28 December 2017

Women Spearhead Fight to Protect Nature in Rual Indonesia

"This past July, some 50 environmental defenders, most of them women, from across Indonesia’s rural areas gathered for a discussion at an Islamic boarding school in West Java. The event highlighted women’s increasingly leading role in the grassroots movement to protect the country’s indigenous cultures, its natural resources and its long-held, but now threatened, traditional wisdoms and customs that champion sustainable development. Researchers say these women are at the leading edge of a new wave to defend and protect their homeland."

23 December 2017

‘Revolutionary’ New Biodiversity Maps Reveal Big Gaps in Conservation

Detailed maps of forest biodiversity from a new study in Peru could pinpoint the most important areas for conservation. The research employs technology that, if deployed in a satellite, would provide a global picture of biodiversity. The research uses the chemical signals of tree communities to reveal their different survival strategies and identify priority areas for protection. Currently, the Carnegie Airborne Observatory’s airplane provides the only way to create these biodiversity maps. But the team is working to install the technology in an Earth-orbiting satellite. Once launched, the $200 million satellite would provide worldwide biodiversity mapping updated every month.

21 December 2017

Indonesian Pangolin Faces Extinction Due to Trafficking

Pangolins in Indonesia are at risk of extinction because of an illicit trade that sees thousands of the critically endangered animals trafficked each year, a study showed Thursday. More than 35,000 pangolins -- docile, ant-eating mammals with a thick armour -- were seized by Indonesian authorities between 2010 and 2015, exposing the scale of the illegal business, the study by wildlife trade monitoring group Traffic said.

Successful Conservation of Global Waterbird Populations Depends on Effective Governance

Abstract: "Understanding global patterns of biodiversity change is crucial for conservation research, policies and practices. However, for most ecosystems, the lack of systematically collected data at a global level limits our understanding of biodiversity changes and their local-scale drivers. Here we address this challenge by focusing on wetlands, which are among the most biodiverse and productive of any environments^1,2 and which provide essential ecosystem services^3,4, but are also amongst the most seriously threatened ecosystems^3,5. Using birds as an indicator taxon of wetland biodiversity, we model time-series abundance data for 461 waterbird species at 25,769 survey sites across the globe. We show that the strongest predictor of changes in waterbird abundance, and of conservation efforts having beneficial effects, is the effective governance of a country. In areas in which governance is on average less effective, such as western and central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and South America, waterbird declines are particularly pronounced; a higher protected area coverage of wetland environments facilitates waterbird increases, but only in countries with more effective governance. Our findings highlight that sociopolitical instability can lead to biodiversity loss and undermine the benefit of existing conservation efforts, such as the expansion of protected area coverage. Furthermore, data deficiencies in areas with less effective governance could lead to underestimations of the extent of the current biodiversity crisis."

16 December 2017

Bees for Trees: testing a potential tool for reducing human-elephant conflict

Testing treatments to discourage elephants: beehive and wire netting

"A study in South Africa’s Kruger National Park found that hanging pairs of beehives—one active, the other inactive—from tree branches was more effective than wrapping trunks with wire netting at protecting the trees from damage by hungry elephants. Elephants damaged 2% of 50 bee-protected trees, 28% of wire-netted trees, and 54% of unprotected “control” trees, but even bees did not keep elephants from impacting neighboring trees. Installing and maintaining beehives in tree branches is far more expensive than installing wire netting and requires more maintenance, but it offers reserves with sufficient resources an effective way to protect large, valuable trees from elephant impact."

‘A Vicious Cycle Towards Extinction:’ Hunting and trade can push even abundant wildlife populations to the brink

"Researchers at the University of Queensland looked at something called the anthropogenic Allee effect (AAE), a theory that proposes a critical population level threshold below which the likelihood of a species going extinct increases substantially due to rising prices for rare animals incentivizing more hunting. Using mathematical models to determine how quickly wildlife populations can decrease as prices for animal products rise in response to animal scarcity, the researchers found that the population thresholds proposed by AAE theory can drastically underestimate extinction risks. While these findings would appear to call into question the biological sustainability of trophy hunting, the debate over trophy hunting is typically centered on social and economic outcomes."

For Papuan Villagers Practicing Conservation is About Formalizing the Familiar

"Indigenous Papuans of Saubeba village last month gave their support for a government-backed program to designate Tambrauw district, rich in biodiversity, a conservation zone. The villagers already practice sustainable management of the district’s lush forests and its resources, on which their lives depend. The discussion also sought to find solutions for land conflicts that often put legally vulnerable ethnic groups in peril as Tambrauw district pushes for the passage of an indigenous rights bill. One anticipated outcome of all this is the prospect of developing an ecotourism industry centered on the region’s natural riches, including its birds-of-paradise."

14 December 2017

Temporally Inter-Comparable Maps of Terrestrial Wilderness and the Last of the Wild

Abstract:

"Wilderness areas, defined as areas free of industrial scale activities and other human pressures which result in significant biophysical disturbance, are important for biodiversity conservation and sustaining the key ecological processes underpinning planetary life-support systems. Despite their importance, wilderness areas are being rapidly eroded in extent and fragmented. Here we present the most up-to-date temporally inter-comparable maps of global terrestrial wilderness areas, which are essential for monitoring changes in their extent, and for proactively planning conservation interventions to ensure their preservation. Using maps of human pressure on the natural environment for 1993 and 2009, we identified wilderness as all ‘pressure free’ lands with a contiguous area >10,000 km². These places are likely operating in a natural state and represent the most intact habitats globally. We then created a regionally representative map of wilderness following the well-established ‘Last of the Wild’ methodology; which identifies the 10% area with the lowest human pressure within each of Earth’s 60 biogeographic realms, and identifies the ten largest contiguous areas, along with all contiguous areas >10,000 km²."

10 December 2017

Heterogeneous Responses of Temperate-Zone Amphibian Populations to Climate Change Complicates Conservation Planning

Abstract:

"The pervasive and unabated nature of global amphibian declines suggests common demographic responses to a given driver, and quantification of major drivers and responses could inform broad-scale conservation actions. We explored the influence of climate on demographic parameters (i.e., changes in the probabilities of survival and recruitment) using 31 datasets from temperate zone amphibian populations (North America and Europe) with more than a decade of observations each. There was evidence for an influence of climate on population demographic rates, but the direction and magnitude of responses to climate drivers was highly variable among taxa and among populations within taxa. These results reveal that climate drivers interact with variation in life-history traits and population-specific attributes resulting in a diversity of responses. This heterogeneity complicates the identification of conservation ‘rules of thumb’ for these taxa, and supports the notion of local focus as the most effective approach to overcome global-scale conservation challenges."

Sumatran Tiger Survival Threatened by Deforestation Despite Increasing Densities in Parks

Abstract:

"The continuing development of improved capture–recapture (CR) modeling techniques used to study apex predators has also limited robust temporal and cross-site analyses due to different methods employed. We develop an approach to standardize older non-spatial CR and newer spatial CR density estimates and examine trends for critically endangered Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) using a meta-regression of 17 existing densities and new estimates from our own fieldwork. We find that tiger densities were 47% higher in primary versus degraded forests and, unexpectedly, increased 4.9% per yr from 1996 to 2014, likely indicating a recovery from earlier poaching. However, while tiger numbers may have temporarily risen, the total potential island-wide population declined by 16.6% from 2000 to 2012 due to forest loss and degradation and subpopulations are significantly more fragmented. Thus, despite increasing densities in smaller parks, we conclude that there are only two robust populations left with >30 breeding females, indicating Sumatran tigers still face a high risk of extinction unless deforestation can be controlled."

04 December 2017

E.O. Wilson: "Biodiversity Research Requires More Boots on the Ground"

Image result for photo ant

"Our incomplete taxonomic knowledge impedes our attempts to protect biodiversity. A renaissance in the classification of species and their interactions is needed to guide conservation prioritization."

Reductions in Global Biodiversity Loss Predicted from Conservation Spending

The country-scale rate of biodiversity decline (BDS) depends on conservation spending levels.

Abstract:

"Halting global biodiversity loss is central to the Convention on Biological Diversity and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, but success to date has been very limited. A critical determinant of success in achieving these goals is the financing that is committed to maintaining biodiversity; however, financing decisions are hindered by considerable uncertainty over the likely impact of any conservation investment. For greater effectiveness, we need an evidence-based model that shows how conservation spending quantitatively reduces the rate of biodiversity loss. Here we demonstrate such a model, and empirically quantify how conservation investment between 1996 and 2008 reduced biodiversity loss in 109 countries (signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity and Sustainable Development Goals), by a median average of 29% per country. We also show that biodiversity changes in signatory countries can be predicted with high accuracy, using a dual model that balances the effects of conservation investment against those of economic, agricultural and population growth (human development pressures). Decision-makers can use this model to forecast the improvement that any proposed biodiversity budget would achieve under various scenarios of human development pressure, and then compare these forecasts to any chosen policy target. We find that the impact of spending decreases as human development pressures grow, which implies that funding may need to increase over time. The model offers a flexible tool for balancing the Sustainable Development Goals of human development and maintaining biodiversity, by predicting the dynamic changes in conservation finance that will be needed as human development proceeds."

30 November 2017

Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), Volume I

Climate Science Special Report

Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), Volume This report is an authoritative assessment of the science of climate change, with a focus on the United States. It represents the first of two volumes of the Fourth National Climate Assessment, mandated by the Global Change Research Act of 1990.

"Since NCA3, stronger evidence has emerged for continuing, rapid, human-caused warming of the global atmosphere and ocean. This report concludes that:

'it is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. For the warming over the last century, there is no convincing alternative explanation supported by the extent of the observational evidence.'

New observations and new research have increased our understanding of past, current, and future climate change since the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA3) was published in May 2014. This Climate Science Special Report (CSSR) is designed to capture that new information and build on the existing body of science in order to summarize the current state of knowledge and provide the scientific foundation for the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4).”

10 November 2017

Landscape-scale Conservation Design Across Biotic Realms: Sequential Integration of Aquatic and terrestrial Landscapes

Abstract:

"Systematic conservation planning has been used extensively throughout the world to identify important areas for maintaining biodiversity and functional ecosystems, and is well suited to address large-scale biodiversity conservation challenges of the twenty-first century. Systematic planning is necessary to bridge implementation, scale, and data gaps in a collaborative effort that recognizes competing land uses. Here, we developed a conservation planning process to identify and unify conservation priorities around the central and southern Appalachian Mountains as part of the Appalachian Landscape Conservation Cooperative (App LCC). Through a participatory framework and sequential, cross-realm integration in spatial optimization modeling we highlight lands and waters that together achieve joint conservation goals from LCC partners for the least cost. This process was driven by a synthesis of 26 multi-scaled conservation targets and optimized for simultaneous representation inside the program Marxan to account for roughly 25% of the LCC geography. We identify five conservation design elements covering critical ecological processes and patterns including interconnected regions as well as the broad landscapes between them. Elements were then subjected to a cumulative threats index for possible prioritization. The evaluation of these elements supports multi-scaled decision making within the LCC planning community through a participatory, dynamic, and iterative process."

03 November 2017

Researchers Verify New Orangutan Species

Abstract:

"Six extant species of non-human great apes are currently recognized: Sumatran and Bornean orangutans, eastern and western gorillas, and chimpanzees and bonobos [1]. However, large gaps remain in our knowledge of fine-scale variation in hominoid morphology, behavior, and genetics, and aspects of great ape taxonomy remain in flux. This is particularly true for orangutans (genus: Pongo), the only Asian great apes and phylogenetically our most distant relatives among extant hominids [1]. Designation of Bornean and Sumatran orangutans, P. pygmaeus (Linnaeus 1760) and P. abelii (Lesson 1827), as distinct species occurred in 2001 [1, 2]. Here, we show that an isolated population from Batang Toru, at the southernmost range limit of extant Sumatran orangutans south of Lake Toba, is distinct from other northern Sumatran and Bornean populations. By comparing cranio-mandibular and dental characters of an orangutan killed in a human-animal conflict to those of 33 adult male orangutans of a similar developmental stage, we found consistent differences between the Batang Toru individual and other extant Ponginae. Our analyses of 37 orangutan genomes provided a second line of evidence. Model-based approaches revealed that the deepest split in the evolutionary history of extant orangutans occurred ∼3.38 mya between the Batang Toru population and those to the north of Lake Toba, whereas both currently recognized species separated much later, about 674 kya. Our combined analyses support a new classification of orangutans into three extant species. The new species, Pongo tapanuliensis, encompasses the Batang Toru population, of which fewer than 800 individuals survive."

02 November 2017

Creation of Forest Edges has a Global Impact on Forest Vertebrates

Forest occupancy and edge sensitivities for forest-core species.

Abstract:

"Forest edges influence more than half of the world’s forests and contribute to worldwide declines in biodiversity and ecosystem functions. However, predicting these declines is challenging in heterogeneous fragmented landscapes. Here we assembled a global dataset on species responses to fragmentation and developed a statistical approach for quantifying edge impacts in heterogeneous landscapes to quantify edge-determined changes in abundance of 1,673 vertebrate species. We show that the abundances of 85% of species are affected, either positively or negatively, by forest edges. Species that live in the centre of the forest (forest core), that were more likely to be listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), reached peak abundances only at sites farther than 200–400 m from sharp high-contrast forest edges. Smaller-bodied amphibians, larger reptiles and medium-sized non-volant mammals experienced a larger reduction in suitable habitat than other forest-core species. Our results highlight the pervasive ability of forest edges to restructure ecological communities on a global scale."

26 October 2017

Reductions in Global Biodiversity Loss Predicted from Conservation Spending

Country-scale Rate of Biodiversity Decline (BDS) Depends on Conservation Spending Levels:

Abstract:

24 October 2017

Half-Earth Day Celebrated on 23 October 2017

Monday, October 23, marked the first-ever Half-Earth Day. The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and National Geographic timed the event to occur exactly half a year after Earth Day (April 22). But Half-Earth Day also gets its name from the biodiversity conservation initiative spearheaded by renowned biologist and conservationist Edward O. Wilson, discussed in his 2016 book, Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life. Wilson’s idea, which is backed up by research, is that we can protect 85 percent of Earth’s biodiversity by conserving half of the world’s land and seas.

“The Half-Earth approach is not only science-based, but it will also expand fundamental science into new directions,” Wilson, who is a research professor emeritus at Harvard, said in a statement. “The goal of discovering and mapping all biodiversity, and especially at the level of species, will lead to immense new knowledge in basic and applied biology.”

“Our planet is at a crossroads, and there is both an opportunity and a critical need to act now, and to do so boldly,” Gary E. Knell, president and CEO of the National Geographic Society, said in a statement. “National Geographic is proud to convene the first-ever Half-Earth Day to inspire people everywhere to understand and care for our world, furthering our progress toward a healthier and more sustainable future for generations to come.”

20 October 2017

New analysis suggests that preserving rare species is vital to tropical forests

tropical forest

In a paper published Oct. 18 in the journal Science Advances, scientists report that a new method allows us to understand both how fragile the biodiversity is and how many species we should be focusing on with conservation efforts. “As caretakers of this planet, we want to nurture the species that we have, and we want to preserve life for the next generation.”

16 October 2017

More Sightings Of An Endangered Species Do Not Always Mean It Is Recovering

More sightings of an endangered species don't always mean it's recovering

Increased sightings are not always a reliable measure of endangered species' viability. Often, an increase in sightings can be attributed to two things: either more people are trying to spot the animal in question; or new work that has used different parameters to previous studies.

14 October 2017

Climate Change & Anthropocene Extinction 23: Amazon ‘tipping point’ is a sliding process, from +1C

carbon climate feedbacks prompting 2015 CO2 emissions record

The Amazon rainforest is seriously threatened by climate change. The Amazon is referred to as a climate tipping point because research shows following a 21^st century global average temperature rise most of the Amazon basin may dry out, leading to a massive biome shift – accompanied by many gigatonnes of extra CO2 emissions and almost unimaginable biodiversity loss, placing the cascading Anthropocene Extinction in top gear.

Diversity of Large animals Plays an Important Role in Carbon Cycle

Trees in tropical forests are well known for removing carbon dioxide from the air and storing the potent greenhouse gas as carbon in their leafy branches and extensive roots. But a new analysis led by Stanford University researchers finds that large forest animals are also an important part of the carbon cycle.

The findings are based on more than a million records of animal sightings and activity collected by 340 indigenous technicians in the Amazon during more than three years of environmental surveys, coordinated by ecologist Jose Fragoso and supported by biologist Rodolfo Dirzo, who were working together at Stanford at the time. The team found that places where animals are most diverse correlate with places that have the most carbon sequestered in the soil.

Business Owners in Top Belize Destination Want Increased Mangrove Protections

Loss of mangroves on land is a threat to clean water and healthy reefs. A number of business owners would like to see better mangrove protections and planning documents developed. Up to one third of Belize citizens work in the tourism sector, more than agriculture.

06 October 2017

Biodiversity of Indian Sunderbans Recorded for the First time

Zoological Survey of India has, for the first time, published a detailed record of the animal and protozoa species of the Sunderban of West Bengal. Sunderbans forests, locally known as Badabon, are one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in India. This UNESCO World Heritage site is known for its mangroves, coastal forests that serve as a biological buffer between the land and sea. This unique ecosystem is famous for the royal Bengal tiger, Gangetic dolphin, and estuarine crocodile.

05 October 2017

Quantifying the Evidence for Co-Benefits Between Species Conservation and Climate Change Mitigation in Giant Panda Habitats

Abstract: "Conservationists strive for practical, cost-effective management solutions to forest-based species conservation and climate change mitigation. However, this is compromised by insufficient information about the effectiveness of protected areas in increasing carbon storage, and the co-benefits of species and carbon conservation remain poorly understood. Here, we present the first rigorous quantitative assessment of the roles of giant panda nature reserves (NRs) in carbon sequestration, and explore the co-benefits of habitat conservation and climate change mitigation. Results show that more than 90% of the studied panda NRs are effective in increasing carbon storage, with the mean biomass carbon density of the whole NRs exhibiting a 4.2% higher growth rate compared with lands not declared as NRs over the period 1988–2012, while this effectiveness in carbon storage masks important patterns of spatial heterogeneity across the giant panda habitats. Moreover, the significant associations have been identified between biomass carbon density and panda’s habitat suitability in ~85% NRs and at the NR level. These findings suggest that the planning for carbon and species conservation co-benefits would enhance the greatest return on limited conservation investments, which is a critical need for the giant panda after its conservation status has been downgraded from “endangered” to “vulnerable”.

"Spatial variation of biomass carbon density (t C ha⁻¹) in giant panda reserves and the matched sites outside of the reserves in (a) 1988 and (b) 2012. (c) Pairwise comparisons of mean biomass carbon density inside and outside the reserves (Error bars represent standard errors). (d) Relative change rate of mean biomass carbon density between 1988 and 2012 inside and outside of nature reserves for the lands covered by forest and all land types."

02 October 2017

Ecology: A Global Plan for Nature Conservation

The journal Nature reports that an international movement is calling for at least half of the Earth to be allocated for conservation. A global study now reveals that, in many ecoregions, enough habitat exists to reach this goal, and ideas are proposed by the E.W. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation for the next steps needed.

Earth May Be Close to 'Threshold of Catastrophe'

A new study reported by the Convention on Biological Diversity indicates that the amount of carbon dioxide that humans will have released into the atmosphere by 2100 may be enough to trigger a sixth mass extinction. The huge spike in CO2 levels over the past century may put the world dangerously close to a "threshold of catastrophe," after which environmental instability and mass die-offs become inevitable, the new mathematical analysis finds.

New research suggests tropical forests are now a net source of carbon emissions

Research suggests that due to deforestation and forest degradation and disturbance, tropical forests in Africa, the Americas, and Asia now emit more carbon into the atmosphere than they sequester on an annual basis, according to scientists with the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) and Boston University. Over the study period, the rainforests of Africa, the Americas, and Asia were found to have gained approximately 437 teragrams of carbon every year, but to have lost about 862 teragrams of carbon. That means they were a net source of some 425 teragrams of carbon annually.

24 September 2017

Forest Elephants Decline Drastically in Guinea

A new survey by Fauna & Flora International (FFI) has highlighted the increasing risk in the density and distribution of forest elephants in Guinea’s Ziama Massif forest. This is the first time that such a survey has been attempted since 2004.

22 September 2017

Liberian Park Protects Critically Endangered Western Chimpanzees

The establishment of Grebo-Krahn National Park in southeastern Liberia was approved by the country’s legislature in August 2017. The 961-square-kilometer (371-square-mile) park is home to an estimated 300 western chimpanzees. There are about 35,000 Critically Endangered western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) left in the wild, and Liberia is home to 7,000 of them.

Saving the Javan Rhinoceros

The Javan rhinoceros has been reduced to a single population of around 60 individuals in an area prone to natural disasters. Although the entire species now lives in a single national park, Javan rhinos are difficult to study and researchers are still working to understand the behavior of both individual animals and the population as a whole. Work to expand the existing habitat is underway, but experts agree establishing a second population is critical for the species' survival.

In the journal Nature: Climatic Vulnerability of the World’s Freshwater and Marine Fishes

Abstract: "Climate change is a mounting threat to biological diversity, compromising ecosystem structure and function, and undermining the delivery of essential services worldwide. As the magnitude and speed of climate change accelerates, greater understanding of the taxonomy and geography of climatic vulnerability is critical to guide effective conservation action. However, many uncertainties remain regarding the degree and variability of climatic risk within entire clades and across vast ecosystem boundaries. Here we integrate physiological estimates of thermal sensitivity for 2,960 ray-finned fishes with future climatic exposure, and demonstrate that global patterns of vulnerability differ substantially between freshwater and marine realms. Our results suggest that climatic vulnerability for freshwater faunas will be predominantly determined by elevated levels of climatic exposure predicted for the Northern Hemisphere, whereas marine faunas in the tropics will be the most at risk, reflecting their higher intrinsic sensitivity. Spatial overlap between areas of high physiological risk and high human impacts, together with evidence of low past rates of evolution in upper thermal tolerance, highlights the urgency of global conservation actions and policy initiatives if harmful climate effects on the world’s fishes are to be mitigated in the future."

18 September 2017

Diverse Landscapes are More Productive and Adapt Better to Climate Change

Ecosystems with high biodiversity are more productive and stable towards annual fluctuations in environmental conditions than those with a low diversity of species. They also adapt better to climate-driven environmental changes. These are the key findings environmental scientists made in a study of about 450 landscapes harboring 2,200 plants and animal species.

17 September 2017

Climate Science: The future of Asia's Glaciers

Glaciers in the high mountains of Asia are a crucial water resource, but are at risk from global warming. Modelling suggests that the glaciers will shed mass in direct proportion to the warming to which they are exposed.

Abstract: "Glaciers in the high mountains of Asia (HMA) make a substantial contribution to the water supply of millions of people^{1, 2}, and they are retreating and losing mass as a result of anthropogenic climate change³ at similar rates to those seen elsewhere^{4, 5}. In the Paris Agreement of 2015, 195 nations agreed on the aspiration to limit the level of global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius ( °C) above pre-industrial levels. However, it is not known what an increase of 1.5 °C would mean for the glaciers in HMA. Here we show that a global temperature rise of 1.5 °C will lead to a warming of 2.1 ± 0.1 °C in HMA, and that 64 ± 7 per cent of the present-day ice mass stored in the HMA glaciers will remain by the end of the century. The 1.5 °C goal is extremely ambitious and is projected by only a small number of climate models of the conservative IPCC’s Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP)2.6 ensemble. Projections for RCP4.5, RCP6.0 and RCP8.5 reveal that much of the glacier ice is likely to disappear, with projected mass losses of 49 ± 7 per cent, 51 ± 6 per cent and 64 ± 5 per cent, respectively, by the end of the century; these projections have potentially serious consequences for regional water management and mountain communities."

Local Approaches to Conservation May be the Most Effective

A new study published in Scientific Reports, a journal by Nature, shows that community-managed protected areas are often more effectively conserved than protected areas run by outsiders: Researchers compared deforestation and forest degradation rates in areas of the Peruvian Amazon that were unprotected to those protected through government and local management. They found, on average, locally led conservation initiatives proved more successful in preserving forests than those that are government-managed. The study adds to mounting evidence that letting local and indigenous communities officially manage their forests may often be a highly effective way to conserve them. However, official recognition of land rights often stands in the way of community-based conservation initiatives. The researchers urge the process be simplified so that more indigenous territories can be established and managed by the people who live in them.

‘Snow white’ giraffes caught on video for the first time

Two rare white giraffes have been captured on video in the wild for the first time, reports a wildlife conservancy in Kenya. The giraffes, which are leucistic, meaning they have a genetic condition that inhibits pigmentation in skin cells rather than albino, or lacking melanin throughout their bodies, were first reported back in June by villagers near the Ishaqbini Hirola Conservancy in Garissa county in northeastern Kenya, according to a blog post from the conservancy.

30 March 2017

New Study Provides a Blueprint for Engaging Indigenous Peoples in REDD+ Forest Monitoring

It’s been estimated that as much as 10 percent of total global carbon emissions are due to deforestation. And according to an analysis by the World Resources Institute, by securing indigenous land rights in Bolivia, Brazil, and Colombia alone, we could avoid the release of up to 59 megatons of carbon emissions every year — the equivalent of taking 9 to 12 million passenger vehicles off the road.

16 March 2017

Climate change-induced bleaching decimating coral reefs around the world

Rising ocean temperatures are bleaching reefs around the world at unprecedented levels and this coral-killing is unlikely to relent, according to a new study published in the journal Nature.

"During 2015–2016, record temperatures triggered a pan-tropical episode of coral bleaching, the third global-scale event since mass bleaching was first documented in the 1980s. Here we examine how and why the severity of recurrent major bleaching events has varied at multiple scales, using aerial and underwater surveys of Australian reefs combined with satellite-derived sea surface temperatures. The distinctive geographic footprints of recurrent bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef in 1998, 2002 and 2016 were determined by the spatial pattern of sea temperatures in each year. Water quality and fishing pressure had minimal effect on the unprecedented bleaching in 2016, suggesting that local protection of reefs affords little or no resistance to extreme heat. Similarly, past exposure to bleaching in 1998 and 2002 did not lessen the severity of bleaching in 2016. Consequently, immediate global action to curb future warming is essential to secure a future for coral reefs."

https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/climate-change-induced-bleaching-decimating-great-barrier-reef/

08 March 2017

Significant biodiversity remains undiscovered in Borneo's moss forests

Untold numbers of organisms still await discovery among the poorly explored moss forests of Borneo's mountaintops. Near the summit of Gunung Murud (the highest mountain in Sarawak), an undescribed species of tiny bush frog (Philautus sp.) perches inside the pitcher of Nepenthes hurrelliana, a carnivorous plant. Although many frogs utilize the fluid-filled pitchers of various Nepenthes for either shelter or breeding, the details of this behavior remain poorly studied. Are the frogs dependent on the pitchers? Do the plants gain any benefit from this relationship or is this merely an example of the frogs exploiting a convenient niche?

01 March 2017

Significant increases in permafrost thawing and glacial retreats along with 64% increase of rain and 10C degrees ambient temperature increase in the Arctic

Earliest evidence of life on Earth discovered with highly significant implications. Report in journal Nature

Abstract: "Although it is not known when or where life on Earth began, some of the earliest habitable environments may have been submarine-hydrothermal vents. Here we describe putative fossilized microorganisms that are at least 3,770 million and possibly 4,280 million years old in ferruginous sedimentary rocks, interpreted as seafloor-hydrothermal vent-related precipitates, from the Nuvvuagittuq belt in Quebec, Canada. These structures occur as micrometre-scale haematite tubes and filaments with morphologies and mineral assemblages similar to those of filamentous microorganisms from modern hydrothermal vent precipitates and analogous microfossils in younger rocks. The Nuvvuagittuq rocks contain isotopically light carbon in carbonate and carbonaceous material, which occurs as graphitic inclusions in diagenetic carbonate rosettes, apatite blades intergrown among carbonate rosettes and magnetite–haematite granules, and is associated with carbonate in direct contact with the putative microfossils. Collectively, these observations are consistent with an oxidized biomass and provide evidence for biological activity in submarine-hydrothermal environments more than 3,770 million years ago."

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39117523

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v543/n7643/full/nature21377.html

28 February 2017

Unassisted population growth of the agouti Dasyprocta leporina, reintroduced to restore seed dispersal in an Atlantic Forest reserve

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/div-classtitlewalking-on-their-own-legs-unassisted-population-growth-of-the-agouti-span-classitalicdasyprocta-leporinaspan-reintroduced-to-restore-seed-dispersal-in-an-atlantic-forest-reservediv/0D849B35554B0829537DE882F8B54BE2

24 February 2017

An international team of scientists has issued a warning that biodiversity is dropping below safe levels for the support and wellbeing of human societies

Photo (c) David M. Augeri

"The planetary boundaries framework updated in 2015 states that losing more than 10% of the biodiversity in an area places the local ecosystem at risk. A report in Science (July 2016) states that 58% of the world's land coverage already falls below this safe level. They find that the global average of biodiversity has dropped to 85% of that of unaffected ecosystems...The report provides the most detailed global analysis of biodiversity to date, with over 1.8 million records, providing an accurate view of the current state of the Earths decline in biodiversity."

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/353/6296/288

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36805227