320 years later, researchers used tiny pieces of tissue from a skull that Scientist Charles Darwin himself collected. They compared that with DNA that was found in a specimen that was being stored in the attic of the Otago Museum in New Zealand. Unlike earlier findings, the new study concludes that the Falkland Islands wolf, Dusicyon australis, became isolated approximately 16,000 years ago during the peak of the last glacial period.

[Full story]

“This is the first record of how our evolution over the last 7500 years has impacted the bacteria we carry with us, and the important health consequences,” says Dr Alan Cooper.

“Oral bacteria in modern man are markedly less diverse than historic populations and this is thought to contribute to chronic oral and other disease in post-industrial lifestyles.”

For further information, please go to the University of Adelaide News & Events Press Release article titled: Ancient teeth bacteria record disease evolution.

The University of Adelaide run the program in mid January each year (15-17 Jan 2013).  Students wishing to undertake the program should refer to the website below. The program is offered to students in years 9 & 10.

Registrations are still OPEN so students who are interested can still sign up for January’s session. Sponsorship for the program can be gain by inquiry with local Rotary clubs who strongly support this program.

http://www.scienceexperience.com.au/

“Low immune gene diversity in modern devils has been linked to the spread and devastating impacts of Devil Facial Tumour disease (DFTD),” said senior author Katrina Morris, a PhD candidate at the University’s Faculty of Veterinary Science and senior author of the study published in the journal Biology Letters today.

“It is well known that low genetic diversity is a major extinction risk factor, but when and how devils lost their immune diversity has remained a mystery until now.”

“Devils once lived across much of mainland Australia, but became extinct sometime in the last few thousand years,” said Dr Jeremy Austin, from the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at the University of Adelaide.

“We looked at subfossil bones of these extinct mainland devils, as well as museum specimens of Tasmanian devils collected over the last 200 years. They capture the genetic diversity of the past allowing us to see how the immune gene diversity has changed over thousands of years.”

The genes the researchers studied included the oldest marsupial genes to have ever had their genetic code sequenced, taken from mainland devil specimens at least 3000 years old.

Surprisingly, the immune diversity in devils was low in all Tasmanian samples dating from the 1980s back to before European arrival in 1800. Mainland devils, isolated from the Tasmanian population by sea level rises at the end of the last ice age, also had low and very similar diversity to Tasmanian devils.

“Low immune diversity would have made devils susceptible to disease outbreaks,” said Katrina Morris. “This may explain their history of population extinctions, population crashes and disease outbreaks in the 1800s and early 1900s.”

The research was supported by funding from the Australian Research Council, the Save the Tasmanian Devil Foundation and Zoos SA. Associate Professor Kathy Belov from the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney is team leader.

HOW will we conserve species diversity?

To read more about species migration go to Dr Thomas Prowse ‘s article at the Advertiser < Link >.  Dr Prowse is a Research Associate in the School of Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of Adelaide.

To find out more about the Faculty of Sciences’ 10 Big Questions, go to: http://ua.edu.au/sciences/10bq

So are these events becoming more commonplace?

To find out the answer to this question go to Diana Plavsa‘s article titled: Clouding the future published it The Advertiser 16th August 2011 (Diana is a PhD student in the School of Earth & Environmental Science).
Alternatively, to discover more about the University of Adelaide‘s 10 Big Questions go to: Enhanced Learning in First-Year Science

CUTTING out unnecessary car journeys would help slow global warming. EATING less meat would free pasture for forest regeneration.
CHOOSING local foods would reduce imports and unwanted stowaway non-native species. SUPPORTING plans to extend national parks and marine reserves. MAKING informed and sustainable consumer choices like buying a hybrid car will make a difference.

Although these steps won’t solve the global extinction crisis, they will improve our resilience to them and inspire other nations to follow suit.

To read more on Dr Stephen Gregory‘s Advertiser article about ‘Ending the extinction’ or to find out more on the University of Adelaide‘s 10 Big Questions visit the website: http://www.sciences.adelaide.edu.au/future/elfs/elfs.html

To find out more go to the University of Adelaide – Research Tuesdays’ website or click below to register.

Register Now

One hundred years ago the electricity system hardly existed, with most people reliant on oil lamps, iceboxes, fireplaces and so on.
Industry burned coal on-site to run steam turbines for mechanical power. Mining operations were primitive compared with the extraordinary scale and sophistication of today’s operations.

Dr Francis Clark talks further about how renewables and where we are heading globally but also what will electricity systems be like in another hundred years, with the global need of electricity supply to quadruple by century’s end, driven by the spread of affluence and a world population heading for about nine billion.

To find out more Dr Clark’s 10 Big Question go to his Advertiser article – ‘Our big power struggle‘. Published on Tuesday 21st June 2011.

A new study led by Dr Ed Biffin from the University of Adelaide’s Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity, has found the arrival of angiosperms restricted most conifer species to marginal habitats and alpine areas in the northern hemisphere.
However, one distinctively different southern hemisphere family of conifers known as the Podocarpacae (plum pines) was able to adapt.

Swapping needles for flat leaves allowed members of one conifer family to diversify and compete with flowering plants.

By evolving flattened leaves podocarps have become one of the most successful conifer groups. (Source: Bob Hill/University of Adelaide)

To learn a bit more about this new study, read Rachel Sullivan’s ABC’s Science article posted Wed 08.06.11.