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Thursday, June 30, 2011

RIGHT WHALES DECODED

Southern right whale. Credit: © Brian J. Skerry / National Geographic Stock. Via the World Wildlife Fund.
An interesting new paper in MEPS (Marine Ecology Progress Series) on the southern right whales of New Zealand and Australia.

Background: All right whales, north and south, were taxed hard and early by human whalers—the "right" whales to hunt because their high blubber content made them likely to float after death and because they frequented near-shore waters.

That made them easy to get to even in the days of rowing.

A painting, artist unknown, showing the hunting of right whales. La Baleine. The Whale, circa 1840. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Some 150,000 Southern Hemisphere right whales (Eubalaena australis) were killed by 19th-century whalers and by illegal 20th-century Soviet whalers—driving the species to the brink of extinction.

Around Australia and New Zealand, hunting peaked in the 1830s-1840s, after which the species was commercially extinct.

Geographic range of the southern right whale. Via the Red List.
The latest IUCN estimate of southern right whales dates back to 1997 when they calculated a population of 7,500 individuals. 

At that time, several breeding populations (in Argentina/Brazil, South Africa, and Australia) showed evidence of strong recovery, with a doubling time of 10-12 years.

Which means there might be a fair few more than 7,500 whales today.

Southern right whale with calf. Credit: John Atkinson. Via Marine Science Today.
According to the authors of the MEPS paper, no right whales were seen in the waters around mainland New Zealand for 35 years between 1928 and 1963. A few slowly returned. Yet as recently as 2005 less than 12 sexually mature females were found there.

But another group, known as the New Zealand subantarctic group, has a more robust population estimated at about 936 whales today. Forebears of this group were likely present in some small numbers even in the bleakest killing years.

Credit: E. Carroll, et al, via MEPS.

The authors of the MEPS paper wondered about the levels of relatedness between those two whale stocks in New Zealand, as well as among whales in Australia.

They used mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite genotypes to identify 707 individual whales and test them for genetic differentiation. You can see the breakdown of that analysis in the graphic above.

Their data, combined with historical evidence, led the researchers to hypothesize that individuals from the NZ subantarctic are slowly recolonizing mainland New Zealand waters, where a calving ground was obliterated in the 19th century.

Southern right whale. Via.

The genetic evidence also suggests that the whales of southeast Australian are a remnant stock—different from the whales of southwest Australia:


At the onset of whaling, southern right whales, in particular cows with calves, were found across the southern coast of Australia during the austral winter (IWC 1986). There was no real discontinuity in distribution or catch records to suggest subdivision of calving grounds in this region (IWC 1986). Based on the timing of catches at shore whaling stations during the 19th century, Dawbin (1986) proposed that southern right whales undertook 2 distinct patterns of migration along the southern coast of Australia during the austral winter. The southern right whales that migrated north along the east coast of Tasmania [the small island off the southeast tip of Australia, as seen in the graphic above] moved in a northeasterly direction up the coast of Victoria and New South Wales, while those that migrated north along the west coast of Tasmania moved from east to west along the southern coast of South and Western Australia. The latter pattern is still extant, based on the movement of photo-identified southern right whales and has been termed the 'counter-clockwise' migratory pattern (Kemper et al. 1997, Burnell 2001).


The Southern Ocean. Credit: Connormah via Wikimedia Commons.


They also found evidence that New Zealand and Australian right whales mingle in higher-latitude summer feeding grounds each austral spring—making the health of those cold Southern Ocean waters as important a component of recovery as the whales' breeding efforts.

And what epic efforts they are. Imagine a 12-foot-long penis—known colloquially as a sea snake—plus a tons' worth of testes per male. Mating becomes a sport of endurance. And sperm competition.

But you don't have to imagine it. As usual, just for us, David Attenborough respects the privacy of none.



The paper:



  • Carroll, E., Patenaude, N., Alexander, A., Steel, D., Harcourt, R., Childerhouse, S., Smith, S., Bannister, J., Constantine, R., & Baker, C. (2011). Population structure and individual movement of southern right whales around New Zealand and Australia Marine Ecology Progress Series DOI: 10.3354/meps09145

Enough About Me, How About You?

Via Rachael Phillips, Pinterest


"Your blog is your unedited version of yourself". ~ Lorelle


As you've probably noticed, I am pretty diligent wrt popping into my blog each day and rabbiting on about something/anything. It's a daily habit now.... over 3 years of espousing my opinions on everything.... are you sick of me yet? Hmm, dangerous question. I have had a few life setbacks recently and to be honest, some days/weeks I have struggled to be here. Some days, when I just want to bypass the computer and head out the door, I ask myself, 'why DO I blog? what draws me here?' I am sure you ask yourself the same question, especially when the blogging mojo flies out the door, as it often does.

Why do I blog? First and foremost, I put something up most days as I know that many of you join me for breakfast and coffee in the mornings. I know you are there waiting for me. I receive your emails about how my blog fits into your life. I am grateful that I can be part of your day in some little way.

Secondly, the friendship. You are my friends. I have met many of you in person and I share my day with you, long after my blog post in the morning. We tweet, we email, we share, we scheme, we support each other, we meet for coffee, I stalk your building sites!

Thirdly, I believe blogging has helped me discover me. Through my interactions with you, I have discovered more about myself than ever before. I also think I tune in each morning to 'be with me'. This is where I can be me. Funny isn't it. This blog is me.

And lastly, I am going to build another house and I want you there to help me again. I couldn't have done it last time without you. Honestly. Wait for me, will you? It's gonna be a beauty.

I feel like a bloggy rest this weekend (although I will have to post tomorrow just quickly when Katrina and Amie finish their first room on 'The Block'. Have to put in my 2 bobs worth).

So why do YOU blog? What keeps you going? What inspires you to check in every day? How has blogging changed/shaped you as a person? I am so curious to know what YOU think.

..... and Happy Friday!
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Here are a few of my favourite things...

One of the best things about taking Halfpenny Home out and about to a craft fair is the packing up of all our most favourite things...this Aspalls bag has been used an awful lot and not always just for the lovely Aspalls Cyder bottles it was originally designed to carry - it's also perfect for transporting the handpainted knitting needles that we love using!

It was my turn to choose which of our favourite goodies from HH HQ I wanted to take along to the Saint's Fair in Ipswich, a BRILLIANT craft fair organised by the rather wonderful Jess and Chris combo imakefunstuff - it's always a lot of fun!

As you can see I decided to show off just some of the ribbons, ric rac and trimmings that we have along with some rather wonderful Knit Collage and Gedgrave Flock yarns!
It was lovely to meet people that had read about Jacqui and I in the EADT piece by Steven Russell 'The Tweeter and the Tax Investigator' BUT the highlight (for me!) was meeting up with a fellow Tweeter @katiewardwriter ! Katy has just had her first novel Girl Reading published and as we are all local writers Ipswich Waterstones have been so very supportive and organised events for us!
Twitter brings the most unlikely people together - crafty girl meets a proper author! Katie is as lovely in real life as she is on Twitter! (as this bit of the blog is all about my obsession with twitter I should add a :-) right about now...) as I also met up with @katyark who I have met a lot in real life but didn't realise she was her...and she dodged the camera, tsk!

Look at those scrumptious yarns...irresistable!

The other great bit of Sunday was that on arrival I found that the HH stall was right next to a great friend of both Jacqui and I! Anita is a glass blower and she runs amazing workshops where you can transform old glass into beautiful pieces of art for your home!




Some of the fantastic cheeseboards that Anita makes from old wine bottles.

All this socialising and chatting about craft can build up quite an appetite but I never bother with taking along a picnic (unusual for me!) for the Saint's Fair as the food on sale there is always fab!
The lovely stallholders even delivered...

What a lovely day, Nic x

Simple Pleasures- Comfort Food

As we are completely immersed in our Winter with the cold and often rainy days then to be followed by some beautiful sunny blue skied days we just seemed to have a need want for what I call comfort food and yet a SIMPLE PLEASURE as well.

Now there is nothing more comforting on a cold wintry night to have some warm, smooth homemade custard and I would love to share the recipe with you. This is a recipe I have had for many years and it ALWAYS turns out.
Now I always make two jugs for our family of 14 and we love to have it with canned peaches.

Beautiful Custard~
Ingredients:
2 eggs
6 tablespoons of white sugar
3 heaped tablespoons of custard powder
3 heaped tablespoons of  cornflour
8 heaped tablespoons of milk powder
2 liter jug for stirring ingredients

Method:
1. Put sugar, custard, cornflour and milk powder into a jug and mix
2. Add eggs and mix in
3. Add cold water in very small amount and stir until it forms a FIRM not a runny mix.
4. Beat until smooth with a spoon
5. Boil water and pour into mixture in one continual stream STIRRING THE WHOLE TIME and afterwards for a couple of minutes.
6. If for some reason it isn't thick enough just put in the microwave for one minute ( I have done this maybe 3 times in over 10 years)
Another favourite amongst the family is Yorkshire Pudding once again it is a no fail recipe and no wonder as it is Tasha Tudor's form her Cookbook
We have this with our Stew recipe that is in this post

Yorkshire Pudding by Tasha Tudor ~
1 cup plain flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. In a bowl mix together flour and salt, then gradually add the mild to make a smooth paste.(I actually use our Kitchen Aid mixer with the whisk attachment for the whole process including the eggs)
3. Stir in the eggs and beat for 2 minutes
3. Pour the batter into a pan with a little oil (do not skimp here) and bake for 20- 30 mins
4. Cut the pudding into squares and serve immediately.

I am joining in with Dayle for Simple Pleasures this week

Blessings to you and your homes,

Coat Closet Turned into a Functional Organized Closet

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Welcome to Week 17 of our Organize your Life series!

Organize your LIFE

  I am excited to show you my finished coat closet transformation!

Closets_picnik

First,  I will show you our awful before picture!!  (We all like seeing the befores, right?)

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Oh yes, that was really what it looked like!  Embarrassing, I know!!!

It has looked like that for almost 4 years too!  It was just one of those places that I never tried to organize and would just close the door, ha!  Please tell me you have a place like that too!  Ok, maybe I am the only one but at least I finally organized it! 

Well, my hubby helped.  Oh, and the kids did too! Smile

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Here they are installing my new shelves.  By the way,  I picked up all my shelves at a garage sale for only $30!!!  YES!  All we had to do was buy the backs and the things that hold up the shelves.

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We just shoved everything on the table and I started going through it!

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I like the shelves!

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But,  I am obsessed with bins so I had to get some!

I love the ones at Walmart!  I bought the bigger version of the ones that I used to organize my crafts.

photo (6)

Here are some after shots!

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Now everything has a place!  BooYah!

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I also made labels for every bin!

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There is little to no room for shoving now!  I just love that,  I am forced to stay organized now!

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I show you a little of the afters in a previous post but I will show you more today!

We keep our keyboard at the top!

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Then our toolbox.  By the looks of it, I will be needing to find a bigger one!

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It was easy to fill all the bins!

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I love this bin, “Give to People” because I always have so much stuff to give away or people keep leaving their stuff here so now I have a good place to keep the stuff.

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So there ya go!  My coat closet was turned onto a functional closet!

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What do you think?

Do you have a closet like this?

What are you organizing now?  Anything?  Or do you take the summer off?

I am still using  Organize Now! by Jennifer Ford Berry but I have been posting a little of schedule.  I will get back on track when the kids go back to school!

What have you been organizing lately?

Show us by linking up!!!

(You can link up any organizing project that you have been working on!)

Organize your life

Have a great day! :)

Bonnie

 

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