Vol 23 no 1 January 2008 DUBAI NATURAL HISTORY GROUP PO Box 9234, Dubai, United Arab Emirates DNHG Membership Members’ News It is now membership renewal time. Hurrah for Diana Oates, our new impressed by what he learned New memberships and renewals Librarian! She has taken on the about the role of the lowly termite in are good for the coming year (Sep long-dormant task of looking after shaping the landscape there. The 2007 to Sep 2008). our precious library collection, Okavango floods regularly and the housed at the EHA upstairs from tall termite mounds (they can ex- DNHG Membership remains a bar- our regular meeting venue, and we ceed three metres) serve as nuclei gain at Dhs.100 for couples and Dh. are most grateful to her for stepping for the deposition of silt in eddies, 50 for singles. You can join or re- forward. resulting in sediment accretion and new at meetings or by sending us a the formation of islands within the cheque made out to Lloyds TSB swamp. Bank account no. 173746. (Please Prof. Dr. Ulli Wernery of Dubai's note we cannot cash cheques Central Veterinary Laboratory, was made out to the DNHG.) the principal author of a recent re- port on West Nile Fever in the UAE. DNHG membership entitles you to Evidence of exposure to a mild participate in field trips and helps strain of the disease has been de- pay for our lecture hall, publication tected in a small percentage of and distribution of our monthly horses in the UAE, based on labo- newsletter, the Gazelle, additions to ratory methods; only one animal our library, incidental expenses of with significant symptoms has been speakers and occasional special reported (triggering the study). projects. West Nile Virus is transmitted by mosquitoes from infected birds. Horses and humans are 'dead-end' hosts that cannot transmit the dis- Majlis Al Jinn This month’s ease. West Nile Fever received Contributors Speaker Coordinator Angela Man- considerable public attention when thorpe, building on skills dating it was detected in the northeastern The Editor would like to thank from her days as a spelunker in the United States in 1999, and has the following for their reports very different environment of Eng- since spread throughout that coun- and contributions: lish caves, recently descended try. Oman's Majlis Al Jinn, one of the Gary Feulner largest underground chambers in Angela Manthorpe Biology teacher Tom Horton took a the world, and a free abseiling bit of a busman's holiday in Bot- (rappelling) descent of ca.160 me- swana's Okavango Delta, a vast tres. Angela described this as “quite inland swamp and one of Africa's exciting” and we hope to hear more premier wildlife environments. Tom in due course. mentioned that he was particularly . Under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Nahayan bin Mubarak Al Nahayan Field Trips Page 2 Inter-Emirates Weekend you can write to Allestree Thursday 28 February – Saturday 01 Fisher on [email protected]) March 2008 Our Next Trips for Early 2008 Speaker Venue: Mafraq Hotel, Abu Dhabi Rate per night (incl. breakfast & ser- Hajar Mountains Nature vice charges, not dinner) 638 Dhs – Double Room Walk - Gary Feulner Dr. Dennis J. Russell is Associate 580 Dhs – Single Room Feb 02 Professor of Biology at the Ameri- can University of Sharjah, where he Provisional Program: This is a long day’s wadi walk in has taught and researched for eight * Elephant tracks – full day (Mark an area of permanent water. De- years. His M.Sci. is from University Beech, Drew Gardner) tails will be advised by email. of Washington, Seattle, and his re- * Liwa Dunes tour – full day (Andrew search field there was mainly Bean, Dick Hornby) Hajar Mountain Hike - Gary phytoplankton ecology and the * Sand ecology, near Sheikh‘s Palace symbiotic relationships between on Hameem Road– half day Feulner epizooic diatoms and copepods. He (Allestree Fisher) Feb 15 completed his Ph.D. at the Univer- * Birding, site to be announced – half sity of Hawaii, Honolulu, where his day (Andrew Twyman) This is an uphill adventure to see research was on the effects of intro- * Plant identification near hotel olive trees and the rare yellow duced marine species on the coral (Allestree Fisher) Caralluma. Details by email . reef ecosystem. * Saltbushes – short walk near hotel (Dr. Shahina Ghazanfar) East Coast Shelling - Anne Dennis’ first university position was * Light-trapping insects near hotel — Millen as Professor of Biology for 15 years evening (Brigitte Howarth) Friday 22 February at Seattle Pacific University, Wash- * Star-gazing – evening, after dinner ington, USA. He was a biologist for (leader to be advised) We will go to a place Sandy eight years at the University of Alaska, Juneau and while there he Workshops: Fowler calls ‘Conus Corner’, which is north of Khor Fakkan, and was actively involved in the conser- * GPS Workshop vation and protection of the Ameri- * Taxonomy / Plant identification with probably go on to other beaches afterwards. 10am meet at Sandy can Bald Eagle. Dr. Shahina Ghazanfar, professional botanist from Kew Gardens & author Beach Motel, near Snoopy Island, and then proceed north together. His interests are not confined to of The Flora of Oman Vols 1 and 2. marine biology. Dennis’ present * Work under the microscope Bring water, food, hats, sun- screen, plastic bags, a magnifying research activities and latest publi- * Herbarium & photography for chil- cation involve the conservation and dren glass if you have one, and, since the state of the tide is unknown, recovery of the marine green turtle Chelonia mydas and the preserva- Competitions: patience. (If bringing children, tion of their marine plant pasture- * Photo competitions for young & old please be aware that conus shell- lands in Hawaii and in the UAE, but * Painting / drawing for children fish are very poisonous.) he is also conducting research re- garding the ecology and conserva- One of the highlights of the weekend Birdwatching with Dave tion of desert plants, especially is the presentation of the Bish Brown Bradford Calotropis procera. He has some and Sheikh Mubarak awards which Mar 7 / 8 interesting theories about Calotro- takes place at the dinner Friday Details to be advised. pis and Leptadenia to put forward in night, 29th Feb. Note: whether you his talk. are staying in the hotel or not, you should book the buffet dinner, costing Mangrove Ecology Walk - 99Dhs. Gary Feulner DNHG members wishing to stay at This is a low tide look at the Ajman the Mafraq Hotel need to book by mangroves. Details will follow. Sunday 10th February and should mention the ENHG when booking. Roses on Saiq Plateau - Tel: 02-582 2666 April next year, perhaps ... Fax: 02-582 2899 Email: [email protected] There were not enough people to run this, but we hope to do it again Further information will be sent out by next year. Calotropis email. (If you have any questions, Photograph by Anne Millen Page 3 Field Clips... Local Biogeography: Travel- mountain vegetation throughout the Lots of "News" from Northern Oman Hajar Mountains to the south, up to ing the Species Gradient about 1300-1500m. A bit further If you go where you haven't gone, south, the large tamarisk tree Travel is a broadening experience. you'll see things you haven't seen. Tamarix aphylla becomes abundant Chairman Gary Feulner followed This is true not only from a cultural in broader gravel wadi beds, e.g., point of view, but from a biological this strategy during the successive Wadi Ajran, although T. aphylla is Nov-Dec holidays, and reports hap- point of view as well. Even within all but unknown in the UAE. our own area of eastern Arabia, pily as follows: "I knew that North- ern Oman, including the Mahdhah traveling south into Oman along Faunal changes are seen as well. the mountains, for example, the area, had been relatively favored by For example, two butterfly species autumn showers this year, so I attentive observer can watch the that become abundant in the moun- appearance of new species, and/ made several weekend forays to tains to the south of Wadi Jizzi are that area. One goal was to scout or the disappearance of old ones. rarely if ever seen to the north. One These are not changes that result the large area between Ibri and the is the giant skipper Coeliades an- Jebel Akhdar, probably best known from a change in habitat per se, chises, and in this case the reason such as traveling westwards in the for the "beehive tombs" at Al-Ayn. I is relatively clear and is related to visited not so much for the archeol- UAE from mountain front to gravel the changes in the flora: the larval plain to sand desert. Rather, they ogy as for plants, animals and geol- foodplant of the giant skipper is Ac- ogy, but I was not disappointed in are changes within the same over- ridocarpus orientalis, mentioned all kind of habitat, and presumably any respects. For example: above, and the butterfly's distribu- reflect more subtle gradients in tion closely follows that of its food- factors such as temperature Birds: The stony plains and gentle plant. The second is the desert or- stony hillsides were lush with what (average or extremes), rainfall ange tip Colotis liagore, but the rea- (amount or pattern), sunlight or seemed to be Liechtenstein's sand- son why it isn't found further north is grouse bedded down for the night; elevation (and of course, those unknown. factors themselves can be inter- the birds were both gregarious and related). Some observed changes garrulous, but very well camou- can be explained by more local- flaged.