Plant growth aided by insect-feeding animals

Add insect-feeding birds, bats and lizards to the front lines of the battle against global climate change.

Summarising the results of more than 100 experiments conducted on four continents, UC Irvine ecologist Kailen A. Mooney and colleagues found that these insect-gobbling animals increase plant growth by reducing the abundance of plant-feeding insects and the damage they do to the plant life that helps mitigate global warming.

"Our efforts solidify the importance of birds, bats, lizards and other similar animals to ecosystem health, and underscores the importance of conserving these species in the face of global change," said Mooney, an assistant professor in ecology and evolutionary biology.

The results come at a time when the importance of birds and other insectivores as plant protectors has come into doubt, Mooney added.

Studies on bird, bat and lizard diets show they devour both plant-feeding insects and the spiders and other insect predators that eat plant feeders.

Recognising these complex feeding relationships, Mooney said it had become unclear whether animals like birds reduce plant-feeding insect populations, or whether they might in fact be protecting them from spiders and the like."It has long been hypothesised that birds and other insect-feeding animals may protect plants by keeping plant-feeding insects in check in accordance with the adage, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend,' " Mooney said.

"Our study provides the most comprehensive support of this hypothesis to date. It shows that despite feeding on predatory insects, birds, bats and lizards still act as plant protectors by having net negative effects on plant-feeding insects.

"Study results appear in early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of April 5.

-ScienceDaily

New giant fruit-eating lizard species discovered

A new species of monitor lizard has been discovered by an international team of biologists in the Sierra Madres of the northern Philippines. The new species has been given a new scientific name -- Varanus bitatawa -- in recognition of its distinctiveness.Scientists first became aware of the new species when biologists conducting surveys in the Sierra Madre Range photographed an Agta hunter with an animal he had captured for food.

Several years later, the first specimens were obtained by Roldan Dugay and Dr. Arvin Diesmos, curator of herpetology at the national museum, Manila."Apparently the new species is an important source of protein for indigenous peoples groups in Isabella and Aurora Provinces," said Dr. Diesmos. However, it was only last year that a joint University of Kansas-National Museum of the Philippines expedition to Aurora Province yielded a large, adult specimen, and good DNA samples.

The scientific description of this reptile has been published recently in Biology Letters, an international journal published by the Royal Society of London.

According to the description, the Northern Sierra Madre Forest Monitor grows up to two metres long, displays bright yellow and black stripes and spots across its back, and eats mainly fruit and snails.

Through the analysis of its physical features and its DNA, scientists have determined that it is distinct, but closely related to two other fruit-eating monitor lizards in the Philippines.

It is also different from the more common meat-eating water monitor lizard or Bayawak. The new species is more secretive and spends most of its time up on trees in the forests of the Northern Sierra Madre mountain range of Luzon.

Luke Welton, a graduate student at the University of Kansas and one of the coauthors of the scientific description, was one of the first biologists to see a living Northern Sierra Madre Monitor Lizard in Aurora Province.

"I knew as soon as I saw the animal that it was something special," said Welton.

"I had seen specimens of the other two species of fruit eating monitors, but neither of the other known species are nearly as spectacular as the Northern Sierra Madre Forest Monitor. "Giant fruit-eating monitor lizards are found only in the Philippines.

-ScienceDaily

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