#soil sciences

[sciencedayforpeaceanddev]

Engaging Minds and Empowering Future.

Why Science Matters?

World Science Day for Peace and Development 2024; November 10th.

[ketyoulater]

[reasonsforhope]

"Many people know about the Yellowstone wolf miracle. After wolves were reintroduced to the national park in the mid-1990s, streamside bushes that had been grazed to stubble by out-of-control elk populations started bouncing back. Streambank erosion decreased. Creatures such as songbirds that favor greenery along creeks returned. Nearby aspens flourished.

While there is debate about how much of this stemmed from the wolves shrinking the elk population and how much was a subtle shift in elk behavior, the overall change was dramatic. People were captivated by the idea that a single charismatic predator’s return could ripple through an entire ecosystem. The result was trumpeted in publications such as National Geographic.

But have you heard about the sea otters and the salt marshes? Probably not.

It turns out these sleek coastal mammals, hunted nearly to extinction for their plush pelts, can play a wolf-like role in rapidly disappearing salt marshes, according to new research. The findings highlight the transformative power of a top predator, and the potential ecosystem benefits from their return.

“It begs the question: In how many other ecosystems worldwide could the reintroduction of a former top predator yield similar benefits?” said Brian Silliman, a Duke University ecologist involved in the research.

The work focused on Elk Slough, a tidal estuary at the edge of California’s Monterey Bay. The salt marsh lining the slough’s banks has been shrinking for decades. Between 1956 and 2003, the area lost 50% of its salt marshes.

Such tidal marshes are critical to keeping shorelines from eroding into the sea, and they are in decline around the world. The damage is often blamed on a combination of human’s altering coastal water flows, rising seas and nutrient pollution that weakens the roots of marsh plants.

But in Elk Slough, a return of sea otters hinted that their earlier disappearance might have been a factor as well. As many as 300,000 sea otters once swam in the coastal waters of western North America, from Baja California north to the Aleutian Islands. But a fur trade begun by Europeans in the 1700s nearly wiped out the animals, reducing their numbers to just a few thousand by the early 1900s. Southern sea otters, which lived on the California coast, were thought to be extinct until a handful were found in the early 1900s.

In the late 1900s, conservation organizations and government agencies embarked on an effort to revive the southern sea otters, which remain protected under the Endangered Species Act. In Monterey Bay, the Monterey Bay Aquarium selected Elk Slough as a prime place to release orphaned young sea otters taken in by the aquarium.

As the otter numbers grew, the dynamics within the salt marsh changed. Between 2008 and 2018, erosion of tidal creeks in the estuary fell by around 70% as otter numbers recovered from just 11 animals to nearly 120 following a population crash tied to an intense El Niño climate cycle.

While suggestive, those results are hardly bulletproof evidence of a link between otters and erosion. Nor does it explain how that might work.

To get a more detailed picture, the researchers visited 5 small tidal creeks feeding into the main slough. At each one, they enclosed some of the marsh with fencing to keep out otters, while other spots were left open. Over three years, they monitored the diverging fates of the different patches.

The results showed that otter presence made a dramatic difference in the condition of the marsh. They also helped illuminate why this was happening. It comes down to the otters’ appetite for small burrowing crabs that live in the marsh.

Adult otters need to eat around 25% of their body weight every day to endure the cold Pacific Ocean waters, the equivalent of 20 to 25 pounds. And crabs are one of their favorite meals. After three years, crab densities were 68% higher in fenced areas beyond the reach of otters. The number of crab burrows was also higher. At the same time, marsh grasses inside the fences fared worse, with 48% less mass of leaves and stems and 15% less root mass, a critical feature for capturing sediment that could otherwise wash away, the scientists reported in late January in Nature.

The results point to the crabs as a culprit in the decline of the marshes, as they excavate their holes and feed on the plant roots. It also shows the returning otters’ potential as a marsh savior, even in the face of rising sea levels and continued pollution. In tidal creeks with high numbers of otters, creek erosion was just 5 centimeters per year, 69% lower than in creeks with fewer otters and a far cry from earlier erosion of as much as 30 centimeters per year.  

“The return of the sea otters didn’t reverse the losses, but it did slow them to a point that these systems could restabilize despite all the other pressures they are subject to,” said Brent Hughes, a biology professor at Sonoma State University and former postdoctoral researcher in Silliman’s Duke lab.

The findings raise the question of whether other coastal ecosystems might benefit from a return of top predators. The scientists note that a number of these places were once filled with such toothy creatures as bears, crocodiles, sharks, wolves, lions and dolphins. Sea otters are still largely absent along much of the West Coast.

As people wrestle to hold back the seas and revive their ailing coasts, a predator revival could offer relatively cheap and effective assistance. “It would cost millions of dollars for humans to rebuild these creek banks and restore these marshes,” Silliman said of Elk Slough. “The sea otters are stabilizing them for free in exchange for an all-you-can-eat crab feast.”"

-via Anthropocene Magazine, February 7, 2024

[stealingyourbones]

Not even really a crossover but it could be

Danny gets outed/reveals/something and everybody knows he's Phantom. There are science organizations that are absolutely *frothing* at the mouth to hire him.

He gets hired to modify and then deploy hurricane and tornado reading equipment because he's able to fly into the center unharmed. There is much less margin or error because he's always able to get the equipment deployed if the weather is still happening.

Maybe it's a side job while he's in school for his BA or something

.

[parakavka]

I have some new hard enamel pins available in my Etsy shop! A soils color chart and the soils pyramid! There is also a combo pack where you can pick which color triangle and soils chart you want together.

Show everyone how much you love dirt today.

[void-dragon4]

vote for one and when this poll closes we will see what we make!

[neurotypical-karen]

So we Joke we Jest and we are all in love with the soil triangle. but I just realized most of yall probably don't know that you can, in fact, determine where soil lies on here just by Feeling It In Your Hands, so I want to share this secret chart with you all so that you too can do this cool party trick:

[hellsite-proteins]

Can you do the lyrics to "Soil" by Cosmo Sheldrake, I think it'd be fitting

sure thing! i always find his music calming, but for some reason i doubt that the protein form will have the same effect

letter sequence in this ask matching protein-coding amino acids:

IwannagdnwardsIwannaegrndIwannafednIwannareakdwnIwannaeallgneIwannaefdIwannaewalkednIwannaesilIwannaesilIwannaesndIwannahldsecretsThatwillneverefndIwannaesilLivepsidedwntitwillnevergetlnelyWitheverynerndIwannagdwnwaardsIwannagdwnwardsIwannaegrndIwannaegrndIwannaesilIwannaesilIwannaesndtitwillneveresilentAndIwillneverefndNevernevereaqestinThatIwannagdwnThatIwannaesilThatIwannaegrnd

protein guy analysis:

i'm not mad so much as i'm confused. this is a weird looking one. disordered loops going all over the place aren't new, and there is a lot of that here. the more unusual part is the long and very curved alpha helix. there is a glycine right around where the bend is, but i still feel like that doesn't fully explain it. interestingly enough, this helix is actually the part of the structure that AlphaFold trusts most. i've simply decided to let this unnatural mess exist and not question too much of why it's like this.

predicted protein structure:

cartoon coloured by pLDDT

close up of side chains on bent helix

[ahedderick]

Soil acidity

A month or so ago, my husband started drinking coffee. Yeah, he's 57 years old. Yeah, he JUST started drinking coffee. I don't drink it, so there has never been coffee-making in this house, except when my brother used to visit. And I just realized - I can have coffee grounds! For compost! For my acid-loving blueberries! He has been dumping his grounds in our regular compost bucket, but I'm going to set aside a jar for them and save some up. This is good news! I might try dumping some around some of my tomato plants and not others - to see if there's a difference. Although, to be fair, that probably should have started when they were just getting started in May.

Anyhoo. There was a 4:15am racoon/chicken alarm that got us all out of bed. The chicks are fine, humans very disgruntled. Then a 6am cat puking event. What wonders will the rest of the day bring?

[jenfoundabug]

Female crane fly (family Tipulidae) laying eggs. I knew some species lay eggs in soil, but wasn’t expecting it to look this silly 😆

While most crane fly adults don’t feed (they’re not giant mosquitoes!), most larvae eat dead plant matter. Larvae are an important part of the soil ecosystem because they convert organic matter into nutrients that plants and other life forms can use. Crane flys are also an important food source at all stages of their life for everything from spiders to song birds.

[mindblowingscience]

Strategies deployed for the restoration of degraded land have had promising results in Brazil's semi-arid region, improving the microbial properties of the soil and contributing to a return of native ecosystem services. The techniques include removal of cattle or restriction of their access to specific areas of pasture; cultivation of cover crops; and terracing to control erosion. Recovery of soil microbial properties maintains biodiversity and raises crop yields, contributing to agricultural sustainability. These are the main findings of a study reported in the Journal of Environmental Management by a Brazilian research group comprising scientists affiliated with the University of São Paulo (USP), the Federal University of Piauí (UFPI), the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), and the Federal University of the Agreste of Pernambuco (UFAPE). The review article encompasses 18 studies conducted in the semi-arid region, especially the Caatinga, a local biome consisting mainly of deciduous thorn forest.

Continue Reading.

[sock-ness-monster]

My soil texture triangle post has become popular beyond my wildest dreams so sorry not sorry to report that soil texture triangle is old news in this new year its all about

✨️Anura Limb Length and their Adaptions✨️

[reasonsforhope]

"A surprise discovery from the University of Birmingham shows that we may be significantly underestimating the potential of trees to regulate the variables of climate change.

That’s because they found microbes living inside trees’ bark absorb the greenhouse gas methane about as significantly as microbes living in the soil.

It’s long been thought that soil is the only effective terrestrial methane sink, as certain microorganisms use methane as a food source, but similar creatures live under a tree’s layer of bark, meaning that not only do our woody cousins withdraw CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in their roots, but also remove methane as well, about as effectively or perhaps more so than soil.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas for the few short years it exists in the atmosphere before degrading.

Professor Vincent Gauci of U. Birmingham led the study, published in the journal Nature.

In the study, the researchers investigated upland tropical, temperate, and boreal forest trees. Specifically, they took measurements spanning tropical forests in the Amazon and Panama; temperate broadleaf trees in the UK; and boreal coniferous forests in Sweden.

The methane absorption was strongest in the tropical forests, probably because microbes thrive in the warm wet conditions found there. On average the newly discovered methane absorption adds around 10% to the climate benefit that temperate and tropical trees provide.

By studying methane exchange between the atmosphere and the tree bark at multiple heights, the researchers were able to show that while at soil level the trees were likely to emit a small amount of methane, from a couple of meters up the direction of exchange switches and methane from the atmosphere is consumed.

In addition, the team used laser scanning methods to quantify the overall global forest tree bark surface area, with preliminary calculations indicating that the total global contribution of trees is between 24.6-49.9 Tg (millions of tonnes) of methane. This fills a big gap in understanding the global sources and sinks of methane.

“Tree woody surfaces add a third dimension to the way life on Earth interacts with the atmosphere, and this third dimension is teeming with life, and with surprises,” said co-author Yadvinder Malhi of the University of Oxford."

-via Good News Network, July 31, 2024

[wachinyeya]

University of California, Riverside, chemical and environmental engineering scientists have identified two species of bacteria found in soil that break down a class of stubborn “forever chemicals,” giving hope for low-cost biological cleanup of industrial pollutants.

These bacteria destroy a subgroup of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, that have one or more chlorine atoms within their chemical structure, Yujie Men, an assistant professor in the Bourns College of Engineering, and her UCR colleagues, reported in the journal Natural Water.

Unhealthful forever chemicals persist in the environment for decades or much longer because of their unusually strong carbon-to-fluorine bonds. Remarkably, the UCR team found that the bacteria cleave the pollutant’s chlorine-carbon bonds, which starts a chain of reactions that destroy the forever chemical structures, rendering them harmless.

“What we discovered is that bacteria can do carbon-chlorine bond cleavage first, generating unstable intermediates,” Men said. “And then those unstable intermediates undergo spontaneous defluorination, which is the cleavage of the carbon-fluorine bond.”

Chlorinated PFAS are a large group in the forever chemical family of thousands of compounds. They include a variety of non-flammable hydraulic fluids used in industry and compounds used to make chemically stable films that serve as moisture barriers in various industrial, packaging, and electronic applications.

The two bacteria species – Desulfovibrio aminophilus and Sporomusa sphaeroides – identified by Men’s group are naturally occurring and are known to live in the subterranean microbiomes where groundwater may be contaminated with PFAS. For expedited cleanups, an inexpensive nutrient, such as methanol, could be injected into groundwater to promote bacterial growth. This would greatly increase the bacteria’s presence to destroy the pollutants more effectively, Men said. If the bacteria are not already present, the contaminated water could be inoculated with one of the bacterium species.

But what’s known about using microorganisms to clean up PFAS is still in its infancy, Men said. Her discovery shows great promise because biological treatments, if effective pollutant-eating microbes are available, are generally less costly and more environmentally friendly than chemical treatments. Pollutant-eating microbes can also be injected into difficult-to-reach locations underground.

Men’s latest PFAS study comes as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is promulgating new regulations to spur cleanups of PFAS-contaminated groundwater sites throughout the nation because these chemicals have been linked to a host of ill health effects, including cancer, kidney disease, and hormone disruptions.

[gottalottarocks]

It’s October! Let’s get spooky 👻

[opens-up-4-nobody]

It turns out teaching is a lot more fun when you're not violently depressed