Saturday, July 27, 2024

envirobites

environmental science research for everyone

Author: Andrea Valcarcel

Climate Ecosystems 

Navigating the Seas of Change: The Divergent Impact of Ocean Acidification and Warming on Marine Trophic Levels

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Ocean acidification and warming are profoundly altering marine ecosystems, impacting organisms from the bottom to the top of the food chain. Trophic levels—ranging from primary producers to apex predators—illustrate the complex web of energy transfer within these systems. In response, a team of scientists conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis to better understand how ocean acidification and warming would affect different marine trophic levels. Amidst these changing environments, understanding these energy dynamics becomes essential for devising effective conservation strategies.

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Animal behavior 

Boredom Will Be the Death of Me: The Power of Animal Enrichment in Big Cat Conservation

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Zoos and rehabilitation centers play vital roles in big cat conservation efforts, serving as research centers and rescue facilities that contribute to both captive and wild conservation strategies. Animal enrichment is integral to the daily care of captive animals, stimulating cognitive abilities, encouraging natural behaviors, and enhancing overall welfare, thus aiding in conservation efforts. A recent study evaluated biological factors such as sociality and body weight, as well as husbandry factors like group size and enrichment provision, in relation to zoo animal welfare indicators such as playtime and engagement with the environment. The study found that animal enrichment, rather than biological factors, significantly reduces stereotypical anxious behavior, increases activity, and promotes interaction with the environment, thereby enhancing the animals’ quality of life.

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Ecosystems Environmental Science 

Reef Remodeling: How Reef Carpets Could Change How We View Reef Restoration

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Coral reefs are one of the most important marine ecosystems in the world, but climate change and other stressors are pushing on their wellbeing and leading to degradation. That’s where reef restoration comes in, where scientists and volunteers work to reproduce tiny corals and transplant them onto degraded reefs—but this restoration mostly focused on survivability, and not variety. In a new approach, a group of scientists have constituted what they call “Reef Carpets”, which are patches of restoration efforts filled with biodiversity. They found that these “Carpets” jumpstart a whole reef ecosystem, leading to better outcomes in the long run.

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Climate Ecosystems 

Giving Them a Fighting Chance: How To Save Insects from Climate Change

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Insects, as small as they are, are even more important than you may think. Sadly, climate change and warming are slowly depleting insect populations as our urban spaces grow and the use of pesticides in rural areas increases. Actions like planting native plants and decreasing the concentration of concrete-sealed spaces could help create a world where insects are more resilient to the changing environment.

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Ecosystems Environmental Science 

Seaweeds Against Climate Change: How Algae Provide Us with Ecosystem Services

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If you’ve ever been near the ocean, chances are you’ve had an involuntary encounter with seaweed. It’s slimy. It’s smelly. It’s just overall not pleasant—but that doesn’t mean it isn’t useful for both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Here we’ll review some of the ecosystem services they provide so we can start looking past the inconvenience they represent and start appreciating them as the valuable organisms they are.

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Case Studies 

Theory versus Reality: How Biodiversity Indicators Were Re-Evaluated in The Gishwati-Mukura National Park

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Chimpanzees were thought to be an indicator of ecosystem biodiversity in the Gishwati-Mukura National Park until a group of scientists found there was no relationship between abundance of chimpanzee and biodiversity in that particular National Park—this does not mean this assumption is inherently wrong, it is just wrong for the area in question, showing us how biodiversity can be a difficult concept to measure.

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Español 

¿De cuántas maneras puedes contar lobos?

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Aunque el radioseguimiento se utiliza a menudo para controlar las poblaciones de lobos, los científicos se están centrando en métodos que no requieren la captura de animales vivos. ¿Cuáles son algunas de estas opciones y cómo se comparan con el radioseguimiento?

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