Queensland flying fox species decimated by record heatwave

‘As far as we know, [the spectacled flying fox] has never suffered heat deaths before,’ ecologist says

Lisa Cox

Thu 29 Nov 2018 17.00 GMTLast modified on Thu 29 Nov 2018 17.02 GMT

Thousands of threatened flying foxes have dropped dead due to heat stress brought on by extreme temperatures in far north Queensland this week.

Conservationists and wildlife volunteers estimate more than 4,000 have perished this week during the record heatwave, which has seen temperatures in Cairns reach all-time highs of 42.6C.

The species of flying fox affected is the spectacled flying fox, an endemic Queensland species found in north Queensland.

It’s currently listed as vulnerable under national environment laws but conservationists have been pushing to have the species up-listed to endangered because of declines in the population.

Volunteer carers that have been counting dead animals and taking orphaned young into care say it is the first time the species has suffered mass deaths because of extreme heat.

 “It’s never had a heat stress event before because it’s in the tropics,” said Maree Treadwell Kerr, a wildlife carer and president of the Bats and Tree Society of Cairns.

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Climate change impacts on the distribution of venomous snakes and snakebite risk in Mozambique - via Herp Digest

Climatic Change Page 1-13

First Published Online—11/23/18

Authors- Daniel Zacarias 1,2,3,4,

daniel.zacarias15@gmail.com

Rafael Loyola 3,5

1- Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e EvoluçãoUniversidade Federal de GoiásGoiás Brazil

2- Programa de Pós-graduação Ciência para o DesenvolvimentoInstituto Gulbenkian de CiênciasOeiras Portugal

3- Laboratório de Biogeografia da Conservação, Departamento de EcologiaUniversidade Federal de GoiásGoiás Brazil

4- Escola Superior de Hotelaria e Turismo de InhambaneUniversidade Eduardo MondlaneInhambane Mozambique

5- Brazilian Research Network on Global Climate Change – Rede ClimaSão Paulo Brazil

Abstract

This paper aims to understand the impacts of global climate change (GCC) on the distribution of dangerous venomous snakes and snakebite risk in Mozambique, as a contribution to the enhancement of public health policies and snake conservation. 

We modelled current and future distribution of all 13 dangerous snakes occurring in Mozambique using ecological niche models to assess the likely impacts of climate change estimated as the difference between lost and gained climatic suitable area per species. In addition, we developed a normalized index of snakebite risk based on species diversity and species-specific traits for each time slice. We then superimposed our index to data on human population density to identify areas most prone to this burden. 

Our findings suggest considerable future reduction in climatically suitable area for nine out of 13 species, with species experiencing a north-south range shift and high rates of species turnover in northern Mozambique. We also found that GCC might alter the spatial patterns of snakebite risk in the country, with considerable increase in the future, affecting most areas in central and southern regions. This finding suggests that GCC will be harmful to venomous snakes in Mozambique with potentially adverse effects on public health. 

As GCC might induce the approximation of snake climatic suitable areas to highly populated areas, efforts are needed to increase human knowledge of snakebite prevention measures and increase awareness of the relative safety and attacking behaviour associated with some of the snakes studied here ensuring reduction in snakebites and improving species conservation.

New butterfly named for pioneering 17th-century entomologist Maria Sibylla Merian

Date:December 5, 2018

Source:Florida Museum of Natural History

More than two centuries before initiatives to increase the number of women in STEM fields, 52-year-old Maria Sibylla Merian sailed across the Atlantic on a largely self-funded scientific expedition to document the animals and plants of Dutch Suriname.

Born in Germany in 1647, Merian was a professional artist and naturalist whose close observations and illustrations were the first to accurately portray the metamorphosis of butterflies and moths and emphasize the intimate relationship between insects and their host plants.

Now, a new Central American butterfly species has been named in her honor.

Catasticta sibyllae is a rare, black butterfly known from only two male specimens found in Panama decades apart. One had been stowed, unidentified, in a drawer at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History since the 1980s. The other was collected in May.

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Not too big, not too small: Tree frogs choose pools that are just right

Frogs breeding in pools of water on leaves face trade-off between drying out and repelling predators

Date:December 5, 2018

Source:PLOS

Frogs that raise their young in tiny pools of water that collect on plant leaves must make a delicate trade-off between the risk of drying out and the risk of being eaten, according to a study publishing December 5 in the open-access journal PLOS ONEby Mirco Solé from the Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz in Bahia, Brazil and colleagues.

The temporary pools of water trapped by the leaf rosette of some plants in the Bromeliaceae family are used by a variety of creatures as a source of prey, water and shelter -- one example is the Broad-snout casque-headed Tree Frog (Aparasphenodon arapapa) which uses the water 'tanks' of bromeliad plants as a place to mate and rear its tadpoles. To understand how the frogs choose the right spot, the researchers measured the characteristics, including size, water level, and leaf debris, of the central tanks of 239 bromeliads in Reserve Boa União in Bahia, Brazil.

They compared bromeliads that were occupied by a tree frog with those that were empty and found that male frogs generally prefer bromeliads with larger tanks, a higher volume of water, and less leaf litter -- qualities which make the tanks less likely to dry up and easier to access. However, the very largest and fullest bromeliad tanks were frog-less, suggesting that a trade-off exists when choosing the best place to breed. Males have a specially shaped bony head that they use to form a tight seal with the opening of the bromeliad tank, which is thought to protect them from predators. Forming a tight seal may be tricky in very large bromeliads, making them a poor choice as a shelter.

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Fossil preserves 'sea monster' blubber and skin

By Paul Rincon Science editor, BBC News website

5 December 2018

Scientists have identified fossilised blubber from an ancient marine reptile that lived 180 million years ago.

Blubber is a thick layer of fat found under the skin of modern marine mammals such as whales.

Its discovery in this ancient "sea monster" - an ichthyosaur - appears to confirm the animal was warm-blooded, a rarity in reptiles.

The preserved skin is smooth, like that of whales or dolphins. It had lost the scales characteristic of its ancestors.

The ichthyosaur's outer layer is still somewhat flexible and retains evidence of the animal's camouflage pattern.

The reptile was counter-shaded - darker on the upper side and light on the underside. This counter-balances the shading effects of natural light, making the animal more difficult to see.

"Ichthyosaurs are interesting because they have many traits in common with dolphins, but are not at all closely related to those sea-dwelling mammals," said co-author Mary Schweitzer, professor of biological sciences at North Carolina State University (NCSU).

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