Columbian glass frog, possibly new to science. Photo by Marco Rada, courtesy of Conservation International Colombia.
Ten potentially new species, most of them frogs, have been reported living in a mountainous area near Colombia’s border with Panama, a remote diversity hotspot the discoverers are now calling a “Noah’s Ark.”
Herpetologists from Conservation International in Colombia and ornithologists from the Ecotrópico Foundation led the discovery expedition into the Tacarcuna area of the Darien, with the support of the local Emberá community of Eyakera. In three weeks, the scientists identified about 60 species of amphibians, 20 reptiles and nearly 120 birds.
The species believed to be new to science include a spiky-skinned, orange-legged rain frog, three poison dart frogs and three glass frogs, which boast transparent skin revealing internal organs.
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Killer whale with male calf, from Eurekalert.org
I silenced my Inner Rational Scientist here, and went for the cute factor. How could I resist?
There actually is some science. It appears killer whale calves born to older mothers may be in better … um, flippers.
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I wish I remembered which science conference that was. There was a small presentation room, with a handful of speakers who projected their slides onto a big screen, as usual. But hardly anyone was in the audience; the sessions in rooms down the hall were much more crowded. The title, something about quantifying nature’s value to the human race, had intrigued me. But I remember being unimpressed. As presented, the idea seemed desperate and sad.
This idea of putting a price tag on nature burst onto the scene in 1997, when Robert Costanza, an ecological economist at the University of Vermont, published a paper in the journal Nature.
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This book review of The Hunt for Planet X, by Govert Schilling, appears in slightly different form in the Arizona Daily Sun. Even though I wrote it, it remains under copyright with the paper for two months. I reprint it here with permission, thanks to the editor, Randy Wilson.
Govert Schilling signs books at the AAS meeting, photo by Jim Bennett
The Hunt for Planet X
I liked Govert Schilling the minute I met him, in early January at the 213th American Astronomical Society meeting in Long Beach, California. He’s a tall, lanky guy who seems too young to be in his 50s. His gait is jaunty, his hair often tousled, and when he introduced himself to ask questions at the press conference, he didn’t rely on fancy publication names to bolster his credentials, although he’s been published prodigiously and has won international awards: “I’m Govert Schilling, from the Netherlands,” he would say.
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The Colorado River in Grand Canyon, photo by Sadie Babits
The Colorado River in Grand Canyon remains flooded with controversy, more than a decade after federal policies were established to regulate flows out of Glen Canyon Dam. I was tipped off to the latest round of legal battles by a blog post in Arizona Geology, “Science ignored in Grand Canyon flows.” In the short item, author and state geologist Lee Allison included a link to a Wednesday Washington Post story that unveiled ongoing wrangling between Grand Canyon National Park, the Bureau of Interior, the Bureau of Reclamation and a Flagstaff-based environmental group, the Grand Canyon Trust, that’s accusing the two federal agencies (BOI and BOR) of illegally operating the dam in favor of industry. On the losing end, says the Grand Canyon Trust, are the Grand Canyon’s natural resources, including the famously homely fish called the humpback chub, that the National Park System is duty-bound to protect.
Quite a mouthful, eh?
I’ll back up. The Department of the Interior oversees the National Park Service. The Bureau of Reclamation regulates flow out of the nation’s hydroelectric dams. The main issue in the Grand Canyon: various flow volumes and their timing can either mimic natural flows to enhance wildlife habitat and bolster the beaches, or compromise habitat and erode the shore. Usually, the best flows for resource enhancement are opposite what’s best for optimum generation of hydroelectric power.
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