Researchers teach birds: 'Be afraid, be very afraid'

Do all birds possess an instinct to flee predators? Or is this behaviour a result of conditioning? Research on some island birds has shown their inability to recognise mammalian predators. This may offer an explanation into how native species in island ecosystems that have evolved in the absence of mammalian predators may have hastened their extinction. Case in point: the Dodo on Mauritius. Although the bird was large and ungainly with few escape tricks, it may have also been unfamiliar with danger and this may have made it, figuratively speaking, a sitting duck for the rats and dogs and cats that arrived with the first sailors. The presence of this trait in island birds could adversely impact reintroduction programmes of threatened native bird species. Returning these birds into their predator-infested habitats is fraught with peril at the outset. 'Be afraid, be very afraid' is the survival mantra that researchers are now teaching birds. And how? By attempting to mix birds from predator-free areas with birds who know how to recognise predators in an enclosure. Researchers hope that the fearless birds would learn the fear response from their conditioned friends. PhysOrg has more Technorati Tags: conditioning, bird behaviour, research, fear, predator

Soil replenishment secrets from ancient conservationists

As someone said, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. The last place to look for solutions is probably right where the problem lies.

PhysOrg reports on how the early inhabitants of the Amazon basin boosted crop productivity by enriching their fields with biochar.

Here's the whole story:

Ancient soil replenishment technique helps in battle against global warming from PhysOrg.com

Former inhabitants of the Amazon Basin enriched their fields with charred organic materials - biochar - and transformed one of the earth's most infertile soils into one of the most productive. These early conservationists disappeared 500 years ago, but centuries later, their soil is still rich in organic matter and nutrients. Now, scientists, environmental groups and policymakers forging the next world climate agreement see biochar not only as an important tool for replenishing soils, but as a powerful tool for combating global warming.

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Technorati Tags: soil replenishment, soil conservation, amazon basin, biochar, global warming

Greater Mekong: 10 years, 1068 new species discovered

For over ten years, researchers have toiled away in the Greater Mekong region, uncovering its secrets. A WWF report describes the region as the "richest waterway for biodiversity on the planet, fostering more species per unit area than the Amazon". Quantitatively speaking, in number of species, that's 20,000 plants, 1,200 birds, 800 reptiles and amphibians, 430 mammals and at least 1,300 fish. Of these, the new discoveries include 519 plants, 279 fish, 88 frogs, 88 spiders, 46 lizards, 22 snakes, 15 mammals, 4 birds, 4 turtles, 2 salamanders and a toad. And to imagine that most of them lay unknown to science until a decade ago. This funky chap (above) is the Dragon Millipede (Desmoxytes purpurosea), and it has a bodily function that will greatly interest terrorist groups. Our pink friend secretes cyanide, and if you have the guts to pop one of these bubblegum-coloured critters and chew well, you will soon be history. And this tempting resident of the Garden of Eden (above) is the Gumprecht's green pitviper (Trimeresurus gumprechti). The yellow spots are the eyes, and the dark pits below them are used as heat-sensing devices. Much meaner than meets the eye, the Burmese Spitting Cobra (Naja mandalayensis) (below), discovered in 2000, is another venomous customer. Among the new species of birds is this Naung Mung Scimitar Babbler (Jabouilleia naungmungensis) (above). The Woolly Bat (above), the Laotian Rock Rat (below), and the Annamite Striped Rabbit (bottom) are the most intriguing mammalian finds. The rock rat, believed to have been extinct for millions of years, was found in a local food market! WWF has more