23 August 2015, Climate News Network, Too warm, too few fish: Health warning for world’s oceans. Rampant overfishing combined with the impact of climate change is seriously endangering the wellbeing of the oceans, environmental analysts say. The world’s oceans – covering nearly two-thirds of the Earth’s surface, and on which much of human life depends – are under severe pressure, a report says. Over-fishing has dramatically reduced fish stocks. The thousands of tonnes of rubbish dumped in the oceans wreak havoc on marine life, while climate change is warming and acidifying them, putting them under further stress. These are the sobering conclusions of a wide-ranging study of the Earth’s ecosystems by theWorldwatch Institute, a US-based organisation widely rated as one of the world’s foremost environmental think-tanks. “Our sense of the ocean’s power and omnipotence – combined with scientific ignorance – contributed to an assumption that nothing we did could ever possibly impact it”, says Katie Auth, a researcher at Worldwatch and one of the authors of the report. “Over the years, scientists and environmental leaders have worked tirelessly to demonstrate and communicate the fallacy of such arrogance.” Read More here
Category Archives: Ecosystem Stress
17 August, Climate News Network, Andes’ migrating trees are moving towards extinction. Highland tree species in the Andes are decreasing as global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions forces lowland varieties to move upwards into cooler climes. Scientists have known for years that, in a warming world, many living things try to move uphill to seek survival where the air is cooler. But new research provides a dire warning of the risks for those unable to move fast enough. Unlike animals, trees and other sorts of vegetation cannot move quickly to escape the heat. And for some of them, it seems, there is no survival option available. They simply die. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that the number of highland tree species in the Andes mountains of South America is decreasing as lowland trees move up the slope to avoid the rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns. The results suggest that tropical tree species in the region are at risk of extinction because of the intensification of warming, caused by emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities. Can’t escape. “The effects of climate change are everywhere – you can’t escape it,” says Kenneth J. Feeley, a researcher in the Department of Biological Sciences and International Centre for Tropical Botany at Florida International University. “Some people hold the notion that the Amazon is an isolated and pristine ecosystem, immune to disturbances. We need to change our mindset and open our eyes to the fact that, even in the middle of the Amazon or the remote Andes mountains, species are at risk. Read More here
12 August 2015, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Wild boars are gaining ground – climate change boosts population growth. The wild boar population in Europe is growing. However, the reasons for this growth were not yet clear. Scientists from the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology (FIWI) of the Vetmeduni Vienna now found that climate change plays a major role. The number of wild boars grows particularly after mild winters. Also food availability is a decisive factor. There are more wild boars after years with high beechnut yield. The research results have recently been published in the journal Plos One. The wild boar population in Europe has been constantly growing since the 1980s. This is more and more becoming a problem for agriculture when animals raid the fields, looking for feed. “It is not so easy to determine the number of wild boars in Europe,” says wildlife biologist and first author of the study, Sebastian Vetter. “Therefore we analysed data on hunting bags and road accidents involving wild boar. Doing this we were able to depict the growth of the wild boar population.” Read more here
10 August 2015, Washington Post, A stunning five million acres have now burned in Alaskan wildfires this year. Last month, wildfire watchers were astounded as terrifying wildfires raged across the state of Alaska. Sometimes the records would come in with 300,000 or more new acres burned in a single day. It seemed inevitable that the 2015 wildfire season would quickly catch up with and then surpass the all-time record year, 2004, when 6,590,140 acres burned. But then the weather shifted. Rains moved in, and satellite analysts downsized their size estimates of some fires. Instead of racing forward, the fire acreage numbers slowed or even stopped their increase. Only recently have they started to tick back up again. Nonetheless, according to the latest report Tuesday from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, Alaska fires have now consumed 5,098,829.9 acres in 2015. That’s about five-sixths of the total acreage consumed by wildfires anywhere in America this year —currently, 6,224,545 acres. It’s also enough to put the 2015 Alaska wildfire season ahead of what was previously the second-place year — 1957, with 5,049,661 acres burned, according to the Alaska Division of Forestry. [Alaska’s terrifying wildfire season and what it says about climate change] So will 2015 overtake 2004 and set a new record for the most acres burned? A seasonal wildfire outlook from the National Interagency Fire Center shows a big red splotch across Alaska for the month of August — a forecast of areas where conditions would be favorable for increased wildfire activity. “The volume of active fires on the landscape should continue to produce acreage gains through August,” the agency notes. As of Tuesday, 238 fires were still burning across the state. Read More here