Features

Research published in PNAS this week reveals more about how a chemical compass could enable migrating birds to find their way.

‘Evidence is steadily accumulating to back up the idea that chemical reactions in the eyes of birds could help them navigate using the Earth’s magnetic field,’ says Peter Hore of Oxford's Department of Chemistry, co-author of the paper.

‘We have shown that a magnetic field has a small effect on the photochemistry of a protein called photolyase.'

Photolyase is closely related in terms of structure and properties to another protein found in birds’ eyes called cryptochrome which is thought to be at the heart of the compass sensor.

The results suggest that birds may ‘see’ the Earth’s magnetic field lines through variations in chemical reactions going on in their eyes. Such a compass could help them navigate during migrations.

Although the researchers used a magnetic field around 200 times bigger than that of the Earth, it is the first time a biological system closely related to that found in birds has been shown to be sensitive to a magnetic field.

The work is a collaboration between researchers at Oxford University, led by Dr Christiane Timmel and Professor Hore, and scientists at the Universities of Freiburg, Berlin and Munich.

The researchers previously reported that an artificial chemical system could detect weak magnetic fields and respond to their directions as a proof-of-principle of a chemical compass.

Peter told us: ‘It’s early days, but I feel that, if we get the conditions right in the lab, we will be able to see a larger effect and at weaker magnetic fields. That could mimic what happens in a migrating bird’s eye.’

How do you help developing countries protect their precious wildlife?

One approach, being piloted at Oxford, is a new Postgraduate Diploma in International Conservation Practice.

The Diploma, which will officially start in 2009, will aim to give those involved in conservation the scientific and professional skills to help preserve biodiversity and improve wildlife management.

The initiative is a joint venture between Oxford's Department for Continuing Education and the WildCRU, part of Oxford's Department of Zoology.

Thanks to a donation from The Panthera Foundation and its Chairman, Thomas Kaplan, Oxford is able to offer fully-funded scholarships for conservationists from developing countries to take the Diploma.

Wild cats will be a special focus for the programme, with the pilot group including biologists with expertise on tigers in China, leopards in Iran, lions in Tanzania and lynx in the Balkans - each facing their own special set of challenges.

The WildCRU's Director David Macdonald commented: 'This new diploma will not only make a great contribution to building conservation capacity in parts of the world where action is urgently needed on the ground - it will be a milestone in opening access to Oxford.'

'Our focus on big cats will take the students to the heart of the most challenging conservation issues, and the new course will lead to the creation of a worldwide force of expert problem-solvers who can take their training home and pass it on to others.'

Big cats are known to be good indicators of the health of a particular ecosystem. The hope is that the knowledge and skills gained by those taking the Diploma will help them to get to grips with the complex issues that determine the health of a wide range of species and habitats.

Botany was never a passion of mine, but the more I find out about plant science the more interested I become in our leafy friends.

Did you know, for instance, that in woody plants with separate sexes female plants are usually considerably smaller than male plants of the same species?

Scientists think this is because females invest more resources in reproduction leaving them less resources to power growth.

In a paper just published in Royal Society B, John Pannell and Mark Harris of Oxford's Department of Plant Sciences take a look at a group of plants where the opposite is true: herbs.

So why, in herbs, do female amazons tower above their male counterparts?

To find out the researchers grew males and females of the herb Annual Mercury [Mercurialis annua] but only allowed some of them to reproduce.

John told us: 'Our results suggest that male herbs are smaller than female herbs because they need to allocate resources to the roots needed to harvest nitrogen for pollen production.'

Even for plants, it seems, sexual potency comes at a high evolutionary cost.

Could lifeforms from Venus reach Earth by hitching a ride on the solar wind?

That's the rather startling suggestion made by two researchers following analysis of data from ESA's Venus Express spacecraft.

According to BBC Online they say that chemicals in Venus's clouds are consistent with the presence of microorganisms and that, under certain conditions, microbes from these clouds could be blown into the Earth's atmosphere.

It's an interesting idea (and a good plot for a Hollywood movie!) but according to Oxford's Fred Taylor, an Interdisciplinary Scientist for the Venus Express mission, it's pretty far-fetched.

'The idea of life on Venus, particularly the clouds where the temperature and pressure are similar to the Earth, has been floated around for a while but is not really very likely,' Fred commented, adding that it was also most unlikely that microbes could hitch a ride in this way.

Yet if you think this makes the solar wind boring you'd be wrong: two NASA missions will scour the solar wind for clues about how the planets formed and to map where the solar system ends.

Genesis is already sending back some fascinating results, including studies that show that parts of meteorites and the sun share a common pattern of oxygen isotopes - suggesting that Earth, the Moon and other bodies with a different composition are the 'odd ones out' in the solar system.

Meanwhile the planned Interstellar Boundary Explorer [IBEX] mission will chart the very edges of the sun's influence by detecting where the solar wind fizzles out and the solar system ends and interstellar space begins: at the moment the best guess is 'somewhere beyond Pluto' but after IBEX launches later this year we can look forward to a more precise answer.

What can we do to understand and help Africa's elephants?

According to this week's Current Biology one approach is to give elephants mobile phones.

Not, as you might think, for them to make emergency calls on at the first sign of poachers but rather mobiles that are attached to sensors on the animal to automatically text their whereabouts and regular status reports.

Fritz Vollrath of Oxford's Department of Zoology is amongst those using such techniques to investigate elephants' survival tactics. He has worked with Iain Douglas Hamilton of Save the Elephants for many years to monitor the behaviour of Kenya's pachyderms.

The animals, it seems, have reacted to an increasingly threatening environment by changing their behaviour: travelling through unsafe territory only at night and very fast - so avoiding conflict with man.

This change appears to be giving elephant populations in Kenya a boost. 'We at Save the Elephants have evidence that elephant populations have been on the rise ever since 1989 in Tsavo, and in Samburu, Mara and Amboseli,' Fritz comments. 'This does not mean that we are not worried by a potential resurgence in ivory poaching... but it does give grounds for cautious optimism.'

Overall, he says, the outlook for wildlife in Northern Kenya looks good with organisations and local communities working together towards the same conservation goals - spurred on, in part, by the gleaming carrot of tourist revenue set to reward successful conservation projects.

It's one example at least of how appreciating the value of wildlife (both in cultural and economic terms) can help humans and animals to live side by side.