cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/36439190

• Estimated to be more than 2,400 years old, one alerce tree in Chile’s Alerce Costero National Park hosts about twice as much fungal diversity underground as younger alerce trees, a team of researchers found.
• The scientists found 361 fungal DNA sequences unique to this tree, indicating that older trees harbor a vaster fungal network that benefits other plants on the forest floor.
• Real estate expansion, climate change and infrastructure projects continue to threaten the alerce, which is listed as endangered. Although Chile protects the species, experts say older trees that support complex ecosystems should enjoy higher levels of protection and limited interaction from humans.

A great deal of harm has been done, but I remain optimistic about restoration, otherwise I would not be doing this work. I take real pride in what has been achieved in supporting the recovery of endangered species such as the Roseate Tern and the Corncrake.

BirdWatch Ireland’s membership continues to grow, more people are taking up birdwatching, and public interest in nature is clearly strengthening.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/36439196

• Tropical forests can regrow within decades, with species abundance and diversity recovering quickly, but full ecological recovery—especially the return of original species composition—takes much longer.
• Many mobile species such as birds, bats, and bees persist or return early, helping drive regeneration by dispersing seeds and pollinating plants, while slower-moving or long-lived species lag behind.
• Forests may regain high numbers of species relatively fast, but the specific mix of old-growth species takes decades or longer to reassemble, meaning a regrown forest is not the same as the one that was lost.
• Recovery depends on time, prior land use, and proximity to intact habitat, suggesting that protecting and allowing secondary forests to regenerate can be a practical and cost-effective path for restoring biodiversity.

Refauna started restoring the rainforest through its “refaunation” programme, introducing the red-rumped agouti – a long-legged rodent the size of a cat – in 2010, followed by other species that exist elsewhere in Brazil but were extinct in the park. These include the brown howler monkey, which was probably last recorded in Rio in Charles Darwin’s Beagle diaries in 1832, and the yellow-footed tortoise.

All the reintroductions have brought excitement and new visitors to the park but none are as beloved as the macaws. The large parrots, almost a metre in length, which can be found in other parts of Brazil and South America, are famously intelligent and mate with their partner for life. The blue-and-yellow macaw adorns artwork, T-shirts and tote bags across the city and beyond, its colours echoing the country’s national flag.

Finding a feral cat among dense subalpine scrub and treacherous cliffs is like a morbidly satisfying treasure hunt.

Another episode in the (sometimes darkly amusing) soap opera of New Zealand's battle to eradicate the feral invasive species that are preventing its native birds from thriving.

This is a consistently excellent blog. Consider subscribing.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8175125

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40077

Researchers in Hawai’i have described 10 new species and seven new genera of moths, highlighting how much remains unknown about the Pacific archipelago’s biodiversity. Hawai’i is home to a large number of endemic species, plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. Discovery of a new species is so common, “nobody turns their head,” study co-author Daniel Rubinoff, an entomologist with the University of Hawaiʻi, told Mongabay in a video call. He said finding a new genus is considered “kind of interesting, but to find so many really reflects how poorly known Hawaii’s fauna still is.” Genus is a broader grouping than species, so species in different genera typically diverged much earlier in their evolutionary history than species of the same genus. “Hawaiʻi is a world-renowned laboratory for evolution ,” lead author Kyhl Austin of the University of Hawai’i said in a press release. “By identifying these seven new genera, we are showing that these insects crossed thousands of miles of open ocean to reach Hawai’i far more frequently than we ever imagined.” Karl Magnacca, an entomologist with the O‘ahu Army Natural Resources Program, not involved with the study told Mongabay in an email that “this is a really important contribution, as many of our native insect groups haven’t been looked at in around 100 years.” In their search for new moths, researchers examined century-old museum collections and conducted field surveys in remote areas. They combined detailed anatomic examination with high-resolution imaging and genetic testing to reveal a hidden diversity of moths.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8175124

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40071

Seattle (AP) — When tourists travel to Seattle, it’s common to take in the Space Needle and the downtown skyline from Puget Sound. It’s an itinerary that a newly arrived pod of killer whales appears to be following too. Three orcas that had not previously been recorded in the Seattle area have delighted whale watchers with several visits just off downtown this past month. They’ve also cruised by other shorelines in the region. “People … are all very happy to see this,” said Hongming Zheng, who photographs whales in his spare time. It took him 10 hours of driving to find the mysterious pod. “It was epic.” Researchers keep detailed records of killer whales that frequent the Salish Sea, the waters between Washington state and Canada, by identifying their fins and saddle patches — the grayish markings on their sides. So it was a surprise when this pod of three orcas showed up in Vancouver, British Columbia, in March. The three weren’t in any catalogs of local whales. After some digging, researchers located photos of the pod in Alaska waters last year, said Shari Tarantino of the Washington-based Orca Conservancy. The pod includes an adult female and what are believed to be her two offspring, including a large young adult male. They have now been designated as T419, T420 and T421 — the T standing for “transient,” not “tourist.” The visiting orcas have something that local whales don’t: circular scars left by cookie-cutter sharks, which latch on to larger animals and slice a…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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link to open access paper..

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0344947

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40308

In 1999, a clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) hatched in the aquarium of a tropical fish hobbyist in the UK. These clownfish are prized by aquarists for their unique pattern of three straight white bars bordered by a thin black line. But this UK fish was special: instead of the usual straight bars, it had wavy, corrugated patterns, symmetrical on both sides. The patterns were inherited across generations, leading to a lineage named "Snowflake," but the mechanism causing this irregular patterning remained a mystery.

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40381

Conservationists have captured the first camera trap images of the highly elusive Pemba blue duiker, a tiny antelope that lives in a remnant of native forest in the north of Zanzibar’s Pemba Island. Standing just 30 centimeters (12 inches) high at the shoulder, the Pemba blue duiker is possibly a subspecies of the blue duiker (Philantomba monticola) that lives on the African mainland. Around 20 camera traps — motion-activated cameras that automatically photograph passing animals — were placed in Pemba Island’s Ngezi Nature Forest Reserve at the end of January by ecologist Margherita Rinaldi, in collaboration with the Italy-based conservation group Istituto Oikos. They chose sites where highly experienced forest guards had detected near-invisible trails of the animals through thick undergrowth. The camera traps detected blue duikers across at least half of the 2,030-hectare (around 5,000-acre) reserve, Silvia Ceppi a scientific adviser to Oikos, told Mongabay. The images provide the first photographic evidence of the animals, which previously had not been officially documented in the forest for more than 20 years. “We’re just excited they’re there and well distributed,” Ceppi said. The team also found piles of duiker droppings, or scats, which could help determine the animals’ genetic makeup and reveal once and for all how distinct they are from the mainland population. It’s possible that blue duikers were introduced to Pemba more than a century ago, Ceppi said. It’s also possible they are a naturally occurring population that’s been isolated for millennia. Confirming the Pemba blue duiker as a subspecies…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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A new analysis of nearly 40 years of data from three tracts of North American grassland confirms what researchers have long said: that biodiversity can be a natural defense against climate threats.

But the study also reveals that coping with climate extremes isn't just a numbers game where the more species an ecosystem has, the better. Multiple dimensions of biodiversity can help nature survive—and thrive—in harsh conditions, the researchers report.

“The Dzanga Bai is the only known clearing where you get hundreds of forest elephants,” said Ivonne Kienast, a behavioral biologist with the Elephant Listening Project at Cornell University, U.S., who has been working in Dzanga-Sangha since 2021. “You have other clearings where, if you’re lucky, the maximum number of elephants you can see will be 40 or 50. But here, the minimum is 40 or 50.”

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40047

The Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy (MKWC) is on track to receive four male mountain bongos from European zoos, a move aimed at helping boost the population of one of Africa’s most endangered antelope. The transfer was led by experts from Chester Zoo, in England, in collaboration with Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums. In a statement sent to Mongabay, the Chester Zoo said its experts spent more than 11 years coordinating a breeding program across European conservation zoos. “The four males now selected – chosen on the basis of age, health and genetics – will be the first to ever be transferred from European zoos to Kenya as part of a rewilding effort.” “Collaborations like this are absolutely essential if we are to prevent this magnificent species disappearing altogether,” Nick Davis, mammals general manager at Chester Zoo and coordinator of the European breeding program, said in a statement. “They demonstrate how modern, science-led zoos play an important role in bringing species back from the brink.” The most recent IUCN assessment in 2016 found the forest-dwelling antelope were critically endangered with just 70-80 adults remaining in the wild at the time, all of them in Kenya. In the last decade, mountain bongos (Tragelaphus eurycerus ssp. isaaci) briefly experienced a surge in the wild population. The Kenyan national wildlife census report states that in 2021, there were roughly 150 wild mountain bongos, but by 2025, there were just 66. Kenyan experts attribute the species’ decline to…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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link to open access paper

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.70368

However, like many of the world’s 12 species of wild cattle, banteng have disappeared from much of their historical range. Decades of deforestation, agricultural expansion, and hunting for their meat, horns and hides decimated their numbers. Globally, the latest IUCN Red List assessment puts their worldwide population at no more than 4,900 individuals. And in 2024, their conservation status worsened from endangered to critically endangered, with experts citing their precipitous population declines in previous strongholds like Cambodia and Malaysian Borneo.

In Thailand, banteng numbers ebbed as low as a few hundred individuals at the turn of the century, but they’re now showing steady signs of recovery in well-protected areas.

"Recovery is not just about fish moving from regions where they are more abundant. It's also about whether the right fish are surviving and reproducing in the right places," he says.

"If some populations carry locally useful traits, losing them could reduce the system's ability to bounce back. This matters for local and regional fisheries of snapper and for re-stocking activities via aquaculture."

link to open access paper..

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.70273

Along the southern Australian coast, our findings reveal that broad environmental gradients in fluence patterns of dispersal and local adaptation in snapper, despite substantial gene flow among populations. We identified two distinct regional populations with minimal genetic differentiation at neutral loci among sites within each region, consistent with high demographic connectivity. However, genotype-environment association analyses identified 855 candidate adaptive loci linked to five key environmental variables that shape snapper ecology.

...

This decoupling of demographic and adaptive connectivity highlights that substantial gene flow does not preclude local adaptation, with specific environmental stressors contributing to adaptive genetic divergence of local snapper populations.

...

Local adaptation across environmental gradients despite high gene flow has been documented in numerous marine species, including Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), Pacific herring (Clupea harengus) and sardines (Sardinops sagax) (Bradbury et al.2010;Limborg et al.2012; Teske et al. 2021). These studies suggest that the balance between selection and gene flow in marine environments may be more nuanced than often assumed.