25 October 2023
\n \n \n \nA new study led by researchers in the Department of Biology has demonstrated that bumblebees make choices while foraging to maximize the rate of energy return, i.e. the amount of nectar sugar collected each minute.
\n \n\n \n \n12 October 2023
\n \n \n \nWine quality is notorious for varying from year to year, but what makes for a \u201cgood year\u201d? A new study has found that weather plays a critically important role in determining wine quality. By analysing 70 years\u2019 worth of wine critic scores from the Bordeaux wine region in relation to that year\u2019s weather, the researchers showed that higher quality wine is made in years with warmer temperatures, higher winter rainfall, and earlier, shorter growing seasons\u2014conditions that climate change is predicted to make more frequent.
\n \n\n \n \n6 October 2023
\n \n \n \nA new study led by the University of Oxford has found that natural evolution of antibiotic resistance genes has maintained resistance in bacteria despite a reduction in the use of antibiotics. The findings demonstrate the importance of understanding the regulatory evolution of resistance genes to strategically combat AMR. The study has been published in the Journal of the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME).
\n \n\n \n \n22 September 2023
\n \n \n \nAhead of World Rivers Day (24 September), new research by the University of Oxford reveals that sewage discharge into rivers has a greater impact on water quality, and the animals and plants that live in rivers, than surrounding land use. This has strong implications for the state of UK rivers in light of the recent threats to weaken nutrient neutrality regulations for new housing developments. The findings have been published today in the journals Global Change Biology and Ecological Solutions and Evidence.
\n \n\n \n \n21 September 2023
\n \n \n \nAn international group of scientists, including botanists at the University of Oxford\u2019s Botanic Garden, has issued an urgent call for coordinated action to save the iconic genus Rafflesia, which contains the world\u2019s largest flowers. This follows a new study which found that most of the 42 species are severely threatened.
\n \n\n \n \n18 September 2023
\n \n \n \nOne of the world\u2019s biggest ecological experiments, co-led by the University of Oxford on the island of Borneo, has revealed that replanting logged tropical forests with diverse mixtures of seedlings can significantly accelerate their recovery. The findings, published today in the journal Science Advances, emphasise the importance of preserving biodiversity in pristine forests and restoring it in recovering logged forest.
\n \n\n \n \n12 September 2023
\n \n \n \nNew research co-led by the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU, Department of Biology) has revealed alarming data about dwindling lion populations in Africa, but gives new insight into conservation strategies.
\n \n\n \n \n11 September 2023
\n \n \n \nResearchers at the University of Oxford\u2019s Botanic Garden and the Mathematical Institute have shown that the shape, size, and geometry of carnivorous pitcher plants determines the type of prey they trap. The results have been published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
\n \n\n \n \n10 September 2023
\n \n \n \nProfessor EJ Milner-Gulland and other researchers from the Department of Biology/Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science explore how the ecological compensation system in China works.
\n \n\n \n \n1 September 2023
\n \n \n \nA feature article on the work of Dr Tin (Henry) Hung (Department of Biology) to save Dalbergia, the rosewood tree, which is severely threatened across all countries in its distribution range.
\n \n\n \n \n29 August 2023
\n \n \n \nDr Egil Dr\u00f6ge, researcher in the Department of Biology, is sceptical of rumours that big cats are on the loose in Britain.
\n \n\n \n \n22 August 2023
\n \n \n \nUniversity of Oxford researchers have contributed to the first successful extraction of ancient DNA from a 2,900 year-old clay brick. The analysis provides a fascinating insight into the diversity of plant species cultivated at that time and place, and could open the way to similar studies.
\n \n\n \n \n9 August 2023
\n \n \n \nA team including Oxford chemists has shown that influential reports of magnetic field effects on Drosophila (fruit fly) behaviour cannot be reproduced. Drosophila have been widely used as a model organism for studying the mechanism of the magnetic compass sense of migratory songbirds.
\n \n\n \n \n3 August 2023
\n \n \n \nSamuel Johhnson, DPhil student in Mathematical Biology in the Mathematical Institute, discusses how research from mathematicians, biologists and social scientists is helping us understand swarming and harness its power.
\n \n\n \n \n13 July 2023
\n \n \n \nIn the most comprehensive survey to date, researchers have revealed the scale of plastic pollution on coral reefs, even at great depths. These results, however, suggest promising strategies to better protect these biodiversity hotspots.
\n \n\n \n \n12 July 2023
\n \n \n \nA new study from the Department of Biology has revealed that two-fifths of species likely threatened by the international wildlife trade are not covered by the global agreement that regulates it.
\n \n\n \n \n12 July 2023
\n \n \n \nA research study led by researchers in the Department of Biology provides a transformational new insight into how antimicrobial resistance (AMR) emerges in patients with bacterial infections which could help develop more effective interventions to prevent AMR infections developing in vulnerable patients.
\n \n\n \n \n29 June 2023
\n \n \n \nNeil D\u2019Cruze, Visiting Researcher at the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) in the Department of Biology and Jennah Green, Visiting Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University, write about South Africa\u2019s controversial legal industry of breeding lions in captivity and explain why it should be shut down.
\n \n\n \n \n23 June 2023
\n \n \n \nMaisie Vollans from the Department of Biology investigates changes to the way we smell that can really stop us from being bitten by mosquitoes.
\n \n\n \n \n17 June 2023
\n \n \n \nProfessors Milner-Gulland (Department of Biology), and Paul Newman and Alison Noble (Department of Engineering Science) are amongst the Oxford academics recognised in the King's Birthday Honours.
\n \n\n \n \n