With the holidays in full swing, there are more occasions for eating and drinking to excess, which gives us multiple opportunities to curb our food waste.
Food waste is an enormous global problem. According to a 2024 report from the United Nations Environment Programme, households throughout the world wasted an average of more than one billion meals per day in 2022. Meanwhile, 783 million people were impacted by hunger and one-third faced food insecurity.
When we waste food, we also waste valuable resources.
“When we throw away food, we’re also throwing away the land, water, and energy used to produce that food,” said Pete Pearson, vice president of food loss and waste at WWF.
“Agriculture is vital for human survival, but its expansion is the leading cause of stress on the last remaining biodiverse regions around the globe. This comes at a time when we grow enough food to feed everyone, and up to 40% of what we grow never makes it to a dinner plate,” Pearson emphasized. “If we can make more food available from what’s already produced — by minimizing waste — we might slow deforestation in the Amazon or preserve the grasslands in the Northern Great Plains.”
Pearson suggested taking measures to avoid throwing good food away this holiday season by preparing “just enough” food for your guests. Other tips included composting food scraps, encouraging people to take leftovers home, storing leftovers in the freezer for when you’re ready to revisit them and using leftovers to make new dishes.
“If you’re passionate about conservation, consider this: preventing and reducing food waste is one of the best things you can do to conserve natural resources and wildlife,” Pearson added.
Dr. Tara Moreau, University of British Columbia (UBC) Botanical Garden’s associate director, had some additional suggestions for making your holiday festivities more sustainable by reducing food waste.
In a Q & A with UBC News, Moreau recommended eating more plant-based foods that are locally produced, including legumes and millet. If you do plan to eat meat during the holidays, consider reducing the amount and looking for more sustainable options.
Another idea is to share your food with people in your neighborhood who may be spending the holidays alone.
Moreau also suggested freezing vegetable scraps such as carrot ends, herbs and onion skins to make stock for winter soup.
“Composting and recycling are important. But ultimately, we need to consume less. The best place to see your environmental footprint is in your waste footprint. You can see the waste you’re producing every week as well as your purchasing behaviours, which means you can identify how and what to change,” Moreau said.
Wearable tech devices like fitness trackers and smartwatches have become the constant companions of many who rely on them for alerts, transactions and health and location information day and night.
The researchers found especially high amounts of a particular forever chemical, perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), contained in more expensive fluorinated synthetic rubber wristbands, a press release from the American Chemical Society (ACS) said.
“This discovery stands out because of the very high concentrations of one type of forever chemical found in items that are in prolonged contact with our skin,” said Graham Peaslee, one of the authors of the study and a professor of physics at University of Notre Dame, in the press release.
PFAS are a category of chemicals found in consumer products that repel sweat, oil and water, and can persist in the environment for hundreds — even thousands — of years. The forever chemicals are frequently found in waterproof clothing, nonstick cookware, menstrual products, stain-resistant bedding and fitness wear like wristbands and smartwatches.
The wristbands contain fluoroelastomers, which are synthetic rubbers made from PFAS chains, that create a material capable of repelling dirt and avoiding discoloration. While the bands are durable and work well during intense workouts, they may also be a source of PFAS compounds that literally get under the skin of the person wearing them.
The researchers analyzed several watchbands for the presence of 20 individual PFAS, including fluorine.
They looked at 22 wristbands from a variety of brands and price ranges — most of them new, but a few that had been previously worn. All 13 wristbands were advertised as having been made from fluoroelastomers that contained the element fluorine. However, two out of nine of the bands that did not disclose that they had been made from fluoroelastomers did contain fluorine, indicating the potential for PFAS.
“Many ‘smart’ and ‘fitness’ watch bands are advertised to contain fluoroelastomers, a type of synthetic rubber designed to be resilient against skin oils and sweat. Fluoroelastomers, which are considered a polymeric form of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), have historically involved the use of shorter-chain PFAS as surfactants in the polymerization process,” the authors of the study wrote.
The researchers found that wristbands priced at over $30 contained a greater amount of fluorine than those that cost under $15. They checked all of the wristbands for 20 distinct PFAS and found that PFHxA was the most common. It appeared in nine out of 22 of the tested bands. The average concentration of PFHxA was almost 800 parts per billion (ppb), with one sample exceeding 16,000 ppb.
Earlier research by the team on cosmetics found an average PFAS concentration of approximately 200 ppb. Just six PFAS currently have federally defined limits for exposure through drinking water in the United States.
“We have never seen extractable concentrations in the part-per-million range (>1000 ppb) for any wearable consumer product applied to the skin,” Peaslee said.
The findings of the study suggest that the large PFHxA concentrations found in fitness wristbands could be the result of the compound’s use as a surfactant when manufacturing fluoroelastomer.
Scientists don’t currently know how easily PFHxA transfers into human skin, nor what the possible health effects are once it is there. Peaslee said recent studies suggest a notable percentage could potentially pass through the skin under normal conditions.
“The very high concentrations of PFHxA readily extractable from the surfaces of fluoroelastomer watch bands, together with the current limited knowledge on the dermal absorption of PFHxA, demonstrate the need for more comprehensive exposure studies of PFHxA,” the authors wrote in the study.
The team recommended buying lower-cost wristbands that have been made from silicone, according to lead author of the study Alyssa Wicks, a graduate research assistant in the University of Notre Dame Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
“If the consumer wishes to purchase a higher-priced band, we suggest that they read the product descriptions and avoid any that are listed as containing fluoroelastomers,” Wicks said in the press release.
A team of scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has developed a method of 3D printing that can also capture carbon dioxide and store it in concrete.
The process involves injecting carbon dioxide and steam into mixing cement, which is then used in a 3D printer to build structures. For this method, the team sourced both the steam and the carbon dioxide as byproducts of industrial processes. The 3D printer was connected to a steam jet and carbon dioxide pumps in order to incorporate these elements into the mixing concrete.
“The building and construction sector causes a significant portion of global greenhouse gas emissions. Our newly developed 3D concrete printing system offers a carbon reducing alternative by not only improving the mechanical properties of concrete but also contributing to reducing the sector’s environmental impact,” Tan Ming Jen, principal investigator of the study and professor at NTU’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, said in a statement. “It demonstrates the possibility of using CO2 produced by power plants or other industries for 3D concrete printing. Since traditional cement emits a lot of carbon, our method offers a way to plough back CO2 through 3D concrete printing.”
According to the team, the incorporation of carbon dioxide and steam strengthens the resulting concrete when compared to typical 3D-printed concrete, in addition to reducing the carbon footprint of the constructed material. The carbon-injected concrete was able to bear 36.8% more weight and was 45.3% more flexible compared to standard 3D-printed concrete. The scientists published their findings in the journal Carbon Capture Science & Technology.
As for carbon sequestration, this concrete could capture and store 38% more carbon compared to typical 3D-printed concrete, according to the scientists.
Not only was the resulting concrete stronger and better at storing carbon, but it was also easier to print. The study showed this concrete to have 50% more printability, or printing efficiency.
According to the World Economic Forum, cement manufacturing alone makes up about 8% of global carbon emissions. Emissions from the cement manufacturing industry totaled around 1.6 billion metric tonnes in 2022, and that number is expected to grow to 3.8 billion metric tonnes per year based on a business-as-usual scenario.
Using 3D printing can help lower emissions by reducing cement usage and waste, but innovations on the materials used in 3D printing are further reducing emissions in the construction industry. Engineers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a way to use recycled glass in 3D printing, and scientists at University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science are exploring ways of incorporating plant-based cellulose nanofibrils into 3D-printed concrete.
The study led by NTU further advances the growing research toward more sustainable building materials that will reduce construction-related emissions.
“Our proposed system shows how capturing carbon dioxide and using it in 3D concrete printing could lead to stronger, more eco-friendly buildings, advancing construction technology,” said Daniel Tay, co-author of the study and a research fellow at NTU’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
The scientists at NTU and their collaborators have filed an application for a U.S. patent for their method.
The amount of rain that falls affects our environment in various ways, from river flow to the availability of freshwater, but it can also shape the diversity and distribution of ecosystems within different regions of the globe.
A new long-term study of Seychelles warblers (Acrocephalus sechellensis) on Cousin Island has revealed that rainfall during the breeding season can affect “divorce” rates between the birds, highlighting the complex effects climate change can have on animal reproduction and conservation.
The study, conducted on a closed Seychelles warbler population, uncovered major findings on how rainfall and other environmental factors can negatively affect the stability of pair bonds in birds, a press release from Macquarie University said.
“This instability can occur because of the effects rainfall patterns have on the ecological environment of the warblers, where rainfall influences food availability, and nest/habitat conditions, all of which can affect the health of the birds before and during the breeding season and affect their ability to produce offspring,” A. A. Bentlage, a researcher in the School of Biological Sciences at Australia’s Macquarie University, told EcoWatch in an email.
Seychelles warbler pairs tend to stay together in favorable weather. Charli Davies
For species like the Seychelles warbler, who are socially monogamous, “divorce” refers to the breaking up of a pair bond when both individuals are still living. The mating strategy of pair bonding, observed in various species, has often been associated with lower reproductive success, or the number of offspring they produced as a pair.
Social monogamy implies that birds form a pair bond and spend many years — even lifetimes — with the same partner. Birds in these partnerships typically live and raise their young together, but they are not always sexually monogamous.
The relationship between divorce and environmental factors — especially fluctuations in climate — is still poorly understood.
“We analyzed 16 years of data from a longitudinal dataset to examine the influence of rainfall on the prevalence of divorce and the possible underlying mechanisms. First, we performed climate window analyses to identify the temporal windows of rainfall that best predict reproductive success and divorce. Then, we tested the effects of these temporal windows of rainfall on reproductive success and divorce and the influence of reproductive success on divorce while controlling for covariates using generalized linear mixed models,” Bentlage told EcoWatch.
The study, “Rainfall is associated with divorce in the socially monogamous Seychelles warbler,” was published in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
“We… found a complex, non-linear relationship between rainfall patterns and divorce rates, with divorce being more likely during years of both low and high rainfall,” said Frigg Speelman, a member of the science and engineering faculty at Macquarie University, in the press release. “This relationship was notably influenced by an extreme climatic event — the 1997 El Niño-induced rainfall spike.”
The researchers found a correlation between the extreme rainfall associated with the 1997 El Niño event and divorce rates of the Seychelles warbler. However, when they excluded this exceptional event from their analysis, it became clearer that there was indeed a negative relationship between rainfall amounts and the birds’ divorce rates.
The study did not find any direct link between the reproductive success of the birds and divorce likelihood, however, which suggested that there may be other factors influencing partnership stability.
Bentlage said rainfall extremes have a significant effect on the food sources and habitats of the Seychelles warbler.
“Extreme rainfall can greatly affect the ecological environment of our study population. For example, low rainfall significantly diminishes food availability by disrupting the development of insects that often lay their eggs in water, and heavy rainfall can destroy habitats/nests and make maintaining optimal body temperatures difficult for birds. Therefore, both rainfall extremes can impact the birds’ health and make raising offspring difficult,” Bentlage told EcoWatch.
The researchers found that the highest divorce rates occurred in years with extremely high or low rainfall occurring during breeding season, possibly affecting how the birds viewed their partners.
“Whereas divorce in many species is often correlated with poor reproductive success, our study found no evidence for this in the Seychelles warbler, suggesting that other, more complex factors may be involved. For example, the aforementioned rainfall effects may cause an increase in stress for the birds, increasing the instability of their partnerships as they associate the stressful period – that was caused by extreme weather – with their partner. Thus, extreme rainfall could misinform these birds about the quality of their partner, causing them to reconsider their choice of partner and separate,” Bentlage said.
The study builds on mounting evidence demonstrating how environmental factors — especially those associated with climate change — can have a direct effect on the reproductive strategies and social dynamics of wildlife.
The Seychelles warbler is a native species of the Seychelles islands. The rare birds are already facing a number of conservation challenges, which make the study particularly relevant. The findings of the research suggest the species could experience further stress to population stability and reproductive success due to environmental changes.
“As climate change intensifies, it is critical to understand how fluctuations in environmental conditions, such as rainfall, affect the stability of socially monogamous species,” Speelman said in the press release. “This research not only enhances our understanding of animal behavior in the face of climate variability but also provides valuable insights that could inform conservation efforts for species vulnerable to the effects of climate change.”
What other environmental changes and stressors are Seychelles warblers facing due to climate change?
“The Seychelles warblers are a great conservation success story as they were once on the brink of extinction, with just 26 individuals left in the world. After Cousin Island and the surrounding sea became a nature reserve in the 1960s/70s the population bounced back to stable numbers. Thus, they are doing quite well at the moment. Nevertheless, as a result of climate change, extreme rainfall events are predicted to become more prevalent and alongside them, other stressors such as extreme winds may also become more of an issue. Wind can influence territory quality on Cousin because wind-driven onshore salt spray negatively affects vegetation. Thus, habitat destruction that influences territory quality/food abundance may become more prevalent in a changing world,” Bentlage told EcoWatch.
Bentlage said the research team does not know how divorce driven by rainfall extremes will impact Seychelles warblers in the long-term, but once that is understood it could help improve future conservation efforts.
“We do not yet understand whether rainfall-driven divorce in the Seychelles warbler is adaptive, maladaptive, or has no effect on short/long-term reproductive fitness. As we discuss in our paper, it is essential to investigate the fitness consequences of divorce in the context of these extreme environmental effects to understand to what extent plasticity in breeding behavior may enable socially monogamous species to adapt to a rapidly changing world,” Bentlage explained. “Once that is understood, combined with our current knowledge of the negative effects of extreme rainfall on reproductive success, our findings can greatly inform population modeling and monitoring, such as using environmental indicators as early warning signals for potential declines in population stability. Also, for some species, such knowledge may even inform habitat management and conservation approaches that have specific climate change adaptations in mind. For example, efforts could be made to protect habitats or create refuges that provide optimal conditions during poor climatic periods.”
Japan has its sights set on renewable energy producing 40 to 50 percent of its electricity by 2040, with another 20 percent coming from nuclear power, according to a new draft of its basic energy policy.
Japan is the second-largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer in the world, as well as a big consumer of oil from the Middle East, so its energy plans are of interest to gas, oil and coal producers, reported Reuters.
“It is necessary to utilise LNG-fired power as a realistic means of transition, and the government and the private sector must jointly secure the necessary long-term LNG contracts in preparation for risks such as price hikes and supply disruptions,” the new draft of Japan’s Strategic Energy Plan said.
The country’s use of thermal power — particularly from coal-fired power plants — is on course to fall to 30 to 40 percent by 2040. Last year thermal energy made up 68.6 percent of the energy mix.
Tokyo said nuclear power will play a major role in helping the country meet the growing energy demand from microchip factories and artificial intelligence, AFP reported.
The Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station and Omaezaki Wind Power Station in Omaezaki City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan in March 2022. Korekore / iStock / Getty Images Plus
“Specifically, we expect Japan’s 2025 SEP to shift from a strong focus on decarbonization to the nation’s dual goals of ensuring energy security (spurred by recent challenges to securing energy supplies triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) while supporting the rapidly growing energy demands accompanying the digital transformation and hyperscale data centers needed to meet increased computing and storage needs,” a press release from the International Trade Administration said.
Of the Group of Seven (G7) of the most advanced economies in the world, Japan — the fourth-largest — has the dirtiest mix of energy, according to campaigners, with fossil fuels making up almost 70 percent of its 2023 power generation, AFP said.
Japan’s government had previously set a goal of becoming carbon-neutral by mid-century, as well as reducing emissions by nearly 50 percent from 2013 levels by 2030.
The new plans expect renewables like wind and solar to make up 40 to 50 percent of power generation by 2040. That’s up from 23 percent last year and an earlier target of 38 percent by 2030.
The new draft energy policy said Japan wants to avoid relying too much on one energy source in order to ensure “both a stable supply of energy and decarbonisation,” reported AFP.
“Securing decarbonised sources of electricity is an issue directly related to our country’s economic growth,” said Yoshifumi Murase, national energy agency head, on Tuesday, as AFP reported.
The new plan has removed the goal of “reducing reliance on nuclear power as much as possible,” and includes plans for the building of next-generation nuclear reactors at sites with existing reactors that are scheduled to be decommissioned, reported Reuters.
Japan stopped the use of nuclear power plants all over the country following the 2011 Fukushima disaster, but has slowly been putting them back online.
Japan’s energy forecasts for 2040 assume an increased demand for electricity from 12 to 22 percent above 2023 levels.
Despite welcoming the plan, Greenpeace’s Hirotaka Koike said it was “too little, too late,” and called for “much larger ambition” regarding renewables, AFP reported.
“The power mix suggested by the government is not consistent with Japan’s international commitments to tackle climate change and accelerate clean energy transition,” Hanna Hakko with climate thinktank E3G told AFP. “Various scenarios by energy experts show that if the government were to enact supportive policies, renewables could expand to cover between 60 to 80 percent of Japan’s electricity generation mix in the latter half of 2030s.”
A final version of the updated energy plan will be submitted in February to the United Nations.
Properties at risk of flooding from rivers, sea or surface waters could increase to eight million — one in four properties — by 2050.
“We have spent the last few years transforming our understanding of flood and coastal erosion risk in England, drawing on the best available data from the Environment Agency and local authorities, as well as improved modelling and technological advances,” said Julie Foley, flood risk strategy director at the Environment Agency, in a press release from the agency. “Providing the nation with the best available information on flood and coastal erosion risk is vital to ensuring that policy makers, practitioners and communities are ready to adapt to flooding and coastal change.”
Alongside the flood risk report, the Environment Agency published a new National Coastal Erosion Risk Map (NCERM), the first update since 2017.
The combination provides a current national picture of England’s prevailing and future risk of coastal erosion using evidence from the National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes.
The River Great Ouse bursts its banks near residential properties in Bedford, England on Dec. 26, 2020. Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
“These updated assessments provide a clearer understanding of flood risk around the country and the data will be used by the government, Environment Agency and local communities to plan for and improve flood resilience in areas at risk,” the Environment Agency said.
Roughly 4.6 million of the at-risk properties are in areas susceptible to flooding from surface water. These areas are inundated with so much rainwater that it overwhelms drainage systems, causing surface water runoff, or flash flooding.
That number reflects a 43 percent increase from the previous assessment. The changes are almost completely due to improvements to data, modeling and technology use.
Approximately 2.4 million properties in the country are located in areas with flood risk from rivers as well as the sea. The total number of at-risk properties has not increased, but there has been an 88 percent jump in properties at the highest risk level — those that are in areas with a more than one in 30 likelihood of flooding during any given year.
Meanwhile, the government has slashed flood protection plans by 40 percent recently, with 25 percent of major projects having been dropped, reported The Guardian.
“The risk from floods and coastal erosion is growing, yet the government’s plan for dealing with increasingly extreme weather is completely inadequate. Labour agrees that the previous government’s policies ‘have left Britain badly exposed.’ Now it needs to fix this by strengthening the national adaptation programme, in consultation with the communities most impacted by the climate crisis,” said Alison Dilworth, a campaigner with Friends of the Earth, as The Guardian reported.
The updated report reveals how the risk of coastal erosion has been changing across England’s shorelines. Up to the year 2055, 3,500 properties are projected to be in places at risk of coastal erosion. This number is expected to increase to roughly 10,100 properties by 2050.
“More detailed flood and coastal risk information, which takes climate change into account, is essential for local authorities to be able to plan effectively, to protect their local communities and to start to build resilient infrastructure for the future,” said Hannah Bartram, chief executive officer of the Association of Directors for Environment Planning and Transport, in the press release.
A car drives in floodwater in Grendon, Northamptonshire on Sept. 23, 2024. Joe Giddens / PA Images via Getty Images
To assist communities and decision-makers with understanding how the new information could help them, in early 2025 detailed local maps will be made available and the updated data from NaFRA and NCERM will be published.
The agency will also update its Flood Map for Planning in the spring. This map is used by developers and planners to find data to assist them with flood risk for a planning application.
“We welcome the collaborative effort the Environment Agency has taken to working with coastal authorities and coastal partners around the country to develop the new National Coastal Erosion Risk Map. It uses 10 years of evidence on coastal processes from the National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes,” said Stewart Rowe, Coastal Group Network chair, in the press release. “The updated coastal erosion risk information will be critical to the implementation of the Shoreline Management Plans that set out our long-term approach to managing flood and coastal erosion risk around the coast.”
Floodwater surrounds homes in Snaith, Yorshire, while 82 flood warnings were in place for England, Wales and Scotland after Storm Jorge, on March 3, 2020. Danny Lawson / PA Images via Getty Images
A new report from Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe revealed the presence of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a type of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), in mineral water products sourced from around Europe.
Researchers tested 19 mineral water samples in total, including two mineral water brands from France, four Belgian brands, one brand from the Netherlands, one brand from Luxembourg, one from Hungary, and five Austrian brands. Analysis for the remaining five mineral and spring water brands from Germany were provided by Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) for the report.
According to the report, the TFA levels exceeded the limit for pesticide metabolites for drinking water, which is set at 100 nanograms per liter, in seven out of 19 tested mineral water samples. In one sample, the amount of PFAS exceeded the upper limit of PFAS, which is 500 nanograms per liter, as proposed in the EU Drinking Water Directive. The directive is set to take effect in 2026.
This graph displays in alphabetical order the 10 mineral waters with quantifiable TFA residues, as well as the 7 mineral waters and 2 spring waters with no quantifiable TFA contamination. The blue bars represent the summer analysis results, while the light blue bars reflect the confirmatory analyses carried in autumn.Pesticide Action Network Europe
The Villers mineral water sample had the highest PFAS levels, reaching 3,200 nanograms per liter in summer testing and 3,400 nanograms per liter in fall testing. Other samples with PFAS present included Ordal, an anonymous Luxembourg brand, Vittel, Gasteiner, Waldquelle, Spreequelle, Gerolsteiner, SPA (Spadel Group) and Hassia.
However, all mineral waters were found to comply with existing PFAS limits set by multiple EU authorities. PAN Europe said that the PFAS contamination was not the fault of the mineral water companies, which may have no way to prevent or remove TFA contamination.
The findings, which follow PAN Europe’s earlier report of PFAS in tap water, have shown that PFAS contamination goes deeper than expected, reaching even farther into the ground past surface water and groundwater to reach mineral water aquifers.
“This has gone completely under the radar and it’s concerning because we’re drinking TFA,” said Angeliki Lysimachou, a co-author of the report with PAN Europe, as reported by The Guardian. “It’s much more widespread than we thought.”
According to a recent study published in Environmental Science & Technology, TFA concentrations in the environment are higher than other PFAS, because TFA is a transformation product for many PFAS. TFA is also common in refrigerants and pesticides.
The results of the TFA levels in mineral water come just as the EU Commission prepared to propose a ban on flufenacet and flutolanil, two pesticide substances that are the primary source of TFA contamination in tap water and groundwater.
“The ban of these two PFAS pesticides proposed by the EU Commission is legally required,” Salomé Roynel, policy officer at PAN Europe, said in a statement. “It is a crucial step towards reducing TFA emissions. There is no place for reprotoxic residues in our water and food. We call on Member States to follow the law and the science. We ask them to prioritise protection of human health and the environment, and swiftly adopt these bans.”
In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has excluded TFA from PFAS classification for Agency action. As The Guardian reported, TFA was found in rainwater and air samples in Michigan. In 2020, a Consumer Reports study found PFAS at a rate of more than 1 part per trillion in two major mineral water brands in the U.S.: Topo Chico, which is owned by The Coca-Cola Company, and San Pellegrino, a brand under Sanpellegrino S.p.A, which is owned by Nestlé.
Beginning in late fall 2014 and lasting into 2016, an anomalous, massive marine heatwave nicknamed “the Blob” developed off the western coast of the U.S., covering all of Alaska’s coastwater and extending as far south as Southern California, raising ocean temperatures by several degrees Celsius.
The Blob had an extreme effect on Alaska in particular. According to a study released Thursday, it resulted in the deaths of roughly four million common murres — one of Alaska’s most prominent seabirds — representing a decline of more than half of the state’s entire population.
“We’ve never seen a bird die-off nearly this big — or really any non-fish vertebrate,” Heather Renner, a Fish and Wildlife Service supervisory wildlife biologist at Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and first study author, said in a video interview.
The team kept track of murre populations across 13 breeding colonies and over three distinct periods: pre-heatwave (2008-2014), heatwave (2014-2016) and post-heatwave (2017-2022), to measure population trends.
Comparison of common murre colony on a census plot, South Island, Semidi Islands, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, before and after the 2015-2016 marine heatwave. The top image shows the colony in 2014, and the bottom image shows the colony in 2021. USFWS
During the murre’s annual breeding season, Renner explained, the researchers — equipped with binoculars or spotting scopes and a tally counter — spent long days, often in the cold and fog, observing the birds’ populations in dense breeding colonies from afar, whether they watched while perched on an adjacent cliffside or wading in a small boat.
“During and immediately after the heatwave,” Renner wrote in an email, “many murres didn’t nest as they normally do. They would show up on the cliffs one day and another day nobody would be there.” She added, “In 2015 and 2016, there were a number of colonies that had complete reproductive failure.”
“Immediately after the heatwave, we knew there had been a tremendous loss, but we weren’t sure how much was due to birds dying or alternatively whether they were just skipping breeding because conditions were tough,” she added. “We had to wait several years for the birds to come back and resume breeding before we could be sure of the extent of the die-off.”
A common murre adult feeds a small forage fish to a common murre chick in the Buldir Islands of Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge on July 27, 2007. Cornelius Nelo Schlawe / USFWS
The study authors wrote that the heatwave had an enormous effect on key habitat-forming species, like corals and kelps, which triggered cascading bottom-up harm toward the top of the food chain.
Common murres rely on fish as a food source, but the fish they normally prey on were largely absent due to the cascading effects of the heatwave, making the most likely cause of the die-off a mass-starvation event.
Most of the birds died during the winter months, Renner said, and although we don’t know exactly what the murres eat in the winter, it’s likely a combination of forage fish, juvenile pollock and krill.
“We know that many of the forage fish populations also collapsed at the time, and not just the numbers. They they were smaller at the same age, they [had] lower fat contents, their distributions changed,” she said. “Another important part of it is that fish are cold blooded, and when the waters warm, their metabolism increases. And so a lot of the bigger fish that are competitors with seabirds had higher metabolisms and needed to eat more. So there’s extra pressure on prey.”
At the same time, the prey fish themselves, with their high metabolisms, struggled to find enough food, which reduced energy flow to predators. With increased competition and less total food, the murres’ beaching rate — the rate at which their carcasses washed up on beaches — was “one to three orders of magnitude above baseline for nine consecutive months,” which all appear to be major contributing factors to what the authors believe to be the “largest mortality event of any wildlife species reported during the modern era.”
Despite having plenty of time, the murres’ population has not begun to recover, but the cause is unclear, Renner said. One hypothesis is that with severely smaller colonies, it’s harder to defend against predators, like apex predator eagles or seagulls that take their eggs.
A common murre with an egg on Oct. 21, 2021. NOAA
Renner said that on top of long-term monitoring data that shows which species are vulnerable, conservation measures like removing predators introduced to their colonies could be a huge boon to their reproduction rates.
The study authors also warn that marine heatwaves are “increasing in frequency, duration, and magnitude in lockstep with global warming and at a pace that threatens the response rates of seabird communities.”
“We suggest that the rapid and long-lasting decline of an abundant and widespread upper trophic predator, to less than half of its former population size in Alaska, may signal a new threshold of response to global warming,” the authors concluded.
A common murre perched on a ledge at Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge on July 27, 2019. Brie Drummond / USFWS
With the climate crisis leading to more frequent and severe droughts, many wildlife species in the lower 48 United States will suffer from year-long droughts almost five times as frequently in the coming decades as they did historically, according to a new study.
Droughts lasting three years could become nearly seven times as frequent, a press release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service said.
Lack of moisture affects how animals compete with each other for resources, contributes to habitat loss and leads to heat stress and dehydration.
“The degree of increased drought exposure for each species in our analysis strongly depends on future greenhouse gas concentrations,” said lead author of the study Dr. Merijn van den Bosch, a postdoctoral researcher at Colorado State University, in the press release. “But even under a lower-concentration scenario, virtually all vertebrates face increased year-long and multi-year droughts in the second half of this century. The implications will depend on the species and the length of the drought.”
The research team found that, from 2050 to 2080, year-long droughts would be nearly five times as frequent as they had been from 1950 to 2005.
Observed change (%) in annual (12-month) and prolonged (36-month) droughts between 1952–1983 and 1991–2021, across Level 3 Ecoregions in the contiguous U.S. Communications Earth & Environment (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-024-01880-z
“Drought, abnormal soil moisture deficits due to low precipitation and excess evapotranspiration, is a major environmental stressor with multifaceted effects on wildlife communities and habitat, including the modification of microbial soil composition, forest die-offs, the proliferation of invasive species, and the destabilization of species interactions through changes in competition and trophic dynamics. Extreme drought, defined as the 1% most severe drought conditions that occurred between 1950 and 2000, is expected to annually affect 30% more land area by the end of the 21st century,” the authors of the study wrote.
One example of an animal having to adapt to a changing climatic landscape is the giant kangaroo rat, an endangered species native to California’s dry habitats. Though giant kangaroo rats have adapted to the occasional short drought, populations can plummet following multi-year droughts. This compounds existing threats, including the loss of almost all their historic habitat.
A giant kangaroo rat, rescued and safely released by a permit holder during a PG&E pipeline excavation project. Increased drought adds to conservation concerns for this endangered species. Ryan Donnelly
The study demonstrated that, in much of the giant kangaroo rat’s remaining range, longer droughts could soon occur much more often.
“That does not bode well for this already-endangered species,” Van den Bosch said.
The populations of many game species not currently at risk will also face droughts lasting one and three years in their ranges more frequently. This includes ungulates like elk, as well as waterfowl, including certain duck species. The shift could have implications for game and wildlife management.
“Drought affects wildlife directly, through physiological impacts that affect survival and fecundity, but also indirectly through the alteration of habitat, resources, and interspecific interactions. Additionally, drought effects on wildlife populations depend on drought duration and intensity. Minimizing biodiversity loss induced by climate change requires not only mitigating climatic change itself but also large-scale assessments of species’ vulnerability to climate change effects such as extreme weather events, to prioritize conservation actions,” the authors wrote in the study.
In order to gain information about places where habitat restoration or adaptive water management could benefit the greatest number of wildlife species, the researchers set out to identify areas that had high levels of biodiversity and were predicted to have large increases in drought.
To predict future scenarios, the team used modeling techniques to come up with six projections of moisture conditions and temperature. They then compared the frequency of predicted and observed drought exposure with range maps of 339 mammals, 349 birds, 253 reptile species and 280 amphibians to create regional summaries.
Average predicted change (%) in annual droughts under (a) RCP 4.5 and (b) RCP 8.5 and prolonged droughts under (c) RCP 4.5 and (d) RCP 8.5 between 1951–2005 and 2050–2080, along with area-weighted terrestrial vertebrate species richness, for the contiguous U.S. Numbers below the x-axis color legend indicate four breaks of percent change in drought between the historical period and average future scenario, species richness is categorized into four equal quantiles along the y-axis legend.
The researchers discovered that, after adjusting for land area, the highest number of overall individual species and the greatest number of species threatened by drought, as well as the highest projected change in drought exposure, were all in the southwestern U.S.
A female elk drinks water from a spring at West Thumb Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. Anastassiya Bornstein / iStock / Getty Images Plus
“Some of the areas expected to see the greatest increase in drought, such as the southwestern U.S., are already quite dry,” said senior author Dr. Zack Steel, a Rocky Mountain Research Station research ecologist, in the press release. “Many species living in these regions are adapted to periodic droughts, but the concern is that if they are already near the limit of what they can tolerate, the large increase in drought we’re expecting can have grave consequences for these ecosystems and the wildlife that depend on them.”
The study, “Climate change scenarios forecast increased drought exposure for terrestrial vertebrates in the contiguous United States,” was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
A flock of flamingos near a small stream. Serhii Bezrukyi / iStock / Getty Images Plus
What is being called the worst storm in nearly a century — a cyclone packing 140 miles-per-hour winds — has killed from “several hundred” to possibly thousands in Mayotte, a French territory in the Indian Ocean.
The island’s residents described “apocalyptic scenes” caused by Cyclone Chido, which decimated areas where people lived in shacks with sheet-metal roofs, leaving survivors without access to food or basic services, reported BBC News.
“We’ve had no water for three days now,” said a resident of Mayotte’s capital city, Mamoudzou.
Rescue workers were sifting through the debris in search of survivors. Twenty deaths have been confirmed, but according to the local prefect, the number of fatalities could be in the thousands.
“The totality of the slums have been totally destroyed, we haven’t received any reports of displaced people, so the reality could be terrible in the coming days,” Eric Sam Vah, a French Red Cross spokesperson, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
Authorities were having trouble establishing how many people had lost their lives because nearly a third of the island’s population is made up of undocumented migrants — more than 100,000 of the 320,000 residents.
Emergency operations were being impeded by widespread infrastructure damage caused by the cyclone.
“The hospital has suffered major water damage and destruction, notably in the surgical, intensive care, maternity and emergency units,” Geneviève Darrieussecq, France’s health minister, told France 2 on Monday, as The Guardian reported. Darrieussecq added that “medical centres were also non-operational.”
Mayotte’s airport suffered significant damage, with the powerful storm downing power lines and leaving residents without water, electricity or communication.
Though many roads were impassable, supplies had begun to arrive. Most of the territory — 85 percent — was without power.
Water was also becoming available in some areas, but not for everyone.
“The water here is completely yellow. It’s unusable for us,” Amalia Mazon, a midwife at Mayotte’s central hospital, who is originally from Brussels, told the BBC. “We feel completely abandoned, and we don’t even know if help is coming.”
Regarding the eventual death toll, Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville, who is the top official appointed by Paris in the territory, told Mayotte la Premiere broadcasting service, “I think there will definitely be several hundred, perhaps we will come close to a thousand or even several thousand,” reported AFP.
Officials feared that, with roads closed, many people could be trapped beneath the rubble in inaccessible areas.
Mamoudzou’s Mayor Ambdilwahedou Soumaila told AFP that the powerful cyclone had “spared nothing.”
Approximately 160 additional firefighters and soldiers had been deployed to reinforce the 110 who were already helping with recovery efforts in the archipelago.
“The images are apocalyptic. It’s a disaster, there’s nothing left,” a nurse at Mamoudzou hospital told French news network BFMTV, as BBC News reported.
Mayotte was colonized by France in 1841. By the beginning of the 20th Century, it had added the three main Comoros archipelago islands to its overseas territories. In 1974, the Comoros voted for independence, but Mayotte did not join them, remaining part of France.
Mayotte’s residents have struggled with unemployment, poverty and political instability. Roughly 75 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line, while about a third of residents are jobless.
Cyclone Chido also hit Mozambique, bringing flash flooding and damaging buildings. Three deaths had been reported in the East African nation.
Chido, the most recent in a series of deadly storms, strengthened as it made its way over the ocean, according to Sarah Keith-Lucas with the BBC Weather Centre. Keith-Lucas said storms had become stronger due to climate change.
The cyclone had been downgraded to a “depression” and was set to cross southern Malawi before moving into Zimbabwe overnight into tomorrow. The storm could still bring nearly six to 12 inches of rain before the end of Tuesday.
