or sap move in microscopic channels in animals and plants channels 100 microns wide the average width of a human hair or less.
#Imported Tortoises Could Replace Madagascar's Extinct Ones Two millennia ago millions of giant tortoises roamed Madagascar an island nation off the southeastern coast of Africa that is rich in species found nowhere else On earth.
Those tortoises kept Madagascar's unique ecosystem in check by munching on low-lying foliage trampling vegetation and dispersing large seeds from native trees like the baobab.
When humans began settling on the island about 2300 years ago Madagascar's large vertebrate populations were the first casualties.
Dozens of species disappeared altogether including 17 giant lemurs three pygmy hippopotamuses two aardvarklike mammals a giant fossa (a catlike carnivore) eight elephant birds a giant crocodile and two giant tortoises.
Now researchers think they've found a way to replace Madagascar's lost giant tortoise species:
Pedrono's team has identified a very close relative of the extinct giant tortoises and they plan to transplant a few hundred of them to Madagascar to help fill the ecological gaps left by their extinct kin.
Wacky Madagascar Animals Ecological shoes to fill Using fossils from two species of extinct Madagascan giant tortoises Pedrono located a group of very similar giant tortoises living on the nearby Aldabra Atoll.
The Aldabra giant tortoise's appearance is nearly identical to that of the extinct Madagascan tortoise and preliminary DNA studies show they're also very similar genetically Pedrono said.
In fact it's likely that ancestors of the giant tortoises living on Aldabra Atoll made the 249-mile (400 kilometers) swim from Madagascar about 100000 years ago the blink of an eye evolutionarily speaking.
Since the tortoises are so similar morphologically and genetically it's likely they'll fill the same roles in the Madagascan ecosystem Pedrono said.
Madagascar currently has no large animals capable of swallowing and dispersing large seeds such as those from the baobab tree.
In addition many of Madagascar's plants have evolved defenses against large herbivores such as spines and multiple leaf shapes that protect young sprouts from browsing tortoises.
These so-called evolutionary anachronisms could disappear altogether if no species can fill the giant tortoise's shoes Pedrono said.
To help the Aldabra giant tortoises take over for their extinct kin Pedrono's team plans to move 300 young tortoises to a nature reserve in western Madagascar where they'll live in an enclosed pen for five years.
That will give researchers a chance to monitor their eating habits and other ecological interactions before the tortoises can breed
and disperse across the island. A'welcome breakthrough'The plan seems like a good one says Elizabeth Hunter an ecologist at the University of Georgia who has studied giant tortoise restoration on the Galapagos islands
but wasn't involved in Pedrono's research. I would fully support going forward with this plan Hunter said.
Of course any time you introduce a species there are many potential pitfalls but this plan is cautious
Giant tortoises are good species with which to start testing these sorts of ecological replacements Hunter said.
Pedrono's team plans to do thorough veterinary checks to make sure the new tortoises aren't bringing invasive plants or exotic diseases with them to Madagascar.
Similar plans to replace missing giant tortoises have been carried out in several locations including Seychelles and the Mascarene Islands and researchers have seen very good success everywhere Pedrono told Livescience's Ouramazingplanet.
Replacement tortoises on the Mascarene Island of Rodrigues are restoring seed dispersal and grazing patterns after only seven years on the island.
The giant-tortoise-replacement scheme could also be a boon for Madagascar's ecotourism industry Pedrono said.
Based on its considerable success elsewhere and the optimistic prospects for Madagascar this proposed giant-tortoise translocation could represent a welcome breakthrough in the struggle to retain
but they are equipped well for climbing the steep terrain that their predators can't. Bighorn sheep's surefooted climbing skills are due to their feet
In the summer they climb even higher up to 8500 feet (2590 m). Their climbing skills help them evade predators such as coyotes and bobcats.
Few predators will follow them to such heights. To see a bighorn sheep in action head to the Rocky mountains or the Sierra nevada mountain range.
This story was corrected to reflect the correct identification of the animal in the photo as a bighorn sheep and not a mountain goat.
How to Bring Extinct Animals Back to Life Editor's Note: In this weekly series Livescience explores how technology drives scientific exploration and discovery.
The passenger pigeon the dodo and the woolly mammoth are just a few of the species wiped off the Earth by changing environments and human activities.
Now advances in biotechnology could enable scientists to bring extinct animals back from the grave.
but the experiment proved de-extinction was possible. 6 Extinct Animals That Could Be brought Back to Life We can use some of these techniques to actually help endangered species improve their long-term viability said ecologist Stanley Temple of the University
Reviving the passenger pigeon The passenger pigeon filled the skies of North america in flocks of millions during the 19th century.
But hunting and habitat destruction steered the birds to extinction. The world's last passenger pigeon Martha died in 1914 at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio.
But what if scientists could bring them back? Writer and environmentalist Stewart Brand founder of the Whole Earth Catalog and his wife Ryan Phelan founder of the genetics company DNA Direct wondered
Working with Harvard biologist George Church they figured out a possible way to revive passenger pigeons.
You can't simply clone a passenger pigeon museum specimen because they no longer have fully intact genomes.
Using fragments of the passenger pigeon DNA scientists could synthesize the genes for certain traits and splice the genes together into the genome of a rock pigeon.
The cells containing the passenger pigeon DNA could be transformed into cells that produce eggs and sperm
which could be injected into rock pigeon eggs. The pigeons that hatched would be rock pigeons but their offspring would resemble passenger pigeons.
Scientists could then breed these birds and select for specific traits as a dog breeder might.
Eventually the resulting offspring would appear very much like the passenger pigeon. But that's not the only extinct animal scientists have their sights on reviving.
Woolly mammoths next? Other scientists dream of bringing back a beast that roamed the Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago:
the woolly mammoth. Well-preserved mammoths have been dug out of the Siberian tundra containing bone marrow skin hair and fat.
If a living mammoth cell were found it could be grown in a lab and coaxed to form an embryo.
The embryo could be implanted into the closest living relative of mammoths an elephant which would give birth to a baby mammoth.
Images: 25 Amazing Ancient Beasts Finding a living mammoth cell is very unlikely. But South korean biomedical engineer Insung Hwang hopes to find just a cell nucleus and produce a clone from it like Dolly the sheep.
The nucleus would be implanted into an elephant egg whose nucleus had been removed. But this is no easy feat no one has harvested yet successfully an elephant egg.
The challenges aren't trifling. Even if researchers succeed in creating a mammoth passenger pigeon or other extinct creature it has to survive in the wild.
This means having the right food and habitat and evading predators especially humans. Conservation controversy Critics of de-extinction say reviving extinct animals would do more harm to conservation efforts than good.
I don't think it has any merit at all said conservation ecologist Stuart Pimm of Duke university N c. It totally ignores the very practical realities of what conservation is about.
The prospect of bringing species back from extinction would lead Congress to support the destruction of natural habitats
because animals that go extinct could be revived in a lab Pimm told Livescience. Most species are going extinct in tropical forests Pimm said.
Saving a species through de-extinction when humans are burning forests and destroying native communities is a joke he said.
Biologist David Ehrenfeld of Rutgers The State university of New jersey agrees de-extinction would impede conservation.
It's very negative very expensive and not going to achieve any conservation goal as far as
For example the passenger pigeon was a very social bird known to form flocks of millions. When their numbers dwindled to a few thousand the birds stopped breeding Ehrenfeld told Livescience.
De-extinction methods would produce just a handful of birds so who's to say they would reproduce?
he said. What's more the pigeons that raised them would be a different species with differing mothering techniques.
The environment is different in every respect Ehrenfeld said. Temple took a more moderate view.
Resurrecting a creature like the passenger pigeon or woolly mammoth has a strong appeal to the public's imagination Temple said.
But the species that are hyped often don't meet those criteria at all he said. Editor's Note:
when woolly mammoths existed. Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter and Google+.+Â Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google+.
The bacteria are spread from tree to tree by a tiny insect called the Asian citrus psyllid The New york times reports.
Between 1985 and 2003 officials intercepted 170 cases of Asian citrus psyllids entering U s. ports on plant material according to a report from the University of California Davis Division of Agriculture and Natural resources.
while Washington state University has begun a $9-million five-year project to develop genetically modified psyllids that cannot transmit citrus greening.
#Insect Invasion: Fruit-fly Army Infiltrating California They're here! For the past several decades a stealthy foe has been secretly infiltrating California spreading far and wide.
No they're not Russian spies they're fruit flies. Several species of fly including the Mediterranean fruit fly have been secretly spreading in the state for decades new research finds.
The study published today (Aug 6) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B also predicts that crop damage resulting from the insect invasion as well as lost trade due to other countries'refusal to import California produce could amount to $1
. 2 billion in lost revenue. Despite the several hundred eradication programs that California Food and Agriculture and the USDA U s. Department of agriculture have launched these tropical fruit flies have become established in the state said study co-author James Carey an entomologist at the University of California Davis. Invasive pest Unlike the harmless gnatlike
Drosophila flies that hover around rotting fruit the conquering fruit flies invading California devour growing fruit and cause major economic damage.
The Mediterranean fruit fly or medfly for instance devastated California crops in 1989. Image Gallery: Striking Images of Locust Swarms To detect the pests agriculture officials in California have placed about 100000 traps across the state.
California also meticulously searches for any hint of the flies in plants and produce that crosses the state border.
In the past agriculture officials believed that each time these flies were found they were coming from outside the state.
Invaders or locals? But Carey and his colleagues wondered whether the flies were locals. His team looked at every single fruit-fly sighting (about 5000) in the last several decades
and used a statistical model to describe the underlying populations. If the insects were being reintroduced every time then fly sightings should be random.
But instead certain types of flies kept cropping up consistently in specific hot spots. For instance the oriental fruit fly has been captured 12 separate times in Anaheim Calif. To Carey's team that indicated that several fruit-fly species were established
and breeding in California albeit at low levels. New biology The findings suggest that the flies are able to lurk for decades without causing a massive infestation.
This is like a really insidious cancer Carey told Livescience. It's a chronic process not a rapid growth.
In addition the flies'gradual inexorable push into every corner of the state isn't correlated with human migration patterns
which implies the insects can invade new areas with no human help. If Carey's conclusions are true then current state eradication efforts won't work.
Quarantining fly-infested fruit at the state borders won't stop established populations from breeding and if the populations are already here then completely eliminating the flies isn't possible Carey said.
They're just so entrenched and widespread Carey said. They're here and we have to plan accordingly.
Where Do Fruit flies Come From? Because trade partners often close their borders to countries with fly infestations the flies'established presence could cost billions in lost revenue
unless California renegotiates trade agreements that include different levels of fly eradication the study suggests.
The finding reveals the importance of doing long-term research on the flies said David Haymer a geneticist at the University of Hawaii who has studied medfly genetics
but was involved not in the study. For instance doing genetic analysis on the flies can reveal whether new sightings are reintroductions
or the result of an established population breeding Haymer told Livescience. Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+.
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#Invasive Earthworms Harming Great lakes Forests DENVER Gardeners and farmers may love earthworms for their rich castings
and composting help but in forests near the Great lakes the creatures are alien invaders. No earthworms are native to North america's northern forests (massive ice age glaciers kept the land worm-free.
But in the years since settlers arrived 15 earthworm species have appeared in Minnesota from Europe and Asia.
Some of the invasive species are changing local forests scientists have discovered. After these mixers come in there's a loss in plant species said Kit Resner graduate student
and soil biogeochemist at the University of Minnesota and lead study author. The earthworms eat away at the puffy duff layer blanketing the forest floor where species such as salamanders and ovenbirds live Resner reported Sunday (Oct 27) at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting.
Duff is fallen organic material such as leaves slowly decomposing on the ground. And in the sugar maple forests near the Great lakes the churning worms actually compact the upper soil layers instead of loosening them Resner said.
People assume that soils are homogeneous across all areas and they're really not Resner told Livescience.
In agricultural areas where you have compacted soils earthworms aerate the soils. Forest soils are really different than agricultural soils.
The worms also change the soil chemistry decreasing levels of calcium potassium and phosphorous. The net result is a loss of understory plants the young trees ferns
And without the duff layer some animals lack a place to live. It's like they've been pushed out of their homes Resner said.
This article was updated Oct 29 to reflect that earthworms decrease soil nutrients not increase. Email Becky Oskin or follow her@beckyoskin. Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google+.
#Invasive Mink Threatens South america's Largest Woodpecker Invasive American minks may threaten the largest woodpecker species in South america according to new research.
The Magellanic woodpecker a relative of the extinct ivory-billed woodpecker lives throughout the Andes of Chile and Argentina.
The large birds only produce one offspring per year and maintain broad territorial boundaries of about 1 square kilometer (0. 4 square miles) per male-female pair limiting the density and growth of their population.
Still the charismatic birds maintain stable populations by holing up in branchless dead trees that carnivores struggle to climb.
Until now there have been no records of predation on the birds. But researchers based at the University of North Texas in Denton
and the University of Santiago in Chile report they have now found the first evidence of Magellanic predation on Navarino Island a 955-square-mile (2473 square kilometers) island off the coast of Southern Chile by the American mink
a carnivore native to northern North america that was introduced to South america in the 1930s for fur farming.
Minks that escaped these farms have multiplied since and have become an invasive species without any natural predators in the region.
In Photos: The Peskiest Alien Mammals Though the team did not make direct observations of a mink attacking a woodpecker they collected several pieces of evidence to argue their case which they detailed earlier this month in the journal Biological Invasions.
For instance the team found an adult Magellanic woodpecker which they had outfitted with a radio-tag for an unrelated study dead within a mink den.
While it's possible a mink had found the bird already dead and scavenged it in the den this type of behavior would be atypical of carnivores that tend to hunt live prey said Jaime Jimenez a researcher at the University of North Texas
and a co-author on the paper. On a separate occasion the team observed a mink creep up on a woodpecker looking ready to pounce at about 1 foot away (30 centimeters) until a student scared it off to prevent the attack.
And finally the team stationed cameras around the island revealing footage of minks and woodpeckers feeding in the same areas of the forest floor on separate occasions
but sometimes within minutes of each other suggesting the animals share the same habitat. This would make the woodpeckers vulnerable to predation
if the minks had this intent. The team thinks the woodpeckers have adapted to feed on the forest floor rather than holing up more cautiously in trees
because they historically have had no natural predators on the island. Â They may have become naã ve by not having been exposed to terrestrial carnivores Jimenez told Livescience.
It's very easy for a carnivore to pounce on a woodpecker and kill it.
The team believes this predation could result in a significant decline in the bird population on the island
which could result in other indirect ecological consequences including a spike in insect populations that the birds would otherwise feed on.
Other birds including owls and parakeets also use the Magellanic's vacated holes as breeding grounds
and may lose this important habitat if the woodpecker populations decline Jimenez told Livescience. The team next plans to attach GPS units to the woodpeckers to better assess their distribution across the island
and understand the ecological consequences of their potential decline in an effort to develop management plans in response to the invasive mink population.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct Jaime Jimenez's affiliation. He is a researcher at the University of North Texas not the University of Texas. Follow Laura Poppick on Twitter.
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#IPCC Green-Lights Kyoto Protocol, Wetlands Reports Countries tallying their total greenhouse gas emissions can now get a better estimate thanks to two new reports adopted this week by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change at a meeting in Batumi Georgia. One report improves the total greenhouse gas inventory for countries participating in the Kyoto Protocol the international treaty to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
The other report is a more accurate assessment of gases emitted and absorbed by wetlands.
The reports will help countries improve their greenhouse gas emissions inventories Jean-Pascal van Ypersele vice chair of the IPCC said today (Oct 18) at a news conference announcing the final reports.
To mitigate climate change means to know well where the emissions of greenhouse gases come from
and also how natural systems absorb some of them Van Ypersele said. Under the Kyoto Protocol developed countries report their greenhouse emissions
and removals (such as carbon trapped by trees). The IPCC's new methodology report updates the methods for estimating man-made greenhouse gas emissions
However more than half of that amount has already been burned Thomas Stocker co-chair of the so-called Working group
and changes in all components of the climate system Stocker said. Limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.
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The nucleus is the compartment where in animals plants and fungi the DNA is stored. In bacteria the DNA just floats around in the cell.
Bacteria are celled single organisms most animals and plants are celled multi organisms. Cats are bigger than mice
because they have more cells. In a sense we are all like Lego constructions. And here s the amazing part virtually every cell has its own DNA (its own genetic information
and in mammals red blood cells (but not white blood cells) push out their DNA as they mature so they can squeeze along tiny blood vessels.
But most parts of animals and plants are made up of cells containing DNA. This is why police can identify suspects from either a drop of blood
Merlin Crossley works for the University of New south wales. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council.
We are the big guinea pig and we're doing fine Sneller said. But it is possible to create a GM food that is unsafe for instance researchers could insert a gene that allowed the plant to produce an allergen or a protein to
For example changing climate conditions may increase pest and pathogen outbreaks or allow an invasive species to move into an area that was previously inhospitable.
Importantly plants also exhibit genetic variation in their responses to pests and invasive species that can be used to mitigate their negative effects.
and Arizona where climate change has made trees more susceptible to bark beetle outbreaks that in turn result in increased wildfires.
For more than 30 years a consortium of researchers has examined how genetic variation in the cottonwood tree can affect entire communities of organisms from microbes to mammals.
The new rule also says that gluten-free foods cannot contain any wheat rye or barley or any of their crossbreeds.
But some of the insects'ilk may be back later this week. Officials sprayed the flying insects with pesticide early this morning (March 6) greatly reducing the number of living flying insects according to a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development.
However there's a moderate risk that another small swarm could reach this region in Israel's Negev desert later this week
According to the Bible swarms of locusts were the eighth plague sent into ancient Egypt as a punishment for suppressing the Jews said Hendrik Bruins a researcher who studies the archaeology and environmental aspects of desert peoples at Israel's Ben-Gurion
This current swarm fits very well with the seasonal timing of the exodus in the bible Bruins said.
This we cannot say Bruins told Livescience. Because there have been so many plagues throughout history not every locust plague can be classified in that way he said laughing.
See Images of the Desert Locust Swarms Gregarious grasshoppers All locusts are grasshoppers or in the grasshopper family but not all grasshoppers are said locusts Amir Ayali a researcher at Tel aviv University.
About 15 species of grasshoppers can be classified as locusts essentially meaning they can fly and create swarms.
The creatures are usually solitary and avoid each other but in the right conditions they congregate in large groups exhibiting
and northeastern Sudan despite efforts by these countries to control the insects'populations Cressman said.
The animals thrive in relatively wet conditions and the locusts moved on once the area started to dry out in early February he continued.
Now however the insects have been sprayed and the wind has shifted now blowing out of the northeast greatly reducing the threat the insects pose.
The creatures are also less active and voracious than normal because they have traveled already quite some distance Cressman said.
Nature's Biggest Pests However a small swarm could reach northeastern Egypt and the Negev on Friday or Saturday Cressman said.
The locust is the only kosher insect meaning it is acceptable to eat under Jewish law Bruins said.
what these animals looked like said study researcher Phil Bell a paleontologist at the University of New england in Australia.
or hadrosaurs were large herbivores that filled the same ecological niche as deer or kangaroo today.
because they reveal more than just bone show that hadrosaurs had pebbly skin not unlike that of today's crocodiles and birds.
Having a good idea of the outline of the animal I put my chisel into the rock not expecting to hit anything
Surprising skin Bell had found a fleshy dome extending off of the duckbill's skull something that had never been seen before.
In modern birds such combs are used typically for sexual display. They're found in both sexes in birds so the presence of the comb tells researchers nothing about their dinosaur specimen's sex.
The bones they do have belong to the neck and head and don't reveal sex either.
or if other duckbills might have had similar fleshy accessories. Skin associated with the head may not preserve well meaning that other combs have vanished without a trace Bell said.
the fact that any potential vaccine tests in animals (not humans) may be up to six weeks out;
If the suspicions of human-to-human transmission potential is confirmed that alone makes the threat of a pandemic (as opposed to a series of local outbreaks that can be contained with efforts to close down poultry markets or the sale of infected birds) more likely.
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