New Map Shows Turtle Nest Spots Cut off by Conflict, at Risk as Globe Warms – via Herp Digest

January 25, 2013 by Sunanda Creagh

An accurate list of potential sea turtle nesting sites could help researchers track the creatures' response to global warming, experts said. 

A new map of potential sea turtle nesting spots, including remote locations cut off by conflict, will help researchers track how the reptiles respond to climate change, turtle experts said today.

Sea turtles, already endangered by fishing and coastal development, are also threatened by climate change because they need very specific conditions for reproduction.

Even slight changes in heat and moisture can prevent their soft-shelled eggs from hatching.

As global warming makes some popular nesting spots too hot or dry for many sea turtles, researchers say it is crucial to develop an accurate picture of where conditions are right for turtles to safely lay eggs.

A list of potential nesting spots could act as a starting point for research into how habitats change as the globe warms.

"The problem with a lot of the nesting sites is that there are conflicts there or they are in very remote places like northern Australia. There are nesting sites in Eastern Africa and places like Somalia, but there is a lot of conflict there and it's hard for researchers to get in," said Dr David Pike, a turtle expert from James Cook University.

To address the problem, Dr Pike used computer modelling to pinpoint places in the world where climate conditions are right for sea turtles to lay their eggs.

As the climate warms, other places currently too cold for nests will warm up, said Dr Pike.

"It's not yet clear but it looks overall that things will balance out as long as we are doing lots of other conservation, like keeping sea turtles out of prawn trawlers, keeping poaching down," he said.

"Protecting sea turtles under climate change is really going to require an integrated approach, to remove some of the other threats they are facing."

The map of potential nesting spots also highlights sites that have previously gone unstudied but may well be worth a field visit, he said.

"So in places like the coast of northern Australia, we can target areas where we think sea turtles might nest in good numbers and go out and survey those areas to provide a baseline for future study," said Dr Pike.

Kylie Williams, a PhD student studying turtles at the School of Environmental Science at Charles Sturt University welcomed the new map.

"Demographic modelling has already made us acutely aware of the need to protect all the life history stages of turtles – from egg to mature adult," said Ms Williams, who was not involved in the modelling.

"By modelling the location of nest sites, Dr Pike's research provides vital information on the ecological geography of sea turtles. It also allows us to begin to gauge just how severely species may be affected by climate change in the future."

Source: The Conversation  

This story is published courtesy of the The Conversation (under Creative Commons-Attribution/No derivatives).

Human-Tiger Conflict: Are the Risks Overestimated?

Jan. 21, 2013 — A new study finds a complex web of factors increases perceived risk of tiger attack in the Sundarbans of Bangladesh.

Wildlife conservationists are well aware of the potential conflicts that exist between the endangered species they seek to protect and the human populations which inhabit areas where the animals live. Carnivores, such as tigers, pose a risk to humans and their livestock and can be killed because of this potential risk. Previous research has found that killing of animals can be motivated as much by social and psychological factors, such as perception of danger, as by any actual real risk posed by a species.

A new study published in the Springer journal Human Ecology has identified several key factors which may contribute to perceptions of risk from tigers in a conservation area in Bangladesh. The study, by Chloe Inskip and her colleagues from the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology in Kent, UK, and WildTeam, Bangladesh, is the first to use participatory risk mapping (PRM) and in-depth interviews to explore the wider socio-economic context of human-tiger conflict.

The survey was carried out around the Sundarbans mangrove forests of south-western Bangladesh, home to one of the world's largest remaining tiger populations. Although there are no human inhabitants of the Sundarbans, eight sub-districts with a total population of around 1.7 million people lie directly adjacent to the forest boundary. Records indicate that approximately 30-50 people are killed annually by tigers in the area.

Read on:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130121103331.htm

Clownfish Talk Their Way Out of Conflict

Clownfish, the orange-, black- and white-striped fish made famous in the movie "Finding Nemo," are a gossipy bunch, popping and clicking amid their anemone homes to defend and reinforce their social status, according to new research.

Unlike the 360 other species of territorial marine fish in the Pomacentridae family,clownfish don't make a peep when mating. Researchers wondering why clownfish would bother to make noise in other circumstances discovered that their chatter helps maintain the rank and file among group members.

"Sound could be an interesting strategy for preventing conflict between group members," lead study author Orphal Colleye, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Liège, Belgium, told LiveScience. "In terms of cost energy, you don't have to interact with another individual to determine which is the dominant and which is the subordinate, you just need to make a sound."

Continued:  http://www.livescience.com/24611-clownfish-talk-social-status.html