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Lithium In The Salton Sea | Earth Wise

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The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, extremely salty body of water in the southern end of California.  It was formed from an inflow of water from the Colorado River in 1905 in the aftermath of a collapse of a canal during spring floods.  At one time, it was a thriving tourist destination and site of real estate speculation.  It was also a crucial habitat for migratory birds and various aquatic species.

Over the past 20 years, the Salton Sea has become increasingly desiccated and polluted with agricultural runoff and waste.  Rising salinity and the shrinking water supply from the Colorado River has made it uninhabitable for many species.

Recently, the Salton Sea has attracted new attention because of untouched lithium deposits located beneath its shores.  The general area has acquired the moniker “Lithium Valley” and has become a place where major energy companies are exploring advanced mining techniques such as Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE).  This new technique enables lithium to be captured from brine deposits without resource-intensive open-pit mining or evaporation pond processes.

Lithium is crucial for making the batteries that power electric vehicles.  DLE mining has attracted large investments from billionaires like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos. 

Lithium mining has generated major controversies because of its potential to damage the environment.  Whether the new mining techniques can avoid these problems and tap into the potential resources near the Salton Sea remains to be seen.  According to experts, the aquifers near the Salton Sea hold enough lithium to supply close to 40% of the global demand.

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As Companies Eye Massive Lithium Deposits in California’s Salton Sea, Locals Anticipate a Mixed Bag

Photo, posted October 28, 2021, courtesy of Christian Collins via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

How To Support Pollinators | Earth Wise

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Pollinators of all sorts have been in decline for a while.  This is especially true of bees, bats, and monarch butterflies.  Without pollinators, fruits, vegetables, and other plants cannot provide their contributions to our food supply.  According to experts, about 30% of the food that ends up on our tables gets there because of pollinators.

Bees are the most efficient pollinators, but plenty of other insects do their share as well.  Butterflies and months, flies, beetles, and wasps all are good pollinators.  In addition to insects, birds and bats can also be pollinators. 

Entomologists at Texas A&M University have offered some science-based advice for homeowners who want to keep pollinators around and thriving during the summer months.

Pollinators need flowers that bloom at different times of the year.  So, home gardens should overlap blooms.  Native and drought-tolerant species are good additions to a garden or landscape.

Colorful gardens attract more pollinators because different pollinators are attracted to different colors.  Bumblebees like blues and purples; other bees are attracted to yellows and whites.  Butterflies like bright colors like oranges and pinks.

Plant flowers with different shapes and sizes because pollinators flower preferences come in all shapes and sizes.

Provide shelter for pollinators.  Houses for bees and other pollinators are available for purchase. Or people can make their own using plastic tubes.

And probably most importantly, go easy on pesticides.  If it is really necessary to apply pesticides, do it in the evening when most pollinators have called it a day.

Having a colorful garden with lots of variety is a fine addition to one’s home.  Beyond that, it is a valuable contribution to helping preserve essential pollinators.

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Top Five Tips For Supporting Pollinators This Summer

Photo, posted August 14, 2017, courtesy of USFWS Midwest Region via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Shrinking Birds | Earth Wise

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A new study by researchers at Yale University looks at the way bird morphology is changing in response to the warming climate.  As temperatures rise, birds’ bodies are growing smaller, but their wings are growing longer.

In the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists analyzed two independently collected datasets containing 40 years of morphology changes in 129 bird species comprising 52 migratory species in North America and 77 South American species.

In both datasets, similar changes were observed over the 40-year period.  The overall trend makes sense given that being smaller and having longer wings both would help birds to stay cool in warmer weather.  What was less obvious was that the changes to the birds were much greater among the smallest bird species.

One possible explanation is that smaller species tend to reproduce on a shorter time scale and therefore evolve more quickly.  However, the study found no link between generation length and the changes in body size.

Another possible explanation is that smaller species tend to have larger populations, which means there is a greater chance of having individuals with desirable new traits that can get passed on.  But the scientists found no link between population size and shifts in body size either.

At this point, it is unclear why smaller birds are shrinking more.  More research is needed to figure out why larger birds are slower to adapt to climate change.  In general, larger species of animals have an increased risk of extinction.  This new research suggests that larger body size exacerbates extinction risk by limiting the ability for birds to adapt to the changes we are making to the climate.

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Birds Are Shrinking as the Climate Warms — and Small Birds Are Shrinking Faster

Photo, posted October 30, 2018, courtesy of N. Lewis / National Park Service via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Protected Areas Are Not Protecting Insects | Earth Wise

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Insects can be found in every environment on Earth and play crucial roles in the planet’s ecosystems.  In fact, Biologist E. O. Wilson once said that “if all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago.  If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.”

While his statement may sound extreme, it’s really not an exaggeration.  Insects are critical to most ecosystems.  They pollinate more than 80% of plants – both those we eat and those that provide food and habitat for other species.  Insects are also a food source themselves, eaten by other insects, birds, fish, and mammals. Without insects, we wouldn’t have the rich biodiversity that supports life on earth today. 

But insect populations are collapsing around the globe, and they continue to be overlooked by conservation efforts.  Protected areas, like national parks, refuges, and sanctuaries, can safeguard threatened species, but only if those threatened species actually live within the protected areas. 

According to a new study recently published in the journal One Earth, 76% of insect species are not adequately covered by protected areas, including several critically endangered insects such as the dinosaur ant, crimson Hawaiian damselfly, and harnessed tiger moth. Alarmingly, the populations of 1,876 species do not overlap with protected areas at all.

Insects have been historically overlooked by conservation programs and need to be included in future conservation assessments. 

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Protected areas fail to safeguard more than 75% of global insect species

Photo, posted August 21, 2014, courtesy of Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A Vaccine For Bees | Earth Wise

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The US has seen annual reductions in honey bee colonies since 2006.  According to the USDA, there are many factors that have contributed to the decline.  These include parasites, pests, insecticides, disease, and a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder in which worker bees abandon a hive and leave behind the queen.

One of major threats to bee colonies is American foulbrood disease, which is a bacterial condition that attacks bee larvae.  It is highly contagious and has no cure.  Until now, the only treatment method required burning the colony of infected bees along with the hives and equipment and treating nearby bee colonies with antibiotics.

Recently, the USDA has approved a conditional license for the world’s first vaccine for honey bees.  The vaccine contains inactive bacteria of the type that causes American foulbrood disease.

The vaccine is incorporated into the royal jelly fed by worker bees to the queen bee.  The queen ingests the feed and keeps some of vaccine in her ovaries.  This gives bee larvae immunity to the disease as they hatch and thereby reduces death from the illness.

According to the California State Beekeepers Association, the new vaccine could be a major breakthrough for protecting bees.  Preventing the infection in hives could avoid costly, destructive measures and allow the beekeepers to focus on other important elements of keeping bees healthy.

Bees as pollinators play a critical role in many ecosystems.  For humankind, pollinators such as bees, birds, and bats are responsible for about a third of the world’s crop production.

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US approves world’s first vaccine for declining honey bees

Photo, posted June 6, 2022, courtesy of Bernd Thaller via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Assessing The Planet’s Most Unique Birds | Earth Wise

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Birds come in a huge variety of shapes, sizes and plumages.  The physical attributes of birds are adaptations that have taken countless millennia to develop, and physical attributes are closely related to the roles birds play in their environment.   

According to a new study led by researchers from the University College London in the U.K., bird species with extreme or uncommon combinations of traits have the highest risk of extinction.  Losing these bird species and the unique roles they play in the environment, including seed dispersal, pollination and predation, could have severe consequences on the health of ecosystems.

In the study, which was recently published in the British Ecological Society journal Functional Ecology, the researchers analyzed the extinction risk and physical attributes of 99% of all living bird species.  The research team used a dataset of measurements collected from living birds and museum specimens.  The measurements included things like beak size and shape, and the length of wings, tails and legs.  The researchers combined this data with extinction risk, and then ran simulations to see what would happen if the most threatened birds were to go extinct.

Some of the bird species that are both most unique and most threatened include the Christmas Frigatebird and the Bristle-thighed Curlew.  Kiwis were excluded from the study because the researchers viewed them as extreme morphological outliers.

While most unique birds were also classified as threatened on the Red List, the research was unable to show what links uniqueness in birds to extinction risk

The research team warns that if more isn’t done to protect these threatened species and avoid extinctions, the functioning of ecosystems will be dramatically disrupted.

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Planet’s most unique birds at higher risk of extinction

Photo, posted June 25, 2012, courtesy of Kristine Sowl / USFWS via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Tick-Borne Pathogens In Canada | Earth Wise

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Measuring only three to five millimeters in size, tiny ticks are a big problem.  They are widely distributed in many parts of the world, especially in warm and humid climates.  Ticks are arachnids – not insects – meaning they’re more closely related to spiders than to flies or mosquitos.  They are external parasites that feast on the blood of birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals – including humans.

In the United States, ticks are responsible for spreading potentially life-threatening infectious diseases.  According to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ticks infect more than 300,000 people with Lyme disease in the U.S. every year, and the numbers continue to rise.  Other common tick-borne diseases include anaplasmosis, babesiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and powassan encephalitis.

Ticks are becoming a problem in Canada as well.  According to a new study by researchers from McGill University and the University of Ottawa, tick-borne pathogens are on the rise in Central Canada – a region where ticks were never previously detected. 

In the study, the researchers collected ticks across Ontario and Quebec.  They found that five emerging pathogens were present across their study sites, including the pathogens that cause Lyme disease and babesiosis.  The researchers also found that pathogens can transmit in different ways.  Typically, pathogens are transmitted to a tick after feeding from the blood of an infected host, like a small mammal.  But the research team found evidence of pathogens that could be directly transmitted from adult female ticks to larval ticks.

According to the researchers, more comprehensive testing and tracking is needed to detect the spread and risks of tick-borne pathogens to humans and wildlife in Canada.

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Tick-borne pathogens increasingly widespread in Central Canada

Photo, posted May 4, 2009, courtesy of Jerry Kirkhart via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Rainforest Promises | Earth Wise

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The recent UN climate summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt brought with it lots of pledges for action.   Among them was a promise from the three countries that are home to more than half of the world’s tropical rainforests to try to do something to protect them.

The ministers of Brazil, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed an agreement pledging cooperation on sustainable management and conservation, restoration of critical ecosystems, and creation of economies that would ensure the health of both their people and their forests.

The plan has no financial backing of its own.  The countries are pledging to work together to establish a funding mechanism that could help to preserve the tropical forests that both help regulate the Earth’s climate and sustain a wide range of animals, plants, birds, and insects.

That such an agreement has come about at all is a result of the election of Luiz Lula da Silva as Brazilian president, replacing Jair Bolsonaro, who was famously an opponent of any and all environmental conservation or protections.  President Lula addressed the attendees of the climate summit promising that “Brazil is back.”   He described his country as having been in a cocoon for the past four years under his predecessor.  He declared that going forward, Brazil will be a force to combat climate change.  Given the importance of the Amazon rainforest, that is critical for the success of the world’s efforts.

Like all other issues on the table at the climate summit, the real challenge is not to come up with meaningful pledges on climate action, it is to be able to follow through on those pledges.  If past summits are any indication, that is not an easy task.

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Brazil, Indonesia and Congo Sign Rainforest Protection Pact

Photo, posted September 15, 2013, courtesy of Moises Silva Lima via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The State Of The Birds | Earth Wise

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The U.S. Committee of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative has published the State of the Birds 2022, an assessment of bird populations in North America. The news is not good.  The report identifies 70 Tipping Point species, which are those that have lost half or more of their breeding population since 1970 and are on track to lose another half or more in the next 50 years. According to research published in Science in 2019, the United States and Canada have lost 3 billion breeding birds since 1970, which is about a quarter of the total population.

More than half of the bird species in the United States are in decline. According to the Conservation Initiative, the tipping point species in particular require proactive conservation protections to avoid becoming endangered.  Species that inhabit grasslands are declining more rapidly, while waterfowl like ducks and geese are actually increasing.  That increase is most likely a result of the investments in conservation funded by the hunting industry.

Those waterfowl gains demonstrate that when there are concerted efforts to protect and promote bird populations, positve changes can happen.  Some say that protecting birds is not a high priority given all the other crises in the world, but what is good for birds is also good for people.  For example, planting trees and other vegetation to enhance bird habitat also helps to sequester carbon, protect coastlines from storm surges, increase groundwater recharge, and reduce urban heating effects.

The loss of 3 billion birds is a major biodiversity crisis and requires action.  Bird conservation benefits wildlife, people, entire ecosystems, and our planet.

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What’s Good for Birds Is Good for People and the Planet. But More Than Half of Bird Species in the U.S. Are in Decline

Photo, posted November 4, 2020, courtesy of Tom Koerner/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The Living Planet Index | Earth Wise

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The World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London recently published the latest Living Planet Index, which is designed to measure how animal populations are changing through time.  The purpose is to provide an assessment of the health of ecosystems and the state of biodiversity.

The LPI only looks at the population of vertebrates:  birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.  The latest survey looked at how populations have changed between 1970 and 2018.  The results are that populations of these animal groups have declined by an average of 69% over that 48-year period.

This result highlights a very real and very severe crisis of biodiversity loss.  However, it does not mean that there are 2/3 fewer animals today than 48 years ago.  The way the index is calculated is to look at the changes in individual populations of over 5,000 different species.  Then these individual relative declines are averaged to get the result.  

There are shortcomings in the LPI.  For example, individual species that have seen massive population declines will bring the average down.  But even removing the outliers both of a negative and a positive impact does not dramatically change the result.

There is no perfect indicator for biodiversity and ecosystem health.  The Living Planet Index is nonetheless a useful metric and indicates that many species around the world are in decline.  Policymakers and environmental advocates need to make decisions about conservation and protection measures and this index is one tool they can use.

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There’s a frightening new report about wildlife declines. But many are getting the story wrong.

Photo, posted October 12, 2019, courtesy of Visit Rwanda via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Why Do Woodpeckers Peck? | Earth Wise

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Most of us have heard the sound of a woodpecker drumming on a nearby tree, or unfortunately, on the walls of our house where it can be very destructive.  We were often told that the birds were hunting for insects inside the wood, or perhaps trying to open up a nest. But a new study at Brown University has found evidence that woodpeckers are just additional musicians in the bird orchestra who happen to be percussionists.

The researchers studied the forebrains of birds and found characteristic gene expression specializations in songbirds.  Songbirds sing to communicate for various reasons – such as staking out territory or seeking mates.  The study looked at birds that are not known to sing, such as the emu, penguin, flamingo, and woodpeckers.  It turns out that among these, only woodpeckers had forebrains that anatomically resembled those of songbirds.  The study is the first time a neural basis has been identified for the communication activities of animals other than primates.

There are over 200 species of woodpeckers around the world and each species has its own characteristic drumming speed and rhythms.  Woodpecker drumming may well have evolved through a form of vocal learning, which is the way songbirds learn to make their own melodious sounds.  And like the calls of songbirds, these drumming patterns change depending on what the birds want to communicate and to whom.

So, the little downy woodpecker that is poking holes in your walls is probably not hunting for insects.  It is more likely to be telling another woodpecker to get out of its territory.

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Why do woodpeckers peck? New discovery about bird brains sheds light on intriguing question

Photo, posted June 15, 2021, courtesy of Tony Oldroyd via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

visit site by the doctor who prescribed the drug. Prescription. If the drug is sold in Russia without a prescription, it is necessary to make sure that the drug will also be sold abroad without it. You can find out in advance and, for example, write a letter to a specific pharmacy abroad, or you can be reinsured and ask to make a prescription form for the drug from your doctor.

North American Birds And Climate Change | Earth Wise

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Most plants and animals live in areas with specific climate conditions, such as rainfall patterns and temperature, that enable them to thrive. Any change in the climate of an area can affect the plants and animals living there, which in turn can impact the composition of the entire ecosystem.   

As such, the changing climate poses many challenges to plants and animals.  For example, appropriate climatic conditions for many species are changing.  As a result, some may even disappear altogether.  These problems can be compounded when the climate is changing in tandem with other human-caused stressors, such as land use change.

When there is increasing divergence between suitable climatic conditions for a particular species and its abundance and distribution through time, this is known as climate decoupling.

According to a new study recently published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, some species of North American birds have not fully adjusted their distributions in response to climate change.  The areas where these birds live have become more decoupled from their optimal climate conditions.  Climate decoupling as a result of ongoing climate change could lead to additional stressors on many bird species and exacerbate bird population declines.

In the study, the research team analyzed data on bird population changes through time from the North American Bird Survey.  They found that at least 30 out of 114 species (or 26%) of North American birds have become less well adjusted to their climate over the last 30 years. This means that their distributions and abundances were increasingly decoupled from climate over time.

The researchers also found that the overall trend of climate decoupling shows no signs of slowing down. 

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North American birds not fully adjusting to changing climate

Photo, posted July 16, 2016, courtesy of Kelly Azar via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Heatwaves And Bird Populations | Earth Wise

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The increased occurrence and intensity of heatwaves around the world is affecting most living things.  Heatwaves can be lethal for warm-blooded animals – including people – but the behavioral and physiological effects of sub-lethal heat have not been extensively studied.  Heat that doesn’t kill animals can still impact their ability to adapt and thrive as the climate changes.

Researchers at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville recently published a new study that examined how heat impacts the behavior and physiology of Zebra finches.  They exposed the birds to a four-hour heat challenge, similar to what wild birds might experience during a hot summer afternoon.   They used Zebra finches because these songbirds experience extreme temperature fluctuations in their native Australia.

The team measured heat effects on thermoregulatory behavior, how heat alters gene activity in tissues critical to reproduction, and how heat affects the area of the brain that controls singing.  The evidence showed that even sub-lethal heat can change a bird’s ability to reproduce both from the functioning of its reproductive system and its motivational circuits for mating behavior.

The researchers found that some individual birds were better able to minimize the physiological effect of heat, for example by adjusting their behavior to dissipate heat.  Some individuals and even some species are likely to be able to adapt to increasingly extreme temperatures.

Global bird populations have been dramatically declining over the past few decades.  Previous studies have shown that birds sing less during heatwaves. Based on the new study, it appears that increasing heatwaves may be a potential underlying mechanism for the decline in bird populations.

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New Research Suggests Heat Waves Could Lead to Avian Population Decline

Photo, posted August 22, 2017, courtesy of Dennis Jarvis via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Declining Flying Insects | Earth Wise

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In recent years, there has been increasing awareness of the global decline in insect abundance.  A recently published survey of the abundance of flying insects in the UK has revealed very troubling results.

The Kent Wildlife Trust and Buglife – two UK-based conservation groups – compared the number of dead insects on vehicles in 2004 and 2021.  In this Bugs Matter Citizen Science Survey, the data was collected by roughly 20,000 ordinary citizens using a smartphone app.

The results were that the number of flying insects in Britain dropped nearly 60% over that time period.  The insects declined most in England and Wales, with drops of 65% and 55%, respectively. 

It is possible that 2004 was a particularly good year for British insects and 2021 an especially bad one, but the findings of this study are consistent with other research around the world showing an alarming decline in insects.  A series of studies in 2019 found that the global mass of insects is shrinking by 2.5% a year and that insects are going extinct eight times faster than reptiles, birds, or mammals.

Insects face multiple overlapping threats including the destruction of wild habitats for farming, urbanization, pesticides, and light pollution.  On top of these things is climate change which is disrupting ecosystems in multiple ways.

Insects play a vital role in pollinating crops, consuming organic waste, killing pests, and as essential parts of multiple ecosystems.  Severe insect declines can potentially have dire global ecological and economic consequences.

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Flying Insects Have Declined by 60 Percent in the U.K., Survey Finds

Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cuts

Photo, posted May 6, 2007, courtesy of Richard Giddins via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Declining Bird Populations | Earth Wise

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A study by scientists from multiple institutions around the world including Cornell University has found that significant declines in bird populations are taking place across the planet.  Loss and degradation of natural habitats, direct overexploitation of many species, and climate change are driving the bird population declines.

According to the study, approximately 48% of existing bird species worldwide are known or suspected to be undergoing population declines.  The populations of 39% of bird species appear to be stable.  Only 6% of birds have increasing populations.

A study in 2019 determined that nearly 3 billion breeding birds have been lost in the U.S. and Canada over the past 50 years.  The new study shows that the same patterns of population decline and extinction are happening globally.  According to the study, there are now the first signs of a new wave of extinctions of continentally distributed bird species.

The ultimate fate of bird populations is strongly dependent on stopping the loss and degradation of habitats.   Habitat loss is generally driven by human demand for resources.  Reducing the human footprint on the natural world is what is needed.  Birds are a highly visible indicator of environmental health, and their declining populations signal a much wide loss of biodiversity and threats to human health and wellbeing.

There is a global network of bird conservation organizations trying to prevent further loss of bird species and bird abundance.  Keeping track of the situation is essential and there is growing participation by the public in bird monitoring.  But ultimately, it depends on governments and society in general to support sustainable resource use and learn how to share the planet with nature.

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Global Bird Populations Steadily Declining

Photo, posted January 9, 2022, courtesy of Martien Brand via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker | Earth Wise

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The ivory-billed woodpecker was the largest woodpecker in the US.  They were once relatively common, stretching from the Carolinas through the southeast and across to Texas.  Their numbers started to drop sharply in the 19th century because of habitat loss and overhunting.  Many were taken as valuable specimens; some were even eaten by poverty-stricken people.

The last widely accepted sighting was way back in 1944.  For years, the birds were listed as critically endangered with only infrequent and entirely anecdotal reports of sightings.  Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finally declared the species extinct.

A multiyear field study by avian researchers from multiple institutions has recently reported that the ivory-billed woodpecker may in fact still exist in a remote swampy region of Louisiana. 

The three-year effort to find the woodpecker involved scientists trudging through the remote site to observe birds and take audio recordings.  Unmanned trail cameras taking time-lapse photos and a drone were used to capture images.  Several members of the team report that they observed the birds.  Some photographic images and videos appear to show ivory bills.  Based on characteristic markings visible in some of the photos, the birds do appear to be the ivory bill and not, for example, the fairly common but similar looking pileated woodpecker.

The birds are scarce, live in a tough, swampy habitat, and actively avoid getting near people.  They live high in trees and are very difficult to spot, much less get clear photographs of.  From all indications, however, reports of the demise of the ivory-billed woodpecker may have been premature.

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Back from the dead? Elusive ivory-billed woodpecker not extinct, researchers say

Photo, posted May 3, 2008, courtesy of Michael McCarthy via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Birds Bees And Coffee | Earth Wise

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A new study by the University of Vermont in collaboration with researchers from three Latin American countries looked at the effects of birds and bees on coffee crops.  They found that coffee beans are bigger and more plentiful when birds and bees team up to protect and pollinate coffee plants.

The real-world study manipulated coffee plants across 30 farms by excluding birds and bees with a combination of large nets and small lace bags.  They looked at four scenarios:  bird activity alone (pest control), bee activity alone (pollination), no bird and bee activity at all, and a natural environment where birds and bees were free to pollinate and eat insects that otherwise damage coffee plants.

The study looked at fruit set, fruit weight, and fruit uniformity – important factors that determine the quality and price of the coffee crop.  The results were that the combined positive effects of birds and bees were greater than their individual effects.   Without birds and bees, the average coffee yield on the farms declined nearly 25%.  That is important information for the $26 billion coffee industry.

A surprising result of the study is that many birds providing pest control to coffee plants in Costa Rica had migrated thousands of miles from Canada and the U.S.

Previous studies looked at the benefits of natural factors separately and then added them up.  But the new study demonstrates that nature is an interacting system with both synergies and trade-offs.  Past assessments of individual ecological services may have underestimated the benefits biodiversity provides to agriculture and human wellbeing.  Ecosystems services are more valuable together than separately.

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The Secret to Better Coffee? The Birds and the Bees

Photo, posted March 2, 2012, courtesy of Caroline Gluck/Oxfam via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Octopuses And Litter | Earth Wise

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Octopuses are remarkably intelligent animals.  They have a larger brain for their body size than all other animals apart from birds and mammals.  They exhibit high-order cognitive behaviors including tool use and problem solving.  Some captive octopuses learned to shoot jets of water at aquarium light switches to turn them off.  Others have learned to unscrew jar lids to get at food.

A recent analysis of underwater imaging has shown that octopuses are increasingly using discarded bottles, cans, and other human-generated litter as shelter or as a place to lay eggs.

The research documented 24 species of octopus sheltering inside glass bottles, cans, and even an old battery.  Some buried themselves under a mixture of bottle caps and seashells.  Others even carried plastic items around while walking on just two tentacles to disguise themselves from predators.

The octopuses showed a preference for unbroken items and for darker or opaque containers.  Normally, octopuses make use of natural shelters such as seashells.  Whether they are making use of litter simply because there is so much of it around or because there is an increasing lack of natural items is not clear.

As with all other aspects of the growing problem of litter in the oceans, this new trend is not a good one.  Sheltering or laying eggs inside discarded tires, batteries, or plastic items has the potential to expose octopuses to heavy metals and other harmful chemicals.

Octopuses are intelligent and resourceful animals, and they will use whatever they have at their disposal to continue sheltering or moving around with protection from potential predators.

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Octopuses Have Learned to Make Use of Ocean Litter, Study Finds

Photo, posted May 13, 2014, courtesy of Elias Levy via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Mercury In The Amazon Rainforest | Earth Wise

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Recent research has found that some of the highest levels of mercury pollution ever recorded are in a patch of pristine Amazonian rainforest.  The international team of researchers discovered that illegal goldmining in the Peruvian Amazon is the source of the pollution.

Illegal miners separate gold particles from river sediments using mercury.  Mercury binds to gold, forming pellets large enough to be caught in a sieve.   The pellets are then burned in open fire ovens, releasing the mercury to the atmosphere, leaving the gold behind.  The mercury smoke ends up being washed into the soil by rainfall, deposited onto the surface of leaves, or directly absorbed into leaf tissues.

Deforested areas had low levels of mercury, while the areas with the largest, densest old-growth trees captured huge volumes of atmospheric mercury, more than any other ecosystem studied in the entire world.  Mercury levels were directly related to leaf area index:  the denser the canopy, the more mercury it holds.  Birds from this area have up to twelve times more mercury in their systems than birds from less polluted areas.  Such high concentrations of mercury could provoke a decline of up to 30% in these birds’ reproductive success.

Small-scale artisanal gold mining is an important livelihood for local communities.  Eliminating it outright may not be a viable solution but coming up with ways to continue to provide a sustainable livelihood while protecting communities from poisonous pollution is essential.

In the meantime, the forests are doing an important service by capturing much of the mercury and preventing it from getting into the general atmosphere and endangering more people and animals.  Burning or harvesting the mercury-ridden trees would release the mercury back into the atmosphere.

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Modern Day Gold Rush Turns Pristine Rainforests into Heavily Polluted Mercury Sinks

Photo, posted August 24, 2016, courtesy of Anna and Michal via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Lake Tuz Is Disappearing | Earth Wise

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Lake Tuz is Turkey’s second-largest lake and one of the world’s largest hypersaline lakes.  Its high salt content makes it an ideal breeding ground for some migratory bird species, including flamingos, which are often present there in huge numbers in the spring and summer.

Now, Lake Tuz rarely spans an area much larger than a puddle. In some summers, it completely dries up.  It did so this past summer, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of flamingos.

According to experts, Lake Tuz is a victim of climate change-induced drought, which has hit the region hard, and decades of harmful agricultural policies that exhausted the underground water supply.

Water in this region has become increasingly scarce.  The Mediterranean Basin has already seen more frequent and intense droughts, and is considered a climate change hotspot. 

According to new research, which was recently published in the journal Regional Environmental Change, Lake Tuz generally contained enough water in August for the lake to be considered permanent up until 2000.  But between 2001 and 2016, something shifted.  Water spanned less than 20% of the lake in every August except for one, and droughts became more frequent and intense. And in some years, the lake completely dried up.   

What caused this change?  According to the research team, Lake Tuz’s decline coincided with the excessive use of groundwater and surface water resources responsible for feeding the lake.  Some streams were rerouted for agricultural purposes, while others were dammed.  And when surface water sources dwindled, people turned to groundwater that historically fed the springs in Lake Tuz. 

Lake Tuz may be on the brink of extinction. 

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Web Links

Impact of climate variability on the surface of Lake Tuz (Turkey), 1985–2016

Disappearing Lake Tuz

Photo, posted August 16, 2021, courtesy of Godot via Flickr.

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