Reactions to story from Guardian

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  Endangered animals: its worse than we thought

  http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2008/07/endanger...
  152 days ago in The Great Beyond · Authority: 278

  This story is also discussed on this weeks Nature Podcast. A mathematical glitch means weve been massively underestimating how at risk endangered species are, according to a paper in this weeks Nature (paper, press coverage). By failing to include
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  Some species could be wiped out 100 times faster than feared

  http://ascura.ej.am/some-species-could-be-wiped-out-100-time...
  144 days ago in Ascura · No authority yet

  Some species could be wiped out 100 times faster than feared July 12th, 2008 Endangered species could become extinct 100 times faster than previously thought, scientists warned yesterday in a bleak reassessment of the threats to global biodiversity. They say methods used to predict when species will die out are seriously flawed and dramatically underestimate the speed at which some will disappear. read more | digg story Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
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  Journal Nature: Some Species Will Be Extinct Faster Than Feared

  http://nothoney.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/journal-nature-some...
  148 days ago in Please Do Not Tap On the Glass · Authority: 22

  This is such depressing news from “Nature” that I just didn’t feel like posting it. I’ll have more depressing news about primates in a later post. BTW, the information for the letter-writing campaign to Congress to urge them to influence Rwandan President Kagame to end his support of the rebel Nkunda in Congo is behind the Wildlife Direct tab above. The Guardian (U.K.) reports on a new study published in the journal “Nature” that indicates the model used for predicting species extinction is flawed, and we will lose important species much sooner than previously thought. Endangered species could become extinct 100 times faster than previously thought, scientists warned yesterday in a bleak reassessment of the threats to global biodiversity. They say methods used to predict when species will die out are seriously flawed and dramatically underestimate the speed at which some will disappear. The findings, presented in the journal Nature, suggest that animals such as the western gorilla, the Sumatran tiger and Malayan sun bear, the smallest of the bear family, may become extinct much sooner than conservationists had feared. The researchers who presented the study are Assistant Professor Brett Melbourne of CU-Boulder and Professor Alan Hastings of the University of California, Davis. CU-Boulder’s press release reads: Assistant Professor Brett Melbourne of CU-Boulder’s ecology and evolutionary biology department said current mathematical models used to determine extinction threat, or “red-listed” status, of species worldwide overlook random differences between individuals in a given population. Such differences, which include variations in male-to-female sex ratios as well as size or behavioral variations between individuals that can influence their survival rates and reproductive success, have an unexpectedly large effect on extinction risk calculations, according to the study. “When we apply our new mathematical model to species extinction rates, it shows that things are worse than we thought,” said Melbourne. “By accounting for random differences between individuals, extinction rates for endangered species can be orders of magnitude higher than conservation biologists have believed.” You can read a blog post on the “Nature” Web site about this important new study and listen to a very good podcast, as well. We are running out of time to change our ways, people. Sit up and pay attention. s.
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  http://wdin.blogspot.com/2008/07/top-stories-report-finds-go...
  149 days ago in Wildlife Disease News Digest · Authority: 6

  TOP STORIES Report finds golden eagle decline BBC News - news.bbc.co.uk 01 Jul 2008 Area: Scotland United Kingdom The use of illegal poisons has been identified as one of the main reasons behind a decline in golden eagles. Government agency Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) said three out of 16 regions in Scotland studied had stable, or expanding populations. Falls in numbers were found in areas with habitat suited to the bird. Scottish Environment Minister Michael Russell said the report provided further proof poisoned baits continued to blight Scotland. >>>FULL ARTICLE Fungus Quickly Decimates Endangered Frogs Current Results - www.currentresults.com 01 Jul 2008 L Osborn Area: Panama The well-documented demise of an endangered frog reveals how swiftly the deadly chytrid fungus can decimate amphibians. Scientists have measured Bob's robber frog (Craugastor punctariolus) populations at three tropical streams since 1999. The frog, which only inhabits forests of western and central Panama, is an endangered species. But at these protected sites in Parque Nacional Omar Torríjos, the amphibians were abundant. Among the creek boulders, researchers counted anywhere from 19 to 68 frogs along a 200-metre transect. >>>FULL ARTICLE Cited Journal Article >>>Decline and extirpation of an endangered Panamanian stream frog population (Craugastor punctariolus) due to an outbreak of chytridiomycosis. Biological Conservation. 2008 Jun; 141(6): 1636-1647. Failing to Make Females, Reptile Could Go Extinct LiveScience - www.livescience.com 02 Jul 2008 J Bryner Image courtesy of Nicky Nelson/Victoria University Area: New Zealand A world without females may not be worth living in. And in fact extinction would be imminent. That's the lonely and dire prospect faced by the tuatara. With rising temperatures, this endangered reptile could produce all male offspring by 2085, guaranteeing its extinction, a new study finds. The spiny reptiles, about 30 inches (80 cm) long, are confined to small islands off the coast of New Zealand. Two tuatara species (Sphenodon punctatus and Sphenodon guntheri) are the only surviving members of the Sphenodontian family, which roamed the Earth about 200 million years ago along with the dinosaurs. >>>FULL ARTICLE VIDEO: Aussie Platypuses Suffer Illness National Geographic News - news.nationalgeographic.com 01 Jul 2008 Area: Tasmania Australia - Map It Australian scientists are conducting field studies to track a fungal infection that has been killing Tasmanian platypuses for more than 25 years. >>>VIDEO Last Week's Top Digest Links 1. Extreme Weather Events Can Unleash A 'Perfect Storm' Of Infectious Diseases, Research Study Says 2. Climate Extremes Promote Fatal Co-Infections during Canine Distemper Epidemics in African Lions [journal article] 3. Even vegetarians may not be safe from 'mad cow' prions 4. Emerging Infectious Diseases. Volume 14, Number 7–July 2008. [journal TOC) 5. Pictured: The moment a wildlife officer risked his life to save drowning bear 6. Something to crow about in Alaska [beak deformities in birds] 7. To Find Out What's Eating Bats, Biologist Takes To Barn Rooftops [white nose syndrome news] [journal article] 8. Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine. Volume 39, Issue 2 (June 2008) [journal TOC] 9. Unlikely Heroes: Goats Rescue N.Y. Bog Turtles [audio broadcast available too] 10. Recent Mortality Events - USGS National Wildlife Health Center OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS Image courtesy of The Guardian Pictured: Biodiversity: Some species could be wiped out 100 times faster than feared, say researchersIdaho Investigating Possible Case of Bovine TBMaryland Deer Test Negative For Chronic Wasting DiseaseLive CWD test in elk shows promiseUSGS July Science Picks -- leads, feeds and story seedsTigers Vanish in NepalEbola-like virus threatens fish in Illinois - Map It Fish kill in northern Wisconsin not to be confused with VHS - Map It A Hot Zone For DiseaseSquirrels test positive for plague - Map It Detroit Zoo helps toads, plovers make comebacks WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED PUBLICATIONS Avian haemosporidian parasites infection in wild birds inhabiting Minami-daito Island of the northwest Pacific, Japan Journal of Veterinary Medical Science. 2008 May; 70 (5): 501-503 MAY 2008 [free full-text available] K Murata et al. Experimental transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy to European red deer (Cervus elaphus elaphus). BMC Veterinary Research. 2008 May 28; 4: 17-17 [free full-text available] MP Dagleish et al.
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  Doom and gloom

  http://www.tempyra.com/?p=314
  151 days ago in Tempyra · Authority: 6

  I’ve been thinking about FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) more than usual lately. Partly because my boyfriend sometimes jokingly accuses me of employing it - introducing uncertainty and doubt to a debate to achieve the outcome I want. Partly because I read a lot of environment-related news and most of it is really quite depressing. And so, I’ve been wondering - why is there so much negativity in the media regarding environmental issues? Is it because the news is all bad and the planet is really on the brink of global catastrophe? Is it because the bad news sells? Is it because the media wants to introduce FUD to the world to fulfil an ulterior motive? Is it people just read/watch the news to see what might negatively affect their lives and aren’t interested in the rest? I.e. our interest in how the world is going down the drain is a largely self centred one. I dunno. Here are some examples of negativity in the media, from a cursory (<2minutes) look through my feed reader.  Would you call this scare-mongering? “In five years’ time, we could be living in a world where millions are dying in famines with no food aid to hand, regular storms and droughts wipe out acres of crops, and skyrocketing food prices have created global political panic, food experts say.” The quote above is out of context, of course, it’s only the opening sentence of the article from Reuter Alertnet. What about this one from The Guardian? “Endangered species could become extinct 100 times faster than previously thought, scientists warned yesterday in a bleak reassessment of the threats to global biodiversity. They say methods used to predict when species will die out are seriously flawed and dramatically underestimate the speed at which some will disappear.” Here’s another opening sentence example: “Parts of Australia’s key Murray-Darling river food bowl may be beyond recovery unless a prolonged dry spell and political wrangling over water use ends by October, a leaked scientific report warned on Wednesday.” Rather dismal, no?
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  Estinzione 100 volte più veloce

  http://www.modusvivendi.it/blog/?p=2431
  152 days ago in Modus vivendi blog · Authority: 6

  Le specie a rischio di estinzione - 16.000 secondo il rapporto Iucn del 2007 - potrebbero scomparire 100 volte più velocemente di quanto si fosse previsto fino ad oggi. Tra le più a rischio, la tigre di sumatra, l’orso del sole malese e il gorilla occidentale. E’ quanto emerge da uno studio pubblicato su Nature e redatto da Brett Melbourne dell’Università del Colorado e Alan Hastings dell’Università della California, e che si basa su un modello sperimentale del tutto innovativo, che integra la statistica con i fattori biologici e ambientali. In due parole: ecologia sperimentale. Come spiegano gli scienziati, i vecchi modelli si fondano su due parametri: il numero di eventi casuali, come un terremoto, che possono ridurre drasticamente il numero di individui, e i fattori ambientali in continuo cambiamento come temperatura e umidità, che possono influenzare i tassi di natalità e mortalità di una popolazione. Ma questo, secondo gli scienziati, non basta ad offrire una stima completa dell’aspettativa di vita di una specie. Così hanno proposto un nuovo modello matematico, costruito osservando in laboratorio popolazioni di scarafaggi, che tiene conto dell’abbondanza della popolazione, del rapporto tra maschi e femmine (sex ratio), e della taglia degli individui. Di fatto, si tratta di un approccio molto più ecologico di quelli usati in precedenza, che tenevano conto esclusivamente di fattori legati all’ambiente e non alle dinamiche di popolazione. “I risultati - spiega Melbourne - dimostrano che la situazione è molto peggiore di quanto si fosse creduto fino ad oggi: il rischio di estinzione può essere di diversi ordini di grandezza maggiore rispetto a quello stimato dai biologi”. Secondo il rapporto Iucn, che verrà aggiornato ad ottobre di quest’anno, un mammifero su quattro, un uccello su otto e un anfibio su tre sono a rischio di estinzione.

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