Mongabay Blog

With reefs facing increasing threats from warmer and more acidic oceans, researchers are looking at ways to help corals by introducing heat resistant forms of zooxanthellae — the symbiotic algae that provides corals with sustenance — according to an article by Juliet Eilperin in the Washington Post.  High temperatures cause corals to expel the algae, resulting in higher incidence of disease and death among corals.

 Andrew Baker, a University of Miami marine biologist, is about to embark on an experiment aimed at learning whether scientists can help corals adapt by providing them with symbiotic partners better prepared to cope with waters that are growing warmer largely because of the buildup of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.
Some corals have evolved to do this on their own, over a long period of time: Now, researchers want to see if they can speed up the process.
 
“It’s controversial; it’s high risk,” Baker said last week. “But it’s really important we make the effort to try to show not only are we monitoring the situation, but we’re trying to do everything we can, literally, to make sure there are as many corals as possible left to save.”

Two weeks ago the Pew Institute for Ocean Science awarded Baker a three-year, $150,000 grant to “help identify the specific genetic and physiological factors that allow some corals to cope with warming better than others.”

Initially, Baker and his team of about 10 researchers will do their work in the lab, artificially bleaching corals and then adding cultured algae to the water to see if other zooxanthellae varieties can help the corals adapt to the temperature shift. Corals do not expire immediately after expelling their zooxanthellae, but if they do not find another algae partner quickly enough, they will die.

The Tasmanian devil, that iconic marsupial predator of the Australian state of Tasmania, may soon meet its end. A surprising one. Once common throughout the continent, it is believed that devils became relegated to Tasmania sometime after the introduction of the dingo to Australia by Austronesian traders 2,000-3,500 years ago. Now foxes have been intentionally and foolishly brought into Tasmania which is dealing a huge blow to the devil population. However, something else may extinguish the Tasmanian devil before the foxes ever get to it…

An extremely rare (some call it completely new) form of cancer is spreading alarmingly quickly across Tasmania, inflicting Tasmanian devils with rapidly proliferating facial tumors. The end result is death by starvation. The really bizarre part of this is that this is an infectious cancer, probably passed on as Tasmanian devils scavenge the bodies of others. This was determined when it was discovered that the disorganization of the cancerous cells’ chromosomes in multiple individuals all had pretty much identical character, and that a unique marker present in one of the devil’s normal cells was absent in its cancerous cells. This is definitely NOT normal for cancer. And extremely scary. It’s not one of those cancers that arises spontaneously in one individual and stays in that individual; it’s not even something passed genetically from generation to generation. It’s passed ambiently, spreads quickly, and kills in a matter of months. In ten years, it’s killed anywhere between 20% and 50% of all Tasmanian devils living on the island, with about 60% of the island affected. High density populations have a reported 100% mortality rate within 12-18 months. This has elevated its conservation status from “lower risk/least concern” in 1996 to in 2006 being at risk of extinction in the “medium term”.

There are a number of projects being conducted by the University of Tasmania in effort to discover more about the disease/stop it. It’s all pretty expensive, so donations are welcomed. Go to http://www.tassiedevil.com.au/help.html to find out more.

(photo by Menna Jones)

The Woodlark islanders struggle to stop Vitroplant Ltd from logging seventy percent of their island for palm oil plantations has received new attention from organizations and media. 

The online organization forests.org has set up an action letter which anyone concerned by the issue may attach their name to have their opinion sent to 12 administrators involved.   Over two thousand people from all over the world have sent protests for Vitroplant Ltd.’s plans.  The link to the letter:

http://www.rainforestportal.org/alerts/send.asp?id=png_woodlark

 These protests have been covered by media in the pacific:

 http://www.mvariety.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=4740&format=html

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=37298

As well a recent (and excellent) article has appeared in Pacific Magazine updating the situation:

 http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news/2007/12/30/scientists-to-study-island-thats-site-of-proposed-palm-estate

To almost everyone, cryptozoology does not belong in the scientific world. It relies extensively on anecdotal evidence, is known to fall headlong into hoaxes, and includes Loch Ness Monster fanatics and those people who were convinced that that poor, dead, hairless coyote was a Mexican Goat Sucker. There are thousands of online communities devoted to Bigfoot, some of which organize large expeditions into the woods which, as far as I’ve read, haven’t resulted in anything but the opportunity for these people to get together and impress each other with their expensive night-vision goggles and infrared cameras. And it’s not as if there aren’t new species to be discovered; there are tons of them - mostly insects, plants, and microscopic organisims - but cryptozoology focuses on only the pop-macrofaunal end of the spectrum, leaving the ants and mosses to others, well, more qualified.

That said, the persistence of cryptozoology (and the deep pockets of its wealthier members) has paid off more than once. The okapi, a short-necked, forest-dwelling relative of the giraffe, was regarded by Europeans as an African myth until the British governor of Uganda caught a glimpse of it in 1901.
When the platypus was discovered by Europeans in 1798, the specimens sent back to England were quickly declared fabrications; it took years of ardent persuasion for those in Australia (and fans in Europe) to convice the rest of the world that this strange little egg-laying mammal was indeed real.
The coelacanth, a massive relative of lungfish and tetrapods, was believed to have been extinct since the end of the Cretaceous until one was caught off the coast of South Africa in 1938. Since then it’s come to light that many native communities that line the eastern coast of Africa have for generations used the coelacanth for everything from a source of food to kind of sandpaper.
And then there’s Homo floresiensis, a dwarf form of Homo erectus, the discovery of whose bones on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003 may have been foreshadowed by references to miniature people in the legends of the island’s natives.

Okapis, platypuses, coelacanths, and floresiensi all had their proponents well before their existence was proven to the world. Of course, so does the Abominable Snowman. Perhaps the lesson here is that real scientists should think about looking for the grain of truth in anecdotal evidence before disounting it altogether, and cryptozoologists should maybe, just maybe, rid themselves of crackpots stop blowing up that grain past any conceivable context.

A booming “ecotourism” industry is bringing new threats to the Galapagos, reports a feature in the Wall Street Journal.

Unsustainable tourism development, an influx of workers from the mainland, and introduced species are putting endemic biodiversity and habitats at risk.

“The islands’ fragile ecosystem can be easily disrupted, particularly as the increasing number of planes and ships landing in the Galapagos bring foreign species. Whether insects, snakes or feral cats and dogs, the invaders can wreak havoc by destroying plants and other food sources, eating eggs or attacking birds or mammals,” writes Stan Sesser.

While the Ecuadorian government has recently announced measures to control commercial fishing, restrict immigration, and mitigating damage from alien invasive species, its toughest challenge is addressing tourism.

“It’s not a simple solution, because to limit tourism will be to limit income,” Mauricio Castillo, an official for Unesco in Quito, told the paper.

Today’s Wall Street Journal [$ubscription required] features a story on the changing PR strategies of zoos in the midst of animal escapes and attacks like the tiger mauling at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day.  The article says that says are increasingly forthcoming in disclosing details about escape incidents and animal deaths.

The nation’s largest zoos are in the midst of a public-relations campaign led by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums — a trade group that accredits zoos — to counter recent accusations by animal-rights groups that captive creatures are mistreated. They’re launching educational campaigns about the animal aging process, for example, to show that when an animal dies it is often due to natural causes. They’re also talking publicly about incidents, including escapes, that they might not have disclosed in the past.

The article says zoo the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) has also beefed up its crisis-management system to handle situations like the tiger attack.  It also notes that as zoos built more naturalistic habitats, animals are healthier and more capable of escaping.

“The more natural you make an exhibit, the more natural behaviors the animal shows,” David Orndorff, director of the Mill Mountain Zoo in Roanoke, told the paper.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119950257310069637.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

After tonight’s caucuses in Iowa, Americans will have a slightly better idea of which candidate will win their party’s nomination (and therefore a slightly better idea of who may be president in 2009).  While the candidates are remarkably varied, one finds hope in the fact that most, if not all, see climate change as a great threat that needs immediate action, unlike the current administration. 

When compared to the republicans the democrats are still the environmental party.  The democrats in general speak about climate change with greater seriousness and urgency, while pledging to do more to prevent and mitigate global warming.  The top three democratic contenders–Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards–have each put forth detailed proposals to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.  Many scientist’s see this as neccesary to avoid the worst effects of climate change.  While the details of their plans vary some, their desire to tackle climate change is clear.  The question now becomes: which candidate is most likely to make good on their promises?      

Unfortunately, no republican candidate has gone so far as the democrats, i.e. putting forth a plan with actual numbers attached.  However, republicans this time around are generally taking the issue more seriously than the current administration.  Both John McCain and Mike Huckabee support a mandatory cap-and-trade system to deal with global warming.  John McCain has been a long spoken out for the need to act on climate change.  Mike Huckabee views the issue as a moral one and wants to break our culture of fossil fuels. 

Mitt Romney and Rudolph Giuliani have not shown the same level of commitment.  When talking about climate change Romney stresses the need for energy independence for national security purposes and is willing to use as much coal as possible to get there.  Rudolph Giuliani’s views climate change as a real and present danger, yet stresses (like the Bush administration) that the US can achieve nothing unless China and India act similarily, in other words he is unwilling to lead on the issue.  He also opposes (like the Bush administration) any cap on carbon, preferring the financial market to solve climate change.  Even though so far the financial market as it is has done little to curb carbon use.  Despite these facts both Romney and Giuliani expressed in a recent debate that they would enact programs akin to the Apollo mission in scale to create energy independence.   

In some ways the political powers that be have come a long way in the last few years.  George W. Bush has changed his mind very infrequently since entering office, but climate change was one of those rarities.  President Bush now states that climate change is real, that it is probably caused by human activity, and that action needs to be taken.  The problem is President Bush has refused to do anything of real consequence to tackle the issue.  America continues business as usual.    

Most Americans believe that we will have to wait out the Bush administration before anything meaningful is achieved regarding climate change.  The Bush administration seems to believe the same thing: they prefer foot dragging and obstruction to action.  Let us hope whoever takes the oath of office next January will not so cowardly leave the burden for another day. 

Today The New York Times featured an article by J. MADELEINE NASH on conflicts between jaguar conservation efforts and cattle ranchers in the Pantanal.  A couple of interesting points:

•  Panthera, a big cat conservation group, has recently acquired two ranches which it plans to operate for the purpose of testing techniques for reducing livestock-jaguar interactions.  The results may help other ranchers in the region to “adopt range management practices that encourage co-existence over conflict.”
• The Pantanal may contain 15 percent of the world’s remaining population of jaguars
• On some ranches jaguars provide landowners with an additional source of income in the form of ecotourism: “several ranches in the Pantanal, San Francisco among them, run ecotourism operations that have turned a liability into a valuable asset.”
• Keeping water buffalo with cattle herds reducing depredation by jaguars.  Buffalo “appear to surround cattle in a broad, protective umbra.”
• While it is illegal to kill jaguar in Brazil, laws are poorly enforced and perverse incentives encourage the practice.
• Ranchers exaggerate their cattle losses to jaguar while understating larger causes of mortality (i.e. disease). Jaguar found scavenging livestock corpses are often blamed for killing animals that died from another cause.

In an effort to broaden the “voice” of the site, over the next few months mongabay.com will begin running posts from guest bloggers.