BBC Animal Science — Betty the crow bends some wire into a hook to retrieve a treat-laden bucket from a well (footage: behavioural ecology group, Oxford University)

“In the past, people thought birds were stupid,” laments the aptly named scientist Christopher Bird. But in fact, some of our feathered friends are far cleverer than we might think. And one group in particular - the corvids - has astonished scientists with extraordinary feats of memory, an ability to employ complex social reasoning and, perhaps most strikingly, a remarkable aptitude for crafting and using tools.

Mr Bird, who is based at the department of zoology at Cambridge University, says: “I would rate corvids as being as intelligent as primates in many ways.”

The corvids - a group that includes crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays and magpies - contain some of the most social species of birds. And some of their intelligence is played out against the backdrop of living with others, where being intelligent enough to recognize individuals, to form alliances and foster relationships is key. However, group living can also lead to deceptive behaviour - and western scrub jays (Aphelocoma californica ) can be the sneakiest of the bird-bunch.

Many corvids will hide stores of food for later consumption, especially during the cold winter months when resources are scarce, but western scrub jays take this one step further. (05/07/09)
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BBC Plant Science – The wild ancestors of common domestic fruit trees are in danger of becoming extinct, scientists have warned. Researchers have published a “red list” of threatened species that grow in the forests of Central Asia. These disease-resistant and climate-tolerant fruit trees could play a role in our future food security.

But in the last 50 years, about 90% of the forests have been destroyed, according to conservation charity, Fauna & Flora International. The Red List of Central Asia identifies 44 tree species in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan as under threat from extinction. It cites over-exploitation and human development as among the main threats to the region’s forests, which are home to more than 300 wild fruit and nut species including apple, plum, cherry, apricot and walnut.

Antonia Eastwood, the lead author of the research, described the region as a “unique global hotspot of diversity”. “A lot of these species are only found in this area,” she told BBC News. “It’s very mountainous and dry, so many of these species have a great deal of tolerance to cold and drought. A lot of our domestic fruit supply comes from a very narrow genetic base,” she continued. “Given the threats posed to food supplies by disease and the changing climate, we may need to go back to these species and include them in breeding programmes.” …

This year, as part of the the UK Darwin Initiative, Fauna &
Flora International is working with scientists in Kyrgyzstan to carry
out research on threatened trees and develop methods to harvest the
fruit sustainably.

The organisation is training local scientists and involving communities in the planning and managing of their own forests. (05/07/09)
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BBC Marine Biology — Stocks of northern shrimp, the essential ingredient in the ubiquitous prawn cocktail, could be badly affected if ocean temperatures rise. Researchers report, in the journal Science, that shrimp eggs hatch within days of each spring phytoplankton bloom - the main food source for the larvae. They conclude that shrimp are adapted to local temperature, which determines how long eggs take to develop. If seas warm, as predicted, shrimp stocks could decline, the team says.

The international team of scientists found that, throughout the north Atlantic - from Cape Cod in the US to to Svalbard in Norway - northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis ) eggs hatched, on average, in time with the bloom. This is the period when food is abundant, so the larvae have a far better chance of survival. But to get the timing right, the shrimp must mate during exactly the right period during the previous year. …

As Marine Biologist Dr. Koeller pointed out, an explosion in the northern shrimp population in the 1980s and 1990s was linked to a drop in sea temperatures at that time. He said it was feasible that the opposite could happen “as the climate changes”. “As surface waters warm, this would eventually result in warmer water at the bottom, which would lead to faster development of eggs and earlier hatching,” he explained.  “The larvae would be further removed from period of food abundance, which would mean poor survival rates and fewer shrimp.” (05/07/09)
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