Author Archives: dansterr3

New Survey Methods Give Hope for More Accurate Estimates of Antarctic Minke Whale Populations

Posted on April 9, 2014 | Comments Off on New Survey Methods Give Hope for More Accurate Estimates of Antarctic Minke Whale Populations

In a breakthrough report on March 13th, Dr. Williams and his team of experts surveyed Antarctic minke whales in the Southern Ocean using a never used before technique integrating helicopters.

Surveying in Antarctica is not an easy task. “Not only is a minke whale’s habitat a challenging place to work, it is also a changing place to work”, said Dr. Williams, a marine mammal conservation biologist, “as the climate is warming, it is changing the ice.”  He adds that the changing ice conditions could influence the amount of Antarctic minke whales that are available for surveying while on the icebreaker, which would therefore skew the data every year according to the amount of ice present.

The Antarctic Minke Whale: they have grey pectoral fins and their baleen colour is different from the Northern species of Minke Whales (Photo by Dr. Williams)

As we all know, polar regions are experiencing huge yearly variations in sea ice that are being linked to climate change. This greatly affects the organisms that live in those regions, such as the Antarctic minke whale.

Previous estimates by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) of the minke whale population showed a 30% decline. This decrease prompted Dr. Rob Williams and his team to test a breakthrough method that uses helicopters to determine a more accurate population estimate. They wanted to know if this population was really decreasing or if it was due to the inability of previous investigators to sample near the sea ice without using helicopters.

The use of helicopters makes this study so revolutionary (Photo by Dr. Williams)

Previous surveys were thought to be hindered by what they couldn’t see near the ice. Additionally, Dr. Williams believes that icebreaker ships could make large noises, scaring the whales away from their natural habitat, preventing the counting of the whales that would have been there. Hence, bringing helicopters to assist in surveying the Antarctic minke whale population is revolutionary and adds to the surveys from icebreakers.

YouTube Preview Image

The population of Antarctic minke whales could be essential to understanding the impact of climate change on their ecosystem.

Antarctic minke whales belong to a larger family of whales called baleen whales and are well adapted to the sea ice, but not much is known about them such as their diving capabilities. They are much larger than their northern counterparts and have significantly different skull forms. “The whales are there [by the ice] because that’s where the krill is”, said Dr. Williams. Naturally, minke whales move in toward the sea ice edge, where the krill thrive. Also, minke whales are hunted by the carnivorous killer whale, making them part of a complex ecosystem. Therefore, their response to the changing sea ice is very important in predicting how other organisms in the ecosystem will respond.

An interview with Dr. Williams reveals his passion for the Antarctic Minke Whales: Click HERE

Dr. Williams hopes that the attention from this study will help bring additional funding to support more research.

Dr. William states: “It is not about not only how many minke whales are there now, but how many minke whales do we think there are likely to be 50-100 years from now”.

By Cynthia Lung, Maria Benard, Dani Marcoux and Cindy Liang

References & additional sources:

 

Comments Off on New Survey Methods Give Hope for More Accurate Estimates of Antarctic Minke Whale Populations

Posted in Uncategorized

It’s in the Blood

Posted on March 10, 2014 | 7 comments

Breakthrough research was published on March 9th 2014 by Dr. Howard Federoff and a team of researchers in Washington DC. They developed a blood test that identifies 10 biological markers which has been shown to determine if healthy individuals will develop Alzheimer’s Disease within two or three years. This amazing stepping stone could help individuals receive treatment before developing symptoms of this horrible neurodegenerative disease.

YouTube Preview Image

35 million people all over the world have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, and this number is rising rapidly. The ripple effect of this disease touches many family members by having to care for them or put them in care-homes. Individuals with onset Alzheimer’s disease become confused, frustrated, and forgetful and eventually progress to where they cannot talk, feed, or even dress themselves. Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease affecting many innocent elderly people and hopefully in the near future, there will be tremendous progress in the treatment of Alzheimer’s; it may just start before symptoms even begin.

Visual representation of Alzheimer’s (Shuttershock)

“This is a very exciting time,” says Federoff, who leads the team. He states that the test could help patients at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and perhaps delay or even stop the progression. “We don’t really know the source of the ten molecules,” admits Federoff, but he suggests that they reflect the destruction of neurons in the brain, which ultimately leads to cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. When neurons are destroyed in the brain, they cannot come back online or be built again.

Simon Lovestone, a University of Oxford neuroscientist is also excited about the findings in this study. “We desperately need biomarkers which would allow patients to be identified – and recruited into trials – before their symptoms begin”, says Lovestone, who is also a coordinator of a European public-private partnership that searchers for new biomarkers for Alzheimer’s.

Blood Vials (Flickr: loscheiner)

Previous studies have emphasized treatment after diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, but no one has ever been completely cured. This new and important research uses blood that is easily accessible, and it has the ability to identify potential risk factors before any symptoms arise. Stopping the disease before it even happens could be an incredible advancement in this field.

Federoff highlights that larger studies must be done exploring a more diverse range of individuals including different races and ages. When these large-scale studies show positive results, perhaps early diagnoses can prevent the disease from becoming aggressive and debilitating to controlled and stable. Overall, this is very promising research that I see possibly flooding the medical field.

By Danielle Marcoux

Sources:

  • http://www.nature.com/news/biomarkers-could-predict-alzheimer-s-before-it-starts-1.14834
  • http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nm.3466.html
  • http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_what_is_alzheimers.asp
  • http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publication/alzheimers-disease-medications-fact-sheet
  • http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/guide/treatment-overview

7 Comments

Posted in Biological sciences, Issues in science, Science in the news, Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Marius the Giraffe: In Loving Memory

Posted on February 10, 2014 | 6 comments

This past weekend, Marius, a healthy two-year old giraffe was shot, dissected, and fed to the lions at the Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark. A horrendous act for what? The zoo claimed it was protecting the breeding program associated with the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). The zoo stated their actions were merited as this giraffe had genes too similar of the herd. Their reasoning was that it would increase the negative effects of inbreeding. Could the zoo or EAZA have done something to prevent the slaughtering of this perfectly healthy giraffe?

Marius the Giraffe (Imgur: hdow)

Breeding programs have been implemented in zoos world wide with a common goal to preserve global biodiversity especially for endangered or rare species. An important consideration is the genetic composition of the animals that are in captivity. If the animals are too genetically similar, inbreeding can occur and negative effects can become prominent in the population. Just like with humans, inbreeding, or incest, happens when you conceive a child with a close relative such as your cousin or your sibling. The child may have an increased mortality rate and a higher rate of being disabled. Mother nature has a way of making sure this rarely happens in the wild.

This phenomenon is called “inbreeding depression”. Offspring are more susceptible to be born with diseases and mutations resulting in decreased fitness. Fitness refers to the ability of the organism to survive and successfully produce healthy offspring. The most recent research on inbreeding depression in mammals discovered that it significantly impacts birth weight, survival, and reproduction.

Giraffes in the wild (Wikipedia)

Breeding programs, such as the one implemented by EAZA, aim to retain reproductive fitness while increasing genetic diversity, and overall growing the population. This means, they must have measures that prevent animals from becoming too genetically compromised. In the case at the Copenhagen Zoo, their standard operating procedures are elimination by death.

YouTube Preview Image

CNN reports on Copenhagen Zoo’s decisions 

Many other zoos were willing to pay to take the giraffe to prevent the slaughtering. Even a petition with 20,000 signatures was not enough to stop this event from happening. EAZA’s rules and regulations do not allow other zoos to take animals that aren’t a part of their breeding program. Perhaps it is time for a review of this archaic practice.

Dissection of Marius (Imgur: Snailoid)

From an ecologist’s perspective, other options should have been considered. Why not look into cross-continent breeding programs? It would increase genetic diversity with a lower chance of inbreeding while expanding the gene pool. However, shipping animals across continents is expensive and may not be a viable option. Retrieving gametes, sperm and ova, from another population would also increase genetic diversity within that population, with a potential lower cost.

The carnage of Marius the giraffe seemed rash and other options could have been considered. What was even more disturbing was how they let the children watch the so-called educational portion of their program.

Something needs to change before another Marius fiasco ensues.

Written by Danielle Marcoux

Other sources:

6 Comments

Posted in Biological sciences, Issues in science, Science communication, Science in the news

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,