Study: comprehensive ocean monitoring network needed

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Scientists say managing ocean resources requires better monitoring. Bob Berwyn photo.

‘To date, there have been few attempts to track biodiversity broadly in the ocean’

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — With the world’s oceans facing serious global warming threats, U.S. researchers say it’s high time to establish a national effort to monitor marine biodiversity.

Humans depend on the ocean for food, medicine, transportation and recreation, yet little is known about how these vast ecosystems spanning 70 percent of the Earth’s surface are functioning and changing. (more…)

Filed under: biodiversity, coral reefs, endangered species, Environment, Marine biology, ocean conservation | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Biodiversity: More wolf turmoil in the Southwest

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Feds back away from plan to capture wolves that cross the border from Mexico

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Wolves crossing the border from Mexico into the southwestern U.S. won’t be trapped and held in captivity, at least for now.

According the Center for Biological Diversity, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has rescinded a permit it had granted itself and other federal and state agencies to trap wolves that cross into Arizona and New Mexico from Mexico.

The agency hasn’t made a formal announcement, but contacted attorneys for the environmental groups, said Michael Robinson, a wolf conservation advocated with the Center for Biological Diversity. (more…)

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Biodiversity: Bat-killing white-nose syndrome spreads near huge colony of endangered gray bats in Alabama

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
A tri-colored bat with the tell-tale signs of white-nose syndrome on its muzzle in

A tri-colored bat with the tell-tale signs of white-nose syndrome on its muzzle in Fern Cave, Alabama. Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Impacts to gray bats still uncertain

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — The largest known colony of endangered gray bats is  threatened by white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has already wiped out millions of bats from New England to the Southeast and into the Midwest.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials announced this week that the disease was confirmed at Fern Cave National Wildlife Refuge in Jackson County, Alabama. The refuge was created to protect gray bats.

White-nose syndrome was discovered in tri-colored bats near the two entrances to the cave. White-nose syndrome is not currently known to cause mortality in gray bats, the detection of infected bats at Fern Cave is cause for concern, federal biologists said. (more…)

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Biodiversity: Local governments to collaborate on Gunnison sage-grouse conservation as federal listing looms

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Critical habitat proposal spurs local concerns

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Apart from a stronghold in the Gunnison Basin, Gunnison sage-grouse have dwindled across their historic range. Map courtesy Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

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Gunnison sage-grouse. Photo courtesy BLM.

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Concern over a federal proposal to add Gunnison sage-grouse to the Endangered Species List and designate 1.7 million acres of critical habitat in Colorado and Utah has spurred local governments to sign on to a regional collaborative conservation effort aimed at protecting the birds.

The memorandum of understanding doesn’t actually commit the various counties to do anything specific other than talk to each other, but Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) said it lays the foundation for the region to continue to work together toward a solution for the appropriate protection of the Gunnison sage-grouse and its habitat.

In January, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the best available science indicates that the Gunnison sage-grouse is in danger of extinction and needs the protection of the Endangered Species Act. (more…)

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Scientists eye protection for largest Balkan lake

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
This picture shows Spring Karuč on the bottom of Skadar Lake.

This picture shows Spring Karuč on the bottom of Skadar Lake. Photo via the Creative Commons.

Discovery of new snail species highlights lake’s biodiversity

By Summit Voice

FRISCO —Scientists in the Balkans are hoping the discovery of a new snail species will help spur greater conservation efforts at Skadar Lake, the largest on the Balkan Peninsula.

“Ancient lakes are among the most vulnerable and threatened ecosystems, and their faunas are frequently under extreme anthropogenic pressure,” said University of Montenegro researcher Vladimir Pešić. “The small range of many endemic species living in the Skadar Lake system, together with ever increasing human pressure, make its fauna highly endangered,” Pešić said, describing the lake as a regional biodiversity hotspot. (more…)

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Biodiversity: More studies link bee woes with pesticide use

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Chemical cocktail inhibits bees’ ability to learn important tasks

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Pesticides toxic to non-target insects. Bob Berwyn photo.

By Summit Voice

Two new studies strengthen the link between agricultural pesticide use and declining bee populations, as researchers showed that exposure to the chemicals can hinder bees’ ability to learn.

The researchers found that the pesticides, used in the research at levels shown to occur in the wild, could interfere with the learning circuits in the bee’s brain. They also found that bees exposed to combined pesticides were slower to learn or completely forgot important associations between floral scent and food rewards. (more…)

Filed under: biodiversity, Environment | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Feds eye critical habitat for loggerhead sea turtles

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

More than 700 miles of beaches included in USFWS proposal

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Loggerhead sea turtle. Photo via NOAA, courtesy  Marco Giuliano/Fondazion Cetacea.

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A long swath of Florida’s Gulf Coast has been proposed as critical habitat for loggerhead sea turtles.

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Federal biologists have proposed protecting hundreds of miles of U.S. shoreline from North Carolina to Mississippi to protect critical nesting habitat for threatened loggerhead sea turtles.

Florida beaches could be especially crucial to the survival of the species, with the most recent science showing that the state harbors one of only two global loggerhead aggregations with more than 10,000 nesting females nesting per year. The other is on Masirah Island, Oman.

The proposed critical habitat areas include 90 nesting beaches in coastal counties located in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. The proposed areas incorporate about 740 beach shoreline miles and account for approximately 84 percent of the documented nesting in these six states. (more…)

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Oceans: Sharks, manta rays win CITES protection

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
Hammerhead sharks received much-needed protection from unsustainable trade. Photo courtesy Florida Museum of Natural History.

Hammerhead sharks received much-needed protection from unsustainable trade. Photo courtesy Florida Museum of Natural History.

International group sanctions restrictions on trade of endangered species

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Years of efforts by ocean conservation advocates yielded results last week, as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species adopted new protections for five species of highly traded sharks, as well as two species of manta rays and one species of sawfish.

Japan, Gambia and India unsuccessfully challenged the Committee decision to list the oceanic whitetip shark, while Grenada and China failed in an attempt to reopen debate on listing three hammerhead species. Colombia, Senegal, Mexico and others took the floor to defend Committee decisions to list sharks. (more…)

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Bat-killing white-nose syndrome moves southeast

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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White-nose syndrome has killed 7 million bats, Photo courtesy U.S. Geological Survey.

New infections found in Georgia, South Carolina

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — The spread of a lethal bat disease to Georgia and South Carolina once again heightens concerns that humans may be implicated in the transmission of the fungal spores that cause white-nose syndrome.

State and federal officials announcing the discovery of the disease in southeastern bat populations warned that there’s growing evidence that humans are a factor in the spread. White-nose syndrome has now spread to 22 states and 5 Canadian provinces over the past seven years.

The most recent discovery of the disease was made at two caves in Dade County, Ga. — one in the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, operated by the National Park Service, and the other at Cloudland Canyon State Park. Last year the bat disease was documented on the Tennessee side of the same national military park. (more…)

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Environment: Feds face lawsuit over tamarisk-killing beetle

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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Southwestern willow flycatcher. Photo courtesy USFWS.

Non-native bugs threatening habitat for endangered songbirds

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Conservation advocates say non-native tamarisk-eating bugs have gone haywire, destroying habitat needed by endangered southwestern willow flycatchers, native songbirds that need thick riparian vegetation to survive.

The exotic beetles were imported from Asia to destroy invasive tamarisk plants seen as a threat to water resources, but now the bugs have invaded the nesting areas of southwestern willow flycatchers in southern Utah, Nevada, and northern and western Arizona. If the beetle spreads farther without mitigation, it could seriously threaten the flycatcher’s survival, according to Dr. Robin Silver, with the Center for Biological Diversity. 

Efforts to eradicate tamarisk are costly and labor-intensive, and some recent research by the U.S. Geological Survey indicates that exotics (including Russian Olive) use about the same amount of water as native willows and cottonwoods.

In June 2010, the U.S. Department of Agriculture temporarily restricted release of the insects based on concerns about impacts to flycatcher habitat. The decision is outlined in this USDA memo. (more…)

Filed under: biodiversity, endangered species, Environment | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

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