OnE Division, Cardiff School of Biosciences

Yoshan Moodley once of this parish has done the gut micro biome of Otzi in today's Science - http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/famous-ancient-iceman-had-familiar-stomach-infection/

Famous Ancient Iceman Had Familiar Stomach Infection

Congratulations to OnE alumnus Samrat Mondol for his outstanding work on elephant ivory poaching in Science http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2015/06/18/science.aaa2457.abstract

Genetic assignment of large seizures of elephant ivory reveals Africa’s major poaching hotspots Poaching of elephants is now occurring at rates that threaten African populations with extinction. Identifying the number and location of Africa’s major poaching hotspots may assist efforts to end poaching and facilitate recovery of elephant populations. We genetically assign origin to 28 large ivor…

An action packed week Wed-Thurs: Terra preta Symposia, grant applications and emergent ideas After spending 2 days being immersed in everything earthworm it was time to change focus, at least a little, and hear about the mysteries of amazonian dark earths the ancient amazonian civilisation that created them. This symposium, support by Newton Foundation and NERC, brought together scientists from so many disciplines archaeology, anthropology, soil chemistry, microbiology, mycology (fungi) and not to forget the macro-invertebrate biodiversity. [ 300 more words. ]

http://biosi.subsite.cf.ac.uk/biosi/kille-morgan/an-action-packed-week-wed-thurs-terra-preta-symposia-grant-applications-and-emergent-ideas/

An action packed week Wed-Thurs: Terra preta Symposia, grant applications and emergent ideas An action packed week Wed-Thurs: Terra preta Symposia, grant applications and emergent ideas After spending 2 days being immersed in everything earthworm it was time to change focus, at least a lit...

An action packed week of Earthworms and Terra preta So after 5000+ miles travel successfully achieved it was time to get down to the real purpose of the visit. We (well mainly George) had organised two back-to-back meetings. This first is part of an ongoing program to study the ecology and taxonomy an Oligochates - you would not believe the hidden bio-diversity and the variety of interested group from the agricultural community to the pure evolutionary taxonomists. [ 261 more words. ]

http://biosi.subsite.cf.ac.uk/biosi/kille-morgan/5th-meeting-latin-american-ecology-and-taxonomy-of-oligochaetes/

An action packed week Mon-Tues: 5th Latin American meeting on the ecology and taxonomy of oligochaetes An action packed week of Earthworms and Terra preta So after 5000+ miles travel successfully achieved it was time to get down to the real purpose of the visit. We (well mainly George) had organised...

A Rio Sunset: But parrots of Curitiba Walking off the trans-alantic flight after the stress of Heathrow, routing through Mardid, marking 40 finals scripts and spending 12 hours with kids under 5 sitting next to me and behind me meant that I was true exhausted when I arrived in Rio. What greeted me was the most beautiful sunset.....but truly I was just tired to appreciate it. [ 247 more words. ]

http://biosi.subsite.cf.ac.uk/biosi/kille-morgan/a-rio-sunset-but-parrots-of-curitiba/

A Rio sunset: But parrots of Curitiba A Rio Sunset: But parrots of Curitiba Walking off the trans-alantic flight after the stress of Heathrow, routing through Mardid, marking 40 finals scripts and spending 12 hours with kids under 5 si...

So it's about a month after the major field expedition and I am returning to Brazil to take part in Conference talking about the Dark Earth's. Again to keep travel cost down so as to maximise the research money I am taking an indirect route via Madrid and Rio and on to Curitiba. I wanted to post a quick note from the airport to thank the unknown lady at the central Heathrow Bus station who saved my sanity. [ 148 more words. ]

http://biosi.subsite.cf.ac.uk/biosi/kille-morgan/human-kindness-in-heathrow-bus-station-back-to-brazil/

Human kindness in Heathrow Bus station: Back to Brazil So it's about a month after the major field expedition and I am returning to Brazil to take part in Conference talking about the Dark Earth's. Again to keep travel cost down so as to maximise the r...

Congratulations Pablo!! http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fgene.2015.00191/abstract

Revisiting demographic processes in cattle with genome-wide population genetic analysis The domestication of the aurochs took place approximately 10,000 years ago giving rise to the two main types of domestic cattle known today, taurine (Bos ta**us) domesticated somewhere on or near t...

Dave Stanton's latest... http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10592-015-0726-0

Genetic structure of captive and free-ranging okapi (Okapia johnstoni) with implications for... Breeding programs for endangered species increasingly use molecular genetics to inform their management strategies. Molecular approaches can be useful for investigating relatedness, resolving pedigree uncertainties, and for estimating genetic diversity in captive and wild populations. Genetic data c…

You may like to know that our intrepid undergrad PTY students Luke Chrimes and Dom Edwards have landed safely in Madagascar on their field trip. Follow their progress at:

http://madagascartrip2015.blogspot.co.uk/?spref=fb

Madagascar Trip 2015

Earning a privilege insight and an afternoon to say goodbye to the Amazon: Belem day 3 The collections http://wp.me/p3ycyy-ys

Earning a privilege insight and an afternoon to say goodbye to the Amazon: Belem day 3 The... Today I had to present a research seminar to the geneticists and biochemists at the museum, then George had to jump on a plan home after which Luis and I had been promised a glimpse of the collections. This promise gave me the adrenaline to overcome last night's beer and find my voice. I have to say one of the most enjoyable things I have found when talking about my research here is that everyone is genuinely interested and provide enthusiastic and engaged questions even if the presentation is outside their field. [ 621 more words. ]

Trust in People: Belem – Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi http://wp.me/p3ycyy-yc

Trust in People: Belem - Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi After a a groggy start we stocked-up our energy on Tapioca pancakes ( caffeine and juice and tried to start to address the issues that had arisen. We had a quick win over breakfast when George's EMBRAPA colleague Santarem came through big time - access to two sites, a vehicle and a cheap (almost free) field station to lodging - what a great way to start the day even if the restaurant coffee was a bit strange !! [ 393 more words. ]

Positive thinking: Manaus to Belem http://wp.me/p3ycyy-y9

Positive thinking: Manaus to Belem Today George, Luis and I had to leave the team in Manaus and travel to Belem to meet the archaeologists and anthropologists that work at the 'Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi' in an attempt to identify sites for the next field trip in may. Leaving was tough as although everyone had enjoyed collecting their favourite species rather than the systematic sampling we had done the rest of the week (due to the rain) it meant we were leaving the team three down with a lot of work in the balance. [ 335 more words. ]