An analysis of seven tropical forests around the world has found that nature encourages diversity by selecting for less common trees as the trees mature.

The landmark study, which was conducted by 33 ecologists from 12 countries and published in the January 27 issue of the journal Science, conclusively demonstrates that diversity matters and has ecological importance to tropical forests. (more...) [1/26/06]

By tracing the 30-million year history of variation in a gene found in plants such as tomatoes and tobacco, biologists at the University of California, San Diego have found new evidence to support an old idea -- that some evolutionary changes are irreversible. (more...) [1/18/06]

The scientists found that populations of tiny crustaceans retrieved from deep-sea sediments over the past 40 million years grew bigger and evolved into larger species, as might be predicted from Cope's Rule. However,... (more...) [1/17/06]

Many insects enter the United States accidentally as hitchhikers on various kinds of imported plants and through other forms of human commerce. But how many of these potential pests actually become established once they arrive? (more...) [1/3/06]

Genetic material derisively called 'junk' DNA because it does not contain the instructions or protein-coding genes and appears to have little or no function is actually critically important to an organism's evolutionary survival, according to a study conducted by UCSD biologist Peter Andolfatto. (more...) [1/3/06]

A team led by biologists at UCSD has discovered a molecule in roundworms that makes them susceptible to Bacillus thuringiensis toxin, or Bt toxin--a pesticide produced by bacteria and widely used by organic farmers and in genetically engineered crops to ward off insect pests. (more...) [1/3/06]

UCSD biologists and their colleagues have discovered that the genetic system controlling the development and repair of insect cuticle--the outer layer of the body surface of insects--also controls these processes in mammalian skin, a finding that could lead to new insights into the healing of wounds and the treatment of cancer. (more...) [1/3/06]

An international team that includes UCSD biologists has determined the complete genetic blueprint of Dictyostelium discoideum, a simple social amoeba long used by researchers as a model genetic system, much like fruit flies and laboratory mice, to gain a better understanding of human diseases. (more...) [1/3/06]

UCSD scientists have determined how white blood cells up the ante against invading bacteria, a finding that may lead to new treatments for infections including those caused by invasive "flesh-eating" Streptococcus bacteria. The findings, which were published in the July 2005 issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, represent a collaboratie effort between the laboratories of professor Randall Johnson, UCSD Biological Sciences, and associate professor of pediatrics, Victor Nizet, UCSD School of Medicine. (more...) [1/3/06]

UCSD Biologists havefound a fundamentalmechanism usedby embryonic stemcells to ensure that genetically damaged stem cells do not divide and pass along the damage to daughter stem cells. Their discovery solves the longstanding mystery of how embryonic stem cells, which have the potential to divide an unlimited number of times and differentiate to make all of the cell types in the body, are able to avoid duplicating cells that hae sustained genetic damage. (more...) [1/3/06]