Marsden Fund Newsletter

No 18 December 2001

Contents

Global deep sea extinctions during the Ice Ages

Within reasonable bounds

Fish DNA helps map ancient rivers

Ongoing effects of Marsden funding: survey results

Ideal standards in intimate relationships

The smell of tomcat

Global deep sea extinctions during the Ice Ages

The dark, near-freezing environment of the deep oceans is regarded as one of the most stable habitats on Earth. This stability is reflected in the slow turnover rates (extinctions and appearances) of the organisms that live there. But research by Marsden-funded paleontologist, Dr Bruce Hayward, has uncovered a major deep-sea extinction episode that occurred within the last one million years, during the Pleistocene Ice Ages.

By far the best fossil record of deep-sea organisms is provided by the microscopic shells of mud-dwelling foraminifera (single-celled animals). Dr Hayward has been studying the relatively recent history of these small creatures in sediment that accumulated on the ocean floor over the last 3 million years, east of New Zealand. Many thousands of their fossil shells were obtained from samples of mud from cores that were drilled into the ocean floor (500 - 4500m water depth) by the Ocean Drilling Programme in 1998. This programme is funded by a consortium of about 20 countries.

Dr Hayward, a self-employed scientist based in the Geology Department at the University of Auckland, has found that a little-known episode of deep-sea extinctions during the Pleistocene Ice Ages was far more significant than previously reported. In a recent issue of the American journal "Geology", he reports on the extinction of at least two families, 17 genera and 53 species, comprising about 20% of the total deep-sea fauna of foraminifera east of New Zealand. This is a major increase on the 10 species previously known to have become extinct at this time in the Atlantic, Indian and central Pacific Oceans. Of the 53 species that disappeared from the South-west Pacific study area, 60% lived globally throughout the oceans, 20% had an Indo-Pacific distribution, and 20% were endemic to the region.

Some of the foraminifera that became extinct in the Pleistocene Ice Ages. These scanning electron microscope photographs are of shells that are 0.3 - 0.5 mm long.

Studies show that these species progressively declined in abundance and became extinct during glacial intervals in the late Pliocene to middle Pleistocene (c. 2.5 - 0.6 million years ago). Partial recoveries occurred during warm interglacial periods. Most extinctions occurred between 900,000 and 700,000 years ago, at the time of the middle Pleistocene climatic transition, related to intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation. Preliminary work suggests that a similar pattern and timing of extinctions occurred globally in deep sea regions.

This episode of extinctions during the Pleistocene Ice Ages is by far the youngest of a series of major global extinction events that have impacted on the world's marine biota extending back hundreds of millions of years. It is interesting to note that organisms living on the deep-sea floor were largely unaffected by one of the largest and best known of these extinction events, which killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, together with a large proportion of the shallow water and planktonic biota of the seas.

The Ice Age extinction episode was only the second of any significance to occur in the deep sea in the last 100 million years. In contrast to the cooling-related extinction period of the Ice Age, the other (55 million years ago) was the result of the warmest climate experienced on Earth over that period.

Within reasonable bounds

Strep throat, baked potatoes and Chris Cairns' outswingers - all can be described by differential equations which show how the bacterial populations, temperature within the potato, or velocity of the ball change with time. Some equations are very complicated, relating one or more interacting factors, such as atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity.

Sometimes differential equations can be solved to give a simple answer. Mostly, computers are called upon to calculate the quantity in question at a series of time intervals. What happens in between times is extrapolated from graphing these answers. Change with time can be slow or rapid, so the time intervals chosen are very important in approximating a solution.

Dr Allison Heard and Professor John Butcher

As an example, consider the solar system, in which the motions of the planets are governed by gravitational forces. For simplicity, think of a single planet moving in an elliptical orbit around the Sun. When it comes close to the Sun, the time steps which follow the progress of the solution should be small, because the gravitational force - which determines the rate of change of its velocity - is varying rapidly. However, when the planet is far from the Sun, relatively large time steps can be taken without losing overall accuracy to any marked extent.

An important aspect of the design of software to model this type of problem is to assess the accuracy achieved in each step. Margins of error are cumulative and must be kept in check in order to arrive at a sensible answer after many steps. It is important to place upper and lower bounds on the ratio of each stepsize to the preceding one - wherein lies the challenge. It is not at all obvious what these bounds should be.

Two visitors to New Zealand, sponsored by a Marsden grant, have been important contributors to theory about setting these bounds. Professors Nicola Guglielmi and Marino Zennaro from Italy have been able to prove that for a certain method of finding solutions, the third order backward difference method, any stepsize ratio up to approximately 1.501 could be used.

Professor John Butcher and Dr Allison Heard, who are part of the Auckland group collaborating on this work, analysed a number of different methods in the search for similar results. They were able to improve on Guglielmi and Zennaro's work, establishing a new upper bound of 1.618 for the third order backward difference method. It can be proved that no better bound is possible. Proof is all in mathematics.

It is a notable outcome of the Marsden grant, that it brought back to mathematics a promising student who had, following her PhD, committed much of her time and energy to raising a family. Dr Allison Heard is now fulfilling the potential she showed in her thesis, which was supervised by Professor Butcher in 1979.

The results of her recent work with Professor Butcher have now been accepted for publication and will appear in the proceedings of one of the Marsden-supported workshops, which will constitute one or two issues of an international journal. In the words of the anonymous referee, this is a "great paper" which is "likely to become a classic".

News from Marsden Cottage

Applications for 2002

The deadline for preliminary proposals for the next funding round is 12 February 2002. Compared with this year, we have shifted the dates for the process by a week to give people more time after the Christmas break. Information, application forms and guidelines are available from research offices at institutions, from the Marsden Fund office and are on the Royal Society web site at http://www.rsnz.govt.nz/funding/marsden_fund/

Other documents relating to the process such as guidelines for panellists, referees and so on, will be on the web site in mid December after they have been approved at the final Marsden Committee meeting for the year.

The Minister of Research, Science and Technology, Hon. Pete Hodgson, has changed the name of the Marsden Fund Committee to the Marsden Fund Council. This recognises the important role the Council plays in the system as the change in name has some governance implications and implies greater status. Members of the Marsden Council for 2002 are: Professor Diana Hill (Chair), Dr Garth Carnaby (Deputy Chair), Professor Robert Ballagh, Professor Sally Casswell, Professor Marston Conder, Dr Ian Ferguson, Mr Jonathan Mane-Wheoki, Professor Pat Sullivan, and Dr David Wratt. Information about each person is being assembled and will be put on the web site.

General

Jason Gush has recently started assessing reports on a part-time basis. He has a research background in biodiversity and molecular biology and is also working part-time at the Malaghan Institute.

Funding for the Marsden Fund has been increasing steadily each year and we make a concerted effort to increase the general understanding of the important role the Fund plays in the research system. Good publicity about the research is very important in this endeavour so please continue the good work in providing articles for this newsletter and in informing us of important research findings.

The Marsden Fund staff wish you all a very good and satisfying year in research for 2002 - and keep those articles coming!

Fish DNA helps map ancient rivers

Long ago, Otago's Nevis River ran southwards across the Southland Plain. Geologists tell us that, with the buckling of the Earth's crust, a ridge was pushed up, blocking the Nevis River so that it flowed backwards and north into the Kawarau River. They say the Kawarau "captured" the headwaters of the Nevis. "Stream capture" or "river piracy" is a distinctive geological feature of NewZealand's steep and dynamic landscape.

Geologists find evidence for stream capture by examining the drainage patterns of today's rivers and streams, by investigating faults, compressions and the lifting of the Earth's crust, but they are always on the lookout for more evidence to support their speculations. New support for the Kawarau capture comes from an unlikely source - the whitebait-like fish known as galaxiids.

With support from the Marsden Fund, Otago University zoologists, Drs Graham Wallis and Jon Waters, have been looking closely at the DNA of galaxiids collected from rivers and streams throughout New Zealand. Some species spend part of their lives in the sea but others spend their entire lives in the headwaters of rivers. One of the landlocked species is Galaxias gollumoides. This species lives only in the Nevis River and in the rivers of Southland. It is not found in the Kawarau or Clutha River system, even though the Nevis flows into the Kawarau.

Collaborating with Otago geologists, Associate Professor David Craw and Mr John Youngson, the researchers suggest that the present-day geographic distribution of Galaxias gollumoides reflects the ancient drainage pattern of the Nevis River.

As a further refinement, they find that, cut off from each other, the fish of the Nevis River and those on the Southland Plain rivers have evolved apart, ever so slightly. By reading the molecular clock in this fish's DNA, Drs Wallis and Waters reckon the two lineages split or evolved apart about a million years ago. In this way, the biologists have given the geologists a date when the Southern Alps were being rapidly pushed upwards.

Drs Wallis and Waters have more galaxiid evidence of river-beheading further north. The Kaituna River in Marlborough used to flow south into the Wairau River. With the Marlborough Sounds tilting and sinking, the Kaituna River began to flow in the opposite direction to the north and into Pelorus Sound. Though long cut off from each other, the Wairau and Marlborough Sounds galaxiids are genetically very close to each other and quite different from lineages further north. There is more evidence that the Buller River captured some Marlborough rivers, along with their galaxiid species, in the region of the Nelson lakes.

These Otago biologists and geologists have found this interdisciplinary work very stimulating. Working together they find that they can better reconstruct the past than either could do in isolation.

Ongoing effects of Marsden funding: survey results

Andrea Knox, Evaluation Officer

The Marsden Fund aims to enhance New Zealand's underpinning knowledge-base, contribute to the global advancement of knowledge, broaden and deepen New Zealand's research skill-base and enhance the quality of the research environment. These are long-term effects that we hope will continue beyond the duration of each funded project. With this in mind, in September this year we contacted 341 past and present principal investigators, asking five open-ended questions* about flow-on effects of Marsden-funding. One hundred and seventy investigators replied; this is a 50% response rate which we consider to be excellent, given that no reminders were sent.

For each question, we identified emerging themes, then calculated the percentage of responses that identified with each theme. The table shows results of this analysis.

 

"Funding has had a profound effect on my overall research group. Although direct funding was provided for three people, it dramatically broadened the skill base within my lab group and allowed some of those skills to be transferred to other projects. Through our raised profile we have attracted considerable interest from a range of international researchers and have, to date, formed two international collaborations on projects unrelated to our Marsden project."

Main findings:

• The vast majority of respondents stated that their Marsden-funded research had effects beyond the boundaries of the project funded. These effects included changing the research group's direction (32%), strengthening capabilities for further research (27%), initiation of new research collaborations (17%), and feeding into applied research or commercial ventures (22%).
• 58% of respondents stated that Marsden funding either had caused, or is anticipated to cause, a long-term increase in the research capabilities of their group.
• In addition, 30% felt that the funding had or would result in a long-term increase in the size of their group. However, a smaller but still significant number expressed the view that the funding had or would result in only a temporary increase in the size or capabilities of their group, some explaining that this is because money is not available to sustain gains once the Marsden contract has finished.
• 90% stated that the Marsden funding had a positive impact on their career or the career of others on the project. Examples of positive impacts include: postdocs subsequently securing independent positions leading their own research groups (9%), promotion of a principal or associate investigator (14%), and postdocs, students or research assistants securing or anticipating being able to secure further research employment (22%). Although they were not specifically asked this question, 10% of respondents stated that the Marsden funding was a significant factor in retaining or attracting a trained researcher to New Zealand.
• Marsden funding is identified as having led to funding from other sources in 43% of the replies. Of particular note, are several instances in which it led to funding from overseas agencies, e.g. funding for project expenses and/or equipment (8%), student or postdoctoral stipends (5%), conference and travel expenses (5%).
• Answers to several questions revealed the value placed on the fact that Marsden funding allows opportunities for establishing connections and collaborations with other research groups both in and outside of New Zealand. This was identified by 17% of respondents as a way in which Marsden funding had fed into or changed their research, and by 30% as a factor in increasing the capabilities of the group.
• When asked for "other comments", 77% made positive remarks about outcomes of Marsden-funding, and 21% requested that more money be allocated to the Fund.
• Also in the "other comments" section, 14% suggested changes to the size or duration of Marsden grants. Of these, 3% wanted a larger number of smaller grants to be awarded and 10% wanted an option to be established for either renewing successful grants, or awarding some grants for longer time periods.

We would like to thank all who replied; your answers have given us very valuable information. Please be assured that responses have not been and will not be used to assess individual projects. In our report to MoRST (which was forwarded to the Minister) we used the aggregated data to show a range of ongoing effects from Marsden funding. For our own purposes, these data give us a starting point for future more detailed evaluations of the long-term effects of the Marsden Fund.

* A sixth question asked if funding had led to a landmark paper, patent, commercial or other spin-off. The purpose of this question was to gather examples of a few very significant outputs to be presented (anonymously) in our report to MoRST. We have therefore not included its analysis here. Some respondents were concerned that this question might in part be an attempt to justify the Marsden Fund on commercial grounds. However, commercial outcomes play no part in the assessment of Marsden projects and there is no suggestion that they should in future. The intention of the questionnaire was to evaluate the effect of Marsden funding across the whole spectrum of projects, so we felt it was reasonable to ask about commercial spin-offs among others.

Ideal standards in intimate relationships

Laypeople and scientists alike are fascinated by how and why people choose the mates they do, and why such selections turn out to be inspired or disastrous.

  In a Marsden-funded research programme, Professor Garth Fletcher at the University of Canterbury and his colleagues (especially Professor Jeffry Simpson at Texas A & M University) have been investigating the role played by ideal mate standards in answering such questions. Using a statistical technique called factor analysis, they have established that ideal mate standards in the US and New Zealand come in three basic categories: personality factors related to intimacy, warmth, and commitment; a second set related to passion, attractiveness, excitement, vitality and sex; and a third set related to status and resources such as age, money, job, possessions, and so forth. They have also developed reliable scales to measure these three ideal categories.

Research associate, Jacqui Tither, interviewing a couple in the psychology laboratory, prior to a videotaped problem-solving discussion.

Individuals differ substantially in the importance they attach to each kind of ideal standard. Why do people not want it all? Why is Jane's ideal partner not incredibly kind, handsome, remarkably fit, with a wonderful body - and rich? Firstly, such people might be plentiful in TV soap operas, but in real life they are remarkably thin on the ground. Secondly, even when Jane meets such a male paragon he will probably not be interested in Jane, who is not a perfect 10 in every category. And thirdly, even if Jane succeeds in striking up a relationship with such a catch, he may be difficult to hold on to, and Jane may find she needs to invest an exhausting amount of time and resources in maintaining the relationship.

Different people favour different trade-offs and weight associated ideals accordingly. Professor Fletcher's research suggests that the degree of importance that individuals attach to each category of ideal standard is determined in part by two factors - how people perceive their own value in the mating market, and gender. For example, if Jane perceives herself to be exceptionally sexy and good-looking, she will set a high standard on these particular characteristics for a potential mate. However, the psychological story is complicated by the fact that people will trade off strengths and weaknesses in selecting potential mates, and this process is influenced by gender.

In one study, using university students, it was predicted and found that women are more willing than men to compromise their standards of physical attractiveness, if they can attract a mate who has high status and wealth or is perceived to have the potential to achieve them. In addition, although both men and women rate warmth and loyalty highly in potential partners, men are less likely to compromise on their standards of physical attractiveness, even if they can attract a partner who is exceptionally warm and loyal.

Other research by Professors Fletcher and Simpson that has tracked individuals in ongoing relationships, has established that ideal mate standards not only operate to screen out inappropriate partners who fail to meet minimum standards, but are also used to evaluate existing relationships. For example, if Brad attaches high importance to the ideal of attractiveness, but perceives his current partner as being on the homely side, he is likely to be dissatisfied with his relationship. Conversely, if Brad gives relatively little weight to the attractiveness
dimension, then his satisfaction with the relationship will be considerably less influenced in a downward direction. In a study that tracked 100 individuals in the first three to four months of their relationships, the greater the gap between ideal standards and the perceptions of the partner, the more likely the participants were to subsequently break up.

A critical question is why these three particular categories - warmth/loyalty, vitality/attractiveness, and status/resources - are pivotal in mate selection. Professors Fletcher and Simpson argue that they have evolved this way because each mate dimension represents a different route used to obtain a mate and promote reproductive success in human ancestral environments. Individuals appear to be biologically predisposed to look for mates that satisfy two different kinds of criteria - the possession of "good genes" and/or "good investment". By being attentive to a partner's capacity for intimacy and commitment, an individual should increase his or her chances of finding a co-operative, committed partner who would be a devoted mate and parent (good investment). By focusing on attractiveness and health, an individual would be more likely to acquire a mate who was younger, healthier, and more fertile - this is the primary "good genes" factor. And, by considering a partner's resources and status, an individual should have been more likely to obtain a mate who could ascend social hierarchies and form coalitions with other people who had - or could acquire - valued social status or resources. This last category is likely to represent a mixture of both good genes and the ability to invest in the relationship and the children.

In support of this approach, there is ample evidence that their research results are consistent with findings across many cultures, suggesting that they are not purely products of Western culture. However, they stress the point that cultures can accentuate or minimise differences between men and women that have a genetic base, and that the differences between men and women are typically considerably less extreme than the differences within men and within women. To take an example, one of the biggest differences between the sexes, documented by research, concerns attitudes to casual sex, with men much more favourably disposed toward it than are women. No surprises here! However, what is less well understood (especially by "pop psychologists" like John Gray, with his thesis that men are from Mars and women are from Venus), is that there is massive overlap across the sexes. For example, about 30% of men express less favourable attitudes toward casual sex than the average woman, and about 25% of women are more into casual sex than the average man. Many men and women seem to be on the wrong planets!

More generally, there is mounting evidence that humans (both men and women) have evolved uniquely flexible mating strategies, goals, and desires that can switch tack according to the circumstances. Both men and women, for example, emphasise attractiveness and vitality if they are after a short-term fling, but give much more weight to their partner's warmth and loyalty in a long-term relationship.

In research nearing completion, Professors Fletcher and Simpson have brought 60 dating couples into the laboratory to discuss their relationship problems (after completing numerous scales, including those measuring self perceptions of mate-value, and mate-ideal standards). These interactions have been videotaped and analysed, and the couples are being contacted every three months to establish relationship status and levels of relationship satisfaction. The aim is to investigate the links between beliefs, mate standards, and behaviour, and to assess both the long-term relationship implications and the stability of the gaps between what people want and what they perceive they have in intimate relationships.

For years it has been assumed that intimate relationships are governed by the personalities of the individuals and the relationship interactions involved. The research by Professor Fletcher and his colleagues shows that there exist hidden "third parties"- mental images of ideal partners and ideal relationships - that also play a critical role in influencing perceptions and outcomes in intimate relationships.

For further information, contact Professor Garth Fletcher Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch. Tel: (03) 364 2970 Email: g.fletcher@psyc.canterbury.ac.nz

The smell of tomcat

The smell of tomcats' urine is legendary - sharp, penetrating and stomach - turning.
What you can smell is a mixture of volatile sulphur components - breakdown products of a chemical called felinine. Only domestic cats, bobcats, lynx, ocelots and the like produce felinine - an unusual sulphur-containing amino acid. Tomcats spray large amounts of felinine about, while castrated males and females produce 70%-80% less. Scientists have long wondered about the origins of felinine because, until recently, it has never been found in their blood or tissues, apart from small amounts in the kidneys.

A Marsden-funded team of scientists from Massey University (Dr Wouter Hendriks, Professor Paul Moughan, Dr Kay Rutherfurd and Associate Professor David Harding) and Industrial Research Ltd (Dr Tony Woolhouse) set out to discover the biological role of felinine and why and how cats and other cat species produce such a pungent odour.

Some analytical work and theorising about felinine was done in the 1950s using the rather insensitive method of paper chromatography. But using modern high - performance liquid chromatography, the Marsden-funded team showed that the early interpretations were incorrect. They found that felinine could be produced in the liver as they discovered a completely new compound in the blood of cats which they named "g-glutamylfelinylglycine" (or GFG for short).

They found that felinine hitch-hikes along as part of the GFG structure, which masks its presence as it travels in the blood. [This ground-breaking research will be published shortly in a prestigious international journal.]

On reaching the kidneys, GFG apparently breaks down into its component parts, releasing free felinine. This is then excreted in the urine and turned into the products which give rise to the tomcat smell. The team is currently investigating how felinine is broken down into volatile sulphur compounds.

Three other facets of the felinine story are also being investigated. Firstly, finding where GFG is made. Does the liver alone produce GFG or can other tissues synthesise it? Secondly, how felinine is "liberated" and where this happens? Lastly, what messages does felinine convey to other cats?

  For further information, contact Dr Wouter Hendriks, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health, Massey University, Private Bag 11222, Palmerston North. Tel: (06) 350 5990 Email: w.hendriks@massey.ac.nz

Marsden Update is published quarterly by the Marsden Fund and is available free on request. Editor: Glenda Lewis Email: glenda.lewis@rsnz.org