[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Search for New Birds of Paradise Also Yields Strange Frogs and Giant Flowers
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
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- Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2006 23:16:14 +0100
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Search for New Birds of Paradise Also Yields Strange Frogs and Giant Flowers
By CORNELIA DEAN
Published: February 7, 2006
More than 25 years ago, Bruce Beehler, an expert on birds of paradise, started
planning a trip to the Foja Mountains of western New Guinea. Last November, he
finally got there - and the trip was worth the wait.
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Enlarge This Image
Bruce Beehler/Conservation International
The "lost" Berlepsch's six-wired bird of paradise. More Photos >
Ask the Writer
E-mail your questions about this article to Cornelia Dean at
askscience@xxxxxxxxxxxx Check back on Friday for answers to selected questions.
Meet the Mountain Owlet-Nightjar
Bruce Beehler/Conservation International
New species of smokey honeyeater. More Photos >
Stephen Richards
A golden-fronted bowerbird. More Photos >
In a monthlong expedition, what biologists call a rapid assessment field trip,
or RAP, he and his colleagues discovered what they described as evidence of
dozens of previously unreported plants and animals. Their finds included more
than 20 new frogs, 4 butterflies and a number of plants, including 5 new palms
and rhododendrons with the largest flowers on record.
Dr. Beehler did not discover a new bird of paradise. But he did discover what
he thinks is a new bird species, a honeyeater. And the expedition found the
breeding ground of a species of bird of paradise that had been collected more
than 100 years ago - not very scientifically, Dr. Beehler says - and then more
or less lost to science.
"This is the richest place I have even been in New Guinea for birds," Dr.
Beehler said of the Foja (pronounced FOY-ya) Mountains. "That's saying a lot."
Colin Poole, director of the Asia Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society,
the organization that runs the Bronx Zoo, said it was not surprising that
previously unreported species would be identified in the region, which he
described as "a massive area of forests that in scientific terms has only been
engaged in relatively recently."
He added, "The fact that scientists can still find new species means there are
still wild areas out there with things we do not yet understand."
Over all, Dr. Beehler said, the RAP team, also led by Stephen Richards of the
South Australia Museum in Adelaide, counted 215 species of birds in the
mountains, in the Mamberamo Basin on New Guinea's north coast. The area is part
of Indonesia, and the expedition was sponsored by the Indonesian Institute of
Science and Conservation International, a research and conservation
organization for which Dr. Beehler is vice president for Melanesia. The
expedition was financed by several other organizations, including the National
Geographic Society.
The region is a great "generator of biodiversity," he said, and the researchers
hope their survey will help scientists learn how species developed there. Dr.
Beehler said the researchers were preparing their work for submission to
journals so that other authorities could evaluate it. Only then will he learn,
for example, whether ornithological authorities agree that the honeyeater bird
he found is a new species. (If they do, he said, he will name it for his wife.)
Meanwhile, he said, the researchers will work with scientific colleagues and
government officials in Indonesia to set up another expedition. "We'll get a
new set of people with different strengths, go back and have another look," he
said. Dr. Beehler said the study area was almost lost in the mid-1990's, when a
proposal was put forward to dam the Mamberamo River and flood the entire basin.
The Asian financial crisis doomed the plan, he said.
He says it is important to work with communities in the region so that they can
conserve the resources they rely on while bringing sustainable development to
the area. "A lot of what we provide is information, but it's their future," he
said. "We are trying to empower them to be the long-term stewards of their
mountain range. Is it going to be difficult? You bet."
People like Mr. Poole agree. When it comes to new species, he said: "The
challenge is not finding them but working out how to protect them. When we find
them, that's when our job begins, working with the government to say, 'How can
we help you protect these areas?' "
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