Florida’s wetlands are home to two striking and often confused waterbirds - the&nbsp;anhinga&nbsp;and the&nbsp;double-crested cormorant. Both are expert divers that rely on their feet to propel themselves underwater. They are commonly seen perched on branches or docks with their wings spread wide to dry.



However, despite their similar appearances and behaviors, new research from the&nbsp;University of Miami&nbsp;reveals that these birds are quite different in their&nbsp;physiology, hunting techniques, and metabolism.



A research team led by&nbsp;Jeff White, a recent&nbsp;biology doctoral graduate, spent months studying these species to understand their unique adaptations.



The findings, which build on earlier work by ornithologist&nbsp;Oscar "Bud" Owre, offer fresh insights into these fascinating birds.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-anhingas-and-cormorants-hunt">How anhingas and cormorants hunt</h2>



To the casual observer, anhingas and cormorants might seem interchangeable. 



Both <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/habitat-and-evolution-shape-the-unique-sounds-of-birds/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">birds</a> dive beneath the water’s surface in search of fish and then emerge to dry their fully soaked feathers in the sun. However, their approaches to foraging and movement in the water set them apart.



Cormorants&nbsp;are&nbsp;aggressive hunters. They&nbsp;chase&nbsp;their prey with&nbsp;strong, rapid movements, often diving deep and pursuing larger fish. Their ability to consume more oxygen allows them to sustain this high-energy hunting style. 



"Cormorants have a really large muscle in their leg and are able to really prioritize storage of oxygen in their leg muscles," explained White, who is affiliated to the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">University of Miami</a>. This muscle adaptation gives them an edge in deep-water environments, including&nbsp;coastaland&nbsp;oceanic waters.



In contrast, anhingas are stealthy ambush <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bird-wings-have-a-surprising-effect-on-island-biodiversity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">predators</a>. Rather than chasing fish, they wait patiently in shallow water, camouflaged among vegetation, until their prey swims close enough for a lightning-fast strike.



This sit-and-wait strategy is common among ambush predators like herons and alligators, but it is unusual among diving birds. By minimizing movement, anhingas conserve energy and use less oxygen than cormorants.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-do-they-stay-underwater">How do they stay underwater? </h2>



Both species dive for about&nbsp;two minutes at a time, but their bodies handle oxygen storage differently. Unlike ducks and other diving <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/more-than-100-bird-species-have-been-lost-for-over-a-decade/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">birds</a>, anhingas and cormorants&nbsp;fully wet their feathers. 



This reduces buoyancy and allows them to stay underwater more easily. However, their methods of&nbsp;oxygen management&nbsp;vary.



"They both must hold their breath to dive, so we observed how each of these species convert their oxygen stores into energy in the swimming and flying muscles," noted McCracken, a co-author of the study.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-oxygen-use-of-anhingas-and-cormorants">Oxygen use of anhingas and cormorants</h2>



Cormorants store&nbsp;most of their oxygen in their leg muscles, which power their&nbsp;aggressive swimming style. These&nbsp;large, oxygen-rich muscles&nbsp;allow them to&nbsp;generate bursts of speed&nbsp;and maneuver swiftly to catch prey. This trait aligns them more with deep-diving seabirds like penguins.



Anhingas, on the other hand, rely on neutral buoyancy, meaning they neither sink nor float. This allows them to remain motionless under the water without needing to swim to stay in place.



"They are the only aquatic <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/terror-bird-phorusrhacid-discovery-was-largest-meat-eating-bird-of-its-time/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bird</a> I know of that can sit underwater without having to swim to stay in place," said White. This&nbsp;passive diving adaptation&nbsp;is&nbsp;unique among aquatic birds&nbsp;and helps anhingas hunt with minimal energy expenditure.



Additionally, anhingas have a&nbsp;low metabolism, which means they require&nbsp;less oxygen to generate energy. While cormorants prioritize storing oxygen in their muscles, anhingas make efficient use of the oxygen in their blood.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-flight-differences-soaring-vs-powerful-wingbeats">Flight differences: Soaring vs. powerful wingbeats</h2>



Beyond their diving behaviors, the two species differ in&nbsp;flight mechanics. 



Cormorants are&nbsp;strong fliers. Their powerful wing muscles allow them to&nbsp;fly quickly and with sustained flapping, making them more agile in the air. This strength is necessary since they often travel between freshwater and saltwater environments in search of food.



Anhingas, by contrast, are less suited for continuous flapping. Instead, they&nbsp;soar and glide, using&nbsp;thermals&nbsp;(rising air currents) to stay in the air with minimal effort. This flight style is similar to&nbsp;hawks and vultures, rather than the rapid, flapping flight of cormorants.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-significance-of-the-research">Significance of the research</h2>



While this study sheds light on anhingas and cormorants, its implications&nbsp;reach far beyond ornithology. Understanding how these birds&nbsp;manage oxygen&nbsp;could offer insights into&nbsp;human physiology, exercise science, cardiovascular health, and metabolism.



"There might be benefits to understanding how other species can generate energy without oxygen," White noted. Some medical conditions and athletic performance studies could benefit from&nbsp;learning how these birds use oxygen efficiently.



Additionally, this research helps scientists&nbsp;better understand metabolism. Different species process nutrients and oxygen in distinct ways, and the anhinga’s ability to function&nbsp;with minimal oxygen use&nbsp;is a&nbsp;fascinating case study.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-future-research-on-anhingas-and-cormorants">Future research on anhingas and cormorants</h2>



Despite this latest research, anhingas remain one of the least studied aquatic birds. Jeff White hopes to continue his work to uncover more about their unique adaptations. He realized that scientists know surprisingly little about these birds, especially compared to other diving species.



Future studies could explore how anhingas achieve&nbsp;neutral buoyancy, allowing them to stay underwater without sinking or floating. Researchers also want to examine their&nbsp;metabolic rates&nbsp;to understand how they survive on lower oxygen levels compared to other diving birds. 



Additionally, studying their&nbsp;evolutionary adaptations&nbsp;could reveal how they developed their distinct physiological traits over time.



Anhingas’ unique energy conservation and oxygen use strategies could also help scientists learn more about metabolism in other animals, including humans. Further research will help unravel the mysteries of this remarkable waterbird.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-perspective-on-florida-s-waterbirds">New perspective on Florida’s waterbirds</h2>



For those who frequent Florida’s lakes, swamps, and coastal waters, the anhinga and the double-crested cormorant are&nbsp;familiar sights. Yet, beneath their seemingly similar exteriors, these birds have evolved&nbsp;very different strategies for survival.



Cormorants are the&nbsp;powerful, fast-moving predators, excelling in deep-water hunting and flight. Anhingas are&nbsp;masters of stealth and efficiency, conserving energy and using their&nbsp;neutral buoyancy&nbsp;to ambush prey.



Next time you see one of these birds perched with wings outstretched, take a closer look. The&nbsp;mystery of their adaptations&nbsp;is still unfolding, and there’s much more to learn about these remarkable waterbirds.



The study is published in the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00360-024-01593-x" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Journal of Comparative Physiology B</a>. 



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Florida’s waterbirds: Expert divers with bold hunting techniques

Florida’s wetlands are home to two striking and often confused waterbirds - the&nbsp;anhinga&nbsp;and the&nbsp;double-crested cormorant. Both are expert divers that rely on their feet to propel themselves underwater. They are commonly seen perched on branches or docks with their wings spread wide to dry. However, despite their similar appearances and behaviors, new research from the&nbsp;University of Miami&nbsp;reveals that these birds are quite different in their&nbsp;physiology, hunting techniques, and metabolism. A research team led by&nbsp;Jeff White, a recent&nbsp;biology doctoral graduate, spent months studying these species to understand their...

You can call them <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfkkMHieqcI">poor unfortunate souls</a> if you like. They do seem like the type of creature into which Ursula the Sea Witch might transform her desperate victims. But really, the approximately 16 species of giant deep sea isopod have it pretty good. 

Sure, they don’t see the light of day unless they’re hauled up by meddling humans, and their preferred food consists of rotting organisms from the pelagic levels above. But they don’t have many predators, they live in a state of semi-hibernation, and most of their food drops right in front of their admittedly alarming faces. 

For such apparently lazy creatures, the members of the genus Bathonymus have been hugely successful. Aquatic relatives of the terrestrial pill bugs or roly-polies that many of us played with as children, they have been trundling about on the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/arctic-ocean-seafloor/">seafloor</a> for some <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsbl.2012.0774">300 million years</a>. 

Vacuuming up marine snow—organic matter drifting down through the depths, chomping on sponges and sea cucumbers, and feasting on the odd whale or sea lion carcass, these prehistoric invertebrates are among the few organisms that can survive the enormous pressures of the zones that they inhabit: from the sublittoral to the bathypelagic. They are typically found at depths of 550-7,000 feet. 

Members of the crustacean family, they have segmented bodies and each segment sports either a pair of legs that assist them in scuttling about on the sand, or a pair of pleopods that facilitate swimming and respiration. (For such ponderously proportioned animals, deep sea isopods are surprisingly graceful swimmers. However, after gorging themselves on a particularly rich cadaver, they have been known to face-plant, apparently unbalanced by the decayed flesh in their guts.)

Their bizarre physiology and unusual size make them the stuff <a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/isopods">viral dreams</a>. Extraterrestrial in appearance and habitat, these foot-long pillbugs have been mainstays of the weird news section for at least a decade. Increasingly innovative—and ecologically devastating—deep sea trawling enterprises have brought them to the surface in ever greater numbers and the photographs of these finds justifiably amaze and horrify the netizenry. 

[caption id="attachment_1876482" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/deep-sea-isopod.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1876482" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/deep-sea-isopod.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="366" /></a> Giant isopod Bathynomus giganteus, Image Credit: NOAA[/caption]

Once thought to be relatively rare, they seem to be quite common in the lowest reaches of the ocean. Some are inevitably dredged up by the massive nets employed by trawlers. And others are attracted by the distressed fish and other organisms that these operations ensnare. Deep sea isopods are nothing if not opportunists. They may even be more predatory than originally believed: one was captured on video lunging at a dogfish and <a href="https://roaring.earth/giant-isopod-vs-deep-sea-shark/">grabbing its head</a>, à la the Alien face huggers.

It is not entirely certain how they detect their food, though it is likely through a combination of chemosensory and mechanoreceptory techniques. Like all isopods, they possess two pairs of antennae. Their compound eyes, which contain up to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Victor_Meyer-Rochow/publication/19414852_Morphology_of_the_compound_eye_of_the_giant_deep-sea_isopod_Bathynomus_Giganteus/links/5a001dcaaca272347a2b2a9a/Morphology-of-the-compound-eye-of-the-giant-deep-sea-isopod-Bathynomus-Giganteus.pdf">3,500 ommatidia</a>, may assist them to some extent, though light penetration at the depths in which they are found is minimal. It has been found that when exposed to unfiltered daylight at the surface, their eyes are irreparably damaged. Whatever their mode of detection, it’s an effective one. 

<a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a27127506/ancient-giant-isopods-love-eating-alligators/">In April 2019</a>, a group of researchers from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) dropped a bunch of dead alligators culled by the state into the Gulf of Mexico. It only took a day for deep sea isopods to descend on the caracasses and begin devouring them. Undeterred by the thick hide of the reptiles, they burrowed right in using their four pairs of jaws. This startling discovery suggests that the creatures are highly attuned to their food-scarce environments and can rouse from their usual torpor at a moment’s notice in order to take advantage of any meals that may drift within their reach. 

First discovered in 1879 in a trawling expedition in the Gulf of Mexico north of the Tortugas organized by oceanographer Alexander Agassiz and later described by zoologist Alphonse Milne-Edwards, the deep sea isopod was among the first organisms produced from the ocean floor. Its existence provided valuable evidence contradicting the Azoic hypothesis, an early 19th century theory that maintained life was impossible in the deeper reaches of the ocean. 

The size of these crustaceans is likely due to the influence of the extreme conditions in which they live. The species are classified into giants, which max out at around 6 inches, and supergiants, which may be close to 2 feet long, as in the case of the largest, Bathonymus giganteus. Because the water is so cold, it contains more oxygen. Combined with the slower metabolism of creatures who can survive these conditions, it allows for the development of larger cells, and ultimately, body size. 

Even its eggs are huge—at half an inch in diameter, they are the largest of any marine invertebrate. Deep sea isopods have also adapted to the fact that large food supplies such as whale falls (or alligator falls) are rare. Unlike many invertebrates, they store large amounts of fat. A deep sea isopod at the Toba Aquarium in Japan ate a single fish in January 2009 and survived until <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2561063/Giant-isopod-dies-Japanese-aquarium-five-year-hunger-strike.html">February of 2013</a> without another meal, testifying to the staying power of a slow metabolism.

They’ve got stamina in the pop culture sphere as well, particularly in Japan, where they are occasionally eaten. The Omoshiro Aquarium in Yokohama recently sponsored <a href="https://kotaku.com/would-you-like-some-grotesque-sea-bugs-to-eat-1551830363">an event</a> where visitors could try one of the smaller species, deep fried. Evidently, what little meat they have on them tastes a bit like shrimp. The Japanese have also come up with a huge array of isopod merchandise: everything from cell phone cases to plushies. 

In real life, these creatures aren’t all that huggable. But they provide a hugely valuable ecological service in cleaning up the remains of the creatures that sink into their lightless milieu. And though they might seem safely removed from the human-induced ecological catastrophes at the surface, they’ve been found with plastic in their guts and are now common bycatch. Even a few hundred million years of evolutionary stability may not save them from the ravages of human carelessness. So enjoy these weird news darlings while you still can.  

--

By <a href="mailto:rtpallardy@gmail.com">Richard Pallardy</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Main Image Credit: NOAA

Fathoms and fathoms below: The weird life of the deep sea isopod

You can call them poor unfortunate souls if you like....

A couple in North Carolina lost all three of their dogs last week after a visit to a local pond turned fatal. The culprit was toxic blue-green algae. 

For many dogs, nothing beats a good swim in a lake or river. It’s also an excellent way to cool off, especially during the hot summer days. The problem is that freshwater is prone to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tiny-algae-extinction/">algae blooms</a> as temperatures rise and heavy rains cause fertilizer runoff. 

Toxic blue-green algae poisoning can cause serious health problems for both humans and animals. Dogs easily ingest pieces of algae floating on the water, which is why exposure is so dangerous. 

Pet owners in the southeastern United States are being warned to stay away from algae blooms, and swimming bans are in place all along the Mississippi coast, according to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/us/blue-green-algae-dogs.html">New York Times</a>. 

Harmful algal blooms occur when algae in freshwater grow out of control. High temperatures, stagnant water, high levels of nutrients usually from agricultural runoff carried by heavy rains all create the perfect conditions for algae to thrive and spread. 

Some of these blooms produce harmful bacteria like cyanobacteria. 

Even though people the southeast are on high alert, harmful algal blooms can happen anywhere in the US, according to the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/protect-your-pooch">Environmental Protection Agency</a>. 

If you see floating soapy foam or a swath of scum on the surface of a pool of water, it’s likely a bloom which can range from blue, green, and even red in color. 

Algal blooms produce a strong unpleasant odor to humans, but dogs are unphased. 

Stay vigilant with your pet on walks and keep them away from water if you suspect a bloom. If you think your dog was exposed, rinse them off immediately and watch for symptoms of poisoning, which can appear as soon as 15 minutes after exposure. 

“It happens every single year in the U.S. and around the world,” Val Beasley, a professor of veterinary, wildlife and ecological toxicology sciences at <a href="https://www.psu.edu/">Pennsylvania State University</a>, told the New York Times. “A lot of times, the neurotoxins will kill the animal before they can get to the veterinarian. This time of year is when you have the most numbers of cases and people are out and about with their animals and the conditions are ripe for the cyanobacteria to grow.”

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Bryan Neuswanger

Why toxic algae blooms can be fatal for dogs

A couple in North Carolina lost all three of their...

New changes to the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/endangered-species-act-support/">Endangered Species Act</a>, which were finalized by the Trump administration on Monday, drastically scale back protections issued to species threatened with extinction. 

The addendum to the Act states that species categorized as “threatened,” such as the North American wolverine, the northern spotted owl, and the American burying beetle, will not automatically receive the same protections as those categorized as “endangered.”

Currently, more than 1,600 species are at risk in the United States, and human interference alone has put up to one million species on the brink of extinction worldwide. In just 400 years, an estimated 680 vertebrate species have gone extinct.

The reasoning behind the weakening of protections is so that Trump officials can draw more attention to the economic impact of protecting certain species. For example, the burying beetle was “downlisted” in order to allow for more oil and gas drilling in Oklahoma and surrounding states.

“Certainly we have to have an environment that favors economics, but not at the cost of everything else,” Jon Bedick, a burying beetle researcher from <a href="https://www.shawnee.edu/">Shawnee State University</a>, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/12/endangered-species-act-trump-administration-protection-changes?CMP=share_btn_link">The Guardian</a>.

Furthermore, the climate crisis, which puts hundreds of species at risk for population decline, is not a make-or-break factor under these new Endangered Species Act changes. That’s because the definition of “foreseeable future” has shifted under the Trump administration — the deadline of 2050 being the scientifically predicted boiling point if climate policies are not changed to decrease greenhouse gasses and carbon output is not fully recognized by Trump officials, who are more project-by-project oriented. And in their opinion, one project cannot possibly eliminate an entire species of animal.

The changes made to the Endangered Species Act will undoubtedly make protecting specific species more difficult. Environment advocates plan to challenge the edits in court.

--

By <a href="mailto:oliviagharvey24@gmail.com">Olivia Harvey</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/FloridaStock

Trump admin faces blowback for weakening the Endangered Species Act

New changes to the Endangered Species Act, which were finalized...

<a href="http://www.earth.com/news/absence-wolves-eastern-coyotes-adapted/">Wolves</a> have long been the center of the conservation debate in the American west. Predator control has devastated wolf populations through most of their former range. Many ranchers consider even the small remnant of wolves left an unacceptable threat to their livestock. 

Government wildlife agencies have a mixed response to both sides of the ongoing struggle. Agencies have released wolves for population recoveries as well as poisoned and shot them to control predation on cattle. Without a uniform and steady policy over time, it seems like wolves are caught in the political whim of the moment, mere pawns in a game of power and money. 

With a checkered history like this, it’s no surprise that wolves have failed to recover their national populations in any real way. Alaska has more wolves than any other state, but this is due more to the vast rugged terrain of the state and a smaller human population than a better conservation plan. Other states with histories of predator eradication and large European American settler populations have nearly completely eradicated their wolves. 

Washington state had a wolf population of 126 as of May 2019, according to <a href="https://nywolf.org/learn/u-s-wolf-populations/">Wolf Conservation Center</a>. The population of wolves in Washington the year before was estimated to be 122. Other nearby states also have wolf populations. Oregon has an estimated 137 wolves and Idaho had an almost impressive 786 wolves, according to a 2016 study. 

Washington wolves are an endangered species. But according to a <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/researcher-says-washington-wolf-population-likely-larger-than-estimates/">Seattle Times</a> report, wolf populations in Washington may also have been underestimated by the official estimate of 122. It’s now estimated that Washington’s wolf population has grown by 30% every year. 

A growth in population may seem like a good thing for the wolves and it is... until humans interfere. Population numbers are important in terms of what protections are afforded wolves and other endangered species. Until recently, wolves in Washington have been a state protected endangered species. The western two thirds of Washington wolf populations were also protected by federal law. Wolves had previously been exterminated entirely from Washington state, only to slowly return from neighboring areas in British Columbia and Idaho. 

In January 2019, Democratic State Rep. Sherry Appleton of Bainbridge Island Washington introduced a bill that would keep state management agencies from authorizing wolf kills. In response, Republican Rep. Joel Kretz of Wauconda Washington, the northeastern part of the state where ranchers and wolves often come into conflict, drafted a bill of his own. Kretz’s bill was meant as a statement rather than a viable law but suggested making Bainbridge Island a sanctuary for ‘problem’ wolves. The bill did allow wolf killing to be considered but only after there were four confirmed killings of cats or dogs or two confirmed wolf killings of children. 

The bill was meant to imply that environmentalists valued the lives of wolves over even those of children. The political statement is loaded with a loathing for wolves common among ranchers who’ve taken their land and introduced easy game but feel wolves are in fact an enemy to be exterminated rather than an animal to adapt ranching practices to. Environmentalists have promoted developing different non-lethal methods to discourage wolf predation on livestock. Environmentalist have also called on ranchers to give wolves more room. Usually, prolonged predation of livestock by wolves end in wolves being killed or at least hazed with violence. 

<a href="https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2019/07/10/washington-approves-killing-wolf-pack-members-preying-cattle/1692923001/">Statesman’s Journal</a> reported in July that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife authorized the killing of wolf pack members involved in preying on cattle in northeastern Washington. The pack, called the Old Profanity Territory (OPT) pack, had some of its members killed last year in response to cattle predation. Now again, the OPT pack faces more killings of its members. The stated goals of these killings is to change the behavior of the pack rather than to limit the pack’s population. Some environmentalists instead are calling on ranchers to be the ones to change behavior. 

<a href="https://landscouncil.org/news">The Lands Council</a>, a Spokane based non-profit, called on Washington Fish &amp; Wildlife director <a href="https://wdfw.wa.gov/about/administration/director">Kelly Susewind</a> to change his position on authorizing lethal removal of wolves from the OPT pack in a letter posted on their website. The letter points out that the continued conflict between different wolf packs in the area involves the same cattle rancher, a Mr. McIrvin. McIrvin is on record stating the opinion that the only solution to the wolf conflicts is shooting and poisoning the wolves. 

Instead, environmentalists are pushing for real non-lethal mitigation practices where they work and less or no grazing, where they don’t. The Lands Council for its part notes that range riders work best on open prairie ‘ranges’ instead of forested, less open lands as in the area in question. The Lands Council further called on the state of Washington to collaborate with the US Forest Service to create a better plan for wolf survival in the area.

McIrvin for his part claims an average of 70 head of cattle lost per year to wolves at a cost of more than $1million, according to the <a href="https://www.postregister.com/farmandranch/4h/lawsuit-filed-to-stop-washington-state-from-killing-wolves/article_f3bf10f9-0e98-5165-8743-41b1d5d16a38.html">Intermountain Farm &amp; Ranch</a>. In response, Sophia Ressler, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity is quoted as saying,

“If this rancher keeps putting cattle in prime wolf habitat, he needs to accept some losses just like any other business.”

A lawsuit filed on August first by the <a href="https://centerforahumaneeconomy.org">Center for a Humane Economy</a> aims to stop the state of Washington from killing more wolves to prevent predation of cattle. The non-profit also started a petition to Governor and presidential candidate Jay Inslee to intercede on behalf of the wolves. Inslee has spoken out loudly about climate change and been a proponent for environmental law. Whether or not Inslee’s environmental ethic extends to wolves remains to be seen.                

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Paid for by <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a>

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Png Studio Photography

Washington state wildlife officials authorize more wolf killings

Wolves have long been the center of the conservation debate...

Young birds dedicate specialized brain cells to learning new songs. In a groundbreaking new study, experts at <a href="https://www.columbia.edu/">Columbia University</a> have pinpointed what happens in the brain of a young <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/migration-patterns-songbird-populations/">songbird</a> as it learns a new tune. The findings demonstrate the extraordinary flexibility of the developing brain.

The auditory cortex, which is the neural region that processes sounds, is similar in both birds and mammals. Therefore, the findings may help to explain why it is so easy for children to pick up on their native language, yet adults tend to struggle to learn a language that they were not exposed to early in life. 

"The language sounds we learn as infants shape the way we hear for the rest of our lives, and the vocal sounds that songbirds hear while young may have the same effect," said study senior author Dr. Sarah M.N. Woolley. "By mapping these birds' auditory systems as they learn their songs, we hope to decipher the mechanisms that guide our own capacity to learn speech."

The zebra finch is the most commonly studied songbird species. A young male zebra finch listens and imitates a song performed by his father during the first three months of life.

"When first learning to sing, the juvenile's song is unstructured, similar to the way a human baby babbles before producing words," said study first author Dr. Jordan Moore. "But by the time the bird nears adulthood, it reproduces the more complex aspects of its father's song. We were interested in what is happening in the brain during this song learning period."

The analysis was focused on neurons in the auditory cortex. While monitoring this neural activity, the researchers played recordings of songs to zebra finches and long-tailed finches. Next, they played synthetic sounds that were designed to match certain acoustic features of the birdsongs.

The experiment enabled the team to identify a neural circuit in the auditory cortex where the responses of the brain cells become specialized for the songs that the birds learn.

"After identifying this circuit, we wanted to understand its flexibility," explained Dr. Woolley. "How does this circuit change over time as the bird learns and matures? And how do these changes integrate the bird's biology and its experience with the song its tutor sings?"

To investigate, the researchers placed eggs from the two finch species in the nests of a third songbird species, the Bengalese finch. The team could then assess whether the young birds learned the songs of their adoptive fathers.

"That is exactly what happened," said Dr. Woolley. "The juvenile zebra and long-tailed finches began to sing like their Bengalese finch adoptive fathers and ignored the songs of their biological fathers, whom we had placed across the room and so were still within earshot."

Among the young songbirds that were introduced to foster fathers, the auditory neurons showed specialized tuning for the acoustic features of Bengalese finch song. This confirms that the selectivity of the early birdsong is not simply shaped by the bird species, but by what the young bird learned to sing.

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/neuro/">Nature Neuroscience</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Natalia van D

Young birds dedicate specialized brain cells to learning new songs

Young birds dedicate specialized brain cells to learning new songs....

A new modeling study led by the <a href="https://umich.edu/">University of Michigan</a> has revealed that Asian carp are capable of surviving in much larger areas of <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/using-lake-michigan-turtles-to-measure-wetland-pollution/">Lake Michigan</a> than what was previously realized. As a result, the invaders present a very high risk of becoming established. 

Two Asian carp species in particular, bighead and silver carp, are threatening to cause serious damage to native fish populations across the Great Lakes. 

Previous studies suggested that it would be difficult for Asian carp to become established in Lake Michigan due to low food levels. However, these studies overlooked the fact that Asian carp are opportunistic feeders. 

While they typically feed on algae and other types of plankton, these invasive species can survive on a wide variety of diets, including dead organic matter called detritus. In Lake Michigan, detritus is abundant in the form of resuspended fecal pellets from countless quagga and zebra mussels on the lake bottom.

Previous research also failed to account for the suitable carp habitat that exists more than a meter below the lake's surface. The new study revealed that the amount of suitable Asian carp habitat in Lake Michigan is dramatically higher than what previous estimates have shown. 

According to study lead author Peter Alsip, the entire extent of Lake Michigan contains suitable bighead carp habitat at certain times of the year. For silver carp, habitat was found to be more limited to nutrient-rich areas close to the shore.

"Subsurface habitat and the fish's diet flexibility were not evaluated in previous studies, and our findings indicate that these considerations had a noticeable effect on our suitability assessment," said Alsip. "Lake Michigan's low supply of plankton may not be as strong a barrier as previously thought."

The new study showed that the widespread availability of quagga mussel fecal pellets in Lake Michigan will help Asian carp survive as they migrate through plankton-depleted waters and eventually spread throughout the lake. Bighead and silver carp are collectively known to scientists as big headed carp, or BHC.

"The ability of BHC to flexibly feed on phytoplankton, zooplankton and detritus mitigates their risk of starvation - even in offshore waters - and, therefore, increases their probability of establishment," said the researchers. "Therefore, it seems likely that BHC could survive, establish, and spread to favorable habitat in Lake Michigan and its tributaries despite having to travel across expansive areas with minimal plankton biomass."

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652427">Freshwater Biology</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Shutterstock/Frantisek Czanner

Invasive Asian carp populations could expand across Lake Michigan

A new modeling study led by the University of Michigan...

A new study led by Yara Haridy at the <a href="https://www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/">Museum für Naturkunde</a> has revealed that an extinct lizard-like creature suffered from a bone condition similar to Paget's disease 289 million years ago. This is the oldest known case of any type of bone disease. 

The experts performed micro-CT scans on a pair of tail vertebrae that were discovered in an Early Permian cave at Richards Spur, Oklahoma. The vertebrae belonged to a Varanopid - a relative of the earliest ancestors of mammals or reptiles.

By scanning the internal and external structure of the bone, the team was able to recognize that some areas of the bone had been thinned out by abnormally high levels of reabsorption. In other areas, excessive bone growth caused abnormal bone thickening, which had ultimately fused the two vertebrae together.

According to the researchers, this condition is very similar to Paget's disease, a bone metabolic disorder that is characterized by a breakdown in communication between bone building cells and bone destroying cells. As a result, the body absorbs old bone and forms abnormal new bone. Today, this disease is most commonly seen in the hips and vertebrae of humans.

Paget's disease has been previously diagnosed in other living mammals and reptiles as well, and was detected in a dinosaur fossil dating back to the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/jurassic-fossil-mammals-swallow/">Early Jurassic</a>. In the current study, there is no way to determine how widespread the bone disease had become in the animal's body based on the two isolated vertebrae. 

[caption id="attachment_1876334" align="aligncenter" width="650"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/207644.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1876334" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/207644.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="340" /></a> Image Credit: Yara Haridy/Museum für Naturekunde, Berlin[/caption]

"Paleopathology is the study of ancient diseases, here we scanned a pair of fused tail bones from a permian (280 million years ago) Varanopid (a superficially-lizard like animal), what we found was evidence of a bone disease similar to modern day Paget's disease. This enigmatic disease is still not well understood in humans, however finding something similar in an ancient animal likely links it to something deep in our bone biology," said Haridy. 

"This study is a great example of how when palaeontologists have well preserved fossils we can tell a lot more than just what animals were present, we can explore their biology, physiology and even what diseases ailed them!"

The study is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a>.

--

By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Main Image Credit: Wikipedia/Dmitry Bogdanov

Lizard-like creature suffered from bone disease 289 million years ago

A new study led by Yara Haridy at the Museum...

To anyone who’s seen study after study of pollution’s effects on turtles in recent years, it’s no surprise that the shelled reptiles eat dangerous amounts of plastic. But a new study of green turtles found that they’re much more likely to ingest trash when it looks like their food.

For example, the species eats more plastic when it comes in greens, browns and other natural colors, a team of scientists from the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/">University of Exeter</a> and the Cyprus-based <a href="https://www.cyprusturtles.org/">Society for the Protection of Turtles</a> found.

The scientists examined the digestive systems of 34 green turtles washed up on Cyprus’ beaches. All of the turtles whose entire digestive tracts could be examined – 19 of them – had plastics in their guts, with one specimen alone having 183 fragments of the material.

"Previous research has suggested leatherback turtles eat plastic that resembles their jellyfish prey, and we wanted to know whether a similar thing might be happening with green turtles," Dr. Emily Duncan of the University of Exeter said in a press release. "Sea turtles are primarily visual predators – able to choose foods by size and shape – and in this study we found strong evidence that green turtles favour plastic of certain sizes, shapes and colours. Compared to a baseline of plastic debris on beaches, the plastic we found in these turtles suggests they favour threads and sheets that are black, clear or green.”

The study found smaller turtles often had eaten more plastic, though it was uncertain whether that was due to lack of experience or a change in dietary preferences as green turtles age.

"Research like this helps us understand what sea turtles are eating, and whether certain kinds of plastic are being ingested more than others," said Dr. Brendan Godley of Exeter. "It's important to know what kinds of plastic might be a particular problem, as well as highlighting issues that can help motivate people to continue to work on reducing overall plastic consumption and pollution."

Previous research has found that <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/microplastics-sea-turtle-species/">microplastics pose a major threat</a> to sea turtles, and is <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/baby-sea-turtles-dying-plastic/">four times more deadly</a> for young sea turtles than adults.

The new study has been published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-48086-4">Scientific Reports</a>. Funding was provided by <a href="https://www.sealifetrust.org/">Sea Life Trust</a> and the <a href="https://europa.eu/european-union/index_en">European Union</a>.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Image credit: Emily Duncan, University of Exeter

Paid for by Earth.com.

Green turtles eat more plastic when it looks like food

To anyone who’s seen study after study of pollution’s effects...

<a href="http://www.northerndynastyminerals.com/">Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.</a> has for years sought to move forward with a mining project in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. The <a href="https://www.epa.gov/">U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</a> looked set to oppose the mine under the Clean Water Act.

Then, on July 30, the agency announced it would not block the proposal, which could threaten the Bristol Bay salmon fishery.

Now, agency staffers have told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/">CNN</a> the decision was actually made after Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy met with President Donald Trump aboard Air Force One on June 26. Sources within the agency, which CNN did not name, allegedly told the news site that they were informed of the decision on June 27.

The Bristol Bay fishery supports 14,000 jobs that bring in $1.5 billion in revenue each year, according to the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/">Los Angeles Times</a>. The mining project would process 180,000 tons of ore for gold and copper each day, the newspaper reported – a project that would require a 188-mile gas pipeline, a seaport and 77 miles of new roads.

Opponents of the mining proposal – including commercial fishing operations, environmental groups like the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/">Natural Resources Defense Council</a>, and First Nations activists – say that the project will endanger the fishing industry while providing far fewer jobs. 

“The EPA’s decision to ignore its own science and risk Bristol Bay’s entire fishing industry is pure politics,” fisherman Alexus Kwachka said in a statement released by <a href="http://fishermenforbristolbay.org/">Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay</a> and printed by the Times. “The Pebble permitting process has been hijacked by an administration that’s willing to cut corners and dismiss the appalling shortcomings and gaps in Pebble’s mine plan.”

Unnamed EPA scientists reportedly told CNN they’d planned to oppose the project before the announcement that the agency would step aside.

"I was dumbfounded," an unnamed source within the EPA told the news outlet. "We were basically told we weren't going to examine anything. We were told to get out of the way and just make it happen."

The EPA’s announcement that it would not block the proposed project in Bristol Bay means that it will move to the <a href="https://www.usace.army.mil/">U.S. Army Corps of Engineers</a> for consideration. According to the Times, Northern Dynasty’s shares saw a sharp rise following the announcement.

“Finally, this administration has reversed the outrageous federal government overreach inflicted on the state of Alaska by the Obama administration,” Tim Collier, CEO of Northern Dynasty’s U.S. subsidiary, said in a news release.

—

By Kyla Cathey, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> staff writer

Paid for by Earth.com.

EPA withdraws protection for salmon in Alaska's Bristol Bay

Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. has for years sought to move...

Endangered owls continue to decline drastically in national park. Back in 1990, the <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/endangered-species-act-recover/">Endangered Species Act</a> provided protection for a number of impacted species. One in particular was the Northern Spotted Owl, which was facing an increasing threat from the loss of the old-growth forest in which it lives. 

Now, despite the long-term preservation of this habitat within Washington’s Mount Rainier National Park, new research shows that this species has declined drastically in the last two decades. 

So if the old-growth forests in this region were preserved, how could the Northern Spotted Owl still be in decline? The study published in <a href="https://www.americanornithology.org/content/condor-ornithological-applications">The Condor: Ornithological Applications</a> details a new culprit: the spread of Barred Owls. This is a closely related, competing species that has now moved into the Spotted Owls’ territory from the east. Beginning in 1997, biologists started to notice that Barred Owls were showing up more and more in Spotted Owl territories.

This study – led by <a href="https://www.coopunits.org/Oregon/">Oregon Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit</a>'s Anna Mangan, the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/index.htm">National Park Service</a>'s Tara Chestnut – involved analysis of two decades’ worth of data from wildlife surveys in Mount Rainier National Park. 

“We found that Spotted Owls now occupy 50% fewer territories in the park than they did 20 years ago when the study began, despite the lack of habitat disturbance,” says Chestnut. “Spotted Owls were less likely to be present in territories where Barred Owls were detected, and if Spotted Owls were there, sharing space with Barred Owls made them less likely to breed. Only 18 adult Spotted Owls were detected in the study area in 2016, down from a high of 30 owls in 1998.”

According to the researchers, Barred Owls have experienced a very successful range expansion throughout the Pacific Northwest. Their ability to eat a wider range of foods and use a greater variety of forested habitats have been paramount in their ability to infiltrate other territories. 

“Barred Owls are now competing with Northern Spotted Owls for food and space, and increased Barred Owl densities are associated with declines in Northern Spotted Owl populations across their range,” says co-author Katie Dugger, a researcher from US Geological Survey's Oregon Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.

Scientists predict that if this trend continues, the Spotted Owl could end up extinct within this region in the next six to eight decades. But within Mount Rainier National Park, there are still measures that can be taken to ensure this doesn’t happen. 

“Conservation managers can focus on protecting old-growth habitat with steeper slopes, as we found this to have higher Spotted Owl occupancy, and can continue to monitor Barred Owl populations to better understand their effect on local Spotted Owl populations,” explains Mangan. “Managers will need to consider some creative solutions, and likely some unpopular choices, if the Northern Spotted Owl is going to be prevented from going extinct on public lands.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Anna Mangan

Endangered owls continue to decline drastically in national park

Endangered owls continue to decline drastically in national park. Back...

Between October 2018 and April 2019, about 38% of beekeepers’ colonies died. This disturbing statistic is an indicator of the continued peril bee colonies face due to a multitude of factors. 

Now, a study published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/">PLOS ONE</a> has pointed the finger at the increased use of a common agricultural chemical, which has infiltrated bees’ environments and led to significant colony deaths.

A class of pesticides known as <a href="http://www.earth.com/news/pesticide-exposure-impairs-flight-bees/">neonicotinoids</a> has experienced a massive rise in use across the U.S. in the last decade. In this study, pesticide, toxicity, and biology researchers detail the increased use of this pesticide since 2004, and the impact it is having on bee populations.

According to this research team, the toxicity loading of neonicotinoids in bees has risen, and in the last two decades, oral and contact toxicity loading has increased by 48 times. Although these chemicals are not as harmful to humans, they tend to linger in environments for weeks longer than other pesticides – such as organophosphates. 

The spread of these chemicals is partly due to neonicotinoids being cheaper than other pesticides, as well as the use of seeds from commercial purveyors like Bayer and Syngenta, which precoat seeds with this chemical. These plants eventually grow to harbor the chemical in their tissue, nectar, and pollen.

Along with these problems caused by neonicotinoids, another chemical called an adjuvant has exacerbated the issue. A recent study published in <a href="https://setac.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/15528618">Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry</a> by a research team from China has found that when adjuvants are paired with pesticides and added to crops, they may have an increased effect on the mass die-off of bee colonies. 

This study found that neonicotinoids were especially harmful when applied along with adjuvants, which are used to increase the effects of the pesticide. The researchers state that plants treated with this combination carry a significantly higher rate of mortality when compared to plants treated with just pesticides or just adjuvants.

Given that some regions have experienced as much as a 90% loss of bee populations, the need to find a solution to this problem is greater than ever. It is time to find alternatives to these harmful pesticides that are killing off some of our most effective pollinators, before it’s too late for the bees – as well as us. 

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Ivan Marjanovic

Massive bee colony deaths linked to widely-used pesticides and chemicals

Between October 2018 and April 2019, about 38% of beekeepers’...

The Goliath frog is the largest frog in the world and the only known species of African <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/worlds-loneliest-water-frog-love/">amphibian</a> that build nests for its young, according to a new study. 

These mammoth amphibians live in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea and are highly endangered. Deforestation has led to the population declines of over 50 percent in the past ten years. 

Researchers know very little about these frogs, particularly in terms of their supposed top-notch parental instincts. 

Dr. Mark-Oliver Rödel from the <a href="https://www.visitberlin.de/en/museum-fur-naturkunde-museum-natural-history">Berlin Museum of Natural History</a> led a study to investigate the reproductive behaviors of Goliath frogs in the wild. 

The study findings were published in the Journal of Natural History

Researchers waded along the edge of the Mpoula River trying to spot breeding sites. Tadpoles and eggs were a good sign that the researchers were in the right place, but soon, a pattern emerged among the breeding sites. 

Goliath frogs pile up materials like rocks and leaves to create a pond that is safe from the current. The discovery marks the first example of nest building seen in African amphibians. 

“Goliath frogs are not only huge, but our discovery shows they seem to be attentive parents as well,” said Marvin Schäfer, an author of the study. “The little ponds they make at the edges of fast-flowing rivers provide their eggs and tadpoles with a safe haven from sometimes torrential waters, as well as from the many predators living there.”

The researchers found 22 potential breeding sites, and the researchers set up cameras to record Goliath frogs in action. 

Goliath frogs build three different types of ponds for their young. Some of the frogs prefer to clear out a rock pool that is already protected from the current, cleaning the pool of debris and leaf-litter. 

Other frog parents push away leaf-litter and debris to the edges of their pond, but the third type of pond is the safest because the tadpoles or eggs are less likely to be washed away in case of a flood. 

In the third kind of pond, frogs move large stones, and the depression left by the rocks forms a circular pond. 

The cameras captured adult frogs moving rocks that weighed nearly four pounds to help create these special ponds. It is an impressive feat considering Goliath frogs weigh around seven pounds themselves. 

Having developed such keen parental instincts and the ability to lift heavy rocks could explain why the Goliath frogs grew to be so big. 

“We think that the heavy work they put into excavation and moving rocks may explain why gigantism evolved in these frogs in the first place.”

The researchers also found that one adult Goliath frog will guard the nest all night, standing watch in case a predator comes by. 

It was impossible to tell who does what and if females stand guard or help build, however, the researchers hypothesize that male frogs build and females stand guard. 

“The fact that we’ve only just discovered these behaviours shows how little we know about even some of the most spectacular creatures on our planet,” said Rödel. “We hope that our findings, combined with further ongoing research, will improve our understanding of the needs of the Goliath frog so we can help support its continued survival.”

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 

Image Credit: Marvin Schäfe

The largest frogs in the world build ponds for their young

The Goliath frog is the largest frog in the world...

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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;



---



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.

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" 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.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?

[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" 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.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



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.

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 



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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

[sendtonews key="qjvhBOBnY8-2426650-12187" 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.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



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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



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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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



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The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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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



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Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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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



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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"] Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected...

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



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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



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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



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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



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Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

[sendtonews key="vpljfR2VBX-2560867-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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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



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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...