Conservation of Heysham Moss

Heysham Moss bog fire is 'blow to conservation'
9 April 2013 Last updated at 17:52 GMT 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-22086361

 

A "significant blow" was the description of a fire which basically destroyed a nature reserve on the north LAncashire site. 
The lancashire wildlife trust states that it probably will take years till the raised bog will recover from the fire and go back to the way it was.Reuben Neville, a member of the trust, claims that the fire possibly threatens the survival of several rare endangered species. The reserve was put up to protect these exact species.
He said: "Critically some of the important bog mosses can be damaged or lost completely.
"It is these Sphagnum mosses as they are known, that are vital for a healthy and actively growing bog.
"With an ability to hold and absorb water they are crucial in regulating the flow of rainfall into the lower layers of peat, keeping the surface layers damp and eventually building up to form new peat.
"Fire can also change the surface of the peat itself reducing its water-holding capacity as well as leaving it susceptible to erosion and degradation."
The fire therefore had a huge impact on what happens in the reserve now and the Lancashire Wildlife trust hopes and prays that their reserve will recover properly. Heysham Moss is a supporter to quite a number of bo plants "including round leaved sundew, bog myrtle, bog rosemary, bog asphodel and the locally-rare white beaked sedge."
The fire occurred on the weekend and was only discovered by staff members on Monday.
Much of the site is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and was purchased by the Lancashire Wildlife Trust in 2004.

Reason for memory loss?

Arc protein 'could be key to memory loss', says study

June, 9, 2013

 

 

Discovery about the role of an important brain protein has been made. The protein is necessary in translating learning into long term memories.Research into this protein called "arc protein" may be a new way to cure neurological diseases, but further research has to be conducted.
The study suggests, the same protein may play a big role in the disease of autism. The lack of this arc protein was also found in the brain of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Dr.Steve Finkbeiner, a professor of physiology and neurology at the University of California claims that work done in labs showed that the role of the arc protein was essential.
"Scientists knew that Arc was involved in long-term memory, because mice lacking the Arc protein could learn new tasks, but failed to remember them the next day," he said.

Arc is supposed to be a "master regulator" in the act of forming long term memory.

During memory formation, specific genes have to be switched on and off at specific time so proteins that help neurons lay down new memories can be generated, is what the conducted study suggested. 

Apparently, arc proteins guide this process from inside of the nucleus.

So the reason for memory loss could be the absence of the arc protein.
The study shows that dysfunctions in the production of the arc protein aswell as problems in the transport could be a big part of autism. "The Californian research team said they hoped further research into the Arc protein's role in human health and disease would provide even deeper insights into these disorders and lay the groundwork for new therapeutic strategies to fight them."

 

Hungry caterpillars

Hungry caterpillars invade Pitsea gardens

June, 8, 2013

  

In Essex, a man has experienced something completely new for hi. He awoke to a "perfectly white" scene. Caterpillars had attacked the trees in his garden overnight as seen in the picture.

The ermine moth caterpillars hadn't been there for long and just arrived in Stokefelde, Pitsea, about a week ago. There were so many caterpillars, in only one night the eat their way through the whole tree leaving a "web of white in their wake"/
An observer, the neighbor of the garden where this occurred, says: "It is a dreadful sight.
The caterpillars look like maggots with a yellow white colour and a lenghth of 2.5cm.
Mr. Cassidy, who associated the white webs with halloween decoration states, that he wasn't concerned in the beginning and did not pay a lot of attention until the population started increasing and getting bigger and bigger.
He has talked to Basildon Council and they have observed the situation but claim that nothing can be done right now.They were told that the tree will recover and go back to normal if we only let nature go its own way and not interfere with that.
I think it's interesting how this caterpillar population invaded the tree over night and no one thought it would be something serious. Especially the last statement makes me think.
To what extent should we let nature go its own way? What and what does not give us the right to interfere? It might have helped the tree to spray pesticides and get rid of the caterpillars but we would have killed a whole population of caterpillars and the tree might recover on its own way.

Alpine Lakes Reflect Climate Change

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130606110513.htm

Retired Austrian researcher Dr. Martin Dokulil, once a professor at the Institute of Limnology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria recently predicted changes in water temperatures in large Austrian lakes by 2050.

The lakes of Austria vary in size, altitude, geographical location and many other factors. All of these factors make the ecosystems in certain lakes unique from others. The ecosystems of these lakes are very delicate in the sense that the organisms within them are very sensitive to change. There has been evidence to support that the climate is directly linked with surface temperature. Due to climate change, the surface temperatures of these lakes will also change. It can be argued that these changes may even have economic consequences with relation to tourism.

Dokulil used the Austrian Hydrological Yearbooks to make predictions about the temperatures and surface temperatures of lakes in Austria by 2050. He looked at recorded surface temperatures and air temperatures of 9 different lakes in and bordering Austria situated in different climatic zones. The data used stretched back to the mid 1960's.

His results showed that surface temperatures of water in Austrian lakes could possibly rise by 3 degrees Celsius. This may not seem like a lot to us, however Dokilil suggests that this could have many effects on the water quality and organisms within the lakes. He states that warmer water temperatures would result in changes with regard to nutrient loads which would encourage algal growth, which in turn would affect water quality. Also, some aquatic species cannot perform certain biological function in warmer waters which would also have an affect on the ecosystems. He even suggests that the carbon cycling of the lakes would be much higher in the summers which could also result in further changes in climate.

I chose this article because of our brief overview of the topic of pollution. I found it interesting that climate change can have such a large impact on not only land-based ecosystems, but also aquatic ones. These studies and predictions should be an indicator that things need to change. 

Travis Eller
National Geographic
"Seven Energy-Smart Zoos and Aquariums"
Brian Handwerk, May 23, 2013

This article is about a zoo in Seattle that has taken up a bunch of new energy efficient features. They use a large amount of water and energy to periodically drain the different exhibits in the zoo to clean the water and generally keep them hygienic for the animals. Previously this had required a huge amount of water and energy to be used and was incredibly wasteful. Now they have installed a new water filtration system that would be loved by people who are ecocentric. This new system simulates how the environment would keep it's water supply clean. The water is put through an engineered version of the water cycle using evaporation and rainwater collection. Not only is this water system more efficient for the zoo, it also prevents the dirty water from the zoo from ending up in the Puget Sound (body of water next to Seattle). Another very cool part of the new water system is the fact that it uses plant roots in another part of the zoo to filter the water before it is put back in the habitats of the zoo's animals. This is a great example of being able to use a natural solution to a modern problem. Instead of using modern cleaning processes which can include nasty chemicals this zoo has come up with an interesting "green" way to do the job.
One interesting thing about this article for me personally is that I have been to this zoo before. It was one of the things I loved to do when I visited Seattle. I think that I owe a large part of my appreciation of nature to the fact that I was able to see so many amazing animals at this zoo.

Outback Tornado
National Geographic
Ker Than
September 20th, 2012

This article is about a video shot by an Australian News crew. They were in the outback filming a wildfire that had been raging and they ended up getting a fire tornado on camera.  To the film crew and those who saw it on tv this was an incredibly rare occurrence and something that is pretty amazing to see. One of the witnesses described it as the sound of a jet flying directly overhead when there was absolutely no wind in the area surrounding them. This would seem to be an incredibly unlikely event in nature but as the article says its actually some what common. The reason we think these are uncommon is because the majority of the time they happen it is without a human witness. The way this applies to our ESS class is the fact that humans don't see a lot of things in nature. We do not necessarily see the impact we make on the environment immediately, if even at all. What we need to do is be constantly vigilant in the environmental to changes that could have been caused by human activity. Otherwise there could be an enormous change in an ecosystem without our knowledge simply because we haven't looked.

Study: Coffee May Reduce Risk of Oral Cancer

A recent study has shown that the consumption of coffee regularly may lower the risks of an individual having  oral/pharyngeal cancer- meaning mouth, throat, and lung cancer. This study says that people who drank four cups of coffee a day are 50% less likely to get oral/pharyngeal cancer than people who drink coffee irregularly or not at all. This study was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology December of 2012, so fairly recently. When the experiment was done, no link was found with decaffeinated coffee or tea, but the link was found through testing and analysis and surveys that people who drink coffee regularly are less likely to suffer from these types of cancer. This article got me wondering. We were always told not to drink too much coffee, but now it is said that because of the antioxidants and other substances coffee may prevent cancer. Who is to be listened to? What old medicine has been saying for years, or a recent discovery? Overall, the biggest prevention to lung, throat, or mouth cancer is not smoking, and coffee may simply help a bit. Overall, even though this information is tested and true in some cases, drinking four coffee cups a day may have other side effects, therefore making a balance between drinking some coffee, but not too much is probably the best option :-)