#Arizona Biosphere

[nixieofthenorth]

Foggy vines by Frank Tellez

[brithombar]

aloy keeps complaining about being cold and im like stop embarassing colorado in front of the californians

[ultralowoxygen]

Untitled by Kevin Chang Via Flickr: January 7, 2024 Biosphere 2 Oracle, AZ Olympus 35 RC/CineStill 800T

[covrettcreative]

Trapezoid in Trois

Seen near Oracle, Arizona.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Yale Environment 360:

Strong winds sweep over the Rhön, a vast region of rolling, forested hills and pastureland in central Germany. Undeterred, Stefan Zaenker, leading a group of four volunteers, runs through his checklist alongside a forest road. Are rubber boots disinfected to prevent introducing potentially harmful microorganisms into the wetland? Are the team app and GPS functioning correctly? Have enough flags been packed?

When all is in order, Zaenker, 56, leads the group into a soggy alder forest. Its mission for the day: to locate and map as-yet-undiscovered springs and document any species inhabiting them.

A senior conservation official for the state of Hesse, Zaenker considers springs so important for human life and biodiversity that he — along with volunteers from the Hesse Association for Cave and Karst Research — spends much of his spare time conducting large-scale searches for them in the Rhön, which includes the German states of Bavaria, Thuringia, and Hesse, and in a nearby national park.

Conservation strategies around the globe focus on rivers, bogs, forests, reefs, and many other habitat types. Springs rarely get any special attention. In the United States, for example, springs do “not appear to be a prominent feature on the conservation radar,” says Kirsten Work, a zoologist from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida.

But for the biosphere, these tiny spots dotted across Earth’s land surface play a powerful role: They connect reservoirs of groundwater to the outside, sunlit world. Only so-called “fossil” aquifers — ancient bodies of groundwater that do not recharge — lack a link with the surface. Without a continual connection to groundwater, which also feeds rivers, many landscapes would quickly dry up and become hotter. In addition, springs are home to a wide range of highly specialized species, some of which live outside by night and in the darkness of groundwater by day.

Far too little is known about where springs occur and what species they harbor, Zaenker says. In a country like Germany, which has no wilderness but a very efficient bureaucracy, most people assume that everything in nature has already been discovered and mapped. This is not true, he claims: “I can stand right next to an impressive spring with water flowing out, but the official topographical map shows nothing.” Official maps denote springs with a blue dot, indicating they are habitats protected by law. Yet many — if not most — springs remained undocumented. “How are we going to effectively protect these important habitats or know if they dry up,” asks Zaenker, “if we don’t even know they exist?”

Halfway around the globe, ecologist Larry Stevens is on a similar mission and is equally worried about the future of springs. In 2013, Stevens cofounded the Springs Stewardship Institute, a nonprofit science initiative linked with the Museum of Northern Arizona, and in 2023 he published Springs of the World: Distribution, Ecology, and Conservation. Stevens considers springs prime examples of “canaries in coal mines” because they act as early warning systems of water table decline and biodiversity loss.

Stevens is particularly fascinated by the large number of highly specialized and endemic species found in and around springs. He points out that with constant temperatures and high purity, spring water offers unique living conditions. Springs are often isolated from one another geographically and many have been in place for millennia, characteristics that make them hotspots for new species to arise and refuges for species that have lost their habitats elsewhere. “Although miniscule in habitat area compared to rivers, lakes, and oceans, springs support more than 10 percent of U.S. endangered species, as well as thousands of other rare and endemic biota,” he notes. For example, the so-called Comal Springs riffle beetle is limited to a few springs in Texas, while the endangered White River springfish lives only in isolated warm springs in eastern Nevada.

While there are many spectacular springs — like the white Pamukkale terraces of Turkey, Blue Spring in New Zealand, or the hot springs in Yellowstone National Park — most are rather inconspicuous. That doesn’t diminish their importance, though. Every creek, river, pond, and lake starts with at least one, and often many, springs.

[mindblowingscience]

Microbes do a lot under the soil surface that can’t be seen with the naked eye—from sequestering carbon to building the foundation of Earth’s crust. But even tiny microbes are feeling the stress of a hotter, drier future. The study, published in Nature Microbiology, is just one part of the B2 Water, Atmosphere, and Life Dynamics project, which brought over 90 researchers from around the world to the University of Arizona’s enclosed rainforest at Biosphere 2 to conduct a controlled drought experiment and better understand what happens to the world’s ecosystems when water is scarce. Uncovering how soil microbes process carbon and interact with the atmosphere under environmental stress helps scientists predict and support how ecosystems will adapt in the face of increasing temperatures and prolonged drought. When most people think of volatile organic compounds, they think of aerosols—which can contribute to warming and have negative impacts on air quality—but the term “volatile” simply refers to how easily a chemical or compound can change from a liquid to a gas phase, says lead study author Linnea Honeker, a postdoctoral researcher who worked with associate professor of environmental science Malak Tfaily in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences during the B2 WALD project.

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[hiswordsarekisses]

“For two years, scientists locked themselves in this artificial environment in Oracle, Arizona. The mission was to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching, and learning about Earth and its living systems. To this day, it is the largest closed system ever created. Inside their self-sustaining community, they created a number of mini-environments, including a desert, a rain forest, even an ocean. Now, the trees inside Biosphere 2 grew rapidly, more rapidly than they did outside of the dome, but they also fell over before reaching maturation.

After looking at the root systems and outer layers of bark, the scientists came to realize they were missing one crucial element: wind.

Over time, the effects of their windless environment became apparent. Without the stress of wind to strengthen the wood and the roots, the trees grew weak and could not hold up their own weight.

If we're honest, a lot of us want to live a Biosphere kind of life - sheltered and protected from hardship, struggle, pain, or doubt. And I completely understand this desire.

But something happens to us when we do.

I wonder if it's in the storms that God does his best work. Because, when the winds blow strongest our roots grow deepest.

And that will ultimately lead to the life we're meant for.”

~ Ian Simpkins

“O you afflicted one, Tossed with tempest, and not comforted, Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, And lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of rubies, Your gates of crystal, And all your walls of precious stones.” Isaiah‬ ‭54‬:‭11‬-‭12‬

[pollicinor]

Ecco la lista completa di tutte le 52 destinazioni Nord America Parigi, Francia Yamaguchi, Giappone Nuova Zelanda Maui, Hawaii Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni, Arizona Singapore O’Higgins, Cile Ladakh, India Ginevra, Svizzera Dominica, Caraibi Manchester, Gran Bretagna Idaho Baltimora, Maryland Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia Negombo, Sri Lanka Massa e Carrara, Italia Bannau Brycheiniog, Galles Marocco Valencia, Spagna Kansas City, Missouri Antananarivo, Madagascar Yucatan, Messico Lago di Toba, Indonesia Almaty, Kazakhstan Quito, Ecuador Alpi Albanesi. Valbona National Park Arcipelago di Mingan, Quebec Montgomery, Alabama Tasmania, Australia Waterford, Irlanda Tsavo National Park, Kenya Brasilia, Brasile El Salvador Koh Ker, Cambogia Vestmannayjar, Islanda Montevideo, Uruguay Mustang, Nepal Vienna, Austria Brisbane, Australia Pasadena, California Hurghada, Egitto Boundary Waters, Minnesota Thessaloniki (Salonicco), Grecia Normandia, Francia Grenada, Caraibi El Camino de Costa Rica Alpi albanesi Whitehorse, Yukon Choquequirao, Perù Dresda, Germania Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, Messico Flamingo, Florida Ben Youssef Madrasa, Marrakech

Dall'articolo "Dal «Sentiero dell'eclissi» a Massa Carrara: le mete imperdibili nel 2024 per il New York Times" di Marco Trabucchi

[garak]

i grew up in the temperate rainforest/mountains part of the western united states and thus grouping that in with the like open plains or deserts and mesas you get in montana or nevada or new mexico is counterintuitive to me. i have great affection for those places but theyre kind of opposite to the climate or biosphere i'm used to & i would probably be quicker to group western washington with b.c. and alaska than with arizona

[star-captain]

Hi, NPS ranger here with a focus on night sky protection and interpretation, and all of these points are valid! I work for an IDA Dark Sky Park, which basically means we have an incredible night sky and we protect it by keeping our park dark sky friendly- and that doesn't mean removing all light at all! It's just about the right amount of light in the right places at the right time. 40% of light is wasted

Things like using light sensors so that things illuminate only when it's needed, and makings sure the bulbs used are under a certain heat (basically color). At our park we have a lovely patio us rangers use for potlucks, and it has shielded light like the image above, so we aren't wasting light by shining it into the night sky!

Wasted light not only is a huge economic waste and adding to our carbon emissions because of the energy required, but also damaging to wildlife and us humans! Birds, mammals, bugs, sea turtles, and more all have been noted as having adverse, even deadly affects because of light pollution. A number of species rely on light to guide them, bright lights can blind them, and some even use the milky way to point them in the right direction! Humans have been noted to have troubles sleeping with light pollution, affects our hormone cycle which may even be leading to an increase of cancer because we're not producing enough melatonin. Sleep, blood pressure, digestion and more are all controlled by a biological clock that hasn't had bright lights at night until about 200 years ago. We've changed the night in a way the biosphere has never seen before.

Too much light isn't always a good thing for safety too! The IDA found that bright lighting doesn't diminish the amount of crime- in fact, if someone was not in the light while your eyes were adjusted to the brightness, you might not even be aware of someone threatening your safety!

Finally, to me, being able to see the night sky and all the stars is an incredibly important and valid reason to speak up about light pollution. At the NPS we dont consider the night sky just a natural resource like a nice view or a scientific resource like an observatory- its also a cultural resource work protecting. The stars and constellations connect us to our shared human history, to our cultures and their stories. It's a part of our history as humans to look up at the night sky and tell how those stars got there in those shapes, why the milky way is dashed across the sky. It's a part of our history as explorers and travelers and navigators to use the night sky as our guide. It reminds us that there's more beyond just earth, and important for astronomical research and earth protection (like detection a hazardous asteroid sooner).

Light Pollution is such an easy fix too, and tons of towns all over the world have become Dark Sky Communities- they still have lighting, but its controlled. Big towns like Flagstaff, Arizona is a Dark Sky Community- you can see the milky way from your driveway and still have lighting.

Reducing Light Pollution saves on money, saves the planet, reduces crime, reduces health problems, and reconnects us with our world.

I implore yall to check out the IDA- International DarkSky Association, especially if you're interested in learning how to install dark sky approved lighting (they even have a list of products!), and definitely check out this awesome documentary about Light Pollution

I am super against light pollution, and have been for decades

but I am also super annoyed by the way it's framed as "without light pollution you can see how beautiful the night sky is" way more prominently than it's framed as "hey, did you ever stop to think of how much energy/resources/money are literally wasted by having so much light shine up into the sky?"

so people get the idea that light pollution can only be remedied by eliminating all night-time light, which would make being outside at night very inconvenient, instead of by making night-time light shine only on the ground where, y'know, the people who need it are

[ajomarinemotel]

Discover Comfort and Convenience at the Best Hotel Near Organ Pipe National Monument

Introduction Looking for a hotel near Organ Pipe National Monument? This awe-inspiring desert wilderness draws travelers from all over the world who are eager to explore the unique landscapes, rare flora, and abundant wildlife of Arizona’s only UNESCO biosphere reserve. The region offers stunning natural beauty, and finding the right place to stay is crucial to making the most of your experience. Whether you’re looking for comfort, convenience, or an authentic desert experience, a top choice is Ajo Motel near Organ Pipe National Monument.

[covrettcreative]

The Future is Now

Seen near Oracle, Arizona.

[wildheart-gourmet]

Stuff I've been looking at as inspiration

I watched this video a while ago, and it's pretty youtube-pop-sciencey but I think it's come up again in my subconscious while I've been looking at the other stuff. Besides being decently entertaining, it gives some perspective to the ratios and dependencies we have as a planet that are hard to quantify due to the vastness of the world. It also leads into another more significant piece of media, which is...

Spaceship Earth, or more specifically the Arizona Biosphere 2 facility. Biosphere 2 was designed as a self-contained vivarium meant to simulate a closed system microcosm of Earth's ecosystem as an experiment in creating isolated self-sustaining systems for applications like surviving nuclear disasters and space colonization. The project came under scrutiny and eventually fell apart due to scientific community politics and mismanagement, but as far as I know it's the most spectacular example of this concept ever realized - a real case of reality being stranger than fiction, intertwined with the scientific ethos and discoveries underpinning the project.

I haven't watched this documentary yet but I plan on doing so as research for this project. The era and speculative fiction elements also coincide with another work I recently had the pleasure of reading...

A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller. I highly recommend this novel as a peak example of Cold War speculative fiction mixing post-apocalyptic prophesy, cycles of human nature and the historical relationship between science and religion mirrored in a fresh light. I'll have to see where these ideas all lead, because it's very exciting so far. However, the jury is out on whether these influences will be direct or not on the finished product - there could be more of an allegory / speculation dimension than a direct adaptation of the concepts. Further brainstorming and perhaps a paper prototype are in order...

[hcolleen]

I live in the Sonoran desert in Arizona. I love the desert and find it beautiful, but run across quite a few people who don't think so, so I want to share a few pictures of the desert southwest.

This is near Meteor Crater in Northern Arizona, taken in August of 2016.

The Mugillon Rim

The Grand Canyon

Oak Creek near Sedona

Red rocks of Sedona from a car

Biosphere 2 near Tucson AZ

Approaching the Hoover Dam

The Hoover Dam

This is a beautiful place, and quite diverse

[chasepipes]

An Overview of Meteor Impact Craters and Events

A meteor impact site is a location where, at some point in the past, a meteorite passed through Earth’s atmosphere and collided with the planet’s surface. Meteor impact events contrast with events involving smaller meteors, asteroids, and similar objects that enter the atmosphere but are vaporized before reaching the surface. Impact events can have minimal impact on the surrounding geography, while larger meteors leave massive craters and create long-term changes to the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. Scientists can study impact craters to learn about the meteor’s composition, the nature of the impact event, and how the event influenced the planet.

The Chicxulub impact crater is located beneath Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. Chicxulub is the planet’s only well-preserved peak ring crater. These types of craters are notable because of their size and the information they provide researchers regarding the composition and history of planetary crusts. The Chicxulub impactor is believed to have measured at least 6.2 miles in diameter, resulting in a crater with a depth of 12 miles and a diameter of 110 miles.

While the size of the impactor and crater are impressive on their own, Chicxulub is better known for the influence it had on the planet’s biodiversity. When the meteorite struck the planet roughly 66 million years ago, it wiped out the majority of animal and plant life on Earth, including the dinosaurs. Other effects included widespread earthquakes and tsunamis, a temporary heating of the planet’s temperature, and long-term disruptions of photosynthesis. Together, these and other effects drastically altered the planet’s atmosphere, ultimately setting the stage for the rise of primates as the dominant species.

Chicxulub may be known as the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, but it is not the only impact event that led to a period of mass extinction. The Manicouagan Reservoir in Quebec, Canada, was created by a 3-mile-diameter meteor that struck the planet about 212 million years ago, resulting in a loss of an estimated 60 percent of Earth’s biodiversity.

Sudbury Basin, also in Canada, has deformed and eroded over time, but it once measured 120 miles across. Meteor Crater in Arizona measures roughly three-quarters of a mile in diameter and nearly 560 feet. The crater is the result of an iron-nickel asteroid that hit Earth’s surface about 50,000 years ago, one measuring more than 160 feet. Other notable craters include the Lake Acraman impact structure in South Australia, the Morokweng impact structure in South Africa’s Kalahari Desert, and Wolfe Creek Crater, also in Australia.

A series of impact events from the earliest periods of the planet’s development have played even greater roles in the development of life on Earth. The first water that came to Earth as it formed arrived by meteors. Impact events influenced the spin, tilt, and orbit of the planet, and also led to the formation of Earth’s moon.

Individuals can find meteorite fragments on display in museums and exhibits around the world, and in some cases may have the opportunity to acquire a fragment for their own collection. The Allende meteorite was roughly the size of a car when it entered the atmosphere in 1969 but broke into thousands of pieces over Arizona, resulting in what is often described as the best-researched meteorite in history.

[xtruss]

Eating Fewer Calories Can Ward Off Ageing! And Various Existing Medicines May Offer Similar Benefits

— Published: September 25th 2023

Image: Anuj Shrestha

In 1991 eight volunteers sealed themselves into a huge greenhouse in the desert near Tucson, Arizona. They were part of an experiment seeking to discover whether a carefully curated selection of plants and animals could develop into a self-sustaining ecosystem: a “Biosphere 2” independent of “Biosphere 1”, aka the outside world.

In terms of proving grand ecological truths the Biosphere 2 experiments were something of a bust. As an illustration of what can happen when somewhat fringe-y science meets extreme wealth they were fascinating. There were fierce fallings-out on both sides of the glass. In 1994 Ed Bass, an oil dynast who had paid for the facility, threw out the management team and handed the reins to Steve Bannon, later a key adviser to Donald Trump. At the same time, though, there was what some took to be a breakthrough in the science of human ageing.

One of the eight biospherians was Roy Walford, a professor of pathology at the University of California, Los Angeles (ucla). Research by Walford and others had shown that restricting what animals ate could significantly lengthen their lives. The lifespans of nematode worms, fruit flies, rodents and dogs could be extended as much as 50% by laboratory protocols which gave them a diet with all the nutrients they needed in terms of minerals, vitamins and the like but fewer calories than were seen as normal.

Biosphere 2 allowed him to test the theory on humans in no position to sneak off for snacks. With a daily intake of 1,750-2,100 calories (7,320-8,790 kilojoules) the biospherians, trim to begin with, all slimmed down. But after eight months their weight stabilised. Gaunt as they were, their energy levels remained high. Blood tests showed physiological responses which matched those of calorie-restricted rodents with extended lifespans.

Some people have taken this as a reason to incorporate calorie restriction into their lives, as Walford did. But such diets, which go well beyond the sort of weight-restricting efforts to which any sensible person might aspire, are hard to maintain. That has provoked an interest in finding ways to get the benefits of calorie restriction without having to engage in it.

The Garden of Forking Paths

Calories are a measure of the amount of energy that cells can get from breaking food into its component chemical parts. The precise nature of that breaking down, and what happens with all the parts, is under the control of a range of signalling pathways which have the job of matching what the cell is doing with how much energy the organism needs and has available. Dysfunction in these nutrient-signalling pathways is one of the 12 hallmarks of ageing listed by Dr López-Otín and his colleagues.

If there is a general truth behind the success of calorie restriction, it is that when energy is on the scarce side, the nutrient signalling pathways in cells pay greater attention to what is going on and keep the cell in better shape. What is necessary if the same pathways are to be recruited without the calorie reduction is an understanding of what other cues can have the same effect.

The research would be both easier to do and easier to understand if these pathways all had distinct, clearly understood functions. Alas, this is not the case. Pathways frequently regulate more than one function, functions are frequently regulated by more than one pathway and the farthest-flung parts of pathways are often obscure. To make things yet less comprehensible, the proteins involved in the pathways have incredibly opaque names.

Take the mtorc1 pathway. The complex of proteins which gives it its name first came to attention because an immune suppressant called rapamycin has a strong effect on it: hence “mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1”. That gives no real clue, however, to the fact that the signalling pathway in which mtorc1 sits is a complex set of controls and feedbacks designed to regulate metabolism in response both to the availability of nutrients (for example, glucose, which provides energy, and amino acids, from which proteins are made) and impediments to their use (for example, low oxygen levels).

The ambit of this regulatory power is broad; it influences the rate at which cells break down damaged internal structures (“autophagy”), the balance of their protein content (“proteostasis”) and the reproduction of their mitochondria, components responsible for turning the calories it receives into a form of energy its proteins can use. Autophagy, proteostasis and mitochondrial reproduction are three more of the 12 hallmarks of ageing.

Rap of Ages

What is more, rapamycin, the effects of which give mtorc1 its name, turns out to lengthen the lives of lab animals even though it curbs their immune responses. This has led some longevity enthusiasts to seek off-label prescriptions for it. But its side-effects, including anaemia and an insensitivity to insulin, make rapamycin ill-suited for widespread use. There is thus a search for “rapalogs” which provide the benefits of a tuned-up mtorc1 pathway without so many costs.

Another pathway which calorie-restriction studies have marked out as promising is named after a protein called ampk (don’t ask). This regulates the production of atp, a small energy-carrying molecule produced in mitochondria. When atp levels fall, the ampk pathway increases a cell’s sensitivity to insulin.

Metformin, a drug used to treat type-2 diabetes, does so by activating the ampk pathway. Like rapamycin, it extends the lifespans of healthy mice. It does the same for diabetic humans. A study published in 2014 showed that diabetes patients treated with metformin enjoyed a decreased mortality rate, not just compared with patients who were not treated with it, but also with healthy controls who were not given the drug.

Not surprisingly, metformin is also used off-label, probably more widely than rapamycin. The American Federation for Ageing Research, a not-for-profit organisation, hopes soon to start a six-year, 3,000-person clinical trial to measure its effects in people from 65- to 79-years-old. The Targeting Ageing with Metformin (tame) trial will see if metformin helps prevent cardiovascular disease, cancer and cognitive decline; it will also test the hypothesis that it reduces all-cause mortality.

A further set of medicines developed to treat diabetes but now used more widely are the glp-1 receptor agonists. The best known, semaglutide (sold as Wegovy), has been specifically licensed in various places for use in people without diabetes who nevertheless need to lose weight. Whether they might live longer than someone of the same final weight who does not take one of the drugs is an open question. There are no published studies that show the drugs to have an effect on the lifespans of laboratory animals.

One thing that does do the job for lab animals is taurine, an amino acid widely used as a dietary supplement. According to a recent paper by Parminder Singh of the Buck Institute for Research on Ageing in Novato, California, and colleagues, in mice taurine increases lifespan by 10%; some of this seems to be due to nutrient signalling. But there are effects on four or five other hallmarks of ageing, too. Taurine levels drop with age in humans but, in those who live to be over 100, levels stay significantly higher.

Nutrient sensitivity may also be enhanced by a molecule called nad+. Some enzymes—proteins which catalyse chemical reactions—require the presence of a small extra molecule to do their thing. nad+ is such a “co-enzyme”. More than 300 enzymes need it to be present if they are to do their bit for the cell. And if you give mice more of it, they live longer.

Considering that nad+ is so generous with its favours it is difficult to know exactly which of the enzymes it helps are responsible for delivering this effect. But one connection which looks particularly interesting is that with a set of proteins called sirtuins.

La Vie En Vin Rouge

Sirtuins came to prominence two decades ago when David Sinclair, who is now co-director of the Centre for Biology of Ageing Research at Harvard University, showed that stimulating their production prolongs life in a variety of laboratory animals. One form of stimulation is calorie restriction. But Dr Sinclair discovered a chemical alternative: resveratrol, a molecule found, among other places, in the skins of red grapes.

Dr Sinclair is by no means publicity-shy; his discovery saw a great deal of brouhaha. He founded a company, Sirtris, to produce resveratrol derivatives suited to the human body. The work did not amount to much. Sirtris, having been bought by GlaxoSmithKline, ceased to exist as a separate entity in 2013.

That might seem a cautionary tale. But it can also be seen as grounds for hope. Sirtuins got a lot of attention because there had been no similarly credible claims about longevity for some time. Their story set out a blueprint for looking into such things: a mechanism looked interesting, a molecule seemed promising, investigations were carried out, conclusions were drawn. Many more mechanisms and drugs are now being scrutinised in the same way. Some scepticism is warranted. But there is no reason to believe that none of them will get results just because the few looked at so far have not. ■

— This article appeared in the Technology Quarterly section of the print edition under the headline "Don’t Be Greedy"