It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, December 11, 2023
Evidence that ancient Tethys Ocean influenced Earth’s past environments
IN THE CONTEXT OF THE “TETHYS ONE-WAY TRAIN” (LONG-TERM CYCLICAL NORTHWARD BREAKUP-DRIFTING OF GONDWANA CONTINENTAL FRAGMENTS), INCREASE IN LOW-LATITUDE CONTINENTAL AREA LEADS TO THE DECREASE IN GLOBAL TEMPERATURE; THE SUBDUCTION OF OCEANIC PLATES ENRICHING IN ORGANIC-RICH SEDIMENTS AFFECTS THE ARC MAGMA OXYGEN FUGACITY.
This study, led by geologist Bo Wan from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Geology and Geophysics, connects the Tethyan plate tectonic movements to changes in Earth’s surface environment. The work reveals Earth’s multi-sphere interactions.
The story begins from the Tethyan tectonic evolution, represented by the opening and closure of the succession of the Proto-, Paleo-, and Neo-Tethys oceans. These three oceans opening and closing allowed continental fragments of Gondwana to drift northward one after the other. Such latitudinal movement of continents will change the sea-land distribution in the warm and humid tropical region. How Earth’s surface environments respond to such sea-land changes in the tropics is still poorly known, according to the authors.
First, the authors have found a temporal linkage between significant increases in continental area at low latitudes and global surface cooling effects during the past 500 million years. The authors then go further beyond temporal connections to causal linkages between the two surprisingly connected phenomena.
Bo Wan explains it in this way: “Low-latitude regions receive more solar energy influx on Earth’s surface than high latitude areas. Therefore, an increase of landmass in low-latitude regions attenuates the net energy absorption by the Earth’s surface, consequently impeding the conduction and convection of absorbed energy toward the poles. The eventual result is a decrease in global surface temperature.”
Following such logic, the authors used subduction-driven plate tectonics in the Tethys realm to explain significant ice ages over the past few hundreds of millions of years.
Second, the authors also found that the surface environmental changes can affect the mineral resources in the Tethyan realm.
The tropical regions are ideal for the flourishing of marine plankton species and therefore the generation of organic-rich sediment. Massive biological debris is therefore deposited on continental margins when a continent drifts across the tropics. This creates favorable conditions for subsequent hydrocarbon and reservoir formation. Moreover, northward subduction of organic-rich sediments during the closure of the Tethyan oceans could result in the generation of mafic arc magmas with low oxygen fugacity. This chemical environment helps the mineralization of reduced-type ore deposits such as tungsten, tin, and lithium.
In sum, subduction-driven plate tectonics in the Tethys realm changes the distribution of oceans and landmass, subsequently affecting the balance and distribution of solar energy across Earth’s surface. These changes trigger consequential environmental shifts which in turn, impact the composition of rocks and minerals along the Eurasian margin due to subduction. Altogether, the Tethyan realm and its history is an ideal natural laboratory for comprehending the processes and changes of the entire Earth’s system.
See the article:
Wan B, Wu F, Zhu R. 2023. The influence of Tethyan evolution on changes of the Earth’s past environment. Science China Earth Sciences, 66(12):2653‒2665, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-023-1185-3
(A) THE PROTO-TETHYS TECTONIC DOMAIN IN WESTERN CHINA. (B) THE PALEO-TETHYS TECTONIC DOMAIN IN EASTERN CHINA. “SUB”, “COL”, “EXH”, AND “P-CO” DENOTE SUBDUCTION, COLLISION, EXHUMATION, AND POSTCOLLISIONAL STAGES, RESPECTIVELY. “C” AND “O” REPRESENT CONTINENTAL AND OCEANIC SUBDUCTION, RESPECTIVELY.
This synthesis study is led by Prof. Yong-Fei Zheng at University of Science and Technology of China. It focuses on the thermal and tectonic evolution of regional metamorphism at convergent continental margins based on a systematic outline of metamorphic temperature (T), pressure (P) and time (t) information on high-grade metamorphic rocks along the Central China Orogenic System (CCOS). The CCOS includes the Proto-Tethys tectonic domain in western China and the Paleo-Tethys tectonic domain in eastern China, which were produced by the closure of the Proto-Tethys and Paleo-Tethys oceans, respectively. As metamorphic rocks along the CCOS were produced at different stages from continental subduction to post-collisional extension, they are robust recorders of metamorphic thermobaric information at the convergent continental margins, and bear great significance to reconstruct their thermal and tectonic evolution.
Metamorphic T/P ratios and corresponding geothermal gradients for high-grade metamorphic rocks from both Proto-Tethys and Paleo-Tethys tectonic domains shows an increasing trend with age. It appears that these high-grade metamorphic rocks experienced three types of regional metamorphism in terms of their metamorphic T/P ratios: (1) an early stage of low T/P Alpine-type blueschist- to eclogite-facies high-P to ultrahigh-P metamorphism; (2) a middle stage of medium T/P Barrovian-type medium-P amphibolite to high-P granulite-facies metamorphism; and (3) a late stage of the high T/P Buchan-type low P amphibolite to MP granulite-facies metamorphism. For the ages of Alpine-type, Barrovian-type, and Buchan-type metamorphisms, they occurred at 500 to 400 Ma in the Paleozoic for the Proto-Tethys tectonic domain and 250 to 120 Ma in the Mesozoic for the Paleo-Tethys tectonic domain.
Convergent continental margins are characterized by the change of geothermal gradients during their tectonic evolution from dynamic compression to extension, giving rise to metamorphic rocks with different T/P ratios. In the stage of oceanic subduction, low geothermal gradients make cold subduction to produces low T/P Alpine-type metamorphic rocks. In the continental subduction/collision stage, the deep subduction of continental crust took place at low geothermal gradients but its collisional thickening occurred at moderate geothermal gradients. Therefore, this stage would produce both low T/P Alpine-type and moderate T/P Barrovian-type metamorphic rocks. In the post-collisional stage, the thickened continental lithosphere was thinned due to its gravitational or rheological instability, inducing asthenospheric upwelling and leading the thinned lithosphere to high geothermal gradients for high T/P Buchan-type metamorphism.
Based on the P-T information on and spatiotemporal relationships between the metamorphic rocks in the different orogens along the CCOS, the tectonic evolution of the Proto-Tethys and Paleo-Tethys tectonic domains can be reconstructed as follows. The continental collision/subduction in the Proto-Tethys orogenic system would occur either at 500–490 Ma in the Altyn, North Qinling and North Tongbai orogens, or at 450–430 Ma in the North Qaidam and East Kunlun orogens, and continental rifting would occur either at 460–450 Ma in the Altyn, North Qinling and North Tongbai orogens or at 410–400 Ma in the North Qaidam and East Kunlun orogens. On the other hand, continental subduction/collision in the Paleo-Tethys orogenic system would occur at 250–220 Ma, and continental rifting would occur at 140–120 Ma.
Although timescales of either continental deep subduction or hard collision are restricted to 10-30 Myr, time intervals between the low T/P Alpine-type metamorphism and the high T/P Buchan-type metamorphism are as short as about 40–60 Myr for the Proto-Tethys tectonic domain but as long as about 110 Myr for the Paleo-Tethys tectonic domain. These similarities and differences indicate that the high-grade metamorphic rocks in the two different Tethys tectonic domains record the tectonic transition of convergent continental margins from cold subduction through warm collision or exhumation to hot rifting. This is associated with the metamorphic transformation from the early Alpine-type facies series to the late Barrovian-type facies series, and then superimposition by Buchan-type facies series.
See the article:
Zhang Q Q, Gao X Y, Chen R X, Zheng Y F. 2023. Metamorphic evolution of the East Tethys tectonic domain and its tectonic implications. Science China Earth Science, 66(12): 2686–2711; https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-023-1209-6
In the ocean, organic particles from the sunlit surface water sink to the bottom. This process is an important part of the biological carbon pump. It binds carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and provides energy to deep-sea ecosystems. Previous research has suggested that the biological pump is particularly efficient in areas with an oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) below the surface. Due to the lack of oxygen, particle consumers such as zooplankton could not effectively reduce the export of carbon to the deep sea. Researchers from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel challenge this assumption in a new study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. Using the tropical upwelling system off the coast of Peru as an example, they were able to show the influence that zooplankton species can have on the efficiency of the biological carbon pump in these areas.
The researchers were able to show that zooplankton species that are tolerant to oxygen deficiency consume sinking particles and thus attenuate the export fluxes of carbon to the deep sea. They investigated the carbon fluxes and their attenuation off the coast of Peru in an area with a millennia-old permanent oxygen minimum zone. To this end, the scientists collected samples in the Humboldt Current on two expeditions with the research vessel METEOR (M136 and M138) in April and June 2017. They deployed drifting sediment traps six times to collect and chemically analyse sinking particles in the OMZ at depths of between 50 and 600 metres. The team also used vertical Multi-Net hauls, which collect plankton samples from different depths, and an Underwater Vision Profiler (UVP5), a pressure-resistant underwater camera, to obtain high-resolution data on the occurrence of various zooplankton species.
“Based on several independent methods, our results provide consistent evidence that zooplankton interact with sinking particles even in low-oxygen systems, thereby reducing carbon export to the deep sea. The species found off Peru are well adapted to living under low-oxygen conditions. Low-oxygen zones that have recently developed, e.g. due to eutrophication, are generally avoided by animals”, says the corresponding author of the study, Dr Anja Engel, Professor of Biological Oceanography and Head of the Marine Biogeochemistry Research Unit at GEOMAR.
The results challenge the previously prevailing assumption of a uniformly efficient biological carbon pump in oxygen minimum zones. “Zooplankton once again proves to be a key player in the regulation of the carbon pump,” explains Dr Engel. In view of their findings, the authors call for a significant increase in observations and knowledge of deep-sea ecosystems in order to make reliable predictions about the marine carbon cycle.
In June, temperatures in North China hit record breaking heights, with temperatures in Beijing reaching or exceeding 40℃ for three consecutive days.
The intensity of such events has increased by at least 1.0℃ due to human-induced climate change.
Heatwaves like these will occur twice as likely even under proposed carbon neutral targets and will be 0.5℃ more intense.
Current emissions scenario will increase the probability of reoccurrence to over five times this century with a 2.9℃ rise in intensity.
A record-breaking heatwave occurred in North China in June, marking the first time that temperatures reached or exceeded 40°C in Beijing for three consecutive days. A new paper, published in IOP Publishing’s journal Environmental Research Letters, explores the extent to which such extreme heatwave events can be attributed to human induced climate change and how frequent and intense such strong heatwave events will be in the future.
The study was led by Cheng Qian of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, as part of an international consortium of research groups. Their work used two probability-based attribution approaches, an empirical approach based on observations and a coupled model approach, both with a low CO2 emissions, carbon neutral scenario and an intermediate CO2 emissions scenario.
Qian, Professor of Atmospheric Science, says: “This study is a first attempt in establishing a real-time rapid attribution service in China, providing risk information on climate change to inform policymaking. Our findings highlight the need for change and measures to reduce emissions to address the consequences of extreme heat wave events.”
“Rapid attribution analysis can also inform the public of how climate change is linked to the severe weather they have recently experienced. Analyses like these promote awareness and push participation in climate actions to reduce the effects of climate change and contribute to the completion of carbon neutrality. The attribution results were released to the public eight days after the event on third of July” continues Qian.
Heatwave events are characterized by intensity and length per geographical area, with the event in June resulting in negative effects on transportation, public health, energy supply, agricultural development, and economic growth.
A co-author of the paper, Professor Cunrui Huang from Vanke School of Public Health at Tsinghua University in China adds: “Our work has important implications across the globe, not just in North China. Countries need to implement a range of effective interventions to manage public health risks caused by climate change, including the development of heat adaptation plans and the establishment of heat-health early warning systems by government departments.”
ENDS
About IOP Publishing IOP Publishing is a society-owned scientific publisher, delivering impact, recognition, and value to the scientific community. Its purpose is to expand the world of physics, offering a portfolio of journals, eBooks, conference proceedings and science news resources globally. As a wholly owned subsidiary of the Institute of Physics, a not-for-profit society, IOP Publishing supports the Institute’s work to inspire people to develop their knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of physics. Go to http://ioppublishing.org or follow us @IOPPublishing.
Rapid attribution of the record-breaking heatwave event in North China in June 2023 and future risks
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
7-Dec-2023
The first European manifesto for more sustainable museums
Launched by a consortium of 14 entities as a result of an international workshop, the first Manifesto outlining 10 actions to be taken for the conservation and treatment of cultural heritage according to the best principles of environmental sustainability
IN THE PICTURE, FRESCO MOCK-UPS UNDERWENT ACCELERATED AGEING. A CONSORTIUM OF 14 ENTITIES LAUNCHED THE FIRST MANIFESTO OUTLINING 10 ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN FOR THE CONSERVATION AND TREATMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE ACCORDING TO THE BEST PRINCIPLES OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY.
During the COP28 in Dubai, the United Nations event on the climate crisis with the participation of over 70,000 attendees and delegates from 199 states, British museums released a joint statement emphasizing both the ambition to reduce the carbon footprint of museums and, more importantly, the ethical obligation to address this issue more broadly. Currently, museums significantly contribute to pollution due to non-eco-friendly practices, requiring, as highlighted by the UK statement, a complete overhaul of management, logistics, and materials.
The 10 points outlined in the manifesto, available on the website https://greenculturalheritage.eu/ , reflect the commitment of the scientific and institutional community to transition towards more conscious and sustainable practices. This effort aims to ensure the safety of operators' health and the environment, contributing to the objectives set by the European Union's Green Deal initiative, which aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
Scholars say it's time to declare a new epoch on the moon, the 'lunar Anthropocene'
A) CRATER FORMED BY IMPACT OF USA’S RANGER 6 LUNAR PROBE IN 1964 (B) USA’S APOLLO 13 SATURN IVB UPPER STAGE IMPACT SITE FROM 1970; (C) ISRAEL’S BERESHEET MOON LANDER CRASH SITE FROM SOFT LANDING IN 2019; (D) CHINA’S CHANG’E 4 LUNAR LANDER, LAUNCHED IN 2018; (E) PHOTOGRAPH AND PARTIAL FOOTPRINT LEFT BEHIND BY ASTRONAUT CHARLES DUKE DURING USA’S APOLLO 16 MISSION IN 1972; (F) USA’S APOLLO 17 LUNAR SURFACE EXPERIMENTS PACKAGE SITE IN 1972 SHOWING THE LUNAR SURFACE GRAVIMETER IN THE FOREGROUND AND THE LUNAR MODULE IN THE FAR BACKGROUND; (G) USA’S NASA SURVEYOR 3 PROBE THAT LANDED IN 1967 AND FOOTPRINTS FROM APOLLO 13 WHICH OCCURRED OVER 3 YEARS LATER, RESULTING IN THE RECOVERY OF SOME PROBE COMPONENTS; (H) TRACKS OF RUSSIA’S LUNOKHOD 2 ROVER DEPLOYED DURING THE 1973 LUNA 21 MISSION.
LAWRENCE — Human beings first disturbed moon dust on Sept. 13, 1959, when the USSR’s unmanned spacecraft Luna 2 alighted on the lunar surface. In the following decades, more than a hundred other spacecraft have touched the moon — both crewed and uncrewed, sometimes landing and sometimes crashing. The most famous of these were NASA’s Apollo Lunar Modules, which transported humans to the moon’s surface to the astonishment of humankind.
In the coming years, missions and projects already planned will change the face of the moon in more extreme ways. Now, according to anthropologists and geologists at the University of Kansas, it’s time to acknowledge humans have become the dominant force shaping the moon’s environment by declaring a new geological epoch for the moon: the Lunar Anthropocene.
In a comment published today in Nature Geoscience, they argue the new epoch may have dawned in 1959, thanks to Luna 2.
“The idea is much the same as the discussion of the Anthropocene on Earth — the exploration of how much humans have impacted our planet,” said lead author Justin Holcomb, a postdoctoral researcher with the Kansas Geological Survey at KU. “The consensus is on Earth the Anthropocene began at some point in the past, whether hundreds of thousands of years ago or in the 1950s. Similarly, on the moon, we argue the Lunar Anthropocene already has commenced, but we want to prevent massive damage or a delay of its recognition until we can measure a significant lunar halo caused by human activities, which would be too late."
Holcomb collaborated on the paper with co-authors Rolfe Mandel, University Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, and Karl Wegmann, associate professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences at North Carolina State University.
Holcomb said he hopes the Lunar Anthropocene concept might help dispel the myth that the moon is an unchanging environment, barely impacted by humanity.
“Cultural processes are starting to outstrip the natural background of geological processes on the moon,” Holcomb said. “These processes involve moving sediments, which we refer to as ‘regolith,’ on the moon. Typically, these processes include meteoroid impacts and mass movement events, among others. However, when we consider the impact of rovers, landers and human movement, they significantly disturb the regolith. In the context of the new space race, the lunar landscape will be entirely different in 50 years. Multiple countries will be present, leading to numerous challenges. Our goal is to dispel the lunar-static myth and emphasize the importance of our impact, not only in the past but ongoing and in the future. We aim to initiate discussions about our impact on the lunar surface before it's too late.”
While many outdoors enthusiasts are familiar with “Leave No Trace” principles, they don’t seem to exist on the moon. According to the authors, refuse from human missions to the moon includes “discarded and abandoned spacecraft components, bags of human excreta, scientific equipment, and other objects (e.g., flags, golf balls, photographs, religious texts).”
“We know that while the Moon does not have an atmosphere or magnetosphere, it does have a delicate exosphere composed of dust and gas, as well as ice inside permanently shadowed areas, and both are susceptible to exhaust gas propagation,” the authors wrote. “Future missions must consider mitigating deleterious effects on lunar environments.”
While Holcomb and his colleagues want to use the Lunar Anthropocene to highlight the potential for humanity’s potential negative environmental impact to the moon, they also hope to call attention to the vulnerability of lunar sites with historical and anthropological value, which currently have no legal or policy protections against disturbance.
“A recurring theme in our work is the significance of lunar material and footprints on the moon as valuable resources, akin to an archaeological record that we’re committed to preserving,” Holcomb said. “The concept of a Lunar Anthropocene aims to raise awareness and contemplation regarding our impact on the lunar surface, as well as our influence on the preservation of historical artifacts.”
The KU researcher said this field of “space heritage” would aim to preserve or catalog items such as rovers, flags, golf balls and footprints on the moon’s surface.
“As archaeologists, we perceive footprints on the moon as an extension of humanity's journey out of Africa, a pivotal milestone in our species' existence,” Holcomb said. “These imprints are intertwined with the overarching narrative of evolution. It’s within this framework we seek to capture the interest of not only planetary scientists but also archaeologists and anthropologists who may not typically engage in discussions about planetary science.”
Apollo 11
U.S. astronaut Buzz Aldrin erects solar wind experiment.
UNEP DIVISION OF PUBLIC COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION
DUBAI, 8 December 2023 – Emerging novel alternatives to animal products such as meat and dairy may contribute to significantly reducing the environmental footprint of the current global food system, particularly in high- and middle-income countries, provided they use low-carbon energy. This is a key finding of a new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) assessment of such new alternatives to animal agriculture, a sector accounting for up to a fifth of planet-warming emissions, with meat consumption slated to grow by 50 per cent by 2050.
The report, produced with the support of the Government of Belgium, finds that these alternatives not only show significant potential for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but they can also contribute to reductions in land degradation and deforestation, water and soil pollution and loss of biodiversity, as well as to reducing the risks of zoonotic diseases and anti-microbial resistance. These novel alternatives could also help to significantly reduce animal welfare concerns, compared to their conventional counterparts.
The authors conclude that novel alternatives can likely play a role in supporting a more sustainable, healthier and more humane food system, with regional differences. It reviews policies decision makers may consider to safeguard food security, jobs, livelihoods, social and gender equity, and culture to help maximize the beneficial outcomes of novel meat and dairy alternatives, while avoiding potential negative health and social impacts.
“New food alternatives will offer a broader spectrum of consumer choices,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “Further, such alternatives can also lessen the pressures on agricultural lands and reduce emissions, thereby helping us address the triple planetary crisis - the crisis of climate change, the crisis of biodiversity and nature loss, the crisis of pollution and waste - as well as address the health and environmental consequences of the animal agriculture industry. More government support, as well as open and transparent research, can help unlock the potential of these new technologies for some countries.”
While conventional animal products are an important source of protein for many communities, particularly in developing countries, in many high- and middle-income countries, their production and consumption happen at a scale that negatively impacts people and the planet. The tens of billions of animals slaughtered annually are far from the only victims of a fast-growing animal agriculture industry. Producing and consuming animal-source foods, while offering important nutrients, has also been associated with significant challenges for public health: excess levels of red and processed meats consumption is associated with cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers, obesity, and diabetes. Animal agriculture is also associated with increased risks of anti-microbial resistance – 73 per cent of all antimicrobials sold are used in animal agriculture – and with the spread of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19 or Avian Influenza.
The animal agriculture industry is a major driver of climate change: animal GHG emissions, feed production, changes in land use and energy-intensive global supply chains account for almost 60 per cent of food-related GHG emissions and 14-20 per cent of global GHG emissions.
While novel alternative foods can reduce harm to farm animals and could contribute to improving public health, other health benefits aren’t as evident: some novel plant-based products tend to be highly processed and have high amounts of salt and saturated fats. Evidence on the health impacts of using cultured meat from animal cells or fermentation remains limited. By closely mimicking or replicating the sensory experiences of meat and other animal products, novel alternatives may help consumers, particularly in high- and middle-income countries, shift away from unsustainably high levels of animal protein consumption. However, cost, taste, and social and cultural acceptability will strongly affect the trajectory of nascent alternatives to conventional animal products.
The report underlines the need to ensure a just transition through equitable and regionally appropriate approaches to food systems change. It reviews policy options to shift the food industry towards a healthier and more sustainable future: greater support for open access research and commercialization, shifting subsidies, tax rebates, direct financial investments, and loan guarantees to favor novel alternatives, as well as internationally agreed mechanisms on supportive trade policies and food safety standards.
The authors underscore the need for open and transparent research to understand the nutritional implications of regular consumption of alternatives, and to understand the socio-economic implications of their uptake in different regions, including for equity, food security, and livelihoods of smallholder farmers.
The report does not consider meat from wild animals, fish or other aquatic animals, though new technologies may also reshape the fishing sector. The report is not an assessment of other alternatives to the current food system: regenerative livestock farms, feed additives to reduce emissions from animal agriculture, farming insects, reduced meat consumption in favor of whole plant protein sources like beans, vegan products like tofu, or taxing meat. Such alternatives are already being pursued alongside the three alternatives examined in the report, but have struggled so far to win government support and achieve impacts at the desired scale or speed.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
For more information please contact: News and Media Unit, UN Environment Programme
Biopesticide is harmless to mammals but can wipe out colonies of wasps that benefit plants
Albeit less lethal than synthetic insecticides, this fungus-based substance is not detected by social insects and can spread spores to entire nests, threatening the survival of species that play a key role in pest control and pollination.
FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO
IMAGE:
SOCIAL WASPS OF THE SPECIES MISCHOCYTTARUS METATHORACICUS DID NOT DISTINGUISH BETWEEN HEALTHY NESTMATES AND INDIVIDUALS INFECTED BY THE FUNGUS BEAUVERIA BASSIANA, WHICH CAN KILL ENTIRE COLONIES
Some wasps and bees are able to recognize sick nestmates by smell and can prevent their entry into the nest to avert infection of the entire colony, assuring its survival and that of the species in the long run.
A study supported by FAPESP and described in an article published in the journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research shows that this recognition does not happen in paper wasps of the species Mischocyttarus metathoracicus infected by a biopesticide based on the fungus Beauveria bassiana.
The group of authors, led by researchers at the University of São Paulo’s Ribeirão Preto School of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters (FFCLRP-USP) in Brazil, determined through molecular, survival and behavioral assays that the biopesticide kills wasps, which benefit plants by feeding on pests and performing pollination. They also confirmed that wasps infected by the substance are not detected by nestmates.
The authors include scientists affiliated with the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ-USP), São Paulo State University (UNESP) and the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), also in Brazil.
The biopesticide has an advantage over the synthetic insecticide in that it contains spores of the fungus B. bassiana, which infects only insects, sparing mammals and other animals. The synthetic pesticide tested by the researchers is one of the most widely used and toxic to mammals. It is hazardous to humans if not properly used.
Defensive behavior
In the survival assay, about half the wasps exposed to the biopesticide died. The entire group exposed to the synthetic compound died. The imidacloprid-based pesticide was 50 times less concentrated than the biopesticide, showing how much more toxic it was to these insects.
A control group was exposed to an inert product or water. Under a quarter of these wasps died, further demonstrating the significant lethality of both pesticides.
In the behavioral assays, which were designed to find out whether wasps infected by the fungus were recognized (more attacked or avoided) by nestmates, the researchers used dead wasps as lures on sticks, which they brought near the nest so that resident wasps could interact physically with them. The resident wasps were able to distinguish nestmates from individuals belonging to other nests, which they attacked by biting and stinging.
They recognized nestmates by detecting the odor of their cuticular hydrocarbons, chemical messengers present on the surface of these insects’ bodies and used for communication. Nest invasions are common in this competitive species, which defends itself aggressively.
In the study, nestmates infected by the biopesticide and hence bearing fungal spores on the surface of their bodies continued to be accepted by the rest of the colony. “If they also attacked infected nestmates, the biopesticide wouldn’t be such a problem for the colony. They were allowed into the nest and probably remained there, so the 19-day period during which they coexisted with the fungus could be sufficient to transmit spores and infect other adults and larvae, potentially endangering the entire group,” Souza said.
Threatened allies
The biopesticide containing many fungal spores is sprayed onto crops so that the fungus can colonize and kill in a few days such pests as caterpillars, coffee borer beetles, red spider mites, eucalyptus weevils and silverleaf whiteflies, all of which feed on a wide array of crops.
The wasps feed on caterpillars and can be key allies in the biological control of pests. Social insects are also important pollinators of both crops and wild plants.
For Souza, the results of the study serve as a warning not to avoid using biopesticides, but to test them as rigorously as synthetic pesticides and manage them adequately.
For example, it would be advisable to avoid applying this biopesticide during the day, when the wasps go out to forage and could carry the spores back to the nest.
In recent years, research has shown that mortality testing alone is insufficient to assess the hazardousness of any pesticide, synthetic or biological, for species other than those deliberately targeted by the product. Some compounds may not kill animals immediately but cause loss of fertility, for example, affecting survival of the species in the long run. In light of these findings, the researchers are now studying the effect on wasp fertility of an essential oil widely used as a biopesticide.
The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe.
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE
A research team led by members of the Department of Chemical Engineering faculty at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science has found a way to extract lithium from geothermal brines — a potential answer to meeting some of the country’s critical energy needs as we transition from reliance on fossil fuels.
Lithium is an essential material in batteries for electric vehicles and grid-scale electricity storage.
Associate professors Geoffrey Geise and Gary Koenig and assistant professor Gaurav “Gino” Giri, with industry partner PowerTech Water, placed second in the U.S. Department of Energy’s American-Made Geothermal Lithium Extraction Prize in which they developed a prototype of their process, called Targeted Extraction of Lithium with Electroactive Particles for Recovery Technology (TELEPORT).
A Cleaner Alternative for a Clean-Energy Supply Chain
The DOE commissioned the prize to speed development of direct extraction of lithium from California’s Salton Sea to establish a domestic supply of the element that can be recovered safely and economically. The U.S. currently imports about 99% of its supply, according to a DOE news release announcing the competition’s winners.
Salton Sea geothermal power plants pump tens of thousands of gallons per minute of hot water containing salt, lithium and other minerals to the surface from deep wells to produce energy. These geothermal brines — a clean-energy byproduct — could supply 600,000 tons of lithium annually, according to the DOE, a volume exceeding U.S. demand today.
The problem is, conventional extraction by evaporation pools requires enormous land and water use. Finding the right technique for separating lithium from geothermal brines could reduce the consumption of groundwater, harmful chemicals and ecological disruptions associated with evaporative or land-mining methods in other locations.
The Geothermal Lithium Extraction Prize, administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and funded by DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office, aimed to address this challenge by incentivizing academic researchers, entrepreneurs and industry partners to innovate new processes.
The TELEPORT Lithium Extraction Process
The TELEPORT process starts by flowing the brine — a primordial brew of mostly unwanted minerals and metals — through tubes packed with a crystalline material that acts like a lithium sponge. Atoms present in the material’s particles contain void space, explained Geise, the team captain.
Under conditions present in the brine solution, the particles will undergo a reaction that allows lithium into the material and to fit into those voids.
“The electrochemistry is nearly identical to what happens in a battery. You’re moving ions into the material similarly to the movement of ions into a battery cathode during discharge,” Geise said. “The molecular space within the particles is perfectly sized for lithium ions, and other contaminant ions just don’t fit well.”
This concentrates the lithium into a compact space until the next stage of the process and allows for immediate removal of lithium from the brine.
“So we manage to quickly get rid of the ions that are problematic from the brine perspective,” Geise said. “We also greatly reduce the physical space needed for the subsequent purification process, which is economical, and the way that our special sponges work is unique compared to similar approaches because they minimize the need to add acids or other chemicals.”
That last point matters because the leftover brine will be injected back into the ground and could contaminate the wells.
The lithium is released from the sponges as lithium chloride or lithium sulfate in a solution, which is converted in TELEPORT’s next stage to bicarbonate or hydroxide, the desired form of lithium electrolyte for use in batteries.
The conversion is made in an electrolysis cell by pulling the solution across a selective membrane using electricity. This leaves the undesired molecules on one side of the cell and pairs the lithium with bicarbonate, or in Team TELEPORT’s case, hydroxide, on the other.
The final TELEPORT stage dries the lithium hydroxide that comes out of the membrane process — by now reduced in volume by many orders of magnitude from the original brine — into the powdered crystal material manufacturers need to make a battery cathode.
Integrating Expertise for Success
Two years ago, UVA Engineering’s Team TELEPORT was a semifinalist from an initial field of 40 teams in the competition’s first phase. Semifinalists won $40,000 to develop their concepts in the second phase — from which Team TELEPORT emerged as one of five finalists with $280,000 in prize money to fund the work in phase three: Fabricate and test their prototypes.
Three final winners were chosen, with a first-place prize of $1 million and two second-place prizes of $500,000 awarded to continue the teams’ research.
Team TELEPORT’s three-phase approach capitalizes on their labs’ respective strengths — Geise’s work with advanced polymer membranes, Koenig’s expertise in the electrochemistry of battery systems and Giri’s use of crystallization for purification and separations technologies.
“Others have suggested lithium extraction and conversion via an all-membrane process or other particle-based approaches,” Geise said.
“Our idea was that coupling the particle- and membrane-based processes together could lead to a unique, economic and environmentally attractive solution.”
