Category: Science

All Conservation is Local

Rudi Putra, Saving Nature's Local Conservation Partner in Sumatra

March 4, 2020

All Conservation is Local

A FILM BY JAMES ROBINSON 

Stuart Pimm of Saving Nature makes the case for why conservation must be local to be successful. At Saving Nature, we firmly believe that partnering with local conservation organizations is the only way to ensure long-term success. 
We believe that local conservation groups are closest to the restoration and management challenges of each project and best positioned for long-term success. As a result, we do not own any land. Instead, we provide resources to promote conservation and community engagement, including advising on science and technology, funding land purchases, mentoring local conservation groups, and providing resource and guidance for monitoring and research.
Rudi Petra, FKL, our local partner in Sumatra
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Categories: Camera Trapping, Saving Nature Collection, Science Corner, Sumatra

Camera Trapping Challenges

Pig Tailed Macaque

March 4, 2020

Camera Trapping Challenges

A FILM BY JAMES ROBINSON and JACOB LEVINE

We are very lucky to work with a talented team of Duke University students to support our camera trap program. Jacob Levine has helped establish and manage our monitoring program in Sumatra. James Robinson, a talented young documentary film student has helped us tell our story.
 
Together they created this short film about the unexpected challenges of camera trapping! We hope you enjoy this as much as we did.
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Categories: Camera Trapping, Saving Nature Collection, Science Corner, Sumatra

Chinese Paddlefish: Yangtze Giant Driven to Extinction

chinesepaddlefish

January 7, 2020

The world has officially lost another species to extinction after fisheries experts in China add the Chinese paddlefish to the list.  One of the largest freshwater fish species, which had survived for millions of years, it hasn’t been seen since 2003.

Up to 23 feet long, the Chinese paddlefish was the giant of the Yangtze. And we killed it.

According to a report in CNN, the Yangtze River in China has lost one of its oldest inhabitants – the Chinese paddlefish, one of the largest freshwater fish species, has been wiped out by overfishing and habitat fragmentation.

The Chinese paddlefish, which is believed to  have lived since the Lower Jurassic period around 200 million years ago, hasn’t been seen for over a decade.  Sadly, it is unlikely to be the last species lost the the planet forever.

 
Read the full article
Categories: China, Science, Science Corner, Species Spotlight

2019 Excellence in Wilderness Stewardship Research

national assessment of conservation values (a) and climate-change vulnerability as has been indicated by forward climate velocity (b) to guide conservation strategies (c)

January 6, 2020

Saving Nature’s Dr. Clinton Jenkins in collaboration with the Wilderness Society was recently recognized by the U.S. Forest Service for a pair of papers he co-authored with a team of scientists exploring how to set conservation priorities in an era of climate change. The papers consider how the migration of species challenges traditional approaches and suggest an approach to anticipate future priorities.

2019 Excellence in Wilderness Stewardship Research

The U.S. Forest Service has awarded a team of scientists, including Saving Nature’s Dr. Clinton Jenkins, with their 2019 Excellence in Wilderness Stewardship Research.  The award recognizes their innovative spatial assessment of conservation values that provides guidance on conservation strategies for the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS). In this pair of award-winning papers, the authors consider how to set conservation priorities and management strategies to build resilience and protect biodiversity in an era of climate change.  

The team, led by Travis Belote of the Wilderness Society, investigated how to best maintain biodiversity and ecological processes in the face of habitat fragmentation and climate change, while considering what a resilient system of protected areas in the United States would look like.  The team developed maps that visualized ecological integrity, connectivity, representation of ecosystems, and biodiversity priorities. Their analysis revealed that wilderness areas are of high conservation value, but their quality depends on the protection level of surrounding lands. These maps provide an important visual reference to land managers for evaluating the relationship between the National Wilderness Preservation System and other public and private lands.

Conservation Map

In their first paper, “Wild, connected, and diverse: building a more resilient system of protected areas.“, the authors construct an approach for delivering a more resilient system for protecting the nation’s biological heritage. In doing so, they use geospatial data to assess priorities for expanding protected areas within the contiguous United States to include the least human‐modified wildlands, establish a connected network, and better represent ecosystem diversity and hotspots of biodiversity. 

In their second paper, “Mapping Conservation Strategies under a Changing Climate”, the authors rethink conservation strategies in an era of climate change. Rather than focusing on protecting ecosystems within reserves and restoring degraded lands that were missing key historical structures, processes, or species, they explore how to integrate climate induced factors, like  invasive species and  cross reserve boundaries create moving targets for preservation and restoration.  

In doing so, the authors construct a wildland conservation value by mapping indices of ecological integrity, connectivity, and ecosystem and endemic-species representation in protected areas.  They cross-reference these areas with a climate vulnerability assessment to identify areas where conservation interventions are most critical.  

Categories: Climate Change, News, Research, Saving Nature Collection, Science, Science Corner

A warm welcome? The wildlife visitors warning of climate disaster

Guardian Article

January 2, 2020

The Guardian spotlights the continued migration of species as the climate warms, transforming ecosystems and introducing exotic visitors, new competition, new predators, and new challenges for conservation in the coming decade.

A warm welcome? The wildlife visitors warning of climate disaster

Mediterranean egrets balancing on the backs of cows, multicoloured moths the size of a human hand, and impossibly exotic bee-eaters hawking for insects under English skies. All are here as a direct consequence of the climate crisis, which has allowed continental European species to extend their ranges northwards, and then make the leap across the Channel to gain a foothold in southern Britain.

This article in the Guardian alerts us to the harbingers of our new reality in an era of climate change, wondering about the fate of all but the most adaptable of species with more frequent and extreme weather events such as droughts, storms, and floods.

Read the full article
Categories: Bird Watching, Climate Change, News, Science, Science Corner, Travel Blog

The Frozen Zoo

Sumatran Rhino

December 11, 2019 

In Season 2, Episode 8 of their Overheard Podcast, National Geographic explores cryotechnology and the possibilities it holds for resurrecting extinct species.  Stuart Pimm of Saving Natures argues for caution.

The Frozen Zoo

San Diego is home to the world’s first frozen zoo—a genetic library where scientists are racing to bank the tissues and stem cells of disappearing animals. What does conservation look like as we head into what some scientists may believe to be our next great extinction?

This podcast by National Geographic explores the role of cryotechnology in reversing the unprecedented loss of species at the hands of mankind.

Stuart Pimm shares his views on the extinction crisis and the moral hazards of embracing the potential for de-extinction as the silver bullet.

Can we just keep species alive as frozen embryos then bring them back at will, if we lose the last populations in the wild? It’s complicated — I’m all for trying new ideas, but keeping species in the wild is the ultimate aim.”

Listen to the podcast
Categories: News, Saving Nature Collection, Science, Science Corner, Technology

The species the world lost this decade

Ecnomiohyla Frog

December 9, 2019

As the world continues to lose species 1,000 time faster than normal, Saving Nature’s Stuart Pimm reflects on what we have learned about how many species we’re losing, where we are losing them, and how well we’re protecting them.

The species the world lost this decade

In this article for VOX.com. Brian Resnick makes the case that humans are killing earth’s biodiversity, now adding climate change to the list of causes.  

He collectively eulogizes the 467 species have been declared extinct and calls attention to others precariously teetering on the brink, and those experiencing serious declines in their population numbers.

The article highlights the casualties of the extinction crisis, the underlying causes for the loss of biodiversity, and the possibility of rescuing species from their current plight through thoughtful conservation interventions. 

Read the full article
Categories: China, Science, Science Corner, Species Spotlight

6 Awesome Biodiversity Infographics

Conservation Science Infographic Showing Extinctions

6 AWESOME BIODIVERSITY INFOGRAPHICSS

A picture is worth a thousand words and biodiversity is only one word. An important one, yes, but one that people have trouble understanding.  These five infographics paint a narrative of biodiversity on the brink of extinction, habitat destruction, and climate change.  Together they are a call to action while there is still time to reverse the trajectory.

Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN)

This disarmingly simple graphic by the IUCN gives a voice to threatened and endangered species, with pleas from threatened species (“Please help”) and endangered species (“I can’t last much longer”), and a declaration from extinct species “Dead”).  The infographic message is compelling “Just because they can’t talk, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be listening.”

Endangered Species – Top 20 Countries (IUCN)

A map of the world has countries colored according to the number of species at risk. The list of countries includes icons to show the number of endangered species in each group of animals. Ecuador is top of the list because of large numbers of endangered amphibians and plants(s. The United States is second with numerous endangered marine species.

Engandered_SpeciesTop Countries

Rhino Conservation Infographic – TRICIA HOPE

This infographic highlights the urgency of rhino conservation, with dwindling number of every species of rhino.

Rhino Conservation Infographic - TRICIA HOPE

Diversity of “Species” in the Rainforest (Oro Verde)

This spoof poster illustrates different types of machines that are used in removal of rainforest, whether for lumber or just for clearance. It’s a testament to human ingenuity if not our common sense.

oroverde diversity of species in the rainforest infographic

Deforestation

This infographic depicts the consequences of the “ingenuity” in exploiting forests shown in the previous infographic.  A dire picture of the death of our forests, with a prescription for change.

Deforestation Infographic

Climate Change (Stanford Art Studio)

This infographic shows the flip side to deforestation as the biggest contributor to climate change – our unrelenting carbon dioxide emissions.  Here we can clearly see the combination of per capita emissions and the multiplicative effects of our growing population.

Climate change infographic depicting the carbon footprint by country
Categories: Science

Measuring Resilience Is Essential To Understand It

springernaturegraph

October 10, 2019

In this recent paper published in the October 2019 Issue of Nature Sustainability, Dr. Pimm and his colleagues make the case for using data to more precisely define and apply key terminology used in conservation science.

MEASURING RESILIENCE IS ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTAND IT

Stuart L. Pimm, Ian Donohue, José M. Montoya and Michel Loreau

Words matter, especially when trying to accomplish something as important as stopping the loss of biodiversity or fighting climate change. 

Stuart Pimm and his colleagues make the case that scientific terms need measurement to ensure their meaning is explicit.  The link between words and evidence requires rigor in defining how we measure, what we measure, and over how long we measure. “Talk is cheap, measurements hard.” comments Pimm in his recent blog for Nature Sustainability, “Without them, we have no way to compare what we are doing for good or ill to the natural world.”

The authors consider ubiquitous terms like sustainability, resilience and others grouped under the heading of ‘stability’. These terms speak vital need to characterize changes in complex social and environmental systems. In a bewildering array of terms, practical measurements are essential to permit comparisons and so untangle underlying relationships.

Read The Full Article
springernaturegraph
Examples of indexes cited in the article that demonstrate long term trends in harvest of wintering woodcock Scolopax rusticola shot in the United Kingdom and quarterly averages of the US stock index.
Categories: Saving Nature Collection, Science, Science Corner

The Health of Our Oceans: Seabirds as Sentinels.

Seabird

September 16, 2019

The Bird Catchers

A FILM BY JAMES ROBINSON

Sooty terns have been returning to the Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys to breed from mid-January through July for untold years.  Scientists have been there to meet them since the 1930’s.  An ambitious research project has collected decades of data on over 500,000 birds to help reveal the secrets of their life at sea.

Scientists can learn a lot from the terns about climate change and the health of our oceans.  Because of the extensive area covered on their ocean journeys, terns are yielding new insights about how humans are altering the planet. Unfortunately, most of the insights come from mortalities of the terns.

But first, they have to catch them. 

We recently got a unique perspective on what it takes to monitor the 500,000 sooty terns that have been banded over the life of the project. Created by James Robinson, a student at Duke University, we see the project through the eyes of young scientists following in the footsteps of Dr. Pimm to collect the data needed to understand our planet through the journey of the terns. 

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In the eight decades since research began, sooty tern populations on the Dry Tortugas have dropped 84 percent, from 3 million birds to around 350,000. Their struggles could point to troubling changes in our oceans and our climate. Rising sea levels are flooding nesting grounds.  More frequent and intense storms are battering terns in the open ocean.  Over-fishing is depleting their food supply.

What We’ve Learned About Hurricanes

Dr. Ryan Huang, a scientist from Duke University led a recent study on the connection between hurricanes and seabird deaths.  A new map produced by the research shows that sooty terns leave their breeding colony at Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys each June as hurricane season starts. They migrate southward and eastward across the Caribbean through summer and early fall, before skirting the northern coast of South America and arriving at their winter habitat off the Atlantic coast of Brazil in November.

Huang and his colleagues charted the migratory path by recording and mapping the dates and locations of all sooty terns banded for study at the Dry Tortugas since the 1950’s but found dead elsewhere. They also mapped locational data retrieved from birds that were fitted with satellite-telemetry tracking tags. When they overlaid all this data with maps of hurricane paths from the same period, they discovered a striking correlation between bird deaths and hurricanes.

 

Migration itself is a very stressful, very taxing process for these birds to undergo,” said Huang. “Encountering a storm adds even more stress, forcing the birds to fight strong winds and rain. Those that can’t handle that will likely die.” Unlike many shorebirds, sooty terns do not have special feather oils to help repel water, so they’re susceptible to drowning.

What We’ve Learned About Overfishing

In another recent study, tern feathers provided insights into the effects of overfishing.  The feathers gave the scientists a window into broad changes in the terns’ diets over time. Starting at the end of the last century, presumably due to overfishing, the terns started eating more squid and small crustaceans, and fewer fish. 

The change in diet corresponded with a decline in the sooty tern population. Fish are loaded with protein and fats and as such are a nourishing food source for seabirds and their fast-growing chicks; squid and crustaceans are not a good alternative.  

Please support conservation efforts that fight climate change.  For the terns.  For all of us.
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Categories: Research, Saving Nature Collection, Science Corner

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