Invasive species pose a significant challenge to ecosystems and agriculture, often spreading unnoticed until they have caused considerable damage. Conservationists and growers now have an unusual new ally in the fight against the invasive spotted lanternfly - trained dogs.



A recent study published in the journal Ecosphere highlights how these detection dogs outperform humans in identifying lanternfly egg masses in challenging environments, offering a novel strategy to curb the pest’s spread.



"Preventing the introduction of invasive species is championed as the most cost-effective and efficient strategy for avoiding negative impacts on systems," noted the researchers.



"However, once a species has been introduced, the next best option is to detect the population and eliminate it before it becomes established and spreads more widely across the landscape."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-spotted-lanternfly-infestations">Spotted lanternfly infestations </h2>



First detected in Pennsylvania in 2014, the spotted lanternfly has now infested 19 states, including New York. This invasive insect feeds on woody plants like grapes, apples, hops, and various trees, causing <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/growing-threat-of-invasive-species-requires-immediate-action/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">widespread destruction</a>.



“A spotted lanternfly infestation in a vineyard can cause 80% to 100% mortality of the vines in one growing season,” said study co-author Angela Fuller, a professor in Cornell’s Department of <a href="https://cals.cornell.edu/natural-resources-environment" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Natural Resources and the Environment</a>.



Fuller also noted the financial burden of infestations. “Infestations also increase the amount of insecticide that growers need to use, which can increase costs by up to 170% in a growing season.” 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-training-dogs-for-invasive-species-detection">Training dogs for invasive species detection</h2>



In collaboration with the <a href="https://www.nynjtc.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York-New Jersey Trail Conference</a> and <a href="https://wd4c.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Working Dogs for Conservation</a>, researchers trained a Labrador retriever and a Belgian malinois to sniff out the lanternfly’s egg masses.



These organizations have previously trained dogs to detect invasive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/cats-have-become-one-of-the-worlds-most-invasive-predators/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">species</a> and pathogens, making them well-equipped for this task.



The study compared the efficiency of human and canine detection in 20 vineyards across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 



The researchers mapped transects in vineyard rows and adjacent forests, where egg masses are likely to overwinter. Humans and dogs surveyed the areas on separate days to prevent cross-contamination of scents.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-dogs-outperform-humans-in-forests">Dogs outperform humans in forests</h2>



While humans excelled in detecting invasive egg masses in vineyards, dogs proved superior in forested areas. In vineyards, humans detected 1.8 times more egg masses than dogs, finding 31 egg masses per hour compared to the dogs’ 24. 



Fuller attributed this to humans’ ability to systematically search vines and poles, whereas dogs relied on scent and conducted more random searches. In forests, however, dogs excelled, finding 3.4 times more egg masses than humans. 



“The dogs find egg masses by smell,” Fuller explained. “In a very <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/unseen-crisis-37000-alien-species-have-been-introduced-by-human-activities/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">complex environment</a>, it’s easier for a dog to smell something than it is for a human to see something that is small and cryptic.” 



Dogs located 7.6 egg masses per hour in forests compared to humans’ 6.7 per hour.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-importance-of-invasive-species-detection">Importance of invasive species detection</h2>



The study emphasizes the importance of early detection in managing the lanternfly’s spread. Dogs performed exceptionally well in areas with low egg mass densities, making them invaluable for rapid response efforts. 



Fuller noted that while dogs take more time to search than humans, the added time is worth it. 



“The extra time that dogs take to find them is not as important as it is to find them in the first place, because you need to detect the egg masses in order to eradicate them,” she said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-insights-into-lanternfly-behavior">Insights into lanternfly behavior</h2>



Using computer modeling, the researchers identified patterns in lanternfly egg mass distribution. They found higher occupancy rates in vineyards than forests, particularly on metal poles. 



Vineyards near forests had higher lanternfly populations, likely because the insects don’t disperse far and often migrate from nearby trees.



“If you’re searching in a vineyard close to the forest, that’s more likely where they’re going to be,” Fuller said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-combating-invasive-species-with-dogs">Combating invasive species with dogs </h2>



This innovative approach offers hope for combating invasive species like the spotted lanternfly. 



By combining human surveys with trained detection dogs, growers and conservationists can strengthen their defense against this destructive pest.



The integration of canine detection into pest management strategies represents a significant step forward in protecting vital ecosystems and <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/non-native-species-are-spreading-at-an-exponential-rate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">agricultural resources</a>.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.70113" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ecosphere</a>.



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Trained dogs can sniff out invasive pests in forests

Invasive species pose a significant challenge to ecosystems and agriculture, often spreading unnoticed until they have caused considerable damage. Conservationists and growers now have an unusual new ally in the fight against the invasive spotted lanternfly - trained dogs. A recent study published in the journal Ecosphere highlights how these detection dogs outperform humans in identifying lanternfly egg masses in challenging environments, offering a novel strategy to curb the pest’s spread. "Preventing the introduction of invasive species is championed as the most cost-effective and efficient strategy for avoiding...

Modern dwarf crocodiles living in Africa today reach maximum lengths of only four to five feet. A new discovery found an extinct "giant" form of two dwarf crocodiles that grew up to 12 feet in length when they lived some 15 to 18 million years ago.&nbsp;



The part of Africa where these giant dwarves were found is also the site of many <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/are-humans-born-with-a-moral-compass/">human</a> fossils - the East African Rift Valley. Previous research in these areas has found early human ancestors with their bones scarred by apparent crocodile tooth marks.&nbsp;



The scientists suspect the new species of crocodiles (known as Kinyang mabokoensis and K. tchernovi) actually ate our ancestors. These crocs had nostrils facing forward instead of straight upward like modern crocodiles, suggesting they spent more time in the forests of the area than in the water - a place they could encounter fragile bipedal apes.&nbsp;



Study co-author Christopher Brochu is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the <a href="https://uiowa.edu/">University of Iowa</a> who has many years of experience working with extinct and living crocodilians.



"These were the biggest predators our ancestors faced," said Professor Brochu. "They were opportunistic predators, just as crocodiles are today. It would have been downright perilous for ancient humans to head down to the river for a drink."



The two species of Kinyang lived in a time when their region of Africa was covered in thick forest but both went extinct around 15 million years ago, the question is why? Brochu suspects that the reason might be climactic. This part of Africa today is much drier than the environment Kinyang lived in. With less rain, the place mat have become inhospitable to this strange crocodilian.&nbsp;



"Modern dwarf crocodiles are found exclusively in forested wetlands," said Professor Brochu. "Loss of habitat may have prompted a major change in the crocodiles found in the area. These same environmental changes have been linked to the rise of the larger bipedal primates that gave rise to modern humans."



So it goes, a change in environment always seems to favor one lineage and disfavor another, this is the raw material which evolution uses to shape and reshape our planet.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19328494">The Anatomical Record</a>.



---



By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Dwarf crocodiles once hunted human ancestors

Modern dwarf crocodiles living in Africa today reach maximum lengths...

With climate change rapidly warming the world’s oceans, the future of the Arctic looks rather grim. Areas that were once covered in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/melting-polar-ice-is-warping-earths-crust/">ice</a> all year long are now warming so quickly that they may be ice-free for several months per years in less than two decades. These profound changes will endanger a large variety of species that thrive in freezing temperatures.&nbsp;



However, according to a team of climate scientists from <a href="https://www.brown.edu/">Brown University</a> and a legal scholar at the <a href="https://umaine.edu/">University of Maine</a>, Arctic ice loss could also yield to changes in trade routes in international waters, reducing the shipping industry’s carbon emissions and weakening Russia’s current monopoly over these routes.



“There’s no scenario in which melting ice in the Arctic is good news,” said study lead author Amanda Lynch, a professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary sciences at Brown. “But the unfortunate reality is that the ice is already retreating, these routes are opening up, and we need to start thinking critically about the legal, environmental, and geopolitical implications.”



By modeling four navigation scenarios based on four possible outcomes of global actions to mitigate climate change, Professor Lynch and her colleagues showed that, unless leaders will manage to constrain global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels over the next few decades, several new routes through international waters will be opened by mid-century. Such changes will have major implications for global trade and politics.



Since 1982, when the <a href="https://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf">United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea</a> has given Arctic coastal states enhanced authority over primary shipping routes through Article 234, Russia has almost a full monopoly on these routes. However, as the sea-ice near Russia’s coast begins to melt, the country’s control of shipping through the Arctic Ocean will most likely diminish.



“The Russians will, I’m sure, continue to invoke Article 234, which they will attempt to back up with their might,” said study co-author Charles Norchi, the director of the&nbsp;<a href="https://mainelaw.maine.edu/academics/clinics-and-centers/center-for-oceans-coastal-law/">Center for Oceans and Coastal Law</a>&nbsp;at the University of Maine. “But they will be challenged by the international community, because Article 234 will cease to be applicable if there’s no ice covered-area for most of the year. Not only that, but with melting ice, shipping will move out of Russian territorial waters and into international waters. If that happens, Russia can’t do much, because the outcome is driven by climate change and shipping economics.”&nbsp;



Moreover, the researchers argue that, if international Arctic waters warm enough to open new pathways, transit time will be reduced by an estimated 14 to 20 days, helping shipping companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 24 percent, while also saving time and money.



“Diversifying trade routes — especially considering new routes that can’t be blocked, because they’re not canals — gives the global shipping infrastructure a lot more resiliency,” Professor Lynch concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</a>



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer&nbsp;&nbsp;

Arctic ice loss could transform international shipping routes

With climate change rapidly warming the world’s oceans, the future...

A new study led by <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State University</a> (OSU) has found that science reporting on <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/the-debate-is-over-humans-caused-climate-change/">climate change</a> can lead Americans to adopt more accurate beliefs and support government actions on this issue, regardless of their political orientation or previous attitudes towards climate change. Unfortunately, such beliefs tend to erode quickly, particularly when people are further exposed to coverage skeptical of climate change.&nbsp;



“It is not the case that the American public does not respond to scientifically informed reporting when they are exposed to it,” said study co-author Thomas Wood, a professor of Political Sciences at OSU. “But even factually accurate science reporting recedes from people’s frame of reference very quickly.”



The researchers enrolled 2,898 online participants for a four-stage experiment. In the first stage they all read authentic articles in the popular media which provided accurate information about the current scientific consensus on climate change. In the next two stages, they read either another scientific article, an opinion article which was skeptical of climate change, an article discussing the partisan debate over climate change, or an article on an unrelated topic. Finally, in the fourth stage, they were simply asked about their beliefs regarding the scientific consensus on climate change and their policy attitudes.



The scientists found that accurate scientific reporting had positive effects on all participants, including Republicans or people who initially rejected climate change. Exposure to such information changed not only their beliefs, but also their attitudes. “Not only did science reporting change people’s factual understanding, it also moved their political preferences,” said Professor Wood. “It made them think that climate change was a pressing concern that the government should do more about.”



However, these positive effects on people’s beliefs and attitudes were short-lived, largely disappearing in later stages of the study. Moreover, further exposure to opinion articles that were skeptical of the scientific consensus on climate change reversed the accuracy gains generated by science coverage.



These findings suggest that, although media plays a crucial role in Americans’ beliefs and attitudes towards scientific issues such as climate change, the imperative to only report on what is new may not be so beneficial.



“It was striking to us how amenable the subjects in our study were to what they read about climate change in our study. But what they learned faded very quickly. What we found suggests that people need to hear the same accurate messages about climate change again and again. If they only hear it once, it recedes very quickly. Unfortunately, the news media isn’t designed to act that way,” Professor Wood concluded.&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2122069119">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer&nbsp;&nbsp;

Science reporting can change climate change beliefs

A new study led by Ohio State University (OSU) has...

Last year, a team of volunteers, farmers, researchers, and various organizations conducted the first national survey of UK turtle doves in decades. The study revealed that there are just 2,100 pairs of turtle doves that currently breed in the UK.



Turtle doves are the only long-distance migratory dove species in Europe, making annual trips to and from Africa. The survey shows that the species is now concentrated in southeastern and eastern England as far north as Yorkshire.



The new estimate represents a 98 percent decline in the turtle dove population since the 1970s, when there was an estimated 125,000 pairs of the small pigeons. Despite this alarming discovery, the <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/">RSPB Wildlife Charity</a> says there is still hope for turtle doves.



For example, Operation Turtle Dove is a partnership of conservation organizations which aims to restore breeding habitat for turtle doves in the UK. This team is advising land managers to create the scrub and tall hedges that turtle doves need for nesting. The birds generally only eat seeds such as the small seeds of various legumes – plants that are disappearing from the countryside.



“In the ’70s, there were records of flocks of over 500 birds, and the UK population was estimated at 125,000 pairs," said Andrew Stanbury, a conservation scientist with the RSPB.



“Although these results paint a stark picture with numbers, the way forward is clear and we stand a good chance of turning around the fortunes of this bird. We hope that the 2021 survey will represent the lowest population point.”



According to RPSB, it is imperative that new agri-environmental schemes in England, which are replacing EU payments for farming after Brexit, continue to support farmers who implement wildlife-friendly measures on their land.



Beyond habitat loss, turtle doves are also threatened by unsustainable hunting practices. Until recently, an estimated one million birds were shot each year in southwest Europe, including migratory birds like turtle doves. However, hunting of turtle doves was outlawed in France, Spain and Portugal in 2021.



“The fact that no hunting is currently permitted on the western European flyway provides us with a huge window of opportunity to reverse the decline in arguably one of England’s most threatened bird species," said Phil Grice, principal specialist for ornithology at Government conservation agency Natural England.



“Providing good nesting habitat, in the form of tall hedges and mature scrub, and abundant seed resources throughout the late spring and summer will be vital.”



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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

Turtle doves have declined by 98 percent in the UK

Last year, a team of volunteers, farmers, researchers, and various...

Koalas are threatened by habitat loss, climate change and diseases, including the Koala retrovirus (KoRV). This virus is known to cause serious illness in koalas, such as cancer, and is now becoming established as an endogenous retrovirus (ERV) within the population.



In a new study from <a href="https://www.uu.se/en">Uppsala University</a>, researchers have discovered more about retroviral establishment among koalas. By analyzing the koala genome, the experts have found new ERV lineages beyond the Koala retrovirus.



"Retroviruses have left their legacy in host genomes over millions of years as endogenous retroviruses, and their structure, diversity, and prevalence provide insights into the historical dynamics of retrovirus–host interactions. In bioinformatic analyses of koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) whole-genome sequences, we identify a recently expanded ERV lineage (phaCin-β) that is related to the New World squirrel monkey retrovirus," wrote the study authors.&nbsp;



"This ERV expansion shares many parallels with the ongoing koala retrovirus (KoRV) invasion of the koala genome, including highly similar and mostly intact sequences, and polymorphic ERV loci in the sampled koala population."



According to study lead author Mette Lillie, many of the new ERVs are only found in a few koala individuals, which indicates that they are relatively new. "It may even indicate an ongoing establishment in the population."



After looking at the distribution pattern of ERVs in the koala population and comparing how their lineages differ, the researchers concluded that additional active retroviruses may be discovered in koalas and other animal species that share the same environment. The findings may ultimately help in the search for retroviruses in Australian fauna that have not yet been identified.



"The ERVs that have been left behind after retrovirus infections in the past now make it possible to uncover historical interactions between retroviruses and animal species, such as mapping how virus transmission has taken place," said study co-cuthor Patric Jern. "Variations in ERV distribution patterns within host populations can also be valuable as genomic markers, for example in management and protection of endangered species.'



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">PNAS</a>.



---



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

New retroviruses have been found in koalas

Koalas are threatened by habitat loss, climate change and diseases,...

A lot of focus has been placed on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by limiting the production and consumption of livestock animals. However, a recent study led by scientists from the <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/">University of Sydney</a> has shown that the transport of food in general is responsible for a massive three gigatons of emissions annually, which is equivalent to almost 20 percent of all food-related emissions.&nbsp;



The study, published today in&nbsp;the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/natfood/">Nature Food</a>, suggests that the emissions resulting from transporting foodstuffs are up to seven times higher than previously estimated, and also far exceed the emissions caused by transporting other commodities. For example, transport accounts for only seven percent of industry and utilities emissions. The authors emphasize that there is an urgent need to reduce transport emissions and therefore consumers should focus on eating locally-produced foods.



“Our study estimates that global food systems, due to transport, production, and land use change, contribute about 30 percent of total human-produced greenhouse gas emissions. So, food transport – at around six percent – is a sizeable proportion of overall emissions," explained study lead author Dr.&nbsp;Mengyu Li. “Food transport emissions add up to nearly half of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-3/">direct emissions from road vehicles</a>."



“Prior to our study, most of the attention in sustainable food research has been on the high emissions associated with animal-derived foods, compared with plants. Our study shows that, in addition to shifting towards a plant-based diet, eating locally is ideal, especially in affluent countries," said co-author Professor&nbsp;David Raubenheimer.



The researchers analyzed the emissions from transporting various goods in 37 different economic sectors, such as vegetables and fruit, livestock, coal and manufactured items. They considered the transport emissions resulting from both domestic and international transport, both within the producing country and within the country to which the goods were exported. They accounted for both the distances travelled and the masses of goods transported.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The findings revealed that rich countries contribute disproportionately to the emissions resulting from transporting foodstuffs. The United States, India, and Russia are the top food transport emitters, overall, but high-income countries in general contribute more to these emissions. For example, wealthy countries such as the United States, Germany, France, and Japan constitute 12.5 percent of the world’s population yet generate nearly half (46 percent) of food transport emissions.



Australia was found to be the second largest exporter of food transport emissions, given the breadth and volume of its primary production. Transport emissions are also food-type dependent. With fruit and vegetables, for example, transport generates nearly twice the amount of emissions as production. This is partly due to the fact that they require temperature-controlled transportation in order to ensure they arrive at their destination in fresh condition. The transport of fruit and vegetables contributes over a third of all food transport emissions.



The authors suggest that consumers need to choose locally produced foods that are in season, rather than out-of-season foods that need to be transported from a distance. They calculate that if the global population ate as ‘locavores’ (people who only eat food grown or produced within a 100-mile (161km) radius), this would reduce food transport emissions by 0.38 gigatons, an amount that is equivalent to emissions generated from driving one ton to the Sun and back, 6,000 times.



Although the authors acknowledge this scenario is not realistic because many regions cannot be self-sufficient in food supply, they say there are things that richer countries can do to reduce their food transport emissions. These include using cleaner energy vehicles and encouraging businesses to use production and distribution methods that reduce emissions.&nbsp;



Also, according to co-author Professor Manfred Lenzen, there is considerable potential for peri-urban agriculture to nourish urban residents. “Both investors and governments can help by creating environments that foster sustainable food supply,” Professor Lenzen said. &nbsp;



In addition, the attitude of consumers is of paramount importance. Supply of foods is driven by demand, meaning that the consumer has the ultimate power to change this situation. “Changing consumers’ attitudes and behavior towards sustainable diets can reap environmental benefits on the grandest scale,” said Professor Raubenheimer.



“One example is the habit of consumers in affluent countries demanding unseasonal foods year-round, which need to be transported from elsewhere. Eating local, seasonal alternatives, as we have throughout most of the history of our species, will help provide a healthy planet for future generations."



The term "locavore" was the Oxford Word of the Year in 2007. Now, 15 years later, the researchers of the current study highlight its relevance again. More than ever, the consumers of the world need to recognize the inappropriateness of choosing to eat foods from the far-flung corners of the Earth.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Eating locally produced foods can reduce transport emissions

A lot of focus has been placed on reducing greenhouse...

A team of researchers led by the <a href="https://www.osu.edu/">Ohio State University</a> (OSU) has found that frog-eating <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/bats-play-an-active-role-in-plant-pollination/">bats</a> trained by scientists to associate a phone ringtone with a tasty food reward were able to remember what they learned for up to four years in the wild. While many previous studies have documented long-term memory in a wide range of animals living in captivity – including sea lions, tortoises, dolphins, birds, and primates – this is one of the first attempts to investigate how memory functions in animals living in the wild.



“Being able to study memory in the wild is important,” said study co-author&nbsp;Gerald Carter, an assistant professor of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at OSU. “You can’t necessarily extrapolate from the wealth of data we have on animals in the lab to what they’re facing in the wild, where there are many more things they have to remember. The environment is different and the brain is different in the wild versus captivity.”



The scientists acquainted 49 bats with a series of phone ringtones which attracted their attention, and trained them to associate flying toward just one of these tones with receiving a baitfish reward. Afterwards, all bats were microchipped and returned to the wild. Between one and four years later, eight of these bats were recaptured and exposed again to the reward-related ringtone. While all of them flew toward the sound, six flew all the way to the speaker and immediately grabbed the reward, suggesting that they expected to find food when primed with the familiar ringtone. By contrast, control bats without previous training to recognize the tones, mostly twitched their ears in response to the sounds, but did not fly toward their source.



“I was surprised – I went into this thinking that at least a year would be a reasonable time for them to remember, given all the other things they need to know and given that long-term memory does have real costs. Four years strikes me as a long time to hold on to a sound that you might never hear again,” said study lead author May Dixon, a postdoctoral researcher in Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at OSU.



“The study taught us a lot because there are relatively few studies of long-term memory in wild animals and we don’t have systematic understanding of long-term memories in nature yet. If we can collect additional data on different species of bats, we could pick this apart and see what life histories select for long memories.”



Since previous studies have shown that, in other animal species such as the fruit fly, long-term memory is actually detrimental, further research is needed to clarify whether these skills are an asset or a liability for wild frog-eating bats.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.05.031">Current Biology</a>.



Image Credit: Marcos Guerra



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer&nbsp;&nbsp;

Frog-eating bats have a long-term memory

A team of researchers led by the Ohio State University...

A new study led by <a href="https://www.yorku.ca/">York University</a> in Canada has discovered that the local environment plays a crucial role in the health and diversity of the gut microbiome of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/wild-bees-struggle-to-recover-after-extreme-weather-events/">wild bees</a>. These findings could help detect invisible stressors and early indicators of potential threats for wild bee populations. Moreover, establishing a baseline of what a healthy microbiome looks like in wild bees will allow scientists to compare species across populations and continents, and better understand how diseases and harmful microbiota are introduced and transmitted.



“We can really dissect bee health in a very systematic way looking at population genetics and parasite pathogen loads, healthy microbiomes, and deviations,” said study corresponding author Sandra Rehan, an expert in Wild Bee Genomics, Environment, and Conservation at York. “The long-term goal is really to be able to use these tools in order to detect early signatures of stress and habitats in need of restoration or conservation. To develop it almost like a diagnostic tool for bee health.”



By using metagenomic analyses, the scientists sequenced the genomes of three species of carpenter bees (a type of wild bee) in North America, Australia, and Asia to shed more light on these bees’ microbiomes, diet and viral load, and environmental DNA.



Unlike species of social bees such as bumblebees or honeybees, solitary bees get their microbiome – which is crucial for their health – from the environment in which they live and forage for food, instead of inheriting it from their nest mates. “This may make them better bio-indicators as they are much more sensitive to their environment,” Professor Rehan explained.



The researchers found beneficial bacteria that helped with metabolic and genetic functions in all three carpenter bee species, including, for instance, a species of Lactobacillus – a bacterium which is found across most bee lineages, and protects against prevalent fungal pathogens, boosts the immune system, and facilitates nutrient uptake. However, in a previous <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/edn3.291">study</a>, Professor Rehan discovered that adult carpenter bees living in cities lacked this beneficial microbe.&nbsp;



“This raises red flags,” she said. “We are continuing those studies to look at more nuanced urban, rural comparisons, and long-term data to really understand these environmental stressors. Anytime we characterize a microbiome and see deviations from what we know to be normal, it can give us an indication of a population or species in threat.”



In future research, the scientists aim to investigate and compare the microbiomes of a larger variety of wild bee species. “The long-term goal is really to be able to use these tools to detect early signatures of stress in wild bees and thereby identify habitats in need of restoration or preservation. We are excited to be building the tools for a new era of wild bee research and conservation,” Professor Rehan concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-022-03535-1">Nature Communications Biology</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer&nbsp;&nbsp;

Clues to bee health found in their gut microbiome

A new study led by York University in Canada has...

Over recent years, wildfires have raged across the world, postng significant hazards to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humans-pass-on-gut-microbes-to-urban-wildlife/">wildlife</a> and local populations. However, wildfires have been a long-standing part of Earth’s systems for hundreds of millions of years. A new study describes the earliest record of wildfire found to date.&nbsp;



“Wildfire has been an integral component in earth-system processes for a long time and its role in those processes has almost certainly been underemphasized,” said study lead author Ian Glasspool.



In samples from Wales and Poland, the researchers found 430-million-year-old charcoal produced by wildfires. The discovery represents the earliest record of wildfire - taking place 10 million years earlier than previously thought. Wildfire has three essential ingredients: fuel, ignition (which comes in the form of lightning strikes), and sufficient atmospheric oxygen.



“It looks now as though our evidence of fire coincides closely with our evidence of the earliest land plant macrofossils. So as soon as there’s fuel, at least in the form of plant macrofossils, there is wildfire pretty much instantly,” said Glasspool.



During the Silurian period, the types of plants that existed 430 million years ago would have looked very different. Flat-lying plants barely even an inch tall would have covered much of the landscape, with the occasional knee-height plant. The ancient fungus Prototaxites would have stood nearly 30 feet tall, towering over the landscape. These Silurian plants would have been dependent on water for reproduction and would not have been found in seasonally dry areas.



“The Silurian landscape had to have enough vegetation across it to have wildfires propagated and to leave a record of that wildfire,” said Gastaldo. “At points in time that we’re sampling windows of, there was enough biomass around to be able to provide us with a record of wildfire that we can identify and use to pinpoint the vegetation and process in time.”



Silurian plant life was able to provide a sufficient source of fuel. The other crucial factor for early wildfires was atmospheric oxygen levels. Currently, oxygen makes up 21 percent of the gasses in the planet’s atmosphere. However, atmospheric levels had essentially zero oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere for the first part of the planet’s history.



Modern burn experiments indicate that wildfires are unlikely to occur below levels of 16 percent atmospheric oxygen. “If you drop below that level you might initiate a fire but it’s not going to propagate,” said Glasspool. “So when you look at the probability of finding charcoal in the record, you’re really only going to find charcoal if that fire was able to propagate, and you can put a minimum threshold value on atmospheric oxygen when you find charcoal.”



During the Silurian, atmospheric oxygen levels were equal to current levels. This was determined by analyzing charcoal. Oxygen would have been raised to near present levels by increased photosynthesis from terrestrial plant life impacting the oxygen cycle. This means that fires would have been a significant global phenomenon during the Silurian. Wildfires at the time were playing an important role in sediment movement and carbon and phosphorus cycling.



The research is published by The <a href="https://www.geosociety.org/">Geological Society of America</a> in the journal Geology.



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By <a href="mailto:katherinebucko@gmail.com">Katherine Bucko</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Earliest record of wildfire pushed back by ten million years

Over recent years, wildfires have raged across the world, postng...

Our <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/remote-learning-causes-sleep-and-behavior-issues/">sleep</a> efficiency tends to decrease across our lifetime. In a recent study, researchers at the Medical College of Georgia were surprised to find sleep efficiency stabilized from ages 30 to 60. 



True sleep time is difficult to measure, as most assessments are self-reports of sleep, explained study first author Dr. Shaoyong Su.



For the investigation, participants wore accelerometers on their wrist 24 hours a day for seven consecutive days. While the device does not measure sleep time, measuring movement can give some indication of whether you are asleep or not, noted study co-author Dr. Vaughn McCall.



“We confirmed previous findings based on subjective measurement,” said Dr. Su. “People think children and adolescents sleep later and we found this. And, during middle age people sleep less and our findings support that objectively." He said that in addition, sleep duration is increased for those age 60 and older.



The researchers found that generally, nighttime sleep decreases as our age increases.&nbsp; However, the ‘U’ shape emerged as sleep duration dropped significantly from age 10 into the 50s, getting longer after that.&nbsp;



A graph of how long Americans sleep forms a U-shaped pattern across our lives, with age 40 being the low point and hours of sleep starting to creep back up about age 50. Increased sleep later in life may reflect that most Americans retire in their 60s and don’t get up as early.&nbsp;



Sleep efficiency - the time you actually sleep versus the time you have dedicated to sleep - also tends to decrease with age. The study found, however, that this was stabilized from ages 30 to 60. This indicates that adults maintain sleep efficiency for a long period, but may get the least sleep in their busy middle age.



Females were found to sleep longer than males but go to sleep later, particularly as they get older, and are interrupted by childcare duties.&nbsp;



The study showed that males and females were equally sleep efficient since females are more likely to report worse quality and more disturbances. While more study is needed to understand gender differences in sleep, these differences should be considered in treatment of sleep health. 



Young American adults aged 20 had the latest clock time for sleep onset (CTSO), the time participants actually went to sleep. High school students had the biggest weekday/weekend differences between the time they went to sleep and awakened, which aligned with the school year.



For school-age children, the CTSO was 9:30 pm, while 25 percent of children ages 6 to 13 had a CTSO close to 11 pm. These patterns could reflect changes during adolescence, but could also be influenced by fatigue, behavioral problems and less academic success.



Moving into their 20s, a lot of people transition to work life and the CTSO begins to reverse. ‘’You hit the years where you are raising children and you are working and then what happens around the time of retirement? Your whole schedule begins to change,” said Dr. McCall, and the CTSO gets later again.



Black Americans tended to have some of the most troublesome sleep parameters, going to sleep later, sleeping less hours and less efficiently. Mexican Americans had the earliest sleep onset and longest sleep time but were not necessarily efficient sleepers. The findings point to the need for more research on racial disparities in sleep that take into account social and cultural factors.



“One thing we cannot overestimate is the impact of sleep,” noted Dr. Wang. Without sufficient sleep, you overuse your body, she said, and your ability to adjust to less sleep decreases with age.



While insufficient sleep itself is a risk factor of health problems from obesity to cardiovascular disease, it may also be an indicator of disease. How we sleep is like a “canary in a coal mine," as sleep complaints may be an indication of mental or physical health problems.



“I don’t look at our findings necessarily as a benchmark of perfect health,” said Dr. McCall. “I look at this as a benchmark of what is happening in America.”



Our natural instincts are to go to sleep when it gets dark and wake up with the light, but life obligations interfere with our internal circadian clocks, the investigators explained. .



Babies’ sleep patterns tend to follow these more natural circadian rhythms, Su notes. The days before television, the internet and mobile phones, likely had more of us sleeping like babies, McCall says.



“Is it in the biology of a 20-year-old to always go to bed late or is it due to the fact that they have friends that they are engaged with and they have parties and college keg night? I think there is a lot of societal influence here,” said Dr. McCall. “Life gets in the way.”



The <a href="https://www.thensf.org/how-many-hours-of-sleep-do-you-really-need/">National Sleep Foundation</a> says healthy adults need seven to nine hours of sleep, those over 65 need seven to eight hours and babies, young children and teens need more sleep than healthy adults to enable growth and development. Newborns, who rarely sleep through the night, need 14 to 17 hours including naps.



The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association and is published in the journal <a href="https://www.nature.com/srep/">Scientific Reports</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:katherinebucko@gmail.com">Katherine Bucko</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Americans get the least sleep in their 40s

Our sleep efficiency tends to decrease across our lifetime. In...

Coastal ecosystems such as <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/diverse-mangrove-forests-have-higher-carbon-storage-capacity/">mangrove forests</a> and coral reefs act as natural barriers to storm surges and massive waves, significantly reducing flood damage to people and properties. However, in many regions of the world, the degradation of coastal wetlands and reefs has reduced their ability to protect coastlines from flooding and erosion. Although strategies for restoring these important ecosystems exist, funding for such restoration projects is often hard to find.&nbsp;



A new study led by the <a href="https://www.ucsc.edu/">University of California, Santa Cruz</a> has found that restoration of mangroves and coral reefs can be a cost-effective solution for coastal flood reduction in over 20 countries across the Caribbean. By using methods drawn from the risk and insurance industry, the experts provided a rigorous valuation of these natural defenses, showing that the benefits from reduced flood damage could exceed the costs of restoration. These findings suggest new opportunities to support restoration project with funding from sources that support hazard mitigation, disaster recovery, and climate adaptation, including the <a href="https://www.fema.gov/">U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency</a> (FEMA).&nbsp;



“We identify a number of funding sources that have traditionally supported artificial ‘gray infrastructure,’ such as concrete sea walls, and that could be applied to nature-based solutions,” said study lead author Michael Beck, an expert in coastal resilience at UC Santa Cruz. “Funding for artificial infrastructure such as seawalls can be redirected to natural defenses, which provide multiple benefits beyond coastal protection.”



According to Professor Beck and his colleagues, global spending on disaster recovery is currently over 100 times larger than the spending on conservation. “Recovery funding will grow as climate change increases the impacts from storms, and environmental funding will likely shrink as national budgets are strained by natural disasters,” he said.



“There are opportunities to align conservation, flood risk reduction, and climate adaptation to reduce storm risks. There are many places across the Caribbean where habitat restoration for risk reduction could be cost-effective, and these values open significant opportunities to pay for their needed restoration,” the authors concluded.



The study is published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2022.101440">Ecosystem Services</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer&nbsp;&nbsp;

Mangrove restoration efficiently reduces flood damage

Coastal ecosystems such as mangrove forests and coral reefs act...

Worsening environmental pressures due to climate change, such as sea temperature rises, are causing catastrophic losses of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/corals-need-our-help-to-survive-global-warming/">corals</a> all over the world. As the waters of the Great Barrier Reef (the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem) warm, subtropical corals are migrating south in search of cooler waters. Sydney’s coastline has recently become home to a new subtropical species of coral (Pocillopora aliciae), raising the question whether this place could become a refuge for corals displaced by climate change.



A new study led by the <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/">University of Technology Sydney</a> (UTS) has analyzed the metabolism of these new corals under current and future warming scenarios, and found that these invading subtropical corals will survive and thrive in their new habitat. However, the experts argue that warming could pose significant problems for the native Sydney coral species.&nbsp;



“While we found these corals possess the machinery to withstand large changes in temperature, those temperatures could kill the existing corals in Sydney. This is incredibly important when we consider the future of Sydney’s precious ecosystems,”&nbsp;said study senior author Jennifer Matthews, a coral biologist at UTS.



“The ecological services and economic revenue of the Sydney marine environment make it a very valuable ecosystem, but it is under continuous threat from climate change and urbanization, causing increased stormwater inflows and habitat modification.”



However, according to study co-author Brigitte Sommer (a marine ecologist at UTS), increasing the biodiversity and complexity of Sydney’s marine ecosystems could bring significant benefits, by turning this region into a refuge for reef fish, coral crabs, and potentially other coral species.



“Determining which coral species will be able to migrate poleward in warming seas and how they will interact with local species is critical so we can protect these dynamic ecosystems into the future,”&nbsp;she explained.



“We are continuing to examine how corals can live and breed in temperate, or suboptimal, environments, and how we might use this knowledge to help us to protect Australia’s reefs into the future,” concluded Dr. Matthews.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-022-02277-0">Coral Reef</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer&nbsp;&nbsp;

How will climate change affect Sydney’s coral reefs?

Worsening environmental pressures due to climate change, such as sea...

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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



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

[sendtonews key="JRaP49ISmm-2357509-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

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

[sendtonews key="e4ZG0Jawp3-2374785-12187" type="single"] Astronomers at Johns Hopkins University have created...

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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



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 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

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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

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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

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