Two students from Barrenjoey High School were heroes on Wednesday this week when they rescued a young boy who got into difficulties in the surf at Avalon Beach.
Five boys from the school were doing their Surf Survival Assessment when they heard cries for help in the water.
Two brothers from Darwin were at the beach with their grandmother. The younger boy, 7, got into trouble about 50m from shore and was in distress, yelling out for help.
Rudy Duke-Yonge fortunately had the rescue tube around him and swam to the boy's aid and held him up until Remy Garner arrived to assist. Remy removed the tube from Rudy and put it around the boy and he was taken safely back to shore.
It certainly turned out to be an eventful day for the boys from Barrenjoey High. Rudy did the course because he just wanted to do something different.
While he was not involved in the rescue, Jacob Cowan told one of the SLS Sydney Northern Beaches instructors Tracey Hare-Boyd that he wants to do the course again in fourth term because he gained so much out of it.
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Pittwater Lady Announced As Max Gardner Award Recipient
Mary Jones, a committee member of Northern Beaches Prostate Cancer Support Group, has been announced as a winner of the prestigious Max Gardner award this week.
The Max Gardner Award for Distinguished Service is a prestigious award presented by Prostrate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA). It is awarded to an individual member of the Network that has made an outstanding and significant contribution to reducing the impact of prostate cancer on Australian men, their partners and families, recognising the diversity of the Australian community.
This award is a peer-based form of recognition for PCFA Network members who are currently an official Ambassador, in a Support Group Leader role or an active member of an affiliated support group.
Max Gardner AM was a passionate advocate for cancer support services. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1995 and firmly believed that if his cancer had been diagnosed earlier he still might be around today. With this thought in mind, he became an advocate for early diagnosis and dedicated himself to ensuring that other men diagnosed with prostate cancer would have a better chance in life than he did.
From diagnosis until his death in October 2004, Max worked tirelessly to raise the level of community awareness about prostate cancer, to promote research into this disease and to support men and women dealing with prostate cancer. He was instrumental in establishing the Network with other like-minded men and women. Max also published a newsletter for his own St Vincent’s Hospital Prostate Cancer Support Group in Sydney and served on numerous educational, scientific and generic cancer committees and boards.
"Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia received many Max Gardner Award nominations from across the country in 2018 for Support Group Leaders and Ambassadors. I am extremely proud of the wonderful accomplishments made by all those nominated and the collective, positive impact being made by the Support Groups and Ambassadors nationally." Steve Callister, the National Chairman of PCFA said
"At the most recent National Board of Directors meeting three new awardees were approved. It is with great pleasure that I announce that the Max Gardner Award recipients for 2018 are:
Mary Jones
Tony Maxwell
David Merry
Tony, Mary and David have all made outstanding and significant contributions to reducing the impact of prostate cancer on the Australian community. Each of these individuals have altruistically served our community, and genuinely encompass our core values of integrity, optimism, compassion, respect and commitment.
Their hard work has provided many men and their families with the support and awareness that is needed.
On behalf of the National Board, staff and our community, I would like to thank and commend Mary, Tony and David for their ongoing commitment to the cause and their valuable work. " Mr. Callister said
The award will be presented in June this year.
Pittwater residents may remember Mary as the lady whose work saw the Bahai Temple lit Blue for Prostrate Cancer Awareness Month a few years ago, or is the one who sends us in details of fundraising Trivia Nights or those Family Fun Days and Big Aussie BBQ's at Rat Park with wonderful vehicles on display from members of the Pittwater Motor Enthusiast Association.
All these fundraising activities are devoted to research into the disease.
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This car is a DA Dodge 1929 Roadster which was on display and is owned by Jimmy Hurlstone (in photo together with Mary Jones of the NBPCSG) Photograph by Michael Mannington, Community Photography.
September is International Prostate Cancer Awareness month and the Northern Beaches Prostate Cancer Support Group organises these events to increase public awareness and inform the community that a simple PSA blood test could lead to early detection and save a man’s life.
The work of these volunteers is vital when you find out that 3,300 Australian men a year die from Prostate Cancer and 20,000 Australian men a year receive a new diagnosis, that’s 54 a day!
Mary is also Editor of the Northern Beaches Prostate Cancer Support Group (NBPCSG) Newsletter.
The Northern Beaches Prostate Cancer Support Group hold regular meetings and have guests speakers. In August 2013 Mary sent Pittwater Online a Notice about ‘Facing The Tiger’ , a book written by Professor Suzanne Chambers, as a guide for Men with Prostate Cancer and the People Who Love Them.
Prof. Chambers is one of the world’s leading researches into the psychological effects of cancer and how best to provide support for individuals and couples. She is a health psychologist at Griffith University in Queensland and made the journey to Sydney to be guest speaker at the meeting of the Northern Beaches Prostate Cancer Support Group on Tuesday, 6th August.
The Northern Beaches Prostate Cancer Support Group will have other speakers at their monthly meetings in 2019, including:
- Dr Zaklina Kovacevic – Researcher
- Assoc Professor Michael Izard – Radiation Oncologist
- Assoc Professor Celi Vero -Urologist
- Mens’ Night Only
- Speakers on new developments in the treatment of prostate cancer
The monthly meetings are held from February to December on the 1st Tuesday of the month at 6:30pm and are held in the Palliative Care Cottage in the grounds of Mona Vale District Hospital, Coronation Street, Mona Vale.
Find out more here: www.prostate-cancer-support-nb.org
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Ancient Four-Legged Whale With Otter-Like Features Found Along The Coast Of Peru
April 4th, 2019: Cell Press
Cetaceans, the group including whales and dolphins, originated in south Asia more than 50 million years ago from a small, four-legged, hoofed ancestor. Now, researchers reporting the discovery of an ancient four-legged whale -- found in 42.6-million-year-old marine sediments along the coast of Peru -- have new insight into whales' evolution and their dispersal to other parts of the world. The findings are reported in the journal Current Biology on April 4.
The presence of small hooves at the tip of the whale's fingers and toes and its hip and limbs morphology all suggest that this whale could walk on land, according to the researchers. On the other hand, they say, anatomical features of the tail and feet, including long, likely webbed appendages, similar to an otter, indicate that it was a good swimmer too.
"This is the first indisputable record of a quadrupedal whale skeleton for the whole Pacific Ocean, probably the oldest for the Americas, and the most complete outside India and Pakistan," says Olivier Lambert of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.
Some years ago, study co-author Mario Urbina of Museo de Historia Natural-UNMSM, Peru, discovered a promising area for digging fossils in the coastal desert of southern Peru, named Playa Media Luna. In 2011, an international team, including members from Peru, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium, organized a field expedition, during which they excavated the remains of an ancient whale they've since named Peregocetus pacificus. It means "the traveling whale that reached the Pacific."
"When digging around the outcropping bones, we quickly realized that this was the skeleton of a quadrupedal whale, with both forelimbs and hind limbs," Lambert says.
With the help of microfossils, the sediment layers where the skeleton was positioned were precisely dated to the middle Eocene, 42.6 million years ago. Anatomical details of the skeleton allowed them to infer that the animal was capable of maneuvering its large body (up to 4 meters long, tail included), both on land and in the water. For instance, features of the caudal vertebrae (in the tail) are reminiscent of those of beavers and otters, suggesting a significant contribution of the tail during swimming.
The geological age of the new four-limbed whale and its presence along the western coast of South America strongly support the hypothesis that early cetaceans reached the New World across the South Atlantic, from the western coast of Africa to South America, the researchers report. The whales would have been assisted in their travel by westward surface currents and by the fact that, at the time, the distance between the two continents was half what it is today. The researchers suggest that, only after having reached South America, the amphibious whales migrated northward, finally reaching North America.
The international team continues to study the remains of other whales and dolphins from Peru. "We will keep searching in localities with layers as ancient, and even more ancient, than the ones of Playa Media Luna, so older amphibious cetaceans may be discovered in the future," Lambert says.
Olivier Lambert, Giovanni Bianucci, Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi, Claudio Di Celma, Etienne Steurbaut, Mario Urbina, Christian de Muizon. An Amphibious Whale from the Middle Eocene of Peru Reveals Early South Pacific Dispersal of Quadrupedal Cetaceans.Current Biology, 2019; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.02.050
This figure shows the bones of Peregocetus, including the mandible with teeth, scapula, vertebrae, sternum elements, pelvis, and fore- and hind limbs. Credit: G. Bianucci
Curious Kids: why do we have fingernails and toenails?
Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au You might also like the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.
Why do we have fingernails and toenails? - Jake (age 9) and Ben (age 7), Melbourne.
The reason we have fingernails and toenails is not to pick our noses or to scratch our siblings.
The short answer is we have evolved to have nails because they help us pick things up (like food), pick things off (like bugs), and hold tightly onto things.
Early humans who had these type of nails (instead of claws) tended to live long enough to have babies and pass on the fingernails gene to their kids. So over time, the number of human ancestors with nails grew and the number with claws shrunk. That’s how evolution works.
But the story goes back further than that.
Our Primate Ancestors And Cousins
Humans are members of the primate family. The primates are the most intelligent group of mammals (mammals are animals who do not lay eggs). Primates have evolved to have nails.
That’s why you see primates like apes and monkeys also have nails on all their fingers and toes, as well as our closest primate “cousins”: gibbons, bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans.
While humans don’t usually use our toes these days to pick things up, our primate cousins do. So our toenails are a hangover from a time in our evolutionary past where we often used our feet to pick stuff up and pick stuff off.
All these primates – including us – evolved from a common ancestor that had claws.
Nails Vs Claws
So why did we evolve to have nails instead of claws? The answer is that nails let us do a lot of important things that you can’t do with claws.
Compare your nails to those of a dog or cat. Your nails are wide, flat and shield-shaped. They are also on the back of the tip of your fingers and toes.
A dog or cat has claws that are thin, curved and pointed. They wrap around the end of their “fingers” and “toes”.
By having nails, you can pick up tiny things like small LEGO bricks off the ground, pick off stickers, or pick a bug off you easily. You can make and use tools. Can a cat do that with its claws? No! In fact, having super-long, clawlike nails can make it really hard to do a lot of things humans need to do – like eating, washing and holding things.
On the other hand, claws are useful for some things that cats and dogs often need to do.
By having claws, your cat can quickly run up a tree (even if it doesn’t have many lower branches) to catch a bird. Plus your dog can dig up your backyard in one afternoon (to find food, for example).
Primates also climb trees but we mostly do it by grasping onto branches, and long claws get in the way when you’re grasping. Nails provide a rigid backing to primates’ fingertips to improve grasping. We dig too, of course, but we use tools for that. You don’t have the same needs as a dog or a cat, so you don’t have the same type of nails or claws.
Each type of animal has evolved to have the type of finger-covering (either claws or nails) that best suits its needs.
Read more: Curious Kids: how do tongues taste food?
What If We Didn’t Have Nails?
Imagine for a moment that humans didn’t have nails. First, a lot of nail salons would go out of business, and we couldn’t enjoy painting our nails lots of different colours.
But more importantly, having a lump of soft skin at the end of our fingers would make it harder to hold things and control our grip on them. The ends of our fingers and toes have changed to match our changed lives.
So next time you’re at the zoo, look at the hands of gibbons, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, and you’ll see they have nails just like yours. Think about all the amazing things we primates can do with nails.
Read more: Curious Kids: is everything really made of molecules?
Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au
Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.
Amanda Meyer, Lecturer of Human Anatomy, University of Western Australia
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Anzac Day Schools' Awards
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) hosts the Anzac Day Schools’ Awards each year.
This national competition encourages students and teachers to plan, deliver and report on the commemoration of Anzac Day in their local community.
We encourage schools to involve local veterans, current serving members of the Australian Defence Force and other important local people as a way for students to discover wartime experience.
Participating in a student competition helps children and teenagers to challenge themselves, test their ideas and show their talents.
It’s open to all primary and secondary schools in Australia.
Entries for 2019 are now open. Submission closes on 24 May 2019.
Find out:
Helpful resources
Plan your school’s commemorative activities and research with the following resources.
We create educational resources linked to the Australian Curriculum, including commemorative publications and interviews with veterans.
Explore government records about Australians and New Zealanders in World War I. Enhance a profile dedicated to the wartime journey of someone who served. Uncover the personal stories of service men and women through original archival records.
Commemorating those who have served, here you will find listings of members of Australia’s defence forces who served during the Second World War, Korean War, Vietnam War and First Gulf War.
Local memorabilia and memorials
Your local war memorial, war graves, ex-service organisations and history associations can also be a useful starting point.
Wildlife Rehabilitation Sector Strategy Changes
by NSW Government
The Office of Environment and Heritage is seeking feedback on a strategy for supporting the wildlife rehabilitation sector and introducing an accreditation system for providers.
What's this about?
The volunteer wildlife rehabilitation sector provides specialised care and treatment for injured, sick and orphaned native animals. It delivers an important service to the community.
The Office of Environment and Heritage undertook a review of the sector to better understand the services provided and the challenges faced. It also had a look at how these services may be more effectively supported in line with changes to the regulation of wildlife rehabilitation providers under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.
Under the Act, regulation of wildlife rehabilitation and rescue services will shift from a licence-based model to a system of accreditation.
You are invited to provide feedback on the findings of the review, recommendations for enhancing services and the proposed accreditation system.
Have your say
There are three ways you can submit your feedback:
Online: consultation website
Mail: Wildlife Rehabilitation Sector Strategy
National Parks and Wildlife Service
PO Box 1967
Hurstville, NSW 1481
Have your say by 12 April 2019.
More Information
Email: National Parks and Wildlife Service
Phone: 1300 361 967
Mackellar Climate Election Candidates Forum
Hosted by StopAdani Mackellar
Wednesday, April 17, 2019 at 6:30 PM – 8 PM
Modus Operandi Brewing Co.
14 Harkeith Street, Mona Vale
Concern for climate change is at an all time high. That’s why the federal election in May is shaping up to be the #climateelection.
Join Stop Adani Mackellar to find out which Mackellar candidates are ready to step up for climate change . We need to pack out the room, so invite your friends and family as well!
Alice Thompson (Independent), Prudence Wawn (The Greens) and Declan Steele (Labor) are all participating. Jason Falinski, Mackellar’s Liberal MP, is unable to attend due to prior commitments.
Please RSVP on the provided link above (FREE) so we know how many seats we’ll need for the evening.
Australia’s 2018 Environmental Scorecard: A Dreadful Year That Demands Action
April 4th 2019
by Albert Van Dijk
Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University
Environmental news is rarely good. But even by those low standards, 2018 was especially bad. That is the main conclusion from Australia’s Environment in 2018, the latest in an annual series of environmental condition reports, released today.
Every year, we analyse vast amounts of measurements from satellites and on-ground stations using algorithms and prediction models on a supercomputer. These volumes of data are turned into regional summary accounts that can be explored on our Australian Environment Explorer website. We interpret these data, along with other information from national and international reports, to assess how our environment is tracking.
A bad year
Whereas 2017 was already quite bad, 2018 saw many indicators dip even further into the red.
Temperatures went up again, rainfall declined further, and the destruction of vegetation and ecosystems by drought, fire and land clearing continued. Soil moisture, rivers and wetlands all declined, and vegetation growth was poor.
In short, our environment took a beating in 2018, and that was even before the oppressive heatwaves, bushfires and Darling River fish kills of January 2019.
Indicators of Australia’s environment in 2018 compared with the previous year. Similar to national economic indicators, they provide a summary but also hide regional variations, complex interactions and long-term context. source: http://www.ausenv.online/2018
The combined pressures from habitat destruction, climate change, and invasive pests and diseases are taking their toll on our unique plants and animals. Another 54 species were added to the official list of threatened species, which now stands at 1,775. That is 47% more than 18 years ago and puts Australia among the world’s worst performers in biodiversity protection. On the upside, the number of predator-proof islands or fenced-off reserves in Australia reached 188 in 2018, covering close to 2,500 square kilometres. They offer good prospects of saving at least 13 mammal species from extinction.
Globally, the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere accelerated again after slowing down in 2017. Global air and ocean temperatures remained high, sea levels increased further, and even the ozone hole grew again, after shrinking during the previous two years.
Sea surface temperatures around Australia did not increase in 2018, but they nevertheless were well above long-term averages. Surveys of the Great Barrier Reef showed further declining health across the entire reef. An exceptional heatwave in late 2018 in Far North Queensland raised fears for yet another bout of coral bleaching, but this was averted when sudden massive downpours cooled surface waters.
The hot conditions did cause much damage to wildlife and vegetation, however, with spectacled flying foxes dropping dead from trees and fire ravaging what was once a tropical rainforest.
While previous environmental scorecards showed a mixed bag of regional impacts, 2018 was a poor year in all states and territories. Particularly badly hit was New South Wales, where after a second year of very poor rainfall, ecosystems and communities reached crisis point. Least affected was southern Western Australia, which enjoyed relatively cool and wet conditions.
Environmental Condition Score in 2018 by state and territory, based on a combination of seven indicators. The large number is the score for 2017, the smaller number the change from the previous year. source: http://www.ausenv.online/2018
It was a poor year for nature and farmers alike, with growing conditions in grazing, irrigated agriculture and dryland cropping each declining by 17-20% at a national scale. The only upside was improved cropping conditions in WA, which mitigated the 34% decline elsewhere.
A bad start to 2019
Although it is too early for a full picture, the first months of 2019 continued as badly as 2018 ended. The 2018-19 summer broke heat records across the country by large margins, bushfires raged through Tasmania’s forests, and a sudden turn in the hot weather killed scores of fish in the Darling River. The monsoon in northern Australia did not come until late January, the latest in decades, but then dumped a huge amount of rain on northern Queensland, flooding vast swathes of land.
It would be comforting to believe that our environment merely waxes and wanes with rainfall, and is resilient to yearly variations. To some extent, this is true. The current year may still turn wet and improve conditions, although a developing El Niño makes this less likely.
However, while we are good at acknowledging rapid changes, we are terrible at recognising slow, long-term ones. Underlying the yearly variations in weather is an unmistakable pattern of environmental decline that threatens our future.
What can we do about it?
Global warming is already with us, and strong action is required to avoid an even more dire future of rolling heatwaves and year-round bushfires. But while global climate change requires global action, there is a lot we can and have to do ourselves.
Australia is one of the world’s most wasteful societies, and there are many opportunities to clean up our act. Achieving progress is not hard, and despite shrill protests from vested interests and the ideologically blind, taking action will not take away our prosperity. Home solar systems and more efficient transport can in fact save money. Our country has huge opportunities for renewable energy, which can potentially create thousands of jobs. Together, we can indeed reduce emissions “in a canter” – all it takes is some clear national leadership.
The ongoing destruction of natural vegetation is as damaging as it is unnecessary, and stopping it will bring a raft of benefits. Our rivers and wetlands are more than just a source of cheap irrigation for big businesses. With more effort, we can save many species from extinction. Our farmers play a vital role in caring for our country, and we need to support them better in doing so.
Our environment is our life support. It provides us our place to live, our food, health, livelihoods, culture and identity. To protect it is to protect ourselves.
This article was coauthored by Shoshana Rapley, an ANU honours student and research assistant in the Fenner School of Environment and Society.
This article was published in The Conversation first, visit this Link to read the original. Republished under Creative Commons licence.
Are More Aussie Trees Dying Of Drought? Scientists Need Your Help Spotting Dead Trees
The following opinion piece, co-authored by Professor Belinda Medlyn and Associate Professor Brendan Choat from the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, was first published with full links on The Conversation.
Most citizen science initiatives ask people to record living things, like frogs, wombats, or feral animals. But dead things can also be hugely informative for science. We have just launched a new citizen science project, The Dead Tree Detective, which aims to record where and when trees have died in Australia.
The current drought across southeastern Australia has been so severe that native trees have begun to perish, and we need people to send in photographs tracking what has died. These records will be valuable for scientists trying to understand and predict how native forests and woodlands are vulnerable to climate extremes.
Understanding where trees are most at risk is becoming urgent because it’s increasingly clear that climate change is already underway. On average, temperatures across Australia have risen more than 1℃ since 1910, and winter rainfall in southern Australia has declined. Further increases in temperature, and increasing time spent in drought, are forecast.
How our native plants cope with these changes will affect (among other things) biodiversity, water supplies, fire risk, and carbon storage. Unfortunately, how climate change is likely to affect Australian vegetation is a complex problem, and one we don’t yet have a good handle on.
Phil Spark of Woolomin, NSW submitted this photo to The Dead Tree Detective project online. Author provided
Climate niche
All plants have a preferred average climate where they grow best (their “climatic niche”). Many Australian tree species have small climatic niches.
It’s been estimated an increase of 2℃ would see 40% of eucalypt species stranded in climate conditions to which they are not adapted.
But what happens if species move out of their climatic niche? It’s possible there will be a gradual migration across the landscape as plants move to keep up with the climate.
It’s also possible that plants will generally grow better, if carbon dioxide rises and frosts become less common (although this is a complicated and disputed claim.
Farmers have reported anecdotal evidence of tree deaths on social media. Author provided
However, a third possibility is that increasing climate extremes will lead to mass tree deaths, with severe consequences.
There are examples of all three possibilities in the scientific literature, but reports of widespread tree death are becoming increasingly commonplace.
Many scientists, including ourselves, are now trying to identify the circumstances under which we may see trees die from climate stress. Quantifying these thresholds is going to be key for working out where vegetation may be headed.
The water transport system
Australian plants must deal with the most variable rainfall in the world. Only trees adapted to prolonged drought can survive. However, drought severity is forecast to increase, and rising heat extremes will exacerbate drought stress past their tolerance.
To explain why droughts overwhelm trees, we need to look at the water transport system that keeps them alive. Essentially, trees draw water from the soil through their roots and up to their leaves. Plants do not have a pump (like our hearts) to move water – instead, water is pulled up under tension using energy from sunlight. Our research illustrates how this transport system breaks down during droughts.
In hot weather, more moisture evaporates from trees’ leaves, putting more pressure on their water transport system. This evaporation can actually be useful, because it keeps the trees’ leaves cool during heatwaves. However if there is not enough water available, leaf temperatures can become lethally high, scorching the tree canopy.
Lyn Lacey submitted these photos of dead trees at Ashford, NSW to The Dead Tree Detective. Author provided
We’ve also identified how drought tolerance varies among native tree species. Species growing in low-rainfall areas are better equipped to handle drought, showing they are finely tuned to their climate niche and suggesting many species will be vulnerable if climate change increases drought severity.
Based on all of these data, we hope to be able to predict where and when trees will be vulnerable to death from drought and heat stress. The problem lies in testing our predictions – and that’s where citizen science comes in. Satellite remote sensing can help us track overall greenness of ecosystems, but it can’t detect individual tree death. Observation on the ground is needed.
These images show a failure of the water transport system in Eucalyptus saligna. Left: well-watered plant. Right: severely droughted plant. On the right, air bubbles blocking the transport system can be seen. Brendan Choat, Author provided
However, there is no system in place to record tree death from drought in Australia. For example, during the Millennium Drought, the most severe and extended drought for a century in southern Australia, there are almost no records of native tree death (other than along the rivers, where over-extraction of water was also an issue). Were there no deaths? Or were they simply not recorded?
The current drought gripping the southeast has not been as long as the Millennium Drought, but it does appear to be more intense, with some places receiving almost no rain for two years. We’ve also had a summer of repeated heatwaves, which will have intensified the stress.
We’re hearing anecdotal reports of tree death in the news and on twitter. We’re aiming to capture these anecdotal reports, and back them up with information including photographs, locations, numbers and species of trees affected, on the Dead Tree Detective.
We encourage anyone who sees dead trees around them to hop online and contribute. The Detective also allows people to record tree deaths from other causes – and trees that have come back to life again (sometimes dead isn’t dead). It can be depressing to see trees die – but recording their deaths for science helps to ensure they won’t have died in vain.
PITTWATER YHA OFFERS FREE BEDS FOR GREEN HEARTS
This May, Pittwater YHA opens its doors to green-hearted and green-thumbed guests who'll save the gorgeous Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park from imminent asparagus fern invasion. Yes, seriously.
WHAT IS IT?
Bush Regeneration sees eco-conscious, kind hearted humans restore and rehabilitate the gorgeous, sprawling Aussie bush from its weed-infested, degraded state into a healthy, thriving plant community, which will prosper and delight forevermore. Far from just weed removal; Regenerators focus on habitat, drainage, weed sources and establishing native communities. These are big words which probably don’t make much sense – but we have an interactive learning opportunity for you!
WHERE IS IT?
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Sydney’s protected north coast, is home to rock engravings, red ochre rock paintings, the fuzziest wildlife you ever did see and the most breathtaking views a Sydneysider or visitor could comprehend; and is currently under threat from invasive asparagus fern; which needs removing. Who knew your Aunty’s fave veggie could be so aggressive?
ALRIGHT - SIGN ME UP!
The blissed-out, babbling-brooked, spectacular-viewed, fresh-aired oasis that is our Pittwater YHA, alongside the Northern Beaches Council, are offering you fine green-thumbed and hearted folk the opportunity to volunteer alongside professional Regenerators for a weekend of Pittwater Restoration from May 3 - 5, 2019. Spend two mornings of tending to the gorgeous surrounds and you’ll be rewarded with two nights’ accommodation, two days of meals (morning teas, BBQ lunches and evening dinners) and kayak use throughout your stay. Plus, you’ll be chuffed with yourself for doing your bit for the planet and our futures.
Along with your towels, two sheets, a pillowcase and, sturdy shoes, sunscreen and your breakfasts; you’ll need a $20 contribution for the weekend. For all the T&Cs; head to Pittwater YHA, shoot them an email (Subject: 'Bush Regeneration Weekend') or give them a ring on (02 9999-5748) – the only thing those guys love more than a regenerated bushland is chatting to ladies and gentleman who are keen on the idea!
Archie's Pittwater Clean Up
My name is Archie Mandin
I am a Seabin Ambassador, I started this campaign because I want to take a stand against ocean plastics!
My goal is to raise enough money to bring a minimum of 20 Seabins to Pittwater NSW as I want to give The Northern Beaches the opportunity to reduce its plastic pollution impact on the ocean. Its amazing how much accidental rubbish comes down our creeks and into our waterways
I need your help to raise money to buy the Seabins a revolutionary ocean cleaning technology which is essentially a floating rubbish bin that operates 24/7 catching all floating debris in the water.
The Seabin helps clean the ocean of floating debris which in turn creates cleaner oceans and we all benefit from this in one way or another. I mean, who really wants to swim in pollution? Not me that’s for sure!
Did you know that 300 million tons of plastic are produced in the world every year, half of which is for single use products, from this more than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans every year. We need to do something about it and now with the purchase of a Seabin we can all participate and make a difference!
Join me and my campaign to help ensure cleaner oceans!
What’s a Seabin?
The Seabin is a floating rubbish bin that is located in the water at marinas, docks, yacht clubs and commercial ports.
The Seabin can catch an average of 3.9kgs of floating debris per day which adds up to 1.4 tons per year. (depending on weather conditions and debris volumes) The Seabins is catching large plastic bags, bottles, plastic straws, coffee cups, food wrappers, surface oils and micro plastics down to 2 mm small.
How can a Seabin contribute to cleaner oceans?
The Seabin contributes to cleaner oceans by removing 1.4 tons of floating debris per unit per year. The location of the Seabin in marinas is ideal and where it matters most, close to the source of entry for floating debris. Ports and Marinas are perfect locations to stop floating debris from entering the open ocean and ocean plastics are also brought in by wind and currents.
Are the Seabins a danger to marine life?
The fish According to the team at Seabin, stay away from the surface of the water where the Seabin sucks in the water. They are deterred by the force of the water current. If there are swarms of jellyfish or bait fish it is recommended that the Seabins are turned off until the swarms pass. If a fish was to accidentally go into the Seabin, it would be caught in the Seabin and stay submerged in water until the marina staff retrieve the filter and throw the fish still alive back into the water.
How does it work?
Water is sucked in from the surface and passes through a catch bag inside the Seabin, with a submersible water pump capable of displacing 25.000 LPH (liters per hour). The water is then pumped back into the marina leaving litter and debris trapped in the catch bag to be disposed of properly.
Who is responsible for the Seabin?
This is the best part of it all, the marina will be the one responsible for the upkeep of the Seabins and also they will be paying for the energy consumption of the Seabin which is around $2 - $3 a day.
The marina enjoys a cleaner marina and the rest of us and the marine life enjoy cleaner oceans with less floating debris polluting our oceans!
Seabins part of a whole solution
Seabins whole solution is Technology, Education, Science, Research and Community. The reason for this is that Technology alone is not the solution to stopping ocean plastics, education is the real solution.
Great! Can our local community be involved also?
Yes! The team at Seabin have interactive programs and lessons designed for schools, community and youth to interact with the Seabins and have over 2000 school students engaged around the world, this is something that we can do locally also with support from the team at Seabin Project.
What will we be doing if we participate in these programs?
You would be joining an international community contributing important data and feedback on ocean plastics to the Seabin central data base. Renowned scientists, universities and environmental agencies are all a part of the programs also.
The lessons range from identifying ocean plastics to data collection of what the Seabins are catching weekly. The data collection is a very easy activity and where we can all see the measurable impact of debris the Seabins are taking out of the water in all weather conditions.
It’s as simple as counting how many plastic bags, plastic particles, food wrappers and then noting it down on a spreadsheet or app. Weather conditions and location information is also entered into the data base.
How can you help our campaign and make a difference in the world?
Every contribution to this crowdfunding campaign helps, be it $1 or $50 dollars, it all adds up and bring us closer to our goal.
Even if you cannot afford a donation, please help by sharing this campaign with your friends and family on social media. The more people that know about the campaign the better!
Thanks everyone for taking the time to check out our campaign!
FOR CLEANER OCEANS!
Archie
FAQS SHEET
Seabin Project FAQs
Q: Can someone pay out the crowdfunding campaign goal?
A: Yes! We need help! The more money we can raise, the more Seabins we can buy.
Q: Why crowdfund a Seabin?
A: Until now, the Seabins were not for the everyday person to purchase because marinas ports and yacht clubs are the target market for Seabin Group. This is a way where everyday people can give something back to the oceans.
Q: How do Seabins work in tidal areas?
A: Seabins at present are designed for floating docks and pontoons. The Seabins move up and down with the tide on the floating dock.
Q. How are the pumps run?
A. The pumps are currently electric, and around $2-$3 a day to run.
Q: When are the Seabins available?
A: Depending on your countries location, Seabins will be available Feb 2019.
Q: Do any fish get sucked into the Seabins? What about smaller marine life?
A: There is a possibility of fish to enter the Seabins, however in the last 2 years of development, the Seabins have only caught a handful of small bait fish. Most of which have been thrown back into the water alive. The fish simply stay away from the flow of water entering the Seabin and with the current fine tuning of the Seabin, the risk is now minimal.
Q: I don’t have any money to donate, how can I help?
A: Don’t worry! Your amazing anyways and thanks for even contacting us. We need help to share this project around with any media we can. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, websites, bloggers. Also with newspapers, magazines, tv, radio and journalists. Also friends and family!
Scientists Explore Causes Of Biodiversity In Perching Birds
April 5, 2019
New research by a global team of scientists has resulted in significant strides in ornithological classification and identified possible causes of diversity among modern bird species.
The study, coauthored by researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focuses on perching birds, or passerines. Comprised of over 6,000 species, this group -- which constitutes over half of all known bird species -- includes familiar birds such as robins, jays, bluebirds, finches, and sparrows.
Scientists analyzed genetic samples and fossils of all major groups within the passerine family to better understand the way these species are related. The large data set allowed for much more accurate inferences into the development of perching birds.
The result is the most accurate and comprehensive "tree of life" of passerine species to date.
The report also includes an analysis of the impact some events in Earth's history could have had on passerines' biodiversity.
"Our main discovery is that the evolution of perching birds around the world was determined in part by connections between continents over the Earth's history, as well as changes in global climate," said Michael Harvey, a postdoctoral fellow with UT's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. "We found, for example, evidence that glaciations during the Oligocene Epoch (between 24 and 33 million years ago) wiped out a lot of perching birds, but that the warming period immediately after prompted the evolution of many of the groups of perching birds alive today."
Another large portion of the study looks at the origin of perching birds, including a finding that perching birds originated on the Australian landmass around 47 million years ago.
"However, not just one single event in earth's history explains how they became so diverse and widespread," said Elizabeth Derryberry, UT assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. "Instead, diversification and dispersal of this group has been affected by a number of different climatological and geological events, such as glaciation, global temperature changes and colonization of new continents."
According to Harvey, the next step is to fill in the missing gaps in passerine evolution not fully explained by Earth's history.
"We found that changes in geology and climate cannot explain everything," he said. "Future research needs to focus on explaining those aspects of bird evolution that are not determined by the Earth's geological and climatic history, but instead by the evolution of new characteristics in the birds themselves. For example, did the evolution of the ability to complete long-distance migrations in some perching birds help them get to new areas, or lead to the evolution of new species?"
Derryberry believes the research serves as a template for future exploration.
"The study provides a framework for how to conduct these types of analyses on large radiations and should provide a path forward for this type of research on all birds," she said.
Carl H. Oliveros, Daniel J. Field, Daniel T. Ksepka, F. Keith Barker, Alexandre Aleixo, Michael J. Andersen, Per Alström, Brett W. Benz, Edward L. Braun, Michael J. Braun, Gustavo A. Bravo, Robb T. Brumfield, R. Terry Chesser, Santiago Claramunt, Joel Cracraft, Andrés M. Cuervo, Elizabeth P. Derryberry, Travis C. Glenn, Michael G. Harvey, Peter A. Hosner, Leo Joseph, Rebecca T. Kimball, Andrew L. Mack, Colin M. Miskelly, A. Townsend Peterson, Mark B. Robbins, Frederick H. Sheldon, Luís Fábio Silveira, Brian Tilston Smith, Noor D. White, Robert G. Moyle, Brant C. Faircloth. Earth history and the passerine superradiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019; 201813206 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1813206116
Cape Sugarbird (Promerops afer) perched atop a Protea (also known as a sugarbush) along the coast of the Western Cape, South Africa. Both the sugarbird clade and Protea, their preferred source of nectar, are endemic to southern Africa.
Credit: Daniel Field
Sea Snakes Make Record-Setting Deep Dives
April 2nd 2019: University of Adelaide
Sea snakes, best known from shallow tropical waters, have been recorded swimming at 250 metres in the deep-sea 'twilight zone', smashing the previous diving record of 133 metres held by sea snakes.
Footage of a sea snake swimming at 245 metres deep, and another sea snake at 239 metres has been provided to University of Adelaide researchers by INPEX Australia, an exploration and production company operating in the Browse Basin off the Kimberley coast of Australia. Both snakes appeared to belong to the same species.
Sea snakes are found in tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and are typically associated with shallow water habitats like coral reefs and river estuaries.
"Sea snakes were thought to only dive between a maximum of 50 to 100 metres because they need to regularly swim to the sea surface to breathe air, so we were very surprised to find them so deep," says Dr Jenna Crowe-Riddell, lead author of the study and recent PhD graduate at the University of Adelaide's School of Biological Sciences.
Oceanic depths between 200 and 1000 metres encompass the mesopelagic zone, sometimes called the 'twilight zone' because only a small amount of light reaches that depth.
"We have known for a long time that sea snakes can cope with diving sickness known as 'the bends' using gas exchange through their skin," says Dr Crowe-Riddell. "But I never suspected that this ability allows sea snakes to dive to deep-sea habitats."
These record-setting dives raise new questions about the ecology and biology of sea snakes.
"In some of the footage the snake is looking for food by poking its head into burrows in the sandy sea floor, but we don't know what type of fish they're eating or how they sense them in the dark," she says.
The snakes were filmed in 2014 and 2017 using a remotely operated vehicle or 'ROV' undertaking work for the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG Project. INPEX Director HSEQ (Health, Safety, Environment and Quality) Craig Haymes welcomed the landmark discovery, adding: "INPEX is proud to support this invaluable research that adds to understanding of sea snakes and deep marine habitats, as part of our commitment to protecting the environment."
"Observations of sea snakes have typically been limited to shallow water habitats that are easily surveyed. But this shows what can be achieved through industry-university collaboration," says co-author Dr Kate Sanders, ARC Future Fellow in the University's School of Biological Sciences."
Published in the journal Austral Ecology, the study is a collaboration between the University of Adelaide, the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG Project, James Cook University in Australia, and The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (KADK) in Denmark.
Jenna M. Crowe-Riddell, Blanche R. D'Anastasi, James H. Nankivell, Arne R. Rasmussen, Kate L. Sanders. First records of sea snakes (Elapidae: Hydrophiinae) diving to the mesopelagic zone (>200 m). Austral Ecology, 2019; DOI: 10.1111/aec.12717
Record-setting dive of a sea snake swimming at 240 meters in the deep-sea 'twilight zone' taken in July 2017. Credit: Image credit: INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG Project