Texas A&M-Galveston professor discovers new species of marine life

Two tiny worms much smaller than a rice grain and a strange crustacean that has no eyes and poisonous fangs are among several new species of marine life discovered in an underwater cave by a Texas A&M University at Galveston researcher, who has had one of the new species named after him.

Tom Iliffe, professor of marine biology and one of the world's foremost cave researchers, was part of an international team that discovered the new species in a mile-long underwater cave in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic off the coast of North Africa.

Their findings are published in the current issue of "Marine Biodversity." The research project was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Iliffe, along with researchers from Pennsylvania State University, the University of La Laguna in Spain and two German universities – the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hanover and the University of Hamburg – found the new species while exploring the Tunnel de la Atlantida, the world's longest submarine lava tube.

New Species Of Crustacean Discovered Near Canary Islands

During a cave diving expedition to explore the Tunnel
de la Atlantida, the world's longest submarine lava tube
on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, a team of scientists
and cave divers have discovered a previously unknown
species of crustacean, belonging to the remipede
genus Speleonectes.

During a cave diving expedition to explore the Tunnel de la Atlantida, the world's longest submarine lava tube on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, a team of scientists and cave divers have discovered a previously unknown species of crustacean, belonging to the remipede genus Speleonectes.

They gracefully swim through the complete darkness of submarine caves, constantly on the lookout for prey. Instead of eyes, predatory crustaceans of the class Remipedia rely on long antennae which search the lightless void in all directions. Like some type of science fiction monster, their head is equipped with powerful prehensile limbs and poisonous fangs.

Accordingly, the translations of their Latin names sound menacing. There is the "Secret Club Bearer"(Cryptocorynetes) or the "Beautiful Hairy Sea Monster" (Kaloketos pilosus). The names of some genera were inspired by Japanese movie monsters, for example, the "Swimming Mothra” (Pleomothra), the "Strong Godzilla"(Godzillius robustus) or the "Gnome Godzilla" (Godzilliognomus).

During a cave diving expedition to explore the Tunnel de la Atlantida, the world’s longest submarine lava tube on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, an international team of scientists and cave divers have discovered a previously unknown species of crustacean, belonging to the remipede genus Speleonectes, and two new species of annelid worms of the class Polychaeta.

IU discovers stone tools, rare animal bones -- clues to Caribbean's earliest inhabitants

Jessica Keller holds the primate skull found
in the Padre Nuestro Cavern.

A prehistoric water-filled cave in the Dominican Republic has become a "treasure trove" with the announcement by Indiana University archaeologists of the discovery of stone tools, a small primate skull in remarkable condition, and the claws, jawbone and other bones of several species of sloths.

The discoveries extend by thousands of years the scope of investigations led Charles Beeker, director of Academic Diving and Underwater Science Programs at IU Bloomington's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, and his interdisciplinary team of collaborators. The researchers' focus has been on the era a mere 500 years ago when the Old World and New World first met after Christopher Columbus stepped ashore in the Caribbean -- and on scintillating pirate lore. This rare find is expected to give insights into the earliest inhabitants of the Greater Antilles and the animals they encountered.

"To be honest, I couldn't believe my eyes as I viewed each of these astonishing discoveries underwater," Beeker said. "The virtually intact extinct faunal skeletons really amazed me, but what may prove to be a fire pit from the first human occupation of the island just seems too good to be true. But now that the lithics (stone tools) are authenticated, I can't wait to direct another underwater expedition into what may prove to become one of the most important prehistoric sites in all the Caribbean."

Utah salt caverns handy for energy storage

How's this for an energy trick?

A Utah company plans to use wind or solar power to pump hollowed-out salt caverns full of compressed air. Then, as daily demand for electricity peaks, the company would release the underground air to spin power-generating turbines.

That's just one way Salt Lake City-based Magnum Development plans to use a series of salt caverns near Delta in central Utah.

The caverns are primarily intended for storage of natural gas — as much as 45 billion cubic feet of gas. Gas producers need storage typically in summer when demand is low, so they can pull it out in winter when demand is high.

Magnum is collecting federal permits for its versatile "energy hub" and hopes to open the first cavern for business by 2012.

"It would be like a big storage battery for electricity," said Craig Broussard, a managing director for Magnum Development, a portfolio company of Houston-based private equity group Haddington Energy Partners III.

Mammoth Cave National Park signs sister park agreement with Chinese site

Mammoth Cave National Park Superintendent Patrick Reed (left) presents a commemorative plaque to Li Zhengping of Shilin Stone Forest in honor of the signing of a sister park agreement Aug. 13 in Shilin Stone Forest Scenic Area near Shilin, China. (Photo by Dr. Rickard Toomey)

Representatives of Mammoth Cave National Park, WKU and China’s Shilin Stone Forest participated in the signing of a sister park agreement Aug. 13 in Shilin Stone Forest Scenic Area near Shilin, China.

Mammoth Cave National Park Superintendent Patrick Reed and Li Zhengping, director of administration for the Stone Forest Scenic Area, signed the agreement. Also attending the ceremony were Dr. Rickard Toomey, director of the Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning; Dr. Chris Groves, director of director of WKU’s Hoffman Environment Research Institute and the China Environmental Health Project; Hoffman Institute staff members Pat Kambesis, Lee Anne Bledsoe and Priscilla Baker; WKU students Chrissie Hollon and Erin Lynch; and WKU photojournalism faculty members James Kenney and Tim Broekema.

The sister park agreement was the subject of a story earlier this week on America.gov.

Source: WKU News

Early human hunters had fewer meat-sharing rituals

A University of Arizona anthropologist has discovered that humans living at a Paleolithic cave site in central Israel between 400,000 and 250,000 years ago were as successful at big-game hunting as were later stone-age hunters at the site, but that the earlier humans shared meat differently.

"The Lower Paleolithic (earlier) hunters were skilled hunters of large game animals, as were Upper Paleolithic (later) humans at this site," UA anthropology professor Mary C. Stiner said.

"This might not seem like a big deal to the uninitiated, but there's a lot of speculation as to whether people of the late Lower Paleolithic were able to hunt at all, or whether they were reduced to just scavenging," Stiner said. "Evidence from Qesem Cave says that just like later Paleolithic humans, the earlier Paleolithic humans focused on harvesting large game. They were really at the top of the food chain."

The Qesem Cave people hunted cooperatively, then carried the highest quality body parts of their prey to the cave, where they cut the meat with stone blade cutting tools and cooked it with fire.

Underwater photography: Workshop for cave divers in France

The famous French caves Ressel and Landenouse will provide a demanding stage for two underwater photography-workshops.

J.-P. Bresser, a Dutch photographer and cave diver, invites fellow divers to join him from September 26 to 29, and from October 5 to 8, 2009 in the French Department Lot. The four-day workshop will be held in English and German. Topics covered will include dive planning, communication, and digital finishes on computers using Adobe Photoshop and other software.

Divers interested to participate need a full cave certification from an international recognized agency (such as NACD, NSS-CDS, GUE and IANTD) and proof of a valid dive accident insurance. The costs for the workshop is Euro 550 (approximately $793), plus flight, accommodation, and gases.

More info is available at jp@regel1.com

British potholers rescued from Spanish cave

The rescue in the Picos de Europa

The four cavers were brought to safety after spending Saturday night trapped in the Picos de Europa

A group of British potholers had to be rescued this Sunday after spending Saturday night trapped 100 metres below ground in the Picos de Europa. They were exploring the Asopladeru La Texa cave, on the south eastern face of Cabeza Muxa in Onís, Asturias, when flooding from heavy rainfall left them unable to find the guide rope which would lead them back to the surface.

The rescue team reached the first two members of the group at around 11am on Sunday, who EFE reports were then able to continue on to the surface themselves after being helped past the flooded area. Their team members, found further inside the cave some 20 minutes later, were exhausted and needed time to recover after being given food and drink before they could attempt the journey to safety.

It was the second rescue from the same cave in the space of a week, after another incident when two members of the British group were trapped for 3 hours after losing their guide rope. It’s understood there were no injuries suffered, except exhaustion, on either of the two occasions.

The group is reported by El Comercio Digital to have been carrying out a topographical survey of Asopladeru La Texa

Source: Typically Spanish

Is Bat White-Nose Syndrome An Emerging Fungal Pathogen?

Little brown bats in NY hibernation cave. Note that
most of the bats exhibit fungal growth on their muzzles.
Credit: Nancy Heaslip

An emerging fungal pathogen? New research provides even more evidence that a previously undescribed, cold-loving fungus is associated with white-nose syndrome, a condition linked to the deaths of up to 1,000,000 cave-hibernating bats in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states. Since the winter of 2006-2007, bat populations plummeted from 80 to 97 percent at surveyed bat-hibernation caves, called hibernacula.

USGS microbiologist Dr. David Blehert and his colleagues identified the fungus last year, and have followed up by trying to determine if the fungus may be responsible for the deaths or if it is simply a side effect of another underlying disease.

The researchers found that 90 percent of all bats they examined from suspected WNS sites had a severe fungal skin infection that did not just occur on the skin, but below it as well. The growth temperature requirements of the fungus are consistent with the core temperatures of cave-hibernating bat species throughout temperate regions of the world.

Given the hundreds of thousands of hibernating bats found throughout the WNS-affected region, as well as the potential for the spread of this disease to other parts of the United States and Canada, white-nose syndrome represents an unprecedented threat to bats of the northeastern United States and potentially beyond.

This research was presented at the 58th annual meeting of the Wildlife Disease Association (WDA) held on August 2-7, 2009, in Blaine, Wash.

Source: Science Daily

'Ebola Cousin' Marburg Virus Isolated From African Fruit Bats

A team of scientists have reported the successful isolation of genetically diverse Marburg viruses from a common species of African fruit bat (Egyptian fruit bat, Rousettus aegyptiacus). A paper published in the open-access science journal PLoS Pathogens provides new insight into the identity of the natural host of this deadly disease.

Infection with Marburg virus and the related Ebola virus can produce severe disease in people, with fever and bleeding. During outbreaks, as many as 90 percent of those infected have died. The natural reservoir for Marburg virus, and its cousin Ebola virus, has been the subject of much speculation and scientific investigation.

The study provides the strongest evidence to date of the species′ capacity to host Marburg virus. While previous investigations have found antibodies to Marburg virus and virus genetic fragments in bats, the recent study goes significantly further by isolating actual infectious virus directly from bat tissues in otherwise healthy-appearing bats. The new study shows unambiguously that this bat species can carry live Marburg virus. In addition, this study identifies a genetic link between the viruses carried in bats and the viruses found in sick workers in the mine colonized by the bats.

Genetic sequences of Marburg viruses obtained from the infected bats exhibit broad genetic diversity, suggesting that Marburg infection in Egyptian fruit bats is not a recent phenomenon. R. aegyptiacus isgenerally cave-dwelling and widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa.

Many caves and mines are inhabited by large populations of R. aegyptiacus. Caves, as popular tourist attractions, and active mines can invite potential close contact between bats and humans. By identifying the natural source of this virus, appropriate public health resources can be directed to prevent future outbreaks. Additionally, the study takes scientists one step closer to identifying the reservoir host for Ebola virus.

Source: Science Daily