Environment Forum
Global environmental challenges
Spotting the difference in the spots
The Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has released some pictures from the first large-scale census of jaguars in the Amazon region of Ecuador—one of the most biologically rich regions on the planet.
One of the pictures, shown here, was taken with a “camera trap” that photographs animals remotely when they trip a sensor that detects body heat.
“The ongoing census, which began in 2007, is working to establish baseline population numbers as oil exploration and subsequent development puts growing pressure on wildlife in Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park and adjacent Waorani Ethnic Reserve,” WCS said in a statement.
“So far the team has taken 75 pictures of jaguars, which can be individually identified through their unique pattern of spots,” it said. The research is being carried out by a team led by WCS research fellow Santiago Espinosa and his work is funded by WCS, WWF and the University of Florida.
What’s nature worth? Financial crunch may bring rethink
Would you pay $1,000 a year for a remote patch of mangrove swamp?
Maybe not — but more and more environmental economists are arguing that you should.
And they say that the worst financial crisis in 80 years could be a good opportunity to overhaul the world’s economic system and put a price tag on what are often viewed as “free” services from nature, ranging from coral reefs’ role as nurseries for fish, to wetlands’ ability to purify water. See the story here.
