E n viron men t TO BA GO n ewsl etter
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nvironment TOBAGO (ET) is a nongovernment, non-profit, volunteer organisation , not subsidized by any one group, corporation or government body. Founded in 1995, ET is a proactive advocacy group that campaigns against negative environmental activities throughout Tobago. We achieve this through a variety of community and environmental outreach programmes. Environment TOBAGO is funded mainly through grants and membership fees. These funds go back into implementing our projects. We are grateful to all our sponsors over the years and thank them for their continued support
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ET News Articles
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Ecology Notes
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Book Review
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Community Announcements
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What’s Happening @ ET
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Notes to contributors
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Environment TOBAGO
December 2014
Remembering Louis; naturalist, activist and all round good guy Bertrand Bhikarry Environment TOBAGO I’m not often driven to write eulogies, but the difficult passing of Louis Guy requires that I say a few words in honour of his huge personality, of his work for the civil society sector, specifically, and his passion for preserving the natural environment due to his skills as a forester. His death comes as a huge loss for Trinidad and Tobago, but it is an especially hard blow for those of us lucky enough to have walked with Louis along some of those paths. But, something else comes with these paragraphs. It has to do with ensuring there is adequate monetary reward for those who take on public service tasks outside the direct employ of the State. You see, there is this disturbing trend where all too often, the real and critical needs of those very generous people, who seek to improve on the status quo, are ignored. Louis Guy’s time, largely expended for the good of the wider community, was never given to us with remuneration in mind. So when he died, mere steps away from a pauper’s grave, Mr. Guy’s shining beacon of a life, led purely to protect the gift and integrity of the Commons, should cause others to rethink what they face, should they contemplate an extended sojourn in the field of volunteerism. In truth, the person who gives of his time freely may lose valuable income earning opportunity, unless, of course, he Mr Louis Guy or she augments it with creative funding, if such exists in the field. Louis Guy was not the only local civil society icon, whose golden years were spent without enough gold to buy comfort. The late David Rooks, who rose to achieve an international reputation as an ornithologist, also spent too much of his last days in staving off the bite of poverty. Something should be done to protect the welfare of those who see futures that do not involve only economic success. When Louis was making the rounds of the various nursing homes, who take care of people with acute dementia, much, if not all, of his keep was attended to by his friends and colleagues of the environmental movement. Much credit goes to those folks, but what of the other
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December 2014 Editor: Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal Assistant Editor: Christopher K. Starr Design & Layout: Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal Technical Support: Jerome Ramsoondar Enid Nobbee Contributors: Bertrand Bhikarry Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal Christopher K. Starr Photographs: Clayton Clarke Jorge Moreno Environment TOBAGO Wikipedia.com
Board of Directors 2012-2014 President:: Patricia Turpin Vice-President: Bertrand Bhikkary Secretary: Wendy Austin Treasurer: Shirley McKenna Other Directors: William Trim Hugh Baker Fitzherbert Phillips Renee Gift Andy Roberts Darren Henry Ken Biscombe Nathaniel Licorish
Environment TOBAGO newsletter
contributors who did or will not have compatriots who are willing to support a sick friend? Normally, it would be very poor form indeed for civil society volunteers to expect some form of cushion from the public purse for work they entered into voluntarily. But fortunately, if sadly, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has been spending so much money on so many dubious ‘worthy’ causes, that an argument for a fund for the Volunteer Pension Scheme may now bear fruit. How would it work? Perhaps citizens who retire from active employment, but are able to perform community service on a sustained basis, may derive something more substantial than their normal pension. Perhaps the proposed fund may only include basic medical coverage, just as it should surely contain provision for paid stays in nursing homes or suitable hospices, should ailing elders have need of such. Whatever occurs, the thinking must be clear. People who serve should not have too much of a concern that they are going to lose money when they take up battles to benefit their fellow man. What happens if we do not dedicate part of the public purse to care for the volunteer? As is already apparent, there’ll be a lot of professional services on offer, quite a large chunk of which may not be suitable for the national interest – either for present or future times. Consider the current situation where a man with a consistent record of stewardship for the environment - Wayne Kublalsingh - must broach the ultimate sacrifice. He is risking death because he is sure the adLouis Guy—GIS training session vice the State has obtained from accredited sources is wrong. I’m not taking sides here, but arguably Wayne’s passion can only come from the civil society sector and defines what must be protected. However, harnessing the power of the neutral masses to sway political will, will not be easy. Not a lot of people in Trinidad and Tobago care for causes other than when it comes home to them. If the Government cannot find it in its heart to fund a safety net for the country’s volunteers, then they should commission a study to review if Trinbago is on the correct path - if it is indeed on course for the future everyone wants. Over time, Trinidad and Tobago signed onto dozens of global accords, all of which, in sum, ask that we adopt stronger approaches to conservation, emissions and humanitarian behaviour. So far, our country has rejected AT ALL LEVELS these understandings. Invariably, the protagonists who encourage this poor behaviour all derive from the professional, private and public sectors. To recognise that the best future in store for T&T resides in the bosoms of its volunteer corps, is to start looking for a way to protect them when they can no longer give of their time. In their final days, David Rooks could have used some pain killing medicine and a hot meal; Louis Guy sorely needed a comfortable bed and someone nearby with expertise for his plight. Neither really got it from the public at large, despite both of their lives having been dedicated towards public service and posterity.
Environment TOBAGO newsletter GEF Council CSO Consultation Discusses Gender Policy, Public Involvement
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council consultation meeting with civil society organizations (CSOs) gathered approximately 150 participants to focus on four topics: a dialogue with the GEF CEO; gender mainstreaming and public involvement in GEF projects; the work of the GEF-CSO Network; and CSO engagement in the sixth replenishment of the GEF (GEF-6). The event took place on 27 October 2014, at World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC, US. The day-long CSO Consultation took place immediately before the 47th meeting of the GEF Council, which will convene at the same venue from 28-30 October 2014. GEF CEO and Chairperson Naoko Ishii stressed that 2015 would be critical to the GEF for three reasons: the ramping up to the global climate agreement; the decisions regarding sustainable development goals for the post-2015 development agenda; and the first year of GEF-6 and GEF2020 Strategy implementation. Responding to questions, Ishii said: the GEF can share good practices that CSOs suggest regarding how countries involve CSOs in project formulation; the GEF can contribute to the transition to the Green Economy from several entry points, such as work on CSO India—addressing GEF sustainable cities and energy efficiency; the GEF will share its approach to CSO engagement with the Green Climate Fund (GCF); the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) is very interested in advancing an integrated analysis of transport projects; and private sector involvement is key for the Integrated Approaches in GEF-6. During the second session, two sub-panels discussed current CSO engagement and gender mainstreaming in GEF projects and processes, including challenges and recommendations for effective engagement. Yoko Watanabe, GEF Secretariat, presented on the Gender Equality Action Plan (GEAP). She noted that donors had requested, during GEF-6, the development of a gender action plan to implement the policy on gender mainstreaming. She reported that actions have included the appointment of a gender focal point (Watanabe herself) and an assessment of gender mainstreaming in GEF Agencies. Harvey Keown, CSO Representative, called the GEAP visionary and outlined CSO recommendations, including suggestions to: integrate GEAP knowledge management and capacity development components; and extend practical capacity development, including at the local level, and ensure adequate budgets for these efforts. Juha Pyykko, Council Member, Finland, said gender equity should be at the core of the post-2015 development agenda, and suggested that the GEAP could serve as a model for other organizations. He noted a need for further work on how projects are deemed to be gender relevant, and the coordination of indicators among agencies. Juha Ilari Uitto, GEF Independent Evaluation Office (IEO), reviewed the findings and recommendations on CSO at GEF 47th meeting CSO engagement of the IEO's
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“ To many p eopl e t hes e tall pea ks make fo r a c hallen ging b ut s cenic hike. B u t t hey a re not jus t a no the r t all m oun tain to climb . �
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5th Overall Performance Study (OPS5). Responding to questions, Uitto said the IEO had recommended a regular review of engagement, perhaps through an annual survey of CSOs, but the Council must direct it to do so. Parish presented the GEF-CSO Network's review of the GEF Policy on Public Involvement (PIP), including recommendations such as updating the PIP and making it more prescriptive, enhancing access of CSOs to GEF resources, and enhancing CSO capacity to engage in GEF program and project formulation. He noted that at least 50% of CSO comments on the original draft Public Involvement Guidelines had been taken on in the draft now before Council.Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, Council Member for the US, welcomed the work on the Guidelines and suggested that the Council consider an appropriate way to revisit the PIP once the Guidelines are in place. He suggested some agreement might be needed on common indicators. Two presenters then reported on the work of the GEF-CSO Network. The Network's Report to GEF Council was presented by Essam Nada, RFP North Africa, and the Network's Strategic Plan was presented by Victor Kawanga, RFP Southern Africa. GEF Council Member Stefan Marco Schwager, Switzerland, offered a Council perspective, and highlighted that no Council member can deliver the level of knowledge on the ground that the CSO Network can deliver. He noted difficulties in translating the knowledge of the situation on the ground into Council-level discussions, and suggested that there is a need to consider how to make better use of the CSO perspective. Steve Gold, UNDP, outlined areas for engaging CSOs in GEF-6, including helping CSOs in advocacy, outreach and community mobilization, building local capacities and awareness, identifying and applying indigenous knowledge, and supporting governments to partner with CSOs for public service delivery to vulnerable communities. He also reviewed lessons learned from an assessment of the CSO role in over GEF Council and Convention Secretaries at the GEF 100 UNDP projects. Luisa Balbi, Euro47th meeting pean Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), explained the EBRD's approach to CSOs based on its emphasis on helping economies in transition and its heavy emphasis on work with the private sector. She said partnerships with CSOs were only begun last year with three pilot projects. Herve LeFeuvre, WWF-US, reviewed WWF-US efforts to build stronger CSO voices for environmental sustainability and development, and its social policies. Rita Mishan, Foundation for Ecodevelopment and Conservation (FUNDAECO), Guatemala, argued that: CSOs should be incorporated more in project formulation and implementation, and their capacities strengthened so that they could follow up and build on GEF projects after they end. Michael Replogle, Institute for Transport and Development Policy (ITDP), lamented the lack of promised follow-up work to the transport project assessment tool ITDP developed with STAP. He outlined the findings of an ITDP study of four GEF projects, which included the need to enhance CSO capacities so that they can be taken more seriously as actors in the public involvement process. At the end of the day, Faizal Parish, GEF-CSO Network Central Focal Point, briefly summarized the discussions. Patricia Turpin, RFP Caribbean, thanked the Council members who had attended the Consultation. She closed the meeting at 5:20 pm.
Environment TOBAGO newsletter
What ET has been up to Swmcol/ET Ambient Plastics Project Our teams go around to places where clean-ups ordinarily do not occur and pick up beverage containers (the limitation is according to the terms of the agreement we have with SWMCOL and shall apply until project close date, February 2015). We pick up in bags, take to our facility at the Studley Park Landfill location where THA has graciously allowed us the use of some sheds. After sorting & weighing the bags are stacked for eventual transport to POS. The following images show the
Storage units at Studley Park (left) ET North east teams cleaning up Hermitage Beach (right)
Speyside Highschool Science Fair Featuring displays by ET-Guppy research/Klean school program and NEST Turtles
Mr. Peters/Science teacher and Patricia Turpin at Speyside High science Fair (left) ET Education Coordinator -Barry Lovelace, Patricia Turpin and Ancil Kent NEST-North East Sea Turtles
ET Vice-President Bertrand Bhikarry presenting The Klean School Programme award (left) Klean School Programme awardees (right)
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What ET has been up to (cont’d) Caribbean Academy of Sciences 19th Biennial Conference
The conference took place from the 21st to the 23rd November at the lovely Magdalena Resort in Lowlands, Tobago
Photo by Jorge Moreno
Photos by Clayton Clarke
Photo by Jorge Moreno
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ARTICLES Peer pressure in sleepy Tobago Bertrand Bhikarry Piers are popular in places which are subject to large tidal ranges or where heavy equipment cannot function. Piers sometimes have sheds or covered areas all along their length, devices which improve utility, but discourage use by smaller craft with low freeboard, pier fishermen, and pier walkers. Pier shelters also add to windage and to topside weight – two factors which greatly impact on pylon design. The pier’s use in major seafront commerce has decreased mainly because of the move to containerized shipping, but they linger on in places where the tourism trade benefits. The pier existing at Charlotteville was built for the use of the local fishermen, but it is also accessed by a freeloading yachting community, proves handy for immigration and customs business or for sport divers and the game fishermen when they choose. Arguments that the villagers themselves depend totally on the structure are therefore debatable. A couple of years ago, there was some interest in the creation of an extension to this village pier, a move initiated by the Division of Agriculture, Marketing Marine Affairs and the Environment (DAMME). In selling the pier’s virtues the DAMME portrays a bright future for the village, promises better response capability in the aftermath of adverse weather events, espouses greater tourism by virtue of it creating capacity to process more travellers who may transit via Charlotteville. They justify the pier’s build-out, and at the same time indicate the need for modern office facilities for the customs and immigration departments. Implied by other promises too, they extrapolate the addition of a longer pier is an automatic fillip to the quality of life for area residents. These are good arguments, undoubtedly crafted as a sweetener, since it’s the kind of story everyone wants to hear in a recession. But some people in the area and even a few beyond, do not accept the proposed ‘jetty extension’ blindly. Some of these naysayers have strong opinions, while others actually have scientific support to back up their concerns. By all indications, the proposition to enlarge the structure at the Charlotteville waterfront, previously and erroneously called the CharlottevIlle Jetty, could well embarrass somebody someday. The thing is, no one wants the unnecessary and unpleasant ‘satisfaction’ of being proven correct since the stakes involved concern delicate and irreplaceable ecosystems. The loudest among those against the pier’s extension fret about the cost to the environment. Well and fine they say, that the economic projections for Charlotteville and for Tobago seem rosy. What’s not well, nor fine, is that no one has bothered to look into what the real cost is to others who will inherit the Charlotteville environment. Some of those inheritors already stroll the village boardwalk looking pretty much like ordinary kids, not as the burdened carriers of a debt incurred through rash decision-making by their parents. So, can the still unresolved situation between state and citizens disagreeing to the pier’s extension be resolved? It will, if someone commits to a proper Environmental Impact Assessment – an EIA. It’s a fair request, but even a cursory peek at the potential for long term damage shows the state’s reach can and often does exceeds its grasp. A proper EIA would have to take into account existing surface and subsurface water runoff for the locality - and its quality, the ability of the seafront eco-
“The loudest among those against the pier’s extension fret about the cost to the environment. ”
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“It seems despite the many references to it, there is no jetty at Charlotteville. What currently protrudes into scenic Man O War Bay is a pier. Piers according to the engineering fraternity; ‘are easily identifiable by pylons, poles or posts upon which a concrete or wooden pathway is placed well above the high water to assist people and goods to and from boats’.”
Environment TOBAGO newsletter
system to cope with increased levels of siltation - and even more wastewater, the ability of the village infrastructure to deal with an increase (projected) in vehicular and human traffic when all is built and operational, and the actual gains (or losses) to be accrued to the local population first and foremost, with the resultant socio-economic upheaval. There may be some problems too which might arise even before the pier is complete. Consider: Noise from pneumatic pile drivers can be a strain at any time, in any place, but in the confines of Man O War Bay, sinking piles for a major extension may prove insufferably loud for residents accustomed to low sound levels. Health and safety issues too may prove inadequate. The village clinic may not be able to deal with industrial accidents, nor will it serve even when construction of the pier is complete. On-demand fire services may also need addressing, as the port no matter how small it turns out, will need onsite fire and liquid hazard facilities. Among the host of troubles an EIA will examine are socio-economic ones: like village fisher-folk taking up construction jobs and abandoning their hooks and lines. The million dollar question is therefore: Are higher prices and a poor supply of fresh fish sacrifices Charlotteville wants to make? As if to corroborate the view held by sustainable development experts - that Charlotteville and similar delicate communities require the greatest of care in development, many of the villagers are worried that their lifestyle is slipping down the slope of irreversible decline. People are right to be concerned. Even if the THA has put the pier extension idea to bed, it seems the agents of state still wants to go ahead and urbanise the village streets and built infrastructure. And it’s not that they ought not, but they should show some understanding before moving in hurry. Show they realise any change which impacts its rusticity or cause damage to its beachfront aesthetic, will surely make Charlotteville just another unproductive country slum. Actually, someone should take the time to tell the THA ‘… don’t build up Charlotteville as you’ve done with Buccoo, that’s the type of peer pressure Tobago can do without.
“ To many p eopl e t hes e tall pea ks make fo r a c hallen ging b ut s cenic hike. B u t t hey a re not jus t a no the r t all m oun tain to climb . ”
The Santiago Declaration: Defining the future we want Bertrand Bhikarry The Earth Summit of Rio de Janeiro in July 1992 was unprecedented for a United Nations’ (UN) conference, both in terms of size and its huge scope of concern. Two decades had already elapsed from the first global environment conference and the UN was seeking help from participating governments to rethink economic development and to find ways to halt the pollution of the plant and the destruction of its finite natural resources. Many thousands of people from all walks of life contributed to the Rio process, all convinced that going to Rio and joining with other nations in making the difficult decisions needed would ensure a healthy planet for the generations to come. Indeed the summit of 1992 did produce, making eco-efficiency a guiding principle for business and governments alike. Patterns of production, particularly the production of toxic components, such as lead in gasoline or poisonous waste, are now being scrutinised by the UN and world governments alike. Alternative sources of energy are being sought to replace the use of fossil fuels, now irrevocably linked to global climate change. Focus on public transportation systems is being emphasised in order to reduce vehicle emissions, congestion in cities and the health problems caused by pol-
Environment TOBAGO newsletter
luted air and smog. Of critical importance also, there is much greater awareness of and concern over the growing scarcity of water. Therefore, the two-week Earth Summit of ‘92 was a good climax to a long process. Notably at its close, Maurice Strong, acting as the Conference’s Secretary-General, called the summit a historic moment for humanity. Fast forward to Rio+20 (pronounced Rio Plus Twenty) June 2012, where countries in the region, buoyed by the logic of the Earth Summit, agreed to engage in principle to good practice in matters environmental and developmental. This understanding, one of 21, came to be known as the Rio Declaration (on Environment and Development). As one of the smaller countries among the many giants who signed, Trinidad and Tobago must have been proud as hell to be named among the first 19 sovereign states committed to apply Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. So what happened in early November this year, when ECLAC (the UN’s regional body mandated to organise the Latin Bloc and the Caribbean) called for those 19 same countries to show up in Santiago, Chile to map the way forward for Principle 10? Well everyone showed up, except headstrong little Trinidad and Tobago. This is unfortunate, because it reinforced the already poor reputation this Caribbean country has acquired for being ill or unprepared to manage its patrimony. How irresponsible did sweet T&T come across? Well, St. Vincent and the Grenadines were there, Jamaica too, Bahamas – naturally, Barbados (as expected) and admirably, St. Lucia. It’s not that Trinidad had a lot to do to qualify. We were merely expected to have selected a focal point. That is; a relatively senior civil servant with a modicum of understanding for matters eco and for considerations social. Looking at the general profile of the representatives who attended the Santiago meeting this month, our focal point need not have a legal background- legalese will only come into play after the various expectations of the participants are negotiated. Nor will that focal point require fluency in Español - the UN always ensures there are expert translators present and working. As it stands, November has come and shall soon go. The Santiago Declaration – essentially a draft document of 16 or so stipulations - will be circulated for review at the end of the first quarter of 2015. So will Trinidad be ready with its focal point? It doesn’t seem so. Yet this country cannot effectively contribute - nor negotiate from strength - if it doesn’t appoint someone to represent it. According to information coming out of COPE (Council of the Presidents of the Environment - the umbrella organisation for this country’s major environmental non-governmental organisations), the various ministries one would assume as relevant to choosing the appointee, are already saying ‘Not me!’ The Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources does not want to accept the responsibility, nor is the Ministry of Planning and Sustainable Development interested. About the only thing concerned citizens of T&T can do, to ensure this country remains part of the ECLAC initiative to secure the future we want, is to lobby the People’s Partnership Government to appoint a ‘right’ focal point - not just another political hack. Such people do exist in the public sector, although they may be hard to find or loathed to come forward, given the governance issues notorious to Trinidad and Tobago. Perhaps it’s time COPE and its member groups, other civil society sector franchises, like indigenous (heritage) interests and even faith-based organisations, take a stand on the matter. You see, any instrument which our government signs (or opts
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“Our people have so far been fortunate in that the Caribbean ‘got’ benign climate and relative prosperity, while others got harsh winters, torrid summers and civil strife. ”
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Environment TOBAGO newsletter
out of signing) in the immediate future - given the strong global stance on matters climate change, sustainable development or variants - will place a final and fiscal responsibility on the citizenry. Therefore, claiming a lack of understanding for things like Principle 10 is not an option, especially for tax payers - the stakes are incredibly high. Our people have so far been fortunate in that the Caribbean ‘got’ benign climate and relative prosperity, while others got harsh winters, torrid summers and civil strife. Much of that could change for us here in the next 15 years. As the world turns, things will get hotter; people will become hungrier and more aggressive. Are we in the islands – T&T especially - so naïve to think that the free ride we’ve had will continue? That we don’t actually need to conserve our string of assets? Friends, the good times won’t last. For one thing, in an over-heated and expensive world, who will fly long distances to see decimated forests and dead reefs? Nobody in their rights minds for sure. If we are to sustain the lifestyle we have, we’ll need to safeguard the things we’ve got, and also partner up with the big boys next door. Because when things get rough, we may not be invited to be part of what good future they have. Even worse, we may have the future they seek and there’ll be no instrument like the Santiago Declaration to protect us.
ECOLOGY NOTES A closer look at some ecological interactions Jo-Anne Nina Sewlal Dept of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, When it comes to biodiversity we all love it simply because it provides us with lots of interesting animals to look at. But many organisms carry out vital ecosystem services without which we would cease to exist. But do we really know how they interact with each other? This article will briefly look at some of the relationships between animals namely, commensalism, mutualism and parasitism. However, some of these relationships have been split into different categories depending on the duration and the level of intimacy between the organisms involved. Starting with commensalism, in which one organism benefits while the other neither benefits or loses anything in the relationship. Commensal relationships can be placed into three categories; phoresy, in- Bird nesting in a hole in a tree as an example of metabiosis quilinism and metabiosis. PhorPhoto: Wikipedia
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esy basically refers to when an organism uses another as a form of transport. An example of this is seen in Trinidad and Tobago where passalid beetles commonly called Bess beetles which feed on rotting wood, act as transport for pseudoscorpions or mites. Inquilinism occurs when one organisms uses the other as a form of permanent housing, while they are living. An example is a bird living in a hold in a tree. The last form of commensalism is metabiosis, where “one organism creates or prepares a suitable environment for the second.” An example includes a situation such as maggots which develop and feed on a decomposing corpse. Another relationship is mutualism in which both organisms benefit. This benefit can be through gaining resources or a reduction in stressful conditions. Depending on the duration of the relationship it can be either facultative or obligate. In obligate mutualistic relationships, each species involved would not exist if the other were not present. A common example of an obligatory mutualistic relationship is that found between clownfish and sea anemones. The clownfish gains protection from predators and nestle themselves among sea anemones which have harpoon-like stingers on their tentacles, used as a form of protection for themselves and to capture prey. The clownfish has developed a thick layer of mucus as a form of protection against accidental stings by the sea anemone. The sea anemone benefits from the fish’s presence as the fish cleans it and its waste provides nutrients. However, in facultative mutualistic relationships, even if one of the members is not present the other is still present but not in great abundance. Examples of this include several families of fish including wrasse, which feed on the parasites found on the bodies of larger fish species. The larger fish species will survive if the wrasse are not around but they will be fewer since in some individuals their parasitic load will be too much for them to survive. But probably the ecological Wrasse cleaning station Photo: Wikipedia relationship we are most familiar with is parasitism, where only one organism benefits (refers to as the parasite) and the other organisms (host) eventually dies or has its resources reduced. An example is the tarantula hunting wasps which belong to the genus Pepsis. As its common name suggests, it target this variety of spiders. But it does not hunt it for food itself as it feeds on nectar and pollen, but as food for its developing young. When it finds a tarantula it paralyses it with its sting and drags it into a burrow it has dug where it lays a single egg in the spider. As the larva develops they eat the spider from the inside out so that when they emerge as an adult the spider dies. So when we observe nature even in our own back yard, organisms are not always at the same place at the same time due to coincidence, there may be an ecological reason for their association.
“An example is the tarantula hunting wasps which belong to the genus Pepsis.”
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VIRUSES GONE WILD C. Brooke Worth 1967. A Naturalist in Trinidad. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott 291 pp. [Thirty-eighth in a series on "naturalist-in" books; see www.ckstarr.net/ reviews_of_naturalist.htm ] Christopher K. Starr Dept of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies ckstarr@gmail.com
“According to a recent estimate, about 320,000 kinds of viruses are known in the world“
Brooke Worth (1908-1984) studied medicine in the USA, but not in order to practise in the ordinary way. Rather, his real interest was in birds, and he saw his medical degree as a way of going places to study birds. 25 years later, in 1960, he was sent to Trinidad for 4½ years. In addition to the book arising from this experience, he was the author of Mosquito Safari (1971, about southern Africa) and Of Mosquitoes, Moths and Mice (1972). Worth was a wide-ranging naturalist, both geographically and taxonomically. He rebelled against the idea that an ornithologist should largely limit his view to the local fauna and took the whole world as his proper scope. And he struggled to learn about other groups of animals while far from major libraries and of course long before the internet. A Naturalist in Trinidad has 24 chapters with two maps and 18 other illustrations by Don R. Eckleberry. It is a well-crafted book, with topics unfolding in a clear and meaningful way. About half of the chapters revolve around some particular animal or group of animals. The first is titled simply "Trinidad!", presumably a nod to Charles Kingsley (1874). According to a recent estimate, about 320,000 kinds of viruses are known in the world, most of them hosted by animals. The Trinidad Regional Virus Laboratory (TRVL) in Port of Spain was established in 1951 with support from the Rockefeller Foundation and the governments of Britain and its caribbean colonies. The scientific staff initially comprised ex-patriates, whom West Indians were trained to replace over time. Tikasingh (2000) has given us a more formal history of the lab. The fact that Worth's main interest was birds led to occasional conflict with the head of the TRVL. Worth maintained that it was necessary to known the birds thoroughly in order to understand their transmission of viruses, while the head sometimes suspected that a proposed trapping initiative was more about birds than their viruses. Worth implies that this suspicion was well-founded in some cases. In its early years the lab focused almost solely on viruses transmitted by arthropods, mostly mosquitoes and ticks. The most famous of these arboviruses causes yellow fever. This disease had appeared in Trinidad in 1954 after a 40-year absence, and it was not at all clear how this had happened. Had the virus been present all that time, or had it been introduced? Others were being discovered at the time, but it was not immediately know which were harmful to humans or livestock. As part of a team of specialists, Worth's main job was to find out where they existed in nature. His main
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approach was not to look for viruses directly but for specific antibodies in the blood of land vertebrates. Believing that "A naturalist should live, eat and sleep among the animals he is studying", Worth was disappointed to find that the TRVL had no field station. It has just been learned that Bush Bush, a broad, forested peninsula into the Nariva Swamp on the atlantic coast of the island (Tikasingh 2007), had plenty of arboviruses. This seemed like a very good site for a satellite facility. Worth was able to persuade the TRVL management to erect a small pre-fabricated house in Bush Bush to serve as a field laboratory and living quarters during the many days and nights he was pleased to spend there. Bush Bush is the book's key focus. As a hard-core naturalist, it also pleased him to allow spiders and other creatures to take up residence in and on the building, and his assistants were under strict instructions not to clear out spider webs, "for their architects are my best friends." When a vacant nest box for birds was taken over by wasps -- probably Agelaia multipicta -- his assistants suggested ways to get rid of them safely. "Could my workers never learn my attitude toward Bush Bush wildlife? Get rid of the wasps? I was delighted to have them." Compilation of an inventory of 264 land-vertebrate and 155 blood-feeding arthropod species in the area served as a key preparation for the search for arboviruses. This high diversity in a relatively small area also persuaded the Forestry Division to declare the Bush Bush Wildlife Sanctuary in 1968 (Tikasingh 2007). The search was a big operation in terms of vertebrates sampled and mosquito cultures kept. Huge numbers of birds were mist-netting, banded for later identification, and blood samples extracted, while mammals were live-trapped and similarly processed. In both groups, they got many repeaters, individuals trapped two or more times. The red howler monkey, Allouatta seniculus, is a prominent feature in Bush Bush with an important in relation to yellow fever. The authorities were worried about its possible spread from the forest into populated areas and to humans and undertook a campaign to eradicate the Aedes aegypti. This mosquito transmits the yellow-fever virus in towns, but not in the forest, requiring a chain of events involving monkeys and mosquitos. A. aegypti also spreads dengue, another very serious disease. One of the lab's side-trips was to Soldado Rock, an uninhabited, steep-sided islet off the southwest tip of Trinidad. There they found a huge quantity of ticks and a new bird virus. The trip was so fruitful that it became a regular TRVL project for a time. The breadth of Worth's interests is seen in his side-projects and auxiliary observations in the course of his virus studies. As an example, he devised ways hoist mist nets up to near the canopy, where the first bird caught was a black-tailed tityra, Tityra cayana. This approach also caught other birds that did not come to understorey nets. Aside from widening the range of birds sampled, it provided data on the stratification of species. And he shows an appreciation of bats, even though they were not central to the TRVL mission. This very human book has humorous and often vivid characterizations of TRVL scientific and support staffers. One of the former was Elisha S. Tikasingh. Despite a PhD in parasitology, "when he joined TRVL [in 1961], he didn't know a virus from a sea gull, so he was put to work on mosquitoes." Worth predicted a bright future for young Tikasingh, which anyone involved in epidemiology and/or natural history in Trinidad & Tobago over the last half-century will be happy to corroborate. Worth freely admits that his assistants sometimes tried to get out of hard work, but for the most part they
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“As a hard-core naturalist, it also pleased him to allow spiders and other creatures to take up residence in and on the building, and his assistants were under strict instructions not to clear out spider webs, "for their architects are my best friends." “
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are shown as dedicated and inventive. The chapter on "Lists and List Makers" is a humorous discussion of obsessive list making -- of which Worth was definitely a sufferer, although he characterizes Thomas Aitken as far worse, a truly pathological case -- leading up to what it is all about: birders. He treats these as a peculiar category of preposterous, arguably mentally unbalanced human beings, even as he notes that he, himself, keeps a life list and can tell you at any moment how many species are on it. He concludes with a half-hearted argument -- something to do with an accidental contribution to serious ornithology -- that such list-making need not be utterly pointless. Especially engaging is a passage on entomologists with their hand lenses, a "means of entering a world of beauty that largely escapes the rest of us." He notes that "A magnification of only five diameters is sufficient for a shattering introduction to the entomological world." I enthusiastically endorse this view, and if it were up to me every schoolchild in the country would be issued an inexpensive 10X lens to aid in discovering a whole new world. Worth never make himself the hero of any story and is often the butt of the joke. Any marked success on his part is attributed to luck and fumbling through. “The red howler monkey, Allouatta seniculus, is a prominent feature in Bush Bush with an important in relation to yellow fever. “
The book does have its shortcomings. Worth manifests a certain distaste for scientific names, regarding them as unpoetic. (He gets especially rhapsodic about standard english names for various hummingbirds.) As a result, the glossary at the end is of little use in associating vernacular and scientific names, although the index is somewhat better. Accompanying this is a certain carelessness about species identification in his auxiliary observations. In Bush Bush, Worth made frequent visits to the latrine to observe a pholcid spider and the web-inhabiting bug Arachnocoris -- misspelled Arachnicorus -- which is uncommon and very little studied at that time. He noted that if the spiders were disturbed, "they would suddenly engage in a wild circular dance, vibrating and rotating so far that they became blurred. Upon ceasing this maneuver equally suddenly, they could be seen not to have changed their perches." He set up a cage to observe the relationship between the two species, with advice from a specialist at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York. This provided an apparently very fruitful little side-project to his main research, the core result of which was that the bugs are kleptoparasites that move about carefully in the webs so as not even to be noticed by the spiders. Despite urging to write a formal journal article of his results, he preferred just to set them down in this book chapter. The two species were identified by specialists, but Worth does not give us the names. To judge by the descriptions, they were most likely Coryssocnemis simla (spider) and Arachnocoris trinitatus (bug) (Sewlal & Starr 2009), but the fact that a research scientist would drop such an interesting study during the final step is quite flabbergasting. The chapter on "Bees" is a description of how Worth and his assistant tried to keep a colony of social bees in an improvised hive for the purpose of extracting honey. It is a breathtakingly fatuous chapter. They had no clue what they were doing or even whether these were honey bees, even though the initial description makes it plain that they were stingless bees. They even put honey-bee comb frames into the hive, which of course the bees never utilized. Worth finally got them identified, but again he doesn't tell us what they were -- it sounds like Trigona nigra, which is utterly useless for honey production -- and I have to wonder why he included this tale of
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bumbling. Trinidad, at 4800 km2, is among the biotically best studied areas in the neotropics for its size. Worth was able to interact with some of the pioneering Trinidad-based biologists of his time, such as Thomas H.G. Aitken, Jocelyn Crane, Wilbur G. Downs, Arthur Greenhall and Elisha S. Tikasingh. All except the latter were expatriates, and Worth was there at the start of the transition toward local scientific predominance. References Kingsley, C. 1874. At Last! A Christmas in the West Indies. London: Macmillan 401 pp. Sewlal, J.N. & C.K. Starr 2009. Observations of the insect Arachnocoris trinitatus (Heteroptera: Nabidae) as an inquiline of the spider Coryssocnemis simla (Araneae: Pholcidae) in the West Indies. Zoosystematica Rossica 18:59‑61. Tikasingh, E.S. 2000. The Hunt for Caribbean Viruses: A History of the Trinidad Regional Virus Laboratory. Port of Spain: Caribbean Epidemiology Centre 156 pp. Tikasingh, E.S. 2007. Memories of Bush Bush and the Nariva Swamp. Field Naturalist 2007(2):1213. Worth, C.B. 1971. Mosquito Safari. New York: Simon & Schuster 316 pp. Worth, C.B. 1972. Of Mosquitoes, Moths and Mice. New York: W.W. Norton 258 pp.
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