Daily Archives: February 17, 2017

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While there are now 80 new Pokemon to catch from the Johto region, many of them require Pokemon Special Items.

These perform as Evolution Stones to help turn some of your old original Pokemon into their next form.

[READ MORE: HOW TO GET UMBREON IN POKEMON GO]

This could prove a huge boon for those players who have some strong Pocket Monsters that have reached the Evolution ceiling, especially when it comes to taking Gyms.

To get these new Pokemon Go Gen 2 Special Items, fans are going to have to head back outside and hit their local Poke Stops.

This is because the only way to grab these vital evolution items is by spinning those bad boys. Over and over like last year.

Those Evolution items include:

Heres a list of other Candy amounts needed for Gen 1 - Gen 2 crossover Pokemon:

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1 of 10

Pokemon Go Gen 2 UPDATE Marill

The Pokemon Go Hub have listed some other important changes that could help trainers looking to grab as much candy as possible:

Candies: You can now get 5 candies when catching a Stage 1 evolution. 10 candies for a stage 2 evolution. Hitmonchan/Hitmonlee candies have been unified into Tyorgue candies.

Evolution items: Evolution items are required for some evolutions such as Scyther->Scyzor (Metal coat). Evolution items come out of pokestops and are consumed once used.

For pokemon with branched evolutions such as Slowpoke or Gloom, you get 2 evolution buttons, allowing you to choose with one you want. Eevees only have one button.

See more here:

Pokemon Go Special Items: How to get Evolution Stones in Gen 2 update - Express.co.uk

In the Life Science Building, Martin Turcotte, University of Pittsburgh evolutionary ecology assistant professor, explained how many contemporary theories and literature focus on ecology affecting evolution or evolution affecting ecology. Turcotte has set out to prove that both affect each other reciprocally instead of independently.

This research can have a financial impact on the farming industry as well as implications throughout other scientific fields.

Turcotte focuses on evolution in a smaller period of time, which is much less focused on by the scientific community. He defines these shorter time periods as 12 generations of organisms or less.

There are several examples of rapid evolution that many long-term evolution-based models dont effectively explain, he said. For 100 years, the Atlantic Cod became much smaller in size because of fishing. Rapid evolution can happen outside of human interaction, such as the lynx population and evolution in America changing between 1850 and 1950 based on hare population.

Turcotte tried to answer three questions with his research: Does rapid evolution drive population dynamics in nature?, Do ecological and evolutionary processes influence each other? and How does rapid evolution affect species interaction?

Turcotte answered his first question by using an insect called the green peach aphid. This creature is a sap-sucking parasite that feeds on more than 130 types of plants.

The green peach aphid reproduces both clonally and sexually over a short time, making it ideal for testing evolutionary change in an experiment, he said.

He put 20 cloned aphids on one plant versus 10 aphids from one clone group and 10 from another.

I spent a whole summer in 100-degree weather lifting leaves and clicking a clicker, he said.

In the first experiment, Turcotte found the mixed group of aphids evolved about 35 percent faster than those that cloned themselves.

This result changed when he put bags over the plants, eliminating outside factors. In this experiment, both groups evolved at the same rate.

What Turcotte hypothesized was some herbivore ate part of the plant, causing a higher population density. Under these conditions, he predicted the mixed group would fare better than the single clone group.

His findings seemed to prove this in both caged experiments and experiments in greenhouses, he said.

These findings also answered his second question as a smaller plant affected evolution.

For his third question, he set up an experiment in a greenhouse. He tested evolution for 20 aphids in one clone group versus 60 in another group. He found the group of 60 evolved faster because of increased competition due to population density.

Turcotte also found different clone groups become dominant based on certain conditions. On a farm-raised crop, a certain group may be dominant while another group may be dominant on the wild counterpart of that plant.

Biology senior Nafi Dewan attended the colloquium for his class and explained the class gets visits from weekly speakers from different parts of America. He is intrigued by the different research that speakers are doing and how they are applying their findings.

Biology graduate student Asad Rizwan also attends the event for one of his classes. He now has a better understanding of his classes and how the content he learned in class is applied to the field.

@FornariLoL

news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

Read more from the original source:

Biology professor discloses evolution findings - UTA The Shorthorn

Pokemon Go is available for iOS and Android devices. (Niantic)

With the newPokemon Goupdate, bothSlowbroandSlowkingare now available.

In a massive February 16th update to the free-to-play mobile game from Niantic, players can catch generation two Pokemon out in the wild, but they can also evolve their existing generation one Pokemon into generation two Pokemon.

One of those generation one Pokemon that has a new evolution isSlowpoke; in fact,Slowpoke can now evolve into eitherSlowbro or Slowking.

To evolveSlowpoke intoSlowbro, all that is required is 50Slowpoke Candy. To evolveSlowpoke intoSlowking, however, you both need50Slowpoke Candy and an item called aKings Rock.

AKings Rock is one of several new evolution items added to Pokemon Goon February 16th, and you can only obtain it by visiting a PokeStop. Its one of many possible items you can get from a PokeStop, so youll just have to keep visiting more and more of them until youre lucky enough to come across aKings Rock.

OneKings Rock is needed for each Slowpoke evolution;the evolution item is discarded immediately after you use it.

You may be wondering how you can decide whichSlowpoke evolution you want to get. Well, the game gives you two separate evolution buttons, as you can see in the screenshot below via Reddit. The button on top is Slowbro, and the button on bottom isSlowking, so simply obtain the necessary items, press the evolution button, and youll get your desired second generation Pokemon.

Read the original:

'Pokemon Go': How to Evolve Slowpoke Into Slowbro or Slowking - Heavy.com

February 16, 2017 A suite of common ecological impacts ofroads are shown as labeled arrows. While these effects are well described in roadecology, their role as known or likely agents of natural selection is poorly understood.Yet these factors are capable of driving contemporary evolutionary change. Studying the evolutionary effects of these factors will provide a more comprehensiveunderstanding of the ways in which organisms are responding to the presence and consequences of roads. (This is Figure 2 from the paper). Credit: Graphic created by Steven P. Brady using symbols courtesy of the Integration and Application Network, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (ian.umces.edu/symbols/).

Roads are causing rapid evolutionary change in wild populations of plants and animals according to a Concepts and Questions paper published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. The paper is available now online in 'early view' ahead of being featured on the cover in the print edition on March 1.

Said to be the largest human artifact on the planet, roads impact the ecology of nearly 20 percent of the U.S. landscape alone, and globally, are projected to increase 60 percent in length by 2050; yet, how roads are triggering contemporary evolutionary changes among plants and animals, is a topic that has typically been overlooked.

By drawing on previous studies, the researchers show that the numerous negative effects of roads - such as pollution and road kill - can cause rapid evolutionary changes in road-adjacent populations. This finding that roads spur rapid evolution is transforming scientists' views of the biological impacts caused by the ever-expanding network of roads.Over a period of just a few generations - and in one case in as few as just 30 years - some populations living in road-adjacent habitat are evolving higher tolerance to pollutants, such as road salt runoff; the common grass Anthoxanthum odoratum is one such example, the spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) is another. Despite this positive influence of rapid evolution, road-adjacent populations are not always able to adapt to life beside the road, at times becoming 'maladapted,' evolving lower tolerances to negative road effects. This can occur even if other species in those habitats are adapting, as was the case with the spotted salamander and a cohabitant frog. Earlier fieldwork by Brady found that the survival rate for wood frog Rana sylvatica populations living by the road was 29 percent lower than those transplanted from other areas. With the spotted salamander and wood frog, the fitness of each population had increased and decreased, respectively, relative to populations not living roadside, which demonstrates how local adaptive and maladaptive changes are occurring through natural selection among various species. Even though a population may experience local adaptation, the researchers point out that while evolution might decrease the chance of local extinction, it does not preclude it.

"We have long known that slicing and dicing our planet with roads presents many challenges for plants and animals but we are only now beginning to appreciate that those same challenges can drive evolutionary change over just a few generations. This forces us to reconsider the nature of road effects and the complexity of ways that life responds to them," says lead-author Steven P. Brady (http://stevenpbrady.weebly.com/), a biologist in the Department of Water and Land Resources at King County in Seattle, Wash., who was a post-doctoral fellow in biological sciences at Dartmouth College, when the paper was written. Brady was a member of Ryan Calsbeek's Lab in Evolutionary Ecology at Dartmouth.

"It is striking to consider that across such different organisms - grasses, swallows, amphibians - roads have similar capacity to cause divergent evolution among local populations," says Brady. "But what is perhaps most surprising is that some populations appear to be evolving maladaptively right alongside populations that are evolving adaptively. And from what we can tell, such maladaptive outcomes may become increasingly common in response to human-modified environments such as road-adjacent habitats."

The evolutionary perspectives of road ecology is integral to understanding how roads are impacting our environment, and to planning for and implementing conservation efforts. As new roads and infrastructure projects are considered by local, state and federal municipalities, including the prospect of a new U.S. infrastructure program, an integrated policy approach that considers maximizing the connectivity of habitats, preserving genetic diversity and increasing population sizes, may help "mitigate the consequences of roads."

Explore further: Road runoff spurring spotted salamander evolution

More information: Steven P Brady et al. Road ecology: shifting gears toward evolutionary perspectives, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (2017). DOI: 10.1002/fee.1458

Spotted salamanders exposed to contaminated roadside ponds are adapting to their toxic environments, according to a Yale paper in Scientific Reports. This study provides the first documented evidence that a vertebrate has ...

Leipzig/Halle (Saale)/Porto. The effects of roads on carnivores have obviously been underestimated in worldwide species conservation. This is the conclusion of the first comprehensive global study on this topic, which has ...

Naturally occurring chemicals found in road salts commonly used to de-ice paved surfaces can alter the sex ratios in nearby frog populations, a phenomenon that could reduce the size and viability of species populations, according ...

Senckenberg scientists have studied the impact of old forest roads on the species diversity in the rainforest of Central Guyana. They reached the conclusion that the established roads may be of use for amphibians and should ...

Roads present a serious threat to bat populations, indicating that protection policies are failing.

(Phys.org) A first-of-its-kind study by Boise State University researchers shows that the negative effects of roads on wildlife are largely because of traffic noise.

Facial recognition is a biometricsystem that identifies or verifies a person from a digital image. It's used to find criminals, identify passport and driver's license fraud, and catch shoplifters. But can it be used to ...

A smart trap for mosquitoes? A new high-tech version is promising to catch the bloodsuckers while letting friendlier insects escapeand even record the exact weather conditions when different species emerge to bite.

Where do honey bees come from? A new study from researchers at the University of California, Davis and UC Berkeley clears some of the fog around honey bee origins. The work could be useful in breeding bees resistant to disease ...

Timothy Blake, a postdoctoral fellow in the Waymouth lab, was hard at work on a fantastical interdisciplinary experiment. He and his fellow researchers were refining compounds that would carry instructions for assembling ...

A University of Michigan biologist combined the techniques of "resurrection ecology" with the study of dated lake sediments to examine evolutionary responses to heavy-metal contamination over the past 75 years.

A study reported Feb. 17 in the journal Science led by researchers at Indiana University and Harvard University is the first to reveal in extreme detail the operation of the biochemical clockwork that drives cellular division ...

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Originally posted here:

Roads are driving rapid evolutionary change in our environment - Phys.Org

Members workout int he cardio area at Fitness Evolution in Bremerton.(Photo: File photo)

An East Bremerton fitness club offering $10-a-month membership has been taken over by another fitness club chain offering $10-a-month membership.

Planet Fitness took over operation of the former Fitness Evolution on Wheaton Way on Thursday, according to a notice sent to members this week. Some programs offered by Fitness Evolution, includinggroup fitness, a kids club, and personal training were being discontinued in the transition.

A message left for a manager was not immediately returned Thursday.

Fitness Evolution opened in a vacant strip mall south of Riddell Road in 2015. Business license records show the newPlanet Fitness in Bremerton is owned by a Maryland-based group that owns several Planet Fitness locations in Western Washington.

Founded in New Hampshire in 1992, Planet Fitness has more than 1,200 gyms in 47 states, according to its website. More than 90 percent are independently-owned franchises.

This was the full message sent to Fitness Evolution members:

Dear Valued Member,

We are excited to announce that as of Thursday, February 16th,Planet Fitnesswill be taking over club and facility operations. With this change: the current offerings including Group Fitness, Kids Club, and Personal Training will not continue under thePlanet Fitnessbrand.

We will work diligently to make this transition as easy as possible for you and are pleased to welcome you to thePlanet Fitnessfamily!

Welcome to theJudgement Free Zone.

Read or Share this story: http://www.kitsapsun.com/story/money/blogs/minding-your-business/2017/02/16/bremertons-fitness-evolution-now-planet-fitness/98003882/

Read more here:

Bremerton's Fitness Evolution now Planet Fitness - Kitsap Sun (blog)

Pokemon Go is available for iOS and Android devices. (Niantic)

With the latest update toPokemon Go,Politoed is now available.

Politoed is, of course, a second generation Pokemon that evolves from Poliwhirl. Getting your hands on aPolitoed wont be an easy process, though, as you first have to rack up 100Poliwhirl Candies.

As you can see in the screenshot below, theres one other item you need in addition to the candy:

That item there is called a Kings Rock, and its one of several evolution items that have been added to the game in the February 16th update. In order to evolvePoliwhirl intoPolitoed, you need both the 100Poliwhirl Candy and the one Kings Rock.

Kings Rock can only be obtained through visiting PokeStops. The evolution items dont appear to be given out too frequently, so youll have to just keep visiting PokeStops and collecting items in hopes of being lucky enough to come across a Kings Rock.

The Kings Rock can also only be used for a single use, and so once you evolve aPoliwhirl, the Kings Rock you utilized will be gone forever, and youll have to go back to PokeStop spinning if you want another one. Kings Rock can also be utilized to evolve Slowpoke.

As you can see in the screenshot above, from thePoliwhirl screen, there are two separate evolution buttons: one to evolve into Poliwrath, and one to evolve into Politoed. The former only requires 100Poliwhirl Candy, but the latter requires both the candy and the Kings Rock.

See the article here:

'Pokemon Go': How to Evolve Poliwhirl Into Politoed - Heavy.com