Welcome to the 3rd edition of SEEN. Please have a scroll down and click on any links that you find interesting. Don’t forget to send your links to me, I haven’t been sent many links so far and it would be nice to hear from more of you.
In the News
- The Southampton Natural History Society has been running for over a century. Take a look at their website for more information on the society, to read their reports and to find out about their indoor and field meetings. Their activity day is on Saturday 4th December (http://sotonnhs.org/index.asp). The next field meeting, a fungus foray, is taking place on Sunday 21st November on Southampton Common. Field meetings are free to all, so if you would like to learn more about fungi meet at the Hawthorns Centre at 2pm (http://www.southampton.gov.uk/s-leisure/parksgreenspaces/thehawthorns/). It is likely to be cold so wear appropriate clothing for you to be outside for a couple of hours. I am hoping to go, so if you’re worried about going on your own, don’t be, you can tag along with me (also don’t worry about not knowing much about fungi because I don’t either!).
- Mairead McGuirk sent in this link to a story on the BBC News website about how a toxin from a scorpion’s sting is being used to prevent heart bypass failure
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11598602
- There has been an increase in the sockeye salmon population migrating to the Fraser River in British Columbia. This was unexpected as last year the population was much lower. One suggestion is the a volcanic eruption may be behind the increase. Read more here:
Volcano boosts primary production à more salmon? http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101029/full/news.2010.572.html
- Biodiversity goals – As mentioned in previous issues of SEEN, The Convention on Biological Diversity was held in Nagoya, Japan last month. You can read about the targets that were set here
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101102/full/468014a.html
- We hear a lot about endangered species but aspects of human culture are also under threat due to globalisation, including language. Read more here (in Current Biology) about the discovery of a new language:
Notice that you need a special permit to enter this part of India.
You may have also seen calls to stop an expedition by the Natural History Society to Paraguay
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101112/full/news.2010.610.html
which were successful http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11762531
Are we beginning to treat some human populations like endangered species?
Interesting websites
- Yule frogs – Christmas is just over a month away and nothing says Christmas like a frog, according to Froglife. Get your Froglife Christmas cards here:
http://www.froglife.org/shop/xmas-cards.htm
- Attenborough on Darwin – David Attenborough talks about Darwin
http://www.nature.com/nature/videoarchive/attenborough/
- The Royal Society is 350 years old on 30th November 2010 (http://350.royalsociety.org/) to celebrate all their digital content is free until that date
http://royalsocietypublishing.org/journals
- Functional Ecology – Virtual Issue on Biodiversity. In honour of 2010 being the international year of biodiversity Functional Ecology has a virtual special edition
http://www.functionalecology.org/view/0/virtualissuebiodiversity.html
- Importance of plankton – scientists are studying the impact of climate change on biodiversity in the Bering sea. Follow the link to a special feature in Nature
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101103/full/468026a.html
Interesting articles
- How cats drink – very daintily to prevent getting wet, that’s the results of a study published in Science. The links below are for 2 review articles, which also include videos of cats drinking, and the original study. Notice that the sample size is very small but who cares, cats are fluffy!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11717510 (review)
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/11/cats-tongues-employ-tricky-physi.html (review)
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/science.1195421 (study)
- Pterosaur flight – you may have read about this on the BBC website. A new study proposes that pterosaurs were able to take-off by pushing off from the ground using all 4 limbs, including their extra strong humerus bones. A review is available here, including some criticism:
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/11/large-size-didnt-keep-pterosaurs.html
The original article is available for free here
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0013982
You’ll notice that the lead author is based nearby at Portsmouth University.
- Hymenopteran brains – It had been thought that Hymenopteran insects (bees, ants and wasps) have big brains to allow them to be sociable but a new study suggests that in fact brains evolved to be larger for parasitism. You can read a review here with a link to the original article (click on ‘reports’).
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/11/rethinking-brain-evolution-in-in.html
- How to confuse bats – Research published in Nature Communication last week explains how bats detect water (and how scientists confused bats). Follow this link to a review, to read the full article click on the reference at the end of the first paragraph
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v468/n7321/full/468181a.html
- Interspecific interactions – commensal bacteria have an important effect on Drosophila evolution because they affect mating preference. This is because natural selection acts on the host (Drosophila) and the bacteria together. Changes in mate choice could cause sympatric speciation.
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/10/25/1009906107
What’s on
As advertised at the top of this email, Southampton Natural History Society Fungus Foray on Sunday 21st Nov and Activity Day on Saturday 4th Dec.
Careers
- Volunteering with Natural England – have a look at their website here
http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/enjoying/gettinginvolved/volunteering/default.aspx
- Postgraduate study -Final year students, are you thinking of postgraduate study? If so now is a good time to start applying. Findaphd.com currently has 199 Ecology PhDs advertised:
If you are unsure about whether you want to commit to a PhD why not consider a Masters. Have a think about which topic you would like to pursue. You can also search on www.findamasters.com
Species of the week
A new species of snailfish found in a remote ocean trench
Please send in your links, comments and species of the week suggestions. I look forward to hearing from you,
Judith
Posted By : Judith Lock