Massive Layoffs Are Underway Across the U.S.,

 Threatening the Already Frail Recovery

Airline industry workers hold signs during a protest in Federal Plaza in Chicago, Illinois, on September 9, 2020.
Kamil Krzaczynski—AFP/Getty Images

BY EMILY BARONE TIME
OCTOBER 2, 2020

U.S. employers brought back 661,000 workers in September, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures released Friday. The unemployment rate clocked in at 7.9%, down from 8.4% in August. About half of the jobs lost to the pandemic have returned.

The problem, economists say, is that the pace of recovery is slowing. Going forward, we may see only incremental employment gains at best, at least until the virus is completely under control. “It will be hard to get a full recovery before we get a vaccine or big advancement in therapeutics,” says Sarah House, senior economist at Wells Fargo. “The second half of the recovery will be a lot longer.” Massive layoffs planned by major companies in the coming days and weeks are also likely to take a toll.

The big job gains over the summer were the result of furloughed workers coming back to their jobs when local economies reopened. For example, the Cheesecake Factory announced at the end of August that it had brought back just about all of the 41,000 staffers who were unable to work when lockdowns began in March. The company’s permanent layoffs totaled just 175.

But employment gains from reopening were easy. Now, companies that are suffering deeper fundamental impacts from the pandemic—in sectors like travel, hospitality and energy—are now adjusting to a new normal. In many cases, that means permanent cuts. Several major corporations announced huge layoffs in recent days: 28,000 at Disney. 3,600 at Ralph Lauren. 3,800 at Allstate insurance. 2,000 at Marathon Petroleum. 31,000 at American Airlines and United Airlines, combined.

“These numbers are worrisome,” says Betsey Stevenson, professor of public policy and economics at University of Michigan. “When they let people go, it’s not temporary layoffs. These are companies struggling to keep people on and thought could get to the other end [of the pandemic]. But the end is not in one or two months. And maybe not in six months.”

The labor market is losing momentum as 10.7 million Americans are still out of work compared with February. About 1.5 million people filed initial unemployment claims last week, according to BLS data released yesterday, either through their state or through the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which was designed for gig workers like Uber drivers. Those who have lost their jobs may find it even tougher than usual to find a new one, given that they’re competing with more than 10 million other unemployed Americans.

Some businesses had been using federal stimulus programs like the CARES Act, passed in March, as a backstop. But provisions of the law have expired or will expire by year’s end, including layoff protections for aviation workers that ran through the end of September. As a result, airlines that accepted Washington’s financial help have been free to lay off workers since Thursday. Air carriers have urged Congress to pass another round of aid; both American Airlines and United Airlines have pledged to reverse course on their furloughs if such help materializes. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday asked airlines to pause layoffs, promising industry-specific help is on the way.

But even if the airlines get more help, it’s unlikely a broader relief bill will pass Congress. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday passed a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill, which includes some aid for small businesses. But the legislation, which doesn’t have bipartisan congressional support and is opposed by the White House and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, is a nonstarter in the Republican-led Senate.

“If they don’t get additional support, which is our expectation with our forecast, companies need to put that in their calculus in terms of their revenue forecasts and staffing needs,” notes House.

The continued unemployment crisis, compounded by massive layoffs, could have serious economic consequences even for those Americans fortunate enough to remain employed. If people don’t get back to work, it could dampen consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of U.S. GDP. Less spending could in turn trigger even more layoffs, potentially causing a downward spiral. “There’s still some firepower among consumers, but so long as this goes on, then the gains we’ve seen thus far are in jeopardy,” says House.

“We’re at an inflection point,” Stevenson adds. “Half the people who were temporarily laid off have come back. It was always clear that we weren’t going to get 100%. We may only get to 70.”

Signs of life on Venus may have been found decades ago

  

The planet Venus. Image source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
By Mike Wehner @MikeWehner
October 2nd, 2020 

NASA found the clues to life on Venus almost four decades ago but never realized it.
A probe that was sent to Venus back in 1978 returned readings that showed the presence of what appears to be phosphine, which may be produced by biological processes.
The data supports the recent research that found phosphine in Venus’ atmosphere, though we still don’t know if life actually exists there.

There’s been a whole lot of talk recently about the possibility of life existing in some form on Venus. The planet is a toxic hellscape, but upon scanning its atmosphere a compound called phosphine was detected, which can originate from organic processes. It’s big news, and space agencies are already talking about how they might further probe the mystery with missions to Venus, but is this really news? Shockingly, it might not be.

As LiveScience reports, a now-ancient NASA mission to Venus way back in 1978 may have detected the presence of phosphine decades before this more recent discovery. The data is examined in a new paper that was published to arXiv.

When the news began to circulate that phosphine was discovered in the atmosphere of Venus, researchers began to wonder if a similar signature might be lurking in data collected by the Pioneer 13 mission which included a probe that cruised down to the planet’s surface while collecting data about its atmosphere and other conditions.

The probe was supported by a parachute, giving it time to collect samples and analyze them, beaming the data back to Earth as rapidly as possible. At the time, the researchers didn’t mention anything about phosphine or other phosphorus-based compounds, but the data was still available to be studied, and that’s exactly what a team of researchers did.

So, what did they find? Well, the data shows the presence of phosphorous compounds, and based on the readings and a little bit of math, it seems likely that the data indicates the presence of phosphine.

“We were inspired to re-examine data obtained from the Pioneer-Venus Large Probe Neutral Mass Spectrometer (LNMS) to search for evidence of phosphorus compounds,” the researchers write. “The LNMS obtained masses of neutral gases (and their fragments) at different altitudes within Venus’ clouds. Published mass spectral data correspond to gases at altitudes of 50-60 km, or within the lower and middle clouds of Venus – which has been identified as a potential habitable zone. We find that LMNS data support the presence of phosphine; although, the origins of phosphine remain unknown.”

So, yeah, NASA’s probe detected what is likely phosphine nearly four decades ago and never realized it. That’s pretty wild, and it kind of makes you wonder what other discoveries have been unknowingly made over the decades that NASA and other space agencies have been conducting missions in space.

Why the health of the Amazon River matters to us all: An interview with Michael Goulding
by Rhett A. Butler on 9 September 2020


Like the rainforest which takes its name, the Amazon is the largest and most biodiverse river on the planet. The river and its tributaries are a critical thoroughfare for an area the size of the continental United States and function as a key source of food and livelihoods for millions of people. Yet despite its vastness and importance, the mighty Amazon is looking increasingly vulnerable due to human activities.
Few people understand more about the Amazon’s ecology and the wider role it plays across the South American continent than Michael Goulding, an aquatic ecologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) who has worked in the region since the 1970s studying issues ranging from the impact of hydroelectric dams to the epic migration of goliath catfishes. Goulding has written and co-authored some of the most definitive books and papers on the river, its resident species, and its ecological function.
In recognition of his lifetime of advancing conservation efforts in the Amazon, the Field Museum today honored Goulding with the Parker/Gentry Award. The Award — named after ornithologist Theodore A. Parker III and botanist Alwyn Gentry who were killed in a plane crash during an aerial survey of an Ecuadorian cloud forest in 1993 — is given each year to “an outstanding individual, team or organization in the field of conservation biology whose efforts have had a significant impact on preserving the world’s natural heritage and whose actions and approach can serve as a model to others.”
In a September 2020 interview ahead of the prize ceremony, Goulding spoke with Mongabay about his research and the current state of the Amazon.Aerial view of flooded forest in the Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler for Mongabay.

Like the rainforest which takes its name, the Amazon is the largest and most biodiverse river on the planet: the Amazon carries more than five times the volume of world’s second largest river — the Congo — and its basin is home to at least 3,000 species of fish. The river and its tributaries are a critical thoroughfare for an area the size of the continental United States and function as a key source of food and livelihoods for millions of people.

Yet despite its vastness and importance, the Amazon faces a deluge of threats: a dam-building spree across the basin is disrupting fish migration and nutrient cycling, large-scale deforestation is destroying habitats and increasing sedimentation, pollution from mining and agribusiness is affecting aquatic ecosystems, overfishing is diminishing the capacity of some species to recover, and drought and flood cycles are becoming more pronounced. The effects of climate change could exacerbate some of these impacts by increasing temperatures, the severity of droughts, and the incidence of fires. The mighty Amazon is looking increasingly vulnerable.Blackwater lake, rainforest, and a whitewater river in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.

Few people understand more about the Amazon’s ecology and the wider role it plays across the South American continent than Michael Goulding, an aquatic ecologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) who has worked in the region since the 1970s studying issues ranging from the impact of hydroelectric dams to the epic migration of goliath catfishes. Goulding has written and co-authored some of the most definitive books and papers on the river, its resident species, and its ecological function.

In recognition of his lifetime of advancing conservation efforts in the Amazon, the Field Museum will today honor Goulding with the Parker/Gentry Award. The Award — named after ornithologist Theodore A. Parker III and botanist Alwyn Gentry who were killed in a plane crash during an aerial survey of an Ecuadorian cloud forest in 1993 — is given each year to “an outstanding individual, team or organization in the field of conservation biology whose efforts have had a significant impact on preserving the world’s natural heritage and whose actions and approach can serve as a model to others.”Michael Goulding with his colleagues at WCS in the Peruvian Amazon. Michael Goulding

According to the Field Museum, the Award “is designed to highlight work that could benefit from wider publicity and fuller dissemination of scientific results.” The Museum said it selected Goulding as “one of the world’s leading experts on Amazonian rivers and their biodiversity.”

“He is helping change our largely terrestrial view of conservation to one that puts rivers at the center,” said Field in a statement. “He pulls together multiple disciplines and collaborators across the Amazon basin to understand historical patterns, identify current concerns, and make recommendations for the future.”

“[Goulding] has been a driving force on a slew of peer-review articles that champion a basin-wide approach to understanding reproduction of Amazonian food fishes, especially long-distance migrants. His efforts have led to new approaches to Amazon conservation, focusing on its aquatic life.”

In a September 2020 interview ahead of the prize ceremony, Goulding spoke with Mongabay about his research and the current state of the Amazon.

Michael Goulding.

Mongabay: What led you to pursue your career?

Michael Goulding: I have been interested in Nature and rivers since childhood. In college, I first became interested in geography because of a desire to travel to foreign lands, which soon led to an interest in the tropics, especially those of the New World.

While in college in California, I travelled extensively in Mexico and saw rainforests for the first time. This ignited my interest in rainforest. Along with a desire to study rivers, this led me to start thinking about just where to direct my career, and I soon settled on South America and, shortly after that, on the Amazon as it has the world’s largest rainforests and rivers.

My interest in fish was also since childhood, but learning of the unequalled diversity of Amazon fishes it was an easy zoological choice for the naturalist side of me.

In graduate school at UCLA, I focused on ecosystems, biogeography, conservation, ichthyology, and plant taxonomy to prepare to work in the Amazon. I was extremely lucky to be hired by the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) in Manaus, Brazil while I also finished my Ph.D dissertation. This opportunity was the first conduit to realize my career dreams.

You’ve been working in the Amazon since the 1970s, during which more than 750,000 square kilometers of forest has been cleared across the basin. What are the biggest changes have you seen since the beginning of your career? Both in terms of shifts in the research field and ecological/environmental changes.

At the mega level, deforestation and dams on large rivers are the two major changes since the early 1970s when I made my first trip to the Amazon. Large-scale and artisanal mining and urbanization are the next biggest changes. Taken together, these changes now have synergistic impacts at the ecosystem level. Potential deforestation impacts became apparent relatively early, especially with the construction of the Tran-Amazon Highway in Brazil aimed at opening cattle ranches and settling agriculturalists from Northeastern Brazil to develop the Amazon.Devastation wrought by an open pit gold mine in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo by Rhett Butler.

Relatively little attention, however, was given to wetland forest destruction, especially on the floodplains of the lower Amazon River where jute farming and livestock ranching had taken a toll. The exponential increase in new highways and roads since the 1970s resulted in large-scale deforestation across a wide part of the Amazon, and especially south of the Amazon River. The expansion of the soybean frontier in the southeastern basins of the Amazon and agricultural and mining expansion in the Andes also led to serious deforestation and local pollution of westernmost headwaters.

Satellite imagery and GIS software in the last two decades made it possible to track deforestation accurately across the Amazon. The conceptual linkage of the rainforest to the hydrological cycle through the evapotranspiration role of trees greatly strengthened the need for an ecosystem approach to the Amazon. Ironically, however, since about the late 1980s most research and conservation attention focused on relatively small areas without complementary larger scale perspectives to place them in a larger ecological context. River flow impacts increase cumulatively in a downstream direction; thus everyone is downstream in some way. It became apparent that river basin perspectives provide an urgent synergistic view of upland and wetland impacts together at multiple scales across the Amazon if management conservation of the aquatic ecosystem is to be successful.

Since the late 1990s, the Amazon has experienced at least four major droughts. What are the implications of these droughts for aquatic life in the region?

Extreme hydrological events, either droughts or floods, or some combination, affects ecosystem function. For aquatic biodiversity, droughts are often of more concern than extreme floods, and the opposite is often true for human societies along the rivers. Extreme droughts lead to a great reduction of habitat space, especially on floodplains but also in rivers and streams. Increased fish and other biodiversity mortality increases because of limited space, increased predation and overfishing by local and urban fishers. The latter greatly exacerbates the already precarious management of fisheries. Likewise, other aquatic wildlife, such as turtles and the Amazon manatee, become even more vulnerable than fishes.Boto dolphins, a top predator in Amazonian waters. Photo by Michael Goulding.

The long-term effects of large floods on aquatic biodiversity are more difficult to ascertain. It appears that they can increase fish production because of expanded space and a longer period of inundation. With extreme droughts and associated mortality, however, this theoretical advantage of large floods would disappear. Extreme flood levels for three or four years can also lead to die-offs of parts of floodplain shrub and tree communities, as they need an emerged period each year.

While a number of dam projects have been put on hold the past few years, there are still ambitious plans for hydropower expansion across much of the Amazon Basin. What are the potential implications of large-scale dam construction in the basin?

Most focus has been on large dams constructed on the Tocantins, Xingu and Madeira rivers in the eastern half of the Amazon Basin in Brazil. These dams are located on the ancient uplands referred to as the Brazilian Shield, which in the west extends somewhat across the Madeira River where its dams are located. The Brazilian Shield drains four large rivers, and the only one thus far not dammed is the Tapajós, though there are proposals to dam it as well. All four of these tributaries enter the Amazon Basin in its eastern half. To date, large dams affect their individual tributaries more than having a cumulative impact on the Amazon River or its estuary. Since the southeastern sub-basins are also major agricultural and mining frontiers, a synergistic combination of deforestation, dams, pollution and mining affects the rivers. We still do not know where the tipping point is, that is, at what point do x number of dammed major tributaries then begin to affect the ecology of the Amazon River and its estuary 

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Satellite image of the Balbina Dam in Brazil in September 2020. Courtesy of Zoom.Earth.

Unlike the other three Brazilian Shield tributaries, the Madeira has headwaters in the Andes of Bolivia and Peru. The two existing Madeira dams represent the first major basin-wide impact on the Amazon aquatic ecosystem. Although run-the-river dams with relatively low walls, the Madeira dams nevertheless block fish migrations, such as those of goliath catfishes that migrate upstream from the estuary to spawn in or near the Andes. A fish bypass constructed at the Santo Antonio dam near the city of Porto Velho in the state of Rondônia is not functioning as planned, and none exits at the Jirau dam upstream of it. This means that the Madeira dams block some of the most important fish migrations in the Amazon, and this has impacts as far away as the Amazon River estuary, the nurseries for some of the species. Similar to salmon, it appears that at least the dourada (Portuguese) or dorado (Spanish) catfish might practice homing, the biological phenomenon where a species returns to the general region of its birth. This would mean that the Madeira dams would drive a major population of the species to extinction and eliminate perhaps 40% of the spawning grounds of the species.

Thus far, the Andes has few large dams, though governments have identified six major potential hydroelectric dam sites near the outlets from the mountains. Unlike in the Eastern Amazon, the Andean large dams would mostly likely have high walls with deep reservoirs. The Andes are the sediment and nutrient bank for not only for the tributaries that drain them but for the Amazon River as well. Thus, high wall dams could seriously affect the chemistry and alluvial properties of a major part of the Amazon aquatic ecosystem, from more than 4,000 km upstream to the Atlantic. Decreased sediments and nutrients would lead to decreased productivity on the western floodplains and along the Amazon River to its estuary, all of which are important nurseries for fish. Most ecological and social focus is on the Marañón River at the Pongo de Manseriche, a gorge where the largest of the six potential dams is located. It is still unclear whether Peru will move ahead with the Manseriche dam.The Cachoeira de Teotônio, the largest of the Madeira rapids in Brazil, was traditionally a site for catching catfishes as they migrated upstream. But the Teotônio fisheries have disappeared since the construction of the Santo Antônio Dam, which submerged the cataracts. Photo by Michael Goulding.

A large number of small dams can often have even greater impacts than a single large dam. Small dam construction is exploding across the Amazon from the highlands to the lowlands, but especially in drier areas in the north and south and in the higher parts of the Andes. With predicted drier climates and expanded agriculture and aquaculture, and lack of stream management, small dam construction now presents a major ecological challenge in some parts of the Amazon.

Perhaps a major positive note on dam building in the region is that the Amazon River will remain the only large river in the world without a dam or locks. Although there were futuristic proposals to dam the Amazon River, none is feasible.

A generation ago there was a lot of discussion around the potential for fish farming in the Amazon floodplains to provide a more sustainable source of protein than land-based livestock. Has this materialized? And what are the implications?

Governments subsidized many of the first efforts but the private sector now leads in aquaculture development. Fish farming exists between ecological controversy and dreamland, with a practical center somewhere between.

Fisherman with an arapaima (left) and a women selling fish in a market in Pucallpa, Peru. Photo by Michael Goulding.

Two major aspects of aquaculture are relevant to the Amazon, generally categorized as intensive and extensive fish farming. Most fish farming in the Amazon is intensive and uses excavated ponds or dammed streams, with floating cages in the floodplain lakes or in smaller river channels of only minor importance. Most aquaculture is for food fish with minimal production for aquarium and sport fishing species. There have been aquaculture projects aimed at export markets because of higher prices, though to date these have not been particularly successful. The most successful operations target high-priced species now threatened in the wild, thus opening an urban market for aquaculture more than aimed as decreasing overfishing of wild stocks.

An especially important species is the large fruit-and-seed eater called tambaqui in Brazil and often gamitana in Spanish-speaking countries of the Amazon. Overfishing has led to nearly commercial extinction of wild-caught large fish over most of the Amazon. The tambaqui was the most important commercial species captured in the Central Amazon during the 1970s but now is relatively unimportant in fisheries. Aquaculture now produces more tonnage of this species than the maximum wild catches registered decades ago, but this has done little to decrease overexploitation of wild populations. A large wild tambaqui can sell for more than $100, thus there is economic incentive to exploit it despite its rarity. Farm-raised fish contribute relatively little to overall food security since they are too expensive for lower income groups. In short, it seems improbable that aquaculture can substitute wild fisheries or decrease pressure on favored wild species.

The tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum) is an important seed disperser in the flooded forest. Photo by Michael Goulding.

Another big question is whether aquaculture could realistically be an alternative to livestock ranching, that is deforestation, for protein production and, if so, just how? Perhaps the main metric is whether quality fish, without subsidies, fetch the same price or cheaper as chicken since poultry is generally less expensive than beef and pork and more accessible to poorer economic classes. Chicken farming is just as intensive if not more so than aquaculture and operates in a similar manner in terms of processed feed for the captive animals. Thus, if the idea is to produce affordable protein for multiple economic classes, then poultry might be a better solution to alleviate fishing pressure on wild fish populations.

Aquaculture beyond any doubt has a role in the Amazon for urban markets. The main controversy is whether overexploited species, such as the tambaqui, would benefit from restocking. Extensive aquaculture involves placing nursery-raised young fish into the wild to replenish overfished populations. There are few experiments to know if this would even be successful in the Amazon and what impacts it might have, such as on genetic diversity of wild populations. Extensive aquaculture already exists to some extent with exotic rainbow trout in the higher Andes, but this has introduced exotic parasites, always a major concern to the health of native species.

Along with your colleagues, you’ve written a number of landmark books and papers on the aquatic ecology of the Amazon Basin. Which of your findings or projects are you most proud of?

My main criterion has always been rather our work was directly relevant to conservation and how does it fit into the big picture. At the most fundamental ecological connectivity level, this meant elucidating how rivers and rainforests are connected. I called this very simply “The Fishes and the Forest” since the two are dependent on each other. Fishes across the Amazon are highly dependent on wetland forests to which they migrate during the floods for food and protection from predators. Likewise, fruit-eating fishes are important seed dispersers for many wetland tree and shrub species.

Boy with a ‘dorado’ catfish. Photo by Michael Goulding.

Another large-scale phenomenon we worked on aimed at dispelling the idea that the Amazon’s second largest tributary, the Rio Negro, a blackwater river, could not support high aquatic biodiversity because of its extreme nutrient poverty, low pH and organic compounds that render it blackish or brownish in color. We were able to demonstrate that there is actually “Rich Life in Poor Water”, a concept vitally important not only for conservation of the Rio Negro but also other blackwater rivers in the Amazon.

A third major theme I worked on over decades, along with Ronaldo Barthem of the Goeldi Museum and other colleagues, was long-distance fish migrations from the Amazon River estuary to as far away as the Andean foothills. Demonstrating these migrations, and the scale at which they occur, demonstrated how the Amazon aquatic ecosystem connects biologically from the Andes to the Atlantic in what we termed “The Catfish Connection”. This has major implications in terms of infrastructure development impacts, including dams and headwater deforestation that can affect these continental-wide migrations.Satellite image of the Rio Negro in September 2020. Courtesy of Zoom.Earth.

Other projects included viewing fisheries at the ecosystem level, the importance of palm swamps, human use of the Amazon River floodplain and helping to develop a new river basin classification for the Amazon that enhances analyzes and spatial views of the aquatic ecosystem in its many facets. All of these works aimed at increasing an understanding of ecosystem scale and its implications for conservation and management planning.

What’s your outlook for the Amazon’s aquatic ecology? And what do you see as the best ways to maintain the health and productivity of the ecosystem?

The main positive that the Amazon has in terms of aquatic ecology conservation is its size, though this also presents the greatest challenge, as there are too few people and funds to analyze the in-water and on-ground impacts of deforestation, dams, mining, increased river traffic, urbanization and other influences at large river basin scales. Other than addressing these challenges through environmental policy, there must also be a scientific and social paradigm shift beyond a propensity to focus only on local areas. A complementary big-picture approach that integrates biological and social data is also required.

Fisherman in an estuary in the Amazon. Photo by Michael Goulding.

I believe the most fruitful approach that unites upland and wetland perspectives, and local and broader-based views, is integrated river basin management. This approach also addresses transnational concerns such as dams and migratory fishes, accumulative downstream pollution, headwater deforestation and the efficacy of protected areas and indigenous territories to aquatic ecosystem conservation and management.

If we view conservation outlook through the lens of major river basins and the Amazon River mainstem, which includes its vast floodplains, then some of the large sub-basins, such as Tocantins, Xingu, Tapajós and parts of the Madeira drainage, will continue to be highly modified by deforestation, dams and mining and they will eventually require restoration. The blackwater basins, such as the Rio Negro, will be less impacted as a whole because of poorer soils for agricultural development, though they will still face threats from mining operations and headwater deforestation. The roads and agricultural and mining frontiers moving down all major Andes-Amazon tributaries present transnational challenges to river basin management and together present the potential western ‘headwater tipping point’ of the aquatic ecosystem.

A floodplain scene in the Amazon. Photo by Michael Goulding.

Fishermen selling their catches at the Manaus waterfront.. Photo by Michael Goulding.

Brazil is downriver of all Andean countries in the Amazon Basin, thus it should be as concerned with what is happening in the Andes as in its own territory. Likewise, the Andean countries need to look downstream as many fish migrations that enter their territories originate in Brazil. The lower Amazon River floodplain has been heavily deforested. If wetland deforestation continues upstream, it will have major impacts on aquatic biodiversity and production, not only on the mainstem but on its tributaries as well. The Amazon mainstem is especially problematic because it has few protected areas and indigenous territories that could help manage its floodplains. Even where there are protected areas, the river channels are not included.

Maintaining the health and productivity of the aquatic ecosystem for biodiversity and human wellbeing requires taking on a series of basic steps in a realistic time framework, which will probably be decades. First, is addressing the need to scale-up conservation initiatives to basin levels, including coordinated transnational levels where required. Second, the critical importance of wetland forests for fish and other aquatic biodiversity, and human wellbeing, requires explicit legislation and implementation of the same to protect these habitats from conversion to livestock ranches, rice fields or other types of large-scale agriculture. At present, the fisheries suffer from a lack of sound management and lack of data collecting. Overfishing is becoming the norm. Community management projects help inform local challenges, but it will take urban fish market monitoring and enforced regulations across the Amazon to control overfishing. The lack of statistical data for a resource as important as fish in the Amazon is indefensible, and considering the many impacts taking place, it becomes even more egregious.Z

All Amazonian countries now have excellent scientists addressing ecological and social issues related to the Amazon aquatic ecosystem or parts of it. This human capital is an amazing asset and governments need to recognize it as such to inform and mitigate infrastructure development and the proper management of aquatic resources on which biodiversity and human well-being in the Amazon depend. Therein lies optimism for the future.

Learn more about Amazon River ecology at AmazonWaters.org.

Mercury from gold mining contaminates Amazon communities’ staple fish
by Fernanda Wenzel on 3 September 2020 | Translated by Roberto Cataldo

The four species of fish most commonly consumed by Indigenous and riverine people in the Brazilian state of Amapá contain the highest concentrations of mercury.
In some species, researchers found levels of mercury four times in excess of World Health Organization recommendations.
The mercury comes from gold-mining activity, where it’s used to separate gold from ore before being burned off and washed into the rivers.
The health impacts of mercury contamination are well-documented, and include damage to the central nervous system, potentially resulting in learning disabilities for children and tremors and difficulty walking for adults.

For the communities of the Amazon, a land defined by its rivers, fish has always been an important part of the diet. In the northern reaches of the Amazon, the top four species are tucunaré, pirapucu, trairão and mandubé.

But small-scale gold mining has turned these fish into an often deadly health hazard. According to a study published in July in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, mercury levels found in pirapucu (Boulengerella cuvieri) were four times higher than the safe limit established by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The researchers analyzed 428 samples of fish caught between 2017 and 2018 in five rivers in the Brazilian state of Amapá. The collection points were close to potential mining areas, where mercury is often used to separate gold from ore. The result: detectable levels of mercury were found in all samples. In 28.7% of them, the amount exceeded the WHO limit.

The study — a joint effort by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), WWF Brazil, the Amapá Institute for Scientific and Technological Research (IEPA) and the Institute for Indigenous Research and Training (Iepé) — reveals the risks to which the state’s Indigenous and riverine populations are exposed, especially children.

To collect fish samples, the researchers traveled along remote rivers such as the Oiapoque and Araguari, near Brazil’s border with French Guiana. Image courtesy of Iepé.

Study co-author Paulo Basta, a medical doctor and researcher at Fiocruz, a scientific institution in Rio de Janeiro, says the impacts of mercury exposure on unborn children are already well-documented. These children “may face intelligence quotient impairments that will last throughout their lives,” he says. “They will have learning difficulties and fewer chances of getting good jobs and income. The result is a permanent cycle of inequality and poverty.” In the most severe cases, the child may be born with deformities.

In adults, mercury contamination may lead to coordination problems such as difficulty walking and hand tremors, hearing and vision impairment, and even dementia, Basta says.

Iepé assistant executive director Décio Yokota, another co-author of the study, says fish from the area studied is consumed by people from at least four Indigenous territories: Wajãpi, Uaçá, Juminã and Galibi. For these populations, fish is the main source of protein and also the main vector of mercury contamination as a result of bioaccumulation. “Small fish eat the algae, then a bigger fish eats the small fish and is eaten by other, even bigger, fish,” he says. “That’s why the most contaminated fish are usually at the top of food chains. They accumulate a very large amount of mercury in the process.”

This explains why carnivorous fish had the highest levels of contamination in the study: 77.6% of them had mercury above the WHO limit. “If you eat these contaminated fish every day, you increase your level of contamination each time you eat them,” Basta says.

The proportion contaminated with unsafe levels of mercury was 20% among omnivorous fish, which feed on both fish and plants, and 2.4% among herbivorous fish. The study authors recommend eating a maximum of 200 grams (7 ounces) of carnivorous fish a week. In the case of mandubé (Ageneiosus inermis), pirapucu, tucunaré (Cichla monoculus) and trairão (Hoplias aimara), consumption should be restricted to once a month

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Tucunaré (Cichla monoculus) collected during research. As a carnivorous fish at the top of the food chain, it accumulates the highest concentration of mercury. Image courtesy of Iepé.

Yokota acknowledges that it isn’t easy for people who rarely have other sources of protein to follow the recommendation. “Ideally, mining should be eliminated. If that’s not possible, we need to think about changing our diet. But we cannot tell people who have no other source of protein not to eat fish. That’s why we suggest that they try to eat more herbivorous fish, whose levels of contamination are much lower.”

A 2014 report shows mining is the main cause of deforestation in the Guiana Shield, a ​​2.5-million-square-kilometer (965,300-square-mile) area that straddles part of northern Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and part of Venezuela. It’s a long-standing problem that has gotten worse in recent years, according to Marcelo Oliveira-da-Costa, a WWF Brazil conservation expert and co-author of the new study. “Managers of Amapá’s conservation units say law enforcement has not been effective, and the political signals sent by the federal government are terrible,” he says. “If you look at the Amazon as a whole, [mining] is only increasing.”

Oliveira says there’s an urgent need for studies on the impact of mercury contamination on the Amazon’s Indigenous peoples. “We know that people are contaminated in several areas, such as the Yanomami, the Munduruku … but what are the effects? There is no investment to study the effects of contamination on those populations,” he says.

To fill in this information gap, the same research institutions plan to carry out studies later this year to assess the impact of mercury on the health of Amapá’s riverine families and the Munduruku people in Pará state.

The researchers collected 428 fish samples from 18 different locations. The fish were caught by local fishermen hired for the study. Image courtesy of Iepé.

Banner image of a fish caught during one of the expeditions, courtesy of Iepé.

This story was first reported by Mongabay’s Brazil team and published here on our Brazil site on Aug. 17, 2020.

Citation:

Hacon, S. D., Oliveira-da-Costa, M., Gama, C. D., Ferreira, R., Basta, P. C., Schramm, A., & Yokota, D. (2020). Mercury exposure through fish consumption in traditional communities in the Brazilian northern Amazon. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(15). doi:10.3390/ijerph17155269
Article published by Xavier Bartaburu

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Coastal flooding will disproportionately impact 31 million people globally

Study is first to assess the impact of climate change on the global population of river deltas

INDIANA UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: AN AERIAL VIEW OF BELEM, BRAZIL, A CITY SITUATED ALONG THE AMAZON DELTA IN NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL. A NEW STUDY BY IU RESEARCHERS FOUND THAT CLIMATE CHANGE PLACES MILLIONS OF PEOPLE... view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO BY EDUARDO BRONDIZIO, INDIANA UNIVERSITY

Thirty-one million people living in river deltas are at high risk of experiencing flooding and other impacts from tropical cyclones and climate change, according to a study by Indiana University researchers.

"To date, no one has successfully quantified the global population on river deltas and assessed the cumulative impacts from climate change," said Douglas Edmonds, the Malcolm and Sylvia Boyce Chair in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and lead author on the study. "Since river deltas have long been recognized as hotspots of population growth, and with increasing impacts from climate change, we realized we needed to properly quantify what the cumulative risks are in river deltas."

The findings are the result of a collaboration facilitated by IU's Institute for Advanced Study with support from the Environmental Resilience Institute.

The team’s analysis shows that river deltas occupy 0.5 percent of the earth’s land surface, yet they contain 4.5 percent of the global population—a total of 339 million people. Because river deltas form at the ocean at or below sea level, they are highly prone to storm surges, which are expected to occur more frequently due to climate change-fueled sea-level rise and coastal flooding.

In the study, IU researchers analyzed these geographic regions, which include cities like New Orleans, Bangkok, and Shanghai, using a new global dataset to determine how many people live on river deltas, how many are vulnerable to a 100-year storm surge event, and the ability of the deltas to naturally mitigate impacts of climate change.

“River deltas present special challenges for predicting coastal floods that deserve more attention in discussions about the future impacts of climate change,” said IU Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Eduardo Brondizio, a co-author of the study who has been working with rural and urban communities in the Amazon delta for 3 decades. “Our estimates are likely a minimum because the storm surge and flooding models do not account for the compound interactions of the climate impacts, deficient infrastructure, and high population density.”

With Edmonds and Brondizio, co-authors on the study include Rebecca Caldwell and graduate student Sacha Siani.

In addition to the threat of flooding, many of the residents in river deltas are low-income and experience water, soil, and air pollution, poor and subnormal housing infrastructure, and limited access to public services. According to the study, of the 339 million people living on deltas throughout the world, 31 million of these people are living in the 100-year storm surge floodplains. To make matters worse, 92 percent of the 31 million live in developing or least-developed economies. As a result, some of the most disadvantaged populations are among the most at-risk to the impacts of climate change.

“These communities are already dealing with health risks, lack of sanitation and services, poverty, and exposure to flooding and other environmental risks. Climate change is exacerbating all of these issues and creating more impacts,” Brondizio said.

To conduct their study, the researchers created a global dataset of delta populations and areas, aggregating 2,174 delta locations. They then cross-referenced the dataset with a land population count to determine how many people were living in the deltas. To determine the natural mitigation capacity of the deltas, researchers looked at the volume of incoming sediment deposited by rivers and other waterways flowing out to sea. The volume of incoming sediment was compared to the relative area of the delta to determine if the delta would be considered sediment starved and thus unable to naturally mitigate flooding.

Decades of engineering have expanded the habitable land area of river deltas, but they’ve also starved the regions of flood-preventing sediment. Without the sediment being renewed naturally, the shorelines will continue to recede, worsening the impacts of storm surges

“To effectively prepare for more intense future coastal flooding, we need to reframe it as a problem that disproportionately impacts people on river deltas in developing and least-developed economies,” said Edmonds. “We need better models for the climate impacts that are capable of stimulating compound flooding in densely populated areas so that exposure and risk can be mapped to more accurately assess risk and vulnerability.”

 

Babies' random choices become their preferences

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: THE ACT OF MAKING A CHOICE CHANGES HOW WE FEEL ABOUT OUR OPTIONS. view more 

CREDIT: WILL KIRK/JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

When a baby reaches for one stuffed animal in a room filled with others just like it, that seemingly random choice is very bad news for those unpicked toys: the baby has likely just decided she doesn't like what she didn't choose.

Though researchers have long known that adults build unconscious biases over a lifetime of making choices between things that are essentially the same, the new Johns Hopkins University finding that even babies engage in this phenomenon demonstrates that this way of justifying choice is intuitive and somehow fundamental to the human experience.

"The act of making a choice changes how we feel about our options," said co-author Alex Silver, a former Johns Hopkins undergraduate who's now a graduate student in cognitive psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. "Even infants who are really just at the start of making choices for themselves have this bias."

The findings are published today in the journal Psychological Science.

People assume they choose things that they like. But research suggests that's sometimes backwards: We like things because we choose them. And, we dislike things that we don't choose.

"I chose this, so I must like it. I didn't choose this other thing, so it must not be so good. Adults make these inferences unconsciously," said co-author Lisa Feigenson, a Johns Hopkins cognitive scientist specializing in child development. "We justify our choice after the fact."

This makes sense for adults in a consumer culture who must make arbitrary choices every day, between everything from toothpaste brands to makes of cars to styles of jeans. The question, for Feigenson and Silver, was when exactly people start doing this. So they turned to babies, who don't get many choices so, as Feigenson puts it, are "a perfect window into the origin of this tendency."

The team brought 10- to 20-month-old babies into the lab and gave them a choice of objects to play with: two equally bright and colorful soft blocks.

They set each block far apart, so the babies had to crawl to one or the other - a random choice.

After the baby chose one of the toys, the researchers took it away and came back with a new option. The babies could then pick from the toy they didn't play with the first time, or a brand new toy.

"The babies reliably chose to play with the new object rather than the one they had previously not chosen, as if they were saying, 'Hmm, I didn't choose that object last time, I guess I didn't like it very much,' " Feigenson said. "That is the core phenomenon. Adults will like less the thing they didn't choose, even if they had no real preference in the first place. And babies, just the same, dis-prefer the unchosen object."

In follow-up experiments, when the researchers instead chose which toy the baby would play with, the phenomenon disappeared entirely. If you take the element of choice away, Feigenson said, the phenomenon goes away.

"They are really not choosing based on novelty or intrinsic preference," Silver said. "I think it's really surprising. We wouldn't expect infants to be making such methodical choices."

To continue studying the evolution of choice in babies, the lab will next look at the idea of "choice overload." For adults, choice is good, but too many choices can be a problem, so the lab will try to determine if that is also true for babies.

Genetic tracing 'barcode' is rapidly revealing COVID-19's journey and evolution

Drexel researchers' method helps uncover patterns in SARS-CoV-2's genetic mutations

DREXEL UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: RESEARCHERS FROM DREXEL UNIVERSITY ARE USING A NEW TECHNIQUE FOR SPOTTING PATTERNS IN THE GENETIC SEQUENCE OF THE SARS-COV-2 CORONAVIRUS THAT CAN HELP SCIENTISTS TRACE THE PATH OF ITS TRANSMISSION... view more 

CREDIT: DREXEL UNIVERSITY

Drexel University researchers have reported a method to quickly identify and label mutated versions of the virus that causes COVID-19. Their analysis, using information from a global database of genetic information gleaned from coronavirus testing, suggests that there are at least 8 to 14 slightly different versions of the virus infecting people in America, some of which are either the same as, or have subsequently evolved from, strains directly from Asia, while others are the same as those found in Europe.

First developed as a way of parsing genetic samples to get a snapshot of the mix of bacteria, the genetic analysis tool teases out patterns from volumes of genetic information and can identify whether a virus has genetically changed. They can then use the pattern to categorize viruses with small genetic differences using tags called Informative Subtype Markers (ISM).

Applying the same method to process viral genetic data can quickly detect and categorize slight genetic variations in the SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the group reported in a paper recently published in the journal, PLoS Computational Biology. The genetic analysis tool, designed by Drexel graduate researcher Zhengqiao Zhao, that generates these labels is publicly available for COVID-19 researchers on GitHub.

"The types of SARS-CoV-2 viruses that we see in tests from Asia and Europe is different than the types we're seeing in America," said Gail Rosen, PhD, a professor in Drexel's College of Engineering, who led the development of the tool. "Identifying the variations allows us to see how the virus has changed as it has traveled from population to population. It can also show us the areas where social distancing has been successful at isolating COVID-19."

The ISM tool is particularly useful because it does not require analysis of the full genetic sequence of the virus to identify its mutations. In the case of SARS-CoV-2, this means reducing the 30,000-base-long genetic code of the virus to a subtype label 20 bases long.

The ISM tool also identified certain positions in the virus's genetic sequence that changed together as the virus spread. The researchers found that from early April to the end of the summer, three positions in the SARS-CoV-2 sequence mutated at the same time. Those positions are in different parts of the genetic sequence. One part is thought to be associated with cellular signaling and replication. Another portion is associated with formation of the protein spike - the part of the virus that enables its entry into healthy cells - changed in tandem with a third portion of code, which doesn't translate to protein.

While more investigation is needed on how these simultaneous mutations impact the transmission and severity of the virus, sites that change together can be used to consolidate the subtype label into 11 bases, which could make downstream analysis more efficient, according to the researchers.

"It's the equivalent of scanning a barcode instead of typing in the full product code number," Rosen said. "And right now, we're all trying to get through the grocery store a bit faster. For scientists this means being able to move to higher-level analysis much faster. For example, it can be a faster process in studying which virus versions could be affecting health outcomes. Or, public health officials can track whether new cases are the result of local transmission or coming from other regions of the United States or parts of the world."

While these genetic differences might not be enough to delineate a new strain of virus, Rosen's group suggests understanding these genetically significant "subtypes," where they're being found and how prevalent they are in these areas is data granular enough to be useful.

"This allows us to see the very specific fingerprint of COVID-19 from each region around the world, and to look closely at smaller regions to see how it is different," Rosen said. "Our preliminary analysis, using publicly available data from across the world, is showing that the combination of subtypes of virus found in New York is most similar to those found in Austria, France and Central Europe, but not Italy. And the subtype from Asia, that was detected here early in the pandemic has not spread very much, instead we are seeing a new subtype that only exists in America as the one most prevalent in Washington state and on the west coast."

In addition to helping scientists understand how the virus is changing and spreading, this method can also reveal the portion of its genetic code that appears to remain resistant to mutations - a discovery that could be exploited by treatments to combat the virus.

"We're seeing that the spike protein and the part of the virus responsible for packaging its genetic material have developed a few major mutations, but otherwise they are changing at a slower rate," said Bahrad Sokhansanj, PhD, a visiting scholar at Drexel. "Importantly, both are key targets for understanding the body's immune response, identifying antiviral therapeutics, and designing vaccines.

Rosen's Ecological and Evolutionary Signal-Processing and Informatics Laboratory will continue to analyze COVID-19 data as it is collected and to support public health researchers using the ISM process.

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Physicists build circuit that generates clean, limitless power from graphene

Researchers harnessed the atomic motion of graphene to generate an electrical current that could lead to a chip to replace batteries.

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

Research News

 

IMAGE: PAUL THIBADO, PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS, HOLDS PROTOTYPE ENERGY-HARVESTING CHIPS. view more 

CREDIT: RUSSELL COTHREN, UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - A team of University of Arkansas physicists has successfully developed a circuit capable of capturing graphene's thermal motion and converting it into an electrical current.

"An energy-harvesting circuit based on graphene could be incorporated into a chip to provide clean, limitless, low-voltage power for small devices or sensors," said Paul Thibado, professor of physics and lead researcher in the discovery.

The findings, published in the journal Physical Review E, are proof of a theory the physicists developed at the U of A three years ago that freestanding graphene -- a single layer of carbon atoms -- ripples and buckles in a way that holds promise for energy harvesting.

The idea of harvesting energy from graphene is controversial because it refutes physicist Richard Feynman's well-known assertion that the thermal motion of atoms, known as Brownian motion, cannot do work. Thibado's team found that at room temperature the thermal motion of graphene does in fact induce an alternating current (AC) in a circuit, an achievement thought to be impossible.

In the 1950s, physicist Léon Brillouin published a landmark paper refuting the idea that adding a single diode, a one-way electrical gate, to a circuit is the solution to harvesting energy from Brownian motion. Knowing this, Thibado's group built their circuit with two diodes for converting AC into a direct current (DC). With the diodes in opposition allowing the current to flow both ways, they provide separate paths through the circuit, producing a pulsing DC current that performs work on a load resistor.

Additionally, they discovered that their design increased the amount of power delivered. "We also found that the on-off, switch-like behavior of the diodes actually amplifies the power delivered, rather than reducing it, as previously thought," said Thibado. "The rate of change in resistance provided by the diodes adds an extra factor to the power."

The team used a relatively new field of physics to prove the diodes increased the circuit's power. "In proving this power enhancement, we drew from the emergent field of stochastic thermodynamics and extended the nearly century-old, celebrated theory of Nyquist," said coauthor Pradeep Kumar, associate professor of physics and coauthor.

According to Kumar, the graphene and circuit share a symbiotic relationship. Though the thermal environment is performing work on the load resistor, the graphene and circuit are at the same temperature and heat does not flow between the two.

That's an important distinction, said Thibado, because a temperature difference between the graphene and circuit, in a circuit producing power, would contradict the second law of thermodynamics. "This means that the second law of thermodynamics is not violated, nor is there any need to argue that 'Maxwell's Demon' is separating hot and cold electrons," Thibado said.

The team also discovered that the relatively slow motion of graphene induces current in the circuit at low frequencies, which is important from a technological perspective because electronics function more efficiently at lower frequencies.

"People may think that current flowing in a resistor causes it to heat up, but the Brownian current does not. In fact, if no current was flowing, the resistor would cool down," Thibado explained. "What we did was reroute the current in the circuit and transform it into something useful."

The team's next objective is to determine if the DC current can be stored in a capacitor for later use, a goal that requires miniaturizing the circuit and patterning it on a silicon wafer, or chip. If millions of these tiny circuits could be built on a 1-millimeter by 1-millimeter chip, they could serve as a low-power battery replacement.

The University of Arkansas holds several patents pending in the U.S. and international markets on the technology and has licensed it for commercial applications through the university's Technology Ventures division. Researchers Surendra Singh, University Professor of physics; ; Hugh Churchill, associate professor of physics; and Jeff Dix, assistant professor of engineering, contributed to the work, which was funded by the Chancellor's Commercialization Fund supported by the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.

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Laundry lint can cause significant tissue damage within marine mussels

UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH

Research News

 

IMAGE: MARINE MUSSELS ARE COMMONLY USED TO MONITOR WATER QUALITY IN COASTAL AREAS. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH

Microscopic fibres created during the laundry cycle can cause damage to the gills, liver and DNA of marine species, according to new research.

Scientists at the University of Plymouth exposed the Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis), found in various locations across the world, to differing quantities of tumble dryer lint.

They demonstrated that increasing the amount of lint resulted in significant abnormality within the mussels' gills, specifically leading to damage of tissues including deformity, extensive swelling and loss of cilia. In the liver, the presence of lint led to atrophy or deformities leading to loss of definition in digestive tubules.

The increasing concentration of fibres also led to a reduction in the mussels' ability to filter food particles from the seawater and a significant increase in DNA strand breaks in the blood cells.

Scientists say the precise causes of the effects are not wholly clear, but are likely to arise from the fibres themselves and chemicals present within them.

They say the findings are unlikely to solely apply to lint, as its properties are consistent with other textiles and fibres found commonly in waste water and throughout the marine environment.

The study, published in the journal Chemosphere, was conducted by academics in the School of Biological and Marine Sciences and School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Dr Andrew Turner, Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences, was the study's senior author and has previously conducted research highlighting the chemicals - including bromine, iron and zinc - found within lint.

He said: "The laundering of clothes and other textiles is among the most significant sources of synthetic microfibers within the environment. However, despite their known presence in a range of species, there have been very few studies looking in detail at their impact. This study shows for the first time what harm they can cause, and it is particularly interesting to consider that it is not just the fibres themselves which create issues but also the cocktail of more harmful chemicals which they can mobilise."

Co-author Awadhesh Jha, Professor in Genetic Toxicology and Ecotoxicology, added: "Mytilus species are commonly used to monitor water quality in coastal areas, and the damage shown to them in this study is a cause for significant concern. Given their genetic similarity to other species and the fact they are found all over the world, we can also assume these effects will be replicated in other shellfish and marine species. Damage to DNA and impairment of the filter feeding abilities would have potential impact on the health of the organisms and the ecosystem. That is particularly significant as we look in the future to increase our reliance on aquaculture as a global source of food."

This study is the latest research by the University in the field, with it being awarded a Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2020 for its ground-breaking research and policy impact on microplastics pollution in the oceans.

That research has included work showing that washing clothes releases thousands of microplastic particles into environment, and that devices fitted to washing machines can reduce the fibres produced in laundry cycle by up to 80%. Scientists from the University have also showed that wearing clothes could release more microfibres to the environment than washing them.

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