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SMC Science Deadline: Munching moas, marine protection
SMC Science Deadline: Munching moas, marine protection and catalysing science news
Issue 357, 15 Jan 2016
New from the SMC
In the News: Academics ‘appalled’ at alcohol report
Expert Reaction: Proposed changes to NZ marine protection
Expert Reaction: Moa bones reveal munching habits
Expert Reaction: NIWA Annual Climate Summary
SMC Blog: Fairfax expands science coverage
Applications still open forWellington two-day workshop in Feb 2016
New from the SMC global network
UK SMC
Expert Reaction: Ice ages and human impacts
Briefing: UK scientists to apply for license to use genome editing techniques on human embryos
Expert Reaction: Identification of an enzyme involved in sugar metabolism
Expert Reaction: Hormone implicated in longevity in mice
Marine protection revamp
New types of marine reserves have been proposed in a shake up of New Zealand marine protection laws.
The Government has opened consultation on a proposed Marine Protected Areas Act, a replacement to the Marine Reserves Act 1971.
The proposal outlines four categories of protected areas:
• Marine reserves
• Species-specific sanctuaries
• Seabed reserves
• Recreational fishing parks
"The old Act is no longer fit for modern purpose," Conservation Minister Maggie Barry said in a media release.
"These new proposals provide a better and more flexible process for establishing and managing marine reserves and will enable species sanctuaries for not just marine mammals but other significant species such as albatross and great white sharks."
Bundled with legislation was the establishment of two recreational fishing parks, one in the inner Hauraki Gulf and one in the Marlborough Sounds.
A key issue that has played out in the media this week has been the boundaries of the proposed Act, which would only cover New Zealand's territorial waters and the much larger Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). While WWF and Forest & Bird have criticised the limited coverage of the proposal, Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith has defend the decision to exclude the EEZ.
"The EEZ is legally more complex," Dr Smith told the New Zealand Herald. "There are limits to New Zealand's legal control over the EEZ compared with the territorial sea."
Assoc Prof Mark Costello, from the University of Auckland's Institute of Marine Science, welcomed the review of the Act.
"Many suggestions and ideas in this merit discussion and debate," he told the SMC.
Prof Costello also noted it was unclear how ‘commercial fishing’ was defined in relation to the recreational fishing parks whether there would be requirements for reporting on catch
"Regardless of who and how fish are killed, there is a need to monitor fish catch and populations to ensure they are sustainable," he said.
Read more about the announcement and further expert commentary on the Science Media Centre website.
Science page goes national
The weekly science page that runs in theDominion Post and Press newspapers has been syndicated to four additional Fairfax papers.
The Dominion Post has for several years now run a science page each week, anchored by veteran science columnist Bob Brockie and running local and international science features, an Ask a Scientist column and a round-up of the latest research news from peer reviewed journals.
A couple of years ago, a science page was also started in thePress under the Catalyst banner and over time much of the content was coordinated with that of the Dominion Post.
Now it seems that the mix of science-related news on the page is popular enough to appeal to a wider audience with the Waikato Times, the Taranaki Daily News, the Manawatu Standard and theSouthland Times also now running the Catalyst page each Monday.
The content on the Catalyst page is the same in every paper, reflecting Fairfax’s increased use in recent years of syndicated content across its New Zealand and Australian titles. Features byDominion Post science reporter Olivia Wannan and Presssenior opinion and science writer Paul Gorman have adorned the pages of Catalyst with guest pieces from New Zealand academics also featuring. Gorman now acts as editor of the Catalyst page.
According to ABC, the six papers Catalyst now appears in had a combined readership of 558,000 in 2014.
"This is testament to the work Paul, Olivia and others have put into developing Catalyst with locally-relevant science content," says SMC Director Peter Griffin.
"With the syndication, that page now has tremendous reach and represents a big opportunity for the research community."
Read more about the announcement on the Science Media Centre blog.
Policy news & developments
Marine protection: The Government has launched a consultation document on a new Marine Protected Areas Act to replace the Marine Reserves Act 1971.
Moa munching habits revealed
New Zealand’s extinct moa species were surprisingly diverse in what they ate, and how they ate it , reveals sophisticated new 3D modelling research.
A new study, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, uses 3D scanning technology to create models of moa skull structure based on fossilised remains of the extinct birds.
These were compared between moa species and to two living relatives, the emu and cassowary. The models simulated the response of the skull to different biting and feeding behaviours including clipping twigs and pulling, twisting or bowing head motions to remove foliage.
The researchers found that there were more differences than expected in how moa harvested and ‘chewed’ food, suggesting that they each exploited their local habitats and evolved unique feeding strategies that may have been specific to certain plants.
Study author Dr Trevor Worthy, a New Zealander working at Flinders University, says “until now we have been limited in assessing anatomical function to examining the external aspect of bones. This new technology allows us to bring new life to old bones and to get one step closer to understanding the birds they came from".
Dr Mike Dickison, Curator of Natural History at Whanganui Regional Museum, told the SMC that previous research had shown that moa species had very different body sizes, diets, and bill shapes.
"But this mechanical analysis of their bills suggests moa had a wider range of feeding strategies than we thought, and most must have fed in a very different way to living giant flightless birds such as the cassowary and emu," he said.
“This is important, because emu have been suggested as an possible ecological surrogate that could replicate the effect of moa browsing in New Zealand forests."
Read more about the study and further expert comment on Scimex.org.
Quoted: Stuff.co.nz
"In the complete history of human activity we have (now) found only 118 elements, so discovering one, let alone four, is a rare and remarkable event."
University of Canterbury chemist and IUPAC Secretary General Richard Hartshorn on new elements added to the periodic table.
Science Media SAVVY
Our next Science Media SAVVY course will be in Wellington 18-19 February 2016.
Help us spread the word: download a flyer for your department or notice board.
New from Sciblogs
Some of the highlights from this week's Sciblogs posts:
Micro to Macro - In our universe the incredibly tiny and the absolutely enormous are intertwined, explains new Sciblogger Ryan Ridden.
Micro to Macro
Great science journalism from 2015 - Sarah-Jane O'Connor shares her top picks for science writing this summer. Kick back and enjoy a good read!
Guest Work
Fashionable futures - Predicting fashion isn't easy, writes futurist Robert Hickson as he revisits 19th century ideas about the clothing of tomorrow.
Upcoming events
Please
see the SMC Events Calendar for more events and
details.
• The Anthropocene—A New Geological Epoch Driven by Human Impacts - 15 January , Wellington. Guest lecture by Dr Colin Summerhayes, Emeritus Associate of the Scott Polar Research Institute of Cambridge University.
• Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning) - 18 January, Auckland. Lecture fromProf Marion Nestle,New York University, on public health and the sugar sweetened beverage industry
Science Media Centre NZ
Our aim is to promote accurate, evidence-based reporting on science and technology by helping the media work more closely with the scientific community.
The Science Media Centre is New Zealand's only trusted, independent source of information for the media on all issues related to science. Thousands of news stories providing context from and quoting New Zealand researchers have been published as a direct result of our work.
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