The
lab-grown mosquitoes developed by MosquitoMate seek to eliminate the
disease-carrying Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus, shown here). [Excerpted
from 10.1038/nature.2017.22959]
In attempts to fight the Asian tiger mosquito, an invasive
species that spreads diseases like zika, the Environmental Protection Agency
approved the use of Wolbachia pipientis, a bacterium that can infect and
eliminate this species of mosquito. A biotech company [Mosquito Mate] will raise male
mosquitoes, infected with the bacterium and release them in 20 states. The infected males will mate with the female Asian Tiger species. The females will lay eggs that will not hatch, eventually killing of the species.
“The EPA decision excludes much of the southeastern United
States, which is home to dense populations of mosquitoes and a long mosquito season,
because MosquitoMate did not conduct field trials there” [Waltz, 2017].
To read more about
this experiment and trial release of mosquitoes, follow the links below.
The recent Hurricanes [in Florida, Puerto Rico, Houston and
other areas] brought many unseen hazards to people affected by flood waters.
These waters mix with everything on and under the ground. Industrial solvents
and chemicals, animal waste, sewage and pesticides get washed into the flood
waters; not to mention sharp objects and unexpected wildlife [snakes,
alligators, ants, and rats—to name a few](Brodin, E., 2017).
For those that must wade through and interact in these
waters there is potential for spread of diseases and infection. Some of those can
be very serious. A few of these potential hazards include leptospirosis,
ecoli
and vibrio.
Below is a short list of a few resources on the topic. Click
on the links to learn more about the dangers lingering in flood waters around the
world.
Socolovschi, C., et.
al, 2011. Strikes, flooding, rats, and leptospirosis in Marseille, France. International
Journal of Infectious Diseases. 15 (2011) e710-e715. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2011.05.017
Ayral, F., et. al.,
2015. Distribution of Leptospira interrogans by Multispacer Sequence Typing in
Urban Norway Rats (Rattus norvegicus): A Survey in France in 2011-2013. PLos One.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139604
[Accessed on 11/2/2017].
While on twitter, I ran across a video short on wolves in Yellowstone National Park. This lead to more research on the importance of large predators related to ecosystem health and balance.
I thought I would share some of those resources here.
Here is a brief summary on the topic [excerpted from one of the articles listed
below].
The extirpation of wolves (Canis
lupus) from Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1920s and their reintroduction
in 1995 provided the opportunity to examine the cascading effects of
carnivore-herbivore interactions on woody browse species, as well as ecological
responses involving riparian functions, beaver (Castor canadensis) populations,
and general food webs. Our results indicate that predation risk may have
profound effects on the structure of ecosystems and is an important constituent
of native biodiversity [Ripple and Beschta, 2004, p.755].
Below is the citation for this summary, along with a few other resources for you to explore.
Licht, Daniel S., et al. "Using small populations of
wolves for ecosystem restoration and stewardship." BioScience, vol. 60,
no. 2, 2010, p. 147+. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/bio.2010.60.2.9 Accessed 26 Oct. 2017.
Peterson, Rolf O., et al. "Looking to the past for the
future: using wolves to restore ecosystems (response to Belant, Mech, and
Trimble)." BioScience, vol. 60, no. 7, 2010, p. 486+. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/bio.2010.60.7.21 Accessed 26 Oct. 2017.
Ripple, William J., and Robert L. Beschta. "Wolves and
the ecology of fear: can predation risk structure ecosystems?" BioScience,
vol. 54, no. 8, 2004, p. 755+. http://ucpressjournals.com/journal.asp?j=bio
The Meet the Scientist Lecture Series is in its 14th season. Hosted by Taras Oceanographic Foundation at Jupiter High School, Jupiter, FL 33458. Below is the upcoming calendar. Click on the image to enalrge, or visit their website from the link above.
The Daily mail is reporting that 109 hippos have died in the Bwabwata National Park since Sunday last week. The cause of death is suspected to
be a natural outbreak of anthrax. Outbreaks are not uncommon and can occur when
rivers are running low. The hippo population before the outbreak was thought to be 1,300. Hippopotamus are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red list. Veterinarians are still working to confirm the cause of death [anthrax].
To read the full report and read more about what Anthrax is,
you can follow the Link to the full article on Daily
Mail here
The Center for Disease Control also has a page explaining
anthrax, which you can
access here.
The CDC web page also had this graph of the Anthrax life cycle:
If you are searching for science blogs to
follow, Feedspot offers a list of The Best Science blogs from thousands of top
Science blogs in their index using search and social metrics. Data is refreshed
once a week.
About Blog -
ScienceAlert features cool and interesting science news and entertainment worth
sharing. It provides the latest science news, opinions, and features from
Australia & New Zealand. Frequency - about 42 posts per week
About Blog - New
Scientist is the best place to find out what’s new in science. It is the
world's number one science and technology magazine, and online it is the
go-to site for breaking news, exclusive content and breakthroughs that will
change your world. Frequency - about 84 posts per weekAbout Blog - New
Scientist is the best place to find out what’s new in science. It is the
world's number one science and technology magazine, and online it is the
go-to
About Blog -
Scientific American provides latest news and features on science issues that
matter including earth, environment, and space. Get your science news from the
most trusted source. Frequency - about 56 posts per week
Chagas
Disease is a tropical disease that is spread mostly by the kissing bug. Symptoms can
range from not present to heart failure. 60-70% of those infected do not
develop symptoms past headaches and localized swelling of the bite area.
However 20-30% can develop an enlarged heart which can result in heart failure.
Although Chagas disease is widespread, little is known about
the transmission of the disease (Science
Daily). The parasite is transmitted to varied animal hosts when the kissing
bug bites the animal or human. Infection occurs if the bug feces enters through
the mucous membrane.
A recent study by Georgieva,
et. al., has stated that existing host records are heavily biased towards
well-studied primary vector species. Results of this study show
New host associations for several
groups of arboreal mammals were determined including sloths, New World monkeys,
coatis, arboreal porcupines and, for the first time as a host of any
Triatominae, tayras. A
thorough review of previously documented sylvatic hosts, organized by
triatomine species and the type of observation (associational, antibody-based,
or DNA-based), is presented in a phylogenetic context and highlights large gaps
in our knowledge of Triatominae biology (Georgieva, et. al, p.1).
To read the complete
study and find out the specifics and why this study is important in the
management of this disease, follow this link.
References:
Anna Y. Georgieva, Eric R.L. Gordon, Christiane Weirauch.
Sylvatic host associations of Triatominae and implications for Chagas disease
reservoirs: a review and new host records based on archival specimens. PeerJ,
2017; 5: e3826 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.3826
A recently study published in Current
Biology, looked at current trends in cephalopod abundance. They state that Cephalopod
populations are extremely variable, can fluctuate wildly and are currently experiencing
a boom in numbers. Squid, cuttlefish and
octopuses have a long history of being able to adapt rapidly to changing
environments.
Researchers investigated long-term trends in abundance using
a global time-series of catch rates. The study revealed cephalopod populations
have increased over the last six decades and were unusually consistent across
taxa. Study datasets spanned the last 61 years (1953 to 2013). Results show increases
of 52% squid, 31% octopuses, 17% cuttlefish and sepiolids populations. One explanation
could be due to elevated water temperatures due to ocean warming. This is
thought to accelerate the life cycle of cephalopods when thermal ranges are not
exceeded and food remains abundant.
To read the complete study [which is open access],follow
the link here [and above]
Living in Florida, we often
see human/animal conflicts with black bear and alligators. Western states also
have to contend with grizzly bears. These attacks are well documented and studied. Conversely, polar bear attacks
on humans are rare. Researchers state that concern for a rise in polar
bear conflicts is warranted due to predictions of increasing numbers of
nutritionally stressed bears spending more time hunting [closer to human
populations]. One cause of this is loss of sea ice habitat.
The study done by Wilder,
et. al., 2017 [Polar bear attacks on humans: Implications of a changing climate],
published in the Wildlife
Society Bulletin, found that “from 1870–2014, we documented 73 attacks by
wild polar bears, distributed among the 5 polar bear Range States (Canada,
Greenland, Norway, Russia, and United States), which resulted in 20 human
fatalities and 63 human injuries” (Wilder, et. al., 2017). They also
noted that attacks were mainly from stressed male bears looking for food.
Attacks by females were rare and were in defense of their cubs.
Increases in human/wildlife conflicts result in negative
public perceptions, which usually result in a negative outcome for the animals involved.
Management goals are to educate and develop methods for coexistence. Before
this study, there was no systematic data collected on polar bear conflicts. Folklore and incomplete data help fuel the anxiety over polar bear encounters.
The study, which is very detailed and
gives information about all recorded attacks, characteristics of attacking bears,
bear behavior and seasonality of attacks, and the role of humans in these
attacks, can be found from the reference below.
FAU library users can look up the article through Searchwise here.
References:
Wilder, J. M., Vongraven,
D., Atwood, T., Hansen, B., Jessen, A., Kochnev, A., York, G., Vallender, R.,
Hedman, D. and Gibbons, M. (2017), Polar bear attacks on humans: Implications
of a changing climate. Wildl. Soc. Bull.. doi:10.1002/wsb.783
As a library, it is our job to share resources with faculty
and students. Here is one that anyone interested in conservation and ecology
may find interesting.
The
Applied Ecologist blog is the official blog for Journal of
Applied Ecology, “this is a place for authors to promote their research
through written posts, podcasts, videos and images. We also hope it will be a
place for authors, readers, practitioners and policymakers to discuss anything
relating to the interface between ecological science and the management of
biological resources”. You can sign up to get email alerts when they add new blog
posts.
A recent post, Poaching
problems? More rangers, please…takes a closer look at the
difficulties rangers face trying to protect endangered species within protected
areas. They stated that over 1,000 rangers have died in the line of duty
protecting wildlife.
Image:
Ranger patrol
(Image: Jennifer Moore / Wildlife Conservation Society - Rwanda Program)
To
read the whole blog post and article published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, follow the links
above and here:
A recent
article published in Current Biology (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.035),
shows that Northern elephant seals have the ability to memorize the rhythm and
timbre of other seals. The ability to perceive rhythmic sound is thought to be
rare in mammals other than humans. The documented cases are a result of
behavioral training.
Mathevon, et.
al., 2017, state that “In the northern elephant seal Mirounga angustirostris, the calls of mature males comprise a rhythmic series
of pulses, with the call of each individual characterized by its tempo and
timbre; these individual vocal signatures are stable over years and across
contexts”. Their research shows that elephant seals use this information to
identify individual rivals.
To read the entire study:
Nicolas Mathevon, Caroline Casey, Colleen
Reichmuth, Isabelle Charrier, Northern Elephant Seals Memorize the Rhythm and
Timbre of Their Rivals’ Voices, Current Biology, Available online 20 July 2017,
ISSN 0960-9822, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.035.
Image: By original image by Jan Roletto,
uploaded 18:58, Feb 26, 2004 - de:Wikipedia by de:User:Baldhur, edited by
Matthew Field - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(http://www.noaa.gov), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3440642
Amphibian populations are in trouble. According to the Amphibian
survival Alliance (amphibians.org)
entire species are being driven to extinction by threats that include loss of
habitat, disease, contamination and climate change. At least one third of all
Amphibians are classified as threatened (Hoffman, et. al, 2010; Biega, et. al,
2017). Conservation initiatives are needed to reverse this trend. Biega, et.
al. examined “the extent to which zoos house species representing the greatest
overall conservation priority by testing how eight variables relating to
extinction risk – International Union for the Conservation of Nature status,
habitat specialization, obligate stream breeding, geographic range size, body
size and island, high-altitude and tropical endemism – vary between amphibian
species held in zoos and their close relatives not held in zoos” (Biega, et.
al. page 113).
You can read methods and results from this study published
in Animal Conservation, Vol 20, Issue 2 [Full citation below].
To summarize the article briefly, researchers found that
zoos and other ex situ programs as a whole are not targeting the high risk
amphibian species. If range-restricted habitat specialist species are not a
focus, populations will continue to decline without a safety net. Researchers
suggest that zoos increase their conservation-focused amphibian species
holdings.
Reference:
Biega, A., Greenberg, D.A., Mooers, A.O., Jones, O.R.,
Martin, T.E., 2017. Global representation of threatened amphibians ex situ is
bolstered by non-traditional institutions, but gaps remain. Animal
Conservation. Volume 20, Issue 2. Pages 113–119. DOI: 10.1111/acv.12297
Hoffman, M., Hilton-Taylor, C., Angulo, A., Bohm, M., Brooks,
T.M., Butchart, S.H., Carpenter, K.E., et al. (2010).The impact of conservation
on the World’s vertebrates. Science 330, 1503–1509.
(taken from the Global Oneness Project Website-link below)
When A Town Runs Dry documents life in Stratford, a small town in California's Central Valley. A farming community for over a hundred years, Stratford is suffering from a drought that is severely impacting the community, land, and residents' daily lives.
Currently in its sixth year of drought, the Central Valley is home to the country's most productive agricultural region, containing more than half of all the fruits, vegetables, and nuts grown in the United States. Some farmers are selling land and cutting back on farmed acreage, while others dig deeper wells to maintain crop yields. Groundwater in the area has significantly diminished due to over-use and according to the Los Angeles Times, the water table below Stratford fell 100 feet in two years. Residents are living without running water.
This film explores the drought through the eyes of three Stratford residents—a farmer, a shopkeeper, and a high school football coach. All three men prepare for an uncertain future.
This and other great films can be found on the Global Oneness Project Website. "They provide stories and lesson plans that explore cultural, social and environmental issues with a humanistic lens. Aligned to National and Common Core standards, our lesson plans, available in both English or Spanish, offer an interdisciplinary approach to learning and facilitates the development of active, critical thinking". Please go to their site and explore the work they do.
M.S., Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT
B.S., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
B.S., Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Dr. Moore teaches
courses in marine biology, zoology, and conservation. His research includes the
ecology, evolution, and distribution of deep-sea fishes and other animals. He
also has interests in the biodiversity of scrub and flatwood habitats in
Florida, the conservation of endangered species, and in herpetology (especially
tortoises and lizards). Dr. Moore came to the Honors College from both Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution and National Marine Fisheries Service in Woods
Hole, MA where he was a visiting scientist. More information is available at
the website below, along with a CV and pdf files of various published papers.
His research revolves
around the ecology, evolution, and conservation of marine and terrestrial
organisms and their habitats. This allows my students and I to study diverse
topics around Florida and elsewhere.
Particular areas of
research include: the ecology, systematics, and evolution of deep-sea fishes;
ecology of seamounts; ecology and conservation of gopher tortoises and their
habitat; ecology of Florida's reptiles and amphibians, including studies of
invasive species, such as northern curlytail lizards (Leiocephalus carinatus
armouri), green iguanas (Iguana iguana) and hemidactyline geckos;
conservation of Florida scrub habitat, including studies of the endangered
perforate lichen (Cladonia perforata) and endangered fragrant prickly
apple cactus (Harrisia fragrans). (Text Borrowed from his website)
He also maintains a tortoise page on FaceBook . You can find
it here:
Recent events and talk about a new
border wall in the United States has raised concerns for wildlife. Below are
links to a few articles on the subject.
