PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

UGA study finds moving animals not a panacea for habitat loss

UGA study finds moving animals not a panacea for habitat loss
2010-11-04
(Press-News.org) Athens, Ga. – New University of Georgia research suggests moving threatened animals to protected habitats may not always be an effective conservation technique if the breeding patterns of the species are influenced by a social hierarchy.

Research, published in the early online edition of the journal Biological Conservation, found an initial group of gopher tortoises released on St. Catherine's Island, Ga. were three times more likely to produce offspring than a later-introduced group, although the initial group had a much smaller proportion of reproduction-aged males.

"There definitely appeared to be an advantage to the order that the tortoises were released," said lead author Tracey Tuberville, an assistant research scientist at UGA's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. "The earlier the males were released, the more likely they were to be successful fathering offspring for the next generation."

Moving multiple groups of gopher tortoises at different times may disrupt their social structure, explained Tuberville, resulting in differential success in reproduction among potential breeders. Introducing a specific number of males to reach a target population size may not achieve the desired results if all of the males are not reproducing.

"We found that females released later were not excluded from reproduction," she said. "If you need to augment a population, you might consider targeting females as opposed to males or introducing more females than males, because females produce the eggs, and they also seem to be incorporated into the breeding and social structure faster than males."

Gopher tortoises are federally listed as a threatened species in the western part of their range, though not in Georgia and Florida, where much of the destruction of their habitat has occurred.

Gopher tortoises are highly social and live in sandy burrows. They prefer open-canopied longleaf pine forests, which now cover only two percent of their historic range. Gopher tortoise habitats are ideal sites for human development, and Tuberville said that in the past, land developers were required to do little to protect their habitats at development sites.

Gopher tortoises from various locations were first introduced to St. Catherine's in the 1980s. A second group from a single population was later introduced in 1994. Biologists and veterinarians working on the island recorded health and survivorship data on the tortoises, each of which were permanently and uniquely marked to be easily identifiable. The researchers sought to identify which tortoises from each group were successfully reproducing after release. After a site-wide capture of all the potential breeders, researchers collected DNA samples. Once the eggs hatched, they also tested the DNA of the young to determine the parents.

"If we find that the pattern of differential mating success is consistent, or if it is observed in other places, it will inform us whether or not we want to establish populations through multiple releases and also whether or not we want to augment an existing population," said Tuberville.

Study co-author Travis Glenn, associate professor in the department of environmental health science in the UGA College of Public Health, said that new DNA technologies increasingly are being used in conservation and environmental health efforts. "We're trying to use these techniques in new and interesting ways," said Glenn. "That requires partnerships between a greater variety of people.

"The technology is getting better and better, so the answers will be better and more informative," Glenn added. "The ability to address conservation concerns will be faster, cheaper and more accurate."



INFORMATION:


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
UGA study finds moving animals not a panacea for habitat loss

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Most river flows across the US are altered by land and water management

2010-11-04
The amount of water flowing in streams and rivers has been significantly altered in nearly 90 percent of waters that were assessed in a new nationwide USGS study. Flow alterations are a primary contributor to degraded river ecosystems and loss of native species. "This USGS assessment provides the most geographically extensive analysis to date of stream flow alteration," said Bill Werkheiser, USGS Associate Director for Water. "Findings show the pervasiveness of stream flow alteration resulting from land and water management, the significant impact of altered stream ...

The developmental dynamics of the maize leaf transcriptome

2010-11-04
Photosynthesis is arguably the most impressive feat of nature, where plants harvest light energy and convert it into the building blocks of life at fantastically high efficiency. Indeed modern civilization became possible only with the cultivation of plants for food, shelter and clothing. While scientists have been able to discover details of the fascinating process by which plants store solar energy as chemical energy, how developing plants build and regulate their solar reactors is still poorly understood. How many genes are involved, and which are the most important? ...

Tropical Storm Anggrek is tightly wrapped in NASA satellite imagery

Tropical Storm Anggrek is tightly wrapped in NASA satellite imagery
2010-11-04
Bands of strong thunderstorms are wrapping around the center of Tropical Storm Anggrek in the Southern Indian Ocean, according to satellite imagery. NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared look at those strong thunderstorms today. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Anggrek on Nov. 3 at 07:05 UTC (3:05 a.m. EDT) and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument onboard captured an infrared image of the cold thunderstorms within the system. The image showed that strong, high thunderstorm cloud tops tightly circled the storm's center. There was also strong convection ...

NASA satellite sees Tomas weaken to a tropical depression ... for now

NASA satellite sees Tomas weaken to a tropical depression ... for now
2010-11-04
NASA infrared satellite data from this morning revealed that Tropical Storm Tomas has weakened into a tropical depression. Tomas is in the central Caribbean Sea headed for Haiti this weekend, and forecasters are calling for a re-intensification before it makes landfall. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, Fla. reported at 5 a.m. EDT on Nov. 3 that hurricane hunter aircraft found an "ill-defined and elongated circulation with no tropical storm-force winds at the flight level or the surface." Thus, the status of Tomas was changed from a tropical storm to a ...

Volcanoes have shifted Asian rainfall

Volcanoes have shifted Asian rainfall
2010-11-04
Scientists have long known that large volcanic explosions can affect the weather by spewing particles that block solar energy and cool the air. Some suspect that extended "volcanic winters" from gigantic blowups helped kill off dinosaurs and Neanderthals. In the summer following Indonesia's 1815 Tambora eruption, frost wrecked crops as far off as New England, and the 1991 blowout of the Philippines' Mount Pinatubo lowered average global temperatures by 0.7 degrees F—enough to mask the effects of manmade greenhouse gases for a year or so. Now, scientists have shown ...

Headgear, mouth guards have little or no impact on reducing concussions in rugby players

2010-11-04
TORONTO, Ont., Nov. 3, 2010 – Existing headgear and mouth guards have limited or no benefit in reducing concussions in rugby players, according to Dr. Michael Cusimano, a neurosurgeon at St. Michael's Hospital. However, educational injury prevention programs that promote proper playing techniques and enforcement of the rules do result in a significant reduction in concussions and head, neck and spinal injuries, Cusimano concluded after a review of existing studies on the topic. Cusimano still recommends rugby players wear mouth guards and protective headgear ...

Chromosome imbalances lead to predictable plant defects

Chromosome imbalances lead to predictable plant defects
2010-11-04
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Physical defects in plants can be predicted based on chromosome imbalances, a finding that may shed light on how the addition or deletion of genes and the organization of the genome affects organisms, according to a study involving a Purdue University researcher. The findings identify easily measured characteristics that vary with imbalances of specific chromosomes, said Brian Dilkes, a Purdue assistant professor of horticulture. Understanding why and how those imbalances result in certain characteristics could open the door to correcting those ...

E. coli thrives near plant roots, can contaminate young produce crops

E. coli thrives near plant roots, can contaminate young produce crops
2010-11-04
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - E. coli can live for weeks around the roots of produce plants and transfer to the edible portions, but the threat can be minimized if growers don't harvest too soon, a Purdue University study shows. Purdue scientists added E. coli to soil through manure application and water treated with manure and showed that the bacteria can survive and are active in the rhizosphere, or the area around the plant roots, of lettuce and radishes. E. coli eventually gets onto the aboveground surfaces of the plants, where it can live for several weeks. Activity in ...

U of M researcher finds public support for HPV vaccine wanes when linked to controversy

2010-11-04
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL, Minn. (Nov. 2, 2010) – The vaccine that protects against the potentially cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV) enjoys wide support in the medical and public health communities. Yet state laws to require young girls to be vaccinated as a requirement for middle school attendance have aroused controversy with parents, politicians, and even medical and public health experts disagreeing about whether such laws are appropriate. News coverage about HPV vaccine requirements tends to amplify this controversy, possibly leading to negative attitudes among ...

Organic onions, carrots and potatoes do not have higher levels of healthful antioxidants

2010-11-04
With the demand for organically produced food increasing, scientists are reporting new evidence that organically grown onions, carrots, and potatoes generally do not have higher levels of healthful antioxidants and related substances than vegetables grown with traditional fertilizers and pesticides. Their study appears in ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. In the study, Pia Knuthsen and colleagues point out that there are many reasons to pay a premium for organic food products. The most important reasons for the popularity of organic food products ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Transparent mesoporous WO₃ film enhances solar water splitting efficiency and stability

Protostellar jet detection in Milky Way’s outer region reveals universal star formation

New research uncovers a ‘ghost’ of the Australian bush

Study establishes link between rugby and dementia

Can courts safeguard fairness in an AI age?

Less than half of England has access to Mounjaro on the NHS months after roll-out

Study highlights cultural differences in parenting and reveals that how babies are soothed matters more than how fast

Claims on baby food fail to stack up

Potential molecular link between air pollutants and increased risk of Lewy body dementia revealed

Deaths from high blood pressure-related kidney disease up nearly 50% in the past 25 years

U.S. survey finds salt substitutes rarely used by people with high blood pressure

Researchers map key human proteins that power coronavirus replication, pointing to new treatment strategies

Single hair strand could provide biomarker for ALS, Mount Sinai study finds

Bio-oil made with corn stalks, wood debris could plug orphaned fossil fuel wells

Can the 'good' bacteria in your mouth act as probiotic cavity fighters?

This common fish has an uncommon feature: Forehead teeth, used for mating

UI Health performs first islet cell transplant with Lantidra

Study shows not all dietary proteins are digested the same way

MSU study finds accessible wireless ultrasounds are accurate

Scientists review breakthrough methods to disrupt toxic “forever chemicals” in water

Ghost sharks grow forehead teeth to help them have sex

How stress and social struggles fuel America’s obesity crisis

Researchers uncover similarities between human and AI learning

Researchers achieve light-induced heterolytic hydrogen dissociation at ambient temperature

Intestinal surface cells pull rather than push

Game-changing biotech for engineering pathogen-resistant crops

Evolution of rodents’ unique thumbnail contributed to their successful radiation

Estrogen-driven cell regeneration shields female kidneys from disease

Artificial intelligence helps boost LIGO

The promise and tradeoffs of the 'drone revolution' in modern agriculture

[Press-News.org] UGA study finds moving animals not a panacea for habitat loss