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Southern Fried Science
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- September 6, 2010
- 12:30 PM
- 1,366 views
Greenwashing – Is there really a sustainable Orange Roughy fishery?
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
Wandering through the grocery store the other day, I noticed something strange in the fish bin. Now, in general I’m pretty conscious of where my fish comes from, how it was caught, whether the fishery as a whole or the specific population is sustainable. I pay attention to those details and I can usually tell [...]... Read more »
Clark, M. (2001) Are deepwater fisheries sustainable? — the example of orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus) in New Zealand. Fisheries Research, 51(2-3), 123-135. DOI: 10.1016/S0165-7836(01)00240-5
- June 24, 2010
- 09:30 AM
- 1,263 views
Ghosts in the Molecular Machine
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
The extent of migration among populations drives population structure. With enough migration, populations become homogeneous and behave as a single larger population. As migration rates decrease, populations drift apart and become differentiated. By measuring the amount of differentiation, we can determine the extent of migration between them. But what happens when there are unsampled [...]... Read more »
Audzijonyte, A., & Vrijenhoek, R. (2010) WHEN GAPS REALLY ARE GAPS: STATISTICAL PHYLOGEOGRAPHY OF HYDROTHERMAL VENT INVERTEBRATES. Evolution. DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.00987.x
Beerli, P. (2004) Effect of unsampled populations on the estimation of population sizes and migration rates between sampled populations. Molecular Ecology, 13(4), 827-836. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2004.02101.x
SLATKIN, M. (2005) Seeing ghosts: the effect of unsampled populations on migration rates estimated for sampled populations. Molecular Ecology, 14(1), 67-73. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2004.02393.x
- September 8, 2010
- 04:00 PM
- 1,245 views
Our favorite sea monsters – The Giant Manta Special Edition
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
Sea Monsters, mythical beasts of legend and lore that ply the world’s oceans, sinking ships, terrifying sailors, swallowing entire crews whole. Sea monsters occupy a special place in our imagination. The ocean is huge, unfathomable. Of course mighty beast could dwell within, undetected.
Every once in a long while, the myths, the legends, the stories, turn [...]... Read more »
ANDREA D. MARSHALL1, LEONARD J.V. COMPAGNO, & MICHAEL B. BENNETT1. (2009) Redescription of the genus Manta with resurrection of Manta alfredi (Krefft, 1868) (Chondrichthyes; Myliobatoidei; Mobulidae). Zootaxa. info:/
- April 27, 2010
- 10:33 PM
- 1,239 views
Tournament marlins get bigger?
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
This week’s ResearchBlogCast featured the paper “Decline in top predator body size and changing climate alter trophic structure in an oceanic ecosystem”, originally discussed at Fish Schooled (Prey populations explode as predators get smaller). In both the podcast and the blogpost, the authors argue that prey abundance booms despite predator biomass remaining constant [...]... Read more »
Shackell, N., Frank, K., Fisher, J., Petrie, B., & Leggett, W. (2009) Decline in top predator body size and changing climate alter trophic structure in an oceanic ecosystem. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 277(1686), 1353-1360. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2009.1020
Jorgensen, C., Enberg, K., Dunlop, E., Arlinghaus, R., Boukal, D., Brander, K., Ernande, B., Gardmark, A., Johnston, F., Matsumura, S.... (2007) Ecology: Managing Evolving Fish Stocks. Science, 318(5854), 1247-1248. DOI: 10.1126/science.1148089
McCLENACHAN, L. (2009) Documenting Loss of Large Trophy Fish from the Florida Keys with Historical Photographs. Conservation Biology, 23(3), 636-643. DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.01152.x
- September 8, 2010
- 11:03 AM
- 1,220 views
Ocean of Pseudoscience Shorty – Can methane bubbles sink ships?
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
One of the often cited causes for ships that mysteriously and quickly disappear are methane bubbles, released from sub-seafloor gas pockets. The story goes that as methane rises to the surface, the bubbles cause the density of seawater to drop, and any ships in the area suddenly lose buoyancy and spontaneously sink. This effect has [...]... Read more »
May, D., & Monaghan, J. (2003) Can a single bubble sink a ship?. American Journal of Physics, 71(9), 842. DOI: 10.1119/1.1582187
Hueschen, M. (2010) Can bubbles sink ships?. American Journal of Physics, 78(2), 139. DOI: 10.1119/1.3263819
- October 20, 2010
- 08:00 AM
- 1,219 views
Grampa Hagfish: say hello to your greatest uncle
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
Image from http://www.zoology.ubc.ca/labs/biomaterials/slime.html
Today is Hagfish Day! Who knew?
What is a hagfish?
Hagfish are primitive eel-like chordates make famous for their relative unattractiveness*, profuse production of slime, and charismatic ability to tie themselves in knots. They are perhaps the only ‘fish’ that possesses a skull, but no vertebral column. But the question “What is a hagfish?” goes [...]... Read more »
Heimberg, A., Cowper-Sal{middle dot}lari, R., Semon, M., Donoghue, P., & Peterson, K. (2010) microRNAs reveal the interrelationships of hagfish, lampreys, and gnathostomes and the nature of the ancestral vertebrate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1010350107
- November 15, 2010
- 08:30 AM
- 1,168 views
Shades of Gray: Gray literature, peer-review, and the struggle for data in fisheries management
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
The dissemination of science follows the conventional route of rigorous peer-review followed by publication in an accredited scientific journal. This process has been the standard foundation from which the general public can trust that the science is, at the very least, valid and honest. Of course this system is not without its flaws. Scientific papers of questionable authority, [...]... Read more »
Flor Lacanilao. (1997) Continuing problems with gray literature. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 1-5. info:/
- April 21, 2010
- 01:14 AM
- 1,139 views
Crowdsourcing ConGen: Effective size of a population in flux
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
When presented with a threatened population in need of conservation, the simplest and most basic question a manager can ask is “how big is it?” Unfortunately, this is one of the most challenging questions to answer. Determining the number of individuals in a population is fundamental to effective management. Small, concentrated populations can be destroyed [...]... Read more »
Charlesworth B. (2009) Fundamental concepts in genetics: effective population size and patterns of molecular evolution and variation. Nature reviews. Genetics, 10(3), 195-205. PMID: 19204717
Kendall, K., Stetz, J., Boulanger, J., Macleod, A., Paetkau, D., & White, G. (2009) Demography and Genetic Structure of a Recovering Grizzly Bear Population. Journal of Wildlife Management, 73(1), 3-17. DOI: 10.2193/2008-330
Kalinowski, S., & Waples, R. (2002) Relationship of Effective to Census Size in Fluctuating Populations. Conservation Biology, 16(1), 129-136. DOI: 10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.00134.x
WAPLES, R. (2005) Genetic estimates of contemporary effective population size: to what time periods do the estimates apply?. Molecular Ecology, 14(11), 3335-3352. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2005.02673.x
- February 15, 2009
- 12:00 AM
- 1,122 views
A curious case of convergent evolution?
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
The title of this post is followed by a question mark. That is because what follows is not a statement of fact but a puzzle that I have been mulling over in my head since a photograph was published early last year. I do fervently hope the authors of the paper will forgive me for not citing the picture directly, the full citation can be found at the end of this post. I do this only because I want to lead off with a mystery.
Look at this picture. What do you see? Without scales, context, or attribution, many of my fried friends have responded that it is some type of coral (cnidaria), maybe a tunicate (chordata), but the vast majority have interpreted this image as that of some form of sponge (porifera). Indeed, this object does bear a remarkable similarity to a leuconoid sponge.... Read more »
Letcher PM, Powell MJ, Viusent MC. (2008) Rediscovery of an unusual chytridiaceous fungus new to the order Rhizophydiales. Mycologia, 100(2), 325-334. DOI: http://www.mycologia.org/cgi/content/abstract/100/2/325
- September 16, 2010
- 01:00 PM
- 1,116 views
Non-Monophyly within Syngnathidae
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
Objective 1: Develop the least publicly accessible title for a blog post about seadragons, mate selection, and evolution
Objective 1 Status: complete
Objective 2: Draw in whatever readers push passed the unwieldy title with an unconventional narrative structure.
Objective 2 Status: complete
Objective 3: Hook the reader with a fascinating, though brief, background on seahorses, seadragons, and pipefish.
Female [...]... Read more »
Wilson, N., & Rouse, G. (2010) Convergent camouflage and the non-monophyly of ‘seadragons’ (Syngnathidae: Teleostei): suggestions for a revised taxonomy of syngnathids. Zoologica Scripta. DOI: 10.1111/j.1463-6409.2010.00449.x
- April 14, 2011
- 02:28 PM
- 1,115 views
A rig by any other name, could it be an artificial reef?
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
There are currently more than 7,500 offshore oil platforms actively probing the earth’s crust for black gold. Their relatively minimal appearance at the surface belies the shear magnitude of human construction beneath the waves. Oil platforms are among the world’s tallest man-made structures. Compliant tower platforms reach up to 900 meters in depth (in contrast, [...]... Read more »
Macreadie, P., Fowler, A., & Booth, D. (2011) Rigs-to-reefs: will the deep sea benefit from artificial habitat?. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2147483647. DOI: 10.1890/100112
Mason B. (2003) Doubts swirl around plan to use rigs as reefs. Nature, 425(6961), 891. PMID: 14586435
- May 13, 2011
- 11:13 AM
- 1,105 views
The moldy kingdom get a new neighbor
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
A diagrammatic tree depicting the organisation of most eukaryotes into six major groups. The relationships amongst most of the major groups and the position of the ‘root’ of the tree are shown as unresolved (note however, the grouping of Opisthokonta and Amoebozoa). The arrow shows a possible precise placement of the root, [...]... Read more »
Simpson A, & Roger A. (2004) The real ‘kingdoms’ of eukaryotes. Current Biology, 14(17), 693-696. info:/
Jones, M., Forn, I., Gadelha, C., Egan, M., Bass, D., Massana, R., & Richards, T. (2011) Discovery of novel intermediate forms redefines the fungal tree of life. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature09984
- April 8, 2011
- 12:00 PM
- 1,097 views
Is it time for a sustainable pet movement?
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
The world is rapidly approaching 7 billion people and the challenges of food supply, security, and sustainability will, along with climate change, be the defining issues of the 21st century. While the issues of the wealthiest nations revolve around the quality of our food, the environmental impact or our farming practices, and the value we place [...]... Read more »
Trotz-Williams LA, & Trees AJ. (2003) Systematic review of the distribution of the major vector-borne parasitic infections in dogs and cats in Europe. The Veterinary record, 152(4), 97-105. PMID: 12572938
Sleeman JM, Keane JM, Johnson JS, Brown RJ, & Woude SV. (2001) Feline leukemia virus in a captive bobcat. Journal of wildlife diseases, 37(1), 194-200. PMID: 11272497
Roelke ME, Forrester DJ, Jacobson ER, Kollias GV, Scott FW, Barr MC, Evermann JF, & Pirtle EC. (1993) Seroprevalence of infectious disease agents in free-ranging Florida panthers (Felis concolor coryi). Journal of wildlife diseases, 29(1), 36-49. PMID: 8445789
- April 5, 2011
- 11:00 AM
- 1,082 views
Book Review: A year at Lazy Point
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
I adored Song for the Blue Ocean. The first time I read it was a formative moment in my development as a young marine biologist and conservationist. When I picked up Eye of the Albatross and, later, Voyage of the Turtle, I expected that same magic, but could not find it. Safina’s subsequent books [...]... Read more »
Saraux C, Le Bohec C, Durant JM, Viblanc VA, Gauthier-Clerc M, Beaune D, Park YH, Yoccoz NG, Stenseth NC, & Le Maho Y. (2011) Reliability of flipper-banded penguins as indicators of climate change. Nature, 469(7329), 203-6. PMID: 21228875
- April 11, 2011
- 01:19 PM
- 1,074 views
Spanning the Bordeaux Belt – what does local mean in a global economy
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
A small news article from Science has been taped above my desk for the last few years. I don’t remember who originally gave it to me, or why I even hung it up, but there it is, nestled between a couple XKCD cartoons. The article is titled “The Wine Divide” and it raises many [...]... Read more »
Tyler, Colman, & Päster, Pablo. (2009) Red, White, and 'Green': The Cost of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Global Wine Trad. Journal of Wine Researc, 20(1), 15-26. info:/
- July 27, 2010
- 07:00 AM
- 1,053 views
Bottom trawling and the importance of plaice
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
“The commons petition the King, complaining that where in creeks and havens of the sea there used to be plenteous fishing, to the profit of the Kingdom, certain fishermen, for several years past have subtily contrived an instrument called the “wondyrechaun” made in the manner of an oyster dredge, but which is considerably longer, upon [...]... Read more »
Bergman, M., & Hup, M. (1992) Direct effects of beamtrawling on macrofauna in a sandy sediment in the southern North Sea. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 49(1), 5-11. DOI: 10.1093/icesjms/49.1.5
Jones, J. (1992) Environmental impact of trawling on the seabed: A review. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 26(1), 59-67. DOI: 10.1080/00288330.1992.9516500
- February 11, 2011
- 03:00 PM
- 1,051 views
Nothing to plunder – the evolution of Somalia’s pirate nation
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
The droughts that shook the west African nations in the mid-1970′s and again in the 1980′s decimated the traditional nomadic clans of Somalia, leaving them without live stock to feed their families. Tens of thousands of the dispossessed, primarily of the Hawiye clan, were relocated to coastal areas. Fishing communities took root and began [...]... Read more »
Bakonyi, J. (2010) Between protest, revenge and material interests: a phenomenological analysis of looting in the Somali war. Disasters. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01156.x
Treves, T. (2009) Piracy, Law of the Sea, and Use of Force: Developments off the Coast of Somalia. European Journal of International Law, 20(2), 399-414. DOI: 10.1093/ejil/chp027
- November 3, 2010
- 05:15 PM
- 1,035 views
Watch me heal, day 1 – 4
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
Those of you following me on twitter have probably heard that I had a little accident this weekend. And by “little accident”, I mean I got hit in the head with a machete. And by “got hit in the head” I really mean hit myself in the head while clearing brush. This has afforded me two [...]... Read more »
Bruggemann, H. (2003) The genome sequence of Clostridium tetani, the causative agent of tetanus disease. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100(3), 1316-1321. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0335853100
Montecucco, C., & Schiavo, G. (1994) Mechanism of action of tetanus and botulinum neurotoxins. Molecular Microbiology, 13(1), 1-8. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1994.tb00396.x
Martin, P. (1997) Wound Healing--Aiming for Perfect Skin Regeneration. Science, 276(5309), 75-81. DOI: 10.1126/science.276.5309.75
- April 19, 2009
- 11:25 PM
- 1,009 views
The Serpent and the Platypus
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
Longtime readers know that I get really excited by clear (or not so clear) cases of convergent evolution. Pound for pound, convergence is the most persuasive evidence for the truth of evolution out there; different lineages finding novel paths to the same solution. While I mostly talk about convergences in morphology, genetic convergence is often [...]... Read more »
TORRES, A., & KUCHEL, P. (2004) The ?-defensin-fold family of polypeptides. Toxicon, 44(6), 581-588. DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2004.07.011
Warren, W., Hillier, L., Marshall Graves, J., Birney, E., Ponting, C., Grützner, F., Belov, K., Miller, W., Clarke, L., Chinwalla, A.... (2008) Genome analysis of the platypus reveals unique signatures of evolution. Nature, 453(7192), 175-183. DOI: 10.1038/nature06936
- May 23, 2011
- 06:23 PM
- 1,006 views
The Global Extinction Crisis – species area relationships, habitat loss, and population dynamics
by Southern Fried Scientist in Southern Fried Science
We are in the midst of a global extinction crisis. Biodiversity is in decline as species after species disappear. Some estimates predict that up to 50% of species will be committed to extinction by 2050. Other estimates claim the current rate of extinction may be 10,000 times the background rate. Many ecologists and conservationists have declared the [...]... Read more »
He F, & Hubbell SP. (2011) Species-area relationships always overestimate extinction rates from habitat loss. Nature, 473(7347), 368-71. PMID: 21593870
Neigel, J. (2003) SPECIES–AREA RELATIONSHIPS AND MARINE CONSERVATION. Ecological Applications, 13(sp1), 138-145. DOI: 10.1890/1051-0761(2003)013[0138:SARAMC]2.0.CO;2
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