Ecology &amp; Evolutionary Biology / en ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ researchers identify 'degrees of Kevin Bacon' gene in fruit flies /news/u-t-researchers-identify-degrees-kevin-bacon-gene-fruit-flies <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ researchers identify 'degrees of Kevin Bacon' gene in fruit flies</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2024-05/Fruit-fly_Levine-lab-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=5PE3J-HF 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2024-05/Fruit-fly_Levine-lab-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=146gOpRy 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2024-05/Fruit-fly_Levine-lab-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=9NpbuzWk 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2024-05/Fruit-fly_Levine-lab-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=5PE3J-HF" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>rahul.kalvapalle</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2024-05-24T16:22:51-04:00" title="Friday, May 24, 2024 - 16:22" class="datetime">Fri, 05/24/2024 - 16:22</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>(photo by janeff/iStock)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/chris-sasaki" hreflang="en">Chris Sasaki</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ecology-evolutionary-biology" hreflang="en">Ecology &amp; Evolutionary Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/genes" hreflang="en">Genes</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/genetics" hreflang="en">Genetics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Mississauga</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Researchers studied two distinct strains of&nbsp;fruit flies and found that one group showed different patterns of connections within their networks</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A team of researchers from the University of Toronto has identified a gene in fruit flies that regulates the types of connections between flies within their ā€œsocial network.ā€</p> <p>The researchers studied groups of two distinct strains of&nbsp;<em>Drosophila melanogaster</em>&nbsp;fruit flies and found that one strain showed different types or patterns of connections within their networks than the other strain.</p> <p>The connectivity-associated gene in the first strain was then isolated. When it was swapped with the other strain, the flies exhibited the connectivity of the first strain.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2024-05/GettyImages-1411314456-crop.jpg" width="300" height="300" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Researchers named the gene after Hollywood star Kevin Bacon (photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>The researchers named the gene ā€œdegrees of Kevin Baconā€ (<em>dokb</em>), for the prolific Hollywood star of such films as&nbsp;<em>Footloose</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Apollo 13.&nbsp;</em>Baconā€™s wide-ranging connections to other actors is the subject of the parlour game&nbsp;called ā€œThe Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,ā€ which plays on the popular idea that any two people on Earth can be linked through six or fewer mutual acquaintances.</p> <p>ā€œThere's been a lot of research around whether social network structure is inherited, but that question has been poorly understood,ā€ says <strong>Rebecca Rooke</strong>, a post-doctoral fellow in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and lead author of the paper, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47499-8">published in <em>Nature Communications</em></a>. ā€œBut what weā€™ve now done is find the gene and proven there is a genetic component.ā€</p> <p>The work was carried out as part of Rookeā€™s PhD thesis in Professor&nbsp;<strong>Joel Levine</strong>ā€™s&nbsp;laboratory at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Mississauga before he moved to the department of ecology and evolutionary biology, where he is currently chair.</p> <p>ā€œThis gives us a genetic perspective on the structure of a social group,ā€ says Levine. ā€œThis is amazing because it says something important about the structure of social interactions in general and about the species-specific structure of social networks.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-right"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/scale_image_250_width_/public/2024-05/Rebecca-Rooke-crop.jpg?itok=4xESHcUg" width="250" height="250" alt="&quot;&quot;" class="image-style-scale-image-250-width-"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Post-doctoral researcher Rebecca Rooke (supplied image)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>ā€œIt's exciting to be thinking about the relationship between genetics and the group in this way. It may be the first time weā€™ve been able to do this.ā€</p> <p>The researchers measured the type of connection by observing and recording on video groups of a dozen male flies placed in a container. Using software previously <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2014.0749#d21654921e1">developed by&nbsp;Levine and post-doctoral researcher <strong>Jon Schneider</strong></a>, the team tracked the distance between flies, their relative orientation and the time they spent in close proximity. Using these criteria as measures of interaction, the researchers calculated the type of connection or ā€œbetweenness centralityā€ of each group.</p> <p>Rooke, Levine and their colleagues point out that individual organisms with high betweenness centrality within a social network can act as ā€œgatekeepersā€ who play an important role in facilitating interactions within their group.</p> <p>Gatekeepers can influence factors like the distribution of food or the spread of disease. They also play a role in maintaining cohesion, enhancing communication and ensuring better overall health of their group.</p> <p>In humans, betweenness centrality can even affect the spread of behaviours such as smoking, drug use and divorce.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/scale_image_250_width_/public/2024-05/Joel-Levine-crop.jpg?itok=DPmmmUXA" width="250" height="250" alt="&quot;&quot;" class="image-style-scale-image-250-width-"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Professor Joel Levine (supplied image)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>At the same time, the researchers point out that social networks are unbiased and favour neither ā€œgoodā€ nor ā€œbadā€ outcomes. For example, high betweenness centrality in a network of scientists can increase potential collaborators; on the other hand, high betweenness centrality in another group can lead to the spread of a disease like COVID-19.</p> <p>ā€œYou don't get a good or a bad outcome from the structure of a network,ā€ explains Levine. ā€œThe structure of a network could carry happiness or a disease.ā€</p> <p>Rooke says an important next step will be to identify the overall molecular pathway that the gene and its protein are involved in ā€œto try to understand what the protein is doing and what pathways itā€™s involved in ā€“ the answers to those questions will really give us a lot of insight into how these networks work.ā€</p> <p>And while the&nbsp;<em>dokb</em>&nbsp;gene has only been found in flies so far, Rooke, Levine and their colleagues anticipate that similar molecular pathways between genes and social networks will be found in other species.</p> <p>ā€œFor example, there's a subset of cells in the human brain whose function relates to social experience ā€“ what in the popular press might be called the ā€˜social brain,ā€™ā€ says Levine.</p> <p>ā€œGetting from the fly to the human brain ā€“ that's another line of research. But it almost has to be true that the things that we're observing in insects will be found in a more nuanced, more dispersed way in the mammalian brain.ā€</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 24 May 2024 20:22:51 +0000 rahul.kalvapalle 307912 at Fighting malaria with math? How one ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ researcher is studying the evolution of a parasite /news/fighting-malaria-math-how-one-u-t-researcher-studying-evolution-parasite <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Fighting malaria with math? How one ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ researcher is studying the evolution of a parasite</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2024-05/GettyImages-1247505555-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=M78sOo-_ 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2024-05/GettyImages-1247505555-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=I6zANmzF 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2024-05/GettyImages-1247505555-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=68_j_cES 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2024-05/GettyImages-1247505555-crop.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=M78sOo-_" alt="a close-up of a mosquito taking blood from a person"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2024-05-15T10:23:46-04:00" title="Wednesday, May 15, 2024 - 10:23" class="datetime">Wed, 05/15/2024 - 10:23</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>(photo by Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/betty-zou" hreflang="en">Betty Zou</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/emerging-and-pandemic-infections-consortium" hreflang="en">Emerging and Pandemic Infections Consortium</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/institutional-strategic-initiatives" hreflang="en">Institutional Strategic Initiatives</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ecology-evolutionary-biology" hreflang="en">Ecology &amp; Evolutionary Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">PhD student Youngseo Jeong is using a mathematical model to explore the effect of vaccination on the parasite that causes malaria </div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A University of Toronto PhD student is shedding light on a poorly understood phenomenon that could impact vaccination strategies for malaria and other infectious diseases.</p> <p>The phenomenon, called vaccine-driven evolution, describes possible scenarios where immunization could drive a pathogen to become better at causing disease ā€“&nbsp;for example, by evading the immune system.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2024-05/JeongYoungseo.jpg" width="200" height="300" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Youngseo Jeong </em><em>&nbsp;(supplied image)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>ā€œIā€™m interested in how interventions like vaccines shape the evolution of virulence and other related parasite traits,ā€ says <strong>Youngseo Jeong</strong>, a PhD student in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Scienceā€™s&nbsp;department of ecology and evolutionary biology.</p> <p>Specifically, she is focused on the&nbsp;<em>Plasmodium</em>&nbsp;family of parasites that are commonly transmitted by mosquitoes and that can cause the life-threatening disease malaria in humans.</p> <p>The World Health Organization estimates that there were 249 million malaria cases globally&nbsp;in 2022 and 608,000 malaria deaths, with the African region bearing the heaviest burden. With the approval of the worldā€™s first malaria vaccine in 2021and a second vaccine in 2023, vaccination programs have become an important part of the public health strategy to combat the disease.</p> <p>However, the launch of malaria vaccination campaigns in the African region comes at a time when progress against the disease has stalled and two of the most important tools to prevent and treat malaria are losing their effectiveness. Insecticide-treated bed nets, a mainstay to prevent mosquito bites and kill mosquitoes, offer less protection as mosquitoes become increasingly resistant to the insecticides. Similarly, clinicians are concerned that the spread of&nbsp;<em>Plasmodium</em>&nbsp;parasites resistant to frontline antimalarial drugs will hamper their ability to treat the disease.</p> <p>Both of these challenges arose as a result of mosquito and parasite evolution in response to a human intervention. Whether a malaria vaccination program could lead to similar changes in the&nbsp;<em>Plasmodium</em>&nbsp;parasite is a key question in the field and one that Jeong aims to answer through her work with <strong>Nicole Mideo</strong>, an associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.</p> <p>With the support of <a href="https://epic.utoronto.ca/research/funded-initiatives/results-of-the-2024-doctoral-awards-competition/">a&nbsp;doctoral award</a> from the <a href="https://epic.utoronto.ca">Emerging and Pandemic Infections Consortium</a>, a ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ<a href="https://isi.utoronto.ca"> institutional strategic initiative</a>, she is applying mathematical approaches to study how parasites evolve in hosts who have been vaccinated versus hosts who have not.</p> <p>Jeongā€™s research, based on a mouse model of malaria, builds on&nbsp;<a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1001368" target="_blank">a 2012 study&nbsp;from American researchers</a> that found&nbsp;Plasmodium&nbsp;parasites caused more severe disease after repeated infections of vaccinated mice. However, the researchers did not find any changes to the part of the parasite targeted by the vaccine ā€“ a common process by which pathogens evade vaccine-induced immunity ā€“ and the cause of the parasiteā€™s increased virulence remains unknown.</p> <p>To identify the specific traits that are responsible for the parasiteā€™s enhanced abilities, Jeong is using a mathematical model of malaria infection fitted with data from the 2012 study. She will determine which parameters, or parasite traits, in her model can explain the differences between parasites that evolved in vaccinated and unvaccinated hosts.</p> <p>In the second phase of her PhD project, Jeong will refine the model by including relevant biological processes such as vaccine-induced immunity and the specific parasite characteristics she identified earlier. She will also create a new mathematical model to simulate evolution in a vaccinated host and validate her earlier findings.</p> <p>ā€œI want to highlight not just evolution at the vaccine target sites, which receives more attention generally, but I also want to draw attention to other pathogen traits and their interactions with host processes that could have consequences for how effective the vaccines are,ā€ says Jeong.</p> <p>She hopes that her work will contribute to a better understanding of how vaccine-driven evolution in parasites can lead to more severe infection outcomes in both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, and underscore the importance of considering this phenomenon when designing new malaria vaccines and immunization programs.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 15 May 2024 14:23:46 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 307851 at Scientists develop framework to measure plastic emissions /news/scientists-develop-framework-measure-plastic-emissions <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Scientists develop framework to measure plastic emissions</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2024-04/GettyImages-1406779439-crop.jpg?h=efe66fe5&amp;itok=ubwhSnC9 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2024-04/GettyImages-1406779439-crop.jpg?h=efe66fe5&amp;itok=TbdPoq34 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2024-04/GettyImages-1406779439-crop.jpg?h=efe66fe5&amp;itok=RWS4ep7H 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2024-04/GettyImages-1406779439-crop.jpg?h=efe66fe5&amp;itok=ubwhSnC9" alt="hand holding up microplastics on fingertips"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2024-04-22T15:43:38-04:00" title="Monday, April 22, 2024 - 15:43" class="datetime">Mon, 04/22/2024 - 15:43</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>(photo by Alastair Berg via Getty Images)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/sean-bettam" hreflang="en">Sean Bettam</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ecology-evolutionary-biology" hreflang="en">Ecology &amp; Evolutionary Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Scarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Model developed by researchers at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ and the Rochester Institute of Technology suggests that Toronto emitted nearly 4,000 tonnes of plastic pollution in one year alone</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a framework for measuring plastic pollution emissions ā€“ not unlike the global standard for measuring greenhouse gas emissions.</p> <p>They say the approach will boost identification of the biggest contributors to plastic pollution from local to national levels and improve strategies in reducing emissions worldwide.</p> <p>Using Toronto as a model, the first-of-its-kind framework suggests that, in one year alone, Canadaā€™s largest city emitted nearly 4,000 tonnes of plastic pollution.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2024-04/Alice-Zhu-crop.jpg" width="300" height="450" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Alice (Xia) Zhu (supplied image)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>ā€œThatā€™s roughly 400 garbage trucksā€™ worth of plastic that leaks into the environment annually from across the city,ā€ said&nbsp;<strong>Alice (Xia) Zhu</strong>, lead author of&nbsp;<a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.3c04348" target="_blank">a study outlining the method</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.3c04348" style="font-size: 1rem;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: 1rem;">published in&nbsp;</span><em style="font-size: 1rem;">Environmental Science &amp; Technology</em></a>.</p> <p>ā€œAssigning responsibility for the pollution to a jurisdiction with the ability to enact laws means there is no hiding where the pollution came from. It presents an opportunity to identify major sources of plastic pollution within the area and inform measures to curb these emissions.ā€</p> <p><span style="font-size: 1rem;">A PhD candidate&nbsp;</span>in the department of physical and environmental sciences at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Scarborough<span style="font-size: 1rem;">&nbsp;who is working with Assistant Professor&nbsp;</span><strong style="font-size: 1rem;">Chelsea Rochman</strong><span style="font-size: 1rem;">&nbsp;in ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻā€™s department of ecology and evolutionary biology&nbsp;in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, Zhu developed the framework</span>&nbsp;with colleagues at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ and the Rochester Institute of Technology. The researchers took inspiration from guidelines for compiling emissions inventories of greenhouse gases established by the United Nationsā€™ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Adapting for physical differences between greenhouse gases and solid pieces of plastic, the researchers used a similar methodology of identifying the major pollution-generating activities in a particular area, calculating the amount of pollution generated by each activity within a given period and accounting for uncertainties associated with each source of pollution-generating activity.</p> <p>The framework arrives ahead of <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-reducing-waste/international-commitments/fourth-intergovernmental-negotiating-committee.html" target="_blank">international discussions in Ottawa</a>, from April 23 to 29, towards a legally binding global agreement on plastic pollution. The discussions are being led by the UNā€™s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-center"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/scale_image_750_width_/public/2024-04/Image-of-Pellets-around-a-drain-at-plant_Eden-crop_0.jpg?itok=1gD2j47f" width="750" height="500" alt="&quot;&quot;" class="image-style-scale-image-750-width-"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Plastic pellets collect around a storm drain near an industrial plant (photo courtesy of ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Trash Team)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>ā€œOur goal was to develop an accounting mechanism or tool for measuring plastic emissions that any level of government can adopt,ā€ said Zhu. ā€œBut most importantly, we hope this tool we have introduced will allow the plastic field to follow in the footsteps of the climate field, where countries submit national emissions inventories to an international body such as the United Nations to track our progress towards reaching a globally defined target.ā€</p> <p>Currently, national emissions inventories of plastic pollution do not exist, nor does a globally defined target for reducing plastic pollution.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-center"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/scale_image_750_width_/public/2024-04/bits-of-foam-Mirac-crop.jpg?itok=DJSdb2Ks" width="750" height="500" alt="&quot;&quot;" class="image-style-scale-image-750-width-"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Waste from littering, including fragments of foam packaging, accounted for the greatest share of an estimate of plastic pollution in Toronto in 2020 (photo courtesy of ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Trash Team)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>To demonstrate the utility of the framework, the researchers built an emissions inventory of plastic pollution for the City of Toronto for the year 2020 that draws from publicly available data gathered through municipal litter audits and other sources. From a list of nine types of sources ā€“ including littering, tire dust from airplanes and on-road vehicles, washing machines and paint from road markings and the exteriors of houses ā€“ they estimated between 3,531 and 3,852 tonnes of plastic pollution were emitted from within the cityā€™s boundaries during the period.</p> <p>Littering made up the largest share of the total at 3,099 tonnes, while artificial turf was responsible for the most emissions of microplastics ā€“ particles less than five millimetres in diameter ā€“ at 237 tonnes.</p> <p>ā€œIt is not surprising that larger materials ā€“ known as macroplastics, and in this case from mismanaged waste such as littering ā€“ made up the majority of the mass. But it overshadows the small stuff: microplastics,ā€ said Rochman, a co-author of the study and Zhuā€™s PhD supervisor. ā€œMicroplastics tend to be the highest by count in terms of actual pieces. This suggests that policies relevant to microplastics, in addition to macroplastics, are critical to reduce plastic emissions in the City of Toronto.ā€</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-center"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/scale_image_750_width_/public/2024-04/2023-DonRiverPaint-CRochman1-crop.jpg?itok=GAsdwoNP" width="750" height="500" alt="&quot;&quot;&quot;" class="image-style-scale-image-750-width-"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Paint peeling from buildings and road markings are significant sources of microplastic pollution (photo courtesy of ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Trash Team)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>The researchers selected Toronto to test the framework since it is the largest city in Canada and the fourth-largest city in North America.</p> <p>ā€œItā€™s an urban hub for various activities ā€“&nbsp;and where you have lots of people and activity, you inevitably generate a lot of pollution,ā€ said Zhu. ā€œFor a successful and informative case study, you want to look at a place with a lot of different sources of pollution. By doing so, you can identify which sources should be prioritized for the reduction of pollution out of all the others, and thereby demonstrate the utility of an emissions inventory for informing local policy.ā€</p> <p>Zhu said emissions inventories of plastic pollution must be a foundational piece of a successful global treaty on plastic, and that the framework should be applied to other cities, provinces and states, and countries around the world to better understand what kinds of plastic pollution are being released into the environment.</p> <p>ā€œThe guidelines can be applied to regions worldwide, regardless of what kinds of sources are there,ā€ Zhu said. ā€œEach geographic region will have different characteristics and the inventory will allow for the development of solutions tailored to that specific region.ā€</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 22 Apr 2024 19:43:38 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 307505 at From building bone to childrenā€™s literacy: 36 ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ researchers awarded Canada Research ChairsĀ  /news/building-bone-children-s-literacy-36-u-t-researchers-awarded-canada-research-chairs <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">From building bone to childrenā€™s literacy: 36 ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ researchers awarded Canada Research Chairs&nbsp;</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-07/Dr-Karina-Carneiro-Lab_2017-04-13_010-crop_0.jpg?h=017640c0&amp;itok=zJiVFMAP 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-07/Dr-Karina-Carneiro-Lab_2017-04-13_010-crop_0.jpg?h=017640c0&amp;itok=zD2TIqwq 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-07/Dr-Karina-Carneiro-Lab_2017-04-13_010-crop_0.jpg?h=017640c0&amp;itok=tasOtqOW 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-07/Dr-Karina-Carneiro-Lab_2017-04-13_010-crop_0.jpg?h=017640c0&amp;itok=zJiVFMAP" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-08-29T13:51:06-04:00" title="Tuesday, August 29, 2023 - 13:51" class="datetime">Tue, 08/29/2023 - 13:51</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>Karina Carneiro,&nbsp;an assistant professor in the Faculty of Dentistry, is one of 36 researchers at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ and its partner hospitals to receive a new or renewed Canada research chair (photo by Jeff Comber)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/mariam-matti" hreflang="en">Mariam Matti</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6873" hreflang="en">Nina Ambros</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/leah-cowen" hreflang="en">Leah Cowen</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6923" hreflang="en">Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/temerty-faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Temerty Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/canada-research-chairs" hreflang="en">Canada Research Chairs</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/centre-addiction-and-mental-health" hreflang="en">Centre for Addiction and Mental Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dalla-lana-school-public-health" hreflang="en">Dalla Lana School of Public Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ecology-evolutionary-biology" hreflang="en">Ecology &amp; Evolutionary Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/economics" hreflang="en">Economics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-dentistry" hreflang="en">Faculty of Dentistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/geography-and-planning" hreflang="en">Geography and Planning</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hospital-sick-children" hreflang="en">Hospital for Sick Children</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/leslie-dan-faculty-pharmacy" hreflang="en">Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ontario-institute-studies-education" hreflang="en">Ontario Institute for Studies in Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Scarborough</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-health-network" hreflang="en">University Health Network</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">The new and renewed chairs at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ and its hospital partners were part of a broader research funding announcement by the federal government</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>At the University of Torontoā€™s Faculty of Dentistry, <strong>Karina Carneiro</strong> and her team <a href="https://www.dentistry.utoronto.ca/news/regenerating-bone-dna-based-biomaterials">are working on developing new treatments</a> to regenerate bone with DNA-based biomaterials.&nbsp;</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-07/Canada-Research-Chair_2023-03-23_010-crop_0.jpg" width="300" height="300" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Karina Carneiro (photo by Jeff Comber)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>The researchers are exploring ways to use synthetic materials, created using DNA nanotechnology, to help bones regenerate and support the bodyā€™s efforts to heal them naturally.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Thatā€™s in contrast to current bone repair treatments, which involve taking bone tissue from another part of the body and breaking it into little pieces that can be inserted into the defect.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œUsing a DNA-gel for this purpose could be an effective treatment option as it can be injected to fill the defect size fully,ā€ says Carneiro, an assistant professor in the faculty.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œWhat we believe to be the difference between our DNA gel and other materials being developed is that over time, the DNA can degrade into molecules that promote our own bodyā€™s healing mechanism to further regenerate the bone.ā€&nbsp;</p> <p>Carneiro is one of three researchers at the Faculty of Dentistry to be awarded a new or renewed Canada Research Chair in the latest round ā€“ and one of 36 across ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻā€™s three campuses and hospital partners (<a href="#list">see list below</a>).&nbsp;</p> <p>Established in 2000, the prestigious federal program aims to recruit and retain top researchers and scholars in the country. It invests more than $300 million annually to enable world-class researchers to reach new heights in disciplines spanning engineering, health sciences, humanities and social sciences.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œCongratulations to all the researchers at the University of Toronto who received new or renewed Canada Research Chairs in the latest round,ā€ says <strong>Leah Cowen</strong>, ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻā€™s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œFrom using AI to improve medicine and health care to better understanding Indigenous geographies and environmental dispossession, the work by ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ investigators supported by this important federal program is pushing the boundaries of research and innovation ā€“ and promises to have a big impact in Canada and around the world.ā€&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-right"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-07/Canada-Research-Chair_2023-03-23_007-crop_0.jpg" width="300" height="300" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Anil Kishen (photo by Jeff Comber)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>Professor <strong>Anil Kishen</strong>, who is also at the Faculty of Dentistry, will use the funding associated with his Tier 1 Canada Research <a href="https://www.dentistry.utoronto.ca/news/stimulating-bodys-own-healing-process-nanoparticles">to advance his work in oral health nanomedicine</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>He and his colleagues in the Kishen Lab are using multifunctional bioactive nanoparticles to study how cells communicate with each other and how wounds heal ā€“ in particular, how nanoparticles can be used to help save infected natural teeth and treat wounds and ulcers in individuals with diabetes.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Kishen says one of the reasons chitosan-based nanoparticles, which are optimized for different therapeutic applications, are so promising is because theyā€™re derived from a naturally occurring molecule that is readily available.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œAffordability is important when developing a treatment to reach the masses,ā€ Kishen says.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-07/Canada-Research-Chair_2023-03-23_002-crop_0.jpg" width="300" height="300" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Massieh Moayedi (photo by Jeff Comber)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p><strong>Massieh Moayedi</strong>, an associate professor in the Faculty of Dentistry, is receiving funding to pursue <a href="https://www.dentistry.utoronto.ca/news/brain-and-pain">research in pain neuroimaging</a> as a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œThereā€™s tenuous evidence that body image might be involved in some types of chronic pain,ā€ Moayedi says, adding that his end goal is to understand how pain works so he can improve patient outcomes.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Heā€™s <a href="https://www.dentistry.utoronto.ca/news/hallmark-study-body-perception-and-chronic-pain-wins-uk-arthritis-society-research-grant">already shown</a> that people with arthritic hands who see the limb looking healthier through a special device experience improvements in pain, so heā€™s now trying to understand which brain regions are involved.</p> <p>ā€œThis chair will give me funding and the capacity to allow me to investigate these questions, and to really understand the relationship between pain and body image.ā€&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Randy Boissonnault, minister of employment, workforce development and official languages, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/innovation-science-economic-development/news/2023/08/government-of-canada-invests-in-over-4700-researchers-across-the-country.html">announced the CRCs</a> at a press conference on Aug. 29 on behalf of FranƧois-Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and industry, and Mark Holland, minister of health.</p> <p>He also revealed the researchers and projects receiving funding through a diverse array of programs administered by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI).</p> <p>They include the recipients of the <a href="/news/u-t-researchers-receive-grants-research-projects-aim-transform-lives">SSHRCā€™s Partnership Grants, Partnership Development Grants and Insight Grants</a>, as well as&nbsp;the recipients of the CFIā€™s John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF), which helps institutions to recruit and retain outstanding researchers, and provide them with the necessary tools and technology to perform their work. Named after a former ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ president, JELF supports projects that deal with a range of pressing issues. This yearā€™s recipients include 35 researchers at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ and its hospital partners sharing a total of more than $11 million for projects ranging from an assessment of plant responses to environmental change to the development of an ultra-sensitive cryogenic detector for dark matter and neutrino experiments.</p> <p>ā€œThe federal governmentā€™s ongoing support for research through all of these programs ā€“ from the John R. Evans Leaders Fund, to the NSERC and CFI grants and the Canada Research Chairs ā€“ is critical to supporting the kind of research that ultimately improves lives through new knowledge and innovations,ā€ Cowen said.</p> <hr> <p><strong>&nbsp;Here is the full list of new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ:&nbsp;</strong><a id="list" name="list"></a></p> <p><em>New Canada Research Chairs&nbsp;</em></p> <ul> <li><strong>Stephanie Ameis</strong> at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and in the department of psychiatry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in neuroimaging of autism and mental health in youth&nbsp;</li> <li>&nbsp;<strong>Yvonne Bombard</strong> at Unity Health and in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Tier 2 in genomics health services and policy</li> <li><strong>Karina Carneiro</strong> in the Faculty of Dentistry, Tier 2 in DNA-based biomaterials&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Jesse Chao</strong> at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and in the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in precision cancer diagnostics and artificial intelligence&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Xi (Becky) Chen-Bumgardner</strong>&nbsp;in the department of applied psychology and human development in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Tier 1 in literacy development of bilingual and multilingual children&nbsp;</li> <li>&nbsp;<strong>Mark Chiew</strong> at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and in the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in computational biomedical imaging&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Sarah Crome</strong> at University Health Network and in the department of immunology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in tissue-specific immune tolerance&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Michelle Daigle</strong> in the department of geography and planning in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, Tier 2 in Indigenous geographies and environmental dispossession&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Karen Davis</strong> at University Health Network and in the department of surgery in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in acute and chronic pain research&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Rahul Gopalkrishnan</strong> in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in computational medicine&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Housheng (Hansen) He</strong> at University Health Network and in the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in RNA medicine&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Margaret Herridge</strong> at University Health Network and in the department of medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in critical illness outcomes and the recovery continuum&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Anil Kishen</strong> in the Faculty of Dentistry, Tier 1 in oral health nanomedicine&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Bowen Li</strong> in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, Tier 2 in RNA vaccines and therapeutics&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Iacovos Michael</strong> at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and in the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in tumor biology and precision oncology&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Massieh Moayedi</strong> in the Faculty of Dentistry, Tier 2 in pain neuroimaging&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Faiyaz Notta</strong> at the University Health Network and in the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in pancreatic cancer and cancer evolution&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Valeria Rac</strong> at the University Health Network and in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Tier 2 in health system and technology evaluation&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Fahad Razak</strong> at Unity Health Toronto and in the department of medicine in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in health-care data and analytics&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Clinton Robbins</strong> at the University Health Network and in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in cardiovascular immunology&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Lena Serghides</strong> at the University Health Network and in the department of immunology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in maternal-child health and HIV&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Catriona Steele</strong> at the University Health Network and in the department of speech language pathology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in swallowing and food oral processing&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Bo Wang</strong> in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, tier 2 in artificial intelligence for medicine&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p><em>Renewed Canada Research Chairs&nbsp;</em></p> <ul> <li><strong>Angela Cheung</strong> at University Health Network and in the department of medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 1 in musculoskeletal and postmenopausal health&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Xi Huang</strong> at the Hospital for Sick Children and in the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in cancer biophysics&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Cendri Hutcherson</strong> in the department of psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough, Tier 2 in decision neuroscience&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Joanne Kotsopoulos</strong> at Womenā€™s College Hospital and at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Tier 2 in hereditary breast and ovarian cancer prevention</li> <li><strong>Arthur Mortha</strong> in the department of immunology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in mucosal immunology&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Kelly Oā€™Brien</strong> in the department of physical therapy in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in episodic disability and rehabilitation&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Trevor Pugh</strong> at the University Health Network and in the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in translational genomics&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Diego Restuccia</strong> in the department of economics in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, Tier 1 in macroeconomics and productivity&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>David Sinton</strong> in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, Tier 1 in energy and fluids&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Olivier Trescases</strong> in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, Tier 2 in power electronic converters&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Joel Watts</strong> in the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Tier 2 in protein misfolding disorders&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Michael Widener</strong> in the department of geography and planning in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, Tier 2 in transportation and health&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Stephen Wright</strong> in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, Tier 1 in population genomics&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> </ul> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 29 Aug 2023 17:51:06 +0000 lanthierj 302308 at By studying lizards, researchers reveal the forces that shape biodiversity /news/studying-lizards-researchers-reveal-forces-shape-biodiversity <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">By studying lizards, researchers reveal the forces that shape biodiversity</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Anole-4292-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=xF77j5iU 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Anole-4292-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=vBmA_ONJ 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Anole-4292-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=YcB4mLwC 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Anole-4292-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=xF77j5iU" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-03-20T10:49:55-04:00" title="Monday, March 20, 2023 - 10:49" class="datetime">Mon, 03/20/2023 - 10:49</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Researchers in ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻā€™s&nbsp;department of ecology and evolutionary biology studied anoles on the islands of Jamaica and Hispaniola to better understand what determines biodiversity (all photos courtesy of Luke Mahler)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/chris-sasaki" hreflang="en">Chris Sasaki</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ecology-evolutionary-biology" hreflang="en">Ecology &amp; Evolutionary Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>ā€œIf you pick a spot in, say, a rainforest, and count the number of different species of lizards within 15 metres and you come up with a number,ā€ says&nbsp;<strong>Luke Mahler</strong>,&nbsp;ā€œWhat determines that number?ā€</p> <p>Mahler is an assistant professor in the University of Torontoā€™s&nbsp;department of ecology and evolutionary biology in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science. He studies how the interplay of ecological and evolutionary forces over time and space results in the biodiversity we see in different habitats. He does this primarily by studying&nbsp;Anolis&nbsp;lizards&nbsp;ā€“ aka anoles ā€“ small, tree-dwelling reptiles in tropical regions of the Americas.</p> <p>What determines the number of different species in local communities of animals? The question is a long-standing ecological problem for which there has been no consensus.</p> <p>ā€œIs it because of local processes like competition for food or territory?ā€ Mahler asks. ā€œOr is it the result of broader, regional processes like the generation of new species by evolution?ā€</p> <p>One hypothesis suggests&nbsp;the determining force is local competition. In other words, if a local community ā€“ for example, a particular patch of forest on a tropical island ā€“ is ā€œfull upā€ with several species, then additional species wouldnā€™t be able to persist because every ecological niche is already occupied.</p> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/Anole-3565-crop.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>Anole&nbsp;lizards are small, tree-dwelling reptiles.</em></p> <p>But according to another hypothesis, the diversity of species in such an area&nbsp;isnā€™t limited by a pre-existing number of niches. Instead, the most important factor determining the number of species in a local community is the diversity of the broader region.</p> <p>ā€œOn an island with a small total number of species, local communities should have only a small number of species,ā€&nbsp;Mahler explains. ā€œBut on an island that has many species, you should see many species in local communities. In other words, local diversity is essentially a reflection of broader diversity, with classic ecological processes like competition mattering very little.</p> <p>ā€œIf regional diversity determines what you see at a local site, then that local diversity is ultimately determined by the large-scale evolutionary processes that created the regional diversity.ā€</p> <p>To answer the question of local versus regional, Mahler and his colleagues studied anoles on the Caribbean islands of Jamaica and Hispaniola. What the researchers found was evidence for an unexpected third option ā€“ one that required marrying elements of both the ā€œlocalā€ and ā€œregionalā€ hypotheses.</p> <p>They found that the diversity of species in local communities indeed seems to be determined by local ecological processes that cap species diversity ā€“ but only if regional evolutionary forces have already produced the kinds of species that can monopolize local ecological resources. For example, the rich evolutionary diversity of species on Hispaniola, a large and ancient island, has ā€œfedā€ a wealth of specialized species into the local communities at higher elevations on that island.</p> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/017A4323%20Team%20DR%202017.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>Luke Mahler (far right) and Luke Frishkoff (fourth from left) pose for photo with students.</em></p> <p>Why? Hispaniolaā€™s diversity ā€“ which stems from evolution playing out over millions of years across a very large and complex area ā€“ has led to unique anole species that exist only in the highlands. These species have filled all the available ecological niches, precluding more species from joining local communities there.</p> <p>In contrast, Jamaica is smaller in area, especially in the highlands. And while many anole species have evolved on the island, the relative lack of space in the highlands hasnā€™t allowed the evolution of new highland-specialist species&nbsp;as it has on Hispaniola. In fact, there is only one distinct highland anole in Jamaica.</p> <p>Put another way:&nbsp;local diversity is determined by both regional and local forces but in different ways. Regional forces produce a diverse set of species, which then compete with one another, establishing local limits on diversity in any given location. But if a region is lacking in ā€œevolutionary opportunityā€ because itā€™s too small or too young, it fails to produce a diverse assembly of species&nbsp;and local limits are never reached.&nbsp;</p> <p>Mahler and his colleagues described these&nbsp;&nbsp;findings in their study,&nbsp;<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ele.14098">published recently in the journal&nbsp;<em>Ecology Letters</em></a>. Co-authors included <strong>Luke Frishkoff</strong>, who started working on the research as a post-doctoral researcher in Mahlerā€™s lab and who is now an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Arlington,&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Gavia Lertzman-Lepofsky</strong>, a PhD candidate currently in Mahlerā€™s lab.</p> <p>The ā€œlaboratoriesā€ in which Mahler and his colleagues conducted their research ā€“ Jamaica and Hispaniola ā€“ were chosen because they are similar in many ways. They are situated at the same latitude, have matching topography&nbsp;and have similar forest habitats.</p> <p>Every summer from 2016 to 2018, the researchers counted the number of anole species in dozens of 30-metre diameter plots on both islands&nbsp;from sea level to an altitude of approximately 2,000 metres.</p> <p>ā€œThe anole faunas of Jamaica and Hispaniola provide a rich opportunity for comparison because they represent a natural experiment,ā€ Mahler says. ā€œAnd what we found is that local processes do matter. But they matter in such a way that it's regional opportunities for diversification that determine their strength.ā€</p> <p>ā€œHowever, this is a single, if illustrative, comparison. Determining the generality of the evolutionary opportunity model we propose here awaits additional tests.ā€</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 20 Mar 2023 14:49:55 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 180811 at 'I want to make room for people': Pilot program aims to level the playing field in field research /news/i-want-make-room-people-pilot-program-aims-level-playing-field-field-research <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">'I want to make room for people': Pilot program aims to level the playing field in field research</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Mariel-Terebiznik-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=84EhvXUo 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Mariel-Terebiznik-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=8a5s3B1J 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Mariel-Terebiznik-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=bktLAmcJ 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Mariel-Terebiznik-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=84EhvXUo" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-11-23T09:12:05-05:00" title="Wednesday, November 23, 2022 - 09:12" class="datetime">Wed, 11/23/2022 - 09:12</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Mariel Terebiznik, a ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ alumna and founder of the FREED program, holds a juvenile snapping turtle in the field (photo by Jasmine Veitch)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/david-goldberg" hreflang="en">David Goldberg</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ecology-evolutionary-biology" hreflang="en">Ecology &amp; Evolutionary Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/trinity-college" hreflang="en">Trinity College</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/woodsworth-college" hreflang="en">Woodsworth College</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Field research experience is key to success for many University of Toronto students, and now the&nbsp;<a href="https://freedalgonquin.wordpress.com/">Field Research in Ecology and Evolution Diversified (FREED)&nbsp;program</a>&nbsp;is helping those who identify as Black, Indigenous or people of colour have equal opportunities to thrive.</p> <p>ā€œField work is extremely expensive, which closes the doors for so many people due to systemic factors or financial issues,ā€ says <strong>Mariel Terebiznik</strong>, who recently graduated from ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ with a masterā€™s degree in ecology and evolutionary biology and co-founded FREED alongside Aranya Iyer, a graduate student at Western University.</p> <p>ā€œI want to make room for people who don't have access to these spaces.ā€&nbsp;</p> <div class="image-with-caption left"> <p><span id="cke_bm_632S" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/group_hike-crop.jpg" alt><em>A group of students on a hike as they conduct field research in Algonquin Park as part of the FREED program (photo by&nbsp;Jasmin Jeong)</em></p> </div> <p>In association with the&nbsp;department of ecology and evolutionary biology&nbsp;(EEB) in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science,&nbsp;FREED completed a successful pilot program this past summer. It involved a&nbsp;week of education, travel and accommodation at the Algonquin Wildlife Research Station,&nbsp;immersing student in paid and intensive field work environments where they gain crucial experience for future research positions.</p> <p><strong>Njal Rollinson</strong>, an assistant professor in&nbsp;the&nbsp;department of ecology and evolutionary biology,&nbsp;acted as faculty sponsor. He says he understands how crucial such programs are&nbsp;for studentsā€™ success.</p> <p>ā€œItā€™s important to get this type of research experience under their belt so they can put it on their resume,ā€ says Rollinson. ā€œAnd it helps them clarify whether they want to go into field research in the first place.</p> <p>ā€œThese are the fundamentally important things that most people like me had the privilege of experiencing early on in my career whereas others havenā€™t.ā€</p> <p>This year, the program included students from ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ and Western, with donations from the ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ community, including alumni, going directly toward&nbsp;³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ students.</p> <p>"We don't always have the support system to go into research or academia and it really meant a lot to have this kind of community,ā€ says <strong>Jasmin Jeong</strong>, who attended FREED as a life sciences student in her second year with&nbsp;Woodsworth College.</p> <p>ā€œIt's comforting to know there are other people out there who want to do things that I want to do.ā€</p> <p>From canoeing and catching turtles to humanely trapping flying squirrels, as well as tree and insect identification, the students learned valuable skills about scientific research while they cultivated a network of peers and mentors.</p> <p>ā€œWe talked about our experiences as racialized students and how it might have been harder for some of us, but talking about the intersectionality of our identities was really comforting,ā€ says FREED participant <strong>Angela Wang</strong>, a fourth-year life sciences student with&nbsp;Trinity College.</p> <p>ā€œIt was the best summer experience of my undergraduate career. Even though it was a lot of hard work, it didnā€™t feel like work.ā€</p> <p>Thanks to sponsorship from academic partners including ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ and Ontario Parks, the students had access to camping and research equipment, outdoor living and safety training, a hike along Algonquin's scenic&nbsp;Beaver Pond Trail&nbsp;off the Highway 60 corridor and a guided wolf howl by the midnight moonlight.</p> <p>"It can be a little scary but donā€™t be afraid to try new things and talk to different people,ā€ says Jeong, who advises future FREED participants to go outside their comfort zone if they want to get the most out of the experience.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/pink-sunset-crop.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>The sun rises at the Algonquin Wildlife Research Station, where students participated in the first ever FREED program (photo by&nbsp;Angela Wang)</em></p> <p>The week-long program offers students an invaluable opportunity that might otherwise be inaccessible.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œIt's such a great opportunity to discover something you might be passionate about,ā€ says Wang, who adds she will always cherish the friendships she forged during her week in the wilderness.</p> <p>ā€œWe even joked about having a 25-year reunion, and I think someone will make that happen.ā€</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="media_embed" height="422px" width="750px"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="422px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WyX0nOVeRHI" title="YouTube video player" width="750px"></iframe></div> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>FREED plans to run again in summer 2023 and organizers are already looking at expansion, with the possibility of adding more groups of students over multiple weeks.</p> <p>ā€œThis was such an incredible success&nbsp;and I canā€™t wait to see what the future brings,ā€ says Rollinson, who envisions different FREED chapters across Ontario in the years to come.</p> <p>"Starting this program was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life,ā€ says Terebiznik. ā€œWe were blown away by the support and we were never turned down by the people we looked to for help.ā€</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 23 Nov 2022 14:12:05 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 178309 at Fossil algae, dating from 541 million years ago, offer new insights into the plant kingdom's roots /news/fossil-algae-dating-541-million-years-ago-offer-new-insights-plant-kingdom-s-roots <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Fossil algae, dating from 541 million years ago, offer new insights into the plant kingdom's roots</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Protocodium_layers-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=InEwN-Kq 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Protocodium_layers-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=e2TbcgFk 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Protocodium_layers-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=EnzagpdJ 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Protocodium_layers-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=InEwN-Kq" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-09-22T13:15:53-04:00" title="Thursday, September 22, 2022 - 13:15" class="datetime">Thu, 09/22/2022 - 13:15</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">At left, the external surface of Protocodium sinense. Middle, the view through the outer layer made up of utricles. At right, the central siphons (photo by CĆ©dric Aria)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/josslyn-johnstone" hreflang="en">Josslyn Johnstone</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ecology-evolutionary-biology" hreflang="en">Ecology &amp; Evolutionary Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of algae called&nbsp;<em>Protocodium sinense</em>&nbsp;that predates the origin of land plants and modern animals and provides new insight into the early diversification of the plant kingdom.</p> <p>Discovered at a site in China, the 541-million-year-old fossil is the first and oldest green alga from this era to be preserved in three dimensions, enabling the researchers to investigate its internal structure and identify the new specimen with unprecedented accuracy.</p> <p>The study <a href="https://bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12915-022-01394-0">was published this week in&nbsp;<em>BMC Biology</em></a>, opening a window into a world of evolutionary puzzles that scientists are just beginning to unravel.</p> <div class="image-with-caption left"> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/Protocodium_cross-section.png" style="width: 300px; height: 300px;"><em>Reconstruction of a cross-section through Protocodium sinense, showing likeness to modern&nbsp;Codium&nbsp;(illustration by&nbsp;Shu Chai)</em></p> </div> <p>ā€œ<em>Protocodium</em>&nbsp;belongs to a known lineage of green algae and has a surprisingly modern architecture, showing that these algae were already well diversified before the end of the Ediacaran period,ā€ says co-author&nbsp;<strong>CĆ©dric Aria</strong>, a post-doctoral researcher in the University of Torontoā€™s department of ecology and evolutionary biology&nbsp;in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science who is&nbsp;based at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).</p> <p>ā€œIts discovery touches the origin of the entire plant kingdom and puts a familiar name on the organisms that preceded the Cambrian explosion over half&nbsp;a billion years ago, when the worldā€™s first modern ecosystems emerged.ā€</p> <p>The newly discovered&nbsp;<em>Protocodium</em>&nbsp;fossils were found by a team led by Hong Hua, a geology professor,<strong>&nbsp;</strong>and post-doctoral researcher&nbsp;Shu Chai&nbsp;ā€“&nbsp;both of Northwest University in&nbsp;Xiā€™an, China. It is part of the Gaojiashan biota, the name given to a significant group of exceptionally well-preserved fossils, at the Dengying Formation in&nbsp;Shaanxi Province. In the past 20 years, this geological formation has yielded important fossil species documenting the end of the Ediacaran Period 541-million-years ago.</p> <div class="image-with-caption right"> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/Tree%20of%20life_chlorophytes.png" style="width: 300px; height: 278px;"><em>Simplified phylogeny or tree of life showing the relation of Protocodium and other green algae, known as chlorophytes, to other major lineages of plants&nbsp;(illustration by&nbsp;CĆ©dric Aria)</em></p> </div> <p>Organisms and their parts that do not originally absorb minerals ā€“ unlike shells or bones ā€“ require exceptional conditions to be preserved. In this case, the whole fossils and their fine cellular details were preserved in three dimensions due to the replacement of the original organic material by phosphate. This mode of preservation allowed the researchers to use various electron and X-ray microscopy techniques to virtually slice the fossil, unveil its internal structure with precision and ultimately identify it as a close relative of the modern&nbsp;<em>Codium</em>&nbsp;alga, a type of seaweed.</p> <p><em>Protocodium</em>&nbsp;fossils are small spheres half a millimetre wide, about the size of&nbsp;large grains of pollen, covered by a multitude of smaller domes. Thanks to the 3D examination, the researchers determined the domed surface to be part of a complex, single cell that contains thin strands called siphons. This morphology is typical of certain modern single-celled seaweeds that contain many nuclei.</p> <p>The discovery of&nbsp;<em>Protocodium</em>&nbsp;would call for caution when identifying generic spherical Ediacaran fossils and may imply that organisms like <em>Codium</em> are in fact much older and widespread. The famous Doushantuo fossil embryos, also from China and preserved in 3D, have been at the heart of debates about the deep origin of certain animal groups. Specific stages of some of these animal-like embryos resemble the unicellular&nbsp;<em>Protocodium</em>&nbsp;on the outside, but 3D slicing reveals how they are composed of many cells. On the other hand, numerous 2D, round fossils of uncertain algal or other affinity are also known from the Ediacaran and older periods, but in less detail.</p> <p>ā€œWe know that seaweed-like fossils are at least one billion-years-old,ā€ says Chai, the studyā€™s first author. ā€œBut until now, flat, grainy two-dimensional preservation has made it challenging to recognize more than general morphological structures.ā€</p> <div class="image-with-caption left"> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/Protocodium_internal%20structure.png" style="width: 300px; height: 264px;"><em>Images of&nbsp;Protocodium sinense&nbsp;using electron microscopy (A) and X-ray computed tomography (B-D). Panels B-D reveal the internal structure&nbsp;(image by Shu Chai, CĆ©dric Aria and Hong Hua)</em></p> </div> <p>Green algae are photosynthetic organisms, which means they convert light and carbon dioxide into sugars and oxygen. They were therefore likely important foundations of Earthā€™s early ecosystems, and the study suggests green algae were already established in the worldā€™s shallow waters as CO2 recyclers and oxygen producers before the Cambrian explosion.</p> <p>Apart from its smaller size,&nbsp;<em>Protocodium</em>&nbsp;appears surprisingly identical to the modern&nbsp;<em>Codium</em>, a type of green algae found in many seas worldwide. Certain types of this seaweed are notoriously invasive ā€“ such as&nbsp;<em>Codium</em> fragile&nbsp;subspecies&nbsp;tomentosoides, dubbed ā€œdead manā€™s fingersā€ for its appearance&nbsp;and spread along with commercially farmed shellfish. From an evolutionary perspective, green algae like the ancient&nbsp;<em>Protocodium</em>&nbsp;and land plants share a common ancestor that was thought to be about one billion to one billion and a half years old ā€“&nbsp;but is now likely older since the assignment of&nbsp;<em>Protocodium</em>&nbsp;so close to a modern group pushes back in time the history of the entire plant kingdom.</p> <p>ā€œItā€™s very telling that such an organism has remained practically unchanged over at least 540 million years,ā€ says Aria. ā€œBy the Ediacaran, evolution had driven it towards a stable adaptive zone ā€“ itā€™s been comfortable there since&nbsp;and, more than that, quite successful ā€“ so much so, in fact, that nowadays&nbsp;<em>Codium</em>&nbsp;takes advantage of global trade to easily outcompete other algal species.ā€</p> <p>Funding support for the research and field work came from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the National Key Research and Development Program. Ariaā€™s post-doctoral fellowship is funded via the Polk Milstein Family Trust Fund (ROM) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 22 Sep 2022 17:15:53 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 176755 at From eSports to K-pop, ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ hosts hundreds of community-oriented clubs and student groups /news/esports-k-pop-u-t-hosts-hundreds-community-oriented-clubs-and-student-groups <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">From eSports to K-pop, ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ hosts hundreds of community-oriented clubs and student groups</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/U-of-T-Cheer-02-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ZpVME7dd 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/U-of-T-Cheer-02-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=hti5ipPV 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/U-of-T-Cheer-02-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Z1WQrosK 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/U-of-T-Cheer-02-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ZpVME7dd" alt="Three members of the UTSC cheer club share at laugh "> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-08-25T15:16:05-04:00" title="Thursday, August 25, 2022 - 15:16" class="datetime">Thu, 08/25/2022 - 15:16</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Members of UTSC Cheer run through a routine at Beach Cheer Athletics in Scarborough. The club is open to all ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ students, regardless of athletic ability (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville) </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/geoffrey-vendeville" hreflang="en">Geoffrey Vendeville</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/utogether" hreflang="en">UTogether</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cell-and-systems-biology" hreflang="en">Cell and Systems Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ecology-evolutionary-biology" hreflang="en">Ecology &amp; Evolutionary Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hart-house" hreflang="en">Hart House</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/new-college" hreflang="en">New College</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/st-george" hreflang="en">St. George</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/trinity-college" hreflang="en">Trinity College</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Mississauga</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Scarborough</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/undergraduate-students" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Students</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>For many students, clubs are key part of the University of Toronto experience ā€“ helping them to meet like-minded people, form lasting friendships and learn outside class.</p> <p>And there are literally hundreds of extracurricular options across ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻā€™s three campuses.</p> <p>The <a href="https://sop.utoronto.ca/">Student Organization Portal</a> ā€“ a clubs directory ā€“ is a one-stop shop for information on recognized campus groups, ranging from ā€œarchitectureā€ to ā€œzero waste.ā€ The portal includes information on what each group does and how to go about joining.</p> <p>Here is just small selection of ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻā€™s student clubs and other groups:</p> <hr> <div align="center" style="text-align:center">&nbsp;</div> <h3><a href="https://sop.utoronto.ca/group/esports/"><b><span style="text-decoration-line:none">UTM eSports</span></b></a></h3> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/esports-utm-3-crop.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>The UTM eSports club brings students together to play video games such as Valorant, League of Legends and Super Smash Bros. (photo courtesy UTM eSports)</em></p> <p>Last year, about three billion people ā€“ more than a third of humanity ā€“ were active video gamers, according to Statista, a German market and consumer data company. Within the next two years, that number is expected to grow to 3.32 billion.</p> <p>While gaming has come a very long way since physicist William Higinbotham invented whatā€™s said to be the<a href="https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200810/physicshistory.cfm#:~:text=In%20October%201958%2C%20Physicist%20William,Brookhaven%20National%20Laboratory%20open%20house."> first video game</a>, <i>Tennis for Two</i>, in 1958, people are still getting used to the idea of professional gaming competitions, says <b>Peter Ghobrial</b>, president of the UTM eSports club and a computer science major.</p> <p>ā€œVideo games in general are mainstream but the act of competing in them is on its way there,ā€ he says.&nbsp;</p> <p>At ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Mississauga, the club provides a friendly space in the Student Centre for gamers to socialize and compete against each other and students at other universities.</p> <p>Currently, the most popular games are <i>Valorant</i>, <i>League of Legends</i> and <i>Super Smash Bros</i>. for Nintendo Switch. Although video games can be played at home, theyā€™re often more fun to play with friends in person, says Ghobrial who goes by the username ā€œSerpā€ (a reference to the serpentine PokĆ©mon ā€œSerperiorā€).</p> <p>ā€œWhen I joined the club as a member in first year, thatā€™s honestly how I met a lot of people Iā€™m friends with now,ā€ he says.</p> <p>ā€œIf you feel like itā€™s something youā€™d be interested in but feel shy ā€“ donā€™t be. Everyone in the club is welcoming and wants to have a good time.ā€</p> <h3><a href="https://sop.utoronto.ca/group/k-pop-dance-crew/"><b><span style="text-decoration-line:none">K-Pop Dance Crew</span></b></a></h3> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/K-pop-Dance-Crew-crop.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>Thy Nguyen (centre), a linguistics major and member of University College and events officer in the K-Pop Dance Crew, teaches choreography at Hart House (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)</em></p> <p><b>Ada Huang</b>, a student in life sciences at New College, became a fan of K-pop in 2013 when she discovered the girl groups SISTAR, AOA and Girlsā€™ Generation.</p> <p>Only a year earlier Korean rapper Park Jae-sang, better known as Psy, became an international sensation with the earworm, ā€œGangnam Style,ā€ which overtook Justin Bieber and Katy Perry on the Billboard charts.</p> <p>Today, K-pop has become so popular that supergroup <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-tweets-video-bts-visit-oval-office/story?id=85106532">BTS was invited to the Oval Office</a> to address anti-Asian racism.</p> <p>Huang says one of the reasons she was drawn to K-pop was bandsā€™ use of ā€œconceptsā€ ā€“ the distinctive styles that groups use in their videos, lyrics and costumes ā€“ that range from ā€œhigh schoolā€ to ā€œcute.ā€</p> <p>She joined the K-Pop Dance Crew in order to make new friends who shared a love of the genre and dancing. Together, they learn the steps to their favourite videos and sometimes share their performances on YouTube.</p> <p>ā€œI think what I really appreciate about K-pop,ā€ Huang says, is ā€œhow talented these young people are, and their determination in following their dreams of becoming a singer.ā€</p> <p><em>Instagram: @uoftkdc <a href="https://www.instagram.com/uoftkdc/?hl=en">https://www.instagram.com/uoftkdc/?hl=en</a></em></p> <h3><a href="https://sop.utoronto.ca/group/bikechain/"><b>Bikechain</b></a></h3> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/Bo-Huang-crop.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>Bo Huang, a graduate of the Rotman School of Management, fixes his bike at Bikechain, a campus cycling co-op on the St. George campus (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)</em></p> <p>On a typical afternoon at the <a href="https://bikechain.ca/">Bikechain</a> cycling co-op at the corner of Huron and College Streets, many grease-stained fingers are busy replacing punctured tubes and worn-out brakes.</p> <p>The co-op is a place where students can turn to volunteers or full-time staff for guidance on bike repairs and even buy second-hand parts.</p> <p>ā€œIt can be a little hectic, but itā€™s very collaborative. People end up helping each other out,ā€ says <b>Beth Austerberry</b>, executive director of Bikechain.</p> <p>Since 2005, the club has subsisted on student levies and donations to make cycling as affordable as possible for students who may already be living on a tight budget.</p> <p>Bikechain is open four days a week for DIY repairs and once a week for drop-off repairs. ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ students can also borrow a bike for free for one week at a time with a TCard and $100 deposit.</p> <p>In addition to helping cyclists maintain their rides, Bikechain encourages people to discover the city on two wheels. The club recently began leading group rides to scenic locations in the GTA, including Ontario Place and Leslie Street Spit, a five-kilometre stretch of infill that juts out into Lake Ontario.</p> <p>ā€œWhat people like about us is that weā€™re a pretty social community space,ā€ Austerberry says. ā€œItā€™s partly about fixing your bike and partly about having fun with other people.ā€</p> <p><em>Instagram: @bikechainut <a href="https://www.instagram.com/bikechainut/">https://www.instagram.com/bikechainut/</a></em></p> <h3><a href="https://sop.utoronto.ca/group/hart-house-chess-club/"><b><span style="text-decoration-line:none">Hart House Chess Club</span></b></a></h3> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/Hart-House-chess-club-crop.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>Chess lovers of all skill levels are welcome to join the Hart House Chess Club, which offers lessons and drop-in nights (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)</em></p> <p>Members of the Hart House Chess Club like to say that itā€™s ā€œwhere the kibitzer is king.ā€</p> <p>In chess-speak, a kibitzer is a spectator who comments on games in progress.</p> <p><b>Ahmed Khalf</b>, the clubā€™s communications director, says the motto ā€“ which appears on the back of their club t-shirt ā€“&nbsp;speaks to the groupā€™s friendliness.</p> <p>ā€œBasically, the club is for anyone whoā€™s interested in chess. It doesnā€™t really matter what level you are,ā€ says Khalf, a computer science major in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and a member of Trinity College. Though the club includes players with the rank of FIDE Master and Candidate Master, any and all players are welcome.</p> <p>Khalf says he only started playing ā€œseriouslyā€ three years ago ā€“ part of a <i>Queenā€™s Gambit</i>-inspired influx of players.</p> <p>The club has a long history ā€“ in fact, it was founded in 1895, even before Hart House opened. It runs a weekly drop-in on Fridays and offers lessons that come with the $25 annual membership fee.</p> <p>Khalf says being a member isnā€™t just about learning to ambush your opponentā€™s king. ā€œItā€™s not so much about the game as it is about the people around it,ā€ he says.</p> <p><em>Instagram: @hhchessclub, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/hhchessclub/">https://www.instagram.com/hhchessclub/</a></em></p> <h3><a href="https://uofttrashteam.ca/"><b><span style="text-decoration-line:none">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Trash Team</span></b></a></h3> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/trash-team1-crop.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>The ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Trash Team helps keep green spaces and waterways clean by picking up cigarette butts, plastic and other garbage (photo courtesy of the ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ trash team)</em></p> <p>A couple of years ago, <b>Madeleine Milne</b> was looking for an interesting pastime that would allow her to help her community.</p> <p>The ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Trash Team ā€“ a science-based community outreach group of students, researchers and other volunteers ā€“ fit the bill perfectly.</p> <p>Team members organize clean-ups in parks, ravines and <a href="/news/u-t-trash-team-and-portstoronto-battle-plastic-pollution-lake-ontario">along the waterfront</a> by bagging heavy loads of plastic waste and other garbage. At Sir Casimir Gzowski Park on Humber Bay earlier this summer, Milne and the team collected tiny pieces of plastic, hundreds of cigarette butts and enough litter to fill 10 trash and recycling bags.</p> <p>Keeping Torontoā€™s green spaces pristine is its own reward, says Milne, who studied ecology and evolutionary biology and works in the lab of Assistant Professor and Trash Team founder <b>Chelsea Rochman</b>.</p> <p>But she adds that a key advantage of Trash Team membership is that it offers an opportunity to get involved while maintaining a flexible schedule during the busy school year. Students who would prefer not to get their hands dirty can volunteer to visit grade school classrooms to educate youth about plastic pollution.</p> <p>On clean-up days, the Trash Team often draws attention from people in the neighbourhood, who ask how they can do their part to reduce plastic waste. ā€œIt feels good to know youā€™re having an impact on the community,ā€ Milne says.</p> <p><em>Instagram: @uofttrashteam <a href="https://www.instagram.com/uofttrashteam/">https://www.instagram.com/uofttrashteam/</a></em></p> <h3><a href="https://sop.utoronto.ca/group/skateboarders-club/"><b><span style="text-decoration-line:none">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Skateboarders Club</span></b></a></h3> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/%5BDocksession-NorthEast-event%5D-Photo-cr_Liam-Ogilvie-crop.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>Not even sub-zero temperatures prevent die-hard members of ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Skateboarders from practising (photo by Liam Ogilvie)</em></p> <p>Skateboarding got an unexpected popularity boost during the pandemic, when gathering outside was the safest way to socialize, says <b>Karna Goswami</b>, president of the ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Skateboarders Club and third-year public policy major.</p> <p>The ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ club is open to everyone ā€“ students and the general public alike ā€“ and has a supply of extra boards for people to get a feel for the sport.</p> <p>The club meets regularly and the most enthusiastic members skate throughout the year, as long as thereā€™s no snow on the ground. During the winter, the club also hosts social events so members can stay in touch.</p> <p>All skaters are welcome, whether theyā€™re still learning to stand on four wheels or able to do a backside tailslide effortlessly.</p> <p>ā€œSkateboarding doesnā€™t just expose people to a sport,ā€ Goswami says. ā€œIt helps you see the city in a more lively way. Also, doing sick tricks is a good time.ā€</p> <h3><a href="https://sop.utoronto.ca/group/empowart-uoft/"><b><span style="text-decoration-line:none">EmpowART</span></b></a></h3> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/received_696412384913567-crop.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>EmpowART helps forge connections between students and seniors through therapeutic art workshops (photo courtesy of EmpowART)</em></p> <p>A beach chair framed by trees faces a calm lake, where a setting sun peeks over the horizon and casts a warm glow on the waterā€™s surface.</p> <p>The tranquil scene is one of many that seniors have learned to paint in workshops led by the ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ chapter of the <a href="https://empowartfoundation.org/about/child-page-2/">EmpowART Foundation</a>, a non-profit that uses art as a therapeutic tool in nursing homes and hospitals.</p> <p>Founded one year ago, the ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ chapter has taught workshops in person at seniorsā€™ homes around the GTA and online. Student volunteers take a Bob Ross approach to teaching, giving step-by-step instructions to paint a picture of a desert, galaxy or still life. At the end of the workshop, participants put their artwork on display in their rooms or as part of a small exhibition.</p> <p><b>Niha Burugapalli</b>, a student in peace, conflict and justice studies and global health and member of Victoria College, co-founded EmpowART with <b>Kenneth Yip</b>, an assistant professor, teaching stream, in the department of cell and systems biology in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science.</p> <p>Burugapalli says the art workshops give seniors a chance to mingle with other residents and youth while doing something out of the ordinary and exercising their creativity.</p> <p>As for students, they learn how to use their skills to benefit others ā€“ and they make new and interesting friends in the process.</p> <p>ā€œI think that [seniors] really do enjoy spending time with youth and I think thatā€™s a really important connection that we need to foster,ā€ Burugapalli says. ā€œOftentimes, older folks are cast aside or neglected in society when they have a lot of amazing advice and things to share.ā€</p> <h3><a href="https://sop.utoronto.ca/group/cheer-team/"><b><span style="text-decoration-line:none">UTSC Cheer Team</span></b></a></h3> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/U-of-T-Cheer-03-crop.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>The UTSC Cheer squad has performed at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Scarborough sports games and Pride Parade (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)</em></p> <p>You may have seen the ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Scarborough Cheer Team revving up crowds at basketball and hockey games, or maybe even dancing at the Pride Parade.</p> <p>On a recent August night, the squad warmed up in a cheerleading gym in Scarborough with stretches and somersaults before going through a routine to the tune of BeyoncĆ©ā€™s <i>Renaissance</i>.</p> <p>Prior to the pandemic, the team took part in cheer competitions for the first time and received no deductions from the judges for their performance. Now, new and returning students are planning a comeback.</p> <p>Although competitive cheerleading generally requires co-ordination and skill, the club caters to everyone, says <b>Jessica Fernandes</b>, who studied philosophy at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Scarborough.</p> <p>ā€œOur club is no-experience-needed,ā€ she says. ā€œWe welcome people with absolutely no training, even no athletics at all ā€¦ All bodies are welcome ā€“ anybody can do cheerleading.ā€</p> <p><em>Instagram: @utsccheerleading <a href="https://www.instagram.com/utsccheerleading/?hl=en">https://www.instagram.com/utsccheerleading/?hl=en</a></em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p> </p><div class="media_embed" height="422px" width="750px"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="422px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u_LahtAIHy8" title="YouTube video player" width="750px"></iframe></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 25 Aug 2022 19:16:05 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 176064 at Reef 'hope spots' may help rescue coral habitats damaged by climate change: Researchers /news/reef-hope-spots-may-help-rescue-coral-habitats-damaged-climate-change-researchers <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Reef 'hope spots' may help rescue coral habitats damaged by climate change: Researchers</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/coral-main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=bysI1bEN 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/coral-main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=S3mSWTr8 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/coral-main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=9m2sZ0B0 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/coral-main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=bysI1bEN" alt="Coral reef"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>geoff.vendeville</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-08-04T11:54:01-04:00" title="Thursday, August 4, 2022 - 11:54" class="datetime">Thu, 08/04/2022 - 11:54</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">A new study shows that connections between climate-resilient coral reefs can help recover biodiversity, even after projected mass bleaching events from climate change (photo by Renata Romeo)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/arts-science-news-staff" hreflang="en">Arts &amp; Science news staff</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/climate-change" hreflang="en">Climate Change</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ecology-evolutionary-biology" hreflang="en">Ecology &amp; Evolutionary Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>With coral reefs imperiled by climate change, coral refugia ā€“ reefs in habitats that are protected from environmental stressors ā€“ may hold the key to sustaining these diverse underwater ecosystems.&nbsp;</p> <p>A new study by researchers at the University of Toronto, Wildlife Conservation Society and National Research Council in Italy suggests these ā€œcoral reef hope spots,ā€ connected to other reefs in networks that carry tiny larval coral on ocean currents, may help maintain and regenerate ocean biodiversity ā€“ even after projected mass coral bleaching events.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œOur results show how crucial it is to understand coral reef networks and how they may be affected by climate change, when designing future coral reef conservation strategies,ā€ says <strong>Ariel Greiner</strong>, lead author of the study and a PhD candidate in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology in ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ's Faculty of Arts &amp; Science.</p> <p>ā€œWe found that these coral reef networks may help maintain coral reef strongholds. We also encourage researchers to build off of this work and determine the locations of reefs that could act as stepping stones between these coral reef strongholds, as these reefs will hold the key to enabling these strongholds to preserve not just themselves but also the rest of the global coral reef habitat.ā€</p> <p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/geb.13571">In the study, which appeared in <em>Global Ecology and Biogeography</em>,</a> scientists modelled coral larval dispersal connections between reefs. Also known as coral connectivity, these connections form networks that serve to transport larval corals over vast distances to shuffle the gene pool and help reefs recover from coral bleaching and other disturbances.</p> <p>By modelling connectivity under different scenarios of climate change and future coral bleaching, the researchers provide a glimpse of how connections between reefs might change in coming decades ā€“ and the potential of those networks to reseed reefs that are lost. Their findings may help inform future conservation strategies as coral reefs suffer the effects of climate change, ocean acidification and overfishing. Alarmingly, some models predict 70 to 99 per cent of reefs risk long-term damage due to bleaching by 2100 or earlier, the researchers note.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/coral-embed.jpg" alt><br> <em>The researchers' study pinpoints reefs that have the greatest potential to regenerate others, helping direct limited resources for conservation at a crucial time for climate action (photo by Matt Curnock)</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Some existing climate-resilient coral reef strongholds are expected to have the best chance of surviving environmental stressors. If they do, the researchers found that present-day connectivity ā€“ grouped into six major networks of interconnected reefs worldwide ā€“ will be largely preserved, even if only the most climate-resilient coral reef strongholds (representing about 30 per cent&nbsp;of original coral reef cells) remain.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œStrategic conservation action is crucial in the face of climate change,ā€ says <strong>Emily Darling</strong>, director of Coral Reef Conservation at WCS and an adjunct professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology, as well as study co-author. ā€œOur study shows that biological connections between reefs can increase the ability of corals to recover from climate shocks and are a call to action to boost the health and function of key ā€œsourceā€ reefs in climate-resilient networks.ā€</p> <p>However, the researchers strike a note of caution, saying that not all coral reef habitat can be restored if only&nbsp;about 30 per cent of coral reef habitat is preserved ā€œeven under an optimistic reseeding paradigm.ā€ Even if stepping stone reefs are also preserved, it will still take ā€œseveral generations to reseed all reachable reef cells,ā€ they add.&nbsp;</p> <p>Nevertheless, the researchers say the study will help inform conservation strategies by highlighting the importance of reef connectivity to ensure their resilience in the face of climate change.</p> <p>This research was supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Tiffany &amp; Co. Foundation, and by the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Canada Graduate Scholarships and Canada Research Chairs.</p> <p><em>With files from the WCS.</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 04 Aug 2022 15:54:01 +0000 geoff.vendeville 175861 at Whales' eyes offer glimpse into their evolution from land to sea: ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ researchers /news/whales-eyes-offer-glimpse-their-evolution-land-sea-u-t-researchers <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Whales' eyes offer glimpse into their evolution from land to sea: ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ researchers</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Diving-Whale-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=nwB3lLXm 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Diving-Whale-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=pLrjXCF0 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Diving-Whale-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=TDnTQhjl 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Diving-Whale-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=nwB3lLXm" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-07-28T11:37:02-04:00" title="Thursday, July 28, 2022 - 11:37" class="datetime">Thu, 07/28/2022 - 11:37</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(photo by Shasin Satuei from Pexel via Canva)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/neil-macpherson" hreflang="en">Neil Macpherson</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cell-and-systems-biology" hreflang="en">Cell and Systems Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ecology-evolutionary-biology" hreflang="en">Ecology &amp; Evolutionary Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>University of Toronto researchers have shed light on the evolutionary&nbsp;transition of whales'&nbsp;early ancestors from on-shore living to deep-sea foraging, suggesting that these ancestors had visual systems that could quickly adapt to the dark.</p> <p>Their findings show that the common ancestor of living whales was already a deep diver, able to see in the blue twilight zone of the ocean, with eyes that swiftly adjusted to dim conditions as the whale rushed down on a deep breath of surface air.</p> <p>"In the evolution of whale diving, there's been a long-standing question of when deep-sea foraging evolved," says <strong>Belinda Chang</strong>, a professor in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science's departments of ecology and evolutionary biology, and cell and systems biology. "And it seems that based on our data, this happened before toothed and baleen whales diverged. The common ancestor of all living cetaceans was deeper diving ā€“ and then later species evolved all the diverse foraging specializations we see in modern whales and dolphins today."</p> <p>Chang worked with <strong>Sarah Dungan</strong>, a former member of Chang's lab who has a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ, on a study describing their experiments, computational analysis and results in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2118145119"><em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em>.</a></p> <p>Deep diving by marine mammals is one of the great evolutionary transitions, along with powered flight and living on land, and reveals much about how quickly life can adapt in a changing world.</p> <p>Whales evolved from mammals that share a common ancestor with hippos and that were partially aquatic. The great mystery of their transition to deep-sea foraging was how quickly this ability developed. Dungan and Chang looked at whale fossils on a molecular level and focused on the rhodopsin protein, which absorbs light and sends a signal that travels through the retina to the brain.</p> <p>ā€œOne of the most intriguing aspects of this iconic land-to-sea evolutionary transition is that the qualities of the visual environment completely changed,ā€ says Chang. ā€œThis helped to define which genes would be the most interesting for us to target in our studies.ā€</p> <p>Dungan applied robust data science models to rhodopsin proteins from a variety of living whales and related mammals. This computerized analysis revealed a gene sequence representing the rhodopsin found in the common ancestor of all living whales. She expressed this gene in lab-grown cells to ā€œresurrectā€&nbsp;the predicted protein and experiment on purified samples.</p> <p>"The fossil record is the gold standard for understanding evolutionary biology,ā€ says Dungan. ā€œBut despite what Jurassic Park would have you believe, extracting DNA from fossil specimens is rare because the condition tends to be poor. So, if youā€™re interested in how genes and DNA are evolving, you rely on mathematical modelling and a strong sample of genes from living organisms to complement what we understand from the fossil record."</p> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/UofT14044_20160211_BelindaChang_3842-crop.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>Belinda Chang (back left) leads a lab that focuses on the evolutionary transition of animals' vision.&nbsp;Sarah Dungan (right of Chang) researched whale vision as a former member of Changā€™s lab (photo by Diana Tyszko)</em></p> <p>Dungan and Chang were astonished by the biochemical properties of the resurrected protein compared to land mammals. Early whale rhodopsin was more sensitive to the blue light that penetrates deepest into the ocean, to a degree that exceeded expectations. Its biochemical properties also suggested that the retinas of early whales could respond rapidly to changes in light levels.</p> <p>Early whales eventually evolved into the many kinds of toothed whales and baleen whales we see today. As separate species of whale evolved, they established ecological niches at various levels of the sea and even in freshwater rivers. Dungan and Changā€™s work shows that there were further evolutionary adaptations as members of both groups either surfaced from the early deep levels to hunt closer to the surface or specialized to become even more extreme divers.</p> <p>"Iā€™ve always been fascinated by whales,ā€ says Dungan. ā€œThe idea that there was a land mammal like me that eventually evolved to live underwater blew my mind as a kid, even though I really didn't understand exactly what that meant at the time.</p> <p>ā€œIt is amazing that now&nbsp;we can have this level of insight into the lifestyle of a long-extinct organism, just from doing laboratory experiments on one protein. Ancestral protein resurrection is an incredibly powerful way for us to interrogate how ancient organisms evolved that most people don't know about,ā€ she adds.&nbsp;</p> <p>Next, Dungan and Chang plan to resurrect the ancestral whale proteins that transmit the rhodopsin light signal from the retina to the brain to provide insights into the neurological adaptations associated with deep diving. They will probe ancient evolutionary adaptations associated with new behaviours and hope to gain greater insight into how animals may adapt to a changing world.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 28 Jul 2022 15:37:02 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 175816 at