Earth ChangesS


Frog

Red-Eyed Tree Frogs Use Vibrations As a Means of Communication

Lin Edwards
PhysOrg
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 07:00 UTC
Image
© Graham P. Oxtoby/WikipediaRed-eyed tree frog of Central and South America.
A study of the Central American red-eyed tree frog has found that the males shake the branches they're perched on to produce strong vibrations to mark out their territory for mating.

Researchers from the Adelaide Zoo and Flinders University, Adelaide, led by Dr. Greg Johnston, were studying the role of bright colors in the behavior of frogs in their breeding rituals, when they discovered that the Panamanian rainforest frogs shake the branches they are posing on as part of the ritual, especially if another male is in the vicinity. Johnston said they struck a pose that displayed all their colors and then did what looked to him like "little tantrums," which produced strong vibrations that traveled through the plants.

The researchers chose red-eyed tree frogs (Agalychnis callidryas) to study because they are brilliantly colored with gold and blue stripes on their sides, purple flashes on their thighs, bright orange feet, and green backs, and their eyes are bright red. They used infrared cameras to study the frogs mating at night, and also used a miniature seismograph to confirm the vibrations were really made by the frogs and not by the wind or other natural effects.
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Frog

Female Frog "Sings" During Sex

Jennifer Viegas
Discovery News
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:22 UTC
Image
© Lai Wagtail/Wikimedia CommonsA Babina adenopleura frog. Emei music frogs come from the genus Babina.
Many famous and not-so-famous singers claim to woo their mates with a tune or two during romantic encounters. It's a tactic that often works.

While this behavior is well known among humans, it's somewhat less common for amphibians, especially female frogs. But Kermit's heart would probably go pitter pat if he encountered a female Emei music frog, since new research has just revealed these gals "sing" in very sexy ways while they mate.

The rhythmic click calls of the females are so attractive to males that they move rhythmically back and forth whenever they hear these calls during mating, according to the researchers. It's as though the males need the "singing" to help them get their groove on, and maintain it. The males also shut up, which is pretty unusual for this vocal species.
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Info

Thousand people missing in north-east Brazil floods


BBC News
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:43 UTC
Floods have engulfed two states in north-east Brazil, leaving about 1,000 people missing and forcing at least 100,000 to flee their homes.

At least 38 people are known to have died so far in Alagoas and Pernambuco.

Correspondents say the floods, brought on by nearly a week of rain, have washed away entire villages.

The governor of Alagoas, Teotonio Vilela Filho, said bodies were being washed up on beaches and riverbanks.
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Hourglass

BP Admits That - If It Tries to Cap the Leak - the Whole Well May Blow


Washington's Blog
Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:00 UTC
As I previously noted, oil industry expert Rob Cavner said that BP must "keep the well flowing to minimize oil and gas going out into the formation on the side":
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Igloo

Antarctic Glacier Melt Maybe "Not Due to Climate Change"

Lewis Page
The Register
Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:39 UTC
D-autosub
© The RegisterThe latest in scientific bottom-probing battery powered devices
Brit D-cell robot torpedo probes massive icy bottom

British and international boffins, having probed an Antarctic glacier which is thought to be a major cause of rising sea levels worldwide, report that increased polar ice melting may not be driven by climate change.

The massive ice river in question is the Pine Island Glacier, aka PIG to those in the field.

"Estimates of Antarctica's recent contributions to sea level rise have changed from near-zero to significant and increasing," says Stan Jacobs of Columbia uni in the States. "Increased melting of continental ice also appears to be the primary cause of persistent ocean freshening and other impacts."
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Ladybug

Small Creatures Will Be Oil Spill's Biggest Victims

Stuart Fox
LiveScience
Fri, 18 Jun 2010 01:16 UTC
Spartina grasses with snails
© UnknownSpartina grasses with snails
Over the last two months, the BP oil leak has unleashed all manner of havoc on the ecosystem in the Gulf of Mexico. But while sad pictures of large-eyed, oil coated birds make these animals the most visible victims of the oil leak, smaller ocean creatures will bear the brunt of the damage, scientists say.

"The greatest threat is to the whole food chain, and the base of the food chain, said John Caruso, an ecology and evolutionary biology professor at Tulane University. "People see the big impressive animals like pelicans and the other sea birds. It's a devastating sight, it tears you up when you see those poor birds covered in oil, but the real damage to our coastal ecosystem here will come from destruction of the cord grasses."

In particular, the cord and Spartina grasses that grow on the coast of Louisiana are crucial to the ecosystem and especially sensitive to the oil leak, Caruso said. These grasses form the foundation of the local food chain, and their root systems lessen the erosion of the small islands that protect inland Louisiana from hurricanes, Caruso said.
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Heart - Black

BP Funds Front Group Claiming Oil Spill Jobs Are Better Than 'Normal' Ones, Storm Will Clean Up Oil!

Lee Fang
Think Progress
Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:33 UTC
Shortly after BP's catastrophic oil spill in the gulf, the New York Times spoke to Quenton Dokken, the executive director of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, about the environmental impact. "The sky is not falling," Dokken told the paper, adding "it isn't the end of the Gulf of Mexico." ProPublica dug into the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, and reported that the Times had failed to disclose that Dokken and his group are funded by a consortium of oil companies with business in the gulf, including companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon rig, Transocean and Anadarko. Today, the Times reported that the Foundation has been downplaying effects of the spill, possibly because of its funding from oil companies.
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Light Saber

Frustrated Locals Not Waiting for Official "OK" to Try to Stop Oil & Save Oiled Animals and Birds

Jamie Gumbrecht
CNN
Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:24 UTC
woman holding oiled bird
Stephanie Neumann holds a Northern Gannet
Okaloosa Island, Florida - Vacationers were the first to notice the bird fumbling in the water near this popular tourist beach last week. He bobbed and swayed differently than other birds, and didn't react when humans came dangerously close. Once he was ashore, they could see why: a light sheen of oil covered his feathers.

Animal health technician Stephanie Neumann tried to rescue the Northern Gannet, but beach safety officers stopped her. Her coworkers at the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge already had stabilized birds and a sea turtle affected by the Gulf oil disaster, but officials wanted to know: Did she have a contract with BP? Could she - and the bird - wait while they verified her organization's status?

"They're trying to do their job," Neumann said as she crouched over the motionless bird, wrapped in a white sheet and barely hidden from the stares of kids and parents. "They have to make sure protocol is followed."
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Fish

BP Oil Spill Kills its Largest Victim Yet

Leslie Kaufman
New York Times
Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:14 UTC
sperm whale
© Greenpeace
On Tuesday, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship spotted the 25-foot animal due south of the Deepwater Horizon site. The water the whale was floating in was not oiled. The fate of the whales, which have frequently been spotted swimming in the oil by planes overhead, has been of intense concern to wildlife biologists.

Blair Mase, the Southeast marine mammal stranding coordinator for the oceanic agency, said that scientists were "very concerned" that oil was the cause of the whale's death, but that the whale's body was so decomposed and scavenged by sharks that it would be impossible to say for certain.

There are an estimated 1,700 sperm whales that live in gulf waters and they are known to congregate particularly at the mouth of the Mississippi River, a rich feeding ground. Unlike other whales, which travel long distances, these live full-time in the Gulf and do not usually mingle with sperm whale pods in the neighboring Caribbean and Sargasso Sea. Ms. Mase said that the dead whale was almost certainly a gulf whale.
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Hourglass

Suffering Dolphins in Barataria Bay

Georgianne Nienaber
12160.org
Sun, 20 Jun 2010 17:45 UTC
oil dolphin
© Jerry Moran Dorsal Fin Encrusted with Oil in Barataria Bay
Toxic poisons are stalking the dolphins in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, and no one is discussing or reporting the fact that the oiled mammals are struggling in the waters near Grand Terre Island. There are no published photos or videos that we have been able to find, and no stories that describe the oil-encrusted dorsal fins and odd behavior that suggest an under-reported or deliberately hidden environmental catastrophe.

We were on the water with New Orleans photographer Jerry Moran and Reel Screamers Guide Service on June 11, when we noticed two groups of dolphins. One group was swimming through a bubbling slick consisting of the dispersant COREXIT and oil, and the other was in the shallows and rooting in the mud. Dolphins will dig for flounder on the bottom, so it did not seem remarkable at the time, but we did note that they appeared unusually agitated. The group swimming in the oily dispersant near our boat was sluggish but there was nothing we could do to discourage them from swimming there. Oil was everywhere, above and below the surface, and there was no escape. We shrugged it off, snapped a few photos, and went on to photograph oiled pelicans on Cat Island and Queen Bess.
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