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

Biodiversity loss and its implications

The Earth's biodiversity is disappearing at an alarming rate. For people concerned about biodiversity here is something that is going to interest you. The new book, ‘Sustaining Life” is a great eye opener. It deals with biodiversity and fills a major gap in the arguments made to conserve nature. Sustaining Life is the first book to examine the full range of potential threats that diminishing biodiversity poses to human health. At the heart of the book is a chapter dedicated to exploring seven threatened groups of organisms valuable to medicine, including amphibians, bears, cone snails, sharks, nonhuman primates, gymnosperms, and horseshoe crabs that underscore what may be lost to human health when species go extinct.

The story of southern gastric brooding frog (Rheobatrachus), which was discovered in undisturbed rainforests of Australia in the 1980, makes interesting reading. The frogs raise their young in the female’s stomach where they would, in other animals, be digested by enzymes and acid. The baby frogs produced a substance, or perhaps a variety of substances, that inhibited acid and enzyme secretions and prevented the mother from emptying her stomach into her intestines while the young were developing. The authors point out that the research on gastric brooding frogs could have led to new insights into preventing and treating human peptic ulcers which affect some 25 million people in the United States alone. The bad news is that the frogs have become extinct

Other interesting stories include.

Pumiliotoxins, like those made by the Panamanian Poison Frog that may lead to medicines that strengthen the contractions of the heart and thus prove useful in treating heart disease.

Alkaloids made by species like the Ecuadorian Poison Frog, which could be the source of a new and novel generation of painkillers.

Bradykinins and maximakinins, made in the skin glands of species like the Chinese Large-Webbed Bell Toad; Mexican Leaf Frog, and North American Pickerel Frog that dilate the smooth muscle of blood vessels in mammals and therefore offer promising avenues for treating high blood pressure.

Several medical benefits have already arisen from the study of bears, including the development of rsodeoxycholic acid, found in the gall bladders of some bear species such as polar and black bears, into a medicine.

Some bear species, known as “denning” bears because they enter into a largely dormant state when food is scarce, are of tremendous value to medicine as they are able to recycle a wide variety of their body’s substances.

Bears appear to produce a substance that inhibits cells that break down bone and promote substances that encourage bone and cartilage-making cells. Currently, 740,000 deaths a year are the result of hip fractures worldwide, a large number of which are caused by osteoporosis. By 2050 there will be an estimated six million osteoporosis-linked hip fractures globally.

Several pharmaceuticals, including decongestants and the anti-cancer drug taxol, have already been isolated from gymnosperms. The researchers believe many more are yet to be discovered and may be lost if species of Gymnosperms become extinct.

Substances from one Gymnosperm, the Ginkgo tree may reduce the production of receptors in the human nervous system linked with memory loss. Thus they may play a role in countering Alzheimer’s disease. They may also help in the treatment of epilepsy and depression.

One compound, known as ziconotide extracted from snails is thought to be 1000 times more potent than morphine and has been shown in clinical trials to provide significant pain relief for advanced cancer and AIDS patients. Another cone snail compound has been shown in animal models to protect brain cells from death during times of inadequate blood flow.

‘Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity’ is published by Oxford University Press priced $34.95

ISBN13: 9780195175097ISBN10: 0195175093 hardback, 568 pages

About the Author(s)

Eric Chivian , M.D., is the Director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. He shared the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. He is the lead editor and author of Last Aid: The Medical Dimensions of Nuclear War and Critical Condition: Human Health and the Environment .
Aaron Bernstein , M.D., is a Research Associate at the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, and Resident, Boston Combined Residency in Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School/Boston University School of Medicine.

Posted with inputs from IUCN

Caged Tigers are not mongrels

Caged tigers are often associated with dubious ancestry. They are treated like mongrels. But the latest analysis has come out with the fact that a significant number of them bear the genetic imprint of a single subspecies. It was Stephen O'Brien, a geneticist at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Frederick, Maryland and colleagues who analysed 20 years' collection of DNA samples from 105 captive tigers around the world. Almost half the tigers could be assigned to one subspecies, whereas the rest were of mixed lineage. The team also found new mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite features not yet recorded in wild tigers. This points to the fact the captive population harbours genetic diversity that may have been lost in the wild.

With an estimated 3000 tigers left in the wild this finding has great portent for conservation. The tigers in captivity have continued to multiply, numbering 15,000 to 20,000 at last count.

Now a botanical art gallery

The world's first art gallery dedicated to botanical art works will be opened in London’s Kew Gardens today. Collections of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and from collector Dr Shirley Sherwood will be on exhibit. Dr Shirley Sherwood, after whom the gallery has been named, has been collecting contemporary botanical art since 1990. Her collection includes work by more than 200 artists living in 30 different countries. Till now only experts and researchers were permitted to access the collection. Now Kew’s collections are more accessible and are expected to give conservation a big boost. Some of the depictions have never been seen by the public before and are thought to be the only surviving record of some extinct species.

The mystery of the Borneo pygmy elephants solved

The origins of the pygmy elephants of Borneo, found in a range extending from the northeast of the island into the Heart of Borneo, have been a mystery. A new paper published in peer reviewed Sarawak Museum Journal has added a new twist to the whole story. I found this paper very interesting. According to the authors the population could be the last survivors of the Javan elephant race, accidentally saved from extinction by the Sultan of Sulu centuries ago. The looks and behaviour of Borneo elephants differ from other Asian elephants. The authors propound the theory that the elephants were brought to Borneo centuries ago by the Sultan of Sulu, and later abandoned in the jungle. It now transpires that this translocation in history that has survived to modern times could provide scientists with critical data from a centuries-long experiment. The detailed study is bound to throw up lot of possibilities for future conservation initiatives.

ORIGIN OF THE ELEPHANTS ELEPHAS MAXIMUS L. OF BORNEO
Earl of Cranbrook1, J. Payne2 and Charles M.U. Leh3

If you are keen to read the entire paper click here

Wild Talk - Exciting new monthly podcast from IUCN and WWF

IUCN and WWF have launched an exciting new monthly podcast called Wild Talk. This will usher in the latest news and features from the world of conservation.

In the first episode in the series IUCN marine expert Imène Meliane gave a graphic view of how invasive species catch a free ride across the world’s oceans on ships and the problems they cause by doing so.

The other highlights were

On climate change – how indigenous people are affected and the solutions they already have to cope with it by interviewing IUCN’s Gonzalo Oviedo.

Marc Languy, head of mountain gorillas programme pf WWF in the Great Lakes region of Africa talked about the human qualities of the gorillas and what we can do to save their remaining population which stands at just 720.

In the final interview, Hubert von Goisem explains to WWF why he took to a barge to bring his music and environmental message to the people who live along the Danube.

The next edition we will have news from the Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn and other exciting fare.

Interesting facts about ancestor of Elephants unearthed

Analysis of chemical signatures preserved in fossil teeth of ancient ancestor of the elephants, which lived 37 million years ago, has come up with interesting findings. These ancestors lived in water and had a lifestyle similar to a hippo but had the appearance of a Tapir. The animals were related to seagoing manatees and dugongs. Study of fossil teeth has indicated that the animal grazed on plants in rivers and swamps.

Experts from Oxford University and Stony Brook University, New York did the analysis. The scientists were investigating the lifestyle of the two early elephants called proboscideans – Moeritherium and Barytherium, which looked like a slender version of today's Asian elephant, when they came up with new findings. These animals lived over 37 million years ago in Egypt's Fayum Desert. At the time sub-tropical rainforest and swamps covered the deserts of northern Egypt.

Full report is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences