Pollution from California's 2020 wildfires likely offset decades of air quality gains

by Tony Briscoe

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

It was a nightmare fire season that California won't soon forget.

As more than 9,000 wildfires raged across the landscape, a canopy of smoke shrouded much of the state and drifted as far away as Boston.

All told, more than 4.3 million acres would be incinerated and more than 30 people killed. Economic losses would total more than $19 billion.

But the damage caused by California's 2020 wildfire season is still coming into focus in some respects, particularly when it comes to the air pollution it generated.

In an analysis published this week in the annual Air Quality Life Index, researchers found that wildfire smoke likely offset decades of state and federal antipollution efforts, at least temporarily.

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic took cars off the road and temporarily halted some industries, particulate pollution—widely considered one of the greatest threats to life expectancy—spiked to some of the highest levels in decades in parts of California in 2020, according to the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, which produces the report estimating how air pollution may reduce life expectancy.

Nationally, 29 of the top 30 counties with the highest level of particulate pollution that year were in California, researchers found.

The report is the latest to highlight the dangerous health effects of wildfire smoke at a time when drought and climate change are fueling extreme wildfire behavior. Now, as the state enters what is expected to be another serious wildfire season, researchers say the toll these natural disasters can take on human health is striking.

"Places that are experiencing frequent or more frequent wildfires are going to experience higher air pollution levels, not just for a couple of days or weeks, but it could impact the annual level of exposure," said Christa Hasenkopf, director of air quality programs at the University of Chicago institute. "It can bump up that average to unsafe and unhealthy levels that really do have an impact on people's health. When we think of wildfires, we think of short-term events—and hopefully they are—but they can have long-term consequences (considering) your overall air pollution exposure."

Mariposa County, a sparsely populated county seated in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada, typically enjoys cleaner air than much of the state. But in 2020 it led the nation in annual average concentrations of fine particulate at 22.6 micrograms per cubic meter—more than four times the World Health Organization recommended guidelines. Likewise, more than half of all counties in California experienced their worst air pollution since satellite measurements began collecting data in 1998.

If the particulate concentrations Mariposa County experienced in 2020 were sustained, the average resident's life would be shortened by 1.7 years, according to the report. That's compared to if residents were permanently breathing air in line with widely accepted international health guidelines.

In Tulare County, levels of fine particulate were twice the national average in 2020, as satellite imagery captured a giant gyre of smoke from the KNP Complex and Windy fires encircling the cities of Visalia and Porterville.

Donelda Moberg, a longtime resident of Lindsay who has emphysema, has grown accustomed to enduring air pollution that drifts to her corner of the San Joaquin Valley from nearby Bakersfield and Fresno. However, in 2020, with many people housebound due to the pandemic, she remembers the skies were much clearer than normal.

By autumn, conditions had taken a dramatic turn with the wildfires.

Moberg, 67, recalls the haze being so thick she couldn't see the hill six blocks from her home. The pall of smoke above the valley obscured the stars at night and made the sun appear blood-orange during the day. And the abundance of ash falling from the sky regularly coated cars along the street.

For weeks, she didn't leave the house except to go grocery shopping, or for church services and doctor appointments.

"The sky was a clay color and it made the sun a funny color—it didn't look normal," Moberg said. "You could always tell whether it was safe to go out or not by just looking at the way the sun shined."

Between 1970 and 2020, five decades since the Clean Air Act was passed, the United States has witnessed tremendous progress in curtailing air pollution, including a 66.9% reduction in fine particulate—the pollutant that increases chances of lung disease, heart attack and stroke, according to the report.

These reductions have prolonged the lives of most Americans, including those in Los Angeles County, where levels of particle pollution have been halved, extending the average Angeleno's lifespan by 1.3 years, according to a University of Chicago analysis.

In recent years however, wildfire smoke has accounted for up to half of all fine-particle pollution in the Western U.S.

Fine particulate matter has been viewed as one of the preeminent threats to public health. When inhaled, these microscopic particles—30 times smaller than a human hair—can venture deep into the lungs and into the bloodstream, increasing the chance of lung disease and potentially triggering a heart attack or stroke.

Recent research suggests the fine particulate generated by wildfires to be much more dangerous than other sources of combustion, like vehicle exhaust or gas-fired power plants.

"When you have a wildfire, they burn everything," said Francesca Dominici, professor of biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health. "They burn cars, they burn buildings, they burn plastic. So it's not only the level of (particulate pollution) that gets really high, but the type of (this pollution) that you're breathing."

The pollution emanating from the 2020 wildfires likely resulted in 1,200 to 3,000 premature deaths for seniors over 65 years old, according to estimates from Stanford University.

In September 2021, the World Health Organization lowered its recommended guideline from 10 micrograms of particulate matter per cubic meter to 5, a revision scientists say signals that lower levels are detrimental to human health. According to the updated guidelines, nearly 93% of people in the United States lived in counties with unhealthy levels of pollution in 2020, including the entire population of California.

In addition to wildfires, fine particulate is also produced by car tailpipe emissions and smokestacks of fossil fuel power plants. Issues with this pollution are compounded by California's mountainous terrain, which traps air pollution and allows it to linger, especially within inland valleys that are beyond the reach of ocean breezes.

But the rising threat of wildfires remains on the minds of many.

Amid a third year of drought, much of the San Joaquin Valley is primed for wildfires. All it takes is a bolt of lightning, a spark from a transmission line or a negligently discarded cigarette.

Moberg, who lives in the shadow of hills covered in dry brush, is aware of the delicate balance. But there's not much she can do besides pray fires and smoke don't return.

"We're always like, 'Please, don't catch fire, hills.'"Wildfire smoke exposure negatively impacts dairy cow health

2022 Los Angeles Times.

How debates over LGBTQ+ rights impact kids

by Daniel Strain, University of Colorado at Boulder

Credit: Elizabeth Meyer

In April, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law the Parental Rights in Education bill, often dubbed by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" bill. The move underscored how the rights of LGBTQ+ students in K-12 schools have become one of the most prominent and divisive issues in midterm elections around the country.

Elizabeth Meyer, an associate professor in the School of Education at CU Boulder, has spent decades examining the challenges facing LGBTQ+ students and teachers in the classroom. In March, she co-authored a report for the CU Boulder-based National Education Policy Center about how school policies can have real impacts on the health and education of young people—and what school districts across the United States can do to keep kids safe.

To mark Pride Month, she sat down with CU Boulder Today to talk about bathrooms, school sports and why she believes kids should get the chance to read books about LGBTQ+ history in class.

You wrote in a recent blog post that these sorts of laws aren't new—that there have been regulations discriminating against LGBTQ+ students in K-12 schools for decades. What is new about the current political landscape?

What is new is the fact that we have increasing numbers of young people who are embracing identities under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, and who are finding community and affirmation, either locally or online. In the past five years, for example, the estimates of young people who identify as transgender or nonbinary have gone from 0.7% to 1.4%. They're rallying, marching and demonstrating their existence.

How can school policies help, or hurt, these students?

There's a national organization called GLSEN that has been doing surveys on these questions every two years since 1999. They ask things like: Do you have affirming adults in your school? Do you have curricula that include LGBTQ+ people in your school?

Those results show, for example, that when LGBTQ+ students report having more affirming adults in their schools, they have better educational outcomes. If your state has strong nondiscrimination laws that include gender identity and sexual orientation, students feel safer and more protected. Just the presence of a gay-straight alliance—or what is now called a gender and sexuality alliance (GSA)—has a strong relationship with students feeling safer and reporting fewer incidents of harassment at school.

At the same time, what impacts can discriminatory policies have?

Those sorts of policies can erode your willingness to attend school. The more students report experiencing anti-gay and anti-trans harassment, the more they report higher levels of absenteeism, higher dropout rates, and lower GPAs. We also see higher reported rates of negative health behaviors, such as drug and alcohol abuse and really dangerous self-harm, including attempted suicide.

You can't talk about LGBTQ+ kids in school without also talking about bathrooms. In your report, you and your colleagues argue that transgender or nonbinary students need to have access to safe and appropriate bathrooms. Why?

We know that when students don't feel safe using the bathroom at school, they will dehydrate themselves. They will hold it until they get home and can end up developing urinary tract and kidney infections. We also know that young people experience higher rates of sexual assault and violence at school if they don't have access to proper washroom facilities. All-gender, or "gender-neutral," bathrooms are one inclusive answer to address these challenges.

You also make the point that transgender girls should be able to participate on girls' sports teams, which has become a touch point in many places around the country. Why is that important?

In K-12 public schools, sports are primarily there to give students a space for physical fitness, school pride and belonging. Only a very small group of students take part in elite athletic competition and earn collegiate scholarships and prestigious awards.

We want all youth to be able to have those benefits. The NCAA and the International Olympic Committee all have trans-inclusive policies. I don't know why K-12 schools wouldn't also have inclusive policies when they're not at the same level of elite competition.

Do you think it's important for school curricula to address the lives and contributions of LGBTQ+ people?

Yes. Seeing yourself in the curriculum really, really matters. There are stories of kindergarteners and first-graders who have never seen their family structure talked about in school. When they finally get to read a book like "And Tango Makes Three," which is about two male penguins raising a chick together, it becomes their favorite book. They say things like, "That family is like mine. I have two dads." High school students who experience an LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum also report less harassment, missing fewer days at school and have higher educational aspirations.

What can Colorado and other states do to keep transgender and nonbinary students safe, and learning, in school?

At the very minimum, we need to make sure we have statewide non-discrimination policies that are understood and implemented. For example, in Colorado, we have the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, which protects students against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. We have those statewide protections, but they're not necessarily fully understood or fully implemented.

In the end, do you think it's a good thing that so many people are talking about issues facing transgender and nonbinary kids in schools?

I'm excited about it because, finally, the rights of these students are becoming part of the public discourse. Even though the tensions and the controversies are frustrating, it's a sign of advancement. Again, that's because we have youth who are visible and comfortable in their identities, and they're refusing to accept the current conditions.

Youths with diverse gender identities bullied up to three times more than peers

Provided by University of Colorado at Boulder 

 Transgender athletes: Balancing the debate between science, performance and human rights

by Seema Patel, Nottingham Trent University

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The world governing body for swimming, FINA, have announced their eligibility policy for trans athletes and 46 XY DSD athletes. Following extensive consultation with athletes, scientists and lawmakers, they have voted to prohibit those gender diverse athletes from competing in the female category if they have experienced any part of male puberty. The policy states that those who are ineligible to compete may participate in the open categories that FINA plan to develop in the future.

This policy is released at a highly polarized and political time for the participation of gender diverse athletes. In November 2021, the IOC introduced their Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations which seeks to shift the attention onto gender equality, non-discrimination and inclusion. For the first time, the IOC ensures that everyone can participate in sport irrespective of their gender identity or sex variations. However, the impact of the IOC Framework remains to be seen, with criticisms from international medical associations and sports bodies for failing to consider science. The UCI recently banned a trans female cyclist from competing which fueled further tensions and led to the British Prime Minister offering uninformed views on the matter.

During the FINA consultation, it was positive to see the arrangement of three working groups—athletes, science and legal/human rights. This is a step forward for a more balanced approach to inclusion. It is hoped that these were not discrete groups and instead the experts collectively consulted on these matters. In the report the legal/human rights group provide limited specific points about the core principles of gender rights that require recognition and protection when establishing eligibility policies.

Ultimately, the scientific aspects continue to dominate the policy but as previously argued, there is simply insufficient evidence and information on performance advantage and testosterone impact to accurately develop policy in this area. Grouping trans athletes and DSD athletes in the policy complicates this further and ignores the differences between those gender diverse groups.

Furthermore, athletes are required to certify their chromosomal sex in order to be eligible under the policy. This is reflective of previous sex testing methods which were abandoned because of their inaccuracy. The reference to gender diverse athletes as biologically male is potentially harmful and inaccurate because it dismisses the complexity and diversity of trans and DSD people.

Any legal challenge to this ban is still limited given the exclusive authority of CAS within the sport policies. This is part of a much wider concern regarding the adequacy of the sport regulatory structure for dealing with discrimination issues and the ability of an athlete to assert their legal rights. To put it simply for the public, if you feel you were treated unfairly in the workplace, you could seek legal advice and the law is in place to offer protection. It does not work in the same way for athletes, and they are often restricted from this right.

Such policies are placing too many conditions on gender diverse athletes and almost trying too hard to define the binary female, when the tides are changing and the meaning of gender identity is evolving.The Olympics shifts away from testosterone tests and toward human rights

Provided by Nottingham Trent University 

The world's affluent must start eating local food to tackle the climate crisis, new research shows

by Arunima Malik and Mengyu Li, The Conversation

Low-income countries contribute far less to the problem of emissions from food 

transport.  Credit: Shutterstock

The desire by people in richer countries for a diverse range of out-of-season produce imported from overseas is driving up global greenhouse gas emissions, our new research has found.

It reveals how transporting food across and between countries generates almost one-fifth of greenhouse gas emissions from the food sector—and affluent countries make a disproportionately large contribution to the problem.

Although carbon emissions associated with food production are well documented, this is the most detailed study of its kind. We estimated the carbon footprint of the global trade of food, tracking a range of food commodities along millions of supply chains.

Since 1995, worldwide agricultural and food trade has more than doubled and internationally traded food provides 19% of calories consumed globally. It's never been clearer that eating local produce is a powerful way to take action on climate change.

A web of food journeys

The concept of "food miles" is used to measure the distance a food item travels from where it's produced to where it's consumed. From that, we can assess the associated environmental impact or "carbon footprint."

Globally, food is responsible for about 16 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year—or about 30% of total human-produced carbon emissions. The sources of food emissions include transport, land-use change (such as cutting down trees) and the production process.

Our study used an accounting framework we devised in an innovative platform called the FoodLab. It involved an unprecedented level of detail, spanning:

• 74 countries or regions
• 37 economic sectors
• four transport modes—water, rail, road and air
• more than 30 million trade connections: journeys of a single food from one place to another.

Our results

We found global food miles emissions were about 3 billion tons each year, or 19% of total food emissions. This is up to 7.5 times higher than previous estimates.

Some 36% of food transport emissions were caused by the global freight of fruit and vegetables—almost twice the emissions released during their production. Vegetables and fruit require temperature-controlled transport which pushes their food miles emissions higher.

Overall, high-income countries were disproportionate contributors to food miles emissions. They constitute 12.5% of the world's population yet generate 46% of international food miles emissions.

A number of large and emerging economies dominate the world food trade. China, Japan, the United States and Eastern Europe are large net importers of food miles and emissions—showing food demand there is noticeably higher than what's produced domestically.

The largest net exporter of food miles was Brazil, followed by Australia, India and Argentina. Australia is a primary producer of a range of fruits and vegetables that are exported to the rest of the world.

In contrast, low-income countries with about half the global population cause only 20% of food transport emissions.

Where to now?

To date, sustainable food research has largely focused on the emissions associated with meat and other animal-derived foods compared with plant-based foods. But our results indicate that eating food grown and produced locally is also important for mitigating emissions associated with food transport.

Eating locally is generally taken to mean eating food grown within a 161km radius of one's home.

We acknowledge that some parts of the world cannot be self-sufficient in food supply. International trade can play an important role in providing access to nutritious food and mitigating food insecurity for vulnerable people in low-income countries.

And food miles should not be considered the only indicator of environmental impact. For example, an imported food produced sustainably may have a lower environmental impact than an emissions-intensive local food.

But there is much scope to reduce food transport emissions, especially in richer countries. Potential measures include:

• carbon pricing and import duties
• investing in less-polluting vehicles
• encouraging businesses to cut emissions in their production and distribution chains
• planning laws that allow more urban agriculture projects.

Consumers also have the power to reduce food transport emissions by adopting a more sustainable diet. For instance, next time you go to buy fruit out of season—which may have been grown overseas or on the other side of the country—perhaps consider whether a local alternative might do.

The problem of food transport emissions will only worsen as the global population grows. Governments, corporations and everyday people must work together to ensure the production and consumption of food does not make climate change worse.Fifth of global food-related emissions due to transport, research finds

Provided by The Conversation 

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

ECOCIDE

Dead rivers: The cost of Bangladesh's garment-driven economic boom

by Sam Jahan

Industrial waste enters the Buriganga River as boatmen wait for passengers in Karanigonj.

Bangladeshi ferryman Kalu Molla began working on the Buriganga river before the patchwork of slums on its banks gave way to garment factories—and before its waters turned pitch black.

The 52-year-old has a constant cough, allergies and skin rashes, and doctors have told him the vile-smelling sludge that has also wiped out marine life in one of Dhaka's main waterways is to blame.

"Doctors told me to leave this job and leave the river. But how is that possible?" Molla told AFP near his home on the industrial outskirts of the capital Dhaka. "Ferrying people is my bread and butter."

In the half-century since a devastating independence war left its people facing starvation, Bangladesh has emerged as an often unheralded economic success story.

The South Asian country of 169 million has overtaken its neighbour India in per capita income and will soon graduate from the United Nations' list of the world's least developed countries.

Underpinning years of runaway growth is the booming garment trade, servicing global fast-fashion powerhouses, employing millions of women and accounting for around 80 percent of the country's $50 billion annual exports.

But environmentalists say the growth has come at an incalculable cost, with a toxic melange of dyes, tanning acids and other dangerous chemicals making their way into the water.

Bangladesh will soon graduate from the UN's list of the world's least developed countries, 

but environmentalists say the growth has come at an incalculable cost.

Bangladesh's capital Dhaka was founded on the banks of the Buriganga more than 400 years ago by the Mughal empire.

"It is now the largest sewer of the country," said Sheikh Rokon, the head of the Riverine People environmental rights group.

"For centuries people built their homes on its banks to bask in the river breeze," he added. "Now the smell of toxic sludge during winter is so horrible that people have to hold their noses as they come near it."

Water samples from the river found chromium and cadmium levels over six times the World Health Organization's recommended maximums, according to a 2020 paper by the Bangladeshi government's River Research Institute.

Both elements are used in leather tanning and excessive exposure to either is extremely hazardous to human health: chromium is carcinogenic, and chronic cadmium exposure causes lung damage, kidney disease and premature births.

Ammonia, phenol and other byproducts of fabric dyeing have also helped to starve the river of the oxygen needed to sustain marine life.

Water samples from the Buriganga river found chromium and cadmium levels over six times

 the World Health Organization's recommended maximums.

'They are powerful people'

In Shyampur, one of several sprawling industrial districts around Dhaka, locals told AFP that at least 300 local factories were discharging untreated wastewater into the Buriganga river.

Residents say they have given up complaining about the putrid smell of the water, knowing that offending businesses are easily able to shirk responsibility.

"The factories bribe (authorities) to buy the silence of the regulators," said Chan Mia, who lives in the area.

"If someone wants (to) raise the issue to the factories, they'd beat them up. They are powerful people with connections."

The crucial position of the textile trade in the economy has created a nexus between business owners and the country's political establishment. In some cases, politicians themselves have become powerful industry players.

The Buriganga river is “now the largest sewer of the country," says Sheikh Rokon, the

 head of the Riverine People environmental rights group.

Further south, in Narayanganj district, residents showed AFP a stream of crimson-coloured water draining into stagnant canals from a nearby factory.

"But you cannot say a word about it loudly," an area resident told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We only suffer in silence."

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), which represents the interests of around 3,500 top factories, defends its record by pointing out the environmental certifications given out to its members.

"We are going green—that's why we are witnessing big jumps in export orders," BGMEA president Faruque Hassan told a recent press conference.

But smaller factories and sub-contractors operating on the industry's razor thin margins say they are unable to afford the cost of wastewater treatment.

A top garment official in the Savar industrial district, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said even most high-end factories serving major US and European brands often do not turn on their treatment machinery.

"Not everyone regularly uses it. They want to save costs," he said.

Bangladesh’s booming garment trade accounts for around 80% of the country's exports, 

but many factories are close to rivers with a toxic melange of dyes, tanning acids and 

other dangerous chemicals making their way into the water.

'Facing the same fate'

Bangladesh is a delta country criss-crossed by more than 200 waterways, each of them connected to the mighty Ganges and Brahmatura rivers that course from the Himalayas and through the South Asian subcontinent.

More than a quarter of them are now heavily contaminated with industrial pollutants and need to be "urgently" saved, said an April legal notice sent to the government by the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA).

Authorities have established a commission tasked with saving key water bodies, upon which close to half the country's population depend for farming, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

The National River Commission has launched several high profile drives to fine factories found to have polluted rivers.

Its newly appointed chief, Manjur Chowdhury, said "greedy" industrialists were to blame for the state of the country's waterways.

Any action will be too late for the five rivers that circle Dhaka and its industrial outskirts - 

all are already technically dead, meaning they are completely devoid of marine life, said 

prominent environmental activist Sharif Jamil.

But he also admitted that the enforcement of existing penalties was inadequate to address the scale of the problem.

"We have to frame new laws to face this emergency situation. But it will take time," he told AFP.

Any action will be too late for the five rivers that circle Dhaka and its industrial outskirts.

All are already technically dead, meaning they are completely devoid of marine life, said prominent environmental activist Sharif Jamil.

"With factories now moving deep into the rural heartland, rivers across the country are facing the same fate," he told AFP.

Bangladesh factories ordered shut to save key river

© 2022 AFP

The freshwater pearl mussel favors the original salmon fish populations of the home river

by University of Jyväskylä

Salmon fry. Credit: Heidi Kunttu / University of Jyväskylä

Researchers at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, have found that the larvae of freshwater pearl mussel survive best in the original salmon fish population of their home river. Their study was published in Freshwater Biology.

Freshwater pearl mussel larvae live as parasites on the gills of fish. The larvae grow and develop attached on the gills for 9 to 11 months, and then drop to the river bottom as tiny mussels.

"In our previous studies we have proved that the mussel larvae are able to attach only to the gills of the salmon or the trout, and that in big salmon rivers the best host for the mussel is the salmon and in smaller rivers the trout," says Professor Jouni Taskinen, Director of the Konnevesi Research Station of the University of Jyväskylä and the LIFE Revives project. "In this study we wanted to find out if the freshwater pearl mussels have adapted particularly to the salmon fish population of the home river."

In the study, salmon and trout rivers were compared by joining mussel larvae with fish species of the home river and other rivers. The experiments were made in rivers and brooks in Lapland, Northern Ostrobothnia and Kainuu.

The original host fish of the home river is the most welcome

The freshwater mussel larvae attached the most effectively particularly to the individuals of the salmon fish populations that lived in the same brooks and rivers. The larvae also grew best on the fish of the home river.

"For example, in the upper course of Luttojoki in Ivalo, we cross-exposed the fish of Hanhioja and Kolmosjoki with the mussels of both rivers, and the result was clear: The mussel larvae of Hanhioja attached the best to the Hanhioja salmon and the mussel larvae of Kolmosjoki to the Kolmosjoki salmon," Taskinen says. A third salmon population that was unfamiliar to both rivers was also used in the experiment, and it was the population to which the larvae attached the least effectively in both rivers.

Researchers’ keepnets for host fish in a mussel river. Credit: Felix Luukkanen

Freshwater pearl mussels on the riverbed. Credit: Jouni Salonen / University of Jyväskylä

Extinction of original migratory fish populations threatens the mussel

The freshwater pearl mussel is endangered and in many places has disappeared from nature regardless of the preservation work that started in the 1950s. Dams built to produce water power have obstructed fish migration, with the result that now many salmon and trout populations are almost lost. The loss to the fish economy caused by hydropower has been compensated with compensatory fish stocking. The research results demonstrated that if a salmon fish population other than the original population of the river is used in a stocking, it may not be that beneficial for the mussel. It does not help the mussel either if stocking takes place in a sea area and the fish do not return to spawn in their home rivers.

A microscopic image of the glochidium larvae of freshwater pearl mussel on the gill of a 

host fish. Credit: Jouni Salonen / University of Jyväskylä

"For the endangered freshwater pearl mussel, it would be important to restore the original fish populations and their natural migration to rivers," says Taskinen. "When possible, the original salmon population of the river should be favored in compensatory fish stocking, and the stockings should be made in the rivers instead of sea to be beneficial to the freshwater pearl mussel."

Freshwater mussels can inhibit bacterial diseases

More information: Jouni Taskinen et al, The endangered freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera shows adaptation to a local salmonid host in Finland, Freshwater Biology (2022). DOI: 10.1111/fwb.13882

Provided by University of Jyväskylä 

Australia's first marine Aboriginal archaeological site questioned

by University of Western Australia

Map of the Dampier Archipelago (Murujuga) showing locations of areas mentioned in the

 text. (Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data [2020] processed by Sentinel Hub).

 Credit: Geoarchaeology (2022). DOI: 10.1002/gea.21917

A new study from The University of Western Australia has challenged earlier claims that Aboriginal stone artifacts discovered off the Pilbara coast in Western Australia represent Australia's first undisturbed underwater archaeological site.

The original findings were made in a study published in 2020 in PLOS ONE, by a team of archaeologists and scientists from Flinders University, UWA, James Cook University, ARA (Airborne Research Australia) and the University of York.

The team partnered with the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation to locate and investigate stone scatters at two sites in the Dampier Archipelago.

The "underwater" sites at Cape Bruguieres included hundreds of stone tools found in an area that was dry land many thousands of years ago.

Co-author of the new paper, published in Geoarchaeology, geoarchaeologist Dr. Ingrid Ward from UWA's School of Social Sciences, said it questioned two key claims made in the original paper—that the artifacts were "permanently submerged" and that they were "in situ" and had not been moved since their original deposition.

"In fact, the artifacts occur in a channel ponded well above the lowest tide, so are not permanently submerged," Dr. Ward said.

"Further, past and present oceanographic and sediment transport processes indicate that the lithic artifact scatters have almost certainly been moved by waves and currents away from where they were first discarded."

The new study was carried out in collaboration with UWA's Dr. Piers Larcombe, Dr. Peter Ross of Flinders University and Dr. Chris Fandry of RPS Energy.

The multidisciplinary team examined the assumptions and claims made in the original paper, concluding that the analysis had been insufficient to justify its findings.

"It remains untested how old the artifacts are—they could be 200 years old, 2,000 years old or 20,000 years old—it is completely unknown at this stage," Dr. Ward said.

Despite this, she said we could still learn a lot from reworked sites.

"For all archaeological sites, the scientific narrative depends on defensible interpretation, which means understanding the processes that have formed the sites we find today," she said.

"Science progresses through repeated cycles of research, publication, challenge and correction, and papers that challenge ideas are a normal part of healthy science. Archaeological research of indigenous coastal and marine sites in Australia is still at an early stage."Aboriginal artifacts reveal first ancient underwater cultural sites in Australia

More information: Ingrid Ward et al, Applying geoarchaeological principles to marine archaeology: A reappraisal of the "first marine" and "in situ" lithic scatters in the Dampier Archipelago, NW Australia, Geoarchaeology (2022). DOI: 10.1002/gea.21917

Jonathan Benjamin et al, Aboriginal artefacts on the continental shelf reveal ancient drowned cultural landscapes in northwest Australia, PLOS ONE (2020). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233912

Journal information: PLoS ONE 

Provided by University of Western Australia