Biodiversity

Monthly Archive: December Biod

Gamers Unite for ROM Game Jam 2014

Posted: August 5, 2014 - 12:06 , by ROM
Logo of the 2014 ROM Game Jam with the theme "The Evolution Revolution"

The second annual ROM Game Jam will begin this Friday, August 8th, bringing together gaming enthusiasts and game developers to work together to create interactive games inspired by the unique setting of the ROM. This year's theme is "The Evolution Revolution".

Road Ecology in Presqu'ile Provincial Park

Posted: July 25, 2014 - 14:20 , by ROM
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Sean with a snapping turtle

Plant Sex on Display at the World Pride FNL "OUT of the Cupboards" Event

Posted: July 3, 2014 - 15:12 , by royal
Sign for the botany table in the Schad Gallery for the "OUT of the cupboards" event

On Friday June 27th, I manned the Botanical Battlestation in the Schad Gallery for a Friday Night Live feast of strange, symbolic and sexual plant specimens.

Montréal Botanical Garden hosts the 50th Anniversary meeting of the Canadian Botanical Association

Posted: June 23, 2014 - 10:29 , by royal
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By being late for the banquet, we came across a family of foxes who were moving out into the Garden after most of the human visitors had left.

Deb Metsger and I are on the train coming back from Montréal where we attended the 50th Anniversary meeting of the Canadian Botanical Association.

Sloth Life

Posted: June 12, 2014 - 15:14 , by royal
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Upside-down Two-toed sloth

What you may or may not know about this unusual mammal.

Ontario BioBlitz Brings Bad News for Arachnophobes

Posted: June 9, 2014 - 03:03 , by ROM
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a young boy carefully lets a spider crawl across his palms

Guest Blogger and 2014 Ontario Bioblitz Arachnid Taxon team leader Dr. Gergin Blagoev, Research Associate at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO), tells us about finding double the expected number of spider species in the Humber River Watershed and shares a couple of the most interesting species that were found.

2014 Ontario Bioblitz Bird Count Gets Results!

Posted: June 2, 2014 - 11:04 , by ROM
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A small blue and white bird sits on a post against background of vegetation.

Guest blogger and 2014 Ontario Bioblitz Bird Taxon team leader Kevin Kerr, Curator of Birds at Toronto Zoo, writes on some of his experiences inventorying birds, including 9 species-at-risk, from the Humber River Watershed.

Snapshots of Biodiversity: A Photo Essay on the 2014 Ontario BioBlitz

Posted: May 26, 2014 - 15:41 , by ROM
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A scientist and a youth look closely at a specimen on a table next to a microscope.

The 2014 Ontario BioBlitz brought 500+ registrants together this past weekend to find and catalogue biodiversity in the Humber River watershed, and students from the Environmental Visual Communication (EVC) Program were there to capture the event from every angle.

Study explores evolution of flightless birds

Posted: May 16, 2014 - 11:58 , by royal
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Tinamous
Allan Baker and colleagues from Royal Ontario Museum, University of Toronto and Ontario Institute for Cancer Research used genetic techniques to show that tinamous, small flying birds from Central and South America, evolved within the ratites group.

DNA confirms relationship between the giant flightless moa and the tinamous

Posted: May 13, 2014 - 12:46 , by royal
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One of the longest running debates in ornithology may finally  have an answer thanks to new ROM research published in science journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.