Tag: threat

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Student Scientists Study Climate Change Threat to Desert Tortoises

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College student scientists Gerardo Avila and Samantha Hubbard are researching a population of desert tortoises to keep an eye on their habits and evaluate how their habitat is impacted by climate transform. 

The Cal Point out Fullerton biological science learners are observing and monitoring wild tortoises at the Philip L. Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center, in the shadow of the Santa Rosa Mountains, close to Palm Desert.

Due to the area’s altering and mounting temperatures, the pupils are applying cameras to check tortoise exercise in the vicinity of the burrows wherever they dig, often beneath creosote bushes that dot the landscape.

“We’re intrigued in seeing the impacts of local climate change on this population because they dwell in a drier and warmer ecosystem in contrast to other tortoise populations,” Avila claimed.

CSUF college student researchers Gerardo Avila and Samantha Hubbard with their research mentor William “Bill” Hoese.

Tortoises shell out 95{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} of their time in burrows that serve as a refuge from severe temperatures and bask in the sunlight on burrow aprons. Burrows also are great for brumation, where by chilly-blooded tortoises keep on being in an inactive point out for extensive stretches of time, reported William “Bill” Hoese, professor of organic science, the students’ investigate mentor.

The scientists also are investigating tortoise motion all-around the Deep Canyon landscape during the year.

“How the tortoises behave and react to existing situations may possibly be an sign of how the relaxation of the species, which primarily reside in the close by Mojave Desert, may possibly be impacted by long term local climate change,” Hoese explained.

The CSUF researchers are doing work with Chris Tracy, reserve director at Philip L. Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Exploration Heart, a UC Riverside discipline station, on the extensive-expression analyze. Other collaborators include researchers from the U.S. Geological Study, who for many years have been researching desert tortoises, a threatened species less than the 1990 Endangered Species Act.

Tracy, whose investigation passions emphasis on the physiological ecology of desert animals and vegetation, spelled out that because the habitats at Deep Canyon are excessive for the tortoises, it’s vital to fully grasp their habits and populace.

Monitoring area transmitters have been positioned on some tortoises so the scientists can check their just about every motion, what styles of burrows are used in unique seasons, and perhaps locate much more burrows and tortoises, Tracy reported. 

“We’ve identified there is a smaller population in Deep Canyon for numerous decades, but no one particular has done a thorough estimate of how quite a few tortoises are right here or what the position of the populace is,” Tracy added.

“Because of this undertaking, we now know that there are at minimum 12 tortoises in Deep Canyon — an location over 5,000 acres — and we suspect that there are more.” 

The scientists also set up path cameras at burrows to observe the two the things to do of the tortoises, usually solitary creatures, as effectively as other animals that could use the underground shelters. 

Samantha Hubbard

“I want to figure out which of the other species in the location are applying them — and why,” stated Hubbard, a investigation scholar in CSUF’s McNair Scholars and Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) programs.

“Researching the tortoises and the animals that interact with them can support preserve their populations and the ecosystem as a entire.”

Cal Point out Fullerton’s involvement in the venture commenced in the summer time of 2021 with biological science university student Megan Peukert, chosen for UC Riverside’s Natural Reserve Program internship. She established up burrow cameras with Tracy and the USGS crew. Peukert labored with university student researchers to preserve cameras during 2021-22 when she was a CSUF Summer season Undergraduate Study Academy (SUReA) scholar. 

Gerardo Avila

Avila commenced his fieldwork final summer months also as a Pure Reserve System intern. He worked with the USGS crew to implement radio transmitters on four tortoises and has been monitoring the sluggish-moving reptiles ever since. He also is maintaining the cameras that have been placed in the summer of 2021 and can make frequent excursions to the desert with Hubbard, who joined the research team in the tumble.

Hoese’s learners are setting up professions in ecology and environmental biology study, and by way of this project, are getting arms-on encounter and studying how to function with outside the house collaborators.

“They’re becoming uncovered to masses of new techniques and techniques to conducting fieldwork and exploration,” pointed out Hoese, CSUF’s 2021 Outstanding Professor and a 2023 CSU Wang Spouse and children Excellence Award recipient.

Avila, picked with Hoese for the Council on Undergraduate Research’s inaugural Scholars Reworking Via Investigate Application, shared that preliminary findings contradict set up desert tortoise literature. The researchers prepare to have some results this spring.

“We’ve observed loads of tortoise action in the summertime, together with combating males, which is the most popular time of the year and commonly when tortoises would keep in their burrows to stay clear of the warmth,” stated Avila, who programs to graduate in May.

“These tortoises hold astonishing us. It’s a handle to find out what they are up to in their desert environment.”

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Invasive Bradford pear trees a threat to landscape, gardens

Bradford pear was widely planted for its showy white flowers, which appear in early spring.

I experienced not visited any of my most loved back garden centers given that January, so on a warm, sunny afternoon recently, I strolled via one of Columbus’ best yard centers and explored the selection of trees and shrubs  awaiting nervous gardeners who will begin planting these beauties in just a number of weeks. 

I was psyched to see lots of distinctive species of fruit trees in containers all set for late-winter planting as perfectly as several species of shade trees and ornamental shrubs in containers or burlapped root balls. There were being silver maples with buds almost ready to pop open up and a number of redbuds and dogwoods that will explode with spring colour in a few quick weeks.  

This exercising on a sunny late-winter day was more enjoyable for me than any yoga pose. But my plant-induced Zen arrived to an abrupt stop when I spotted one particular unique decorative tree getting available for sale — Bradford pear!

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These African heritage sites are under threat from rising seas, but there’s still time to save them

(CNN) — On the shores of North Africa, ancient cities have stood for millennia. The columns of Carthage, in modern-day Tunisia, are a reminder of the once bustling Phoenician and Roman port, and along the coast in what’s now Libya, lie the majestic ruins of Sabratha’s Roman amphitheater close — perhaps too close — to the sea.

Africa’s iconic natural sites date back even further, such as the ancient coral reef of the Seychelles’ Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean, thought to be around 125,000 years old.
But extreme weather events and rising sea levels mean that all three — and around 190 other spectacular heritage sites that line Africa’s coasts — will be at risk of severe flooding and erosion in the next 30 years, according to a recent study published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Sea levels have been rising at a faster rate over the past three decades compared to the 20th century, the research says, and climate change hazards such as floods, heatwaves and wildfires are becoming more common.

The ancient Roman theater of Sabratha, in modern-day Libya, is one of the sites expected to be in danger by 2050.

The ancient Roman theater of Sabratha, in modern-day Libya, is one of the sites expected to be in danger by 2050.

PATRICK BAZ/AFP/Getty Images

It found that 56 sites are currently in danger if a “once in a century” flood struck, and that by 2050 — if greenhouse gas emissions continue on their current trajectory — this number could more than triple to 198 sites.

“There is a local value, an international value, an economic value … and an intrinsic value (to these heritage sites),” Nicholas Simpson, an author of the study and postdoctoral research fellow at the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town, tells CNN. “There are some monuments and sites and spaces that we don’t want lost for the next generation.”

Simpson believes the findings serve as an important wake-up call to increase climate adaptation measures and funding across the continent. “There’s an important message of loss and damage from climate change to heritage, which we hope will mobilize greater intent (and) action,” he says.

A first for Africa

This is particularly pertinent in Africa, where the links between climate risk and heritage have been mostly ignored, says Simpson. Past scientific research has identified cultural sites endangered by climate change in the Mediterranean, Europe and North America, but this is the first continent-wide assessment of Africa.
“(The link between) climate change and heritage in Africa is gravely under-researched, and compared to other continents, we know very little,” he says, adding that a 2021 study found that between 1990 and 2019, research on Africa received just 3.8{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} of climate-related global research funding.

In this latest study, Simpson and his colleagues mapped out a total of 284 heritage sites that are recognized or under consideration by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, in the 39 countries that comprise the African coast.

They overlaid this geographic data with a highly intricate model projecting sea level rise and global warming levels under both a moderate and high emission scenario. The moderate scenario assumes global greenhouse gas emissions will stabilize before the end of the century, while in the high emission scenario — sometimes referred to as “business as usual” — they continue to rise, consistent with the current global pace, until 2100.

From there, the researchers calculated the likely percentage area of the site exposed to a “once-in-a-century” extreme coastal flooding event.

Simpson explains that such an event is an important indicator in understanding future climate risk, because it is these extreme events that are likely to cause severe damage, and climate change is increasing their likelihood and frequency.

“In the 1970s, what used to be a once-in-a-100-year event happened once in 100 years,” he says, “but what we are seeing when climate hazards are amplified … is that a one-in-a-100-year event might be happening once in 10 years going forward.”

According to the research, North Africa has the largest number of threatened sites — from the ancient ruins of North Sinai that stretch between the Suez canal and Gaza and were once well-traveled by Egyptian pharaohs on their way to Canaan, to Tipasa, an ancient Phoenician trading post in present-day Algeria that was conquered by Rome and turned into a strategic base by Emperor Claudius during the conquest of Mauritania.
Many of North Africa's ancient cities lie dangerously close to the sea, such as Tipasa in modern-day Algeria.

Many of North Africa’s ancient cities lie dangerously close to the sea, such as Tipasa in modern-day Algeria.

HOCINE ZAOURAR/AFP via Getty Images

Simpson caveats this, noting that while North Africa has a high number of globally recognized world heritage sites, other parts of Africa may have key sites that are not listed by UNESCO or the Ramsar convention. But he hopes that identifying these world-famous sites might “raise alarm bells for climate risk for heritage in Africa.”

Protecting cultural heritage

The study notes that its findings will help to prioritize at-risk sites and highlight the need for immediate protective action. This could include engineering solutions, such as sea walls and breakwaters, but Simpson warns that flood mitigation measures like these are “incredibly expensive” and there’s no guarantee they can withstand future sea levels.

A much better solution, he says, is to restore, plant and manage ecological infrastructure, such as salt marshes, seagrass meadows and mangroves, which provide natural protection and act as carbon sinks, sucking up carbon dioxide from the air.

He adds that in Africa especially, it is crucial to improve local and indigenous governance around the sites and to recognize that the lives of indigenous peoples “are part of the landscape and intimately intertwined with the seasons.”

“Raising awareness about climate risk to heritage speaks to the broader need for greater urgency about [tackling] climate risk to societies,” says Simpson.

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After release from prison, Doug Evans faces new legal threat

CINCINNATI — Evans Landscaping owner Doug Evans may be out of federal prison for his minority contracting fraud conviction, but he now faces a new legal threat – this time from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

The attorney general’s office filed a civil lawsuit against Evans and his holding companies accusing him of open dumping of solid waste and illegal disposal of construction and demolition debris at three facilities in Hamilton County since at least 2014.

Environmental prosecutors filed the civil complaint in March at the request of Hamilton County health officials and are moving toward an August 2022 trial before Common Pleas Judge Jody Luebbers.

“Defendants have been aware of the majority of these violations for over five years and have not corrected them. Since 2014, the Hamilton County General Health District conducted over 20 compliance inspections at the sites, issued 17 notice of violation letters to defendants, and met with defendants on numerous occasions to try to resolve the solid waste and C&DD (construction and demolition debris) violations at their sites. Yet defendants have continued to illegally dispose of C&DD and solid waste at the three sites,” prosecutors wrote in their complaint.

Prosecutors say the illegal dumping occurred at three sites in Anderson Township that are owned by Evans: Evans Gravel on 78 acres on Mt. Carmel Road; 8361 Broadwell Road where several warehouses are located on 36 acres zoned for manufacturing; and 4229 Round Bottom Road where Evans corporate headquarters are located on 90 acres that abuts the Little Miami River, according to court and auditor records.

Evans could be fined up to $10,000 per day for the alleged violations, according to the complaint.

This is the latest in a string of legal troubles for Evans, 59, a hardscrabble entrepreneur who built a landscaping empire from a high school job hauling mulch from a pickup truck. He now employs more than 250.

In 2014, Evans agreed to pay $300,000 in fines to settle a complaint with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency over air pollution violations. He also agreed to a $100,000 tree-planting project to serve as a natural windbreak for dust and emissions from his stonework, gravel and sand operations in Hamilton and Clermont counties.

Then a neighbor filed a complaint with the Ohio EPA against Evans in March 2019, accusing him of spreading “something that looks like construction debris/drywall with chunks of tape,” on a Mt. Carmel Road field. That neighbor “found pieces of drywall tape on the ground after the material has been spread,” which was drifting and leaving the site.

The Ohio EPA forwarded that complaint to the Southwest Ohio Air Quality Agency, which did not immediately respond to WCPO about its resolution.

In an unrelated case, the FBI began investigating Evans in 2013 for minority contracting fraud. Evans insisted that he was innocent, but a jury convicted him in 2018 of using a shell company to win millions in state and government demolition contracts during the recession that were meant for minority and small businesses.

Evans reported to Ashland Federal Correctional Institution on June 4 to begin serving his 21-month sentence for that conviction.

The Bureau of Prisons and sent him back to Cincinnati on Dec. 2 after serving six months behind bars. He is currently either at a local halfway house or under home confinement until November 2022.

Now the attorney general’s office accuses Evans of illegally dumping construction and demolition debris for at least seven years. Prosecutors say some of it is still buried at his Round Bottom, Broadwell and Mt. Carmel Road properties.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost amended complaint against Doug Evans by paula christian on Scribd


Other debris has mysteriously disappeared, according to the complaint.

“Prior to March 7, 2020, large quantities of (construction and demolition debris), in the form of recovered screen material, were piled on the ground at the Round Bottom site,” prosecutors wrote in the complaint.

Using aerial photographs, county health inspectors noticed that the screen material then disappeared from the Round Bottom area by August 2020. They asked Evans employees for receipts to show where they had taken the debris, but say those receipts, “were insufficient to account for the missing (construction and demolition debris.)”

Health officials also saw scrap tires openly dumped on the Round Bottom site during inspections from 2014 through February 2021, according to the complaint.

Prosecutors say the open dumping of solid waste was still on the ground at three Evans locations when they filed the complaint in March.

Yost is asking a judge to ban Evans from accepting any future debris or solid waste, to remove all waste from his property and to lawfully dispose of it. He also wants full access to Evans’ property so that health inspectors and the Ohio EPA can inspect it.

In response to the complaint, Evans denied the allegations in court filings. His attorney Matthew Allen did not respond to a request for comment.