Saturday 7 November 2009

world's primates says 48% of species face extinction,

Primates 'face extinction crisis'

By Mark Kinver
Science and nature reporter, BBC News

Under pressure: The Critically Endangered grey-shanked douc langur is one of the primates in peril



A global review of the world's primates says 48% of species face extinction, an outlook described as "depressing" by conservationists.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species says the main threat is habitat loss, primarily through the burning and clearing of tropical forests.

More than 70% of primates in Asia are now listed as Endangered, it adds.

The findings form part of the most detailed survey of the Earth's mammals, which will be published in October.

PRIMATES IN PERIL
Nations with the highest percentage of threatened species:
Cambodia - 90%
Vietnam - 86%
Indonesia - 84%
Laos - 83%
China - 79%
(Source: IUCN Red List)

Other threats include hunting of primates for food and the illegal wildlife trade, explained Russell Mittermeier, chairman of global conservation group IUCN's Primate Specialist Group and president of Conservation International.

"In many places, primates are quite literally being eaten to extinction," he warned.

"Tropical forest destruction has always been the main cause, but now it appears that hunting is just as serious a threat in some areas, even where the habitat is still quite intact."

Map

The survey, involving hundreds of experts, showed that out of 634 recognised species and subspecies, 11% were Critically Endangered, 22% were Endangered, while a further 15% were listed as Vulnerable.

Asia had the greatest proportion of threatened primates, with 71% considered at risk of extinction. The five nations with the highest percentage of endangered species were all within Asia.

'Depressing' picture

"It is quite spectacular; we are just wiping out primates," said Jean-Christophe Vie, deputy head of the IUCN Species Programme.

RED LIST DEFINITIONS
Tonkin snub-nosed monkey (Image: Tilo Nadler)
The Tonkin snub-nosed monkey is listed as Critically Endangered
Extinct - Surveys suggest last known individual has died
Critically Endangered - Extreme high risk of extinction - this means some Critically Endangered species are also tagged Possibly Extinct
Endangered - Species at very high risk of extinction
Vulnerable - Species at high risk of extinction
Near Threatened - May soon move into above categories
Least Concern - Species is widespread and abundant
Data Deficient - not enough data to assess

He added that the data was probably the worst assessment for any group of species on record.

"The problem with these species is that they have long lives, so it takes time to reverse the decline. It is quite depressing."

Although habitat loss and deforestation were deemed to be the main threats globally, Dr Vie explained how human encroachment into forests was also creating favourable conditions for hunters.

"This creates access, allowing people to go to places that they could not go in the past," he told BBC News.

"Primates are relatively easy to hunt because they are diurnal, live in groups and are noisy - they are really easy targets.

"Many of the Asian primates, like langurs, are 5-10kg, so they are a good target. Generally, you find that what is big and easy to get disappears very quickly."

In Africa, 11 of the 13 kinds of red colobus monkeys assessed were listed as Critically Endangered or Endangered.

Conservationists fear that two may already be extinct. The Bouvier's red colobus has not been seen for 25 years, and no living Miss Waldron red colobus has been recorded since 1978.

The authors of the primate Red List did consider downlisting mountain gorillas to Endangered from Critically Endangered because the great apes had recorded a population increase.

But they decided to delay reclassification as a result of five of the gorillas being killed in July 2007 by gunmen in the DR Congo's Virunga National Park, which is still at the centre of a conflict between rebel forces and government troops.

During 2007, wildlife rangers in the park recorded a total of 10 gorilla killings. The rangers have been documenting their struggles in a regular diary on the BBC News website over the past year.

Mountain gorilla (Image: WildlifeDirect)
Mountain gorillas have been caught in the crossfire of a land dispute

"If you kill seven, 10 or 20 mountain gorillas, it has a devastating impact on the entire population," Dr Vie explained.

"Within the Red List criteria, you are allowed to anticipate what will happen in the future as well as look at what has happened in the past.

"So it was decided not to change the mountain gorillas' listing because of the sudden deaths, and we do not know when it is going to stop."

Dr Emmanuel de Merode, chief executive of Gorilla.cd - an EU-funded programme working in Virunga National Park - said the gorillas' long-term survival was still far from assured.

"Militias have been in control of the Gorilla Sector since September last year, which means the Congolese wildlife authority has been unable to manage the area and protect the gorillas," he told BBC News.

"Until the war ends and the rangers are able to get back in and patrol the area, we have no idea as to the fate of almost a third of the mountain gorillas left in the world."

Golden glimmer of hope

Despite the gloomy outlook, the Red List did record a number of conservation successes.

Golden lion tamarin (Image: CI/Russell Mittermeier)
The re-introduction of golden lion tamarins is one of the few successes

Brazil's populations of golden lion tamarins and black lion tamarins were downlisted from Critically Endangered to Endangered.

"It is the result of decades of effort," said Dr Vie. "The lion tamarins were almost extinct in the wild, but they were very popular in zoos so there was a large captive population.

"So zoos around the world decided to join forces to introduce a captive breeding programme to reintroduce the tamarins in Brazil."

However the first attempts were not successful and the released population quickly crashed because the animals were ill-prepared for life in the wild, he recalled.

"They were not exposed to eagles or snakes and they did not know how to find food, so a lot of them died. But some did survive and, slowly, the numbers began to increase."

Ultimately, the success was a combination of ex-situ conservation in zoos and in-situ conservation by protecting and reforesting small areas around Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

"It took time, money and effort at all levels, from the politicians to scientists and volunteers on the ground, for just two species."

The findings, issued at the International Primatological Society Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland, will be included in a survey described as an "unprecedented examination of the state of the world's mammals", which will be presented at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in October.

Climate focus 'good news for species' ?population ?

Climate focus 'good news for species'

Russell Mittermeier (Image: Conservation International)
VIEWPOINT
Russell Mittermeier

Climate change could actually benefit some of the world's most endangered species, says Conservation International president Russell Mittermeier. In this week's Green Room, he explains that conservationists should capitalise on the worldwide attention being given to global warming.

Deforestation (Image: AP)
The good news is that the unprecedented spotlight on climate change is also shedding light on how tropical forests balance our Earth's climate
Climate change could be the best thing that ever happened to the amazing array of animal and plant species that make up the Earth's biodiversity.

Don't get me wrong; climate change is the most serious environmental threat we have ever encountered, and it is already taking a terrible toll on species, as well as people, all over the world.

The silver lining is that climate change has triggered a universal wake-up call that we all hear, and are beginning to heed.

Never before have so many sectors of society been equally concerned and motivated to combat an environmental threat.

Of course, some die-hard pessimists say it's too late, that the climate change train has left the station and there is nothing we can do but get ready for catastrophic consequences.

Nothing could be more wrong. Just ask the thousands of participants at the World Conservation Congress (WCC) now taking place in Barcelona, Spain.

MAMMALS IN PERIL
Caspian seal (Simon Goodman/Leeds University/Caspian International Seal Survey)
Hunting and habitat loss has left the Caspian seal struggling to survive

Mammals facing extinction threat

Representatives from governments, indigenous peoples, industry and environmental groups are meeting to present innovations and create partnerships.

Climate change and protecting species are focal points, and pessimism is not on the agenda. Instead, smart constructive ideas for solutions are being shared.

We estimate the Earth harbours a minimum of six million living species, from microscopic bacteria to magnificent great apes.

The major news announced at the WCC on Monday was that the latest assessment of the world's mammals shows more than 20% to be threatened with extinction.

That includes 188 mammals, such as the Iberian Lynx, in the highest threat category of Critically Endangered.

This assessment is part of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, which now includes 44,838 species, of which 16,928 (38%) are threatened with extinction.

Self preservation society

Why should people care about the fate of these plants and animals?

In the most simple terms, we should care because the quality of our lives ultimately depends on them.

Without species diversity, we wouldn't have the healthy ecosystems that supply our food, cleanse our air and water, provide sources of life-saving medicines and help stabilise our climate.

Demise of the devils and other mammals under threat

In pictures

We would also miss out on a free and ubiquitous source of miraculous beauty and endless possibilities.

We continue to discover new species every day. Just since 1994, we've discovered 54 new lemur species on the Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar.

The thrill of documenting a new primate is tempered, however, with the knowledge that many species will become extinct before they are even discovered.

On a global scale, we're losing species 1,000 times faster than what scientists consider normal.

It is an insidious, silent epidemic that could wreck our planet's ability to heal itself.

While the Red List does make headlines, somehow the irreplaceable loss of species does not stay in the minds of the general public, and it has certainly never prompted major financial investments.

This has always puzzled me. As a colleague of mine puts it: "Imagine what would happen to us if rainfall was a thousand times more than normal? What if snowfall were a thousand times more than normal? What if rates of disease transmission for malaria or HIV/AIDS were a thousand times higher than they are now? That is what is happening to plant and animal biodiversity today."

Just as climate change threatens us with rising sea levels, droughts, floods and more category five hurricanes, it is also one of the greatest threats to species.

We could lose more than 30% of the Earth's plants and animals this century due to shifts in the Earth's climate.

Critically Endangered grey-shanked douc langur (Image: Tilo Nadler)
Conservationists describe the outlook for primates as "depressing"

Primates 'face extinction crisis'

So where is the silver lining?

The good news is that the unprecedented spotlight on climate change is also shedding light on how tropical forests balance our Earth's climate.

At least and possibly much more than 20% of the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change come from forest destruction - that's more than from all the world's cars, trucks, airplanes and trains combined.

At the same time, forests are effectively our life support system, absorbing carbon dioxide and emitting oxygen.

Those same tropical forests are also home to the world's greatest preponderance of species diversity.

Remove the forests and you will also exterminate countless species. By the same token, the species are essential to healthy forests for many reasons, including pollination and seed dispersal.

There is still time to protect these forests while also providing economic opportunities to developing countries and local people.

One of the key issues at the WCC in Barcelona is how conserving standing tropical forests to fight climate change must be included in a new United Nations agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the current climate change treaty that expires in 2012.

If we ensure that nations will be compensated for forest conservation that reduces emissions, we will also contribute to redressing some of the huge economic imbalances that exist in the world, since many tropical forest countries are among the more economically stressed.

A message Barcelona can send to the rest of the world is that it is not too late to protect species as well as combat climate change.

On both counts, the welfare of humanity is at stake.

the hoofed group including goats, bison and cattle.

Horse genome unlocked by science

Horse (Science)
The horse genome could yield clues to human disease

The genome of a domestic horse has been successfully sequenced by an international team of researchers.

The work, published in the journal Science, may shed light on how horses were domesticated.

It also reveals similarities between the horse and other placental mammals, such as bovids - the hoofed group including goats, bison and cattle.

The authors also found horses share much of their DNA with humans, which could have implications for medicine.

Horses suffer from more than 90 hereditary diseases that show similarities to those in humans.

"Horses and humans suffer from similar illnesses, so identifying the genetic culprits in horses promises to deepen our knowledge of disease in both organisms," said co-author Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, from the Broad Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, US.

"The horse genome sequence is a key enabling resource toward this goal."

To generate a high-quality genome sequence, the researchers analysed DNA from an adult female thoroughbred named Twilight.

The horse's DNA was sequenced using capillary DNA sequencing technology (known as Sanger sequencing) to reveal a genome that is roughly 2.7 billion "letters", or nucleotides, in size.

In addition to sequencing the genome of a thoroughbred horse, the researchers also examined DNA from a variety of other horse breeds.

These included the American quarter horse, Andalusian, Arabian, Belgian draft horse, Hanoverian, Hokkaido, Icelandic horse, Norwegian fjord horse, and Standardbred breeds.

The team surveyed the extent of genetic variation both within and across breeds to create a catalogue of more than one million single-letter genetic differences in these breeds.

This is slightly larger than the genome of the domestic dog, and smaller than both the human and cow genomes.

So far, scientists have also sequenced the genomes of the platypus, mouse, rat, chimpanzee, rhesus macaque and, of course, human.

Horses were first domesticated 4,000 to 6,000 years ago. Over time, as machines have become the chief sources of agricultural and industrial muscle, those roles have shifted to sport and recreational activities.

Tuesday 3 November 2009

'The myth of the chemical cure'

'The myth of the chemical cure'

Joanna Moncrief
VIEWPOINT
Dr Joanna Moncrieff
Mental health expert

Taking a pill to treat depression is widely believed to work by reversing a chemical imbalance.

Pill
Medication is a mainstay of mental health therapy

But in this week's Scrubbing Up health column, Dr Joanna Moncrieff, of the department of mental health sciences at University College London, says they actually put people into "drug-induced states".

If you've seen a doctor about emotional problems some time over the past 20 years, you may have been told that you had a chemical imbalance, and that you needed tablets to correct it.

It's not just doctors that think this way, either.

Magazines, newspapers, patients' organisations and internet sites have all publicised the idea that conditions like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder can be treated by drugs that help to rectify an underlying brain problem.

People with schizophrenia and other conditions are frequently told that they need to take psychiatric medication for the rest of their lives to stabilise their brain chemicals, just like a diabetic needs to take insulin.

The trouble is there is little justification for this view of psychiatric drugs.

Altered states

First, although ideas like the serotonin theory of depression have been widely publicised, scientific research has not detected any reliable abnormalities of the serotonin system in people who are depressed.

Second, it is often said the fact that drug treatment "works" proves there's an underlying biological deficiency.

Psychoactive drugs make people feel different

But there is another explanation for how psychiatric drugs affect people with emotional problems.

It is frequently overlooked that drugs used in psychiatry are psychoactive drugs, like alcohol and cannabis.

Psychoactive drugs make people feel different; they put people into an altered mental and physical state.

They affect everyone, regardless of whether they have a mental disorder or not.

Therefore, an alternative way of understanding how psychiatric drugs affect people is to look at the psychoactive effects they produce.

Drugs referred to as antipsychotics, for example, dampen down thoughts and emotions, which may be helpful in someone with psychosis.

Drugs like Valium produce a state of relaxation and a pleasant drowsiness, which may reduce anxiety and agitation.

Drugs labelled as "anti-depressants" come from many different chemical classes and produce a variety of effects.

Prior to the 1950s, the drugs that were used for mental health problems were thought of as psychoactive drugs, which produced mainly sedative effects.

'Informed choice'

Views about psychiatric drugs changed over the course of the 1950s and 1960s.

FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME

They gradually came to be seen as being specific treatments for specific diseases, or "magic bullets", and their psychoactive effects were forgotten.

However, this transformation was not based on any compelling evidence.

In my view it remains more plausible that they "work" by producing drug-induced states which suppress or mask emotional problems.

If we gave people a clearer picture drug treatment might not always be so appealing

This doesn't mean psychiatric drugs can't be useful, sometimes.

But, people need to be aware of what they do and the sorts of effects they produce.

At the moment people are being encouraged to believe that taking a pill will make them feel better by reversing some defective brain process.

That sounds good. If your brain is not functioning properly, and a drug can make it work better, then it makes sense to take the pill.

If, on the other hand, we gave people a clearer picture, drug treatment might not always be so appealing.

If you told people that we have no idea what is going on in their brain, but that they could take a drug that would make them feel different and might help to suppress their thoughts and feelings, then many people might choose to avoid taking drugs if they could.

On the other hand, people who are severely disturbed or distressed might welcome these effects, at least for a time.

People need to make up their own minds about whether taking psychoactive drugs is a useful way to manage emotional problems.

To do this responsibly, however, doctors and patients need much more information about the nature of psychiatric drugs and the effects they produce.


Dr Moncrieff's book "The Myth of the Chemical Cure", published by Palgrave Macmillan, will be available in paperback from September

Monday 2 November 2009

allegations of harassing their female colleague.

Two Beefeaters at the Tower of London have been suspended while a third is under investigation over allegations of harassing their female colleague.

Tower authorities started an internal investigation over claims that Moira Cameron - made the first female Beefeater in 2007 - was being bullied.

A statement said the allegations were being taken "very seriously" and that harassment was "totally unacceptable".

Beefeaters, officially yeoman warders, have guarded the Tower since 1485.

One of the warders involved in the probe has also received a caution from the Metropolitan Police for misuse of the internet.

Miss Cameron is the only woman among the 35 yeoman warders at the Tower of London.

The 44-year-old, from Argyll in Scotland, became the first female yeoman warder in the institution's history after completing the required 22 years of service in the Army.

'Close-knit community'

The statement from Tower of London said: "We can confirm that three yeoman warders are under investigation in response to allegations of harassment; two have been suspended.

"We take such allegations very seriously and our formal harassment policy makes it clear that this is totally unacceptable.

"We believe everyone is entitled to work in an environment free from any form of harassment, a principle that we expect all our staff to value and uphold.

"The Tower of London is a close-knit community and, understandably, this is a difficult time for us all."

Tower of London
Yeoman wardens have guarded the Tower for more than 500 years

The investigation is expected to conclude in two to three weeks.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "A 56-year-old man received a caution under the Communications Act 2003 on Tuesday October 20 following an investigation by officers from Tower Hamlets.

"It related to inappropriate use of the internet."

The yeoman warders were appointed by Henry VII to guard the prisoners and attend the gates of the Tower.

Although their role is now mostly ceremonial, their duties include guarding the Tower and the Crown Jewels.

They also attend the coronation of the Sovereign, lying-in-state, the Lord Mayor's Show and other functions.

All the Beefeaters, who got their name because of their meat rations, live in flats in the Tower.

Autism and Asperger's - Care and Support Services


02 November

Autism and Asperger's - Care and Support Services



The specialised nature of these conditions demands not only professional care, but also a level of compassion and support that is sometimes not readily available elsewhere.
Our services include accommodation and support for adults and children with Autistic spectrum conditions. These are small, friendly, homely group-living environments. Each one remains dedicated to focusing on the provision of consistent and structured support through highly trained and experienced staff.
The support focuses on tailored, person-centred care, which enables people to achieve positive outcomes and maximise their independence.
At our children's autism service we offer dedicated short-breaks provision, where we work flexibly with families and professionals to provide homely, friendly environments with continuity in care and support.
We also have a dedicated transition service - helping individuals to develop independence and work towards goals and outcomes to prepare them for their future and the transition into adulthood

Sunday 1 November 2009

sweeteners



This information is a must read. There have been whispers for a long time that there is a problem with certain artificial sweeteners, but now it is almost beyond doubt. Since it is a huge industry and a lot of money is involved, a few companies stand to lose in the 100s of millions of dollars so this information is not common public knowledge yet, but see it comnig out through the courts very soon. Let your friends who use sweeteners read this page so at least they can have a choice. We are especially concerned about older folks, young children and expecting mothers. Many unsuspecting folks chew gum containing these sweeteners thinking that they are doing them self's a favor, be careful as this way the sweeteners are absorbed directly through the roof of the mouth into the brain, if you must chew gum choose one with real sugar. We advise you to stay away from diet products especially diet soda ,diet coke, diet Pepsi, diet Sprite, Pepsi light, Pepsi max . Anything diet or sugar free look on the label carefully and see if it contains NutriSweet or Aspartame( Also known as 951 ) there are many names it takes. We like to talk about positive things on this site so enough said!
We recommend you take a look at the herb Stevia if you want to cook with something sweet.

J.CREW PULL FUR FROM COLLECTION

0th November 2005

J.CREW PULL FUR FROM COLLECTIONHealthy

Heather lead a celebration outside a J.Crew store in California to mark another fashion retailer announcing that it was ending all fur sales and was pulling all fur from it’s stores immediately.

The 11-week boycott campaign started on the 12 September. Heather had helped launch the boycott with a high profile protest outside J.Crew’s Madison Avenue store in New York. The campaign involved coast to coast protests, petitions and thousands upon thousands of letters and phone calls.

PETA US and J.Crew entered into successful negotiations after PETA’s Youth Division mobilised thousands of Street Team members to make contact with the company.

This campaign also received additional high-profile support from Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee. This victory now means that J.Crew joins Selfridges, Topshop, Gap Inc., Banana Republic, H&M and other retailers who have stopped selling fur.

J.Crew had got much of its fur also from China where undercover video footage had shown fur farmers in China swinging foxes and raccoon dogs by their hind legs and smashing their heads into the ground breaking the animals’ necks, leaving them panting, blinking and conscious as they were skinned alive

What happens when you dump your old kitchen

I recently redecorated the kitchen and threw out old cabinets. I took them to a local dump and put them in the wood skip: are they recycled or just dumped in the ground?

While it would be satisfying to imagine your discarded kitchen goods recycled into other products, the sad truth is there’s a better than evens chance they’ll end up in landfill.

Recycling rates for wood and a wide range of other goods and products have improved in recent years. In the mid 1990s, less than 2 per cent of discarded wood a year was recycled. That figure is now between 40 and 50 per cent — good progress but it still means that every 12 months the equivalent of several forests are chucked into holes in the ground.

The UK imports about two thirds of its wood used in building, paper and other industries, most of its “softwoods” coming from Scandinavia and Russia. Though wood is biodegradable and might not create as many long-term landfill problems as other manufactured products, it creates methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide, as it gently rots away.

Each year anything between five and ten million tonnes of wood is thrown away in the UK — no one is entirely sure of the volume. The bulk of the wood that is recycled goes to making panel boards for the building trade. Recycled wood is also used for garden and park mulches and increasingly, is shredded to make bedding for cattle, horses and poultry.

Kitchen cabinets are regarded as the low-grade end of the used-wood market. Most are made from woodchip and are bound by glue and other substances, all of which have to be filtered out when recycled. Because of present economic conditions, there is a surplus of used wood on the market. But the great hope for the future are wood-fuelled biomass power plants: wood surpluses could be burned as more of these facilities come on stream. Wood recycling groups, operating in virtually every city and county, are an excellent drop off and buying point for used-wood products. Find out where your local one is at the charity Furniture Re-Use Network www.frn.org.uk.

Households throw away relatively little wood, the building industry is responsible for the bulk of it. Take your cabinets along to the nearest community wood centre and try swapping them for some building industry scaffolding boards, ideal as liners for raised vegetable beds?

So much better than consigning your old kitchen to a hole in the ground.

Send your eco-dilemmas to

greenandconfused@thetimes.co.uk



User Image
Clive Burghard wrote:
When people decide to have a 'new' kitchen, why not just replace the doors if you are disenchanted with their appearance?
The 'new' cupboards will only be sawdust and glue, just like the old ones. So why pay for someone to rip them out and then replace them with the same thing, when all you see is the door?
October 31, 2009 8:48 AM GMT on community.timesonline.co.uk

User Image
Robert Elliott wrote:
If our government was forward thinking we would burn all this wood to produce electricity and heating. They aren't and we don't.
October 25, 2009 2:35 PM GMT on community.timesonline.co.uk
User Image
Simon Healy wrote:
At least they count chip (or pellet) the wood and use it for heating (enough larger establishments have wood burning boilers these days. Using Greenhouse neutral wood is far better (and cheaper) than heating with oil, gas or electricity plus you avoid landfill and the ash can be mixed with compost for good effect.
October 21, 2009 11:25 AM BST on community.timesonline.co.uk

User Image
D B wrote:
I can only imagine that middle class wood wars are more intense down south - but even here in the staid Midlands, we have so many neighbours with wood burning stoves that we have to be careful to be fair when sharing out branches from garden trees. Others get old pallets dropped off, some ask for old floorboards from houses that are being renovated. I wouldn't like to be seen taking wood up to the dump.
October 20, 2009 5:56 PM BST on community.timesonline.co.uk

User Image
Robert Davidson wrote:
I work in the forestry industry and a lot

Eureka Zone

The Hadron collider is firing particles around the 17-mile (27km) ring of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s most powerful atom-smasher and may produce mini blackholes

Hadron Collider

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