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Archive for September 26th, 2011
Caatinga ecosystem almost wholly ignored in Brazil
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 26th, 2011
Mongabay: Tropical dry forests have received little conservation and research attention as compared to their rainforest cousins, leaving these ecosystems to become gravely threatened while still largely unknown to the public and scientists. A new study in mongabay.com's open access journal Tropical Conservation Science finds that the Caatinga, a seasonally dry tropical forest, is the least-known forest in Brazil.
"In the last five decades [less than 20 percent] of the articles on tropical forest have addressed...
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Restoring tropical forests by keeping fire far away
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 26th, 2011
Mongabay: Keeping fire at bay could be key to reforesting abandoned land in the tropics, according to a new study in mongabay.com's open access journal Tropical Conservation Science. Measuring the recovery of regenerating forests in Kibale National Park in Uganda, the study found that suppressing fire allowed the forest to come back over a period of decades. Given the role rainforests play in sequestering carbon and safeguarding biodiversity, the study argues that reforesting abandoned land in the tropics...
Brazil: Atlantic Forest stores less carbon due to drastic fragmentation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 26th, 2011
Mongabay: The Atlantic Forest in Brazil is one of the most fragmented and damaged forests in the world. Currently around 12 percent of the forest survives, with much of it in small fragments, many less than 100 hectares. A new study in mongabay.com's open-access journal Tropical Conservation Science finds that the bloodied nature of the Atlantic Forest impacts its capacity to sequester carbon. The study found that 92 percent of the forest stored only half its potential carbon due to fragmentation and edge-effects,...
Partisans Rev Up for Keystone XL Hearings
Posted by New York Times: Dan Frosch on September 26th, 2011
New York Times: Opponents and supporters of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project are gearing up for a pivotal round of public meetings around the country this week -- forums that could play a role in whether the huge project receives final approval from the State Department by year’s end.
The pipeline, which would stretch nearly 1,700 miles from Canada to the Gulf Coast, has been a lightning rod for environmentalists who argue that the type of crude it would carry - a diluted mixture of bitumen drawn...
Top Bush Lawyers Will Face Off in Supreme Court Over Mont. Riverbed Case
Posted by Greenwire: Lawrence Hurley on September 26th, 2011
Greenwire: When the Supreme Court hears arguments in an upcoming case on riverbed ownership in Montana, the two advocates opposing each other will both be former solicitors general who served in the George W. Bush administration.
Paul Clement, who served as solicitor general from 2005 to 2008, is representing power company PPL Montana, while Gregory Garre, who succeeded Clement as solicitor general in 2008, will line up on behalf of the state of Montana.
The two men know each other well, reflecting the...
US to investigate protection for 374 water species
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 26th, 2011
Reuters: The Florida sandhill crane, the Alabama map turtle and the streamside salamander are among 374 freshwater species that could warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act, the government said on Monday. The Fish and Wildlife Service said it will do an in-depth review to determine if these plants and animals should be listed as threatened or endangered under the Act. The 374 species in 12 southeastern states that are up for this review are among 404 that environmental groups had petitioned...
Interior to Consider Endangered Species Listings for 374 Aquatic Species
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 26th, 2011
Greenwire: The Interior Department this morning said it will conduct reviews to determine whether 374 water-dependent species in the Southeast deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The decision, known as a 90-day finding, comes a year and a half after a coalition of environmental groups petitioned the agency to offer federal protections for 404 aquatic species, citing threats from dams, water diversions and logging, farming and wetlands development (Greenwire, April 21, 2010).
Interior's...
Repeated burning undercuts Amazon rainforest recovery
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 26th, 2011
Mongabay: The Amazon rainforest can recover from logging, but has a far more difficult time returning after repeated burning, reports a new study in mongabay.com's open-access journal Tropical Conservation Science. In areas where the Amazon had been turned to pasture and was subject to repeated burning, Visima trees become the dominant tree inhibiting the return of a biodiverse forest. The key to the sudden domination of Visima trees, according to the study, is that these species re-sprout readily following...
Frog killer immune genes revealed
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 26th, 2011
BBC: Scientists have taken a big step toward understanding why some frogs survive the fungal disease chytridiomycosis while others quickly die.
A group from Cornell University, US, identified genetic factors that seem to make some individual frogs immune.
This could improve captive breeding schemes, the team writes in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Chytridiomycosis is slowly spreading across the world, and has already sent a number of species extinct.
Just two years ago,...
Tanzania: Dam puts wild coffee species at risk of extinction
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 26th, 2011
Mongabay: Coffee may be one of the world's most popular hot (and cold) drinks, however few coffee drinkers may know that there are dozens of different coffee species in the world and some are even endangered. Only discovered in 2004, Kihansi coffee (Coffea kihansiensis), makes its home in the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania. A new study in mongabay.com's open-access journal Tropical Conservation Science finds that the Kihansi coffee is nearing extinction due in part to a hydroelectric dam built upstream that...