Snake counting

I'm not sure how to explain this one if you don't read the funny pages. The comic strip is Slylock Fox and the funny comments below are from The Comics Curmudgeon - making the funnies funnier since 2004.

An audience with Koko

Could the best advocate for gorilla conservation be a gorilla? Maybe, if your gorilla can communicate and had an adorable pet kitten.

Koko, who has been taught American sign language and has a vocabulary of over 1,000 words is now 40. There's an article in the Daily Telegraph all about Koko which makes a very thought provoking read. Sadly Koko's kitten was killed and she showed no interest in other kittens. What she wants now is a baby.

Attempts to educate communities where poaching is rife about gorilla conservation has, evidently, largely failed; statistics about dwindling numbers of great apes just don’t resonate with people who can make good money from gorilla meat or body parts, or for those for whom the logging industry puts dinner on the table. But some conservationists believe stories like Koko’s – of how an “inculturated’ gorilla (the word researchers use for primates that have essentially had their own culture suppressed and adopted a more human-like culture) has actually communicated with us and demonstrated her intelligence – could be the answer. We should attempt, in other words, to win hearts, rather than minds. 

and later on:

As for Koko, Dr Patterson insists she is only too aware of man’s occasionally horrific interactions with wild gorillas. “It happened by accident – someone sent a DVD about primates and I didn’t really look at it,” she says. “But it was playing and when I looked I saw Koko watching a graphic bushmeat scene. I hadn’t previewed it like I should have. The next day we were in with Koko and I was going through some mail. Koko picked up an insert from a newspaper and it was a supermarket ad. She held up a section full of pictures of meat and signed: “shame there”.

Dessert Activism

Arguably, everybody loves chocolate, and everybody loves melted chocolate even more. However, an increase of Global Warming does not necessarily imply a surplus of gooey chocolate fudge, or that stuff that turns hard when you pour it on ice cream—in fact, chocolate production as a whole is being threatened by climate change. In addition to the surprisingly large number of resources and reports on the topic, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture asserts that if by 2050 the climate of the Ivory Coast and Ghana increases by 2.3 degrees Celsius, some of the major production sites of the crop would cease to be suitably cool for cocoa cultivation. As Western Africa accounts for 70% of the world’s cocoa production, such climate change could be devastating. Hopefully we won’t have to spend adulthood like the pre-Colombian Mesoamericans who used cocoa beans as currency. But in all seriousness, an increased temperature would leave the lowland areas, where cocoa is grown, too hot for the fragile plant. Additionally, the inhospitable highland areas are either too scarce or too cold for the crop, thus deeming relocation of the crops a poor solution. The report urges the integration of strategies between farmers, researchers and governments, in the hope that decimation of this precious species does not become a reality. From raising awareness of the threat, to adaptation of new technologies or crop diversification to more heat-resilient cash crops, each of three sectors must be involved. Although Hershey’s, Nestle and responsiblecocoa.com are addressing the labor issues that surround the area’s cocoa production, the sustainability and foreseeable future of the world’s cocoa crop itself is at risk. If possible extinction of animal species doesn’t do it, hopefully the possibility extinct desserts will get the general public on the side of Conservation Ecologists.

Kelly, Tara. "Climate Change Could Make Chocolate A Luxury Item, Report Finds." Huffingtonpost.com. The Huffington Post, 3 Oct. 2011. Web. 07 Oct. 2011. .

Läderach, Peter. Predicting the Impact of Climate Change on the Cocoa-Growing Regions in Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire. Rep. International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), 2011.Print.

Climate Change Expanding Armadillo Habitat

An armadillo in the snow?? There are over 20 known species of Armadillo, but only the nine-banded armadillo has ventured north of Latin America. Today it can be seen as far east as South Carolina and Illinois! Increasing temperatures due to climate change are likely expanding the habitable range of the armadillo. Not picky about their habitat, they can live in forests, grasslands or even the suburbs. They feed on insects and larvae in the soil, but are omnivorous animals thus posing a threat to ground nesting birds in these new areas. This expansion has been aided by humans with the removal of large mammalian predators, leaving the armadillo with few, or no, natural predators capable of penetrating its tough exterior.

Picturing an armadillo foraging in light snow in northern Texas seems out of place for the seemingly desert species, but the rugged animal is resilient in its resistance to ever warming winters. The absence of prolonged freezes is allowing these adventuresome armadillos to forage in even more diverse habitats.

In Georgia a study was completed on the habitat preferences of armadillos. 31 armadillos were tracked and their preferred habitat type recorded. The experiment showed that armadillos most prefer mature pine forests, the agricultural land, hardwood hammocks, barren terrain, and shrubs. The lack of a specific habitat selection for this population shows that more research is needed to understand the factors that determine armadillo distributions.

Daniel J. Gammons, Michael T. Mengak, Mike L. Conner. “Armadillo Habitat Selection in Southwest Georgia”. Journal of Mammalogy, April 2009, Vol. 90 Issue 2, p356-362

Amur Leopard

The Amur leopard is a critically endangered species that is a good example of many of the challenges facing small population conservation that we have discussed in class. The Amur leopard is found only in parts of eastern Russia and China, and there are only an estimated 30-40 individuals in the wild. They are under threat due to a variety of factors, including hunting, habitat destruction due to fire, and inbreeding. Although there are conservation efforts in place, the political support for these efforts is not as strong as it should be. The good news is the World Wildlife Fund has talent he conservation of this animal on and there are many scientists now involved in it's conservation, with a very comprehensive and varied plan. Part of the plan includes control of fires in the region, part includes biomedical and genetic research, another educating local and non-local people about it's endangerment, and also anti-poaching efforts among others. For more information on this amazing animal, check out the WWF website for the Amur leopard http://www.amur-leopard.org/index.php?pg=1268737240

contributed by: Carly Rich

With Deaths of Forests, a Loss of Key Climate Protectors

In his article, Justin Gillis of the New York Times reports on the increasing prevalence of forest fires of extreme intensity, the death of forests by insects, and the culprit behind it all, climate change.

The loss of forests at the hands of man is no new occurrence, but lately, the rate of destruction has increased many-fold. One of the largest destroyers of forests are the incredibly intense fires that have swept through many areas of the American southwest. Fires are a natural part of the forest cycle, however, the fires which have been in the spotlight lately are gargantuan in size and are exponentially more intense and destructive than fires in the past have been, research shows. Scientists argue that moderate forest fires are a regular part of nature and aid in thinning forests and preventing undergrowth from becoming too dense. However, mismanagement of forests in the early 20th century resulted in many small-scale fires being extinguished prematurely. This has resulted in forests that are far denser than normal, and act as kindling for the “megafires” that consume millions of acres of land, devour rural houses, and shatter the lives of those who live there. As fires continue to burn out of control, we lose one of the greatest natural absorbers of CO2 the planet has to offer.

There is much evidence to show that atmospheric CO2 concentrations are on the rise and will continue to do so into the next century unless drastic actions are taken. While this may have many negative effects, it has a positive effect on the production of carbon-absorbing biomass, such as forests. Carbon dioxide gas, the main food source of growing trees, is being taken up in large amounts by the trees in young forests, and to the surprise of scientists, is even seen being absorbed in what were once thought to be “mature” forests. Although this has proven to a positive result from the burning of fossil fuels, there are many negative repercussions that negate this positive effect.


Charles Keeling's Atmospheric CO2 Curve
Climate change is possibly the most well-known result of increased CO2 concentration in the atmosphere and is responsible for a wide range of effects damaging the forest ecosystem. Increased temperature has fostered the growth of insect populations that call tree bark their home. Research shows that every few years, during the winter, the temperature would drop so low in many forests that no insects would be able to survive and would help to preserve the life of the tree. As climate warms, these insects are no longer frozen to death and continue to cause damage to the trees for an extended period of time.

As bugs burrow into trees and prevent the trees from acquiring the necessary nutrients for survival, this inevitable causes tree death. As trees dry up and die, temperature warms, and the air becomes drier, the stage becomes perfectly set for fires of epic proportions. Unless significant efforts to reduce climate change are made this feedback loop can be expected to increase in efficiency and destructiveness.

Original article can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/science/earth/01forest.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=forestandbrushfires

Threatened and endemic species: are they good indicators of patterns of biodiversity on a national scale?

Endemic and/or threatened species are often targeted to set conservation priorities. It is tempting to assume that a reserve network focusing on these species will be an effective umbrella for overall species richness of a country. Here in South Africa and Lesotho they tested whether complementary networks selected for threatened and/or endemic bird species satisfactorily represent all bird species, both in terms of capturing areas where other species are present or areas where they are more abundant (and, presumably, more viable). They found that areas selected for threatened and endemic species perform considerably better than areas selected at random. However, they do not guarantee the representation of overall bird species diversity, particularly not in peak abundance locations. Although nationally threatened and endemic species are important conservation targets, their results indicate that reserve networks focusing solely on these species may not be sufficient to preserve overall species diversity in a country.

Even though we learned in lecture that <2% of the Earth’s surface contains 60% of the Earth’s species, endemic species might not fully represent overall species diversity in a country…

Shelby Grose

Bonn, Aletta, Anna S. Rodrigues, and Kevin J. Gaston. "Threatened and endemic species: are they good indicators of patterns of biodiversity on a national scale?" Ecology Letters 5.6 Nov. (2002): 733-41. Wiley Online Library. Web. 7 Oct. 2011. .

Linking Biodiversity to Ecosystem Function

This paper by Schwartz et. al. tackles the link between diversity of species and ecosystem function, as previously discussed in lecture. Linking biodiversity to ecosystem function is important for conservation efforts- if an ecosystem performs poorly with more species, a conservation effort would be detrimental. Also, from an anthropocentric point of view, the ecosystem functions should benefit mankind as that will give a incentive for investment into the conservation project. As discussed previously in class, Schwartz et. al. found that moderate amounts of diversity allows for greatest ecosystem function. Too large a diversity isn't common in ecosystems as there are usually a few dominant species in a given area and too small a diversity allows for complete dominance and decreases productivity.

This raises the question of how much diversity do we need? What's the threshold for diversity in a given area? Will that change over time? Education should not focus on trying to increase biodiversity everywhere as ecosystems could be over saturated by human action or some other factor. Since each ecosystem is different, I doubt it would be wise to extrapolate function values from one study to another, thus posing the problem of finding what the optimal biodiversity is in each ecosystem. This would be extremely helpful with restoration efforts as it could give a goal as apposed to trying to get the lands back to previous states, of which diversity vs. functions values are probably unknown. This may be especially important when restoration efforts focus on benefiting the public (using the ecosystem for our benefit).

Adam Schaefer

Schwartz et al. Linking biodiversity to ecosystem function: Implications for Conservation Ecology. Oecologia, February 2000.

" Double up for the Ducks"

The US Fish and Wildlife Service and the conservation based organization, Ducks Unlimited, are teaming up to encourage people to by two federal duck stamps this year. Since 1934 when the Federal Duck Stamp came to be, more than 5.3 million acres of waterfowl habitat have been brought into the National Wildlife Refuge System.

The issue now is that the stamp has stayed at fifteen dollars since 1991 because of the consumer price index, yet the stamp should be around twenty-four dollars to have the same buying power as in 1991. In 1991, the Federal Duck Stamp acquired 89,000 acres of land, whereas, in 2010, the money made by the stamp could only buy 32,000 acres of land. This is due to the fact that in 1991 the price per acre was three hundred and six dollars, and in 2010 the price was one thousand and ninety one dollars per acre.

That being said, DU and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are encouraging conservation enthusiasts to purchase two duck stamps this year to help expand waterfowl conservation efforts.

If you are interested in helping out, the easiest way to get a stamp is to go to the local post office and pick one up. Each year they have a new painting of a different waterfowl species in their habitat on them. They are a great collectors item, and also as you can now see, a great tool for waterfowl/wetlands conservation.

Wait, there’s more! Each state also has its own “ State Duck Stamp Program” in addition to the federal duck stamp. Since we live California, I will mention the California Duck Stamp Program. Since 1971 artists have painted/drawn pictures of waterfowl onto the state stamp. The California State Duck Stamp program has raised over twenty-two million dollars since 1971, which is used towards wetland and waterfowl conservation.

It’s amazing to me that just the purchasing of stamps, for hunters, collectors, and conservation enthusiast alike, can bring in so much money towards conservation. Clearly the Federal Duck Stamp system has a bigger impact, yet when you think about how each state has its own program, you realize that just these stamps are making a huge impact on waterfowl/wetland conservation.

Beau Tindall

Climate Change and Biodiversity Hotspots

Coral reefs are very productive marine ecosystems that provide habitat for many organisms and support extremely high levels of biodiversity. They also provide many ecosystem services that benefit tourism industries and fisheries. However, coral reefs are very sensitive systems and they are seriously affected by small changes in Earth’s climate. Global warming, and the subsequent rise in sea surface temperatures, is one of the main threats to coral reefs. Coral reefs can only tolerate a narrow range in ocean temperature. As ocean temperatures continue to rise, more coral reefs are becoming “bleached” and eventually become destroyed if the zooxanthellae don’t recolonize the coral. Ocean acidification is also a major threat to coral reefs. Due to the increase in atmospheric CO2, more CO2 is dissolving into the ocean. The increase in dissolved CO2 has caused the pH of seawater to decrease which means the oceans are becoming more acidic. The decrease in ocean pH makes it harder for marine organisms to form structures made of calcium carbonate (like coral). The increase in ocean acidity also erodes coral and makes it more prone to damage. Also the rising sea level associated with climate change has caused severe damage to many coral reef systems. Coral reefs require high amounts of light in order to grow and survive. As sea levels continue to rise, less light will reach coral reefs and many reefs may suffer. Intense conservation effort should be focused on coral reefs because they are very productive systems that support high biodiversity and provide many ecosystem services. It is estimated that coral reefs occupy less than one tenth of one percent of the world’s ocean but provide habitat for nearly 25% of marine organisms. Because coral reefs occupy a very small area and support extremely diverse communities, it would be extremely beneficial to direct even more focus and resources towards their conservation.