How weather affects crawfish harvests

by Louisiana State University

Shelby Hauck and Ryan Williams unload freshly harvested crawfish at the LSU AgCenter Aquaculture Research Station. Credit: LSU AgCenter

The life cycle of a crawfish can be fairly straight forward. In the summer months, crawfish reproduce in underground mud burrows with a plug of mud on top of the burrow to protect them from predators. In late summer and early fall, rain softens the mud plugs so the crawfish can push their way out of the burrows and enter ponds, where they feed, molt and grow throughout Louisiana's typically mild winters. Spring then brings crawfish harvest season.

However, temperature and seasonal weather changes can affect this life cycle. Variability can have a costly effect on the industry, which has experienced considerable growth over the past two decades. For example, the 2018-19 Louisiana crawfish season produced 151.8 million pounds of crawfish with an economic value of $209.5 million compared to 82 million pounds valued at about $45 million in the 2004-05 season, according to the LSU AgCenter. To help inform farmers, researchers at LSU are the first to quantify how rainfall and temperature affect crawfish harvest yields.

"Providing farmers and producers with more information on how their catch and livelihood may fluctuate due to environmental conditions can help make them more resilient in the future," said LSU Assistant Professor-Research and the Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program Climate Research Director Vincent Brown, who is the lead author on this study published in Climate Research.

Brown and his colleagues analyzed eight years of crawfish harvest data from six LSU Aquaculture Research Station ponds. They used a statistical model to identify the most significant temperature and weather variables that impact crawfish.

"The timing of precipitation is really important. The statistical model shows that if you have heavy rainfall in August or September, the crawfish harvest yields will be suppressed in the spring," Brown said.

Live crawfish at Riceland Crawfish in Eunice, Louisiana. Credit: LSU AgCenter

Heavy summer rains can trigger the crawfish to emerge from their burrows too early. When this happens, they enter ponds that could potentially have low oxygen due to decaying plant matter and high summer heat as well as a host of other things that could be harmful to their survival.

"We have seen how the low amount of dissolved oxygen in a pond can directly affect the survival rate of crawfish. This issue is something that we are continuing to study and develop best practices with the farmers to combat," said C. Gregory Lutz, LSU AgCenter Aquaculture Research Station professor, Louisiana Sea Grant College Program marine extension agent and study co-author.

Additionally, winter temperatures that drop below freezing can slow crawfish growth.

This information can benefit farmers. For example, if excessive precipitation occurs in August and September followed by a dry October and November plus freezing conditions in January, farmers may not need to set aside time and resources to harvest two to four days per week in February, which is generally prescribed. It is possible that only harvesting twice a week is sufficient, which can save farmers money on bait, labor, gas and other costs, write the researchers.

"This study can also serve as a template to investigate the impacts of weather on other farm-raised seafood products," said Mark Shirley, Louisiana Sea Grant College Program and LSU AgCenter marine extension agent and co-author of this study.

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Climate change could increase rice yields

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More information: VM Brown et al, Effect of meteorological variables on crawfish harvest in Louisiana, USA, Climate Research (2020). DOI: 10.3354/cr01608

Provided by Louisiana State University 

Being a selfish jerk doesn't get you ahead, research finds

by University of California - Berkeley

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The evidence is in: Nice guys and gals don't finish last, and being a selfish jerk doesn't get you ahead.

That's the clear conclusion from research that tracked disagreeable people from college or graduate school to where they landed in their careers about 14 years later.

"I was surprised by the consistency of the findings. No matter the individual or the context, disagreeableness did not give people an advantage in the competition for power—even in more cutthroat, 'dog-eat-dog' organizational cultures," said Berkeley Haas Prof. Cameron Anderson, who co-authored the study with Berkeley Psychology Prof. Oliver P. John, doctoral student Daron L. Sharps, and Assoc. Prof. Christopher J. Soto of Colby College.

The paper was published August 31 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers conducted two studies of people who had completed personality assessments as undergraduates or MBA students at three universities. They surveyed the same people more than a decade later, asking about their power and rank in their workplaces, as well as the culture of their organizations. They also asked their co-workers to rate the study participants' rank and workplace behavior. Across the board, they found those with selfish, deceitful, and aggressive personality traits were not more likely to have attained power than those who were generous, trustworthy, and generally nice.

That's not to say that jerks don't reach positions of power. It's just that they didn't get ahead faster than others, and being a jerk simply didn't help, Anderson said. That's because any power boost they get from being intimidating is offset by their poor interpersonal relationships, the researchers found. In contrast, the researchers found that extroverts were the most likely to have advanced in their organizations, based on their sociability, energy, and assertiveness—backing up prior research.

"The bad news here is that organizations do place disagreeable individuals in charge just as often as agreeable people," Anderson said. "In other words, they allow jerks to gain power at the same rate as anyone else, even though jerks in power can do serious damage to the organization."

The age-old question of whether being aggressively Machiavellian helps people get ahead has long interested Anderson, who studies social status. It's a critical question for managers, because ample research has shown that jerks in positions of power are abusive, prioritize their own self-interest, create corrupt cultures, and ultimately cause their organizations to fail. They also serve as toxic role models for society at large.

For example, people who read former-Apple CEO Steve Jobs' biography might think, "Maybe if I become an even bigger asshole I'll be successful like Steve," the authors note in their paper. "My advice to managers would be to pay attention to agreeableness as an important qualification for positions of power and leadership," Anderson said. "Prior research is clear: agreeable people in power produce better outcomes."

While there's clearly no shortage of jerks in power, there's been little empirical research to settle the question of whether being disagreeable actually helped them get there, or is simply incidental to their success. Anderson and his co-authors set out to create a research design that would clear up the debate. (They pre-registered their analysis for both studies on aspredicted.org.)

What defines a jerk? The participants had all completed the Big Five Inventory (BFI), an assessment based on general consensus among psychologists of the five fundamental personality dimensions: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and agreeableness. It was developed by Anderson's co-author John, who directs the Berkeley Personality Lab. In addition, some of the participants also completed a second personality assessment, the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R).

"Disagreeableness is a relatively stable aspect of personality that involves the tendency to behave in quarrelsome, cold, callous, and selfish ways," the researchers explained. "...Disagreeable people tend to be hostile and abusive to others, deceive and manipulate others for their own gain, and ignore others' concerns or welfare."

In the first study, which involved 457 participants, the researchers found no relationship between power and disagreeableness, no matter whether the person had scored high or low on those traits. That was true regardless of gender, race or ethnicity, industry, or the cultural norms in the organization.

The second study went deeper, looking at the four main ways people attain power: through dominant-aggressive behavior, or using fear and intimidation; political behavior, or building alliances with influential people; communal behavior, or helping others; and competent behavior, or being good at one's job. They also asked the subjects' co-workers to rate their place in the hierarchy, as well as their workplace behavior (interestingly, the co-workers' ratings largely matched the subjects' self-assessments).

This allowed the researchers to better understand why disagreeable people do not get ahead faster than others. Even though jerks tend to engage in dominant behavior, their lack of communal behavior cancels out any advantage their aggressiveness gives them, they concluded.

Anderson noted that the findings don't directly speak to whether disagreeableness helps or hurts people attain power in the realm of electoral politics, where the power dynamics are different than in organizations. But there are some likely parallels. "Having a strong set of alliances is generally important to power in all areas of life," he said. "Disagreeable politicians might have more difficulty maintaining necessary alliances because of their toxic behavior.Office jerks beware—your good ideas may not always be welcomed by colleagues

More information: Cameron Anderson el al., "People with disagreeable personalities (selfish, combative, and manipulative) do not have an advantage in pursuing power at work," PNAS (2020). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2005088117

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 

Provided by University of California - Berkeley 

Trump eyes aquaculture boom, but environmentalists dig in

by Patrick Whittle

President Donald Trump wants to dramatically expand aquaculture production in the United States, but a coalition of environmentalists believes his plan would be bad for the oceans, unnecessary for food security and difficult to implement.

Trump's bid to grow fish farming is designed to address the so-called "seafood deficit," which refers to the fact that nine-tenths of the seafood Americans eat comes from overseas. The seafood trade gap with other countries approached $17 billion in 2017, according to one federal government report.

The president issued an executive order in May that promised broad changes in how the U.S. regulates fish farming. It included provisions to expedite the development of offshore aquaculture in deep federal waters. That sector of the industry has yet to emerge in the U.S., where most aquaculture takes place near shore where farmers grow salmon, oysters and other popular seafood items.

The Trump administration and the aquaculture industry said the order, which is being implemented now, represents common sense steps to ease the burden of rules on fish farmers. But environmental groups said it threatens to increase pollution and over-development in the ocean at a time when many consumers aren't buying seafood.

"They're trying to somehow connect open-water aquaculture with the need for domestic food. But it just doesn't make sense," said Marianne Cufone, executive director of the Recirculating Farms Coalition, one of several environmental groups that oppose the move. "Why we're seeing it during a pandemic, I don't know, I'm shaking my head."

The executive order gives the nation's regional fishery management councils, which regulate fisheries, six months to recommend "actions to reduce burdens on domestic fishing." One of the order's stated goals is "more effective permitting related to offshore aquaculture and additional streamlining of fishery regulations," with "the potential to revolutionize American seafood production."

The order aims to bring seafood production to the U.S. instead of keeping the nation dependent on other countries, said Paul Doremus, deputy assistant administrator for operations at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service.

"We're a major seafood consuming country and we could be producing more of that seafood internally," Doremus said. "That's the driving force behind the executive order as a whole."

Aquaculture in federal waters has support from some major fish farmers, including Cooke Aquaculture, a Canada-based seafood giant. Cooke spokesman Joel Richardson said the order shows Trump's administration knows "the world needs more aquaculture to feed the world." The company's operations include salmon farms in the nearshore waters of Maine.

Hallie Templeton, senior oceans campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said it's not the right time to grow fish farming. Seafood is popular in restaurants, and the coronavirus pandemic has caused many to shutter, at least temporarily. Seafood sales to restaurants fell 90% in the early weeks of the pandemic. The industry has since seen an infusion of CARES Act money to help it recover, but continues to struggle.

Templeton called offshore aquaculture "floating factory farms" and said they are more likely to cause pollution in the marine environment than provide sustainable food.

A recent court ruling dealt a blow to the prospects for offshore fish farming. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a decision Aug. 3 that federal law granting NOAA authority over fisheries does not also let the agency set rules for offshore fish farms. That scuttled rules that could have regulated fish farms in the Gulf of Mexico.

Environmental groups heralded the court's ruling because it likely makes it more difficult for farmers to start large offshore operations that would raise species such as tuna, salmon and seabass.

"Allowing net-pen aquaculture and its environmental harms in the Gulf of Mexico is a grave threat, and the court properly held the government cannot do so without new and proper Congressional authority," said George Kimbrell, Center for Food Safety legal director and a lead counsel in the case.

The prospect of offshore aquaculture has been contentious for years. President Barack Obama also took steps to permit deep water fish farming during his tenure.

The aquaculture industry remains hopeful that Trump's executive order can help pave the way for more fish farming, both nearshore and offshore. Paul Zajicek, executive director of the National Aquaculture Association, said the order isn't about eliminating regulations but rather "removing barriers to aquaculture permitting" for farmers.

Some fishing groups have also come out in support of the order. Scot Mackey, director of government affairs for the Garden State Seafood Association, which advocates for fishermen as well as farmers, said the order "will help the industry weather the current crisis and come back stronger."

Neville Crabbe, spokesman for the Atlantic Salmon Federation, a conservation group, said the federal permitting process should be creating land-based aquaculture rather than fish farms in the ocean, let alone offshore.

"It's not clear how locating that production just further away from the coasts would help with things like diseases and parasites and other problems that plague the industry today," he said.


Explore furtherThings to know about marine aquaculture

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True holographic movies are within grasp
by Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Holographic movies, like the one R2D2 projected of Princess Leia in "Star Wars: A New Hope," have long been the province of science fiction, but for most of us, the extent of our experience with holograms may be the dime-sized stamps on our passports and credit cards. By using 'metasurface' materials that can manipulate light in ways that natural materials cannot, researchers reckon they have finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel for creating true holographic movies.


The findings, by a team at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT), were published on August 3rd in Optics Express.

Static holograms are all around us these days on our money, credit cards, and passports.

These 'surface-relief holograms,' stamped onto plastic in a similar way to how vinyl records are embossed, can be useful as a security device or to make wrapping paper twinkle, but they are known for their low image quality, still imagery, and limited viewing angle. In the third decade of the 21st Century, we don't yet have true holographic movies, despite their ubiquity in popular culture.

Even the 'holograms' of pop stars that are increasingly common spectacles at concerts aren't true holograms, but an updated version of a very old theatrical trick deceiving the eye with mirrors and light—an illusion that is easily revealed as such if the viewer moves just slightly to the side of the set-up.

But researchers at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology have demonstrated a genuine holographic movie, whose concept is inspired by the sequential playback of the very first cinematographic projectors of the 19th century.

PlayResearchers demonstrated a genuine holographic movie, whose concept is inspired by the sequential playback of the very first cinematographic projectors of the 19th Century. Credit: Kentaro Iwami/ TUAT

The proof of concept depends on what is called a metasurface, a thin film material just nanometers thick whose microstructure is artificially crafted in a way to deliver characteristics, such as clever manipulation of light, that are not found in naturally occurring materials. Metasurfaces involve very tiny repeating patterns at scales smaller than the wavelength of light. It is their shape and particular arrangement, rather than, as with conventional materials, their chemical composition, that allows metasurfaces to alter the path of light.

The researchers 'printed' an array of 48 rectangular frames of a metasurface made primarily of gold and which diffracts laser light shone at it in such a way as to produce a true holographic three-dimensional image appearing mid-air (just like Princess Leia), viewable from most angles in the room.

Each of the metasurface frames is slightly different—as with a reel of celluloid film—using 48 images of the Earth rotating. The holographic movie was played back by sequentially reconstructing each frame at a rate of 30 frames per second—the frame rate used in most live TV.

"We're using a helium-neon laser as the light source, which produces a reddish holographic image," said Kentaro Iwami, one of the engineers who developed the system, "so the aim is to develop this to produce full color eventually. And we want it to be viewable from any angle: a 'whole hemisphere' 3-D projection."

It also took an electron-beam lithography printer six and a half hours to draw the 48 frames—an extremely short film run on a loop. A six-minute holographic movie would take just over 800 hours to draw, the researchers reckon.


Explore further Researchers create 3-D full-color holographic images with nanomaterials
 

More information: Ryota Izumi et al, Metasurface holographic movie: a cinematographic approach, Optics Express (2020). DOI: 10.1364/OE.399369
Journal information: Optics Express


Provided by Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology

Smoke from wildfire blackens prehistoric Greek city walls

Smoke raises during a wildfire over the ancient site of Mycenae, Greece, some 140 kilometers (90 miles) south of Athens, on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020. The fire that broke out at the Mycenae, one of the most popular archaeological sites in Greece, has not caused any damage to antiquities at first inspection, according the Culture Ministry. (Vangelis Bougiotis/InTime News via AP)

Monuments at the archaeological site of Mycenae have not been damaged by a wildfire that swept through the area, despite blackening from smoke on the iconic entrance to the ancient citadel, Greece's culture minister said Monday.


Four water-dropping planes and two helicopters helped dozens of firefighters contain the blaze Sunday after it reached the fringes of one of Greece's most important archaeological sites, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of Athens.

The Bronze Age fortified city, whose rulers were key figures in ancient Greek legend, including the Trojan War, flourished centuries before the major Acropolis temples were built in Athens and was a major center of Mediterranean civilization.

Smoke from the flames blackened the 3,250-year-old Lion Gate, named after the monumental relief sculpture of two heraldic lions flanking a pillar that crowns the entrance to the ancient citadel.

"The damage caused by yesterday's fire was the least possible," Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said during a visit to the site Monday, adding that none of the site's monuments or the Mycenae museum had suffered any damage. Photos released by the ministry Monday showed no traces of burning inside the site.

"Smoke blackened some walls," Mendoni added. "The problem is (only) aesthetic."

A plane drops water during a wildfire in the ancient site of Mycenae, Greece, some 140 kilometers (90 miles) south of Athens, on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020. The fire that broke out at the Mycenae, one of the most popular archaeological sites in Greece, has not caused any damage to antiquities at first inspection, according the Culture Ministry. (Vangelis Bougiotis/InTime News via AP)

Smoke raises during a wildfire over the ancient site of Mycenae, Greece, some 140 kilometers (90 miles) south of Athens, on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020. The fire that broke out at the Mycenae, one of the most popular archaeological sites in Greece, has not caused any damage to antiquities at first inspection, according the Culture Ministry. (Vangelis Bougiotis/InTime News via AP)

A helicopter operates during a wildfire over the ancient site of Mycenae, Greece, some 140 kilometers (90 miles) south of Athens, on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020. The fire that broke out at the Mycenae, one of the most popular archaeological sites in Greece, has not caused any damage to antiquities at first inspection, according the Culture Ministry. (Vangelis Bougiotis/InTime News via AP)

"The Fire Service acted swiftly ... and prevention measures worked: Dry vegetation had all been cleared away," Mendoni said. "That's what saved the monuments,."

A spokesman for Greece's main political opposition, the left-wing Syriza party, questioned the speed of the response by the Fire Service, noting that the fire had entered the site.

The party said it was carrying out a separate inspection Monday, and called on the minister to issue a public apology for downplaying the damage.

Mycenae has been closed to visitors but the Culture Ministry said it will be reopened Tuesday.


Explore further  Lightning hits Acropolis in Greece injuring 4, site intact

© 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Swine flu vaccination in pregnant women does not increase risk of autism in offspring

by Karolinska Institutet

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Two recent studies were unable to rule out that H1N1 ("swine flu") vaccination (Pandemrix) and seasonal influenza vaccination given to pregnant women might be associated with autism-spectrum disorder in the offspring. Now, a large study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, refutes any such association.

Autism spectrum disorder is a severe neurodevelopmental childhood disorder characterized by impaired communication, lack of social skills and repetitive behavior. The disease has its onset in childhood.

While some studies indicate that influenza vaccination during pregnancy protects against morbidity in both the woman and her offspring, the long-term risks of H1N1 vaccination during fetal life have not been examined in detail. However two recent studies were unable to rule out that offspring to women undergoing influenza or H1N1 influenza vaccination during pregnancy, and especially during the first trimester, were at increased risk of autism-spectrum disorder.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet, linked vaccination data in pregnant women from seven Swedish healthcare regions in 2009-2010 to the Swedish Medical Birth Register and the Swedish National Patient Register to identify autism-spectrum disorder in the offspring.

The importance of vaccination research

Of the 39,726 vaccine-exposed children, 394 (cumulative incidence, 1.0%) had a diagnosis of autism-spectrum disorder during the six-year follow-up compared with 330 (1.1%) among 29,293 unexposed children. Adjusting for potential confounders, H1N1 vaccine exposure during fetal life was not associated with a later childhood diagnosis of autism-spectrum disorder (adjusted hazard ratio=0.95; 95%CI=0.81-1.12). Results were similar for vaccinations in the first pregnancy trimester.

"Our null findings are important since some people have suspected that vaccinations could cause autism, and the anti-vaccine movement seems to be growing in the Western world," says lead author, Professor Jonas F Ludvigsson, pediatrician at Örebro University Hospital and professor at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet. "H1N1 vaccination has previously been linked to an increased risk of narcolepsy in young people, but vaccinating pregnant women does not seem to influence the risk of autism-spectrum disorder in the offspring,"

He continues: "Vaccination research has never been more important. Anticipating a vaccine against COVID-19, millions of pregnant women are likely to be offered such a vaccination. While our research group did not study COVID-19 vaccine effects, our research on H1N1 vaccination adds to the current knowledge about vaccines, pregnancy and offspring disease in general."

Adjusted for other factors

The researchers adjusted their analyses for such confounders as maternal smoking, height-weight, maternal age and comorbidity in order to minimize the influence of other factors that might explain any association between vaccination and autism.

"Without taking such factors into consideration, so-called confounding may create spurious associations that do not reflect a true association," adds co-author, Ass. Prof. Bjorn Pasternak, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet (Solna).


Explore further

No link between flu vaccine in pregnancy and later health problems in children

More information: Annals of Internal Medicine (2020). DOI: 10.7326/M20-0167
Journal information: Annals of Internal Medicine

Provided by Karolinska Institutet

Humans' construction 'footprint' on ocean quantified for first time

by University of Sydney

Aquaculture farms in the coast of China's northeast province of Liaonin. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory.

In a world-first, the extent of human development in oceans has been mapped. An area totalling approximately 30,000 square kilometres—the equivalent of 0.008 percent of the ocean—has been modified by human construction, a study led by Dr. Ana Bugnot from the University of Sydney School of Life and Environmental Sciences and the Sydney Institute of Marine Science has found.

The extent of ocean modified by human construction is, proportion-wise, comparable to the extent of urbanised land, and greater than the global area of some natural marine habitats, such as mangrove forests and seagrass beds.

When calculated as the area modified inclusive of flow-on effects to surrounding areas, for example, due to changes in water flow and pollution, the footprint is actually two million square kilometres, or over 0.5 percent of the ocean.

The oceanic modification includes areas affected by tunnels and bridges; infrastructure for energy extraction (for example, oil and gas rigs, wind farms); shipping (ports and marinas); aquaculture infrastructure; and artificial reefs.

Dr. Bugnot said that ocean development is nothing new, yet, in recent times, it has rapidly changed. "It has been ongoing since before 2000 BC," she said. "Then, it supported maritime traffic through the construction of commercial ports and protected low-lying coasts with the creation of structures similar to breakwaters.

"Since the mid-20th century, however, ocean development has ramped up, and produced both positive and negative results.

"For example, while artificial reefs have been used as 'sacrificial habitat' to drive tourism and deter fishing, this infrastructure can also impact sensitive natural habitats like seagrasses, mudflats and saltmarshes, consequently affecting water quality.

"Marine development mostly occurs in coastal areas—the most biodiverse and biologically productive ocean environments."

A map showing the physical footprint of marine construction globally, in square kilometres. Credit: Bugnot et al., 'Current and projected global extent of marine built structures', Nature Sustainability.

Future expansion 'alarming'

Dr. Bugnot, joined by co-researchers from multiple local and international universities, also projected the rate of future ocean footprint expansion.

"The numbers are alarming," Dr. Bugnot said. "For example, infrastructure for power and aquaculture, including cables and tunnels, is projected to increase by 50 to 70 percent by 2028.

"Yet this is an underestimate: there is a dearth of information on ocean development, due to poor regulation of this in many parts of the world.

"There is an urgent need for improved management of marine environments. We hope our study spurs national and international initiatives, such as the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, to greater action."

The researchers attributed the projected expansion on people's increasing need for defences against coastal erosion and inundation due to sea level rise and climate change, as well as their transportation, energy extraction, and recreation needs.

Journal Nature Sustainability published their research. It was undertaken in 2018, when Dr Bugnot was employed by 

A plan to save Earth's oceans

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More information: Current and projected global extent of marine built structures, DOI: 10.1038/s41893-020-00595-1 , www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-00595-1

Journal information: Nature Sustainability 

Provided by University of Sydney 

Drones can be a source of disturbance to wintering waterbird flocks

by Taylor & Francis

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Newly published research, in Bird Study, carried out by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) in Scotland, shows that wintering waterbirds, such as ducks, geese, swans and wading birds can easily be scared into flight by drones.

In recent years, drone technology has improved rapidly, while at the same time the drones themselves have become ever cheaper and produced in ever greater quantities. Drones are now being used for recreational photography, surveillance, ecological research, remote sensing and even to deliver packages. The mass proliferation of drones and the increasingly likelihood of commercial and recreational drone use taking place close to wildlife creates a new and potentially significant source of disturbance to wild birds.

Such disturbance, which could affect rare and protected species, causes birds to waste energy and reduces their feeding time. In extreme cases, birds might stop using an area altogether, and be forced to feed elsewhere, where feeding opportunities may be poorer or the risk of predation higher. This could be particularly harmful during the cold winter months, when vast numbers of waterbirds come to Britain from the Arctic to feed up before the breeding season.

BTO scientists flew a commercially available quadcopter drone towards waterbird flocks in coastal, freshwater and arable crop farmland habitats. While one researcher flew the drone at a standard speed and height towards the flock, another observed the flocks through a telescope to record any responses to the drone as it approached, including alarm calls, signs of heightened alert levels and taking flight.

The BTO team found that larger flocks were more likely to take flight than smaller flocks, and large flocks also took flight at a greater distance from the drone than smaller flocks. This is probably because the larger the flock, the more likely there is to be a sensitive individual present—in almost all cases, once one bird had responded to the drone, the rest of the flock followed.

The researchers also found that the habitat the birds were in had a strong effect on responses. Birds at inland lochs where there was already lots of human activity were very unlikely to respond to the drone, while birds at coastal sites were more likely to respond. Birds in arable farmland were particularly sensitive—flocks feeding in this habitat are probably most susceptible to disturbance because of the need to be on the lookout for predators.

Lead author, David Jarrett, said: "While we expected that the drone would cause large flocks to flush, we were surprised that birds hardly seemed to respond to the drone at all at those inland lochs where there was already lots of human activity taking place. Hopefully this research can be used to help inform guidance and regulations on drone use in proximity to wild birds."

Britain hosts internationally important flocks of waterbirds outside the breeding season. While it has been thought that drones could be useful in monitoring their numbers, the disturbance caused by such monitoring would have to be carefully evaluated. If drone use were to become more frequent at important sites for our wintering waterbirds, and birds did not become accustomed to this novel form of disturbance, then the resulting increases in energy expenditure and stress would be likely to negatively affect their populations.Engineers teach a drone to herd birds away from airports autonomously

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More information: David Jarrett et al. Behavioural responses of non-breeding waterbirds to drone approach are associated with flock size and habitat, Bird Study (2020). DOI: 10.1080/00063657.2020.1808587

Provided by Taylor & Francis 

California is on fire. From across the Pacific, Australians watch and buckle up

by David Bowman, Ross Bradstock, The Conversation

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

California is ablaze, again. Currently, the second and third largest fires in the US state's history are burning at the same time, and are only partially controlled. Already, seven people have died and 2,144 structures are damaged—and their fire season still has months to run.

The outbreak continues a relentless trend of bigger and more destructive fires in the western US, including California' largest fire in 2018.

For Australians, the spectacle of California burning is deeply concerning. It's just months since our last fire season, concentrated in a band of eucalyptus forests along the continent's southeast coast.

There are strong parallels between the two disasters: drought, parched landscapes, high temperatures, prolonged heatwaves and dry lightning storms to set it all off. And both Australia and California are particularly vulnerable as climate change makes bushfires worse. So let's look at the fiery fate we share with those across the Pacific—and how we must all adapt.

An uncertain future

We know bushfires are being made worse by human activity and climate change. But, owing to a lack of long-term data and the complex interactions between humans, climate and fire, it's hard to predict exactly how fires will change—for example how frequent or severe they will be, how long fire seasons will last and how much land will burn.

In research published last week, we describe recent trends in fire activity and examine projections for the near future. From this, it's clear the global impact of bushfires due to human-induced climate change will intensify.

Among the areas expected to be worst hit are flammable forests in populated temperate zones, such as Australia's eastern states and California.

Climate is not the only driving factor here. Human changes to landscapes—such as urban sprawl into flammable forests—are also making fires worse.

The damage is not just environmental, but also economic. Already, Australia's last bushfire season is likely to be our most expensive natural disaster, costing around A$100 billion. And the California fires in 2017–2018 caused an estimated A$55 billion in structure losses alone.

The escalating threat demands an urgent rethink of our inadequate and inappropriate fire management strategies. These span land use planning, fuel management, communications, evacuation and firefighting capacity. All are constrained by complex administrative arrangements, limited physical and human resources, and poor budgets.

Climate change also raises the frightening scepter of a "positive feedback" loop in which climate change exacerbates fire, producing carbon dioxide emissions which worsen climate change further. This vicious cycle threatens to fundamentally alter the Earth system.

What's more, fire seasons in southern Australia and the western US increasingly overlap. As California burned last week, uncontrolled winter bushfires ripped through northern New South Wales. Australia is sending firefighters to California this time around. But as fires increasingly rage in both hemispheres simultaneously, our respective nations will have fewer firefighting resources to share.

The COVID-19 crisis is making these difficult circumstances even more challenging. For example in California, authorities are dealing with both the fires and the pandemic; the state reportedly has the highest number of infections in the US.

Firefighters must practice social distancing: that means fewer people in each vehicle and no communal eating or sleeping arrangements. And Australian firefighters will be forced into quarantine for two weeks upon their return home.

Accepting reality

In this context, recommendations handed down by the NSW bushfire inquiry last week are a landmark in how we adapt to bushfires. Central to the report is an avowed acceptance climate change is transforming bushfire management.

The report contains 76 recommendations, all accepted by the NSW government, providing creative license to rethink how we sustainably co-exist with bushfires. They include:

• reforms of arrangements to manage bushfires, such as better coordination between agencies, better shared data and streamlining fuel management programs
• trialing new approaches to reducing fuel loads, fighting fires and managing smoke pollution
• involving Aboriginal people in managing landscapes
• maintaining the safety and mental health of those on the frontline such as fire fighters, first responders and affected citizens
• improving disaster management through improved training and work practices for firefighters, better communication, new technologies and investing in equipment.

The scope and scale of the recommendations underscores the huge task ahead of us.

Importantly, underpinning the recommendations is a clear commitment to analyzing which approaches work, and which do not. This accepts our current state of knowledge is partial and imperfect.

Our fire-filled futures

Co-existing with a flammable landscape is a massive and complicated task—a fact California is now being brutally reminded of. Australia can lead the way globally, but to do this requires significant investment in bushfire management to build the necessary tools, techniques and talent.

Climate change is making bushfire seasons longer, more dangerous and socially demanding. Like it or not, we have embarked on the bushfire adaptation journey, and there is no turning back.

The question now is, how far do we go? All Australians must turn their minds to this critical social and political challenge.Climate change 'clearly' fuelled Australia bushfires: inquest

 by The Conversation 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

NASA's Suomi NPP satellite shows two views of California's smoky skies

by Lynn Jenner, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Image taken by Suomi NPP on August 30, 2020 shows the smoke and fires in California. Credit: NOAA/NASA

NOAA/NASA's Suomi NPP satellite captured two images that tell the story about the smoke coming off the fires in California. One instrument on the provided a visible image of the smoke, while another analyzed the aerosol content within. The images were captured on August 30, 2020.

The first image captured by the Suomi NPP satellite using the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) Corrected Reflectance imagery shows a true-color image (called true-color or natural color because this combination of wavelengths is similar to what the human eye would see) of the wildfires still burning across large swaths of the state. Smoke is pouring off the fires and traveling in two different directions. Some of the smoke is traveling northeast into Nevada and as far east (in this image) as Salt Lake City, Utah, and some is traveling west into the Pacific Ocean.

The second image was captured by Suomi NPP with the OMPS Aerosol Indexer and shows not only the direction of the smoke's travel but the thickness of the aerosol layer that has moved outward from the fires. The OMPS (Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite) Aerosol Indexer on Suomi NPP is an instrument that indicates the presence of ultraviolet-absorbing particles in the air coming from dust (desert) or, as in this case, soot from fires. The Aerosol Indexer found on the image as a scale is unitless, that is, the lowest and highest range do not relate directly to each other. It just indicates whether the scale is low or high. In this image of smoke coming off the California fires, the aerosols found were mostly in the moderate range (yellow) with some higher range areas (red). Higher concentrations can reduce visibility and impact human health. The Aerosol index is also useful for tracking long-range transport of these aerosols that move along jet streams.

Aerosols are tracked by the Suomi NPP satellite using the OMPS instrument as seen in this image of the California wildfires taken on August 30, 2020. Credits: NOAA/NASA

NASA's satellite instruments are often the first to detect wildfires burning in remote regions, and the locations of new fires are sent directly to land managers worldwide within hours of the satellite overpass. Together, NASA instruments detect actively burning fires, track the transport of smoke from fires, provide information for fire management, and map the extent of changes to ecosystems, based on the extent and severity of burn scars. NASA has a fleet of Earth-observing instruments, many of which contribute to our understanding of fire in the Earth system. Satellites in orbit around the poles provide observations of the entire planet several times per day, whereas satellites in a geostationary orbit provide coarse-resolution imagery of fires, smoke and clouds every five to 15 minutes.

NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Worldview application provides the capability to interactively browse over 700 global, full-resolution satellite imagery layers and then download the underlying data. Many of the available imagery layers are updated within three hours of observation, essentially showing the entire Earth as it looks "right now." Actively burning fires, detected by thermal bands, are shown as red points.

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NASA's Terra Satellite shows smoky pall over most of California

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Provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center 

Climate change could increase rice yields

by Rachel Schutte, American Society of Agronomy

Many people around the globe rely on rice as a source of nutrition. Credit: Rachel Schutte

Rice is the most consumed staple food in the world. It is especially common in Asia, where hunger concerns are prevalent.

Rice is classified as an annual plant, which means it completes its life cycle within one growing season then dies. However, in some tropical areas, rice can continue to grow year after year when taken care of properly.

Just as grass grows back in a lawn after it is mowed, rice can be cut after it is harvested, and the plant will regrow. The farming practice of cutting the rice above ground and allowing it to regrow is called ratooning.

Although Rice ratooning allows farmers to harvest more rice from the same fields, it requires a longer growing season compared to traditional single-harvest rice farming.

In many areas of the world where rice is grown, a long growing season isn't a problem due to the tropical climates. But in Japan, cooler weather means rice ratooning has been a rare farming practice.

Hiroshi Nakano and a research team set out to learn more about the potential of ratooning to help Japanese rice farmers. Nakano is a researcher at the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization.

Average temperatures in Japan have been higher in recent years. As climate change continues to affect the region, rice farmers may have a longer window for growing rice. "Rice seedlings will be able to be transplanted earlier in the spring, and farmers can harvest rice later into the year," explains Nakano.

Rice seeds are arranged on the plant in groups, called spikelets. This field of rice is ready for harvest. Credit: Hiroshi Nakano

"The goal of our research is to determine the effects of harvest time and cutting height of the first harvest on the yield of the first and second rice crops," says Nakano. "Ultimately, we want to propose new farming strategies to increase yield as farmers in southwestern Japan adjust to climate change."

During the study on rice ratooning, researchers compared two harvest times and two cutting heights of the first crop. After the first harvest, they collected the seeds from the cut off portions of the rice plants. Researchers measured the yield by counting and weighing the seeds. The second harvest of rice was done by hand and the yield was determined in the same way.

The total grain yield and the yields from the first and second crops were different depending on the harvest times and cutting heights. This wasn't too surprising, since the team already knew harvest time and height affected yield.

Rice plants harvested at the normal time for the first crop yielded more seed than the rice plants harvested earlier. "That's because the plants had more time to fill their spikelets with seed," explains Nakano.

Comparison of the two cut heights of rice five days after harvesting the first crop. Credit: Chiemi Nagamatsu

"At both harvest times, rice harvested at the high cutting height had a higher yield than the low cutting height," says Nakano. That's because the plants cut at a higher height had access to more energy and nutrients stored in their leaves and stems.

"Our results suggest that combining the normal harvest time with the high cutting height is important for increasing yield in rice ratooning in southwestern Japan and similar climate regions," says Nakano. "This technology will likely increase rice grain yield in new environments that arise through global climate chan

Breeding new rice varieties will help farmers in Asia

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More information: Hiroshi Nakano et al. Breaking rice yield barrier with the ratooning method under changing climatic conditions: A paradigm shift in rice‐cropping systems in southwestern Japan, Agronomy Journal (2020). DOI: 10.1002/agj2.20309

Journal information: Agronomy Journal 

Provided by American Society of Agronomy