(Press-News.org) The phrase "no guts, no glory" doesn't just apply to athletes who are striving to excel.
Salmon and other fish predators take the adage literally, by having up to three times the "gut" capacity they need on a daily basis just so they can "glory" when prey is abundant, University of Washington researchers have discovered.
It's a previously unrecognized survival tactic that might apply to other top predators, such as wolves, lions and bears, according to Jonathan Armstrong, a UW doctoral student in aquatic and fishery sciences and lead author of a letter published recently in the journal Nature.
"The predatory fish we examined have the guts to consume two- to three-times the amount of food that they regularly encounter. This much excess capacity suggests predator-prey encounters are far patchier – or random – than assumed in biology and that binge-feeding enables predators to survive despite regular periods of famine," Armstrong said. Co-author on the paper is Daniel Schindler, UW professor of aquatic and fishery sciences.
"Guts are really expensive organs in terms of metabolism," Armstrong said. For instance, maintaining a gut can require 30 to 40 percent of the blood pumped by an animal's heart.
Some animals have some capacity to grow or shrink their guts in response to changing conditions. For example, the digestive organs of birds that are about to migrate expand so they can eat more and fatten up. This is followed by a period when their guts atrophy and then, freed of the baggage of heavy guts, the birds take off.
That and results from lab studies led some scientists to assume that predators eliminate excess digestive capacity to save energy in times of famine. But the UW findings show that many fish species maintain a huge gut, which enables them to capitalize on unpredictable pulses of food.
"For predator fish, the world is a slot machine – sometimes they stumble upon small meals and other times they hit the jackpot. It's just not as predictable as some have thought," Armstrong said.
"Unlike some other animals, fish can't just hoard their food behind a rock in the stream and eat it later. They need to binge during the good times so that they can grow and build energy reserves to survive the bad times."
Armstrong and Schindler hope that their results can help with ecological models used in conservation and management.
"Ecosystem models typically assume relatively constant interactions between predator and prey but our results suggest such interactions are extremely patchy. We're excited to see if including this ecological realism might improve the predictions of these models."
INFORMATION:
The work was funded by the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, National Science Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
For more information:
Armstrong, 541-840-6017, jonny5armstrong@gmail.com
Possible websites:
Armstrong
http://fish.washington.edu/news/newsletter/sprsum_2011/studentprofiles.html#armstrong
UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
http://www.fish.washington.edu/index.html
Abstract Nature letter
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v476/n7358/full/nature10240.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20110804
Daniel Schindler
http://fish.washington.edu/research/schindlerlab/index.html
National Science Foundation
http://www.nsf.gov/
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
http://www.moore.org/
Salmon and other fish predators rely on 'no guts, no glory' survival tactic
2011-09-16
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Obama Administration Declares Halt to "Low-Priority" Deportations
2011-09-16
U.S. immigration officials recently announced an important change to deportation enforcement that potentially affects tens of thousands of immigrant families. Some commentators are calling this development the functional equivalent of passage of the DREAM Act, which Congress has repeatedly failed to enact.
The Obama administration's new policy will suspend deportation proceedings if the individual poses no threat to public safety or national security. Immigration agencies will have prosecutorial discretion to devote resources to cases involving individuals with criminal ...
Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Brussels Presents 'New York Mansion'
2011-09-16
Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Brussels has announced all Business Class rooms at the hotel have been recently renovated into the stylish and vibrant ambience of New York.
Guests staying in a Business Class room benefit from added values and amenities such as a Nespresso coffee machine in the room, free access to the Royal Fitness Club and the Business Class Lounge of the hotel. To top that off, the signature "Super Breakfast Buffet" is always included in the room rate.
Furthermore the brand new Business Class rooms offer a first class service with the highest ...
Arctic sea ice reaches minimum 2011 extent, making it second lowest in satellite record
2011-09-16
The blanket of sea ice that floats on the Arctic Ocean appears to have reached its lowest extent for 2011, the second lowest recorded since satellites began measuring it in 1979, according to the University of Colorado Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center.
The Arctic sea ice extent fell to 1.67 million square miles, or 4.33 million square kilometers on Sept. 9, 2011. This year's minimum of 1.67 million square miles is more than 1 million square miles below the 1979-2000 monthly average extent for September -- an area larger than Texas and California combined.
While ...
Eurostar Launches Search for Roster of Creative Agencies
2011-09-16
Eurostar, the high-speed passenger service linking London and mainland Europe, has announced that it has begun the search for a roster of agencies to provide creative and advertising services across its core markets of the UK, France and Belgium. The ultimately successful agency or group of agencies may also assume responsibility for Eurostar's international and emerging markets.
The pitch process is a consequence of Eurostar's strategic decision to introduce a more consistent brand personality across all of its different markets as the business prepares for the advent ...
Park Inn by Radisson Al Khobar, Scoops Prestigious Tourism Award
2011-09-16
Park Inn by Radisson Al Khobar was recently awarded the 'Best Mid-market Hotel in Saudi Arabia' at the first ever Saudi Excellence in Tourism Awards. The awards are held under the patronage of HRH Prince Sultan Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz, the president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities.
The Park Inn hotel in Al Khobar fought off tough competition from 16 other nominees in its category to receive the top honour. The nominees for each category were decided by the public through an online vote before a panel of eight leading national and international experts ...
MU researchers unveil new method for detecting lung cancer in Nature article
2011-09-16
When lung cancer strikes, it often spreads silently into more advanced stages before being detected. In a new article published in Nature Nanotechnology, biological engineers and medical scientists at the University of Missouri reveal how their discovery could provide a much earlier warning signal.
"Early detection can save lives, but there is currently no proven screening test available for lung cancer," said Michael Wang, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and anatomical sciences at MU and a corresponding author for the article. "We've developed highly sensitive ...
LBi & bigmouthmedia Publish A Christmas Countdown
2011-09-16
To help retailers effectively plan for the Christmas spike in trade, which typically accounts for around 20-30% of the industry's annual sales, global digital marketing and technology agency LBi and its media arm bigmouthmedia have published 'A Christmas Countdown: Getting your online business ready for the holiday season', a joint insight document which provides best practice advice and recommendations on how to plan and execute an effective Christmas ecommerce strategy.
The agency, which works with clients including Boots, Cath Kidston and Play.com, has developed ...
New type of spinal cord stem cell discovered
2011-09-16
A group led by a University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health scientist has discovered a type of spinal cord cell that could function as a stem cell, with the ability to regenerate portions of the central nervous system in people with spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease).
The radial glial cells, which are marked by long projections that can forge through brain tissue, had never previously been found in an adult spinal cord. Radial glia, which are instrumental in building the brain and spinal cord ...
Radisson Blu Hotel at Disneyland Paris Pledges Support for Planete Urgence Organization
2011-09-16
The Radisson Blu Hotel at Disneyland Paris acts for the environment protection and supports Planete Urgence organization
Since 2006, the year of the opening of the Disneyland Paris hotel, Radisson Blu Hotel is engaged daily in sustainable development actions.
Since 2010, with Planete Urgence, the hotel has concentrated its efforts towards carbon compensation by planting trees through the Climate Emergency operation.
Radisson Blu Hotel is committed to plant a minimum of 2,500 trees in the upcoming year, in Mali, Madagascar and Indonesia by offering business clients ...
Biochemical cell signals quantified for first time
2011-09-16
Just as cell phones and computers transmit data through electronic networks, the cells of your body send and receive chemical messages through molecular pathways. The term "cell signaling" was coined more than 30 years ago to describe this process.
Now, for the first time, scientists have quantified the data capacity of a biochemical signaling pathway and found a surprise – it's way lower than even an old-fashioned, dial-up modem.
"This key biochemical pathway is involved in complex functions but can transmit less than one bit – the smallest unit of information in ...