Environmental News

Posting some news that isn't news yet Consider the humble lichen:



Not this species in particular it's just to form your mental image. A colleague has had several lichens in the dark with dessicant for a year. Wondered if they might revive with water. Actually we were both pretty sure they would revive. I suggested building little chambers for them and connecting to my CO2 measuring thingy from Lincoln Nebraska.

Then we had chambers. But before adding water I suggested sealing them in just to see...

Nothing. So we turned on the lights and the darndest thing. They first emit CO2 and then start to take it back by photosynthesis. Then quiet down and repeat that cycle. And again. It's all silent of course but reminded me of a car that just won't start.

Emitting CO2 is metabolism that we speculate is getting photosynthetic machinery in order. To prove that would be very difficult for...reasons.

Then add just a bit of water. Same cycle but twice as large on the up and 4x larger on the down. Don't know yet how long the photosynthesis lasts. That's for next week and logging data overnight.

Also now we can have 6 different light levels plus darkness (been making more gadgets). Several species (in paper envelopes) to compare.

Everyone knows that when lichens are wet (enough) they do photosynthesis. But this cycle when very nearly dead dry is new. Actually about 10 people knew before I typed this including 2 in Lincoln Nebraska

There may be an 'exobology astrobiology' angle here. What are such organisms capable of when very nearly dead dry? You might not think things on your trees as living in hyper extreme environments, but months without rain are tough when there are no roots into soil.

It will be environmental news, later. We are very early in data collection phase.

 

Better to have your hurricanes when rest of world is not so busy with Red Gross like things

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Monster_storm_strengthens_in_Pacific_lashing_Vanuatu_999.html

In that part of world they are called cyclones. This is a large one.

 

Ash (Fraxinus) trees have a fungal pathogen called ash dieback. Such trees growing far apart have lower incidence than those close together:

Ash dieback is less severe in isolated ash trees -- ScienceDaily

This may remind you of the term 'social distancing' that has recently come into common use. I would call it very well known for plants and a major concern for one-species crops or trees that are grown densely. Some crops and trees are essentially clones (genetically identical) which move concern higher.

== My previous post said "Red Gross" which might have made more sense as "Red Cross".

 

Very glad @Trollbait mentioned that. Found out that the causative fungus really limits rubber development in tropical Americas. That Asian plantations are of varieties lacking resistance. That international air travel into Malaysia is limited to keep the cooties out.

As I work with rubber here at least indirectly, my Saturday morning has been educational so far

 

Gizmodo mentions a goof science article published in a 'welcoming' journal:

Sketchy Science Journal Publishes Article Titled 'What's the Deal With Birds?'

They (Mandelbaum) suggest to read the entire thing, but most humor is in the excerpts.

I also went to publisher's website and downloaded article published since. It is 'straight' except possibly that first author is named Muhammad Ali and with email address alimuhd4real@ (wherever)

 

Coconuts. I only looked because of question. do not know. It has diseases that reduce yield but it is not crashing like Ford's rubber plantation did.

One thing that's different is coconuts just drop fruit, and if they don't hit you on head, you just pick them up and harvest is over. With rubber you cut new grooves in stem every year to obtain latex. So that tree is repeatedly wounded. However the fungal pathogen is a leaf blight with no obvious to stem wounding.

==
In a general sense, I would prefer that species-rich forests not be removed to make way for coconuts or other crops. But I don't really know if that is their major way. It is for oil palm, which we could complain about for hours

 

Planet-hunting telescopes look for small but sudden variations in brightness. Gradual ones mean star itself is varying. Now they demonstrate that many are more variable than good old Sol:

Our sun is a weirdly 'quiet' star — and that's lucky for all of us | Space

Seems like we got a good one. Which may ultimately explain why there is a 'we'.

 

To go beyond this article (and my knowledge of astrophysics), it might be appropriate to focus SETI hunting on stars that are not highly variable in brightness. 'Goldilocks' in time as well as distance.

Or it might be a dumb idea. Fortunately we grade on the curve around here.

 

A documentary on Biosphere 2 is soon to be released, and I'd be interested in any readers' reactions

'Spaceship Earth,' a wild new doc about Biosphere 2 habitat, launches May 8 | Space

Seems to focus mainly on the people inside. 'What went wrong' is a subject of interest for biogeochemistry, but maybe not for docu audiences.

But I will say that if you transfer >10 thousand tons of soil into a warm and generally wet place, critters therein will consume O2 and release CO2 at higher-than-previous rates. Soils in situ have places where critters have consumed most of the goodies, and other places still containing. Mixing soils twice (excavation and bed filling) will increase critters' access to goodies. This is not typically a matter of great concern, but if done in a big can with humans also inside and intent upon breathing, well, things will get strange.

Second interesting factor was ignoring carbonation of freshly poured concrete. Perhaps later discussion will get that far.