Discovery in the Department

Unsung Hero

I must admit, researching for this month’s theme, ‘Discovery in the De-partment’, has been a trifle frustrating. The trouble is, reserved scientists do not like to sensationalise their findings with words like ‘discovery’. Neverthe-less, research of importance and influ-ence has been born of UoB’s School of Biological Sciences. A quick GOOGLE of his name reveals nothing but a few citations; no hints towards his notoriety. There are no stuffy sepia prints of him hanging at Woodland Road and his books are difficult to locate in the library, but Harry Crofton is the primary influence on two of Britain’s most respected scientists and, arguably, the father of modern parasitology.He moved here to Bristol from the University of Newcastle in the late 1950s and, in 20 years, had established himself as a leading voice in his field. As so often is the case in science, his discovery was not an unearthing of something never seen before but, instead, an enlightening of the familiar by way of a new approach. So much so that his breakthrough was made on somebody else’s data; that of two scientists from Exeter working on Acanthocephalan worms parasitising in

freshwater shrimps.Since animals were first dissected in the name of Biology, people have noted and counted the presence of internal parasites, and knowledge of their hugely complex and unearthly lifecycles has been developed over years of observa-tion. But until 1971, when Crofton scratched his head, no one had arranged the data into their crucial portrayal. In “A quantitative approach to parasit-ism”, our Harry plotted & described the distribution of parasites among their hosts; and in so doing he opened up a completely novel perspective with which to study the eternal arms race. He found that most potential hosts had a very low number of (or no) , parasites inside them, while a minority had a huge burden. It sounds dry to a student majority inspired by Irwin not Darwin (that’s Steve and Charles by the way) but its significance to our understanding of infection is mind blowing. Lord Robert May and Sir Roy Anderson are as ubiquitous as Crofton in refer-ence lists, but their work stems from the inspired insight provided by him. Lord May was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK government and President of the

Royal Society. His collaborator Sir An-derson, is Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence, was founding direc-tor of the Wellcome Trust’s Centre for Infectious Disease, and is influential in the World Health Organisation. Blimey, that’s a lot of success, and all in the wake of a Bristol lecturer. Their work reflects the human consequence of Crofton’s dis-covery; with research into bird flu, rabies and AIDS, made possible by his work on infection.Third-world countries, perhaps unsur-prisingly, are where human and stock animal parasites are still a major chal-lenge to development. With an under-standing of their distribution among suf-ferers, limited funds and medication can be directed toward those who will gain the most benefit, reducing the primary source of transmission from populations. Funding for all such projects is limited, so targeted treatment can maximise the effectiveness and reap the most benefit for everyone at risk. Further studies con-sidering the repopulation of hosts have found that those people who had carried the biggest burden before treatment are those to be reinfected and plagued once more. This has interesting implications for evolutionary Biology and the genetic basis behind resistance. Creationists put ‘fingers-on-lips’ because “nothing makes sense in Biol-ogy except in the light of evolution”, and Crofton’s work has more to tell us about the process. The binomial distribution that developed in front of Harry’s eager eyes is a revealing insight into natural se-lection. Parasites are kept in check, ironi-cally, by the death of the hosts within which they bear most success. In death, an unlucky host has removed itself as the major source of infection for others of its own species, and therefore slowed para-site species perpetuation. The remaining parasites will only survive if their host does; and so, for the majority of them, low numbers and negligible effects on the health of their host are selected for. Crofton had achieved notoriety with the publication of just two impor-tant papers. He may have published more of the same worth if he had not suffered an early death aged just 56. It was, quite simply, a tragedy, and a great loss to science. His approach to Biology is his legacy.

My sincere thanks to Professor Tinsley for coming to the rescue at short notice.

Our department has often been praised as belonging to one of the Red Brick Universities of the country, but where does this reputation come from? In this fourth issue of The Missing Link, our writers take you on a tour of some of the past, present and future discoveries of the Biological Sciences Department at Bristol.

In the next issue of The Missing Link, the last for this academic year, writers are invited to explore the theme: “People and Biology”, how individuals have made a career out of Biology - from film-makers to researchers. To participate in this final issue, contact ls5384@bris.ac.uk and find out how you can get involved.

For next year, an exciting project is under development to transform The Missing Link into a Life Sciences Magazine, including departments such as Anatomy, Vet-erinary Sciences, and Physiology etc. Become part of this great initiative by joining the Missing Link Editorial Team; learn more at the AGM on Thursday 15th of March at 1pm in B75.

I hope you enjoy this issue,

Laura SaezEditor

Nick Easton discovers that the Biological Sciences department at Bristol was once home to one of the most influential scien-tists in modern parasitology, H.D. Crofton.

Discovery in the Department

Whilst many people think that the discovery of a new species involves wandering around in the jungle until you find one, there are other ways of achieving this, as Prof. Gareth Jones, lecturer and researcher at the Univer-sity of Bristol, can say from experience. Animals that are different species can often be mislabelled as one and the same, especially if the two species look very similar. This is just the case with the Pipistrelle bat; a common bat found throughout the UK and Europe. They are the smallest European bats, and are found in a variety of habitats - including open woodland, parks, marshes, farmland and urban are-as. Their numbers are declining, and they are protected by a Biodiversity Action Plan. It was long known that Pipistrelles had two different ‘voices’, but these were thought to be a product of the bat’s habi-tat. The two types of bat ‘voice’ differed in their frequency; one is recorded at 45 kHz and the other is recorded at 55 kHz. Professor Jones decided to investigate the matter. First he did a simple test: he caught bats and released them in control-led habitat settings. These findings led him to develop the idea that there were

actually two separate species of Pipist-relle, not just one. The research results fuelled further exploration, and recordings of different Pipistrelle roosts were made and compared. Each separate roost contained only one of the two frequencies. This gave more evidence to the theory of two separate Pipistrelle species rather than one. The project grew, and Prof. Jones had a team of 3rd year students analyse more echolocation patterns to confirm his previous findings. A summer student from Cam-bridge, named Sofie van Parijs, helped Prof. Jones to record more roosts and gather further evidence for his argument for two species of Pipistrelle. In 1993 they wrote a paper declaring the theory and argument for the existence of two Pipis-trelle species based on the observations about Pipistrelle behaviour related to call frequency. The paper was published by the Proceedings at the Royal Society of London, and caused quite a commotion amongst the scientific community. No one believed the idea at first, and then slowly people accepted it. Eventually, everyone acted as if they had known the truth all along!

The publication and success of the paper led to further research into the Pipistrelles using genetic analysis, pub-lished in Nature. Also, ecological research found that these two types of Pipistrelle occupy different ecological niches, fur-ther supporting the original claim. Each species therefore needs its own habitat management strategy to improve its con-servation planning. Sofie van Parijs went on to be a researcher in bioacoustics. A large research program was formed, and several other cryptic species of bats have been discovered by Professor Jones and co-workers in India, Malaysia, and China. Gareth Jones’ lab has accom-plished more than just discovering a new Pipistrelle bat, however. They have done research into many other bat-related topics. Projects include surveillance for rabies in bats and the effects of oil palms on bat biodiversity in Malaysia. A project on the biodiversity of bats in India is complete, a conservation centre in China is being built, and molecular phylog-enies of bats are used to show taxonomic distinctiveness. Molecular methods to determine bat diet are also being devel-oped. The bat lab has recently branched out, and is doing a project on primate communication in the Amazon.

Bat statistics from http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/291.html

Discovering SpeciesKristina Welch finds out that not only are new species are dicovered all the time, but some of those discoveries have been made by researchers here in our own department..

Graph showing different social calls of two species of pipistrelle bat. (a) Pipistrellus pipistrellus = 45 kHz(b) Pipistrellus pygmaeus = 55 kHz

Fixing NatureLaura Saez talks to Jane Memmott about a novel approach to Ecology, and finds out if nature really can recover if we give it a helping hand.

When it comes to discoveries Dr Jane Memmott, coordinator of the Com-munity Ecology group at the University of Bristol, doesn’t have to look very far. A paper on plant-pollinator interac-tions in restoration ecology has just been accepted for publication, and will shortly appear in the Journal of Applied Ecology1. The paper addresses the ever-popular question “can ecosystems be fixed?” but with a twist. A prerequisite (one word) for the restora-tion of natural habitats is the re-intro-duction of plant and pollinator species into an ecosystem. With a smile, Jane refers to this process as “gardening”. If the interactions between species are not also restored, then in the long-term the ecosystem will collapse again, and these species will have to be constantly reintro-duced (one word). In a new model of restoration ecology, Jane’s team therefore looks for evidence of “function instead of structure.”The soon-to-be-published paper looks at the interaction of pollinators in a paired design, involving restored and ancient heathland in the Isle of Purbeck in Dor-set, one of the UK’s biodiversity hotspots. The heathland used for the experiment has now been part of a restoration project

for 15 years, and shows promising results as all the species seem to have been ef-fectively restored – except one. In an even more recent study, focusing on the interaction between bumblebees and parasites - for which the paper will shortly be submitted to Ecology Letters2 - it was found that for unknown rea-sons the parasitic flies of the Conopidae family were reduced in their abundance and prevalence in hosts at restored sites, modifying the ecosystem’s entire struc-ture, and potentially jeopardizing it’s long-term resilience. Studying the fascinating strategy of these flies involves catching bumblebees in mid-flight and injecting fly larvae into their abdomen before releasing them. The bumblebee’s entire abdomen is filled with larvae, but only one will survive to form a puparium. In this hibernation state, the conopid will overwinter and finally emerge out of the bee in Spring as an adult conopid, leaving the bee’s empty shell behind. Regardless of the usual repulsion associated with parasites, Jane emphasizes that they represent a huge fraction of biodiversity; and have been found to be increasingly important in restoration ecology as good indicators because they require all other interac-

tions to be present before parasitism can be effective. A surprising discovery of the heathland project was that results on insect species did not support the assumption that re-stored sites have to be adjacent to ancient sites to enable insect species to transfer between two patches of land. The shar-ing of species occurred regardless of spatial segregation. The assumption has been at the heart of traditional conserva-tion strategies for over twenty years, and this finding hugely increases the range of sites that could be used for restoration in the future. However, deciding where to restore heathland may still be depend-ant on the proximity of the seed bank for floral species. In heathland habitats, seeds can remain dormant in the ground for up to 100 years; so restoring heathland next to an ancient site can eliminate the financially costly need to bring in seeds from elsewhere. The new approach in restoration ecology of looking for evidence of function can also be transferred to other ecosystems. In fact, since January, Jane has already initiated a new collaboration to apply these methods to the Caledonian Pine Forest in Scotland, an ecosystem more endangered than the tropical rainforest.

1. Forup, M.L, Henson, K.S.E. & Memmott, J.(In Press).The restoration of ecological interactions: plant-pollinator networks on ancient and restored heathlands. Journal of Applied Ecology.

2. Henson, K.S.E., & Memmott, J. The restoration of an ecological network. For submission to Ecology Letters.

Ancient dry, lowland heath. Grip Heath, Arne, S. Dorset

(K Henson)

Discovery in the Department

PARASITES: 1-3. Conopidae: egg, 2nd instar & 3rd instar. 4 & 5. Tracheal mite Locustacarus buchneri eggs & female. 6. Sphaerularia bombi 7. Crithidia bombi 8. Nosema bombi 9. Apicystis bombi

BOMBUS: 10. B.jonellus 11. B. humilis 12. B. lapidarius

PLANTS: 13. Calluna vulgaris 14. Ulex europaeus 15. Erica tetralix 16. Erica cinerea

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Discovery in the Department

At the forefront of Zoology is the science of Ecology, a discipline that strives to relate structure to function in an evolutionary, environmental and behavioural context. More specifically, the ecology of vi-sion is an area of research that is vitally important to our understanding of the evolution of vision in different animals, based on ecological selection pressures throughout evolutionary history. For ex-ample – why do birds have such brightly coloured feathers? We already know that such adornments serve to allure a mate, but what are the underlying reasons for the differences in spectral sensitivities observed across the animal kingdom? Why do some taxa perceive light in the ultraviolet range and not others? It is believed that vision has evolved to com-ply with the visual requirements of the animal in question in orderto aid survival and reproduction in its environment and to allow it to carry out its visual tasks.The aims of Bristol University’s Ecology of Vision Group are to investigate these

ecological adaptations of vision in vari-ous animals, particularly birds and fish. Whilst a plethora of research into how birds, amongst other animals, perceive colour has been carried out over the years, the research group here at Bristol University has a different take on things. Dr Andy Bennett describes his group’s work: “We take an interdisciplinary approach to investigating avian colour vi-sion and colouration. With multiple field sites in Australia and the UK, we conduct behavioural, ecological, molecular, cel-lular and microstructural investigations of proximate and ultimate causes of col-ouration in birds; particularly parrots and finches.” The crucial point underpinning current research is that “Unlike other variables such as length, width, mass or time of day, colour is not an inherent property of the object; it is a property of the nervous system of the animal perceiv-ing the light” (1). Why are birds so interesting? Well, birds probably see colours in four ‘dimensions’ compared to the three seen by humans. The cone photoreceptors in the bird retina (and indeed all other animals) are resposible for the colour perceived by the individual. Whilst humans have three such cones, birds in fact have four – thus, they are able to see wavelengths of light in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, as well as in the red, blue and green parts that we as humans are able to percieve. It is not simply the increase in range of col-our, but the addition of another dimen-sion to the colour perception of the birds that makes this difficult to conceive; and very intriguing for us tricones.The implications of conducting research into the Ecology of Vision, particularly ultraviolet light sensitivity, are of signifi-cance with respect to our understanding

of sexual selection and choice of mate; allowing an insight into the evolution of colour not only as a breeding aid, but as a signal. The work of the Ecology of Vision Group is providing an essential platform for further research into how colour per-ception might function amongst many other animal species in an evolutionary context.If you’re interested in finding out more about this topic and the techniques used, you can visit the following websites:

http://www.bio.bris.ac.uk/research/colour/orhttp://www.bio.bris.ac.uk/research/vision/vision.htm

A recent publication that might be of interest is “Avian Color Vision and Col-oration: Multidisciplinary Evolutionary Biology” by Andrew Bennett and Marc Théry, published in The American Natu-ralist earlier this year can be found at:

http://www.journals.uchi-cago.edu/AN/journal/issues/v169nS1/41833/41833.html

Dr Andy Bennett, a member of the Ecol-ogy of Vision Group here at Bristol, pub-lished this article in collaboration with Marc Théry from the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Brunoy, France.

Sources:1) http://www.bio.bris.ac.uk/re-search/vision/4d.htm

The Fourth DimensionAriane Whitehead visits the Ecology of Vision Lab to discover how birds see the world; and finds out what research is being done in Bristol.

Zoo Encounters

I doubt many of you have ever consid-ered using the words ‘reptile’ and ‘cute’ together before. Visit the reptile house at Bristol Zoo, and then think again. Having walked past the miraculous ‘Jesus Christ Lizard’, Australia’s largest python, and one of the only two venomous lizards in the world, you shall be further treated to the wonders of the Class Reptilia - the West African Dwarf Crocodile (Osteolae-mus tetraspis).This unaggressive, diminutive, some-what Disneyesque, member of the Order Crocodylia is typically found (preferring slow-moving, sedate bodies of water) in the swamps and swamp forests of West-ern and Central Africa. Some individuals have been sighted inhabiting small pools in savanna habitat; enduring the long, dry days in purpose-built burrows, and resting under the shade of tree roots.Like all crocodilians, these large-eyed dwarfs are impressive aquatic predators. Equipped with up to 64 sharp teeth they primarily have a piscivorous, crusta-civorous and ranivorous diet. Emerging stealthily from their burrows, they are also known to make extensive noctur-nal, terrestrial forages in search of food; although this is usually restricted to the wet season. Possessing high densi-ties of rod cells, combined with reflect-ing guanine crystals in the tapetum lucidum behind the retina, they have evolved excellent night vision; as well as a trademark, terminator-glint to their eyes when shone at directly with a torch.

The croc’s eyes are protected by no less than three eyelids. The upper is largely a protecting lid, the lower used for clos-ing the eye, and the third (the nictitating membrane) is a transparent layer used for cleaning the eye and for protection whilst underwater. To aid the movement of the nictitating membrane, tear, or lachry-mal, glands are continuously active, even when out of water, when ‘crocodile tears’ seem to accumulate.During the onset of the wet season (May-June) the females begin their duties as mothers, and are widely regarded as one of the best mothering species in the animal kingdom. Making nests from de-caying vegetation, a female will lay up to 20 eggs (however usually only 10) where they will be incubated. Unlike our typi-cal genetic sex determination, whereby offspring sex is determined by sex chro-mosomes at fertilisation, the sex of many reptiles is decided by fluctuations in nest temperatures. The greatest percentage of male crocodiles are produced at nest temperatures around 31-32°C, whereas temperatures above 34°C and below 29°C result in an almost wholly female gen-eration. Over the next 85-105 days the female will guard her nest until, one-by-one, the fully developed embryos start to vocalise from within their egg housings. Remarkably some crocodilian species can hear these calls from up to 50m away. Then, by pushing back the mound of vegetation with her front legs, vibrations stimulate the eggs to hatch, and she es-

corts them to the water, protecting them from predators such as monitor lizards and other crocodiles.Many species of crocodile are hunted for their skins; thankfully though these little fellas have poor quality hides, only fit for making cheap leather shoes, handbags and wallets. However, as they rarely ex-ceed 1.6m in length, they prove to be far easier to catch and transport than other species, including their 5m long relative, the Nile crocodile. Research from Congo and Cameroon suggested that tens of thousands are caught and traded in local markets as bush meat every year. Despite all of this, their main threat still remains in ongoing habitat destruction. Yet because of their low quality hides, locals lack any incentive to establish sustain-able management programmes. A lack of any reliable data makes it difficult to assess the overall status of these wonder-ful beasts. Going by what IS known, they have been listed under Appendix I of CITES, and as ‘vulnerable’ by the IUCN, with numbers maybe as few as 25,000 across the whole of their large African home range. As a result, they are now part of a conservation breeding pro-gramme at Bristol zoo.

Photos: Andy Wakefield

Size MattersIn another of The Missing Link’s Zoo Encounters, Andy Wakefield meets one of Bristol Zoo’s less terrifying crocodilians, the West African Dwarf Crocodile.

Known by many as the “fungi guy”, Dr. Andy Bailey has spent the past seven years teaching and conducting research on fungal biology and plant pathology in the department. Those of you interested in ‘big animal’ biology are probably wondering why on earth someone would want to do that and until recently, this was my view too. However, a brief chat with Dr. Bailey has revealed to me that there is much more to fungi than what we get on our plate and, occasionally, between our toes.

How did you end up here in Bristol, do-ing research on fungi?I actually studied microbiology at the University of Bristol. Back then I was into microbes and it was a bit by accident that I became interested in fungi, having to do my third year research project on the oliC promoter in Aspergillus nidulans, a model fungus used in genetic analysis. I then went on to do a PhD in Sheffield, followed by postdoctoral research for 8 or 9 years. Finally, I took up a permanent position here as a researcher and teacher seven years ago.

What do you find fascinating about fungi?Fungi can do the most remarkable things! Some see the light and sense gravity, others shoot out their spores… and most of the time, we have no idea how these mechanisms work! They also produce a wide variety of natural products that can cause fascinating problems for us, for plants and even for other fungi. Under-standing how these products are pro-duced and how they work is crucial when it comes to designing pharmaceutical drugs and fungicides.

How important are these drugs and fungicides?Well if you think about it, in 50 years there are going to be a lot more humans on this planet and we are going to need a lot more food! The problem is, in many areas of the world, we have used up most of the potential agricultural land. So, either we chop down forests, which is hardly a solution, or we increase the

crop yield by using fungicides or genetic engineering to protect them against dev-astating fungi. This can involve knock-ing out genes in the fungus so that it is unable to access or synthesise nutrients while in its plant host. Moreover, climate change leads to modified diseases and it is becoming increasingly important to keep up.

What would you consider to be your greatest achievement?You’ll find that what I do is a lot of research and few achievements! We get involved in many different areas of fungal biology and pathology and build upon what others have done previously as well as set the foundations for new areas of research. We make small contributions to one big achievement. In the past I’ve worked on trying to enhance Penicillin drug production; that was for my PhD. I also did some work on fungicides.

This requires understanding the fungus’ behaviour and how it causes the disease so that, by disrupting its genes, we can create less pathogenic mutants. We did contribute to the genetic engineering work on Agaricus (the cultivated mush-room) by being the first to show that introns were essential for the genes to be expressed efficiently, thereby allow-ing others to investigate the possibility of expressing important proteins in this system.

So could you produce human proteins by cloning fungi, as has been done recently with chickens?It is totally feasible, yes, but there are still many ethical issues surrounding this practice. There is also a lack of funding. Most scientific research, including mine, is very expensive and this usually deter-mines what we work on.

Interview: Dr Andy BaileyJeremy Cusack gets up close and personal with fungi, as he finds out just why Andy Bailey has dedicated his career to these mysterious organisms.

Meet the Researchers

This is the first time this spectacle has been filmed in the wild...

What effects are you hoping your lectures will have on the students in the department?I try to make my lectures as entertaining and stimulating as possible. Students do not realise how fascinating fungi can be and most of them are simply not interest-ed. Let’s be honest, most students would probably have more trouble naming five common fungi or bacteria than naming five mammals or birds found in the UK.Likewise, you never see a whole BBC program dedicated to fungi. We’re lucky if we get 30 seconds! For the general pub-lic, a cuddly snow leopard is much more interesting than the seemingly static fruiting body of a toadstool. What people don’t realise is that big animals are only the icing on the cake.

What is the wackiest fungus you can think of?Depends on its effects… Coprinus fungi are pretty impressive. They can grow through tarmac! Can you imagine the forces and pressures involved in that? They must be phenomenal!

Just one last question, what mushroom dish would you recommend to us healthy students?Anything fried with garlic and butter! You can find plenty of mushrooms if you go wandering around Leigh woods, Ash-ton court or even the Downs. But make sure you know what you’re looking for!

After the interview, Dr. Bailey walked me around his lab situated on the DE floor of the department. Most of us students only get to see the lecture theatres and practical labs, and I agreed with Dr. Bailey that it was important we also have an idea of the research go-ing on here. As we walked through lab benches covered in swirling containers, various moulds and PCR machines, he encouraged me to start thinking about modules for the second and third year. All in all, fungal biology and plant pathology are challenging subjects that have a direct impact on our health and development. And just remember that fungi also affect cuddly snow leopards.

I’ve never quite got the hang of buying eco friendly/ ethical clothes. No matter how good my intentions, whenever I go into a charity shop, I end up picking sullenly at a few items before leaving disappointed and heading off to TOPSHOP. Maybe I’m lazy; perhaps I’m just a slave to the clever people who lay out the merchandise in the high street stores, I don’t know. What I do know is that I feel guilty every time I buy something new, especially if it says ‘made in Korea’ on the label. Well help is here for all those people who, like me, have trouble locating those ‘bril-liant’ finds in second hand stores. The trend for using recycled materials in clothing is accelerating, and many companies, new and old, are joining the movement. An innovative new shoe manufacturer called Worn Again (www.wornagain.co.uk) creates brand spanking new shoes out of locally sourced, recyclable materials. Although the shoes are currently made in China, (in a factory that adheres to inter-national human rights and environmental policies) Worn Again is now looking at setting up a new factory in the east end of London. So soon the shoes will be recycled and local. At £65 a pair the shoes don’t come cheap, but they are repaired free of charge so a pair of Worn Again shoes should last you for years. Patagonia is another company who’ve jumped on the recycling bandwagon. They are a brand of outdoor and adventure cloth-ing and have started making fleeces from post-consumer recycled bottles. Even the TOPSHOP in Oxford Street, London got involved last year. Emmeline 4 Re, an independent clothing company, was given space on the TOPSHOP floor to sell their products. The clothes were made from recycled fabrics and all the profit went to the Salvation Army, who helped to collect the material.Eco clothing need not be made from recy-cled products. Buying Fairtrade (the Union stocks Fairtrade Bristol hoodies), organic or naturally dyed fabrics or items made in the UK could go some way to reducing your impact. Equally important is to keep donating anything wearable and to recycle anything that’s not.

By Ellie Sans

Meet the Researchers

...the rarest species of snow mushroom in the world.

LivingGreenGetting Dressed

Entertainment and News

Type of primate especially used in scienceColloq. for wild animalAny woody climbing plant of tropical and semitropical forestsFibrous material of insect exoskeletonsThe white of the vertebrate eyeWorld famous botanical gardens, LondonDNA molecule composed of two or more separate end-linked moleculesLarval form of decapod crustaceansHormone produced by the thyroid gland, derived from tyrosineEggsAnterior / head end of beast

Genus of common mushroomOnly egg-laying semi-aquatic mammalWith an uneven number of digitsRocky area-loving plant; a herbHard, chitinous covering of crustaceansOrder to which snakes belongTropical swamp areasSmall passerine with bobbing tail move-mentStrange-looking South American mammal

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Further ReadingBooks to re-inspire the text book tired biologist... Fact or

Fiction?5 facts, one is false, can you guess which one?

A sloth moves so slowly that algae can grow undisturbed on its fur.

Cows can be led upstairs but not down.

One in 5000 lobsters born is bright blue.

After disrupting a family picnic a kanga-roo once bounced off with a toddler in its pouch.

Ants always fall over on their right side when intoxicated.

Following the launch of the BIOSOC hoodies last month, many of you are proudly sporting a butterfly on your sleeve. The appealing emblem, by our very own Rob Mor-gan, is a hint toward the human fascination with Lepidoptera. “An Obsession with Butter-flies” is a detailed account of this fixation and a behind-the-scenes glimpse at their biology. It makes the British summer, air laden with Peacocks, Painted Ladies and Tortoiseshells, seem a little too far away. Nothing short of a picture book of examples, with reference to history, anecdotes and sci-ence; I’d be extremely surprised if you came away without learning anything.I will refer to just one of Sharman’s ex-amples… Postman butterflies (Heliconius melpomene) will avoid the spot where they were caught days before, despite disruption to their established daily routine. I think that’s incredible! Not only demonstrating learning – but doing so “on silken wings”. With reference to so much science and such a

fascinating subject matter – the short book is concentrated nectar and welcome respite from the ‘impending-revision blues’. For several days you will be saying ‘did you know?’ to every person you meet. What is more, Sharman has the rare ability, which eludes me, of being able to write with all the freedom of a great novelist, while tack-ling science without ambiguity and, although she does anthropomorphise (ant = friends), she does so to good effect. In the indefinite realm of common names; a snail is a snail, and a fly a fly but butterflies are ‘Gypsies’ or ‘Admirals’ or, my personal favourite, a ‘Big Greasy’ , so it’s clear that Rus-sell need not change any reputations; instead her effort is to turn vague fascination into obsession. It may be decadent for scientists to consider the charismatic within nature; but I’m happy to indulge in the face of such temptations. Finally, I would like to recommend another book to my fellow biologists. ‘Freakonom-ics’ is a trashy and sensationalist best-seller; based on the theories and investigations of economist, Steven Levitt. Its success as a book is based upon the sheer brilliance of Levitt’s lateral thinking, an ability that the trainee sci-entists among us would do well to perfect - its one for those ‘putting- work-off ’ moments.

“Some of us become obsessed with but-terflies.. I am interested, yes, but not obsessed. Not like those other people”

by Olivia King

“An Obsession with Butterflies” Sharman Apt RussellReview by Nick Easton

Entertainment and News

Blinded by the squids...

A video filmed by Japanese research scientists off Chichijima Island in the North Pacific has recently been released showing large squid light-ing up before attacking their prey. Taningia danae which can be over 2m long displayed complex movements using their flexible bodies and powerful fins reaching speeds of 2.5 m/s. The light show has been iden-tified by the researchers as a mechanism to disrupt the prey’s escape and defences. Dr Tsunemi Kubodera from the National Science Museum in Tokyo, who led the research, said “No-one had ever seen such biolumi-nescence behaviour during hunting of deep-sea large squid.” However researchers also concluded that it may be a courtship display triggered by the lights of the submersible. The light is produced by photophores, light-producing organs on the squid’s arms.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6357005.stm

RoboCop to RoboTwitcher. If you go down to the woods in Arkansas (USA) today, you will prob-ably not find bears, but you will find the latest invention that is search-ing for the possibly extinct Ivory-billed Woodpecker. The bird, which, until 2004 had not been sighted for 60 years, was thought to be extinct, however, the most recent finding sparked a massive effort to locate it. Logging and deforestation of much of the South East US and Cuba has removed the woodpeckers’ habitat and the last unpaired female was observed in 1944. Many searches of the 250 sq km of wetlands and for-ests of the lower Mississippi river valley have been conducted, however nothing has been discovered. Recent results from this revolutionary robot which uses advanced recognition software to identify movement and shapes have only yielded geese, helicopters and leaves so far but the lead researcher, Dr Ken Goldberg of the University of California, Berkeley, remains hopeful, saying “The problem with field biology is that it is very difficult”!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6372911.stm

The rape and pillaging continues.

When the news brings us stories of overfishing and cod stocks irrepara-bly declining we think that surely it can’t get worse. Well unfortunately this is incorrect. The method of bottom trawling is used to catch bottom dwellers (benthic species) using heavy weights and crushing rollers to disturb the fish up into the nets. The sea floor, especially in cold-water areas where this is common, is often thought to be void of life and a bar-ren wasteland however this cannot be further from the truth. Cold wa-ter coral reefs and ancient fish species live in these areas and these slow growing organisms are being systematically destroyed. What makes this scenario worse is that those governments who are supposedly attempt-ing to save the world’s seas are themselves subsidising these destructive activities. A team of international scientists have said that £80m has been paid to trawling fleets promoting the overfishing of these vulner-able resources. Spain along with eleven other nations have these fleets and Researchers at the University of British Columbia have estimated that they would be operating, without the subsides, at a loss of £27m each year. The situation is surmised by Dr Daniel Pauly. “There is surely a better way for governments to spend money than by paying subsidies to a fleet that burns 1.1 billion litres of fuel annually to maintain paltry catches of old-growth fish”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6374971.stm

March storiesResearched by Theo Webb

WildWalk: Facing ClosureBristol as a city has long been heralded by many as the wildlife capi-tal of Britain. I’m sure you’ve all read several times in The Missing Link what the city has to offer for the naturalists of the world, so I won’t bother to illustrate those details again. What you may not be aware of however is that one of Bristol’s keystone establishments is under threat. Well, not so much ‘under threat’ as utterly, utterly doomed*. Bristol’s city centre features several fantastic attractions, all under the roof of the At-Bristol building (admittedly Wedgies is also located nearby... but that is just an unfortunate coincidence). However, shocking news was recently announced regarding the imminent clo-sure of both WilkdWalk and the IMAX theatre, leaving only ‘Explore’. After seven years, the grants that kept the charity-run centre going have, according to Dr. Goéry Delacôte, chief executive of At-Bris-tol, “come to an end or are significantly reduced in size”. Unfortunately, our beloved WildWalk was chosen as one of the first to go, alongside the IMAX, due to the lack of popularity.When approached, the BioSoc Trips Officer had this to say to The Miss-ing Link regarding At-Bristol’s closure: “It’s a great shame, half of our trips were to At-Bristol…BioSoc is utterly, utterly screwed.” Of course, the implications of this closure expand further than initially hinted. WildWalk At-Bristol was originally envisioned by the late Wildscreen co-founder Chris Parsons. The highly regarded Wildscreen Film Festival has itself used the IMAX to display its films. The chief executive of the charity commented that the closure of Wild-Walk and IMAX was “sad and ironic”. The second co-founder of WildWalk was ARKive- originally launched by Sir David Attenborough himself, who commented at its opening “(Wildwalk) harnesses all that we’ve learned about zoos, all that we’ve learned about wildlife film-making in television, plus a lot of very inspired ideas”. If you’ve not yet had the chance to visit WildWalk or the IMAX I strongly suggest you do so. Both are fantastic attractions well worth a visit. Look out for BioSoc Trips to WildWalk in the near future.WildWalk and IMAX are expected to close next month.

*Conservation Biology has in no way affected my already bleak outlook on life.

by Robert Morgan

Photo: www.anywhere.com