C U B E: February 2012

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Tigers and Cameras NatGeo Live! - Steve Winter

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Tarsiers have ultrasonic communication

A recent study has revealed that Philippine tarsiers are capable of communicating with each other via ultrasonic sounds, which are inaudible to most animal species including humans. This type of communication might have developed in order to compensate for the inefficient nocturnal vision of tarsiers and may serve as an alarm call mechanism.

It was not understood why tarsiers sometimes seemed to be yawning, as their mouths were opening but no sound was audible. By recording sounds using an ultrasonic microphone, it was discovered that tarsiers were emitting sounds ultrasonically, at a sound-level far from the range of the human ear.

The Philippine Tarsiers, which was the study species, is a near-threatened species due to extensive habitat destruction with a decreasing population trend

(IUCN, 2012)

Study Abstract

"Few mammals—cetaceans, domestic cats and select bats and rodents—can send and receive vocal signals contained within the ultrasonic domain, or pure ultrasound (greater than 20 kHz). Here, we use the auditory brainstem response (ABR) method to demonstrate that a species of nocturnal primate, the Philippine tarsier (Tarsius syrichta), has a high-frequency limit of auditory sensitivity of ca91 kHz. We also recorded a vocalization with a dominant frequency of 70 kHz. Such values are among the highest recorded for any terrestrial mammal, and a relatively extreme example of ultrasonic communication. For Philippine tarsiers, ultrasonic vocalizations might represent a private channel of communication that subverts detection by predators, prey and competitors, enhances energetic efficiency, or improves detection against low-frequency background noise."

more information:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/02/08/tiny-tree-dwelling-primate-called-tarsier-sends-and-receives-ultrasonic-calls/

article website: http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2012/01/27/rsbl.2011.1149

references:

Dartmouth College (2012, February 8). Tiny primate is ultrasonic communicator.ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 9, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120208220210.htm

M. A. Ramsier, A. J. Cunningham, G. L. Moritz, J. J. Finneran, C. V. Williams, P. S. Ong, S. L. Gursky-Doyen, N. J. Dominy. Primate communication in the pure ultrasound. Biology Letters, 2012; DOI:10.1098/rsbl.2011.1149

Shekelle, M. & Arboleda, I. 2008. Tarsius syrichta. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on09 February 2012.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

New Nature Reserve Established in Peru

The government of Peru together with an indigenous group have established a new nature reserve in the Amazon. The Maijuna Reserve covers 390,000 hectares of pristina forest and river banks, and is home to endangered wildlife such as giant river otters, jaguars and brazilian tapirs.

Read more:http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0207-hance_maijunareserve.html#ixzz1ljjtLJys

CUBE is going on an expedition to another nature Reserve in the Peruvian Amazon, please helps us by doing a few simple fundraising tasks. Have a search on our easysearch page, and shop online via our easyfundraising page! Each time you search or make an online purchase, a few percentage will be given to fund our expedition.

Easyfundraising also has promotions that you will not want to miss, so you are not only saving money but also supporting a good cause :)

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http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/lauranunes/?u=29KHZL

http://www.indiegogo.com/4-week-research-assistant-in-Peru?a=293585

Sunday, February 5, 2012

All in the Family, nature PORTUGAL

Peneda-Gerês National Park, Portugal

July 2010

more at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/solero/sets/72157624520250377/

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Saturday, February 4, 2012

Tracking the mighty albatross - Environment Sci - Video - 3 News

Video:Tracking the mighty albatross - Environment Sci - Video - 3 News

Article: http://www.3news.co.nz/Tracking-the-mighty-albatross/tabid/1160/articleID/241382/Default.aspx

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Snow Leopard Trust Featured on BBC World News!

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Friday, February 3, 2012

Grasshopper, PORTUGAL

Peneda-Gerês National Park, Portugal

July 2010

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Young Sally Lightfoot Crab, GALAPAGOS

Galapagos Islands,

Ecuador,

April 2009

Red rock crab (Grapsus grapsus)

a sally lightfoot :)

more at:

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Thursday, February 2, 2012

Insect in a purple flower, PORTUGAL

in Reserva Natural do Sapal de Castro Marim V.R.S.A, Algarve Portugal

in April 2010

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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

VIDEO: “Chasing Ice” receives Excellence in Cinematography Award for Documentary Films at Sundance

Ground-breaking research in the Amazon River

Researchers are listening to fish sounds in the Amazon river.

This emerging technique in marine and aquatic ecology may be useful in the monitoring of sound-emitting fish populations, their dispersal trends in space and time and also their activity patterns.

It can also be used for studies in courtship behaviour and spawning, allowing the detection and conservation of critical habitat sites.

Furthermore, studies on noise pollution can also be conducted, thus providing a bigger understanding into the anthropogenic noise and its interference in the fishe's behaviour and ecology.

Operation Wallacea is supporting a ground-breaking research initiative in the Peruvian Amazon, in order to document the aquatic sounds of the Amazon River. Lack of data on the aquatic sound database is one of the biggest limitations of this research field, therefore Operation Wallacea's involvement will undoubtedly contribute enormously to this area of research and consequently to our increasing understanding on fish behaviour, ecology and conservation.

It is expected that the sounds recorded during the Peru expeditions this summer will be new to science!

CUBE is going to take part in this research initiative, please support this cause!

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http://www.biodiversityscience.com/2012/01/31/fish-sounds-in-the-amazon/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue+5+-+volunteers&utm_content=Issue+5+-+volunteers+CID_035ee8cc7bd0330945665b3379012517&utm_source=E+Newsletter&utm_term=Scientists+are+using+underwater+technology+to+listen+in+on+fish

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Yellows and Browns in Gerês, Portugal

Peneda-Gerês National Park, Portugal

July 2010

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Snow Leopards and Stem Cells

A study by scientists at Monash University are using stem cells to study the endangered Snow Leopard.

Study Abstract:

Induced pluripotency is a new approach to produce embryonic stem-like cells from somatic cells that provides a unique means to understand both pluripotency and lineage assignment. To investigate whether this technology could be applied to endangered species, where the limited availability of gametes makes production and research on embryonic stem cells difficult, we attempted generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from snow leopard (Panthera uncia) fibroblasts by retroviral transfection with Moloney-based retroviral vectors (pMXs) encoding four factors (OCT4, SOX2, KLF4 and cMYC). This resulted in the formation of small colonies of cells, which could not be maintained beyond four passages (P4). However, addition of NANOG, to the transfection cocktail produced stable iPS cell colonies, which formed as early as D3. Colonies of cells were selected at D5 and expanded in vitro. The resulting cell line was positive for alkaline phosphatase (AP), OCT4, NANOG, and Stage-Specific embryonic Antigen-4 (SSEA-4) at P14. RT-PCR also confirmed that endogenous OCT4 and NANOG were expressed by snow leopard iPS cells from P4. All five human transgenes were transcribed at P4, but OCT4, SOX2 and NANOG transgenes were silenced as early as P14; therefore, reprogramming of the endogenous pluripotent genes had occurred. When injected into immune-deficient mice, snow leopard iPS cells formed teratomas containing tissues representative of the three germ layers. In conclusion, this was apparently the first derivation of iPS cells from the endangered snow leopard and the first report on induced pluripotency in felid species. Addition of NANOG to the reprogramming cocktail was essential for derivation of iPS lines in this felid. The iPS cells provided a unique source of pluripotent cells with utility in conservation through cryopreservation of genetics, as a source of reprogrammed donor cells for nuclear transfer or for directed differentiation to gametes in the future.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0093691X11004936

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120123094758.htm

References:

R. Verma, M.K. Holland, P. Temple-Smith, P.J. Verma.Inducing pluripotency in somatic cells from the snow leopard (Panthera uncia), an endangered felid.Theriogenology, 2012; 77 (1): 220 DOI:10.1016/j.theriogenology.2011.09.022
Monash University (2012, January 23). Saving the snow leopard with stem cells. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 1, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120123094758.htm

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