Florida has been wrestling with its python problem for years. Thanks to the tropical temps in south Florida the Everglades National Park has become a dumping ground for unwanted reptiles, particularly the non-native Burmese python. Wildlife officials have been battling the snakes for about twenty years.
They presume that parents of kids who outgrew their pets and the pets who outgrew their owners freed the snakes in the swamp. Some also believe that the wild python population began to grow after Hurricane Andrew destroyed pet stores selling the exotic snakes in 1992.
Park Service's Al Mercado, Rep. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., Florida Wildlife Commission's Ron Bergeron and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Hold a Burmese Python
On a regular basis, giant snakes are turn up in backyard swimming pools, terrorizing neighborhoods. And in November game officials found a 16-foot python that had swallowed a 76-pound deer. Burmese pythons can grow to 26 feet and weigh well over 200 pounds. And unlike in its home in southeast Asia, there are no known predators in Florida that keep the snake population in check.
A study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that sightings of medium-sized animals like racoons, oppossums, rabbits, foxes, deer and bobcats are down dramatically — as much as 99 percent — in some parts of the Everglades where these snakes are most commonly found.
There is no way to tell for sure that the Burmese python is solely responsible for the drastic decline in medium-sized mammals. But scientists suspect it is. They are concerned that the invasive species will disrupt the food chain in the Everglades and upset the delicate ecosystem balance.
J.D. Wilson, a Virginia Tech research biologist and co-author on the study says, “The effects of declining mammal populations on the overall Everglades ecosystem, which extends well beyond the National Park boundaries, are likely profound.”
Between 2003 and 2011 researchers drove 39,000 miles of Everglades area roads, counting wildlife. Since 2000 the National Park Service has counted 1,825 Burmese pythons in and around the national park. The largest, 16.4-foot snake weighed 156 pounds and was captured earlier this month.
Burmese Python Swallows Adult Deer Whole in Florida, November 2011
Michael Dorcas, a biologist from Davidson College in North Carolina and the lead author of the study says, “The magnitude of these declines underscores the apparent incredible density of pythons in Everglades National Park.”
Here are the significant declines in medium-sized mammal sightings in the Florida Everglades.
Raccoons — down 99.3 percent
Oppossums — down 98.9 percent
White-tail deer — down 94.1 percent
Bobcats — down 87.5 percent
Rabbits — down 100 percent (no sightings)
Foxes — down 100 percent (no sightings)
The research also found slight increases in coyotes, Florida panthers, rodents and other mammals. But because those sightings were so rare they discounted them altogether.
Secretary Salazar says, “This study paints a stark picture of the real damage that Burmese pythons are causing to native wildlife and the Florida economy.”
The state of Florida banned the private ownership of Burmese pythons in 2010. Now the federal government announced new rules on January 17 that will ban the importation and interstate transport of Burmese pythons, yellow anacondas and three other invasive constrictors sold in the pet trade. All have been found roaming Everglades National Park.
Some believe the federal mandate goes a little too far. Practically, the snakes can only survive outside in a few parts of the country, including south Florida and Louisiana. The rest of the nation is just to cold for the snakes to take hold. Snake breeders and experts who use the mighty constrictors to educate people about reptiles say the overall ban could lead to a burgeoning black market for Burmese pythons and could hurt legitimate businesses in the process.
With some estimates of the Everglades invasive snake population approaching 30,000 research turns to understanding and limiting the spread of the invasive snake species.
Burmese pythons need freshwater to survive. But a team of biologists with the U.S. Geological Survey led by Kristen Hart in its Davie, Florida lab showed that the snakes can drink in their much-needed moisture through the tissue of animals they swallow. The team also ran experiments trying to understand the snakes relationship to water.
The team’s experiments suggest that newborn pythons can’t survive more than two months with only access to saltwater. But a pair of hatchlings survived over 200 days with access to only brackish (mix of fresh and saltwater) water. And a yearling snake with access to only saltwater survived 7 months. New research in the upcoming Journal of the Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology suggests that these super-swimming snakes could head for the sea and migrate long distances.
Scientists Haul a Big Burmese Python out of the Everglades
Already, Burmese pythons have already been found eating endangered wood rats on Key Largo, off the mainland Florida coast. The first snake was discovered alive in 2007 when two researchers studying federally endangered Key Largo woodrats were checking on the status of a male woodrat wearing a radio transmitter that had suddenly moved more than a mile from its original documented habitat.
The signal led the researchers — a University of St. Andrews graduate student Joanne Potts and a volunteer assistant — to a eight-foot Burmese python sunning itself.
The contents of the captured snake’s stomach included not only the collared woodrat but a second woodrat as well.
Jack Hanna, the director emeritus at the Columbus Zoo believes the Florida python problem is a state issue not a federal one. He is concerned that the far-reaching ban on exotic constrictors will choke commerce. He tells CBS This Morning the new ban might effect the 220 breeding programs at the nation’s zoos as well as hurt snake breeders.
He says, “There are reputable breeders in Florida and we can’t put these guys out of business because they help and there is a logical role with a lot of our breeding programs [at zoos].
]]>In 2006 bees began disappearing. Entomologists have never been exactly able to pinpoint the cause of syndrome, which they now call colony collapse disorder. It occurs when the worker bees abandon the hive and the whole system falls apart. No one knows why the bees leave. Some have suggested they get disoriented and can’t find their way back home. After studying fungus, chemicals, environmental toxins, a new possibility is on the rise.
Honeybee Hive, Abuzz with Activity
Call them zom-bees.
John Hafernik, an insect biologist at San Francisco State University made an accidental but significant discovery, which could explain colony collapse disorder.
He found that a parasitic fly had deposited eggs into the honey bee’s abdomen and the maggots were incubating there, feeding on the bee’s internal organs. It sounds like something out of a horror movie but Dr. Hafernik says that the flies were turning the worker bees into zombies. And that could explain why they were abandoning their hives.
It all started on a cold morning a few years ago when he noticed a bunch of dead and dying bees on the sidewalk near his office. Among the dozens of dead bees he noticed some still living bees appeared disoriented, walking off kilter and in circles. He knew the bees came from a nearby hive but thought they would have had the sense to stay inside when it was so cold. As a curious scientist he scooped a bunch of bees into a test tube and took them upstairs to his lab where he filed them on his desk top.
After about a week in his lab, Hafernik looked at the vial again and saw little brown pupae. He immediately knew they were fledgling flies. He set his students to work studying this serendipitous scientific moment.
Forage Fly Lays Eggs Inside Unsuspecting Honey Bee, Photo by Chris Quock
Hafernik says, “There was nothing left inside the bee.”
Hafernik and his research team has figured out the scary cycle. Apparently, a fertile fly uses the bee’s appendage called an ovipositer to lay fly eggs inside the bee, where they hatch into lots and lots of maggots.
Graduate student Christopher Quock says the team found 25 maggots in one of the bees.
Hafernik says, “They eat them; eat them from the inside out.”
He says the maggots start their meal in the abdomen then the baby flies eat their way into the wing muscle and eventually the brain. They pop out between the head and thorax.
Hafernik says, “It’s kind of a bee’s worst nightmare.”
Figuring out what happened to the bees a few years ago is not just a bee problem. Bees are primary pollinators and are a critical piece of the U.S. agricultural process. Without honeybees many crops can’t produce food for us to eat.
While Hafernik won’t confirm that flies taking over bees and eating them from the inside out is the cause of colony collapse disorder he does see it as yet another viable reason for it. And, the symptoms do fit the situation.
Dennis vanEngelsdorp of the University of Maryland, College Park says casting a wary eye on the fly is “certainly worth a lot more attention.”
Maggot Emerges from Honey Bee's Head, Photo courtesy of John Hafernik
But according to their research which appears in PLoS ONE they discovered that just 5-15 percent of the bees in a SFSU campus hive near the bug building had been turned into zom-bees. That’s not enough to cause complete colony collapse disorder. But it does raise a whole host of new questions.
Namely, where did the parasitizing of honey bees begin? DNA analysis of commercial hive samples suggests that the type of fly found inside the honey bees comes from South Dakota and the Central Valley of California.
Bee pathologist Elke Genersch of the Institute for Bee Research in Hohen Neuendorf, Germany says, “Extensive surveys are now needed on the distribution of the flies in the global honey bee population.”
Since honey bees are trucked between those two locations to assist in pollination for the U.S. agricultural industry, it is conceivable that isolated cases of zom-bees hopped on the road and spread quickly, aided by modern transport.
Colony collapse disorder is blamed on the loss of seven percent of all honey bee hives in North America each year. And this was a disorder that has only been around for six years.
Eric Mussen at the University of California, Davis says that based on the infection rate at the SFSU campus hive, the parasite “does not appear to be a dominate factor.” But Genersch is concerned that the fly population could explode if the parasitizing flies get into entire hives and turn all the drones into zom-bees.
Dennis vanEngelsdorp talks honey bee disappearance at the 2008 Taste3 conference.
Recently scientists in Australia discovered that two species of sharks are interbreeding. The common black-tip shark and the Australian black-tip shark have started producing hybrid sharks. Marine biologists in Queensland say they’ve found 57 sharks so far.
The common black-tip shark is found around the world in subtropical and temperate ocean waters while the smaller Australian black-tip shark is more suited to warmer, tropical waters. The combination of the two species — which is extremely unusual — could be a response to climate change.
Lead researcher Jess Morgan of the University of Queensland says, “If it [the Australian black-tip species] hybridizes with the common species it can effectively shift its range further south into cooler waters, so the effect of this hybridizing is a range expansion. It’s enabled a species restricted to the tropics to move into temperate waters.”
The team confirmed the cross-breeding through DNA analysis. The team found the 57 hybrid sharks along 1,250 miles of coastline on the east coast of Australia.
Jennifer Ovenden, one of the co-authors on the paper, which appears in the journal Conservation Genetics says, Hybridization could enable the sharks to adapt to environmental change as the smaller Australian black tip currently favors tropical waters in the north while the larger common black tip is more abundant in sub-tropical and temperate waters along the south-eastern Australian coastline.”
Morgan says, “You’re seeing evolution in action.” Mixing two species of animals like this increases its chance of survival. Animals start interbreeding when their existence is threatened. By combining genetics, these sharks become stronger, making them more able to withstand changes to their environment.
]]>In 2006, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began monitoring the Arctic region, creating an annual report card to mark rapid change occurring there. Five years in and the news isn’t good.
The 2011 Arctic Report Card shows that the entire region is changing dramatically. Ice, both on land and at sea, is melting at record pace. That is upsetting the Earth’s albedo, allowing more of the sun’s energy to be absorbed by dark, open water and not be reflected back to space as it bounces off snow and ice.
2011 Arctic Sea Ice Extent, courtesy of NOAA Arctic Report Card
According to the report card, “The 2011 minimum is the second lowest, only 0.16 million km2 greater than the 2007 record minimum.” Overall, the 2011 minimum reached on September 9 was 31% (2.08 million km2) smaller than the 1979-2000 average. The report says, “The last five summers (2007-2011) have experienced the five lowest minima in the satellite record, and the past decade (2002-2011) has experienced nine of the ten lowest minima.”
All of the newly exposed water is allowing atmospheric carbon dioxide to sink into the Arctic waters and it is changing the chemical makeup of the ocean. As a result, the Chukchi and Beaufort seas have lower pH values. In other words the waters are becoming more acidic, which makes it difficult for tiny sea animals that rely on calcium carbonate shells to survive. The higher acid level makes shell formation more difficult.
The report card says, “The increased amount of open water enhanced the uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere and the freshening of the upper ocean decreased alkalinity, inorganic carbon and calcium ion concentrations.” The melting sea ice exposed more water to the open air, allowing more atmospheric carbon dioxide to sink in the ocean, making the ocean more acidic. The report notes, “Although CO2 concentration in surface waters in 2010 and 2011 was not as high as in 2008, these waters have continued to be undersaturated with respect to aragonite.” By monitoring the aragonite levels scientists can determine if phytoplankton is having trouble forming shells.
In addition to watching the ocean and the atmosphere change, NOAA also monitors shorter term weather patterns and tracks the impact they have on the Arctic region as a whole. And the last few years, pressure over the North Pole shifted, pushing the coldest Arctic air far south to the United States and Europe while warmer air filtered over Greenland, rapidly speeding up the melt rate of glaciers there.
For the first time, the 2011 Arctic Report Card measured changes in Greenland. As a result of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) switching from positive to negative, caused unusually warm weather during Winter 2010-2011 and last summer. Those weather conditions in turn sped up the melt rate from the Greenland ice sheet.
The report says, “The area and duration of melting at the surface of the ice sheet in summer 2011 were the third highest since 1979.” According to satellite data, the Greenland ice sheet melted to its third lowest point since 1979 when record keeping began. Only 2010 and 2007 exceeded that ice loss.
NOAA principal deputy under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere Monica Medina says, “This report, by a team of 121 scientists from around the globe, concludes that the Arctic region continues to warm, with less sea ice and greater green vegetation.”
Using a familiar image of a stoplight, NOAA classified the five chapters of the report card according to level of change. The findings show that Atmosphere, Sea Ice & Ocean, Hydrology & Terrestrial Cryosphere have experienced significant change while Marine Ecosystems and Terrestrial Ecosystems have experienced some change. No coverage area received a greenlight, meaning little or no change.
The Report Card tracks the Arctic atmosphere, sea ice, biology, ocean, land, and Greenland. This year, new sections were added, including, greenhouse gases, ozone and ultraviolet radiation, ocean acidification, Arctic Ocean primary productivity, and lake ice.
It concludes, “Sea ice and ocean observations over the past decade (2001-2011) suggest that the Arctic Ocean climate has reached a new state, with characteristics different than those observed previously.”
And, “In 2011 there was continued widespread warming in the Arctic, where deviations from historical air temperatures are amplified by a factor of two or more relative to lower latitudes. This phenomenon, called Arctic Amplification, is primarily a consequence of increased summer sea ice loss and northward transport of heat by the atmosphere and ocean.”
]]>According to a new study it could take 1,200 years, 300,000 researchers and $364 billion to identify and catalog all the species on Earth.
New research in the online journal PLoS Biology, a publication of the Public Library of Science uses a new way of calculating just how many plants and animals inhabit Earth. So far of the estimated 8.8 million we have discovered just 1.9 million.
Recent discoveries have been small and weird. They include a psychedelic frogfish, a dime-sized lizard and a blind, hairy lobster found on the ocean floor near Antarctica. Some scientists are actively searching for species to fill in the big gaps on the species pyramid. Others just happen across new species.
Describing the wild world in which we live biologist and study co-author Boris Worm from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia says, “We are fairly ignorant of the complexity and colorfulness of this amazing planet.”
Scientists from the U.S. and Canada who are part of the Census of Marine Life released the study this week. It found the previous estimate of global species a bit too difficult to pin down. The range of 3 million to 100 million didn’t sit well and researchers have been trying to narrow the number.
Using a new computer modeling method Dr. Worm and Camilo Mora from the University of Hawaii now believe the number to be somewhere between 7.5 million and 10.1 million. Even with the more improved method for counting the study admits it could be off by as much as 1.3 million.
In 1758 Carl Linnaeus built the system that is still used today to name, describe and catalog species. In the 253 years since, about 1.25 million species — roughly 1 million on land and 250,000 in the oceans — have been described and entered into central databases. But there are about 700,000 more species that have yet to reach the central databases. They are sitting in limbo between discovery and classification, many waiting patiently in backroom of major museums like the Smithsonian.
Based on the new way of estimating the number of species on Earth, the biologists estimate there are 6.5 million species found on land and 2.2 million or 25 percent living in the ocean depths. They suggest that about 86 percent of all species on land and 91 percent of those in the seas have yet to be discovered, described and catalogued.
According to the Associated Press, evolutionary biologist Blair Hedges from Penn State University says the new study isn’t good enough and could be off by millions. He thinks there are many tiny species lurking in corners of the unexplored Earth. And he should know. In 2001 while rooting around in dead leaves in the Dominican Republic in 2001 he found the world’s smallest lizard, a half-inch long Caribbean gecko. And then in 2008 he discovered a four-inch snake in Barbados that lays a very long egg.
Who Cares?
Scientists don’t want to classify every living creature on Earth just for the sake of saying they did it. They are trying to identify new species which could potentially have benefits for humans, ranging from medicine to climate adaptation.
Famed biologist E.O. Wilson says undiscovered species need to be found before they disappear taking possible cures with them. He says, “We won’t know the benefits to humanity from these species, which potentially are enormous.”
In order to advance medical and other science he says we need to know what’s in the environment.
Dr. Mora says, “Many species may vanish before we even know of their existence, of their unique niche and function in ecosystems, and of their potential contribution to improved human well-being.”
Lord Robert May, a past president of the British Royal Society praised the new system for estimating species numbers. He says, “It is a remarkable testament to humanity’s narcissism that we know the number of books in the U.S. Library of Congress on 1 February 2011 was 22,194,656, but cannot tell you — to within an order-of-magnitude — how many distinct species of plants and animals we share our world with.”
But fledgling projects like the Census of Marine Life and the Encyclopedia of Life are trying to speed the process given that human activity appears to be hastening the demise of habitats that could contain undiscovered species.
If the 8.8 million number is right, Erick Mata says, “Those are brutal numbers.” The executive director for the Encyclopedia of Life says even with an accelerated rate of discovery, “We could spend the next 400-500 years trying to document the species that actually inhabit our planet.”
Do Something that Counts
The International Union for Conservation of Nature monitors 59,508 species and classifies 19,625 as somehow threatened. Right now this is the most sophisticated system for monitoring known species and it is only looking at about one percent of the entire list.
That’s where citizen scientists come in. Scientists believe that some of the yet-to-be-discovered species could be found in our own backyards.
What will you do to help find, describe and catalog species that scientists discover?
]]>A meta-study in the journal Science says – changing global temperatures are pushing species towards the poles and higher altitudes.
A meta study is a study that rounds up all the other related studies (in this case 54) and analyzes them for trends or patterns that emerge. After looking at the scientific literature on species migration for the last 40 years, it appears that animals and plants are responding to a changing climate by moving further north and to higher elevations.
While it may sound strange that trees are picking up and moving in essence that’s what’s happening. Of course, they can’t uproot themselves and walk up a mountain or further north to a more suitable climate. But researchers have found that 2,000 species of plants and animals are finding new homes thanks to climate change.
And the rate at which the they are moving to a more suitable climate is staggering, much faster than the commonly accepted rates found in the scientific literature.
Chris Thomas, Biology professor at the University of York in England and the meta study project leader says, “These changes are equivalent to animals and plants shifting away from the equator at around 20 centimeters [8 inches] per hour, for every hour of the day, for every day of the year.”
That’s a rate three times faster than scientists thought plants and animals were migrating because of climate change. That amounts to a shift of 10.1 miles to the north per decade. And species are moving higher up hills and mountains as well at a rate twice what scientists thought. On average species are moving at a rate of 36.1 feet higher per decade.
While it may not sound like a lot of movement Dr. Thomas says that there is no other explanation why plants and animals would be permanently shifting their habitats to higher latitudes and higher elevation. He also says the speed at which the change is occurring is very dramatic.
I-Ching Chen, another lead researcher on the meta study says this project shows that global warming is pushing plant and animal species toward the poles and to higher elevations. Dr. Chen says, “We have for the first time shown that the amount by which the distributions of species have changed is correlated with the amount the climate has changed in that region.”
This analysis of the literature spells trouble for animals in Arctic regions where the climate is warming twice as fast as anywhere else. There is nowhere for these species to go. The same holds true for plants that are already perched on mountain tops. They can’t climb any higher.
Dr. Thomas and other scientists fear that many of the species that are unable to adapt by shifting their homes will simply die out.
The meta study focused on the scientific literature in Europe and North America, leaving a gaping hole in what’s happening in equatorial regions, where temperatures are warming much more slowly than higher latitudes. In the tropics moisture not temperature may be having the same overall effect on species. That’s the subject for another meta study.
And while the overall trend pointed toward a warming world forcing the migration of plants and animals toward the poles and to highter elevations, a significant minority of species moved to lower latitudes and lower elevations. Dr. Thomas attributes this to other pressures that have an effect on species distribution. Habitat loss, land use, and other pressures besides climate change do have an impact on species movement.
He told the New York Times, “Land use change, habitat loss — there’s a long list of pressures which must all be balanced. Climate change is a huge pressure, but it’s just one pressure facing species around the world.”
]]>After an 87-year absence the Borneo rainbow toad has been discovered or rather rediscovered. A group of 126 researchers have scoured the rainforests and mountains of 21 countries on 5 continents in 2010 in search of lost amphibian species.
After three months of night-long expeditions, one of Dr. Indraneil Das’ University Malaysia Sarawak graduate students eventually spotted a small toad in the high branches of a tree. In all, the team found three toads, each measuring about 2 inches long and decked out in bright colors. A black and white drawing from 1924 was the only previous evidence of this sought after amphibian.
Conservation International, which launched its Global Search for Lost Amphibians in 2010, had listed the toad as one of the “world’s top 10 most wanted frogs”.
Here’s THE TOP 10 “LOST” AMPHIBIAN SPECIES:
• Golden toad (Incilius periglenes) Costa Rica – last seen in 1989
• Gastric brooding frog (Rheobatrachus vitellinus and R. silus) Australia – last seen in 1985
• Mesopotamia Beaked Toad (Rhinella rostrata) Colombia – last seen in 1914
• Jackson’s climbing salamander (Bolitoglossa jacksoni) Guatemala – last seen in 1975
• African Painted Frog (Callixalus pictus) Dem. Republic of Congo/Rwanda – last seen in 1950
• ((FOUND)): Rio Pescado Stubfoot Toad (Atelopus balios) Ecuador
• Turkestanian salamander (Hynobius turkestanicus) Kyrgyzstan/Tajikistan/Uzbekistan – last seen in 1909
• Scarlet frog (Atelopus sorianoi) Venezuela – last seen in 1990
• Hula painted frog (Discoglossus nigriventer) Israel – last seen in 1955
• ((FOUND)): Sambas Stream Toad (Ansonia latidisca) Borneo – last seen in the 1920s
Robin Moore, the amphibian expert who launched the Conservation International project couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw an email from Dr. Das announcing the discovery and attaching the first ever picture of the rainbow toad as proof.
He says, “It is good that nature can surprise us when we are close to giving up hope, especially amidst our planet’s escalating extinction crisis. Amphibians are at the forefront of this tragedy, so I hope that these unique species serve as flagships for conservation, inspiring pride for Malaysians and people everywhere.”
Also known as the Sambas stream toad, the colorful creature was found in the Sarawak state of Malaysia’s island of Borneo.
Another conservation group called Wildlife Conservation Society has discovered a healthy population of the elusive and endangered snow leopards in the mountains of Afghanistan.
International Business Times says, “The sleek and beautiful cats are victims of human intervention, destroyed by poachers, killed by shepherds protecting their flocks and targeted by illegal pet traders. The paper also estimates that there are only 4,000-7,000 snow leopards left in the wild and that number has dwindled 20% in 20 years.
In another project, Conservation International used listening posts to find a population of 455 Gibbons in Vietnam. The primates have a very distinct call which helped researchers locate the group.
Ben Rawson who leads the gibbon research project says, “The northern white-cheeked crested gibbons belong to the crested gibbon family, which has been dubbed the most endangered primate family in the world.” While these primates roamed widely across China, Laos and Vietnam, there are believed to be only about 10 wild gibbons left in the Chinese wilderness.
The only known population of northern white-cheeked crested gibbons have been able to thrive because of their remote location high in the mountains on the Vietnam-Laos border. But new road construction and other development threatens the newly discovered population.
]]>This video from May 2010 tells the tale of a gray whale lost, half a world away from home. Biologists immediately thought it was a hoax but after studying the 43-foot whale more closely they discovered that it must have gotten off it’s north-south Pacific Ocean migration track thanks to an ice-free Arctic a couple of summers ago.
Now, new research stemming from this historic sighting off the coast of Israel in the eastern Mediterranean has scientists suggesting that climate change is opening up the fabled Northwest Passage — not just to boaters and geo-political interest — but to animals and plants.
According to seabed core samples, plankton previously not spotted in the Atlantic for 800,000 first re-appeared in the Labrador Sea in 1999 and then in the Gulf of St. Lawrence two years later. Now it has taken root and spread as far south as New York.
Scientists see this one example of a wayward whale and the proliferation of ocean greenery as a clear sign that something is changing in the Arctic.
In a new report which is part of the larger CLAMER project about oceans and climate change, researchers say the lone gray whale’s presence in the Mediterranean “coincides with a shrinking of Arctic Sea ice due to climate change and suggests that climate change may allow gray whales to re-colonize the North Atlantic.”
During the 1800s the Atlantic population of gray whales was hunted to extinction. Only two populations of the endangered species exist, a small pod in the western Pacific and a larger group in the eastern Pacific, from which the whale in Israel was believed to be a member.
The Northwest Passage is a route through the freezing northern Canadian archipelago and has been sought after for explorers for over 500 years. Until recently it was considered the “fabled Northwest Passage” because it was locked in ice year-round. But in 1998 and again in 2007 the passage was ice-free for a brief time during the summer from end to end. That’s when marine biologists expect the whale went through.
Phillip Reid, a senior plankton research fellow at the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science in Plymouth, England told the Associated Press, “The implications are enormous. It’s a threshold that has been crossed.”
Since the North Pacific and the North Atlantic have been virtually shut off to one another, each has developed its own biosystem. Reid says the last time there was a major incursion from the Pacific to the Atlantic was about 2 million years ago. That had a huge impact on the Atlantic, driving some species to extinction as the new arrivals dominated and won in the competition for food.
Reid’s study on plankton and the gray whale are part of almost 300 papers written over the last 13 years that are being synthesized and published as a book and documentary this year by the CLAMER project.
Right now the migration of one gray whale and two species of plankton is not much of a concern to Reid. But he says, “It’s the potential for further ones to come through if the Arctic opens. That’s the key message.”
Plankton is at the bottom of the food chain and is a major source of nutrients for many fish species. Scientists have studied the relationship between plankton and fish stocks for many years and they note that changes in plankton often coincide with big swings in fish stocks.
In the North Sea, studies have blamed changes in plankton for threats to fish-eating birds and the collapse of some fish stocks.
Katja Philippart from the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research says changes in the ocean’s chemistry and temperature have grave impacts on fisheries, especially as species move northward searching for cooler waters.
Philippart heads the European Union-funded CLAMER project. She says, “We try to put the information on the table for people who have to make decisions.” She told the AP, “We don’t say whether it’s bad or good. We say there is a high potential for change.”
Even though since the mid-1990s intrepid adventurer sailors have tried to penetrate the treacherous trail through the Northwest Passage just a handful of people have successfully navigated their way from end to end when the sea ice retreats enough to allow safe passage. It stands to reason that if people are able to do this with some effort, then animals and plants are too.
After swimming off the coast of Israel for a few weeks, the gray whale who appeared malnourished and “not in good shape” according to researchers, was spotted near Spain 23 days later. But that’s the last report. No one has seen the whale 2010.
]]>For decades fishermen have been saying there’s no future in fishing. Environmentalists have been warning about overfishing and pollution harming the ocean’s delicate ecosystem. But so far the ocean has been able to absorb everything humans have thrown at it.
The summary of a new international report(PDF) says that we may be quickly reaching the limit of what the ocean will tolerate. The International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) convened the first-ever interdisciplinary meeting of ocean scientists. Their report, which has not been released in full, paints a grave picture of the future of the ocean if something doesn’t change.
The report identified three key stressors to the ocean — overfishing, pollution and climate change. They cause ocean acidification, anoxic areas or oxygen-free marine dead zones and ocean warming which have been associated with mass extinctions in the past.
Many nations are trying to improve their fishing practices so as to not wipe out entire fish species. And pollution standards are changing so that the ocean doesn’t have to take in so much run off that creates dead zones where no fish can live.
It is the third area — climate change — where the scientists unanimously say something needs to be done before an entire oceanic mass extinction begins.
Scientists say we are potentially looking at a mass extinction of marine life, the likes of which haven’t been seen since the dinosaur extinction 65 million years ago.
Chris Reid, Professor as the Marine Institute, University of Plymouth and co-author of the report says, “We are seeing levels of pH inthe oceans now that probably haven’t been experienced for 55 million years.”
The speed at which the ocean is changing is what has scientists concerned. They say that ocean is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history. And that those changes will be evident in 20-50 years, not hundreds of years in the future as previously thought.
IPSO Scientific Director Alex Rogers, who is also a Professor of Conservation Biology at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford is struck by the rapid changes the ocean is experiencing.
He says coral reef ecosystems will likely be lost by the end of the century. And to him that qualifies as a mass extinction. Marine biologists believe there are about 9 million species of animals and plants associated with coral reefs.
Already scientists are seeing fish move north and south of their regular habitats. The fish in the tropics and at the polar extremes of the ocean have no place to go. So Dr. Rogers predicts there will be a large loss of fish in low and high latitudes just because of temperature change.
“If the ocean goes down. It’s game over.” — Dr. Alex Rogers, Scientific Director of IPSO
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Two feisty 15 year olds are pushing Girl Scouts of the USA to remove palm oil from their popular cookies. Rhiannon Tomitshen and Madison Vorva learned that palm oil plantations are used to grow a key ingredient in all girl scout cookies and that ingredient requires farmers to destroy rainforests to make room for the palm plantations.
The two girls take the Girl Scout oath of protecting the environment and limiting resources seriously. Now they want the cookie maker Kellogg’s to follow the same rules and use a blend of different oils that don’t destroy the environment but still taste good and are healthy.
After being inspired by Dr. Jane Goodall work with chimpanzees the girls wanted to raise awareness about orangutans which are often displaced when rainforests are cut down to make room for palm oil plantations in Indonesia. Pygmy elephants and Sumatran tigers are also under threat by the expansion of palm oil plantations.
The rapid growth of the use of palm oil by food manufacturers is in large part due to the fact that the oil contains no trans fats. As more and more companies and food producers remove trans fats from their ingredient list palm oil is becoming a staple. But it does so at the cost of the environment.
After going public with their campaign to remove palm oil from Girl Scout cookies Kellogg’s pledged to buy green palm certificates to invest in the transition to sustainable palm farming. While Tomitshen sees this as a great step in the right direction she won’t be satisfied until the company removes palm oil from Girl Scout cookies and the rest of their products.
She says, “Kellogg’s has the moral authority to remove palm oil from the cookies and do the truly right thing.”
Palm oil is a common ingredient in cookies, candy and ice cream that we all eat every day. But as you take a bit of that Kit Kat bar these two girls would like you to take a moment to think about the orangutans and the rainforest.
]]>“Girl Scouts shouldn’t have to think about rainforest destruction and orangutan extinction or having to struggle with not being able to go to camp because they can’t raise the funds.” — Madison Vorva, Girl Scout and environmental activist
ABC’s Neal Karlinsky takes a look at the special bond between Polar Bear mothers and their cubs. Outside of Churchill, Manitoba in the high Canadian Arctic, the most well-studied polar bears emerge from their winter dens.
Every year wildlife photographers flock to the frozen north in late spring to watch the new polar bear cubs emerge from their underground snow caves and glimpse daylight for the first time.
Male bears are hundreds of miles away already, feeding on the still-frozen Hudson Bay. So it is up to the mother bears to teach their cubs all they need to know to survive.
World Wildlife Fund biologist Pete Ewins says that mother bears used to have two cubs each year. Now it is much more common to see a mother polar bear with only one. “The bears are definitely in decline,” he adds.
According to the World Wildlife Fund the biggest threat to the bears is climate change. The conservation groups says the Arctic is especially hard hit, with winter temperatures in northeastern Canada now more than 18 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal, and continuing to climb.
The photographers shiver in the minus 40 degree temperatures so the Arctic is still cold. But significantly warmer winter temperatures melt sea ice that polar bears depend on to reach seals and other food. That means malnourished mothers are having to trudge through deep snow longer in search of food, which jeopardizes their ability to bring bear cubs to full term.
]]>One year after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill scientists believe the health of the Gulf of Mexico is back to where it was before the massive environmental disaster.
In a recent survey, most scientists agreed that the health of the Gulf is about 68 out of 100. That is almost in line with the pre-spill number of 71.
One marine scientist who runs an association who has BP as a client says that relative to the size of the Gulf of Mexico the oil spill and well blow out affected a rather small area.
Quentin Dokken from the Gulf of Mexico Association says the Macondo blow out was not the environmental disaster many say that it was.
He accompanied Associated Press reporter Rich Mathews on a dive to examine the artificial reef system attached to the submerged portion of oil rigs near the spill site. A year later, corals and other marine life seemed to have rebounded.
But not everyone agrees.
Paul Sammarco is pleased that it appears that life is returning to the disaster area. But he notes that the absence of large fish could mean that they were wiped out by the oil spill and subsequent use of an oil dispersant. He believes the evidence of small fish and coral returning to the area is a bit misleading.
Dr. Sammarco says, “What we don’t know right now are the sub-lethal effects.” He says scientists don’t have a clear picture of the bio-accumulation of petroleum hydrocarbons in sea life and don’t yet understand the complexity that will have on reproduction and other longer term consequences.
Several dozen scientists rated the health of the Gulf of Mexico to be a 68 on a scale of 1 to 100. Last summer the scientists placed the pre-spill health level at 71. Last fall they measured the health at 65.
While the overall health level is trending toward normal, scientists are still very worried about specific health indicators, including dolphins, oysters and the seafloor.
Throughout the first part of the year, reports of baby dolphins washing ashore dominated headlines about the continued environmental legacy of the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
Since February over 400 baby dolphins have been found all along the northern Gulf Coast. While scientists are not clear about the cause of this unusual mortality event, some of the dolphins tested did have oil on their carcasses or in their tissue.
Stillborn and dolphins just days old began washing ashore this winter. But scientists can’t definitively say that it was as a result of the BP oil spill.
]]>Imagine waking from a long nap — a little disoriented and still groggy — only to find the world you left when you went to sleep is totally different. A mother polar bear had that very Rip Van Winkle experience on a man-island off the coast of Alaska.
When she emerged from her den after hibernation, the new mother polar bear soon realized her bleary eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. she awoke in the middle of an oil field.
Once the bear and its newborn cub were spotted, the drilling station was evacuated until the bears left the den and started to head off the island and onto the sea ice.
Bruce Woods with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says that the mother bear spotted and empty Spy Island before oil drilling equipment and the ice road were even built. She settled into her den for a long winter’s nap. When she emerged last month, the island was full of equipment, activity and an entire oil operation.
]]>“Must have been a shock for her because when she went into the den it was an empty island, and when she came out there was quite a lot going on.” — Bruce Woods
India’s latest tiger census shows an increase in the numbers of the endangered big cat, but threats to their roaming territory could reverse those gains, officials said on Monday.
At a three-day tiger conference in New Delhi(PDF) Indian officials released the latest tiger census. The news appeared to be good. The tiger population in the 17 Indian states where they roam is on the rise, up 300 from the 2007 census. But the report was tempered with a warning — that the habitat where tigers are allowed to roam is shrinking thanks to development, roads and mining.
This conference is a follow-up to the Global Tiger Recovery Program Meeting(PDF) held last year in Russia to try to save the endangered big cats from extinction. While the numbers of Indian tigers rose to just over 1,700 since the last census that is still remarkably lower than the 3,600 tigers estimated from the 2002 census.
This meeting is all part of a global effort by 13 Asian countries where tigers live to double the global population by 2022. Poaching, hunting and habitat loss decimated the tiger population in the 20th Century. Only about seven percent of that population remains.
The Indian tiger census used hidden cameras and DNA testing to determine the number of cats in the wild and officials believe it is the most accurate count to date. The foundation of the tiger recovery program is scientific monitoring of tigers, prey and habitat.
during the 20th century the Javan, Bali, and Caspian tigers became extinct. A fourth, the South China tiger, has not been seen in the wild for more than 25 years and is assumed to have gone extinct during the 1990s.
]]>Mireya Mayor explores remote areas of the world is search of elusive and endangered species. The wildlife expert and anthropologist also educates students and parents about the importance of conservation wherever she goes.
After watching the movie Gorillas in the Mist before practice one day, the former Miami Dolphins cheerleader decided to devote her life to science.
Now she is being called the real life Indiana Jones and is the author of the new book, Pink Boots and the Machete.
She is also part of the National Geographic program Find Your Footprint and Proctor and Gamble’s Future Friendly project.
]]>It sounds like something right out of Jurassic Park but scientists in Japan have plans to bring the long-extinct mammoth back to life using cloning technology within the next 5 years.
Akira Iritani, a professor emeritus at Kyoto University in Japan, is looking to resurrect the woolly mammoth using a new cloning technique.
The plan would take genes from a mammoth and insert them into an embryo which would be placed inside an elephant. If the clone is successful a baby mammoth would be born.
No doubt this will spark an ethical debate about reviving extinct species and cloning.
Some scientists say the odds of getting the necessary mammoth tissue and creating a successful clone in five years are less than 50-50.
Mammoths have been extinct for about 8,000 years.
]]>University of Florida’s Neil Hammerschlag is studying whether sharks along the Gulf Coast of Florida can sense oil and move away from it.
Hurley the hammerhead shark disappeared from satellite tracking two days after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as researchers were studying migration patterns of these misunderstood fish.
Now when the sharks for this study are caught and tagged, a tissue and blood sample is also taken and tested for hydrocarbons to see if they are absorbing any oil from the ongoing BP oil disaster.
There is likely to be enough work keeping researchers busy studying the effects of oil on sharks for decades.
A marine biologist from the National Aquarium in Baltimore is heading to Florida to study the potential impact of the BP oil spill near Sarasota.
National Aquarium’s Erik Rifkin wants to study the ecological disaster that the BP oil spill caused. He’s joined forces with scientists from Johns Hopkins and the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida.
The team will be deploying 100 devices to detect water pollution near Sarasota, Florida, an area that has not been affected by the oil spill yet. He says positioning the collectors there will help establish a baseline before the oil reaches that area. That way they can measure the impact if and when the oil does flow that way.
Even NASA is getting in on the animal cleanup action. Besides providing satellite images to help contain surface oil as it nears barrier islands near Louisiana, the first sea turtle hatchlings whose eggs were evacuated from the Gulf Coast oil spill to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center have been released into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Virginia Aquarium has been sending its staff down to New Orleans to help clean oil off stranded sea turtles. The aquarium’s stranding team is getting a first-hand look at the effects of oil on the keystone species of sea turtles.
For now members of the team are going to the turtles but soon the turtles may go to the Virginia Aquarium for rehabilitation.
“We expect to be dealing with the after effects of this for well over a year.” — Mark Swingle, Virginia Aquarium director of research and conservation
But it’s not just scientists and citizen scientists who are concerned about the effects of oil on marine life.
Even Federal Express is helping out.
The shipping company will work with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to ship up to 70,000 loggerhead sea turtle eggs from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic coast this summer, in an effort to move the eggs to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.
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The top predators in every animal niche are disappearing. Development and other forces are pushing these animals toward the brink of extinction.
New research shows that conservation efforts and a plan to return apex predators to the wild may be more cost-effective than trying to control the predators in waiting — called mesopredators.
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Much of the country and for that matter the Northern Hemisphere has been locked in an icy weather pattern that sent records tumbling and even forced Florida produce growers to seal oranges and strawberries in ice to protect them from frigid temperatures.
Some scientists are saying this is yet another sign of the extreme temperature fluctuations that climate change is bringing. Others are quick to dismiss this cold stretch as evidence of anything but a cold winter.
But there is a climate force at work. Called the Arctic Oscillation, scientists noticed that the air pressure that usually remains high at the top of the world weakened and became very low in December. That allowed the coldest Arctic air to flow south and cover large swaths of the Northern Hemisphere.
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One thing is for sure. Science doesn’t do certainty. No matter how close a researcher gets to complete certainty there is always room to know more. Therefore uncertainty is a scientific fact. And we need to get comfortable with it.
From taxonomic tussles over classifying the giant panda to more controversial science like climate change and genetics, uncertainty is a driving force pushing science forward and opening up the opportunity for insight and breakthrough discoveries.
]]>The endangered turtle is now settling into her new home at the Hidden Harbor Marine Environmental Project’s “Turtle Hospital”.
At first vets thought she was injured after being hit by a boat and suffering some nerve damage. A new evaluation questions that theory but a full evaluation won’t be complete for a few weeks.
At the hospital Anita swims in a 650 gallon saltwater tank for an hour each day to build up strength and to learn to swim correctly. a hyper-inflated lung prevents her from diving so specialists hand feed her.
She is one of about 5,000 female hawksbill turtles left in the wild. If she can be rehabilitated turtle specialist Tara Vickery says, “She can be 5,001.”
See the turtles swimming live on the “Turtle Hospital” Web cam.
Photos courtesy of Alina Szmant.
Anita the Hawksbill Turtle
Matschie's Tree Kangaroo courtesy of Woodland Park Zoo
Climate negotiations over how to limit carbon dioxide emissions are heating up in Copenhagen. But one other important area negotiators are addressing — how to sequester existing CO2.
Climate sinks — like oceans, forests and permafrost — are natural solutions. But tropical rain forests are falling faster than they can be preserved.
One cute and cuddly (looking) tree kangaroo may become the unwitting ambassador for forest conservation.
Biologist Lisa Dabeck, from the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, is the director of the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Project, which has been able to set aside almost 200,000 acres of pristine forest, where the matschie’s tree kangaroo lives.
Here is the National Geographic tree kangaroo critter cam.
Here is the Lincoln Zoo tree kangaroo critter cam. (Sad news. One of the twin joeys died in September after falling from a branch in the exhibit.)
Nightline followed Dr. Dabeck to New Guinea in search of tree kangaroos. Here’s a link to Dan Harris’ report, which includes a roo named Dan.
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A little green frog is causing big problems across Hawaii, where the coqui has become the latest invasive species to get a strong foothold.
But Hawaii may be the only place experiencing a surging frog population. Around the world, frogs are dying in droves from a fungus called a chytrid.
What can we learn from the little coqui?
]]>Bat expert and Boston University professor of biology Tom Kunz speaks with host Edgar B. Herwick III about his research trips around the globe, his encounter with the world’s largest bat, and why after forty-five years of studying these winged mammals he still wants to learn more.
Photo: Thermal image of bats. Courtesy of Boston University.
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It’s a whale of a tale. The gentle yet giant blue whales–the biggest mammal on Earth–has returned to the cool ocean off the coast of British Columbia for the first time in many decades.
Scientists believe they are following their primary food source–krill–and it may have something to do with a natural ocean climate pattern called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. A new report shows blue whale sightings in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Listen here.
]]>Disney’s goal is going to plant one tree for every ticket sold. Disney will oversee the planting of the trees in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, which is considered the most endangered rain forest in the world. Today, only 7 percent of the Atlantic Forest remains. Disney is committed to ensuring the trees are planted and cared for to provide the greatest long term benefit for the planet.
Tickets are now on sale for opening weekend. Tickets are available through the film’s website at www.disney.com/earth and via phone at 1-888-DISNEY6.
]]>The public is looking for films like ‘EARTH’ that are entertaining, educational, show nature’s beauty and are environmentally conscious. What better way to celebrate the opening of this epic film than by planting trees on behalf of our moviegoers! — Jean-François Camilleri, executive vice president and general manger of Disneynature
Bear biologist Chris Morgan is one of the foremost experts on grizzly and other rare bears. He travels the world raising awareness about these feared and revered animals.
From the last remaining Cascade Grizzlies to the rare sun bear on the island of Borneo, Dr. Morgan is watching how people, the environment and the bears are all changing.
BEARTREK
BEARTREK Preview from Landon Acohido on Vimeo.
They look like the animated robots, called Furbys, from the 1990s. And, they could be mistaken for the fictional gremlins.
But pygmy tarsiers are real. And, much to the surprise of many scientists, they are not extinct.
They are alive and well in the mountainous region of one island in Indonesia.
]]>Hopes are fading that Lonesome George, a giant Galapagos tortoise, will become a father. George was thought to have managed to fertilize as many as 11 eggs. But now scientists say the eggs are in danger of not hatching.
]]>Can there be more lurking in the mist? Despite a startling find that doubled the estimated number of western lowland gorillas in central Africa, scientists warned that hundreds of primate species remain in danger of extinction.
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Are penguins the new canary in the coal mine when it comes to warning the world about global warming?
One conservation biologist at Unviersity of Washington says, Yes.
]]>Captive great apes are developing high blood pressure and heart problems, two distinct human diseases. In an effort to figure out why plant biologists have stumbled on a plant that could hold promise for both the apes and for humans.
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The 7.9 earthquake that rocked China last month has shaken the giant panda population, too.
It’s too early to tell the range of destruction but early estimates indicate widespread damage to the only wild panda habitat left.
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Collisions with ships are becoming a significant danger for the rare North Atlantic Right Whale.
Oil and natural gas tankers have been running over the whales, which are already severely threatened. Now a new acoustic warning system aims to give the whales a fighting chance.
]]>Last year 27 billion bees disappeared. That’s 36 percent of the total U.S. bee population. the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder has scientists puzzled and beekeepers scrambling. Only a few states are left unaffected by this situation. California has been hit the hardest and its $2 billion almond crop faces an uncertain future. Bees are required to pollinate nut and fruit orchards every spring. As this year’s almond blossoms begin to appear this month, the bees seem to be disappearing.
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First the polar bears and now the Pacific Walrus are being squeezed off the melting ice and onto the brink of extinction. Could listing the walrus under the Endangered Species Act save the tusked mammal or is global warming making it too hot for the walrus to handle?
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For the blue butterfly in Southern California, all is not lost. The species that only months ago was near extinction is making a come back.
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What’s killing all the honey bees? No one knows for sure. But a lot of different people are pointing at more than one culprit. Colony Collapse Disorder is the newly-minted term for bees abandoning their hives when they go out to pollinate fruit and vegetable crops . Even the Secretary of Agriculture is worried that the missing bees could cost at least $15 billion.
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Picture elephants walking past invisible metal detectors–much like herds of people at airports. Instead of rushing off to their flights, these pachyderms are merely roaming their favorite trails. The invisible TrailGuard is designed to help protect endangered species from poachers. Originally designed for another purpose biologist-wannabe Steve Gulick suggested the new use.
elephant_detector_050207.mp3
Are worms an endangered species? After 20 years of evading scientists a rare giant reared its segmented body and is casting doubt on the dire extinction talk. Sure, the European earthworm is the most abundant and has displaced many native species but perhaps worms are just smart enough to escape discovery by staying deep underground.
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Humans are exerting ever-greater influence on the Earth, our preferences playing a substantial role in determining future climate and which animal and plant species survive. New research shows that, in some cases, those preferences could be governed by factors as subtle as small color highlights a creature displays.
Everyone seems to love penguins. These enigmatic birds call the southern hemisphere, particularly Antarctica their home. But it is perhaps their black and white plumage dotted with orange and yellow coloration that gives us such an affinity for these endangered flightless birds.
David Stokes, a conservation biologist at University of Washington says that red, yellow and orange or typically warm colors drive our preferences.
He and his undergraduate students calculated the popularity of various species by studying photographs in four large-format photograph books about penguins.
“Penguins are lucky because they are popular with people, especially right now. But that’s not true of 99.9 percent of the species out there,” Stokes said. “Even the penguin species I found to be among the least appealing to people are tourist attractions.”
Tops on the list are the Emperors, featured in the film March of the Penguins, and their close cousins the King Penguins. Next are crested penguins, including Rockhoppers and Macaroni.
Species at the bottom of the list are Adelie, Yellow-eyed and Little Blue. Stokes was surprised by the relative lack of popularity of Adelie penguins because that species is probably the most familiar to the public.
There are 17 penguin species, and in the past some were hunted for food or boiled to extract their oil. Some species now struggle to survive climate change, changing food patterns and encounters with humans or human activity, such as oil drilling at sea.
The species are fairly similar, with some larger and some smaller, Stokes said. But the ones that appear to be most popular are the ones that display the warmest colors in the upper body, the neck and head. He likened the effect to that of a man in a tuxedo pinning on a red carnation. Unlike some other types of animals, human preference for particular penguin species does not seem to be driven by a “cuteness” factor.
The work has been published in the online edition of the journal Human Ecology, and will appear in an upcoming print edition.
Color is not the only factor that determines a species’ attractiveness to humans. Characteristics such as size and neoteny — the retention of babyish physical traits such as large eyes and large head — also can play major roles for some animals. Pandas, zebras and elephants, for example, are black and white or gray but are highly preferred by humans. Millions of insects and the countless slimy invertebrates that occupy the oceans are likely not as lucky, Stokes said.