Bolivian biodiversity observatory takes its first steps

EcoHealth Alliance and partners develop biodiversity repository in Bolivia

2015-09-16

(Press-News.org) NEW YORK - September 16, 2015 - EcoHealth Alliance, an environmental health nonprofit organization that focuses on local conservation and global health issues, announced the creation of the first centralized repository to collect data on the biological diversity in Bolivia. EcoHealth Alliance Senior Scientist, Carlos Zambrana-Torrelio, in collaboration with Miguel Fernandez from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research in coordination with more than 40 Bolivian scientists worked together to create the unique repository. The value of a biological repository will assist in measuring the status of biodiversity knowledge in Bolivia. The real value of this information can be applied to biodiversity conservation, climate change, food security and public health. "This kind of collaboration has no precedents. For many years scientists have been using data hosted in international databases and the need for a central repository was crucial to catalog the country' plants and animals," said Mr. Zambrana-Torrelio. The group reached out to Bolivian scientists and suggested a data sharing opportunity in response to the clarion call to the scientific community. The team experienced an overwhelming response to the query and the repository became a reality. "These data sets will change the way we do science in Bolivia, thus allowing us to make informed decisions for conservation," continued Mr. Zambrana-Torrelio. This gargantuan effort included multiple Bolivian institutions such as the Instituto de Ecología, the Herbario Nacional de Bolivia, and the Museo Noel Kempff Mercado, as well as international institutions including NatureServe and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research. The ultimate goal of this work is to understand the bigger biodiversity picture and the information will be used to observe and measure the changes in biodiversity to better inform policy and decision making. Mr. Miguel Fernandez, a long time collaborator of EcoHealth Alliance continued, "At the global level our knowledge on the complexity of the natural world is very limited. These information gaps are even more evident in mega-diverse countries such as Bolivia. In many ways the work that naturalists did from a couple centuries ago and the work that scientists do today working in museums and herbariums is very similar. The main difference is in today's world we are fortunate that technology and analytical tools to measure the natural world have expanded so quickly. This project is only the first step in a long and intricate process towards the creation of a true biodiversity observatory in Bolivia."

INFORMATION:

The results of the study were published in the journal, Biodiversity, and the article can be accessed here: "Challenges and Opportunities for the Bolivian Biodiversity Observation Network" About EcoHealth Alliance Building on over 40 years of groundbreaking science, EcoHealth Alliance is a global, nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting wildlife and safeguarding human health from the emergence of disease. The organization develops ways to combat the effects of damaged ecosystems on human and wildlife health. Using environmental and health data covering the past 60 years, EcoHealth Alliance scientists created the first-ever, global disease hotspots map that identified at-risk regions, to help predict and prevent the next pandemic crisis. That work is the foundation of EcoHealth Alliance's rigorous, science-based approach, focused at the intersection of the environment, health, and capacity building. Working in the U.S. and more than 20 countries worldwide, EcoHealth Alliance's strength is founded on innovations in research, training, global partnerships, and policy initiatives. For more information, please visit http://www.ecohealthalliance.org. Twitter: @EcoHealthNYC

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Choice of college major influences lifetime earnings more than simply getting a degree

2015-09-16

LAWRENCE -- A new study based on longitudinal data confirms a college degree provides an advantage in lifetimes earnings, but a related decision once students make it to college could prove to be even more crucial. The study that includes a University of Kansas researcher found large lifetime earnings gaps depending on a student's field of study. For examples, men who major in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM fields, and earning a bachelor's degree achieved roughly $700,000 to $800,000 higher 40-year lifetime earnings from ages 20 to 59 than social ...

Dominant strain of drug-resistant MRSA decreases in hospitals, but persists in community

2015-09-16

The incidence of the most common strain of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections has decreased in hospital-onset cases, but has failed to decline in the broader community, according to new research published online today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. The USA 300 strain of MRSA, has become prevalent in both communities and healthcare institutions. "In looking at risk factors for hospital or community-onset USA 300, current or former drug use was a strong predictor ...

Synthetic biology needs robust safety mechanisms before real world application

2015-09-16

Amsterdam, September 16, 2015 - Targeted cancer treatments, toxicity sensors and living factories: synthetic biology has the potential to revolutionize science and medicine. But before the technology is ready for real-world applications, more attention needs to be paid to its safety and stability, say experts in a review article published in Current Opinion in Chemical Biology. Synthetic biology involves engineering microbes like bacteria to program them to behave in certain ways. For example, bacteria can be engineered to glow when they detect certain molecules, and ...

US defense agencies increase investment in federal synthetic biology research

2015-09-16

Washington -- A new analysis by the Synthetic Biology Project at the Wilson Center finds the Defense Department and its Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funds much of the U.S. government's research in synthetic biology, with less than 1 percent of total federal funding going to risk research. The report, U.S. Trends in Synthetic Biology Research, finds that between 2008 and 2014, the United States invested approximately $820 million dollars in synthetic biology research. In that time period, the Defense Department became a key funder of synthetic biology ...

Robots help to map England's only deep-water Marine Conservation Zone

2015-09-16

The first true three-dimensional picture of submarine canyon habitats has been produced using a unique combination of marine robotics and ship-based measurements. The information captured in this new set of maps ranges in scale from the 200km canyon down to the size of an individual cold-water coral polyp, and will be used to inform the management of the only English Marine Conservation Zone in deep water. This 'nested map' is the result of a recent scientific expedition to the Whittard Canyon in the Bay of Biscay, led by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC). It works ...

Mayo researchers identify protein -- may predict who will respond to PD-1 immunotherapy for melanoma

2015-09-16

ROCHESTER, Minn. - Mayo Clinic researchers have identified a protein marker whose frequency may predict patient response to PD-1 blockade immunotherapy for melanoma. An abstract of their findings was presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference in New York City. "The discovery of biomarkers of sensitivity are vital not only for informing clinical decisions, but also to help identify which patients with melanoma, and possibly other malignancies, who are most likely to benefit from PD-1 blockade," says Roxana ...

How much water do US fracking operations really use?

2015-09-16

The oil and gas extraction method called hydraulic fracturing remains controversial for multiple reasons, one of which is its water use. But, as scientists report in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters, water requirements for the process are potentially lower than those for some other energy-related extraction methods. Since oil and gas companies ramped up hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to unlock oil and gas from shale and tight oil formations, reports of earthquakes and contaminated water near wells proliferated. Some environmental experts have ...

New approach to mammograms could improve reliability

2015-09-16

Detecting breast cancer in women with dense mammary tissues could become more reliable with a new mammogram procedure that researchers have now tested in pre-clinical studies of mice. In their report in the journal ACS Nano, they describe injecting gold nanoparticles in mammary tissue to enhance the imaging of early signs of breast cancer. Mammography remains the clinical gold standard of screening tests for detecting breast cancer. However, a recognized limitation of this X-ray procedure is that dense breast tissue shows up as white masses and fibers on an image, ...

The influence of citizen science grows despite some resistance

2015-09-16

Citizen science is taking off and could make a difference at regional and national regulatory levels. But not everyone thinks that's a good idea. The cover story of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, delves into the progress of the budding movement, as well as the pushback. Steven K. Gibb, senior editor at C&EN, reports that in some states, regulators actively encourage and support local residents' participation in environmental monitoring. For example, Maryland's Department of the Environment and Department ...

Unlocking secrets of how fossils form

2015-09-16

Fossils tell amazing stories and inspire them, too -- just think of this summer's "Jurassic World" blockbuster. But because some of the processes that preserve fossils are not well understood, there's still more information that they could reveal. Now scientists report in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry a new way to probe fossils to find out how these ancient remains formed in greater detail than before. When most organisms die, they biodegrade and leave little behind. But if they get trapped in sediments that harbor few bacteria and loads of dissolved minerals, they ...

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Bolivian biodiversity observatory takes its first steps

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: