and plant diversity--that then leads to more diverse animal habitat--offering the UW a variety of sites to monitor.
The team also found they could reduce the negative effects of these lipids in mice by feeding the animals a new genetically engineered tomato being developed at UCLA that is designed to mimic HDL (good) cholesterol.
Scientists found that mice fed a high-fat high-cholesterol diet (21 percent fat) showed a twofold increase in the amount of LPAS in the small intestine over mice fed normal low-fat
mouse chow (4 percent fat. When researchers added LPAS at only one part per million (by weight) to the normal low-fat low-cholesterol mouse chow they observed the same increase in LPAS in the small intestine as
when the mice were fed the high-cholesterol high-fat diet. Surprisingly with the addition of LPAS to the low-fat diet the UCLA team also found alterations in the patterns of gene expression in the small intestine changes in cholesterol levels (increases in LDL
and decreases in HDL) and increases in blood markers of inflammation typically seen when the mice consumed a high-fat high-cholesterol diet.
The findings suggest that some of the factors leading to atherosclerosis occur in the small intestine and not just the liver.
Researchers added 2. 2 percent (by weight) of freeze-dried tomato powder from the peptide-enhanced tomatoes to low-fat low-cholesterol mouse chow that was supplemented with LPAS.
albeit no predators have been involved in these losses. The situation is so serious that the sheep industry could be under threat.
There are no exact figures as to how many lives ticks take compared to predators. There have been attempts to uncover this by using radio transmitters to monitor the sheep.
Breeding resistant animals is one important research area. We know that individuals respond differently to infection.
and whether this has an influence on the growth in lambs says Grã¸va. She emphasizes that having robust animals with good immune systems is a prerequisite for sheep husbandry in tick areas.
As a result of TBF animals may become seriously ill from diseases they usually cope with. Bioforsk is therefore conducting field trials where the aim is to reduce tick populations in sheep grazing areas by using a tick pathogenic fungus called Metarhizium.
When living organisms or natural enemies of a pest are utilized in order to reduce pest population levels this is known as biological control.
Killing ticks from insideingeborg Klingen Head of Section of Invertebrate Pests at Bioforsk Plant Health and Plant Protection Division and her group are currently conducting field trials with BIPESCO 5
which is a formulation of an isolate of the tick pathogenic fungus Metarhizium. The fungus we are using in the trial is a natural enemy of insects
and mites found in soil. What we do is to increase the natural fungal population by releasing it in large quantities.
This type of biological control is known as augmentation biological control and is an alternative to chemical control says Klingen.
The death that awaits ticks exposed to this fungus is inhumane; fungal spores land and germinate on the skin (cuticle) of the tick
and then penetrate it before entering the tick body. The fungus then grows and proliferates inside the tick.
During this growth the fungus produces substances that are toxic and lethal to the tick.
The fungus continues to grow inside the tick until it fills the entire body. Thereafter it extrudes out of the tick again
and forms new spores on the outside of the body which can spread to new ticks Klingen explains.
Potential for recreational areasif the application of Bipesco 5 against ticks in sheep pasture is successful the areas of application could potentially also benefit hikers:
We receive many inquiries from private individuals teams and organizations who wish to reduce the tick problem in their recreational
and hiking areas. Klingen would like to do further research in this area but needs to secure necessary project funds in order to finance a study.
She sees a potential in using this biological control method in confined recreational areas perhaps in combination with other measures.
You could for example apply the fungus along trails and on islands with a great tick population.
This is what our collaborative partner the University of Innsbruck in Austria is doing and they claim that the strategy seems promising says Klingen.
In general Bioforsk Plante Health has good knowledge of the control of insects and mites. We know a great deal about the tick's biology and its natural enemies.
In collaboration with the Norwegian Institute of Public health and several other parties we could use this knowledge in a strategy for the control of ticks--also in recreational areas.
Included on the EU's positive listbipesco 5 with the active ingredient Metarhizium has been tested for toxicity in relation to animals
and humans and is on the EU's positive list for pesticides. Similar products are already for sale in most parts of the world.
therefore looking at how effective the fungus is against ticks and also for how long it is present in the wild after having been applied as a biological control agent.
The new method created by engineers in Rice's Multiscale Materials Modeling Lab accurately calculated the ability of two zeolites small cage-like molecules with enormous surface area to trap and store gas molecules.
#A new scorpion species from ancient Lyciascientists discover and describe a new species of scorpion Euscorpius lycius coming from the area of ancient Lycia nowadays the regions of the Muä la and Antalya Provinces in Southwestern Turkey.
With the new discovery the scorpions from this genus found in the country go up to a total of five known species. The study was published in the open access journal Zookeys.
Euscorpius is a genus of scorpions commonly called small wood-scorpions. As their name suggest these scorpions don't impress with a large size the biggest representative being around 5 cm long.
The group is widespread in North africa and across Europe. Euscorpius scorpions are relatively harmless with poison that has effects similar to a mosquito bite.
The new species is named after the historical region of Ancient Lycia which is referenced in Egyptian and Ancient greek myths.
Like the mystical history of the region the new species is rather secretive and can be found mainly in pine at night hidden away in pine forests crawling on rocks or sitting on stone garden walls.
The new scorpion is a relatively small representative reaching a size ranging between two and two and a half centimeters.
The color of the adult representatives is pale between brown and reddish with pedipalps or claws usually darker than the rest of the body.
Whitefly experimentation to prevent contamination of agricultureon November 8th Jove the Journal of Visualized Experiments will introduce a new technique to aid in the development of defenses against diseases threatening food crops worldwide.
The method published under the title Transmitting Plant viruses Using Whiteflies is applicable to such at-risk crops as tomatoes and common bean plants.
The whitefly method provides a means of interfering with the plant-contamination process as well as the cultivation of plants that are altogether resistant to infection.
and her colleagues write that numerous genera of whitefly-transmitted plant viruses (such as Begomovirus Carlavirus Crinivirus Ipomovirus Torradovirus) are part of an emerging and economically significant group of pathogens affecting important food
The technique includes reliably rearing whiteflies with a specific virus while omitting the possibility of cross-contamination to other viruses--an easily encountered problem because of the sheer number of whiteflies used in testing.
Such contamination would jeopardize the results of an entire experiment. After exposing large numbers of a particular plant species to a specific whitefly-transmitted virus a researcher can then note which individual plants resisted infection and why.
This article outlines how to generate hundreds or thousands of infected plants year-round by exposing them to whiteflies each week.
Therefore the whitefly-assisted transmission method provides researchers with a powerful means for continued experimentation in developing plant defenses against the threat of whitefly-transmitted disease.
Polston said that she published this technique through Jove's video format because it was difficult to explain it through traditional text-only journals.
which the researchers say is explained best to be the results of long-term human management of the animal.
Ancient DNA from the jaw revealed that the animal did not belong to the same cattle lineages that were domesticated in the Near east and South Asia.
and dogs cattle domestication was probably also a complex process rather than a sudden event.
Just because someone is allergic to cow's milk doesn't mean they are allergic to milk from all other animals said Dr. Bahna.
when Keuroghlian and her team were conducting surveys of white-lipped peccaries herd-forming pig-like animals that travel long distances
and the foraging trails of peccary herds the team encountered a series of prominent sandstone formations with caves containing drawings of animals and geometric figures.
The drawings depict an assemblage of animals including armadillos deer large cats birds and reptiles as well as humanlike figures and geometric symbols.
and sharing this knowledge with others are ways to action said Ernest Hawk M d. vice president of cancer prevention and population sciences at MD Anderson.
As part of MD Anderson's Moon shot program to end cancer Hawk and other experts have developed a comprehensive plan that addresses the burden of tobacco use in institutions communities states and nations.
and community-based services that MD Anderson can lead to end tobacco at the institutional local regional state national and international levels Hawk said.
In the Viewpoint piece Williams along with Jeffrey G. Willet Phd from Kansas Health Foundation and Gregory Miller MD MBA from the New york state Office of Mental health underscore the benefits to patients noting that collaborative
In these uplands feather mosses create a microhabitat for cyanobacteria which fix a modest amount of nitrogen that mostly stays on site in soils trees and shrubs.
Also preliminary testing in rats showed that the tearless onion could help control weight gain--more so than regular onions or garlic.
and naturally degradable with antibacterial antiviral and antifungal properties obtained from chitin the main constituent of hard body parts of invertebrates such as the shells of shrimp lobsters crabs
Chitosan is nontoxic to mammals making it suitable for use as an antifungal in various applications Luã s Vicente LÃ pez adds.
We have documented previously the cardiovascular benefits of a polyphenol-rich wild blueberry in a rat model with impaired vascular health
The vascular wall of these animals shows an impaired response to vasorelaxation or vasoconstriction which affects blood flow and blood pressure regulation.
and improve the balance between relaxing and constricting factors in the vascular wall improving blood flow and blood pressure regulation of obese Zucker rats with metabolic syndrome.
This means forest animals cannot move seeds between the two forests.##Phil Martin added#oewe suggest that
from defoliation by leaf-munching pests. The water-stressed tropical forest trees support the production of more honeydew a sugary excretion imbibed by the Azteca ants that nest in the laurels'stem cavities.
In return ant colonies boost their numbers and more vigorously defend the life-sustaining foliage. The mutually beneficial interaction between laurels and ants which also involves tiny sap-sucking bugs called scale insects that make the honeydew is a well-known example of
what ecologists call a mutualism. Theoretical studies predict that mutualisms should be stronger under resource-poor conditions
Their results suggest that trees at drier sites buy insurance for their leaves in the form of beefed-up ant protection
and their defensive ants invest more in one another in drier more stressful conditions Pringle said.
and Azteca ants (Azteca pittieri) Pringle and her colleagues studied the interaction at 26 sites in seasonally dry tropical forests along the Pacific coast of southern Mexico and Central America.
Pringle and her colleagues found that the strength of the tree-ant mutualism--as measured by investment of trees in sugar for ants
and defense of leaves by ants--was greater at sites with longer dry seasons. Laurel trees don't feed ants sugar directly.
Instead they host scale insects familiar to gardeners as common backyard pests which produce the honeydew.
Scale insects are the middlemen in this protection racket: through the scale insects the trees indirectly pay a carbon fee in the form of sugar-rich sap that is distilled into honeydew to the ants in exchange for guard duty.
Pringle and her colleagues found that at the drier study sites laurel trees support more scale insects which in turn produce more honeydew.
The ant colonies that feast on this bounty are correspondingly larger and defend trees more effectively responding more quickly to disturbances.
When ants patrolling the surface of the tree encounter a leaf-eating insect they bite the insect until it falls from the tree Pringle said.
We found that at the drier sites the larger ant colonies were more likely to find such intruders
and the colonies sent more ants to attack the leaf-eaters and chase them away.
Through photosynthesis the leaves trap energy from sunlight and use it to convert carbon dioxide and water into carbon-based carbohydrates
which are used for food by the trees the scale insects and the ants. Defoliation is a greater potential threat at the drier sites
The fact that laurel trees at drier sites pay their ant protectors higher wages suggests that the potential costs of defoliation outweigh the relatively modest price of supporting more ants.
Pringle and her colleagues used a mathematical model to test this idea looking at the relative costs and benefits of carbon trading between trees and ants under rainy seasons of varying durations.
which ants protect trees from rare but life-threatening defoliation events best fit observations from the 26 sites.
they pay a modest fee up front to avoid losing all their leaves to pests in the future.
but potentially lethal insect attacks may drive the evolution of tree-ant mutualistic strategies under different precipitation regimes.
As the climate changes the increased frequency of extreme weather events such as drought may act together with rare biological events such as outbreaks of insect pests to profoundly alter the ecology and evolution of plant-animal interactions.
#Early bird catches the worm--for dinnerbirds such as great and blue tits scout for food in the morning
but only return to eat it in late afternoon to maximize their chances of evading predators in the day without starving to death overnight Oxford university research has found.
This'early bird'strategy was revealed by a team studying the winter foraging behaviour of birds in Wytham Woods near Oxford (UK).
) The researchers fitted over 2000 birds with tiny PIT radio tags. They then used 101 feeders
which detected these tags and captured the exact time individual birds found each feeder. By moving 36 of these feeders around the forest throughout the day and recording the results the team showed that birds gathered information about new food sources during the morning
so that they can then eat it later in the day. The birds studied were a mixture of great tits (Parus major) blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) marsh tits (Poecile palustris) coal tits (Periparus ater) and nuthatches (Sitta europaea.
A report of the research is published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters this week.'
'Birds have to store body-fat to avoid starving during the cold winter nights but this can make them slower
and less manoeuvrable so that they are more likely to be caught by predators'said Damien Farine of Oxford university's Department of Zoology who led the research.'
'So there is a trade-off where birds need to remain lean enough in order to'outrun'their predators
or at least the next slowest bird during the day but also store enough fat to survive each night.'
'The team knew from previous studies at Wytham Woods that when the predation risk appears high birds delay putting on fat until late in the day.
The researchers wanted to test the idea that instead of simply'idly waiting'until the afternoon birds were actively seeking out new sources of food to work out where their next meal was coming from.'
'We used new tracking technologies to investigate how great tits blue tits and other common garden birds balance the competing risks of predation
and starvation'said Damien Farine.''Our results show that these birds display very different patterns of food discovery in the morning and afternoon;
very few new food sources were found during the afternoon whereas nearly every new food source that we put out during the morning was discovered quickly.
It supports the idea of an'early bird'strategy of scouting for food early on so that they can return to feast a couple of hours before dusk in preparation for a long winter's night.'
'Winter is a tough time for small garden birds as not only is there less natural food available
but their predators such as the sparrowhawk are keen to stock up their own fat reserves
and so are hunting every day. The short days and long cold nights mean that small birds can lose around 10%of their body weight over a single night
so that individuals failing to pile on the grams on even one day can starve and won't be around to pass on their genes the next summer.'
'Because small birds can't reproduce without surviving the winter they have evolved a complex set of behaviours that enables them to maximise their chance of both surviving predators
and avoiding starvation'said Damien Farine'It's a good example of how animals alter their behaviour to respond to constantly changing environmental conditions.
It also shows how new technologies like tiny PIT tags are enabling us to explore questions about animal survival strategies at an unprecedented scale.'
if at least one animal aged between 150-365 days was shown to have antibodies against the virus The young age of the animals tested would indicate that they probably were infected quite recently i e. during the course of the last year.
animal and plant communities change ecosystem functions disappear carbon emissions contribute to climate change. Whatever happens regionally has global consequences.
and temperature at the bottom of the ice sheet before selecting a final drill location.
#Elusive bay cat caught on camerathe world's least known cat has been caught on camera in a previously unsurveyed rainforest by scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Imperial College London.
Until now the bay cat (Pardofelis badia) had been recorded on camera traps just a handful of times in its Borneo forest home
But more images of this animal have been captured than ever before together with evidence of four other wild cat species in a heavily logged area of forest where they were expected not to thrive.
--which has so far been reported to have all five species including the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi) leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps) and marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata).
Camera traps have transformed how information is collected for many species of mammals and birds including some of the most charismatic species in existence like tigers.
Many of these species are exceedingly good at spotting and avoiding conservationists who spend time in the field seeking them.
For example I've seen the clouded leopard just twice in three years of fieldwork whilst my cameras recorded 14 video sequences of this enigmatic cat in just eight months.
All five cat species mentioned are charismatic and important components of the forest ecosystems and predators of a wide range of other animals.
They are threatened also highly: four of the five species are listed as threatened with global extinction on the IUCN Red List.
Almost nothing is known about the habits of the mysterious bay cat but it is thought to be at risk of extinction due to widespread loss of its habitat on Borneo.
Dr Robert Ewers from the Department of Life sciences at Imperial College London leads the SAFE tropical forest conservation project in Borneo where the bay cats were seen.
We were surprised completely to see so many bay cats at these sites in Borneo where natural forests have been logged so heavily for the timber trade.
Conservationists used to assume that very few wild animals can live in logged forest but we now know this land can be home for many endangered species. Our study today shows solid evidence that even large carnivores such as these magnificent bay cats can survive in commercially logged forests Dr Ewers added.
ZSL and Imperial College London conservationists will continue to study the effects of logging on wildlife populations looking more broadly than just the highly charismatic cats towards other mammal species both large and small.
More detailed work aims to gather the information palm oil producers need to make their plantations more mammal-friendly
and assess whether saving patches of forest within such areas might be a viable option for saving Borneo's mammals.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Zoological Society of London. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
stalky and hairy with big heads long snouts and beady eyes. So scientists had no reason to suspect Israeli wild boars were any different than their brothers
Israel Finkelstein and Dr. Meirav Meiri of Tel aviv University's Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near east Civilizations together with Dr. Lidar Sapir-Hen from the same department and Dr
and the shape between European and Near Eastern pigs the researchers had to use DNA testing to identify the origins of the animals.
#Fossil of largest known platypus discovered in Australiano living mammal is more peculiar than the platypus.
It has a broad duck-like bill thick otter-like fur and webbed beaver-like feet.
The platypus lays eggs rather than gives birth to live young its snout is covered with electroreceptors that detect underwater prey
and male platypuses have a venomous spur on their hind foot. Until recently the fossil record indicated that the platypus lineage was unique with only one species inhabiting Earth at any one time.
This picture has changed with the publication of a new study in the latest issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology that describes a new giant species of extinct platypus that was a side-branch of the platypus family tree.
The new platypus species named Obdurodon tharalkooschild is based on a single tooth from the famous Riversleigh World Heritage Area of northwest Queensland.
While many of Riversleigh's fossil deposits are now being dated radiometrically the precise age of the particular deposit that produced this giant platypus is in doubt
but is likely to be between 15 and 5 million years old. Monotremes (platypuses and echidnas) are the last remnant of an ancient radiation of mammals unique to the southern continents.
A new platypus species even one that is highly incomplete is a very important aid in developing understanding about these fascinating mammals said Phd candidate Rebecca Pian lead author of the study.
Based on the size of tooth it is estimated that this extinct species would have been nearly a meter (more than three feet) long twice the size of the modern platypus.
The bumps and ridges on the teeth also provide clues about what this species likely ate.
Like other platypuses it was probably a mostly aquatic mammal and would have lived in and around the freshwater pools in the forests that covered the Riversleigh area millions of years ago said Dr. Suzanne Hand of the University of New south wales a co-author of the study.
Obdurodon tharalkooschild was a very large platypus with well-developed teeth and we think it probably fed not only on crayfish
and other freshwater crustaceans but also on small vertebrates including the lungfish frogs and small turtles that are preserved with it in the Two Tree Site fossil deposit.
The oldest platypus fossils come from 61 million-year-old rocks in southern South america. Younger platypus fossils are known from Australia in what is now the Simpson Desert.
Before the discovery of Obdurodon tharalkooschild these fossils suggested that platypuses became smaller and reduced the size of their teeth through time.
The modern platypus completely lacks teeth as an adult and instead bears horny pads in its mouth.
The name Obdurodon comes from the Greek for lasting (obdurate) tooth and was coined to distinguish extinct toothed platypuses from the essentially toothless modern species. Discovery of this new species was a shock to us
because prior to this the fossil record suggested that the evolutionary tree of platypuses was relatively linear one said Dr. Michael Archer of the University of New south wales a co-author of the study.
Now we realize that there were unanticipated side branches on this tree some of which became gigantic.
The specific epithet of the new species tharalkooschild honors an Indigenous Australian creation story about the origin of the platypus.
In the Dreamtime Tharalkoo was a headstrong girl duck inclined to disobey her parents. Her parents warned her not to swim downriver
because Bigoon the Water-rat would have wicked his way with her. Scoffing she disobeyed her parents
and returned to her family the other girl ducks were laying eggs so she did the same.
and egg-laying habit of a duck along with the fur and front feet of a rodent--the first Platypus.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011