[ekim68]

Nuked coral reef bounces back

What does a coral reef look like 50 years after being nuked? Not so bad, it seems. Coconuts growing on Bikini Atoll haven't fared so well, however.

Three islands of Bikini Atoll were vapourised by the Bravo hydrogen bomb in 1954, which shook islands 200 kilometres away. Instead of finding a bare underwater moonscape, ecologists who have dived it have given the 2-kilometre-wide crater a clean bill of health.

"It was fascinating – I’ve never seen corals growing like trees outside of the Marshall Islands," says Zoe Richards of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Australia.

Richards and colleagues report a thriving ecosystem of 183 species of coral, some of which were 8 metres high. They estimate that the diversity of species represents about 65% of what was present before the atomic tests.

http://environment.newscientist.com/...nces-back.html

(Well, kind of like animals.)

[ekim68]

Whale sightings off Chile raise hope

Whales appear to be making a comeback in the waters where they were once hunted to near extinction.

STRAIT OF MAGELLAN, CHILE -- From the earliest days of exploration, mariners in Chile's cool southern waters marveled at the abundance of whales. A Jesuit naturalist wrote of the sea "boiling" with the spouts of the leviathans.

Among 19th century Nantucket boatmen, the island of Mocha was notorious as the stamping grounds of "Mocha Dick," an ill-tempered sperm whale riddled with harpoons. Why Herman Melville opted to substitute "Moby" for "Mocha" remains unclear, but literary detectives believe the vengeful whale helped inspire his dark classic.

Now, almost two centuries after the commercial carnage of Melville's era and 22 years after an international whale-hunting moratorium went into effect, some whales appear to be making a comeback off Chile's coast, where a proliferation of islands, fiords, peninsulas and straits creates tens of thousands of miles of shoreline.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,6552812.story

[lotuseclat79]

Narwhals More at Risk to Arctic Warming Than Polar Bears
Article here.

The polar bear has become an icon of global warming vulnerability, but a new study found an Arctic mammal that may be even more at risk to climate change: the narwhal.


New research suggests the narwhal's tusk has remarkable sensing abilities, allowing it to determine water salinity and search for fish. Credit: Glenn Williams


A pod of narwhals off northern Canada in August 2005. Credit: NOAA/Kristin Laidre


A polar bear mother and her cub rest on Arctic ice. Credit: Scott Schliebe/USFWS

-- Tom

[poochee]

Informative articles here.

[ekim68]

Whale watch

Undersea detection system helps to guard against collision with ships

In the deep, cold waters off Massachusetts, the world's last 350 or so North Atlantic right whales search for each other with soft, drawn-out "whoops" and "moos." The ethereal sounds travel for miles in the dark undersea to help the leviathans meet to mate and share feeding grounds.
more stories like this

Now, scientists are using those calls to help the whales survive.

They have developed a cutting-edge underwater listening system to protect the creatures from their number one killer: ships. The Massachusetts Bay network can track right whales by their signature call - and in as little as 20 minutes warn mariners to slow if they're too close.

The devices are also giving scientists unprecedented insight into how the creatures change behavior to respond to the cacophony of man-made noises in the bay.

"We need to listen to these whales" to save them, said Christopher W. Clark, director of Cornell University's Bioacoustics Research Program, which developed the technology with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

http://www.boston.com/news/science/a...7/whale_watch/

[ekim68]

(So now it has economic repercussions...)

Germany warns of economic risks from species loss

BERLIN (Reuters) - Nations must act to slow extinction rates, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday, arguing the loss of species threatened food supplies for billions of people.

http://www.reuters.com/article/envir...92522120080508

[lotuseclat79]

Saving frogs before it's too late
Article here.

With nearly one-third of amphibian species threatened with extinction worldwide, fueled in part by the widespread emergence of the deadly chytrid fungus, effective conservation efforts could not be more urgent. In a new article in the open-access journal PLoS Biology, Franco Andreone and his colleagues argue that one of the best places to focus these efforts is Madagascar, a global hotspot of amphibian diversity that shows no signs of amphibian declines—or traces of the chytrid fungus.

-- Tom

[poochee]

Slow, steady -- and under siege
Endangered tortoises airlifted from an Army base face other threats.
By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 11, 2008

BARSTOW -- As the sun rose over the Mojave Desert, researcher Kristina Drake approached with caution as a creature with weary eyes, a scuffed carapace and skin as rough as rhino hide peered at her from the edge of a dirt road just east of here.

The tortoise, nicknamed "Road Warrior," was among the 760 captured and airlifted by helicopter a month ago out of the southern portion of the Army's nearby National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, which is slated for expanded combat exercises. Her well-being in new terrain is essential to the $8.7-million relocation effort, which has been hit hard by a problem unforeseen by federal biologists: rampant coyote attacks.

Excerpt from: http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-to...track=ntothtml

[Gabriel]

Oh, how incredibly sad

Rare Cayman blue iguanas found slaughtered
Two were females of critically endangered species and about to lay egg

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24541972&GT1=43001

[ekim68]

Good grief...Humans are so cruel...

[poochee]

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 -- 3:14 PM ET
-----
Polar Bear to Be Protected Species

The Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened
species, saying it must be protected because of the decline
in Arctic sea ice from global warming.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na

[poochee]

Extinct Australian Tiger gene functions in mouse
Tue May 20, 2008 1:56am EDT
(Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Roger Crabb)

SYDNEY (Reuters) - For the first time DNA from an extinct species, Australia's marsupial Tasmanian Tiger, has been used to induce a functional response in a living organism, a mouse embryo, Australian and American scientists said on Tuesday.

"At a time when extinction rates are increasing at an alarming rate, especially of mammals, this research discovery is critical," said Marilyn Renfree from the University of Melbourne.

Excerpts from: http://www.reuters.com/article/scien...smorningdigest

[ekim68]

Tasmanian Devil listed as endangered

HOBART, Australia (Reuters) - Australia's Tasmanian Devil, its population decimated by a facial cancer, was listed as an endangered species on Wednesday by the Tasmanian state government.

The deadly and disfiguring facial cancer, which often kills within months, has cut the island state's wild devil population by as much as 60 percent. The Tasmanian Devil faces extinction in 10 to 20 years due to the facial cancer.

http://www.reuters.com/article/envir...D7906620080521

[poochee]

Originally Posted by ekim68

Tasmanian Devil listed as endangered

HOBART, Australia (Reuters) - Australia's Tasmanian Devil, its population decimated by a facial cancer, was listed as an endangered species on Wednesday by the Tasmanian state government.

The deadly and disfiguring facial cancer, which often kills within months, has cut the island state's wild devil population by as much as 60 percent. The Tasmanian Devil faces extinction in 10 to 20 years due to the facial cancer.

http://www.reuters.com/article/envir...D7906620080521

[ekim68]

Originally Posted by poochee

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 -- 3:14 PM ET
-----
Polar Bear to Be Protected Species

The Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened
species, saying it must be protected because of the decline
in Arctic sea ice from global warming.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na

Hmmm...

Alaska to sue to block polar bear listing

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The state of Alaska will sue the U.S. government to stop the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species, arguing the designation will slow development in the state, Gov. Sarah Palin said on Wednesday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/envir...45097820080522