Science – Page 46 – Southern Fried Science

Understanding Sea Level Rise: Why a linear extrapolation is the least reasonable predictor of future changes

June 14, 2012June 18, 2012 Andrew Thaler 2 Comments

The Division of Coastal Management shall be the only State agency authorized to develop rates of sea-level rise and shall do so only at the request of the Commission. These rates shall only be determined using historical data, and these data shall be limited to the time period following the year 1900. Rates of sea-level rise may be extrapolated linearly to estimate future rates of rise but shall not include scenarios of accelerated rates of sea-level rise.

source (emphasis mine)

This is the text of the notorious, anti-science, anti-coastal community bill that was originally floated in the North Carolina state senate. A revised version of that bill is now under review, with new language that now mandates that:

The Commission and the Division of Coastal Management may collaborate with other State agencies, boards, commissions, other public entities, or institutions when defining sea-level rise or developing rates of sea-level rise. These rates shall be determined using statistically significant, peer-reviewed historical data generated using generally accepted scientific and statistical techniques. Historic rates of sea-level rise may be extrapolated to estimate future rates of rise but shall not include scenarios of accelerated rates of sea-level rise unless such rates are from statistically significant, peer-reviewed data and are consistent with historic trends.

source (emphasis mine)

While this new language is almost certainly an improvement over the old bill, which was heavily supported by a lobbying group for coastal developers and heavily opposed by organizations that actually care what happens to the Carolina coastline and its historic communities, it is still problematic. By problematic, I mean wrong. And by wrong I mean that by refusing to allow accelerated estimates of sea level rise, it explicitly ignores all the best available science and contradicts 130 millenia of historic precedent.

Medusa: Scientists document rarely seen deepwater sharks using baited video cameras

June 14, 2012June 14, 2012 David Shiffman 1 Comment

Science

The deep sea is one of the largest, least explored, and most unique ecosystems on the planet. An enormous variety of weird and wonderful creatures make the deep sea their home, including many species of sharks. A new project, headed up by our friends at the Cape Eleuthera Institute, hopes to learn more about these sharks.

According to Edd Brooks, CEI’s shark research and conservation program manager,

“About half of all known species of sharks make this cold, dark high pressure environment their home, and new deep water species are being described all the time. The issue we are currently facing is that basic information about the taxonomy, biology and ecology of these animals is virtually non-existent, yet they are already being harvested by commercial fisheries. The little we do know about deep water species is worrying, in that they are thought to be more sensitive to fishing pressure than all other fish – and look what we have managed to do their more robust shallow water cousins already. The worry is that in some areas, we are already be losing species before they can be described taxonomically.”

Kangaroo court: an unjust criminal justice system for animals in National Parks?

June 12, 2012June 12, 2012 David Shiffman 6 Comments

Conservation, Science

On August 25th of last year, a man was brutally killed while vacationing in Montana. An expert forensics team was called in to the scene of the crime, and quickly determined from blood patterns next to a half-eaten PowerBar that the victim had been surprised and attacked from behind while taking a break from a hike. His badly damaged body was found partially buried nearby, with wounds indicating that he tried to fight back against his attacker.

A search of the area resulted in locating hair, which was soon found to belong to a suspect in another local killing from a few weeks prior to this attack. Footprints found at the scene were the same size as those of the suspect in the earlier killing as well. DNA samples were taken for future analysis. The suspect and her two small children were taken into custody.

The case was rapidly brought not before a jury of the suspect’s peers, but before a panel of local experts, including members of the forensics team that investigated the case. The suspect was found guilty even before all of the samples from the crime scene had been processed. The penalty was death for the suspect and life imprisonment for her children. The accused was not represented by a lawyer, no appeals were permitted, and she was dead within a few weeks of the attack on the unfortunate tourist. Once the DNA evidence had been processed, the detection of another suspect at the scene of the crime raised some doubt that the correct individual had been taken into custody, but it was too late to stop the execution.

How could such a trial happen in the United States of America in the 21st century? We are a nation of laws! We pride ourselves on suspects being innocent until proven guilty! The answer is simple. The now-executed suspect in this series of grisly deaths was, in fact, a grizzly herself- a grizzly bear. The series of attacks has focused public attention not just on the dangers associated with hiking in areas where large wild predators live, but on the bizarre system of pseudo-justice used by the National Parks Service to determine what to do with animals that kill or injure humans.

Carnivorous plants respond to increased soil nitrogen, eco-news websites completely miss the point

June 10, 2012 Andrew Thaler 1 Comment

Science

Flowers of a venus flytrap. Photo by Andrew David Thaler.

Late last week, inspired by our newly flowering Venus Flytraps, I posted pictures of Amy and my carnivorous plant collection on twitter and on the Southern Fried Science Facebook page. After David’s recent post on a nurse shark that underwent major dietary changes following traumatic surgery and captivity, our wonderful readers must have been on high alert for trophic shifts following anthropogenic disturbance-type articles (or, more casually, “stuff that eats stuff now eats different stuff”), because this morning my inbox was filled with links to variations on the following article: Pollution makes carnivorous plants go vegetarian. Whenever human activity alters trophic interactions, there is potential for major ecological changes in an ecosystem. While ecosystems are dynamic, shape by continuous variation in community structure and resource and habitat variability, rapid changes can result in total collapse or permanent shifts to functional states.

Unfortunately, these “eating different stuff” articles rarely reflect the deep and nuance ecologic reality of trophic interactions and instead capitalize on the narrative of “even animals are going veggie to save the planet!” Allow me to revel in my cultural roots with a hearty “Oy vey!”

Climbing Mount Chernobyl: a repost for World Ocean Day

June 8, 2012June 10, 2012 Andrew Thaler 2 Comments

Conservation, Science

Originally published on August 30th, 2011, Climbing Mount Chernobyl is one of my personal favorite posts. It feels appropriate to re-post it today for World Ocean Day.

Mermaids do not exist, and five other important things people should, but do not, know about the ocean

June 5, 2012September 2, 2013 David Shiffman 12 Comments

Science

MermenLubok — Mermaids depicted by a Russian folk artist. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons via New York Public Library

Last week, Animal Planet aired a fictional mockumentary about mermaids. From an educational perspective, it was a disaster that was rightfully described as “the rotting carcass of science television” by Brian Switek. As Dr. M on Deep Sea News pointed out, one of the troubling results of this TV special was the discovery that some people believe that mermaids are real.

When I pointed out on Facebook and twitter that mermaids do not exist and that I hoped none of my friends believe otherwise, it inspired a long and interesting discussion. Someone asked why it matters if people believe in mermaids, as they felt that a sense of whimsy among the public is a good thing. Someone pointed out that scientists are discovering amazing new species all the time. More than a few people said “anything is possible.”

Sure, scientists discover new species all the time, but while finding a new species of monkey, orchid, or jellyfish can be interesting, it is not proof that “anything is possible” and it is not the same thing as finding a species of talking, thinking humanoids with fish tails on the lower half of their bodies. There’s a big and important difference between enjoying fantasy novels and wishing that certain fantastical creatures exist (i.e. having a sense of whimsy) and genuinely believing that those creatures really do exist.

These people don’t believe that in the vast and unexplored ocean, there may be some bizarre undiscovered species still out there. They believe that talking, thinking humanoids with fish tails on the lower half of their bodies exist and are acknowledged as existing by the scientific community. This displays a troubling lack of awareness of reality that likely is not limited to a belief in mermaids. For the benefit of those who have paid so little attention to what’s going on in the real world that they believe mermaids exist, here are five other things that you should, but likely do not, know about the oceans.

North Carolina’s attempted ban on sea level rise is a boon for Global Draining researchers

May 31, 2012May 31, 2012 Andrew Thaler 4 Comments

Science

News broke yesterday that NC-20, a lobbying group for coastal development that, among other things, thinks property owners should be allowed to dump chemical waste directly into our watersheds, is sponsoring legislation that would outlaw outlaw sea level rise. Ignoring the fact that you can’t actually sue the ocean, what they’re actually promoting is a law that would prevent the state from using any sea surface model that extrapolates future ocean trends using anything but a linear regression. Essentially, they’re making it illegal for the state to anticipate future changes to the coastline, plan and prepare for potential flooding, or restrict development on transient barrier islands.

The Ocean Adventure: mud, robots, and ecosystems

May 24, 2012May 29, 2012 Andrew Thaler 2 Comments

Science

We traveled to Cape Lookout Bight aboard the R/V Susan Hudson to sample sediment and test our homemade ROV. Along the way, we asked the research team to talk about their favorite marine ecosystems. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vpX4XGNjf8 Let us know what your favorite marine ecosystems are in the comments below.

#SciFund Returns: Where have all the coral reef fish gone?

May 22, 2012 Andrew Thaler 1 Comment

Science

#SciFund, a month long initiative to raise funds for a variety of scientific research projects, is once again upon us. Project leaders post a project description and an appeal for funds, and members of the public are invited to make small donations to projects that they deem worthy. Donations come with rewards such as access to … Read More “#SciFund Returns: Where have all the coral reef fish gone?” »

Traumatized animal radically changes diet and behavior in an unhealthy way: the real story of the “vegetarian shark”

May 18, 2012 David Shiffman 12 Comments

Science

Veggie_Shark_01 small — Florence the "vegetarian" nurse shark eating lettuce. Photo courtesy Jamie Turner, Sea Life Centre Birmingham

Between my well-documented love for sharks and my famously vegetable-less diet, a recent story about a “vegetarian shark” was destined to be e-mailed to me by friends and family. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, a captive nurse shark at an aquarium in the United Kingdom has been eating lettuce and celery, and refusing to eat normal nurse shark food (crustaceans and fish). As a result of this…no, wait, that’s pretty much the whole story. This animal has been dubbed “the world’s first vegetarian shark”, and my twitter and Facebook feeds have been full of people misinterpreting what this means even worse than the original media coverage did.

This is not a case of an animal “changing the reputation of sharks worldwide, and in the greenest way possible”, as reported on EcoRazzi. This is not a case of “even sharks realizing that vegetarianism is the most environmentally friendly diet”, as some have claimed. The reality is much more troubling. Following an incredibly traumatic experience (a 2009 surgical procedure to remove a rusty hook lodged in the digestive tract), an animal has radically changed its natural behavior in a way that isn’t healthy.

Yes, unhealthy- regardless of your views on the health benefits of a vegetarian diet, I’ve been assured by friends who do eat vegetables that lettuce and celery don’t have a lot of nutritional content. Fortunately, the aquarium staff at the Birmingham Sea Life Centre is aware of this and is working hard to get this animal the nutrition it needs. According to the press release (available online here), aquarium curator Graham Burrows said “we’re having to hide pieces of fish inside celery sticks, hollowed out cucumbers and between the leaves of lettuces to get her to eat them”. One could argue that the fact that the shark is still eating fish (although hidden among veggies) means that it isn’t a vegetarian at all, but that isn’t really the most important point here.