S.E.H. Conservation Committee Blog

Save the Frogs Day

cesar — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:21:31 +0000

Save The Frogs Day is the world's largest day of amphibian education and conservation action. Events are currently planned in Australia, Bangladesh, Belize, Bhutan, Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Ghana, India, Italy, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine and the United States. Help us reach our 2012 goal of 200 events in 30 countries: please organize an event in your community, and ask your local schools and environmental organizations to take part as well. Please be sure to register your event, no matter how big or small it may be.

Check the events on this link.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Advanced course on Ecotoxicology of amphibians and reptiles: from theory to practice

cesar — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:04:58 +0000

Objectives

Provide an updated review and synthesis of the current state of ecotoxicology of contaminants and other global stressors (e.g. climate change) in amphibians and reptiles. It will also give an overview on different methodologies used to collect animals in the field, to culture them in the laboratory, and to generate ecotoxicological data. All the information will be complemented with the presentation of national and international case studies.

The course is targeted to scientists, post-graduation students (PhD and MSc) with a background in Biology, Natural and Environmental Sciences, Environmental Engineering, or related fields, members of consulting companies and of private and public institutions involved in environmental management.

Lecturers

Manuel Ortiz

(Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos UCLM-CSIC-JCCM Spain)

Maria José Amaral

(CESAM & Dept. Biology-University of Aveiro; CIBIO)

Miguel A. Carretero

(CIBIO-University of Oporto, Portugal)

Neftali Sillero

(CICGE-University of Oporto, Portugal

Limited to 25 participants

Fees: 250 € (for non students) and 150 € (for students not registered at UA); includes

documentation, field trips, and certificate of attendance.

Inscription should be sent to: Isabel Lopes - ilopes@ua.pt Deadline: April 6, 2012

http://uaonline.ua.pt/upload/med/med_2212.pdf

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Final Programme Workshop

cesar — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:36:44 +0000

After the first announcement of the workshop on invasive species of rivers and wetlands we have received a good number of requests of presentation of results. After consideration we have drafted the attached programme which we hope will be of interest to you. We highly appreciate the interest shown by all those willing to present their results and we regret not having been able to accommodate all submissions.

Since currently the number of available places to attend the workshop is limited priority will be given to those request of attendance of managers/researchers who actively work in matters directly related to the theme of the workshop. Thus, new applications must especify the scope of their work (species, site, methods) by sending an email to invasoras@gva.es. Those who have already signed up as a response to the first announcement need not reiterate their request.

Sincerely,

Juan Jiménez Pérez

Jefe del Servicio de Espacios Naturales y Biodiversidad

Consellería de Infraestructuras, Territorio y Medio Ambiente

Generalitat Valenciana

Martes, 31 de enero

9.00 Presentación.

Alfredo González Prieto. Director General Medio Natural.

Juan Jiménez Pérez. Jefe del Servicio de Espacios Naturales y Biodiversidad.

Introducción

9.30 - 9.55 Plantas acuáticas invasoras en Espa?a: situaci?n actual, perspectivas y métodos de control.

Manuel Ángel Dueñas. Universidad de Córdoba.

Casos - estudio: control de flora invasora en ríos y zonas húmedas

10.00 - 10.25 Proyecto LIFE+ Estuarios del Pa?s Vasco: metodologías de eliminación de Baccharis halimifolia en el País Vasco. Marta Rozas Ormazabal y Estela Beteta Merino. Gobierno Vasco.

10.30 - 10.55 Control de especies invasoras en r?os cantábricos: implicaciones de Fallopia japonica en relación con las técnicas de bioingeniería. Juan Antonio Martín Ventura. Confederación Hidrográfica del Cantábrico.

11.00 - 11.25 Dos experiencias de control del jacinto de agua (Eichhornia crassipes): el caso de la cuenca del Guadiana y de la Comunitat Valenciana.

Nicolás Cifuentes y de la Cerra. Servicio de Aplicaciones Forestales. Confederación Hidrográfica del Guadiana.

Carlos Peña Bretón. Centro de Investigaciones Piscícolas del Palmar. Vaersa-Generalitat Valenciana.

11.30 - 12.00 CAFÉ

Métodos de control de flora invasora y marco jurídico aplicable

12.00 - 12.40 Biology and ecology of invasive water primrose: implications for ecosystem management.

G. Thiébaut and Thouvenot L. Université de Rennes. Francia.

12.50 - 13.30 In defence of the control of invasive aquatic macrophytes using herbicides.

Jonathan Newman and Manuel A. Dueñas. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH). Reino Unido.

13.40 - 14.20 Biocontrol for alien aquatic and riparian weeds in Europe: the forgotten alternative.

Richard Shaw. Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience (CABI). Reino Unido.

14.30 - 16.00 COMIDA

16.00 - 16.40 Marco jurídico para el empleo de agentes de control biológico y químico para la gestión de especies exóticas invasoras en el medio continental acuático.

Ramón Manuel Álvarez Halcón. Facultad Derecho. Universidad Zaragoza.

Taller Participativo: Técnicas de control de la caña común (Arundo donax)

17.00-19.00 Moderado por Vicente Deltoro (VAERSA) y Jesús Jiménez (TRAGSA-Ministerio Medio Ambiente, Medio Rural y Marino).

· Optimización de los sistemas de eliminación y control de cañaverales para mejora del estado ecológico y recuperación de la capacidad de desagüe de los ríos. Jesús Jiménez y colaboradores. TRAGSA.

· Control de Arundo donax por medios químicos y mecánicos: análisis de eficacia y costes. Vicente Deltoro y colaboradores. VAERSA.

· El control biológico: una solución para el manejo de la planta invasora Arundo donax. Elena Cortés y MA Ángeles Marco. CIBIO - Universidad de Alicante.

Miércoles, 1 de febrero

Estrategias globales para el control de especies invasoras en r?os y zonas húmedas

9.30 - 10.10 Proyecto LIFE+ ESTANY: recuperación y protección de la biodiversidad original en el Estany de Banyoles mediante el control de las especies exóticas de peces, tortugas acuáticas y flora.

Quim Pou i Rovira, Carles Feo i Quer i Miquel Campos i Llach. Consorci de l'Estany.

10.15 - 10.55 Proyecto LIFE+ INVASEP: lucha contra las especies invasoras en las cuencas hidrográficas del Tajo y del Guadiana en la Península Ibérica.

Pérez Gordillo, Javier*; Jiménez Díaz, Emilio*, Díaz Caballero, José Antonio*; Palacios González, Mª Jesús*; Vázquez Pardo, Francisco M**; Blanco Salas, José**; García Alonso, David**; Guerra Barrena, María José**; Bejarano Macías, Ana**.

* Dirección General de Medio Ambiente. Junta de Extremadura.

** Grupo Hábitat. Dirección General de Modernización e Innovación Tecnológica. Junta de Extremadura.

11.00 - 11.30 CAFÉ

Casos-Estudio: control de fauna invasora en ríos y zonas húmedas

11.30 - 12.00 Mejillón cebra, diez años de gestión en la cuenca del río Ebro.

Concha Durán Lalaguna. Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro.

12.05 - 12.35 Gestión poblacional de especies invasoras acuáticas en Andalucía.

Guillermo Ceballos Watling, Consejería de Medio Ambiente, Junta de Andalucía.

Elías Dana Sánchez, Agencia de Medio Ambiente y Agua.

12.40 - 13.10 Estrategias de gestión de especies invasoras en el parque natural del Delta del Ebro.

Josep Mª Queral, Nati Franc, Montse Garrido y Verónica López. Centre Ictiológic. P.N. Delta de l'Ebre.

13.15 - 13.45 Erradicación de las poblaciones de trucha arcoiris en las aguas habitadas por la trucha común en el macizo de Sierra Nevada.

Borja Nebot y Silvia Rubio. Consejeria de Medio Ambiente, Junta Andalucía.

13.50 - 14.30 Plan de control del visón americano (Neovison vison) en Castilla-León.

Consuelo Temiño, Gabriel de Pedro, Olga Alarcia y Alfonso Balmori. Junta de Castilla y León.

14.45 - 16.30 COMIDA

Taller Participativo: Control de Trachemys scripta

16.30-19.00 Moderado por Ignacio Lacomba (Generalitat Valenciana) y José Texeira (CIBIO-Div Jardim Botánico do Porto (Portugal).

· LIFE+ Trachemys, una estregia de control y erradicación de tortugas exóticas invasoras. Ignacio Lacomba y Vicente Sancho (Generalitat Valenciana) y José Teixeira (CIBIO).

· Ecología de una población introducida de Trachemys scripta elegans en el sur de España: aplicaciones para la ejecución de un plan de erradicación. Carmen Díaz-Paniagua, Natividad Pérez-Santigosa y Judith Hidalgo-Vila. Estación Biológica de Doñana (CSIC).

19.00 Cierre de las jornadas.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Workshop on control projects of invasive species in rivers and wetlands.

cesar — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 10:28:57 +0000

Dear Colleagues,

The General Directorate Environment of the regional Government of Valencia

is setting up a one-day workshop with a focus on control projects of
invasive species in rivers and wetlands. The meeting will take place in
Valencia (Spain) on the 31st of january 2012. We are interested mainly in
experiences or projects whose results have been evaluated but also in those
that are making an start. The final goal of this initiative is to examine
the progresses that have been achieved in control of invasive organisms of
continental waters and also to evaluate the difficulties encountered so as
to explore new possibilities of action. In this workshop Dr Richard Shaw
from CABI (UK) will be making a presentation on the potential of biological
control to fight invasive species. We expect that this gathering will be
useful to establish consortiums, - groups of managers with a shared
interest- with a view to future projects. If you have results from a project
which has already ended and that you consider can be of general interest
please send us an e-mail as we are now setting up the list of participants.
If you are merely interested to attend please send us also an email as we
need an estimation of attendants. In both cases the deadline is november 30
2011. Attendance is free of charge.

Once the list of participants and the final contents of the workshop have
been set up we will mail it to you.

We look forward to seeing you in Valencia

Sincerely

vicente deltoro

PS. We kindly ask you to disseminate this information to those you may
think might be of interest.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Salamander meeting in Salzsburg

cesar — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 11:03:50 +0000

We received information about this meeting, the date is very close, so if you´re interested contact Veronique Helfer.

Dear Salamander herpetologists,



We would like to organize an Alpine and Fire Salamander Meeting in
October 2011 near Salzburg and would be really glad if you could join us.

The aim of our meeting is to discuss about our respective research
projects and experiences on Salamandra atra and Salamandra salamandra, and
to set up new collaborations between our research groups.

The meeting will take place either on Friday 21st or 28th of October 2011,
at the Hohenwerfen Fortress (
<http://www.salzburg-burgen.at/en/werfen/erlebnisburg-hohenwerfen/index.htm>
www.salzburg-burgen.at/en/werfen/erlebnisburg-hohenwerfen/index.htm), near
Salzburg (distance between city and castle = 38 km). The proposed schedule
is as follows:

1/ Scientific meeting from 10:00 am till 18:00 pm.

2/ "Knight´s dinner" ( <http://www.ritterschmaus.at/>
www.ritterschmaus.at) in the evening (offered by our lab)



If you want to prolong your stay and enjoy the region, we would like to
invite you to the following excursions for Saturday (22nd or 29th of
October 2011):

1/ Visit of the Largest Ice-Caves on our planet, the ?Eisriesenwelt? (
<http://www.eisriesenwelt.at/> www.eisriesenwelt.at). Only possible on
Saturday the 22nd (unfortunately closed on the 29th). The visit?s price,
including cave visit and cable car, would be ? 19 per person (? 17 per
person when more than 15 persons).

2/ Visit of the ?Hohenwerfen Fortress?: see
<http://www.salzburg-burgen.at/en/werfen/besucherinfo/preise-oeffnungszeiten/index.htm>
www.salzburg-burgen.at/en/werfen/besucherinfo/preise-oeffnungszeiten/index.htm.
Possible on 22nd and 29th of October 2011. Price: ? 10,50 (incl. lift: ?
14).





We would appreciate if you could answer the following doodle:
<http://doodle.com/n4peew8agtd75nw9> http://doodle.com/n4peew8agtd75nw9 to
tell us whether you would like to participate in this meeting and which
date would be more convenient for you. Thanks for specifying if you will
make a presentation of your work.

Please, feel free to send this message to your research team; Students?
participation will be much appreciated. If you need additional
information, please do not hesitate to contact me.



Additional information:

If you stay several days, you can find some information about
accommodation near the Fortress at
<http://www.werfenerhof.at/en/the-werfenerhof.html>
www.werfenerhof.at/en/the-werfenerhof.html.

The house is directly under the castle, only a 10 minutes walk to the
elevator and about 20 minutes by foot up to the castle.



Looking forward to hearing from you soon and hoping that this meeting will
be a good occasion to foster new collaborations between us,



Kind Regards,



Véronique Helfer

____________________________

Helfer, Véronique
Department of Molecular Biology

Faculty of Natural Sciences
University of Salzburg
Billrothstrasse 11
A-5020 Salzburg (Austria)

Phone +43 662 8044 7257

 <http://www.uni-salzburg.at/biotec> http://www.uni-salzburg.at/biotec

 <http://alpensalamander.eu/> http://alpensalamander.eu

 <mailto:veronique.helfer@sbg.ac.at> veronique.helfer@sbg.ac.at

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Website started for mapping distribution of Amphibians and Reptiles in Hungary

yleniach — Tue, 10 May 2011 06:47:20 +0000

Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Group of MME BridLife Hungary (khvsz.mme.hu) has started a new website for mapping distribution of Amphibians and Reptiles in Hungary (herpterkep.mme.hu). The website contains short descriptions of the 17 amphibian and 15 reptile species occuring in the country. Each species has a gallery of characteristic pictures, showing different life-stages or sexes. The main part of the website is an interactive map, showing the already uploaded observation data. Data can only be uploaded after registration, and all observation is validated by administrators of the website. Depending on the reliability of the provided data, users can be upgraded to expert level, whereas the user can provide more details regarding each observation. The original idea was to enable general public to share observations made during trekking or gardening. These observations might be interesting in fine-scaling distribution of these species, meanwhile focusing the attention of the general public to these interesting protected creatures.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Herpetofauna monitoring course organized by the SEH-Conservation Committee

yleniach — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:31:48 +0000

The SEH Conservation Committee (SEH-CC) is pleased to announce a two days course (September 24-25)on herpetofauna monitoring to be held at the National Museum of Natural History Luxembourg prior the 16th European Congress of Herpetology (http://www.symposium.lu/herpetology/). The course is aimed at European herpetologists, conservation professionals, and people working in environmental policy who design and run monitoring programs. The aim of the course is to highlight key issues when designing and running monitoring programs. This includes the conceptual and political background for monitoring programs, an overview of field methods and an introduction to methods for data analysis. Furthermore, one part of the course (topic #3 below) will specifically focus on the Article 7 of the Habitat Directive. Additionally, on-going projects will be presented. One of the goals of this course is to set a framework for developing and improving herpetofauna monitoring programs in Europe. The target audience of the course is beginner as well as experienced herpetologists. Final date for sending application documents to attend the course is 31 May 2011. Topics of the course will be: 1) General principles of monitoring: why? what? how? 2) Monitoring and biosecurity 3) European Habitat Directive: monitoring and reporting 4) Survey methods for amphibians (field methods) 5) Survey methods for reptiles (field methods) 6) Analysis of monitoring data: abundance at one site 7) Analysis of monitoring data: abundance at multiple sites 8) Analysis of monitoring data: distribution (presence/absence) 9) Presentation of a few on-going monitoring projects in different countries 10) General discussion on the topics of the course Speakers: - Benedikt Schmidt (topics 1, 7, and 8) - Trent Garner (topic 2) - Tony Gent (topic 3) - Jean-Pierre Vacher (topics 4 and 5) - Cesar Ayres (topics 5 and 9) - Sebastiano Salvidio (topic 6) - Raymond Creemers (topic 9) - Katja Poboljsaj (topic 9) - Richard Griffiths (topic 9) Other additional information, including registration cost, and documents to send to register to the course can be found in the attached circular of the course. Information about the speakers can be found in the attached file Monitoringcourse_Speakers_info Monitoringcourse_Speakers_info.pdf SEH_Monitoring_course_program_new.pdf

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Two thousand reptiles seized in Malaysia

cesar — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 10:51:24 +0000

On December 20th, custom officials seized 1.800 reptiles, including monitor lizards, snakes, freshwater turtles and tortoises. There were Manouria emys and Hieremys annandalii, both included as Endangered in the IUCN Red list, and also Heosemys grandis, which is listed as Vulnerable in the Red list. This is the biggest seizure of the year in Malaysia, with 4.3 tonnes of reptiles. You can read the news in this link.http://www.traffic.org/home/2010/12/24/customs-seize-tonnes-of-reptiles-in-malaysia.html

Original post blogged on b2evolution.