Philosophy
Dr. Rebecca McLeod
Excellent. Like recent Kathryn Tabb [Darwin Correspondence Project (United Kingdom)] another young woman has taken the top MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year Awards prize in New Zealand for her research on rain forests that their reduction "...can destroy life deep below the sea's surface, as well as that below the trees...."
Cutting down rainforests can destroy life deep below the sea's surface, as well as that below the trees, a young Dunedin scientist has discovered.
The research won University of Otago marine ecologist Rebecca McLeod the top prize at last night's MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year Awards in Auckland.
A further 10 prizes were awarded, for young scientists researching topics ranging from well-meaning tourists' harmful effects on yellow-eyed penguins to preventing blue-stain fungi in timber.
Dr McLeod's research began 420m beneath Doubtful Sound, where the 30-year-old encountered the jawless, toothless and blind slimy hagfish.
She began to research the fish's diet, and discovered a complex food web - coastal deep-water creatures relied on neighbouring coastal forests for their food.
Slips and rivers transport logs and leaves to the sea. The vegetation sinks, rots like compost on the seafloor and produces hydrogen sulphide. That is then taken up by bacteria and, through chemical reactions, is turned into carbohydrate energy.
Those bacteria live inside clams and worms, which are eaten by the hagfish - meaning the forest nearly half a kilometre above is feeding the deep-water fish below.
She concluded the fish depended on the forest above for half their nutritional needs. Other common species, including blue cod and rock lobster, also obtained energy originally from the forests, she found.
Fiordland was one of the few places where intact rainforest bordered a pristine marine ecosystem, she said.
"That environment gives us an insight into how our coastal ecosystem functioned before humans started cutting down trees. That link, between the condition of the forest and marine life, has been largely ignored in the past.
"I guess we'll never really know how much the deforestation that's been carried out already has altered the marine environment."
Dr McLeod said the knowledge could help in future marine reserves.
Her win includes a cash prize of $10,000 and a trip to Britain to attend the British Association for the Advancement of Science festival. She is named the Young Scientist of the Year and also receives the MacDiarmid Medal.
Dr McLeod said the award would help her chances of securing research funding in New Zealand, allowing her to stay here and achieve her long-term goal - to be a NZ-based academic.
The lead judge of the awards, Rutherford Medal winner Professor Richard Faull, said the judges had looked for innovation and research brilliance, mixed with good communication and simple concepts.
"Darwin on Orchis Bank"--winning essay
[Thanks to stringer Tim.]
- A Polish Anomaly...the "crooked Forest"
INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FORESTS "Poland's Mysterious Crooked Forest" by Christina Reed June 28th, 2011 DiscoveryNews In a tiny corner of western Poland a forest of about 400 pine trees grow with a 90 degree bend at the base of their trunks - all...
- John Evelyn's Forestry
INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FORESTS John Evelyn October 31st, 1620 to February 27th, 1706 John Evelyn was an "English country gentleman, diarist, author of some 30 books on the fine arts, forestry, and religious topics. A lifelong member of the Royal Society,...
- Money To Be Made In Rare Woods
International Year of Biodiversity Rosewood As long as economically strapped countries succumb to powerful investments, this will never cease. "Shaky Rule in Madagascar Threatens Trees" by Barry Bearak May 24th, 2010 The New York Times Exploiting...
- And The Winner Is...ms Kathryn Tabb
Ms Kathryn Tabb Just announced...Ms Kathryn Tabb is the winner of the £1000 prize offered by the Darwin Correspondence Project essay contest. Darwin Correspondence Project 2008 essay prize winner The Darwin Correspondence Project is delighted to announce...
- Manouchehr Saadat Noury, Ph. D.--iranian Woman Physicist
"FIRST IRANIAN WOMAN WHO WAS AWARDED THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL PRIZE IN THE FIELD OF PARTICLE PHYSICS" May 27th, 2008 Persian Journal On May 21, 2008 the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) announced that the Iranian scientist Yasaman...
Philosophy
Dr. Rebecca McLeod takes "MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year Awards"
Dr. Rebecca McLeodExcellent. Like recent Kathryn Tabb [Darwin Correspondence Project (United Kingdom)] another young woman has taken the top MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year Awards prize in New Zealand for her research on rain forests that their reduction "...can destroy life deep below the sea's surface, as well as that below the trees...."
"Fiordland study leads to top science laurel"
by
Craig Borley
August 15th, 2008
The New Zealand Herald
by
Craig Borley
August 15th, 2008
The New Zealand Herald
Cutting down rainforests can destroy life deep below the sea's surface, as well as that below the trees, a young Dunedin scientist has discovered.
The research won University of Otago marine ecologist Rebecca McLeod the top prize at last night's MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year Awards in Auckland.
A further 10 prizes were awarded, for young scientists researching topics ranging from well-meaning tourists' harmful effects on yellow-eyed penguins to preventing blue-stain fungi in timber.
Dr McLeod's research began 420m beneath Doubtful Sound, where the 30-year-old encountered the jawless, toothless and blind slimy hagfish.
She began to research the fish's diet, and discovered a complex food web - coastal deep-water creatures relied on neighbouring coastal forests for their food.
Slips and rivers transport logs and leaves to the sea. The vegetation sinks, rots like compost on the seafloor and produces hydrogen sulphide. That is then taken up by bacteria and, through chemical reactions, is turned into carbohydrate energy.
Those bacteria live inside clams and worms, which are eaten by the hagfish - meaning the forest nearly half a kilometre above is feeding the deep-water fish below.
She concluded the fish depended on the forest above for half their nutritional needs. Other common species, including blue cod and rock lobster, also obtained energy originally from the forests, she found.
Fiordland was one of the few places where intact rainforest bordered a pristine marine ecosystem, she said.
"That environment gives us an insight into how our coastal ecosystem functioned before humans started cutting down trees. That link, between the condition of the forest and marine life, has been largely ignored in the past.
"I guess we'll never really know how much the deforestation that's been carried out already has altered the marine environment."
Dr McLeod said the knowledge could help in future marine reserves.
Her win includes a cash prize of $10,000 and a trip to Britain to attend the British Association for the Advancement of Science festival. She is named the Young Scientist of the Year and also receives the MacDiarmid Medal.
Dr McLeod said the award would help her chances of securing research funding in New Zealand, allowing her to stay here and achieve her long-term goal - to be a NZ-based academic.
The lead judge of the awards, Rutherford Medal winner Professor Richard Faull, said the judges had looked for innovation and research brilliance, mixed with good communication and simple concepts.
"Darwin on Orchis Bank"--winning essay
[Thanks to stringer Tim.]
- A Polish Anomaly...the "crooked Forest"
INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FORESTS "Poland's Mysterious Crooked Forest" by Christina Reed June 28th, 2011 DiscoveryNews In a tiny corner of western Poland a forest of about 400 pine trees grow with a 90 degree bend at the base of their trunks - all...
- John Evelyn's Forestry
INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FORESTS John Evelyn October 31st, 1620 to February 27th, 1706 John Evelyn was an "English country gentleman, diarist, author of some 30 books on the fine arts, forestry, and religious topics. A lifelong member of the Royal Society,...
- Money To Be Made In Rare Woods
International Year of Biodiversity Rosewood As long as economically strapped countries succumb to powerful investments, this will never cease. "Shaky Rule in Madagascar Threatens Trees" by Barry Bearak May 24th, 2010 The New York Times Exploiting...
- And The Winner Is...ms Kathryn Tabb
Ms Kathryn Tabb Just announced...Ms Kathryn Tabb is the winner of the £1000 prize offered by the Darwin Correspondence Project essay contest. Darwin Correspondence Project 2008 essay prize winner The Darwin Correspondence Project is delighted to announce...
- Manouchehr Saadat Noury, Ph. D.--iranian Woman Physicist
"FIRST IRANIAN WOMAN WHO WAS AWARDED THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL PRIZE IN THE FIELD OF PARTICLE PHYSICS" May 27th, 2008 Persian Journal On May 21, 2008 the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) announced that the Iranian scientist Yasaman...