Living in a Microbial World...
#Microbiology Professor and Environmental Scientist.
#science #microbes #environment #highereducation #water
All posts are personal.
Naarm #Melbourne #Australia
I would like to acknowledge the Bunurong People of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land on which I live. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present.
Staggering...
#Plastics don't break down in the #marine environment - they break up
- and result in this calamitous estimate of 170 trillion plastic pieces afloat across earth's oceans.
Learn more in this research in PLOS ONE on:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0281596
Over the last decade I've watched the huge developments going up in the West of #Melbourne to house the increasing population.
Sadly, this development plays scant consideration to fragile native #grassland #ecosystems. Whilst not as totemic in #Australia as the threat urban development poses to koala habitats, such destruction and/or biogeographical isolation of these important grassland habitats will drive species loss and impact on Australia's natural botanical heritage.
Learn more on ABC News on:
Hubris...
Ruing the cost of coastal development - how the introduction of Spartina alterniflora (Smooth Cordgrass) into #wetlands in China to release land for #agriculture and development is now requiring massive and possibly futile remediation to save #wetland habitats.
FInd out more in Science on:
https://www.science.org/content/article/china-battles-alien-marsh-grass-unprecedented-scale
This is so important!
Why #carbonoffsets are definitely not the answer and why the government in #Australia (and elsewhere) must not provide the #fossilfuels industry and other industries with a licence to continue burning coal, gas and oil.
Conversely, if #offsets are the answer - then the question is probably and really: How does a government continue to enable #fossilfuel use?
Learn more in this article in the @theconversationau
Yet another reason why we have to take genuine action now (throughout this decade and onwards) on the #ClimateCrisis to stop #fossilfuel use and switch urgently to #renewables:
New research (in Nature on: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05683-0 ) suggests the #BlackSummer fires in #Australia in 2019/20 depleted the #ozone layer by between 3 to 5%.
Given #bushfires and #forestsfires will increase with increasing temperature and #climatechange , this risk of ozone layer depletion and its implications for increased irradiation from the sun to earth and its health impacts (particularly skin cancer) will scale with number and size of global fire events.
Story in Guardian on:
Too slow.
Global CO2 emissions are still rising (by 1% in 2022) when what is needed are 7% reductions year-on-year this decade to have a fighting chance of being on track to reach #netzero.
Learn more on the latest data from the IEA in the Guardian on:
Beggars belief...
This news in #Australia about the Labor government granting approval to Santos for 116 new coal seam gas wells in the Surat Basin, Queensland suggests a complete failure from the government to understand how serious the #ClimateCrisis is.
This decade is realistically our last chance to make a difference to prevent catastrophic future effects from major temperature increases and wider climate impacts and governments around the world are failing their countries at every turn.
I am so disappointed and frustrated with this news. Offsets and a gas transition are not what is needed. Instead, we need a ban on all new #fossilfuel developments and a rapid transition to renewables.
Learn more in the Guardian on:
Thanks @MorpheusB - very concerning. We have a project looking at controlled burns on grasslands exploring impacts on native grasses and with comparison to invasive species. We're looking at impacts of controlled burns on plant diversity and also soil microbes and in turn also exploring whether different plant cover (natives vs. invasives) inflences fire intensity. Hope to be able to start sharing some of the outcomes on this research later this year once the research has been through peer review for publication.
Really concerning new research highlighting that 59% of #LongCOVID sufferers (sample size 331 individuals) were still showing evidence of organ damage/impairment after a year after their #COVID19 infection.
Find out more in this article in the Conversation and access the primary research article therein on:
El Nino and grassland fire risks in #Australia
Important new report from the #ClimateCouncil (authors include Greg Mullins and Joelle Gergis) on how the extended La Nina event over the last three years has enabled significant increases in grassland fire fuel loads which under drier El Nino conditions will then pose substantially higher risks of major grassland fires.
The challenge and opportunity for the Australian and State governments is to listen now to the scientists and firefighting leaders and to then plan how to reduce risk and also scale capacity to fight and contain these future fires before they can spread widely.
Read the report on:
https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/resources/powder-keg-australia-primed-to-burn/
Important and concerning new research suggesting that stronger El Nino events may accelerate melting of the ice sheet in #Antarctica. Learn more in this article in the Guardian based on new research in Nature Climate Change:
The really confronting thing about this new article on feedback loops in #climatechange is the staggering number of loops and mechanisms in play:
41 feedback loops (20 physical and 21 biological) are mentioned, showing the huge risk exposure that planet Earth is facing as a consequence of our continuing reliance upon and addiction to #fossilfuels
The abstract image displays some of these major feedback loops, but if you want a better understanding of both the risks posed and the interplay between them, check out this new article in One Earth on:
This staggering image from #NewZealand really is a metaphor for the battle between #ClimateChange and #FossilFuel transport.
Whilst the article from which this photo is taken (in the Guardian) talks about how and whether to rebuild after the impacts of #CycloneGabrielle, a much bigger question remains, namely:
What action are we going to take in terms of slashing #carbonemissions from #fossilfuels to try to prevent extreme weather events that lead to images such as this from becoming an everyday occurrence?
Thanks @malanlewis - sorry I don't know either. Attribution of these pressures won't be easy to do, but I suspect hydrologists are probably modelling this in particular based on flow data in rivers and lake volume and depth data. Dreadful to see whatever the drivers and ultimately both causes are from human activity.
Assessing the health of the National Marine Parks and Sanctuaries in #Victoria, #Australia (including of the amazing #PortPhillipBay, which I'm so lucky enough to live near).
Learn more about this ecological assessment (in this article in The Age) which presents some encouraging news on life in the sea and some fabulous images of the #marine #biodversity in Victorian coastal waters
Western hemisphere's largest salt lake at risk of drying up in just five years.
Catastrophic outlook for the Great Salt Lake, Utah with it following the same potential demise as the Aral Sea, due in this case to a combination of water extraction/diversions and #climatechange driving its rapid shrinkage.
Find out more about this unfolding ecological disaster in this article in the Guardian and its wider environmental pollution threats to the region on:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/16/great-salt-lake-disappear-utah-poison-climate-crisis
Interesting read on de-extinction (it isn't really) ambitions on the dodo.
Can't help thinking the money would be better spent on #conservation to prevent #extinction of our currently threatened species.
Anyway, learn more on:
https://phys.org/news/2023-02-dodo-de-extinction-debate.html
Sharing some positive news on #conservation efforts in #Australia to reduce #extinction risks. Find out more in this piece in the @theconversationau
Still so much to do, but we need to hear about the good news to encourage the view that all is not lost.
Thank you @breadandcircuses - very kind of you to say and suggest. Thanks again.
Thanks @LinaB - yes microbial is all about microbes and all of the wide diversity of life which we need a microscope to see.