ScienceDaily: Nature News

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• Evolution: Rock sponges split up
• New strains of parasites identified: Research on whipworms has implications for human health and animal conservation
• The mystery of the Alpine long-eared bat
• Robot cameras monitor deep sea ecosystems
• Old genetic tool in plant biology still has value

Evolution: Rock sponges split up Posted: 12 Jan 2015 10:56 AM PST New light on the evolution of the so-called rock sponges has been revealed by researchers suggesting that conventional, morphology-based taxonomies do not accurately reflect the true genealogical relationships within the group.

New strains of parasites identified: Research on whipworms has implications for human health and animal conservation Posted: 12 Jan 2015 10:39 AM PST Researchers have discovered that there are three genetically distinct groups of whipworms – and only one of the three appears to be transmissible between humans and non-human primates. It is important information for public health officers around the world.

The mystery of the Alpine long-eared bat Posted: 12 Jan 2015 08:04 AM PST Biologists have confirmed that another five vertebrates have a similar geographical distribution to that of the only high mountain bat species in Europe.

Robot cameras monitor deep sea ecosystems Posted: 12 Jan 2015 06:31 AM PST Advanced photographic tools in an unmanned Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) have been used to make major advancements in estimating deep-sea ecosystem diversity at 'landscape' scales, researchers report. By using a camera on the Autosub6000 AUV to take a continuous stream of high resolution photographs of life on the sea floor, this new method revealed a tenfold increase in the precision of deep sea ecosystem diversity estimates relative to the use of scientific trawling.

Old genetic tool in plant biology still has value Posted: 06 Jan 2015 02:12 PM PST A review looks at the status of chloroplast simple sequence repeats or microsatellites in plant genetics, exploring their risks, benefits, and use in future studies. While many research labs are turning to next-generation sequencing methods, these tools can be expensive. The review shows that cpSSRs continue to be both popular and informative in distinguishing plant groups and resolving their evolutionary relationships.

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