Rewilding & Conservation News and Discussions

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caltrek
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In With the Old: Taking the Long View When Restoring Grasslands
August 5, 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) Grassland restoration has often been trampled underfoot in the rush to score carbon credits by planting trees, and undermined by the assumption that degraded grasslands are easily fixed because they are thought of as relatively young habitats.

An article in Science by Elise Buisson, Sally Archibald, Alessandra Fidelis and Katharine N. Suding argues strongly that restoration interventions should be long-term, and benchmarked by an understanding of the complexities of ancient grasslands. Such spaces have been built over centuries into ecosystems of high species diversity, whose resilience to climate change lies mostly out of sight, below the ground. The authors highlight that land conversion – to cultivation or plantation forestry – is irreversible: i.e. it is highly unlikely that these systems can ever be restored to their old-growth state. Therefore they argue that conversion should be avoided wherever possible, but also set out some practical restoration options for the Earth’s grassy ecosystems that use knowledge of the unique needs of their biodiversity to promote old-growth characteristics.

Grasslands constitute almost 40% of the terrestrial biosphere, and on top of providing habitat for a great diversity of plants and animals, contribute to the livelihoods of about one in eight people in the world. Nevertheless, they are imperilled by massive land conversion for intensive agriculture and silviculture (forestry), mining, woody encroachment and species invasion “driven by altered fire and grazing regimes”.

Land-use changes to, for example mining or cultivation, and altered disturbance regimes, put belowground structures (e.g. bud banks) at risk of degradation sufficiently serious to push grasslands over a threshold beyond which restoration may be difficult, or take decades to achieve. This makes it imperative to protect old-growth grasslands, “particularly from the threats that affect belowground processes and structure, as we cannot rely on restoration to guide complete recovery after such degradation,” say the authors.

Numerous studies across six continents show that secondary grasslands may take at least a century, “and more often millennia, to recover their former species richness”. Less is known about how long it might take for belowground soil and structure development, but it is likely to follow the same timeline.
Conclusion (this is a news release, apparently issued by the University of Witwatersrand, therefore no need to worry about constraints in length related to copyright protection):
In conclusion, they “urge conservation initiatives to safeguard against the conversion of old-growth grasslands for treeplanting or tillage agriculture, to maintain our ancient biodiverse grasslands with appropriate disturbance regimes, and to emphasise the long-term restoration of grasslands in efforts to restore Earth’s biodiversity”.
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/961051
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Bringing Sea Otters Back to Oregon Faces Ideological Challenges
August 8, 2022

Introduction:
PORTLAND, Ore. (Courthouse News) — If asked to choose between the environment and commercial interests, most environmentalists would naturally side with the former. But the reality is more complicated, particularly when Indigenous tribes — long left out of the conversation on how the federal government navigates issues concerning natural resources and commercial interests — are brought to the table.

In the case of mitigating climate change by reintroducing sea otters to habitats where they once thrived, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife is faced with such a dilemma. Particularly so because bringing sea otters to the Northern California and Oregon coasts sounds promising to everyone except those who are already living near the endangered species.

Known by some local tribes as the Elekha, sea otters are a small marine mammal of the family Mustelidae, characterized by their furry, weasel appearance and their hallmark tendency to float on their back while using a rock to open hard-shelled invertebrates. The animal is objectively cute, with its furry white face that pops over the top of the ocean to stare out like a teddy bear with tiny eyes and an extra wide nose.

The southern and northern sea otters, Enhydra lutris, are distinct by geography and marginally by their DNA, as fur traders nearly hunted the animal to extinction during the 18th and 19th centuries. Southern sea otters live in small pockets along the Southern California coastline while northern sea otters live from northern Washington state to southeastern Alaska — the latter a direct result of preservation and reintroduction.

But prior to joining a growing list of near-extinct species by 1911, the same year of the International Fur Trade Treaty, sea otters thrived along the entire Pacific Rim from Hokkaido, Japan, all the way to Mexico. In fact, fossil evidence suggests ancestors of the Enhydra lutris first localized the North Pacific region 2 million years ago before evolving into the species we know today.
The article goes on to explain the positive impact sea ottters can have on kelp forests as well as how they may “pose a risk to already dwindling populations of Dungeness crab and commercial species of shellfish.”

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/reintro ... allenges/
Last edited by caltrek on Wed Aug 24, 2022 8:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Scientists Issue Plan for Rewilding the American West
August 9, 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert ) As the effects of climate change mount, ecosystem restoration in the US West has garnered significant public attention, bolstered by President Joe Biden's America the Beautiful plan to conserve 30% of US land and water by 2030. Writing in BioScience, William J. Ripple and 19 colleagues follow up on the Biden plan with a proposal for a "Western Rewilding Network," comprising 11 large reserve areas already owned by the federal government. The authors advocate for the cessation of livestock grazing on some federal lands, coupled with the restoration of two keystone species: the gray wolf and the North American beaver.

Wolves and beavers, according to the authors, are notable for their ability to produce broad ecosystem effects. For instance, they say, "by felling trees and shrubs and building dams, beavers enrich fish habitat, increase water and sediment retention, maintain water flows during drought, provide wet fire breaks, improve water quality, initiate recovery of incised channels, increase carbon sequestration, and generally enhance habitat for many riparian plant and animal species." Wolves share a similar potential to reshape ecosystems, and "could assist in the natural control of overabundant native ungulates," allowing native vegetation to regrow in previously degraded areas.

The rewilding plan would produce profound cascading effects, say the authors, and could ultimately benefit many of the "92 threatened and endangered species across nine taxonomic groups: five amphibians, five birds, two crustaceans, 22 fishes, 39 flowering plants, five insects, 11 mammals, one reptile, and two snail species."

The authors cite a number of costs to their bold initiative, including payments to any livestock farmers, who should get just reimbursement for lost grazing allotments on federal lands. Ripple and colleagues argue that these challenges will ultimately prove navigable, in part because meat derived from forage on federal lands accounts for only about 2% of the nation's production. Furthermore, say the authors, the time is ripe for "ultra ambitious action," given the "unprecedented period of converging crises in the American West, including extended drought and water scarcity, extreme heat waves, massive fires triggered at least partly by climate change, and biodiversity loss."
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/960931

Here is a link to the article published in Bioscience: https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/adv ... gin=false
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New Zealand's endangered kakapo parrot gets a big population boost
August 9, 2022

WELLINGTON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - The population of New Zealand's kakapo, an endangered flightless parrot, has increased 25% in the last year to 252 birds following a good breeding season and success with artificial insemination, the conservation department said Tuesday.

The kakapo have been nearly wiped out by introduced predators such as stoats as the birds cannot fly. The problem has been exacerbated by inbreeding, very low fertility - only 50% of eggs are fertilised - and as they only breed every two or three years when native rimu trees fruit.

The population of the kakapo, which is the world’s heaviest parrot, is now at its highest number since the 1970s.

"There were just 86 kakapo when I first started working as a kakapo ranger in 2002. That number was scary. Having a breeding season with 55 chicks feels like a very positive step," said Deidre Vercoe, operational manager for the kakapo recovery programme.

The programme was established in 1995. It is a collaboration between the New Zealand conservation department and Maori tribe Ngai Tahu and uses volunteers to help with activities like monitoring the nests to keep them out of trouble. Some birds have had to be rescued after getting stuck in the mud or after their legs were caught in trees.
https://www.reuters.com/business/enviro ... e=Facebook
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A Fresh Look into Grasslands as Carbon Sink
August 12, 2022

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) Grasslands have the capability to store carbon, functioning as an important tool in a battle against climate change. While scientific interest in grassland soil for carbon sequestration is not new, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Colorado State University have provided a fresh analysis of the existing research on soil carbon sequestration in grasslands. According to the researchers, they apply a new paradigm of soil organic matter formation to their evaluation and -- through the lens of this paradigm and with consideration for regional differences -- evaluate grassland management for carbon sequestration.

The review article was published in Science on Aug. 4.

"This is the first review which applies the new paradigm of soil organic matter formation and persistence to both discuss the effect of global changes on grasslands' soil organic carbon and estimate the potentials of soil organic carbon sequestration of global grasslands," said first author BAI Yongfei of the Institute of Botany at Chinese Academy of Sciences.

While storing carbon in grassland soil has been proven to be an attainable strategy for removing it from the atmosphere, the specifics of global grassland soil carbon sequestration -- how, where and how much -- still require more research for a deeper understanding and to form best practice recommendations, according to the researchers.

"In the past decade, there has been a paradigm shift in the understanding of the processes contributing to soil organic matter formation and persistence, which have highlighted the key role of microbial transformations and necromass on soil organic carbon accrual," Cotrufo said.
Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/961721
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Do videos show ivory-billed woodpecker, or is it extinct?
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-videos-iv ... tinct.html
by JANET McCONNAUGHEY
The federal government has been asked to consider at least two videos made in recent years as evidence that ivory-billed woodpeckers may still exist.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in 2021 that it planned to declare 23 species extinct, including North America's largest woodpecker—also dubbed the Lord God bird after an exclamation sometimes made by viewers.

In July, the agency said it was adding six months, including a month for public comment, before deciding whether to declare extinction for the black-bodied bird with black-and-white wings, a 30-inch (76-centimeter) wingspan and a call reminiscent of a bulb bicycle horn. What's needed, the announcement said, was video or photos that all experts could agree showed the bird.

Two videos of black-and-white birds were submitted in July, along with extracts and extensive video presentations explaining why the contributors believe they show ivory-bills.

But the debate—so bitter that it prompted publication of a book last year about dozens of "thinking errors" on both sides—seems as heated as ever. A University of Kansas ornithologist called the videos laughable.

One is drone footage from a distance, showing a bird flying in front of trees and landing in one on Feb. 23, 2021.

"The landing sequence ... made me almost shout, 'Ivory-bill!'" Mark Michaels, founder of Project Principalis, a group created to search for live ivory-billed woodpeckers, told Fish and Wildlife officials in a video presentation made July 22 and posted Tuesday in the proposal's public comment area.
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Panda twins born in China as species struggles for survival
Source: AP

BEIJING (AP) — Twin giant pandas have been born at a breeding center in southwestern China, a sign of progress for the country’s unofficial national mascot as it struggles for survival amid climate change and loss of habitat.

The male and female cubs, born Tuesday at the Qinling Panda Research Center in Shaanxi province, are the second pair of twins born to their mother, Qin Qin. Another panda, Yong Yong, gave birth to twins at the center earlier this month.

Qin Qin was also born at the center and previously gave birth to twin females in 2020.

State media gave no word on the father, but Chinese veterinarians for years have been using artificial insemination to boost the population of the animals, which reproduce rarely in the wild and rely on a diet of bamboo in the mountains of western China.




Read more: https://apnews.com/article/china-giant- ... f5e936d58a
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Huge recovery for butterfly once extinct in the UK

By Georgina Rannard
BBC News Climate & Science

1 hour ago

An endangered butterfly that was once extinct in the UK has had its best summer in 150 years.

The large blue butterfly is one of Europe's most endangered insects but thousands have been recorded this summer in south-west England.

It is the result of a long-term conservation project, led by the Royal Entomological Society.

Scientists said the success story shows how species at risk of extinction can be saved.

Many other rare species also benefitted from the conservation work across around 40 sites in Somerset and in the Cotswolds.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62674800


Image
Image source, Butterfly Conservation; Keith Warmington
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Updated Tree Survey May Assist Conservation Efforts
by Elana Spivak
August 26, 2022


Introduction:
(Inverse) ASK ANY FIRST GRADER what a tree looks like, and they’ll draw a characteristic closed, scalloped shape suspended with two parallel lines extending downward. But ask a tree expert, or dendrologist, and they’ll have a lot more trouble defining a tree.

“It’s more like a philosophical concept,” Murphy Westwood, director of global tree conservation at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, tells Inverse.

The first complete global tree database defines a tree as “a woody plant with usually a single stem growing to a height of at least two meters, or if multi-stemmed, then at least one vertical stem five centimeters in diameter at breast height.”

The biological definition of a tree is crucial when it comes to tracking the world’s roughly 60,000 tree species for risk of extinction. Too rigid a definition and some ailing trees may get left out. Westwood tells Inverse that the U.S. has two assessment platforms for trees: the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List and NatureServe. The Red List, she says, was greatly lacking, while NatureServe had a good deal of information, but was out of date.

A new survey published on August 22 in the journal Plants Planet People seeks to widen and consolidate information on both these lists. The survey, on which Westwood is a senior author, includes more than 800 native tree species in the contiguous U.S. This new dataset serves to consolidate comprehensive, timely information on the continental U.S.’s trees so that ecologists of all stripes may help conserve them.
Read more here: https://www.inverse.com/science/survey ... e-species



Here is more on NatureServe: https://explorer.natureserve.org/

Here is further information on the newest survey: https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi ... 5-bib-0002
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Reintroducing Bison Results in Long-running and Resilient Increases in Grassland Diversity
August 29, 2022

Introduction:
(PNAS )

Significance

Large animals (megafauna) have cascading effects on populations, communities, and ecosystems. The magnitude of these effects is often unknown because native megafauna are missing from most ecosystems. We found that reintroducing bison—a formerly dominant megafauna and the national mammal of the United States—doubles plant diversity in a tallgrass prairie. These plant communities have few nonnative species and were resilient to an extreme drought. Domesticated megafauna (cattle), which have replaced native herbivores in many grasslands, produced less than half of this increase in plant species richness. Our results suggest that many grasslands in the Central Great Plains have substantially lower plant biodiversity than before widespread bison extirpation. Returning or “rewilding” native megafauna could help to restore grassland biodiversity.

Abstract

The widespread extirpation of megafauna may have destabilized ecosystems and altered biodiversity globally. Most megafauna extinctions occurred before the modern record, leaving it unclear how their loss impacts current biodiversity. We report the long-term effects of reintroducing plains bison (Bison bison) in a tallgrass prairie versus two land uses that commonly occur in many North American grasslands: 1) no grazing and 2) intensive growing-season grazing by domesticated cattle (Bos taurus). Compared to ungrazed areas, reintroducing bison increased native plant species richness by 103% at local scales (10 m2) and 86% at the catchment scale. Gains in richness continued for 29 y and were resilient to the most extreme drought in four decades. These gains are now among the largest recorded increases in species richness due to grazing in grasslands globally. Grazing by domestic cattle also increased native plant species richness, but by less than half as much as bison. This study indicates that some ecosystems maintain a latent potential for increased native plant species richness following the reintroduction of native herbivores, which was unmatched by domesticated grazers. Native-grazer gains in richness were resilient to an extreme drought, a pressure likely to become more common under future global environmental change.



Read more here (including an option following the Abstract to download a PDF of supporting information): https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2210433119
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