Written By:  Joe Jerek

Two positive results for Chronic Wasting Disease are first for free-ranging deer in Missouri.

JEFFERSON CITY Mo – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) will hold two open houses on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) to further inform the public about two cases recently found in free-ranging adult bucks in northwest Macon County. MDC staff will update attendees on efforts to obtain more tissue samples for CWD testing by working with local landowners on sampling additional deer in the area. MDC staff will also be available to answer questions and provide information on managing private land for deer.

'Yellow biotechnology' refers to biotechnology with insects -- analogous to the green (plants) and red (animals) biotechnology. Active ingredients or genes in insects are characterized and used for research or application in agriculture and medicine. Scientists in Germany are now using a procedure which brings forward ecological research on insects: They study gene functions in moth larvae by manipulating genes using the RNA interference technology (RNAi). RNAi is induced by feeding larvae with plants that have been treated with viral vectors. This method -- called "plant virus based dsRNA producing system" (VDPS) -- increases sample throughput compared to the use of genetically transformed plants. 

Around 80 percent of the Andes' most biodiverse and important ecosystems are unprotected according to a new paper published in the open-access journal BMC Ecology. Looking at a broad range of ecosystems across the Andes in Peru and Bolivia, the study found that 226 endemic species, those found no-where else, were afforded no protection whatsoever. Yet time is running out, as Andean ecosystems are undergoing incredible strain: a combination of climate change and habitat destruction may be pushing many species into ever-shrinking pockets of habitat until they literally have no-where to go.

Today's alarmingly high rate of plant extinction necessitates an increased understanding of the world's biodiversity. An estimated 15 to 30 percent of the world's flowering plants have yet to be discovered, making efficiency an integral function of future botanical research.

Studying self-replicating genetic units, called plasmids, found in one of the world's widest-ranging pathogenic soil bacteria -- the crown-gall-disease-causing microorganism Agrobacterium tumefaciens -- biologists are showing how freeloading, mutant derivatives of these plasmids benefit while the virulent, disease-causing plasmids do the heavy-lifting of initiating infection in plant hosts. The research confirms that the ability of bacteria to cause disease comes at a significant cost that is only counterbalanced by the benefits they experience from infected host organisms.

Written By:  Joe Jerek

Winners will be featured in October "Missouri Conservationist," MDC website and other media. Deadline is May 15.

JEFFERSON CITY Mo -- The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) invites photographers around the state to enter its 75th Anniversary Photo Contest. The contest is an effort to help Missourians discover nature by capturing and sharing photos that celebrate the natural wonders of Missouri. Winners will be featured in the October issue of the Missouri Conservationist, as well as on the MDC website and in other media.

Written By:  Joe Jerek

New MDC regulation takes effect March 1 to help keep Missouri a great place to fish.

JEFFERSON CITY Mo – With catch-and-keep trout season opening March 1, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reminds trout anglers to help prevent the spread of a new threat to Missouri’s cold-water streams and rivers. Called “didymo” (Didymosphenia geminata) or “rock snot,” this invasive alga forms large, thick mats on the bottoms of cold-water streams and rivers, reducing the quality and quantity of food vital to fish such as trout. Didymo also clogs water intakes and boat motors.

To generate phylogenetic trees and investigate relationships between organisms, scientists usually look for similarities and differences in the DNA. Plant scientists were confounded by the fact that the DNA extracted from the plants’ green chloroplasts sometimes showed the greatest similarities when related species grew in the same area. Scientists have now discovered that a transfer of entire chloroplasts, or at least their genomes, can occur in contact zones between plants. Inter-species crossing is not necessary. The new chloroplast genome can even be handed down to the next generation and, thereby, give a plant with new traits. These findings are of great importance to the understanding of evolution as well as the breeding of new plant varieties.

A team of researchers has discovered an overachieving plant enzyme that works both the day and night shifts. The discovery shows that plants evolved a new function for this enzyme by changing merely one of its protein building blocks.

Written By:  Jim Low

Actions of the Missouri Conservation Commission at its meeting Jan. 26 and 27

Conservation Action

January 2012

The Conservation Commission met Jan. 26 and 27 at Cape Girardeau. Commissioners present were:

Don R. Johnson, Festus, Chair

Don C. Bedell, Sikeston, Vice Chair

James T. Blair, IV, St. Louis, Member

ADMINISTRATION

The Commission:

• Received the following presentations.

 An e-Permits status report from Permit Services Supervisor Greg Jones.

 A hunter-education program review from Outreach & Education Division Chief Mike Huffman.

 A habitat-management report from Forestry Division.

Found in the Andes of Peru and Bolivia, the world's biggest bromeliad Puya raimondii is imperiled by climate change and human disturbances.

Every night millions of people go to bed hungry. New genetic technology can help us feed the world by making inedible seeds edible and tasty.

Written By:  Jim Low

Counties bordering urban areas had the biggest totals.

JEFFERSON CITY–Bowhunters posted increases in both deer and turkey harvests during Missouri’s 2011-12 archery deer and turkey hunting seasons, topping the previous year’s figures by more than one-third.

Hunters checked 52,671 deer during the four-month archery season. That is an increase of 10,299 (24 percent) from the previous year. Archers checked 2,923 turkeys, an increase of 739 (33.8 percent) from the 2010-2011 season.

Written By:  Jim Low

Counties bordering urban areas had the biggest totals.

JEFFERSON CITY–Bowhunters posted increases in both deer and turkey harvests during Missouri’s 2011-12 archery deer and turkey hunting seasons, topping the previous year’s figures by more than one-third.

Hunters checked 52,671 deer during the four-month archery season. That is an increase of 10,299 (24 percent) from the previous year. Archers checked 2,923 turkeys, an increase of 739 (33.8 percent) from the 2010-2011 season.

Location matters for birds on the hunt for caterpillars, according to researchers. Findings suggest that chickadees and others zero in on the type of tree as much as the characteristics of their wriggly prey.

Even after 100 years have passed a restored wetland may not reach the state of its former glory. A new study in the open access journal PLoS Biology finds that restored wetlands may take centuries to recover the biodiversity and carbon sequestration of original wetlands, if they ever do. The study questions laws, such as in the U.S., which allow the destruction of an original wetland so long as a similar wetland is restored elsewhere.

A solution to the difficult issue of harvesting algae for use as a biofuel has been developed using microbubble technology.

Written By:  Dan Zarlenga

Hunters can have deer racks scored at event on Saturday, Feb. 18, from 9 a.m. to noon.

ST. LOUIS -- How does this rack stack up? It’s a question many hunters ask when admiring the antlers from a proudly harvested buck. The Deer Antler Scoring event at the Jay Henges Shooting Range and Outdoor Education Center on Saturday, Feb. 18, can provide the answer.

The upsurge in droughts is one of the main consequences of climate change, and affects crops in particular. However, a biologist has confirmed that in the case of barley at least, climate change itself is providing it with a self-defense mechanisms to tackle a lack of water.

In August 2010, an entomologist at the University of California, Riverside discovered a tiny fairyfly wasp in upstate New York that had never been seen in the United States until then. Nearly exactly a year later, he discovered the wasp in Irvine, Calif., strongly suggesting that the wasp is well established in the country. Called Gonatocerus ater, the 1-millimeter-long wasp was accidentally introduced in North America. It lays its eggs inside the eggs of leafhoppers.