2 February 2024
\n \n \n \nA decade-long study led by the University of Oxford has revealed new insights into the mechanisms that enable animals to adapt to the impacts of climate change. The results have been published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
\n \n\n \n \n16 January 2024
\n \n \n \nResearchers at the Department of Biology have developed a new test to assess how dangerous robotic lawnmowers are to hedgehogs. They hope this will lead to a certification scheme that will allow consumers to choose \u2018hedgehog-friendly\u2019 mowers to help protect these lovable mammals.
\n \n\n \n \n18 December 2023
\n \n \n \nAn international team of scientists led by geneticists and disease biologists from the University of Oxford and LMU Munich have used ancient DNA to trace the evolution of Marek's Disease Virus (MDV). This global pathogen causes fatal infections in unvaccinated chickens and costs the poultry industry over $1 billion per year.
\n \n\n \n \n15 December 2023
\n \n \n \nA new study led by the University of Oxford has demonstrated that diverse communities of resident bacteria can protect the human gut from disease-causing microorganisms. The researchers found that protective communities block the growth of harmful pathogens by consuming nutrients that the pathogen needs.
\n \n\n \n \n12 December 2023
\n \n \n \nThe antelope, which roamed the Eurasian Steppe alongside woolly mammoths, has been restored from near extinction by conservation efforts, including those of Professor E J Milner-Gulland in the Department of Biology.
\n \n\n \n \n7 December 2023
\n \n \n \nResearchers at the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research (IOI) at Oxford University and Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in China have developed a new approach to study the transmission of plasmids containing antibiotic resistance genes between bacteria sampled from hospital wastewater.
\n \n\n \n \n5 December 2023
\n \n \n \nA new study led by the University of Oxford has shed light on why certain species of bacteria carry astonishing arsenals of weapons. The new findings could help us to engineer microbes that can destroy deadly pathogens, reducing our reliance on antibiotics.
\n \n\n \n \n30 November 2023
\n \n \n \nThe Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) celebrated the finalists of the 2023 NERC Impact Awards on Wednesday 29th November. Two researchers from the Department of Biology received awards, including Dr Sophus Zu Ermgassen who was the winner of the Early Career category.
\n \n\n \n \n22 November 2023
\n \n \n \nProfessor Milner-Gulland, who leads three programmes at the Oxford Martin School, has been a conservationist for more than 30 years. But, she maintains, end-of-the-world scare stories will make people fear it is too late, there is nothing they can do, and they will bury their heads in the sand.
\n \n\n \n \n21 November 2023
\n \n \n \nThe new study from researchers in the Department of Biology demonstrates that bumblebees are not able to avoid contaminated nectar, putting them at high risk of pesticide exposure and posing a threat to crop pollination.
\n \n\n \n \n10 November 2023
\n \n \n \nMore than sixty years after it was last recorded, an expedition team has rediscovered an iconic, egg-laying mammal in one of the most unexplored regions of the world. Attenborough's long-beaked echidna, named after famed broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, was captured for the first time in photos and video footage using remote trail cameras set up in the Cyclops Mountains of Indonesia's Papua Province.
\n \n\n \n \n1 November 2023
\n \n \n \nThe study by researchers in the Department of Biology also concluded that halting deforestation is the single most important mitigation measure Brazil can take towards net zero emissions by 2050 while preventing biodiversity loss.
\n \n\n \n \n1 November 2023
\n \n \n \nProfessor Andy Hector (Department of Biology) describes a unique living resource, Wytham Woods, and how this contributes to the distinctive and immersive learning experience for students at Oxford.
\n \n\n \n \n25 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.
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