Shrinkage of Humboldt squid puzzles scientists

A mysterious force has stunted the growth of Humboldt squid in the Sea of Cortez, and marine biologists suspect a change in the weather is to blame.

The ravenous animals normally weigh up to 30 pounds when they spawn at 12 to 18 months of age, but Stanford biologists have discovered a group of the squid that weigh only a pound apiece and spawn at less than 6 months old.

The rubbery animals with their long tentacles are a precious livelihood for Mexican commercial fishermen along the Gulf of California, and they're a prized prey for gringo sportsmen.

But to William Gilly, a marine biologist at Stanford's Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, they're a scientific puzzle.

In a paper recently published in the journal Marine Ecology Progress, Gilly said he suspects the squid's shrinkage was caused by the abrupt warming of the gulf's water as a result of an El Niño that was detected during the 2009-10 winter.

The El Niño phenomenon, also known as the Southern Oscillation, occurs periodically when high surface air pressure over the Western Pacific pushes temperatures up throughout the tropical Eastern Pacific, including the Gulf of California, causing water temperatures to rise.

In September 2009, Gilly said, he and his colleagues cruised the Gulf of California, better known as the Sea of Cortez, and found abundant squid in their normal spawning grounds and their usual size.
"But in May, a year later, we couldn't find any normal-sized squid in their normal spawning grounds," he said. "Instead, the area was full of smaller squid - really small."

A month later, Gilly said, the squid were still very small and spawning in what was formerly the normal spawning area for normal-size squid, while one group of full-size ones had migrated and were thriving 100 miles north around the gulf's Midriff Islands.

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New butterfly species identified in Yucatan peninsula

About 160,000 species of butterflies and moths are already known, but scientists believe that a similar number still remain undiscovered. Identification and characterization of these species can be complicated by the fact that each species has an immature caterpillar and a mature butterfly form, as well as the reliance on the physical appearance for classification.

Now, though, researchers report that a type of DNA analysis called "barcoding" may provide a powerful tool in this effort, according to a study published in the Nov. 16 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE.

The researchers, led by Carmen Pozo of El Colegio de la Frontera Sur in Mexico, focused on the Yucatan peninsula population of a particular family of butterflies called Nymphalidae.

Approximately 570 species of Nymphalidae have been reported in Mexico, and 121 of these occur in the Yucatan peninsula. Using DNA barcoding, which uses the sequence of a standard short gene segment to provide information about biodiversity, they found evidence for several previously undiscovered, so-called "cryptic" species that now await characterization.

They also found four cases where specimen had been misidentified based on the appearance; these erroneous classifications were corrected based on the DNA, highlighting the potential utility of this method.
More information: Prado BR, Pozo C, Valdez-Moreno M, Hebert PDN (2011) Beyond the Colours: Discovering Hidden Diversity in the Nymphalidae of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico through DNA Barcoding. PLoS ONE 6(11): e27776

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-11-butterfly-species-yucatan-peninsula.html

China breaks 2010 promise- still killing tigers for profit

Tiger skins traded openly in ChinaNovember 2011. One year on from the International Tiger Conservation Forum in St Petersburg, tiger campaigners have launched an impassioned petition calling on the Premier of China, Wen Jiabao, to end the trade in tiger and big cat skins from so called ‘tiger farms' in his country.

China is still allowing the trade in tiger skins of so-called ‘legal origin', including ‘farmed tigers'. But, a lack of transparency over how authorities determine the legality of the skins coupled with insufficient enforcement and growing corruption is creating a smokescreen for the illegal trade in tiger parts and products in China.

‘Licensed trade' in tiger skins is a disaster
Wildlife artist and outspoken conservationist David Shepherd CBE said: "Tiger farms are barbaric. The sight of hundreds of tigers in small cages being bred just for their parts is repulsive. The Premier of China is on the record as saying he is committed to saving the wild tiger. His government is simply not living up to this commitment. Allowing a so called ‘licensed trade' in skins from tiger farms is a disaster for two reasons. First, it keeps up the scandalous demand for tiger parts by pandering to the market. Second, corruption and this ‘legal' trade make it almost impossible for enforcement agencies to police the situation.

"If Wen Jiabao means what he says about saving tigers, he can clear this up by setting a zero tolerance and end all trade, in all parts, from all sources policy now."

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Cuckoo tracking all 5 cuckoos now in Congo Rainforest

BTO tracking 5 cuckoos from East Anglia
November 2011. After spending almost three months in Nigeria, Clement has now joined the other four cuckoos in the Congo Rainforest. This is now the closest all five Cuckoos have been to each other since leaving East Anglia this summer.

All five birds are in Africa. The first bird left the UK on the 3rd June and the last on the night of the 22/23 July. They have all successfully completed the crossing of the Sahara and are in the savannah zones. Clement was the first to leave the UK but is now the most northerly, remaining in Nigeria, whilst the other four have travelled south to the Central African Republic and Congo.

Scottish cuckoos: BTO know that Scottish cuckoos are not in decline, like English ones, so in 2012 they will track some cuckoos from Scotland to see how, if at all, their migration route varies from English cuckoos.

Crossing the desert: The Saharan crossing is one of the major sources of mortality for many migrants and during his crossing Chris, the Radio 4 Saving Species Cuckoo, was seen crossing the Sahara on the 23rd July. He was in Chad on a lava field around the rim of the volcano Tarso Voon. Happily, when he was next recorded on 25 July he had completed the desert crossing and was in southern Chad.

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Devastating impact of palm oil on orang-utans

Land fragmentation causes population to plummet

November 2011: 300 orang-utans have been lost in just seven years in Lower Kinabatangan on Sabah's east coast. Forest isolation and loss of habitat are to blame according to Dr Marc Ancrenaz, scientific director of HUTAN - Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Programme (KOCP).

‘What we are seeing with our latest surveys within the Lower Kinabatangan is a clear population decline of the orang-utans,' said Dr Ancrenaz who hoped such issues would add urgency to events such as the Roundtable for Sustainable Oil Palm (RSPO) being held this month in Kota Kinabalu.

Isolated islands of forestThe biggest threat to orang-utan and other wildlife populations in Sabah is fragmentation. What this means is that agriculture development - primarily oil palm -has created small islands of forest which are isolated and completely surrounded by human-made landscape.

‘Because it is difficult for wildlife to move from one forest patch to the next, this situation leads to inbreeding and eventual population decline, which is what we are witnessing today in the Lower Kinabatangan,' said Dr Ancrenaz.

He points out that this issue is inherently related to the oil palm industry and he believes it should take action to rectify the situation. ‘We can still improve the situation for the Lower Kinabatangan's orang-utan and other wildlife by actually replanting and planning for actual wildlife corridors or patches of forest to support wildlife movement between protected or forested areas,' Dr Ancrenaz added.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/orangutan-sabah.html