Eleven years ago, a mysterious disease killed most of the adult starfish off California and Oregon. The most severely affected, Sunflower Seastar, was the main predator limiting the spread of Purple Urchins. The sudden disappearance of a key predator triggered a "trophic cascade" that led to an ongoing ecological crisis, including the collapse of the kelp forests. After a decade of painstaking research, the pathogen responsible for Seastar Wasting Disease has finally been identified.
Gray Whales were once nearly wiped out by commercial whaling. Once that ceased in the late 20th century, they staged a remarkable comeback, reaching a population of around 26,000 by 2016. But since then many have died on migration, and a new estimate indicates their population has been cut in half. We talk with Dr. Aimee Lang of the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center about that estimate, and what might be causing the decline of these iconic marine mammals.
Just when you think you've got life all figured out... scientists find something that redefines the whole concept. Ecology Hour hosts Bob Spies and Tim Bray talk with Dr. Karen Lloyd, Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California, about her research into alien life forms right here on Earth - what she calls "Intraterrestrials" in her new book. Some of these organisms challenge our basic understanding of life: their metabolic processes function so slowly that individuals may live for hundreds of thousands of years. Some of them can breathe Arsenic; others eat methane and produce formaldehyde. Their discovery has created a new and wild frontier in scientific research, and Dr. Lloyd is in the vanguard.
Have you ever seen an Albatross? They are an awe-inspiring sight and there are hundreds of them off the Mendocino coast right now. Many of them are coming here to get food for their chicks, which are more than two thousand miles away, on remote islands in the Hawaiian chain. Ecology Hour hosts Bob Spies and Tim Bray get the whole story from Dr. Jonathan Plissner, Supervising Wildlife Biologist at the Midway Island National Wildlife Refuge, where millions of Albatrosses nest.
We hear a lot about the immediate effects of a major oil spill, but what happens later? Our guest Dr. Jeffrey Short is a biochemist who has investigated ecosystem effects of major spills. Working with our host Dr. Robert Spies after the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, he discovered that large quantities of oil persisted in the subsurface long after the spill - a finding that was quite controversial at the time. More recently he came out of retirement to work on assessing the damage from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, where he showed that the official estimates of bird mortality were at least an order of magnitude too low. That mortality in turn caused a dramatic population increase in Menhaden, the key link in the Gulf of Mexico food chain and the second-largest commercial fishery in the US. The population explosion has led to malnourishment and greatly decreased the economic value of the fishery, as well as its ecosystem function.
Tim Bray and Bob Spies talk with Erin Zulliger of the Institute for Wildlife Studies, who has been studying Elk in northern California. Always an impressive sight, these fascinating animals have a long history here and are currently adapting to changing conditions. Listen to find out more about their lives, their predators, and their populations.
Robert Jamgochian and Doug Nunn talk about the SONAR program (School of Natural Resources) they created and ran at Mendocino High School for several years. Students learned how to follow scientific protocols, collect field data, analyze it and write up their findings in scientific reports. Many have gone on to pursue education and careers in environmental law, engineering, or biology. Some were active in getting the Big River estuary included as a Marine Protected Area.
We see them in cartoons as well as in our gardens, but how much do we really know about Praying Mantises? We learn a lot about them from doctoral candidate Lohit Garikipati at the American Museum of Natural History. Originally from California, Lohit became fascinated by these bizarre insects at an early age and has been studying them ever since. They display many amazing adaptations and Lohit relishes telling us all about them.
In the last few weeks, many sick and dying California Sea Lions began showing up on central California beaches, even hauling out at Pier 39 in San Francisco. They were victims of Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning, aka Domoic Acid Toxicosis. What is domoic acid, where does it come from, and why is it affecting so many marine mammals? For answers we turn to Dr. Pádraig Duignan, Director of Pathology at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito. He is at the front lines in the response to this outbreak, in addition to many other novel diseases affecting marine mammals, and explains what is happening and why.
We spoke with Dr. Eric Bjorkstedt of the NOAA Fisheries Ecosystem Science Center. He talked about some of the work being done at the Telonicher Marine Laboratory in Trinidad, Humboldt County,
monitoring the offshore marine ecosystem in this little-studied region. Dr. Bjorkstedt gives us an update on current research and some recent findings, including how some key elements of the food web have responded to marine heat waves, as well as the large-scale oscillations of marine weather in the Northeast Pacific Ocean.
Birds invest considerable effort in the reproductive processes and have evolved myriad ways to improve their chances of success. The entire process of mating, nest-building, brooding, and rearing young consumes enormous amounts of energy, often leaving the parent birds nearly worn-out by the time their young reach independence. It is perhaps no wonder, then, that a few birds have developed a way to avoid most of that expense by getting other birds to do most of the work. Brood parasites lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, which then hatch and rear them unwittingly.
The most widespread and abundant brood parasite in North America is the Brown-headed Cowbird. Dr. Mark Hauber studies Cowbirds and other brood parasites around the world, focusing on questions of recognition, social function, and the complex interactions between the parasites and their victims. He is a Professor at the University of Illinois in the Department of Animal Biology, School of Integrative Biology, where he runs the “Cowbird Lab” and conducts some fascinating research. He is also Harley Jones Van Cleave Professor of Host-Parasite Interactions in the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior. Dr Hauber addressed the central question of recognition: How does a Cowbird chick, raised entirely by another species, know it is a Cowbird?
On the April 2024 episode, we delve into how best to support the environment through charitable giving. We hear from Tom Wheeler, Executive Director of EPIC in Arcata, CA, and from Lawyer Paula Goodwin of Perkins Coie, as well as take a closer look at a number of nonprofits. Check out our Primer for Giving! The show also features music from artist and activists Diane Patterson and Alice Dimicele, featured here with their express permission.
Join us for a follow up on a past episode on residential decarbonization., with some state forest news starting the hour:
Segment 1: Richard Gienger on the Board of Forestry:
To send comments to the Board of Forestry:
Publiccomments.@bof.co.gov
Segment 2: Sonoma Clean Power Resources for improved home efficiency:
Evan Mills’ resource sheet here and his full, updated report, Kermit Was Right.
A net zero community in Vermont here.
Segment 3: Matt Simmons on Wind Power and the Grid in Humboldt:
~The Environmental Protection Information Center Blog
We learn about Elephant Seals from Dr. Heather Liwanag, Associate Professor in the Biological Sciences at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. She studies the physiological adaptations of animals to their environment, and Elephant Seals provide her with many remarkable features to study.
The largest and deepest-diving pinnipeds in the world, Elephant Seals can be found on certain California beaches during their breeding season, when the males put on spectacular battle displays. At other times they are occasionally found hauled out when they molt. The rest of their lives are spent at sea, where they are only occasionally spotted as they come up for air between dives; they even sleep under water.
Gray Whales have recently been spotted off Mendocino. On The Ecology Hour this week, we replay a great discussion from June 2022 with Dr. James Harvey of the Moss Landing Marine Laboratory, who gave us a great overview of their lives and their fantastic migrations.
Tim Bray and Dr. Robert Spies take a deep dive into the world of squid, with Dr. Sarah MacAnulty, Executive Director of Skype a Scientist. Jet-propelled and able to change color at the speed of thought, they are both predator and prey in every ocean, and the subject of the world's largest fishery. Surprisingly complex, with an evolutionary history going back hundreds of millions of years, they are endlessly fascinating creatures.