Smooth dance moves confirm new bird-of-paradise species

Rare video highlights unique behavior and sounds

Date:  April 17, 2018

Source:  Cornell University

Newly publicized audiovisuals support full species status for one of the dancing birds-of-paradise in New Guinea. This new species, called the Vogelkop Superb Bird-of-Paradise, is found only in the island's far-western Bird's Head, or Vogelkop, region. In a new paper published in the journal PeerJ, scientists "show and tell" half-a-dozen ways this form is distinct from the more widespread Superb Bird-of-Paradise, now called the Greater Superb Bird-of-Paradise -- the bird known for its bouncy "smiley face" dance routine.

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How to improve habitat conservation for migrating cranes

Date:  April 18, 2018

Source:  American Ornithological Society Publications Office

Every year, North America's critically endangered Whooping Cranes travel back and forth along a 4,000-kilometer corridor linking their nesting grounds in Canada and their winter home in Texas. Habitat in their path through the northern Great Plains is being lost at an alarming rate to agriculture and other development, but the birds' widely dispersed movements make identifying key spots for protection a challenge. Now, researchers behind a new study from The Condor: Ornithological Applications have created a model of Whooping Crane habitat use with the potential to greatly improve the targeting of conservation efforts during their migration.

Researcher Neal Niemuth and his colleagues used a database of Whooping Crane sightings in the region since 1990 to examine cranes' habitat use in North and South Dakota. Analyzing the spatial patterns of the sightings, they found that Whooping Cranes prefer habitat that includes a mix of croplands and wetlands and are more attracted by a single large wetland basin than multiple smaller basins. Their results also show the effects of different conservation strategies across the region. East of the Missouri River, where efforts have been specifically targeted toward waterfowl conservation, lands under conservation management were more likely than other locations to be used by Whooping Cranes. West of the river, however, this was not the case.

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New Zealand's large moa did not disperse large seeds

April 18, 2018, University of Canterbury

A new study about New Zealand's extinct moa, involving acid baths and concrete mixers, by researchers from the University of Canterbury and Landcare Research, has revealed a surprising finding about their ability to disperse tree seeds.

For decades it had been assumed that New Zealand's largest native fruits evolved to be eaten and spread about prehistoric landscapes by the large extinct moa. The new study, published today (18 April) in the prestigious Proceedings of the Royal Society B, casts doubt on this theory.

By examining the seeds found in 23 preserved moa gizzard samples, and 152 ancient moa droppings, the authors have shown that although moa consumed some of New Zealand's largest fruits (up to 15mm diameter), their muscular, stone-filled gizzards pulverised all but the tiniest of seeds. Only seeds less than 3mm diameter were found in the droppings and were therefore capable of being dispersed by moa.

Lead author, University of Canterbury (UC) Ecology Ph.D. student Jo Carpenter says that part of the reason people had assumed that moa dispersed the large seeds – such as from miro, mataī, hinau, pōkākā, and pūriri trees – was due to the thick seedcoats, potentially requiring severe abrasion (as would have occurred in the stone-filled gizzards of moa) for rapid germination.

"These seeds seem poorly adapted for dispersal by birds that are alive today," Carpenter says. "We were amazed to find that even silvereyes, which are one of New Zealand's smallest fruit-eating birds, can disperse seeds significantly larger than the giant moa were dispersing."

To confirm their suspicions, the researchers subjected miro and hinau seeds to a simulated passage through a moa gut, by tumbling the seeds in a stone-filled concrete mixer followed by bathing in a warm, weak acid bath. They found that this treatment did not actually increase the speed of germination as had long been suspected. In fact, the seeds still took between two and seven years to germinate.

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Researchers study how well greater sage grouse habitat protects other species

April 18, 2018, University of Wyoming

Researchers in the University of Wyoming's Department of Zoology and Physiology and Program in Ecology discovered that size does matter—as it pertains to the effectiveness of secondary species' wildlife protection relative to the size of a wildlife reserve set aside for an umbrella species.

The umbrella species concept is defined as multiple wildlife species being indirectly protected under the umbrella of a reserve created to enhance conservation for one species—in this case, the greater sage grouse in Wyoming. The research group investigated two potential mechanisms—reserve size and species similarity—underlying the concept's successful application. Larger alternative reserves serve as better umbrellas but, regardless of reserve size, not all species received equal protection, the study determined.

"This study provides us a better understanding of which species might fall through the cracks, and which may need targeted attention for their conservation," says Anna Chalfoun, a UW associate professor of zoology and an assistant unit leader for the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.

"I was surprised at the findings. The longtime assumption is that what's good for the grouse is good for any other species living in sagebrush country," says Jason Carlisle, a Ph.D. student in UW's Program in Ecology from 2011-17 who led the study. "Sage grouse are often the flagship species in the ecosystem. But, when examining how well the protected area established for sage grouse covers other species that depend on sage grouse habitat, it leaves a lot to be desired."

Carlisle was lead author and Chalfoun a co-author of a paper, titled "Identifying Holes in the Greater Sage-Grouse Conservation Umbrella," that was published March 30 in the online version of The Journal of Wildlife Management and is expected to be in print later this month. The journal publishes manuscripts containing information from original research that contributes to basic wildlife science. Topics include investigations into the biology and ecology of wildlife and their habitats that have direct or indirect implications for wildlife management and conservation.

Douglas Keinath, formerly the lead vertebrate zoologist with the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database at UW; and Shannon Albeke, a research scientist/eco-informaticist in the Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center, were co-authors of the paper. Carlisle and Keinath also were part of the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. The project was funded by a state wildlife grant from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

"When you hear people generally talking about sage grouse, whether it be land managers or politicians, they oftentimes are already making an assumption that sage grouse, as an umbrella species, is benefiting other species," Chalfoun says. "But, that assumption had not been critically tested."

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‘Love hormone’ identified in birds that makes them more generous

Pinyon jays became more likely to share food when given high doses of 'bird oxytocin'

Josh Gabbatiss Science Correspondent 

Tuesday 10 April 2018 23:04 BST

The Independent Online

Administering birds with a “love hormone” similar to one found in humans, makes them more generous to their friends. 

Oxytocin is a chemical messenger found in the human brain that has gained popular recognition due to its role in regulating behaviours as diverse as empathy, orgasms and bonding between mothers and babies.

But despite its involvement in complex behaviours that seem very human, oxytocin is also found in other animals. 

“Oxytocin is what we call this hormone in mammals, however, the hormone itself is evolutionary ancient and found in animals that are only very distantly related to mammals,” Dr Juan Duque, a neuroscientist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln told The Independent..

“We call this hormone ‘mesotocin’ in birds, but this is essentially avian oxytocin.”

Less clear to scientists is to what extent the effects observed in humans and other mammals can be applied to birds.

So Dr Duque and his colleagues investigated the pinyon jay – a highly social bird related to crows.

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'Optimism' remains in chickens in enriched environments despite exposure to stress

Date:  April 6, 2018

Source:  Linköping University

Summary:

Chickens that grow up in an environment that they perceive as more diverse and manageable, retain an 'optimistic' view of life and cope with stress better than individuals that grow up in more sterile surroundings, according to a new study published in Scientific Reports. A team of researchers in Sweden measured how optimism in chickens is affected by stress.

     

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Hen harrier 'brood management' plan faces crowdfunded legal challenge

Campaign against plan to remove chicks from their nests and rear them in captivity raises £25,000 in four days

Patrick Barkham

Mon 16 Apr 2018 06.01 BST

A controversial plan to remove the chicks of endangered birds from their nests and rear them in captivity could be challenged in the high court after a crowdfunded campaign raised £25,000 in four days.

Wildlife campaigner and author Mark Avery is leading an application for a judicial review of the hen harrier “brood management” plan, in which chicks will be raised in captivity and released into the wild.

Conservationists blame the grouse moor industry for the virtual absence of hen harriers from uplands in England – there were four nests in 2016 – which government scientists calculated would naturally support more than 300 pairs of the bird.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs plan, which is licensed by Natural England, the government’s wildlife watchdog, is designed to stop the illegal persecution of the legally protected bird of prey but critics say it instead rewards the owners of grouse moors. Removing the chicks from moorland prevents the parent birds from predating so many of the red grouse which generate a lucrative grouse-shooting business.

“It’s difficult to see how hen harriers benefit from this plan,” said Avery. “They are taken into captivity and released back into the places from which they are taken, where they will be killed in the way that they would have been if they hadn’t been taken into captivity.

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