BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Tag: bio

Are Rats Really Interacting With Reef Fish???

A new study has found that the presence of invasive rats on tropical islands is affecting the territorial behavior of fish on surrounding coral reefs. The rats, which arrived on the islands as stowaways on ships in the 1700s, change the behavior of jewel damselfish, a herbivorous species of tropical reef fish that “farm” algae in the branches of corals.Microspathodon chrysurus

The study, which was led by scientists from Lancaster University in the UK and involving researchers from Lakehead University in Canada, was published in Nature Ecology and Evolution and compared five rat-infested and five rat-free islands in a remote archipelago in the Indian Ocean. The rats disrupt an important nutrient cycle by attacking and eating small resident seabirds and their eggs, leading to a drop-off of nutrients in the seas surrounding rat-infested islands. This results in a lower nutrient content of seaweed for herbivorous fish, such as the damselfish. The damselfish around rat-infested islands behave less aggressively and need to have larger territories due to the lower nutrient content of the algae.

Seabirds travel out into the open ocean to feed and return to nest on islands. The seabirds then deposit nutrients, through their droppings, onto the islands, and many of these nutrients are subsequently washed into the seas, fertilizing the surrounding coral reef ecosystems. On islands with invasive rats, the rodent populations decimate the seabirds, leading to seabird densities that are up to 720 times smaller on rat-infested islands. This results in much less nitrogen flowing onto the coral reefs around these islands.

Seabirds LC0141

Around islands with intact seabird populations, the farming damselfish aggressively defend their small patch, typically less than half a square meter, of the reef to protect their food source – turf algae. However, the scientists observed that farming damselfish on reefs adjacent to rat-infested islands were much more likely to have larger territories and were five times more likely to behave less aggressively than those who lived on reefs adjacent to islands without rats. The damselfish around rat-infested islands need to have larger territories because the algae around rat-infested islands is less nutrient-rich due to the missing seabird-derived nutrients.

NSW seabed 1

This behavior change in the damselfish could potentially have wider implications for the spread of different species of coral, the distribution of other reef fish, and the resilience of damselfish over generations due to changes in hereditary traits. Changes in behavior are often the first response of animals to environmental change and can scale up to affect how and when species can live alongside one another. This study is the first to show that invasive rats can change the behavior of coral reef fish in this way and highlights the importance of understanding and managing the impacts of invasive species on ecosystems.

Students in our AP Biology class are likely to be familiar with these concepts of nutrient cycling and the importance of nutrients in supporting the growth and productivity of an ecosystem. The study highlights how the nutrient cycle on coral reefs is disrupted by the presence of invasive rats, leading to a drop-off in nutrients in the surrounding seas and a lower nutrient content of seaweed for herbivorous fish. This can have consequences for the growth and productivity of the coral reefs and the overall health of the ecosystem.

CAP v.s. HAP: Pneumonia in the Microbiome

While many may not know this, there are various types of pneumonia.  The most common variant, CAP (community-acquired pneumonia), is the most prevalent strain of the infectious disease.  As the name may suggest, CAP is acquired through daily interactions (whether that may be contact or inhalation of pathogens which could later travel to the lungs) with any surface that has bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae.

While pneumonia is a well-known infectious disease among the population in 2019 due to the plethora of literature and research done on it, most people do not know that other variants of pneumonia are contracted in different ways, through different strands of bacteria.  HAP (hospital-acquired pneumonia or healthcare-associated pneumonia) can be contracted from extended periods of time in a hospital, nursing home, or rehabilitation center.  This pneumonia variant is a result of the P. aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, which are completely different from the bacteria that cause CAP.

The demographics of people who suffer from each of these variants appear to be mostly similar with the only difference being that CAP has a stronger association with COPD whereas HAP still has an association with COPD, but in a smaller portion of the demographic.  Similarities between the two are the increased risk if one uses tobacco products or suffers from COPD, however, aside from these shared risk factors, the two variants are different in treatment methods (effectiveness of certain antibiotics) and contraction.

Relative to the microbiome, the major differences in the diseases can be found when testing biomarkers.  According to Ann Transl and Thomas Tschernig of the “Annals of Translational Medicine”, “lower levels in HAP as compared to CAP were found for MMP-8 and soluble E-selection, higher levels in HAP as compared to CAP were found for protein C”.

The significance of this discovery lies in the fact that the different variants of pneumonia could not be prevented, diagnosed, or treated in the same ways, thus exemplifying the dangers that would arise if the different variants were not classified and identified.

Additional resources.

 

 

CRISPR Produce… the future of Food?

For years, people have been getting their food from, primarily, agricultural and cattle sectors; however, with CRISPR, everything is about to change. Or is it? Can CRISPR actually be used to make food in labs and completely change the way that the world receives their nourishment? These are questions that tech, scientists, and investor moguls have been asking for years, and Bill Gates’ new start up may have found the answer!  

Memphis meats, a new tech company that is backed two tech moguls, Bill Gates’ and Richard Branson, believes that they have found a new way to feed the world. The Memphis team have been successful in creating lab grown meat, using the CRISPR method. With their proprietary patented technique, Memphis meats could be changing the world. One may not understand how beneficial lab grown food would be. It would: save animals, lower the amount of water use (while raising the cattle), and be able to be made both healthier and tastier.

 

The company uses a special technique that allows them to manufacture skeletal muscle, that is edible, using cells from the poultry species Gallus gallus, and from the livestock species Bos Taurus. In addition, Memphis meats is also exploiting new and innovative ways to make their products better for the environment and public health, and more affordable, and in turn, scalable – mass produced. With all this great innovation and progress, Memphis Meats says that they are a long way from making a product that is ready for customers and consumers. However, the future of food and agriculture is promising.

What do you think? Could CRISPR and “lab meats” change the way that humans get their food? Only time will tell.

This article is by Jon Christian from Futurism. The research and technology is proprietary and patented and not for the public to see.

article: https://futurism.com/bill-gates-startup-crispr-lab-meat

Lead Leads to Neurotoxitity

Have you ever heard of using bottled water to shower? Sounds ridiculous right, but the people of Flint, Michigan need to do this to save their lives. The city of Flint switched their water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River in April 2014. The river was later discovered to be contaminated. Since the changeover, scientists have linked the high lead levels in children’s blood to the contaminated water. This is a serious problem.

Lead is a highly toxic substance that permanently affects humans’ brains by killing nerve cells. Not only does lead harm kids’ brain processes, it also may cause various future mental diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Schizophrenia. Throughout U.S. history, people have been exposed to lead poisoning through basic everyday mediums, such as paint, water (from lead-contaminated water pipes), and dust. Children who eat paint chips or lick their fingers after coming in contact with products that have a lead component are poisoning themselves. The lead enters into the bloodstream and travels throughout the body, stealthily making itself at home, poisoning the body.

So how does lead poisoning work? Basically, lead disguises itself as zinc. Zinc is needed to anchor proteins that switch genes on and off. When zinc is replaced with lead, the switches cannot function properly, eventually leading to mental diseases.

Lead Poisoning

Scientists have been researching the possibility that lead is transferable in DNA to offspring. This could be devastating to a population of a town like Flint, Michigan, where the mothers who have lead poisoning could pass this on to their babies. The worst part is that there is no cure for lead poisoning.

Because of the devastating effects of lead in bloodstream, governments have debated the topic of legalizing contaminated water as a bioweapon, using lead as the contaminant. Governments in the past have used poisoned water as an assassination method, proving the effectiveness of this strategy.

Preventing lead exposure and poisoning is critical for children’s health and for future generations.

 

Source Article

For more info on the biowarfare, click here.

It’s a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the trees?

I would simply NEVER get involved with business in the Mafia because I am not 100% sure I could complete my side of the bargain. ( I have seen what happens in the movie ‘The Godfather‘.) It is hard to keep promise because you never know what situation can occur, and if you do fall back on your word, how will that person handle it.

In nature, there are many contracts made between animals. In biology they are known as “mutually beneficial relationship “. Animals coexist each expecting the other to hold up their side of the arrangement. However what happens when one partner does do their share? Well in the case of the Fig tree and the Fig wasp, the wasp dies. (kinda like the mafia)

Fig trees and wasps can make up a great mutualstic relationship. The fig tree’s figs are a perfect home for the wasps to lay their eggs, and in return the wasps have to spread the tree’s pollen. A study by students at Cornell University showed that the fig tree will purposely drop the fig containing the larva, letting the die as they hit the ground, if the wasp does not spread it’s pollen. dang.

Who knew trees were so tough? Maybe whoever said “the bark is worse than it’s bite”.

The study came about when graduate student Charlotte Jandér  wanted “to know what forces maintain this 80 million-year-old mutualism between figs and their wasp pollinators…What prevents the wasps from cheating and reaping the benefits of the relationship without paying the costs?” Now Charlotte knows the answer…death of their children.

Besides the 80 million-year-old relationship between fig trees and wasps, there are more than seven hundred species of fig trees and their mutullastic fig wasps. The pairings success is so remarkable it is hard to look at the fig tree’s tactic as cold or harsh, they have been together longer than humans. Maybe people will start to use more “tough love” to create a longlasting benefitial relationship.

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