October 1, 2006, 8:53 PM CT
Opportunity For Conservation
Aerial view of tundra polygons.
©Steve Zac
Arctic Alaska contains one of the last great wildlife spectacles in North America. Breeding birds from all over the world-from every continent and every ocean-come here to rear their young in the highly productive summer on the tundra wetlands. In the entire circumpolar Arctic, the Teshekpuk region contains some of the most diverse, productive, and abundant populations of birds.
Birds are not the only fauna attracted to this Arctic haven. The Teshekpuk caribou herd, at 45,000 strong, calves its young here. Grizzly bears, wolves, wolverines, and musk ox thrive in the area. Lemming populations surge periodically. Arctic fox, red fox, weasels, and ground squirrels all call Teshekpuk home.
The Wildlife Conservation Society has been studying wildlife in this region for the past two summers. From our remote field camp located a few miles south of the Teshekpuk Lake shore, we have watched as a number of different species of shorebirds gather to nest and raise chicks. Waterfowl are also abundant, and we have observed large populations of eider, geese, and swans.
Yet a number of of these birds face an uncertain future. The remote haven of Teshekpuk is not immune to the human footprint: Teshekpuk Lake is part of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). At 23.5 million acres, NPR-A is the largest single piece of public land in the United States. The reserve envelops most of western arctic Alaska and its vital wetlands.........
Posted by: Kelly Permalink Source
October 1, 2006, 8:49 PM CT
Endangered Western Gray Whale
Ten prominent international researchers will monitor the status of the critically endangered Western Gray Whale population in the Northwest Pacific and provide ongoing independent advice to a consortium of companies developing oil and gas reserves in the whale's summer feeding grounds, off Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East.
The new long-term Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel, convened by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) brings together independent scientific expertise to inform the decisions of oil and gas companies operating in the marine waters off Sakhalin Island and other interested stakeholders. In particular, the Panel will focus on the Sakhalin II oil and gas project being developed by Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Limited (Sakhalin Energy) and due to commence in spring 2007. Sakhalin Energy is a consortium of companies including Royal Dutch Shell and Japanese companies Mitsui and Mitsubishi Corporation.
The World Conservation Union is convening the Panel in response to the findings of an independent report, published in 2005, on the impacts of the Sakhalin II project on the whale population and following consultation with the oil industry and the conservation community.
"This Panel will help to incorporate long-term scientific findings into the design and management of oil and gas operations in the region, thereby contributing to the conservation and recovery of one of the world's critically endangered giants," said Carl Gustaf Lundin, Head of the IUCN Global Marine Programme.........
Posted by: Kelly Permalink Source
October 1, 2006, 8:27 PM CT
Hearts Or Tails?
Image courtesy of Harvard University
A new paper in the recent issue of G&D elucidates the genetics of heart formation in the sea squirt, and lends surprising new insight into the genetic changes that may have driven the evolution of the multi-chambered vertebrate heart.
Brad Davidson and his colleagues in Michael Levine's lab at UC Berkeley have discovered that the transcription factor Ets1/2, along with the signaling molecule FGF, controls early heart formation in the sea squirt, Ciona intestinalis.
Sea squirts are most usually found in shallow ocean waters attached to algae, rocks or seaweed. They have been used for over 100 years as a highly useful experimental model organism for the study of animal development. A simple chordate, Ciona is being used in the lab to study the heart development of higher organisms because it shares several characteristics with vertebrates - eventhough ultimately, Ciona, develops a heart with just one chamber (as opposed to vertebrates' multi-chambered heart).
All of the cells that form the Ciona heart are originally derived from two early embryonic cells (called bastomeres). These cells divide into separate lineages: the smaller rostral cells become heart muscle, while the larger caudal cells become tail muscle. Davidson and his colleagues observed that Ets1/2 underlies the cells' decision to become either heart or tail. When activated, Ets1/2 instructs cells to form heart muscle.........
Posted by: Kelly Permalink Source
October 1, 2006, 8:08 PM CT
Cloned mice created from non-stem cel
Did you know that stem cells are not actually mandatory for cloning?
New research dismisses the notion that adult stem cells are necessary for successful animal cloning, proving instead that cells that have completely evolved to a specific type not only can be used for cloning purposes, but they may be a better and more efficient starting point. As proof, scientists report they created two mouse pups from a type of blood cell that itself is incapable of dividing to produce a second generation of its own kind.
This is the first demonstration that an animal can be derived directly from a fully differentiated cell, report lead scientists Xiangzhong (Jerry) Yang, Ph.D., of the University of Connecticut, and Tao Cheng, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, in the journal Nature Genetics. Moreover, they say results of their studies provide compelling evidence that Dolly the sheep and other mammals cloned by somatic cell nuclear transfer were most likely derived from fully differentiated cells, not adult stem cells, as most have argued in the nine years since Dolly was first created. Because stem cells have the ability to self-renew and differentiate into any specialized cell type, they have been heralded for their promise for treating a variety of diseases and conditions. Yet, even for cloning of an embryo to the blastocyst stage, from which embryonic stem cells can be generated, adult stem cells have yielded disappointing results, with success rates in the range of 1 to 5 percent.........
Posted by: Kelly Permalink Source
September 28, 2006, 5:09 AM CT
End To Destructive High Seas Bottom Trawling
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will debate as of next week various proposals to protect the deep sea environment and prohibit bottom trawling in the high seas until effective conservation and management measures are in place. This ban has been supported by a number of organizations, including the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and several states for the last few years to halt the highly destructive exploitation of our oceans.
"A recent report from the UN Secretary General to the UNGA detailing the actions of states and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations to protect deep sea ecosystems shows a distressing lack of action outside areas of national jurisdiction", notes Kristina Gjerde , High Seas Policy Advisor to IUCN's Global Marine Programme. The scientific community has also added its voice to the debate, calling for a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling.
Scientists' Statement on Protecting the World's Deep-sea Coral and Sponge Ecosystems : http://www.mcbi.org/DSC_statement/sign.htm.
Halting bottom trawling in the high seas would not have a major negative impact on the global economy or food security in developing countries since bottom trawling only accounts for 0.5% of global marine fish take. Moreover, most industries are owned by developed states and supply the European, Japanese and North American markets.........
Posted by: Kelly Permalink Source
September 28, 2006, 5:04 AM CT
Two New Wildlife Parks In Congo
National Geographic reports about this great new idea to create two new wildlife parks in Congo.
The Republic of Congo will set aside up to 3,800 square miles (1 million hectares) of habitat teeming with elephants, chimpanzees, hippos, crocodiles, and some of the highest densities of gorillas on Earth for two new wildlife parks.
The new protected areas will encompass a mosaic of savannas covering ancient sand dunes, riverside forests, and swamp forests.
Henri Djombo, Congo's minister of forestry economy and the environment, made the announcement at the United Nations in New York on September 18 along with officials from the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).........
Posted by: Kelly Permalink Source
September 27, 2006, 8:49 PM CT
Tarantulas Produce Silk From Their Feet
Now you have a new source to make silk. The researcher form UCI are showing who is making silk.
These scientists have found for the first time that tarantulas can produce silk from their feet as well as their spinnerets, a discovery with profound implications for why spiders began to spin silk in the first place.
Adam Summers, a UC Irvine assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, was among the team of researchers who made the discovery using zebra tarantulas from Costa Rica. The team observed that the tarantulas secrete silk from spigots on their legs, allowing them to better cling to surfaces. Until now, spiders were only known to spin silk from spinnerets located on their abdomen and to use the silk to form webs for protection and capturing prey rather than for locomotion.
The findings appear in the current issue of Nature.
"If we find that other spiders in addition to these tarantulas have the ability to secrete silk from their feet, this could represent a major change in our evolutionary hypothesis regarding spider silk," Summers said. "It could mean that silk production actually originated in the feet to increase traction, with the diversity of spinneret silk evolving later".
The scientists placed tarantulas on a vertical glass surface. Though ground dwelling, these spiders can normally hang on to vertical surfaces by using thousands of spatulate hairs and small claws. However, the researchers noticed that when the spider started to slip down the surface, it produced silk from all four pairs of legs, allowing it to adhere to the glass for more than 20 minutes. The silk secretions were clearly visible on the glass. Using scanning electron microscopy, the researchers also were able to see the openings on the legs that resemble the silk-producing spigots on spider abdominal spinnerets.........
Posted by: Kelly Permalink Source
September 25, 2006, 9:22 PM CT
Polar Bear Habitat Preferences
The Wildlife Society's 13th Annual Conference and Trade Show is being held September 23-27, 2006 in downtown Anchorage, Alaska at the William A. Egan Civic and Convention Center.
Polar bear habitat preferences and prey availability in a changing sea ice environment. In the Beaufort Sea, polar bears (Ursus maritimus), ringed seals (Phoca hispida), and bearded seals (Eriginathus barbatus), inhabit a seasonably dynamic environment that has experienced climate-induced changes. During most seasons polar bears prefer mixed ice habitats near ice edges in shallow waters over the continental shelf. In past decades, polar bears could maintain this habitat preference for nearshore ice, but in recent years, extensive ice melt has forced most polar bears to summer in deepwater ice habitat more than 200 km from the mainland coast. A smaller segment of the population is forced to use shoreline habitat.
Other research suggests that prey resources may be diminished for polar bears force to occupy land and the deep water pack ice during summer. For example, the winter and spring distribution of ringed seals, the most important prey for polar bears, reflects the general distribution of polar bears. During summer, while some ringed seals may track the ice edge as it retreats north, others may have an open water life style and thus would be unavailable to polar bears. Bearded seals, due to their bottom-feeding habits, have not been available to polar bears summering over deep-water habitats during recent summers. In addition, a changing sea ice environment may affect reproduction of both predator and prey. A number of pregnant polar bears in Alaska den on the active sea ice, the thinning of which brings into question whether winter ice has the stability necessary for successful denning. Seals also depend on sea ice for birth and hence are also susceptible to changes in the composition of sea ice. George Durner and Steven Amstrup, Session 33, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 8:40-9:00 a.m.........
Posted by: Kelly Permalink Source
September 25, 2006, 9:16 PM CT
Groundbreaking Study By On Lions
In a groundbreaking study reported in the latest issue of the Journal of Zoology sheds light on several longstanding misconceptions regarding the controversial topic of mane variability among wild lions. This comprehensive scientific assessment of mane variation--including "manelessness"--is a first and took nearly seven years to complete.
As per the overall findings of the study, wild lions generally develop manes in accordance with local climate regimes. In Equatorial east Africa, climate is determined by elevation. Thus lions with the most profuse manes occur at the upper limit of their altitudinal range, while similar aged males in the lowest and warmest environments like Tsavo typically carry only modest or scanty manes.
However, the authors also found, paradoxically, that the majority of lions in regions like the greater Tsavo ecosystem (which is famed for its "maneless" lions), did appear to acquire respectable manes, eventually, contrary to most recent popular and scientific accounts of the lions from that region.
"We knew about the climate/elevation correlation since we were the first to publish those preliminary results in GEO 2001, but this new development really threw us for a loop," says Tom Gnoske, of the Field Museum's Zoology Department and senior author of the paper. "However once we analyzed all of the statistical data we found a very strong correlation linking increased age and continued mane development, a significant variable ignored by all prior authors." .........
Posted by: Kelly Permalink Source
September 25, 2006, 7:09 PM CT
Birds of Prince Edward Island
GREAT BLUE HERON/PAUL BAGLOLE, TOURISM PEI
AND SO BEGINS Your Guide to Familiar Birds of Prince Edward Island, a pocket-sized, colour guide to some of the most sought out birds in the province. The book was compiled and written by legendary Island naturalist, the late Geoff Hogan, and published in 1991 by Ragweed Press, 222 Grafton St., Charlottetown.
In this handy, take-along paperback, Mr. Hogan has included 90 colour photos of everything from Eastern Kingbirds to Greater Yellowlegs. Accompanying text for each of these species and about 100 others outlines such details as habitat, when to find them and unique characteristics that will aid in identification.
Prince Edward Islanders have always enjoyed a unique relationship with nature. In a province where agriculture, fishing and tourism are the driving forces behind the economy, Islanders take very seriously the responsibility of being the guardians of one of Mother Nature's most glorious works of art.
In all, there are about 333 species of birds found in this rolling tapestry we here are so proud to call home. Therefore, from birders who have just bought their first set of binoculars to those who have travelled the world in order to add to their lists of lifetime sightings, there is something on PEI for everyone.
Considering the abundance of bird life in the province, it is not surprising that Prince Edward Island has become a bird-watching hot spot over the last several years, says Kate MacQuarrie, Executive Director of Island Nature Trust, a non-profit organization devoted to the protection and management of natural areas.........
Posted by: Kelly Permalink Source
