New species discovered in Malaysian rainforest during unprecedented, top-to-bottom survey

Date:  December 6, 2017

Source:  California Academy of Sciences

Summary:

This fall, the California Academy of Sciences partnered with The Habitat Penang Hill and colleagues to conduct a rainforest survey on Malaysia's island state of Penang. A 117-member team documented flora and fauna from the tops of trees to the dark reaches of caves and discovered several species previously unknown to science living just miles from a major metropolis. Survey results will contribute to this ancient rainforest's nomination as a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

Over the course of two weeks the international team discovered several species previously unknown to science -- including a new species of scorpion and likely new species of fly, water bear, and bacterium -- living just miles from a major metropolis. The expedition also tallied new regional sightings: birds, bats, orchids, mammals, flies, ants, mosquitoes, spiders, and frogs never known to occur in Penang were documented for the first time. Survey results (which included the canopy and not just the forest floor) will advance the understanding of this little-explored rainforest and contribute to its future nomination as a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) biosphere reserve. 

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SHOCK WARNING: 8,690 tree species in Amazon on verge of becoming EXTINCT

MORE than half of the 15,000 species of tree found in the Amazon rain forest are now on the brink of extinction, it has been revealed.

By STUART WINTER

PUBLISHED: 18:54, Fri, Nov 20, 2015 | UPDATED: 19:29, Fri, Nov 20, 2015

The worrying spectre of trees that could hold the secret to the cure of cancer and play host to the richest wildlife spectacular on the planet disappearing in our life times has been highlighted in a new study.

It reveals that between 36 and 57 per cent of Amazonian trees, that is as many as 8,690 different species, are likely to qualify as being globally threatened under IUCN Red List of Threatened Species criteria.

The new study, published tonight in the journal Science Advances, reached its shocking conclusions after comparing results of forest surveys across the Amazon with maps of current and projected deforestation to estimate how many tree species have been lost, and whereabouts.

A global global team made up of 158 researchers from 21 countries and involving Britain’s University of East Anglia (UEA) carried out the study, which also concluded that Amazonian parks, reserves, and indigenous territories, if properly managed, can protect most of the threatened species.

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Bats fertilize tropical trees: A win-win situation in the rainforest

Date:

June 10, 2015

Source:

Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB)

Summary:

Bats in tropical regions are fertilizing trees with their excretions. An international team of scientists recently discovered that seeds of a tropical tree species, which regularly hosts bats in large hollows, contain nutrients from bat excreta. Many tropical ecosystems are low in nutrients. Especially phosphorus and nitrogen are essential for plant growth and their availability limits the productivity of plants. Past studies showed that plants in nutrient-poor environments use animal-derived nutrients on a large-scale basis.

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Lemurs: Gardeners of Madagascar rainforest at risk

Date:

November 4, 2014

Source:

Rice University

Summary:

Researchers explored the role of threatened primates as seed dispersers in Madagascar's biodiverse rainforest to better understand possible consequences of their loss. A large proportion of trees in Madagascar's rainforest have fruits eaten by lemurs. Lemurs in turn disperse the seeds of their fruit trees throughout the forest with their scat. Such dispersal can play a crucial role for a tree species' ability to regenerate, but effects are poorly understood, especially when there are multiple dispersers.

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Rainforest essential for world's smallest kangaroo

5th May 2014

3 hours ago

(Phys.org) —The discovery of musky rat-kangaroo fossils has prompted experts to call for better protection of tropical rainforests after new links show the tiny marsupial cannot survive outside that environment.

The findings come from a study by The University of Queensland and The University of New South Wales.

Dr Kenny Travouillon, from UQ's School of Earth Sciences, said the fossils showed musky rat-kangaroos were not found outside tropical rainforests, which suggested the animals never diversified into other environments, such as temperate rainforests.

"We must carefully monitor the tropical rainforest because if climate change does affect it, the musky rat-kangaroo, and possibly other species, will have nowhere else to go," Dr Travouillon said.

Read more at: 

One million acres of rainforest to be restored

One million hectares of rainforest and other ecosystems in Sumatra and Kalimantan, are to be restored and supported by Asia Pulp and Paper Group (APP) the organisation has announced; an area equivalent to the total acreage of pulp plantations APP currently manages.

The decision comes a year after APP’s implemented its Forest Conservation Policy (FCP), which saw an immediate and permanent cessation of natural forest clearance across its supply chain.

The initiative will require collaboration with other land managers, communities, government agencies and including Greenpeace, NGO members of APP’s Solutions Working Group and WWF who greeted the news cautiously.

“WWF and other NGOs have identified the lack of attention to APP’s deforestation legacy as a major shortcoming in the original Forest Conservation Policy,” said Rod Taylor, Director of WWF’s Global Forest Programme. “We are encouraged by this announcement and look forward to working with APP and other stakeholders to figure out the details of where and how forests will be restored and conserved under this initiative.”

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Ants plant tomorrow's rainforest

Date:

March 20, 2014

Source:

Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum

Summary:

Tropical montane rain forests are highly threatened and their remnants are often surrounded by deforested landscapes. For the regeneration of these degraded areas, seed dispersal of forest trees plays a crucial role but is still poorly understood. Most tree species are dispersed by birds and mammals, but also by ants. This new research demonstrates the importance of this hitherto neglected ecosystem function for the restoration of montane rain forests. Ants promote the regeneration of these forests by dispersing seeds to safe sites for tree establishment.

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Light Pollution Changes Bat Behavior, Threatens Rainforest Regrowth

By Laura Poppick, Staff Writer | March 11, 2014 09:10am ET

Light pollution may slow the recovery of deforested rainforests by scaring away bats that would otherwise help disperse seeds and regenerate plant growth, according to a newreport

Deforested ecosystems rely on seed-dispersers — fruit-eating animals such as birds and bats — to help re-introduce seeds into empty plots. Frugivorous (or fruit-eating) bats are among the most important seed dispersers in tropical rainforests because they defecate while flying, emitting large quantities of seed-rich feces known as "seed rain" across wide areas. Birds, on the other hand, don't defecate while flying but instead release their droppings from isolated perches.

"Birds don't evenly distribute seeds," Daniel Lewanzik, a researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, told Live Science. "But bats fly over open areas and defecate while flying, so they disperse the seeds in a more homogenous manner."

Read on

Protect the Mozambique forest found on Google Earth, scientists say

A remote rainforest in Mozambique discovered using Google Earth has so many new and unique species that it should be declared a protected area, scientists say.

Pygmy chameleons, a bronzed bush viper and butterflies with shimmering yellow wings are among the species in the forests covering Mount Mabu in northern Mozambique.

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Rainforest reserve in Brazil is to be mapped

Rainforest mapping grant award to protect endangered wildlife

November 2013: Rainforest Trust has awarded its Brazilian partner REGUA a $10,000 grant to map and study lands surrounding the organisation’s rainforest reserve in the Guapiacu Valley. The two-year grant will allow REGUA to determine vegetation cover and identify property lines within the 74,000-acre area of rainforest. REGUA will then able to prioritise land purchases effectively, thus improving its ability to create wildlife corridors and protect the Atlantic Rainforest’s vanishing wildlife.

“The map will be a valuable tool to help us build a portfolio of properties that will support the REGUA master plan, leaving a legacy of 80-85% of protected forest cover [in the Guapiaçu Valley] and contributing towards the perpetual safety of biodiversity in the Atlantic Rainforest,” said Nicholas Locke, REGUA’s project manager.

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2 New Lizard Species Discovered in Peru

Douglas Main, OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer

Date: 21 March 2013 Time: 10:18 AM ET

Two new colorful species of lizards have been discovered in the Peruvian rain forest, in a little-explored section of the Andes Mountains in the northeast of the country.

Both species of lizards sport colorful splotches of green and brown that allow them to blend into the mountain rain forests they call home.

The lizards were found in Cordillera Azul National Park, the third-largest park in the country. One of the species, Enyalioides azulae, is named for the reserve, according to the study detailing the findings, which was published recently in the journal ZooKeys.

The second species is found in the same river valley and is named after the man who helped fund the survey, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the United Arab Emirates military. Al Nahyan created the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund to preserve various species around the world, according to a release from the journal's publisher. 

A male (top) and female of the 

newfound woodlizard species Enyalioides azulae.

CREDIT: A. Del Campo / ZooKeys

Both species are a type of woodlizard, a group of lizards that was thought to contain only a handful of species. Since 2008, however, three new species have been found in the group, in addition to the two newest finds, suggesting "that more species might be awaiting discovery in other unexplored areas close to the Andes," the authors wrote in the study.

"Thanks to these discoveries, Peru becomes the country holding the greatest diversity of woodlizards," said study author and Peruvian researcher Pablo Venegas, in the release. "Cordillera Azul National Park is a genuine treasure for Peru and it must be treated as a precious future source of biodiversity exploration and preservation."

http://www.livescience.com/28083-new-peru-lizard-species.html

Traditional farming in the rainforest

If an acre of rainforest can’t support a single orang-utan, what chance do humans have of living without traditional farming?

Sorry, but it’s no good. I don’t get permaculture. And the more I read, the less I get it. According to an article in the RHS magazine The Garden, permaculture is “a state of mind or a way of thinking”, and involves “using the energies of the environment, rather than fighting them”.

So far, so meaningless. What actually is it? Examples of permaculture mentioned in the article include growing ornamentals and edible plants together, composting, collecting rainwater and buffering your greenhouse against extreme temperatures by putting a few large containers of water in it. These are all well and good, but surely just examples of ordinary good gardening?

On the website of the Permaculture Association, I quickly learn that permaculture will make the world a better place (and me a better person, likely as not), but still nothing about what it is. Back to The Garden, which tells me that a primary feature of many permaculture gardens is the “forest garden”, and that I can learn about that from the Agroforestry Research Trust in Devon. From their website I learn that agroforestry is an agronomic system based on trees, shrubs and perennial plants, which fits with the derivation of “permaculture” from “permanent agriculture”, i.e. gardening based on not digging things up.

Now we’re getting somewhere, but before we go any further, some essential background. At a global scale, the pattern of plant productivity depends on temperature and water, so a world map of productivity reflects that; productive where it’s warm and wet, unproductive where it’s cold and/or dry. At a smaller scale, soil fertility is crucial: plants grow fast on deep and fertile soils, but slowly on shallow, infertile soils.

So throughout history, farmers (or anyone trying to grow food) have done two things. First, they’ve tried to alleviate whatever is limiting local productivity, usually by irrigation or adding fertilisers. But raw productivity itself is little use. If the seedlings I keep pulling up are any guide, if I left my veg plot for a few years it would quickly become an ash wood with an understorey of holly and yew. Certainly very productive in terms of biomass per annum, but not particularly edible — at least not by me. Even if I could live on ash keys and holly berries, I think the novelty would wear off pretty quickly.

Read more here ...