Smooth Otters at Pasir Ris Park
from Nature Spies
Two ends of the scale
from The annotated budak
Snake eats crab - a first report in natural conditions
from wild shores of singapore
Balik Kampung @ Bottle Tree Park on 10.10.10
from AsiaIsGreen
The story of Cerah the sun bear – Part 1
from Bornean Sun Bear Conservation
Vong Sokheng and Sebastian Strangio
Phnom Penh Post 2 Sep 10;
KOH Kong province’s controversial sand export trade appears to have drawn to a halt, though local companies are attempting to restore contacts with Singaporean sand contractors, officials said.
Pech Siyon, director of the provincial Department of Industry, Mines and Energy, said yesterday that the last licenced dredging company in Koh Kong – local firm Udom Seima Trading – had wound up its sand export operations over the past few weeks. The company is currently in the process of shipping a 1,000-cubic-metre sample of sand to Singapore, he said, and is awaiting word from a potential client there.
“There were two shipments today and yesterday and there will be one last shipment,” he said. “We don’t know when they will answer. There is no market now, so there is no dredging activity.” He said he did not know the Singaporean company’s name.
In May, anti-graft watchdog Global Witness reported that up to 796,000 tonnes of sand was being removed from Koh Kong each month and sent to Singapore, where it is used in construction and reclamation projects. It argued that the trade had destroyed livelihoods and threatened marine ecosystems.
At the time, Pech Siyon said that only Udom Seima was still operating, and that a joint venture by the local LYP Group and the Hong Kong-based firm Winton Enterprises – one of the main operations mentioned in the report – had been suspended pending the renewal of its licence.
A representative of Udom Seima, who did not give his name, said the company was suspending its export operations for a year because its Singaporean export quotas had “expired”.
“We are waiting for Singapore to open a new quota for export,” he said. “They have just said the quota will open this month and then that month, but so far no one has contacted us.”
Global Witness campaigner Eleanor Nichol said her organisation was not aware of any official change of policy in either country, but that any news of an export suspension was to be applauded.
“If sand exports from Koh Kong to Singapore have really been suspended, then this is great news for both the local environment and local fishermen,” she said. “We hope this suspension signifies that the Singapore government is taking the concerns raised by us ... and by others, seriously.”
JTC, HDB looking into use of turbines to harvest waste air flow to generate electricity
Victoria Vaughan Straits Times 3 Sep 10;
WIND may still be used to generate electricity in Singapore - just not Mother Nature's breeze.
Both JTC Corporation and the Housing Board are looking into the use of vertical axis wind turbines, where the blades spin around an upright shaft.
JTC has put out a tender for two such wind turbines to harvest waste air flow from lift exhausts - openings on the roof to ensure ventilation for lift shafts - at its CleanTech One building at CleanTech Park, currently under construction near Nanyang Technological University.
Contractors are yet to be confirmed, however, and the project is considered 'highly experimental', according to a spokesman.
HDB is also looking to test out the feasibility of wind energy and has purchased a 200-watt vertical axis wind turbine - just powerful enough to light up a bedroom, for example. It is currently looking at possible locations for testing the device using both natural and generated wind.
One manufacturer is hoping this will be the start of harnessing the potential of wind generated from cooling towers, lift shafts and bathroom ventilation systems, which populate the roofs of major buildings in Singapore and throughout the region.
Mr Ong Gin Keat, chief executive of Singapore company CygnusPower, which makes these turbines, said: 'Air is coming out of (air-conditioning) chillers for 10 to 12 hours a day at shopping centres and office blocks, and for 24 hours at industry sites.
'Our turbines can recover between 20 and 30 per cent of the power from a cooling tower, which will be fed back into the building and cut down on operating costs. It's not a big wind from the North Sea but if they were on all big buildings, it could mean at least a 20 per cent recoup of electricity for Singapore,' said Mr Ong, who has partners in Japan and South Korea.
For a 1 kilowatt (kw) turbine, costing about $12,500, this could mean savings of about $57 a day for buildings operating for 12 hours, and $20,805 annually. There are also environmental benefits as a
1 kilowatt-hour unit working at 20 per cent can save nearly a tonne of carbon dioxide a year.
Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) bought a 2kw vertical axis turbine last November, which is now plugged into the grid and awaiting approval from Singapore Power - expected later this month.
Mr Chan Yew Meng, senior director at NYP's school of engineering, said: 'We have been using natural wind to power the turbine. Using scavenged wind from exhausts is an interesting concept... We are going to do research in that area. We are also looking at the best way to harvest wind, whether from one big turbine or a cluster of smaller ones.'
Singapore Polytechnic's Dr Jiang Fan, manager of the Technology Centre of Energy Conservation, however, is not convinced that using salvaged wind to drive turbines will have an effect on energy efficiency.
'If you put a wind turbine in front of an air-conditioning exhaust fan, you block the air flow. But you want to keep the air flow speed the same to maintain the temperature level, so you may have to increase the power to the air-conditioning to drive the turbine,' he said, adding that he did not have any data to prove this theory, so it was still worth researching further.
Tie-ups with farms here and overseas keep food supply and prices stable
Jessica Lim Straits Times 3 Sep 10;
SUPERMARKETS in Singapore are increasingly signing contracts with farms here and abroad for an assured supply of greens and meats on their shelves.
These contracts, which require farmers to supply the goods at specified quantities and prices, keep supply and prices stable for consumers here.
The number of such contract-farming deals made by supermarket chains NTUC FairPrice and Cold Storage with local and overseas farmers has jumped from five to 20 in the past three years.
Now, FairPrice is tapping a new source of greens - farms in Indonesia.
The move is in line with efforts by the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) to increase imports of Indonesian vege-tables in the next three years. Its target is to raise them from 6.6 per cent of all vegetable imports to 10 per cent.
Industry experts estimate that about 10 per cent of all imported fresh produce here - mostly vegetables, some chicken and fish - is now brought in as a result of such contracts.
Yesterday, the figure went up another notch. The 99-outlet FairPrice, the largest supermarket chain here, signed a new deal with a farmer in Medan, Indonesia.
It plans to sign another deal this year, bringing to five the number of farms with which it has such contracts. Back in 2005, FairPrice had such tie-ups with only two farms.
The farm in Medan, PT Horti Jaya, is now contracted to pack and supply about 50 tonnes of vegetables a week for FairPrice, an amount the chain hopes to double in the next few years.
For a start, it will supply cai xin, xiao bai cai, bai cai, kai lan and endive.
The chain's director of integrated purchasing Tng Ah Yiam said working with the farm directly ensures a consistent supply and helps maintain quality as well.
He said: 'I don't have to worry if I can get cai xin tomorrow. I give them specifications on quality and they grow and pack it for us.'
Cold Storage now brings in more than a dozen types of produce via contract farming, mostly vegetables such as tomatoes and lettuce. Plans are under way to bring in new produce, it said.
Sheng Siong is exploring the option.
Signing such contracts also benefits the farmers and their workers.
Mr Sunario Chan, 35, owner of the 60ha PT Horti Jaya farm, produces about 65 tonnes of vegetables a week, 80 per cent of it for FairPrice.
He said: 'We grow to order and it allows me to plan ahead. I know when I sow the seeds that I'll get income in three months. It's also a stable one.'
He has hired 80 more workers just to grow vegetables for FairPrice, and pays them 35,000 rupiah (S$5.20) to 58,000 rupiah a day for tasks such as sowing seeds or packing greens for export.
AVA spokesman Goh Shih Yong said such contracts are the best way forward; they can be Singapore's bulwark against global food shortages.
Noting that the Republic imports more than 90 per cent of its food, he said: 'We're vulnerable. This will help us tackle the challenges that affect global food supply and demand in the future. It also helps with traceability.'
AVA chief executive Tan Poh Hong said it is not a matter of just increasing the number of contract-farming deals but also the number of countries where the farms are located.
'This diversifies our supply sources and leads to a resilient supply, as it enables our traders to switch quickly to alternative sources when needed,' she said.
AVA goes on missions overseas to scout for potential food sources and facilitates local importers' tie-ups with overseas farms.
FairPrice is holding an Indonesian products fair at its major outlets until Sept 15. It will feature the Pasar Indonesia range of vegetables, known to be sweeter because they are grown in rich volcanic soil and a cooler climate.
Do vegetables from different countries taste the same?
Straits Times 3 Sep 10;
The Straits Times conducted a blind taste test of five types of vegetables from various countries. All are imported and sold by supermarket chain FairPrice. The vegetable dishes being compared were eaten either raw or cooked the same way, with few additional ingredients. The panel of testers comprised food and beverage consultant Violet Oon, 60, and nutritionist Louisa Zhang, 62.
LETTUCE (RAW)
FROM TIANJIN, CHINA
# Brand/price: Oasis China Lettuce, $1.40 a head
# Verdict: Very flavourful and crisp with a delicate texture. Best eaten in salads or sandwiches.
FROM CALIFORNIA, THE UNITED STATES
# Brand/price: US Iceberg Lettuce, $1.60 a head
# Verdict: Bland and tasteless. Has a rough texture. Best used with tastier foods like sandwich fillings.
FROM MEDAN, INDONESIA
# Brand/price: Frsharvest Iceberg Lettuce, $1.40 a head
# Verdict: Sweeter than the other two. It has a rougher texture.
TOMATOES (RAW)
FROM CAMERON HIGHLANDS, MALAYSIA
# Brand/price: No brand, $1.90 a kg
# Verdict: Sour, tangy and mono-dimensional in flavour. Less juicy. Good for steamed fish and Nonya dishes like assam fish.
FROM MEDAN, INDONESIA
# Brand/price: Frsharvest Tomato (extra large), $1.90 a kg
# Verdict: Complex in taste, juicier. Best eaten in salads or used for Italian dishes like pizza and pasta.
POTATOES (BOILED IN STOCK)
FROM SHANDONG, CHINA
# Brand/price: Holland Potato, $1.50 a kg
# Verdict: Less gluey and firm. Versatile and can be used for all sorts of dishes, from curries to baked potato recipes.
FROM IDAHO/WASHINGTON, THE UNITED STATES
# Brand/price: US Russet Potato, $1.60 for five
# Verdict: Softer with a creamy taste. It cooks faster than the other two. Best when eaten mashed or roasted. It is too soft for curries and would crumble.
FROM NORTH SUMATRA, INDONESIA
# Brand/price: Brastagi Granola Potato, $2 a kg
# Verdict: More gluey and firm. Best used for curries and stews because it will not fall apart.
CABBAGE (BOILED IN STOCK)
FROM SHANDONG, CHINA
# Brand/price: China Round Cabbage, $1.10 a kg
# Verdict: Bland and crisp. Sweet when cooked. It has a more intense green colour. Best used in soups and for dishes like lontong and coleslaw.
FROM MEDAN, INDONESIA
# Brand/price: Brastagi Cabbage, $1 a kg
# Verdict: Stronger flavour, more tasty with a rougher texture. Bitter when raw, which probably means it contains high levels of antioxidants. Best used in soups and for dishes like Hokkien mixed rice.
CHINESE CABBAGE/XIAO BAI CAI (BLANCHED)
FROM SINGAPORE
# Brand/price: Yili Farm Xiao Bai Cai, $1.35 for 400g
# Verdict: Crunchy, less fibrous, more flavourful and firm, good for stir-frying.
FROM JOHOR BARU, MALAYSIA
# Brand/price: FP Taiwan Sio Peck Chye, 65 cents for 220g
# Verdict: Less fibrous, crunchy and crisp. Good for both soups and stir-fries.
FROM MEDAN, INDONESIA
# Brand/price: Pasar Xiao Bai Cai, 80 cents for 250g
# Verdict: More fibrous and sweeter than the other two. Good for soups.
Mungutan Vanar The Star 3 Sep 10;
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s power producer is studying the possibility of using alternative energy following the rejection of the Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment report for the controversial Lahad Datu coal-fired power plant.
Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd deputy chairman Datuk Bung Moktar Radin said several possibilities were being studied for alternative power generation to meet the state’s needs.
He said a Japanese company had proposed to regulate the power in the east coast of Sabah through a system using batteries.
“SESB is studying the system before making a decision,” he said, adding that this could help mitigate power shortage in the area.
“The state government has accepted the Department of Environment’s decision to reject the report for the proposed 300MW coal-fired power plant project in Sinakut, Lahad Datu,” he told reporters after a function on Wednesday.
The proposed coal-fired power plant in Lahad Datu had come under fire from a coalition of environmental groups in the state, arguing that the location was too close to environmentally sensitive areas like the Coral Triangle and that this could affect eco-tourism.
The coalition had even brought their objections to the Parliament in Kuala Lumpur.
The proposed plant was to meet the power shortage in the area, which was frequently subjected to outages.
Bung said SESB now needed to move ahead and look at other energy sources that would provide stable electricity supply for consumers in the state.
He said SESB was also considering a system of mini-hydro dams to be set up along the Liwagu River and upper Padas river as well as looking at an area between Sipitang and Lawas for a similar hydro facility.
However, he said locations for hydro generation had to be located along fast flowing rivers.
M. Mageswari The Star 2 Sep 10;
SEPANG: A businessman pleaded guilty at the Sessions Court here Wednesday to exporting 95 snakes without permit last week.
He posted bail on Thursday.
Wong Keng Liang, better known as Anson Wong, 52, believed to be an international wildlife trader, admitted to exporting 95 Boa Constrictor - which is endangered species - without permit at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 8.50pm on Aug 26.
The Boa constrictor is a large, heavy-bodied species of snake and variable in drawing and color. They are very adaptable and live in a number of habitats in different climates.
It is a member of the Boidae family found in Central America, South America and some islands in the Caribbean.
The snakes were found in a luggage bag while Wong was in transit from Penang to Jakarta.
Wong could be fined a maximum of RM100,000 or jailed up to seven years or both under Section 10(a) of the International Trade of Endangered Species Act 2008.
Prosecuting officer Faridz Gohim Abdullah, from Perhilitan (Wildlife and National Parks Department), applied to the court to set his bail at RM50,000 in one surety.
Sessions Court judge Zulhelmy Hasan set his bail at RM50,000 in one surety. Zulhelmy also ordered Wong to surrender his passport pending disposal of the case.
The judge set Sept 6 for mention pending appointment of a lawyer.
Meanwhile, Wong posted bail Thursday.
It had been reported by The Star in February that Wong had been linked to a Dec 15 seizure in the United States of various types of animals from an exotic animal outlet.
Two of the trader’s companies were found to have been supplying animals to the outlet.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) had claimed that CBS Wildlife and Sungai Rusa Wildlife, both owned by Wong, were supplying various types of animals and wildlife to US Global Exotics (USGE).
Wong pleaded guilty to trafficking in wildlife in the US and was sentenced to 71 months jail in 2000.
Man charged with animal trafficking
New Straits Times 3 Sep 10;
KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian who served time in the United States nine years ago for animal trafficking, was charged with a similar offence at the Sepang magistrate’s court on Wednesday.
Anson Wong Kheng Liang, 53, was arrested at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport last week while allegedly trying to smuggle 95 boa constrictors out of the country.
He was on transit from Penang to Jakarta when Kuala Lumpur International Airport authorities spotted Anson taking a bag with a broken lock held together with a rope.
Wong was charged on Wednesday and was granted bail of RM50,000, which he could not post.
After spending a day in prison, his younger brother, Wong Kheng Fuan, bailed him out yesterday.
If convicted, Wong faces a fine of between RM100,000 and RM1 million for each animal, or seven years’ jail, or both.
His case will be fixed for mention this Monday.
Wong was arrested in Mexico City in 1998 and was extradited to the US three years later where he was sentenced to 71 months imprisonment.
Wong had pleaded guilty to 40 counts of smuggling, conspiracy, money laundering and violations of US wildlife protection laws.
It was dubbed one of the largest cases of illegal trade ever prosecuted in the US.
Malaysia Uncovers Nearly 100 Live Reptiles In Bag
Royce Cheah PlanetArk 3 Sep 10;
Malaysian airport security arrested a convicted wildlife smuggler after finding almost 100 live reptiles in his luggage, the country's Wildlife and National Parks Department said.
Anson Wong, already convicted of trafficking in wildlife in the United States, was in transit from the Malaysian island state of Penang to the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Thursday when Malaysia Airlines staff at Kuala Lumpur airport were alerted to a bag that had broken while on a conveyor belt.
The department, in a statement issued late on Saturday, said its enforcement officers found 95 boa constrictors, two rhinoceros vipers and a matamata turtle inside the luggage.
Boa constrictors are subject to regulations or a complete ban in international commercial trade as they are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
The statement said Wong would remain in detention for two days. Under Malaysian law, if found guilty, he could face seven years in jail and fines of up to 100,000 ringgit ($32,000) for each animal or both.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Wong had previously pleaded guilty to a trafficking in the United States in 2001 and was sentenced to 71 months in jail.
TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring organization, said Malaysia must "rise to the challenge" of confronting new evidence of its role as an hub for those engaged in wildlife smuggling.
"Their attempt at mocking Malaysia's legal system must be dealt with head-on," said Kanitha Krishnasamy, TRAFFIC Southeast Asia Senior Programme Officer.
On Friday, Thai customs officials found a two-month-old tiger stashed in a bag filled with tiger toys which had been checked in for an international passenger flight.
(Editing by Ron Popeski)
'Lizard King' admits to smuggling 95 live snakes
Yahoo News 3 Sep 10;
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – A Malaysian wildlife trafficker has pleaded guilty to smuggling 95 endangered boa constrictors and could face up to seven years in jail, officials said Friday.
Anson Wong, 52, nicknamed the "Lizard King" and described as one of the world's most-wanted smugglers of wild animals, was arrested at the airport last week after he tried to smuggle the live snakes to neighbouring Indonesia.
The Wildlife and National Parks Department has said Wong was arrested after his luggage broke while on the conveyor belt, and airline staff later found snakes and a turtle in his bag.
He was charged in court on Wednesday under laws which prohibit the export of animal without a permit, the department's law and enforcement assistant director Rozidan Md Yasin confirmed to AFP.
He said Wong pleaded guilty to the charge and was out on bail.
Wong faces a fine of up to 100,000 ringgit (32,000 dollars) for each animal and up to seven years in prison.
Wong earned the nickname "Lizard King" for smuggling wildlife, in particular reptiles. He was reportedly sentenced to 71 months in jail in the United States in 2001 after he pleaded guilty to trafficking charges.
Despite efforts by Southeast Asian authorities to crack down on animal smuggling, the practice still persists in the region, posing a threat to several species, activists say.
* Burger King joins Nestle, Unilever in delisting SMART
* Says valid concerns raised about impact on rainforest
Sunanda Creagh Reuters AlertNet 2 Sep 10;
JAKARTA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Burger King Holdings Inc
Greenpeace has accused the palm oil giant of clearing peatland and forests with high conservation value that shelter endangered species.
Burger King is the latest in a series of big buyers, including Nestle and Unilever, to announce they would delist SMART as a supplier of palm oil, which is used in a wide variety of products ranging from make-up to chocolate.
Fast-Food Giant Cuts Ties With Sinar Mas
Jakarta Globe 2 Sep 10;
US fast food giant Burger King said on Thursday that it would no longer buy palm oil from Sinar Mas or its subsidiaries, after Greenpeace’s successful campaign against the Indonesian group’s land-clearing practices.
Burger King joins the likes of Unilever, Nestle and Kraft in shunning Sinar Mas in a move that will increase pressure on other corporate buyers of its palm oil products, such as Pizza Hut, KFC and Dunkin’ Donuts.
The news comes on the same day that Burger King, the second-largest US fast-food chain, announced that it had agreed to be bought by investment firm 3G Capital for $24 per share, or about $3.26 billion.
Indonesia is the biggest producer of palm oil, which is used in everything from biscuits to cosmetics, but environmentalists say plantations are behind deforestation blamed for habitat loss and greenhouse gas emissions.
Burger King said a recent independent audit of Sinar Mas palm oil unit Smart’s land-clearing practices — commissioned by Sinar Mas in response to the Greenpeace allegations — revealed activities “inconsistent with our corporate responsibility commitments.
“We believe the report has raised valid concerns about the sustainability practices of Sinar Mas’s palm oil production and its impact on the rainforest,” Burger King said on its Facebook page.
“As part of our … corporate responsibility program, Burger King Corp. is committed to sourcing our products from sustainable suppliers.”
It said it was looking for a new palm oil supplier for its 176 restaurants supplied by Sinar Mas.
“In addition, we are notifying our suppliers of our intent to discontinue the use of palm oil supplied by Sinar Mas in the manufacturing of our products.”
Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology has been struggling to repair its image after a Greenpeace campaign led several foreign buyers to cancel major contracts.
Greenpeace says the company is clearing high-value peat forest against Indonesian law and failing to wait for environmental studies before starting operations in sensitive areas of Borneo.
The company has acknowledged mistakes have been made in small areas, but denies it is a “forest destroyer.”
Rampant deforestation, much of it illegal, is a major reason Indonesia is the world’s third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and is driving species like Sumatran tigers to extinction.
Smart’s credibility took a blow last month when auditors Control Union Certification and BSI Group, authors of the independent verification report, complained that it had misrepresented elements of their findings.
The company had trumpeted their report as evidence that Greenpeace’s allegations were false, but the auditors said the probe’s “key findings” included that it had violated Indonesian law on forest management.
It also found that Smart had initiated operations on almost 38,000 hectares of land on Borneo before mandatory environmental studies had been completed.
Greenpeace welcomed Burger King’s announcement.
Greenpeace forest campaigner Rolf Skar wrote in a blog: “This is another blow for Sinar Mas, which had hoped its self-commissioned audit would convince corporate customers and the media that it was a sustainable company."
Smart president director Daud Dharsono has rejected any suggestion the company was trying to dodge the findings of its own audit or mislead shareholders.
Agence France-Presse
Stuart Michael The Star 3 Sep 10;
LOGGERS, boatmen and ring leaders involved in mangrove stealing at various locations off Port Klang in Selangor have vanished from the scene for fear of being detained or charged for their illegal activities.
During a recent three-week operation headed by the Selangor State Forestry Department, the team succeeded in crippling the entire mangrove-stealing operation. Five foreigners were nabbed and detained for two weeks.
Meanwhile, the state has removed and confiscated the mangrove trees that have been felled and placed at the collection areas.
State Forestry assistant director (operations and enforcement) Mohd Yussainy Md Yusop said the 30 tents had also been removed by the loggers. They have left behind some empty cooking gas tanks, clothes and other utensils.
On Aug 30, StarMetro in an exclusive report entitled “Mangrove Crooks” revealed how the mangrove thieves operate by stealing mangrove trees which led to the state Forestry Department declaring war on them.
Yussainy said the boats that used to ferry the mangrove logs were now empty and moored at the jetty.
“We will continue to conduct raids at these collection areas and the islands off Port Klang every week for the next two years to ensure a complete stop to these activities.
“There are no more foreigners staying on the island doing this job. When we first conducted the raid, they bolted and did not return to their tents.
“We have increased patrolling around these islands to ensure mangrove trees are not being felled,’’ he said.
Yussainy added that as of July 1, the state had not issued any licences to companies or individuals to cut mangrove trees in the area.
He added that the department wanted the mangrove forest to be rehabilitated.
He said it would take about 25 years for the mangrove swamp around Port Klang to rehabilitated to its original state.
“This is because the environment has been damaged by the felled mangrove trees. We will also step up conservation efforts by planting more mangrove trees in these areas,’’ he added.
State Agriculture, Natural Resources and Entrepreneurial Development Committee chairman Yaakob Sapari, who was attending a buka puasa event in Shah Alam recently, said he had received the report on this matter and urged the relevant authorities to cooperate with the State Forestry Department.
On allegations of his involvement in this issue, Yaakop denied it, saying there is no proof.
“Let the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission investigate and it will show that I am innocent,’’ he added.
Discovered on Madagascar, the new species is probably extremely rare.
Christine Dell'Amore National Geographic News 2 Sep 10;
There's a new, scalier lord of the jungle: Tarzan the chameleon.
Five-inch-long (13-centimeter-long) Calumma tarzan was found recently in a tiny patch of forest on the vast African island of Madagascar, a new study says.
The new species' name has multiple roots. For one thing, the chameleon's habitat—in what locals call the Tarzan Forest—is near the village formerly known as Tarzanville (recently renamed Ambodimeloka).
For another, the team thought naming the new species after the vine-swinging "ape man" might be a good way to "promote the conservation of this species and of course of the forest that it's living in," according to study leader Philip-Sebastian Gehring, an evolutionary biologist at the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany.
After all, "Tarzan stands for a jungle hero and fighting for protecting the forest," Gehring said.
Unique Snout Gave Tarzan Chameleon Away
The Tarzan chameleon was found on a 2009 night survey in eastern Madgascar, which lies off the east coast of mainland Africa.
Scientists immediately recognized the reptile as unique from other chameleons, due to its flat, spadelike snout, Gehring said.
Though the species' numbers are unknown, Gehring and colleagues suspect the Tarzan chameleon will be added to the ranks of critically endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species.
Tarzan Forest Fragmented
Rampant deforestation—which has accelerated throughout Madagascar since a 2009 political coup—has turned the chameleon's habitat into a patchwork of isolated forest fragments, some no bigger than a soccer field.
Combined, the fragments account for just about four square miles (ten square kilometers), Gehring said.
Even so, the team found up to 60 chameleons in one fragment alone, suggesting the new species can survive in the remaining pockets—and that the Tarzan chameleon could still come out swinging.
Tarzan-chameleon study published August 20 in the journal Salamandra.
Yahoo News 2 Sep 10;
SYDNEY (AFP) – Australian scientists Thursday said they had discovered a sprawling ancient reef in chilly southern waters which could hold new hope for the future of coral as sea temperatures rise.
Researchers used high-resolution sonar and sophisticated drilling to find the fossil reef near a living coral site at Lord Howe Island, 600 kilometres (400 miles) off southeastern Australia -- the world's southernmost reef.
Around 20 times the size of the modern reef, the fossil site flourished between 9,000 and 7,000 years ago, before perishing, it is thought, due to an abrupt rise in sea levels linked to melting of the Antarctic ice sheet.
Lead researcher Colin Woodroffe said the discovery showed coral had once thrived in the southern waters and might do so again as climate change warms the seas, bleaching and destroying reefs further north.
"As global temperatures warm, the reefs in the tropical areas are increasingly stressed, particularly by coral bleaching, and there's been some suggestions that reefs might be able to expand further towards the poles but not much evidence of that," Woodroffe told AFP.
"Our evidence here is that indeed there was a reef, at this limit, that was much more extensive, and that does look quite promising in terms of the opportunity for the reef to expand again."
Woodroffe, from the University of Wollongong, south of Sydney, said the research showed corals may be able to recolonise south as more tropical habitats became hostile and find "refuge" in reefs usually considered too deep for coral growth.
His team will next take their search 26 kilometres south of Lord Howe Island to Ball's Pyramid, a volcanic remnant that juts spectacularly from the ocean, to see if there was a similar reef there and explore why the fossil reef had perished.
"We'd like to interpret why it is that that reef gave up in the past, (it's) just a hypothesis at this stage that it was the speed of sea-level rise," he said.
"But it may be related to temperature changes in the past as well, that's an alternative hypothesis."
Scientists say corals are vital to marine life because they provide habitats for a vast variety of creatures and absorb large levels of poisonous carbon dioxide.
Jeremy Hsu LiveScience.com 2 Sep 10;
Mass extinctions have served as huge reset buttons that dramatically changed the diversity of species found in oceans all over the world, according to a comprehensive study of fossil records. The findings suggest humans will live in a very different future if they drive animals to extinction, because the loss of each species can alter entire ecosystems.
Some scientists have speculated that effects of humans - from hunting to climate change - are fueling another great mass extinction. A few go so far as to say we are entering a new geologic epoch, leaving the 10,000-year-old Holocene Epoch behind and entering the Anthropocene Epoch, marked by major changes to global temperatures and ocean chemistry, increased sediment erosion, and changes in biology that range from altered flowering times to shifts in migration patterns of birds and mammals and potential die-offs of tiny organisms that support the entire marine food chain.
Scientists had once thought species diversity could help buffer a group of animals from such die-offs, either keeping them from heading toward extinction or helping them to bounce back. But having many diverse species also proved no guarantee of future success for any one group of animals, given that mass extinctions more or less wiped the slate clean, according to studies such as the latest one.
Then and now
Looking back in time, the diversity of large taxonomic groups (which include lots of species), such as snails or corals, mostly hovered around a certain equilibrium point that represented a diversity limit of species' numbers. But that diversity limit also appears to have changed spontaneously throughout Earth's history about every 200 million years.
How today's extinction crisis - species today go extinct at a rate that may range from 10 to 100 times the so-called background extinction rate - may change the face of the planet and its species goes beyond what humans can predict, the researchers say.
"The main implication is that we're really rolling the dice," said John Alroy, a paleobiologist at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. "We don't know which groups will suffer the most, which groups will rebound the most quickly, or which ones will end up with higher or lower long-term equilibrium diversity levels."
What seems certain is that the fate of each animal group will differ greatly, Alroy said.
His analysis, detailed in the Sept. 3 issue of the journal Science, is based on almost 100,000 fossil collections in the Paleobiology Database (PaleoDB).
The findings revealed various examples of diversity shifts, including one that took place in a group of ocean bottom-dwelling bivalves called brachiopods, which are similar to clams and oysters. They dominated the Paleozoic era from 540 million to 250 million years ago, and branched out into new species during two huge adaptive spurts of growth in diversity - each time followed by a big crash.
The brachiopods then reached a low, but steady, equilibrium over the past 250 million years in which there wasn't a surge or a crash in species' numbers, and still live on today as a rare group of marine animals.
Counting creatures better
In the past, researchers have typically counted species in the fossil record by randomly drawing a set number of samples from each time period - a method that can leave out less common species. In fact two studies using the PaleoDB used this approach.
Instead, Alroy used a new approach called shareholder sampling, in which he tracked how frequently certain groups appeared in the fossil record, and then counted enough samples until he hit a target number representative of the proportion for each group.
"In some sense the older methods are a little like the American voting system - the first-past-the-post-winner method basically makes minority views invisible," said Charles Marshall, a paleontologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who did not take part in the study. "However, with proportional systems, minority views still get seats in parliament."
Marshall added that the study was the "most thorough quantitative analysis to date using global marine data." But he added that researchers will probably debate whether the PaleoDB data represents a complete-enough picture of the fossil record.
Nothing lasts forever
The idea that rules of diversity change should not come as a surprise for most researchers, according to Marshall.
"To me, the really interesting possibility is that some groups might not yet be close enough to their caps to have those caps be manifest yet," Marshall told LiveScience. Or "evolutionary innovation" might happen so quickly that new groups emerged to increase overall diversity, even if each sub-group reached a cap on diversity.
If anything, the record of past extinctions has shown the difficulty of predicting which groups win out in the long run. "Surviving is one thing and recovering is another," said Marshall, who wrote a Perspectives piece about the study in the same issue of Science.
One of the few consistent patterns is that growth spurts in diversity can apparently happen at any time, according to Alroy. He added that the background extinction of individual species has also remained consistent - the average species lasts just a few million years
Of course, the ongoing extinction crisis of modern times goes far beyond the background extinction rate. Alroy noted that it could not only wipe out entire branches of evolutionary history, but may also change the ecosystems shaped by each species.
That means today's species matter for environments around the world, and so humans can't simply expect replacements from the diverse species of the future.
"If we lose all the reef builders, we may not get back the physical reefs for millions of years no matter how fast we get back all the species diversity in a simple sense," Alroy said.
Yahoo News 3 Sep 10;
GENEVA (AFP) – Millions of Africans may lose a key source of livelihoods as a fifth of freshwater African species are threatened with extinction, the updated Red List of endangered species showed Thursday.
Scientists conducting a survey on 5,167 African freshwater species found that some 21 percent of species of fish, molluscs, crabs, dragonflies and aquatic plants were at risk of becoming extinct, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said in a statement.
As fish is the main source of protein and livelihoods for much of Africa's poorest people, the disappearance of fish species could have a devastating impact on the local population, the IUCN noted.
Some 7.5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are thought to depend on fisheries.
"If we don?t stem the loss of these species, not only will the richness of Africa?s biodiversity be reduced forever, but millions of people will lose a key source of income, food and materials," warned William Darwall, manager of the IUCN?s freshwater biodiversity unit.
In Lake Victoria, which stretches across Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya for instance, almost half -- 45 percent -- of 191 fish species studied were threatened with extinction or already extinct.
In Cameroon's Barombi Mbo crater-lake, 11 species of fish -- some of which are key food sources, are highly threatened.
Jean-Christophe Vie, deputy head of the IUCN's species programme also noted the importance of freshwater ecosystems.
"Freshwaters provide a home for a disproportionate level of the world's biodiversity," he said.
"Although they cover just one percent of the planet's surface, freshwater ecosystems are actually home to around seven percent of all species," he added.
See also Photos: Africa's Disappearing Damselflies, Fish, and Wildflowers on National Geographic
And the official IUCN press release
Mark Kinver BBC News 2 Sep 10;
A growing number of New York sky-scrapers are switching off their lights to help reduce the number of birds hitting the high-rise buildings.
The "lights out" project - organised by NYC Audubon - runs until 1 November, when migratory birds are expected to have completed their autumn migrations.
The Empire State and Chrysler buildings are among those dimming their lights.
An estimated 90,000 birds each year are killed in the city as a result of striking glass-fronted buildings.
Organisers of the annual initiative, now in its fifth year, say the bright lights disorientate the migrating birds and override their natural navigational cues.
NYC Audubon - a group that works to protect wild birds and their habitats within the city - is calling on owners and tenants in high-rise buildings to turn off lights on unoccupied floors or unused space between midnight and dawn.
Continue reading the main story
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It is also asking late workers to drawn blinds or use desk lamps rather than using ceiling-mounted lighting.
A similar project in Toronto, Canada, suggests that "across North America, more birds die from collisions each year than succumbed to the Exxon Valdez oil spill", which claimed the lives of in excess of 250,000 birds.
NYC Audubon also quotes the findings of a study at Chicago's Field Museum, which showed the number of birds killed by striking the building at night fell by 83% when the lights were switched off at night.
During the migration season, about 30 volunteers will be patrolling a number of buildings at night.
"The monitoring and research improves our understanding of the causes behind urban bird [strikes], and studies ways to prevent future [strikes] from occurring," explained Susan Elbin, director of conservation for NYC Audubon.
Among the species that appear to be particularly affected are white-throated sparrows, common yellow throats and ovenbirds, figures suggest.
Although there is no direct evidence, anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that at night - especially in foggy or rainy weather - birds fly at lower altitudes, leaving them more vulnerable to flying into well-lit, glass-fronted high buildings.
"We don't know the true scope of the problem," said Glen Phillips, NYC Audubon's executive director.
"Birds fall on to high floors, their bodies never reach the ground. Plus, predators, wind currents, traffic, all make it hard for us to collect and monitor deaths."
Yahoo News 2 Sep 10;
LIMA (AFP) – The Amazon, the world's biggest river, is at its lowest level in over 40 years near its source in northeastern Peru, causing havoc in a region where it is used as the only form of travel, authorities said.
According to officials in Loreto province, the Amazon on Tuesday in the northeast city of Iquitos fell to 105.97 meters (347.67 feet) above sea level, 50 cm (1.6 feet) lower than it was in 2005, so far the lowest reference point in four decades.
Low levels have brought economic havoc in areas of Peru that depend on the Amazon for shipping, by denying boats a navigable river as well as usable ports and harbors.
At least six boats became stranded for lack of river flow over the last three weeks and several shipping companies have been forced to suspend service, said regional civil defense chief Roberto Falcon.
River trips between Iquitos and other Amazon towns that normally take around 12-15 days now last twice as long, officials said.
According to the national meteorological service, the level drop -- which is forecast to slide another 20 cm (0.6 feet) until mid-September -- has been caused by a lack of rain and high temperatures in the region.
The Amazon is the second-longest river in the world, after the Nile, but discharges far more water at its mouth than any other.
It also drains more territory than any other, from Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay and Venezuela before running across Brazil and into the Atlantic.
* Wind-whipped fires destroy hundreds of homes
* Blazes follow devastating wildfires in central Russia
Reuters AlertNet 2 Sep 10;
MOSCOW, Sept 2 (Reuters) - A new wave of wildfires swept through villages in southern Russia on Thursday, killing at least two people and destroying hundreds of homes, officials and news reports said.
Fires driven by high winds destroyed nearly 500 buildings in the Volgograd and Saratov provinces, including 342 homes, Emergencies Ministry spokewoman Irina Andriyanova told the ITAR-Tass news agency.
The blazes in the provinces on the Volga River southeast of Moscow followed wildfires that killed at least 54 in central Russia in July and August amid Russia's worst heat wave ever recorded.
Most of the damage on Thursday was in the Vologograd province, where a man was killed when a forest fire spread to his house, regional Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Rodionova told Reuters.
A woman was killed and 13 people injured in a separate district, state-run RIA news agency reported, citing provincial administration officials.
Andriyanova said the fires on Thursday affected 15 villages and towns, and that 10 centres had been set up to shelter evacuees, ITAR-Tass reported.
Winds gusted up to 25 metres per second (56 miles per hour) in temperatures that approached 40 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit), Rodionova said. (Reporting and writing by Conor Humphries and Steve Gutterman; editing by Peter Graff)
BBC News 2 Sep 10;
A tanker carrying 9m litres (2.4m gallons) of diesel fuel has run aground off the coast of northern Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard has said.
The Nanny, owned by Woodward's Oil, hit a sandbar on Wednesday in the Northwest Passage, near the village of Gjoa Haven in the Nunavut federal territory.
No diesel is believed to have been spilt, Coast Guard officials said.
The authorities are working with Woodward's Oil to attempt to float the tanker off the sandbar, they added.
"The Coast Guard ship Henry Larsen has just entered the area. I believe it's at anchor just off of Gjoa Haven as we speak," Larry Trigatti, an environmental response official with the Coast Guard, told CBC News.
"It's monitoring the situation by helicopter. As you can imagine, there are some shoals [sandbars] in the area, so we want to be very careful in going into that zone," he added.
Officials said it was too early to tell when the tanker, which was supplying remote communities in the region, would be able to move again.
The Nanny is a modern double-hulled product tanker, according to the coast guard.
A cruise ship exploring the Northwest Passage also ran aground last week when it hit an uncharted rock off Nunavut.
Gjoa Haven, or Uqsuqtuuq in the Inuktitut language, is the only settlement on King William Island.
The Northwest Passage is one of the most fabled sea routes in the world - the most direct shipping route from Europe to Asia through the Canadian Arctic. Historically, it is ice-bound throughout the year.
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