projectpowerplant.com

WWF

Arctic sea ice may well have reached its lowest volumes ever, as summer ice coverage of the Arctic Sea looks set to be close to last year’s record lows, with thinner ice overall.

Final figures on minimum ice coverage for 2008 are expected in a matter of days, but they are already flirting with last year’s record low of 1.59 million square miles, or 4.13 million square kilometres.

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Dr. Sommerkorn said the continuing loss of older, thicker ice means that the Arctic ice cover is following a trend of becoming younger and thinner each year.

The area of ice that is at least five years old has decreased by 56 per cent between 1985 and 2007. The oldest ice types have essentially disappeared.

Taken together, the new figures clearly show the Arctic is experiencing the continuation of an accelerated declining trend.

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“There are already signs that species such as polar bears are experiencing negative effects as climate change erodes the ice platform on which they rely.

These changes are also affecting the peoples of the Arctic whose traditional livelihoods depend on healthy ecosystems.”

The trend of melting Arctic ice is also alarming for the rest of the world. “The Arctic is a key factor in stabilising the global climate,” Dr Sommerkorn said.

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“The local warming of the Arctic will also soon release more greenhouse gases from the Arctic that were previously locked in permanently frozen ground.

“This means there will be two powerful feedbacks from the Arctic affecting the global environment. This is not just an Arctic problem, it is a global problem, and it demands a global response.”

The governments of the world are currently negotiating a new climate agreement to come into force from 2013 when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol has ended.

“Governments must speed up these talks and ensure to agree the new climate deal at the UN Summit in Copenhagen in December 2009, just fifteen months from now, Dr Sommerkorn said.

“There are already signs that species such as polar bears are experiencing negative effects as climate change erodes the ice platform on which they rely.” Dr Martin Sommerkorn, WWF International Arctic Programme’s Senior Climate Change Advisor
© WWF-Canon / Jack Stein GROVE

1st Borneo Rhino caught on camera

WWF

An image of a second wild Borneo rhino has been captured by scientists in Malaysia using a motion-triggered camera.

Only 25-50 Borneo rhinos, a subspecies of the critically endangered Sumatran rhino, are thought to exist. They are found in the interior Heart of Borneo forests of Sabah, Malaysia.

It was just two years ago that the first-ever still photo of a Borneo rhino was captured by WWF, who last year also produced a video using a camera trap showing a male rhino eating, walking to the camera and sniffing the equipment.

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Rhino monitoring and protection efforts are aimed at conserving and boosting the number of Sumatran rhinos in Sabah through prevention of poaching, securing habitat from further degradation and illegal encroachment.

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Last month WWF officials, along with a team of rangers, veterinarians and experts from Sabah Wildlife Department rescued the Borneo rhino that was captured on video last year. It had been found injured and wandering in an oil palm plantation. The rescue operation took nearly two weeks and the animal was then transferred to a reserve.

Only the second-ever still image of a Borneo rhino, captured by Andrew Hearn and Joanna Ross of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit in the UK
© Ross & Hearn

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