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Pesticides decimating dragonflies and other aquatic insects Jeremy Hance mongabay.com (06/18/2013) {%include 'languages/english/includes/ads_news_300x250_atf_top'%} While recent research (and media attention) has focused on the alleged negative impacts of pesticides on bees, the problem may be far broader according to a new study in the Proceedings of the US Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Looking at over 50 streams in Germany, France, and Australia, scientists in Europe and Australia found that pesticide contamination was capable of undercutting invertebrate biodiversity by nearly half. "Pesticide use has not decreased in the last decade [...] and is predicted to increase in the next decades due to climate change and thus may be a more important driver of biodiversity loss in the future," the scientists write. By comparing freshwater species in uncontaminated streams with those in highly-contaminated streams, the researchers found that invertebrate biodiversity dropped by 42 percent in polluted streams in Europe. Meanwhile in Australia, freshwater biodiversity fell by 27 percent between clean and contaminated streams. Pesticide contamination hit some invertebrate groups the hardest including dragonflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, and mayflies. Such species did not necessarily disappear altogether, but saw their abundance plunged. While, many of the decimated species may not be well-known to the general public, they play a major role in the food chain, including as prey for birds and fish. Notably, current regulations in Europe are not strong enough to protect these species, according to the scientists. They found that even in those contaminated sites that met EU regulations, biodiversity had plunged. This points to a rising controversy over proper testing and risk assessments for pesticides before they released into the public's hands. "The current practice of risk assessment is like driving blind on the motorway," says co-author, Matthias Liess, an ecotoxicologist with the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Germany. In April, the EU banned three pesticides for two years in a bid to stem bee losses on the continent. A flood of recent studies have shown an increasingly convincing connection between a type of pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, and colony collapse disorder (CCD) in bees. The pesticides likely don't kill the bees outright, but instead impair brain functioning leading to navigational and other problems, which is exacerbated by habitat and food loss as well as disease.  Insect species such as the Common Bluetail (Ischnura senegalensis) are particularly threatened by pesticide entries in their habitat. Photo by: André Künzelmann/UFZ (Place: Banaue/Phillippines). CITATION: Beketov, M., Kefford, B., Schäfer, R., & Liess, M. PNAS. Pesticides reduce regional biodiversity of stream invertebrates. 2013. {% include 'languages/english/includes/2011comments' %}
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Should zoos educate the public about climate change? Jeremy Hance mongabay.com (06/18/2013)
 Captive polar bear. Given the rising threat of climate change to many of the world's species, including polar bears, how should zoos address the issue? Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Zoos are usually thought of as entertainment destinations. As a place to take the kids on a nice afternoon, they are sometimes perceived to lack the educational heft of an art museum or a theatre. However, over the past few decades many of the world's best zoos and aquariums have also worked to educate their visitors about conservation issues, in addition to funding and supporting programs in the field to save the ever-growing number of imperiled species. But as threats to the world's species mount—including climate change—many are beginning to ask what, if anything, zoos and aquariums should do to address the global environmental crisis. "The public should ask their local zoo or aquariums what they are doing for the planet," Anne Warner, Conservation and Education Consultant with the consulting business, Conservation Strategies, told mongabay.com. "It is expected that Association of Zoos and Aquariums(AZA)-accredited institutions are supporting field conservation that is directly contributing to the long-term survival of species in natural ecosystems and habitats, yet this is work the public often does not realize zoos engage in. It is time for both understanding and expectations to catch up with reality. Zoos are not just places of entertainment and haven't been for decades. Zoo need to step up their leadership and live up to their potential to address critical global environmental issues." Warner has had a long and eclectic career in the interconnection between zoos and conservation work, including education, supporting in-field conservation programs, and designing exhibits. Recently, her consulting business, Conservation Strategies, took on a novel project: developing a platform for climate change communication for the Northwest Zoos and Aquarium Alliance (NWZAA). Not only will this burgeoning program work to educate zoo visitors about the rising threat of climate change, but will also encourage behavior change. "The key is to motivate change by tying into values like innovation, empathy, stewardship, preservation for futures generations and interconnectedness that are important to our audiences. [...] It is important to help our audience identify what they are already doing and share with others, so that they can hear what is being done and get ideas for things they can do—it helps them vision it for themselves because it is coming from their "peers" rather than the experts," she explains. Anne Warner will be presenting on her work at WAZA at the 2013 Zoos and Aquariums: Committing to Conservation (ZACC) conference on Friday, July 12th in Des Moines, Iowa. AN INTERVIEW WITH ANNE WARNER  Anne Warner. Photo courtesy of Anne Warner. Mongabay: What's your background? Anne Warner: Before launching my consulting business, I served as Interim Executive Director for the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance and led conservation and education efforts for the Oregon and Oakland Zoos. My experience is diverse and includes change management, designing exhibits and writing interpretives, education program planning, project management, research, administering grant programs, creating collaborations to address conservation issues, implementing state conservation strategies and supporting primate sanctuaries throughout Africa. Among other things I have lead quite a few ecotours, been part of an education team in Papua New Guinea, and helped hand rear two baby chimpanzees and an African elephant. My passion stems from the conviction that Zoos and Aquariums are key partners for saving wildlife. Conservation Strategies, my consulting business, connects zoo and aquarium professionals with strategic planning, skills for building or expanding their conservation work and in situ conservation projects. Mongabay: How did you get involved in zoos and conservation? Anne Warner: I read a lot as a kid, and, after devouring the Gerald Durrell books, I was committed to conservation at age 12. Back then, the obvious choice for working with animals was to become a vet. And exotic animal medicine was not really established yet. Pre-vet experience in domestic animal clinics lead me to want to do something else. I tried a stint in a toxicology lab, interesting results, inside all day not for me, and finally settled on animal behavior. I pursued a Masters degree with the late Hal Markowitz, "father of enrichment," and my path into the zoo world was locked in. With small children and a thesis to write, I came into paying zoo jobs in the Education Department at the San Francisco Zoo. Mongabay: Will you tell us about your consulting business, Conservation Strategies?
Each situation presents unique challenges, so assessing the needs and finding the right support for the organization is key. I often work with Beth Armstrong and we offer flexible services from helping jumpstart an in situ conservation program to strategic planning that gets staff, board and volunteers committed, to operating a short or long term program. With our diverse backgrounds we can help with communicating the conservation work through developing exhibits, interpretives, newsletter and website content, and help with getting funding for the projects. Mongabay: You've worked on developing programs to communicate climate change to visitors in American zoos. Will you tell us about this program? Anne Warner: I was part of the Northwest Zoo and Aquarium Climate Action Working Group. We were awarded funding in 2009 to create a climate change message platform for Northwest Zoos and Aquarium Alliance (NWZAA) institutions to ensure a consistent voice and collective call to action for this most pressing conservation issue. Our goal was to "Create, develop, and implement a Global Climate Change campaign for NWZAA that shows working as an alliance can be an effective way to increase a message’s reach and impact." In order to create effective regional messaging we needed to do some visitor research. What did our guests already understand about the impacts of climate change on wildlife? Where are the gaps in understanding? How do we connect with visitor’s core values when talking about climate change? What are some of our most compelling stories about climate change impact on animals in our collection? What are the perceived barriers and benefits to carbon reductions actions we want to encourage? When the study was complete we compiled statements about the impacts of changing climate on wildlife, values statements, animals stories and actions people can take. This framework was then used in 2010 to train staff and volunteers ahead of implementing specific programs which where then evaluated. Mongabay: What was most surprising from visitor studies of their own awareness about climate change?
79% agreed that zoos and aquariums should recommend specific actions. We also found that value statements are regionally specific. Mongabay: How do you move from educating on climate change to changing behaviors? Anne Warner: The key is to motivate change by tying into values like innovation, empathy, stewardship, preservation for futures generations and interconnectedness that are important to our audiences. We invite visitors to join us in taking action to ensure a thriving planet for all humans, wildlife and ecosystems. It is important to help our audience identify what they are already doing and share with others, so that they can hear what is being done and get ideas for things they can do—it helps them vision it for themselves because it is coming from their "peers" rather than the experts. We wanted to ask visitors to think about what they can do to help, to engage visitors in a conversation as already being part of the solution thereby creating community. Research shows that people understand what some of the behaviors are, what they need is reinforcement. We need to help them move past their barriers (which are usually a lot to do with habit), and show people how their actions build up to make an impact. I believe in the concept of continuous improvement over a lifetime—each person is on the continuum, I want to let people know that wherever they are is okay and then help get them down the path; this can happen at the organizational level too. We cannot go from "0-60" to start, so we need to scaffold the behavior change. One behavior can be a catalyst for the next. Mongabay: Why are zoos and aquariums perfect places to build climate change awareness?
Mongabay: What can people do to help push zoos to address more global environmental issues? Anne Warner: The public should ask their local zoo or aquariums what they are doing for the planet. It is expected that Association of Zoos and Aquariums(AZA)-accredited institutions are supporting field conservation that is directly contributing to the long-term survival of species in natural ecosystems and habitats, yet this is work the public often does not realize zoos engage in. It is time for both understanding and expectations to catch up with reality. Zoos are not just places of entertainment and haven't been for decades. Zoo need to step up their leadership and live up to their potential to address critical global environmental issues. Not all have the staff and expertise to participate directly—everyone has imagination to find creative ways to do more. 
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EU labels another pesticide as bad for bees Damian Carrington, The Guardian (06/18/2013) {%include 'languages/english/includes/ads_news_300x250_atf_top'%} A widely used insect nerve agent has been labelled a "high acute risk" to honeybees by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). A similar assessment by the EFSA on three other insecticides preceded the suspension of their use in the European Union. "The insecticide fipronil poses a high acute risk to honeybees when used as a seed treatment for maize," the EFSA said in a statement. "EFSA was asked to perform a risk assessment of fipronil [by the European commission], paying particular regard to the acute and chronic effects on colony survival and development and the effects of sub-lethal doses on bee mortality and behavior." Fipronil, manufactured by the German chemical company BASF, is used in more than 70 countries and on more than 100 different crops, as well as for cockroach and termite control. The EFSA report found the risk to honeybees from drifting pesticide dust was high when fipronil was used as a seed treatment for maize, but did not have the data to assess the risk from its use on sunflowers, or the risk via pollen and nectar, or the risk to other bees and pollinators. Scientific evidence that common pesticides are harming bees has risen in the last year and, along with huge public protests, culminated in the European commission (EC) imposing the ban on three neonicotinoids. Bees and other insects pollinate three-quarters of the world's food crops but have suffered steep declines due to habitat loss, disease and pesticide use. "The EC needs to seriously look at the fipronil case, and whether it warrants similar restrictions," said MEP Glenis Willmott, Labour's leader in the European parliament. "I think there are grounds for the commission to step in. I hope that when evaluating this and other potential risks to honeybees the UK government will play a more constructive role than before, after defying scientific advice and public opinion in the neonicotinoid case." The UK was one of eight out of the 27 EU member states that unsuccessfully opposed the EC neonicotinoid ban. "Our business is very dependent on bees; therefore, it is in our best interest to understand the real causes of the decline in bee health and act upon them", said Jürgen Oldeweme, senior vice-president for BASF's crop protection division. "The problem of declining bee health must be addressed via a holistic approach and not by singling out certain technologies that have a solid record of safe use, such as fipronil." But green campaigners said the EFSA report showed current EU regulation of pesticides was not sufficient. "The fact that fipronil and other pesticides toxic to bees were authorized at all shows that EU safety testing is in dire need of an overhaul," said Marco Contiero, Greenpeace EU agriculture policy director. "These pesticides have been building up in our environment for a decade, so limited, temporary bans won't be enough to give bees a breather. The commission should develop a comprehensive plan for the protection of insect pollinators, starting with a solid ban on fipronil and other bee-harming substances." Dr Friedhelm Schmider, director general of the European Crop Protection Association, which represents the chemical industry, said any ban might affect food production: "We plead with regulators to take into account all elements and consider the potential impact on agriculture that any decision might have. We are fully committed to work on proportionate measures managing any possible risk from pesticides."  Honey bee (Apis mellifera) collecting pollen. Photo by: Jon Sullivan/Public Domain. Original Post: Fipronil named as fourth insecticide to pose risk to honeybees {% include 'languages/english/includes/2011comments' %}
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New York City may mandate composting of food scraps to cut garbage bill Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian (06/18/2013) {%include 'languages/english/includes/ads_news_300x250_atf_top'%} The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is preparing to roll out a new composting plan for the city, aimed at diverting some of the 100,000 tons of food scraps that ends up in landfill every year. Bloomberg, who is due to leave office early next year, has called food waste the "final recycling frontier". Now it appears New York is moving towards that line, testing pilot projects in some neighborhoods in preparation for a city-wide composting plan. The city has hired a composting plant to handle up to 100,000 tons of food scraps a year – or about 10 percent of the city's total food waste, according to the New York Times, which first reported the story.  Manhattan as seen from Google Earth Last April, about 100 city restaurants joined a voluntary composting plan, the food waste challenge. By next year, 150,000 households will be on board along with 100 high-rise buildings and 600 schools. The entire city could be recycling food scraps by 2015 or 2016. The composting program will at first be voluntary. But a city official told the Times that after a few years New Yorkers who do not separate out their food scraps could be liable to fines – just as they would be now if they do not recycle paper, plastic or metal. The composting plan will make up a big part of New York's efforts to divert up to 75 percent of its solid waste from landfills by 2030. Reducing the amount of waste that ends up in landfills also reduces greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Food waste from all sources makes up about a third of the 20,000 tons of trash the city generates every day.
Other cities, such as San Francisco, have composting programs in place. New York had been seen as a challenge because of its population density. Original: Bloomberg set to roll out New York composting plan for food waste {% include 'languages/english/includes/2011comments' %} UN may downgrade Great Barrier Reef's heritage status due to Australia's inaction on threats Oliver Milman, The Guardian (06/17/2013) {%include 'languages/english/includes/ads_news_300x250_atf_top'%} The federal government insists it is striving to avoid the Great Barrier Reef being listed "in danger" ahead of a crunch UN meeting, after rejecting a Senate recommendation to block new port developments near the World Heritage ecosystem. The world heritage committee begins an 11-day conference in Cambodia this week, where the UNESCO body will review the status of various prized ecological areas. The committee is expected to recommend that the Great Barrier Reef, which has been listed as a World Heritage site since 1981, be placed on the "in danger" list next year due to concerns over coal and gas expansion, increased shipping and water quality. A draft World Heritage report produced in May noted "concern" over water quality monitoring and the lack of a "a clear commitment toward limiting port development to existing port areas". Unless "urgent and decisive action" was taken, the reef should be considered in danger, it said. The federal environment minister, Tony Burke, told Guardian Australia improvements made since May showed the government was committed to safeguarding the Reef. "I'm certainly hopeful that we can get some progress on what was in the draft report," he said. "We committed a further $200 million for Reef Rescue in the budget, which was since the report. That's one clear example of where they've expressed concern over water quality and we've acted. "It'll be presumptuous to say what the world heritage committee will decide but I'm confident that we have evidence to show that Australia takes management of the reef seriously." But Burke said the government would not support a Senate committee recommendation that a temporary halt be placed on new port developments in Queensland until an assessment, conducted by both state and federal governments, is released in 2015.  Great Barrier Reef The committee, which considered a bill introduced by Greens senator Larissa Waters, said in its report that existing regulations "may not be sufficient to protect the Great Barrier Reef's outstanding values". Burke said the move was unnecessary as there were no new developments planned before 2015. He said it was not straightforward to fulfill UNESCO's key recommendation of banning substantial new infrastructure outside existing port areas. "I will follow the process properly, under law," he said. "If I pre-judge applications, it'll get thrown out in court. [UNESCO] understands the limits we have under Australian law. It's a nuanced situation. "But they also understand that nothing has since been approved in pristine areas, and none was more sensitive than the proposed Xstrata development on Balaclava Island, which was cancelled after the draft report." It is understood that several World Heritage delegates have been dismayed by what they see as a politicization of the reef, with Burke involved in a series of public ructions with the Queensland government over the management of the vast coral ecosystem. Last week, Queensland's deputy premier, Jeff Seeney, said Burke had been "held ransom" by "radical Greens". "Mr Burke is beholden to the Greens who feed him dishonest and deceitful assertions about our government's actions," Seeney said. "It's time Mr Burke represented every person in this state, rather than those he believes will keep the Gillard government in power." But Burke has also come under fire from the Greens and environmental groups, who accuse him of doing little to safeguard the reef and caving into the demands of the mining industry, with eight ports planned or expanded during his tenure. Burke told Guardian Australia: "I find some of the political points quite bewildering. Jeff Seeney's comments were just odd, certainly one of the weirder moments in Australian politics. I can't understand what was going on in his head when he launched that diatribe.
Waters said it would be a "disaster" if the reef was placed on the "in danger" list, alongside sites predominantly found in developing or war-torn countries. "Tony Burke isn't acting like an environment minister," she said. "He says a lot of strong things and then doesn't deliver. "The UNESCO report was clear that there should be no new ports but there are no state or Commonwealth moves to limit these ports. Responsibility lies on both sides so it's farcical to see them pointing the finger at each other. "It's amazing that it had to come down to me, a new member of the Senate, to draft a bill to protect the seventh wonder of the world because the government won't do it. "The world heritage committee aren't idiots. This is their area of expertise. I imagine the Australian delegation will be pressuring other delegates to water down the criticism because it's embarrassing." The reef faces a number of threats, including chemicals that flow onto it from agricultural land, a plague of crown-of-thorns starfish and climate change, which has been blamed for an increase in coral bleaching and severe weather events such as cyclones, which further damage the ecosystem. Another potential risk is the dredging of the seabed to allow ships access to new ports. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority recently warned MPs that the impact of dumping dredging spoil onto the reef could be worse than previously thought. The reef has lost half its coral cover in the past 27 years, the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences says. Last week, 150 Australian and international scientists signed a letter warning the reef was in crisis and required urgent action to protect it. The Queensland environment minister, Andrew Powell, told Guardian Australia the state government's policy was consistent with UNESCO's demand for ports to be kept to existing areas. "The Newman government firmly believes that we can have sustainable economic development and strong environmental protection – the two concepts are not mutually exclusive," he said. "The Newman government is aware of the potential impacts of dredging which is one of the many reasons why we scaled back the previous Labor government's crazy proposals for a massive multi-cargo facility at Abbot Point." "We want to ensure any development occurs in a considered and measured way and as such all development applications are subject to a stringent environmental impact assessment process." Original: Great Barrier Reef on the brink as politicians bicker {% include 'languages/english/includes/2011comments' %} Singapore chokes on haze from deforestation fires mongabay.com (06/17/2013) {%include 'languages/english/includes/ads_news_300x250_atf_top'%} Singapore and Malaysian officials have asked Indonesia to take "urgent measures" to address forest fires in Sumatra that are sending choking haze northward, reports AFP. Singapore's air pollution index is at the worst level since 2006, when Sumatra last experienced severe fires. The city-state's Pollutant Standards Index on Monday topped 150, well above the "unhealthy" threshold of 100, according to the National Environment Agency (NEA) web site. "NEA has alerted the Indonesian Ministry of Environment on the haze situation experienced in Singapore, and urged the Indonesian authorities to look into urgent measures to mitigate the transboundary haze occurrence," said the agency in a statement. "NEA will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide further updates when necessary." Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak complained about the fires on his Facebook page: "The haze situation in Malaysia is going to worsen in the coming days with winds carrying smoke from hot spots in Sumatra."  Fires in Indonesia in 2011 But Indonesian officials attempted to deflect some of the blame for the fires, which are typically used by companies to clear forests and peatlands for oil palm plantations. Many of these companies are owned by firms based in Singapore and Malaysia. "We hope the governments of Malaysia and Singapore will tell their investors to adopt proper measures so we can solve this problem together," said Hadi Daryanto, the second-in-command at Indonesia's Ministry of Forestry. Forest fires and haze have become an annual problem in the region over the past 30 years as vast swathes of forest have been degraded by logging and converted to plantations. While the use of fire for land-clearing is illegal, the practice in nonetheless widespread, with satellites picking up hundreds of hotspots in a daily basis during the dry season, which typically runs through October.   Courtesy of NASA's FIRMS Web Fire Mapper Haze in the region has been associated with a number of ills, including increased incidence of respiratory problems. Severe haze can affect transportation networks, navigation, and tourism. The cost of the 1997-1998 haze — triggered by large-scale fires across Sumatra and Borneo that were exacerbated by dry El Nino conditions — was estimated in the billions of dollars to regional economies. In response to the 1997-1998 crisis, ASEAN members set up the Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, which called for collective action to tackle forest fires. Yet Indonesia never ratified the agreement and other members have been slow to enact reforms that would hinder conversion of forests for plantation development. Forest and peat fires in Southeast Asia are a substantial source of greenhouse gas emissions. The 1997-1998 fires in Borneo and Sumatra released an estimated 2 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere. {% include 'languages/english/includes/2011comments' %}
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Logging may destabilize carbon in forest soils mongabay.com (06/14/2013) {%include 'languages/english/includes/ads_news_300x250_atf_top'%} Logging in temperate zones may release more greenhouse gases than previously thought by destabilizing carbon stored in forest soils, argues a new paper published in the journal Global Change Biology-Bioenergy. The research involved analysis of carbon released from forest management practices in the northeastern United States. It found that while most models assume carbon stored in mineral soils to be relatively stable, in fact intensive logging operations, like clear-cutting, trigger release of carbon from various pools above and below ground. "Our paper suggests the carbon in the mineral soil may change more rapidly, and result in increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, as a result of disturbances such as logging," said Dartmouth Professor Andrew Friedland, a co-author on the paper. "Analysis of forest carbon cycles is central to understanding and mitigating climate change, and understanding forest carbon cycles requires an in-depth analysis of the storage in and fluxes among different forest carbon pools, which include aboveground live and dead biomass, as well as the belowground organic soil horizon, mineral soil horizon and roots."  Logging in the Pacific Northwest. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Friedland and colleagues argue that the results suggest efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by using wood fuel for energy could be less effective than originally envisioned. "Our paper suggests that increased reliance on wood may have the unintended effect of increasing the transfer of carbon from the mineral soil to the atmosphere," Friedland said. "So the intended goal of reducing carbon in the atmosphere may not be met." Thomas Buchholz et al. (2013) Mineral soil carbon fluxes in forests and implications for carbon balance assessments. GCB Bioenergy. DOI: 10.1111/gcbb.12044 {% include 'languages/english/includes/2011comments' %}
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Peru opens deforestation data to the public, shows drop in Amazon forest clearing Rhett Butler, mongabay.com (06/13/2013) {%include 'languages/english/includes/ads_news_300x250_atf_top'%} Peru has made its comprehensive deforestation data available to the public. The data shows that while more than 100,000 hectares have been cleared in the Peruvian Amazon on annual basis since 2005, the rate of clearing has slowed in recent years. Between 2009 and 2010, some 108,571 ha of forest were lost in the region. Between 2010 and 2011, that number fell to 103,380 ha or 0.16 percent of the Peruvian Amazon's forest cover annually. Overall, more than 78 percent of the area is forested, down from 80 percent or about 63 million hectares in 2000.  
Peru's deforestation monitoring system has been in development with several partners since late 2009. The system is based primarily on analysis of satellite data using CLASlite, a software tool that uses images from NASA's Landsat and MODIS sensors to generate maps revealing changes in forest cover, including deforestation and degradation. The data was checked by field sampling and the use of flyovers.
Greg Asner, a research at the Carnegie Institution for Science who has been working with the Peruvian government on the project, says the system could be a model for other countries developing deforestation tracking platforms. "This is a big deal," Asner told mongabay.com. "The Peruvian government is making their first estimates of deforestation available online for others to view. Perhaps more countries will install their own high-resolution mapping teams and make the results as transparent as Peru has done here." Peru's new system will help it move forward on its program for reducing emissions on deforestation and degradation (REDD+). Peru is one of several countries participating in the Governors Climate and Forests Initiative, an effort to set up frameworks for REDD+ programs between states and provinces internationally.  Deforestation data from Killeen 2012, with MINAM data for 2011. Click to enlarge. {% include 'languages/english/includes/2011comments' %}
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Fertility in Africa could push world population over 11 billion Jeremy Hance mongabay.com (06/13/2013) {%include 'languages/english/includes/ads_news_300x250_atf_top'%} The global population could grow by another 4 billion people by the end of the century if fertility rates in Africa don't decline, according to a new report by the United Nations. Currently around 1.1 billion people live on the continent, but that number could skyrocket to 4.2 billion (a 380 percent increase) by 2100, causing global population to hit 11 billion. "The fertility decline in Africa has slowed down or stalled to a larger extent than we previously predicted, and as a result the African population will go up," said report co-author Adrian Raftery with the University of Washington Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences. In 2011, the UN projected that around 10.1 billion people would live on Earth by the end of the century, but undaunted reproductive rates in Africa has now made that estimate look too small. The authors employed new data on Africa's demographics and better fertility forecasting modeling to reach the new estimate. Global population has grown exponentially over the last century, jumping from just 2 billion in the 1920s to 7 billion today. In addition, while it took over a century to go from 1 billion to 2 billion, it took only a dozen years to go from 6 to 7 billion. Overpopulation is impacting everything from global climate change to economics and resource scarcity to current biodiversity crisis. The new analysis projects that Nigeria will see the greatest population increase this century, increasing by nearly 500 percent by 2100. India will be second and the U.S. eighth. On the other end of the list, China will see the largest population decreases, falling by about 20 percent. Population declines are also expected in some European countries. "These new findings show that we need to renew policies, such as increasing access to family planning and expanding education for girls, to address rapid population growth in Africa," Raftery says. Experts have long noted that the best way to slow population growth is equal rights and better education for women in addition to family planning and access to contraception. "Right now, 222 million women in the developing world lack access to modern contraception. This has far-reaching consequences for their health, and their opportunities to get an education, earn an income, take care of their families, and determine their own futures," said Suzanne Ehler, president of Population Action International, in a statement. "The fact that any woman does not have the tools to decide the size of her family is absurd. That 222 million women do not is a tragedy, and a huge opportunity for all of us to do more.”  The expected population changes from now to 2100 are shown in the graphic. Population changes in millions. Map by: UW Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences. {% include 'languages/english/includes/2011comments' %}
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Why bioluminescent fungi glow in the dark By: Liz Kimbrough (06/13/2013) {%include 'languages/english/includes/ads_news_300x250_atf_top'%} Aristotle (384–322 BC) reported a mysterious light, distinct from fire, emanating from decaying wood. Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) mentioned feasting on a glowing, sweet fungus found on trees in France and, in the late fifteenth century, a Dutch consul gave accounts of Indonesian peoples using fungal fruits to illuminate forest pathways. Bioluminescent fungi have intrigued generations of observers, and a handful of scientists still carry that torch of curiosity, answering questions about how and why these mushrooms glow. Bioluminescence, light emitted by living organisms, has been verified in only 71 of the roughly 100,000 described species in the Kingdom Fungi. These 71 species belong to four distantly related lineages occurring throughout the world, with greatest abundance in the tropics. Conspicuous temperate species include: the Jack-o-Lantern mushrooms of Europe and the North America (Omphalotus illudens, O. olearius), the ghost fungus of Australia and Asia (O. nidiformis), the moon night mushroom of Japan (O. japonicus), and various species of honey mushrooms whose mycelium causes "foxfire"—the phenomenon of glowing wood noticed by Aristotle. Bioluminescence results when energy from a chemical reaction is released as light. Specifically this occurs when an enzyme, known as luciferase, catalyzes the oxidation of an organic molecule, known as luciferin. In a recent study, published in Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences, 2012, researchers mixed luciferin and luciferase from various lineages of bioluminescent fungi. They found that all mixtures resulted in bioluminescence, which suggests "a single luminescent pathway" that arose early in these lineages.
Fungi are one of the world's least studied life forms. There are presumably thousands of species remaining to be found, especially in the tropics. San Francisco State University professor and avid mycologist, Dr. Dennis Desjardin, has uncovered more than 200 new species of fungi and nearly a quarter of all glowing mushrooms. Dr. Desjardin was a contributing author to the 2012 Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences study and spoke with mongaby.com about his burgeoning field. "Why do luminescent mushrooms, all of which emit light 24 hours per day, which must be an energy consumptive process, glow at all?" Desjardin asks. "There is no one answer to this question and we suspect that different species may glow for different reasons, especially dictated by which part of the mushroom or its mycelium glows." Scientists do know that bioluminescence provides some antioxidant protection, and that the light attracts insects which may aid in spore dispersal. "We have evidence that in some species, insects are attracted to luminescent mushrooms more than they are to non-luminescent mushrooms of the same size and shape," explains Desjardin, " but whether glowing makes any significant difference to the mushroom species in spore dispersal is unknown." If these questions leave you feeling inspired to head to the tropics to discover unknown fungi and unravel the secrets of glowing mushrooms, you may want to begin with an undergraduate degree in botany, or at least a few mycology courses. But for those who simply wish to witness bioluminescent fungi in action, Dr. Desjardin offers the following advice: "There are a few species in temperate habitats that are luminescent, particularly Omphalotus species (jack-o-lantern mushrooms), but they are not very spectacular and it requires patience (sitting for a long time in the dark to let your eyes adjust). The tropics are the best place to see them. Brazil, Southeast Asia and Australia are particularly good places with a variety of luminescent mushroom species. Pick a new moon night during the rainy season, go out at night when it is completely dark, and roam in the forest looking for points of yellowish green light. Don't forget, however, that you cannot see a thing in the pitch dark, so you'll walk into trees, streams, etc, and that there are lots of creatures that are nocturnal, like poisonous snakes, jaguar, necrotic spiders, etc. that need to be avoided! It's lots of fun!"   Neonothopanus gardneri. Photos by: Cassius V. Stevani, IQ-USP, Brazil.   Mycena lucentipes. Photos by: Cassius V. Stevani, IQ-USP, Brazil. CITATION: Oliveira, A. G., Desjardin, D.E., Perryc, B.A., and Stevani C.V. (2012) Evidence that a single bioluminescent system is shared by all known bioluminescent fungal lineages. Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences. 11, 848-852. {% include 'languages/english/includes/2011comments' %}
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(05/29/2013) On 15 April more than 100 fishermen demonstrated in the streets of Fort de France, the main town on Martinique, in the French West Indies. In January they barricaded the port until the government in Paris allocated €2m ($2.6m) in aid, which they are still waiting for. The contamination caused by chlordecone, a persistent organochlorine pesticide, means their spiny lobsters are no longer fit for human consumption. The people of neighboring Guadeloupe are increasingly angry for the same reason. After polluting the soil, the chemical is wreaking havoc out at sea, an environmental disaster that now threatens the whole economy.
(05/09/2013) Nearly a third of managed honeybee colonies in America died out or disappeared over the winter, an annual survey found on Wednesday. The decline—which was far worse than the winter before—threatens the survival of some bee colonies. The heavy losses of pollinators also threatens the country's food supply, researchers said. The US Department of Agriculture has estimated that honeybees contribute some $20bn to the economy every year.
(04/10/2013) New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) is facing a backlash over plans to aerially drop a controversial poison, known as 1080, over the habitat of two endangered, prehistoric, and truly bizarre frog species, Archey's and Hochsetter's frogs, on Mount Moehau. Used in New Zealand to kill populations of invasive mammals, such as rats and the Australian long-tailed possum, 1080 has become an increasingly emotive issue in New Zealand, not just splitting the government and environmentalists, but environmental groups among themselves. Critics allege that the poison, for which there is no antidote, decimates local animals as well as invasives, while proponents say the drops are the best way to control invasive mammals that kill endangered species like birds and frogs and may spread bovine tuberculosis (TB).
(01/28/2013) Commonly used agrochemicals (pesticides, fungicides and herbicides) kill frogs outright when sprayed on fields even when used at recommended dosages, according to new research in Scientific Reports. Testing seven chemicals on European common frogs (Rana temporaria), the scientists found that all of them were potentially lethal to amphibians. In fact, two fungicides—Headline and Captain Omya—wiped out the entire population of frogs at the recommended dosage. The study warns that agricultural chemicals could be having a large-scale and largely unrecorded impact on the world's vanishing amphibians.
(10/24/2012) The evidence that common pesticides may be partly to blame for a decline in bees keeps piling up. Several recent studies have shown that pesticides known as "neonicotinoid" may cause various long-term impacts on bee colonies, including fewer queens, foraging bees losing their way, and in some cases total hive collapse. The studies have been so convincing that recently France banned the use of neonicotinoid pesticides. Now a new study finds further evidence of harm caused by pesticides, including that bees who are exposed to more than one chemical, i.e. neonicotinoid and pyrethroid, were the most vulnerable.
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(06/03/2013) While many people may view zoos first and foremost as attractions, these institutions have a long history of supporting and instigating conservation work, including saving species from extinction that have vanished from their wild habitat. But such efforts require not just dedication and patience, but herculean organizational efforts. Enter, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), which works with zoos and aquariums to set up conservation programs and track endangered species in captivity.
(05/30/2013) You may think children in urban, northern UK have little in common with those in rural Assam, India, but educational connections are possible you just have to know where to look. In this case, an innovative education initiative at Chester Zoo has employed its five ton stars—the Asian elephants—to teach British children about life in faraway India.
(03/25/2013) The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is one of the world's leading environmental organizations. Founded in 1895 (originally as the New York Zoological Society), the WCS manages 200 million acres of wild places around the globe, with over 500 field conservation projects in 65 countries, and 200 scientists on staff. The WCS also runs five facilities in New York City: the Central Park Zoo, the New York Aquarium, Prospect Park and Queens Zoos, and the world renowned Bronx Zoo.
(04/03/2013) Sprinkled with pollen, buzzing bees fly from one blossom to another, collecting sweet nectar from brilliantly colored flowers. Bees tend to symbolize the pollination process, but there are many wild insects that carry out the same function. Unfortunately, wild insect populations are in decline, and, according to a recent study, adding more honey bees may not be a viable solution.
(03/29/2012) Commonly used pesticides may be a primary driver of the collapsing bee populations, finds two new studies in Science. The studies, one focused on honeybees and the other on bumblebees, found that even small doses of these pesticides, which target insect's central nervous system, impact bee behavior and, ultimately, their survival. The studies may have far-reaching repercussions for the regulation of agricultural chemicals, known as neonicotinoid insecticides, that have been in use since the 1990s.
(10/01/2012) The Great Barrier Reef has lost half of its coral cover in the last 27 years, according to a new study released today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Based on over 2,000 surveys from 1985 to this year the study links the alarming loss to three impacts: tropical cyclone damage, outbreaks crown-of-thorns starfish that devour corals, and coral bleaching.
(01/01/2009) Since 1990 the growth of coral in Australia's Great Barrier Reef has slowed its lowest rate in at least 400 years as a result of warming waters and ocean acidification, report researchers writing in Science. The finding portends a bleak near-term future for the giant reef ecosystem as well as calcifying marine organisms around the world.
(08/13/2012) Clearing forests and other vegetation with fire in Southeast Asia can kill, according to a new study in Nature Climate Change. The research found that fire-induced air pollution, including fine particulates and a rise in ozone, could be linked to thousands of deaths during El Nino years when dry conditions worsen human-set fires. The pollution was found to be worst over Malaysia and Indonesia, the latter where the vast majority of the fires are set.
(02/22/2009) Destruction of rainforests and peatlands is making Indonesia more susceptible to devastating forest fires, especially in dry el Niño years, report researchers writing in the journal Nature Geoscience. Constructing a record of fires dating back to 1960 for Sumatra and Kalimantan (on the island of Borneo) using airport visibility records to measure aerosols or "haze" prior to the availability of satellite data, Robert Field of the University of Toronto and colleagues found that the intensity and scale of fires has increased substantially in Indonesia since the early 1990s, coinciding with rapid expansion of oil palm plantations and industrial logging.
(06/06/2013) In order to meet the European Union's goal of 20% renewables by 2020, some European utility companies are moving away from coal and replacing it with wood pellet fuel. The idea is simple: trees will regrow and recapture the carbon released in the burning of wood pellets, making the process supposedly carbon-neutral. But just like other simple ideas, it misses out important details that can turn it on its head.
(12/06/2012) The average annual rate of deforestation across Amazon rainforest countries dropped sharply in the second half of the 2000s, reports a comprehensive new assessment of the region's forest cover and drivers of deforestation. While the drop in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has been widely reported, several other Amazon countries saw their rates of forest loss drop as well, according to the report, which was published by a coalition of 11 Latin American civil society groups and research institutions that form the Amazonian Network of Georeferenced Socio-Environmental Information (RAISG).
(07/11/2012) Efforts to rapidly and accurately track deforestation and forest degradation in Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru got a boost this week with a special technical training session organized by the Governors Climate and Forest Task Force. The meeting, convened at Stanford University and Google's Silicon Valley campus, paired staffers from government agencies and NGOs in the four tropical countries with technical experts from the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), the Carnegie Institution for Science, the Forum on Readiness for REDD, Woods Hole Research Center, and Google Earth Outreach. The participants received training to augment existing deforestation, forest degradation and biomass monitoring capabilities, which are highly variable both between countries and within sub-national agencies and jurisdictions.
(02/27/2013) Climate change, biodiversity loss, resource depletion, water scarcity, and land issues: almost all of the world's environmental problems are underpinned by too many people inhabiting a finite planet. A new study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B warns that overpopulation—combined with over-consumption—is threatening to push the entire globe into "a collapse of global civilization." But cultural changes, especially more empowerment of women and access to contraceptives, may hold the key to reducing population growth and eventual sustainability.
(01/10/2013) Global strategist, trained educator, and international lecturer Daniel Rirdan set out to create a plan addressing the future of our planet. His book The Blueprint: Averting Global Collapse, published this year, does just that. "It has been a sixty hour a week routine," Rirdan told mongabay.com in a recent interview. "Basically, I would wake up with the burden of the world on my shoulders and go to sleep with it. It went on like this for eighteen months." It becomes apparent when reading The Blueprint that it was indeed a monumental undertaking.
(10/16/2012) In a world where technology has advanced to a point where I can instantly have a face-to-face conversation via online video with a friend in Tokyo, nearly 870 million people, or one in eight, still suffer from malnutrition, according to a new UN report. While worldwide hunger declined from 1990 to 2007, progress was slowed by the global economic crisis. Over the last few years, numerous and record-breaking extreme weather events have also taken tolls on food production. Currently, food prices hover just below crisis levels.
(06/07/2012) Scientists warn that the Earth may be reaching a planetary tipping point due to a unsustainable human pressures, while the UN releases a new report that finds global society has made significant progress on only four environmental issues out of ninety in the last twenty years. Climate change, overpopulation, overconsumption, and ecosystem destruction could lead to a tipping point that causes planetary collapse, according to a new paper in Nature by 22 scientists. The collapse may lead to a new planetary state that scientists say will be far harsher for human well-being, let alone survival.
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(05/23/2010) The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University has released its annual top 10 list of new species discovered last year. This time the list includes a two inch penis-like mushroom, a minnow named after Bram Stoker's world-famous horror-character, a bomb-throwing deep sea worm, a giant carnivorous plant named after TV personality and conservationist David Attenborough, and a beautifully patterned frogfish.
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