Nature in the News

Day Lewin

There definitely IS a "deer problem" in New Zealand. Such that the officially-appointed Rangers can shoot on sight any deer found in the wild (and are free to eat the results!)
This means that deer farmers have to take very good care of their fences and gates etc. and they know to expect no mercy if an animal gets loose.
The New Zealanders have a rare, unique and fragile eco-system that has already suffered catastrophic damage from introduced species: they are now super-vigilant.
That being said, I have eaten some of said shot venison and it was delectable; New Zealand food is some of the best in the whole world.

magicbastarder

do i remember hearing that there is no 'season' on muntjac, that they can be shot all year round?

recedite

katemarch wrote: »

That being said, I have eaten some of said shot venison and it was delectable; New Zealand food is some of the best in the whole world.

Well, now you don't have to go to NZ to get it, just pop down to Aldi.

recedite

magicbastarder wrote: »

do i remember hearing that there is no 'season' on muntjac, that they can be shot all year round?

Yes, because they are classed as an invasive species, the same as the Red and other deer in NZ.

Jayzesake

Collapse of the world’s largest herbivores

http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/4/e1400103

A few of the points contained:

1. Out of 42 species of megafauna weighing over 1,000 kg in the world in late pleistocene times, only 8 survive. (The rest were driven to extinction by humans, though this paper only touches on this briefly.)

2. Of those 8 surviving species, 7 are threatened, and 4 of those are critically endangered.

3. Currently, 75% of elephant populations are declining and at risk of extirpation. More than 100,000 African elephants were poached during the 3-year period from 2010 to 2012. This level of illegal kills represents 20% of the current estimated population size of 500,000 African elephants.

4. The number of forest elephants (L. africana cyclotis) in central Africa declined by 62% between 2002 and 2011.

5. Between 1970 and 2005, large mammal populations in Africa’s protected areas (my emphasis) decreased by about 59%.

6. The number of rhinoceros poached in South Africa grew by two orders of magnitude from 13 in 2007 to 668 in 2012 and 1004 in 2013. If accelerated poaching by organized crime syndicates continues, Africa’s rhinoceroses may become extinct in the wild within 20 years.

7. If trends continue, Southeast Asia could lose 75% of its original forests and nearly half of its biodiversity by the end of this century.

8. Large herbivores shape the structure and function of landscapes and environments in which they occur. They directly and indirectly affect other animal species throughout the food web, including their predators and smaller herbivores, and modify abiotic processes involving nutrient cycles, soil properties, fire regimes, and primary production. The roles of large herbivores thus cannot be taken over or compensated for by smaller herbivores.

9. Extinct megaherbivores once played a critical role in the colonization of woody plants. Even today, large herbivores are irreplaceable as seed dispersers because, relative to smaller frugivores, they are able to consume larger seeds and deliver many more seeds per defecation event over longer distances. Thus, the loss of large seed dispersers may lead to a wave of recruitment failures among animal-dispersed species with potential consequences for important ecological services.

10. The ultimate forces behind declining large mammal populations are a rising human population and increasing per capita resource consumption. As is the case for the conservation of most taxa, programs that help to lower human birth rates in rapidly growing regions such as those that enhance educational and development opportunities, particularly for young women, are a high priority. However, the reality is that strategies for conserving herbivores in the context of high human population densities are likely to be increasingly important. Increasing levels of human carnivory are at the crux of the problem.

11. The range contractions and population declines of large herbivore species have ecological and evolutionary implications. Range contractions inevitably result from the loss of local populations, many of which are genetically distinct, thus representing a major and underappreciated pulse of biological extinction. Even if they survive in protected areas, many of these largest species might already be below the minimum numbers to be effective in generating ecological cascades or allowing evolutionary processes such as speciation.

12. We have progressed well beyond the empty forest to early views of the “empty landscape” in desert, grassland, savanna, and forest ecosystems across much of planet Earth. Now is the time to act boldly, because without radical changes in these trends, the extinctions that eliminated most of the world’s largest herbivores 10,000 to 50,000 years ago will only have been postponed for these last few remaining giants.


My attention was drawn to this paper by an article by George Monbiot: http://www.monbiot.com/2015/05/22/megadeath/

whyulittle

Lapwing Chicks fitted with radio tags at Lough Boora.

Research carried out by the Trust is gathering data on Lapwing chick survival and the causes of mortality. Interestingly this research is been carried out on NPWS lands not managed for breeding lapwing.

Full story here.

cameramonkey

http://www.sundayworld.com/news/courts/three-dublin-men-to-be-tried-for-badger-hunting

Jayzesake

A new organisation has been launched in the U.K. to promote rewilding there:

'Bringing nature back to Life. Restoring living systems. That's rewilding.'

http://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/

It seems to be partly inspired by George Monbiot's book 'Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding', but Monbiot has no position in the group. They appear to be interested purely in the island of Britain, and not this island.

I wonder will anyone consider setting up an equivalent here?

Capercaillie

Jayzesake wrote: »

A new organisation has been launched in the U.K. to promote rewilding there:

'Bringing nature back to Life. Restoring living systems. That's rewilding.'

http://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/

It seems to be partly inspired by George Monbiot's book 'Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding', but Monbiot has no position in the group. They appear to be interested purely in the island of Britain, and not this island.

I wonder will anyone consider setting up an equivalent here?

Pity Northern Ireland is not included in that project.

Jayzesake

Capercaillie wrote: »

Pity Northern Ireland is not included in that project.

I think their approach makes total sense. They're ignoring national boundaries (England, Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland, the U.K. itself) and focusing on the geographical reality that is that island. After all, what does wildlife care about such artificial human constructs as nation states?

If a similar organisation were to arise here, it would make obvious sense to do the same, by basing it on the island of Ireland.

OpenYourEyes

One good tern: birds bed down in Dublin Port Company’s new nests

"A pontoon in the River Liffey that gives the birds a safe nesting site is the kind of project that Dublin Bay Biosphere could excel at"


http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/one-good-tern-birds-bed-down-in-dublin-port-company-s-new-nests-1.2288400#.Vaoq4nszfNF.twitter

kerry4sam

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

One good tern: birds bed down in Dublin Port Company’s new nests

"A pontoon in the River Liffey that gives the birds a safe nesting site is the kind of project that Dublin Bay Biosphere could excel at"


http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/one-good-tern-birds-bed-down-in-dublin-port-company-s-new-nests-1.2288400#.Vaoq4nszfNF.twitter

Never even knew that existed tbh, just incredible. Beautiful looking birds too

Thanks for sharing that linkie,
kerry4sam

Zoo4m8

A typical 'glass half full' piece from Paddy Woodworth, his full article on Dublin Bay Biosphere as published on Sat is well worth a read.

OpenYourEyes

Here's that article - entitled "What good is Dublin Bay Biosphere?"

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/what-good-is-dublin-bay-biosphere-1.2288419

OpenYourEyes

An excellent short piece on the recent hysteria about gulls in Ireland and the UK

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/20/killing-seagulls-bird-gull-attacks-david-cameron?CMP=share_btn_tw

Half-cocked

^^^^^^

A stark contrast to this piece of 'journalism'

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/liam-collins-its-war-on-seagulls-31394919.html

This piece is so full of blatant untruths I'm considering a complaint to the Press Ombudsman. Whatever happened to journalists actually doing a bit of research into their subject matter?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Half-cocked wrote: »

^^^^^^

A stark contrast to this piece of 'journalism'

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/liam-collins-its-war-on-seagulls-31394919.html

This piece is so full of blatant untruths I'm considering a complaint to the Press Ombudsman. Whatever happened to journalists actually doing a bit of research into their subject matter?

This would not come under the remit of the Ombudsman. You'd be better writing a letter to the editor, as a right of reply on behalf of gulls, where you would point out all that was wrong with the published piece.

If it's any consolation, some "quality" papers ran similar pieces in the past week.

OpenYourEyes

Half-cocked wrote: »

^^^^^^

A stark contrast to this piece of 'journalism'

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/liam-collins-its-war-on-seagulls-31394919.html

This piece is so full of blatant untruths I'm considering a complaint to the Press Ombudsman. Whatever happened to journalists actually doing a bit of research into their subject matter?

That piece is nothing short of disgusting! Much of what is said is verifiably untrue and any amount of critical thinking, even without any knowledge of birds, could see the holes in his arguments. Absolutely ridiculous.

Alun

The gulls are already fighting back it seems ...

http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2015/07/21/small-minority-giving-the-rest-of-us-a-bad-name-claims-dublin-seagull/

Jayzesake

Alun wrote: »

The gulls are already fighting back it seems ...

http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2015/07/21/small-minority-giving-the-rest-of-us-a-bad-name-claims-dublin-seagull/

Brilliant!

Jayzesake

There seems to be a growing body of evidence that African forest elephants are actually a separate species from the larger savannah-living populations. But they are still generally classified as the same species, with damaging consequences for the conservation of forest elephants.

"Although poachers have decimated both groups in the last decade, forest elephants have been much harder hit. According to scientists, poachers slaughtered 65% of the world’s forest elephants in just 12 years. At least a couple of hundred thousand forest elephants were lost between 2002-2013 to the tune of at least sixty a day, or one every twenty minutes, day and night...”

“By not recognising two species...organisations may be condemning the African forest elephant to extinction...”

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/radical-conservation/2015/jul/23/forest-elephants-evidence-science-species-ivory-crisis

Capercaillie

Jayzesake wrote: »

There seems to be a growing body of evidence that African forest elephants are actually a separate species from the larger savannah-living populations. But they are still generally classified as the same species, with damaging consequences for the conservation of forest elephants.

"Although poachers have decimated both groups in the last decade, forest elephants have been much harder hit. According to scientists, poachers slaughtered 65% of the world’s forest elephants in just 12 years. At least a couple of hundred thousand forest elephants were lost between 2002-2013 to the tune of at least sixty a day, or one every twenty minutes, day and night...”

“By not recognising two species...organisations may be condemning the African forest elephant to extinction...”

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/radical-conservation/2015/jul/23/forest-elephants-evidence-science-species-ivory-crisis

Decline in forest elephants could impact irish wildlife. Recent geolocator studies have shown that some uk corncrake winter in forest clearing made by forest elephants in West Africa. Irish crexs might winter in same regions.

Jayzesake

Capercaillie wrote: »

Decline in forest elephants could impact irish wildlife. Recent geolocator studies have shown that some uk corncrake winter in forest clearing made by forest elephants in West Africa. Irish crexs might winter in same regions.

The more I learn about just how interconnected the natural world is globally, the more astonished I become.

recedite

Smaller animals can differentiate into different species when localised populations are isolated from each other, such as Darwins famous finches isolated on islands.
But higher animals can also isolate themselves culturally, gradually forming closed groups or races, and possibly eventually differentiating into different species.
So its possible the forest elephants are doing that. Also cetaceans may do it. Some pods of "transient" Orcas in the Pacific behave very differently to others and those in the Atlantic, despite having similar appearance, actively hunting sea mammals instead of just eating fish.

On the subject of Darwin and islands, an interesting and ongoing experiment...Darwin's artificial forest captures moisture from clouds that drift over Ascension's peaks.

Jayzesake

recedite wrote: »

But higher animals can also isolate themselves culturally, gradually forming closed groups or races, and possibly eventually differentiating into different species.
So its possible the forest elephants are doing that.

At the rate things are going, with 65% of forest elephants wiped out in just 12 years, they'll be lucky to survive at all. Do the maths, and only 6 more years of the same will see them gone from the face of the Earth.

Evolution requires very long periods of population isolation for new species of larger animals to develop. According to conservation biologists I've heard speak on the subject, speciation among practically all vertebrates much larger than a rat effectively ended globally about a century or so ago, due to the disruptive effects of human activities. That's just one measure of the scale of damage we're doing.

And most people have no idea there's even a problem.

Jayzesake

recedite wrote: »

On the subject of Darwin and islands, an interesting and ongoing experiment...Darwin's artificial forest captures moisture from clouds that drift over Ascension's peaks.

"However, this is a forest with a difference. It is totally artificial.Such ecosystems normally develop over million of years through a slow process of co-evolution. By contrast, the Green Mountain cloud forest was cobbled together by the Royal Navy in a matter of decades.

Dr Wilkinson exclaimed: "This is really exciting!"

"What it tells us is that we can build a fully functioning ecosystem through a series of chance accidents or trial and error."


The idea that articially created 'ecosystems' can ever be fully functioning in a similar way to genuine ecosystems that have self-formed over aeons is supremely naive, supremely arrogant and dangerous to the survival of those genuine ecosystems.

A more conclusive experiment of this type was 'Biosphere 2' in the early '90s, which was, predictably, a complete and utter failure:

http://blogs.britannica.com/2011/09/years-glass-biosphere-2-mission/

What we can do, is to stop interfering with real natural ecosystems - other than to undo some of the damage we have caused, and allow them to recover.

recedite

Jayzesake wrote: »

The idea that articially created 'ecosystems' can ever be fully functioning in a similar way to genuine ecosystems that have self-formed over aeons is supremely naive, supremely arrogant and dangerous to the survival of those genuine ecosystems.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this. If it wasn't for the activities of scientists 150 years ago, the island would still be just a volcanic rock.
And with the ongoing discovery of more and more earthlike planets, people may be repeating this kind of experiment on a much larger scale. Long after you and I are both dead of course.

Alun

A bit OT, but a distant relative of my wife was stationed on Ascension in the 1800's and his 'job' was to live up in the hills in a cave (shacked up with one of the local women it seems!) and collect dew that collected in tarpaulins strung up around the area and also in a so called 'dew pond' and bring it down to the camp. This was their only supply of fresh water.

Jayzesake

recedite wrote: »

We'll have to agree to disagree on this.

You're probably right about that.

recedite wrote: »

If it wasn't for the activities of scientists 150 years ago, the island would still be just a volcanic rock.

The issue isn't what has happened on Ascension, but the extension of those kind of ideas to areas where ecosystems are naturally extremely rich, or else would be were it not for human activities (i.e. almost the entire planet). There is now a stream of thinking, whose adherents call themselves the 'New Conservation' (a total oxymoron), which says that trashing rich ecosystems throughout the globe is just fine, because we can engineer some kind of substitute ecosystems in their place. They give the same value to the few weeds and insects you might find in a car park on the one hand, and the enormous biodiversity of a tropical rainforest on the other. Thereby giving free licence to destroy the rainforest. That's what I meant above when I said above that such ideas are not only false, but dangerous to the genuine conservation of ecosystems.

recedite wrote: »

And with the ongoing discovery of more and more earthlike planets, people may be repeating this kind of experiment on a much larger scale. Long after you and I are both dead of course.

They said on the radio this morning that that planet is so far away that the light we observe reflecting from it into our telescope has taken since the Book of Kells was written to get here. We need to wake up to the fact that there is no other Earth 2 where we can go and start over. We have to make it work here or forget about it.

OpenYourEyes

Some properly informed gull articles at last!


http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/seagull-hysteria-shows-lack-of-awareness-of-nature-1.2296336

http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/opinion-seagulls-hysteria-2231292-Jul2015/