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

Research offers way to save endangered Florida bird, and a lesson for conservationists

2012-02-23
(Press-News.org) ITHACA, N.Y. – A team of researchers has found a key to the habitat puzzle for improving long-term survival of the endangered Florida Scrub-Jay.

New research published online today in The Royal Society's journal Biology Letters shows that "clustered habitat networks" are needed to maintain the genetic diversity of Florida Scrub-Jays, a species at risk of extinction with just more than 5,000 birds left in the world.

The new research reveals, for the first time, a direct connection between genetic variation of Florida Scrub-Jay groups and geographic distances separating patches of their favored scrub-oak habitat. Researchers analyzed DNA samples of Florida Scrub-Jays and evaluated how genetic differences between them were affected by the gaps of habitat in between them. They found that if habitat patches were separated by more than 2 to 3 miles, the distance was too far to permit free interbreeding – thereby resulting in more inbreeding within isolated groups. Inbreeding reduces genetic fitness, and raises the risk that an isolated population will blink out.

"We now know how to configure the stepping stones of scrub-oak habitat so they can link together Florida Scrub-Jay populations and maintain sufficient genetic diversity to promote long-term survival of the species," says John Fitzpatrick, co-author of the research and executive director of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "These research findings will be critical to a revision of the recovery plan for endangered Florida Scrub-Jays."

Fitzpatrick says the findings lay out, for the first time, a precise prescription for sustaining fragmented populations of an endangered species, and could be a model for other examples around the country. For Florida Scrub-Jays, that prescription is to maintain or restore networks of the bird's scrub-oak habitat so that individual preserves would be located within 2 to 3 miles of each other. Fitzpatrick says that because the Florida Scrub-Jay population is broken up into 10 distinct genetic units, these habitat networks would only need to be established locally within the 10 regions of individual populations, not across the bird's entire range in Florida.

"We are now revising the Florida Scrub-Jay Recovery Plan to create the geometry of habitat preserves needed within each of the 10 units of the Florida-Scrub Jay population," says Fitzpatrick, who also is a team leader for the group of government and university biologists working on submitting a revised Florida Scrub-Jay recovery plan to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by year's end.

The Florida Scrub-Jay is the only bird found exclusively in Florida. It was added to the federal Endangered Species List in 1987, with a dwindling population down to less than 10 percent of its pre-settlement numbers. The high, dry, sandy scrub-oak patches where the bird lives and breeds exclusively have been prime real estate for Florida developers and for citrus farms. Today, only about 5 percent of the original scrub-oak habitat remains.

"The pizza is gone," Fitzpatrick says. "We're just trying to save the crumbs, so we can keep the Florida Scrub-Jay and a host of other scrub animals and plants in existence."

INFORMATION:

Online access to the paper requires a subscription to Biology Letters, but copies of the paper are available to journalists upon request. To read an abstract of the paper, visit: rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2011.1244.

For more information on the Florida Scrub-Jay -- including identification, range information and sample audio -- go to www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Florida_Scrub-Jay/id/ac.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Disappearing and reappearing superconductivity surprises scientists

2012-02-23
Washington, D.C. — Superconductivity is a rare physical state in which matter is able to conduct electricity—maintain a flow of electrons—without any resistance. This phenomenon can only be found in certain materials at low temperatures, or can be induced under chemical and high external pressure conditions. Research to create superconductors at higher temperatures has been ongoing for two decades with the promise of significant impact on electrical transmission. New work from a team including Carnegie's Xiao-Jia Chen and Ho-kwang "Dave" Mao demonstrates unexpected superconductivity ...

1 step closer to blocking the transmission of malaria

2012-02-23
MMV and partners have completed the first-ever comparative analysis of all currently available and in-development antimalarials in terms of the steps they target in the parasite's lifecycle. This information provides the missing pieces of the puzzle needed to develop future medicines able to block transmission of the parasite from person to person. Current medicines mostly target the malaria parasite at the blood stage in its lifecycle because this is the step that leads to clinical symptoms. To be able to block transmission of the parasite, however, we need to be able ...

An 'off' switch for pain

2012-02-23
The notion of a pain switch is an alluring idea, but is it realistic? Well, chemists at LMU Munich, in collaboration with colleagues in Berkeley and Bordeaux, have now shown in laboratory experiments that it is possible to inhibit the activity of pain-sensitive neurons using an agent that acts as a photosensitive switch. For the LMU researchers, the method primarily represents a valuable tool for probing the neurobiology of pain. (Nature Methods, 19.02.2012) The system developed by the LMU team, led by Dirk Trauner, who is Professor of Chemical Biology and Genetics, is ...

Cebit 2012: Interactive 3-D graphical objects as an integral part of online shops

Cebit 2012: Interactive 3-D graphical objects as an integral part of online shops
2012-02-23
When customers visit an online shop, they want to see all parts of a product; they want to enlarge it, or visualize adjusting single elements. Until now, web developers have been dealing with a multiplicity of different programs, in order to illustrate articles on the Internet in such a complex way. The new HTML extension XML3D, which offers the capability to describe computer scenes in spatial detail directly within the website's code, simplifies that. An online shop can be extended with XML3D in just a few clicks, as researchers of the Saarland University's Intel Visual ...

Benchmarking study prompts rethink on next cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines

2012-02-23
Sophia Antipolis, Wednesday 22 February 2012: The next Joint European CVD Prevention Guidelines, scheduled for publication later this year at EuroPRevent 2012, will be shorter, tighter and supported by fewer references. The aim, says Professor Joep Perk, Chairperson of the Task Force of the fifth edition, is a set of guidelines whose recommendations can be readily applied and whose evidence is unequivocal. "If we had picked up where we left off with the fourth edition guidelines, we'd have ended up with a 150-page document and 2000 references," says Perk. "And with that ...

Exposure to micronutrients pre-pregnancy associated with gene modifications in offspring

2012-02-23
The offspring of women who were given micronutrient supplements (minerals needed in small quantities, such as iron, iodine and vitamin A) before they became pregnant had gene modifications at birth as well as when they were tested at 9 months. The changes to the genes, called methylation, have previously been associated with the development of the immune system, although this study did not provide direct evidence that the activity of these genes has changed. The research, funded by the BBSRC, was published today in the journal Human Molecular Genetics in advance online ...

A research challenges the theories on the global increase in jellyfish population

2012-02-23
An international research, involving the participation of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), provides a new perspective on the jellyfish proliferation in world's oceans. This phenomenon has noticeably impacted on beaches around the world in recent years and has provoked the concerns of fishermen and bathers. However, according to the group of experts leading this new research, there are no "conclusive evidences" that point to global increase in jellyfish population. The news rise in Mass Media on jellyfish blooms and the discrepancies in climate and science ...

Fake drug sales are increasing on the Internet and turning up in legitimate supply chains

2012-02-23
Criminal gangs are increasingly using the internet to market life-threatening counterfeit medicines and some have even turned up in legitimate outlets such as pharmacies, according to a review led by Dr Graham Jackson, editor of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice, and published in the March edition. Latest estimates suggest that global sales of counterfeit medicines are worth more than $75 billion, having doubled in just five years between 2005 and 2010. Numerous studies have also reported large numbers of websites supplying prescription only drugs without ...

Alaska Lawmakers Working to Clarify Anti-Texting Law

2012-02-23
Texting while driving increases the likelihood of a car accident or crash. The Alaska legislature passed a law in 2008 that it thought made texting and driving a crime, but the ambiguous language has raised questions from judges across the state. A bill has been introduced to clarify the language and make it clear that texting while driving is prohibited in Alaska. The problem with the law is how it described texting. It currently states: "A person commits the crime of driving with a screen device operating if the person is driving a motor vehicle, a the vehicle ...

IDIBELL researchers take a step forward in transplanting pig cells to regenerate human cartilage

2012-02-23
Researchers from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) have studied for the first time the response of human NK cells (Natural Killer) against porcine chondrocytes (cartilage cells). The results of the research, published in The Journal of Immunology, indicate that these cells, characteristic of the innate immune system, play an important role in the rejection of xenotransplantation (transplantation from another species) of porcine chondrocytes. NK cells Together with neutrophils and macrophages, NK cells are part of the first line of cellular defence ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Signs identified that precede sudden arrhythmic death syndrome in young people

Discovery of bacteria's defence against viruses becomes a piece of the puzzle against resistance

Pre-eclampsia is associated with earlier onset and higher incidence of cardiovascular risk factors

Warwick astronomers discover doomed pair of spiralling stars on our cosmic doorstep

Soil conditions significantly increase rainfall in world’s megastorm hotspots

NK cells complexed with bispecific antibody yield high response rates in patients with lymphoma

Planetary health diet and mediterranean diet associated with similar survival and sustainability benefits

Singapore launches national standard to validate antimicrobial disinfectant products

Molecular stool test could improve detection of tuberculosis in adults with HIV

Suspected fibrocartilaginous embolus in Asian small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus)

Enhancing heat transfer using the turbulent flow of viscoelastic fluids

Exercise as an anti-ageing intervention to avoid detrimental impact of mental fatigue

UMass Amherst Nursing Professor Emerita honored as ‘Living Legend’

New guidelines aim to improve cystic fibrosis screening

Picky eaters by day, buffet by night: Butterfly, moth diets sync to plant aromas

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Leanne Redman honored with the E. V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition

CCNY physicists uncover electronic interactions mediated via spin waves

Researchers’ 3D-printing formula may transform future of foam

Nurture more important than nature for robotic hand

Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for one-two knockout punch

New study finds that over 95% of sponsored influencer posts on Twitter were not disclosed

New sea grant report helps great lakes fish farmers navigate aquaculture regulations

Strain “trick” improves perovskite solar cells’ efficiency

How GPS helps older drivers stay on the roads

Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids

Dancing with the cells – how acoustically levitating a diamond led to a breakthrough in biotech automation

Machine learning helps construct an evolutionary timeline of bacteria

Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed... offering new therapeutic options

Animal behavioral diversity at risk in the face of declining biodiversity

Finding their way: GPS ignites independence in older adult drivers

[Press-News.org] Research offers way to save endangered Florida bird, and a lesson for conservationists