CABI Blogs: hand picked... and carefully sorted

Rudolf the Parasitized Reindeer

I tend to think of Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer as being part of the rather tacky side of Christmas which has never greatly appealed to me, but the other day I came across a reference in a free magazine that came through my door which I thought was worth investigating. A section on 'festive oddities' claimed that 'Rudolf's red nose is based on fact', and that the membranes of reindeers' noses do indeed become inflamed and red as a result of parasitic infections provoked by rummaging for lichens under the snow.

Searching of CAB Abstracts revealed that the main parasite to be found in the noses of reindeer is the nasal bot fly, Cephenemyia trompe, which is quite common (average prevalence in a series of studies¹ in Norway was 65.2%). Once I knew the species it was easy to find further information in CAB Abstracts, the CAB Abstracts Archive and the CABI book The oestrid flies (information below without footnotes is from the book).

The adult flies (which are round and furry like bumble bees, as a protection against potential predators) are active in summer, and can fly many miles to keep up with the deer. The females give birth to larvae rather than laying eggs, and they spray them at the deer's muzzle from several centimetres away; the larvae then migrate into the nasopharyngeal region via the nostrils or the mouth. The first stage larvae may become dormant in the nasal cavities over the winter, before developing to the second and third stages in the pharyngeal pouches in the spring. They leave the host (inducing severe sneezing) prior to pupation.

Although moderate infestations with flies of the family Oestridae are often well tolerated by the hosts, parasitic and blood-sucking insects do have a significant effect on reindeer behaviour², disturbing their foraging and increasing energy expenditure. The presence of C. trompe in particular causes them to become agitated and hide their noses in the vegetation³ to try to avoid oviposition. The larvae cause significant inflammation inside the nasal cavities, and severely infested animals sometimes die; but I couldn't find anything to indicate that the outside of the nose ever looks red!

Older reindeer are less affected than younger ones⁴, similar to the pattern noticed with the related species Oestrus ovis in sheep, probably because of acquired immunity. As for what Father Christmas should do if his reindeer are infested, a range of insecticides from the avermectin group are effective against C. trompe^5,6, and darkened shelters for the deer to hide in can help protect them from the flies⁷.

From this we can conclude that intriguing pieces of information in free magazines should neither be taken at face value nor ignored altogether; it can be interesting to find out the facts that may be behind them.

Happy Christmas and New Year to our readers.

Kiss - don't shake hands?

Something to contemplate under the Christmas mistletoe:

We could be more at risk of picking up illnesses from shaking hands than from kissing says a press release from experts at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. See their studies in British Medical Journal and American Journal of Infection Control on hand hygiene.

Certainly hands are well known for transmitting diseases, and a major headache for infection control teams in hospitals is getting doctors and nurses to wash or otherwise clean their hands between patients. Faces are generally cleaner and come into contact with fewer contaminated surfaces than hands so it could make sense.

So try it....

See search of CAB Abstracts on Google on hands and disease transmission. Oddly 'kissing' isn't a good search term as there is a lot in CAB Abstracts about the 'kissing bug' the vector of Chagas' disease. Or look at Global Health.

Could blue be next year's green?

Whilst reading the Marine Conservation Biology Institute blog I came across a link to a piece in the Economist entitled Blue in green. The article argued that green is the colour synonymous with environmentalism but isn't this rather a anthropocentric, terrestrialist viewpoint?  I agree, it probably is. We use green to describe groups who monitor whales and dolphins, and who conserve turtles - all creatures that dwell in the deep blue. 

The Economist columnist goes on to say that when it comes to green issues we suffer from planet-scale nimbyism that seems to focus on terrestrial organisms. I thought this a little unfair, until a friend told me about the junkyard in the sea...

Wash your hands…not your turkey!

Whatever this man’s doing with this turkey, it’s safer than giving it a bath

For those of you tempted to give your Christmas turkey a bath before the big day, STOP. This is madness, what were you thinking?!

I don't want to be a party poo-per, but really there are more entertaining ways to spend those xmas hours than sitting on the toilet, aren't there? And that's just what could happen to a whopping 80% of the British turkey eating population this year according to the Food Standards Agency in the UK.

GREENhouse appeal.

The Living Rainforest, near Newbury in the UK, has launched an appeal to find sponsors for the building of a state-of-the-art ‘Green Greenhouse’ building prototype.  The aim is to raise £900,000 matched funding to complete construction of the £3.5m building.

Unsustainable food/crop production and increasing energy costs mean that new methods of production must be found to reduce reliance on non-renewable energy sources, and cut down on pollution from fossil fuels. A zero-carbon glasshouse is planned and the existing greenhouses will be expanded, along with associated buildings. These will be integrated to improve energy management.

The glasshouse will be heated with solar energy harvested via panels in the glasshouse and stored underground in a Vertical Soil Heat Exchanger (VSHE).

The Living Rainforest has secured around 80% of the required funding, but require a further £600,000 by April of next year and is looking for green corporate partners to get involved.

"The partner will benefit from The Living Rainforest’s unique facilities for corporate events and have an opportunity to showcase their environmental R&D to 70,000+ schoolchildren and other visitors annually."

Follow this link to view nearly 100 abstracts (search terms: greenhouses and energy) from CABI made available via Google.

Trade, biotechnology, biofuels, ethics: some issues that the sugar industry is thinking about

Having more or less recovered from the flu mentioned in Sarah's blog entry of 22nd November (no, I wasn't complaining I was dying -- quite the opposite; I kept expecting to be fully recovered the next day and then finding I wasn't), I went last week to the International Sugar Organization's annual international seminar (see the ISO events page) in London, featuring two days of presentations about subjects related to the economics of the sugar industry. This was more interesting than you might think for a non-economist like me -- many different subjects affect or are affected by economics, and even the presentation about the changing face of sugar futures trading was quite well-explained.

Second (Life) Nature - Climate Change Lecture Series

To coincide with the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali 3rd - 14th December, the Second Nature Island will be hosting a special series of events/lectures in Second Life.