Frozen mice cloned - are woolly mammoths next?

piggy submitted, created time 3 weeks 5 days (www.reuters.com)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japanese scientists have cloned mice whose bodies were frozen for as long sixteen years and said on Monday it may be possible to use the technique to resurrect mammoths and other extinct species.

Mouse cloning expert Teruhiko Wakayama and colleagues at the Center for Developmental Biology, at Japan's RIKEN research institute in Yokohama, managed to clone the mice even though their cells had burst.

4 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: endangered species conservation extinct species woolly mammoths somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning extinct species nuclear transfer

Damming doesn't hurt salmon? Something is fishy, scientists say.

Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 month 3 days (www.nature.com)

Damming rivers is an environmental conundrum. On the one hand, hydroelectric power provides clean, relatively reliable energy. On the other, damming rivers can endanger fish populations ...or can it? A recent study performed on the dammed Columbia River and undammed Fraser River suggests that perhaps the smolts are all right.

Salmon travel the rivers at two points in their lives: first, they must find their way downriver to the ocean as smolts (juveniles) and second, they must find their way back upstream to the spawning grounds in the last stage of their lives

3 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: salmon Chinook salmon rivers Columbia River dams alternative energy hydroelectric power endangered species fish fish biology

Endangered or not? Canis lupis is tossed to the wolves.

Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 month 2 weeks (www.nature.com)

There are two issues at hand regarding the gray wolf (Canis lupus). The first is the U.S. legal battle over whether the wolves should have and retain endangered status (hunting has recently resumed in a few midwestern states). The other is slightly different: scientists must form their own opinion about whether the gray wolf meets the criteria for "endangered." Some argue that the wolf populations have recovered. The key argument against this is that the wolves who have returned to the depleted areas may not be the same precise kind of wolf that was killed off during the twentieth century

3 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: coyotes Canis lupus genetics Canis latrans hybrids conservationgray wolf wolf endangered species Endangered Species Act wolves endangered mammalian species

Yangtze turtles may avoid extinction, but not this year

A quarter of mammals face extinction

sea-maid submitted, created time 1 month 3 weeks (www.nature.com)

This article covers one of the most, possibly the most, comprehensive studies of endangered animals in human history. Previous efforts have had to limit themselves to only better-known or better-studied species, but this one covers marine and obscure mammals as well.

"One in four of the world's mammal species is threatened with extinction, according to the first comprehensive survey of this class of animal. Populations are declining in half of all mammal species, with some experiencing an extreme decline. Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) numbers have plummeted by 60%" since 1998

1 comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: hunting deforestation habitat loss pollution conservation environmentalism zoology mammals endangered species extinction

Saving the Wildlife of Madagascar

sea-maid submitted, created time 2 months 4 days (www.time.com)

When you're on the lookout for lemurs — the unusually cute and endangered group of primates found only on the African island of Madagascar — it helps to have good eyes (lemurs are small), sharp ears (they rustle the trees) and a keen nose (they have an unmistakable smell).

It is hard to say how long the lemurs will be around. Madagascar is what conservationists call a biodiversity hotspot. All hotspots worldwide take up about 2% of Earth's landmass, but they are home to half its species

1 comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: Kyoto protocol economics carbon credits carbon lemurs encroachment ecology Madagascar Wildlife conservation deforestation habitat loss primates endangered species

More habitat for threatened frog proposed

sea-maid submitted, created time 2 months 1 week (www.msnbc.msn.com)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Federal wildlife officials on Tuesday proposed more protection for the threatened California red-legged frog, providing up to four times as much habitat than was set aside two years ago.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommends designating up to 1.8 million acres in twenty-eight California counties as habitat critical to the frog's survival. The proposal must undergo sixty days of public comment and another review before it becomes final.

The designation would require any development project on the land to get prior approval from federal wildlife officials

2 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: red-legged frog amphibians threatened species endangered species ecology habitat frogs

New Regulation Would Lessen Influence of Fish and Wildlife Experts

sea-maid submitted, created time 3 months 4 days (www.sciencemag.org)

For much of the past 35 years, the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) has been at the center of some of the fiercest environmental battles in the United States. It has been the means by which tiny fish have held up big dams, helped bring iconic species such as the bald eagle back from the brink, and pitted environmentalists against loggers over the protection of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest

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Fatal tumors force early mating in Tasmanian devils

sea-maid submitted, created time 3 months 1 week (www.livescience.com)

In recent years, the population of these endangered marsupials has taken a huge hit. An infectious cancer, spread through biting, affects and kills devils over the age of two. However, the devils have compensated for this by reproducing earlier and earlier in their life cycle.

It isn't clear exactly why the animals are mating early. It might have something to do with the disease or it might simply be the result of reduced competition for food.

4 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: marsupials endangered species Tasmanian Devils Cancer

Biodiversity convention is criticized as lightweight on science

Darkfrog submitted, created time 3 months 2 weeks (www.nature.com)

Swedish researchers have criticized the body that advises the Convention on Biological Diversity as light on science and overly dominated by politics, and they are not alone. According to Dr. M. Stocking of the United Kingdom, the people who end up in positions as advisors "tend to be government nominees … not scientists who are up to date with the literature

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: science and politics politics environment environmentalism economics biodiversity endangered species

Endangered Species Act: details on the dilution

Darkfrog submitted, created time 3 months 2 weeks (www.nature.com)

Here are some more details on the kinds of projects that might be approved more easily, or without proper review, as some argue, under the more relaxed Endangered Species Act. The article specifically mentions pipelines, roads and logging and makes vaguer references to operations that could exacerbate global warming.

The article specifically mentions polar bears, the most visible species that seems to be in the most immediate danger from warming seas. It may be relevant that the polar bear is only listed as "threatened," not "endagered." Heh, well not for long!

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Endangered condors will need more than numbers

Darkfrog submitted, created time 3 months 3 weeks (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

Although the U.S. condor rescue program has managed to prevent the extinction of the California condor, the program has hit a wall. About 10% of adult condors released into the wild die, often because of the lead they ingest from eating prey killed by human hunters. The population is not self-sustaining.

Saving the condors will not require banning hunting, however. Biologists here agree that it is the lead shot that is the problem. An increase in hunting in places where condors live would actually be good for the scavenging birds.

2 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: condor hunting conservation endangered species environmentalism

National parks spark population growth! ...human populations

Darkfrog submitted, created time 4 months 3 weeks (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

Despite what critics, proponents, common sense and a proportionate number of the planets 8-balls would have told us, national parks in developing countries are GOOD for people but BAD for animals.

It doesn't make sense on the surface. Opponents of national parks in poor areas have argued that people shouldn't be barred access to traditional hunting grounds, but demographic studies show that human population growth near park borders increases faster than in other places--it implies that people are moving there for the jobs and aid that go hand-in-hand with park placement

1 comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: parks endangered species economics demographics human populations migrations ecology politics

Deep trouble--fish seeking colder waters may have nowhere to go

sea-maid submitted, created time 4 months 3 weeks (www.nature.com)

An increasing number of species are migrating in response to global warming; some alpine organisms are climbing to higher altitudes. Other animals are moving towards the poles.

A new study suggests that as sea temperatures rise, many fish may be electing to move into deeper, cooler waters, rather than moving to higher latitudes as many theorists had previously predicted. This presents a problem: the deeper the fish go, the less light and food they find.

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: global climate change global warming climate change marine biology fish migrations endangered species Global warming

Humpback Whale Numbers Rising