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To: combjelly who wrote (272507)	2/7/2006 12:00:32 AM
From: Jim McMannis	Respond to of 1576360

Scientists Discover Dozens of New Species By ROBIN McDOWELL, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 38 minutes ago JAKARTA, Indonesia - A team of scientists exploring an isolated jungle in one of Indonesia's most remote provinces said they discovered dozens of new species of frogs, butterflies and plants — as well as large mammals hunted to near extinction elsewhere. The team also found wildlife that were remarkably unafraid of humans during their rapid assessment survey of the Foja Mountains, which has more than two million acres of old growth tropical forest, Bruce Beehler, a co-leader of the monthlong trip, said in announcing the discoveries on Tuesday. Two Long-Beaked Echidnas, a primitive egg-laying mammal, simply allowed scientists to pick them up and bring them back to their camp to be studied, he said. Their findings, however, will have to be published and then reviewed by peers before being officially classified as new species, a process that could take six months to several years. The December 2005 expedition to the eastern province of Papua was organized by the U.S.-based environmental organization Conservation International and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. "There was not a single trail, no sign of civilization, no sign of even local communities ever having been there," said Beehler, adding that two headmen from the Kwerba and Papasena tribes, the customary landowners of the Foja Mountains, accompanied the expedition. "They were as astounded as we were at how isolated it was," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Washington. "As far as they knew, neither of their clans had ever been to the area." Papua, the scene of a decades-long separatist rebellion that has left an estimated 100,000 people dead, is one of Indonesia's most remote provinces, geographically and politically, and access by foreigners is tightly restricted. The 11-member team of U.S., Indonesian and Australian scientists needed six permits before they could legally fly by helicopter to an open, boggy lakebed surrounded by forests near the range's western summit. The scientists said they discovered 20 frog species — including a tiny microhylid frog less than a half-inch long — four new butterfly species, and at least five new types of palms. Because of the rich diversity in the forest, the group rarely had to stray more than a few miles from their base camp. "We've only scratched the surface," said Beehler, vice president of Conservation International's Melanesia Center for Biodiversity Conservation, who hopes to return later this year with other scientists. One of the most remarkable discoveries was the Golden-mantled Tree Kangaroo, an arboreal jungle-dweller new for Indonesia and previously thought to have been hunted to near extinction, and a new honeyeater bird, which has a bright orange face-patch with a pendant wattle under each eye, Beehler said. One of the reasons for the rain forest's isolation, he said, was that only a few hundred people live in the region and game in the mountain's foothills was so abundant that they had no reason to venture into the jungle's interior. There did not appear to be any immediate conservation threat to the area, which has the status of a wildlife sanctuary, he said. "No logging permits are given to this area, there is no transport system — not a single road," Beehler said. "But clearly with time everything is a threat. In the next few decades there will be strong demands, especially if you think of the timber needs of nearby countries like China and Japan. They will be very hungry for logs." ____

To: combjelly who wrote (272507)	2/7/2006 1:04:03 AM
From: Jim McMannis	Respond to of 1576360

Scientists Warn of Melting Ice in Arctic By DAN JOLING, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 12 minutes ago ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Scientists on Monday painted a gloomy picture of the effects of global warming on the Arctic, warning of melting ocean ice, rising oceans, thawed permafrost and forests susceptible to bugs and fire. "A lot of the stories you read make it sound like there's uncertainty," said Jonathan Overpeck, a professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona. "There's not uncertainty." The questions scientists continue to address, he said after his presentation at the Alaska Forum on the Environment, are how much of the warming is caused by humans and how drastic long-term effects will be. Deborah Williams, a conference organizer and former director of the Alaska Conservation Foundation, said Alaska is Ground Zero for observing the effects of global warming because so many natural phenomena are tied to ice and the repercussions of it melting. "We are the Paul Revere of global warming," she said. Overpeck reviewed NASA studies showing how Arctic ice has shrunk in size and depth. Climate models 25 years ago predicted a shrinking ice pack. "What we didn't predict is that it would be so dramatic," Overpeck said. Scientists predict the summertime Arctic could be ice free before the end of the century, opening up northern sea routes but threatening the existence of polar bears, a marine mammal that depends on sea ice to live. Other scientists ticked off the effects of warming on fish, forests and tundra. James Overland, a research scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for more than 30 years, said the loss of sea ice has meant some marine life has thrived and some has been hurt. "The marine ecosystem is shifting north dramatically," he said. Pollock are thriving in warmer water. Pink salmon are being found in great numbers farther north, "an incredible indicator of warming," he said. Crab and other bottom-dwellers who depend on ice overhead for part of the year are suffering. Glenn Juday, professor of forest ecology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said tree growth has decreased at Interior Alaska sites that were promising for commercial harvest. Studies of temperatures at Talkeetna and Fairbanks indicate daily lows are not as low as they used to be. The warming lowers the water available to white spruce, black spruce and birch, Juday said. "The warmer it is, the less the trees grow," Juday said. Warming also makes them more susceptible to fire and insects. Vladimir Romanovsky, an associate professor of geophysics at UAF, reviewed effects of warming on permafrost, or ground continuously frozen for two years. Areas of thick permafrost in the far north remain stable but have warmed over 20 years one-half to 2 degrees at a depth of 20 meters, Romanovsky said. Matthew Sturm of Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory studied shrubs in Arctic tundra by comparing 50-year-old photographs taken along the Chandalar River for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska with photos taken recently. "They all pretty much tell the same story," he said. Shrubs have thrived in the greater warmth and in turn accelerate warming. Like open water in the ocean, shrubs darken what otherwise would be a mostly white, reflective snow-covered environment, Sturm said. If warming trends continue, Overpeck said, the globe eventually will get a nasty message from the Arctic: a rise in sea levels. Higher oceans will flow into low-lying parts of the world such as New Orleans, making recovery in that hurricane-ravaged city moot. "It's hard to imagine why we're wanting to rebuild if we're going to allow global warming," Overpeck said.

To: combjelly who wrote (272507)	2/7/2006 1:04:23 AM
From: Elroy	Respond to of 1576360

There are images similar to Orthodox Christian ikons that are commonplace in Shi'ite communities, especially in Iran. There are also Muslim works of art depicting Mohammed (PBUH) in Central Asia, and neither these nor those in Iran are considered inflammatory and neither are they censored. Interesting. If true it sounds like one of the reasons Shiite and Sunnis don't seem to get along on a lot of things. Its complete taboo to depict Mohamed where I am. It would be interesting to read the defense of the depictions by the Iranians or the Central Asians, since the vast majority of Muslims consider them blasphemous.