Wednesday, July 24, 2024

 

Mixed approach to reforestation better than planting or regeneration alone



DUKE UNIVERSITY
Tree nursery in Madhesh Province, Nepal 

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TREE NURSERY IN MADHESH PROVINCE, NEPAL

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CREDIT: JEFF VINCENT




DURHAM, NC – Reforestation in low- and middle-income countries can remove up to 10 times more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at lower cost than previously estimated, making this a potentially more important option to fight climate change, according to a study in Nature Climate Change.  

Reforestation regrows trees on degraded lands where human activities removed original forests. Most current reforestation programs focus on tree planting alone, but the study estimates that nearly half of all suitable reforestation locations would be more effective at sequestering carbon if forests were allowed to grow back naturally.

“Wood markets are one key to large-scale reforestation,” said co-author Jeff Vincent, professor of forest economics and management at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. “In more than half the areas we studied, timber plantations sequester carbon at a lower cost than forests that grow back naturally.” 

Carbon sequestration captures and stores carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which reduces greenhouse gases and helps combat climate change. It can be done naturally by plants or through technology. In countries that are among the most affected by deforestation, but least resourced to reforest, determining how to allocate scarce funding to sequester the most carbon can be a challenge.  

“A mix of planted and naturally regenerated forests is often the best way to balance society’s many demands on forests,” said Vincent. “That’s what we find for the case of carbon.” 

"This more biodiverse method of reforestation is vastly underutilized,” said Jonah Busch, lead author of the study, who conducted the research as a Climate Economics Fellow at Conservation International. 

Using a mix of the two reforestation methods – replanting the forest in some locations, and letting nature take its course in others - could sequester more carbon than using only tree planting or natural regeneration alone, the researchers calculate. 

Carbon payments made by companies and other organizations looking to offset, or cancel out, their own greenhouse gas emissions are one way to incentivize reforestation. 

“Carbon payments can provide a sufficient reforestation incentive on their own in some places,” said Vincent. “While the net cost of carbon sequestration can be reduced in other places by earning income from sustainable wood harvests.” 

That net cost is the total expense involved in capturing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, minus any savings or benefits gained from the process. If a project generates income from timber sales or wood products, for example, that brings down its net cost.  

Which method is more cost-effective, natural growth vs. planting trees, in a given location depends on multiple factors. Variables include forest growth rates; proximity to natural seed sources for natural regeneration and wood-processing mills for plantations; the value of land in its current use, typically some form of agriculture; the costs of implementing each method, typically much lower for natural regeneration; and, for plantations, the frequency of timber harvests and the duration of carbon storage in wood products. 

The research team modeled these factors for the two reforestation methods. The result is a world map showing which reforestation method is more cost-effective by location. 

“We hope our map will help governments, companies and other organizations use their forest restoration budgets more efficiently,” said Vincent.  

CITATION: Cost-effectiveness of natural forest regeneration and plantations for climate mitigation,” Jonah Busch, Jacob J. Bukoski, Susan C. Cook-Patton, Bronson Griscom, David Kaczan, Matthew D. Potts, Yuanyuan Yi, Jeffrey R. Vincent. Nature Climate Change, July 24,2024. 

 

 

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 WAIT, WHAT?!

Komodo dragons have iron-coated teeth to rip apart their prey


AND REALLY BAD BREATH


KING'S COLLEGE LONDON



Scientists have discovered that the serrated edges of Komodo dragons’ teeth are tipped with iron.

Led by researchers from King’s College London, the study gives new insight into how Komodo dragons keep their teeth razor-sharp and may provide clues to how dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex killed and ate their prey.

Native to Indonesia, Komodo dragons are the largest living species of monitor lizard, averaging around 80kg. Deadly predators, Komodos have sharp, curved teeth similar to many carnivorous dinosaurs. They eat almost any kind of meat, from smaller reptiles and birds to deer, horses or water buffalo, pulling and tearing at their prey to rip flesh apart.

The researchers discovered that many reptiles have some iron in their teeth, but Komodo dragons have concentrated the iron along the cutting edges and tips of their teeth, staining them orange. Crocodiles and other monitor lizards, by comparison, have so little that the iron is often invisible.

To understand the chemical and structural make-up of Komodo dragon’s teeth, scientists scoured museums for skulls and teeth of Komodo dragons and studied the teeth of Ganas, the 15-year-old Komodo dragon who had lived at ZSL conservation zoo, London Zoo.

Through advanced imaging and chemical analysis, the team was able to observe that the iron in Komodo dragons' enamel is concentrated into a thin coating on top of their tooth serrations and tips. This protective layer keeps the serrated edges of their teeth sharp and ready to be used at a moment’s notice.

The research, published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution, leads to new questions and avenues for research into how extinct species such as dinosaurs lived and ate.

Dr Aaron LeBlanc, lecturer in Dental Biosciences at King’s College London and the study's lead author said: “Komodo dragons have curved, serrated teeth to rip and tear their prey just like those of meat-eating dinosaurs. We want to use this similarity to learn more about how carnivorous dinosaurs might have ate and if they used iron in their teeth the same way as the Komodo dragon.

“Unfortunately, using the technology we have at the moment, we can’t see whether fossilised dinosaur teeth had high levels of iron or not. We think that the chemical changes which take place during the fossilisation process obscure how much iron was present to start with.

“What we did find, though, was that larger meat-eating dinosaurs, like tyrannosaurs, did change the structure of the enamel itself on the cutting edges of their teeth. So, while Komodo dragons have altered the chemistry of their teeth, some dinosaurs altered the structure of their dental enamel to maintain a sharp cutting edge.

“With further analysis of the Komodo teeth we may be able to find other markers in the iron coating that aren’t changed during fossilisation. With markers like that we would know with certainty whether dinosaurs also had iron-coated teeth and have a greater understanding of these ferocious predators.”

Dr Benjamin Tapley, Curator of Reptiles and Amphibians at ZSL and co-author on the study said: “As the world’s largest lizards, Komodo dragons are inarguably impressive animals. Having worked with them for 12 years at London Zoo, I continue to be fascinated by them and these findings further emphasise just how incredible they are.

“Komodo dragons are sadly endangered, so in addition to strengthening our understanding of how iconic dinosaurs might have lived, this discovery also helps us build a deeper understanding of these amazing reptiles as we work to protect them.”

Iron-coated Komodo dragon teeth and the complex dental enamel of carnivorous reptiles (DOI:  10.1038/s41559-024-02477-7) was published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

ENDS

 

Researchers record first-ever images and data of a shark experiencing a boat strike



OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
Basking shark 

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A 7-METER BASKING SHARK FEEDING NEAR THE SURFACE AFTER IT WAS TAGGED BY RESEARCHERS. 

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CREDIT: BIG FISH LAB, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY.




NEWPORT, Ore. – Hours after tagging an endangered basking shark off the coast of Ireland in April, researchers captured what they believe is the first ever video of a shark or any large marine animal being struck by a boat.

The data, collected by an activity measurement device similar to a FitBit and a connected camera, provided scientists a unique opportunity to learn more about the impact of vessel strikes on large marine animals, which is a rising concern around the globe, said Taylor Chapple, a shark researcher at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center and lead author of the study.

“This is the first ever direct observation of a ship strike on any marine megafauna that we’re aware of,” Chapple said. “The shark was struck while feeding on the surface of the water and it immediately swam to the seafloor into deeper, offshore waters, a stark contrast to its behavior prior to the strike.”

“Our findings demonstrate the risk and impact of vessel strikes and the need for measures to reduce this risk.”

Researchers do not know whether the shark, a female about 7 meters long, eventually recovered from the strike. The tag was designed to release itself from the animal at a pre-determined time. About seven hours after the strike, the tag was released and later retrieved by researchers. The data showed the shark never resumed feeding or other normal behavior while it was being monitored, Chapple said.

The findings were just published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

Basking sharks are the second largest known fish, frequently reaching more than 8 meters in length. They are listed as globally endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and Ireland is one of the only known locations worldwide where basking sharks continue to aggregate in large numbers.

They filter feed at the water’s surface, similar to some whales, which makes them more susceptible to boat strikes. But unlike the whales, basking sharks often sink when killed, making it hard to gauge mortality rates, said Chapple, assistant professor in the Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station and Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

Basking sharks in Ireland were protected under the country’s Wildlife Act in 2022. Earlier this year, the Irish government announced the establishment of the nation’s first National Marine Park, protecting 70,000 acres of land and sea on the coast of County Kerry where basking sharks frequent seasonally for feeding and potentially mating.

Shortly after the park’s establishment, the researchers were conducting a previously planned study in the park boundaries to learn more about basking shark foraging behavior and how such behavior corresponds to environmental factors. As part of their research, they tagged the basking shark with a camera and activity monitor system while it was feeding.

After following the shark at a safe distance for a few hours, the researchers departed the area for the day. The tag was designed to record autonomously until its scheduled release, at which time the researchers located it and recovered the data.

Data from the tag revealed that for several hours following the tagging and tracking, the shark spent most of its time on the surface, continuing its normal feeding behavior, with an occasional dive. Then the shark attempted to make a quick, evasive movement, which was followed by the keel of a boat cutting across its back, just behind its dorsal fin. The shark tumbled through the water and immediately increased the frequency of its tailbeat as it headed to the seafloor.

Video from the camera showed visible damage to the shark’s skin, paint marks and a red abrasion but no apparent bleeding or open wound. Vessel strikes are not always immediately lethal, but even non-lethal injuries can have short- and long-term consequences for the affected animal, the researchers noted.

“The fact that a shark we fitted our ‘Fitbit’ to was struck in this area within a few hours underlines just how vulnerable these animals are to boats and highlights the need for greater education in how to mitigate against such strikes,” said co-author Nicholas Payne, an assistant professor at Trinity College Dublin’s School of Natural Sciences. “Basking sharks filter feed at the surface, like some whales, and this behavior makes them similarly susceptible to strikes.”

The incident highlights the need for additional research on the interactions between water users and basking sharks in the National Marine Park and other hotspots along the Irish coastline, said co-author Alexandra McInturf, a research associate in Chapple’s Big Fish Lab at OSU and co-coordinator of the Irish Basking Shark Group.

“This research raises additional questions about whether and how often the sharks are actually occupying such habitats when they are not clearly visible at the surface,” McInturf said. “Given that Ireland is one of the only locations globally where basking sharks are still observed persistently, addressing such questions will be critical to informing not only our ecological understanding of the basking shark, but also the conservation of this globally endangered species.” 

Additional coauthors are David Cade and Jeremy Goldbogen of the Hopkins Marine Station at Stanford University; and Nick Massett of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group in County Kerry, Ireland.

This image depicts the keel of a boat striking a basking shark. 

This image shows paint and an abrasion on the back of a basking shark that ha been struck by a boat. 

CREDIT

Big Fish Lab, Oregon State University.

 

Taco-shaped arthropod from Royal Ontario Museum’s Burgess Shale fossils gives new insights into the history of the first mandibulates


Exceptional fossils show how mandibulates were trapping prey in marine ecosystems 500 million years ago


TODAY'S MANTIS SHRIMP



ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM

Life reconstruction of Odaraia. 

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RESEARCHERS BELIEVE ODARAIA COULD HAVE SWUM UPSIDE DOWN TO GATHER FOOD AMONG ITS MANY SPINES ALONG ITS LEGS.

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CREDIT: ILLUSTRATED BY DANIELLE DUFAULT. COURTESY ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM




A new study, led by palaeontologists at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is helping resolve the evolution and ecology of Odaraia, a taco-shaped marine animal that lived during the Cambrian period. Fossils collected by ROM reveal Odaraia had mandibles. Palaeontologists are finally able to place it as belonging to the mandibulates, ending its long enigmatic classification among the arthropods since it was first discovered in the Burgess Shale over 100 years ago and revealing more about early evolution and diversification. The study The Cambrian Odaraia alata and the colonization of nektonic suspension-feeding niches by early mandibulates was published in the journal Proceedings B.

The study authors were able to identify a pair of large appendages with grasping jagged edges near its mouth, clearly indicative of mandibles which are one of the key and distinctive features of the mandibulate group of animals. This suggests that Odaraia was one of the earliest known members of this group. The researchers made another stunning discovery, a detailed analysis of its more than 30 pairs of legs, found an intricate system of small and large spines. According to the authors, these spines could intertwine, capturing smaller prey as though a fishing net, suggesting how some of these first mandibulates left the sea floor and explored the water column, setting the seeds for their future ecological success.

“The head shield of Odaraia envelops practically half of its body including its legs, almost as if it were encased in a tube. Previous researchers had suggested this shape would have allowed Odaraia to gather its prey, but the capturing mechanism had eluded us, until now,” says Alejandro Izquierdo-López, lead author, who was based at ROM during this work as a PhD student at the University of Toronto. “Odaraia had been beautifully described in the 1980s, but given the limited number of fossils at that time and its bizarre shape, two important questions had remained unanswered: is it really a mandibulate? And what was it feeding on?”

At almost 20 cm in size, the authors explain that early mandibulates like Odaraia were part of a community of large animals that could have been able to migrate from the marine bottom-dwelling ecosystems characteristic of the Cambrian period to the upper layers of the water column. These types of communities could have enriched the water column and facilitated a transition towards more complex ecosystems.

Cambrian fossils record the major divergence of animal groups originating over 500 million years ago. This period saw the evolution of innumerable innovations, such as eyes, legs or shells, and the first diversification of many animal groups, including the mandibulates, one of the major groups of arthropods (animals with jointed limbs).

Mandibulates are an example of evolutionary success, representing over half of all current species on Earth. Today, mandibulates are everywhere: from sea-dwelling crabs to centipedes lurking in the undergrowth or bees flying across meadows, but their beginnings were more humble. During the Cambrian period, the first mandibulates were marine animals, most bearing distinct head shields or carapaces.

“The Burgess Shale has been a treasure trove of paleontological information,” says Jean-Bernard Caron, Richard Ivey Curator at the Royal Ontario Museum, and co-author of the study. “Thanks to the work we have been doing at the ROM on amazing fossil animals such as Tokummia and Waptia, we already know a substantial amount about the early evolution of mandibulates. However, some other species had remained quite enigmatic, like Odaraia.

The Royal Ontario Museum holds the largest collections of Cambrian fossils from the world-renowned Burgess Shale of British Columbia. Burgess Shale fossils are exceptional, as they preserve structures, animals and ecosystems that under normal conditions would have decayed and completely disappeared from the fossil record. Mandibulates, though, are generally rare in the fossil record. Most fossils preserve only the hard parts of animals, such as skeletons or the mineralized cuticles of the well-known trilobites, structures that mandibulates lack.

For over forty years Odaraia has been one of the most iconic animals of the Burgess Shale, with its distinctive taco-shaped carapace, its large head and eyes, and a tail that resembles a submarine's keel. The public can view specimens of Odaraia on display at the Willner Madge Gallery, Dawn of Life at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Fossil of Odaraia ROMIP 952413_1.

CREDIT

Jean-Bernard Caron, Royal Ontario Museum


 

Pitt engineers partnering with county on environmental and climate justice solutions



UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH





As the climate warms, Pennsylvania rainfalls are becoming more extreme while flood-related risks are worsening, according to a recent report from the nonprofit organization Climate Central

This intensity is only expected to climb with future warming – creating devastating effects on the health and stability of environmental justice communities, communities with predominantly people of color or those living below the poverty line, across Allegheny County. 

Engineers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering and Mascaro Center of Sustainability Innovation (MCSI) are partnering with the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) and Landforce, an employment and environmental social enterprise, through a three-year $930,411 Environmental Justice Government-to-Government (EJG2G) grant to increase climate resilience in environmental justice communities through water-based cleanup projects and green infrastructure to minimize flooding and associated public health risks in environmentally burdened communities in the county. 

The Department of Emergency Services, Department of Sustainability and Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) are providing consultation for the climate resilience plans and green stormwater infrastructure designs. Allegheny CleanWays, a local nonprofit organization that works to eliminate illegal dumping and littering in Allegheny County, will oversee the cleaning of illegal dumping grounds and removing trash from waterways. 

“This partnership is emblematic of the important role universities can and should play with and in service of our communities, especially communities that are most affected by the flooding we’ve been experiencing these past few years,” said Melissa Bilec, co-director of Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, Special Assistant to the Provost for Sustainability, and the George M. and Eva M. Bevier Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Pitt. “I feel honored and grateful to work with a talented team, and aim to demonstrate the service and talent of Pitt Engineering and MCSI.” 

Through Pitt’s sustainability capstone course – part of the undergraduate sustainability certificate and graduate degree program in sustainable engineering – students will partner with external stakeholders and determine solutions to these complex sustainability challenges. 

“We’re excited to be partnering with Pitt to achieve measurable and meaningful environmental and public health results in our environmentally vulnerable communities," said Dr. Stephen Strotmeyer, program manager, Chronic Disease Epidemiology, ACHD. "This has been a county goal since the creation of the Plan for a Healthier Allegheny to improve climate resilience and preparedness by 2027.”

As part of the grant, $93,110 will be allocated to Pitt to design small-scale green infrastructure projects that align with the climate resilience plans created by collaborations between municipal leaders and residents in environmental justice communities, the ACHD, the Steel Rivers and Turtle Creek Valley Councils of Governments (COGs), and other government and academic partners. The plans will use data from the ACHD Climate Resilience Dashboard and input from the community gathered during a series of focus groups. 

“Students will meet with government councils, municipalities, and nonprofit partners to learn about the priorities of each community. The goal is that they create designs for green infrastructure projects that are cost effective within a reasonable timeframe,” said David Sanchez, MCSI associate director and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering. “These projects will be created by the community, for the community to divert stormwater and reduce the impacts of flooding.”

In addition to their physical projects, students will develop a model to estimate the amount of storm water diverted per project, the total projected environmental impact, and the estimated maintenance costs. 

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the EJG2G program provides funding at the state, local, territorial and tribal level to support government activities that lead to measurable environmental or public health impacts in communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harms. For 2023, the EPA selected 88 EJC2C cooperative agreements that receive a total of $86.1 million in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and annual appropriation act funding to help underserved and overburdened communities across the country. 

 


Colonial legacy: Goethe University Frankfurt researches international project on land use conflicts in West Africa


German Research Foundation and foreign funding institutions provide €620,000 in funding



 NEWS RELEASE 

GOETHE UNIVERSITY FRANKFURT

Semi-nomadic Peulh/Fulbe in Togo and their cattle invade the fields of local smallholders 

IMAGE: 

THROUGH TRANSHUMANCE AND CAUSE LAND USE CONFLICTS IN THE SAVANNAH FOREST ECOSYSTEM. THIS PROCESS WILL INTENSIFY IN THE FUTURE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND DWINDLING RESOURCES.

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CREDIT: JUERGEN RUNGE, GOETHE UNIVERSITY FRANKFURT, GERMANY



FRANKFURT. During the German and French colonial period, at the end of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century, around 50,000 farmers from the Kabyè ethnic group were forcibly resettled from the densely populated north to the sparsely populated south in what are now the West African states of Togo and Benin. Whereas the German colonial power needed workers to build transport routes, the French government wanted to develop the region for agriculture.

To this day, however, farming is difficult in this part of the country – naturally a tree savannah – where the soil is less fertile and the climate alternates between two wet and two dry seasons. Climate change only serves to exacerbate these agricultural problems. Beyond that, it also acts as an accelerant for land use conflicts with the semi-nomadic Peulh/Fulbe ethnic group, who graze their herds of cattle there.

In the fertile hilly north, where the Kabyè traditionally farm on terraces bordered by low stone walls, the resettlements resulted in labor shortages, market distortions and rural exodus. The indigenous population became increasingly impoverished, amid a looming threat of socio-cultural collapse, which Togo's political leadership has been trying to counteract since the country's independence.

As part of the “Indigenous People of West Africa, IPWA” project, an international team of researchers now wants to examine the consequences of the colonial era in detail and disclose current restrictive social and political structures in indigenous ethnic groups in order to promote good governance that includes indigenous leaders. The aim is to pave the way for indigenous communities to be involved in identifying innovations, solutions and pathways to adapt to and mitigate environmental and climate change.

The three-year IPWA project will start in July 2024 and will receive €620,000 in funding by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG), the Canadian New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF), the US National Science Foundation, the Swiss National Science Foundation and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).

IPWA is part of a consortium on global environmental and climate change among indigenous groups with researchers from Canada, Brazil, Switzerland, Thailand and the USA.

Project: Confronting “Green Colonialism” – Indigenous-led Action and Solutions for Food-Water-Energy Sustainability (IPWA).

Goethe University Frankfurt
University of Alberta, Canada
Michigan State University
University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
University of São Paulo, Brazil
Université de Kara, Kara, Togo
Université d‘Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Benin

Kabyé homestead with granary

CREDIT

Juergen Runge, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany