#Mini-monsters of the forest floora University of Utah biologist has identified 33 new species of predatory ants in Central america and the Caribbean and named about a third of the tiny but monstrous-looking insects
when viewed under a microscope says entomologist Jack Longino a professor of biology. Their faces are broad shields the eyes reduced to tiny points at the edges and the fierce jaws bristling with sharp teeth.
and named 14 new species of the ant genus Eurhopalothrix and distinguished them from 14 other previously known species. The genus name is Greek
and refers to the club-shaped hairs on many Eurhopalothrix (pronounced you-row-pal-oh-thrix) species. In another upcoming study accepted for publication in the same journal Longino identified 19 new ant species from the genus
Octostruma (pronounced oct-oh-strew-ma) and described differences from 15 other previously known species. The genus name means eight swellings for the ants'eight-segmented antennas.
The new species were found mostly in small patches of forest that remain in a largely agricultural landscape highlighting the importance of forest conservation efforts in Central america Longino says.
But as geneticists analyze more and more ants new genetic differences are becoming apparent and so there could be 100000 ant species Longino said.
but to map all species old and new to shed light on Earth's biodiversity and identify possible pest species
He is seeking funding for genetics research to better analyze and perhaps redefine classifications for ants in four or five ant genuses or genera.
Some species are likely to end up in a different genus after such research is done he says.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Utah. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Published in Biological Psychiatry the Pitt team found that in a rodent model second-generation deficiencies of omega-3s caused elevated states of anxiety
which environmental events influence genetic information. Likewise the team is exploring markers of inflammation in the brain
Other Pitt researchers involved in the study include Gonzalo Torres (ENGR'81) associate professor of neurobiology and from the Moghaddam laboratory:
and Nelson Totah (A&s'12g) now a postdoctoral fellow at Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics.
This is the first study to show that tadpole tolerance to insecticides can be influenced by exposure to insecticides extremely early on in life--in this case as early as the embryonic stage said study principal investigator Rick Relyea Pitt professor of biological sciences within the Kenneth P
and pesticides and insecticides are hypothesized one cause said Jessica Hua lead author of the paper and a Phd candidate studying biological sciences in Relyea's laboratory.
--which also included Nathan Morehouse Pitt assistant professor of biological sciences--examined three potential factors that might allow larval wood frogs to have a high tolerance to the insecticide:
-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical engineering and lead author of the study which is published in the current online edition of the Annals of Biomedical engineering.
To quantify youth football players'exposure to head impacts in practices and games over the course of a single season the researchers employed sensors in the helmets of 50 players on three teams in two different leagues.
Funding for the study was provided by the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical engineering and Sciences.
The region's Wehea Forest is known a biodiversity hotspot for primates including the Bornean orangutan subspecies Pongo pygmaeus morio the least studied of orangutan subspecies.
Since Wehea Forest is a biodiversity hotspot paperwork have been submitted to legally change the status of Wehea Forest from production forest to protected forest.
The region's Wehea Forest is known a biodiversity hotspot for primates including the Bornean orangutan subspecies Pongo pygmaeus morio the least studied of orangutan subspecies.
Since Wehea Forest is a biodiversity hotspot paperwork have been submitted to legally change the status of Wehea Forest from production forest to protected forest.
#Virus to control potato mothnew biological insecticides have emerged in recent years which make use of so-called entomopathogenic viruses that are harmful to insects in particular the baculovirus.
To identify the virus in this family that will most effectively control the Guatemalan potato moth The french-Ecuadorian research team have analysed the pathogens among moths from all over the world.
And the winner is#the granulosis virus or granulovirus which appears to be the most widespread.
The researchers detected it in moths from twelve different countries. Moreover it has the widest activity spectrum:
The researchers then did a laboratory test of a formula based on this virus. The result was as efficient as chemical products:
Its use also requires expert knowledge and detailed monitoring of the moth's biological cycle ecology and behaviour
which could hold back its deployment for biological control.##but assured benefitsnevertheless such a biopesticide has many advantages
Using biological pesticides that rapidly degrade in the environment would reduce the risks of pollution.
Lastly unlike the molecules in chemical plant-protection products viruses are able to mutate which limits the development of resistance in their host.
since 2006 been doing genetic agronomic and ecological studies: molecular analyses to describe the genetic structure of the pests a study of the impact of temperatures on their ecology by means of drones with thermal cameras#The aim is to get a better understanding of the insects'population dynamics
and define good practices to limit their proliferation. In this respect the researchers have developed methods like role-playing games to raise awareness among farmers.
Nerea Abrego-Antia and Isabel Salcedo-Larralde biologists in the Department of Plant Biology and Ecology of the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country have quantified recently this effect on fungi populations that live off dead
In the field of mycology the journals that publish the description of species and systematics papers tend to have little impact;
After the samples had been gathered they were classified in accordance with a standard criterion that is used by mycologists in this field
The work of these UPV/EHU biologists specifies the levels of this damage. Story Source:
The continued presence of a DDT byproduct reveals how long this banned chemical can impact biodiversity.
This is partly due to the physical chemical properties of the l compounds and biological influences such as such as organism specific metabolism and life history.
The study is available online from the journal Fungal Biology. Identification of the closest known relatives of this fungus makes it possible to move forward with genetic work to examine the molecular toolbox this fungus uses to kill bats according to Lindner a research plant pathologist.
Ultimately we hope to use this information to be able to interrupt the ability of this fungus to cause disease.
A marked decline in bat populations in the eastern United states was documented in a study published last month in PLOS One by Sybill Amelon a research biologist with the Forest Service in Columbus Mo
In 2009 researchers identified the culprit behind WNS as a member of the genus Geomyces resulting in its name Geomyces destructans or G. destructans.
and found evidence supporting a shift in the genus to which the fungus belongs resulting in a new name:
Dr Stefan Kepinski senior lecturer in the University of Leeds'Faculty of Biological sciences and lead author of a paper in the journal Current Biology that gets to the bottom of the mystery said:
These insights are important for breeding and biotechnological approaches to crop improvement because breeders and seed companies want to be able to alter plant architecture to optimise the performance of crops.
N-Fix is neither genetic modification nor bioengineering. It is a naturally occurring nitrogen fixing bacteria
#Honey bee gene targeting offers system to understand food-related behavioron July 25th Jove the Journal of Visualized Experiments will publish a new technique that will help scientists better understand the genes that govern food-related
The impact of this study could take scientists one-step closer toward understanding--and perhaps changing--undesirable food-related behavior in humans via gene control.
Our technique has helped already to unravel the complex gene networks behind biological processes and behavior such as gustatory perception said Dr. Ying Wang of Arizona State university.
She and a team of scientists are behind the experiment titled RNAI-mediated Double Gene Knockdown and Gustatory perception Measurement in Honey Bees.
and humans but we share many major genes said Wang therefore honey bees have become an emerging system for us to understand food related behavior in humans.
and insulin pathway genes were involved in honey bee gustatory perception. Her new article introduces two strategies for targeting
and simultaneously down-regulating multiple genes in honey bees via RNA interference. This allows for further research in examining the role of insulin metabolism in gustatory perception.
Wang's multiple gene knockdown method is a first in entomology and it overcomes the many shortfalls associated with typical single-gene targeting methods A common problem associated with single gene suppression is that it is not sufficient to show the interrelationship of a gene network.
In the article published today Wang's team has provided also a technique to measure the resulting changes in honey bee behavior
Biologists artists and tropical fish aquarists have described illustrated or photographed color patterns in adult marine fishes for centuries
and genetics data collected by a consortium of research groups scientists have strengthened evidence pointing to the central Gulf of Maine as a mating ground for North Atlantic right whales according to a study recently published online in the journal Endangered
if the gestation period is said 12 months Tim Cole lead author and a biologist at the Woods Hole Laboratory of NOAA's Northeast Fisheries science Center (NEFSC).
Using genetic data gathered in other field work known fathers seen in the surveys were identified as were known mothers who were identified by association with a calf.
The researchers further assumed a 12-month gestation period for North Atlantic right whales similar to that estimated for the closely-related southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) by the South african whale biologist Dr. Peter Best.
but may include a low level of genetic variability and/or inbreeding disease biotoxins pollutants food supply limitations and habitat loss.
#Full genome map of oil palm indicates way to raise yields and protect rainforest: Single gene identified
whose regulation controls oil palm yielda multinational team of scientists has identified a single gene called Shell that regulates yield of the oil palm tree.
The fruit and seeds of the oil palm are the source of nearly one-half of the supply of edible vegetable oil worldwide
and provide one of the most promising sources of biofuel. The discovery the product of a multiyear effort to provide a high-quality full genome map of the oil palm plant
and to scour the sequence for genes of importance to both science and industry has major implications for agriculture and the environment.
The discovery that regulation of the Shell gene will enable breeders to boost palm oil yields by nearly one-third is excellent news for the rainforest
and its champions worldwide says Datuk Dr. Choo Yuen May the Director General of the Malaysian Palm oil Board (MPOB) an agency of the Malaysian federal government.
The discovery was made by researchers at the MPOB in conjunction with scientists at St louis-based Orion Genomics.
and a rallying point for activists in recent years says Robert A. Martienssen Ph d. scientific cofounder of Orion Genomics who is also a professor of plant genetics at CSHL.
and oil yield explains Dr. Rajinder Singh of the MPOB first author of the Nature paper describing the Shell gene.
Palm oil also has the best energy balance of any commercial product currently used in biofuel applications yielding about 9 times the energy required to produce it according to Dr. Martienssen.
The Shell gene is responsible for the oil palm's three known shell forms: dura (thick; pisifera (shell-less;
Tenera palms contain one mutant and one normal version or allele of Shell an optimum combination that results in 30%more oil per land area than dura palms.
and land usethe discovery of the Shell gene and its two naturally occurring mutations highlight new molecular strategies to identify seeds
Seed producers can now use the genetic marker for the Shell gene to distinguish the three fruit forms in the nursery long before they are field-planted.
Accurate genotyping for enhanced oil yields will optimize and help stabilize the acreage devoted to oil palm plantations providing an opportunity for the conservation of rainforest reserves Martienssen explains.
The Malaysian government strongly supported the genome sequencing project for the nation's most important crop.
What the full genome sequences revealthe discovery of Shell occurs in the context of a broader effort to map the genomes of both the African
It comprises nearly 35000 genes including the full set of oil biosynthesis genes and other transcriptional regulators highly expressed in the oil-rich palm fruit.
#Dangers to biological diversity from proliferation of global cashmere garment industrya new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and Snow leopard Trust reveals a disturbing link between the cashmere trade and the decay
The study appears in the August issue of the journal Conservation Biology. Authors include: Joel Berger of WCS and University of Montana Bayarbaatar Buuveibaatar of WCS Mongolia and Charudutt Mishra of the Snow leopard Trust.
The consequences are dramatic and negative for iconic species that governments have signed legislation to protect yet the wildlife is continually being squeezed into a no-win situation says lead author Joel Berger a biologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society and professor at University of Montana.
Researchers from the University of California San diego La jolla CA report on this potentially promising solution in a study published ahead of print in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
The above story is provided based on materials by American Society for Microbiology. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
This delay in the modelled Indian ocean warming is likely due to the presence of atmospheric aerosols generated through transport emissions biomass burning and industrial smog together with natural emissions of sea salt
the removal of these mammals by bushmeat hunters disrupts forest regeneration. Furthermore previously untouched swathes of forest are being penetrated by roads
and replaced by single-species plantations of oil palm rubber trees and crops for biofuels. The authors warn that such plantations greatly reduce areas available for seed dispersing wildlife.
which together form around two thirds of the world's species. This means that butterflies are useful indicators of biodiversity and the general health of ecosystems.
Agricultural intensification leads to uniform grasslands which are almost sterile for biodiversity. In addition butterflies are also vulnerable to pesticides often used in intensively managed farming systems.
The EU Biodiversity Strategy recognises the poor conservation status of grasslands. Grasslands should be managed properly the report states both within Natura 2000 protected areas and on HNV farmland.
and help achieve the goal of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2020. Story Source:
It will also inform our understanding of how carbon storage can be used to assess other fundamental ecosystem characteristics such as hydrology habitat quality and biodiversity.
The researchers conducted their experiments at the Rocky mountain Biological Laboratory near Crested Butte Colorado. Located at 9500 feet the facility's subalpine meadows are too high for honeybees
The Rocky mountain Biological Laboratory is exacting about using non-destructive methodologies so that researchers don't have a negative impact on the bumblebee populations.
Our work shows why biodiversity may be key to conservation of an entire ecosystem Brosi says.
We reconstructed the fire history by picking charcoal fragments out of sediments preserved over thousands of years said University of Illinois doctoral student Ryan Kelly who led the study with Illinois plant biology professor Feng Sheng Hu.
Halas Rice's Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering professor of physics professor of chemistry and professor of biomedical engineering is one of the world's most-cited chemists.
and pressure created by the steam were sufficient to kill not just living microbes but also spores and viruses.
#Health risks from arsenic in rice exposedhigh levels of arsenic in rice have been shown to be associated with elevated genetic damage in humans a new study has found.
Now University of Manchester scientists working in collaboration with scientists at CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology in Kolkata have proven a link between rice containing high levels of arsenic and chromosomal damage as measured by micronuclei*in urothelial cells
They demonstrated that the trend of greater genetic damage with increasing arsenic in rice was observed for both men and women for tobacco-users and non-users and for those from three different locations within the study area.
and genetic damage has been demonstrated. As such it vindicates increasing concerns expressed by the European Food safety Authority and others about the adequacy of regulation of arsenic in rice.
which we have observed significant genetic damage in people who consume it as a staple food.
which contains 46 human chromosomes but when any of these chromosomes are damaged the part of the chromosome not able to participate in cell division typically remains as small'micronuclei'in any daughter cells.
Increased frequency of these micronuclei has been shown by other groups to be linked to the development of cancers.
and magnitude of all impacts said senior author of the study Joel Stitzel Ph d. chair of biomedical engineering at Wake Forest Baptist
and associate head of the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical engineering and Sciences.
The study is published in the current online edition of the Annals of Biomedical engineering. Based on data gathered throughout a season of high school football games
. However research on the biomechanics of football-related head impacts traditionally has concentrated on the collegiate level rather than on the high school level.
Studies like this are vital to understanding the biomechanical basis of head injuries related to football Stitzel said.
#Irish potato famine-causing pathogen even more virulent nowthe plant pathogen that caused The irish potato famine in the 1840s lives on today with a different genetic blueprint
and colleagues Mike Martin and Tom Gilbert from the University of Copenhagen compared the genomes
or sets of all genes of five 19th century strains of the Phytophthora infestans pathogen with modern strains of the pathogen
The researchers found that the genes in historical plant samples collected in Belgium in 1845 as well as other samples collected from varied European locales in the late 1870s
and 1880s were quite different from modern-day P. infestans genes including some genes in modern plants that make the pathogen more virulent than the historical strains.
In one example a certain gene variant or allele called AVR3A that was not virulent in the historical samples was shown to be virulent in the modern-day samples.
The genetic blueprints or genotypes of the historical strains were distinct from modern strains and genes related to infection were also quite different Ristaino says.
In the areas of the genome that today control virulence we found little similarity with historical strains suggesting that the pathogen has evolved in response to human actions like breeding more disease-resistant potatoes.
Some of the differences between the European historical samples from the 1840s and the 1870s and 1880s suggest that the pathogen was brought to Europe more than once debunking the theory that the pathogen was introduced once
Knowing how the pathogen genome has changed over time will help modern-day farmers better manage the disease.
There are relatively fewer actively expressed genes or RNA. It is now possible to sequence RNA across kingdoms so a full snapshot can be taken of the active bacteria fungi protozoa and other microbes in the soil.
The research was carried out in collaboration with the University of East Anglia and The Genome Analysis Centre on Norwich Research Park.
Small changes in plant genotype can have unexpected complex and effects on soil microbes surrounding the roots said Professor Poole.
The above story is provided based on materials by Norwich Bioscience Institutes. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
He also studied the structure of the tomato peels to assess their efficiency as biomaterials to remove toxic metal ions and organic pollutants from water.
a biomass for water purificationin addition to tomato peels Mr Ramakrishna also explored the viability of using the peels of apples for water purification as apple peels are easily available as biowaste from food processing industries
and honeybees (Nosema ceranae and deformed wing virus). After the screening tests the team conducted a series of carefully controlled laboratory experiments to find out
what it means for the futurethe evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould once asked whether the living world would be different
With the help of modern genetic technology and the resources of the International Rice Genebank which contains more than 112000 different types of rice evolutionary biologist Kenneth Olsen Phd associate professor of biology in Arts
His latest findings which take a close look at the genetics of hull color appear in the July 17 2013 online issue of the Journal of Evolutionary Biology.
Scientists are now in a position to examine the genetic basis of both the Asian
Do the same genetic mutations underlie the emergence of these traits in both the Asian
and African domestication events or did domestication result from different mutations in the same genes or even from mutations in different genes?
In a series of articles in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology and other journals Olsen postdoctoral researcher Cindy Vigueira and their colleagues have shown that different mutations of the same genes underlie the loss of shattering and the straw
whether crops to wild forms by reversing the genetic changes that resulted in their domestication
At the genetic level the history of the weedy forms turns out to be messier than that of the crop forms.
For example the weeds carry the crop form of the loss-of-shattering gene which means that they branched off from the crops sometime after people selected for loss of shattering.
Weeds stealing crop genesthe most important part of this story Olsen says is that the genetic histories of the crops
This means the weedy forms can draw on both ancestral genes and crop genes as they respond to the selection pressures of modern agriculture.
Even though both weedy strains arose in Asia he says weedy rice became a problem in Southeast asia only in the last few decades.
It's basically a single amino-acid change in a particular gene although newer varieties are getting a bit fancier and multiple genes may be involved.
So it would be pretty easy for random mutations to confer resistance on the weeds.
The other possibility is that resistance genes will migrate from the crop to the weeds.
Because both cultivated rice and weedy rice tend to self-fertilize there hasn't been a lot of gene flow going on in rice in general Olsen says.
now that selective pressure is favoring gene flow. We're already seeing more and more hybridization occurring Olsen says.
#New Anagnorisma moth species from beautiful Binaloud Mountain Iranresearchers described a new species of Noctuidae moth from Iran which is described the fifth species of the genus Anagnorisma.
Phil Apong senior formulation specialist/researcher at Iovate Health Sciences said dietary recommendations for bodybuilders depend on many factors such as genetics age gender and body size.
and the Verband Deutscher Zoodirektoren Association of German Zoo Directors the Dresden team led by biologists Dr. Raffael Ernst
Their idea is to test the concept of a truly sustainable forest where conservation biodiversity safeguarding environmental balance
To date only three species of the genus Allobates are known from Guyana one of which the Cuckoo frog Allobates spumaponens Kok
Worthy of protectionnot least because of the high number of endemic species the region is one of the most important centres of biodiversity in the tropics of the New world.
The Guianas are at a crossroads concerning decisions and tradeoffs among utilisation conservation and preservation of their forests and thus substantial parts of the region's biodiversity.
and described by WCS as an entirely new genus in 2006. Another extremely vulnerable species is the Zanzibar red colobus a species
and conserve places that are vital to birds and other biodiversity. In fact Tanzania's Priority Primate Areas were also often rich in bird life underscoring their value to conservation in general.
Tanzania is regarded widely as the most important country in mainland Africa for biological diversity and unique species and contains the continent's highest mountain deepest lakes and large parts of two globally significant biodiversity hotspots the Eastern Afromontane and the Albertine Rift.
However Tanzania has the second highest rate of forest loss in Sub-saharan africa despite considerable conservation investment and a large amount of land nominally under protection.
This study has global implications as many nations grapple with reconciling their development needs with biological conservation
Science-based priority setting tools like this one are the best chance for developing nations to minimize biodiversity loss.
Parasitization caused changes in the levels of active genes in the brains of infected bees.
Varroa altered the activity of 455 genes including genes involved in GABA and serotonin signaling while Nosema affected 57.
Twenty genes were common between the two infections and several of the up-regulated genes are involved in oxidative stress neural function and foraging behavior.
Parasitized bees also tended to have a higher viral infection as well adding to their disease burden
We found that parasitized bees were attacked not by their nestmates suggesting that they leave the hive voluntarily perhaps in response to the changes in gene expression in their brains.
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