conservation
voltagegate | April 17, 2007Maniola jurtina
Another study was published recently in Ecology that sought to tease out and analyze environmental factors (the other regarded deforestation and albedo), this time with a concentration on species diversity, specifically different native butterfly populations in Britain.
The butterflies were split into two main groups:
...habitat specialists, occupying one or a few localized habitats; [and] habitat generalists, occupying widespread and/or many habitats...
The researchers studied three factors affecting butterfly diversity: the direct and indirect (trophic cascade) effects of…
voltagegate | April 16, 2007There's a great thread at the Google Group where folks are previewing their Bioblitz plans. Check it out to get a sense of what you'll see in the next couple weeks.
Still time to join. Shoot me an e-mail.
voltagegate | April 14, 2007I usually despise laying out the newspaper on the weekends, but this weekend might be a little fun. The entire issue, with the exception of sports, is focused on Earth Day.
The Sierra Student Coalition at FSU has pushed their Earth Day celebration up a few days to be held on the same day as our new president's inauguration, where they will ask the new pres to sign a commitment to combat global warming at Frostburg, an excellent political move by the Coalition.
The Bottom Line happens to come out on the same day. We have the columnists writing themed pieces, reporters covering Earth Day…
voltagegate | April 13, 2007PNAS will print a study next Tuesday that takes a closer look at the effects of deforestation at specific latitudes. The study suggests that deforestation of higher latitudes may lead to a greater cooling effect than leaving areas intact or implementing afforestation plans. Needless to say, their findings have riled some folks.
Part of what they found was already accepted. Forests on and around the equator (mostly rain forests) are exceedingly good at cycling water back into the atmosphere. When the forests are removed en masse, this evapotranspiration is greatly reduced, allowing the…
voltagegate | April 11, 2007My news editor wrote a great column (filling in for me) about the politicization of science and Climate Crisis Action Day last issue that I meant to link but never got to it:
As a science columnist, I would guess that I would be ignoring a pretty specific requirement of the Voltage Gate without addressing the scientific implications involved. Climate change is a scientific issue, one that will require the collective knowledge and drive of many of the world's best. However, the lines between science, politics and culture are becoming increasingly blurred. The overwhelming dedication to…
voltagegate | April 10, 2007"We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey."
-John Hope Franklin
voltagegate | April 9, 2007"A major environmental issue is the question of lowering carbon dioxide emissions to ameliorate the greenhouse effect.
Those who profit from foul air and a poisoned atmosphere will profess to worry about more expensive automobiles. But I see no percentage in gloating over a few hundred dollars saved while dying of lung cancer and emphysema, and while the Earth warms, the ice caps melt and the coastal regions drown."
-Isaac Asimov, 1990
voltagegate | April 7, 2007The ESA blog posted a thoughtful contribution about the philosophy of and a possible solution to "diagnosing" the ecology of endangered species, the author presenting his own work with the endangered Marbled Murrelet as an example:
It's a simple question that I often get asked about an endangered species: "What caused it to decline?" but I find it to be one of the hardest to answer without giving a hand-waiving response. Determining causes of decline for a species based on data-driven conclusions rather than informed opinion is challenging because it first requires figuring out which…
voltagegate | April 5, 2007"It is a lovely and terrible wilderness, such as wilderness as Christ and the prophets went out into; harshly and beautifully colored, broken and worn until its bones are exposed, its great sky without a smudge of taint from Technocracy, and in hidden corners and pockets under its cliffs the sudden poetry of springs. Save a piece of country like that intact, and it does not matter in the slightest that only a few people every year will go into it. That is precisely its value."
-Wallace Stegner, referring to the deserts of Southeastern Utah
voltagegate | April 3, 2007"No species but man, so far as is known, unaided by circumstance or climate change, has ever extinguished another, and certainly no species has ever devoured itself, an accomplishment of which man appears quite capable."
-Peter Matthiessen
voltagegate | April 2, 2007"I want to make it clear, if there is ever a conflict (between environmental quality and economic growth), I will go for beauty, clean air, water, and landscape."
-Jimmy Carter, 1976
voltagegate | March 30, 2007Another gem of North American history is being threatened by drilling (the links are inserted):
Cimarex Energy Company, a natural gas company out of Denver, Colorado, has proposed two natural gas pads with 4 wells on the southern boundary of Chaco Canyon NHP on state of New Mexico Trust land. The two locations would be within visual distance of the Visitor Center of Chaco Canyon NHP and could significantly impact archeological-astronomical features at Chaco Canyon, that are a primary reason for Chaco Canyon's designation as a World Heritage Site.
Afarensis has the full details of what you can…
voltagegate | March 27, 2007Since the announcement of the First Annual Blogger Bioblitz yesterday morning at 8 a.m., we have gone from about six bloggers to 23, thanks to some major linkage from friends and participants (Bora, Bev, Bill, Brian, Dan, river2sea72, Judith, Greg, Madhu, Karmen - let me know if I missed anyone).
All correspondence for the event happens through the official Google Group, and everyone is invited to join the group and watch the evolution of the Bioblitz over the course of the next several weeks even if you're not interested (or don't have time) to participate. Jenn will be posting several…
voltagegate | March 26, 2007UPDATES: Part I, Part II
In honor of National Wildlife Week, April 21 - 29, I am inviting bloggers from all walks to participate in the First Annual Blogger Bioblitz, where bloggers from across the world will choose a wild or not-so-wild area and find how many of each different species - plant, animal, fungi and anything in between - live in a certain area within a certain time.
Pick a neat little area that you are relatively familiar with and is small enough that you or the group can handle - a small thicket, a pond, a section of stream, or even your backyard - and bring along some taxonomic…
voltagegate | March 23, 2007The National Wildlife Federation is starting to sound like my mother. "Stop staring at that screen and go get some fresh air. And when are you going to clean up your apartment?"
They want everyone outside during the week of April 21, challenging participants to a neighborhood bioblitz-off during that week. You can download a checklist of animals from their website, find what you can, and then share your discoveries on their website. More info from NWF below the fold.
Get outdoors, enjoy the sights and smells of spring and celebrate National Wildlife Week, April 21-29! Whatever your age or…
voltagegate | March 23, 2007In Kaziranga National Park in India, four endangered one-horned rhinos (Rhinceros unicornis) have been found dead in the past few weeks, while our own legislators battle over measures to curb the spread of brucellosis from bison to cattle.
In Indian myth, the one- horned rhino is a divine beast, often depicted carrying the universe on its back in the form of the preserver god, Vishnu. Many historians believe that it was also responsible for the ancient fairy tales of the unicorn. So why were the rhinos shot? Mysticism, ironically, under the guise of "traditional medicine."
Their horns -- made…
voltagegate | March 22, 2007According to a recent international assessment, overfishing has brought 20 of the world's 162 species of grouper - a culinary delight around the world - to close to extinction for comfort:
Eight species previously were listed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as under extinction threat, and the new assessment proposes adding 12 more.
A panel of 20 experts from 10 nations determined the extinction threat facing groupers, which are the basis of the multimillion-dollar live reef food fish trade based in Hong Kong and comprise one of the most valuable groups of commercial fishes in chilled…
voltagegate | March 22, 2007"Modern Society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyles."
-Pope John Paul II
voltagegate | March 22, 2007The other day I made a passing comment about the issue of using celebrity as a face for conservation:
I have a few tough questions for the organizers of the event, mostly about the questionable choice of using celebrity to promote and give a face to conservation. It has worked for promoting purely humanitarian causes in the past, but is this movement different and should it be addressed in a different manner? Furthermore, where are the young Goodalls and Attenboroughs of the world? Surely they would be glad to step up and reach out to people instead of a polarizing, disconnected celebrity.…