294 Briefly AMERICAS


Indigenous Amazonians use art for environmental advocacy Visual artist Denilson Baniwa and singer Djuena Tikuna are using their art to call the world’s attention to key questions about socio-environmental issues in the Amazon, such as the impact of colonial legacies. Denilson is a representative of the Baniwa, a people living along the Rio Negro that runs from the Brazilian state of Amazonas to the Venezuelan border. He seeks to de- nounce violence against Indigenous com- munities in Brazil, and to criticize president Jair Bolsonaro’s position on environmental questions such as pesticide use and mining on Indigenous lands. Djuena, who is also a journalist and comes from Brazil’slargest Indigenous tribe, uses songs performed in her native Tikuna language as a form of re- sistance andadvocacy. Sheworks tohighlight issues such as health, education, territory and access to culture, and cooperation amongst Indigenous women who are working to- gether to protect their lands and traditions. Source: Mongabay (2020) news.mongabay. com/2020/01/indigenous-artists-from- the-amazon-use-art-for-environmental- advocacy


Biocontrol beetle could help save hemlock forests... A 5-year study has showed initial positive signs for one of North America’s most threatened trees, the eastern hemlock Tsuga canadensis. The researchers aim to use biocontrol to reduce the population of an aphid-like pest that has caused wide- spread decline of the trees. The hemlock woolly adelgid Adelges tsugae, a tiny insect native to Japan, kills hemlock trees by suck- ing sugars from their needles, but a preda- tory black beetle Laricobius nigrinus, reared and released by researchers, is having an impact on local populations of the pest. At nine sites where the beetle was introduced, the study measured the difference between adelgid-infested trees isolated from the bee- tle and those exposed to it, and found that 30–40%of the pest’segg sacs hadcomeun- der attack from the introduced predator. However, although first results are encour- aging, the beetle’s impact is not yet strong enough to reduce total adelgid populations in the USA, and the researchers are consid- ering the introduction of other predator species to assist the beetle in tackling the problem. Source: Science (2020) sciencemag.org/ news/2020/01/aphid-munching-beetle- could-help-save-hemlock-forests


.. . and modified gut bacterium may offer hope for honey bees Honey bees are facing an unprecedented cri- sis. Since the 1940s, thenumber of honey bee hives in the USA has dropped from 6 mil- lion to 2.5 million.Acombination of colony- killing mites, viral pathogens, and possibly pesticides is largely to blame.Now, research- ers are tapping an unusual ally in the fight to bring the bees back: a bacterium that lives solely in the bees’ guts. By genetically modi- fying the bacterium to trick the mite or a virus to destroy someof its ownDNA, scien- tists at the University of Austin, Texas, have improved bee survival in the lab and killed many of the mites that were parasitizing the insects. The work was carried out on small groups of bees and has yet to be tested in whole hives or outdoors but has poten- tial to be effective over the longer term. However, although the modified bacteria could potentially act like a customized medicine for honey bees, the researchers caution that bacteria are typically not easy to contain, raising concerns about using this approach in the wild. Source: Science (2020) sciencemag.org/ news/2020/01/mite-destroying-gut- bacterium-might-help-save-vulnerable- honey-bees


New Fisheries law in Belize for wildlife and livelihoods A comprehensive new Fisheries Resources Bill passed by the Senate of Belize in January 2020 is set to modernize the coun- try’s small-scale fishing industry. The law, replacing decades-old legislation, seeks to ensure the sustainable management of resources, enhanced protection of coral reefs, mangroves, and coastal waters, and improved decision-making, food security, and resilience among local communities. Various reforms are planned: driving a shift from a narrower focus on fish stocks to a broader, ecosystem-based approach, implementing a rights-based managed ac- cess system to encourage fishers to act as stewards of their fishing grounds, and im- proving participation of fishing communi- ties in management decisions through a Fisheries Advisory Council. The Council will have a role in establishing penalties to counter illegal fishing, defining measures to enable surveillance and enforcement, and the co-management of marine reserves, en- hancing community engagement and co- operation with the new legislation. Source:Wildlife Conservation Society (2020) newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/ article Type/ArticleView/articleId/13726/ New-Fisheries-Law-in-Belize-Protects- Both-Marine-Species-and-Livelihoods.aspx


Climate change causes mass die-off among seabirds A study investigating the mass die-off of common murres Uria aalge, with over 62,000 emaciated birds washing up along a vast stretch of the North American Pacific coastline in 2015–2016,has concluded that it was caused by a record-breaking marine heatwave. The authors estimate that 1 mil- lion common murres died as a result of changes affecting the entire ecosystem, which were triggered by the heatwave that caused temperature spikes persisting from 2014 to 2016. The unprecedentedmagnitude, duration, and geographical extent of the die-off was associated with multi-year re- productive failures across numerous colonies. The heatwave was probably caused by con- tinued ocean warming as a result of climate change combined with the effects of the Pa- cific Decadal Oscillation, and exacerbated by a strong El Niño in 2015–2016. Ocean temperatures from California to Alaska ex- ceeded the average by 2–3 standard devia- tions, causing shifts in the food web which affected the availability of the murres’ prey and increased competition with other ma- rine species. Source: Inside Climate News (2020) inside climatenews.org/news/15012020/sea- bird-death-ocean-heat-wave-blob-pacific- alaska-common-murre


Defender of monarch butterflies found dead in Mexico The conservation community is mourning the loss of Homero Gómez González, a Mexican environmentalist who was found tortured and murdered in the western state of Michoacán in January 2020.Gómez González, a former logger turned environ- mental activist who managed the El Rosario butterfly reserve, disappeared 2 weeks before his body was discovered. Fellow activists say he is likely to have been targeted because his work defended the wintering grounds of the monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus from illegal exploitation. Millions of the butter- fliesmigrate 3,200 km from Canada annually to overwinter in the forests around El Ro- sario. Although the sanctuary is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and protected by fed- eral law, it remains under threat from illegal logging and avocado farming. Gómez Gon- zález’s killing is one in a series of attacks on environmental defenders in Mexico, which continue despite promises fromthe country’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to tackle the issue. Source: The Guardian (2020) theguardian. com/world/2020/jan/30/mexico-activist- monarch-butterflies-dead-homero- gomez-gonzalez


Oryx, 2020, 54(3), 290–295 © 2020 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605320000137


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