Natural, human impacts on animals seen in 2,000-year-old condor poop

Nathan Howes
Sun, October 1, 2023 

Natural, human impacts on animals seen in 2,000-year-old condor poop


The discovery of a 2,200-year-old Andean condor guano deposit may demonstrate how species have or haven't adapted to the natural and human causes of environmental change over the course of time.

That's according to John Smol, a biology professor at Queen’s University, who spoke to The Weather Network earlier this year about the finding that was detailed in a study published in May 2023.

SEE ALSO: Birders are flocking to catch a glimpse of a bird that is rarely seen in Canada

The examination documents the finding of a doughnut-shaped deposit of condor guano in Patagonia, Argentina. Researchers uncovered a millennia-scale record of the animal's behaviour and diet, also putting a spotlight on the region’s historical records of volcanic and human impacts on this particular at-risk species.

"When we finally did all the data, it [came] out at about 2,200 years of accumulation, which in itself was quite an important part of history," said Smol. “We really had an interesting history of a lot of things happening in Argentina.”

Condor nest with chick/Submitted
(Lorenzo Sympson/Submitted)

Dry climate and overhanging rock ledge helped preserve it

The condor nest site and guano deposit used in the study is situated within Nahuel Huapi National Park. The study notes that the dry climate and the overhanging rock ledge are what led to the preservation of the site and its guano deposit for at least 2,200 years.

"We often think about climate change and pollution, but there was the European expansion or conques and different volcanic eruptions. This is a very volcanic area. A lot of that history was actually contained in this guano deposit," said Smol.

Condor nest/Submitted
(Lorenzo Sympson/Submitted)

Andean condors will typically nest in areas that are protected from the elements and predators. These include under rock overhangs and shallow caves on cliff faces, the study noted.

Suitable nesting sites are finite, so condors will often reuse them from generation to generation, as long as local environmental conditions will aid breeding activity.
Diet full of contaminants, then changed from human impact

Researchers were able to determine that the well-conserved, ancient DNA, stable isotopes, metals, and organic compounds such as cholesterol also offered an account of condor diet exposure to contaminants during the 2,200-year history of the deposit.

One thing that might make a condor "especially susceptible" to lead pollution is they do eat animals that were killed by hunters, and often that includes the toxic-composed shot, Smol said.

Condor above horizon/Submitted
(Sergio Lambertucci/Submitted)

"When you're eating a dead organism that may have been left behind, they're probably ingesting the lead shot, as well, [which] may be increasing their lead," said Smol. "We had a history of diet, we had a history of occupation, and we had a history of pollution."

According to a news release, the data collected showed a distinct modification to the diet, attributable to landscape-scale human impact.

Following European colonization approximately 150 years ago, condors had to switch diets after humans had a noticeable impact on the landscape and food sources, resulting in a reliance on ranched livestock instead of native fauna.
Smol 'cautious' about how far back deposit can trace environmental changes

The study's author noted that understanding how animals respond to large-scale environmental changes is difficult to achieve because monitoring data are rarely available for more than the past few decades.

Lacking long-term data is "one of the biggest challenges we have" in ecology and environmental science, Smol said.

"We don't have the long-term data. No one was measuring condors 1,000 years ago. These are sort of indirect ways, but they provide a lot of clues as to what's happened in the past," said Smol.

Condor turning/Submitted
(Sergio Lambertucci/Submitted)

Smol cautioned about using a single deposit to determine how animals have adapted to environmental changes over hundreds or thousands of years.

“We don't want to extrapolate too much until we see maybe 10 deposits or at least five deposits. I'd be a little hesitant to go too far behind that," said Smol. “We provide hints of how they've changed over time.”

However, he noted that scientists can provide "an idea" of how long the Andean condor has been here.

"We can show that, in fact, they were here at least 2,200 years ago [and] then they declined for about 1,000. Those are important population trends for ecologists, ornithologists and ecosystem managers," said Smol. "We can show the past, which is what we try and gauge the future with."
WATCH: How the evolution of land plants helped to shape Earth

Click here to view the video

Thumbnail courtesy of Chris Grooms/Submitted.

Follow Nathan Howes on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter.

Small Nuclear Reactors: The Answer To Big Tech's Energy Crisis?


Editor OilPrice.com
Sun, October 1, 2023 


Microsoft could be the first of several companies to prepare to use small nuclear reactor (SMR) technology for its high energy consumption, as AI and other technologies become more widely used. There has been great enthusiasm around the potential of SMRs, which could be built faster and at a much lower cost than a traditional nuclear reactor. This month, Microsoft posted a job opportunity for a “Principal Program Manager Nuclear Technology,” suggesting its interest in using SMRs in the future, to support its energy-intensive operations. As companies begin to use a vast range of digital technologies in their day-to-day operations, their energy consumption could increase substantially, making the use of low-carbon nuclear power increasingly attractive.

SMRs are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 MW(e) per unit, equivalent to around one-third the generating capacity of a traditional nuclear reactor. SMRs are much smaller than traditional reactors and are modular, making it simpler for them to be assembled in factories and transported to site. Because of their smaller size, it is possible to install an SMR on sites that are not suitable for bigger reactors. They are also significantly cheaper and faster to build than conventional nuclear reactors and can be constructed incrementally to meet the growing energy demand of a site.

There are strong safety margins included in SMR production, meaning that the potential for the unsafe release of radioactivity to the environment is significantly reduced. These systems can be shut down automatically, without human assistance, in the case of a malfunction. At present, there are over 80 commercial SMR designs under development worldwide, aimed at responding to a range of needs. Although companies are still trepidatious about investing in SMRs as their economic competitiveness in use has yet to be proven. As energy companies begin to roll out SMRs within the next decade there will be a greater understanding of their applicability and the costs involved.

Despite still being in the development stage, Microsoft appears to be one of the first companies to demonstrate its interest in SMRs. As companies continue to digitalise operations and conduct high-energy operations, they will need an increasing amount of energy to power their activities. For example, AI researchers suggest that training a “single large language deep learning model” such as OpenAI’s GPT-4 creates around 300 tonnes of CO2. The average person is responsible for creating around 5 tonnes of CO2 a year, showing just how significant this is.

Microsoft now appears to be drawing up a roadmap for the use of SMR to power its computation needs. This month, the company posted a job description to hire a nuclear technology expert to lead the company’s technical assessment for integrating small modular nuclear reactors and microreactors “to power the datacentres that the Microsoft Cloud and AI reside on.” The post reads that Microsoft is seeking a “principal program manager for nuclear technology”, who “will be responsible for maturing and implementing a global Small Modular Reactor (SMR) and microreactor energy strategy.”

This is not the first time the tech giant has shown interest in nuclear power. In May, Microsoft signed a power purchase agreement with Helion, a nuclear fusion start-up, to purchase electricity from it starting in 2028. And Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder, is the chairman of the board of Terrapower, a company that is currently developing SMR technology. Although there has been no suggestion that Terrapower will provide Microsoft with any nuclear reactors.

Microsoft is showing an early interest in integrating nuclear power into operations. But, as more companies are using energy-intensive technologies, they will require vast amounts of energy to power their activities. Meanwhile, governments worldwide are putting increasing pressure on companies to decarbonise operations, with some introducing carbon taxes and others encouraging the use of clean energy sources through financial incentives. Renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, can take years to develop, and acquiring a stable clean energy source also means investment in battery technology. However, as the use of SMRs becomes more commonplace, their fast manufacturing time and small land footprint will likely appeal to companies looking for alternative clean energy sources.

Despite the optimism around SMR technology, a commercial rollout is likely still a long way off due to recent difficulties in acquiring the materials needed to develop these reactors. Many SMRs under production at present will run on uranium at enrichments as high as 15 to 19.75 percent, known as high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). However, this is currently only commercially available from Russia, with which many governments and private companies have cut ties following the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year. Chris Levesque, the CEO of TerraPower, explained “It has become clear that domestic and allied HALEU manufacturing options will not reach commercial capacity in time to meet the proposed 2028 in-service date for the Natrium demonstration plant.”

There has been a rise in the popularity of SMR technology, thanks to its small size and relatively low-cost and fast manufacturing potential. While the commercial rollout of SMRs is still far off, it could provide the vast amounts of low-carbon energy required to meet the world’s growing electricity needs. And tech companies, such as Microsoft, will likely be some of the first to invest in SMR technology as they look to meet their rising computation needs while striving to decarbonise operations.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

Germany Eyes Options to End Impasse With France on Nuclear Power

John Ainger
Mon, October 2, 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- Germany is set to outline its proposals to break a deadlock with France over the design of the European Union’s electricity market, the latest crunch point between the nations over the region’s climate transition.

The paper lays out three options for resolving how governments can support existing power plants, such as France’s aging nuclear generators, without unduly subsidizing operators, according to a draft seen by Bloomberg News.

The issue has resulted in a political stalemate between Paris and Berlin. France is pushing for rules that would allow it to ensure more stability for state-controlled Electricite de France SA and to tap new financing sources for extending the life of its reactors. Germany has been blocking the initiative over concerns that its own energy prices may be undercut if EDF can sell power at uneconomical costs.

The overhaul of the electricity market design is one of the last elements of the EU’s Green Deal still to be negotiated, and time is running out ahead of regional elections next year. Germany and France have sparred on other elements of the EU’s climate plans, like an effective ban on new combustion engine vehicles from 2035 and the role of nuclear power in the bloc’s energy mix.

Germany proposes ensuring that revenue from so-called contracts for difference, a key tool to spur investments in renewable energies, are proportionate to the amount invested, or that the guaranteed prices set under the mechanism can be adjusted. Another option would be to redistribute revenue only to households or to apply strict limits on the amount that can be redistributed.

The draft paper is still subject to change.

Germany is looking to bring other countries on board with its push, according to people familiar with the matter. It’s not clear if the document would mark a clear step forward in talks with France.

Spain, which holds the rotating Presidency of the bloc, submitted a new compromise proposal on Friday that also laid out options for a breakthrough at a meeting of energy ministers scheduled for Oct. 17. One of those possibilities involves completely removing the section that governs subsidies for lifetime extensions, according to the paper seen by Bloomberg News.

--With assistance from Ewa Krukowska.

Wind power project in New Jersey would be among farthest off East Coast, company says

WAYNE PARRY
Mon, October 2, 2023 



- Land-based wind turbines in Atlantic City, N.J., turn on July 20, 2023. Two major offshore wind power projects are taking steps forward in New Jersey as the owners of one project agreed to bring the federal government in on their environmental monitoring plans at an earlier stage than has ever been done, and federal regulators said plans for another project are not expected to kill or seriously injure marine life. They come as New Jersey continues to grow as a hub of opposition to offshore wind projects from residents' groups and their political allies, mostly Republicans 

(AP Photo/Wayne Parry, File)

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. (AP) — A proposed wind energy project off New Jersey would be among the farthest from land on the East Coast, the New York-based development company said Monday.

Attentive Energy released new information on the project, which will be 42 miles (67 kilometers) off Seaside Heights and provide enough energy to power 600,000 homes. State regulators did not identify the company when bids were received in August — one of four received as the state pushes to become the East Coast hub of the nascent offshore wind industry.

Wind power developers have struggled to make progress, however, due to supply chain issues, higher interest rates, and a failure so far to garner enough tax credits from the federal government.

Damian Bednarz, the company's managing director, told The Associated Press that it passed on bidding on undersea sites closer to the shore because it feels its site is situated to take advantage of the strongest winds.

“We believe it has the best positioning in terms of wind resources,” he said. “It's in a position geophysically to have the best opportunity to get the most wind.”

Bednarz also said the project's turbines — the exact number of which the company has not revealed — will not be visible from the shoreline, eliminating one potential source of opposition from homeowners and residents' groups who object to the likelihood of seeing the structures on the horizon from the beach.

One of the proposals made in August, from Chicago-based Invenergy and New York-based energyRE, would be built 40 miles (64 kilometers) off Long Beach Island called Leading Light Wind. It would consist of up to 100 turbines, enough to power 1 million homes.

Another, from Community Offshore Wind, would be based 37 miles (59 kilometers) off Long Beach Island, and generate enough electricity to power 500,000 homes. The project would be built by Essen, Germany-based RWE and New York-based National Grid.

The state has already approved three other offshore wind projects from previous solicitations in waters closer to shore, where the likelihood of seeing the turbines from shore has generated opposition. Orsted, the Danish wind energy company, would build its first project about 13 to 15 miles off the coast of Atlantic City and Ocean City.

Robin Shaffer, a spokesman for one of the main offshore wind opposition groups, Ocean City-based Protect Our Coast NJ, said it doesn't matter how near or far wind farms are from the coast.

“Offshore wind development makes no sense from either an environmental or economic standpoint,” he said. “As more people get to know about how much carbon goes into creating a wind turbine, as they learn about the harm that will come to their happy places down the shore, and as they come to terms with the fact their electricity rates will increase substantially, they are becoming more and more disenchanted with offshore wind as a cure for climate change.”

Opposing offshore wind has become a major talking point in Republican political campaigns as well. GOP Congressmen succeeded in getting the Government Accountability Office to open an inquiry into the industry in June.

Part of the Attentive Energy project involves constructing a facility to manufacture wind towers at the New Jersey Wind Port in Paulsboro, where the giant steel monopiles are currently being produced. The towers are steel components that are placed above the monopiles, Bednarz said. He did not estimate its cost.

Attentive Energy hopes to begin construction and operations in the early 2030s once the necessary approvals are obtained.

It is pursuing another offshore wind project in New York about 50 miles south of Jones Beach.

Attentive Energy is a collaboration between Houston-based Total Energies, and Corio Generation, with offices in Boston and London.

___

Follow Wayne Parry on X, formerly known as Twitter, at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC

Challenges Escalate For The Wind Energy Industry


Editor OilPrice.com
Sun, October 1, 2023 

Europe and the United States risk missing their ambitious wind power installation targets as soaring costs, supply chain delays, and low electricity prices at auctions hamper development and lead to a cancelation of offshore wind projects.

Government targets were very ambitious even before the perfect storm in the wind power industry this year. Now, those targets could be out of reach if policies and auction schemes don’t change, analysts and industry officials say.

The wind power industry is growing in both the U.S. and Europe, but it’s currently off track to meet the 2030 capacity targets, undermining the clean energy and emission-reduction goals.

The issues are most evident in the offshore wind industry, which saw several major setbacks this summer—auctions in the U.S. and the UK were a flop, Big Oil scooped all the acreage in a German tender, and a large UK project was canceled due to surging costs and challenging market conditions pressuring new developments. Meanwhile, developers in the U.S. are seeking looser requirements for tax credits to make projects economically feasible.

In the EU, the European Parliament has recently endorsed much higher binding renewable energy targets by 2030, raising the targeted share of renewable energy in the EU’s energy consumption to 42.5% by 2030, up from a current target of 32%. The wind industry alone needs to double the current capacity to meet these targets.

But the EU risks missing its wind power capacity installation targets and losing the supply chain to competition in traditionally low-cost Chinese manufacturing. Moreover, inflation, higher interest rates, and supply chain issues have made materials and products more expensive, raising the costs of already approved projects.

So the European Commission is set to propose in October a European Wind Power package to help get the bloc’s flailing wind industry back on the track of growth to help accelerate its decarbonization targets, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in the 2023 State of the Union Address. The Commission pledges to fast-track permitting even more, improve the auction systems across the EU, and focus on skills, access to finance, and stable supply chains.

In the U.S., the Inflation Reduction Act is spurring clean energy project development, but the wind industry is looking to the Biden Administration to ease the requirements for subsidy eligibility for offshore wind, alleging that the current rules under the IRA make many investments uneconomical.

Orsted, for example, warned in August that it could face up to $2.3 billion (16 billion Danish crowns) of impairments on its U.S. project portfolio due to supply chain delays, higher interest rates, and the possible inability to qualify for additional tax credits beyond 30%.

In a sign of the struggling offshore wind industry, the latest lease sale, the first-ever such sale in the Gulf of Mexico, was a flop last month, attracting just one bid—from Germany’s RWE. Out of three areas up for lease, two did not receive any bids.

RWE’s chief executive Markus Krebber wrote in a LinkedIn post last month that with the challenge in the offshore wind industry “Happening at a time when the entire offshore industry has to scale up to achieve expansion targets, this quickly calls into question the achievement of climate protection goals.”

“In a nutshell: we need a framework that allows for more investment certainty for both manufacturers and developers,” Krebber added.

Ben Backwell, CEO of the Global Wind Energy Council, also sees the current pace of global wind power development as insufficient to meet the 2030 targets.

“We certainly see a big gap between the renewables and wind targets for 2030 and the path we are on right now,” Backwell told Reuters this week.

“We are growing but nowhere near fast enough.”

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

EU countries consider scrapping part of energy reforms - document


Mon, October 2, 2023

FILE PHOTO: Electrical power pylons next to wind turbines near Weselitz, Germany


By Kate Abnett and Julia Payne

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union countries are considering scrapping a central part of reforms to Europe's electricity market, amid a deadlock between France and Germany over state aid for power plants, a document seen by Reuters showed.

The 27 EU countries are seeking a joint position on planned reforms to the EU's power market, but countries including Germany and France have been at odds for months over whether the rules could give some countries a competitive edge over others.

At issue is whether governments will be able to offer state-backed, fixed-price power contracts to existing power plants - then collect excess revenues generated by these contracts and spend it on subsidising industries.

France is keen to apply these subsidies to its nuclear power fleet, and the proposed rules have backing from central and eastern countries. But Germany and others are firmly against - warning this could give French industries an advantage over their own.

A draft compromise, seen by Reuters, asked countries to consider three options - including completely removing the rules on these subsidies from the reform.

The other two options in the document prepared by Spain, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, would limit how countries can use the revenues raised through the power price subsidies, and allow Brussels to step in and limit a country's use of these revenues if it was distorting the EU's single market.

It marks the first time countries have considered simply scrapping the rules, after struggling to find a compromise.

Failure to pass this part of the reform would not ban France and other countries from offering fixed-price power contracts to generators. But it could make them harder to use, and subject to winning approval from Brussels under EU state aid rules.

One senior EU diplomat said the two sides appeared "further apart than in June", referring to a meeting where EU countries' energy ministers failed to agree a compromise on the law.

The European Commission's original reform proposal, made in March, was designed to move power generators to more long-term, fixed-price contracts, so that consumers would be less exposed to short-term gas price spikes like those seen last year.

To achieve this, Brussels proposed that public support for new investments in renewable and nuclear plants must take the form of fixed-price state-backed power contracts. It is this section that countries may delete.

EU countries' ambassadors will discuss the proposal on Wednesday. They face an Oct. 17 deadline when energy ministers meet to try to strike a deal.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett and Julia Payne; Editing by Mark Potter)

Facing increasing pressure from customers, some miners are switching to renewable energy

Sun, October 1, 2023



SOROWAKO, Indonesia (AP) — Red hot sparks fly through the air as a worker in a heat-resistant suit pokes a long metal rod into a nickel smelter, coaxing the molten metal from a crucible at a processing facility on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

The smelter run by global mining firm Vale and powered by electricity from three dams churns out 75,000 tons of nickel a year for use in batteries, electric vehicles, appliances and many other products.

While the smelting creates heavy emissions of greenhouse gases, the power used is relatively clean. Such possible reductions in emissions come as demand for critical minerals like nickel and cobalt is surging as climate change hastens a transition to renewable energy.

Mining operations account for some 4%-7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to global consulting firm McKinsey & Company. But some miners are moving to reduce use of fossil fuels in extracting and refining, partly due to pressure from downstream customers that want more sustainable supply chains.

Located beside a crystal-blue lake in the lush jungle of Sorowako, South Sulawesi, Vale Indonesia — a subsidiary of Vale international — runs its smelters entirely from hydroelectricity. Vale says that can reduce its emissions by over 1.115 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, compared to using diesel. Vale claims it has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions nearly a fifth since 2017.

As demand for materials needed for batteries, solar panels and other components vital for cutting global emissions rises, carbon emissions by miners and refiners will likewise rise unless companies actively work to decarbonize.

Experts say improved technology, pressure from customers and enforcement of clean energy policies all are needed to keep moving toward more sustainable mining and refining practices while raising output to keep pace with global needs for pivoting away from reliance on polluting fossil fuels.

Other companies and countries around the world also are reducing use of fossil fuels in their mining operations. Solar plants in Chile help power the mining sector, which consumes much of the country’s electricity demand to produce copper, lithium and other materials. In recent years, wind power has helped electrify the Raglan Mine in Canada.

Companies are learning from past mistakes of the industrial revolution, where reliance on fossil fuels was paramount for development, said Michael Goodsite, a pro vice chancellor and professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Adelaide in Australia.

“I think as you see the future of certain operations, you’ll see them transitioning," he said. "The way that they transition and how they move from fossil fuel operations to other energy sources can and should be learned from by others.”

Indonesia is the world’s largest nickel producer and Indonesian President Joko Widodo has promoted the country developing its own industries.

The push to cut emissions and use cleaner energy has been helped by investment and interest from governments and multinational companies. Volvo, Mercedes, Hyundai, Apple and other manufacturers need materials made in a more sustainable way to meet their own environmental, social and governance, or ESG, commitments.

Widodo visited Vale Indonesia’s Sorowako facilities in March, the same month a deal was signed for a $4.5 billion nickel procession plant to be built by Vale Indonesia with investment by Ford Motor Co.

“Ford can help ensure that the nickel that we use in electric vehicle batteries is mined, produced within the same ESG standards as ... our business around the world,” Christopher Smith, Ford’s chief government affairs officer, said at a signing ceremony for a new $4.5 billion nickel processing plant in Indonesia with Vale Indonesia in March this year.

Even companies already taking steps to decarbonize are still reliant on at least some fossil fuels.

At Vale Indonesia in Sorowako, coal is still used to power drying and reduction kilns. The company's CEO, Febriany Eddy, said she plans to switch such operations to liquefied natural gas — cleaner but still another fossil fuel.

It's the best option available given current technology, she said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“I have two options in front of me: I continue to say that there is no viable option, that we will wait until that perfect solution is to come, which (could take) 15 or 20 years to come. Or I work with LNG first, knowing it is not a perfect solution, knowing it is a transition only," Eddy said. “But with conversion to LNG, I can reduce 40% of my emissions.”

The use as LNG as a “bridge fuel” has been contested by climate experts, as the fuel releases climate-warming methane and carbon dioxide when it’s produced, transported and burned.

Initial costs for switching to, expanding and building new renewable infrastructure are another steep barrier.

It took decades to recoup costs from building the three hydropower dams in the remote, sparsely populated area, that are used to power Vale's Sorowako facilities. But now, having that infrastructure means big savings at a time when global energy prices are high.

“Hydropower isn't just reducing our carbon emissions, but also reducing our costs today because we are no longer that (vulnerable) to fuel and coal costs— because we have hydropower,” Eddy said.

Having mining operations powered by renewable sources instead of fossil fuels could also help unlock green financing and attract future investors, said Aimee Boulanger, executive director of the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance.

“The finance and investment sector is more tuned in than it ever has before to the environmental and social responsibility of supply chains and their investments in them. And they’re looking at greenhouse gas emissions,” she said. “When the world is recovering from a global pandemic and facing the global crisis of climate change, there’s never been a time when they’ve been more interested in these issues."

While many companies are stepping up efforts to decarbonize their supply chains, others — such as many of those making green energy materials in China, have less stringent requirements for their materials.

“We can find jurisdictions around the world that — if they’re able to do things cheaply because they have access to fossil fuels and they already have the capital assets and the capital expenditures— they’re going to continue doing that,” Goodsite said when asked about Chinese businesses.

Ultimately, investors and consumers play a vital role in getting companies to clean up their operations, he said.

But phasing out the mining industry's reliance on fossil fuels will be costly, especially as the United States and other countries build up the capacity to bring production of critical materials onshore.

"If the end users care about them coming from ...a green energy based process... then we all need to be prepared to pay a significant premium for that,” Goodsite said.

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Victoria Milko And Dita Alangkara, The Associated Press

CRYPTOZOOLOGY

'Extinct' holly tree in Brazil rediscovered living in big city, say scientists

Rebecca Rommen
Sun, October 1, 2023



A type of holly tree in Brazil that was believed to be extinct was rediscovered after 186 years.

An organization called Re:wild said it was one of their "top 25 most wanted lost species."

The rediscovery is the ninth success of the top 25 most sought-after lost species.

A species of small holly tree known as "Ilex sapiiformis," or the Pernambuco holly, has reemerged in Brazil after nearly two centuries, a conservation organization reported.

The discovery, hailed as an "incredible find" by scientists, has sent shockwaves through the conservation community.

The tree, which was feared to have gone extinct, was recently found thriving in the city of Igarassu, in the Pernambuco state of northeastern Brazil.

"It was like finding a long-lost and long-awaited relative that you only know by old portraits," said Milton Groppo, a researcher at the University of São Paulo.

The identification of the Pernambuco holly was made possible by the expedition team, who recognized the tree by its distinctive tiny white flowers.

The breakthrough came after during a six-day expedition through the region led by Gustavo Martinelli, an ecologist with Navia Biodiversity, per Re:wild, an environmental conservation organization.

Four trees were found in an area that was once dense Atlantic tropical forest but is now mostly urban areas interspersed with sugarcane plantations.

By the 1980s, "less than 5% of the southeastern Atlantic Forest remained intact, and what remains is very fragmented," per Re:wild.

The species had been lost for 186 years.

Re:wild shared their excitement on Instagram, stating, "The Pernambuco Holly is one of our top 25 most wanted lost species."

The "Search for Lost Species" initiative, launched by Re:wild in 2017, brought together experts from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to compile a list of over 2,200 missing species spanning 160 countries.

These species, which had disappeared for at least a decade, represent a significant loss to biodiversity.

The Pernambuco holly's triumphant return marks the ninth rediscovery among the top 25 most sought-after lost species, breathing new life into conservationists' efforts.

Inside the battle to preserve the underwater ghosts of Ontario's Great Lakes


CBC
Mon, October 2, 2023 

Durrell Martin, seen here posing with a deadeye on a gunwale of the wreck of the George Marsh in Lake Ontario, is the president of Save Ontario Shipwrecks, a non-profit group dedicated to preserving the maritime history of the Great Lakes. (Submitted by Kayla Martin - image credit)

Archeologists, historians and divers are trying to digitally capture more than 1,000 shipwrecks at the bottom of the Great Lakes before they become unrecognizable after a combination of invasive mussels and climate change have accelerated their deterioration at an alarming rate.

The Great Lakes region is known among diving circles as one of the best places in the world to explore shipwrecks because the cold, fresh water offers ideal conditions for their preservation, even in shallow water.

Now, the deterioration of these underwater relics has not just been accelerated by more frequent and intense storms believed to be driven by climate change, but through the colonization of the lakes by invasive zebra and quagga mussels from Europe, likely introduced in the Great Lakes through ballast water of international cargo ships.

Since their arrival in the 1980s, the thumbnail-sized mollusks have transformed the Great Lakes — driving local mussels to the brink of extinction, turning once-murky turquoise waters crystal clear while at the same time blanketing almost everything — from piers to power plants — in a jagged carpet of densely packed shells.

Shipwrecks reduced to 'piles of lumber'

Durrell Martin has seen been witness to that change first hand. Over his 30-year diving career, Martin, also the president of the non-profit group Save Ontario Shipwrecks, said the invasive mussels have totally transformed the underwater world.

The wheel from the wreck of the Oliver Mowat can be seen here at the bottom of Lake Ontario encrusted with zebra mussels. The three-masted schooner sunk after a collision with a freighter in 1921, killing three of its five crew.

The wheel from the Oliver Mowat wreck can be seen here at the bottom of Lake Ontario and it's encrusted with zebra mussels. The three-masted schooner sunk after a collision with a freighter in 1921, killing three of its five crew. (Kayla Martin)

When he began, lights were needed to penetrate the murky darkness of the lakes. Back then, divers had to get close to see the wrecks, but when they did, they could still see dishes, preserves and even the original wood on 200-year-old ships lying on the bottom.

Today, the water is so clear that lights are often no longer needed, and while divers can now easily see the form of shipwrecks, they're encrusted in living layers of tens of thousands of invasive shellfish.

"Our dilemma is that, yes, the visibility is great for scuba divers, and we now can enjoy and see wrecks more, but they are disintegrating at a faster rate than we have ever seen previously."

Shipwrecks we thought would be here another 200 years from now and we could enjoy, we realized probably within the next 10 to 20 years, they'll all be gone. They'll be piles of lumber on the bottom. - Durrell Martin, president, Save Ontario Shipwrecks

Mussels affix themselves to surfaces using a bundle of threads called filaments. On wooden shipwrecks, they use these tendrils to burrow into the wood, giving them a firm hold, but weakening the wood's integrity. On steel and iron, the mussels produce an acid in their feces that corrodes metal.

The hull of a ship is designed to displace water. It is meant to withstand pressure from the bottom, not from the top. Over the years, the filaments and acid weaken the ship materials and the whole ship eventually collapses under the sheer weight of the mussels that are attached to them.

"We can't stop this," Martin said. "Shipwrecks we thought would be here another 200 years from now and we could enjoy, we realized probably within the next 10 to 20 years, they'll all be gone. They'll be piles of lumber on the bottom."

Lack of data on estimated 6,000 shipwrecks

The problem has been documented in a number of studies going back decades, but almost nothing has been done by governments on both sides of the border, according to Ken Meryman, a shipwreck hunter and diver from Duluth, Minn., who has been documenting Great Lakes naval relics for 50 years.

Canadian cave diver Jill Heinerth, seen here at the wreck of the Oliver Mowat in Lake Ontario, takes images of the mussel-encrusted bowsprit of the vessel, which sank in 1921.

Canadian cave diver Jill Heinerth, shown at the wreck of the Oliver Mowat in Lake Ontario, takes images of the mussel-encrusted bowsprit of the vessel. (Kayla Martin)

"They're collapsing," he said of the 1,400 known shipwrecks in the Great Lakes.

Meryman added that the wrecks are at risk from more than just invasive bivalves — studies suggest bacteria are also being supercharged by climate change.

"On steel wrecks, there's an iron-eating bacteria," Meryman said. "We have that in Lake Superior and on the steel wrecks. It has caused deterioration. I'm not sure what you do about that."

The trouble, according to Meryman, is a lack of data on the estimated 6,000 shipwrecks that are believed to be on the bottom of the Great Lakes. He said both Canadian and American antiquities authorities have yet to document exactly what's out there, its historical significance and the exact rate of decay.

"If you're going to manage shipwrecks, you would like to know, 'Where are the most historically significant features represented and how much of a risk there is to them deteriorating?'"

The quest to chart them all

It's why Meryman, a retired computer programmer, has devoted much of his golden years to documenting shipwrecks before they disappear using a 3D scanning technology called photogammetry, which uses a series of images to form a 3D digital model.

Durrell Martin's daughter, Kayla, is seen here exploring the paddle wheel on the wreck of the Comet, a passenger steamer that sank in 1861 after a collision with a schooner near Simcoe Island. The diving site is one of most prized in Lake Ontario.

Martin's daughter, Kayla, is seen here exploring the paddle wheel on the wreck of the Comet, a passenger steamer that sank in 1861 after a collision with a schooner near Simcoe Island. The diving site is one of most prized in Lake Ontario. (Durrell Martin)

Divers, historians and archeologists from across the continent have worked with Meryman over the years to help put those models on his 3Dshipwrecks website, where you can browse a catalogue of 160 shipwrecks online to explore wrecks, like the Katie Eccles, which sank in Lake Ontario in 1922, in minute detail.

"You can compare them, get a difference map, and you can tell if the side of the ship is bulging and starting to collapse, if the deck's collapsed; you can tell if somebody took an artifact," said Meryman.

"There's evidence, there's documentation on what's there. It's not the main purpose of the database, but it could be used for that."

He said the data can also be used to show authorities a wreck is worth saving, especially if it happens to be in a major shipping lane, such as the wreck of the Wilson Thomas near Duluth.

"The ships have been anchoring on it for years ... and they pound the piss out of it, but we can't go to the Corps of Engineers and say, 'Hey we want to we want a shipwreck buoy here,' unless we have hard proof that the thing has changed."

A diver takes a series images of a sunken vessel in an unknown lake using a technique called photogammetry, which uses many pictures taken at different angles to create an accurate 3-D model of shipwrecks.

A diver takes a series of images of a sunken vessel in an unknown lake using a technique called photogammetry, which uses many pictures taken at different angles to create an accurate 3D model of shipwrecks. (3Dshipwrecks.org)

Merymen said he plans to increase the number of 3D scans of Great Lakes shipwrecks available on his website to 200 "soon," and hopes to eventually chart the estimated 1,400 shipwrecks that sit at a survivable depth over the next 20 years.

The more we know about our underwater history, he argues, the more power the public has to know what should be saved — or whether it can be saved.

"The database will be valuable to a lot of people," he said, adding he hopes the data might even help researchers to one day find a way to keep invasive mussels off shipwrecks.

"They're colonizing the shipwreck because it's a substrate they can live on, but around them, it's not a substrate that they live on," he said. "I've kind of wondered about that. It might be very effective to use some kind of an abatement process."

Could the wolf return to Ireland's countryside?

Niall Glynn - BBC News NI
Sat, September 30, 2023

Could wolves return to Ireland's wilderness?

Could the howl of the wolf once again be heard in the Irish countryside?


The animals were hunted to extinction in Ireland in the late 18th Century, but there are increasing calls from ecologists to bring them back, potentially alongside another large predator, the lynx.

The benefits, they argue, range from controlling deer numbers and so protecting forests, to reducing road accidents.

One of the most prominent backers of the idea has been Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, although he says it could be decades away.

However, the idea of reintroducing large predators is, not surprisingly, unpopular with Ireland's farmers.

Sheep farmers in particular fear attacks on their flocks and the impact on rural communities.

If there's one key reason for the calls to bring back the predators it's the ever expanded deer population in Ireland.

Overgrazing by them has led to damage to forests as well as crops.

Earlier this year, the chair of the Wicklow Deer Management Partnership said there could be more than 100,000 of the animals in that county alone.

Last year, 55,000 deer were culled in Ireland.

Ecologist Padraic Fogarty says that Ireland had pressing targets to meet for climate and biodiversity.

"Among those is restoring elements of our natural ecosystem particularly forests, peatlands and so on," he says.

"You just can’t have natural ecosystems that work without big predators.

"So if we want to re-establish big areas of forest that’s not going to be possible if we’re going to have deer numbers that are totally out of control or we don’t have the balance in those forests so that they can re-generate and perpetuate themselves over the long-term."

Eurasian lynx have been reintroduced in many parts of Europe

Killian McLoughlin owns a wildlife park in County Donegal and is an advocate of reintroducing wolves to Ireland.

"It’s eco-system restoration, it’s not just opening a gate and letting the wolves out, it's restoring the eco-system to what it was," he says.

Mr McLoughlin adds that culling deer is not working.

"The first year that they culled deer in Ireland they killed 5,000 deer, last year they killed 50,000," he says.

"Every year, it’s cull, cull, cull and the numbers are still increasing."

He says by chasing their prey, wolves ensure they catch "the sick, the diseased, the old and the frail" and create a healthy deer population.

"The diseased ones that they’re taking out of the population are diseases that we really fear, like Lyme disease that affects thousands of people in Ireland," he says.

"They will also take out TB, which farmers dread.

"Crop framers have their crops destroyed by overpopulation of deer – the wolves will actually help the crop farmers, the tillage farmers."

Mr McLoughlin also cites a US study that suggested a 23% in reduction in road accidents involving deer in places with a wolf population.

"Wolves create a landscape of fear that keeps deer moving, it keeps deer away from the roads, it keeps deer up in the highlands where we want them, not down in our fields or in our gardens," he says.

The other large predator that could be introduced is the Eurasian lynx.

Dr Josh Twining is a population and restoration ecologist now based at Cornell University in New York State, who previously held a postdoctoral research position at Queen’s University Belfast.

He says the benefits of bringing back lynx would be wide-ranging.

"Ecologically, restoring a key apex predator has the potential to have cascading impacts on our ecosystem and their functioning," he says.

"It's likely to contribute to the control of overabundant and highly damaging deer populations that have lacked natural predators in Ireland for hundreds of years, and thus benefit the natural regeneration of forests."

A recent study suggested that there may not be enough current forest cover for the return of lynx in Ireland to be viable at this time.

However, Dr Twining says the recovery of lynx, and other large predators across Europe has "challenged and overturned longstanding edicts about the habitat and space requirements of these carnivores.

"Despite intensive farming and urban sprawl, all it took for these animals to recover in mainland Europe was for people to stop killing them."

He says the public would have nothing to fear from the prospect of lynx reintroductions.

"There is not a single record of a human attack, let alone mortality from a wild Eurasian lynx anywhere in the world," he says.

Ecological arguments in favour of predator reintroductions aren't enough to overcome the fears of Ireland's farmers.

John Joe Fitzgerald is a sheep farmer from County Kerry and member of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association.

"We have the domestic dogs in this country, they’re killing anything between 300 and 500, maybe 600 animals a year," he says.

"We can’t control the domestic dogs we have, how are we going to control a wild animal?

"I can’t see any way that they could reintroduce these animals, it wouldn’t be fair on the rural communities, it wouldn’t be fair on farmers and even small towns."

Mr Fitzgerald says across Europe where wolves have returned, thousands of sheep are being killed by them every year.

"Are we going to live in fear now that our animals are going to be slaughtered?" he says.

"The vast tracts of land are not in this country to reintroduce wolves, even if they’re going to be controlled.

"The only known predator to the wolf in Ireland is a gun.

"It’s not nice to reintroduce wolves and then we as farmers or rural communities have to start shooting them – it makes no sense."

Sheep farmers fear attacks on their flocks by the predators

Padraic Fogarty said an important part of any reintroduction projects would be to pay farmers and local communities.

"We’re not talking about compensation, because that kind of implies damage, but if we start talking about the rewards communities could get from having large predators in their areas then I think the attitude might be different and we might have a different conversation that wouldn't be so vexed," he says.

Josh Twining agrees with this approach.

"Mitigation programmes in countries where people share their landscapes with large carnivores vary substantially, but increasing in popularity is the use of conservation performance payments," he says.

"I think for lynx reintroduction to ever gain any real traction, it needs to be led in collaboration with those who would be most affected, the sheep farmers, the game keepers, the custodians of the land."

Killian McLaughlin says that there is a "need to start educating people first of all and educating them that they [wolves] don’t kill people and they actually benefit us as well".

He adds: "There’s lots of ways of protecting livestock and our neighbours on the continent have gotten very good at protecting them."

Padraic Fogarty says that technically, these reintroductions would be feasible and that the species themselves could survive and adapt - "but it’s living alongside humans that is the problem".

Mr McLoughlin says it wouldn't take many wolves to balance the ecosystem.

"Top predators never overpopulate because if they do their food source disappears and they disappear," he says.

"We could initially start off with one pack and study them, but we would need a bit of genetic diversity, so you would probably need several pairs."

He adds: "It would really be about giving them the basics that they need to survive and then just leaving them well enough alone and letting nature take its course, because nature survived without us for millions and millions of years."