and amphibians and setting poisoned bait for rodents. The California Leafy Green Hander agreement is transparent flexible
Although scant evidence exists of risk of food-borne disease spread by wildlife the risk of rejection of produce by major buyers is too much for most growers to bear say Gennet
The waterways are also corridors for deer and other big animals moving between the high country of the Diablo Range and coastal Big sur mountains that flank the valley.
In this study conducted at the University of Michigan Health System hypertensive heart failure-prone rats were fed a grape-enriched diet for 18 weeks.
Different species of fig bear fruit at different times so in areas where there are a large variety of fig species fruit can be available all year round.
and affects habitat use by mammals including increased prevalence of coyotes and other carnivores. Amphibians are facing an extinction crisis worldwide with 165 species likely having gone extinct in recent years according to the Amphibian Ark a coalition of conservationists devoted to seeking solutions to the decline.
and attracts some carnivore species. We now know that there are significantly more coyotes raccoons and opossums in buckthorn invaded areas and significantly fewer white-tailed deer.
Magle hypothesizes that the carnivores could be drawn to buckthorn areas because birds and their nests are easier to prey upon.
He suggests that deer may be avoiding these areas because buckthorn is an undesirable food source and also due to the increased prevalence of coyotes.
Research shows that deer fawns are a relatively common food item for Chicago-area coyotes.
Both Magle and Sacerdote-Velat agree that these findings are significant. The studies demonstrate how the high-density prevalence of this nonnative plant is shifting population dynamics
which lines all of the cells and seals cracks within a hive. Propolis turns on immunity genes--it's not just an antimicrobial caulk or glue.
Previous research has shown that glades are preferred the grazing sites of many large African mammals. Donihue et al.'
Wolf Frommer of the Carnegie Institution of Science; Mary Lou Guerinot of Dartmouth College; Maria Harrison of the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research in Ithaca NY;
To test their theory in an animal model first they injected Type 2 cells into injured muscle in healthy young mice to determine
and muscular dystrophy the researchers injected glycerol into healthy mice to induce fat accumulation in the muscle.
The species sometimes travels in herds of hundreds of individual animals the only Neotropical ungulate (hoofed mammal) known to do so.
and other habitats as a seed predator and disperser and it is a favorite prey of jaguars and pumas.
Monkeys found to conform to social normsthe human tendency to adopt the behaviour of others when on their home territory has been found in nonhuman primates.
Researchers at the University of St andrews observed'striking'fickleness in male monkeys when it comes to copying the behaviour of others in new groups.
The findings could help explain the evolution of our human desire to seek out'local knowledge'when visiting a new place or culture.
when you visit a different culture is shared a disposition with other primates. The research was carried out by observing wild vervet monkeys in South africa.
The researchers originally set out to test how strongly wild vervet monkey infants are influenced by their mothers'habits.
But more interestingly they found that adult males migrating to new groups conformed quickly to the social norms of their new neighbours
In the initial study the researchers provided each of two groups of wild monkeys with a box of maize corn dyed pink and another dyed blue.
and the monkeys soon learned to eat only pink corn. Two other groups were trained in this way to eat only blue corn.
--and the adult monkeys present appeared to remember which colour they had preferred previously. Almost every infant copied the rest of the group eating only the one preferred colour of corn.
The one monkey who did not switch was the top ranking in his new group who appeared unconcerned about adopting local behavior.
Dr van de Waal conducted the field experiments at the Inkawu Vervet Project in the Mawana private game reserve in South africa.
She became familiar with all 109 monkeys making it possible for her to document the behaviour of the males who migrated to new groups.
and importance of social learning in these wild primates extending even to the conformity we know so well in humans.
Commenting on the research leading primatologist Professor Frans de Waal of the Yerkes Primate Center of Emory University said that the study is one of the few successful field experiments on cultural transmission
The study has been hailed by leading primate experts as rare experimental proof of'cultural transmission'in wild primates to date.
The results which were seen in stroke-prone rats were presented April 23 at the Experimental Biology 2013 meeting in Boston.
and the drug Actos in stroke-prone rats by measuring the animals'systolic blood pressure as well as locomotion balance coordination all of
By putting the rats through various physical tests such as walking on a tapered beam and climbing a ladder the researchers found that compared to Actos tart cherry intake significantly improved balance and coordination and at the same time lowered blood pressure.
While the research results indicate that rats who consumed only tart cherries had the best results those who had the combination of tart cherries
#Roe deer more likely to be run over at nightfall on a Sunday in Apriltraffic accidents involving wildlife are on the rise in Europe.
and roe deer are most likely to take place. Car accidents involving animals are a serious and growing problem in Europe.
Wild boar are the cause of 63%of traffic accidents involving wild ungulates and roe deer come second in 37%of the accidents.
The researchers analysed a database of 6255 accidents of this type. Drivers must understand that many roads pass through the habitats of these species
Accidents involving roe deer occur more frequently between April and July particularly in April and May.
which the young roe deer born in the previous year are expelled from the group and start to look for a new territory explains Lagos
and roe deer are more active at dawn and nightfall which is reflected in the distribution of the accidents.
and without grapes (the control diet) on the heart liver kidneys and fat tissue in obesity-prone rats.
which demonstrated that a grape-enriched diet reduced risk factors for heart disease and diabetes in obesity-prone rats.
Dogs and cats require specific nutrients not ingredients. It is possible to meet nutritional requirements using a wide variety of nutrient sources.
Especially with cats it's very difficult. Cats do not self-regulate their food intake well
and have decided a preference for protein and fat. Swanson said it would be helpful to develop a model that would estimate the environmental impact of pet foods
A controversial study published in 2009 equated the cost of keeping a mid-sized dog eating a normal diet with the environmental cost of driving an SUV 12500 miles a year.
A New zealand environmentalist has launched a campaign Cats to Go which aims to ban all cats from the country.
and strawberries have also been shown to improve behavior and cognitive functions in stressed young rats.
and University of Maryland Baltimore County recently fed rats a berry diet for 2 months
All of the rats were fed berries 2 months prior to radiation and then divided into two groups-one was evaluated after 36 hours of radiation and the other after 30 days.
After 30 days on the same berry diet the rats experienced significant protection against radiation compared to control said investigator Shibu Poulose Phd.
but while groups such as mammals birds and reptiles have been understood fairly well by scientists for decades knowledge about relationships among many types of fishes was essentially unknown--until now.
Tunas appear to be more closely related to the small sedentary seahorses whereas marlins are close relatives of flatfishes
They separated them into their different fractions (leaves stems cobs grain) to determine season-long nutrient accumulation utilization and movement.
which they launched rats into space (aboard a space shuttle). However although the rats moved around in zero gravity they ran along a set of straight one-dimensional lines.
Other experiments with three-dimensional projections onto two-dimensional surfaces did not manage to produce volumetric data either.
Ulanovsky chose to study the Egyptian fruit bat a very common bat species in Israel. Because these are relatively large the researchers were able to attach the wireless measuring system in a manner that did not restrict the bats'movements.
Ulanovsky in cooperation with a US commercial company created a wireless lightweight (12 g about 7%of the weight of the bat) device containing electrodes that measure the activity of individual neurons in the bat's brain.
which tracked wild fruit bats using miniature GPS devices. One of the discoveries was that when bats arrive at a fruit tree they fly around it utilizing the full volume of space surrounding the tree.
To simulate this behavior in the laboratory--an artificial cave equipped with an array of bat-monitoring devices--the team installed an artificial tree made of metal bars
when the bat is located in that area. Together the population of place cells provides full coverage of the cave--left and right up and down.
because on the one hand humans evolved from apes that moved in three-dimensional space when swinging from branch to branch but on the other hand modern ground-dwelling humans generally navigate in two-dimensional space.
#Study of pumas in Santa cruz Mountains documents impact of predator/human interactionin the first published results of more than three years of tracking mountain lions in the Santa cruz Mountains UC Santa cruz
and colleagues with the UC Santa cruz Puma Project describe tracking 20 lions over 6600 square miles for three years.
Researchers are trying to understand how habitat fragmentation influences the physiology behavior ecology and conservation of pumas in the Santa cruz Mountains.
Lions are totally willing to brave rural neighborhoods but when it comes to reproductive behavior
In addition pumas give a wider berth to types of human development that provide a more consistent source of human interface such as neighborhoods than they do in places where human presence is more intermittent as with major roads
or highways the authors write. 37 lions capturedwilmers and his team which includes graduate students and a dog tracking team working with the California Department of Fish
and Wildlife have captured 37 lions to date. Twenty-12 females and eight males-were followed closely between 2008 and 2011.
Once captured and anesthetized the lions'sex was determined they were weighed measured fit with an ear tag and a collar with a GPS transmitter.
The collars developed in part by an interdisciplinary team at UCSC including wildlife biologists and engineers transmit location data every four hours.
Researchers are able to track the lions'movements and calculate locations of feeding sites communication spots and dens.
Pumas communicate with scent markings known as scrapes where they scrape leaves or duff into a pile then urinate on it.
The Puma Project team set up and monitored remote cameras at 44 scrape locations and documented males and females which confirmed GPS data from the pumas'collars.
Researchers also found 10 den sites belonging to 10 different female lions. They visited 224 GPS clusters where activities suggested a feeding site and located prey remains at 115 sites.
Wilmers said the research is helping identify corridors where pumas typically travel between areas of high-quality habitat.
This includes neighborhoods where females often are willing to explore for food for their fast-growing brood.
when lions were struck by cars or caught raiding livestock. One male known as 16m was shown to have crossed busy Highway 17 between Scotts Valley and Los Gatos 31 times.
Eight of the 11 pumas that died during the study were killed when caught attacking domestic livestock.
Wilmers advised owners of goats or other livestock to consider keeping them in a fully-enclosed mountain lion-proof structure.
While Wilmers advised people to proceed with caution in any known mountain lion roaming grounds he said humans need not panic about the presence of mountain lions.
The study's conservation goals are meant to help lions survive in the midst of rapidly growing human development by building awareness of lions'behavior and providing safe transit opportunities under or over major highways.
There is new evidence that the Schmallenberg virus can also spread to wild animal populations such as deer
#Parents tend to share more bacteria with family dogs than childrenas much as dog owners love their children they tend to share more of themselves at least in terms of bacteria with their canine cohorts rather than their kids.
That is just one finding of a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder that looked at the types
and transfer modes of microbes from the guts tongues foreheads and palms (or paws) of members of 60 American families including canines.
Knight and his team sampled 159 people and 36 dogs. Seventeen of the 60 families had children at home ranging in age from 6 months to 18 years 17 families had one
or more dogs and no children eight families had both children and dogs and 18 families had neither children nor dogs.
Each family consisted of at least one couple between the ages of 26 and 87 and all of the children in the study were biologically related to the couples in the study.
The team swabbed various parts of the body to obtain microbial samples on the couples children and dogs.
and fecal samples to detect individual microbial communities Dogs were sampled similarly except that fur was sampled instead of skin on the forehead
In fact the microbial connection seems to be stronger between parents and family dogs than between parents and their children.
If you want to share more of your skin bacteria with your spouse get a dog.
Dogs were key to the new study said Knight of CU-Boulder's chemistry and biochemistry department since results from previous studies suggested there were components of co-habitation involved in microbe sharing.
Knight also is involved in the American Gut project a crowdfunded effort that allows members of the public to learn more about their own individual microbes as well as microbes being carried by their dogs.
#Ricebag to treat soft tissue injuriesuniversity Teknology MARA researchers investigated the effects of rice barley
Researchers from the Faculty of Applied sciences and the Faculty of sport Sciences at University Teknology MARA collaborated in a study to invent supplementary and better solutions to treat soft tissue and muscle injuries.
The above story is provided based on materials by Universiti Teknologi MARA (Uitm. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length g
#Resurgence of endangered deer in Patagonian#Eden highlights conservation successthe Huemul a species of deer found only in the Latin american region of Patagonia is bouncing back from the brink of possible extinction
and policing to prevent poaching in the Bernardo O'Higgins National park--a vast natural Eden covering 3. 5 million hectares--conservation efforts have allowed the deer to return to areas of natural habitat from
A national symbol that features on the Chilean coat-of-arms Huemul deer are estimated to have suffered reductions of 99 per cent in size since the 19th century according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Researchers believe 50 per cent of this decline has come in recent years with only 2500 deer now left in the wild.
which led to it becoming easy prey for hunters particularly with the arrival of European colonists in the area who would hunt Huemul for meat to feed their dogs.
and coupled with continued hunting of the species deer populations plummeted. The joint efforts of conservationists and researchers with government and private initiatives created a small number of field stations in this remote natural paradise on the tip of South america--one of the least populated areas of the world
not only stabilised but also began to increase with deer coming down from the hostile mountain areas it had sought refuge in
and increased extinction risk as with another Chilean mammal that Briceã o is researching called Darwin's Fox--named for the scientific genius that first discovered it--with barely 500 now left in the world.
which scientists allowed one group of laboratory rats to feast on potato chips. Another group got bland old rat chow.
Scientists then used high-tech magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices to peer into the rats'brains seeking differences in activity between the rats-on-chips and the rats-on-chow.
With recent studies showing that two-thirds of Americans are obese or overweight this kind of recreational overeating continues to be a major problem health care officials say.
In the study while rats also were fed the same mixture of fat and carbohydrates found in the chips the animals'brains reacted much more positively to the chips.
In the study rats were offered one out of three test foods in addition to their standard chow pellets:
powdered standard animal chow a mixture of fat and carbs or potato chips. They ate similar amounts of the chow as well as the chips
and the mixture but the rats more actively pursued the potato chips which can be explained only partly by the high energy content of this snack he said.
And in fact they were most active in general after eating the snack food. Although carbohydrates and fats also were a source of high energy the rats pursued the chips most actively and the standard chow least actively.
This was further evidence that some ingredient in the chips was sparking more interest in the rats than the carbs
and fats mixture Hoch said. Hoch explained that the team mapped the rats'brains using Manganese-Enhanced Magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI) to monitor brain activity.
They found that the reward and addiction centers in the brain recorded the most activity.
By contrast significant differences in the brain activity comparing the standard chow and the fat carbohydrate group only appeared to a minor degree
and matched only partly with the significant differences in the brain activities of the standard chow and potato chips group he added.
#Self-medication in animals much more widespread than believedit's been known for decades that animals such as chimpanzees seek out medicinal herbs to treat their diseases.
which animals such as baboons and woolly bear caterpillars medicate themselves. One recent study has suggested that house sparrows and finches add high-nicotine cigarette butts to their nests to reduce mite infestations.
#Chimpanzees use botanical skills to discover fruitfruit-eating animals are known to use their spatial memory to relocate fruit yet it is unclear how they manage to find fruit in the first place.
which strategies chimpanzees in the Taã National park in CÃ'te d'Ivoire West Africa use
Chimpanzees know that trees of certain species produce fruit simultaneously and use this botanical knowledge during their daily search for fruit.
To investigate if chimpanzees know that if a tree is carrying fruit then other trees of the same species are likely to carry fruit as well the researchers conducted observations of their inspections
which they saw chimpanzees inspect empty trees when they made mistakes. By analysing these mistakes the researchers were able to exclude that sensory cues of fruit had triggered the inspection
and were the first to learn that chimpanzees had expectations of finding fruit days before feeding on it.
The researchers conclude that chimpanzees know that trees of certain species produce fruit simultaneously and use this information during their daily search for fruit.
and an ability to categorize fruits into distinct species. Our results provide new insights into the variety of food-finding strategies employed by our close relatives the chimpanzees
In a paper published online in Nature Neuroscience the U-M team shows that a particular protein called FIP200 governs this cleaning process in neural stem cells in mice.
If the findings translate from mice to humans the research could open up new avenues to prevention or treatment of neurological conditions.
They were using FIP200-less mice as comparisons in a study when an observant postdoctoral fellow noticed that the mice experienced rapid shrinkage of the brain regions where neural stem cells reside.
That effect was more interesting than what we were actually intending to study says Guan as it suggested that without FIP200 something was causing damage to the home of neural stem cells that normally replace nerve cells during injury or aging.
Only by giving the mice the antioxidant n-acetylcysteine could the scientists counteract the effects.
either crystalline or amorphous but these categories were probably more reflec tive of the limitations of imaging methods than the underlying structural organization of the cellulose says Jerome Fox lead author of the Nature Chemical Biology paper
and Fox other co-authors of the paper A single-molecule analysis reveals morphological targets for cellulase synergy were Phillip Jess Rakesh Jambusaria and Genny Moo.
Solazyme's patented microalgae strains have become the workhorses of a growing industry focused on producing commercial quantities of microalgal oil for energy and food applications.
Rats and mice alone eat or spoil 20 percent of the world's food supply due to contamination with their urine and feces.
Cows horses and termites can digest the cellulose in grass hay and wood. Most cellulose consists of wood fibers and cell wall remains.
which already include human specimens mice the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana cell lines genes and microorganisms.
Chomsky had inspired the name of another animal the chimpanzee Nim Chimpsky who was a part of an extended study of animal language acquisition at Columbia University.
#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
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
This includes decisions on everything from setting harvest limits to habitat management to conservation planning in areas where people will accept occupation by bears.
or expanding bear population or people moving to where bears are located. The answer is both.
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.
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