What is a bomb cyclone? An atmospheric scientist explains

by Esther Mullens, The Conversation

A bomb cyclone over the U.S. East Coast on Jan. 4, 2017. Credit: NOAA/CIRA

A bomb cyclone is a large, intense midlatitude storm that has low pressure at its center, weather fronts and an array of associated weather, from blizzards to severe thunderstorms to heavy precipitation. It becomes a bomb when its central pressure decreases very quickly—by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. Two famed meteorologists, Fred Sanders and John Gyakum, gave this pattern its name in a 1980 study.

When a cyclone "bombs," or undergoes bombogenesis, this tells us that it has access to the optimal ingredients for strengthening, such as high amounts of heat, moisture and rising air. Most cyclones don't intensify rapidly in this way. Bomb cyclones put forecasters on high alert, because they can produce significant harmful impacts.

The U.S. Eastern Seaboard is one of the regions where bombogenesis is most common. That's because storms in the midlatitudes—a temperate zone north of the tropics that includes the entire continental U.S.—draw their energy from large temperature contrasts. Along the U.S. East Coast during winter, there's a naturally potent thermal contrast between the cool land and the warm Gulf Stream current.

Over the warmer ocean, heat and moisture are abundant. But as cool continental air moves overhead and creates a large difference in temperature, the lower atmosphere becomes unstable and buoyant. Air rises, cools and condenses, forming clouds and precipitation.

Intense cyclones also require favorable conditions above the surface. Particularly strong upper-level winds, also known as "jet streaks," and high-amplitude waves embedded within storm tracks can help force air to rise.

UK meteorologist Alex Deakin explains how unstable air causes cumulus clouds to form.

When a strong jet streak overlies a developing low-pressure system, it creates a feedback pattern that makes warm air rise at an increasing rate. This allows the pressure to drop rapidly at the center of the system. As the pressure drops, winds strengthen around the storm. Essentially, the atmosphere is trying to even out pressure differences between the center of the system and the area around it.

Weather forecasters are predicting that the northeastern U.S. will be affected by a potent winter storm on Jan. 28–30, 2022. Forecast models are calling for a swath of snow from coastal North Carolina northward to Maine.

While precise locations and amounts of snowfall are still uncertain, parts of coastal New England appear most at risk of receiving 8–12 inches or more of heavy accumulating snow. Coupled with winds forecast to be over 50 miles per hour along the coast, the storm is likely to produce blizzard conditions, storm surge, coastal flooding, wind damage and beach erosion.

This storm's life is expected to begin offshore of the southeast U.S. as a weak low-pressure system. Just 24 hours later, global models predict that its central pressure will drop by 35–50 millibars.

If this storm develops as forecasts predict, aided by winds blowing at over 150 miles per hour in the upper atmosphere, very warm sea surface temperatures just offshore (2–4 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than average), and a highly unstable atmosphere, it will have the critical ingredients for a bomb cyclone.

Real weather term "bomb" blows up on social media

Provided by The Conversation 

Meat and masculinity: Why some men just can't stomach plant-based food

by Dora Marinova, Christopher Bryant, Diana Bogueva, The Conversation

Plant-based burgers are hitting the mainstream – but are they meaty enough for some

 men? Credit: Shutterstock

Meat alternatives are suddenly everywhere, from burger joints to supermarket shelves to restaurant-grade food.

One problem? For men, in particular, there is often a visceral attachment to slaughter-derived meat. This could pose a stumbling block for an industry worth an estimated $A9.4 billion globally in 2020 and seeing significant growth, with grocery sales in Australia up by 46% in 2020.

Our new research is based on interviews with 36 men who recently went to vegan restaurants in Sydney and tried a plant-based burger. We found none of these men, who usually eat animal meat four to five times a week or more, were likely to include plant-based alternatives in their diets permanently.

But why? That's the interesting part. Many of our interviewees made a strong link between animal meat and their own masculinity. "I don't want to end up with my friends laughing at me over a plant-based burger," one said. Another told us plant-based burgers were "ruining [his] reputation as a man." A third said he felt guilty choosing plant-based burgers: "I was feeling I was sacrificing my manhood, my masculinity. It's even worse when you are kind of forced to do it as everyone around is doing it. There is no other option."

Why do some men react so strongly to meat alternatives?

We interviewed men aged 18–40, as these are the generations most likely to embrace flexitarianism (meat-reduction) and include more plant-based foods. That's why it was surprising to see the strength of their negativity.

We believe two psychological responses are at work:

• The men we interviewed saw the idea of a vegan-only menu as a blow to their freedom to choose, regardless of whether they enjoyed the burger. They were determined to restore their freedom. This is in line with the idea of psychological reactance, which suggests people will react very strongly to perceived loss of freedoms.
• On the other hand, the men we interviewed wanted to impress or please their girlfriends or partners who had taken them to the restaurant. This is linked to impression management theory, which describes how we strive to be in control of how others see us. Earlier research has shown men, in particular, can buy into eating larger and unhealthy meals as part of impression management. Our interviewees had to juggle how their partner saw them as well as how their friends and other men would see their choices.

What happens when these two theories collide? You get themes emerging like these:

• Focusing on the novelty of a vegan restaurant. One 18 year old told us: "You don't need to be a vegan to go and try a veggie burger. I am not a vegan, but everyone is talking about [these burgers]. I am not even kidding, they are so popular." A 29 year old said: "We used to go out and eat steaks and burgers in pubs and steakhouses […] now we are mingling with the veggie burger eaters. Strange world!"
• Protecting masculinity through food choice. A 22 year old told us: "Friends nowadays can trace you everywhere. I don't want to end up with my friends laughing at me over a plant-based burger," while a 19 year old said he had to "guard what [my girlfriend] is saying in front of my male friends. I think she is smart enough and understands the implications of this. We do have a vegan friend, and everybody is constantly fooling him and it's very annoying to think that I can get in his place with my vegetarian burger."
• Skepticism over the taste of the plant-based burgers. One 32 year old told us it was "tasteless for me […] not even close to real meat. You could have it once but that's it."
• Concerns over the health of plant-based burgers. A 21 year old told us plant-based burgers were not better for health compared to meat. "They are ultra-processed imitations," he said.

Why does this matter?

The emergence of this new industry is a clear response to urgent calls to change our current food systems due to the heavy environmental footprint of animals bred for meat, destruction of pristine habitat to create more fields, as well as animal welfare concerns. Our reliance on meat also affects our health, both on an individual and population level. New alternatives to animal-sourced meat represent the start of the transition to more sustainable food choices.

Unfortunately, plant-based alternatives can only help us tackle our overlapping environmental crises of climate change, extinctions, wilderness loss and pollution if people actually want to eat them in preference to animal muscle. This may mean improving the ingredients used in some alternative products and reducing the processing to boost how healthy they are.

Forcing people to abandon animal meat is a non-starter, given how strongly we react to perceived loss of freedoms. That means we need to go after the psychological reasons some men, in particular, have such a strong attachment to animal meat.

How can we do that? Social marketing would be a good start, given the successes of previous common-good campaigns around making tobacco use less popular, uptake of sunscreen and COVID vaccinations.

Our study shows any marketing messages to encourage men to take up plant-based alternatives will need to be tailored very carefully. These could include:

• Describing plant-based foods as a deliberate choice to make to improve nutrition, reduce health risks and improve the environment. This approach would be likely to suppress the reactance backlash.
• Presenting new forms of male identity focused on food to describe a masculinity centered around caring for themselves and for wilderness to create a positive impression management.

Even with reluctant or avoidant eaters, the plant-based sector is still expected to grow strongly, adding $3 billion to the Australian economy by 2030.

Just imagine if we could bring everyone along—even self-described carnivores.

Are plant-based burgers better for you?

Provided by The Conversation 

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

Chemist identifies new way to search for extraterrestrial life

by Sarah White, San Diego State University

SDSU researchers Chris Harrison and Jessica Torres, seen above in Harrison's lab, are

 using lasers and liquids to detect amino acids in extraterrestrial rocks. In the background, 

an image of Mars. Credit: San Diego State University

Have we been looking for extraterrestrials in all the wrong places? San Diego State University chemists are developing methods to find signs of life on other planets by looking for the building blocks of proteins in a place they've never been able to test before: inside rocks.

After collaborating with researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in La Cañada Flintridge in 2019, Jessica Torres, a doctoral student studying chemistry at SDSU, is experimenting with ways to extract amino acids from porous rocks that could be used on future rovers.

Previous research has looked for evidence of other life forms in water and soil, but not from solid materials.

Current methods for identifying amino acids can't differentiate versions created by a living organism from those formed through random chemical reactions. And existing techniques usually require water—which would freeze or evaporate if placed on a space probe traveling to Mars or Europa, the ice-covered saltwater moon of Jupiter that some regard as a prime candidate for extraterrestrial life because of its subsurface ocean.

"The true novelty of our project is to approach detection of life using alternative solvents that are better suited for space instead of water and organic solvents, which are very suitable on earth," Torres said. "We hope to develop a microfluidic device that can extract, sample, and identify amino acids in rocks. This is particularly novel because JPL does not have a method to approach this quite yet."

Torres is developing novel chemical solvents specifically made to operate on an automated rover visiting another planet, where water and other common solvents like alcohols and acetone would not be viable.

In the lab, Chris Harrison, Torres's advisor and SDSU chemistry professor, uses a process called capillary electrophoresis.

"It's a cheaper way to detect life, and better in a lot of ways," said Harrison.

Capillary electrophoresis involves separating molecules by passing them through a liquid-filled tube narrower than an average human hair. A laser attached at the end of the tube is used to illuminate a glow-in-the-dark molecule attached to an amino acid. When an amino acid passes in front of the laser, a sensor will show a spike of the laser-induced glow.

There are 20 different amino acids and each moves through the tube at varying rates based on size, electric charge, and how they react with other chemicals. Torres's current challenge is trying to configure a unique spike for each of the contrasting amino acids; she hopes to eventually be able to identify an amino acid, even if there is only one present among a billion other molecules.

"We're really lucky with the equipment we have here. I can do the exact kinds of things that I would do at JPL at SDSU," said Torres. They were originally supposed to return to JPL during the summers of their Ph.D., but have worked remotely during the pandemic.

Once they have optimized the chemicals they use to reliably separate and identify each of the 20 amino acids, the team plans to test their process on sample rocks from the moon, the Mars-like Atacama Desert and Mono Lake, which is two to three times saltier than Earth's oceans.

"What we'll bring with this new solvent will add flexibility to analysis on Earth and beyond," said Harrison. "Sometimes it is hard to see the impact of fundamental science until you get it in the hands of others and see which problems you've already solved for them."A new test for life on other planets

Provided by San Diego State University 

Scientists warn of widespread drought in the 21st century

by Li Yuan, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Frequency changes (%) of different drought metrics from 1970–99 to 2070–99 under the

 (left) SSP2-4.5 and (right) SSP5-8.5 scenarios projected by CMIP6 multimodel

 ensemble mean. Credit: IAP

Drought is among the most damaging natural hazards in the world, often causing severe losses to agriculture, ecosystems and human societies.

Historical records of precipitation, streamflow and observation-derived drought indices all show increased aridity since 1950s over several hotspot regions, including Africa, southern Europe, East Asia, eastern Australia, Northwest Canada, and southern Brazil.

"Climate model projections also suggest that drought may become more severe and widespread as the greenhouse gas-induced global warming continues in the 21st century," said Prof. Zhao Tianbao from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Recently, Zhao and Prof. Dai Aiguo from University at Albany, State University of New York, further investigated hydroclimatic and drought changes in the latest projections from 25 models of the Phase Six of the Coupled Model Inetercomparison Project (CMIP6).

Their results were published in the Journal of Climate on Jan. 5.

The study suggests that the latest projections from CMIP6 models reaffirm the widespread drying and increases in agricultural drought by up to 200 percent over most of the Americas (including the Amazon), Europe and the Mediterranean region, southern Africa, Southeast Asia, and Australia under moderate-high emissions scenarios in the 21st century.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the drought is also expected to last longer and spread wider in the late 21st century (2070–99), Zhao noted.

The model results suggest a decrease in the mean and flattening of the probability distribution functions of drought metrics, despite large uncertainties in individual projections partly due to internal variability.

"With rising temperatures, everywhere there's increasing demand of moisture from atmosphere, and precipitation decreases over many subtropical regions. These are the main driver of the projected widespread and increasing drought," said Zhao.Meteorological drought on global land likely to intensify in the future

More information: CMIP6 Model-Projected Hydroclimatic and Drought Changes and Their Causes in the Twenty-First Century, Journal of Climate (2021). DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-21-0442.1

Journal information: Journal of Climate 

Provided by Chinese Academy of Sciences 

The unfair 'double whammy' of minority ethnic children in care

by Lancaster University

Children in care who come from an ethnic minority background can experience a 'double whammy' of disadvantage when it comes to youth justice involvement, says new research from Lancaster University.

Inequalities in the youth justice system regarding ethnic minority children and children in care, including foster care, children's homes or kinship care, have intensified with minoritised children in care likely to bear the brunt, particularly those who identify as Black.

This, says the research, results in the 'institutionalised criminalisation' of ethnic minority children in care who must contend with both the stigma of their ethnicity and of being care-experienced.

Formally launched today in the Prison Service Journal, the article 'Out of Place': The Criminalisation of Black and Minority Ethnic Looked After Children in England and Wales, highlights a disproportionate representation of Black and minority ethnic children who have been through the care system.

The Economic and Social Research Council-funded research analysed official datasets from the Office for National Statistics, Department for Education, Youth Justice Board, Home Office and Ministry of Justice and included 27 in-depth interviews with youth justice and children's services experts.

The research, by Dr. Katie Hunter, of Lancaster University Law School, aimed to close conspicuous gaps in the knowledge base by providing the first analysis combining ethnicity, care experience and youth justice involvement.

The research finds minority ethnic children are disproportionately likely to come into contact with the youth justice system through stop and search, with Black individuals nine times more likely to be stopped and searched than white individuals.

Ethnic minority children are also increasingly over-represented in arrest figures. For example, Black children (aged 10 to 17) comprise roughly 4.4 percent of the general population, yet accounted for 15.7 percent of arrests in 2018/19 (an increase of 7.6 percent since 2008/2009).Experts interviewed overwhelmingly felt policing of Black children and communities was excessive and driven by highly problematic, racialised assumptions about the types of individuals who engaged in criminal behaviour.

Research suggests minoritised individuals, particularly those who identify as Black, were likely to receive harsher sentences than white individuals although more research is needed to determine the precise nature of court interactions.

The official data demonstrated that Black children are more likely to be punished, and to be punished more severely at all stages of the youth justice process.

Interviewees said ethnic minority children, particularly those who are Black, must contend with racialised assumptions penetrating all aspects of the system. The research finds the disproportionality is driven by two key processes, placement instability and criminalisation in care settings.

Placement stability is exacerbated for ethnic minority children in care for whom there is a shortage of placements with ethnic minority foster carers.

This means they tend to be housed in residential placements, where they are more likely to receive a formal youth justice sanction than in other placement types.

Interviewees were concerned that children's homes had a 'last resort' status among local authorities, with one former magistrate describing them as a 'dumping ground'.

The lack of provision in inner city areas, which, typically, have larger ethnic minority populations, more heavily impacts upon ethnic minority children in care since they tend to be placed further from home than their white counterparts.

Two interviewees described how Black children could 'stick out like a sore thumb' when housed in largely white, working class areas, in which their ethnicity and care status intersect to produce the 'double whammy' outlined above.

There is evidence to suggest that children in care are subjected to increased scrutiny and surveillance, which can result in their criminalisation.

Interviewees gave numerous examples of carers, particularly staff in private children's homes, calling the police for behaviour that would not usually result in youth justice intervention.

One interviewee felt calling the police to help manage behaviour was damaging because it put children on the 'police radar' which was a 'slippery slope' to formal youth justice sanctions, leading to labelling and stigmatisation, resulting in further criminalisation.

Many interviewees also felt that looked after children were disadvantaged in the youth justice system because they were not perceived as having 'supportive' backgrounds.

Several interviewees were adamant that a lack of advocacy could result in looked after children receiving harsher sanctions, in particular custodial sentences.

They believed that professionals perceived the lives of such children as 'chaotic' and so attempt to mediate that by imposing structure.

Added Dr. Hunter: "Significant issues must be addressed to reduce the overrepresentation of ethnic minority looked after children in the youth justice system and the juvenile secure estate. Both groups of children are subjected to increased scrutiny and surveillance, ultimately amounting to institutionalised criminalisation."Ethnic minorities experience persisting inequality in treatment for mental health problems

Provided by Lancaster University 

 

Wider-reaching solutions urgently needed to reach realistic 'net zero', warn researchers

by University of Leicester

Landscape view of Whinlatter, Cumbria. Credit: Beth Cole, University of Leicester

There should be greater investment in using a wider group of experts to make decisions about how the landscape is managed if the UK is to reach climate targets such as net zero, a new report warns.

Tackling the climate emergency should involve those knowledgeable in the arts, business owners, farmers, landowners, developers and investors, the study says.

The interdisciplinary team of UK researchers have highlighted 'multiple contradictions' in the pathways to net zero climate targets and called for wider-reaching solutions to create a more sustainable future.

The Landscape Decisions Programme, led by the University of Leicester, has published a new research report with input from environmental scientists, ecosystem modellers, human geographers, humanities scholars, and other experts from Leicester, Reading, Exeter, Bangor, Leeds, Nottingham, Wales Trinity Saint David, and Robert Gordon universities, plus expertise from Rothamsted Research and the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

The UKRI-funded report stresses the potential negative impact of existing pathways to net zero climate targets, which include losses in the benefits of biodiversity, human wellbeing and cultural knowledge of the landscape.

The UK government has previously set a net zero target of 2050, through a proposed reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and better management of so-called 'carbon sinks' such as peatlands and forests, and with new carbon capture technologies.

Recommendations made by the interdisciplinary group include a greater focus on locally-devolved decisions in land-use solutions, as a one-size-fits all approach to net zero landscape management could be damaging in certain environments.

As well as studying the physical impact of landscape decisions, these should be taken within the full context of the social consequences of these changes; for example, in the case of sudden large-scale changes to farming.

The group do, however, recognise that "swift action is essential, otherwise we head deeper towards an inability to reach net zero carbon targets, contribute to biodiversity collapse and, promote societal disengagement with landscapes".

Dr. Beth Cole is Senior Research Fellow for the Landscape Decisions Programme, based at the University of Leicester, and lead author for the report. She said:

"To reach the net zero goals we need to make some challenging decisions about the way we use, manage, and interact with landscapes in the UK. These landscape decisions are dependent upon many factors including the environmental characteristics, and the geographic location of the land, but in this report, we also consider the wider social framing of these decisions and call for inclusive, place-specific net zero practices within landscapes that support both biodiversity and people.

"Collaborating across disciplines this group of researchers together make a team that is greater than the sum of its parts and who have broken down some of the silos this urgent issue is normally approached from."

Dr. Katharine Earnshaw, a co-author based in the University of Exeter's Department of Classics and Ancient History, said:

"We have an urgent need to think about the culture of change—not just what could be possible on paper. This means a better consideration of the whole picture: social and ethical ideas—the habits of thinking—alongside empirical evidence, taking account of past, present and future.

"This novel report demonstrates the genuine benefits of working across different subjects and with communities and businesses so that we do not reproduce the inequalities that have led us to this crisis."

Co-author and natural scientist Professor Simon Willcock, of Rothamsted Research and Bangor University, added:

"Obviously, there is an urgent need to move towards net zero landscape decisions to limit the impacts of climate change. However, landscape changes impact a great variety of things—from the carbon and water cycles to biodiversity and local peoples.

"Only by making interdisciplinary decisions that take these many things into account can we move towards achieving sustainability more broadly—benefiting people and nature. Our report highlights this and provides key recommendations as to how net-zero can be achieved more inclusively."

Professor Heiko Balzter is a Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Leicester and Director of the Centre for Landscape and Climate Research, and is Chair of the Programme Coordination Team for the UKRI Landscape Decisions Programme. He added:

"Our landscapes in the UK are about to change faster than they have done in a long time. These changes are driven by the urgent need to prevent catastrophic climate change by achieving net zero emissions no later than 2050, reversing the loss of many endangered animal and plant species, as well as improving food security and livelihoods of our farmers. This report highlights some key recommendations for decision-makers on ethical consideration, participatory approaches and the trade-offs and synergies between different goals and interventions."Prioritising protection for threatened carbon-storing landscapes

More information: Landscape Decisions to Meet Net Zero Carbon: Pathways that consider ethics, socio-ecological diversity, and landscape functions, landscapedecisions.org. DOI: 10.25392/leicester.data.19011629

Provided by University of Leicester 

New species of 'incredibly rare' insect discovered

by Anglia Ruskin University

The newly discovered leafhopper Phlogis kibalensis. Credit: Please credit Dr Alvin Helden, Anglia Ruskin University

A British scientist has discovered a new species that belongs to a group of insects so rare that its closest relative was last seen in 1969.

Dr. Alvin Helden of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) found the new species of leafhopper, which he has named Phlogis kibalensis, during field work with students in the rainforest of the Kibale National Park in western Uganda, and the discovery has been announced in the journal Zootaxa.

The new species, which has a distinctive metallic sheen, pitted body, and, in common with most leafhoppers, uniquely-shaped male reproductive organs—in this case partially leaf-shaped—belongs to a group, or genus, called Phlogis.

Prior to this new discovery, the last recorded sighting of a leafhopper from this rare genus was in Central African Republic in 1969.

Leafhoppers are closely related to cicadas but are much smaller, with the male of the newly discovered Phlogis kibalensis species just 6.5mm long. Leafhoppers feed mainly on plant sap, sucked directly from the phloem, and are preyed on by invertebrates, including spiders, beetles, and parasitic wasps, as well as birds.

Dr. Helden, a member of the Applied Ecology Research Group at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), said: "To find this new species is a once-in-a-lifetime achievement, particularly as it's closest relative was last found in a different country over 50 years ago. I knew it was something very special as soon as I spotted it.

Dr Alvin Helden carrying out field work in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Credit:

 Please credit Anglia Ruskin University

"Leafhoppers of this genus, and the wider tribe, are very unusual in appearance, and are rarely found. In fact, they are so incredibly rare that their biology remains almost completely unknown, and we know almost nothing about Phlogis kibalensis, the new species I found, including what plants it feeds on or its role in the local ecosystem.

"There is so much still to find out, not just about this species but so many others, including the many species that are still waiting to be discovered. It is incredibly sad to think that some species will become extinct before we are even aware of their existence.

Dr Alvin Helden photographing insects in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Credit:

 Please credit Anglia Ruskin University

"There are some wonderful places, like the Kibale National Park in Uganda, where wildlife will survive, but outside national parks and reserves, the amount of rainforest that has been cleared in the tropics is devastating. Rare species could be living anywhere, but deforestation means it is inevitable that we will be losing species before we have discovered them."

General view of Kibale National Park in western Uganda. 

Credit: Please credit Dr Alvin Helden, Anglia Ruskin University

Dr. Helden has been leading student field trips to the Kibale National Park, close to Uganda's border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, since 2015. As part of the work, he has been documenting the insects found within the park, and has produced picture guides to Kibale's butterflies, hawkmoths, and tortoise beetles.

Dr. Helden added: "I've been photographing insects in Kibale National Park over many years, and we have now started collating these into photographic field guides as we wanted to give something back to people of Uganda, who have been so hospitable to Anglia Ruskin University during our field trips."DR Congo park fetes birth of endangered gorilla species

More information: A new species of the unusual leafhopper genus Phlogis Linnavuori (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Signoretiinae) from Uganda, Zootaxa (2022).

Journal information: Zootaxa 

Provided by Anglia Ruskin University 

 

Look who's talking now: The fishes

by Pat Leonard, Cornell University

Longspine squirrelfish. Credit: Cornell University

There's a whole lot of talking going on beneath the waves. A new Cornell study finds that fish are far more likely to communicate with sound than generally thought—and some fish have been doing this for at least 155 million years.

"We've known for a long time that some fish make sounds," said lead author Aaron Rice, a researcher at the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "But fish sounds were always perceived as rare oddities. We wanted to know if these were one-offs or if there was a broader pattern for acoustic communication in fishes."

Rice is first author of "Evolutionary Patterns in Sound Production Across Fishes," published Jan. 20 in the journal Ichthyology and Herpetology.

The authors looked at a branch of fishes called ray-finned fishes. These are vertebrates (having a backbone) comprising 99% of the world's known species of fishes. They found 175 families that contain two-thirds of fish species that do—or are likely to—communicate with sound. By examining the fish family tree, study authors found that sound was so important, it evolved at least 33 separate times over millions of years.

"Thanks to decades of basic research on the evolutionary relationships of fishes, we can now explore many questions about how different functions and behaviors evolved in the approximately 35,000 known species of fishes," said co-author William E. Bemis '76, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. "We're getting away from a strictly human-centric way of thinking. What we learn could give us some insight on the drivers of sound communication and how it continues to evolve."

The scientists used three sources of information: Existing recordings and scientific papers describing fish sounds; the known anatomy of a fish—whether they have the right tools for making sounds, such as certain bones, an air bladder and sound-specific muscles; and references in 19th century literature before underwater microphones were invented.

"Sound communication is often overlooked within fishes, yet they make up more than half of all living vertebrate species," said Andrew Bass, co-lead author and the Horace White Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior in the College of Arts and Sciences. "They've probably been overlooked because fishes are not easily heard or seen, and the science of underwater acoustic communication has primarily focused on whales and dolphins. But fishes have voices, too."

What are the fish talking about? Pretty much the same things we all talk about—sex and food. Rice says the fish are either trying to attract a mate, defend a food source or territory, or let others know where they are. Even some of the common names for fish are based on the sounds they make, such as grunts, croakers, hog fish, squeaking catfish and trumpeters.

Rice intends to keep tracking the discovery of sound in fish species and add them to his growing database—a project he began 20 years ago with study co-authors Ingrid Kaatz and Philip Lobel, a professor of biology at Boston University. Their collaboration has continued and expanded since Rice came to Cornell.

"This introduces sound communication to so many more groups than we ever thought," Rice said. "Fish do everything. They breathe air, they fly, they eat anything and everything—at this point, nothing would surprise me about fishes and the sounds that they can make."

Other co-authors are Stacy Farina of Howard University and Andrea Makowski.Venom has contributed to the species diversity of insects and fishes, new study reveals

More information: Aaron N. Rice et al, Evolutionary Patterns in Sound Production across Fishes, Ichthyology & Herpetology (2022). DOI: 10.1643/i2020172

Provided by Cornell University 

 

Coral skeleton formation rate determines resilience to acidifying oceans

by Sarah Perdue, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The three corals used in the study: Acropora hyancinthus (left), Turbinaria peltata

 (top right), and Stylophora spp. (bottom right). Credit: Pupa Gilbert

A new University of Wisconsin-Madison study has implications for predicting coral reef survival and developing mitigation strategies against having their bony skeletons weakened by ocean acidification.

Though coral reefs make up less than one percent of the ocean floor, these ecosystems are among the most biodiverse on the planet—with over a million species estimated to be associated with reefs.

The coral species that make up these reefs are known to be differently sensitive or resilient to ocean acidification—the result of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. But scientists are not sure why.

In the study, researchers show that the crystallization rate of coral skeletons differs across species and is correlated with their resilience to acidification.

"Many agencies keep putting out reports in which they say, 'Yes, coral reefs are threatened,' with no idea what to do," says Pupa Gilbert, a physics professor at UW–Madison and senior author of the study that was published Jan. 17 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. "Finding solutions that are science-based is a priority, and having a quantitative idea of exactly what's happening with climate change to coral reefs and skeletons is really important."

Reef-forming corals are marine animals that produce a hard skeleton made up of the mostly insoluble crystalline material aragonite. Aragonite forms when precursors made up of a more soluble form, amorphous calcium carbonate, are deposited onto the growing skeleton and then crystallize.

The team studied three genera of coral and took an in-depth look at the components of their growing skeletons. They used a technique that Gilbert pioneered called PEEM spectromicroscopy, which detects the different forms of calcium carbonate with the greatest sensitivity to date.

When they used these spectromicroscopy images to compare the thickness of amorphous precursors to the crystalline form, they found that Acropora, which is more sensitive to acidification, had a much thicker band of amorphous calcium carbonate than Stylophora, which is less sensitive.

“Finding solutions that are science-based is a priority,” says physics professor Pupa Gilbert, shown here with samples of scleractinian coral along the Lake Monona shoreline in Madison. Credit: Jeff Miller

A third genus of unknown sensitivity, Turbinaria, had an even thinner amorphous precursor layer than Stylophora, suggesting it should be the most resilient of the three to ocean acidification.

The thicker the band of uncrystallized minerals, the slower the crystallization process.

"If the surface of the coral skeleton, where all this amorphous calcium carbonate is being deposited by the living animal, crystallizes quickly, then that particular species is resilient to ocean acidification; if it crystallizes slowly, then it's vulnerable," Gilbert says. "For once, it's a really simple mechanism."

The mechanism may have worked out to be simple, but the data analysis required to process and interpret the PEEM images is anything but. Each pixel of imaging data acquired has a calcium spectrum that needs to be analyzed, which results in millions of data points. Processing the data includes many decision-making points, plus massive computing power.

The team has tried to automate the analysis or use machine-learning techniques, but those methods have not worked out. Instead, Gilbert has found that humans making decisions are the best data processors.

Gilbert did not want to base conclusions off the decision-making of just one or two people. So she hired a group of UW–Madison undergraduates, most of whom came from the Mercile J. Lee Scholars Program, which works to attract and retain talented students from underrepresented groups. This team provided a large and diverse group of decision makers.

Dubbed the Cnidarians—from the phylum to which corals, anemones and jellyfish belong—this group of students became integral members of the team. They met several times a week via Zoom, when Gilbert would assign multiple students the same dataset to process in parallel and discuss at their next meeting.

"If multiple people come up with precisely the same solution even though they make different decisions, that means our analysis is robust and reliable," Gilbert says. "The Cnidarians' contributions were so useful that 13 of them are co-authors on this study."A better understanding of coral skeleton growth suggests ways to restore reefs

More information: Connor A. Schmidt et al, Faster Crystallization during Coral Skeleton Formation Correlates with Resilience to Ocean Acidification, Journal of the American Chemical Society (2022). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c11434

Journal information: Journal of the American Chemical Society 

Provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison