A vividly coloured fish could be the key to saving the Caribbean’s coral reefs from plummeting into terminal decline, scientists claim.
Their research forecasts that reefs risk being damaged beyond repair by the influx of seaweed.
BBC News website: Parrotfish to aid reef repair
Driving to Cape Tribulation two nights ago, I was hit with the unmistakable stench of what the Guugu Yimithirr indigenous people (just up the coast) call yumu; a scummy residue of coral spawning in the shallows of the coral sea. On this same night, I located two Northern Leaf-tailed Geckos on the sides of nearby trees, at the same height off the ground and on the same side, most proximal to the direction of the onshore winds. I wondered if these two events were related.
It took me eight years of almost nightly searching to find my first Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko Saltuarius cornutus. Endemic to the rainforests of the Wet Tropics and almost invisible in their marbled discretion, they are Australia’s largest gecko.
The attached image shows the difference between the original tail (left) and the regenerated tail (middle). The camouflaged, lidless eye (right) shows a slit pupil which allows much more light when fully dilated and the very reflective tapetum requires that the gecko face downward to avoid detection from owls. In the event of an attack, the tail and hind legs and the inverted position increase the likelihood that the kill-shot will be directed at the strategically deceptive ‘recoverable’ end.
In relation to sea-borne scum, I was impressed by the size of a vast rubbish dump floating in the Pacific Ocean, which covers an area bigger than Australia, as reported in ABC News.
In the centre of the Daintree rainforest, Giant White-lipped Tree Frogs Litoria infrafrenata ordinarily call for mates at the beginning of September, but much cooler temperatures persisting until very recently, have delayed the unmistakable clatter of competing males.
They are world’s largest tree frog and have been known to grow to 139mm. Their colour is variable, from beige-brown during the day to bright-green at night. They are conspicuous with a white stripe around the lower jaw continuing through to the shoulder, as well as white stripes (salmon pink in breeding males) on the trailing edges of the lower legs.
In an attempt to mimic the sustained adhesiveness that tree-frogs’ toe-pads provide, a group of researchers in India have created a form of sticky coating that is both strong and reusable. More details can be found in this Scientific American article.
New Zealand scientists have found what appears to be a cure for the disease that is responsible for wiping out many of the world’s frog populations.
Chloramphenicol, currently used as an eye ointment for humans, may be a lifesaver for the amphibians, they say.
The researchers found frogs bathed in the solution became resistant to the killer disease, chytridiomycosis.
The fungal disease has been blamed for the extinction of one-third of the 120 species lost since 1980.
Story from the BBC News website: Frog killer fungus ‘breakthrough’
Every year millions of birds die in oil spills around the world. Here’s the basics of how to clean a seabird:
– The birds suffer from hypothermia and have damages to their internal organs due to toxic oil. They suffer also from dehydration from diarrea.
– Do NOT clean the birds immediately. They need first to be stabilised with fluids and activated charcoal solution.
– It takes about 40 minutes for two people to clean a single bird.
– A good liquid to clean birds with is Dawn’s dishwashing liquid.
– After the cleaning, the birds often loose their appetite and need to be tube-fed with suitable nutrients , fluids and drugs.
– After the cleaning, the birds need a very warm place to rest in.
– After some days they are ready for the warm water pools, and finally for the cold water pools.
– Advanced rehab centers take blood samples from the birds to check if they are healthy enough to be released. The hemoglobin will be destroyed if the birds are too toxicated, causing anemia.
Cheers,
Ann
(in Sweden)
PS You can find more information here http://www.ibrrc.org/oil_affects.html
Boyd’s Forest Dragons Hypsilurus boydii are endemic to the rainforests of Australia’s Wet Tropics. They can reach a total length of 54 cm and may live to thirty years. They prefer the vertical surface of a tree-trunk, particularly one with a slightly larger diameter than their own girth, to hide behind upon the approach of any potential threat. Occupying a territorial distribution of one dragon per 500 square metres of forest, they protect themselves from Amethystine Pythons in another peculiar way.
They distinguish themselves from all other rainforest reptiles by maintaining a consistently colder body temperature. This is achieved by avoiding exposure to direct sunlight in an unusually precautionary thermo-regulation. Ищите дешевых проституток поблизости? Найдите их на сайте: https://sex-tumen.prostitutki72.com Имеются дешевые проститутки от 500 рублей!. By ensuring that their body temperature is always precisely the same as the temperature of the vegetation upon which they sleep, they remain thermally inconspicuous to the Amethystine Python with its formidable thermo-detection capabilities.
They do, however, leave a scent trail, but this unavoidable legacy is offset by false trails and the selection of a sleeping position that replicates that of the Spectacled Monarch as described previously. Juvenile dragons sleep at the very ends of flimsy branches on under-storey plants so that their instinctive sensitivity to vibration wakes them from sleep upon the approach of a snake. Adults rely more upon the sensitivity of the tip of their tail, which is thermally indistinguishable from the tree, but some lose portions of tail which do not regenerate with this species.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
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