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Tag: Wildlife

  • The heavily armed DMZ separating North and South Korea has become a wildlife haven | CNN

    The heavily armed DMZ separating North and South Korea has become a wildlife haven | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Between North and South Korea lies the demilitarized zone (DMZ), one of the world’s most heavily armed borders. The 160-mile stretch is barred with fences and landmines and is largely empty of human activity.

    But that isolation has inadvertently turned the area into a haven for wildlife. Google released street view images of the DMZ for the first time this week, offering a rare glimpse into the flora and fauna that inhabit this no man’s land.

    The images are part of a project done in collaboration with several Korean institutions to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, which brought hostilities to a halt in 1953 and mapped out the DMZ, though technically the war never ended as no peace treaty was ever signed.

    The project allows viewers to take a “virtual tour” with Google’s street view function, highlighting cultural relics and heritage sites near the DMZ such as war-torn buildings and defense bunkers.

    But the most surprising images are of the more than 6,100 species thriving in the DMZ, ranging from reptiles and birds to plants.

    Of Korea’s 267 endangered species, 38% live in the DMZ, according to Google.

    “After the Korean War, the DMZ had minimal human interference for over 70 years, and the damaged nature recovered on its own,” it said on its site. “As a result, it built up a new ecosystem not seen around the cities and has become a sanctuary for wildlife.”

    The DMZ’s inhabitants include endangered mountain goats who live in the rocky mountains; musk deer with long fangs who live in old-growth forests; otters who swim along the river running through the two Koreas; and endangered golden eagles, who often spend their winters in civilian border areas where residents feed the hungry hunters.

    Mountain goats mainly live in the rocky, mountainous areas around the DMZ.

    Many of the images were captured by unmanned cameras installed by South Korea’s National Institute of Ecology. In 2019, these cameras photographed a young Asiatic black bear for the first time in 20 years – delighting researchers long concerned with the endangered population’s decline due to poaching and habitat destruction.

    Seung-ho Lee, president of the DMZ Forum, a group that campaigns to protect the area’s ecological and cultural heritage, told CNN in 2019 that the DMZ had also become an oasis for migratory birds because of worsening conditions on either side of the border. Logging and flooding had damaged North Korean land, while urban development and pollution had fragmented habitats in South Korea, he said.

    “We call the region an accidental paradise,” he said at the time.

    The Hantan River Gorge, with water flowing from Mount Jangamsan.

    The Google images also show pristine, biodiverse landscapes. Users can use street view to explore the Yongneup high moor, boasting wide grassy fields filled with wetland plants, or the Hantan River Gorge, with turquoise water snaking between high granite walls.

    Many voices in both the Koreas and international environmental organizations have been calling for the conservation of the DMZ for decades. But the process isn’t easy, as it requires cooperation from both Seoul and Pyongyang.

    The Heloniopsis tubiflora fuse, a plant endemic to South Korea, pictured in Yongneup in the DMZ.

    There has been some progress in recent years, with former South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowing in 2018 to turn the DMZ into a “peace zone.” The following year, South Korea opened the first of three “peace trails” for a limited number of visitors along the DMZ, bringing hikers past observatories and barbed-wire fences.

    However, relations have deteriorated since then, with tensions skyrocketing in 2022 as North Korea fired a record number of missiles, and as a new South Korean president took office.

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  • Cohesion and connection drop in ageing population

    Cohesion and connection drop in ageing population

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    Newswise — Social cohesion and connection decline in an ageing population, according to a new study of one of humanity’s closest relatives.

    For decades, researchers have been observing the rhesus macaques on Cayo Santiago (known as “Monkey Island”) in Puerto Rico.

    Recent research showed that female macaques “actively reduce” the size of their social networks and prioritise existing connections as they age – something also seen in humans.

    The new study, by an international team led by the University of Exeter, examines how this affects the overall cohesion and connection of the groups older monkeys live in.

    While the observed macaque populations (which had no more than 20% “old” individuals) were not affected at group level, computer simulations showed higher proportions of old macaques would reduce cohesion and connection.

    “For both humans and macaques, focusing on close friends and family in later life may bring a variety of benefits,” said Dr Erin Siracusa, from Exeter’s Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour.

    “Our study aimed to find out what knock-on effect these individual age-related changes have for how well connected a society is overall.

    “We had information on six monkey groups collected over eight years, representing in total 19 social networks.

    “The first thing we found is that that older female macaques are poor influencers – by having fewer friends, older females are less able to transmit knowledge and experience outside their immediate social circles.”

    The researchers tested whether monkey networks with a greater number of old females (over 18 years old) were less cohesive and connected.

    In the macaque populations observed, they didn’t find a difference between networks that were older compared to those with a greater number of young adults.

    However, no more than 20% of monkeys were old in any given group we studied. It was still possible that even older networks would be affected.  

    So the scientists created a computer model that simulated the effect of higher proportions of old macaques, and found a decline in network cohesiveness and connectedness.

    “We found really substantial consequences for network structure, which could affect useful things like information transmission and cooperation, and could also limit the spread of disease,” said Professor Lauren Brent, also from the University of Exeter.

    “In humans, population ageing is poised to be one of the most significant social transformations of the 21st Century.

    “Our findings suggest this could have far-reaching effects on the structure of our societies and the way they function.”

    With the global human population of over-60s expected to double by 2050, the findings suggest social structures, cohesion and connectedness could all change significantly.

    While the human population is ageing, some animal populations are becoming younger on average – also with potentially serious consequences.

    For example, older male elephants are often targeted by trophy hunters for their large tusks – and a 2021 University of Exeter study found that male elephants are more aggressive to things like tourist vehicles when fewer older males are present.

    The new study was carried out by a team including the University of Coimbra (Portugal), the Technical University of Denmark, Arizona State University, New York University, and the University of Pennsylvania (USA).

    Long-term monitoring of the macaques on Cayo Santiago is made possible by the Caribbean Primate Research Center, and this study was funded by the National Institute of Health.

    The paper, published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, is entitled: “Ageing in a collective: the impact of ageing individuals on social network structure.”

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  • U.S. unprepared for dangers posed by zoonotic diseases, new analysis concludes

    U.S. unprepared for dangers posed by zoonotic diseases, new analysis concludes

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    Newswise — The United States, the largest importer of wildlife in the world, is not prepared for future spread of animal-borne, or zoonotic, diseases due to gaps among governmental agencies designed to combat these threats, concludes a new analysis by researchers at Harvard Law School and New York University. The authors call for a “One Health” approach, integrating multiple agencies in order to better govern human-animal interactions.

    The editorial, “Blind spots in biodefense,” which appears in the journal Science, is authored by Ann Linder, a research fellow at Harvard Law School’s Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program, and Dale Jamieson, a professor at New York University’s Center for Environmental and Animal Protection in the Department of Environmental Studies.

    Linder and Jamieson note that the Biden administration’s recent release of its National Biodefense Strategy (NBS-22), the first update since the COVID-19 pandemic began, frames threats as largely external to the United States. 

    “NBS-22 focuses primarily on bioterrorism and laboratory accidents, neglecting threats posed by routine practices of animal use and production inside the United States,” they write. 

    This oversight is significant, Linder and Jamieson observe, given the United States’ past and present when it comes to human-animal interface:

    • More zoonotic diseases originated in the United States than in any other country during the second half of the 20th century. 
    • In 2022, the U.S. processed more than 10 billion livestock, the largest number ever recorded and an increase of 204 million over 2021.
    • The ongoing H5N1 avian influenza outbreak has left 58 million animals dead in backyard chicken coops and industrial farms in the U.S.
    • Since 2011, the U.S. has recorded more swine-origin influenza infections than any other country. Most occurred at state and county fairs, which attract 150 million visitors each year and where an estimated 18% of swine have tested positive. 

    Moreover, they add, the current patchwork of siloed agencies and authorities is marked by a lack of coordination, leaving significant gaps and areas of underregulation. In fact, of the many agencies that govern food animal production, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is the most important, but it has no authority to regulate on-farm animal production.

    The authors call for rebuilding from the ground up the U.S. regulatory system in order to combat zoonotic disease risk.

    “What is needed is not simply for agencies to do their jobs better or to paper over the gaps, but a fundamental restructuring of the way that human–animal interfaces are governed,” Linder and Jamieson urge. “A One Health approach, which NBS-22 claims as its guiding principle, would take the health of other living things not merely as the occasional means or obstacles to human health, but as continuous with it. The first step in implementing such an approach would be to create a high-level process for integrating the broken mosaic of multiple agencies, with their unclear and sometimes competing mandates, into an effective, comprehensive regime.”

    The editorial is based on research from the Live Animal Markets Project, which is examining global policy responses to animal markets and their role in zoonotic disease transmission. The project includes 15 individual country case studies involving local collaborators, partner institutions, and members of the core research team. The project aims to provide a comprehensive assessment that will aid policymakers, contribute to public education about zoonotic risks, and support the human health and animal protection communities. The project is led by researchers from Harvard Law School’s Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program, and New York University’s Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, and involves researchers and institutions from around the world. Kristen Stilt, Arthur Caplan, Chris Green, Bonnie Nadzam, and Valerie Wilson McCarthy contributed to this editorial.

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    New York University

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  • Sportsmen decry bill removing marijuana tax from habitat funding – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    Sportsmen decry bill removing marijuana tax from habitat funding – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

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    Laura Lundquist

    (Missoula Current) Conservationists are amassing to oppose a Legislative bill that would go against voters’ wishes and permanently cut marijuana tax money out of Montana’s popular habitat acquisition program.

    On Thursday, the Montana House Appropriations committee will hear House Bill 462, which changes previous legislation mandating how marijuana tax money is distributed. Most important to hunters and conservationists, the bill eliminates the tax money allocated annually to the Habitat Montana program.

    In 2021, after much debate, the Legislature passed House Bill 701 allocating 20% of the annual tax revenue to Habitat Montana. But that was a substantial cut from what voters passed in 2020.

    In November 2020, Constitutional Initiative 190, which passed with 57% of the vote, legalized marijuana for adults but also tacked a 20% tax on to marijuana sales. The initiative also promised about half of the annual tax revenue to public lands programs. Of that, about 37% would go to the Habitat Montana program, which uses state money to purchase land or conservation easements for wildlife habitat. Nongame wildlife programs, to state parks and to trails, and recreational facilities would each receive 4% of the revenue.

    In 2020, the Montana Conservation Voters, Montana Wildlife Federation, Wild Montana Action Fund and Trust for Public Land advocated for Initiative 190 specifically because of the conservation funding.

    Now, those groups and about a dozen other Montana…

    Original Author Link click here to read complete story..

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  • Scientists find world’s oldest European hedgehog

    Scientists find world’s oldest European hedgehog

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    Newswise — The world’s oldest scientifically-confirmed European hedgehog has been found in Denmark by a citizen science project involving hundreds of volunteers. The hedgehog lived for 16 years, 7 years longer than the previous record holder.

    The European hedgehog is one of our most beloved mammals but populations have declined dramatically in recent years. In the UK, studies indicate that urban populations have fallen by up to 30% and rural populations by at least 50% since the turn of the century (British Hedgehog Preservation Society). To combat this, researchers and conservationists have launched various projects to monitor hedgehog populations, to inform initiatives to protect hedgehogs in the wild.

    During 2016, Danish citizens were asked to collect any dead hedgehogs they found for “The Danish Hedgehog Project”, a citizen science project led by Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen (also known as ‘Dr Hedgehog’). The aim was to better understand the state of the Danish hedgehog population by establishing how long hedgehogs typically lived for. Over 400 volunteers collected an astonishing 697 dead hedgehogs originating from all over Denmark, with a roughly 50/50 split from urban and rural areas.

    The researchers determined the age of the dead hedgehogs by counting growth lines in thin sections of the hedgehogs’ jawbones, a method similar to counting growth rings in trees. The results have been published as a paper in the journal Animals.

    Key findings:

    • The oldest hedgehog in the sample was 16 years old – the oldest scientifically documented European hedgehog ever found. Two other individuals lived for 13 and 11 years respectively. The previous record holder lived for 9 years.
    • Despite these long-lived individuals, the average age of the hedgehogs was only around two years. About a third (30%) of the hedgehogs died at or before the age of one year.
    • Most (56%) of the hedgehogs had been killed when crossing roads. 22% died at a hedgehog rehabilitation centre (for instance, following a dog attack), and 22% died of natural causes in the wild.
    • Male hedgehogs in general lived longer than females (2.1 vs 1.6 years, or 24% longer), which is uncommon in mammals. But male hedgehogs were also more likely to be killed in traffic. This may be because males have larger ranges than females and likely move over larger areas, bringing them into contact more frequently with roads.
    • For both male and female hedgehogs, road deaths peaked during the month of July, which is the height of the mating season for hedgehogs in Denmark. This is likely because hedgehogs walk long distances and cross more roads in their search for mates.

    Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen (based at the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit WildCRU, Department of Biology, University of Oxford, and affiliated researcher at Aalborg University), who leads The Danish Hedgehog Project, said: ’Although we saw a high proportion of individuals dying at the age of one year, our data also showed that if the individuals survived this life stage, they could potentially live to become 16 years old and produce offspring for several years. This may be because individual hedgehogs gradually gain more experience as they grow older. If they manage to survive to reach the age of two years or more, they would have likely learned to avoid dangers such as cars and predators.’

    She added: ‘The tendency for males to outlive females is likely caused by the fact that it is simply easier being a male hedgehog. Hedgehogs are not territorial, which means that the males rarely fight. And the females raise their offspring alone.’

    Hedgehog jaw bones show growth lines because calcium metabolism slows down when they hibernate over winter. This causes bone growth to reduce markedly or even stop completely, resulting in growth lines where one line represents one hibernation. 

    The researchers also took tissue samples to investigate whether the degree of inbreeding influenced how long European hedgehogs live for. Previous studies have found that the genetic diversity of the Danish hedgehog population is low, indicating high degrees of inbreeding. This can reduce the fitness of a population by allowing hereditary, and potentially lethal, health conditions to be passed on between generations. Surprisingly, the results showed that inbreeding did not seem to reduce the expected lifespan of the hedgehogs.

    Dr Rasmussen said: ‘Sadly, many species of wildlife are in decline, which often results in increased inbreeding, as the decline limits the selection of suitable mates. This study is one of the first thorough investigations of the effect of inbreeding on longevity. Our research indicates that if the hedgehogs manage to survive into adulthood, despite their high degree of inbreeding, which may cause several potentially lethal, hereditary conditions, the inbreeding does not reduce their longevity. That is a rather groundbreaking discovery, and very positive news from a conservation perspective.’

    Dr Rasmussen added: ‘The various findings of this study have improved our understanding of the basic life history of hedgehogs, and will hopefully improve the conservation management for this beloved and declining species.’

    The study was published in collaboration with Associate Professor Owen Jones at Interdisciplinary Center on Population Dynamics (CPop), Institute of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Senior Researcher Dr Thomas Bjørneboe Berg from Naturama, and Associate Professor Helle Jakobe Martens, Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Copenhagen University.

    Notes for editors:

    Images of the research team studying hedgehog jawbones are available on request.

    The study ’Anyone Can Get Old—All You Have to Do Is Live Long Enough: Understanding Mortality and Life Expectancy in European Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus)’ has been published in Animals: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/4/626

    You can learn more about Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen’s work on her YouTube channel ‘Dr Hedgehog’: https://www.youtube.com/@drhedgehog

    About the University of Oxford

    Oxford University has been placed number 1 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the seventh year running, and ​number 2 in the QS World Rankings 2022. At the heart of this success are the twin-pillars of our ground-breaking research and innovation and our distinctive educational offer.

    Oxford is world-famous for research and teaching excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research alongside our personalised approach to teaching sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.

    Through its research commercialisation arm, Oxford University Innovation, Oxford is the highest university patent filer in the UK and is ranked first in the UK for university spinouts, having created more than 200 new companies since 1988. Over a third of these companies have been created in the past three years. The university is a catalyst for prosperity in Oxfordshire and the United Kingdom, contributing £15.7 billion to the UK economy in 2018/19, and supports more than 28,000 full time jobs.

    The Department of Biology is a University of Oxford department within the Maths, Physical and Life Sciences Division. It utilises academic strength in a broad range of bioscience disciplines to tackle global challenges such as food security, biodiversity loss, climate change and global pandemics. It also helps to train and equip the biologists of the future through holistic undergraduate and graduate courses. For more information visit www.biology.ox.ac.uk

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  • The claim that forest trees “talk” through underground fungi is questionable

    The claim that forest trees “talk” through underground fungi is questionable

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    Newswise — The romantic notion that trees communicate and cooperate with each other has been popular ever since the publication of Suzanne Simard’s much-praised book Finding the Mother Tree.  Simard and many ecologists have described a network of underground fungi that connects the roots of different trees (and other plants) to create what’s called a common mycorrhizal network (CMN). However, some scientists, like Justine Karst, an associate professor in the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences believe these depictions misrepresent ecosystems. While CMNs have been scientifically proven to exist, there is no strong evidence that they offer benefits to trees and their seedlings. Since scientists have yet to prove this underground network actually helps trees communicate with each other, the claim is half true. 

    “It’s great that CMN research has sparked interest in forest fungi, but it’s important for the public to understand that many popular ideas are ahead of the science,” says Karst.

    In an article published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, Karst and two colleagues contest three popular claims about the capabilities of CMNs. They found that one of the claims, that CMNs are widespread in forests, isn’t supported by enough scientific evidence. Not enough is known about CMN structure and its function in the field, “with too few forests mapped.”

    The second claim, that resources such as nutrients are transferred by adult trees to seedlings through CMNs and that they boost survival and growth, was also found to be questionable.

    A review of 26 studies, including one in which Karst is a co-author, established that while resources can be transferred underground by trees, CMNs don’t necessarily bring about that flow, and seedlings typically don’t benefit from CMN access. Overall, their review revealed roughly equal evidence that connecting to a CMN would improve or hamper seedlings, with neutral effects most commonly reported.

    The third claim, that adult trees preferentially send resources or “warning signals” of insect damage to young trees through CMNs, is not backed up by a single peer-reviewed, published field study, Karst and her co-authors note.

    The researchers say overblown information can shape and distort the public narrative about CMNs, and that could, in turn, affect how forests are managed. 

    “Distorting science on CMNs in forests is a problem because sound science is critical for making decisions on how forests are managed. It’s premature to base forest practices and policies on CMNs per se, without further evidence. And failing to identify misinformation can erode public trust in science.”

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  • New damselfly sharing habitat with UK natives

    New damselfly sharing habitat with UK natives

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    Newswise — A damselfly species that came to the UK from Europe poses a minimal risk to native damselflies and dragonflies, new research shows.

    As tens of thousands of species shift their “range” (the areas they live in) due to climate change, the small red-eyed damselfly has spread northwards from the Mediterranean. It was first observed in the UK in 1999 and has since established itself.

    The new study – by the University of Exeter and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology – used data from the British Dragonfly Society to see if it had caused native damselflies and dragonflies to decline.

    The results showed most native dragonflies and damselflies were either found more often or were unchanged in areas colonised by the small red-eyed damselfly.

    However, two damselfly species might have been negatively affected, and more research is needed to investigate this.

    “With range-shifting increasing globally, we need to understand what impact newly arrived species have on ecosystems,” said Dr Regan Early, of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall.

    “In this case, it seems the small red-eyed damselfly has established itself in the UK without harming similar species.

    “It may be establishing itself most strongly in areas with good habitats, and these biodiverse sites could be important for increasing numbers of range-shifters in the future.”

    Dr Early stressed the difference between range-shifters, which arrive naturally from nearby areas (in this case mainland Europe), and invasive species.

    Range-shifters have typically evolved in similar ecosystems to those they arrive in, and the existing native species have usually encountered similar species before.

    Invasive species arrive by human transportation, often from an entirely different part of the world, and can therefore bring behaviours and diseases that threaten native species (eg grey squirrels in the UK).

    Citizen science

    Using British Dragonfly Society records from almost 50,000 site visits from 2000-2015, the new study focussed on sites where each of 17 native UK dragonflies and damselflies were found in each year.

    Researchers then estimated whether the arrival of small red-eyed damselflies had affected these native species.

    “Our approach allows rapid assessment of how range-shifters are affecting native wildlife,” said Dr Jamie Cranston, also from the University of Exeter.

    “It shows how citizen science can be really powerful, in this case by providing an ‘early warning system’ about possible threats to UK wildlife.”

    Of the two damselfly species that have declined where small red-eyed damselflies have established, one is closely related to the new arrival. Dr Early suggests that similarities between their habitat preferences and flight season could cause the small red-eyed damselfly to outcompete its sister species.  

    However, damselflies eat a wide variety of foods, so competition should be low unless conditions caused severe food shortages.

    Additionally, the UK has a relatively small variety of these species compared to the rest of Europe, so there may be “vacant niches” for new arrivals to exploit.

    The study was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

    The paper, published in the journal Insect Conservation and Diversity, is entitled: “Associations between a range-shifting damselfly (Erythromma viridulum) and the UK’s resident Odonata suggests habitat sharing is more important than antagonism.”

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  • New AI methods to tackle the illegal wildlife trade on the Internet

    New AI methods to tackle the illegal wildlife trade on the Internet

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    Newswise — Scientists applied machine vision models and were able to deduce from the context of an image if it pertained to the sale of a live animal. These methods make it possible to flag the posts which may be selling animals illegally.

    Illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be a multi-billion dollar industry where hundreds of species are traded globally. A considerable proportion of the illegal wildlife trade now uses online marketplaces to advertise and sell live animals or animal products as it can reach more buyers than previously possible. With the trade happening across the Internet it is extremely challenging to manually search through thousands of posts and methods for automated filtering are needed.

    Compared to using computer vision to identify species from images, the identification of images related to illegal wildlife trade of species is rendered difficult by the need to identify the context in which the species are portrayed.

    In a new article published in Biological Conservation, scientists based at the Helsinki Lab of Interdisciplinary Conservation Science, University of Helsinki, have filled this gap and developed an automated algorithm using machine learning to identify such image content in the digital space.

    “This is the first-time machine vision models have been applied to deduce the context of an image to identify the sale of a live animal. When a seller is advertising an animal for sale, many times the advertisement is accompanied with an image of the animal in a captive state. This differs from non-captive images, for example a picture of an animal taken by a tourist in a national park. Using a technique called feature visualisation, we demonstrated that our models could take into account both the presence of an animal in the image, and the surrounding environment of the animal in the image. Thus, making it possible to flag the posts which may be selling animals illegally.” says Dr. Ritwik Kulkarni, the lead-author of this study.

    As part of their research, scientists trained 24 different neural-net models on a newly created dataset, under various experimental conditions. The top performing models achieved very high accuracy and were able to discern well between natural and captive contexts. Another interesting feature of the study is that the models were also tested and performed well on data acquired from a source unrelated to training data, therefore showing capability to work well to the identification of other content on the Internet.

    “These methods are a game changer in our work that seeks to enhance automated identification of illegal wildlife trade content from digital sources. We are now upscaling this work to include more taxonomic groups beyond mammals and to develop new models that can identify image and text content simultaneously.”, says Associate Professor Enrico Di Minin, the other co-author who heads the Helsinki Lab of Interdisciplinary Conservation Science.

    The scientists are planning to make their methods openly available for the use of the broader scientific and practitioners’ community.

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  • US authorities found young dolphin’s skull inside unattended bag at a Detroit airport | CNN

    US authorities found young dolphin’s skull inside unattended bag at a Detroit airport | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Federal authorities made a grim and unexpected discovery in an unattended bag last week at a Detroit airport.

    Inside, the bag held a young dolphin’s skull, the US Customs and Border Protection said in a news release Friday.

    The bag was separated from its owners while traveling and when it arrived in the US, a routine screening at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport revealed what appeared to be a skull-shaped object, CBP said in the release.

    “Upon further examination by CBP and US Fish and Wildlife Service officials, it was determined the skull was from a young dolphin,” the release said.

    The skull was turned over to US Fish and Wildlife Service inspectors for further investigation.

    “The possession of wildlife items, especially those of protected animals is prohibited,” Robert Larkin, the area port director, said in a statement. “We take wildlife smuggling seriously and work closely with our federal partners at the US Fish and Wildlife Service to protect wildlife and their habitats.”

    There are restrictions and requirements around importing and exporting certain fish, wildlife and products that come from them – and it’s not the first time US authorities make a similar seizure.

    In December, CBP officers seized zebra and giraffe bones from a woman at Washington’s Dulles International Airport. The woman, who was traveling from Kenya, had kept the bones as souvenirs, authorities said at the time.

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  • A new understanding of reptile coloration

    A new understanding of reptile coloration

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    Newswise — Snakes and mice don’t look alike. But much of what we know about skin coloration and patterning in vertebrates generally, including in snakes, is based on lab mice. However, there are limits to what mice can tell us about other vertebrates because they don’t share all of the same types of color-producing cells, known as chromatophores. For example, snakes have a type of chromatophore called iridophores that can generate iridescent colours by reflecting light.

    To gain a better understanding of the genetic basis of coloration in vertebrates, a McGill University-led research team combined a range of techniques (whole gene sequencing, gene-editing, and electron microscopy) to look more closely at color variations and patterning in the skin shed by ball pythons bred in captivity. They were able to identify a particular gene (tfec) that plays a crucial role in reptile pigmentation generally and more specifically in a classic color variant found across vertebrates and distinguished by blotches of white, the piebald.

    Crowdsourcing biological data with the help of snake breeders

    The sale of captive-bred reptiles is a $1.4 billion industry within the U.S. alone. Over 4.5 million American households keep reptiles, and close to one in five of these are snakes bred in captivity. Due to the spectacular color variations produced through captive breeding, an individual ball python (Python regius – originally found in West and Central Africa) can sell for tens of thousands of dollars.

    “Ball pythons show incredible variation in skin coloring and patterning, which is part of their appeal for hobbyists, but also makes them really useful for researchers who want to understand the genetic basis of coloration,” says Rowan Barrett, Interim Director of McGill University’s Redpath Museum, the Canada Research Chair in Biodiversity Science, and the senior author on the recent paper in Current Biology. “The pet trade has created a huge pool of colour variation that would not have existed otherwise. This provides a catalogue for us to figure out the many ways that genes produce the amazing diversity of colors, spots, and stripes we see across different animals.”

    Gene-editing confirms role of mutation in reptile colouration

    To identify the genes that control a particular trait, scientists look for genetic variants that are present in animals that have the trait and absent in animals that don’t. Using shed skin collected from snake breeders, Barrett’s team found that piebald snakes carried the same mutation in the tfec gene.

    But a common problem for scientists is that finding a correlation between a gene and a particular trait, such as the piebaldism, does not imply causation. To make that functional link, the McGill researchers collaborated with Doug Menke’s lab at the University of Georgia to modify tfec in a different reptile species, the brown anole lizard, using the gene-editing technology CRISPR. They found that genetically modified lizards do indeed show altered colouration, proving that mutations to tfec cause changes to color-producing cells. 

    “Our research advances knowledge of the genetics of vertebrate colouration generally and particularly of the development of iridescent cells, which haven’t been studied as much as other color pathways” adds Alan Garcia-Elfring, a PhD student in McGill’s Biology Department and the first author on the paper. “It also highlights the potential benefits of working with non-academic communities like ball python breeders to accelerate discoveries in fundamental science. Our job, at this point, is to figure out what other mutations underlie all this variation seen in captivity, and how these mutations interact. It’s an exciting time for both researchers and reptile hobbyists.”

     

    “Piebaldism and chromatophore development in reptiles are linked to the tfec gene” in Current Biology by Alan Garcia-Elfring et al

    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.01.004

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  • Tying past mass extinctions with low atmospheric CO2 is false

    Tying past mass extinctions with low atmospheric CO2 is false

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    Newswise — Attempts to discredit human-caused climate change by touting graphs of prehistoric atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature changes are not something new. Peter Clack, an out-spoken climate change skeptic has once again tried to make a point that current atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are comparatively low compared to past eras. In this recent tweet, shared by thousands, Clack includes a graph from the work of Chris Scotese, an American geologist and paleogeographer, which shows that current levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide are relatively low compared to past events and that the only other time CO2 levels were this low was during the early Permian geological era, which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period 298.9 million years ago, to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 million years ago. Clack mentions the “greatest extinction event in world history,” also known as the Permian Extinction as if this happened despite the low atmospheric CO2 recorded. However, most geological scientists contend that the Permian extinction occurred over the course of 15 million years during the latter part of the Permian Period (299 million to 252 million years ago).* Does this at all negate human-caused climate change that is happening in our own era? Of course not. In fact, this observation only backs the belief that a rise in global temperatures (and a sharp rise in CO2) impacts the living species on the planet. The main difference is that today’s fast rise in global temperatures can be prevented by the de-escalation of greenhouse gas emissions.

    The Permian extinction was characterized by the elimination of about 90 percent of the species on Earth. Although the exact cause of the mass extinction event has been debated in the past, a recent study from 2018 showed that the Permian mass extinction in the oceans was most likely caused by global warming that left animals unable to breathe. In fact, there was a steep rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during the late Permian era, as the Scotese graph shows. Scientists believe that this was caused by considerable volcanic activity in present-day Siberia (tied to the dismantling of the supercontinent of Pangaea). This event points to rising CO2 and temperatures drastically affecting the biosphere.

    Chris Cramer, chief research officer at Underwriters Laboratories explains…

    The first and second graphs in this Tweet show that the first claim (600 million year minimum) and second claim (lowest global temperatures) are demonstrably false.

    Any relationship between the Permian extinction event and a local minimum in CO2 (relative to prior higher levels) simply shows how catastrophic it can be to living organisms when there is a significant change in CO2 levels, and associated temperatures, just as is happening right now with human activity driving CO2 above 400 ppm for the first time in millennia.

    Andrew Dessler, director of Texas Center for Climate Studies and professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M also chimes in…

    So what’s wrong with this claim?  It suggests that low CO2 is the cause of the extinction.  I am not an expert on this, but I think the extinction has actually been linked to extensive volcanism that was occurring at about that same time.  In addition, 250 years ago the Earth had 280 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere and the biosphere was doing just fine.  In fact, during the ice age (20,000 years ago), atmospheric CO2 was 180 ppm and the biosphere did OK.

    *https://www.britannica.com/science/Permian-extinction/Alteration-of-the-carbon-cycle

    Note to Journalists/Editors: The expert quotes are free to use in your relevant articles on this topic. Please attribute them to their proper sources.

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  • Elusive Wildcat Found To Be Living On Mount Everest

    Elusive Wildcat Found To Be Living On Mount Everest

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    Scientists have confirmed the presence of an elusive and distinctly grumpy-looking wildcat in Mount Everest.

    The Pallas’s cat, also known as the manul, is a stocky gray wildcat about the size of a domestic housecat. The wildcats make their homes on the high steppes and grasslands of Central Asia. Their solitary nature and remote habitat means they’re rarely spotted in the wild by humans.

    Scientists have confirmed the presence of an elusive and distinctly grumpy-looking wildcat in Mount Everest.

    imageBROKER/Stefan Huwiler via Getty Images

    “It is phenomenal to discover proof of this rare and remarkable species at the top of the world,” Dr. Tracie Seimon of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Zoological Health Program said in a news release from the nonprofit.

    Seimon was a co-leader of the research team that collected “environmental samples” (read: feces) from Everest’s slopes. Using DNA testing, they determined that scat at two different locations ― at 16,765 feet and 17,027 feet above sea level ― came from Pallas’s cats.

    Researchers took the samples in 2019, and a paper on their findings was published in the winter 2022 issue of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s newsletter “Cat News.”

    “It is phenomenal to discover proof of this rare and remarkable species at the top of the world,” said Dr. Tracie Seimon.
    “It is phenomenal to discover proof of this rare and remarkable species at the top of the world,” said Dr. Tracie Seimon.

    Diane Seddon Photography via Getty Images

    “The discovery of Pallas’s cat on Everest illuminates the rich biodiversity of this remote high-alpine ecosystem and extends the known range of this species to eastern Nepal,” Seimon said.

    While Pallas’s cats aren’t as widely known as some feline species ― like their relative, the snow leopard ― they’ve carved out an internet niche due to their unique appearance and somewhat crotchety-seeming demeanor.

    Conservation biology researcher and Pallas’s cat enthusiast Paige Byerly celebrated the news on Twitter with an apt comment.

    “The idea of a Pallas’s cat sneering at elite climbers from behind a rock is truly warming my heart,” she wrote.

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  • DiCaprio and Sheth name new species of tree-dwelling snakes, threatened by mining

    DiCaprio and Sheth name new species of tree-dwelling snakes, threatened by mining

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    Newswise — Five new drop-dead-gorgeous tree-dwelling snake species were discovered in the jungles of Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama. Conservationists Leonardo DiCaprio, Brian Sheth, Re:wild, and Nature and Culture International chose the names for three of them in honor of loved ones while raising awareness about the issue of rainforest destruction at the hands of open-pit mining operations. The research was conducted by Ecuadorian biologist Alejandro Arteaga, an Explorers Club Discovery Expedition Grantee, and Panamanian biologist Abel Batista.

    The mountainous areas of the upper-Amazon rainforest and the Chocó-Darién jungles are world-renowned for the wealth of new species continually discovered in this region. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that they also house some of the largest gold and copper deposits in the world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the proliferation of illegal open-pit gold and copper mining operations in the jungles of Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama reached a critical level and is decimating tree-dwelling snake populations.

    Neotropical snail-eating snakes (genera Sibon and Dipsas) have a unique lifestyle that makes them particularly prone to the effects of gold and copper mining. First, they are arboreal, so they cannot survive in areas devoid of vegetation, such as in open-pit mines. Second, they feed exclusively on slugs and snails, a soft-bodied type of prey that occurs mostly along streams and rivers and is presumably declining because of the pollution of water bodies.

    “When I first explored the rainforests of Nangaritza River in 2014, I remember thinking the place was an undiscovered and unspoiled paradise,” says Alejandro Arteaga, author of the research study on these snakes, which was published in the journal ZooKeys. “In fact, the place is called Nuevo Paraíso in Spanish, but it is a paradise no more. Hundreds of illegal gold miners using backhoe loaders have now taken possession of the river margins, which are now destroyed and turned into rubble.”

    The presence of a conservation area may not be enough to keep the snail-eating snakes safe. In southeastern Ecuador, illegal miners are closing in on Maycu Reserve, ignoring landowner rights and even making violent threats to anyone opposed to the extraction of gold. Even rangers and their families are tempted to quit their jobs to work in illegal mining, as it is much more lucrative. A local park ranger reports that by extracting gold from the Nangaritza River, local people can earn what would otherwise be a year’s salary in just a few weeks. “Sure, it is illegal and out of control, but the authorities are too afraid to intervene,” says the park ranger. “Miners are just too violent and unpredictable.”

    In Panama, large-scale copper mining is affecting the habitat of two of the new species: Sibon irmelindicaprioae and S. canopy. Unlike the illegal gold miners in Ecuador and Colombia, the extraction in this case is legal and at the hands of a single corporation: Minera Panamá S.A., a subsidiary of the Canadian-based mining and metals company First Quantum Minerals Ltd. Although the forest destruction at the Panamanian mines is larger in extent and can easily be seen from space, its borders are clearly defined and the company is under the purview of local environmental authorities.

    “Both legal and illegal open-pit mines are uninhabitable for the snail-eating snakes,” says Arteaga, “but the legal mines may be the lesser of two evils. At the very least they respect the limit of nearby protected areas, answer to a higher authority, and are presumably unlikely to enact violence on park rangers, researchers, and conservationists.”

    Sibon canopy, one of the newly described species, appears to have fairly stable populations inside protected areas of Panama, although elsewhere nearly 40% of its habitat has been destroyed. At Parque Nacional Omar Torrijos, where it is found, there has been a reduction in the number of park rangers (already very few for such a large protected area). This makes it easier for loggers and poachers to reach previously unspoiled habitats that are essential for the survival of the snakes.

    Lack of employment and the high price of gold aggravate the situation. No legal activity can compete against the “gold bonanza.” More and more often, farmers, park rangers, and indigenous people are turning to illegal activities to provide for their families, particularly during crisis situations like the COVID-19 pandemic, when NGO funding was at its lowest.

    “These new species of snake are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of new species discoveries in this region, but if illegal mining continues at this rate, there may not be an opportunity to make any future discoveries,” concludes Alejandro Arteaga.

    Fortunately, three NGOs in Ecuador and Panama (Khamai, Nature and Culture International, and Adopta Bosque) have already made it their mission to save the snake’s habitat from the emerging gold mining frenzy. Supporting these organizations is vital, because their quest for immediate land protection is the only way to save the snakes from extinction.

     

    Original source:

    Arteaga A, Batista A (2023) A consolidated phylogeny of snail-eating snakes (Serpentes, Dipsadini), with the description of five new species from Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama. ZooKeys 1143: 1-49. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1143.93601

     

    Support Khamai Foundation’s mission to save the upper Amazon rainforest from gold mining: https://www.khamai.bio/save_amazon_rainforest_from_gold_mining.html

    Support Nature and Culture International: https://www.natureandculture.org

    Support Fundación Adopta Bosque: https://adoptabosque.org

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  • Penguins, Robots, The Ocean and more

    Penguins, Robots, The Ocean and more

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    Newswise — Fieldwork in Antarctica is tricky, just ask University of Delaware scientist Matthew Breece. There is the 10-day trek to get there from Delaware, which includes a sometimes stomach-revolting four-day sail through Drake Passage, heavy research equipment to manage, limits on what you can pack. The temperatures are cool, averaging just above freezing at around 36 degrees Fahrenheit in the austral summer from October to February. Weather can change rapidly, too, relegating researchers indoors when conditions are poor and making for very long days in the field when conditions are pristine.

    But if you ask a scientist…or student…if the effort is worth it, the answer is a resounding YES!

    Marine biology students at Caesar Rodney High School in Camden, Delaware, got a firsthand look at what it’s like to conduct field research on penguins in Antarctica on Tuesday, Jan. 24, during a live video call with Matthew Breece, a research scientist in marine science and policy at the University of Delaware.

    “It’s fun, but also a lot of hard work,” said Breece, who guided the nearly 50 students through a virtual tour of Palmer Station, a United States research station situated on Anvers Island, Antarctica.

    Breece showed the students glaciers, laboratory experiments, research equipment and common areas, like the library, and shared stories and answered questions about living among wildlife including penguins, whales and seals. 

    “Wildlife have the right of way here,” said Breece, explaining how researchers were scrambling over rocks to get to their research vessels earlier in the week, while a crab-eater seal sunned itself on the boat dock. Gentoo penguins can swim 22 miles per hour, which is faster than the research boats can go, while Adélie penguins can only swim 10-12 mph.

    Breece and his colleagues are examining the feeding habits and predator-prey interactions of Adélie and Gentoo penguins in the region using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The AUV, called a REMUS, is equipped with a high-resolution echosounder that uses sonar to collect data about food resources that are available to marine animals in Palmer Deep Canyon on the West Antarctic Peninsula.

    Besides hearing from Breece, students also saw dramatic photographs from Antarctica and scientific charts used in the research.

    The new echosounder gives researchers a birds-eye view of what’s for lunch in the water. It was developed by Mark Moline, Maxwell P. and Mildred H. Harrington Professor of Marine Studies at UD and principal investigator on the project, and project co-PIs Kelly Benoit-Bird, senior scientist at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and Megan Cimino, assistant researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences and assistant adjunct professor of ocean sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

    “We switched to shorter wavelength frequencies to look at smaller things,” said Moline. “So, not only looking at the oceanography, but also the high-resolution food distribution of krill, copepods, fish and the species that eat them, like penguins.”

    The UD work complements the National Science Foundation’s ongoing Palmer Station Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) study related to penguin population sizes and foraging ranges. The seabird component of the Palmer LTER research is led by Cimino, a UD alumna.

    Cimino has a second project with Carlos Moffat, a UD coastal physical oceanographer who also is in Antarctica serving as chief scientist of the Palmer LTER program, which has been collecting long-term ecological data for over 30 years. Collaborating institutions on the broader Palmer LTER study, led by Rutgers University and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), include researchers from UD, University of Virginia, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, University of Colorado, and University of California, Santa Cruz.

    Moffat also is conducting physical oceanography work as part of his NSF CAREER award to understand the dynamics of melting glaciers and how that impacts the ocean circulation and properties, such as salinity and temperature of the coastal ocean.

    “As the atmosphere is warming in this region of Antarctica, sea ice is decreasing and more glaciers are melting from the coast, physically changing the environment marine organisms are living in,” said Moffat. “One big question is what this means long term for marine organisms that live in these places, such as penguins, whales, seals and other wildlife. I see my contribution as trying to help them understand how the physical environment impacts the entire ecosystem.”

    From Antarctica to Delaware

    Lessons learned in Antarctica can help shed light on uncertainties about how sea level rise will evolve in other parts of the world, too. For instance, Delaware is a low-lying state with no area of the state more than eight miles from tidal waters. It is considered a big hotspot of sea level rise along the U.S. East Coast. And while sea levels are increasing on average around the world, due to ocean warming and melting ice from the continents, the distribution of sea level is very uneven. 

    “To understand what is going to happen in the future, we need to understand why sea levels are increasing and how it’s going to change over time,” said Moffat. “Antarctica is a good place to study this because change is happening very rapidly.”

    For most of the 20th century, the Palmer Station region was considered the fastest changing region in the southern hemisphere, while the Weddell Sea, which is located just around the corner of the Antarctic peninsula, had not changed as much. Over the last few years, researchers have begun to wonder whether the Weddell Sea has any influence on the West Antarctic Peninsula region or whether the regions are changing independently.

    To better understand these processes, Moffat’s team deployed two AUVs called gliders to sample the circulation close to the coast along the Antarctic peninsula, which is heavily influenced by the melting of glaciers. He and his students recovered oceanographic moorings that have been capturing data, such as water circulation currents, temperature and salinity, since early 2022. This is part of the West Antarctic Peninsula that has never been sampled before, so the team is eager to analyze the data.

    “I am particularly excited about the glider measurements, which I plan to add to my dissertation,” said Frederike (Rikki) Benz, a doctoral student in the Moffat lab. “It is especially interesting to be involved in the whole process from preparing, shipping and deploying to publishing.”

    Classrooms beyond campus

    For students, field research offers the opportunity for hands-on experience with sophisticated research instruments, data collection and analysis, troubleshooting and networking with researchers from other institutions. Sometimes those activities occur in remote regions of the world — like Antarctica.

    “The rarity of this experience comes with a sense of humility and responsibility to not take any moment for granted, a responsibility to ensure more opportunities are available for future students and scientists,” said Evan Quinter, who is pursuing a master’s degree in physical ocean science and engineering in the Moffat Lab.

    At Caesar Rodney High School, marine biology teachers Cristine Taylor and Sandra Ramsdell have just begun covering marine animals with their students. It is a fitting coincidence that made the live call with UD researchers both timely and meaningful.

    “Spending a day in class speaking with researchers was an awesome experience for our students,” said Taylor. “We are trying to encourage them to look at everything that goes into marine careers. Not every person is a marine biologist, there are computer scientists and engineers, ship captains and crew, and so many more people who can work in marine research.”

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  • Alaskan island wolves caused a deer population to plummet

    Alaskan island wolves caused a deer population to plummet

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    Newswise —

    Historically, wolves and sea otters likely lived in the study area, Pleasant Island, which is located in an island landscape adjacent to Glacier Bay about 40 miles west of Juneau. The island is about 20 square miles, uninhabited and accessible only by boat or float plane.

    During the 1800s and much of the 1900s, populations of sea otters in this region were wiped out from fur trade hunting. Unlike wolves in the continental USA, Southeast Alaskan wolves were not hunted to local extinction. Only in recent decades, particularly with the reintroduction and legal protection of sea otters, have the populations of both species recovered and once again overlapped, providing new opportunities for predator-prey interactions between the two species.

    Wolves on an Alaskan switched to primarily eating sea otters in just a few years, a finding scientists believe is the first case of sea otters becoming the primary food source for a land-based predator. Using methods such as tracking the wolves with GPS collars and analyzing their scat, the researchers found that in 2015 deer were the primary food of the wolves. By 2017, wolves transitioned to primarily consuming sea otters while the frequency of deer declined.

    Sea otters are this famous predator in the near-shore ecosystem and wolves are one of the most famous apex predators in terrestrial systems. So, it’s pretty surprising that sea otters have become the most important resource feeding wolves. You have top predators feeding on a top predator.

    The researchers studied the wolf pack on Pleasant Island and the adjacent mainland from 2015 to 2021. Gretchen Roffler, a wildlife research biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and others from the department collected 689 wolf scats, many along the island’s shoreline.

    Once the scat is collected, members of Levi’s lab in Oregon used molecular tools, such as DNA metabarcoding and genotyping of the scat, to identify individual wolves and determine their diets.

    Roffler also captured and placed GPS collars on four wolves on the island and nine on the mainland. The researchers were curious whether wolves were traveling between the mainland and island, considering other scientists have found they are capable of swimming up to eight miles between land masses. Both the GPS collar data and genotypes of the scats confirmed they were not, indicating that the island wolf pack is stable and that the island is not a hunting ground for mainland wolves.

    Locations from the GPS-collared wolves also provide evidence that the wolves are killing sea otters when they are in shallow water or are resting on rocks near shore exposed at low tide. Roffler and her crew have investigated wolf GPS clusters on Pleasant Island for three, 30-day field seasons since 2021 and found evidence of 28 sea otters killed by wolves.

    “The thing that really surprised me is that sea otters became the main prey of wolves on this island,” Roffler said. “Occasionally eating a sea otter that has washed up on the beach because it died, that is not unusual. But the fact that wolves are eating so many of them indicates it has become a widespread behavior pattern throughout this pack and something that they learned how to do very quickly.

    “And from the work we are doing investigating kill sites, we are learning that wolves are actively killing the sea otters. So, they aren’t just scavenging sea otters that are dead or dying, they are stalking them and hunting them and killing them and dragging them up onto the land above the high tide line to consume them.”

    Shortly after wolves colonized Pleasant Island in 2013, the deer population on the island plummeted. With the wolves having consumed most of the deer, their main food source, Levi said he would have expected the wolves to leave the island or die off. Instead, the wolves remained and the pack grew to a density not previously seen with wolf populations, Levi said. The main reason, he believes, is the availability of sea otters as a food source.

    The findings outlined by the same researchers showed that wolves were eating sea otters. This was documented throughout the Alexander Archipelago, a group of Southeastern Alaskan islands which includes Pleasant Island.

    The research has now expanded to study wolves and sea otters in Katmai National Park & Preserve, which is in southwest Alaska, about 700 miles from Pleasant Island. Early research indicates that wolves are also eating sea otters there. In fact, at that location three wolves were killing a sea otter near the shore.

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  • Reduced krill lead to fewer pregnancies in humpback whales

    Reduced krill lead to fewer pregnancies in humpback whales

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    New collaborative research led by scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, shows reduced krill supplies lead to fewer pregnancies in humpback whales—a finding that could have major implications for industrial krill fishing.

    The study, published January 15 in Global Change Biology, is based on eight years of data on humpback whale pregnancies (2013 to 2020) in waters along the Western Antarctic Peninsula, where krill fishing is concentrated.

    Krill availability in the year before a humpback pregnancy is crucial because females need to increase their energy stores to support the upcoming pregnancy. In 2017, after a year in which krill were abundant, 86% of the humpback females sampled were pregnant. But in 2020, following a year in which krill were less plentiful, only 29% of humpback females were pregnant.

    Lead author Logan Pallin, a postdoctoral researcher in the Ocean Sciences Department at UC Santa Cruz, said the study demonstrates for the first time the link between population growth and krill availability in Antarctic whales.

    “This is significant because until now, it was thought that krill were essentially an unlimited food source for whales in the Antarctic,” said Pallin, who earned his Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology at UCSC while working on this study. “Continued warming and increased fishing along the Western Antarctic Peninsula, which continue to reduce krill stocks, will likely impact this humpback whale population and other krill predators in the region.”

    “This information is critical as we can now be proactive about managing how, when, and how much krill is taken from the Antarctic Peninsula,” he added. “In years of poor krill recruitment, we should not compound this by removing krill from critical foraging areas for baleen whales.”

    Coauthor Ari Friedlaender, professor of ocean sciences at UC Santa Cruz, said the Western Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing some of the fastest climatic warming of any region on the planet. Winter air temperatures have risen significantly since the 1950s, and the annual sea ice extent is, on average, 80 days shorter than four decades ago.

    “Krill supplies vary depending on the amount of sea ice because juvenile krill feed on algae growing on sea ice and also rely on the ice for shelter,” Friedlaender said. “In years with less sea ice in the winter, fewer juvenile krill survive to the following year. The impacts of climate change and likely the krill fishery are contributing to a decrease in humpback whale reproductive rates in years with less krill available for whales.”

    Coauthor Chris Johnson, the global lead of the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Protecting Whales & Dolphins Initiative, said this research shows that highly precautionary management measures are needed to protect all Antarctic marine life that depends on krill for its survival, including blue, fin, humpback, minke, and southern right whales, as well as other krill predators such as penguins, seabirds, seals, and fish.

    “Krill are not an inexhaustible resource, and there is a growing overlap between industrial krill fishing and whales feeding at the same time,” Johnson said. “Humpback whales feed in the Antarctic for a handful of months a year to fuel their annual energetic needs for migration that spans thousands of kilometers. We need to tread carefully and protect this unique part of the world, which will benefit whales across their entire range.”

    Pallin and Friedlaender collaborated on this research with coauthors from multiple national and international universities, NGOs, non-profits, and government agencies. This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, and Marine Mammal Commission.

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  • Researchers find that traded species have distinctive life histories with extended reproductive lifecycles

    Researchers find that traded species have distinctive life histories with extended reproductive lifecycles

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    Newswise — A new study by researchers from Durham University, UK, Queen’s University Belfast, UK, University of Extremadura, Spain and Swansea University, UK have revealed that vertebrate species involved in the live wildlife trade have distinctive life history traits, biological characteristics that determine the frequency and timing of reproduction.

    Researchers discovered that traded species produce large numbers of offspring across long reproductive lifespans, an unusual profile that is likely financially advantageous for trades involving captive breeding such as the pet, food and fur/skin trades.

    Traded species that have also been introduced into non-native areas have a more extreme version of this same life history profile, suggesting that species most likely to become problematic invaders are at a heightened risk of trade and release.

    The study suggests that humans favour species with high reproductive output for trade and release, which are the very species likely to become problematic invaders in future.

    Researchers point out that life history traits are therefore potentially useful for predicting future invasions.

    Full study results have been published in the journal Nature Communications.

    Reflecting on the study results, first author Dr Sally Street of Durham University, said: “Invasive species can cause huge environmental problems but are challenging to manage once established. This means it is really important to try to identify characteristics that increase the risk of species passing through the earliest stages of the invasion pathway, transportation and introduction, which have been relatively understudied.

    “We show that not only are life history traits useful for identifying species at risk of trade, introduction and ultimately invasion, human activities unfortunately seem to favour trade in species that are most likely to succeed if released. We hope our study will contribute to the management and mitigation of future invasions and the damage they can cause to biodiversity.”

    Co-author of the study, Dr Isabella Capellini of Queen’s University Belfast, said: “The rate of traded species is rapidly increasing worldwide; some of these species are accidentally or deliberately introduced and may become problematic invaders damaging native ecosystems. Given the high costs of managing alien invasive species, preventing the release of potentially invasive species may help protect native biodiversity.

    “To help achieve this, in our study we have also identified some vertebrate species at risk of becoming future invaders should they be traded and recommend such species to be monitored and banned from trade.”

    The researchers studied trade data from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Law Enforcement Management Information System (LEMIS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

    They analysed the role of life history traits in the probability that mammals, reptiles and amphibians are involved in the wildlife trade and that these species have been released outside of their native ranges.

    Invasive species can cause huge environmental problems and monetary costs. Once established, invasive populations can be difficult or impossible to manage.

    Therefore, understanding the early stages of invasion and predicting future invasions is crucial to minimising this harm.

    The researchers call for increased regulation of the live wildlife trade that is likely crucial for preventing future invasions.

    ENDS

     

     

    Source

    “Human activities favour prolific life histories in both traded and introduced vertebrates”, (2023), S. Street, J. Gutierrez, W. Allen and I. Capellini, Nature Communications.

    Full paper is available online: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35765-6

    Graphics

    Associated images are available via the following link: https://dmscdn.vuelio.co.uk/publicitem/3e635e6d-e204-4145-acfa-e373c2368f2e

    Useful Web Links 

    Dr Sally Street staff profile: https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/sally-e-street/

    Dr Isabella Capellini staff profile: https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/isabella-capellini

    Department of Anthropology: https://www.durham.ac.uk/anthropology/

    Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre: https://www.durham.ac.uk/dcerc/

    About Queen’s University Belfast

    Queen’s University Belfast is one of the top 200 universities in the world. A member of the Russell Group UK’s 24 leading research-intensive universities, Queen’s is an international centre of research and education, with a student-centred ethos.

    Queen’s is ranked 17th in the world for international outlook (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022), 1st in the UK for entrepreneurial impact (Octopus Ventures, 2020) and 24th in the UK for Research Power (REF 2021/ Times Higher Education). Our research shapes worlds and continues to make a difference to lives and livelihoods, with 88% assessed at world leading or internationally excellent.

    The university is a lead partner in the Belfast Region City Deal which will unlock £1 billion of transformative co-investment, bringing forward projects in advanced manufacturing, clinical research and secure, connected digital technologies.

    About Durham University

    Durham University is a globally outstanding centre of teaching and research based in historic Durham City in the UK.

    We are a collegiate university committed to inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham and in the world.

    We conduct boundary-breaking research that improves lives globally and we are ranked as a world top 100 university with an international reputation in research and education (QS World University Rankings 2023).

    We are a member of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive UK universities and we are consistently ranked as a top 10 university in national league tables (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, Guardian University Guide and The Complete University Guide).

    For more information about Durham University visit: www.durham.ac.uk/about/

    END OF MEDIA RELEASE – issued by Durham University Communications Office

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  • Science is the best (local, regional, national, global) policy

    Science is the best (local, regional, national, global) policy

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    By Eleanor Eckel, BRI Communications Coordinator

    Newswise — A coyote’s lone cry punctuated the darkness as the two biologists hiked the wooded trail, parkas tightly zipped against the chill October night. They had been trekking this route every hour since dusk, winding their way to the mist nets they had set up earlier in the day. Once at a net, they slowly walked along its 36-foot length. When they discovered a northern saw-whet owl lying passively in one of the net pockets, they worked quickly, expertly untangling, banding, sampling, and measuring the tiny raptor in just minutes.

    Since 2009, BRI wildlife biologist Kate Williams and others have studied the migration and movement patterns of birds and bats over the Gulf of Maine and elsewhere on the Atlantic coast. BRI biologists documented that migratory owls fly over open water, taking advantage of islands as stopover sites, and that migratory falcons will fly hundreds of miles out over the Atlantic on their way south to the Caribbean and South America. This new information initiated important discussions about how migrating birds and bats might be affected by offshore structures, such as wind turbines.

    Careful siting of renewable energy development seems to play a key role in minimizing impacts to wildlife, but this requires detailed knowledge of where animals breed, winter, and migrate. To address this need, BRI established a wildlife and renewable energy program in 2009, which has evolved over the past 12 years into BRI’s Center for Research on Offshore Wind and the Environment (CROWE). Offshore wind energy is an essential component of plans to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and mitigate the effects of climate change on wildlife and ecosystems. According to the 2022 International Panel on Climate Change report, it is now “unequivocal” that human influence has warmed the atmosphere. Fossil fuel use has significantly contributed to the acceleration of climate change impacts, and now the “scale of recent changes across the climate system as a whole – and the present state of many aspects of the climate system – are unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years.” A path forward involves increased renewable energy technology to limit cumulative CO2 emissions.

    However, as with other energy sources, offshore wind can also present risks to wildlife and their environment. BRI biologists continue to work to understand wildlife distributions and movements and to identify ways to minimize risks from offshore wind energy development.

    CROWE director Kate Williams recognizes the need for rapid, renewable energy development as well as thorough wildlife risk assessments and monitoring. “We are trying to figure out how to mitigate sort of, local scale impacts to wildlife from these developments…but trying to figure out how to minimize that as much as possible for this sort of greater good of trying to figure out how to mitigate climate change to the point that we’re not going to see sort of large-scale extinctions, which is what they’re predicting right now.”

    Specific research conducted by BRI staff intended to determine potential risks to wildlife from offshore wind development include bird field studies and assessments for seabirds, waterfowl, shorebirds, songbirds, and raptors, acoustic studies, transmitter deployment and tracking, observational surveys (vessel- and plane-based), digital aerial surveys, stakeholder engagement and coordination, and development of siting strategies and monitoring and mitigation plans.

    As with all BRI research centers and programs, the offshore wind team utilizes innovative science and cutting-edge technology to provide accurate information. High-definition digital aerial surveys involve survey planes with an array of cameras that point down to the ocean’s surface which can identify species seen in the video. Aerial surveys allow researchers to determine which species are most at risk in areas designated for proposed wind arrays, and that information can be passed on to decision makers and developers. BRI also houses a Quantitative Wildlife Ecology Research Laboratory (QWERL) that provides large scale population and distribution models that help understand population dynamics in or near offshore wind arrays. Williams notes, “it’s a rare skillset to have that degree of mathematical expertise and also have the ecological expertise to understand how to apply it.” Cutting-edge science, combined with a wide range of ecological expertise, will continue to guide BRI’s wind energy research to provide accurate information to stakeholders and policy makers.

     

    More stories on https://briwildlife.org/bri-blog/.

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  • Something to (re)think about

    Something to (re)think about

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    By Alyssa Soucy, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Maine

    Newswise — As the spotlight cuts across the lake, intersecting with the horizon beyond, I saw the trio of Common Loons as only white floating specks surrounded by darkness. Almost like a mirage, they appeared through the fog and the gnats swirling off the surface of the water. I fixed the beam of light on one of the chicks who looked serenely unaware of our approaching boat. My body and mind launched into the sole purpose of illuminating that chick as Carl Brown, BRI’s field biologist leading this loon translocation effort, swung a net over the side of the boat. Under the starry sky that evening, we successfully captured a Common Loon chick for safe relocation and release.

    Iain Stenhouse, field biologist and director of BRI’s Marine Bird Program, is accustomed to experiencing the profoundly mesmerizing, immersive feelings that arise when working closely with wildlife. Whether on a boat off the coast of Maine tracking families of Common Eiders, or surrounded by an Arctic Tern colony in Greenland, Stenhouse is at home in the wild working with the birds. In fact, as he recalls tracking these terns, a species that claim the longest migration distance on record, he becomes awakened by the connection he has with them. “There’s not much to an Arctic Tern, it’s almost all feathers. And, to know that this bird, under its own steam, has been to Antarctica and back again since you last saw it, and it doesn’t look any different is just breathtaking.” Stenhouse describes the feeling he has when holding birds as being unlike any other, “I’ve never known anything that had that same kind of rush of excitement and fascination and just awe.”

    BRI’s field biologists seek out opportunities that put them into close contact with the natural world. In fact, those encounters captivate, awaken, and spark their motivation and passion. Evan Adams, BRI’s director of the Quantitative Wildlife Ecology Research Lab, was drawn to this career after a trip to Costa Rica. Adams recounts, “There’s a hummingbird called the Violet Sabrewing. You could hear them as they flew by you because they sounded like a Harley Davidson, you didn’t even have to look. And I thought that that was super cool, and when returned home, I thought, ‘I want to study birds’—that was kind of it.”

    Helen Yurek, another BRI wildlife biologist, spends many days and nights in remote places. “You just see really cool things; you see animals doing things that you might not have otherwise.” Sarah Dodgin, an ecological analyst for BRI, recently spotted an elusive Upland Sandpiper during fieldwork. She exclaims, “They ran out right in front of the truck and I was like ‘Oh, my gosh, here you are!’ It was a cool feeling.” Similar to my experience working with the loons, and Stenhouse’s in Greenland with Arctic Terns diving overhead, each of us recognizes that sense of awe and wholeness we feel when we are connected with the world around us.

    Through our own experiences we are all describing a concept that psychologists have been studying for decades. The term connectedness to nature refers to the emotional and cognitive connections we have with the natural world. In recent years, interest in the relationship between nature and human well-being has exploded. A growing trend of “park prescriptions” involves doctors encouraging patients to spend time outdoors. Spending time in close contact with nature can lead to positive health outcomes, including lower rates of depression and anxiety, anger and fatigue, and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Experimental studies have shown that being outside can even improve working memory and task performance, as well as invoke feelings of restorativeness and increase happiness. As Rachel Carson wrote in Silent Spring, “There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.” It is in this personal relationship with nature that we can find solace.

    Questions remain as to why spending time in nature may lead to positive health outcomes. Some answers lie in the specific chemical and biological components contained within natural environments. While others turn to the field of psychology. For example, people experience a great sense of awe in response to nature. The awe and fascination that Stenhouse describes when working closely with birds conveys a sense of fulfillment, connection, and restorativeness. As he notes, “Modern living doesn’t provide many real moments anymore. That moment—feeling that little heartbeat against your fingertips and the warmth of another little creature in the world—is very cool.” The Biophilia Hypothesis further suggests that throughout much of our two-million-year evolutionary history, humans lived in hunter-gatherer societies, coexisting with the natural world. A connection with nature, or “biophilia,” developed and became integral to human survival. A connection to nature then may be rooted in our connection to our ancestral selves.

    Weeks later, when remembering the feel of the loon’s heartbeat and the sound of its haunting call, I am transported back to that night, back to that connection I felt with the loons and the lake, and the sense of purpose that enveloped me. As a social psychologist, I study people. Rarely do I have experiences that bring me in such close physical contact with wildlife; yet, it has taken only that one night to realize that there really is no other feeling like it.

    Social psychologists continue to document feelings of a connectedness to nature that have profound effects on behaviors, attitudes, and health. In doing so, they offer solutions that address both human and environmental well-being by recognizing the interconnections between the two. Whether you experience nature in a remote place while handling an Arctic Tern, out on a lake on a clear summer night surrounded by the calls of loons, or in the local community forest during your weekly walk, a connection and restoration is there waiting for you. As Robin Wall Kimmerer writes, “As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.”

     

    More stories on https://briwildlife.org/bri-blog/.

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  • Grizzly bears test positive for bird flu in Montana, officials say | CNN

    Grizzly bears test positive for bird flu in Montana, officials say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Three grizzly bears were euthanized in Montana after they became ill and tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, according to the state’s Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

    These were the first documented cases of bird flu in a grizzly in Montana and the first nationwide for this outbreak of HPAI, according to Dr. Jennifer Ramsey, the department’s wildlife veterinarian.

    The juvenile bears were in three separate locations in the western part of the state during the fall, the Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks said in a statement.

    The bears “were observed to be in poor condition and exhibited disorientation and partial blindness, among other neurological issues,” the statement said. “They were euthanized due to their sickness and poor condition.”

    Avian influenza – commonly called bird flu – is a naturally occurring virus that spreads quickly in birds. There were documented cases of HPAI in a skunk and a fox in Montana last year, and the virus has been seen in raccoons, black bears and a coyote in other states and countries, according to the Montana agency.

    “The virus is spread from one bird to another,” Dr. Ramsey told CNN via email. “These mammals likely got infected from consuming carcasses of HPAI infected birds.”

    “Fortunately, unlike avian cases, generally small numbers of mammal cases have been reported in North America,” Ramsey said. “For now, we are continuing to test any bears that demonstrate neurologic symptoms or for which a cause of death is unknown.”

    While finding three grizzlies with bird flu in a short period of time may raise concerns, Ramsey said it may well be that there have been more cases that haven’t been detected.

    “When wildlife mortalities occur in such small numbers or individuals, and in species like skunks, foxes and bears that don’t spend a lot of time in situations where they are highly visible to the public, they can be hard to detect,” the wildlife veterinarian said.

    “When you get that first detection you tend to start looking harder, and you’re more likely to find new cases,” she said. “When a large number of birds are found dead on a body of water, it gets noticed and reported… when someone sees a dead skunk, they may think nothing of it and not report it.”

    While it’s unknown just how prevalent the virus is in wild birds, “we know that the virus is active basically across the entire state due to the wide distribution of cases of HPAI mortality in some species of wild birds,” Ramsey said.

    The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in November the country was approaching “a record number of birds affected compared to previous bird flu outbreaks,” with more than 49 million birds in 46 states dying or being killed due to exposure to infected birds.

    Human infections with bird flu are rare but are possible, “usually after close contact with infected birds. The current risk to the general public from bird flu viruses is low,” the CDC says on its website.

    The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks is asking people to report any birds or animals acting “unusual or unexplained cases of sickness and/or death.”

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