Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for November 16, 2007

Gilbert’s Potoroo to Survive Syphilis?

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I’ve never seen a Potoroo – apparently members of the genus look like rats and can hop like kangaroos.

The Gilbert’s Potoroo is Australia’s most endangered marsupial and it’s not climate change but rather syphilis that may result in its extinction. At least that’s what an ABC Online article suggests, but when you read a bit further there is reason for optimism because there is a syphilis-free population on Bald Island.

Read more here: http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/2089599.htm

Thanks to both Libby and Woody for the link.

And here’s a link to the Gilbert’s Potoroo’s Action Group website: http://www.potoroo.org/

Murray River Tributary Reduced to Billabongs

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While the Murray River is flowing strongly despite the drought, many of its tributaries are drying up.

Yesterday I visited the Wakool River with Wakool Landholders Association Chairman John Lolicato.

He showed me a spot downstream of Gee Gee bridge where there is still water in deep holes. A bit upstream the river has been reduced to billabongs and further upstream in Possum forest some of the billabongs have dried up.

John Upstream Gee Gee Bridge (copy Wakool River 026).jpg
Downstream of Gee Gee bridge

John's Annie (copy of Wakool River 031).jpg
A billabong that was Wakool river

John has moved some Murray Cod from drying billabongs to larger water holes.

John looking for Cod (copy Wakool River 045).jpg
John looking for some water and stranded fish

Also yesterday, the NSW Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water Phil Koperberg announced that a pulse of water would be released into the Wakool River to provide stock and domestic water and environmental benefits.

Mr Koperberg acknowledged that the Wakool River had not had flows for months due to the severe and extended drought.

“The diversion of water into these systems will provide landholders with access to stock and domestic water for the first time in months, help improve water quality and provide significant environmental benefits to stressed populations of native fish and other aquatic species,” he said.

“The water cannot be used for irrigation and additional deliveries for irrigation are not viable as they would exacerbate additional water losses that cannot be supported.”

Did the Bush Administration Really Censor Science?

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Once again, the press is in a tizzy over the Bush Administration’s “censoring of science.” The case against the Bush Administration this time is that it edited testimony presented to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) by Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The testimony, originally 14 pages, was cut to six.

However, the narrative of a scientific cover-up is overwrought to say the least. The hearing was on the potential impact of global warming on human health, an exercise in speculation. It appears, if press accounts are correct, that what the Bush Administration cut from the director’s testimony was more speculation than settled science.

Read the entire article: Science vs. Expert Opinion: Did the Bush Administration Really Censor Science?

Praying Mantid

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Mantid.jpg

I photographed this praying mantid last night on the flowers of a Wax Jambu Syzygium samarangense. There are around 160 described species of mantid in Australia with the greatest diversity in the tropics.

This large, robust female will produce a soft, foam-like oöthecae that hardens under atmospheric exposure. It may contain hundreds of eggs, each individually housed in a sealed compartment and a day or so after emerging, the nymphs begin to cannibalise one another.