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Straits Times Forum 2 May 11;
I AM a member of the Nature Society (Singapore) and am aghast at Dr Wee Yeow Chin's remark that 'the loss of one nest is no big deal' ('Eagles nest on executive condo site'; last Thursday). Such views are certainly not in sync with its objectives.
Conservation and protection of all animals, birds and living organisms do not equate to protecting only those that are vulnerable or endangered. It means protecting all when they are still extant and even if they are in no imminent danger of being exterminated.
It is statements and irresponsible views like this that will gradually contribute to a decline in density of any particular species. One might ask then when will the loss of nests be a big deal? When the species numbers are in their doldrums and in danger of being exterminated.
The Nature Society and indeed all nature and animal lovers exist to care for and protect not only rare and endangered species, but also, more importantly, all species that are indigenous to our island, and most certainly those that are currently living harmoniously and freely in our environment.
Chia Yong Soong
Loss of sea eagles' nest no big deal? We beg to differ
Straits Times Forum 23 May 11;
THE Nature Society (Singapore) and its Bird Group wish to state that we do not concur with the views attributed to one of our members ("Eagles nest on executive condo site"; April 28) that the loss of the sea eagles' nest is "no big deal".
Our members and many other nature enthusiasts across the island care deeply about protecting and preserving Singapore's wildlife and the natural habitats they live in, and will certainly regret the loss of any nest of any native species. But this passion must also be anchored in sound conservation science to have traction and credibility.
The white-bellied sea eagle is listed as "common" by the internationally accepted bird-watching definition of the term - any bird that is encountered with at least 90 per cent probability in its preferred habitats. "Common" in this sense doesn't mean "abundant", it just means that if one visits a coastal area, the white-bellied sea eagle, a large bird with a considerable soaring range, can be encountered most of the time.
In fact, the sea eagle is anything but common in terms of population size in Singapore. During the Nature Society's recent Annual Bird Census on March 20, only 22 eagles were recorded, This number tallies with monthly population size counts of the species taken from September to March every year for the past four years, where the highest number was 35.
Past studies on nesting records over a one-year period yielded only nine sea eagles' nests across all of Singapore, confirming the relative scarcity of this apex predator. The loss of even one active nest of this resident sea eagle may have implications for the long-term status of the species.
We are fortunate that City Developments, being an environmentally conscious developer as well as a longstanding supporter of our society, had indicated in the article that it will be conducting an environmental study for the site as well as consulting the relevant experts to explore the best possible alternative for the nesting eagles.
Nature lovers, bird watchers, conservation scientists and all who call Singapore home should be relieved with the outcome. We feel that a broader feeling of concern and stewardship for our natural heritage will make Singapore a better place.
Dr Shawn Lum, President
Mr Alan Owyong, Chair, Bird Group
Nature Society (Singapore)
Straits Times Forum 2 May 11;
WE THANK Mr Andrew Wee for his feedback ('Singapore's not as green as it should be'; last Monday).
Many households in Singapore continue to use plastic bags as they are a convenient means of packaging and waste disposal. However, excessive or improper use can lead to a waste of resources and/or contribute towards litter. Unlike in many other countries, discarded plastic bags in Singapore are not disposed of at landfills, but sent to our waste-to-energy incineration plants.
Notwithstanding, the National Environment Agency (NEA) encourages the community to conserve resources and cut waste using the 3Rs approach - reduce, reuse and recycle - through its various outreach activities at the national and community levels.
To reduce the usage of plastic bags, NEA also supports industry initiatives such as that of Ikea, which charges shoppers for plastic bags, and NTUC FairPrice, which gives rebates to shoppers who bring their own shopping bags. NEA also works closely with the Singapore Environment Council, the community development councils, and major retailers such as Giant, Cold Storage, Guardian and 7-Eleven to educate the public to use plastic bags only when necessary or to bring their own bags for shopping.
Ong Seng Eng
Director, Waste & Resource Management Department
National Environment Agency
Singapore's not as green as it should be
Straits Times Forum 25 Apr 11;
WHILE visiting Singapore, I was disturbed to see plastic bags being used indiscriminately and with abandon at several retail outlets. Besides supermarkets, bakeries are among the worst culprits. A popular local bread franchise dispenses a plastic bag for each piece of pastry or bread. Even fast-food restaurants serve their food in containers that appear to be non-biodegradable. The multiplier effect of the unconscionable practice of using plastic or its similar derivatives is unthinkable.
Singapore prides itself on being a green city, and its young are educated in schools to respect the environment. Through several public education programmes, the Government also seeks to enhance its environmental friendliness.
It is unfortunate that local retail establishments have yet to adopt environmentally friendly practices. Such practices could be as simple as using thin paper bags for each piece of bread, or a recycled paper bag for the outer carrier. Supermarkets could offer sturdy recycled paper bags for free, and charge for each plastic bag requested by the customer. I have found this policy to be very effective overseas in controlling end-consumer plastic waste.
I look forward to hearing about the plans and ways in which the Government and local retail franchises aim to promote the greening of Singapore.
Andrew Wee
Denise Carter The Cairns Post 2 May 11;
SCIENTISTS are venturing to where no man has gone before in the Coral Sea in the hope of discovering creatures of the deep.
A team comprising Japanese and Australian explorers headed for Osprey Reef yesterday with a newly designed remote operated robot to dive to 650m and visit the sea bed and everything in between.
"Our chief engineer was Hiroshi Yoshida," said Dr Dhughal John Lindsay, an Australian researcher working with the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology.
"Hopefully, we will see Antarctic animals and can discover their ecology and niches and see what happens to them in the tropics."
The deep sea trip will be filmed by Digital Dimensions as part of documentary about the Great Barrier Reef for the BBC that is co-produced by Channel Nine and the Discovery Channel.
Allison Jackson Yahoo News 1 May 11;
BAOTOU, China (AFP) – Peasant farmer Wang Tao used to grow corn, potatoes and wheat within a stone's throw of a dumping ground for rare earths waste until toxic chemicals leaked into the water supply and poisoned his land.
Farmers living near the 10-square-kilometre expanse in northern China say they have lost teeth and their hair has turned white while tests show the soil and water contain high levels of cancer-causing radioactive materials.
"We are victims. The tailings dam has contaminated us," Wang, 60, told AFP at his home near Baotou city in Inner Mongolia, home to the world's largest deposits of rare earths, which are vital in making many high-tech products.
"In this place, if you eat the contaminated food or drink the contaminated water it will harm your body," Wang said, pointing towards lifeless fields now strewn with rubbish around Dalahai village, a few hundred metres from the dump.
China produces more than 95 percent of the world's rare earths -- 17 elements used in the manufacture of products ranging from iPods to flat-screen televisions and electric cars.
Two-thirds of that is processed in mineral-rich Baotou on the edge of the Gobi desert.
Environmental groups have long criticised rare earths mining for spewing toxic chemicals and radioactive thorium and uranium into the air, water and soil, which can cause cancer and birth defects among residents and animals.
Beijing, keen to burnish its green credentials and tighten its grip over the highly sought-after metals, has started cleaning up the industry by closing illegal mines, setting tougher environmental standards and restricting exports.
But Wang and the other farmers in Dalahai blame state-owned giant Baogang Group, China's largest producer of rare earths and a major iron ore miner and steel producer, for poisoning their fields and ruining their livelihoods.
Strong winds whip across the dump's millions of tonnes of waste, blowing toxic and radioactive materials towards surrounding villages.
"It is the pollution from the tailings dam," Wang Er, 52, told AFP, pointing a dirty finger at his spiky hair which started turning white 30 years ago.
Baogang, which has rare earths and iron ore refineries stretching for about seven kilometres along a road in the area, did not respond to AFP requests for comment.
But a 2006 study by local environment authorities showed levels of thorium, a by-product of rare earths processing, in Dalahai's soil were 36 times higher than other areas of Baotou, state media have reported.
"People are suffering severely," the Chinese-language National Business Daily said in December, citing the official study. Sixty-six villagers died of cancer between 1993 and 2005 while crop yields fell "substantially".
"There is not one step of the rare earth mining process that is not disastrous to the environment," Greenpeace China's toxics campaign manager Jamie Choi said in a recent report.
Choi said the impact of the government crackdown depends on whether it is "implemented properly".
But the environmental damage already caused by rare earths mining in China could be irreversible, according to Wang Guozhen, a former vice president of the government-linked China Nonferrous Engineering and Research Institute.
"The money we earned from selling rare earths is not enough for repairing the environment ... definitely not enough," Wang told AFP.
As demand for rare earths soars, China is slashing export quotas. Analysts say Beijing wants to drive up global prices and preserve the metals for its own burgeoning high-tech industries.
The moves have prompted complaints from foreign high-tech producers while the United States and Australia have responded by developing or reopening mines shuttered when cheaper Chinese supplies became available.
Several kilometres from the massive dumping ground is the privately-owned Baotou City Hong Tianyu Rare Earths Factory -- one of dozens of operators processing rare earths, iron and coal in a dusty no-man's land.
Workers wearing blue uniforms and army camouflage runners inhale toxic fumes as huge spinning steel pipes process tonnes of rare earths bound for high-tech manufacturers in China, Japan, the United States and elsewhere.
A production manager surnamed Wang told AFP the factory produces "several thousand tonnes of rare earths a year" and the toxic waste is piped to another dumping ground in the area.
The desolate fields around Wang's village have been left fallow as farmers wait for government compensation. Some appear to have fled already, with empty houses and shops along dusty roads falling into disrepair.
Authorities have offered to pay farmers 60,000 yuan per mu ($9,200 per 0.067 hectares) so they can move to a new village four kilometres away. But they won't have land to till and the farmers say the compensation is inadequate.
"People like us can only cultivate the land and raise animals. If we don't have a regular job, where will our income come from, how will we live?" asked Wang Tao, his brown face creased with worry.
Ljubomir Milasin (AFP) Google News 1 May 11;
VENICE — Flood-prone Venice has launched an ambitious plan to build mobile barriers at the mouth of its lagoon to protect the city from rising sea levels.
About 3,000 people are involved in the "Moses" project, which costs 5.4 billion euros ($7.9 billion), and is scheduled for completion in 2014.
"Once finished, the system will protect Venice from high water levels of up to three metres," said architect Flavia Faccioli from the Venezia Nuova consortium, grouping some 50 companies involved in the project.
"We're on schedule so far. We have already carried out three billion euros worth of works and will be carrying out the first test next July," Faccioli told AFP.
The 78 giant box-shaped barriers will be divided into four sections at the head of the three inlets that link the lagoon with the Adriatic Sea.
They will be inserted into immense tanks on the sea floor. Should high waters threaten the city, pressured air will be pumped into the barriers, raising them up on hinges to block the tidal flow.
Once the danger has passed, the air will be expelled and the barriers would fill with water and sink back to the sea floor.
"We are building 11 crates at the same time," Enrico Pellegrini, the head engineer at one of the building sites, told reporters as they inspected the ongoing works at the Malamocco inlet.
Special cement and non-oxidizing steel have been used for the 60-metre wide girders which, at 27 metres high, are as tall as a seven-storey building.
"The biggest girders weigh 22,000 tons and will be transported, like the others, by wagons specially designed for the purpose by Norwegian company. Each can take up to 350 tons, the equivalent of a Boeing 747," he said.
It will then take up to three days for a "syncrolift" system -- usually used to help ships dock -- to transfer the tanks to the sea bed.
"It's a remarkable project, one of the most important in Italy and the world," Venice's mayor Giovanni Orsoni said.
Venice, which sank by 23 centimetres (nine inches) in the last century, is hoping that the "Moses" project will help it preserve its buildings and rid its majestic squares of flood waters once and for all.
An Eagle's Tale: Saving an Injured White Bellied Sea Eagle
from Butterflies of Singapore
Pacific Reef Egret in pursuit of Little Egret
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Sea cucumbers at HortPark exhibition
from Urban Forest
First visit to Terumbu Pempang Laut
from wonderful creation
Simon Khoo The Star 30 Apr 11;
IPOH: The memorandum of understanding between the Perak State Development Corporation (PSDC) and a Hong Kong firm to conduct a feasibility study to explore and mine rare earth minerals in Bukit Merah has been revoked with immediate effect, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir said.
He said the state government had instructed PSDC to cancel the MoU because the project could pose a threat to the safety and well-being of the people.
“We have directed PSDC to inform the firm concerned CVM Minerals Limited that the MoU will no longer be valid and both parties have no problem over the decision.
“The state government is firm in not issuing any licence for projects that are sensitive in nature and detrimental to the people's health.
“As far as we are concerned, the matter is closed. I hope no one will politicise the matter,” he said.
In a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday, CVM Minerals executice chairman Goh Sin Huat said the firm was notified by PSDC that the Perak Government would not issue any permit or licence to mine rare earth minerals.
“Therefore, the company will no longer pursue the project.
“The company would like to inform that it has withdrawn the application for the rare earth exploration permit submitted on April 18 and after further deliberation, PSDC and the company have mutually agreed to terminate the non-legally binding MoU dated April 18,” the filing stated.
Dr Zambry said the cancellation of the MoU was not due to pressure from Opposition parties but solely after taking into consideration the safety and health of the people.
Perak Health, Local Government and Environment Committee chairman Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said the matter should serve as a lesson to other government-linked companies not take act without prior consultations with the state government.
“The signing of the MoU put us in a bad light and created unnecessary public anxiety. This must not be repeated in the future and I hope all GLCs will take heed and be more tactful in future dealings involving projects sensitive in nature,” he said.
Antara 30 Apr 11;
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government has through the agriculture ministry launched an oil palm green product campaign in Spain and France to anticipate negative issues about the commodity relating to the environment.
Agriculture Minister Suswono said here on Saturday the oil palm green product campaign was designed to convey information and communicate the policy and efforts to develop the national oilpalm industry by paying attention to the principle of sustainability.
When visiting Madrid and Paris, the Indonesian delegation conveyed concern and objection against the negative views of NGOs on the development of palm oil and the importing countries`s rules that led to a negative impact on Indonesian palm oil export.
"The campaign was held in the forms of seminars and meetings with the related officials of Indonesia, Spain and France," the minister said.
In a meeting with the Spanish minister for Environment, village and fisheries affairs as well as the French Agriculture minister,
Minister Suswono said, he conveyed the Indonesian government commitment in the implementation of the Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil System and concern on the environmental criteria listed in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) that has potential as a Non-Tariff Barrier in the trade.
"The French government can understand the concern of Indonesia and expects to obtain input from the results of research on palm oil which can be used as an evaluation of policies related to the use of palm oil in the country," Suwono said.
In addition to Spain and France, Indonesia will also conduct the similar campaign to the United States on May 23.
"We will explain clearly about the development of oil palm in Indonesia," Suswono cited, adding that his office will also hand Orangutan to the U.S. government in order to show the government`s attention to wildlife-related development of oil industry.
At present, the land used for oil palm development in Indonesia is only about six percent out of the country`s forest area that reached 137 million hectares.
Oil palm plantations contribute about 45-46 percent of carbon emissions reductions.
(Uu.B003/HAJM/B003)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
VietNamNet Bridge 30 Apr 11;
The Hanoi authorities have instructed relevant agencies to accelerate the dredging of the Hoan Kiem Lake to finish the task before May 7, 2011.
The dredging and cleaning of the lake must be finished quickly to serve the treatment of the legendary turtle.
According to experts, the turtle is now healthy and it doesn’t need to live in its “sanatorium” anymore. However, Dr. Bui Quang Te, chief of the turtle treatment group, said that the turtle cannot return to its natural environment right now because the lake is not cleaned yet. However, if the turtle lives in cage for a long time, its skills to live naturally may be affected.
Te said the latest tests of Hoan Kiem Lake’s water showed that the water contained a lot of bacteria, fungi, toxic algae, etc.
“Putting the turtle back into the lake when the water is still polluted, means that the treatment for the Hoan Kiem turtle will become useless. We have asked the Hanoi authorities to urgently clean the lake,” Te said.
The turtle can return to its natural environment in two weeks. However, just a small area of Hoan Kiem Lake has been cleaned.
Dr. Nguyen Viet Vinh, a member of the turtle treatment group, said that if the legendary turtle lives in the cage for a long time, it would be familiar to the cage and to the food supplied by man. The turtle is highly possible tamed.
“The most important task right now is cleaning the Hoan Kiem Lake,” Dr. Vinh emphasized.
“Though the turtle lives in the clean tank, it still lacks natural substances in mud, which can make new diseases for the turtle. In addition, the turtle can be shocked when it returns to the natural environment,” Vinh added.
The cleaning of Hoan Kiem Lake project consists of dredging mud, pumping clean water into the lake and preventing restaurants around the lake to discharge waste water into the lake.
The funding for this project is provided by four private companies, totaling VND8 billion ($400,000).
Profitable medicinal fungus a cash cow in rural communities.
John Roach National Geographic News 27 Apr 11;
Harvesting of a parasitic fungus that grows high on the Tibetan Plateau in China is infusing hordes of cash into rural communities, scientists say.
The fungus, Ophiocordyceps sinensis, takes over the bodies of caterpillar larvae then shoots up like finger-size blades of grass out of the dead insects' heads.
Known as yartsa gunbu—or "summer grass winter worm"—by Chinese consumers, the nutty-tasting fungus is highly valued for its purported medicinal benefits, for instance, as a treatment for cancer and aging and as a libido booster. Far away in the booming cities of Beijing and Shanghai, demand for the fungus has soared.
"Medically, it seems to deliver," according to Daniel Winkler, a fungus researcher and head of Eco-Montane Consulting in Seattle, Washington.
"Even the whole thing that it's an aphrodisiac—yes, it might really help."
Some Chinese grind up the fungus and sell it as a powder, and others use it whole as a garnish—and therefore a display of wealth.
"When you want to impress your business partner, you stuff some kind of fowl with it to show that money doesn't really matter to you, because you just stuffed your goose with $100 worth of mushrooms," Winkler said.
In Tibet and other Himalaya regions of Nepal and Bhutan, yak herders who harvest the fungus are getting rich from fungus sales.
By one account, the value of caterpillar fungus shot up 900 percent between 1997 and 2008, said Winkler, who has studied the phenomenon.
Nomadic yak herders now ride motorcycles, own apartments in the city, send their kids to schools, and pay someone else to do their village chores, he said.
In Search of Fungal Gold
To keep up with demand, rural harvesters spend about four weeks each spring stooped over on grassy slopes, pick axes in hand, searching for fungal gold.
Harvesters pluck the package—caterpillar larva and parasitic fungus—whole from the ground. Over the course of a month, a prolific harvester can earn more than enough cash to live on for an entire year. In rural Tibet, the fungus accounts for at least 40 percent of people's cash income.
In Yunnan Province, caterpillar fungus sales account for 60 to 80 percent of annual household cash income, which is used to pay for school, food, refrigerators, motorbikes, and livestock, according to Michelle Olsgard Stewart, a doctoral student in geography at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The surge in value of the fungus has also prompted more people to participate in the annual harvest, said Stewart, who is researching the fungus.
"Households will now send three to five individuals up to harvest, whereas in the past they might have sent one to two," she said.
Fungus Harvests Spark Deadly Disputes
In some parts of the fungus' range, such as China's Qinghai Province, disputes over access to pastures where the species grows turn lethal each year—a sign of the economic importance the fungus now holds, Stewart notes.
The disputes tend to erupt where rights to traditional grazing lands are fuzzy or where the government steps in and sells permits to outsiders.
For example, in July 2007, eight people were shot to death in a gun battle over prime fungal turf in Yushu, close to the border with Tibet, the Guardian newspaper reported.
In Yunnan Province, where Stewart works, there haven't been any deadly conflicts, perhaps because "they seem to have pretty clear rules over who can access which harvest areas," she said.
Given the value of the fungus, Eco-Montane's Winkler noted it's remarkable how few people get killed in conflicts over its harvest.
In markets where the fungus is bought and sold, traders routinely walk around with bags full of several thousand dollars' worth of the product. "You couldn't do that in the U.S.," he said.
Caterpillar Fungus Still Plentiful
Though the scientists are concerned the fungus will be overharvested, data collected so far suggests it's still plentiful.
"I went into this thinking, Wow, people are really going to start noticing this huge decline," Stewart said. "I really haven't seen that response in harvests yet."
The number of fungi picked per person has dropped, but buyers told Stewart that they haven't noticed a decline in yartsa gunbu available for purchase.
These observations fit with Winkler's data, which show that enough fungi are left in the ground to release spores, which invade the next generation of caterpillar larvae.
"The larvae is apparently not really impacted by the collection, and the fungus still seems to get enough spores out," said Winkler, who published a study about fungus harvesting in 2010 in the international version of the German journal Geographische Rundschau.
Hints of a fungus decline surfaced in 2008, when Yang Darong, an ecologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, circulated a report suggesting caterpillar fungus had declined to just 3 to 10 percent of its numbers 20 years prior.
Winkler noted that Darong's report lacks baseline data from field plots or government figures to support its conclusions. (Darong did not respond to a request for an interview.)
But Winkler and others want to obtain their own data on the fungus' presence so that they can begin to address questions about the sustainability of the harvest—especially given its new role in the market economy on the Tibetan Plateau.
Even without a lot of hard data, "one has to be totally worried about [the harvest's] intensity," Winkler said. "How long can you keep it up on that level?"
For the time being, Winkler is proposing a plateau-wide harvest season, which he plans to pitch this spring on a research trip to Tibet.
His idea is to encourage harvesters to stop picking as the fungi reach maturity, leaving enough in the ground to spread their spores.
But when he talks to the collectors, "I'm prepared to hear that there is nothing to worry about."
Fungus Collapse Wouldn't Devastate Herders
Should a collapse occur, Winkler and Stewart fear the consequences could be devastating for the herders' economy. While other sources of cash income such as construction and mining are available in the region, nothing is nearly as lucrative as caterpillar fungus.
To Stewart, the prospect of a crash in the caterpillar-fungus trade is worrying, but she thinks a decline would instead be gradual enough for communities to adapt without completely losing their ties to the market economy.
"It's important to realize that it's not a binary event—you have it or you don't," she said.
"There would likely be gradual changes over time. And even if the market prices dropped significantly, there would still be some. So there would be a slow transition, not a point where harvesters have to suddenly find another form of income."
LiveScience.com Yahoo News 30 Apr 11;
Rather than wreaking havoc on a tiny island in the Indian Ocean -- as alien species can sometimes do -- a giant tortoise appears to be helping to restore the native ecosystem.
Wildlife scientists introduced Aldabra giant tortoises -- which can reach up to 661 pounds (300 kilograms) -- to an island, called Ile aux Aigrettes, off the coast of the island nation of Mauritius. By 2009, 19 adult giant tortoises called the island home. The tortoises were to replace the role of their extinct kin. [Extinct Giant Tortoises Could Be Revived]
Before humans first arrived on Ile aux Aigrettes, various giant tortoises lived there, as did giant skinks -- a type of lizard -- and, most likely, flightless dodo birds. The disappearance of these animals affected other things living on the island, in particular the native ebony trees, which have been devastated by people hunting for firewood.
The giant tortoises and the skinks ate the fruit of these trees, spreading the seeds. Without these fruit-eaters around, the trees could no longer disperse; young trees only grew directly below the adults.
Worldwide, invasive species are considered one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, so, the idea of replacing an extinct creature with a foreign one is controversial. It has been done elsewhere with the new species often closely related to the one being replaced.
For example, the North American peregrine falcon was re-established from seven subspecies from four continents, and yellow crowned night herons have been introduced to Bermuda to replace extinct herons and to control pesky land crabs. At the most extreme end of the spectrum, conservation scientist Josh Donlan has suggested that the Pleistocene ecosystems of North America be reconstituted with large African mammals -- horses, camels, tortoises, lions, elephants and cheetahs -- thus protecting these species from the threats they face in their natural range.
Replacing extinct giant tortoises with another giant tortoise on an uninhabited island is a much simpler prospect, for a number of reasons, according to Christine Griffiths, a research associate at the University of Bristol and the lead author of a study on the tortoise experiment, done in collaboration with the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation.
Isolated islands often lack predators, meaning a shorter food chain to consider, and the giant tortoises are easy to find and remove if they were to become a problem, Griffiths said.
Initially, researchers were concerned that the new arrivals might eat a great deal of the native plants. In 2000, the first four Aladabra tortoises arrived, and later several others followed. They were kept in pens where surveys indicated that there were no significant problem with native plants, and, in late 2005, 11 were allowed to roam free.
Now, few ripe fruits remain under the ebony trees, and dense patches of seedlings have appeared in the areas most heavily used by the tortoises. Griffiths and other researchers found that seeds that had passed through a tortoise’s gut germinated better than other seeds. And, it turns out, the tortoises eat a lot of the non-native plants.
While the re-introduction appears successful so far, it remains to be seen if the tortoise-dispersed ebony seedlings will develop into adult trees that reproduce, write Griffiths and her colleagues in a recent issue of the journal Current Biology. A similar project is under way on Mauritius’ Round Island.
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