New Shark Species Found on way to dinner table

Here is a big surprise. Fish taxonomists found a previously unknown shark,   Squalus formosus n. sp, at a fish market in Taiwan. It belongs to the ‘highfin megalops group.  Members of this group have a short snout, high dorsal fins, robust dorsal spines, tricuspid denticles and a white posterior caudal margin. 

The new species is a one-meter-long short-nosed dogfish. It's distinguished from other dogfish species in the Squalus genus by a particularly upright first fin on its back, a strong spine, and a very short, rounded head.

The new species is described in August 26 issue of Journal of Fish Biology.

Squalus formosus, a new species of spurdog shark (Squaliformes: Squalidae), from the western North Pacific Ocean

W. T. White and S. P. Iglésias

Protecting wild species may require growing more food on less land

According to a new study published in the journal Science separating natural habitats from high-yielding farmland could be a more effective way to conserve wild species than trying to grow crops and conserve nature on the same land

The authors describe the pros and cons of land sharing and land sparing. Land sharing integrates both objectives on the same land. Land sparing aims for high yield farming combined with strategies for protecting natural habitats from conversion to agriculture

The research was done by researchers at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. They collected information on more than 600 species in southwest Ghana and northern India. In these two areas demand for agricultural land is putting increasing pressure on wild species. 

The researchers evaluated current and future scenarios of food demand. They found that most species would have larger total populations if farming was restricted to the smallest area feasible along with protecting as much natural forest as possible. This is applicable to not only rare species but for common species as well.

Journal reference 

Reconciling Food Production and Biodiversity Conservation: Land Sharing and Land Sparing Compared

Ben Phalan,Malvika Oniall,Andrew Balmfordd,Rhys E. Green

Science 2 September 2011: Vol. 333 no. 6047 pp. 1289-1291 

Scientists it is time to dance

Science and TEDxBrussels present The “Dance Your Ph.D.” Contest

Turn your Ph.D. thesis into a dance. You can win $1000, achieve immortal geek fame on the Internet, and be recognized by Science for your effort.

The creator of the best Ph.D. dance gets a free trip and hotel stay in Brussels to be crowned the winner at the TEDx conference on 22 November 2011.

How to enter:

Turn your Ph.D. thesis into a dance.

Make yourself an account at www.vimeo.com.

Post the video at Vimeo.com.

Send the link by 10 October 2011.

The rules:

1. you must have a Ph.D., or be working on one as a Ph.D. student.
2. Your Ph.D. must be in a science-related field.
3. You must be part of the dance 

Better indicators of persistence in gap-analysis frameworks needed

Misleading results from conventional gap analysis – Messages from the warming north

Heini Kujala, Miguel B. Araújo, Wilfried Thuiller and Mar Cabeza

Biological Conservation
Volume 144, Issue 10, October 2011, Pages 2450-2458

Gap analysis is a widely used method for assessing the representation of species in protected area (PA) networks. The process consists of mapping three data layers

1) Land cover

2) Predicted distributions of vertebrate species

3) Stewardship layer. 

This data is then assessed to determine how much of a target species’ habitat is in protected areas.  From this assessment, planning decisions can be made about whether further protection is needed.

There is a rider here. Representation does not imply persistence. In this paper the researchers investigated whether gap analysis may result in misleading conservation guidelines by comparing the representation to two indicators of persistence.

The analysis was done with Finnish breeding birds and identified conservation priorities based on current distribution patterns. The levels of representation identified by gap analysis were very good. The researchers then compared the gap analysis results with recent population trends and projected changes in potential suitable climate under different climate change scenarios for the year 2050. The results show that that although high latitude species are well represented in PAs, they are currently declining and are projected to lose climatic suitability in the near future. Low latitude species with poor representation in PAs have increasing population trends and are generally expected to expand their ranges into protected areas in the near future.

The researchers sign off with the following words “This study demonstrates with empirical data a mismatch between representation in PAs and population trends, resulting in misleading understanding of current PA effectiveness. The mismatch is linked to the latitude of species distributions and corresponds to expected future changes, indicating that the patterns are potentially driven by climate change. We therefore urge practitioners and researchers to include better indicators of persistence in gap-analysis frameworks even for short term assessments.”

Combinations of inexpensive methods can reduce monitoring costs substantially while yielding an equal or an increased performance.

Survey method choice for wildlife management: the case of moose Alces alces in Sweden

Johan Månsson, Cindy E. Hauser, Henrik Andrén & Hugh P. Possingham

Volumes / 2011 - Volume 17 / 2 / Wildlife Biology

Monitoring wildlife populations is sine qua non to determine whether management goals are achieved and to improve future decisions. Cost and accuracy of monitoring strategies weighs heavily while determining survey methods.

Here the researchers tested the relative performance of three survey methods: aerial survey, pellet-group counts and hunters’ observations, to get an idea about the management of Swedish moose Alces alces populations. 

Annual aerial survey was the most costly monitoring method (27,000€) and maintained the population within the desired range 72% of the time. The least expensive monitoring strategy (hunters’ observations; 1,600€) maintained the population within a desired range of 66% of the time. A combination of two relatively inexpensive survey methods (i.e. pellet-group counts and hunters’ observations; at an expense of 10,000€) maintained the population within the desired range in 76% of the simulated years.

A combination of annual pellet-group counts and hunters’ observations performed better than annual aerial surveys, but was considerably less expensive. 

The authors sign off with the following words” In wildlife management systems, where a variety of monitoring methods are used, the overall performance generally improves with monitoring expenditure, but very few studies explicitly account for expenditure. However, our study shows that combinations of inexpensive methods can reduce monitoring costs substantially while yielding an equal or an increased performance.”

Exciting news from UK

Here is some exciting news that I have just got from my contacts in UK.

On Wednesday July 27th at 14.22, the first of the three Dyfi osprey chicks fledged the nest at their Cors Dyfi reserve near Machynlleth. This is the first time that ospreys have successfully bred on the Dyfi since 1604. Untrammeled persecution over centuries led to the extinction of the osprey as a species in the UK

Have a look at the YouTube video

 

Incorporating imperfect detection methods for estimating abundance of mountain ungulates

Estimating abundance of mountain ungulates is a laborious task. It is very rarely conducted in a statistically valid manner. Rough terrain they inhabit, the group-living habits, relatively low density, and the difficulty of marking individuals contribute to making rigorous estimates of abundance logistically difficult task.

The usual way out is raw (uncalibrated). Although their drawbacks are very evident, biases are rarely quantified.

In September 2009, the authors of this paper took advantage of the presence of a radio-marked sample of argali Ovis ammon in the Ikh Nart Nature Reserve in south-central Mongolia, and the area’s comparatively forgiving topography to estimate abundance simultaneously using two independent methods: distance sampling and mark-resight sampling.

Distance sampling produced an abundance estimate of 539 (95% CI: 196-1,081) argali in a 330km2 study area on the same day the researchers visually counted189 animals. Mark-resight sampling using the Poisson log-normal model yielded an estimate of 747 (95% CI: 484-1,009) argali against a maximum223 animals observed in any given day.

The researchers say although both the techniques were imprecise, their similarity increases their confidence that neither estimator was highly biased. Because of budget or logistical restrictions, uncalibrated counts of mountain ungulates are often the only alternative. The researchers emphasize that such results should be viewed cautiously, and when possible, more rigorous approaches to estimating abundance should be taken.

Journal reference

Estimating abundance of mountain ungulates incorporating imperfect detection: argali Ovis ammon in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia

Ganchimeg J. Wingard, Richard B. Harris, Sukh Amgalanbaatar & Richard P. Reading

Volumes / 2011 - Volume 17 / 1 / Wildlife Biology

Research-Prioritization Exercises and Conservation Policies

How Research-Prioritization Exercises Affect Conservation Policy

MURRAY A. RUDD

Article first published online: 25 JUL 2011   © Society for Conservation Biology

It is an undeniable fact that there is often a wide chasm between research and its impact on policies pertaining to conservation. The way forward should be better aligning of research with policy needs. With his idea in mind, some conservation scientists have embarked on a whole gamut of exercises to identify research questions that, if answered, would provide the evidence base with which to develop and implement effective conservation policies.
Here the researcher synthesized two existing approaches to conceptualizing research impacts. One widely used approach classifies the impacts of research as conceptual, instrumental, and symbolic.
Conceptual impacts occur when policy makers are sensitized to new issues and this in turn brings about changes in their beliefs and thinking process. Instrumental impacts occur when scientific research has a direct effect on policy decisions. The use of scientific research results to support established policy positions are a sign of symbolic impacts.
The second approach classifies research issues according to whether scientific knowledge is developed fully and whether the policy issue has been articulated clearly.
The researcher say exercises to identify important research questions have objectives of increasing the clarity of policy issues while strengthening science–policy interactions. This may act as a vehicle of transmission of scientific knowledge to policy makers. This also has the potential to accelerate the development and implementation of effective conservation policy.
 The researcher say identification of visionary science questions independent of current policy needs, prioritization of best practices for transferring scientific knowledge to policy makers, and identification of questions about human values and their role in political processes could all help advance real-world conservation science. He signs off with these words “It is crucial for conservation scientists to understand the wide variety of ways in which their research can affect policy and be improved systematically”.

Genes not responsible for the decline of Iberian Lynx

It was with great fascination that I read this paper on Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus). It is perhaps the most endangered cat in the world. The population of the Iberian lynx has plummeted below 300 individuals in two isolated areas in Spain. Habitat destruction and the decline of its main prey, the European rabbit are the main causes of the decline.

Some people believe the lack of genetic diversity may spell doom for the species. Surprisingly a new study of DNA found in fossil bones,  have shown that the Iberian lynx has had very low genetic diversity, for at least 50,000 years.  How the lynx managed to pull on despite this low genetic diversity has flummoxed the scientists.

The scientists say they don't blame the genes for the decline in population. They blame it squarely on the lack of political will to save it.

Journal Reference:

Ricardo Rodríguez, Oscar Ramírez, Cristina E. Valdiosera, Nuria García, Fernando Alda, Joan Madurell-Malapeira, Josep Marmi, Ignacio Doadrio, Eske Willerslev, Anders Götherström, Juan Luis Arsuaga, Mark G. Thomas, Carles Lalueza-Fox, Love Dalén. 50,000 years of genetic uniformity in the critically endangered Iberian lynx.Molecular Ecology,

New Zealand - Flushing down the rainforests

An eight-month long investigation by Greenpeace, the Green Party and WWF-New Zealand into exactly where the toilet paper sold in New Zealand originates has come up with the shocking finding that Auckland based company Cottonsoft is sourcing its toilet paper from rainforests in Indonesia, home of the critically-endangered Sumatran tiger. Only 400 Sumatran Tigers are estimated to remain in the wild

Cottonsoft New Zealand is a subsidiary of the infamous conglomerate Asia Pulp and Paper (APP). APP has been blacklisted as a supplier by major companies around the world like  Kraft, Nestle, Unilever, Tesco and Carrefour. These companies do not countenance the unethical rain forest destruction of APP.

Greenpeace, the Green Party and WWF-New Zealand have appealed to retailers to stop stocking Cottonsoft and other APP Products until the company agrees to end rainforest destruction. 

Studies should be wary when pooling male and female data

Understanding sex differences in the cost of terrestrial locomotion

John J. Lees,Robert L. Nudds,Lars P. Folkow,Karl-Arne Stokkan,and Jonathan R. Codd

Published online before print August 17, 2011, doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.1334Proc. R. Soc. B

Here is an interesting piece of research done on birds that could be of great relevance for future research.

We know very little about the physiological consequences of the behavioural and morphological differences that result from sexual selection in birds. 

Here the research was done on Svalbard rock ptarmigans (Lagopus muta hyperborea). Svalbard rock ptarmigans exhibit distinctive behavioural differences during the breeding season. Males continuously compete for and defend territories in order to breed successfully. This in turn places large demands on their locomotor system. 

In this piece of research the researchers show that male birds have improved locomotor performance compared with females, showing both a lower cost of locomotion (CoL) and a higher top speed. They suggest that sex differences in locomotor capability may be due to sexual selection for improved male performance.

The researchers sign off with these words” While the mechanisms underlying these energetic differences are unclear, future studies should be wary when pooling male and female data”.

Sports and nature conservation

Here is a good article on sports and nature conservation written by Sue Mainka, IUCN’s Head of Science and Knowledge Management. I found it very interesting. 


Sports and species – like oil and water or a good mix?

By Sue Mainka, IUCN’s Head of Science and Knowledge Management.

Sports are a universal part of human society with, apparently, more than three billion people following or playing football (that’s soccer to North Americans) and, according to the British Journal of Sports Medicine, 75 million tennis players worldwide. How does this huge facet of society affect biodiversity conservation and can we harness all that enthusiasm in the name of nature? We looked at a few recent reports on both individual sports and mega-sporting events to try answer these questions.

Catherine Pickering and colleagues looked at the environmental impact of three different outdoor sports – hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding – in Australia and the USA. The types of impacts across all three sports were quite similar and included loss of vegetation, soil erosion, trail degradation and introduction of invasive alien species. There was a difference in intensity with horseback riding often having greater impact likely due to the weight of your average horse vs. your average human +/- bike. However, the authors note that there is still little research on relative impacts across outdoor sports, especially in protected areas, and more work should be done to help managers develop and implement programmes that can minimize such impacts.

Meanwhile Veronika Braunisch and her colleagues report on a new technique to evaluate the impact of free-ranging winter sports activities on mountain biodiversity. With the Black Grouse as their indicator species and using aerial photographs, they compared locations of these grouse with locations for off-piste skiers and people who were snowshoeing. They determined that only 23% of winter habitat for the grouse was free of human disturbance showing that winter sport infrastructure is not the only issue when looking at biodiversity impacts. Braunisch also points out that another factor to consider is the increased stress caused by proximity to people and the consequent increase in energy costs for species during winter, an already stressful time.

Lincoln Larsen and his colleagues looked at the potential influence of participation in outdoor recreation in promoting what they termed ‘pro-environmental behaviors’. The pro-environmental behaviors that they chose to assess, namely taking personal action such as recycling, reading environmental literature and contributing to/ being a member of an environmental group, were linked with participation in outdoor recreation although the strength of that association did differ across demographic groups surveyed.

Two reports provide feedback on some of the best known mega events today. Justine Paquette and her colleagues report on how environmental sustainability has been integrated into the Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) developed an environmental policy in 1992 and the first Games that explicitly included sustainability were the Lillehammer Winter Olympics in 1994. Paquette reports that the IOC policies to support integration of sustainability into Olympic planning and operations are in place and that most bids today do include environment as an explicit element of their proposal. However, as a local organizing committee moves from bid to development and implementation, environmental sustainability often suffers due to resource and capacity limitations.

According to Harald Dolles and Sten Söderman, the FIFA World Cup first explicitly addressed environmental sustainability much later than the Olympics – namely for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The German World Cup set targets for five key environmental issues - water, waste, energy, transport and climate - however some targets, such as those for energy, were not fully met. The authors raise thought-provoking questions relating to such sporting events and the environment. Firstly, is it really the mandate of a sporting organization to integrate environmental issues and secondly, how can we mainstream global scale environmental visions into local organizational and development needs.

Sports fans and athletes of all types would seem to be a ripe audience for environmental conservation communication and action. At individual levels, they are having an impact on the very environment they use while participating in sports. They should be enthusiastic participants in conservation given guidance on ‘good environmental conduct’. At team and mega-event levels, the global attention to sustainability is starting to trickle down but it seems that local constraints and priorities still determine how well sustainability actions are implemented. Surely such events, and associations that support them, could more actively and consistently pursue environmental sustainability agendas along with integrating monitoring and lessons learned from one event to the next? Many of us are both conservationists and sports enthusiasts, and, in the end, it will be up to us to promote better environmental stewardship at all levels of sports.

References Cited

1)Pickering CM, Hill W, Newsome D, et al (2010). Comparing hiking, mountain biking and horse riding impacts on vegetation and soils in Australia and the United States of America. J. Env Management 91: 551–562.

2)Braunisch V, Patthey P, And Arlettaz RL (2011). Spatially explicit modeling of conflict zones between wildlife and snow sports: prioritizing areas for winter refuges. Ecological Applications 21: 955–967.

3)Larson L, Whiting J, and Green G. (2011). Exploring the influence of outdoor recreation participation on pro-environmental behaviour in a demographically diverse population. Local Environment 16(1): 67-86.

4)Paquette J, Stevens J, and Mallen, C (2011) The interpretation of environmental sustainability by the International Olympic Committee and Organizing Committees of the Olympic Games from 1994 to 2008, Sport in Society, 14: 3, 355 – 369.

5)Dolles, H, and S. Söderman (2010). Addressing ecology and sustainability in mega-sporting events: The 2006 football World Cup in Germany. Journal of Management & Organization 16: 587–600.

New discovery may bring in small revision of biology textbooks

Biologists at UC San Diego have discovered a never-before-noticed component of our basic genetic material. The new discovery, made possible by high powered microscope, is a chromatin particle halfway between DNA and a nucleosome. Eventhough it looks like a nucleosome it is in fact a distinct particle of its own. This novel particle is a precursor to a nucleosome.

Till now we believed that chromatin, the natural state of DNA in the cell, is made up of nucleosomes and nucleosomes are the basic repeating unit of chromatin.

The new findings make it necessary to reconsider what chromatin is. The discovery of pre-nucleosomes suggests that much of chromatin, which has been generally presumed to consist only of nucleosomes, may in fact be a mixture of nucleosomes and pre-nucleosomes

The researchers say this discovery may be the beginning of a revolution in our understanding of what chromatin is.