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DocWatch species restoration Twitterit? News stories about "species restoration," with punchlines: http://apocadocs.com/d.pl?species+restoration Related Scary Tags: smart policy  ~ ecosystem interrelationships  ~ overfishing  ~ rights of nature  ~ marine mammals  ~ sixth extinction  ~ hunting to extinction  ~ endangered list  ~ sustainability  ~ coral bleaching  ~ CCD   Mon, Jan 4, 2016 from The Guardian: Conservationists betting on bees to ease clash of humans and elephants A community near the famed Serengeti national park in Tanzania is enlisting the help of bees to reduce escalating tensions with elephants that enrage locals by trampling upon their crops. A fence made of beehives is being constructed around a one-acre farm close to the Ngorongoro conservation area as part of the pilot project to see if the buzzing bees will deter elephants that stroll on to cropland. ... That's a beeautiful idea. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 30, 2014 from ABC : Obama Creates Largest Marine Reserve In the World President Obama today will sign a proclamation creating the largest marine reserve in the world - three times the size of California, totaling 490,000 square miles... The designation bans commercial fishing, dumping and mining in the national monument's waters, home to "deep coral reefs, seamounts, and marine ecosystems unique to this part of the world among the most vulnerable areas to the impacts of climate change," according to the White House. Environmental groups are calling this a "historic" move to protect precious wildlife....He has used his authority to designate more acres of federal land and sea environmentally-protected areas than any other president in the last five decades. ... A new Eden. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, May 10, 2014 from CBC: Species de-extinction plagued by 'looming questions,' expert says The potential for bringing back extinct animal species, known as de-extinction, is one of the hottest and most controversial topics in conservation biology today. "There are potentially many issues in bringing a species back ... But our primary concern is, if we were to bring something back, why are we doing it? Are we doing it because it's something cool to do, or because it's valuable for the ecosystem?" Moehrenschlager said an interview that airs on CBC's Quirks & Quarks on Saturday.... According to Moehrenschlager, the most important question is, “is this reversible?” In other words, could we undo the reintroduction of a previously extinct species into an ecosystem? It’s a vital question because there may be risks associated with de-extinction that scientists cannot accurately predict. ... I'm thinking maybe we should focus on "pre-emptive de-extinction" while we still can. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 1, 2013 from Mongabay: Malaysia may loan Indonesia rhinos to save species from extinction Conservationists and officials meeting last month at a rhino crisis summit in Singapore agreed to a radical plan to loan Sumatran rhinos between nations if it means saving the critically endangered species from extinction. The proposal, which could still be thwarted by red tape and political opposition, could lead Malaysia to send some of its Sumatran rhinos to semi-captive breeding facilities in Indonesia. "I will bring to my government for approval whatever I and other Sumatran rhino experts feel are the best recommendations for specific actions. If that involves a recommendation to loan rhinos between nations, so be it. This is our very last chance to save the species, and we must get it right this time," said Laurentius Ambu, Sabah Wildlife Department, in a statement issued after the conclusion of the conference. ... Rhino loans are a little too close to rhino default swaps and rhino futures obligations for my comfort. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 25, 2013 from PhysOrg: EU set to ban pesticides blamed for decline of bees The EU appears set to impose a two-year ban on the use of insecticides blamed for a sharp and worrying decline in bee populations, an EU source said Thursday.... Under EU procedure, if Monday's vote is the same, the Commission has the authority to proceed on its own with the ban. "The most likely outcome will be the same as last time ... and in that case, the Commission will decide to put the ban into operation," the source said. The Commission wants the insecticides banned for use on four major crops--maize (corn), rape seed, sunflowers and cotton--in a bid to protect the bee population.... Experts have isolated three compounds causing concern--clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, known as neonicotinoids--which are present in insecticides produced by pharmaceutical giants Bayer of Germany and Switzerland's Syngenta. ... Bee happy. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 3, 2013 from MIT Technology Review: A Stealthy De-Extinction Startup ... Ark, he says, hopes to help revive some extinct species, including a Spanish mountain goat. But the company's real aim is to combine cutting-edge cell biology and genome engineering in order to breed livestock and maybe even create DNA-altered pets that live much longer than usual. "Imagine a dog that lives 20 years," he says.... Ark's key technology is going to be induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells. To make iPS cells, researchers take an ordinary skin cell and, by modifying it or adding certain chemicals, turn it into a potent stem cell that's able to grow into any other tissue of the body, including eggs and sperm.... What's more, with iPS cells, it's at least theoretically possible to make eggs from a man's skin cell, or sperm from a woman. In other words, the technology could one day let two men, or two women, have children that share both their genes. I'm pretty sure no one on Noah's Ark thought of that. ... Or, imagine a mastodon that can prosper on eucalyptus shoots. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 6, 2013 from PhysOrg: Research says biodiversity helps protect nature against human impacts Their research, published today as the cover story in Nature, suggests farmers and resource managers should not rely on seemingly stable but vulnerable single-crop monocultures. Instead they should encourage more kinds of plants in fields and woods as a buffer against sudden ecosystem disturbance. Based on a 10-year study, their paper also lends scientific weight to esthetic and moral arguments for maintaining species biodiversity.... McCann, who studies food webs and ecosystem stability, said many ecosystems are at a "tipping point," including grasslands that may easily become either woodlands or deserts. "They're a really productive ecosystem that produces year in and year out and seems stable and then suddenly a major perturbation happens, and all of that biodiversity that was lost earlier is important now," said McCann. ... Clearly, Monsanto needs to engineer more biodiversity into its corn and soybean genomes. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 5, 2013 from Cornell University : Klondike, Puppy Born from a Frozen Embryo, Fetches Good News for Endangered Animals Meet Klondike, the western hemisphere's first puppy born from a frozen embryo. He's a beagle-Labrador retriever mix, and although neither of those breeds are endangered, Klondike's very existence is exciting news for endangered canids, like the red wolf.... This frozen embryo technique is one of many reproductive technologies that can be used to conserve endangered species such as wild canids. ... Too bad they named him something edible. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Feb 12, 2012 from CBC: B.C. killer whale habitat protection ruled a legal duty The federal minister of fisheries has no discretion when it comes to protecting the critical habitat of B.C.'s southern resident killer whales, the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled. The precedent-setting case relates to the Species at Risk Act (SARA). "We are thrilled with the court's decision and we now look forward to the opportunity to get on with the work of actually protecting the whales," remarked Margot Venton, a lawyer with Ecojustice, an environmental law firm that fought the case on behalf of nine environmental groups. In a statement issued Friday, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said it would not comment until it had completed a review of the decision. ... Another case of the law protecting a killer. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Sep 5, 2011 from BBC: Endangered species set for stem cell rescue In a novel marriage of conservation and modern biology, scientists have created stem cells from two endangered species, which could help ensure their survival. The northern white rhino is one of the most endangered animals on Earth, while the drill - a west African monkey - is threatened by habitat loss and hunting. The scientists report in Nature Methods that their stem cells could be made to turn into different types of body cell. If they could turn into eggs and sperm, "test-tube babies" could be created.... "Only when numbers get so low that the genetic contribution of every last animal (including those represented only in frozen cell lines) contributes measurably to the total species diversity - maybe around 10 individuals - would we want to do everything possible to ensure that those genes are transmitted to future generations. "Tragically, northern white rhinos have undergone just such a decimation." ... I hear there's big money in test-tube rhino horns. Not so much the animal itself. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Aug 27, 2011 from Summit County Voice: Biodiversity: Can aquatic fleas save the world's amphibians? Working in a laboratory setting, Oregon State researchers say they've discovered a freshwater organism that eats the free-swimming spores of a fungal pathogen that's been devastating amphibian populations worldwide, including Colorado's endangered boreal toad. This tiny zooplankton, called Daphnia magna, could provide a desperately needed tool for biological control of this deadly fungus if field studies show that the same process works in a natural setting.... "These are just your average Daphnia," zoologist and lead author Julia Buck said Friday in a telephone interview before heading into the field for more research. The small organisms are sometimes described as aquatic fleas. They're native northern and western North America and have been used for decades to test water for toxins. "They're filter feeders ... so they're just taking in these zoospores," she said. "There was evidence that zooplankton would eat some other types of fungi, so we wanted to find out if Daphnia would consume the chytrid fungus," said Buck, an OSU doctoral student in zoology and lead author on the study. "Our laboratory experiments and DNA analysis confirmed that it would eat the zoospore, the free-swimming stage of the fungus." ... "Average," they may be, but they could become a mighty force for maintaining average! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 28, 2011 from Reuters: Alabama snail makes comeback from endangered list A snail in Alabama has become the first in U.S. history to recover from the brink of extinction and is now merely threatened rather than an endangered species. In 1991, the Tulotoma snail was barely clinging to one small place, extinct in 99 percent of its historic range. The snail now has expanded to 10 percent of its range. "The Clean Water Act and improved land use conditions have allowed the snail population to start growing again," said Jeff Powell, senior biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. ... These things... take time. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jul 18, 2011 from Huffington Post: 'Citizen Scientists' To Help Gauge Wild Bee Population Scientist Gretchen LeBuhn is trying to save the nation's wild bee population. But to achieve her goal, she's resorting to some unconventional means, namely the help of ordinary citizens from across the country. On Saturday 100,000 'citizen scientist' volunteers will spend about 15 minutes counting the number of bees that visit "lemon queen" sunflowers they've planted following instructions on LeBuhn's website, www.greatsunflower.com. Participants will monitor the flowers for bees twice monthly through the end of the summer, uploading the information into a central database.... Though researchers have reported a drastic decline in the populations of domesticated honeybees since at least 2006, the statistics on wild bees have remained more elusive.... "The Western bumblebee disappeared from all over the Western U.S. and nobody noticed," she told HuffPost in an interview Thursday. "I find that amazing that you can have the biggest, fuzziest, most common, cute bee disappear and people didn't even know." ... Clearly those bees didn't have the right agent. ApocaDoc permalink Want more context? Try reading our book FREE online: Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! More fun than a barrel of jellyfish! Mon, Jun 27, 2011 from The Telegraph: RSPB to destroy rats on Henderson Island The RSPB will be destroying rodents introduced by humans on to Henderson Island, an uninhabited part of the UK's Pitcairn overseas territory, in a bid to save the endangered Henderson petrel which nests only on the island. Rats are eating 25,000 newly hatched Henderson petrel chicks each year on the World Heritage-listed island, driving the species towards extinction. The Henderson petrel is the most threatened of the four petrel species which nest on the island, as it is found nowhere else in the world, but all four have seen populations plummet as a result of the rats. The rodents, which were introduced by Polynesian settlers, eat 95 percent of chicks alive within the first week of hatching and the number of petrels has dropped from millions of pairs 800 years ago to an estimated 40,000 now, the RSPB said.... "People introduced the rats which are threatening the survival of the Henderson petrel and now we're trying to make amends before it's too late." ... If we make all the amends that are due, who knows what may happen? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jun 24, 2011 from BBC: Serengeti road scrapped over wildlife concerns Controversial plans to build a tarmac road across the Serengeti National Park have been scrapped after warnings that it could devastate wildlife. The Tanzanian government planned a two-lane highway across the park to connect Lake Victoria with coastal ports. But studies showed it could seriously affect animals such as wildebeest and zebra, whose migration is regarded as among the wonders of the natural world. The government confirmed the road across the park will remain gravel. ... Wildebeest party!!!!! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, May 21, 2011 from ScienceDaily: Species Reemergence After Collapse: Possible but Different, Mathematical Model Shows Species pairs that disappear through hybridization after human-induced changes to the environment can reemerge if the disturbance is removed, according to a new mathematical model that shows the conditions under which reemergence might happen.... By simulating environmental disturbances that reduce the ability of individuals to identify and select mates from their own species, the model explores the mechanisms that cause hybridization between closely-related species. Hybridization can lead to population decline and the loss of biodiversity. For instance, certain species of stickleback fish have collapsed into hybrid swarms as water clarity in their native lakes has changed, and certain species of tree frogs have collapsed as vegetation has been removed around their shared breeding ponds. Such hybrid swarms can replace the original species.... "The encouraging news from an ecosystems service point of view is that, if we act quickly, we may be able to refill ecological niches emptied by species collapse. However, even if we can refill the niches, we probably won't be able to bring back the same species that we lost," Gilman said. ... Anything, anything to prevent a hybrid swarm! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Apr 12, 2011 from Telegraph.co.uk: Rare fish carried up a mountain on backs of llamas to escape global warming The endangered vendace, that has been in Britain since the Ice Age, is in danger of dying out as lakes and rivers warm up because of man made global warming. To ensure the species survival, the UK's environmental watchdog took eggs from Derwentwater in Cumbria, thought to be the only remaining site where the fish are found in England and Wales. They then took 25,000 young fish from the hatchery to a cooler lake higher up the mountains of the Lake District, Sprinkler Tarn, to establish a new 'refuge' population that is more likely to survive warming temperatures. Because the route to the lake is so rocky and uneven, it was impossible to use conventional transport like a 4x4 motorbike or landrover. So, the fish were given a ride during part of the two-hour trek by sure-footed llamas from a local charity. The journey was finished by fisheries officers on foot to ensure none of the smarts were spilt. ... That'll work. For awhile. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 7, 2011 from PhysOrg: Scientists have new measure for species threat The index, developed by a team of Australian researchers from the University of Adelaide and James Cook University, is called SAFE (Species Ability to Forestall Extinction). The SAFE index builds on previous studies into the minimum population sizes needed by species to survive in the wild. It measures how close species are to their minimum viable population size.... "The idea is fairly simple - it's the distance a population is (in terms of abundance) from its minimum viable population size. While we provide a formula for working this out, it's more than just a formula - we've shown that SAFE is the best predictor yet of the vulnerability of mammal species to extinction."... Of the 95 mammal species considered in the team's analysis, more than one in five are close to extinction, and more than half of them are at 'tipping points' that could take their populations to the point of no return. "For example, our studies show that practitioners of conservation triage may want to prioritise resources on the Sumatran rhinoceros instead of the Javan rhinoceros. Both species are Critically Endangered, but the Sumatran rhino is more likely to be brought back from the brink of extinction based on its SAFE index," Professor Bradshaw says. ... Species triage via SAFE? It makes me Unnaturally Nauseated, Sorrowful, And Freakin' Ecoplectic! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 17, 2011 from University of York, via EurekAlert: Intervention offers 'best chance' to save species endangered by climate change A University of York scientist is proposing a radical programme of 'assisted colonisation' to save species endangered by climate change. Chris Thomas, Professor of Conservation Biology, says the strategy is applicable across the world, and he suggests Britain as a potential haven for species such as the Iberian lynx, the Spanish Imperial Eagle, the Pyrenean Desman and the Provence Chalkhill Blue butterfly. In an opinion paper in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Professor Thomas, of the University's Department of Biology, says that moving endangered species is the only viable option to maintain some climate-endangered species in the wild.... Professor Thomas says a more radical policy is now required if humanity wishes to minimise the number of species that become extinct from all causes, including from climate change and species invasions. He says increased local and regional species richness that would result is positive, provided that this does not result in higher global extinction rates. "Translocation represents one of the principal means of saving species from extinction from climate change; in conjunction with maintaining large areas of high quality (low human impact) habitats," he says. ... I didn't know Noah had a doctorate. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Mar 4, 2011 from WorldFishingToday.com: Considering moratorium on Caspian sturgeon fishing As per media report the coastal nations of Caspian Sea are ready for a moratorium on sturgeon fishing in the sea. The Azerbaijani ecology minister said that the moratorium will apply to commercial fishing only. He also added that Azerbaijan fully supported the proposal, which had been welcomed by President Ilham Aliyev. Azerbaijan has already stopped fishing for two types of sturgeon - Fringebarbel and beluga. It agreed a sturgeon fishing quota of 84 tonnes for 2010, which broke down into 46 tonnes of Russian sturgeon and 38 tonnes of starry sturgeon. The quota was agreed at a meeting of the Caspian Commission on Aquatic Bioresources in Tehran in June last year. The quota year runs from 1 March 2010 to 28 February 2011 in order to reflect the fishing season. According to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the government is stepping up its work to tackle corruption. He said that tough measures have been taken against forestry wardens from Sheki to Shamakhi. Over 120 forestry wardens have been sacked. At the last meeting, six senior people - a national park director, his deputy and the heads of forestry warden departments - lost their jobs. ... Moratoriums are easy when there's not much left. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 2, 2011 from Guardian, from DesdemonaDespair: Scientists flee blaze in Chinese rainforest restoration project One of the world's most advanced rainforest restoration projects may be going up in smoke in southern China. A short while ago, I received a frantic phone call from Bulang Mountain in Xishuangbanna, where scientists and conservationists are fleeing 30m-high flames that, they said, were consuming trees in seconds. Witnesses said the blaze had reached the edge of the Seeds of Heaven biodiversity development centre, where an ecologically healthy forest had been painstakingly rebuilt over the past four years on the site of a former rubber plantation.... "It's horrific. This model, which is recognised internationally as one of the most advanced of its type in the world, is now going up in flames." The project - which was launched about five years ago by the German biologist Josef Margraf, now deceased, and his wife Minguo - pioneers a "rainforest farming" technique that creates a rich habitat for multiple species, from which a modest income for people can be cultivated from orchids, tea, honey and other products.... The flames appear to have spread from the direction of a neighbouring cow farm. Local officials say the spark was deliberately lit to create a controlled firebreak. Others told the visiting group that the fire may have been part of an effort to clear land for the expansion of a cattle farm. "This is no accident. You just don't do a controlled fire on a windy day like today," said Pavlos Georgiadis, a former student of Margraf, who died of a heart attack last year. "This is the peak of the dry season. We haven't had rain for two months." ... I bet they didn't even have insurance. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 16, 2011 from AP, via HuffingtonPost: Sea Shepherd Activists Prompt Japan To Suspend Whaling Japan has temporarily suspended its annual Antarctic whaling after repeated harassment by a conservationist group, a government official said Wednesday. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ships have been chasing the Japanese whaling fleet for weeks in the icy seas off Antarctica, trying to block Japan's annual whale hunt, planned for up to 945 whales. Japan has halted the hunt since Feb. 10 after persistent "violent" disruptions by the anti-whaling protesters, said fisheries agency official Tatsuya Nakaoku. So far, the attacks have not caused any injuries or major damage to the vessels, he said, but the protesters are throwing rancid butter in bottles and once the protesters got a rope entangled in the propeller on a harpoon vessel, causing it to slow down. "We have temporarily suspended our research whaling to ensure safety," he said. The fleet plans to resume hunting when conditions are deemed safe, he added, but declined to say how long the suspension is planned for. ... The "science" in "scientific whaling" needs more study. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 1, 2011 from PhysOrg: Surprising approach could help rescue fragile ecosystems and halt cascades of extinctions Feral pigs introduced to the Galapagos Archipelago shortly after Charles Darwin's historical visit have damaged the ecosystem of Santiago Island, causing, it is believed, the extinction or imperilment of a number of species. The complete removal of the pigs 11 years ago is beginning to restore balance to the island. Two Northwestern University scientists have developed a mathematical model that supports the management choices in perturbed ecosystems, such as the Galápagos, and illustrates how human intervention may effectively aid species conservation efforts. The selective suppression or removal of one or more species in a troubled ecosystem can save many more species.... Motter explained further, "We find that extinction cascades can often be mitigated by suppressing -- rather than enhancing -- the populations of specific species. In numerous cases, it is predicted that even the proactive removal of a species that would otherwise be extinct by a cascade can prevent the extinction of other species." ... If you think about this a minute, it has disturbing implications for invasive humans. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 17, 2011 from Huffington Post: Let the Buffalo Roam! America's Last Wild Herds Under Attack by US Government and Cattle Industry As a result, today's modest population of Yellowstone buffalo, numbering close to 4,000, is the only herd with direct genetic lineage to the original 23 that prevailed out of the estimate 30-60 million that once roamed freely across the Great Plains.... The reality is that year after year taxpayer dollars are sponsoring the scapegoating of an animal that should be revered as national and cultural icon so that a handful of ranchers can graze cattle on public and private land adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. It is this legacy of greed and deceit that is responsible for more than 3,000 buffalo slain since 2000, when the Interagency Bison Management Plan took effect.... "The Buffalo are being persecuted by the same interest groups that wiped them off the continent in the first place. There is a huge benefit to the cattle ranchers who want to see public lands used for grazing cattle. Cows are an invasive species and we now control our wildlife in this country on their behalf including targeted hunting campaigns against wolves, grizzly bears and buffalo." ... Dastardly cows! Quietly invading without us even realizing it! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jan 9, 2011 from AP, via Google: Is overfishing ended? Top US scientist says yes For the first time in at least a century, U.S. fishermen won't take too much of any species from the sea, one of the nation's top fishery scientists says. The projected end of overfishing comes during a turbulent fishing year that's seen New England fishermen switch to a radically new management system. But scientist Steve Murawski said that for the first time in written fishing history, which goes back to 1900, "As far as we know, we've hit the right levels, which is a milestone." "And this isn't just a decadal milestone, this is a century phenomenon," said Murawski, who retired last week as chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service.... Murawski said the U.S. is the only country that has a law that defines overfishing and requires its fishermen not to engage in it. "When you compare the United States with the European Union, with Asian countries, et cetera, we are the only industrialized fishing nation who actually has succeeded in ending overfishing," he said.... The science is far from perfect, Marciano said. Regulators believed fishermen were overfishing pollock until new data last year indicated scientists had badly underestimated its population, he said. And some stocks, such as Gulf of Maine cod, have recovered even when fishermen were technically overfishing them. "To say you can't rebuild stocks while overfishing is occurring is an outright lie. We did it," Marciano said. ... You say you believe that science-based regulations made a difference -- but you're a fish! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 6, 2011 from BBC: Dollar trees line conservation road Maybe money does grow on trees. Certainly, you can find a growing number of people in the conservation movement suggesting that it does; and that if the money is to keep flowing, the wealth in the trees needs to be secured as safely as gold bars in any bank. If forests do not actually sprout banknotes, they do provide services whose value in monetary terms can be measured... refuges for pollinating insects, roots that prevent landslides, absorption of climate-changing carbon dioixide - even places where we like to walk. So do prairies and coral reefs and marshes and... well, pretty much any other life-bearing pieces of nature you care to mention. A UN-backed project called The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (Teeb) has calculated that destruction of forests alone is costing the global economy $2-5 trillion per year.... The poster child for Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) is Costa Rica.... And more and more governments are at least flirting with PES. In the EU and US, farmers are rewarded for managing the land in ways that benefit birds, mammals and insects. Agrochemical and seed company Syngenta is financing training for farmers to help them look after pollinating insects. Soft-drink companies are funding the preservation of landscapes that ensure the water supply they need. A fledging market in "biodiversity offsets" is developing, allowing companies to protect nature in one place in recompense for degrading it somewhere else. ... Economists just might save the world after all. ApocaDoc permalink You're still reading! Good for you! You really should read our short, funny, frightening book FREE online (or buy a print copy): Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! We've been quipping this stuff for more than 30 months! Every day! Which might explain why we don't get invited to parties anymore. Sun, Nov 28, 2010 from Huffington Post: Russian Scientist Working To Recreate Ice Age Ecosystem Wild horses have returned to northern Siberia. So have musk oxen, hairy beasts that once shared this icy land with woolly mammoths and saber-toothed cats. Moose and reindeer are here, and may one day be joined by Canadian bison and deer. Later, the predators will come - Siberian tigers, wolves and maybe leopards. Russian scientist Sergey Zimov is reintroducing these animals to the land where they once roamed in millions to demonstrate his theory that filling the vast emptiness of Siberia with grass-eating animals can slow global warming. "Some people have a small garden. I have an ice age park. It's my hobby," says Zimov, smiling through his graying beard. His true profession is quantum physics.... He believes herds of grazers will turn the tundra, which today supports only spindly larch trees and shrubs, into luxurious grasslands. Tall grasses with complex root systems will stabilize the frozen soil, which is now thawing at an ever-increasing rate, he says. ... He'd better hurry. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Nov 27, 2010 from AP, via PhysOrg: Reserve saves trees but not monarch butterflies This small patch of mountain fir forest is a model of sorts for the global effort to save trees and fight climate change. The problem is that saving trees has not saved the forest's most famous visitors: Monarch butterflies. Millions of Monarch butterflies migrate here from the United States and Canada every year, but their numbers declined by 75 percent last year alone, apparently because of changing weather and vegetation patterns. The Monarch butterfly reserve shows how complex the battle against climate change has become, as the world prepares for a United Nations climate conference in Cancun next week. The conference is expected to focus in part on how best to preserve forests, with questions about who should pay and and how to treat communities who already live in the jungles and forests of developing countries.... While the Monarch Butterfly Reserve is a success story, trees alone won't keep it going. If the butterflies disappear - and by all accounts they are doing badly - interest in the forest could quickly evaporate. The REDD program has been improved to take into account the importance of biodiversity in forests. While experts aren't really sure what has been battering the butterflies, changing weather patterns are clearly taking a toll. Last year, clusters of butterflies covered a total area equal to only about 1.9 hectares (4.7 acres), compared to about 8 hectares (almost 20 acres) in the 2008-2009 winter season. Experts say it is still too soon to estimate figures on this year's migration. Monarch expert Lincoln Brower cites climate swings of wet and dry weather, storms that damaged the reserve, and the crowding out of the only plant the Monarchs lay their eggs on, the milkweed, by genetically-modified crops. ... Without a Monarch, what will happen to the kingdom? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Sep 27, 2010 from Technische Universitaet Muenchen, via EurekAlert: Rapid test to save Indian vultures from extinction Diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory agent, has been deployed successfully in human medicine for decades. In most EU countries medication containing Diclofenac is only approved for treatment of humans. In India, Pakistan and Nepal it has been deployed in veterinary medicine as well since the 90s, in particular for livestock. When vultures feed on cattle carcasses, they too ingest the drug. As a result, the populations of three species of these birds of prey - the Indian vulture, the Oriental white-backed vulture and the slender-billed vulture - have shrunk to a mere three percent of their original number. In light of this situation, the governments of the affected countries banned the use of Diclofenac in veterinary medicine in 2006. Furthermore, centers for breeding and subsequent re-introduction of vultures into the wild have been set up and are enjoying considerable support from the British Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). However, it will take at least ten years before the first birds can be released back into the wild.... Raising the bird offspring with Diclofenac-free food, necessitates testing meat for possible traces of the drug. This calls for analytical detection methods that can be administered in remote breeding centers by staff with little or no professional training. The scientists of the Chair for Analytical Chemistry at the Institute for Hydrochemistry and Chemical Balneology at the TU Muenchen have now developed just such a method. ... Vultures shall once again pick at our decaying carcasses! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 14, 2010 from Huffington Post: Scientists Find Drugs That May Fight White Nose Syndrome Scientists may have found some ways to help the nation's bats, which are being wiped out by a novel fungal disease. Lab tests show that several drugs can fight the germ and that some antiseptics might help decontaminate areas where bats live or the shoes and hands of people who visit them, researchers reported at an infectious-diseases conference Sunday. "Both of those are critical elements. The decontamination is in my mind the most immediate need," because people may be helping to spread the disease, called white-nose syndrome, said Jeremy Coleman, who heads the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's response to the problem.... One type, the little brown bat, "was the most common bat in the Northeast and typically the most common bat in the nation, and they've been just completely decimated," Coleman said. In some areas, "we're down to 3 percent of the original population."... Trying to handle surviving bats for treatment may stress them more than the disease does. And bats' habitats have other important plant and animal life that could be harmed by spraying antiseptics, Coleman said. "You don't want to go in and bomb a cave with an antifungal because you could be impacting other species," he said. ... Maybe there's light at the end of the bat-tunnel. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Aug 6, 2010 from Biogeosciences: Ocean acidification shows no effect on Baltic Cod sperm Ocean acidification, as a consequence of increasing marine pCO2, may have severe effects on the physiology of marine organisms. However, experimental studies remain scarce, in particular concerning fish. While adults will most likely remain relatively unaffected by changes in seawater pH, early life-history stages are potentially more sensitive - particularly the critical stage of fertilization, in which sperm motility plays a central role. In this study, the effects of ocean acidification (decrease of pH to 7.55) on sperm motility of Baltic cod, Gadus morhua, were assessed. We found no significant effect of decreased pH on sperm speed, rate of change of direction or percent motility for the population of cod analyzed. We predict that future ocean acidification will probably not pose a problem for sperm behavior, and hence fertilization success, of Baltic cod. ... We've got endocrine disruptors for that! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 1, 2010 from New Scientist: Zoo plans to bring rare animals back from the dead TAKE frozen cells from a dead animal, reprogram them to become sperm and eggs, then use these to bring endangered species back from the brink. That's the aim of a collaboration between the San Diego zoo and The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.... The team's long-term goal is to coax iPS cells into becoming sperm and eggs. They will be making iPS cells from tissue held by San Diego zoo's Frozen Zoo project - which has samples from some 8400 individuals representing more than 800 species. The sperm and eggs could be used in IVF treatments to add genetic diversity to captive breeding programmes. "You could actually breed from animals that are dead," says Loring. ... Great! Then we can recreate their habitats, too! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jun 26, 2010 from Smithsonian, via EurekAlert: Biodiversity's holy grail is in the soil The experiments show that underground organisms are key to the maintenance of species diversity and patterns of tree-species relative abundance. The detrimental effects of soil organisms from adult trees not only explain seedling growth and survival patterns, but moreover that these effects are much more severe for seedlings of rare species than for seedlings of common species.... "Two completely different approaches--analysis of long-term forest dynamics observations and direct experiments on Panama's Barro Colorado Island--are telling us to look for the answer under the ground. Scott's experiments provide a direct comparison across species of how much their seedlings suffer from a sort of 'self inhibition' mediated by these soil organisms." Biologists refer to soil as a "black box" because it is notoriously difficult to study a tangle of roots, bacteria, fungi, tiny insects and other creatures without isolating or changing them. Very similar results in the greenhouse and in the field reveal that plant interactions with soil biota alone--not nutrients, insects, mammals or above-ground diseases--are sufficiently powerful and specific to explain why multiple species co-exist and importantly the strength of those interactions can be measured and plant species that are most abundant are least influenced by the soil biota around their parents. "We have dealt yet another blow to the ailing Neutral Theory of Biodiversity, which is premised on the idea that all species are the same," said Herre. "These two publications provide strong evidence that there are stabilizing mechanisms that maintain diversity, and thus that neutral dynamics do not explain plant species diversity and abundance." ... Y'mean a rose isn't a rhododendron isn't a ribwort? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jun 25, 2010 from Washington University in St. Louis, via PhysOrg: Pond communities bear lasting imprint of random events in their past A seven-year experiment shows that pond communities bear the imprint of random events in their past, such as the order in which species were introduced into the ponds. This finding locates one of the wellsprings of biodiversity but also suggests that it may not be possible to restore ecosystems whose history we cannot recreate.... He set out 45 Rubbermaid cattle tanks in an old field, added a bit of dirt to each and filled them with well water. The 300-gallon tanks are not as big as regular ponds, he says, but they're "decent sized. "I've even had herons come and try to hang out in them, although they're a bit small for that." He dosed the ponds with nutrients in the form of nitrogen- or phosphorus-containing chemicals. Each pond received either low, medium or high levels of nutrients throughout the experiment. And then he began inoculating the ponds with species. The species pool for inoculation consisted of zooplankton from each of 15 ponds, 30 insects and small invertebrates such as snails, 9 vascular aquatic plants and 12 kinds of filamentous green algae.... So each pond received species in a different order but in the end, every pond got exactly the same species. "Then we let nature take over," Chase says.... "The low productivity ponds were very predictable, very deterministic," he says. "The high productivity ponds were more stochastic. History mattered more."... Far from being carbon copies, ecosystems are historical artifacts, their final form a sensitive record of their past. ... So we can't recreate ecosystems we've already changed. I'm sure we can do it better! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jun 8, 2010 from Guardian: Bumblebees on UK pollination 'rescue mission' die in hibernation An "international rescue mission" to tackle Britain's pollination crisis has suffered a setback after a shipment of bees due to be imported into the country died just days before their release. Natural England, the government's countryside agency, chose the short-haired bumblebees from New Zealand because they were originally from the UK, but have since become extinct in their homeland. But less than two weeks before the selected bees were due to be flown over and released on Friday, scientists say they have died in hibernation.... The plan to bring them back to the UK, where they were declared extinct in 2000, was in response to a steep decline in bumblebees and other pollinating insects in recent years, a problem blamed on the loss of most wildflowers in Britain's intensively farmed landscapes - some of which were also transported to New Zealand and have survived in the South Island's England-like climate. ... Bees afraid. Bees very afraid. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, May 22, 2010 from SciDev.net: Fishing restrictions bring better catches, says study Closing fishing areas and regulating the use of fishing gear can result in more profitable catches that boost fishermen's incomes, according to a study. The conclusion has emerged from a long-term investigation in Kenya on the effects of fishery closures on fishermen's profits. The study, published today in Conservation Biology, used data on 27,000 fish caught in three locations off the Kenyan coast over a period of 12 years. One location was next to a closed fishing area, one far from the closed area but with restrictions on vertically hanging fishing nets (seine nets), and one far from any fishing restrictions. Fishing close to an area with fishery closures led to larger catches of fish with a higher market value. And the ban on seine nets also increased fishermen's income, the study found. ... You want me to listen to science? It's obvious that restrictions are bad. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Apr 9, 2010 from BBC: 'World needs a barometer of life' The world needs a "barometer of life" to prevent ecosystems and species being lost forever, scientists have warned. Existing schemes, they said, did not include enough species from groups such as fungi and invertebrates to provide a detailed picture of what is at risk. Writing in the journal Science, the researchers said the barometer would increase the number of species being assessed from almost 48,000 to 160,000. The data would help identify areas in need of urgent action, they added.... "The barometer would broaden the reach of the Red List to make it representative of all life, that's what it's all about," Dr Stuart explained. The authors hope that broadening the taxanomic base of the Red List and increasing the database to 160,000 species would deliver practical benefits. "A representative barometer would provide a solid basis for informing decisions globally," the authors suggested. ... The high pressure zone shows no sign of abating. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 8, 2010 from Yale 360: The Natural World Vanishes: How Species Cease To Matter Once, on both sides of the Atlantic, fish such as salmon, eels, and, shad were abundant and played an important role in society, feeding millions and providing a livelihood for tens of thousands. But as these fish have steadily dwindled, humans have lost sight of their significance, with each generation accepting a diminished environment as the new norm.... Every generation takes the natural environment it encounters during childhood as the norm against which it measures environmental decline later in life. With each ensuing generation, environmental degradation generally increases, but each generation takes that degraded condition as the new normal. Scientists call this phenomenon "shifting baselines" or "inter-generational amnesia," and it is part of a larger and more nebulous reality -- the insidious ebbing of the ecological and social relevancy of declining and disappearing species.... As species disappear, they lose both relevance to a society and the constituency to champion their revival, further hastening their decline. A vivid example of this was highlighted in a recent study in Conservation Biology, in which researchers found that younger residents along China's Yangtze River knew little or nothing of the river dolphin, the bajii -- now believed to be extinct -- and the threatened paddlefish. ... If a species falls in a forest and nobody cares, does it matter? ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 4, 2010 from BBC: Non-native animals cause rural problems, charity warns A number of non-native mammal species are damaging the UK countryside by eating crops and threatening wildlife, a conservation charity has warned. A report by the People's Trust for Endangered Species identified 14 problem species including rats, American mink and muntjac deer.... According to the report, two of the UK's fastest declining native species - the red squirrel and the water vole - which has declined by 90 percent - are under threat by mammals introduced by humans in the last two centuries. American minks prey on water voles while grey squirrels, which were introduced to the UK in the 19th century carry the deadly squirrelpox virus and outcompete the native red squirrel when it comes to hunting for food and habitats.... The report also warned that global trade and a changing climate could lead to the invasion of more alien species. ... I'm confused: if the climate is shifting, what's invasive, and what's new-natural-environment? ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 21, 2010 from New York Times: California Tribe Hopes to Dance Salmon Home The unusual journey centers on an apology, to be relayed to the fish on the banks of the Rakaia River through a ceremonial dance that tribal leaders say has not been performed in more than 60 years.... As the Winnemem see it, the tribe's troubles began in early 1940s, with the completion of the Shasta Dam, which blocked the Sacramento River and cut off the lower McCloud River, obstructing seasonal salmon runs, and according to the tribe, breaking a covenant with the fish. "We're going to atone for allowing them to build that dam," said Mark Franco, the tribe's headman. "We should have fought harder." As luck would have it, the United States government once bred millions of Chinook eggs from the McCloud and shipped them around the world in hopes of creating new fisheries, including a batch that went to the South Island of New Zealand, where the fish thrived.... The trip to New Zealand is not the first time the Winnemem have turned to ancient methods to try to change policy. In 2004, while fighting a proposed plan to raise the Shasta Dam 18 feet, the tribe staged a war dance, a four-day, round-the-clock ceremony carried out by their dwindling numbers of warriors. "We were exhausted," Mr. Franco said. But in the end, the dam was not raised. Once in New Zealand, the Winnemem plan to rendezvous with local Maori leaders and stage a four-day ceremony starting March 28 that will culminate with the rare "nur chonas winyupus," or middle water salmon dance. The Francos say they intend to ask local fish and game officials if they can bring back some of New Zealand's salmon eggs -- once of California stock -- back to the McCloud. "We have to do more than pray," Ms. Sisk-Franco said. "We have to follow through." ... Uh-oh. If this works, we'll have a *lot* of apologies to make! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Mar 4, 2010 from Boston Globe: US backs ban on bluefin tuna trade The US government announced yesterday that it supports prohibiting international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna, a move that could lead to the most sweeping trade restrictions ever imposed on the highly prized fish. Sushi aficionados in Japan and elsewhere have consumed bluefin for decades, causing the fish's population to plummet. In less than two weeks, representatives from 175 countries will convene in Doha, Qatar, to determine whether to restrict the trade of bluefin tuna -- valued for its rich, buttery taste -- and an array of other imperiled species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.... Japan, the world's largest bluefin consumer, opposes the idea of trade restrictions, while the European Union has yet to take a formal position.... Over the past 40 years, the adult population of eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna has declined 72 percent. In the western Atlantic, the population has dropped 82 percent. The declines occurred even though bluefin fishing was being governed by an international panel that sets catch quotas and is supposed to curtail illegal fishing. ... I see "scientific bluefin fishing" in Japan's future. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Feb 26, 2010 from Stony Brook, via EurekAlert: New research shows fishery management practices for beluga sturgeon must change A first-of-its-kind study of a Caspian Sea beluga sturgeon (Huso huso) fishery demonstrates current harvest rates are four to five times higher than those that would sustain population abundance. The study's results, which will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Conservation Biology, suggest that conservation strategies for beluga sturgeon should focus on reducing the overfishing of adults rather than heavily relying upon hatchery supplementation.... Populations of beluga sturgeon have declined by nearly 90 percent in the past several decades due to the high demand for black caviar, inadequate management, and habitat degradation. Black caviar, the unfertilized roe (eggs) of the beluga sturgeon, is the most valuable of all caviar, and can be sold for as much as $8,000 for one kilogram (2.2 pounds). There has been grave concern about increasingly dwindling numbers of this already depleted species, which has gone extinct in the Adriatic Sea and is on the brink of extinction in the Azov Sea. ... But without caviar, how is life worth living? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Feb 19, 2010 from ASU, via EurekAlert: Idea of restoring 'natural systems' misses mark as response to climate change challenges Particularly in the debates about how to respond to atmospheric greenhouse gas buildup, climate change and humankind's impact on the global environment, Allenby says, "We are often framing the discussion from narrow and overly simplistic perspectives, but what we are dealing with are systems that are highly complex. As a result, the policy solutions we come up with don't match the challenges we are trying to respond to."... One misstep in such endeavors is that we are searching for solutions that will restore natural systems. But Allenby contends "the planet no longer has purely natural systems. What we have is an integrated natural-human environment, one shaped over centuries by a combination of natural factors and technological evolution." The questions in which we must frame discussion of potential geoengineering solutions should be grounded in awareness of this reality, he says. "Responding to something like climate change is not just a scientific and technical matter," he says. "Whatever attempted solutions we chose, or reject, will have significant cultural and ethical implications." ... Centuries, as compared to the mere millions that evolved us to here. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 30, 2010 from Houston Chronicle: Officials fear another whooping crane die-off The world's last remaining natural flock of endangered whooping cranes, which suffered a record number of deaths last year, will probably see another die-off because of scarce food supplies at its Texas nesting grounds this winter, wildlife managers said. The flock lost 23 birds in the 2008-2009 winter season, in part because its main source of sustenance, the blue crab, all but vanished from drought-parched southern Texas. The rains eventually came, but they were too late to produce healthy amounts of blue crabs for this winter. "We're looking at a pretty slender year, prey-wise, and it's going to make the cranes work harder to get food," said Allan Strand, field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in South Texas. "I feel that we're probably going to have a die-off. It's conceivable that we could have a significant die-off."... According to the most recent aerial survey, there are an estimated 263 birds in the Texas flock. The survey, conducted last week, found that one chick has already died and another was missing. ... Can't we just truck in some crabs? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 23, 2010 from BBC (UK): Governments 'must tackle' roots of nature crisis Governments must tackle the underlying causes of biodiversity loss if they are to stem the rate at which ecosystems and species are disappearing. That was one of the conclusions of an inter-governmental workshop in London held in preparation for October's UN biodiversity summit in Nagoya, Japan. Delegates agreed that protecting nature would bring economic benefits to nations and their citizens.... "We have a chance of a much tougher target for 2020 than we had for 2010, which would be about having no net biodiversity loss," he said. "I think the key thing is whether we'll see over the next few years concerted action on the drivers of biodiversity loss -- if we don't see that in the next few years, then we certainly won't see good results by 2020." ... I think we call those "Noneday drivers." ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 18, 2010 from BBC (UK): Biodiversity nears 'point of no return' Much greater concerted effort is needed to stop the plunder of our ecosystems.... Overfishing has reduced blue fin tuna numbers to 18 percent of what they were in the mid-1970s. The burning of Indonesia's peat lands and forests for palm oil plantations generates 1.8bn tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, and demand is predicted to double by 2020 compared to 2000. More than seven million hectares are lost worldwide to deforestation every single year. The restoration of our ecosystems must be seen as a sensible and cost-effective investment in this planet's economic survival and growth. ... Come on -- how many species do we really need, anyway? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 11, 2010 from University of Exeter via ScienceDaily: Coral Can Recover from Climate Change Damage, New Research Suggests ...Scientists and environmentalists have warned that coral reefs may not be able to recover from the damage caused by climate change and that these unique environments could soon be lost forever. Now, this research adds weight to the argument that reducing levels of fishing is a viable way of protecting the world's most delicate aquatic ecosystems....The researchers conducted surveys of ten sites inside and outside marine reserves of the Bahamas over 2.5 years. These reefs have been severely damaged by bleaching and then by hurricane Frances in the summer of 2004. At the beginning of the study, the reefs had an average of 7 percent coral cover. By the end of the project, coral cover in marine protected areas had increased by an average of 19 percent, while reefs in non-reserve sites showed no recovery. ... All we gotta do is get rid of people! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 30, 2009 from BBC (UK): Save 'special' carnivores plea Giant otters, monk seals, walruses, spectacled bears, giant and red pandas and the odd-looking fossa are among the carnivores most in need of conserving. That is according to the most-detailed study yet of the evolutionary history of carnivores and their relationships. It examined 222 carnivore species including big cats, wolves, bears, seals, otters and their relatives. It found that some species are so distinctive that special efforts should be made to ensure their survival.... "Some of the high-priority taxa for conservation have received very little attention and should be considered carefully in future conservation planning," says Prof Agnarsson. ... We're the top carnivore, so we get to decide who'll go extinct. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Nov 8, 2009 from PhysOrg.com: W. Africa's last giraffes make surprising comeback By all accounts, they should be extinct. Instead, their numbers have quadrupled to 200 since 1996, an unlikely boon experts credit to the concurrence of an impoverished government keen for revenue that has enacted laws to protected them, a conservation program that encourages people to support them, and a rare harmony with humans who have accepted their presence. ... Lucky there's no absurdly lucrative market for giraffe horns. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Oct 31, 2009 from BBC (UK): Bluefin tuna ban 'justified' by science Banning trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna is justified by the extent of their decline, an analysis by scientists advising fisheries regulators suggests. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas' (ICCAT) advisers said stocks are probably less than 15 percent of their original size. The analysis has delighted conservation groups, which have warned that over-fishing risks the species' survival.... Last year, an independent report concluded that ICCAT's management of tuna was a "disgrace", blaming member countries for not accepting scientific advice and for turning a blind eye to their fleets' illegal activities.... ICCAT's scientific committee considered different ways of analysing the decline - whether to start from estimates of how many bluefin there were before industrial fishing began, or from the largest stocks reliably recorded, and according to different rates of reproduction. They concluded that whichever way the data is cut, it is 96 percent likely that numbers in the east Atlantic and Mediterranean are now less than 15 percent of their pre-industrial-fishing size. ... Any way you slice it, it's still sushi. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 20, 2009 from University of Adelaide via ScienceDaily: Conservation: Minimum Population Size Targets Too Low To Prevent Extinction? Conservation biologists are setting their minimum population size targets too low to prevent extinction. That's according to a new study by University of Adelaide and Macquarie University scientists which has shown that populations of endangered species are unlikely to persist in the face of global climate change and habitat loss unless they number around 5000 mature individuals or more....Conservation biologists worldwide are battling to prevent a mass extinction event in the face of a growing human population and its associated impact on the planet. ... Can we pleeeeze not use the word "targets" in these kinds of stories? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Oct 14, 2009 from NCBI, via DKGreenroots.com: First human-caused extinction of a cetacean species? An intensive six-week multi-vessel visual and acoustic survey carried out in November-December 2006, covering the entire historical range of the baiji in the main Yangtze channel, failed to find any evidence that the species survives. We are forced to conclude that the baiji is now likely to be extinct, probably due to unsustainable by-catch in local fisheries. This represents the first global extinction of a large vertebrate for over 50 years, only the fourth disappearance of an entire mammal family since AD 1500, and the first cetacean species to be driven to extinction by human activity. Immediate and extreme measures may be necessary to prevent the extinction of other endangered cetaceans, including the sympatric Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis). ... Hey, we're getting really good at this. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 13, 2009 from AAP, via Sydney Morning Herald: Queenslanders recruited to count koalas Queenslanders are being asked to count a koala as the RSPCA tries to determine whether koala numbers are climbing or falling. The koala count takes place on the weekend of October 24 and 25, and while the RSPCA wants information from southeast Queensland's urbanised areas, people all over the state are being asked to report koalas wherever they're seen.... "As our population grows we're pushing further and further into their habitat." Habitat destruction means koalas have to travel on the ground as they hunt for suitable eucalyptus leaves or mates.... ... When you have to count them, the number's too effing small. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Sep 2, 2009 from EcoWorldly: Dolphin Slaughter in Taiji's 'Cove' Suspended O'Barry has been trying to raise awareness in Japan about the secretive dolphin slaughter that takes place in the small fishing town of Taiji for years, but the Japanese media has refused to cover it. Until now. "Today is September 1st, the first day of the dolphin slaughter season in Japan. But when I arrived today by bus from Kansai Airport with media representatives from all over the world, the notorious Cove from the movie was empty. There were no dolphin killers in sight. So today is a good day for dolphins!", wrote O'Barry today in a report for the activist social network, TakePart.... O'Barry sees an opportunity to turn the disgraced town into a place where dolphins are cherished rather than slaughtered. In time, he thinks Taiji could become a model for dolphin activism and education, raising awareness about dolphins much in the same way that Nantucket, once the center of the whaling industry in the U.S., has changed its image by stopping the killing and marketing to whale-watchers instead. ... Activism is so crazy it just might work! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 18, 2009 from Science Daily: 'Killer Spices' Provide Eco-friendly Pesticides For Organic Fruits And Veggies Mention rosemary, thyme, clove, and mint and most people think of a delicious meal. Think bigger ... acres bigger. These well-known spices are now becoming organic agriculture's key weapons against insect pests as the industry tries to satisfy demands for fruits and veggies among the growing portion of consumers who want food produced in more natural ways.... [S]cientists in Canada are reporting exciting new research on these so-called "essential oil pesticides" or "killer spices."... Some spiced-based commercial products now being used by farmers have already shown success in protecting organic strawberry, spinach, and tomato crops against destructive aphids and mites, the researcher says. ... Best of all, no dressing needed for your salad! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Aug 12, 2009 from AFP, via Mongabay: After a hundred years, salmon swim by the Eiffel tower again Atlantic salmon have returned to the Seine river reports the AFP. Absent for nearly a century, the salmon have returned entirely of their own volition: no reintroduction efforts were undertaken. "There are more and more fish swimming up the Seine," said Bernard Breton, a top official at France's National Federation for Fishing, told AFP. "This year the numbers have exceeded anything we could have imagined: I would not be surprised if we had passed the 1,000 mark." Atlantic salmon used to be plentiful in the Seine, but disappeared in the early 20th Century due to dams and chemical pollution. The reason for the salmon's return is that Seine is cleaner. In the late 1990s France began a large-scale effort to clean-up the Seine, including a new water purification plant. ... "Saumons dans le Seine" bruits tellement tres poetiques. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Aug 1, 2009 from via ScienceDaily: Bizarre Bald Bird Discovered In Asia An odd songbird with a bald head living in a rugged region in Laos has been discovered by scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society and University of Melbourne. Dubbed the "Bare-faced Bulbul" because of the lack of feathers on its face and part of its head, it is the only example of a bald songbird in mainland Asia, according to scientists. It is the first new species of bulbul – a family of about 130 species – described in Asia in over 100 years. ... Let the toupee-making begin! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 23, 2009 from CBC (Canada): Cod expert: Don't boost harvest yet Newfoundland and Labrador's leading expert on cod said Tuesday that while there are strong signs northern cod is starting to make a comeback, fishermen should still leave it alone. Inshore fishermen have noticed an increase in the number of cod, and say there should be an increase in the amount they're allowed catch. George Rose, a former federal fisheries scientist and the research chair in fisheries science at Memorial University, said there has been a big turnaround recently in the fish's population -- a big change from even three or four years ago. "Nowhere near back to what they were historically, but they're starting to look better and better each year. So there's been some amazing changes in the last couple of years," he said. Rose linked some of the change to the recent reappearance of caplin, the main food for cod at this time of the year. However when it comes to increased catch allowances, Rose argued that if ever there was a time for caution, it's now. "We are at a critical time, and we're not at all certain that with an increase [in] the fishery that's substantial, we couldn't knock this back down," he said. ... That crazy not fishing idea -- it just might work! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jul 19, 2009 from via ScienceDaily: Reintroduced Chinese Alligators Now Multiplying In The Wild In China The Wildlife Conservation Society announced today that critically endangered alligators in China have a new chance for survival. The WCS's Bronx Zoo, in partnership with two other North American parks and the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Management of the State Forestry Administration of China, has successfully reintroduced alligators into the wild that are now multiplying on their own. The alligator hatchlings -- 15 in number -- are the offspring of a group of alligators that includes animals from the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo. The baby alligators represent a milestone for the 10-year effort to reintroduce the Chinese alligator... ... Just so a bunch of Tarzans don't go lookin' to wrastle 'em! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jul 4, 2009 from Times Online (UK): Bengal tiger breeding plan at Sariska in doubt over fears that new mates are siblings When Indian wildlife authorities took three Bengal tigers by helicopter to an empty reserve in Rajasthan last year it was hailed as a groundbreaking experiment to revive the country's flagging tiger population. Now, some experts fear that the male and two females relocated to the Sariska reserve could all be siblings -- reducing their chances of a successful long-term breeding programme. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), which is in charge of the project, began testing DNA samples from the three tigers yesterday to decide if they need to introduce others from different parts of the country. It already had blood samples from the two females but had not taken a sample from the male until it was briefly captured on Monday to have its broken radio collar replaced. "We're to blame -- we should have done this earlier but everything was done in a hurry," K. Sankar, a WII tiger expert who is overseeing the project, told The Times. "Now we have the samples, the analysis is under way and after that we will be able to say for sure. We're keeping our fingers crossed." Results are expected this weekend, when the Indian Environment Minister is due to visit Sariska. ... What's the hurry? It's not as if... oh, right. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, May 31, 2009 from Cornell University via ScienceDaily: Blue Whale Discovered Singing In New York Coastal Waters For the very first time in New York coastal waters, the voices of singing blue whales have been positively identified. Acoustic experts at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bioacoustics Research Program (BRP) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) confirmed that the voice of a singing blue whale was tracked about 70 miles off of Long Island and New York City on Jan. 10-11, 2009, as the whale swam slowly from east to west. At the same time, a second blue whale was heard singing offshore in the far distance...."It's just amazing to hear one singing out there on New York's ocean stage only tens of miles from Carnegie Hall and Broadway!" said Christopher Clark, director of Cornell's BRP. "This opens a whole new universe of opportunities for all of us to learn more about and appreciate these species and the vitality of New York's marine environment." ... Sounds like it's auditioning to me! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 20, 2009 from Globe and Mail (Canada): Bison turn back the clock on a patch of prairie Three years ago, 72 pure-blooded animals were introduced to the 181-square-kilometre refuge as part of a Parks Canada initiative to bring large herbivores to an area that hasn't felt bison hooves in more than 120 years. Now, that little herd has become prolific beyond expectations. "I've looked at bison populations across North America during my career and I've never seen a population adapt as well to a system as this one has," said Wes Olson, who oversees the herd for the park.... The landscape is changing in other ways and so is the wildlife. Officials hope endangered and threatened species will one day thrive. Grass is being grazed in lengths ranging from barely picked through to golf-course groomed greens. Songbirds are lining their nests with shed bison fur, an ideal material for protecting fledglings from the cold and rain. The chicken-like sharp-tailed grouse has been dusting itself in buffalo wallows and using short green lawns as leks, or mating areas. Ideally, the endangered greater sage-grouse, known for its elaborate courtship rituals, will follow suit. There's also hope the new landscape will be hospitable to struggling birds, including the Sprague's pipit, long-billed curlew and burrowing owl. ... I'm dancing (with the wolves)! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, May 16, 2009 from Associated Press: Obama wants to pump $475M into Great Lakes cleanup A budget proposal from the Obama administration would spend $475 million on beach cleanups, wetlands restoration and removal of toxic sediments from river bottoms around the Great Lakes. The spending represents a first step toward a multiyear campaign to repair decades of damage to the battered ecosystem. It also seeks to ward off new threats by preventing exotic species invasions and cutting down on erosion and runoff. Obama's 2010 budget released in February requested the $475 million for a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, focusing on the region's most pressing environmental problems. When added to existing programs such as sewer system upgrades, it would push annual federal spending on the lakes past $1 billion. ... Isn't "pumping" crap into the Great Lakes what got us into this trouble in the first place? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 11, 2009 from ARC, via EurekAlert: Rules proposed to save the world's coral reefs An international team of scientists has proposed a set of basic rules to help save the world's imperiled coral reefs from ultimate destruction.... The key to saving threatened coral ecosystems is to maintain the links (connectivity) between reefs allowing larvae to flow between them and re-stock depleted areas, the team led by Pew Fellow Dr Laurence McCook of Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) argues. "Ecological connectivity is critically important to the resilience of coral reefs and other ecosystems to which they are linked," says Dr McCook. "The ability of reefs to recover after disturbances or resist new stresses depends critically on the supply of larvae available to reseed populations of key organisms, such as fish and corals. For reefs to survive and prosper they must in turn be linked with other healthy reefs." ... Wonder what the acidifying ocean will have to say about this? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 23, 2009 from London Guardian: Damaged Barrier Reef coral makes 'spectacular' recovery Sections of coral reef in Australia's Great Barrier Reef have made a "spectacular" recovery from a devastating bleaching event three years ago, marine scientists say. In 2006, high sea temperatures caused severe coral bleaching in the Keppell Islands, in the southern part of the reef — the largest coral reef system in the world. The damaged reefs were then covered by a single species of seaweed which threatened to suffocate the coral and cause further loss. A "lucky combination" of rare circumstances has meant the reef has been able to make a recovery. Abundant corals have reestablished themselves in a single year... ... Let's hear a chorus for the coral! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 19, 2009 from Baltimore Sun: Bay survey shows blue crabs rebounding The number of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay has increased significantly over the past year, Maryland and Virginia officials announced Friday, saying that harvest limits designed to combat steep declines in the population appear to be working. Results of the 2008-2009 winter dredge survey show that the number of female crabs in the bay doubled in the past year. Catch restrictions were aimed at preserving females so they could survive to produce the next generation. Overall, the number of crabs in the bay increased from 280 million in 2007-2008 to more than 418 million in 2008-2009, officials estimate, a rapid and surprising rebound. The survey showed that the number of baby crabs held steady at 175 million. ... Good they're rebounding -- now if they could only hit their jumpshots. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 12, 2009 from Associated Press: New orangutan population found in Indonesia JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Conservationists have discovered a new population of orangutans in a remote, mountainous corner of Indonesia -- perhaps as many as 2,000 -- giving a rare boost to one of the world's most endangered great apes. A team surveying forests nestled between jagged, limestone cliffs on the eastern edge of Borneo island counted 219 orangutan nests, indicating a "substantial" number of the animals, said Erik Meijaard, a senior ecologist at the U.S.-based The Nature Conservancy. ... Now if we just could manage to leave them alone... ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 8, 2009 from New Scientist: Conservationists deciding which species to survive Would the animal have made it into the ark? That's the kind of question conservationists have been asking when it comes to the thorny issue of picking which threatened species to save.... In the 1990s, Weitzman devised a formula for prioritising species for conservation. This considers the cost of saving a species, how useful or genetically diverse it is, and the increase in its chance of survival if chosen.... The aim is to figure out where money would make a difference, says co-author Karin Holm-Muller of the University of Bonn in Germany. "If a cattle breed is not at risk, or if there is no chance of changing anything, don't put money into it." ... With that logic, we have no reason for putting money into saving the human species. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 17, 2009 from Associated Press: Beaver sighted in Detroit River; first in 75 years DETROIT – Wildlife officials are celebrating the sighting of a beaver in the Detroit River for the first time in decades, signaling that efforts to clean up the waterway are paying off. The Detroit Free Press reports that a beaver lodge has been discovered in an intake canal at a Detroit Edison riverfront plant. Officials believe the beaver spotted by the utility's motion-sensitive camera marks the animal's return to the river for the first time in at least 75 years. Photos and video were taken in November, but Detroit Edison didn't want to release them until they could ensure the animal's safety. John Hartig, Detroit River refuge manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says the cleanup along the river has also brought back sturgeons, peregrine falcons and other species. ... And his dam is LEED Certified, too! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Feb 15, 2009 from Washington University, via Eurek: Biologist discusses sacred nature of sustainability Like all religious traditions, religious naturalism is anchored in a cosmological narrative, a set of stories accounting how the earth and its inhabitants came to be. While conventional religions are generally based on older cosmological narratives such as those found in the Old and New Testaments, religious naturalism is based on a much more recent narrative.... She explains, "In more and more mainstream religions, you're seeing an increased emphasis on the earth and its creatures as sacred." This paradigm shift is due, at least in part, to a growing awareness that the old stories might not be sufficient to frame an ethic that alters the environment's current trajectory. She suggests that the new story offers a basis for understanding what a sustainable trajectory might look like. ... Sustainability by any other name ["Creation Care," "ecomorality," "common sense"] still smells like sweet survival. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 10, 2009 from Guardian (UK): Tories propose 'biocredits' to put cash value on damage to habitats and species Under radical new Conservative proposals to stop biodiversity loss in the UK, all would be given a cash value. The scheme is designed to halt the decline of hundreds of habitats and species by assigning a cost to be paid by proposed development schemes that would lead to their destruction. The damage done by a project would be given a cash value and developers asked to compensate for that damage by investing an equivalent amount in projects to protect or improve biodiversity at another location. The plan being put forward by the new Conservative shadow environment secretary, Nick Herbert, is modelled on similar "bio-credits" initiatives, including in the US, Malaysia and Australia, which have created markets in biodiversity worth tens of millions of pounds a year. ... We need some science going on, to figure out what critters have value. Like, are humans really necessary to biodiversity? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 2, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk: North Sea sees recovery of cod stocks New figures from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Ices) show that the number of adult fish in the North Sea is expected to increase by 42 per cent this year, the largest rise in almost 30 years. Significantly, the quantity of fish capable of reproducing is this year expected to exceed 70,000 tons -- the number set by scientists to mark the lowest level possible to ensure the species' long term survival. It is the first time in a decade that the stock has risen above this milestone. The recovery is likely to lead to further calls from British fishermen to increase the quota of cod they are permitted to catch. ... Ok, so good, the cod may be beginning to recover. Don't you dare overfish them to extinction! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 8, 2009 from Reuters: Global whale 'hot spot' discovered off East Timor One of the world's highest concentrations of dolphins and whales -- many of them protected species -- has been discovered off the coast of East Timor, local and Australian researchers said on Wednesday. A "hot spot" of marine cetaceans migrating through deep channels off the Timor coast, including blue and beaked whales, short-finned pilot whales, melon headed whales and six dolphin species was uncovered in a study for the Timor government.... In just one day, more than 1,000 individuals and possibly as many as 2,000 whales in eight separate pods -- each one containing up to 400 mammals -- were spotted over a 50-kilometre (31-mile) stretch of coast, Edyvane said. Concentrations were similar to those near Antarctica, where Japan's whaling fleet is currently carrying out its yearly five-month research hunt, chased by anti-whaling activists. ... Will the Japanese go where the waters are warmer for their "research"? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 3, 2009 from Goldsboro News-Argus: Cape Fear all-release fishing tourney raises striper issues Already, biologists have curtailing stocking white bass-striped bass hybrids into Jordan Lake. Fish from the upstream lake were passing into the lower Cape Fear River, diluting striped bass spawning effort. In 2008, NCWRC and NCDMF implemented a moratorium to shore up the spawning population. Based on a tournament held in Dec. 6, 2008 the moratorium is already working. "This is one of the best days I've ever see," said Capt. Jeremiah Hieronymus. "Seven boats caught 77 striped bass and tagged 44 of them." ... "Stripers, sturgeon, shad and herring are like canaries in a coal mine," said Owens. "These anadromous suffer from the dams, which block their access to historic spawning waters. If we can get everyone together to allow those fish to get above the dams to spawn, we could have fishing on the Cape Fear that rivals the fishing on the Roanoke River." ... An all-release tourney that tag the fish -- what a great idea! Can the Japanese do that with their "scientific whaling" instead of committing mammal murder? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Dec 4, 2008 from Associated Press: Conservation group sues to protect walrus ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A conservation group went to court Wednesday to force the federal government to consider adding Pacific walrus to the list of threatened species. The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne for failing to act on a petition seeking protection for walrus under the Endangered Species Act. Walrus are threatened by global warming that melts Arctic sea ice, according to the group, which was one of the parties that successfully petitioned to list polar bears as threatened. The group also has filed petitions to protect Arctic seals. ... goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Nov 13, 2008 from National Geographic: Giant, Prehistoric Fish Rebounding in Canada Once plentiful in the river, the sturgeon population had dropped below 40,000, and scientists were unable to explain the die-offs of mostly female fish. That's when an alliance of government agencies, environmentalists, aboriginal groups, and commercial and recreational fishers came together to save the sturgeon, spurring a robust recovery of the lower Fraser River population. Recent estimates show the population has increased to about 50,000 fish. ... Good thing that sturgeon are so ugly. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 7, 2008 from Media Newswire: Ecosystem Renovation -- Bring Them On Back A 'lost' lake in Mali and a Kenyan forest that is the water tower for key rivers and lakes in East Africa are among two country projects aimed at bringing significant degraded and denuded ecosystems back from the brink. The projects are among several being drawn up and spearheaded by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), in cooperation with governments, to demonstrate that re-investing in damaged ecosystems can generate significant economic, environmental and social returns. A further project proposal is being drawn up and staff being hired to restore soils, wetlands, forests and other key ecosystem on the hurricane-vulnerable island of Haiti where environmental degradation has been linked to social unrest. ... Perhaps a better investment than, say, paying for Wall Street's mismanagement. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Sep 10, 2008 from European Science Foundation, via EurekAlert: Cryopreservation techniques bring hopes for women cancer victims and endangered species Emerging cryopreservation techniques are increasing hope of restoring fertility for women after diseases such as ovarian cancer that lead to destruction of reproductive tissue. The same techniques can also be used to maintain stocks of farm animals, and protect against extinction of endangered animal species by maintaining banks of ovarian tissue or even nascent embryos that can used to produce offspring at some point in the future. ... Well, yeah, except most species need an ecosystem to live within. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Sep 7, 2008 from Mongabay: Cameroon and Nigeria to protect world's rarest gorilla Cameroon and Nigeria have agreed to protect the the Cross River gorilla, world's most endangered gorilla, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society, which helped broker the deal. The two West African nations will cooperate to protect the habitat of the critically endangered primate that occurs only in the two countries. Cameroon and Nigeria will crackdown on illegal logging and the bushmeat trade, strengthen field monitoring, increase community involvement and conservation education, and improve law enforcement within the parks. ... Great. Now let's do the same with the second-rarest, and the third-rarest.... ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Aug 29, 2008 from Wildlife Conservation Society, via EurekAlert: Unexpected large monkey population discovered A WCS report reveals surprisingly large populations of two globally threatened primates in a protected area in Cambodia. The report counted 42,000 black-shanked douc langurs along with 2,500 yellow-cheeked crested gibbons in Cambodia's Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area, an estimate that represents the largest known populations for both species in the world.... The scientists believe total populations within the wider landscape may be considerably greater. ... Let's make sure the people around them are well fed. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Aug 29, 2008 from Telegraph (UK): Bittern numbers up almost 50 per cent Bittern numbers are up almost 50 per cent on last year after the best nesting season for 130 years, according to the RSPB. This year 75 male bitterns were recorded in English reed beds, a 47 per cent increase on 2007 and a huge 581 per cent increase in the numbers recorded in 1997 when the UK population plummeted to a low of just 11 booming males, all in England. ... More booms, please. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Aug 28, 2008 from Myrtle Beach Sun News: Loggerhead nesters have banner year Rare loggerhead sea turtles are having a terrific nesting season on the Grand Strand and have been laying eggs on local beaches in higher and higher numbers. Still, biologists warn that the population of the mammoth turtles, which can weigh up to 300 pounds, remains fragile. And the federal government is considering a proposal to classify loggerheads as endangered after 30 years of listing them as a threatened species.... This year, a rare Kemp's ridley turtle has laid 84 eggs in a nest on Pawleys Island, McClary said. It is only the second nest in South Carolina for a Kemp's ridley, the most endangered turtle in the world. ... Now, let's make sure we leave them something to eat in the ocean! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Aug 6, 2008 from Wildlife Conservation Society via ScienceDaily: Massive Numbers Of Critically Endangered Western Lowland Gorillas Discovered In Republic Of Congo "The world's population of critically endangered western lowland gorillas recently received a huge boost when the Wildlife Conservation Society released a census showing massive numbers of these secretive great apes alive and well in the Republic of Congo." ... Woo-hoo! Now where's my gun?! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 24, 2008 from The Oregonian: Sockeye come back in record numbers One of the great fish surprises in years has landed in the Northwest: Sockeye salmon, an ocean-going species that starts and ends its life hundreds of river miles inland, have swum their way up the Columbia River this summer in numbers unseen in five decades. No one knows exactly why. Some say it's because federal courts ordered the release of extra water over dams in 2006 and 2007 to make passage easier when the fish were young and migrating to sea. Others cite improved ocean conditions. ... Great! Let's eat! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 30, 2008 from Times Online (UK): Lundy's rare cabbage blooms again after invaders are expelled from its patch One of the world’s rarest plants, the Lundy cabbage, has been brought back from the point of extinction. The cabbage, which, despite its beautiful yellow flowers, tastes disgusting, is found only in a couple of hundred square yards on Lundy Island, a few miles off the North Devon coast. It is enjoying its most successful year in decades, thanks to conservationists' attempts to stop an invasion of rhododendrons on the island. ... Attempts to stop the rhododendrons began in the 1940s, when volunteers were called in to cut them down. But the plants came back stronger every time, so in 2002, conservationists began a full-scale extermination programme. ... All Alien Rhododendrons Must Die. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 18, 2008 from FishUpdate: Norwegian saithe fisheries celebrate sustainability The Norwegian North Sea saithe and Norwegian North East Arctic saithe fisheries were the first Norwegian fisheries to enter the MSC assessment process. Subject to MSC Chain of Custody certification, saithe from the fisheries is now eligible to carry the MSC eco-label on fish and products marking it out as fish from a sustainable and well-managed source. ... For the six billion who didn't know, "MSC" is the Marine Stewardship Council. Stewardship -- what a concept. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 18, 2008 from University of Adelaide, via EurekAlert: World-class environment vision to 'bring back the species' One of Australia's leading environmentalists will spearhead a world-class project to help revegetate the Mount Lofty Ranges, to stave off the effects of climate change and halt the loss of bird, animal and plant species.... "Ten species are already extinct in the Mt Lofty Ranges and a further 60 species continue to decline in numbers despite the cessation of vegetation clearance in the 1980s. Climate change will exacerbate these losses," he says. "This will be a terrible loss for all South Australians, but it is avoidable, if suitable and resilient habitats are re-established. Our work is not just about revegetation but about reconstructing complex habitats to secure the region's biodiversity." ... We're down with this down-under approach. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 16, 2008 from Penn State University/NOAA: 8-day undersea mission begins experiment to improve coral reef restoration Scientists have begun an eight-day mission, in which they are living and working at 60 feet below the sea surface, to determine why some species of coral colonies survive transplanting after a disturbance, such as a storm, while other colonies die. Coral reefs worldwide are suffering from the combined effects of hurricanes, global warming, and increased boat traffic and pollution. As a result, their restoration has become a priority among those who are concerned. ... I'd say this concerns all of us. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jun 6, 2008 from NOAA Fisheries Service, via ScienceDaily: Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean Dolphin Populations Improving The numbers of Northeastern offshore spotted and eastern spinner dolphins in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean are increasing after being severely depleted because of accidental death in the tuna purse-seine fishery between 1960 and 1990, according to biologists from NOAA's Fisheries Service. ... This deserves a Flipper laugh: ka-ka-KA-ka-ka! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jun 6, 2008 from Vineyard Gazette Online: Against Odds, Piping Plovers Rebound The first clutch of chicks hatched at Tashmoo on May 24. On other beaches all over the Vineyard, more happy events have since happened or are imminent. But the perpetuation of the threatened species is thanks as much to the efforts of human midwives as to the plover parents. Ring the shorebird information line and you’ll learn that large parts of the East Beach on Chappaquiddick are closed to over-sand vehicles, lest roaming chicks be killed. Further closures are imminent on the Edgartown side of Norton Point. ... Thank goodness those plover are photogenic! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, May 31, 2008 from NOAA Marine Fisheries, via ScienceDaily: Healthy Parents Provide Clues To Survival Of Young Haddock On Georges Bank In 2003, haddock on Georges Bank experienced the largest baby boom ever documented for the stock, with an estimated 800 million new young fish entering the population. With typical annual averages of 50 to 100 million new fish in the last few decades, fisheries biologists have been puzzled by the huge increase and its ramifications for stock management. They have been looking for answers and may have found one -- healthy adults.... "Simply put, having more food to eat gives adult haddock a chance to get into better physical shape to reproduce healthy offspring with a higher chance of survival." ... Phytoplankton: a mouthful for us to say, or a mouthful of nutrition for the haddock. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Apr 12, 2008 from Science, via Science Daily (US): Massive Study Of Madagascar Wildlife Leads To New Conservation Roadmap An international team of researchers has developed a remarkable new roadmap for finding and protecting the best remaining holdouts for thousands of rare species that live only in Madagascar, considered one of the most significant biodiversity hot spots in the world. Altogether, more than 2,300 species found only in the vast area of Madagascar - a 226,642-square-mile (587,000-square-kilometer) island nation in the Indian Ocean - were included in the analysis. ... Madagascar? Don't the animals sing Disney tunes down there? Now that's biodiversity! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Mar 22, 2008 from FishUpdate.com: North Sea protected area network would devastate industry, claims trade body According to the WWF UK report, published today, a network of marine reserves, that cover at least 30 per cent of the North Sea, is needed to help rebuild populations of many fish species, and protect the habitats upon which these, and other species depend. In the report, 'A Return to Abundance: A Case for Marine Reserves in the North Sea', WWF-UK suggests a network of five experimental marine reserves that it says will improve the sustainability of fisheries, protect biodiversity, and help establish a healthy ecosystem.... Describing the proposals as "flawed", Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen�s Federation said "The sweeping assumption is made that very large fixed marine protected areas would prove beneficial in the North Sea based on evidence gained from elsewhere. Such an assumption cannot safely be made, given the unique nature of the mixed fisheries in the North Sea." ... What a laughable concept: using evidence from elsewhere to protect a common resource. Besides, the fish are getting more valuable all the time! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 11, 2008 from Science Daily (US): MegaBee Nourishes Beleaguered Honey Bees ... [A] new, convenient source of proteins, vitamins and minerals that bees need for good health. Bees can eat MegaBee as a meal or snack when days are too cold for venturing outside of their warm hive, for example, or when flowers -- bearing pollen and nectar, the staple foods for adult bees -- aren't yet in bloom. Better nutrition might be a key to reversing the decline of honey bees, Apis mellifera, in the United States. A mostly mysterious colony collapse disorder is blamed for losses of once-thriving colonies, as are problems caused by mites, beetles, Africanized honey bees, diseases and pesticides. ... Sweet! A nutritional supplement for the bees. We hope they have one for bats, soon. Not to mention all those wild pollinators. And the fishes, don't forget the fishes, and the songbirds... ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 2, 2008 from Science Daily (US): Future Battlegrounds for Habitat Conservation Very Different to Those in Past "The researchers found that many of the regions that face the greatest habitat change in relation to the amount of land currently protected -- such as Indonesia and Madagascar -- are in globally threatened and endemic species-rich, developing tropical nations that have the fewest resources for conservation. Conversely, many of the temperate regions of the planet with an already expansive network of reserves are in countries -- such as Austria, Germany and Switzerland—with the greatest financial resources for conservation efforts, but comparatively less biodiversity under threat." ... What -- we have to help places we don't even want to visit? We say "let them eat bushmeat." ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Feb 9, 2008 from Houston Chronicle: Brown pelican population soars "Celebrating the phoenix-like recovery of the brown pelican, brought to near-extinction 40 years ago by potent insecticides, U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on Friday proposed removing the big-beaked coastal bird from the endangered species list. Kempthorne, speaking in Baton Rouge, La., said more than 620,000 of the pelicans now inhabit the U.S. Gulf and Pacific coasts, the Caribbean and Latin America. Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Texas Coastal Program counted 3,800 nesting pairs in Texas." ... Since the pelican is also a symbol for charity and redemption (Dante, Aquinas, Augustine), this is also good news for Christians -- except for those aching for the Endtimes. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jan 1, 2008 from Yankton Press and Dakotan (US): Project Offers Sanctuary For Endangered Birds "Down by the river, there is a habitat for endangered species recovery program being created with a price tag of $2.47 million. The endangered species piping plover and least tern have been threatened with predators since the building of the dams along the Missouri River." ... Cedar County Commissioner Frederick Pinkelman wondered "when funding for so many needy projects is unavailable, where they get the money for the work they are doing." Maybe a little resistance from the locals, but the endangered piping plover and least tern are no longer quite so least. ApocaDoc permalink Copyright 2009 The Apocadocs.com