rain-forests are re-growing

Large stretches of land that were clear-cut for industry are re-growing.  And, while you may think this is a good thing, some scientists think this may cause even more loss of biodiversty, according to the Environmental News Service.

The opinion amongst scientists is that 50 to 80 percent of plant species will return due to preservation areas, however animal species may not survive such a transition.  The flipside to this is that preventing the re-growth opens ways for poachers and other hunters that kill the animals for food, medicine, and trophies.

This increasing harvest of animals, combined with the emergence of devastating wildlife diseases, habitat loss due to industrial scale development, climate change and other factors, is a recipe for catastrophic biodiversity collapse, despite encouraging evidence of rainforest regrowth, says this group of scientists.

This has led scientists at the Smithsonian to invite leaders in the industry to gather and discuss the ‘tropical extinction crisis’.

 

Says Elizabeth Bennett, from the Wildlife Conservation Society:

“The implications of all this for loss of ecosystem function are still not fully understood, although many studies show that tropical forests depleted of large vertebrates experience reduced seed dispersal, altered patterns of tree recruitment and shifts in the relative abundances of species. The loss of top predators and other ‘keystone species’ has a disproportionate impact on ecosystems and can result in dramatic biodiversity changes.”

trend alert

Do you remember when I posted about Tazmanian Devils and their likely extinction?

You can go HERE to read the original post. Essentially, the Tazmanian Devil will be extinct in 10-20 years because of a rare form a cancer that is spreading throughout the population. I accurately write “spreading” since they have found this cancer has been able to mutate itself to be contagious. And, why is it contagious? Because of lack of biodiversity.

I warned everyone in that post about the possibility of other animals being afflicted with disease because of selective inbreeding and lack of space for animals to roam.

Well…. hate to say I told you so, but alas…. I told you so.

An analysis of commercial chicken populations around the world by William M. Muir of Purdue University and colleagues has revealed the extent of the problem. Fifty percent or more of the diversity of ancestral breeds has been lost, they report in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. That could make chicken production more susceptible to disease outbreaks for which resistant genes have disappeared.

Just a note, chickens don’t really exist outside of commercial facilities, so it is silly to make it seem like they are some special population. Let’s just say “chicken populations”

You can find the whole article HERE

cancer

I am going to point you to THIS article for a very important read.

Yes, on the surface it looks like an article about the Tasmanian Devil and it’s extinction. And it is. But the subtext is what is so, so critical about this story.

Tazmanian Devils will more than likely go extinct because of a cancer that is spreading through out the species. What research has shown is that because of low biodiversity and genetic variation, the cancer has mutated to be… CONTAGIOUS. I will give you a few minutes to let this sink in. Contagious. We have always thought that cancers are independently caused and created.

The implications of this finding are enormous. Maybe not on human populations, unless our politics and economies segregate us even more. But on our plant and animal populations, absolutely. Think of the homogeneous nature of corn and the proliferation of that cash crop in our world. Think of all the animals currently on the endangered species list, and the limited amount of genes in the population to reproduce.

This is something very serious and needs a lot of scientific attention. You see, we may all think that global change is not going to affect the current species all that much, in our lifetimes. However, if cancer can become contagious… we may just see a change we are not ready for.

sea you later

There is one treaty we have all agreed on… presumably not under the Bush Administration… la dee da, la dee da…. anyway.

The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the world’s most widely endorsed environmental treaty. In it many countries have agreed, that by 2010, we will conserve 10% of the worlds ecological regions.

Relatively speaking, it seems we are doing well when it comes to land. Not so well when it comes to the sea. While 12.2% of the planet’s land area is under legal protection only 5.9% of the world’s territorial seas and less than 1% of the high seas are protected.

HERE is the article. This may be a good opportunity to support Heal the Bay or Oceana