but in some other parts of the world lower quality of animal plus poor forage quality leaves much room for improvement in livestock efficiency.
We are seeing more and more evidence of climate events weakening trees making them more likely to succumb to insects pathogens
Scientists now think wild animals interbred with domesticated ones until quite recentlymany of our ideas about domestication derive from Charles darwin
It is from Darwin that we inherit the ideas that domestication involved isolation of captive animals from wild species and total human control over breeding and animal care.
and space said Fiona Marshall Phd professor of anthropology at Washington University in St louis. It is not representative of the practices of the Neolithic herders who first domesticated animals nor--for that matter--of contemporary herders in nonindustrial societies.
in Chile Marshall wrote a review article that summarizes recent research on the domestication of large herbivores for The Modern View of Domestication a special feature of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published April 29.
Recent research on the domestication of donkeys camelids (which includes dromedaries Bactrian camels llamas and alpacas) pigs cattle sheep and goats suggests that neither intentional breeding nor genetic isolation were as significant as traditionally thought the scientists said.
Our findings show little control of breeding particularly of domestic females and indicate long-term gene flow
Our livestock is losing genetic diversity even faster than some wild animals because of management practices like artificial insemination Marshall said.
A walk on the wild sidefor most of history artificial selection on large herbivores was probably weak Marshall said Herders could not afford to kill many animals particularly large-bodied animals with long gestation periods.
Sometimes domesticated animals were bred intentionally with wild ones Marshall said. Wild animals are generally faster stronger and better adapted to the local conditions than domesticated ones.
So for example Beja herders in Northeastern Africa intentionally bred their donkeys with African wild asses in order to produce stronger transport animals.
And sometimes interbreeding was said accidental she. Even today in the Gobi researchers report that domestic camels sometimes join wild herds after becoming separated from their own.
Wild and domestic camels meet at shared oases and wild males also can become extremely aggressive
and may collect domestic females to the dismay of pastoralists. In the Andes Capriles said wild and domestic camelids have interbred in such complex ways that alpacas are maternally related to both wild vicunas
and guanacos and the same is true for llamas. Artificial selection was probably weakest and gene flow highest in the case of pack animals such as donkeys or camelids.
But even in the case of pigs or cattle interbreeding between domestic and wild animals has created long and complex evolutionary and domestication histories that challenge assumptions regarding genetic isolation and long-held definitions of domestication.
The curl in the pigs'tailsthe domestication of pigs is one of these stories. Dobney Greger Larson Phd and their team have shown that pigs were domesticated at least twice in eastern Anatolia and in central China.
Analysis of MITOCHONDRIAL DNA (DNA in a cell organelle that is inherited from the mother) shows that early herders took pigs with them from Anatolia to Western europe.
The anomaly is isolated the domestic population not the prolonged interbreeding among domestic and wild animals
The boundaries between wild and domesticated animals were blurred much more for much longer than we had realized.
The first chapter of On the Origin of Species discusses the domestication of animals such as as pigeons cattle
and dogs and Darwin then uses artificial selection as a springboard to introduce the theory of natural selection.
It is also the case that the people who first domesticated animals valued wild ones more than did Darwin's Victorian neighbors.
At the end of the last Ice age people in many spots around the globe shifted from hunting animals
or even in landraces varieties of plants and animals that are adapted highly to local conditions Olsen said that wasn't tapped during the domestication process.
Epistasis and environmental effects in domestication genesby selecting animals for coat color animal breeders may have stabilized certain epistatic
and environmental interactions in companion animals (see photos at right). But when the plant scientists looked at comparable genetic mechanisms in domesticated plants they found the reverse to be true.
#Chimpanzees prefer firm, stable bedschimpanzees may select a certain type of wood Ugandan Ironwood over other options for its firm stable and resilient properties to make their bed according to a study published April 16 2014 in the open-access
Chimpanzees use tree branches to build beds or nests in trees. They select certain tree species to sleep in more frequently than others
and bending strength of 326 branches from the seven tree species most commonly used by the chimps.
or architecture of each of the seven species. Of 1844 nests sampled chimpanzees selected Ugandan Ironwood for 73.6%of the nests
The authors suggest that chimpanzees select trees like the Ugandan ironwood due to these properties as they may provide protection from predators
Dr. Samson added Chimpanzees like humans are highly selective when it comes to where they sleep.
This suggests that for apes there is something inherently attractive about a comfortable bed down to what kind of wood you use to make it.
As a result shade grown coffee plantations provide corridors for migrating birds to move between forest fragments attract
and support economically valuable pollinators such as bees and bats and provide ecosystem services such as filtering water
The infection not only harms animals and farmers'profits but also drives more systemic antibiotic use on dairy farms than any other disease.
and Audubon California in the journal Western Birds scientists document the importance of irrigated agricultural crops in California's Central Valley to a conspicuous shorebird.
Crops like alfalfa provide critical habitat for the Long-billed Curlew the largest shorebird in North america and a species of continental conservation concern.
and flooded agricultural lands will only grow stronger for wetland-dependent birds. Curlews can't survive in the Central Valley without irrigated agriculture given the loss of most of their historic shallow-water habitats in summer
and fall says Dave Shuford Point Blue ecologist and lead author of the publication. The Central Valley's protected wetlands (federal wildlife refuges state wildlife areas and private lands)
and certain types of agriculture (e g. rice alfalfa) provide nearly all of the habitat used by millions of ducks geese shorebirds and other waterbirds every fall winter and spring.
In early fall--the driest time of year in the Valley--it is especially important that these birds can find flooded fields and wetlands for their survival.
In the study Point Blue scientists Audubon California and a host of volunteers studied the curlews for three years.
Observers recorded over 20000 curlews: about 93%were in the central and southern portions of the Central Valley concentrating in areas extensively flood irrigated for alfalfa
Millions of migratory birds rely on the flooded agricultural fields each year. Conservation and agricultural groups can work together to benefit birds
and people says Meghan Hertel Audubon Working Lands Director. In the future irrigated agriculture will face increased water costs driven by competing needs of an increasing human population
and irrigated pasture to the benefit of both farmers and curlews. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Point Blue Conservation Science.
and animals to help them grow. Our long term aim is to better understand these interactions
H7 bacteria use the same method of colonising the surface of plants as they do when colonising the intestines of animals.
but are actively interacting with both plants and animals. While outbreaks of vegetable-associated E coli outbreaks are rare in the UK
#Spacexâ##s Dragon headed to space station to create astronaut farmersenter the Dragon takes on a whole new meaning this month as Spacex's Dragon capsule heads to the International Space station for its third commercial resupply mission
During the Spacex-3 mission the Dragon capsule not only will deliver cargo to the orbiting laboratory
You could also think of plants as pets. The crew just likes to nurture them. The Veggie unit provides lighting
The research does not end with the berthing of the Dragon. The capsule will be loaded with many samples
#Wolves at the door: Study finds recent wolf-dog hybridization in Caucasus regiondog owners in the Caucasus mountains of Georgia might want to consider penning up their dogs more often:
hybridization of wolves with shepherd dogs might be more common and more recent than previously thought according to a recently published study in the Journal of Heredity.
Dr. Natia Kopaliani Dr. David Tarkhnishvili and colleagues from the Institute of Ecology at Ilia State university in Georgia and from the Tbilisi Zoo in Georgia used a range of genetic techniques to extract
and examine DNA taken from wolf and dog fur samples as well as wolf scat and blood samples.
They found recent hybrid ancestry in about ten percent of the dogs and wolves sampled. About two to three percent of the sampled wolves
and dogs were identified as first-generation hybrids. This included hybridization between wolves and the shepherd dogs used to guard sheep from wolf attacks.
The study was undertaken as part of Dr. Kopaliani's work exploring human-wolf conflict in Georgia
. Since the 2000s the frequency of wolf depredation on cattle has increased in Georgia and there were several reports of attacks on humans.
Wolves were sighted even in densely populated areas she explained. Reports suggested that unlike wild wolves wolf-dog hybrids might lack fear of humans
so we wanted to examine the ancestry of wolves near human settlements to determine if they could be of hybrid origin with free-ranging dogs such as shepherds she added.
The research team examined maternally-inherited DNA (MITOCHONDRIAL DNA) and microsatellite markers to study hybridization rates.
Microsatellite markers mutate easily as they do not have any discernible purpose in the genome
and are highly variable even within a single population. For these reasons they are used often to study hybridization.
We expected to identify some individuals with hybrid ancestry but it was quite surprising that recent hybrid ancestry was found in every tenth wolf
and every tenth shepherd dog said study co-author Tarkhnishvili. Two dogs out of the 60 or so we studied were inferred to be first generation hybrids he added.
The study also found that about a third of the dogs sampled shared relatively recent maternal ancestry with local wolves not with wolves domesticated in the Far east where most experts believe dogs were domesticated first.
The research team used several alternate methods to confirm their results and came to the same conclusions with each approach.
The shepherd dogs studied are breed a local used to guard livestock. Ironically their sole function is to protect sheep from wolves
or thieves Kopaliani explained. The shepherd dogs are free-ranging largely outside the tight control of their human masters.
They guard the herds from wolves which are common in the areas where they are used
but it appears that they are also consorting with the enemy. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by American Genetic Association.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
#Genetically modified tobacco plants as an alternative for producing bioethanoltobacco a high-density crop which is mown several times throughout its cycle can produce as much as 160 tonnes of fresh matter per hectare
and become a source of biomass suitable for producing bioethanol. As Jon Veramendi head of the plant Agrobiotechnology research group explained tobacco plants as a source of biomass for producing bioethanol could be an alternative to traditional tobacco growing
which is in decline in the USA and in Europe because it cannot compete with emerging countries like China.
or animals solasenol (used to produce vitamins E and K) and xanthophylls (an additive in chicken feeds).
Climate change is expected also to intensify several stresses that forests already face such as damaging insect pests and diseases drought and wildfire.
the bombardier beetle is approximately one centimetre long and common to Central europe. At first glance it appears harmless
When threatened the bombardier beetle releases a caustic spray accompanied by a popping sound. This spray can kill ants or scare off frogs.
The beetle produces the explosive agent itself when needed. Two separately stored chemicals are mixed in a reaction chamber in the beetle's abdomen.
An explosion is triggered with the help of catalytic enzymes. When you see how elegantly nature solves problems you realise how deadlocked the world of technology often is says Wendelin Jan Stark a professor from the ETH Department of chemistry and Applied Biosciences.
He and his team therefore looked to the bombardier beetle for inspiration and developed a chemical defence mechanism designed to prevent vandalism--a self-defending surface composed of several sandwich-like layers of plastic.
If the surface is damaged hot foam is sprayed in the face of the attacker. This technology could be used to prevent vandalism
In agriculture and forestry for example it could be used to keep animals from gnawing on trees.
Whereas enzymes act as catalysts in the bombardier beetle manganese dioxide has proven to be a less expensive alternative for performing this function in the lab. The researchers report that the product of the reaction in the film is more of a foam than a spray
when compared to the beetle as can be seen in slow motion video footage. Infrared images show that the temperature of the foam reaches 80 degrees.
and react only when the seeds are bitten by a herbivore. Stark describes the successful research method as imitating nature
#World ranking tracks evolutionary distinctness of birdsa team of international scientists including a trio from Simon Fraser University has published the world's first ranking of evolutionary distinct birds under threat
These include a cave-dwelling bird that is so oily it can be used as a lamp
and a bird that has claws on its wings and a stomach like a cow. The research published today in Current Biology the shows that Indonesia Australia
and New zealand all score high on responsibility for preserving irreplaceable species. The researchers examined nearly 10000 bird species
and identified more than 100 areas where additional protection efforts would help safeguard avian biodiversity. We used genetic data to identify the bird species that have the fewest relatives on the'Tree of Life'that is
which species score highest on the'evolutionary distinctness'index explains SFU biologist Arne Mooers one of the six authors of a study that was seven years in the making.
and was applied to an updated version of the first global tree of birds published in 2012 by the group in Nature.
and maps of where every bird in the world lives. The result is a snapshot of how the entire Tree of Life of birds is distributed on the planet
and where on earth the tree is most at risk of being lost. Given that we cannot save all species from extinction these distinct species are of special conservation concern
Many of these distinct species are also incredibly cool--the number-one bird lives in caves
and is so oily you can use it as a lamp the number three-bird has claws on its wings
and a stomach like a cow while still another the Abbott's Booby breeds only on Christmas Island.
Mapping where distinct species are on the planet also gives insight into which areas and countries steward disproportionate amounts of bird evolution.
if we prioritize threatened birds by their distinctness we actually preserve very close to the maximum possible amount of evolution says Mooers.
The new rankings will be used in a major conservation initiative called the Edge of Existence program at the London Zoo.
The zoo has identified already several species like the huge monkey-eating Philippine eagle that are endangered at once distinct
and Subantarctic affects bird populations reveal researchers from the Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizã and from the'Littoral Environnement et Sociã tã s'Laboratory (CNRS/Universitã de
The scientists monitored skuas in Adã lie Land and the Kerguelen Islands for ten years and showed that
when these seabirds exhibit high mercury levels in their blood their breeding success decreases. This is the first time that toxicological measurements have been combined with a population study carried out over such a long period in the Antarctic and Subantarctic.
The results published in the journal Ecology in April 2014 show that pollutants that accumulate at the Poles can indeed cause a decline in bird populations.
In the Polar regions many seabirds such as skuas were known to accumulate this toxic element at high levels in their tissues.
For the first time the researchers have carried out a ten-year population study of two seabird species: brown skuas living in the Kerguelen Islands (Subantarctic) and south polar skuas living in Adã lie Land (Antarctica.
Skuas are migratory birds that feed essentially on penguin eggs and chicks as well as fish. These formidable predators which live for up to 25 to 30 years accumulate mercury in their tissues.
The researchers first captured around a hundred south polar skuas and brown skuas and took blood samples to measure their mercury levels.
The birds were ringed then and released. For ten years the scientists returned to the nesting sites
in order to observe their breeding success. Skuas can rear one to two chicks per year. The first finding was that mercury levels in brown skuas were three times higher than in south polar skuas.
The researchers showed that in both species the higher the mercury levels in the birds the fewer chances they had of breeding successfully
and especially of rearing their chicks. Unexpectedly it is contaminated in the least species the south polar skua that the effects of mercury are the most obvious.
This could be due to the fact that in Adã lie Land the more severe environmental conditions combined with the increasing presence of other pollutants (pesticides PCBS) magnify the impact of mercury contamination.
These findings show that pollutants that accumulate in the Polar regions are an important threat to biodiversity.
Modelling by the researchers indicates that if mercury contamination continues to increase skua populations could decline in the long term.
The scientists call for further toxicological and demographic studies on other southern species . In addition they are carrying out similar studies to measure the effects on bird populations of'conventional'pollutants such as pesticides
and other heavy metals as well as new molecules such as perfluorinated compounds that are also accumulating in the Antarctic.
The study received logistical and financial support from the Paul-Emile Victor French Polar Institute (IPEV) and The french National Research Agency (ANR Polartop program.
#Iconic boreal bird species declining in the Adirondacksa new study from the Wildlife Conservation Society finds that several iconic Adirondack birds are in trouble with declines driven by the size of their wetland habitats
The Adirondack Park represents the southern range extent for several species of boreal forest birds in eastern North america.
In her paper Dynamics of Boreal Birds at the Edge of Their Range in the Adirondack Park NY author
and WCS Adirondack Program Science Director Michale Glennon explores occupancy patterns over time for eight bird species in lowland boreal forest wetlands in the Adirondacks.
A total of 1105 count surveys conducted between 2007 and 2011 in wetlands ranging in size from 0. 04--6. 0 square kilometers resulted in 1305 detections of target species with yellow-bellied flycatcher
(30 percent) Lincoln's sparrow (23 percent) and yellow palm warbler (20 percent) detected most often
and fewer detections of black-backed woodpecker (8 percent) gray jay (8 percent) olive-sided flycatcher (6 percent) boreal chickadee (3 percent) and rusty blackbird (2 percent).
Patterns of species occurrence from year to year indicated that these birds function as metapopulations (spatially separated members of the same species that interact with one another through migration in and out of habitat patches.
Glennon found that the area and connectedness of their wetland habitats were important as was nearby human infrastructure with birds much more likely to disappear from smaller isolated wetlands that are near development.
Occupancy rates for four of the eight study species were in decline; two appeared stable and only Lincoln's sparrow
and palm warbler appeared to be increasing in the Adirondack landscape. However data collected since the study indicate that the situation may be getting worse.
When I incorporate data collected since 2011 I am seeing declines for all species except palm warbler some modest
but some of them more troubling said Michale Glennon. The number of boreal wetlands occupied by five species--rusty blackbird gray jay yellow-bellied flycatcher olive-sided flycatcher
and black-backed woodpecker--has decreased by 15 percent or more since 2007. Glennon also looked at
whether the birds appear to be shifting to higher latitudes and/or elevations a pattern documented for many species responding to climate change around the globe.
The analysis yielded inconsistent results (some birds moving northward or upward some not) suggesting that over this small window of time other factors may be playing a larger role in controlling these species'dynamics.
Glennon said The species in question are icons of the area and a big reason bird-watchers come to the Adirondacks.
and displacement from more cosmopolitan birds like blue jays which tend to come along with residential development.
WCS Adirondack Program Director Zoe Smith said Understanding the processes that drive the dynamics of boreal birds in the Adirondacks can enhance the ability of land managers to influence their long-term conservation.
WCS will continue to study these birds and other wildlife of the boreal to help contribute to the long term protection of this vulnerable habitat.
In addition to songbirds and woodpeckers boreal wetlands provide critical habitat for other park icons like moose loon and marten.
#Camels emit less methane than cows or sheepwhen digesting ruminants exhale methane. Their contribution to this global greenhouse gas is considerable.
So far the assumption had been that camels with similar digestion produce the same amount of the climate-damaging gas.
However researchers at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich have shown now camels release less methane than ruminants.
Ruminant cows and sheep account for a major proportion of the methane produced around the world. Currently around 20 percent of global methane emissions stem from ruminants.
In the atmosphere methane contributes to the greenhouse effect--that's why researchers are looking for ways of reducing methane production by ruminants.
Comparatively little is known about the methane production of other animal species --but one thing seems to be clear:
Ruminants produce more of the gas per amount of converted feed than other herbivores. The only other animal group that regularly ruminates like ruminants are camels.
This includes alpacas llamas dromedaries and Bactrian camels. They too have chambered multi forestomachs. They too regurgitate food from the forestomach
in order to reduce it in size through renewed chewing. That's why people assumed up to now that camels produce a similar amount of methane to ruminants.
Researchers at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich have examined now this assumption in a project sponsored by The swiss National Science Foundation
and have come to the following conclusion: in absolute terms camels release less methane than cows and sheep of comparable body size.
However if one compares methane production with the amount of converted feed then it is the same in both groups.
To calculate the proportion of methane produced different estimated values should be used for camels than those used for ruminants explains Marcus Clauss from the Vetsuisse Faculty of the University of Zurich.
Lower metabolism--less feed--less methanethe modified calculation of the methane budget may be important for those countries with lots of camels--like the dromedaries in the middle East and in Australia or the alpacas and llamas in various South american countries.
In cooperation with Zurich Zoo and private camel keepers scientists from the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich have measured methane production in three types of camelids.
The results show us that camels have a lower metabolism. Hence they need less feed
and release less methane than our domestic ruminants says the vet Marcus Clauss. The lower metabolism of camels could explain why they thrive particularly in areas with a shortage of food--desert and barren mountain regions.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Zurich. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
and the solubilization reduces absorption of these compounds into the body says Jandacek who was the principal investigator on a 2005 study that found that olestra removed toxins from animals.
#Farming for improved ecosystem services seen as economically feasibleby changing row-crop management practices in economically and environmentally stable ways US farms could contribute to improved water quality biological diversity pest suppression
The danger is that it will become more vulnerable to climate extremes and pest outbreaks.
Their next step was to add tomatidine to the diet of mice. They found that healthy mice supplemented with tomatidine grew bigger muscles became stronger
and could exercise longer. And most importantly they found that tomatidine prevented and treated muscle atrophy.
Interestingly although mice fed tomatidine had larger muscles their overall body weight did not change due to a corresponding loss of fat suggesting that the compound may also have potential for treating obesity.
what we gave the mice. We also don't know if such a dose of tomatidine will be safe for people
or if it will have the same effect in people as it does in mice Adams says.
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