Island’s red deer rutting earlier
Wild red deer on Rum are rutting earlier in the year because of climate change, scientists have suggested. Research has indicated that the annual rutting season on the NNR could be
changing because of warming spring and summer temperatures. The rut takes place in the autumn and involves the males competing for a mate. Scientists from Edinburgh and Cambridge universities showed that the
deer rutting and calving seasons are now up to two weeks earlier on average compared with 30 years ago. The research was based on a 38-year study of the relationship between red deer and the environment on Rum and used annual records of breeding success in more than 3,000 deer. The scientists say this provides rare evidence that warming temperatures
are affecting the behaviour of British mammals. Although many kinds of plants and animals are known to be reproducing earlier, evidence of early reproduction in large mammals is very unusual. More work is needed to understand whether similar changes are taking place in deer populations elsewhere, and what the implications will be.
Click on corals
Scottish scientists have set up a new website to raise awareness of cold-water corals (such as the ones shown above) and their conservation. World renowned naturalist Sir David Attenborough has given his support to
the site
www.lophelia.org and recorded a short film for it. Scientists from Heriot-Watt University are behind the website, which sets
out to publicise the importance of cold-water coral conservation in Scotland and around the world. The university team discovered the only known inshore coral reef in Scottish
waters – the Mingulay reef complex – in 2003. The reef was discovered in the Sea of the Hebrides when the area was mapped using modern sonar techniques. “We’re now discovering that cold-water corals are probably more abundant
and widespread across the oceans of the world than tropical corals,” commented Sir David. “They’re certainly very remarkable. For instance, one cold-water coral is 4,000
years old, probably making it the oldest living organism on this planet. The more that’s being discovered the more we realise how precious, diverse, important and endangered these cold-water corals are.”
www.snh.gov.uk 19
NEWS
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