News

Bangor offers fifteen international Forestry distance learning Scholarships thanks to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission
Graduate wins 'Young Environmental Engineer of the Year' 2011
Could the Arctic be coming out of hibernation?
Researchers reveal that sharks are hygienic
Carbon scientists go underground to look for answers
Diabetes UK funds Bangor University research into insulin-producing gene

Bangor offers fifteen international Forestry distance learning Scholarships thanks to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission

Staff at Bangor University’s School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography (SENRGy) are delighted to announce that the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) have agreed to fund up to 15 places for scholars from developing commonwealth countries to study on the MSc Forestry (distance learning) course. The scholarship will include international tuition fees, plus a travel scholarship to enable scholars to attend a field course in 2013.

Dr James Walmsley, Distance Learning Course Director, said “There has been growing interest in our distance learning course from forestry professionals from developing countries in recent years. These prestigious distance learning scholarships will enable outstanding applicants to study for their MSc Forestry degree, whilst living and working in their own countries. We hope that, through studying this course, we can impart knowledge, skills and ideas to facilitate sustainable forest management in many developing commonwealth countries”.

“We currently have 12 CSC scholars who enrolled in September 2011 and we are delighted that the CSC has decided to support a further cohort of scholars”, he added.

The School have been running forestry-related distance learning courses since 2002 and have so far produced 80 graduates; people who would otherwise not had the opportunity to study for a postgraduate degree. The course team continue to revise and update teaching materials, with ever greater use being made of e-learning technologies, to enhance both individual and group work learning and assessment.

Course information can be viewed here.

Please email distance@bangor.ac.uk for further information.

Graduate wins 'Young Environmental Engineer of the Year' 2011

BSc Environmental Science Graduate, James Regan, recently won The Society of Environmental Engineers (SEE) 2011 award of 'Young Environmental Engineer of the Year'.

The award is made annually to an engineer under 35 years of age who has made a significant contribution to environmental engineering.

James, a Senior Geo-environmental Engineer with Sirius Midlands, submitted a project concerning turning a vacant and derelict brownfield site into a safely habitable site.

James said “The majority of work undertaken by geo-environmental engineers involves the assessment, investigation and remediation/reclamation of sites which have been damaged and contaminated by historical industrial activities. Within any typical week, my work takes me through a range of tasks including environmental survey inspections, site audits, site investigations, risk assessments and meetings with regulators."

James recently gained Chartered Environmentalist status.

Further details can be found in The Society of Environmental Engineers Newsletter.

Could the Arctic be coming out of hibernation?

Reduced ice cover in the Arctic Ocean could be the reason why the UK has experienced colder winters recently.

The ice has acted to insulate temperature changes in the sea from the atmosphere. But as the ice decreases in coverage this could have a consequent effect on our climate.

“Some climatologists believe the absence of sea ice north of Siberia last autumn allowed the warmer open ocean to heat the atmosphere, resulting in changed wind patterns and the development of a “blocking” atmospheric high pressure system over Siberia. This then results in cold air being channelled south from the Arctic, over northern Europe,” explains Dr Tom Rippeth of Bangor University.

Scientists at the University have also just discovered that the Arctic Ocean, is not as tranquil as previously supposed by oceanographers and this too could have an effect on the climate.

New measurements by Yueng-Djern Lenn, Chris Old and Tom Rippeth of the University’s School of Ocean Sciences show for the first time that there are occasional bursts of turbulence beneath the Arctic ice which mix adjacent water layers together.

According to the new findings, there is considerably more of this mixing when there is no sea ice insulating the sea surface from the atmosphere.

Such mixing events are important. Under the ice they can bring heat from the ocean interior to warm the underside of the ice, whilst in open water they can take heat from the surface layers, which have been warmed by the sun, into the ocean interior.

Commenting Dr Tom Rippeth said: “These results are highly significant as they are helping us to understand the role of sea ice in the Arctic and in particular how it impacts heat exchange between the ocean interior and the atmosphere.”

“They imply that the Arctic Ocean will become much more turbulent in a warming world. We are already seeing a big reduction in the extent of sea ice cover, particularly during the summer months, and so there is a lot more mixing going on.”

“What we could be seeing is the Arctic coming out of hibernation, and the question we must consider is what impact this will have on our climate here in the UK.”

Indeed some scientists believe that we may already be feeling the effects of disappearing Arctic sea ice, through more serve winters, such as those endured during the past couple of winters here in the UK.

Researchers reveal that sharks are hygienic

Scientists at Bangor University have shown for the first time, that sharks visit shallow tropical reefs or ‘seamounts’, to benefit from cleaning services and rid themselves of cumbersome parasites. The strategy is risky however, since by being there, they become vulnerable to interference from human activity.

The paper published in PLoS ONE, (14 March 2011) describes the first observations of thresher sharks venturing into shallow coastal waters to interact with cleaner wrasse, a type of small fish that groom other fish species. Thresher sharks live in the open oceans and much of the knowledge of them to date is based on fisheries bycatch.

This study, funded by a NERC PhD studentship to Simon Oliver in the School of Ocean Sciences, examined the behaviour of these elusive sharks as they invite cleaners to remove parasites and dead tissue. The sharks and cleaning stations are vulnerable to dynamite fishing on the shallow reefs, and the cooperative interaction between the species is disturbed by human activities. The results provide an insight into the behavioural ecology, biology, and conservation of a shark species, which urgently requires protection.

The researchers demonstrated that sharks regularly visit ‘stations’ where they adapt their behaviour to facilitate cleaning services by ‘posing’ and making themselves more attractive for cleaner fishes. Cleaners then choose to feed on specific parasites from specific areas of the shark’s body.

Dr John Turner, Senior Lecturer in Marine Biology at the School of Ocean Sciences and Simon’s supervisor, said “The work uniquely describes why some oceanic sharks come into coastal waters to perform an important life function which is easily disturbed by man. Such knowledge will inform offshore industry, science, and conservation policy.”

Simon Oliver undertook the fieldwork in Cebu in the Philippines, and has founded the Thresher Shark Research and Conservation Project to promote and disseminate shark research, education and conservation to a broad local, regional and international public and scientific outreach. He said “While fish and predator communities at seamounts are well documented in the literature, why sharks were attracted to seamounts remained largely unknown. This new understanding provides an informed basis for conservation management to protect these sites, which form part of their habitat.”

The study highlights key ecological links between the effects of parasite infection on sharks and the necessity for their control through services provided by ‘cleaners’ who remove them.

Nigel Hussey, who completed his PhD at Bangor University, said that “The study used a remote video system, which enabled us to identify behaviour for the first time, which we’ve classified as ‘circular stance swimming’. This method was particularly suited for the study of such an elusive and little known shark species.”

Alison Beckett, who completed her postgraduate degree at Bangor University said “The study presents a unique investigation into shark behaviour, specifically the cooperative relationship between thresher sharks and two species of cleaner fish. It is also an exciting multi-disciplined biological exposé of the pelagic thresher shark, designated as Vulnerable by the IUCN’s Red List.”

Carbon scientists go underground to look for answers

An unusual below-ground laboratory, set to be the only one of its kind in the UK, is to begin work at Bangor University later this year, enabling scientists to discover more about carbon held in the soil.

Professor Thomas H. DeLuca along with colleagues Professors Davey L. Jones and Douglas. L. Godbold of Bangor University’s School of Environment, Natural Resources & Geography have been awarded a £150,000 Wolfson Laboratory Refurbishment grant through the Royal Society to refurbish and refit an existing rhizotron (a below-ground laboratory used in the study of soils and plant roots ) at Treborth Botanic Garden into a below-ground carbon laboratory.

As Professor Tom DeLuca explains: “Soils represent the single largest global carbon reservoir on land, larger even than the carbon held in plants themselves. Soils will therefore play a significant role in Wales’ attempt to curb net greenhouse gas carbon emissions by 3% per year over the next 20 years.

“Centuries ago, Leonardo Da Vinci stated that: ’we know more of the movement of celestial bodies than we do of the soil under foot.’ This is still true today! Scientists currently have a limited understanding of how land use, the variety of plants, and climatic variables influence how much carbon is stored or released from the soil over long time periods.”

The grant from the Royal Society and the Wolfson foundation has made it possible for the University to refit the historically significant rhizotron to study carbon storage and turnover in soil ecosystems from the bottom up. The rhizotron will allow the scientists to peer into intact soil profiles from an underground observatory and the Wolfson refurbishment will allow them to actually interact with the soil at depth and sample soil atmosphere or soil solution, or root tissue without disturbing the soil itself.

Said Professor DeLuca: “The refurbished rhizotron will promote novel research and greatly advance our existing studies on soil carbon dynamics and plant-soil interactions including how adding ‘biochar’ or charcoal to the soil affects carbon storage and root colonization, and other aspects.”

“We believe that the Wolfson Belowground Carbon Laboratory will be an important compliment to the research infrastructure at Bangor University and attract researchers from around the globe to study belowground processes,” he added.

Diabetes UK funds Bangor University research into insulin-producing gene

Leading health charity Diabetes UK has funded a research project at Bangor University to investigate a gene which could identify important new avenues for diabetes treatment.

The charity has awarded a £14,500 grant to Dr John Mulley at Bangor University to research the processes which activate a gene – called Pdx2 – which is similar to another gene - Pdx1 -previously shown to have a role in making insulin-producing cells in humans[1].

Humans have a copy of the Pdx1 gene and people with mutant copies of the Pdx1 gene often have Type 2 diabetes.

Dr Mulley will study the Pdx2 gene to understand more about the function of this gene and what light it could shed on new ways to develop treatments for people with diabetes.

Dr Mulley’s work could identify new genetic pathways for insulin regulation or the production of insulin-producing cells, which could be adapted for use in humans and for future diabetes treatments.

Dr Mulley, of Bangor University's School of Biological Sciences, said: “I'm grateful to Diabetes UK for the award which will enable me to further my research.

“With diabetes cases on the increase, it's vital that we explore as many avenues as possible, so that we can understand the disease and the potential opportunities to develop new treatments.”

Dr Victoria King, Diabetes UK Head of Research said: “Once the insulin-producing beta cells have been destroyed in diabetes they have a limited or almost non-existent capacity to regenerate so working out how diverse organisms manage to regenerate insulin-producing cells, or regulate their insulin and glucose levels, can provide information that we can harness to develop ways to treat diabetes.

“Diabetes UK is currently committed to diabetes research projects that total more than £960,000 in Wales and is pleased to include support for Dr Mulley’s research at Bangor University in that total.”

More than 153,000 people have been diagnosed with diabetes in Wales with Type 2 diabetes accounting for around 90 per cent of cases.

Type 2 diabetes develops when the body either cannot produce enough insulin or cannot use the insulin it makes.