Best methods for growing Atlantic sea scallops

 

Date:

April 4, 2025

Source:

University of Maine

Summary:

A new study compares two scallop farming methods, ear-hanging and lantern net culture, over a complete grow-out cycle to determine which approach yields the best results for commercial growers. The study found that scallops grown with ear-hanging culture had slightly larger shell heights, about 1-4% greater than those in lantern nets. More significantly, ear-hanging scallops had up to 12% more adductor muscle weight. Researchers also found that ear-hanging scallops grew more quickly in optimal conditions, which are between 50 and 59 degrees Fahrenheit, but were more affected by colder winter temperatures than those in lantern nets.

A new study from the University of Maine's Aquaculture Research Institute (ARI) and Darling Marine Center is helping to refine best practices for growing Atlantic sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus), a species of increasing interest to Maine's aquaculture sector.

Published in the academic journal Aquaculture, the research compares two scallop farming methods, ear-hanging and lantern net culture, over a complete grow-out cycle to determine which approach yields the best results for commercial growers. The study, led by UMaine postdoctoral researcher Christopher Noren, provides new insights into how each method influences scallop size and adductor muscle weight, a key factor in market value.

Evaluating Two Common Farming Methods

Maine's scallop aquaculture industry is still in its early stages, and growers are looking for efficient ways to scale up production. Suspended culture is the most common approach, with farmers typically using multi-tiered lantern nets to grow scallops to a harvestable size. However, this method requires frequent maintenance to manage biofouling -- an unwanted accumulation of microorganisms, plants and animals -- and to optimize growth conditions.

Ear-hanging, a technique adapted from Japanese scallop farming, offers a potential alternative. This method involves drilling a small hole in the scallop's shell and suspending it on a line, allowing for better water flow and potentially reducing maintenance needs.

To evaluate the effectiveness of each method, researchers partnered with two commercial scallop farms in Maine's Penobscot Bay and Frenchman Bay. Over four years, they measured scallop growth and the weight of their adductor muscles, the primary product from scallops that are sold in U.S. seafood markets.

Findings to inform Maine's aquaculture industry

The study found that scallops grown with ear-hanging culture had slightly larger shell heights, about 1-4% greater than those in lantern nets. More significantly, ear-hanging scallops had up to 12% more adductor muscle weight, which is the primary product sold in U.S. seafood markets and commands a higher price per pound when larger. This suggests a potential advantage for growers aiming to maximize profitability within that market.

"We wanted to provide growers with data they could actually use on the water," said Christopher Noren, doctoral researcher at UMaine and lead author of the study. "By comparing these two methods across a full grow-out cycle, we were able to identify where the biological advantages lie and how they might translate to better yields and more efficient operations."

The results also highlight the role of temperature in scallop growth. Ear-hanging scallops grew more quickly in optimal conditions, which are between 50 and 59 degrees Farhenheit, but were more affected by colder winter temperatures than those in lantern nets.

"These findings give scallop farmers a clearer picture of how different methods impact growth and harvest timing. Understanding the trade-offs between techniques will help inform decisions about production strategies." says co-author Damian Brady, a professor of oceanography at UMaine.

Supporting a sustainable, domestic seafood supply

The U.S. imports the majority of its seafood, including scallops, from foreign markets. As interest in domestic scallop aquaculture grows, studies like this can help Maine farmers refine their operations and improve profitability.

"This research gives us real-world numbers to work with," said Andrew Peters, owner of Vertical Bay LLC and co-author on the study. "Understanding how small changes in gear choice impact growth and market value helps us make smarter decisions as we scale up scallop farming in Maine."

By identifying methods that balance growth efficiency with labor demands, UMaine researchers are contributing to the development of a sustainable scallop aquaculture industry in the Gulf of Maine.

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Science Newsfrom research organizations Monkeys are world's best yodellers -- new research

 

Researchers discover how 'voice breaks' are produced, similar to Alpine yodelling

Date:

April 2, 2025

Source:

Anglia Ruskin University

Summary:

A new study has found that the world's finest yodellers aren't from Austria or Switzerland, but the rainforests of Latin America. The research provides significant new insights into the diverse vocal sounds of non-human primates, and reveals for the first time how certain calls are produced. The researchers have discovered that special anatomical structures called vocal membranes allow monkeys to introduce 'voice breaks' to their calls. These have the same rapid transitions in frequency heard in Alpine yodelling, or in Tarzan's famous yell, but cover a much wider frequency range.

A new study has found that the world's finest yodellers aren't from Austria or Switzerland, but the rainforests of Latin America.

Published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B and led by experts from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and the University of Vienna, the research provides significant new insights into the diverse vocal sounds of non-human primates, and reveals for the first time how certain calls are produced.

Apes and monkeys possess special anatomical structures in their throats called vocal membranes, which disappeared from humans through evolution to allow for more stable speech. However, the exact benefit these provide to non-human primates had previously been unclear.

The new research has discovered that these vocal membranes, which are extremely thin and sit above the vocal folds in the larynx, allow monkeys to introduce "voice breaks" to their calls.

These voice breaks occur when the monkeys switch sound production from the vocal folds to the vocal membranes. The calls produced possess the same rapid transitions in frequency heard in Alpine yodelling, or in Tarzan's famous yell, but cover a much wider frequency range.

The study involved analysis of CT scans, computer simulations and fieldwork at La Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary in Bolivia. There, researchers recorded and studied the calls of various primate species, including the black and gold howler monkey (Alouatta caraya), tufted capuchin (Sapajus apella), black-capped squirrel monkey (Saimiri boliviensis), and Peruvian spider monkey (Ateles chamek).

New World monkeys, whose range stretches from Mexico to Argentina, were found to have evolved the largest vocal membranes of all the primates, suggesting these thin ribbons of tissue play a particularly important role in their vocal production and repertoire of calls.

The study also revealed that the "ultra-yodels" produced by these monkeys can involve frequency leaps up to five times larger than the frequency changes that are possible with the human voice, and while human yodels typically span one octave or less, New World monkeys are capable of exceeding three musical octaves.

Senior author Dr Jacob Dunn, Associate Professor in Evolutionary Biology at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Cambridge, England, said: "These results show how monkeys take advantage of an evolved feature in their larynx -- the vocal membrane -- which allows for a wider range of calls to be produced, including these ultra-yodels.

"This might be particularly important in primates, which have complex social lives and need to communicate in a variety of different ways.

"It's highly likely this has evolved to enrich the animals' call repertoire, and is potentially used for attention-grabbing changes, call diversification, or identifying themselves."

Lead author Dr Christian T Herbst, of the Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology at the University of Vienna, said: "This is a fascinating example of how nature provides the means of enriching animal vocalisation, despite their lack of language.

"The production of these intricate vocal patterns is mostly enabled by the way the animals' larynx is anatomically shaped, and does not require complex neural control generated by the brain."

Professor Tecumseh Fitch, an expert in human vocal evolution from the University of Vienna and a co-author of the study, said: "Our study shows that vocal membranes extend the monkey's pitch range, but also destabilise its voice. They may have been lost during human evolution to promote pitch stability in singing and speech."

In addition to Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Vienna, experts from Osaka University and Ritsumeikan University in Japan, KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, and La Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary in Bolivia also contributed to the research.

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How this tiny snake could change our view of genetics

 

Scientists reveal how the flowerpot snake repairs DNA and provides insights into human genetic conditions like Down Syndrome

Date:

April 2, 2025

Source:

University of Texas at Arlington

Summary:

By analyzing the flowerpot snake's unique genome, scientists are uncovering how the tiny reptile repairs its DNA and prevents harmful mutations. The findings provides valuable insights into genetic repair mechanisms that could deepen our understanding of human gene evolution.

The flowerpot snake, one of the world's smallest snakes, has some unusual distinctions. Also known as the Brahminy blind snake, it's the only known snake species with three sets of chromosomes instead of two -- and it can reproduce without a mate.

By analyzing the flowerpot snake's unique genome, scientists at The University of Texas at Arlington are uncovering how the tiny reptile repairs its DNA and prevents harmful mutations.

The findings, published recently in the journal Science Advances, provides valuable insights into genetic repair mechanisms that could deepen our understanding of human gene evolution.

"This DNA repair and replication activity supports a fascinating mechanism called premeiotic endoreplication, a process through which the snake duplicates its chromosomes before dividing them, sidestepping the need for the typical pairing of chromosomes seen in sexual reproduction," said Matthew Fujita, a professor of biology at UTA and a co-author on the paper along with researchers from China and Myanmar.

"This mechanism allows the snake to produce offspring that are exact genetic clones of itself."

The flowerpot snake's genetic and reproductive quirks may also provide insights into human trisomy conditions, such as Down Syndrome.

"For example, we know that having multiple sets of chromosomes is rare for animals, yet flowerpot snakes survive just fine with three instead of the normal two humans have," Fujita said.

Using advanced genomic technology, the research team discovered that the flowerpot snake, native to Africa and Asia, has 40 chromosomes, organized into three subgenomes.

These subgenomes formed through complex genetic events, including chromosome fusion in ancestral species.

The researchers hypothesize that this genetic structure enables the snake to reproduce without needing sperm from a male partner.

One major question the scientists explored was whether this reproductive strategy comes with evolutionary drawbacks.

Asexual species typically struggle because they lack genetic shuffling, which helps eliminate harmful mutations over time.

However, the flowerpot snake appears to have developed a way to counteract this risk.

The researchers believe its slow but steady evolutionary pace helps limit the accumulation of harmful mutations.

They also examined how genetic variations across different flowerpot snake populations suggest chromosome exchanges between the subgenomes.

These exchanges appear to balance genetic diversity and stability -- maintaining enough variation for adaptation while preventing incompatibilities that could disrupt reproduction.

"The study also revealed something unexpected -- many of the flowerpot snake's immune-related and sexually selected genes, such as those involved in sperm development, have lost their functions," Fujita said. "This finding provides key insights into how reproduction without a mate works in reptiles, but it also reshapes some of our long-held views about the limitations of asexual species. Rather than being an evolutionary 'dead end' as researchers have thought, the flowerpot snake shows how nature can innovate and adapt in extraordinary ways."

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Sound frequencies of stars sing of our galaxy's past and future

 

Date:

April 2, 2025

Source:

University of New South Wales

Summary:

Researchers interrogated the 'sounds' of a cluster of stars within the Milky Way, uncovering a new technique for astrophysicists to probe the universe and learn more about its evolution.

A new study led by UNSW Sydney researchers into a cluster of stars 2700 light years away reveals their stages of evolution through the 'sounds' they make. This discovery will allow scientists to map the history of the Milky Way and other galaxies, accelerating knowledge in the field of astrophysics.

Dr Claudia Reyes is the lead author of the study published today in Nature. While undertaking her PhD at the UNSW School of Physics, she studied 27 stars in a cluster of stars called M67. The stars in this stellar cluster were all born from the same cloud of gas four billion years ago.

She says these stars have similar chemical compositions but different masses which made them ideal for studying evolution in real-time.

"When we study stars in a cluster, we can see their whole sequence of individual evolution," Dr Reyes says.

She says while these stars are the same age, it's their mass that gives away how quickly they've evolved. And, she adds, M67 is a very special cluster as it includes a broad range of 'giants', from the smaller, less evolved subgiants to red giants -- the latter being the most evolved of stars.

The study also opens ways to learn more about what our own star -- the Sun -- will do as it becomes bigger and older. This is because, "the Sun was born in a cluster similar to the one we studied," says Dr Reyes.

What's the deal with clusters?

Observing such a broad evolutionary range of stars within a single cluster has never been achieved before at such detail.

"This is the first time we have really studied such a long range of evolutionary sequences, like we have in this cluster," says coauthor Professor Dennis Stello, also from the UNSW School of Physics.

"Verifying the age of a star is one of the most difficult things to do in astronomy, because the age of a star isn't revealed by its surface," Prof. Stello says.

"It is what happens inside that shows how old it is."

Because the stars in the M67 cluster are of a similar age and composition to our Sun, they can offer insights into our solar system's past and formation, as well as its future as the Sun evolves.

"Almost all stars are initially formed in clusters," Prof. Stello says. "They are basically big families of hundreds to thousands of stars born from one big cloud of gas.

"Usually, they would slowly disperse into a diffuse random selection of stars.

"But some of them are still within groups -- clusters. You can see them when you look to the sky as areas with lots of stars close together, where they are still closely bound, like the cluster we studied here."

A symphony in the sky

The study allows for the precise determination of a star's age and mass based on its oscillation frequencies. The frequencies by which any star 'rings' depends on the physical properties of the matter inside of it, giving clues about its density, temperature and age.

This was the first time researchers could interrogate the 'ringing' across a cluster of stars to learn more about their interiors. They used the Kepler K2 mission as the primary way to observe, or 'listen'.

Prof. Stello says the process is like listening to an orchestra, and identifying instruments based on their sound.

"The frequency by which an instrument is vibrating -- or ringing -- depends on the physical properties of the matter that the sound travels through," he says.

"Stars are the same. You can 'hear' a star based on how it rings.

"We can see the vibration -- or the effect of the vibration -- of the sound just like you can see the vibration of a violin string."

The biggest stars have the deepest sounds. Small stars have high-pitched sounds. And no one star plays just the one note at once -- each star covers a symphony of sound coming from its interior.

In space, no one can hear you scream (or sing)

Sound exists as a wave of energy, a vibration, moving through particles -- solid, liquid or gas. But in space, there are no particles, which means there's no sound.

Prof. Stello says each star is like a breathing ball of gas -- cooling down and heating up -- with slight changes in brightness.

"It's these fluctuations in brightness that we watched and measured, to gauge the sound frequencies," he says.

As stars mature towards red giants, their frequencies change and behave differently. These changes can track their evolution.

The frequency differences between the many nodes 'played' by a star can give clues about a star's interior properties.

By studying the 27 stars in the M67 open cluster, the researchers could, for the first time, observe the relationship between small and large frequency differences in giant stars, which can now be applied to individual stars.

Understanding the Milky Way

To better understand the formation and evolution of galaxies, scientists need to know the age of all its components, including the stars.

Dr Reyes says this study will lead to the accurate identification of the mass and age of stars in the Milky Way -- something yet to be achieved.

This is also important for understanding stars that host planets, as a star's properties are critical for supporting life on those worlds.

Prof. Stello says frequency signatures will also be important when modelling the future evolution of our own Sun.

"This study has enabled us to probe the fundamental physics that happens inside stars, deep into their interiors, and the fundamental physics under these extreme conditions," he says.

"This is something we still grapple with. It's important for us to build evolution models that we can trust, so that we can predict what happens not only to the Sun, but also to other stars as they grow older.

"Seeing the evolutionary phase of stars directly through the fingerprint of frequencies is what enables us to be much more certain about the 'ingredients' we put into our models," he says.

What's in the future?

Dr Reyes says their findings were unexpected.

"We discovered something new with this signature in the frequencies," she says.

Dr Reyes says we already have data from many years of studying the Milky Way and its stars.

"The next step is to go back and look at that data," she says. "To look for these particular frequencies that nobody thought to look for before.

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Bees actively adjust flower choice based on color and distance: Updating 'flower constancy' beyond Darwin's theory

Date:

April 3, 2025

Source:

University of Tsukuba

Summary:

Since Darwin's time, the phenomenon known as flower constancy -- i.e., where insects consistently visit the same flower type even when many others are also present -- has been understood as a passive behavior to reduce the effort of remembering different flower types. However, researchers have now shown via experimentation with bees that this behavior is an active strategy in which bees balance the time required for memory retrieval and moving between flowers, thereby realizing efficient foraging.

Since Darwin's time, the phenomenon known as flower constancy -- i.e., where insects consistently visit the same flower type even when many others are also present -- has been understood as a passive behavior to reduce the effort of remembering different flower types. However, researchers at University of Tsukuba have shown via experimentation with bees that this behavior is an active strategy in which bees balance the time required for memory retrieval and moving between flowers, thereby realizing efficient foraging.

Pollinating insects such as bumble bees often repeatedly visit the same type of flower, even when a variety of flowers bloom nearby.

This behavior is known as "flower constancy." Darwin speculated that flower constancy was a passive response to avoid effort involved in remembering the different flower characteristics.

However, this study reveals that this theory is incomplete, since it focuses too heavily on "memory constraints." Instead, researchers found that flower constancy actually results from an optimal strategy that dynamically adjusts to balance the time required to recall different flower types with the time required to move between flowers.

In this study, researchers predicted how pollinator behavior changes in response to the levels of spatial mixture of plant species present.

When different plant species are highly mixed, focusing on one type of flower increases the time spent moving between them, causing pollinators to skip over other species.

In this situation, pollinators should maintain a low level of flower constancy to forage optimally, even if it requires additional effort to recall flower types.

Moreover, when species have similar flower colors or shapes, pollinators should further lower their flower constancy, since switching between species then requires minimal effort.

By contrast, when plant species are clustered in groups, focusing on a single flower type simultaneously reduces the costs of both memory retrieval and travel between flowers.

Consequently, in such environments a higher degree of flower constancy is optimal.

To test these predictions, researchers used two types of artificial flowers and examined how bumble bees' flower constancy changed with the levels of spatial mixture and color difference.

As predicted, when the two flower types were more mixed and their flower colors were more similar, bees significantly decreased flower constancy.

By contrast, when the same flower types were present in clusters, bees maintained a high level of constancy regardless of flower color difference.

These findings challenge the widely accepted theory of pollinator flower constancy that has persisted for 150 years.

They provide an important update that improves the comprehensiveness of our understanding of pollinator flower constancy in natural environments.

This study was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant/Award Number: 19K06834.

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