wildlife – Page 8 – ANGFA Queensland

Scientists shed more light on ‘unicorn of the sea’

Aug 072013

Original story by Lauren Day, ABC News

Rare sea creature, pyrosome, was filmed off Tasmania by local divers. The pyrosome can grow up to 30 metres and has been dubbed the 'unicorn of the sea'. Photo: Eaglehawk Neck Dive Centre

Scientists in Tasmania have found a new species of unnamed and unclassified sea creature, as its much larger cousin grabs the limelight on the internet.

The new creature is related to a giant gelatinous animal, the pyrosome, that is so elusive it is known as 'the unicorn of the sea'.

The pyrosome can grow up to 30 metres long but it is actually a colony of tiny creatures called zooids, which filter plankton from the water.

Few people have ever seen one, but pictures taken off Tasmania's south-east coast several years ago have re-surfaced on the internet, attracting more than three million views.

"It's not only huge and big enough to scuba dive through but it's a weird, weird creature," said the CSIRO's Dr Lisa-Ann Gershwin.

"It's actually a colony so it's not one big tubular creature.

"It must be like LSD from the 1960s or something to watch these ripples of light going across these colonies in this weird gelatinous flowing tube of light."

The renewed interest in the pyrosome has come just as scientists have discovered its tiny cousin in the same area of waters off Tasmania's south-east coast.

Similar to humans

Dr Gershwin says the as-yet-unnamed creature looks like blobs of jelly in a petrie dish but the animals are surprisingly similar to humans.

"Believe it or not, they're actually more closely related to us than they are to jellyfish," she said.

"They're in our phylum, and in our earliest larval stages and their earliest larval stages, you can't tell us apart."

Both the underwater animals are members of the salp family and could help shed more light on climate change.

"They are also really important in climate change, believe it or not," Dr Gershwin said. "The lowly salp is important to us because they sequester carbon into the deep sea."

Scientists hope to name the new creature by the end of the year.

"We haven't picked a name for it yet, so we're open to names, if you have any ideas," Dr Gershwin said.

Scientists will return to the water in October, hoping the large seasonal swells off Tasmania's coast will dredge up more mysterious creatures lurking in the depths.

Climate change is causing modifications to marine life behavior

environment, fisheries, waterways/wetlands, wildlife

Aug 072013

Original story at Phys.org

Oceans cover 71 percent of the Earth's surface, yet our knowledge of the impact of climate change on marine habitats is a mere drop in the proverbial ocean compared to terrestrial systems. An international team of scientists set out to change that by conducting a global meta-analysis of climate change impacts on marine systems.

Warming oceans are causing marine species to change breeding, feeding, and migration timing. Credit: University of California - Santa Barbara

Counter to previous thinking, marine species are shifting their geographic distribution toward the poles and doing so much faster than their land-based counterparts. The findings were published in Nature Climate Change.
The three-year study, conducted by a working group of UC Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) and funded by the National Science Foundation, shows that warming oceans are causing marine species to change breeding, feeding, and migration timing as well as shift where they live. Widespread systemic shifts in measures such as distribution of species and phenology—the timing of nature's calendar—are on a scale comparable to or greater than those observed on land.

"The leading edge or front-line of marine species distributions is moving toward the poles at an average of 72 kilometers (about 45 miles) per decade—considerably faster than terrestrial species, which are moving poleward at an average of 6 kilometers (about 4 miles) per decade," said lead author Elvira Poloczanska, a research scientist with Australia's national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Marine and Atmospheric Research in Brisbane. "And this is occurring even though sea surface temperatures are warming three times slower than land temperatures."

The report, which involved scientists from 17 institutions, including NCEAS associates Carrie Kappel and Ben Halpern and former NCEAS postdoctoral associates Mary O'Connor, Lauren Buckley, and Camille Parmesan, forms part of the Fifth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). The Geneva-based IPCC assesses scientific, technical, and socioeconomic information concerning climate change, its potential effects, and options for adaptation and mitigation.

"The effects of climate change on marine species have not been a major focus of past IPCC reports because no one had done the work to pull together all the disparate observations from around the world," said Kappel. "This study provides a solid basis for including marine impacts in the latest global accounting of how climate change is affecting our world."

Unlike previous climate change assessments, which relied heavily on terrestrial data to estimate marine impacts, the NCEAS working group scientists gathered from seven countries to assemble a large marine-only database of 1,735 changes in marine life from the global peer-reviewed literature. The biological changes were documented from time series, with an average length of 40 years of observation.

"Here's a totally different system with its own unique set of complexities and subtleties," said Camille Parmesan, professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at University of Texas at Austin. "Yet the overall impacts of recent climate change remain the same: an overwhelming response of species shifting where and when they live in an attempt to track a shifting climate.

"This is the first comprehensive documentation of what is happening in our marine systems in relation to climate change," added Parmesan. "What it reveals is that the changes occurring on land are being matched by the oceans. And far from being a buffer and displaying more minor changes, what we're seeing is a far stronger response from the oceans." Parmesan has been active in IPCC since 1997, and in her capacity as a lead author, she shared in the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to IPCC.

The research revealed telltale traces that collectively build the case for climate change causing modifications in the ocean. These fingerprints of climate change include movements of species toward the poles as ocean temperatures rise, with an average displacement up to ten times that for terrestrial species. Phytoplankton, zooplankton, and bony fish showed the largest shifts.

Researchers also found that the timing of spring events in the oceans had advanced by more than four days, nearly twice the figure for land. The strength of response varied among species, but again, the research showed the greatest response—up to 11 days in advancement—occurred in invertebrate zooplankton and larval bony fish.

Multiple lines of evidence supported the hypothesis that climate change is the primary driver behind the observed changes: for example, opposing responses in warm-water and cold-water species within a community and similar responses from discrete populations at the same range edge. In total, 81 percent of all observations, whether for distribution, phenology, community composition, abundance, or demography, across different populations and ocean basins were consistent with the expected impacts of climate change.

Extreme fishing: from Vladimir Putin to Robson Green, sport at its most macho

fisheries, threatened species, wildlife

Aug 032013

Original story by Patrick Barkham, The Guardian

Angling used to be about mystery and tranquillity. Now it's about landing the biggest river monster you can battle from the depths, and it's becoming a big global business, too.

Jeremy Wade, the authentically grizzled British biology teacher turned fisher-king, who is now a big star on US TV

"At times," says pub landlord Kevin Gardner, "it can be like standing under a cold shower ripping up £50 notes. But when you get that bite, it's just explosive – everyone on the boat is screaming and shouting, the fish is jumping, it's mayhem. It's fantastic. You can't explain it until you've done it."

The pumped-up pleasures of catching a monster of the deep were etched in Vladimir Putin's features this week after the Russian president was photographed with a humungous pike he had apparently hooked on a fishing excursion to Siberia. Not to be outdone, his counterpart in Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, then boasted about reeling in a 126lb catfish. It is no longer enough to spend a tranquil day questing for a 2lb perch; fishing must now be an extreme adrenalin sport, travelling to the ends of the earth to land rare or gigantic leviathans. Robson Green's Extreme Fishing programmes have enjoyed huge success on Channel 5, while fishing's latest figurehead is Jeremy Wade, an authentically grizzled British biology teacher turned fisher-king who spent decades pursuing elusive underwater prizes before finding TV stardom with Discovery'sRiver Monsters. The Animal Planet series has won the channel's best-ever audience figures in the US; Wade is now feted on US talk shows and idolised by small boys.

If Putin's 46lb pike is the high-water mark of extreme fishing, it may also be the moment the Russian president jumped the shark. His latest PR stunt was greeted with incredulity by social media mockers, who doubted the size of the pike and whether he really landed it. Recreational fishing has always been riddled with disputes over gargantuan catches, but many anglers are more profoundly troubled by the ethics and iffy image of "extreme fishing".

Captain Ahab, the whale-ship captain who so obsessively hunted down Moby Dick, was literature's first extreme fisherman, but the romance of pursuing big fish was popularised by Ernest Hemingway in The Old Man and the Sea. The novel that brought Hemingway international fame – as well as a Pulitzer and a Nobel prize – tells the epic struggle of a luckless old fisherman whose line is finally nibbled by a mighty marlin after 84 days of catching nothing.

"The line rose slowly and steadily and then the surface of the ocean bulged ahead of the boat and the fish came out," wrote Hemingway. "He came out unendingly and water poured from his sides. He was bright in the sun and his head and back were dark purple and in the sun the stripes on his sides showed wide and a light lavender. His sword was as long as a baseball bat and tapered like a rapier … "

Inspired by Hemingway and made possible by motor boats and aeroplanes, extreme fishing is now a big business. Like surfers on a pilgrimage to find mystically mammoth waves, extreme anglers journey to obscure and dangerous waters to find secretive subterranean behemoths. The less intrepid visit resorts in Thailand stocked with huge (and critically endangered) freshwater species from around the world – 400lb arapaima, 300lb Mekong catfish and 200lb freshwater stingray.

Vladimir Putin with his big catch – but many questioned whether it was really 46lb, as he claimed, and even whether he really landed it all. Photograph: Alexey Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images

Justin Maxwell Stuart, who arranges global fly-fishing experiences, was inspired to create Where Wise Men Fish after watching angler John Wilson on TV in the 1990s. "At the end of one series he was seen disappearing down an Indian river in a little coracle attached to a 60lb fish. That was a very cool thing to do," he says. Maxwell Stuart, who typically sets up high-end saltwater fly-fishing in the Bahamas for $4,000 per person per week (alcohol included), says it is a misconception that big-game fishermen (and it is mostly men, although Maxwell Stuart gets scolded by the occasional woman angler who takes offence at his company name) have more money than sense. Many extreme fishermen are "working-class guys – butchers, carpenters – who just love fishing", he says.

Kevin Gardner agrees. His extreme angling friends are ordinary blokes. "None of us are rich, we live in modest homes. This is what we do." Gardner's 25-year love affair with marlin began when, aged 24, he pitched up in Cairns, Australia, to seek out black marlin, having sold his home to fund the trip. Saving for a trip once every two years, his Hemingway moment arrived off Ascension Island in February this year: his line tweaked with a 1,320lb blue marlin and he fought for three hours to reel it in.

"You need to be a decent angler and know when to let go and when to crank up the pressure," says Gardner of the art of extreme fishing. It also requires brute strength. Strapped to his rod, Gardner felt a great burning in his legs as he strained against the power of the marlin. Some anglers who hunt them are pulled over the side of their boat; others suffer heart attacks. In this case, however, it was the fish that died before it could be returned to the water, and so it was brought to land and photographed, its sword-like bill cut off for a trophy.

For some critics, this is as unsavoury as big game hunting on land – a cruel, macho hobby that traduces fishing's tranquil traditions. Having a big fish on your line may be exciting, says Jim Masters of the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), but that is because the animal thinks it is going to die. Like Gardner's marlin, many fish die in these epic struggles, exhausted after hours of fighting on a line or pulling a boat through the water (as Hemingway's marlin did).

Like many people, Masters became interested in conservation through his passion for fishing, and believes the sport – and its TV incarnations – can educate and inspire others to do the same. "I really like fish. I really respect them. I'm still happy to catch them, but I want to know they came from a healthy marine environment and I am not endangering their stocks in any way," he says. The MCS is particularly concerned about the welfare of big fish, and the hunting of endangered or slow-growing, deep-water species (such as the Greenland shark caught by Jeremy Wade in a memorably preposterous River Monsters episode in which he sought out the Loch Ness Monster). Masters wishes extreme fishing's television stars would discuss conservation more explicitly. "I don't want to see people wrestling with a marlin for their own satisfaction, just to make themselves look big and tough – I don't think that serves any conservation purpose – but if they can weave in stronger conservation messages, we'd welcome that."

Mark Lloyd, chief executive of the Angling Trust, welcomes the airtime given to fishing but says the extreme shows don't reflect the real wonder of fishing. "In the past, Robson Green has used techniques, such as shooting fish with a bow and arrows, that are abhorrent to most anglers, for whom the welfare of the fish is paramount," he says.

Robson Green has found great success with his Extreme Fishing TV programme, but not all anglers are fans of his style. Photograph: Five TV

The angling author and broadcaster John Bailey – like Wade, a former teacher – has fished in 64 countries, caught enormous fish and lost even larger ones, including a Beluga sturgeon estimated to have weighed 1,800lbs. "I feel a little bit hypocritical saying the Robson Green, Jeremy Wade thing is a bit bollocks … but it is a bit bollocks," says Bailey, who knows and respects Wade. "I don't like this idea of gung-ho blokes travelling around the world ignoring their carbon footprint and smashing big fish all over the place. I don't think it's doing fishing any good."

When Bailey pursued his sturgeon it was "a six-hour ordeal for both of us," he says. "I remember thinking that did me no good, and it certainly didn't do the fish any good." Catching a fish that weighs more than a man is "much more stressful" for that fish than, say, reeling in a 5lb carp because of the disparity in body weight, reasons Bailey. "Whatever fish you catch may be going through the same process, whether it's a a 10lb carp or a two-ounce roach," argues Gardner. "If you feel that way about fish, you shouldn't be fishing."

Bailey, who prefers guiding enthusiasts to secret spots in Norfolk these days, is increasingly concerned with conserving fish in Britain. "To give the debate over to Robson Green trying to catch some man-eating turtle fish in Ethiopia is ignoring a massive situation on our own doorstep," says Bailey. "I genuinely think that the only people who care about fish are fishermen. Without us, our waters would be in a very difficult position. It's all about education, conservation and respect – and realising that fish have a huge amount of dignity and beauty."

Chris Yates is one of the most beautiful of writers on fishing, an angling legend who caught the first 50lb-plus carp in Britain and presented A Passion for Angling, which celebrates its 20th anniversary next month, and is still considered the best-ever television programme about fishing. Part of the problem with extreme fishing shows is the nature of modern television, thinks Yates. "They are tearing apart whatever the beauty of the subject is and showing one populist image," he says. His series took four-and-a-half years to film. "No one in their right mind would make a TV film about fishing. I was insane to agree to do it. Fishing doesn't translate into TV, unless you can somehow convey the sense of tranquility and mystery, as [A Passion for Angling's filmmaker] Hugh Miles managed to do. There's this mystery about why you are doing it and there's this unknown world happening below the surface of the water, and your line is connecting you to it."

Yates says the way people travel the world targeting huge fish "misses the point entirely". Then again, at some point all anglers, he suspects, succumb to an "Ahab complex", like the whaling captain who obsesses over Moby Dick. "Every fisherman dreams of getting that monster fish," he says, "even the ones who really do appreciate that you can fish yourself into a parallel universe."

The previous night, a warm, calm summer's evening, Yates stepped out of his home in Dorset and sat with his rod by a pool until gone 2am. "When the line moved, there was a little blister on the surface of the water, lit by the moon. You think, 'What is that?' and it can be completely terrifying. Even after 50 years of fishing, that makes my heart stop. That's my extreme fishing – getting into an intimacy with this unknown world and not knowing where it's going to lead, and what apparition you will behold."

New fish discovered by Fluval during Colombia expedition

aquarium, waterways/wetlands, wildlife

Aug 022013

Original story at Practical Fishkeeping

Fluval has announced that a new species of Pike cichlid was discovered during a recent company-sponsored expedition to Colombia, which will be shared with the aquatic world in a soon-to-be-released Fluval documentary.

For 13 days near the end of the latest Colombian dry season, Fluval’s Tom Sarac led a team of aquatic explorers across 2,600 km/1,600 miles of the Llanos, a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes.

The group’s mission was three-fold; to understand and witness this rich bio-diverse environment firsthand, implement their learnings into habitat-accurate products for the home aquarium hobby and, lastly, bring awareness to help protect this precious natural environment from threats such as deforestation, mining and oil/gas production.

The discovery of the new fish, with a unique “W” shaped trident marking located near its gills, will be featured in Fluval’s upcoming Colombia Expedition film, which will be released in conjunction with the launch of the all-new Fluval Aquatics website later next month. Aquatic fans are encouraged to register on the Fluval home page now in order to be alerted as soon as the site goes live.

A one-minute long trailer of the Colombia Expedition has been released, which can be viewed below.

What can history tell us about species coping with climate change?

environment, threatened species, wildlife

Aug 022013

Original story by Craig Moritz and Rosa Agudo at The Conversation

In work we published in Science today we look at two conflicting ideas on whether species can adapt to climate change. Are our ideas about extinction too catastrophic, or do we actually need to do more to protect biodiversity?

Climate change means some mountain species are just clinging on, but can they adapt? Australian Alps/Flickr

Picture a polar bear, perched precariously on a small iceberg somewhere in the diminishing Arctic icecap. This iconic image is often used to portray the fate species will suffer as human-driven climate change accelerates. Yes, the forecasts are dire. Using various modelling approaches, researchers predict major reductions in species distributions and increased rates of extinction, especially in the tropics and globally across mountains.

But the past tells a different story. There seems little evidence in the fossil record for elevated species extinction during periods of rapid warming, such as the transition from the last ice age into the current Holocene period. Rather, species such as north American trees and mammals shifted geographically, albeit idiosyncratically, or in some cases appear to have adapted without moving.

One obvious result is that, as individual species respond more or less to climate change, local communities change in composition. These results are borne out by comparative genetic studies. They show that the population size of many species fluctuated, but that fluctuation occurred differently across the same landscape.

So which of these two perspectives is closer to the truth? Either the record of past responses is somehow an unreliable guide to the future, or the dire predictions for the future overstate vulnerability. In our invited Science review, we highlight this problem and, as a bridge, consider evidence on species’ responses to the 20th century climate change.

For those species to persist, they have just two options – adapt or move. But theory tells us that only species with short generation times and high rates of potential population growth will be able to adapt, without moving, in the face of rapid climate change. Species may also be less vulnerable than coarse-scale models predict if they are able to adjust how they use local habitats (for example, by being active at different times or concentrating in cooler places).

The 20th century record reveals a middle ground. Yes, species ranges are shifting – often towards higher latitude and upwards. In some mountain species, this is resulting in severe loss of geographic range and measureable decline in genetic diversity. There are also documented changes in the timing of migration or reproduction and shifts in body size or leaf width, though whether these changes are heritable remains an open question. But, consistent with the fossil record, even closely related species vary in their response – some stay put, while others shift, resulting in changes in the make-up of local groups of species. But why do species vary so much in response? The simple answer is that we don’t yet know, making it all the more difficult to predict vulnerability species by species.

Returning to the disparity between (observed) past and (predicted) future response, it may be that the fossil record underestimates future species vulnerability because of limited resolution – often fossils can only be classified to genus rather than species. Or it may be because species in the distant past had more options to respond as they didn’t have to cope with human-altered ecological systems. In particular, reduction and fragmentation of natural habitats, compounded by introduced predators and herbivores, add additional, potentially fatal constraints to the ability of species to respond to future climate change.

Whatever the true magnitude of impact on species under future climate change, there is no room for complacency. Reducing emission increases as soon as possible will help conservation policy-makers and practitioners increase the resilience of natural systems. We need to take actions now to give species as many opportunities as possible to remain viable – even if not within their current geographic range.

Despite the above “known unknowns”, we do know enough to inform conservation policy. Reducing other ecological stressors – such as invasive species and inappropriate fire regimes – is the right thing to do. Managing already threatened species to maintain large population sizes and ecological breadth remains important. Identifying landscapes that can function as places of refuge from climate change and managing large landscapes to enable dispersal to these refuges is crucial. Inevitably this needs a multi-sectoral approach. National parks are the keystone, but will not be enough.

So how, in Australia are we doing? Community-driven efforts to rehabilitate habitats, such as through Landcare and catchment management plans, are laudatory and a vital element of our response. Ongoing expansion of areas managed explicitly for conservation, including Indigenous Protected Areas as part of the National Reserve System and increasing private investments through non-government organisations, is key. And connecting these efforts through regional, state and national corridor initiatives will increase resilience to ongoing climate change.

Yet recent moves to diminish the conservation value of our reserve system – allowing grazing or hunting in national parks – take us in exactly the wrong direction. We need to keep pressure on governments to take the long view if we are to sustain Australia’s amazing and unique evolutionary heritage.

Craig Moritz receives funding from The Australian Research Council, the National Science Foundation (USA) and the Australian Biological Resources Study

Rosa Agudo is funded by the Spanish private foundation Ramon Areces that covers her salary as a postdoc at the Australian National University.

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

Fraser Island Conferences only come around every two years

community, environment, threatened species, waterways/wetlands, wildlife

Aug 012013

Original story by John Sinclair, Fraser Coast Chronicle

Eli Creek, Fraser Island. Photo: Photnart, WikiMedia Commons

IF YOU'RE interested in Fraser Island then consider attending the coming Fraser Island conference on August 8 at the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens auditorium in Brisbane.

Conference organiser, John Sinclair from the Fraser Island Defenders Organisation said it will more than justify people's interest and participation as it brought together a rare mix of scientists and stakeholders to discuss the issues of Fraser Island.

He said the conference also aimed to advance the island's case for its wider use as a natural laboratory and to better see the island's values with a global perspective.

"The hot topic of Fraser Island dingoes will be addressed by University of Queensland's Dr Greg Baxter who will report on the results of a satellite-tracking program that followed 18 Fraser Island dingoes over eight months to see what could be learnt on dingo behavior," Mr Sinclair said.

Climate Change, Biodiversity and Fraser Island is the subject of an address by Professor Roger Kitching, a co-ordinating lead author engaged in production of the next report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Writer, broadcaster and Australia's longest serving science minister Barry Jones will deliver the keynote address drawing on his experience with UNESCO and as vice-president of the World Heritage Committee.

Mr Sinclair said the contributions of Prof Kitching and Dr Jones should add more justification for Fraser Island to be treated as a natural laboratory for climate change and this was the theme of this year's conference that is supported by the Fraser Island Natural Integrity Alliance and the Fraser Island Scientific Advisory Committee.

A global spotlight will be shone on the Fraser Island patterned fens in November when 10 leading peat scientists from the International Mire Conservation Group will visit Fraser Island fens following up the research of Patrick Moss, who will be reporting on his discoveries to the conference.

Another researcher, Jock McKenzie from James Cook University will report on his studies of the mangroves of Great Sandy Strait he has undertaken as part of his doctoral studies

"It won't only be scientists talking because Fraser Island is acclaimed as much for its outstanding aesthetic qualities as it is for its natural beauty and aesthetic qualities that are going to be discussed by leading Australian artist, Liz Cumming," Mr Sinclair said.

Additionally there will be poster presentations covering topics from visitor responses to dingo management, ground orchids, monitoring sediment movement, managing weeds and the coordination of research effort.

The conference will be held at the Mt. Coot-tha Botanic Gardens Auditorium from 9am to 5pm on Thursday, August 8.

Registrations are now open at fraserislandconference2013.eventbrite.com.au.

Further details can be found at www.fido.org.au.

Rivers need snags for fish

environment, fisheries, waterways/wetlands, wildlife

Aug 012013

Original story by Chris McLennan, Weekly Times Now

MOST Victorian rivers require more snags to improve health and increase fish numbers, according to a new survey.

The Department of Environment and Primary Industries counted the snags in 27,700km of rivers, using aerial photography and on-ground mapping.

Woody habitat in Victorian rivers was an average of 41 per cent below natural levels. Photo: EPA Victoria

"Our modelling shows the amount of woody habitat in our rivers was an average of 41 per cent below natural levels and we know that is having a significant impact on freshwater fish species," DEPI fish ecologist Zeb Tonkin said.

However, in the 1970s and '80s governments funded the clearing of creeks and rivers of fallen trees and branches because they blocked water flows, particularly during floods.

Governments funded stream improvement trusts administered by local councils.

The DEPI survey found areas needing most re-snagging work included the southwestern floodplains, Glenelg and North Central floodplain river regions.

In comparison, the Alpine, North East Uplands and East Gippsland Upland regions were in relatively good condition, Mr Tonkin said.

The Government will use the survey to prioritise areas for restoration. Snags will be put back and riparian zones revegetated.

"We know that numbers of threatened native species such as Murray cod do increase in response to habitat restoration and the same applies to many other native species," Mr Tonkin said. "In the past snags were removed from our rivers because it was incorrectly thought that they reduced flows and contributed to flooding."

Research has since shown snag removal has minimal impact on flood mitigation, impairs river stability and affects the health of our streams, such as reducing fish populations.

"Over the past 20 years we have been gradually returning snags to our waterways particularly through the efforts of Catchment Management Authorities," Mr Tonkin said."

Environment Victoria chief executive Kelly O'Shannassy said many of the state's rivers and streams had been treated as drains and now they were being properly considered as functioning eco-systems.

Giant Water Bug Larva Attacks

wildlife

Aug 012013

The larvae of the Giant Water Bug, Lethocerus Patruelis, injects its digestive juices into its prey then sucks out the liquified results. Photo: Nikolay Simov

This YouTube video shows a giant water bug larva, Lethocerus patruelis, attacking and killing a small fish. The giant water bug larva uses the stems of a water plant to stalk and ambush its unsuspecting prey.

From Science, Space & Robots: Lethocerus patruelis is the largest European water insect. It can reach up to 8 centimeters (3.14 inches) in length. It is a member of the family Belostomatidae also known as electric light bugs or toe biters. The bugs are fierce predators. They stalk, capture and feed on aquatic crustaceans, fish and amphibians.

The insect injects strong digestive saliva into its victim when it strikes. It then sucks out the liquefied remains to feed. Scientists say their bite is considered one of the most painful that can be ever inflicted by any insect.

Nikolay Simov and Mario Langourov recently studied the insect and published an article in ZooKeys. The researchers recorded on video the vicious predatory practices of the species. The researchers say that the water bug has been expanding its territory northward, possibly due to climate change.

Qld NRM Minister rules out more Channel Country irrigation

community, environment, government, waterways/wetlands, wildlife

Jul 312013

Original story by Melinda Howells and Francene Norton, ABC News: Qld Natural Resources Minister Andrew Cripps rules out more Channel Country irrigation

The Queensland Government says it will not release more water for irrigation, as it winds back Wild Rivers declarations in the state's Channel Country.

A new management framework for the Georgina and Diamantina Rivers and Cooper Creek will replace the Wild Rivers declarations.

Some graziers had raised concerns that new irrigation projects would cause environmental damage.

However, Queensland Natural Resources Minister Andrew Cripps says no new licences will be issued.

"We'll be not allowing any further water to be released for irrigation purposes from the Georgina, Diamantina rivers or from Cooper Creek," he said.

Queensland's channel country rivers. Georgina River, Diamantina River, Thomson River, Cooper's Creek, Barcoo River and Warburton Creek feeding Lake Eyre North and Lake Eyre South. Longreach, Charleville and Mount Isa. Image at The Wilderness Society.

"The existing licences that are in place will be allowed to continue their operations and we'll not be buying or removing any of those existing licences."

The State Government has also approved oil and gas developments near protected rivers in the area, but says they will be subject to strict environmental conditions.

Mr Cripps says open-cut mining will not be allowed in the region but oil and gas developments will be, but under strict conditions.

He says mining developments will face a tougher approvals process than in other parts of the state.

"We recognise the unique environmental values of those western rivers means that we need to ensure that the conditions under which these petroleum and gas projects proceed are very high," he said.

"We will be making sure that they are assessed on a site-by-site and project-by-project basis."

White-necked Heron and Intermediate Egrets fishing on Coopers Creek. Photo by Glenn Walker at The Wilderness Society

But environmental groups have slammed the announcement.

Pew Charitable Trust spokesman Rupert Quinlan says Mr Cripps has gone against community advice.

"Advice from that panel said there should be no weakening of protections against mining in Channel Country - he's ignored that," Mr Quinlan said.

"He's also ignored calls from AgForce that there should be a moratorium on all oil and gas activities in Channel Country.

"He's ignored his local MP Vaughan Johnson and lastly he's ignored Aboriginal leaders."

However, Queensland Resources Council chief executive officer Michael Roche says the Government's decision is an important opportunity for jobs and investment.

"The news coming out of the companies that are exploring that part of the country, mostly as I say happening on the South Australian side of the border, talk about billions of dollars of potential production that can be generated in that part of Queensland," he said.

Why cane toads give us small hope for climate change

environment, pest species, wildlife

Jul 312013

Original story by Rick Shine at The Conversation

Cane toads are one of the Australia’s most serious invasive species, killing predators such as goannas, quolls and crocodiles in the tropical north. We already know the toads are advancing from Queensland to the Kimberley. New research shows the toads may evolve to spread faster in new environments. But this may be good news for animals who have to move because of climate change.

Cane toads spread faster when they arrive in a new area. Photo: Flickr/blundershot

Cane toads (Bufo marinus) spread faster when they arrive in a new area. Photo: Flickr/blundershot

So, how do we get from toads to climate?

Hopping to it

Most ecological theory starts with the assumption that a population of animals is stable in space: individuals and their offspring live in the same general area year after year. But, the reality is much messier: many populations are not stable. For example, invasive species expand their range as they spread.

As part of a long-term study by my University of Sydney-based “Team Bufo”, Greg Brown radio-tracked invasive cane toads as they first arrived at an area near Darwin, and continued to track newly-arriving toads over the next several years. Tom Lindstrom’s mathematical analysis of those radio-tracking results revealed a dramatic shift, published today in the journal PNAS.

The first toads that arrived near Darwin were incredibly mobile, often moving more than one kilometre within a single night – but within a couple of years that rate had more than halved. The super-speediness seen at the invasion front is probably driven by evolutionary forces that come into play only at an expanding range edge, and are not seen in stable populations. Earlier studies on the toad front had revealed these mechanisms, and the current work shows just how spectacular the acceleration can be.

That rapid decrease in mobility after the invasion front passes through means that studies on “normal” cane toads – that is, on animals from long-established populations – would underestimate the potential rate of movement. If we want to predict how quickly a species can expand its range, we need to look right at the expanding range edge.

Unfortunately, that’s logistically difficult, so most of our data on animal dispersal rates come from long-established, stable populations. As a result, we may be underestimating potential rates of population spread.

Adapting to a changing world

The problem doesn’t just relate to invasive species. Many species shift their ranges for other reasons. Climate change is rendering many areas unsuitable for the animals and plants that currently live there (for example, by becoming too hot or too dry). But at the same time it is creating those conditions somewhere nearby (in an area that previously may have been too cold or too wet).

If a species caught in this situation is to survive, individuals either must rapidly adapt to the new conditions, or move to the area that offers suitable conditions. The fast pace of climate change makes both of these options very tough to achieve, but not impossible.

Even in a species where individuals generally do not move about very much or very far, the process of expanding their range into a newly-suitable area will create an evolutionary pressure for faster and faster dispersal. The end result may be that many species will manage to shift their distributions more quickly than we would have guessed from the movement rates we can measure in existing stable populations. And perhaps that provides a glimmer of hope.

Rick Shine receives funding from the ARC. He does not work for, consult to or own shares in any company or organisation that would benefit from this article.

This article was originally published at The Conversation.
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