Synchronized survey of vultures on the card

Synchronized survey of vultures on the cards- The Hindu

• The Vulture Conservation Working Group of South India (  VCWG-SI ) is going to organize a synchronized survey of the critically endangered vulture population in south India.
• An action plan for first survey was finalized at Bandipur Tiger reserves in Karnataka.
• Vultures are capable of travelling more than 100km a day so monitoring will be a difficult task.
• Counting birds on different dates may results in inaccurate number.
• So it is decided to synchronise survey on a specific date.
• Wild populations of vultures are found in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve.
• The presence of  'Diclofenac' a veterinary non steroidal anti inflammatory caused massive death of vulture population
• Some drugs are banned like 'ketoprofen' in vulture habitat but there are drugs yet to be banned.

Changes in snow coverage threatens biodiversity of Arctic nature

Many of the plants inhabiting northern mountains depend on the snow cover lingering until late spring or summer. 
Snow provides shelter for plants from winter-time extreme events but at the same time, it shortens the length of growing season, which prevents the establishment of more southern plants. 
The reduced snow cover may be an even larger threat to the Arctic plants than rising temperatures.
Changes in temperature and snow cover duration will affect the risk for extinction in northern flora. The results show that many plant species can benefit from a warmer climate, but the rapidly receding snow cover may irradicate a large part of the flora typical to northern mountains. Many of these species are already endangered, which makes their conservation an urgent challenge.

Invasive forage grass leads to grassland bird decline

With grasslands in steep decline, the birds that depend on them are also disappearing.
The researchers identified all the plants within a 16-foot radius of every dickcissel nest they found -- all 477 of them -- and the more tall fescue there was, the greater the chances of nest failure. No other plant in their surveys had significant predictive power.
But why does fescue contribute to nest failure? The researchers point to earlier studies demonstrating that tall fescue hosts fewer insects than other types of vegetation. With less food around their nests, birds may be forced to make more feeding trips, attracting the attention of potential predators with every flight.

Off Tanzania, in one of the world’s richest seas, why is the catch getting smaller?

According to global species database FishBase, Tanzania has some of the world's richest fishing grounds, with more than 1,700 species recorded in its waters. 
Of these, 47 are commercially important, 69 are found only in deep water and 171 are threatened. 
With such bountiful resources, Tanzania should not need to import fish, but the government, regional agencies and the UN’s food and agriculture organisation say overfishing is rampant, depleting stocks, raising prices and threatening food security.
Despite the number of fishing boats increasing by nearly 20% in five years to 66,000, the country recorded a sharp decline in catches, from 390,000 tonnes a year on average, to 360,000 tonnes in 2017, says the government. 
In 2016, Tanzania’s total demand was about 730,000 tonnes of fish, of which about 50% came from salt water and the rest from Lake Victoria and the growing number of fish farms. The shortfall is made up with fish from China and elsewhere.