wildlife – Page 11 – ANGFA Queensland

WA frogs invade West Coast

Jul 122013

Original story by Jarrad Delaney, the West Coast Sentinel

WEST Coast and Eyre Peninsula residents are warned to be on the lookout for a frog species not native to the region.

Populations of the West Australian Spotted Thighed Frog have been spotted across the Eyre Peninsula over the last two years.

Unwelcome guest: Populations of the Western Australian Spotted Thighed Frog have been spotted around Eyre Peninsula. Photo: Julian Bentley

Unwelcome guest: Populations of the Western Australian Spotted Thighed Frog (Litoria cyclorhyncha) have been spotted around Eyre Peninsula. Photo: Julian Bentley

A relatively large population was located at the Streaky Bay Area School wetland, and another was collected from the Port Lincoln Racecourse.

Natural Resources Eyre Peninsula’s Landscape Ecologist Greg Kerr said this movement reflects a significant expansion of the frog’s range, which is thought to have been assisted by people.

“There are no frog species to be found on the Nullarbor, this frog naturally occurs around Esperance and Albany in Western Australia,” he said.

“What is concerning is its tolerance to hot and dry conditions, saline water and the fact both the tadpole and adults are predatory of other frog species.”

The Spotted Thighed Frog is very small in size, approximately around 65-88 millimetres in size.

The frog also has green reticulated colouration, with distinct spots along its back, and black with large yellow or white spots on its groin, front side of its thigh and lower legs.

It also has a noticeable call, which is said to be similar to the sound of a motorcycle revving up.

Mr Kerr said the impact of the frog isn’t known yet.

“We don’t yet know what the impact will be if this frog becomes widely established on Eyre Peninsula for local frog populations or other species,” he said.

People are warned the frogs should only be handled when wearing gloves, as its skin excretions are toxic and can cause injury to mucus membranes, including eyes.

Natural Resource Management is currently investigating which wetlands the frogs have already entered.

Anyone who has seen this species or heard its call should contact Greg Kerr on 8688 3111, or at greg.kerr@sa.gov.au.

Samford goes all out to use anything other than plastic shopping bags

community, environment, waterways/wetlands, wildlife

Jul 112013

Original story at Queensland Conservation

Queensland Conservation welcomes the “Changing our Bag Habits” program, which is being launched in front of the Samford IGA, in Samford Village at 11am this Saturday.

Plastic Bag Free Queensland. Qld Conservation

As of 13 July, Stamford will strive towards becoming a plastic bag free shopping environment, with participating retailers offering shoppers a free alternative to plastic bags during the transition.

Samford’s largest retailer, Drakes IGA is making the shift to IGA’s other environmentally friendly shopping bags. Other retailers will provide free re-used shopping bags and a fully compostable shopping bag for an introductory period. Some of Samford’s longtime environmentally friendly retailers, such as Four Seasons Organics will continue their plastic bag free practices.

So why has Samford decided to change their plastic bag community shopping habit?

On average, plastic bags are used for a minute, yet they take up to 1000 years to decompose and are responsible for the death of millions of animals, and for clogging and polluting our waterways.

Samford Project Coordinator, Howard Nielsen said, “People are well aware that using plastic bags is not a sustainably good idea, but remembering to bring shopping bags is a bit of a problem for all of us. So for an introductory period, alternate shopping bags will be made available, as well as a door-handle reminder sign.

To assist shoppers further, signs will be posted in public places and in participating retailers to explain how the “Changing our Bag Habits” program will work, Howard said.”

Bag alternatives are being provided courtesy of funds and other support from the Moreton Bay Regional Council, the Pine Rivers Climate Action Network, Samford Green Street, Samford Chamber of Commerce and the Samford Sustainability Hub.

Toby Hutcheon, Executive Director Queensland Conservation said, “Since we launched our ‘Plastic Bag Free Queensland’ campaign in October 2012, we continue to be encourage by communities such as Samford who get the message – this being that ‘Plastic Bags are wasteful and deadly’ and that they can be easily replaced with less harmful alternatives.”

Queensland Conservation continues to call on the Queensland Government to become a Plastic Bag Free State by 2015.

Pledge to go Plastic Bag Free in Queensland www.PlasticBagFreeQLD.com.au

For more information, contact the ‘Changing our Bag Habit’ Project Coordinator,

Howard Neilsen on 0407 190 162, or mail Howard@greenstreet.net.au.

Treating oil spills with chemical dispersants: Is the cure worse than the ailment?

environment, fisheries, waterways/wetlands, wildlife

Jul 062013

Original story from the Society for Experimental Biology at EurekAlert

Treating oil spills at sea with chemical dispersants is detrimental to European sea bass. A new study, to be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology meeting in Valencia on July 6, suggests that although chemical dispersants may reduce problems for surface animals, the increased contamination under the water reduces the ability for fish and other organisms to cope with subsequent environmental challenges.

Oil and dispersant impact the ability of sea bass to face increased temperature, reduced oxygen availability or to swim against a current. Photo: Nicolas Le Bayon, Ifremer

A team of researchers headed by Prof Guy Claireaux at the University of Brest in France looked for the first time at the effects of chemically dispersed oil on the performance of European seabass to subsequent environmental challenges.

The researchers designed swimming challenge tests in an 'aquatic treadmill', similar to the tests used in human medicine for health diagnosis. They analysed European seabass' maximum swimming performance, hypoxia tolerance and thermal sensitivity as markers for their capabilities to face natural contingencies. They then exposed the fish to untreated oil, chemically dispersed oil or dispersant alone for 48 hours. During the following 6 weeks they measured individual growth and then once again analysed the seabass' performance in the swimming challenge tests.

Oil exposure impacted the ability of fish to face increased temperature, reduced oxygen availability or to swim against a current and these effects were further aggravated with the addition of the dispersant. The dispersant alone had no effect on the ability of fish to face the challenge tests.

Prof Claireaux said "An oil slick reaching the shore is not good for tourism and organisms living on the coast line. Treating the slick at sea will avoid or reduce these problems affecting surface animals (birds and marine mammals). On the other hand, oil dispersion will increase the contamination of the water column and the organisms that occupy it."

Though applying dispersants at sea may reduce the environmental and economic impacts of an oil spill reaching the shoreline, these results show that the choice of response deployed to deal with a spill involves a trade-off between the effects at the surface and in the water column.

Japan’s man doubts whale kill

government, threatened species, wildlife

Jul 052013

Original story by Andrew Darby, Sydney Morning Herald

"Scientific samples", Antarctic Minke Whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) group taken off Japanese whaling ship, Ross Sea, Antarctica. Minden Pictures

Japan's own expert witness in the whaling case at the International Court of Justice has cast doubt on the number of whales it kills in its Antarctic program.

The expert, Norwegian Lars Walloe, also told the court that he did not like the inclusion of fin and humpback whales in the whaling program.

And he confirmed that a founding father of the global whaling treaty believed that if any whales were to be killed for scientific purposes, the number should be fewer than 10.

Australia is asking the ICJ to halt the Japanese program, known as JARPA II, which has a self-awarded quota of up to 935 minke whales, 50 fin whales, and 50 humpbacks.

Japanese whalers have taken more than 10,000 whales under the treaty's scientific permit clause, including 18 fin whales, but are yet to take any humpbacks.

Professor Walloe, Norway's foremost scientific expert on whaling, was called before the court in The Hague by Japan to defend the program, which he said was "definitely" scientific research.
Australia has argued to the court that the program is commercial whaling cloaked in the lab coat of science.

Under cross examination by Australia's solicitor-general, Justin Gleeson, SC, Prof. Walloe conceded that he had difficulties with the quotas chosen in JARPA II.

"The reason is, and that is one of the, as I state here, weaknesses of the JARPA II documents, that I do not really know how they have calculated the sample sizes," Prof Walloe said.

Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus) photographed in the Kenai Fjords near Resurrection Bay, Alaska. Lori Mazzuca, Wikimedia Commons

He agreed with Mr Gleeson that he had attempted to understand the numbers that he found difficulties with, but they were not in his report to the court.

"I think they are in my desk back in Norway," he said. "I do not have them in my mind here now."

Professor Walloe said he had never liked the inclusion of fin whales, and there were difficulties with humpback whales being included in a program that was meant to examine competition between species.

"I consider especially the proposal of fin whales not very well conceived because the main part of the fin whale population are outside the area of JARPA, further to the north," he said.

Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) breaching. Photo: Dave and Fiona Harvey via Australian Antarctic Division

Although humpbacks were considered a "sacred" animal, at least they lived in the same area as minkes, he said.

"There are many questions you could ask about the humpback, but I understand also that it is emotionally difficult. And I think it is possible, even without sampling humpbacks, to get the information about the changes in the ecosystem and perhaps about the competition."

Professor Walloe also revealed that the first chair of the International Whaling Commission, Birger Bergersen wrote when the organisation was founded that it should be possible to kill whales if needed for examination of their anatomy.

"If you are an anatomist, you would probably in some cases only need one animal but what he said was a low number and he wrote in that note, for example, less than ten," Professor Walloe said.

The case continued on Thursday with a defence of Japan's rights under the IWC treaty to conduct its own scientific research, without authorisation from the organisation or consent from its scientific committee.

Australia failed to prove a central argument to the 16 judges that Japan had acted in bad faith, said counsel for Japan, Vaughan Lowe QC, of Oxford University.

"The point is that Australia has produced no evidence of bad faith," Prof Lowe said. "It seems to regard the very fact that Australia and Japan are in profound disagreement on this matter as evidence of bad faith.

But that is not so."

The case is continuing

Fewer NSW molluscs sounds alarm bell

environment, waterways/wetlands, wildlife

Jul 042013

Original story at the Australian

A decline in the number of molluscs found off the northern NSW coast shows ecological conditions are worsening, scientists warn.

Associate Professor Steve Smith, from Southern Cross University, says the reduced number of molluscs off Cook Island indicates an "undesirable marine community".

"This is an early warning sign," Prof Smith told AAP.

Intertidal molluscs. Photo: Ingrid Berthold, Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority

Researchers from the National Marine Science Centre have been monitoring reefs between Port Macquarie and Tweed Heads since 2005.

The "obvious decline" in molluscs off Cook Island is the first such observation at any of the monitoring sites, Prof Smith said.

"If we see broad style change in any structure it shows the ecological conditions have changed," he added.

A species of cerith has completely disappeared off the Cook Island reef following a downward trend in biodiversity between 2009 and 2012.

Prof Smith said the reason for the decline isn't obvious and is not solely due to pollution.

"Some changes are because of an increase in sediments from the catchments and run off through the Tweed River or Cudgen Creek," he said.

Researchers are also concerned about record levels of marine debris in the area, mainly consisting of fishing lines tangled in coral reefs off the island.

Prof Smith said researchers would now "more frequently monitor" Cook Island's surroundings to stay abreast of further changes.

Men fined more than $20,000 for fishing offences

fisheries, wildlife

Jul 032013

Original story at Brisbane Times

Two men have been fined a total $20,500 for separate fishing offences.

Finned sharks waiting to die a cruel death on the ocean floor

Every year tens of millions of sharks die a slow death because of finning. Finning is the inhumane practice of hacking off the shark’s fins and throwing its still living body back into the sea. The sharks either starve to death, are eaten alive by other fish, or drown (if they are not in constant movement their gills cannot extract oxygen from the water). Shark fins are being “harvested” in ever greater numbers to feed the growing demand for shark fin soup, an Asian “delicacy”. Photo: stopsharkfinning.net

A Bundaberg man was convicted of selling illegal fish and crabs, Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol district manager Greg Bowness said in a statement.

“QBFP executed a search warrant on the defendant's house finding 37 female mud crabs, 11 undersized male mud crabs, a quantity of frozen crabmeat and regulated finfish, including two grey mackerel, four dusky flathead, one king threadfin, one mulloway, three barred javelin and four silver javelin.

“In a separate matter, a Gympie man was convicted and fined $8000 for catching sharks and removing their tails and fins.

“QBFP officers boarded a reef line vessel in Bundaberg port on October 29 last year finding 49 fins or tails that had been removed from sharks."

He said in sentencing the Gympie man, the magistrate took into account the cruelty involved in shark finning.

“The rules are in place to protect Queensland's fishing industry and to ensure a sustainable fishery for future generations," he said.

"I hope these penalties will serve as a future deterrent."

5 killer whales stranded off Queensland’s Fraser Island freed; 2 others die

wildlife

Jul 032013

Original story at ABC News

Five killer whales that were stranded near Fraser Island, off the southern Queensland coast, are now swimming free, but two others have died.

Stranded killer whales near Queensland's Fraser Island. Rescuers worked throughout the day to free five whales stranded on a sand bar off Fraser Island. Supplied: Qld Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing

Rescuers worked throughout the day to free the pod of beached whales from a sand bar near Stewart Island, on Fraser Island's western side.

A female and her calf died this morning after overheating.

More than a dozen rangers from the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) worked to free the other whales, including four adults that are six to seven metres long and a juvenile about four metres long.

Earlier, QPWS acting regional director for the Sunshine and Fraser Coast, Peter Wright, said conditions had made the rescue operation difficult.

"Rangers have been attempting to keep the whales comfortable with water and shade while waiting for the tide to rise," he said in a statement.

"Conditions are difficult, with winds 20 to 25 knots.

"QPWS received a report early today and deployed rangers to investigate."

Mr Wright was hoping the whales could be freed during higher afternoon tides.

"Killer whales follow the humpback migration to prey on the calves," he said.

Australia is underfunding biodiversity conservation

environment, government, threatened species, wildlife

Jul 032013

Original story by Anthony Waldron, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz at The Conversation

When it comes to biodiversity spending, Australia is one of the bottom 40 countries in the world. It’s not the only rich country to feature low on the list (Finland, for example, also did pretty badly) but it’s a troubling result for a nature-conscious, developed country with a treasure trove of biodiversity.

Australia's most endangered fish. A tiny male Red-finned Blue-eye, half the size of your little finger. Adam Kereszy

In our recently published study we calculated these rankings by analysing how conservation money was spent globally from 2001 to 2008. More money is spent if the country is richer, if the cost of conservation is higher, or if there are more threatened species. This is not surprising.

However, this analysis lets you compare all countries statistically. It tells you what an “average” country would spend if that country were the same as Australia in GDP, cost of living, territory size, number of threatened species, and other economic and political conditions.

There probably isn’t a country in the world that spends enough to save its biodiversity from extinction. So countries that are serious about conservation should be trying to beat this rather unimpressive “average country” comparison. Unfortunately Australia falls short of the average by about one third of a billion dollars per year.

While this is a damning figure, Australia faces a difficult challenge in saving its conservation. It has a smaller GDP than Spain or Italy, yet vastly more to conserve, and in vastly more territory. So despite spending approximately three quarters of a billion dollars a year on biodiversity conservation from 2001 to 2008 (actual parks spending may be a little higher, but some of the money goes on roads and campsites), it fares badly in comparison to other developed countries. This burden mostly falls to the individual States and Territories, which carry the lion’s share of the funding expenditure.

Pseudomugil mellis, Honey Blue-eye (Schnapper Creek). Pseudomugil mellis is listed as vulnerable uner the Nature Conservation Act (Qld).

We still don’t know how much Australia would really need to spend to seriously slow or halt its alarming biodiversity loss. Several groups have suggested that a good start would be to spend another A$400 million to complete the protected area system. But a total figure has not been agreed upon. A recent study by BirdLife suggests that the required conservation funding for the whole Earth might be ten times what we’re currently spending.

Our study did not aim to provide suggestions on where any extra money would be best spent. Australia is already a world leader in these calculations – look up Hugh Possingham, Kerry Wilson and Josie Cawardine for just a few examples of experts in this area. With limited money available for biodiversity conservation, extra efficiency certainly helps, but can’t solve the problem.

Our study also didn’t suggest how to redistribute the global conservation budget between countries. Nobody has the authority to take 95% of Britain’s conservation budget and move it to the Congo. Instead, we let each country know where it stands in terms of its conservation investment. Nevertheless, we think that international funders could better coordinate the distribution of biodiversity aid. That’s a study for the future.

Anthony Waldron is affiliated with Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Brazil. He has received previous funding from the UK NERC.

This article was originally published at The Conversation.
Read the original article.

Cane toads take on crocs and win

pest species, threatened species, wildlife

Jul 022013

Original story at The West Australian

Even crocodiles are sick to death of cane toads.

Dwarf, pygmy or stone country crocs are a recognised form of the freshwater croc - Crocodylus johnsoni. While there are some genetic differences distinguishing these populations they aren't significant enough to warrant the classification of a separate subspecies. Photo: Grahame Webb

Dwarf crocodiles have met their match in the poisonous invader, as new research shows it has wiped out entire populations of the reptile in northern Australia.

Charles Darwin University's Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods has studied the effects of the toad on the smallest crocodile species found in northern Australia's upstream escarpments.

Evidence of the destructive effect of the cane toad invasion on one of northern Australia's top predators, the freshwater crocodile, was first found in 2008. Jake O'Shaughnessy

The growth of the dwarf freshwater crocs is stunted by a lack of food, making them half the size of a typical crocodile.

Cane toads came along and provided the dwarf crocs with a plentiful but deadly dinner, says Senior Research Associate Dr Adam Britton.

"We already know that cane toads kill freshwater crocodiles, but we were concerned that cane toads might have a major impact on dwarf populations because of their small size and lack of alternative food sources," he said in a statement.

Like many other native species, dwarf crocodiles are poisoned when they ingest the bufotoxins in cane toads, which presents a major conservation issue for the entire upstream escarpment ecosystem.

The researchers found there were significant declines in the number of dwarf crocodiles at two of three survey sites following the arrival of cane toads.

"We found dead crocodiles and cane toad carcasses with crocodile bite marks," Dr Britton said.

There's still a long way to go towards understanding how native species cope with destructive invasive species like the cane toad.

But Dr Britton said his study offered an insight into why some populations were entirely wiped out while others were mostly unaffected.

The research team found possible evidence that dwarf crocodiles could adapt their behaviour in the future by only eating the back legs of toads to avoid being poisoned.

The team is conducting further research into the genetics of dwarf freshwater crocodiles to better understand the long-term impacts of cane toads on their populations.

Study fires extinction debate

Interest, wildlife

Jul 012013

Original story by John Thistleton, Sydney Morning Herald

Of all the things that could have wiped out giant animals in Australia's south-east, climate change wasn't one of them.

Using a sediment core from offshore the Murray River, Australian National University researchers have ruled out climate change causing giant kangaroos, three metre-tall flightless birds and the Tasmanian tiger to disappear from the mainland about 50,000 years ago.

Their research concluded that, with these beasts no longer grazing the land, plants flourished – only to fuel huge fires.

Professor Patrick De Deckker from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences said what was behind the animals' disappearance had caused much debate.

"The extinction happened around the same time as humans moved into the area, which also coincided with a change in the type of plant food available to megafauna," Professor De Deckker said.

"These events have led to several theories of the cause of extinction, including climate change. But the timing of these events was uncertain. We didn't know which one happened first, so we couldn't begin to understand what could have caused the extinction."

Professor De Deckker and his ANU colleagues, in collaboration with scientists from the Netherlands, analysed a sediment core taken from the seabed off the coast of Kangaroo Island in the offshore canyons of the Murray River.

More than 32 metres long, the core was taken in 2003 and has been the subject of several studies.

The Murray and Darling rivers and their tributaries drain a large basin area, so the core reflects changes from a substantial part of south-east Australia, researchers say in a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

"Sediment cores provide a record of the past," Professor De Deckker said. "From the core we were able to reconstruct sea-surface temperature over the past 135,000 years, as well as variations in the type of vegetation in the Murray Basin, allowing us to piece together the order of events."

The team found that sea-surface temperature varied by only 3degrees at the time of the extinction – a minor variation compared with other times in the record – indicating that the extinction did not occur during major climate change.

Euryzygoma, a diprotodontine, was closely related to the largest known marsupial, the massive Diprotodon. Euryzygoma dunense © Australian Museum

The core also revealed a shift in vegetation type immediately after the megafaunal extinction.

"Before and during the extinction period, 70 per cent of the vegetation was typical of northern Australia today. Immediately after the extinction, this value dropped to 35 per cent," Professor De Deckker said.

"Some people have suggested that this dramatic change in food sources might have been the cause of the megafaunal extinction, but we've shown that this was in fact a result of the extinction. Our idea is that with fewer herbivores around to eat them, substantial fuel remained in the landscape, which eventually led to massive fires.

"Our work unveiled the presence of a compound in the core that is produced as a result of plant material burning. This compound appeared after the megafaunal extinction and lasted some 3000 years."

Professor Tim Flannery predicted this finding two decades ago.

"Professor Flannery suggested that the abrupt extinction of the herbivorous megafauna meant shrubs grew unchecked, increasing the amount of flammable material," Professor De Deckker said. "This explanation has caused considerable controversy, but is now supported by our evidence.

"Management of national parks until recently tried to prevent bushfires. This research shows if the browsers are missing, you end up with a lot of fuel and then you have massive fires.

"I think you can see how fragile the Australian environment is and if you change the equation somewhere, things can tip in a very different way."

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