Call to ban trade on iconic nautilus seashell

 fisheries, research, threatened species
Jun 022014
 

Media release from The University of Adelaide

An internationally renowned palaeontologist, who has recently joined the University of Adelaide, is calling for a global ban on the trade of the highly sought-afterNautilus seashell – including from Western Australian reefs.
Nautilus belauensis, Palau. Photo: Manuae/Wikimedia Commons

Nautilus belauensis, Palau. Photo: Manuae/Wikimedia Commons

Peter Ward, new Professor in the University’s Sprigg Geobiology Centre, has just returned from the Philippines where he discovered the Nautilus was close to extinction at sites known for Nautilus fishing.

Professor Ward is taking his findings from the Philippines and other expeditions to a meeting in Washington DC next week of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This meeting will determine US policy on Nautilus trade before the next round of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Continue reading »

Ancient reefs helped shape fish diversity

 research, waterways/wetlands
May 312014
 

Original story by Bianca Nogrady, ABC SCience

Large coral reefs have acted as survival centres for fish biodiversity during periods of climatic upheaval, explaining the extraordinary biodiversity present in the Indo-Pacific region.
The huge network of coral reefs has protected and nurtured fish biodiversity through more than thirty interglacial cycles Photo: atese/iStockphoto

The huge network of coral reefs has protected and nurtured fish biodiversity through more than thirty interglacial cycles Photo: atese/iStockphoto

The findings appear in an international study published today in the journal Science.

Researchers used sediment core data to map the changing distribution of coral reefs around the world over the past three million years, examining sea surface temperatures and compared how these correlated with fish biodiversity today.

“The main purpose of this was to examine the role that coral reef habitat has played through time in preserving biodiversity in the marine environment,” says co-author and evolutionary biologist Dr Peter Cowman, formerly of theAustralian National University and now Yale University.

Their data suggests that the huge network of coral reefs stretching from the northern coast of Australia up through Indonesia and the Philippines has protected and nurtured fish biodiversity through more than thirty interglacial cycles of major cooling and warming — including rising and falling sea levels — over three million years. Continue reading »

Marine reserves saved coral reefs from Queensland floods

 community, fisheries, government, research, waterways/wetlands
May 232014
 

Original story by Andrew Olds, Griffith University; David Rissik, Griffith University; Kylie Pitt, Griffith University; Paul Maxwell, Griffith University; Rod Connolly, Griffith University, and Russ Babcock, CSIRO at The Conversation

Marine reserves are a hot topic in Australia, with federal and state governments debating whether to allow recreational fishers to take fish from within their boundaries. But new research demonstrates that reserves can have a real benefit for marine ecosystems — by protecting coral reefs from floods.
Floodwater plumes, like this one in Moreton Bay, do less damage to reefs that are in marine reserves. Photo: Healthy Waterways

Floodwater plumes, like this one in Moreton Bay, do less damage to reefs that are in marine reserves. Photo: Healthy Waterways

We enjoy fishing; but we also appreciate that marine reserves have many positives. Yes, they restrict fishing in certain areas, but they have been shown to increase the numbers of catchable fish outside reserves.

Our study shows that reserves can also improve the resilience of the habitats that fish rely on. Without them, there would be fewer fish for everyone. Continue reading »

Mangrove lovers tour Tingalpa Creek

 community, government, research, waterways/wetlands
May 222014
 

Original story by Judith Kerr, Bayside Bulletin

MUD, mossies and the threat of rain did not deter a band of nature lovers taking to Tingalpa Creek for a day inspecting life in the mangroves.
Healthy Waterways connect to your creek week- Tim Roe from the Moreton Bay Environmental Education Centre skippers a boat full of people along Tingalpa Creek, Thorneside. Photo: Chris McCormack

Healthy Waterways connect to your creek week- Tim Roe from the Moreton Bay Environmental Education Centre skippers a boat full of people along Tingalpa Creek, Thorneside. Photo: Chris McCormack

Wildlife Preservation Society organised the information tour as part of Connect to Your Creek Week, which started on Monday, May 19. Continue reading »

Purple jellyfish discovered on Sunshine Coast

 Interest, research, waterways/wetlands
May 212014
 

Original story by Jon Coghill and Annie Gaffney, ABC Sunshine Coast

A bright purple, alien-like jellyfish has washed up on Coolum Beach and an expert says it may be a new species.

Lifeguard Jamie Smith says a local fisherman alerted him and his partner to the discovery after pulling the sea creature up on to the beach to avoid getting stung.

Coolum lifeguards have never seen a jellyfish like this. Photo: Coolum lifeguards/Jamie Smith

Coolum lifeguards have never seen a jellyfish like this. Photo: Coolum lifeguards/Jamie Smith

“The thing that struck me was how long the tentacles [are] and the colour,” Mr Smith said. Continue reading »

Measuring the damage of pest fish

 pest species, research, waterways/wetlands
May 202014
 

Original story by  Joanna Prendergast, ABC Rural

Moitoring ferals: Colin Johnson, from Durack Institute of Technology in Geraldton, with a fish trap he uses to monitor fish stocks in the Chapman River. Photo: Jo Prendergast

Moitoring ferals: Colin Johnson, from Durack Institute of Technology in Geraldton, with a fish trap he uses to monitor fish stocks in the Chapman River. Photo: Jo Prendergast

Researchers in Geraldton in Western Australia are targeting feral fish in local waterways.

Tilapia is a pest fish introduced to Australia and lives in numerous river systems in both Western Australia and Queensland.

Durack Institute of Technology researcher Colin Johnson is leading a program monitoring tilapia numbers in the Chapman River near Geraldton, by regularly placing traps in the water.

He says the fish populations are monitored to ensure the fish numbers don’t increase and threaten other nearby waterways.

“The main focus is to try and determine the range of pest species, which is the tilapia, within the Chapman River and to also see if it’s become established in the surrounding rivers,” he said.

Sleepy cod threat to Queensland’s western rivers

 Australian native freshwater species, pest species, research, waterways/wetlands
May 192014
 

Original story by Brian Williams, The Courier Mail

SCIENTISTS fear a fish species introduced to Queensland’s iconic western rivers could become another environmental pest.
Although sleepy cod is a native species found on the eastern fall of the Great Dividing Range, it risks upsetting the ecological balance in the western rivers.

Although sleepy cod (Oxyeleotris lineolata) is a native species found on the eastern fall of the Great Dividing Range, it risks upsetting the ecological balance in the western rivers.

Sleepy cod have been found in the Thomson River from Windorah north to Longreach and are likely to be in the Barcoo.

The cod is a native species but found naturally only on the eastern fall of the Great Dividing Range, from Rockhampton north and into the Gulf of Carpentaria. Continue reading »

Warmer world might push sea turtles numbers up

 environment, research, threatened species, waterways/wetlands
May 192014
 

Original story by Rachel Sullivan, ABC

While warming temperatures will produce more female than male sea turtle hatchings, sea turtle populations will not crash — at least for the next few decades, a new study suggests.
A few male loggerhead turtles will go a long way as temperatures warm. Although females will rule, males breed more often and can fertilise multiple clutches.

A few male loggerhead turtles will go a long way as temperatures warm. Although females will rule, males breed more often and can fertilise multiple clutches.

In fact, sea turtle populations will increase because males breed more frequently than females, report researchers today in Nature Climate Change.

Sex in many reptile species is determined by temperature during incubation. For sea turtles incubation temperatures below 29°C produce male hatchlings; above that temperature females are produced. Continue reading »

How wildlife tourism and zoos can protect animals in the wild

 community, Interest, research, threatened species, wildlife
May 192014
 

Original story by Stephen Garnett, Charles Darwin University and Kerstin Zander, Charles Darwin University at The Conversation

Big Ritchie looks up from his pile of bananas, unperturbed by the flock of tourists taking his photo. Sprawled around him, mother orangutans* and their fluffy orange babies groom affectionately, chase each other, hang upside down, or wander off and vanish into the nearby forest canopy.
new research shows seeing orangutans like Big Ritchie in conservation areas can raise vital support to protect his cousins in the wild. Photo: CC BY-SA

new research shows seeing orangutans like Big Ritchie in conservation areas can raise vital support to protect his cousins in the wild. Photo: CC BY-SA

Fewer than 2,000 orangutans are left living in the wild in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with nearly all truly wild ones confined to a remote site on the Indonesian border. It’s why thousands of tourists and local Sarawak people come to places like this – the popular Semenggoh Nature Reserve – to see orangutans semi-wild in a reserve or captive in a rehabilitation centre. Continue reading »

Monster feral goldfish in the Vasse River WA

 Australian native freshwater species, pest species, research, waterways/wetlands
May 172014
 

Original story by Paige Taylor, The Australian

ACOUSTIC tags used to track great white sharks off the West Australian coast have been put to use on a menacing population of giant goldfish in the Western Australia’s southwest.
A 2kg Goldfish from the Vasse River, south of Perth.

A 2kg Goldfish from the Vasse River, south of Perth.

The former pets and their offspring, some 40cm in length and weighing 2kg, are among invasive feral fish entering the southwest waterways, where for the first time unique local fish are outnumbered by alien species. Continue reading »

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