Two new species of Gesneriad from Thailand.

The Gesneriads are a diverse group of tropical and sub-tropical flowering plants, mostly herbaceous in nature, but with a few woody members growing up to small-tree sized. They are found throughout the tropics, but are probably most diverse in Southeast Asia and Indonesia. There are over 3000 described species.

In a paper published in the Thai Forest Bulletin in November 2012, David Middleton of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh and Pramote Triboun of the Bangkok Herbarium describe a new species of Gesneriad from Phangnga and Ranong Provinces in Thailand.

The plants are placed in a new genus, Somrania, named in honour of Somran Suddee of the Forest Herbarium Bangkok.

The first new plant is given the specific name albiflora, meaning white-petalled. Somrania albiflora is a  small herbaceous flowering plant, reaching 20 cm in height, covered in dense hairs with white bell-shaped flowers. It was found growing on limestone cliffs in Ngao Waterfall National Park in Ranong Province, close to the border with Myanmar.

Line drawing of Somrania albiflora. Scale bar is 1 cm. Middleton & Triboun 2012.

Photograph of Somrania albiflora. Middleton & Triboun 2012.

The second plant is given the specific name lineata, or 'lined'; the flowers are white with orange-brown lines on their inner surface. Somrania lineata is similar to Somrania albiflora but less densely hairy and with lines on the inner surface of its petals. It was found growing on limestone rocks in Sra Nang Manohra Waterfall Forest Park in Phangnga Province, Thailand.

Somrania lineata. Middleton & Triboun 2012.

The conservation status of these plants is unclear; both are known from single locations with high tourist numbers and corresponding disturbance, but may also be found elsewhere. It is quite likely that Somrania albiflora grows in Myanmar as well as in Thailand.

See also A new species of Gesneriad from Malaysia, New species of Daisy from Brazil, A new, diploid, Pincushion Plant, from the Rocky Mountains, New species of Pipewort from Brazil and A new species of Orchid from Bahia State, Brazil.

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The Lyrid Meteors.

The Lyrid Meteors will be at peak visibility between 21 and 22 April  this year, though this is close to a full moon (which occurs on the 25th), so the display will not be good. The meteors, which appear to radiate from the constellation of Lyra, have been visible since the 16th, and will continue till 26 April. At its peak the Lyrid Meteor shower typically produces about 20 meteors per hour, though higher rates have been recorded.

The origin point of the Lyrid Meteors. SpaceWeather.com.

The Lyrid Meteors are comprised of debris from the comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher (named after the astronomer A. E. Thatcher, not the politician). This is a long-period comet that spends most of its time in the Oort Cloud, only visiting the inner Solar System once every 415 years, the last occasion being in 1861. When the comet visits the inner Solar System it is heated by the Sun, melting the ices that make up its surface and releasing a trail of dust, which continues to follow the path of the comet. The Earth passes through this trail in April each year, creating a light show as the dust particles burn in the upper atmosphere.

The orbit and current position of C/1861 G1 Thatcher. Image created using the JPL Small-Body Database Browser.

See also Fireball over Wyoming, Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) to reach its closest point to Earth this week, The Earth approaches its perihelion, The Southern Solstice and Possible second meteor shower to coincide with the Geminids.

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Magnitude 7.8 Earthquake in southeast Iran; high level of casualties expected.

Slightly before 4.45 pm local time (10.45 am GMT) on Tuesday 16 April 2013, the southeast of Iran was hit by a Magnitude 7.8 Earthquake at a depth of 82 km, close to the border with Pakistan and roughly 86 km east of the city of Khash, according to the United States Geological Survey. This is a remote area with a sparse population, but this is a severe quake and will have been felt over a wide area, so the level of casualties is expected to be high; at the time of writing 81 fatalities have been reported. The quake was felt as far away as New Deli, 1500 km to the east.

The location of the April 16 Earthquake. Google Maps.

Iran is situated on the southern margin of the Eurasian Plate. Immediately to the south lies the Arabian Plate, which is being pushed northward by the impact of Africa from the south. This has created a zone of faulting and fold mountains along the southwest coast of the country, known as the Zagros Thrust Belt, while to the northeast of this the geology is dominated by three large tectonic blocks, the Central Iran, Lut and Helmand, which move separately in response to pressure from the south, stretching and compressing the rock layers close to the surface and creating frequent Earthquakes, some of which can be very large.

The geological stresses on, and tectonic units of, Iran. Mahdavifar et al. (2002).

The population of Iran is particularly at risk from Earthquakes as, unlike other Earthquake-prone nations, very few buildings in the country are quake-resistant. The majority of residential buildings in Iran are made of mud-brick, a building material particularly vulnerable to Earthquakes as the bricks often liquify, trapping people inside and quickly asphyxiating them with dust. This is particularly dangerous at night when the majority of people are inside sleeping, but it is to be hoped that this quake, which occurred in the late afternoon has caused less casualties than some historic nighttime quakes.

Survivors of the quake searching for lost relatives. One India.

See also Magnitude 6.3 Earthquake in southern Iran kills at least 32, Two major Earthquakes in northeast Iran, leading to heavy death toll, Earthquake in Mojen, northern Iran. 12 August 2011 and Earthquakes on Sciency Thoughts YouTube.

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Oil spill in Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

A major spill has been reported in the Nembe Kingdom area of Bayelsa State, Nigeria, with oil covering mangrove swamps, rivers and commercial waterways. The spillage appears to have originated near to the Shell-owned Well 62, early on the morning of Friday 12 April 2013, and has affected members of the Ewelesuo Community, who report they are having difficultly in gaining access to fresh water and that local fisheries have been severely impacted.

Shell Oil facility on Nembe Creek, Nigeria. Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images.

Shell has stopped production on the Nembe Creek this month, while security forces carry out a clamp-down on illegal 'bunkering operations' which siphon oil from pipelines for sale on the black market. Shell claims to lose a considerable proportion of its total production in this way in the Niger Delta , and the activity clearly has an impact on the local environment (though Shell has been accused of using the existence of the oil bunkerers as a way of covering for its own environmental misdemeanors). The oil is siphoned off by cutting into the pipelines, which criss-cross the countryside, then crudely distilling the crude in oil drums to produce a low-quality diesel sold across much of Nigeria.

Security forces have shut down a number of such operations in the area this week, and claim the spill came from a new operation, which had apparently gone wrong, saying they found a small camp with cutting equipment as well as cooking utensils, sleeping mats etc.

An illegal refinery on Nembe Creek that was raided by authorities on 22 March. Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images.

Oil bunkering is a highly risky activity, the oil is highly toxic and both cutting into pipelines and the distillation process frequently result in deadly explosions. In addition the authorities are prone to (often draconian) clampdowns on the activities of oil bunkerers, and are threatening to re-introduce the death penalty for those involved in the activity.

However the sale of black-market fuel provides a means of gaining hard cash in an area that has seen little benefit from the presence of the oil companies, and where the oil is often seen as a resource that should belong to the local people, not foreign oil companies or the (fairly remote) government of Nigeria. The environmental problems caused by both legal and illegal oil operations in the Delta strongly impact upon the local economy, which is based upon small scale farming and fishing, leaving many people with no legitimate source of income, which combined with a rapidly growing population and therefore increased demand for food, makes the black market oil industry more attractive than it might otherwise seem.

A charred body near to a damaged pipeline that exploded near Ilado Village in Lagos State in May 2006, killing an estimated 200 people. Sunday Alambe/AP.

The clampdown comes following a decision by a court in Holland in January that Shell is responsible for the security of its pipelines in the Niger Delta, and that it can be held responsible for damage to the property of third parties.

The clampdown has not gone unopposed in the area. On Friday 5 April a launch carrying 15 police officers was attacked by unknown gunmen, killing 13. Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a militant group that has carried out a number of attacks on oil companies and security forces in the Delta region since 2006, though authorities have denied this, blaming the incident on criminals instead.

Relatives of the police officers attacked in Bayelsa State waiting for news. Naij.

MEND has also issued a statement to the effect that it has blown up an oil well on Nembe Creek, though both the Nigerian authorities and Shell deny this, as do some former members of the group that have taken part in an amnesty and ceasefire. The statement claims the attacks were in retaliation for the imprisonment of Henry Okah in South Africa, for a bombing in Abuja in 2010. The group has also threatened to attack Muslim targets in Nigeria in retaliation to the activities of the militant Islamic group Boko Haram in the north of the country.

It is unclear to what extent these threats are likely to be followed up. The group has a history of violence, but has in theory been taking part in a ceasefire since 2009, with members receiving government funds as part of the amnesty deal, though there are internal divisions within the organization, and there have apparently been disputes over the distribution of amnesty money. An upsurge in activity combined with an attempt to widen the cause to include religious as well as territorial and economic issues may represent an attempt by one faction within the group to gain control.

See also Nigeria threatens Shell with US$11.5 billion in fines and compensation payments over the Bonga Oil Spill, Dutch court fines Shell over pollution in ther Niger Delta, Pipeline explosion in Ogun State, southwest Nigeria, Oil barge explosion in Port of Lagos and Amnesty International reports on the 2012 Bodo Oil Spill.

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A new species of Azhdarchid Pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Transylvania.

Azhdarchid Pterosaurs were large Pterosaurs widespread in the Late Cretaceous, but known from earlier deposits only from fragmentary, tentatively assigned remains. The groups includes some of the largest Pterosaurs known, and therefore (arguably) some of the largest ever flying organisms. The Azhdarchids had exceptionally long beaks, necks and limbs, which has led to the sugestion that they may have had a lifestyle similar to that of modern storks or cranes. Azhdarchids fall into two distict size groups, with very large animals and smaller ones that were roughly human-sized, with wing-spans of about 3 m.

In a paper published in the journal PLoS One on 30 January 2013, Mátyás Vremir of the Department of Natural Sciences of the Transylvanian Museum Society, Alexander Kellner of the Laboratory of Systematics and Taphonomy of Fossil Vertebrates at the Department of Geology and Paleontology at the Museu Nacional and Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Darren Naish of Ocean and Earth Sciences at the University of Southampton and Gareth Dyke also of Ocean and Earth Sciences and the Institute of Life Sciences at the University of Southampton, describe the discovery of a new Azhdarchid Pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous Transylvanian Basin in Romania.

The new Pterosaur is named Eurazhdarcho langendorfensis, meaning European Azhdarcho from Langendorf; where Azhdarcho is the name of a Pterosaur from Central Asia to which the new specimen bears a strong resemblence, and Langendorf is an old German name for Lancrăm, the village where the specimen was found. 

 

The location where the new Pterosaur was discovered. Vremir et al. (2013).

Eurazhdarcho langendorfensis is described from three anterior cervical vertebrae, a right wing metacarpal IV, an incomplete right metacarpal III, the proximal half of the first right wing phalanx, part of the distal diaphysis of the second smaller wing phalanx, a distal manual phalanx and several other fragmentary bones. The skeleton shows signs of port-mortem predation, possibly by a smal Crocodylomorph. Such fragmentary skeletons are usual in Pterosaurs, which had thin, hollow bones that reduced both their bodywheight and their preservational potential.

 

Sketch map showing the arangement of the bones of Eurazhdarcho langendorfensis as they were when discovered.  Vremir et al. (2013).

 

Cervical vertebrae three (top) and four (bottom) of  Eurazhdarcho langendorfensis in lateral view. Scale bars are 10 mm. Vremir et al. (2013).

 

 Reconstruction of Eurazhdarcho langendorfensis based upon the available material. Scale bar is 500 mm Vremir et al. (2013).

Euraazhdarcho langendorfensis appears to have been one of the smaller morph Azhdarchid Pterosaurs. The giant Azhdarchid Hatzegopteryx thambema, which had an estimated wingspan of 12 m, making it a contender for the largest flying creature ever, is also known from the Late Cretaceous of Transylvania. Vremir et al. note that there are a number of locations around the world have produced two species of Azhdarchid Pterosaur, one large and one small, which they sugest is a sign of ecological partitioning.

 

Map of the world in the Late Cretaceous, showing locations where different size-morph Azhdarchid Pterosaurs have been found. Vremir et al. (2013).

See also A new Pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Liaoning Province in northwest China, New species of Rhamphorhynchid Pterosaur from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone, A new species of Tapejarid Pterodactyl from the Early Cretaceous Las Hoyas Lagerstätte of eastern Spain, Skull shape and diet in an Ornithocheiroid Pterodactyl and A new Pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil.

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Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake in southern Japan.

Slightly after 5.30 am local time on Saturday 13 April 2013 (slightly after 8.30 pm on Friday 12 April, GMT), a Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake at a depth of 10 km hit the Japanese island of Awaji, which lies between the larger islands of Shikoku and Honshu, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. This is a major Earthquake with the potential to cause a great deal of damage, though Japan is well prepared for such events, with almost all buildings having a degree of Earthquake-proofing, and the population taking part in regular Earthquake drills. At the time of writing 23 people have reported minor injuries as a result of this event as well as minor structural damage to some buildings.

The location of the 13 April Earthquake. Google Maps.

Damage to a shrine wall at Sumoto on Awaji Island. Kyodo/Reuters.

Japan has a complex tectonic situation, with parts of the country on four different tectonic plates. The south of the country lies on the Eurasian Plate to the south of which the Philippine Plate is being subducted along the Nankai Trough at a rate of about 43 mm per year, passing under southern Japan as it does so. This is not a smooth process; the two plates continually stick together, then break apart as the pressure builds up, causing Earthquakes in the process.

The movement of the tectonic plates beneath Japan. Volcano Lovers.

See also Magnitude 7.3 Earthquake off the coast of Japan, Japan shaken by pair of major Earthquakes, Earthquake shakes Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, Explosion on Suwanosejima and Earthquakes on Sciency Thoughts Youtube.

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The BMC Ecology Image Competition.

Scientific journals are the mainstay of academic communication within the sciences, the place where new ideas are put forward in papers for which the authors, rather than the editors, take responsibility. They are not, on the whole, noted for either competitions or artistic content. All such rules have exceptions however, and this year the editors of the journal BMC Ecology decided to hold an Ecology Image Competition, which would be open only to scientists working in the field, with the aim of determining how the scientists' deeper knowledge would enable them to communicate more about the subject. The results of this experiment were presented in a paper published in the journal on 22 March 2013.

The wining picture in the competition was by Moritz Muschick of the University of Sheffield, and shows a Stick Insect Timema poppensis on a leaf of it's host tree Sequoia sempervirens. The Insect is well camouflaged, demonstrating coevolution between the animal and the plant; it is in the Insect's interest to look as much like the plant as possible, since an Insect that can be seen by predators is likely to be eaten by predators, but against the interest of the plant, which would be better off if the Insect is eaten, since the Insect eats its leaves. It also suggests that the Stick Insects are at significant risk from predators with eyesight not dissimilar to our own.

Moritz Muschick's image of a Stick Insect on a Redwood leaf. BMC Ecology (2013).

The runner-up prize went to Benjamin Blonder of the University of Arizona for a picture of a subalpine meadow in Colorado, which shows a variety of plants, implying strong niche partitioning within the meadow.

Benjamin Blonder's image of a subalpine meadow in Colorado. BMC Ecology (2013).

There were also several section prizes awarded, relating to the editorial sections within the journal. The first of these was the Behavioural and Physiological Ecology Section, which was awarded to Laëtitia Kernaléguen of Deakin University for an image of two blood-covered male Southerm Elephant Seals (Mirounga leonina) fighting over a harem of (unseen) females.

Laëtitia Kernaléguen's image of two fighting Elephant Seals. BMC Ecology (2013).

The Community, Population and Macroecology pize was won by Michael Siva-Jothy of the University of Sheffield for an image of a carnivorous Polistine Wasp hovering over a Scarce Swallowtail Butterfly as it fed from a Scabius flower.

Michael Siva-Jothy's image of a Polistine Wasp hovering over a Swallowtail Butterfly. BMC Ecology (2013).

The Conservation Ecology and Biodiversity Research prize went to Hara Woltz of Columbia University for an image of a Galápagos Tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra) on a road on Santa Cruz Island.

Hara Woltz's image of a Galápagos Tortoise on Santa Cruz Island. BMC Ecology (2013).

The Landscape Ecology and Ecosystems prize went to Yulin Jia of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center for an image of ancient rice paddies in Yuanyang, China.

Yulin Jia's image of an ancient Chinese paddy field. BMC Ecology (2013).

The Theoretical Ecology and Models prize went to the only non-photographic image to win a prize, a graphical representation by Chaitanya Gokhale of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology showing an evolutionary game theory model in which multiple players maintain biodiversity.

Chaitanya Gokhale's diagrammatic representation of a game theory model. BMC Ecology (2013).

Finally there is an Editor's Pick award for an image showing the work of a field ecologist working in the field. This went to Raf Aerts of the University of Leuven and the University of Utah showing a field notebook in the Peruvian Rainforest.

Raf Aeart's image of a field ecologist's notebook. BMC Ecology (2013).

The competition sets out to showcase imagery by ecologists, to show the insights they bring to the subject, and in this it does not seem to have been particularly successful. The photographs are good, but not exceptionally so, and it is doubtful that any insight is present that would be absent in the work of a professional photographer. Documentary photography is a competitive field with few paid positions, and simply taking pictures of pretty animals, plants or buildings is not enough to succeed; rather a great deal of research is undertaken before the camera is even picked up. None of the images in this competition appears to be beyond the scope of such research, and most do not stray far beyond general knowledge (it is doubtful that there are many professional photographers who would be at a loss to explain why Stick Insects are camouflaged). The sole non-photographic image is hard to interpret without reading the paper from which it was taken.

This is not to denigrate the images, nor the knowledge of the scientists who produced them, but the competition seems to have underestimated the skills of professional photographers, who research their subjects thoroughly and can often put more information into an image that an expert on the subject matter with only limited photographic skills. (Disclaimer: my partner is a documentary photographer).

See also Geological Society of London to host a public meeting on Shale Gas extraction, Wallace Archive goes online, John Snow's Cholera Map, Mapping Africa's groundwater resources and Geology Today to hold online Minerals and Fossils Event.

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