39.

White-nose fungus reaches bats in Alabama, to biologists dismay

The Washington Post March 14, 2012 A relentless disease that has killed nearly 7 million bats is now in Alabama, a cradle for millions of endangered gray bats. The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources announced Wednesday that lab tests confirmed the presence of white-nose syndrome, found on bats in the Russell Cave complex in Jackson County. The news dashed the hopes of some wildlife biologists who thought the cold-craving disease would never reach so far south. Six years have passed since the disease, linked to an aggressive fungus called Geomyces destructans, was first detected at Howes Cave near Albany, N.Y. In Northeast states, the mortality rate for some species of bats has stood at about 100 percent. Officials are worried that the common little brown bat, the northern longeared bat and the tricolored bat will not survive. In January, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a report saying up to 6.7 million bats had been killed by white-nose syndrome in about 12 states and four Canadian provinces. White-nose was detected in Alabama on March 2 and confirmed days later, officials said. Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia have a vast network of caves and a wide variety of bats. State wildlife biologist Keith Hudson called Alabama the Grand Central Station for the endangered gray bat. The largest winter cave is here. The largest summer cave is here, said Hudson, who studies bats for the Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. If white-nose syndrome impacts gray bats as it has done other cave-dwelling bats, it will devastate the species. Alabama marks the southernmost confirmation of the disease to date, said Ann Froschauer, a national spokeswoman for Fish and Wildlifes efforts to stop whitenose. We had it in North Carolina and Tennessee prior to this. The response community has been sort of hoping the disease wasnt going to progress the same way into the southeast and western direction. Gray bats gather in huge concentrations, up to a million in a cave, Froschauer said. Unlike most bats, they remain in caves through the year. Building development and other human activity greatly reduced their numbers, but recently the gray bat has made a comeback, Froschauer said. There was some talk

of removing the bat from the endangered species list. If you can imagine the disease getting into a site with a half-million or a million bats, that would really be devastating, Froschauer said. The impact on our agricultural area ... may be ... exponential ... down the road, in terms of the economic services that these bats provide. Bats are a top nocturnal predator, eating night-flying insects that feed on agricultural crops. A pregnant female consumes her weight in bugs each night. A single colony of 150 brown bats can eat enough adult cucumber beetles to prevent the laying of eggs that would result in 33 million rootworm larvae, according to a study cited by Bat Conservation International. Bats probably save the U.S. agricultural industry at least $3 billion each year, or approximately $74 per acre for the average farmer, according to studies. No bats in Alabama have been found dead from the disease, but that outcome is feared. We are very concerned about white-nose syndrome and its impact on Alabama bats, Hudson said. We will do everything practical to manage this, with the understanding that not a whole lot can be done. Hudson said that although other biologists are surprised to see the disease in Alabama, hes not. I think all of us thought it was just a matter of time before it got here, he said.

Comment: I dont think it will impact them as much. White-nose syndrome only affects hibernating bats indirectly by arousing them during hibernation. Alabama is warm, very little hibernation period. I think its exaggerated. 40. Harness the natural curiosity of children
Focusing on Wildlife News March 15, 2012 As the world human population tops 7 billion individuals currently alive, the threats to the global environment have never been greater. The natural world as we know it is unlikely to survive in its existing condition for much longer. We have all heard of the Rio Summits and the attempts to address biodiversity loss going forward but despite all our efforts we are still losing the battle. If we are to have any chance of success in the future our greatest asset in this battle against time is our children. With increasing use of technological gadgets to amuse kids it is no surprise that they are becoming increasingly removed from the natural work. Many young people today think that animal planet is not real and that video footage comes from zoos and wildlife parks. Others are turned off by the apparent savagery of the natural world as crocodiles and sharks tear other animals to shreds in their own living rooms. The sensationalism of the modern natural history

programmes is sending a very mixed message to society. I was ringing (banding) birds last weekend in a marsh in Bahrain and I invited a neighbour to bring his little daughter down to see the birds in the hand. The awe on her face was palpable as she watched the bird struggle in my hand. At first she was shy and even slightly afraid but curiosity got the better of her as she stretched out her hand to touch the bird. I am as guilty as everybody else in not fostering the direct exposure of children to nature more. We should never underestimate the power of direct contact with nature, in sowing the seeds of conservation for future generations. Think of somebody you can bring with you the next time you go out in the field. Todays child is tomorrows environmentalist.

Comment: I completely agree. Nature shows are great at captivating the public, but theyre often very played up and unreflective of everyday nature. Science should be made more public to all ages. Professionals cant hide behind a curtain and try to solve everything themselves, and publish only in scientific community journals. The globe is causing environmental problems, so everyone should be informed and exposed to nature the younger age, the better.

41. Wild Orangutans stressed by eco-tourists, but not for long, study out of North Borneo finds
Science Daily March 15, 2012 Wild orangutans that have come into contact with eco-tourists over a period of years show an immediate stress response but no signs of chronic stress, unlike other species in which permanent alterations in stress responses have been documented, new research from an Indiana University anthropologist has found. IU anthropologist Michael P. Muehlenbein can't say yet what makes the wild orangutans of Borneo deal with stress differently than other species in other locations, but an analysis of orangutan stress hormone levels recorded before, during and after the apes interacted in the wild with eco-tourists found evidence of acute elevation of the stress hormone cortisol the day of an interaction, with levels then returning to baseline afterward. By analyzing fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGM) levels of orangutans in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in Sabah, Malaysia, the team led by Muehlenbein was looking to, among other things, gather evidence about levels of disturbance on wildlife exposed to eco-tourism, a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry that is growing annually. Red Ape Encounters, a community-owned and -operated eco-tourism program in Sabah that assisted with the research, facilitates the only trekking

program for wild orangutans in the world. "Revenue can enhance economic opportunities for the locales involved, and it can support environmental education, protect natural and cultural heritage, and be used to conserve biodiversity," Muehlenbein said. "But rapid, unmonitored development of nature-based tourism can also lead to habitat degradation and negative impacts on the very species we wish to protect. Given the increasing demand of tourists to encounter wild orangutans, it is critical to evaluate any potential physiological effects this and future programs may have on this charismatic and endangered species." Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus morio) are considered an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which produces the Red List of Threatened Species. Eco-tourism guidelines used by Red Ape Encounters include limiting visitation groups to seven people for no more than one hour; excluding sick tourists; maintaining a 10-meter minimum distance; and requiring appropriate behavior. The company hosts about 250 tourists per year, with most of the visitor activity centered on the two wild habituated orangutans used in the study: Jenny, an adult approximately 32 years old, and her 11-year-old son Etin. To produce the results, researchers collected fecal samples from Jenny and Etin in association with 25 unique tourism visits, along with fecal samples collected from several previously unidentified wild unhabituated orangutans. After developing standardized hormone degradation rates through earlier comparative studies of samples from captive orangutans at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and those from two other wild orangutans in Borneo, the team was able to collect samples within an optimum time after defecation in order to limit the effects of time-based physiological processes that degrade samples. "When we compared samples from Jenny and Etin obtained the day before, the day of and the day after tourist visitation, we found that stress hormone levels were significantly elevated in samples collected the day after tourist visitation, which is indicative of elevated cortisol production on the previous day," Muehlenbein said. "As for the unknown wild orangutans that we were also able to gather samples from, we found numerically, but not statistically, higher stress hormone levels in these animals following contact with researchers than in the habituated animals." Different species and populations of animals likely react differently to human exposure, and those differences may be due to variation in tourism intensity (including distance between animals and visitors), the animal's stage of habituation, animal temperament, and even the presence of adequate coping or escape mechanisms, he believes. "Transiently elevated stress hormone levels must be interpreted conservatively, as these may simply reflect normal responses to stimuli," Muehlenbein said. "But nature-based tourism programs that result in permanent alterations of stress physiology in their animals cannot be viewed as sustainable. However, low levels of predictable disturbance likely result in low physiological impact on these orangutans."

On a wider scale, he pointed out, animal usage should be kept minimal -- at least for pregnant females and ill animals and during times of resource restriction -- and the habituation processes gradual for all animals involved in eco-tourism. Funding for this research was provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Great Ape Conservation Fund, the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund and Indiana University.

Comment: While I agree that endangered species shouldnt be excessively exposed to humans due to stress and/or they become habituated to humans and encroach on urban environments, I do believe that letting people see these animals in person creates a deeper connection between public and nature. The connection increases conservation funding.

42. Major US supermarkets say no to Ross Sea seafood

Wildlife Extra News March 14, 2012 Calls for the sea to be protected A third US retailer has announced it will not stock seafood from Antartica's Ross Sea for environmental reasons, reports Greenpeace. Harris Teeter joins US supermarket chains Safeway and Wegmans by taking the Ross Sea Pledge' which means it will not buy or sell seafood from that area. It is also calling for the entire Ross Sea to be protected. We have pledged not to buy or sell any seafood harvested from the Ross Sea,' the company states on its website. By taking the "Ross Sea Pledge", we encourage the nations who are members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources to designate the entire Ross Sea as an MPA [Marine Protected Area],' it continues. The area is being exploited to feed the wealthy The Ross Sea has been identified as the least human-affected large oceanic ecosystem remaining on Earth. Many scientists are calling for it to be designated as a fully protected marine reserve. However, a longline fishery for Antarctic toothfish better known to British consumers as Antarctic sea bass - started by New Zealand vessels in the late 1990s, is operating in the Ross Sea and supplying the luxury market. The delicate balance of the fragile Ross Sea is under threat from commercial fishing,' says Greenpeace New Zealand Oceans Campaigner Karli Thomas. Although technology has made it possible, it is simply not sustainable to be fishing

every last corner of our ocean. The Ross Sea is a special place that we should be protecting as the home to diverse and unique wildlife, and a refuge in the face of climate change - not exploiting to feed the wealthy.' This should be a no-go areaIn 2010 Greenpeace published a report outlining the role that seafood traders, retailers and chefs can play in protecting the Ross Sea. The announcement by Harris Teeter shows there is a growing awareness by retailers that the Ross Sea should be protected as no-go area,' says Thomas The recently formed Antarctic Ocean Alliance, a group of environmental organisations, last week launched a report calling for a large-scale marine reserve to be established in the Ross Sea.

Comment: More companies should step up like this and set an example for more sustainable business. Stepping up informs the public and lets them have the option of supporting green business. Also, other business must follow or else they risk losing business and looking like the bad guy.