http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/danger-heats-up-for-flying-foxes-20130126-2ddj6.html

Heightened Mortality Rate of Flying Foxes due to Heat Events is a Sign for Concern.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/co…126-2ddj6.html (comes complete with video) STORM Stanford has some very peculiar room-mates. They are noisy, smelly and are taking up valuable space in her Petersham apartment. But it’s not the noise and the smell that make them different to any other room-mates in the heart of Sydney, it is that Ms Stanford’s room-mates are flying foxes. She has 29 crowded into her spare bedroom; with 15 more set to arrive. Ms Stanford is the head of the bat and flying fox team for WIRES, devoting her free time to the care and rehabilitation of the animals, thousands of which have been suffering from the heatwaves. “This is probably a larger set-up than most people can have and I am very fortunate in that, because I don’t have other people living in the house, I can afford to donate this space,’‘ she said. Advertisement The heat has kept her and other volunteers busy, with flying foxes dying in their thousands. “It’s just been the most hideous season,’‘ Ms Stanford said. ‘‘We have had a huge season for pups; we’ve probably had three times more pups than we usually do and we just haven’t been able to cope … and now the heat has just made everything worse again.” WIRES volunteers provide ‘‘halfway houses’‘ where sick or injured bats can recover in safety, regaining their strength before being released. Typically, flying foxes start to die if the temperature climbs above 42 degrees, meaning the record-breaking temperatures throughout January have also led to record numbers of at-risk bats and flying foxes. Justin Welbergen, is a member of the Australian Research Council and is a Senior Research Fellow at James Cook University, he has written a PhD on the effect that extreme heat has on flying foxes. “If it gets hot again, it will happen again, it is inevitable; every time the population is hit by one of these events, the population will be affected because flying foxes will die,” Dr Welbergen said. “When thousands of flying foxes die in these sorts of events, on top of their normal mortality rate, it puts a lot of pressure on the population.” Dr Welbergen believes that the heightened mortality rate of flying foxes due to the heat is a sign for greater ecological concern. “The heat doesn’t only affect flying foxes, it doesn’t bode well for all biodiversity. ‘‘I personally think that flying foxes are sort of like canaries in the coalmine, they are very good bio indicators of what is happening to other species.’‘ Dr Welbergen says no other species is responsible for maintaining biodiversity as flying foxes do. ‘‘They are extremely important … they are the only long-distance seed and pollen dispersers and they play a crucial role in maintaining the diverse structures in forests.’‘

Is this jenna?

It is indeed Bubblecar!

Fort so :)

It doesn’t look anything like her!

:-D

While the poor flying foxes do suffer high mortality rates from heat events, it would be a mistake to think that this is something new. Here is report from 1790.

An immense flight of bats driven before the wind, covered all the trees around the settlement, whence they every moment dropped dead or in a dying state, unable longer to endure the burning state of the atmosphere. Nor did the ‘perroquettes’, though tropical birds, bear it better. The ground was strewn with them in the same condition as the bats.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3534/3534-h/3534-h.htm#17

for jennajones :)

kii said:

for jennajones :)

It’s all wrong.. the bats should be hanging upside down and the cloth should be on top?

Great interview with the lovely but busy and multitasking Jennajones. She’d given up so much to care for those delightful critters (space, enormous amounts of her own time, money, everything). It’s been a bastard season for bat carers at the moment.

The southcoast group has been doing a fundraiser for bat care..
http://www.wildlife-rescue.org.au/

http://www.indiegogo.com/bats-in-need/

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/244323/albatross-dies-heat-stress-affects-colony

Albatross dies as heat stress affects colony

An albatross has died as heat stress and fly strike hit the protected population of northern royal albatrosses at Taiaroa Head on Otago Peninsula.

The Department of Conservation turned on its irrigation lines last week, after adult birds started to show signs of heat stress, and fly strike became a major risk, Doc ranger Lyndon Perriman said.

‘‘This is a really critical stage.’‘

The system significantly reduced the risk of fly strike for eggs and chicks during hot weather. So far, five of the 20 chicks that had hatched had been affected by fly strike.

Staff were checking the eggs and chicks regularly. Once chicks were two days old, they moved enough to deter flies.

When an adult was too hot and left the nest, chicks could be exposed to the sun and, in one such case, Mr Perriman carried a chick with him to monitor its condition before putting it in an incubator until its mother returned to the nest.

An adult female albatross on her first visit to the colony since she fledged four years ago died last week. She was not sitting on an egg and those that were not breeding usually headed for the sea when temperatures on land got too hot, he said. However, she was found caught in rushes and panting hard. She was released and placed where she could fly off, but was found dead the next morning.

Of the seven eggs that remained, five were hatching and another two were expected to hatch in the next few days.

If all survived to fledging, numbers would equal that of the colony’s best year but there was a ‘‘long way to go before that’‘, he said.

The predicted change in weather, with showers forecast this weekend, would be welcomed, as the chicks would be large enough to cope and the risk of fly strike would be reduced, Mr Perriman said.