Constantine Alexander's blog

Mike deGruy will be missed.

Mike deGruy was a graduate student in marine biology when he first picked up a 16mm film camera. Thirty-plus years on, his company, the Film Crew Inc., travels the oceans making underwater films for the BBC, PBS, National Geographic and Discovery Channel. He dived beneath both poles and visited the hydrothermal vents in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. And as you can imagine, he collected many stories along the way.

An accomplished diver and underwater cinematographer, deGruy also became a go-to host and expedition member on shows like the recent Mysteries of the Shark Coast with Céline Cousteau and Richard Fitzpatrick. (He was a regular on Shark Week -- and a shark attack survivor himelf.) But his first passion was cephalopods, and in fact deGruy and his team were the first to film two rarely seen cephalopods, the nautilus and the vampire squid, in their home ocean.

He had worked extensively on epic series for Sir David Attenborough and the BBC Natural History Unit, producing incredible underwater footage. This includes The Living Planet, in 1984, Life in the Freezer, in 1993, Blue Planet in 2000 and Life of Mammals in 2002. His work on Trials of Life in 1990, won him international acclaim, and he continues to work in the wildlife filming community today, specialising in shark behaviour.

Mike deGruy, an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and marine biologist who through the lens of his submersible cameras transported viewers to the deepest parts of the oceans died on February 4, 2012, in a helicopter crash in Australia. He was 60.

 

Big Miracle (the movie)

Inspired by the true story that captured the hearts of people across the world, the rescue adventure Big Miracle tells the amazing tale of a small town news reporter (John Krasinski) and a Greenpeace volunteer (Drew Barrymore) who are joined by rival world superpowers to save a family of majestic gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle. Local newsman Adam Carlson (Krasinski) can't wait to escape the northern tip of Alaska for a bigger market. But just when the story of his career breaks, the world comes chasing it, too. With an oil tycoon, heads of state and hungry journalists descending upon the frigid outpost, the one who worries Adam the most is Rachel Kramer (Barrymore). Not only is she an outspoken environmentalist, she's also his ex-girlfriend. With time running out, Rachel and Adam must rally an unlikely coalition of Inuit natives, oil companies and Russian and American military to set aside their differences and free the whales. As the world's attention turns to the top of the globe, saving these endangered animals becomes a shared cause for nations entrenched against one another and leads to a momentary thaw in the Cold War.

 

My First Summer in the Sierra: Illustrated Edition, by John Muir & Scot Miller

 My First Summer in the Sierra: Illustrated Edition

From the photographer who brought Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" and "Cape Cod" to life comes a new work combining classic literature with brand-new photography. This time, Scot Miller takes on the seminal work of John Muir, "My First Summer in the Sierra." The book details Muir's first extended trip to the Sierra Nevada in what is now Yosemite National Park, a landscape that entranced him immediately and had a profound effect on his life. The towering waterfalls, natural rock formations, and abundant plant and animal life helped Muir develop his views of the natural world, views that would eventually lead him to push for the creation of the national parks.

Timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the book's original publication by Houghton Mifflin Company, "My First Summer in the Sierra" is illustrated with Miller's stunning photographs, showcasing the dramatic landscape of the High Sierra plus John Muir's illustrations from the original edition and several previously unpublished illustrations from his 1911 manuscript. The publication of "My First Summer in the Sierra" inspired many to journey there, and this newly illustrated anniversary edition will surely inspire many more.

This book is being published in collaboration with Yosemite Conservancy and, for each copy sold, Scot Miller is making a donation to Yosemite Conservancy.

 

The Encyclopedia of Life expanding at a record pace

Increase in content partnerships, growing Spanish-language text, conservation content, and images boost Encyclopedia of Life's value to scientists and general public

The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) continues to expand at a record pace with the addition of new content and partners. At the start of 2012, EOL provides data on nearly half of all described species, with new content in Spanish, rich information about conservation issues from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and NatureServe, and more images and videos than ever before.

In the four years since its first release, EOL has grown from 30,000 pages with content to more than 900,000, a 2,900% increase, and from a dozen content partners to 190, a 1,480% increase. Content highlights since the launch of the new version of EOL in September include:

• More than 900,000 Total Pages with Content
• Over 300,000 Species Pages with Botanical Content from Tropicos®
• Over 100,000 Species Pages with IUCN or NatureServe Conservation Content
• 15,000 Species Pages with Spanish Text
• More than 700,000 Images and 9,000 Videos

Spanish language content is an important priority for EOL. In collaboration with El Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) in Costa Rica, La Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO) in Mexico and the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN) in Washington, D.C., EOL now serves information on 15,000 species in Spanish. These leading biodiversity organizations are vital partners in building a truly multi-lingual resource and in helping EOL reach global audiences. A selection of high quality Spanish-language pages can be seen in the EOL Collection"Paginas destacadas de EOL" ("Featured EOL Pages").

EOL has recently added new conservation-related information from two partners. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a longtime EOL partner, supplies updated information about the Red List status of more than 40,000 species. New partner NatureServe has provided distribution, habitat, trend, and threat information along with New World range maps and conservation status maps for U.S. states and Canadian provinces for more than 60,000 species.

EOL multimedia content is growing at a rapid pace. Images and videos come from individual photographers as well as large organizations, museums, scientists and citizen naturalists. The Encyclopedia of Life Flickr group has close to 3,000 members whose contributions to EOL via this photosharing website recently topped 100,000 photos. Over 9,000 videos complement more than 700,000 images now available on EOL.

In 2012 EOL plans to work on strengthening existing collaborations and building new relationships with contributors around the world. "We are grateful to our partners and for their unwavering commitment to Encyclopedia of Life as we continue to add content, tools and features," said Dr. Cynthia Parr, Director of the EOL Species Pages Group. "With their ongoing participation, support, and outreach, we look forward to a new year of exciting opportunities. Together we can meet the challenge of providing global access to knowledge about all life on Earth."

The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) operates as an ongoing collaboration of individuals and organizations who share the vision to provide global access to knowledge about life on Earth. EOL is supported by founding sponsors the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Additional support comes from EOL member institutions and donations from around the world.

Contact: Breen Byrnes
bbyrnes@eol.org
202-633-8730
Encyclopedia of Life

Brave new world: Pioneering Electronic Publication of New Plant Species

		This is a picture of the new Solanum species published on 1st of January. Credit: Vorontsova MS, Knapp S.

The changes to the publication requirements of new names for algae, fungi and plants accepted at the XVIII International Botanical Congress in Melbourne in July 2011 initiated several important challenges to scientists, publishers and information specialists. To address practical questions arising from the Congress decisions, the open access journal PhytoKeys will publish a series of seven exemplar papers, one each day for the first week of 2012, starting from the 1st of January. The completed journal issue will be printed as an additional, though not mandatory, form of archiving on the 7th of January 2012.

"Electronic-only publishing in botany means that publishers do not need to produce printed versions of their journals to verify that a new name has been effectively published", said Dr Sandra Knapp from the Natural History Museum London, deputy editor of PhytoKeys and one of the authors of the first electronic-only description of a new African species of Solanum (the genus name for tomatoes and many other important plant species), published on the 1st of January 2012. "This important change, however, needs to be supported by strong, responsible practices by both publishers and authors, one of the most important being the proper archiving of the published paper" added Dr Knapp, "It is important to reiterate that these new rules do not mean new names can be published anywhere online; authors and publishers must work together."

"Beyond the mandatory deposition in trusted international electronic archives, such as the open access archive of the National Library of Medicine of the United States, the best possible guarantee for a proper preservation of the published information is open access. This allows an unlimited number of copies to be freely downloaded and stored in different institutional and private archives throughout the world, as well as being available to researchers, particularly in developing countries, who otherwise would not have access to many scientific serials", commented Dr Matt von Konrat from the Field Museum of Chicago, author of a new species of liverwort (closest living descendants of the earliest plants to grow on land) from New Zealand, to be published electronically on the 2nd of January 2012.

From the 1st of January 2012 PhytoKeys will publish taxonomic papers on the day they are approved by the editors. The electronic versions of the paper will be archived in PubMedCentral. In addition, each species description will be exported on the day of publication to the Encyclopedia of Life, to the Wiki environment Species-id. All biological data will be shared or linked with many international databasing initiatives. The bibliographic information in each paper will be harvested automatically by the Citebank database of the Biodiversity Heritage Library, the main German aggregator for biological information Vifabio.de and many others. Although not required by the Code, each new flowering plant species description will bear a unique identifier from the International Plant Names Index (IPNI), housed at Royal Botanical Gardens Kew in the UK.

Will PhytoKeys continue to produce a printed version? "Definitely, yes!", replied Prof. Lyubomir Penev, managing editor of the journal and founder of Pensoft Publishers, who launched PhytoKeys in 2009. "We shall not only maintain printing a full-color printed version of the journal, but will continue sending complimentary copies to leading botanical libraries to ensure 100 % secure archiving".

"PhytoKeys was the first journal to announce the new changes to the Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants in a paper published during the main sessions of the Melbourne Congress, bringing the news to a wide audience. Now we are proud to pioneer the practical implementation of these new rules, paving the way for other taxonomic journals to follow", concluded Dr W. John Kress from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., Editor-in-Chief of PhytoKeys.

Original source: Vorontsova MS, Knapp S (2012) A new species of Solanum (Solanaceae) from South Africa related to the cultivated eggplant. PhytoKeys 8: 1-11. doi: 10.3897/PhytoKeys.8.2462

Additional Information: Miller JS, Funk VA, Wagner WL, Barrie F, Hoch PC, Herendeen P (2011) Outcomes of the 2011 Botanical Nomenclature Section at the XVIII International Botanical Congress. PhytoKeys 5: 1-3. doi: 10.3897/PhytoKeys.5.185

Contact: Dr. Sandra Knapp
s.knapp@nhm.ac.uk
44-020-794-25171
Pensoft Publishers

One World One Ocean wins Best of Fest at My Hero Intl Film Festival

One World One Ocean, a film by MacGillivray-Freeman Films, is the winner of the “Best of Fest” award at the 2011 MY HERO International Film Festival. In this beautifully crafted IMAX 3-D adventure, filmmakers travel to more than 40 locations, capturing images that illuminate the beauty of earth’s oceans while pointing out the terrible damage being done to them by man-made pollution.

One World One Ocean is the beginning of a global media and education campaign to restore and protect the world’s oceans. The oceans provide up to 70% of the oxygen we breath and supply the largest source of protein on the planet. Yet rampant, non-sustainable fishing practices are putting our oceans at risk. MacGillivray-Freeman hopes to see 10% of the world’s oceans set aside as national and international sanctuaries for marine life. The organization will also sponsor conservation projects that promote sustainable methods of harvesting sea life. 

One World One Ocean is not only an outstanding film, but also a critical campaign to protect the world’s oceans. The MY HERO Project is proud to present this honor to Greg and Shaun MacGillivray for their outstanding work.
-Wendy Milette, Film Festival Director

This is the MY HERO International Film Festival’s 7th year of celebrating the best of humanity through film. The festival is produced by of The MY HERO Project, an award winning non-profit organization with a mission to celebrate the best of humanity. MY HERO was founded in 1995 to promote cross-cultural communication, personal expression, media literacy and the arts through the MY HERO website.

Professional writers, artists, and filmmakers join with educators and students from around the world to share art, films and stories of heroes working toward positive change on this interactive web portal.

Since 2005, The MY HERO International Film Festival has received thousands of entries from countries including Jordan, Senegal, Montenegro, Australia, and Mexico. Filmmakers of all ages and abilities, from elementary school students to professionals, are invited to take share their stories with the world. For more information and to view the winning films of the 2011 MY HERO International Film Festival, visit the website.

 

Journey of the Universe

Journey of the Universe Written by Brian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker Yale University Press, 2011

 

"Twenty four hours on the island of Samos and your view of the universe will change for ever".

Journey of the Universe, an Epic Story of Cosmic, Earth, and Human Transformation.  An HD documentary, book and educational series. Journey of the Universe is a dramatic and expansive film that reimagines the universe story and reframes the human connection to the cosmos. Created by a renowned team of scientists, scholars, and award-winning filmmakers, it is beautifully filmed in HD on the Greek island of Samos, the birthplace of Pythagoras. Journey is hosted by evolutionary philosopher Brian Thomas Swimme, whose stories awaken us to the beauty and complexity of our planet and offer an opportunity to respond to ecological and social challenges of our times. The film was written by Swimme and Yale historian of religions Mary Evelyn Tucker and directed by Patsy Northcutt and David Kennard.

 

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park

John Muir called Yosemite "the grandest of all the special temples of Nature I was ever permitted to enter. Yosemite National Park, one of the world's preeminent scenic wonders, embraces nearly 1200 square miles of mountains and valleys, rivers and waterfalls and groves of giant sequoias.

"Discovering Yosemite" explores Yosemite through all seasons and recounts the challenges of visionary men like John Muir and Galen Clark who worked tirelessly to protect this wilderness treasure.

"Discovering Yosemite" is an all new production from Finley-Holiday Films. From hiking Half Dome to standing at the brink of Yosemite Falls, the program encompasses the essence of Yosemite. Over a dozen bonus features explore favorite aspects of the park, from historic Ahwahnee Hotel to more daring adventures with Yosemite Mountaineering School.

Filmed and edited in high definition. Available on location at Yosemite National Park and from the producer's website.

 

John Muir in the New World - A Documentary

John Muir, portrayed by Howard Weamer, in Yosemite

Nearly a century after his death, John Muir is remembered and revered as the father of the environmental movement and the founder of the Sierra Club, the oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was this Scottish American who believed that it was our responsibility as citizens to protect our natural surroundings. And, by example and by passion, he taught us how to care for our wilderness treasures. Through his tireless advocacy and his writings, he almost single-handedly preserved the Yosemite Valley of California and was the force behind the creation of the National Park Service.

This 90-minute documentary delves into John Muir's life with reenactments throughout the majestic landscapes he visited: Wisconsin, Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada, the Alhambra Valley of California, and the glaciers of Alaska.

 

The End of the Line Nets Film Prize.

The End of the Line, a documentary film about the effects of overfishing has won a new award set up to honour films that have made a significant impact on society. The End of the Line received the first Puma Creative Impact Award, worth 50,000 euros at a ceremony in London, United Kingdom.

The End of the Line, the first major feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition in January 2009. In the film we see firsthand the effects of our global love affair with fish as food. The film examines the imminent extinction of bluefin tuna, brought on by increasing western demand for sushi; the impact on marine life resulting in huge overpopulation of jellyfish; and the profound implications of a future world with no fish that would bring certain mass starvation.

Filmed over two years, The End of the Line follows the investigative reporter Charles Clover as he confronts politicians and celebrity restaurateurs, who exhibit little regard for the damage they are doing to the oceans.