New National Park for Reunion Island

Reunion Island’s first National Park, which covers nearly 50 per cent of the islands interior was formally declared open yesterday. Set amidst awe inspiring craters of now dormant volcanoes the scenic beauty is unparallel. The area is currently under consideration to become a World Heritage Site. Around 300 participants attending top level summit on Strategies to Counter Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss in EU Overseas Entities and Small Island States had a first hand experience of the Park . They joined local guides to walk through the magnificent forests that lie between 800 and 1300 meters above sea level.
Réunion is an island located in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar, about 200 km south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.

Grassland ecosystems resistant to climate change?

According to a new study by scientists from Syracuse University and the University of Sheffield published online in the July 7 issue of the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), grasslands in Western Europe may be resistant to climate change. This is in sharp contrast to research in North America that suggests mountain wildflowers will all but disappear in a warming world. The experiment is one of the longest-running studies of climate change impacts on natural vegetation and may give new pointers into the effects of global warming on plant ecosystems. 13 years of data collected at the Buxton Climate Change Impacts Laboratory (BCCIL) in the United Kingdom by Emeritus Professor J. Philip Grime and colleagues at the University of Sheffield went in to the analysis. 30 small grassland plots of 9-square-meter with microclimate manipulation were used. Each plot was trimmed to simulate continued grazing but was kept 3 degrees Celsius warmer than nearby outside temperatures. Droughts and deluges were also mimicked. New questions that are now being asked are why are some plants resistant to climate change, while others die, become extinct or migrate to other places?.

Eight new natural sites added to the World Heritage List

Eight new natural sites have been added to the World Heritage List. This follows IUCN’s recommendations. The new sites are Socotra Archipelago in Yemen, Canada’s Joggins Fossil Cliffs, the French Lagoons of New Caledonia, Saryarka in Northern Kazakhstan, Mount Sanqingshan National Park in China, Surtsey in Iceland, the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona, and the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico.
The Socotra Archipelago is rich in flora and fauna. 37 percent of Socotra’s plant species, 90 percent of its reptile species and 95 percent of its land snail species cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Canada’s Joggins Fossil Cliffs have been termed the “coal age Galápagos” and are the world reference site for the Coal Age. The site bears witness to the first reptiles in Earth’s history, which are the earliest representatives of the amniotes, a group of animals that includes reptiles, dinosaurs, birds, and mammals. The tropical lagoons and coral reefs of New Caledonia form one of the three most extensive reef systems in the world. Saryarka is a largely undisturbed area of Central Asian steppe and lakes in the Korgalzhyn and Naurzum State Nature Reserves. Mount Sanqingshan National Park was recommended for its outstanding natural beauty. Surtsey is a new island and was formed by volcanic eruptions in 1963-67. The Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona, which includes the Glarus Overthrust, shows how mountains were formed through continental collisions. The three core zones of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve protect eight overwintering colonies of the monarch butterfly in the oyamel fir forests of central Mexico.
Posted with inputs from IUCN
Photos on each site are available Here
Fact sheets on each site are available here

New Study – Funding by Global Environment Facility (GEF) for conservation brings benefit to local people but hurts biodiversity conservation.

The latest issue of journal science has some important info for the park managers. An analysis of 306 protected areas in 45 countries in Africa and Latin America by George Wittemyer and colleagues came up with the finding that the rate of human population growth along the borders of reserves was nearly twice that of neighboring rural areas. If the protected areas are a detriment to local livelihoods, we should see little or negative population growth at their borders. Instead the study found that people consistently moved closer to them. This runs counter to the criticism that protected areas cause misery to the people and creates a class of conservation refugees. The authors report a correlation between population growth near protected areas and the amount of funding countries received from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for conservation-related projects. This study highlights that conservation activities can and do have positive impacts for the local communities where they take place. The study suggests that parks today are perceived by local people as areas of opportunity. But paradoxically the research also suggests that the success of conservation areas in attracting human settlers may be detrimental to the biodiversity the reserves aim to protect. The pressure on wildlife, agricultural land, and timber and other forest products goes up exponentially. The direct conclusion is that deforestation rates were higher near protected areas where human population growth was the highest. It is time for wildlife reserve mangers to take stock of the situation and come up with newer models of growth.

G. Wittemyer, J.S. Brashares, P. Elsen, W.T. Bean, A. Coleman and O. Burton (2008). Accelerated Human Population Growth at Protected Area Edges. 4 JULY 2008 VOL 321 journal Science.

Tiger population plummets in Nepal

The news about tigers is not at all rosy in India. Conservationists are worried about the decline in population and are working overtime to reverse this trend. Now comes a shocker from Nepal. The census of tiger using camera trap in Suklaphanta Wildlife Conservation Park in western Nepal, has come out with disturbing results. Present estimate is 14 tigers, down from 25 during the 2004-2005 survey. The worst scenario estimates it at 5 tigers. It is feared that Chitwan National Park in south Nepal and in Bardiya National Park in the west will also show a similar decline. WWF says declining tiger population is due to rising demand for tiger products from China. WWF estimate is fewer than 150 tigers in Nepal, down from 360-370 in 2000.

Amazing diversity of life – Discoveries and extinctions

We are still in the process of making an inventory of the species of the earth .Innumerable species are lost for ever without going through our scanner as civilization advances. Roughly 1.8 million Species have been described to date, but scientists estimate there are between 2 million and 100 million species on Earth. I was startled to hear the number of species discovered per year. 16,969 species were discovered in 2006 according to a report published by Arizona State University's International Institute for Species Exploration, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, the International Plant Names Index, and Thompson Scientific. An average of nearly 50 species per day. But as species are discovered, others are lost to extinction.
The report is titled State of Observed Species. Scientists warn that the rate of extinction is likely to increase as climate change intensifies. Earth is presently in the midst of a sixth great extinction, the Holocene. The previous mass extinctions in the past were the Ordovician, the Devonian, the Permian, the Triassic and the Cretaceous. Holocene is driven by human activities like habitat destruction, overexploitation, and the introduction of alien species. A revamp of Conservation efforts world wide is needed

Climate change and plant distribution

Climate change is a hotly debated topic round the globe. We have already started feeling its effect in our daily life. Worse is yet to come warns scientist. Here comes solid evidence that it is affecting the plant community. According to researchers climate change is changing the distribution pattern of plants. They are increasingly going up hill in a search for cooler conditions. A study of 171 forest species in mountain ranges of Western Europe revealed startling fact that many plants had climbed on an average of 29 metres each decade. Smaller species such as ferns, with shorter reproduction cycles, were the quickest to move. Prof: Jonathan Lenoir an ecologist at AgroParisTech, France led the research. The research team compared the distribution of forest species between 1905 and 1985 with their distribution between 1986 and 2005 to arrive at their conclusions. The findings have been published in the latest issue of Science journal.

‘whales-eat-fish’ claims debunked

Whales are fascinating animals. The acrobatics of the amiable whales in the sea have always fascinated me. Every time the whaling nations go out on merciless killing of whales I am deeply pained. I share my agony with millions around the world. One of the reasons touted by whaling nations is the argument “whales-eat-fish”. Well, this argument has been totally debunked by scientists. Humane Society International, WWF and the Lenfest Ocean Program have come out with three new reports debunking the science behind the ‘whales-eat-fish’ claims of Japan, Norway and Iceland. The reports conclusively prove that it is over-fishing and excess fishing capacity that are responsible for diminishing supplies of fish in developing countries. Marine mammals consume mainly smaller fish and organisms. It is high time international community woke up to the facts and come out with measures for regulating untrammeled fisheries operations. The major chunk of the catch goes to developed countries and they have a moral responsibility to do something. Do not blame the whales. Protect the whales please

The wonder of bird songs

I have always been fascinated by bird songs. During my hikes in the wilderness of Western Ghats, melodious calls like the ones produced by Malabar whistling thrush, has enthralled me and at the same time I have wondered about the meaning of all that calls. I always had this feeling that there is obviously more than that meets the eye.

The latest issue of journal Proceedings of the Royal Society has some interesting facts about song birds which could be true for other birds also. A new study reveals that young song birds make their choices of building nests after eavesdropping on the songs of their elders. Matthew Betts, a landscape ecologist at Oregon State University, Corvallis led the study on black-throated blue warblers (Dendroica caerulescens), who arrive in the United States from Jamaica. Betts and his colleagues recorded male birds’ songs at nests with fledglings in a good 90-year-old forest in New Hampshire's White Mountains. They then played the recordings at 18 other sites. Young male warblers flying nearby heard the calls and apparently memorized the exact locations. They chose these sites for building nests next spring, after migrating to the Caribbean for the winter. This is the first experimental study to show that the information can override what a bird sees.

I will be away from my desk

Hi guys,
Till June 19th I am out in the wilderness with no access to internet. There won't be any updates during this period. The New York times science headlines and animal of the day will get updated automatically.

Shocking news about Tigers

EIA (Environmental Investigation Agency) has come out with some shocking news about tigers in China. I nearly puked when I heard about it.EIA investigators were offered tiger bone wine in two Chinese Tiger farms. Chinese farms are believed to house about 5,000 captive tigers. The wine was made from carcasses soaked in rice wine. The wine advertised as a sure fire treatment for arthritis and rheumatism was being openly sold in the farms. The staff claimed that wine was made from tigers that had died after fighting with other big cats at the farms. Debbie Banks, head of the EIA's tiger campaign has made a fervent plea to Chinese authorities to stop this barbaric practice. With just 2,500 breeding adults left in the wild things are not rosy for this wonderful animal. Chinese have all along campaigned for farming of tigers saying it would satisfy the demand from traditional medicine practitioners without threatening the wild tiger population. But according to EIA It would be far too easy to launder poached skins, bones and parts among those from legalized tiger farms. This would open the flood gates of poaching.

Courtship and mating sequence of Giant Panda filmed in the wild

I have always been fascinated by Giant Pandas. An adorable animal, that strikes a chord in your heart. They seem such gentle creatures. I was surprised to hear that their love life is full of loud throaty calls and aggression.

A BBC Natural History team has recorded in the wild, the courtship and mating sequences of giant panda. The recording was done in the bamboo forests of Qinling Mountains in China. Even though mating of pandas has been filmed earlier this is the most complete courtship sequences ever caught on camera. The mating is preceded by loud calls and fending off of other males. Pandas which are solitary animals come together during mating season. Months of research and careful location reconnaissance was needed to film these exclusive shots. The film Land of the Panda is broadcast by BBC on Sunday 8 June at 2100 BST. It is a co-production with Chinese state television.

Emergency aid for Pandas

Wolong Nature Reserve in China which harbours Pandas was devastated in the recent earthquake. Five staff at the reserve were killed and several pandas have been reported missing Conservationists the world over are a worried lot. The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which owns Edinburgh Zoo, is sending emergency aid to help Chinese authorities. The society is sending money and satellite communications equipment. Edinburgh Zoo is slated to get breeding-aged Pandas from Wolong Nature Reserve and has a special interest in its welfare. Offers of help are coming from other sources also.

Indian Forest Rights Act – An interesting observation

The recently passed Indian forest rights act is mired in controversy with protagonists of wildlife and tribals taking diametrically opposite stands in their respective fields. This benefits neither the wildlife nor the tribals. What is needed is pragmatism. I found the following piece from Mr P.N Unnikrishnan very interesting. Browse through this piece. It is food for thought

The Forest Rights Act is often misinterpreted as an Act for the tribals to counter the over emphasis on wildlife. This is an illusion. The Act must be understood as a document emphasizing the point that the forest belongs to primarily the wildlife and then to the tribal. It is an Act to refute the interests of the mainstream society on forestland.

The Act says that the right holders have the fundamental duty and authority to protect and conserve the forest and its biodiversity. The right of people over forests can be withdrawn if it is irrefutably (scientifically) proved that an area is critical to the existence of wildlife and cohabitation is positively harmful to wildlife interests. The Act does not speak of sacrificing wildlife interests to favour tribal interests. It is but against forceful relocation (eviction) without necessary compensation and that too before verifying whether an area is critical for wildlife

Many a P A has been declared, not based on the criticality of that area for wildlife. There have been other considerations such as that of catchment area of dams, for instance. The Act says that the primary lookout in this regard must be the significance of the area for survival of wildlife.

The Act does not say that all important wildlife areas have been covered by PAs. More PAs can be constituted, provided they are critically important for wildlife, but relocation from there needs to be actively pursued only if cohabitation is found to be positively harmful to wildlife.

The Act is a statement expressing solidarity of tribal and wildlife interests and stiffly opposes the intrusion of mainstream people on forestland. See it in the right spirit and the confusion will disappear.

Dogs help in conserving endangered animals

Dogs have always been man’s best friends from time immemorial. They have been used in hunting. But now they are chipping in with help in wildlife conservation

Dogs trained to detect animal faeces by scent are helping researchers monitor rare and threatened wildlife in and around Emas National Park, in Brazil. When the dogs find the faeces, the accompanying researcher marks the location with a GPS and collects the samples. With the aid of satellite images, the sample data are correlated to the local environments where the samples were found. This helps the researchers to identify numbers, range, diet, hormonal stress, parasites and genetic identity without resorting to any sophisticated equipments. Identifying and establishing key areas for corridors has been made easier. The levels of stress hormones in the animals' faeces are important indicators in the evaluation of their capacity to reproduce in a given environment. Carly Vynne of the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington leads the project.

The world’s oldest recorded tree - Interesting press release from Umeå University

Here is an interesting press release that I came across while surfing.

Umeå University
Press Release

The world’s oldest recorded tree is a 9,550-year-old spruce in the Dalarna province of Sweden. The spruce tree has shown to be a tenacious survivor that has endured by growing between erect trees and smaller bushes in pace with the dramatic climate changes over time.

For many years the spruce tree has been regarded as a relative newcomer in the Swedish mountain region. ”Our results have shown the complete opposite, that the spruce is one of the oldest known trees in the mountain range,” says Leif Kullman, Professor of Physical Geography at Umeå University.
A fascinating discovery was made under the crown of a spruce in Fulu Mountain in Dalarna. Scientists found four “generations” of spruce remains in the form of cones and wood produced from the highest grounds. The discovery showed trees of 375, 5,660, 9,000 and 9,550 years old and everything displayed clear signs that they have the same genetic makeup as the trees above them. Since spruce trees can multiply with root penetrating braches, they can produce exact copies, or clones. The tree now growing above the finding place and the wood pieces dating 9,550 years have the same genetic material. The actual has been tested by carbon-14 dating at a laboratory in Miami, Florida, USA. Previously, pine trees in North America have been cited as the oldest at 4,000 to 5,000 years old.

In the Swedish mountains, from Lapland in the North to Dalarna in the South, scientists have found a cluster of around 20 spruces that are over 8,000 years old. Although summers have been colder over the past 10,000 years, these trees have survived harsh weather conditions due to their ability to push out another trunk as the other one died. ”The average increase in temperature during the summers over the past hundred years has risen one degree in the mountain areas,” explains Leif Kullman. Therefore, we can now see that these spruces have begun to straighten themselves out. There is also evidence that spruces are the species that can best give us insight about climate change.

The ability of spruces to survive harsh conditions also presents other questions for researchers. Have the spruces actually migrated here during the Ice Age as seeds from the east 1,000 kilometres over the inland ice that that then covered Scandinavia? Do they really originate from the east, as taught in schools? “My research indicates that spruces have spent winters in places west or southwest of Norway where the climate was not as harsh in order to later quickly spread northerly along the ice-free coastal strip,” says Leif Kullman. “In some way they have also successfully found their way to the Swedish mountains.”

The study has been carried out in cooperation with the County Administrative Boards in Jämtland and Dalarna.

For more information contact:
Leif Kullman, Professor of Physical Geography at Umeå University
Phone: +46 90-786 68 93, 070-5641848
E-mail: leif.kullman@emg.umu.se

Microbes capable of sophisticated reasoning?

It is a known fact that microbes can come up with simple responses to changes in their environment, such as acidity fluctuations, by altering their internal workings. But sophisticated reasoning? Systems biologist Saeed Tavazoie of Princeton University wanted to know if microbes were capable of more sophisticated reasoning. He along with his colleagues created an environment inhabited by evolving virtual bugs. The organisms "learnd" that certain signals preceded the arrival of food and came up with pre-emptive metabolic responses. Even when the signal combinations grew more complex, the population was able to evolve the correct responses. Extensive work was done on bacterium Escherichia coli. When the researchers turned up the heat in a dish of E. coli, the bugs narrowed down activity in genes that normally operate in high-oxygen conditions. The true test came when the team reversed the normal association, growing the bacteria in conditions in which high oxygen levels followed temperature increases. Less than 100 generations later, the bacteria stopped turning on their low-oxygen response after exposure to high temperatures, giving a clue that they had evolved to break the association. The work opens up exciting possibilities to explain puzzling behaviour of microbial pathogens, which could be using predictive signals to change their cell surfaces and avoid a host's impending immune attack.

More details can be had from the latest issue of Science magazine

Predictive Behavior Within Microbial Genetic Networks

Ilias Tagkopoulos ¹, Yir-Chung Liu ², Saeed Tavazoie ^2*

¹ Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.; Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
² Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.; Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.

Good news about the Amur Leopard

There is good news about Amur Leopard. 8 photos taken in Kedrovaya Pad reserve in the Primorisky Region of Russia by a camera trap during a census operation has brought cheer to the conservationists. Amur leopards, considered critically endangered by the IUCN, have been brought to the brink by habitat loss and poaching. An estimated twenty-five to forty Amur leopards survive in the wild in the northern forests, the taiga, of Russia. Only six have been identified as females. Hunters shot dead a female in April 2007. Curbing habitat loss, forest fires and poaching is of paramount importance in the conservation plans of this critically endangered animal.

Here is reason to save ponds

Professor John Downing, the lake scientist from US has come up with interesting facts about lakes. His research has established that ponds around the globe could absorb as much carbon as the world's oceans. Professor Downing found that constructed ponds and lakes on farmland in the United States bury carbon at 20-50 times the rate at which trees trap carbon. Ponds also take up carbon at a higher rate than larger lakes. In US 90 percent of these water bodies are one hectare or less in area.

Ponds are fast disappearing in many parts if the world as development advances. This new research gives a clear-cut reason for conserving ponds. With deleterious effects of global warming at our doorsteps here is a definite reason to conserve ponds. So go ahead spread the news around. Full details appear in Feb. 15 issue of the journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles in a paper titled, "Sediment organic carbon burial in agriculturally eutrophic impoundments over the last century.”

Spider sex using ultraviolet B (UVB) rays

Professor Daiqin Li, from the National University of Singapore and his team have discovered that male jumping spiders (Phintella vittata) are using ultraviolet B (UVB) rays to communicate with females. The researchers found that females were more likely to mate with males that could "talk" to them with UVB compared with spiders sitting in chambers. The full details appear in Current science
Li, J., Z. Zhang, F. Liu, Q. Liu, W. Gan, J. Chen, Matthew L.M. Lim, Daiqin Li, 2008. UVB-Based Mate-Choice Cues Used by Females of the Jumping Spider Phintella vittata. Current Biology, doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.04.020