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The Giant Panda: The Good News

By PravdaDecember 5, 2010Environment, Natureartificial insemination, bamboo pole, chengdu breeding center, chengdu panda breeding research center, China, cubs, ecology, endangered species, Environment, extinction, giant panda, pr china, reproductive cycle, scientists, timothy bancroft-hinchey, twin swapping technique, viagra

Close up of a cute baby 7-month old panda cub in the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan, China. Image credit: Sheila Lau. Source: Wikipedia

Finally some good news on the environment, on ecology and on the Giant Panda: a revolutionary new technique developed by the PR China’s Chengdu breeding center seems certain to assure that greater numbers of this endangered species can be raised in thereby save it from extinction.

Just 1,600 Giant Pandas live in the wild, in 40 government-controlled panda reserves in the People’s Republic of China. The new breeding program has raised the number of animals bred in captivity to 300, while just this year 19 cubs have been born after artificial insemination programs in China’s two main breeding centers.

Breeding Giant Pandas in captivity is no easy task. They have the strangest gestation period which can range from eleven weeks to eleven months, they appear not to be sexually aroused by being held in captivity, females are on heat for 72 hours a year and are fertile during a 12 to 24-hour window inside that period. The small size of the male penis also means the mating position has to be exactly right, and this is not always possible in captivity. (more…)

Biologists Report More Bad News for Polar Bears

By Guest PostNovember 24, 2010Environment3-d computer models, brown bears, climate change, ecology, Environment, extreme environment, genetic studies, global warming, graham slater, grizzly bears, ice ages, polar bears, van valkenburgh, vegetables

*Climate change will force them south, where they are unsuited for the diet*

A polar bear breaks through thin Arctic Ocean ice Aug. 23, 2009. Image credit: Canadian Coast Guard/USGS

Will polar bears survive in a warmer world? UCLA life scientists present new evidence that their numbers are likely to dwindle.

As polar bears lose habitat due to global warming, these biologists say, they will be forced southward in search of alternative sources of food, where they will increasingly come into competition with grizzly bears.

To test how this competition might unfold, the UCLA biologists constructed three-dimensional computer models of the skulls of polar bears and grizzly bears — a subspecies of brown bears — and simulated the process of biting. The models enabled them to compare the two species in terms of how hard they can bite and how strong their skulls are. (more…)

Catastrophic Drought Looms for Capital City of Bolivia

By Guest PostNovember 13, 2010Environmentandean ecosystems, andean forests, andes, Bolivia, carbonate deposition, catastrophic drought, climatologist, ecology, fit, florida institute of technology, interglacial periods, lake poopo, lake titicaca, mark bush, paul filmer, peru, sherilyn fritz, temperatures rise, vegetation change

*Historical ecology of the Andes indicates desert-like setting on the horizon*

Catastrophic drought is on the near-term horizon for the capital city of Bolivia, according to new research into the historical ecology of the Andes.

If temperatures rise more than 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius (3 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit) above those of modern times, parts of Peru and Bolivia will become a desert-like setting.

About the image: Lake Titicaca from space. Its outline may look very different in the future. Image credit: NASA (more…)

Shade-coffee farms support native bees that help maintain genetic diversity in remnant tropical forests

By Guest PostJuly 27, 20101 commentEnvironment, Natureafricanized honeybees, Berkeley, biodiverse tropical regions, biodiversity, biologist, buzz, canopy of trees, chiapas, christopher dick, ecology, evolutionary biology, m. affinis, Mexico, miconia affinis, migratory birds, native bees, native trees, pollination, role, saquiyac tree, shade-coffee farms, shade-grown coffee, shalene jha, tropical forest, university of california, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Shade-grown coffee farms support native bees that help maintain the health of some of the world’s most biodiverse tropical regions, according to a study by a University of Michigan biologist and a colleague at the University of California, Berkeley.

(more…)

Tag Archives: ecology

The Giant Panda: The Good News

Biologists Report More Bad News for Polar Bears

Catastrophic Drought Looms for Capital City of Bolivia

Shade-coffee farms support native bees that help maintain genetic diversity in remnant tropical forests