Mangrove forests thrive in the salty tidal zone between ocean and land. They play an immensely important role in stabilizing the coastline against erosion, moderating storm surges, and as a nursery and sanctuary for hundreds of species of fish, birds, and other animals.

It's too bad then that in many parts of the world mangrove forests are disappearing faster than they can be surveyed and appreciated for the life-giving services they provide.

Mangroves in Africa have been particularly impacted by human development and many countries may be in danger of losing these vital shoreline woodlands completely, which could threaten food security and expose coastal communities to natural disasters.

"Impoverished fishermen along the coast of tropical African countries like Mozambique and Madagascar may have only a few more years to eke out a profit from one of their nations' biggest agricultural exports," says NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in a recent news release.

"Within a few decades, they may no longer have a livelihood at all."

"Mangrove forests--essential breeding grounds for fish and shellfish in these countries--are being destroyed by worsening pollution, encroaching real estate development, and deforestation necessary to sustain large-scale commercial shrimp farming."

That's because swampy mangrove forests--essential breeding grounds for fish and shellfish in these countries--are being destroyed by worsening pollution, encroaching real estate development, and deforestation necessary to sustain large-scale commercial shrimp farming, NASA explains.

"The decline of these forests threatens much of Africa's coastal food supply and economy. The destruction of mangroves--one of Earth's richest natural resources - also has implications for everything from climate change to biodiversity to the quality of life on Earth."

But help may be on the way.

Lola Fatoyinbo, an evironmental scientist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), has helped develop a tool that will help African countries manage their dwindling mangroves.

Growing up in Cotonou, Benin, West Africa, Fatoyinbo passed polluted mangroves daily, NASA says. "Inspired to help save the forests, she began a mission as a graduate student in the United States to gain more insight about African mangroves."

Her studies have brought Fatoyinbo back to Africa, where she has journeyed along the coastlines to test a new satellite technique for measuring the area, height, and biomass of mangrove forests.

"She developed and employed a method that can be used across the continent, overcoming expensive, ad hoc, and inconsistent modes of ground-based measurement," NASA says.

Fatoyinbo's approach recently produced what she believes is the first full assessment of the continent's mangrove forests.

"We've lost more than 50 percent of the world's mangrove forests in a little over half a century; a third of them have disappeared in the last 20 years alone," said Fatoyinbo, whose earlier study of Mozambique's coastal forests laid the groundwork for the continent-wide study.

"Hopefully this technique will offer scientists and officials a method of estimating change in this special type of forest."

NASA researcher Lola Fatoyinbo (left), seen here in June 2005 on the site where she conducted some of her field measurements, stands among the large branches of a Rhizophora mucronata tree in a mangrove forest on Inhaca Island, Mozambique with one of her research assistants, a student from the University Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, Mozambique.

Photo courtesy NASA/Temilola Fatoyinbo

Mangroves are the most common ecosystem in coastal areas of the tropics and sub-tropics, NASA says. "The swampy forests are essential--especially in densely-populated developing countries--for rice farming, fishing and aquaculture (freshwater and saltwater farming), timber, and firewood. Some governments also increasingly depend on them for ecotourism."

The large, dense root systems are a natural obstacle that helps protect shorelines against debris and erosion, NASA explains. "Mangroves are often the first line of defense against severe storms, tempering the impact of strong winds and floods."

Mangroves also have a direct link to climate, sequestering carbon from the atmosphere at a rate of about 100 pounds per acre per day--comparable to the per acre intake by tropical rainforests (though rainforests cover more of Earth's surface), NASA adds.

"To my knowledge, this study is the first complete mapping of Africa's mangroves, a comprehensive, historic baseline enabling us to truly begin monitoring the welfare of these forests," said Assaf Anyamba, a University of Maryland expert on vegetation mapping, based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Fatoyinbo's research combines multiple satellite observations of tree height and land cover, mathematical formulas, and ground-truthing data from the field to measure the full expanse and makeup of the coastal forests.

Her measurements yielded three new kinds of maps of mangroves: continental maps of how much land the mangroves cover; a three-dimensional map of the height of forest canopies across the continent; and biomass maps that allow researchers to assess how much carbon the forests store.

Fatoyinbo and colleague Marc Simard of JPL used satellite images from the NASA-built Landsat and a complex software-based color classification system to distinguish areas of coastal forests from other types of forests, urban areas or agricultural fields.

They also integrated data from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) to create relief maps of the height of the forest canopy.

Finally, they merged the broad radar maps with high-accuracy observations from a light detection and ranging (commonly called lidar) instrument aboard NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) to obtain accurate height estimates.

"Fatoyinbo double-checked the accuracy of her satellite measurements at the ground level in the only way possible: She went to Africa to measure tree heights and trunk diameters in person," NASA says.

Thirty years ago, Dr. Tom Lovejoy, the chairman of National Geographic's Conservation Trust, set up a unique experiment to monitor biodiversity in Brazil. It's to be repeated in Borneo, conservation biologist Stuart Pimm reports from Borneo for Nat Geo News Watch.

Photo of oil palm plantation by Stuart Pimm

By Stuart L. Pimm
Special Contributor to NatGeo News Watch

Borneo, Malaysia--The flight from Kota Kinabalu to Lahad Datu across the northern end of the island of Borneo passes south of Mount Kinabalu--at 4,000 metres (13,400 feet) the tallest mountain in southeast Asia. Above it, and towering above us, is a massive thundercloud, threateningly black with its edges backlit by sunlight.

Such storms bring part of the three meters (120 inches) of rain that makes this tropical forest grow.

But exactly the same conditions make the land below a perfect place for oil palms, a crop that has rapidly become the dominant land use in much of southeast Asia. Princeton University ecologists Lian Pin Koh and David Wilcove showed in a paper in Conservation Letters last year that there are now more then 13 million hectares (52,00 square miles) of oil palm.

As we land in Lahad Datu, the land below us is mostly oil palm.

Photo of oil palm fruits on the way to market by Stuart Pimm

Like most monocultures--cropland where only one species is planted--these oil palm plantations are home to very few species.

Many conservation biologists view the expansion of oil palm as one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. And Borneo is a country that teems with species of plants and animals. (See Pimm's related story "An Inordinate Passion for Moths."

Experiences elsewhere in the world tell us that some forest will remain after clearing for crops and cattle grazing.

Photo of cattle grazing in a Brazilian clearing by Stuart Pimm

It was the threat posed by cattle-grazing--and the need to understand how many species would remain in small fragments--that led Lovejoy and Brazilian colleagues to create an extraordinary experiment in the middle of the Amazon forest thirty years ago.

It's known as the BDFFP--the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project.

Lovejoy holds the Biodiversity Chair at the Heinz Center in Washington D.C. and also chairs National Geographic's Conservation Trust.

The experiment, north of Manaus, used the forest clearing for cattle ranching to establish a set of plots--of one hectare (roughly 100 by 100 yards), 10 hectares, and 100 hectares. Some control plots of the same size were marked out in forest that would remain intact.

Photo of forest fragments in Brazil by Stuart Pimm

Lovejoy and his team then surveyed the plots for the species they contained and watched, over the years, how they disappeared. "Many and quickly" was the simple answer, from work done with Tom by my former graduate student Gonçalo Ferraz. "We found that even in the largest fragments, many bird species were missing within a decade or so," Ferraz told me. "The majority of the birds were gone from the smaller fragments in a matter of a few years."

Photo of land cleared at the site of Lovejoy's experiment by Stuart Pimm

Would the same be true for forest fragments in Borneo that would be surrounded by oil palm plantations?

That was the question of a new experiment Dr. Robert Ewers, of Imperial College London, explained to me when I met him earlier this year. We sat in the dingy bar at Silwood Park where faculty and research students have crowded on Friday evenings for decades to discuss ecology's latest ideas. It seemed a long way from Borneo's rainforest.

Ewers had lots of good ideas to test--and, of course, the experiences and hindsight of what happened in Brazil. Would such species as orangutans and large birds, such as Borneo's many species of hornbill be able to survive? I thought not, on the basis of what we'd learned in Brazil.

Photos of black hornbill (above) and orangutan (below) in Borneo by Stuart Pimm

The simple comparison of Brazil and Borneo was going to be important -- a means to decide whether we really understood what had happened in Brazil and why.

I was looking forward to being in Borneo. When I finally got there, I talked to Dr. Glenn Reynolds, the director of the Royal Society's Southeast Asia Rainforest Research Programme. The program has been based at the Danum Valley Field Centre since 1985.

He told me that they were about to establish a large forest fragmentation program. Large portions of forest will be planted in oil palm, but some areas will be kept as forest, however.

The sizes of those fragments will be the same as those in Brazil's Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project.

Working with their local partners in Borneo, the Sabah Foundation, researchers will spend two years surveying the areas for their biodiversity before the forest is cleared. This will establish the baseline.

Then after fragmentation, teams will follow the change.

Photo of forest cleared for cattle pasture in Brazil by Stuart Pimm

Deciding how large fragments were needed to protect different kinds of animals and plants provided very important advice to managers in Brazil. We now knew that forest fragments had to be large enough if they were to protect biodiversity.

But there were many ecological variables that the Brazil project had not measured. The new experiments in Borneo would give scientists a chance to address so many questions they wished the Brazil project had tested.

"What will you measure?" I asked Reynolds. "Beetles, moths, butterflies--birds certainly," he explained. "But one of the strategic aims of this project is to set up a platform, so that scientists in different disciplines from Malaysia and around the world can work on this problem."

Reynolds plans were ambitious--but then there are so many things we need to know about what happens as humanity shrinks Earth's tropical forests.

Watch Stuart Pimm's video report and interview with Glenn Reynolds:

Professor Stuart L. Pimm is a conservation biologist at Duke University, North Carolina. A former member of the National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration, Pimm is the author of dozens of books and research papers, including the book "The World According to Pimm: A Scientist Audits the Earth."

Photo Brazilian rain forest by Stuart Pimm

Read earlier blog posts by Stuart Pimm:

An Inordinate Passion for Moths

Florida Panther Fights for Survival Again--This Time in Washington D.C.

Many Mammal Migrations Are at Risk of Extinction, Research Finds

Related NatGeo News Watch content:

Support for Sustainable Palm Oil Gains Traction in China

Major China-based producers and users of palm oil have committed support for sustainable palm oil, "an important boost for efforts to halt tropical deforestation," WWF reported today.

The public statement, made at the 2nd International Oil and Fats Summit in Beijing on July 9, committed the companies to "support the promotion, procurement and use of sustainable palm oil in China,'"as well as "support the production of sustainable palm oil through any investments in producing countries." (The full text of the statement is at the bottom of this page.)

China is the world's largest importer of palm oil, accounting for one third of all global trade.

"Increasing demand for palm oil, which is used in everything from soap to chocolate bars, is causing considerable damage to fragile rainforest environments, threatening endangered species like tigers, and contributing to global climate change," WWF said.

Convoluted rows of oil palms march across a plantation in aerial view in Malaysia.

NGS photo by James P. Blair

Palm oil is the most produced vegetable oil in the world, with about 37 million tonnes produced per year around the world, according to WWF.

Although palm oil is a more sustainable source of vegetable oil than other crops such as soy and rapeseed (canola oil), there are concerns that growing global demand for palm oil for food and biofuel could lead to rapid and poorly managed expansion of oil palm production that could have serious environmental and social consequences.

Palm oil producers and buyers signing the statement of support for sustainable palm oil included Wilmar International, IOI Group, KLK Berhad, Kulim Malaysia Berhad, Asian Agri., Premier Foods and Unilever. Oxfam International, TransAsia Lawyers, and Solidaridad China have also signed the statement.

"Given the massive of volumes of palm oil now being purchased, any move China makes towards using sustainable palm oil will have a big influence on protecting tropical forest resources in South East Asia and other areas," said WWF-China Country Representative Dermot O'Gorman.

NGS photo of a vendor selling palm ooil in a market in the Democratic Republic of Congo by W. Robert Moore

WWF and Unilever helped set up the international Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2004, with the aim of establishing global standards for sustainable palm oil production and promoting the use of products containing sustainable palm oil.

A credible standard that defines sustainable palm oil production has been developed and a system for certification and trade mechanisms in certified sustainable palm oil are in place. However, there have been concerns that consumers worldwide have been slow to support products that use certified palm oil (see news links below).

WWF-China first introduced sustainable palm oil to Chinese companies in 2004, and continues to encourage the country's buyers, producers, and traders to participate in RSPO, the Switzerland-based environmental organization said.

"Sustainable palm oil received a massive boost in November 2008 when Dr. Huo Jiangguo, President of China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Foodstuffs and Native Produce, attended the RSPO annual conference in Indonesia and announced that China supported the drive for more sustainable palm oil products."

"Industry in China acknowledges that sustainability is one of the key criteria of ensuring competence in the global market."

"Industry in China acknowledges that sustainability is one of the key criteria of ensuring competence in the global market," said Bian Zhenghu, vice president of the China Chamber of Commerce during his opening address to the forum. "The Roundtable encourages the entire industry chain to make a move towards sustainability, and also gives Chinese stakeholders a big opportunity to play a significant role achieving the aims of RSPO."

Statement of Support: Promotion of Sustainable Palm Oil in China

This Statement of Support is a non-legally binding expression of support by the signatories on the promotion of sustainable palm oil in China.

Recognizing that
• China is the largest consumer of palm oil which is an important and versatile raw material for both food and non-food products, including biofuel
• It is important that palm oil is produced in a sustainable manner as defined by the Principles and Criteria of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
• Certified sustainable palm oil is now available in commercial quantities

The signatories of this Statement of Support commit themselves to
• Support the promotion, procurement and use of sustainable palm oil in China.
• Support the production of sustainable palm oil through any investments in producing countries that are consistent with the principles for sustainable palm oil production, national laws and China's guidelines for sustainable agriculture.

 

Further reading:

Clearing Land for Biofuels Makes Global Warming Worse (National Geographic News)

Biofuels Could Do More Harm Than Good, UN Report Warns (National Geographic News)

The slippery business of palm oil (The Guardian)

Backers Don't Buy 'Friendly' Palm Oil (Wall Street Journal)

Once a Dream Fuel, Palm Oil May Be an Eco-Nightmare (New York Times)

How the palm oil industry is Cooking the Climate (Greenpeace)

Why Biofuels Are the Rainforest's Worst Enemy (Mother Jones blog)

Slow Sales Of Sustainable Palm Oil Threaten Tropical Forests (WWF press release)

Cruel Oil: How Palm Oil Harms Health, Rain Forests0 and Wildlife (Center for Science in the Public Interest)

 

Parks, forests, and historic places require a significant increase in annual funding if they are to be preserved for future generations, a major assessment of U.S. outdoor resources has found.

A report by the private, bipartisan Outdoor Resources Review Group (ORRG) was presented today at a Capitol Hill briefing to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee), who served as honorary co-chairs of the project.

In its report, the task force analyzed efforts to conserve and protect the U.S. outdoor heritage--including parks, wildlife refuges, and open space.

"The report draws a strong link between the availability and quality of these resources and the health of Americans, the economy, and communities nationwide," says a statement by ORRG. "It also points to the tremendous hurdle in securing adequate funding for parks, recreation, and related purposes at the state and local levels, which are on the front line in providing these services."

In the foreword to the report, Senators Bingaman and Alexander said, "Americans all across the country, of all backgrounds and of all political views, care deeply about the health of our land and water resources--the wildlife, parks, forests, farms and ranchlands, and historic places that have sustained and enriched us as a people over generations...We are past due for a serious look at where we stand as a country in achieving our goal of safeguarding these resources...Today, with a new President and a new Administration, we have the opportunity to put our conservation efforts on solid footing for generations to follow."

National Geographic Chairman Gil Grosvenor delivers "Great Outdoors America," a report on the recreational use of the nation's resources, to Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. (center), Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. (second from right) and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar (right).

NGS photo by Megan Seldon

"Healthy, productive land and water resources, wildlife habitat, parks and open space, culturally and historically significant landscapes, and available and accessible recreation lands are fundamental to the American way of life and our future prosperity," the report notes.

"At stake now and for future generations is the health of our people, our economy, our communities, and the lands and waters on which we depend, in short, the quality of life we enjoy in our cities and towns and rural places."

Independent Conservation Trust Proposed

A key proposal in the report, which is flagged for further study, is the development of an independent conservation trust within the federal establishment, with dedicated and sustained funding reaching U.S. $5 billion annually, the ORRG statement said.

"One potential funding source, the report suggests, could be a percentage of royalties and revenues collected from development of new renewable and conventional energy resources and transmission capacity on public lands and on the outer continental shelf."

NGS photo of Yellowstone National Park by J. Baylor Roberts

The report anticipates conflicts over specific projects if a substantial push is made to develop energy resources on public lands that are valued as wildlife habitat or for recreation. It also calls for a national climate program to help fund the adaptation of land and water resources in a warming world.

The ORRG report is the first major assessment of outdoor resources since the President's Commission on Americans Outdoors in 1987.

Outdoor Pursuits Have Grown in Popularity

"In the more than 20 years since that study, a wide range of outdoor pursuits--including such activities as bird watching, water-related sports, rock climbing, mountain biking, and off-road vehicles--have grown in popularity, even as more traditional activities such as hiking, camping, hunting, and fishing retain strong core followings," ORRG says.

The report recommends creating a new nationwide system of "Blueways" and water trails to energize grassroots activity to improve water quality and water-related recreation opportunities.

NGS photo of Everglades National Park by Robert Sisson

The 17-member ORRG task force was organized by Henry Diamond, partner at Beveridge & Diamond, P.C., an environmental law firm headquartered in Washington, and former commissioner of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation; Patrick Noonan, chairman emeritus of The Conservation Fund; and Gilbert Grosvenor, chairman of the board of the National Geographic Society.

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Madagascar's efforts to curtail illegal logging in the World Heritage Sites of Masoala and Marojejy National Parks and their peripheral zones have not reduced the impact of logging in the immediate term, say governments, international agencies, and conservation groups that support conservation of the country's natural heritage.

A statement issued today by 13 embassies, agencies, and organizations--the 'International Community and Conservation Partners Resident in Madagascar"--calls for "aggressive transparent actions to curb illegal logging in and around Madagascar's Protected Areas and World Heritage Sites."

NGS photo of lemur in Madagascar forest by Luis Marden

The "communique" was made two months after eleven groups that fund and help manage conservation of Madagascar's remaining wilderness heritage issued a joint statement, deploring the invasion by armed looters of national parks and forests, illegal timber extraction, illegal mining, and intensified smuggling of endangered species.

The groups came together at the end of March after numerous reports that Madagascar's conservation areas were being plundered by bandits and organized criminal syndicates taking advantage of the lawlessness and paralysis of government in the wake of a coup d'etat and ongoing political turmoil throughout the African island country.

Earlier in March, the Marojejy National Park in the northern region of Madgascar closed for tourism after gangs entered the sanctuary to cut down precious rosewood trees.

Looters invading Madagascar's protected wildlife sanctuaries to harvest trees threaten critically endangered lemurs and other species, conservationists warn. (Read a full account about this.)

Satellite image courtesy NASA

Now, two months later, there is no indication that the illegal logging has abated, prompting today's statement.

Joining the conservation groups in today's statement are the embassies of France, Germany, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, and the U.S. All these countries provide foreign assistance to Madagascar.

"Madagascar's image ... is being irreparably damaged."

The statement said: "We are troubled that Madagascar's image, nationally and internationally, as a country committed to the protection of its unique biodiversity and natural resources, is being irreparably damaged, resulting in reduced long-term support to protected areas and making it difficult for Madagascar's people to benefit from its natural resource heritage.

"We are also afraid this damage could spread around other protected areas and their peripheral zone.

"The increased illegal logging calls into question Madagascar's genuine commitment to a transparent wood control system that documents the legality of harvesting and sales. A significant amount of precious resources--hardwood, unique biodiversity and non-collected fees--are irreversibly lost from this uncontrolled timber harvesting.

"The Malagasy rural people only marginally benefit from this illegal trade of precious wood, as the international value of the exported wood is over 600 times the benefits to the collector. It is clear the current situation does not further the fight against poverty or the livelihoods of Madagascar's rural population."

NGS photo by Luis Marden

Illegal trade of timber is growing in importance and concern at the global level, the statement continued. "The United States and European Union are putting in place new strict laws and regulations to stop the importation of illegally harvested and traded wood products.

"We, the international community and conservation partners, encourage a still more proactive and aggressive response in addressing this increased harvesting of Madagascar's unique natural resources by implementing a legal transparent system of wood trade that effectively controls all points in the supply chain.

"Environmental governance can and must be improved through preventive actions at all levels, including pressure on international buyers coupled with incentives that support legal trade and respond to the needs and engagement of local communities.

"Moreover, it is essential that the Malagasy authorities, with the support of all stakeholders, improve support to protected areas in order to preserve the extraordinary biological riches of Madagascar."

Read the full text:

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More than 1,200 species were identified in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore bioblitz this weekend.

The number is expected to rise significantly as scientists crunch data and examine specimens in laboratories in coming weeks.

Among the species found that were previously unreported for this national park were 20 types of rove beetles and a handful of tardigrades, said Tim Watkins, the bioblitz science coordinator.

In the shallows of Lake Michigan an invasive species of fish, the round goby, which is believed to have come from Russia in ship ballast water in the 1980s, was found to have displaced native benthic fishes--indicating a loss of species for the park.

A small number of hatchlings of spotted turtle was seen, Watkins said. The turtle is rare and, in the state of Indiana, is regarded by conservationists as a species of special concern.

"What's encouraging is that the find is an indication that there is a breeding population of this turtle in the park," Watkins said. "That's very good news for both the turtle and the park, and a tribute to the dedication of the scientists and citizens who took part in the bioblitz."

Watch this video to hear Stuart Pimm, professor of conservation biology at Duke University, North Carolina, explain why the Indiana Dunes bioblitz was so important.

video by David Braun

 

Database for Research

 

When the bioblitz data is completed and verified, the full list of species, and their locations will be secured in NPSpecies, a National Park Service database, where it will be a reference for future surveys and additional research.

Fieldscope, a National Geographic education initiative, and the Encyclopedia of Life, an Internet project to create a Web page for every species on the planet, will also record the data.

Organized jointly by the U.S. National Park Service and the National Geographic Society, the 24-hour event, that ended midday Saturday, was the third in a series of ten bioblitzes in urban parks.

The first two bioblitzes were held in Washington, D.C.'s Rock Creek Park in 2007 and in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in the Los Angeles area last year. The tenth and last bioblitz in this series is scheduled to be held in 2016, the 100th anniversary of the U.S. National Park Service..

This year's bioblitz was held in the dunes on the southern shore of Lake Michigan within sight of Chicago. More than 150 scientists from across the U.S. participated, among them botanists, entomologists (insect experts), ornithologists (birds), herpetologists (reptiles and amphibians), ichthyologists (fish), mycologists (fungi), myrmecologists (ants), and various mammal specialists.

The experts, ably assisted by some 2,000 grade school students and other members of the public, fanned out across much of Indiana Dunes' 15,000 acres of forests, wetlands, prairie, streams, sand dunes and lake shore.

 

Heavy Rains, High Winds

 

By day and by night, and at times in heavy rain and high winds, the army of professional and citizen scientists looking for species waded into marshes, bog, and lake shallows, crawled over towering dunes, scratched in leaf litter, poked the soil, and peered up tall trees and under rocks and logs.

"A bioblitz is always an adventure, and this one was no different," said John Francis, National Geographic Vice President for Research, Conservation, and Exploration, who went out on as many as he could of the 176 scheduled scientist-led forays to look for species.

"We had drenching rain and rivers flowing through our base camp, but science was undaunted," Francis added. "The bioblitz helped put Indiana Dunes further on the map as a national park important for its extraordinary diversity of species.

"The big turnout of scientists, students, and families showed how excited people are about this place. This can only help build the community that supports this park, not only in the minds of the local population but also nationally."

 

Bioblitz 2010

 

Planning for the fourth bioblitz in the series, in Florida's Biscayne Bay next year, started earlier today, Francis said.

"The next bioblitz is likely to be even bigger and better than the first three because with each one we learn how to do them better, and more people are becoming aware of how important and fun they are. Bioblitz fever is alive and well."

Under consideration for the 2010 bioblitz is a Web component that will allow students across the country to not only follow the event in Florida but also to emulate it with mini bioblitzes in their own communities.

 

 

For more details and updates, please visit the official National Geographic BioBlitz Web site.

 

 

Read more stories about the Indiana Dunes bioblitz on NatGeo News Watch and BlogWILD.

 

 

 

In the video below Superintendent for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Constantine (Costa) J. Dillon talks about what's special about the park, its challenges, and its opportunities.

 Video by David Braun

 

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Superintendent Costa Dillon (left) and National Geographic Vice President for Research, Conservation, and Exploration John Francis at a social reception on the eve of the bioblitz.

 

 

Photo by David Braun

 

 

 

 

 

Mike Thomas (left), of the National Park Service, and Mark Christmas, National Park Service contractor and former National Geographic staffer, guided the installation of the event. This included the erection of an outdoor stage and more than 40 tents covering 14,000 square feet. The largest tent provided shelter and work stations for scientists and data entry. The installation took three days, through severe weather that included heavy rains and wind gusts up to 55 mph.

 

 

Photo by David Braun

 

 

 

Conservation biologist Stuart Pimm (watch his video above) and blogger David Braun (right)  take a break during the bioblitz in Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore on Friday night.

Photo by Mark Christmas

This is the official tally board of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore BioBlitz when the species count ended after 24 hours, at noon on Saturday, May 16. Species totals were expected to continue to come in throughout the weekend and coming weeks, raising the numbers seen here significantly.

Photo by David Braun

It's a big day today for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, a 15,000-acre national park that's spread in patches of forest, prairie, marsh, and bog, tucked between towering dunes that formed the ancient Lake Michigan shore.

Nestled in a community of some 10,000,000 people, and hemmed in by steel mills, power stations, and railroads, the park has a fine view of Chicago's skyscrapers. It's one of America's largest and most species-rich urban national parks.

Indiana Dunes was so exploited by industry, mineral extraction, and other human activities that it was once thought it would be pointless to make it a national park.

But conservationists persevered and the U.S. Congress declared Indiana Dunes a national park in 1966. Restoration and consolidation of disparate chunks of habitat that survived early industrialization have turned Indiana Dunes into a haven for a large number of species, including millions of visitors who use the park each year for relaxation and inspiration.

Today, May 15, more than a hundred scientists from a wide range of disciplines have descended on the park. Over the next 24 hours they will inventory every species they can find.

I spoke to several scientists as they headed into the field at the start of the bioblitz two hours ago. Many said they were optimistic that they would confirm that Indiana Dunes is home to extraordinary biodiversity.

In the video below Superintendent for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Constantine (Costa) J. Dillon talks about what's special about the park, its challenges, and its opportunities.

Indiana Dunes is in many ways dealing with issues today that other national parks will eventually have to confront, Dillon predicts.

Video by David Braun

Stuart L. Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University, North Carolina, addressed the opening of the bioblitz on behalf of the scientists. Pimm, a former member of the National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration, explained to the audience why biodiversity is so important. Watch his speech on this video:

Video by David Braun

After the ceremony, Pimm gave me this video interview about the bioblitz and what's so special about Indiana Dunes:

Video by David Braun

In less than 24 hours the Indiana Dunes Bioblitz begins. Researchers and volunteers will fan out across Lake Michigan's southern shore in Indiana to inventory as many species as they can find in 24 hours. 

John Francis, National Geographic Vice President for Research, Conservation, and Exploration, gave me this video interview late this afternoon, shortly after I emerged from a four-hour hike through Cowles Bog. He talks about the concept of a bioblitz, why this particular park was selected, and why National Geographic is sponsoring a series of ten annual bioblitzes in urban national parks.

Video by David Braun

Over the past couple of days I have walked more than 20 miles of trails in the 15,000-acre Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, sloshing through marshes and a bog, and a number of times trekking over giant dunes to get to Lake Michigan's beach.

I have had the trails and beaches mostly to myself, in part because it is not yet tourist season and also because it's been cold and rainy. I've enjoyed the solitude and the opportunity to get to know these dunes. I've seen many birds and animals and heard many more, including what sounded like an owl fight (mating?) last night and, at sunset, a great chorus of frogs.

Indiana Dunes bog photo by David Braun

Now the real fun--and work--begins. This time tomorrow the park will be swarming with scientists and volunteers trying to identify as many species as they can within 24 hours--a bioblitz.

Listing the plants will be relatively easy compared with finding some of the animals, especially the insects. One scientist told me earlier today that it would not be possible to find every insect species in the dunes, "even if the bioblitz lasted for 50 years." That's because some insects are very secretive and are very rarely seen, he said.

I imagined that a bioblitz involved scientists turning over logs and stones to find what they're looking for. However, several have told me that they have tricks to lure animals out of hiding. One researcher uses squid to entice beetles into traps, for example.

The bioblitz ends Saturday, but that will not be the end of the process. It may take many weeks or months for the researchers to properly examine all the specimens they gather. Only then will we know what was truly found in the bioblitz.

Video by Mpingo Conservation Project

Two communities in Tanzania have obtained the first Forest Stewardship Council certification for community-managed natural forest in Africa.

Certification by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international, not-for-profit, membership-based organization that promotes responsible management of the world's forests, entitles the faremers to use a logo and product label (see details below) that helps consumers worldwide support sustainable harvesting.

Working through the Mpingo Conservation Project (MCP), the Tanzanian communities will strive to harvest and sell African Blackwood (also known as mpingo), a slow growing tree which is highly prized for making clarinets, oboes and bagpipes.

"Some of the world's poorest people have achieved international recognition for responsible forest management, and a golden opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty, through selling responsibly harvested timber for musical instruments," UK-based conservation organization Fauna & Flora International said in a news statement.

"This landmark achievement will enable the communities to earn 250 times more from their woodlands--by managing them responsibly--than they have done previously...The FSC certificate will enable communities to earn upwards of U.S.$19 per log compared to 8 cents they received before the MCP began working with them."

Under the system of Participatory Forest Management, which is enshrined in Tanzanian law, communities can take over ownership and control of their local forests from the government, allowing them to profit from timber sales, as long as they manage the forests sustainably, FFI said. "However, with illegal logging widespread, there is a need to differentiate timber coming from community forests from other sources if communities are to receive a fair price; the new FSC certificate does that."

Historic First for Africans

A small collection of villages in south-east Tanzania have been working with the Mpingo Conservation Project since 2004 to achieve this historic first for African people, offering new hope for the twin goals of poverty alleviation and forest protection on the continent, FFI added in its release.

"Previously we just used blackwood without thought, but we have learnt that it is a valuable resource. Now we see that we can utilise our stocks to benefit us all as villagers," said Mwinyimkuu Awadhi, Chairman of Kikole village.

Local farmer, Mwanaiba Ali Mbega, added: "When we started this project we began to see the benefits that could arise from managing our forests. Now we have reached the stage of certification we are confident we are going to bring long term benefits that we will be able to pass on to our grandchildren."

The first timber will be harvested by the villagers from this month. The wood must then be properly dried, a process which takes at least one year, and it is expected that the first FSC-certified blackwood instruments will be available sometime in 2011.

The Mpingo Conservation Project (MCP) aims to conserve endangered forest habitats in East Africa by promoting sustainable and socially equitable harvesting of valuable timber stocks, and with a particular focus on mpingo--the African Blackwood tree.

"African Blackwood...has long been over-harvested across the continent to obtain its dark, lustrous heartwood," FFI said. "The wood is greatly prized for its strong structural qualities by local wood carvers and international manufacturers of woodwind instruments.

"Although African Blackwood is still relatively abundant in South-East Tanzania, illegal logging is widespread and very poor, forest-dependent communities generally receive little benefit from logging on the land around their villages."

Between 7,500 and 20,000 African Blackwood trees are felled for musical instruments each year.

Additional information:

Forest Stewardship Council

Mpingo Conservation Project

Sound & Fair (sustainable blackwood campaign)

Look for these logos:

Graphic courtesy Forest Stewardship Council

Wildlife trade is so poorly regulated in the United States that it threatens ecosystems, native species, food supply chains and human health, several agencies and institutions have warned.

Imports of wildlife are fragmented and insufficiently coordinated, failing to accurately list more than four in five species entering the country, said a team of scientists from the Wildlife Trust, Brown University, Pacific Lutheran University, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Global Invasive Species Programme.

Their findings are published in the current issue of the journal Science.

The pet trade includes sales of tokay geckos, pictured here.

Photo by Michael Yabsley, University of Georgia/Courtesy NSF

"As our world, in many senses, grows smaller and smaller with the ease of international travel, the network of connections has increased, facilitating the spread of diseases," said Rita Teutonico, senior advisor for integrative activities in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences (SBE).

SBE co-funded the research.

"These scientists report a pattern of trade in wildlife that includes a very large number of animals, coupled with a poor understanding of what species are traded," said James Collins, NSF assistant director for Biological Sciences, in a news statement issued by the NSF. "The findings highlight the need for further research because of the unknown effects these animals and their pathogens can have on native organisms."

More than 1.5 Billion Animals Imported

A global trade in wildlife generates hundreds of billions of dollars each year, the news release added. The researchers report that during a six-year period from 2000 through 2006, the U.S. imported more than 1.5 billion live animals.

"That's more than 200 million animals a year--unexpectedly high," said scientist Peter Daszak, president of the Wildlife Trust, who co-led the research.

The animals collected were from wild populations in more than 190 countries around the world, and were intended for commercial sale in the U.S.--primarily in the pet trade, according to the news statement.

"This incredible number of imports is equivalent to every single person in the U.S. owning at least five pets," said biologist Katherine Smith of Brown University, co-leader of the study.

More than 86 percent of shipments contained animals that were not classified to the level of species, making it impossible to assess the full diversity of animals imported, or calculate the risk of non-native species introductions or disease transmission, the NSF said.

"Shipments are coming in labeled 'live vertebrate' or 'fish,'" Daszak said. "If we don't know what animals are in there, how do we know which are going to become invasive species or carry diseases that could affect livestock, wildlife--or ourselves?"

Monkeypox and Other Diseases Imported With Wildlife

The wildlife trade has previously led to disease introductions such as the 2003 monkeypox outbreak following the import of infected African rodents for the pet trade, NSF added.

"The threat to public health is real, as the majority of emerging diseases come from wildlife," said Smith. "Most of these imported animals originate in Southeast Asia--a hotspot for emerging diseases."

The research team calls for direct measures to decrease the risk of such "pathogen pollution" and proposes guidelines to protect human, animal, and ecosystem health:

• Stricter record keeping should be required to inform risk analysis on animal imports.
• Third-party surveillance and testing should be established for both known and unknown pathogens at the exportation points in foreign countries.
• Greater public education is needed to educate individuals, importers, veterinarians and pet industry advocates about the dangers of diseases that emerge from wildlife and that can make their way to domesticated animals and humans.

"We need to look at all the factors that impact ecosystems--the whole picture," Daszak said. "The global wildlife trade is promoting a process that will impact our health and the health of the planet."

National Geographic News related news stories:

Invasive Species in the United States (photos)

Huge, Freed Pet Pythons Invade Florida Everglades

 

 

A tiny aquatic plant that can be used to clean up animal waste at industrial hog farms also has potential to help alleviate the world's energy crisis, according to Researchers at North Carolina State University

Experiments show that growing duckweed on hog wastewater can produce five to six times more starch per acre than corn, according to researcher Jay Cheng. This means that ethanol production using duckweed could be "faster and cheaper than from corn," says fellow researcher Anne-Marie Stomp.

Photo of duckweed by Mike Yablonski/Courtesy NC State University

"We can kill two birds--biofuel production and wastewater treatment--with one stone: duckweed," Cheng says in a university new release. "Starch from duckweed can be readily converted into ethanol using the same facilities currently used for corn," Cheng adds.

Corn is currently the primary crop used for ethanol production in the United States, the release says. "However, its use has come under fire in recent years because of concerns about the amount of energy used to grow corn and commodity price disruptions resulting from competition for corn between ethanol manufacturers and the food and feed industries.

"Duckweed presents an attractive, non-food alternative that has the potential to produce significantly more ethanol feedstock per acre than corn; exploit existing corn-based ethanol production processes for faster scale-up; and turn pollutants into a fuel production system."

The Duckweed System

The duckweed system consists of shallow ponds that can be built on land unsuitable for conventional crops, and is so efficient it generates water clean enough for re-use, NC State says. The technology can utilize any nutrient-rich wastewater, from livestock production to municipal wastewater.

Large-scale hog farms manage their animal waste by storing it in large "lagoons" for biological treatment. Duckweed utilizes the nutrients in the wastewater for growth, thus capturing these nutrients and preventing their release into the environment.

In other words, Cheng says, "Duckweed could be an environmentally friendly, economically viable feedstock for ethanol."

"There's a bias in agriculture that all the crops that could be discovered have been discovered," Stomp says, "but duckweed could be the first of the new, 21st century crops. In the spirit of George Washington Carver, who turned peanuts into a major crop, Jay and I are on a mission to turn duckweed into a new industrial crop, providing an innovative approach to alternative fuel production."

Photo by Roger W. Winstead, North Carolina State University

Cheng, a professor of biological and agricultural engineering, co-authored the research with Stomp, associate professor of forestry, and post-doctoral research associate, Mike Yablonski.

The research, which is funded by the Biofuels Center of North Carolina, was presented March 21 at the annual conference of the Institute of Biological Engineering in Santa Carla, California.

Cheng and Stomp are currently establishing a pilot-scale project to further investigate the best way to establish a large-scale system for growing duckweed on animal wastewater, and then harvesting and drying the duckweed, NC State says.

Eleven groups that fund and help manage conservation of Madagascar's remaining wilderness heritage issued a joint statement at the weekend, deploring the invasion by armed looters of national parks and forests, illegal timber extraction, illegal mining, and intensified smuggling of endangered species.

The groups came together after numerous reports that Madagascar's conservation areas were being plundered by bandits and organized criminal syndicates taking advantage of the lawlessness and paralysis of government in the wake of a coup d'etat and ongoing political turmoil throughout the African island country. A week ago the Marojejy National Park in the northern region of Madgascar closed for tourism after gangs entered the sanctuary to cut down precious rosewood trees.

NGS photo of tree lizards in Madagascar by Albert Moldvay

"These deplorable acts will only further impoverish the country and deprive future generations of the Malagasy people from their unique natural heritage," the groups said.

"This situation once again compromises the efforts that have been achieved up until now to help local communities to preserve their resources from individuals attempting to plunder the national heritage for their own short term benefits.

"We hereby call upon the competent authorities and all Malagasy citizens to urgently take action to stop and punish such acts so that natural resources are no longer held hostage to political crises and post-cyclone emergencies."

Read the full text of the conservation groups' statement below these pictures illustrating some of Madgascar's biodiversity.

NGS photo of chameleon by Luis Marden

NGS photo of baobab trees by Albert Moldvay

Communiqué

The trees must not hide the forest: the loss of Malagasy Heritage

During the last 20 years, Madagascar has undertaken significant and exemplary efforts
to stop environmental degradation, effectively manage natural resources and preserve
its unique biodiversity in the pursuit of sustainable development.

Beyond their inherent value, these natural riches--which are a source of national pride--also guarantee the benefits and services that are essential to the daily lives of the rural majority of the population, providing them among other things with water, food and energy. These natural resources also guarantee the development of the agriculture,
fisheries and tourism sectors.

• We, non-governmental organizations working to conserve these natural resources for the long term well being of local communities, hereby express our deep concern at the current devastation occurring to the country's natural resources:
  
• Open and organized plundering, sometimes using firearms, of precious wood from several natural forests, including national parks such as Marojejy and Masoala, which have been declared World Heritage Sites.
  Intensified smuggling of wild species, especially reptiles such as tortoises, to the national and international markets.
  
• Proliferation, due to the current impunity, of destructive practices such as illegal mining and slash-and-burn agriculture within protected areas and environmentally sensitive areas.

These deplorable acts will only further impoverish the country and deprive future generations of the Malagasy people from their unique natural heritage.

This situation once again compromises the efforts that have been achieved up until now to help local communities to preserve their resources from individuals attempting to plunder the national heritage for their own short term benefits.

NGS photo of mouse lemur by Mark Thiessen

We hereby call upon the competent authorities and all Malagasy citizens to urgently take action to stop and punish such acts so that natural resources are no longer held hostage to political crises and post-cyclone emergencies.

Through this appeal, we confirm our commitment to work for the biodiversity of Madagascar and for the well-being of the local communities, who are the stewards of this natural heritage. We invite each citizen to recognize that the sustainability of the development of the country depends upon its natural resources and we call on every individual to take responsibility.

Antananarivo, March 27, 2009

World Wide Fund for Nature--Madagascar and the Western Indian Ocean
Conservation International--Madagascar and the Indian Ocean islands
Wildlife Conservation Society--Madagascar
Missouri Botanical Garden
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments
The Peregrine Fund
Fanamby
Madagascar Fauna Group
Man And The Environment
Plant Resources of Tropical Africa

 

Updated with new images and text 

Photo of silky sifakas in Marojejy National Park by Jeff Gibbs/courtesy Erik Patel

Looters are invading Madagascar's protected wildlife sanctuaries, harvesting trees and threatening critically endangered lemurs and other species, conservationists said today.

Marojejy National Park in the northern part of the African island country has been closed to tourism. Rangers are abandoning their posts in other parks, according to reports.

The trouble is linked to turmoil that culminated in a coup d'etat that ousted President Marc Ravalomanana last week. Looters have taken advantage of government paralysis and lawlessness in some parts of the country. Some protected conservation areas are being invaded by organized criminals intent on cutting down valuable rosewood trees and extracting other protected resources, according to conservationists in Madagascar.

The closure of Marojejy National Park was "deemed necessary by park management due to the lawlessness that has descended over the ... region during this time of political unrest in Madagascar, and the resultant looting and destruction which is currently occurring within the park," according to a notice posted on the park's Web site.

Satellite image courtesy NASA

"In particular, gangs of armed men (led primarily by foreign profiteers in conjunction with the rich local mafia) are plundering the rainforests of Marojejy for the extremely valuable rosewood that grows there," the notice continues.

The crisis in Marojejy has serious implications on several fronts, states the notice on the park's Web site.

"First, of course, is the extremely detrimental impact it is having on the park's unique flora and fauna. While old-growth rosewood trees may be the primary objective of the armed gangs, such destructive, unregulated use of the forest will certainly have an adverse effect on everything else in the park.

"Most worrisome is the well-being of the highly endangered silky sifaka, a lemur found only in the rainforests of Marojejy and the surrounding area."

Map courtesy Marojejy National Park

"But the crisis is also having a devastating effect outside the boundaries of the park itself. With armed militia descending on local villages and death threats being issued, people live in fear; communities are divided, and families are pitted one against the other. Many local people who depend on tourism -- guides, porters, shopkeepers, hotel and restaurant personnel - -now live in limbo.

"With no other means of support, some turn to the lucrative rosewood trade," the notice said.

Erik Patel is a PhD candidate at Cornell University who has been studying the silky sifaka since 2001 and has recently published the first article about illegal precious wood logging in Madagascar. (See a quote from his paper in the side bar below.)

"Illegal logging of precious wood has emerged as one of the most severe threats to Madagascar's dwindling northeastern
rainforests," Patel said in an email.

 

Rosewood logged illegally in Marojejy National Park in 2005

Photo courtesy Erik Patel

Cornell University PhD Candidate Erik Patel has been studying the silky sifaka since 2001.

Photo of silky sifaka by Andrew Ritchie. Photo of Patel by Abigail Derby/courtesy Erik Patel

The video clip above features Erik Patel and his work in Marojejy National Park. It is from "Angels of the Forest, " a documentary film by Sharon Pieczenik chronicling the science and conservation efforts surrounding the silky sifaka.

Over the past few years, thousands of logs, worth millions of dollars, have been confiscated at ports of Vohémar, Antalaha, and Toamasina, Patel said. "Most of this critically endangered rosewood and ebony is known to have come from Marojejy National Park and Masoala National Park." 

In the face of rich, armed, and politically connected criminals (believed to have ties to elements in China), the parks simply lack the resources to stop this, he added.

"The impacts of such selective logging include violating local taboos as well as ecological consequences such as increased likehood of fire, invasive species, impaired habitat, and loss in genetic diversity." 

Patel said that a key cause of the logging now being seen was the recent (January, 2009) termination of the law prohibiting export of rosewood and ebony from Madagascar. 

The laws prohibiting such exportation must be reinstated as soon as possible," he said. "It is unprecedented for a national park in Madagacar to be closed to tourism because of illegal logging!"

Patricia Wright and Mireya Mayor, conservationists who have done extensive research on lemurs in the wild, spoke to me at length about the crisis in Madagascar. Both had heard from their contacts in Madagascar that rangers were abandoning their posts in a number of parks because of concerns about personal safety.

"I'm gutted and at a loss to describe how bad this situation is," said Mayor, a primatologist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer who has done field work in Marojejy. (Watch the video about her work below.) "Thirty years of successful conservation initiatives is now at risk of being totally destroyed," she said in the interview.

Mireya Mayor working with both the silky sifaka in Marojejy and Perrier's sifaka in Analamera.

National Geographic Video

Loggers who invaded the parks to extract rosewood would destroy habitat, set up camps, and eat the wildlife, including the lemurs, Mayor predicted. "The lemurs will not be able to withstand this."

"This crisis has had a compelling effect on me personally because of the immediate threat to Perrier's sifaka and the silky sifaka," Mayor said.

Mayor did groundbreaking research on these two critically endangered primates, leading the first expeditions to capture, collar and study some of the animals in remote areas of Madagascar a decade ago. Her work was showcased on National Geographic Television. The work was used to elevate the silky sifaka and Perrier's sifaka from subspecies of lemur to full species. "I feel personally vested in this 'war,'" she said. 

"I have worked extensively in the northern forests and with those villagers whose kindness and generosity got me through many an expedition and whose lives are now being threatened. I am anxious about them too," Mayor said. 

Photo of silky sifakas by Jeff Gibbs/courtesy Erik Patel

 

Posts Abandoned

Patricia Wright said she had received reports that rangers were abandoning their posts in a number of other parks because of fears for their safety.

"What's happening in the north is very worrying, because that is the home of two of the most endangered primates in the world, the silky sifaka and the Perrier's sifaka," she said.

Wright, a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and former member of National Geographic's Committee for Research and Exploration, said she had been on the phone to her contacts in the region yesterday and was told that heavy rain had been falling in the far north of the country for days, making the roads nearly impassable. That could be a good thing because it could inhibit timber exploitation, she said.

The trouble appeared to be confined for the moment to parks in Madagascar's northern areas, Wright said. However, she was concerned that it could spread if the country's political situation was not quickly resolved.

Both Wright and Mayor were at a loss about what could be done to alleviate the crisis in the short term. "One thing we can do is create awareness about this," Mayor said.

Wright said she was trying to contact foundations and agencies that sponsor conservation in Madagascar. "A big worry is that funding dries up for conservation because of the coup. That will leave the national parks without resources and completely exposed to exploitation."

Both Mayor and Wright are also concerned about the long-term future of conservation in Madagascar.

Patricia Wright (left) and Mireya Mayor photo courtesy Mireya Mayor

Former President Ravalomanana had committed the Madagascar government to increasing protected areas on the island and had demonstrated a willingness to work with conservationists. "Now, we don't know what's going to happen," Mayor said.

Erik Patel sent the photos below -- "three of our best Marojejy National park landscape photos" -- which I am adding to show readers the majestic beauty of the habitat, closed temporarily to tourism.

Below the photos are links for additional information and related National Geographic News stories about Marojejy, lemurs, Madagascar, and more. 

The three photos above are by Inaki Relanzon/courtesy Erik Patel

Additional Information:

Marojejy in Crisis (Marojejy National Park Web site)

"Cross Dressing" Lemurs Appear Male to Avoid Conflict (National Geographic News)

Flying Lemurs With "Backpacks" Reveal Gliding Secrets (National Geographic News)

Photo: Three New Lemurs Discovered, Add to Madagascar's Diversity (National Geographic News)

Threatened Lemurs' Diet Key to Conservation Efforts, Researchers Say (National Geographic News)

Lemur Logic May Provide Clues to Primate Intellect Evolution (National Geographic News)

Rainfall Helps Baby Lemurs Survive, Tooth Study Shows (National Geographic News)

African Trees May Be Tied to Lemurs' Fate (National Geographic News)

Madagascar Creates Millions of Acres of New Protected Areas (National Geographic News)

Rare Animals Make Africa Island Park True Hot Spot (National Geographic News)

TV News Feature: Madagascar Ecotourism (National Geographic News)

Monkeys and Lemurs Videos (National Geographic)

Map of Madagascar (National Geographic)

 

Related News From the Web

A happy ending for Madagascar? (BBC Earth Watch blog)

Conservationists see trouble in Madagascar conflict (Nature's Great Beyond blog)

Madagascar Scientists Struggle With Military Coup (ScienceInsider blog)

Loss and degradation of habitat from deforestation and agricultural runoff, unsustainable levels of water extraction, and the introduction of alien invasive species are serious threats to southern Africa's freshwater fish, birds, plants, and other species, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) reported today.

The majority of threatened species are found in South Africa, largely reflecting the greater levels of development activity here when compared to other countries in the region, IUCN said in a report released at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey.

In collaboration with the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), IUCN conducted a regional assessment of the status and distribution of 1,279 freshwater fishes, molluscs, insects, crabs, and selected families of aquatic plants from across southern Africa.

"Around 7 percent of all species assessed are regionally threatened according to IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria," the report says.

Basket fishing in Zambia photo by Denis Tweddle/SAIAB

"This level of threat may appear low relative to other taxonomic groups but, following comparison with similar studies in other parts of the world, the level of threat is predicted to increase dramatically unless the ecological requirements of freshwater species are given much greater consideration in future development planning, in particular for development of water resources such as for improved water supply, irrigation and provision of hydro-electric power."

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National Zoo giant pandas photo by Michael Nichols/NGS

The Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C., appealed this week to local landowners and farmers to provide bamboo to feed to the zoo's pandas and other animals.

"The zoo will accept any species of bamboo, but it is most interested in species of the Phyllostachys genus, which can be identified by two characteristics: a prominent groove running vertically along each segment of the stem and a white ring underneath the stem's nodes," the zoo said in a statement.

The zoo is experiencing a critical and unexpected shortage of its bamboo supply. "Bamboo stands are not regrowing as they normally would," the statement said. "The reasons are as yet unknown, but nutritionists hope for better regrowth of all of the stands this spring."

Photo credit: Smithsonian's National Zoo

About 75,000 pounds of bamboo are harvested a year for the zoo's giant pandas, red pandas, Asian elephants, gorillas and other animals. The giant pandas alone are offered 1,400 pounds of bamboo a week.

Bamboo is grown onsite and at several other locations: at the zoo's Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia, and at private residences within Washington, D.C., and nearby in Virginia and Maryland.

If the zoo cannot locate additional stands, it will resort to harvesting bamboo from scant stands around various animal exhibits on zoo property.

The zoo is seeking only those bamboo stands that meet the following criteria:

• Comprise a minimum of one acre
• Are within a 25- to 30-mile driving distance of the zoo
• Are at least 100 feet from a roadway
• Have not been treated with herbicides or pesticides

Landowners who grow bamboo that meets these criteria can contact the National Zoo's Department of Animal Nutrition at NZPBamboo@si.edu or (202) 633-4098.

Zoo nutritionists will meet with selected landowners to inspect their bamboo and discuss the zoo's bamboo-management practices. The zoo will also take samples to analyze nutrient levels and test for the presence of heavy metals.

Ideally, the Zoo is hoping to work with landowners to manage and harvest their bamboo over time, the statement said.

Illustration of moa by Charles R. Knight/NGS

Feces dropped by moa, giant birds now extinct, are providing scientists with an idea of what the vegetation of New Zealand looked like before the first humans colonized the islands.

A team of ancient DNA and paleontology researchers from the University of Adelaide, University of Otago and the New Zealand Department of Conservation published their analyses of plant seeds, leaf fragments and DNA found in the dried feces. The work appeared in in a recent issue of Quaternary Science Reviews, an international geological research journal.

"When animals shelter in caves and rock shelters, they leave feces which can survive for thousands of years if dried out," said Professor Alan Cooper, Director of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, which analyzed moa feces found beneath the floor of caves and rock shelters.

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Proteas are best known as the national symbol of South Africa. Growing in size to as large as dinner plates, their flowers are a distinctive feature of Cape Town's Table Mountain.

Photo courtesy South African Tourism

New species of flowering plants called proteas are exploding onto the scene three times faster in parts of Australia and South Africa than anywhere else in the world, creating exceptional 'hotspots' of species richness, an international team of scientists reported today.

"Something special is happening in these regions: new species of proteas are appearing notably faster than elsewhere, and we suspect this could be the same case with other plant species too," said Vincent Savolainen, a biologist based at Imperial College London and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of the authors of the new study.

"This study proves that the abundance of different kinds of proteas in these two areas isn't simply due to normal rates of species diversification occurring over a long period of time.

"This is the first step towards understanding why some parts of the planet with a Mediterranean-style climate have become species-rich biodiversity hotspots."

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Frullania asagrayana leaf photo by Mary S.G. Lincoln

LBJs (little brown jobs), an avid birding colleague once explained to me, are the more obscure birds that to all but the most discerning eye look the same.

I've been in the company many times with the birders on the National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration. They can hang around beneath a tree for twenty minutes or more while they debate at length whether an LBJ high above them is one or another species.

It can be very frustrating to someone like me who prefers the differences between bird species to be dramatic and easy to distinguish.

Anyone with reasonable eyesight can tell the difference between a red cardinal and a blue jay. To tell the difference between LBJs needs more work: the subtle variance in the shade of the feet, the position of a spot on the throat, the song, perhaps even the way it flies can all be important.

I got to thinking like this when I received an email from the New York Botanical Garden about its new book about liverworts.

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Vanilla is the No. 1 flavor for ice cream in the U.S., which consumes most of the world's vanilla supply. The spice is produced from the fruit, or "beans," of two orchid species, Vanilla tahitensis (in the photo) and Vanilla planifolia. Only about five percent of natural vanilla used in food comes from V. tahitensis, commonly known as Tahitian vanilla.

Photo Lubinsky/UC Riverside

Scientists may have solved the mystery of the origin of the Tahitian vanilla orchid, the rare plant that produces a richly-flavored spice esteemed by vanilla gourmets.

The orchid is known to exist only in cultivated or feral stands, primarily on the French Polynesian island Tahiti. Natural, wild populations have never been found.

But now botanists think they know where it came from, and how it got to Tahiti hundreds of years ago.

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Kigali, Rwanda--Hours after arriving in this capital city of Rwanda, we were invited to observe President Clinton and daughter Chelsea sipping coffee with some rural coffee farmers.

It was planned for the Clinton delegation and the media to fly by helicopter to a coffee plantation earlier in the afternoon, but that was before the breakdown of Clinton's aircraft in Addis Ababa made this impossible. Instead, the farmers were brought to Clinton's Kigali hotel.

"Rwandan Farmers Coffee" brand was launched in the United Kingdom a few weeks ago. There are plans to roll it out in the United States soon.

 

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