Defenders Magazine

Wild Life: Hope Flies in Arkansas

Hope Flies in Arkansas

This rediscovery story begins more than a year ago when a kayaker on Arkansas' White River spotted what he thought was an ivory-billed woodpecker, sparking an investigation that involved a team of more than 50 experts. Together they spent weeks combing the dense bottomland forests of the Cache River and White River national wildlife refuges. They made seven solid sightings of the bird in central Arkansas and finally recorded it on video in the Cache River refuge. The team kept their spectacular discovery mum for months, to give conservation groups and government agencies time to develop plans to protect the species.

The ivory-billed is North America's largest woodpecker, and the third-largest woodpecker in the world. It was last reliably sighted 60 years ago, its disappearance chalked up to the massive logging of big bottomland forests. Unconfirmed sightings over the years kept hope alive, however. When the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, the ivory-billed woodpecker was one of the first animals listed as endangered.

"These incredible birds hung on in one of the few places we set aside for wildlife," says Jamie Rappaport Clark, executive vice president of Defenders and a former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "They are a joyous affirmation of our National Wildlife Refuge System, the Endangered Species Act and all the protections we have put in place to conserve wildlife and habitat."

Wolves Cool Global Warming

A steady stream of research is proving what many ecologists previously guessed--the web of life is stronger with wolves. According to one recent research project, wolves are cooling off global warming's negative impacts in Yellowstone National Park. Climate change has brought less snow and higher temperatures to the park. This unnatural warming may be helping elk survive Yellowstone's harsh winters, but that, in turn, can cause a food shortage for scavengers including bears, coyotes and eagles.

Since wolves' arrival in the park in 1995, however, elk and other prey have been killed more regularly during the crucial late-winter period when many scavengers are struggling for survival. And, luckily for the scavengers, wolves, unlike other predators, are willing to share their leftovers.

"Our research implies that the other species in the food chain are greatly susceptible to climate changes," says Chris Wilmers, a researcher at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of the study, published in Public Library of Science Biology. "But the wolves are buffering other species from the changes."

Although wolves are eating elk, they have yet to cause undue problems for elk populations, at least in Idaho, according to the results of another research project. Some hunters in Idaho have complained that their elk harvests have declined since the wolves' return. But research sponsored by Defenders, presented at an April conference of wolf biologists, shows that the drops in elk harvests were not significantly greater in areas with wolves than those without.

"Wolves can't plausibly account for a majority -- never mind all -- of the reduction in the elk taken by hunters in Idaho," says J. Christopher Haney of Defenders. "It's particularly telling that elk harvests have declined about the same amount in areas without wolves as in those with them." 

Built for speed, the bluefin tuna is the sports car of the sea, from its sleek, two-toned metallic blue and silvery white body to the hefty price it commands--$50,000 or more for a prime specimen. Not surprisingly, this delicacy is relentlessly pursued by fishing fleets worldwide and is becoming increasingly scarce. A new study suggests that the way bluefin stocks are managed is contributing to their decline.

Researchers from Stanford University and the Monterey Bay Aquarium captured hundreds of bluefin tuna along the Atlantic Coast, tagged them with electronic tracking devices and mapped their movements. They confirmed that the North Atlantic has two populations of bluefin, an eastern stock that breeds in the Mediterranean Sea and a more seriously depleted western stock that spawns in the Gulf of Mexico. But they also discovered that these two groups, currently managed separately, regularly intermingle as they zip back and forth across the Atlantic to feed.

"Electronic tagging provides the best scientific information we've ever had to properly manage these tuna," says Barbara Block, the marine biologist who headed the tagging study. "We must, as an international community, start to act responsibly to ensure the future of this species." 

You wouldn't guess it on seeing the huge creatures. But it turns out that manatees' bones are as fragile as fine pieces of porcelain -- and as breakable. New research has shed light on why boat collisions injure and often kill the placid "sea cows," and may influence the debate about protecting endangered manatees from speeding boaters. Though boat strikes are the leading cause of manatee deaths in Florida, until the new study scientists didn't know exactly what happened when fiberglass hulls smashed into the gentle marine giants.

It turns out that, unlike humans, manatees' bones have no marrow cavity -- making their bones very dense. The density, ironically, makes manatees' bones fragile.

"Most people would think these ribs would be really strong as they're so heavy," says Roger Reep, a University of Florida professor and co-author of the study. "But in fact they behave like a ceramic material."

So, far from being the proverbial bull in the china shop, the sea cow contains a china shop. And, if you break it, you endanger it.

You may not be familiar with the remote boreal forest of North America. But chances are good that the sparrow or finch supping at your backyard bird feeder knows it well. According to a study released in May by Bird Studies Canada and the Boreal Songbird Initiative, fully half of all North American bird species depend on the boreal region for breeding, migration or habitat.

The 1.5-billion-acre boreal forest stretches from Alaska to Newfoundland and comprises one-quarter of the world's intact forest ecosystems. For millions of birds the region is a vital haven-- especially for species like the lesser yellowlegs and rusty blackbird, which have seen alarming declines in recent decades and breed predominantly in the boreal, the study notes.

Unfortunately, less than 6 percent of the ecosystem is permanently protected, and demand from the United States for wood products, oil and gas is fueling strong interest in logging and drilling in the boreal.

The Canadian government has made some gestures toward conservation, but not nearly enough, says Jeff Wells, co-author of the study. "What happens in the boreal forest is going to impact the birds in your backyard, wherever you live in the Western Hemisphere."