Constantine Alexander's blog

The fin whale, under more threat in the Mediterranean than thought

Until now it was thought that fin whales in the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea made up part of the distribution of this species of whale in the Mediterranean. However, an international team of scientists led by a Spaniard has revealed that their population has been overestimated by including specimens from the Atlantic that visit at certain times the western Mediterranean, where the noise generated by human activity affects their survival.

In 1991 the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) population in the Mediterranean Sea was estimated at 3500 specimens. A new study, published in Marine Mammal Science, now shows that this record included specimens from the Atlantic, and suggests that the distribution and size of the current population of this whale, which is threatened with extinction, should be reconsidered.

"The Mediterranean population has easily been overestimated, as the census included the whole of the southeast Mediterranean, incorporating Atlantic fin whales within the Mediterranean census", reported to SINC Manuel Castellote, the lead author of the study and researcher in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOOA), Seattle (USA).

The research team analysed 29,822 hours of recordings of the songs emitted by these marine mammals –which can reach a length of 27 metres, and are the second biggest cetaceans in the world– in order to identify the distribution limits of the Mediterranean fin whale and those of the north Atlantic fin whale in the Straits of Gibraltar, where the two populations overlap.

The results reveal that the presence of fin whales in the areas of the Straits of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea –southwest of the Mediterranean– is exclusively limited to Atlantic fin whales that visit the Mediterranean Sea, above all in autumn and spring.

As a consequence, "the population of Mediterranean fin whales presents a much more limited distribution than currently described, excluding a significant region of the western Mediterranean", confirms Castellote, who highlights the fact that this region had previously been identified as a feeding area.

		This is a fin whale which appeared stranded on the beach in Marbella (Spain) in 2008, the skeleton of which is on display in the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid.

The importance of the study is the critical state situation of the whale in these waters where it is the only mysticete (it has a baleen instead of teeth). The species is particularly susceptible to collisions with merchant vessels and ferries, which is the main cause of fin whale mortality.

Among other threats, an "insufficient" knowledge of their basic ecological characteristics such as distribution and population size stands out. For the biologist, "from a conservation point of view, it is essential to understand the geographical distribution and population size of the Mediterranean fin whale, because if not, appropriate management methods cannot be implemented".

The danger of undersea noise

Maritime traffic and geophysical exploration –including the search for hydrocarbons– "drastically" reduces the song effectiveness –linked to reproduction and which propagates hundreds of kilometres beneath the Sea– of the whales, which are also the group of marine mammals with the greatest acoustic sensitivity at low frequencies. "The noise generated through human activity in the oceans leads to possible chronic effects on the health of this species", Castellote states.

To control these threats the same researchers identified in another report the possible impact of noise generated by human activity on the acoustic behaviour and geographical movement of the fin whales in various regions of the Mediterranean Sea and in the northeast Atlantic.

After analysing 20,547 hours of recordings of the sounds emitted by the whales, the study published in Biological Conservation indicated that the whales modified the characteristics of their songs in order to try to reduce the impact of noise on their propagation.

In addition the researchers recorded a massive displacement of fin whales, triggered by the noise from geophysical prospecting at a distance of 285 km from the study area. "These recurrent displacements, together with the changes in acoustic behaviour, could increase the energy expenditure and reduce the reproductive success of whales affected by the noise", the expert indicated.

In the long-term the consequences for these mammals are clear: chronic effects which impact on their survival emerge. "Noise in the marine medium, despite being recognised as a significant pollutant, is far from being controlled and regulated within the waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone of Spain", warns Castellote.

References:

• Castellote, Manuel; Clark, Christopher W.; Lammers, Marc O. "Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) population identity in the western Mediterranean Sea" Marine Mammal Science 28(2): 325-344 DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-7692.2011.00491. 2012.
• Manuel Castellote, Christopher W. Clark, Marc O. Lammers "Acoustic and behavioural changes by fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in response to shipping and airgun noise" Biological Conservation 147: 115 doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2011.12.021. 2012

Contact: SINC Team
info@agenciasinc.es
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology

 

 

The Earthfire Institute

Named after a passionate earth-mother wolf with a fire in her belly to protect anything vulnerable, Earthfire was founded in 2000 to develop a new model of relating to nature through the voices of the rescued wildlife under its care. A 40 acre wildlife sanctuary and retreat center, it is located on the western slope of Grand Teton National Park, near  Driggs, Idaho.

The mission of the Earthfire Institute Wildlife Sanctuary & Retreat Center is to inspire mindful advocacy by creating true heart connections with the wildlife of the world through the stories of and encounters with the wild ambassadors of Earthfire Institute.

 

 

 

Mediterranean earthworm species found thriving in Ireland as global temperatures rise

		This is a P. amplisetosus in soil in the urban farm Dublin, Ireland. Credit: Carol Melody, UCD

Scientists have discovered a thriving population of Mediterranean earthworms in an urban farm in Dublin, Ireland.

The findings by University College Dublin scientists published in the journal Biology Letters on 25 July 2012 suggest that rising soil temperatures due to climate change may be extending the geographical habitat range of the earthworm Prosellodrilus amplisetosus.

"Soil decomposer species including earthworms are frequently introduced into non-native soils by human activities like the transportation of nursery plants or live fish bait," says Dr Olaf Schmidt from the School of Agriculture and Food Science, and the Earth Institute, University College Dublin, one of the authors of the report.

"There have been a few recordings of the earthworm P. amplisetosus outside of its native range in the Aquitaine region of south-western France, but now we have discovered a successfully thriving population in Ireland, about 1,000 km north of its native habitat."

Urban farms have higher temperatures than rural farms so the scientists suggest that this may have helped P. amplisetosus to become established in this new location. The mean yearly air temperature in Aquitaine in south-western France is about 3 degrees higher than in Dublin, Ireland.

		This is a Prosellodrilus amplisetosus in soil in urban farm in Dublin, Ireland, where scientists have discovered a thriving population of the earthworm. Credit: Carol Melody, UCD

The finding brings to 27 the total number of known earthworm species living in Irish soils.

According to the scientists, the Mediterranean species of earthworm P. amplisetosus is not an invasive species in Ireland. It does not directly compete for resources with the other resident species.

"By comparing the chemical composition of the worms, we discovered that the newcomers feed on a portion of the soil that the other resident earthworms do not use," says Carol Melody, a PhD student at the School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, who co-authored the research paper.

"P. amplisetosus is a soil decomposer that eats organic carbon in portions of the soil to which the resident worm species don't have access," she says.

"If other soil decomposers like P. amplisetosus start to expand their habitat ranges we could see increasing amounts of CO2 being released from the soil where previously this carbon had been locked up because it was inaccessible to native earthworm species," says Dr Schmidt.

A sample of the P. amplisetosus found thriving in Dublin, Ireland, has been deposited in the Natural History Museum in London to archive the scientific discovery and to make scientists in Britain aware of the southern vagrants.

Contact: Dominic Martella
dominic.martella@ucd.ie
003-538-729-59118
University College Dublin

 

 

It's a bird, not a plane: York U study finds migrating songbirds depart on time

		This is a wood thrush in Belize. Credit: Kevin Fraser

A new study by York University researchers finds that songbirds follow a strict annual schedule when migrating to their breeding grounds – with some birds departing on precisely the same date each year.

The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, is the first to track the migration routes and timing of individual songbirds over multiple years. Researchers outfitted wood thrushes with tiny geolocator "backpacks," recording data on their movements.

Spring departure dates of birds heading from the tropics to North American breeding grounds were surprisingly consistent, with a mean difference of only three days from year to year, the study reports. Fall migration, however, was far less predictable. Males on average flew faster than females, and first-timers lagged behind those with more than one journey under their wings.

The geolocators, which are smaller than a dime, are mounted on birds' backs with thin straps looped around their legs. The devices measure light, allowing researchers to estimate latitude and longitude by recording sunrise and sunset times.

"It's quite surprising that the schedules of these birds are so consistent across the entire route, with some of them departing the tropics and arriving at breeding sites in North America on the same day in different years," says study author Kevin Fraser, a postdoctoral Fellow in York's Department of Biology, Faculty of Science & Engineering. "Much like airplanes, there are many factors that can influence birds' flight schedules, such as weather at departure and expected conditions at the other end of the journey. Amazingly, these small songbirds are highly consistent in their timing between years."

Interestingly, while their departure times are precise, songbirds' migratory routes can vary widely. "Migratory routes sometimes differed by several hundred kilometres between years, which may reflect a fine-tuning of migration in response to wind and weather conditions en route, such as during large open-water crossings like the Gulf of Mexico," he says.

As for arrival times, birds need to be early to lay their claim to prime breeding grounds – but not too early.

"There is intense pressure for birds to get back to breeding grounds early to secure good territories, nest sites and, of course, mating opportunities. The early birds tend to do better and raise more young. However, cool weather in early spring can reduce food availability and even survival of early birds," Fraser says. He cautions that songbirds' consistent timing may come at a cost.

		This is a wood thrush with geolocator, Belize. Credit: Kevin Fraser

"The concern is that birds may not be able to flexibly adjust their schedules to meet new conditions with climate change," says Fraser. "This is a topic we're pursuing in current research."

The birds Fraser tracked were tagged in Pennsylvania and Costa Rica, at field research sites of his supervisor, York University Professor Bridget Stutchbury, who has studied the behavioural ecology of birds for decades. Her 2007 book, Silence of the Songbirds, details the threat to the species posed by climate change and habitat destruction.

"Numbers [of wood thrush] have plummeted in Canada by over fifty percent since the 1960s. When we lose the wood thrush, and other songbirds, we lose an integral part of the forest itself," Stutchbury says.

The research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), National Geographic Society, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Neotropical Migratory Bird Grant, Kenneth M. Molson Foundation, Schad Foundation and proceeds from Silence of the Songbirds.

The study, "Repeat tracking of individual songbirds reveals consistent migration timing but flexibility in route," is co-authored by Stutchbury, along with Calandra Stanley, Maggie MacPherson and Emily A. McKinnon, graduate students in York's Department of Biology, Faculty of Science & Engineering.

Contact: Melissa Hughes
mehughes@yorku.ca
416-736-2100 x22315
York University

 

 

International regulation curbs illegal trade of caviar

DNA testing of retail black caviar conducted by scientists from the Institute for Conservation Science at Stony Brook University and American Museum of Natural History indicates trade policy can help reduce the incidence of caviar mislabeling

		Genetic testing can be performed on just a single egg of caviar to determine its origin. Credit: Institute for Ocean Conservation Science

Research that used mitochondrial DNA-based testing to compare the extent of fraudulent labeling of black caviar purchased before and after international protection shows conservation benefits. A team of scientists from the Institute for Conservation Science at Stony Brook University and the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) repeated a market survey of commercially available caviar in the New York City area that was conducted before the protection was put in place, and the results showed nearly a 50 percent decrease in fraudulently labeled caviar.

"Testing the effectiveness of an international conservation agreement: marketplace forensics and CITES caviar trade regulation," published online on July 25 in the journal PLoS ONE, compared the results of two market surveys conducted 10 years apart. The previous market survey conducted during 1995 through 1996, before the listing of the sturgeon by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) came into effect in 1998, revealed that 19 percent of commercially available caviar in the New York City area was mislabeled with respect to species origin. When sampling the same market from 2006 through 2008, fraudulently labeled caviar occurred in 10 percent of the caviar, and only occurred in the samples bought online.

		Black caviar, the unfertilized roe (eggs) of the beluga sturgeon, is the most valuable of all caviar. Credit: Shannon Crownover

"The results of our analysis suggest that the international trade regulation of sturgeon products due to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species listing is having a positive effect in the marketplace," said Dr. Phaedra Doukakis, lead author, who was a senior research scientist with the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University at the time the study was conducted. "CITES is clearly an important tool for regulating trade and serves as an important complement to management in the regions where fishing occurs. More marine and aquatic species could benefit from being listed under the Convention."

Sturgeons and paddlefishes (Order Acipenseriformes), the producers of black caviar, are protected by CITES due to widespread population abundance declines from overfishing, habitat degradation, and illegal trade in caviar. Intentional mislabeling of caviar products can thwart trade regulations and diminish their impact on the conservation of the sturgeon. The conservation status of many sturgeon species has not improved, and has worsened in several cases, since the CITES listing, with most species now listed as "Critically Endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) because overfishing remains a problem.

		This shows a beluga sturgeon being released in the Caspian Sea region of Kazakhstan. Credit: nstitute for Ocean Conservation Science

"It's encouraging that the extent of illegal trade has diminished in recent years since international trade restrictions have come into force. Consumers can now be highly confident that what's written on the label accurately describes what's in the tin," said Dr. Ellen K. Pikitch, co-author and executive director of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science and professor at Stony Brook University. "However, preventing the extinction of critically endangered species such as the beluga sturgeon requires a full court press. Importantly, smaller fishing allowances, including bans on fishing in key geographic areas and better enforcement of fishing regulations, are needed to give depleted sturgeon populations a fighting chance to recover."

In addition to demonstrating the conservation benefits of trade regulation for threatened and endangered species, the research results also underscore the utility of such testing for enforcement of these regulations.

"The results of this study demonstrate the effectiveness of DNA-based methods to identify the species of origin for detection of illegal products in the marketplace," said George Amato, co-author and director of the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History. "Moreover, these results demonstrate if this type of genetic testing is used by inspection officials in real time, it can help detect and discourage illegal harvesting of threatened and endangered marine species in the geographic regions in which it is occurring."

This research was funded by contributions to the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science from The Pew Charitable Trusts, J.F. Thye, P.R. Thye, and one anonymous donor. Laboratory work was supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History.

The Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University is dedicated to advancing ocean conservation through science. The Institute transforms real-world policy while pursuing serious science, both of which are essential for ocean health. 

The American Museum of Natural History, founded in 1869, is one of the world's preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The Museum encompasses 45 permanent exhibition halls, including the Rose Center for Earth and Space and the Hayden Planetarium, as well as galleries for temporary exhibitions. Five active research divisions and three cross-disciplinary centers support 200 scientists, whose work draws on a world-class permanent collection of more than 32 million specimens and artifacts, including specialized collections for frozen tissue and genomic and astrophysical data, as well as one of the largest natural history libraries in the Western Hemisphere. Through its Richard Gilder Graduate School, it is the first American museum authorized to grant the Ph.D. degree. In 2012, the Museum will begin offering a pilot Master of Arts in Teaching with a specialization in earth science. Approximately 5 million visitors from around the world came to the Museum last year, and its exhibitions and Space Shows can be seen in venues on five continents. The Museum's website and collection of apps for mobile devices extend its collections, exhibitions, and educational programs to millions more beyond its walls. 

Contact: Cindy Yeast
cdyeast@earthlink.net
720-542-9455
The Institute for Ocean Conservation Science

 

 

Birds, young children show similar solving abilities for 'Aesop's fable' riddle

At about 8 years old, children's performance changes

Birds in the crow family can figure out how to extract a treat from a half-empty glass surprisingly well, and young children show similar patterns of behavior until they reach about eight years old, at which point their performance surpasses that of the birds. The full report is published July 25 in the open access journal PLoS ONE.

In the current study, led by Nicola Clayton of the University of Cambridge, researchers used a version of the riddle commonly referred to as "Aesop's fable" to test associative learning and problem-solving ability. In previous work, the researchers presented the birds with a partially filled glass of water, with a worm floating just out of reach. The birds were also offered different tools, like rocks or Styrofoam blocks, and were able to figure out which items, when dropped into the glass, would cause the water level to rise so that they could reach the treat.

In the current paper, the researchers tested the ability of children between the ages of four and ten on a similar task: retrieving a floating token in a number of different scenarios. The researchers found that children between the ages of five and seven performed consistently with the birds; both learned how to accomplish the task after about 5 trials. Children eight years and older succeeded in all tasks on their first try.

According to Lucy Cheke, first author of the publication, the main purpose of the study was to see whether birds and children learn in the same way. She says that, based on the results, it seems they don't: the birds were unable to learn when something apparently impossible happened, while children were able to learn about what was happening even if they had no idea how it was happening. "It is children's job to learn about the world," Cheke says, "and they can't do that when they are limited by a preconceived idea about what is or is not possible. For a child, if it works, it works."

Citation: Cheke LG, Loissel E, Clayton NS (2012) How Do Children Solve Aesop's Fable? PLoS ONE 7(7): e40574. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0040574

PLoS ONE is the first journal of primary research from all areas of science to employ a combination of peer review and post-publication rating and commenting, to maximize the impact of every report it publishes. PLoS ONE is published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS), the open-access publisher whose goal is to make the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource. All works published in PLoS ONE are Open Access. Everything is immediately available—to read, download, redistribute, include in databases and otherwise use—without cost to anyone, anywhere, subject only to the condition that the original authors and source are properly attributed.

Contact: Lindsay Morton
lmorton@plos.org
415-935-2094 x197
Public Library of Science

 

 

Darker wings for monarch butterflies mean better flight

Test of captive butterflies shows association between pigment level and flight distance

For monarch butterflies, redder wings are correlated with better flight performance, according to research published July 25 in the open access journal PLoS ONE.

Previous work has shown that monarch coloring is intended to warn their predators about their bitter taste and toxicity, and that migratory butterflies are darker colored than non-migratory ones, suggesting an association between darker color and increased fitness. The current work, led by Andrew Davis of the University of Georgia, provides further evidence for this association. The researchers tested 121 captive monarchs in an apparatus called a tethered flight mill, where they can quantify butterfly flight speed, duration, and distance, and found that those with darker orange wings overall flew longer distances than those with lighter wings.

"Butterfly researchers don't often look closely at color variation between individuals of the same species. The results of this project will pave the way for a new line of inquiry into the significance of butterfly wing color."

Citation: Davis AK, Chi J, Bradley C, Altizer S (2012) The Redder the Better: Wing Color Predicts Flight Performance in Monarch Butterflies. PLoS ONE 7(7): e41323. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0041323

PLoS ONE is the first journal of primary research from all areas of science to employ a combination of peer review and post-publication rating and commenting, to maximize the impact of every report it publishes. PLoS ONE is published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS), the open-access publisher whose goal is to make the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource. All works published in PLoS ONE are Open Access. Everything is immediately available—to read, download, redistribute, include in databases and otherwise use—without cost to anyone, anywhere, subject only to the condition that the original authors and source are properly attributed.

Contact: Lindsay Morton
lmorton@plos.org
415-935-2094 x197
Public Library of Science

 

 

Protected areas face threats in sustaining biodiversity, Penn's Daniel Janzen and colleagues report

Establishing protection over a swath of land seems like a good way to conserve its species and its ecosystems. But in a new study, University of Pennsylvania biologist Daniel Janzen joins more than 200 colleagues to report that protected areas are still vulnerable to damaging encroachment, and many are suffering from biodiversity loss.

"If you put a boundary around a piece of land and install some bored park guards and that's all you do, the park will eventually die," said Janzen, DiMaura Professor of Conservation Biology in Penn's Department of Biology. "It's death from a thousand cuts."

The international team of researchers, led by William Laurance of Australia's James Cook University, conducted 262 interviews of field biologists and environmental scientists who had extensive experience working in tropical forest reserves. In all, the interviews incorporated results from 60 protected areas in 36 countries.

The researchers constructed questions to determine how the biological health of the protected areas had changed over the last two to three decades. Some queries dealt with the status of wildlife in the areas: Had large mammal or amphibian populations increased or decreased over that time period? Others asked about changes in environmental pressures: Were fires more frequent or had automobile traffic expanded?

Writing in the journal Nature, the researchers report that the protected forest areas are not serving as the "arks" that some conservationists had hoped for. Four-fifths of the areas included in the survey had experienced some declines in health. About half of the areas had suffered more serious losses to biodiversity.

Among the types of wildlife and plants most negatively affected were bats, amphibians, lizards, large-bodied mammals, stream-dwelling fish, amphibians and old-growth trees. And the researchers did not even attempt to monitor insects, fungi and other small organisms.

The scientists further observed that environmental conditions and activities occurring outside of the reserves were strong predictors of how biodiversity inside the boundaries fared. Logging, declining forest cover and increasing fires outside the protected areas tended to pull down the health of the reserves themselves. Such losses were rampant: Eight-five percent of the reserves had their surrounding forests decline in the last few decades, while only two percent had bordering forestland increase.

When Janzen and his wife and research partner, Winnie Hallwachs, became advisors for and supporters of Costa Rica's Área de Conservación Guanacaste in 1985, they worked to ensure the national park would not succumb to such threats.

Janzen said that many of the features that he and Hallwachs incorporated into the park's design are "obvious": making it socially integrated by hiring only local workers, gaining political support by winning the blessing of the Costa Rican president and incorporating habitat into the park's boundaries that will allow species to cope with climate change.

The park, which was included in the survey, is one of those protected areas holding up well on many markers of health and biodiversity — even improving on many measures since the 1980s.

"We're atypical," Janzen said. "We used to have 100 to 200 fires a year and within two to three years [of management] we were down to five to 15."

And while many protected areas have found their borders slowly chipped away by development and human encroachment, Janzen said Área de Conservación Guanacaste has "the opposite issue: the size of the original park was 10,000 hectares; right now it's 163,000 hectares, so 16 times as big as when we started."

The challenge, he said, is often acquiring the political and economic will to enact sustainable management and stave off threats from development and human activity in protected areas. And conservationists can't take a cookie-cutter approach to designing and managing protected areas, Janzen said.

"You have to fine-tune and tailor-make your park to the particular circumstances of a place: the nature of the people, the resources and the organisms."

The study authors noted that although their findings suggest that many protected areas are in trouble, their intent is not "to diminish their crucial role but to highlight growing challenges that could threaten their success."

The research was supported by James Cook University, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the Australian Research Council and the National Science Foundation.

Contact: Katherine Unger Baillie
kbaillie@upenn.edu
215-898-9194
University of Pennsylvania

 

 

Research charts growing threats to biodiversity 'arks'

Many of the world's tropical protected areas are struggling to sustain their biodiversity, according to a study by more than 200 scientists from around the world.

But the study published in Nature includes research focusing on a reserve in Tanzania by University of York scientists that indicates that long-term engagement with conservation has positive results

Dr Andy Marshall, of the Environment Department at York and Director of Conservation Science at Flamingo Land, compared the data he collected in the Udzungwa mountains with data collected more than 20 years previously by Jon Lovett, formerly of the University of York and now Professor of Global Challenges at the University of Leeds.

Conservation efforts in this biodiversity hotspot have paid dividends. It is one of the few sites that are relatively unchanged from a biodiversity point of view.

Professor William Laurance, from James Cook University in Cairns, Australia, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, said that "these reserves are like arks for biodiversity."

"But some of the 'arks' are in danger of sinking," he said, "even though they are our best hope to sustain tropical forests and their amazing biodiversity in perpetuity."

Professor Laurance and his team studied more than 30 different categories of species—from trees and butterflies to primates and large predators—in protected areas across the tropical Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific.

They estimated how these groups had changed in numbers over the past two to three decades, while identifying environmental changes that might threaten the reserves.

Laurance said their conclusion was that while most reserves were helping to protect their forests, about half were struggling to sustain their original biodiversity.

In Udzungwa, more than 20 years ago, the forest was being heavily logged but now the area had been designated a national park.

Dr Marshall said: "Our findings indicate that concerted engagement with conservation in Udzungwa has had a positive effect in mitigating the impact of human activity on biodiversity."

Professor Lovett added: "We were able to make a good assessment of the condition of the reserve because Andy Marshall was able to follow up my work from the mid-1980s. The comparison showed that long term engagement with conservation has positive results."

Elsewhere, the picture is more worrying with many reserves suffering a decline in a wide array of species, including big predators and other large-bodied animals, many primates, old-growth trees, and stream-dwelling fish and amphibians, among others.

The researchers found that reserves that were suffering most were those that were poorly protected and suffered encroachment from illegal colonists, hunters and loggers.

Deforestation is advancing rapidly in tropical nations and most reserves are losing some or all of their surrounding forest.

The team found many nature reserves acted like mirrors—partially reflecting the threats and changes in their surrounding landscapes.

The bottom line, the researchers say, is that a better job needs to be done in protecting the protected areas - and that means fighting both their internal and external threats, and building support for protected areas among local communities. Such efforts will help ensure protected areas are more resilient to future threats such as climate change.

"We have no choice," said Professor Laurance, "tropical forests are the biologically richest real estate on the planet, and a lot of that biodiversity will vanish without good protected areas."

Contact: David Garner
david.garner@york.ac.uk
44-019-043-22153
University of York

 

 

Hidden rift valley discovered beneath West Antarctica reveals new insight into ice loss

The team working on the Ferrigno Ice Stream in Antarctica

Scientists have discovered a one mile deep rift valley hidden beneath the ice in West Antarctica, which they believe is contributing to ice loss from this part of the continent.

Experts from the University of Aberdeen and British Antarctic Survey (BAS) made the discovery below Ferrigno Ice Stream, a region visited only once previously, over fifty years ago, in 1961, and one that is remote even by Antarctic standards.

Their findings, reported in Nature this week reveal that the ice-filled ancient rift basin is connected to the warming ocean which impacts upon contemporary ice flow and loss.

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is of great scientific interest and societal importance as it is losing ice faster than any other part of Antarctica with some glaciers shrinking by more than one metre per year.

Understanding the processes that influence ice loss from West Antarctica is important to improve predictions of its future behaviour in a warming world.

Dr Robert Bingham, a glaciologist working in the University of Aberdeen's School of Geosciences and lead author of the study, discovered the rift valley whilst undertaking three months of fieldwork with British Antarctic Survey in 2010.

Dr Bingham, whose fieldwork was funded by the UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) said: "Over the last 20 years we have used satellites to monitor ice losses from Antarctica, and we have witnessed consistent and substantial ice losses from around much of its coastline.

"For some of the glaciers, including Ferrigno Ice Stream, the losses are especially pronounced, and, to understand why, we needed to acquire data about conditions beneath the ice surface."

The team gathered the data using an ice-penetrating radar system towed behind a skidoo driven across the relatively flat ice surface, over a distance of 1500 miles – greater than that between London and Athens.

Dr Bingham continued: "What we found is that lying beneath the ice there is a large valley, parts of which are approximately a mile deeper than the surrounding landscape.

"If you stripped away all of the ice here today, you'd see a feature every bit as dramatic as the huge rift valleys you see in Africa and in size as significant as the Grand Canyon.

"This is at odds with the flat ice surface that we were driving across – without these measurements we would never have known that it was there.

"What's particularly important is that this spectacular valley aligns perfectly with the recordings of ice-surface lowering and ice loss that we have witnessed with satellite observations over this area for the last twenty years."

Co-author and geophysicist Dr Fausto Ferraccioli from British Antarctic Survey added: "The newly discovered Ferrigno Rift is part of a huge and yet poorly understood rift system that lies beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

"What this study shows is that this ancient rift basin, and the others discovered under the ice that connect to the warming ocean can influence contemporary ice flow and may exacerbate ice losses by steering coastal changes further inland."

Professor David Vaughan, from British Antarctic Survey leads Ice2sea, a major EU-funded FP7 research programme to improve projections of global and regional sea-level. He said, "Thinning ice in West Antarctica is currently contributing nearly 10 per cent of global sea level rise. It's important to understand this hot spot of change so we can make more accurate predictions for future sea level rise."

The research in Nature is part of the British Antarctic Survey Icesheets Programme, which examines the role of ice sheets in the Earth System, and the processes that control ice-sheet change. It monitors current change and sets this in context with the past allowing more accurate projections for increases in global sea level to be made.

Founded in 1495, the University of Aberdeen is the fifth oldest university in the UK, with a student population of over 14,000, and a large international community of students drawn from 120 different countries. The institution has an excellent reputation for teaching quality and research, and five Nobel Laureates are associated with the University. The University's School of Geosciences is a leading centre for Geographical and Geological research, and hosts a research group dedicated to Cryosphere and Climate Change.

British Antarctic Survey (BAS), a component of the Natural Environment Research Council, delivers and enables world-leading interdisciplinary research in the Polar Regions. Its skilled science and support staff based in Cambridge, Antarctica and the Arctic, work together to deliver research that uses the Polar Regions to advance our understanding of Earth as a sustainable planet. Through its extensive logistic capability and know-how BAS facilitates access for the British and international science community to the UK polar research operation. Numerous national and international collaborations, combined with an excellent infrastructure help sustain a world leading position for the UK in Antarctic affairs. 

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is the UK's main agency for funding and managing world-class research, training and knowledge exchange in the environmental sciences. It coordinates some of the world's most exciting research projects, tackling major issues such as climate change, environmental influences on human health, the genetic make-up of life on earth, and much more. NERC receives around £320 million a year from the government's science budget, which it uses to fund independent research and training in universities and its own research centres. 

Contact: Audrey Stevens
auev@bas.ac.uk
44-012-232-21230
British Antarctic Survey