Best of our wild blogs: 19 May 10

Fig for You!
from Psychedelic Nature

Windy on Beting Bemban Besar
from wild shores of singapore and knobblies galore and Singapore Nature

NIE fieldtrip to Labrador rocky shore
from wonderful creation

Documenting bird calls and songs
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Upper and Lower Peirce
from Crystal and Bryan in Singapore

Pencil me in
from The annotated budak

Raffles Museum Treasures: Johnson's freshwater crab
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales

Coral bleaching May 2010
from Compressed air junkie

Diving in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park (1)
from Chai's Marine Life Blog

The Beauty of Diversity, and Sea Slugs
from New York Times Blogs by Terry Gosliner

Children prioritize TV, video games over saving the environment
from Mongabay.com news

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Bridge across BKE to link nature reserves

Besides humans, it will allow animals, plants to cross the expressway
Grace Chua StraitS Times 19 May 10;

BUILDERS wanted: to design and construct an eco-link bridge between two nature reserves that will be accessible to both humans and animals.

The bridge would allow animals and plants to move between Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and the Central Catchment area around the reservoirs.

To be planted with grass and native trees and shrubs for creatures from both sides to colonise, the area should become a habitat for wildlife when animals and insects move in.

The movement of species was cut short when the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) was completed in 1986. Animals could not cross the busy road, and were often turned into roadkill while trying to do so in search of food and mates.

Since then, conservationists have bemoaned the potential loss of genetic diversity, as species like the rare banded leaf monkey were cut off from their counterparts on the other side of the BKE.

That loss of diversity could affect the survival of the two fragmented forests.

Now, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is calling for tenders to design and build the 50m-wide green bridge to span the BKE, at about 600m north of Rifle Range Road between the Pan-Island Expressway and Dairy Farm exits.

The LTA and National Parks Board, which are jointly behind the project, have not decided on the precise location yet.

NParks said the general location was picked as being the least damaging on the nature reserves at either end.

The LTA tender opened last month and will close early next month.

The contractor must come up with a final design within six months of the award and complete the whole project in two years and nine months. Construction should start in the middle of next year.

The tender requires that the contractor take pains to protect the sensitive nature areas around the bridge - down to preserving specific trees. One of the tender drawings stipulates which trees cannot be chopped down.

They include species like Senegal mahogany, meranti tembaga, and fruit trees like the jambu and durian.

'Eco-passages' have been used successfully in other countries. In 2006, an 800m-long 'eco-duct' for deer, foxes and other animals was opened in Holland. The US$19 million (S$26.3 million) bridge spans a highway and a railway.

'The eco-passage is long overdue,' said Mr Veera Sekaran of landscaping company Greenology, who is a botanist by training. 'For the animals, it is like bridging the North and South Korea divide.'

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Green study disregards Singapore's circumstances

Straits Times Forum 19 May 10;

THE study by the National University of Singapore and the University of Adelaide reported in Friday's article ('Is Singapore the worst environmental offender?') ranked Singapore, with Japan, Denmark, New Zealand and Iceland, among the 20 worst-ranked countries on proportional environmental impact.

The 10 best-ranked countries were Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Swaziland, Antigua and Barbuda, Niger, Grenada, Samoa, Tonga, Djibouti and Tajikistan.

However, the study compares cities like Singapore with large countries such as Australia, Britain and Japan. A more realistic comparison would be with cities like Sydney, London or Tokyo.

It is surprising that many of the findings are not borne out by facts.

For example, Singapore is ranked fourth worst in its water pollution index. It ignores our investing in a comprehensive used-water network to ensure that all used water is collected and treated prior to discharge into the watercourse.

Our treated used water meets even more stringent standards than the European Union's.

The study grossly inflates Singapore's emissions by including emissions from bunker fuels sold to ships and aircraft transiting Singapore.

This deviates from internationally accepted norms and unfairly penalises Singapore, which is a major international maritime and aviation hub. Under the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention for Climate Change, emissions from international bunker sales are excluded because the emissions take place outside of Singapore.

In fact, Singapore reduced its carbon intensity by 40 per cent from 1990 to 2007.

One author (Navjot Sodhi) claimed that Singapore lost 90 per cent of its forests due to rapid development in the last 30 years. This is untrue. Much original forest cover was lost prior to Singapore's independence in 1965. To preserve what remained, we have by law conserved nature reserves and implemented species recovery programmes.

This, together with an islandwide network of parks and streetscape, enabled Singapore's green cover to grow to almost 50 per cent of the island. Despite rapid development, we have retained a diversity of flora and fauna, including more than 2,000 native plant species and 350 bird species. We continue to discover new species and re-discover species previously thought extinct.

We recognise the need for a scientifically credible and robust evaluation tool to measure biodiversity conservation efforts in cities. That is why Singapore is developing a City Biodiversity Index, in partnership with the United Nations' Convention on Biological Diversity, as a tool for cities to evaluate their progress in reducing the rate of biodiversity loss.

The index will be a more appropriate index to evaluate biodiversity and good governance in cities.

Mr Philip Ong
Director (Strategic Policy)
Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources

Mr Lim Chee Hwee
Director (Infrastructure)
Ministry of National Development

Related post
Singapore No. 1 global eco-destroyer? on wild shores of singapore.

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InVivos to set up animal breeding facility in Singapore

Rats! Singapore to get a steady supply
InVivos to set up animal breeding facility in Lim Chu Kang to support research activities here
Ong Dai Lin, Today Online 19 May 10;

SINGAPORE - For years, life science researchers here have been predominantly using imported research animals for their laboratory work. Soon, a national breeding facility to provide a steady supply of animals for research will aid their work, MediaCorp has learnt.

InVivos, a company established in 2008 by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research's Biomedical Sciences Institutes to set up an animal breeding facility to support research activities, has teamed up with American company Taconic to develop the project.

Taconic is one of the largest laboratory rodent providers in the world.

The facility, which is expected to be completed by the end of next year, will produce 300,000 rodents annually when it starts operations. It aims to produce about 600,000 rodents (80 per cent mice and 20 per cent rats) per year at full capacity. It will then employ 50 to 60 people.

It will be built on land designated for agri-biotechnological use in Lim Chu Kang, adjacent to the current NUS' Centre for Animal Resources, a smaller rodent breeding facility.

Taconic senior vice-president of client relations Kevin Leak said of the partnership: "It's testimony to our position of leadership in mouse and rat genetics, as well as our half century of expertise in breeding and worldwide delivery, that we've been selected as trainers, consultants and suppliers to InVivos."

About 30,000 small mammals such as hamsters, rats and guinea pigs were imported last year as pets and also for research, according to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority.

Researchers told MediaCorp the new facility should be helpful in their work.

Dr Patrick Casey, senior vice-dean of research at Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School, said it is "critical to have a consistent and reliant supply of animals in research".

"We import many animals from Australia, and they're expensive and take quite a while to get here ... Now the costs can be lower and it will be faster to get the animals," he said.

While animals are usually used in laboratory work when there are no other research options, a centralised breeding facility is not uncommon overseas. In India, a National Centre for Laboratory Animal Sciences was set up with the aim of producing quality laboratory animals such as guinea pigs for research.

In Taiwan, a National Laboratory Animal Centre was set up in 1994 to supply rodents for research.

The US' National Institutes of Health's National Centre for Research Resources has bred government-owned chimpanzees for research since 1995. The programme was stopped in 2007 for financial reasons.

Uniquely Singapore lab mice and micro-pigs
Goh Chin Lian Straits Times 23 May 10;

They are the made-in-Singapore 'guinea pigs'. Miniature pigs 10 times smaller than a normal pig will soon be bred here for scientific research.

PWG Genetics, a biomedical research company with its headquarters in South Korea, plans to breed about 200 of these pigs from this year at its new facility in Tuas.

Over at Lim Chu Kang, a facility will be built to produce up to 600,000 mice and rats annually.

The project belongs to InVivos, a company set up by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) and the National University of Singapore (NUS). The facilities aim to meet the demand for animals as Singapore pushes for biomedical sciences to be a pillar of growth. The animals are used to test drugs, vaccines and surgical methods.

Singapore is home to 25 facilities licensed by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) for animal research. They include laboratories run by A*Star, NUS, health-care group SingHealth and companies like PWG.

While NUS and A*Star run their own facilities to breed rodents, researchers still need to import more of these and other animals like monkeys and pigs.

About 30,000 small mammals such as mice and rabbits were imported last year for research and as pets, the AVA said.

The demand here for miniature pigs alone is about 1,000 a year, a PWG spokesman said. Normal pigs, which grow to weigh more than 100kg within a year, are difficult to handle. If used for drug tests, they will need huge dosages, which can be expensive.

Miniature pigs from Europe and the United States used by researchers are usually half the size. PWG said its pigs are smaller. One type weighs 10kg to 15kg, at one year old to 15 months old. These animals, called micro-pigs, originate from crosses of pot-bellied Vietnamese pigs, pygmy pigs and a range of other pig types.

PWG said it has been importing micro-pigs from South Korea for researchers at the Defence Science Organisation, National University Hospital and National Dental Centre. Breeding them here will ensure they are readily available and reduce their exposure to diseases, which is a risk if they were to be shipped from overseas, the spokesman said.

InVivos' facility, expected to be built by the end of next year, will breed mice and rats under clean-room conditions. The 3,000 sq m facility will be built at Perahu Road, next to a smaller breeding facility run by NUS. InVivos will eventually combine both facilities.

A*Star's current breeding facility at Biopolis in Buona Vista will cease operations once InVivos' facilities become fully operational.

Guidelines on the humane treatment of animals in research were drawn up by the National Advisory Committee for Laboratory Animal Research (Naclar) in 2003.

Naclar's chairman, Professor Bernard Tan, said the use of animals for research rests on three principles. They are: replacing the use of animals with other means whenever possible; using as few as necessary; and doing one's best to ensure they do not suffer.

ANIMALS FOR TESTS

Mice and rats

Used in cancer, genetic and stem cell research. InVivos will build a facility in Lim Chu Kang by the end of next year with the capacity to breed 600,000 mice and rats a year.

Pigs

Used to test drugs and medical devices, such as artificial knee joints and dental implants. PWG Genetics will breed 200 micro-pigs in its Tuas facility from this year.

Monkeys

Used in vaccine, Alzheimer's studies and research on healing processes. Researchers began using long-tailed macaques on a larger scale three years ago. The animals come from Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia. SingHealth Experimental Medicine Centre maintains a macaque colony here. Singapore-based company Maccine has a subsidiary which runs a breeding facility on Bintan, Indonesia.

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'Lehe' way to sustainable living

Goh Sui Noi, Straits Times 19 May 10;

THE first time I came across the term Lohas was on a magazine cover in a Taipei bookstore two years ago.

Lohas, or lifestyles of health and sustainability, is a term coined in the West. And the Chinese-language magazine had adopted the acronym as part of its name - My Lohas. In the articles the magazine carried, Lohas was translated as lehuo, 'happy life'.

The magazine, which was printed on recycled, uncoated paper with soya-based ink, was clearly pitched at the middle class. Articles included interviews with a psychologist who made lamps out of driftwood in his spare time, a former newscaster and her husband who made documentaries on the environment, two women who cycled round Taiwan; tips on how to reduce your carbon footprint; and suggestions of where to go for an eco-holiday.

My Lohas reflects the movement that began in the United States to provide goods and services focused on health, the environment, social justice, personal development and sustainable living, aimed largely at the middle-class consumer who is relatively health conscious and socially and environmentally aware.

Thus there are (more expensive) fair trade coffee, hybrid cars, organic food - products calculated to make the consumer feel good about having done his or her bit for society and the environment.

The second time I encountered the term Lohas, or rather the Chinese version of it, was last week in a news feature of the Beijing News, a daily tabloid. It was about a green project in an old part of Beijing, in the Dongsi area where old low-rises and courtyard houses are progressively being replaced by office towers and high-rise residential blocks.

This project of the environmental non-governmental organisation (NGO) Global Village of Beijing has brought the concept of Lohas to the grassroots level, and given it a new twist. Instead of lehuo, the Chinese have chosen to use the term lehe. It is shorthand for ledaoshanghe, roughly, 'enjoy the way of nature and esteem harmony'. This term is derived from the Dao De Jing, the Daoist classic.

As explained by Ms Sheri Liao, founder of Global Village, lehe goes beyond the concept of green living of lehuo or Lohas, to emphasise that man and nature are one. Put simply, it is about deriving happiness and good health from living in harmony with nature, a traditional Daoist concept which is now coming back into vogue in China.

One could argue that lehe is a reaction to China's rapid development in the past 30 years, which has led to serious pollution and resource depletion. This has led to the Chinese government looking for more sustainable ways of growth, and some segments of society for less profligate consumption and more healthy lifestyles.

In practical terms, lehe is about sustainable ways of living. Individual projects in the eight mainly lower-middle income neighbourhoods range from walking exercises to water-saving measures, to waste reduction and recycling, to improving air quality of the neighbourhoods through cultivation of herbs and vegetables.

The project in Dongsi began last September with funding of one million yuan (S$205,000) from a foundation and cooperation of the Dongsi street committee (much like our residents' committees). It is expected to run for two years, with some projects expected to be self-sustaining and even money-making, such as using reusable waste to make products such as bags, coasters, hats and souvenirs.

Organisers admitted that the project was slow to start because the residents, many of them middle-aged folk or retirees, found it difficult to take to. They had to rope in friends and Communist Party cadres to begin with. But more people are coming forward to take part of their own volition. For example, membership of the easy-e daily taiji, a simple exercise regime incorporating some taiji moves, has grown from 50 to over 300.

Some have taken so much to urban farming that they are going beyond just growing vegetables and herbs. Madam Liu Lanhui, 67, has applied for permission to cultivate worms, to which she expects to feed kitchen waste. She will then harvest worm waste as organic fertiliser. As for Madam Hao Yufang, 77, and her husband, there was nothing like the joy of eating the celery they planted themselves. They had their first harvest recently, after switching from growing ornamental plants to vegetables.

Then there is Madam Li Shiping, 68, who started exercising with a walking group last October. She now advocates vegetarianism, makes fresh fruit juices for her family, and grinds five kinds of grains to make into a healthy porridge. She collects spent batteries from her neighbours for recycling.

The project targets mainly women because they hold the household purse strings, said Ms Li Junling of Global Village, who works full time at the Dongsi project. They reduce household expenses through low-carbon strategies like waste reduction, recycling, as well as organising flea markets.

Change is slow to come, noted Ms Li. 'It is hard for people to change habits of a lifetime in just six months,' she told The Straits Times. But it is happening as people see the benefits of the activities they take part in. The challenge now is getting younger, working people to participate.

What is noteworthy is that Global Village is taking an essentially middle-class lifestyle movement - and of a small segment of the middle class at that - and trying to universalise it by taking it to the grassroots. It is also taking the movement into the countryside, to an area of Sichuan hit by the 2008 earthquake, with a focus on organic farming. After all, any sustainable living movement must encompass all segments of society if it is to be successful.

Here in Singapore, there are many green community activities, but nothing concerted enough to broaden awareness of what low-carbon living entails to everyone. There is not enough information and facilitation of green living.

For example, Singaporeans are great consumers of IT products, but there is not enough ready information on the disposal of e-waste or collection points for such waste.

For example, I don't know how I can dispose of spent batteries if I don't want to just chuck them in the waste-bin. If I have used clothing that is not fit for the Salvation Army, there is no recycle bin I can put it in. And if one wants to grow herbs in the kitchen of an HDB flat, where does one go for help?

Perhaps our NGOs could take a leaf from China's Global Village of Beijing and universalise the concept of low-carbon, healthy living here by taking it to the heartland.

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Taiwan orders citizens to take environmental lessons

Yahoo News 18 May 10;

TAIPEI (AFP) – Taiwan has become one of the world's first societies to impose mandatory environmental education in its bid to protect its fragile environment, authorities said Tuesday.

Under the new law passed Tuesday, all companies, non-profit organisations and schools should offer at least four hours of environmental lessons each year, said the Environmental Protection Administration.

Violators will risk being shut down, it said in a statement, adding the law would "usher in a new era for Taiwan's environmental protection".

Environmentally conscious Taiwan is keen to promote green technologies and architecture as it seeks to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

The island's parliament last year passed a major renewable energy bill aimed at adding between 6,500 and 10,000 megawatts of installed energy from renewable sources over the next 20 years.

Currently, Taiwan has only 2,278 megawatts from renewable sources, according to state-run Taiwan Power Co.

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Up close with wild elephants at Endau-Rompin, Malaysia

Austin Camoens, The Star 19 May 10;

ENDAU: Visitors to the Endau-Rompin (Peta) National Park can observe elephants in the wild through observation towers set up throughout the park.

Johor National Parks Corporation (PTNJ) director Abu Bakar Mohamed Salleh said 10 towers had been built near the Orang Asli fruit groves in the park.

“These towers were erected two months ago to prevent large animals from destroying the fruit groves,” he said.

Abu Bakar said that the towers could also draw tourists, especially those who were keen on seeing elephants in the wild.

“We have studied various samples of elephant dung and estimate that we have more than 120 elephants in the park.”

He added that most of the towers were located near bamboo plants - the elephants preferred food.

Abu Bakar said that besides elephants, the park had 50 species of mammals, 230 types of birds, 43 different fish, 26 frog species, 179 varieties of butterflies, and 14 species of snakes.

“We also have three male and eight female tigers,” he said, adding that studies showed a male tiger needs about 30,000 hectares of forest territory while females need about 10,000 hectares.

The Endau-Rompin National Park (comprising the Peta and Selai parks) is spread over 80,000 hectares.

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Work On Kuraman Marine Park Centre, Malaysia To Start In 2011

Bernama 18 May 10;

LABUAN, May 18 (Bernama) -- The Department of Marine Park Malaysia will begin construction of the Kuraman Marine Park Centre next year with a RM10 million allocation under the Tenth Malaysia Plan. The department's director-general Abdul Jamal Mydin said the centre would be used for the marine park's more effective management, educational programmes, and research and monitoring activities.

"All these efforts will be beneficial for all parties concerned in promoting the Kuraman Island Marine Park as a new destination for Labuan's eco-tourism programme," he said at the handing-over of the Karuman Island jetty and RM1.99 million Marine Park Recreational Centre to his department by Labuan Corporation Tuesday.

The Kuraman group of islands which had been gazetted as a marine park, comprises Pulau Kuraman, Pulau Rusukan Besar and Pulau Rusukan Kecil, located south-west of Labuan and 14km from Labuan's Victoria Harbour.

Natural Resource and Environment Deputy Minister Tan Sri Joseph Kurup witnessed the handing-over, with Jamal representing his department while Labuan Corporation was represented by its chief executive officer, Datuk Basiran Saban.

The jetty, on the western side of Kuraman Island in the South China Sea, is about 500 metres from the Kuraman Island Resort.

Jamal said in intensifying conservation of the Kuraman marine park's ecosystem, the department last year placed artificial reefs worth RM200,000 for lobsters to breed there.

He said the department had also placed buoys to mark the zone for snorkelling and other recreational activities at the marine park for the visitors' own safety.

At the handing-over ceremony, Kurup also launched the Environ Reef project for the marine park with the articifical reefs contributed by Dorken Reef Resources to enhance biodiversity conservation there.

Besides Kuraman, the department has five other marine park centres, namely in Pulau Redang and Pulau Perhentian in Terengganu, Pulau Tinggi in Johor, Pulau Payar in Kedah and Pulau Tioman in Pahang, all in Peninsular Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA

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Waterlily saved from extinction

Pallab Ghosh, BBC News 18 May 10;

A scientist based at the UK's Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has prevented the world's smallest waterlily from becoming extinct.

Carlos Magdalena now plans to repopulate the plant in its native home in the hot springs of Rwanda.

The world's biggest species of waterlily can have pads that grow to around 3m (10ft).

By contrast the thermal lily is just a centimetre wide - with tiny satin white flowers with a butter yellow centre.

Two years ago, this delicate bloom went extinct in the wild due to over-exploitation of its habitat.

Luckily its seeds were kept in storage - and were used by Carlos Magdalena to regrow the plant at Kew Gardens - just outside London.

It took him months to find the ideal conditions for growth. He hopes now that the Thermal Lily will flourish once again in the hot springs of Rwanda.

"I feel really feel happy and relieved when I managed to successfully grow the plant. I realised then that it wasn't going to disappear forever," he told BBC News.

Although scientists are working hard to bring many endangered plants back from the brink of extinction, they're fighting what is currently a losing battle.

A recent study showed that world governments won't meet the internationally-agreed target of significantly curbing the loss of species by this year.

Governments are to meet to set new targets at the UN's convention on biological diversity in Japan in October. How then can they expect to succeed where the previous convention on biodiversity failed?
Novel strategies

According to James Beattie, another horticulturist at Kew, there's now a more holistic approach to preserving habitats that has been shown to work.

"In the past, efforts were very much focused on species conservation," he said.

"Now it's being attached to education and working with local partners in these programmes so you can get the message across that these plants are important and the only reason they are disappearing is because of man's activities.

"If you can alter that behaviour then you can bring these plants back quite successfully."

The researchers at Kew say that it's very important to maintain biodiversity.

"Without it, we wouldn't have the products we have today," according to Mr Beattie.

"If you lose that diversity, you risk losing the chances we have of surviving on this planet as things like climate change comes into play".

Professor Steve Hopper, director of Kew Gardens, is optimistic that it is possible to reverse the trend.

"We can turn this corner. We have the capability to do it. There's no reason why another species of plant should go extinct if we apply just a bit of resource and a new attitude towards caring for the natural world."

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Even small patches of U.S. urban woods are valuable for migrating birds

Ohio State University EurekAlert 18 May 10;

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Even tiny patches of woods in urban areas seem to provide adequate food and protection for some species of migrating birds as they fly between wintering and breeding grounds, new research has found.

The results are important because, with the expansion of cities worldwide, migrating landbirds increasingly must pass through vast urban areas which offer very little of the forest habitats on which many species rely.

"The good news is that the birds in our study seemed to be finding enough food in even the smaller urban habitats to refuel and continue their journey," said Stephen Matthews, co-author of the study and a post-doctoral researcher in the School of Environment and Natural Resources at Ohio State University.

Matthews conducted the study with Paul Rodewald, an assistant professor of environment and natural resources at Ohio State.

The researchers published two related studies: one will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Landscape Ecology and the other appeared in a recent issue of The Condor.

Both studies involved a secretive relative of the American Robin called Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus). Swainson's Thrushes winters mainly in Central and South America, and travel through the eastern United States to their breeding grounds in the boreal forests of Canada.

The researchers captured up to 91 Swainson's Thrushes at a woodlot on the Ohio State campus while they were migrating through Columbus in May or early June, 2004 to 2007. They then fitted them with tiny radio transmitters and released them at one of seven wooded sites in the Columbus area. (The radio transmitters were glued to back feathers and naturally fell off within a few weeks.)

The sites had forest sizes that ranged from less than one hectare (1.7 acres) to about 38 hectares (93.9 acres) in size.

Using the radio transmitters, the researchers tracked how long the thrushes would stay in the woodlots where they were placed. If they left soon after release, that would suggest that the sites did not provide the food and habitat that they required.

Results showed that at the five largest release sites, all the birds stayed until they left to continue to their migration north. At the two smallest sites (0.7 and 4.5 hectares), 28 percent of the birds moved to other sites in the Columbus region.

"The fact that a majority of the birds stayed at even our smallest sites suggests that the Swainson's Thrushes were somewhat flexible in habitat needs and were able to meet their stopover requirements within urban forest patches," Rodewald said.

The study revealed that the birds stayed at each site from one to 12 days, with the average being about four days. There was no difference in how long the thrushes stayed across the seven sites.

"If our study sites differed strongly in habitat quality, we should have seen differences in how long the birds stayed," Matthews said. "The fact that the stopover duration was similar suggests that all the sites were meeting the needs of the thrushes as they prepared for the next leg of migration."

The study did find that the later the calendar date, the shorter the thrushes stayed at the sites. That may be because the later-arriving birds would be in more of a rush to reach their breeding grounds, Matthews said.

Weather was also a factor: birds tended to leave the sites when winds were light, following a drop in barometric pressure.

Birds also tended to stay longer if they had lower body mass, suggesting they needed to bulk up more to continue their journey.

While nearly all sizes of woods appeared adequate for the thrushes, they still seemed to prefer larger forested areas, the study revealed.

In one of the studies, the researchers found that in the larger urban woodlots, the thrushes would stay farther in the interior and not get as close to the forest edge. The birds also moved less during a three-day period in the smaller sites, indicating they were more restricted in the area where they could forage for food.

The researchers cautioned that this study was done with just one species, so it is impossible to say whether the results will apply to other species. But the Swainson's Thrush is one of the more forest-sensitive species, so the fact that it could make do with even small, fragmented woodlots is encouraging.

"These findings suggest that remnant forests within urban areas have conservation value for Swainson's Thrushes and, potentially, other migrant landbirds," Rodewald said.

"Obviously, larger forest patches are better, but even smaller ones are worth saving."

###

The study was funded by the Ohio Division of Wildlife.


Urban trees 'help migrating birds'
Mark Kinver BBC News 21 May 10;

Even a small urban forest can help migrating birds, a study has said.

US researchers found that birds used the patches of greenery to rest and refuel in the middle of their journey between winter and breeding sites.

The scientists gathered the data by fitting tiny tags to thrushes, which recorded the birds' movements.

Writing in the journal Landscape Ecology, they added the findings were important because the world was becoming increasingly urbanised.

"With the expansion of urban areas worldwide, migrating songbirds increasingly encounter fragmented landscapes where habitat patches are embedded in an urban matrix," wrote co-authors Stephen Matthews and Paul Rodewald, landscape ecologists at Ohio State University in the US.

"Yet, how migrating birds respond to urbanisation is poorly understood."
Unique data

In order to learn more, the pair attached small tags to more than 100 Swainson's thrushes (Catharus ustulatus) and managed to gather data on the movements of 91 birds during the four-year study.

"The tags provided us with a unique data-set on migration during a stopover," Dr Matthews told BBC News.

"We were able to record how long the birds were staying, and we found that it was not necessarily the forest size that was influencing the birds.

"Instead, they were responding to internal factors, such as [the amount of] fat reserves they had."

He added that the importance of the urban tree cover was highlighted when they examined the area the birds were using to forage for food.

"We started to see the importance of these smaller forest patches.

"The birds ability to search around was limited by the extent of these forested areas."

The study examined seven urban forests, the smallest of which was an arboretum that covered less than one hectare.

"It seemed that the birds were able to utilise these small forest patches during their stopover," Dr Matthews observed.

"In five of the sites, the birds never left the forest patch... and were not exploring in folks' backyards."

The team collected the data by using radio-transmitter tags.

"The tags were very small, weighing an average of 0.66g, and we glued them to the back feathers of the birds using a very mild adhesive," he explained.

"The battery life only lasted a couple of weeks, so the transmitter just fell off after a short while."

Dr Matthews said the tiny tags emitted a signal that they could pick up via a hand-held receiver and record the birds' locations.

"We recorded the GPS location, and then we would go back and do the analysis [of the birds' movements] later. It would have been nice if it was all automated, but there was a little bit of fieldwork involved.

The researchers said that migration had been identified as a critical period in the annual cycle of migratory birds.

"Within migration, land birds spend up to 90% of their time resting and regaining energy at stopover sites, making habitat a key component," they explained.

"This information is necessary to evaluate the conservation importance of urban habitats for stopover migrants."

"These findings suggest that remnant forests within urban areas have conservation value for Swainson's thrushes and, potentially, other migrant land birds," Professor Rodewald said.

"Obviously, larger forest patches are better, but even smaller ones are worth saving."

Read more!

Folk medicine threat to wild dogs

Matt Walker, BBC News 14 May 10;

Half of all wild canine species such as dogs, foxes and wolves are harvested for traditional folk medicines, conservationists warn.

According to a scientific survey, 19 out of 35 known species of wild canid are still used in traditional medicine worldwide.

For example, wolf parts are eaten to treat chicken pox, while jackals are used to treat epilepsy and asthma.

Such trade may place added pressure on some dwindling canid populations.

Details of the survey are published in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation.

The report is produced by the same researchers who earlier this year published a review showing that more than 100 species of primate are still used in traditional medicines and religious rituals.

To conduct the latest review, Professor Romulo Alves of the State University of Paraiba in Brazil and colleagues searched the scientific literature and other sources for references to folk remedies using canine parts.

Using only those sources they considered authoritative, they then created a database containing the details of which species are used to treat certain conditions in different countries.

A fox for flu

Of 35 known canine species, the evidence suggests that 19 are still used in traditional medicines, the researchers report.

Of those, five species belong to the genus Canis , including the wolf Canis lupus , the side-striped jackal ( C. adustus ), golden jackal ( C. aureus ), coyote ( C. latrans ) and the black or silver-backed jackal ( C. mesomelas ).

Three species belong to the genus Vulpes which includes true foxes. These are the red fox ( Vulpes vulpes ), Cape fox ( V. chama ) and Pale fox ( V. pallida ).

Three species that live in South America belong to the genus Lycalopex , including the Culpeo or Andean fox ( L. culpaeus ), Pampas fox ( L. gymnocerus ) and Sechuran fox ( L. sechurae ).

Prof Alves team found evidence that canids are used in the treatment of at least 28 medical conditions, including asthma, arthritis, back ache, bronchial illnesses, chicken pox, eczema, epilepsy, flu, kidney diseases, measles and mumps, as well as the treatment of stomach complaints, snake bites and warts.

The parts of some wild dogs are even used in social, rather than medical contexts: in Bolivia, for example, the researchers say that cowboys believe that sitting on the pelt of a maned wolf will protect against bad luck.

A wolf for luck

Humans have a long association with wild dogs, the researchers note, both in harnessing their talents and seeing them as adversaries to be hunted or killed.

Canids have also been used in traditional medicines since ancient times.

Medieval manuscripts from Azerbaijan, for example, reveal that wolves, fox and jackals were used medicinally at the time, while there are records of red foxes being used to treat ear complaints dating from the 10th Century onwards.

However, today many canine species are under threat as their ranges are restricted and habitat destroyed.

Of the 19 species of wild dog cited in the review, two are classified as endangered and three as near threatened.

The trade in at least 10 of the 19 species is supposed to be restricted by CITES legislation.

Wild dogs are sometimes better able to bounce back from population crashes, say the researchers, due to their relatively high reproductive rate, bolstered by large litters born to young adults.

But the continuing trade in body parts for traditional medicines will add to the pressure faced by many species, the researchers warn.

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Yangtze River dolphin maintained large range before extinction

Journal Watch Online 18 May 10;

The range of the Yangtze River dolphin did not shrink dramatically in the years leading up to the species’ extinction, as people previously believed, scientists say in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

This freshwater mammal, also known as baiji (Lipotes vexillifer), used to occupy China’s Yangtze channel and two nearby lakes. As a result of fishing and industrialization, the dolphins’ numbers dwindled. During its final years, the species was thought to have become restricted to only a few “hotspots” along the river.

Researchers interviewed 599 people in fishing communities around the species’ historical habitat and examined other records of baiji sightings. Contrary to expectations, fishermen had continued to see baiji throughout the middle and lower regions of the Yangtze channel and in one of the lakes during the decade before the species disappeared.

Right now, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) determines species’ extinction risk based partially on whether their ranges are becoming smaller or fragmented. But the case of the Yangtze River dolphin shows that some mobile animals may not show signs of range reduction “even up to the time of extinction,” the team writes. – Roberta Kwok

Source: Turvey, S.T. et al. 2010. Spatial and temporal extinction dynamics in a freshwater cetacean. Proceedings of the Royal Society B DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0584.

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