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Lungfish in trouble!

Ok, I figured this would be a good place to attempt to get some action on this.

There are plans afoot in Aus. to build dams on the Mary and Burnett rivers. The problem is that these two rivers are the *only* habitat of Neocerotadus forsteri, the Australian lungfish. This scientifically invaluable species is *not* good at dealing with disruptions to its nesting, and these dams may wipe them out. This species is also unique even among lungfish: the african and south american species only have thin, tendril-like fins, while this species has large, fleshy lobe-fins, like are seen in fossils.

A post on a science blog detailing the creature's plight
A second post in the same blog, giving email addresses of the relevant politicians

Please, please take the time to send a polite email to these people telling them that they are about to snuff out one of the most unique species on the planet.

Mokele
 
i sent them an email!

VIVA LA LUNGFISH!
 
Lung fish for ever! They are preaty neat!
 
I jotted off a long and, in retrospect, somewhat drippy letter when I read about this, but I find the discussion on your first link to be very interesting. One poster claims that damming may create more lungfish habitat by raising water levels on the upper sections of the Mary river or somesuch. I have a feeling that this will make for good reading.
Does that make me a dork?
~Joe
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Does that make me a dork?

Nah, I read that blog all the time. He's not in my field, but some of the insights from developmental biology are useful to me.

Mokele
 
Saddly all of austrailia's wild life is doomed to a slow and horible death. But unlike the cane toad THIS IS something we can prevent.
I have also sent an email.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (7santiago @ July 20 2006,4:21)]Saddly all of austrailia's wild life is doomed to a slow and horible death.
Huh!?!? Where did you receive that information from?
 
Sad isn't it? Well look at this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasive_species_in_Australia

Australia is an alienated land mass that has escaped much of the extinctions of less evolved creatures. Once more evolved creatures are introduced they colapse the delicate food chain. The ecosystem is wrecked. I personaly believe australia may try as hard as it wishes but it will never kill all the spieces troubling it.
 
Well, less-evolved and more-evolved are technically inaccurate; all species have an equivalent amount of evolutionary history. Much of the decimation in AU has little to do with one group being 'inferior' in some way, but rather that, due to historical constraints or adaptive reasons, animals from area A can effectively invade area B, while the reverse does not hold true.

An excellent example is the Great American Interchange about 5 mya. At that time, Panama rose from the sea, forming a land bridge allowing the exchange of species between North and South America. The results were spectacularly bad for South America; only a few SA species successfully invaded NA (possums and armadillos are two), while many NA species invaded SA and displaced the residents. Interestingly, there was no real placental-marsupial conflict; most of the species on both sides were placentals.

Of course, the reasons why these exchanges can be so one-sided are hotly debated, and AFAIK, there's no consensus.

Mokele
 
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