02-03-2012, 11:45 AM
HerpDigest.org: The Only Free Weekly Electronic Newsletter That Reports on the Latest News on Herpetological Conservation, Husbandry and Science Volume # 12 Issue # 7 2/3/12
Publisher/Editor- Allen Salzberg
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Venomous Reptiles of the United States, Canada, and Northern Mexico volume 1 and 2 are now available as one set at a $20% Discount - But only until February 15, 2012. (Read more)
Last year, in Volume one the Ernsts covered Heloderma, Micruroides, Micrurus, Pelamis, Agkistrodon, Sistrurus
It was rightfully called a classic.
"Likely to remain the standard reference for the next 20 years."—SciTech Book News, reviewing Venomous Reptiles of North America
NOW COMES PART II
And if you buy the complete set, AND IF YOU ACT FAST- YOU CAN GET SIGNED COPIES OF EACH BOOK AT 20% OFFER. YES ONLY $120 FOR BOTH BOOKS.
(To order see the bottom of this message)
Carl and Evelyn Ernst have completely revised their landmark reference Venomous Reptiles of North America to present the most comprehensive review of these animals in years. A review that now needs two volumes to complete. ;Volume One of this definitive work presented dramatically improved species accounts of the venomous lizards and elapid and viperid snakes found north of Mexico's twenty-fifth parallel.
In Volume Two they cover the twenty-one rattlesnakes found in the United States, Canada, and, for the first time, species found only in northern Mexico.
As in Volume I, in Volume II they present the latest research on Crotalus in the United States, Canada, and northern Mexico and feature an extensive bibliography of literature on the subject.
These volumes contain a wealth of information for anyone with an interest in venom, snakes, or herpetology in general.
Venomous Reptiles of the United States, Canada, and Northern Mexico Volume I & II, provides facts on each animal's diet, reproductive behavior, physiology, ecology, and conservation status. The book also covers details on snakebite, how venom is delivered, venom composition, antivenom production, and medical treatments of envenomation. Each species account includes vivid photographs that aid with identification and detailed maps that show the species range.
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If you already have Volume 1 - or if you’re only interested in one volume you can order a single book for $75.00 plus $6.00 S&H. (It will be signed by both authors)
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THIS OFFER IS ONLY GOOD UNTIL FEBRUARY 15, 2012 __________________________________________________________________
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Table of Contents
1) Severe Mammal declines coincide with proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park
2) Burma officials seize 10,000 snakes bound for China
3) Maryland Man Admits To Turtle Trafficking
4) Current status of alien vertebrates in the Galápagos Islands: invasion history, distribution, and potential impacts
5) Castaway Lizards Provide Insight Into Elusive Evolutionary Process, Founder Effects
6) Cane toads lose their killer touch in east Australia- Invasive weeds may save Australia's blue-tongue lizards from cane toad poison.
7) Road Runoff Spurring Spotted Salamander Evolution
8) Leatherback sea turtles granted massive protected area along U.S. west coast Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com, January 23, 2012
9) Trumpets of outrage in the outback (Rhinos and even giant Komodo dragon lizards could be imported into Austrailia) _____________________________________________________
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Books Still Available
Invasive Pythons in the United States- Ecology of an Introduced Predator by Michael E. Dorcas and John D. Willson, Foreword by Whit Gibbons,
Diamondback Terrapins: Gems of the Turtle World (How to Care for them in captivity)
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1) Severe Mammal declines coincide with proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park Michael E. Dorcasa,1, John D. Willsonb, Robert N. Reedc, Ray W. Snowd, Michael R. Rochforde, Melissa A. Millerf, Walter E. Meshaka, Jr.g, Paul T. Andreadish, Frank J. Mazzottie, Christina M. Romagosai, and Kristen M. Hartj
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PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the USA, 1/24/12 Author Affiliations aDepartment of Biology, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035; bDepartment of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061; cFort Collins Science Center, US Geological Survey, Fort Collins, CO 80526; dEverglades National Park, National Park Service, Homestead, FL 33034; eFort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Davie, FL 33314; fDepartment of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849; gState Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA 17120; hDepartment of Biology, Denison University, Granville, OH 43023; iCenter for Forest Sustainability, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849; and jSoutheast Ecological Science Center, US Geological Survey, Davie, FL 33314 Edited by Peter M. Vitousek, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, and approved December 21, 2011 (received for review September 26, 2011)
Abstract
Invasive species represent a significant threat to global biodiversity and a substantial economic burden. Burmese pythons, giant constricting snakes native to Asia, now are found throughout much of southern Florida, including all of Everglades National Park (ENP). Pythons have increased dramatically in both abundance and geographic range since 2000 and consume a wide variety of mammals and birds. Here we report severe apparent declines in mammal populations that coincide temporally and spatially with the proliferation of pythons in ENP. Before 2000, mammals were encountered frequently during nocturnal road surveys within ENP. In contrast, road surveys totaling 56,971 km from 2003–2011 documented a 99.3% decrease in the frequency of raccoon observations, decreases of 98.9% and 87.5% for opossum and bobcat observations, respectively, and failed to detect rabbits. Road surveys also revealed that these species are more common in areas where pythons have been discovered only rece!
ntly and are most abundant outside the python's current introduced range. These findings suggest that predation by pythons has resulted in dramatic declines in mammals within ENP and that introduced apex predators, such as giant constrictors, can exert significant top-down pressure on prey populations. Severe declines in easily observed and/or common mammals, such as raccoons and bobcats, bode poorly for species of conservation concern, which often are more difficult to sample and occur at lower densities.
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2) Burma officials seize 10,000 snakes bound for China More than 10,000 snakes bound for China were seized recently in Burma.
The Associated Press, 1/20/12
YANGON — Forestry officials in central Burma have seized nearly 10,000 snakes in 400 crates that were to be smuggled to China.
The weekly journal Modern reported Friday that 50 cobras were among the 9,176 snakes seized in Pyin Oo Lwin district near Mandalay on Jan. 12.
Wildlife smuggling is endemic in Asia, where exotic species are used for food and traditional medicine.
The report did not say how many people were arrested but said those involved would be charged under the Protection of Wildlife and Conservation of Natural Areas law, which carries a five-year prison sentence.
It said the 7,000 non-poisonous snakes were released into a wildlife reserve, while the vipers and cobras were sent to the state pharmaceutical company for their venom.
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3) Maryland Man Admits To Turtle Trafficking 1/25/2012 WBAL-AM - Online-Steve Fermier and Associated Press
A Maryland man has pleaded guilty in a turtle trafficking case in New York. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Buffalo says 57-year-old Michael Johnson of Chestertown, Md., ran a turtle meat processing facility in Millington, Md., in 2007 and 2008, at times buying common snapping turtles for their meat from individuals in various states.
Prosecutors say he twice purchased turtles from undercover conservation officers in New York state, where the turtles are a protected species. Johnson faces up to a year in jail after pleading guilty Tuesday to attempted trafficking in prohibited wildlife.
Besides pleading guilty, prosecutors say Johnson has donated $7,500 to the Buffalo Zoo, $5,000 to the Tifft Nature Preserve in Buffalo and $7,500 to Teatown Lake Reservation in Westchester County, all for turtle research and education.
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4) Current status of alien vertebrates in the Galápagos Islands: invasion history, distribution, and potential impacts Brand Phillips, David A. Wiedenfeld and Howard L. Snell Biological Invasions- Volume 14, Number 2, 461-480, DOI: 10.1007/s10530-011-0090-z Original Paper Bransphillips@gmail.com for copies and comments.
Abstract
Human activity has promoted the invasion of the Galápagos Islands by alien species from each of the five classes of vertebrates. We review the current distribution of alien vertebrates in the archipelago, their impacts on native species, and management efforts aimed at alien vertebrates. A total of 44 species have been reported in the archipelago, with 20 species establishing feral populations. Mammals were the first group arriving in the archipelago and remain the most numerous, with 10 established species. Alien birds invaded after mammals and four species have established populations. Reptiles, amphibians, and fish invaded later and are represented by three, one, and two species, respectively. Alien mammals are the most injurious to native biota, contributing to the decline or extinction of several species. Aside from mammals, no other class of alien vertebrate has had documented impacts on native species. Several populations of large and medium-sized mammals and birds ha!
ve been eradicated.
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5) Castaway Lizards Provide Insight Into Elusive Evolutionary Process, Founder Effects ScienceDaily (Feb. 2, 2012)
A University of Rhode Island biologist who released lizards on tiny uninhabited islands in the Bahamas has shed light on the interaction between evolutionary
Jason Kolbe, a URI assistant professor of biological sciences, and colleagues from Duke University, Harvard University and the University of California at Davis, found that the lizards' genetic and morphological traits were determined by both natural selection and a phenomenon called founder effects, which occur when species colonize new territory.
Their research was published recently in the journal Science.
"We rarely observe founder effects as they happen in nature, but we know that it happens because islands are colonized by new species over time," said Kolbe. "What we didn't know was how these evolutionary mechanisms interact with each other. What we learned is that the differences caused by the founder effects persist even as populations adapt to their new environments."
The founder effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. It often results in the new population becoming genetically or morphologically different from the original population.
The scientists randomly collected brown anole lizards from a large island near Great Abaco and released one pair on each of seven nearby islands whose lizard populations had been cleared by a recent hurricane. The source island is forested while the other islands have short, scrub vegetation.
Previous research found that anoles living in forests had longer hind limbs than those found in scrub habitat. Lizards with longer limbs can run faster on the broad perches available in forests, while short-limbed lizards are more adept at moving on the narrower perches found in lower vegetation.
The scientists revisited each of the islands over the next four years to measure the lizards' limb length and collect tissue samples for genetic analysis. All of the new populations survived and increased an average of 13-fold in the first two years before leveling off.
"We noticed a founder effect one year after starting the experiment, which resulted in differences among the lizards on the seven islands," Kolbe said. "Some of the islands had lizards with longer limbs and some had lizards with shorter limbs, but that was random with respect to the vegetation on the new islands."
Because the structure of the vegetation on the islands differed from that of the source island, the scientists predicted that natural selection would lead the lizards to develop shorter limbs.
"Over the next four years, the lizards on all the islands experienced a decrease in leg length that is attributable to natural selection," Kolbe explained. "But those that started out with the longest hind limbs still had the longest hind limbs. The fact that the populations maintained their order from longest to shortest limbs throughout the experiment means that both founder effects and natural selection contributed to their current differences."
According to Kolbe, founding effects are rarely observed in nature, with most previous studies being conducted in the laboratory. "Ours is the first to study this process experimentally in a natural setting, and we were able to account for multiple evolutionary mechanisms through time," he said. "We manipulated the founding of these islands, but everything else about it was natural."
The next step in the research will be to determine how long the founder effects persist before other factors erase its signature.
The study was funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society.
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6) Cane toads lose their killer touch in east Australia
11/27/12- Environment-Wendy Zukerman, Asia-Pacific reporter, BBC
Invasive weeds may save Australia's blue-tongue lizards from cane toad poison.
Since the cane toad was introduced to Australia in 1935, it has killed swathes of Australia's native animals including quolls, crocodiles and blue-tongue lizards (Tiliqua scincoides).
Native species that prey on the alien amphibians die because the toads produce a lethal toxin called bufadienolide.
Some blue-tongue lizards in eastern Australia can dine on the cane toads and live, though. Oddly enough, they might owe their immunity to another invasive species.
An ornamental plant native to Madagascar called mother-of-millions (Bryophyllum delagoense) is common in eastern Australia, and has also become part of the lizards' diet. The plants' flowers contain a poison similar to bufadienolide. Rick Shine at the University of Sydney, Australia, suspected that lizards which have already gained immunity to this toxin might be in a better position to withstand the toad toxin too.
His team caught 75 lizards that lived in areas containing either the toad and the ornamental plant, just one of the two, or neither of the toxic invaders. Shine injected toad poison into the lizards, administering a dose high enough to provoke a reaction, but not enough to kill the animal. His team then timed how fast the lizards could swim 50 centimetres.
Blue-tongue lizards from areas containing mother-of-millions were affected to a lesser degree than any others. This was true even for lizards that lived in regions of eastern Australia that contain no cane toads.
"Eastern blue-tongue lizards are able to defend themselves well against cane toads even though they've never actually met one," says Shine.
Mother-of-millions has been recorded in Australia for 70 years or so, suggesting that the lizards have gained tolerance to its toxin rapidly. Blue-tongue lizards create a new generation every two to four years, says study co-author Gregory Brown, also at the University of Sydney.
"It is extremely surprising that one of the lizard populations should genetically change over such a relatively short period of time," says Michael Tyler, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Adelaide, South Australia, who was not involved in the work. "But I am convinced. There is no other explanation I can find."
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7) Road Runoff Spurring Spotted Salamander Evolution ScienceDaily (Feb. 1, 2012)
Spotted salamanders exposed to contaminated roadside ponds are adapting to their toxic environments, according to a Yale paper in Scientific Reports. This study provides the first documented evidence that a vertebrate has adapted to the negative effects of Salamanders breeding in roadside ponds are exposed to a host of contaminants from road runoff. Chief among these is sodium chloride from road salt, which reaches average concentrations of 70 times higher in roadside ponds compared to woodland ponds located several hundred feet from the road.
"While the evolutionary consequences of roads are largely unknown, we know they are strong agents of natural selection and set the stage for fast evolution," said Steven Brady, the study's author and a doctoral student at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. "These animals are growing up in harsh environments where they face a cocktail of contaminants, and it appears that they are evolving to cope with them."
Brady found that salamanders in roadside ponds have higher mortality, grow at a slower rate and are more than likely to develop L-shaped spines and other disfigurements. In roadside ponds, only 56 percent of salamander eggs survive the first 10 weeks of development, whereas 87 percent survive in the woodland ponds. As roadside ponds become more toxic, the surviving salamanders may develop a genetic advantage over their counterparts living in woodland ponds.
The salamanders that survive year after year in the roadside ponds appear to have adapted to the harsh conditions. "The animals that come from roadside ponds actually do better -- substantially better -- than the ones that originate from woodland ponds when they're raised together," Brady said.
That animals adapt to human activities is not altogether new. For example, fish have begun to mature at smaller sizes in response to commercial fishing. But whereas humans directly utilize fish for consumption, salamanders are just bystanders to human activities. This suggests that the majority of species, which are not specifically targeted for human use, may be experiencing profound evolutionary consequences. And it appears that even species not being driven to extinction -- and seldom thought about -- are changing.
"This adaptation is certainly encouraging for conservation," said Brady. "But our modern footprint is fundamentally changing species in ways we don't understand and, critically, we don't know if these adaptive responses will keep pace with environmental change."
Brady observed the development of the salamanders in 10 ponds -- five roadside and five woodland -- at Yale Myers Forest and in the town of Willington, both in northeastern Connecticut.
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8) Leatherback sea turtles granted massive protected area along U.S. west coast Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com, January 23, 2012
The U.S. federal government has designated 108,556 square kilometers (41,914 square miles) as critical habitat for the leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), the largest of the world's marine turtles and one of the most endangered. The protected area, around the size of Guatemala, spans coastal sea waters from California to Washington state, but does not protect the migration routes environmentalists hoped for.
"Habitat protections are vital to the survival of leatherbacks. We urgently need migration safeguards for these ancient animals as they make the longest, most epic journey of any creature on the planet to get to our West Coast every year," said Catherine Kilduff with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) in a press release. The CBD along with Turtle Island Restoration Network and Oceana filed a lawsuit in 2009 to push the government to designate critical habitat for the leatherback sea turtle.
The new habitat means the government will consider possible regulations on any activities that could harm leatherbacks or their prey, jellyfish. Such regulations could target agricultural waste, pollution, nuclear power or tidal wave plants, offshore drilling, and aquaculture. Any new regulations would likely benefit more marine species beyond leatherbacks and jellyfish as well.
"This is a major decision to protect feeding hotspots for endangered leatherback sea turtles, but the federal government failed to acknowledge that the turtles need safe passage to get there," said Ben Enticknap, Oceana's project manager for the Pacific Ocean.
Leatherbacks travel around 9,654 kilometers (6,000 miles) from nesting sites in Indonesia to feeding ground off the U.S. West Coast. Conservationists had hoped the U.S. government would designate their migration route as critical habitat as well, safeguarding an extra 74,296 square kilometers (28,686 square miles).
Listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, leatherbacks have declined 80 percent since 1980 when there was an estimated global population of 115,000 breeding females. In the Pacific the drop has been even more catastrophic: 95 percent over the same time period.
The great turtles, weighing up to 900 kilograms (2,000 pounds), are imperiled by egg collection for human consumption, plastic pollution that can lead to starvation, ship strikes, and, first and foremost, entanglement in commercial fishing gear such as drift gillnets and longlines. Given that the migration route is not under protection, fisheries will not require additional regulations.
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9) Trumpets of outrage in the outback (Rhinos and even giant Komodo dragon lizards could be imported- Austrailia) 2/1/12, By Richard Black, BBC News Environment correspondent
An Australian biology professor is causing a rumble in the academic jungle by suggesting that his country should import elephants and other foreign species into its wild interior.
Rhinos and even giant Komodo dragon lizards could be imported, David Bowman suggests in an article in Nature.
He says Australia is just not managing its most pressing ecological problems, and something radical is needed.
But some fellow scientists say it is just a bad and dangerous idea.
Others, however, are supportive, seeing potential for helping beleaguered Aboriginal communities and reducing the risk of forest fires, as repairing some damaged ecology.
The problems Prof Bowman proposes solving with his radical zoological armoury stem from the huge changes wrought by the two waves of human arrival - the first by forebears of the Aborigines about 50,000 years ago, and the second by European settlers a few hundred years ago.
The first initiated the slow demise of the spectacular megafauna that once bestrode the giant continent.
They included the marsupial lion, a metre and a half long and a powerful predator; the diprotodon, a wombat bigger than a cow; giant birds such as the Dromornidae family that once boasted Stirton's Thunder Bird, three metres high; and crocodiles, lizards and turtles bigger than any still walking this Earth.
Take so many big species out of an ecosystem, and there are bound to be changes all the way down to its bottom.
If you throw in land clearance across enormous swathes of the continent and the subsequent introduction of rabbits, camels, cane toads, rats, pigs and everything else that came with the European settlers, you have an ecology in profound turmoil.
Attempts have been made to control rabbits, pigs, buffalo and lots of other alien species; but they haven't really worked.
"We have a very unbalanced ecology and it's all just spiralling into a trajectory," lamented Prof Bowman when I spoke to him earlier in the week.
"We're not managing actively, we're just managing bits of the problem - so it's a big mess."
So the root of his idea is that if you can't restore the animals themselves, bring in something that can fulfil a similar ecological role.
Grassed up
What's on his mind particularly is gamba grass, an African species growing up to 4m tall that's been introduced into Queensland and the Northern Territory.
The Queensland government lists it as a "pest plant", as it's out-competing native varieties and also raises the risk of fires - a hazard that causes huge damage routinely in many parts of Australia.
Machines and herbicides could be used to control it, and have been in some places - but not enough to stop its advance.
Growing so big, mature gamba grass is beyond the grazing capacity of any animal currently in Australia, whether native kangaroos or introduced cattle.
But it wouldn't be beyond a really big herbivore like an elephant.
"Imagine bringing in an elephant with a GPS collar on and sterile, so you know where it is all the time and it can't reproduce," he says.
"So I'm not saying 'let's randomly get animals and throw them into Australia', because strangely enough that's what Australians have done.
"I'm trying to say 'let's imagine that we're going to be more co-ordinated and more intelligent about it - where would you start on that process?'"
Deliberate introductions could even help preserve species that are set to go extinct in other more densely-populated parts of the world, he says.
Dingo dealing
Prof Bowman's vision isn't only about introducing novel species. He's also keen to restore those that still exist to something like their original ecological role.
So the dingo culling programmes instigated by sheep farmers should be ended, he feels, and the animals encouraged back into areas where they've been wiped out.
Studies show this could benefit native small mammals.
The irony here, of course, is that the dingo isn't truly ancestral, having been brought over from Asia relatively recently - probably just a few thousand years ago.
The proposals contain a strongly social aspect too, in that Aboriginal communities could be empowered to hunt some of the large animals that could be introduced.
They could also be tasked with carrying out controlled burning of forests and grasslands in order to reduce the ever-present fire risk.
"The answer is hiring Aboriginal people who are disadvantaged, who want to spend time in the bush, and get them to do burning and hunting," he says.
"And ok it might cost a lot of money, but it's also a health intervention, because it's been discovered that Aboriginal people, who have shocking health status - their health improves fantastically when they do outdoor work.
"The health stats are a blot on our reputation internationally, there's so much disadvantage, and Australians do want to improve that, and this is one of those rare situations where everyone can get a win."
Even without elephants or Komodo dragons, he believes there's no reason why Aboriginal hunters shouldn't be encouraged and even funded right now to tackle camels.
On the table
So what's provoked the positive and negative comments that have come in on these ideas?
"His comments are careless given recent proposals for the establishment of game reserves in New South Wales and introduction of new potential feral animals into these reserves," says Dr Ricky Spencer from the Native and Pest Animal Unit at the University of Western Sydney.
"If we did go down the road of introducing elephants to Australia, we had better develop the technology to clone sabre-tooth tigers to eventually control the elephants."
Given Australia's difficult hisory of disastrous species introductions, you'd think some academics would slam the idea simply on the basis that you shouldn't do any more of them - and this was a point picked up by Prof Patricia Werner from the Australian National University (ANU).
"Are we in Australia prepared to try yet another landscape-scale experiment as we did with foxes, rabbits, etc, and merely hope that the elephants don't find our native Australian trees tasty?" she asks.
"There are countless studies in Africa showing that when elephants are removed from an area, tree cover increases. Can we somehow command them to eat only introduced African grasses?"
However, her ANU colleague Dr Don Driscoll says it's right to acknowledge that Australian ecosystems are in a dire state.
"Because of this ongoing environmental catastrophe, we need to put all of the management options on the table to try to find ways of reducing the rate at which our biodiversity succumbs to the impacts of invasive alien species," he says.
"We should therefore consider introducing elephants and rhinoceros to Australia. We should also reconsider widely implemented practices such as culling dingos or burning forests to reduce fuels in southern Australia as an asset-protection measure."
Once these options are put on the table and properly evaluated, he says, some will be accepted and others rejected. He believes that elephants, for example, would not be approved - but the idea should be discussed.
And at the most fundamental level, this is what Prof Bowman is aiming for - to raise the severity of the ecological decline, and get people to think outside the accepted boxes.
"We're not talking about turning up with a barge and unleashing a whole lot of animals and watching the show - that's already happened," he says.
"If people can go through these options carefully and seriously and rule them out and tell me how we're going to manage gamba grass then I'll be very happy; but just to be laughed at and told 'that's a ridiculous idea' - well ok, tell me a good idea."
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Invasive Pythons in the United States- Ecology of an Introduced Predator Michael E. Dorcas and John D. Willson, Foreword by Whit Gibbons
The first detailed, comprehensive study of this invasive predator Page count: 176, 188 color photos, 8 maps, 1 table, 7 figures Paperback, c2011, For just $25.0 add $6.00 for shipping and handling. Getting low on signed copies so order now to make sure you get one. Otherwise non-autographed copies will be sent out.
Reviews
"The amount of misinformation and hysteria surrounding the discovery of viable populations of large pythons has been mind-boggling. This text provides a serious, scientifically-valid overview of an important ecological problem and will be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of scientists and non-scientists alike." ˘Richard Seigel, Professor and Chair, Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University
"Invasive species come in all shapes and sizes˘but few biological invaders are as dramatic as giant pythons. In this magnificently illustrated book, two accomplished snake biologists separate fact from fiction, and provide a user-friendly but scientifically rigorous account of how the pythons got to the USA, what we know about these troublesome aliens, and what impacts they are likely to have on the complex ecosystems of the Everglades and beyond." ˘Rick Shine, University of Sydney
"This meticulously researched and profusely illustrated work shines a spotlight on the dangers caused by introduction of non-native pythons into South Florida while providing a comprehensive account of what we know about the ecology of Burmese pythons, both in the United States and in their native range. This book will be of considerable interest to a wide range of readers including scholars, researchers, outdoors people, wildlife enthusiasts, and those concerned about the environmental and human threats posed by this invasive species in the United States."
˘Russell A. Mittermeier, President, Conservation International, and Vice President, IUCN
≥Michael E. Dorcas and John D. Willson provide a much-needed examination of the growing impact of Burmese pythons as an invasive species in the United States. By highlighting the many dangers and detrimental effects the introduction of non-native pythons has caused in the Everglades, this book documents the mounting threat which invasives pose to ecosystems everywhere. The first book to focus solely on this issue, Invasive Pythons is well-researched, well-illustrated, and well-timed.≈˘Edward O. Wilson, University Research Professor, Harvard University
Description
Most people think of pythons as giant snakes in distant tropical jungles, but Burmese pythons, which can reach lengths of over twenty feet and weigh over two hundred pounds, are now thriving in southern Florida.
These natives of Asia are commonly kept as pets and presumably escaped or were released in the Everglades. Pythons are now common in this region; widespread throughout hundreds of square miles, they are breeding and appear to be expanding their range. Pythons are voracious predators that feed on a variety of native wildlife including wading birds, bobcats, white-tailed deer, and even alligators. Their presence has drawn dramatic media attention and stoked fears among the public that pythons may threaten not just native species but humans as well.
Despite this widespread concern, information on pythons has been limited to a few scientific publications and news coverage that varies widely in fact and accuracy. With Invasive Pythons in the United States, Michael E. Dorcas and John D. Willson provide the most reliable, up-to-date, and scientifically grounded information on invasive pythons.
Filled with over two hundred color photographs and fifteen figures and maps, the book will help general readers and the scientific community better understand these fascinating animals and their troubling presence in the United States.
Features information on:
General python biology,
Biology of Burmese pythons in their native range Research on pythons in the United States history Status of introduced pythons in Florida, Risks pythons pose in Florida and elsewhere Methods to control python populations other boas and pythons that may become or are already established in the United State
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Diamonds in the Marsh - A Natural History of the Diamondback Terrapin Barbara Brennessel University Press of New England
2006 - 236 pp. 24 Color Illus. 35 B&W illus. 4 Tables. 6 x 9"
The first book-length investigation of a fascinating reptile
She's the mascot for the University of Maryland's sports teams (their slogan: Fear the Turtle) and her ancestors were nearly driven to extinction by Victorians who indulged in turtle soup. But as she buries herself in the mud every night to sleep, the diamondback terrapin knows none of this. The size of a dinner plate, she can live at least forty years and is the only turtle in North America who can live in brackish and salty waters.
The diamondback terrapin is named for the beautiful concentric rings on its shell. Its habitat ranges from Cape Cod to Corpus Christi, Texas, with seven subspecies identified along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Several diamondback populations have been the subjects of ecological studies in recent years, but most of that information was buried in scientific literature and various state and federal reports-until now.
Synthesizing all known research on this remarkable animal, Diamonds in the Marsh is the first full-scale natural history of the diamondback terrapin. Focusing on the northern diamondback, Barbara Brennessel examines its evolution, physiology, adaptations, behavior, growth patterns, life span, genetic diversity, land use, reproduction, and early years. She also discusses its relationship to humans, first as an important food source from colonial times through the nineteenth century, and more recently as a cultural icon, frequently depicted in Native American art and design. She concludes with a look at contemporary hazards to the terrapin, and urges continued study of this marvelous creature.
Reviews:
„Environmentalists, ecologists and marine biologists will delight in this meticulously detailed but highly readable look at the only North American turtle species that can tolerate the Œfresh water, salt water, and everything in between‚‰ ˜Publishers Weekly
A serious treatment of the natural history of one of the most beloved creatures of the Eastern Seaboard... well illustrated with photographs.‰˜Natural New England Magazine
"A comprehensive natural history such as Diamonds in the Marsh is an invaluable tool in the study and conservations of a species, and can provide a solid foundation for future research, conservation, and management decisions. Brennessel effectively pulls together the bulk of literature on the diamondback and communicates it to the reader in a generally clear, uncluttered fashion so as to make it not only a resource for researchers, but also an interesting read for reptile aficionados."˜Herpetological Review
„Useful for anyone interested in coastal species or reptiles.‰˜Northeastern Naturalist
Endorsements:
„Brennessel introduces us to the unsung heroes working to ensure the Terrapin's future. Her book offers inspiration to those wondering, ŒWhat can I do?‚ „˜Charles Landrey, Director, The Turtle Conservation Project, www.NewEnglandTurtles.org
„More than a mere treatise on terrapins; this is a book of fascinating facts about the lives of these turtles, intermingled with pertinent history˜written throughout with lucidity and subtle humor.‰˜Charlotte B. Sornborger, Terrapin Researcher, Barrington Land Conservation Trust and President, Audubon Society of Rhode Island
BARBARA BRENNESSEL is Professor of Biology at Wheaton College. Trained as a biochemist, she is a summer resident of Wellfleet, Cape Cod. She shifted her research interests to the diamondback terrapin after spending the summer of 2001 researching the species with the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
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Venomous Reptiles of the United States, Canada, and Northern Mexico volume 1 and 2 are now available as one set at a $20% Discount - But only until February 15, 2012. (Read more)
Last year, in Volume one the Ernsts covered Heloderma, Micruroides, Micrurus, Pelamis, Agkistrodon, Sistrurus
It was rightfully called a classic.
"Likely to remain the standard reference for the next 20 years."—SciTech Book News, reviewing Venomous Reptiles of North America
NOW COMES PART II
And if you buy the complete set, AND IF YOU ACT FAST- YOU CAN GET SIGNED COPIES OF EACH BOOK AT 20% OFFER. YES ONLY $120 FOR BOTH BOOKS.
(To order see the bottom of this message)
Carl and Evelyn Ernst have completely revised their landmark reference Venomous Reptiles of North America to present the most comprehensive review of these animals in years. A review that now needs two volumes to complete. ;Volume One of this definitive work presented dramatically improved species accounts of the venomous lizards and elapid and viperid snakes found north of Mexico's twenty-fifth parallel.
In Volume Two they cover the twenty-one rattlesnakes found in the United States, Canada, and, for the first time, species found only in northern Mexico.
As in Volume I, in Volume II they present the latest research on Crotalus in the United States, Canada, and northern Mexico and feature an extensive bibliography of literature on the subject.
These volumes contain a wealth of information for anyone with an interest in venom, snakes, or herpetology in general.
Venomous Reptiles of the United States, Canada, and Northern Mexico Volume I & II, provides facts on each animal's diet, reproductive behavior, physiology, ecology, and conservation status. The book also covers details on snakebite, how venom is delivered, venom composition, antivenom production, and medical treatments of envenomation. Each species account includes vivid photographs that aid with identification and detailed maps that show the species range.
AND IF YOU ACT NOW WHAT WOULD COST YOU $150 NOW COSTS YOU ONLY $120.00- 20% off and signed by both authors.
If you already have Volume 1 - or if you’re only interested in one volume you can order a single book for $75.00 plus $6.00 S&H. (It will be signed by both authors)
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THIS OFFER IS ONLY GOOD UNTIL FEBRUARY 15, 2012 __________________________________________________________________
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Table of Contents
1) Severe Mammal declines coincide with proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park
2) Burma officials seize 10,000 snakes bound for China
3) Maryland Man Admits To Turtle Trafficking
4) Current status of alien vertebrates in the Galápagos Islands: invasion history, distribution, and potential impacts
5) Castaway Lizards Provide Insight Into Elusive Evolutionary Process, Founder Effects
6) Cane toads lose their killer touch in east Australia- Invasive weeds may save Australia's blue-tongue lizards from cane toad poison.
7) Road Runoff Spurring Spotted Salamander Evolution
8) Leatherback sea turtles granted massive protected area along U.S. west coast Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com, January 23, 2012
9) Trumpets of outrage in the outback (Rhinos and even giant Komodo dragon lizards could be imported into Austrailia) _____________________________________________________
TURTLE TV is here, It's a freaking hilarious‰ award winning 30 minute DVD compilation of excerpts from shows and events from a TV station run by turtles for turtles and their friends. - such as you? ALL SHOWS STAR ONLY TURTLES. Not a human to be seen
TURTLE MOVIES- - Star Wars - American Beauty - Blazing Saddles (Yep, that scene) King Kong (Yes the turtle climbs up the side of a
skyscraper)
TURTLE SPORTS-- the Turtle Hockey League, the Turtle Basketball League Turtle Drag Racing, even the Turtle Indy 500 (complete with a sensational crash).
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Books Still Available
Invasive Pythons in the United States- Ecology of an Introduced Predator by Michael E. Dorcas and John D. Willson, Foreword by Whit Gibbons,
Diamondback Terrapins: Gems of the Turtle World (How to Care for them in captivity)
Diamonds in the March , (Definitve Book on Diamondback Terrapins,) by Barbara Brennessel, go to end of text of newsletter for additional information on any of these books and how to order.
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1) Severe Mammal declines coincide with proliferation of invasive Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park Michael E. Dorcasa,1, John D. Willsonb, Robert N. Reedc, Ray W. Snowd, Michael R. Rochforde, Melissa A. Millerf, Walter E. Meshaka, Jr.g, Paul T. Andreadish, Frank J. Mazzottie, Christina M. Romagosai, and Kristen M. Hartj
+
PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the USA, 1/24/12 Author Affiliations aDepartment of Biology, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035; bDepartment of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061; cFort Collins Science Center, US Geological Survey, Fort Collins, CO 80526; dEverglades National Park, National Park Service, Homestead, FL 33034; eFort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Davie, FL 33314; fDepartment of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849; gState Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA 17120; hDepartment of Biology, Denison University, Granville, OH 43023; iCenter for Forest Sustainability, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849; and jSoutheast Ecological Science Center, US Geological Survey, Davie, FL 33314 Edited by Peter M. Vitousek, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, and approved December 21, 2011 (received for review September 26, 2011)
Abstract
Invasive species represent a significant threat to global biodiversity and a substantial economic burden. Burmese pythons, giant constricting snakes native to Asia, now are found throughout much of southern Florida, including all of Everglades National Park (ENP). Pythons have increased dramatically in both abundance and geographic range since 2000 and consume a wide variety of mammals and birds. Here we report severe apparent declines in mammal populations that coincide temporally and spatially with the proliferation of pythons in ENP. Before 2000, mammals were encountered frequently during nocturnal road surveys within ENP. In contrast, road surveys totaling 56,971 km from 2003–2011 documented a 99.3% decrease in the frequency of raccoon observations, decreases of 98.9% and 87.5% for opossum and bobcat observations, respectively, and failed to detect rabbits. Road surveys also revealed that these species are more common in areas where pythons have been discovered only rece!
ntly and are most abundant outside the python's current introduced range. These findings suggest that predation by pythons has resulted in dramatic declines in mammals within ENP and that introduced apex predators, such as giant constrictors, can exert significant top-down pressure on prey populations. Severe declines in easily observed and/or common mammals, such as raccoons and bobcats, bode poorly for species of conservation concern, which often are more difficult to sample and occur at lower densities.
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2) Burma officials seize 10,000 snakes bound for China More than 10,000 snakes bound for China were seized recently in Burma.
The Associated Press, 1/20/12
YANGON — Forestry officials in central Burma have seized nearly 10,000 snakes in 400 crates that were to be smuggled to China.
The weekly journal Modern reported Friday that 50 cobras were among the 9,176 snakes seized in Pyin Oo Lwin district near Mandalay on Jan. 12.
Wildlife smuggling is endemic in Asia, where exotic species are used for food and traditional medicine.
The report did not say how many people were arrested but said those involved would be charged under the Protection of Wildlife and Conservation of Natural Areas law, which carries a five-year prison sentence.
It said the 7,000 non-poisonous snakes were released into a wildlife reserve, while the vipers and cobras were sent to the state pharmaceutical company for their venom.
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3) Maryland Man Admits To Turtle Trafficking 1/25/2012 WBAL-AM - Online-Steve Fermier and Associated Press
A Maryland man has pleaded guilty in a turtle trafficking case in New York. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Buffalo says 57-year-old Michael Johnson of Chestertown, Md., ran a turtle meat processing facility in Millington, Md., in 2007 and 2008, at times buying common snapping turtles for their meat from individuals in various states.
Prosecutors say he twice purchased turtles from undercover conservation officers in New York state, where the turtles are a protected species. Johnson faces up to a year in jail after pleading guilty Tuesday to attempted trafficking in prohibited wildlife.
Besides pleading guilty, prosecutors say Johnson has donated $7,500 to the Buffalo Zoo, $5,000 to the Tifft Nature Preserve in Buffalo and $7,500 to Teatown Lake Reservation in Westchester County, all for turtle research and education.
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4) Current status of alien vertebrates in the Galápagos Islands: invasion history, distribution, and potential impacts Brand Phillips, David A. Wiedenfeld and Howard L. Snell Biological Invasions- Volume 14, Number 2, 461-480, DOI: 10.1007/s10530-011-0090-z Original Paper Bransphillips@gmail.com for copies and comments.
Abstract
Human activity has promoted the invasion of the Galápagos Islands by alien species from each of the five classes of vertebrates. We review the current distribution of alien vertebrates in the archipelago, their impacts on native species, and management efforts aimed at alien vertebrates. A total of 44 species have been reported in the archipelago, with 20 species establishing feral populations. Mammals were the first group arriving in the archipelago and remain the most numerous, with 10 established species. Alien birds invaded after mammals and four species have established populations. Reptiles, amphibians, and fish invaded later and are represented by three, one, and two species, respectively. Alien mammals are the most injurious to native biota, contributing to the decline or extinction of several species. Aside from mammals, no other class of alien vertebrate has had documented impacts on native species. Several populations of large and medium-sized mammals and birds ha!
ve been eradicated.
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5) Castaway Lizards Provide Insight Into Elusive Evolutionary Process, Founder Effects ScienceDaily (Feb. 2, 2012)
A University of Rhode Island biologist who released lizards on tiny uninhabited islands in the Bahamas has shed light on the interaction between evolutionary
Jason Kolbe, a URI assistant professor of biological sciences, and colleagues from Duke University, Harvard University and the University of California at Davis, found that the lizards' genetic and morphological traits were determined by both natural selection and a phenomenon called founder effects, which occur when species colonize new territory.
Their research was published recently in the journal Science.
"We rarely observe founder effects as they happen in nature, but we know that it happens because islands are colonized by new species over time," said Kolbe. "What we didn't know was how these evolutionary mechanisms interact with each other. What we learned is that the differences caused by the founder effects persist even as populations adapt to their new environments."
The founder effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. It often results in the new population becoming genetically or morphologically different from the original population.
The scientists randomly collected brown anole lizards from a large island near Great Abaco and released one pair on each of seven nearby islands whose lizard populations had been cleared by a recent hurricane. The source island is forested while the other islands have short, scrub vegetation.
Previous research found that anoles living in forests had longer hind limbs than those found in scrub habitat. Lizards with longer limbs can run faster on the broad perches available in forests, while short-limbed lizards are more adept at moving on the narrower perches found in lower vegetation.
The scientists revisited each of the islands over the next four years to measure the lizards' limb length and collect tissue samples for genetic analysis. All of the new populations survived and increased an average of 13-fold in the first two years before leveling off.
"We noticed a founder effect one year after starting the experiment, which resulted in differences among the lizards on the seven islands," Kolbe said. "Some of the islands had lizards with longer limbs and some had lizards with shorter limbs, but that was random with respect to the vegetation on the new islands."
Because the structure of the vegetation on the islands differed from that of the source island, the scientists predicted that natural selection would lead the lizards to develop shorter limbs.
"Over the next four years, the lizards on all the islands experienced a decrease in leg length that is attributable to natural selection," Kolbe explained. "But those that started out with the longest hind limbs still had the longest hind limbs. The fact that the populations maintained their order from longest to shortest limbs throughout the experiment means that both founder effects and natural selection contributed to their current differences."
According to Kolbe, founding effects are rarely observed in nature, with most previous studies being conducted in the laboratory. "Ours is the first to study this process experimentally in a natural setting, and we were able to account for multiple evolutionary mechanisms through time," he said. "We manipulated the founding of these islands, but everything else about it was natural."
The next step in the research will be to determine how long the founder effects persist before other factors erase its signature.
The study was funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society.
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6) Cane toads lose their killer touch in east Australia
11/27/12- Environment-Wendy Zukerman, Asia-Pacific reporter, BBC
Invasive weeds may save Australia's blue-tongue lizards from cane toad poison.
Since the cane toad was introduced to Australia in 1935, it has killed swathes of Australia's native animals including quolls, crocodiles and blue-tongue lizards (Tiliqua scincoides).
Native species that prey on the alien amphibians die because the toads produce a lethal toxin called bufadienolide.
Some blue-tongue lizards in eastern Australia can dine on the cane toads and live, though. Oddly enough, they might owe their immunity to another invasive species.
An ornamental plant native to Madagascar called mother-of-millions (Bryophyllum delagoense) is common in eastern Australia, and has also become part of the lizards' diet. The plants' flowers contain a poison similar to bufadienolide. Rick Shine at the University of Sydney, Australia, suspected that lizards which have already gained immunity to this toxin might be in a better position to withstand the toad toxin too.
His team caught 75 lizards that lived in areas containing either the toad and the ornamental plant, just one of the two, or neither of the toxic invaders. Shine injected toad poison into the lizards, administering a dose high enough to provoke a reaction, but not enough to kill the animal. His team then timed how fast the lizards could swim 50 centimetres.
Blue-tongue lizards from areas containing mother-of-millions were affected to a lesser degree than any others. This was true even for lizards that lived in regions of eastern Australia that contain no cane toads.
"Eastern blue-tongue lizards are able to defend themselves well against cane toads even though they've never actually met one," says Shine.
Mother-of-millions has been recorded in Australia for 70 years or so, suggesting that the lizards have gained tolerance to its toxin rapidly. Blue-tongue lizards create a new generation every two to four years, says study co-author Gregory Brown, also at the University of Sydney.
"It is extremely surprising that one of the lizard populations should genetically change over such a relatively short period of time," says Michael Tyler, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Adelaide, South Australia, who was not involved in the work. "But I am convinced. There is no other explanation I can find."
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7) Road Runoff Spurring Spotted Salamander Evolution ScienceDaily (Feb. 1, 2012)
Spotted salamanders exposed to contaminated roadside ponds are adapting to their toxic environments, according to a Yale paper in Scientific Reports. This study provides the first documented evidence that a vertebrate has adapted to the negative effects of Salamanders breeding in roadside ponds are exposed to a host of contaminants from road runoff. Chief among these is sodium chloride from road salt, which reaches average concentrations of 70 times higher in roadside ponds compared to woodland ponds located several hundred feet from the road.
"While the evolutionary consequences of roads are largely unknown, we know they are strong agents of natural selection and set the stage for fast evolution," said Steven Brady, the study's author and a doctoral student at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. "These animals are growing up in harsh environments where they face a cocktail of contaminants, and it appears that they are evolving to cope with them."
Brady found that salamanders in roadside ponds have higher mortality, grow at a slower rate and are more than likely to develop L-shaped spines and other disfigurements. In roadside ponds, only 56 percent of salamander eggs survive the first 10 weeks of development, whereas 87 percent survive in the woodland ponds. As roadside ponds become more toxic, the surviving salamanders may develop a genetic advantage over their counterparts living in woodland ponds.
The salamanders that survive year after year in the roadside ponds appear to have adapted to the harsh conditions. "The animals that come from roadside ponds actually do better -- substantially better -- than the ones that originate from woodland ponds when they're raised together," Brady said.
That animals adapt to human activities is not altogether new. For example, fish have begun to mature at smaller sizes in response to commercial fishing. But whereas humans directly utilize fish for consumption, salamanders are just bystanders to human activities. This suggests that the majority of species, which are not specifically targeted for human use, may be experiencing profound evolutionary consequences. And it appears that even species not being driven to extinction -- and seldom thought about -- are changing.
"This adaptation is certainly encouraging for conservation," said Brady. "But our modern footprint is fundamentally changing species in ways we don't understand and, critically, we don't know if these adaptive responses will keep pace with environmental change."
Brady observed the development of the salamanders in 10 ponds -- five roadside and five woodland -- at Yale Myers Forest and in the town of Willington, both in northeastern Connecticut.
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8) Leatherback sea turtles granted massive protected area along U.S. west coast Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com, January 23, 2012
The U.S. federal government has designated 108,556 square kilometers (41,914 square miles) as critical habitat for the leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), the largest of the world's marine turtles and one of the most endangered. The protected area, around the size of Guatemala, spans coastal sea waters from California to Washington state, but does not protect the migration routes environmentalists hoped for.
"Habitat protections are vital to the survival of leatherbacks. We urgently need migration safeguards for these ancient animals as they make the longest, most epic journey of any creature on the planet to get to our West Coast every year," said Catherine Kilduff with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) in a press release. The CBD along with Turtle Island Restoration Network and Oceana filed a lawsuit in 2009 to push the government to designate critical habitat for the leatherback sea turtle.
The new habitat means the government will consider possible regulations on any activities that could harm leatherbacks or their prey, jellyfish. Such regulations could target agricultural waste, pollution, nuclear power or tidal wave plants, offshore drilling, and aquaculture. Any new regulations would likely benefit more marine species beyond leatherbacks and jellyfish as well.
"This is a major decision to protect feeding hotspots for endangered leatherback sea turtles, but the federal government failed to acknowledge that the turtles need safe passage to get there," said Ben Enticknap, Oceana's project manager for the Pacific Ocean.
Leatherbacks travel around 9,654 kilometers (6,000 miles) from nesting sites in Indonesia to feeding ground off the U.S. West Coast. Conservationists had hoped the U.S. government would designate their migration route as critical habitat as well, safeguarding an extra 74,296 square kilometers (28,686 square miles).
Listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, leatherbacks have declined 80 percent since 1980 when there was an estimated global population of 115,000 breeding females. In the Pacific the drop has been even more catastrophic: 95 percent over the same time period.
The great turtles, weighing up to 900 kilograms (2,000 pounds), are imperiled by egg collection for human consumption, plastic pollution that can lead to starvation, ship strikes, and, first and foremost, entanglement in commercial fishing gear such as drift gillnets and longlines. Given that the migration route is not under protection, fisheries will not require additional regulations.
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9) Trumpets of outrage in the outback (Rhinos and even giant Komodo dragon lizards could be imported- Austrailia) 2/1/12, By Richard Black, BBC News Environment correspondent
An Australian biology professor is causing a rumble in the academic jungle by suggesting that his country should import elephants and other foreign species into its wild interior.
Rhinos and even giant Komodo dragon lizards could be imported, David Bowman suggests in an article in Nature.
He says Australia is just not managing its most pressing ecological problems, and something radical is needed.
But some fellow scientists say it is just a bad and dangerous idea.
Others, however, are supportive, seeing potential for helping beleaguered Aboriginal communities and reducing the risk of forest fires, as repairing some damaged ecology.
The problems Prof Bowman proposes solving with his radical zoological armoury stem from the huge changes wrought by the two waves of human arrival - the first by forebears of the Aborigines about 50,000 years ago, and the second by European settlers a few hundred years ago.
The first initiated the slow demise of the spectacular megafauna that once bestrode the giant continent.
They included the marsupial lion, a metre and a half long and a powerful predator; the diprotodon, a wombat bigger than a cow; giant birds such as the Dromornidae family that once boasted Stirton's Thunder Bird, three metres high; and crocodiles, lizards and turtles bigger than any still walking this Earth.
Take so many big species out of an ecosystem, and there are bound to be changes all the way down to its bottom.
If you throw in land clearance across enormous swathes of the continent and the subsequent introduction of rabbits, camels, cane toads, rats, pigs and everything else that came with the European settlers, you have an ecology in profound turmoil.
Attempts have been made to control rabbits, pigs, buffalo and lots of other alien species; but they haven't really worked.
"We have a very unbalanced ecology and it's all just spiralling into a trajectory," lamented Prof Bowman when I spoke to him earlier in the week.
"We're not managing actively, we're just managing bits of the problem - so it's a big mess."
So the root of his idea is that if you can't restore the animals themselves, bring in something that can fulfil a similar ecological role.
Grassed up
What's on his mind particularly is gamba grass, an African species growing up to 4m tall that's been introduced into Queensland and the Northern Territory.
The Queensland government lists it as a "pest plant", as it's out-competing native varieties and also raises the risk of fires - a hazard that causes huge damage routinely in many parts of Australia.
Machines and herbicides could be used to control it, and have been in some places - but not enough to stop its advance.
Growing so big, mature gamba grass is beyond the grazing capacity of any animal currently in Australia, whether native kangaroos or introduced cattle.
But it wouldn't be beyond a really big herbivore like an elephant.
"Imagine bringing in an elephant with a GPS collar on and sterile, so you know where it is all the time and it can't reproduce," he says.
"So I'm not saying 'let's randomly get animals and throw them into Australia', because strangely enough that's what Australians have done.
"I'm trying to say 'let's imagine that we're going to be more co-ordinated and more intelligent about it - where would you start on that process?'"
Deliberate introductions could even help preserve species that are set to go extinct in other more densely-populated parts of the world, he says.
Dingo dealing
Prof Bowman's vision isn't only about introducing novel species. He's also keen to restore those that still exist to something like their original ecological role.
So the dingo culling programmes instigated by sheep farmers should be ended, he feels, and the animals encouraged back into areas where they've been wiped out.
Studies show this could benefit native small mammals.
The irony here, of course, is that the dingo isn't truly ancestral, having been brought over from Asia relatively recently - probably just a few thousand years ago.
The proposals contain a strongly social aspect too, in that Aboriginal communities could be empowered to hunt some of the large animals that could be introduced.
They could also be tasked with carrying out controlled burning of forests and grasslands in order to reduce the ever-present fire risk.
"The answer is hiring Aboriginal people who are disadvantaged, who want to spend time in the bush, and get them to do burning and hunting," he says.
"And ok it might cost a lot of money, but it's also a health intervention, because it's been discovered that Aboriginal people, who have shocking health status - their health improves fantastically when they do outdoor work.
"The health stats are a blot on our reputation internationally, there's so much disadvantage, and Australians do want to improve that, and this is one of those rare situations where everyone can get a win."
Even without elephants or Komodo dragons, he believes there's no reason why Aboriginal hunters shouldn't be encouraged and even funded right now to tackle camels.
On the table
So what's provoked the positive and negative comments that have come in on these ideas?
"His comments are careless given recent proposals for the establishment of game reserves in New South Wales and introduction of new potential feral animals into these reserves," says Dr Ricky Spencer from the Native and Pest Animal Unit at the University of Western Sydney.
"If we did go down the road of introducing elephants to Australia, we had better develop the technology to clone sabre-tooth tigers to eventually control the elephants."
Given Australia's difficult hisory of disastrous species introductions, you'd think some academics would slam the idea simply on the basis that you shouldn't do any more of them - and this was a point picked up by Prof Patricia Werner from the Australian National University (ANU).
"Are we in Australia prepared to try yet another landscape-scale experiment as we did with foxes, rabbits, etc, and merely hope that the elephants don't find our native Australian trees tasty?" she asks.
"There are countless studies in Africa showing that when elephants are removed from an area, tree cover increases. Can we somehow command them to eat only introduced African grasses?"
However, her ANU colleague Dr Don Driscoll says it's right to acknowledge that Australian ecosystems are in a dire state.
"Because of this ongoing environmental catastrophe, we need to put all of the management options on the table to try to find ways of reducing the rate at which our biodiversity succumbs to the impacts of invasive alien species," he says.
"We should therefore consider introducing elephants and rhinoceros to Australia. We should also reconsider widely implemented practices such as culling dingos or burning forests to reduce fuels in southern Australia as an asset-protection measure."
Once these options are put on the table and properly evaluated, he says, some will be accepted and others rejected. He believes that elephants, for example, would not be approved - but the idea should be discussed.
And at the most fundamental level, this is what Prof Bowman is aiming for - to raise the severity of the ecological decline, and get people to think outside the accepted boxes.
"We're not talking about turning up with a barge and unleashing a whole lot of animals and watching the show - that's already happened," he says.
"If people can go through these options carefully and seriously and rule them out and tell me how we're going to manage gamba grass then I'll be very happy; but just to be laughed at and told 'that's a ridiculous idea' - well ok, tell me a good idea."
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Diamondback Terrapins: Gems of the Turtle World ($24.95 plus
$6 S&H)Complete Owner's Guide to Keeping and Breeding Diamondback Terrapins. Chapters include Natural History, The Genus Malaclemys, Terrapins in Captivity, Health Care, Breeding, and Conservation. * The first book written on all 7 diamondback terrapin subspecies. * The only book with over 150 color photos of diamondback terrapins. * Book includes picture of the one and only albino diamondback terrapin. * Information and pictures on a possible 8th subspecies. 85 pages. by James Lee and Samuel Chew.
Overseas orders email first for S&H, but Europe is $15.00 _______________________________________________________________
Invasive Pythons in the United States- Ecology of an Introduced Predator Michael E. Dorcas and John D. Willson, Foreword by Whit Gibbons
The first detailed, comprehensive study of this invasive predator Page count: 176, 188 color photos, 8 maps, 1 table, 7 figures Paperback, c2011, For just $25.0 add $6.00 for shipping and handling. Getting low on signed copies so order now to make sure you get one. Otherwise non-autographed copies will be sent out.
Reviews
"The amount of misinformation and hysteria surrounding the discovery of viable populations of large pythons has been mind-boggling. This text provides a serious, scientifically-valid overview of an important ecological problem and will be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of scientists and non-scientists alike." ˘Richard Seigel, Professor and Chair, Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University
"Invasive species come in all shapes and sizes˘but few biological invaders are as dramatic as giant pythons. In this magnificently illustrated book, two accomplished snake biologists separate fact from fiction, and provide a user-friendly but scientifically rigorous account of how the pythons got to the USA, what we know about these troublesome aliens, and what impacts they are likely to have on the complex ecosystems of the Everglades and beyond." ˘Rick Shine, University of Sydney
"This meticulously researched and profusely illustrated work shines a spotlight on the dangers caused by introduction of non-native pythons into South Florida while providing a comprehensive account of what we know about the ecology of Burmese pythons, both in the United States and in their native range. This book will be of considerable interest to a wide range of readers including scholars, researchers, outdoors people, wildlife enthusiasts, and those concerned about the environmental and human threats posed by this invasive species in the United States."
˘Russell A. Mittermeier, President, Conservation International, and Vice President, IUCN
≥Michael E. Dorcas and John D. Willson provide a much-needed examination of the growing impact of Burmese pythons as an invasive species in the United States. By highlighting the many dangers and detrimental effects the introduction of non-native pythons has caused in the Everglades, this book documents the mounting threat which invasives pose to ecosystems everywhere. The first book to focus solely on this issue, Invasive Pythons is well-researched, well-illustrated, and well-timed.≈˘Edward O. Wilson, University Research Professor, Harvard University
Description
Most people think of pythons as giant snakes in distant tropical jungles, but Burmese pythons, which can reach lengths of over twenty feet and weigh over two hundred pounds, are now thriving in southern Florida.
These natives of Asia are commonly kept as pets and presumably escaped or were released in the Everglades. Pythons are now common in this region; widespread throughout hundreds of square miles, they are breeding and appear to be expanding their range. Pythons are voracious predators that feed on a variety of native wildlife including wading birds, bobcats, white-tailed deer, and even alligators. Their presence has drawn dramatic media attention and stoked fears among the public that pythons may threaten not just native species but humans as well.
Despite this widespread concern, information on pythons has been limited to a few scientific publications and news coverage that varies widely in fact and accuracy. With Invasive Pythons in the United States, Michael E. Dorcas and John D. Willson provide the most reliable, up-to-date, and scientifically grounded information on invasive pythons.
Filled with over two hundred color photographs and fifteen figures and maps, the book will help general readers and the scientific community better understand these fascinating animals and their troubling presence in the United States.
Features information on:
General python biology,
Biology of Burmese pythons in their native range Research on pythons in the United States history Status of introduced pythons in Florida, Risks pythons pose in Florida and elsewhere Methods to control python populations other boas and pythons that may become or are already established in the United State
TO ORDER: $25.00 per book, $6.00 for S&H per book. $12 to Canada and Mexico per book $15.00 to Europe and Central and South America per book
So see a copy of the cover go to
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9994654@N0 ... hotostream
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Diamonds in the Marsh - A Natural History of the Diamondback Terrapin Barbara Brennessel University Press of New England
2006 - 236 pp. 24 Color Illus. 35 B&W illus. 4 Tables. 6 x 9"
The first book-length investigation of a fascinating reptile
She's the mascot for the University of Maryland's sports teams (their slogan: Fear the Turtle) and her ancestors were nearly driven to extinction by Victorians who indulged in turtle soup. But as she buries herself in the mud every night to sleep, the diamondback terrapin knows none of this. The size of a dinner plate, she can live at least forty years and is the only turtle in North America who can live in brackish and salty waters.
The diamondback terrapin is named for the beautiful concentric rings on its shell. Its habitat ranges from Cape Cod to Corpus Christi, Texas, with seven subspecies identified along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Several diamondback populations have been the subjects of ecological studies in recent years, but most of that information was buried in scientific literature and various state and federal reports-until now.
Synthesizing all known research on this remarkable animal, Diamonds in the Marsh is the first full-scale natural history of the diamondback terrapin. Focusing on the northern diamondback, Barbara Brennessel examines its evolution, physiology, adaptations, behavior, growth patterns, life span, genetic diversity, land use, reproduction, and early years. She also discusses its relationship to humans, first as an important food source from colonial times through the nineteenth century, and more recently as a cultural icon, frequently depicted in Native American art and design. She concludes with a look at contemporary hazards to the terrapin, and urges continued study of this marvelous creature.
Reviews:
„Environmentalists, ecologists and marine biologists will delight in this meticulously detailed but highly readable look at the only North American turtle species that can tolerate the Œfresh water, salt water, and everything in between‚‰ ˜Publishers Weekly
A serious treatment of the natural history of one of the most beloved creatures of the Eastern Seaboard... well illustrated with photographs.‰˜Natural New England Magazine
"A comprehensive natural history such as Diamonds in the Marsh is an invaluable tool in the study and conservations of a species, and can provide a solid foundation for future research, conservation, and management decisions. Brennessel effectively pulls together the bulk of literature on the diamondback and communicates it to the reader in a generally clear, uncluttered fashion so as to make it not only a resource for researchers, but also an interesting read for reptile aficionados."˜Herpetological Review
„Useful for anyone interested in coastal species or reptiles.‰˜Northeastern Naturalist
Endorsements:
„Brennessel introduces us to the unsung heroes working to ensure the Terrapin's future. Her book offers inspiration to those wondering, ŒWhat can I do?‚ „˜Charles Landrey, Director, The Turtle Conservation Project, www.NewEnglandTurtles.org
„More than a mere treatise on terrapins; this is a book of fascinating facts about the lives of these turtles, intermingled with pertinent history˜written throughout with lucidity and subtle humor.‰˜Charlotte B. Sornborger, Terrapin Researcher, Barrington Land Conservation Trust and President, Audubon Society of Rhode Island
BARBARA BRENNESSEL is Professor of Biology at Wheaton College. Trained as a biochemist, she is a summer resident of Wellfleet, Cape Cod. She shifted her research interests to the diamondback terrapin after spending the summer of 2001 researching the species with the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
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