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Monday, October 17, 2022

Beyond humans – mammal combat in extreme environs

Goats and sheep combat in climate crisis

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY

A new study from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Colorado State University, and the National Park Service indicates previously unknown high altitude contests between two of America’s most sensational mammals – mountain goats and bighorn sheep – over access to minerals previously unavailable due to the past presence of glaciers which, now, are vanishing due to global warming.

The study also points to other coveted resources such as desert water and shade in brutal environs from Africa, Asia, and North America; species in these extreme environments contest access to these biologically important resources but such interactions have not previously been catalogued by individual species, their size, or their status as ‘native’ or ‘exotic’.

“While humans continue to be justifiably concerned about the climate-induced havoc we’re wreaking planet-wide, much has remained unknown about species aggression among our mammalian brethren” said Joel Berger, the lead author and Senior Scientist for WCS and the Barbara Cox-Anthony Chair of Wildlife Conservation at Colorado State University.

The findings from this work were distilled from fragmentary information dating backwards some four decades and included species as different as marmots and baboons, oryx and elephants, and rhinos, along with wild (i.e., feral) horses which displaced native pronghorn, mule deer, and elk from desert waters.

The study revealed that mountain goats with their saber-like horns emerged victorious over bighorn sheep in more than 98 percent of contests at three sites along a 900-mile gradient of above-treeline mountainous habitat from Colorado to Alberta, Canada. While mountain goats are a native species in northwestern North America, they are exotic in Colorado and Wyoming, including the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, where they were introduced. Concerns there and elsewhere have focused on the extent to which goats may displace or outcompete native bighorns. Although it remains unknown if interactions to access resources have increased over time as our climate degrades, human activity has both increased and decreased access by wildlife to restricted resources such as minerals and water through road building and by the creation of artificial water sources.

The study appears in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. Co-authors, Mark Biel, Chief biologist at Glacier National Park in Montana, and PhD candidate Forest Hayes at CSU, pointed out that high elevation aggression between species, whether passive or active, highlight the importance of limited resources, but it’s been well known that both bighorns and mountain goats will travel up to fifteen miles or more to access these limited resources. Desert elephants travel distances even more impressive – up to 40 miles – to drink from distant waterholes in Namibia.

“It’s been exciting to gather data in wind, snow, and cold on goats and sheep in both Glacier and at Mt. Evans, Colorado, which reaches to more than 14,000 feet,” offered Forest Hayes where “our observations both at close range and from distances of more than a mile provided unique opportunities for detecting and understanding ecological interactions.”

Berger, Biel, and Hayes suggest a possible role of climate challenge through ground water depletion in desert areas but recognize humans may be a more immediate threat as water use for people increasingly jeopardizes the fragility of biodiversity in these systems. “If we can’t offer species other than ourselves a chance, we’re just cooking our fates along similarly destructive paths” offered Berger.

Associated partners and funders for this project were Colorado State University and the Wildlife Conservation Society, Glacier National Park Conservatory, Denver Zoological Society, Denver Mountain Parks, and Frederick Dulude-de Broin at LaVal University.

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WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society)

MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in nearly 60 nations and in all the world’s oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: newsroom.wcs.org Follow: @WCSNewsroom. For more information: 347-840-1242.

JOURNAL

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

DOI

10.3389/fevo.2022.991714

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Species Conflict at Earth’s Edges – Contests, Climate, and Coveted Resources

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Oct-2022

How do mushrooms become magic?

Research examines why some fungi evolve psychedelic properties

Grant and Award Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH

Fungi timelapse — VIDEO: A TIMELAPSE VIDEO OF PSYCHEDELIC AND NON-PSYCHEDELIC FUNGI GROWING IN THE LAB view more
CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH

Psychedelic compounds found in ‘magic mushrooms’ are increasingly being recognised for their potential to treat health conditions such as depression, anxiety, compulsive disorders and addiction.

However, very little is known about how such compounds have evolved and what role they play in the natural world.

To address that, scientists from the University of Plymouth are conducting a first-of-its-kind study using advanced genetic methods and behavioural experiments to address previously untested hypotheses into the origin of psychedelic compounds in fungi.

This includes exploring whether such traits have evolved as a form of defence against fungus-feeding invertebrates, or whether the fungi produce compounds that manipulate insect behaviour for their own advantage.

The project will particularly focus on psilocybin, commonly found in so-called ‘magic mushrooms’. In chemical terms, it is very similar to serotonin, which is involved in the sending of information between nerve cells in animals.

The researchers are sampling psychedelic and non-psychedelic fungi, and using next-generation DNA sequencing to test whether or not there is a diverse animal community feeding on psychedelic fungi.

They are also using laboratory tests to investigate fungal-insect interactions, and whether the fungi undergo genetic changes during attack and development. They will also investigate the effect of psilocybin on the growth of soil bacteria.

The research will also involve using cutting-edge gene editing technology to try and create mutant fungi that cannot synthesize psilocybin. It is hoped this will help researchers better understand the role of a wide range of fungal compounds in future.

The study is being led by a team of experienced researchers in molecular ecology, animal-plant interactions and fungal biology in the University’s School of Biological and Marine Sciences. Driving the study are Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Dr Kirsty Matthews Nicholass and Research Assistant Ms Ilona Flis.

Dr Jon Ellis, Lecturer in Conservation Genetics, is supervising the study. He said: “In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in psychedelic compounds from a human health perspective. However, almost nothing is known about the evolution of these compounds in nature and why fungi should contain neurotransmitter-like compounds is unresolved.

“The hypotheses that have been suggested for their evolution have never been formally tested, and that is what makes our project so ambitious and novel. It could also in future lead to exciting future discoveries, as the development of novel compounds that could be used as fungicides, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and antibiotics is likely to arise from ‘blue-sky’ research investigating fungal defence.”

Dr Kirsty Matthews Nicholass said: “Within Psilocybe alone, there are close to 150 hallucinogenic species distributed across all continents except Antarctica. Yet, the fungal species in which these ‘magic’ compounds occur are not always closely related. This raises interesting questions regarding the ecological pressures that may be acting to maintain the biosynthesis pathway for psilocybin.”

The research is being funded by the Leverhulme Trust and builds on the University’s long-running expertise in novel elements of conservation genetics.

Researchers involved in this project have previously explored the genetic diversity among UK pollinators, the feeding preferences of slugs and snails, and developed an early warning system for plant disease.

Scientists are looking to address untested hypotheses into the
origin of psychedelic compounds in fungi
The researchers have sampled psychedelic and non-psychedelic fungi
from the wild to explore a range of currently untested hypotheses
CREDIT
University of Plymouth

Dr Jon Ellis talks about the history of research into psychedelic compounds in nature

“Fungi generally receive less attention overall than animals and plants, partly because they are less apparent, people interact with them less and they can be hard to study. Historically, there have also been legal barriers which meant certain research has not previously been possible. Saying that, there were some very interesting studies in the 1940s and 50s into the use of LSD as a psychotherapeutic treatment for alcoholism and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Around that time, people also became interested in fungi from an anthropological perspective.

"One couple, the Wassons, went to Mexico and witnessed the ritual use of fungi for the first time in religious ceremonies. Articles they published brought public attention to psychoactive mushrooms. Around this time, there were also other charismatic individuals, such as Timothy Leary, who advocated the use of LSD more widely by the general public. In the 1960s, psychedelic compounds really came to widespread public attention and that ultimately led to governments introducing new laws to restrict their use.

"For some time, that also restricted the fundamental research that could be carried out. More recently, people have returned to that initial research and found that compounds such as psilocybin can have psychotherapeutic benefits. However, that has not addressed their evolution in nature, which is what makes the research we are doing so exciting.

"I hope our project can change the public perception of magic mushrooms. But beyond that, asking questions about the biological world is a fundamental part of our human nature and this project fits into a long narrative of research asking questions about biodiversity and its evolution.”

Economic losses from hurricanes become too big to be offset by the US if warming continues

Peer-Reviewed Publication

POTSDAM INSTITUTE FOR CLIMATE IMPACT RESEARCH (PIK)

“Tropical cyclones draw their energy from ocean surface heat. Also, warmer air can hold more water which eventually can get released in heavy rains and flooding that often occur when a hurricane makes landfall,” says Robin Middelanis from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Potsdam University, lead author of the study. “It’s thus clear since long that hurricane damages will become bigger if we continue to heat up our Earth system.” While we might not have more hurricanes in the future, the strongest among them could get more devastating.

“Now, one of the important questions is: can we deal with that, economically? The answer is: not like this, we can’t,” says Middelanis. “Our calculations show, for the first time, that the US economy as one of the strongest on our planet, will eventually not be able to offset the losses in their supply chains on their own. Increasing hurricane damages will exceed the coping capacities of this economic super-power.

Local production losses propagate throughout supply chain networks

The scientists looked at the 2017 hurricane Harvey that hit Texas and Louisiana and already then cost the enormous sum of 125 billion US Dollars in direct damages alone, and computed what its impacts would be like under different levels of warming. Importantly, losses from local business interruption propagate through the national and global supply chain network, leading to additional indirect economic effects. In their simulations of over 7000 regional economic sectors with more than 1.8 million supply chain connections, the scientists find that the US national economy’s supply chains cannot compensate future local production losses from hurricanes if climate change continues.

“We investigated global warming levels of up to 5°C – which unfortunately might be reached by the end of our century if climate policy fails us,” says Anders Levermann, head of complexity science at PIK and scientist at New York’s Columbia University, a co-author of the study. “We do not want to quantify temperature thresholds for the limit of adaptation of the US economy’s national supply chains, since we feel there’s too much uncertainty involved. Yet we are certain that eventually the US economy’s supply chain capacities as they are now will not be enough if global warming continues. There is a limit of how much the US economy can take, we just don’t know exactly where it is.”

"Bad for people"

Ironically, in the case of hurricane Harvey it is in particular the oil and gas industry in Texas which suffers from the impacts of hurricanes driven by global warming – while global warming is in turn driven by the emissions from burning oil and gas, plus of course coal. The fossil fuel extraction sector is big in that region of the US, and it is vulnerable to cyclone damages. The computer simulations show that production losses in the fuel sector will be amongst those which will be most strongly compensated by countries like Canada and Norway, but also Venezuela and Indonesia, at the expense of the US economy.

“When things break and production fails locally, there’s always someone in the world who is happy to make money by selling the replacement goods,” says Levermann. “So why worry? Well, reduced production means increasing prices, and even if that means it’s good for some economies, it is generally bad for the consumers – the people. Also from a global economic perspective, shifts due to disrupted supply chains can mean that less efficient producers step in. It’s a pragmatic, straightforward conclusion that we need to avoid increasing greenhouse gas emissions which amplify this kind of disruptions.”

Article: Robin Middelanis, Sven N. Willner, Christian Otto, Anders Levermann (2022): Economic losses from hurricanes cannot be nationally offset under unabated warming. Environmental Research Letters [DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac90d8]