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The Song of the Pawi

By wildgirl -
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Let’s go with Faraaz Abdool, photographer and wildlife advocate to find one of Trinidad’s irreplaceable wild treasures. The remote reaches of Trinidad’s heavily forested Northern Range conceal a unique treasure that can be found nowhere else on the planet. Here, verdant hills rise sharply from rugged coastlines, the seaspray-coated vegetation gives way as altitude increases to towering crappo followed by massive mora. These heavily buttressed trees are the stewards of the forest, their limbs festooned with moss and lichen. Their branches are punctuated by bromeliads that push forward spectacular flowers and host entire ecosystems within their leaf-vase structure. The air within these forests remains cool and moist throughout the year, the sounds of water - whether from rain, river, or distant ocean - are constant. Occasionally, just at the crack of dawn, a delicate whistle rises from the green tangle of the jungle and wafts over the canopy - an indication of the presence of Trinidad’...
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Where does your Wastewater go?

By wildgirl -
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  Dr Anjani Ganase reminds us that what drains from our islands ends up in the sea. How do we ensure that we do not enrich the coastal waters with chemicals and pollutants from agriculture, manufacturing and yes, household use. All drains lead to the ocean, but do we think about this when we wash our cars, do our laundry, clean our dishes? Nutrient pollution is caused by the nitrates and phosphate compounds that flush into rivers and coastal marine environment from the use of agricultural fertilisers, discharge of high volumes of greywater, and industrial effluent. Nutrient pollution is a growing issue impacting our waterways and the ocean with unforeseen consequences. At the global scale it is rapidly becoming a major concern given the many other large-scale issues that are plaguing regions of the world. Most noticeably, in the Caribbean we see the rise of sargassum blooms in the southern Atlantic, the presence of harmful algal blooms in the northern Caribbean and the expansion...
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Ocean as a Source of Life

By wildgirl -
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Dr Anjani Ganase reflects on the ocean as a source of life; and the possibility that where there is water in the universe, there might be life. Breathe in and out, look around, see life all around us. Life as we know it is the culmination of evolution that started over three billion years ago on this planet in our ocean. We have evolved enough to be able to trace our origins but also to seek out other origin stories in our solar system and beyond. Life requires the presence of energy, organic molecules to be organised and structures and water as the medium for chemical reactions and transport of elements and nutrients. Our planet is home to a large body of waters, the ocean occupies 70 % of planet earth. It is the keeper of climates and maintains life. Our planet received deposits of frozen water from space over billions of years from comets and asteroids colliding with the surface of the planet. As the planet warmed, the water collected to form the ocean.   Wh...
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A Shark as long as a Tennis Court

By wildgirl -
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Dr Anjani Ganase, coral reef ecologist, brings the latest scientific research on an extinct giant shark, how tonka bean trees make space in the Panamanian forests and how our ears are like fish gills. Our evolutionary origins are fishy The outer ear of a mammal is oddly shaped and weird looking. The ear folds seem unnecessary in contrast to the smooth conical disc devices, like the satellite dish, that we’ve invented to collect sound signals. The path of evolution is meandering and mysterious. All land animals evolved from the ocean, a place that really has no use for an ear. However, on land, the growth of ears provided clear benefits for mammals. Researchers from the School of Medicine, University of Southern California found that the outer ear of mammals can be linked evolutionarily to the gills of ancient fish. Both organs share a unique tissue called elastic collagen that make the outer ear (and gills) flexible but durable. In present day, the tissue is predominantly found ...
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In Need of Protection

By wildgirl -
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Do we know all of Trinidad and Tobago’s Environmentally Sensitive Species? Dr Anjani Ganase suggests wider research and inquiry to expand the list, and to expose all citizens to what needs to be protected. TT’s list of Environmentally Sensitive Species Under the legislation, the Environmental Management Act (2000), species listed under the Environmentally Sensitive Species Rule are afforded full protection in Trinidad and Tobago. Under this Rule, the species can be animal or plant, may be endemic to Trinidad and Tobago or spend only part of its life cycle in our territory. Furthermore, any plant or animal listed for risk of extinction and overexploitation by any international convention that the government of Trinidad and Tobago is party to is eligible for becoming an ESS. The Rule limits the cutting, picking or uprooting of plants; and prohibits hunting and disturbing protected animals, especially during sensitive periods such as breeding season or during migrat...
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Information for Better Trinidad and Tobago

By wildgirl -
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Dr Anjani Ganase wonders about the quality of information that is used to drive campaign promises; or voting for that matter.  Good governance begins with a good understanding of the country’s needs, what is required for its social, economic and environmental wellbeing. While there is no single system for governing the process by which governments seek to achieve social wellbeing, surely inclusion, transparency, accountability are necessary principles; in addition to information. Governments must make decisions on the knowledge they possess while recognising that gaps can be filled in through collaborations with regional/ international agencies, NGOs, academia and civil society including the private sector.   The benefits of any decisions must consider the needs of all its citizens, communities present and future. Most important is the role of the citizen in holding governments accountable to their governance. For a scientist the currency for good decisi...
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Ocean wanderer Sargasso Shearwater

By wildgirl -
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  Faraaz Abdool puts the spotlight on the bird whose habitat is the mid-Atlantic and breeding ground the rocky islands off Tobago’s north.   The Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic is unique among all other seas as all its boundaries are oceanic. While the body of water itself was named after the ubiquitous sargassum seaweed found within it, there is a small, cryptic seabird that now carries this name: the Sargasso Shearwater. Its scientific name – Puffinus lherminieri - is in honour of the Guadeloupe-based French naturalist Félix Louis L’Herminier, who, with his son in his later years, spent considerable time studying the flora and fauna of the Caribbean.   An adult Sargasso Shearwater makes its way to its burrow. Photo by Faraaz Abdool Sargasso Shearwaters are pelagic birds, meaning that they are superbly adapted to life on the ocean. They are from the order of birds colloquially known as “tubenoses” which comprises four families of ocean wanderers: shearwaters, alba...
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