Feed aggregator

A researcher taking a photo-identification shot of a whale shark (C) Peter Verhoog, Dutch Shark Society

Every year in March juvenile male whale sharks arrive at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia, supporting a thriving ecotourism industry. But where do they go in July once they leave this meeting site?

Results from our study, published today in Royal Society Open Science, suggests they don’t go far. By comparing identification photos of whale sharks in a collaborative study across the Indian Ocean, we have found that juvenile males appear to return to the same sites year after year.

Researchers swim alongside a whale shark at Ningaloo Reef. Peter Verhoog, Dutch Shark Society The biggest fish in the sea

Whale sharks are the largest fish in the sea, reaching sizes of more than 12 metres. These peaceful giants are filter-feeders, mostly eating tiny crustaceans, fish eggs and small fish that they sieve from the water using plates on their gills.

They reach maturity when they are around 8m long, but it can take them up to 30 years to reach this size. Because of this slow growth rate and their vulnerability to ship strikes and bycatch in fisheries worldwide, the status of whale sharks has recently been upgraded to Endangered by the IUCN Red List. If conservation strategies for the species are to be successful, we need to know where these animals are going and the places they visit on their migrations.

Whale sharks form aggregations off tropical coasts around the world that are a response to seasonal pulses in the abundance of their food. In the Indian Ocean, these occur at Ningaloo Reef as well as in the Maldives, off the coast of Mozambique, and in the Seychelles.

Because these sharks are docile and spectacular, aggregations are the target of ecotourism industries in each of these localities. To date, genetic studies have suggested the sharks in all these different aggregations form one population, implying that animals are moving between these sites. However, no direct evidence for these movements exists.

Photo-identification

Just like a fingerprint, we can identify whale sharks from their unique spot and stripe patterns. By comparing photos of a standard area on the body of a whale sharks among both years and locations, we can then determine if an individual is moving to a new location, or returning in multiple years. This method is called photo-identification.

Using the large and expanding database of whale shark photos taken by ecotourists, tour operators and researchers in the Indian Ocean, we used this method to look at movement patterns. Using a semi-automated matching program, we compared a database of over 6,000 images of whale sharks across the Indian Ocean.

The area of spot and stripe patterns on a whale shark used in photo-identification. What did we find?

From our comparison we were able to identify about 1,000 individual whale sharks, of which 35% were seen again at the same site in more than one year, and none of which were found to move across the Indian Ocean. One shark was tracked between Mozambique and the Seychelles, suggesting that regional links do occur, however on a larger scale, populations appear to be isolated and distinct.

Within these aggregations, juvenile males are returning on a regular basis. At Ningaloo, juvenile males photographed in 1992 have so far been seen up to 19 years later, with many sightings in between. In more recent years as the photograph databases have expanded with the tourism industries, we have seen some sharks returning in up to six consecutive years.

Females and adult males were rarely spotted at these sites, so it is possible that they aren’t homebodies like the young males.

A sample of the identification photos from the database. Good news for whale sharks

The absence of large-scale movements here is good news for the endangered whale shark. Conservation and management efforts can focus on smaller areas, and a lesser degree of cross-jurisidictional management will be required than if we found cross-ocean movements to be commonplace.

Researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science get ready to photograph a whale shark. Peter Verhoog/Dutch Shark Society

However, we need to improve our understanding of the regional movements of these animals. A computer simulation analysis study of our data indicated we need to increase the number of study sites and photos taken to get an estimate of their migration patterns at larger scales.

Mark Meekan receives funding from Quadrant Energy Ltd and the Save Our Seas Foundation for this work.

Samantha Andrzejaczek does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects recently handed out their trophies for landscape architecture projects at the National Landscape Architecture Awards.

From urban hospital gardens to penguin viewing areas, from gorge trails to cultural precincts, all the projects focused on green spaces and sustainably minded infrastructure ‘to promote health, social and economic prosperity for urban and regional communities’.

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The dispute over biodiversity and climate change impacts of new landclearing laws in NSW continues.

There are fewer than a thousand Graveside gorge wattles in Kakadu National Park. Parks Australia

Norfolk Island, nearly 1,500km from Australia’s east coast, is home to one of the country’s most endangered species, but you probably haven’t heard of it. Clematis dubia, a woody climber with white and hairy flowers, was known to number only 15 mature plants in 2003.

Once common on the island, this clematis illustrates what stands in the way of survival for many of our threatened plants. Around 84% of Australia’s native plants don’t occur anywhere else on Earth.

Threats to our native plants include ongoing habitat destruction, fire, invasive species, more frequent extreme weather events, and declining populations of the animals involved in their pollination and seed dispersal.

Clematis dubia is lucky to call Norfolk Island National Park home. Our national parks are places of beauty and adventure for us to enjoy. They are also a haven for many species.

But life in a national park doesn’t guarantee a species’ survival. Recently we assessed 41 endangered or significant plants that occur in Australia’s six Commonwealth National Parks, to identify ways to help these plants recover.

We found that many of these species don’t occur outside national parks, meaning the parks play a huge role in their conservation. Few of these species have been secured in living plant collections or seed banks, and very few are regularly monitored in the wild.

We have little information on either the impacts of threats or of species biology, which limits our ability to secure these species against further loss.

There were only 15 mature Clematis dubia on Norfolk Island known in 2003. Parks Australia Threats to plants

Clematis dubia lives in small and isolated populations. It faces many perils of modern life, like invasive weeds. We understand very little of its biology, including how its seeds are dispersed, how long it takes to start producing seed, and even how long it lives.

Another plant we assessed was the Graveside Gorge wattle (Acacia equisetifolia) found in Kakadu National Park. A small shrub, less than a metre tall with small yellow flowers, this wattle is listed as critically endangered.

Fewer than a thousand plants are growing in only two locations about a kilometre apart in a restricted area of the park. There is little information on the basic biology of this shrub.

Like other acacias, Graveside Gorge wattle is probably pollinated by, and provides food for, a variety of different insect species. It probably only reproduces sexually and its seeds might be dispersed by ants and probably germinate after fires. The main threat to this species is fires, especially ones that are too frequent or too intense.

As a safeguard against extinction, Parks Australia has collected seed from the Graveside Gorge wattle, which is now stored in the National Seed Bank at the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra.

Hibiscus brennanii is a vulnerable shrub found in Kakadu National Park. Parks Australia Jenny Hunter, Kakadu ranger, collecting Hibiscus brennanii seed for the seed bank. Parks Australia

Seed banking can extend the longevity of seeds to hundreds of years, protecting a species from extinction and helping in its recovery should the worst happen. Germination trials at the National Seed Bank help unlock the often complex germination requirements of different species so that they can be regrown from seed.

As a result of trials with Graveside gorge wattle, the Gardens now has a living collection of this species. In Kakadu, Parks Australia is protecting the two wild populations by planning protective burning to create longer intervals between fires and reduce the likelihood of severe fires.

Protecting plants

Seed banking and living collections are two of the strategies we recommended to safeguard populations of threatened plant species. Some species may also benefit from establishing new populations outside national parks, similar to the management strategies used for vertebrate animals.

We also recommend surveying all endangered plant species in national parks that are not currently part of a formal monitoring program or that have not been surveyed within the past two years.

Finally, realising the gaps in our knowledge of the biology of and threats to many of Australia’s threatened plants, we recommend partnering with researchers and NGOs with restoration experience to draw on available scientific and on-the-ground knowledge.

And what of Norfolk Island’s endemic climbing clematis, Clematis dubia? Along with the low number of individuals, competition from weeds is a major threat to the survival of this species, so conservation efforts by Parks Australia have involved intensive weed control work, particularly to deal with the invasive guava plant.

Recent searches in likely habitat have revealed an additional 33 plants, a mix of adults and juveniles. Happily, new seedlings are now showing up in areas where guava has been removed, improving the future prospects for this species.

The report Constraints to Threatened Plant Recovery in Commonwealth National Parks was funded by the Australian Government through the Threatened Species Commissioner, Gregory Andrews. It was authored by researchers at the Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, a joint initiative between Parks Australia’s Australian National Botanic Gardens and CSIRO.

Linda Broadhurst receives funding from the Threatened Species Commissioner and the Australian Commonwealth Government. She is affiliated with the Australian Network for Plant Conservation.

Nasa released data earlier this year showing that global surface temperatures across land and ocean in February were a whopping 1.35C warmer than the average temperature for that same month from 1951 to 1980. As the COP22 comes to a close, it’s time we think hard, and think creatively, about the way forward and start preparing for new initiatives. Building on the impressive success of COP21 in Paris, many political and business leaders as well as representatives of civil society seem eager to engage. That is a good thing, but it is not enough.

For better and, increasingly, for worse, our global system of governance rests overwhelmingly on territorial nation-states. In this system, each country’s government represents its own national interest. No one represents humanity as a whole. Such devotion to narrow interests leads to a host of profound problems, well known to economists and students of human behaviour. In various contexts they are known as “the tragedy of the commons”, “the prisoner’s dilemma”, “exporting externalities”, and “free riding”. When asked to act for the common good, nation-states are predisposed to echo Cain’s notorious response: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

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The BBC's Bryony Hopkins asked Londoners for their idea of the perfect cup of coffee.

French president Francois Hollande says that the US must respect their commitments made under the Paris Climate Agreement.

My friend Alan Boatman, who has died suddenly in his sleep aged 46, ran his own environmental consultancy, Geo-Sys, in Laos, working on projects identifying and mitigating the impact of resource exploitation in this remarkable area of south-east Asia. Recognising the depth of his experience, the United Nations Drug Control Programme hired Alan to conduct opium surveys in Afghanistan and Laos. At one stage this led to an uncomfortable disagreement with the authorities, as his figures from the field research differed from theirs, but Alan was unmoved and held his ground.

Alan developed a sense of adventure from an early age. He was born in Gibraltar, son of Ian, who worked on overseas projects for Cable & Wireless, and Carolyn, a poet, and was brought up in the Gambia and St Lucia, with two sisters, Kelly and Dale. Alan went to school in Essex, at Holmwood House and Felsted school. He then did a variety of jobs, including working in insurance, in a ski resort in France, as a deckhand on a private yacht and helping to open a night club in Antigua.

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Mathematicians are a step closer to understanding what makes a perfect cup of coffee.

German researchers compile a 400-species Citree database to encourage people to plant the "right tree for the right place" in urban areas.

Nottinghamshire council approves iGas planning application to drill two wells at Misson, the third UK site to be approved for exploration this year

An energy company has been given the green light to explore for shale gas in the East Midlands, the first step towards the site being potentially fracked in the future.

Nottinghamshire council approved iGas’s planning application to vertically and horizontally drill two wells at Misson in north Nottinghamshire, by a vote of seven to four.

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‘Grave consequences’ for food supply with wheat production halved since the start of the war and the area of fields planted at an all-time low

Food production in Syria is edging nearer to collapse with wheat production having halved since the start of the war and the area of fields planted now at an all-time low, according to the UN.

The World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned of grave consequences for the availability of food in the warn-torn region unless immediate assistance is provided to farmers. Lack of food could add to the 11 million Syrians already displaced by five years of conflict, they said.

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The world’s temperature is running at 1.2C above pre-industrial levels after another year of record-breaking heat affecting people around the world

Latest figures from the UN’s World Meterological Organization (WMO) released on Monday showed that 2016 would very likely become the hottest year on record. This is a new high for the third year running, and means that 16 of the 17 hottest years on record have been this century.

This year saw searing heatwaves from South Africa to India, Arctic ice reach its equal second-lowest extent and coral mortality of up to 50% in parts of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

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UN’s Ban Ki-moon expresses hopes that the US president-elect will drop plans to quit a global accord aimed at weaning the world off fossil fuels

The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, said on Tuesday that action on climate change has become “unstoppable“, and he expressed hopes that US president-elect, Donald Trump, would drop plans to quit a global accord aimed at weaning the world off fossil fuels.

At a meeting of almost 200 nations in Morocco to work out ways to implement the 2015 Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions, Ban said US companies, states and cities were all pushing to limit global warming.

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An extinct bird that lived 120 million years ago had iridescent feathers, probably to attract a mate, fossil evidence shows.

With the potential to curb urban congestion, could a successful trial scheme in Morocco act as a launchpad for borrowing bikes across the whole continent?

Moroccans claim you can identify someone as a true Marrakech local if they own a bicycle. The streets of this north African city were once full of ardent cyclists, but in recent decades they’ve been overtaken by scooters and cars that swarm the city’s congested roads.

Now, French bike company Smoove, is trying to revive Marrakech’s biking culture — and boost sustainable transport — by launching Africa’s first fully functioning bike share scheme in the city. The launch coincided with the start of the COP22 climate conference in the city.

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Photographer Richard Jones’s Energy+Notion project tells the story of energy in Wales, from the remnants of coal mining that shaped its towns and landscapes to the new windfarms springing up where the mines once stood. The project was conceived in collaboration with the Arts Council of Wales.

• These photos feature as part of a touring digital installation and photo exhibition. The next venue is Blackwood Miners’ Institute, November 24 and 25

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The Australian Heritage Council is assessing the Governors’ Domain and Civic Precinct for potential inclusion on the National Heritage List. Comments close 24 February 2017.

Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire Perhaps it is a human-sized story – that after 400,000 days on Earth, the Major Oak is still full of life

Although British place names make frequent reference to different tree species, there can be few road signs giving directions to a single specimen. Nor can there be many English woods more steeped in story than Sherwood Forest.

I found a few incidental tales even as I walked up to the Major oak. There were fairy bonnet mushrooms painting their way across a dead stump like Lowry crowds through Salford. There were some last wasps around a waste bin, and wood pigeons so glutted on acorns their crops bulged. A robin laced its sad song among the birches, but sadder still was a bench with the following inscribed across its seat: “Abby Louise Hucknall – Missed So Much.” An emotional counterpoint came amid much open-armed laughter from the children playing along a Halloween-themed trail.

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15 November 1927: A central authority to control inland waters must be a priority for the government

The appointment by the Minister of Health and the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of a representative Joint Advisory Committee under the chairmanship of Sir Horace Monro “to consider and from time to time report” upon the pollution of rivers and streams and suggest appropriate legislative or administrative measures to reduce what is admittedly a growing evil is welcome, though tardy, news.

Such administrative bodies as the Mersey and Irwell Joint Committee, the West Riding of Yorkshire Rivers Board, the Ribble Joint Committee, the Thames Conservancy Board, and other similar bodies have long been doing excellent work. But the problem is a national one. A strong deputation, representing numerous interests, recently urged upon the Government the immediate need for “a central authority to control inland waters.” It was able to support this demand by quotations from Royal Commissions, Select Committees, Departmental Committees, and scientific authorities for a period of more than half a century.

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