Environmentalism and Wildlife Conservation Discussion

Scientists think they have spotted the only black flamingo in the world: "An extremely rare black flamingo, thought to be only one in the world, has been filmed on the island of Cyprus.

The footage was captured on Wednesday and shows the black flamingo surrounded by more conventionally coloured birds feeding on the banks of Aktoriri salt lake on the island that lies in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The bird is almost entirely black except for a tuft of white feathers on its rear and was spotted by environmentalists during an annual count of the island's flamingos."

Logging means ants, worms and other invertebrates lose rainforest dominance: "Logging slashes the abundance of invertebrates like ants and earthworms, but new research shows vertebrates can take up their roles in the ecosystem. Nearly a half of all tropical rainforests worldwide have been logged, and this often causes heavy changes to the number and type of invertebrates, with many species being lost from the ecosystem, researchers say."

Insecticide contamination of global surface waters substantially higher than expected: "A new study evaluated for the first time comprehensive global insecticide contamination data for agricultural surface waters using the legally-accepted regulatory threshold levels (RTLs) as defined during the official pesticide authorization procedures. The results are alarming: more than 40% of the water-phase samples with a detection of an insecticide concentration, exceeded respective RTLs. Concerning the exposure of sediments (i.e., deposits at the bottom of the surface water bodies), more than 80% of the insecticide concentrations exceeded RTLs, which, however, often are less binding from a regulatory perspective. Overall, the results of this study indicate that insecticides pose substantial threats to the biodiversity of global agricultural surface waters and that the current regulatory risk assessment schemes and pesticide authorzsation procedures fail to protect the aquatic environment."

BPA can disrupt sexual function in turtles, could be a warning for environmental health: "Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical used in food storage products and resins that line plastic beverage containers. Often, aquatic environments become reservoirs for BPA, and turtle habitats are affected. Now, a collaboration of researchers has determined that BPA can alter a turtle's sexual differentiation. Scientists are concerned findings could indicate harmful effects on environmental and human health."

Repeated marine predator evolution tracks changes in ancient and Anthropocene oceans: "Scientists synthesized decades of scientific discoveries to illuminate the common and unique patterns driving the extraordinary transitions that whales, dolphins, seals and other species underwent as they moved from land to sea. Drawing on recent breakthroughs in diverse fields such as paleontology, molecular biology and conservation ecology, their findings offer a comprehensive look at how life in the ocean has responded to environmental change from the Triassic to the Anthropocene."

First Nesting Bald Eagle Pair Confirmed in New York City: "Starting a family in New York City is not for the faint of heart—the rent is high, the school system is overwhelming, and stroller traffic keeps getting worse—but that hasn't deterred a young couple of Bald Eagles. The pair has taken up on the South Shore of Staten Island, and they appear to be incubating eggs—making the very first active New York City Bald Eagle nest reported in 100 years, New York City Audubon announced this morning. Local birders have named the male Bald Eagle Vito, and are eagerly awaiting the offspring (Bald Eagle incubation period lasts between 34-36 days, and the incubating behavior was first spotted last week)."

edited 17th Apr '15 1:12:48 AM by rmctagg09

Who else has read Aldo Leopold's works A Sand County Almanac and The Land Ethic?

Happy Earth Day, everyone.

Google doodles have a "What animal are you?" questionnare

I AM A KOMODO DRAGON RAR

Mantis shrimp.

A predator with the best eyesight and most devastating blow combined with agility and high intellect? Nice.

Pesticide harms wild bees, unique field study shows: "For the first time, a research project has investigated how a neonicotinoid pesticide, clothianidin, affects both honeybees and wild bees in an agricultural landscape. The study shows that honeybees can cope with exposure to the pesticide, but that it has a strong negative impact on wild bees."

Second possible specimen of 'pocket shark' ever found: "An extraordinarily rare ocean discovery of an inches-long 'pocket shark' has been made. Sharks come in all shapes and sizes and are best known as a dominant predator in the marine food web. Understanding their movements, behaviors and anatomies gives fishery managers a better idea of their diets and relationships with other species."

The world’s most polluted bird was so toxic it was “flameproof”: "A Cooper's hawk discovered near a waste transfer station in greater Vancouver, Canada, is believed to be the most polluted wild bird ever discovered. In fact, it was so contaminated with flame retardant chemicals that it was 'flameproof', according to a press release.

The researchers from McGill University in Quebec came across the hawk when analysing liver samples taken from birds of prey that had been fatally injured near Vancouver in the province of British Columbia (BC). The bird contained an unheard-of 196 parts per million of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) - now-banned chemicals that were once widely used as flame retardants in furniture, vehicles and electronics."

If I could inject myself with that bird's DNA I could become the Phoenix man - dressed as a firebird and armed with a flamethrower and a jetpack, I'd be invulnerable to my own wapons. I would be the ultimate soldier.

I know.

I thought being injected with bird DNA turned you into a superhuman spacefaring bounty hunter.

Salty aquifer, previously unknown microbial habitat discovered under Antarctica: "Many view Antarctica as a frozen wasteland. Turns out there are hidden interconnected lakes underneath its dry valleys that could sustain life and shed light on ancient climate change. Microbiologists detected extensive salty groundwater networks in Antarctica using a novel airborne electromagnetic mapping sensor system. The findings shed new light on ancient climate change on Earth and provide evidence that a similar briny aquifer could support microscopic life on Mars."

Oil and gas development transforms landscapes: "Researchers have conducted the first-ever broad-scale scientific assessment of how oil and gas development transforms landscapes across the US and Canada."

Megacity metabolism: What cities are the worst energy hogs?: "New York is an energy hog, London and Paris use relatively less resources and Tokyo conserves water like a pro. These are just a few of the findings from a new study on 'megacity metabolism' — the world's first comprehensive survey of resources used and removed in each of the world's 27 largest metropolitan areas."

Scientists have created an organic farm that stores more carbon than it emits: "Agriculture contributes approximately 35 percent of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions, but scientists in China believe they've found a way to make the (undeniably essential) practice more sustainable, by successfully turning a farm into a carbon sink.

By replacing chemical fertilisers with organic compost, the team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences report that they've created a farm that stores more carbon in its soil than it emits. And most impressively, they've proved that the crop yields didn't need to suffer."

Global decline of large herbivores may lead to an 'empty landscape': "The decline of the world's large herbivores, especially in Africa and parts of Asia, is raising the specter of an 'empty landscape' in some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. Many populations of animals such as rhinoceroses, zebras, camels, elephants and tapirs are diminishing or threatened with extinction in grasslands, savannahs, deserts and forests."

Regions at greatest risk for species extinction the least studied: "Scientists have crunched the numbers and the results are clear. For every degree that global temperatures rise, more species will become extinct. Overall, the study predicts a nearly 3 percent species extinction rate based on current conditions. If the earth warms another 3°C, the extinction risk rises to 8.5 percent. And if climate change continues on that trajectory, the world would experience a 4.3°C rise in temperature by the year 2100 — meaning a 16 percent extinction rate."

New project plans to plant one billion trees a year using drone technology: "US-based organisation, BioCarbon Engineering, has announced that it will begin planting one billion trees per year using drone technology, in an effort to combat the massive levels of deforestation that have affected many of the world’s jungles, bushlands, and forests."

Scientists are turning salt water into drinking water using solar power: "By inexpensively turning salt water into drinking water using sustainable solar power, a team from MIT in the US has not only come up with a portable desalination system for use anywhere in the world that needs it, but it’s just won the 2015 Desal Prize - a competition run by USAID to encourage better solutions to water shortages in developing countries.

In order to win the $140,000 prize, entries had to demonstrate how their invention not only works well, but is cost-effective, environmentally sustainable, and energy efficient. And the MIT researchers teamed up with US-based manufacturing company, Jain Irrigation Systems, to do just that.

The team’s invention works by using solar panels to charge a cache of batteries that power an electrodialysis machine that removes salt from the water and makes it perfectly drinkable."

Texas has banned fracking bans.

Backyard feeders invite aggressive bird breeds, study finds: "Backyard bird feeders may ruffle some feathers, attracting aggressive breeds like house sparrows and doves while discouraging native species that eat insects and nectar, researchers said Monday.

The experiment described in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed US journal, set out to study how putting out seeds and bread may influence what kinds of birds inhabit certain areas, and if the hobby alters the birds' natural balance."

New species of marine worm discovered on the Antarctic Deception Island: "A new marine invertebrate species has been discovered on Deception Island (South Shetland Islands), in the Southern Ocean. The new species is part of a group of marine worms (polychaetous annelids) which commonly occur in marine seabed rich in organic matter — from both natural and anthropogenic origin — at different latitudes."

Threats to soil productivity threaten food security: "A group of leading soil scientists points out the precarious state of the world's soil resources and the possible ramifications for human security."

edited 7th May '15 7:25:07 PM by rmctagg09

Engineers hand 'cognitive' control to underwater robots: "For the last decade, scientists have deployed increasingly capable underwater robots to map and monitor pockets of the ocean to track the health of fisheries, and survey marine habitats and species. In general, such robots are effective at carrying out low-level tasks, specifically assigned to them by human engineers — a tedious and time-consuming process for the engineers. Now a new programming approach gives robots more 'cognitive' capabilities, enabling humans to specify high-level goals, while a robot performs high-level decision-making to figure out how to achieve these goals."

When Humans Declared War On Fish: "On Friday we humans observed V-E Day, the end to one part of a global catastrophe that cost the planet at least 60 million lives. But if we were fish, we would have marked the day differently — as the beginning of a campaign of violence against our taxonomic classes, one that has resulted in trillions of casualties.

Oddly, the war itself was a great reprieve for many marine species. Just as Axis and Allied submarines and mines made the transportation of war matériel a highly perilous endeavor, they similarly interfered with fishing. The ability to catch staple seafoods, like cod, declined markedly. Freed from human pursuit, overexploited species multiplied in abundance.

But World War II also brought a leap in human ingenuity, power and technical ability that led to an unprecedented assault on our oceans. Not only did ships themselves become larger, faster and more numerous, but the war-derived technologies they carried exponentially increased their fishing power."

Disaster for humans is boon to everything we kill.

Of course it would be. We're not just the apex predator of this planet, we've gotten terrifyingly good at killing off an entire prey species within a short span of time.

edited 10th May '15 11:02:32 PM by MarqFJA

Disaster for humans is boon to everything we kill.

Not always. Plenty of disasters for humans damage other species as well.

Depends if we mean long or short term (and even then). But when humans get forcibly excluded from an area, that's usually good (or at least mixed) news for wildlife.

Massive southern invasions by northern birds linked to climate shifts: "Scientists have pinpointed the climate pattern that likely sets the stage for boreal bird irruptions in which vast numbers of northern birds migrate far south of their usual winter range. The discovery could make it possible to predict the events more than a year in advance."