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A
species of fish that lives in Antarctic waters may hold
clues to climate change and lead to advances in heart
medicine. Researchers from the University of Birmingham
and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) are investigating
the behaviour and physiology of the 'Antarctic Cod' (Notothenia
coriiceps) which became isolated from its warmer water
cousins around 30 million years ago when the Antarctic
circumpolar current was formed.
The
olive-coloured fish has a broad head and a narrow body.
Whilst scientists know that it has 'antifreeze' in its
blood and maintains a very low heart rate of less than
10 beats per minute, almost nothing is known about its
behaviour or how it evolved to live in Antarctica's extreme
environment.
Discovering
how the species may cope with predicted environmental
change could help stock management or conservation of
biodiversity within the Southern Ocean. In addition, it
is possible that this research could lead to advances
in medicine, especially relating to the problems experienced
by human hearts when made to beat slowly (e.g. during
surgery involving heart-lung bypass) or fail to beat fast
enough (e.g. as a result of hypothermia in water or exposure
on a mountain).
At
the BAS Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula
small acoustic tags (called 'pingers' due to the sound
they make) are painlessly attached to the fish and the
signals picked up by underwater microphones to monitor
position, while data loggers measure heart rate. In the
laboratory, Dr Hamish Campbell, monitors heart performance
of the fish in a similar manner to that used with patients
in a chest pain clinic. The unique combination of tracking
and recording technology shows how the heart rate is controlled,
and its response to changing demands due to feeding or
a rise in temperature.
Physiologist
Dr Stuart Egginton, from the University of Birmingham's
Medical School is leading the study: He says,
"This
pioneering work will shed light on what animals get up
to during the impending 24h darkness of a polar winter,
how sensitive they are likely to be to climate change,
and perhaps pave the way to understanding how we may prevent
a cold heart from fluttering. We know enough to realise
this 'cod' is different from those species living in the
chilly North Sea, but not enough to be sure whether its
strange characteristics are a response to the extreme
cold, or because it is a descendant of unusual ancestors
that has developed this way during its extended isolation
from other fishes".
Dr
Keiron Fraser from BAS says,
'This is the first time that we've been able to find out
how these fish live. Many Antarctic marine animals can
live only within narrow temperature ranges and some die
at around +5°C. Climate models predict a 2ºC
rise on global sea temperatures over the next 100 years.
One of the areas that we are trying to understand is how
this fish species will respond or adapt to major environmental
stresses, and how well it may survive the predicted environmental
warming.'
ENDS
Issued by BAS & Birmingham University Press Offices
Contacts:
British Antarctic Survey - Linda Capper, Tel: 01223 221448,
mobile 07714 233744 or Athena Dinar, BAS Press Office.
Tel: 01223 221414; mobile: 07740 822229
University
of Birmingham - Abigail Dixon, Tel: 0121 414 5134, mobile:
07789 921163
Science
Contacts:
Dr S. Egginton, Department of Physiology, University of
Birmingham Medical School. Tel: +44 (0)121 414 6902. email:
s.egginton@bham.ac.uk; mobile: 0775 931315
Dr
Stuart Egginton has been working on research projects
in Antarctica since 1989. Papers of his work have been
published in the American Journal of Physiology, the Journal
of Experimental Biology and the Journal of Fish Biology.
Dr
Keiron Fraser, British Antarctic Survey. Tel 01223 221329;
email: k.fraser@bas.ac.uk Mobile 07812 778031; home: 01223
704506
Dr
Hamish Campbell, from the University of Birmingham is
conducting this study over two Antarctic summers and one
entire winter period at Rothera Research Station. He returns
to UK in March 2005. To arrange interviews with him contact
the BAS Press Office. Please note Rothera is 4 hours behind
UK time.
Notes to Editors:
Video news release including visuals of Antarctica + interviews
with Dr Hamish Campbell and Dr Stuart Egginton is available
free of charge as a package from Research TV. This is
due for streaming via APTN on Tues 30 March between 12.45-12.55.
www.research-tv.com. Or Contact: Lucy Handford - L.handford@warwick.ac.uk
Tel: 0207 799 3668.
British
Antarctic Survey is a component of the Natural Environment
Research Council and is responsible for the UK Government's
research in Antarctica. For more information about the
British Antarctic Survey and the Rothera Research Station
look at our website www.antarctica.ac.uk
The
collaborative research is part of the British Antarctic
Survey (BAS) Antarctic Funding Initiative (AFI), which
promotes wider participation in Antarctic research by
UK universities and other research organisations. AFI
encourages field-based research carried out in the normal
BAS operating area and using the unique logistic capabilities
of the Survey.
Climate records from the Antarctic Peninsula region show
that annual mean temperatures have risen by nearly 3°C
during the last 50 years - a far larger rise than seen
elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere. Antarctic marine
animals can live only within narrow temperature ranges
and many die at around +5°C. Understanding how well
the 'Antarctic cod' may cope with the predicted environmental
change could help stock management or conservation of
biodiversity within the Southern Ocean.
Global
climate model predictions of how the Antarctic climate
may change over the next 100 years differ in detail from
model to model. Although climate models predict an enhanced
response to future global warming in some parts of the
polar regions, the Antarctic Peninsula is not one of these
areas. Weakness in current climate models do not show
a clear association between Peninsula warming and global
warming and it is premature to attribute warming in the
Peninsula to an enhanced "greenhouse" effect.
(see BAS Position Statement on Antarctic Climate Change
- www.antarctica.ac.uk).
British
Antarctic Survey is conducting a range of science programmes
investigating this important global issue including biological
research on plant and animal communities around Rothera
Research Station.
Antarctic
Nototheniid, known as Antarctic cod but are not true cod,
live in close proximity to ice have evolved a glycoprotein
antifreeze in their body fluids to prevent freezing.
The
University of Birmingham's researchers are based in the
newly formed Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences. For more
information on the University of Birmingham's School of
Medicine see www.medicine.bham.ac.uk
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