Miners seek gold under the desert sands after Egypt changes rules

By Nadine Awadalla 

© Reuters/Amr Dalsh FILE PHOTO: An old abandoned mine is pictured in the eastern desert near the southern province of Luxor

CAIRO (Reuters) - Mining companies awarded blocks in Egypt's Eastern Desert are set to start exploring for gold under a legislative overhaul that seeks eventually to unlock vast untapped mineral resources.

Despite plentiful reserves and a rich mining history that gave rise to elaborate Pharaonic gold jewellery, Egypt has just one commercial gold mine in operation. Foreign investment in oil and gas has grown, but mining has languished.

Now, the country is banking on high gold prices and amended mining laws that scrap red tape and a profit-sharing rule, unpopular in the industry, to lure interest.

One year after launching its first bid round under the new rules, it has so far clinched five gold exploration contracts in a first bidding round and kept the tendering system rolling as it tries to build momentum.

The government is looking to attract $1 billion in annual investments in mining, a target industry sources say could be within reach.

"Success is ultimately going to be measured by how many mines are going to be discovered and advanced to production," said Patrick Barnes, Head of Metals & Mining Consulting EMEARC at Wood Mackenzie, which advised Egypt's government on its mining law reforms.

"Early indicators show us that this bid round was much better than the ones held previously."

'HEALTHY MIX'

In its initial tender, Egypt in November awarded 82 exploration blocks to what metals analysts say is a healthy mix of 11 companies, ranging from junior explorers to industry giants such as Barrick Gold.

The blocks on offer are in the Arabian-Nubian shield geological formation, which flanks the Red Sea and is believed to be one of the most mineral rich areas in the world.

Egypt's mining drive is still at an early stage.

UK-based Altus Strategies told Reuters it was looking to build up its technical team and conduct remote sensing and mapping operations on the 1,500 square kilometres of land it has been awarded before starting exploration.

It expects to invest several million dollars in the short term but that could rise above $100-$200 million if a economic discovery is made.

A spokeswoman for Canada-based B2Gold, which also won concessions, said the company was looking forward to starting exploration soon "given the relative under-investment in modern exploration, and therefore untapped potential in the historically prospective Arabian-Nubian Shield".

Mining firms welcomed the elimination of a requirement to form joint ventures with the Egyptian government, and the capping of state royalties at 20%.

However, the retention of a tendering process for exploration blocks limits the chances of any gold boom, said Sami El Raghy, Chairman of Australia-based Nordana Pty Ltd.

"No other successful mining countries use this process. They all have a clear transparent mining laws stipulating the qualification, obligations and the rights of investors. (They) work on the principle first come, first served," said El Raghy, who was also a founder of Egypt's first and only commercial gold mine, Sukari.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources declined to comment.

GOLD PRICE

On average, a mining project goes from discovery to production in 10-15 years. While gold prices have eased after reaching a record in 2020, economists expect they will remain high by historical standards over coming years.

"If you get to a point where several discoveries are made, Egypt could be one of the largest gold producers in Africa... It had top-tier potential," said Steven Poulton, CEO of Altus Strategies.

Environmental campaigners, however, say there is no justification for gold mining. It generates emissions, can add to water-stress and in contrast to copper and battery minerals is not in demand from technologies that can bring about a low carbon economy.

The government has said it is open to other minerals, but gold is the focus for now.

"Gold is absolutely the best thing for them to start with, because there's a known amount of it," said Wood Mackenzie's Barnes.

"Egypt has immense potential for mining copper and gold and other commodities. The biggest concern in the industry is lack of supply for copper, places like Egypt which are considered underexplored and high potential are going to get a lot of attention if they can maintain investment conditions," he added.

(Reporting by Nadine Awadalla; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Barbara Lewis)

Scientists hope genetic engineering can revive the American chestnut tree

(Reuters) - A day before Earth Day, retired forester Rex Mann watched as scientists signed an agreement with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina to allow for the eventual planting of genetically engineered American chestnut trees on tribal land.

Scientists hope genetic engineering can revive the American chestnut tree

Mann, who has heard countless stories about the American chestnut tree that once dominated the Appalachia region, was emotional as he witnessed the signing.

"My dad loved the tree... and he understood what it meant to the way of life of these people in the mountains," the 76-year-old from Kentucky said. "That way of life died with the tree."

In the early 20th century, a blight is believed to have wiped out some four billion chestnut trees that once grew across the eastern United States, from Maine to Georgia. Now, American chestnut advocates, like Mann, and a small network of scientists are hoping to restore the trees by genetically engineering a blight-resistant tree.

Several experiments have been tried over the years, but so far scientists believe the greatest promise comes from a transgenic tree – engineered with a gene from wheat – known as Darling 58. They also hope that this initiative will encourage similar projects for other species.

"There's a number of species where invasive insects and pathogens have been imported into this country," said Jared Westbrook, director of science at the American Chestnut Foundation.

"All the tools that we're using – the breeding, the biotechnology, the genomics... could be used as a kind of a model for these other tree species."

Currently scientists are not allowed to grow transgenic trees outside of private greenhouses. The U.S. government is reviewing the researchers' request for deregulation status, which would allow the scientists to plant the trees in forests.

The project is not without opponents. Several organizations have signed on to the Campaign to Stop GE (Genetically Engineered) Trees.

They argue that introducing such trees into the ecosystem could have unintended consequences for other plant and animal species.

But Mann thinks it is a way of giving back to the Earth.

"The stark choice we face is either embrace this cutting-edge science and use it wisely or bid our native forests goodbye, and for the sake of our grandkids, we can't afford to do that," he said.

(Reporting by Vanessa Johnston; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

Teaching pupils to 'think like Da Vinci' will help them to take on climate change

Curriculum reforms which mix the arts and sciences will better prepare young people for the real-world challenges that will define their adult lives, researchers argue

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Research News

 

A radically reformed approach to education, in which different subjects teach connected themes, like climate change or food security, is being proposed by researchers, who argue that it would better prepare children for future crises.

In a newly-published study, education researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh argue that there is a compelling case for a drastic shake-up of the school curriculum, so that subjects are no longer taught independently of one another. Instead, they argue that the arts and sciences should 'teach together' around real-world problems, and in a manner rooted in pupils' lived experiences.

The model draws inspiration from Renaissance polymaths like Leonardo Da Vinci, who worked across disciplinary boundaries in pursuit of deeper knowledge. Similar, 'trans-disciplinary' approaches are already used in well-regarded education systems such as Finland's. The idea also echoes recent calls by the youth campaign, Teach the Future, to break down subject silos to teach climate change.

The academic paper, in the journal Curriculum Perspectives, also presents evidence from two recent projects in which pupils appeared to benefit from an approach to teaching which blurred subject boundaries.

One, which invited South African teenagers from disadvantaged settings to create 'math-artworks', produced evidence that as well as increasing their familiarity with key mathematical principles, the project also enabled pupils to understand more about the relevance of maths in their own lives. In the second case study, primary school children in Aberdeen showed a deeper understanding of food security and environmental protection issues after learning to grow food in their school grounds.

Pam Burnard, Professor of Arts, Creativities and Education at the University of Cambridge, said: "If we look at the amazing designs that Da Vinci produced, it's clear he was combining different disciplines to advance knowledge and solve problems. We need to encourage children to think in a similar way because tomorrow's adults will have to problem-solve differently due to the existential crises they will face: especially those of climate, sustainability, and the precarity of life on Earth."

Dr Laura Colucci-Gray, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Education and Sport, said: "The nature of these problems calls for a radically different approach to knowledge. We are proposing a move from the idea of a curriculum as something children are just 'given' to a curriculum 'in-the-making', in response to transformations that will define their lives."

The paper contributes to an emerging field called 'STEAM' education. This seeks to reinsert the 'A' of arts into national attempts to encourage the uptake of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), in response to a critical skills gap in related areas of the economy.

Some educationists argue that the emphasis on STEM is devaluing other subjects, and that arts disciplines are also powerful tools for delivering the problem-solving skills society needs. "For education to reflect that requires a major shift away from linear conceptions where subjects are taught separately, and towards a situation where they are inseparable," Burnard said.

In their alternative model, the researchers suggest giving schools greater freedom to determine how to meet general study targets set by the curriculum. Teachers and leadership teams would make collective decisions and share practices about how to engage pupils with unifying, cross-curricular themes, such as environmental sustainability.

They add that this might also involve the imaginative use of space and resources, and closer links between schools and their communities to connect learning to pupils' lived experiences beyond the classroom.

Evidence is also emerging that a transdisciplinary approach enhances pupils' acquisition of key skills. In the math-artwork project cited in the study, students in South Africa were asked to create art which showed the links between maths and the world around them. Subsequent analysis of the 113 submissions showed that pupils had applied principles such as measurement, ratio and proportion, and geometry in their creations.

The researchers also found, however, that participants had engaged deeply with the meaning of maths at a level rarely seen in conventional lessons. One especially powerful example, by a 16-year-old male student, was entitled The Stressed Vitruvian Man, inspired by Da Vinci's The Vitruvian Man. Like Da Vinci, the young artist's work was partly a study of the proportions of the human body, but at the same time, the student used it to comment on both the potential, and dangers, of creating a society built on mathematical principles alone.

Similarly, the primary school pupils in Aberdeen showed a deepened understanding of issues like food production and natural resource management when they were given the opportunity to take responsibility for a small piece of land in their school. Researchers found that the survival of plants became personal to the pupils, rather than just an abstract concept that they had learned about in science lessons. It also introduced them to other, related ethical challenges which those lessons rarely address: such as how to produce enough food when space is limited.

Any attempted reimagining of education along transdisciplinary lines would require children's attainment to be measured differently, the researchers add. "It would require a system of testing which measures how children are internalising ideas and what they are expressing - not just what they know," Burnard said. "That may be an uncomfortable idea for some, but it is the sort of radical thinking we need if education is going to prepare young people for the future."

Mars' changing habitability recorded by ancient dune fields in Gale crater

IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON

Research News

 

Understanding whether Mars was once able to support life has been a major driving force for Mars research over the past 50 years. To decipher the planet's ancient climate and habitability, researchers look to the rock record - a physical record of ancient surface processes which reflect the environment and the prevailing climate at the time the rocks were deposited.

In a new paper published in JGR: Planets, researchers on the NASA-JPL Mars Science Laboratory mission used the Curiosity rover to add another piece to the puzzle of Mars' ancient past by investigating a unit of rocks within Gale crater.

They found evidence of an ancient dune field preserved as a layer of rocks in Gale crater, which overlies rock layers that were deposited in a large lake. The rock remnants of the dune field are known today as the Stimson formation.

The findings help scientists understand surface and atmospheric processes - such as the direction the wind blew sand to form dunes - and potentially how Mars' climate evolved from an environment that potentially harboured microbial life, to an uninhabitable one.

By looking at the preserved rock layers through images collected by the Curiosity rover, the researchers reconstructed the shape, migration direction and size of the large dunes, also known as draas, that occupied that part of the crater.

The models of ancient dunes, created by Imperial researchers, show that dunes were nestled next to the central peak of Gale crater - known as Mount Sharp - on a wind-eroded surface at a five-degree angle. The research also found that the dunes were compound dunes - large dunes which hosted their own set of smaller dunes which travelled in a different directions to the main dune.

Lead author Dr Steven Banham of Imperial's Department of Earth Science and Engineering said: "As the wind blows, it transports sand grains of a certain size, and organises them into piles of sand we recognise as sand dunes. These landforms are common on Earth in sandy deserts, such as the Sahara, the Namibian dune field, and the Arabian deserts. The strength of the wind and its uniformity of direction control the shape and size of the dune, and evidence of this can be preserved in the rock record.

"If there is an excess of sediment transported into a region, dunes can climb as they migrate and partially bury adjacent dunes. These buried layers contain a feature called 'cross-bedding', which can give an indication of the size of the dunes, and the direction which they were migrating. By investigating these cross beds, we were able to determine these strata were deposited by specific dunes that form when competing winds transport sediment in two different directions.

"It's amazing that from looking at Martian rocks we can determine that two competing winds drove these large dunes across the plains of Gale crater three and a half billion years ago. This is some of the first evidence we have of variable wind directions - be they seasonal or otherwise."

The lower part of Mount Sharp is composed of ancient lakebed sediments. These sediments accumulated on the lakebed when the crater flooded, shortly after its formation 3.8 billion years ago. Curiosity has spent much of the last nine years investigating these rocks for signs of habitability.

Dr Banham added: "More than 3.5 billion years ago this lake dried out, and the lake bottom sediments were exhumed and eroded to form the mountain at the centre of the crater - the present-day Mount Sharp. The flanks of the mountain are where we have found evidence that an ancient dune field formed after the lake, indicating an extremely arid climate."

However, the new findings suggest that the ancient dune field might have been less nurturing of life than previously thought. Dr Banham said: "The vast expanse of the dune field wouldn't have been a particularly hospitable place for microbes to live, and the record left behind would rarely preserve evidence of life, if there was any.

"This desert sand represents a snapshot of time within Gale crater, and we know that the dune field was preceded by lakes - yet we don't know what overlies the desert sandstones further up Mount Sharp. It could be more layers deposited in arid conditions, or it could be deposits associated with more humid climates. We will have to wait and see."

Rovers on Mars are allowing researchers to explore the planet in detail like never before. Dr Banham added: "Although geologists have been reading rocks on Earth for 200 years, it's only in the last decade or so that we've been able to read Martian rocks with the same level of detail as we do on Earth."

The researchers continue to examine rocks found by Curiosity and are now focusing on the wind patterns recorded by dunes further up Mount Sharp. Dr Banham said: "We're interested to see how the dunes reflect the wider climate of Mars, its changing seasons, and longer-term changes in wind direction. Ultimately, this all relates to the major driving question: to discover whether life ever arose on Mars."

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The research was funded by the UK Space Agency and forms part of the preparation for the forthcoming ESA ExoMars mission to explore Mars for signs of ancient life.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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Researchers design micro-sized capsules for targeted drug delivery -- inspired by Russian pelmeni

SKOLKOVO INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (SKOLTECH)

Research News

 

An international team led by a Skoltech researcher has developed a method of fabrication for biodegradable polymer microcapsules, made more efficient by turning to an unusual source of inspiration - traditional Russian dumpling, or pelmeni, making. The two papers were published in Materials and Design and ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.

AKA

Micro-sized capsules, which can be tailored to a variety of purposes, have proven very useful in targeted delivery of drugs and other bioactive compounds. To ensure optimal functioning, these have to be designed and manufactured with precision and in particular shapes, as non-spherical capsules turned out to be more efficient and effective than spherical ones.

"Non-spherical capsules could have side directed release as one side could degrade first and let the cargo release, they also could be navigated in flow with magnetic field. But the most important advantage is that biological cells more readily internalize non-spherical objects, however, this phenomenon is not yet understood," Gleb Sukhorukov of Skoltech and Queen Mary University of London, the papers' lead author, explains.

In the two papers, Sukhorukov and his colleagues describe a way to create micrometer-sized pyramid, rectangular and torpedo-shaped capsules by using soft lithography. In this method, a template is coated with a polymer, then cargo (a drug, for instance) is loaded onto the polymer and sealed by a top polymer layer, ending up sandwiched between the two layers. The capsules are then printed onto gelatin and harvested by dissolving it in water.

"The approach is not only inspired by Russian pelmeni making process, but in fact really reproduces on a microstructure level the trick that allows us to wrap various components inside, like proteins (meat in proper pelmeni) or natural healthy components (like berries or mashed potatoes in case of vareniki, a similar product)," Sukhorukov notes.

In the first paper, the team demonstrated two approaches, based on polyelectrolyte multilayer and polylactic acid, that resulted in 7-micrometer-long torpedo-shaped capsules. These had a high loading capacity, retained hydrophilic molecules well and were internalized by cells without causing toxic effects. "The proposed method offers great flexibility for the choice of active substances, regardless of their solubility and molecular weight," the authors write.

In the second paper, the researchers described pyramid and rectangular capsules made of polylactic acid, which are respectively about 1 and 11 micrometers in size. These capsules proved sufficiently stable to encapsulate small water-soluble molecules and to retain them for several days for subsequent intracellular delivery and/or serve as depot for controlled release.

"So far we created the capsules from polylactic acid, and we plan to explore these principles with other polymers which undergo degradation and hence release of cargo under specific conditions such as temperature, enzymes, pH and so on," Sukhorukov says.

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Other organizations involved in this research include National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University; University of Genoa; AGH University of Science and Technology; Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation and Institute of Materials Research and Engineering; THALES Research & Technology; and V.E. Zuev Institute of Atmospheric Optics SB RAS.

Nanofiltration membranes to treat industrial wastewater from heavy metals

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MISIS

Research News

 

NUST MISIS scientists together with Indian colleagues from Jain University and Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College presented innovative membranes for the complete removal of heavy metals from industrial wastewater. The special nanostructure of zinc-modified aluminum oxide made it possible to remove arsenic and lead from water with an efficiency of 87% and 98%, respectively. The results of the work were published in the Chemosphere journal.

Industrialization is the main cause of water pollution due to the ingress of industrial waste. In particular, heavy metals -- arsenic, lead and cadmium -- can cause metabolic disorders and multiple critical effects to the body, which make them extremely toxic to the environment.

One of the most promising methods of purification and removal of heavy metal ions from water is the "Membrane technology". It acts as an effective barrier ("filter") and is relatively easy to manufacture. At the same time, it has some serious limitations such as high energy consumption, short membrane life, low productivity and selectivity.

The challenge for scientists is to make the membrane technology a more versatile and commercially available method of wastewater purification. An international team of researchers from Russia and India proposed a solution to the problem by synthesizing a new type of membranes -- especially porous nanoparticles of zinc-doped aluminium oxide.

"The nanoparticles that we obtained by solution combustion method have a very large surface area (261.44 m2/g) at a size of 50 nanometers. Cross-sectional images of nanoparticles obtained using scanning electron microscopy showed the finger-like morphology and porous nature of the membranes," said Vignesh Nayak, co-author of the work, a postdoc at NUST MISIS.

According to scientists, the synthesized membranes showed increased hydrophilicity (wettability), surface charge and "super porosity", which made it possible to remove arsenic and lead from an aqueous solution with an efficiency of 87% and 98%, respectively.

The second important advantage of the membranes obtained is antifouling properties. It means that the material is resistant to fouling by aquatic microorganisms, which disable devices that have been in aquatic environments for a long time.

The antifouling study conducted by developers at various pressures with a feed solution containing bovine serum albumin showed 98.4% recovery and reusability of membranes for up to three continuous cycles.

In the future, the membranes obtained can be used for effective treatment of industrial effluents, as well as in large city water treatment plants. The team is currently completing laboratory tests of the samples obtained.

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Landscape induced back-building thunderstorm lines along the mei-yu front

INSTITUTE OF ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Research News

 

IMAGE: FIG. 1 THE CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF (A) STAGE I AND (B) STAGE II CONVECTIVE LINE FORMATION DURING 28 JUNE 2013. view more 

CREDIT: ZHEMIN TAN

Thunderstorm development is not always dependent on atmospheric physics alone. Often, the surrounding landscape can influence convection, especially in regions with dramatic elevation changes. The Yangtze river basin in China's Jiangxi Province, which is surrounded by the Nanling Mountains, often experiences mesoscale convective systems (MCS) or squall line thunderstorms during the summer. These MCSs develop along the persistent mei-yu front, and often exhibit quickly developing parallel back-building, or training thunderstorms, resulting in torrential flooding. A research team led by Dr. Zhemin Tan, Professor at the School of Atmospheric Sciences of Nanjing University, analyzed the influences of the regional landscape that lead to consistent MCS back-building in the Yangtze river basin.

"Parallel back-building convective lines are often observed along the mei-yu front in China, and they can quickly develop into a stronger convective group of echoes, resulting in locally heavy rainfall within the mei-yu front rainband." said Dr. Tan

. "Mesoscale convective systems evolving along the mei-yu front induced cold outflow centered over the eastern side of the basin, which pushed the leading edge of the mei-yu front toward the mountains on the southeast side of the basin."

To better understand what initiates back-building convective lines, Dr. Tan and a group of researchers from the Key Laboratory of Mesoscale Severe Weather of Nanjing University, performed a high-resolution model simulation of a typical MCS event during 27-28 June 2013. Simulation results show that new convection along the convective lines is forced by intermittent interaction between the cold MCS outflow and the warm southerly airflow ahead of the mei-yu front. This process is enhanced by nearby terrain, especially the Nanling Mountains.

"The mountains along the way played a crucial role in supporting the rapid development of the convective lines to include torrential flood." said Dr. Tan. He, along with the study's coauthors, submitted their findings in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. The journal published the noteworthy research as a cover article.

This mei-yu front MCS evolved from the western side of the basin. As it moved east, cold outflow centered over the eastern part of the basin. Strong southwest airflow ahead of the front passed the Nanling Mountains, merging with the cold outflow within the basin, sparking the erratic first stage of parallel convective line formation (Fig. 1a). Then, low mountains along the airmass boundary enhanced uneven storm development within the MCS.

"Knowledge of the effects of the mountains on the convective line formation can help to understand and predict the heavy precipitation events over the basin region during the mei-yu season in China," believes Dr. Tan.

In this case, the MCS quickly grew upscale from the first stage convective lines, resulting in apparent precipitation cooling. This process enhanced the cold outflow, shifting it southward (Fig 1b). Stronger cold outflow then pushed the warm airflow farther south, impacting the mountains on the southeast side of the basin. Mountain valleys, or terrain gaps in the southeastern basin are then roughly parallel to the outflow and play a controlling role in a second stage formation of parallel convective lines.

CAPTION

Torrential floodwaters rushing down from the mountains surrounding a river basin in the Jiangxi Province of China.

Ancient Indigenous forest gardens promote a healthy ecosystem: SFU study

The researchers say this study marks the first time forest gardens have been studied in North America

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: AN AERIAL VIEW OF A FOREST GARDEN. view more 

CREDIT: SFU

A new study by Simon Fraser University historical ecologists finds that Indigenous-managed forests--cared for as "forest gardens"--contain more biologically and functionally diverse species than surrounding conifer-dominated forests and create important habitat for animals and pollinators. The findings are published today in Ecology and Society.

According to researchers, ancient forests were once tended by Ts'msyen and Coast Salish peoples living along the north and south Pacific coast. These forest gardens continue to grow at remote archaeological villages on Canada's northwest coast and are composed of native fruit and nut trees and shrubs such as crabapple, hazelnut, cranberry, wild plum, and wild cherries. Important medicinal plants and root foods like wild ginger and wild rice root grow in the understory layers.

"These plants never grow together in the wild," says Chelsey Geralda Armstrong, an SFU Indigenous Studies assistant professor and the study lead researcher. "It seemed obvious that people put them there to grow all in one spot - like a garden. Elders and knowledge holders talk about perennial management all the time."

"It's no surprise these forest gardens continue to grow at archaeological village sites that haven't yet been too severely disrupted by settler-colonial land-use."

Ts'msyen and Coast Salish peoples' management practices challenge the assumption that humans tend to overturn or exhaust the ecosystems they inhabit. This research highlights how Indigenous peoples not only improved the inhabited landscape, but were also keystone builders, facilitating the creation of habitat in some cases. The findings provide strong evidence that Indigenous management practices are tied to ecosystem health and resilience.

"Human activities are often considered detrimental to biodiversity, and indeed, industrial land management has had devastating consequences for biodiversity," says Jesse Miller, study co-author, ecologist and lecturer at Stanford University. "Our research, however, shows that human activities can also have substantial benefits for biodiversity and ecosystem function. Our findings highlight that there continues to be an important role for human activities in restoring and managing ecosystems in the present and future."

Forest gardens are a common management regime identified in Indigenous communities around the world, especially in tropical regions. Armstrong says the study is the first time forest gardens have been studied in North America -- showing how important Indigenous peoples are in the maintenance and defence of some of the most functionally diverse ecosystems on the Northwest Coast.

"The forest gardens of Kitselas Canyon are a testament to the long-standing practice of Kitselas people shaping the landscape through stewardship and management," says Chris Apps, director, Kitselas Lands & Resources Department. "Studies such as this reconnect the community with historic resources and support integration of traditional approaches with contemporary land-use management while promoting exciting initiatives for food sovereignty and cultural reflection."

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ZIT MEDICINE

Common antibiotic effective in healing coral disease lesions

FAU Harbor branch study shows 95 percent success rate with amoxicillin

FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY

Research News

VIDEO: FAU SCIENTIFIC DIVERS ERIN SHILLING AND RYAN ECKERT ARE SHOWN APPLYING THE ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT (THE WHITE PASTE) INTO TRENCHES CREATED AROUND DISEASE LESIONS PRESENT AT THE EDGES OF THE CORAL... view more 

CREDIT: JOSHUA VOSS, PH.D., FAU HARBOR BRANCH, CORAL REEF AND HEALTH ECOLOGY LAB

Diseases continue to be a major threat to coral reef health. For example, a relatively recent outbreak termed stony coral tissue loss disease is an apparently infectious waterborne disease known to affect at least 20 stony coral species. First discovered in 2014 in Miami-Dade County, the disease has since spread throughout the majority of the Florida's Coral Reef and into multiple countries and territories in the Caribbean. Some reefs of the northern section of Florida's Coral Reef are experiencing as much as a 60 percent loss of living coral tissue area.

A new study by researchers at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute reveals how a common antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections in humans is showing promise in treating disease-affected Montastraea cavernosa coral colonies in situ. M. cavernosa, also known as the Great Star Coral, is a hard or stony coral found widely throughout the tropical western Atlantic, including several regions currently affected by stony coral tissue loss disease. Preserving M. cavernosa colonies is of particular importance due to its high abundance and role as a dominant reef builder in the northern section of Florida's Coral Reef.

The objective of the study, published in Scientific Reports, was to experimentally assess the effectiveness of two intervention treatments: chlorinated epoxy and amoxicillin combined with Core Rx/Ocean Alchemists Base 2B as compared to untreated controls. Results showed that the Base 2B plus amoxicillin treatment had a 95 percent success rate at healing individual disease lesions. However, it did not necessarily prevent treated colonies from developing new lesions over time. Chlorinated epoxy treatments were not significantly different from untreated control colonies, suggesting that chlorinated epoxy treatments are an ineffective intervention technique for stony coral tissue loss disease.

"There are three possible scenarios that may explain the appearance of new lesions in the amoxicillin treated lesions of the corals that had healed in our study," said Erin N. Shilling, M.S., first author and a recent graduate of the Marine Science and Oceanography masters degree program at FAU Harbor Branch. "It's possible that the causative agent of stony coral tissue loss disease is still present in the environment and is re-infecting quiesced colonies. It also could be that the duration and dose of this antibiotic intervention was sufficient to arrest stony coral tissue loss disease at treated lesions, but insufficient at eliminating its pathogens from other areas of the coral colony."

The study was conducted approximately 2 kilometers offshore from Lauderdale-by-the-Sea in Broward County, Florida, at sites with a maximum depth of 10 meters. Both colony disease status and treated lesion status were analyzed independently so that the treatment's effectiveness at halting individual lesions could be assessed while also determining if a treatment had any impact on the colony as a whole. Colonies were monitored periodically over 11 months to assess treatment effectiveness by tracking lesion development and overall disease status.

"Success in treating stony coral tissue loss disease with antibiotics may benefit from using approaches typically successful against bacterial infections in humans, for example using a strong initial dose of antibiotics followed by a regimen of smaller supplementary doses over time," said Joshua Voss, Ph.D., senior author, an associate research professor at FAU Harbor Branch and executive director of the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology. "Future research efforts should focus on assessing the potential unintended consequences of antibiotic treatments on corals, their microbial communities, and neighboring organisms. In addition, further efforts are needed to optimize dosing and delivery methods for antibiotic treatments on stony coral tissue loss disease-affected corals and scale up intervention treatments effectively."

Voss notes that many coral diseases are still poorly characterized, which has led to calls for increased research and intervention efforts to support adaptive management strategies particularly given the considerable impacts of diseases on coral reefs over the past five decades.

"Results of our experiment expand management options during coral disease outbreaks and contribute to overall knowledge regarding coral health and disease," said Voss.

This research is part of a highly coordinated collaboration through the Disease Advisory Committee (DAC) organized by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (floridadep.gov/rcp/coral/content/stony-coral-tissue-loss-disease-response) and NOAA. Voss and Shilling are members of the DAC and part of the reconnaissance and intervention team that has collaboratively developed treatment methods, research objectives, and responses to this disease outbreak. Researchers from Nova Southeastern University, Smithsonian Marine Station and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission also are major partners on this team.

Ian Combs, M.S., another recent FAU graduate from Voss's lab and a co-author, helped to develop some of the coral fate-tracking techniques used in the study.

"We recommend that coral reef managers and intervention specialists, particularly those focusing on stony coral tissue loss disease, adopt 3D photogrammetric methods to ensure that data are more accurate than 2D and in-water estimates," said Combs.

CAPTION

A stony coral treated with the Base 2B plus amoxicillin treatment.

CREDIT

Joshua Voss, Ph.D., FAU Harbor Branch, Coral Reef and Health Ecology Lab

###This research was funded by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (Awards B430E1 and B55008 awarded to Voss), and the Environmental Protection Agency (South Florida Geographic Initiative award X7 00D667-17). Additional funding was awarded to Shilling by the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Foundation through the Indian River Lagoon Graduate Research Fellowship.

All work was carried out under permission of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (permits SAL-18-2022-SRP and ASL-19-1702-SRP).

About Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute:

Founded in 1971, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University is a research community of marine scientists, engineers, educators and other professionals focused on Ocean Science for a Better World. The institute drives innovation in ocean engineering, at-sea operations, drug discovery and biotechnology from the oceans, coastal ecology and conservation, marine mammal research and conservation, aquaculture, ocean observing systems and marine education. For more information, visit http://www.fau.edu/hboi.

About Florida Atlantic University:

Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses located along the southeast Florida coast. In recent years, the University has doubled its research expenditures and outpaced its peers in student achievement rates. Through the coexistence of access and excellence, FAU embodies an innovative model where traditional achievement gaps vanish. FAU is designated a Hispanic-serving institution, ranked as a top public university by U.S. News & World Report and a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visit http://www.fau.edu.

CAPTION

First author and scientific diver Erin Shilling treats a diseased stony coral affected by stony coral tissue loss disease.

CREDIT

Joshua Voss, Ph.D., FAU Harbor Branch, Coral Reef and Health Ecology Lab

Naturally GM: Crops steal genes from other species to accelerate evolution

UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD

Research News

 

Grass crops are able to bend the rules of evolution by borrowing genes from their neighbours, giving them a competitive advantage, a new study has revealed.

Research, led by the University of Sheffield, is the first to show that grasses can incorporate DNA from other species into their genomes through a process known as lateral gene transfer.

The stolen genetic secrets give them an evolutionary advantage by allowing them to grow faster, bigger or stronger and adapt to new environments quicker. These findings could inform future work to create crops that are more resistant to the effects of climate change and help to tackle food security problems.

The Sheffield team studied grasses, which include some of the most economically and ecologically important plants, such as the most globally cultivated crops wheat, maize, rice and barley.

Dr Luke Dunning, senior author of the research from the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffield, said: "Grasses are taking an evolutionary shortcut by borrowing genes from their neighbours. By using genetic detective work to trace the origin of each gene, we found over 100 examples where the gene had a significantly different history to the species it was found in.

"The findings may make us as a society reconsider how we view GM technology, as grasses have naturally exploited a very similar process. If we can determine how this process is happening it may allow us to naturally modify crops and make them more resistant to climate change.

"What we are seeing is not hybridisation, but the consequences are similar. Lateral gene transfer can move genetic information across wider evolutionary distances, which means it can potentially have even bigger impacts.

"Whilst only a relatively small proportion of genes are transferred between species, this process potentially allows grasses to cherry pick information from other species. This likely gives them huge advantages and may allow them to adapt to their surrounding environment quicker.

Samuel Hibdige, first author of the research and PhD Researcher from the University of Sheffield, said: "We still don't know how this is happening or what the full implications are. But, we know it is widespread in grasses, a family of plants that provide a majority of the food we eat.

"We detected foreign DNA in a wide range of grasses with all kinds of life history strategies indicating it is not restricted to those with a specific trait. However, we did detect a statistical increase in species which possess certain kinds of modified stems called rhizomes."

Since Darwin, much of our understanding of evolution has been based on the assumption that common descent is the rule for plant and animal evolution, with genetic information passed from parents to offspring.

The team's next steps will be to determine the biological mechanism behind this phenomenon and to investigate whether this is an ongoing process in crops that contributes to the differences we observe between crop varieties.

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For further information please contact: Emma Griffiths, Media and PR Assistant, University of Sheffield, 0114 222 1034, e.l.griffiths@sheffield.ac.uk

Notes to editors

The research received funding from the European Research Council (ERC), the Royal Society and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

The University of Sheffield

With almost 29,000 of the brightest students from over 140 countries, learning alongside over 1,200 of the best academics from across the globe, the University of Sheffield is one of the world's leading universities.

A member of the UK's prestigious Russell Group of leading research-led institutions, Sheffield offers world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines.

Unified by the power of discovery and understanding, staff and students at the university are committed to finding new ways to transform the world we live in.

Sheffield is the only university to feature in The Sunday Times 100 Best Not-For-Profit Organisations to Work For 2018 and for the last eight years has been ranked in the top five UK universities for Student Satisfaction by Times Higher Education.

Sheffield has six Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and its alumni go on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields.

Global research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, AstraZeneca, Glaxo SmithKline, Siemens and Airbus, as well as many UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations