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Birds Are Disappearing

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A new analysis, published in the journal Science, reports that the number of birds in the United States and Canada has fallen by 29% since 1970.  There are 2.9 billion fewer birds in the two countries now than there were 50 years ago.

The analysis is the most comprehensive attempt to date to look at the status of avian populations.  The results were a shock to researchers and conservation organizations.

It is well-known that some bird species have become vulnerable to extinction, but the new study, which surveyed more than 500 species, uncovered steep losses even among such traditionally abundant birds as robins and sparrows.

There appear to be multiple causes for the steep declines.  The largest ones are likely habitat loss and the wider use of pesticides.  Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring warned of the dangers of pesticides and took its title from a world that has lost its birds.

The survey includes 76% of all bird species in the US and Canada, but actually represents almost the entire population of birds.  Grassland species have suffered the biggest declines by far, as a result of modern agriculture and development.  Pesticides, such as neonicotinoids, make it harder for birds to put on weight needed for migration, delaying their travel.

There are a few bright spots:  bald eagles are thriving, and falcon and waterfowl populations are on the upswing.  These are species that have been the subject of conservation measures in recent decades.

Stopping the bird decline will require a great deal of effort to defend habitats, restrict chemicals, and redesign buildings.  Without that effort, birds will continue to disappear.

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Birds Are Vanishing From North America

Photo, posted April 1, 2012, courtesy of Barry Skeates via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Cities And Monarch Butterflies

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Monarchs are some of the most well-known butterflies in the U.S.   It is well-known that populations of the iconic orange-and-black butterflies have been in a steep decline for the last 20 years.  In fact, the Monarch population has declined by 80% over that period.

Milkweed, the only plant that Monarchs can lay their eggs on, continues to disappear across the United States and with it, the butterflies can disappear too.

Two new studies published in the journal Frontiers of Ecology and Evolution show that one of the most important things that can be done to save the Monarchs is to plant milkweed in cities.

We tend to think of cities as being the enemy of nature.  But metropolitan areas actually matter for wildlife conservation and that is especially true for pollinators like butterflies that can actually survive with very small patches of habitat.

The new study estimates the amount of habitat in cities that is available to Monarchs and other pollinators and how much more can potentially be added.  It looked at cities from the Monarch’s point of view by identifying the best places and most effective ways to engage land owners to transform low-quality green space – such as lawns – into high-quality homes for butterflies and other wildlife.

Just because urban dwellers can plant milkweed doesn’t always mean that they will.  There has to be a public perception that milkweed and other native flowers are acceptable and beautiful elements in home landscaping.  It will require some shifting of societal norms of what is desirable in neighborhood gardens in order for cities to be able to do their part in protecting butterflies and other species struggling in the modern world.

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Cities are Key to Saving Monarch Butterflies

Photo, posted August 31, 2012, courtesy of Chris via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The American Bumblebee

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Pollinators, such as bees and bats, are vital for global food production.  They provide an ecological service that’s necessary for the reproduction of nearly 75% of the world’s flowering plants, including more than two-thirds of the world’s food crops.

Bumblebees are among the most important plant pollinators.  They pollinate many food crops, including apples, tomatoes, blueberries and legumes, as well as countless types of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers.  But researchers have documented declines in both the abundance and range of many bumblebee species.

The American bumblebee, which is native to North America, is one of them.  The species can currently be found in eastern Canada, throughout much of the Eastern United States, and much of Mexico. 

According to a new study led by York University and recently published in the Journal of Insect Conservation, the American bumblebee is critically endangered, and it faces imminent local extinction from Canada.  This is considered the highest and most at-risk classification before extinction. 

The researchers used data from three sources in their study: the Bumble Bee Watch (which is a citizen science project), the Bumble Bees of North America database (that has records dating back to the late-1800s), and their own field survey work.  They used the IUCN’s Red List assessment criteria to evaluate the status of the American bumblebee within its Canadian range.

The research team found that the species’ area of occurrence has decreased by approximately 70% and its relative abundance dropped by 89% from 2007-2016 when compared to 1907-2006. 

The American bumblebee can still be found throughout its Canadian range.  But immediate conservation action is desperately needed.  

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Disappearing bumblebee species under threat of extinction

Photo, posted August 22, 2011, courtesy of Rachel Elaine via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Price of Chocolate

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The Ivory Coast has lost more than 80% of its forests in the last 50 years, mainly as a result of cocoa production.

The Ivory Coast is a West African country the size of New Mexico and it produces more than a third of the world’s cocoa.  But around 40% of the country’s cocoa crop – supplying more than a tenth of the world’s chocolate bars – is grown illegally in the country’s national parks and 230 supposedly protected government-owned forests. 

Over the decades, as many as one million landless people from drought-stricken places like Mali and Burkina Faso moved into national parks and protected forests and started farming cocoa.  The Marahoue National Park alone has 30,000 illegal inhabitants.

Most cocoa is grown in monocultures of what is known as the full-sun system, which requires the removal of all surrounding trees.  As a result, many allegedly protected areas have been completely converted into farms.  Most of the cocoa in the Ivory Coast is grown on small farms, typically plots of 7 to 10 acres.  The farmers are caught in an exploitative and corrupt system of cocoa trading and land appropriation, and most earn less than a dollar a day.  Meanwhile, government agencies charged with protecting the forests are more interested in collecting bribes than safeguarding woodlands.

The Ivory Coast government is unveiling a plan to actually remove protection from most of its remaining forests and hand them over to the world’s chocolate traders.    The claim is that this will protect other forests by improving cocoa productivity in already deforested areas.  Needless to say, conservation groups are dubious that the new plan will positively impact an already terrible situation.

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The Real Price of a Chocolate Bar: West Africa’s Rainforests

Photo, posted April 17, 2015, courtesy of Tom Coady via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Food Production And Climate Change

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According to a University of Oxford study recently published in the journal Science, food production is a major driver of climate change as it’s responsible for 26% of all greenhouse gas emissions.  But the research team found that the environmental impact of different foods varied greatly. 

Meat and other animal products are responsible for 58% of all food-related greenhouse gas emissions, despite only providing approximately one-fifth of the calories we consume.  The researchers found that beef and lamb in particular have the most damaging effect on the planet, responsible for half of all greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture. 

These findings echo recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change about how individuals can reduce their carbon footprint through diet.  The IPCC suggests we consume less meat and dairy products, consume more locally-sourced seasonal foods, and throw less food in the trash.  

Avoiding meat and dairy products can reduce an individual’s carbon footprint from food by two-thirds.  The effects of doing so include everything from conserving water and preserving biodiversity to reducing pollution and deforestation. 

Interestingly, the same food can have major differences in terms of environmental impacts.  For example, beef raised on deforested land is responsible for 12 times as many greenhouse gas emissions as that raised on natural pastures.  But even the most climate-friendly meat options are still responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the highest-impact vegetable proteins, like beans and nuts. 

Big differences can also be made by avoiding chocolate and coffee produced from deforested lands.  

To learn more about the climate impact of your diet, follow the link to the ‘Climate Change Food Calculator’ on our website: Earth-Wise-Radio.org. 

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Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers

Climate change food calculator

Photo, posted June 21, 2011, courtesy of USDA NRCS Montana via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Breakthrough In Animal Identification

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Researchers from the University of Wyoming have developed a computer model that can identify wild animals in camera-trap photographs with remarkable accuracy and efficiency.

This breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI), detailed in a paper recently published in the scientific journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution, represents a significant advancement in the study and conservation of wildlife. According to the paper’s authors, “the ability to rapidly identify millions of images from camera traps can fundamentally change the way ecologists design and implement wildlife studies.”

This study builds on previous research from the university in which a computer model analyzed 3.2 million images captured by camera traps in Africa.  The A-I technique called deep learning categorized animal images at a 96.6% accuracy rate.  This was the same accuracy rate as teams of human volunteers achieved, but the computer model worked at a much more rapid pace. 

In the latest study, UW researchers trained a deep neural network on a powerful computer cluster to classify wildlife species using 3.37 million camera-trap images of 27 different animal species.  The model was tested on nearly 375,000 images at a rate of about 2,000 images per minute. It achieved a 97.6% accuracy rate, which is likely the highest accuracy to date in using machine learning for wildlife image classification. 

Artificial intelligence has been used in environmental science in other ways as well. For example, AI has been used to increase agricultural yields in farm fields and to help predict extreme weather. 

Maybe artificial intelligence can prove to be a game changer for the environment.   


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Researchers Successfully Train Computers to Identify Animals in Photos

Photo, posted January 8, 2012, courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via Flickr. 

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Trading Rhino Horn And Tiger Bone

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Historically, rhino horn and tiger bone were used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat various illnesses, despite the lack of any evidence of their effectiveness.  In fact, rhino horn is simply keratin, a protein that is found in human fingernails and hair.  Rhino horn is used to treat everything from cancer to gout in traditional Chinese medicine.  Similarly, a paste made from crushed tiger bone is thought to treat a variety of ailments, including rheumatism and back pain.

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Mammals Can’t Seem To Evolve Fast Enough

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Our planet has been through five upheavals over the past 450 million years.  During each one, the environment on earth changed so dramatically that most plant and animal species became extinct.  After each of these mass extinction events, evolution slowly filled the gaps in the environment with new species. 

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The Return Of The Bison

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At one time there were 20 to 30 million bison in North America, dominating the landscape from the Appalachians to the Rockies, and from the Gulf Coast to Alaska.   A combination of habitat loss and totally unregulated hunting of the huge animals reduced the population to just over 1,000 in 1889.  

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Using Less Water

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In recent times, there has been a downward trend in water use in the United States.  It has been driven by increasingly efficient use of critical water resources in the face of persistent droughts in various parts of the country and awareness of the importance of conserving this resource.

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Conflicts In Conservation

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In recent years there has been a great deal of discussion about animal intelligence and the idea of animal consciousness.   In the past, the notion that animals have feelings had been relegated to fringe status, but these days, a wealth of scientific findings has made it much more mainstream to entertain such ideas.

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Coral Nurseries

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In the past, coral conservationists focused their efforts on protecting reefs from direct environmental threats such as land-based pollution and damaging fishing practices.   These efforts continue, but as coral reefs face increasingly dire threats, conservationists are turning toward more proactive approaches.

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Protecting Reefs Of Hope

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One of the most harmful effects of the changing climate is what is happening to coral reefs.  Warmer ocean temperatures and acidification are causing widespread bleaching of coral.  Stressed corals expel the algae living in their tissue, turning the corals white and robbing them of nutrients.  When bleaching events persist, the corals starve and die.   Reefs everywhere have been experiencing mass bleaching events in recent years with over 70% of the coral reefs around the world being damaged.

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Is The World’s Largest Sea Turtle No Longer Endangered?

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The rapid disappearance of many plants and animals around the world has many scientists saying we are experiencing a sixth mass extinction – the first since the dinosaurs were wiped out some 66 million years ago.  Despite all sorts of conservation efforts, living things are struggling as a result of climate change, habitat loss, and countless other natural and manmade pressures.  Conservation success stories have been few and far between. 

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Are Big Cats In Big Trouble?

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According to researchers with the National Geographic Society’s Big Cats Initiative, cheetahs are much closer to extinction than previously thought. The research team has released a study, which was recently published in the journal PeerJ, that updates the cheetah population numbers in southern Africa, the largest of its remaining habitat.

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Climate Change And Hawaii

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The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean.  The islands are a world-renowned vacation spot, known for their white-sand beaches, lush flora, and near perfect weather.  But stormier days may be ahead. 

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More Fake Fish News

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There has been quite a bit of news in recent years about the mislabeling of fish sold in markets and restaurants.  One study a few years ago concluded that 1/3 of fish sold is not what it is labeled to be. Much of the practice is economic fraud:  substituting cheaper, easier-to-find fish for rarer, more valuable types.  For example, the study found that fish sold as red snapper was almost always not what it claimed to be.  But cheating paying customers is not the only problem associated with the misidentification of fish.

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