The Conservation Report

Since sea turtles are ectotherms, they “depend on external sources of heat to determine their body temperature,” so when air and ocean temperatures drop too fast or sea turtles wait too long to migrate into warmer waters, they can suffer from cold shock or even die from being exposed to cold temperatures. As a result, cold-stunned sea turtles are often found on beaches during a time known as stranding season, which occurs from “Halloween until mid-December.” The sea turtles that are found on beaches are sent to rehab centers and later returned to the ocean.

One species of sea turtle that is often found on beaches during stranding season is the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii). These little sea turtles are critically endangered, because they are hunted for their eggs and meat in Mexico. Egg collecting for consumption is unsustainable, because the Kemp’s Ridley is known to only use a few beaches in Mexico as nesting sites.

If you find a sea turtle, you should contact your local stranding network. More information can be found at the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network (STSSN), and more contact information can be found at the Northeast Region Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Stranding & Disentanglement Members’ page.

Currently, cold-stunned sea turtles are being found on beaches from Massachusetts to North Carolina. From Cape Cod Times, MA:

This weekend a rapid drop in air temperatures, combined with offshore waters in the upper 40s, made for an unusual mix that stunned a large number of different types of turtles that would not normally have stranded at the same time, Murley said.

As temperatures fall and the animals’ heart rate and body temperature drops, they become immobile. Floating on the surface to breathe, they are at the mercy of winds that blow them to shore. Once on shore, they can freeze to death.

Sea turtles such as “Dixon” are being found cold-stunned on beaches in North Carolina too. From StarNewsOnline.com, NC:

Dixon washed ashore sometime in the past few days, somewhere north of here, sick and stunned by cold water. Ocean temperatures had dropped quickly in the past few days, giving sea turtles no time to obey their instinctual cues and swim for warmer seas.

The frigid water drags them into a hypothermic stupor. They tuck their flippers in and can’t swim. Sometimes they even drown.

Dixon was lucky. He washed ashore, was discovered and quickly transported to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center - where the volunteers know a thing or two about sick turtles

Cold weather and poaching aren’t the only threats to sea turtles, since boat collisions can result in mortality. A sea turtle found suffering from “grievous cuts from a boat propeller” was treated with medicine and therapy from Nature—honey. From WRAL.com, NC:

The sticky stuff vets at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center have used to seal Duffy’s wound may have saved her life. It’s a new treatment for injured sea turtles that has roots in ancient Rome — and it’s about as low-tech as medicine gets.

The mystery paste is actually beeswax from a mashed-up honeycomb, generously coated with honey.

Norton says slathering Duffy’s wound with honey seems to help kill bacteria that cause infection while also boosting her immune system. The beeswax packed several inches into the cut keeps out water that bacteria and fungus need to grow.

The healing properties of honey have been known to physicians for thousands of years. It fell by the wayside as a treatment for cuts and sores in the 1940s when antibiotics first went into mass production

Video: Stunned sea turtles at a Massachusetts rehab center:

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The pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti) is so well camouflage that it was only just recently discovered, and “so extreme is this camouflage that the original specimens were only noticed after their host gorgonian had been collected and observed in an aquarium.” These tiny seahorses “are found only on gorgonians (sea fans) of the genus Muricella,” so they are specialists. No doubt, there may be more species of these little sea horses that remain undescribed.

Pygmy seahorses on National Geographic:

See more animal camouflage

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Photo source for attribution here, here, 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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IMAGES:  The first image shows a broken-rays mussel (Lampsilis reeveiana) with its fish lure.  The actual prey species it mimics is shown in the image as well.  The middle image shows a tiny juvenile mussel (tiny juvenile mussels are often called spat, as are other juvenile bivalve species such as oysters and scallops, but the tiny juvenile mussels released by female freshwater mussels that attach to a host are called glochidia) attached to the gill of its host.  The last image illustrates the destruction caused by zebra mussels.  These zebra mussels are attached to a native freshwater mussel species.  Invasive species such as the zebra mussel can have damaging impacts on native ecosystems and species.

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Freshwater mussels or freshwater clams are some of the most fascinating aquatic creatures.  They are typically found in freshwater streams and rivers throughout the United States. However, these creeks, rivers, and streams—particularly those associated with mountains—are some of the most sensitive ecosystems, and the aquatic creatures inhabiting these environments depend on clean, clear, and oxygenated water. As a result, many species inhabiting these clear waters, including freshwater mussels, are considered canaries in the coal mine or indicator species.  The condition of these mussels—good or bad—reflects the health of the aquatic ecosystem they inhabit.

As a result of human activities, many species of freshwater mussels are endangered or threatened with extinction. Threats include “dams and impoundment, channelization and dredging, pollution, sedimentation, fish kills that eliminate potential host fish, and introduction of non-native species.”

Invasive species such as zebra mussels are of a special concern, because zebra mussels aggressively take over habitat needed for native mussels.  Zebra mussels will even attach themselves to native mussel species or other aquatic creatures such as crayfish.

It is important to protect freshwater mussels, because they are essential to the health of aquatic ecosystems, since they act as natural filtration systems.  Imagine the cumulative effect of thousands of mussels constantly siphoning particulates from the water column.

Conservation measures such as building public awareness, listing some species as endangered or threatened, and supplementing depleted mussel populations via captive breeding programs are happening.  However, some species of freshwater mussel are difficult to reproduce in captivity, because of their peculiar reproductive cycle.

Freshwater mussels use specially modified tissue to mimic a certain species of baitfish, which is the favorite prey of their targeted host.  The female mussel flaps this specially modified tissue in the current to attract fish.  Once an attracted fish nibbles the tissue, minute juvenile mussels or glochidia are simultaneously released into the water column, and the lucky juvenile mussels attach themselves to the gills of their host fish.  After a period of time—depending on the water temperature—the mussels, having been nourished with oxygen and nutrients by attaching to the fish’s gills, fall off onto the substrate.  Some species of freshwater mussel are difficult to reproduce in captivity, because some species seem to be particular to a certain species of fish.  Subsequently, the correct host species needed to reproduce some freshwater mussels is unknown.

VIDEO: Endangered Mussels

POSTER: Life Cycle of the Freshwater Mussel

POSTER: The Zebra Mussel

On the Net:
Freshwater Mussels of the Upper Mississippi River System

See more Weird And Fascinating Creatures

Image information:

1. The image showing a broken-rays mussel (Lampsilis reeveiana) with its fish lure is by Chris Barnhart, and the image was found here.
2. the image showing a freshwater mussel attached to a host’s gill is by Roger Gordon of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the image was found here.
3. The image of zebra mussels covering a native species of mussel known as the fat mucket (Lampsilis siliquoidea) is by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and the image was found here.
4. The poster showing the life cycle of the freshwater mussel was found here.
5. The zebra mussel poster was found here.

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Rachel Maddow Show: Robert Redford Interview Nov. 24, 2008

President Bush’s contempt for the environment and environmentalism raises its ugly head via his eleventh hour attacks on environmental regulations. His attempt to weaken environmental legislation is reckless and dangerous, because he is meddling with a movement that he can’t comprehend. Surely, he knows that Obama, the new Senate, and the new Congress will work to overturn these rule changes, so Bush is certainly behaving callously.

Furthermore, President Bush also knows that our country is currently focused with other pressing matters, so he may be taking advantage of tough times to impose his narrow and misguided ideology. President Bush’s repeals and weakening of environmental regulation may give irresponsible developers and polluters an opportunity to start projects and show reliance by investing time and resources. Therefore, these projects will be difficult to stop or reverse. What’s more, Obama may not be able to overturn most of Bush’s malfeasance right away, because in order to reverse President Bush’s malfeasance, any proposed responses or remedies will have to go through the administrative process (like the commenting period) before any changes can be reversed. However, Obama will at least have competent people running the country, so we can return to being a progressive country. Certainly, President Bush merely put our country backwards many years.

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Peter Schiff understands the consequences of unsustainable consumption and reliance on an unsustainable economy. The other pundits on CNBC’s Fast Money arguing with Schiff don’t seem to understand the consequences of unsustainable economics, the consequences of investing real assets into imaginary assets, or the consequences of the second law of thermodynamics and increasing entropy within a closed system. One guy argues that the economy can evolve beyond reliance on bricks and mortar, but we will always need bricks and mortar from nature in order to produce our goods. As a result, we should use these bricks and mortar wisely; otherwise, they become too expensive and the economy suffers. Furthermore, Americans have become so habituated to consuming cheap goods that we’ve become ignorant to the fact that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Ultimately, we must get back to saving.

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A tiny nocturnal primate known as the pygmy tarsier (Tarsius pumilus) was rediscovered alive in the mountains of Sulawesi Island in Indonesia by Texas A&M University professor Sharon Gursky-Doyen in August. Pygmy tarsiers “haven’t been observed [since] they were collected for a museum in 1921 and were thought to be extinct until Indonesian scientists accidentally trapped and killed a Pygmy Tarsier in 2000“.  These tiny primates are threatened by deforestation.

Pygmy tarsiers on video:

Image Found Here

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Probably for the first time, a whale shark (Rhincodon typus) has been filmed excreting feces, which were also collected. This event was important for researches, since the DNA contained in the sample revealed why the whale sharks were feeding in that particular location. The DNA in the sample also reveals what the large filter feeders were consuming.

Despite being the largest known fish in the ocean, the whale shark remains a mystery. There is little data regarding its reproductive behavior. It was thought that whale sharks either gave birth to live young or produced egg cases, but after a female was taken with pups, it was determined that the whale shark is ovoviviparous, so the large sharks produce “live pups after they develop inside egg cases or a thin, leathery case that protects each developing pup inside the uterus.”

Watch a very excited scientist in this BBC video:

UPDATE: A reader shares his video of a whale shark excreting feces: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MHU-DFLg28

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VIDEO: Did Marrow Transplant Cure AIDS?

Benefits from a mutation that protects about 1% of Europeans against HIV infection, may be transferred via a bone marrow transplant to AIDS patients. From the WSJ.com:

Back in 1996, when “cocktails” of antiretroviral drugs were proved effective, some researchers proposed that all cells harboring HIV might eventually die off, leading to eradication of HIV from the body — in short, a cure. Those hopes foundered on the discovery that HIV, which integrates itself into a patient’s own DNA, hides in so-called “sanctuary cells,” where it lies dormant yet remains capable of reigniting an infection.

But that same year, researchers discovered that some gay men astonishingly remained uninfected despite engaging in very risky sex with as many as hundreds of partners. These men had inherited a mutation from both their parents that made them virtually immune to HIV.

The mutation prevents a molecule called CCR5 from appearing on the surface of cells. CCR5 acts as a kind of door for the virus. Since most HIV strains must bind to CCR5 to enter cells, the mutation bars the virus from entering. A new AIDS drug, Selzentry, made by Pfizer Inc., doesn’t attack HIV itself but works by blocking CCR5.

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To prepare for the transplant, Dr. Hütter first administered a standard regimen of powerful drugs and radiation to kill the patient’s own bone marrow cells and many immune-system cells. This procedure, lethal to many cells that harbor HIV, may have helped the treatment succeed.

The transplant specialists ordered the patient to stop taking his AIDS drugs when they transfused the donor cells, because they feared the powerful drugs might undermine the cells’ ability to survive in their new host. They planned to resume the drugs once HIV re-emerged in the blood.

But it never did. Nearly two years later, standard tests haven’t detected virus in his blood, or in the brain and rectal tissues where it often hides.

Image Found Here

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Nature is fascinating, and some of Nature’s best work—or evolution rather—is illustrated by a group of animals that have evolved adapted to mimic leaves. Leaf mimics employ a heightened form of camouflage to evade detection from predators or prey. These animals make use of extraordinary color patterns, in addition to modified exoskeletons, skin, scales, and behavior to take camouflage to another level.  See more animal camouflage here.

The “dying” leaf-mimic katydid below is a fascinating creature, and evolution natural selection has endowed it with the ability to mimic a dying leaf.

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Dead leaf butterflies are extraordinary creatures to observe up close.  The specimen below illustrates the intricate details chiseled out by adaptation through natural selection, which is a driving force of evolution.  The remarkable details help the butterfly evade predation by mimicking a dead leaf.

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The images and video below show various species of leaf mantis. Again, the detail and similarity to vegetation is fascinating.

Leaf Mantis at 04:45:

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Another leaf mimic katydid positions itself below.  This specimen mimics a decomposing leaf instead of a dying leaf.

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Can you find the leaf mimic frog?  Leaf mimicry isn’t exclusive to insects, since some vertebrates make use of this extreme form of camouflage.

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The South American or Amazon leaf fish (Monocirrhus polyacanthus) uses camouflage, mimicry, and stealth to hunt its prey.  It will often sit in the water column at varying angles or sideways mimicking a dead leaf (note the individuals in the background).  Its prey is quickly gulped into its hard to see large mouth.

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UPDATES (10 November 2008):

Phyllium sp.

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From LiveScience: Ancient insects used advanced camouflage:

A fossil of a leaf-imitating insect from 47 million years ago bears a striking resemblance to the mimickers of today.

The discovery represents the first fossil of a leaf insect (Eophyllium messelensis), and also shows that leaf imitation is an ancient and successful evolutionary strategy that has been conserved over a relatively long period of time.

Hat tip: Dear Kitty. Some blog

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Dead leaf insect

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UPDATES (13 November 2008):

Phyllium giganteum

Dead leaf mantis (Deroplatys desiccata)

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UPDATES (14 November 2008):

Violin mantis subadult (Gongylus gongylodes)

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Image credits:

1. “Dying” leaf-mimic katydid image was found here and here.
2. Dead-leaf butterfly image was found here.
3. Leaf mantis images courtesy of c.cobb and baw31 on Flickr.
4. “Decaying” leaf-mimic katydid image (©Martin Shields) was found here and here.
5. The first two leaf-mimic frog images are by ©Wolf Holzmann and were found here and here.
6. The third leaf-mimic frog image is by Hank & Priscilla Brodkin and was found here.
7. Regarding the leaf fishes in the aquarium: South American leaf fish 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.
8. The image showing South American leaf fishes in someone’s hand was found here.
9. Phyllium sp. image by Sandilya Theuerkauf
10. Fossil leaf insect found here: The first fossil leaf insect: 47 million years of specialized cryptic morphology and behavior
11. Dead Leaf Insect image by Amaury Olivier Laporte was found here.
12. Phyllium giganteum image by Drägüs was found here.
13. The image above showing a dead leaf mantis (Deroplatys desiccata) camouflaged amongst some leaf litter was taken by Adrian Pingstone, and found here.
14. Violin mantis subadult was taken by Laurentiu on Picasa, and found here.

See more animal camouflage

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Scientists placed some shrimps on a special homemade underwater treadmill to research how disease impacts their foraging performance. They discovered that “the crustacean could jog at speeds of 66ft per minute and go on for three hours before needing a rest.” I wonder what John McCain thinks of this science experiment.

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Another Conservative/Republican endorses Obama: More here, here, and here.

Another Conservative/Republican endorses Obama: More here and here.

We are free to pick our politics and vote for whomever, but folks should be prepared to defend their vote. For me, it’s much harder to defend a vote for McCain than it is for Obama. Ultimately, that’s why I’m voting for Obama.

Recently I watched “Morning Joe” co-host Willie Geist campaign for McCain in the Upper West Side neighborhood of New York City. The “Morning Joe” folks were shocked by the reaction towards Geist. However, those residents of the Upper West Side have weighed the evidence and facts and made a clear determination that is easily defendable. After eight years of a George W. Bush presidency, and witnessing the McCain/Palin circus, people are disgusted. As a result, I thought it was silly for the “Morning Joe” folks to confuse dissent with closed-minded partisan politics. Just because people strongly disapprove of maverick politics (especially since maverick politics have ruined this country), it doesn’t make them closed-minded partisans, elitists, or tying to be intellectually superior. Ultimately, it was a poor political experiment, and Willie Geist, I’m putting my country first by voting for Obama (actually I cast my vote early). From MWC News, Canada:

The thing is, if this was supposed to show how nasty people were toward poor Willie, it simply didn’t rate. The harshest comment I saw was someone who told Geist to “change his politics”.

Geist should join me in Virginia, where I have been for the past two weeks. I encounter a mix of Obama and McCain supporters when I make phone calls and put up Obama signs, but I can tell you that the McCain people are a bit less polite than Geist’s craven New Yorkers. Here are a few examples. When I was putting up an Obama-Biden sign in McLean, one driver going by screamed “socialist”. Another driver gave me and my companions the finger. One of the guys I was putting up signs with told me a number of them had been defaced with racial epithets. When I made my first voter identification phone call last week, I spoke to a woman who said abortion was like the holocaust and Jesus would be deciding her vote for her. A fellow phone banker reached a voter who cheerfully said “fuck you”.

(This is not to say that I am not reaching Obama supporters–there are plenty, and I am cautiously optimistic about Obama. But the McCain people are often something less than polite).

It may be fun for the Morning Joe crew to bring the hype on elitist New Yorkers, but, in my experience, McCain supporters can be pretty “pissy”.

This YouTube video interestingly compares folks from the Upper West Side in Willie Geist’s microdocumentary with McCain/Palin supporters in Pennsylvania: