/PRNewswire/ -- National conservation groups focusing on the restoration of coastal Louisiana are hailing today's announcement by federal officials that the state bird of Louisiana, the Brown Pelican, is being removed from the Endangered Species List. Audubon, the Environmental Defense Fund and the National Wildlife Federation view the recovering pelican as powerful proof that a healthy coast and strong environmental protections can benefit people and nature alike.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the species has sufficiently recovered from the impact of DDT contamination compounded by continuing habitat loss to be taken off the list in areas where it is not already delisted. Populations along the Atlantic Coast, in Florida and Alabama were delisted in 1985.
"The delisting of this iconic Gulf of Mexico species shows that cooperation produces results," said Mary E. Kelly, senior counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund's Center for Rivers and Deltas. "Now, we need to ensure that same spirit of cooperation and results extends to restoration of coastal Louisiana's wetlands, which, among many other benefits, provide habitat and food for this beautiful bird."
"This is an Endangered Species Act victory that demonstrates the great success we can achieve when we work together," echoes NWF's John Kostyack. "Maintaining that success will require confronting climate change and its relationship to coastal restoration and the species that depend on these important ecosystems."
According to Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count, Brown Pelican population trends have risen in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and California for the past 40-50 years. Hurricane Katrina took a toll on the Gulf Coast populations that has not been thoroughly erased, but the prospects remain good, provided coastal recovery stays on track.
"The future of the Brown Pelican depends on the same strategies that will benefit coastal residents," said Audubon's Louisiana Bird Conservation Director Melanie Driscoll. "Pelicans and people need a strong, well-funded coastal restoration plan that will speed the recovery of coastal marshes and the barrier islands that are our first defense from hurricanes and their primary source of food and shelter."
Continued monitoring of Brown Pelicans is essential to detect any unexpected future population declines. Conservationists also caution that proper site selection, operational guidelines and vigilance will be needed to ensure that proposed wind power projects don't threaten recovery in Texas and other areas.
Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization, represents more than 700,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense Fund has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. For more information, visit www.edf.org.
The National Wildlife Federation is America's largest conservation organization inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children's future.
Audubon -- Now in its second century, Audubon connects people with birds, nature and the environment that supports us all. Our national network of community-based nature centers, chapters, scientific, education, and advocacy programs engages millions of people from all walks of life in conservation action to protect and restore the natural world.
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Showing posts with label recovery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recovery. Show all posts
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Diversity of Plant-Eating Fish May be Key to Coral Reef Recovery
For endangered coral reefs, not all plant-eating fish are created equal.
A report scheduled to be published this week in the early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that maintaining the proper balance of herbivorous fishes may be critical to restoring coral reefs, which are declining dramatically worldwide. The conclusion results from a long-term study that found significant recovery in sections of coral reefs on which fish of two complementary species were caged.
Coral reefs depend on fish to eat the seaweeds with which the corals compete, and without such cleaning, the reefs decline as corals are replaced by seaweeds. Different fish consume different seaweeds because of the differing chemical and physical properties of the plants.
“Of the many different fish that are part of coral ecosystems, there may be a small number of species that are really critical for keeping big seaweeds from over-growing and killing corals,” explained Mark Hay, the Harry and Linda Teasley Professor of Biology at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “Our study shows that in addition to having enough herbivores, coral ecosystems also need the right mix of species to overcome the different defensive tactics of the seaweeds.”
By knowing which fish are most critical to maintaining coral health, resource managers could focus on protecting and enhancing the highest-impact species. In situations where local peoples depend on fishing, they might better sustain the reefs on which they depend by harvesting only less critical species.
“This could offer one more approach to resource managers,” Hay added. “If ecosystems were managed for critical mixes of herbivorous species, we might see more rapid recovery of the reefs.”
Believed to be the first study to demonstrate the importance of herbivore diversity in enhancing the growth of coral reefs, the research was conducted at the National Undersea Research Center in Key Largo, Florida. It was supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation and the Teasley Endowment at Georgia Tech.
Working 60 feet below the surface near the underwater laboratory Aquarius, Hay and co-author Deron E. Burkpile – who is now at Florida International University in North Miami – constructed 32 cages on a coral reef. Each cage was about two meters square and one meter tall and was sealed so that larger fish could neither enter nor leave.
The number and type of fish placed into each four-square-meter cage varied. Some cages had two fish that were able to eat hard, calcified plants; some had two fish able to eat soft, but chemically-defended plants; some had one of both types, and some had no fish at all. The cages were observed for a period of ten months starting in November 2003, and the change in coral cover and seaweed growth was measured.
“For the cages in which we mixed the two species of herbivores, the fish were able to remove much more of the upright seaweeds, and the corals in those areas increased in cover by more than 20 percent during ten months,” Hay said. “That is a dramatic rate of increase for a Caribbean reef.”
Though the percentage growth was impressive, the actual growth in size of each coral was small, Hay noted. Prior to the experiment, the coral reef areas studied had just four to five percent coverage of live coral. After ten months, the corals caged with the two species showed six to seven percent coverage. Corals caged with just one type of fish or no fish lost as much as 30 percent of their cover during the time period.
Hay and Burkepile attempted to repeat their experiment with a different species of fish, but the underwater cages were wiped away by Hurricane Dennis in July 2005 after only seven months of study.
The researchers studied the effects of the redband parrotfish (Sparisoma aurofrenatum) and the ocean surgeonfish (Acanthurus bahianus) in the first experiment, and the redband parrotfish and princess parrotfish (Scarus taeniopterus) in the second. The two fish per cage was at the “high end” of fish density found on present-day Caribbean reefs, but historic densities might have been much higher before extensive fishing of the Caribbean, Hay said.
Just two decades ago, coral coverage in the Caribbean was commonly 40 to 60 percent. Scientists blame many factors – disease, overfishing, pollution, excessive nutrients and global climate change – for the rapid decline, which has also been seen to differing degrees among coral reefs worldwide.
“Some people would argue that coral reefs really don’t exist as functional ecosystems in the Caribbean anymore,” Hay said. “The best reefs we have today are poor cousins to what was only average 20 years ago.”
For the future, Hay would like to expand the experiments to study the effects of additional species, and repeat the studies in different areas, such as the Fiji Islands, where residents are concerned about sustainability of the coral reefs. Though dependent on local fish for their protein, he said the Fiji Islanders may be able to change their fishing habits if researchers can determine which fish must be protected to help the reefs.
“The data we are seeing in Fiji suggests that diversity may be even more important there than it was in the Caribbean,” he said. “There are a lot of different species doing a lot of very different things. These consumers are very important, and in areas where they are over-fished, the reefs are crashing.”
The study provides more proof of how important biodiversity can be to maintaining healthy ecosystems.
“Species diversity is critically important, but we are losing critical components of the Earth’s ecosystem at an alarming rate,” Hay said. “There has been little work on the role of diversity among consumers and the effect that has on communities. This study will help add to our knowledge in this critical area.”
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A report scheduled to be published this week in the early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that maintaining the proper balance of herbivorous fishes may be critical to restoring coral reefs, which are declining dramatically worldwide. The conclusion results from a long-term study that found significant recovery in sections of coral reefs on which fish of two complementary species were caged.
Coral reefs depend on fish to eat the seaweeds with which the corals compete, and without such cleaning, the reefs decline as corals are replaced by seaweeds. Different fish consume different seaweeds because of the differing chemical and physical properties of the plants.
“Of the many different fish that are part of coral ecosystems, there may be a small number of species that are really critical for keeping big seaweeds from over-growing and killing corals,” explained Mark Hay, the Harry and Linda Teasley Professor of Biology at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “Our study shows that in addition to having enough herbivores, coral ecosystems also need the right mix of species to overcome the different defensive tactics of the seaweeds.”
By knowing which fish are most critical to maintaining coral health, resource managers could focus on protecting and enhancing the highest-impact species. In situations where local peoples depend on fishing, they might better sustain the reefs on which they depend by harvesting only less critical species.
“This could offer one more approach to resource managers,” Hay added. “If ecosystems were managed for critical mixes of herbivorous species, we might see more rapid recovery of the reefs.”
Believed to be the first study to demonstrate the importance of herbivore diversity in enhancing the growth of coral reefs, the research was conducted at the National Undersea Research Center in Key Largo, Florida. It was supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation and the Teasley Endowment at Georgia Tech.
Working 60 feet below the surface near the underwater laboratory Aquarius, Hay and co-author Deron E. Burkpile – who is now at Florida International University in North Miami – constructed 32 cages on a coral reef. Each cage was about two meters square and one meter tall and was sealed so that larger fish could neither enter nor leave.
The number and type of fish placed into each four-square-meter cage varied. Some cages had two fish that were able to eat hard, calcified plants; some had two fish able to eat soft, but chemically-defended plants; some had one of both types, and some had no fish at all. The cages were observed for a period of ten months starting in November 2003, and the change in coral cover and seaweed growth was measured.
“For the cages in which we mixed the two species of herbivores, the fish were able to remove much more of the upright seaweeds, and the corals in those areas increased in cover by more than 20 percent during ten months,” Hay said. “That is a dramatic rate of increase for a Caribbean reef.”
Though the percentage growth was impressive, the actual growth in size of each coral was small, Hay noted. Prior to the experiment, the coral reef areas studied had just four to five percent coverage of live coral. After ten months, the corals caged with the two species showed six to seven percent coverage. Corals caged with just one type of fish or no fish lost as much as 30 percent of their cover during the time period.
Hay and Burkepile attempted to repeat their experiment with a different species of fish, but the underwater cages were wiped away by Hurricane Dennis in July 2005 after only seven months of study.
The researchers studied the effects of the redband parrotfish (Sparisoma aurofrenatum) and the ocean surgeonfish (Acanthurus bahianus) in the first experiment, and the redband parrotfish and princess parrotfish (Scarus taeniopterus) in the second. The two fish per cage was at the “high end” of fish density found on present-day Caribbean reefs, but historic densities might have been much higher before extensive fishing of the Caribbean, Hay said.
Just two decades ago, coral coverage in the Caribbean was commonly 40 to 60 percent. Scientists blame many factors – disease, overfishing, pollution, excessive nutrients and global climate change – for the rapid decline, which has also been seen to differing degrees among coral reefs worldwide.
“Some people would argue that coral reefs really don’t exist as functional ecosystems in the Caribbean anymore,” Hay said. “The best reefs we have today are poor cousins to what was only average 20 years ago.”
For the future, Hay would like to expand the experiments to study the effects of additional species, and repeat the studies in different areas, such as the Fiji Islands, where residents are concerned about sustainability of the coral reefs. Though dependent on local fish for their protein, he said the Fiji Islanders may be able to change their fishing habits if researchers can determine which fish must be protected to help the reefs.
“The data we are seeing in Fiji suggests that diversity may be even more important there than it was in the Caribbean,” he said. “There are a lot of different species doing a lot of very different things. These consumers are very important, and in areas where they are over-fished, the reefs are crashing.”
The study provides more proof of how important biodiversity can be to maintaining healthy ecosystems.
“Species diversity is critically important, but we are losing critical components of the Earth’s ecosystem at an alarming rate,” Hay said. “There has been little work on the role of diversity among consumers and the effect that has on communities. This study will help add to our knowledge in this critical area.”
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Sunday, August 17, 2008
Microchips Help Cops Collar Dog Thieves
AAG Note: We've been victims of dog napping in the past. Just wish we'd had the opportunity to have our guy identified by others so he could have come home. Why didn't we microchip? It wasn't available. Now, we heartily encourage everyone to microchip your pet. It takes a few seconds and the chip is only about the size of a grain of rice.
Not only can your dog have a better shot of coming home, just remember the headlines in GA at the first of the year. When an abandoned dog was picked up and scanned for a microchip, the information led to the arrest of a man who had attacked and murdered a young GA hiker.
(NAPSI)-Sure, your dog might guard your house, but who’s guarding him?
With the recent explosion in dog thefts-hundreds in 2008, compared to just a handful reported for all of 2007-many pet owners have turned to microchips to permanently identify and protect their pets. The chips, which are usually implanted in the scruff of the neck, contain a unique ID code that can be activated when read by a scanner.
“A thief can remove a dog’s collar, but he can’t remove the chip- in fact, he won’t even know the dog has one,” says Lisa Peterson of the American Kennel Club (AKC). “Just recently, the technology led to the recovery of a New York dog that had been missing for five years before turning up in Georgia.”
The AKC offers microchipping events where pet owners can access the technology at little or no cost, and the group gives tips on ways to keep the chips up to date.
But remember: Microchips can only help you get your dog back once it’s already missing. Other safety measures suggested by the AKC include:
At Home
• Don’t let your dog off the leash or leave him unattended in your yard. Keeping him close reduces the likelihood he’ll wander off or become targeted by thieves.
• Breeders should beware of home visits by criminals posing as would-be “puppy buyers.” The scam artists return when no one’s home to snatch dogs.
On The Road
• Never leave your dog in an unattended car, even if it’s locked.
• Don’t tie your dog outside a store. Either patronize only dog-friendly retailers or else leave your pet at home.
• Be alert when frequenting places that cater to dogs, such as grooming salons, veterinarians, doggie day care or hotels. They could make for fertile stalking grounds for those with criminal intentions.
Recovery
• If you suspect your dog has been stolen, immediately call the police or animal control in the area your pet was last seen.
• Be prepared. Have flyers with a recent photo ready to go if your dog goes missing.
To learn more, enroll your pet in a 24-hour recovery service or to find a microchipping event near you, visit www.akccar.org or www.akc.org.
Microchip recovery services can help protect pets.
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Fayette Front Page
Fayetteville, Peachtree City, Tyrone
Not only can your dog have a better shot of coming home, just remember the headlines in GA at the first of the year. When an abandoned dog was picked up and scanned for a microchip, the information led to the arrest of a man who had attacked and murdered a young GA hiker.
(NAPSI)-Sure, your dog might guard your house, but who’s guarding him?
With the recent explosion in dog thefts-hundreds in 2008, compared to just a handful reported for all of 2007-many pet owners have turned to microchips to permanently identify and protect their pets. The chips, which are usually implanted in the scruff of the neck, contain a unique ID code that can be activated when read by a scanner.
“A thief can remove a dog’s collar, but he can’t remove the chip- in fact, he won’t even know the dog has one,” says Lisa Peterson of the American Kennel Club (AKC). “Just recently, the technology led to the recovery of a New York dog that had been missing for five years before turning up in Georgia.”
The AKC offers microchipping events where pet owners can access the technology at little or no cost, and the group gives tips on ways to keep the chips up to date.
But remember: Microchips can only help you get your dog back once it’s already missing. Other safety measures suggested by the AKC include:
At Home
• Don’t let your dog off the leash or leave him unattended in your yard. Keeping him close reduces the likelihood he’ll wander off or become targeted by thieves.
• Breeders should beware of home visits by criminals posing as would-be “puppy buyers.” The scam artists return when no one’s home to snatch dogs.
On The Road
• Never leave your dog in an unattended car, even if it’s locked.
• Don’t tie your dog outside a store. Either patronize only dog-friendly retailers or else leave your pet at home.
• Be alert when frequenting places that cater to dogs, such as grooming salons, veterinarians, doggie day care or hotels. They could make for fertile stalking grounds for those with criminal intentions.
Recovery
• If you suspect your dog has been stolen, immediately call the police or animal control in the area your pet was last seen.
• Be prepared. Have flyers with a recent photo ready to go if your dog goes missing.
To learn more, enroll your pet in a 24-hour recovery service or to find a microchipping event near you, visit www.akccar.org or www.akc.org.
Microchip recovery services can help protect pets.
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Fayetteville, Peachtree City, Tyrone
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