‘World’s Least Known Bird’ Discovered Breeding in Afghanistan

Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society have discovered the only known breeding area for the large-billed reed warbler, once called “the world’s least known bird species.”

Researchers for the Wildlife Conservation Society have discovered for the first time the breeding area of the large-billed reed warbler — dubbed in 2007 as “the world’s least known bird species” — in the remote and rugged Wakhan Corridor of the Pamir Mountains of north-eastern Afghanistan.

Using a combination of astute field observations, museum specimens, DNA sequencing, and the first known audio recording of the species, researchers verified the discovery by capturing and releasing almost 20 birds earlier this year, the largest number ever recorded.

A preliminary paper on the finding appears in the most recent edition ofBirdingASIA. The authors include: Robert Timmins, Naqeebullah Mostafawi, Ali Madad Rajabi, Hafizullah Noori, Stephane Ostrowski and Colin Poole, of the Wildlife Conservation Society; Urban Olsson of Göteborg University, Sweden; and Lars Svensson.

The recent discovery of large-billed reed warblers in Afghanistan represents a watershed moment in the study of this bird, called in 2007 the world’s least known bird species by BirdLife International. The first specimen was discovered in India in 1867, with more than a century elapsing before a second discovery of a single bird in Thailand in 2006.

“Practically nothing is known about this species, so this discovery of the breeding area represents a flood of new information on the large-billed reed warbler,” said Colin Poole, Executive Director of WCS’s Asia Program. “This new knowledge of the bird also indicates that the Wakhan Corridor still holds biological secrets and is critically important for future conservation efforts in Afghanistan.”

The find serves as a case study in the detective work needed to confirm ornithological discoveries. The story begins in 2008, when Timmins was conducting a survey of bird communities along the Wakhan and Pamir Rivers. He immediately heard a distinctive song coming from a small, olive-brown bird with a long bill. Timmins taped the bird’s song. He later heard and observed more birds of the same species.

Initially, Timmins assumed these birds to be Blyth’s reed warblers, but a visit to a Natural History Museum in Tring, United Kingdom to examine bird skins resulted in a surprise: the observed birds were another species. Lars Svensson — an expert on the family of reed warblers and familiar with their songs — then realized that Timmins’ tape was probably the first recording of the large-billed reed warbler.

The following summer (June 2009), WCS researchers returned to the site of Timmins’ first survey, this time with mist nets used to catch birds for examination. The research team broadcast the recording of the song, a technique used to bring curious birds of the same species into view for observation and examination. The recording brought in large-billed reed warblers from all directions, allowing the team to catch almost 20 of them for examination and to collect feathers for DNA. Later lab work comparing museum specimens with measurements, field images, and DNA confirmed the exciting finding: the first-known breeding population of large-billed reed warblers.

WCS is currently the only organization conducting ongoing scientific conservation studies in Afghanistan — the first such efforts in over 30 years — and has contributed to a number of conservation initiatives and activities in partnership with the Afghanistan Government, with support from USAID (United States Agency for International Development). In 2009, the government of Afghanistan gazetted the country’s first national park, Band-e-Amir, established with technical assistance from WCS’s Afghanistan Program. WCS also worked with Afghanistan’s National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA) in producing the country’s first-ever list of protected species, an action that now bans the hunting of snow leopards, wolves, brown bears, and other species. In a related effort, WCS now works to limit illegal wildlife trade in the country through educational workshops for soldiers at Bagram Air Base and other military bases across Afghanistan.

Situated between the mountainous regions of the Pamirs in Tajikistan, Pakistan, and China, the Wakhan Corridor supports a surprisingly wide range of large mammal species, including Marco Polo sheep (or argali), ibex, lynx, wolf, and the elusive snow leopard.

Indian Warbler ‘Lost’ For 139 Years Makes Spectacular Return

Large-billed Reed-warbler: the world’s least known bird.

Ornithologists across the world are celebrating with the news that a wetland bird that has eluded scientists ever since its discovery in India in 1867 has been refound. Twice.

The Large-billed Reed-warbler is the world’s least known bird. A single bird was collected in the Sutlej Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India, in 1867, but many had questioned whether it was indeed represented a true species and wasn’t just an aberrant individual of a common species.

But on 27 March 2006, ornithologist Philip Round, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology, Mahidol University, was bird ringing (banding) at a wastewater treatment centre (the royally initiated Laem Phak Bia Environmental Research and Development Project) near Bangkok, Thailand.

“Although reed-warblers are generally drab and look very similar, one of the birds I caught that morning struck me as very odd, something about it didn’t quite add up; it had a long beak and short wings,” said Round. “Then, it dawned on me—I was probably holding a Large-billed Reed-warbler. I was dumbstruck, it felt as if I was holding a living dodo.”

“I knew it was essential to get cast-iron proof of its identity. I took many photographs, and carefully collected two feathers for DNA analysis, so as not to harm the bird.”

Round contacted Professor Staffan Bensch, from Lund University, Sweden, who had previously examined the Indian specimen and confirmed it did represent a valid species. He examined photographs and DNA of the Thai bird and confirmed the two were the same species.

“A priority now is to find out where the Large-billed Reed-warbler’s main population lives, whether it is threatened, and if so, how these threats can be addressed.” —Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife International

“This rediscovery of the Large-billed Reed-warbler on the shores of Inner Gulf of Thailand (a BirdLife Important Bird Area, IBA) illustrates the importance of wetland habitats and the remarkable biodiversity they are home to,” said Ms Kritsana Kaewplang, BCST Director. “It also demonstrates the contribution of routine monitoring and ringing of migratory birds at even well-known sites.”

“This remarkable discovery gives Indian ornithologists an added incentive to continue our search for the Large-billed Reed-warbler in India,” said Dr Asad Rahmani, Director of the Bombay Natural History Society. “Like the discovery of Bugun Liocichla last year in Arunachal Pradesh, it shows us just how much we still have to learn about our remarkable avifauna.”

BirdLife International’s Dr Stuart Butchart, commented: “Almost nothing is known about this mysterious bird. The Indian specimen has short, round wings and we speculated it is resident or short-distance migrant, so its appearance in Thailand is very surprising. A priority now is to find out where the Large-billed Reed-warbler’s main population lives, whether it is threatened, and if so, how these threats can be addressed.”

But, in a further twist to this remarkable tale, six months after the rediscovery, another Large-billed Reed-warbler specimen was discovered in the collection of the Natural History Museum at Tring, in a drawer of Blyth’s Reed-warblers (Acrocephalus dumetorum) collected in India during the 19th Century. Once again, Professor Staffan Bensch confirmed the identification using DNA.

“Finding one Large-billed Reed-warbler after 139 years was remarkable, finding a second—right under ornithologists’ noses for that length of time—is nothing short of a miracle,” said Butchart.

The second specimen is from a different part of India and is bound to fuel debate as to the whereabouts of more Large-billed Reed-warblers.

“Now people are aware Large-billed Reed-warblers are out there, we can expect someone to discover the breeding grounds before long. Myanmar or Bangladesh are strong possibilities, but this species has proved so elusive that it could produce yet another surprise,” said Butchart.

Parrot Fossil 55 Million Years Old Discovered In Scandinavia

Artists impression of the parrot-like bird ‘Mopsitta tanta’ dating back 55 million years. The fossils indicate that parrots once flew wild over what is now Norway and Denmark

Palaeontologists have discovered fossil remains in Scandinavia of parrots dating back 55 million years. Reported May 14 in the journal Palaeontology, the fossils indicate that parrots once flew wild over what is now Norway and Denmark.

Parrots today live only in the tropics and southern hemisphere, but this new research suggests that they first evolved in the North, much earlier than had been thought.

The fossil parrot was discovered on the Isle of Mors in the northwest of Denmark – far from where you’d normally expect to find a parrot. It’s a new species, officially named ‘Mopsitta tanta’. However, already its nick-name is the ‘Danish Blue Parrot’, a term derived from a famous comedy sketch about a ‘Norwegian Blue Parrot’ in the 1970s BBC television programme ‘Monty Python’.

The Scandinavian connection makes links to Monty Python’s notoriously demised bird irresistible, but the parallels go further. The famous sketch revolves around establishing that a bird purchased by John Cleese is a dead parrot, and in dealing with these fossils, palaeontologists were faced with the same problem.

As Dr David Waterhouse, lead author of the paper, explains: “Obviously, we are dealing with a bird that is bereft of life, but the tricky bit is establishing that it was a parrot. As with many fragile bird fossils, it is a wonder that anything remains at all, and all that remains of this early Danish parrot is a single upper wing bone (humerus). But, this small bone contains characteristic features that show that it is clearly from a member of the parrot family, about the size of a Yellow-crested Cockatoo.”

Dr David Waterhouse was funded by a UCD postgraduate scholarship from 2002 to 2006. He is currently Assistant Curator of Natural History at Norfolk Museums Service. Dr Bent Lindow was an IRCSET ‘Basic Research Grant’ scholar at UCD and the University of Copenhagen from 2004 to 2007. He is currently postdoctoral researcher in palaeontology at the Natural History Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.

At around 55 million years old, this is very much an ex-parrot. Indeed, Mopsitta represents the oldest and most northerly convincing remains of a parrot ever to have been discovered.

Waterhouse continues: “It isn’t as unbelievable as you might at first think that a parrot was found so far north. When Mopsitta was alive, most of Northern Europe was experiencing a warm period, with a large shallow tropical lagoon covering much of Germany, South East England and Denmark. We have to remember that this was only 10 million years after the dinosaurs were wiped out, and some strange things were happening with animal life all over the planet.”

“No Southern Hemisphere fossil parrot has been found older than about 15 million years old, so this new evidence suggests that parrots evolved right here in the Northern Hemisphere before diversifying further South in the tropics later on.”

So was Danish Mopsitta “pinin’ for the fjords”? “It’s a lovely image,” says Waterhouse, “but we can say with certainty that it was not. This parrot shuffled off its mortal coil around 55 million years ago, but the fjords of Norway were formed during the last ice age and are less than a million years old.”

Amphibians as Environmental Omen Disputed

Amphibians, for years considered a leading indicator of environmental degradation, are not uniquely susceptible to pollution, according to a meta-analysis to be published in Ecology Letters.

After a review of over 28,000 toxicological tests, researchers from the University of South Dakota, Yale University and Washington State University are challenging the prevailing view that amphibians, with their permeable skin and aquatic environment, are particularly sensitive to environmental threats and, as such, are “canaries,” or predictors of environmental decline.

“The very simple message is that for most of the classes of chemical compounds we looked at, frogs range from being moderately susceptible to being bullet-proof,” said David Skelly, professor of ecology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and a member of the research team. “There are lots of other kinds of environmental threats that have led to their decline, including habitat conversion, harvesting for food and the global spread of the Chytrid fungus, which is mowing down these species in its path.”

The team, led by Jacob Kerby, an assistant professor at the University of South Dakota, based its analysis on information gleaned from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Aquatic Toxicity Information Retrieval database, examining 1,279 species, among them segmented worms, fish, bivalves such as clams, insects and snails. Those species were exposed in water to various concentrations of 107 chemical agents, including inorganic chemicals, pesticides, heavy metals and phenols, a class of chemical compound.

“What our results suggest is that all animals are susceptible to chemical stressors and that amphibians are potentially good indicators,” said Kerby. “There isn’t any evidence that they’re a uniquely leading indicator. We tried to be comprehensive in the types of chemicals and organisms that we examined.”

In light of the findings, Skelly said, scientists should evaluate the absence, presence or abundance of amphibians in wild populations as “signals” of potential exposure to different chemicals in the environment. “If we have such an understanding for several species, we may be able to use their responses, collectively, as a means of narrowing potential causes of environmental degradation,” he said.

The EPA, according to the paper, uses African Clawed Frogs as a proxy for biological diversity when determining a species’ sensitivity to chemical exposures, even though that particular species does not occur naturally in North America. “Our knowledge of amphibians’ sensitivity to particular chemicals or classes of chemicals has not been used to design assays for effects in nature,” Skelly said.

Amphibians In Losing Race With Environmental Change

Many amphibians, such as this South American red-eyed tree frog, face decline, researchers warn.

Even though they had the ability to evolve and survive for hundreds of millions of years - since before the time of the dinosaurs and through many climatic regimes - the massive, worldwide decline of amphibians can best be understood by their inability to keep pace with the current rate of global change, a new study suggests.

The basic constraints of evolution and the inability of species to adapt quickly enough can explain most of the causes that are leading one species after another of amphibians into decline or outright extinction, say researchers from Oregon State University, in a study published in the journal BioScience.

“We know that there are various causes for amphibian population declines, including UV-B light exposure, habitat loss, pesticide pollution, infections and other issues,” said Andrew Blaustein, a professor of zoology at OSU and one of the world’s leading experts on amphibian decline.

“But looked at in a different way, it’s not just that there are threats and pressures amphibians have to deal with,” Blaustein said. “There have always been threats, and these have been some of the most adaptive and successful vertebrate animals on Earth. They were around before the dinosaurs, have lived in periods with very different climates, and continued to thrive while many other species went extinct. But right now, they just can’t keep up.”

It has been estimated that the rate of plant and animal extinction is greater now than any known in the last 100,000 years, the researchers note in their report. Amphibians are of particular interest because their physiology and complex life cycle often exposes them to a wider range of environmental changes than other species must face — they have permeable skin, live on both land and water, their eggs have no shells.

In the face of these challenges, amphibians appear to be losing the battle — of 5,743 known species of amphibians on Earth, 43 percent are in decline, 32 percent are threatened and 168 species are believed extinct. The impacts of changes are far more pervasive on amphibians than many other vertebrates, such as birds or mammals.

“Historically, amphibians were adept at evolving to deal with new conditions,” Blaustein said. “What they are doing is showing us just how rapid and unprecedented are the environmental changes under way. Many other species will also be unable to evolve fast enough to deal with these changes. Because of their unique characteristics, the amphibians are just the first to go.”

In their analysis, the OSU scientists point out that evolution is not a precise or perfect process - it takes time, is constrained by historic changes and compromises, and does not always allow a species to adapt in a way that meets rapidly changing conditions. Through genetic variation and natural selection pressures, some species or populations will be able to adapt — while others fail and go extinct.

The systems developed over millions of years to give amphibians survival advantages have now turned against them, scientists say.

Examples include:

• Many amphibians lay their eggs in shallow, open water in direct sunlight to provide a more oxygenated environment, increase growth rate of larvae and reduce predation. But the increased levels of UV-B radiation in today’s sunlight, due to erosion of the Earth’s ozone layer, is causing mutations, impaired immune systems and slower growth rates. Through evolution, amphibians were able to adapt to changing UV-B levels in the past, but the current change has occurred too rapidly.
• In the past, water was reasonably pure and clean. But increased “eutrophication” of freshwater ponds due to use of modern fertilizers and waste from grazing animals has led to higher rates of parasite infections, and chemical contamination of aquatic systems is also more common.
• Many animal species lay their eggs communally or congregate socially, often to avoid predation or improve resource use. But global warming has caused higher levels of certain infectious diseases of some amphibians, and it spreads more easily in closely connected communities.

“Although relatively rapid evolution may occur within some amphibian populations when a novel threat arises, other threats may be too intense and too new for amphibians to cope with them,” the researchers wrote in their report. “Behaviors and ecological attributes that have probably persisted, and were probably beneficial, for millions of years . . . under today’s conditions may subject amphibians to a variety of damaging agents.”

Natural selection and species adaptation may, in time, allow amphibians to react to and recover from the new environmental insults, Blaustein said, if they don’t go extinct first.

But evolution is an erratic, often slow and imperfect system, and the complexities of amphibian life cycles makes them more immediately vulnerable than many other species, the researchers said.

Saving Gorillas, Elephants Starts With Understanding Their Human Neighbors

A western lowland gorilla crosses a stream through a marshy clearing in the Dzanga-Sangha Dense Forest Reserve in the Central African Republic. Melissa Remis, a Purdue anthropology professor who studies these gorillas, is collaborating with Rebecca Hardin, an associate professor of cultural anthropology at the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources, to better understand issues that affect this protected reserve. The researchers advocate that understanding human cultures is key to preserving gorillas, elephants and other wildlife in African parks and reserves.

Understanding local human cultures is key to preserving gorillas, elephants and other wildlife in African parks and reserves, according to new research from Purdue University.

“Conservation efforts and the management of protected areas are often designed with the best intentions, but sometimes supporting scientific data is missing or incorrect assumptions are made about a local culture or even the outsiders or trade that plays a role in the area,” said Melissa Remis, a professor of anthropology who studies gorillas. “Conservation isn’t just about protecting wildlife, you also need to consider the human dimension such as how local hunting technologies or even migration can change how land is used.”

Remis, a biological anthropologist, and Rebecca Hardin, an associate professor of cultural anthropology at the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources, focused on issues specific to animal species, forest fragmentation, ecotourism, local culture and industry in the Dzanga-Sangha Dense Forest Reserve in the Central African Republic. The forest is known for western lowland gorillas and a clearing that attracts up to 100 elephants at a time. The reserve is a multi-use zone that was created in 1991 and includes areas designated for research, tourism, local hunting, safari hunting and logging. Bayanga is the local town with a population of 5,000.

Local communities may see wildlife, such as elephants, as a problem if they damage their crops. Other groups may resent saving local wildlife when they are struggling to feed their families and could use the protected species as a food source. These attitudes also can vary between ethnic groups, such as the local BaAka who have lived with the gorillas and elephants for years and the migrants who have more recently moved to the area because of jobs in logging or conservation.

“Better integration of basic research in the ecological and social domains would really improve conservation strategies and outcomes, but it also would improve goodwill for the communities that often feel resentment toward protecting wildlife,” Remis said.

For example, researchers found that selective logging opens light gaps in the forest that result in new herbaceous vegetation growth. This food source helps sustain the local antelope, which are called duikers. These antelope, whose populations are declining, are the primary food source for most people in the area, and some local residents have been hunting gorillas as a substitute as for duiker. A stable duiker population would help take the hunting pressure off the protected species, Remis said.

“This is an example where logging at certain low levels could actually help people sustain higher yields for hunting,” she said. “Again, this is where science would help with land management.”

Remis and Hardin have studied the cultures and the animals, specifically elephants and gorillas, in this area since the 1990s. In addition to regular animal censuses, the researchers interviewed park guards, tourists, local residents and others. Findings from this research, which includes data up to 2005, appeared in last month’s Conservation Biology. The research team also is evaluating additional data from 2005 to 2008. These recent animal censuses show that the local gorilla and elephant populations are declining even in the heart of the protected area.

“This research reinforces the value of biological and cultural anthropologists working together,” Remis said. “We devised a framework for transvaluation of wildlife species, which means the valuing of animals based on their ecological, economic and symbolic roles in human lives. Transvaluation provides insights that can be successfully integrated into more adaptive conservation policies. It demonstrates a way to marshal local and transnational support for conservation as it emphasizes that both local communities and international ones value these species for their magnificence, beyond their economic importance. These animals are the subject of local as well as international folktales and legends, and their extinction would have impacts in and beyond local communities. What would it be like for our children to grow up in a world without gorillas or elephants?

“Through interviews with local residents and workers, we have a better understanding of how change, such as local economies and hunting technologies, affects conservation. This collaboration is helping us better understand how animals and humans are responding to each other.”

The Dzanga-Sangha Dense Forest Reserve was created in 1991 as an integrated conservation and development project by the Central African Republic government and World Wildlife Fund.

Genetic Analysis Disputes Increase in Antarctic Minke Whales

Minke whale in Ross Sea, Antarctica.

A new genetic analysis of Antarctic minke whales concludes that population of these smaller baleen whales have not increased as a result of the intensive hunting of other larger whales — countering arguments by advocates of commercial whaling who want to “cull” minke whales.

Antarctic minke whales are among the few species of baleen whales not decimated by commercial whaling during the 20th century, and some scientists have hypothesized that their large numbers are hampering the recovery of deleted species, such as blue, fin and humpback, which may compete for krill.

This “Krill Surplus Hypothesis” postulates that the killing of some two million whales in the Southern Ocean during the early- and mid-20th century resulted in an enormous surplus of krill, benefiting the remaining predators, including Antarctic minke whales.

But the new analysis, published in the journal Molecular Ecology, estimates that contemporary populations of minke whales are not “unusually abundant” in comparison with their historic numbers. Using a novel genomic approach, the scientists were able to calculate the long-term population size of Antarctic minkes as roughly 670,000 individuals — which is similar to estimates of current population size from sighting surveys.

“Some scientists involved in the International Whaling Commission have suggested that Antarctic minke whales have increased three-fold to eight-fold over the last century because of the lack of competition for krill,” said Scott Baker, a whale geneticist at Oregon State University and associate director of the Marine Mammal Institute at OSU. “But until now, there has been little evidence to help judge what historic populations of minke whales actually were.

“Our study clearly shows that minke whales today have a great deal of genetic diversity, which reflects a long history of large and relatively stable population size,” he added.

Along with Kristen Ruegg and Steve Palumbi of Stanford University, Baker and OSU postdoctoral fellow Jennifer Jackson analyzed genomic DNA from 52 samples of minke whale meat purchased in Japanese markets. The whales had been killed during Japan’s controversial “scientific whaling” program in the Antarctic. By amplifying and sequencing a large number of genes, the scientists were able to estimate the historic range of population sizes necessary to produce and maintain the levels of genetic diversity found in the individual minke whales they tested.

“This genomic approach is a significant advance over most previous studies, which have examined diversity using only a handful of genetic markers,” Baker said.

Funding for the research was provided by a grant from the Lenfest Ocean Program and the Marsden Fund of the New Zealand Royal Society.

The Southern Ocean is one of the world’s largest and most productive ecosystems and in the 20th century went through what Baker called “one of the most dramatic ‘experiments’ in ecosystem modification ever conducted.” The elimination of nearly all of the largest whales — such as the blue, fin and humpback — removed a huge portion of the biomass of predators in the ecosystem and changed the dynamics of predator-prey relationships.

Blue whales were reduced to about 1-2 percent of their previous numbers; fin whales to about 2-3 percent; and humpbacks to less than 5 percent. “The overall loss of large whales was staggering,” Baker said.

“It is possible that the removal of the larger whales would have meant more food for minkes,” Baker said, “but we don’t know much about the historic abundance of krill and whether the different whale species competed for it in the same places, or at the same time. It is possible that there might have been enough krill for all species prior to whaling.”

The scientists also say that current minke whale populations may be limited by other factors, including changes in sea ice cover.

“The bottom line is that the Krill Surplus Hypothesis does not appear to be valid in relation to minke whales and increasing hunting based solely on the assumption that minke whales are out-competing other large whale species would be a dubious strategy,” Baker said.