Although reefs are exposed to a number of threats, such as overfishing, pollution and acidification, climate change is of particular concern to marine ecologists.

Some coral reefs could be protected from the impacts of climate change by an “ocean thermostat“, a study says.
Researchers suggest that natural processes appear to be regulating sea surface temperatures in a region of the western Pacific Ocean.
Reefs in the area had only suffered relatively few episodes of bleaching because the naturally warm waters had remained stable, they observed, BBC reported.
The study, carried out by scientists from the US National Center for Atmospheric Research and the Australian Institute of Marine Science, appears to support a theory that natural processes prevent ocean sea surface temperatures exceeding 31oC (88oF).
A limit on the amount that water can warm, the team argues, will help protect reefs that have evolved in warm waters. And reefs found in cooler waters will experience a larger degree of warming, it says.
“Global warming is damaging many corals,“ lead author Joan Kleypas explains, “but it appears to be bypassing certain reefs that support some of the greatest diversity of life on the planet.
“In essence, reefs that are already in hot water may be more protected from warming than reefs that are not; this is rare hopeful news for these important ecosystems.“
Although reefs are exposed to a number of threats, such as overfishing, pollution and acidification, climate change is of particular concern to marine ecologists.
Unusually warm temperatures can cause “bleaching“, which is when coral turns white after expelling colorful microscopic organisms that provides the community with its nutrients.
If the water temperature does not return to normal within a few days or weeks, the bleached coral collapses and dies.
Researchers say that a region, called the Western Pacific Warm Pool, to the northeast of Australia has only experience four episodes of bleaching between 1980 and 2005.
Sea surface temperatures in the area average 29oC (84oF), which is near the limit of the so-called thermostat.
It is suggested that as surface waters warm, more water evaporates, and this can lead to an increase in cooling cloud cover and winds.

The European Commission on Monday urged EU governments to take a united stand against whaling.
Referring to recent footage of Japanese whalers, EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said in a statement “the graphic images on our television screens bring home the reality of whale hunting. This shows that more than ever the EU needs to be united in opposing whaling.“
Japan kills more than 1,000 whales each year under a scientific research program allowed by the International Whaling Commission, despite a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling of many species. The meat is sold at market, AP reported.
Japan defends the hunts as crucial for research purposes and as part of its food culture, though few Japanese eat whale regularly because the moratorium has limited supplies and other meats such as beef have gained popularity.
Whaling is banned in EU waters. The EU executive wants the 27 EU nations to adopt a common stance against whaling by June which it then can defend in negotiations through the International Whaling Commission.

Nepal Rufous-vented Prinia

Researchers say, a previously unknown sub-species of bird has been discovered in the southern grasslands of Nepal.
The bird is a warbler awith a very long tail and slender beak and has been named the Nepal Rufous-vented Prinia.
Scientists say the bird provides an important geographical link between previously-known varieties in Pakistan and India.
But they warn its tiny population means the sub-species is endangered, BBC reported.
The bird was first spotted in 2005 in a wetland area. But it is only now that taxonomists have decided it is distinctive enough to be described as a separate sub-species.
It has different dimensions from the two other types of Rufous-vented Prinia, and in color comes between the rich chestnut of its western neighbor and the grey of the one to the east.
Hem Sagar Baral of Bird Conservation Nepal said the find is exciting because while the other two types belong to Pakistan’s Indus river basin and the Brahmaputra of northeast India, this Nepalese sub-species fills the gap.
The latest find “appears to form the link“ between the two pre-existing sub-species, he said. The new find brings the number of bird species spotted in Nepal to an exceptionally high 862.
But the conservationists are warning that with habitat loss and degradation, the newly-identified variety is highly threatened, with at most 500 birds currently alive.
They are however elated that it has been found in a reserve which is well monitored by bird-watchers, and are now speculating that there may be more species waiting to be found--new to Nepal, or even to the world.

Gulls flying over wetlands in IranÕs East Azarbaijan province.

Insects ate more plants, and did more kinds of damage to them, during an ancient hot period that offers hints of what might happen this century if global warming forecasts hold true, scientists reported.
Earth warmed by about 9 degrees F (5 C) over the course of 5,000 years at the end of the Paleocene Era, some 55 million years ago, sending hordes of hungry insects from the tropics and subtropics into the temperate zone, where the climate was suddenly warm enough for them to survive, reported Reuters.
This temperature change is an eye blink in terms of geologic time, but far less abrupt than the warming predicted for the 21st century by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which forecast Earth could heat up by 3.2 to 7.2 degrees F (1.8 to 4 degrees C) by the year 2100.
The ancient heat spike--known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum--started with a quick rise in temperature over about 5,000 years, and then the planet stayed warm for about 100,000 years before cooling back down, according to study author Ellen Currano of Pennsylvania State University and the Smithsonian Institution.
At the same time, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere tripled, making plants less nutritious and forcing insects to eat more to sustain themselves, Currano and other researchers reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“As far as insect feeding goes, during this time the number of types of damage is higher and also we see almost a doubling in the frequency of leaves being damaged,“ Currano said in a telephone interview.
To discover this, Currano and other researchers looked at plant fossils from the badlands of Wyoming dating from before and after the big warm-up. They discovered that not only did the insects eat more, but they did more varied kinds of damage to the plants they attacked.
The insects mined the leaves, ate what they could on the surface and laid eggs inside the leaves, causing a reaction known as galling, in which the plant grows a kind of tumor on which the young insect feeds.
Because they looked at fossils ranging over about 4 million years, the scientists got a long-term look at the impact of climate change, Currano said.

Ecuador’s Attorney General Xavier Garaicoa urged oil companies from China, Brazil, Spain and Ecuador to pull up their stakes from an Amazonian natural preserve to prevent “environmental and social problems.“
The oil fields “are inside the Yasuni national park,“ which has been declared a world nature preserve and is home to the Tagaeri and Taromenane indigenous communities, Garaicoa said in a statement addressed to the government of President Rafael Correa.
He said the presence of the four oil companies--Spain’s Repsol YPF, Brazil’s Petrobras, China’s Andes Petroleum and Ecuador’s Petroecuador--in the region “could create environmental and social problems in the future,“ AFP reported.
He reminded the government of its international commitments in defense of the environment and human rights, especially the protective measures the Interamerican Commission has requested to keep the Tagaeri and Taromenane people in their voluntary isolation in the preserve.
“There’s a pressing need for the oil fields to be removed from the protected area, even though their locations were set out before the Yasuni area was established,“ Garaicoa said.
With a daily production of 508,000 barrels of oil, Ecuador is the smallest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Bears need 2,000 hectares of territory each, but in Slovakia currently have only 800-900 hectares.

Slovakia’s bear population of around 800 animals is too large and some of them may have to be culled to stop potential attacks on humans, environment officials said.
“The bear population ... is too numerous,“ for the territory capacity, the director of the State Nature Protection institute Jan Mizerak said at a news conference, AP reported.
Under ideal conditions, bears need 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of territory each, but in Slovakia currently have only 800-900 hectares, according to official studies.
Due to overcrowding, many bears have grown used to feeding from garbage containers in mountain settlements, and human contacts with bears are increasing.
“There are conflicts because they are in food competition, bears are more nervous and they are more often aggressive towards people,“ Mizerak said.
A census will be conducted over the next four years to get a clearer picture on the exact numbers and the results of this will determine what action will be taken, he added.

Madagascar’s turtles and tortoises are crawling towards extinction, threatened by the illegal pet trade and a local taste for tortoise, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said.
Evolving in splendid isolation since it broke away from the rest of Africa around 160 million years ago and became the world’s fourth largest island, Madagascar has a unique but sometimes threatened biodiversity, Reuters reported.
“Five of the nine assessed species (of turtles and tortoise) have been downgraded to critically endangered, with one variety--the ploughshare tortoise--now numbering only a few hundred individuals,“ a WCS statement said.

A rare white stag, thought to be one of only a handful in Britain, has been filmed at a secret location in the Highlands.
The “ghost-like“ red deer was spotted on the west coast of Scotland, but its location is being kept secret to prevent it becoming a target for poachers.
The shooting of a white stag on the border of Devon and Cornwall last October caused an outcry after local residents managed to protect its location for several years, Telegraph.co.uk reported.
Its head was removed as trophy and its carcass was found hanging from a tree. It was originally thought to be the only one in England but it was reported recently that it had sired a white calf.
White deer are popular in mythology and the ancient Celts considered them to be messengers from the afterlife.
Legend has it that they are closely associated with unicorns and their appearance is said to herald profound change in the lives of those who encounter them.