, Alberta and British Columbia.

Aug 7, 2011 - John Blatchford

NOAA warns of magnetic disturbance in the peak period of Ruby-throated Hummingbird migration. A 'Hummingbird Festival' might show if navigation is affected.

Aug 6, 2011 - John Blatchford

Some populations represent introductions from Europe, but others are possibly native.

Aug 5, 2011 - John Blatchford

Humans and sapsuckers both help hummingbirds extend their breeding range by providing them with an alternative to nectar.

Aug 4, 2011 - John Blatchford

Important research will establish a reference point for future studies.

Aug 1, 2011 - John Blatchford

Public awareness of global problems might be elevated by a couple of unusual penguins?

Jul 30, 2011 - John Blatchford

Charles Monnett seems to have been punished for reporting research findings that fueled a controversy.

Jul 29, 2011 - John Blatchford

Twenty years after the collapse of the Canadian cod fishery there are signs of recovery, but haddock seem to be doing better.

Jul 28, 2011 - John Blatchford

Recent research suggests that turtles are closely related to lizards - but does this matter?

Jul 27, 2011 - John Blatchford

Managing ecosystems effectively needs to take into account the way all living things interact with one another.

Jul 15, 2011 - John Blatchford

Nests were once collected from natural caves, but new buildings persuade the birds to nest in towns. This new technique is causing some concern.

Jul 14, 2011 - John Blatchford

Global warming makes pollinating insects begin work earlier, and flowers appear before they used to - but are they both still 'in sync' ?

Jul 7, 2011 - John Blatchford

Climate change is bringing tropical fish into the Med, and jellyfish are taking over from fish.

Jul 7, 2011 - John Blatchford

DNA samples determine sex and species, but which sampling method is more reliable, and are there ethical considerations involved?

Jun 23, 2011 - John Blatchford

New technology allows glimpses of nature invisible to our normal senses.

Mar 16, 2011 - John Blatchford

Understanding how a small fish can re-grow its heart muscle will help people with heart failure.

Feb 14, 2011 - John Blatchford

Ants living on the fungal products of digested leaves have lost some genes related to normal digestion and amino acid synthesis.

Feb 12, 2011 - John Blatchford

Red blood cells have no DNA but still exhibit circadian rhythms.

Jan 27, 2011 - John Blatchford

Depression in humans might be associated with inflammation and cytokine release.

Jan 25, 2011 - John Blatchford

Indian elephants and mammoths are as close to one-another as the African bush elephant is to the forest species.

Jan 22, 2011 - John Blatchford

Louisiana Crayfish are well known, but a larger neighbour has been overlooked for years.

Jan 20, 2011 - John Blatchford

A new species of sengi was first seen wandering in front of a night vision camera.

Dec 16, 2010 - John Blatchford

Give an appropriate gift to someone keen on canal cruising.

Dec 9, 2010 - John Blatchford

Hiring a boat to explore the waterways with family and friends in relaxing surroundings.

Dec 8, 2010 - John Blatchford

Recent studies show that many animals will feed off dead whale carcasses on the ocean floor, but bone eating worms and snails are the specialists.

Dec 7, 2010 - John Blatchford

The potter wasp makes small clay vases and fills them with paralyzed caterpillars that are eaten by the developing larva.

Nov 24, 2010 - John Blatchford

Deliberate release of this non-native species into the wild broke the law.

Nov 17, 2010 - John Blatchford

Developing an interest in particular species or habitats can help conservation.

Oct 12, 2010 - John Blatchford

Field observations record what is seen, while experiments test the validity of hypotheses.

Oct 9, 2010 - John Blatchford

How to write up assessed course work using student observations.

Oct 3, 2010 - John Blatchford

Famine in India occurs twice a century when the bamboo forest flowers and the rats have so much food that their reproductive rate goes into overdrive.

Sep 28, 2010 - John Blatchford

Invasive species can disrupt natural ecosystems, causing unpredictable damage.

Sep 11, 2010 - John Blatchford

We see and hear more. This article looks at the way in which we are trapped in our own (human) world. There is much beyond!

Sep 2, 2010 - John Blatchford