conservation
grrlscientist | June 17, 2008tags: Gerry Ellis, WoLong Nature Preserve, Ultimate Pandas, Giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, nature filming, endangered species, DVD review
Everyone loves pandas, right? In fact, these lovable bears are the most recognizable icons worldwide for endangered species, even while remaining endangered themselves. But recently, China has made an effort to protect the giant pandas' native habitat and to establish several in situ captive breeding programs to bolster the dwindling numbers of wild giant pandas, as revealed in a charming new video, Ultimate Pandas, by nature photographer, Gerry Ellis…
grrlscientist | June 17, 2008tags: rainforests, conservation, CO2, streaming video
This streaming video provides yet another excellent reason that all the world's citizens should protect and conserve the world's rainforests. The music is "Nude (String FX Etc. Stem)" by Radiohead. [0:52].
tetrapodzoology | June 12, 2008
Contrary to plans (you know how it is), I haven't had time to finish the phorusrhacid theme I started on Tuesday. Because it's important to keep it in mind, I feel we need a reminder about the fact that 2008 is Year of the Frog, and hats off to Carel for discussing this recently, and of course to Jeff Davis of Frog Matters for continuing to fight the fight...
Among the latest froggy news is the auctioning of the name of a new species of Mannophryne (go here): you have until July 1 2009 to get an aromobatid species named after you (aromobatids are a recently recognised clade of dendrobatoid…
grrlscientist | June 5, 2008tags: New Guinea, Papua, deforestation, satellite analysis, biodiversity, field research, endangered species
Before and After: Forest area near Milne Bay in 1990 (top) and 2005 (bottom).
Image University of Papua New Guinea.
I have been fascinated by New Guinea ever since I first read about this unique island in Wallace's marvelous book, The Malay Archipelago, when I was just a kid. My fascination with New Guinea led to my passion for the birdlife there, especially my love for the Birds of Paradise, and the lories and other parrot species. I had always secretly dreamt of visiting this…
tetrapodzoology | May 23, 2008
I was saddened to learn today of the recent death of elephant researcher and conservationist Prof. Yeheskel (or Hezy) Shoshani: he was severely injured in what is thought to have been a terrorist attack in Addis Ababa (where he worked) on Tuesday 20th May, and died in hospital on Wednesday 21st. Two other people travelling on the same minibus were killed in the same attack and nine others were injured...
I had never met nor corresponded with Prof. Shoshani but have always been a great admirer of his excellent work. He was a giant in the world of elephant research and made an immense…
grrlscientist | May 22, 2008tags: Oology And Ralph's Talking Eggs, conservation, ornithology, oology, Carrol L. Henderson, book review
People's methods for learning about the lives of birds have varied throughout the decades. Today, birders learn about their feathery subjects by using binoculars, telescopes, sound recording devices and cameras, while ornithologists and molecular biologists add further insight by analyzing avian DNA, transponder data and satellite information. But such powerful technologies have not always been available, so people have relied on other methods to learn about birds. For example, between…
tetrapodzoology | May 10, 2008Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you'll know that 2008 is Year of the Frog (more here), and that several projects - including Amphibian Ark and EDGE - are working to try and save endangered frog and toad species before they become extinct. We need to do all we can to continue to drum up interest in the conservation effort that many of us are now involved in. Quest, a science show at KQED (the PBS station in San Francisco), has just produced a new video concentrating on the decline of Californian Yellow-legged frogs R. boylii (aka Foothill yellow-legged frog, and it's - apparently -…
tetrapodzoology | May 4, 2008
Ok, signing off for a while now. Among other things, the above will get discussed when I get back: the image on the right (from here) might look somewhat, err, 'inspired' if you're familiar with the original produced by Mark Witton (see here and here). So long for now. Oh, actually, one last thing...
You all know that 2008 is Year of the Frog. As I discussed back in December 2007, tiny sums of money (relatively speaking) are all that are needed to get individuals of many endangered amphibians into captivity, and hence away from the chytrid fungus that is making them extinct in the wild. And…
grrlscientist | April 30, 2008tags: global warming, humor, behavior, streaming video
Do you want to save the earth while reducing your bills? Use energy-saving light bulbs! [0:49].
H/t to Mike.
voltagegate | April 25, 2008
Two waterways meet in a surreal junction at Vale Summit, a small low streambed in the Appalachian forests of Maryland, surrounded by high sandy banks and the faint sound of passing traffic.
Bright orange coal mine drainage from the Hoffman tunnel washes iron oxides and sulfates over rocks and tree limbs and completely distorts the little brown flow of Braddock Run, a smaller, slower but rich stream, providing a home to benthic invertebrates and young fish that the drainage cannot.
Braddock Run exhibits all the attributes of a healthy stream: neutral pH, low iron levels and a diverse scatter…
esiegel | April 24, 2008Warning: Crazy talk ahead. Some of you may remember that I wrote about inflation and why its alternatives fail awhile back. Apparently, Louise Riofrio didn't get the memo. When there's misinformation about cosmology out there, it's up to me to set the record straight. (And I am not alone.) Let me first remind you about one of the alternatives to inflation I debunked last month:
Add defects and vary the Speed of Light. This one’s out. Why? Because we would see defects in the Cosmic Microwave Background, and we don’t. The constancy of the speed of light is highly supported by experiments, but…
sheril | April 22, 2008I can't think of a better way to kick off Earth Day 2008 than brunch with Wallace J. Nichols - third culture oceanographer and Ocean Conservancy senior scientist. Later today, he's giving a keynote address here at Duke, so it's a good opportunity for us to catch up. Readers may remember J.'s research featured here on loggerhead sea turtles last October, and tonight he'll announce the winner of the first annual EcoDaredevil Award during his talk titled: 'Jump the Chasm: Are you an EcoDaredevil?'
EcoDareDevil is a cool concept... Check this out:Everywhere I go, I meet EcoDaredevils. They…
esiegel | April 11, 2008So, what's the deal with this one? startswithabang.com reader Scott Stuart asks the following question:
I was reading "The First Three Minutes" last night and came across an
interesting section about blackbody radiation and energy density. The
author states that as the universe expands, the number of photons
running around (in the CMB, for example) is unchanged, but their
wavelengths get stretched. The energy in a photon is, of course,
inversely proportional to its wavelength, so the energy content of a
photon decreases as its wavelength increases. That seems to mean that
the total energy…
edyong | April 7, 2008The invasion of land by the tetrapods - four-limbed animals that include mammals, reptiles and amphibians - was surely one of the most evocative events in animal evolution. The march onto terra firma began some 365 million years ago and was driven by a suite of innovative adaptations that allowed back-boned animals to live out of water.
Lungs were among the most crucial of these for they allowed the first land-lubbers to extract oxygen from the surrounding air. That ability is so important that it's rare for tetrapods to lose their lungs completely. Until now, the only groups that we know…
zooillogix | April 6, 2008
Welcome to the eleventh and by far the most important, although surprisingly the most poorly formatted, installment of Carnival of the Blue. Before we get down to the watery, salty, and sometimes rubbery details, we wanted to take a moment to ponder the significance of Zooillogix's role as host of the eleventh COB. Why not the fifth or the ever popular tenth? Why not the second or maybe seventh, sixth, eighth, ninth or third?
Well, according to Biblestudy.org, "If ten is the number which marks the perfection of Divine order, then eleven is an addition to it, subversive of and undoing that…
sheril | March 31, 2008Google takes part in Earth Hour 2008
Hope illuminated the darkness...
The next Earth Hour happens March 28th, 2009.
voltagegate | March 31, 2008So Saturday was Earth Hour, and as if anyone reading this blog didn't know, lights were supposed to be cut off from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. to send a message to mysterious world power that the world was ready to cut down on energy use. Sort of.
I didn't honor the Earth Hour. We rarely have more than one light on in our home at a time on a daily basis because it's wasteful and increasingly expensive. I don't have a million electronic devices running 24/7, we walk to the store when we can (Heather can walk to work) and luckily, my commute is only about 15 minutes a day. In every daily activity, even…
sheril | March 31, 2008Over the weekend, an hour of darkness brought reason for hope. Earth Hour 2008 serves as evidence that around the world, we're collectively recognizing climate change and ready to act to curb our planetary fever.
Detroit
London
San Francisco
Check back for more photos throughout the day...