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Archive for January, 2011
Florida frogs floated from Cuba
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2011
Independent: Two species of invasive frog which are hopping their way through Florida probably got to the state by hitching a ride on floating debris from Cuba, according to a study published on Wednesday.
Amphibian experts have long wrangled over the origins of the greenhouse frog (Eleutherodactylus planirostris) and the Cuban treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis).
The two species are widespread across the Caribbean, but were first spotted in the Florida Keys - the island chain that starts at Florida's...
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Camera trap photos: big mammals survive in fragmented forest in Borneo
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2011
Mongabay: Camera trap photos: big mammals survive in fragmented forest in Borneo
Clouded leopard female and her cub caught on camera trap in a corridor in the vicinity of DGFC. Photo courtesy of Sabah Wildlife Department, Danau Girang Field Centre and HUTAN.
Camera trap photos taken in the fragmented forest along the Kinabatangan River in Borneo have revealed a number of key mammal species surviving despite forest loss mostly due to expanding palm oil plantations. The photos are apart of a recent program...
Scientists to document impact of converting rainforest into oil palm plantations
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2011
Mongabay: Scientists to document impact of converting rainforest into oil palm plantations
Oil palm and rainforest
Scientists have partnered with one of the world's largest palm oil producers to measure the impact of converting tropical forest into an oil palm plantation, reports Nature News.
The Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems project will monitor ecological changes--including biodiversity, erosion, soil quality, carbon dioxide emissions, and water pollution--in roughly 7,000 hectares of forest...
Birds vanishing in the Philippines
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2011
Independent: The number of birds flying south to important wintering grounds in the Philippines has fallen sharply this year, with experts saying the dramatic demise of wetlands and hunting are to blame.
Despite some harsh, cold weather across the Eurasian landmass, some waterbirds that usually migrate in huge flocks to the tropical islands have been completely absent, said Philippine-based Danish ornithologist Arne Jensen.
"The flyway populations of several waterbird species are in constant and dramatic...
Melvyn Bragg: sale of Lake District forests is ‘vandalism’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2011
Guardian: One of the nation's best-loved broadcasters, Lord Bragg, has given his support to the growing campaign to prevent the government sell-off of 30 forests and woodlands in the Lake District.
In a development that will raise the issue's profile and is likely to embarrass the coalition, Bragg has backed attempts to stop the proposal in its tracks. Born in Cumbria, he has used the area as the setting for several novels, and is now accusing Caroline Spelman, the secretary of state for the environment,...
More frequent drought likely in eastern Africa
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on January 29th, 2011
Science Centric: The increased frequency of drought observed in eastern Africa over the last 20 years is likely to continue as long as global temperatures continue to rise, according to new research published in Climate Dynamics.
This poses increased risk to the estimated 17.5 million people in the Greater Horn of Africa who currently face potential food shortages.
Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of California, Santa Barbara, determined that warming of the Indian Ocean, which causes...
Geobiologists Link Ancient Climate Change And Mass Extinction
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 29th, 2011
REDORBIT: About 450 million years ago, Earth suffered the second-largest mass extinction in its history--the Late Ordovician mass extinction, during which more than 75 percent of marine species died. Exactly what caused this tremendous loss in biodiversity remains a mystery, but now a team led by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has discovered new details supporting the idea that the mass extinction was linked to a cooling climate.
"While it's been known for a long time that...
Forest week in review: African wildlife collapse, greenwashing, and a big dam
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 29th, 2011
Mongabay: In a featured interview, biologist Ian Craigie discussed the 59 percent drop in big mammal populations in Africa's parks. The bad news: the overall decline of African mammals is likely to be worse than even the study portrays for two reasons: mammal populations have almost certainly suffered worse outside of parks than inside.
Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), a controversial Indonesian forest products brand that has distinguished itself by an extensive greenwashing campaign, announced it is partnering...
Millions face water shortage in China
Posted by China Daily: None Given on January 29th, 2011
China Daily: JINAN - More than 2.2 million people and 2.7 million livestock are facing a water shortage as the worst drought in decades continues to linger in many parts of China.
Sun Minghua, a rural resident of Bozhou in East China's Anhui province, checks out withering wheat seedlings on his farm on Thursday. [Photo/China Daily]
Some wheat-growing regions, including Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Anhui, Shanxi and Jiangsu provinces, have received little rainfall since October.
More than 4 million hectares...
Water worries: The drying of the West
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 29th, 2011
Economist: STANDING on the Hoover Dam and looking upstream at Lake Mead, America’s largest reservoir, the visitor notices a wide, white band ringing the cliffs. Nicknamed “the bathtub ring”, this discolouration comes from minerals that were once deposited on the volcanic rock by the Colorado River and have become visible as its level has dropped. It is one sign of a water crisis that threatens America’s south-west.
Other reminders abound. Farther upstream there are dry docks, jutting out ominously into desert,...