As global warming continues to rise, desert lizards are experiencing an energy crisis. These reptiles rely on external temperatures to regulate their body functions, including how much energy they need and when they can forage for food. 



A recent study published in the journal Science&nbsp;reveals that climate change is severely disrupting this balance.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-warming-deserts-put-lizards-at-risk">Warming deserts put lizards at risk</h2>



Cold-blooded animals, like <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/world-lizard-day-2024-celebrating-our-scaly-companions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lizards</a>, rely on external temperatures to regulate their body heat. Their body temperature directly affects how much energy they need and when they can be active. 



In hot desert environments, food is already scarce, and extreme heat can make it too dangerous for lizards to go out and forage.



Climate change is making this problem worse. As temperatures rise, lizards need more energy just to survive because their metabolism speeds up. 



However, they also have less time to find food because the heat forces them to stay in shaded or underground areas for longer periods. This creates a difficult situation where their food needs increase, but the lizards' ability to meet those needs decreases, putting their survival at risk.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-energy-budget-squeeze">Energy budget squeeze</h2>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
“Cost-of-living is a concept humans are all too aware of, but the same concept applies to ectotherms - or cold-blooded animals - such as lizards," noted study lead author Dr. Kristoffer Wild from the <a href="https://www.unimelb.edu.au" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Melbourne</a>.



"We just need to switch the currency from money to energy and realize that for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sandy-soil-reptiles-face-extinction-threat-due-to-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lizards</a> these costs and their ability to meet them depend on temperature." 
</blockquote>



The researchers found that diurnal (day-active) lizards are especially vulnerable to rising global warming. These lizards depend on daylight hours to hunt for food and sustain their energy levels.



However, as temperatures increase, extreme heat makes it unsafe for the lizards to remain active for long periods. To avoid overheating, they are forced to retreat into shaded areas, burrows, or underground shelters.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-desert-lizards-struggle-to-meet-their-needs">Desert lizards struggle to meet their needs</h2>



The reduction in active hours significantly limits their ability to search for and consume food. Since desert lizards require a certain amount of energy to survive, the loss of foraging time creates a major challenge. 



They must find enough food in a shorter window while their energy demands continue to rise due to higher body temperatures.



As a result, diurnal lizards are struggling more than ever in desert environments that are becoming even hotter. With less time to find food and increasing energy needs, their survival is at risk. 



If temperatures continue to rise, these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/anoles-are-the-scuba-diving-champions-of-the-lizard-world/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lizards</a> may face population declines as they fail to meet their basic nutritional requirements.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-some-lizards-may-benefit-from-warming">Some lizards may benefit from warming</h2>



In contrast, nocturnal (night-active) lizards may actually benefit from warmer temperatures. Since they are active after sunset, higher nighttime temperatures could extend their hunting periods, giving them more opportunities to find food. 



This could help them compensate for the increased energy demands caused by climate change, putting them in a better position to adapt compared to their diurnal counterparts.



Dr. Wild likens this imbalance to a financial crisis. “It’s like diurnal lizards paying higher bills with fewer work hours, while nocturnal lizards can counter high bills by gaining extra work hours during the warmer nights.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-predicting-climate-impacts-on-desert-lizards">Predicting climate impacts on desert lizards</h2>



To measure these impacts, the researchers developed a model combining physics and biology.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
“We were able to reconstruct, within two or three degrees, what a field biologist observed in the middle of the Australian and African deserts more than 50 years ago. This gives us confidence to predict the direct effects of climate warming on these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-lizards-have-evolved-to-resist-deadly-snake-venom/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">animals</a> in the future,” explained co-author Professor Michael Kearney.
</blockquote>



The findings suggest that desert lizards in historically warmer regions will face greater challenges. Africa’s desert lizards, for instance, will need more food but have less time to find it compared to their Australian counterparts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-conservation-and-future-research">Conservation and future research</h2>



The researchers emphasize that conservation strategies must be customized based on each species' unique foraging habits. Climate change does not affect all animals in the same way - some species will struggle more than others.



This means that a one-size-fits-all approach to conservation is not effective. Instead, targeted efforts are needed to address the specific challenges faced by different lizard species.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
“If we can better understand the ecological processes underpinning these cost-of-living pressures, we can better anticipate the species most at risk and act accordingly,” said Professor Kearney.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-survival-of-desert-lizards-in-a-warming-climate">Survival of desert lizards in a warming climate </h2>
</blockquote>



However, rising temperatures are not the only threat. Other climate-related issues, such as food shortages and increasing water needs, add to the stress on desert reptiles. 



These challenges become even more severe in the warmer months - spring and summer - which are also the critical breeding seasons for many species.



If lizards cannot find enough food and water during this time, their ability to reproduce and maintain stable populations will be threatened. Addressing these combined pressures is essential for ensuring the survival of desert lizard species in a rapidly changing climate.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-research-directions">Future research directions</h2>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
“Our next steps will be to bring food and water resources into our calculations and translate the results into growth and reproduction, which will help us predict whether populations will survive further change under warming,” Dr. Wild said.
</blockquote>



The study highlights the urgent need to understand and address the effects of climate change on desert <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/snake-evolution-legless-lizards-into-slithering-snakes-100-million-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ecosystems</a>. As temperatures continue to rise, species that rely on delicate energy balances are at increasing risk. 



By predicting how different species will respond to these environmental shifts, scientists can develop better conservation strategies. This research is essential for protecting vulnerable desert lizard populations and ensuring their survival in a rapidly warming world.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq4372" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Science</a>.



-----



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Desert lizards struggle as global warming raises their energy needs

As global warming continues to rise, desert lizards are experiencing an energy crisis. These reptiles rely on external temperatures to regulate their body functions, including how much energy they need and when they can forage for food. A recent study published in the journal Science&nbsp;reveals that climate change is severely disrupting this balance. Warming deserts put lizards at risk Cold-blooded animals, like lizards, rely on external temperatures to regulate their body heat. Their body temperature directly affects how much energy they need and when they can be...

Despite previous reports that vertebrates are in a global state of decline, a new study from <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/">McGill University</a> has determined otherwise. The researchers found that some specific <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/human-development-has-the-biggest-impact-on-dwindling-koala-populations/">populations</a> really are in trouble, such as those in the Indo-Pacific region, but that vertebrates are actually stable overall. 

Mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, and fish are all animals within the subphylum Vertebrata. Based on historical monitoring data, experts have typically estimated that vertebrates have declined by an average of more than 50 percent over the last five decades. 

The McGill researchers determined that this average number is greatly impacted by a small portion of animal populations that have experienced extreme losses.

"Recent analyses have reported catastrophic global declines in vertebrate populations,"wrote the experts. "However, the distillation of many trends into a global mean index obscures the variation that can inform conservation measures and can be sensitive to analytical decisions. For example, previous analyses have estimated a mean vertebrate decline of more than 50% since 1970." 

"Here we show, however, that this estimate is driven by less than 3% of vertebrate populations; if these extremely declining populations are excluded, the global trend switches to an increase."

Study senior author Brian Leung explains that given the previous mathematical methods used to model vertebrate populations, an estimate could arise from two very different scenarios: widespread systematic declines or a few extreme declines. For the current investigation, the researchers took a different approach.

The team analyzed a dataset of over 14,000 vertebrate populations from around the globe collated in the Living Planet Database. The  researchers identified a very small percentage of vertebrate populations which have suffered extreme population losses, including reptiles in tropical areas of North, Central and South America, and birds in the Indo-Pacific region. 

When these extreme losses were accounted for, the remaining vertebrate populations as a whole were not generally increasing or decreasing.

"The variation in this global aggregate is also important. Some populations really are in trouble and regions such as the Indo-Pacific are showing widespread systematic declines. However, the image of a global 'biodiversity desert' is not supported by the evidence." said Leung. "This is good, as it would be very discouraging if all of our conservation efforts over the last five decades had little effect."

"We were surprised by how strong the effect of these extreme populations was in driving the previous estimate of average global decline," said study co-author Professor Anna Hargreaves. "Our results identify regions that need urgent action to ameliorate widespread biodiversity declines, but also reason to hope that our actions can make a difference."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/">Nature</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Vertebrate populations are not in a global state of decline

Despite previous reports that vertebrates are in a global state...

In a study of nearly 1,300 mammal and bird <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/new-species-of-infectious-rickettsia-bacteria-found-in-dogs/">species</a>, researchers at the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> have discovered that migratory animals "live fast and die young." The experts found that migrating animals generally develop faster, produce offspring earlier, and die younger compared to similar species that do not migrate. 

The study also revealed that migratory animals who walk and swim tend to grow larger than their non-migrating relatives, while those that fly are usually smaller.

"We think that walking and swimming migrants are generally larger because only large animals can store enough energy, and use it efficiently enough, to make long-distance land or sea migrations viable," explained study co-author Professor Dave Hodgson. "Among flying species, the opposite is true, as a large body mass makes flying more costly in terms of energy."

The research may help to solve the mystery of why many migratory animals are vanishing. With their fast lifestyle, these species may not have the capacity to adapt to environmental changes. For example, migratory species may not be able to advance the timing of their migrations or delay breeding to keep pace with a shifting climate.

"Many species migrate over long distances and this requires substantial amounts of energy," said study lead author Dr. Andrea Soriano-Redondo. "This energy cannot be used for other purposes such as self-maintenance or reproduction, so we would expect animals to adjust the amount of energy they use for these things."

"By prioritizing reproduction over survival, 'fast-living' species have the potential to increase numbers more rapidly - which may balance the long-term energy costs and short-term risks of migrating."

The researchers analyzed the "pace of life" for animals by focusing on seven factors, such as longevity and the age of female sexual maturity. According to the study authors, the findings will help predict the responses of bird and mammal species to environmental change, and partly explain the decline of many migratory animals.

"We have long thought that migration is a risky behavior," said study co-author Professor Stuart Bearhop. "Animals often take a chance when they migrate, hoping to find the right conditions in their destination."

"In the case of birds that migrate to the High Arctic, they arrive in spring and have a short window in which to breed. Some will only attempt this if conditions are right - and if climate change degrades habitats, these 'fast-living' species might miss their chance entirely."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms">Nature Communications</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Migratory animals live faster and die younger than their relatives

In a study of nearly 1,300 mammal and bird species,...

In a new study from the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois</a>, experts report that many <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/tropical-songbirds-reproduce-less-during-severe-droughts/">songbirds</a> push their offspring to leave the nest before they are ready. The researchers observed early fledging in 12 of 18 species studied in various habitats throughout the United States, and the findings suggest that this behavior is a commonly used evolutionary strategy among songbirds. 

"Individual chicks may be less likely to survive, but by manipulating them out of the nest early, parents benefit through a 14% increase in their likelihood of raising at least one offspring to independence," said study lead author Todd Jones, a doctoral student in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES).

"The parents are distributing the risk," explained study senior author Professor Mike Ward. "The longer chicks stay in the nest, the greater the chance the whole brood will be lost to predators like snakes or raccoons. But we see parents physically separating chicks in space outside the nest, and that way, the probability of them all dying is almost zero."

The research provides new insight into parent-offspring conflict, an evolutionary concept that describes the tradeoffs that are inherent aspects of parental care. By providing offspring with abundant resources, the parents may suffer a higher risk of starvation and disease and a lower chance of future reproductive success.

On the other hand, depriving the offspring of sufficient care decreases their chances of surviving long enough to pass along their parents' genes - which is the ultimate goal from an evolutionary point of view.

"For all organisms with parental care, there will always come a point where they're in conflict. In this case, it was a little surprising parents were putting chicks out in a dangerous situation that's good for the parent, but not good for the offspring," said Professor Ward. "But it makes sense from an evolutionary perspective, for the parents."

Jones explained that the surviving offspring will eventually benefit from leaving the nest early too, because they inherit the same strategy in their DNA.

"While the offspring are suffering a cost in the immediate term, down the road when they're breeding and they do the same thing to their kids, it's also benefiting them. This behavior is being passed down from generation to generation," said Jones.

Previous research has been primarily focused on what happens in the nest or immediately afterward, but the goal of the new study was to understand more about the juvenile transition. The investigation is the first to compare survival rates before and after fledging across various species and locations.

"This has been really understudied, so any information we get on their survival or life histories during this period is really important, especially given anthropogenic landscape changes, global climate change, or what have you. Having that baseline information will allow us to detect shifts or changes in the future," said Jones.

"Some of these species are declining pretty dramatically throughout the Midwest. They're probably right on the razor's edge," added Professor Ward. "So if predation goes up for some reason, it could really have big implications for that cohort throughout the years."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Songbirds abandon offspring early, but it's for their own good

In a new study from the University of Illinois, experts...

Sinking fish carcasses carry toxic mercury pollution from the surface waters to the most remote parts of the ocean, including the 36,000-foot-deep Mariana Trench, according to a study led by the <a href="https://umich.edu/">University of Michigan</a>. The scientists report that most of this mercury originates in atmospheric emissions from coal-fired power plants, mining operations, and other human activities.

"Mercury that we believe had once been in the stratosphere is now in the deepest trench on Earth," said U-M environmental geochemist and study lead author Professor Joel Blum. 

"It was widely thought that anthropogenic mercury was mainly restricted to the upper 1,000 meters of the oceans, but we found that while some of the mercury in these deep-sea trenches has a natural origin, it is likely that most of it comes from human activity."

A team of Chinese researchers recently concluded that mercury reaches the deep-sea trenches by hitching a ride on microscopic particles of sinking organic matter, such as fecal material and dead plankton. However, Professor Blum's team suggests that the mercury is delivered by sinking carrion of fish that feed near the surface of the ocean.

Scientists and policymakers seek to understand how changing global mercury emissions will affect mercury levels contained in seafood. While mercury is a naturally occurring element, more than 2,000 metric tons are emitted into the atmosphere each year as a result of human activities. Mercury emissions have recently declined in North America and Europe, but continue to increase in China and India.

"Yes, we eat fish caught in shallower waters, not from deep-sea trenches," said Professor Blum. "However, we need to understand the cycling of mercury through the entire ocean to be able to model future changes in the near-surface ocean."

When mercury reaches the ocean or land, some of it is converted into methylmercury - a highly toxic version that can accumulate in fish that are consumed by humans. This hazardous substance is known to cause damage to the central nervous system, the heart, and the immune system. The developing brains of fetuses and young children are particularly vulnerable to methylmercury.

The researchers analyzed the isotopic composition of methylmercury in fish and crustaceans collected at the bottom of two deep-sea trenches in the Pacific Ocean. The tissues of snailfish and crustaceans called amphipods were collected at depths of up to 33,630 feet in the Mariana Trench in the northwest Pacific, southwest of Guam. Additional samples were collected at depths of up to 32,800 feet in the Kermadec Trench in the southwest Pacific, northeast of New Zealand.

"These samples were challenging to acquire, given the trenches' great depths and high pressures," said study co-author Jeffrey Drazen, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii. "The trenches are some of the least studied ecosystems on Earth, and the Mariana snailfish was only just discovered in 2014."

The experts determined that the mercury from deep-sea-trench amphipods and snailfish had a chemical signature that matched the mercury from a wide range of fish species in the central Pacific. These fish feed at depths of around 1,640 feet, and were analyzed by Professor Blum and his colleagues during previous research.

The Michigan team also ruled out the possibility that the mercury was sinking in particles of detritus, which was proposed by the Chinese team, based on the chemical signature of the mercury in the trench organisms.

The study showed that most of the mercury in the deep trench samples had been transported in the carcasses of fish that feed in near-surface waters, where most of the mercury comes from human activities.

"We studied the trench biota because they live in the deepest and most remote place on Earth, and we expected the mercury there to be almost exclusively of geologic origin--that is, from deep-sea volcanic sources," said Professor Blum. "Our most surprising finding was that we found mercury in organisms from deep-sea trenches that shows evidence for originating in the sunlit surface zone of the ocean."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Mercury is carried in fish carcasses to the deepest parts of the ocean

Sinking fish carcasses carry toxic mercury pollution from the surface...

Dog ticks that transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) are more than twice as likely to bite humans instead of dogs when temperatures rise. The research, which was presented at the <a href="https://www.astmh.org/annual-meeting">Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene</a> (ASTMH), provides new evidence that global warming elevates the risk of deadly <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/slow-living-animals-could-be-the-source-of-more-diseases/">disease</a> transmission among humans. 

"Our work indicates that when the weather gets hot, we should be much more vigilant for infections of RMSF in humans," said study lead author Dr. Laura Backus of UC Davis. "We found that when temperatures rose from about 74 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, brown dog ticks that carry the disease were 2.5 times more likely to prefer humans over dogs."

Spotted fevers have become increasingly prevalent over the last two decades. While RMSF is treatable if it is detected in the first week of infection, the fatality rate for prolonged infections can reach higher than 20 percent.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever can cause many serious complications, including damaged blood vessels, kidney failure, and inflammation of the heart, lungs, or brain. In the last ten years, deadly RMSF outbreaks have emerged among indigenous communities in Arizona and northern Mexico.

Dr. Backus said there have been indications from earlier work that brown dog ticks, which are found throughout the continental United States, may be more aggressive toward humans in hot weather. This is even more concerning given that climate change is greatly expanding areas of the country that experience multiple days of temperatures that exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The UC Davis team set out to investigate how rising temperatures may elevate the risk of RMSF infections. They designed an experiment to observe whether brown dog ticks preferred humans or dogs when they were exposed to a temperature of 74 degrees Fahrenheit and also at 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

One type of brown dog tick, known as the tropical lineage tick, made an obvious shift in sniffing out humans over dogs in the hotter conditions. These ticks are currently found in southern regions of the United States, such as Arizona, Florida, southern California, and southern Georgia. According to Dr. Backus, the range of the tropical lineage tick is expected to expand north as temperatures rise.

Temperate brown dog ticks, which also carry RMSF, were found to slightly shift their attention toward humans in warmer weather. Instead of showing a preference for dogs, as they normally would, the temperate ticks appeared to become neutral about which host they would choose when they were influenced by heat. These ticks are distributed across all of the lower 48 states. 

"We believe that this decreased preference for dogs - combined with a slight increase in preference for humans - suggests that hot temperatures may also elevate risks of RMSF in areas where the temperate ticks are more common," said Dr. Backus.

She noted that it is important to identify conditions that can increase infection risks, especially considering that symptoms in the treatable early phase of RMSF can be easily mistaken for a number of more common ailments such as headache, fever, and muscle aches.

"The findings from the use of this simple but effective laboratory experiment to gauge how rising temperatures might lead to more human infections with a very dangerous tick-borne pathogen adds to the growing evidence of the increasing connection between climate change and its impact on health," said ASTMH President Dr. Joel Breman. 

"Climate change is moving so quickly that it is critical to keep pace with the many ways it may alter and intensify the risk of a wide range of infectious diseases so we are better prepared to diagnose, treat and prevent them."

The research was presented at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 68th Annual Meeting.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Dog ticks prefer human hosts in hotter weather conditions

Dog ticks that transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) are...

Experts at the <a href="https://www5.usp.br/">University of São Paulo</a> (USP) in Brazil conducted two studies to investigate mammal extinctions, or mammal defaunation, throughout the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/centuries-of-human-activities-have-taken-a-toll-on-neotropical-mammals/">Neotropics</a>. The first analysis reveals that more than 40 percent of the region's ecosystem services have been lost, while the second paper finds that 56 percent of all medium- to large-bodied mammal species have vanished.

The team also discovered that the surviving mammals are the smallest. According to study lead author Juliano André Bogoni, the researchers were surprised by the findings. 

“We knew that while mammal species are declining very rapidly in the Neotropics, there are still ‘backups’: for every species that disappears, another survives to perform the same service,” said Bogoni.

“But this isn’t the case for all species. There are families like Cricetidae (rodents such as rats, mice, voles, etc.) in which there may be 30 species in a genus and as many as 100 species in ‘sibling groups' which are closely related in evolutionary and morphological terms. In other words, there are many overlapping species among small mammals and flyers (bats). If we had confined our analysis to medium- and large-bodied mammals, the loss of ecosystem services would have been far greater.”

There is usually not the same time type of overlapping among apex predators. "Only one backup exists in many places. Jaguar and puma, for example. When one is lost, only the other remains, if they coexist in the same place, which they often don’t, so loss of the species means loss of the services,” said Bogoni.

The ecosystem services provided by mammals were divided into four groups: provision, including dietary protein for local populations, seed dispersal, forest regeneration, and genetic resources; regulation, such as climate regulation, disease and pest control, biological control, disaster recovery, and pollination; cultural services, including ecotourism, ethnocultural identity, aesthetics, and education; and support, such as soil formation, nutrient cycling, oxygen production, and primary productivity.

Under various mammal defaunation scenarios, the main ecosystem services affected were ecotourism, soil formation, disease control, and protein acquisition by traditional people. The service losses ranged from 38.9 to 53.0 percent compared to the baseline. Bogoni pointed out that some ecosystem services can decline very quickly. 

“People mostly identify with apex predators or animals with charismatic ecomorphological traits. Rats are unlikely to symbolize ethnocultural identity, whereas jaguars have gripped people’s imagination since pre-Columbian times. Another example of severe decline in services is the provision of animal protein for traditional communities in the form of subsistence hunting. This is a service without much backup and one of those that have declined most. The less backup, the greater the possibility of decline and even complete disappearance.”

To examine the true extent of mammal defaunation, the researchers used a mathematical approach called confusion matrix to handle false negatives, or situations when animals were presumed to be present but were not in the modern database. 

“Applying this matrix to ‘correct’ for possible false negatives, our results showed mean adjusted defaunation of 56.5%,” said Bogoni. “The most severe defaunation rates were in Central America, the Caatinga biome in Northeast Brazil, and the northern portion of South America.”

"Assemblages have been downsized. A breakdown of the data by assemblage should show animals weighing 14 kilograms in 95% of cases according to the historical average, but now they weigh only 4 kg. In other words, only the smaller animals have survived. Defaunation is not only pervasive but also mainly concerns large-bodied animals, probably owing above all to loss of habitat accentuated by hunting.”

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/ecosystem-services">Ecosystem Services</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Mammal defaunation is wiping out valuable ecosystem services

Experts at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil...

As global warming continues at an uncertain pace, scientists have been investigating the capacity for animals all over the world to adapt to heat stress. There is concern regarding <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/tropical-lizards-are-surprisingly-adaptable-to-climate-extremes/">tropical</a> species, in particular, because they are used to living in a relatively stable thermal environment.

But now, in the first study of its kind, researchers at the <a href="https://illinois.edu/">University of Illinois</a> report that birds in both temperate and tropical regions have a much higher tolerance for acute heat stress than what was previously realized.

"In terms of their thermal physiology, a lot of these birds, including tropical species, can tolerate temperatures that are a lot higher than what they experience in their daily lives," said study first author Henry Pollock.  

"That was surprising because tropical ectotherms, such as insects, have been shown to be extremely vulnerable to climate warming. We're just not seeing the same things in birds. It is somewhat encouraging."

While the research indicates that tropical birds can adapt and survive in a warmer world, it is too soon to tell how these species will respond to a rapidly changing environment. 

"It's not necessarily comforting news. If someone walked away from this thinking tropical birds are going to do fine because they're not going to overheat, that would be a simplistic bottom line to take away from this paper," said study co-author Professor Jeff Brawn. 

"Warming is likely to affect tropical birds indirectly, by impacting their resources, the structure of tropical forests. So they may not be flying around panting, suffering from heat exhaustion, but there may be more indirect effects."

The research was focused on 81 bird species from Panama and South Carolina who were exposed to rising temperatures in field labs. The team used tiny sensors to detect the internal body temperatures and the metabolic rates of the birds.

While the temperate birds from South Carolina were found to have a higher average heat tolerance, tropical birds from Panama handled the heat much better than expected. 

Among all of the species, doves and pigeons had the greatest resistance to heat stress by taking advantage of their unique ability to sweat. According to Pollock, these birds actually exceeded the limits of the testing equipment.

"This is the first geographic comparison ever for birds. We need more data from more sites and studies of chronic heat stress over longer periods of time. But I think at the very least, what we can say is that they're able to tolerate higher temperatures than I think anybody expected," said Pollock.

"We're just starting to scratch the surface of what we need to do to really understand how climate change is going to affect birds," concluded Professor Brawn. "But this is an important first step."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652435">Functional Ecology</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Tropical birds handle heat stress much better than expected

As global warming continues at an uncertain pace, scientists have...

A team of researchers at the <a href="https://www.elte.hu/en/">Eötvös Loránd University</a> (ELTE) has demonstrated that dogs are sensitive to the preferences of humans, but usually follow their own desires. The study was designed to investigate whether dog behavior is influenced or guided by human preferences.

The experts report that while fetching behavior remained unaffected by what humans wanted most, dogs still took the preferences of their owners into serious consideration. When a person expressed excitement over an object, the dogs were found to focus their gaze on it.

Even though the dogs still chose their own preferred objects when they had the option to fetch, they seemed to clearly perceive the preferences of their owners. It has been challenging for experts to determine whether dogs are actually aware of the human emotions that they are known to pick up on so well.   

"There is no shortage of attempts to unveil the putative mind-reading abilities of dogs, but no single study has been convincing enough on its own, so over the years we have broken down the big question into smaller, more tangible goals," said study co-author Dr. Ádám Miklósi.

One of the main goals has been to investigate how dogs respond to expressions signaling the preferences of humans. 

"We knew that dogs respond to humans signaling their preference, but in previous studies, the dogs' own priorities were not accounted for. In particular, we did not know how conflicting preferences between the dogs and the owner influence the behavior of dogs," said study lead author Eniko Kubinyi. "18-month-old children recognize that their own preference might differ from that of others and they understand how desire can be inferred from emotional expressions, but 14-month-olds do not. We wanted to test where dogs are on this scale."

Kubinyi explained that fetching was clearly not a good choice to measure dogs' sensitivity to the preferences of others - for several reasons. 

"Since their own favorite object was in reach, the dogs had little incentive to factor in the owner's choice in their responses. We assumed that if the same objects were out of reach, they would stimulate what appears to be 'showing' behavior in the dogs and they would direct more attention towards their owners' pick, thereby also weakening the affordance provided by their preferred object." 

To test out their theory, the researchers placed toys and bracelets up on a windowsill where the dogs could not reach them. A group of 51 dogs witnessed their owner displaying happy expressions toward either the toy or the bracelet, and disgusted faces at the other. The researchers measured how long the animals would gaze at their human's preferred object.

"In this case, the dogs looked at the favored toy when their owner had previously responded to it with a happy face. In the other group they looked the same amount of time at the bracelet and the toy," explained study co-author Ivaylo Iotchev. 

The findings confirm that the owner's preference affected the dog's behavior. Kubinyi said that it is not clear whether this influence is the result of inferred and shared representations.

"We have not found conclusive evidence that dogs, similarly to one and a half.year-old toddlers, understand the subjectivity of the desire, i.e., that different people can have different attitudes toward the same object," explained Kubinyi.

"If they indeed infer the owner's preference, they might not understand fetching as an act of offering an object to a human, or response inhibition, an important aspect of cognitive control, was not sufficiently strong to overwrite the animals' own preference." 

"What is certain, is that this study is the first to show that dogs are sensitive to their owners' choice even though they prefer to fetch their favorite toy when it is in reach."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://reports.frontiersin.org/reports/frontiers-in-psychology-report.html">Frontiers in Psychology</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Dogs take their owners' preferences into consideration

A team of researchers at the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)...

Researchers at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Exeter">University of Exeter</a> have investigated the dynamics of fighting among animals. The team identified various factors that groups of animals take into consideration before they decide if they are ready and willing to take on their rivals. 

When individuals get into one-on-one fights, they look at certain aspects such as the size and strength of their opponent, as well as the outcome of recent fights. At the same time,  the animals weigh the value of the potential reward against the risk that is involved.

According to the study authors, previous research has largely overlooked the complexity of group conflicts. It has been widely accepted that larger groups will win a battle, but this is not always the case.

The researchers explained that factors like the strength of individual members, group cohesion and teamwork, and the location of the conflict are factors that animals use to evaluate the situation. 

"Any potential fight - whether between humans or animals - gets more complex if there are multiple individuals on each side," said study lead author Dr.  Patrick Green. "Groups may assess both the importance of whatever they're fighting about, and a range of factors about their own group and the opponent."

"Research on dyadic (one-on-one) fights has developed an advanced framework on 'assessment' - how animals gather information and decide whether to fight, how much effort to put in, and if and when to give up."

"However, studies on group contests among social-living animals haven't generally focused on assessment. Understanding more about this can teach us not only about evolution, but also about conflict in humans."

While the larger of two social groups is often dominant in a battle, the study highlights other influential factors as well. For example, smaller groups of grey wolves that have more males can overcome larger groups. 

Motivation also plays a role. Meekrats can win fights with fewer grown individuals simply because they are so motivated to gain a better territory for raising pups.

Turtle ants, which have multiple nests, have been observed defending nests that have narrower entrances, suggesting they are willing to fight when the odds of winning are greater. 

Studies of chimpanzees show that in times when there is more conflict with other social groups, the males within a group become less aggressive toward each other. This indicates that social cohesion is useful at times when fights are likely to break out.

"Researchers have spent years wondering about the extent to which individual fighting animals use 'assessment' - effectively, sizing their opponent up," said study co-author Professor Mark Briffa. "In this paper, we explore the scope for groups of rivals to do a similar thing." 

"This could be a possibility in many examples across the animal kingdom where individuals work collectively, such as battles between rival groups of ants or even warfare between rival groups in humans."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/home">Trends in Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Animals consider a range of factors before fighting

Researchers at the University of Exeter have investigated the dynamics...

Millions of birds set out on a migratory journey each year in the fall, and many birds molt their feathers before they head out. A team of scientists at <a href="https://www.mtu.edu/">Michigan Technological University</a> (MTU) has investigated the connection between feather color changes and migrations.

Molt is important for replacing worn feathers to prepare for flight, and also serves as the catalyst for feather changes that could ultimately determine whether birds find mates and reproduce.

Study co-author Jared Wolfe is an assistant professor in MTU's College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science and is one of the founders of the Biodiversity Initiative.

"We're really blessed here, as nature lovers and birdwatchers, that we have lots of species of warblers here, which come in blues, greens, red and yellows," said Professor Wolfe. "These brightly colored birds migrate and nest here and then leave for the winter. Everyone is so focused on the coloration, but the mechanism of the change of coloration is the process of molt, of replacing feathers."

The researchers analyzed birds species to compare the distances they travel to the extent of molt. 

"Birds that go farther distances replace more feathers," said Professor Wolfe. "Sun is the primary reason feathers degrade, and harsh environments. In northerly latitudes in the summer, it's sunny all day. As the birds move south, tracking the sun, they are maximally exposing themselves to sun all year."

Birds need bright, beautiful feathers to attract others. Plumage reveals the health and age of birds to their potential mates.

"Bright plumages are signals of habitat quality in the tropics," said Professor Wolfe. "Acquiring mates is based on a signal of habitat quality from the wintering grounds. Undergoing a second molt on the wintering grounds before migrating north allows the birds to become colorful. Color is a signal to potential mates in places like the Midwest what jungle wintering habitats are like."

What the birds experience during the winter months has an influence on how colorful they become, which ultimately affects how successful they are at breeding.

Growing bright feathers is energetically costly, and a bird that has a better quality wintering habitat with an abundance of food and shelter will be able to produce brilliant plumage. Just like humans seeking out houses to live in, birds seek out the best possible habitats.

"The best habitats offer resource stability over time, versus poorer quality habitats which are variable month-to-month, year-to-year."

The researchers found that adjusting the time it takes Amazonian birds to complete their annual molt affects how they forage. For example, the white-plumed antbird in Brazil eats insects that are trying to outrun army ants. "Its molt is crazy slow; it takes an entire year," said Professor Wolfe. He noted that the bird essentially lives in a constant state of molt, dropping one feather at a time.

The antbirds have huge home ranges that overlap with multiple army ant colonies. They spend a lot of time flying around the jungle in search of the ants. When they molt wing feathers, it creates gaps in their wings and compromises their ability to fly, which is why they have a very slow molt. 

"A single feather at a time to minimize gaps thereby improving their ability to fly and maintain large home ranges," said Professor Wolfe. "This unique adaptation has made the white-plumed antbird the slowest-molting songbird on Earth."

The study showed that not all birds return to the same molting grounds every year. This contradicts the assumption that birds benefit from completing their annual molt in a familiar location. Professor Wolfe said that it appears there isn't much of a relationship between molting activity and what he calls "site fidelity."

"Until our research, it had remained a mystery whether or not migratory songbirds return to the same site to molt," said Professor Wolfe. "This is an important question because there is growing evidence that mortalities accrued after the breeding season - during molt, migration and overwintering periods - is responsible for the continued loss of migratory songbirds. In fact, bird abundance has decreased by 29% since 1970. Understanding where and why birds molt is an important step towards protecting vulnerable populations of songbirds."

The experts analyzed 31 years of bird banding data from northern California and southern Oregon to measure the site fidelity of 16 species of songbird during molt. While the researchers did find that breeding activity strongly correlated with site fidelity, molt did not appear to influence a bird's decision to return to a particular place or not. 

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/auk">The Auk: Ornithological Advances</a>.

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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Scientists explore why and where birds molt their feathers

Millions of birds set out on a migratory journey each...

The compounding effects of climate change and human development have spoiled the natural habitats of most mammals, <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/migratory-birds-rely-on-spring-greening-which-is-now-changing-with-the-climate/">birds</a>, and amphibians by an average of 18 percent. A new study from the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/">University of Cambridge</a> suggests that the geographical ranges of animals will continue to shrink worldwide, and that nearly a quarter of these ecosystems will be lost by the end of the century. 

The researchers analyzed changes in the geographical ranges of nearly 17,000 species over more than three centuries. The team used this data to predict future changes under 16 different scenarios.

A diverse range of species is needed to perform critical ecosystem functions from pest regulation to carbon storage. The vulnerability of any given species to extinction is strongly impacted by the size of its geographical range. In order to develop effective conservation strategies, experts need to understand how ranges have changed in the past and how they will change in the future.

"The habitat size of almost all known birds, mammals, and amphibians is shrinking, primarily because of land conversion by humans as we continue to expand our agricultural and urban areas," said study first author Dr. Robert Beyer.

The impacts are disproportionately distributed, with some species more severely affected than others. For example, an alarming 16 percent of species have lost over half of their estimated historical range, and this number of species could grow to 26 percent in the coming decades. 

More recently, the most significant losses of geographical ranges were found in tropical areas. Up until about 50 years ago, most agricultural development was in Europe and North America. Since then, large areas of land have been converted for agriculture in the tropics.

"The tropics are biodiversity hotspots with lots of small-range species. If one hectare of tropical forest is converted to agricultural land, a lot more species lose larger proportions of their home than in places like Europe," said Dr. Beyer.

"Species in the Amazon have adapted to living in a tropical rainforest. If climate change causes this ecosystem to change, many of those species won't be able to survive - or they will at least be pushed into smaller areas of remaining rainforest. We found that the higher the carbon emissions, the worse it gets for most species in terms of habitat loss."

The clearing of land for agricultural and urban development and climate change are the main drivers of the decline in geographical range sizes, and two of the biggest threats to global terrestrial biodiversity.

Study lead author Andrea Manica is a professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge.

"Whether these past trends in habitat range losses will reverse, continue, or accelerate will depend on future global carbon emissions and societal choices in the coming years and decades," said study lead author Professor Andrea Manica.

"While our study quantifies the drastic consequences for species' ranges if global land use and climate change are left unchecked, they also demonstrate the tremendous potential of timely and concerted policy action for halting - and indeed partially reversing - previous trends in global range contractions. It all depends on what we do next."

The study is the published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms">Nature Communications</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The geographical ranges of most animals are shrinking worldwide

The compounding effects of climate change and human development have...

Global warming could have dire consequences for <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/new-species-of-pterosaur-had-a-long-skinny-beak-for-hunting/">species</a> that depend on a stable food supply at specific times of the year. If warming takes place too quickly, these species may not have enough time to adapt. This could be precisely the case for great tits as the larvae they depend on for survival are hatching earlier, according to a new study. 

"If the changes happen too fast, species can become extinct," said study first author Emily Simmonds, an associate professor in the Department of Biology at <a href="https://www.ntnu.edu/">Norwegian University of Science and Technology</a> (NTNU).

The researchers investigated how great tits may be affected if the availability of larvae changes in the spring. These birds depend on an abundant supply of larvae to feed their young. If this supply peaks earlier in the spring than usual, there may be a lack of food for the hatchlings.

Spring is arriving earlier and winters are becoming warmer. This causes some trees to sprout their leaves early, which prompts the larvae that feed on the plants to hatch out earlier. "When the climate changes, the interactions between different species changes too," said Professor Simmonds.

In collaboration with experts at the University of Oxford, the researchers used population models to estimate the consequences of different climate scenarios for great tits. The team wanted to identify the tipping point at which the changes would happen too fast for the great tit to modify its behavior and keep pace with the hatching larvae.

Due to genetics, great tits have varying abilities to adapt to different conditions. For example, an earlier supply of larvae can be advantageous for great tits that hatch their young earlier in the spring. This advantage can be transferred to the next generation of birds and they will hatch their young earlier in the season as well. 

For this strategy to work, however, the great tits have to evolve fast enough and be flexible enough to keep up with the behavior of their prey.

"Given conditions with big greenhouse gas emissions, the great tits won't always be able to keep up with the changes in the larvae supply," said Professor Simmonds.

In the worst case scenario, the researchers found that entire populations of great tits will simply disappear by the end of this century because they cannot find enough food for their young.

"This could happen even if the great tits are also modifying their behavior faster in a rapidly changing environment. The larvae might be changing even faster than the great tits," said Professor Simmonds. 

The tipping point for populations of great tits, or the point at which they will not have a chance of survival, will be reached if larvae begin hatching 24 days earlier compared to when they hatch now. According to the researchers, this threshold even applies to populations that appear to be completely stable today.

"It could be that the apparent stability today is hiding a future collapse," said Professor Simmonds. "The good news is that the populations will be able to survive scenarios with lower or medium warming trends."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14610248">Ecology Letters</a>.

---

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Great tits can adapt to climate change, but only to a point

Global warming could have dire consequences for species that depend...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Nushagak Bay, a large estuary in southwest Alaska. Nushagak runs mainly north to south and exits in Bristol Bay, a large body of water in the Bering Sea.



"The bay is primarily fed by the Nushagak River, which begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest approximately 450 km. The bay is also fed by several additional rivers including the Wood, Igushik, Snake and Weary rivers," says ESA.



"The dark colors of the Nushagak River are most likely due to tannins or lignins (chemical substances found in plants). Tannins and lignins from roots, leaves, seeds, bark and soil can leach into the water and give it a brown or even black colour. The sediments then flow southwards where it is mixed with the bluer waters of the bay."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> (ACS) reveals that proteins on flu viruses are actually flexible, tilting and waving in a “breath-like” motion. According to the experts, these proteins could be used to better defend against the flu.



"The main antigenic targets of influenza virus are two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Whereas the structural and dynamical properties of both glycoproteins have been studied previously, the understanding of their plasticity in the whole-virion context is fragmented," wrote the researchers.



To investigate, the team conducted detailed simulations of the influenza A H1N1 virion, or the swine flu. The experts concluded that the visualizations show many new vulnerable states of flu viruses, which could improve future vaccines and antiviral drugs.



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Lake Trasimeno, which is located west of Perugia in central Italy. It is the fourth largest lake in the country. While Trasimeno’s water level varies, it has a maximum depth of approximately six meters.&nbsp;



"In this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image, captured on 6 August 2022, the lake’s emerald green colour is likely due to the presence of phytoplankton. Streaks in the water, particularly visible in the west, indicate the presence of soil and sediments which have been stirred up by winds. Dark colored waters in the southern part of the lake indicate a presence of submerged and floating macrophytes (aquatic plants) as well as algae," says ESA.



"Surrounded by hills on three sides, Trasimeno is subject to heavy storms created by winds, especially from the north and west. There are three islets in the lake: Maggiore, Minore and Polvese (the largest). The lake’s shores are sparsely inhabited with only two popular villages: Castiglione del Lago and Passignano sul Trasimeno."



"Italy is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years which has affected drinking water supplies, hydroelectric power and agricultural production. High temperatures, hot winds and lack of rainfall are the main causes of drought in the Umbrian region which saw Lake Trasimeno’s drop 1.3 m, reaching the limit of the hydrometric zero in July 2022."



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes a new self-powered nanosensor that can instantly detect mercury contamination with the tap of a finger.&nbsp;



The oxidized form of mercury can be harmful when it is ingested through contaminated water or food. This makes it necessary for experts to develop sensors that can quickly and accurately detect the presence of mercury.&nbsp;



Zong-Hong Lin and colleagues have now created a triboelectric nanosensor (TENS) that can detect mercury by simply by touching a sample. According to the researchers, their TENS could serve as the basis for similar devices to safely and remotely monitor other pollutants.



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> explores the ability of salt to transform the way that foods and beverages taste. Salt is known to cover up undesirable flavors, such as bitterness in coffee or beer, but how exactly does sodium chloride change the taste of other compounds?



One previous study showed that, not only does salt suppress bitterness, but also enhances sweetness and sourness. Another study revealed that bitterness reduction by salt seems to be happening at the tongue receptor level as well as in the brain.&nbsp;



While it is known that salt taste is mediated by the presence of sodium channels in the form of taste buds, experts believe that there is also an unknown receptor responsible for how we taste salt that has not yet been identified.&nbsp;



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

How does salt makes things taste better?

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



'The weather of Santiago resembles the Mediterranean climate with dry and warm summers with temperatures reaching up to 35°C (from October to March) and cool and humid winters that can drop to 0°C (from April to September)."



"The city lies in the centre of the country’s central valley around 80 km from the Pacific Ocean to the west and borders Argentina to the east. A tiny part of Argentina is visible in the top-right corner of the image where the mountain crest of the Andes Mountains acts as a divider between the two countries," says ESA.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Santiago, Chile in South America

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Spiral,Galaxy,,Illustration,Of,Milky,Way

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Astronomers at <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University</a> have created an interactive map of the universe, including the actual position and real colors of 200,000 galaxies. The map allows the public to access data that was previously only available to scientists.



The map was developed using data collected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. For over two decades, a telescope in New Mexico was aimed at slightly different locations to capture the night sky.&nbsp;



"Growing up I was very inspired by astronomy pictures, stars, nebulae and galaxies, and now it's our time to create a new type of picture to inspire people," said map creator Brice Ménard, a professor at Johns Hopkins. "Astrophysicists around the world have been analyzing this data for years, leading to thousands of scientific papers and discoveries. But nobody took the time to create a map that is beautiful, scientifically accurate, and accessible to people who are not scientists. Our goal here is to show everybody what the universe really looks like."



"In this map, we are just a speck at the very bottom, just one pixel. And when I say we, I mean our galaxy, the Milky Way which has billions of stars and planets. We are used to seeing astronomical pictures showing one galaxy here, one galaxy there or perhaps a group of galaxies. But what this map shows is a very, very different scale."



"From this speck at the bottom, we are able to map out galaxies across the entire universe, and that says something about the power of science."



The <a href="https://mapoftheuniverse.net/">interactive map</a> is available online, where it can be downloaded for free.



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features northwest Lesotho in South Africa.



According to ESA, Lesotho is the only nation in the world that lies completely above 1,000 m in elevation. The country is famous for its tall mountains and narrow valleys, and is known as Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky."



Out of a population of around two million people, about 80 percent live in rural areas. More than 75 percent of these people are engaged in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-have-a-global-impact-on-agriculture/">agriculture</a>, including rainfed cereal production and animal grazing.&nbsp;



ESA reports that the country’s agricultural system faces a growing number of issues, with climate-related vulnerabilities such as drought, floods and extreme temperatures occurring more frequently. 



Diamonds are amongst the minerals found in the mountains. Indeed, Lesotho can truly be called the Kingdom in the Sky. Beautiful, culturally rich, safe, affordable, and easily accessible from Durban and Johannesburg, mountainous Lesotho is a vastly underrated travel destination. the Kingdom of Lesotho (Sotho: 'Muso oa Lesotho) is an enclaved country in southern Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population of around 2 million.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Dublin, the capital and largest city of Ireland. Beyond its pub culture, Dublin is known as a modern culinary destination and a UNESCO City of Literature.



"Dublin is located near the midpoint of Ireland’s east coast in the province of Leinster. The city, which covers an area of around 115 square kilometers, is bordered by the Dublin Mountains, a low mountain range to the south, and is surrounded by flat farmland to the north and west," says ESA.



"The city straddles the River Liffey, which rises in the Wicklow Mountains and flows around 80 kilometers eastwards through the city of Dublin, in which it is canalised and bordered with quays. It then empties into Dublin Bay, an arm of the Irish Sea."



Dublin has an abundance of green spaces, including one of the largest enclosed public parks in any European capital city. Phoenix Park, which was originally formed as a royal hunting park in the 1660s, includes 707 hectares of green space.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain. The image was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.



"Together with the provinces of Huesca and Teruel, Zaragoza formed the old kingdom of Aragon. Its capital, also called Zaragoza (not visible in this image) is home to around half of Aragon’s population," says ESA.



"The Ebro River can be seen winding its way through the province from west to east in this image. Between its source in the Cantabrian Mountains in the northwest and its delta on the Mediterranean coast, the Ebro River is fed by more than 200 tributaries as it flows 910 km across much of northern Spain."



Since rainfall is very scarce in this region, irrigation in the Ebro basin is critically important. In the valleys surrounding the Ebro River, many fields are used for growing crops such as corn, wheat, and barley.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> reveals the evolution of the Columbia Glacier in southeastern Alaska. Columbia is among the fastest shrinking glaciers in the world, and the video documents its rapid retreat over the years.&nbsp;



Columbia Glacier is a large, multi-branched calving glacier that flows out of the Chugach Mountains to the Prince William Sound.&nbsp;



According to USGS, Columbia had a long history of stability prior to 1980, with a length 41 miles, and small, short-lived advances or retreats.



In the years since 1980, however, satellite images have captured Columbia’s alarming retreat. By using false-color images, scientists can distinguish between snow and ice, open water, vegetation, and rocky debris on the glacier’s surface.



The series of false-color images featured in today's video were acquired over the span of 35 years. You can see that by 2021, the glacier’s main branch had retreated about 15 miles from its initial position.



The Columbia Glacier has also lost more than 50 percent of its volume, mostly due to calving. <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/nasa-reveals-3d-visual-of-an-atmospheric-river/">NASA</a> reports that while climate change likely started the retreat, mechanical processes kept the disintegration going.



The NASA images are provided by Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon, Joshua Stevens, and Lauren Dauphin using data from Landsat satellites, from the U.S. Geological Survey, and data from MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite. The structure of Columbia’s moraine played a large role in the stability of the glacier before 1980. 



Like other tidewater glaciers, the Columbia built up a moraine over time, and the mixture of ice and rock functioned like a dam keeping out the sea. It was supported on one end by the shoreline and by the underwater terminal moraine at the other.



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/&nbsp; NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

[sendtonews key="0879czfG3k-1785905-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from NASA...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the Pyrenees Mountains, which form a natural boundary between France and Spain in southwest Europe.



The mountain range is 430 kilometers in length. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Atlantic Ocean on the west.



At an elevation of 3404 meters, Pico de Aneto is the highest mountain peak in the Pyrenees, and the third-highest peak in Spain. Pico de Aneto is located in the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park, which spans more than 82,000 acres.&nbsp;



"Geological studies have revealed that the Pyrenees Mountains have been around for longer than the Alps, with their sediments first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras," reports ESA.



"The entire mountain range formed due to the upwelling of large sedimentary rocks by the collision of the Iberian and the Eurasian plate around 100 to 150 million years ago, followed by intense erosion from ice and water."



The western Pyrenees receive more precipitation due to moisture blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. The mountain range contains many lakes, several small glaciers, and some of the highest waterfalls in Europe.



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes two exoplanets that are orbiting a star 218 light-years away. A team of researchers led by the University of Montreal has found evidence that these planets are "water worlds."



The experts used data from NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. They discovered that exoplanets Kepler-138 c and Kepler-138 could be composed largely of water.



"We previously thought that planets that were a bit larger than Earth were big balls of metal and rock, like scaled-up versions of Earth, and that's why we called them super-Earths," explained study co-author Björn Benneke.&nbsp;



"However, we have now shown that these two planets, Kepler-138 c and d, are quite different in nature and that a big fraction of their entire volume is likely composed of water. It is the best evidence yet for water worlds, a type of planet that was theorized by astronomers to exist for a long time."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and Leah Hustak (STScI)



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> is focused on the melt ponds that emerge during the spring and summer on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.



"Melt ponds are vast pools of open water that form on both sea ice and ice sheets and are visible as turquoise-blue pools of water in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image," says ESA.



"When snow and ice melts atop glaciers, water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface. These melt ponds can speed up the melting of the surrounding ice since they greatly reduce the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight."



"This can create a positive feedback where an increasing number of melt ponds absorb more heat which causes ice cover to melt even faster."



According to ESA, Greenland has been hit with a late-season heatwave that began in early September. This caused the type of melt event that usually occurs in the middle of summer.



"In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now ‘inevitable’ even if the burning of fossil fuels were to halt overnight," says ESA. "Using satellite observations of Greenland ice loss and ice cap from 2000 to 2019, the team found the losses will lead to a minimum rise of 27 cm regardless of climate change."



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes a new map of Mars that is providing insight into the planet’s watery past. The map also reveals where future missions could safely land on Mars.&nbsp;



The map has been created over the last decade using observations of water-rich rocks and mineral deposits. The images were captured by ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.



"A big surprise is the prevalence of these minerals, with the map revealing hundreds of thousands of water-affected locations in the oldest parts of the planet," says ESA. "The new data will help answer exciting questions about Mars’ climate history, whether water was globally persistent or confined to short, intense episodes, and whether the conditions were ever suitable for life."



"Specifically, the map shows the locations and abundances of aqueous minerals. These are from rocks that have been chemically altered by the action of water in the past, and have typically been transformed into clays and salts."



According to John Carter of the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), our collective understanding of Mars has been oversimplified. He explained that planetary scientists have tended to think that only a few types of clay minerals on Mars were created during its wet period, then as the water gradually dried up, salts were produced across the planet.



The new map shows that the composition of Mars is much more complicated than what we thought. For example, while many salts formed after Martian clays, there are some salts that are presumed to be older than some of the clays.&nbsp;



“The evolution from lots of water to no water is not as clear cut as we thought, the water didn’t just stop overnight. We see a huge diversity of geological contexts, so that no one process or simple timeline can explain the evolution of the mineralogy of Mars. That’s the first result of our study. The second is that if you exclude life processes on Earth, Mars exhibits a diversity of mineralogy in geological settings just as Earth does,” said Carter.



Video Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes how cavefish adapted to a sedentary lifestyle over tens of thousands of years. 



The experts found that the muscle metabolism of cavefish has been genetically reprogrammed over time. As a result, the animals have experienced major changes in their morphology and behavior. Despite these changes, however, the cavefish remain healthy and fit.



The research may provide new clues about the evolutionary consequences of prolonged physical inactivity in humans.&nbsp;



“It’s no surprise that people are moving less and less as technology has advanced,” said Rohner. “With cavefish, we have a unique system where we can study what might happen if people remained couch potatoes over very, very long periods of time.”



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> some of the most incredible waves in the world, as seen by Landsat satellites.



"With more than 370,000 miles of coastline on Earth, there are plenty of places where epic waves build up, curl over, and hurtle toward the shore.- much to the thrill of surfers," says NASA. "There are some places where these waves are so magnificent that they can be seen from space."



"With the broad perspective of satellites, we can see how these iconic waves develop into the world’s tallest, longest, fastest, and heaviest."



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes why satellite images and measurements of our planet have become "essential to our survival, offering a new outlook of our world."&nbsp;



Rising sea levels pose one of the biggest societal threats associated with climate change. According to ESA, satellite altimeter missions such as Copernicus Sentinel-6 are essential in monitoring global and regional changes in sea level.



"Unbeknown to many, the island of Crete, Greece, plays an important role in the Copernicus satellite altimetry constellation and on an international stage," reports ESA.



"Satellite altimetry data have to be continuously monitored at the ESA’s Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration where different techniques have pioneered the use of transponders to provide the best measurements to validate satellite altimeters in space soon after launch."



Dr. Craig Donlon explains that, by understanding planet Earth through satellite measurements, we are able to find evidence of change.&nbsp;



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Satellites have become essential to our survival

[sendtonews key="761m2QQvR1-2035772-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...