Image via the Dot Earth Blog at NYTimes.com and the Wildlife Conservation Society. Read more about the endangered snow leopard at the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
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A new species of Nepenthes pitcher plant has been discovered in a remote region of the Philippines. After being rescued, they described the mammoth carnivorous plant. Apparently, some missionaries who became lost in the wilderness originally discovered it. Consequently, a research expedition of pitcher plant specialists returned and found it.
The new species of tropical pitcher plant has been named after David Attenborough—Nepenthes attenboroughii (pictured). Furthermore, the newly discovered species is also described as being “the largest of all pitchers and is so big that it can catch rats as well as insects in its leafy trap.” Additionally, according to a thread on Terraforums.com, “It seems unfortunately this species is critically endangered and present as less than a few hundred individuals in just one location.” From the BBC News:
Word that this new species of pitcher plant existed initially came from two Christian missionaries who in 2000 attempted to scale Mount Victoria, a rarely visited peak in central Palawan in the Philippines.
With little preparation, the missionaries attempted to climb the mountain but became lost for 13 days before being rescued from the slopes.. . .
Accompanied by three guides, the team hiked through lowland forest, finding large stands of a pitcher plant known to science called Nepenthes philippinensis, as well as strange pink ferns and blue mushrooms which they could not identify.
As they closed in on the summit, the forest thinned until eventually they were walking among scrub and large boulders
“At around 1,600 metres above sea level, we suddenly saw one great pitcher plant, then a second, then many more,” McPherson recounts.
“It was immediately apparent that the plant we had found was not a known species.”
David Attenborough in the video below describes the tropical pitcher plant family and N. rajah: “It’s so big that it catches not just insects but even small rodents, and one was recorded that had in it the body of a drowned rat, so if ever there was a carnivore among plants this is it.”
This video shows a mouse falling into a Nepenthes trap:
The first three images are by Alastair Robinson. The last image above was found here.
Similar from The Conservation Report: “NEW SPECIES: Rat-eating plant discovered in Cape York“
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In the video above, Glenn Beck goes crazy over sea turtle and sea otter conservation. Most certainly, Glenn Beck channels Republican contempt for conservation, environmentalism, environmental regulations, and science. However, there is a great utility in preserving nature and natural landscapes. We all benefit from clean air and water in addition to the preservation of biodiversity—even Glenn Beck.
Furthermore, international sea turtle conservation work in countries such as Mexico is important, because sea turtles do not follow political boundaries. As a result, conservation efforts and gains in the United States are threatened by the lack of environmental regulation, protections, and conservation efforts in other countries.
The Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) is a critically endangered species, and “the recent nesting increase can be attributed to full protection of nesting females and their nests in Mexico, and the requirement to use turtle excluder devices in shrimp trawls both in the United States and Mexico.” More from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service:
In 1966, conservation efforts for the Kemp’s ridley were initiated on the beach near Rancho Nuevo in Tamaulipas, Mexico. This locale is the only place in the world where large nesting aggregations of this sea turtle were and are known to occur. From 1966 to 1987, conservation efforts focused on the area of Rancho Nuevo with one turtle protection camp. In 1978, the U.S. joined with Mexico at Rancho Nuevo in a bi-national effort to prevent the extinction of the Kemp’s ridley. In 1988, this bi-national program expanded to the south and another camp was added. In 1989, a third camp was established when the program was expanded to the north of Rancho Nuevo. By 1997, a total of seven camps had been established along the Tamaulipas and Veracruz coasts to allow for increased nest protection efforts.
The Mexico government also prohibits harvesting and is working to increase the population through more intensive law enforcement, by fencing nest areas to diminish natural predation, and by relocating all nests into corrals to prevent poaching and predation. While relocation of nests into corrals is currently a necessary management measure, this relocation and concentration of eggs into a “safe” area is of concern since it makes the eggs more susceptible to reduced viability due to movement-induced mortality, disease vectors, catastrophic events like hurricanes, and marine predators once the predators learn where to concentrate their efforts.
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Photo source for attribution here, here, and here. The authors or licensors of these images do not endorse my work or me and their images are protected under an attribution license.
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Certainly, the discovery of a new population of this critically endangered frog species represents some much needed good news from the amphibian world. According to the U.S. Geological Survey:
For the first time in nearly 50 years, a population of a nearly extinct frog has been rediscovered in the San Bernardino National Forest’s San Jacinto Wilderness. Biologists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessing suitability of sites to re-establish frogs and scientists from the San Diego Natural History Museum retracing a 1908 natural history expedition both rediscovered the rare mountain yellow-legged frog in the San Jacinto Wilderness near Idyllwild, Calif.
. . .
Prior to this recent discovery, USGS researchers had estimated there were about 122 adult mountain yellow-legged frogs in the wild.
. . .
“Historically, scientists have had great difficulty breeding frogs in captivity,” said Jeff Lemm, an animal research coordinator for the San Diego Zoo. “We are excited by this success and cautiously optimistic we will have more eggs soon.”
In December 2008, researchers at the Institute for Conservation Research discovered a clutch of about 200 eggs in one of its tanks. Researchers were surprised because the frogs were younger than is typical for breeding. Because of the frogs’ young age, only a handful of the eggs were fertile. The one frog to mature is thriving. The next breeding season is expected to be December 2009 to March 2010.
The goal of the breeding program is to return the mountain yellow-legged frog to its native habitat.
The Zoo’s breeding program, in conjunction with its partners, began after the rare frogs were rescued from a drying creek. Anne Poopatanapong, a wildlife biologist for the San Jacinto Ranger District in the San Bernardino National Forest was monitoring declining creek water levels in Dark Canyon on Aug. 23, 2006, when she noticed many pools drying up, including one where frogs had been living. Concerned about losing the tadpoles, she called the Fish and Wildlife Service and the salvage effort started the next day. A USGS team led by Dr. Robert Fisher rescued 82 tadpoles, which were taken to the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research.
The frog recovery effort has been funded by Caltrans in part to mitigate for emergency work to stabilize a slope near the frog’s habitat on state Route 330 in the San Bernadino Mountains.
“The emergency slope reconstruction project had the dual benefit of opening a road that was about to fail as well as helping to ensure that the last known population of the mountain yellow-legged frog in the San Bernardino Mountains had a program in place to aid the frog’s recovery,” said Craig Wentworth, a senior environmental planner/biologist with Caltrans.
Jim Bartel, the field supervisor for the Fish and Wildlife Service office in Carlsbad, said his agency is pleased to participate in the effort to rescue the mountain yellow-legged frog and conserve its remaining riparian habitat.
“We look forward to reintroducing the species to its native habitat,” Bartel said.
Habitat protection and restoration, combined with efforts to reintroduce these frogs to areas where they have been decimated, offers the best hope of returning mountain yellow-legged frogs in Southern California to a healthy, self-sustaining population.
Image by Adam Backlin for the U.S. Geological Survey
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Today, I read a very interesting and descriptive court case that discussed the pros and cons of various methods used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help juvenile salmon migrate from the rivers to the sea, since “it is generally accepted that the Basin’s [Columbia and Snake River Basin] hydropower system is a major factor in the decline of some salmon and steelhead runs to a point of near extinction.” From the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit:
[D]ams kill some fish as a result of “[b]lockage and inundation of habitat, turbine-related mortality of juvenile fish, increased delay of juvenile migration through the Snake and Columbia Rivers, increased predation on juvenile salmon in reservoirs, and increased delay of adults on their way to spawning grounds.” 57 Fed.Reg. 14,660 (1992).
. . .
Three major methods are employed to help juvenile salmon in their migrations-river flow improvement, spill control, and surface transportation. Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages, both for the salmon and the hydropower interests that benefit from the inexpensive electricity generated by the dams. First, the Corps can increase the amount of water released from storage reservoirs and thus increase the flow in the rivers. According to some scientific studies, increased flow decreases the time juvenile salmon spend migrating through the system and reduces their exposure to predators and other adverse effects of the system. The peak natural flow period is in the spring and early summer due to the winter runoff. Increased flow may be of greatest benefit to the juvenile salmon during their downstream migration, which varies from species to species but generally occurs in the spring and summer. However, increased flow in the winter is of greater benefit to the electric utilities because that is when the peak demand for electricity occurs. By adjusting the amount of water that is drawn down from the system of storage reservoirs, the Corps can control the timing and amount of flow to some extent.
Second, the Corps can increase the amount of water that spills over the spillways to allow more juvenile salmon to pass the dams without going through the turbines. Turbines kill or injure a significant number of juvenile salmon in their downstream migrations; thus, increased spill should increase salmon survival. According to some scientific studies, however, increased spill also causes the water to become supersaturated with nitrogen, which in turn may cause gas bubble disease in the fish. But there are economic consequences: water spilled over the spillways does not pass through the turbines and thus does not produce electricity.
Third, the Corps can physically transport juvenile salmon around the dams. The existing transportation program involves collecting juvenile salmon at four dams along the rivers, piping them into barges or trucks, and transporting them down the river past the dams to be released. According to some scientific studies, transportation decreases migration time and avoids exposure to predation and other adverse effects of the system. Critics, however, point to studies suggesting that the transportation program kills some juvenile salmon due to stress from crowding and increased disease transmission.
The Corps currently uses a “spread-the-risk” approach. All juvenile salmon that are collected at Lower Granite Dam (the dam farthest upstream) are transported downstream. At subsequent dams, when the flow in the river exceeds a certain rate which excess is predicted to prevail for at least five consecutive days, the Corps leaves the fish in the river instead of collecting them for transport. Otherwise, the Corps transports the juveniles collected at these dams to a point below Bonneville Dam (the dam farthest downstream) where they are reintroduced into the Columbia River. The transportation program began in the 1970s, and the Corps has operated it since 1981. The Corps transports approximately 20 million juvenile salmon per year, more than half the total number of migrating juveniles.
For more see Nw. Res. Info. Ctr., Inc. v. Nat’l Marine Fisheries Serv., 56 F.3d 1060 (9th Cir. 1995).
Image of juvenile coho salmon is by Brian Lance/NOAA Fisheries.
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