Tag: environment

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Cottage Life

Why wolves love trails (and caribou, not so much)

Photo by C_Gara / Shutterstock

Zoom in and explore the northern boreal forests of western Canada on Google Earth and you’ll see long straight lines making their way through the forest. These lines are cleared trails through the forest to extract resources, creating roads for forestry and seismic lines searching for underground oil and gas deposits.

Now picture yourself faced with the task of moving across this landscape: Will you push your way through dense trees and underbrush, or will you choose to walk on the trails?

Like humans, wolves often choose the path of least resistance, moving faster and farther on human-created trails through the forest. Increased wolf movement is believed to play an important role in the decline of the threatened boreal woodland caribou—an iconic species in Canada (just look at the quarter in your pocket).

When wolves move farther, they encounter their prey more frequently, and caribou are being hunted by wolves at rates they cannot sustain.

a cleared path through a forest
A seismic line created by searching for underground oil and gas deposits.
(Natasha Crosland/Caribou Monitoring Unit), Author provided

Smaller territories

But now, we’ve also found that wolves living in areas that make it easier for them to get around need less space to make a living. The relationship is particularly strong when prey are scarce.

We tracked 142 wolves using GPS collars across British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan—spanning over 500,000 square kilometres. The tracked wolves spanned areas with low to high prey density (measured using a metric of habitat productivity, or how much vegetation there is for species like moose), and had varying access to human-created trails.

Wolves living in areas with high densities of human-created trails took up an area roughly 20 times smaller than wolves without trails, but only when they lived in areas with low habitat productivity. Comparatively, trails didn’t change the area needed for wolves when they lived in areas with high habitat productivity.

A diagram showing how the areas covered by wolves are affected by human activity
The territories covered by wolves are changing.
(Created by FUSE for Caribou Monitoring Unit/UBC-Okanagan/Regional Industry Caribou Collaboration), Author provided

Think about picking berries. If the berries are hard to find, you have to go looking far and wide to get enough to fill up your basket. But if something makes it easier for you to find the berries, then you don’t have to look around as much. You can just grab all the ones that you see close to you. The advantage of being able to easily find berries would be less important if there are a lot because you can skip over a few without noticing. But it becomes more important when there are few to begin with, and every last berry counts.

This is exactly what we are seeing with wolves: Instead of choosing to travel far and wide, wolves with access to lots of trails stay close to home and get by with what they have.

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The space animals use to carry out their lives is called a home range, or if defended from conspecifics like in the case of wolves, a territory. If animals have smaller home ranges, that means more animals can crowd into a given space, increasing the density of that species. It is well documented that animals need less space when there is an abundance of food around—and now we know that easier access to that food can also decrease home range size. We found that increasing a wolf’s access to their prey, through things like cleared trails through the forest, can decrease their home range size, likely increasing the regional density of wolves.

Habitat restoration

But why do we care about how big wolf home ranges are? One of the biggest conservation challenges in Canada is that of woodland caribou. Caribou live across large areas, overlapping places where the energy and forestry sectors are actively extracting natural resources like oil, gas and timber.

a caribou stands next to a cleared path in a forest
A remote camera capture of caribou in the boreal forest. Changes in wolf-hunting patterns are threatening the already endangered caribou.
(Melanie Dickie/Caribou Monitoring Unit), Author provided

Habitat restoration and protection have been identified as key steps needed to recover declining populations. Despite existing efforts and policies, caribou habitat loss continues to accelerate across much of western Canada.

Habitat restoration is imminently needed, but is expensive and time consuming. Prioritizing habitat restoration in areas where it will be most beneficial to caribou as soon as possible is necessary for effective caribou management.

Habitat restoration has two main goals: to reduce wolf hunting efficiency by limiting their use of trails and slow their movement when on them and to return the forest to caribou habitat. But now we have reason to believe that slowing wolves down can also reduce wolf density on the landscape — forcing individual wolves to take up more space and push others out—especially in low-productivity peatlands, where the effect on home ranges is stronger.

Effective habitat restoration is going to be important for moving away from other management actions like wolf management in the long term. But, we have a lot of work ahead of us. There are hundreds of thousands of kilometres of these cleared trails that need to be restored. Our study points us towards prioritizing low-productivity areas to see the biggest effects sooner.The Conversation

Melanie Dickie, PhD candidate, Biology, University of British Columbia

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read more: Photographer captures rare images of coastal wolf

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Cottage Life

The surprising way woodstove ashes can help your forest

Photo by bluejava1/ Shutterstock

Muskoka’s trees are famously colourful, but are not as strong or productive as they could be. The soil lacks calcium, a vital nutrient for growth, and an Ontario non-profit is working on a clever solution to fertilizing the soil: scattering recycled wood ash. 

“Calcium plays many of the same roles in trees as it does in humans,” says Norman Yan, a retired biology professor at York University. Yan is a board member of the Friends of the Muskoka Watershed, a not-for-profit group that is dedicated to researching and finding solutions to Muskoka’s environmental challenges. With their ASHMuskoka program, they hope to replenish the calcium deficient soils of the region in order to boost forest productivity.

Yan explains that in Eastern Canada, the Northeastern United States, and parts of Scandinavia, a history glacial retreat has towed much of the soil away, leaving behind low-calcium granite bedrock. “We’ve also had decades of acid rain. It took about a third, sometimes to a half, of the residual calcium away,” says Yan. He estimates that Muskoka soils have lost around half a ton of calcium per hectare, mostly due to acid rain.

Like in humans, calcium plays an important role in all kinds of physiological functions, from basic cellular processes to wound repair. Yan says that wood from trees that are deficient in calcium are actually 20-30 per cent weaker than their non-deficient counterparts, and the phenomenon of calcium-poor soils results in a condition called ecological osteoporosis.“The implications of that are lower photosynthesis, weaker wood, lower rates of oxygen production and sugar production, and weaker regeneration.”

To mitigate the calcium deficiency, the ASHMuskoka program is focused on research and sustainable solutions. Rather than importing limestone or dolomite to restore the lost calcium, the program proposes recycling wood ash from residential wood stoves. “Hundreds if not thousands of people out here heat with wood,” says Yan. “The ash that’s leftover is kind of a waste. It has more or less all the nutrients that the tree needs in the right proportions.” Except, he says, for nitrogen, which isn’t a concern because Muskoka soils already have plentiful amounts of that nutrient.

In the program’s study plots Yan and other researchers have already found that fertilizing forest stands increased calcium and potassium levels in foliage and dramatically improved calcium levels in root systems. “The most interesting result that we don’t quite understand yet is a dramatic increase in sap volume from sugar maples,” says Yan. In one experiment, some maple trees supplemented with wood ash doubled in sap flow.

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 The broader benefits of fertilizing forests with wood ash are multifold. For one, trees supplemented with wood ash transpire—or release water vapour through their leaves—25 per cent more than non-fertilized trees. The added water vapour in the atmosphere could influence the water cycle and mitigate the spring flooding issue the region often faces.

8 things every cottager can do to get ready for the next flood

Critically, boosted forest growth can be vital for capturing carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere. “This could make a real contribution to Canada’s goal to be carbon neutral by 2050 if we can roll out a program like this across the landscape,” says Yan. A study done in New Hampshire found that calcium-fertilized forests captured a ton more carbon dioxide per year per hectare.  

Now, the AshMuskoka program is looking to collaborate with logging companies that could oversee the widespread  implementation of wood ash fertilization. They’re also interested in raising awareness for recycling wood ash and involving the public in their project.

People interested in ASHMuskoka can contribute in several ways. For one the program is planning a citizen science project where property owners can volunteer some of their land as a study plot. ASHMuskoka also runs monthly wood ash drives where volunteers can drop off their ash at the Rosewarne Transfer Station in Bracebridge, Ont. Lastly, people that have groves of maples or other hardwoods can also sprinkle about a yoghurt container per square yard of wood ash in their forest stands. “You’ll see a real benefit for the health of your trees,” says Yan. Just be sure the ash is completely cold to eliminate any risk of starting a forest fire.

“If we look after our forests, our forests will look after us,” says Yan. “The forest could be a lot healthier in mitigating climate change and mitigating spring floods.”

 

Categories
Cottage Life

What loss of ice cover means for lake health

Photo by Lloyd Carr / Shutterstock

Every winter when Lake Suwa in Japan freezes, locals believe that the Shinto male god Takeminakata crosses the frozen lake with his dragon to visit the female god Yasakatome. He leaves only his footsteps on the ice in the form of a sinusoidal ice ridge called the omiwatari.

In 1397, Shinto priests began celebrating and recording the appearance of the omiwatari. They used the direction of the cracks left by the omiwatari to forecast the agricultural harvest for the upcoming summer. In the first 250 years of the ice record, Lake Suwa froze every year, except for three years during which time the region saw widespread famine. Since the turn of the millennium, however, the lake has only frozen seven times.

Lake Suwa is one of many lakes in the Northern Hemisphere that is rapidly losing its ice cover. In our research, we found that ice is forming later and melting earlier across these lakes, leaving a shorter period of seasonal ice cover. In recent decades, many lakes are experiencing the shortest seasons of ice cover ever recorded.

If the ice cover in northern lakes continues to decline at the same pace, it will have severe ecological and cultural consequences.

Melting ice chunks floating on Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire
Lakes in the Northern Hemisphere are losing their ice cover faster than ever.
(Midge Eliassen), Author provided

Lakes losing ice at rapid rates

Ice duration was more than two weeks shorter per century, on average, since the Industrial Revolution, with lakes losing up to 34 per cent of their total ice cover. In the past 25 years, the loss of ice escalated with lakes losing ice six times faster than any other period in the past 100 years.

Around 15,000 lakes, including Lake Suwa and the North American Great Lakes — Lake Michigan and Lake Superior — are beginning to remain ice-free in some winters. Lakes situated at lower latitudes and in some coastal regions, where winter air temperatures hover around 0 C (the freshwater freezing point) in addition to large, deep lakes in colder regions, are most sensitive to experiencing ice-free winters.

Large, deep lakes, such as the North American Great Lakes, require sustained cold temperatures to sufficiently cool their waters to allow ice to form, as deeper lakes take longer to cool in autumn due to their immense thermal mass.

Larger lakes with a longer fetch — the area over which the wind blows — also tend to freeze later because they are more sensitive to increased wind action breaking up the initial skim of ice on the lake surface.

Why does ice loss matter?

Lake Superior is one of the fastest warming lakes in the world. Since 1867, it has lost over two months of ice cover. By removing the “lid” of ice, evaporation rates can increase in Lake Superior, as well many other lakes across the Northern Hemisphere, further affecting water availability. As lakes transition to becoming ice-free and the physical barrier between the lake surface and the atmosphere is removed, the potential for evaporation to occur year-round increases.

Ice loss can also lead to year-round impacts on lake ecology. For example, an earlier ice break-up in the spring leads to a longer open-water season and warmer summer water temperatures.

Less ice cover, warmer temperatures, and increased storm events deliver more nutrients to the lakes, leading to widespread summer blue-green algal blooms, also known as cyanobacterial blooms, which were once thought to be implausible in the cold, deep and pristine waters of Lake Superior.

In some lakes, algal blooms are becoming particularly thick, decreasing the amount of sunlight that reaches deeper waters. With less sunlight, photosynthesis is reduced, ultimately leading to a decrease in the concentration of dissolved oxygen available to support aquatic life.

Some fish communities rely on long winters. For example, following short winters, Lake Erie yellow perch produced smaller eggs and weaker young fish that were less likely to survive to adulthood. Fish life stages most sensitive to temperature changes in the earlier part of the open-water season include embryos and spawning adults. Furthermore, an earlier start to summer (i.e., due to earlier ice loss) can cause mismatches in the timing of critical activities, such as spawning and foraging, often with widespread ramifications across the food web.

A frozen lake in Finland
Reducing greenhouse gases and slowing down climate change is the only way to save lake ice cover, and protect the local ecology and culture that depends on it. (Johanna Korhonen), Author provided

A future without lake ice

As temperatures continue to warm globally due to anthropogenic climate change, 215,000 lakes may no longer freeze every winter and almost 5,700 lakes may permanently lose ice cover by the end of the century. Large and deep lakes, including Lakes Michigan and Superior, are most likely to permanently lose ice cover as early as the 2060s if global air temperatures continue to rise.

Our research has shown that the global decline of lake ice cover in recent decades can only be explained by increased greenhouse gas emissions since the Industrial Revolution. There is no magic solution beyond limiting greenhouse gas emissions to slow climate change and ultimately preserve lake ice cover.

For northern communities, ice cover provides a way of life in the winter. Countless Canadian kids have learned how to skate and play hockey at nearby lakes, local ponds, and backyard ice rinks, just as hockey legend, Wayne Gretzky, did in Brantford, Ont. Warmer winters are contributing to shorter outdoor ice hockey and skating seasons.

23 photos that will have you yearning for a game of pond hockey

Ice fishing tournaments are increasingly cancelled, with widespread consequences for local economies. For example, the winter ice fishing season in Lake Winnipeg alone generates over $200 million each year.

The increasingly unpredictable and unstable ice cover is a safety hazard and is contributing to increased fatal winter drownings through ice in northern countries, with northern Indigenous communities at most risk.

The view of the ice cover and ice ridges on Lake Suwa, Japan, with the mountains in the background.
The ice ridges on Lake Suwa form an integral part of the community’s spiritual traditions and culture.
(Satoe Kasahara), Author provided

Finally, for the Shintos living in Suwa, protecting ice cover is essential to preserving the spiritual traditions maintained by generations of Shinto priests. At current rates of greenhouse gas emissions, climate projections predict that the lake will rarely freeze in the very near future, and following 2040 will never freeze again.

However, slowing climate change and limiting temperature increases below 1.5 C will allow Takeminakata to periodically cross the frozen lake to visit Yasakatome as he has done for centuries.The Conversation

Sapna Sharma, Associate Professor and York University Research Chair in Global Change Biology, York University, Canada; David Richardson, Professor, Department of Biology, State University of New York at New Paltz, and Iestyn Woolway, Research Fellow in Climate Science, University of Reading

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Cottage Life

Got plastic?!? 30,000 gut enzymes want to help

Photo by David Pereiras / Shutterstock

There’s a famous and often-quoted scene from 1967’s Academy Award-winning film, The Graduate, where a family friend of young Dustin Hoffman’s character tells him, “One word…. Plastics. There’s a great future in plastics.” He was trying to encourage Hoffman to start his career in the industry. But he was also inadvertently referring to the longevity of the now ubiquitous product.

Collectively, we produce a mind boggling 380 million tonnes of plastic every year. Unfortunately, only a small portion of that plastic is recycled. Most of the rest ends up in landfills or polluting the environment. And it’s literally everywhere, with plastic bottles and other trash littering everything from the top of Mount Everest to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest known point on Earth in the Pacific Ocean near Guam.

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In a report published in the journal Microbial Ecology, researchers based in the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, point out that it can take anywhere from 16 to 48 years for a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle to naturally degrade. During that time, much of that material breaks down into what are known as “microplastics”—pieces of plastic debris 5 mm or smaller—with potential health impacts for a broad range of creatures, including humans.

We regularly but unknowingly consume microplastics contained in everything from seafood to table salt. Unfortunately, a paper published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials found that once ingested, microplastics can damage human cells.

Luckily, it seems like Mother Nature may be developing a means of cleanup.

The researchers at Chalmers University explained how they found 30,000 different naturally occurring enzymes found in the gut microbiomes of a variety of species that can eat 10 different kinds of plastic. They also found that there was a direct correlation between an enzyme’s ability to digest a particular type of plastic with the amount of that plastic found in a particular area.

In other words, these enzymes were evolving to develop a taste for plastic. While on the surface that sounds like a frightening biological change, the researchers, based in the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, are excited to uncover “microbiome’s potential to degrade plastics.” The hope is that some of these enzymes can be utilized for industrial-scale plastic decomposition.

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Mobile Syrup

Sonos working to make future products more efficient and repairable

Speaker company Sonos announced plans to make its speakers last longer and use less energy. The plans come as part of the company’s larger effort to make itself more sustainable by minimizing e-waste and pollution that drives climate change.

According to The Verge, improving the repairability of products is a significant part of Sonos’ plans. The company started a ‘Design for Disassembly’ program this year to help guide the development of new speakers in 2023.  The program will include changes like using fasteners instead of adhesives, which will make it easier for consumers to take Sonos products apart and repair them.

Unfortunately, Sonos hasn’t revealed much more about the program yet. So far, it’s unclear if Sonos plans to make replacements parts and repair manuals available to customers.

Still, Sonos’ director of policy and corporate social responsibility confirmed to The Verge that the program will “make it easier to repair, refurbish and, eventually, recycle future Sonos products.”

Sonos will start using recycled plastics in its products

Aside from improving repairability, Sonos plans to start using post-consumer recycled plastic in all its products by the end of 2023. Although using recycled plastics can help prevent some plastics from ending up in landfills, oceans or animals, The Verge points out that recycling has so far not been a great solution for dealing with the worsening plastic pollution problem. Worse, because plastic degrades each time it’s reused, many companies mix in new plastics with recycled plastics. As demand for recycled plastics grows, it could lead to greater demand for new plastics too.

Another goal Sonos has is to include ‘sleep mode’ on all its products by 2023. Sleep mode can reduce power consumption when a device is idle — Sonos first added it to its Roam speaker this year. The company aims for its products to use less than 2 watts while idle.

Interestingly, Sonos says that about 75 percent of its carbon footprint comes from the energy its products use over their lifetime. That differs significantly from other consumer electronics, which see up to 80 percent of CO2 emissions come from manufacturing, according to a Greenpeace report. Factoring in both Sonos’ supply chain and consumers’ energy use, Sonos says it was responsible for CO2 emissions equivalent to 267,528 cars driven over a year.

Relying on carbon offsets to cancel its legacy pollution

Finally, Sonos wants to cut emissions from its products’ energy use by 45 percent by 2040, as well as cancel its entire footprint by that date through a mixture of carbon offsets and tech that removes CO2 from the atmosphere. Again, however, carbon offsets aren’t exactly a reliable solution — this ProPublica report details some of the rampant problems with relying on carbon offsets. Further, technologies that remove CO2 from the atmosphere have not yet scaled up to meet the needs of companies promising to use the tech to erase their legacies of pollution.

All that said, it is good to see Sonos at least make the effort. The company should prioritize reducing its environmental footprint since that will likely have a more immediate impact than relying on carbon offsets to take care of past pollution. Hopefully, Sonos will lead the way in the smart speaker space and drive more companies to adopt environmental policies like sleep modes and other things that reduce carbon footprints.

Source: The Verge