#Decimation of critically endangered forest elephant detailedafrican forest elephants are being poached out of existence. A study just published in the online journal PLOS ONE and supported in part by San diego Zoo Global shows that a staggering 62%of all forest elephants have been killed across their range in Central africa for their ivory over the past decade.
The severe decline indicates what researchers fear is the imminent extinction of this species. Saving the species requires a coordinated global effort in the countries where elephants occur all along the ivory smuggling routes and at the final destination in the Far east.
We don't have much time say Wildlife Conservation Society conservationists Fiona Maisels Phd and Samantha Strindberg Phd the lead authors.
The study--the largest ever conducted on the African forest elephant--includes the work of more than 60 scientists between 2002 and 2011
and an immense effort by national conservation staff who spent a combined 91600 days surveying elephants in 5 countries (Cameroon Central african republic the Democratic Republic of congo Gabon
and the Republic of congo) walking over 13000 kilometers (more than 8000 miles) and recording over 11000 elephant dung piles for the analysis. The paper also shows that almost a third of the land where African forest elephants were able to live 10 years
Results show clearly that forest elephants were increasingly uncommon in places with high human density high infrastructure density such as roads high hunting intensity
Bethan Morgan Phd head of San diego Zoo Global's Central africa Program stressed the importance of this study.
and really highlights the plight of this ecologically important species. Forest elephants are integral to a functioning forest in Africa opening up the forest floor
We have increasing evidence of a decline in certain tree species as a result of the local extinction of forest elephants.
Distinct from the African savanna elephant the African forest elephant is slightly smaller than its better-known relative
This has resulted in escalating elephant massacres in areas previously thought to be safe. Story Source:
#Black bears on the rebound in Nevadaa new study from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) has pieced together the last 150 years of history for one of the state's most interesting denizens:
the black bear. The study which looked at everything from historic newspaper articles to more recent scientific studies indicates that black bears in Nevada were distributed once throughout the state
but subsequently vanished in the early 1900s. Today the bear population is increasing and rapidly reoccupying its former range due in part to the conservation and management efforts of NDOW and WCS.
Compelled in part by dramatic increases in human/bear conflicts and a 17-fold increase in bear mortalities due to collisions with vehicles reported between the early 1990s and mid-2000s WCS and NDOW began a 15-year study of black bears in Nevada
that included a review of the animal's little-known history in the state. Over the course of the study black bears were captured both in the wild and at the urban interface in response to conflict complaints.
The captured animals used in the study (adult males and females only) were evaluated for multiple physiological indicators including condition sex reproductive status weight
and age prior to being released. From the information gathered the population size in the study area was estimated to be 262 bears (171 males 91 females.
Confirmed sightings and points of capture from 1988 to present were mapped and presented in the report to illustrate current population demographics
and will be used to inform bear management in Nevada. It's critical to understand the population dynamics in a given area
in order to make informed decisions regarding management said WCS Conservation Scientist Jon Beckmann. This includes decisions on everything from setting harvest limits to habitat management to conservation planning in areas where people will accept occupation by bears.
We used this long-term study to determine if reported incidents were due to an increasing or expanding bear population or people moving to where bears are located.
The answer is both. The study area extended from the Carson Range of the Sierra Nevada eastward to the Virginia Range
and Pine nut Mountains and from Reno south to Topaz Lake--an area collectively referred to as the Carson front.
Nevada's Black bear History Unraveledin looking to integrate information on the historical demographics of black bears into their study the authors found that little published scientific research
and confirmed that black bears were present throughout the state until about 1931. At that point the authors concluded that the paucity of historical references after 1931 suggest extirpation of black bears from Nevada's interior mountain ranges by this time.
The historical records paint a very different picture of Nevada's black bear than what we see today.
This new perspective is a good indication of what bear management in this state could involve should the population continue to expand said the study's lead-author Carl Lackey of NDOW.
The authors believe that while over-hunting and conflicts with domestic livestock contributed to the bear's local extinction in the Great Basin landscape changes due to clear-cutting of forests throughout western and central Nevada during the mining booms of the late 1800s played an important role as well.
But as fossil fuels replaced timber as a heat and energy source forestry and grazing practices evolved
and reforestation and habitat regeneration occurred in parts of the their former range the bears rebounded.
Using the information gathered in their review of historic documents the scientists mapped the distribution of black bears within the interior of Nevada during the 1800s and early 1900s.
The study Bear Historical Ranges: Expansion of an Extirpated Bear Population appears in the current online edition of the Journal of Wildlife Management.
Co-authors include Carl W. Lackey of the Nevada Department of Wildlife Jon P. Beckmann of the Wildlife Conservation Society and James Sedinger of the University of Nevada Reno.
#Insect pests more plentiful in hotter parts of city than in cooler areashigher temperatures in cities can be a key driver of insect pest outbreaks on trees in urban areas according to research published March 27
The researchers found that a scale insect that exclusively feeds on oak trees was 13 times more abundant on willow oaks in the hottest parts of the city of Raleigh North carolina than in cooler areas of the same city even
when other factors like natural enemies that would kill the insects were similar in both areas.
In a second experiment they found scale insects collected from trees in hot areas had higher survival rates in hot greenhouses than in cool ones.
However insects originally from cooler urban areas remained low in number in both hot and cool greenhouses.
The researchers found no differences in the rates of reproduction of insects in any of these groups.
Meineke explains that Urban warming can lead to higher insect pest abundance a result of pest acclimation or adaptation to higher temperatures.
since current urban warming is similar in magnitude to the higher temperatures predicted by global warming in the next fifty years their results may indicate potential changes in pest abundance as natural forests also grow warmer.
and animals from eating them like cellulose in stems and bitter-tasting tannins in leaves
and another type of pesticide coumaphos that is used in honeybee hives to kill the Varroa mite a parasitic mite that attacks the honey bee.
The study is the first to show that these pesticides have a direct impact on pollinator brain physiology.
when bees had been exposed to combinations of these pesticides for 4 days as many as 30%of honeybees failed to learn
Pollinators perform sophisticated behaviours while foraging that require them to learn and remember floral traits associated with food.
Disruption in this important function has profound implications for honeybee colony survival because bees that cannot learn will not be able to find food.
Together the researchers expressed concerns about the use of pesticides that target the same area of the brain of insects and the potential risk of toxicity to non-target insects.
However little consideration has been given to the miticidal pesticides introduced directly into honeybee hives to protect the bees from the Varroa mite.
We find that both have negative impact on honeybee brain function. Together these studies highlight potential dangers to pollinators of continued exposure to pesticides that target the insect nervous system and the importance of identifying combinations of pesticides that could profoundly impact pollinator survival.
This research is part of the Insect Pollinators Initiative joint-funded by the Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council Defra the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) the Scottish government and the Wellcome Trust under the auspices
of the Living with Environmental Change (LWEC) partnership. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council.
The Wake Forest Baptist team isolated the two types of endocrine cells found in ovaries (theca and granulosa) from 21-day-old rats.
Opara said the next step in the research already underway is to evaluate the function of the ovarian structures in animals.
#Fruit flies fed organic diets are healthier than flies fed nonorganic diets, study findsa new study looking at the potential health benefits of organic
versus nonorganic food found that fruit flies fed an organic diet recorded better health outcomes than flies fed a nonorganic diet.
The study from the lab of SMU biologist Johannes H. Bauer Southern Methodist University Dallas found that fruit flies raised on diets of organic foods performed better on several tests for general health.
what we now need to determine is why the flies on the organic diets did better especially
Fruit flies on organic diets showed improvements on the most significant measures of health namely fertility
We don't know why the flies on the organic diet did better. That will require further research.
The research focus of Bauer's fruit fly lab is nutrition and its relationship to longevity health and diabetes.
The findings Organically grown food provides health benefits to Drosophila melanogaster have been published in the open access journal PLOS One.
Flies on organic food performed better on some health teststhe data demonstrated that flies raised on organic food extracts by and large-large performed better on the majority of health tests reported the researchers.
Fruit flies were fed extracts from produce purchased at a grocery storein order to investigate whether organic foods are healthier for consumers the lab utilized one of the most widely used model systems the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
Because of the low costs associated with fly research and the fly's short life cycle researchers use fruit flies to study human diseases from diabetes to heart function to Alzheimer's disease.
The Bauer lab fruit flies were fed organic and nonorganic produce purchased from a leading national grocery retailer of organic and conventional foods.
The flies were fed extracts made from organic and conventional potatoes soybeans raisins and bananas. They were fed not any additional nutritional supplements.
The researchers tested the effects of each food type independently and avoided any confounding effects of a mixed diet.
To our surprise in the majority of our tests of flies on organic foods the flies fed organic diets did much better on our health tests than the flies fed conventional food Bauer said.
On both of these tests flies fed organic diets performed much better than flies fed conventional diets.
#Lemur lookalikes are two new species, DNA saysscientists have identified two new species of mouse lemur the saucer-eyed teacup-sized primates native to the African island of Madagascar.
The new study brings the number of recognized mouse lemur species to 20 making them the most diverse group of lemurs known.
But because these shy nocturnal primates look so much alike it's only possible to tell them apart with genetic sequencing.
The new mouse lemurs weigh 2. 5 to 3 ounces (about 65 to 85 grams)
and have grey-brown fur. You can't really tell them apart just looking at them through binoculars in the rainforest said senior author Peter Kappeler of the German Primate Center in Goettingen who earned his Phd at Duke in 1992.
The researchers named one of the new species the Anosy mouse lemur or Microcebus tanosi.
Anosy mouse lemurs are close neighbors with grey mouse lemurs and grey-brown mouse lemurs but the genetic data indicate they don't interbreed.
The researchers named the other new species the Marohita mouse lemur or Microcebus marohita after the forest where it was found.
In Malagasy the word marohita means many views. Despite its species'name this mouse lemur is threatened by ongoing habitat destruction
and'many views'of its members are unlikely the researchers write. The two new species were captured first by co-author Rodin Rasoloarison of the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar during trips to the eastern part of the country in 2003 and 2007.
Rasoloarison weighed and measured them and took tiny skin samples for genetic analysis in the lab. Co-authors Anne Yoder
and Dave Weisrock both at Duke university at the time analyzed two mitochondrial and four nuclear DNA genes to figure out where the animals fit into the lemur family tree.
During a 2012 return trip to the forest where the Marohita mouse lemur lives Rasoloarison discovered that much of the lemur's forest home had been cleared since his first visit in 2003.
The state of the lemur's habitat prompted the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to classify the new species as endangered even before it was described formally.
This species is a prime example of the current state of many other lemur species Kappeler said.
Mouse lemurs have lived in Madagascar for 7 to 10 million years. But since humans arrived on the island some 2500 years ago logging
and slash and burn agriculture have taken their toll on the forests where these tree-dwelling primates live.
which makes lemurs the most endangered mammals in the world according to the IUCN. Knowing exactly how many species we have is essential for determining
A better understanding of mouse lemur diversity could help humans too. Mouse lemurs are a closer genetic match to humans than mice and rats the most common lab animals.
At least one species--the grey mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus)--develops a neurological disease that is strikingly similar to human Alzheimer's so the animals are considered important models for understanding the aging brain.
But before we can say whether a particular genetic variant in mouse lemurs is associated with Alzheimer's we need to know
whether that variant is specific to all mouse lemurs or just select species said Lemur Center Director Anne Yoder.
Every new mouse lemur species that we sample in the wild will help researchers put the genetic diversity we see in grey mouse lemurs in a broader context she said.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Duke university. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference e
#Research provides clues to alcohol addiction vulnerabilitya Wake Forest Baptist Medical center team studying alcohol addiction has new research that might shed light on why some drinkers are more susceptible to addiction than others.
and focused on how individual animals responded to alcohol. Their findings may lead not only to a better understanding of addiction
Weiner said the study model focused on how individual animals responded to alcohol. Typically when a drug like alcohol is given to a mouse every day the way the animals respond increases--they become more stimulated
and run around more. In high doses alcohol is a depressant but in low doses it can have a mellowing effect that results in greater activity he said.
Prior studies with other drugs such as cocaine and amphetamine have suggested that animals that show the greatest increases in locomotor sensitization are also the animals most likely to seek out
But in this study the researchers focused on individual differences in how each animal responded to the alcohol.
Weiner said they used mice bred to be genetically variable like humans to make the research more relevant.
We found large variations in the development of locomotor sensitization to alcohol in these mice with some showing robust sensitization
and others showing no more of a change in locomotor activity than control mice given daily saline injections Weiner said.
Surprisingly when all of the alcohol-exposed mice were given an opportunity to voluntarily drink alcohol those that had developed sensitization drank more than those that did not.
In fact the alcohol-treated mice that failed to develop sensitization drank no more alcohol than the saline-treated control group.
and discovered that mice that showed robust locomotor sensitization had deficits in a form of brain neuroplasticity--how experiences reorganize neural pathways in the brain--that has been linked with cocaine addiction in other animal models.
We found that this loss of the ability of brain cells to change the way that they communicate with each other only occurred in the animals that showed the behavioral response to alcohol he said.
The Translational Studies on Early-Life Stress and Vulnerability to Alcohol addiction project is funded an NIH collaborative grant which supports rodent nonhuman primate
Selection for longer horns allowed them to defend against wild predators. They became leaner and more able to survive heat and drought.
whether to protect the bird as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The U s. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to hold another public comment period this spring before voting on the issue Sept. 30.
The bird is now found only in restricted areas of five states in the southern Great plains:
Colorado Kansas Oklahoma New mexico and Texas. About tall structures Boal explained the structures may provide perches for predators
Nesting hens will avoid nesting near humanmade structures and disturbances in habitat from roads to buildings to the conversion of native grasslands to cropland.
Boal said prairie chickens for example are not very likely to use cotton fields to nest in or for lekking (places where males aggregate to try to attract females to mate with).
if you have a good year for reproduction enough new birds enter the population and have a survival rate that carries them through three
#Genomes of peregrine and saker falcons throw lights on evolution of a predatory lifestylein a collaborative study published online in Nature Genetics researchers from Cardiff University BGI International Wildlife Consultants Ltd
. and Abu dhabi Falcon Hospital have completed the genome sequencing and analysis of two iconic falcons the peregrine (Falco peregrinus) and saker (Falco cherrug).
The work provides an invaluable resource for the deep understanding of the adaptive evolution in raptors and the genetic basis of their wide distribution.
Peregrine and saker falcons are widespread and their unique morphological physiological and behavioral adaptations make them successful hunters.
The peregrine is renowned as the world's fastest animal and the falcon is the national emblem of United Arab Emirate.
In recent decades peregrine and saker falcons have been listed as endangered due to rapid population declines caused by a wide range of factors including environmental change overharvesting for falconry habitat loss and bioaccumulation of pesticides (e g.
DDT PCBS. In this study researchers focused on the evolutionary basis of predatory adaptations underlying peregrine and saker.
They conducted whole genome sequencing and assembled the high quality 1. 2 Gb reference genomes for each falcon species. Phylogenic analysis suggested that the two falcon species might diverged 2. 1 million years ago.
Comparing with chicken and zebra finch researchers found the transposable element composition of falcons was most similar to that of zebra finch.
Large segmental duplications in falcons are less frequent than that in chicken and zebra finch and comprise less than 1%of both falcon genomes.
They also found that a gene expansion in the olfactory receptor Î-c clade in chicken
and zebra finch is not present in falcons possibly reflecting their reliance on vision for locating prey.
Observing genome-wide rapid evolution for both falcons chicken zebra finch and turkey researchers found that the nervous system olfaction
and sodium ion transport have evolved rapidly in falcons and also the evolutionary novelties in beak development related genes of falcons and saker-unique arid-adaptation related genes.
Shengkai Pan bioinformatics expert from BGI said The two falcon genomes are the first predatory bird genome published.
The data presented in this study will advance our understanding of the adaptive evolution of raptors as well as aid the conservation of endangered falcon species. Story Source:
The above story is provided based on materials by BGI Shenzhen. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Better looking birds have healthier babies, study findsa female great tits'(Parus major) appearance is shown to signal healthy attributes in offspring in a paper in Biomed Central's open access journal Frontiers in Zoology.
The black stripe across her breast and white patches on her cheeks correlate to a chick's weight at two weeks
In these socially monogamous birds both the males and females are coloured brightly however neither the cheek patch nor the stripe in males affected the health of the babies.
--so it is useful for birds to be able to work out which potential mates will produce the best babies.
The decision to sequence the peach genome was announced first during the 2007 Plant and Animal Genome XI Conference.
Since Kennewick lies within a region near the heart of Washington state's $1. 5 billion apple-growing region an annual survey of fruit trees is performed by the Washington state Department of agriculture (WSDA) to look for any invading insects.
This time the surveyors discovered a crabapple tree that had been infested by a fruit fly that they couldn't identify.
It was possible that the fly's larvae eating away inside the crabapples as they grew toward adulthood belonged to a relatively harmless species that had expanded simply its traditional diet.
But the real fear was represented that they an expansion in the range of the invasive apple maggot fly known to biologists as Rhagoletis pomonella.
and accurately figuring out which one of the flies was in that tree says Jeffrey Feder professor of biological sciences
and a member of the Advanced Diagnostics & Therapeutics initiative (AD&T) at the University of Notre dame. And for these flies it can sometime turn out to be a difficult thing to do.
One larva was sent to Notre dame for genetic analysis. The study sought to compare Notre dame's genetic analysis to Yee's visual identification after the larvae had developed into adults.
Fortunately the fly identified Rhagoletis indifferens is known not to infest apples. The Notre dame group further demonstrated that it is possible to genetically identify the correct fly species within two days compared to the four months required to raise
and visually identify the fly. A separate study led by the Feder lab details how the apple maggot fly was introduced recently into the Pacific Northwest region of the U s. likely via larval-infested apples from the East.
The flies have reached subsequently as far north as British columbia Canada and as far south as northern California.
So far though the apple maggot has not been reported infesting any commercial apple orchards in central Washington.
The correct identification of the larvae infesting crabapple trees saved the local state and federal agencies thousands of dollars in monitoring inspection and control costs Yee said.
The cost to growers if the apple maggot had been found to be established in the region would have been very substantial (easily over half a million dollars)
but the rapid diagnostic test developed at Notre dame suspended the need to proceed with the rulemaking process saving staff and administrative costs.
The Feder team is continuing to refine the genetic assays to develop a portable test that would be valuable in apple-growing regions as well as ports of entry where fruit infested by nonlocal insect species can be detected rapidly to prevent the spread of the insect.
Their study shows that one type of marine algae that has received little attention till now--dinoflagellate microalgae--is highly suitable for cultivation with the aim of producing biodiesel.
Though similar studies have been done on other alga species dinoflagellate microalgae have shown themselves to be a very promising group that stands out from the rest.
The possibility of creating energy from hydrocarbons extracted from organisms like marine phytoplankton the so-called third-generation biodiesel has several advantages.
#Ants rise with temperaturewarm nights might be more important than hot days in determining how species respond to climate change.
The study shows that the lowest---not the highest--temperatures are critical in determining the migration of warmth-loving ants Aphaenogaster rudis to higher elevations.
As they migrate A. rudis--a reddish ant with light-colored legs--displace Aphaenogaster picea a dark ant with dark legs.
Aphaenogaster ants are the dominant woodland seed dispersers in eastern forests. So it's possible that the displacement of A. picea may affect the spread of seeds produced by early spring ephemerals said Warren. By comparing data collected in 1974 to current data Warren
To obtain that evidence Warren's team collected a total of 755 ants from 191 colonies.
In the lab researchers subjected the ants to thermal tolerance tests. Loss of righting response was used to indicate intolerance to low and high temperatures.
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