projectpowerplant.com

National Geograpohic

One fish—the goliath grouper—has suddenly become two.

The Atlantic goliath grouper, found in warm waters of the Americas and western Africa, is a separate species from the goliath grouper that roams tropical reefs of the eastern Pacific Ocean, a new genetic study shows.

The newly identified Pacific goliath grouper can grow more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) long and weighs nearly 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms).

Since the oceangoing giants are identical in body shape and markings, scientists hadn’t thought to analyze their genes.

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The goliath groupers split off into two species about three and a half million years ago, when the Atlantic and the Pacific became separated by modern-day Panama.

But the new species may be short-lived, experts warn: The Pacific grouper will likely join the Atlantic grouper as critically endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

Photograph courtesy Rachel Graham/Wildlife Conservation Society

Discovery

The habitats of wild bird species are shifting in response to global warming, but not fast enough to keep pace with rising temperatures, according to a study released Wednesday.

Researchers in France also found that the delicate balance of wildlife in different ecosystems is changing up to eight times more quickly than previously suspected, with potentially severe consequences for some species.

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These “mismatches” are likely to become greater over time, and could eventually threaten some birds with extinction, he added.

The study showed that the geographic range of 105 birds species in France — accounting for 99.5 percent of the country’s wild avian population — moved north, on average, 91 kilometers (56.5 miles) from 1989 through 2006.

Average temperatures, however, shifted northward 273 kilometers (170 miles) over the same period, nearly three times farther.

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Earlier studies looked at the impact of global warming by comparing “snapshots” — taken years or decades apart — of the range across which a given species lived.

But trying to define the outer boundary of a shifting habitat is extremely difficult because data is, by definition, scarce.

Devictor took another approach, taking advantage of France’s French Breeding Bird Survey, which has gathered data collected by hundreds of ornithologists from more than 1500 well-defined plots since 1989.

This made it possible to look at the entire distribution of a species over a continuous period, he explained.

The northward shift of most species “is most likely changing at its maximal possible rate, which is insufficient to catch up to climate change,” Devictor said.

“This discrepancy may have profound consequences on the ability of species to cope with climate change in the long run.”

The study was published in the British journal Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

independent.co.uk

A quarter of whales, dolphins and porpoises are threatened with extinction, with one in 10 species endangered to the very highest levels, a study by conservationists will reveal today.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reports a change in the conservation status of a third of all marine mammals, with the majority said to be at a greater risk of extinction than before. Critically endangered species include the Antarctic blue whale, Maui’s dolphin, the Pacific grey whale and the Baltic harbour porpoise.

However, the international moratorium on whale hunting has helped both humpback and southern right whale populations make a comeback after decades of industrial hunting threatened their extinction, the IUCN said. Both species were previously classed as “vulnerable” but are now listed as of “least concern”.

Randall Reeves, of the IUCN, said: “Humpbacks and southern right whales are making a comeback in much of their range, mainly because they have been protected from commercial hunting. This is a great conservation success and clearly shows what needs to be done to ensure these ocean giants survive.”

However, the updated list also revealed that while the lot of some cetaceans is improving, many coastal and freshwater species such as river dolphins are increasingly threatened with extinction due to human activities.

Fishing, habitat degradation, climate change and noise pollution in the form of military sonar and seismic surveys were all having a damaging effect.

reuters

Elephant seals swimming under Antarctic ice and fitted with special sensors are providing scientists with crucial data on ice formation, ocean currents and climate change, a study released on Tuesday said.

The seals swimming under winter sea ice have overcome a “blind-spot” for scientists by allowing them to calculate how fast sea ice forms during winter.

Sea ice reflects sunlight back into space, so less sea ice means more energy is absorbed by the earth, causing more warming.

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Conventional oceanographic monitoring from ships, satellites and drifting buoys, cannot provide observations under sea ice.

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The elephant seals have provided scientists with a 30-fold increase in data recorded in parts of the Southern Ocean, said the study by a team of French, Australian, U.S. and British scientists and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Between 2004 and 2005, the seals swam up to 65 kilometers (40 miles) a day, supplying scientists with 16,500 ice profiles. The seals dived to a depth of more than 500 meters (1,500 feet) on average and to a maximum depth of nearly 2 km (a mile).

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The experiment involved 85 seals with sensors attached to their heads.

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The polar regions play an important role in the earth’s climate and are changing more rapidly than any other part of the world, with the Southern Ocean warming more rapidly than the global ocean average.

Sea ice not only affects the amount of energy reflected back into space, but also the amount of dense water around the Antarctic which drives ocean currents that transports heat around the globe.

Sea ice also provides a critical habitat for krill, penguins and seals.

An elephant seal is seen with a special sensor fitted to its head in South Georgia in this undated photo released on August 12, 2008 by the Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

REUTERS

CNN

An estimated 125,000 Western lowland gorillas are living in a swamp in equatorial Africa, researchers reported Tuesday, double the number of the endangered primates thought to survive worldwide.

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The last census on the species, carried out during the 1980s, estimated that there were only 100,000 of the gorillas left worldwide. Since then, the researchers estimated, the numbers had been cut in half.

WCS survey teams conducted the research in 2006 and 2007, traveling to the remote Lac Tele Community Reserve in northern Republic of Congo, a vast area of swamp forest.

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Though researchers did spot some gorillas, they based their estimate on the number of gorilla nests found at the site, Rainey said. Each gorilla makes a nest to sleep in at night.

“This is the highest-known density of gorillas that’s ever been found,” Rainey said.

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While the discovery in northern Congo indicates that the gorilla population remains stable in some areas, it is likely that gorillas will remain critically endangered because the threats facing the species are so great, Rainey said. iReport.com: Share photos and video of gorillas in zoos or the wild

“We know very little about Ebola and how it spreads,” he said. “We don’t even know the animal that spreads it around.”

The goal now, Rainey said, is to work with the Congolese government and donors to protect the areas in which the gorillas are known to be living.

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Illegal hunting and habitat loss have also threatened the Cross River gorillas, found in the highlands of Cameroon and Nigeria. Only about 250 to 300 are estimated to remain in the world, the WCS says.

War, habitat loss, poaching and disease are the major threats to the mountain gorillas, made famous by researcher Dian Fossey and the film “Gorillas in the Mist.” The mountain gorilla population is starting to recover after decades of conservation work. From a population of around 230 in the 1970s, the mountain gorillas now number around 700, the WCS says.

Poaching and war have also threatened populations of Grauer’s gorillas in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Zaire. The WCS estimates their population to be around 16,000.

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Conservation International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature issued the report.

Forest clearings draw large numbers of Western lowland gorillas searching for food.

International Herald Tribune

The nation’s mayors voted Monday against spending taxpayer money to buy bottled water, a blow to the beverage industry that has enjoyed growing profit from water sales in recent years.

A majority of about 250 mayors at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Miami voted to phase out regular use of bottled water for its employees and functions. One example is that attendees of city council meetings around the country could more often see pitchers of water instead of clear plastic bottles on the tables of local legislators.

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The nonbinding vote is the latest salvo against an industry that includes PepsiCo Inc.’s Aquafina, The Coca-Cola Co.’s Dasani and Nestle Waters North America’s many brands, which included Poland Spring and Deer Park.

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Corporate Accountability International said in a statement that cities spend about $70 million a year to dispose of plastic water bottles. The group’s Gigi Kellett said, “It’s just plain common sense for cities to stop padding the bottled water industry’s bottom line at taxpayer expense.”

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Leading up to the vote, more than 60 mayors around the country had taken some measures to reduce or eliminate bottled water use, Corporate Accountability said. Most recently, the cities of San Jose, Calif., Miami and Orlando, Fla., decided to phase out bottled water.

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Critics of bottled water point to the energy wasted in production of plastic bottles and the shipping process. Bottled water consumption has been growing at double-digit rates. The mayor’s resolution claims the industry is already $15 billion in size.

Bottled water became popular as consumers sought convenient yet healthier alternatives to sodas. Environmentalists and now mayors, who want to protect the reputation of tap water that comes from municipal water systems, have pushed back.

The mayors recognize the importance of bottled water during emergencies when tap water is not feasible, the resolution said.

independent.co.uk

Lobsters have boomed in Britain’s first marine nature reserve, where fishing is banned. The large crustaceans have soared in numbers in the “no-take zone” around Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel, which was established five years ago as a prototype for sea-life reserves around Britain.

Lobsters of takeable size are now nearly seven times more abundant in the protected zone than they are elsewhere around the island, or in fishing zones off the coast of north Devon and south Wales, says a survey by Natural England. In the other areas, a string of 10 lobster pots produces one lobster, on average; in the Lundy no-take zone the average is 6.7.

The population increase is now having a “spill-over” effect into waters which can be fished, showing that conservation can strongly benefit fisheries.

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Fishermen are a little more sceptical. “It’s difficult to say whether it’s helped us – we didn’t used to fish in there much anyway, except close to shore, but it was always good for lobsters,” said John Barbeary, whose lobster and whelk boat works out of Ilfracombe.

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The idea behind the no-take zone is to try and return the seabed to the state it was in before modern fishing. “The site wasn’t only set up to protect lobsters – it’s to protect the whole environment,” said Chris Davis, Natural England’s senior specialist in marine policy. The Marine Bill, scheduled for next year, is likely to designate a series of conservation areas around Britain that will be representative of all types of marine habitats.

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Government scientists are canvassing opinions on how big such zones should be, and whether, in a given area, one big zone might be more effective than several small ones.

The number of lobsters around Lundy have risen since the fishing ban

WWF

Re-seeding programmes on over 50 reefs are securing the survival of the giant clam for at least another generation, according to WWF-Philippines.

The clams, the world’s largest bivalve mollusks and the star of lurid but mostly imaginary literary and cinematic depictions of trapped divers, can live for over a century. They have been known to exceed 1.4 metres in length and weigh in at over 260 kilograms.

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An attempt to restore natural clam populations is now being spearheaded by Dr. Suzanne Mingoa-Licuanan of the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute in partnership with WWF-Philippines.

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By way of example, a fresh batch of 40 true giant clams (Tridacna gigas) wrapped in watertight plastic bags made the journey last month from rearing laboratories in the west of the country down the coast to their new homes in Batangas province on Santelmo Reef, a prized snorkeling site being restored with the help of WWF and a nearby ecotourism development.

With an average length of 36 centimetres and weighing almost 10 kilograms, each of the 40 clams was painstakingly but successfully laid to rest – alive of course – in
pre-designated nooks and crannies. Some 102 clams were planted in the same area last November and another 35 are being grown for transplanting in coming months.

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Giant clams are an integral part of the reef, serving as nurseries for a host of fish and invertebrate species including damsels, gobies and tiny commensal crustaceans such as shrimp.

Sedentary organisms like sponges, tunicates, corals and algae find giant clam shells perfect substrates for attachment. Giant clams also act as filter feeders, sifting planktonic debris from the water for food thereby improving overall water quality.

For more information please contact: Gregg Yan, Communications Officer, WWF-Philippines + 63 2 920-7923/26/31

The true giant clam (Tridacna gigas), 40 of which were transplanted last month to a new home in Batangas province, Philippines
© Kurt Domingo

Discovery Channel

A federal judge has restored endangered species protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, derailing plans by three states to hold public wolf hunts this fall.]

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The region has an estimated 2,000 gray wolves. They were removed from the endangered species list in March, following a decade-long restoration effort.

Environmentalists sued to overturn the decision, arguing wolf numbers would plummet if hunting were allowed. They sought the injunction in the hopes of stopping the hunts and allowing the wolf population to continue expanding.

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In his ruling, Molloy said the federal government had not met its standard for wolf recovery, including interbreeding of wolves between the three states to ensure healthy genetics.

“Genetic exchange has not taken place,” Molloy wrote in the 40-page decision.

Molloy said hunting and state laws allowing the killing of wolves for livestock attacks would likely “eliminate any chance for genetic exchange to occur.”

The federal biologist who led the wolf restoration program, Ed Bangs, defended the decision to delist wolves as “a very biologically sound package.”

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Bangs said government attorneys were reviewing Molloy’s court order and would decide next week whether to appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Federal and state officials had argued killing some wolves would not endanger the overall population — as long as numbers did not dip below 300 wolves. With increasing conflicts between wolves and livestock, they said public hunts were crucial to keeping the predators’ population in check.

Rebounding, But Protected

www.ipsnews.net

One third of reef-building corals already face extinction because of climate change, the first-ever global assessment has found.

Reefs are made up of hundreds of coral species, and a two-year study to determine the current status of corals has discovered that 231 of the 704 species assessed will be “red-listed” Thursday. This means these 231 species meet the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Criteria for species at risk of extinction in the near future.

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If the same assessment of corals had been done 20 years ago, only 13 of the 704 species would have been red-listed, Livingstone told IPS at the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. However, in that short time span, climate change has warmed the oceans and begun to make them more acidic and corals are suffering.

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Coral reefs also help mitigate beach erosion and have high recreation value for tourism. UNEP estimates that a typical coral reef can absorb up to 90 percent of the energy of wind-generated waves, thus protecting coastal areas from damage.

The economic value of reefs globally is estimated at 375 billion dollars, Brian Huse, executive director of the Coral Reef Alliance, a U.S.-based NGO dedicated to protecting the health of coral reefs, told IPS in a previous interview.

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The rate at which corals are approaching extinction is far faster than any previous extinction event in Earth’s history, Carpenter told IPS. “It’s the most alarming finding for biodiversity in the marine realm,” he said, adding that only amphibians are at greater risk, also due to climate change.

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While climate change is the primary global threat because it warms ocean temperatures beyond corals’ heat tolerance, pollution and overfishing are also major stressors that amplify and accelerate the impact. Another problem for corals is ocean acidification. However, since scientists only recently discovered that carbon emissions from burning of fossil fuels are turning the oceans more acidic, it hasn’t been fully assessed in this study, said Livingstone.

“Ultimately it is a combination of all these impacts on corals,” she said.

Red-listing does not mean a species will become extinct, but it does mean that if the conditions that are threatening corals continue or worsen, then they may very well become extinct. The IUCN Red List is the widely-accepted gold standard for determining which species are at risk. It has eight levels of risk ranging from no risk to critically endangered. The 231 coral species are in the “critically endangered”, “endangered” or “vulnerable” categories.

The results emphasise the widespread plight of coral reefs and the urgent need to enact conservation measures, said Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN director general.

“We either reduce our CO2 emissions now or many corals will be lost forever,” Marton-Lefèvre said in a statement.