U.N. creates global biodiversity panel

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U.N. creates global biodiversity panel UNITED NATIONS (UPI) -- The United Nations will establish an expert panel to advise governments on science and policy issues related to biodiversity, officials in New York say. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, endorsed at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, will assess evidence on the causes and effects of nature degradation and policy options, the BBC reported Tuesday. The new organization is similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and will be similarly charged with providing "gold-standard" reports to governments. "IPBES represents a major breakthrough in terms of organizing a global response to the loss of living organisms and forests, freshwater, coral reefs and other ecosystems that underpin all life -- including economic life -- on Earth," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, which will host the panel until a decision is taken on where it will be sited. Copyright 2010 by United Press International
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Colo. wolverine plan ignites debate DENVER (UPI) -- Plans to reintroduce threatened wild wolverines into Colorado are meeting opposition from operators of local ski resorts, officials say. Colorado ski area operators, already unhappy with the state over the reintroduction of threatened lynx, are objecting to the prospect of more wild predators with protected status showing up near ski slopes, The Denver Post reported Tuesday. "We think the timing is very, very wrong," Colorado Ski Country USA president Melanie Mills said. "Why the rush? The worry, she said, is that expansion of ski resorts on federal land, and even the operations of existing facilities, could be restricted if the government embraces wolverines. "Let's be thoughtful about this and make sure there are budget dollars available for a decade to collect the kind of data on the animal you need before you put (wolverines) on the ground," Mills said. "That way you don't put land users in the position of having restrictions put on land use that are not based on science," she said. A draft state plan has proposed importing 30 to 40 wolverines starting in 2012. State officials said they would press federal authorities for an agreement that ensures ranchers and ski operators wouldn't be hurt by the reintroduction of wolverines. "We need everybody to be comfortable," Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman Theo Stein said. "The problems are going to be minimal. This is a pretty hardy animal. It doesn't need a lot of protection." Copyright 2010 by United Press International
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FDA warns of possible E. coli in cheese SEATTLE (UPI) -- Federal officials say cheeses from a Washington company have been identified as the possible source of an E. coli outbreak in Washington and Oregon. The Food and Drug Administration has warned consumers not to eat cheeses produced by Sally Jackson Cheeses of Oroville in eastern Washington, Seatlepi.com reported Tuesday. Sally Jackson Cheeses are hand-crafted, raw-milk products adored by foodies nationwide, served in restaurants and sold at Whole Foods markets, the company said. The company says it is voluntarily recalling the cheeses. This was the second FDA action against a Washington artisan cheese maker in recent months. In October, the FDA seized raw-milk cheeses of Estrella Family Creamery after finding listeria bacteria in the farm's cheeses and production facilities. The FDA says the Sally Jackson cheeses were identified as one possible source in eight E. coli cases in an investigation that's still ongoing, Seattlepi.com reported. Copyright 2010 by United Press International
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Dinosaurs said to have undergone diet swap CHICAGO (UPI) -- Many dinosaur species long considered strictly meat-eaters may have evolved into plant eaters at some point in their history, U.S. scientists say. Researchers at Chicago's Field Museum say velociraptors and Tyrannosaurus rex, two-legged dinosaurs known as theropods, were definitively carnivores but the diet of their direct ancestors took some surprising turns over the years, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday. Through tens of millions of years of evolution some shifted away from a meat diet, becoming herbivores or omnivores, which eat both plants and meat, their study appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says. "Most theropods are clearly adapted to a predatory lifestyle, but somewhere on the line to birds, predatory dinosaurs went soft," Lindsay Zanno, a Field Museum postdoctoral student, says. "Our common historical image of theropods is out of date." A handful of theropod species, including the direct genetic ancestors of velociraptors, went from eating meat to plant diets and then inexplicably returned to meat diets after millions of years, the researchers say. Of 90 theropod species studied, 44 yielded evidence of being either exclusive plant-eaters or omnivores, Zanno says. Changes in flora, fauna and geography caused theropods to turn away from the violence of hunting and assume the gentler activity of browsing for plants for their food, she says. The changes seem to coincide with the period when flowering plants first appeared and spread across the world, as well as when the continents split and moved apart from each other, creating new ecological niches for animals to exploit and occupy, she says. Copyright 2010 by United Press International
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