Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Urban hunters do most harm to ape populations

Nora Schultz
New Scientist
Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:11 UTC
Image
© WSPA/K. Ammann/Rex Features Ape parts discovered in markets tell little of how the populations are faring.
Commercial hunters from towns are exacting a much bigger toll on great apes than subsistence hunters from small villages, according to an analysis of ape nest density near human settlements.

The finding that numbers of gorillas and chimpanzees appear to have dwindled twice as much near towns in Gabon than near villages supports a focus on conservation efforts that tackle commercial hunting over those that aim to convince villagers to give up subsistence hunting, says Hjalmar Kühl at the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, who conducted the study with colleagues.

The team counted sleeping nests left by gorillas and chimps in Gabon's mountainous Moukalaba Doudou National Park. They found that nest density decreased the closer they got to the towns that surround the park. The towns' populations range from 10,000 to 18,000 people.

Although some nests could be found close to the towns, their overall density was only half that seen in the centre of the park. In contrast, the team found no such gradient near smaller villages.
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Frog

UK: Public asked to take part in largest ever survey of garden amphibians and reptiles

Louise Gray
The Telegraph
Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:07 UTC
Frog
© GettyFrogs spend time in garden ponds when hibernating or breeding
Frogs, newts and other "pond life" found at the bottom of the garden are to be counted in the first UK survey of reptiles and amphibians.

Hundreds of frogs, toads, snakes and lizards can live at the bottom of town and country gardens.

However global warming and development means many species are increasingly at risk. Of the 13 species of amphibians and reptiles native to the UK, 10 are considered endangered including the great crested newt, natterjack toad, adder and pool frog. Other species like grass snakes or common frogs are also suffering from habitat loss.

The national "stock take" of newts, toads, snakes and other traditional "garden pests" has been organised by a network of conservation groups including the British Trust for Ornithology and Froglife.
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Black Cat

Kenyan lions being poisoned by pesticides

Daniel Howden
The Independent
Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:35 UTC
Kenyan lions
© GettyKenya's lion population is a fifth of what it was in the 1970s
Conservationists call for ban after 'staggering' number of deaths

Conservationists in Kenya are calling for a deadly pesticide to be banned after it was linked to the poisoning of a "staggering" number of lions and other wildlife.

The East African nation famous for its immense game reserves is also home to traditional cattle herders whose livestock often comes under threat from predators such as lions and hyenas. In the past, this has seen lions shot or speared but more recently herders have switched to using deadly chemicals sprinkled over animal carcasses and left as traps for the big cats.

The lion researcher Laurence Frank, from the University of California, said lions were dying at a "staggering rate" with as many as 75 poisoned in the past five years. Combined with other threats including loss of habitat, this could eventually see the lion become extinct, Dr Frank told CBS's 60 Minutes.
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Cloud Lightning

Australia's once-in-a-century deluge worsens floods


BBC News
Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:15 UTC
Floods described as a once-in-a-century deluge have left thousands stranded or isolated on Australia's east coast. Nearly 4,000 people may remain cut off until the weekend, and emergency crews are conducting food and supply drops.

In Queensland, heavy rains and strong winds led to flash floods, blocking roads and causing widespread blackouts. More storms have been forecast. Meanwhile, four areas have been declared disaster zones, with some 70cm (27.6in) of rain recorded in 48 hours.
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Frog

US: What is that creature?

Deanna Coronado
The Daily Dunklin Democrat
Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:43 UTC
Largest salamander
© UnknownLocal conservation agent recently investigated a Dunklin County resident's discovery of this animal, Missouri's longest salamander.
"What in the world is that? A snake, eel, possibly a salamander?"

These are the questions that likely traveled through the mind of a Dunklin County resident who recently located a strange looking creature in a ditch positioned in the front yard of his home.

According to local Missouri Department of Conservation Agent, Eric Heuring, he recently visited the area residence to exam the animal and found himself, like the homeowner, in awe.

"After arriving at the residence and taking a look at it, I found myself speechless," Heuring said of the strange find.

It turns out that the once unidentified creature is actually Missouri's longest salamander, a Three-toed Amphiuma, growing to more than 30 inches.
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Better Earth

Earth's Population Limit Exceeded

Steven Duke
BBC News
Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:52 UTC
Image
© US Census Bureau Current world population - 6.8bn
Net growth per day - 218,030
Forecast made for 2040 - 9bn
There are already too many people living on Planet Earth, according to one of most influential science advisors in the US government.

Nina Fedoroff told the BBC One Planet programme that humans had exceeded the Earth's "limits of sustainability".

Dr Fedoroff has been the science and technology advisor to the US secretary of state since 2007, initially working with Condoleezza Rice.

Under the new Obama administration, she now advises Hillary Clinton.

"We need to continue to decrease the growth rate of the global population; the planet can't support many more people," Dr Fedoroff said, stressing the need for humans to become much better at managing "wild lands", and in particular water supplies.
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Fish

6,000 Rare Dolphins Found in South Asia


Live Science
Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:24 UTC
Image
© Irrawaddy dolphin Although not considered an acrobatic animal, the Irrawaddy dolphin occasionally leaps into the air.
A huge population of rare dolphins threatened by climate change and fishing nets has been discovered in South Asia.

Researchers with the Wildlife Conservation Society estimate that nearly 6,000 Irrawaddy dolphins, marine mammals that are related to orcas or killer whales, were found living in freshwater regions of Bangladesh's Sundarbans mangrove forest and adjacent waters of the Bay of Bengal.

There has been hardly any marine mammal research done in this area up to this point.

Each discovery of Irrawaddy dolphins is important because scientists do not know how many remain on the planet. Prior to this study, the largest known populations of Irrawaddy dolphins numbered in the low hundreds or less.
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Better Earth

Rainforests may pump winds worldwide

Fred Pearce
New Scientist
Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:54 UTC
Image
© Kim Eijdenberg/Flickr/GettyThe rainforests may be the heart as well as the lungs of the planet.
The acres upon acres of lush tropical forest in the Amazon and tropical Africa are often referred to as the planet's lungs. But what if they are also its heart? This is exactly what a couple of meteorologists claim in a controversial new theory that questions our fundamental understanding of what drives the weather. They believe vast forests generate winds that help pump water around the planet.

If correct, the theory would explain how the deep interiors of forested continents get as much rain as the coast, and how most of Australia turned from forest to desert. It suggests that much of North America could become desert - even without global warming. The idea makes it even more vital that we recognise the crucial role forests play in the well-being of the planet.

Scientists have known for some time that forests recycle rain. Up to half the precipitation falling on a typical tropical rainforest evaporates or transpires from trees. This keeps the air above moist. Ocean winds can spread the moisture to create more rain. But now Victor Gorshkov and Anastassia Makarieva of the St Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute in Russia say that forests also create winds that pump moisture across continents.
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Magic Hat

Best of the Web: Rise of sea levels is 'the greatest lie ever told'

Christopher Booker
Telegraph UK
Sat, 28 Mar 2009 05:52 UTC
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© UnknownComputer-model based political scaremongering, as it turns out
The uncompromising verdict of Dr Mörner is that all this talk about the sea rising is nothing but a colossal scare story.

If one thing more than any other is used to justify proposals that the world must spend tens of trillions of dollars on combating global warming, it is the belief that we face a disastrous rise in sea levels. The Antarctic and Greenland ice caps will melt, we are told, warming oceans will expand, and the result will be catastrophe.

Although the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) only predicts a sea level rise of 59cm (17 inches) by 2100, Al Gore in his Oscar-winning film An Inconvenient Truth went much further, talking of 20 feet, and showing computer graphics of cities such as Shanghai and San Francisco half under water. We all know the graphic showing central London in similar plight. As for tiny island nations such as the Maldives and Tuvalu, as Prince Charles likes to tell us and the Archbishop of Canterbury was again parroting last week, they are due to vanish.
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Nuke

NASA: Deep Solar Minimum

Dr. Tony Phillips
NASA
Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:07 UTC
Sunspot graph
© NASA/MFSC/HathawayThe sunspot cycle from 1995 to the present. The jagged curve traces actual sunspot counts. Smooth curves are fits to the data and one forecaster's predictions of future activity.

The sunspot cycle is behaving a little like the stock market. Just when you think it has hit bottom, it goes even lower.

2008 was a bear. There were no sunspots observed on 266 of the year's 366 days (73%). To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go all the way back to 1913, which had 311 spotless days: plot. Prompted by these numbers, some observers suggested that the solar cycle had hit bottom in 2008.

Maybe not. Sunspot counts for 2009 have dropped even lower. As of March 31st, there were no sunspots on 78 of the year's 90 days (87%).

It adds up to one inescapable conclusion: "We're experiencing a very deep solar minimum," says solar physicist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center.

"This is the quietest sun we've seen in almost a century," agrees sunspot expert David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Comment: Note on this NASA article from Joseph D'Aleo of IceCap:
Still some level of uncomfortable denial on the part of Hathaway who in late 2006 had proclaimed solar minimum and that solar cycle 24 was underway. It is at the very least like the cycles of the early 1900s but may be more like the early 1800s, the Dalton Minimum. As they said, time will tell.
Solar Cycle length
© unknown

sunspot cycle compares dalton minimum with current
© unknownComparison of sunspot cycles, Dalton Minimum to current sunspot cycle.


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