Blue and fin whale distribution in waters off Southern California

Date: June 25, 2015

Source: University of California - San Diego

Summary: A new study indicates a steady population trend for blue whales and an upward population trend for fin whales in Southern California.

Scripps marine acoustician Ana Širović and her colleagues in the Marine Bioacoustics Lab and Scripps Whale Acoustic Lab intermittently deployed 16 High-frequency Acoustic Recording Packages (HARPs)--devices that sit on the seafloor with a suspended hydrophone (an underwater microphone)--to collect acoustic data on whales off Southern California from 2006-2012.

Blue and fin whales are common inhabitants of the Southern California Bight, the curved region of California coastline with offshore waters extending from San Diego to Point Conception (near Santa Barbara, Calif.), but little is known about their use of the area.

Continued ...

Where do lizards in Qatar live? First distribution maps for the state - via Herp Digest

Press Release 2/2/14 Qatar----The state of Qatar occupies a small peninsula of 11,500 km2 within the Arabian Peninsula. Both Qatar's population and economy have increased rapidly during the last decades, thus putting a strong pressure on native species. The commitment of the Qatari government towards sustainable development has triggered a variety of studies of its dwindling biodiversity.

A recent lizard inventory project has confirmed the occurrence of 21 lizard species, two of them being the first records to the fauna of Qatar, the Persian leaf-toed gecko and the Gulf sand gecko. The Qatari lizards belong to eight different families, but the most abundant family is Gekkonidae with nine species of nocturnal Geckos.

The authors of this study have found that while some lizard species are widespread, others are only present in few locations. In fact, lizard species richness varied between one and eleven species per grid square of 10x10 km. The most abundant lizard species are associated with artificial habitats made by human activities, and some of these are probably introduced. Other lizard species appear to be rare and would require urgent conservation measures. Despite the small size and flat relief of the country, some areas are not easily accessible and were under sampled. The study was published in the open access journal ZooKeys.

The authors believe that additional lizard species might be present. "Additional efforts and funds are needed for future field surveys including all protected areas and private farms in order to complete the inventory of lizards of Qatar.", explains one of the authors Dr. Cogalniceanu. "The complete distribution database will be valuable to identify and plan adequate conservation measures for lizards. The data will also allow for species distribution modelling and predicting shifts in species range under different climate change scenarios and human impact factors."

This study was possible thanks to the efforts and close collaboration of a large international team from Qatar (Ministry of Environment, Qatar Foundation and Qatar University) and several European institutions from Spain (University of Zaragoza, Aranzadi Society of Sciences, Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia-CTFC, Spanish National Research Council-CSIC) and Romania (University Ovidius Constanţa).

Original Source

Cogălniceanu D, Castilla AM, Valdeón A, Gosá A, Al-Jaidah N, Alkuwary A, Saifelnasr EOH, Mas-Peinado P, Richer R, Al-Hemaidi AAM (2014) A preliminary report on the distribution of lizards in Qatar. ZooKeys 373: 67. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.373.5994

Contact person

Dr Essam OH Saifelnasr
Qatar Biodiversity Expert
Ministry of Environment (MOE)
E-mail: esnasr@moe.gov.qa
Phone, office 00974 44261208
Fax 00974 44763676

New red squirrel map reveals they are more widespread than thought

Redheads causing quite a stir - Courtesy of  Northumberland Wildlife Trust

July 2012. Over 1200 hours of work by volunteers and staff this spring has created a new picture of the native red squirrels' current geographical range in northern England.

239 woodlands visited
‘Red Army' volunteers and staff from the Red Squirrels Northern England (RSNE) conservation partnership visited 239 woodlands across Northumberland, Cumbria, Merseyside, Durham and North Yorkshire to establish exactly which species of squirrels are now living in them.

New maps now show that red squirrels are still living in woodlands right across Cumbria and Northumberland, well beyond identified strongholds such as Kielder Forest, plus, red squirrels are still also present in the Yorkshire Dales, the Sefton coast in Merseyside and County Durham.

Red squirrels found in 113 woodlands
Red squirrels were found in 113 of the 239 woodlands systematically surveyed and are still present across five northern English counties; additional sightings from trained volunteers and members of the public from the same time period have also been incorporated to build an even more complete picture of red squirrel distribution.

Grey squirrels
The main conservation threat to red squirrels in England comes from the competition and disease problems caused by non-native grey squirrels. Grey squirrels were detected in 34 % of woodlands surveyed, a sobering reminder of the conservation challenge red squirrels continue to face. RSNE is working alongside land managers and volunteer groups across northern England to undertake grey squirrel control in areas which are important to red squirrels.

Read on:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/red-squirrel-map.html