WhySharksMatter’s first PCR!

Posted on By David Shiffman 10 Comments on WhySharksMatter’s first PCR!
Science

As promised, here are the results of my first ever PCR. Here is some background:

I am going to be running some population genetics on sandbar shark DNA with the intention of comparing subpopulations from South Carolina with those from Virginia.

I am in the very early stages- seeing which primers work for PCR. Four primers each were tested- called A, B, C and D- on three shark DNA samples and a negative control. Ignore the samples on the bottom, they are from another student’s project. The four samples in the upper right are my negative controls.

The PCR was run yesterday (my first PCR), and I ran the gel today (my first gel).

It seems to me that Primer A is successfully copying my DNA during PCR, while B, C, and D are not.

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Supply Side Conservation Redux

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 4 Comments on Supply Side Conservation Redux
Conservation

can fisheries be saved?

The following was posted at the old website on January 5, 2010. It is reposted here as a response to the question “Why would you encourage people to consume any kind of seafood when bycatch is always an issue? Would it not be better simply to avoid any seafood whatsoever when we can live perfectly healthy lives without?” raised in Reader Mail: Aquariums, seafood, and my shark documentary. Old comments have be stripped but can be found at the original post here.

The Guilty Planet blog has a novel proposal for the New Year: Boycott Seafood. No, not just unsustainable seafood, not just environmentally destructive seafood, ALL seafood.

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Reader Mail: Aquariums, seafood, and my shark documentary

Posted on By David Shiffman 2 Comments on Reader Mail: Aquariums, seafood, and my shark documentary
Science

I am pleased to present the first in a new series of posts here at Southern Fried Science- reader mail. If a reader has a question for us, shoot us an e-mail with the subject “reader mail” and we may answer it for you on the blog. Our first questions are about my new shark conservation documentary:

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Masquerades in Conservation

Posted on By Bluegrass Blue Crab 6 Comments on Masquerades in Conservation
Conservation

Is it possible to mistakenly support a cause you disagree with?  Well, theoretically no, but it’s really all in the name.  There are a number of groups out there with clever titles, but are they misleading?  I’ll leave the obvious ones like the Discovery Institute and American Enterprise Association for Public Policy Research to your Google prowess, but here’s a great example from my personal experience: the Coastal Conservation Association.

What might at first appear to be a group supporting conservation biology and ringing the bell for endangered species and receding wetlands is really a group designed to advocate for recreational fishing at all three levels of our government: local, state, and national.  Their national website is fairly straightforward about this mission, but it is not so obvious when they’re testifying at a state fisheries meeting.

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Commercial Interests Trump Endangered Species

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 7 Comments on Commercial Interests Trump Endangered Species
Conservation

The 15th United Nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species is meeting this week in Doha, Qatar to revise the current list of species protected under international trade agreements. On the proposed list for this year are Blue Fin Tuna, Nile Crocodile, Polar Bears, eight species of shark, and an entire family of red … Read More “Commercial Interests Trump Endangered Species” »

The Growing Consensus of Global Draining

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 13 Comments on The Growing Consensus of Global Draining
Science

Since my initial post of the new phenomenon of Global Draining, there has been an outpouring of support and a trickle of criticism (mostly stemming from hydrologists in the pockets of Big Flood Insurance). Dr. M of Deep Sea News kicked it of with an advanced mathematical model of the effects of Global Draining. Micheal Bok from the blog, Arthropoda, chimed in with his personal observation of Global Draining. Jeff Ives has been tweeting his thoughts on the big drain over the last month @thejives.

But my detractors have raised valid criticisms. Primarily that my original study covered too short a time frame and was biased to only a small period of the tidal cycle. To remedy these concerns, I have conducted a new study, tracking the draining of the sea over an 8 days period, by measuring the maximum high tide of each day. The results are shocking.

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