tingilinde

jet set paramedics

Just the ticket for getting to hard to reach areas.

 

phev issues

An interesting paper with real world usage numbers on plug-in hybrid electric vehicle use in several countries.  A bottom line is people don't charge them as often as they should, so fuel economy and emissions are much higher than advertised test values.

 

the ami - a microcar for cities

Citroën's new electric Ami - called a light quadricycle by the French.  Aimed at the youth market with specifications that are practical mostly in urban areas.

 

independence and happy kids

long range bats

Some Australian flying foxes travel up to 6,000 kilometers a year in nomadic rather than migratory paths.

a tip of the hat to Sukie

Here's the paper in BMC Biology 

 

Extreme mobility of the world’s largest flying mammals creates key challenges formanagement and conservation

Justin A. Welbergen , Jessica Meade , Hume E. Field , Daniel Edson , Lee McMichael , Luke P. Shoo ,Jenny Praszczalek , Craig Smith and John M. Martin

Abstract

Background
Effective conservation management of highly mobile species depends upon detailed knowledge of movements of individuals across their range; yet, data are rarely available at appropriate spatiotemporal scales. Flying-foxes (Pteropus spp.) are large bats that forage by night on floral resources and rest by day in arboreal roosts that may contain colonies of many thousands of individuals. They are the largest mammals capable of powered flight, and are highly mobile, which makes them key seed and pollen dispersers in forest ecosystems. However, their mobility also facilitates transmission of zoonotic diseases and brings them in conflict with humans, and so they require a precarious balancing of conservation and management concerns throughout their Old World range. Here, we analyze the Australia-wide movements of 201 satellite-tracked individuals, providing unprecedented detail on the inter-roost movements of three flying-fox species: Pteropus alecto, P. poliocephalus, and P. scapulatus across jurisdictions over up to 5 years.

Results
Individuals were estimated to travel long distances annually among a network of 755 roosts (P. alecto, 1427–1887 km; P. poliocephalus, 2268–2564 km; and P. scapulatus, 3782–6073 km), but with little uniformity among their directions of travel. This indicates that flying-fox populations are composed of extremely mobile individuals that move nomadically and at species-specific rates. Individuals of all three species exhibited very low fidelity to roosts locally, resulting in very high estimated daily colony turnover rates (P. alecto, 11.9 ± 1.3%; P. poliocephalus, 17.5 ± 1.3%; and P. scapulatus, 36.4 ± 6.5%). This indicates that flying-fox roosts form nodes in a vast continental network of highly dynamic “staging posts” through which extremely mobile individuals travel far and wide across their species ranges.

Conclusions
The extreme inter-roost mobility reported here demonstrates the extent of the ecological linkages that nomadic flying-foxes provide across Australia’s contemporary fragmented landscape, with profound implications for the ecosystem services and zoonotic dynamics of flying-fox populations. In addition, the extreme mobility means that impacts from local management actions can readily reverberate across jurisdictions throughout the species ranges; therefore, local management actions need to be assessed with reference to actions elsewhere and hence require national coordination. These findings underscore the need for sound understanding of animal movement dynamics to support evidence-based, transboundary conservation and management policy, tailored to the unique movement ecologies of species.

motorizing your bike

The Smith Motor Wheel appeared before WWI.

 

a fifteen pound bike

Certainly possible as people have built road bikes that come in under ten pounds.  It isn't terribly practical, but was undoubtedly an interesting engineering exercise. 

 

motels make a comeback

I know three people who have made large road trips - all went out of their way looking for motels. 

The comeback of the motel. (via The Washington Post)

 

 

 

will private bus companies survive?

They're under enormous pressure - many of the riders are people who can work from home.

 

the place where a monorail worked