Tag Archives: spoiler alerts

A huge, toxic algae bloom is basically eating the West Coast alive

by DeloresLamson Posted on August 7, 2015

spoiler alert!

A huge, toxic algae bloom is basically eating the West Coast alive

By on 7 Aug 2015commentsShare

Remember that big algae bloom that was sweeping the West Coast a few weeks ago? Here’s an update: It’s still there, and it’s bigger, denser, and more toxic than anyone suspected. You know what this means, don’t you? Welcome back to Spoiler Alerts, where we bring the worst news from our changing climate, straight to you.

This kind of toxic algae bloom — sometimes called a “red tide” — is not uncommon. But scientists have never known one to be this bad before, according to Reuters:

The bloom, which emerged in May, stretches thousands of miles from the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California to Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and has surprised researchers by its size and composition.

“It’s just lurking there,” Vera Trainer, research oceanographer with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Washington state, told Reuters on Thursday. “It’s the longest lasting, highest toxicity and densest bloom that we’ve ever seen.”

“It’s just lurking there.” Is it just me, or does that sound like the beginning of a creature feature flick about mutant mollusks? Before you ask, we’re not certain climate change is fully to blame — but we’re pretty sure we could be seeing more of these supercharged red tides in the future:

Researchers have yet to determine whether longer-term global climate change from rising levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions are playing a role, but the massive bloom may be a harbinger of things to come in any case, she said.

“Whether this is or is not due to climate change, I think it provides a window to the future of what we could see happen under climate change scenarios,” Trainer said.

What we do know for sure is that it’s costing us big time:

NOAA said in a statement that the closure of a Washington state razor clam fishery resulted in $9.2 million in lost income and has also damaged the state’s $84 million commercial crabbing industry.

First, with the salmon, then with the razor clams and crabs. It’s as if climate change is trying to turn us all into vegetarians — though that’s maybe not the worst idea, it’s not great news for my cioppino habit.

Source:
Massive toxic algae bloom reaches from California to Alaska

, Reuters.

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A huge, toxic algae bloom is basically eating the West Coast alive

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Warming waters are destroying your salmon burger

by GenevaTenison Posted on July 28, 2015

Spoiler Alert

Warming waters are destroying your salmon burger

By on 28 Jul 2015 4:52 pmcommentsShare

The Columbia River is many things: the fourth largest U.S. river by volume, the river that generates more hydroelectric power than any other in North America, and now, a mass salmon gravesite. Warming river water has killed or will kill more than 250,000 sockeye salmon this spawning season. Welcome to the latest installment of Spoiler Alerts, where climate change deflates all the balloons.

Al Jazeera America lays out the grisly details:

Federal and state fisheries biologists say the warm water is lethal for the cold-water species and is wiping out at least half of this year’s return of 500,000 fish and by the end of the season that death toll could grow to as high as 400,000.

“We had a really big migration of sockeye,” Ritchie Graves of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told The Associated Press. “The thing that really hurts is we’re going to lose a majority of those fish.”

He said up to 80 percent of the population could ultimately perish.

One of the problems is that record low snowfall in the surrounding mountain ranges has resulted in little runoff that would normally cool the river. The fish, which start to experience stress around 68 degrees F, have been subjected to 70 degree waters since June, with some tributaries reaching 76 degrees. Which means you should wasabi up that Columbia River sashimi while you can — it might be going out of style. In addition to composing a healthy link in the Pacific Northwest ecosystem, Pacific domestic salmon made up about 80 metric tons of food for Americans annually between 2000 and 2004.

Not only are the effects of warming temperatures on the salmon population extreme, climatologists and animal scientists suggest that they’re an expected extreme. Al Jazeera America continues:

The devastation to the local sockeye salmon population is just one of climate change’s effects on wildlife and will “likely” reoccur intermittently over the next decade, James J. Anderson, a University of Washington fisheries scientist whose research focuses on the fish of the Columbia basin, told Al Jazeera.

“The larger problem is that the climate is changing faster than our ability to comprehend the magnitude of the problem,” he said. “Warmer rivers and salmon die-offs can be added to the many events that individually may be random, but which together reveal a rapidly changing world.”

This rapidly changing world has made for a bad month for animals and the climate. The sockeye news follows reports of climate-induced bee deaths and climate change culpability in the extinction of woolly mammoths.

When asked about the salmon deaths, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife fisheries manager John North told Reuters, “We’ve never had mortalities at this scale.” When the effects of climate change start sounding like a war zone, we’ve got a problem.

Source:
In hot water: Columbia’s sockeye salmon face mass die-off

, Al Jazeera America.

Thousands of salmon die in hotter-than-usual Northwest rivers

, Reuters.

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Warming waters are destroying your salmon burger

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Stop blaming yourself for the woolly mammoth extinction

by StewartFollmer Posted on July 27, 2015

SPOILER ALERT

Stop blaming yourself for the woolly mammoth extinction

By on 27 Jul 2015commentsShare

Phew! It looks like we might finally be off the hook for killing all the woolly mammoths. New research suggests that it was climate change, not overhunting and human-caused habitat fragmentation, that drove all of Mr. Snuffleupagus’ ancestors to extinction. This must feel almost as good as that time you thought you’d killed your neighbor’s dog by letting it eat a bunch of chocolate and then found out that it actually just had cancer! Welcome back to Spoiler Alerts, where climate change is always the culprit.

Scientists have been trying to figure this out for decades — not only what killed the woolly mammoth, but what killed all kinds of large land animals during what’s known as the Late Pleistocene (miss you, giant ground sloth!). But only recently, with advances in DNA analysis, radiocarbon dating, and historical climate data, have they really been able to zero in on what actually went down.

And that’s exactly what a group of researchers from Australia and the U.S. did using 56,000 years worth of climate and DNA data. They reported their findings — that periods of warming coincided with die-offs — last week in the journal Science. Here’s more from a press release out of the University of Adelaide:

The researchers came to their conclusions after detecting a pattern, 10 years ago, in ancient DNA studies suggesting the rapid disappearance of large species. At first the researchers thought these were related to intense cold snaps.

However, as more fossil-DNA became available from museum specimen collections and through improvements in carbon dating and temperature records that showed better resolution through time, they were surprised to find the opposite. It became increasingly clear that rapid warming, not sudden cold snaps, was the cause of the extinctions during the last glacial maximum.

The researchers also noted that humans, while not the primary cause of the extinctions, certainly didn’t help matters (just like you feeding your neighbor’s sick dog chocolate didn’t help, you monster!). As Chris Turney from the University of New South Wales put it in the press release:

“The abrupt warming of the climate caused massive changes to the environment that set the extinction events in motion, but the rise of humans applied the coup de grâce to a population that was already under stress.”

If these researchers are right, then Harvard geneticist George Church’s attempt to bring back the woolly mammoth in the form of a mammoth-elephant hybrid looks less like a pioneering act of genetic engineering and more like a cruel joke: “Welcome back, guys! There are now 7 billion of us, and we’re driving the Earth toward rapid and catastrophic climate change.”

Source:
Mammoths killed by abrupt climate change

, University of Adelaide.

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Stop blaming yourself for the woolly mammoth extinction

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Thirsty birds are dying all over California — thanks, climate change

by KareemBerg Posted on July 17, 2015

spoiler alert!

Thirsty birds are dying all over California — thanks, climate change

By on 17 Jul 2015commentsShare

You know that historic and disastrous drought currently turning California into one big heap of straw? You know how it’s probably being exacerbated by climate change? And indicative of the conditions that will become more common as the climate continues to warm?

As if that weren’t bad enough on its own, there’s more: All those hot and dry conditions mean that climate change is basically flipping the bird to birds, which are in serious trouble as they make their long migrations over parched California. Yup — welcome back to Spoiler Alerts, where climate change is always a jerk.

Here’s the gruesome scene from National Geographic:

Along the 4,000-mile-long Pacific flyway — one of four main routes in North America for migrating birds — up to six million ducks, geese, and swans wing south every year to find warmth after raising young in the rich habitats of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia. They are joined by millions of shorebirds, songbirds, and seabirds, including the ultimate endurance winner, the arctic tern.

But California’s drought has dried up its wetlands. Many insects, fish, and plants are gone. As a result, some migrating birds have died or been depleted of so much energy that they have trouble reproducing. Thousands of ducks and geese, crowded onto parched rivers and marshes, are felled by botulism and cholera, which race through their feeding grounds.

So many birds rely on California as they make the trek down from summer homes in Alaska that the litany of threatened species reads like a birder’s wishlist: long-billed dowitchers, sandhill cranes, tricolored blackbirds, cinnamon teal, tundra swans, snow geese, Western sandpipers, northern shovelers, Wilson’s phalaropes. I don’t know what half those things are and I’m still sad. Just think how bummed all those retirees with binoculars and a lot of time on their hands are going to be.

Even the birds that survive the migration this year may be pretty ragged by the next time they get to their breeding grounds. With little food and not enough water, many may not breed at all (we’ve all been there):

“The birds will see there’s no water and will fly to where water is. Now there’s one less refuge and pressure on the other refuges. When they fly back to breeding territory in Alaska and Canada, they’re not in good shape. If they’re weak, they’re susceptible to disease. Some may not breed,” [Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge manager] Frisk says.

And that’s bad news for birders, too:

Along the coastal part of the Pacific flyway, on the last day of April, Josiah Clark, a champion birder, pedaled 130 miles, from the Santa Cruz Mountains to San Francisco Bay, in 24 hours with a fellow birder, Rob Furrow. They saw 187 species, setting a Northern Hemisphere record for a birding-on-bicycle competition. But the vegetation looked dry like June instead of wet like spring, Clark says.

They saw cinnamon teal and hummingbirds near the coast rather than inland, and western sandpipers and dunlins were switching to kelp flies on the beach instead of insects in a flooded meadow. “It shows their resilience,” Clark says. “Those birds that don’t figure it out are not going to pass on their genes,” which ultimately can determine evolutionary success or failure.

If birding-on-bicycle was a thing you ever wanted to do, sorry — now climate change is ruining that, too.

Source:
Birds Are Dying As Drought Ravages Avian Highways

, National Geographic.

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Thirsty birds are dying all over California — thanks, climate change

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These lovely, innocent wildflowers are slowly dying. Thanks, climate change!

by MarquisHNUE Posted on June 25, 2015

These lovely, innocent wildflowers are slowly dying. Thanks, climate change!

By on 25 Jun 2015commentsShare

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by climate change news, don’t — I repeat, DO NOT — stop to smell the roses. Because they are probably more overwhelmed than you: Scientists in California can see the effects of climate change in fields of flowers, which are losing species diversity as winters get warmer and drier, according to one new study.  Flowers are pretty, colorful dabs of joy that never hurt anyone, and climate change is killing them — welcome back to Spoiler Alerts.

Here’s the story from the LA Times:

Over time, the researchers noticed that the big, intense blooms of wildflowers that used to appear in the spring were becoming less and less frequent. So they decided to analyze changes in plant species over time.

They picked 80 different sites from all over the reserve and counted all of the species growing in five small plots at each site. They also estimated how much area each plant species covered within each plot.

The research team correlated changes in plant growth with changes in rainfall patterns, temperature, cloud cover and humidity.

Across all 80 sites, clusters of native wildflower species became increasingly less diverse from 1999 to 2014, the researchers found. In particular, the species that were disappearing fastest were those with broad leaves, which are most susceptible to drought.

The 15% decline in wildflower species diversity was correlated with about 50% less rain in midwinter, about 20% more sun in fall and winter, and a 20% drop in winter humidity.

You know comes next, right? “Correlation is not causation,” yeah yeah — but this study offers powerful evidence of changes in ecosystem makeup at the local level. What, do you think this is these scientists’ first science rodeo? (Go ahead and picture those lab-coated rodeo clowns anyway.) More from the LA Times:

To take account of other factors that might affect plant diversity, the researchers made sure about half of the sites were in areas with fertile soils, no grazing and no recent history of fire. The other sites had inhospitable soils, occasional grazing and had burned in 1999. Even when these variables were considered in their model, the link between climate change and wildflower growth held up.

Hope you guys like wild grasses, because it looks like that’s what we’ll have left.

Source:
Scientists see climate change in action in California wildflower fields

, LA Times.

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These lovely, innocent wildflowers are slowly dying. Thanks, climate change!

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This giant algae bloom is ruining all the clams, making you cry

by TheoParnell Posted on June 19, 2015

This giant algae bloom is ruining all the clams, making you cry

By on 19 Jun 2015commentsShare

Remember how we told you that climate change is killing everything you love? If you live on the West Coast, chances are you love your seafood — especially when you can dig it out of the sand yourself. But a recent bloom of toxic algae — thanks to unusually warm ocean conditions — is clobbering the West Coast, making all those razor clams and Dungeness crab and, yes, even sardines, a lot less edible. I’m sorry to say: Welcome back to Spoiler Alerts, your source for the (heart)breaking news on what climate change is fucking up this week.

Here’s the sad, fishy scoop from Quartz:

The algae in the bloom, named Pseudo-nitzschia, produce domoic acid, a neurotoxin, which was originally detected in California’s Monterey Bay in early May. By the end of the month it had reached “some of the highest concentrations… ever observed” in that area, according to UC Santa Cruz. Similar assessments are being made off the coast in Oregon, according to Michael Milstein of the NOAA Fisheries …

Fish like sardines and anchovies eat the algae and the nearby plankton, accumulating the toxin in their bodies. Kudela says researchers are still sorting through the data, but have measured toxicity in shellfish as high as 95 parts per million (ppm), and in anchovies from approximately 100 to 400 ppm. The legal limits are 20 ppm for both. The fish can then pass those toxins up the food chain to the birds and sea lions that eat them, causing neurological problems.

As bonus, here is a very sad video of a sea lion experiencing a seizure brought on by the toxins. If you need a pick-me-up after that — you will — look no further than the Puffin Cam.

Source:
There’s a giant, toxic algae bloom stretching from Southern California to Alaska

, Quartz.

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This giant algae bloom is ruining all the clams, making you cry

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Climate change ruins everything — and now it’s coming for your tea

by MarlaTranter Posted on June 12, 2015

spoiler alert

Climate change ruins everything — and now it’s coming for your tea

By on 12 Jun 2015commentsShare

Have you ever noticed that climate change is ruining everything you love? It seems like every week a new study reveals untold threats to another one of our favorite things. Beer? Drink up while you still can. Wine? It’s getting weirder, not to mention greasier. Coffee? Might want to start cutting back now. If drinks are out, how about a nice walk in the woods? Uh, sure — you have fun being devoured by ticks.

Whatever you’re into — sportsball events, fresh guac, priceless historical sites, steamers, Venice, ice, any of these animals — I’m afraid I have bad news on all counts. And I really, really, REALLY hope you weren’t that into chocolate.

Welcome, friends, to Spoiler Alerts — your source for the latest (heart)breaking climate news. There may be no use crying over spilt milk chocolate, but at least we can cry about it together.

This week, we’re all about to get thirstier, as climate change levels its sights on the world’s second-most popular beverage: tea (water is first, duh). I may live in a coffee town, but in my secret British heart I always yearn for tea time — and now that time is running out. Here’s the story from Quartz:

Early research indicates that tea growing regions could decline in some parts of the world by up to 40-55% in the coming decades and the qualities, particularly for high-end teas, could also change.

…

Planting a tea bush is a decades-long investment—one not easily moved or replaced. That means, to prepare for future changes, farmers and companies need to act—if not now, then soon—if the tea in your mug is going to be there in the future.

And it’s not just the availability of tea that’s in danger — it’s the flavor, too:

In a preview of what’s to come, recent wet monsoon conditions led to a 50% increase in the quantity of tea produced, but a 50% decrease in some of the compounds that give Yunnan teas their distinct flavor, in essence diluting the tea.

You can read the rest of the story here, but I recommend taking it with a stiff upper lip and a nice, hot cuppa … while you still can.

Source:
Tea lovers beware, climate change is threatening your favorite beverage

, Quartz.

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Climate change ruins everything — and now it’s coming for your tea

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The drought is killing everything — except wineries

by MargareFensterm Posted on June 2, 2015

hurrah for syrah

The drought is killing everything — except wineries

By on 2 Jun 2015commentsShare

Drought, out to destroy all your favorite things, is taking it surprisingly easy on vino — here’s the veritas from the New York Times:

Water shortages plague a vast area of the West, including Washington, where Gov. Jay Inslee last month declared a statewide drought emergency. But grapes require far less water than other crops. And the problem runs much deeper in California, where the drought, exacerbated by climate change, has entered its fourth year and farmers, including some in wine-producing areas in central California, are dealing with cuts of 25 percent or more in their water allotments.

In Washington’s Yakima valley, apples have long reigned supreme — but since the wholesome, all-American fruit needs twice as much water as a wine grape, the state’s orchards are ceding territory to Bacchus’s crop of choice:

“All this used to be apples,” said Dick Boushey, gesturing out from the front of his house a half-hour south of Yakima, where a brown, tilled field of 24 acres was cleared of apple trees last winter. Mr. Boushey’s team was planting new cabernet sauvignon vines over the Memorial Day weekend, and when that final former apple field … goes to grapes, his transition from apple farmer to wine-grape grower will be complete. …

Since 2010, wine-grape acreage in Washington has increased by 22 percent, according to state figures, to about 50,000 acres. At the same time, acreage for many other historically important crops — from potatoes to wheat — has been flat or in decline.

While times get harder — and dryer — for Napa’s famous vineyards, Washington vintners can put their feet up and enjoy some home-grown Sauvignon. Water security, shmater security, amirite? Just this once, let’s raise a glass to drought.

Source:
Drought Is Bearing Fruit for Washington Wineries

, New York Times.

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The drought is killing everything — except wineries

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