NatureServe Explorer Species Reports &#8212; NatureServe Explorer is a source for authoritative conservation information on more than 50,000 plants, animals and ecological communtities of the U.S and Canada. NatureServe Explorer provides in-depth information on rare and endangered species, but includes common plants and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/changing-ocean-soundscapes-impact-animals-worldwide/">animals</a> too. NatureServe Explorer is a product of NatureServe in collaboration with the Natural Heritage Network.
ITIS Reports &#8212; ITIS (the Integrated Taxonomic Information System) is a source for authoritative taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=north+america&amp;cvid=6af7b47b706a421cbff7d45ac370e984&amp;aqs=edge.0.69i59l2j69i57j69i60l3j0.971j0j4&amp;FORM=ANAB01&amp;PC=HCTS">North America</a> and the world.The Cicek Minnow (Acanthorutilus handlirschi) is a species of concern belonging in the species group &#8220;fishes&#8221; and found in the following area (s): Turkey. This species is also known by the following name (s): Pseudophoxinus handlirschi, Oreoleuciscus handlirschi, Phoxinellus handlirschi. Source: Federal Register, U.S. Fish &amp; Wildlife Service (various authors), series (version undefined) Acquired: 1996 : Notes: Various listings from the Federal Register on the legal status of species : Reference for: Acanthorutilus handlirschi, cicek [English] Source: NODC Taxonomic Code, database (
FWS Digital Media Library &#8212; The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service&#8217;s National Digital Library is a searchable collection of selected images, historical artifacts, audio clips, publications, and video.This species is also known by the following name(s): Pseudophoxinus handlirschi, Oreoleuciscus handlirschi, Phoxinellus handlirschi.

Acanthorutilus handlirschi

Some of us need a good strong cup of coffee to start the day. Others will chug down a pot or two before even thinking about engaging in conversation. Whatever style you adopt, you may not even think about how many environmental factors are involved in the production of your coffee.&nbsp;



Now, a study from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at <a href="https://www.tufts.edu/">Tufts</a> and Montana State University is Shedding new light on the impacts of climate change on coffee production.



"A subpar cup of coffee has economic implications as well as sensory. Factors that influence coffee production have great impacts on buyers’ interest, the price of coffee, and ultimately the livelihoods of the farmers who grow it," said Sean Cash, lead author of the study.



The scientists examined ten environmental factors across 73 relevant studies, attempting to parse out their effect on coffee production.&nbsp;



"Climate change is impacting crop performance and agricultural systems around the world with implications for farmers and consumers," wrote the researchers.



"We carried out a systematic review to synthesize evidence regarding the effects of environmental factors associated with climate change and management conditions associated with climate adaptation on the crop quality of a culturally-relevant perennial crop, coffee."



The researchers found that plants grown at higher elevations tend to produce coffee that tastes better, while plants exposed to more light tend to produce a worse taste.&nbsp;



The study authors note that climate change has the potential to have a negative effect on the production of higher quality plants.&nbsp;Increased temperature and an increase in carbon dioxide concentration can make coffee taste worse, and both will be consequences of our fossil-fueled energy production.&nbsp;



“These impacts on crops are important to study in general, not just for coffee. Our food systems support our food security, nutrition and health," said study co-author Selena Ahmed.



If we want to continue to enjoy our cup of morning joe, mitigation strategies will be necessary, such as providing shade to crops or implementing more sustainable practices.&nbsp;



“These strategies are giving some hope that coffee quality can be maintained or improved and will ultimately help farmers consider how to design evidence-based interventions to support their farms," said Ahmed.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science">Frontiers in Plant Science</a>.



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By <a href="http://mailto:rugerpaleo@gmail.com">Alex Ruger</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Climate change will impact the quality and taste of coffee

Some of us need a good strong cup of coffee...

Researchers at <a href="https://www.ucsc.edu/">UC Santa Cruz</a> have compiled data from four decades to untangle the impacts of environmental conditions, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/declining-salmon-populations-linked-to-environmental-decline/">population</a> density, and maternal features on reproductive success among northern elephant seals.



The seals are a successful example of reviving a critically endangered species. In the 1900s, northern elephant seals were hunted to near extinction, but have made an exceptional recovery since the end of commercial sealing. 



Every year, thousands of pups are born at the breeding colony at Año Nuevo Reserve, which is part of the UC Natural Reserve System. Since the 1960s, the long-running elephant seal research program at UC Santa Cruz has been investigating this particular colony, producing a wealth of information.&nbsp;



The program, which was started by Professor Emeritus Burney Le Boeuf, has advanced under the leadership of Professor Daniel Costa. The current investigation was focused on the weight of the pups during weaning (weaning mass), as higher weaning mass increases the survival prospects of the pup. 



According to study lead author Rachel Holser, the research team assumed that major oceanographic events would have a significant influence on the abundance and distribution of the seals, and were surprised to learn that other factors were more significant.



Holser explained that the impact of ocean conditions such as El Niño events, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and marine heatwaves on the weaning mass is relatively low compared to other factors. "It’s not that it doesn’t play a role, but it’s not nearly as important as those onshore conditions - who your mother is and how dense the colony is."



“During a major El Niño, you can see almost complete reproductive failure in some years for species like sea lions, With elephant seals, we don’t see that kind of boom and bust effect. Even in a poor year, they manage to be pretty successful,” said Holser.



However, she emphasized that the effects of ocean conditions on elephant seals can be evident in other indices of population health besides weaning mass. During bad years, some females choose to skip reproducing completely to improve their body conditions. There could also be a decrease in adult female survival rates.



“The single most important factor in determining the weaning mass of pups was the age of the mother. That was more important than the mother’s size, which is a measure of her foraging success, and certainly more important than conditions in the ocean."



Holser noted that the age of the mother is a significant factor due to numerous reasons. At the beginning of lactation, older females produce milk with a higher fat content than younger ones.&nbsp;



The mother's experience is also very important as females with more experience are able to select a good location on the beach for raising their pup, defend the young ones, prevent the pup from getting lost and exhausting its energy.&nbsp;



Contrary to the general assumption that a larger female will bear larger puppies, Holser said that the mother's age is more important than her size. “There’s a lot of variability in size, and the data show that what’s really important is the experience of having been through multiple reproductive cycles."



“Previous work has shown that ocean conditions impact the ability of the mother to invest in her young, but this study shows that age and, more importantly, experience can compensate for those environmental changes,” said study co-author Daniel Costa.



Raising the pup becomes tougher when more and more animals are crowded together on the beach.&nbsp;



“When the colony becomes more dense, there are more interactions - sometimes the females are fighting, or the males will cause a disturbance - and pups end up getting lost and wasting energy trying to find their mother," Holser said.&nbsp;



“When she gives birth to this tiny pup, it’s got four weeks to put on as much fat as it can, which means it needs to spend as much time as possible nursing and resting."



The northern elephant seals' reproductive approach is partly responsible for their adaptability to shifting environmental conditions. Female elephant seals spend months at sea feeding and gaining weight before returning to the colony to give birth, covering great distances across the North Pacific Ocean. They do not leave the beach to feed while nursing their pup, relying instead on the stored energy gained during the foraging journey.&nbsp;



Other species, such as the California sea lion, rely on regular feeding forays while nursing their pups, so a shift in weather that makes hunting difficult can be disastrous.&nbsp;



“This study was only possible because of the work of hundreds of people who have been taking these measurements for over 40 years,” said Holser.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb">Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences</a>.&nbsp;



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By <a href="http://mailto:ashikha92@gmail.com">Ashikha Raoof</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Northern elephant seals are surprisingly resilient

Researchers at UC Santa Cruz have compiled data from four...

In America, almost half of adults and twenty percent of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/el-nino-drives-millions-of-children-into-hunger/">children</a> are obese. A recent report from the UN states that more than four million people die each year due to excess weight or obesity.



Researchers claim that this problem goes untreated due to stigma and reluctance of doctors to prescribe effective treatments. A lack of insurance also plays a role in unchecked obesity.&nbsp;



Now, new research published by the <a href="https://www.endocrine.org/">Endocrine Society</a> looks at some of the main causes of this growing worldwide epidemic.



“Obesity is the epidemic crisis of our time. The disease leads to serious comorbidities such as diabetes, fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease and significantly shortens a person’s length and quality of life," said Dr. Christos S. Mantzoros.



"Until recently we did not understand the genetic and hormonal causes of obesity and how obesity leads to these comorbidities. We have recently started to understand the causes of obesity in humans, which is a big discovery that has led to designing effective therapies.”



The research mapped out molecular and hormonal pathways that can contribute to obesity and related comorbidities. This information is hoped to be useful for other researchers seeking to create new treatments for obesity.&nbsp;



Safe treatments for obesity are especially important, according to the scientists. The possibilities include new drug delivery systems, modulation of gut biomes, vaccines and gene therapy. It is also important is for insurance companies to play their part, explained Dr. Mantzoros. 



"Insurance companies need to pay attention to data from studies and the scientific progress we are making and start covering the medications that are and will be approved soon, given that currently only a small minority of patients with obesity have coverage for the medications and medical care they need."



"It would be much more cost effective to cover treatments early instead of waiting for comorbidities and their complications to develop.”



The researchers say that the ultimate goal is a personalized approach to obesity treatment that will result in safe, effective and sustainable weight loss until the root causes of the problem are identified and addressed.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/edrv">Endocrine Reviews</a>.



---



By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Obesity is the epidemic crisis of our time

In America, almost half of adults and twenty percent of...

According to the <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en">World Meteorological Organization</a> (WMO), the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere rose to record levels in 2020, despite the lockdowns that were imposed to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.



Greenhouse gas emissions are associated with human activities such as burning <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossil-fuels-must-be-reduced-immediately-and-drastically/">fossil fuels</a>, heating, transportation, farming, and deforestation, and they build up in the atmosphere, trapping more heat and causing increases in temperatures, extreme weather events, and sea rises.&nbsp;



While the restrictions imposed around the world during the pandemic caused an overall decline in CO2 emissions of 5.6 percent, this decrease does not seem to be echoed in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.&nbsp;



This discrepancy is caused by the fact that CO2 emissions have increased progressively over the past decades, and even if carbon output was lower in 2020, the increase in the atmospheric concentrations was still larger than the average between 2011 and 2020. According to the WMO's annual&nbsp;<a href="https://library.wmo.int/index.php?lvl=notice_display&amp;id=21975#.YXWJmdlBx0s">Greenhouse Gas Bulletin</a>, CO2 reached 413.2 parts per million in the atmosphere in 2020 and is now 49 percent higher than it used to be in the pre-industrial era.&nbsp;



Scientists claim that the last time the Earth experienced a similar atmospheric concentration of CO2 was between three to five million years ago, when temperatures were two to three degrees Celsius warmer and the sea levels 10 to 20 meters higher.



Atmospheric concentrations of other greenhouse gases, such as methane or nitrous oxide also reached record levels in 2020, as they increased at much faster rates than in the past decade. For instance, last year witnessed the biggest increase of methane emissions since global methane levels started rising again in 2007.



"At the current rate of increase in greenhouse gas concentrations, we will see a temperature increase by the end of this century far in excess of the Paris Agreement targets of 1.5 to 2C above pre-industrial levels," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. "We are way off track."



"This is more than just a chemical formula and figures on a graph. It has major negative repercussions for our daily lives and well-being, for the state of our planet and for the future of our children and grandchildren," he concluded.&nbsp;



---



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Harmful emissions hit record high in 2020, despite pandemic

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the concentrations of...

Although many people think that waiting out a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/radar-signature-will-improve-tornado-forecasting/">tornado</a> under an overpass is safe, a large number of meteorologists and emergency workers claim that doing so could in fact increase the risk of death. According to the <a href="https://www.weather.gov/">National Weather Service</a>, the wind from a tornado will accelerate as it flows under the overpass, in what is known as the “wind tunnel effect.”



However, in a new experimental study published in the journal <a href="https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0065233">Physics of Fluids</a>, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.uri.edu/">University of Rhode Island</a> found no evidence of such acceleration patterns. By performing experiments using a scaled model of an overpass and a large fan drawing air through the tunnel at a speed of about 130 miles per hour, the researchers examined the pressure, velocity, and force fields of tornado-strength winds surrounding an overpass.&nbsp;



The scientists examined locations immediately above the overpass, immediately below it, between the I-beams, and at the center of the travel lane under the overpass. They performed velocity and pressure measurements at each of these locations, while the overpass was gradually rotated from 0 to 90 degrees. They also measured lift and drag forces.



According to their results, no wind tunnel effect has been found. "However, that doesn't mean the effect doesn't take place at all. It just didn’t take place in the locations that we focused on," said study co-author D.M.L. Meyer, a mechanical engineer at the University of Rhode Island. "More data and analyses are needed to determine how complex tornado-strength winds interact with the environment underneath an overpass, and our paper provides a start."&nbsp;



Even if a wind tunnel effect will not emerge, an overpass may still be a dangerous place for shelter: winds may not decelerate, and flying debris might reach areas of the overpass that appear to be protected from the wind.



“In our research, there is no one finding that would suggest one should or should not use an overpass for protection from a tornado as a last-resort shelter area,” Meyer concluded.



---



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Are overpasses safe shelters from tornadoes?

Although many people think that waiting out a tornado under...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-021-00219-y">Nature Reviews: Earth and Environment</a> found that, due to climate change, low-to-no-snow winters may become a regular occurrence in the western United States in 35 to 60 years from now. This dwindling snowpack will have highly negative impacts on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/chemicals-from-42000-sources-are-polluting-drinking-water-in-the-u-s/">water</a> resources, disrupting the country’s economy and agriculture.



<div class="wp-block-sendtonews-playerselector">[sendtonews key="fnjTFgbUkd-1580626-12187" type="single"]</div>



Due to global warming, mountain snowpacks are on the decline, and could soon shrink dramatically or even disappear. In the western U.S., mountain ranges such as the Sierra Nevada, the Rockies, or the Cascades play a crucial role in capturing, storing, and releasing water for downstream use.&nbsp;



Historically, snowmelt timing provided a critical delay in the delivery of water supplies during spring and summer, when precipitation is low and water demands are at their highest due to agriculture. With shrinking snowpacks, these patterns will significantly change.&nbsp;



By reviewing hundreds of scientific studies on snow loss, a research team led by the <a href="https://www.lbl.gov/">Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory</a> (Berkeley Lab) has found that there has already been a 21 percent decline in spring snowpack water storage in the western U.S. since the 1950s, and a comparable decline could be expected by mid-21st century. If greenhouse emissions are not urgently curbed, the second half of the century could witness even more severe snowpack loss.



“Through the middle and end of the 21st century, an increasing fraction of the western U.S. is impacted by snow water equivalent deficits relative to the historical period. In particular, only 8 to 14 percent of years are classified as low-to-no snow over 1950-2000, compared to 78 to 94 percent over 2050-2099. In all regions, an abrupt transition occurs in the mid-to-late 21st century,” the study authors predicted.



The impacts of a low-to-no-snow future extend beyond decreased streamflow. “A low-to-no-snow future has massive implications for where and when water is stored in the western U.S.,” explained co-author Erica Siirila-Woodburn, a research scientist at Berkeley Lab.&nbsp;



“In addition to the direct impacts on recreation and the like, there are a lot of secondary effects on natural and managed systems, from a hydrologic perspective. So that's anything ranging from increased wildfire occurrence to changes in groundwater and surface water patterns and changes in vegetation type and density.”



Urgent climate adaptations strategies - such as underground storing of excess surface water for later use, or employing weather and hydrological forecasts to inform decisions about retaining or releasing water from reservoirs - are needed in order to mitigate the negative effects of snowpack loss.&nbsp;



---



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Mountain snowpacks could disappear in the western U.S.

A new study published in the journal Nature Reviews: Earth...

A lack of sleep can affect not only <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/peanuts-improve-cognitive-function-in-young-adults/">cognitive</a> functioning, as many previous studies have shown, but also physical activities such as walking, according to a new study led by the <a href="https://www.mit.edu/">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> (MIT) and the <a href="https://www5.usp.br/">University of São Paulo</a>.



The scientists performed a series of experiments with student volunteers from the University of São Paulo in order to investigate the effects of sleep deprivation on gait control. The students were given watches to track their activities over a 14-day period. On average, each student slept about six hours per day, although some of them compensated by catching up on sleep over the weekends.



In the night before the experiment, one group of students stayed awake all night (the Sleep Acute Deprivation (SAD) group). In the next morning all students were asked to walk on a treadmill, while researchers played a metronome. The participants were asked to keep step with the metronome’s beat, as the scientists slowly and subtly modified the metronome’s speed, without informing the students that they were doing so.



“They had to synchronize their heel strike to the beat, and we found the errors were larger in people with acute sleep deprivation,” said study lead author Arturo Forner-Cordero, an associate professor of Mechatronics Engineering at the University of São Paulo. “They were off the rhythm, they missed beeps, and were performing in general, worse.”



While these findings were expected, what surprised the scientists was that those who fared better in the experiment were the students who compensated and got slightly more sleep over the weekends.



“That’s paradoxical,” Forner-Cordero said. “Even at the peak of when most people would be tired, this compensating group did better, which we didn’t expect.”&nbsp;



“Scientifically, it wasn’t clear that almost automatic activities like walking would be influenced by lack of sleep,” added study co-author Hermano Krebs, a research scientist at MIT. “We also found that compensating for sleep could be an important strategy. For instance, for those who are chronically sleep-deprived, like shift workers, clinicians, and some military personnel, if they build in regular sleep compensation, they might have better control over their gait.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00705-9">Scientific Reports</a>.



---



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Lack of sleep changes how you walk

A lack of sleep can affect not only cognitive functioning,...

Tusks are uniquely mammalian structures, found in a variety of animal species, including <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/poaching-has-long-term-impacts-on-elephants/">elephants</a>, walruses, warthogs, wild boars and hippopotamuses. 



Mammals with tusks find an array of uses for their modified teeth, including fighting, digging, defense, burrowing, pushing over trees, and even assisting with locomotion – as in the walrus that uses its tusks to lift itself up onto the ice. And yet, there has been little research on the evolutionary origins of tusks or what may have led to the development of this dental phenomenon. 



In a new study, published today in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/journal/Proceedings-of-the-Royal-Society-B-Biological-Sciences-1471-2954">the&nbsp;Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>,&nbsp;researchers trace the first tusks back to dicynodonts, ancient relatives of mammals that lived before the dinosaurs, and they shed light on the evolution of mammalian tusks.



“Tusks are this very famous anatomy, but until I started working on this study, I never really thought about how tusks are restricted to mammals,” said study lead author Megan Whitney, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, <a href="https://www.harvard.edu/">Harvard University</a>.



Whitney recalls that the idea for the study of dicynodonts arose while she and other researchers were taking a lunch break during a paleontological dig. “We were sitting in the field in Zambia, and there were dicynodont teeth everywhere. I remember Ken picking them up and asking how come they were called tusks, because they had features that tusks don’t have.”



Dicynodonts are not mammals, but are mammal-like reptiles that lived between 270 and 200 million years ago, before the radiation and proliferation of the dinosaurs. They are very distant relatives of modern mammals and are characterized by having two tusks that protrude from their upper jaws, in the position of the canine teeth. The name of the group, dicynodont, literally means "two dog teeth."&nbsp;



As a group, they were very successful, becoming distributed throughout the world and radiating into many different habitats. There were more than 70 different genera of these fascinating vertebrates, varying from mouse-sized to elephant-sized.&nbsp;



The researchers had to define exactly what was meant by a tusk, as there was clearly confusion between the terms "teeth" and "tusks." Not all protruding teeth are technically tusks.&nbsp;



“For this paper, we had to define a tusk, because it’s a surprisingly ambiguous term,” said Whitney. The researchers determined that for a tooth to be a tusk it must extend out from the mouth, be made entirely of dentine - lacking the enamel covering most mammalian teeth - and be ever-growing.



Some of the dicynodont teeth that the team observed in Zambia didn’t seem to fit the definition of a tusk either – they were coated in enamel instead of dentine. “There are many different kinds of dicynodonts and they appear to mostly all have tusks,” said Whitney, “however, when you look at the micro-structural details they’re very different in those groups.”&nbsp;



The researchers used micro-CT scans to examine the fossilized tissues of the dicynodont tusks. Paper-thin slices of fossilized tusks from 19 dicynodont specimens, representing ten different species, were examined in this way.&nbsp;



The histological sections showed that the oldest groups of dicynodonts had a big tooth, rather than a true tusk. It was only much later in their evolutionary history that dicynodonts evolved a true tusk that was ever-growing.



Mammals face a paradox when it comes to their teeth. Most mammals, like humans, replace their baby teeth with adult teeth only once in a lifetime. Mammalian teeth are covered with enamel, and so are very durable, but if an adult tooth is lost, it is irreplaceable.&nbsp;



In addition, mammalian teeth are attached to the jaw by means of pegs that fit into sockets in the jaw – the attachment involves soft, fibrous tissue or ligaments.&nbsp;



By contrast, the teeth of other vertebrate groups are attached to the jaw by hard-tissue fusion of bone to tooth, and may also have several sets of tooth replacements during a lifetime.



It appears that the mammalian conditions of soft tissue attachment and few replacement teeth sets the scene for the development of an ever-growing tusk. This tusk is covered with dentine, which is less durable than enamel, but it can continue to grow throughout the life of the animal.&nbsp;



The dicynodont specimens in the current study, which came from South Africa, Antarctica, Zambia, and Tanzania, appeared to have the mammalian conditions of reduced number of replacement teeth at the canine position and a soft tissue attachment of teeth to the jaw. Interestingly, this is a combination of features that is unique to mammals.&nbsp;



“If you have these two things, a reduced amount of tooth replacement and a soft-tissue attachment, an ever-growing tooth allows the animal to get around the fact that it cannot replace the tooth. Instead, it evolves to continuously deposit the same tooth tissues,” said Whitney. “And as the animal continues to deposit the tissue, the tooth begins to move outside of the mouth to become functional.”



The dicynodonts examined in the current study show the first known examples of true tusk development in vertebrates. “We don't really know what functions the dicynodonts tusks may have had because we can't observe them and see what they were doing with them,” said Whitney. “That's a lingering question about dicynodonts, even more so now.”



The study also showed that dicynodonts evolved ever-growing tusks multiple times in different groups, indicating convergent evolution during their history. “I kind of expected there to be one point in the family tree where all the dicynodonts started having tusks, so I thought it was pretty shocking that we actually see tusks evolve convergently,” said Whitney. “This is a similar story to what we see in elephant evolution in that it mirrors a lot of the patterns that have been studied on how elephants got their tusks.”



“We were able to show that the first tusks belonged to animals that came before modern mammals,” said Kenneth Angielczyk, co-author and curator at Chicago’s Field Museum.&nbsp;



“Dicynodont tusks can tell us a lot about mammalian tusk evolution in general. For instance, this study shows that reduced rates of tooth replacement and a flexible ligament attaching the tooth to the jaw are needed for true tusks to evolve. It all ladders up to giving us a better understanding of the tusks we see in mammals today.”



---



By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New secrets revealed about the evolution of mammal tusks

Tusks are uniquely mammalian structures, found in a variety of...

The known boundaries of sea turtle <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/foraging-habits-of-seabirds-altered-by-turbulent-tidal-flows/">foraging</a> areas have been called into question by new research. Loggerhead, Kemp’s ridley, and green turtles stranded off the coast of France may have been foraging for food.&nbsp;



The researchers used satellite data to show that turtles who were rehabilitated in places like Florida and the Cape Verde Islands might have been returning to home waters through Europe. Younger individuals are especially at risk of being stranded.&nbsp;



“Stranded turtles that were tracked swimming westwards presumably towards their birth homes, after their rescue and release from the Atlantic coast of France, were older and more developed than those that remained in the Bay of Biscay region," explained study first author Dr. Philippine Chambault.



"Turtles that remained in the area were much smaller, possibly trapped in the winter, as they are not able to regulate their body temperature and get lethargic with decreasing sea temperatures.”



According to study co-author Florence Dell’Amico, this new insight is valuable for informing conservation strategies.&nbsp;



“These findings have important turtle conservation implications," said Dell’Amico. "Maps of their ecological range need to be updated, and these study findings can help to plan effective rehabilitation and release strategies for turtles rescued from this area.”



To look at where the turtles were going, the researchers deployed miniature satellite transmitters attached to the shells of rescued turtles. The team also looked at ocean currents, water temperature, abundance of turtle prey species and mass and size of turtles.&nbsp;



The results suggest that turtles might be visiting some areas off the coast of France to forage for food. While larger turtles can weather colder temperatures in the winter, smaller turtles instead seem to be trapped and suffer from hypothermia. “The Bay of Biscay waters are especially cold during wintertime, less than 10°C, and so this area is assumed to be outside the geographical range for turtles," said study co-author Dr. Philippe Gaspar.



"Our observations suggest that while the turtles could be visiting this area to forage for food, it may be an ecological trap for very small turtles that may suffer from hypothermia in the cold months."



“A turtle’s body temperature is largely controlled by the temperature of the environment, and temperatures below 10oC are often lethal.”



This research lays the groundwork for further studies as well as conservation planning for sea turtles worldwide. The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science">Frontiers in Marine Science</a>.



---By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The coast of France may be a death trap for sea turtles

The known boundaries of sea turtle foraging areas have been...

About 92 percent of the world’s population lives in areas where air pollution due to fine particulate matter (less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter) exceeds the safety standards set by the World Health Organization. These minute particles can come from car exhaust fumes, factory emissions, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wildfires-in-the-west-linked-to-smoke-related-deaths-in-the-east/">wildfires</a>, and woodburning stoves.



The correlation between air pollution and increased risk of disorders such as obesity, diabetes, and infertility, has long been recognized, but scientists did not understand the exact mechanism whereby breathing polluted air can lead to these health conditions.



While unraveling the mechanism involved, researchers from the <a href="https://www.medschool.umaryland.edu/">University of Maryland School of Medicine</a> (UMSOM) referred to previous studies which found mice exposed to air pollution showed reduced sperm counts. However, these mice did not always have inflammation of the testes, the sex organs that make the sperm. The researchers set out to search elsewhere for the mechanism, as testicular inflammation was clearly not responsible for reduced sperm counts.&nbsp;



The experts knew that the brain communicates with the reproductive organs as fertility and sperm count can be affected by stress. For example, emotional stress can lead to skipped menstrual periods in women. The researchers decided to expose mice to air pollution and test whether their reduction in sperm count was perhaps mediated by changes in the brain..



The experiments showed that mice exposed to air pollution had increased inflammation in the brain. The testing was focused on both healthy mice and mice that had been bred to lack a particular brain inflammation marker called Inhibitor&nbsp;Kappa&nbsp;B&nbsp;Kinase 2, or&nbsp;IKK2 for short. This protein is specifically located in the brain’s neurons.&nbsp;



The two groups of mice were exposed to either filtered or polluted air. When the scientists tested sperm counts, they found that the mice bred without the IKK2 inflammation marker did not have reduced sperm counts when exposed to the polluted air. By contrast, the healthy mice did show reduced sperm production.&nbsp;



“Our findings showed that the damage due to air pollution – at least to the sperm count – could be remedied by removing a single inflammation marker in the brains of mice, suggesting that we may be able to develop therapies that could prevent or reverse the damaging effects of air pollution on fertility,” said lead study author Dr.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medschool.umaryland.edu/profiles/Ying-Zhekang/">Zhekang Ying</a>.



“These findings have wider implications than just fertility, as there are many conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease that can result from brain inflammation due to air pollution," explained Dr. Charles Hong.



Upon further, more detailed analysis, the scientists tried to locate the exact neurons in the brain that were becoming inflamed. They found that one specific kind of neuron, usually associated with sleep cycle and obesity, was responsible for the reduction in sperm count in the presence of air pollution. These neurons are found in the hypothalamus, a region of the brain that controls hunger, thirst and sex drive. The hypothalamus also works with the brain’s pituitary gland, which makes hormones that communicate directly with reproductive organs.



“Looking back, it makes perfect sense that the neurons in the hypothalamus are the culprits perpetuating this inflammation response that results in low sperm count, as we know that the hypothalamus is a major pathway link between the brain and the reproductive system,” explained Dr. Ying.



“Environmental pollution is a problem of equity in that some persons who are poor or of color tend to face more severe health-related conditions due to greater exposure," said Dr. <a href="https://www.medschool.umaryland.edu/profiles/Reece-E-Albert/">E. Albert Reece</a>. "It is important to explore the mechanisms by which pollution affects the body, so we can devise ways to prevent or treat these conditions to eliminate these health disparities.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/">Environmental Health Perspectives</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Air pollution may lower sperm count through brain inflammation

About 92 percent of the world’s population lives in areas...

A new study has revealed that black spruce trees, a key species of trees from the boreal forests, are starting to lose their resilience and capacity to regenerate in the face of increasingly frequent Arctic wildfires caused by climate change. If this trend continues, the Arctic forests might face significant ecological shifts, resulting in a loss of biodiversity and an acceleration in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/permafrost-melting-may-release-nuclear-waste-into-the-atmosphere/">permafrost</a> melting.&nbsp;



In North America’s boreal forests, the soils on which black spruce trees grow consist of highly flammable peat moss and lichens. Although the black spruce usually relies on fires for regeneration, with its cones opening up in the heat and dropping seeds on the charred organic soil, more severe and frequent fires appear to damage the spruce’s capacity to regenerate.



By collecting data from over 1,500 sites where fires occurred, scientists found that black spruce’s capacity to regenerate dropped at 38 percent of the sites and failed completely 18 percent of the time. Such phenomena could make the black spruce lose its place as the dominant species of trees in boreal North America.



“This trend is especially alarming given its potential impact on Arctic carbon storage,” said co-author Dr. Brendan Rogers, an Associate Scientist at <a href="https://www.woodwellclimate.org/">Woodwell Climate Research Center</a>. “In many parts of the boreal region, the mossy soil layers that promote black spruce regeneration also insulate permafrost. As fires increase and these forests dry out, however, loss of black spruce forests could accelerate permafrost thaw and trigger a warming feedback loop, pushing black spruce to its tipping point and facilitating the release of massive amounts of carbon from the permafrost into the atmosphere.”



Moreover, widespread loss of black spruce trees could also have harmful effects on biodiversity. Caribou species that feed on lichen are already in decline and might suffer even more losses with the disappearance of the trees that offer them shelter and food.



“Basically, as the climate warms, rising Arctic temperatures are causing black spruce forests to dry out, and the drier the system is, the more vulnerable it is to fire,” said&nbsp;study leader Dr. Jennifer Baltzer, a professor at <a href="https://www.wlu.ca/">Wilfrid Laurier University</a>.



“As climate change continues to push these systems to an ever drier state, these tipping points are more likely to be reached, with devastating impacts on the boreal biome and the rest of the world,” she concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Black spruce trees are endangered by Arctic wildfires

A new study has revealed that black spruce trees, a...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.mit.edu/">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> (MIT) has found that artificial intelligence models of language that excel at predicting the next word in a string of text are surprisingly similar to the human <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-brain-responds-to-bad-smells-within-300-milliseconds/">brain</a>, which appears to use next-word prediction to drive language processing. These predictive language models are able to perform tasks that require some degree of genuine understanding, such as question answering, story completion, or document summarization.&nbsp;



Although such computer models were designed to optimize performance in search engines or texting apps, without attempting to mimic human cognition, this new study suggests that their underlying functioning resembles the ways in which language-processing centers in the human brain work.&nbsp;



“The better the model is at predicting the next word, the more closely it fits the human brain,” said study co-author Nancy Kanwisher, a professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at MIT. “It’s amazing that the models fit so well, and it very indirectly suggests that maybe what the human language system is doing is predicting what’s going to happen next.”&nbsp;



The researchers analyzed 43 different language models, including some that were optimized for next-word prediction. By comparing the functioning of these artificial models with neuronal patterns activated when humans listened to stories or read sentences, they discovered that the best-performing next-word prediction models had activity patterns closely resembling those found in human brains.&nbsp;



“We found that the models that predict the neural responses well also tend to best predict human behavior responses, in the form of reading times. And then both of these are explained by the model performance on next-word prediction. This triangle really connects everything together,” explained study first author Martin Schrimpf, an MIT graduate student.



The researchers now plan to build variants of these language processing models that can perform other kinds of tasks, such as the construction of perceptual representations of the physical world.&nbsp;



“If we’re able to understand what these language models do and how they can connect to models which do things that are more like perceiving and thinking, then that can give us more integrative models of how things work in the brain,” explained study senior author Joshua Tenenbaum.&nbsp;



“This could take us toward better artificial intelligence models, as well as giving us better models of how more of the brain works and how general intelligence emerges, than we’ve had in the past.”



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Computer models can mimic human language processing

A new study led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...

Date	Citation Page	Title
06/02/1970	35 FR 8491 8498	Part 17 - Conservation of Endangered Species and Other Fish or Wildlife (First List of Endangered Foreign Fish and Wildlife as Appendix A)
04/14/1970	35 FR 6069	Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Endangered Species Conservation); 35 FR 6069