Organic soybean producers can be competitive using little or no tillage

by Pennsylvania State University

Cereal rye shown here is being mechanically terminated with a roller-crimper in an organic no-till soybean system. Researchers compared tillage-based soybean production with reduced-tillage soybean production. Credit: John Wallace/Penn State

Organic soybean producers using no-till and reduced-tillage production methods that incorporate cover crops—strategies that protect soil health and water quality—can achieve similar yields at competitive costs compared to tillage-based production.

That's the conclusion of a new study by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. These findings are significant, according to lead researcher John Wallace, assistant professor of weed science, because they may contribute to increased sustainable domestic production of organic soybeans.

The experiment, which focused on finding ways to reduce the intensity or frequency of tillage or soil disturbance in organic field crop production systems, was conducted on certified organic land at Penn State's Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center. Researchers compared tillage-based soybean production preceded by a cover crop mixture interseeded into corn, with reduced-tillage soybean production preceded by a roller-crimped cereal rye cover crop that was sown after corn silage.

According to researchers, the reduced-tillage soybean sequence resulted in 50% less soil disturbance compared to the tillage-based soybean sequence across study years, promising substantial gains in water quality and soil conservation. In addition, budget comparisons showed that the reduced-tillage soybean sequence resulted in lower input costs than the tillage-based soybean sequence. However, the reduced-tillage system was about $46 per acre less profitable because of slightly lower average yields.

No-till soybeans emerging through roll-crimped cereal rye residue. Credit: john Wallace/Penn State

"Organic grain producers are interested in reducing tillage to conserve soil and decrease labor and fuel costs," Wallace said. "In our research, we examined agronomic and economic tradeoffs associated with alternative strategies for reducing tillage frequency and intensity in a cover crop-soybean sequence, within a corn-soybean-spelt organic cropping system."

Weeds are a serious problem for organic growers of field crops because growers are unable to kill them with herbicides. Significantly, researchers found that weed biomass did not differ between soybean-production strategies. That matters because tillage and cultivation are the primary methods used by organic producers to reduce weeds and other pests.

Tillage-based soybean production marginally increased grain yield by fewer than three bushels per acre compared with the reduced-tillage soybean system.

The study, recently published in Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, is the latest in a 15-year-long line of organic no-till research conducted in the College of Agricultural Sciences and led by William Curran, professor emeritus of weed science. Although he retired last year, Curran also participated in this study. Organic no-till field crop research continues at Penn State under the direction of Wallace and entomologist Mary Barbercheck.

No-till soybeans following high-residue cultivation, an integrated weed control tactic. Credit: John Wallace/Penn State

Finding ways to allow more domestic production of organic soybeans is a huge issue, Wallace contends, because more than 70% of the organic soybeans that feed organically produced poultry in the U.S. are imported. They primarily come from Turkey, India and Argentina.

"There have been many cases of fraudulent imports—crops that were not really produced organically—coming from some of those countries, and that's depressed the premiums that U.S. producers are getting because we're being flooded with these imports," Wallace said. "And they're driving down the prices that U.S. producers can get."

Wallace added that he'd like to help American organic growers, especially those in the Mid-Atlantic region, produce more soybeans using environmentally responsible no-till and reduced-tillage methods.Implementing no-till and cover crops in Texas cotton systems

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More information: John M. Wallace et al, Drill and broadcast establishment methods influence interseeded cover crop performance in organic corn, Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2020). DOI: 10.1017/S174217052000006X

Studies find link between belief in conspiracy theories and political engagement

by Universitaet Mainz

Some political movements, particularly those extremist in nature, are associated with belief in conspiracy theories. Antisemitic demagogues, for example, have long referred to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to support their cause, in effect using for their purposes a conspiracy theory that is still widely believed although it has long been known that the text itself is a literary forgery. However, the role that a belief in conspiracies actually plays in political extremism and the willingness to use physical force has to date been disputed by psychologists. Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have now investigated the possible link on the basis of two studies undertaken in Germany and the USA. The study subjects were asked to assume that the world is controlled by powerful secret societies. Faced with the prospect that practically all areas of society are dominated by such conspiratorial groups, the subjects declared themselves less willing to become involved in lawful political activities. Instead, they would resort to illegal, violent means.


Contradictory data on the political outlook of adherents of conspiracy theories

Researchers at the JGU Institute of Psychology had noticed that the views expressed by the specialists in this field differ widely on the relation between conspiracy beliefs and political engagement. On the one hand, it is postulated that conspiracy-based views could have a motivating influence and that the corresponding adherents are more likely to become actively involved in politics in order to bring about change. On the other hand, however, others propose that a belief in conspiracies tends to lead to disaffection and even withdrawal from politics.

The Mainz-based team headed by Professor Roland Imhoff decided to investigate this contradiction and examined whether and in what form there is a connection between belief in conspiracies and active political engagement. To this end, 138 study participants in Germany and 255 in the USA were asked to imagine three scenarios: They live in a society that is secretly governed by powerful groups, they live in a society in which it is possible that certain conspiracies exist, or they live in a society in which there is no real reason to suspect underhand machinations. They were then required to stipulate what sort of political stance they would take on the basis of 20 different suggestions. For example: "I would participate in an election by voting" or "I would try to influence the outcome of an election by hacking computers" or "I would carry out a violent attack on a person in a position of power".

The evaluation of the results showed how the apparent contradictions outlined above can be explained: There is a connection between the—in this case hypothetical—belief in conspiracy theories and the individual's political outlook, which when expressed in graph form produces an inverted U shape. This means that the willingness to engage in political activity reaches its peak among the mid-level adherents of conspiracy theories. Thereafter, the interest decreases again, especially when it comes to becoming actively engaged in legal means of political expression. Where there is an increasing conviction of being betrayed by the government, the tendency to resort to illegal, violent means increases. These tendencies were apparent in Germany as well as in the USA, although somewhat weaker in the US.

The results, as the authors write in their article in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, point to a real danger of conspiracy worldviews. "Once people are convinced of them, there is no need to pay allegiance to any form of social contract, as codified in laws and regulations or implicitly agreed on in forms of trust in epistemic authorities like quality media or university scientists." The social psychologists point out that there are clear limitations with regard to the two studies, most obviously with regard to the fact that the participants were asked to give hypothetical reactions to a hypothetical scenario. Thus, the conclusion that can be drawn is that belief in conspiracy theories may be associated with an attitude that assumes violent extremism to be an acceptable option.

Acceptance of an option will not necessarily result in concrete action

"We are by no means saying that belief in conspiracies leads to violent extremism," emphasized Professor Roland Imhoff. "Rather, what we are saying is that you might consider such an attitude acceptable even if as an outsider you put yourself in this world of thought." This is the first time that an experimental investigation has shown that political extremism and violence could be an almost logical could be an almost logical conclusion if one is convinced that secret conspiratorial powers control the world.


Explore further

Conspiracy beliefs could increase fringe political engagement, shows new study

More information: Roland Imhoff et al, Resolving the Puzzle of Conspiracy Worldview and Political Activism: Belief in Secret Plots Decreases Normative but Increases Nonnormative Political Engagement, Social Psychological and Personality Science (2020). DOI: 10.1177/1948550619896491

Journal information: Social Psychological and Personality Science

Provided by Universitaet Mainz 

Satellite data lays scale of methane leaks bare

by Patrick Galey

Using imaging data gathered by the European Space Agency's Sentinel 5-P monitoring mission, the study shows more than 100 "high-volume emission events" worldwide from gas storage and transmission facilities

Methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, is leaking from industry sites at rates equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of France and Germany combined, a new analysis using satellite data shows.

Using imaging data gathered by the European Space Agency's Sentinel-5P monitoring mission, the study shows more than 100 "high-volume emission events" worldwide from gas storage and transmission facilities.

These events alone emitted around 20 million tonnes of methane—the short-term equivalent to releasing 1.8 billion tonnes of carbon pollution.

"The good news is most of these are man-made and can easily be addressed through action by individual companies, governments and regulators," said Antoine Rostand, CEO of Kayrros, an asset observation platform that conducted the analysis.

The analysis showed methane plumes from just three oil and gas facilities in Algeria were emitting more than 25 tonnes of methane per hour—equivalent to the CO2 emissions from a 750 megawatt coal power plant.

While methane only stays in the atmosphere a fraction of the time that CO2 does, over a period of decades it is dozens of times more potent as a greenhouse gas.

Overall, greenhouse gas emissions from energy have risen globally nearly every year in the last decade, despite the 2015 Paris climate deal mandating their reduction.

The United Nations says that manmade emissions must decline 7.6 percent annually by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels—the more ambitious cap laid out in the Paris deal.

Claus Zehner, Sentinel-5P mission manager at ESA, said satellite monitoring of methane leaks could help industry "support the reduction of global emissions and slow down climate change".

The analysis has not been peer-reviewed but has been shared with the European Commission.

The International Energy Agency on Tuesday released its assessment of global methane emissions, which found that about 570 million tonnes are added to the atmosphere each year—around 60 percent of which comes from human activity.

"The ability to identify big leaks by satellite will not solve the challenge presented by methane emissions from oil and gas by itself," the IEA said.

"Tackling them requires companies to pursue and maintain high operational standards, and policy makers to put in place well-designed regulations."

Commenting on the Kayrros project, Gunnar Luderer and Nico Bauer, climate economists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, said that it may overestimate the warming impact of methane leaks.

"Still, however, the annual leakage of 20 Mt of methane from 100 point sources mostly in the energy industry is an astonishing loss that is worth further validation," they told AFP.

They said that the leaks alone were worth nearly two thirds of all natural gas use in France every year, with an industry impact of roughly four billion euros ($4.4 billion).

"Economists would expect that such leakage would be avoided for pure cost reasons," said Luderer and Bauer.

"In any case, regulatory intervention could lead to lower emissions with economic benefit."

Methane leak visible from space

In an African forest, a fight to save the endangered pangolin

by Camille Laffont

Heads up: Swiss scientist Maja Gudehus, rear, and a Pygmy tracker look for the elusive pangolin

The prehistoric shape is hard to make out as it moves slowly through the gloomy forest, so trackers listen for the rustle of scales against the leaves to pick up its trail.


Their target is the long-tailed pangolin—a little mammal also called the scaly anteater, which will be lucky to survive to the end of this century.

The harmless creature has no defence against predators apart from its small size and a camouflage of brown scales covering its body.

Today, the world's pangolin species are listed as either vulnerable or critically endangered.

The pangolin is considered the most-trafficked animal on the planet—the victim of mass poaching for bushmeat and sales of its scales, especially to China.

According to a study published in 2017 by the Conservation Letters journal, between 400,000 and 2.7 million of the animals are hunted each year in central African forests.

Their plight has leapt to worldwide prominence as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The microbe is believed to have leapt the species barrier in markets in China, where pangolins and other wild animals are killed for their meat.

After testing more than 1,000 samples from wild animals, scientists at the South China Agricultural University found the genome sequences of viruses found on pangolins to be 99 percent identical to those on coronavirus patients.

Anecdotal evidence from Gabon suggests that the bushmeat trade in pangolins has plummeted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic—but wildlife experts say it is too early to say whether this decline will last, and what impact this will have on the creatures' survival.

Pangolins in Asia, like this Formosan pangolin, are also under threat from the illegal trade

'No data exists'

The Dzanga-Sangha National Park, in the far southwest of the CAR, is the last sanctuary for animal life in a poor country ravaged by civil war. Its dense forest offers one of the world's few refuges for a species facing extinction.

In this haven, pangolin trackers have no interest in the creature' meat or taking the scales that sell at phenomenal prices in Chinese traditional medicine for their supposed therapeutic qualities—claims that are scientifically unproven and strongly contested.

Researcher Maja Gudehus is leading a team in Dzanga-Sangha to study pangolins in their natural habitat, the better to understand their ways and to protect them.


The project is unique in Africa. While their meat is prized, little is known about pangolins scientifically. Gudehus wants to unlock knowledge about their longevity, territory, food, life habits and reproductive cycle.

"Virtually no data exists about the long-tailed pangolin and not much more about the other African species," the Swiss scientist explained while watching her protege clamber in the branches overhead.

Pangolin defender: Swiss researcher Maja Gudehus

Helped by Pygmies

The animal is particularly easy to capture. When it senses danger, it curls up into a ball, which humans have but to pick up. But in captivity, it is one of the most difficult creatures to study.

"You can't keep them more than a few days. They don't eat, die from stress, gastritis, and other problems we don't know yet," Gudehus said.

The only solution is to monitor a few clearly identified specimens, with the help of Pygmies in the region. The knowledge of the Baka people, fine guides to the forest, is essential in tracking the fragile and fearful animals.

Of three creatures recently under observation, one has vanished and another was the victim of a hitherto unknown parasite.

"Normally one can tell when an animal is not well. But pangolins can die in half an hour without giving you time to notice," said Gudehus.

Gudehus uses whatever she can to provide necessary treatment. Her laboratory is also her home, a tiny shack besieged by vegetation, where scientific literature and boxes of medical supplies are packed in between her microscope and a camp bed

Bushmeat: A market stall in Libreville, the Gabonese capital, where pangolin and other wild animals are sold for food

Pangolin scales are bought for high prices in China, where they are supposed to have medicinal properties—a claim that has no scientific support

Rangers search a motorcycle taxi for pangolin scales or ammunition

'Difficult to follow'

"We used to see many pangolins," said Didon, one of the most respected Baka trackers in the region. "Today, they've become rare."

While all four African species of pangolin are present in the CAR and officially protected, the law is very hard to enforce. Two-thirds of the country are still in the hands of armed groups following a succession of conflicts.

"Unlike elephants, pangolins are very difficult to track, and it's rare to be able to arrest poachers in the act," said Luis Arranz, the national park representative of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

"We have to rely on seizures on the road and on our informers."

In the park's offices, Arranz opened a metal door to give an idea of the scale of trafficking. Crates on shelves are overflowing with scales that had been destined for the Chinese market. The collection is valued at several hundred thousand euros (dollars).

"Here, many people do that," said a local hunter, asking not to be named. "A pot of pangolin scales sells for about 30,000 CFA francs (46 euros / $50). If there was work here, people wouldn't hunt.

Pangolin sales plunge in Gabon over coronavirus fears

Journal information: Conservation Letters

Climate change may be making migration harder by shortening nightingales' wings

by American Ornithological Society 

New research shows that climate change may be affecting the wing shape of nightingales, making them less able to complete their annual migration. Credit: Javier de la Puente

The Common Nightingale, known for its beautiful song, breeds in Europe and parts of Asia and migrates to sub-Saharan Africa every winter. A new study published in The Auk: Ornithological Advances suggests that natural selection driven by climate change is causing these iconic birds to evolve shorter wings, which might make them less likely to survive their annual migration.

Complutense University of Madrid's Carolina Remacha and Javier Pérez-Tris and their colleagues analyzed twenty years of data on wing shape variation and survival in two populations of nightingales from central Spain. They found that nightingales' average wing length relative to their body size has decreased over the past two decades, becoming less optimal for migration. Shorter-winged birds were less likely to return to their breeding grounds after their first round-trip to Africa. But if this change in wing length is negatively affecting survival, what is driving it?

The "migratory gene package" hypothesis predicts that a suite of adaptations related to migration—including a long wingspan as well as a higher resting metabolic rate, larger clutch size, and shorter lifespan—may all be controlled by a set of genes that are linked so that selective pressures on one trait also affect the others. In recent decades, the timing of spring has shifted in central Spain and summer droughts have become longer and more intense, leaving nightingales with a shorter window in which to raise their young. This means the most successful birds may be those that lay smaller clutches of eggs, giving them fewer young to care for. And if natural selection is favoring smaller clutches, it may simultaneously push nightingales away from all of the linked traits in the "migratory gene package."

Natural selection on clutch size that inadvertently leads to shorter wings and, therefore, reduced survival is an example of "maladaptation," where organisms' responses to changing conditions end up being harmful instead of helpful. "There is much evidence that climate change is having an effect on migratory birds, changing their arrival and laying dates and their physical features over the last few decades," says lead author Carolina Remacha. "If we are to fully understand how bird populations adapt to new environments in order to help them tackle the challenges of a rapidly changing world, it is important to call attention to the potential problems of maladaptive change."Birds are the 'canaries in the climate-change coal mine'

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More information: "Climate change and maladaptive wing shortening in a long-distance migratory bird" The Auk: Ornithological Advances academic.oup.com/auk/article-l … /10.1093/auk/ukaa012

Provided by American Ornithological Society 

An affordable and fast clinical test that can save human lives and spares at-risk population

by Frontiers

Horseshoe crabs are remarkable animals, beautiful in their weirdness. These "living fossils" evolved 450 million years ago and have lived through at least five mass extinctions fatal to the majority of multicellular lifeforms on Earth. Sea-dwelling relatives of spiders, horseshoe crabs can lay millions of eggs, have four pairs of eyes, and (importantly to us) have blue blood containing amoeba-like immune cells. These horseshoe crab immune cells are analogous to the white blood cells of in our bodies, which protect us against a wide range of pathogens.

Few people are aware that these cells from horseshoe crabs, called amebocytes, are indispensable for modern medicine. They are the only known source of Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL), a reagent extraordinarily sensitive to the liposaccharide toxins produced by Gram-negative bacteria, which are responsible for 80% of cases of life-threatening sepsis in humans.

Each year, around 11 million people die from sepsis worldwide. Since its approval by the FDA in 1977, the LAL assay has been the standard test for contamination of medical devices by Gram-negative bacteria.

But every attempt to use LAL to detect these bacteria in the blood of human patients has failed so far, due to the presence of substances in blood that inhibit the test. Combined with concerns about the impacts of harvesting horseshoe crabs for LAL production, the medical community has had two major problems to overcome with this technique. But new research in Frontiers in Marine Science may have found the answer.

"We wanted to find a way to keep horseshoe crabs healthy in the laboratory, in such a way that we could regularly and reliably obtain LAL from them for medical tests while safeguarding their wellbeing as much as possible. Now that we have managed this, harvesting them from the ocean won't be necessary anymore," says Lee Robertson, Director of Scientific Communication and Operations at Kepley BioSystems. This team worked in collaboration with researchers from the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Robertson also emphasizes, "We also show that LAL from healthy and well-fed horseshoe crabs in aquaculture is of a higher quality, which for the first time makes it possible to do quick, affordable, and precise LAL assays on specially treated human blood."

These are welcome results for human patients at risk of life-threatening sepsis, and also for horseshoe crabs, since current harvesting practices are hardly sustainable.

Every year, up to 600,000 individuals of the Atlantic horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus are harvested in the USA alone for transport to the laboratory, bleeding to extract amebocytes for LAL production, and subsequent return to the ocean. Unless they die from the procedure, which has an estimated mortality rate of 30%. L. polyphemus are typically harvested during the spawning season (May-June), when they are extra vulnerable due to the stress of mating and reproduction.

These practices put considerable pressure on wild populations, already classified as a vulnerable species at risk from habitat fragmentation, global warming, and harvesting as feedstock for eels and whelks. But thanks to the new method described here, amebocytes can be extracted up to 24 times per year from L. polyphemus kept long-term in aquaculture, abolishing the need to harvest them from the ocean.

The authors calculate that a single cohort of 45,000 L. polyphemus in aquaculture would yield enough LAL for all current needs, and even allow its use in new clinical applications—in particular for rapid sterility tests on human blood.

In order to achieve this new method, the team developed a recirculating aquaculture system to house L. Polyphemus. To enable regular extraction of amebocytes, they were gently immobilized (while bathing their gills in saltwater), while a capped intravascular catheter was implanted through the pericardial membranes under sterile conditions. Every effort was made to safeguard their wellbeing as much as possible: the entire procedure had a zero mortality rate, and the animals displayed the full range of natural behaviors in aquaculture while maintaining their body weight. Regular body checks and biochemical and cell composition analysis of their blood further proved that they remained healthy throughout.

"This study offered tremendous opportunity to improve conditions of a threatened animal species that is intrinsically linked with human health," says Dr. Rachel Tinker-Kulberg, the study's lead author.

"With a carefully developed diet and rigorous monitoring, we were excited to see the health parameters and blood quality respond positively. We have a significant advantage over current LAL collection methods in that our aquaculture-derived LAL has less batch-to-batch variability and it is a more sustainable approach that will yield more reliable and higher quality product. The horseshoe crabs continue to be lively and active in their new environment and even laid eggs."

Tests showed that LAL produced from L. polyphemus in aquaculture tends to have a higher activity than lyophilized and preserved LAL from commercial kits. This suggests that this fresh LAL has a greater concentration of clotting factors necessary for defense against disease-causing bacteria, presumably because animals in aquaculture are better fed and healthier.

The results show that LAL derived from aquaculture can be reliably used to detect endotoxins in human blood. The new blood assay—described in greater detail in an upcoming study by the same authors—was sufficiently sensitive to detect toxins across the clinically relevant range of 1—500,000 Colony-Forming Units (CFU) per ml blood.

"LAL has never before been used for patient diagnostics due to cross-reactivity and inhibitors in human blood. Using high quality and potent LAL from aquaculture, we have now developed a method that makes blood samples compatible with the LAL assay, allowing it for the first time to be used in early, potentially life-saving detection of bacteria and fungi in blood," says Dr. Anthony Dellinger, President of Kepley BioSystems.

"Infectious disease is in our daily headlines and blood-borne bacterial infections leading to sepsis is the number one cause of untimely deaths worldwide. Humanity has now entered an era of pathogenic contagion that demands diagnostic and therapeutic breakthroughs of note. Our aquaculture method not only spares at-risk populations of horseshoe crabs: it also yields LAL that can finally be used in a quick, affordable, and ultra-sensitive assay for the early stages of sepsis, when time is of the essence for saving patients' lives."Into watching horseshoe crabs have sex? Florida needs your help

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More information: Rachel Tinker-Kulberg et al, Horseshoe Crab Aquaculture as a Sustainable Endotoxin Testing Source, Frontiers in Marine Science (2020). DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2020.00153

Using sound and environmental DNA to find an elusive, endangered whale

by Kim Fulton-Bennett, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

Aerial view of a Bryde’s whale in the Gulf of Mexico. Image courtesy of NOAA; photograph taken under NOAA research permits #14450-05 and 21938. Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

In an ongoing effort to detect endangered Bryde's whales, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and MBARI have teamed up to deploy an Environmental Sample Processor (ESP) in the Gulf of Mexico. Researchers from NOAA will analyze environmental DNA (eDNA) collected by the ESP to see if Bryde's whales can be detected. They will compare the eDNA results with data from an underwater sound-recording device that can capture the distinct calls of these elusive whales.

Bryde's (pronounced "broodus") whales are relatives of blue and humpback whales and are found in temperate and warm waters around the world. However, the subspecies of Bryde's whales that lives in the Gulf of Mexico is one of the most endangered whales in the world, with fewer than 100 living individuals. It was not until 2014 that genetic testing showed that Gulf of Mexico Bryde's whales were a separate subspecies from other Bryde's whales. These whales face ongoing threats from oil and gas development, vessel strikes, increasing ocean noise, and entanglement in fishing gear. They were declared endangered by NOAA in 2019.

Unlike some whales, which migrate seasonally, Gulf of Mexico Bryde's whales typically remain in the northeastern corner of the Gulf all year long, feeding along the continental shelf break at depths of 100 to 400 meters (about 330 to 1,300 feet). Currently, this is the only place where these whales are known to live, but historical whaling records suggest they may have once ranged more widely across the Gulf. This project aims to investigate whether the whales utilize areas outside the northeastern Gulf of Mexico.

Approximate boundaries of core habitat for Bryde’s whales in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Credit: NOAA and Google Earth.

Bryde's whales spend much of their time within 15 meters (49 feet) of the sea surface, but they likely forage for food (including small fish and crustaceans) on or near the seafloor. Like most baleen whales, they produce distinctive low-frequency calls underwater, presumably as a means of communicating with one another.

Although they may grow up to 15 meters (49 feet) long, Bryde's whales are extremely hard to spot at sea. They surface at irregular intervals and sometimes have small, inconspicuous spouts. Occasionally they will even exhale underwater rather than making a spout that is visible above water. They also have long, narrow streamlined bodies and their flukes rarely break the surface of the ocean.

Because Gulf of Mexico Bryde's whales are so rare and difficult to observe, scientists have had a hard time getting an accurate estimate of their abundance. Researchers at NOAA have used ships, aerial drones, eDNA, and hydrophones (underwater microphones) to study them.

A Bryde’s whale surfaces to breathe in the Gulf of Mexico. Image courtesy of NOAA; photograph taken under NOAA research permits #14450-05 and 21938. Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

As part of NOAA's most recent study, MBARI researchers deployed an Environmental Sample Processor in a new area in the western Gulf to explore whether the whales use any habitats in this region. The ESP was deployed in late February 2020. If all goes well, it will operate for four months.

The ESP is attached to a deep-water mooring in water 240 meters (790 feet) deep and far from shore. The instrument itself is moored about 15 meters (49 feet) below the sea surface for protection from ship traffic. However, it uses a long hose to collect seawater from just three meters below the surface. Researchers believe Bryde's whales are likely to release eDNA into the surface waters when they come to the surface to breathe.

Each day, two hours before sunrise, the ESP collects water samples and then filters and preserves the eDNA in these samples. This time of day was chosen because Bryde's whales are thought to spend the nighttime hours relatively close to the surface.

A Bryde’s whale pierces the clear water of the Gulf of Mexico. Image courtesy of NOAA; photo taken under NOAA research permit #14450-05 and 21938. Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

After the ESP is recovered, NOAA researchers will analyze the samples collected by the ESP to look for eDNA from Gulf of Mexico Bryde's whales. They will then compare these eDNA results with data from a High Frequency Acoustic Recording Package (HARP)–an underwater sound-recording device–deployed about two kilometers (one and one-quarter miles) away from the ESP. Among other things, the researchers hope to find out if whale eDNA was detected on the same days when whales were heard on NOAA's hydrophone.

NOAA conceived and funded this project and provided about $70,000 to MBARI for mooring design and engineering costs. The agency also provided ship time for the deployment. MBARI donated the second-generation ESP and the mooring, as well as additional engineering time.

"This was a very complicated mooring deployment," explained Birch. "The ESP team put in a lot of effort to make this work. Scott Jensen designed the mooring string and built it on the back deck of the R/V Pelican, a UNOLS research vessel. Brent Roman developed a new communications method using a satellite phone instead of the cell phone system we've used previously for nearshore deployments. A similar system could be used for future MBARI deployments in remote locations."

Like MBARI's ongoing research on coho salmon in California, this experiment will allow researchers to compare eDNA data with other methods for environmental monitoring. In both cases, the Environmental Sample Processor will provide an automated method for collecting clean, well-preserved samples of eDNA at regular intervals in remote locations. If these pilot projects are successful, they will provide scientists and resource managers with new methods for monitoring and studying endangered species.

Bryde's whales share secrets with their fins

Stronger pandemic response yields better economic recovery

by Peter Dizikes, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A new study co-authored by Emil Verner, an assistant professor at The MIT Sloan School of Management, shows that in the 1918 flu pandemic, cities that had more aggressive interventions including social distancing also experienced stronger economic recoveries afterward. Credit: Christine Daniloff, MIT; stock image buildings

With much of the U.S. in shutdown mode to limit the spread of the Covid-19 disease, a debate has sprung up about when the country might "reopen" commerce, to limit economic fallout from the pandemic. But as a new study co-authored by an MIT economist shows, taking care of public health first is precisely what generates a stronger economic rebound later.

The study, using data from the flu pandemic that swept the U.S. in 1918-1919, finds cities that acted more emphatically to limit social and civic interactions had more economic growth following the period of restrictions.

Indeed, cities that implemented social-distancing and other public health interventions just 10 days earlier than their counterparts saw a 5 percent relative increase in manufacturing employment after the pandemic ended, through 1923. Similarly, an extra 50 days of social distancing was worth a 6.5 percent increase in manufacturing employment, in a given city.

"We find no evidence that cities that acted more aggressively in public health terms performed worse in economic terms," says Emil Verner, an assistant professor in the MIT Sloan School of Management and co-author of a new paper detailing the findings. "If anything, the cities that acted more aggressively performed better."

With that in mind, he observes, the idea of a "trade-off" between public health and economic activity does not hold up to scrutiny; places that are harder hit by a pandemic are unlikely to rebuild their economic capacities as quickly, compared to areas that are more intact.

"It casts doubt on the idea there is a trade-off between addressing the impact of the virus, on the one hand, and economic activity, on the other hand, because the pandemic itself is so destructive for the economy," Verner says.

The study, "Pandemics Depress the Economy, Public Health Interventions Do Not: Evidence from the 1918 Flu," was posted to SSRN Electronic Journal as a working paper on March 26. In addition to Verner, the co-authors are Sergio Correia, an economist with the U.S. Federal Reserve, and Stephen Luck, an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Evaluating economic consequences

To conduct the research, the three scholars examined mortality statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), historical economic data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and banking statistics compiled by finance economist Mark D. Flood, using the "Annual Reports of the Comptroller of Currency," a government publication.

As Verner notes, the researchers were motivated to investigate the 1918-1919 flu pandemic to see what lessons from it might be applicable to the current crisis.

"The genesis of the study is that we're interested in what the expected economic impacts of today's coronavirus are going to be, and what is the right way to think about the economic consequences of the public health and social distancing interventions we're seeing all around the world," Verner says.

Scholars have known that the varying use of "nonpharmaceutical interventions," or social-distancing measures, correlated to varying health outcomes across cities in 1918 and 1919. When that pandemic hit, U.S. cities that shut down schools earlier, such as St. Louis, fared better against the flu than places implementing shutdowns later, such as Philadelphia. The current study extends that framework to economic activity.

Quite a bit like today, social distancing measures back then included school and theater closures, bans on public gatherings, and restricted business activity.

"The nonpharmaceutical interventions that were implemented in 1918 interestingly resemble many of the policies that are being used today to reduce the spread of Covid-19," Verner says.

Overall, the study indicates, the economic impact of the pandemic was severe. Using state-level data, the researchers find an 18 percent drop in manufacturing output through 1923, well after the last wave of the flu hit in 1919.

Looking at the effect across 43 cities, however, the researchers found significantly different economic outcomes, linked to different social distancing policies. The best-performing cities included Oakland, California; Omaha, Nebraska; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, which all enforced over 120 days of social distancing in 1918. Cities that instituted fewer than 60 days of social distancing in 1918, and saw manufacturing struggle afterward, include Philadelphia; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Lowell, Massachusetts.

"What we find is that areas that were more severely affected in the 1918 flu pandemic see a sharp and persistent decline in a number of measures of economic activity, including manufacturing employment, manufacturing output, bank loans, and the stock of consumer durables," Verner says.

Banking issues

As far as banking goes, the study included banking write-downs as an indicator of economic health, because "banks were recognizing losses from loans that households and businesses were defaulting on, due to the economic disruption caused by the pandemic," Verner says.

The researchers found that in Albany, New York; Birmingham, Alabama; Boston; and Syracuse, New York—all of which also had fewer than 60 days of social distancing in 1918—the banking sector struggled more than anywhere else in the country.

As the authors note in the paper, the economic struggles that followed the 1918-1919 flu pandemic reduced the ability of firms to manufacture goods—but the reduction in employment meant that people had less purchasing power as well.

"The evidence that we have in our paper … suggests that the pandemic creates both a supply-side problem and a demand-side problem," Verner notes.

As Verner readily acknowledges, the composition of the U.S. economy has evolved since 1918-1919, with relatively less manufacturing today and relatively more activity in services. The 1918-1919 pandemic was also especially deadly for prime working-age adults, making its economic impact particularly severe. Still, the economists think the dynamics of the previous pandemic are readily applicable to our ongoing crisis.

"The structure of the economy is of course different," Verner notes. However, he adds, "While one shouldn't extrapolate too directly from history, we can learn some of the lessons that may be relevant to us today." First among those lessons, he emphasizes: "Pandemic economics are different than normal economics."

Lessons from the Spanish flu: Early restrictions lowered disease, mortality rates

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More information: Sergio Correia et al. Pandemics Depress the Economy, Public Health Interventions Do Not: Evidence from the 1918 Flu, SSRN Electronic Journal (2020). DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3561560

Homo naledi juvenile remains offers clues to how our ancestors grew up

by Public Library of Science

Homo naledi juvenile remains offers clues to how our ancestors grew up. Credit: Bolter et al. PLOS ONE 2020 (CC BY)

A partial skeleton of Homo naledi represents a rare case of an immature individual, shedding light on the evolution of growth and development in human ancestry, according to a study published April 1, 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Debra Bolter of Modesto Junior College in California and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and colleagues.

Much research has gone into the evolution of ancient hominins—human relatives and ancestors—but little is known about their growth and development. Most hominin fossils represent adult individuals, and remains of developmentally young hominins are rare. This has left a gap in our understanding of how our ancient relatives grew from young into adults, and how modern human growth patterns evolved.

In this study, Bolter and colleagues examined fossils from the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star Cave System in South Africa. This site is famous for providing abundant remains of the hominin Homo naledi, including individuals ranging from infants to adult. These fossils date to the late Middle Pleistocene, between 335,000 and 226,000 years ago, possibly overlapping in time with the earliest members of our own species. The team identified a collection of arm and leg bones and a partial jaw as the remains of a single young individual designated DH7.

The bones and teeth of DH7 were not fully developed and display a mixture of maturity patterns seen in modern humans and earlier hominins. DH7 is estimated to be similar in its developmental stage to immature specimens of other fossil hominins between 8-11 years old at death. The authors note, however, that if Homo naledi had a slower growth rate like modern humans, DH7 might have been as old as 15. Further study is needed to assess how Homo naledi grew and where it fits into the evolution of human growth and development.

Bolter adds: The rare juvenile Homo naledi partial skeleton will shed light on whether this extinct species is more human-like in its development, or more primitive. The findings help reconstruct the selective pressures that shaped extended maturity in our own species.What dental remains from Homo naledi can tell us

More information: Bolter DR, Elliott MC, Hawks J, Berger LR (2020) Immature remains and the first partial skeleton of a juvenile Homo naledi, a late Middle Pleistocene hominin from South Africa. PLoS ONE 15(4): e0230440. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230440

Almond orchard recycling a climate-smart strategy

by Kat Kerlin, UC Davis

Wood chips from recycled almond trees are spread across an orchard in California's Stanislaus County. Credit: Brent Holtz, UCANR

Recycling trees onsite can sequester carbon, save water and increase crop yields, making it a climate-smart practice for California's irrigated almond orchards, finds a study from the University of California, Davis.

Whole orchard recycling is when old orchard trees are ground, chipped and turned back into the soil before new almond trees are planted.

The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, suggests that whole orchard recycling can help almond orchards be more sustainable and resilient to drought while also increasing carbon storage in the soil.

"To me what was really impressive was the water piece," said corresponding author Amélie Gaudin, an associate professor of agroecology in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. "Water is central to how we think about agriculture in California. This is a clear example of capitalizing on soil health. Here we see some real benefits for water conservation and for growers."

Burn vs. turn

Drought and high almond prices have encouraged higher rates of orchard turnover in recent years. The previous practice of burning trees that are no longer productive is now restricted under air quality regulations, so whole orchard recycling presents an alternative. But how sustainable and effective is it for the environment and for farmers?

Almond blossoms bloom in Yolo County. Credit: Kat Kerlin, UC Davis

For the study, scientists measured soil health and tree productivity of an almond orchard that turned previous Prunus woody biomass back into the soil through whole orchard recycling and compared it with an orchard that burned its old trees nine years prior.

They also experimentally reduced an orchard's irrigation by 20 percent to quantify its water resilience.

Their results found that, compared with burn treatments, whole orchard recycling can:
Sequester 5 tons of carbon per hectare
Increase water-use efficiency by 20 percent
Increase crop yields by 19 percent

"This seems to be a practice that can mitigate climate change by building the soil's potential to be a carbon sink, while also building nutrients and water retention," said Gaudin. "That can be especially important as water becomes more limited."


Explore further A nutty idea—a little stress could be good for walnuts
More information: Emad Jahanzad et al, Orchard recycling improves climate change adaptation and mitigation potential of almond production systems, PLOS ONE (2020). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229588

Journal information: PLoS ONE


Provided by UC Davis