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"title": "New Technology Allows for Precise Genetic Engineering in Primates",
"headTitle": "New Technology Allows for Precise Genetic Engineering in Primates | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14329\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/800px-Wildlife_primate_monkey-of-japan_macaca-fuscata_closeup_31-05-2010-e1392340172828.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14329\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/800px-Wildlife_primate_monkey-of-japan_macaca-fuscata_closeup_31-05-2010-e1392340172828.jpg\" alt=\"We are now entering an era where we can cleanly and predictably change the DNA of primates. Alfonsopazphoto / Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"640\" height=\"361\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">We are now entering an era where we can cleanly and predictably change the DNA of primates. (\u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wildlife_primate_monkey-of-japan_macaca-fuscata_closeup_31-05-2010.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alfonsopazphoto/Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Using a relatively new technology called \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR\">CRISPR\u003c/a>, scientists in China have managed to make \u003ca href=\"http://www.cell.com/abstract/S0092-8674(14)00079-8\">multiple, precise genetic changes\u003c/a> to the fertilized eggs of monkeys. Two of these fertilized eggs developed into twins that carried genetic changes in the right place with no evidence of changes elsewhere in their DNA — and there are more genetically altered monkeys waiting to be born. We are now entering an era where we can cleanly and predictably change the DNA of primates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the near term, monkeys like these will help scientists find treatments for human diseases more quickly. Right now scientists tend to use rats and mice as model systems and what often works well in these animals does not translate to people. This shouldn’t be the case for monkeys. They are so closely related to us that any medicines that work on them have a pretty good shot of working on us too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is the long term where things get interesting. If scientists can make these sorts of genetic changes in monkeys, it is only a matter of time before we can do it in people too. In fact, it is close enough that scientists are already working on this sort of thing in a startup in Boston called \u003ca href=\"http://www.editasmedicine.com/index.php\">Editas medicine\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon scientists will be able to make one or even multiple genetic changes in a human fertilized egg and change his or her basic blueprint. And with a bit more tinkering, maybe they can make changes in many cells at once so they can treat adults too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It seems like either of these will be good things if it means a child won’t have to suffer from something like cystic fibrosis or sickle cell anemia. But it is much less obvious how good it will be to make more subtle changes that won’t affect life threatening diseases. And of course, the temptation will be there to make more cosmetic changes and/or enhancements too. (We’re looking at you DARPA and your supposed\u003ca href=\"http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/sciencenotfiction/2008/11/22/eleventh-hour-the-brains-of-the-super-soldier/\"> super soldier program\u003c/a>!)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now as usual we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves here. This technology won’t be ready soon but these experiments are the kind of breakthrough that makes what was once science fiction into something that will almost certainly be possible in the not-too-distant future. We need to start thinking about what this will mean and how best to deal with it. We don’t want to be caught flatfooted like we were with NSA spying where we did things with technology because we could — not because we should have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, there is little risk of this happening in people at least in a sanctioned lab. Rightly or wrongly, society does not appear to be ready to make changes in DNA that can be passed on to the next generation. This becomes obvious in the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2013/10/21/controversial-technique-can-prevent-fatal-illnesses-in-children/\">recent outcry\u003c/a> over a relatively simple procedure that won’t actually change a child’s DNA but instead will swap a bit of the donor’s DNA for mom’s. Even though this procedure would allow a mother to have a child that is mostly her own, it remains controversial. Actually, changing DNA like in the experiments here is more radical and therefore would be way more controversial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, attitudes do change. At some point we may be ready to take the plunge and start tinkering with human DNA in ways that can release these changes into the human gene pool. And because we don’t have a good handle on our genes just yet, we need to be very careful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tread Lightly\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14223\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/ColorfulKaryotype.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14223\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14223\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/ColorfulKaryotype.jpg\" alt=\"We obviously need to be careful when we tinker with human DNA. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"300\" height=\"238\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">We obviously need to be careful when we tinker with human DNA. \u003cem>(\u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sky_spectral_karyotype.gif\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Human Genome Research Institute/Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003cbr>\u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Assuming we one day get past the fear of introducing manmade changes into the collective human genome, there are some pretty obvious targets to go after. If someone has a genetic difference that causes a disease like sickle cell anemia, it makes sense to fix it. And if it can be done safely, to do so in a way that decreases the chances that the cured person will pass it on to the next generation. But not everything is as cut-and-dried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As described \u003ca href=\"http://www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/genewatch/GeneWatchPage.aspx?pageId=226\">here\u003c/a>, there are some genetic changes that might look like candidates for change but with a little extra digging, may not be such good candidates after all. Here is an excerpt from that article about a gene called SERT:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“This gene comes in two different versions (or alleles)-short (S) and long (L). People with only short versions are at a much higher risk for becoming clinically depressed.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This makes depression sound a bit like sickle cell anemia-two copies of a certain version leads to disease. The parents who have depression on mom’s side of the family might decide to screen their embryos and select only those that have at least one long version of the SERT gene. Now their child would be at a much lower risk for depression.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What our parents may have missed, though, is that the increased depression risk happens only when the child is abused. A deeper look at the data shows that people with only the S version who had a happy childhood were actually less likely to be depressed. These folks were more resilient and better able to handle the stress of everyday life.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>By striving for genetic perfection, the parents have robbed their children of the chance to be amazing.” \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This article dealt with screening embryos for the “right” combination of genes but it also works for genetic engineering. And this is just one example. There are undoubtedly many others that fall into this same category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is no doubt about it; we definitely need to be careful in deciding whether to make these sorts of changes and if we do, make sure we are making the right ones. These are real people and any mistakes can have profound consequences. We can’t afford to get this wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep in mind again though that this is a future problem. Maybe not as far in the future as we thought, but no one is doing this just yet. The monkey experiments did not go off without a hitch and there is still a lot of work to do. For example, these monkeys were just born. We don’t know if they will have any problems as they grow and develop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Details\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14220\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Macaque.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14220\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14220\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Macaque.jpg\" alt=\"Scientists have genetically engineered a monkey like this one. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"300\" height=\"298\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scientists have genetically engineered a monkey like this one. \u003cem>(\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Macaca_fuscata.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Skamnelis/Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003cbr>\u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The scientists in this study wanted to introduce DNA changes into three separate genes in the monkey genome all at once. They first tested this out in monkey cell lines in a petri dish. They obtained a success rate of 10-25% for each individually. This was encouraging enough to try on monkey embryos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They next collected 198 macaque eggs and injected sperm into 186 of them by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). They then injected various RNAs needed by the CRISPR system to make the specific DNA changes they were interested in. Next they put 83 of these fertilized eggs into 29 surrogates resulting in nine successful pregnancies. The study is based on one set of twins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they looked at the DNA of these twins, they saw that two of their three targeted genes had been changed. The third change did not happen in these particular embryos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A concern with any genetic change like this is its preciseness. Ideally scientists want only the genetic changes they are introducing and no “off-target” mutations. When they looked at 84 sites that were the most likely to be off site targets of this technology, they saw no genetic changes. This is not the same as looking at all of the DNA of these monkeys but it is very powerful nonetheless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These numbers and success rates are important in showing both the limitations of the technology and this study. Not only is going from 198 eggs to 18 births a fairly high rate of failure, but the scientists also didn’t get all three changes (at least in the two monkeys they have checked). In addition, they only looked at a small part of the monkey’s DNA to determine how precisely these monkeys’ DNA was altered. Even though it will be harder to interpret, it will probably be important at some point to look at all of the altered animals’ DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, this is a huge deal. This kind of success would have been unthinkable only a couple of years ago in \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/original_news/news63\">“simple” systems like mice,\u003c/a> let alone complex ones like monkeys. And if they just wanted to make a single change, this seems pretty easy to pull off. They could even check to see if the change is there before implanting the embryo using \u003ca href=\"http://americanpregnancy.org/infertility/preimplantationgeneticdiagnosis.html\">preimplantation genetic diagnosis\u003c/a> (PGD) to confirm the presence of the DNA change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So we are definitely getting closer to the Holy Grail of easy genetic engineering. Hopefully, we will look before we leap so we don’t find ourselves in a \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gattaca\">GATTACA \u003c/a>world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Added note: As shown in this just published \u003ca href=\"http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39173/title/More-Monkeys-With-Edited-Genomes/\">study\u003c/a>, CRISPR isn’t the only way to get this done.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Scientists can now make precise, specific changes in the DNA of primates using a new technology first identified in bacteria. Not only will this usher in an age where animal models for human diseases are more useful, but it also means that we are very close to being able to do the same thing in people. ",
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"description": "Scientists can now make precise, specific changes in the DNA of primates using a new technology first identified in bacteria. Not only will this usher in an age where animal models for human diseases are more useful, but it also means that we are very close to being able to do the same thing in people. ",
"title": "New Technology Allows for Precise Genetic Engineering in Primates | KQED",
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"headline": "New Technology Allows for Precise Genetic Engineering in Primates",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14329\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/800px-Wildlife_primate_monkey-of-japan_macaca-fuscata_closeup_31-05-2010-e1392340172828.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14329\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/800px-Wildlife_primate_monkey-of-japan_macaca-fuscata_closeup_31-05-2010-e1392340172828.jpg\" alt=\"We are now entering an era where we can cleanly and predictably change the DNA of primates. Alfonsopazphoto / Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"640\" height=\"361\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">We are now entering an era where we can cleanly and predictably change the DNA of primates. (\u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wildlife_primate_monkey-of-japan_macaca-fuscata_closeup_31-05-2010.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alfonsopazphoto/Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Using a relatively new technology called \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR\">CRISPR\u003c/a>, scientists in China have managed to make \u003ca href=\"http://www.cell.com/abstract/S0092-8674(14)00079-8\">multiple, precise genetic changes\u003c/a> to the fertilized eggs of monkeys. Two of these fertilized eggs developed into twins that carried genetic changes in the right place with no evidence of changes elsewhere in their DNA — and there are more genetically altered monkeys waiting to be born. We are now entering an era where we can cleanly and predictably change the DNA of primates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the near term, monkeys like these will help scientists find treatments for human diseases more quickly. Right now scientists tend to use rats and mice as model systems and what often works well in these animals does not translate to people. This shouldn’t be the case for monkeys. They are so closely related to us that any medicines that work on them have a pretty good shot of working on us too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is the long term where things get interesting. If scientists can make these sorts of genetic changes in monkeys, it is only a matter of time before we can do it in people too. In fact, it is close enough that scientists are already working on this sort of thing in a startup in Boston called \u003ca href=\"http://www.editasmedicine.com/index.php\">Editas medicine\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon scientists will be able to make one or even multiple genetic changes in a human fertilized egg and change his or her basic blueprint. And with a bit more tinkering, maybe they can make changes in many cells at once so they can treat adults too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It seems like either of these will be good things if it means a child won’t have to suffer from something like cystic fibrosis or sickle cell anemia. But it is much less obvious how good it will be to make more subtle changes that won’t affect life threatening diseases. And of course, the temptation will be there to make more cosmetic changes and/or enhancements too. (We’re looking at you DARPA and your supposed\u003ca href=\"http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/sciencenotfiction/2008/11/22/eleventh-hour-the-brains-of-the-super-soldier/\"> super soldier program\u003c/a>!)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now as usual we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves here. This technology won’t be ready soon but these experiments are the kind of breakthrough that makes what was once science fiction into something that will almost certainly be possible in the not-too-distant future. We need to start thinking about what this will mean and how best to deal with it. We don’t want to be caught flatfooted like we were with NSA spying where we did things with technology because we could — not because we should have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, there is little risk of this happening in people at least in a sanctioned lab. Rightly or wrongly, society does not appear to be ready to make changes in DNA that can be passed on to the next generation. This becomes obvious in the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2013/10/21/controversial-technique-can-prevent-fatal-illnesses-in-children/\">recent outcry\u003c/a> over a relatively simple procedure that won’t actually change a child’s DNA but instead will swap a bit of the donor’s DNA for mom’s. Even though this procedure would allow a mother to have a child that is mostly her own, it remains controversial. Actually, changing DNA like in the experiments here is more radical and therefore would be way more controversial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, attitudes do change. At some point we may be ready to take the plunge and start tinkering with human DNA in ways that can release these changes into the human gene pool. And because we don’t have a good handle on our genes just yet, we need to be very careful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tread Lightly\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14223\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/ColorfulKaryotype.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14223\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14223\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/ColorfulKaryotype.jpg\" alt=\"We obviously need to be careful when we tinker with human DNA. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"300\" height=\"238\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">We obviously need to be careful when we tinker with human DNA. \u003cem>(\u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sky_spectral_karyotype.gif\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Human Genome Research Institute/Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003cbr>\u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Assuming we one day get past the fear of introducing manmade changes into the collective human genome, there are some pretty obvious targets to go after. If someone has a genetic difference that causes a disease like sickle cell anemia, it makes sense to fix it. And if it can be done safely, to do so in a way that decreases the chances that the cured person will pass it on to the next generation. But not everything is as cut-and-dried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As described \u003ca href=\"http://www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/genewatch/GeneWatchPage.aspx?pageId=226\">here\u003c/a>, there are some genetic changes that might look like candidates for change but with a little extra digging, may not be such good candidates after all. Here is an excerpt from that article about a gene called SERT:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>“This gene comes in two different versions (or alleles)-short (S) and long (L). People with only short versions are at a much higher risk for becoming clinically depressed.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This makes depression sound a bit like sickle cell anemia-two copies of a certain version leads to disease. The parents who have depression on mom’s side of the family might decide to screen their embryos and select only those that have at least one long version of the SERT gene. Now their child would be at a much lower risk for depression.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What our parents may have missed, though, is that the increased depression risk happens only when the child is abused. A deeper look at the data shows that people with only the S version who had a happy childhood were actually less likely to be depressed. These folks were more resilient and better able to handle the stress of everyday life.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>By striving for genetic perfection, the parents have robbed their children of the chance to be amazing.” \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This article dealt with screening embryos for the “right” combination of genes but it also works for genetic engineering. And this is just one example. There are undoubtedly many others that fall into this same category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is no doubt about it; we definitely need to be careful in deciding whether to make these sorts of changes and if we do, make sure we are making the right ones. These are real people and any mistakes can have profound consequences. We can’t afford to get this wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep in mind again though that this is a future problem. Maybe not as far in the future as we thought, but no one is doing this just yet. The monkey experiments did not go off without a hitch and there is still a lot of work to do. For example, these monkeys were just born. We don’t know if they will have any problems as they grow and develop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Details\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14220\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 300px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Macaque.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14220\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14220\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Macaque.jpg\" alt=\"Scientists have genetically engineered a monkey like this one. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"300\" height=\"298\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scientists have genetically engineered a monkey like this one. \u003cem>(\u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Macaca_fuscata.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Skamnelis/Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>)\u003cbr>\u003c/em>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The scientists in this study wanted to introduce DNA changes into three separate genes in the monkey genome all at once. They first tested this out in monkey cell lines in a petri dish. They obtained a success rate of 10-25% for each individually. This was encouraging enough to try on monkey embryos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They next collected 198 macaque eggs and injected sperm into 186 of them by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). They then injected various RNAs needed by the CRISPR system to make the specific DNA changes they were interested in. Next they put 83 of these fertilized eggs into 29 surrogates resulting in nine successful pregnancies. The study is based on one set of twins.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When they looked at the DNA of these twins, they saw that two of their three targeted genes had been changed. The third change did not happen in these particular embryos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A concern with any genetic change like this is its preciseness. Ideally scientists want only the genetic changes they are introducing and no “off-target” mutations. When they looked at 84 sites that were the most likely to be off site targets of this technology, they saw no genetic changes. This is not the same as looking at all of the DNA of these monkeys but it is very powerful nonetheless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These numbers and success rates are important in showing both the limitations of the technology and this study. Not only is going from 198 eggs to 18 births a fairly high rate of failure, but the scientists also didn’t get all three changes (at least in the two monkeys they have checked). In addition, they only looked at a small part of the monkey’s DNA to determine how precisely these monkeys’ DNA was altered. Even though it will be harder to interpret, it will probably be important at some point to look at all of the altered animals’ DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, this is a huge deal. This kind of success would have been unthinkable only a couple of years ago in \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/original_news/news63\">“simple” systems like mice,\u003c/a> let alone complex ones like monkeys. And if they just wanted to make a single change, this seems pretty easy to pull off. They could even check to see if the change is there before implanting the embryo using \u003ca href=\"http://americanpregnancy.org/infertility/preimplantationgeneticdiagnosis.html\">preimplantation genetic diagnosis\u003c/a> (PGD) to confirm the presence of the DNA change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So we are definitely getting closer to the Holy Grail of easy genetic engineering. Hopefully, we will look before we leap so we don’t find ourselves in a \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gattaca\">GATTACA \u003c/a>world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Added note: As shown in this just published \u003ca href=\"http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39173/title/More-Monkeys-With-Edited-Genomes/\">study\u003c/a>, CRISPR isn’t the only way to get this done.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Seven Things to Know About the Sixth Mass Extinction",
"headTitle": "Seven Things to Know About the Sixth Mass Extinction | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14482\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/coralreef.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14482\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/coralreef.jpg\" alt=\"Coral Reef at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (Jim Maragos/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/5565696408/\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coral reefs are the first major ecosystems that could be wiped out by human impacts. (\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/5565696408/\">Jim Maragos/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You gotta love an author who manages to turn complex scientific theories and millions of years of history into an easy-to-understand thesis — even if that thesis is that humans are causing mass extinction. Elizabeth Kolbert’s book \u003ca href=\"http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780805092998\">“The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History”\u003c/a> centers around two ideas: that humans are witnessing a very high rate of species extinction and that we’re causing much of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kolbert joined \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201402191000\">KQED’s Forum\u003c/a> to discuss her book and the disappearance of everything from the snails of the Hawaiian islands to bats in upstate New York. The topic isn’t a cheery one, but as Kolbert writes in the introduction, “If extinction is a morbid topic, mass extinction is, well, massively so. It’s also a fascinating one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are highlights from the Forum interview, edited for clarity:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1. We Don’t Know Yet How Bad This Extinction Will Be\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are clearly at a time of very high extinction rates. Whether we rise to the level of the major – the five major – mass extinctions of the last half billion years certainly remains to be determined. There have also been, somewhat oxymoronically, “minor” mass extinctions in the record. Where this extinction event is going to fit into that is obviously impossible to know when you’re in the midst of it. But increasingly you hear scientists comparing us to the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs and many other groups.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14487\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/trilobites.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14487\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/trilobites.jpg\" alt=\"Trilobites went extinct in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian. (Kevin Walsh/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Trilobites went extinct in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian. (\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/86624586@N00/513424023/\">Kevin Walsh/Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>2. Based on Carbon Emissions, We May Be On Track For the Worst Mass Extinction, Ever\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The worst mass extinction in the history of the planet happened about 250 million years ago at the end of what’s known as the Permian period. And it’s believed that it was caused by this major burst of volcanic activity that emitted a lot of CO2 into the air and warmed the planet very radically and changed the chemistry of the oceans very radically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And very soberingly, scientists have recently tried to figure out at what rate was CO2 being emitted at that point. And the best estimate that they can come up with – this is a pretty recent paper – suggests that we are pouring CO2 into the air faster than was poured into the air in the events leading up to the end of the Permian extinction. So you increasingly hear ‘We cannot rule out that kind of an outcome: the Permian,’ which was the worst mass extinction in history. I find that – even I, who wrote this book, and feel like I couldn’t be surprised by much anymore – find that, just extremely sobering and terrifying.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>3. Invasive Species Have Created a “New Pangea”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Invasive species actually are implicated in, some people would say, the majority of extinctions we know about. Invasive species turn out to be really important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Effectively about 250 million years ago all of the continents of the world were smushed together in this supercontinent that has been called Pangea. And then they drifted apart due to plate tectonics and we eventually got the world as we know it, with seven continents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What we’re doing by bringing together all of the flora and fauna of the world just by transporting things around the world, in a biological sense, is erasing those boundaries between the continents and smushing them back together. So a term has been coined: the ‘New Pangea.’ We are creating the New Pangea. We’re bringing everything back together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that can have, it turns out, very devastating consequences. Often it has no consequences — you move something around the world, it can’t make it in a new place so it just disappears, or it establishes itself and it doesn’t do any damage, it just sort of coexists with what was there before. But a certain percentage of the time, and even if it’s a very small percentage – [because] you are doing it over and over again, it obviously adds up – a certain percentage of the time you bring together these evolutionary lineages that have been separated for tens of millions of years and very devastating things happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14485\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/wns28-e1392943860258.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14485\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/wns28-e1392943860258.jpg\" alt=\"Bats hibernating in a cave in New York with fungal growth on their faces. (Nancy Heaslip/NY Department of Environmental Conservation)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bats hibernating in a cave in New York with fungal growth on their faces. (Nancy Heaslip/NY Department of Environmental Conservation)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>4. White-Nose Syndrome, a European Fungus, Is Decimating North American Bats\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The fungus] has been traced back to Europe – it came over quite possibly on someone’s shoe, or in their suitcase. It almost certainly landed somewhere in upstate New York, because that is where we first started to see these huge die-offs. It’s very devastating to bats, it gets on their skin, it irritates their skin. You can \u003ca href=\"http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_information/white-nose_syndrome/\">see it\u003c/a>. It looks like the bats have been dunked in talcum powder or cocaine, some people have said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What happens is that bats in the North Eastern U.S. hibernate during the winter. So they hang by their toes, their body temperature drops, their immune system shuts down and they really, really need to conserve energy. They are very small little creatures, they need that energy to get through the winter – there’s nothing to eat. And this fungus irritates them, they wake up, they fly around, there’s nothing to eat, they drop dead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>5. Coral Reefs Could Be the First Major Ecosystems to Disappear Because of Humans\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many marine scientists believe that coral reefs will be the first major ecosystem to be done in by human impacts. So there will still be corals, but they will no longer be able to form these fantastic reefs that support a tremendous variety of species anywhere between half a million and something like nine million species spend part of their lives on coral reefs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Changing water temperatures are really dramatically affecting reefs. Reefs have this interesting symbiosis going on. They have algae inside them, that feed them, that provide carbohydrates for them and that they get a lot of their energy from. And when water temperatures get too high this relationship breaks down, they expel [the algae] and they basically starve to death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html\">Coral bleaching events\u003c/a>, which are happening more and more frequently because water temperatures are going up, those are already really reducing coral cover in a lot of parts of the world. So for example, in the Great Barrier Reef, which is the world’s largest reef, coral cover has declined by something like 50 percent just in the last few decades.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>6. The Chemistry of the Oceans Is Changing Radically\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you talk to scientists – certainly if you talk to marine scientists – one thing that really, really worries them that has not gotten the press it deserves is this issue of ocean acidification. That’s the phenomenon where, when you pour CO2 into the air as we are — there’s just no debate about that, we’re pouring about ten billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year just by burning fossil fuels — a lot of it is going to end up in the oceans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When CO2 dissolves in water it forms a weak acid. It forms carbonic acid … And it’s changing the chemistry of the oceans very radically.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>7. There’s No Saying What Will Survive This Extinction Event\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are actively interested in this question precisely because we seem to be in another mass extinction event. What comes through? What tends to come through these extinction events? And they’ve found very very few rules. It’s very hard to say that there’s a rule. The dinosaurs were the dominate group on Earth for tens of millions of years and they all – every species of non-avian dinosaur dies out. Why is that? No one really knows.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can listen to the complete interview below:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/135726672&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Elizabeth Kolbert’s book “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History” centers around two premises: that humans are witnessing a very high rate of species extinction and that humans are causing much of it.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14482\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/coralreef.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14482\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/coralreef.jpg\" alt=\"Coral Reef at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (Jim Maragos/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/5565696408/\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coral reefs are the first major ecosystems that could be wiped out by human impacts. (\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/5565696408/\">Jim Maragos/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You gotta love an author who manages to turn complex scientific theories and millions of years of history into an easy-to-understand thesis — even if that thesis is that humans are causing mass extinction. Elizabeth Kolbert’s book \u003ca href=\"http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780805092998\">“The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History”\u003c/a> centers around two ideas: that humans are witnessing a very high rate of species extinction and that we’re causing much of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kolbert joined \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201402191000\">KQED’s Forum\u003c/a> to discuss her book and the disappearance of everything from the snails of the Hawaiian islands to bats in upstate New York. The topic isn’t a cheery one, but as Kolbert writes in the introduction, “If extinction is a morbid topic, mass extinction is, well, massively so. It’s also a fascinating one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are highlights from the Forum interview, edited for clarity:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1. We Don’t Know Yet How Bad This Extinction Will Be\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are clearly at a time of very high extinction rates. Whether we rise to the level of the major – the five major – mass extinctions of the last half billion years certainly remains to be determined. There have also been, somewhat oxymoronically, “minor” mass extinctions in the record. Where this extinction event is going to fit into that is obviously impossible to know when you’re in the midst of it. But increasingly you hear scientists comparing us to the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs and many other groups.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14487\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/trilobites.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14487\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/trilobites.jpg\" alt=\"Trilobites went extinct in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian. (Kevin Walsh/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Trilobites went extinct in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian. (\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/86624586@N00/513424023/\">Kevin Walsh/Flickr\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>2. Based on Carbon Emissions, We May Be On Track For the Worst Mass Extinction, Ever\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The worst mass extinction in the history of the planet happened about 250 million years ago at the end of what’s known as the Permian period. And it’s believed that it was caused by this major burst of volcanic activity that emitted a lot of CO2 into the air and warmed the planet very radically and changed the chemistry of the oceans very radically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And very soberingly, scientists have recently tried to figure out at what rate was CO2 being emitted at that point. And the best estimate that they can come up with – this is a pretty recent paper – suggests that we are pouring CO2 into the air faster than was poured into the air in the events leading up to the end of the Permian extinction. So you increasingly hear ‘We cannot rule out that kind of an outcome: the Permian,’ which was the worst mass extinction in history. I find that – even I, who wrote this book, and feel like I couldn’t be surprised by much anymore – find that, just extremely sobering and terrifying.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>3. Invasive Species Have Created a “New Pangea”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Invasive species actually are implicated in, some people would say, the majority of extinctions we know about. Invasive species turn out to be really important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Effectively about 250 million years ago all of the continents of the world were smushed together in this supercontinent that has been called Pangea. And then they drifted apart due to plate tectonics and we eventually got the world as we know it, with seven continents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What we’re doing by bringing together all of the flora and fauna of the world just by transporting things around the world, in a biological sense, is erasing those boundaries between the continents and smushing them back together. So a term has been coined: the ‘New Pangea.’ We are creating the New Pangea. We’re bringing everything back together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that can have, it turns out, very devastating consequences. Often it has no consequences — you move something around the world, it can’t make it in a new place so it just disappears, or it establishes itself and it doesn’t do any damage, it just sort of coexists with what was there before. But a certain percentage of the time, and even if it’s a very small percentage – [because] you are doing it over and over again, it obviously adds up – a certain percentage of the time you bring together these evolutionary lineages that have been separated for tens of millions of years and very devastating things happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14485\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/wns28-e1392943860258.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14485\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/wns28-e1392943860258.jpg\" alt=\"Bats hibernating in a cave in New York with fungal growth on their faces. (Nancy Heaslip/NY Department of Environmental Conservation)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bats hibernating in a cave in New York with fungal growth on their faces. (Nancy Heaslip/NY Department of Environmental Conservation)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>4. White-Nose Syndrome, a European Fungus, Is Decimating North American Bats\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The fungus] has been traced back to Europe – it came over quite possibly on someone’s shoe, or in their suitcase. It almost certainly landed somewhere in upstate New York, because that is where we first started to see these huge die-offs. It’s very devastating to bats, it gets on their skin, it irritates their skin. You can \u003ca href=\"http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/disease_information/white-nose_syndrome/\">see it\u003c/a>. It looks like the bats have been dunked in talcum powder or cocaine, some people have said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What happens is that bats in the North Eastern U.S. hibernate during the winter. So they hang by their toes, their body temperature drops, their immune system shuts down and they really, really need to conserve energy. They are very small little creatures, they need that energy to get through the winter – there’s nothing to eat. And this fungus irritates them, they wake up, they fly around, there’s nothing to eat, they drop dead.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>5. Coral Reefs Could Be the First Major Ecosystems to Disappear Because of Humans\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many marine scientists believe that coral reefs will be the first major ecosystem to be done in by human impacts. So there will still be corals, but they will no longer be able to form these fantastic reefs that support a tremendous variety of species anywhere between half a million and something like nine million species spend part of their lives on coral reefs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Changing water temperatures are really dramatically affecting reefs. Reefs have this interesting symbiosis going on. They have algae inside them, that feed them, that provide carbohydrates for them and that they get a lot of their energy from. And when water temperatures get too high this relationship breaks down, they expel [the algae] and they basically starve to death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html\">Coral bleaching events\u003c/a>, which are happening more and more frequently because water temperatures are going up, those are already really reducing coral cover in a lot of parts of the world. So for example, in the Great Barrier Reef, which is the world’s largest reef, coral cover has declined by something like 50 percent just in the last few decades.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>6. The Chemistry of the Oceans Is Changing Radically\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you talk to scientists – certainly if you talk to marine scientists – one thing that really, really worries them that has not gotten the press it deserves is this issue of ocean acidification. That’s the phenomenon where, when you pour CO2 into the air as we are — there’s just no debate about that, we’re pouring about ten billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year just by burning fossil fuels — a lot of it is going to end up in the oceans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When CO2 dissolves in water it forms a weak acid. It forms carbonic acid … And it’s changing the chemistry of the oceans very radically.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>7. There’s No Saying What Will Survive This Extinction Event\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are actively interested in this question precisely because we seem to be in another mass extinction event. What comes through? What tends to come through these extinction events? And they’ve found very very few rules. It’s very hard to say that there’s a rule. The dinosaurs were the dominate group on Earth for tens of millions of years and they all – every species of non-avian dinosaur dies out. Why is that? No one really knows.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can listen to the complete interview below:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Love's For the Birds: Global Great Backyard Bird Count Begins Today",
"headTitle": "Love’s For the Birds: Global Great Backyard Bird Count Begins Today | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14190\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 717px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Snowy-Owl-1774_Diane-McAllister_British-Columbia_2013-1024x678.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14190\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-14190 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Snowy-Owl-1774_Diane-McAllister_British-Columbia_2013-1024x678.jpg\" alt=\"Participants will help discover if last year's huge increase in Snowy Owl numbers is continuing. Photo by Diane McAllister, courtesy of the Great Backyard Bird Count.\" width=\"717\" height=\"475\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants will help discover if last year’s huge increase in Snowy Owl numbers is continuing. Photo by Diane McAllister / Great Backyard Bird Count\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s time for the annual bird-lovers to give a Valentine to their fine-feathered friends: the \u003ca title=\"Great Backyard Bird Count website\" href=\"http://gbbc.birdcount.org/about/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)\u003c/a> runs from February 14–17, 2014! You don’t have to leave home and you don’t even have to be an expert bird-watcher to participate. This weekend-long bird count will include countries around the globe for the second year of the international count — “from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe” as the Great Backyard Bird Count website says. The GBBC has been going on in North America for 17 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of us have more birds sharing our local area than we probably realize. In the GBBC, you simply take at least 15 minutes to observe and count as many birds as you can see, then report it on the \u003ca title=\"Bird Count Report, GBBC website\" href=\"www.BirdCount.org.%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GBBC website\u003c/a>. You can count from a window, balcony, porch, or in your yard or local park. You can count once or you can count many times over the weekend and even count from different locations. On a walk through my neighborhood the other day, I was delighted with flocks of Cedar Waxwings, American Crows, robins, chickadees, and some warblers. Right now a Nuttal’s woodpecker is feeding in my camellia tree. Beginning bird watchers are welcome to try their hand at this local bird count and the website has some helpful sections on identifying bird species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14192\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 188px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Blackcapped-Chickadee-857_Carol-Poulos_MI_2013-188x162.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14192\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14192\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Blackcapped-Chickadee-857_Carol-Poulos_MI_2013-188x162.jpg\" alt=\"Adorable Blackcapped Chickadees might make your report. Photo by Carol Poulos, courtesy of the Great Backyard Bird Count.\" width=\"188\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adorable Blackcapped Chickadees might make your report. Photo by Carol Poulos / Great Backyard Bird Count.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Last year’s Great Backyard Bird Count shattered records after going global for the first time, thanks to integration with the eBird online checklist program launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab and Audubon,” touts the website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Participants reported their bird sightings from all 7 continents, including 111 countries and independent territories. More than 33.4 million birds and 4,258 species were recorded—nearly one-third of the world’s total bird species documented in just four days.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Data like this can only come from tens-of-thousands of volunteers; there aren’t enough scientists on the clock to gather it. Scientists use this information to monitor and track avian species health and locations. It may even inform us about how bird species are reacting to climate change. Last year, for example, insect-eating birds such as swallows moved into new territories making scientists ponder the link to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a milestone for citizen science in so many respects—number of species, diversity of countries involved, total participants, and number of individual birds recorded. We hope this is just the start of something far larger, engaging the whole world in creating a detailed annual snapshot of how all our planet’s birds are faring as the years go by,” said \u003ca title=\"2014 Great Backyard Bird Count website\" href=\"http://gbbc.birdcount.org/news/2014release/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cornell Lab director Dr. John Fitzpatrick\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14193\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 169px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Downy-Woodpecker-1012_Charlie-Prince_Alabama_2013-169x162.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14193\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14193\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Downy-Woodpecker-1012_Charlie-Prince_Alabama_2013-169x162.jpg\" alt=\"Are Downy Woodpeckers visiting your yard? Help track where they're found. Photo by Charlie Prince, courtesy of the Great Backyard Bird Count.\" width=\"169\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Are Downy Woodpeckers visiting your yard? Help track where they’re found. Photo by Charlie Prince / Great Backyard Bird Count.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Make this year’s GBBC a time to get to know the birds that share your neighborhood. You might develop or deepen an appreciation for the natural world just outside your door. You’re also welcome to come out with a naturalist to learn more about our feathered neighbors. Free, guided bird walks are available through the \u003ca title=\"East Bay Regional Park District Activities\" href=\"http://www.ebparks.org/activities\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">East Bay Regional Parks\u003c/a> and also through the \u003ca title=\"Golden Gate Audubon Field Trips\" href=\"http://www.goldengateaudubon.org/field-trips/fieldtrips/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Golden Gate Audubon Society\u003c/a>. The GBBC is a joint project of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.birds.cornell.edu\">Cornell Lab of Ornithology\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.audubon.org\">National Audubon Society\u003c/a> with partner \u003ca href=\"http://www.birdscanada.org\">Bird Studies Canada\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Citizen scientists are helping to track bird species right in their own backyards. Sharol Nelson-Embry of the East Bay Regional Parks District explains how to get in on the largest global bird count this weekend. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14190\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 717px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Snowy-Owl-1774_Diane-McAllister_British-Columbia_2013-1024x678.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14190\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-14190 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Snowy-Owl-1774_Diane-McAllister_British-Columbia_2013-1024x678.jpg\" alt=\"Participants will help discover if last year's huge increase in Snowy Owl numbers is continuing. Photo by Diane McAllister, courtesy of the Great Backyard Bird Count.\" width=\"717\" height=\"475\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants will help discover if last year’s huge increase in Snowy Owl numbers is continuing. Photo by Diane McAllister / Great Backyard Bird Count\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s time for the annual bird-lovers to give a Valentine to their fine-feathered friends: the \u003ca title=\"Great Backyard Bird Count website\" href=\"http://gbbc.birdcount.org/about/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)\u003c/a> runs from February 14–17, 2014! You don’t have to leave home and you don’t even have to be an expert bird-watcher to participate. This weekend-long bird count will include countries around the globe for the second year of the international count — “from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe” as the Great Backyard Bird Count website says. The GBBC has been going on in North America for 17 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of us have more birds sharing our local area than we probably realize. In the GBBC, you simply take at least 15 minutes to observe and count as many birds as you can see, then report it on the \u003ca title=\"Bird Count Report, GBBC website\" href=\"www.BirdCount.org.%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GBBC website\u003c/a>. You can count from a window, balcony, porch, or in your yard or local park. You can count once or you can count many times over the weekend and even count from different locations. On a walk through my neighborhood the other day, I was delighted with flocks of Cedar Waxwings, American Crows, robins, chickadees, and some warblers. Right now a Nuttal’s woodpecker is feeding in my camellia tree. Beginning bird watchers are welcome to try their hand at this local bird count and the website has some helpful sections on identifying bird species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14192\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 188px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Blackcapped-Chickadee-857_Carol-Poulos_MI_2013-188x162.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14192\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14192\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Blackcapped-Chickadee-857_Carol-Poulos_MI_2013-188x162.jpg\" alt=\"Adorable Blackcapped Chickadees might make your report. Photo by Carol Poulos, courtesy of the Great Backyard Bird Count.\" width=\"188\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adorable Blackcapped Chickadees might make your report. Photo by Carol Poulos / Great Backyard Bird Count.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Last year’s Great Backyard Bird Count shattered records after going global for the first time, thanks to integration with the eBird online checklist program launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab and Audubon,” touts the website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Participants reported their bird sightings from all 7 continents, including 111 countries and independent territories. More than 33.4 million birds and 4,258 species were recorded—nearly one-third of the world’s total bird species documented in just four days.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Data like this can only come from tens-of-thousands of volunteers; there aren’t enough scientists on the clock to gather it. Scientists use this information to monitor and track avian species health and locations. It may even inform us about how bird species are reacting to climate change. Last year, for example, insect-eating birds such as swallows moved into new territories making scientists ponder the link to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a milestone for citizen science in so many respects—number of species, diversity of countries involved, total participants, and number of individual birds recorded. We hope this is just the start of something far larger, engaging the whole world in creating a detailed annual snapshot of how all our planet’s birds are faring as the years go by,” said \u003ca title=\"2014 Great Backyard Bird Count website\" href=\"http://gbbc.birdcount.org/news/2014release/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cornell Lab director Dr. John Fitzpatrick\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14193\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 169px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Downy-Woodpecker-1012_Charlie-Prince_Alabama_2013-169x162.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14193\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14193\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Downy-Woodpecker-1012_Charlie-Prince_Alabama_2013-169x162.jpg\" alt=\"Are Downy Woodpeckers visiting your yard? Help track where they're found. Photo by Charlie Prince, courtesy of the Great Backyard Bird Count.\" width=\"169\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Are Downy Woodpeckers visiting your yard? Help track where they’re found. Photo by Charlie Prince / Great Backyard Bird Count.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Make this year’s GBBC a time to get to know the birds that share your neighborhood. You might develop or deepen an appreciation for the natural world just outside your door. You’re also welcome to come out with a naturalist to learn more about our feathered neighbors. Free, guided bird walks are available through the \u003ca title=\"East Bay Regional Park District Activities\" href=\"http://www.ebparks.org/activities\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">East Bay Regional Parks\u003c/a> and also through the \u003ca title=\"Golden Gate Audubon Field Trips\" href=\"http://www.goldengateaudubon.org/field-trips/fieldtrips/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Golden Gate Audubon Society\u003c/a>. The GBBC is a joint project of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.birds.cornell.edu\">Cornell Lab of Ornithology\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.audubon.org\">National Audubon Society\u003c/a> with partner \u003ca href=\"http://www.birdscanada.org\">Bird Studies Canada\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Love is in the Air...And it Smells like Striped Skunks",
"headTitle": "Love is in the Air…And it Smells like Striped Skunks | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14145\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 960px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/skunk.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/skunk.jpg\" alt=\"Striped skunks are found across North America. February is a particularly smelly month because skunks spray to communicate during breeding season. Photo / CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point\" width=\"960\" height=\"767\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14145\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Striped skunks are found across North America. February is a particularly smelly month because skunks spray to communicate during breeding season. Photo / CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most people associate February with the scent of roses, but there is another scent that seems to be everywhere this time of year, too. Striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) around the Bay Area are on edge due to breeding season, using their foul-smelling spray to communicate to each other and protect themselves as they wander looking for mates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although striped skunks are known for their striking black and white coloration, they are equally famous for their defensive spray. Skunks have two anal scent glands that allow them to spray a sulfur-rich fluid that smells similarly to garlic mixed with rotten eggs. This fluid can reach over 20 feet away in favorable wind, but is most accurate within 6 feet. Females may spray a male if they do not want to mate, males may spray each other when defending territory and all skunks will spray when they feel threatened. Skunk spray can cause irritation, temporary blindness and can reach up to one mile away. Often people smell skunk spray when the anal glands collapse under pressure from car impact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14146\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/skunk-baby.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14146\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14146\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/skunk-baby.jpg\" alt=\"About two months after breeding in February, baby skunks (aka kits) can be seen following their mothers around the Bay Area. Photo courtesy of CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">About two months after breeding in February, baby skunks (aka kits) can be seen following their mothers around the Bay Area. Photo / CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Skunks often give several warnings to a predator before spraying; spraying is really a last resort. If they use all of the fluid in their scent glands, it takes roughly 10 days for their bodies to replenish it. Skunks begin by raising their tails to appear larger in the hopes of discouraging a predator from coming closer. Striped skunks will then stamp their front feet to intimidate them. During this time of the year, skunks are so focused on breeding that they may startle more easily and spray sooner. They are nocturnal to crepuscular, relying on their sense of smell to survive more than eyesight. Because skunks have terrible eyesight, the best way to avoid being sprayed is to let them know you are trekking in their territory by making sounds so they know you are near. This will give them ample time to get away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14144\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/skunk2.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14144\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14144\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/skunk2.jpg\" alt=\"Meet a skunk up close at CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point in San Mateo. "Oliver" is a rehabilitated, non-releaseable skunk that is used for educational programs. You won't need to pinch your nose around him; Oliver had his scent glands removed. Photo courtesy of CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point\" width=\"800\" height=\"640\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Oliver” is a rehabilitated, non-releaseable skunk that is used for educational programs at CuriOdyssey. You won’t need to pinch your nose around him; Oliver had his scent glands removed. Photo / CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gestation for striped skunks is about 66 days. Females give birth to a litter of 4-7 kits and generally live 2-3 years in the wild. Once the kits become adults, they will eat vegetation, meat and bugs. Their main predator is the great horned owl, which does not have a sense of smell. If you want to see a skunk up close without the fear of being sprayed, visit the education skunk, “Oliver,” at \u003ca href=\"http://www.curiodyssey.org\">CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point\u003c/a>!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Most people associate February with the scent of roses, but there is another scent that seems to be everywhere this time of year, too. Striped skunks around the Bay Area are on edge due to breeding season, using their foul-smelling spray to communicate to each other and protect themselves as they wander looking for mates.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14145\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 960px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/skunk.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/skunk.jpg\" alt=\"Striped skunks are found across North America. February is a particularly smelly month because skunks spray to communicate during breeding season. Photo / CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point\" width=\"960\" height=\"767\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14145\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Striped skunks are found across North America. February is a particularly smelly month because skunks spray to communicate during breeding season. Photo / CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most people associate February with the scent of roses, but there is another scent that seems to be everywhere this time of year, too. Striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) around the Bay Area are on edge due to breeding season, using their foul-smelling spray to communicate to each other and protect themselves as they wander looking for mates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although striped skunks are known for their striking black and white coloration, they are equally famous for their defensive spray. Skunks have two anal scent glands that allow them to spray a sulfur-rich fluid that smells similarly to garlic mixed with rotten eggs. This fluid can reach over 20 feet away in favorable wind, but is most accurate within 6 feet. Females may spray a male if they do not want to mate, males may spray each other when defending territory and all skunks will spray when they feel threatened. Skunk spray can cause irritation, temporary blindness and can reach up to one mile away. Often people smell skunk spray when the anal glands collapse under pressure from car impact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14146\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/skunk-baby.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14146\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14146\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/skunk-baby.jpg\" alt=\"About two months after breeding in February, baby skunks (aka kits) can be seen following their mothers around the Bay Area. Photo courtesy of CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">About two months after breeding in February, baby skunks (aka kits) can be seen following their mothers around the Bay Area. Photo / CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Skunks often give several warnings to a predator before spraying; spraying is really a last resort. If they use all of the fluid in their scent glands, it takes roughly 10 days for their bodies to replenish it. Skunks begin by raising their tails to appear larger in the hopes of discouraging a predator from coming closer. Striped skunks will then stamp their front feet to intimidate them. During this time of the year, skunks are so focused on breeding that they may startle more easily and spray sooner. They are nocturnal to crepuscular, relying on their sense of smell to survive more than eyesight. Because skunks have terrible eyesight, the best way to avoid being sprayed is to let them know you are trekking in their territory by making sounds so they know you are near. This will give them ample time to get away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14144\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/skunk2.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14144\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14144\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/skunk2.jpg\" alt=\"Meet a skunk up close at CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point in San Mateo. "Oliver" is a rehabilitated, non-releaseable skunk that is used for educational programs. You won't need to pinch your nose around him; Oliver had his scent glands removed. Photo courtesy of CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point\" width=\"800\" height=\"640\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Oliver” is a rehabilitated, non-releaseable skunk that is used for educational programs at CuriOdyssey. You won’t need to pinch your nose around him; Oliver had his scent glands removed. Photo / CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gestation for striped skunks is about 66 days. Females give birth to a litter of 4-7 kits and generally live 2-3 years in the wild. Once the kits become adults, they will eat vegetation, meat and bugs. Their main predator is the great horned owl, which does not have a sense of smell. If you want to see a skunk up close without the fear of being sprayed, visit the education skunk, “Oliver,” at \u003ca href=\"http://www.curiodyssey.org\">CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point\u003c/a>!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Drought Leads to Tough Tradeoffs for California Salmon",
"headTitle": "Drought Leads to Tough Tradeoffs for California Salmon | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14173\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/chinooksalmon.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14173\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/chinooksalmon.jpg\" alt=\"Juvenile chinook salmon. (Roger Tabor/USFWS)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With the drought and recent state actions, young Chinook salmon are facing a tough year. (\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/6093338474/in/photostream/\">Roger Tabor/USFWS\u003c/a>) \u003ccite>((Roger Tabor/USFWS))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While farms and cities struggle with low water supplies, California wildlife managers are struggling to protect the fish facing the same problem. State officials are trying to avoid some of the worst impacts on endangered salmon, but helping some fish could actually harm others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think everyone who works on salmon is concerned right now, looking at the drought unfolding,” said Mara Rea of the National Marine Fisheries Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Endangered winter-run \u003ca href=\"https://www.dfg.ca.gov/fish/Resources/Chinook/\">Chinook salmon\u003c/a>, a species that has struggled over the last decade, will likely be harmed by low water in the Sacramento River, even though water officials are trying to keep rivers flowing through these extremely dry conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14152\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Redd_Dewatering.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14152\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Redd_Dewatering.jpg\" alt=\"A pool in the Sacramento River where young salmon were stranded last year (Photo: Fish and Wildlife Service)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pool in the Sacramento River where young salmon were stranded last year (Fish and Wildlife Service)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The adult salmon migrate from the ocean between November and May and swim up the Sacramento River, where they lay their eggs during the summer. The eggs need plenty of cold water to stay alive, so reservoirs are required to provide consistent water releases until the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With reservoir levels critically low, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/02/11/record-drought-could-hurt-water-quality/\">the state ordered\u003c/a> that some water that would normally flow downstream in February be reserved in reservoirs, so it can be released later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s probably a good idea to hold back some water so that we can try to maintain conditions for this year’s cohort of migrating adult salmon that will spawn later this summer and fall,” says Jon Rosenfield, a biologist with the Bay Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the decision could harm the very species it’s meant to protect. Young winter-run Chinook are migrating out of the Sacramento River this time of year, including some bred in fish hatcheries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Young Endangered Salmon at Risk\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As they leave the Sacramento River, the young fish head into a maze of islands and channels in the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/series/ca-delta/\">Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta\u003c/a>, on their way to San Francisco Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14154\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 330px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/RS8480_5053949935_524a684d5f_o-sfi.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14154\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/RS8480_5053949935_524a684d5f_o-sfi.jpg\" alt=\"The cross-channel gates are normally closed this time of year to protect endangered salmon. (Dan Brekke/KQED)\" width=\"330\" height=\"247\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cross-channel gates are normally closed this time of year to protect endangered salmon. (Dan Brekke/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The juveniles face a gauntlet of predators, so water officials aim to minimize the amount of time they spend in the Delta by blocking off a water channel that leads over into the Central Delta, farther away from San Francisco Bay. That channel is usually closed off with large “cross-channel gates.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this month, officials ordered those gates to stay open. With river levels so low, water in the Delta is becoming saltier (\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/02/11/record-drought-could-hurt-water-quality/\">see our post yesterday for more\u003c/a>). Keeping the gates open allows more freshwater to flow into the Delta. That puts the young winter-run salmon at risk, potentially setting back the species’ recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is about making really hard decisions on a real-time basis where we may have to accept some impact now to avoid much greater impact later,” said Chuck Bonham of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildlife officials are monitoring the fish populations daily, hoping to limit the impact. On Monday, the gates were closed temporarily, as the weekend’s rains carried young salmon closer to the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maria Rea says the conditions this year are particularly disappointing, because after years of decline, “we had a fairly healthy cohort of juveniles from last year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chinook salmon live about three years in the ocean before returning to where they were born to spawn. That means each year, a different group of adults or “cohort” comes back (just as a different senior class graduates from high school each year).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any one cohort that suffers a loss can increase the chance of extinction,” Rea said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Salmon Fishery Impact\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”4d19d774a22337f7a2597abe724bbec5″]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Low river flows this month could also do damage to fall-run Chinook, the salmon species the California fishing industry depends on. Salmon runs are named for the season when the adults begin their migration back to freshwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fall-run salmon recently laid their eggs in the riverbed, and as the water level drops, the egg clusters are exposed to the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/2014/01/07/6050449/drought-prompts-deep-cuts-in-american.html\">estimated 10 to 15 percent\u003c/a> of the egg clusters could be lost. Young salmon could also be stranded in shallow pools that get separated from the main river, \u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDAQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fws.gov%2Fredbluff%2FgetReport.aspx%3Fid%3D473&ei=eOz7UvyqMcaGogSQ7IHYBg&usg=AFQjCNFa8cNbtQ_ZlL8Az7lkChH7wlnMrg&sig2=-rGQ1pDzSzSRUTyPYwMi_Q&bvm=bv.60983673,d.cGU\">as has happened in past years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If dry conditions persist into the spring, all of our runs of Chinook salmon will be impacted,” says Rosenfield. “I would not want to be a commercial fisherman, sport fishing guide, or tackle shop owner two-and-a-half years from now when this year’s migrants return from the ocean.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fish released from hatcheries help boost the population of fall-run salmon. Fishing groups are asking that the young hatchery fish be trucked down below the Delta and released there, to increase the likelihood they’ll survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Doing this could save dwindling numbers of protected fish while also providing plenty of hatchery-bred salmon for the tens of thousands of workers and their families that depend on salmon to make a living,” said John McManus of the \u003ca href=\"http://goldengatesalmonassociation.com/\">Golden Gate Salmon Association\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14173\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/chinooksalmon.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14173\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/chinooksalmon.jpg\" alt=\"Juvenile chinook salmon. (Roger Tabor/USFWS)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With the drought and recent state actions, young Chinook salmon are facing a tough year. (\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/6093338474/in/photostream/\">Roger Tabor/USFWS\u003c/a>) \u003ccite>((Roger Tabor/USFWS))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While farms and cities struggle with low water supplies, California wildlife managers are struggling to protect the fish facing the same problem. State officials are trying to avoid some of the worst impacts on endangered salmon, but helping some fish could actually harm others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think everyone who works on salmon is concerned right now, looking at the drought unfolding,” said Mara Rea of the National Marine Fisheries Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Endangered winter-run \u003ca href=\"https://www.dfg.ca.gov/fish/Resources/Chinook/\">Chinook salmon\u003c/a>, a species that has struggled over the last decade, will likely be harmed by low water in the Sacramento River, even though water officials are trying to keep rivers flowing through these extremely dry conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14152\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Redd_Dewatering.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14152\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/Redd_Dewatering.jpg\" alt=\"A pool in the Sacramento River where young salmon were stranded last year (Photo: Fish and Wildlife Service)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pool in the Sacramento River where young salmon were stranded last year (Fish and Wildlife Service)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The adult salmon migrate from the ocean between November and May and swim up the Sacramento River, where they lay their eggs during the summer. The eggs need plenty of cold water to stay alive, so reservoirs are required to provide consistent water releases until the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With reservoir levels critically low, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/02/11/record-drought-could-hurt-water-quality/\">the state ordered\u003c/a> that some water that would normally flow downstream in February be reserved in reservoirs, so it can be released later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s probably a good idea to hold back some water so that we can try to maintain conditions for this year’s cohort of migrating adult salmon that will spawn later this summer and fall,” says Jon Rosenfield, a biologist with the Bay Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the decision could harm the very species it’s meant to protect. Young winter-run Chinook are migrating out of the Sacramento River this time of year, including some bred in fish hatcheries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Young Endangered Salmon at Risk\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As they leave the Sacramento River, the young fish head into a maze of islands and channels in the \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/series/ca-delta/\">Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta\u003c/a>, on their way to San Francisco Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14154\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 330px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/RS8480_5053949935_524a684d5f_o-sfi.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14154\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/RS8480_5053949935_524a684d5f_o-sfi.jpg\" alt=\"The cross-channel gates are normally closed this time of year to protect endangered salmon. (Dan Brekke/KQED)\" width=\"330\" height=\"247\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cross-channel gates are normally closed this time of year to protect endangered salmon. (Dan Brekke/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The juveniles face a gauntlet of predators, so water officials aim to minimize the amount of time they spend in the Delta by blocking off a water channel that leads over into the Central Delta, farther away from San Francisco Bay. That channel is usually closed off with large “cross-channel gates.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this month, officials ordered those gates to stay open. With river levels so low, water in the Delta is becoming saltier (\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/02/11/record-drought-could-hurt-water-quality/\">see our post yesterday for more\u003c/a>). Keeping the gates open allows more freshwater to flow into the Delta. That puts the young winter-run salmon at risk, potentially setting back the species’ recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is about making really hard decisions on a real-time basis where we may have to accept some impact now to avoid much greater impact later,” said Chuck Bonham of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildlife officials are monitoring the fish populations daily, hoping to limit the impact. On Monday, the gates were closed temporarily, as the weekend’s rains carried young salmon closer to the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maria Rea says the conditions this year are particularly disappointing, because after years of decline, “we had a fairly healthy cohort of juveniles from last year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chinook salmon live about three years in the ocean before returning to where they were born to spawn. That means each year, a different group of adults or “cohort” comes back (just as a different senior class graduates from high school each year).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any one cohort that suffers a loss can increase the chance of extinction,” Rea said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Salmon Fishery Impact\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Low river flows this month could also do damage to fall-run Chinook, the salmon species the California fishing industry depends on. Salmon runs are named for the season when the adults begin their migration back to freshwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fall-run salmon recently laid their eggs in the riverbed, and as the water level drops, the egg clusters are exposed to the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"http://www.sacbee.com/2014/01/07/6050449/drought-prompts-deep-cuts-in-american.html\">estimated 10 to 15 percent\u003c/a> of the egg clusters could be lost. Young salmon could also be stranded in shallow pools that get separated from the main river, \u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDAQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fws.gov%2Fredbluff%2FgetReport.aspx%3Fid%3D473&ei=eOz7UvyqMcaGogSQ7IHYBg&usg=AFQjCNFa8cNbtQ_ZlL8Az7lkChH7wlnMrg&sig2=-rGQ1pDzSzSRUTyPYwMi_Q&bvm=bv.60983673,d.cGU\">as has happened in past years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If dry conditions persist into the spring, all of our runs of Chinook salmon will be impacted,” says Rosenfield. “I would not want to be a commercial fisherman, sport fishing guide, or tackle shop owner two-and-a-half years from now when this year’s migrants return from the ocean.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fish released from hatcheries help boost the population of fall-run salmon. Fishing groups are asking that the young hatchery fish be trucked down below the Delta and released there, to increase the likelihood they’ll survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Doing this could save dwindling numbers of protected fish while also providing plenty of hatchery-bred salmon for the tens of thousands of workers and their families that depend on salmon to make a living,” said John McManus of the \u003ca href=\"http://goldengatesalmonassociation.com/\">Golden Gate Salmon Association\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"headTitle": "Record Drought Could Hurt Water Quality | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14071\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/RS7677_IMG_5083-sfi.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14071\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/RS7677_IMG_5083-sfi.jpg\" alt=\"Low water levels at Shasta Lake this year (Molly Samuel/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Low water levels in the reservoir behind Shasta Dam in November. (Molly Samuel/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This weekend’s heavy rainfall was a welcome sight, but it wasn’t enough to end California’s record drought. State officials are still facing tough choices about how to make the low water supply last through the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with little water in streams and rivers, declining water quality could be an even bigger challenge, potentially raising problems for drinking water and causing harmful algal blooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials made their \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/01/31/state-water-project-deliveries-canceled-because-of-drought\">first major water quality decision\u003c/a> at the end of January, ordering that reservoir operators in Northern California limit water releases from dams. About 144,000 acre-feet of water will be held back this month, water that’s normally required to flow into rivers and the \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/what-is-california%E2%80%99s-delta/\">Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The freshwater will be used later in the year to keep seawater away from drinking water intakes. The Delta is where freshwater from rivers mixes with saltwater from San Francisco Bay. When there isn’t enough freshwater pushing against the Bay’s tides, saltwater creeps into the Delta, where canals and aqueducts draw water that supplies 25 million Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Failing to take this action could result in our reservoirs running out of water later in the year, which means no available water to prevent saltwater intrusion in the Delta,” said Mark Cowin of the Department of Water Resources. “That would result in ruined water supplies both in the Delta and south of the Delta and major environmental impacts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Challenges for Water Districts\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even beyond saltwater intruding, water quality in the Delta is likely to suffer due to salty agricultural runoff, which is concentrated as the slow-moving water evaporates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The San Joaquin River at this point is primarily agricultural drainage and wastewater treatment effluent,” explained William Fleenor of UC Davis’s Center for Watershed Sciences. “Those concentrations will be in the Delta and we won’t be flushing them out as fast.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water districts that rely on the Delta for drinking water say it’s a cause for concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re watching salinity levels very closely,” said Jennifer Allen, spokesperson for the Contra Costa Water District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14067\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/salinity.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14067\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/salinity.jpg\" alt=\"Seawater (in red) pushes into the Delta when the inflow from rivers is low. (Resource Management Associates, cited in Delta Plan)\" width=\"640\" height=\"340\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Seawater (in red) from San Francisco Bay pushes into the Delta when freshwater from rivers is low (blue). (Resource Management Associates, cited in Delta Plan)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.ccwater.com/\">Contra Costa Water Distric\u003c/a>t gets 100 percent of its supply from the Delta and serves 500,000 people in Antioch, Concord, Martinez and Pittsburg. The district withdraws that water through the Contra Costa Canal, which taps into the Delta not far from the saltwater-freshwater mixing zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the 1976-77 drought, salt levels in \u003ca href=\"http://www.ccwater.com/losvaqueros/wqDamHistory.asp\">their water exceeded public health limits\u003c/a>, prompting water rationing orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has since built the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ccwater.com/losvaqueros/\">Los Vaqueros Reservoir\u003c/a>, which stores higher quality water from the wet months that can be blended with lower quality water coming from the Delta in dry months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s something the district normally does, but “what’s different this year is that we’ve notice the salt levels rising earlier than normal,” said Allen. Los Vaqueros Reservoir is in relatively good shape this year, holding 79 percent of its storage capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The poor water quality could also reach massive pumps in the South Delta that feed water to the Bay Area, Central Valley and Southern California. That includes Santa Clara County and East Bay cities like Fremont and Livermore. But officials have announced that very little water will be delivered through that system, simply because of the dry conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water treatment plants are built to handle salt, as well as other contaminants like bromide and organic carbon, but poor water quality raises their operating costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’ll cost them more to treat,” said Fleenor. “It’s quite expensive to remove chloride”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water quality problems are only expected to get worse with sea level rise, which would push saltwater farther into the Delta. A UC Davis study found that \u003ca href=\"http://retrocee.engr.ucdavis.edu/faculty/lund/papers/Chen2010.pdf\">water treatment costs could more than double\u003c/a> with a one-foot rise in sea level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Effects on Agriculture\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”6dfc1a71e88f65ca185ee886de193e28″]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers and residents living in the Delta itself also have an eye on their water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re concerned about the water quality,” said Mike Robinson of Robinson Farms Feed Company, which grows alfalfa and hay on Roberts Island in the Delta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It becomes a question later on in the year whether you want to irrigate or not, because high salt content will hurt, damage or kill some crops.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robinson says they’re already seeing saltier water than they normally do. “We’d just stop irrigating at some point if we have to,” he says. “I hope the storms put a lot of snow in the mountains cause that’s our only chance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials say keeping water in upstream reservoirs now will allow them to flush it into the Delta later in the year, meeting water quality standards. Those standards are lowered in years that are critically dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Certainly the standards will be met,” said Tom Howard, director of the State Water Resources Control Board. “That’s the intent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Harmful Algae Blooms\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some water quality problems may not be avoidable. Lower water levels usually mean the water is warmer, which encourages harmful blue-green algae called \u003ca href=\"http://www.water.ca.gov/ssr/microcystis.cfm\">Microcystis\u003c/a>. The algae blooms, first noticed in the Delta around 2000, produce a liver toxin that affects people, fish and wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14063\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 294px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/microcystis.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14063\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/microcystis.jpg\" alt=\"A toxic blue-green algae bloom (Peggy Lehman, Department of Water Resources)\" width=\"294\" height=\"260\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A toxic blue-green algae bloom (Peggy Lehman, Department of Water Resources)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We expect to see very large blooms if the low flows continue to occur,” said Peggy Lehman, a scientist with the California Department of Water Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It grows in warm conditions and we already have high nutrients in the water that facilitate it,” Lehman said. “It sits on the surface and it looks a bit like green cornflakes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The blooms normally begin in June or July, but could be seen earlier this year. Harmful effects have been in seen in Delta fish that play a key role in the ecosystem, like threadfin shad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are health affects to people that use Delta water, so we’re watching that very closely,” said Lehman. “If people see it in the water column, they don’t want to swim there and want to make sure they aren’t drinking it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is the first of two posts on water quality problems caused by the drought. Tomorrow, we look at the impacts on endangered fish and wildlife.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14071\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/RS7677_IMG_5083-sfi.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14071\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/RS7677_IMG_5083-sfi.jpg\" alt=\"Low water levels at Shasta Lake this year (Molly Samuel/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Low water levels in the reservoir behind Shasta Dam in November. (Molly Samuel/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This weekend’s heavy rainfall was a welcome sight, but it wasn’t enough to end California’s record drought. State officials are still facing tough choices about how to make the low water supply last through the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with little water in streams and rivers, declining water quality could be an even bigger challenge, potentially raising problems for drinking water and causing harmful algal blooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials made their \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/01/31/state-water-project-deliveries-canceled-because-of-drought\">first major water quality decision\u003c/a> at the end of January, ordering that reservoir operators in Northern California limit water releases from dams. About 144,000 acre-feet of water will be held back this month, water that’s normally required to flow into rivers and the \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/what-is-california%E2%80%99s-delta/\">Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The freshwater will be used later in the year to keep seawater away from drinking water intakes. The Delta is where freshwater from rivers mixes with saltwater from San Francisco Bay. When there isn’t enough freshwater pushing against the Bay’s tides, saltwater creeps into the Delta, where canals and aqueducts draw water that supplies 25 million Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Failing to take this action could result in our reservoirs running out of water later in the year, which means no available water to prevent saltwater intrusion in the Delta,” said Mark Cowin of the Department of Water Resources. “That would result in ruined water supplies both in the Delta and south of the Delta and major environmental impacts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Challenges for Water Districts\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even beyond saltwater intruding, water quality in the Delta is likely to suffer due to salty agricultural runoff, which is concentrated as the slow-moving water evaporates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The San Joaquin River at this point is primarily agricultural drainage and wastewater treatment effluent,” explained William Fleenor of UC Davis’s Center for Watershed Sciences. “Those concentrations will be in the Delta and we won’t be flushing them out as fast.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water districts that rely on the Delta for drinking water say it’s a cause for concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re watching salinity levels very closely,” said Jennifer Allen, spokesperson for the Contra Costa Water District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14067\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/salinity.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14067\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/salinity.jpg\" alt=\"Seawater (in red) pushes into the Delta when the inflow from rivers is low. (Resource Management Associates, cited in Delta Plan)\" width=\"640\" height=\"340\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Seawater (in red) from San Francisco Bay pushes into the Delta when freshwater from rivers is low (blue). (Resource Management Associates, cited in Delta Plan)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.ccwater.com/\">Contra Costa Water Distric\u003c/a>t gets 100 percent of its supply from the Delta and serves 500,000 people in Antioch, Concord, Martinez and Pittsburg. The district withdraws that water through the Contra Costa Canal, which taps into the Delta not far from the saltwater-freshwater mixing zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the 1976-77 drought, salt levels in \u003ca href=\"http://www.ccwater.com/losvaqueros/wqDamHistory.asp\">their water exceeded public health limits\u003c/a>, prompting water rationing orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district has since built the \u003ca href=\"http://www.ccwater.com/losvaqueros/\">Los Vaqueros Reservoir\u003c/a>, which stores higher quality water from the wet months that can be blended with lower quality water coming from the Delta in dry months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s something the district normally does, but “what’s different this year is that we’ve notice the salt levels rising earlier than normal,” said Allen. Los Vaqueros Reservoir is in relatively good shape this year, holding 79 percent of its storage capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The poor water quality could also reach massive pumps in the South Delta that feed water to the Bay Area, Central Valley and Southern California. That includes Santa Clara County and East Bay cities like Fremont and Livermore. But officials have announced that very little water will be delivered through that system, simply because of the dry conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water treatment plants are built to handle salt, as well as other contaminants like bromide and organic carbon, but poor water quality raises their operating costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’ll cost them more to treat,” said Fleenor. “It’s quite expensive to remove chloride”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water quality problems are only expected to get worse with sea level rise, which would push saltwater farther into the Delta. A UC Davis study found that \u003ca href=\"http://retrocee.engr.ucdavis.edu/faculty/lund/papers/Chen2010.pdf\">water treatment costs could more than double\u003c/a> with a one-foot rise in sea level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Effects on Agriculture\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farmers and residents living in the Delta itself also have an eye on their water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re concerned about the water quality,” said Mike Robinson of Robinson Farms Feed Company, which grows alfalfa and hay on Roberts Island in the Delta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It becomes a question later on in the year whether you want to irrigate or not, because high salt content will hurt, damage or kill some crops.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robinson says they’re already seeing saltier water than they normally do. “We’d just stop irrigating at some point if we have to,” he says. “I hope the storms put a lot of snow in the mountains cause that’s our only chance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials say keeping water in upstream reservoirs now will allow them to flush it into the Delta later in the year, meeting water quality standards. Those standards are lowered in years that are critically dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Certainly the standards will be met,” said Tom Howard, director of the State Water Resources Control Board. “That’s the intent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Harmful Algae Blooms\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some water quality problems may not be avoidable. Lower water levels usually mean the water is warmer, which encourages harmful blue-green algae called \u003ca href=\"http://www.water.ca.gov/ssr/microcystis.cfm\">Microcystis\u003c/a>. The algae blooms, first noticed in the Delta around 2000, produce a liver toxin that affects people, fish and wildlife.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14063\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 294px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/microcystis.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14063\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/microcystis.jpg\" alt=\"A toxic blue-green algae bloom (Peggy Lehman, Department of Water Resources)\" width=\"294\" height=\"260\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A toxic blue-green algae bloom (Peggy Lehman, Department of Water Resources)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We expect to see very large blooms if the low flows continue to occur,” said Peggy Lehman, a scientist with the California Department of Water Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It grows in warm conditions and we already have high nutrients in the water that facilitate it,” Lehman said. “It sits on the surface and it looks a bit like green cornflakes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The blooms normally begin in June or July, but could be seen earlier this year. Harmful effects have been in seen in Delta fish that play a key role in the ecosystem, like threadfin shad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are health affects to people that use Delta water, so we’re watching that very closely,” said Lehman. “If people see it in the water column, they don’t want to swim there and want to make sure they aren’t drinking it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is the first of two posts on water quality problems caused by the drought. Tomorrow, we look at the impacts on endangered fish and wildlife.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Don't Eat the Dirt on Mars: the Pros and Cons of Perchlorate",
"headTitle": "Don’t Eat the Dirt on Mars: the Pros and Cons of Perchlorate | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14108\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/S044-e1392090054341.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14108\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/S044-e1392090054341.jpg\" alt=\"Future astronauts explore the Red Planet. Credit/ NASA\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Future astronauts explore the Red Planet. Credit/NASA\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To be successful Mars colonists, future astronauts will need to know both the potential hazard and utility of the soil. Astronauts can use Martian soil to “live off the land” as building material, fuel, or a fertilizer, greatly reducing the cost of a Mars mission, which is one of the biggest barriers to sending humans to the red planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One unusual compound that has garnered quite a bit of attention is called perchlorate; it has the potential to be both a blessing and a curse for future explorers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you think that you have heard of perchlorate before, it’s probably because perchlorate is a \u003ca title=\"Perchlorate in the Pacific Southwest\" href=\"http://www.epa.gov/region9/toxic/perchlorate/per_ca.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fairly common groundwater contaminant\u003c/a> here on Earth, especially in regions of California and other parts of the southwest United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A particular type of perchlorate called ammonium perchlorate is used as rocket propellant. If enough ammonium perchlorate finds its way into drinking water from rocket testing, launches or fireworks, it can be detrimental to human health. Excess perchlorate consumption harms the thyroid by preventing the synthesis of hormones that regulate metabolism.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Perchlorate has the potential to be both a blessing and a curse for future explorers.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>In 2008, scientists on the Phoenix lander team discovered perchlorate on the Martian surface. Last year, \u003ca title=\"Perchlorate Complicates Hunt for Life on Mars\" href=\"http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/5709/perchlorate-complicates-hunt-for-life-on-mars\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">perchlorate was confirmed \u003c/a>near the landing site of the Curiosity rover. Confirmation of perchlorate over 5,700 kilometers apart indicates that the compound might be found almost everywhere on the surface of Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While manufactured perchlorate for rocket propellant or fireworks is relatively commonplace, naturally occurring perchlorate is extremely rare on our planet. It is only known to exist in a few very dry places such as Death Valley, California and in fairly high concentration in the Atacama Desert in Chile, \u003ca title=\"Photos of the Atacama\" href=\"http://www.livescience.com/31911-atacama-desert-chile-photos.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the driest place on Earth\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14030\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 120px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/S128-120x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14030\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/S128-120x162.jpg\" alt=\"A future Mars colonist examines a rock on the martian surface\" width=\"120\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A future Mars colonist examines a rock on the martian surface. Credit/NASA\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mars is much drier than even the driest place on Earth, so it is not surprising that perchlorate is present there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists hypothesize that perchlorate forms naturally when volcanic activity releases a chlorine compound that undergoes chemical changes in the atmosphere and then falls back to the surface. It only stays put in the soil if it doesn’t get washed away. Scientists think that this process might be the same on both Earth and Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, future Mars colonists listen up: you can’t eat the dirt on Mars, but you might be able to turn it into rocket fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While perchlorate is not safe for human consumption in large quantities because of its detrimental effects on metabolism (and is even used as a pharmaceutical in rare cases), paradoxically, there are \u003ca title=\"Microbes' Rocket Fuel Metabolism Sheds Light On Ancient Life\" href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/05/microbe-rocket-fuel-metabolism-perchlorate_n_3016916.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">microorganisms on Earth that actually eat perchlorate\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perchlorate-metabolizing microorganisms on Earth are diverse and many have the ability to use a couple different chemical energy sources other than perchlorate. This gives scientists some hope that we could discover microbial life that could use or have used that ability to survive on the red planet\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "To be successful Mars colonists, future astronauts will need to know both the potential hazard and utility of the soil. One unusual compound that has garnered quite a bit of attention is called perchlorate; it has the potential to be both a blessing and a curse for future explorers.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14108\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/S044-e1392090054341.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14108\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/S044-e1392090054341.jpg\" alt=\"Future astronauts explore the Red Planet. Credit/ NASA\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Future astronauts explore the Red Planet. Credit/NASA\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To be successful Mars colonists, future astronauts will need to know both the potential hazard and utility of the soil. Astronauts can use Martian soil to “live off the land” as building material, fuel, or a fertilizer, greatly reducing the cost of a Mars mission, which is one of the biggest barriers to sending humans to the red planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One unusual compound that has garnered quite a bit of attention is called perchlorate; it has the potential to be both a blessing and a curse for future explorers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you think that you have heard of perchlorate before, it’s probably because perchlorate is a \u003ca title=\"Perchlorate in the Pacific Southwest\" href=\"http://www.epa.gov/region9/toxic/perchlorate/per_ca.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fairly common groundwater contaminant\u003c/a> here on Earth, especially in regions of California and other parts of the southwest United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A particular type of perchlorate called ammonium perchlorate is used as rocket propellant. If enough ammonium perchlorate finds its way into drinking water from rocket testing, launches or fireworks, it can be detrimental to human health. Excess perchlorate consumption harms the thyroid by preventing the synthesis of hormones that regulate metabolism.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Perchlorate has the potential to be both a blessing and a curse for future explorers.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>In 2008, scientists on the Phoenix lander team discovered perchlorate on the Martian surface. Last year, \u003ca title=\"Perchlorate Complicates Hunt for Life on Mars\" href=\"http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/5709/perchlorate-complicates-hunt-for-life-on-mars\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">perchlorate was confirmed \u003c/a>near the landing site of the Curiosity rover. Confirmation of perchlorate over 5,700 kilometers apart indicates that the compound might be found almost everywhere on the surface of Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While manufactured perchlorate for rocket propellant or fireworks is relatively commonplace, naturally occurring perchlorate is extremely rare on our planet. It is only known to exist in a few very dry places such as Death Valley, California and in fairly high concentration in the Atacama Desert in Chile, \u003ca title=\"Photos of the Atacama\" href=\"http://www.livescience.com/31911-atacama-desert-chile-photos.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the driest place on Earth\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14030\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 120px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/S128-120x162.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14030\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/S128-120x162.jpg\" alt=\"A future Mars colonist examines a rock on the martian surface\" width=\"120\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A future Mars colonist examines a rock on the martian surface. Credit/NASA\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mars is much drier than even the driest place on Earth, so it is not surprising that perchlorate is present there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists hypothesize that perchlorate forms naturally when volcanic activity releases a chlorine compound that undergoes chemical changes in the atmosphere and then falls back to the surface. It only stays put in the soil if it doesn’t get washed away. Scientists think that this process might be the same on both Earth and Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, future Mars colonists listen up: you can’t eat the dirt on Mars, but you might be able to turn it into rocket fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While perchlorate is not safe for human consumption in large quantities because of its detrimental effects on metabolism (and is even used as a pharmaceutical in rare cases), paradoxically, there are \u003ca title=\"Microbes' Rocket Fuel Metabolism Sheds Light On Ancient Life\" href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/05/microbe-rocket-fuel-metabolism-perchlorate_n_3016916.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">microorganisms on Earth that actually eat perchlorate\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perchlorate-metabolizing microorganisms on Earth are diverse and many have the ability to use a couple different chemical energy sources other than perchlorate. This gives scientists some hope that we could discover microbial life that could use or have used that ability to survive on the red planet\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "DNA of 7000-Year-Old Spanish Skeleton Reveals Details About Appearance",
"headTitle": "DNA of 7000-Year-Old Spanish Skeleton Reveals Details About Appearance | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13930\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13930\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/AncientSkeleton.jpg\" alt=\"Scientists have managed to sequence the DNA from a tooth from a 7000 year old skeleton very much like this one showing that its previous owner probably had dark skin and either blue or green eyes. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"640\" height=\"350\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scientists have managed to sequence the DNA from a tooth from a 7000-year-old skeleton very much like this one showing that its previous owner probably had dark skin and either blue or green eyes. Image courtesy of \u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Humannerja.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists have just done something that would have been unimaginable even a few years ago—they have \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24463515\">sequenced the entire set of DNA from a 7000-year-old Spaniard\u003c/a>. And this isn’t all. They have also managed to learn that he was most likely a dark-skinned, blue or green-eyed man who had trouble digesting milk as an adult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of this is consistent with the way scientists think humans changed over time in Europe. But it is very cool to actually see it there, spelled out in the A’s, G’s, C’s and T’s of his DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current theory is that the humans who came to Europe weren’t too different from those in Africa or parts of the Middle East. They were dark-skinned, hunter-gatherers that hadn’t yet had to become lactose tolerant to succeed in their new environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As these Europeans began to settle down and grow their own food, these traits became a hindrance to their survival. For example, many scientists think that when they became farmers, their diet no longer provided enough vitamin D. These new farmers now needed to get the lion’s share of this important vitamin from the sun and their dark skin prevented this from happening because of Europe’s short winter days and lousy weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13935\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/WintryCopenhagen.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13935\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13935\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/WintryCopenhagen.jpg\" alt=\"Lack of sunlight and cold weather favored lighter skin in Europe. Image of Copenhagen courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"250\" height=\"185\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lack of sunlight and cold weather favored lighter skin in Europe. Image of Copenhagen courtesy of \u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kongens_Nytorv_-_ice_rink.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So what happened next is \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask330\">classic natural selection\u003c/a>. Those Europeans who were lighter-skinned did better than their darker-skinned brethren and over time, lighter skin became the norm. For Europeans, a good chunk of this skin lightening has been traced to a small DNA difference in the \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask288\">SLC24A5 or golden gene\u003c/a>. Our 7000-year-old man still had the African version of this gene (or ancestral allele as it is also called) which is now extremely rare in Europe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Something similar is thought to have happened for lactase persistence (the scientific term for being able to drink milk as an adult). Conditions in parts of Europe favored being able to drink raw milk as opposed to eating cheese or yogurt and so, like lighter skin, \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucl.ac.uk/mace-lab/gallery/lactase\">lactase persistence spread across parts of Europe\u003c/a>. Again, like 15% of modern Spaniards, our Iberian friend had the ancestral allele—he most likely could not tolerate milk as an adult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are also traits specific to agricultural societies in general that our Iberian man lacked. For example, people in agricultural societies tend to have \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/original_news/news62\">more copies of the amylase gene\u003c/a> which makes them better able to digest the starchy foods found in an agricultural diet. Our Spaniard had five copies which is more typical of a hunter gatherer (although five copies is at the lower end of what is typical for an agricultural society).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So he definitely fits what scientists thought early Europeans looked like. But before everyone starts popping champagne bottles it is important to point out that all of this information is coming from a single man from a part of Europe where these pressures were not very intense. One wouldn’t necessarily predict that his darker skin and lactose intolerance would even be a problem this far south in Europe. In fact, a \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/01/23/265224739/a-milk-mystery-did-gloomy-weather-make-us-love-the-stuff\">recent study\u003c/a> showed that eight Spaniards from 5000 years ago lacked the change in the lactase gene needed to be lactose tolerant. This means even 2000 years later, lactose intolerance was still relatively common in Spain (or at least it was in the eight skeletons they tested).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, this man is predicted to look the very picture of what scientists think an ancient European would look like. Except maybe for those blue eyes…\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13938\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/BlueEye.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13938\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13938\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/BlueEye.jpg\" alt=\"Why blue eyes spread across Northern Europe remains a mystery. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"250\" height=\"165\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Why blue eyes spread across Northern Europe remains a mystery. Image courtesy of \u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_eye.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Blue eyes are sort of an enigma in our recent evolutionary history. There is no obvious nutritional advantage to having them like there is for lighter skin or being able to drink milk or digest starch. The \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/origin-blue-eyes\">most likely theories\u003c/a> so far have been either that it hitched a ride somehow with lighter skin or maybe that it made those people who had blue eyes so irresistible that they had more children than their brown eyed compatriots. This last one is called sexual selection and is akin to a peacock’s feathers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The man studied here does not fit the first model. He has the ancestral alleles for darker skin color combined with the European allele for blue eyes, a very rare combination these days. Keeping in mind again our sample size of one, it looks like blue eyes might have appeared and spread before lighter skin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So our hunter-gatherer wasn’t simply an African who took up residence in Europe. On his way there, his ancestors picked up the blue eye version of the \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/how-blue-eye-snp-works\">OCA2/HERC2 gene\u003c/a>. Again, this is consistent with previous theories that \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/original_news/news76\">blue eyes became established\u003c/a> around the Black Sea around 6000-10,000 years ago. His ancestors must have stopped there or interacted with some recent emigrants from that region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We are able to get this snapshot of history because sequencing ancient DNA keeps getting cheaper and easier and because scientists keep coming up with\u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/denisovan-chromosome-2\"> better and better ways to recover ancient DNA\u003c/a>. And hold on to your hats, we’re just getting started here. We’ve already found a relative we didn’t even know existed, the Denisovan, and found out that there was quite a bit of hanky panky between non-African ancestors and both Neandertals and Denisovans. We may find even more relatives that we might have missed because of incomplete fossil records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if we get lucky, we might even have a shot at watching history unfold over the last 10,000 years or so. We may actually see blue eyes spread across Europe or follow lighter skin and lactase persistence as they suddenly become more common. We may also be able to see how lighter skin spread across parts of Asia or when and how Neandertal and Denisovan DNA spread across nonAfrican peoples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is an absolutely fascinating and until a few years ago, unexpected way to be able to trace human history. Stay tuned to learn more about who we are and how we got this way.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Scientists have just done something that would have been unimaginable even a few years ago—they have sequenced the entire set of DNA from a 7000 year old Spaniard. And this isn’t all. They have also managed to learn that he was most likely a dark-skinned, blue or green-eyed man who had trouble digesting milk as an adult.",
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"description": "Scientists have just done something that would have been unimaginable even a few years ago—they have sequenced the entire set of DNA from a 7000 year old Spaniard. And this isn’t all. They have also managed to learn that he was most likely a dark-skinned, blue or green-eyed man who had trouble digesting milk as an adult.",
"title": "DNA of 7000-Year-Old Spanish Skeleton Reveals Details About Appearance | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13930\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13930\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/AncientSkeleton.jpg\" alt=\"Scientists have managed to sequence the DNA from a tooth from a 7000 year old skeleton very much like this one showing that its previous owner probably had dark skin and either blue or green eyes. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"640\" height=\"350\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scientists have managed to sequence the DNA from a tooth from a 7000-year-old skeleton very much like this one showing that its previous owner probably had dark skin and either blue or green eyes. Image courtesy of \u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Humannerja.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists have just done something that would have been unimaginable even a few years ago—they have \u003ca href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24463515\">sequenced the entire set of DNA from a 7000-year-old Spaniard\u003c/a>. And this isn’t all. They have also managed to learn that he was most likely a dark-skinned, blue or green-eyed man who had trouble digesting milk as an adult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of this is consistent with the way scientists think humans changed over time in Europe. But it is very cool to actually see it there, spelled out in the A’s, G’s, C’s and T’s of his DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current theory is that the humans who came to Europe weren’t too different from those in Africa or parts of the Middle East. They were dark-skinned, hunter-gatherers that hadn’t yet had to become lactose tolerant to succeed in their new environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As these Europeans began to settle down and grow their own food, these traits became a hindrance to their survival. For example, many scientists think that when they became farmers, their diet no longer provided enough vitamin D. These new farmers now needed to get the lion’s share of this important vitamin from the sun and their dark skin prevented this from happening because of Europe’s short winter days and lousy weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13935\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/WintryCopenhagen.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13935\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13935\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/WintryCopenhagen.jpg\" alt=\"Lack of sunlight and cold weather favored lighter skin in Europe. Image of Copenhagen courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"250\" height=\"185\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lack of sunlight and cold weather favored lighter skin in Europe. Image of Copenhagen courtesy of \u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kongens_Nytorv_-_ice_rink.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So what happened next is \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask330\">classic natural selection\u003c/a>. Those Europeans who were lighter-skinned did better than their darker-skinned brethren and over time, lighter skin became the norm. For Europeans, a good chunk of this skin lightening has been traced to a small DNA difference in the \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask/ask288\">SLC24A5 or golden gene\u003c/a>. Our 7000-year-old man still had the African version of this gene (or ancestral allele as it is also called) which is now extremely rare in Europe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Something similar is thought to have happened for lactase persistence (the scientific term for being able to drink milk as an adult). Conditions in parts of Europe favored being able to drink raw milk as opposed to eating cheese or yogurt and so, like lighter skin, \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucl.ac.uk/mace-lab/gallery/lactase\">lactase persistence spread across parts of Europe\u003c/a>. Again, like 15% of modern Spaniards, our Iberian friend had the ancestral allele—he most likely could not tolerate milk as an adult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are also traits specific to agricultural societies in general that our Iberian man lacked. For example, people in agricultural societies tend to have \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/original_news/news62\">more copies of the amylase gene\u003c/a> which makes them better able to digest the starchy foods found in an agricultural diet. Our Spaniard had five copies which is more typical of a hunter gatherer (although five copies is at the lower end of what is typical for an agricultural society).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So he definitely fits what scientists thought early Europeans looked like. But before everyone starts popping champagne bottles it is important to point out that all of this information is coming from a single man from a part of Europe where these pressures were not very intense. One wouldn’t necessarily predict that his darker skin and lactose intolerance would even be a problem this far south in Europe. In fact, a \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/01/23/265224739/a-milk-mystery-did-gloomy-weather-make-us-love-the-stuff\">recent study\u003c/a> showed that eight Spaniards from 5000 years ago lacked the change in the lactase gene needed to be lactose tolerant. This means even 2000 years later, lactose intolerance was still relatively common in Spain (or at least it was in the eight skeletons they tested).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, this man is predicted to look the very picture of what scientists think an ancient European would look like. Except maybe for those blue eyes…\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13938\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 250px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/BlueEye.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13938\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13938\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/02/BlueEye.jpg\" alt=\"Why blue eyes spread across Northern Europe remains a mystery. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"250\" height=\"165\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Why blue eyes spread across Northern Europe remains a mystery. Image courtesy of \u003ca href=\"http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_eye.jpg\">Wikimedia Commons\u003c/a>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Blue eyes are sort of an enigma in our recent evolutionary history. There is no obvious nutritional advantage to having them like there is for lighter skin or being able to drink milk or digest starch. The \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/origin-blue-eyes\">most likely theories\u003c/a> so far have been either that it hitched a ride somehow with lighter skin or maybe that it made those people who had blue eyes so irresistible that they had more children than their brown eyed compatriots. This last one is called sexual selection and is akin to a peacock’s feathers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The man studied here does not fit the first model. He has the ancestral alleles for darker skin color combined with the European allele for blue eyes, a very rare combination these days. Keeping in mind again our sample size of one, it looks like blue eyes might have appeared and spread before lighter skin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So our hunter-gatherer wasn’t simply an African who took up residence in Europe. On his way there, his ancestors picked up the blue eye version of the \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/how-blue-eye-snp-works\">OCA2/HERC2 gene\u003c/a>. Again, this is consistent with previous theories that \u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/original_news/news76\">blue eyes became established\u003c/a> around the Black Sea around 6000-10,000 years ago. His ancestors must have stopped there or interacted with some recent emigrants from that region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We are able to get this snapshot of history because sequencing ancient DNA keeps getting cheaper and easier and because scientists keep coming up with\u003ca href=\"http://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/denisovan-chromosome-2\"> better and better ways to recover ancient DNA\u003c/a>. And hold on to your hats, we’re just getting started here. We’ve already found a relative we didn’t even know existed, the Denisovan, and found out that there was quite a bit of hanky panky between non-African ancestors and both Neandertals and Denisovans. We may find even more relatives that we might have missed because of incomplete fossil records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if we get lucky, we might even have a shot at watching history unfold over the last 10,000 years or so. We may actually see blue eyes spread across Europe or follow lighter skin and lactase persistence as they suddenly become more common. We may also be able to see how lighter skin spread across parts of Asia or when and how Neandertal and Denisovan DNA spread across nonAfrican peoples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is an absolutely fascinating and until a few years ago, unexpected way to be able to trace human history. Stay tuned to learn more about who we are and how we got this way.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Protecting the Snowy Plovers Wintering on Urban Beaches",
"headTitle": "Protecting the Snowy Plovers Wintering on Urban Beaches | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13705\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/01/3-SnPl-and-foam.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13705\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13705\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/01/3-SnPl-and-foam.jpg\" alt=\"Snowy plovers forage along the tideline, using their excellent eyesight to hunt for small invertebrates. Photo by Cal Walters.\" width=\"640\" height=\"415\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Snowy plovers forage along the tideline, using their excellent eyesight to hunt for small invertebrates. Photo by \u003ca title=\"calwalters.zenfolio.com\" href=\"http://calwalters.zenfolio.com/p826151533\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cal Walters\u003c/a>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lately, the favorite part of my day has been monitoring some wintering \u003ca title=\"western snowy plover.org\" href=\"http://www.westernsnowyplover.org/about_plovers.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">western snowy plovers\u003c/a> that came to \u003ca title=\"Crown Beach, EBRPD\" href=\"http://www.ebparks.org/parks/crown_beach\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Crown Beach\u003c/a> in November. Their appearance was first noticed by some volunteer birders who were doing the annual shorebird count around San Francisco Bay. The \u003ca title=\"Replenshing Crown Beach, KQED Science\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2013/08/30/sand-mining-in-san-francisco-bay-to-replenish-alamedas-crown-beach/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sand restoration project\u003c/a>, which brought nearly $6 million worth of sand dredged from the bay floor around Angel Island and pumped from a barge onto the beach, was just finishing up. The new darker sand, heavy with bits of shell, must have attracted the small flock of plovers. Their favorite winter habitat is a stretch of sandy beach backed by dunes, exactly what Crown Beach offers. That’s also their favorite nesting habitat, which is part of the problem and one of the reasons they’ve been listed as a “threatened species” under the \u003ca href=\"http://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Endangered Species Act\u003c/a>. In 1993, it was estimated that only 1,500 snowy plovers remained in the Pacific Coast population due to habitat loss and predation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13707\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 243px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/01/Snpl-copy-243x162.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13707\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13707\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/01/Snpl-copy-243x162.jpg\" alt=\"By identifying the bands on this snowy plovers legs, its movements could be tracked over nearly five years. Photo by Cal Walters.\" width=\"243\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">By identifying the bands on this snowy plovers legs, its movements could be tracked over nearly five years. Photo by \u003ca title=\"calwalters.zenfolio.com\" href=\"http://calwalters.zenfolio.com/p826151533\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cal Walters\u003c/a>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One of the plovers I’ve been watching has four colored bands on its legs. Cindy Margulis, a local birder, and Karine Tokatlian, Plover Program Director with the \u003ca title=\"Plover Project, SFBBO\" href=\"http://www.sfbbo.org/science/water_projects.php?proj=snpl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO)\u003c/a>, identified this little snowy plover and traced out its life story. Hatched in June 2009 on the South Bay salt ponds, the chick was banded along with 112 other snowy plover chicks that year. That winter it turned up in Half Moon Bay, then returned in spring 2010 to the South Bay Salt Ponds. The next couple of years no sighting was reported, but this winter it’s hanging out on Crown Beach with up to thirteen other snowy plovers. This represents 10% of the Bay Area’s snowy plover population. Karine relayed to me, “It’s common for the snowy plovers to move between the Pacific Coast and the bay and even go as far east as the Central Valley. They don’t migrate far distances like some of our shorebirds who nest in the Arctic and winter along San Francisco Bay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a two-ounce bird that would fit in the palm of your hand, there are many threats they overcome to survive even the average lifespan of three years. Their main survival strategy is concealment, hiding in plain sight. The bird monitors and I have stood with binoculars and scopes and counted the visible birds multiple times, only to find we’ve overlooked one or more. Their camouflage helps them hide from predators such as gulls and ravens. Unfortunately, these predators can decimate the nesting site once it’s discovered. Last year, the South Bay salt ponds hosted the majority of Bay Area nesting snowy plovers with 174 nests. SFBBO discourages California gulls from nesting on nearby habitat to help the snowy plovers.They also improve the nesting habitat by adding oyster shells to provide better camouflage elements for the adults and chicks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13706\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 202px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/01/DSCN0216-WSP-with-Leg-Bands-202x162.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13706\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13706\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/01/DSCN0216-WSP-with-Leg-Bands-202x162.jpg\" alt=\"Snowy plovers camouflage with the sand, making them difficult for predators to find them. Photo by Cindy Margulis.\" width=\"202\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Snowy plovers camouflage with the sand, making them difficult for predators to find them. Photo by Cindy Margulis.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wildlife agencies are trying to balance the mandate to return the salt ponds to tidal action and preserving a portion of them for plover and least tern nest sites. The hope is that with habitat preservation, restoration and predator controls the snowy plover population will return to sustainable levels. Success will be achieved when the snowy plover population reaches 3,000 birds and is maintained over the course of at least 10 years. You can help these threatened birds survive by not disturbing birds resting or nesting on beaches. You can also report banded snowy plovers to SFBBO on their website to help them learn more about snowy plover survival rates and movements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additional information: \u003ca title=\"Snowy Plovers a Welcome Surprise at Alameda Beach, SF Chronicle\" href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Snowy-plovers-a-welcome-surprise-at-Alameda-beach-5183295.php#photo-5789420\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Snowy Plovers a Welcome Surprise at Alameda Beach.”\u003c/a> (San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A small flock of snowy plovers have moved to Crown Beach in Alameda this winter. Learn more about why they're threatened from Sharol Nelson-Embry of the East Bay Regional Park District. ",
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"description": "A small flock of snowy plovers have moved to Crown Beach in Alameda this winter. Learn more about why they're threatened from Sharol Nelson-Embry of the East Bay Regional Park District. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13705\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/01/3-SnPl-and-foam.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13705\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13705\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/01/3-SnPl-and-foam.jpg\" alt=\"Snowy plovers forage along the tideline, using their excellent eyesight to hunt for small invertebrates. Photo by Cal Walters.\" width=\"640\" height=\"415\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Snowy plovers forage along the tideline, using their excellent eyesight to hunt for small invertebrates. Photo by \u003ca title=\"calwalters.zenfolio.com\" href=\"http://calwalters.zenfolio.com/p826151533\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cal Walters\u003c/a>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lately, the favorite part of my day has been monitoring some wintering \u003ca title=\"western snowy plover.org\" href=\"http://www.westernsnowyplover.org/about_plovers.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">western snowy plovers\u003c/a> that came to \u003ca title=\"Crown Beach, EBRPD\" href=\"http://www.ebparks.org/parks/crown_beach\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Crown Beach\u003c/a> in November. Their appearance was first noticed by some volunteer birders who were doing the annual shorebird count around San Francisco Bay. The \u003ca title=\"Replenshing Crown Beach, KQED Science\" href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2013/08/30/sand-mining-in-san-francisco-bay-to-replenish-alamedas-crown-beach/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sand restoration project\u003c/a>, which brought nearly $6 million worth of sand dredged from the bay floor around Angel Island and pumped from a barge onto the beach, was just finishing up. The new darker sand, heavy with bits of shell, must have attracted the small flock of plovers. Their favorite winter habitat is a stretch of sandy beach backed by dunes, exactly what Crown Beach offers. That’s also their favorite nesting habitat, which is part of the problem and one of the reasons they’ve been listed as a “threatened species” under the \u003ca href=\"http://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Endangered Species Act\u003c/a>. In 1993, it was estimated that only 1,500 snowy plovers remained in the Pacific Coast population due to habitat loss and predation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13707\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 243px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/01/Snpl-copy-243x162.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13707\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13707\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/01/Snpl-copy-243x162.jpg\" alt=\"By identifying the bands on this snowy plovers legs, its movements could be tracked over nearly five years. Photo by Cal Walters.\" width=\"243\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">By identifying the bands on this snowy plovers legs, its movements could be tracked over nearly five years. Photo by \u003ca title=\"calwalters.zenfolio.com\" href=\"http://calwalters.zenfolio.com/p826151533\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cal Walters\u003c/a>.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One of the plovers I’ve been watching has four colored bands on its legs. Cindy Margulis, a local birder, and Karine Tokatlian, Plover Program Director with the \u003ca title=\"Plover Project, SFBBO\" href=\"http://www.sfbbo.org/science/water_projects.php?proj=snpl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO)\u003c/a>, identified this little snowy plover and traced out its life story. Hatched in June 2009 on the South Bay salt ponds, the chick was banded along with 112 other snowy plover chicks that year. That winter it turned up in Half Moon Bay, then returned in spring 2010 to the South Bay Salt Ponds. The next couple of years no sighting was reported, but this winter it’s hanging out on Crown Beach with up to thirteen other snowy plovers. This represents 10% of the Bay Area’s snowy plover population. Karine relayed to me, “It’s common for the snowy plovers to move between the Pacific Coast and the bay and even go as far east as the Central Valley. They don’t migrate far distances like some of our shorebirds who nest in the Arctic and winter along San Francisco Bay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For a two-ounce bird that would fit in the palm of your hand, there are many threats they overcome to survive even the average lifespan of three years. Their main survival strategy is concealment, hiding in plain sight. The bird monitors and I have stood with binoculars and scopes and counted the visible birds multiple times, only to find we’ve overlooked one or more. Their camouflage helps them hide from predators such as gulls and ravens. Unfortunately, these predators can decimate the nesting site once it’s discovered. Last year, the South Bay salt ponds hosted the majority of Bay Area nesting snowy plovers with 174 nests. SFBBO discourages California gulls from nesting on nearby habitat to help the snowy plovers.They also improve the nesting habitat by adding oyster shells to provide better camouflage elements for the adults and chicks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13706\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 202px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/01/DSCN0216-WSP-with-Leg-Bands-202x162.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-13706\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13706\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2014/01/DSCN0216-WSP-with-Leg-Bands-202x162.jpg\" alt=\"Snowy plovers camouflage with the sand, making them difficult for predators to find them. Photo by Cindy Margulis.\" width=\"202\" height=\"162\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Snowy plovers camouflage with the sand, making them difficult for predators to find them. Photo by Cindy Margulis.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wildlife agencies are trying to balance the mandate to return the salt ponds to tidal action and preserving a portion of them for plover and least tern nest sites. The hope is that with habitat preservation, restoration and predator controls the snowy plover population will return to sustainable levels. Success will be achieved when the snowy plover population reaches 3,000 birds and is maintained over the course of at least 10 years. You can help these threatened birds survive by not disturbing birds resting or nesting on beaches. You can also report banded snowy plovers to SFBBO on their website to help them learn more about snowy plover survival rates and movements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additional information: \u003ca title=\"Snowy Plovers a Welcome Surprise at Alameda Beach, SF Chronicle\" href=\"http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Snowy-plovers-a-welcome-surprise-at-Alameda-beach-5183295.php#photo-5789420\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Snowy Plovers a Welcome Surprise at Alameda Beach.”\u003c/a> (San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"color: #888888\">\u003cstrong>An Expert Opinion: \u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003cstrong>Dr. Diana Wall\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66060\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 168px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/0000022496-DrDianaWall_one-1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-66060\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/0000022496-DrDianaWall_one-1-168x253.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Diana Wall\" width=\"168\" height=\"253\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Diana Wall\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem> “The Nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003cem> \u003ca href=\"http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15373\">Franklin D\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15373\">. Roosevelt\u003c/a>, February 26, 1937\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Civilizations and their economies can rise and fall based on the availability of fertile, healthy soils. Dr. Diana Wall, the winner of the 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.tylerprize.usc.edu/press/pr2013.html\">Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement\u003c/a>, has been instrumental in shaping our understanding of the hidden ecosystems that lie beneath our feet. We talked with Dr. Wall about her work and why soil health and human health are so fundamentally intertwined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\"Dirt\" or \"soil\" -- which term do you use?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>I like soil. Dirt gives the idea that there is nothing beautiful in soil, that it is “dirty” and “dead,” yet the many organisms in soil can be extraordinarily beautiful if you put them under a microscope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Your work in Antarctica and elsewhere has revealed we never really understood soil at all. How has our understanding changed?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>Work in the Antarctic Dry Valleys, an extreme cold desert, has shown that tiny, microscopic invertebrates can be the top animals in the food web of this type of ecosystem. They are the “elephants and tigers” of the Dry Valleys even though they are hidden in soil. One species, a nematode roundworm [called] \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oiggTr83jc\">Scottnema\u003c/a>, occupies the majority of the landscape and contributes about 7 percent to the valley soil carbon turnover, a needed contribution to regulating global carbon cycling. Soils in different locations have very different “communities” of organisms. It’s just like the life above ground -- a desert has very different species compared to a tropical forest. We have just begun to scratch the surface and explore soils to discover the exciting food webs under our feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66151\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/Dry-Valley-Abbey-Road.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-66151\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/Dry-Valley-Abbey-Road-640x360.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Wall and her team of scientists conduct research in the Antarctic to better understand the relation between biodiversity above and below ground. Photos courtesy Dr. Wall/nemablog\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Wall and her team of scientists conduct research in the Antarctic to better understand the relation between biodiversity above and below ground. Photos courtesy Dr. Wall/\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/nemablog/\">nemablog\u003c/a>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is biodiversity underground really as important as biodiversity above ground?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>Absolutely! We wouldn’t see the diversity above ground if we didn’t have the diversity below ground. The species above ground, from the birds to the plant species, depend on specific communities of small organisms in the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The organisms in the food webs below ground work for us cleansing our water, decaying leaves and trees, and returning nutrients to make soils fertile; detoxifying chemicals; stabilizing soils and preventing erosion; and as biocontrol agents, controlling diseases that affect animals, plants, and humans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66154\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/Worm-Farms.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-66154\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/Worm-Farms-640x180.jpg\" alt=\"Worm Farms\" width=\"640\" height=\"180\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Worm farms in Antactica's McMurdo Dry Valley\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How will climate change impact life underground?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>Climate change can have a huge impact on life underground. What’s surprising for many is that life underground can also have a huge impact on climate change. It’s a cycle.\u003cbr>\nClimate change can alter soil moisture through droughts or excessive rainfall or soil temperatures, which affects the soil habitat, the food that the organisms eat, and the physiology of the organisms. What we’re trying to do now is to learn more about where and when these changes in soil biodiversity will affect [our ability to] sustain our food, soils, air, and life above ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66063\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 405px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/0000022496-NatureGeosciences2.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-66063\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/0000022496-NatureGeosciences2-450x253.jpg\" alt=\"0000022496-NatureGeosciences2\" width=\"405\" height=\"228\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some of the “elephants and tigers” found in Antarctica's soil.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What's your favorite soil mini-beast and why?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>Ahh… without a doubt it is Scottnema, the small, tough, resilient nematode roundworm from the driest desert on the earth, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/search?q=McMurdo+Dry+Valley&espv=210&es_sm=119&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=P6LVUueBN8rNsQTAlID4Bg&ved=0CDcQsAQ&biw=1136&bih=634\">McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica\u003c/a>. It is hard to believe it survives in such a hostile environment, but it survives by changing its physiology from worm-like to a tiny “Cheerio” -- and then blows across the landscape with the cold winter winds. Despite this, this tough animal seems very sensitive to changes in temperature and to increasing soil moisture, which is a concern with increasing warming in Antarctica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How can soil scientists help advance our land management practices?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>Let’s face it -- soils are under threat. We need lots of fertile soils to sustain our populations for the future. Soil scientists have the training to appreciate the different soil habitats and the individual contributions that soil organisms make to fertile and stable soils. All scientists can help to integrate and transfer this new knowledge about soil biodiversity for improved soil health, for the health of us all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66165\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 331px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/Breana-Diana-and-Ed-with-Penguin_2.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-66165 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/Breana-Diana-and-Ed-with-Penguin_2-331x253.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Wall and her team encounter a Penguin on a field study in Antarctica in 2006.\" width=\"331\" height=\"253\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Wall and her team encounter a Penguin on a field study in Antarctica in 2006.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>If everyone reading this interview committed to one thing to protect soil life, what should that one thing be?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>They can help us protect and conserve and restore our living, teeming soils just as we protect clean air and clean water. Soils are being degraded at a rapid rate. We can all work to address the causes: contamination and pollution, erosion, sealing of soils by concrete, climate change, invasive plant and animal species, and the decline of organic matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Follow Dr. Wall’s current Antarctic research endeavors at her blog,\u003ca href=\"http://nemablog.wordpress.com/\">The World of Nematodes\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"color: #888888\">\u003cstrong>An Expert Opinion: \u003c/strong>\u003c/span>\u003cstrong>Dr. Diana Wall\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66060\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 168px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/0000022496-DrDianaWall_one-1.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-66060\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/0000022496-DrDianaWall_one-1-168x253.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Diana Wall\" width=\"168\" height=\"253\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Diana Wall\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem> “The Nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>\u003cem> \u003ca href=\"http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15373\">Franklin D\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15373\">. Roosevelt\u003c/a>, February 26, 1937\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Civilizations and their economies can rise and fall based on the availability of fertile, healthy soils. Dr. Diana Wall, the winner of the 2013 \u003ca href=\"http://www.tylerprize.usc.edu/press/pr2013.html\">Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement\u003c/a>, has been instrumental in shaping our understanding of the hidden ecosystems that lie beneath our feet. We talked with Dr. Wall about her work and why soil health and human health are so fundamentally intertwined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\"Dirt\" or \"soil\" -- which term do you use?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>I like soil. Dirt gives the idea that there is nothing beautiful in soil, that it is “dirty” and “dead,” yet the many organisms in soil can be extraordinarily beautiful if you put them under a microscope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Your work in Antarctica and elsewhere has revealed we never really understood soil at all. How has our understanding changed?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>Work in the Antarctic Dry Valleys, an extreme cold desert, has shown that tiny, microscopic invertebrates can be the top animals in the food web of this type of ecosystem. They are the “elephants and tigers” of the Dry Valleys even though they are hidden in soil. One species, a nematode roundworm [called] \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oiggTr83jc\">Scottnema\u003c/a>, occupies the majority of the landscape and contributes about 7 percent to the valley soil carbon turnover, a needed contribution to regulating global carbon cycling. Soils in different locations have very different “communities” of organisms. It’s just like the life above ground -- a desert has very different species compared to a tropical forest. We have just begun to scratch the surface and explore soils to discover the exciting food webs under our feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66151\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/Dry-Valley-Abbey-Road.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-66151\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/Dry-Valley-Abbey-Road-640x360.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Wall and her team of scientists conduct research in the Antarctic to better understand the relation between biodiversity above and below ground. Photos courtesy Dr. Wall/nemablog\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Wall and her team of scientists conduct research in the Antarctic to better understand the relation between biodiversity above and below ground. Photos courtesy Dr. Wall/\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/nemablog/\">nemablog\u003c/a>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is biodiversity underground really as important as biodiversity above ground?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>Absolutely! We wouldn’t see the diversity above ground if we didn’t have the diversity below ground. The species above ground, from the birds to the plant species, depend on specific communities of small organisms in the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The organisms in the food webs below ground work for us cleansing our water, decaying leaves and trees, and returning nutrients to make soils fertile; detoxifying chemicals; stabilizing soils and preventing erosion; and as biocontrol agents, controlling diseases that affect animals, plants, and humans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66154\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/Worm-Farms.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-66154\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/Worm-Farms-640x180.jpg\" alt=\"Worm Farms\" width=\"640\" height=\"180\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Worm farms in Antactica's McMurdo Dry Valley\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How will climate change impact life underground?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>Climate change can have a huge impact on life underground. What’s surprising for many is that life underground can also have a huge impact on climate change. It’s a cycle.\u003cbr>\nClimate change can alter soil moisture through droughts or excessive rainfall or soil temperatures, which affects the soil habitat, the food that the organisms eat, and the physiology of the organisms. What we’re trying to do now is to learn more about where and when these changes in soil biodiversity will affect [our ability to] sustain our food, soils, air, and life above ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66063\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 405px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/0000022496-NatureGeosciences2.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-66063\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/0000022496-NatureGeosciences2-450x253.jpg\" alt=\"0000022496-NatureGeosciences2\" width=\"405\" height=\"228\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some of the “elephants and tigers” found in Antarctica's soil.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What's your favorite soil mini-beast and why?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>Ahh… without a doubt it is Scottnema, the small, tough, resilient nematode roundworm from the driest desert on the earth, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/search?q=McMurdo+Dry+Valley&espv=210&es_sm=119&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=P6LVUueBN8rNsQTAlID4Bg&ved=0CDcQsAQ&biw=1136&bih=634\">McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica\u003c/a>. It is hard to believe it survives in such a hostile environment, but it survives by changing its physiology from worm-like to a tiny “Cheerio” -- and then blows across the landscape with the cold winter winds. Despite this, this tough animal seems very sensitive to changes in temperature and to increasing soil moisture, which is a concern with increasing warming in Antarctica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How can soil scientists help advance our land management practices?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>Let’s face it -- soils are under threat. We need lots of fertile soils to sustain our populations for the future. Soil scientists have the training to appreciate the different soil habitats and the individual contributions that soil organisms make to fertile and stable soils. All scientists can help to integrate and transfer this new knowledge about soil biodiversity for improved soil health, for the health of us all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66165\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 331px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/Breana-Diana-and-Ed-with-Penguin_2.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\" wp-image-66165 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2013/10/Breana-Diana-and-Ed-with-Penguin_2-331x253.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Wall and her team encounter a Penguin on a field study in Antarctica in 2006.\" width=\"331\" height=\"253\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Wall and her team encounter a Penguin on a field study in Antarctica in 2006.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>If everyone reading this interview committed to one thing to protect soil life, what should that one thing be?\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>They can help us protect and conserve and restore our living, teeming soils just as we protect clean air and clean water. Soils are being degraded at a rapid rate. We can all work to address the causes: contamination and pollution, erosion, sealing of soils by concrete, climate change, invasive plant and animal species, and the decline of organic matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Follow Dr. Wall’s current Antarctic research endeavors at her blog,\u003ca href=\"http://nemablog.wordpress.com/\">The World of Nematodes\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine meets in Berkeley today. It’s expected to vote to spend as much as $40 million dollars on genomic research, the study of genes and their relationships. Scientists from across California and beyond have been vying for this major investment, but a \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201401290850/b\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"rssmi_more\" rel=\"noopener\">…Read More\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Source: \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201401290850/b\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Stem Cell Agency Puts $40 Million Up For Grabs in Genomic Research Grants\" rel=\"noopener\">The California Report – Science\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine meets in Berkeley today. It's expected to vote to spend as much as $40 million dollars on genomic research, the study of genes and their relationships. Scientists from across California and beyond have been vying for this major investment, but a \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201401290850/b\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"rssmi_more\" rel=\"noopener\">...Read More\u003c/a>",
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"description": "The board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine meets in Berkeley today. It's expected to vote to spend as much as $40 million dollars on genomic research, the study of genes and their relationships. Scientists from across California and beyond have been vying for this major investment, but a ...Read More",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine meets in Berkeley today. It’s expected to vote to spend as much as $40 million dollars on genomic research, the study of genes and their relationships. Scientists from across California and beyond have been vying for this major investment, but a \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201401290850/b\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"rssmi_more\" rel=\"noopener\">…Read More\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Source: \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201401290850/b\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Stem Cell Agency Puts $40 Million Up For Grabs in Genomic Research Grants\" rel=\"noopener\">The California Report – Science\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Technologies Poised to Keep Asian Carp at Bay, Slowed by Challenges",
"headTitle": "Technologies Poised to Keep Asian Carp at Bay, Slowed by Challenges | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Listening to scientists discuss the challenges presented by invasive Asian carp, you could easily confuse these conversations for war-room strategy sessions. Through a series of verbal exchanges peppered with tactical-grade language and anxiety, the consensus is that methods used to prevent bighead and silver carp from establishing themselves in the Great Lakes have so far been insufficient. While some of the strategies and techniques were innovative, there are questions about whether they were introduced too slowly to be effective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Asian carp enter the Great Lakes, the region risks threats to its biodiversity, its $7 billion fishing industry, and the tourism industry dependent upon it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3270\">Desperate for solutions\u003c/a>, engineers have dreamed up everything from underwater electroshock barriers, to walls of carbon dioxide bubbles, to chemicals that would kill only carp when ingested. Some have even campaigned for \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/22/asian-carp-antihunger-pro_n_975647.html\">eating the bony fish out of existence\u003c/a> by \u003ca href=\"http://research.noaa.gov/News/NewsArchive/LatestNews/TabId/684/ArtMID/1768/ArticleID/10205/Invasive-Fish-Becomes-Nutritious-Dish-for-Haitians-in-Need.aspx\">donating them to the hungry\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Necessity is the mother of invention, right?” says \u003ca href=\"http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/outreach/extension/tgabriel/\">Tory Gabriel\u003c/a>, fisheries outreach coordinator for \u003ca href=\"http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/\">Ohio Sea Grant\u003c/a>. “It’s sad we’re at this point where it is so pressing, but we are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2011/08/asian_carp_ruling_appeals_cour.html\">Courts have been ruling against \u003c/a>drastic anti-carp measures for a while, saying that the fish weren’t close enough to the Great Lakes to require them. However, there are indications that some carp may have made it north to Chicago and Lake Erie. A few \u003ca href=\"http://www.fws.gov/midwest/fisheries/eDNA.html\">eDNA hits\u003c/a> — that is, DNA sifted from water samples — have shown up in places like Sandusky Bay and the Maumee River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regardless, the measures put in place so far throughout the water systems — permeable underwater wire gates and electroshock barriers being the most common — have been deemed insufficient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently released a 232-page report outlining eight strategies for controlling 13 aquatic nuisance species (ANS), including the carp. The report focused on the Chicago Area Water System (CAWS), where a man-made connection between the Mississippi and Great Lakes water systems presents the easiest pathway for carp into the Great Lakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66478\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 403px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/CAWS-allbarriers-2250pxw.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-66478 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/CAWS-allbarriers-2250pxw-448x360.jpg\" alt=\"The Chicago Area Waterway System, determined to be the easiest way for Asian carp to enter the Great Lakes. Credit: Greats Lakes Commission.\" width=\"403\" height=\"324\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Chicago Area Waterway System, determined to be the easiest way for Asian carp to enter the Great Lakes. Credit: Greats Lakes Commission. Click to enlarge.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even the least intensive option, a mix of chemical and biological technologies, would require 25 years and as much as a staggering $18 billion to complete, mostly due to costs involved with r\u003ca href=\"http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/closing-the-chicago-canal-is-still-the-best-option-for-great-lakes-b99179382z1-239185171.html\">edesigning sewage systems in Chicago\u003c/a>. Risk-reduction estimates at 5, 25, and even 50 years are speckled with asterisks showing that ANS colonies are still likely during earlier stages of construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Twenty-five years is unacceptable,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.greatlakes.org/Document.Doc?id=1017\">Jared Teutsch\u003c/a> of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, a nonprofit collective of scientists and educators. “We need urgency and a process to move forward quickly to stop the spread of Asian carp and other aquatic invasive species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an unfortunate twist, the Army Corps’ long-awaited \u003ca href=\"http://glmris.anl.gov/documents/docs/glmrisreport/GLMRIS_Report.pdf\">Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study\u003c/a> (GLMRIS) was released in the wake of \u003ca href=\"http://www.lrc.usace.army.mil/Portals/36/docs/projects/ans/docs/Fish-Barge%20Interaction%20and%20DIDSON%20at%20electric%20barriers%20-%2012202013.pdf\">reports from within its own department\u003c/a> that the last line of defense against the carps’ invasion of the Great Lakes — an \u003ca href=\"http://acwi.gov/monitoring/webinars/CAWS_AsianCarp_20111013.pdf\">electric dispersal barrier\u003c/a> at the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in the CAWS — has been \u003ca href=\"http://www.cleveland.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2013/12/asian_carp_report_due_jan_6_bu.html\">ineffective\u003c/a> at keeping carp at bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Reel Big Problems: Anti-Carp Technology\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Great Lakes residents have watched apprehensively ever since the imported fish began heading north. The carp’s voracious appetite for algae and animal plankton made it an environmentally friendly cleanup tool for dirty fish farms along the Mississippi, but that same appetite makes it lethal to competing native fish species and the lakes themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asian carp eat low on the food chain but can weigh up to 100 pounds, outcompeting smaller fish. Worse, there are some indications the invasive fish could \u003ca href=\"http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/downloads/ais/10-750-fs-asian-carp.pdf\">aggravate the harmful algal blooms\u003c/a> that \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/video/battling-the-bloom-lake-erie/\">plague many of the Great Lakes\u003c/a>. Some noxious blue-green algae have protective coatings that allow them to \u003ca href=\"http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/invasive-species/toolkit/asian-carp-factsheet.html\">survive the carps’ digestive process\u003c/a> while accessing nutrients picked up during filter feeding. Bighead and silver carp have no natural predators, and researchers estimate it would only take 10 of these carp to start a spawning population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asian carp \u003ca href=\"http://www.watershedcouncil.org/learn/aquatic%20invasive%20species/asian-carp/detailed-timeline/\">started creeping north\u003c/a> after escaping from fisheries along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers during floods in 1993. Today, Asian carp make up 90 percent of the fish biomass in the Mississippi water system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They breed like mosquitos and eat like hogs,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.theoec.org/contact/kristy-meyer-ms\">Kristy Meyer\u003c/a>, managing director of agricultural and clean water programs for the Ohio Environmental Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of this is good news for Lake Erie, a lake whose history brims with biblically sized algal blooms and that produces \u003ca href=\"http://www.politifact.com/ohio/statements/2012/mar/22/marcy-kaptur/rep-marcy-kaptur-says-lake-erie-has-more-native-fi/\">over 50 percent of all Great Lakes game fish\u003c/a> — supporting an \u003ca href=\"http://www.theoec.org/LakeErie\">$11.5 billion tourism industry\u003c/a> and 117,000 jobs in Ohio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of this, engineers have been encouraged to develop just about any solution to keep carp at bay — or out of one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One such solution was the \u003ca href=\"http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131223/METRO06/312230088\">electric barrier\u003c/a> in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which was meant to keep Asian carp from swimming through the CAWS and into Lake Michigan. Of the identified 18 points of entry into the Great Lakes, the Army Corps believes the CAWS point is the most critical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The barrier consists of three electrodes arranged in a line. These electrodes power a barrier much like an electric fence for dogs. Fish swimming into it receive an electric shock sufficient enough to stun them and keep them out — in theory. According to a report issued by the Army Corps in December, 2013, the barrier is effective against adult carp, but \u003ca href=\"http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/report-fish-swim-past-electric-barrier-meant-to-block-asian-carp-b99170326z1-237051941.html\">smaller fish of two to four inches long were able to find a loophole.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66449\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1673px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-66449\" title=\"Credit: Hannah Weinberger, ideastream\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp.jpg\" alt=\"AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp\" width=\"1673\" height=\"941\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp.jpg 1673w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp-400x225.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp-800x450.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp-1440x810.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp-960x540.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1673px) 100vw, 1673px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Hannah Weinberger, ideastream. Click to enlarge.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Every day, dozens of barges sweep up and down the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal; and when something as large, dense, and metallic as a barge passes through, the “electric fence” is temporarily disrupted. Disruptions have been significant enough that other fish species have been able to swim through the barrier alongside or in the wake of barges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same report notes the electrical field might not even be strong enough to incapacitate fish, despite the fact that its voltage had already been cranked up once before, in 2011. Also, power outages are a concern: an outage in 2012 put the barrier out of commission for 45 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not the first time this kind of technology has failed. In the early 2000s it was used to try to get rid of gobies in the Great Lakes, another invasive aquatic species. But by the time the Army Corps of Engineers erected the barrier’s electrode system, the gobies had already infiltrated the Mississippi water system via Lake Michigan. Due to slow implementation, the barrier was never truly put to the test.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Debating the Best Defense\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>With carp gaining on our best defenses, \u003ca href=\"http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/01/cleveland_to_corps_get_er_done.html\">many environmentalists are concerned\u003c/a> that the GLMRIS study wasn’t intended to lead to a decision directly, and that it’s still possible that nothing will be done to combat carp at the federal level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The Corps’] task from Congress was just to come up with possible scenarios,” clarifies Christopher Winslow, assistant director of the Ohio Sea Grant program. “So even in the GLMRIS report, all they’re saying is, ‘these seem like logical and feasible approaches.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report, already years in the making, leaves room for ambiguity about actual execution of the plans — only 5 percent of each of the eight options has been designed. Meyer worries this will stagnate the construction process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t want to see them now say, ‘Okay, well, let’s select [a plan] and do a few more years of the study to make sure that it’s even feasible,’” Meyer says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a big risk to take when plans require billions in funding. Still, an appropriate plan may pay off in the long term. Recent studies suggest that controlling the spread of invasive species already present in the Great Lakes can cost \u003ca href=\"http://news.nd.edu/news/29875-new-paper-assigns-dollar-figure-to-cost-from-ship-borne-invasive-species-to-the-great-lakes/\">up to $800 million annually\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just like in medicine — prevention is worth a pound of cure,” Winslow says. “Once they get in here … it might ultimately be less expensive to write that price tag off now than it would be to incur the annual upkeep.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists aren’t endorsing irresponsibility, but they do want action, and they worry that now is not the time for strict protocol or evaluation of every possible technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of all the methods presented, the most experimental involves a device called the GLMRIS Lock. Barges traveling between water systems would enter a lock, have all the water with them drained, and then pass into a bed of treated, clean water. It’s also the plan that gives most pause to environmentalists like \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/ohio/facesofconservation/john-stark.xml\">John Stark\u003c/a>, freshwater director of the Ohio arm of The Nature Conservancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66475\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 336px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/asian-jumping-fish.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-66475 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/asian-jumping-fish-420x360.jpg\" alt=\"Incredibly bony heavy, Asian carp have been known to injure boaters and waterskiiers when they jump from the water. Credit: Louisville USACE.\" width=\"336\" height=\"288\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Incredibly bony heavy, Asian carp have been known to injure boaters and water skiers when they jump from the water. Credit: Louisville USACE.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My concern is, when you read the description of what they would have to do and the system that would supply it, it seems to me there’s all kinds of areas where that system could potentially fail,” Stark says. Between dependence on electricity, the prospect of mixing treatment chemicals incorrectly, and pipes breaking, Stark doesn’t see the lock as a sustainable choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Building Barriers that Work\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Two solutions proposed in the GLMRIS report reflect the calls of activists and some scientists by including a sought-after mechanism: complete division of the Mississippi and Great Lakes water systems at critical entry points.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not even just for Asian carp — you want to separate these two basins as much as possible for all invasives, ones that are there now and ones that might be in the future,” Tory Gabriel of Ohio Sea Grant says. “But ideally the best thing would be to physically separate the two watersheds, like they were naturally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While technological prototypes abound, hydrologic separation calls for a simple earthen-and-concrete barrier built up between water systems. Locks, bubble jets, and electroshock barriers offer possibilities of migration, but it’s pretty hard to swim through solid ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barriers are much more sustainable and less involved than other suggested technologies, says The Nature Conservancy’s John Stark. They aren’t simple to build, but they don’t require as much upkeep or engineering as pipe systems and treatment plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The trick with the barrier itself is that they’ll have to physically move cargo from one side of the barrier to the other, and potentially boats,” Stark says. “Nothing is going to be absolutely 100 percent, but this [hydrologic] barrier’s probably as close as you can get.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to complete hydrologic separation in the CAWS — the most critical entry point between the Mississippi and Great Lakes — Chicago would have to \u003ca href=\"http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2014/01/century-later-expensive-lesson-reversing-chicago-river/8069/\">redirect its entire septic and water system \u003c/a>back toward Lake Michigan. The only reason the two water systems connect at all is because the city redirected the flow a century ago for septic purposes. But with significant shipping interest in the city today, it has been difficult to pass barrier legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s easy to say that you could just go in and physically separate any water that connects the two basins, …but it’s never that easy,” Winslow says. “There’s always conflict of interest and different user groups, and money’s always an issue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But one thing is clear: while people debate the pros and cons of creating new barriers, Asian carp continue to barrel through existing ones.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "In response to the major threats posed to the Great Lakes by invasive Asian carp, engineers have developed devices to keep them out, but delays in deciding how to implement them might give the fish an edge.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Listening to scientists discuss the challenges presented by invasive Asian carp, you could easily confuse these conversations for war-room strategy sessions. Through a series of verbal exchanges peppered with tactical-grade language and anxiety, the consensus is that methods used to prevent bighead and silver carp from establishing themselves in the Great Lakes have so far been insufficient. While some of the strategies and techniques were innovative, there are questions about whether they were introduced too slowly to be effective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Asian carp enter the Great Lakes, the region risks threats to its biodiversity, its $7 billion fishing industry, and the tourism industry dependent upon it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3270\">Desperate for solutions\u003c/a>, engineers have dreamed up everything from underwater electroshock barriers, to walls of carbon dioxide bubbles, to chemicals that would kill only carp when ingested. Some have even campaigned for \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/22/asian-carp-antihunger-pro_n_975647.html\">eating the bony fish out of existence\u003c/a> by \u003ca href=\"http://research.noaa.gov/News/NewsArchive/LatestNews/TabId/684/ArtMID/1768/ArticleID/10205/Invasive-Fish-Becomes-Nutritious-Dish-for-Haitians-in-Need.aspx\">donating them to the hungry\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Necessity is the mother of invention, right?” says \u003ca href=\"http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/outreach/extension/tgabriel/\">Tory Gabriel\u003c/a>, fisheries outreach coordinator for \u003ca href=\"http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/\">Ohio Sea Grant\u003c/a>. “It’s sad we’re at this point where it is so pressing, but we are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2011/08/asian_carp_ruling_appeals_cour.html\">Courts have been ruling against \u003c/a>drastic anti-carp measures for a while, saying that the fish weren’t close enough to the Great Lakes to require them. However, there are indications that some carp may have made it north to Chicago and Lake Erie. A few \u003ca href=\"http://www.fws.gov/midwest/fisheries/eDNA.html\">eDNA hits\u003c/a> — that is, DNA sifted from water samples — have shown up in places like Sandusky Bay and the Maumee River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regardless, the measures put in place so far throughout the water systems — permeable underwater wire gates and electroshock barriers being the most common — have been deemed insufficient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently released a 232-page report outlining eight strategies for controlling 13 aquatic nuisance species (ANS), including the carp. The report focused on the Chicago Area Water System (CAWS), where a man-made connection between the Mississippi and Great Lakes water systems presents the easiest pathway for carp into the Great Lakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66478\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 403px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/CAWS-allbarriers-2250pxw.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-66478 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/CAWS-allbarriers-2250pxw-448x360.jpg\" alt=\"The Chicago Area Waterway System, determined to be the easiest way for Asian carp to enter the Great Lakes. Credit: Greats Lakes Commission.\" width=\"403\" height=\"324\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Chicago Area Waterway System, determined to be the easiest way for Asian carp to enter the Great Lakes. Credit: Greats Lakes Commission. Click to enlarge.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even the least intensive option, a mix of chemical and biological technologies, would require 25 years and as much as a staggering $18 billion to complete, mostly due to costs involved with r\u003ca href=\"http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/closing-the-chicago-canal-is-still-the-best-option-for-great-lakes-b99179382z1-239185171.html\">edesigning sewage systems in Chicago\u003c/a>. Risk-reduction estimates at 5, 25, and even 50 years are speckled with asterisks showing that ANS colonies are still likely during earlier stages of construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Twenty-five years is unacceptable,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.greatlakes.org/Document.Doc?id=1017\">Jared Teutsch\u003c/a> of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, a nonprofit collective of scientists and educators. “We need urgency and a process to move forward quickly to stop the spread of Asian carp and other aquatic invasive species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an unfortunate twist, the Army Corps’ long-awaited \u003ca href=\"http://glmris.anl.gov/documents/docs/glmrisreport/GLMRIS_Report.pdf\">Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study\u003c/a> (GLMRIS) was released in the wake of \u003ca href=\"http://www.lrc.usace.army.mil/Portals/36/docs/projects/ans/docs/Fish-Barge%20Interaction%20and%20DIDSON%20at%20electric%20barriers%20-%2012202013.pdf\">reports from within its own department\u003c/a> that the last line of defense against the carps’ invasion of the Great Lakes — an \u003ca href=\"http://acwi.gov/monitoring/webinars/CAWS_AsianCarp_20111013.pdf\">electric dispersal barrier\u003c/a> at the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in the CAWS — has been \u003ca href=\"http://www.cleveland.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2013/12/asian_carp_report_due_jan_6_bu.html\">ineffective\u003c/a> at keeping carp at bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Reel Big Problems: Anti-Carp Technology\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Great Lakes residents have watched apprehensively ever since the imported fish began heading north. The carp’s voracious appetite for algae and animal plankton made it an environmentally friendly cleanup tool for dirty fish farms along the Mississippi, but that same appetite makes it lethal to competing native fish species and the lakes themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asian carp eat low on the food chain but can weigh up to 100 pounds, outcompeting smaller fish. Worse, there are some indications the invasive fish could \u003ca href=\"http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/downloads/ais/10-750-fs-asian-carp.pdf\">aggravate the harmful algal blooms\u003c/a> that \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/video/battling-the-bloom-lake-erie/\">plague many of the Great Lakes\u003c/a>. Some noxious blue-green algae have protective coatings that allow them to \u003ca href=\"http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/invasive-species/toolkit/asian-carp-factsheet.html\">survive the carps’ digestive process\u003c/a> while accessing nutrients picked up during filter feeding. Bighead and silver carp have no natural predators, and researchers estimate it would only take 10 of these carp to start a spawning population.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asian carp \u003ca href=\"http://www.watershedcouncil.org/learn/aquatic%20invasive%20species/asian-carp/detailed-timeline/\">started creeping north\u003c/a> after escaping from fisheries along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers during floods in 1993. Today, Asian carp make up 90 percent of the fish biomass in the Mississippi water system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They breed like mosquitos and eat like hogs,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.theoec.org/contact/kristy-meyer-ms\">Kristy Meyer\u003c/a>, managing director of agricultural and clean water programs for the Ohio Environmental Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of this is good news for Lake Erie, a lake whose history brims with biblically sized algal blooms and that produces \u003ca href=\"http://www.politifact.com/ohio/statements/2012/mar/22/marcy-kaptur/rep-marcy-kaptur-says-lake-erie-has-more-native-fi/\">over 50 percent of all Great Lakes game fish\u003c/a> — supporting an \u003ca href=\"http://www.theoec.org/LakeErie\">$11.5 billion tourism industry\u003c/a> and 117,000 jobs in Ohio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of this, engineers have been encouraged to develop just about any solution to keep carp at bay — or out of one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One such solution was the \u003ca href=\"http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131223/METRO06/312230088\">electric barrier\u003c/a> in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which was meant to keep Asian carp from swimming through the CAWS and into Lake Michigan. Of the identified 18 points of entry into the Great Lakes, the Army Corps believes the CAWS point is the most critical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The barrier consists of three electrodes arranged in a line. These electrodes power a barrier much like an electric fence for dogs. Fish swimming into it receive an electric shock sufficient enough to stun them and keep them out — in theory. According to a report issued by the Army Corps in December, 2013, the barrier is effective against adult carp, but \u003ca href=\"http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/report-fish-swim-past-electric-barrier-meant-to-block-asian-carp-b99170326z1-237051941.html\">smaller fish of two to four inches long were able to find a loophole.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66449\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1673px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-66449\" title=\"Credit: Hannah Weinberger, ideastream\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp.jpg\" alt=\"AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp\" width=\"1673\" height=\"941\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp.jpg 1673w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp-400x225.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp-800x450.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp-1440x810.jpg 1440w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/AbsolutelyFinalHannahCarp-960x540.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1673px) 100vw, 1673px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit: Hannah Weinberger, ideastream. Click to enlarge.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Every day, dozens of barges sweep up and down the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal; and when something as large, dense, and metallic as a barge passes through, the “electric fence” is temporarily disrupted. Disruptions have been significant enough that other fish species have been able to swim through the barrier alongside or in the wake of barges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The same report notes the electrical field might not even be strong enough to incapacitate fish, despite the fact that its voltage had already been cranked up once before, in 2011. Also, power outages are a concern: an outage in 2012 put the barrier out of commission for 45 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not the first time this kind of technology has failed. In the early 2000s it was used to try to get rid of gobies in the Great Lakes, another invasive aquatic species. But by the time the Army Corps of Engineers erected the barrier’s electrode system, the gobies had already infiltrated the Mississippi water system via Lake Michigan. Due to slow implementation, the barrier was never truly put to the test.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Debating the Best Defense\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>With carp gaining on our best defenses, \u003ca href=\"http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/01/cleveland_to_corps_get_er_done.html\">many environmentalists are concerned\u003c/a> that the GLMRIS study wasn’t intended to lead to a decision directly, and that it’s still possible that nothing will be done to combat carp at the federal level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The Corps’] task from Congress was just to come up with possible scenarios,” clarifies Christopher Winslow, assistant director of the Ohio Sea Grant program. “So even in the GLMRIS report, all they’re saying is, ‘these seem like logical and feasible approaches.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report, already years in the making, leaves room for ambiguity about actual execution of the plans — only 5 percent of each of the eight options has been designed. Meyer worries this will stagnate the construction process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t want to see them now say, ‘Okay, well, let’s select [a plan] and do a few more years of the study to make sure that it’s even feasible,’” Meyer says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a big risk to take when plans require billions in funding. Still, an appropriate plan may pay off in the long term. Recent studies suggest that controlling the spread of invasive species already present in the Great Lakes can cost \u003ca href=\"http://news.nd.edu/news/29875-new-paper-assigns-dollar-figure-to-cost-from-ship-borne-invasive-species-to-the-great-lakes/\">up to $800 million annually\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just like in medicine — prevention is worth a pound of cure,” Winslow says. “Once they get in here … it might ultimately be less expensive to write that price tag off now than it would be to incur the annual upkeep.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists aren’t endorsing irresponsibility, but they do want action, and they worry that now is not the time for strict protocol or evaluation of every possible technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of all the methods presented, the most experimental involves a device called the GLMRIS Lock. Barges traveling between water systems would enter a lock, have all the water with them drained, and then pass into a bed of treated, clean water. It’s also the plan that gives most pause to environmentalists like \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/ohio/facesofconservation/john-stark.xml\">John Stark\u003c/a>, freshwater director of the Ohio arm of The Nature Conservancy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_66475\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 336px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/asian-jumping-fish.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-66475 \" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/quest/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2014/01/asian-jumping-fish-420x360.jpg\" alt=\"Incredibly bony heavy, Asian carp have been known to injure boaters and waterskiiers when they jump from the water. Credit: Louisville USACE.\" width=\"336\" height=\"288\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Incredibly bony heavy, Asian carp have been known to injure boaters and water skiers when they jump from the water. Credit: Louisville USACE.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My concern is, when you read the description of what they would have to do and the system that would supply it, it seems to me there’s all kinds of areas where that system could potentially fail,” Stark says. Between dependence on electricity, the prospect of mixing treatment chemicals incorrectly, and pipes breaking, Stark doesn’t see the lock as a sustainable choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Building Barriers that Work\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Two solutions proposed in the GLMRIS report reflect the calls of activists and some scientists by including a sought-after mechanism: complete division of the Mississippi and Great Lakes water systems at critical entry points.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not even just for Asian carp — you want to separate these two basins as much as possible for all invasives, ones that are there now and ones that might be in the future,” Tory Gabriel of Ohio Sea Grant says. “But ideally the best thing would be to physically separate the two watersheds, like they were naturally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While technological prototypes abound, hydrologic separation calls for a simple earthen-and-concrete barrier built up between water systems. Locks, bubble jets, and electroshock barriers offer possibilities of migration, but it’s pretty hard to swim through solid ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barriers are much more sustainable and less involved than other suggested technologies, says The Nature Conservancy’s John Stark. They aren’t simple to build, but they don’t require as much upkeep or engineering as pipe systems and treatment plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The trick with the barrier itself is that they’ll have to physically move cargo from one side of the barrier to the other, and potentially boats,” Stark says. “Nothing is going to be absolutely 100 percent, but this [hydrologic] barrier’s probably as close as you can get.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to complete hydrologic separation in the CAWS — the most critical entry point between the Mississippi and Great Lakes — Chicago would have to \u003ca href=\"http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2014/01/century-later-expensive-lesson-reversing-chicago-river/8069/\">redirect its entire septic and water system \u003c/a>back toward Lake Michigan. The only reason the two water systems connect at all is because the city redirected the flow a century ago for septic purposes. But with significant shipping interest in the city today, it has been difficult to pass barrier legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s easy to say that you could just go in and physically separate any water that connects the two basins, …but it’s never that easy,” Winslow says. “There’s always conflict of interest and different user groups, and money’s always an issue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"order": 8
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},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"order": 1
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"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
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"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"order": 9
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"hidden-brain": {
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"order": 18
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"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
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"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
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"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
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},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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