In other words, the IPCC approved and released their latest climate change report. They have both a summary and a final report available. Click here to access them!
In case you missed it, the 10th Session of Working Group II (WGII-10) was held from March 25 - 29 2014 in Yokohama, Japan. At the Session, the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) of the Working Group II contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (WGII AR5) was approved and the underlying scientific and technical assessment accepted.
In other words, the IPCC approved and released their latest climate change report. They have both a summary and a final report available. Click here to access them!
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When University of Utah biologists set out cotton balls treated with a mild pesticide, wild finches in the Galapagos Islands used the cotton to help build their nests, in turn killing blood-sucking maggots of the nest fly Philornis downsi to protect baby birds. The researchers say the self-fumigation method may help endangered birds and even some mammals.
"Self-fumigation is important because there currently are no other methods to control this parasite," says University of Utah biology doctoral student Sarah Knutie, the study's first author. Senior author and biology professor Dale Clayton says the parasitic nest fly may have invaded Ecuador's Galapagos Islands via ships and boats from the mainland at an unknown time and "showed up in large numbers in the 1990s. So the birds have no history with these flies, which is why they are sitting ducks. From the perspective of the birds, these things are from Mars." The findings were published online May 5, 2014, in the journal Current Biology. Read more here. Photo Credit: Phys.org Last December, when Costa Rican biologist Carlos de la Rosa spotted a butterfly and a bee simultaneously drinking from the tears of a caiman, he didn't quite know what to make of the scene. "It was one of those natural history moments that you long to see up close," he said, in a statement. "But then the question becomes, what's going on in here? Why are these insects tapping into this resource?"
Intrigued, he began looking into the subject and found that a number of these events had been recorded around the world, by professional scientists, tourists and photographers. De la Rosa himself had seen moths drink turtle tears in the Amazon, and others reported of butterflies and bees drinking tears from an assortment of other reptiles (and, in one case at least, a human). So what is going on? De la Rosa figures that those cold-blooded tears must contain valuable mineral resources, such as salt. Butterflies, he points out, are known to drink from muddy, nutrient-rich puddles. Despite their reputation, crocodile tears are genuine: No one knows why, but alligators and caimans naturally tear up when enjoying a meal. As ScienceDaily reported several years back, it might have something to do with the hissing, potentially sinus-clogging noises they produce when chowing down. Story via Smithsonian SmartNews Photo Credit: Smithsonianmag.com How did the evolution of the dinosaur claw evolve into the current bird form?
A new University of Bristol study focusing on the claws of a group of theropod dinosaurs, known as therizinosaurs, has revealed a great versatility in their usage. Theropod dinosaurs, a group that includes infamous species like the Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor, are often regarded as carnivorous and predatory animals, using their sharp teeth and claws to capture and dispatch prey. However, the detailed look at forelimb claws demonstrates that these claws were very likely to have been used for other tasks. In the course of evolution, several theropod groups, including therizinosaurs, changed from being carnivores to become plant-eaters. This new study reveals that, during this transition, theropod dinosaurs developed a large variety of claw shapes adapted to specific functions, such as digging, grasping or piercing. Read more here. Photo Credit: ENN.com A new study found that the polar bears' (Ursus maritimus) adapted genes are related to fatty acid metabolism and cardiovascular function, and may explain the bear's ability to cope with a high-fat diet while avoiding fatty plaques in their arteries and the cardiovascular diseases that afflict humans with diets rich in fat. These genes may provide insight into how to protect humans from the ill effects of a high-fat diet.
"For polar bears, profound obesity is a benign state. We wanted to understand how they are able to cope with that" said Eline Lorenzen, one of the lead authors and a UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow. "The promise of comparative genomics is that we learn how other organisms deal with conditions that we also are exposed to," said Rasmus Nielsen, a member of UC Berkeley's Center for Theoretical Evolutionary Genomics. "For example, polar bears have adapted genetically to a high fat diet that many people now impose on themselves. If we learn a bit about the genes that allows them to deal with that, perhaps that will give us tools to modulate human physiology down the line." The genome comparison reveals that over several hundred thousand years, natural selection drove major changes in genes related to fat transport in the blood and fatty acid metabolism. One of the most strongly selected genes is APOB, which in mammals encodes the main protein in LDL (low density lipoprotein), known widely as "bad" cholesterol. Changes or mutations in this gene reflect the critical nature of fat in the polar bear diet and the animal's need to deal with high blood levels of glucose and triglycerides, in particular cholesterol, which would be dangerous in humans. "The life of a polar bear revolves around fat," Lorenzen said. "Nursing cubs rely on milk that can be up to 30% fat and adults eat primarily blubber of marine mammal prey. Polar bears have large fat deposits under their skin and, because they essentially live in a polar desert and don’t have access to fresh water for most of the year, rely on metabolic water, which is a byproduct of the breakdown of fat." Although I do not advocate for a high cholesterol diet, this research could prove to be beneficial in understanding how humans may adapt to cope with high fat diets. Story via ENN.com Photo Credit: electrictreehouse.com A judge has ordered the federal government to finally move forward and finish a long-delayed recovery plan for Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official said Friday (May 9th).
The cats were listed as a threatened species in 2000. However, the USFWS repeatedly missed its own deadlines to start work on a recovery plan, and environmental groups sued last year in federal court in Montana. Siding with the plaintiffs, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy gave officials 30 days to propose a schedule for completing the recovery plan. Molloy said the history of the case raised skepticism about the agency's ability to get the work done without court intervention. Federal officials previously had pledged to initiate recovery plans in 2007, 2011 and, most recently, by the end of this year. The lynx is super elusive, and is rarely seen across a 14-state range that includes portions of the Northeast, the Rocky Mountains, the Great Lakes and the Cascade Range of Washington and Oregon. It's unknown how many survive in the U.S. And because the threats to the animal vary significantly across that range, USFWS Assistant Regional Director Mike Thabault said Friday that the recovery plan could take two years or more to complete. Hopefully they will act sooner rather than later, as the species continues to be impacted by human activities. Read more about the Canada lynx here. Photo Credit: fs.usda.gov 11 Chinese fishermen caught with endangered sea turtles off a disputed shoal in the South China Sea have been jailed in The Philippines, rejecting demands from China to free the men.
China has claims on the South China Sea, an area rich in energy deposits and an important passageway traversed by $5 trillion worth of ship-borne goods per year. But Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the area. The Philippine National Police intercepted the boat while they were carrying about 350 marine turtles off Half Moon Shoal in the Spratlys. They arrested its crew and took them to the southwestern province of Palawan to face charges of violating wildlife protection laws. If found guilty, the fishermen face prison terms ranging from 12 - 20 years. China's embassy in Manila on Thursday sent a diplomat to Palawan to interview the fishermen and work for their early release. But authorities said they must go through the judicial process. A panel of Philippine officials has to decide separately on charges of illegal entry after the fishermen were caught about 60 miles off Palawan, but within the country's exclusive economic zone. However, China has demanded the release of the vessel and its crew, saying it has undisputed sovereignty over the area and adjacent waters in the South China Sea. Story via Reuters Photo Credit: Reuters.com Congratulations to Stefan Austermuhle! He will be receiving the Dolphin Defender Award on May 13th for his exemplary work in uncovering the slaughter of thousands of dolphins by Peruvian fishermen. The award is subscribed by 26 international member organizations of the Dolphin Defender Coalition which is composed of more than 1 million members. The award will be presented by Hardy Jones, executive director of BlueVoice, a Florida based marine conservation organization. Jones is known for his work of more than 35 years protecting dolphins. He is also an award winning filmmaker who appears in the Academy Award winning film The Cove - a film that caused worldwide outrage at the slaughter of dolphins in Japan. (Warning: I have seen The Cove and it can be very graphic at times). Jones is currently writing a book on his experiences in Peru with mass mortality events of dolphins and the consumption of dolphin meat for human consumption. He is in conversation with the producers of The Cove for a followup to that film covering the killing of dolphins in Peru for sharkbait. In addition, Jones and Austermuhle will announce results of recent undercover surveys of fish markets to document illegal sales of dolphin meat. Also, special measures to bring to justice violators of Peruvian laws protecting dolphins will be announced. Keep an eye out for this event! And if you're interested in seeing what The Cove is all about watch the trailer below: Somehow I'm not very surprised by this. According to a new study, radio waves disrupt the magnetic "compass" in robins (Turdus migratorius).
In a long and careful experiment, German scientists found that migrating robins became disorientated when exposed to electromagnetic fields at levels far lower than the safety threshold for humans. The frequencies were in the medium-wave band used by AM radio - not the bands used by mobile phones, whose safety has been contested by some campaigners. Birds have long been thought to navigate using light and Earth's magnetic field. But where their magnetic "compass" is and how it works remain unclear - research in homing pigeons suggests it may derive from an iron-rich crystal in their beaks called magnetite. Read more here. Photo Credit: Phys.Org Coyotes are a major predator of white-tailed deer across the Eastern U.S., especially fawns born each spring, but wildlife managers are working to stabilize and even grow deer herds, according to researchers.
Coyotes (Canis latrans) are a relatively recent arrival to eastern North America, appearing first in the region in noticeable numbers in the 1970s. They are a significant source of deer mortality and most often prey on whitetails in the earliest months of their lives. They have however long inhabited the American West. The research was published in the May issue of the Journal of Wildlife Management. It showed that coyote predation, even at the highest levels reported, is not significant enough to cause deer populations to decline if doe harvests are reduced. In fact, in most places in North America, continued doe harvest is required to stabilize deer populations. Click here to read more. Photo Credit: ScienceDaily.com |