October 2020 - Favorite World Press

The FWP weekly digest of wondrous wildlife happenings
and other interesting items from the natural world

Creatures to meet | Things to learn
Things to do

Lisa S. French

2-minute read

When it comes to growing flowers on your patch, are you partial to fiery reds, eye-popping pinks, cool blues, or vivid violets? Maybe all of the above? If you’re digging into the hopeful fall task of planting bulbs and perennials in anticipation of shades of spring to come, you may be interested to learn that there is more to flower color than meets the eye. How flowering plants keep on doing that beautiful blooming thing they do is partly owing to the protective power of pigment.

According to new research from Clemson University, petal pigmentation has been rapidly increasing in response to the stress of environmental change, helping pollen-producing parts of flowers to stay in good working order. This built-in mechanism for adjusting color intensity protects pollen from damage caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation and higher temperatures, which can negatively impact plant reproduction.

Over the course of the 20th century, a decline in ozone led to more UV rays hitting the Earth’s surface. Flower petals can either absorb or reflect radiation to shield exposed or enclosed pollen-filled anthers from overexposure to UV. When ozone decreases and radiation increases, the Clemson research found that one way flowering plants with exposed anthers reduce UV stress is by increasing radiation-absorbing pigmentation. The study examined 42 species of plants on three continents over a period of eight decades and found that petal pigmentation has been increasing by about 2% a year.

Why the fuss about a bump up in petal pigment? More highly pigmented petals don’t just hang around looking pretty. By reducing the reflection of radiation onto the exposed anthers, the flower power of pigment increases resilience to changes in radiation so that pollen remains fertile and the plant can reproduce and bloom on. Learning more about how flowering plants adapt to environmental stress so when growing gets tough, the tough keep growing will be critical to maintaining the health of green living things for the benefit of both people and pollinators.

If you’ve tucked in the last of your tulip bulbs and poppy seeds and now you’re feeling the urge to go big, you can find out about the how, what and where of tree planting from our pals at American Forests.

…

Lisa S. French October 29, 2020

It’s About Time for a Treat

Because you could probably do with a break from news scrolling right about now, we’re offering you and your little ones a free e-book—a hopeful tale with a guaranteed happy ending.

Wherever you are in the world, whatever your preferred gadget, on Tuesday, October 27 (starting at 12am PST), log in to Amazon.com to download The Smile Machine on us.

All treat—no tricks.

Have a boo-tiful Halloween!

XO – FWP

…

Lisa S. French October 24, 2020

Because It Is Autumn

From October, by Robert Walser:

…you walk across
a meadow and then enter the forest,
which is so bright and sunny,
it makes you happy, and quiet
and louder and clearer thoughts
pass through your soul.
Isn’t something spirited, soulful
walking around in this peaceful realm?
I’ve always been calm in autumn,
believed in it, like a symbol of luck,
and looked up at the sky with extreme
joy and all around at life
that then seemed almost exalted…

…

Lisa S. French October 21, 2020

Keeping High-Tech Tabs on Endangered Sea Turtles

2-minute read

These are tough times for sea turtles. For over 100 million years, the armored reptiles (Chelonians) have peacefully paddled the Earth’s oceans, but due to overharvesting, loss of nesting habitat, and chronic egg collecting and trafficking, six out of seven species are currently listed as threatened or endangered.

In addition to being valued for their obvious sea creature charisma, turtles play a vital role in the health of undersea ecosystems, helping to bolster coastal economies around the world. Because demand for turtle products is at an all-time high, the marine megafauna is at extreme risk of becoming extinct in the wild, and conservationists are racing to develop advanced tracking systems to help keep closer tabs on eggs, turtles—and traffickers.

Satellite monitoring of sea turtles in aid of conservation began 25 years ago. With advancements in the miniaturization of tracking tags and improvements in bandwidth, transmission, and data analysis, GPS technology has come of age, and scientists can monitor all seven species in oceans globally. A small tracking device, easily attached to a turtle’s shell, can capture information about the animal and its environment, including how it navigates the oceans, where it feeds and nests, how many clutches of eggs it lays, down to the granular level of describing flipper beats and daily dives. Changes in signal speed or movement can also indicate that a turtle has been fished or captured and taken ashore.

Pinpointing the location of adult turtles and nesting sites is a fundamental aspect of conservation. Protecting sea turtle eggs from the devastating impacts of poachers is also essential to the species’ long term survival. To help ensure the tiny reptiles get the chance to crack out of their shells and trundle to the sea, the ingenious scientists at Paso Pacifico have taken egg monitoring to the next level with the creation of InvestEGGator. Designed to document the movement of illegally harvested sea turtle eggs, the 3-D printed wildlife tracker employs web-based smart-phone applications to covertly trace poachers. The plastic devices replicate olive ridley turtle eggs in size, shape, texture, and weight and can be hidden in turtle nests and remotely monitored in real-time to deter poachers and reduce illegal trade. Turtley egg-citing!

Whether olive ridley, Kemp’s ridley, leatherback, or hawksbill, sea turtles need safe operating space to survive on land and in our oceans. By mapping and monitoring adults, eggs, and nesting sites, working with local communities to promote conservation, and strengthening enforcement of anti-poaching laws, conservationists aim to keep sea turtles right where they belong—paddling around the big deep blue. If you’d like to learn more about mission-critical efforts to save sea turtles from extinction, check out what’s happening at the World Wildlife Fund.

…

Lisa S. French October 19, 2020

New Guinea Singing Dogs—Not Gone

1-minute read

For the small remaining population of New Guinea singing dogs (Canis hallstromi), the recent news that their clan is no longer classified as extinct in the wild was surely music to their petal-shaped ears. At one time, the melancholy howls of the extraordinarily shy canines could be heard at dusk and dawn throughout the mountain ranges of New Guinea. Unfortunately, for the past 50 years, their haunting vocalizations have only been heard in captivity. Declared extinct in the 1970s as a result of habitat loss, it was believed that only 200-300 descendants of eight captured wild dogs were left on the planet.

Now the rare animals may get a new lease on life in the wilderness thanks in part to the distinctive sound of their howling. According to researchers, New Guinea singing dogs (NGSDs) are the only wild dogs adept at bird-like trilling—a rapid change in pitch from high to low and back again emitted at five to eight different frequencies that is unmistakably different from the vocalizations of wolves, coyotes, and dingoes. Typically, a lead dog starts the chorus, and other canine songsters quickly chime in with well-synchronized howls that stop simultaneously. It was this unique capability for harmonic vocalizing along with genome analysis that helped an expedition from the University of Papua to identify an isolated group of wild dogs in the highlands of New Guinea as ancestors of the NGSD family of highly skilled howlers.

With more than 32,000 species currently at risk of extinction, the discovery that the NGSDs living in captivity are not the end of their line is encouraging news—dogs not gone after all. That’s truly something to howl about!

Conservationists hope that by diversifying the animal’s genetic pool, they will be able to increase the population of NGSDs freely roaming the mountains of Papua singing their ancient and beautiful song of the wild.

You can learn more about the history and hopeful future of the singing dogs of New Guinea from the New Guinea Highland Wild Dog Foundation.

…

Lisa S. French October 10, 2020

Problem-Solving Primates

2-minute read

Humans are innately skilled at choosing the right object for the task at hand. We’re able to comprehend that using a banana to hammer a nail or a colander to serve coffee won’t end in a good result. Primates are also capable of using objects as tools, but how do they decide which object will help to achieve their goal? What do they understand about how the world works?

Harvard scientists researching the evolution of knowledge in New World primates studied cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) in captivity to determine how they perceive what makes an object useful as a tool to acquire food. Presented with the challenge of obtaining a food pellet using one of two hooks, the tamarins consistently chose the one that would provide the easiest access with as little modification as possible. The primates perceived that a change in a hook’s color and texture was irrelevant to the task, but a change in size or shape could mean the difference between snack versus no snack. The tamarins seemed to understand which object worked best as a tool and which design features affected functionality. Clever cotton-tops!

Scientists believe that tool use is more likely to emerge in primate species like tamarins that rely on embedded food sources to survive. While the Harvard study provided new insight into tamarin tool use for snack acquisition in captivity, understanding how the animals obtain food in their natural habitat is critical to their conservation in a world undergoing rapid environmental change.

In July 2020, researchers observing primates in São Paulo, Brazil published the first record of spontaneous tool use in the wild by a member of one of the most endangered primate species on the planet—the black lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysopygus). The squirrel-sized, luxuriously maned tamarins live in Morro do Diabo State Park in the coastal Atlantic Forest and depend on a diet of tree gum, fruit, and protein-rich insects. According to the new research, like its captive cotton-top cousins, the black lion tamarin seemed to instinctively know which object worked best to extract food, using a small sharp stick to harvest bugs from hard-to-reach places under tree bark. That’s pretty impressive, given that the mini-monkeys don’t have opposable thumbs!

Despite their penchant for problem-solving, tamarins can’t prevent the ongoing loss of their rainforest habitat. Threatened by the double-whammy of deforestation and climate change, the black lion tamarin was believed to be extinct until 1972. There are now only about 1000 of the rare animals left. The Atlantic Forest, where black lion tamarins make their home alongside 21 other primate species, 260 amphibians, 138 mammals, and 6000 plant species, is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on our planet, but only 7% remains. Although the Atlantic Forest has been designated as one of the critical regions on Earth by the World Wildlife Fund and is listed as a World Heritage Site, it is still under threat.

You can learn about efforts to save the Atlantic Forest and all of its inhabitants from WWF. And if you’re especially interested in primates, you can get more info about the masterful monkey ways of cotton-top and black lion tamarins, as well as other highly intelligent species from the New England Primate Conservancy.

Oh, and don’t forget to participate in the annual celebration of successful food acquisition in the wild—Fat Bear Week. You can cast your vote for the best representative of brown bear plumpitude through October 6.

…

Lisa S. French October 2, 2020