African vultures declining at a critical rate

"Nobody liked vultures much until now, but the change isn’t good news. Big birds appear to be next on the hunters’ list for the bushmeat trade, and vultures are their new favourite.

Researchers visited hundreds of bushmeat stalls at 67 markets in 12 countries across West and Central Africa, and found 52 species of vultures and other raptors for sale. More than a quarter of them are classified as near threatened, vulnerable or endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.

Team member Ralph Buij of Wageningen University in the Netherlands estimates that more than 6000 of these birds are traded across West Africa alone each year, including around a thousand endangered hooded vultures.

The numbers may not sound huge, but Buij says that the trade represents “a sizeable proportion” of the populations of some species. The team estimates that 5 to 8 per cent of West Africa’s 450 or so white-headed vultures end up on meat stalls each year, for instance."

"Vultures play a vital role in clearing up carcasses of wild animals and livestock, suppressing the transmission of diseases to humans via mammal scavengers such as dogs,” says Phil Shaw of the University of St Andrews in the UK."

Above extracts taken from Vultures are new target for African bushmeat and medicine trade' in the New Scientist  1st September 2015

[Press Release]
Study by Shaw et al.: Conservation Letters, DOI: 10.1111/conl.12182

Released guppies go wild

According to new research by Dr Amy Deacon and Professor Anne Magurran of the School of Biology, in collaboration with Professor Indar Ramnarine of the University of the West Indies, a single released ornamental female guppy can generate an entire new population in the wild even with no male present. Dr Deacon explains that “female guppies can store sperm in their reproductive tracts for many months after mating, and this enables single fish to establish populations, even when no males are present”.

The guppy, whose native home is Trinidad and the north-eastern fringe of South America, is now present in over 70 countries worldwide, and has earned a reputation as one of the world’s most invasive fish. The two most important routes of guppies finding their way into the wild are the escapes of ornamental fish, and deliberate introductions designed to control the larvae of mosquitoes that spread malaria. Although self-contained at first, heavy rains and flooding mean that the fish eventually find their way to streams and rivers where they come into contact with native fish, which can ultimately contribute to the reduction of biodiversity in these freshwater habitats. [full article]

Biodiversity study on East Sands

Researchers from the Sediment Ecology Research Group study biodiversity and ecosystem function on the rocky shore at East Sands, St Andrews. The work was carried out as part of MarBEF, a network of excellence funded by the European Union and consisting of 94 European marine institutes. The purpose of the project was to act as a platform to integrate and disseminate knowledge and expertise on marine biodiversity, with links to researchers, industry, stakeholders and the general public. The work was within the experimental project BIOFUSE (Effects of biodiversity on the functioning and stability of marine ecosystems).