By Laurel Neme, special to mongabay.com
December 21, 2011
This interview is an excerpt from The WildLife with Laurel Neme, a program that explores the mysteries of the animal world through interviews with scientists and other wildlife investigators. "The WildLife" airs every Monday from 1-2 pm EST on WOMM-LP, 105.9 FM in Burlington, Vermont. You can livestream it at theradiator.org or download the podcast from iTunes, laurelneme.com or laurelneme.podbean.com.
Dr. Laurel A. Neme is also the author of ANIMAL INVESTIGATORS: How the World's First Wildlife Forensics Lab is Solving Crimes and Saving Endangered Species.
The website indicates that there is a Part 2 to this interview, but the test there is just a repeat of Part 1
This interview originally aired on March 14, 2011. It was transcribed by Kirstin Fagan.
Scientists and the public usually rejoice when a new species is discovered. But biologist Bryan Stuart has learned the hard way that the discovery of new species, especially when that species is commercially valuable, has a dark side-one that could potentially wipe out the new species before protections can be put in place.
Stuart has discovered 27 species unknown previously to scientists - so far. That includes 22 species of frogs, three types of snakes, and two salamanders. His experience with one of these, a warty salamander from Laos with striking markings (Laotriton laoensis), opened his eyes to a dark side of scientific discovery: commercial overexploitation before protections are in place.
Shortly after Stuart described the previously unknown species Laotriton (Paramesotriton) laoensis in a scientific paper published in 2002, commercial dealers began collecting this Lao newt for sale into the pet trade. In essence, the dealers used Stuart's geographic description in the paper as a "roadmap" to find the rare newt.
This situation is not unique. It's also happened with a turtle (Chelodina mccordi) from the small Indonesian island of Roti, which was so heavily hunted that today it is nearly extinct in the wild. Similarly, a rare gecko (Goniurosaurus luii) from southeastern China was extirpated from its locality as prices in importing countries soared to highs of $1,500 to $2,000 each.
It's a dual dilemma. On the one hand, publishing scientific descriptions of new species may inadvertently facilitate their extinctions for commercially valuable species. Yet on the other hand, the conservation benefits of describing the new species can outweigh this potential risk.
To reduce the potential tragedy, Stuart recommends that taxonomists work closely with relevant governmental agencies to coordinate publication of the description with legislation or management plans that can thwart overexploitation of the new species. Indeed, he and his students have worked tirelessly in this regard and, in August 2008, Laos' Department of Forestry protected the Lao newt from commercial trade. Now, the remaining question is one of enforcement.
Bryan Stuart is the curator of amphibians and reptiles at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. He received his Bachelor of Science in biology from Cornell University, a Master of Science in zoology from North Carolina State University, and a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Illinois. His research focuses on amphibians and reptiles of the Old World tropics, especially Southeast Asia, where he has maintained an active field program for the past decade. He has particular interest in using molecular tools to define species boundaries and unravel their evolutionary histories.
A HAUNTING SPECIES DISCOVERY
Laurel Neme: Of all the species you've discovered and described, I know that the discovery of the salamander in Laos (the Lao newt, Laotriton laoensis) haunts you.
Bryan Stuart: That's a very interesting story. That is probably, of all the species that I have discovered and described, the one that really stays with me. There was a very unexpected turn of events related to that description.
When I started working in Laos in the late 1990s, there were no known species of salamanders from the country. Salamanders are essentially a temperate group of animals, and they just marginally get into the northern parts of Southeast Asia. You find salamanders in northern Burma, northern Thailand, northern Vietnam, and southern China. We expected that they occurred in northern Laos, but none had been previously documented in that country.
Then, in 1999, one of my Lao colleagues found the first examples of a salamander up in the northern part of the country. The actual discovery was rather unusual. He had gone home to a rural part of northern Laos for a wedding, and when he returned to the capital city, he brought back with him a few examples of a salamander that had been put into the local alcohol for medicinal purposes. The idea was you put this animal that has very toxic skin secretions into the alcohol, and then you drink the alcohol at a party, such as this wedding, and there's some perceived health benefits from doing so. In any case, it is really this sort of unusual circumstance where his attendance at this wedding resulted in bringing these salamanders to my attention.
Laurel Neme: What does the salamander look like?
Bryan Stuart: They are a remarkable species. They resemble in their morphology no other known salamander. They are large, have very warty skin, and are brightly colored on their back and belly. Their back has these almost yellowish stripes, and their belly has these bright orange spots.
Laurel Neme: When you first saw these salamanders in the alcohol, what made you think that it was different? Did the alcohol change its color?
Bryan Stuart: Alcohol preservation does over time dilute the colors; the colors do leach out of the specimen. But these were freshly collected, I think, and the colors were still apparent for these animals that had been preserved for medicinal consumption. They were immediately recognizable as something different. Their skin texture, their size, and the coloration were just totally unique.
Laurel Neme: After seeing this first specimen, did you go into the forest to find more?
Bryan Stuart: Unfortunately, the area where they came from, at the time, was a very sensitive area to go to in Laos. There were some security concerns there. It took some time but finally things calmed down and we had a very, very brief opportunity for us to go into that area to find the species in the wild, in a stream.
As a result of that work, we were able to describe this thing a few years later in 2002, in a formal description that came out in a scientific journal called "the Journal of Herpetology." In that journal we named it a new species and we gave it the scientific name "laoensis" (Laotriton laoensis), which means "found in Laos." The reason [for that name] was that we believed at the time that the species occurred only in Laos, and therefore we thought it was an appropriate name.
AN UNEXPECTED TURN OF EVENTS
Laurel Neme: What happened after publication of the scientific description for Laotriton laoensis?
Bryan Stuart: Something unusual happened. We published that description, and then I set out on the business of working on other projects. What happened then was something very unexpected. Because this species of salamander was very, very poorly known - it was essentially known only from the two localities that were presented in its original description, and just based on very, very few animals - and it was such a large and colorful and warty animal that was so unusual, a demand was created by people who collect amphibians and reptiles for the pet trade.
There is a demand to have rare species in private hobbyist collections. What I never anticipated would happen is that commercial collectors used the scientific description of this species, used the actual scientific journal as a sort of road map, for how to go and find it and commercially exploit it for profit.
What happened was, both almost simultaneously, some commercial collectors from Germany and commercial collectors from Japan converged on the small geographic area in Laos where it occurred and, illegally, without permission, started collecting these animals and paying local people to collect them. Ultimately, very large numbers of these animals were illegally taken out of Laos, and sold for a very high value in Japan and Europe.
Laurel Neme: How much were they selling for? And how many were collected?
Bryan Stuart: The price varies, but essentially local people were paid approximately ten to twenty U.S. cents per individual [salamander], and then they're selling back in Europe or Japan for the equivalent of over 200 Euros a piece; so, a very striking price difference.
But it became a real worry because the salamander was only known from these two little streams, and commercial collectors had converged on those two small areas where the species was known to commercially exploit it for profit. There was some real worry that in fact this species might be threatened with extinction from its practice.
TAKING ACTION
Laurel Neme: What did you do when you found this out?
Bryan Stuart: I did two things, almost simultaneously. The first was I teamed up with two other herpetologists who had very similar things happen to them and we published a letter to the editor in the journal of Science.
During the course of their work in doing biodiversity science, in describing species, so that ultimately these species can be recognized and conserved, they had the same thing happen where, unexpectedly, commercial collectors used those descriptions to exploit the species for commercial profit, because these were rare, newly known species.
In addition to the Lao newts, we had an example of a gecko from Southern China and a turtle that was known only from a very small island in Indonesia. Both of these commanded very high dollar in the pet trade given their rarity and their beauty.
So, we wrote this letter to the editor of the journal of Science asking the community the questions: What it is that we need to do as taxonomists, as people who discover and describe species? How do we continue to do that work with the intended good of having these things recognized so that they can be conserved without inadvertently subjecting these populations to commercial exploitation, and eventually extirpation or even extinction?"
At the same time, it was very clear to me that we needed more information on the status of this newt in Laos. By this time, I had started working with my colleagues at the National University of Laos, in this cooperative program with the Wildlife Conservation Society, and it was very obvious to me that this species of newt is known only from Laos. [I thought to myself] why should it be that I am the world's expert on this species when, in fact, its entire known range occurs within the country of Laos. Why not have a Lao person be the world's expert on that species? So, I recruited a student who was interested in taking on the project. Her name was Somphouthone Phimmachak, and she was one of the first students to enter the new Masters of Science program at the National University of Laos. Her background was in fisheries science, and she really knew very little about amphibians when she and I started working together. But she turned out to be extremely competent, extremely bri!
ght, and very quickly amassed tremendous information on amphibians of her country, especially salamanders. She took on the Lao newt to be the focal species for her Master's thesis. Her thesis, which she finished in 2010, became the first Masters of Science degree ever awarded from her country, and she is one of Laos' first national herpetologists.
Laurel Neme: What is she doing now?
Bryan Stuart: She's currently enrolled in a PhD. Program in Bangkok, Thailand where I continue to co-supervise her, and she continues to work on salamanders of Laos, although a different group than the Lao newt.
Laurel Neme: What was the impact of her research on the Lao newt?
Bryan Stuart: In the course of her thesis work she documented the approximate extent of the geographic range of this Lao newt. She confirmed that this species occurs only in very high elevation, in the headwaters of streams, in a very small geographic area in northern Laos, an area that is essentially called the Xiangkhoang Plateau. So, she confirmed our suspicion that, indeed, it occurs not only just within Laos but within a very small area in Laos.
She learned that local people have historically for a very, very long time collected the animals in very small numbers for in some cases food, in other cases medicinal purposes, such as the wedding alcohol example I gave earlier, but that there was no real significant commercial trade in the species, until just a few years ago when foreign commercial collectors for the pet trade visited Laos and set up these trade networks to collect it, illegally export it, and sell it in Japan and the West for profit for the pet trade. And since those activities started, there is now a very large network for the species, and it is very heavily harvested.
What's unfortunate is the newt occurs not only in a small geographic area but, within that small geographic area, it occurs only in within certain streams, at the very high elevation portions of those streams. [Plus,] it's a species that you can see very easily [both] during the day in these small stream pools and also at night. They tend not to be shy because they have very toxic skin secretions. They're very comfortable walking about the bottoms of these stream pools during the day and that makes them very readily harvested by people.
Laurel Neme: How has the ease of harvesting these salamanders affected their populations?
Bryan Stuart: In response to these demands that were set up by foreign collectors, the animal can be collected in very high numbers, very quickly. For example, villagers would often report to us selling this very rare, locally endemic Lao newt to visiting traders not by the number of individual salamanders, but by the kilogram-representing enormous numbers of these salamanders. It's really quite tragic what happened.
A HAPPIER ENDING
Laurel Neme: Is that the end of the story? Is the newt still being traded?
Bryan Stuart: There's sort of a happy end to the story. As a result of Somphouthone Phimmachak's thesis work on documenting the distribution, the natural history, and the conservation of the species, her efforts led to the Lao newt being formally listed in 2008 as a Nationally Protected Species in Laos. That status, called a Category 1 species, now makes it illegal to conduct any commercial trade in the species. So, thanks to her efforts, that species is now, at least by law, protected from those activities.
This [scientific species] description has taken me to places where I never expected it would. What started out as this very straightforward species description, then became quite a shocking tale of me inadvertently, unexpectedly, subjecting the species to extinction because of demand by people who were motivated by greed and profit. Then, ultimately, getting the Lao on board with it, and passing this ownership of the project to them, and helping a Lao biologist become the world's expert in a species that is known only from their country. Then they, in turn, push forward the protection of the species in their country. That, I think, is the way I would hope to always work in the future: working very carefully with local scientists and students, trying to understand the biodiversity collaboratively, and ultimately making sure that the responsibility of what to do about that biodiversity really falls on my in-country partners. This example of the Lao newt shows that ultimately, !
in terms of the conservation of these species, that kind of collaborative activity is really critical.
AVOIDING "RUNS" ON NEW SPECIES
Laurel Neme: What can you do to prevent this situation (overexploitation of newly discovered species) in the future? Could you delay the scientific description until protections were in place? Or would that also be counterproductive because a description, that tells what they are and where they occur, is necessary for conservation?
Bryan Stuart: That is indeed one of the solutions that was put forward from this problem that was raised - for the descriptions of species that we have advanced knowledge of that may be commercially valuable, perhaps we should coincide those descriptions with legislation that will protect them from overexploitation. It's difficult to come up with very many other solutions.
In some cases, I know that some other museum curators, such as myself, while we are motivated by trying to make all the information from the collections that we are responsible for as freely available to the public as we can, we do try to keep in mind stories like the one I've just reported, where there are those few bad apples out there, people who are looking to obtain those data not for scientific activities but rather for personal profit. There are commercially valuable species in museum collections, and in some cases releasing the details on where they came from may inadvertently lead to their exploitation, in the manner like I just described. Now that this is becoming more and more of an issue with other examples around the world, many museum curators, for example, restrict providing detailed locality information on certain commercially valuable and vulnerable species.
But it's not an easy problem because at the end of the day, just as you hinted, if we're really going to conserve these things we must know what they are and where they occur. Keeping those descriptions and their localities a secret ultimately does almost nothing both in terms of advancing science and in terms of conserving these species. It's a big problem, and I think it's a problem that requires more discussion, within the community.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Laurel Neme: What can people or consumers do to prevent this problem?
Bryan Stuart: I hope that this issue raises some awareness when people purchase amphibians and reptiles as pets. The pet trade is not a small industry; it's a very large industry. And the keeping of amphibians and reptiles as pets is now a major industry. Fortunately, there are many species of amphibians and reptiles, especially reptiles, that have been bred in captivity for many, many generations, and are widely kept as popular pet. In fact, many of these snakes in particular, come in a wide variety of artificially produced color morphs, and so on. I think it's great when people are maintaining these captive-born animals as pets, provided they're responsible enough to not release them into the wild, in that they often will generate enthusiasm for people to learn about amphibians and reptiles, and enthusiasm about keeping these kinds of animals alive in the world rather than persecuting them - because snakes and other reptiles are heavily persecuted by people who misundersta!
nd them.
But, on the other hand, there are a lot of species in the pet trade that are not captive-bred but rather wild-caught animals. The trade in wild-caught animals for the pet trade is very, very large. I think some consumer awareness is badly needed. Often people will go down to a pet store and purchase a beautiful amphibian or reptile without considering its source. Oftentimes, those are rare species that were indeed wild caught, and by purchasing them as pets they're providing a motivation for more of that exploitation.
The Lao newt is an extreme example. I hope that it generates some awareness that actually the trade in wild-caught animals for the pet industry can be detrimental.
Showing posts with label salamanders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salamanders. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
In Bucks County, volunteers await duty as salamander escorts (via Herp Digest)
On a warm and wet March night, Devich Farbotnik was heading home to Quakertown on a back road when his headlights caught something shiny spilling across the macadam.
He hit the brakes.
Farbotnik, an environmentalist, quickly realized that he had chanced upon - luckily, without also flattening - a surge of salamanders in the heat of their annual breeding rite. Jumping out of his truck, he kept oncoming traffic at bay as he shepherded the slithery paramours from one swampy side to the vernal pool on the other, there to hook up.
A half-dozen mating seasons have passed since then in upper Bucks County, and Farbotnik, now 31, has presided as crossing guard at each. On the first mild, rainy evening of late winter or early spring, he heads for the 518-acre Quakertown Swamp, a favored haunt of not only salamanders but also frogs, toads, birds, and muskrats.
During the salamanders' few nights of canoodling, he posts himself at the tiny amphibians' most beaten paths on rural roads through the swamp in East Rockhill and Richland Townships.
Upwards of 1,000 salamanders might be out and about. "Just one person going through at the wrong time," he said, "could kill a lot."
This year, Farbotnik will get some help.
The Doylestown-based Heritage Conservancy and a brigade of volunteers are planning to set up amphibian-crossing signs at five locations where the salamanders - eight documented species ranging from three to eight inches long - typically traverse the roadways, along with frogs and toads. The seasonal pools become nurseries for their fertilized eggs.
Similar amphibian rescues have taken place in the city's Roxborough section, in Chester County, and Delaware Water Gap. Approached by Farbotnik and Laura Baird, a resource protection specialist for the nonprofit conservancy, township supervisors agreed to provide highway assistance. In Richland, roads will be closed, except to locals, on crossing nights. In East Rockhill, the township has promised to reduce traffic.
The Quakertown Swamp volunteers - about 25 so far - also will be out with clipboards and headlamps doing a census of sorts, counting the salamanders stepping out on date nights, as well as frogs and toads. It will be a baseline for determining, year to year, if the population is declining. "It's taken a few years to finally pull the right people together," said Farbotnik, also a carpenter and an avid birdwatcher who pursued that avocation to every state but Hawaii. Later this week, he will head to Alaska just to look for a dusky thrush.
At the moment, the salamanders are hibernating in the swamp, just south of Quakertown. But in a couple of months, they'll be in Farbotnik's sights.
The salamanders, which live both on land and in water, play an important role in the life cycle of the swamp, the largest inland wetland in Bucks County. The Heritage Conservancy owns about 80 acres of it. With permeable skin that easily absorbs toxic chemicals, the salamanders are a critical indicator of the swamp's well-being. Their very presence, Farbotnik said, "pretty much means there's a healthy ecosystem."
Standing guard over them is easy work, Farbotnik said. But the devil's in the timing.
"They only move when it's raining," he said. And while the larger ones are obvious, spotting the smaller ones can be tough. "You have to really look for them."
Once the salamanders finish doing what they do, they hightail it out of the water and back to the marsh, leaving their progeny to their own devices. But the return trip isn't as potentially calamitous because not all depart the vernal pools at the same time.
Farbotnik said he signals to surprised motorists, who usually know nothing about the annual breeding rite, to stop, and explains what he's doing. The salamanders, he said, are probably just as surprised to see him. "They probably think it's a predator," he said. "I'm sure they don't realize I'm trying to help."
He hit the brakes.
Farbotnik, an environmentalist, quickly realized that he had chanced upon - luckily, without also flattening - a surge of salamanders in the heat of their annual breeding rite. Jumping out of his truck, he kept oncoming traffic at bay as he shepherded the slithery paramours from one swampy side to the vernal pool on the other, there to hook up.
A half-dozen mating seasons have passed since then in upper Bucks County, and Farbotnik, now 31, has presided as crossing guard at each. On the first mild, rainy evening of late winter or early spring, he heads for the 518-acre Quakertown Swamp, a favored haunt of not only salamanders but also frogs, toads, birds, and muskrats.
During the salamanders' few nights of canoodling, he posts himself at the tiny amphibians' most beaten paths on rural roads through the swamp in East Rockhill and Richland Townships.
Upwards of 1,000 salamanders might be out and about. "Just one person going through at the wrong time," he said, "could kill a lot."
This year, Farbotnik will get some help.
The Doylestown-based Heritage Conservancy and a brigade of volunteers are planning to set up amphibian-crossing signs at five locations where the salamanders - eight documented species ranging from three to eight inches long - typically traverse the roadways, along with frogs and toads. The seasonal pools become nurseries for their fertilized eggs.
Similar amphibian rescues have taken place in the city's Roxborough section, in Chester County, and Delaware Water Gap. Approached by Farbotnik and Laura Baird, a resource protection specialist for the nonprofit conservancy, township supervisors agreed to provide highway assistance. In Richland, roads will be closed, except to locals, on crossing nights. In East Rockhill, the township has promised to reduce traffic.
The Quakertown Swamp volunteers - about 25 so far - also will be out with clipboards and headlamps doing a census of sorts, counting the salamanders stepping out on date nights, as well as frogs and toads. It will be a baseline for determining, year to year, if the population is declining. "It's taken a few years to finally pull the right people together," said Farbotnik, also a carpenter and an avid birdwatcher who pursued that avocation to every state but Hawaii. Later this week, he will head to Alaska just to look for a dusky thrush.
At the moment, the salamanders are hibernating in the swamp, just south of Quakertown. But in a couple of months, they'll be in Farbotnik's sights.
The salamanders, which live both on land and in water, play an important role in the life cycle of the swamp, the largest inland wetland in Bucks County. The Heritage Conservancy owns about 80 acres of it. With permeable skin that easily absorbs toxic chemicals, the salamanders are a critical indicator of the swamp's well-being. Their very presence, Farbotnik said, "pretty much means there's a healthy ecosystem."
Standing guard over them is easy work, Farbotnik said. But the devil's in the timing.
"They only move when it's raining," he said. And while the larger ones are obvious, spotting the smaller ones can be tough. "You have to really look for them."
Once the salamanders finish doing what they do, they hightail it out of the water and back to the marsh, leaving their progeny to their own devices. But the return trip isn't as potentially calamitous because not all depart the vernal pools at the same time.
Farbotnik said he signals to surprised motorists, who usually know nothing about the annual breeding rite, to stop, and explains what he's doing. The salamanders, he said, are probably just as surprised to see him. "They probably think it's a predator," he said. "I'm sure they don't realize I'm trying to help."
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Amphibians face spread of 3 threats
WASHINGTON — Frogs, salamanders and other amphibians might eventually have no haven left on the globe because of a triple threat of worsening scourges, a new study predicts.
Scientists have long known that amphibians are under attack from a killer fungus, climate change and shrinking habitat. In the study, appearing online in the journal Nature, computer models project that
in about 70 years, those three threats will spread, leaving no part of the world immune to one of them.
Several important U.S. amphibian species — such as boreal toads in the Rocky Mountains, and the mountain yellow legged frog in the Sierra Nevada — are shrinking in numbers, said zoologist Steve Corn, who is part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative. The problem is worse in the western United States.
About one-third of the world’s amphibian species are known to be threatened with extinction.
“It’s no fun being a frog,” said biodiversity conservationist Stuart Pimm of Duke University, who wasn’t part of the study or the USGS effort. “They are getting it from all three different factors.”
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2011/11/19/amphibians-face-spread-of-3-threats.html
Scientists have long known that amphibians are under attack from a killer fungus, climate change and shrinking habitat. In the study, appearing online in the journal Nature, computer models project that
in about 70 years, those three threats will spread, leaving no part of the world immune to one of them.
Several important U.S. amphibian species — such as boreal toads in the Rocky Mountains, and the mountain yellow legged frog in the Sierra Nevada — are shrinking in numbers, said zoologist Steve Corn, who is part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative. The problem is worse in the western United States.
About one-third of the world’s amphibian species are known to be threatened with extinction.
“It’s no fun being a frog,” said biodiversity conservationist Stuart Pimm of Duke University, who wasn’t part of the study or the USGS effort. “They are getting it from all three different factors.”
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2011/11/19/amphibians-face-spread-of-3-threats.html
Friday, October 14, 2011
Salamander's elastic tongue powered by 'coiled spring'
Salamanders can snatch up prey in a few thousandths of a second - striking out with elastic tongues.
Scientists have now found that the amphibians, which depend on the ambient temperature to heat their muscles, maintain this strike speed in the cold.
But, as footage of the animals has revealed, low temperatures do slow the retraction of their deadly tongues.
The findings are reported in the Journal of Experimental Zoology.
Dr Stephen Deban from the University of South Florida had already studied this effect in other amphibians and reptiles.
"We previously found that tongue projection in toads and chameleons is independent - or nearly so - of temperature," Dr Deban told BBC Nature.
He and his colleague, Jason Richardson, focused on Hydromantes platycephalus, a salamander species that can shoot its tongue a distance of 80% of its body length in less than 20 thousandths of a second.
They filmed super slow-motion footage of the animals as they struck out at fly larvae on a platform in front of them.
The scientists wanted to know if, like in toads and chameleons, the muscles that powered the tongue's projection acted like a coiling spring - storing up energy then suddenly letting go and releasing the tongue at extremely high speed.
They studied the animals as they snatched up the larvae over a ranged of temperatures - from 2C to 24C. The salamanders projected their tongues just as quickly and just as far over the whole of this temperature range.
Read on...
Scientists have now found that the amphibians, which depend on the ambient temperature to heat their muscles, maintain this strike speed in the cold.
But, as footage of the animals has revealed, low temperatures do slow the retraction of their deadly tongues.
The findings are reported in the Journal of Experimental Zoology.
Dr Stephen Deban from the University of South Florida had already studied this effect in other amphibians and reptiles.
"We previously found that tongue projection in toads and chameleons is independent - or nearly so - of temperature," Dr Deban told BBC Nature.
"We then turned to some older films we had of salamanders."
He and his colleague, Jason Richardson, focused on Hydromantes platycephalus, a salamander species that can shoot its tongue a distance of 80% of its body length in less than 20 thousandths of a second.
They filmed super slow-motion footage of the animals as they struck out at fly larvae on a platform in front of them.
The scientists wanted to know if, like in toads and chameleons, the muscles that powered the tongue's projection acted like a coiling spring - storing up energy then suddenly letting go and releasing the tongue at extremely high speed.
They studied the animals as they snatched up the larvae over a ranged of temperatures - from 2C to 24C. The salamanders projected their tongues just as quickly and just as far over the whole of this temperature range.
Read on...
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Animal Planet's Jeremy Wade Risks Life And Limb To Capture River Monsters
Lee Speigel
First Posted: 06/ 3/11 08:25 AM ET
You don't have to travel all the way to Scotland's Loch Ness to search for a real monster. There may be one lurking in water much closer to home.
For those who doubt such things, just ask the folks who live near Mississippi's Chotard Lake. In February, a fisherman pulled a 327-pound, 8 1/2-foot-long prehistoric-looking alligator gar from the freshwater site.
One well-known angler, Jeremy Wade, doesn't know the meaning of the phrase "the big one that got away."
As host of the hugely popular Animal Planet series, "River Monsters," the 55-year-old biologist's life is a series of detective stories as he travels the world searching for unimaginable creatures that lurk in the murky depths of inland waterways.
"It starts with a crime scene or a story, and then it's an investigation," Wade told AOL Weird News from his home in England. "Following the analogy, I will have a list of suspects and will narrow it down to the prime suspect.
"I'll then apprehend the culprit and then I'll let him go. It's all about motivation and understanding, like why did this fish grab the leg of a person who was swimming in a lake?"
Wade is on a six-week trip to begin filming the fourth season of compelling adventures that would make Indiana Jones jealous. While he's obsessed with capturing the most fearsome, dangerous fish in the world, Wade introduces his audience to fascinating cultures who cautiously welcome him into their villages and lives.
He's been angling ever since his parents gave him his first fishing rod when he was around 7 years old.
"Fishing was a way for families to get their sons out of the house and out of trouble," he recalled. "I wasn't at all successful when I first started. There was just something about the whole experience -- something about a line in the water, just hanging there limp, nothing happening, and suddenly, it's alive.
"I was almost frightened to catch my first fish -- it was a very alien thing, from another world. For me, the attraction was to go back and catch something different, bigger and more demanding."
Wade's TV companion book, "River Monsters," (Da Capo Press) takes readers along on some of his more daring and dangerous journeys, revealing monster-sized fish in some of the most remote rivers and lakes on the planet.
What he finds is truly the stuff of nightmares. It's a rogues gallery that includes fearsome-looking catfish, tigerfish, piranha, alligator gar, as well as deadly stingrays, sawfish and electric eels.
One of the fish Wade set out to find was the fearsome goliath tigerfish of the Congo.
"From the accounts I'd read, it sounded completely impossible, like some giant piranha," he said. "The teeth of the fish are about 1 inch long. To put that into some kind of perspective, that is the same length of the teeth in a 1,000-pound great white shark. But this is something that actually swims up a river."
Wade is constantly reminded that while rivers of the world, like the Amazon and the Congo, are essential to people's lives, danger lurks nearby.
"If you haven't got running water in your house, you've got to go down to the river and wash your dishes, clothes, yourself, and you've got these fish, which are predatory, and they often have a reflex that can cause you to lose fingers or other parts of your body," Wade explained.
One of the more amazing pictures Wade snapped was in 1994 of an animal that's come to be known as the Amazon lake monster. At an estimated 9 feet long, the very prehistoric-looking beast appeared to have at least six humps on its back as it broke the surface of the water.
"In the end, the explanation turned out to be a bit mundane," Wade said. "I think it was a malformed, adult pink river dolphin.
"What probably happened is that it was likely caught in a fishing net and the fisherman possibly used his machete to mutilate it, and it became this mystery monster.
"I almost wished that I never knew that. But in some ways, the most important thing for me out of that whole story is the fact that I saw something in the water, nobody believed me, but the evidence of my eyes was correct -- I wasn't hallucinating."
Wade says that compared to the oceans of the world, scientists know very little about what lurks in the planet's vast number of rivers.
"Fresh water is a bit of a last frontier and, in many cases, the only way to find out what's in a river or a lake is to put a fishing line in there.
"There are fish that can grow up to 10 feet long, with a mouthful of nearly 500 teeth. And these are things that live really close to big populated areas. So if that doesn't fulfill the criteria for a monster, I'm not sure what does."
Most people go fishing to relax. What does Wade do?
"I take a break from fishing."
See more at: http://weirdnews.aol.com/2011/06/03/animal-planet-jeremy-ward-river-monsters_n_867182.html#s285370&title=River_Monsters
First Posted: 06/ 3/11 08:25 AM ET
You don't have to travel all the way to Scotland's Loch Ness to search for a real monster. There may be one lurking in water much closer to home.
For those who doubt such things, just ask the folks who live near Mississippi's Chotard Lake. In February, a fisherman pulled a 327-pound, 8 1/2-foot-long prehistoric-looking alligator gar from the freshwater site.
One well-known angler, Jeremy Wade, doesn't know the meaning of the phrase "the big one that got away."
As host of the hugely popular Animal Planet series, "River Monsters," the 55-year-old biologist's life is a series of detective stories as he travels the world searching for unimaginable creatures that lurk in the murky depths of inland waterways.
"It starts with a crime scene or a story, and then it's an investigation," Wade told AOL Weird News from his home in England. "Following the analogy, I will have a list of suspects and will narrow it down to the prime suspect.
"I'll then apprehend the culprit and then I'll let him go. It's all about motivation and understanding, like why did this fish grab the leg of a person who was swimming in a lake?"
Wade is on a six-week trip to begin filming the fourth season of compelling adventures that would make Indiana Jones jealous. While he's obsessed with capturing the most fearsome, dangerous fish in the world, Wade introduces his audience to fascinating cultures who cautiously welcome him into their villages and lives.
He's been angling ever since his parents gave him his first fishing rod when he was around 7 years old.
"Fishing was a way for families to get their sons out of the house and out of trouble," he recalled. "I wasn't at all successful when I first started. There was just something about the whole experience -- something about a line in the water, just hanging there limp, nothing happening, and suddenly, it's alive.
"I was almost frightened to catch my first fish -- it was a very alien thing, from another world. For me, the attraction was to go back and catch something different, bigger and more demanding."
Wade's TV companion book, "River Monsters," (Da Capo Press) takes readers along on some of his more daring and dangerous journeys, revealing monster-sized fish in some of the most remote rivers and lakes on the planet.
What he finds is truly the stuff of nightmares. It's a rogues gallery that includes fearsome-looking catfish, tigerfish, piranha, alligator gar, as well as deadly stingrays, sawfish and electric eels.
One of the fish Wade set out to find was the fearsome goliath tigerfish of the Congo.
"From the accounts I'd read, it sounded completely impossible, like some giant piranha," he said. "The teeth of the fish are about 1 inch long. To put that into some kind of perspective, that is the same length of the teeth in a 1,000-pound great white shark. But this is something that actually swims up a river."
Wade is constantly reminded that while rivers of the world, like the Amazon and the Congo, are essential to people's lives, danger lurks nearby.
"If you haven't got running water in your house, you've got to go down to the river and wash your dishes, clothes, yourself, and you've got these fish, which are predatory, and they often have a reflex that can cause you to lose fingers or other parts of your body," Wade explained.
One of the more amazing pictures Wade snapped was in 1994 of an animal that's come to be known as the Amazon lake monster. At an estimated 9 feet long, the very prehistoric-looking beast appeared to have at least six humps on its back as it broke the surface of the water.
"In the end, the explanation turned out to be a bit mundane," Wade said. "I think it was a malformed, adult pink river dolphin.
"What probably happened is that it was likely caught in a fishing net and the fisherman possibly used his machete to mutilate it, and it became this mystery monster.
"I almost wished that I never knew that. But in some ways, the most important thing for me out of that whole story is the fact that I saw something in the water, nobody believed me, but the evidence of my eyes was correct -- I wasn't hallucinating."
Wade says that compared to the oceans of the world, scientists know very little about what lurks in the planet's vast number of rivers.
"Fresh water is a bit of a last frontier and, in many cases, the only way to find out what's in a river or a lake is to put a fishing line in there.
"There are fish that can grow up to 10 feet long, with a mouthful of nearly 500 teeth. And these are things that live really close to big populated areas. So if that doesn't fulfill the criteria for a monster, I'm not sure what does."
Most people go fishing to relax. What does Wade do?
"I take a break from fishing."
See more at: http://weirdnews.aol.com/2011/06/03/animal-planet-jeremy-ward-river-monsters_n_867182.html#s285370&title=River_Monsters
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Stalking the wild salamanders of Manhattan (Via HerpDigest)
Stalking the wild salamanders of Manhattan
http://www.grist.org/cities/2011-04-18-stalking-the-wild-salamanders-of-manhattan
for photo
If I asked you where the picture above was probably taken, I don't think your first answer would be Manhattan.
But that's exactly where I found this fine-looking red-backed salamander: In a brushy, overgrown part of a park in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City.
This is the second time I've gone salamander-hunting in this spot. Here's how you do it: You get off the subway and walk a few blocks, along streets where merengue music is blaring from the storefronts, past the sidewalk food vendors and the cellphone stores and a group handing out flyers for a candidate in the upcoming Dominican presidential election.
Then, just a few minutes later, you are flushing robins from the forest floor as you clamber up a steep hill. Step off the path. Start turning over logs. You'll find salamanders under every other one (be careful, they are fragile creatures).
I think this is a banded snail. Anyone out there know for sure?Photo: Sarah GoodyearOn this particular day, we also found some strange golden ants; what I think is a banded snail (any snail experts out there?); and, along the more traveled parts of the trail, way too much broken glass.
The red-backed salamander is what is known as a lungless salamander, which means just what it says. It breathes through its skin. So it is particularly sensitive to water contamination. This is an animal that must have moist, clean leaf litter and earth to survive. The abundant water seeping through the granite outcroppings of Upper Manhattan makes this place a perfect habitat.
People tend to get excited about seeing big wild animals in the city. Red-tailed hawks, raccoons, coyotes, wild turkeys -- they get all the press. It's understandable. It's hard to imagine giving a name to a salamander.
To me, though, it is the salamanders that amaze. Just a couple of inches long, so slight and slim that they can disappear into the leaves with a flash, these tiny amphibians are living their lives without any reference to humanity, smack in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world.
They are like a secret the park keeps for us, a memory of another time in the life of this island. It is a time we think of as being gone forever. The salamander is proof that it is not.
http://www.grist.org/cities/2011-04-18-stalking-the-wild-salamanders-of-manhattan
for photo
If I asked you where the picture above was probably taken, I don't think your first answer would be Manhattan.
But that's exactly where I found this fine-looking red-backed salamander: In a brushy, overgrown part of a park in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City.
This is the second time I've gone salamander-hunting in this spot. Here's how you do it: You get off the subway and walk a few blocks, along streets where merengue music is blaring from the storefronts, past the sidewalk food vendors and the cellphone stores and a group handing out flyers for a candidate in the upcoming Dominican presidential election.
Then, just a few minutes later, you are flushing robins from the forest floor as you clamber up a steep hill. Step off the path. Start turning over logs. You'll find salamanders under every other one (be careful, they are fragile creatures).
I think this is a banded snail. Anyone out there know for sure?Photo: Sarah GoodyearOn this particular day, we also found some strange golden ants; what I think is a banded snail (any snail experts out there?); and, along the more traveled parts of the trail, way too much broken glass.
The red-backed salamander is what is known as a lungless salamander, which means just what it says. It breathes through its skin. So it is particularly sensitive to water contamination. This is an animal that must have moist, clean leaf litter and earth to survive. The abundant water seeping through the granite outcroppings of Upper Manhattan makes this place a perfect habitat.
People tend to get excited about seeing big wild animals in the city. Red-tailed hawks, raccoons, coyotes, wild turkeys -- they get all the press. It's understandable. It's hard to imagine giving a name to a salamander.
To me, though, it is the salamanders that amaze. Just a couple of inches long, so slight and slim that they can disappear into the leaves with a flash, these tiny amphibians are living their lives without any reference to humanity, smack in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world.
They are like a secret the park keeps for us, a memory of another time in the life of this island. It is a time we think of as being gone forever. The salamander is proof that it is not.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Study Using Salamanders Show that Dopamine controls formation of new brain cells (Via Herp Digest)
Study Using Salamanders Show that Dopamine controls formation of new brain cells
Friday, April 8, 2011 e Science News. Source: Karolinska Institutet
A study of the salamander brain has led researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet to discover a hitherto unknown function of the neurotransmitter dopamine. In an article published in the prestigious scientific journal Cell Stem Cell they show how in acting as a kind of switch for stem cells, dopamine controls the formation of new neurons in the adult brain. Their findings may one day contribute to new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's. The study was conducted using salamanders which unlike mammals recover fully from a Parkinson's-like condition within a four week period. Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disease characterised by the death of dopamine-producing cells in the mid-brain. As the salamander re-builds all lost dopamine-producing neurons, the researchers examined how the salamander brain detects the absence of these cells. This question is a fundamental one since it has not been known what causes the new formation of nerve cells and why the process ceases when the correct number have been made.
What they found out was that the salamander's stem cells are automatically activated when the dopamine concentration drops as a result of the death of dopamine-producing neurons, meaning that the neurotransmitter acts as a constant handbrake on stem cell activity.
"The medicine often given to Parkinson's patients is L-dopa, which is converted into dopamine in the brain," says Dr Andras Simon, who led the study at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology. "When the salamanders were treated with L-dopa, the production of new dopamine-producing neurons was almost completely inhibited and the animals were unable to recover. However, the converse also applies. If dopamine signalling is blocked, new neurons are born unnecessarily."
As in mammals, the formation of neurons in the salamander mid-brain is virtually non-existent under normal circumstances. Therefore by studying the salamander, scientists can understand how the production of new nerve cells can be resumed once it has stopped, and how it can be stopped when no more neurons are needed. It is precisely in this regulation that dopamine seems to play a vital part. Many observations also suggest that similar mechanisms are active in other animal species too. Further comparative studies can shed light on how neurotransmitters control stem cells in the brain, knowledge that is of potential use in the development of therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.
"One way of trying to repair the brain in the future is to stimulate the stem cells that exist there," says Dr Simon. "This is one of the perspectives from which our study is interesting and further work ought to be done on whether L-dopa, which is currently used in the treatment of Parkinson's, could prevent such a process in other species, including humans. Another perspective is how medicines that block dopamine signalling and that are used for other diseases, such as psychoses, affect stem cell dynamics in the brain."
The salamander is a tailed member of the frog family most known for its ability to regenerate lost body parts, such entire limbs.
Friday, April 8, 2011 e Science News. Source: Karolinska Institutet
A study of the salamander brain has led researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet to discover a hitherto unknown function of the neurotransmitter dopamine. In an article published in the prestigious scientific journal Cell Stem Cell they show how in acting as a kind of switch for stem cells, dopamine controls the formation of new neurons in the adult brain. Their findings may one day contribute to new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's. The study was conducted using salamanders which unlike mammals recover fully from a Parkinson's-like condition within a four week period. Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disease characterised by the death of dopamine-producing cells in the mid-brain. As the salamander re-builds all lost dopamine-producing neurons, the researchers examined how the salamander brain detects the absence of these cells. This question is a fundamental one since it has not been known what causes the new formation of nerve cells and why the process ceases when the correct number have been made.
What they found out was that the salamander's stem cells are automatically activated when the dopamine concentration drops as a result of the death of dopamine-producing neurons, meaning that the neurotransmitter acts as a constant handbrake on stem cell activity.
"The medicine often given to Parkinson's patients is L-dopa, which is converted into dopamine in the brain," says Dr Andras Simon, who led the study at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology. "When the salamanders were treated with L-dopa, the production of new dopamine-producing neurons was almost completely inhibited and the animals were unable to recover. However, the converse also applies. If dopamine signalling is blocked, new neurons are born unnecessarily."
As in mammals, the formation of neurons in the salamander mid-brain is virtually non-existent under normal circumstances. Therefore by studying the salamander, scientists can understand how the production of new nerve cells can be resumed once it has stopped, and how it can be stopped when no more neurons are needed. It is precisely in this regulation that dopamine seems to play a vital part. Many observations also suggest that similar mechanisms are active in other animal species too. Further comparative studies can shed light on how neurotransmitters control stem cells in the brain, knowledge that is of potential use in the development of therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.
"One way of trying to repair the brain in the future is to stimulate the stem cells that exist there," says Dr Simon. "This is one of the perspectives from which our study is interesting and further work ought to be done on whether L-dopa, which is currently used in the treatment of Parkinson's, could prevent such a process in other species, including humans. Another perspective is how medicines that block dopamine signalling and that are used for other diseases, such as psychoses, affect stem cell dynamics in the brain."
The salamander is a tailed member of the frog family most known for its ability to regenerate lost body parts, such entire limbs.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Salamander Has Algae Living Inside Its Cells
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/04/symbiotic-salamander/
In a symbiotic union more complete than any previously found in vertebrates, the common spotted salamander lives with algae inside its cells.
Such a degree of cross-species fusion was long thought to exist only among invertebrates, whose immune systems are not primed to destroy invaders. But algae live inside the salamanders from before birth, possibly passed down from parent to offspring.
“A large number of algae cells go inside the embryo. That was something we didn’t expect,” said Ryan Kerney, a Dalhousie University biologist.
That spotted salamanders and algae live in symbiosis was first noted in the 19th century, and in the 20th century researchers worked out the relationship’s mutual benefits. Salamander eggs provide a nitrogen-rich environment for algae to grow; algae oxygenate the embryos, which develop deformities without them. But algae were believed to float outside the embryo itself, in the egg’s nutrient broth. It fell to Kerney to notice that algae’s distinctive green glow didn’t just emanate from eggs, but from inside embryos.
Those results were announced at a conference last summer, and are expanded in greater detail Apr. 5 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The new paper adds confirmations from electron microscopy and fluorescent markers that attach to algae, flashing inside embryos and proving that Kerney’s group saw what it suspected.
Algae invade spotted salamander embryos early in their development, when individuals are just beginning to take shape inside their eggs, as the brain folds up and tissue layers-to-be first organize themselves. As an embryo develops, algae suffuses its body, but most becomes concentrated along its gut and alimentary canal.
That suggests a possible role for algae in nutrient processing, though it’s an unresolved question, one of many. Another is how algae actually enter the embryo’s cells. Some unknown signal seems to trigger an algae bloom beside the embryo, but the precise moment and mechanism of invasion is a mystery.
Also unknown is whether algae drift in from water in pools where spotted salamanders lay their eggs, or are passed down from parents, though Kerney suspects both are involved
Still more questions surround whether other salamander-algae symbioses are so complete, whether different species of algae are involved, and whether such symbioses might be found in other amphibians. “There are so many questions that remain,” said Kerney, and all in a species that’s been studied in great detail for decades, in the lab and the wild.
Spotted salamanders are found in eastern North America and spend most of their lives underground. (Kerney stresses that, contrary to some media reports on the symbiosis, spotted salamanders are not photosynthetic.) They’re relatively easy to find in spring, when after the first warm rains they crawl outside to find vernal pools and reproduce. Kerney often sees them while walking in the woods, and even in the wheel ruts of ATV tracks. “There are interesting things going on, and new biological processes to be investigated, in our own backyards,” he said.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Faster Early Development Might Have Its Costs, Study in Salamanders Suggests (Via Herp Digest)
Faster Early Development Might Have Its Costs, Study in Salamanders Suggests
ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2011) - Fast development is often perceived as an advantage, as it enables better harmony with one's environment and readiness to cope with the challenges that it poses. However, research conducted at the University of Haifa, Israel, and University of California, Santa Cruz, and published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, found that the acceleration of developmental rate incurs potentially lethal physiological costs for the developing individual. "Our findings are consistent with research findings on other animals and call for further research on rates of development in humans," said Asaf Sadeh who led the study.
This study, part of Sadeh's PhD research, was conducted on the fire salamander (Salamandra infraimmaculata) in conjunction with Prof. Leon Blaustein and Noa Truskanov from the University of Haifa, and with Prof. Marc Mangel from the University of California. The fire salamander in Israel breeds in temporary pools that fill during the winter rains and usually dry up in the spring. The larvae that are born into these pools must complete their development and metamorphose into terrestrial life before their pools dry. Larvae failing in this developmental race are destined to die from desiccation.
In the first part of the study, the scientists examined whether salamander larvae employ some early warning mechanism that alerts them to step up their rates of development to avoid drying. They reared an experimental group of larvae in water, to which they added a minute quantity of powder of ground larvae that had desiccated in natural temporary ponds. The development of these larvae was compared to a control group that was not exposed to the powder. They found that immediately after their birth into the pond, the larvae detected the presence of the dried remains and developed more quickly than the control group. Sadeh and colleagues propose that the chemical composition of the flesh of the dead larvae changes as they toast in the sun, producing a unique "scent of death." These chemicals are released back into the water during the next rains, when the pond fills up again. This apparently provides information to the newborn larvae on the expected water-holding capacity of t!
heir pond, and signals them to set a high developmental rate to avoid a similar fate.
While chemicals from previously desiccated larvae can inform as to possible drying of pools in a relatively short time, reducing water levels can serve as a more reliable predictor of imminent pond drying and risk of desiccation. In the second part of the study, the researchers manipulated the water-levels for both groups, to simulate actual drying or non-drying conditions. They found that, after a while, the larvae will adjust their initial rates of development according to the actual water levels of their ponds.
However, they also found that accelerated development carries costs: larvae that developed more quickly suffered greater rates of mortality. Larvae that falsely perceived the pond environment as long-lasting, and thus started life with a slow developmental rate, but then realized their misperception and compensated with significant acceleration, suffered the greatest rates of mortality. The physiological mechanisms underlying these costs are unknown, but are thought to involve both cellular causes such as oxidative damage from increased metabolic rates, and tissue-level causes such as overexploitation of undifferentiated stem cells or disrupted balance between the differentiation and growth of different tissues in the body. These physiological costs may also lead to increased vulnerability to environmental stresses other than drying, such as heat, disease and parasites, and might result in death.
According to Sadeh, these results are consistent with those of recent studies on the costs of acceleration in growth following starvation in various other organisms, including insects, fish, amphibians and mammals. He suggests that this calls for further research on human development, such as motor, immune, sexual and cognitive development. "These new findings are thought-provoking when considered in relation to widespread perceptions of optimal child development. Boosting a certain aspect of a child's development allows the child to cope better with the corresponding aspect of the environment, but may be traded off with some other aspect of development, potentially rendering the child less competent for other environmental challenges," suggested Sadeh, but emphasized that the study of the costs of development rates is in its infancy, and that more work needs to be carried out before any applicable conclusions can be drawn for human development.
ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2011) - Fast development is often perceived as an advantage, as it enables better harmony with one's environment and readiness to cope with the challenges that it poses. However, research conducted at the University of Haifa, Israel, and University of California, Santa Cruz, and published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, found that the acceleration of developmental rate incurs potentially lethal physiological costs for the developing individual. "Our findings are consistent with research findings on other animals and call for further research on rates of development in humans," said Asaf Sadeh who led the study.
This study, part of Sadeh's PhD research, was conducted on the fire salamander (Salamandra infraimmaculata) in conjunction with Prof. Leon Blaustein and Noa Truskanov from the University of Haifa, and with Prof. Marc Mangel from the University of California. The fire salamander in Israel breeds in temporary pools that fill during the winter rains and usually dry up in the spring. The larvae that are born into these pools must complete their development and metamorphose into terrestrial life before their pools dry. Larvae failing in this developmental race are destined to die from desiccation.
In the first part of the study, the scientists examined whether salamander larvae employ some early warning mechanism that alerts them to step up their rates of development to avoid drying. They reared an experimental group of larvae in water, to which they added a minute quantity of powder of ground larvae that had desiccated in natural temporary ponds. The development of these larvae was compared to a control group that was not exposed to the powder. They found that immediately after their birth into the pond, the larvae detected the presence of the dried remains and developed more quickly than the control group. Sadeh and colleagues propose that the chemical composition of the flesh of the dead larvae changes as they toast in the sun, producing a unique "scent of death." These chemicals are released back into the water during the next rains, when the pond fills up again. This apparently provides information to the newborn larvae on the expected water-holding capacity of t!
heir pond, and signals them to set a high developmental rate to avoid a similar fate.
While chemicals from previously desiccated larvae can inform as to possible drying of pools in a relatively short time, reducing water levels can serve as a more reliable predictor of imminent pond drying and risk of desiccation. In the second part of the study, the researchers manipulated the water-levels for both groups, to simulate actual drying or non-drying conditions. They found that, after a while, the larvae will adjust their initial rates of development according to the actual water levels of their ponds.
However, they also found that accelerated development carries costs: larvae that developed more quickly suffered greater rates of mortality. Larvae that falsely perceived the pond environment as long-lasting, and thus started life with a slow developmental rate, but then realized their misperception and compensated with significant acceleration, suffered the greatest rates of mortality. The physiological mechanisms underlying these costs are unknown, but are thought to involve both cellular causes such as oxidative damage from increased metabolic rates, and tissue-level causes such as overexploitation of undifferentiated stem cells or disrupted balance between the differentiation and growth of different tissues in the body. These physiological costs may also lead to increased vulnerability to environmental stresses other than drying, such as heat, disease and parasites, and might result in death.
According to Sadeh, these results are consistent with those of recent studies on the costs of acceleration in growth following starvation in various other organisms, including insects, fish, amphibians and mammals. He suggests that this calls for further research on human development, such as motor, immune, sexual and cognitive development. "These new findings are thought-provoking when considered in relation to widespread perceptions of optimal child development. Boosting a certain aspect of a child's development allows the child to cope better with the corresponding aspect of the environment, but may be traded off with some other aspect of development, potentially rendering the child less competent for other environmental challenges," suggested Sadeh, but emphasized that the study of the costs of development rates is in its infancy, and that more work needs to be carried out before any applicable conclusions can be drawn for human development.
Faster Early Development Might Have Its Costs, Study in Salamanders Suggests (Via Herp Digest)
Faster Early Development Might Have Its Costs, Study in Salamanders Suggests
ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2011) - Fast development is often perceived as an advantage, as it enables better harmony with one's environment and readiness to cope with the challenges that it poses. However, research conducted at the University of Haifa, Israel, and University of California, Santa Cruz, and published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, found that the acceleration of developmental rate incurs potentially lethal physiological costs for the developing individual. "Our findings are consistent with research findings on other animals and call for further research on rates of development in humans," said Asaf Sadeh who led the study.
This study, part of Sadeh's PhD research, was conducted on the fire salamander (Salamandra infraimmaculata) in conjunction with Prof. Leon Blaustein and Noa Truskanov from the University of Haifa, and with Prof. Marc Mangel from the University of California. The fire salamander in Israel breeds in temporary pools that fill during the winter rains and usually dry up in the spring. The larvae that are born into these pools must complete their development and metamorphose into terrestrial life before their pools dry. Larvae failing in this developmental race are destined to die from desiccation.
In the first part of the study, the scientists examined whether salamander larvae employ some early warning mechanism that alerts them to step up their rates of development to avoid drying. They reared an experimental group of larvae in water, to which they added a minute quantity of powder of ground larvae that had desiccated in natural temporary ponds. The development of these larvae was compared to a control group that was not exposed to the powder. They found that immediately after their birth into the pond, the larvae detected the presence of the dried remains and developed more quickly than the control group. Sadeh and colleagues propose that the chemical composition of the flesh of the dead larvae changes as they toast in the sun, producing a unique "scent of death." These chemicals are released back into the water during the next rains, when the pond fills up again. This apparently provides information to the newborn larvae on the expected water-holding capacity of t!
heir pond, and signals them to set a high developmental rate to avoid a similar fate.
While chemicals from previously desiccated larvae can inform as to possible drying of pools in a relatively short time, reducing water levels can serve as a more reliable predictor of imminent pond drying and risk of desiccation. In the second part of the study, the researchers manipulated the water-levels for both groups, to simulate actual drying or non-drying conditions. They found that, after a while, the larvae will adjust their initial rates of development according to the actual water levels of their ponds.
However, they also found that accelerated development carries costs: larvae that developed more quickly suffered greater rates of mortality. Larvae that falsely perceived the pond environment as long-lasting, and thus started life with a slow developmental rate, but then realized their misperception and compensated with significant acceleration, suffered the greatest rates of mortality. The physiological mechanisms underlying these costs are unknown, but are thought to involve both cellular causes such as oxidative damage from increased metabolic rates, and tissue-level causes such as overexploitation of undifferentiated stem cells or disrupted balance between the differentiation and growth of different tissues in the body. These physiological costs may also lead to increased vulnerability to environmental stresses other than drying, such as heat, disease and parasites, and might result in death.
According to Sadeh, these results are consistent with those of recent studies on the costs of acceleration in growth following starvation in various other organisms, including insects, fish, amphibians and mammals. He suggests that this calls for further research on human development, such as motor, immune, sexual and cognitive development. "These new findings are thought-provoking when considered in relation to widespread perceptions of optimal child development. Boosting a certain aspect of a child's development allows the child to cope better with the corresponding aspect of the environment, but may be traded off with some other aspect of development, potentially rendering the child less competent for other environmental challenges," suggested Sadeh, but emphasized that the study of the costs of development rates is in its infancy, and that more work needs to be carried out before any applicable conclusions can be drawn for human development.
ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2011) - Fast development is often perceived as an advantage, as it enables better harmony with one's environment and readiness to cope with the challenges that it poses. However, research conducted at the University of Haifa, Israel, and University of California, Santa Cruz, and published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, found that the acceleration of developmental rate incurs potentially lethal physiological costs for the developing individual. "Our findings are consistent with research findings on other animals and call for further research on rates of development in humans," said Asaf Sadeh who led the study.
This study, part of Sadeh's PhD research, was conducted on the fire salamander (Salamandra infraimmaculata) in conjunction with Prof. Leon Blaustein and Noa Truskanov from the University of Haifa, and with Prof. Marc Mangel from the University of California. The fire salamander in Israel breeds in temporary pools that fill during the winter rains and usually dry up in the spring. The larvae that are born into these pools must complete their development and metamorphose into terrestrial life before their pools dry. Larvae failing in this developmental race are destined to die from desiccation.
In the first part of the study, the scientists examined whether salamander larvae employ some early warning mechanism that alerts them to step up their rates of development to avoid drying. They reared an experimental group of larvae in water, to which they added a minute quantity of powder of ground larvae that had desiccated in natural temporary ponds. The development of these larvae was compared to a control group that was not exposed to the powder. They found that immediately after their birth into the pond, the larvae detected the presence of the dried remains and developed more quickly than the control group. Sadeh and colleagues propose that the chemical composition of the flesh of the dead larvae changes as they toast in the sun, producing a unique "scent of death." These chemicals are released back into the water during the next rains, when the pond fills up again. This apparently provides information to the newborn larvae on the expected water-holding capacity of t!
heir pond, and signals them to set a high developmental rate to avoid a similar fate.
While chemicals from previously desiccated larvae can inform as to possible drying of pools in a relatively short time, reducing water levels can serve as a more reliable predictor of imminent pond drying and risk of desiccation. In the second part of the study, the researchers manipulated the water-levels for both groups, to simulate actual drying or non-drying conditions. They found that, after a while, the larvae will adjust their initial rates of development according to the actual water levels of their ponds.
However, they also found that accelerated development carries costs: larvae that developed more quickly suffered greater rates of mortality. Larvae that falsely perceived the pond environment as long-lasting, and thus started life with a slow developmental rate, but then realized their misperception and compensated with significant acceleration, suffered the greatest rates of mortality. The physiological mechanisms underlying these costs are unknown, but are thought to involve both cellular causes such as oxidative damage from increased metabolic rates, and tissue-level causes such as overexploitation of undifferentiated stem cells or disrupted balance between the differentiation and growth of different tissues in the body. These physiological costs may also lead to increased vulnerability to environmental stresses other than drying, such as heat, disease and parasites, and might result in death.
According to Sadeh, these results are consistent with those of recent studies on the costs of acceleration in growth following starvation in various other organisms, including insects, fish, amphibians and mammals. He suggests that this calls for further research on human development, such as motor, immune, sexual and cognitive development. "These new findings are thought-provoking when considered in relation to widespread perceptions of optimal child development. Boosting a certain aspect of a child's development allows the child to cope better with the corresponding aspect of the environment, but may be traded off with some other aspect of development, potentially rendering the child less competent for other environmental challenges," suggested Sadeh, but emphasized that the study of the costs of development rates is in its infancy, and that more work needs to be carried out before any applicable conclusions can be drawn for human development.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
UA Researchers Co-Discover New Salamander (Via Herp Digest)
UA Researchers Co-Discover New Salamander (Northern Pigmy Salamander)The Crimson White, University of Alabama, Joseph Weber, Sep 17 2010
Leslie Rissler and Erica J. Crespi, associate professors of biological sciences at the University, along with Robert A. Browne of the biology department at Wake Forest University, recently co-discovered a new species of salamander, the Northern Pigmy Salamander. It was officially declared a new species by the Center for North American Herpetology on Aug. 26, according to a UA news release.
"It is important because species are the pinnacle of the evolutionary process, providing important clues to scientists interested in understanding earth history," Rissler said. "It is also important because we are in a biodiversity crisis. Understanding the patterns of biodiversity is a crucial first step to ensuring the continued presence of other species on our planet."
This particular type of salamander is found along the central sections of the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian mountain range, the release stated. "It is found in this area because it is a mountain species which requires high altitude and a cold environment," Rissler said. "Without mountain tops, this salamander could not survive." According to the release, the salamander discovered was an adult about one to two inches long with a dark copper color and distinctive features such as wavy patterns on it skin.
The researchers said they named the species desmognathus organi after James Organ, a scientist who first studied the population of species in southwestern Virginia in 1961. Rissler said he relayed the information to Organ. "It was a rare experience and a real joy to be able to tell a biologist that his name would forever be associated with a new species - one that he had studied for a half century," Rissler said. "I think he was quite pleased."
The process of identifying a new species takes several years of research, and in order to identify a new species, Rissler studies DNA sequencing and morphological and ecological differences. "Discovering a new species of salamander is important in many ways," Rissler said. "It improves conservation for this species, provides important clues to other scientists and gives us the ability to explore the evolutional history of life on this planet."
The Northern Pigmy Salamander will be listed in zoology books and be available as a type specimen in the UA Herpetological Collection. "The Southeastern U.S. is the world hotspot for salamander biodiversity, and we are lucky to share our homes with some of the most amazing creatures on our planet," Rissler said. "As Alabamians, we should be proud of the natural heritage of our state and surrounding regions and aim to preserve it."
The scientific article about the Northern Pigmy Salamander will be released within the next month.
http://www.cw.ua.edu/2010/09/17/ua-researchers-co-discover-new-salamander/ for photo
Leslie Rissler and Erica J. Crespi, associate professors of biological sciences at the University, along with Robert A. Browne of the biology department at Wake Forest University, recently co-discovered a new species of salamander, the Northern Pigmy Salamander. It was officially declared a new species by the Center for North American Herpetology on Aug. 26, according to a UA news release.
"It is important because species are the pinnacle of the evolutionary process, providing important clues to scientists interested in understanding earth history," Rissler said. "It is also important because we are in a biodiversity crisis. Understanding the patterns of biodiversity is a crucial first step to ensuring the continued presence of other species on our planet."
This particular type of salamander is found along the central sections of the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian mountain range, the release stated. "It is found in this area because it is a mountain species which requires high altitude and a cold environment," Rissler said. "Without mountain tops, this salamander could not survive." According to the release, the salamander discovered was an adult about one to two inches long with a dark copper color and distinctive features such as wavy patterns on it skin.
The researchers said they named the species desmognathus organi after James Organ, a scientist who first studied the population of species in southwestern Virginia in 1961. Rissler said he relayed the information to Organ. "It was a rare experience and a real joy to be able to tell a biologist that his name would forever be associated with a new species - one that he had studied for a half century," Rissler said. "I think he was quite pleased."
The process of identifying a new species takes several years of research, and in order to identify a new species, Rissler studies DNA sequencing and morphological and ecological differences. "Discovering a new species of salamander is important in many ways," Rissler said. "It improves conservation for this species, provides important clues to other scientists and gives us the ability to explore the evolutional history of life on this planet."
The Northern Pigmy Salamander will be listed in zoology books and be available as a type specimen in the UA Herpetological Collection. "The Southeastern U.S. is the world hotspot for salamander biodiversity, and we are lucky to share our homes with some of the most amazing creatures on our planet," Rissler said. "As Alabamians, we should be proud of the natural heritage of our state and surrounding regions and aim to preserve it."
The scientific article about the Northern Pigmy Salamander will be released within the next month.
http://www.cw.ua.edu/2010/09/17/ua-researchers-co-discover-new-salamander/ for photo
UA Researchers Co-Discover New Salamander (Via Herp Digest)
UA Researchers Co-Discover New Salamander (Northern Pigmy Salamander)The Crimson White, University of Alabama, Joseph Weber, Sep 17 2010
Leslie Rissler and Erica J. Crespi, associate professors of biological sciences at the University, along with Robert A. Browne of the biology department at Wake Forest University, recently co-discovered a new species of salamander, the Northern Pigmy Salamander. It was officially declared a new species by the Center for North American Herpetology on Aug. 26, according to a UA news release.
"It is important because species are the pinnacle of the evolutionary process, providing important clues to scientists interested in understanding earth history," Rissler said. "It is also important because we are in a biodiversity crisis. Understanding the patterns of biodiversity is a crucial first step to ensuring the continued presence of other species on our planet."
This particular type of salamander is found along the central sections of the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian mountain range, the release stated. "It is found in this area because it is a mountain species which requires high altitude and a cold environment," Rissler said. "Without mountain tops, this salamander could not survive." According to the release, the salamander discovered was an adult about one to two inches long with a dark copper color and distinctive features such as wavy patterns on it skin.
The researchers said they named the species desmognathus organi after James Organ, a scientist who first studied the population of species in southwestern Virginia in 1961. Rissler said he relayed the information to Organ. "It was a rare experience and a real joy to be able to tell a biologist that his name would forever be associated with a new species - one that he had studied for a half century," Rissler said. "I think he was quite pleased."
The process of identifying a new species takes several years of research, and in order to identify a new species, Rissler studies DNA sequencing and morphological and ecological differences. "Discovering a new species of salamander is important in many ways," Rissler said. "It improves conservation for this species, provides important clues to other scientists and gives us the ability to explore the evolutional history of life on this planet."
The Northern Pigmy Salamander will be listed in zoology books and be available as a type specimen in the UA Herpetological Collection. "The Southeastern U.S. is the world hotspot for salamander biodiversity, and we are lucky to share our homes with some of the most amazing creatures on our planet," Rissler said. "As Alabamians, we should be proud of the natural heritage of our state and surrounding regions and aim to preserve it."
The scientific article about the Northern Pigmy Salamander will be released within the next month.
http://www.cw.ua.edu/2010/09/17/ua-researchers-co-discover-new-salamander/ for photo
Leslie Rissler and Erica J. Crespi, associate professors of biological sciences at the University, along with Robert A. Browne of the biology department at Wake Forest University, recently co-discovered a new species of salamander, the Northern Pigmy Salamander. It was officially declared a new species by the Center for North American Herpetology on Aug. 26, according to a UA news release.
"It is important because species are the pinnacle of the evolutionary process, providing important clues to scientists interested in understanding earth history," Rissler said. "It is also important because we are in a biodiversity crisis. Understanding the patterns of biodiversity is a crucial first step to ensuring the continued presence of other species on our planet."
This particular type of salamander is found along the central sections of the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian mountain range, the release stated. "It is found in this area because it is a mountain species which requires high altitude and a cold environment," Rissler said. "Without mountain tops, this salamander could not survive." According to the release, the salamander discovered was an adult about one to two inches long with a dark copper color and distinctive features such as wavy patterns on it skin.
The researchers said they named the species desmognathus organi after James Organ, a scientist who first studied the population of species in southwestern Virginia in 1961. Rissler said he relayed the information to Organ. "It was a rare experience and a real joy to be able to tell a biologist that his name would forever be associated with a new species - one that he had studied for a half century," Rissler said. "I think he was quite pleased."
The process of identifying a new species takes several years of research, and in order to identify a new species, Rissler studies DNA sequencing and morphological and ecological differences. "Discovering a new species of salamander is important in many ways," Rissler said. "It improves conservation for this species, provides important clues to other scientists and gives us the ability to explore the evolutional history of life on this planet."
The Northern Pigmy Salamander will be listed in zoology books and be available as a type specimen in the UA Herpetological Collection. "The Southeastern U.S. is the world hotspot for salamander biodiversity, and we are lucky to share our homes with some of the most amazing creatures on our planet," Rissler said. "As Alabamians, we should be proud of the natural heritage of our state and surrounding regions and aim to preserve it."
The scientific article about the Northern Pigmy Salamander will be released within the next month.
http://www.cw.ua.edu/2010/09/17/ua-researchers-co-discover-new-salamander/ for photo
Friday, September 10, 2010
Ark., Mo. salamander proposed for endangered list (via Richard Freeman)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 9, 2010
By Tom Parsons
The four-legged Ozark hellbender is big and not very pretty.
It's also very uncommon, prompting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to suggest the freshwater salamander be added to the nation's endangered species list.
The Ozark hellbender lives only in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, the agency says. The animals can grow up to 2 feet long and once were common in the streams of the Ozark Mountains, but their numbers have greatly dwindled.
"Not everyone considers it pretty, but it is a pretty neat animal," Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Trisha Crabill said in a recorded interview produced by her agency.
Crabill, who works in the agency's field office at Columbia, Mo., said the Ozark hellbender is not well known because the salamander has dark, mottled skin and is not often seen.
"Most people won't ever see them because they stay pretty well hidden in the water," she said. "They don't ever really come out of the water and they're found just in the pools of fast-flowing streams in the Ozark Plateau."
Crabill said siltation in the Ozarks streams, as well as increased levels of nitrogen and phosphate, from fertilizers and contamination by human and animal waste, has helped reduce the species' numbers. She said higher nitrogen and phosphate levels have led to algae and other vegetation that clog the streams and coat the rocks of the streambeds.
Other factors, she said, had been heavy metals in the water, such as zinc and lead from mining-operation runoff. The Ozarks region was once mined heavily for both metals.
According to Crabill, the karst terrain of the Ozarks _ with underlying limestone allowing water to make its way easily from place to place underground _ makes controlling pollution difficult in the region.
"There's a lot of water falling underground through sink holes, caverns and other openings that have been created by the rocks dissolving underground," she said.
Collette Adkins Giese, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the proposed endangered-species listing of the Ozark hellbender is cause for celebration. Protection under the Endangered Species Act, she said, "would give this species a fighting chance."
According to a news release from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Ozark hellbender is a subspecies of the Eastern hellbender.
The large amphibians are known by several common names, including alligator of the mountains, big water lizard, devil dog, ground puppy, leverian water newt, mud-devil, vulgo, walking catfish, and water dog.
The release said hellbenders have flattened bodies that fit in crevices and allow them to cling to river bottoms and move through strong currents. They also have numerous folds of skin on their sides that allow increased oxygen absorption from the water.
The Fish and Wildlife Service says the salamanders are believed to occur now in only six Arkansas counties _ Baxter, Clay, Fulton, Lawrence, Randolph and Sharp _ and 11 in Missouri _ Carter, Dent, Douglas, Howell, Oregon, Ozark, Reynolds, Ripley, Shannon, Texas and Wright.
By Tom Parsons
The four-legged Ozark hellbender is big and not very pretty.
It's also very uncommon, prompting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to suggest the freshwater salamander be added to the nation's endangered species list.
The Ozark hellbender lives only in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, the agency says. The animals can grow up to 2 feet long and once were common in the streams of the Ozark Mountains, but their numbers have greatly dwindled.
"Not everyone considers it pretty, but it is a pretty neat animal," Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Trisha Crabill said in a recorded interview produced by her agency.
Crabill, who works in the agency's field office at Columbia, Mo., said the Ozark hellbender is not well known because the salamander has dark, mottled skin and is not often seen.
"Most people won't ever see them because they stay pretty well hidden in the water," she said. "They don't ever really come out of the water and they're found just in the pools of fast-flowing streams in the Ozark Plateau."
Crabill said siltation in the Ozarks streams, as well as increased levels of nitrogen and phosphate, from fertilizers and contamination by human and animal waste, has helped reduce the species' numbers. She said higher nitrogen and phosphate levels have led to algae and other vegetation that clog the streams and coat the rocks of the streambeds.
Other factors, she said, had been heavy metals in the water, such as zinc and lead from mining-operation runoff. The Ozarks region was once mined heavily for both metals.
According to Crabill, the karst terrain of the Ozarks _ with underlying limestone allowing water to make its way easily from place to place underground _ makes controlling pollution difficult in the region.
"There's a lot of water falling underground through sink holes, caverns and other openings that have been created by the rocks dissolving underground," she said.
Collette Adkins Giese, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the proposed endangered-species listing of the Ozark hellbender is cause for celebration. Protection under the Endangered Species Act, she said, "would give this species a fighting chance."
According to a news release from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Ozark hellbender is a subspecies of the Eastern hellbender.
The large amphibians are known by several common names, including alligator of the mountains, big water lizard, devil dog, ground puppy, leverian water newt, mud-devil, vulgo, walking catfish, and water dog.
The release said hellbenders have flattened bodies that fit in crevices and allow them to cling to river bottoms and move through strong currents. They also have numerous folds of skin on their sides that allow increased oxygen absorption from the water.
The Fish and Wildlife Service says the salamanders are believed to occur now in only six Arkansas counties _ Baxter, Clay, Fulton, Lawrence, Randolph and Sharp _ and 11 in Missouri _ Carter, Dent, Douglas, Howell, Oregon, Ozark, Reynolds, Ripley, Shannon, Texas and Wright.
Ark., Mo. salamander proposed for endangered list (via Richard Freeman)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 9, 2010
By Tom Parsons
The four-legged Ozark hellbender is big and not very pretty.
It's also very uncommon, prompting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to suggest the freshwater salamander be added to the nation's endangered species list.
The Ozark hellbender lives only in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, the agency says. The animals can grow up to 2 feet long and once were common in the streams of the Ozark Mountains, but their numbers have greatly dwindled.
"Not everyone considers it pretty, but it is a pretty neat animal," Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Trisha Crabill said in a recorded interview produced by her agency.
Crabill, who works in the agency's field office at Columbia, Mo., said the Ozark hellbender is not well known because the salamander has dark, mottled skin and is not often seen.
"Most people won't ever see them because they stay pretty well hidden in the water," she said. "They don't ever really come out of the water and they're found just in the pools of fast-flowing streams in the Ozark Plateau."
Crabill said siltation in the Ozarks streams, as well as increased levels of nitrogen and phosphate, from fertilizers and contamination by human and animal waste, has helped reduce the species' numbers. She said higher nitrogen and phosphate levels have led to algae and other vegetation that clog the streams and coat the rocks of the streambeds.
Other factors, she said, had been heavy metals in the water, such as zinc and lead from mining-operation runoff. The Ozarks region was once mined heavily for both metals.
According to Crabill, the karst terrain of the Ozarks _ with underlying limestone allowing water to make its way easily from place to place underground _ makes controlling pollution difficult in the region.
"There's a lot of water falling underground through sink holes, caverns and other openings that have been created by the rocks dissolving underground," she said.
Collette Adkins Giese, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the proposed endangered-species listing of the Ozark hellbender is cause for celebration. Protection under the Endangered Species Act, she said, "would give this species a fighting chance."
According to a news release from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Ozark hellbender is a subspecies of the Eastern hellbender.
The large amphibians are known by several common names, including alligator of the mountains, big water lizard, devil dog, ground puppy, leverian water newt, mud-devil, vulgo, walking catfish, and water dog.
The release said hellbenders have flattened bodies that fit in crevices and allow them to cling to river bottoms and move through strong currents. They also have numerous folds of skin on their sides that allow increased oxygen absorption from the water.
The Fish and Wildlife Service says the salamanders are believed to occur now in only six Arkansas counties _ Baxter, Clay, Fulton, Lawrence, Randolph and Sharp _ and 11 in Missouri _ Carter, Dent, Douglas, Howell, Oregon, Ozark, Reynolds, Ripley, Shannon, Texas and Wright.
By Tom Parsons
The four-legged Ozark hellbender is big and not very pretty.
It's also very uncommon, prompting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to suggest the freshwater salamander be added to the nation's endangered species list.
The Ozark hellbender lives only in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, the agency says. The animals can grow up to 2 feet long and once were common in the streams of the Ozark Mountains, but their numbers have greatly dwindled.
"Not everyone considers it pretty, but it is a pretty neat animal," Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Trisha Crabill said in a recorded interview produced by her agency.
Crabill, who works in the agency's field office at Columbia, Mo., said the Ozark hellbender is not well known because the salamander has dark, mottled skin and is not often seen.
"Most people won't ever see them because they stay pretty well hidden in the water," she said. "They don't ever really come out of the water and they're found just in the pools of fast-flowing streams in the Ozark Plateau."
Crabill said siltation in the Ozarks streams, as well as increased levels of nitrogen and phosphate, from fertilizers and contamination by human and animal waste, has helped reduce the species' numbers. She said higher nitrogen and phosphate levels have led to algae and other vegetation that clog the streams and coat the rocks of the streambeds.
Other factors, she said, had been heavy metals in the water, such as zinc and lead from mining-operation runoff. The Ozarks region was once mined heavily for both metals.
According to Crabill, the karst terrain of the Ozarks _ with underlying limestone allowing water to make its way easily from place to place underground _ makes controlling pollution difficult in the region.
"There's a lot of water falling underground through sink holes, caverns and other openings that have been created by the rocks dissolving underground," she said.
Collette Adkins Giese, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the proposed endangered-species listing of the Ozark hellbender is cause for celebration. Protection under the Endangered Species Act, she said, "would give this species a fighting chance."
According to a news release from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Ozark hellbender is a subspecies of the Eastern hellbender.
The large amphibians are known by several common names, including alligator of the mountains, big water lizard, devil dog, ground puppy, leverian water newt, mud-devil, vulgo, walking catfish, and water dog.
The release said hellbenders have flattened bodies that fit in crevices and allow them to cling to river bottoms and move through strong currents. They also have numerous folds of skin on their sides that allow increased oxygen absorption from the water.
The Fish and Wildlife Service says the salamanders are believed to occur now in only six Arkansas counties _ Baxter, Clay, Fulton, Lawrence, Randolph and Sharp _ and 11 in Missouri _ Carter, Dent, Douglas, Howell, Oregon, Ozark, Reynolds, Ripley, Shannon, Texas and Wright.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Preserving Sperm Vital to Saving 'Snot Otter' Salamanders (Via HerpDigest)
Preserving Sperm Vital to Saving 'Snot Otter' Salamanders (Hellbender)
ScienceDaily (Aug. 4, 2010) - The hellbender salamander -- known affectionately as a snot otter or devil dog -- is one of America's unique giant salamander species. For unexplained reasons, most hellbender populations have rapidly declined as very little reproduction has occurred in recent decades.
Working with researchers from the Nashville Zoo and Antwerp Zoo in Belgium, veterinarians from Michigan State University are helping develop conservation techniques to sample and freeze the sperm from some of the last surviving salamanders. The international consortium's work aims to enable future re-stocking of genetically viable hellbenders back to their streams and rivers, ensuring the survival of the species.
The largest salamander found in North America, the hellbender can grow to up to 30 inches long and live 30 years or more. They live in a geographic range from Arkansas northeast to New York and have remained relatively unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs.
Dalen Agnew and Carla Carleton from MSU's College of Veterinary Medicine are focusing specifically on evaluating the freezing techniques, known as cryopreservation, developed to keep the hellbender sperm viable.
"The hellbender in the United States is becoming endangered, and to make things more difficult, they are very secretive," said Agnew, a member of the college's Department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation. "The best we can tell, in most hellbender populations there has been no breeding in the wild for several decades."
While other researchers figure out why -- environmental degradation, habitat loss and biological changes are all possibilities -- the team led by Robert Browne of the Antwerp Zoo along with Sally Nofs and Dale McGinnity of the Nashville Zoo is making sure the species does not go extinct, preserving its genetic diversity.
"The work between Nashville Zoo and Michigan State University for the cryopreservation of hellbender sperm is a global model for the genetic management of threatened amphibians," Browne said.
McGinnity, the Nashville Zoo's curator of ectotherms, initiated the project so the frozen salamander sperm can produce hellbenders genetically adapted to their local environments and fit for restocking. Browne developed the cryopreservation protocols, implemented by Nofs -- an MSU veterinary graduate and veterinary services director at the Nashville Zoo -- and her colleague Michael Kirk with captive animals from the zoo. Agnew and Carleton are testing the frozen salamander sperm to ensure the species can be resurrected, if needed.
"This process of cryopreservation is very species specific," Agnew said. "It's a lot like cooking; each species needs its own ingredients and formula. We're basically applying modified fish technologies to amphibians."
So far, the team has seen some promising results: Early tests show researchers have been successful in keeping frozen sperm alive for six months, which indicates the sperm could survive for hundreds of years in cold storage. That will allow the team to establish a collaborative gene banking program for the creature.
"Dr. Agnew and Dr. Carleton's expertise and equipment were invaluable in helping us validate and document the results of our initial cryopreservation trials with the hellbender semen," Nofs said.
As part of the project, the research team also is studying the comparative structure of hellbender sperm using electron photomicrographs, in collaboration with the MSU Center for Advanced Microscopy. This will allow scientists to learn more about the characteristics of the unique amphibian and to ensure its survival.
ScienceDaily (Aug. 4, 2010) - The hellbender salamander -- known affectionately as a snot otter or devil dog -- is one of America's unique giant salamander species. For unexplained reasons, most hellbender populations have rapidly declined as very little reproduction has occurred in recent decades.
Working with researchers from the Nashville Zoo and Antwerp Zoo in Belgium, veterinarians from Michigan State University are helping develop conservation techniques to sample and freeze the sperm from some of the last surviving salamanders. The international consortium's work aims to enable future re-stocking of genetically viable hellbenders back to their streams and rivers, ensuring the survival of the species.
The largest salamander found in North America, the hellbender can grow to up to 30 inches long and live 30 years or more. They live in a geographic range from Arkansas northeast to New York and have remained relatively unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs.
Dalen Agnew and Carla Carleton from MSU's College of Veterinary Medicine are focusing specifically on evaluating the freezing techniques, known as cryopreservation, developed to keep the hellbender sperm viable.
"The hellbender in the United States is becoming endangered, and to make things more difficult, they are very secretive," said Agnew, a member of the college's Department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation. "The best we can tell, in most hellbender populations there has been no breeding in the wild for several decades."
While other researchers figure out why -- environmental degradation, habitat loss and biological changes are all possibilities -- the team led by Robert Browne of the Antwerp Zoo along with Sally Nofs and Dale McGinnity of the Nashville Zoo is making sure the species does not go extinct, preserving its genetic diversity.
"The work between Nashville Zoo and Michigan State University for the cryopreservation of hellbender sperm is a global model for the genetic management of threatened amphibians," Browne said.
McGinnity, the Nashville Zoo's curator of ectotherms, initiated the project so the frozen salamander sperm can produce hellbenders genetically adapted to their local environments and fit for restocking. Browne developed the cryopreservation protocols, implemented by Nofs -- an MSU veterinary graduate and veterinary services director at the Nashville Zoo -- and her colleague Michael Kirk with captive animals from the zoo. Agnew and Carleton are testing the frozen salamander sperm to ensure the species can be resurrected, if needed.
"This process of cryopreservation is very species specific," Agnew said. "It's a lot like cooking; each species needs its own ingredients and formula. We're basically applying modified fish technologies to amphibians."
So far, the team has seen some promising results: Early tests show researchers have been successful in keeping frozen sperm alive for six months, which indicates the sperm could survive for hundreds of years in cold storage. That will allow the team to establish a collaborative gene banking program for the creature.
"Dr. Agnew and Dr. Carleton's expertise and equipment were invaluable in helping us validate and document the results of our initial cryopreservation trials with the hellbender semen," Nofs said.
As part of the project, the research team also is studying the comparative structure of hellbender sperm using electron photomicrographs, in collaboration with the MSU Center for Advanced Microscopy. This will allow scientists to learn more about the characteristics of the unique amphibian and to ensure its survival.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
A solar salamander
A solar salamander
Photosynthetic algae have been found inside the cells of a vertebrate for the first time.
Occasionally, researchers stumble across something extraordinary in a system that has been studied for decades.
Ryan Kerney of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, did just that while looking closely at a clutch of emerald-green balls — embryos of the spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). He noticed that their bright green colour comes from within the embryos themselves, as well as from the jelly capsule that encases them. read on
Photosynthetic algae have been found inside the cells of a vertebrate for the first time.
Occasionally, researchers stumble across something extraordinary in a system that has been studied for decades.
Ryan Kerney of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, did just that while looking closely at a clutch of emerald-green balls — embryos of the spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). He noticed that their bright green colour comes from within the embryos themselves, as well as from the jelly capsule that encases them. read on
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Young Salamanders' Movement Over Land Helps Stabilize Populations
ScienceDaily (Apr. 27, 2010) - Amphibians -- frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts -- are disappearing worldwide, but the stream salamanders of the Appalachian Mountains appear to be stable. This region is home to the largest diversity of salamanders in the world (more than 70 species reside here), and scientists want to understand what contributes to the stability of these salamander populations.
In research published in the March 29, 2010 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Evan Grant (a research associate in the University of Maryland Department of Biology and wildlife biologist with the US Geological Survey's Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative); along with Dr. William Fagan, University of Maryland Department of Biology; and collaborators James Nichols, US Geological Survey (USGS) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center; and Winsor Lowe, University of Montana; describe how two species of stream salamanders find new homes by moving both within streams and over land to adjacent streams during multiple life stages, and how this movement may help to stabilize their populations.
"Scientists tend to be more focused on populations that are declining or threatened," explains Grant, "but it is also important to look at the populations that are doing well, and to understand what makes the population or species more stable. You can apply this to interpret what might be happening with populations that are declining."
The Fagan lab is known for its expertise in combining math and biology to understand the spatial distribution of species to solve real-world conservation problems. They create mathematical models to understand patterns, influences and changes in spatial distribution.
Evan Grant, who is a wildlife biologist with the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and completed this work as part of his dissertation research, used observations of marked animals to estimate the dispersal probabilities of two species of lungless salamanders (Desmognathus fuscus and Desmognathus monticola) who reside in headwater streams (these salamanders are known to prefer the headwaters, where the stream originates) in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park.
These salamanders are aquatic as larva (a stage which lasts ~9 months), and then become terrestrial as juveniles, when they reabsorb their gills and begin to breathe by diffusing oxygen through their skin. While the stream is the best habitat for the salamanders because of the stable temperatures and humidity, both juvenile and adult salamanders can travel over land to forage for food, and occasionally move from one stream to another.
Over a two year period, Grant and colleagues captured and marked more than 2500 salamanders in three 40 meter segments along the headwater streams using a harmless injectable dye (known as a "visual implant elastomer"). They then released them and tracked their movements by recapturing them during four return visits each year, recording their location each time. This study was the first to track salamanders across all three life stages -- larva, juvenile, and adult -- because the research team overcame the difficulty in marking the larval salamanders, which are only a half an inch long. The adult salamanders of these two species grow to a length of almost four inches.
Grant used sophisticated models to estimate the probability of a salamander moving from one segment to another within the same stream either upstream or downstream, and from one stream to another by moving across land. What he found supported his prediction that the salamanders generally prefer to disperse upstream and that those in the juvenile stage were the most likely to change location by moving both upstream and overland to the adjacent stream.
"Marking the larvae was key to figuring out the movement ecology of the species, because once the larva transformed into a juvenile, that is when the dispersal happened," says Grant. "If I hadn't marked the larva and just marked the juveniles, the probability that I would have observed that dispersal would have been very, very slim."
It turns out that this overland movement is very important contributor to population stability. Grant used the observed dispersal probabilities to conduct a computer simulation to show changes in population stability across a range of extinction risk scenarios in the stream networks. He investigated how the combination of dispersal by the three possible movement routes -- upstream, downstream, and over land -- resulted in changes to predicted extinction times. His modeling showed that when even a small amount of overland movement occurred, it increased the likelihood of salamander population persistence dramatically. This was only the case under low to moderate rates of extinction risk. Under higher extinction probabilities (like we see in stream-breeding frogs in the neotropics), no amount of dispersal could stabilize populations.
These results suggest that the specific routes of dispersal play a big role in salamander population stability, and helps to explain why we have not seen declines in headwater stream salamander populations. This information can help wildlife biologists, amphibian conservationists, and resource managers in their efforts to maintain or restore salamander habitats to facilitate persistence of the species and prevent extinctions. These data confirm that the terrestrial habitat between streams is important to salamanders and must be maintained and protected.
In research published in the March 29, 2010 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Evan Grant (a research associate in the University of Maryland Department of Biology and wildlife biologist with the US Geological Survey's Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative); along with Dr. William Fagan, University of Maryland Department of Biology; and collaborators James Nichols, US Geological Survey (USGS) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center; and Winsor Lowe, University of Montana; describe how two species of stream salamanders find new homes by moving both within streams and over land to adjacent streams during multiple life stages, and how this movement may help to stabilize their populations.
"Scientists tend to be more focused on populations that are declining or threatened," explains Grant, "but it is also important to look at the populations that are doing well, and to understand what makes the population or species more stable. You can apply this to interpret what might be happening with populations that are declining."
The Fagan lab is known for its expertise in combining math and biology to understand the spatial distribution of species to solve real-world conservation problems. They create mathematical models to understand patterns, influences and changes in spatial distribution.
Evan Grant, who is a wildlife biologist with the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and completed this work as part of his dissertation research, used observations of marked animals to estimate the dispersal probabilities of two species of lungless salamanders (Desmognathus fuscus and Desmognathus monticola) who reside in headwater streams (these salamanders are known to prefer the headwaters, where the stream originates) in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park.
These salamanders are aquatic as larva (a stage which lasts ~9 months), and then become terrestrial as juveniles, when they reabsorb their gills and begin to breathe by diffusing oxygen through their skin. While the stream is the best habitat for the salamanders because of the stable temperatures and humidity, both juvenile and adult salamanders can travel over land to forage for food, and occasionally move from one stream to another.
Over a two year period, Grant and colleagues captured and marked more than 2500 salamanders in three 40 meter segments along the headwater streams using a harmless injectable dye (known as a "visual implant elastomer"). They then released them and tracked their movements by recapturing them during four return visits each year, recording their location each time. This study was the first to track salamanders across all three life stages -- larva, juvenile, and adult -- because the research team overcame the difficulty in marking the larval salamanders, which are only a half an inch long. The adult salamanders of these two species grow to a length of almost four inches.
Grant used sophisticated models to estimate the probability of a salamander moving from one segment to another within the same stream either upstream or downstream, and from one stream to another by moving across land. What he found supported his prediction that the salamanders generally prefer to disperse upstream and that those in the juvenile stage were the most likely to change location by moving both upstream and overland to the adjacent stream.
"Marking the larvae was key to figuring out the movement ecology of the species, because once the larva transformed into a juvenile, that is when the dispersal happened," says Grant. "If I hadn't marked the larva and just marked the juveniles, the probability that I would have observed that dispersal would have been very, very slim."
It turns out that this overland movement is very important contributor to population stability. Grant used the observed dispersal probabilities to conduct a computer simulation to show changes in population stability across a range of extinction risk scenarios in the stream networks. He investigated how the combination of dispersal by the three possible movement routes -- upstream, downstream, and over land -- resulted in changes to predicted extinction times. His modeling showed that when even a small amount of overland movement occurred, it increased the likelihood of salamander population persistence dramatically. This was only the case under low to moderate rates of extinction risk. Under higher extinction probabilities (like we see in stream-breeding frogs in the neotropics), no amount of dispersal could stabilize populations.
These results suggest that the specific routes of dispersal play a big role in salamander population stability, and helps to explain why we have not seen declines in headwater stream salamander populations. This information can help wildlife biologists, amphibian conservationists, and resource managers in their efforts to maintain or restore salamander habitats to facilitate persistence of the species and prevent extinctions. These data confirm that the terrestrial habitat between streams is important to salamanders and must be maintained and protected.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Hellbender: It's not for dinner
Hellbender: It's not for dinner
By Kevin Kelly
kkelly@nky.com
April 13, 2010
CAMPBELL COUNTY
Jimmy Blackaby was fishing with a buddy Saturday afternoon near the Visalia bridge when he pulled something out of the Licking River that he recalls seeing only one other time. It was a funny bite, the Morning View resident said. It pecked and pecked and pecked and finally I just got tired of it pecking. When I set the hook, I
thought, well, it's a catfish. As you could imagine, whenever we pulled that thing up, whoa, this ain't a catfish, man.
The nearly two-foot-long creature on the end of Blackaby's line was an eastern hellbender, a rare and most would say unsightly salamander whose populations are being studied in Kentucky. As Blackaby discovered, the eastern hellbender fancies crayfish and secretes mucus when handled.
Sometimes called a snot otter or grampus, it has a flat head and body, elongated tail and stubby legs. Those features make the eastern hellbender well suited to live under rocks in the clean, flowing water that it prefers since it breathes through its skin. I look at them and see an animal that's superbly adapted for where it lives, said Greg Lipps, a herpetologist from Delta, Ohio.
Lipps is heading up an ongoing eastern hellbender survey in Kentucky with the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR). There's never been a formal survey like it before in the state, he said.
"There`s been a lot of interest recently looking at hellbender conservation because where surveys have been done we've noticed very large declines", Lipps said. Kentucky does not have its own endangered species list, he said, but Ohio's Division of Wildlife lists the eastern hellbender as endangered.
For the survey, Lipps scoured historical records on eastern hellbenders in Kentucky and found 52 documented occurrences through the years. Fieldwork began in July 2008.
The plan of attack has been to visit all of these places, Lipps said. And the survey technique is just extremely labor intensive. I always like to tell people there's no rock too big for a hellbender, only rocks you can't lift. The eastern hellbenders, which are harmless to humans and often confused with mud puppies, are measured and examined for abnormalities and disease. A small microchip also is placed under the skin of each in an effort to track them.
Of 27 sites surveyed in the Licking River and Kentucky River watersheds, two have turned up eastern hellbenders. The survey aims to help fill in gaps throughout the eastern hellbender's range where limited or no data exists about how they're doing. The data could lead the eastern hellbender closer to the federal endangered species list.
The other purpose is can we identify where good hellbender populations are and what potential threat there may be and what actions can we take to conserve them, Lipps said. Anglers who catch one are advised to remove the hook and put it back in the water. If the hook can't be removed, Lipps suggests contacting the KDFWR.
Blackaby's catch prompted a visit from John MacGregor, a herpetologist with the KDFWR. Blackaby placed the eastern hellbender, which swallowed the hook, in a fish basket in the river and called the department about his catch. MacGregor collected the animal Monday and took it to the Peter W. Pfeiffer Fish Hatchery north of Frankfort.
"It stayed alive," Blackaby said. "It was in good shape."
http://nky.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20100413/NEWS0103/304120016/
By Kevin Kelly
kkelly@nky.com
April 13, 2010
CAMPBELL COUNTY
Jimmy Blackaby was fishing with a buddy Saturday afternoon near the Visalia bridge when he pulled something out of the Licking River that he recalls seeing only one other time. It was a funny bite, the Morning View resident said. It pecked and pecked and pecked and finally I just got tired of it pecking. When I set the hook, I
thought, well, it's a catfish. As you could imagine, whenever we pulled that thing up, whoa, this ain't a catfish, man.
The nearly two-foot-long creature on the end of Blackaby's line was an eastern hellbender, a rare and most would say unsightly salamander whose populations are being studied in Kentucky. As Blackaby discovered, the eastern hellbender fancies crayfish and secretes mucus when handled.
Sometimes called a snot otter or grampus, it has a flat head and body, elongated tail and stubby legs. Those features make the eastern hellbender well suited to live under rocks in the clean, flowing water that it prefers since it breathes through its skin. I look at them and see an animal that's superbly adapted for where it lives, said Greg Lipps, a herpetologist from Delta, Ohio.
Lipps is heading up an ongoing eastern hellbender survey in Kentucky with the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR). There's never been a formal survey like it before in the state, he said.
"There`s been a lot of interest recently looking at hellbender conservation because where surveys have been done we've noticed very large declines", Lipps said. Kentucky does not have its own endangered species list, he said, but Ohio's Division of Wildlife lists the eastern hellbender as endangered.
For the survey, Lipps scoured historical records on eastern hellbenders in Kentucky and found 52 documented occurrences through the years. Fieldwork began in July 2008.
The plan of attack has been to visit all of these places, Lipps said. And the survey technique is just extremely labor intensive. I always like to tell people there's no rock too big for a hellbender, only rocks you can't lift. The eastern hellbenders, which are harmless to humans and often confused with mud puppies, are measured and examined for abnormalities and disease. A small microchip also is placed under the skin of each in an effort to track them.
Of 27 sites surveyed in the Licking River and Kentucky River watersheds, two have turned up eastern hellbenders. The survey aims to help fill in gaps throughout the eastern hellbender's range where limited or no data exists about how they're doing. The data could lead the eastern hellbender closer to the federal endangered species list.
The other purpose is can we identify where good hellbender populations are and what potential threat there may be and what actions can we take to conserve them, Lipps said. Anglers who catch one are advised to remove the hook and put it back in the water. If the hook can't be removed, Lipps suggests contacting the KDFWR.
Blackaby's catch prompted a visit from John MacGregor, a herpetologist with the KDFWR. Blackaby placed the eastern hellbender, which swallowed the hook, in a fish basket in the river and called the department about his catch. MacGregor collected the animal Monday and took it to the Peter W. Pfeiffer Fish Hatchery north of Frankfort.
"It stayed alive," Blackaby said. "It was in good shape."
http://nky.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20100413/NEWS0103/304120016/
Friday, April 2, 2010
Vt. town gets $150K grant for salamander crossing
Apr 2, 7:39 AM EDT
MONKTON, Vt. (AP) -- Future generations of salamanders in one Vermont town are going to be getting some help crossing the road.
The Monkton Conservation Commission says it has won a $150,000 state grant to install one or two culverts under a stretch of road to protect salamanders, other amphibians, reptiles and small mammals crossing between a swampy area and the uplands.
The Burlington Free Press says the project will be the first wildlife-crossing retrofit of a Vermont highway.
Reptile expert Jim Andrews says the crossing is "one of the most important of the known amphibian crossings in the state."
For the last nine years a group of Monkton residents has monitored the swamp-side road crossing, in some cases helping the creatures cross the road.
---
Information from: The Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ODD_SALAMANDER_CROSSING?SITE=MOSPL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
MONKTON, Vt. (AP) -- Future generations of salamanders in one Vermont town are going to be getting some help crossing the road.
The Monkton Conservation Commission says it has won a $150,000 state grant to install one or two culverts under a stretch of road to protect salamanders, other amphibians, reptiles and small mammals crossing between a swampy area and the uplands.
The Burlington Free Press says the project will be the first wildlife-crossing retrofit of a Vermont highway.
Reptile expert Jim Andrews says the crossing is "one of the most important of the known amphibian crossings in the state."
For the last nine years a group of Monkton residents has monitored the swamp-side road crossing, in some cases helping the creatures cross the road.
---
Information from: The Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ODD_SALAMANDER_CROSSING?SITE=MOSPL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Sunday, February 7, 2010
HerpDigest.org Volume # 10 Issue # 6 - 2/5/10
HerpDigest.org: The Only Free Weekly Electronic Newsletter That Reports on The Latest News on Herpetological Conservation, Husbandry and Science
Volume # 10 Issue # 6 - 2/5/10
Publisher/Editor- Allen Salzberg
_____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
AMPHIBIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION: A HANDBOOK OF TECHNIQUES (TECHNIQUES IN ECOLOGY & CONSERVATION) (Paperback) by C. Kenneth Dodd Jr. (Editor) 556 pages, USA, Oxford Univ. Press. Available. $59.95 plus $7.50 S&H LIMITED NUMBER AUTOGRAPHED COPIES, By editor Kenneth Dodd
Table of Contents Available, Chapter one available, free at http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/13/9780199541188_chapter1.pdf
_______________________________________________________________________
Table of contents
1) Invasion of the Giant Pythons - PBS, NATURE, Premiere Sunday Feb, 21, 2010 (check local listings)
2) IUCN's Species of the Day Program at www.iucnredlist.org/species-of-the-day today is Testudo kleinmani -
3) Indonesia Foils Attempt To Smuggle 3,500( Fly-River Turtles?) & 799 Indo-Chinese Rat Snakes
4) Effects of Roads on Animal Abundance: an Empirical Review and Synthesis -Special Issue of Ecology and Society, Volume 14, Issue # 1 2009. Open Access- Go to http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/issues/view.php?sf=41 abstracts and full papers are free
5) Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Called on to Ban Rattlesnake Roundups
{Press Release from Center for Biological Diversity) 1/28/10
6) Dean E. Metter Award Grant Proposals Solicited For 2010
7) Forget The Rafts, Iguanas May Have Walked To Tonga, Fiji
8) The Legal But Troubling Practice Of Dealing In Protected Wildlife
9) Close Encounters With Japan's 'Living Fossil' (Japanese Giant Salamander)
__________________________________________________________________
"THE FROGS AND TOADS OF NORTH AMERICA" is an amazing book.
It contains:
A CD of all 101 species found in US & Canada./Almost 400 great color photos
101 color location maps /In just 344 pages.
Books this comprehensive usually go for at least $50.00.to &75.00. Or just $19.95 for the
CD. But the publisher is offering it JUST FOR $19.95 Plus 7.50 S&H.(See below on
how to order)
1) Invasion of the Giant Pythons - PBS, NATURE, Premiere Sunday Feb, 21, 2010 (check local listings)
(From PBS website)
Introduction
The Everglades' watery oasis has been invaded by giants.
As part of an ever popular international pet trade market, and incidentally along paths of human travel, many exotic animals have been removed from their native lands and landed where they are not necessarily welcome arrivals. Among these invasive species are a growing number of Burmese pythons, which have taken up residence in the wetlands of Florida, courtesy of overwhelmed pet owners and hurricane-hit animal warehouses.
Accidentally or intentionally released pythons and other exotic animals, such as parrots, reptiles, and lizards are inhabiting dry as well as wet habitats, and feeding on or competing with native species. Giant pythons are well-adapted for success in Florida, where the habitat is similar to their Asian home. Although they are non-venomous, pythons are among the largest snakes in the world, reaching up to twenty-six feet long. Their size and power makes them one of the top predators in Florida's Everglades National Park, taking on even the alligators, and posing a threat to many of the indigenous and endangered species.
NATURE follows teams of scientists and hunters as they use their vast knowledge of snakes and their prey to uncover the impact of the pythons on the park's fragile ecosystems. Herpetologist Shawn Heflick uses some innovative techniques to observe the mechanics of the snake's bite, while scientists Stephen Secor and Skip Snow employ advanced technology to analyze the ways in which pythons swallow and digest animals that can be more than half their own body size. Watch as a wild python ingests an alligator whole.
Journey with NATURE as it investigates what comes next in the story of the Invasion of the Giant Pythons.
________________________________________________________________________ 2) IUCN's Species of the Day Program at www.iucnredlist.org/species-of-the-day today is Testudo kleinmani -
From Announcement by Tortoise and FrestwaterTurtle Species Survival Commission
As part of the UN's International Year of Biodiversity, the IUCN and the SSC (Species Survival Commission) have developed a "Species-of-the-Day" campaign, with a new species featured every day on several websites, including the IUCN, SSC, and Red List sites. The TFTSG was asked to select several species for inclusion in this year-long campaign. Our first species, selected for us by the SSC, is Testudo kleinmanni, the Egyptian tortoise. Including a beautiful photo by Omar Attum and text by our Steering Committee. It is today's Species-of-the-Day (Feb 5).
Please check it out at www.iucnredlist.org/species-of-the-day. It is available as a downloadable pdf document ,also with a link to our TFTSG website and an IUCN donation page link. There is also an archive feature for browsing previous featured species. We will have at least 5 more species featured during the coming year. We will send out notices when they appear. We will also feature these species on our own website, planning on getting this one up later today or in the next day or so. Our other species that will be featured are Rafetus swinhoei, Batagur trivittata, Astrochelys yniphora, Pseudemydura umbrina, and Chelonoidis abingdonii. A few others may also appear, depending on scheduling availability and whether or not the campaign goes for longer than 365 days (which it might). these other potential inclusions in the campaign include Dermatemys mawii, Podocnemis expansa, Glyptemys muhlenbergii, and Cuora yunnanensis.
Checking out the other Species-of-the-Day postings is also valuable and I encourage you to check on a regular basis.
3) Indonesia Foils Attempt To Smuggle 3,500( Fly-River Turtles?) & 799 Indo-Chinese Rat Snakes
Jakarta, Feb 5 (Kyodo) Indonesian authorities have foiled an attempt to smuggle 3,492 pig-nosed turtles and 700 Indo-Chinese rat snakes out of the country, a state-run news agency reported.
Evi Suhartantyo, spokeswoman of the Directorate General of Customs, was quoted by Antara as saying that the turtles and snakes were earmarked for shipment to Hong Kong by air cargo on Tuesday.
Under the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the pig-nosed turtle is categorized as a vulnerable species.
Suhartantyo said the export notification document for the packages containing the snakes and turtles said they contained snake fruits.
Of the 63 packages bound for Hong Kong, 32 contained snake fruits, but 25 others had rat snakes inside and six contained turtles.
The sender was a jacket-exporting company, Antara said.
(Editor - OK, stories like this one brings up some questions..
1)What species is the pignosed turtle? Do They mean the Fly-River Turtle? Or are they softshell turtles which in some areas are called pig-nosed turtles..
2) Twenty-five packages for 800 Indo-Chinese rat snakes and only 6 for 3,500 turtles? Is that possible?
3) If yes, there were six boxes for the turtles, then they had to be baby turtles? Where do you get 3,500 baby pignoses?.
3) Were they all really ratsnakes? What species or subspecies? Or is that just a general term for a certain size of snake?
So I asked.
Pignosed is more and more being used instead of Fly-River turtle or New Guinea two-clawed turtle (the latter a new name to me.). Also they had to be baby turtles The poachers catch the females while nesting, take the eggs to incubate and then sell the hatchlings which are about 1.5" in size or the size of a baby slider hatchling.. This is a technique often used by turtle "farms" in the U.S, especially with snappers and Florida softshells.
What happens to the female I don't know, but I assume they are also collected..
So six boxes is possible. And where do the go from Hong Kong? Not the US or Europe since they have no CITES papers, but countries with more porous borders: S. Korea, China, Japan,, SEAsia to sell as pets.
One wonders if this continues some will be released in these areas and become a new invasive species like red-eared sliders?.
Ratsnakes (Ptyas spp.) are regularly collected in the Javanese ricefields etc. and are traded as on average 5-ft animals. So imagine how many boxes you need for 800 adult black racers. 32 per box is pretty realistic. How many of what different sub-species of Ptyas? They probably don't bother to count since they are meant for the food markets, not pet.
___________________________________________________________________
4) Effects of Roads on Animal Abundance: an Empirical Review and Synthesis -Special Issue of Ecology and Society, Volume 14, Issue # 1 2009. Open Access- Go to http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/issues/view.php?sf=41 abstracts and full papers are free
(Editor: Reprinting the Entire Tofc. Not Just Those On Herps -which are asterisked- Because Other Papers Look Like They Have Information Of Value To Conservationists Involved In Saving Herps From Cars in General, Also Because It Looks Like A Publication the Herp Community Should Be Aware Of It Is Not Already. And Of Course It Doesn't Hurt That It's Open Access.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Effects of Roads on Animal Abundance: an Empirical Review and Synthesis
Lenore Fahrig and Trina Rytwinski
Research
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Quantifying the Road-Effect Zone: Threshold Effects of a Motorway on Anuran Populations in Ontario, Canada
Felix Eigenbrod, Stephen J. Hecnar, and Lenore Fahrig
*Frogs Call at a Higher Pitch in Traffic Noise
Kirsten M. Parris, Meah Velik-Lord, and Joanne M. A. North
Road Zone Effects in Small-Mammal Communities
John A. Bissonette and Silvia A. Rosa
Impacts of Traffic Noise and Traffic Volume on Birds of Roadside Habitats
Kirsten M. Parris and Angela Schneider
Integration of Regional Mitigation Assessment and Conservation Planning
James H. Thorne, Patrick R. Huber, Evan H. Girvetz, Jim Quinn, and Michael C. McCoy
Wildlife Tunnel Enhances Population Viability
Rodney van der Ree, Dean Heinze, Michael McCarthy, and Ian Mansergh
Can Road-Crossing Structures Improve Population Viability of an Urban Gliding Mammal?
Brendan D. Taylor and Ross L. Goldingay
Cost-Benefit Analyses of Mitigation Measures Aimed at Reducing Collisions with Large Ungulates in the United States and Canada: a Decision Support Tool
Marcel P. Huijser, John W. Duffield, Anthony P. Clevenger, Robert J. Ament, and Pat T. McGowen
Reducing Moose-Vehicle Collisions through Salt Pool Removal and Displacement: an Agent-Based Modeling Approach
Paul D. Grosman, Jochen A. G. Jaeger, Pascale M. Biron, Christian Dussault, and Jean-Pierre Ouellet
* Behavioral Responses of Northern Leopard Frogs (Rana pipiens) to Roads and Traffic: Implications for Population Persistence
Julie Bouchard, Adam T. Ford, Felix E. Eigenbrod, and Lenore Fahrig
Modeling the Effect of Traffic Calming on Local Animal Population Persistence
Frank van Langevelde and Catharinus F. Jaarsma
Piloting a Non-Invasive Genetic Sampling Method for Evaluating Population-Level Benefits of Wildlife Crossing Structures
__________________________________________________________________
5) Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Called on to Ban Rattlesnake Roundups
{Press Release from Center for Biological Diversity) 1/28/10
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.- In a letter sent today to Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, the Center for Biological Diversity is urging the state to outlaw rattlesnake roundups. Roundups are annual contests in which hunters bring in as many snakes as they can catch in a year. A recently published study shows that roundups have depleted populations of eastern diamondback rattlesnakes in the southeastern United States.
"Indiscriminate killing of wildlife has been banned for most animals for decades, but not for rattlesnakes," said Tierra Curry, a biologist at the Center. "This abhorrent practice is harming rattlesnake populations and should be stopped."
The eastern diamondback was once a common species, but is now being pushed toward extinction by hunting pressure, habitat loss, and road mortality. An analysis of 50 years of roundup data shows that both the total number of snakes and the size of individual snakes have declined over a 50-year time span, and that hunters must now drive hundreds of miles to find snakes for the event. The snake hasn't been seen in Louisiana since 1980, and is now uncommon throughout its range in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and the Carolinas.
"Rattlesnakes serve an important role in the food chain by controlling rodent populations and should be respected," said Curry. "With populations in decline, rattlesnakes need protection."
Two Georgia towns still hold roundups. The Whigham Rattlesnake Roundup is Saturday, January 30. Some claim that the roundups protect public health, but eastern diamondbacks rarely bite, and more people are killed in the United States each year by dog bites, lightning strikes, or bee stings than by venomous snake bites. The roundups are not necessary to obtain antivenin, as major producers of antivenin only purchase it from approved suppliers under sterile conditions and have stated that they do not purchase it from roundups.
Contact: Tierra Curry, Center for Biological Diversity, (928) 522-3681
________________________________________________________________________
6) Dean E. Metter Award Grant Proposals Solicited For 2010
Dean E. (Doc) Metter (1932-2001) was a long-time member of the biology faculty at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he taught zoology, comparative anatomy, evolution, and herpetology. A believer in putting knowledge to the test in the field, Doc provided frequent opportunities for students to engage in fieldwork. In addition, he frequently assisted his graduate students as they ventured out to collect data. Doc was a co-founder of the Bobby Witcher Society, the legacy of which is a scholarship fund. For many years, the interest earned served to reward outstanding herpetology students who intended to continue their education and seek a career in vertebrate biology. That fund now serves a similar purpose by honoring Doc's memory while helping to fund the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR)- administered Dean E. Metter Memorial Award.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the Award is: (1) to honor the memory of Dean E. Metter; (2) to encourage students to pursue field research in herpetology; and (3) to facilitate field research in herpetology by providing funds for relevant expenses.
AWARD AMOUNT
Grants made from the award will be no less than $300 and no more than $1,000. Efforts will be made to fund as many eligible proposals as possible.
ELIGIBILITY
Applicants must be currently enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student in an accredited college or university and be conducting field-based research in herpetology.
This research may occur anywhere in the world, but priority will be given to research conducted in the state of Missouri.
ELIGIBLE EXPENSES
Expenses eligible for funding include: (1) travel expenses (e.g., mileage, airfare) associated with the field research project; and (2) equipment for field-based research (e.g., materials for drift fences, traps, etc.). Funds may not be used for salaries or any other personnel expenses, travel to meetings, equipment or supplies for laboratory-based research (even if applicable to the project), or overhead or indirect costs.
CRITERIA FOR AWARDS
The following criteria will be used to make awards:
A. Scientific merit of the proposed project.
B. Nature of the proposed project; priority will be given, in order, to proposals that fall into the following categories:
Natural history studies (e.g., habitat utilization, life tables, demography, reproductive strategies, behavior).
Functional morphology (i.e., relationships between structure and function, particularly as these relate to natural history parameters).
Biogeographic studies, including elucidation of biodiversity in a given area (e.g., regional or national biotic surveys), efforts to determine historical events leading to current distribution patterns, and effects resulting from introductions of alien species.
Evolutionary studies (establishing phylogenies based on morphological or genetic criteria).
Other.
C. Relevance of the field component to the overall execution of the proposed project.
APPLICATIONS AND AWARDS
In keeping with the Society's goal of encouraging participation by the broadest possible community, preference may be given to individuals who might not have access to other funding sources. All applicants must be members of the SSAR. Past recipients of an SSAR GIH award in any category are not eligible for this award. Each proposal must include the
following:
(A) TITLE PAGE giving the title of the project, the name, mailing address, office and home telephone numbers and, if possible, fax number and e-mail address of the applicant. The title page should include a statement indicating that applicants will comply with all applicable permit regulations, and adhere to all appropriate animal care guidelines in the course of conducting funded projects.
(B) BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES of the proposed project.
(C) METHODS for carrying out the project.
(D) COMPLETE PROJECT BUDGET (indicating for which expenses support is being solicited), including a listing of all current and pending support for the project.
(E) BRIEF RESUMÉ of the applicant.
(F) LETTER OF SUPPORT from the research advisor, which also will serve to confirm enrollment at an accredited institution. The proposal must be typed, double spaced, and must not exceed 1,200 words, excluding title page, literature cited, CV (resumé), and budget.
Proposals should be submitted electronically as email attachments. Submit proposals or questions regarding application procedures to the Chair of the Metter Award Committee, Dr. Joseph J. Beatty (beattyj@science.oregonstate.edu).
NOTE
All proposals must be submitted no later than 30 March 2010 to be considered; SSAR dues
must be paid by the preceding 31 December. Failure to meet these guidelines may resultin
elimination of a proposal from consideration. Awards will be announced on or around 15
April 2010. Successful applicants are encouraged to submit the results of their research
for publication in the Journal of Herpetology or Herpetological Review, or to present their
findings at the annual meeting of the SSAR.
The Dean E. Metter Grant Recipients for 2009 were:
(1) Benjamin Jellen
Benjamin's proposal is entitled Pre-and Post-Copulatory Determinants of Reproductive
Success in Missouri Northern Water Snakes (Nerodia sipedon).
His research will attempt to show how these snakes communicate using pheromones and
how this relates to male and female reproductive success. Benjamin is a Ph.D. student in
the Department of Biology at St. Louis University and is working with Robert Aldridge
(2) Jeanine Refsnider
Jeanine's proposal is entitled Can Maternal Nest-site Choice Compensate for the Effects of
Global Climate Change on Reptiles with Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination? A
Common Garden Experiment using a Model Species.
It deals with Northern Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta) and is designed to determine
whether local adaptations to nest site choice are more genetically or environmentally
driven. Jeanine is working in Fred Janzen's laboratory in the Department of Ecology,
Evolution, and Organismal Biology at Iowa State University.
_____________________________________________________________________
7) Forget The Rafts, Iguanas May Have Walked To Tonga, Fiji
By Sara Israelsen-Hartley
Deseret News, 2/1/10
PROVO, Utah -- They're 5,000 miles away from any relatives and only exist on two islands in the Pacific Ocean.
For decades, scientists didn't have a good answer as to how four species of iguanas native to North, Central and South America ended up on the Pacific islands of Fiji and Tonga.
"In the field of biogeography, this has been a puzzle for a long time," said BYU biology professor Jack Sites.
The prevailing theory was that iguanas from the New World floated thousands of miles to the Pacific islands on logs or reed rafts over several months.
It's not uncommon for iguanas to take to the ocean, after all, that's how they got to the Galapagos Islands from Ecuador, Sites explained.
But that was a 600-mile journey, where as Fiji and Tonga are nearly 5,000 miles and six months away -- too much for even the most robust sailing iguana.
So, Sites and his co-author, Bryce Noonan, a biology professor at the University of Mississippi, proposed that the scaly reptiles simply walked to the islands millions of years ago across a giant continental land mass called Gondwana, which was made up of today's Africa, Australia, Antarctica and parts of Asia.
Combining information about geology and the age of the Fijian and Tongan archipelagos, with fossil evidence and "molecular clock" DNA analysis of a large sample of iguana DNA, Sites and Noonan discovered that the Pacific island iguanas have ancestors old enough -- 50 million to 60 million years old -- to have existed on the Gondwanan land mass.
"We're pretty confident that we have at least put forth a very robust, credible alternative hypothesis compared to a 5,000-mile crossing of the Pacific on a raft," Sites said.
Their research was published in the January edition of American Naturalist.
8) The Legal But Troubling Practice Of Dealing In Protected Wildlife
Fort Worth Star Telegram
Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010
http://www.star-telegram.com/1021/story/1912260.html
By CHRIS JONES
Special to the Star-Telegram
The Texas wildlife industry supplies national pet stores, international public and private zoos and aquariums and private individuals who have money to spend. The rarer the species is in the wild, the higher its price.
Wildlife dealers network in Asia, South America and Indonesia, paying collectors to illegally hunt the most endangered species left on the planet, including Komodo dragons at $30,000 black-market price per juvenile and three-eyed Tuataras from New Zealand at $50,000 each.
Last month, the city of Arlington confiscated about 27,000 live, dying and dead animals from an international wildlife exporter near Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. Few people realize that many of these animals had been legally collected from the wild in Texas because they are classified as nongame animals by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Unlike traditionally regulated game animals such as white-tailed deer, turkey, waterfowl and striped bass, animals listed by the department as "nongame" are subject to being collected from the wild in unlimited quantities for commercial resale.
TPWD has granted commercial nongame dealer's permits for the last 15 years, charging $63 per Texas resident and $252 per nonresident. Since 2000, the department has required nongame dealers to report the quantity and species they capture in Texas. The department has known that some species have been collected to the brink of extinction and that international forces will continue to pay collectors to illegally hunt any form of wildlife in Texas, especially if it is a protected, threatened species.
For example, the Cagle's map turtle (Graptemys caglei) only lives in the Hill Country's Guadalupe River. It became a state-level threatened species in 2000 as a result of collecting efforts by millionaire wildlife dealers who supply a burgeoning international trade. Buyers fancy the turtle's unique topographic maplike shell colorations so much they are willing to pay $300 per adult over the Internet.
Since the early 1990s, scientists have proposed the Cagle's map turtle for enlistment under the federal Endangered Species Act. Much of its habitat has been destroyed, its shallow rocky riffled streams flooded into lakes and water quality degraded. The insects the turtle eats only live in shallow water and die when the stream floor is buried by cold deepwater impoundments.
TPWD continues to oppose the turtle's protection as a federal endangered species even as stormwater pollution steadily increases from residential development in the Guadalupe watershed.
Sadly, Cagle's map turtles continue to be illegally harvested from Texas and sold interstate. It is often confused with species that are not protected in Texas and sports a green-black appearance similar to the common red-eared slider turtle (Trachemys scripta), which may be commercially harvested in unlimited quantities from private waters.
It is important to note that most, if not all, states have state endangered species acts, but these state laws do not protect the habitat of the state's enlisted species from being altered, destroyed or impounded. Landowners can do as they please with the habitat of any species protected under a state endangered species act.
It is time for TPWD to recognize the effects it has had on international wildlife by issuing nongame dealer permits to people who are in the business of exploiting wildlife solely for profit. The department should immediately revoke the other multiple nongame dealer permits that have been issued this year and allow city animal health inspectors to promptly investigate the living conditions and welfare of the wildlife collected by each licensee.
Nongame animals should be protected as permanent components of our Lone Star landscape, for all of us to enjoy, rather than be commercially collected for profit and extirpated from the wild.
For a complete list of the 84 species that are listed as nongame animals in Texas, go to http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/permits/land/wildlife/#nongame
Christopher H. Jones, M.S. of Waterwood is a federal conservation attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity in Texas and the Southeast United States. www.biologicaldiversity.org
9) Close Encounters With Japan's 'Living Fossil' (Japanese Giant Salamander)
By Richard Black, BBC News 2/4/09
It soon becomes clear that the giant salamander has hit Claude Gascon's enthusiasm button smack on the nose.
"This is a dinosaur, this is amazing," he enthuses.
"We're talking about salamanders that usually fit in the palm of your hand. This one will chop your hand off."
As a leader of Conservation International's (CI) scientific programmes, and co-chair of the Amphibian Specialist Group with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Dr Gascon has seen a fair few frogs and salamanders in his life; but little, he says, to compare with this.
According to Dr Takeyoshi Tochimoto, " The skeleton of this species is almost identical to that of the fossil from 30 million years ago; therefore it's called the 'living fossil'. "
Fortunately for all of our digits, this particular giant salamander is in no position to chop off anything, trapped in a tank in the visitors' centre in Maniwa City, about 800km west of Tokyo.
But impressive it certainly is: about 1.7m (5ft 6in) long, covered in a leathery skin that speaks of many decades passed, with a massive gnarled head covered in tubercles whose presumed sensitivity to motion probably helped it catch fish by the thousand over its lifetime.
If local legend is to be believed, though, this specimen is a mere tadpole compared with the biggest ever seen around Maniwa.
A 17th Century tale, related to us by cultural heritage officer Takashi Sakata, tells of a salamander (or hanzaki, in local parlance) 10m long that marauded its way across the countryside chomping cows and horses in its tracks.
A local hero was found, one Mitsui Hikoshiro, who allowed the hanzaki to swallow him whole along with his trusty sword - which implement he then used, in the best heroic tradition, to rend the beast from stem to stern.
It proved not to be such a good move, however.
Crops failed, people started dying in mysterious ways - including Mr Hikoshiro himself.
Pretty soon the villagers drew the obvious conclusion that the salamander's spirit was wreaking revenge from beyond the grave, and must be placated. That is why Maniwa City boasts a shrine to the hanzaki.
The story illustrates the cultural importance that this remarkable creature has in some parts of Japan.
Its scientific importance, meanwhile, lies in two main areas: its "living fossil" identity, and its apparently peaceful co-existence with the chytrid fungus that has devastated so many other amphibian species from Australia to the Andes.
"The skeleton of this species is almost identical to that of the fossil from 30 million years ago," recounts Takeyoshi Tochimoto, director of the Hanzaki Institute near Hyogo.
"Therefore it's called the 'living fossil'."
The hanzaki (Andrias japonicus) only has two close living relatives: the Chinese giant salamander (A. davidianus) , which is close enough in size and shape and habits that the two can easily cross-breed, and the much smaller hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) of the south-eastern US.
Creatures rather like these were certainly around when dinosaurs dominated life on land, and fossils of the family have been found much further afield than their current tight distribution - in northern Europe, certainly, where scientists presumed the the lineages had gone extinct until tales of the strange Oriental forms made their way back to the scientific burghers of Vienna and Leiden a couple of centuries ago.
"They are thought to be extremely primitive species, partly due to the fact that they are the only salamanders that have external fertilisation," says Don Church, a salamander specialist with CI.
The fertilisation ritual must be quite some sight.
Into a riverbank den that is usually occupied by the dominant male (the "den-master") swim several females, and also a few other males.
The den-master and the females release everything they have got, turning incessantly to stir the eggs and spermatozoa round in a roiling mass.
Maybe the lesser males sneak in a package or two as well; their function in the ménage-a-many is not completely clear.
When the waters still, everyone but the den-master leaves; and he alone guards the nest and its juvenile brood.
It is not an ideal method of reproduction.
Research shows that genetic diversity among the hanzaki is smaller than it might be, partly as a result of the repeated polygamy, which in turn leaves them more prone to damage through environmental change.
But for the moment, it seems to work.
Outside the breeding season, the salamander's life appears to consist of remaining as inconspicuous as possible in the river (whether hiding in leaves, as the small ones do, or under the riverbanks like their larger fellows) and snapping whatever comes within reach, their usual meandering torpor transformed in an instant as the smell of a fish brushes by.
The adults' jaws are not to be treated lightly.
Among Dr Tochimoto's extensive collection of photos is one of bloodied human hands; and as he warns: "you may be attacked and injured; please be careful".
When the chytrid fungus was identified just over a decade ago, indications were that Japan would be an unlikely place to look for its origins.
With the discovery of chytrid on museum specimens of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) , an out-of-Africa migration spurred by human transportation of amphibians once seemed the simple likelihood.
But just last year, a team of researchers led by Koichi Goka from Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies published research showing that certain strains of chytrid were present on Japanese giant salamanders, and only on Japanese giant salamanders, including museum specimens from a century or so back; and that the relationship seemed benign.
Unravelling all that, says Don Church, might tell us something about the origins and spread of chytrid - and there is so much diversity among Japanese chytrid strains that the country is now being touted as a possible origin, as diversity often implies a long evolutionary timeframe.
More importantly, the discovery might also provide options for treating the infection.
"In the case of the North American salamanders, what was found was that they have bacteria living on their skin that produce peptides that are lethal to the amphibian chytrid fungus," says Dr Church.
"And those bacteria might be able to be transplanted to other species that can't fight off the fungus."
This is a line of research that is very much in play in laboratories around the world.
It appears likely now that studies of the Japanese giant salamander can expand the number of chytrid-fighting bacteria known to science, and so extend the options for developing treatments for an infection that currently cannot be controlled in the wild.
But that can only come to pass if the giant salamanders endure; something that is not guaranteed, with the challenges they face in modern Japan including, perhaps, new strains of chytrid itself.
There is as yet no modern hero able to still the pace of habitat loss or prevent invasion from rival species.
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Still available:
THE COMPLETE NORTH AMERICAN BOX TURTLE
Carl J. Franklin, and David C. Killpack with foreword by C. Kenneth Dodd (who wrote the now classic "Natural History of North American Box Turtles"
Just published. 260 Pages Over 300 full color photos and illustrations.
Hardcover, Eco/Serpent's Tales
Only $49.95 plus $7.50 S&H, lowest price on net
Not even Amazon who are offering it for $59.95.
"TURTLES: THE ANIMAL ANSWER GUIDE." By Whit Gibbons and Judy Greene
of the Savannah River Ecology Lab. © 2009 176 pages, 35 color photos, 64 halftones, Paperback., 7" x 11"-$24.95 PLUS $6.00 S&H
THE TURTLES OF U.S. & CANADA by Carl Ernst and Jeffrey Lovich, 2009, 840 pp. 240 color photos, 11 line drawings, 52 maps, 8 ½" X 11
List price $95.00, Only 2 Autographed copies left for sale at $85.00
($11.00 for S&H sent media mail, delivery confirmation, It's an 8 plus pound book)
THE ECOLOGY, EXPLOITATION AND CONSERVATION OF RIVER TURTLES
by Don Moll and Edward O. Moll. Considered by turtle scientists, and conservationists as one of the best books on turtle conservation. 420 pages; 90 halftones & 3 line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; List price $80, now $30.00 plus $7.50 S&H.
"BIOLOGY OF THE BOAS AND PYTHONS"
Edited by R.W. Henderson and R. Powell
2007,Eagle Mountain Publishing,
448 pages, 30 chapters by 79 authors, over 200 color photographs, maps, figures, and drawings, Table of Contents available, $100.00 PLUS $7.50 For S&H.
On how to order see below
(IF YOU ARE OVERSEAS -WHICH INCLUDES CANADA AND MEXICO-EMAIL US FIRST FOR SHIPPING COSTS.).
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4) By phone, call us at 1-718-275-2190 Eastern Standard Time (NYC) - Any Day Of The Week, 10 A.M.- 8 P.M. If not in, leave message and we'll call back.
Volume # 10 Issue # 6 - 2/5/10
Publisher/Editor- Allen Salzberg
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AMPHIBIAN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION: A HANDBOOK OF TECHNIQUES (TECHNIQUES IN ECOLOGY & CONSERVATION) (Paperback) by C. Kenneth Dodd Jr. (Editor) 556 pages, USA, Oxford Univ. Press. Available. $59.95 plus $7.50 S&H LIMITED NUMBER AUTOGRAPHED COPIES, By editor Kenneth Dodd
Table of Contents Available, Chapter one available, free at http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/13/9780199541188_chapter1.pdf
_______________________________________________________________________
Table of contents
1) Invasion of the Giant Pythons - PBS, NATURE, Premiere Sunday Feb, 21, 2010 (check local listings)
2) IUCN's Species of the Day Program at www.iucnredlist.org/species-of-the-day today is Testudo kleinmani -
3) Indonesia Foils Attempt To Smuggle 3,500( Fly-River Turtles?) & 799 Indo-Chinese Rat Snakes
4) Effects of Roads on Animal Abundance: an Empirical Review and Synthesis -Special Issue of Ecology and Society, Volume 14, Issue # 1 2009. Open Access- Go to http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/issues/view.php?sf=41 abstracts and full papers are free
5) Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Called on to Ban Rattlesnake Roundups
{Press Release from Center for Biological Diversity) 1/28/10
6) Dean E. Metter Award Grant Proposals Solicited For 2010
7) Forget The Rafts, Iguanas May Have Walked To Tonga, Fiji
8) The Legal But Troubling Practice Of Dealing In Protected Wildlife
9) Close Encounters With Japan's 'Living Fossil' (Japanese Giant Salamander)
__________________________________________________________________
"THE FROGS AND TOADS OF NORTH AMERICA" is an amazing book.
It contains:
A CD of all 101 species found in US & Canada./Almost 400 great color photos
101 color location maps /In just 344 pages.
Books this comprehensive usually go for at least $50.00.to &75.00. Or just $19.95 for the
CD. But the publisher is offering it JUST FOR $19.95 Plus 7.50 S&H.(See below on
how to order)
1) Invasion of the Giant Pythons - PBS, NATURE, Premiere Sunday Feb, 21, 2010 (check local listings)
(From PBS website)
Introduction
The Everglades' watery oasis has been invaded by giants.
As part of an ever popular international pet trade market, and incidentally along paths of human travel, many exotic animals have been removed from their native lands and landed where they are not necessarily welcome arrivals. Among these invasive species are a growing number of Burmese pythons, which have taken up residence in the wetlands of Florida, courtesy of overwhelmed pet owners and hurricane-hit animal warehouses.
Accidentally or intentionally released pythons and other exotic animals, such as parrots, reptiles, and lizards are inhabiting dry as well as wet habitats, and feeding on or competing with native species. Giant pythons are well-adapted for success in Florida, where the habitat is similar to their Asian home. Although they are non-venomous, pythons are among the largest snakes in the world, reaching up to twenty-six feet long. Their size and power makes them one of the top predators in Florida's Everglades National Park, taking on even the alligators, and posing a threat to many of the indigenous and endangered species.
NATURE follows teams of scientists and hunters as they use their vast knowledge of snakes and their prey to uncover the impact of the pythons on the park's fragile ecosystems. Herpetologist Shawn Heflick uses some innovative techniques to observe the mechanics of the snake's bite, while scientists Stephen Secor and Skip Snow employ advanced technology to analyze the ways in which pythons swallow and digest animals that can be more than half their own body size. Watch as a wild python ingests an alligator whole.
Journey with NATURE as it investigates what comes next in the story of the Invasion of the Giant Pythons.
________________________________________________________________________ 2) IUCN's Species of the Day Program at www.iucnredlist.org/species-of-the-day today is Testudo kleinmani -
From Announcement by Tortoise and FrestwaterTurtle Species Survival Commission
As part of the UN's International Year of Biodiversity, the IUCN and the SSC (Species Survival Commission) have developed a "Species-of-the-Day" campaign, with a new species featured every day on several websites, including the IUCN, SSC, and Red List sites. The TFTSG was asked to select several species for inclusion in this year-long campaign. Our first species, selected for us by the SSC, is Testudo kleinmanni, the Egyptian tortoise. Including a beautiful photo by Omar Attum and text by our Steering Committee. It is today's Species-of-the-Day (Feb 5).
Please check it out at www.iucnredlist.org/species-of-the-day. It is available as a downloadable pdf document ,also with a link to our TFTSG website and an IUCN donation page link. There is also an archive feature for browsing previous featured species. We will have at least 5 more species featured during the coming year. We will send out notices when they appear. We will also feature these species on our own website, planning on getting this one up later today or in the next day or so. Our other species that will be featured are Rafetus swinhoei, Batagur trivittata, Astrochelys yniphora, Pseudemydura umbrina, and Chelonoidis abingdonii. A few others may also appear, depending on scheduling availability and whether or not the campaign goes for longer than 365 days (which it might). these other potential inclusions in the campaign include Dermatemys mawii, Podocnemis expansa, Glyptemys muhlenbergii, and Cuora yunnanensis.
Checking out the other Species-of-the-Day postings is also valuable and I encourage you to check on a regular basis.
3) Indonesia Foils Attempt To Smuggle 3,500( Fly-River Turtles?) & 799 Indo-Chinese Rat Snakes
Jakarta, Feb 5 (Kyodo) Indonesian authorities have foiled an attempt to smuggle 3,492 pig-nosed turtles and 700 Indo-Chinese rat snakes out of the country, a state-run news agency reported.
Evi Suhartantyo, spokeswoman of the Directorate General of Customs, was quoted by Antara as saying that the turtles and snakes were earmarked for shipment to Hong Kong by air cargo on Tuesday.
Under the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the pig-nosed turtle is categorized as a vulnerable species.
Suhartantyo said the export notification document for the packages containing the snakes and turtles said they contained snake fruits.
Of the 63 packages bound for Hong Kong, 32 contained snake fruits, but 25 others had rat snakes inside and six contained turtles.
The sender was a jacket-exporting company, Antara said.
(Editor - OK, stories like this one brings up some questions..
1)What species is the pignosed turtle? Do They mean the Fly-River Turtle? Or are they softshell turtles which in some areas are called pig-nosed turtles..
2) Twenty-five packages for 800 Indo-Chinese rat snakes and only 6 for 3,500 turtles? Is that possible?
3) If yes, there were six boxes for the turtles, then they had to be baby turtles? Where do you get 3,500 baby pignoses?.
3) Were they all really ratsnakes? What species or subspecies? Or is that just a general term for a certain size of snake?
So I asked.
Pignosed is more and more being used instead of Fly-River turtle or New Guinea two-clawed turtle (the latter a new name to me.). Also they had to be baby turtles The poachers catch the females while nesting, take the eggs to incubate and then sell the hatchlings which are about 1.5" in size or the size of a baby slider hatchling.. This is a technique often used by turtle "farms" in the U.S, especially with snappers and Florida softshells.
What happens to the female I don't know, but I assume they are also collected..
So six boxes is possible. And where do the go from Hong Kong? Not the US or Europe since they have no CITES papers, but countries with more porous borders: S. Korea, China, Japan,, SEAsia to sell as pets.
One wonders if this continues some will be released in these areas and become a new invasive species like red-eared sliders?.
Ratsnakes (Ptyas spp.) are regularly collected in the Javanese ricefields etc. and are traded as on average 5-ft animals. So imagine how many boxes you need for 800 adult black racers. 32 per box is pretty realistic. How many of what different sub-species of Ptyas? They probably don't bother to count since they are meant for the food markets, not pet.
___________________________________________________________________
4) Effects of Roads on Animal Abundance: an Empirical Review and Synthesis -Special Issue of Ecology and Society, Volume 14, Issue # 1 2009. Open Access- Go to http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/issues/view.php?sf=41 abstracts and full papers are free
(Editor: Reprinting the Entire Tofc. Not Just Those On Herps -which are asterisked- Because Other Papers Look Like They Have Information Of Value To Conservationists Involved In Saving Herps From Cars in General, Also Because It Looks Like A Publication the Herp Community Should Be Aware Of It Is Not Already. And Of Course It Doesn't Hurt That It's Open Access.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Effects of Roads on Animal Abundance: an Empirical Review and Synthesis
Lenore Fahrig and Trina Rytwinski
Research
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Quantifying the Road-Effect Zone: Threshold Effects of a Motorway on Anuran Populations in Ontario, Canada
Felix Eigenbrod, Stephen J. Hecnar, and Lenore Fahrig
*Frogs Call at a Higher Pitch in Traffic Noise
Kirsten M. Parris, Meah Velik-Lord, and Joanne M. A. North
Road Zone Effects in Small-Mammal Communities
John A. Bissonette and Silvia A. Rosa
Impacts of Traffic Noise and Traffic Volume on Birds of Roadside Habitats
Kirsten M. Parris and Angela Schneider
Integration of Regional Mitigation Assessment and Conservation Planning
James H. Thorne, Patrick R. Huber, Evan H. Girvetz, Jim Quinn, and Michael C. McCoy
Wildlife Tunnel Enhances Population Viability
Rodney van der Ree, Dean Heinze, Michael McCarthy, and Ian Mansergh
Can Road-Crossing Structures Improve Population Viability of an Urban Gliding Mammal?
Brendan D. Taylor and Ross L. Goldingay
Cost-Benefit Analyses of Mitigation Measures Aimed at Reducing Collisions with Large Ungulates in the United States and Canada: a Decision Support Tool
Marcel P. Huijser, John W. Duffield, Anthony P. Clevenger, Robert J. Ament, and Pat T. McGowen
Reducing Moose-Vehicle Collisions through Salt Pool Removal and Displacement: an Agent-Based Modeling Approach
Paul D. Grosman, Jochen A. G. Jaeger, Pascale M. Biron, Christian Dussault, and Jean-Pierre Ouellet
* Behavioral Responses of Northern Leopard Frogs (Rana pipiens) to Roads and Traffic: Implications for Population Persistence
Julie Bouchard, Adam T. Ford, Felix E. Eigenbrod, and Lenore Fahrig
Modeling the Effect of Traffic Calming on Local Animal Population Persistence
Frank van Langevelde and Catharinus F. Jaarsma
Piloting a Non-Invasive Genetic Sampling Method for Evaluating Population-Level Benefits of Wildlife Crossing Structures
__________________________________________________________________
5) Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Called on to Ban Rattlesnake Roundups
{Press Release from Center for Biological Diversity) 1/28/10
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.- In a letter sent today to Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, the Center for Biological Diversity is urging the state to outlaw rattlesnake roundups. Roundups are annual contests in which hunters bring in as many snakes as they can catch in a year. A recently published study shows that roundups have depleted populations of eastern diamondback rattlesnakes in the southeastern United States.
"Indiscriminate killing of wildlife has been banned for most animals for decades, but not for rattlesnakes," said Tierra Curry, a biologist at the Center. "This abhorrent practice is harming rattlesnake populations and should be stopped."
The eastern diamondback was once a common species, but is now being pushed toward extinction by hunting pressure, habitat loss, and road mortality. An analysis of 50 years of roundup data shows that both the total number of snakes and the size of individual snakes have declined over a 50-year time span, and that hunters must now drive hundreds of miles to find snakes for the event. The snake hasn't been seen in Louisiana since 1980, and is now uncommon throughout its range in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and the Carolinas.
"Rattlesnakes serve an important role in the food chain by controlling rodent populations and should be respected," said Curry. "With populations in decline, rattlesnakes need protection."
Two Georgia towns still hold roundups. The Whigham Rattlesnake Roundup is Saturday, January 30. Some claim that the roundups protect public health, but eastern diamondbacks rarely bite, and more people are killed in the United States each year by dog bites, lightning strikes, or bee stings than by venomous snake bites. The roundups are not necessary to obtain antivenin, as major producers of antivenin only purchase it from approved suppliers under sterile conditions and have stated that they do not purchase it from roundups.
Contact: Tierra Curry, Center for Biological Diversity, (928) 522-3681
________________________________________________________________________
6) Dean E. Metter Award Grant Proposals Solicited For 2010
Dean E. (Doc) Metter (1932-2001) was a long-time member of the biology faculty at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he taught zoology, comparative anatomy, evolution, and herpetology. A believer in putting knowledge to the test in the field, Doc provided frequent opportunities for students to engage in fieldwork. In addition, he frequently assisted his graduate students as they ventured out to collect data. Doc was a co-founder of the Bobby Witcher Society, the legacy of which is a scholarship fund. For many years, the interest earned served to reward outstanding herpetology students who intended to continue their education and seek a career in vertebrate biology. That fund now serves a similar purpose by honoring Doc's memory while helping to fund the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR)- administered Dean E. Metter Memorial Award.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the Award is: (1) to honor the memory of Dean E. Metter; (2) to encourage students to pursue field research in herpetology; and (3) to facilitate field research in herpetology by providing funds for relevant expenses.
AWARD AMOUNT
Grants made from the award will be no less than $300 and no more than $1,000. Efforts will be made to fund as many eligible proposals as possible.
ELIGIBILITY
Applicants must be currently enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student in an accredited college or university and be conducting field-based research in herpetology.
This research may occur anywhere in the world, but priority will be given to research conducted in the state of Missouri.
ELIGIBLE EXPENSES
Expenses eligible for funding include: (1) travel expenses (e.g., mileage, airfare) associated with the field research project; and (2) equipment for field-based research (e.g., materials for drift fences, traps, etc.). Funds may not be used for salaries or any other personnel expenses, travel to meetings, equipment or supplies for laboratory-based research (even if applicable to the project), or overhead or indirect costs.
CRITERIA FOR AWARDS
The following criteria will be used to make awards:
A. Scientific merit of the proposed project.
B. Nature of the proposed project; priority will be given, in order, to proposals that fall into the following categories:
Natural history studies (e.g., habitat utilization, life tables, demography, reproductive strategies, behavior).
Functional morphology (i.e., relationships between structure and function, particularly as these relate to natural history parameters).
Biogeographic studies, including elucidation of biodiversity in a given area (e.g., regional or national biotic surveys), efforts to determine historical events leading to current distribution patterns, and effects resulting from introductions of alien species.
Evolutionary studies (establishing phylogenies based on morphological or genetic criteria).
Other.
C. Relevance of the field component to the overall execution of the proposed project.
APPLICATIONS AND AWARDS
In keeping with the Society's goal of encouraging participation by the broadest possible community, preference may be given to individuals who might not have access to other funding sources. All applicants must be members of the SSAR. Past recipients of an SSAR GIH award in any category are not eligible for this award. Each proposal must include the
following:
(A) TITLE PAGE giving the title of the project, the name, mailing address, office and home telephone numbers and, if possible, fax number and e-mail address of the applicant. The title page should include a statement indicating that applicants will comply with all applicable permit regulations, and adhere to all appropriate animal care guidelines in the course of conducting funded projects.
(B) BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES of the proposed project.
(C) METHODS for carrying out the project.
(D) COMPLETE PROJECT BUDGET (indicating for which expenses support is being solicited), including a listing of all current and pending support for the project.
(E) BRIEF RESUMÉ of the applicant.
(F) LETTER OF SUPPORT from the research advisor, which also will serve to confirm enrollment at an accredited institution. The proposal must be typed, double spaced, and must not exceed 1,200 words, excluding title page, literature cited, CV (resumé), and budget.
Proposals should be submitted electronically as email attachments. Submit proposals or questions regarding application procedures to the Chair of the Metter Award Committee, Dr. Joseph J. Beatty (beattyj@science.oregonstate.edu).
NOTE
All proposals must be submitted no later than 30 March 2010 to be considered; SSAR dues
must be paid by the preceding 31 December. Failure to meet these guidelines may resultin
elimination of a proposal from consideration. Awards will be announced on or around 15
April 2010. Successful applicants are encouraged to submit the results of their research
for publication in the Journal of Herpetology or Herpetological Review, or to present their
findings at the annual meeting of the SSAR.
The Dean E. Metter Grant Recipients for 2009 were:
(1) Benjamin Jellen
Benjamin's proposal is entitled Pre-and Post-Copulatory Determinants of Reproductive
Success in Missouri Northern Water Snakes (Nerodia sipedon).
His research will attempt to show how these snakes communicate using pheromones and
how this relates to male and female reproductive success. Benjamin is a Ph.D. student in
the Department of Biology at St. Louis University and is working with Robert Aldridge
(2) Jeanine Refsnider
Jeanine's proposal is entitled Can Maternal Nest-site Choice Compensate for the Effects of
Global Climate Change on Reptiles with Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination? A
Common Garden Experiment using a Model Species.
It deals with Northern Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta) and is designed to determine
whether local adaptations to nest site choice are more genetically or environmentally
driven. Jeanine is working in Fred Janzen's laboratory in the Department of Ecology,
Evolution, and Organismal Biology at Iowa State University.
_____________________________________________________________________
7) Forget The Rafts, Iguanas May Have Walked To Tonga, Fiji
By Sara Israelsen-Hartley
Deseret News, 2/1/10
PROVO, Utah -- They're 5,000 miles away from any relatives and only exist on two islands in the Pacific Ocean.
For decades, scientists didn't have a good answer as to how four species of iguanas native to North, Central and South America ended up on the Pacific islands of Fiji and Tonga.
"In the field of biogeography, this has been a puzzle for a long time," said BYU biology professor Jack Sites.
The prevailing theory was that iguanas from the New World floated thousands of miles to the Pacific islands on logs or reed rafts over several months.
It's not uncommon for iguanas to take to the ocean, after all, that's how they got to the Galapagos Islands from Ecuador, Sites explained.
But that was a 600-mile journey, where as Fiji and Tonga are nearly 5,000 miles and six months away -- too much for even the most robust sailing iguana.
So, Sites and his co-author, Bryce Noonan, a biology professor at the University of Mississippi, proposed that the scaly reptiles simply walked to the islands millions of years ago across a giant continental land mass called Gondwana, which was made up of today's Africa, Australia, Antarctica and parts of Asia.
Combining information about geology and the age of the Fijian and Tongan archipelagos, with fossil evidence and "molecular clock" DNA analysis of a large sample of iguana DNA, Sites and Noonan discovered that the Pacific island iguanas have ancestors old enough -- 50 million to 60 million years old -- to have existed on the Gondwanan land mass.
"We're pretty confident that we have at least put forth a very robust, credible alternative hypothesis compared to a 5,000-mile crossing of the Pacific on a raft," Sites said.
Their research was published in the January edition of American Naturalist.
8) The Legal But Troubling Practice Of Dealing In Protected Wildlife
Fort Worth Star Telegram
Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010
http://www.star-telegram.com/1021/story/1912260.html
By CHRIS JONES
Special to the Star-Telegram
The Texas wildlife industry supplies national pet stores, international public and private zoos and aquariums and private individuals who have money to spend. The rarer the species is in the wild, the higher its price.
Wildlife dealers network in Asia, South America and Indonesia, paying collectors to illegally hunt the most endangered species left on the planet, including Komodo dragons at $30,000 black-market price per juvenile and three-eyed Tuataras from New Zealand at $50,000 each.
Last month, the city of Arlington confiscated about 27,000 live, dying and dead animals from an international wildlife exporter near Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. Few people realize that many of these animals had been legally collected from the wild in Texas because they are classified as nongame animals by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Unlike traditionally regulated game animals such as white-tailed deer, turkey, waterfowl and striped bass, animals listed by the department as "nongame" are subject to being collected from the wild in unlimited quantities for commercial resale.
TPWD has granted commercial nongame dealer's permits for the last 15 years, charging $63 per Texas resident and $252 per nonresident. Since 2000, the department has required nongame dealers to report the quantity and species they capture in Texas. The department has known that some species have been collected to the brink of extinction and that international forces will continue to pay collectors to illegally hunt any form of wildlife in Texas, especially if it is a protected, threatened species.
For example, the Cagle's map turtle (Graptemys caglei) only lives in the Hill Country's Guadalupe River. It became a state-level threatened species in 2000 as a result of collecting efforts by millionaire wildlife dealers who supply a burgeoning international trade. Buyers fancy the turtle's unique topographic maplike shell colorations so much they are willing to pay $300 per adult over the Internet.
Since the early 1990s, scientists have proposed the Cagle's map turtle for enlistment under the federal Endangered Species Act. Much of its habitat has been destroyed, its shallow rocky riffled streams flooded into lakes and water quality degraded. The insects the turtle eats only live in shallow water and die when the stream floor is buried by cold deepwater impoundments.
TPWD continues to oppose the turtle's protection as a federal endangered species even as stormwater pollution steadily increases from residential development in the Guadalupe watershed.
Sadly, Cagle's map turtles continue to be illegally harvested from Texas and sold interstate. It is often confused with species that are not protected in Texas and sports a green-black appearance similar to the common red-eared slider turtle (Trachemys scripta), which may be commercially harvested in unlimited quantities from private waters.
It is important to note that most, if not all, states have state endangered species acts, but these state laws do not protect the habitat of the state's enlisted species from being altered, destroyed or impounded. Landowners can do as they please with the habitat of any species protected under a state endangered species act.
It is time for TPWD to recognize the effects it has had on international wildlife by issuing nongame dealer permits to people who are in the business of exploiting wildlife solely for profit. The department should immediately revoke the other multiple nongame dealer permits that have been issued this year and allow city animal health inspectors to promptly investigate the living conditions and welfare of the wildlife collected by each licensee.
Nongame animals should be protected as permanent components of our Lone Star landscape, for all of us to enjoy, rather than be commercially collected for profit and extirpated from the wild.
For a complete list of the 84 species that are listed as nongame animals in Texas, go to http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/permits/land/wildlife/#nongame
Christopher H. Jones, M.S. of Waterwood is a federal conservation attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity in Texas and the Southeast United States. www.biologicaldiversity.org
9) Close Encounters With Japan's 'Living Fossil' (Japanese Giant Salamander)
By Richard Black, BBC News 2/4/09
It soon becomes clear that the giant salamander has hit Claude Gascon's enthusiasm button smack on the nose.
"This is a dinosaur, this is amazing," he enthuses.
"We're talking about salamanders that usually fit in the palm of your hand. This one will chop your hand off."
As a leader of Conservation International's (CI) scientific programmes, and co-chair of the Amphibian Specialist Group with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Dr Gascon has seen a fair few frogs and salamanders in his life; but little, he says, to compare with this.
According to Dr Takeyoshi Tochimoto, " The skeleton of this species is almost identical to that of the fossil from 30 million years ago; therefore it's called the 'living fossil'. "
Fortunately for all of our digits, this particular giant salamander is in no position to chop off anything, trapped in a tank in the visitors' centre in Maniwa City, about 800km west of Tokyo.
But impressive it certainly is: about 1.7m (5ft 6in) long, covered in a leathery skin that speaks of many decades passed, with a massive gnarled head covered in tubercles whose presumed sensitivity to motion probably helped it catch fish by the thousand over its lifetime.
If local legend is to be believed, though, this specimen is a mere tadpole compared with the biggest ever seen around Maniwa.
A 17th Century tale, related to us by cultural heritage officer Takashi Sakata, tells of a salamander (or hanzaki, in local parlance) 10m long that marauded its way across the countryside chomping cows and horses in its tracks.
A local hero was found, one Mitsui Hikoshiro, who allowed the hanzaki to swallow him whole along with his trusty sword - which implement he then used, in the best heroic tradition, to rend the beast from stem to stern.
It proved not to be such a good move, however.
Crops failed, people started dying in mysterious ways - including Mr Hikoshiro himself.
Pretty soon the villagers drew the obvious conclusion that the salamander's spirit was wreaking revenge from beyond the grave, and must be placated. That is why Maniwa City boasts a shrine to the hanzaki.
The story illustrates the cultural importance that this remarkable creature has in some parts of Japan.
Its scientific importance, meanwhile, lies in two main areas: its "living fossil" identity, and its apparently peaceful co-existence with the chytrid fungus that has devastated so many other amphibian species from Australia to the Andes.
"The skeleton of this species is almost identical to that of the fossil from 30 million years ago," recounts Takeyoshi Tochimoto, director of the Hanzaki Institute near Hyogo.
"Therefore it's called the 'living fossil'."
The hanzaki (Andrias japonicus) only has two close living relatives: the Chinese giant salamander (A. davidianus) , which is close enough in size and shape and habits that the two can easily cross-breed, and the much smaller hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) of the south-eastern US.
Creatures rather like these were certainly around when dinosaurs dominated life on land, and fossils of the family have been found much further afield than their current tight distribution - in northern Europe, certainly, where scientists presumed the the lineages had gone extinct until tales of the strange Oriental forms made their way back to the scientific burghers of Vienna and Leiden a couple of centuries ago.
"They are thought to be extremely primitive species, partly due to the fact that they are the only salamanders that have external fertilisation," says Don Church, a salamander specialist with CI.
The fertilisation ritual must be quite some sight.
Into a riverbank den that is usually occupied by the dominant male (the "den-master") swim several females, and also a few other males.
The den-master and the females release everything they have got, turning incessantly to stir the eggs and spermatozoa round in a roiling mass.
Maybe the lesser males sneak in a package or two as well; their function in the ménage-a-many is not completely clear.
When the waters still, everyone but the den-master leaves; and he alone guards the nest and its juvenile brood.
It is not an ideal method of reproduction.
Research shows that genetic diversity among the hanzaki is smaller than it might be, partly as a result of the repeated polygamy, which in turn leaves them more prone to damage through environmental change.
But for the moment, it seems to work.
Outside the breeding season, the salamander's life appears to consist of remaining as inconspicuous as possible in the river (whether hiding in leaves, as the small ones do, or under the riverbanks like their larger fellows) and snapping whatever comes within reach, their usual meandering torpor transformed in an instant as the smell of a fish brushes by.
The adults' jaws are not to be treated lightly.
Among Dr Tochimoto's extensive collection of photos is one of bloodied human hands; and as he warns: "you may be attacked and injured; please be careful".
When the chytrid fungus was identified just over a decade ago, indications were that Japan would be an unlikely place to look for its origins.
With the discovery of chytrid on museum specimens of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) , an out-of-Africa migration spurred by human transportation of amphibians once seemed the simple likelihood.
But just last year, a team of researchers led by Koichi Goka from Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies published research showing that certain strains of chytrid were present on Japanese giant salamanders, and only on Japanese giant salamanders, including museum specimens from a century or so back; and that the relationship seemed benign.
Unravelling all that, says Don Church, might tell us something about the origins and spread of chytrid - and there is so much diversity among Japanese chytrid strains that the country is now being touted as a possible origin, as diversity often implies a long evolutionary timeframe.
More importantly, the discovery might also provide options for treating the infection.
"In the case of the North American salamanders, what was found was that they have bacteria living on their skin that produce peptides that are lethal to the amphibian chytrid fungus," says Dr Church.
"And those bacteria might be able to be transplanted to other species that can't fight off the fungus."
This is a line of research that is very much in play in laboratories around the world.
It appears likely now that studies of the Japanese giant salamander can expand the number of chytrid-fighting bacteria known to science, and so extend the options for developing treatments for an infection that currently cannot be controlled in the wild.
But that can only come to pass if the giant salamanders endure; something that is not guaranteed, with the challenges they face in modern Japan including, perhaps, new strains of chytrid itself.
There is as yet no modern hero able to still the pace of habitat loss or prevent invasion from rival species.
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Still available:
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On how to order see below
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