In science news this week: Can the long-lost abalone make a comeback in California; How to Start Adapting to California’s “Precipitation Whiplash”; Bustin’ Berms: The Restoration Of Tule Red; When Turkeys Attack; Research sheds new light on earthquake that killed 9,000 people; Silver-backed chevrotains have been ‘rediscovered’ by science after 29 years; and more…
Can the long-lost abalone make a comeback in California “Hunched over a tank inside the Bodega Marine Laboratory, alongside bubbling vats of seaweed and greenhouses filled with algae, Kristin Aquilino coaxed a baby white abalone onto her hand.” Read more from the Los Angeles Times here: Can the long-lost abalone make a comeback in California
How to Start Adapting to California’s “Precipitation Whiplash” Much of California enjoys a mild Mediterranean climate where the weather typically swings like a pendulum from warm, dry summers to cool, wet winters. Year-to-year, this pendulum can swing with great variation. If it doesn’t swing toward rain and snow between October and March, it leads to drought; if it does, we might see record-breaking precipitation. In the dry season the pendulum can swing too far into fire weather, creating hot, dry, and windy conditions prime for wildfires” Read more from Bay Nature here: How to Start Adapting to California’s “Precipitation Whiplash”
Change is hard: the vulnerability of salmon populations to climate change: “The novel and rapidly evolving challenges of global climate change will test the adaptability of all species, and some will be hit harder than others. Identifying the species and populations most vulnerable to climate change is critical to target restoration and adaptation efforts for those closest to the brink. With this in mind, climate vulnerability assessments, which are an effective method of evaluating the relative risk faced by different populations, were recently applied to Pacific salmonids (Oncorhynchus species) in the United States (Crozier et al. 2019). These populations represent a rich diversity of life histories and adaptations that have allowed them to persist in a wide variety of ecosystems. But when it comes to adapting to a changing climate, it appears not all salmon are created equal. ... ” Read more from FishBio here: Change is hard: the vulnerability of salmon populations to climate change
Genetics Reveal Pacific Subspecies of Fin Whale “New genetic research has identified fin whales in the northern Pacific Ocean as a separate subspecies, reflecting a revolution in marine mammal taxonomy as scientists unravel the genetics of enormous animals otherwise too large to fit into laboratories.” Read more from NOAA Fisheries here: Genetics Reveal Pacific Subspecies of Fin Whale
Fall Traditions: The Stanislaus Salmon Festival “Fall is in full swing, and so is the fall-run Chinook salmon migration in the Central Valley. As is our fall tradition, we’ve installed fish counting weirs on the Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers as part of our annual salmon monitoring.” Read more from Fishbio here: Fall Traditions: The Stanislaus Salmon Festival
When Turkeys Attack “The three wild turkey gobblers strutted in the middle of the narrow country road, and seemed intent on staying there. I stopped the car, and the turkeys ran over to the driver’s side. I rolled down the window and the large birds immediately began loudly calling and gobbling. They attempted to stick their heads inside the car. I was in the middle of a holiday mash-up, with several plump turkeys engaged in the act of trick-or-treating.” Read more from Cool Green Science here: When Turkeys Attack
Research sheds new light on earthquake that killed 9,000 people “A new understanding of a fault that caused a deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake can help scientists better understand where and when the next big one will hit.” Read more from Phys.org here: Research sheds new light on earthquake that killed 9,000 people
Silver-backed chevrotains have been ‘rediscovered’ by science after 29 years “Amidst the dry, thorny underbrush of a coastal Vietnamese forest, a silver-backed chevrotain stepped into view of a camera trap — and back into the scientific record after almost three decades.” Read more from Science News here: Silver-backed chevrotains have been ‘rediscovered’ by science after 29 years
Plants and fungi together could slow climate change “A new global assessment shows that human impacts have greatly reduced plant-fungus symbioses, which play a key role in sequestering carbon in soils. Restoring these ecosystems could be one strategy to slow climate change.” Read more from Science Daily here: Plants and fungi together could slow climate change
National Centers for Environmental Information and CPO lay groundwork for new extreme heat product “NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information’s (NCEI) authoritative temperature dataset, funded in part by CPO’s Climate Observations and Monitoring program, has laid the foundational groundwork for the development of a “new sub-monthly temperature product to monitor near real-time climate conditions and assess long term heat events in the United States” Read more from the Climate Program Office here: National Centers for Environmental Information and CPO lay groundwork for new extreme heat product” Read more from the NOAA here: National Centers for Environmental Information and CPO lay groundwork for new extreme heat product
Combatting air pollution with nature “Air pollution is composed of particles and gases that can have negative impacts on both the environment and human health. Technologies to mitigate pollution have become widespread in recent years, but scientists are now exploring a new, pared-down approach: using nature to restore ecological balance.” Read more from Science Daily here: Combatting air pollution with nature
What we can learn from Indigenous land management “As large-scale agriculture, drought, bushfire and introduced species reduce entire countries’ biodiversity and long-term prosperity, Indigenous academics are calling for a fresh look at the governance and practices of mainstream environmental management institutions.” Read more from Science Daily here: What we can learn from Indigenous land management
Scientists create ‘artificial leaf’ that turns carbon into fuel “Scientists have created an “artificial leaf” to fight climate change by inexpensively converting harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) into a useful alternative fuel.” Read more from Science Daily here: Scientists create ‘artificial leaf’ that turns carbon into fuel
Listening to Nature: The Emerging Field of Bioacoustics “Researchers are increasingly placing microphones in forests and other ecosystems to monitor birds, insects, frogs, and other animals. As the technology advances and becomes less costly, proponents argue, bioacoustics is poised to become an important remote-sensing tool for conservation.” Read more from Yale Environment 360 here: Listening to Nature: The Emerging Field of Bioacoustics
The forests of the Amazon are an important carbon sink “The world’s tropical forests store huge quantities of carbon in their biomass and thus constitute an important carbon sink. However, current estimates of the amount of carbon dioxide stored in tropical forests of the Amazon vary largely.” Read more from Phys.org here: The forests of the Amazon are an important carbon sink
They’ve managed the forest forever. It’s why they’re key to the climate change fight “The first time Mandy Gull visited Canada’s Broadback Forest, she was struck by the displays of delicate lichen. By the dense, ancient trees. By the moss-covered floor, which rose and fell like a rumpled green blanket.” Read more from Phys.org here: They’ve managed the forest forever. It’s why they’re key to the climate change fight
Lisa’s XKCD Comic Pick of the Week …
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About Science News and Reports: This weekly feature, posted every Thursday, is a collection of the latest scientific research and reports with a focus on relevant issues to the Delta and to California water, although other issues such as climate change are sometimes included. Do you have an item to be included here? Submissions of relevant research and other materials is welcome. Email Maven
