Don't bite the hand that feeds...

Hammerschlag, N., A.J. Gallagher, J. Wester, J. Luo, and J.S. Ault. 2012. Don’t bite the hand that feeds: assessing ecological impacts of provisioning ecotourism on an apex marine predator. Functional Ecology: 1-10.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2012.01973.x/pdf

Ecotourism is a responsible form of travel that combines involvement in environmental conservation, helping out the local community, and getting to experience a cool part of nature. As we learned in class, ecotourism is an essential part of conservation, as it provides the funds and involvement necessary to head conservation projects, that otherwise would not be as successful. However, some ecotourism practices could have a negative impact on conservation, disturbing the natural activities of the very animals it is trying to protect. For example, there are cases where food is used to attract wildlife for tourist viewing pleasure, such as the shark diving industry, where chum (fish parts and blood) is put into the water to bring sharks into the area around the divers.

There is much debate about whether this practice negatively impacts the normal behaviour and ecology of the sharks. Hammerschlag and colleagues (2012) decided to investigate this issue by using satellite telemetry to study the long range movement patterns of tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier; the largest apex predator in tropical waters) in response to dive tourism. They looked at two separate populations of tiger sharks: one in Florida where shark feeding is illegal, and one in the Bahamas where this type of ecotourism is regularly used.  One might expect that shark feeding may make the sharks more reliant on that type of easy meal, and restrict how far they travel from that area. This could pose a threat to humans in the area, if the sharks associate humans with food, and it could also have ecological consequences by altering the normal diet and movement of the sharks. Yet, Hammerschlag and researchers’ results suggest that this is not the case. They found that there was no difference between the migration patterns and habitat use between the two populations.One reason they suggest to explain this is that tiger sharks are opportunistic foragers, so they go wherever there is the highest productivity of food.

Because this shark feeding practice does not seem to have a negative effect on the sharks, there seems to be no reason to stop it, as it brings in large amounts of money to help with the conservation efforts. However, some species may be more sensitive to human interference than others, so wildlife provisioning should not be used without thorough research of the possible impacts to the behaviour and ecology of the species.

Video summary of research: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iFl7BxbnXQ

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Falcons for Grapes

Kross, S.M, J. M. Tylianakis, and X.J. Nelson. 2011. Effects of introducing threatened falcons into vineyards on abundance of passeriformes and bird damage to grapes. Conservation Biology 26: 142-149. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2011.01756.x/pdf

In their recent article published in Conservation Biology, Kross and researchers (2011) found a way that a threatened falcon species can benefit agriculture, while receiving protection. Vineyards are regularly raided by birds, such as Blackbirds (Turdus merula), Song Thrushes (Turdus philomelos), and Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), which eat or cause damage to the grapes. When the threatened New Zealand Falcon (Falco novaeseelandiae) was introduced into the vineyard as part of a “Falcons for Grapes” conservation project, it effectively reduced the abundance of vineyard pests and decreased the number of grapes removed by a whopping 95%! The researchers calculated that the presence of falcons can potentially save the vineyard US$234/ha for the Sauvignon Blanc variety of grapes and $326/ha for Pinot Noir variety of grapes. These numbers should be enough to convince any vineyard owner to consider becoming involved in the protection of at-risk falcon species.

Previously, the methods used to scare away birds were just deterrents, like loud noises, which the birds could easily become accustomed to. But, with the new falcon approach, it costs less money to implement, and its effectiveness saves more money in the long run. Not to mention, that you are part of an important conservation effort that you can feel good about. Already, in places like Sonoma County, CA, where vineyards are a big business, falcons have been trained to chase away pesky birds (but not to eat them because that takes too long; Bussewitz, 2011).

The reason this paper caught my attention was because the Okanagon Valley in B.C. relies strongly on vineyards and wine production. It would be interesting to see if a program involving the protection of the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus; a species red-listed in B.C.) or other falcon species in the area would benefit from this sort of relationship. Kross and researchers paper was a very fitting way to wrap up what we have been talking about in class: Economics and conservation can go hand-in-hand after all! What a perfect example of conservation and agriculture working together to produce a positive outcome that benefits both parties.

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Supplementary Info:

Bussewitz, C.  2011. Falcons guard Sonoma County vineyard. The Press Democrat: 1-2.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20111012/ARTICLES/111019845?p=2&tc=pg

Protected?

Coastal First Nations http://www.coastalfirstnations.ca/

Humane Society International/Canada http://www.hsi.org/world/canada/

Pacific Wild http://www.pacificwild.org/site/our-work/stop-the-trophy-hunt.html

The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition. http://www.spiritbearyouth.org/

The Great Bear Rainforest (together with the Haida Gwaii) holds the largest area of intact coastal temperate rainforest in the world. This ecosystem has become so rare, it now covers less than 1% of the planet’s entire land mass. It supports many threatened and unique species, such as wolves, grizzly bears, and black bears. It is also home to the extraordinary spirit bear, which as Krista explained, is a genetically distinct subspecies of the black bear with white fur due to a recessive gene. However, this habitat and the species living there are facing many threats…

Only 50% of the Great Bear Rainforest is protected from logging, and the BC government says they need until 2014 to increase that to 70%. Of course, that is after the election, so who knows who will be in power then.

The government also allows trophy hunting of black bears and grizzly bears within 98% of the spirit bear’s range, including protected areas. People come from all over in search of the biggest kill. Although it is illegal to hunt the spirit bear, the black bears that are carriers of the white fur gene are fair game. When the proper gene pool is intact, 1 out of every 10 black bears are spirit bears. If these bears were to become endangered, it would be extremely difficult to increase their numbers through captive breeding, due to this fact. That is why it is exceptionally important to conserve the delicate ecological balance that has allowed the spirit bears to survive for thousands of years. This senseless slaughter threatens the genetic diversity of these unique populations. The spirit bear is the icon of our province. It is so rare to begin with, we should be doing everything we can to preserve this celebrated animal. How are we supposed to save the spirit bear, if there are no black bears to carry the gene in the first place?

Even though the grizzly bear is not as renowned as the spirit bear, it is still an important part of BC. This is one of the few places in North America where the grizzly bear has not been extirpated, but it is still a threatened species. Yet, approximately 300 grizzly bears are killed per year in BC by trophy hunters.

Countless organizations have made it their mission to protect the Great Bear Rainforest, save the spirit bear, and end trophy hunting in this area. Pacific Wild, The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition, Humane Society International/Canada, Coastal First Nations, and Sierra Club BC (to name a few) have been educating the public and fighting to increase the protection of the Great Bear Rainforest. People would rather watch these beautiful creatures in their natural environment, instead of see them hung on walls as trophies. To learn more, please visit the above websites to see what they are doing to support this cause.

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These videos also summarize the issues quite well (but I am warning, you will feel depressed after).

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/v/QJLU61FAoO4?version=3&f=playlists&app=youtube_gdata

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/v/DOPWZ8gOAO8?version=3&f=playlists&app=youtube_gdata

A "Sea"ccess!

Chaloupka, M., K.A. Bjorndal, G.H. Balazs, A.B. Bolten, L.M. Ehrhart, C.J. Limpus, H. Suganuma, S. Troeng, and M. Yamaguchi. 2008. Encouraging outlook for recovery of a once severaly exploited marine megaherbivore. Global Ecology and Biogeography 17: 297–304. http://accstr.ufl.edu/publications/Chaloupka_etal_GEB_2008.pdf

Mortimer, J.A., R.G. von Brandis, A. Liljevik, R. Chapman, and J. Collie. 2011. Fall and rise of nesting green turtles (Chelonia mydas) at Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles: Positive response to four decades of protection (1968–2008). Chelonian Conservation and Biology 10: 165–176. http://www.swetswise.com.ezproxy.tru.ca/FullTextProxy/swproxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chelonianjournals.org%2Fdoi%2Fpdf%2F10.2744%252FCCB-0872.1&ts=1328759412200&cs=3094114707&userName=5786541.ipdirect&emCondId=5786541&articleID=163757158&yevoID=3454990&titleID=39926&referer=4&remoteAddr=192.146.156.172&hostType=PRO&swsSessionId=dgs4vW4-33ycBXdp2TmMhw__.pasc1

Standora, E.A., and J. Spotila. 1985. Temperature dependent sex determination in sea turtles. Copeia 3: 711-722. http://www.jstor.org/pss/1444765

Troeng, S., and E. Rankin. 2004. Long term conservation efforts contribute to positive green turtle Chelonia mydas nesting trend at Tortuguero, Costa Rica. Biological Conservation 121: 111–116. http://www.conserveturtles.org/pdf/scientific/Troeng_Rankin_2005BiologicalConservation.pdf

After a somewhat depressing start to the semester of conservation biology, we are in need of a few success stories to lighten our mood. A prime example of animals that are significantly benefiting from our conservation efforts are the sea turtles (I will focus on the green turtle, Chelonia mydas). Sadly, for the last 141 years, green turtle populations have declined by 37-61%; and as a result, the species is listed as endangered by the IUCN (Troeng et al., 2004). There have been many causes contributing to their decline: (1) exploitation by humans for eggs and meat; (2) conflicts with commercial fishing; and (3) coastal development (Troeng et al., 2004; Chaloupka et al., 2008). Sea turtles are especially sensitive to coastal development, as they are very specific as to what beaches they will nest on, and they tend to return to the same beach year after year. They also have temperature dependent sex determination, where lower incubation temperatures for the eggs result in males, and higher temperatures produce females; therefore, buildings along the coast provide shade that could drastically alter the normal offspring sex ratios of the sea turtles (Standora and Spotila, 1985). The loss of green turtles is of particular concern because they contribute greatly to the health of seagrass and coral reef ecosystems (Chaloupka et al., 2008). In response to these threats, countless sea turtle conservation organizations have been established to try to save these beautiful creatures from extinction.

Monitoring and conservation of the green turtle population began in 1955 (Troeng et al., 2004); yet, sea turtles are a species with late maturity and low population growth rates, so it can take decades to see results (Troeng et al., 2004; Chaloupka et al., 2008).  Multiple studies have shown significant increases in nesting in several different populations over their study periods: 417% increase in Tortuguero, Costa Rica over 32 years (Troeng et al., 2004); 500-800% increase in Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles over 40 years (Mortimer et al., 2011); and up to a 14% increase per year in Florida over 25 years (Chaloupka et al., 2008). Nonetheless, other populations have still been seriously depleted, and numbers for all populations are still below historical abundance levels (Chaloupka et al., 2008). However, these trends reveal the positive effects that worldwide conservation efforts have had on the recuperation of the endangered green turtle populations. Although, there is still a long way to go, the outlook for green sea turtles looks promising!

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The Truth About the Ajax Mine

Braga, A.L.F, L.A.A. Pereira, M. Procopio, P.A. deAndre, and P.H.D. Saldiva. 2007. Association between air pollution and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in Itabira, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. CADERNOS DE SAUDE PUBLICA  23: 570-578. http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-311X2007001600017&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt

Ghaffari, H. 2012. Ajax Copper/Gold Project- Kamloops, British Columbia Feasibility Study Technical Report. Wardrop, Vancouver, British Columbia. <http://www.amemining.com/i/pdf/2012_01_06_Feasibility_Study_Ajax.pdf >

Kamloops Area Preservation Association (KAPA). 2012. Stop Ajax Mine. <http://www.stopajaxmine.ca/home>

Koopmans, R. 2011. Ajax will forever change the Jacko Lake grasslands. Kamloops Daily News. < http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/article/20110730/KAMLOOPS23/110729814/-1/kamloops23/ajax-will-forever-change-the-jacko-lake-grasslands>

The truth. It is something that the residents of Kamloops are entitled to when it comes to the events that could soon be affecting everyday aspects of life; however, it feels as though we are being kept in the dark about some aspects of the proposed Ajax copper-gold mine.  The Ajax mine will cover approximately 2500 hectares of prime grassland area just outside of Kamloops for a lifespan of 23 years (Ghaffari, 2012). The main concerns associated with the mine proposal are the possible health, environmental, and economic effects.  Ajax claimed that the mine would be 10km from the city. In truth, some parts, including waste rock management, truck stops, and tailings plant/storage facilities would be within city limits (figure 1; KAPA, 2012). In fact, there are elementary schools, senior’s residences, and residential housing that are only 2km away from the mine (KAPA, 2012).

Figure 1. A map of the proposed Ajax copper-gold mine in Kamloops, B.C (KAPA, 2012).

Ajax claimed that dust will not be a problem. However, Bob Hamaguchi, Highland Valley Copper's retired environmental engineer, was quoted saying, “Dust has always been an issue at Highland Valley Copper… there were days you could hardly breathe” (Koopman, 2011). So what would Ajax be doing differently? There is a frightening lack of literature on the possible health risks associated with living in close proximity to mines. In a paper by Braga et al. (2007), the researchers investigated the effect of fine particulate matter (or dust) on respiratory and cardiovascular health of the citizens living in close proximity to an ore pit mine in Brazil. The results showed a startling 4% increase in hospital visits for children less than 13 years of age and adults between 45-64 years of age, while adolescents 13-19 years of age showed an even higher 12% increase. Scarier still, measurable levels of aluminum, arsenic, manganese, chromium, strontium, and uranium can be present in ore and waste rock (Ghaffari, 2012).

If this isn’t bad enough, the mine is to be built on 2500 hectares of grassland, an ecosystem that is in serious danger and now, makes up less than 1% of British Columbia land area. The area is also home to many endangered and at risk species that may never recover from a disturbance this great (Koopmans, 2012).

On the other hand, those that are for the building of the Ajax mine can see the potential income it would bring to the city. It is proposed that the mine would provide up to 400 jobs, not including those that would be employed during construction. However, what some people may not know is that the ore will be shipped overseas for processing, which is income the city of Kamloops will not see. Also, with the instability of copper prices, there is always the possibility that copper prices could decline and the mine would shut down (KAPA, 2012).

When you combine all the detrimental effects the mine will have on the health of Kamloop’s citizens and the surrounding environment, do the benefits really outweigh the costs? These are just some of the facts; but as citizens of Kamloops, it is our responsibility to look at the facts and stay informed about matters happening in our city.

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