• Question: Have you been involved in any discoveries of new species?

    Asked by drkingschultz to Debbie, Glyn, Jon, Kat, Nicola on 9 Mar 2013. This question was also asked by elicockrel69, dinosaursrawrrr.
    • Photo: Debbie Crockard

      Debbie Crockard answered on 9 Mar 2013:

      I have been lucky enough to be involved in the discovery of several new species, I have put links to the press releases at the bottom so you can see some of the pictures, I’ve also added a link to a species that was discovered by the team on a different trip where they discovered a new species of fish.

      Three new species of acorn worm were discovered by the team I was a part of in 2010 – acorn worms are interesting, brightly coloured worms found in the deep sea – these particular species were found at about 2500m deep (about a mile and a half under the surface). What’s funny about these worms is that we kept seeing swirly patterns on the sea bed but couldn’t figure out what was making them – it was a while before we realised it was the acorn worms – and that the swirly patters were actually the worms poo, very cool swirly poos.

      The team I was working with in Japan discovered a new species of shrimp which was named after our team leader Alan Jamieson. This shrimp is found even deeper than the acorn worm – below 7000m – and has been found in several pacific ocean trenches (trenches are the deepest parts of the ocean).

      I was really lucky to have the opportunity to take part in these research cruises and help discover these new species – it was amazing working with some very,very clever people many of whom have discovered lots more species.

      http://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/details-13212.php

      http://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/details-9953.php

      http://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/archive-details-9266.php

    • Photo: Glyn Barrett

      Glyn Barrett answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      Thats a really interesting and difficult question to ask someone who works with bacteria.
      Traditionally a species is a group of living creatures with males and females which are able to reproduce by exchanging genetic material or DNA. So yes that is why animals and most plants can be definitely called species – for example elephants are only matched with other elephants and produce baby elephants.
      But bacteria can exchange their DNA with loads of different other bacteria and other microscopic creatures. And also they reproduce by breaking into little pieces and each little piece becomes a whole bacterium. Here is a link to a really short but cool video on bacteria dividing

      I work with evolution of bacteria and have myself evolved bacteria in my lab and seen bacteria reproduce with loads of other bacteria. What has come out at the end is a different bacteria than which I had at the beginning so I guess Yes I have discovered new species.

      Did you also know that there could be more than 10000 species of bacteria and other little critters in just 1 gram of soil – about as much as would fit on your fingertip!

    • Photo: Jonathan Stone

      Jonathan Stone answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      Sadly no new species. I was the first to see a new bit of a volcano in Montserrat, which grew overnight from this big spine of hard lava that was pushed out the top. Unfortunately, it only lasted for a day before crumbling!

    • Photo: Kathryn McMahon

      Kathryn McMahon answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      I wish! Sadly, no – i spend most of my time looking down a microscope at cells. I’ve discovered what a couple of genes do, but thats about it. I would love to go on a beetle hunting expedition some day though!

    • Photo: Nicola Fletcher

      Nicola Fletcher answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      I discovered a new type of horse flu during my first proper job…not a new species but still pretty exciting!

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