The mystery of the Alpine long-eared bat

                              An Alpine long-eared bat fully airborne , UPV/EHU

The alpine long-eared bat was discovered in the Austrian Alps in 2003; hence its name. Yet later on specimens were found in other milder environments as well, in Croatia, Greece and Crete, and what is more, often close to sea level. Members of the Behavioural Ecology and Evolution Group of the UPV/EHU’s Faculty of Science and Technology studied the distribution and way of life of this species, and found that it forages and reproduces in mostly alpine environments (above the treeline), a unique case among bats. As the biologist Antton Alberdi explained, “the common name of the species not only refers to the place where it came from but describes its nature, too.” Indeed, the researcher concluded that the resources used by the Alpine long-eared bat are the same as the ones used by alpine birds and rodents: in the Pyrenees, for example, it lives at an altitude of between 1,500 and 2,500 metres and hides under rocks, in crevices and on ledges.

Nevertheless, how is it possible that an animal that only lives above 1,500 metres in the Pyrenees can be found at sea level in Croatia? Alberdi was involved in seeking the answer to this question in his PhD thesis. Alberdi identified and quantified the environmental conditions that determine the distribution of the Alpine long-eared bat (Plecotus macrobullaris) to try to understand why this species is restricted to mountain environments and why it can appear at sea level at the same time. After that, in order to see whether the results obtained could be extrapolated to other species, he compared the distributions of 503 vertebrates with those of the bats, and found five vertebrates that have similar geographical distributions to that of the bat: the white-winged snowfinch, the Alpine chough or yellow-billed chough, the wallcreeper, the Alpine accentor and the European snow vole. The distribution of all of them is very broad, from Western Europe all the way to Asia, but they are restricted to the main mountainous areas. He studied their ecological features to see whether they were all following a common biogeographical pattern in order to work out whether they were following a common distribution model.

They need rugged places

The basic ecological features of these vertebrates and those of the Alpine long-eared bat are very similar: they all use rocks (crevices, ledges or crushed stones) as places to hide, and they need open spaces to forage. They have also seen that they can be found in cold mountain environments (in the Alps) as well as in hot ones (in the mountains of Iran and Syria, etc.) and that suggests that the reasons that restrict these species to mountainous areas are not climatic ones: they are linked to topography. In other words, they are not in mountainous areas because they cannot withstand a hot environment, but because high mountain habitats offer them the characteristics they need. In some cases, in Croatia, for example, these conditions can be found at lower altitudes, and that explains why the species can be found at sea level. Furthermore, as they have the capacity to withstand the cold, they can use the alpine habitats that other species cannot exploit and thus avoid competition. In any case, “it cannot be said that the climate does not exert any influence,” said the researcher. “In fact, the climate determines the altitude ranges that each species can live in.”

According to the researcher, to preserve the species it is essential to know everything about them: how they live, why they are present in the places where they are present, etc. In the case of these species, therefore, climate change will not exert such an effect in the future; “more attention will need to be devoted to other factors: human exploitation, pasture use, etc.,” he explained. The researcher believes that the rise in treelines taking place as a result of the decline in the pressure of livestock will affect these species most. Indeed, as the treelines recede, the surface area suited to the habitats of these species will be reduced, because other species will also recede and that way the pressure will increase. They are now working to quantify that effect.

Source: Elhuyar Fundazioa

Read More

Description of Telamoptilia grewiae sp. n. and the consequences for the definition of the genera Telamoptilia and Spulerina (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae, Gracillariinae)

Adult, host plant and mines of Telamoptilia grewiae sp. n. 1 Adult in habitus, paratype 2 Live adult 3 Host plant 4 Linear mines by early instar larvae 5 Blotch mine by later instar larva 6 Seriously damaged leaves found in September. Credit: Zookeys

The genus Telamoptilia Kumata & Kuroko, 1988 is globally represented by five species that may be found in the Oriental and African regions. The type species T. cathedraea (Meyrick, 1908) is geographically shared by the Oriental Region and Madagascar (De Prins and De Prins 2014). Three species are currently known from China, including T. cathedraea, T. hemistacta (Meyrick, 1924), and T. prosacta (Meyrick, 1918).

The larvae of Telamoptilia species are leaf miners. Three plant families are known as hosts for Telamoptilia: Malvaceae, Amaranthaceae and Convolvulaceae (De Prins and De Prins 2014). Vári (1961) briefly described the biology of T. geyeri (Vári, 1961). Kumata et al. (1988) described the biology and the larval body chaetotaxy of three species: T. cathedraea, T. prosacta and T. tiliae (Kumata & Ermolaev, 1988). However, no larval head chaetotaxy and pupal features of Telamoptilia have been described so far.

Telamoptilia grewiae sp. n. is associated with Malvaceae and is described in the present paper from adult external characters, male and female genitalia, wing venation and immature stages. The larval head and pupal features are described for the first time in Telamoptilia.

Methods

Field investigations were carried out in Mt. Baxian National Nature Reserves (40°11'N, 117°32'E), 300−600 m, Tianjin, China, from May to September in 2013 and June 2014. Leaves containing mines with larvae were placed in sealed plastic bags, or rearing containers with moist cotton. Larvae removed from mines were immersed in nearly boiling water for 30 seconds, and then were kept in 75% ethanol for morphological examination. Last instar larval skins, pupae, and exuviae were kept in 75% ethanol. Pupae in rearing containers were placed outdoors to overwinter, and were transferred into the laboratory at 20 °C on February 6, 2014. Emergence successively occurred from March 9 to early-April 2014. Adults were collected chiefly by rearing from immature stages, and occasionally by light trap.

Adult photographs were taken with a Leica M250A stereo microscope. Genitalia and wings were dissected and mounted according to the methods introduced by Li (2002), but stained with Eosin Y and/or Chlorazol Black, and the illustrations were prepared by using a Leica DM750 microscope, and refined in Photoshop® CS4 software. For scanning electron microscopy, larvae and pupae were dehydrated in gradient ethanol, dried in vacuum and coated with gold in a SCD 005 Sputter Coater (BAL-TEC), then operated with a voltage of 15 kV using Quanta 200 environmental scanning electron microscope (SEM) (FEI, Oregon). Line drawings were outlined from the photos taken by the Leica M250A stereo microscope, using path tool in Adobe Photoshop® CS4 software. Photographs of host plant, mines and a live adult were taken in the field using Canon PowerShot G10 digital camera.

Terminology of immature stages follows Davis and De Prins (2011) and De Prins et al. (2013), and that of adults follows Kumata et al. (1988). Thoracic segments I−III and abdominal segments 1−10 are abbreviated as TI−TIII and A1−A10, respectively.

All the specimens studied, including the types of the new species and the vouchered larvae and pupae, are deposited in the Insect Collection, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.

Taxonomy

Adults (Figs 1–2) with wing span 6.0−8.0 mm. Head silvery white, tinged with gray on face. Labial palpus grayish white, colored blackish gray on outer surface of distal half of second segment and before apex of third segment. Maxillary palpus white, with middle or distal half blackish fuscous. Antenna with scape white on posterior half, blackish gray on anterior half and distal portion, flap blackish gray tinged with white, as wide as scape in frontal view; flagellum silvery grayish fuscous, with each unit blackish distally. Thorax and tegula blackish gray mixed with white. Legs mostly white; foreleg with coxa blackish fuscous basally and distally, femur and tibia blackish fuscous, tarsus blackish gray distally on each except last segment; midleg with coxa blackish fuscous distally, femur blackish fuscous, except white medially and distally on dorsal surface, with ventral scale expansion blackish fuscous, tibia blackish fuscous basally and distally, white medially, tarsus white, each except last segment dotted blackish fuscous distally; hindleg with coxa blackish fuscous distally, femur blackish fuscous distally on outer surface, tibia blackish fuscous basally and distally, tarsus with basal three segments blackish fuscous distally, fourth segment dotted blackish fuscous dorso-distally. Forewing grayish fuscous to blackish fuscous; costal margin with a white spot basally at about 1/10 and one before apex, the former sometimes touching fold posteriorly, with white stria at distal 3/10 and 1/6 obliquely outward, reaching middle of wing and near termen respectively; transverse white fascia from costal 1/3 and 1/2 obliquely outward, reaching dorsal 1/2 and before end of fold respectively, edged with blackish fuscous to black scales, inner fascia wider than outer one, widened on posterior half; small white dot on distal end of M3, two or three small white dots along termen; apex blackish fuscous; cilia mostly blackish fuscous basally, gray distally, white adjacent to white markings, white on basal 1/4, black on median part, gray distally at apex, gray along dorsal margin. Hindwing and cilia uniformly gray.

Source: Read Full Artical at - ZOOKEYS

Read More

Three new species of saddled loricariid catfishes, and a review of Hemiancistrus, Peckoltia, and allied genera (Siluriformes)

(Figs 2–4). CORBIDI 14685, an adult male (Figs 2–4) from 13.5806 S, 75.2449 W (WGS84), Chicchobamba, upstream of Represa Negrayccassa, upper drainage of the Huaytará river, 3900 m, Provincia Huaytará, Región Huancavelica, Peru, collected by A. Catenazzi, V. Vargas García, and M. Jaico Huayanay

We describe a new species of Telmatobius from the Pacific slopes of the Andes in central Peru. Specimens were collected at 3900 m elevation near Huaytará, Huancavelica, in the upper drainage of the Pisco river. The new species has a snout–vent length of 52.5 ± 1.1 mm (49.3–55.7 mm, n = 6) in adult females, and 48.5 mm in the single adult male. The new species has bright yellow and orange coloration ventrally and is readily distinguished from all other central Peruvian Andean species of Telmatobius but T. intermedius by having vomerine teeth but lacking premaxillary and maxillary teeth, and by its slender body shape and long legs. The new species differs from T. intermedius by its larger size, flatter head, and the absence of cutaneous keratinized spicules (present even in immature females of T. intermedius), and in males by the presence of minute, densely packed nuptial spines on dorsal and medial surfaces of thumbs (large, sparsely packed nuptial spines in T. intermedius). The hyper-arid coastal valleys of Peru generally support low species richness, particularly for groups such as aquatic breeding amphibians. The discovery of a new species in this environment, and along a major highway crossing the Andes, shows that much remains to be done to document amphibian diversity in Peru.

The Tropical Andes are characterized by a large diversification of the aquatic frogs of the genus Telmatobius Wiegmann, 1834. Sixty-two species are currently recognized in this genus (AmphibiaWeb 2014; Aguilar and Valencia 2009; Frost 2014; including species previously assigned to Batrachophrynus Peters, 1873). The altitudinal distribution of Telmatobius ranges from 1000 m to 5400 m (De la Riva and Harvey 2003; Seimon et al. 2007), and its longitudinal distribution extends from the equator (T. niger Barbour & Noble, 1920, whose populations have been extirpated in Ecuador; Merino-Viteri et al. 2005) to 29°S, on the eastern slopes of the Argentinean Andes (T. contrerasi Cei, 1977). Twenty-eight species of Telmatobius are distributed in Peru (Lehr 2005; AmphibiaWeb 2014), but of these only five [T. arequipensis Vellard, 1955; T. intermedius Vellard, 1955; T. jelskii (Peters, 1873); T. peruvianus Wiegmann, 1834; T. rimac Schmidt, 1954] are known to occur in the hyper-arid coastal valleys that drain directly into the Pacific Ocean.

During October 2012 we made several surveys for the Biodiversity and Monitoring Assessment Program of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Conservation Education and Sustainability (Catenazzi et al. 2013a; Catenazzi et al. 2013b). During one of these surveys, we found a population of Telmatobius in the upper drainage of the Huaytará river (Region of Huancavelica), a tributary of the Pisco river in the Pacific slopes of the central Peruvian Andes. Individuals of this population possess traits that do not correspond to the morphological characteristics of other species found in the arid coastal valleys of central Peru (Fig. 1), namely T. rimac to the north and T. intermedius to the south (Vellard 1951; Schmidt 1954; Lehr 2005). Therefore, here we describe the new species and provide a diagnosis to differentiate it from congeneric forms.

Source: Read Full Artical at - zookeys

Read More

Poisonous cure: Toxic fungi may hold secrets to tackling deadly diseases

Take two poisonous mushrooms, and call me in the morning, said no doctor ever. Credit: Photo by G.L. Kohuth

Take two poisonous mushrooms, and call me in the morning. While no doctor would ever write this prescription, toxic fungi may hold the secrets to tackling deadly diseases.

A team of Michigan State University scientists has discovered an enzyme that is the key to the lethal potency of poisonous mushrooms. The results, published in the current issue of the journal Chemistry and Biology, reveal the enzyme's ability to create the mushroom's molecules that harbor missile-like proficiency in attacking and annihilating a single vulnerable target in the human liver.

The team revealed how the enzyme contributes to the manufacture of chemical compounds known as cyclic peptides, a favorite type of molecule that pharmaceutical companies use to create new drugs. These findings could lead to single-minded medicines with zero side effects, said Jonathan Walton, professor of plant biology and co-lead author.

"Mushrooms are prolific chemical factories, yet only a few of their peptides are poisonous," he said. "These toxins survive the high temperatures of cooking and the acids of digestion, and yet they're readily absorbed by the bloodstream and go directly to their intended target. These are the exact qualities needed for an effective medicine."

Walton published the paper with fellow MSU scientists Hong Luo, Sung-Yong Hong, R. Michael Sgambelluri and Evan Angelos. Working with the mushroom species Amanita, Walton and his teammates disassembled one of its poisonous peptides, which can be compared to a laser-guided missile with a nuclear warhead.

By removing the molecular equivalent of the deadly warhead, they now have a sturdy, precise delivery system that can supply medicine -- rather than poison -- to a single target. By taking a laser, rather than a shotgun approach, scientists could develop medicines capable of curing disease without the patient suffering any side effects.

The enzyme the team discovered is called POPB, and it converts toxins from their initial linear shape into cyclic peptides, fortress-like molecular circles comprising eight amino acids.

Harnessing the distinct properties of POPB will allow scientist to create billions of variant molecules, which can be tested against many different medical targets such as pathogenic bacteria and cancer.

"We've found some variables that are key," said Walton, an AgBioResearch scientist. "By making more variants, we can add or replace molecules that may or may not work. To date we've created a library of a hundred or so, and we eventually plan to create millions."

The challenge of the next stage of research, though, is testing the variants against diseases such as cancer. The bottleneck lies in the screening process. While Walton's team has discovered a missile capable of carrying a million different potential medicines, as of yet the payload that will be effective remains a mystery.

Source: Michigan State University

Read More

John Lennon commemorated by naming a new tarantula species from South America after him

A newly described tarantula species from Western Brazilian Amazonia was named Bumba lennoni in honor of John Lennon, a founder member of the legendary band the Beatles. Credit: Doi: 10.3897/zookeys.448.7920, Image courtesy of Pensoft Publishers

A newly described tarantula species from Western Brazilian Amazonia was named Bumba lennoni in honor of John Lennon, a founder member of the legendary band the Beatles. The new species is part of the tarantula family Theraphosidae which comprises the largest spider species in the world. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

The name of the new species came across when the authors of the study Fernando Pérez-Miles, from the University of the Republic, Uruguay, and Alexandre Bonaldo and Laura Miglio, both from the Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Brazil, found out that they are all great fans of the Beatles music.

The genus, Bumba, which is proposed as replacement of the old one Maraca, already taken and used for Orthoptera, also has a story behind the choice of name. The new name is taken from Brazilian theatrical folk tradition of the popular festival called Boi-bumbá (hit my bull), which takes place annually in North and Northeastern Brazil.

The new species, as other tarantulas, has defensive urticating hairs on the abdomen which produce irritation upon contact with the skin or sensible tissues.

The specimens used in the study were captured manually or in traps during the night in Caxiuaná, Pará, Brasil, which suggest they could be mainly nocturnal animals.

Source: Pensoft Publishers

Read More

A taxonomic toolkit ends a century of neglect for a genus of parasitic wasps

This is Ophion keala, one of the newly described species of Ophion." Credit: Dr. Marla Schwarzfeld; CC-BY 4.0

In 1912, three species in the parasitic wasp genus Ophion were described by two different entomologists, increasing the number of known species in North America to eleven. It has long been known that the actual diversity is much higher; however, it took 102 years for any additional species to be described.

"The main reason for this is that everyone has assumed that Ophion are just too difficult to tell apart. Museum collections are full of unidentified Ophion, but nobody has wanted to face the challenge of sorting them out" said Marla Schwarzfeld, an entomologist who recently completed her Ph.D. at the University of Alberta, Canada.

In fact, the author of one of the species described in 1912, Claude Morley, stated: "Without abundant material it were ridiculous to attempt a wide revision of these insects; and ... a mass of this material causes one's courage to sink at the sight of so uniform and apparently characterless a group."

However, with the advent of new taxonomic tools, it is no longer necessary to rely solely on the challenging morphology of the group. Schwarzfeld and her Ph.D. supervisor, Felix Sperling, used a combination of molecular and morphometric analyses to define a new species group within Ophion, and to delimit and describe six new species within this group. The molecular work involved the analysis of three different genetic markers, while the morphometric analyses included both an analysis of wing venation and a more traditional approach of measuring various body parts. The study, including the new descriptions, has recently been published in the open-access journal, ZooKeys.

"The exciting part about this work is that these techniques all gave remarkably congruent results, which gives us a lot of confidence in these new species. This takes a lot of the guesswork out of describing species, and will be a really valuable toolkit for studying additional species of Ophion, as well as species in other morphogically-challenging groups" declared Schwarzfeld.

Source:  Pensoft Publishers

Read More

Scientists find 240-million-year-old parasite that infected mammals' ancestor

Scott Gardner. Credit: Craig Chandler, University Communications.

An egg much smaller than a common grain of sand and found in a tiny piece of fossilized dung has helped scientists identify a pinworm that lived 240 million years ago.

It is believed to be the most ancient pinworm yet found in the fossil record.

The discovery confirms that herbivorous cynodonts -- the ancestors of mammals -- were infected with the parasitic nematodes. It also makes it even more likely that herbivorous dinosaurs carried pinworms.

Scott Gardner, a parasitologist and director of the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, was among an international group of scientists who published the study in the journal Parasites & Vectors.

"This discovery represents a first for our team and I think it opens the door to finding additional parasites in other species of fossil organisms," he said.

The team found the pinworm egg in a coprolite -- fossilized feces -- collected in 2007 at an excavation site in Rio Grande do Sul state in southern Brazil.

The coprolite was collected at a site with abundant fossilized remains of cynodonts. Previously, an Ascarid-like egg -- resembling a species of nematode commonly found in modern-day mammals -- was found in the coprolite.

The pinworm egg, representing an undescribed or "new species," was named Paleoxyuriscockburni, in honor of Aidan Cockburn, founder of the Paleopathology Association.

The structure of the pinworm egg placed it in a biological group of parasites that occur in animals that ingest large amounts of plant material. Its presence helped scientists deduce which cynodont species, of several found at the collection site, most likely deposited the coprolite.

Since the field of paleoparasitology, or the study of ancient parasites, emerged in the early 20th century, scientists have identified parasites of both plants and animals that date back as far as 500 million years ago.

The study of parasites in ancient animals can help determine the age of fossilized organisms and help establish dates of origin and diversification for association between host species and parasites. Coprolites are a key part of the study, enabling a better understanding of the ecological relationships between hosts and parasites.

Other members of the team were Jean-Pierre Hugot of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris; Victor Borba, Juliana Dutra, Luiz Fernando Ferreira and Adauto Araujo of Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro; Prisiclla Araujo and Daniela Leles of Fluminense Federal University in Rio de Janeiro; and Atila August Stock Da-Rosa of the Federal University of Santa Maria in Rio Grande do Sul.

Source: University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Read More

Scientists produce cloned embryos of extinct frog

This is a gastric-brooding frog, Rheobatrachus silus, giving oral birth in the lab of Mike Tyler of the University of Adelaide. Credit: Mike Tyler, University of Adelaide

The genome of an extinct Australian frog has been revived and reactivated by a team of scientists using sophisticated cloning technology to implant a "dead" cell nucleus into a fresh egg from another frog species.

The bizarre gastric-brooding frog, Rheobatrachus silus -- which uniquely swallowed its eggs, brooded its young in its stomach and gave birth through its mouth -- became extinct in 1983.

But the Lazarus Project team has been able to recover cell nuclei from tissues collected in the 1970s and kept for 40 years in a conventional deep freezer. The "de-extinction" project aims to bring the frog back to life.

In repeated experiments over five years, the researchers used a laboratory technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer. They took fresh donor eggs from the distantly related Great Barred Frog, Mixophyes fasciolatus, inactivated the egg nuclei and replaced them with dead nuclei from the extinct frog. Some of the eggs spontaneously began to divide and grow to early embryo stage -- a tiny ball of many living cells.

Although none of the embryos survived beyond a few days, genetic tests confirmed that the dividing cells contain the genetic material from the extinct frog.
The results are yet to be published.

"We are watching Lazarus arise from the dead, step by exciting step," says the leader of the Lazarus Project team, Professor Mike Archer, of the University of New South Wales, in Sydney. "We've reactivated dead cells into living ones and revived the extinct frog's genome in the process. Now we have fresh cryo-preserved cells of the extinct frog to use in future cloning experiments.

"We're increasingly confident that the hurdles ahead are technological and not biological and that we will succeed. Importantly, we've demonstrated already the great promise this technology has as a conservation tool when hundreds of the world's amphibian species are in catastrophic decline."

The technical work was led by Dr Andrew French and Dr Jitong Guo, formerly of Monash University, in a University of Newcastle laboratory led by frog expert, Professor Michael Mahony, along with Mr Simon Clulow and Dr John Clulow. The frozen specimens were preserved and provided by Professor Mike Tyler, of the University of Adelaide, who extensively studied both species of gastric-brooding frog -- R. silus and R. vitellinus -- before they vanished in the wild in 1979 and 1985 respectively.

UNSW's Professor Archer spoke publicly for the first time today about the Lazarus Project and also about his ongoing interest in cloning the extinct Australian thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, at the TEDx DeExtinction event in Washington DC, hosted by Revive and Restore and the National Geographic Society.

Researchers from around the world are gathered there to discuss progress and plans to 'de-extinct' other extinct animals and plants. Possible candidate species include the woolly mammoth, dodo, Cuban red macaw and New Zealand's giant moa.

Source: University of New South Wales

Read More

Three new ornamental dogwoods introduced

'Empire', one of the new dogwood varieties, is shown in the photo at 20 years old. 'Empire' features brilliant white bracts and exfoliated bark. Credit: Phillip Wadl

In the nursery and landscape industries, flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa), and their hybrids are the most popular and economically significant members of the genus Cornus. The deciduous trees are highly valued for their spring display of pink, red, or white bracts, brilliant red fall foliage, and exfoliating bark. In the United States alone, retail and wholesale sales of dogwoods account for more than $30 million dollars annually.

In the past, flowering dogwoods were severely affected by dogwood anthracnose and powdery mildew. A program initiated more than 20 years ago at the University of Tennessee resulted in the release of 'Appalachian Spring', the first flowering dogwood cultivar with resistance to dogwood anthracnose, and four powdery mildew resistant cultivars. "We have found that Cornus kousa is more tolerant to anthracnose and powdery mildew than Cornus florida," explained Phillip Wadl, lead author of report published in HortScience. "Hybrids between these two species are generally more vigorous than typical plants of either parent species, and have resistance or tolerance to dogwood anthracnose and powdery mildew."

Wadl and colleagues Mark Windham, Richard Evans, and Robert Trigiano evaluated 400 seedlings of C. kousa for disease resistance and traits such as color, degree of overlap, size of bracts, tree form, and bark and leaf characteristics. The scientists selected three cultivars they named 'Empire', 'Pam's Mountain Bouquet' and 'Red Steeple' for development and eventual release. 'Empire' is a brilliant, white-bracted kousa dogwood that has a columnar form and exfoliating bark. 'Pam's Mountain Bouquet' (patent pending) is a kousa dogwood with a spreading form that features a prolific fused bract display. 'Red Steeple' is a kousa dogwood that features a columnar-shaped canopy with red foliage that fades to green with high temperature and white bracts that have a red tint along the margins.

The authors noted that dogwood anthracnose and powdery mildew were not observed on any of these trees. Analyses showed that 'Empire', 'Pam's Mountain Bouquet', and 'Red Steeple' are genetically distinct from the 26 cultivars and unnamed accessions of Cornus kousa that are maintained in the University of Tennessee's kousa dogwood collection.

The program has applied for a plant patent for 'Pam's Mountain Bouquet'. A limited quantity of budwood has been distributed to wholesale nurseries in Tennessee and Japan, and selected nurseries have been identified to propagate the cultivars.

Source: American Society for Horticultural Science

Read More

Sampling rivers for genes rather than organisms

Conventional methods used to inventory macroinvertebrates are extremely time-consuming. Credit: Image courtesy of EAWAG: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology

Effective environmental management depends on a detailed knowledge of the distribution of species. But taxonomists are in short supply, and some species can be difficult to identify, even for experts. Eawag, in collaboration with Canton Zurich, is now pursuing a new approach for species identification, requiring no more than samples of DNA shed into the environment.

If amphipods are detected in a river, are they a threatened species, or organisms indicating good water quality? Or perhaps the first arrivals of an invasive species? Conservation and environmental management call for a detailed knowledge of species. But experts capable of identifying species under the microscope on the basis of morphological characteristics are increasingly rare. Alternative methods for water monitoring would therefore be welcome. Biologists at Eawag are now pursuing a new approach for the detection of species, involving the use of environmental DNA (eDNA). Because organisms continuously release genetic material into the environment in the form of faeces, hair or skin cells, water samples collected from a river or lake contain innumerable fragments of DNA. As long as the relevant genetic code is known, these DNA segments can be assigned to particular species, using the latest molecular biological techniques and global databases.

Cantonal authorities interested
In cooperation with the Canton Zurich Office of Waste, Water, Energy and Air (AWEL), the researchers investigated whether this method is suitable for the detection of macroinvertebrates: organisms such as mayflies, amphipods, mussels or snails are important bioindicators, used in the assessment of water quality and ecotoxicity. Water samples were collected from 14 lake and river habitats in Canton Zurich for eDNA analysis, and macroinvertebrate species collected by kicknet sampling were also determined in the conventional manner.

While the two methods did not always deliver the same results, five of the six target species were reliably detected by both methods. Especially for organisms occurring in small populations, the eDNA method appears to be more sensitive. With this approach, the rare mayfly Baetis buceratus was additionally detected at two sites where no Baetis specimens where found by kicknet sampling. According to project leader Florian Altermatt, the new method may also be suitable for the detection of invasive species at an early stage of colonization. In the US and France, it is already being tested for invasive carp species.

Long-term goal: routine monitoring of biodiversity
The eDNA method offers additional advantages. As eDNA is ubiquitous in freshwater throughout the year, the findings reflect the situation of an entire catchment, and surveillance is less time-critical. By contrast, kicknet sampling merely provides a snapshot, and for many species it can only be carried out at certain stages of the life cycle and certain times of the year. For eDNA analysis, organisms do not have to be removed from a river or lake and -- in principle -- hundreds of species can be detected at the same time. This means that continuous monitoring of freshwater biodiversity could one day become possible, just as chemical parameters are routinely monitored today.

This, however, is still a long way off: apart from the need for further refinements, the method is still costly and time-consuming. The cantons currently lack the necessary infrastructure and expertise. But Altermatt believes it will not take too long for technical standards to be established, permitting efficient operation: "eDNA analysis will then cost a few hundred Swiss francs and will be cheaper than conventional surveys." However, the new method will not wholly replace the conventional approach. Altermatt argues that the benefits of both approaches should be exploited. In addition, taxonomists will remain indispensable for validation and calibration of the new procedures.

Source:  EAWAG: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology

Read More

Climate change projected to drive species northward

Coho salmon are among the species anticipated to shift northward with climate change. Credit: NOAA Fisheries

Anticipated changes in climate will push West Coast marine species from sharks to salmon northward an average of 30 kilometers per decade, shaking up fish communities and shifting fishing grounds, according to a new study published in Progress in Oceanography.

The study suggests that shifting species will likely move into the habitats of other marine life to the north, especially in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. Some will simultaneously disappear from areas at the southern end of their ranges, especially off Oregon and California.

"As the climate warms, the species will follow the conditions they're adapted to," said Richard Brodeur, a NOAA Fisheries senior scientist at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center's Newport Research Station and coauthor of the study. "We're going to see more interactions between species and there will be winners and losers that we cannot foresee."

The study, led by William Cheung of the University of British Columbia, estimated changes in the distribution of 28 near-surface fish species commonly collected by research surveys in the northeast Pacific Ocean. The researchers used established global climate models to project how the distribution of the fish would shift by 2050 as greenhouse gases warm the atmosphere and, in turn, the ocean surface.

Brodeur cautioned that like any models, climate models carry uncertainty. While they provide a glimpse of the most likely changes in global climate, they may be less accurate when estimating more fine-scale, local changes.

"Nothing is certain," he said, "but we think we have a picture of the most likely changes."
Some species shifts are already being documented as West Coast waters are warming: predatory Humboldt squid from Central and South America have invaded the West Coast of North America in recent years, albacore have shifted to more northerly waters and eulachon have disappeared from warming waters at the southern end of their range.

"Thinking more broadly, this re-shuffling of marine species across the whole biological community may lead to declines in the beneficial functions of marine and coastal ecosystems," said Tom Okey, a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation at the University of Victoria and a coauthor of the study. "These declines may occur much more rapidly and in more surprising ways than our expected changes in species alone."

The study anticipates warm-water species such as thresher sharks and chub mackerel becoming more prominent in the Gulf of Alaska and off British Columbia. Some predators such as sea lions and seabirds, which rear their young in fixed rookeries or colonies, may find the fish they usually prey on moving beyond predators' usual foraging ranges.

"If their prey moves farther north, they either have to travel farther and expend more energy to get to them, or find something else to eat," Brodeur said. "It's the same thing for fishermen. If it gets warmer, the fish they depend on are going to move up north and that means more travel time and more fuel will be needed to follow them, or else they may need to switch to different target species. It may not happen right away but we are likely to see that kind of a trend."

El Nino years, when tropical influences temporarily warm the eastern Pacific, offer a preview of what to expect as the climate warms.

Shifts in marine communities may be most pronounced in high-latitude regions such as the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea, which the study identifies as "hotspots" of change. Cold-water species such as salmon and capelin have narrower temperature preferences than warmer water species, making them more sensitive to ocean warming and likely to respond more quickly.

An intrusion of warm-water species into cooler areas could lead to significant changes in marine communities and ecosystems. The diversity of northern fish communities, now often dominated by a few very prolific species such as walleye pollock, may increase as southern species enter the region, leading to new food web and species interactions.

Source: NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region

Read More

Scale of declines of UK migratory birds wintering in Africa revealed

Yellow Wagtails have declined in the UK by 43% since 1995. Credit: Andy Hay; rspb-images.com

The migration of millions of birds across the face of the planet is one of nature's greatest annual events. Every spring some species move in one direction, while every autumn those same species move in the opposite one, very often linking continents.

Although these migration patterns are as regular as the seasons, monitoring is revealing that, for some species, fewer birds are making the journey each season as the populations of these birds, including species nesting in the UK, are declining rapidly.

The latest in the annual series of State of the UK's Birds report includes a migratory birds section, including trends for 29 migrant species which nest in the UK in summer and spend the winter around the Mediterranean, or in Africa south of the Sahara Desert. For the first time the recent population trends for these migratory species have been combined into an indicator revealing some marked differences between species that winter in different areas.

Species, such as Whinchat, Common Nightingale, Tree Pipit and Spotted Flycatcher, which winter in the humid zone of Africa -- stretching across the continent from southern Senegal to Nigeria and beyond -- show the most dramatic declines: the indicator for this group of species has dropped by just over 70% since the late 1980s. This contrasts with species, such as Sand martin, Common Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler, wintering in the arid zone (just below the Sahara desert). These species have fluctuated considerably since 1970, but show a less than 20% decline overall.

One of the most dramatic declines is that of the European Turtle-dove with a decline of 88% since 1995. The following species have also declined over the same period: Wood Warbler, 66%; European Pied Flycatcher, 53%; Spotted Flycatcher, 49%; Common Cuckoo, 49%; Common Nightingale, 43%; and Yellow Wagtail, 43%.

Concern about migratory bird species is growing and future editions of the State of the UK's Birds report will contain a regular update to the migratory bird indicator. To understand the changing status of the UK's migratory birds, researchers need to understand more about what's driving these declines. Evidence is currently being gathered from a variety of sources including tracking studies and on-the-ground surveys.

Martin Harper, RSPB Conservation Director, said: 'West Africa is the winter home for many species bird species that breed in the UK. But many of these birds that cross continents are in rapid decline. Their nomadic lifestyle, requiring sites and resources spread over vast distances across the globe makes identifying and understanding the causes of decline extremely complex.

'The problems may be in the UK or in West Africa, or indeed on migration in between the two.'

David Noble, Principal Ecologist at the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), said: 'We can accurately monitor the patterns of decline in these once-familiar summer breeders thanks to several decades of careful observations by an army of volunteer birdwatchers. More recently, tracking devices have shed light on migratory routes and key wintering areas.

'To take appropriate action, further study is needed to determine the pressures faced in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as breeding here in the UK.'

Colette Hall, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) Species Monitoring Officer, said: 'The length of many bird migrations -- often thousands of miles -- makes it very difficult to pinpoint where and what is causing populations to fall.

'So the more information we can get all along the migration routes -- on land use changes, new infrastructure etc -- the better we can target protection measures. It's important that we help build up the capacity of local bird organisations and volunteers across the world to provide vital information through their own long-term monitoring.'

Alan Law, Director of Biodiversity Delivery at Natural England said: 'It is self-evident that effective conservation of a migratory species requires appropriate measures to be in place at each step of the migratory cycle.

'For some species, there is growing evidence of pressure on breeding success here in England. Our focus therefore is to ensure that well-managed habitats are available in this country so that migratory species can breed here successfully; this work involves close collaboration with land managers both on designated conservation sites and across the wider farmed countryside.'

David Stroud, Senior Ornithologist with the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, said: 'Migratory birds depend on conservation actions in all the countries they move through in the course of their annual cycle.

'The UK is working with these countries to help improve the condition of their critical habitats through its participation in multi-lateral environmental agreements such as the Biodiversity Convention and the Ramsar Convention on wetlands.'

The State of the UK's Birds report also covers the UK's Overseas Territories. The latest evidence reveals mixed fortunes for two important albatross populations in the UK's Overseas Territories. Seventy per cent of the world's Black-browed Albatrosses nest in the Falkland Islands. A population increase here has allowed researchers to downgrade the extinction threat of this species from Endangered to Near Threatened. Sadly, the fortunes of the Grey-headed Albatross has deteriorated as declines have been reported in nesting colonies on South Georgia, which hosts half the world's population.

The State of the UK's Birds report is available online at: http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/state-of-the-uks-birds_tcm9-383971.pdf

Source: BirdLife International

Read More

New species of beetle discovered in the world's deepest cave

This is a drawing of Duvalius abyssimus. Credit: Sinc - José Antonio Peñas

The unusual habitat of the Krubera cave in the Western Caucasus remains a mystery. Researchers from two Spanish universities have discovered a new species of beetle in the depths of this cave.

Cave beetles are one of the most iconic species found in subterranean habitats. They were historically the first living organisms described by science that are adapted to the conditions of hypogean or subterranean life.

Now, a Portuguese scientist and a Spaniard have discovered a new species of beetle in the deepest cave known to man; a cave 2,140 metres deep. It is the Krubera cave, situated in the Arabika massif in the Western Caucasus.

Ana Sofía Reboleira, researcher from the Universities of Aveiro and La Laguna, and Vicente M. Ortuño, from the University of Alcalá, have published their discovery in the scientific journal 'Zootaxa'.

"The new species of cave beetle is called Duvalius abyssimus. We only have two specimens, a male and a female. Although they were captured in the world's deepest cave, they were not found at the deepest point," Ortuño, who has dedicated the last 10 years to studying subterranean fauna, said.

The Duvalius genus is a successful colonizer of Earth's depths. The majority of species have a hypogean lifestyle and live in caves or the superficial underground compartment.

"The new species' characteristics indicate that it is moderately adapted to life underground. Proof of this is that they still have eyes, which are absent in the highly specialised cave species," added the expert.

The Arabika massif region in Abkhazia, where this cave is found, is biogeographically a very interesting area. Altitudes fluctuate between 1,900 and 2,500 metres and the cave is composed of lower and upper Jurassic-Cretaceous limestone.

Its large area has provided endless subterranean refuges for fauna. In fact, various genera of endemic cave beetles live in the Western Caucasus. "Its location is strategic, since there are fauna of European, Asian and also endemic origin in the zone," the scientist underlined.

The entrance to the cave is 2,240 metres above sea level and 15 kilometres from the Black Sea. Below numerous vertically-cutting sections, it reaches a depth of 1,400 metres. From this level, it splits into branches and in order to reach the greatest known depth, it is necessary to pass various flooded underground chambers using diving techniques.

"The discovery of the new beetle provides important data on species that co-exist in these almost unknown ecosystems, even more so when they are found in a geographical area that is very difficult to access, such is the case with this cave," Ortuño concluded.

Source:  FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology

Read More

Brazilian zoologists discovered the first obligate cave-dwelling flatworm in South America

The type locality of the new cave-dwelling species in northeastern Brazil is shown.
 Credit: Rodrigo Ferreira; CC-BY 4.0

Typical cave-dwelling organisms, unpigmented and eyeless, were discovered in a karst area located in northeastern Brazil. The organisms were assigned to a new genus and species of freshwater flatworm and may constitute an oceanic relict. They represent the first obligate cave-dwelling flatworm in South America. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

Freshwater flatworms occur on a wide range of habitats, namely streams, lagoons, ponds, among others. Some species also occur in subterranean freshwater environments.

Brazil has more than 11,000 caves, but their species diversity is largely unknown. Field work by Rodrigo Ferreira, from University of Lavras, Brazil, in a karst area located in northeastern Brazil, has found the first obligate cave-dwelling flatworm in South America. Flatworm researchers from University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), Brazil, Ana Leal-Zanchet and Stella Souza, described it as a new genus and species.

The new species, which was named Hausera hauseri, is a typical cave-dwelling organism, unpigmented and eyeless. The genus and species names were proposed in honour to a Hungarian biologist, the late Prof. Dr. Josef Hauser, who immigrated to Brazil and studied freshwater flatworms over many years.

The sampling area of the new species is unique in comparison with other karst areas in Brazil. Most Brazilian limestone formations are located in inner portions of the country, which must have prevented marine groups from colonizing these caves in the past. In contrast, this karst area is located near the sea, and its limestone outcrops are at low altitude, which has allowed different invertebrates to colonize the caves during sea level rises in the past. Thus, the new species may constitute an oceanic relict as is the case of other cave-dwelling invertebrates found in this karst area in northeastern Brazil.

Source: Pensoft Publishers

Read More

A kingdom of cave beetles found in Southern China

Credit: Mingyi Tian; CC-BY 4.0

A team of scientists specializing in cave biodiversity from the South China Agricultural University (Guangzhou) unearthed a treasure trove of rare blind cave beetles. The description of seven new species of underground Trechinae beetles, published in the open access journal ZooKeys, attests for the Du'an karst as the most diverse area for these cave dwellers in China.

"China is becoming more and more fascinating for those who study cave biodiversity, because it holds some of the most morphologically adapted cavernicolous animals in the world. This is specifically true for fishes and the threchine beetles, the second of which is also the group featured in this study," explains the senior author of the study Prof. Mingyi Tian.

Like most cavernicolous species, Trechinae cave beetles shows a number of specific adaptations, such as lack of eyes and colour, which are traits common among cave dwellers.

The new Trechinae beetles belong to the genus Dongodytes whose members are easily recognizable by their extraordinary slender and very elongated body. Members of this genus are usually very rare in caves, with only five species reported from China before now.

During the recent study of the cave systems in Du'an karst however this numbers drastically changed, Out of the 48 visited caves 12 held populations of trechine beetles. A total of 103 samples were collected, out of which the team of scientists determined ten different species, seven of which are new to science.

"This new discovery casts a new light on the importance of the Du'an Karst as a biological hotspot for cavernicolous Trechinae in China," adds Prof. Mingyi Tian.

Source: Pensoft Publishers

Read More

'Non-echolocating' fruit bats actually do echolocate, with wing clicks

In a discovery that overturns conventional wisdom about bats, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on Dec. 4 have found that Old World fruit bats -- long classified as "non-echolocating" -- actually do use a rudimentary form of echolocation. Perhaps most surprisingly, the clicks they emit to produce the echoes that guide them through the darkness aren't vocalizations at all. They are instead produced by the bats' wings, although scientists don't yet know exactly how the bats do it.

In a discovery that overturns conventional wisdom about bats, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on December 4 have found that Old World fruit bats--long classified as "non-echolocating"--actually do use a rudimentary form of echolocation. Perhaps most surprisingly, the clicks they emit to produce the echoes that guide them through the darkness aren't vocalizations at all. They are instead produced by the bats' wings, although scientists don't yet know exactly how the bats do it.

"I was surprised by the fact that all of the fruit bats we recorded clicked and by the fact that clicks are produced by the wings," says Yossi Yovel of Tel Aviv University in Israel. "Arjan and I still find that hard to believe."

Yovel and postdoctoral fellow Arjan Boonman got their first hint about the fruit bats from a friendly man on a bus in Indonesia who told them about a species of bat that clicked with its wings. As further confirmation, Boonman found a single old paper about a fruit bat with wings that clicked, but it wasn't clear whether those clicks were good for anything.

Rather than look for that one earlier-described species in particular, Yovel suggested something else: "Why not check other fruit bats?"

They selected a total of 19 wild individuals representing three species of fruit bat and different parts of the evolutionary family tree to find that all of them did produce audible clicks with their wings.

"We did all we could to prove it wrong, including sealing the bats' mouths and anesthetizing their tongues, but nothing stopped them from clicking, except for when we interfered with their wing flaps," Yovel says.

Further study showed that two of the three species increased their clicking rate by a factor of three to five or even more when placed in a dark tunnel, implying that the clicks are a natural behavior for the bats.

Tests of the animals' ability to find their way in the dark showed that the fruit bats do have echolocation abilities, although they are poorer than those of other echolocating species. The fruit bats constantly crashed into thick cables, but they could readily learn to discriminate between larger objects: an acoustically reflective black board versus a similar-looking sheet of cloth. Even with large objects, however, the fruit bats didn't exactly come in for a smooth landing, suggesting that their ability is rather rudimentary in comparison to that of bats that rely on clicks produced from their larynxes.

The findings are interesting in light of earlier suggestions that echolocation may have evolved initially for bats to identify and avoid crashing into large objects such as cave walls, Boonman and Yovel say. The new discovery in fruit bats offers insight into how this sophisticated ability in other bats may have evolved over time, although it is unlikely that the laryngeal clicks of those other bats evolved directly from fruit bats' wing clicks. In fact, Yovel says, it's possible that echolocation in bats has independently evolved many times.

"When we study extant species of echolocating bats, we see a developed sensory system that has been adapted and improved over millions of years of evolution," Yovel says. "The rudimentary echolocation of the fruit bat is one example of how the first types of echolocation may have evolved."

Source: Cell Press

Read More

Ancient creature discovered in the depths of the Arctic Ocean

This image shows the new species of bivalve mollusk was recently described and named Wallerconcha sarae. Credit: Paul Valentich-Scott; CC-BY 4.0

In the depths of the Arctic Ocean, buried deep in the sediment, an ancient creature waited for over a million years to be discovered. Paul Valentich-Scott, from the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (California), and three scientists from the United States Geological Survey (USGS, Menlo Park, California), Charles L. Powell, Brian D. Edwards, and Thomas D. Lorenson were up to the challenge. Each with different expertise, they were able to collect, analyze, and identify a new genus and new species of bivalve mollusk.

The path to discovery is seldom simple or easy. This discovery is no exception. Brian Edwards was the chief scientist on a joint US-Canadian ice breaker expedition aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter Healy in the summer of 2010. The primary purpose of the expedition was to map the Arctic seafloor and the sediments beneath. Dr. Edwards took deep sediment core samples to further understand the geology of the region including the unusual seafloor mound where these samples were collected. In several of these cores he uncovered bivalve seashells buried nearly 15 feet (4.5 m) below the seafloor surface.

Upon returning to his USGS laboratory in Menlo Park, California, Brian worked with Tom Lorenson on sampling the cores and extracting the shells. The recovered shells were then taken to USGS paleontologist Chuck Powell, for identification. While Chuck was able to ascertain the higher level classification of the clam shells (Family Thyasiridae), he was unable to determine the genus or species. Chuck contacted Paul Valentich-Scott, a clam specialist from the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History in California.

When examining these ancient shell specimens, Paul was fairly certain that they were new to science. The hunt to validate the potential new species was on. Paul contacted a number of thyasirid bivalve specialists around the world and all gave it a thumbs up as a new species. Further, several scientists felt it also might be a new genus (the level above species).

'It is always exciting when you are the first person to be looking at a new creature' declared Valentich-Scott. 'While I have been fortunate to discover and describe many new species in my career, it is always exhilarating at the outset.'

Then the painstaking work began. Paul contacted museums around the globe and requested to borrow specimens that were potentially related to the new species. While he found many species that shared some characteristics, none matched the new Arctic specimens.

The four scientists have been writing up their findings for the past two years and now the work has been published in the international science journal ZooKeys.

The new genus and species is named after two individuals. The genus is named in honor of Dr. Thomas R. Waller a prominent paleontologist at the Smithsonian Institution. The suffix "concha" meaning shell, is combined to create the name Wallerconcha. The new species is named after Sara Powell the daughter of co-author Chuck Powell. Chuck was quick to mention "I want to name new species after all of my children."

While many of the specimens collected were definitely fossils, the scientists can't discount the new animal might still be alive today. One of the team members, Tom Lorenson, summarized it this way 'The likely collection of living specimens of this species awaits expeditions to come.' Who knows what other new creatures might be found in those expeditions?

Soure: Pensoft Publishers

Read More