The Conservation Report

The axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), a type of salamander, is a critically endangered amphibian endemic to central Mexico. This species is a “paedomorphic species, living permanently in water, and does not undergo complete metamorphosis,” so the gills are retained into its adult life. The axolotl is declining due to competition, disease transmission, and predation from introduced species, in addition to overfishing, pollution, and urbanization. Captive populations do exist, since “the species is used in physiological and biomedical research, as well as in the pet trade, but the re-introduction of captive-bred axolotls is not recommended until threats can be mitigated, and disease and genetic risks to the wild populations assessed.” From the Dallas Morning News, TX:

The axolotl, also known as the “water monster” and the “Mexican walking fish,” is a key part of Aztec legend and diet. Against all odds, it survived amid Mexico City’s urban sprawl in the polluted canals of Lake Xochimilco.

But scientists are racing to save the foot-long salamander from extinction, a victim of the draining of its lake habitat and deteriorating water quality. And nonnative fish introduced into the canals are eating its lunch and its babies.

Researchers say the axolotl could disappear in five years.

“If the axolotl disappears, it would not only be a great loss to biodiversity but to Mexican culture, and would reflect the degeneration of a once-great lake system,” biologist Luis Zambrano said.

The number of axolotls (pronounced ACK-suh-LAH-tuhl) is not known. But the population has dropped from roughly 1,500 per square mile in 1998 to a mere 25 per square mile, according to a survey using casting nets.

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Photo source for attribution. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse my work or me and their image is protected under an attribution license.

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ANIMAL WELFARE: Animals Often Victims of Foreclosures, More pets are being cut loose as owners respond to economic hard times: During an economic downturn what’s the first expense to go? Some may say dining out or taking lavish trips. How about the family pet? Rising home foreclosures, food…, Military Dogs Get New Vet Hospital, Modesto police dog helps save suicidal teen

BIOGAS: London gets its first biogas fueling station

CARBON: Obama’s Carbon Ultimatum

CARPOOLING: Vote and save gas with Zimride’s “Carpool to the Polls”

CLIMATE CHANGE: Climate Changing Walden Pond’s Flowers, Climate Changing Thoreau’s Woods

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (DRC): Rebels Seize Congo Gorilla Park; Hopes Dim for Apes

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric black cab project makes progress: Londoners could be hailing the first battery-powered black cabs in early 2009

ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT: Species review begins: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a notice of review in the Federal Register initiating 5-year reviews for wildlife and plant species as required under the Endangered Species Act. The species in consideration in the notice of review are…

EXPOSURE TO CHEMICALS AND TOXINS: Man to sue after ‘toxic sofa’ left him with heart failure: A man is suing a furniture company over claims his “toxic sofa” left him with a permanent heart condition.

EVOLUTION: Vampire Moth Discovered — Evolution at Work: A previously unknown population of vampire moths has been found in Siberia. And in a twist worthy of a Halloween horror movie, entomologists say the bloodsuckers may have evolved from a purely fruit-eating species.

FISHERIES: Migrating Alaskan pollock are creating the potential for a new dispute with Russia

FLORIDA EVERGLADES: High water in the Everglades threatens wildlife: With deer belly-deep in the marsh, state wildlife managers fear animals will die if water levels in the Everglades don’t recede.

FUEL CELLS: Pepperidge Farm Opens Largest Fuel Cell Plant In United States

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: 12,100 Megawatts of Geothermal Power by 2025: Department of Interior Opens Up Lands For Leasing

GLOBAL WARMING: Global Warming Good for Sharks?

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS: 2 greenhouse gases on the rise worry scientists

HABITAT DEGRADATION LOSS FRAGMENTATION: Fearful Elephants Would Sooner Starve Than Cross Roads: New research by the Wildlife Conservation Society and Save the Elephants has found that African Elephants are quickly becoming trapped by new road construction cutting through their forest habitats.

HOMOSEXUALITY IS NATURAL: How gay sex can produce offspring

IVORY: Ebay Bans Ivory Sales Amid Conservation Concerns

IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER: Cornell cuts back ivory-billed woodpecker search

MADAGASCAR: The Sapphire Mines of Madagascar, THE BIG PICTURE: The sapphire mines of Madagascar

MARINE MAMMALS: Orcas Missing From Puget Sound Thought Dead, Whale Endangered, Palin Pouts: The NYT reports that Cook Inlet Beluga Whales were listed as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act yesterday.

MINING: Bush rushes to open Grand Canyon to toxic uranium mining: BLM publishes proposed rule which ignores House committee’s resolution

NUCLEAR POWER: Should Libertarians Support Nuclear Power?

OBAMA IS NOT A SOCIALIST: “Socialism”

OCEANS: Pictured: The incredible secret world at the bottom of the sea: In a year-long mission, a BBC team probed a small part of the earth’s amazing undersea world. They completed 1000 dives and explored seven different oceans across the globe. What they found was extraordinary…

ORGANIC FARMING: Organic farming ‘could feed Africa’: Traditional practices increase yield by 128 per cent in east Africa, says

POLITICS: Biden Slammed During Florida Interview, Same Anchor Gives McCain Softballs, Where Eight Years Of Republican Leadership Has Left America Economically (VIDEO)

RECOMMENDED MAP: Map of Newspaper Endorsements in the 2008 US Presidential Election

RECYCLING: Thai Temple Built From One Million Recycled Bottles, Q and A: Recycling Astronaut Urine

SALMON: Dams Not Main Cause of Salmon Collapse, Study Says

SPACE: Depressed astronauts might get computerized solace, NASA unveils new lunar rover built for endurance, India’s manned mission not before 2012: Madhavan Nair, NASA turns to the private sector as China flexes new space muscles, Chandrayaan a wake-up call for America, says Obama

SCIENCE: Artificial Heart Gives New Hope to Patients: French Scientists Develop Artificial Heart that Beats Much Like the Real Thing, ‘Flying syringe’ mosquitos, other ideas get Gates funding: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded 100,000 dollars each on Wednesday to scientists in 22 countries including funding for a Japanese proposal to turn mosquitos into “flying syringes” delivering vaccines., It ain’t half snuggly, Mum! The ground-breaking pictures of animals capturing life in the womb, 3M taps into wind-power business with new `Wind Tape’: 3M Co., best known for its Scotch Tape, Post-it brand notes and adhesives, is going into the wind-energy business, with a new line of fillers and protective coverings that can extend the life of wind turbine blades.

SHARKS: “Shark Island” Swarms With Jaws

SOLAR: FedEx Ups Its Solar Power Production To Almost Double: FedEx’s New Solar System Is Enough To Power 370 homes, Solar Refrigeration: A Hot Idea for Cooling: How to build a solar refrigerator: The brighter the sun, the better it works, Solar-Powered Rickshaw Unveiled in India, In downturn, solar industry sees bright days ahead, BWL will build solar array: Project expected to produce enough electricity to power up to 50 homes

TAILPIPE EMISSIONS: Is This the Most Eco-Friendly Car Innovation Since the Hybrid?

UNDECIDED VOTERS: Swing Set

WAVE POWER: World’s first wave farm now generating power for 1,500 homes

WIND POWER: UK Becomes World’s Biggest Producer of Offshore Wind Power, Wind Power Generators Guide

WTF?: Toilet stench clears out London airport

YEAR OF THE FROG: Yellowstone Amphibians Declining Under Climate Change

“Environmental News Picks” are made possible with help from Kevin.

AGRICULTURE: Amazon Rain Forest’s Untapped Fruit Bounty

AIR POLLUTION: 35W sculptures aren’t just for looks: Cemstone became the first company in the nation to use a new form of concrete that removes carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and sulfur dioxide from the atmosphere.

CLIMATE CHANGE: A baaa-d idea? Aussie sheep made to wear gas masks so scientists can see how their breath can affect climate

CONSERVATION: Colorado tests high tech roadkill prevention system

CORAL REEFS: Florida Town Wants to Grow Coral Reefs with Electricity: As coral reefs around the world continue to disappear, one Florida town has taken the initiative by investing $60,000 to stimulate coral reef growth using electricity. While there is not yet peer-reviewed evidence to suggest that using a low powered electrical current works, scientists are not dismissing the idea. The company that has been hired to make the reefs claims that they have had many prior successes.

DINOSAURS: Site thought to be a watering hole discovered on Arizona-Utah border where dinosaurs ‘were happy’

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Texas Teen Builds His Own Electric Car on $10,000 Budget, Johnson Controls: electric cars will eventually win out, Berlin Announces Plans for World’s Largest Community Electric Car Infrastructure, Oreva Super Electric Car Going for $2000 in India

ENDANGERED SPECIES: Government May Weaken Endangered Species Act For Fish, IUCN Reveals That 1,141 of the 5,487 mammals on Earth Are Threatened with Extinction: The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List reveals world’s mammals in crisis

ENERGY: Can Electricity From Trees Power Gadgets?

ENVIRONMENTALISM: Do environmental messages do more harm than good?

EVOLUTION: Scientists Discover Fish in Act of Evolution in Africa’s Greatest Lake

FUEL SPILL: Hurricane Ike Spilled 12,000 Barrels of Oil: Is Offshore Oil Worth the Risk?

FUNDAMENTALS OF OUR ECONOMY: You Buy, You Break At Sarah’s Smash Shack

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Geothermal Sources Could Add Significant Power Generation Capacity

GLOBAL WARMING: Memos tell wildlife officials to ignore global-warming impact: New legal memos by top Bush administration officials say that the Endangered Species Act can’t be used to protect animals and their habitats from climate change by regulating specific sources of greenhouse gas emissions, the cause of global warming.

GREEN: How green is Apple now?

GREEN CONSTRUCTION: 15 Inspiring Glimpses into the Future of Green Housing

HABITAT DEGRADATION, LOSS, & FRAGMENTATION: Chimps 90 Percent Gone in a “Final Stronghold”

HOMOSEXUALITY IS NATURAL: How gay sex can produce offspring

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: 2010 Toyota Prius Adds Muscle at Expense of Fuel Efficiency: Toyota’s yet-to-be-unveiled 2010 Prius will have a bigger engine and a higher top speed, but improvements to CO2 emissions and fuel efficiency will take a backseat, Honda Takes on the Hybrid Motorcycle

HYDROGEN FUEL: Scientists Reach Hydrogen Storage Milestone

INVASIVE SPECIES: Aquatic alien ‘thugs’ set to meet

MARINE MAMMALS: Picture is Worth a Thousand…

NATURE: Planet’s loneliest bug revealed: A bug which lives entirely on its own and survives without oxygen in complete darkness underground has been discovered in South Africa, Deepest-Ever Fish Caught Alive on Camera

OBAMA: Racist Obama Billboard Causes Outrage, Man shot three times in street by racist gunman - for wearing Barack Obama T-shirt

OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY CONVERSION: Lockheed Martin to Develop Ocean Thermal Energy Prototype

OFFSHORE DRILLING: Making America Stupid

PLANET EARTH: Birth of an Ocean: The Evolution of Ethiopia’s Afar Depression: Formation of an ocean is a rare event, one few scientists have ever witnessed. Yet this geophysical nativity is unfolding today in one of the hottest and most inhospitable corners of the globe. Visit the site in safety through this extraordinary photographic essay

RECYCLING: Real Simple Recycling A to Z: A Comprehensive Primer on Recycling Nearly Everything, Often for a Good Cause, 7 Hurdles to Electronics Recycling

SARAH PALIN: Sarah Palin: Palling Around With Secessionists

SOCIAL ISSUES: Homeless numbers ‘alarming’

SOLAR: Solar Power Replaces Human Toil in New Rickshaws, Solar Wineries Taking Root and Coming into Bloom

TOXIC CHEMICALS: Adding the ‘Nasty Nine’ to the ‘Dirty Dozen’: The United Nations Considers Expanding Toxic Chemical Ban by 75%, Heavy Metal-Eating “Superworms” Unearthed in U.K.

WATER CONSERVATION: Caroma Profile Smart Dual Flush Toilet: 2008 Breakthrough Product

WIND POWER: Taiwan students invent wind-powered bicycle headlights, Navy charters kite-powered cargo ship to deliver equipment, Huge Offshore Wind Farm Wins Approval

WTF?: Cheney: Wildlife Conservation Has Been A ‘High Priority’ Of Bush Administration

There will be no Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker (Exxon Valdez punitive damages) decision released today. The decision is eagerly awaited because it will end almost 20 years of litigation. Furthermore, the case may be pivotal in redefining the role of punitive damages in U.S. tort law. The case is still on the Supreme Court of the United States docket but a decision is due before the Court begins its summer recess scheduled later this month.

On the Net (UPDATE): EXXON SHIPPING CO. v. BAKER: Supreme Court did not apply a constitutional standard in Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker
On the Net: ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: A rough guide to understanding the damages awarded and reduced in the Exxon Valdez case

If we are to live within a network of giant cities then we need the energy to run these giant cities. However oil is a nonrenewable resource that cannot be replaced once it is used. Consequently, oil as a nonrenewable resource should be used wisely since our economies and development are constrained by oil availability. Oil is instrumental because a single barrel of oil contains large quantities of potential work. Consider how much human energy is contained in one barrel of oil:

1 Barrel of Oil = 5,800,000 BTUs
Source: Louisiana Oil and Gas Association

1 Gallon of Gas = 125,000 BTUs
Source: US Department of Energy

1 Barrel of Oil thus contains the energy contained in 46.4 gallons of gas
(5,800,000 divided by 125,000 = 46.4 )

1 Gallon of Gas = 500 hours of human work output
Source: Calculations Done Above.

1 Barrel of Oil = 23,200 Hours of Human Work Output
(Energy equivalent of 46.4 gallons of gas per barrel of oil x 500 hours of human work ouput per gallon of gas = 23,2000 hours)

Our growth might be constrained by oil availability but biodiversity is still under assault in both developing and resource starved areas of the world. Rich anthropogenic growth occurring within the landscape – especially sprawling growth – translates into more habitat, degradation, loss, and fragmentation. Likewise a lack of resources occurring as the result of droughts, poor policies, or war threatens natural parks or areas historically no used by humans. As a result, anthropogenic activities in both poor and rich countries shape the amount of biodiversity available.

Preserving green space does not suggest we conserve biodiversity because the size of a nature park is related to the number of species found there. For instance, I do not expect New York City’s Central Park to host any large carnivores or large herbivores since these animals need large spaces to roam. Ultimately, New York City’s Central Park and many nature preserves and parks do not recreate first nature or anything close to first nature. Even the vegetation will be affected by the size of natural land. If a key pollinator or a certain species that is key in seed dispersal does not exist then that species depending on those keystone species for survival will not exist. As a result, walking through what seems to be a healthy landscape is in reality made up of anemic, loose and weak ecosystems and associations. Areas with low biodiversity will also harbor more generalists and even invasive species. Personally, I believe we will be constrained initially not only by oil but by the availability of healthy landscapes since we rely on trees for clean air and shade; clean water to quench our thirst and to provide clean food; and healthy soil is needed to grow food.

We are limited to the pollution or overall negative impacts we implement into the landscape. Once we degrade our environment we degrade our health. As a result, our kids become sick in addition to the species extinction. People observing these happenings are susceptible to the very diverse mass movement known as environmentalism. These events are occurring today.

I would like to think that the environment is protected as long as we live in a democratic society where people can be involved to develop policies that protect the green spaces they enjoy. However, too many people live blindly and deafly without understanding their consequences or the need to conserve resources. This phenomenon of environmental obtuseness is just as threatening as climate change or even nuclear war since changes in behaviors and policies that promote conservation are needed to preserve biodiversity and the health of our civilizations.

On the Net: THE TIGHTENING CONFLICT: POPULATION, ENERGY USE, AND THE ECOLOGY OF AGRICULTURE by Mario Giampietro and David Pimentel

The northern population of the jaguar is certainly threatened by the construction of a border fence but the problem is much deeper. The border fence represents poor planning and policy on part of the US government. Additionally, the border fence represents habitat degradation loss and fragmentation, which slowly degrades nature, her ecosystems and the complex relationships amongst organisms. The balance within nature becomes unbalanced when habitat degradation loss and fragmentation occurs.

Biological laws do not stop with political borders hence nature does not abide by political borders. Nature is complex. Certainly, the laws of thermodynamics do not stop with political borders as well. In fact, governmental policy like the construction of a border fence contributes to the entropy within natural systems. This entropy affects human civilization as well since we depend on the ability to commodify nature. As a result, if we preserve nature wisely we can collect on the interest created from wise environmental policies. Nature preservation also provides an spiritual like experience for some people that is needed and is hard to quantify.

The political ecology of Arizona and its landscape will hurt the jaguars. As an example, imagine a 100-acre wood surround by a city. In the 100-acre wood, one may find living things like grasses, trees, squirrels, a few deer amongst small birds and reptiles and maybe even some aquatic species. However, the disconnected and fragmented ecosystem is isolated somewhat like an island and the exchange of genetic material with individuals outside the 100-acre wood is almost impossible or difficult for some animal groups unless humans assist. Before fragmentation, this 100-acre wood was much larger and other animals such as large carnivores and herbivores roamed through a much larger area. These large carnivores and herbivores could never return and live in the present day 100-acre wood because the land is too small to support a viable population of many types of species. Additionally, within the 100-acre wood complex relationships were destroyed and what now appears to be a healthy 100-acre wood to go hiking through is really a sickened ecosystem socially constructed by humans.

This fragmentation and slow death of forests are happening all over the world as we continue to exacerbate the situation further in some areas. However, one remedy is to connect fragmented land through corridors so that genetic material may be exchanged and species requiring larger areas to roam can do so. Another remedy is abiding by environmental laws and policy that benefit the environment and not special interests. From CNN.com:

Last month the Department of Homeland Security waived 30 environmental laws to finish 470 miles of the fence by the end of the year.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told Congress that the agency continues to talk to some 600 landowners along the border to get their input. But in order to comply with the congressional mandate, he said, there is no time to deal with “unnecessary delays caused by administrative processes or potential litigation.”

“We are currently in a lawless situation at the border,” says Chertoff. “I feel an urgency to get this tactical infrastructure in. And although we’re going to be respectful of the environment, we’re going to be expeditious.”

Two environmental groups, Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club, have filed appeals with the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming the waivers are unconstitutional and set a dangerous precedent.

“National security and environmental protection do not have to be at odds with each other,” says Defenders of Wildlife spokesman Matt Clark. “If we can drop this arbitrary deadline for constructing the fence and go through the proper procedures, then there are inevitably ways to minimize environmental impact, but as it is now it’s throwing all of those laws out the window.”

Image Found Here

On the Net: Borderlands Jaguar
On the Net: Northern Jaguar Project - A Binational Effort to Save the North American Jaguars

IMAGE: Du Bin for The New York Times

Turtles and tortoises are swimming and crawling towards extinction.  Habitat degradation, loss and fragmentation due to population growth and expansion results in serious consequences for wildlife.  Furthermore, the bushmeat and pet trade adversely affects turtles and tortoises, because the rarer the species then the higher the demand and worth of that species. 

Asia has a number of remarkable giant soft-shell turtles.  These giant soft-shell turtles are poorly known and and very rare. For example, the Yangtze giant soft-shell turtle is represented in captivity by just one male and a single female.

Additionally, a single specimen of giant soft shell turtle from Hoan Kiem Lake, which is located in the heart of the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi may be the last of its species.

Conservation efforts can turn political.  The New York Times has information on how zoo politics may doom the Yangtze giant soft-shell turtle :

Extinction remains a far more immediate possibility for the Yangtze giant soft-shell. Next year, scientists will make a search in southwestern China in hopes of finding another Yangtze giant soft-shell in the wild. 

In September, the Changsha and Suzhou zoos finally reached a deal. Neither wanted to move its turtle. But each agreed that scientists could attempt artificial insemination next spring. Each also signed a contract entitling a certain number of offspring for each zoo — potential stud turtles for future captive breeding programs.

Gerald Kuchling, a herpetologist overseeing the procedure, said success was far from guaranteed. Several years ago, a tortoise in Hawaii died after a similar procedure. In May, Dr. Kuchling conducted an ultrasound examination of the ovaries of the female turtle in Changsha. For years, she has laid unfertilized eggs in springtime, though zookeepers say the number has steadily diminished, to about 20.

IMAGES of Pyxis arachnoides by Buck Denton. © all rights reserved

Madagascar’s tortoises face extinction from the illegal pet trade. In addition, they are consumed as bushmeat. From ScienceDaily:

Madagascar’s turtles and tortoises, which rank among the most endangered reptiles on earth, will continue to crawl steadily toward extinction unless major conservation measure are enacted, according to a recent assessment by the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups. 

The groups, which met for four days in Madagascar’s capital city Antananarivo, said there is still hope to save these ancient animals, but time is running out as their habitat continues to shrink and illegal hunting worsens. Five of the nine assessed species have been downgraded to critically endangered, with one variety — the ploughshare tortoise — now numbering only a few hundred individuals. The other critically endangered species include the radiated tortoise, flat-tailed tortoise, spider tortoise and Madagascar big-headed turtle, all of which are found nowhere else on earth.

The New York Times Image Found Here
The Hoan Kiem Turtle Image Found Here

On the Net: Lone Vietnamese Turtle May Be Last Of Its Kind
On the Net: Rare Soft-Shell Turtle, Nesting Ground Found In Cambodia
On the Net: Asian Turtle Conservation Network - ATCN Homepage
On the Net: Asian Turtle Conservation Program

The California Condor like the black-footed ferret and the bald eagle are conservation success stories. However, other species of North America are still declining and on the brink of extinction like the Attwater’s greater prairie chicken or the ivory–billed woodpecker. Habitat degradation, loss and fragmentation are threatening conundrums to biodiversity that require real thought and commitment to solve. Introduced species such as fire ants and zebra mussels further inflict damage to our native species. However, the California Condor is a success story and hopefully one that continues to be written. From New University Online, CA:

In 1987, North America’s largest bird, the California condor, had a dwindling population of 27 birds, and the program was begun that year at the request of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Today, 298 members of this species exist, 144 of them living in the wild, according to the Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Species.Shortly after the mandate was given, the existing condor population was brought into captivity at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and Los Angeles Zoo. The USFWS program stipulated that the birds be reintroduced to the wild in three distinct populations, 150 birds in each, with release sites in California, Arizona and Mexico; an intensive breeding program ensued and by 1992 the species’ population had doubled. By 2003, the first condors released into the wild in California began to breed. A part of the program’s success could be attributed to the bird’s reproductive habits.

“Condor’s practice [involves] what is known as double-clutching, meaning that if their first egg goes missing, then within 25 to 30 days they [will] lay another egg,” Alberts explained. This practice allowed researchers the benefit of having each bird produce two eggs—one fledgling to be raised by researchers, and the other by its condor parents.

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Photo source for attribution. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse me or my work and their image is protected under an attribution license.

IMAGE: “U.S Army Soldiers install steel runway planking for a fence along the U.S./Mexico border in Naco, Ariz., June 28, 2007, in support of Operation Jump Start“. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. John Nimmo, Sr.)

The U.S.-Mexico Border Fence is nonsensical or foolish for many reasons. First, the fence is largely a physical barrier of barricades and fencing that needs maintenance thus costing taxpayers money. Furthermore, to build the fence Michael Chertoff had to waive some environmental laws to allow construction of the fence. From the Tucson Citizen, AZ:

The year began and ended with decisions by the nation’s Homeland Security chief to waive environmental laws, enabling prompt construction of steel barricades along parts of the Arizona border.

In January, Secretary Michael Chertoff’s waiver of a series of laws, from the Endangered Species Act to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, allowed for quick construction of so-called bollard-style vehicle barriers along the Barry M. Goldwater Range in far southwestern Arizona.

In late October, Chertoff issued a similar waiver, using the authority that Congress granted in 2005, to ensure construction of a stretch of primary fencing and bollards across most of a revered riparian area in the state’s southeastern reaches.

As of the end of September, approximately 85 miles of pedestrian fencing and 72 miles of vehicle barriers were standing in Arizona, Customs and Border Protection figures show. At least seven more miles were completed by the end of the calendar year.

Next year will see an even bigger building boom on the border.

Homeland Security expects to build an additional 225 miles of pedestrian fence and 200 miles of vehicle barriers across the border with Mexico by the end of 2008. That will bring the total along the nearly 2,000-mile border to 670 miles.

Furthermore, the border fence represents habitat degradation, loss and fragmentation. Ecosystems do not end at political borders. Instead, ecosystems are fluid. Organisms must move, especially large predators. From Explorer News, AZ:

A chorus of “oohs” and “ahhs” reverberated through the room as Haynes, herself a former state game biologist and current researcher at the University of Arizona, projected an image of a male jaguar onto a large screen.

The cats are what scientists term “apex carnivores,” Haynes told the audience.

When such top predators become extinct, she explained, entire ecosystems devolve into “dysfunction.”

Few studies have been conducted on jaguars living in Mexico and ranging into the Southwest U.S., according to Van Pelt. Primarily a tropical resident, the breeding population in Sonora marks the species’ northernmost outpost.

The Laws of Thermodynamics can be used as an argument against the border fence since entropy increases within fragmented habitats. Small, anthropogenically-induced, fragmented ecosystem islands will degrade over time because there is not enough prime, pure or usable acreage for wildlife. The effects are seen with larger animals that need more room to roam and hunt. Once these animals are gone, the fragmented island further degrades. For example, if there are no predators to control prey, population explosions can crash because these organisms can consume too much food therefore the web of life untangles. This unilateral relationship amongst predator and prey and prey’s food is misleading since as this one relationship is occurring other negative effects are occurring throughout the web. For example, a plant species that relies on an organism to disperse its seed may no longer exist and that plant disappears. Furthermore, maybe that plant feeds one type of organism or harbors a certain species of ant – therefore local extinction is eminent. The U.S.-Mexico border fence will surely increase the entropy of the local landscape. These negative influences directly effect our social institutions since ecosystem services such as freshwater may be damaged significantly.

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Photo source for attribution here and here. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse me or my work and their image is protected under an attribution license.

Image Found Here
Image Found Here

IMAGE CREDIT: AP photo

Platanista minor, a type of rare freshwater dolphin endemic to Pakistan was discovered in the Harike wetland and wildlife sanctuary. Also known as the Urdu or Indus River Dolphin, this unique animal faces extinction due to anthropogenic pressure. Another freshwater dolphin, the Chinese river dolphin or Baiji succumbed to anthropogenic pressure and is either extinct or its numbers are so low that it is functionally extinct. Five or so species of freshwater or river dolphins exist in other places like the Amazon river where a new species of dwarf manatee or HRH Prince Bernhard’s dwarf manatee was just discovered and described by science but the little manatee is on the verge of extinction. These unique freshwater creatures that we normally think as only living in saltwater face extinction because they are sensitive to environmental degradation. More reserves are needed to protect these special creatures.

There exists an Indus River Dolphin Reserve where the bulk of the population of
Platanista minor exists. The dolphin lacks a crystalline eye lens therefore it is effectively blind but it can sense changes in light or light patterns. To compensate for the loss of vision this little river dolphin makes use of a highly developed echolocation system to gather sensory information. If I were not going to be a lawyer, I would be studying freshwater dolphins around the world. I want to some day establish a freshwater dolphin fund. From Earthtimes.org:

Wildlife officials said the WWF experts spotted a pair of fully-grown dolphins and three smaller dolphins, believed to be their siblings.’We saw the dolphins swimming around in the interior part of the wetland. It was an amazing sight to see them come up from the water and go back again. It is a rare sight,’ Behera said.

‘There were plenty of evidences provided to us over the last two days by forest and wildlife officials and locals around the wetland to put in so many hours and surf for these unique creatures.’

Earlier in the month, sanctuary staff and locals living in villages around the wetland first reported the dolphins.

The dolphins were filmed by Punjab’s Divisional Forest Officer Basanta Kumar Dec 14 following which experts and scientists from WWF and the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India were asked to come and observe the creatures.

‘The confirmation of their presence is great news. Now nature lovers and tourists should flock to this sanctuary to see these unique creatures,’ WWF’s Punjab in-charge Gunbir Singh said.

IMAGE CREDIT: Sindh Wildlife Department workers about to release an Indus river dolphin. Pakistan. WWF-Canon / WWF-Pakistan / Uzma Khan

Image Found Here
Image Found Here

On the Net: WWF Pakistan
On the Net: Bird watching in India - Harike Lake & Wetland - Wildlife Sanctuary

From Environment News Service:

The public interest law firm Earthjustice filed the California red-legged frog suit on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity against Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and Dale Hall, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

At issue is an April 13, 2006 Endangered Species Act rule adopted by the service that reduced the critical habitat for the California red-legged frog from 4.1 million acres to about 450,000 acres.

The suit claims that the service agreed to revise the frog’s critical habitat rule as a result of a “closed-door settlement” between industry and the service that was approved over the objections of a coalition of conservation groups.

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Photo source for attribution. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse me or my work and their image is protected under an attribution license.

The billionare Aubrey McClendon will develop unique Lake Michigan sand dunes. From The Grand Rapids Press:

[Conservationists] argue the land, in effect, is public because the previous owners, Franklin and Gertrude Denison, allowed locals to use the beaches.

“This is a place where people get married, spread the ashes of their dead, where couples have their first kisses,” said Keith Schneider, founder of the Michigan Land Use Institute, which is helping with the preservation fight.

Conservation groups and some residents — who failed in an attempt to buy the land — fear McClendon will build another Bay Harbor, a resort built in the mid-1990s that changed the character of Petoskey, leading to 1,600 new homes and a Wal-Mart.

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The discovery of the freshwater manatee in the Amazon is even more reason to stop the commodification of the Amazon and forests the world over. Read more of the discovery here and about Marc van Roosmalen’s work in the Amazon and his new discoveries here.

A world with just “cockroaches, pigeons and weeds” does not sound too appealing. From Yahoo! News:

The hardest hit will include plants and animals in colder climates or at higher elevations and those with limited ranges or little tolerance for temperature change, said Wendy Foden, a conservation biologist with the World Conservation Union, which catalogs threatened species.

Butterflies that lived at high altitudes in North America and southern France have vanished, and polar bears and penguins are watching their habitat melt away.

The carbon dioxide emissions that are a leading cause of global warming also turn oceans more acidic, killing coral reefs and the microscopic plankton that blue whales and other marine mammals depend on for food.

“In the long run, every species will be affected,” Foden said.

A few will benefit, chiefly those that breed quickly, already exist in varied climates and are able to adapt swiftly to changing conditions, scientists said. Think cockroaches, pigeons and weeds.

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As we commodify natural resources and the landscape our “direct human economic activity, like development and gas and oil production” is degrading and destroying avian habitat. From the New York Times:

What the Audubon Society, and its partner the American Bird Conservancy, have compiled is an index of potential extinction. It makes it clear that humans are directly responsible for the threats that most of these birds face, but also that Americans have the ability to save many of these species by wise use of the Endangered Species Act.

The simple fact is that birds designated by that act, like the condor or the whooping crane, stand a much better chance of survival, and even population growth, than undesignated birds. What precedes protection, as always, is awareness — the recognition that a bird like the lesser prairie-chicken, which few of us are likely to encounter in the wild, also deserves to survive.

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