High-throughput sequencing of African chikanda cake highlights conservation challenges in orchids

Source at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-017-1343-7 .Chikanda is a traditional dish made with wild-harvested ground orchid tubers belonging to three orchidioid genera, Disa, Satyrium and Habenaria, all of which are CITES appendix II-listed. Identification of collected orchid tubers is very difficult and documentation of constituent species in prepared chikanda has hitherto been impossible. Here amplicon metabarcoding was used in samples of six prepared chikanda cakes to study genetic sequence diversity and species diversity in this product. Molecular operational taxonomic unit identification using similarity-matching reveals that species of all three genera were present in the chikanda samples studied. Disa was present in all of the samples, Satyrium in five out of six and Habenaria in one of the samples, as well as a number of other plants. The fact that each sample contained orchids and the presence of a wide variety of species from all genera in this traditional dish raise serious concerns about the sustainability of this trade and the future of wild orchid populations in the main harvest areas. This proof-of-concept study shows that Ion-Torrent PGM is a cost-effective scalable platform for metabarcoding using the relatively long nrITS1 and nrITS2 regions. Furthermore, nrITS metabarcoding can be successfully used for the detection of specific ingredients in a highly-processed food product at genus level, and this makes it a useful tool in the detection of possible conservation issues arising from commercialized trade or processed plant products

Mycological evidence of coprophagy from the feces of an Alaskan Late Glacial mammoth

Dung from a mammoth was preserved under frozen conditions in Alaska. The mammoth lived during the early part of the Late Glacial interstadial (ca 12,300 BP). Microfossils, macroremains and ancient DNA from the dung were studied and the chemical composition was determined to reconstruct both the paleoenvironment and paleobiology of this mammoth. Pollen spectra are dominated by Poaceae, Artemisia and other light-demanding taxa, indicating an open, treeless landscape (‘mammoth steppe’). Fruits and seeds support this conclusion. The dung consists mainly of cyperaceous stems and leaves, with a minor component of vegetative remains of Poaceae. Analyses of fragments of the plastid rbcL gene and trnL intron and nrITS1 region, amplified from DNA extracted from the dung, supplemented the microscopic identifications. Many fruit bodies with ascospores of the coprophilous fungus Podospora conica were found inside the dung ball, indicating that the mammoth had eaten dung. The absence of bile acids points to mammoth dung. This is the second time that evidence for coprophagy of mammoths has been derived from the presence of fruit bodies of coprophilous fungi in frozen dung. Coprophagy might well have been a common habit of mammoths. Therefore, we strongly recommend that particular attention should be given to fungal remains in future fossil dung studies

Music Export from Helsinki to Berlin and vice versa. Case study: Face of God and Ill Kommodity

This is a product - oriented thesis. The aim is to conclude a guidebook about music export for young bands that are interested in playing a show abroad. The project: Music export from Helsinki to Berlin and vice versa. Case study: Face of God and Ill Kommodity, was used to learn from the praxis. The thesis describes the responsibilities of the project manager and brings project management and event planning together. The music export history of Finland and Germany is taken in consideration and a closer look into media relations, funding, networking and marketing theories is provided. The project is a culture exchange between a German and a Finnish band. They switch the music market and share their networking contacts. Both bands are performing two concerts abroad and gathering attention from the media. Tough Enough Promotion is the commissioner of this thesis and the concluded music export guide got establish for the company to implement future music export projects. The book will guide young bands through the challenges of internationalization and gives recommendations on music export. The music export guide is the result of the project that got intensively studied and evaluates the theories for the praxis.Increasing Finnish music export through music exchange events! HAAGA-HELIA University of Applied Sciences is educating in Culture Export Management. The student Jennifer Kuhn wrote her bachelor thesis on the subject: Music export from Helsinki to Berlin and vice versa. Case study: Face of God and Ill Kommodity. “The solution of increasing music export are cooperating projects between two cities to accomplish an extensive networking tie. Music can be exchanged instead of exported”. Jennifer Kuhn, CEM student explains. The Finnish music export is decreasing since the successfully exporting year 2000. Finland has too many talented bands especially in the rock genre and too less population to provide every band the opportunity to play in front of a great crowd. Berlin with a population of 3,5 million can provide a wider audience. “While working on both music markets I can say that Helsinki and Berlin are very cultural oriented cities. The creation of a stronger networking tie between those cities can help music professionals in the creative industry. During the case study I connected musicians and industry professionals together. The results were two successfully concerts abroad”. Jennifer Kuhn, Project Manager reports. The alternative rock band Face of God from Helsinki got exported to Berlin and the metal, ska-rock band Ill Kommodity from Berlin got exported to Helsinki. The goal of the thesis was it to establish as end product a guidebook with recommendations on cultural exchange events. “Jennifer Kuhn is the first student to graduate from the CEM Specialisation Programme. I am proud of her accomplishment and her unique contribution to the field of CEM, especially in music export and band management”. Chrysoula Skodra, thesis supervisor and CEM Programme coordinator, comments. Music Export, a guide on cultural exchange events is published online in glossi. http://glossi.com/Jennifer_heavenofrockmusic/63478-music-export-guide The guide recommends strategies for future export projects, concentrating on young and talented rock bands. “I learned a lot form the project praxis and evaluated my learning in the written guidebook. It is not just helpful to export music; it is useful to exchange music”. Kuhn, Music export guide author, concludes. The Music export guide is attached as a PDF file to this thesis or can be found from the online tool www.glossi.co

Three new species of <i>Stiphrornis</i> (Aves: Muscicapidae) from the Afro-tropics, with a molecular phylogenetic assessment of the genus

<p>We describe three new species of forest robin in the genus <i>Stiphrornis</i>; two from West Africa and one from the Congo Basin. Each species represents a distinct phylogenetic lineage based on genetic analysis. In addition to genetic differentiation, each new species is diagnosable from other <i>Stiphrornis</i> lineages by morphology, and by plumage. One of the new species appears to be restricted to the Central and Brong-Ahafo Regions of Ghana, and another is restricted to Benin and the Central Region of Ghana. In Ghana, these two new species presumably come into contact with <i>Stiphrornis erythrothorax</i> (Western Region of Ghana and westward), and there is evidence that one of the new species has a distinguishably different song from <i>erythrothorax</i>. The distribution of the third new species is primarily on the south bank of the Congo River, near the city of Kisangani. Recognition of these species provides additional evidence that Afrotropical forests are harbouring substantial cryptic diversity, and that our knowledge of the drivers of this diversity remains poorly documented across the region.</p> <p><a href="http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xx" target="_blank">http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:BF2A0BE6-1140-4EFF-9035-380D61AB03AE</a></p