Preserving Nature

WWF article: Seven Rare Species in the Carolinian Zone

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An article on the WWF’s website recently caught our eye, as it discusses seven species that can be found in Southern Ontario’s Carolinian region.

The article begins…

“It’s the brightly coloured wildlife that catch our eye, the grass underfoot and the trees overhead. It’s the creatures that sing in the morning and howl at night. It’s also the little things, such as insects and micro organisms that are invisible to the naked eye. Biodiversity – the incredible variety of life – is all around us, even in our cities and backyards.

Take southern Ontario’s Carolinian zone, a region one-quarter of Canadians call home. It is one of the most biologically diverse places in the country and among the most threatened, as once-abundant forests, wetlands, tallgrass prairies and oak savannahs are lost or broken into smaller islands of green. Amidst the skyscrapers, residential neighbourhoods, farmland and road and railways, there are more rare species of plants and animals here than anywhere else in the country.”

The entire article can be read here.

Preventing the Loss of 1.5 Billion Songbirds

Read how the Boreal Songbird Initiative is trying to prevent the loss of 1.5 billion more birds, after similar losses occurred between 1970 and today. http://www.borealbirds.org/blog/preventing-loss-15-billion-more-birds.

Watch for the upcoming free community showing in early 2017 of “The Messenger”, an important documentary on declining bird populations around the world.

Will climate change affect the breeding of local snapping turtles?

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Melanie Massey, University of Toronto researcher, thinks it’s very likely. On the evening of September 13th, Melanie presented to a sold out crowd of 56 at the Ingersoll Public Library. Lacking chromosome structures like humans, the gender of snapping turtles is determined by the temperature their embryos grow at below ground. With an overall rise in temperature by even a couple of degrees, the turtle populations can be affected negatively. With typically only 1 in 1500 eggs making it to adulthood, this can add to the challenges facing the survival of the species. For more information, see Melanie’s slide presentation attached. Thanks are extended to Ms. Massey for sharing her research.