'Gas-less' roo secret sniffed out

30 June 2011 Last updated at 18:00 GMT By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News The Tammar wallaby is the "model species" for research on kangaroos and their relatives Scientists have gone some way to explaining why kangaroos produce much less methane in their burps, flatus and manure than farm animals such as cows.

They identified a bacterium in the gut of the Tammar wallaby - a member of the kangaroo family - that processes their food without making methane.

Farm animals are a major source of methane, an important greenhouse gas.

Writing in the journal Science, they suggest the work could show how to cut greenhouse emissions from livestock.

The Tammar wallaby is a fairly small member of the family, found in pockets of Western Australia and on some islands off the coast, and has long been a favourite of biological researchers.

Previous work showed they produce about one-fifth as much methane as cows for each unit of food they ingest; the new research is helping to show why that is.

"The guts of wallabies and cattle have evolved to support the establishment of a complex mixture of microbes, for the 'pre-digestion' of plant materials before the food is exposed to the animal's own digestive processes," said project leader Mark Morrison, of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

"There are differences between the animals in terms of gut anatomy and shape that we think are also an important influence on methane production, as well as the way and the speed at which plant material moves through this 'pre-digestion' step.

"But our knowledge of that microbiology has been pretty limited until now."

Identifying the bacterium - a previously unknown member of the Succinivibrionaceae family - was not a straightforward task, requiring a technique known as "reverse metagenomics".

Using information already available about some aspects of the bacterium's traits and the genes driving those traits, such as the ways it processes nitrogen, they were able to design a culture for growing it that would resemble conditions in the wallaby's gut.

Cultured approach

By experimenting with different ingredients of the culture, eventually the bacterium grew well and the researchers were able to show that the main byproduct of fermentation was not methane, but succinate - a compound of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

Cows and other farm animals produce about as much methane as heavy industry

As well as producing far less methane, processing food this way is more efficient, with more of the available nutrition being extracted from the plants.

Members of the Succinivibrionaceae family are found in many other plant-eating animals, including cattle, though they do not appear to dominate food processing as they do in the wallabies.

The researchers hope to understand what these bacteria are doing inside farm animals, and then find ways of making them more effective.

"Our long-term goal is to redirect feed digestion in livestock away from methane formation, and instead produce more end products that are nutritious for the animal," said Professor Morrison.

"By doing so, we should have a positive impact both on animal productivity and the environment."

The research project was headed from national research agency CSIRO, with contributions from scientists in the US, Norway and Germany.

The CSIRO is in the vanguard of global research efforts to bring down methane emissions from livestock, by methods including changing their diet and selective breeding.

Methane from farm animals accounts for a few percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and global production of meat and milk is forecast to double over the next half-century.

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Dark secret

23 June 2011 Last updated at 01:35 GMT There is evidence the children were thrown down the well after the adults The remains of 17 bodies found at the bottom of a medieval well in England could have been victims of persecution, new evidence has suggested.

The most likely explanation is that those down the well were Jewish and were probably murdered or forced to commit suicide, according to scientists who used a combination of DNA analysis, carbon dating and bone chemical studies in their investigation.

The skeletons date back to the 12th or 13th Centuries at a time when Jewish people were facing persecution throughout Europe.

They were discovered in 2004 during an excavation of a site in the centre of Norwich, ahead of construction of the Chapelfield Shopping Centre. The remains were put into storage and have only recently been the subject of investigation.

Seven skeletons were successfully tested and five of them had a DNA sequence suggesting they were likely to be members of a single Jewish family.

DNA expert Dr Ian Barnes, who carried out the tests, said: "This is a really unusual situation for us. This is a unique set of data that we have been able to get for these individuals.

"I am not aware that this has been done before - that we have been able to pin them down to this level of specificity of the ethnic group that they seem to come from."

'Ethnic cleansing'

The team has been led by forensic anthropologist Professor Sue Black, of the University of Dundee's Centre for Anthropology and Human Identification.

Continue reading the main story History Cold Case: The Bodies in the Well will be on BBC Two at 2100 BST on Thursday 23 June 2011Professor Sue Black, Dr Xanthe Mallett and Professor Caroline Wilkinson will delve deeper into the mystery and attempt to recreate the faces of those found in the wellProfessor Black, who went to the Balkans following the Kosovo war - where her job was to piece together the bodies of massacred Kosovan Albanians - said this discovery had changed the direction of the whole investigation.

Regarding the nature of the discovery, Professor Black said: "We are possibly talking about persecution. We are possibly talking about ethnic cleansing and this all brings to mind the scenario that we dealt with during the Balkan War crimes."

Eleven of the 17 skeletons were those of children aged between two and 15. The remaining six were adult men and women.

"In terms of the brutality of the ethnic cleansing, it was thought women and children quite frankly weren't worth wasting the bullets on," added Professor Black.

"Pregnant women were bayoneted because that way you got rid of a woman because that wasn't important and you got rid of the next generation because you didn't want them to survive. So I know what sort of pattern I am looking for."

Cushioned fall

Pictures taken at the time of excavation suggested the bodies were thrown down the well together, head first.

Continue reading the main story

1066: The Norman Conquest opens the way to Jewish immigration. The monarchy needs to borrow money and Christians are forbidden to lend money at interest. London, Lincoln and York become centres for substantial Jewish populations.

1100s: Resentment against the Jewish community grows over their perceived wealth and belief they killed Jesus. The "blood libels" - Jews are accused of the ritual murder of Christian children.

1190: Many Jewish people massacred in York. In Norwich they flee to the city's castle for refuge. Those who stay in their homes are butchered.

1230s: Executions in Norwich after an allegation a Christian child was kidnapped.

1272: Edward I comes to the throne and enforces extra taxes on the Jewish community.

1290: Edward I expels the Jews en masse after devising a new form of royal financing using Christian knights to fill the coffers.

A close examination of the adult bones showed fractures caused by the impact of hitting the bottom of the well. But the same damage was not seen on the children's bones, suggesting they were thrown in after the adults who cushioned the fall of their bodies.

The team had earlier considered the possibility of death by disease but the bone examination also showed no evidence of diseases such as leprosy or tuberculosis.

Giles Emery, the archaeologist who led the original excavation, said at first he thought it might have been a plague burial, but carbon dating had shown that to be impossible as the plague came much later.

And historians pointed out that even during times of plague when mass graves were used, bodies were buried in an ordered way with respect and religious rites.

Norwich had been home to a thriving Jewish community since 1135 and many lived near the well site. But there are records of persecution of Jews in medieval England including in Norwich (see fact box).

Sophie Cabot, an archaeologist and expert on Norwich's Jewish history, said the Jewish people had been invited to England by the King to lend money because at the time, the Christian interpretation of the bible did not allow Christians to lend money and charge interest. It was regarded as a sin.

So cash finance for big projects came from the Jewish community and some became very wealthy - which in turn, caused friction.

"There is a resentment of the fact that Jews are making money... and they are doing it in a way that doesn't involve physical labour, things that are necessarily recognised as work... like people feel about bankers now," said Ms Cabot.

The findings of the investigation represented a sad day for Norwich.

Ms Cabot added: "It changes the story of what we know about the community. We don't know everything about the community but what we do know is changed by this."

History Cold Case: The Bodies in a Well will be on BBC Two at 2100 BST on Thursday 23 June 2011 and afterwards in the UK on BBC iPlayer.

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Gyrfalcons are 'secret seabirds'

20 June 2011 Last updated at 02:07 By Matt Walker Editor, BBC Nature Ice lover and ocean wanderer The world's largest falcon, the fast, taloned gyrfalcon, is a secret seabird, scientists have discovered.

Gyrfalcons living in the high Arctic overwinter out at sea, spending long periods living and hunting on pack ice.

It is the first time any falcon species has been found regularly living at sea.

The birds likely rest on the ice and hunt other seabirds such as gulls and guillemots, over what appears to be one of the largest winter ranges yet documented for any raptor.

Continue reading the main story

Some gyrfalcons actually spend large amounts of time living and hunting over the ocean”

End Quote Ornithologist Kurt Burnham "I was very surprised by this finding," said ornithologist Kurt Burnham who made the discovery. "These birds are not moving between land masses, but actually using the ice floes or pack ice as winter habitat for extended periods of time."

"Previously, all species of falcon were considered to be land-based birds."

Dr Burnham of the High Arctic Institute, Illinois US and the University of Oxford, UK, together with colleague Professor Ian Newton of Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Oxford, studied the seasonal movements of gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) by tagging 48 birds with radio transmitters.

This allowed them to track the movements of the birds living in three areas of Greenland: Thule in the northwest, Kangerlussuaq in the west, and Scoresbysund in the east.

They found a huge amount of variation between individual birds.

Juvenile male gyrfalcon in Thule area, northwest Greenland

Birds living on the west coast had winter home-range sizes of between 400-6,600km square kilometres.

Those on the east coast ranged far more widely, covering between 27,000-64,000 square kilometres. Some of these had no obvious winter home ranges and travelled continuously during the non-breeding period, spending up to 40 consecutive days at sea.

During the winter one juvenile female travelled more than 4,500km over 200 days, spending over half that time over the ocean between Greenland and Iceland.

"Others had observed gyrfalcons sitting on icebergs and over the ocean but it was always assumed they were only over the ocean for a short period to hunt and then flew back to land," explained Dr Burnham.

Continue reading the main story Falcons, hobbies and kestrels are all in the genus FalcoPeregrine falcons are one of, if not the, fastest animals in the world. They are believed to achieve speeds of over 200kph (124mph) when plunging from the sky in pursuit of preyEleonora's falcon switches its diet from insects to birds depending on the season"We show that some gyrfalcons actually spend large amounts of time living and hunting over the ocean and pack ice, and that sea ice is actually an important and previously unknown winter habitat for [them]."

Gyrfalcons in Iceland and the low Arctic are thought to be residents, staying in the same location all year. In the high Arctic, gyrfalcons are known to be migratory, but little was known about where they overwintered.

A few other falcons also cross the ocean when migrating, such as peregrine falcons crossing the Gulf of Mexico. But the gyrfalcons are doing more than just moving between land masses in this way.

"These individuals are likely resting on icebergs and ice floes and hunting the seabirds, such as black guillemots, dovekies, and species of gull, that are using the same habitat," said Dr Burnham.

The size of the bird's home range over the ocean also surprised the scientists.

Adult male gyrfalcon tagged with satellite transmitter in Scoresbysund area, central-east Greenland

Dr Burnham told the BBC: "The other main finding is the huge area that some of these individuals are using.

"In the big picture this shows how adaptable and mobile gyrfalcons have to be in order to survive and reproduce in the harsh arctic environment they live in.

"Food or prey can be scarce during the winter, and having the ability to travel somewhat long distances on a daily basis and spend long periods of time away from land increases their chance of survival.

The research, he added, emphasises how specialised many Arctic species are, in order to survive in an extremely difficult and inhospitable environment.

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The secret life of badgers

15 June 2011 Last updated at 08:11 GMT By Mark Ward Technology correspondent, BBC News Badgers live in large social groups but not much is known about their lives underground The social life of the badger is gradually being exposed thanks to some smart technology.

Many animals are tracked above ground but until recently what goes on inside their sets and burrows has been largely hidden.

Now a project to track them using magnetic fields and sensor collars is giving scientists a unique look at these elusive creatures.

"Zoologists have no real idea about what's going on underground," said Dr Andrew Markham, a computer scientist at the University of Oxford who is leading the research into ways to monitor the badgers.

The limits of direct observation techniques, such as putting cameras inside sets, lairs and warrens, meant a novel approach was needed.

Hidden lives

"With a camera you can only monitor a small area, typically one chamber at a time," explained Dr Markham. "To monitor a whole set would be very difficult.

"And it is quite challenging to identify badgers when they are underground."

The research team was keen to see if the process could be automated, thereby minimising human-badger interaction.

The approach being adopted by the Wild Sensing group employs low frequency magnetic fields of different strengths.

These were chosen because, unlike radio waves, they can easily penetrate the soil and reach the chambers, even in complex, well established sets.

Antennas emitting magnetic fields with different patterns are placed on the forest floor above the set being studied. Special collars have been prepared for the badgers which contain sensors that log the orientations of the different fields along three axis.

"We know where we have placed the antenna above the surface," said Dr Markham, "the collar picks up signal strength from the intensity."

Data about the orientation of the separate fields is recorded about 250,000 times a day on a memory chip on the collar.

When a badger emerges above ground, the data is downloaded to a micro-SD card sitting on a local base station, ready for the researchers to pick up and take for analysis.

"It's like back-to-front, underground GPS," said Dr Markham.

Badger net The badgers in Wytham Woods have been under scrutiny for years

Limited trials with the system, monitoring four badgers for a month, gathered 7 million readings.

The trials recorded how active the animals were when underground and started the process of mapping their set.

A longer project is planned to start later in 2011. This will see collars put on more badgers, with an expansion of the area being monitored.

One of the team's main objectives is to learn more about the animal's social lives.

"A lot of work has been done on badger society and they seem to have a strong social system where they live in a central burrow but forage individually," said Dr Markham.

Up to 20 badgers can live in the same set which can be spread across an area 30m by 20m, he said.

The badgers being studied are in Wytham Woods near Cambridge. They have been monitored one way or another since 1987.

"We want to see how different they are above and below ground and how they interact with each other," said Dr Markham. "Do they always sleep in the same burrow or do they move from sleeping chamber to sleeping chamber?"

The longer trial will also refine the technology to make it more accurate, ensure it survives being attached to a badger for long periods and establish if it can be quickly deployed in new places.

Future refinements might see the creation of a "badger net" in which the collars worn by the animals form an ad hoc data network so when any creature in a colony surfaces all the data about them is captured.

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Inca secret of success: Llama dung

22 May 2011 Last updated at 01:36 GMT By Caroline Anning BBC News The 'lost city' of Machu Picchu is now Peru's main tourist attraction One of the world's greatest ancient civilisations may have been built on llama droppings, a new study has found.

Machu Picchu, the famous Inca city set in the Peruvian Andes, celebrates the centenary of its "'discovery" by the outside world this July.

Dignitaries will descend on site for a glitzy event in July marking 100 years since US explorer Hiram Bingham came upon the site, but the origins of Machu Picchu were far less glamorous.

According to a study published in archaeological review Antiquity, llama droppings provided the basis for the growth of Inca society.

Llamas have left their mark - literally - on history

It was the switch from hunter-gathering to agriculture 2,700 years ago that first led the Incas to settle and flourish in the Cuzco area where Machu Picchu sits, according to the study's author Alex Chepstow-Lusty.

Mr Chepstow-Lusty, of the French Institute of Andean Studies in Lima, said the development of agriculture and the growing of maize crops is key to the growth of societies.

"Cereals make civilisations," he said.

Mr Chepstow-Lusty has spent years analysing organic deposits in the mud of a small lake, "more of a pond really," called Marcaccocha on the road between the lower-lying jungle and Machu Picchu.

His team found a correlation between the first appearance of maize pollen around 700BC - which showed for the first time that the cereal could be grown at high altitudes - and a spike in the number of mites who feed on animal excrement.

They concluded that the widespread shift to agriculture was only possible with an extra ingredient: organic fertilisers on a vast scale.

In other words, lots of llama droppings.

Llamas' legacy

Llamas were and still are commonly used in the Peruvian Andes to carry goods and provide meat and wool.

Marcaccocha is situated next to an ancient trade route, and llamas transporting goods between the jungle and the mountains would stop to have a drink and "defecate communally".

"This provided fertiliser which was easily collectable as today by the local people for the surrounding field systems," Mr Chepstow-Lusty said.

Llama droppings are still used for crop fertiliser and cooking fuel

As the Incas moved from eating wild quinoa to maize, which is higher in calories, their society developed in the Cuzco area.

Some 1,800 years after they first moved from hunter-gathering to agriculture, around 1100AD, a bout of prolonged warmer weather allowed the civilisation to really flourish, leading to the building of large stone settlements like Ollaytaytambo and Machu Picchu.

Today, the Incas are long gone, largely wiped out by the Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s. But their descendants, the Quechua, still use llama droppings for fertiliser and cooking fuel.

"The valley is full of indigenous people who follow that way of life from 2,000 years ago," said Mr Chepstow-Lusty.

When the guests arrive in Machu Picchu to celebrate 100 years since Hiram Bingham brought it to the world's notice, they can perhaps thank the humble llama for the sight they see before them.

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