Scientists aim to map and save endangered habitats

[Turborama]

Source: AP Via Washington Post

By IAN JAMES
The Associated Press
Sunday, December 5, 2010; 1:41 PM

CARACAS, Venezuela -- From mangrove swamps in Venezuela to lowland forests in Indonesia, entire communities of plants and animals are under threat. Now scientists are figuring out how to catalog and map the world's most threatened ecosystems - just like their familiar list of endangered species. Some experts say drawing up a global "Red List" of vanishing ecosystems would help them spot looming crises caused by everything from climate change to the cutting of forests, and would sharpen their focus on areas to conserve.

Along the shore of Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo, runoff filled with sediment and pesticides has been smothering animals that once lived among the roots of the mangrove trees, including crabs, fish hatchlings and shellfish, said Luz Esther Sanchez, a marine biologist and ecologist. She said saving the mangroves requires a comprehensive effort to reduce water pollution and halt the clearing of other forests upstream.

"Declaring the mangrove ecosystem threatened would be very useful for conservation," Sanchez said. "People stand up to defend dolphins. People stand up to defend turtles. But I've never seen them defend the mangrove forest with the same vehemence."

An international working group of biologists and conservation experts has been developing a system for classifying threats to ecosystems. "If we can get a good, rigorous scientific system in place that is relatively easy to monitor worldwide ... you can follow these changes and describe them and ring the alarm bell where things might go wrong," said Dutch conservation expert Piet Wit.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/05/AR2010120502589.html

---

FILE - In this Nov. 11, 2006 file photo, a young orangutan searches for food in a stand of dead trees completely surrounded by burned forest being cleared for palm plantations near Mantangai, Kalimantan, Indonesia. From mangrove swamps in Venezuela to lowland forests in Indonesia, entire communities of plants and animals are under threat, prompting scientists to figure out how to catalog and map the world's most threatened ecosystems, just like their familiar list of endangered species.