“A tiny parasitic wasp has given a lifeline to one of the world’s rarest bird species by killing off an invasive insect that was threatening its survival,” reports The Guardian:
The Wilkins’ bunting lives on Nightingale Island, part of the Tristan da Cunha group, the world’s most remote inhabited archipelago. It eats the fruit of the Phylica arborea, the island’s only native tree. But around 2011, scientists began to notice signs of an unwelcome visitor. An invasive, sap-sucking scale insect had been accidentally introduced on to the island by humans. These insects secrete honeydew, which encourages the growth of a sooty mould that weakens and eventually kills Phylica arborea. Their arrival threatened to destroy the forest, and the tiny bird population among with it…
Researchers hatched an unorthodox plan to save the buntings, releasing a small parasitoid wasp called Microterys nietneri, which prevents the scale insects from breeding…
Scientists believe that the wasps have helped save the birds from extinction. Surveys in February this year showed that despite losing approximately 80% of the forest, there are still an estimated 60-90 pairs of Wilkins’ bunting on Nightingale. Although the population has reduced, the forest has recovered in the short period since the wasps were released, and the scientists think numbers of buntings should stabilise and will have a chance to recover over the next few years.
Mountain gorillas are making a comeback in Rwanda.
Bengal tigers are making a comeback in Bangladesh, as are Asian antelopes and olive ridley turtles, even though Bangladesh is one of the world’s most densely-populated nations, with nearly as many people per square mile than cities like Atlanta. (Bangladesh has more than 170 million people living in an area the size of Arkansas).
A giant fish believed to be extinct was found in the Mekong River.
Endangered Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs have come back from near extinction. “After nearly disappearing for good, Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs are once again hopping happily around California’s alpine lakes,” reports Smithsonian Magazine.
Crocodiles are making a comeback in Cambodia. Crocodiles are also flourishing in Australia after previously coming close to extinction there.
A giant pangolin was spotted in Senegal after being absent from that West African country for a quarter century.
Wild horses recently returned to Kazakhstan after being absent for two hundred years.
