Earthbytes

Earth Day 2013

USGS: Tiny Grazers Play Key Role in Marine Ecosystem Health

Tiny sea creatures no bigger than a thumbtack are being credited for playing a key role in helping provide healthy habitats for many kinds of seafood...

Gammarus mucronatus, an amphipod grazer that can promote healthy eelgrass beds. Copyrighted photo courtesy of Matthew Whalen/UC Davis. (High resolution image)

According to a recently published study by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and U.S. Geological Survey, tiny crustaceans like Gammarus mucronatus (see photo above) play a critical role to protect seagrasses from overgrowth by algae. By eating algae on seagrass, these small animals keep ocean environments healthy for native and economically important species.

“Inconspicuous creatures often play big roles in supporting productive ecosystems,” said the study'd lead author, Matt Whalen. “Think of how vital honeybees are for pollinating tree crops or what our soils would look like if we did not have earthworms. In seagrass systems, tiny grazers promote healthy seagrasses by ensuring algae is quickly consumed rather than overgrowing the seagrass. And by providing additional refuge from predators, fleshy seaweeds that drift in and out of seagrass beds can maintain larger grazer populations and enhance their positive impact on seagrass.”  

 USGS scientist Jim Grace, a study coauthor, says that seagrass habitats are also beneficial to people.

“Not only do these areas serve as nurseries for commercially important fish and shellfish, such as blue crabs, red drum, and some Pacific rockfish, but they also help clean our water and buffer our coastal communities by providing shoreline protection from storms,” Grace said. “These tiny animals, by going about their daily business of grazing, are integral to keeping healthy seagrass beds healthy.”

Comparison of algae fouling on eelgrass with and without grazers. Copyrighted photo courtesy of Matthew Whalen/UC Davis. Copyrighted photo courtesy of Matthew Whalen/UC Davis. (High resolution image)

Without these algae grazers, say the authors, algae could accumulate in a thick enough layer to block sunlight and prevent the seagrasses from photosynthesizing, which would kill them.  The decline of seagrass in some areas is partly the result of excess nutrients in water that stimulates excessive algal growth on seagrasses. 

J. Emmett Duffy of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, another coauathor of the study, says that coastal managers have been concerned for years about excess fertilizer and sediment loads that hurt seagrasses. Duffy sees study results as convincing field evidence that tiny animals that graze on algae can be just as important as good water quality to prevent algal blooms and keep seagrass beds healthy.

The study, “Temporal shifts in top-down versus bottom-up control of epiphytic algae in a seagrass ecosystem,” was published in the recent issue of Ecology, a journal by the Ecological Society of America.

Read more about seagrass:

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President Obama: Honor the treaties. Protect the sacred. Forward on Climate. No Keystone XL.

Thousands of citizens have gathered on the mall in DC today to ask President Obama to move forward on climate and energy policy. The activists involved represent different campaigns and strategies to protect the Earth and restore ecological balance. Today they all march as one.

For several months, First Nations citizens of Canada, Native American Nations and many non-Indigenous allies have worked to reaffirm unity of the human family and love for Mother Earth. Check out the video and other links below to explore the growing movement.

 

 

Related articles:

Sunday rally could tip balance against Keystone pipeline (Paul Koring, Globe and Mail, 2/17/13)

Harper government presses Obama to approve Keystone XL Pipeline (Yves Engler at rabble.ca, 2/17/13)

The best solution on climate change requires Congress to act (Bernie Sanders in The Guardian, 2/16/13)

A Presidential Decision That Could Change the World: The Strategic Importance of Keystone XL (Michael Klare, 2/10/13)

Four States Introduce Keystone XL Resolutions, Lifting Language From ALEC and TransCanada (Brendan Fischer, 2/16/13)

Why Organized Labor Must Stand Against the Keystone XL Pipeline (Mark Vorpahl, Occupy.com, 2/13/13)

Time for President Obama to Choose Sides on Keystone XL Jamie Henn, 350.org, 2/13/13)

 

Related articles

Thousands Converge: Demand Action from Obama to Avoid 'Climate Disaster'

Crowd gathers for Forward on Climate Keystone XL protest in Washington, D.C.: slideshow

Tens of thousands to rally against Keystone XL in Washington, organizers say

Wall asks U.S. ambassador to clarify Obama's Keystone comments

Earth Observatory Image of the Day: Appalachian Mountains

via earthobservatory.nasa.gov

I loved the article accompanying this photo because it has a great summary of the geologic and tectonic history of Laurasia, Gondwanaland and Pangea in relation to Appalachian mountain building:

The rocks that form this valley-and-ridge province, as it is known, are relatively old (540 to 300 million years old) and were laid down in horizontal layers when North America was attached to Europe in the ancient supercontinent of Laurasia. During this time Gondwanaland—an ancient supercontinent that included present-day Africa, India, South America, Australia, and Antarctica—was approaching Laurasia under the influence of plate tectonics. The northwest coastline of modern Africa was the section of Gondwanaland that “bumped up” against modern North America over a long period (320 to 260 million years ago).

The net result of the tectonic collision was the building of a major mountain chain, much higher than the present Appalachian range. In the process, the flat-lying rock layers were crumpled up into a series of tight folds, at right angles to the advance of Gondwanaland. The collision also formed the singular supercontinent of Pangaea. Over the following 200 million years, Pangaea broke apart; the modern Atlantic Ocean formed; and erosion wore down the once-high mountains. What is left 200 million years later are the coastline of North America and the eroded stumps of the relatively low, but visually striking mountain chain.

Related articles

Astronauts take a picture of Appalachian Mountains

NASA Image: "Super Typhoon" Bopha

Here's a NASA image of Super Typhoon Bopha -- or, "Pablo", as people in the Philippines are calling it:

This still image of Super Typhoon Bopha was taken by Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford on Sunday, Dec. 2 from the International Space Station, as the storm bore down on the Philippines with winds of 135 miles per hour. Parts of the orbital outpost are seen in the picture -- the Permanent Multipurpose Module on the left, and Mini-Research Module 1 on the right. Image and caption credit: NASA

Also check out this 3-D analyzation of Bopha provided by NASA's TRMM satellite, and related article linked below.

Some of the hashtags being used on Twitter are #Pablo, #PabloPH, #Bopha, and #Philippines. I found many good informational links being shared there, as well as wishes from people around the world for the well-being of survivors.

Please visit www.ifrc.org for more information from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. They also have some photos of the damage from Bopha on their Flickr photostream.

And please don't forget people here in the United States impacted by Sandy. Here are some recent links:

Hurricane Warning Definition Modified by NHC in Wake of Sandy

Sandy Clean-up Could Lead to Illness , Litigation for Workers

Hurricane Sandy in the Age of Disposability and Neoliberal Terrorism (Henry A Giroux)

Related articles

NASA compiles Typhoon Bopha's Philippines Rainfall totals from space

NASA satellites see Super-Typhoon Bopha closing in on the Philippines

Brook Meakins: An Inside Look at the First Village Forced to Relocate Due to Climate Change

Interesting article about a community that has contributed very little to climate change, but are feeling the effects in profound ways.

For the most part, many people still experience climate change on an academic rather than a personal level. But for the villagers of Vunidogoloa on Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second largest island, climate change has become a daily intrusion on every day life. The villagers of Vunidogoloa are currently relocating to drier and higher land because of sea level rise, erosion, and intensifying floods. I had the opportunity to visit the village midway through this process – one of the very first village relocation projects in the world – and spoke with people young and old about their upcoming move.

Read more at www.alternet.org

Economic Hitmen (video)

John Perkin's view of a "mutant viral capitalism" and how it operates to oppress people and nature.

 

'Not a Mistake': NASA in Disbelief over Rate of Melting Ice | Common Dreams

via www.commondreams.org

Researchers have not yet determined whether this extensive melt event will affect the overall volume of ice loss this summer and contribute to sea level rise.

"The Greenland ice sheet is a vast area with a varied history of change. This event, combined with other natural but uncommon phenomena, such as the large calving event last week on Petermann Glacier, are part of a complex story," said Tom Wagner, NASA's cryosphere program manager in Washington. "Satellite observations are helping us understand how events like these may relate to one another as well as to the broader climate system."

Read the whole story at Common Dreams.

Earth Observatory Image of the Day: Derecho Strikes the Eastern United States

I've been following impacts of this derecho through email and social networks the past few days. The first sentence in the Earth Observatory article below really helped knit all the stories I've been hearing into a larger picture of this systemic awesome event.

Photo courtesy Kevin Gould / NOAA. Caption by Michon Scott.

On June 29, 2012, a windstorm started in northwestern Indiana, and traveled roughly 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. Embarking on a roughly 10-hour journey, the fast-moving storm toppled trees, downed power lines and left more than a million residents without power in the District of Columbia alone.

Read the whole story at earthobservatory.nasa.gov

Whitewater-Baldy Complex Fire: Some Evacuees Return Home

Steady progress corralling New Mexico's largest ever forest fire allowed some evacuees to return home on Monday even as officials in Utah investigated an air tanker crash that caused the first two deaths among crews fighting wildfires this year.

The airplane, a Lockheed Martin P2V, went down on Sunday afternoon in the Hamlin Valley area of southwestern Utah while on a mission to drop chemical fire retardant on an 8,000-acre (3,237-hectare) blaze along the Nevada-Utah border.

Read the rest of the article at www.huffingtonpost.com

Elk stand in Whitewater-Baldy Complex fire's haze. [Photo Credit: US Forest Service Gila National Forest, Brandon Oberhardt]

The Whitewater-Baldy Complex fire has burned 259,025 acres and is 20% contained, according to today's briefing. Fire behavior was dampened earlier in the day by an inversion over the fire.

A Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team is on the ground now for  an assessment of the Whitewater-Baldy Complex burn area. The BAER team includes hydrologists, soil scientists, engineers, biologists, silviculturists, range conservationists and archeologists who will evaluate the burned area and prescribe management actions that will protect the land quickly and effectively.

A number of local and state emergency managers have also come together to support locally driven community-based efforts and to initiate mitigation measures that will minimize damage from post-fire floods.