ANNOUNCEMENT
Wildlife Middle East News Vol 4 Issue 4
March 2010
PDFs can be downloaded from:
http://www.wmenews.com/
Request for articles for future issues:
We are looking for contributions of articles from colleagues within the Middle East region for the next issue. Please contact the editors with any ideas that you may have.
info@wmenews.com
Vol 4 Issue 4 Contents - Editorial
- Kuwait turtle nesting season 2009: Low and challenging
- Foundation for the protection of the Arabian leopard in Yemen
- Confirmed eradication of house crow from Socotra Island, Republic of Yemen.
- Sand cat, one of the truly amazing cats
- Preventative medicine programmes for hoofstock in the Middle East
- Artificial wetland biodiversity in desert countries, example of Wadi Ham Dam in Fujairah emirate, UAE- a call for a proper national monitoring of UAE wetlands and waterbirds
- News and reviews
conference on biodiversity conservation in the Arabian peninsula
an illustrated checklist of the flora of Qatar - News and reviews
Better buildings, enhanced water-, energy- and waste management in Arab urban ecosystems – globally applicable.
Request for photographs of the rock hyrax in the Middle East
Wildlife Middle East News wishes to acknowledge the following groups for their continued assistance in the production and distribution of the Newsletter. RAK Bank (Dubai) for their continued financial help without which the Newsletter could not be produced
PaulMac Design for their invaluable help in the design, layout and production of the Newsletter
Husam El Alqamy and all others involved in the proof reading the Arabic version of the Newsletter
Arabic Language Centre, Dubai, for continuing to help with translation
Organics Café, Dubai for distributing WME flyers and issues
Supporting Articles:Additional material relevant to the current issue can be found on the website. These can be found by clicking on the Supporting Material tab followed by Supporting Material. Choose the article you are interested in.
Links to articles : Back to the top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ANNOUNCEMENTS-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation FundDear Chairs and Focal Points
As part of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund is receiving applications for "last gasp" species that are especially close to extinction, specifically global populations of 250 or less. Please visit the website for more details and apply directly.
http://www.mbzspeciesconservation.org/
With best regards
Claire Santer
SSC Membership and Administrative Assistant
Species Programme
IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
28 rue Mauverney, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland
Tel. +41 22 999 0268; Fax +41 22 999 0015;
www.iucn.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proceedings of the First Middle Eastern Biodiversity Congress On a global scale, the Middle East is the only transition zone between three major biogeographic units, the Palaearctic, Afrotropical, and Oriental Realms, resulting in an exceptional biogeography and unique biological diversity, which are increasingly impacted by anthropogenic threats and climate change. A special issue of BioRisk contains a collection of 15 papers presented during the First International Congress: Documenting, Analysing and Managing Biodiversity in the Middle East, which was held in Aqaba, Jordan from 20 to 23 October 2008 and will be of value to anyone interested in biodiversity research and conservation in the Middle East including botanists, zoologists, ecologists, conservationists, and decision makers as well as those who care about global climate change and its effects on biological diversity. A description and application form can be downloaded from the Wildlife Middle East News website.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Foundation for the Protection of the Arabian Leopard in YemenDear Friends of the Arabian leopard,
We are delighted to make available both the Arabic and English version of our update. Please click on Arabic or English to download your chosen language. I hope that everyone of you will enjoy our fourth update. As usual, I will be pleased if you forward this to people who you think will be interested in learning about our foundation. We take pride in the fact that everyone on our mailing list has specifically asked to be included, so if you do forward the newsletter, please mention to your friends that people who are interested in joining the newsgroup should write to contact@yemenileopard.org to request their free membership.
Eventually, all of this material will appear on the foundation's website, but in the mean time, please let me know if you experience any trouble opening this update and I'll try to find another way of sending it. Thank you.
One last thing, the American Institute of Yemeni Studies schedules lectures on a variety of interesting topics at their research center and library near Musteshfa Jumhuriya (Republican hospital) in Sana'a. If you would like to be added to the AIYS mailing list, please contact the resident director, Dr. Stephen J. Steinbeiser II, at aiysyem@y.net.ye I'm sure that Stephen would be glad to hear from you.
With best wishes,
David B. Stanton
Adviser to the Minister for Water and the Environment on the Conservation of the Arabian Leopard
Executive Director of the Foundation for the Protection of the Arabian Leopard in Yemen
P.O. Box 7069
Sana'a, Republic of Yemen
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Conference on WildlifeDear Colleagues
Kindly find the final announcment of the International Conference on Wildlife to be held at the beautiful city of Srinagar (Kashmir) in India during June 2010.
Send the abstracts of papers and ex-pression of interest to participate in the Conference.
Hope to meet you at Srinagar!
With regards
Dr. BM Arora
President
Association of Indian Zoo & Wildlife Veterinarians
M-83, BDA Colony, Bareilly (UP) 243005, India
Phone/Fax: +91-581-2541644
Dr.B.M.Arora
President
Association of Indian Zoo & Wildlife Vets.
M-83, B.D. A. Colony, Tibrinath
BAREILLY (UP) - 243005
Phone : 0581-2541644
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- International Congress of ZookeepersThe January 2010 edition of the ICZ e-newsletter, “Keeper Notes,” can now be seen by following this link: http://www.iczoo.org/downloads/KeeperNotes-201001.pdf (on behalf of the ICZ Steering Committee) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sandscript No 7 April 2010Dear All, The latest issue of Sandscript, SCF’s regular newsletter, is now available for download online at: In this issue, travel with SCF Board Member, Roseline Beudels, through Niger’s Termit mountains on foot and camelback. Discover the region’s unique and threatened wildlife and what SCF and its partners are doing to conserve it. Follow, too, SCF’s ongoing projects to restore the North African ostrich to its former range in Niger and to survey the Sahara’s wildlife hotspots, while building capacity locally for science-based ecological monitoring. Read about work on our Saharan Carnivores project and the research underway to understand the ecology of this amazingly diverse community and ways in which it can be better conserved. In this issue we also feature a new and ambitious programme to develop a global strategy and action plan for the conservation and restoration of the scimitar-horned oryx, a species now extinct in the wild. Finally, Sandscript wraps up with a vibrant homage to colleagues in the field, those Desert All Stars, whose efforts and commitment are making the tangible difference we all desire and aspire to. Since 2007, Sandscript has contributed to raising awareness for the Sahara’s fabulous but highly threatened wildlife. We greatly appreciate your feedback and comments and are grateful to all those who share Sandscript more widely with their friends and conservation networks. Enjoy the read and thank you! John Newby CEO Sahara Conservation Fund -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Birding Newsletter Spring 2010A biannual newsletter in English, produced jointly by the International Bird Migration Center at Latrun, the Society for the Protection of Nature, Tel Aviv University and BirdLife, with information about birdwatching in Israel. Here you can find the archive of all previous newsletters. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zoology in the Middle East Dear colleagues, We wish to inform you that volume 49 (2010) of "Zoology in the Middle East" was just published and is being sent to the subscribers of the journal during these days. For your information we are attaching the table of contents. Additionally to the regular issue, we published simultaneously a special issue on earthworm taxonomy and biology. The papers of this 180-pages volumes emerged from the 4th International Oligochaeta Taxonomy Meeting, which took place last year in Diyarbakir, Turkey. If you wish to obtain copies of these publications, please check for prices and other information our web site www.kasparek-verlag.de, or simply contact us. The web site also contains the tables of content and abstracts of all previous issues of Zoology in the Middle East. KASPAREK Verlag -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's New in the Literature
Cunningham, P.L. 2010. Arabian oryx monitoring in Saudi Arabia: Uruq Bani Ma’arid and Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Areas – 2008 update.Gnusletter28(2): 17-19. Wronski, T. & Cunningham, P.L. 2010. The island gazelle: News from the largest known idmi population on the Arabian Peninsula. Gnusletter28(2): 19-22. Howarth B, Gillett MPT (2009) Increasing knowledge of the entomological fauna of the United Arab Emirates and the role of private collections. In: Neubert E, Amr Z, Taiti S, Gümüs B (Eds) Animal Biodiversity in the Middle East. Proceedings of the First Middle Eastern Biodiversity Congress, Aqaba, Jordan, 20–23 October 2008. ZooKeys 31: 119–132. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.31.139 Abstract: Conservation of larger terrestrial organisms is easier in comparison with arthropods because those groups are more visible, are generally better known and their requirements more likely to have been described and documented. Arthropods are often very small, e.g. the average size of a beetle is 4 mm, and this means that much arthropod biodiversity has thus far not been described. Many arthropod species are of ecological importance and may be regarded as keystone species in their environment without which ecosystems would collapse. Th is has widely been recognized and much research is under way. Nowadays there is an urgency for arthropod biodiversity research because habitats are either being degraded, fragmented or destroyed before a baseline of the arthropod fauna has been recorded and their ecological roles have been understood. Private collections have a role in recording baseline data and may be able to provide important information in identifying indicator species, particularly where land use has changed since the date of collection. Using data from the joint Al Ain and Abu Dhabi Emirates Natural History Group private collection, this paper will illustrate how data collected over more than 20 years can assist with arthropod biodiversity research and conservation. Gardner AS (2009) Mapping the terrestrial reptile distributions in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. In: Neubert E, Amr Z, Taiti S, Gümüs B (Eds) Animal Biodiversity in the Middle East. Proceedings of the First Middle Eastern Biodiversity Congress, Aqaba, Jordan, 20–23 October 2008. ZooKeys 31: 165–177. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.31.133 Abstract: The terrestrial reptile fauna of Oman and the United Arab Emirates is rich, with at least 79 species of lizards and snakes and a single species of worm lizard. However, to date there have been no accurate maps published of their distribution ranges, and distribution data relies on scattered museum specimen localities and published accounts. Considerable numbers of locality data points do exist, collected by visting and resident herpetologists, and more recently, from ecologists working on surveys for environmental impact assessments and biodiversity action plans. Th ese data are invaluable, as amongst other uses, they can assist conservation planning and management, and will eventually document changes in distributions over time. Th is is especially true where there has been extensive habitat loss and degradation due to urbanisation and development activities. Data have been collected from museum records, published accounts and unpublished data from
a variety of sources, including many records made by the author over the last 20 years, with the aim of producing an atlas of species distributions. Th e number of records is now approaching 5.000, giving suffi cient coverage to produce maps that are useful for a variety of applications. Examples are discussed, including endangered and endemic species, snakes of medical importance and species of potential interest in ecological and evolutionary studies. Gardner AS, Howarth B (2009) Urbanisation in the United Arab Emirates: the challenges for ecological mitigation in a rapidly developing country. In: Krupp F, Musselman LJ, Kotb MMA, Weidig I (Eds) Environment, Biodiversity and Conservation in the Middle East. Proceedings of the First Middle Eastern Biodiversity Congress, Aqaba, Jordan, 20–23 October 2008. BioRisk 3: 27–38. doi: 10.3897/biorisk.3.18 Abstract: The United Arab Emirates is a small Gulf country with perhaps the fastest rate of infrastructure development anywhere. While there is legislation in place requiring environmental impact assessments (EIA) to be undertaken for all major projects, the speed and scope of development provides special challenges in devising and implementing ecological mitigation against the loss of habitats and biodiversity that this development engenders. Th is paper critically discusses mitigation strategies that have been attempted, and suggests mitigation strategies in the local context. It is hoped that this will assist both the environmental consultants involved in the EIA process and the competent authorities who issue development licences, to the benefit of the remaining native biodiversity of the area.
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