Constantine Alexander's Journal: January 2016

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January 2016

01/31/2016

How can social scientists engage with environmental policy?

Credit: Palm oil expansion triggers ecological cascade. Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, University of California at Berkeley.

By Science for Environment Policy

Social scientists have been advising on environmental issues for decades, but their contributions to policy remain unclear. This study analysed how social scientists interact with policymakers and provides recommendations for future engagement.

Public debate on environmental issues has characterised recent decades. In the 1950s, localised pollution was an important issue, defined by the mercury poisoning tragedy in Japan’s Minamata Bay. Agricultural chemicals were a hot topic in the 1960s, while nuclear power was a pertinent issue throughout the 1970s and 80s, highlighted by events such as the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. Debate nowadays is focused on more complex, cross-boundary problems such as loss of biodiversity and climate change.

Alongside these evolving concerns, the environment has become a distinct area of policy, prompted by the UN Conference on the Human Environment in the early 1970s. Environmental concerns began to be institutionalised as countries developed environmental ministries and passed environmental regulations. In the 1980s, the Brundtland Report popularised the idea of sustainable development, and policies were established on acid rain and ozone-depleting substances.

It was around this time that social scientists began to engage with environmental policy, generating fruitful interactions that continue today. Researchers from the Sustainable Practices Research Group have now developed a framework to analyse these interactions.

The researchers set out to answer two key questions: How do social science and public policy interact? And, how can social scientists engage with policy in the future? Both questions were orientated towards environmental problems. The authors say that it is an opportune time to ask these questions, as social scientists are increasingly being asked to advise on environmental problems such as climate change. The researchers based their findings on a review of literature in policy studies and science and technology studies. By investigating the literature in these two areas, they aimed to understand better how academic research and public policy interact generally, and how social science and environmental policy interact specifically.

Investigations into their first question revealed that politics has become more complex and uncertain over the past 25 years, as new challenges in the environment have emerged. The researchers also identified differences between policy and academic spheres. This can cause problems for social scientists aiming to influence environmental policy. Major changes in policy can take many years, generally much longer than it takes to complete a scientific project. These time commitments, and the need to write for different audiences, conflict with the academic pressures of publishing in peer-reviewed journals.

In answer to their second key question, the researchers highlight five ways in which social scientists can engage beneficially with environmental policy:

Providing analysis, evidence and advice on environmental issues from the social science perspective. For example, providing policy briefs, enquiries or taking part in committees, thus integrating the results of social science into environmental policymaking.
Encourage more reflexive policy processes in institutions. Reflexive governance involves problem solving by a wide range of stakeholders (e.g. policymakers, scientists and the public) and incorporating uncertainty, rather than trying to eliminate it, in order to examine problems and scientific claims more critically. This approach provides a wide range of opportunities for social scientists to contribute to policy, and in less formal ways. Existing institutions should be made more reflexive and new reflexive institutions should be formed, say the researchers.
Understanding how policy is made in practical terms. Social scientists should understand the more mundane routines, roles, objects, artefacts and elements involved in making policy. The researchers suggest that this knowledge would make the process more transparent, bolstering the productive reflexivity described above.
Carefully analysing policy domains. Social scientists should analyse the areas of policy which they seek to influence. However, the researchers suggest it is ‘unclear’ whether such enhanced reflexivity results in ‘better’ or ‘worse’ (environmental) policy.
Considering their broader role in relation to the environment. The authors finally encourage social scientists to think about their role in relation to the environment and sustainability more broadly. They encourage scholars to engage with the public through traditional forms of communication such as lectures, as well as less conventional routes such as conducting co-research with the public (e.g. citizen science). They say that helping to shape the public debate may also effect changes on policy and politics.

Citation: Parry, S. and Murphy, J. (2013). Towards a framework for analysing interactions between social science and environmental policy. Evidence and Policy: A Journal of Research, Debate and Practice, 9(4), pp.531-546. DOI: 10.1332/174426413X13836455133196.

Contact: Sarah Parry

Posted at 06:14 AM in Environment, Environmental Politics, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ecological intensification farming benefits wildlife and increases yield

The Countryside Restoration Trust

By Science for Environment Policy

Ecological intensification, using land and resources in ways that minimises negative ecosystem impacts while maintaining agricultural productivity, has been proposed as a way to sustainably increase crop yields, but remains under debate due to a lack of evidence. This six-year study of a large commercial farm assessed how using land for wildlife habitat affected food crops. The study shows that it is possible to remove up to 8% of land from production and maintain (and in some cases increase) yield.

By 2050, the global population will reach 9 billion, creating unprecedented demand for food. Pressure to meet this demand has led to expansion of agricultural land and intensification of practices, resulting in loss of natural habitat and negative impacts on the environment.

Ecological intensification has been proposed as a potential solution to both concerns. According to the FAO, ecological intensification is a ‘process that requires optimal management of nature’s ecological functions and biodiversity to improve agricultural system performance, efficiency and farmers’ livelihoods’. It involves practical management strategies that integrate and enhance the ecosystem functions associated with crop production in commercial farming systems. Examples include increasing the diversity of plants and animals to create resilient agroecosystems and maintaining populations of pollinators, which benefits yield and may even compensate for low levels of fertiliser application¹. Although this is a promising concept, evidence to prove that it can increase production is lacking, which means ecological intensification remains just that — a concept.

Large-scale implementation requires a clear demonstration of the benefits. In order to assess the costs and benefits of the practice, this study tested the technique on a large commercial farm in England. Over six years, researchers tested how removing small amounts of land previously used for food production to create wildlife habitat affected the yield of globally important food crops. The experiment was conducted on a 900-hectare estate in central England, typical of a northwest European commercial farm. It contains large arable fields that are cropped under a rotation of autumn-sown first wheat (Triticum aestivum), followed by break crops of oilseed rape (Brassica napus) or field beans (Vicia faba).

Between 2005 and 2011, the researchers tested two different ecological farming treatments. The first, ELS, is a simple habitat enhancement based on the ‘Entry Level Stewardship’ agri-environment scheme which involved removing 3% of useable crop land (1% of total area) from production to create wildlife habitats. The second treatment, called ELS extra or ELSX, incorporated additional habitats, including of different types, and took a further 5% of cropped land out of production (to 8%, ~5% of the total area). Treatments were compared to a continuation of intensive agriculture in which no land was removed from production.

To apply the treatments, the entire field area was divided into five blocks. Each of the treatments plus the control was applied randomly to individual sections within each block. In the control, fields were cropped to the edge.

The results for all three crops showed clear reductions in yield at the field edge compared with the rest of the field in the control treatment. At the edge, yield of winter wheat was reduced by 10.1%, beans by 25.9% and oilseed rape by 38.2%. Yield reduction at the field edge may be due to a number of factors, including soil compaction, competition for light and water resources with adjacent hedges and trees, and increased pressure from pests and weed species. However, habitat creation in these cropped areas increased yield. As a result, field-scale yields were maintained, despite loss of cropland. For beans, yield even increased, by as much as 35%. The authors say up to 8% of land can be removed from production without any net loss of yield. Both treatments also led to increases in the abundance and richness of pollinators, and ELSX increased the abundance of predatory ground beetles.

These findings support the argument that lower yielding and otherwise compromised areas of fields can be better used as non-crop habitats to provide services supporting crop production (e.g. pollen and nectar supply for pollinators and other beneficial insects), benefits for farmland biodiversity, and the protection of water and soil resources.

Habitat creation resulted in no loss to the farmer, in terms of monetary value or nutritional energy yield, across a typical five-year crop rotation. The results of this study indicate that yield and profitability of some insect-pollinated crops may even be increased by this approach. However, the authors say the benefits of removing land from production to create wildlife habitat must be carefully balanced against the costs and difficulties of establishing wildlife habitats on a commercial farm, such as time constraints and costs of labour. Furthermore, it should be noted that all crops were managed with fertilisers and pesticides, so the results may not fully reflect the ecological value of wildlife habitats.

EU agri-environment schemes currently pay farmers to manage their land to benefit certain habitats and species, and it may be beneficial to use these payments to encourage farmers to create wildlife habitat. However, the authors say further research is needed on a wider range of farming systems before the policy implications can be fully understood.

Marini, L., Tamburini, G., Petrucco-Toffolo, E., Lindström, S., Zanetti, F., Mosca, G. and Bommarco, R. (2015). Crop management modifies the benefits of insect pollination in oilseed rape. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 207, pp.61-66.

Citation: Pywell, R., Heard, M., Woodcock, B., Hinsley, S., Ridding, L., Nowakowski, M. & Bullock, J. (2015). Wildlife-friendly farming increases crop yield: evidence for ecological intensification. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1816), p.20151740. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1740.

Contact: R. Pywell

Posted at 05:22 AM in Environmental Politics, Science, Sustainable Development | Permalink | Comments (0)

Glow-in-the-dark sharks and other surprising sea creatures

David Gruber searches the undersea world for bioluminescent and biofluorescent marine animals.

Marine biologist, ocean explorer and professor David Gruber is providing a wealth of new insights into a secret "language" of shining colors and patterns that help many marine creatures communicate, interact and avoid enemies. He and his collaborators have illuminated and discovered novel fluorescent molecules from numerous marine animals and are working at the interface between glowing sea life and the ability to visualize the inner workings of human cells.

His research group at City University of New York and the American Museum of Natural History has deciphered the genome of scores of new fluorescent proteins, which are being developed as tools to aid in medical research and illuminate biological processes. On land, his team designs submersibles and other technologies to revolutionize ocean exploration and push the boundaries of our understanding of life in the deep sea.

Just a few meters below the waves, marine biologist and explorer-photographer David Gruber discovered something amazing — a surprising new range of sea creatures that glow in many colors in the ocean's dim blue light. Join his journey in search of biofluorescent sharks, seahorses, sea turtles and more, and learn how these light-up creatures could illuminate a new understanding of our own brains.

Posted at 04:57 AM in Marine Environment, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/30/2016

How EU ETS reform will shape the low-carbon economy

On 15 July, the European Commission unveiled its long-awaited proposals for a structural reform of the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) for after 2020. The proposals pleased no one: energy-intensive industries criticised the declining pot of free carbon allowances, while NGOs condemned the lack of ambition.

A fierce fight lies ahead. In September, MEP Ian Duncan, a Scotsman from the ECR Group, was appointed rapporteur and the Luxembourg EU presidency presented the plans to member states. Environment ministers will debate them at the next EU environment council on 26 October. Duncan envisages getting stuck into the meat of the debate early next year, after COP21 in Paris in December. Next year the European Commission is also due to present proposals for reducing non-ETS emissions and many expect the two sets of plans to be negotiated as a package.

Ahead of these negotiations, policymakers are getting their heads round all the options on the table. The Commission expects lots of ideas from MEPs and member states on how to take the reform forward. The bottom line is: can the EU ETS reclaim its place at the heart of EU climate policy?

What will the EU ETS look like in 2030? Will the proposals deliver the “robust” carbon price that Europe needs to drive forward climate action? How should a deal in Paris impact EU ETS reform? Can the proposals stem the tide for national market interventions? How can they be reconciled with those interventions to date? Is EU ETS reform the most significant industrial policy decision the Juncker Commission will take in its mandate?

Sonja van Renssen is joined by Peter Zapfel, Head of Unit “Emissions Trading System – Policy Development and Auctioning” in DG Climate Action, Bas Eickhout MEP, Greens/European Free Alliance, Shadow rapporteur for the ETS reform proposal and Chris Scott-Wilson, Director Public Affairs, Cefic – The European Chemical Industry Council to debate the question: “The EU ETS in 2030: what will it look like?”

Posted at 03:46 AM in Environmental Politics | Permalink | Comments (0)

Climate change prompts makeover of New England's forests, Dartmouth study finds

Forest soils across New England will store fewer nutrients and metals - some beneficial, some harmful -- as climate change prompts maples and other deciduous trees to replace the region's iconic evergreen conifers, a Dartmouth College study finds. The study appears in the journal Plant and Soil.

"Based upon our findings, we conclude that a shift from coniferous to deciduous vegetation could decrease the accumulation and retention of major metals," says lead author Justin Richardson, who conducted the research as part of his doctorate from Dartmouth's Department of Earth Sciences. "Our results can help forest managers and biogeochemists assess the future impact of changing vegetation type on plant-essential and pollutant metal cycling in forests across the region."

Under various climate and land-use scenarios, coniferous stands are expected to lose 71 percent to 100 percent of their current range to deciduous stands across New England by 2085, particularly in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, due to increased temperature and precipitation and changes in timber harvesting. Deciduous trees have very different ecological and physical characteristics than conifers, so this switch could impact how they cycle nutrients and store toxic metals in their underlying soil.

The Dartmouth researchers studied eight adjacent deciduous and coniferous forest stands in Vermont's Green Mountains and New Hampshire's White Mountains. They found that deciduous trees cycle nutrients in their litter layer at a faster rate than conifers, but potentially toxic metal cycling was not different between conifers and deciduous trees. Specifically, coniferous soils had 30 percent to 50 percent less calcium, potassium, magnesium, manganese and zinc than deciduous stands, while metal concentrations also were smaller in coniferous needles than deciduous leaves. Additionally, the results suggest coniferous soils retain calcium, cadmium, copper, potassium, magnesium and manganese 40 percent to 200 percent longer than deciduous soils. These results emphasize that coniferous stands cycle metals at a slower rate than deciduous stands.

The New England-Acadian forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregion that includes a variety of habitats on the hills, mountains and plateaus of New England in the northeast United States and Quebec and the Maritime Provinces of eastern Canada.

"As significant alterations to ecosystems resulting from global change become more likely, environmental scientists and the general public need to appreciate some of the potential outcomes," says senior author Andrew Friedland, a professor in Dartmouth's Environmental Studies Program. "Our paper explores one of these outcomes: changes in beneficial and harmful elements in forest soils."

Citation: J. B. Richardson and A. J. Friedland; Influence of coniferous and deciduous vegetation on major and trace metals in forests of northern New England, USA; Plant and Soil, 2016; DOI: 10.1007/s11104-016-2805-5.

Contact: John Cramer
Dartmouth College

Posted at 02:37 AM in Biodiversity, Climate Change, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

Survey shows Aussies' love and concern for Great Barrier Reef

A James Cook University researcher has found more than three quarters of Australians regard the Great Barrier Reef as part of their national identity and nearly 90 per cent believe it is under threat from climate change.

JCU's Jeremy Goldberg commissioned two professional surveys of around 1,000 people each as part of his PhD, conducted at JCU and CSIRO.

He said the survey's results were surprising. "We expected people to care about the Reef, but the strength of that connection was a revelation."

77 per cent of people felt the Great Barrier Reef was part of their identity as Australians and 43 per cent of people listed it as the most inspiring Australian icon, more than five times the level of Uluru, the second most inspiring icon.

Mr Goldberg said the results produced another surprise too, with a huge number of Australians concerned about the effect of climate change on the Reef.

"89 per cent of people thought climate change was a threat to the Reef and 54 per cent said they would be personally affected if the health of the Great Barrier Reef declined," he said.

"There seems to be a difference between the level of concern the public has for the health of the Reef due to climate change and the level of concern expressed in the media."

It was the first nationally representative poll about the Great Barrier Reef in terms of location, gender, age and other demographic variables. "We sought to have a solid representation of the Australian public, not just Queensland stakeholders or capital cities as other studies have done," said Mr Goldberg.

Mr Goldberg said the connection between people and special places is rarely quantified, and policymakers find it difficult to incorporate human dimensions into decision-making processes.

"We've described the personal concern and connection Australians have with the Great Barrier Reef and discuss how the results may help with its management," he said.

"Now we have a clearer understanding of how deeply people do connect. It seems that people see it as much more than just a Reef, but think of it as part of the culture and protecting the Reef may be part of what it means to be Australian, or that letting it continue to decline would be un-Australian."

The study forms part of a social and economic long-term monitoring program (SELTMP) for the Great Barrier Reef, established by JCU and CSIRO scientists, funded by the Australian Government's National Environmental Research Program.

Other key points from the survey:

86% of Australians were proud that the Great Barrier Reef is a World Heritage Area, and most agreed that it was the responsibility of all Australians to protect it (81%).
77% were concerned about the impacts of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef.
44% of Australians have visited the Great Barrier Reef and 8% visited within a year before survey.
Nearly half of the respondents (49%) had never been to the Great Barrier Reef but would like to at some stage.

Citation: Jeremy Goldberg, Nadine Marshall, Alastair Birtles, Peter Case, Erin Bohensky, Matt Curnock, Margaret Gooch, Howard Parry-Husbands, Petina Pert, Renae Tobin, Christopher Villani, Bernard Visperas; Climate change, the Great Barrier Reef and the response of Australians; Palgrave Communications, 2016; 2: 15046; DOI: 10.1057/palcomms.2015.46.

Contact: Alistair Bone
James Cook University

Posted at 02:00 AM in Environmental Activism, Environmental Politics, Marine Environment, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ocean acidification impacting population demography and hindering adaptation potential

Carbon dioxide bubbles at the volcanic vent in the Mediterranean. Credit: Demetris Kletou, Plymouth University.

Ocean acidification may be impacting upon the population dynamics of marine species and hindering their ability to genetically adapt to future climate change.

These are the findings of a team of scientists, whose report is published in the journal Scientific Reports, following an investigation into how the gastropod Hexaplex trunculus has responded to ocean acidification over multiple generations.

The project, led by Aberystwyth University, in conjunction with a number of European partners, including the Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, Norway; Plymouth University; and the University of Palermo, found evidence that individuals have to trade-off maintaining their shells in order to compensate for a higher cost of living in acidified conditions.

But going further, they discovered that that these changes to the energy budget may not be the same for males and females, and at a population-level, those individuals contributing to reproduction change year-on-year, resulting in a genetic drift that could hinder the potential for genetic adaptation to ocean acidification.

Ben Harvey, of the Institute of Biological, Environmental, and Rural Sciences, at Aberystwyth, said: "Despite growing evidence for direct impacts on specific species, few studies have simultaneously considered the effects of ocean acidification on individuals and population level demographic processes. By using carbon dioxide vents as natural laboratories, we have found that ocean acidification may hamper normal breeding habits and reduce the potential for species to adapt."

H. trunculus, which grows to nearly 10cm, is a commercially valuable species of mollusc, one widely consumed in African countries that border the Mediterranean. In the course of the project, the scientists looked at communities clustered at three sites off the coast of Isola Vulcano in Sicily characterised by different levels of CO₂.

Those at the CO₂-rich site were found to have a significantly lower mean shell length, and smaller, thinner shells than those at the two neutral sites. They also found significantly fewer females present in the Low pH site (32.26%), while the sex ratio in the control pH sites was around 50%.

As part of the research, the team relocated some specimens from one site to another and after a 14-day period of exposure, extracted them to the laboratory to analyse the physiological response through its metabolic rate. They found notably higher metabolic rates for those that had been exposed to acidic waters, pointing to evidence of acclimatisation.

"Acclimatisation can buffer populations against the immediate impacts of ocean acidification, and even provide time for adaptation," said Samuel Rastrick, of the Institute of Marine Research. "However, it can also result in stress-induced energetic trade-offs, and unless organisms can compensate for the extra costs caused by ocean acidification, then they may suffer negative consequences in the form of reduced growth, development and reproduction."

Pippa Moore, also of Aberystwyth University, added: "Should organisms be unable to maintain their energy budgets, then they may lack the necessary energy to contribute to future generations."

Professor Jason Hall Spencer, of Plymouth University, concludes: "Overall, this study demonstrates that ocean acidification is driving individual and population level changes that will impact eco-evolutionary trajectories, and highlights the need for deeper understanding of the links between individual effects and (often unknown) population demographics in order to predict and manage the consequences of climate change."

Citation: Ben P. Harvey, Niall J. McKeown, Samuel P. S. Rastrick, Camilla Bertolini, Andy Foggo, Helen Graham, Jason M. Hall-Spencer, Marco Milazzo, Paul W. Shaw, Daniel P. Small, Pippa J. Moore; Individual and population-level responses to ocean acidification; Scientific Reports, 2016; 6: 20194; DOI: 10.1038/srep20194.

Contact: Andrew Merrington
University of Plymouth

Posted at 12:45 AM in Climate Change, Marine Environment, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

01/29/2016

Study Finds Toxic Pollutants in Fish Across the World’s Oceans

Scripps researchers’ analysis shows highly variable pollutant concentrations in fish meat.

A new global analysis of seafood found that fish populations throughout the world's oceans are contaminated with industrial and agricultural pollutants, collectively known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The study from researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego also uncovered some good news¾concentrations of these pollutants have been consistently dropping over the last 30 years.

The findings, reported in the Jan. 28 issue of the journal PeerJ, were based on an analysis by Scripps researchers Lindsay Bonito, Amro Hamdoun, and Stuart Sandin of hundreds of peer-reviewed articles from 1969-2012. The pollutants studied included older 'legacy' chemicals, such as DDT and mercury, as well as newer industrial chemicals, such as flame retardants and coolants.

“Based on the best data collected from across the globe, we can say that POPs can be anywhere and in any species of marine fish,” said Scripps biologist Sandin, a co-author of the study.

Although POPs were found in fish in all of the world’s oceans, the researchers say that concentrations in the consumable meat of marine fish are highly variable, where one region or group of fish may find concentrations of POPs that vary by 1,000-fold. The analysis revealed that average concentrations of each class of POP were significantly higher in the 1980s than is found today, with a drop in concentration of 15-30 percent per decade.

“This means that the typical fish that you consume today can have approximately 50 percent of the concentration of most POPs when compared to the same fish eaten by your parents at your age,” said Bonito, the lead author of the study.

The researchers also compared the results to federal safety guidelines for seafood consumption and found that the average levels of contaminants were at or below the health standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Mercury and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl) concentrations were at the EPA threshold for occasional human consumption, while concentrations of DDT were consistently much lower than the established threshold.

According to the authors, these results suggest that the global community has responded to the calls-to-action, such as in the Stockholm Convention, to limit the release of potentially harmful chemicals into the environment.

The authors caution that although pollutant concentrations in marine fish are steadily declining, they still remain quite high, and that understanding the cumulative effects of numerous exposures to pollutants in seafood is necessary to determine the specific risk to consumers.

Citation: Lindsay T. Bonito, Amro Hamdoun, Stuart A. Sandin. Evaluation of the global impacts of mitigation on persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic pollutants in marine fish. PeerJ, 2016; 4: e1573 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1573.

The study was funded by the Waitt Foundation.

Contact: Mario Aguilera, University of California - San Diego

Posted at 07:10 AM in Environment, Environmental Disasters, Fisheries, Marine Environment, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

Recent summer temperatures in Europe are likely the warmest of the last 2 millennia

High temperatures projected for Europe on July 2, 2015 by the ECMWF computer model.

Most of Europe has experienced strong summer warming over the course of the past several decades, accompanied by severe heat waves in 2003, 2010 and 2015. New research now puts the current warmth in a 2100-year historical context using tree-ring information and historical documentary evidence to derive a new European summer temperature reconstruction.

The work was published today (Friday 29th January) in the journal of Environmental Research Letters by a group of 45 scientists from 13 countries.

Warm summers were experienced during Roman times, up to the 3rd century, followed by generally cooler conditions from the 4th to the 7th centuries. A generally warm medieval period was followed by a mostly cold Little Ice Age from the 14th to the 19th centuries. The pronounced warming early in the 20th century and in recent decades is well captured by the tree-ring data and historical evidence on which the new reconstruction is based.

The evidence suggests that past natural changes in summer temperature are larger than previously thought, suggesting that climate models may underestimate the full range of future extreme events, including heat waves. This past variability has been associated with large volcanic eruptions and changes in the amount of energy received from the sun.

The new research finding that temperatures over the past 30 years lie outside the range of these natural variations supports the conclusions reached by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that recent warming is mainly caused by anthropogenic activity.

"We now have a detailed picture of how summer temperatures have changed over Europe for more than two thousand years and we can use that to test the climate models that are used to predict the impacts of future global warming," says the coordinator of the study, Professor Jürg Luterbacher from the University of Giessen in Germany.

Citation: J Luterbacher, J P Werner, J E Smerdon, L Fernández-Donado, F J González-Rouco, D Barriopedro, F C Ljungqvist, U Büntgen, E Zorita, S Wagner, J Esper, D McCarroll, A Toreti, D Frank, J H Jungclaus, M Barriendos, C Bertolin, O Bothe, R Brázdil, D Camuffo, P Dobrovolný, M Gagen, E García-Bustamante, Q Ge, J J Gómez-Navarro, J Guiot, Z Hao, G C Hegerl, K Holmgren, V V Klimenko, J Martín-Chivelet, C Pfister, N Roberts, A Schindler, A Schurer, O Solomina, L von Gunten, E Wahl, H Wanner, O Wetter, E Xoplaki, N Yuan, D Zanchettin, H Zhang and C Zerefos; European summer temperatures since Roman times; Environmental Research Letters 11, 024001 (2016); DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/11/1/024001.

The interdisciplinary study involved the collaboration of researchers from Past Global Changes' (PAGES) original European 2k Network working group, Euro-Med2k. PAGES, a core project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (until 2015) and Future Earth (2015-), is funded by the U.S. and Swiss National Science Foundations and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Posted at 03:47 AM in Climate Change, Environment, Science | Permalink | Comments (0)

Octopuses shed their asocial reputation

An octopus displays dark color and spread web and arms. Credit: David Scheel.

Octopuses have generally been viewed as solitary creatures--and their color-changing abilities primarily as a means to hide from hungry predators. But, after binge watching more than 52 hours of octopus TV, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on January 28 have found that octopuses actually do have a social life. And it's not without drama.

"We found that octopuses are using body patterns and postures to signal to each other during disputes," says David Scheel of Alaska Pacific University. "The postures and patterns can be quite flashy, such as standing very tall, raising the body mantle high above the eyes, and turning very dark."

The octopuses in question belonged to a species known as Octopus tetricus living in the shallows of Jervis Bay, Australia. Scheel and his colleagues were tipped off that something interesting might be going on in that bay by a diver who alerted an online community of people interested in cephalopods that he'd seen something interesting. The researchers followed up from there, ultimately witnessing 186 octopus interactions and more than 500 actions. In all that video, the octopuses spent more than 7 hours interacting.

Scheel along with colleagues at the University of Sydney noticed some intriguing patterns: when an octopus with a dark body color approached another dark octopus, the interaction was more likely to escalate to grappling. When a dark octopus approached a paler one, the pastier octopus more often retreated. When the opposite happened and a light octopus approached a darker one, the latter more often stood its ground.

"Dark color appears to be associated with aggression, while paler colors accompany retreat," Scheel says.

Octopuses also displayed on high ground, standing with their web spread and their mantle elevated. Octopuses in that "stand tall" posture frequently also sought higher ground. The researchers suspect the octopuses' behaviors are meant to make themselves appear larger and more conspicuous.

The findings expand scientists' understanding of how octopuses interact and communicate with each other. The researchers now suspect that social interactions among octopuses are likely to occur wherever food is plentiful and hiding places are scarce. They'll continue to study these octopuses and to explore how their social lives might influence the size of the population.

Citation: David Scheel, Peter Godfrey-Smith and Matthew Lawrence; Signal Use by Octopuses in Agonistic Interactions; Current Biology (2016); DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.12.033.

Financial support for this study was provided by the City University of New York, Alaska Pacific University, and from donations by the Pollock Conservation Consortium.