What's outside

[ramblingjohn]

@stella

I know that this is, strictly speaking, not wildlife and not rare, sorry, but they were actually taken outside

They are part of the world we wander through, thanks for sharing.
They could be an excuse to lead me into another subject that has been getting mentioned on the forum. (They both contain mitochondrial DNA).

Perhaps an amateur (simple) attempt at explaining this would be interesting.

yr cell - the cell. (click on image for full size).

Gwrywaidd (G) - Male.
Benywaidd (B) - Female.

Niwclwes DNA yn dod o ddu riant - Nucleus DNA comes from both parents (Bron hanner a hanner, almost half and half).
Daw DNA mitocondraidd oddi wrth y fenw - mitochondrian DNA comes from the female. (note misspelling on the diagram) (doh)!.

Ddisgynnydd (unigolyn newydd) - Descendant (new individual).

Most people have heard of DNA, which is in most cells of frogs, goats , us and the list goes on, it contains a blend of genetic information of how to construct individuals from their parents.

mitochondria, are some of many organelles that share space in the these cells, they convert chemicals from our food into energy that is used to maintain the cell/s and allow us to put effort into our day.

Each life starts as a single cell (often an egg), the egg produced by the female contains mitochondria, which give the egg the ability to convert material within the egg into energy to carry out cell division (the start of a new individual) if it is fertilized.

Reading an individuals mtDNA is a record of the female line it descends from, because the DNA is fairly accurately copied and passed on (cell to cell, individual to individual) (most genetic anomalies would render the egg unviable and so would not develop).
Having said that, some harmless anomalies (they are random) have occurred and been passed on, (conserved), by the female they occurred in and to her descendants up until today.

am enghraift - for example, a anomaly that occurred in Italy 10,000 years ago would be randomly different to one that occurred in Japan 20, 000 years ago, and so a clump of those genes would appear around their source and indicate a marker for that area. Hopefully this gives a little understanding of how if a female from Italy moved to Wales 1,000 years ago, her descendants would be seen in a mtDNA test by the difference in that mtDNA which matches with a clump of individuals in Italy.

Cheers J.P.

[henddraig]

Having said that, some harmless anomalies (they are random) have occurred and been passed on, (conserved), by the female they occurred in and to her descendants up until today.

Your whole explanation is beautiful, John and very clear. Are you putting it in the other thread too?
Also, maybe it is worth pointing out that the DNA of the Y-chromosome comes from father to son. Girls, obviously, don’t have it!! Small changes are passed on in the same way as with the mitochondria, but, clearly, are only useful for following the male line!!

[ramblingjohn]

Well Jackie, thanks very much for your kind words.

I was trying to keep things simple by dealing with one thing at a time and you are correct to mention the Y chromosome aspect.

My central interest is evolution (esblygiad) which i see as the history of all that is outside, so DNA is part of that. Next i have to wonder if people think this is interesting, or appropriate in this thread or any thread.

Keeping it simple but needing to understand gave me questions like, should i try to explain what mitochondria are (because to me that is a very interesting subject).

And for the Y chromosome story, should i do a piece on ‘what is a chromosome’ first.
There are two slowing effects on all of this,
a. my amateur knowledge. and (b). my lack of welsh covering the subjects (it’s fun trying to improve both together).

Cheers J.P.

[henddraig]

should i do a piece on ‘what is a chromosome’ first.

I do think that a biologist is better qualified to answer this than I am. I suspect that most people don’t really care past, “a wiggly bit of DNA. We have 46, 23 from each parent. Other life forms have different numbers but we all have some!” Oh dear, I am brought up short realising that some species reproduce a-sexually… the whole subject is really rather complex and a school teacher who introduces children to the subject would be best to do the same with adults!!!

[ramblingjohn]

I am brought up short realising that some species reproduce a-sexually… the whole subject is really rather complex

@henddraig, you have touched on a very interesting corner of evolution there.
It happens to get really odd when we find that some species of sexual moths have within them area’s(populations) that are pathenogenic, due to a viral bacteria that is passed on in the eggs, which leads us back to one possible explanation to what is a mitochondria (an organelle that is part of our cells but looks to have been an independent life form (probably bacteria) way back before Dinosaurs ever began to emerge).

the whole subject is really rather complex

I concur, which is why i shall only ever know a little. ond mae’n diddoral iawn (i mi).

Cheers J.P.

[mikeellwood]

Also not “outside”, but son am eblygiad, I learned something interesting, I think only this year, which I am not sure if many people are aware of. Human beings are one of only a few species of mammals which cannnot make their own vitamin C (ascorbic acid). The others are: some other primates (including great apes), guinea pigs, and a species of fruit-fly-eating African bat.

This is one reason why the guinea pig is so useful in medical experiments as it shares this relatively rare trait with humans.

Now, vitamin C is absolutely essential: if we go without it long enough, we will die from scurvy. So why can we not synthesise it from our food (i.e. food that doesn’t already contain it)? After all, we can synthesise some other things. Well, it seems that the creatures we evolved from could at one time synthesise it, but there came a time when it was evolutionary advantageous for us not to. This was probably a time when there was a more than abundant supply of food (i.e. plant material) which contained it ready-made, so we could get it that way and didn’t need to synthesise it.

It seems that the ability to synthesise it comes at a cost … it takes up energy, and it must somehow have been a good trade-off to save that energy for other things (perhaps mating!) since we could always get our vitamin C from plants.

(Sorry, I don’t know the Welsh words for most of the above, but if I come across them, I may come back and add them).

[pippapritchard]

we will die from scurvy.

I was looking up the word for ‘hungry’ recently & noticed then that the word for ‘scurvy’ is llwg & thinking it an odd association, which is probably why I remember it now!

[ramblingjohn]

Well Mike, that seems to be a case of use it or loose it (i wonder if a few people may still have it?).
I believe in America the percentage of Sickle cell carriers is descending, where in the past it gave the carrier some protection from malaria, that no longer seems to be a big problem so the advantage has disappeared. (we can only wonder at what we have lost).

@pippapritchard

I was looking up the word for ‘hungry’ recently & noticed then that the word for ‘scurvy’

Keep taking the five a day (a paid poeni amdani)

Dau gwylan benddu.

Gwylan benddu, oedolyn, yn y plu nod ydynt yn bridio - black headed gull, adult, in non breeding plumage.

Cwylan benddu ifanc, gaeaf cyntaf - young black headed gull, first winter.

Yn y gwanwyn byddyn nhw’n datblygu benddu gyda i gilydd - In the spring they will develop black heads together.

Cheers J.P.

[henddraig]

mitochondria (an organelle that is part of our cells but looks to have been an independent life form (probably bacteria) way back).

As far as I know that is exactly what a mitochondrion is. Whether it crept into the cells of the little furry burrowers, who eventually evolved into our ancestors, before or after the dinosaurs died out, I don’t know!! The reason it gets passed on virtually unchanged is because it isn’t really part of our DNA!!!
p.s. as the name comes from the Greek, I’d say it is the same in Welsh, English, Serbo-Croat, Icelandic…!!!

[pippapritchard]

Thank you for your reassurance about scurvy. I’ve other concerns too… do I need to do anything to ensure the success of a hairy caterpillar who has moved in? She’s living in an unheated room. Saw her about a month ago and forgot about her until spotting her again today in a different position. Feels a bit harsh to put her outside although that is presumably where she should be. Does she need food, water, a bed??

Lindys blewog mewn trafferth dwi’n meddwl

[ramblingjohn]

@pippapritchard

Saw her about a month ago and forgot about her until spotting her again today in a different position. Feels a bit harsh to put her outside although that is presumably where she should be.

This is difficult to answer as i’m not sure of the species, some wander around looking for a place to pupate, some over winter as lindys becoming torpid when it’s cold, so it would probably be best outside in something like a bunch of ivy where it is out of the worst weather and can wander for food if it chooses. (it may be the larfae of a saw fly rather than moth).

Whats outside today in a fairly mild south of England.?

Perfagl - Periwinkle (dal yn blodauol - still flowering).

Eirlys - snow drops (maen nhw wedi dechrau tyfu o dan dail marw - they have started to grow under dead leaves).

Efwr - Hogweed (dal yn blodeuol - still flowering).

Brychan y gaeaf - Winter moth.
(i can say this is a male because in this species and a few others the females have given up developing wings asumedly to put more energy into egg production).
There was the question of how could these spread to new environments if the females didn’t fly as the caterpillars would not walk far, it has been found that the caterpillars (like spiders) spread by ballooning).

Cheers J.P.

[pippapritchard]

so it would probably be best outside

Diolch i ti. I’ll find her some nice sheltered eiddew tomorrow. Will miss you in Wytham Woods.
Tan toc.

[ramblingjohn]

Dau Turtur dorchog - two collared doves.

Fairies bonnets, these can and do appear in hundreds at times.

Close up the pleated cap can be seen which is typical of many fungus in the coprinus family.

sometimes people do wonderful things and the sign gave me a clue today.

Gwesty crads bach,

So some volunteers unknown to me have built (codi) two of these which could provide some interesting photo’s next year, Dw i’n barod i gweld gwanwyn dechrau - i’m ready to see spring start.

Cheers J.P.

[henddraig]

collared doves.

We’ve always had a lot of these around here, but the number seems to have dropped recently. Maybe they’ve emigrated with our robin??!!!
I love the Fairies bonnets!!

[ramblingjohn]

Titws tomos las - Blue tit.

Eyelash fungus. (note these are very small so macro image to show the bristles like eyelashes around their rim).

Mae mulfrain eistedd ar hen coedyn sydd yn wedi marw - Cormorants sitting in old tree which has died.

Cheers J.P.

[ramblingjohn]

Titw mawr - Great tit.

Mwsogl - moss. (click on image for full size).

This caught my eye because i had to wonder at why the rain drops were half way (hanner fordd) on the stems protruding above the moss. Some kind of balance between the surface tension of the drops and their adhesion to the stems.

mae’r gair cymraeg newydd diddorol / defnyddiol i mi wythnos hon - new word in welsh interesting / useful this week to me.

Cydfwyta - symbiosis.

Cheers J.P.

[henddraig]

Beautiful tit pics!! Oh, how I wish mine were like that!!
I currently have an ambition! I mentioned that our robin coch bach seemed to have vanished totally. Well, I suspect that the one who used to come in winter (gaeaf) has died and that a descendant is thinking of moving in. Problem, he/she is very shy and our bird feeders are like Piccadilly Circus for tits and finches. Suddenly, we saw a little bird scuttle from under a bush, run to some of the ground food, grab a bit and run back. It was Robin coch b/fach!! I saw him/her again next day, just as briefly, I did manage to grab the camera that time, but could not get a photo before he/she hid again in the bush!!
So, my ambition is to get a picture of him/her!!

[ramblingjohn]

Efallai yn syniad da, os ydych chi’n cuddio yn yr ardd.

Maybe a good idea, if you were to hide in the garden.

Gwisgo rhywbeth cudlliw.

Wear something camouflage.

Would be nice to get a rush of festive photo’s.
While talking about getting interesting photo’s, it would be great if i could get an image of the space station going over as there is now a brit (British person) in space. Truth is i am only seeing occasional glimpses of the rather nice crescent moon (gormod o cymylau - too much cloud/s).

Isn’t progress amazing, on another thread there was the very interesting mention of a welsh person going to Russia to share knowledge / know-how. (history).
Last night we had live images of a Brit arriving at the space station on a Russian rocket with screen shots live of the soyuz docking with the images including on screen info in Russian (next time it may be a Welsh person), Learning Russian through the medium of Welsh, oh i better improve my Welsh first).

Cheers J.P.

[seren]

Learning Russian through the medium of Welsh

That is something SSI will soon make possible, I’m sure:) And I’m following the news about the British person in space, I love how different nations work together conquering the space. My favourite TV-show is Star Trek, it’s such a nice picture of how very different people can work together:)

[ramblingjohn]

I can see a list of words about space i need to make sometime

Brogaod / llyffantod yn y gofod - Frogs in space.

Aderyn du / Mwyalchen - Black bird.

Cheers J.P.