BUGS, BEARS, AND BACTERIA

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bach2yoga

Guest
BUGS, BEARS, AND BACTERIA

Date: 10 Jun 2004
From: "Carol Banhart" {carol@njconservation.org}

THE STATE WE'RE IN
By Michele S. Byers, Executive Director
New Jersey Conservation Foundation
June 9, 2004 - Volume XXXIV, No. 23

When you hear that a plant or animal is endangered, do you think,
"Why should I care?" After all, aren't people more important than
Spotted Owls, Piping Plovers, or some weed?

But what if the earth's biodiversity - the enormous variety of
plants, animals, fungi, microbes - is critical to our long-term health
and sustainability?

For the first time, we are cataloging the many ways biodiversity is
critical to our health. Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and
Global Environment has completed a summary of their Biodiversity: Its
Importance to Human Health project. The full report is an ambitious
attempt to collect and organize all we know about how the environment
benefits people.

"Ecosystem services" are the things we take for granted, like plants
producing oxygen and filtering the air we breathe, or soil filtering
the groundwater we drink. In fact, the study goes much deeper, citing
18 different `ecosystem services' that nature not only does for free,
but does better than the artificial ways we conduct the same services.

Biodiversity even helps protect us from infectious diseases like Lyme
disease. One reason Lyme disease is so prevalent in the northeast is
that development has altered the ecosystem. Medium-sized predators
like weasels and snakes have declined due to habitat fragmentation,
leaving thriving populations of small animals, like the mice and
voles, who host Lyme carrying ticks.

In addition to preventing disease, nature is also our best medicine
chest. For example, it's estimated there are approximately 500
different species of cone snails producing as many as 50,000 different
peptide toxins. Only .2-percent of these have been thoroughly
researched, but they have already yielded potential new medicines
including a non-addictive pain killer 1000 times more potent than
morphine (in Stage III clinical trials), a whole spectrum of anti-
epileptic agents, and drugs to help victims of stroke and spinal cord
and head injuries, as well as early diagnosis and treatment of some
cancers.

All this from just a few of the substances provided by ONE snail
family: wow. Yet in the Hawaiian Islands alone, dozens of species of
land snails have been driven to extinction by introduced predators and
habitat loss.

Plants, animals and microbes are also very valuable to medical
research, and not just as test subjects. For example, the way polar
bears regulate insulin and metabolize glucose and fat may provide
researchers with insights useful for fighting Type II diabetes, which
has grown to near epidemic levels.

Even our food is dependant on biodiversity, both directly and
indirectly. Food itself comes in many forms such as crops, livestock
and fish. In addition, countless species, from microbial bacteria and
fungi to small rodents, work underground to sustain rich farmland
soils.

The bottom line is that the entire sum of all our research and
science over the entire course of human history only scratches the
surface of the natural world potential. When we strive to protect the
earth's fragile beauty and richness, it is not only because we humans
ought to be good stewards of the planet. It is also because the
`insignificant' plants or animals we save could someday be the key to
saving us.

You can get your own sense of the importance of biodiversity by
reading the Summary at http://www.med.harvard.edu/chge/resources.html.

And I hope you'll contact me at 1-888-LAND-SAVE or
info@njconservation.org, or visit NJCF's website at
http://www.njconservation.org, for more information about conserving
New Jersey's precious land and natural resources.
 

capttom

Scout
Feb 23, 2004
52
0
dont even get me going on the piping plovers..........i saw a bumper sticker the other day that said piping plover tastes like chicken!....well it made me laugh......
 
B

bach2yoga

Guest
there are people - horseshoe people, primarily-- who believe that the red knots have precipitated their own demise. I took a workshop in Sandy Hook with Carl Shuster, who wrote the definitive work on the American Horseshoe crab. He believes that red knots that have come to rely on the limulus eggs in a way that is not natural to their diet, and their population increase reflects their overindulgence and taking advantage of the limulus eggs; so he does not believe that the red knots are in peril, but merely returning to what their numbers should be.
 
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bach2yoga

Guest
a migratory shore bird that is reportedly heavily relies on horseshoe crab egg. It's a threatened species in NJ and some experts believe it will be extinct within 7 years.

Survival of the migratory red knot depends on the horseshoe crab. Every year in May, the horseshoe crab lays its eggs along New Jersey's southern and central beaches. En route from the southern tip of South America to their breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic, red knots stop on the beaches of the Delaware Bay to gorge on the fat-rich crab eggs.

Studies show a significant decline in the spawning horseshoe-crab population during the past decade and consequently, a lower concentration of crab eggs, leaving many migrating shorebirds without enough to eat. Unable to gain sufficient weight during their Delaware Bay stop over, many shorebirds lack the energy to complete their Arctic migration and to reproduce. Most in peril is the red knot, listed as a threatened species in New Jersey in 1999. Scientists predict it could be extinct within seven years.

Red knots in Delaware Bay surf
© Clay Walker
This spring, both New Jersey and Delaware took significant steps to protect the red knot population from further decline. Both states imposed restrictions on horseshoe crab harvest and on public access to Delaware Bay beaches to allow shorebirds to feed undisturbed.
http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/somjune.htm

Every year since 1999, DEP staff leads a team of experts from the United States, Canada, Argentina and Chile to study the red knot's various habits and habitats along its migratory path.
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,154
4,258
Pines; Bamber area
BEHR655 said:
I play horseshoes but I have no idea what red knots are. :D

Gee Bear, you call yourself a horseshoe person, and you didn't even know that Carl Shuster wrote the "definitive" book on horseshoe crabs? What kind of four-flusher are you anyhow? :p
 
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bach2yoga

Guest
BobM said:
BEHR655 said:
I play horseshoes but I have no idea what red knots are. :D

Gee Bear, you call yourself a horseshoe person, and you didn't even know that Carl Shuster wrote the "definitive" book on horseshoe crabs? What kind of four-flusher are you anyhow? :p

haven't had enough? kinda tired of your innuendos. :bs:

still playing childish games? and I'm not talking horseshoes.. :argue2:

The workshop was sponsored by Maryland Department of Natural Resources, NJ DEP, William and Mary College, and Brookdale Ocean Institute in Sandy Hook. He is well established as the world authority on American horseshoe crabs, and has been researching them for over fifty years. His work is published by Harvard University Press. Price: $95.00

Carl N. Shuster, Jr., H. Jane Brockmann, and Robert B. Barlow are at the forefront of research on Limulus polyphemus, and in this book they bring together twenty scientists who have worked on all aspects of horseshoe crab biology to compile the first fully detailed, comprehensive view of the species. An indispensable resource, the volume describes the horseshoe crab's behavior, natural history, and ecology; its anatomy, physiology, distribution, development, and life cycle; the puzzle of its immune system; and its present management and future conservation.

yet another site mentions another writing...Hall, William, Jr., and Carl N. Shuster, Jr. 2003. "Horseshoe Crab: A Creature That Crawled Out of the Past." Marine Advisory Service Bulletin. Newark, DE: University of Delaware Sea Grant College Program.

Here's a map of the sanctuary named in his honor:

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/horseshoecrb_map.htm

He also wrote a couple of chapters in this book:

Limulus in the Limelight : A Species 350 Million Years in
The Making and in Peril?


And Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources says: In 1999, Berkson, together with Dr. Carl Shuster Jr., adjunct professor with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and foremost expert on the natural history of horseshoe crabs, published the first manuscript on horseshoe crabs in the fisheries literature.

Additionally, Available on request to Berkson is a peer reviewed article co-authored by Berkson and Shuster in the American Fisheries Society’s journal Fisheries: "The Horseshoe Crab: The Battle for a True Multiple-Use Resource."

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/education/horseshoecrab/cnss.html

On March 7, 2001, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) established the Dr. Carl N. Shuster Jr. Horseshoe Crab sanctuary in Federal waters off the mouth of the Delaware Bay estuary. The sanctuary was created to protect the large spawning population of horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay and maintain the superabundance of crab eggs available to migratory shorebirds. The rectangular shaped sanctuary is positioned in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) bounded by State regulated waters to the west and extending 30 miles east. The reserve’s southern boundary lies just north of Ocean City, MD and the northern boundary is just south of Atlantic City, NJ. No commercial harvesting of horseshoe crabs is allowed within sanctuary waters.

The sanctuary is named after the distinguished Dr. Carl Shuster, Jr., Professor Emeritus in Marine Sciences from the College of William & Mary. Dr. Shuster is the world’s leading authority on the American horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus. In May 2000, he recommended to the ASMFC that a sanctuary be established to protect juvenile and adult females from commercial over-harvesting at that time. The reserve represents another management tool used to protect the important Delaware Bay population from harvest pressures.

The American horseshoe crab that comes ashore on the East Coast in vast numbers to mate and nest is much the same creature that haunted the coast before the time of the dinosaurs. It is among the world's most intensely studied marine invertebrates, critical to our understanding of many groups of organisms, both modern and extinct, and crucial to the ecology of large estuaries such as the Delaware Bay. Some stocks of this great survivor, whose ancestors made it through the mass extinction some 286 million years ago, have been severely depleted today because of overfishing and habitat destruction.


So, gee, ya think that qualifies as "DEFINITIVE"? I'd say "DEFINATELY".
**********
Spent the evening tonight in Fortesque on the beach, observing stranded horseshoe crabs and counting eggs....found three dead diamondback terrapins.

Renee
 
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bach2yoga

Guest
BobM said:
capttom said:
what is a red knot??

Thats when four or five members of the Chinese Communist Party end up wrestling together on the floor.

boy, you have all kinds of prejudices, don't you??? :myball:
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,154
4,258
Pines; Bamber area
BEHR655 wrote:
I play horseshoes but I have no idea what red knots are.


bach2yoga said:
still playing childish games, are we?? and I'm not talking horseshoes... :argue2:

I dunno Bear, the big "R" is gunning for you. You'd better cool your jets and stop teasing her. You gotta realize, she's always right - the resident expert in all matters great and small. :bow:
 
B

bach2yoga

Guest
BobM said:
BEHR655 wrote:
I play horseshoes but I have no idea what red knots are.


bach2yoga said:
still playing childish games, are we?? and I'm not talking horseshoes... :argue2:

I dunno Bear, the big "R" is gunning for you. You'd better cool your jets and stop teasing her. You gotta realize, she's always right - the resident expert in all matters great and small. :bow:

Nah, Behr's cool. You know damn well I wasn't talking about him. You're screwing around with my posts in the quote boxes again; it was a response to your comment, not Behr's.
As far as horseshoe crabs, the evidence for Carl far outweighs you or me.
What's the matter...think I'm one of those people who responds with an answer like "blah blah blah "?
You never seem to be able to return with a rebuttal--only pick and criticize. You got facts proving I'm wrong, go for it! I'm up for a civilized debate, as long as you can dish out facts and not squirm in your seat, resorting to criticizing and name-calling in an effort to take the heat off you if/when you're wrong.
There are plenty of times I've asked questions on this list--and will continue to do so--because I clearly do not know everything. I also don't see that passing along information gleaned from research makes me an expert; simply someone sharing found information. Nobody's forcing you to read it. But when I do know something I refuse to cower and to be intimidated because I happen to have a brain and use it.
 
B

bach2yoga

Guest
It's an amazing sight, isn't it? The beach lined with hundreds of these creatures mating? And the little green eggs almost look like sand...
they are cool creatures.
 

bunnymom3

Explorer
Sep 27, 2003
157
0
Waretown
www.geocities.com
Hey Renee,

Thanks for you post. As a matter of fact thank you for most of your post. It's nice to have someone spend the time doing alittle research for us all. You really do give alot to this group. Thanks.

Nykki
 
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bach2yoga

Guest
bunnymom3 said:
Hey Renee,

Thanks for you post. As a matter of fact thank you for most of your post. It's nice to have someone spend the time doing alittle research for us all. You really do give alot to this group. Thanks.

Nykki

Thank you... very much.

Renee
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,154
4,258
Pines; Bamber area
bach2yoga said:
Nah, Behr's cool. You know damn well I wasn't talking about him. You're screwing around with my posts in the quote boxes again; it was a response to your comment, not Behr's.

You are correct, and I am sorry. I should not have dragged Behr in to it. I'll stop screwing with your posts and changing them.
 
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