Page 15 - BBC Wildlife - August 2017 UK

WILD NEWS

Q EVOLUTION
The
GROWTH EXPLAINE

SPURTS 6FLHQWLĶFWHUPVSXWLQWRSODLQ
(QJOLVKIRUWKHUHVWRIXV
Baleen whales – the largest
animals that have ever lived ECOSYSTEMSERVICES
– reached their immense size There are many reasons
only recently, according to new to conserve species,
research. And the scientists habitats and ecosystems.
behind it think they know why. Increasingly,they are being
“We might imagine that valued in terms of their
whales just graduallygot bigger contribution to sustaining
Wha e: F p Nicklin/Minden/FLPA; goats: Dave Watts/naturepl.com; bee: Solvin Zank/naturepl.com; frog: Ross Maynard/The Biod vers ty Group
over time,” says the University Goats in high an environment fit for
of Chicago’s Graham Slater. places are humans.The ecosystem
“But our analyses show that this helping argan services providedbya
trees to grow.
idea doesn’t hold up.” Q BIOLOGY forest,for example,might
Their survey of the fossil include flood prevention,
record found that, quite SPITTING DISTANCE climate regulation and
independently, the rorquals, provision of biological
bowheads and right whales Hooves aren’t the best up to chew the cud. Seeds resources.Likewise,vultures
underwent dramaticsize implements for climbing can remain in the stomach reduce disease by removing
increases around two or three trees. But in Morocco, for hours or days, so they carcasses.Such services
million years ago, while many domestic goats have got it may be transported far are economically significant,
small species disappeared. down to a fine art. from the parent plant. though putting a price on
“Something changed in In autumn, the goats “In many plant them has proved tricky.
the recent past that created spend three-quarters species, large seeds are
an incentive to be a giant,” of their foraging time anachronistic traits –
saysSlater. tiptoeing through the adaptations to dispersal
Somethinghad indeed topmost branches of argan by large-bodied megafauna
changed.The growth spurt trees, feeding on the fruit that are now extinct,”
followed theonset ofthe ice and foliage. José Fedriani of Portugal’s
ages, when nutrient-rich melt- The argan fruit’s seeds are University of Lisbon told
waters from ice-caps created too big to pass comfortably BBC Wildlife.
hugely productive ocean through a goat, so the “It could be that goats
patches that shifted with the animals spit them out – are ‘rescuing’ the tree by
seasons. Bigger whales would either as they feed or later, providing an alternative
have exploited the temporary when they bring it all back means of seed dispersal.”
bounties of krill and fishmore Pollinating insects such as
efficiently and covered large SOURCE Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment LINK http://bit.ly/2sxfOk0 the European honeybee are
crucial to food production.
distances more easily.

NEW SPECIES

SPOTLIGHT
WATER GLASS FROG

WHAT IS IT? The glass frogs of tropical America
are named after their transparent belly skin, which
renders their internal organs visible. In this new
species, which is just 2cm long, the transparent
skin extends to the chest, exposing its heart, too.
WHERE IS IT? Hyalinobatrachium yaku is known
Blue whales can reach from three sites in the Amazonian lowlands of
30m in length but Ecuador, where “yaku” is a local word for “water”.
their ancestors were Females lay their eggs on leaves overhanging
fewer than 10m. Water glass
streams and the males guard them until they frogs breed near
hatch, when the tadpoles drop into the water. pristine streams.
SOURCE Proceedings of the Royal Society
LINK http://bit.ly/2tDolC5 SOURCE ZooKeyss LINK http://bit.ly/2sDCvz1
August 2017 BBC Wildlife 15