Seafood,On,Ice,At,The,Fish,Market

Alternative seafood is emerging as a vital solution in the fight to protect marine ecosystems. As pressure from overfishing, pollution, and climate change intensifies, scientists and policymakers are exploring new ways to reduce strain on the ocean. 



While many marine mysteries remain, one issue is clear - traditional fishing practices are pushing the ocean toward ecological collapse.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-global-impact-of-overfishing">The global impact of overfishing</h2>



Researchers point out that nearly 90% of marine fisheries today are either fully exploited or already overfished. On top of that, pollution and habitat degradation are erasing biodiversity across oceans, rivers, and coasts. 



<a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/global-industrial-fishing-footprint-spd" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A 2018 study</a> showed that commercial fishing operations now cover more than 55% of the ocean surface - four times more than the land used for agriculture.



This crisis impacts people as well as marine life. Around 3 billion rely on the ocean for food and jobs. With the population expected to hit 10 billion by 2050, seafood demand is rising twice as fast.



But wild fisheries can only do so much. Even under perfect management, there’s a ceiling on how many fish can be caught each year. 



The researchers note that reducing the burden of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/overfishing-and-habitat-degradation-have-devastated-marine-ecosystems/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">overfishing</a> through better fishery management is possible, but it requires setting limits on how much can be caught, where and when, and with which methods. There’s another way forward - one that doesn’t get as much attention.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-alternative-seafood-as-a-sustainable-solution">Alternative seafood as a sustainable solution</h2>



Alternative seafood - like plant-based fish or <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sushi-of-the-future-the-first-ever-lab-grown-eel-is-a-success/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lab-grown</a> (cultivated) tuna - is emerging as a powerful tool to meet demand without draining the ocean. 



These products can help shift consumer choices away from wild-caught fish and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/farmed-seafood-supply-is-at-risk-due-to-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">farmed seafood</a> that contribute to environmental stress.



As the researchers explain, plant-based and cultivated fish hold enormous potential for feeding a growing population the fish they love while easing pressure on the conventional fishing industry and, in turn, reducing harm to our oceans.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-reshaping-the-seafood-industry">Reshaping the seafood industry</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fishing-communities-cooperate-to-survive-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fishing</a> isn’t just affected by climate change - it’s also a contributor. Fuel-intensive vessels and aquaculture feed production release greenhouse gases.



But climate change is striking back. Rising ocean temperatures are pushing fish populations toward the poles, leaving tropical waters increasingly empty. Some regions could see up to a 40% drop in seafood catch potential by 2050.



To make matters worse, warming waters are also making seafood riskier. Infections from Vibrio bacteria, which can be deadly, are increasing worldwide. Still, there’s hope. 



Research shows that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2705-y" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plant-based and cultivated seafood</a> - especially when produced using renewable energy - could offer a more climate-resilient alternative.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-diversifying-the-seafood-supply">Diversifying the seafood supply </h2>



A recent whitepaper titled <a href="https://gfi.org/resource/climate-benefits-of-accelerating-global-production-of-alternative-seafood/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Building climate policy momentum for alternative seafood</a> highlights the potential environmental benefits of diversifying the seafood supply.



“Renewable energy is critical to realizing the climate benefits of cultivated meat and seafood. Life-cycle assessments project that emissions from cultivated meat produced with renewable energy will be in the lower range of aquaculture emissions and less than the emissions of most wild-capture," noted the researchers.



"Further, cultivated seafood is expected to require even less energy than cultivated red meat and poultry, in large part because seafood can be cultivated at lower temperatures than terrestrial meats."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-seafood-and-biodiversity-loss">Seafood and biodiversity loss</h2>



The ocean does more than provide seafood - it helps regulate the climate, generates oxygen, and supports global food systems. 



But marine biodiversity is rapidly declining. A 2019 report found that human activity has significantly altered two-thirds of marine areas, up from 40% just a decade earlier.



Pollution, overfishing, climate change, and ocean acidification are driving this loss, leading to ecosystem collapse, food insecurity, and rising disease risk. 



Even aquaculture, which now accounts for half of global seafood production, can harm coastal habitats and disrupt ecosystems when poorly managed.



While some fisheries and farms have adopted more sustainable practices, they haven’t kept pace with environmental pressures. Diversifying the seafood supply with alternative proteins is becoming increasingly important.



The New Blue Foods for Biodiversity <a href="https://gfi.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/New-blue-foods-for-biodiversity.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">whitepaper</a> outlines how plant-based and cultivated seafood can help ease the strain. By reducing overfishing and bycatch, these alternatives give wild stocks a chance to recover.



They also help prevent habitat damage and pollution, since they require less land and don’t disturb the ocean floor. And unlike many aquaculture systems, they minimize antibiotic use, supporting microbial diversity and slowing the spread of resistant pathogens.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-high-cost-of-tuna-popularity">The high cost of tuna popularity</h2>



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bluefin-tuna-a-sushi-delicacy-will-likely-be-extinct-within-50-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tuna</a> is a favorite across the globe, especially in the U.S. where canned tuna is second only to shrimp in popularity. 



Americans eat nearly one billion pounds a year. Worldwide, more than 7 million metric tons of tuna and similar species are harvested annually. That demand has consequences.



Seven out of 61 known tuna species were labeled as threatened in 2011. Tuna fishing also harms other marine animals, like turtles and sharks, that get caught in the same waters. 



Thankfully, innovation is catching up. Several companies are now creating tuna alternatives without fish.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-alternative-seafood-companies">Alternative seafood companies</h2>



In Chicago, Aqua Cultured Foods raised $5.5 million to expand its production of fungi-based seafood. Using a special fermentation process, the company creates whole-muscle seafood cuts like scallops, shrimp, and tuna. 



Their products offer a sustainable and allergen-free option, and the new investment will help launch them in restaurants this year.



In Canada, Konscious Foods received a $5 million investment through the PacifiCan Business Scale-up and Productivity program. This support will help the company increase production, grow exports, and create over 40 new jobs in British Columbia. 



The company makes frozen sushi meals - including tuna avocado rolls - using Canadian-grown ingredients like quinoa, carrots, and tomatoes. They’re also working on new items, such as plant-based smoked salmon, crab cakes, and shrimp.



In Austria, Berlin-based BettaF!sh partnered with supermarket chain BILLA AG to launch the TU-NAH sandwich, now available across BILLA and BILLA PLUS stores. 



This collaboration reflects a shared focus on sustainability and aims to bring plant-based seafood to more consumers across Europe.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-alternative-seafood-as-a-global-opportunity">Alternative seafood as a global opportunity</h2>



A New York Times article once suggested that if you can't find anything good from the sea, it might be better to cook something else. Thanks to alternative seafood, that “something else” no longer means compromising on flavor or nutrition.



By scaling plant-based and cultivated seafood, it’s possible to feed a growing population without pushing marine ecosystems to the brink. As the researchers emphasize: “Building a better food system will require a diversity of solutions.”



“Alternative seafood is the future of sustainable seafood. To scale this industry, we need bold innovators and committed champions - across climate, biodiversity, public health, and food security - who are ready to make it a global priority. An ocean of opportunity awaits.”



Thanks to the <a href="https://gfi.org/">The Good Food Institute</a> for providing the background research for this article.



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There are not "plenty of fish" in Earth's oceans to feed 10 billion people, something must change

Alternative seafood is emerging as a vital solution in the fight to protect marine ecosystems. As pressure from overfishing, pollution, and climate change intensifies, scientists and policymakers are exploring new ways to reduce strain on the ocean. While many marine mysteries remain, one issue is clear - traditional fishing practices are pushing the ocean toward ecological collapse. The global impact of overfishing Researchers point out that nearly 90% of marine fisheries today are either fully exploited or already overfished. On top of that, pollution and habitat degradation...

An investigation by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/">The Washington Post</a> has revealed that the original draft of a Department of Defense (DOD) document was very straightforward in its references to climate change. By the time the official report was submitted to Congress over a year later, however, the term “climate change” had been omitted 22 times.

<a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/department-defense-climate-related-risk-dod-infrastructure-initial-vulnerability">The Climate-Related Risk to DoD Infrastructure Initial Vulnerability Assessment Survey</a> was published in January 2018. Climate change was replaced all but one time with related terms such as “extreme weather,” and was alluded to with phrases such as “planning for and managing risk and uncertainty.”

The document is based on data gathered in the first-ever study to poll officials at different military bases about the impacts of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-driving-climate-change/">climate change</a>.

John Conger served as a Pentagon official under President Obama and was involved in the initiation of the web-based survey. Conger told The Washington Post that altering the text changes “the feeling of urgency in the report, but not its fundamental conclusion - that our military installations are clearly experiencing climate impacts.”

Out of around 3,500 military sites analyzed in the study, over 700 experienced negative effects from drought, wind, and “non-storm surge related flooding.” 

Although one of the primary focuses of the survey was to assess the threat of sea-level rise at coastal military sites, the subject was never directly addressed in the official Pentagon report.

Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn is a member of the Center for Climate and Security Advisory Board and served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment under President Obama.

“The wordsmithing, not saying ‘climate,’ I could live with that,” Admiral McGinn told the Washington Post. “But taking out … maps of critical areas of flooding, that’s pretty fundamental. And the Arctic, that’s huge, for a lot of reasons, not just for Department of Defense, but for the Coast Guard, and commercial shipping business.”

The censorship of climate change content is nothing new under the Trump administration. Just a year after President Trump took office, “climate change” and “global warming” began disappearing from government websites, including those belonging to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

There has been growing concern about how the deletion of these terms as well as entire pages related to the issue of climate change may affect critical policies. 

The <a href="https://envirodatagov.org/">Environmental Data &amp; Governance Initiative</a> (EDGI) has closely monitored the removal of climate change content from government agency websites. 

The group emphasized that the EPA is restricting access to valuable information for state and local governments and policymakers by overhauling climate change web pages. For example, a website describing Obama's Clean Power Plan was taken down by the EPA.

EDGI <a href="https://envirodatagov.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Part-3-Changing-the-Digital-Climate.pdf">reported</a>: “Months before the EPA’s proposed repeal of the rule, the website was removed and its URL began redirecting to a single page about President’s Trump Executive Order on Energy Independence, which called for a review of the Plan.”

According to EDGI, the alteration of climate change content in federal documents and web pages “extends a longer campaign to ‘manufacture doubt’ on human-caused climate change.”

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Govt report revised to drastically cut mention of climate change

An investigation by The Washington Post has revealed that the...

The NASA spacecraft mission <a href="https://mms.gsfc.nasa.gov/">Magnetospheric Multiscale</a> (MMS) has revealed what happens to the turbulent energy that is created when solar wind collides with the Earth's <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/earths-magnetic-field-reverse/">magnetic field</a>. The energy forms into high-speed electron jets as the moving electric charge breaks down and reconnects.

This type of magnetic reconnection occurs throughout the universe, and understanding the process as it relates to the Earth could help scientists better understand other processes in outer space.

“Turbulence occurs everywhere in space: on the sun, in the solar wind, interstellar medium, dynamos, accretion disks around stars, in active galactic nuclei jets, supernova remnant shocks and more,” explained study co-author Michael Shay.

Study lead author Tai Phan is a senior fellow in the Space Sciences Laboratory at the <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/">University of California, Berkeley</a>.

“MMS discovered electron magnetic reconnection, a new process much different from the standard magnetic reconnection that happens in calmer areas around Earth,” said Phan. “This finding helps scientists understand how turbulent magnetic fields dissipate energy throughout the cosmos.”

Standard magnetic reconnection is observed in Earth's magnetosphere, but electron magnetic reconnection takes place much farther away in a highly turbulent zone called the magnetosheath. This is where solar wind hits like a shock wave and surrounds the planet.

“The turbulence in the magnetosheath contains a lot of magnetic energy,” said Phan. “People have been debating how this energy is dissipated, and magnetic reconnection is one of the possible processes.”

Using data from MMS, the research team observed electron magnetic reconnection for the first time, and determined that the process creates electron jets instead of the ion jets that are generated by standard magnetic reconnection.


“We now have evidence that reconnection does happen to dissipate turbulent energy in the magnetosheath, but it is a new kind of reconnection,” said Shay.

According to Phan, it was unknown prior to this study if magnetic reconnection could take place in the magnetosphere because the plasma is highly chaotic in that region. 

The activity detailed by MMS had been previously overlooked by scientists who were looking for ion jets instead of electrons, which move about 40 times faster than ions accelerated by standard reconnection.

MMS instruments were not fast enough to capture the turbulent reconnection, but the experts managed to detect the process by developing a technique of combining separate data points.

Amy Rager worked at <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center</a> to develop the technique.

“The key event of the paper happens in 45 milliseconds. This would be one data point with the regular data,” said Rager. “But instead we can get six to seven data points in that region with this method, allowing us to understand what is happening.”


The scientists are hopeful that more surprising events will be discovered in existing datasets using their new method.


The research is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

When solar wind collides with Earth’s magnetic field

The NASA spacecraft mission Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) has revealed what...

Scientists at the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> are reporting that beavers can dramatically improve the quality of water in rivers while preventing the loss of valuable soils from surrounding farms and fields.

In collaboration with the <a href="http://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/">Devon Wildlife Trust</a>, the researchers conducted an experiment which revealed that enclosures constructed by beavers can reduce the input of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/antibiotics-soil-killing-superbugs/">soil</a> and nutrients into water systems by the tons.

The study was focused on a single family of beavers, which have lived within a fenced site in West Devon since 2011. A total of 13 dams built by the beavers have slowed the flow of water and created a series of deep ponds.

The researchers found that the dams had trapped more than 100 tons of sediment, 70 percent of which was soil from grassland upstream. Further analysis revealed that the sediment contained high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus, which are nutrients that cause issues for wildlife found in rivers and streams.

Richard Brazier is a professor of Earth Surface Processes and the lead author of the study.

“It is of serious concern that we observe such high rates of soil loss from agricultural land, which are well in excess of soil formation rates,” said Professor Brazier. 

“However, we are heartened to discover that beaver dams can go a long way to mitigate this soil loss and also trap pollutants which lead to the degradation of our water bodies.”

“Were beaver dams to be commonplace in the landscape we would no doubt see these effects delivering multiple benefits across whole ecosystems, as they do elsewhere around the world.”


Devon Wildlife Trust has also been conducting a second project that is focused on wild beavers in the River Otter. Peter Burgess is the Director of Conservation and Development at the wildlife charity.


“Our partnership with Exeter University working on both our fenced and unfenced beaver trials is revealing information which shows the critical role beavers can play, not only for wildlife, but the future sustainability of our land and water,” said Burgess. “It is truly inspiring to have our observations confirmed by detailed scientific investigations.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10969837">Earth Processes and Landforms</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer
Image Credit: Michael Symes/Devon Wildlife Trust

Beavers help reduce water pollution and soil erosion

Scientists at the University of Exeter are reporting that beavers...

According to 26 experts from 21 scientific institutions, drastic changes in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/image/coastlines-of-the-southern-baltic-sea/">Baltic Sea</a> could be used as in invaluable model for predicting upcoming changes to oceans across the globe.

Professor Thorsten Reusch from the <a href="https://www.geomar.de/en/">GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel</a> is one of the study's lead authors.

“This unique sea of brackish water can serve as a kind of time machine that allows us to better estimate future global changes," said Professor Reusch.

The scientists have found that anticipated future changes in the ocean can already be observed in the Baltic Sea today. 

“This is because the small volume of water and slow water exchange with the open ocean, behaves like an amplifier, allowing many processes and interactions to occur at a faster pace,” explained co-lead author Dr. Jan Dierking.


Oceans have warmed by an average of 0.5 degrees Celsius over the past 30 years. Meanwhile, water temperatures in the Baltic Sea have warmed by around 1.5 degrees Celsius during the same time frame.

Dead zones, or areas deprived of oxygen, have become ten times more prevalent in the Baltic Sea over the last century, and ocean acidification has reached a level that is expected to develop in other ocean regions over the next century.

The basin topography of the sea contributes to these extremes, but the negative changes can also be attributed to human activities. 

The Baltic Sea extends along the borders of nine countries, all of which are highly industrialized with densely populated coastal regions. The conditions of the sea are heavily influenced by high nutrient runoff resulting from agricultural activities and also by pressure from the commercial fishing industry.


The Baltic Sea is one of the best-surveyed seas on Earth, with scientific records of physical and biological processes that date back to around 1900. A tradition of scientific collaboration across many neighboring countries has led to the development of the Baltic Sea research program <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-09-1648_en.htm?locale=en">BONUS</a> by the European Union.

Data provided by the program provides a strong foundation for science-based resource management “on a level accomplished in only a few regions of the world,” according to Dr. Reusch. As a result, bordering countries have managed to curb overfishing, reduce nutrient runoff, and reverse the decline of large predators.

“Overfishing, warming, acidification, pollution, eutrophication, loss of oxygen, intensive use of coasts--all these are phenomena that we observe around the globe,” said Professor Reusch. “Because they have been particularly drastic in the Baltic, but also because some key problems were successfully addressed, the region can, for good and for bad, tell us what to expect and how to respond to the challenges of the future.”

“The Baltic Sea, as a model region, can contribute to achieving the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal 14--the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Changes in the Baltic Sea reflect future larger ocean changes

According to 26 experts from 21 scientific institutions, drastic changes...

In the last few years, research has emerged that has made many experts question whether <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-marine-protected-areas/">marine protected areas</a> (MPAs) will be effective in helping to preserve coral reefs. A new study in the eastern Caribbean is demonstrating that MPAs can, in fact, be successful in defending coral reefs from the harmful impacts of global climate change.

Robert Steneck is a professor of Marine Biology at <a href="https://umaine.edu/">The University of Maine</a> who has studied coral reefs for four decades.

“MPAs can help coral reefs, but studies to the contrary just weren't measuring the right things at the right scales,” said Steneck. 

“The idea behind MPAs is that, by reducing fishing pressure, you increase the number of seaweed-eating fish, and they decrease the amount of harmful seaweed, which makes it easier for baby corals to get started and thrive on the reef. But coral reefs are complicated, and lots of other things can affect fish numbers, their ability to control the growth of algae and the ability of corals to take advantage of this.”

The analysis was focused on reef protection efforts across over 400 miles of corals in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean. 

The study revealed that local fisheries management had led to a 62 percent increase in the density of young corals. According to the researchers, this density helps to empower the ecosystem to recover from destructive events such as hurricanes and coral bleaching.

Study co-author Professor Peter Mumby explained that, due to the fact that taking field measurements on coral reefs is time consuming, many researchers take shortcuts and use widely available data to examine how reefs respond to protection.

“While it sounds obvious, we show that our ability to detect the benefits of MPAs on corals improves dramatically when you take more detailed measurements,” said Professor Mumby. “For example, a simple option is to count the number of herbivorous fishes. But if, instead, you estimate how intensively these fishes feed, you obtain a much clearer and compelling insight.”

Professor Steneck pointed out that there is not one single management solution for every ecosystem, and especially not for coral reefs.

“Certainly, stresses on reef corals from climate and atmospheric changes are serious and beyond direct management control. However, we suggest that local management measures can bolster the recovery of corals after damaging events and, eventually, improve their overall condition.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@gmail.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Marine protected areas help coral reefs survive climate change

In the last few years, research has emerged that has...

An international team of researchers led by the <a href="https://le.ac.uk/">University of Leicester</a> has used the chemical analysis of tiny fossil shells to gain insight into the Earth's climate over half a billion years ago. The results of the study indicate that animals of this time diversified under atmospheric conditions that were similar to when the dinosaurs lived.

“Many marine animals incorporate chemical traces of seawater into their shells as they grow,” said study co-author Dr.Tom Harvey. “That chemical signature is often lost over geological time, so it's remarkable that we can identify it in such ancient fossils.”

During the Cambrian explosion around 541 million years ago, most of the major animal groups first emerged. It has been assumed that it was warm during the Cambrian Period due to the types of rock deposited at this time, but details of the climate have been relatively unknown.

The fossil record documented in the one-millimeter shells, which were found in limestone dating back around 515 million years, revealed that high latitude sea temperatures were in excess of 20 degrees Celsius. This is similar to the greenhouse climate of the Late Cretaceous Period.

“Because scientists cannot directly measure sea temperatures from half a billion years ago, they have to use proxy data - these are measurable quantities that respond in a predictable way to changing climate variables like temperature,” explained study co-author Thomas Hearing. “In this study, we used oxygen isotope ratios, which is a commonly used paleothermometer.”

“We then used acid to extract fossils about 1mm long from blocks of limestone from Shropshire, UK, dated to between 515 - 510 million years old. Careful examination of these tiny fossils revealed that some of them have exceptionally well-preserved shell chemistry which has not changed since they grew on the Cambrian sea floor.”

Climate model simulations also supported the finding that Earth's <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/eat-impacts-environment-climate-change/">climate</a> was in a “typical” greenhouse state, with temperatures similar to more recent intervals in Earth's climate history such as the late Mesozoic and early Cenozoic eras.

The research sheds new light on the early animals of the Cambrian Period and their surrounding environment.


“We hope that this approach can be used by other researchers to build up a clearer picture of ancient climates where conventional climate proxy data are not available,” said Hearing.


The study is published in the journal <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/">Science Advances</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: <a href="https://le.ac.uk/">University of Leicester</a>

Small shell fossils reveal Earth’s climate 500 million years ago

An international team of researchers led by the University of...

Lemurs can only be found in the forests of Madagascar – a large island off the east coast of Africa. These forests are becoming increasingly fragmented, placing almost all species of lemur at risk of extinction, which is further exacerbated by habitat loss on the island as well. 

Despite this threat, the independent effects of forest loss and forest fragmentation are not well understood. In an effort to determine the relative impact of these threats, researchers from the <a href="https://www.utoronto.ca/">University of Toronto</a> surveyed lemurs in fragmented dry deciduous forests in Ankarafantsika National Park in Madagascar.

Researchers Travis Steffens and Shawn Lehman observed six lemur species in 42 forest fragments. Using incidence function models, they examined whether the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/smarter-lemurs-friends/">lemurs</a> formed metapopulations – spatially-separated populations within a species – in a fragmented landscape and under different forest fragmentation conditions.

The results of the study, published in the open-access journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>, showed that three of the lemur species did form metapopulations in forest fragments. Both forest fragment size and isolation affected the occurrence of these metapopulations. Although both were factors, it appears that fragment size is actually the most important of the two in determining lemur occurrence, and larger forest patches are associated with increased lemur occurrence.

“Some lemur species are capable of tolerating high levels of habitat loss and fragmentation by forming metapopulations,” says Steffens. “In metapopulations occurrence probability is positively related to habitat area for each species while isolation has species-specific positive, negative and neutral impacts on occurrence probability.”

This research helps scientists determine how lemurs are responding to the increasing forest fragmentation. The study’s authors believe that using the metapopulation approach for studying lemurs could be helpful for future research. Furthermore, maintenance of this habitat area will likely be critical to protecting lemur populations on Madagascar. 

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Travis S. Steffens

Lemur populations threatened by increasing forest fragmentation

Lemurs can only be found in the forests of Madagascar...

Based on over 30 years of documentation, a team of experts is reporting that wild species which rapidly adapt to human activities are in jeopardy. The researchers found that when human practices suddenly change, dependent species can disappear.

In 1993, the research team theorized that a large population of North American butterfly would become locally extinct after being introduced to a European weed that the species had grown to rely on. Just as the experts predicted, the butterflies vanished when humans no longer made the plant available to them.

The rise of cattle ranching more than 100 years ago set this eco-evolutionary trap into motion, and biologists believe that this process is the underlying cause of many local <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/farming-hunting-birds-extinction/">extinctions</a> across Europe.

The current investigation was focused on changes in the diet of Edith's checkerspot, Euphydryas editha, in a spring-fed meadow on a ranch in Nevada. 

The narrow-leaved plantain, which was introduced to the United States in hay brought from Europe, likely arrived in Nevada 100 years ago and has thrived alongside cattle-grazing.


Butterflies discovered right away that their caterpillars survived better on the plantain compared to their traditional host, Collinsia parviflora. By around 2005, the butterflies had become completely dependent upon the plantain.

When the cattle were removed, the plantains became embedded in the grasses that were no longer being grazed and the butterflies soon disappeared.


The Collinsia was unaffected by the removal of the cattle, which means the butterflies could have survived if they had not evolved so rapidly in response to the introduction of the plantain.

Around five years after the extinction, Edith's checkerspots recolonized the meadow and were all found feeding on Collinsia. Scientists believe this colony represents a new population, and that the previous lineage of butterflies no longer exists.

Study lead author Michael C. Singer is a professor at the <a href="https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/">University of Plymouth</a> who has been studying the diet of Edith's checkerspot for more than 50 years.

“This is a clear example of how humans are able to change habitats faster than even rapidly-evolving species can change their behavior. This cannot be not an isolated phenomenon, so unless we become aware of the potential consequences of such actions we will continue to inadvertently cause population extinctions of native species, without recognizing what we are doing. Species-level extinctions are possible when human activities are synchronized across wide areas.”

Study co-author Camille Parmesan is a lead contributor to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intergovernmental_Panel_on_Climate_Change">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a>. She explained that the findings of the study have implications beyond the scope of changes to farming practices.

“Climate warming is another form of anthropogenic change that is occurring faster than past natural changes, and is likely to cause problems for species whose evolution is unable to keep pace. If climate change were natural, it is likely that many wild species would be able to adapt, both through current evolution and through flexible changes in behaviour and life history. But human-driven climate change is occurring at a much faster rate than most past major climatic shifts.”

“Ecologists have long been arguing that this is likely to lead to more extinctions than have happened with past climatic changes and this study supports the arguments that rapid climate change will prove detrimental to biodiversity both in the short and long term.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Michael C. Singer/<a href="https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/">University of Plymouth</a>

Wild species go extinct after fighting to adapt to human changes

Based on over 30 years of documentation, a team of...

The Copper Canyon region of Chihuahua, Mexico is steeped in legends and mystery.  The area is known for the Rarámuri, a group of indigenous people also known incorrectly as the Tarahumara (Rarámuri means “People of the swiftly running feet”).  The name Tarahumara was given by the Spanish, whose conquistadors never conquered the Rarámuri and whose Jesuits never fully converted them.

I first learned about the Rarámuri through the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall, which details their culture of distance running.  The Rarámuri were also the first people to eat the now popular ‘super food’ Chia seeds.  Driving through the country around the town of Creel, Chihuahua, you can see women in brightly colored traditional dresses herding goats or men walking along the road in cowboy hats, western shirts and jeans but also wearing traditional Rarámuri sandals soled with used tires.

Many of the Rarámuri still move with their livestock from summer to winter pastures, and many of them live in traditional cave/cliff dwellings as they have since pre-Columbian times.  That said, there are obvious modernizations, and riding our bikes past the Rarámuri cabins, we spotted satellite dishes and power lines running to houses. 

All told, the Barranca del Cobre (Copper Canyon) region is a system of six separate canyons in a canyon system that all together dwarfs the more famous Grand Canyon of Arizona.  The Grand Canyon is still bigger than any of the individual canyons alone, but the canyon region makes up almost a third of Chihuahua, Mexico’s largest state at 25,000 square miles.  

The first place we stopped to visit in the Sierra Madre Occidental range was Parque Nacional Cascada de Basaseachic (Basaseachic Falls National Park).  This is Mexico’s highest year round waterfall, made by the Basaseachic River emptying into Barranca de Candameña (Candameña Canyon). The name ‘Basaseachic’ comes from Rarámuri and means ‘place of the waterfall’ an apt name.  Today, Basaseachic Waterfall National Park is one of the most popular attractions in the state of Chihuahua. 

The rock of the area is mainly volcanic andesite and rhyolites ranging from 20 to 140 million years old.  These rocks were forced up and eroded over time, creating a maze of canyons carved by different rivers. The differences in height create different microhabitats as you ascend the mountains or descend the canyons, making the whole area a biodiversity hotspot.  From the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cacti-birds-sonoran-desert/">Sonoran Desert</a>, the mountains rise creating habitat for Ponderosa, Pino Triste, maple trees collected into forests starkly different from the cacti lands to the west. The bottom of canyons are also more similar to the deserts surrounding the western Sierra Madre, and a rise in elevation as you climb toward the canyon rim mimics an ascent into mountains.  

As we were driving from Cascada de Basaseachic towards the town of Creel deeper into the Sierra Madre, we saw the flash of a brightly colored bird crossing the road in front of us.  We saw red, green, a dark brown or black in the feathers. We couldn’t immediately identify the bird but looking it up later, it was unmistakably the Mexican Trogon, (Trogon mexicanus).  

The Trogon we saw looks unbelievably exotic, and it is for us in the United States.  The Mexican Trogon as the name implies, is found in the Highlands of Mexico but also at high elevations in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.  The Trogon is just one of at least three hundred species of birds found in the Copper Canyon region. Along with the exotic Trogon, we’ve also seen the common American Robin, (Turdus migratorius) flying near Violet Crowned hummingbirds, (Amazilia violiceps).  The bizarre mix of northern, southern, low and high elevation biology is best summed up by the fact that here you can see Thick-Billed Parrots (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha) nesting in Quaking Aspen trees that you can also find in the mountains of Colorado.  The Thick-Billed Parrot is the only parrot native to North America to survive extinction and once also lived in Arizona and New Mexico.  Reintroductions of the Thick-Billed Parrot into Arizona in the 1980s failed, due to predation from raptors. 

Near Creel we visited Valle de los Monjes (Valley of the Monks), which is perhaps more fairly known by the name the Rarámuri gave it, Valle Bisabirachi (Valley of the erect penises).  The valley is filled with strange towering monoliths of stone. There are differing legends connecting to the valley and its odd rock towers, some say that the stones are monks petrified after long meditation.  Others say the phallic shapes of the stones grant fertility or that the stones are the forms of sleeping pagan gods. The interesting rock formations are actually made from tuff. Tuff is a stone formed by volcanic ash, in Valle Bisabirachi the ash settled and hardened into rock that was then shaped and weathered through time into fantastical shapes.  The rocks here emphasize the volcanic history of the western Sierra Madre, that the whole area is in fact a volcanic plateau. Walking through the valley I saw bolts for climbing routes, both sport routes and top roping anchors, and it made me wish I had climbing gear with me. 

Near Valle Bisabirachi, there is also Valle de los Ranos with other formations, this time named whimsically for frogs.  The formations were caused by the same forces as Valle Bisabirachi

We camped for days near Lake Arareco, where you pay only a small entrance fee for multiple day camping.  From the lake it’s a short trip to visit different valleys, a waterfall or just explore the forest. The forest in this area is classified as Sierra Madre Occidental Pine-Oak forest.  At the elevation around the lake it’s primarily a pine forest, if we dropped down in elevation the forest would change becoming more of an oak dominated grassland. 

So far, ecotourism has all the appearances of working well for the Rarámuri of the area; locals collect fees to camp by the lake or enter valleys.  In the town of Creel there are guides for any conceivable outdoor activity from riding horses to biking or hiking and there are plenty of shops selling local artisans wares.  

There are also small signs of future conflicts. For rent in Creel are ATVs and SUVs, vehicles that don’t always do so well sharing the roads with mountain bikers or indigenous trail runners.  The ancient Sierra Madre Occidental of legend is slowly meeting the realities of the 21st century, and it’s unsure what that means yet.                                               

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

The remarkable Rarámuri people of Copper Canyon, Mexico

The Copper Canyon region of Chihuahua, Mexico is steeped in...

A new study from the <a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">University of California, Davis</a> published in the journal Theoretical Ecology has made a surprising discovery regarding the impacts of El Niño events on seabirds.

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/el-nino-impact-crops/">El Niño</a> and La Niña are weather oscillations that occur every two to seven years. El Niños bring about unusually warm ocean temperatures, poor ocean productivity and sometimes severe weather events. 

 La Niña, on the other hand, causes cooler ocean temperatures and more favorable conditions. 

Throughout the Earth’s history, periods of El Niño have occurred more and less frequently than what we are seeing today. Climate change’s impact could either increase the frequency of these weather oscillations or slow them down. 

UC Davis researchers wanted to better understand how changes in El Niño frequency would affect the Brandt's cormorant, a seabird that is especially sensitive to changes in its environment. 

“We expected that if you increased the frequency of El Niños it would have a negative impact on the population,” said Annie Schmidt, the lead author of the study. “It turns out it was exactly the opposite.”

For the study, the researchers used a population model that calculated the seabirds’ sensitivity to frequency changes in El Niño and La Niña. 

The models showed that if El Niño events occurred twice as often than what we see now, it would increase populations and reduce the risk of extinction for Brandt's cormorants. 

The reason the birds would benefit is that even though El Niño does not bring ideal climate conditions, the increase in La Niña would give the birds more time to recover from the inclement periods. 

Conversely, the researchers found that if climate change reduced El Niño frequency it would have a negative impact on the cormorant populations. 

“If we speed things up, then we'll get shorter bad and shorter good periods," said Louis Botsford, a co-author of the study. “If we slow things down, we get longer good and longer bad periods. The latter is not good for this population because populations are driven to low levels and go extinct when you hold them down for long periods of time.”

The results don't just apply to Brandt's cormorants, as the researchers say that other marine species and seabirds with longer lifespans could be similarly affected. 

The researchers do note that although the results indicate that some species might benefit from an increase in El Niño frequency, it doesn’t necessarily mean that climate change will increase populations. 

How climate change will impact El Niño is still unknown, but this study emphasizes the importance of understanding how species will be affected by all aspects of climate change including changes in weather oscillations. 

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Annie Schmidt/<a href="https://www.ucdavis.edu/">UC Davis</a>

More frequent El Niños would actually benefit some seabirds

A new study from the University of California, Davis published...

Millions of years ago, the Earth underwent a period of climate change that sent temperatures plummeting, prompting an era known as Snowball Earth. Now, a new study about this period calls into question our understanding of the Earth’s geological history and contradicts the well-established theory that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tectonic-plates-less-stable/">plate tectonics</a> started three billion years ago.

Instead, researchers from the <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/">University of Texas (UT) at Austin </a>and <a href="https://www.utdallas.edu/">UT Dallas</a> hypothesize that the start of plate tectonics created Snowball Earth, when the Earth was covered in snow and ice during the Neoproterozoic period 542 million to 1 billion years ago.

“People have been saying for a long time that we have always had plate tectonics...but I think this might be a failure of imagination,” said Robert Stern, a co-author of the study.

Stern worked with Nathaniel Miller and their findings were published in the in the journal Terra Nova.

The two researchers collected and analyzed published data on the geological activity during the Neoproterozoic era and realized there was a potential connection between the start of plate tectonic activity and snowball Earth.

“If you look at the preserved record, diagnostic evidence for modern plate tectonics involving deep subduction is mainly Neoproterozoic and younger,” said Miller. “But most people think we had this much earlier in Earth history.”

The Earth is the only planet that we know of to have plate tectonics. Our planet’s crust and upper mantle are made up of different pieces and when these sections move, they create enormous amounts of energy and friction creating volcanoes and earthquakes.

Plate tectonics shape our world and until now, it was believed that the Earth’s plates have been active for three billion of the planet’s 4.5 billion-year history.

Stern and Miller disagree with this theory, as their research shows a variety of evidence in the geological record that corroborates the hypothesis that tectonics only started their activity in the Neoproterozoic.

First, before the Neoproterozoic era, there was a lack of any geological activity, a period that researchers have nicknamed the “the boring billion.”

Stern and Miller think this indicates that before the Neoproterozoic, the Earth was covered by a single lithospheric lid and the transition to moving plates created the major changes in climate that brought about a cooling period.

“This climate crisis could have been caused by a number of proximal causes, but the overall great cause was this revolution in Earth's tectonic style,” said Stern.

The researchers also cite that many rock formations, gemstones and chemical signatures associated with plate tectonics only date as far back as the Neoproterozoic.

22 different methods for how plate tectonics could have caused snowball Earth were proposed in the paper.

For instance, volcanic activity could have released large amounts sulfur into the atmosphere thereby creating a cooling effect. Another possibility is that when the plates first started shifting, it changed the Earth’s rotational axis.

Stern and Miller’s hypothesis is controversial and the two authors say that more research is required to prove that tectonic activity started later in the Earth’s geological history than thought.

“Revolutions in our field don't happen often or very easily,” said Stern. “You plant ideas and then you go and look for more data that either supports them or refutes them.”

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com </a>Staff Writer 

Image Credit: <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a>/Space Science Institute

Snowball Earth may have been triggered by early tectonic activity

Millions of years ago, the Earth underwent a period of...

An isthmus of water cutting a sliver of land from the main body of Mexico; the Sea of Cortez, otherwise known as the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rampant-overfishing-gulf-california/">Gulf of California</a>, holds more mystique in my mind than most marine waters.  From the small fishing and laid back tourism town of Bahía de Kino (Kino Bay) where I’m writing this article, you can see clearly the Isla Alcatraz, a small island also known as Isla de Pelicanos (Pelican Island), not the more sinister island home of the US prison.  Further to the north, just a bit hazy looms Mexico’s largest island, Isla Del Tiburón (Shark Island). Tiburón is the traditional home of the Seri people but depopulated in 1963 when the island was made into a nature reserve.

Sitting where I am now, I can watch fishermen in small boats, some with outboard motors and some with only oars dropping nets.  The nets bob in the water buoyed up with floats made of nothing more than old plastic bottles and other buoyant flotsam of industry.  Brown Pelicans, gulls and frigate birds share air, sand and water with Neotropical Cormorants, sand pipers and others. Sea shells liter the sand and dead fish occasionally wash up to the joy of the gulls fighting over the tasty morsels.  Platforms adorn many powerline poles near the beach and are taken up by Osprey that fish near the small dock by the Marina Authority office.

Prescott College of Arizona has a field station located in Bahía de Kino and surveyed Isla Alcatraz, finding that 13 bird species nest there.  41 species of terrestrial plants grow on Alcatraz, sea lions bask on the island along with the largest colony of Double Crested Cormorant in the Sea of Cortez.

Isla Del Tiburón is now managed in cooperation with the Seri people who gained control of the island in 1975.  The Seri people maintain exclusive fishing rights for the Infiernillo Channel between Tiburón and the mainland.  The Seri live in a small village just up a rough, 4WD only road from Bahía de Kino at Puente Chueca, population 520, according to a Mexican census of 2010.  The name Seri is of uncertain origin but they call themselves, Comcaac. The Seri language is not related to any of the native languages of the area and so they remain linguistically isolated.  The Seri are known for maintaining their culture despite contact with Spanish and traditional Mexican cultures and attempts of genocide. 

Infiernillo channel is only 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) of water separating Tiburón from the Seri village at Puente Chueca but is named for notoriously rough water and treacherous tides.  

Tiburón itself is home to Bighorn Sheep introduced in the 1970s, and a quick Google image search shows that they’re in popular demand as hunting trophies.  A permit to hunt a bighorn on Tiburón is costly at roughly the equivalent of $100,000 US dollars. My fiancé and I, not being hunters but being birders, and generally interested in remote places and wildlife thought we’d arrange to visit Tiburón.  It wasn’t exceptionally hard to find someone willing to take us to Tiburón for a price, even with our limited Spanish. Asking at the Marina Authority office next to the one dock in town lead us to a restaurant next to the Marina where we asked about the panga (type of boat) Adon.  

The people in the restaurant were easy to deal with, asking us details of what type of trip to Tiburón we wanted and accommodating our attempts at communicating. In the end, we were quoted a trip for 4 to 6 hours on the island for $400 US dollars for two. The price was more than we could easily pay and so we deferred a visit to Tiburón to a future visit to the area.  High prices can keep a place less visited and more remote, perhaps more wild. There are no permanent residents on Tiburón, only old buildings of an abandoned hunting camp and a military base to protect the island and its biodiversity. 

Throughout the Sea of Cortez there are over 240 islands, which were created through several volcanic episodes.  The Sea of Cortez itself was created by the San Andreas fault tearing a chunk of land from the mainland of Mexico, allowing the sea to rush in.  Currently the Baja peninsula is moving away from the mainland at a pace of 4 cm per year.

The islands have evolved a rich diversity of endemism.  Tiburon Island itself is home to a subspecies of coyote (Canis latrans jamesi) found only there.  There is a species of chuckwalla, the San Esteban Chuckwalla (Sauromalus varius), found only on San Esteban Island in the sea of Cortez.  The Seri once moved some of the San Esteban Chuckwallas to other islands as a food source but none of these transplants took and they remain only on San Esteban.  As is often the case with island species, the San Esteban Chuckwalla is three to four times the size of mainland species. In the early 2000s reptile enthusiasts wanting a Chuckwalla the size of those on San Esteban that could legally be owned, repeated the failed introductions of the Seri people on other islands.   

One of the strangest species endemic to an island in the Sea of Cortez is one I once wrote a paper on as an undergraduate studying biology in college.  Crotalus catalinensis, is a contradiction in terms, the Catalina Rattlesnake is a rattle-less rattlesnake.  When most rattlesnakes shed their skin, they grow a new segment of rattle, the Catalina Rattlesnake instead loses the small degenerate rattle ‘button’ when it sheds its skin.  Most scientists believed that the loss of rattles in the Catalina species is an adaptation to hunting birds in trees. Indeed the small size of the snake allows it to be a better climber than most species of its genus.  Newer research has shown that C. Catalinensis subsists mainly on a diet of small mammals and only occasionally climbs trees.  It seems likely that the snake lost its rattles simply because there were few animals threatening to step on it to be warned off.  The Catalina Rattlesnake has also been observed more often in the open, slower to hide than mainland species. 

The islands of the Sea of Cortez are stark spots of desert in a dazzling azure setting, a paradise for kayaking, snorkeling and bird watching.  All taken together, the islands host 115 species of reptiles, representing 10% of the reptile species of Mexico. The rare Vaquita, Orcas, Dolphins, Sperm Whales and California Sea Lions are among the 36 species of marine mammals that can be seen in the Sea of Cortez.  181 species of sea bird live at least part of their lives over and in these waters, approximately 50% of which are migratory. As it is, only 5% of the Sea of Cortez is legally protected, including all the major islands. 

Walking through towns like Bahía de Kino, it’s obvious the importance of fishing to the locals.  Small fishing vessels are common in Kino Viejo, the old part of town. Along the beach and in the blocks behind it, boats are common yard ornaments, and seafood stores line the street.  Restaurants and street food vendors mostly sell seafood from shrimp tacos to fillets of Marlin at dirt cheap prices. You can buy oysters in the shell from a cart or octopus served on Tostitos from a small outdoor shop on the beach.  

Sea food is also omnipresent in Puerto Peñasco, a settlement further north in the Sea of Cortez.  The difference is that in Puerto Peñasco large condo complexes five, six, even ten stories high also front the beach.  Billboards in perfect English featuring white Americans selling real estate are hard to miss in Puerto Peñasco. While it’s true that there are condos and hotels in Bahia de Kino as well, it’s also true that most of the real estate ads are in Spanish and the condos are mostly three stories are less.  The gringos pouring into Puerto Peñasco also give the place an entirely different feel. There is a restaurant called Frenchie’s decorated with a Canadian maple leaf and featuring an English menu devoid of sea food. There are hordes of ATVs for rent, roaring over parts of the beach and kicking sand into the air.  As the closest ocean stop to Arizona, Puerto Peñasco is an obvious place to party next to the ocean and get drunk on half priced Margaritas. 

Overfishing has cost the Sea of Cortez and it will never be what it once was.  The Vaquita, a small and adorable porpoise, endemic to the Sea of Cortez has an estimated <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/vaquitas-go-extinct-year/">population</a> of only 60 individuals, where there once were 500.  The culprit is gill nets used to catch the Totoaba. The Totoaba is the only species in the genus Totoaba, a large fish growing up to two meters in length and is endemic to the Sea of Cortez.  The Totoaba was intensively fished for its bladder which was sold as a pricey delicacy in China. The Totoaba is itself threatened by fishing. 

Walking the streets of fishing villages of Mexico, looking at small huddles of plain cinder block homes set in patches of dirt amid a harsh desert, I ponder the problem.  Walking south past the humble houses of fishermen, there is a new water park within a stone’s throw of the ocean, not far from an Estuary known for its birds. The waterpark stands empty as I look at it and I wonder who will use it.  Across a parking lot is a restaurant empty except for a handful of Americans, an later Mexicans arrive in a large, expensive looking white Denali. I sit with my fiancé as we eat Choco flan and sip mixed drinks, talking and looking out at the ocean below the restaurant windows.  From where I sit, it becomes increasingly difficult to blame the local fishermen in their small boats, with nets buoyed up with old plastic bottles. If I think about the problems in the Sea of Cortez my own position becomes increasingly uncomfortable. Why am I here and if more people like me continue to come, what does that mean for this special sea and it’s strange little islands?                     

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Behind the beauty and mystique of the Sea of Cortez

An isthmus of water cutting a sliver of land from...

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing it with probiotics and prebiotics, aiming to create a treat that satisfies cravings while supporting gut health. 



The challenge lies in maintaining chocolate's beloved texture and flavor while adding health benefits.



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https://youtu.be/Ug657J67iEo?si=w96YjGMsg939LD_3
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Probiotics - beneficial microbes that balance gut bacteria and aid digestion - are typically fragile and can be destroyed by stomach acid or processing. 



Prebiotics act as food for these microbes, helping them thrive. Together, they form "synbiotics," a powerful health combination.



Researchers Smriti Gaur and Shubhi Singh from India's Jaypee Institute of Information Technology took an innovative approach, using natural prebiotics like corn and honey instead of complex processing methods. 



They created five chocolate varieties: a control and four synbiotic versions containing different combinations of prebiotics, probiotics (Lactobacillus strains), and flavor enhancers (cinnamon or orange).



Laboratory simulations of human digestion showed the probiotics remained viable for over five hours, suggesting they could survive long enough to benefit gut health.



Taste tests were positive, with researchers particularly enjoying the orange-flavored variety, describing it as having "vibrant citrus notes" complementing the "rich cocoa" with a "luxurious" texture.



This research represents just the beginning. With further refinement of strains, textures, and flavors, chocolate could evolve beyond mere indulgence to become a functional food that nourishes while it delights.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00741" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ACS Food Science &amp; Technology</a>.

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing...

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.igb.illinois.edu/">Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology</a> reveals how scientists can modify common crops like soybean, rice, and wheat to protect them from heat stress.



“We need to double crop production by 2050 to feed a growing global population, and not only are we not on track to do that, but climate change is further complicating things,” said Amanda Cavanagh, a lecturer at the University of Essex. 



The study is part of Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), an international research project that aims to develop food crops that turn the sun’s energy into food more efficiently.



“Using an engineering approach we designed multiple alternative metabolic pathways to photorespiration. Testing them in the field showed increases in productivity which led Amanda to significantly move the project forward by showing our engineered plants can withstand pretty extreme temperature stress,” said study co-author and RIPE researcher Paul South.&nbsp;



“As the climate changes and temperature stresses increase the pressure on our global food supply, farmers will need every tool available including engineering approaches like the synthetic biology used here to maintain safe and productive harvests.”



The experts tested plants modified to have more efficient photorespiration to see if they were better adapted to warmer temperatures.&nbsp;



The team found that the engineered plants produced 26 percent more biomass than the wild-type plants exposed to the same temperatures, and had 15 percent less yield loss under the higher temperatures.



Video Credit: Amanda Nguyen/University of Illinois



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Designing crops that can beat the heat

[sendtonews key="QGPzYnXEtN-1712599-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from Carl...

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes the first comprehensive estimate of carbon density in the Saharan, Sahel, and Sudanian zones of Africa. In an effort to measure the amount of carbon stored across these drylands, a team of scientists used high-resolution satellite images and artificial intelligence to map nearly 10 billion individual trees. 



"The high spatial resolution (50 cm) combined with AI and field measurements used in this study is key to improving tree inventories in drylands," said Pierre Hiernaux, a French researcher working for NASA. "The ever-increasing availability of very high-resolution satellite imagery will make it possible to assess carbon pools and their dynamics at the individual tree level on a global scale."



"This study is exceptional because it is pioneering a type of approach that will revolutionize the monitoring of trees and forests on a global scale: in the short term, it will be possible to map the world's trees from the centre of the Amazon to our schoolyards," said <a href="https://www.inrae.fr/en">INRAE</a> researcher Jean-Pierre Wigneron.



"Many fields of application will become much more efficient and accurate, such as tracking carbon stocks, biodiversity, monitoring logging and protection against illegal forest degradation, in near real time.”



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Remote sensing will revolutionize the way we monitor trees

[sendtonews key="EjmSP20gQK-2593093-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features northwest Lesotho in South Africa.



According to ESA, Lesotho is the only nation in the world that lies completely above 1,000 m in elevation. The country is famous for its tall mountains and narrow valleys, and is known as Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky."



Out of a population of around two million people, about 80 percent live in rural areas. More than 75 percent of these people are engaged in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-have-a-global-impact-on-agriculture/">agriculture</a>, including rainfed cereal production and animal grazing.&nbsp;



ESA reports that the country’s agricultural system faces a growing number of issues, with climate-related vulnerabilities such as drought, floods and extreme temperatures occurring more frequently. 



Diamonds are amongst the minerals found in the mountains. Indeed, Lesotho can truly be called the Kingdom in the Sky. Beautiful, culturally rich, safe, affordable, and easily accessible from Durban and Johannesburg, mountainous Lesotho is a vastly underrated travel destination. the Kingdom of Lesotho (Sotho: 'Muso oa Lesotho) is an enclaved country in southern Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population of around 2 million.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 



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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> features a visual dataset of.methane emissions from wetlands across the globe. Atmospheric methane levels have reached record highs in recent years, and wetlands are a major source of these emissions.&nbsp;



"Methane is an important greenhouse gas that contributes substantially to global warming. On a molecule by molecule basis, methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main driver of warming," says NASA.



"Though human activities, including agriculture, oil and natural gas production and use, and waste disposal, collectively contribute the majority of methane to the atmosphere, about a third of total methane emissions comes from wetlands."&nbsp;



According to NASA, understanding methane emissions from wetlands and other natural sources is critically important for scientists and policymakers who are working to combat climate change by reducing emissions from human activities.



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Wetlands are a major source of methane emissions

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> reveals the evolution of the Columbia Glacier in southeastern Alaska. Columbia is among the fastest shrinking glaciers in the world, and the video documents its rapid retreat over the years.&nbsp;



Columbia Glacier is a large, multi-branched calving glacier that flows out of the Chugach Mountains to the Prince William Sound.&nbsp;



According to USGS, Columbia had a long history of stability prior to 1980, with a length 41 miles, and small, short-lived advances or retreats.



In the years since 1980, however, satellite images have captured Columbia’s alarming retreat. By using false-color images, scientists can distinguish between snow and ice, open water, vegetation, and rocky debris on the glacier’s surface.



The series of false-color images featured in today's video were acquired over the span of 35 years. You can see that by 2021, the glacier’s main branch had retreated about 15 miles from its initial position.



The Columbia Glacier has also lost more than 50 percent of its volume, mostly due to calving. <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/nasa-reveals-3d-visual-of-an-atmospheric-river/">NASA</a> reports that while climate change likely started the retreat, mechanical processes kept the disintegration going.



The NASA images are provided by Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon, Joshua Stevens, and Lauren Dauphin using data from Landsat satellites, from the U.S. Geological Survey, and data from MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite. The structure of Columbia’s moraine played a large role in the stability of the glacier before 1980. 



Like other tidewater glaciers, the Columbia built up a moraine over time, and the mixture of ice and rock functioned like a dam keeping out the sea. It was supported on one end by the shoreline and by the underwater terminal moraine at the other.



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/&nbsp; NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes how record-breaking heat expressed itself around the world in 2022.



Scientists have determined that 2022 was the 5th warmest year since 1880. Furthermore, the last nine consecutive years have been the warmest on record.



From devastating floods and wildfires to natural disasters like Hurricane Ian, 2022 showed us yet again how a warming climate affects people across the globe.&nbsp;



"As we look back at 20:22 and years past, we see that each year we better understand the challenges we face and how important it is to meet them," says NASA.



Video/ Image Credit: NASA Goddard



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2022 illustrated the consequences of a warming climate

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"] Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected...

Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> is focused on the melt ponds that emerge during the spring and summer on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.



"Melt ponds are vast pools of open water that form on both sea ice and ice sheets and are visible as turquoise-blue pools of water in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image," says ESA.



"When snow and ice melts atop glaciers, water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface. These melt ponds can speed up the melting of the surrounding ice since they greatly reduce the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight."



"This can create a positive feedback where an increasing number of melt ponds absorb more heat which causes ice cover to melt even faster."



According to ESA, Greenland has been hit with a late-season heatwave that began in early September. This caused the type of melt event that usually occurs in the middle of summer.



"In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now ‘inevitable’ even if the burning of fossil fuels were to halt overnight," says ESA. "Using satellite observations of Greenland ice loss and ice cap from 2000 to 2019, the team found the losses will lead to a minimum rise of 27 cm regardless of climate change."



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes how Earth is unique in our solar system for its ability to sustain liquid water on its surface. But now, the water cycle is shifting as the climate warms, and scientists must find ways to predict how these changes will affect water availability.



Overall, 96 percent of Earth's water is saltwater, and nearly all of freshwater is found in ice and groundwater. These sources of water are linked as it passes through solid, liquid and gas phases.



In a warmer climate, the water cycle will be transformed. It will be easier for water to evaporate and form clouds, and storms will become more frequent and intense. Some regions will get too much water, while others will be left without enough water. In addition, soil moisture will be lost - which threatens food security.



Scientists are using satellite data from over the last 40 years to track changes that are happening in the water cycle. This will ultimately help us prepare for extreme events and better manage our water resources, according to ESA.



Video Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Tracking changes in Earth's water cycle

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> features images of Saturn from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The photographs capture the start of the mysterious "spoke season" on Saturn - when unexplained features appear on its rings. 



According to NASA, both the cause of the spokes and their seasonal variability have yet to be fully explained by planetary scientists.



"Like Earth, Saturn is tilted on its axis and therefore has four seasons, though because of Saturn's much larger orbit, each season lasts approximately seven Earth years. Equinox occurs when the rings are tilted edge-on to the Sun," explains NASA.



"The spokes disappear when it is near summer or winter solstice on Saturn. (When the Sun appears to reach either its highest or lowest latitude in the northern or southern hemisphere of a planet.) As the autumnal equinox of Saturn's northern hemisphere on May 6, 2025, draws near, the spokes are expected to become increasingly prominent and observable."



Experts believe that the spokes may be a product of the planet's variable magnetic field. When magnetic fields interact with solar wind, an electrically charged environment is created. This phenomenon is visible on Earth as the northern lights.&nbsp;



"Scientists think that the smallest, dust-sized icy ring particles can become charged as well, which temporarily levitates those particles above the rest of the larger icy particles and boulders in the rings," says NASA.



The spokes were first observed in the early 1980s by NASA's Voyager mission. Depending on the angle of the rings, the spokes can appear dark or light.



"Thanks to Hubble's OPAL program, which is building an archive of data on the outer solar system planets, we will have longer dedicated time to study Saturn’s spokes this season than ever before," said NASA senior planetary scientist Amy Simon, head of the Hubble Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program.



"Despite years of excellent observations by the Cassini mission, the precise beginning and duration of the spoke season is still unpredictable, rather like predicting the first storm during hurricane season."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Mysterious "spoke season" captured on Saturn

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="http://www.ntu.edu.sg/">NTU Singapore</a> reveals that some plants can remove toxic heavy metals from soil.&nbsp;



The researchers analyzed samples of various tropical plant species to test for levels of heavy metals and metalloids. The study showed that there are existing plants with high levels of these contaminants, which means that these species are great candidates for drawing pollutants out of the soil.&nbsp;



Among the plants examined in the study, 12 species had accumulated several types of heavy metals and metalloids. These plants are widely available, including species that are native to Singapore.



“In a small nation like Singapore, land may be repurposed to support new development plans, so it is important that we have a green and sustainable way to remediate land that is contaminated," said Professor Lam Yeng Ming.



"We set out to uncover how to better make use of tropical plants to do phytoremediation and through advanced characterization techniques, we showed how some of these tropical plant species can be an environmentally friendly and literally a 'green' way to remove contaminants in soil."&nbsp;



"Phytoremediation also has benefits of cost effectiveness, simplicity of management, aesthetic advantages, and long-term applicability and sustainability. The strategy prevents erosion and metal leaching by stabilizing or accumulating heavy metals, so that helps reduce the risk of contaminant spread.”



Video Credit: NTU Singapore



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Plants help remove heavy metals from contaminated soil

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes why herbicides are not as effective in killing weeds anymore. In the 20th century, chemical companies developed thousands of herbicides. The most commonly used herbicide was glyphosate, which was introduced in 1974.



Over the past few decades, dozens of species of weeds have evolved resistance to glyphosate. Depending on the site of action, the part of the plant that an herbicide interacts with, weeds may even be resistant to herbicides that have not been developed yet.&nbsp;



With increasing resistance to glyphosate and other herbicides, weeds are - once again - becoming a major concern for farmers.&nbsp;



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Weeds are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a> (JPL) describes a dust storm on Mars that was nearly twice the size of the United States. As the storm covered the southern hemisphere of the planet, some of NASA’s explorers had to delay their normal activities.



NASA’s Insight lander put itself in a "safe mode" for 11 days to conserve battery power because solar power was disrupted by the dust. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter postponed flights until conditions improved.



"A fleet of NASA orbiters monitor Martian dust storms like this one and serve as lifelines to Earth by relaying data from the rovers and lander on the ground back to the team. This includes the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, and Odyssey," reports JPL.



"Dust storms like this recent one start close to the ground and are spread by wind as they rise – warming the cold Martian atmosphere."



The images in the video were captured by NASA’s Curiosity as the dust rolled in. A fleet of orbiters monitored the dust storm from above, relaying data from Mars’ explorers back to scientists on Earth.



Video &amp; Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS



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NASA monitors giant dust storms on Mars

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="http://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. This strait provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.



Qeshm is separated from the Iranian coast by the Clarence Strait, also known as Khuran.&nbsp;The Hara Forest Protected Area is a network of shallow waterways and forest located between the island and the mainland. This protected region is home to sea turtles, snakes, and more than 150 species of migrating birds.



Qeshm is famous for its wide range of&nbsp;ecotourist&nbsp;attractions, such as the&nbsp;Hara marine forests. According to environmentalists, about 1.5 percent of the world birds and 25 percent of Iran's native <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/female-hummingbirds-avoid-sexual-harassment-by-looking-like-males/">birds</a> annually migrate to the forests, which are the first national geo park in Iran.



Tourists are also drawn to the island to see an age-old Portuguese&nbsp;fort, historic mosques, the&nbsp;Seyyed Mozaffar&nbsp;and&nbsp;Bibi Maryam&nbsp;shrines, and the "Valley of Stars."



The average temperature on the island is 81 degress and the region is often hot and humid. From June to August, the island is described as being oppressively hot. The ideal time to visit is during the winter season. 



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique.&nbsp;



"Inhambane Bay is a deep inlet into which the small Mutamba River flows," says ESA. "On one side of the bay lies the historical city of Inhambane, capital of the Inhambane Province, while the sister city of Maxixe, the economic capital of Inhambane, sits across from it. The province is the second largest grower of cashews, after Nampula, and it also produces coconut and citrus fruits."



The beaches of Barra and Tofo are popular with tourists. There are also coral reefs along the long coastline of Inhambane, making it an ideal destination for scuba diving and snorkeling.



"Mozambique’s extensive coastline heightens the country’s vulnerability to tropical cyclones that develop in the Indian Ocean as well as storm surge flooding," says ESA.



"More than half of the population lives in low lying coastal areas, putting communities at risk. Inhambane Bay was dangerously close to where Cyclone Idai made landfall in 2019 causing widespread destruction to the country."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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Inhambane Bay in southeast Mozambique

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency </a>&nbsp;features the Kangerlussuaq Glacier, one of the largest tidewater outlet glaciers in Greenland. The glacier is located on the east coast of the Greenland ice sheet.



As human-induced climate change continues to drive up temperatures, global ice loss is accelerating at an alarming rate. ESA reports that, over the past decade alone, 3.5 trillion tons of ice have melted from the Greenland ice sheet. This is enough to cover the UK with meltwater 15 meters deep.



Based on satellite imagery, researchers determined that Kangerlussuaq entered a new phase of rapid retreat and acceleration in 2017. In their study, published in <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2019.00123/full">Frontiers in Earth Science</a>,&nbsp; the experts report that the glacier's ice front is now at its most retreated position since the early 20th century.



"Given Kangerlussuaq’s previous impacts on both the magnitude and pattern of ice sheet wide mass loss, we predict that its new phase of retreat, acceleration and thinning will markedly enhance the south-east region’s contribution to increasing discharge from the ice sheet," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;&nbsp;



"More broadly, accurate forecasting of the ice sheet’s contribution to sea level rise will require a deeper understanding of, and responses to, these non-linear ice dynamic processes."



Video Credit: ESA



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Kangerlussuaq Glacier on the Greenland ice sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes the complex relationship between ocean and climate. ESA's Climate Change Initiative will help us understand how oceans influence the climate and how climate change is impacting the oceans.&nbsp;



"Earth’s oceans are huge heat stores, soaking up 93% of the excess heat from human activity over the past 70 years. Ocean currents redistribute heat around the planet, from the Equator to the poles. Where this ocean heat goes influences weather patterns and regional climate," explains ESA.



"As well as absorbing heat, oceans are a natural carbon sink, absorbing a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions from human activity. This has led to the acidification of ocean water, threating marine life."



The amount of heat and carbon dioxide soaked up by the ocean depends on specific variables, including phytoplankton, temperatures, waves, salinity, and ice cover. Satellites can be used to measure these variables from space.



"From their unique vantage point, satellites provide key information for understanding the complexities of our planet and monitoring environmental issues," says ESA.



Video Credit: ESA



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Ocean heat influences regional climate

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes the importance of monitoring the shape of the sea surface, which is constantly changing. These observations have many applications, such as ship routing, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-modem-ocean-is-a-tough-place-for-whales-to-survive/">ocean</a> current forecasting, and debris tracking.



"A project supported by the Discovery element of ESA’s Basic Activities recently investigated a new technique to measure sea surface topography very precisely," reports ESA.



"The technique involves looking at satellite navigation (GNSS) signals that have been reflected off of the sea surface at very low angles. At these so-called grazing angles, waves and surface roughness have very little impact on the reflection process; the sea surface acts as a very smooth mirror."



Estel Cardellach is the principal investigator at the Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia, who first submitted the idea for the project.



“In a mirror-like reflection the phase of the signal can be tracked – it is continuous," said Cardellach. "Different surface heights result in different phase measurements. It gives a very precise measurement of the surface altitude at a few centimetres’ precision.”



The researchers developed a GNSS receiver and set up an experiment in the Balaeric Islands to collect signals from the receiver that were reflected off the sea surface. Ultimately, these signals will provide improved measurements of the shape of the sea surface.



Image/ Video Credit: ESA



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Monitoring the dynamic shape of the sea surface

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