Top 10 new species
May 26, 2009
With so much attention given to the dwindling species of the world, the new ones often get overlooked. In a much more uplifting report than the endangered and threatened species list, the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and an international committee of taxonomists announce the top 10 new species described in 2008. Among the winners are the oldest known viviparous vertebrate and, my personal favorite, a tiny seahorse that’s just a half an inch tall.
Every organism has something new to teach us — something innovative about the way it thrives in its environment that can deepen our understanding of survival and evolution — and the rate at which new species are being discovered is testament to the diversity of life on Earth. What new species will we discover this year, and what will we learn from them? Be sure to vote for your favorites to make next year’s top 10.
Mockingbirds recognize humans?!
May 20, 2009
According to a new study in PNAS, mockingbirds were not only able to tell people apart, they were also able to remember who had threatened them previously and accurately assess their threat level based on those previous experiences. That’s like us recognizing and remembering which bird pooped on our car last week so we could be sure to park in the garage next time we see it on our block.
This is the first time a wild population of animals has been shown to recognize individuals of another species. The fact that this ability was found in a species of such modest cognitive capabilities suggests to me that perhaps it is not so uncommon. In light of my ‘Sharing my backyard’ series, I thought this research was particularly thought provoking. What other creatures living in our backyards are studying us and our habits and adjusting their behavior accordingly? Despite our big brains and focused animal research, do the neighborhood fauna know us better than we know them?
Sharing my backyard: Canada geese, friend and foe
May 17, 2009
I’ve recently moved to Philadelphia, my dog Barley in tow, so it’s time for another edition of ‘Sharing my backyard.’ Last weekend, we were on a hike in a park not too far from my new house in Mt. Airy when we stumbled upon a goose sitting awkwardly on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Schuylkill River. Unaware, Barley trotted by, a little too close for comfort for the nesting goose. It (she?) flew off, honking incessantly, and revealed four stark white eggs huddled together in the depths of her nest. She flew down to the water’s edge where a second goose (presumably her mate) joined in the honking. Not the best defense really, I thought. But I ushered Barley along the trail to leave the noisy family in peace.
Anyway, it got me thinking about Canada geese. I remember reading once that they are considered a nuisance in some areas, but stumbling upon this quaint nest on the cliff’s edge overlooking the peaceful river, I found that hard to believe. But sure enough, a quick search on the world wide web and I was able to confirm the rumor: while they were once nearly extinct, Canada geese are now so numerous that the DNR of many states has listed them as an official nuisance.
Take Michigan, for example. In 1970, an estimated 9,000 geese called the Great Lakes state home. By 2007, those numbers had risen to over 300,000. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated the national good population at 4.5 million in 2006, with an average annual growth rate of 10%. At that rate, the total population could grow to nearly 8 million by 2012.
So that’s a lot of geese, but what’s the problem? Well, in a word, poop. An adult goose can drop up to two pounds of fecal matter daily. In addition to being just plain gross, goose droppings can increase the risk of bacterial infections by fecal coliforms, a gram-negative bacteria found in feces. This issue is especially potent in public swimming areas, which may have to be closed down until public health agencies are able to test the water to confirm that it is safe for swimming.
There are many measures that could be taken to reduce the expanding geese populations, but the one that’s most advocated is to put an end to geese feeding. In addition to supporting their growing numbers, feeding the geese can cause them to become unnaturally comfortable around humans, which has been known to turn into erratic behavior and even aggression.
But despite all this bad news I learned about Canada geese, they are still an awesome animal, especially when they fly in those massive Vs on their annual migrations. And believe me, I still plan to go back and check on that nest Barley and I found in the woods that day.
Strong Soy
May 13, 2009
Life on Earth is resilient. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t be here to write about it. Ice ages, droughts, meteor collisions – the evolutionary history of our planet is littered with potential disasters for the organisms that call it home, but through it all, life has persisted, progressed, and even prospered. Now, as the environment is undergoing rapid change at the hands of humans, this resilience is maybe more important than ever. Here’s a great example:
Soybeans lived through the Chernobyl disaster, the worse nuclear power station accident in history. It’s been more than 20 years now, and the soy plants are still thriving. And earlier this year, scientists at the Slovak Academy of Sciences began to figure out how. Compared to unexposed plants, the Chernobyl soy had different amounts and different types of proteins in their seeds, including a significant increase in a protein called betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase, which is known to help protect human blood from radiation damage. They published their findings online in the Journal of Proteome Research on March 25, 2009.
So, despite a serious environmental disaster, the soy are surviving and teaching us a thing or two about dealing with hostile environments in the process. What else do we have to learn from the enduring organisms of Earth and will it help us find a new home once this planet is no longer hospitable to our relatively fragile species?
Update: About me and IFP
May 9, 2009
I’ve been interning at The Scientist for a week now and loving it. I’m thrilled to finally be focusing my efforts on writing, without the distraction of all that pesky science that my graduate education required. And as I predicted, I’m learning more than I ever did in school. For every article I write, I’ve got to cram in about two or three semesters worth of background information on some subject I never would have considered adding to my transcript in college. This week’s lesson was on using infrared-fluorescent protein (IFP) to label mouse livers…check it out!
Sniffing a “hello”
May 1, 2009
All dog owners have experienced their pup’s relentless need to sniff the most popular canine latrines. Light posts, fire hydrants, the neighbor’s fence…any surface will do. And generally, after a thorough olfactory investigation, the dog will contribute what he has left of his own urine reserves at that point in the walk, making that spot all the more desirable for doggie potty stops later that day. So what are they smelling for? Is there actually information being transferred in these sniff-pee events? Is the neighborhood pack communicating?
A recent study, published in the May issue of Animal Behaviour, suggests that this might be the case. Specifically, the researchers investigated the interest levels of four groups of dogs in each other’s urine samples by recording the amount of time spent sniffing it. The four groups were spayed females, neutered males, intact males and intact females not in heat (i.e., not receptive to mates).
Interestingly, neutered males spent more time sniffing the urine from intact males than intact females, whereas the other three groups of dogs showed no preference. The authors suggest that this result may be due to the lack of sexual interest of neutered males. While they still need to assess the threat levels that other males pose, neutered males show little interest in finding a mate, for obvious reasons. Intact males, however, are still highly motivated to find a dame, and therefore might be expected to dedicate more time to intact females than neutered males did.
Furthermore, in females, there was a trend towards longer investigation times of unfamiliar animals. Free-ranging female dogs tend to choose familiar males as mates, but because the females used in this study were not in heat, the authors suggested that they may be more attentive to risk assessment than mate assessment. As unfamiliar dogs pose a greater threat to females, the observation that females spent more time investigating the urine of unfamiliar animals is in line with these predictions.
These results, while admittedly open to interpretation regarding the motivations of these animals, do suggest that dogs are paying more attention to certain groups of the neighboring dogs than others. In other words, there does appear to be information contained on that caked fire hydrant or lamp post, and each dog may have his or her own interests at heart when deciding how much time to dedicate to each stop.
Notes
