Study launched to find out how male and female orangutans meet to mate

April 2014: A graduate student from the University of California is embarking on an 18-month expedition using cutting-edge technology to study orangutans in Southeast Asia.

James Askew, whose family lives in England, will spend nine months each at Gunung Leuser National Park in Northern Sumatra and Kutai National Park in East Borneo. His research focusses on deciphering the role male orangutan calls play in the animals’ social structures and reproductive strategies. The calls can last for four minutes at around 100 decibels – roughly as loud as a chainsaw – and the sound can be heard as far away as a mile.

“Orangutans are highly dispersed, rarely encountering one another in dense jungle,” said Askew. “Yet they are very cognitively able and demonstrate relationships that appear to be based on previous encounters. So, interpreting what’s encoded in long distance calls, and how females are using this information, will play a pivotal role in our understanding of their social structure and reproductive relationships.”

Continued

Plans to help the pine marten recover in southern Britain

Pine marten struggling to re-establish itself in England and Wales
October 2013. The Vincent Wildlife Trust (VWT), with support from statutory agencies and other conservation organisations has decided to carry out a new study to look at the feasibility of boosting pine marten numbers in England and Wales.
Pine martens are doing well in Scotland - recovering naturally from their Highland stronghold. In England and Wales, however, the picture is far from rosy and it now seems that pine marten numbers in England and Wales dipped too low during the last century for the population ever to recover naturally.

No recent evidence of breeding or natural recovery
Chairman of the VWT, Dr Tom Tew said: "With no recent evidence of breeding or natural recovery, reinforcement of the existing UK population could be the only way to restore a viable pine marten population in southern Britain. This would mean supplementing the current pine marten populations in England and Wales with animals from elsewhere".

Embarking on this new study is the culmination of more than 30 years of pine marten research and survey work carried out by the VWT: research that has given a clear picture of the causes of the pine marten's decline and the requirements for its survival. A data base of sightings collected over this period has allowed the Trust to identify pine marten ‘hot spots' in which to focus its efforts. However, despite the use of sophisticated detection equipment, such as remote cameras offering 24/7 surveillance opportunities and, more recently, advanced DNA techniques, there has only been a handful of unequivocal records in the last 20 years.


Continued

How Ocean Energy Impacts Life in the Deep Sea: Results Will Help Scientists Understand What to Expect Under Future Climate Change

ScienceDaily (Sep. 5, 2012) — A new study of deep-sea species across the globe aims to understand how natural gradients in food and temperature in the dark, frigid waters of the deep sea affect the snails, clams, and other creatures that live there.

Similar studies have been conducted for animals in the shallow oceans, but our understanding of the impact of food and temperature on life in the deep sea -- Earth's largest and most remote ecosystem -- has been more limited.

The results will help scientists understand what to expect in the deep sea under future climate change, the researchers say. "Our findings indicate that the deep sea, once thought remote and buffered against climatic change, may function quite differently in the future," they write.

All living things need energy in the form of food, heat and light to survive, grow, and reproduce. But for life in the deep sea -- defined as anything beyond 600 feet (200 m) -- energy of any kind is in short supply. Descend more than a few hundred feet beneath the ocean surface, and you'll find a blue-black world of near-freezing temperatures, and little or no light.

Because so little of the sun's light penetrates the surface waters, there are no plants for animals to eat. Most deep-sea animals feed on tiny particles of dead and decaying organic matter drifting down from the sunlit waters above. It is estimated that less than 1% of the food at the surface reaches the ocean's watery depths.


Continued:   http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120905135338.htm