DAILY QUICK READ - JULY 17, 2016

What Right Do Humans Have?

When we were conferred with the right to kill any species that we felt like any time we wanted?  Our approach to the slaughter of top predators is truly disgusting.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, which has published an interactive map of state-by-state data, Texas was the deadliest state in 2015, with 609 bobcats and 23 mountain lions killed. That was followed by Oregon, with 193 black bears, 27 bobcats and 91 mountain lions; Minnesota, with 220 wolves, two bobcats and one black bear; and California, with 121 black bears, 80 mountain lions and 15 bobcats.

Nationwide, Wildlife Services eradicated 731 bobcats, 480 black bears, 385 wolves and 284 mountain lions. It also killed 68,985 coyotes—almost 17,000 in Texas alone—and 3,109 foxes.

…the taking of predators is the most problematic part, according to Michael Robinson, conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity.

"There's been enormous advances in our understanding of the critical roles that predators play in maintaining the health and integrity of their ecosystems," he said. "Scientists are now finding very important connections between predators and the vegetation that their prey species rely on."

When wolf populations are culled, for example, elk have less fear of foraging on tree saplings that grow along streams. But when wolves return, elk tend to avoid those areas, "which allows the saplings to grow into fairly large trees that support migratory birds and beavers," Robinson said. "This blanket policy of destroying predators undermines the integrity and function of entire ecosystems. It defies science."

Interactive map of the killing fields here.

Sunny California

California is working to generate one third of the state’s power requirements from renewables by 2020.  So, July 12 was a very good day in the progress towards that goal.

The same clear, sunny weather that broiled much of California in near-triple-digit heat this week also helped the state’s solar power plants set a record, briefly generating enough electricity for more than 6 million homes.

Just after 1 p.m. Tuesday, large solar plants scattered across California produced a record 8,030 megawatts of electricity, according to the California Independent System Operator, the organization that runs most of the state’s power grid. That’s nearly twice as much solar power as California could generate just two years ago — and it doesn’t even count the electricity produced by hundreds of thousands of small rooftop solar arrays statewide.

Birds, Birds, Birds

An hour of birds in 60 seconds.  Awesome and a bit creepy.

Paul Parker is a videographer who sees the world in an unusual way … and fortunately is able to translate it for the rest of us via the magic of his camera and post-processing skills. Case in point, his 55-second video called An Hour of Birds All At Once.

According to Beckett Mufson at The Creator’s Project, Parker recorded an hour’s worth of birds flying and then compressed it into a timelapse. “While this is unsettling enough, particularly with the distorted remix of Donna Summer’s "I Feel Love" keeping up the soundtrack,” writes Mufson, “Parker cranks the creepy up to 11 by replicating the time-lapse with a brief delay, layering swarm upon swarm of birds until the sky is literally black with the small-brained predators.”

Video here.

Why Do Turtles Have Shells

Not for defense, but to help them dig and burrow.  Evolution is an amazing thing.

Travel back in time to 260 million years ago, just before the dawn of the dinosaur era. Journey to what is now South Africa, and make your way to a river bank. Then, wait. If you’re lucky, you might see a small, hand-sized creature poking its head out of the mud. It looks like a fat lizard, with bulging flanks and stocky legs. But if you managed to grab it and flip it over, you’d find that its flanks are bulging because its ribs are exceptionally wide, broad, and flat, reinforcing its undersides. It’s almost like the little creature has half a shell.

This is Eunotosaurus, and despite its lizard-like appearance, it’s actually one of the earliest known turtles.

It was discovered in 1892 and ignored for almost a century. But by studying the many fossils of this enigmatic reptile, Tyler Lyson from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science has devised a fascinating new idea about turtle origins. He thinks that their iconic shells evolved not for defense, but for digging. They anchored the powerful arm strokes needed to shift soil and sand. Before turtles became impregnable walking fortresses, they were professional burrowers.

Many turtle species have been decimated, but there are some success stories.

Green Sea Turtles Successful Comeback.

Blanding's Turtles in Illinois.

DAILY QUICK READ - JULY 11, 2016

Predators Key to Ecology

Without Sea Otters the marine entire ecosystem tends to collapse.

The question that intrigued Estes when he began his marine studies in the Aleutians in the 1970s was straightforward: given its voracious appetite for urchins, crabs and the like, what was the ecological consequence of that calamitous drop in sea otters numbers last century? To find an answer, he began surveying sea floors around islands where sea otters had survived and others where they had disappeared and had yet to be reintroduced.

What Estes found was striking: around islands that now lacked sea otters, sea urchins – their main prey – had increased in size and in numbers with devastating consequences. The forests of kelp that once grew there in profusion had disappeared. Instead huge urchins littered the barren sea floor, having consumed every kelp plant in sight.

By contrast, near islands where sea otters survived or had been reintroduced, kelp flourished. The discovery was important given the nourishment kelp’s underwater forests provide for fish and other sea animals. “Kelp forests, with their high biomass and extreme productivity are key controlling elements of coast ecosystems,” says Estes.

Closer to Extinction

Greed drives another highly intelligent creature to the edge of extinction.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published an assessment this week that found hunting, habitat destruction and degradation, and habitat fragmentation to be the biggest drivers of Bornean orangutan population loss, Mongabay reported.

The authors wrote that "the combined impacts of habitat loss, habitat degradation and illegal hunting equate to an 86% population reduction between 1973 and 2025," according to Mongabay.

Only 59.6 percent of Borneo's forests were suitable for orangutans in 2010. Most of the land, Mongabay reported, is protected by Indonesian, Malaysian and Brunei governments. But illegal logging and uncontrolled burning continues to threaten the population.

"This is full acknowledgement of what has been clear for a long time: orangutan conservation is failing," Andrew Marshall, one of the authors of the assessment, told Mongabay.

Even with the remaining forest, it might not be enough to sustain the current Bornean orangutan population, Mongabay said:

Speaking of Greed

The most likely candidate to be Great Britain’s next prime minister is very cozy with the American right wing.  That is not a good sign for the majority of British citizens.  And, certainly a disaster from the perspective of environmental action of issues like climate change.

A controversial rightwing American lobbying group that denies climate change science and promotes gun ownership paid for the Tory prime ministerial hopeful Andrea Leadsom to fly to the United States to attend its conferences.

The American Legislative Exchange Council – Alec – is a neoconservative organisation with close links to members of the Tea Party movement. Championed by supporters of the free market, it has been attacked by critics for exerting a “powerful and undemocratic” influence on US politics.

It is part funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, David and Charles, whose empire spans mining, chemicals and finance. Leadsom’s links to the council will be scrutinised closely by those trying to gauge her political leanings.

In the US the council produces hundreds of putative bills that it seeks to have made into law by US legislators who attend its conferences, where they are treated to generous corporate hospitality at lavish cigar parties.