Biodiversity change amidst disappearing human traditions

University of Göttingen

 

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Hundreds of sheep, along with one goat, storm through abandoned houses and land along a dusty road in the Plovdiv province in Bulgaria.

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Credit: Malkolm Boothroyd

A Branco Weiss Fellowship – Society in Science has been awarded to Dr Gergana Daskalova. The fellowship funds Daskalova’s research project “Biodiversity change amidst disappearing human traditions and changing socio-economics”. She joins the Department of Conservation Biology at the University of Göttingen to work together with Professor Johannes Kamp. The five-year fellowship, which is worth over €530,000, will enable Daskalova to investigate the ecological and human fingerprints of land abandonment. Considering the question from both a local and a global perspective, Daskalova’s research will reveal what happens to nature when people leave, and how to make the best of the land left behind.

 

We are living amidst humanity’s largest ever migration, with more people leaving rural areas for urban centres than ever before. In less than 50 years, rural populations have decreased by 25%, creating demographic deserts and land no longer cultivated, with unknown consequences for nature and society. Daskalova’s research will bring together ecology, data science, remote sensing, sociology, anthropology, and psychology to shed new light on the interactions between humans and biodiversity. Her research will reveal how human migration and changing values and traditions influence biodiversity and what that means for nature conservation, human quality of life and likelihood of re-migration to rural areas.

 

In the first stage of her research, Daskalova will focus on Bulgaria – the quickest depopulating country in the world with a decrease from 9 to 6.5 million people between 1990 and 2021. She will conduct field studies across 30 villages spanning a gradient of depopulation. In the second stage, she will mobilize and collate open-access data to lead a global analysis of the impacts of changing socio-economics, bringing together issues such as aging rural populations, political shifts, and human conflict, and the effects on biodiversity change over space and time. The outputs of her research will capture both detailed relationships within abandonment, human culture and biodiversity, as well as broad-scale biodiversity patterns in a rapidly changing world.

 

Contact:

https://gndaskalova.com

https://uni-goettingen.de/en/691489.html

A Branco Weiss Fellowship – Society in Science has been awarded to Dr Gergana Daskalova. The fellowship funds Daskalova’s research project “Biodiversity change amidst disappearing human traditions and changing socio-economics”. She joins the Department of Conservation Biology at the University of Göttingen to work together with Professor Johannes Kamp. The five-year fellowship, which is worth over €530,000, will enable Daskalova to investigate the ecological and human fingerprints of land abandonment. Considering the question from both a local and a global perspective, Daskalova’s research will reveal what happens to nature when people leave, and how to make the best of the land left behind.

 

We are living amidst humanity’s largest ever migration, with more people leaving rural areas for urban centres than ever before. In less than 50 years, rural populations have decreased by 25%, creating demographic deserts and land no longer cultivated, with unknown consequences for nature and society. Daskalova’s research will bring together ecology, data science, remote sensing, sociology, anthropology, and psychology to shed new light on the interactions between humans and biodiversity. Her research will reveal how human migration and changing values and traditions influence biodiversity and what that means for nature conservation, human quality of life and likelihood of re-migration to rural areas.

 

In the first stage of her research, Daskalova will focus on Bulgaria – the quickest depopulating country in the world with a decrease from 9 to 6.5 million people between 1990 and 2021. She will conduct field studies across 30 villages spanning a gradient of depopulation. In the second stage, she will mobilize and collate open-access data to lead a global analysis of the impacts of changing socio-economics, bringing together issues such as aging rural populations, political shifts, and human conflict, and the effects on biodiversity change over space and time. The outputs of her research will capture both detailed relationships within abandonment, human culture and biodiversity, as well as broad-scale biodiversity patterns in a rapidly changing world.

 

Cohesion through resilient democratic communities

New EU project ‘We-ID’ starts at Göttingen University in February 2025

Grant and Award Announcement

University of Göttingen

A new EU joint research project led by the University of Göttingen will explore how migration, demographic change and current crises are affecting social cohesion and democratic structures in Europe. A key objective is to find out how resilient democratic structures can strengthen local communities in times of profound demographic change. The project “Identities - Migration - Democracy (We-ID)” has been awarded funding of around three million euros over three years by the European Union.

 

European societies are undergoing a profound demographic transformation: falling birth rates, rising life expectancy and migration are increasingly shaping the proportion of people in different age groups, ethnic diversity and cultural identities. At the same time, challenges such as climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic along with the associated economic crisis, the war in Ukraine and the crisis of the rule of law are putting pressure on Europe’s integration processes. These crises are exacerbating lines of conflict that often run along issues of identity and democracy.

 

“We plan to research how to lay the foundations for long-term strategies to give European communities the resilience they need to meet current challenges and strengthen democratic values,” explains project leader Claudia Neu, Professor of Rural Sociology at the Universities of Göttingen and Kassel. “The cohesion of our society will depend crucially on how well we can utilise the potential of a diverse population while promoting stable, democratic structures locally. This is the only way to prevent these changes from becoming a threat to democracy in Europe.”

 

The research takes into account both the effects of migration on the host communities and the changes in the identity of migrants and their descendants. In addition to comprehensive data analyses on migration and political participation, case studies are being conducted in the participating countries to better understand the conditions for resilient democratic communities. The project will create a new platform – called the Policy, Advocacy and Research Lab – to facilitate exchange between academia, politics and society. In addition, a toolbox with practical recommendations for local stakeholders and practitioners is being developed.

 

The project partners are the University of St Andrews in Scotland, the Bocconi University in Italy, the Institute for the Study of Population and Human Studies (Bulgaria), and the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar (Croatia), as well as Population Europe (Max Planck Society), the Council of the Baltic Sea States, and the non-governmental organisation The Civics Innovation Hub. Further information can be found here: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101177925

 

Contact:

Professor Claudia Neu

University of Göttingen

Rural Sociology

Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5

37073 Göttingen, Germany

Tel: +49 (0)551 39-24804

Email: claudia.neu@uni-goettingen.de 

www.uni-goettingen.de/en/148839.html

A new EU joint research project led by the University of Göttingen will explore how migration, demographic change and current crises are affecting social cohesion and democratic structures in Europe. A key objective is to find out how resilient democratic structures can strengthen local communities in times of profound demographic change. The project “Identities - Migration - Democracy (We-ID)” has been awarded funding of around three million euros over three years by the European Union.

 

European societies are undergoing a profound demographic transformation: falling birth rates, rising life expectancy and migration are increasingly shaping the proportion of people in different age groups, ethnic diversity and cultural identities. At the same time, challenges such as climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic along with the associated economic crisis, the war in Ukraine and the crisis of the rule of law are putting pressure on Europe’s integration processes. These crises are exacerbating lines of conflict that often run along issues of identity and democracy.

 

“We plan to research how to lay the foundations for long-term strategies to give European communities the resilience they need to meet current challenges and strengthen democratic values,” explains project leader Claudia Neu, Professor of Rural Sociology at the Universities of Göttingen and Kassel. “The cohesion of our society will depend crucially on how well we can utilise the potential of a diverse population while promoting stable, democratic structures locally. This is the only way to prevent these changes from becoming a threat to democracy in Europe.”

 

The research takes into account both the effects of migration on the host communities and the changes in the identity of migrants and their descendants. In addition to comprehensive data analyses on migration and political participation, case studies are being conducted in the participating countries to better understand the conditions for resilient democratic communities. The project will create a new platform – called the Policy, Advocacy and Research Lab – to facilitate exchange between academia, politics and society. In addition, a toolbox with practical recommendations for local stakeholders and practitioners is being developed.

 

The project partners are the University of St Andrews in Scotland, the Bocconi University in Italy, the Institute for the Study of Population and Human Studies (Bulgaria), and the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar (Croatia), as well as Population Europe (Max Planck Society), the Council of the Baltic Sea States, and the non-governmental organisation The Civics Innovation Hub. Further information can be found here: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101177925

 

Contact:

Professor Claudia Neu

University of Göttingen

Rural Sociology

Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5

37073 Göttingen, Germany

Tel: +49 (0)551 39-24804

Email: claudia.neu@uni-goettingen.de 

www.uni-goettingen.de/en/148839.html

 

UC Santa Cruz chemists discover new process to make biodiesel production easier, less energy intensive

University of California - Santa Cruz

 

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Kevin Lofgren in the lab holding a flask containing the pure biodiesel product made with the process described in the journal Energy & Fuels.

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Credit: UC Santa Cruz

UC Santa Cruz chemists have discovered a new way to produce biodiesel from waste oil that both simplifies the process and requires relatively mild heat. This discovery has the potential to make the alternative fuel source much more appealing to the massive industrial sectors that are the backbone of the nation’s economy.

In 2022, the U.S. transportation sector alone used about 3 million barrels of diesel per day, accounting for about 75% of total consumption of the fuel in this country. That same year, diesel use accounted for about 10% of total energy-related CO2 emissions in the United States, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. 

While some companies have turned towards electric vehicles to reduce their carbon footprint, the vast majority of fleets still run on diesel—in part, because biodiesel production is difficult, energy intensive, and so, has slowed adoption. Of all the energy sources used by the U.S. transportation sector in 2022, biofuels accounted for just 6%.

In their study, published on October 3 in the American Chemical Society journal Energy & Fuels, lead author Kevin Lofgren details a new way to turn used vegetable oil into biodiesel that involves sodium tetramethoxyborate (NaB(OMe)4). This chemical, used to make the active ingredient that reacts with oil to make biodiesel, is considered unique because it allows the biofuel to be easily separated from the byproducts of production—by simply pouring them off. 

Another benefit is the resulting byproduct can be used to regenerate the most expensive ingredient in the production process. And last but not least, the reaction can be completed in under an hour at temperatures as low as 40°C (104°F)—saving energy and money.

“I always wanted to work on biodiesel,” said Lofgren, a Ph.D. student in chemistry at UC Santa Cruz. “I started exploring this new material that we made to see if it could attack the fats in oil to help catalyze biodiesel, and it all flowed from there.”

While individual consumers increasingly turn to solar and electric energy to power their homes and vehicles, America’s huge industrial sectors still rely on diesel fuel. Lofgren pointed out that the majority of the trucks, trains, and boats that ship goods around the world currently run on diesel engines and won’t be electrified any time soon.

Meanwhile, the researchers point out, biodiesel is a carbon-neutral fuel that is available today and approved to power these vehicles without the need for engine modifications.

Reducing the energy needed to make biofuel

Some of the current methods for making biodiesel produce soap as a byproduct, which makes purifying the fuel difficult and results in less actual product. Other approaches rely on palm oil, which require clearing trees in rainforests to make room for monoculture palm tree plantations. These methods are also energy intensive, requiring extremely high temperatures and pressures. The technique detailed in this study can produce biodiesel at a temperature lower than that required to boil water.

“To make energy takes a lot of energy,” said co-author Scott Oliver, professor of chemistry and biochemistry. “Our method uses waste oil and mild heating, compared to current petroleum refineries that are energy consuming and pollution causing.”

According to the researchers, the method they discovered turns about 85% of used vegetable oil into biodiesel and passes almost all industry standards for use as fuel in heavy machinery and transportation vehicles. The exception was water content, though, it was only slightly higher than the acceptable value. The researchers expect that once this process is scaled up, the water content will be within acceptable levels.

“This new method is special because it is simple and affordable. It has the bonus of being able to regenerate the starting material,” Lofgren said. “It's already low-cost enough to make it competitive. But if you can buy the most expensive ingredient once and then regenerate it, it would be more cost efficient in the long run.”

“Everybody needs energy—every farm, food production plant, and transportation vehicle depend on it,” Oliver said. “This could really impact people. This process can be done at just above room temperature and it's reusable. You don't need to have a refinery; you can potentially use this method on a farm.”

Bakthan Singaram, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UC Santa Cruz, is co-corresponding author of the paper, “Borate Pathway to FAMEs at Near-Ambient Conditions from Used Oil,” which is funded by an Innovation Catalyst Grant, Climate Action Solutions Program.

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Journal

Energy & Fuels

DOI

10.1021/acs.energyfuels.4c03643 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Article Title

Borate Pathway to FAMEs at Near-Ambient Conditions from Used Oil

 

Stalling a disease that could annihilate banana production is a high-return investment in Colombia

The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture

 

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In Colombia, the government is working with researchers and scientists to stop the spread of the banana fungal disease.

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Credit: Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT

There’s no cure for a fungal disease that could potentially wipe out much of global banana production. Widespread adoption of cement paths, disinfection stations, and production strategies could net 3-4 USD of benefits for each dollar invested in Colombia. 

Hundreds of millions of dollars in banana exports from Colombia are at risk due to a fungal disease best known as Tropical Race 4 (TR4). First detected in Asia in the 1990s, the Fusarium fungus that causes the disease arrived in Colombia in 2019, completing its inevitable global spread to South America, the last major banana production continent that remained TR4-free. Researchers are confident a solution will be found but until then, slowing the spread is the only effective strategy.  

The good news is that simple, effective measures are already happening in Colombia. These include building cement paths between banana plots, fencing them, and installing disinfectant stations at farm entry points. Measures like this are worth the investment. Researchers at the Alliance Bioversity International and CIAT found banana producers can expect a 3-4 USD return per dollar invested. 

“The solutions are not extremely technical, they just require money and awareness,” said Thea Ritter, an Alliance researcher. “We found the potential benefits are very large. We urge industry and the government to continue making the needed investments and accelerate ongoing efforts to educate producers and communities about TR4. If it spreads more, it will devastate local and national economies.” 

The research was published Oct. 30 in PLOS ONE, in likely the first socioeconomic study of its kind in the Americas. Ritter and colleagues researched TR4 in the Colombian departments of Antioquia and Magdalena, two large export-oriented banana production areas because they found no farm-level research on TR4 in the country. Results found considerable, little-understood local and cultural impacts of the TR4 threat. These intangible details of the study paint a broader picture of what banana crop decimation could mean for the thousands of livelihoods that depend on the industry. 

Unstoppable race 

When TR4 infects soils, for all practical purposes, it is there to stay. At least 4 decades are needed for it to go away. Almost all bananas planted in infected soils will die. This includes the Cavendish, the world’s most popular fruit, and many plantains that are staples of tropical diets. Some 80% of all bananas planted globally are susceptible to TR4. The disease also affects tomatoes, sweet potatoes, legumes and curcubits (the gourd family), limiting alternatives for farmers who may have to switch cultivars to keep producing food. 

“Even if you plant crops like rice that are not susceptible to TR4, the risk of transmission remains because the soils remain infected,” said Diego Álvarez, a co-author and Alliance researcher.  

TR4 spreads in several controllable ways. One primary driver is simply dirty boots – stepping on TR4-infected soils and then walking to TR4-free soils is one easy way to spread the disease. Disinfectant stations, fences and cement paths effectively reduce this risk.  

Other transmission methods require a bit more effort, including changes in production practices. These include disposing of infected bananas in waterways, as TR4 can spread through water. Soil erosion, containable by cement paths and effective drainage systems, is also a TR4 superspreader. Additionally, trucks that transport bananas are not routinely disinfected, suggesting that TR4 awareness and investment necessary beyond producers. 

Ritter points to a common propagation practice as one of the biggest threats – the use of corms (the “baby” banana plants that grow at the base of banana trees) to sow new plots. Farmers need to either effectively screen corms for TR4 before transplanting them, or rely on the more costly, certified disease-free plants. 

“Awareness of the disease is high; we found that 99% percent of the farmers we interviewed knew about it and the associated threats,” Ritter said. “But there is much lower awareness of the threat posed by using corms. Farmer training – and investment strategies – need a greater focus on this issue for more effective containment.” 

Socioeconomic study shows how banana crop decimation impacts farming households. 

Credit

Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT

Colombia in the race 

Colombia is fortunate because its government, banana industry and grower cooperatives are organized, aware of the TR4 threat, and taking action, researchers said. 

“We have a good environment in Colombia’s banana sector to slow the transmission of TR4,” said Leslie Estefany Mosquera, a co-author and Alliance researcher. “But we need more awareness and commitment from policymakers to increase the required biosecurity measures. More policymakers need to be made aware of the urgency of the issue and to dedicate the resources needed.” 

Challenges to providing them enough information, however, remain. Because TR4 could literally alter Colombia’s agricultural landscape, not enough people close to the problem are willing to openly speak about it. 

How TR4 impacts household livelihoods 

Fusarium represents considerable losses for producers in Magdalena, where producers must group in cooperatives to sell their bananas abroad and production areas are not as large as in Antioquia. Banana grower families in Magdalena would be directly affected by the presence of Fusarium through the loss of large portions of land that now cannot produce bananas for marketing, which reduces their income, affects their livelihoods and harms their food security. In Colombia, finding a banana plant infected with Fusarium means losing 2.56 hectares of production, on average, due to the quarantine regulatory area established in this country. This, in a region where at least half of the producers have a production area of less than 3 hectares, leaves the average producer fearful of what could happen if the situation gets out of control and the plantations of several producers are affected.  

Beyond Magdalena producers, other actors in the banana value chain in Colombia anticipate wide-ranging impacts from TR4. The disease is expected to cause a decline in banana production, reducing the availability of one of the country's staple foods. This reduction in production could increase prices and limit access to bananas, particularly affecting low-income households that rely on bananas as an affordable food source. The economic ripple effect extends to labor as well; with plantations potentially being abandoned or destroyed, job losses loom. Many families that depend on plantation work for their livelihoods may experience a significant reduction in income, further straining their ability to secure food and meet basic needs. 

Touching the intangibles 

It’s hard to understate the importance of on-the-ground research of any major threat affecting farmers. National and regional studies effectively capture the big picture – such as modeling the spread of TR4 and the potentially massive hit that agricultural GDP will take if the disease spreads unchecked. But what of the people on the ground whose livelihoods, culture and communities are at existential risk? 

Most farmers are willing to talk about TR4 – anonymously and individually with researchers. But they are highly reluctant to report the detection of TR4 on their lands or communities. This is because TR4 scares away investors and farmers would see access to credit and other financial or technical support dry up. The TR4 stigma may lead to under-reporting of the disease’s spread if systematic monitoring is not in place. It is also of little help that farmer cooperative leaders, who likely have deeper understanding of TR4 at wider scales, did not talk to researchers for this study. 

“Policymakers should also address the disincentives around discussing TR4,” said Ritter. “We all need as much information as possible about where the disease is spreading and how it is impacting farmers to first, deploy mitigation strategies for effective containment and second, to support farmers whose incomes could be destroyed by TR4.” 

Researchers also identified major concerns that aren’t easily capture by cost-benefit-analysis or GDP projections. Bananas are deeply embedded in Colombia culture, as a staple food, a backbone of farmer income, and national identities. TR4 has the potential to disrupt traditional farming practices and community structures, which could lead to social upheaval, including the strong social ties and traditions built around banana-based livelihoods. Ultimately, traditional knowledge in communities related to banana harvesting and associated agricultural practices are at risk. 

Ritter said, “We need to understand that many thousands of people’s lives, communities and cultures are threatened by TR4 and to take this seriously.” 

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Journal

PLOS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0311243 

Article Title

A socioeconomic and cost benefit analysis of Tropical Race 4 (TR4) prevention methods among banana producers in Colombia

 

Measurements from ‘lost’ Seaglider offer new insights into Antarctic ice melting

University of East Anglia

 

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Gillian Damerell (formerly UEA) preparing to deploy the Seaglider Marlin with the Ross Ice Shelf in background.

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Credit: Walker Smith

New research reveals for the first time how a major Antarctic ice shelf has been subjected to increased melting by warming ocean waters over the last four decades.

Scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA) say the study - the result of their autonomous Seaglider getting accidentally stuck underneath the Ross Ice Shelf - suggests this will likely only increase further as climate change drives continued ocean warming.

The glider, named Marlin, was deployed in December 2022 into the Ross Sea from the edge of the sea ice. Carrying a range of sensors to collect data on ocean processes that are important for climate, it was programmed to travel northward into open water.

However, Marlin was caught in a southward-flowing current and pulled into the ice shelf cavity where it remained, with its sensors on, for four days before re-emerging. During this time the ‘lost’ glider completed 79 dives, taking measurements of the water within the cavity to a depth of 200 metres, right up to base of the overlying ice shelf.

Researchers from UEA’s School of Environmental Sciences recorded a 50 metre-thick ‘intrusion’ of - relatively - warm water that had entered the cavity from the nearby open water. Water temperatures ranged from -1.9°C to a warmer -1.7°C under the ice.

Subsequent re-analysis of all available measurements shows that heat transported into cavity has increased over the last 45 years, most likely due to warming of the Ross Sea because of climate change. The findings are published in the journal Science Advances.

“While the temperature increase - four thousandths of a degree a year - might not seem all that much, it could lead to around 20 to 80 cm of additional ice loss per year over the 45 years we look at,” explained lead author Dr Peter Sheehan.

“We found the waters of the intrusion were warm enough to melt the underside of the ice shelf, unlike the freezing-point waters they likely displaced. What's new here is that we can track the warm water pretty much from the open water of the Ross Sea at the ice front, back into the cavity. We have not seen one of these intrusions happening directly before.”

Dr Sheehan added: “A trip into the cavity underneath the Ross Ice Shelf was not planned, and it’s not normally possible to measure this region of an ice shelf: you can’t send instruments this close to the underside of an ice shelf deliberately, it’s too risky.”

The ice shelves that surround Antarctica are exposed to the warmth of the ocean across the expanse of their undersides that float out over the continent’s shelf seas, and the ocean-driven melting that occurs at the ice base is the largest cause of Antarctic ice-mass loss.

While the melting of floating ice does not itself substantially raise sea level, ice shelves slow the seaward flow of land ice and so stabilize the Antarctic ice sheet; their thinning and disintegration would hasten the delivery of land ice to the ocean and accelerate global sea-level rise.

One of the processes that can drive warm surface water under the Ross Ice Shelf is wind. Certain wind patterns lead to southward flow in the surface ocean and into the ice shelf cavity.

These wind-driven ocean-surface flows are called Ekman currents, and as with any ocean current, these have an associated heat transport. Because this is an ocean-surface process, this heat is instantly available to melt the overlying ice: it doesn’t have to wait to be mixed upward to the ice base.

Ekman heat transport is particularly relevant for climate scientists because oceans absorb and redistribute much of the Earth’s heat. Changes in this system can have profound effects on weather, sea levels, and global temperature trends.

Dr Sheehan and co-author Prof Karen Heywood used long-term measurements of wind and ocean temperature - blended with a model to fill in spatial and temporal gaps in the record - to calculate the strength of southward Ekman heat transport over the last 45 years. They found that the heat transported into the cavity by Ekman currents has increased.

Year-to-year variability is driven by the wind. However, the trend towards greater heat transport into the cavity is likely linked to warming of the Ross Sea - because the water has warmed, winds today will transport more heat energy into the cavity than winds of comparable strength in the past.

Prof Heywood said: “It appears reasonable to expect that the magnitude of the Ekman heat flux, and of the melting that it drives, will increase yet further as climate change drives continued ocean warming. This trend is a concern in itself.

“The influence of surface-water intrusions, alongside the trends and variability in the Ekman dynamics that can drive these, must be incorporated into climate models, not least given continued uncertainty in the response of Antarctic land-based ice to climate change.”

This is the first time that this process has been looked at using a long-term, multi-decadal data set. Previous understanding of surface-water intrusions has come mainly from comparisons of hydrography in open water, for example from ships, observations from tagged seals, and ice moorings deployed within a cavity.

The study was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council, the US National Science Foundation and European Research Council Horizon 2020 programme.

‘Ross Ice Shelf frontal zone subjected to increasing melting by ocean-surface waters’ Peter Sheehan and Karen Heywood, is published in Science Advances on November 8.

The Seaglider Marlin was deployed into the Ross Sea from the sea ice.

Credit

Walker Smith

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Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.ado6429 

Article Title

Ross Ice Shelf frontal zone subjected to increasing melting by ocean-surface waters

Article Publication Date

8-Nov-2024

 

Geologists rewrite textbooks with new insights from the bottom of the Grand Canyon

With advanced technology, time-tested knowledge and NSF-funded study, a multi-institution team geoscientists offer innovative, updated perspectives of an iconic sedimentary record

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Utah State University

 

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Utah State University geologist Carol Dehler samples the 500-million-year-old Bright Angel Formation in Grand Canyon. The site is among several formations in a group of rocks she and colleagues are studying, with NSF funding, to better understand rates of sediment accumulation and the tempo of animal life evolution.

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Credit: Laura Crossey, UNM

LOGAN, UTAH, USA – Any boomer, gen xer, millennial, gen zer or alpha who’s studied geology has likely gained foundational knowledge from Edwin Dinwiddie McKee’s landmark studies of the Grand Canyon’s sedimentary record – even if they don’t readily recognize McKee’s name.

The legendary scientist, who lived from 1906-1984, studied and documented the stratigraphy and sedimentation of Colorado Plateau geology, especially the Grand Canyon’s Cambrian Tonto Group, for more than 50 years. His time-tested tenets have influenced generations of geoscientists.

“The Tonto Group holds a treasure trove of sedimentary layers and fossils chronicling the Cambrian Explosion some 540 million years ago, when the first vertebrates and animals with hard shells rapidly proliferated and sea levels rose to envelope continents with emerging marine life,” says Carol Dehler, professor at Utah State University. “McKee marveled at this pivotal geologic period, yet had no knowledge of plate tectonics or global sea level change, and his ideas were often shunned by the scientific community of the time.”

Yet, what if McKee could have fast-forwarded through time and availed himself of current-day stratigraphic, depositional and paleontological models, data and technological muscle?

Dehler, with colleagues James Hagadorn of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Frederick Sundberg, Karl Karlstrom and Laura Crossey of the University of New Mexico, Mark Schmitz of Boise State University and Stephen Rowland of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, along with their students and interns, have employed these tools to construct an updated and insightful framework of McKee’s foundational ideas. They report their efforts in “The Cambrian of the Grand Canyon: Refinement of a Classic Stratigraphic Model,” the cover story of the November 2024 print issue of the Geological Society of America’s GSA Today journal, published online Oct. 23, 2024.

The team’s research was supported by a National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences grant.

“The Grand Canyon is an epic Rosetta Stone for geology,” says Hagadorn, Tim & Kathryn Ryan Curator of Geology at DMNS. “And we’re helping to further decode it. Because Grand Canyon rocks record global changes in climate and tectonics, our work help us understand strata that were deposited worldwide during the Cambrian period.”

Studying the Tonto Group, he says, is like being a detective at a crime scene.

“You can see clues and discern at least part of what happened,” Hagadorn says. “But determining how it happened and the sequence of events takes time and effort. Just like the scene of a crime, the rock record of the Grand Canyon is much more complicated than what we currently know and its story is still being written.”

Dehler says the team’s new model offers three key pathways for deeper understanding.

“From the Tonto Group’s 500-meter-thick strata, we’re learning about sea-level rise and the effects of catastrophic tropical storms – probably more powerful than today’s devastating hurricanes – during a period of very hot temperatures when the Earth was ice-free,” she says.

Sea levels were so high during this time period, Dehler says, that rocks like the Tonto Group were deposited atop every continent on Earth, as seas bathed the continents in a complex mosaic of shallow marine, coastal and terrestrial environments.

Further, she says, advanced chronological tools are revealing new information about the tempo of sedimentation, as well as how rapidly trilobites and other “disgusting, cockroach-looking creatures” diversified.

“Our findings are a reminder science is a process,” Hagadorn says. “Our work in the Grand Canyon, one of the world’s most well-known and beloved landscapes, connects people to this science in a very personal way.”

Trilobite fossil from Grand Canyon's Bright Angel Formation.

Partial shield of Anoria tontoensis Walcott, 1916b

[DMNH 42917] from the Glossopleura walcotti Biozone, lower Flour Sack Member, Bright Angel Formation, Diamond Bar Ranch Arizona from FHPR loc. 006-5. 

Credit

Frederick Sundberg, UNM

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Journal

GSA Today

DOI

10.1130/GSATG604A.1 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

The Cambrian of the Grand Canyon: Refinement of a Classic Stratigraphic Model