Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Our continuing publication of biologist (LANDSCAPE OF FEAR co-author) John Laundre continues today with his unmasking just how much fake news is coming out of the Outdoor Magazine Industry...............Simultaneously headlining articles about TICK-BORNE DISEASES PROLIFERATING as well as LANDOWNERS GRANTING PERMISSION TO HUNTERS TO KILL MORE CARNIVORES ON THEIR LAND in the latest issue of GRAND VIEW OUTDOORS MAGAZINE has John debunking the hypocrisy revealed ................You cannot have it both ways meaning that "as deer populations go up(ticks depend on deer in part of their life cycle), so do tick populations and so do incidences of tick-borne diseases"...............As an example, "Pennsylvania currently has 1.5 million deer, around 32 deer per square mile!".............. "And surprise surprise, Pennsylvania is one of the states with the highest incidence of these tick-borne diseases!"........... "What should be done? That number of deer should be reduced by at least half!"............." A density of 15 deer per square mile is still high but better than 32!"................ And there would still be plenty of deer for hunters to stalk!"............. "There would still be over 750,000 deer in the state(and most probably, a significant reduction in tick borne diseases like Lyme)."

›
Interesting parallel headlines by: John Laundre Well the  ragazine  Grand View Outdoors  (GVO)  has done it again! In complete inno...
Monday, March 27, 2017

“The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, "What good is it?",,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not",,,,,,,,,,,,. "If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts?",,,,,,,,,,,,"To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” ― Aldo Leopold, from the Journals of of famed 20th century ecologist, Aldo Leopold...............And Leopold could not have been more right as we now learn that two bird species, the Pygmy Nuthatch and the Black Capped Chickadee are true "holistic healers of Western Ponderosa Pine forests........."These year round residents scour the bark, branches and needles of ponderosa pines for insects, boosting the growth rate of the trees by one-third"..........."Not only do the birds gobble insects, they also somehow prompt the tree to change the chemistry of the terpenes the trees produce to battle insects, fungus and mistletoe"....... "So the little birds effectively boost the trees’ immune systems"............... "Furthermore, the chickadees and nuthatches also disrupt the remarkable relationship between some species of ants and aphids".......... "The ants “herd’ the aphids, protecting them from predators like ladybugs and lacewings and even taking the tiny, leaf-sucking aphids back down into their ant hills for safe-keeping at night"..................."In return, the aphids produce a sweet drop of “honeydew” to feed the ants".................. "However, the chickadees and nuthatches prey on the ants and aphids, triggering big declines in the aphid populations — thereby enhancing the growth of the trees".........And even when the trees die, they are "safe houses" for the chickadees and Nuthatches against the killing cold of Winter............The Forest Service has come to learn that "cleaning up the forest" via removing dead snags and slash on the ground is counterproductive to optimizing the population of the very birds who bring life-giving and economic vitality to the Forest

›
The tiny friends of a forest giant The tiny friends of a forest giant by: Peter Aleshire  Mar 24, 2017 The massive Pondero...
Friday, March 24, 2017

A friend of this Blog, Dave Skryja turned me onto the recent John Benson led U. of Nebraska Study reinforcing the fact that Eastern Coyotes, while capable of preying on deer, are not a viable substitute to Eastern Wolves as it relates to being a true trophic predator of Deer, Moose, Elk and Caribou......................In Benson's own words------------"Wolves rely on large prey to survive whereas the smaller size of coyotes appears to give them dietary flexibility to survive on a wider variety of food and prey sizes, making them less predictable predators of large prey"............The eastern wolf weighs between 50 and 65 pounds; the eastern coyote typically hits 40 to 50".......... "Though the extra weight gives eastern wolves a greater chance of killing a moose, it also demands the greater caloric intake that moose and other meaty prey can provide".........."Because wolves need to feed on large prey, their populations tend to rise and fall together"............."In contrast, the buffet-style menu of the eastern coyote means that its numbers can remain steady or even rise without large prey if alternative food is abundant"..............."If coyotes start hammering white-tailed deer, and deer start to decline, then (coyotes) can just eat rabbits or squirrels or garbage"............."Our work suggests that there's an ecological role that wolves play that won't be played by other animals"............. "That's probably a role that's worth conserving on landscapes"

›
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-03/uon-bjc032317.php     23-Mar-2017 Big-game jitters: Coyotes no match for wolve...
Thursday, March 23, 2017

›
https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://tucson.com/news/local/time-to-look-at-reintroducing-jaguars-here-enviro-groups-say/...