Science, technology and ethics

Science and medicine are amazing. Slightly off topic, but really interesting none the less, check out this article on science, intervention, medical wonders, and ethics. About what? Using a surrogate mother to have a baby.
While not exactly mainstream, the trend seems to be rising. Like I said, I'm not sure it really has to do with 'conservation ecology' per se (although in a blog earlier this week, "Wooly mammoths on the return?", I pointed out the use of domestic cats as "surrogate mothers" to birth cloned wild African kitties), but it's an interesting timely piece about science, technology and ethics.

If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend the Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.
Cartoon fr. http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2008/07/choose_your_science_cartoon_id.php

Buy Nothing Day

Suddenly, we ran out of money and, to avoid collapse, we quickly pumped liquidity back into the system. But behind our financial crisis a much more ominous crisis looms: we are running out of nature… fish, forests, fresh water, minerals, soil. What are we going to do when supplies of these vital resources run low?

There’s only one way to avoid the collapse of this human experiment of ours on Planet Earth: we have to consume less.

Check out Buy Nothing Day at the Adbusters website. It's not a new event, I remember first hearing of it a decade ago when several television stations refused to air their paid advertisements encouraging people to buy nothing. I guess they were frightened that their more regular customers would be offended.

Oh, and happy thanksgiving.

Oceans Ten Times More Acidic Than Thought

In PNAS this week:
Dynamic patterns and ecological impacts of declining
ocean pH in a high-resolution multi-year dataset

Increasing global concentrations of atmospheric CO2 are predicted to decrease ocean pH, with potentially severe impacts on marine food webs.....
....Our results indicate that pH decline is proceeding at a more rapid rate than previously predicted in some areas, and that this decline has ecological consequences for near shore benthic ecosystems.

Or read the National Geographic summary.

Woolly Mammoths on the return?

So...let's say a species is extinct, how valuable is it to bring it back? Is it worth academic time and money?

Today's New York Times woolly mammoth article discusses using cloning to bring the beasts back. Not a joke.

Author Olivia Judson sums it up: "In regular cloning, the genome is from the same species as the egg. In cross-species cloning, the genome and egg are from different species. So, for mammoths, you’d put mammoth DNA into a blank elephant egg, and transplant the egg into an elephant surrogate mother. For Neanderthals, you’d put Neanderthal DNA into a blank human egg, and have a human surrogate mother (or, one day, perhaps, an artificial womb). For a bird like a dodo, you’d put dodo DNA into a blank pigeon egg (dodos were essentially big flightless pigeons), and pop the egg into an incubator. Easy peasy."

Hmm... 10 different species of mammals have already been cloned. Judson points out the challenges. It took '1,552 African wildcat kitten embryos transferred to domestic cats to produce only two healthy kittens; three gray wolf clones have been born from 372 embryos transferred into surrogate domestic dogs.'

If mammoths returned, where would we put them? What would some consequences be on the existing ecosystem? Wouldn't they be hot with global warming? Maybe they could be cloned to have less fur?? Should this be a research priority?

Photo by S. C. Schuster fr. http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/resurrection-science/?8dpc
See the NYT article for genetic references.

People and Marine Wildlife

In class we're learning about species conservation, endangered animals, and fishing of whales. What do you think about animals that are supposedly saved from the "dinner table" by being placed in aquariums? Is conservation being attained or are marine animals being exploited?

Can aquariums can be used as conservation tools? For example, the Georgia Aquarium hosts the "World's largest and most engaging aquarium." It boasts a "Ritz-Carlton"-esque home to its resident whale sharks, which are the world's largest fish and can grow up to 66 feet in length. The aquarium states that it is encouraging marine conservation and supporting research. The whale shark is listed on the World Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Animals as "indeterminate" status; little is known about the creatures, thus, any knowledge is beneficial, right? Furthermore, four whale sharks were proportedly saved from "Taiwan's kill quota, which means they would have ended up as food if they had not been brought to Atlanta".

Additionally, the aquarium advocates close contact with whale sharks in order for people to learn more about them (and have undeniably cool experiences they can tell friends about). Called the 'Swim with Gentle Giants' programme, six snorkelers and six divers can share the tank with the whales. Through the live webcam, you can also see the tank and fish from your home!

In spite of popularity among viewers, the aquarium's hosting of giant marine animals is controversial. For example, some past favorites entertainers, such as a Beluga whale, have been euthanized. The aquarium stated that the beluga "suffered from a string of chronic illness even before he came to the aquarium". However, overall, little is known about how wild marine animals do in captivity. For example, 4 aquarium whale sharks became sick from a tank chemical parasite treatment; they stopped treatment and the animals healed. During a later autopsy of one whale shark that died, scientists found that his death was due to a perforated stomach, most likely caused by the feeding tube. “Sometimes in science we learn as much through death as through life,” Mr. Swanagan, the aquarium’s president and executive director, wrote.

Some scientists refuse to attend a 2011 International Whale Shark Conference at the aquarium to protest the uncertainty and lack of science regarding keeping such animals captive.

Despite (or perhaps in response to) widespread controversial publicity, the aquarium is continuing to view large animals, such as the new guest/prisoner, Nandi: a young 9 foot winged female manta ray saved from entanglement in South African shark nets.

Shark photo fr. http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/conservation/whalesharkprogram.aspx
Belgua photo fr. John Amis/European Pressphoto Agency at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/08/weekinreview/08dewan.html?_r=1
Manta photo fr. David Banks/CNN at http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/08/25/manta.ray/index.html

Updated Office Hours this week

Hi Everyone,

My office hours this week will be Tuesday, November 25th right after class, instead of Wednesday.
MSRB 1304A
3:20 pm-5:00 pm

Feel free to still email me questions Wednesday; I'll be working from home.
Katherine

FWS Boxscores

Possibly a little optimistic about the speed with which things move in conservation biology the Fish and Wildlife Service maintain a summary page on the endangered species listings that is updated daily. Although it might not change much on a day to day basis it is nice to have a place you can always go to for the most accurate and up to date information.

The Fish and Wildlife Service pages on the Endangered Species Program contain a LOT of information, particularly on the 'Species information' link. Marine species are covered at National Marine Fisheries Service webpage on the NOAA website here.

It's not all bad

"As bad as his environmental record has been, he could, as one individual, protect more of the Earth's surface than anyone else in history," says Lance Morgan of the US Marine Conservation Biology Institute.

One of the George W. Bush's final acts as US president could be to create the largest marine conservation area in the world. President Bush is considering a proposal to turn up to 2.3 million square kilometres of tropical waters, coral reefs and remote island atolls in the Pacific Ocean into US National Monuments. In 2006, President Bush designated a 365,000 square kilometre Marine National Monument incorporating the northernmost islands of Hawaii, creating the world's largest protected marine area.

Short man or tall door?

Inspired by a section in 'The Week' magazine I'm going to start a new tag called 'Boring but important.' First use will for the news today that Representative Henry Waxman has won the chairmanship of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee from holder Representative John Dingell.

Although both men are members of the Democratic party Mr. Dingell has been a strong ally of the auto industry and has blocked many safety and environmental standards that the auto companies argued they could not meet.

Mr. Waxman has long championed clean air legislation, increased federal support for disease research and is a strong advocate of legislation to combat climate change. It is suggested that the tacit approval of Nancy Pelosi, that allowed the 'coup' that replaced Dingell, was designed to help accelerate passage of energy, climate and health legislation backed by President-elect Barack Obama.

Others have pointed out that it was Representative Waxman who was responsible for the exposure of the dubious scientific practices of big tobacco firms in congressional hearings in the mid '90's.

'Waxman is now in a position to haul the energy executives onto to the floor and demand they release their strategy documents to confuse the science of global warming and expose this campaign just like he did with Big Tobacco. He now has the power to expose this campaign of confusion that has effectively delayed action on the most important issue we face today.'

Talk on fish and biological invasions.

This Monday November 24th, 6pm at Harder South there is a talk on fish and biological invasions by Roland Knapp (Research Biologist, UCSB.)

Title: Thinking outside of the lake: fish impacts on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in the Sierra Nevada.

For more info, please contact Lisa Stratton at stratton@lifesci.ucsb.edu