Scientists document first biofluorescent fish in the Arctic

Seasonal daylight makes biofluorescence rare in Arctic waters; snailfish living in iceberg habitats of Greeland buck trend with green and red glow

AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Research News

 

IMAGE: A JUVENILE LIPARIS GIBBUS IMAGED UNDER WHITE LIGHT (TOP) AND UNDER FLUORESCENT LIGHTING (BOTTOM) CONDITIONS. view more 

CREDIT: © J. SPARKS, D. GRUBER, P. KRAGH

For the first time, scientists have documented biofluorescence in an Arctic fish species. The study, led by researchers at the American Museum of Natural History who spent hours in the icy waters off of Greenland where the red-and-green-glowing snailfish was found, is published today in the American Museum Novitates.

"Overall, we found marine fluorescence to be quite rare in the Arctic, in both invertebrate and vertebrate lineages," said John Sparks, a curator in the American Museum of Natural History's Department of Ichthyology and one of the authors of the study. "So we were surprised to find these juvenile snailfish brightly fluorescing in not just one, but two different colors, which is very unusual in a single species."

In 2014, Sparks and colleague David Gruber, a research associate at the Museum and a biology professor at Baruch College, identified more than 180 new species of fishes that biofluoresce, the ability to convert blue wavelengths into green, red, or yellow light. This ability, which could be used for behaviors including communication and mating in some species, is now well documented in tropical fishes that live in regions where there is an even amount of daylight year-round. But in the Arctic, where days can be incredibly long or incredibly short, researchers were interested in seeing firsthand how prolonged periods of darkness affected fishes' ability to biofluoresce.

"The light regime at the poles provides for winter months of near total darkness, where biofluorescence would not be functional," Gruber said. "But given the summer months with the midnight Sun, we hypothesized that it could be present."

In 2019, as part of a Constantine. S. Niarchos Expedition, Sparks and Gruber headed to the iceberg habitats off the coast of Eastern Greenland to test their theory. In addition to finding very little marine fluorescence, they observed that groups of fishes that glow brightly in tropical and temperate regions--for example, scorpionfishes and flatfishes--did not fluoresce in the cold waters. But there was an exception: two juvenile specimens of variegated snailfish (Liparis gibbus), the first species shown to biofluoresce in the Arctic. The species glows in both green and red, a rare example of multiple fluorescent colors emitted from a single organism. In addition, the authors report red biofluorescence from an adult kelp snailfish (L. tunicatus) collected in the Bering Strait off of Little Diomede Island, Alaska, which was collected and scanned by colleagues at NOAA Fisheries Service.

In the seven years since Sparks and Gruber first reported widespread biofluorescence in fishes, it has been found in a number of new lineages, including mammals like platypuses, opossums, flying squirrels, springhares, and even marine turtles. But its exact function remains a mystery.

"We are now focusing our efforts on determining the function of fluorescence in various fish groups, including catsharks, where we have shown that bright green fluorescence enhances contrast in their pigmentation pattern, making it easier for individuals to see each other at depth," Sparks said.]

CAPTION

(Top) Aerial view of iceberg-filled habitat in Sermilik Fiord, eastern Greenland, near where specimens of Liparis gibbus were collected. The authors can be seen underwater in center of image. (Bottom) The authors collecting specimens on iceberg shown in top image.

CREDIT

P. Kragh/© AMNH

This research was generously supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation through an AMNH Constantine S. Niarchos Expedition grant, and by the U.S. National Science Foundation grant no. DEB-1257555.

Study link: https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/7257

To watch a video piece about the researchers' Greenland expedition, click here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8UKnEUdojU

CAPTION

David Gruber (left) and John Sparks (right) scuba diving in eastern Greenland

CREDIT

P. Kragh/© AMNH

ABOUT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH)

The American Museum of Natural History, founded in 1869 and currently celebrating its 150th anniversary, is one of the world's preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The Museum encompasses more than 40 permanent exhibition halls, including those in the Rose Center for Earth and Space, as well as galleries for temporary exhibitions. The Museum's approximately 200 scientists draw on a world-class research collection of more than 34 million artifacts and specimens, some of which are billions of years old, and on one of the largest natural history libraries in the world. Through its Richard Gilder Graduate School, the Museum grants the Ph.D. degree in Comparative Biology and the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree, the only such free-standing, degree-granting programs at any museum in the United States. The Museum's website, digital videos, and apps for mobile devices bring its collections, exhibitions, and educational programs to millions around the world. Visit amnh.org for more information.

HOW TO MAKE BETTER WHISKEY

University of Maryland co-publishes the first full reference genome for rye

Reference genome provides an invaluable resource for crop improvement across wheat, barley, triticale, and rye

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

Research News 

IMAGE: RYE view more 

CREDIT: MARKUS SPISKE, PUBLIC DOMAIN

As one of the founding members of the International Rye Genome Sequencing Group (IRGSG), the University of Maryland (UMD) co-published the first full reference genome sequence for rye in Nature Genetics. UMD and international collaborators saw the need for a reference genome of this robust small grain to allow for the tracking of its useful genes and fulfill its potential for crop improvement across all major varieties of small grains, including wheat, barley, triticale (a cross between wheat and rye that is gaining popularity), and rye. Following the model of international collaboration used when UMD helped sequence the wheat genome, UMD co-developed the idea to produce a reference genome, organized the effort, and contributed to achieve the collective goal. The result is a valuable resource that can help improve grain yield, disease resistance, and temperature tolerance to increase climate resilience in grain crops.

"This reference genome is a wonderful resource, and it opens so many new doors for us," says Vijay Tiwari, assistant professor in Plant Science and Landscape Architecture (PSLA) at UMD and leader of the Maryland Small Grains and Genetics program. "The knowledge that rye offers us to fight physical and disease stressors is going to help us produce better crops that can tolerate disease and climatic changes much better. We can do genome-wide assays to see where useful traits are coming from, and for that, we need a reference genome to provide a framework."

Nidhi Rawat, assistant professor in PSLA and plant pathologist specializing in diseases like Fusarium Head Blight that ravage small grains, adds, "The more we screen, the more we get amazed with how much useful diversity we see in rye. It holds tremendous potential for crop improvement across wheat, rye, triticale, and barley."

Authored by more than 60 scientists from 14 countries including 4 research institutions in the U.S., this collaboration represents truly cooperative science. Based off the example of the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC), Nils Stein of the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Germany took the lead on coordinating with the global collaborators to ensure that all the necessary pieces came together to produce the full rye genome. UMD is proud of the work they did to help bring this idea to fruition.

"Before this, there was significant effort to sequence the rye genome, but the fragmented assembly was not sufficient," says Tiwari. "But in this case, scientists all came together without centralized support because we all decided it was a good idea to get this knowledge out to the community. At UMD specifically, we helped develop the consortium, co-developed the idea, and provided resources to get the sequencing done and complete the mapping work. It was really absolute teamwork."

The excitement for this new rye reference genome can be especially felt across scientific and agricultural communities alike, laying the groundwork for many avenues of future research and crop improvement. According to Tiwari and Rawat, rye has a very diverse set of genes that allows it to grow in all kinds of soil and environments, making it very stress tolerant and disease resistant. It is also a cross-pollinated crop unlike self-pollinating wheat and barley, making it ideal for producing more robust hybrid grain varieties.

"Ancient wheat, barley, and rye all evolved around the same time," explains Tiwari. "But rye took a different path and has some unique advantages to the others. For example, finding ways to make wheat and barley cross-pollinating crops makes it easier to produce hybrid wheat or barley and is a huge incentive for increasing yield. Rye has that capability already."

Rawat and Tiwari also stress that rye and triticale (developed by crossing wheat and rye) are important cover crops for this region because of their efficient use of nutrients and need for little fertilizer, making them great for the Chesapeake Bay. "In addition to being good for bread and beer, rye is a popular cover crop because it has a very good portfolio for nitrogen and phosphorus use efficiency which are specifically very important for keeping excess nutrients out of the Bay," says Rawat. "Recently, we screened hundreds of triticale lines for diseases and found useful genetic diversity that seems to be coming from rye. With the availability of the reference genome of rye, it will be very easy to map the genes underlying these useful traits and transfer them to wheat and other small grains."

Rawat and Tiwari are excited at the breeding and research opportunities that this work can open up across the entire spectrum of small grains, allowing for the development of varieties that can meet the diverse needs of growers worldwide.

"It feels really great to see that in the last three years, we have two reference genomes sequenced for small grains [wheat and rye], and UMD was one of the leaders in both of them," says Tiwari. "It is a useful contribution towards the AGNR initiative to increase global food security."

"I'm particularly excited because it not only shows our research excellence at a national and international level, but the real satisfaction comes that the work we are doing in the lab is actually benefiting farmers at the ground level," stresses Rawat. "That is very fulfilling - that is a reward that is invaluable."

###

This paper, entitled "Chromosome-scale genome assembly provides insights into rye biology, evolution, and agronomic potential," is published in Nature Genetics, DOI: 10.1038/s41588-021-00807-0.

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.

Scientists study co-evolutionary relationship between rust fungi and wheat and barberry

AMERICAN PHYTOPATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Research News

 

IMAGE: INFECTION PROCESSES OF PUCCINIA STRIIFORMIS F. SP. TRITICI BASIDIOSPORES AND UREDINIOSPORES ON BARBERRY AND WHEAT. view more 

CREDIT: JING ZHAO

Wheat stripe rust is one of the most important wheat diseases and is caused by the plant-pathogenic fungi Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst). Though Pst is known to be highly host-specific, it is interestingly able to infect two unrelated host plants, wheat and barberry, at different spore stages. Pst infects wheat through its urediniospores and infects barberry with its basidiospores.

"This complex life cycle poses interesting questions on the co-evolution between the pathogen and the hosts, as well the different mechanisms of pathogenesis underlying the infection of the two different hosts," explained Jing Zhao, an associate research fellow at the College of Plant Protection at Northwest A & F University in China.

In a recent study, Zhao and colleagues studied the co-evolutionary relationship between rust fungi and its hosts using genes specifically needed for the host infection at different spore stages. They comprehensively compared the transcriptomes of Pst during the infection of wheat and barberry leaves and were able to identify the genes needed for either wheat or barberry infection and the genes needed to infect both. They found a larger proportion of evolutionarily conserved genes in barberry, implying a longer history of interaction with Pst.

"As a matter of fact, the barberry family, belonging to primitive angiosperms and originating from 146-113 million years ago, is evolutionarily older than grasses, which means it interacted with rust fungi earlier. Thus, we postulated a hypothesis that barberry might be the primary host of Pst," said Zhao.

Zhao pointed out that Pst cleverly applies distinct strategies to overcome various host defense systems. For example, the fungi are able to secrete different sets of enzymes to degrade different types of cell walls and cuticles based on perception of different chemical components.

Their work will contribute to a deeper understanding of the roles of barberry in wheat rust disease and sustainable control of stripe rust disease. It also provides a model to understand the evolutionary processes and strategies of different stages of a pathogen during the infection process on different hosts. Read more about this study in "Distinct Transcriptomic Reprogramming in the Wheat Stripe Rust Fungus During the Initial Infection of Wheat and Barberry" published in the MPMI journal.

###

Recreational blue crab harvest in Maryland higher than current estimates

First statewide tagging study to estimate Maryland's recreational take finds it amounts to 11% of the male commercial take

SMITHSONIAN

Research News

 

IMAGE: TO ESTIMATE RECREATIONAL VERSUS COMMERCIAL CRABBING, BIOLOGISTS OUTFITTED CRABS WITH THESE PINK TAGS, OFFERING A REWARD TO CRABBERS WHO FOUND THEM AND REPORTED THE CATCH. view more 

CREDIT: KIM RICHIE, SMITHSONIAN ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH CENTER

When it comes to recreational crabbing--one of the most iconic pastimes along Maryland's shores--the current estimate of 8% of "total male commercial harvest" runs just a little too low. Biologists, with local community support, found stronger evidence for the underestimate in the first tagging study to estimate the recreational blue crab harvest statewide.

"It's such an important cultural activity here to go out and harvest crabs," said Matt Ogburn, a biologist with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) and co-author of the new report. Once declared a "commercial fishery failure" in 2008 after years of record low numbers, blue crabs have made a somewhat bumpy but steady comeback over the past decade.

To keep that recovery going, fishery managers need a clear idea of how many crabs end up in commercial traps and on the tables of recreational crabbers. Commercial crabbers are required to report how many crabs they catch each season. But recreational crabbers have no such obligation. This leaves managers in the awkward position of having to make their best educated guess.

"The recreational fishery is a bit of an unknown," said Robert Semmler, a doctoral student at Lancaster University and lead author of the new study, published March 15 in The Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. "And a lot of people are concerned about the recreational fishery. Particularly within the commercial sector, fishers are concerned about how big the recreational fishery is and whether that is possibly impinging on their ability to fish themselves."

CAPTION

SERC biologists Keira Heggie (on boat, red shorts) and Kim Richie work with local watermen to tag and release crabs into the Chesapeake Bay.

CREDIT

Fisheries Conservation Lab, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Tag, Release, Reward

Right now, the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee estimates recreational harvest to be 8% of the total male commercial harvest. Since recreational crabbers are not allowed to harvest females--one of the new regulations put in place in 2008 to ensure blue crabs continue to spawn--comparing "total male" harvests in theory offers a better apples-to-apples comparison.

But the 8% figure has its skeptics. To get it, managers relied on surveys and other voluntary self-reports from recreational crabbers conducted in 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2011. Those surveys suggested recreational crabbing amounted to 5-8% of the total commercial harvest. Some of those surveys suggested a higher figure--11.6%--of the total male commercial harvest. For managers, estimating recreational crabbing as "8% of total male commercial harvest" seemed like a happy medium. Even so, some people recall seeing far more recreational crabbing in certain parts of the Chesapeake Bay.

"If those methods underestimated the amount of recreational fishing, if we keep doing the same thing, we'll always be underestimating it, and we won't know that," Ogburn said.

So Ogburn, Semmler and SERC's Fisheries Conservation Lab decided it was time to try a new method to see if the 8% figure would hold up. The project was part of Semmler's master's thesis during his time at the University of Maryland.

The biologists used a technique called "mark-recapture." They teamed up with local watermen to mark 6,800 crabs with vinyl tags on their shells. Their tagging effort spanned 15 regions along Maryland's eastern and western shores, including the bay mainstem and several tributaries, giving them a thorough picture of crabbing statewide.

The tags contained the lab's phone number and an offer for a reward. Anyone who captured a tagged crab could call the number, tell the scientists where they caught the crab and if they were a commercial or recreational crabber.

The assist from the local community was critical. Biologist Rob Aguilar, head technician for the Fisheries Conservation Lab, helped the team find crabbers to let scientists on their boats and tag the crabs. But success truly hinged on having enough crabbers willing to call in their catches.

"It's good to have that relationship and to have people in the community know that they can trust the science, because they were involved in it," Semmler said.

From there, it became a simple algebra problem. Once the scientists had three variables--total commercial harvest, number of commercial captures called in and number of recreational captures called in--they could plug them in to find the number they really wanted: total recreational harvest.

CAPTION

Robert Semmler, a doctoral student at Lancaster University, teamed up with the Smithsonian and local crabbers in the first statewide tagging survey to estimate recreational blue crab harvest in Maryland. He performed the research as part of his master's thesis during his time at the University of Maryland.

CREDIT

Isidro Bosch

Moving Targets

However, the team did not stop there. They took things a step further to account for crabs moving throughout the bay. Blue crabs do not stay in one place. They move back and forth between the saltier bay mainstem--where commercial crabbing prevails--to fresher tributaries, where recreational crabbing is more common. Ignoring crab movement could easily skew the team's estimates.

Once they took that into account, their results changed. Without crab movement, the team calculated recreational harvest at 4.04 million crabs, or roughly 8.4% of "total male" commercial harvest--right in line with the current 8% estimate. But with crab movement in the equation, recreational harvest rose to 5.39 million crabs--or 11.2% of "total male" commercial harvest.

Shifting to an 11.2% estimate, the authors say, would give Maryland a more accurate picture of recreational crabbing throughout the state. This would also bring the assessment close to the average of 11.6% of "total male" commercial harvest estimated from prior recreational crabbing surveys.

By doing tagging surveys in over a dozen regions, the lab also pinned down spots where the recreational take is higher than average. Hot spots of recreational crabbing tended to be in tributaries with clusters of waterfront homes and easy access for recreational boaters.

"Depending on where you live, recreational harvest could range from near zero to more than twice the size of commercial harvest in densely populated places like the Severn River," Ogburn said. "That means you might see high recreational harvest of crabs in your local area, but once you average across the entire state, the level of harvest isn't much higher than expected."

###

Scientists from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Lancaster University and the University of Maryland took part in the project. The full study is available online at https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full/10.1139/cjfas-2020-0112. For images, a pdf copy of the study or to speak to one of the authors, contact Kristen Minogue at minoguek@si.edu or (314) 605-4315.

Medical cannabis can reduce essential tremor: turns on overlooked cells in central nervous system

UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN - THE FACULTY OF HEALTH AND MEDICAL SCIENCES

Research News

 

Medical cannabis is a subject of much debate. There is still a lot we do not know about cannabis, but researchers from the Department of Neuroscience at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences have made a new discovery that may prove vital to future research into and treatment with medical cannabis.

Cannabinoids are compounds found in cannabis and in the central nervous system. Using a mouse model, the researchers have demonstrated that a specific synthetic cannabinoid (cannabinoid WIN55,212-2) reduces essential tremor by activating the support cells of the spinal cord and brain, known as astrocytes. Previous research into medical cannabis has focussed on the nerve cells, the so-called neurons.  

'We have focussed on the disease essential tremor. It causes involuntary shaking, which can be extremely inhibitory and seriously reduce the patient's quality of life. However, the cannabinoid might also have a beneficial effect on sclerosis and spinal cord injuries, for example, which also cause involuntary shaking', says Associate Professor Jean-François Perrier from the Department of Neuroscience, who has headed the research project.

'We discovered that an injection with the cannabinoid WIN55,212-2 into the spinal cord turns on the astrocytes in the spinal cord and prompts them to release the substance adenosine, which subsequently reduces nerve activity and thus the undesired shaking'.

Targeted treatment with no problematic side effects

That astrocytes are part of the explanation for the effect of cannabis is a completely new approach to understanding the medical effect of cannabis, and it may help improve the treatment of patients suffering from involuntary shaking.

The spinal cord is responsible for most our movements. Both voluntary and spontaneous movements are triggered when the spinal cord's motor neurons are activated. The motor neurons connect the spinal cord with the muscles, and each time a motor neuron sends impulses to the muscles, it leads to contraction and thus movement. Involuntary shaking occurs when the motor neurons send out conflicting signals at the same time. And that is why the researchers have focussed on the spinal cord.

'One might imagine a new approach to medical cannabis for shaking, where you - during the development of cannabis-based medicinal products - target the treatment either at the spinal cord or the astrocytes - or, at best, the astrocytes of the spinal cord', says Postdoc Eva Carlsen, who did most of the tests during her PhD and postdoc projects.

'Using this approach will avoid affecting the neurons in the brain responsible for our memory and cognitive abilities, and we would be able to offer patients suffering from involuntary shaking effective treatment without exposing them to any of the most problematic side effects of medical cannabis'.

The next step is to do clinical tests on patients suffering from essential tremor to determine whether the new approach has the same effect on humans

 

Using conservation criminology to understand restaurant's role in urban wild meat trade

Restaurants in Central African urban areas are key drivers in keeping protected wildlife on the menu

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY

Research News

 

IMAGE: RESTAURANT MENU IN KINSHASA FEATURING PORCUPINE FOLLOWED BY A "WILD MEAT BROTH " view more 

CREDIT: WCS

KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (March 18, 2021) - A new study in the journal Conservation Science and Practice finds that restaurants in urban areas in Central Africa play a key role in whether protected wildlife winds up on the menu.

The study, by a team of scientists from Michigan State University, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and University of Maryland, used a crime science "hot product" approach, which looks at frequently stolen items coveted by thieves. The approach offered new insights into wildlife targeted by the urban wild meat trade and can inform urban wildlife policies.

The study engaged lower, middle, and upper-level tiered restaurants to understand which species were traded. The findings revealed that procurement of wild meat by restaurants was more targeted than opportunistic, with monkeys identified as "hot products" - species most at risk of being targeted by the urban wild meat trade in both Kinshasa and Brazzaville, the respective capital cities of Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo.

Restaurants in Brazzaville were more aware of laws and revealed a wider variety of wild meat species at risk of illegal trade. This could be suggestive that awareness of laws is not an effective deterrent against illegal activity, and instead might lead to adaptive practice, such as diversifying the range of products offered, and in doing so spreading out the risk associated with any one particular species.

Though the wild meat trade can and does exist legally, it crosses into illegality when sourcing wildlife that are protected from poaching by national laws and regulations. These can include hunting in protected areas, outside of permitted seasons, beyond set quotas, hunting protected species, or by individuals without permits) or from trading across borders by international laws.

Looking at consumer demand alone, besides monkeys, restaurant customers also commonly requested antelopes. The study found that although consumer demand is an important consideration for restaurants' purchasing decisions, it did not account for the cost and effort required to source a tradeable product. When factoring this in, pangolins were also identified as being at risk from the wild meat trade. This suggests the need to work with other supply chain actors besides consumers.

Knowing which wildlife are most at risk in urban centers can be helpful in focusing law enforcement efforts on compliance with species-specific rules say the authors.

"Restaurants have the potential to help reduce risks from the illegal wildlife trade and make their livelihoods more sustainable. Working with restaurants can also help build a community of informal wildlife guardians complementing law enforcement and legislative action, in a multi-pronged approach," said Sarah Gluszek, lead author now working for FFI.

The illegal wildmeat trade is a problem for urban zones in Central Africa, but the dynamics of the trade are poorly understood. At unsustainable rates and in illegal contexts, the wild meat trade is a driver of species extinction; it can also threaten ecosystem services, local food security and contribute to the risk of zoonotic disease spread.

###

WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society)

MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in nearly 60 nations and in all the world's oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: newsroom.wcs.org Follow: @WCSNewsroom. For more information: 347-840-1242.

'Germ Hunters' discover rare disease in rural Alberta BATS 

Fungal infection linked to bats has made the province home, according to researchers with Alberta Precision Labs and U of A.

UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA FACULTY OF MEDICINE & DENTISTRY

Research News

 

A rare pulmonary disease that is linked to bats has made Alberta home, according to new research led by provincial lab scientists.

Infectious disease experts at Alberta Precision Laboratories (APL) and the University of Alberta have confirmed that histoplasmosis - a fungal infection transmitted through bat and bird droppings - is now found in Alberta. Their study extends the known range of the disease much further northwest from its traditional home in the central United States and parts of southern Ontario and Quebec.

"We were surprised at how many cases were locally acquired, as histoplasmosis has always been considered a travel-related infection," said Dr. Tanis Dingle, APL's lead clinical microbiologist for fungal diseases and an assistant professor in the U of A's Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. "We now know that it is definitely living in Alberta and has the potential to infect people who come in contact with it."

The fungus can be present in contaminated dust particles, and when inhaled, patients experience respiratory infections with flu-like symptoms, including cough, fever, chills and headache. Cases are typically related to individuals who have come in contact with bat or bird droppings in old homes, churches, construction sites and parks.

Among 45 confirmed cases of histoplasmosis in Alberta between 2011 and 2018, the researchers used epidemiologic data and genetic analysis to determine that 15 of the cases were locally-acquired. The cases were primarily found in rural areas in central Alberta including Sundre, Stettler and county, Stony Plain and Spruce Grove. Previously, the geographic range of the fungus was not thought to expand further northwest than Minnesota, some 2000 km away. The results of the study were published this month in the medical journal The Lancet Microbe. In addition, early looks at the study led scientists at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to include the region in newly drawn maps of areas where the disease is known to occur.

"Knowing that histoplasmosis is here can help improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients who have no history of travel to the traditional risk areas," said Dr. Ilan Schwartz, assistant professor, division of infectious diseases, U of A. "Histoplasmosis can be a challenging disease to diagnosis and to treat, and patients often spend months before the correct diagnosis is made. Awareness that the disease is here is an essential first step for doctors to be able to consider the diagnosis and order the appropriate tests."

The researchers are also exploring whether climate change could be a factor in the spread of histoplasmosis to new geographies. In Alberta, increasing temperatures and decreasing precipitation have been documented over the past several decades, which might have resulted in more favorable conditions for Histoplasma to live in Alberta soils. The disease can survive in soil temperatures ranging from ?18°C to 37°C, the lower end of this range being common in Alberta winters.

The research team hopes to continue their work by further investigating soil samples to determine other areas in Alberta where the disease may be present.

###

The study, "Histoplasmosis acquired in Alberta, Canada: an epidemiological and genomic study," was published in the medical journal The Lancet Microbe.

It's snowing plastic

New technique detects minute particles of plastics in snow, rain and even soil

MCGILL UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

The snow may be melting, but it is leaving pollution behind in the form of micro- and nano-plastics according to a McGill study that was recently published in Environmental Pollution. The pollution is largely due to the relatively soluble plastics found in antifreeze products (polyethylene glycols) that can become airborne and picked up by the snow.

The researchers used a new technique that they have developed to analyze snow samples collected in April 2019 in Montreal for both micro- and nano-sized particles of various plastics. The McGill technique is orders of magnitude more sensitive than any of the other current methods used for tracing plastic in the environment. It allows scientists to detect ultra-trace quantities of many of the most common soluble and insoluble plastics in snow, water, rainfall, and even in soil samples once they have been separated - down to the level of a picogram (or one trillionth of a gram). It is based on using nano-structured mass spectrometry and, unlike other techniques currently in use, the new technique is both recyclable and based on sustainable practices.

"It is important to be able to detect even trace quantities of plastics in the environment," says senior author, Parisa Ariya, from McGill's Departments of Chemistry and Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. "Though these plastics may be harmless in themselves, they can pick up toxic organic matter and heavy metals from the environment, which can damage human cells and organs."

The first author, Zi Wang, a PhD Candidate at McGill adds, "Our hope is that this new technique can be used by scientists in different domains gain key information about the quantity of micro- and nano-plastics in urban environments in order to better address their impacts on the ecosystem and on human health."

###

To read: "Advances in Ultra-Trace Analytical Capability for Micro/Nanoplastics and Water-Soluble Polymers in the Environment: Fresh Falling Urban Snow", by Zi Wang, Nadim K. Saadé, and Parisa A. Ariya in Environmental Pollution.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116698

The research was funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), National Research Council Canada (NRC) and Environment of Climate Change Canada (ECCC).

 

Harbor porpoises attracted to oil platforms when searching for food

A large gathering of fish tempts harbor porpoises to search for food around oil and gas platforms, even though the noise from these industrial plants normally to scare the whales away; decommissioned platforms may therefore serve as artificial reefs

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

Research News

    SHARE

 PRINT  E-MAIL

IMAGE: THE STUDY SITE WITH THE OIL AND GAS PLATFORM DAN-F IN THE DANISH SECTOR OF THE CENTRAL NORTH SEA. TO THE RIGHT A SMALL SERVICE VESSEL AND A YELLOW BUOY... view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO: JEPPE BALLE DALGAARD.

A large gathering of fish tempts harbour porpoises to search for food around oil and gas platforms, even though the noise from these industrial plants normally to scare the whales away. Decommissioned platforms may therefore serve as artificial reefs in the North Sea.

Harbour porpoises are one of the smallest of all whales and the only whale that with certainty breeds in Danish waters. The harbour porpoise was protected in 1967 in Danish Waters, and researchers from Aarhus University, Denmark, have previously shown that underwater noise from ships, and seismic surveys of the seabed scare the porpoises away.

A brand new study now shows that in some parts of the year there are actually more porpoises searching for food around the largest Danish oil platform, Dan F, in the North Sea than just three to ten kilometres away from the platform.

21 listening stations in the North Sea

A team of researchers deployed 21 listening stations at the bottom of the North Sea. The innermost listening station was deployed immediately under the very large Dan F-oil and gas platform, while the outermost station was located 25.6 km away from the platform. One of the many listening stations was placed halfway between the inner- and outermost stations near the old oil well, Ragnar, which no longer produces oil.

The listening stations were left in the North Sea for two years to record all sounds below the surface of the sea, including the noise from ships and platforms, but also the sounds produced by porpoises for orientation and the so-called "buzz sounds" telling the researchers that the whales are actively hunting for food.

"With this study, we're presenting the first investigation of the presence and feeding activity of porpoises throughout the year around oil platforms, as far as we know," says senior researcher Jonas Teilmann from the Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Denmark, who headed the investigations.

The new discoveries have just been published in the British journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence, and the results from the many data surprised the researchers.

Food attracts more than noise scares

"During the six months from July to January, we heard more porpoises searching for food around the two installations, the Dan-F platform and the Ragnar well, than we did in control areas located 6 and 25 kilometres away from Dan-F. This was even as high as the highest porpoise activity we have seen for Natura 2000 sites in the inner Danish waters," says Jonas Teilmann.

According to the researchers, the installations act as natural reefs where porpoises are provided with favourable living conditions as numerous species of plants and animals settle on the structures and provide hiding places and more food to the fish. Moreover, fishing is prohibited within a radius of 500 metres from the platforms why the seabed is undisturbed from trawling.

At the Dan-F platform, the researchers heard extensive activity by porpoises when searching for food up to 800 metres from the platform. In fact, the researches know that there were up to twice as many porpoises just below the platforms than recorded by the acoustic recorders as the noise from the platform will often drown the sounds made by the porpoises. Not until a distance of 12 kilometres from the platform, the noise disappeared.

The researchers cannot answer the question of whether the porpoises slowly get used to the noise from the drilling platforms, but it is clear that the motivation for finding food is greater than the deterrence effect of the noise.

"Our data show that the porpoises ignored the annoyance of the underwater noise to exploit the greater availability of food around the fixed installations," says Jonas Teilmann.

Should artificial installations be left in place?

Especially during the period from July to January, it is important for the porpoises to consume as much food as possible in order to build up a solid layer of blubber that can bring the animals through the cold winter. It is also during these six months that the mothers need energy so they have sufficient milk for their calves.

In contrast, the researchers found that there are far fewer porpoises searching for food around the artificial installations in the period from February to June.

"The signals from porpoises were far less frequent during this particular period, but the buzz sounds revealed that the porpoises still searched for fish around the Dan-F platform and the Ragnar well from February to June. The noise from the platform is the same all year round, so we interpret the absence of porpoises as a change in the behaviour or the presence of fish," says Jonas Teilmann.

The researchers recorded sounds from porpoises around the clock and could therefore hear that the whales were more actively searching for food at night than during the day, as far as 800 metres from the Dan-F platform.

This came as a surprise to the researchers, but they know that light lures zooplankton, squids and fish up into the upper water column at night. This initiates an efficient food chain that ends with the porpoises. This could explain why the Dan-F platform was especially attractive at night, while the day activity was higher at Regnar, where no light was present.

The OSPAR Convention, which protects the North Sea, requires that all decommissioned oil and gas installations are removed from the North Sea. However, the researchers are now pointing out that the old installations may be left to serve as new artificial reefs in the North Sea, the so-called "Rigs-to Reef" concept. Platforms and other installations can increase the diversity and biodiversity in areas that have been destroyed by trawling or where the original stone reefs have been removed and used for construction projects on land.

The studies were financed by Total E&P Danmark A/S.

Further information: Senior Researcher Jonas Teilmann, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Denmark; mail: jte@bios.au.dk; phone: +45 2142 4291.

By Peter Bondo

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2688-8319.12055

CAPTION

A string with listening buoys is ready to be deployed in the sea. The bag, which is made of biodegradable hessian, is full of pebbles and serves as an anchor. From the surface, the researchers can acoustically release a hook to the anchors, bringing the recorders to the surface while the bags remain on the seabed where they dissolve.

CREDIT

Photo: Karin Clausen.

CAPTION

Porpoise mother with her calf.

CREDIT

Photo: Jeppe Balle Dalgaard.