biodiversity – Australian Science

Ocean Chemistry Unbalanced

Kelly Burnes — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 07:09:22 +0000

Ocean acidification is a decrease in the pH of the oceans, caused by the uptake of CO₂from the atmosphere. It’s a problem; a real problem. One that marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration called global warming’s “equally evil twin.

Cite this article:
Burnes K (2013-11-28 07:09:22). Ocean Chemistry Unbalanced. Australian Science. Retrieved: Apr 27, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/environmental-science/ocean-chemistry-unbalanced/

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Asteroids, extinctions, and biodiversity: Wiping the slate clean for new life to flourish

Markus — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:24:56 +0000

The recent meteor strike in Russia has been a rather sobering reminder that Earth has been regularly battered during its history, by space rocks. Actually, the amount of meteoritic material constantly landing on Earth is startling – on average, over 100 tons every day which we don’t even notice. Now, most of that is in the form of tiny rock fragments and dust; with most being small enough to be vapourised as they burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, relatively few meteorites ever end up on the ground. The part which may make us uneasy, however, is the fact that occasionally something larger crosses Earth’s path. Something much larger.

We already know with some degree of certainty that a gigantic asteroid impact may have played a role in wiping the dinosaurs off the face of our world, and we also know it’s not the only such large impact in Earth’s history. Now there’s evidence of another huge impact – and this one was in Australia!

With a diameter spanning around 200 km in South Australia’s East Warbuton basin, an ancient impact site has been uncovered. Created by an asteroid which was probably between 10-20 km in diamater, affecting an area of terrain of around 30,000 km, this impact zone is the third largest currently known. When this particular asteroid struck Earth some 360 million years ago, its effects would have been profound and global.

Andrew Glikson, a visiting fellow at the Australian National University, first started investigating the area after hearing about structural abnormalities in the rocks there. He spent time in a crystallography lab, studying the orientation of crystals in rocks collected from the site, and found that the most likely cause for what he was seeing was the result of the rocks being subjected to a huge shock. Given the extent and area of the shocked rocks, the most likely explanation is a giant extraterrestrial impact.

The most well known giant impact, known as the Chicxulub Impact Event, occurred about 66 million years ago causing the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, and quite probably being the final nail in the coffin of the dinosaurs. This newly discovered Australian impact site, however, is much older. In fact, when this asteroid struck Earth, it was around 100 million years before any dinosaurs had even evolved. In fact, it would have likely been during the Carboniferous Period in Earth’s geologic history. Interestingly enough, there was a minor extinction event during the Carboniferous. A minor extinction caused by a change in Earth’s climate.

Glikson went on to explain that this impact was likely one of part of a cluster which caused a number of impacts around that time. This cluster of impacts was very likely behind an extinction event. Simply, a huge impact like the one discovered in the middle of Australia would cause devastation. The effects locally would be severe, splattering molten rock into the air which would then rain back down to the ground hundreds of kilometres away, and a blast wave of superheated air would cause widespread forest fires near the impact zone – particularly in the oxygen rich atmosphere of Earth’s Carboniferous forests.

The global repercussions of such an impact, however, would be much worse. A huge amount of dust would be thrown up into Earth’s atmosphere, choking out the sunlight. This would cause Earth’s surface to cool, and the reduced light would make plants die off. A big enough impact – or a series of them – would throw enough dust into the skies that this could happen on a global scale. With the food chain cut off at the plants which are its source, a mass extinction would follow as animals would have trouble finding food to survive on.

These events are mercifully rare. A giant impact may happen on Earth once every ten million years or so. Interestingly enough though, researchers in a different study have found evidence that extinction events on planet Earth may actually be beneficial to biodiversity.

Kale Sniderman, part of a group of researchers working at the University of Melbourne and the University of Tasmania, focussed on an event much more recent than the East Warburton impact. Instead, he and the others looked at the last ice age, around one million years ago and together they constructed a hypothesis that extinction events may be even more important for biodiversity than rapid evolution. While their work concerns species which went extinct during ice ages as opposed to impact events, a suitably large meteor strike may be a factor in what causes an ice age to begin.

The traditional view of most biologists is that some areas have greater biodiversity due to evolution in those places progressing more rapidly. Evolution has always been the only thing emphasised in biodiversity studies, but Sniderman and his colleagues have taken the first step in overturning this picture.

Their work looked at regions in South Africa and Australia – notable as two of the most diverse areas on planet Earth. South Western Australia is known among botanists for having a huge variety of plants, particularly tough leaved shrubs and trees. The very tip of the South African cape is even more diverse, populated by very similar types of plant. For a long time, biologists have theorised that the diversty in these rather similar areas was down to the dry, arid summer conditions and the nutrient poor soils in these areas. The exact connection, however, has never been entirely apparent.

As it happens, the status may not be quite so quo here. Studying fossils from an ancient lake in South Eastern Australia, it was found that plant life in Australia tended to die off as the continent has gradually become drier – a process taking millions of years. In particular, during the last ice age, a huge amount of rainforest plants died off. This allowed other hardier plants to fill the space they’d left and plant diversity expanded as they did so – creating what was described by University of Tasmania’s Greg Jordan as “a remarkable number of tough-leaved, shrubby plants.” Thinking about this process logically, it seems to make perfect sense. In any place on Earth where there’s a vacant ecological niche, life will typically evolve to try and fill that niche. Where an extinction occurs, a huge niche will suddenly become empty. This would prompt a veritable explosion of new life forms to fill in the gap.

This study not only gives new insight into how extinction events can affect diversity of life forms, but also has implications for current and future climate change, and how species may be able to cope with it. As I mentioned previously when talking about the Great Barrier Reef, Australian wildlife is already suffering from climate change. However, at least for plant life on land, there’s a good chance that the species most easily affected by rapid environmental changes may have already died off during the last ice age.

To loop this discussion back to the beginning, if an extinction due to an ice age could help to boost biodiversity, logically an extinction due to an asteroid impact event could do the same. To my knowledge, there are no studies in this context concerning what happened to biodiversity after the Chicxulub impact event (though I’ll admit that I may be wrong on this), but it would be very interesting to see what such studies might find. Similarly, it would be interesting to know if any such flourishes of biodiversity occurred after the newly discovered East Warbuton impact too. It could be that only certain types of extinction event can boost diversity of life on a planet. That said, if the same thing can occur after an asteroid impact then it may have implications reaching beyond Earth.

If a giant impact event could serve to actually boost life on a planetary scale, then it may imply that once life has taken hold on a planet, it’s more robust than we’ve been giving it credit for. The implications for astrobiologists and the search for life elsewhere in the galaxy are quite clear.

To end on an aside, a large enough asteroid strike even on Earth today would cause widespread fires kilometres away from the impact site. Back in the Carboniferous Period, around the time when the East Warbuton impact occurred, the situation would have been much more dramatic; the oxygen content of Earth’s atmosphere was up to 15% higher then, than it is today. In such a combustible atmosphere, where fires could have been started by a simple lightning strike, a large asteroid impact could cause a widespread inferno. However, South Africa (one of the places considered in the biodiversity study) is home to a number of species which have evolved specifically to survive fires. In particular, the highly diverse Fynbos region is known for a number of plants for which fire is actually an integral part of their lifecycle. Some seeds belonging to protea species simply don’t germinate unless they’re exposed to the intense heat of a wildfire. Provided they could gather sufficient amounts of sunlight under the darkened skies, plants like these may be able to rapidly repopulate an area after an impact event.

Life on Earth, evidently, has resilience which can still surprise us.

Image credits:
Top – Artists impression of a large scale impact event – Don Davis/NASA
Upper Middle – Australia seen from orbit – NASA
Lower Middle – League Scrub sub tropical rainforest, near Bowraville NSW, Australia – Peter Woodard/Wikimedia Commons
Bottom – Garden – https://croatia-real.estate

Cite this article:
Hammonds M (2013-03-08 00:24:56). Asteroids, extinctions, and biodiversity: Wiping the slate clean for new life to flourish. Australian Science. Retrieved: Apr 27, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/environmental-science/asteroids-extinctions-and-biodiversity-wiping-the-slate-clean-for-new-life-to-flourish/

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Weekly Science Picks

Kelly Burnes — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 18:52:46 +0000

I’ve just returned from a fantastic holiday in Australia (sad I had to leave). The great thing about travel is that it opens your mind and exposes your senses – elevates it to a higher level of thinking, thinking that is clear and uninterrupted. The not so great thing about travelling to far away places is the resulting jet lag…that can lead to not so clear and uninterrupted bouts of thinking at 3AM. What follows is a hodgepodge of the collection of science stories I encountered over the past week.

This first article opens up a much-needed debate on the policy of biodiversity and species preservation. Whether it is rhinos, right whales, snow leopards, I think it’s time we had a conversation on how present day society moves forward with species interaction.

Rhino poaching in South Africa reaches record levels by Matt McGrath

“Rhinos are being illegally killed, their horns hacked off and the animals left to bleed to death,” says Traffic’s director of advocacy Sabri Zain, “all for the frivolous use of their horns as a hangover cure.”

While in Brisbane, I had the great pleasure to meet with the director of Australian Science, Dan Petrovic. We had an hour-long conversation about artificial intelligence. I’m not sure how much interaction I want with my search engine in the future, but the beauty of his story is in the intricate details and the possibilities that may soon be reality. This story technically wasn’t from last week, but that is when I read it. So if you haven’t given it a read, sit yourself down with a cup of coffee or tea and do so. We would love to host a Google+ hangout and get some reader feedback on this topic.

Conversations with Google by Dan Petrovic

This article explores the future of human-computer interaction and proposes how search engines will learn and interact with their users in the future.

I love science. How did I not know about io9? No idea. But thank goodness I have added it to my weekly reading list. (Thanks Dan!) This next story is about humour more than anything. And in science, a sense of humour is an important character trait to have. The U.S. may not be building a Death Star, but kudos to them for the response and taking the opportunity to highlight STEM. My nieces in Ohio are hard at work on building the Lego Death Star they received from Santa. So in a way, the U.S. is getting a Death Star and two aspiring scientists. Maybe thousands!

The White House will not build a Death Star, tells us in hilariously geeky fashion by Lauren Davis

If you do pursue a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field, the Force will be with us! Remember, the Death Star’s power to destroy a planet, or even a whole star system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force. – Response from Paul Shawcross, Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget

Apparently Shell experienced an incident with its Arctic drilling on New Year’s Eve, with no catastrophic consequences. Arctic drilling seems like a horror movie. You’re sitting on the couch watching TV, the music is loudening, suspense is growing, you know something bad is about to happen at any second…

An energy analyst from the Brookings Institution mentions in the article that oil and gas companies don’t have a choice when it comes to Arctic exploration and drilling. In order to remain competitive, they have to go up there.

In Kulluk’s Wake, Deeper Debate Roils on Arctic Drilling by Traci Watson

Fortunately for the energy industry, the Arctic has become more hospitable to drilling just as other locations have become more hostile. The Arctic sea ice melted away to a record low in 2012, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, spelling easier access for drill ships, though melting ice also brings new problems.

Fortunate. Back to the drawing board. So many plans and policies, so little time.

As always, stay thirsty for knowledge.

Cite this article:
Burnes K (2013-01-13 18:52:46). Weekly Science Picks. Australian Science. Retrieved: Apr 27, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/news/weekly-science-picks-16/

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Weekly Science Picks

Markus — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 00:16:06 +0000

Ah, the weekend! Time to kick back, relax, and look back over everything that’s happened over the past few days. And I’m rather happy to say that some quite interesting things have happened, including the Leonid meteor shower which peaked on Friday night (though if you step outside after dark and watch the sky, you may still see a few stragglers). So what else has caught my eye this week, science-wise?

Well first off, the Curiosity Rover has been busy over on the planet next door. I can’t help but find everything about the Curiosity rover exciting, especially as it’s paving the way for actual manned exploration to another planet. As many people will agree, no matter how sophisticated a rover can be, it will never be as good as a team of properly equipped geologists exploring a site in person. As it turns out, this idea just came a step closer to being reality…

Astronauts Could Survive Mars Radiation, Curiosity Rover Finds

The findings demonstrate that Mars’ atmosphere, though just 1 percent as thick as that of Earth, does provide a significant amount of shielding from dangerous, fast-moving cosmic particles.

Some people may recall the death of an aged tortoise nicknamed Lonesome George, so called because he was thought to be the last surviving member of his species. I know I do, and was rather saddened by it. While it may be an inescapable part of the way life on our planet works, there’s something quite humbling about being forced to simply watch a species go extinct and not be able to do anything about it. But then, was George’s death really the end of the story? As it happens, perhaps not…

DNA tests show Lonesome George may not have been last of his species

“These giant tortoises are of crucial importance to the ecosystems of the Galapagos Islands, and the reintroduction of these species will help preserve their evolutionary legacy,” said Danielle Edwards, postdoctoral research associate at Yale and lead author on the study.

Lisa Grossman at New Scientist discusses the phenomenon of rogue planets – planets roaming interstellar space after being forcibly ejected from their home systems. It’s a concept which I’ve thought about in great detail in the past, as have many others, including astrophysicists, astrobiologists, and science fiction authors.

Astrophile: Lonely planet roams with stellar outcasts

The wanderers are no longer gravitationally linked, but they are headed in the same direction. “Like when you kick a clod of sand, the grains don’t stick together anymore but they have the same common motion,” Delorme says.

In chemistry, I’ve always held a certain fascination with noble gas compounds. Molecules formed from atoms which aren’t supposed to react and form molecules always seemed rather exotic and curious. Several of these compounds have been predicted involving Xenon, one of the heaviest noble gasses. And there may be a lot of Xenon trapped inside the Earth this way…

Professor predicts stable compounds of oxygen and ‘inert’ gas xenon

“In addition to providing a likely solution to the missing xenon paradox and clarifying essential aspects of xenon chemistry, our study may result in practical applications,” says [Artem R.] Oganov. “For example, the ability of xenon to form strong chemical bonds with oxygen and other elements, and to be trapped in crystalline defects, suggests their use as non-classical luminescence centers and active sites for catalysis”.

And to end on a humourous note, XKCD wrote a comic this week describing the Apollo Spacecraft and Saturn V rockets using only the 1000 most commonly used words in the English language. The result was slightly hilarious and rather enlightening about how often writers like myself use words which aren’t in that top 1000. A testament to XKCD’s popularity is how many people in the online space and astronomy communities mentioned it – including at least one astronaut!

xkcd: Up Goer Five

Lots of fire comes out here. This end should point toward the ground if you want to go into space. If it starts pointing toward space you are having a bad problem and you will not go into space today.

Hope you’re having a good weekend!

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Great danger for the Great Barrier Reef

Markus — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 00:19:12 +0000

The Great Barrier Reef is easily among the world’s great natural wonders. A world heritage site since 1981, it’s known everywhere as a showcase for the beauty which Earth’s oceans are capable of producing. The world’s largest system of coral reefs, it’s actually composed of over 2900 smaller reefs, stretching along Australia’s coastline for 2600 kilometres. In modern times, it’s a major tourist attraction, and for a lot longer, it’s been part of the culture of Aboriginal Australian people. Unfortunately, the modern world hasn’t been kind to the Great Barrier Reef. A variety of environmental factors are conspiring to make the future for these Australian corals look rather bleak.

Alarmingly, in a study run by the US National Academy of Science earlier this year, it was found that over the past 27 years, the Great Barrier Reef has lost 50% of its corals. Half of the corals in the sites surveyed have disappeared since 1985, and it’s unlikely to be any better in any other locations. Alarmingly, two thirds of the corals lost, have been lost since 1998. Instead of slowing down, it seems that the damage is becoming more rapid over time.

The Great Barrier Reef is, in effect, the Amazon Basin of the Ocean. It’s a huge and bustling hub of biodiversity, rich with all manner of aquatic plant and animal species. Like a land-based rainforest, a vast number of self-contained ecosystems can be found within the reef, and many vulnerable and endangered species make their homes there. Species known to depend on the reef include turtles, crocodiles, dugongs, and sharks, as well as thousands of species of fish and invertebrate – including, of course, the corals themselves.

Climate conditions have been increasingly harrowing for the denizens of the reef, however. Inclement weather, including tropical cyclones, can cause severe damage to coral growths. Global warming is having a lethal effect on corals living near the edge of the reef, which are already at the high end of their temperature tolerance. The warm waters cause corals to expel their zooxanthellae (the symbiotic organisms with live with the coral, photosynthesising and providing around 90% of the coral’s energy requirements) resulting in coral bleaching and, eventually, death as the corals die of starvation. And then there’s the crown of thorns starfish, a natural predator of corals which has seen a sharp increase in numbers in recent years. While the starfish is actually in indigenous inhabitant of the reef, some suspect that overfishing of the starfish’s natural predators has contributed to their recent population explosion.

In light of the troubling findings, Australia’s Environment Minister, Tony Burke, said in an interview to ABC news that “We’ve all heard about damage to the reef over the years, but that 50 per cent figure, I think, rang a warning bell loud and clear for many people.” He also admitted that “there’s no doubt that there’s been a level of neglect for decades which, if it had been dealt with otherwise, we’d be in a much better situation now,” which is at least a sign that the problem is being given the recognition it deserves.

Australia has, in fact, put together its Reef Rescue programme over the past 5 years, spending millions of dollars on protecting the reef from human activities such as run off from land. While there’s not much which can be done about the cyclones which have done the most damage, work is also underway to cull the starfish which are currently the reef’s second biggest threat. Unfortunately, this is painstaking work, as each starfish has to be individually removed by hand. There’s simply no other suitable method.

The question then is how to safeguard the reef in the long term and hopefully help it to recover to its former glory? With one of the biggest future threats to the reef is global warming and the warmer waters which it causes, the method to be used to protect the reef is still under debate. Natalie Ban, who works for the ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies, is reported as saying, “In some areas summer is coming earlier and lasting longer; in others, both summers and winters are warmer than in the past.” Currently, there are two schools of thought on how to go about this – some argue that the most protection should be given to the areas which have suffered least, so that they can act as a haven for reef animals to help repopulate the area; while others would prefer the most vulnerable reef areas to receive the most protection.

Whatever means is chosen, it’s safe to say that Ban speaks for many of us in saying that she hopes for the best way of managing and protecting the reef during “what will undoubtedly be momentous environmental change.”

Images:
Top – Eric Johnson/NOAA
Middle – NASA
Bottom – Toby Hudson/Wikimedia Commons

Cite this article:
Hammonds M (2012-10-30 00:19:12). Great danger for the Great Barrier Reef. Australian Science. Retrieved: Apr 27, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/news/great-danger-for-the-great-barrier-reef/

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Weekly Science Picks

Kelly Burnes — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 00:35:38 +0000

Chemical Structures, Photo credit: www.southtexascollege.edu

This past week was made notable by the Nobel Prizes awarded. So much great research being done, it can make your head spin. Chinese literature took center stage, and for peace…the European Union… Be sure to catch up on all the action here.

Just some of the stories that grabbed me, motivated me and infuriated me are listed below. I think they’re worth a read; let us know what you think.

Ocean acidification is one of the topics I think people hear or read the headline and move on, not giving it a second thought. Or maybe that;s just my opinion. I think we all need to take a hard look at the amount of CO2 humans are pumping into the air. And think about how our own individual actions, in our neighborhoods, whether we live near an ocean or not, affect marine life and what the consequences of these impacts might mean.

Ocean Acidification by Liz O’Connell

Will ocean acidification spell a watery grave for vital parts of marine ecosystems? Marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, named ocean acidification global warming’s “equally evil twin.”

Again, I may be on my Public Service Announcement soap box here, but biodiversity doesn’t receive the attention it deserves either. The section that caught my attention most was the section in the article describing ‘We have the science: policy is the next step’. I believe this concept is something that we, as communicators of science, need to be vigilant in spreading.

Explainer: what is biodiversity and why does it matter? by Steve Morton, Andy Sheppard, and Mark Lonsdale

To halt the decline in biodiversity across the continent, we must translate accumulated knowledge on biodiversity into government policy. This can be done through programs and on-the-ground management. Tough decisions need to be made about where to invest, what to manage, and which approach to take.

Climate change. Carbon capture and storage (or sequestration) is a huge topic as the world looks for ways to reduce CO2 levels, keeping greenhouse gases in check and prevent global temperatures from rising 2°C. Speaking of we have the science: policy is the next step… significant work needs to be made on this front.

Carbon capture: 130 plants need ‘to avoid dangerous climate change’ by Adam Vaughan

More than a hundred carbon capture and storage projects (CCS) musst be built to avoid dangerous global warming, an international CCS group said this week, as fears were raised over whether UK projects would benefit from an EU fund for 12 demonstration plants.

A.D.H.D. This is something we need to look at as a nation, and I’m so very curious what the experiences of other countries surrounding this issue are. We have to fix the environment. What kind of policy do we want where we dope kids up to get though to complete an education? You have to read this article to understand what I am referring to. In some instances, medication may be warranted, but I feel this doctor may be going beyond his Hippocratic Oath; especially when he doesn’t know the harm he may be doing.

It is a constant argument and debate here in the U.S. about academic performance and teacher effectiveness. We like band-aids and pills to fix problems. Who thinks this is a good idea? I don’t believe this is good for the patient without A.D.H.D. or good for society.

Attention Disorder or Not, Pills to Help in School by Alan Schwarz

“I don’t have a whole of choice,” said Dr. Anderson, a pediatrician for many poor families in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta. “We’ve decided as a society that it’s too expensive to modify the kid’s environment. So we have to modify the kid.”

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Botanist Wins Prestigious Nature Conservancy Award to Work on Grass Trees

Editorial Board — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 06:56:55 +0000

24 September 2012. MEDIA RELEASE

Botanist Todd McLay has won the 2012 prestigious Australian Conservation Taxonomy Award to delve further into the mysteries of the iconic Xanthorrhoea genus or, Australia¹s native grass trees.

The Nature Conservancy and The Thomas Foundation launched the award last year to foster research by young scientists into important taxonomic works with significant implications for conservation in Australia.

Dr James Fitzsimons, director of conservation with The Nature Conservancy, said the $10,000 award would be used to ³interpret the evolutionary history of the grass tree with a view to underpinning conservation in the global biodiversity hotspot of Western Australia.²

³The last major look at the Xanthorrhoea family was in 1986 for the Flora of Australia, and it showed a level of uncertainty about some aspects of the grass tree. We urgently need to learn more about its biological make-up in order to better protect it.²

Mr McLay, a postgraduate student at the University of Melbourne, will assess and revise the species-level taxonomy of Xanthorrhoea in Western Australia, including the identification of potentially undescribed species.

Two species of Xanthorrhoea thortonii and nana are found in the Great Western Woodlands, the world¹s largest intact temperate woodland. These species are biogeographically distinct from other recognised species of grass trees that grow in the subregions of western Australia.

³Knowing what species exist and their ecological requirements are essential elements of conservation and we are confident that Mr McLay, with his passion for plants, will help provide more answers,² Dr Fitzsimons said.

The Australian Conservation Taxonomy Award was presented to Mr McLay at the Australasian Systematic Botany Society conference. The award is administered by the Australasian Systematic Botany Society.

The Thomas Foundation was established in 1998 by David Thomas and his wife, Barbara. The conservation of biodiversity has always been part of the Foundation¹s focus. The Foundation adopts a strategic planning approach to its grant making and considers its grants to be investments in forming social capital. The Foundation¹s mission is ³Arresting the decline of biodiversity in Australia and encouraging others to do likewise.²

About The Nature Conservancy One of the world¹s largest science-based conservation organisations, The Nature Conservancy delivers large-scale conservation projects across Australia. The NGO is currently influencing conservation over nearly 30
million hectares of Indigenous lands across northern Australia¹s vast savannas from the Kimberley to Cape York and Central Australia¹s arid lands. The Nature Conservancy is working with Indigenous groups and other key partners and has helped to protect more than 6 million hectares of lands and waters in Australia since 2000. This includes securing 29 high priority additions to the National Reserve System, including some of the largest private protected areas in Australia.

Media inquiries: John Myers 03 9818 8540 or mediawise@mediawise.net.au

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