A 15-year genetic study of Southern Hemisphere humpback whales has opened a window into the little known mating habits of the giant cetaceans, revealing some whales travel between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans to mate.

Analyzing DNA skin samples from 1,527 whales in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, an international group of scientists mapped how different whale populations interact, their mating habits and distribution across oceans.

“Many of the interactions among Southern Hemisphere populations are still poorly understood,” said Howard Rosenbaum, director of the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society’s Ocean Giants Program and lead author of the study.

“This research illustrates the vast potential of genetic analyses to uncover the mysteries of how humpbacks travel and form populations in the Southern Ocean basins,” Rosenbaum said in a statement announcing the study, published on PLoS ONE, an online scientific journal (http://www.plosone.org)

So little was known about Southern Ocean humpback whales that the researchers used whaling records dating back to 1761 for initial insights.

The whaling logbooks tried to determine whale population boundaries and breeding stock, but studying humpbacks in the wild, even in modern times, is difficult due to the wild oceans they inhabit and the vast distances they travel.

“We’re still trying to answer the same question with molecular technology in concert with whaling logbook records,” said Rosenbaum.

The slow-swimming humpback was hunted commercially until the International Whaling Commission protected the species in 1966. Humpback numbers are recovering, but their total population may still be only a small per cent of the original population.

The study found that the highest rate of gene flow between Southern Hemisphere humpbacks occurred with whales breeding on either side of Africa, with one or two whales swimming between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans each year to mate.

This was the first time a humpback had been recorded travelling between the two oceans, said the study.

Whale populations on either side of the South Atlantic did not seem to mate, but similarities in their “songs” revealed a degree of interaction between the two groups, most likely in the feeding grounds in Antarctic waters.

The small humpback population of less than 200 in the Indian Ocean, off the Arabian Peninsula, was distinct genetically and unlike other populations did not migrate and therefore was a “conservation priority,” said the study.

“Molecular technology gives us a window into the lives of whales that can help us understand the ecological forces shaping their movements and distribution,” said Rosenbaum.

“We can also use our findings to inform management decisions for a species that is only now beginning to recover from centuries of commercial whaling,” he said. Canada Dot Com

Tigers could become extinct in the wild in two decades unless the world ramps up conservation efforts to halt the decline in their population, wildlife experts said Wednesday.

Barely 3,500 tigers are estimated to be roaming in the wild in 12 Asian countries and Russia compared with about 100,000 a century ago, experts and conservationists said.

“Despite our efforts in the last three decades, tigers still face threats of survival. The primary threat is from poaching and habitat loss,” Nepal’s prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal told a conference of tiger experts from 20 countries.

Tigers are being illegally killed for their body parts and Asia is a hotspot for the illegal wildlife trade, which the international police organization Interpol estimates may be worth more than $20 billion a year.

Skins sell as rugs and cloaks on the black market, where a skin can fetch up to $20,000.

Habitat destruction and depletion of prey base are other perils facing the “Asian heritage”, conservationists said.

“A business as usual approach in tiger conservation will doom the tiger population in the next 15 to 20 years,” Mahendra Shrestha, program director of the Washington-based Save the Tiger Fund said on the sidelines of a conference on tiger conservation.

He said law enforcement, patrols to stop poaching and the preservation of remaining habitat would improve the situation.

“There is hope. We can do it. It is not rocket science. It does not require a lot of new activities,” Shrestha said. “But there has to be strong political will to conserve tigers and also strong global international support for the activities of the tiger range countries.”

Tigers still roam terrain in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.

John Seidensticker, chief scientist at the Smithsonian National Zoo’s Conservation Ecology Center, said tiger habitat had declined by 40 percent in the last decade due to destruction of forests.

“Our challenge is to make landscapes with tigers alive worth more than landscapes where tigers have been killed,” Seidensticker said. “I think we have a decade from where we will slip from being caretakers to undertakers.” China Daily

New clinical research, published in the world’s leading academic journals, is now showing that an extraordinarily rare plant extract first discovered by the ancient Egyptians thousands of years ago may carry remarkable slimming and health benefits.

This mysterious nutrient is found in the roots of a rare cactus plant that was revered by the ancient Egyptians for its health and healing powers.

Thanks to recent medicinal advancements, scientists are now able to isolate and concentrate this nutrient in a convenient capsule form, which is now available exclusively here, and in high-end Beverly Hills salons, under the patent-pending Phosphacore Formula.

A new breed of giant spider – which has huge 12,7cm females and tiny males – has been discovered by scientists. The female of the new species of golden orb weaver spider has a body one and a 3,8cm long with a leg span of five inches and weaves a web more than three feet wide.

The tiny male, however, has a leg span of just one inch. The variation of the Nephila species, named as Nephila Komaci, was discovered by US and Slovenian researchers in Africa and Madagascar. A new giant orb spider has been discovered in South Africa. It has a leg span of five inches and weaves webs three feet wide.

In the paper published in the journal PLoS ONE, the team from the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, described how until recently, said they believed the giant Nephila was extinct.

But Jonathan Coddington from the Smithsonian said a South African colleague found a male and two females in Africa’s Tembe Elephant Park allowing researchers to confirm it did exist. Tests were then carried out that confirmed it was the largest orb weaver ever known and was a newly identified species.

Coddington said: “We fear the species may be endangered, as its only definite habitat is a sand forest in Tembe Elephant Park in Kwa-Zulu-Natal. “Our data suggests that the species is not abundant, its range is restricted and all known localities lie within two endangered biodiversity hotspots: Maputaland and Madagascar.”

Nephila spiders are renowned for being the largest web-spinning spiders. Although males are five times smaller than their mates, they are actually normal-sized – it is the females who are giants. N Komaci was named after Kuntner’s best friend, Andrej Komac, who died in an accident at the time of the discovery.

Kuntner said: “My friend, himself a scientist, encouraged me to tackle this PhD, but did not live to see the discoveries made. “He was a big inspiration, and a great friend, thus it was logical to name this new species to his memory.” Independent Online

A United Nations conservation expert has called for the protection of gorillas and elephants to be included in global climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December as a major factor in sustaining healthy African forests, a central element in temperature control.
“I would estimate that the apes and elephants of Africa disperse some 7 billion seeds every day,” UN Ambassador for the Year of the Gorilla Ian Redmond said today, noting that it took more than 1,000 times that period for a project backed by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to plant 7 billion new trees.

UN agencies have repeatedly pointed to the vital role that forests play in the health of Earth, since they absorb carbon dioxide, a key factor in global warming. UNEP reported last month that the project, launched in 2006 in a bid to push governments into reaching agreement in Copenhagen, had exceeded its goal, with China planting 2.6 billion trees, bringing the total to 7.3 billion trees planted in 167 countries.

“The gorillas and elephants of Africa are doing the world a service,” Mr. Redmond said following a fact-finding mission across eight African gorilla range States. “The full extent of the role they play in maintaining the health of their forest habitat – a central component of the Earth’s climate regulation – is still poorly understood.”

Large mammals, such as elephants and gorillas, are keystone species in their relevant ecosystems. Gorillas act as ‘gardeners’ in the rainforests of the Congo Basin, and protecting them helps prevent loss of flora that are ecologically dependent on them. They are second only to elephants in the number of seeds they disperse. When eating fruit and seeds, the seeds pass through their system and are in this way prepared for germination.
Fifteen years of armed conflicts in the Great Lakes region of Africa, accompanied by illegal exploitation of minerals to finance militias, led to a sharp increase in demand for so-called bush meat. Rapid urbanization has also accelerated deforestation through charcoal production, and gorillas and elephants have been poached in large numbers.

A dramatic decline in the diversity of vegetation can be observed in parts of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As gorillas declined and elephants vanished from the montane area, the flora changed into denser, less diverse vegetation, and weed-like plants, formerly held in check by elephants and gorillas, have become much more dominant, suffocating trees and thereby accelerating deforestation.
By building nests, gorillas break off branches and create gaps in the forest canopy, letting light through to the forest floor and enabling smaller plants to grow. Hence the survival of forests requires the protection of the animals in them as well as the trees. In the long term, deforestation is as much a consequence of over-hunting as of cutting trees for charcoal or timber, UNEP reported.

Supporting existing national action plans to halt deforestation of gorilla habitat is one of the major objectives of Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) Agreement on the Conservation of Gorilla and their Habitat during the Year of the Gorilla campaign.

UNEP launched the Year, aimed at halting the slide towards extinction of one of humankind’s closest relatives, in January when a troupe of skaters disguised as apes took to the rink at London’s Natural History Museum, highlighting the theme ‘Gorillas on Thin Ice.’ Modern Ghana.

San Francisco loves its sea lions. But a sea lion population explosion has forced port officials to begin dispensing tough love.

Normally there are 300 sea lions at Pier 39 this time of year. There are now nearly 1,500, and the Hyde Street commercial fishing pier has a problem. Hyde Street harbormaster Hedley Prince has counted as many as 100 sea lions crowding his docks since August.

Swimmers and kayakers increasingly report being bumped and sometimes bitten by the 1,000-pound animals. More sea lions mean more tangles with fishing hooks and potential water-quality concerns (the Department of Public Health and Public Utilities Commission are reviewing recent data).

Pier 39 accommodated the increase with six additional docks. At the Hyde Street pier, port authorities are installing 200 feet of knee-high deterrent fencing, topped with a slippery roller. A fireboat-style sprayer will use bay water to hose docks and disperse recalcitrant sea lions.

The Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act allow local officials to deter marine mammals to prevent damage or protect the public. There are specific authorized measures, and Hyde Street covered all bases, consulting nearly a dozen agencies and marinas, and gaining federal approval for action.

At last month’s meeting of the Fisherman’s Wharf Waterfront Advisory Group, Dolphin Club President Ken Coren was encouraged by the port’s plans: “These are formidable animals. … Once they are established, they are not going away.”

Marine Mammal Center Executive Director Jeff Boehm confirms that sea lion populations are up statewide. The causes are uncertain, but he says Hyde Street is going about controlling the situation “as they should be, with appropriate passive and obstructive tools.”

Even with federal approval, Prince is mildly apprehensive about the growing attention. One comment he got last week was that “the problem isn’t sea lions, but that the planet is infested with humans.”

Party with sharks: Aquarium of the Bay’s SHARKtober celebration will be serving up some fun this weekend.

A SHARKtoberFest party on Friday evening lets you party with live sharks, and shark films run Saturday afternoon. Then, instead of counting sheep, you can count sharks at a sleepover in the aquarium’s shark tunnels on Saturday night.

Disabled sailors compete for championship: Sailors with disabilities will compete this weekend for national and North American championship titles.

The Herb Meyer Regatta runs today through Sunday from South Beach. It will use four classes of boats provided by the Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors and the Treasure Island Sailing Center, some of which have motorized controls.

The regatta is the vision of Herb Meyer, who raised nearly $50,000 to acquire and outfit 10 new boats. Meyer seeks an additional $20,000 for final expenses for the boats and event. By Paul V. Oliva, San Francisco Chronicle.

Coral reefs where lots of different kinds of fish swim are healthier than overfished ones, scientists have shown.

Researchers showed a reduced incidence of coral disease in areas of the Philippines where fishing is banned, compared with neighbouring areas.

They conclude that some types of fish probably carry coral diseases.

Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) they suggest that when predatory fish are absent, disease-carrying species thrive.

Members of a family called butterflyfish (Chaetodontidae), which are not caught for food, appear the likely culprits in disease transmission

“People like to eat the big predators such as groupers and a few others,” said lead researcher Laurie Raymundo.

“In some cases [on the reefs we studied] these species are not so abundant, and in others they’ve just gone.

“And the general trend is that where you find more functional diversity, you find fewer butterflyfish,” the University of Guam researcher told BBC News.

Coral diseases have inflicted substantial damage in a number of regions in recent years, notably the Caribbean, where naturally abundant species such as elkhorn and staghorn have been almost wiped out in some places.

Abundant evidence

The causes of the six diseases in Dr Raymundo’s study are not all known, but are thought to include bacteria and viruses.

The researchers selected seven marine protected areas (MPAs), mostly just a few hectares in size, where fishing has been banned for at least five years, and seven neighbouring areas with the same underlying ecology.

In every case, the fished sites showed a higher incidence of disease – double, in some cases.

The researchers found an unusually high abundance of butterflyfish on heavily diseased reefs; and that butterflyfish numbers fell when there were lots of other types of fish around.

Many butterflyfish species feed on coral, and that is perhaps how they transmit disease.

The researchers subsequently scoured a database on coral conditions on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and found similar patterns.

Diverse picture

The relationship between coral disease and other environmental issues is complex.

Disease seems to be exacerbated by pollutants such as sewerage and fertiliser, and may be stimulated by anything that stresses coral, such as the abnormally high water temperatures seen in East Asia during El Nino years.

Australian researchers have argued that protecting the diversity of reef life could provide a partial defence against climate impacts, by keeping corals generally healthy and enhancing their capacity to cope with rising temperatures.

Dr Raymundo’s work is making the case for protecting marine life, particularly the big predatory fish beloved of fishermen and fish-eaters, in order to keep reefs healthy – although that might not mean banning fishing entirely from such areas.

“One of the things that came out of this is that if you have a well-managed MPA, it works to keep coral healthier,” she said.

“But even on reefs that are fished, if you can maintain diversity you still have that effect on coral health.

“So as long you keep certain species there and can control fishing – don’t catch in certain seasons or don’t catch fish under a certain size, whatever is appropriate – you might not have to ban it completely.” By Richard Black, BBC News.