#ecosystem changes

[jestermessenger]

🌍 ATTENTION EVERYONE 🗣📯🔊

Mother Earth just dropped a new island 🏝 everyone clap

[reasonsforhope]

"In an unprecedented transformation of China’s arid landscapes, large-scale solar installations are turning barren deserts into unexpected havens of biodiversity, according to groundbreaking research from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The study reveals that solar farms are not only generating clean energy but also catalyzing remarkable ecological restoration in some of the country’s most inhospitable regions.

The research, examining 40 photovoltaic (PV) plants across northern China’s deserts, found that vegetation cover increased by up to 74% in areas with solar installations, even in locations using only natural restoration measures. This unexpected environmental dividend comes as China cements its position as the global leader in solar energy, having added 106 gigawatts of new installations in 2022 alone.

“Artificial ecological measures in the PV plants can reduce environmental damage and promote the condition of fragile desert ecosystems,” says Dr. Benli Liu, lead researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “This yields both ecological and economic benefits.”

The economic implications are substantial. “We’re witnessing a paradigm shift in how we view desert solar installations,” says Professor Zhang Wei, environmental economist at Beijing Normal University. “Our cost-benefit analysis shows that while initial ecological construction costs average $1.5 million per square kilometer, the long-term environmental benefits outweigh these investments by a factor of six within just a decade.” ...

“Soil organic carbon content increased by 37.2% in areas under solar panels, and nitrogen levels rose by 24.8%,” reports Dr. Sarah Chen, soil scientist involved in the project. “These improvements are crucial indicators of ecosystem health and sustainability.”

...Climate data from the study sites reveals significant microclimate modifications:

Average wind speeds reduced by 41.3% under panel arrays

Soil moisture retention increased by 32.7%

Ground surface temperature fluctuations decreased by 85%

Dust storm frequency reduced by 52% in solar farm areas...

The scale of China’s desert solar initiative is staggering. As of 2023, the country has installed over 350 gigawatts of solar capacity, with 30% located in desert regions. These installations cover approximately 6,000 square kilometers of desert terrain, an area larger than Delaware.

“The most surprising finding,” notes Dr. Wang Liu of the Desert Research Institute, “is the exponential increase in insect and bird species. We’ve documented a 312% increase in arthropod diversity and identified 27 new bird species nesting within the solar farms between 2020 and 2023.”

Dr. Yimeng Wang, the study’s lead author, emphasizes the broader implications: “This study provides evidence for evaluating the ecological benefit and planning of large-scale PV farms in deserts.”

The solar installations’ positive impact stems from several factors. The panels act as windbreaks, reducing erosion and creating microhabitats with lower evaporation rates. Perhaps most surprisingly, the routine maintenance of these facilities plays a crucial role in the ecosystem’s revival.

“The periodic cleaning of solar panels, occurring 7-8 times annually, creates consistent water drip lines beneath the panels,” explains Wang. “This inadvertent irrigation system promotes vegetation growth and the development of biological soil crusts, essential for soil stability.” ...

Recent economic analysis reveals broader benefits:

Job creation: 4.7 local jobs per megawatt of installed capacity

Tourism potential: 12 desert solar sites now offer educational tours

Agricultural integration: 23% of sites successfully pilot desert agriculture beneath panels

Carbon reduction: 1.2 million tons CO2 equivalent avoided per gigawatt annually

Dr. Maya Patel, visiting researcher from the International Renewable Energy Agency, emphasizes the global implications: “China’s desert solar model could be replicated in similar environments worldwide. The Sahara alone could theoretically host enough solar capacity to meet global electricity demand four times over while potentially greening up to 20% of the desert.”

The Chinese government has responded by implementing policies promoting “solar energy + sand control” and “solar energy + ecological restoration” initiatives. These efforts have shown promising results, with over 92% of PV plants constructed since 2017 incorporating at least one ecological construction mode.

Studies at facilities like the Qinghai Gonghe Photovoltaic Park demonstrate that areas under solar panels score significantly better in environmental assessments compared to surrounding regions, indicating positive effects on local microclimates.

As the world grapples with dual climate and biodiversity crises, China’s desert solar experiment offers a compelling model for sustainable development. The findings suggest that renewable energy infrastructure, when thoughtfully implemented, can serve as a catalyst for environmental regeneration, potentially transforming the world’s deserts from barren wastelands into productive, life-supporting ecosystems.

“This is no longer just about energy production,” concludes Dr. Liu. “We’re witnessing the birth of a new approach to ecosystem rehabilitation that could transform how we think about desert landscapes globally. The next decade will be crucial as we scale these solutions to meet both our climate and biodiversity goals.”"

-via Green Fingers, January 13, 2025

[hope-for-the-planet]

From the article:

The new law aims to restore at least 20% of the EU's land and seas, with specific targets including reversing the decline of pollinators and restoring 25,000 kilometres of rivers to free-flowing conditions. This target is instrumental to align EU policy with global commitments made by almost 200 countries to restore and protect at least 30% of our planet’s degraded ecosystems by 2030. The legislation solidifies Europe's leadership in global biodiversity restoration and protection efforts, setting a powerful example for the rest of the world.

This law is in many ways the first of its kind and creates legally binding restoration targets for various ecosystems throughout the EU.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Humans are often inclined to build seawalls to protect coastal communities from encroaching oceans, but those require constant, expensive maintenance. And in fact, the way we’re changing land, rivers, and climate—and even the seawalls themselves—are undermining natural protections, such as tidal marshes, barrier islands, coral reefs, seagrass beds, dunes, gravel beaches, and kelp and mangrove forests. If left intact, these natural communities can slow fresh and tidal water, acting as a buffer, providing flexible and resilient protection for human communities. They provide multiple co-benefits, and even have the ability to sustain themselves. With these abilities, they can reduce by half the number of lives and properties at risk from storm surges and sea-level rise, according to a study in Nature Climate Change. Unlike seawalls, tidal marshes have a superpower against sea-level rise. It’s not just that they are a buffer between the water and human infrastructure, sapping energy from storm surges and blocking the highest tides. Marshes can actually grow vertically, keeping pace with sea-level rise by trapping sediment in their vegetation, which decomposes and then regrows. To perform this trick, they need three ingredients: sediment, space, and time.

[...]

Broadly speaking, human development has erased many of water’s slow phases—floodplains, meadows, forests, and wetlands, such as tidal marshes. For example, humans have eradicated 87 percent of the world’s wetlands. What water wants, say the detectives, is a return of these slow phases, an approach I think of as the “Slow Water Movement.” Slow water approaches are unique to each place, work with local systems, are distributed rather than centralized, are socially just, and empower and engage the local community. They also provide multiple benefits beyond buffering us from flood and drought, including carbon storage and homes for threatened plants and animals.

29 November 2022

[dandelionsresilience]

Good News - July 8-14

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $Kaybarr1735! And if you tip me and give me a way to contact you, at the end of the month I'll send you a link to all of the articles I found but didn't use each week!

1. Zoo welcomes birth of four endangered horse foals

“[The Marwell Zoo in GB] said it was "delighted" to welcome the arrivals to the endangered Przewalski’s horse herd. All four are female and said to be "doing well" after two were born in May and two in June. […] “These horses, that were previously listed extinct in the wild, are an example of how zoo breeding programmes can help restore threatened species around the world.” […] All the Przewalski’s horses alive today are descended from just 12 individuals. Current estimates suggest there are 178 mature individuals living in the wild.”

2. Restoring woodlands and planting trees for sustainability success

“In 2023, [the Marwell Zoo] planted 9,000 new trees […] both within the zoo and on our surrounding land. […] Marwell tries to encourage natural feeding behaviour and nutrition by including leafy material [in animals’ feed] as much as possible. […] Planting more trees and enhancing management of our existing woodlands, prepares the way to further self-sufficiency in browse production in the future. Plus, it creates new habitats for wildlife in our woodland areas.”

3. Inclusive Playgrounds Allow Children Of All Abilities To Play

“With ramps allowing children in wheelchairs to ascend the central play structure, as well as numerous other swings and apparatus usable for children of all abilities, the 16,000-square-foot P.K.’s Place is St. Paul’s first fully inclusive playground. […] To be universally accessible, a play area must have at least 70% of its play features fully accessible, far more than required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). […] Play areas should allow parents and grandparents with disabilities to participate as well.”

4. Combination treatment can increase human insulin-producing cells in vivo

“[Diabetes-model mice] were treated with the combination therapy [of a plant product called harmine and “a widely used class of type 2 diabetes therapy”] and their diabetes was rapidly reversed. Strikingly, human beta cell numbers increased by 700 percent over three months with this drug combination. "This is the first time scientists have developed a drug treatment that is proven to increase adult human beta cell numbers in vivo. This research brings hope for the use of future regenerative therapies to potentially treat the hundreds of millions of people with diabetes," said Dr. Garcia-Ocaña, the paper's corresponding author.”

5. Decades of Dedication: Australia’s Largest Ongoing Urban Restoration Project

“[Friends of Lake Claremont] has transformed the area into a thriving ecosystem, re-establishing native habitats and fostering biodiversity. This year, 800 native seedlings (100 trees, 350 shrubs and 350 ground covers) have been planted on the northwestern buffer of Lake Claremont. Volunteers replaced a large Port Jackson fig (Ficus rubiginosa) affected by [beetle] infestation with native plants to enhance the local wildlife habitat, thereby benefiting insects, frogs, birds and brown bandicoots. […] Overall, the project contributes to the area’s function as a regional ecological corridor, linking inland bushlands, the Swan River and the Indian Ocean.”

6. Important habitat for fish in Heart of the Fraser now conserved

“British Columbia’s iconic salmon now have more protected spawning habitat in the lower Fraser River, thanks to the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) conservation acquisition of Carey Island. […] Carey Island and its gravel channels offer calm and crucial spawning and rearing habitat for the river’s fish and aquatic species. […] The Pelólxw Tribe […is also] actively working to restore the resilience of aquatic habitat within this stretch of the Lower Fraser. NCC is exploring opportunities to collaborate with the Pelólxw Tribe in support of their vision for stewardship of the area, which prioritizes both ecological and cultural values.”

7. Prime editing efficiently corrects cystic fibrosis mutation in human lung cells

“[R]esearchers have developed a gene-editing approach that efficiently corrects the most common mutation that causes cystic fibrosis, found in 85 percent of patients. With further development, it could pave the way for treatments that are administered only once and have fewer side effects. The new method precisely and durably corrects the mutation in human lung cells, restoring cell function to levels similar to that of Trikafta [the standard treatment since 2019].”

8. Montana’s High Court Considers a Constitutional Right to a Stable Climate

“At issue was the appeal of a decision last year, when a Montana judge blocked a state law that prohibited agencies from considering climate impacts when deciding whether to approve fossil fuel projects such as new power plants, pipelines or mining. The ruling, by District Judge Kathy Seeley, was prompted by a lawsuit filed by 16 youths who argued that the law violated Montana’s constitutional right to a “clean and healthful environment.” It was the first ruling in the United States to effectively establish constitutional rights to a stable climate[….]”

9. The US is about to get its first solar-covered canal

“The first canal-based solar project in the U.S. is nearing completion on tribal lands south of Phoenix, Arizona. […] The long, narrow solar array design would snake along the line of the canal and tap into the local electrical distribution grid every 1,000 feet, or every one megawatt. […] “Canal solar allows for greater power production per land size, cleaner water, less power transmission losses, and significant reduction in evaporation[….]” Covering the entire 8,000 miles of canals and waterways managed by the Bureau of Reclamation with solar panels could generate over 25 gigawatts of renewable energy and reduce water evaporation by tens of billions of gallons[….]”

10. Camera traps offer glimpse of first beaver born in Northumberland for 400 years

“"It’s such a relief that they have bred successfully and to see a new fluffy kit swimming with the family[….]” In just one year [since releasing the beavers], there has been a noticeable increase in resident trout, says the National Trust, along with more regular visits from kingfishers and grey herons. There are more insects at the site, too, thanks to the organic matter that builds up behind the dams, which in turn provides food for Daubenton’s bats. […] Beavers also play an important role in creating habitats that are more resilient to the effects of climate change[….]”

July 1-7 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[ravensvalley]

#UndisturbedEcosystems

… preservation is crucial for maintaining the balance of our natural world. It includes benefits such as flood control, water filtration, and carbon sequestration which help regulate the effects of climate change, and contribute to human well-being and mental health.

@BenAdrienProulx July 30, 2024.

[wachinyeya]

Published: May 16, 2025

European countries dismantled a record 542 dams, culverts, weirs and sluices that had been blocking rivers in 2024 — up 11 percent from the previous year — according to a new report from Dam Removal Europe. Last year 23 countries in Europe removed a river barrier, and for four of them — Croatia, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Czech Republic — it was their first time doing so. “European rivers have been fragmented by more than 1.2 million instream barriers, and more continue to be built,” the report said. “The significance of river connectivity and barrier removal has only recently been recognized at the European level, when the European Union’s Nature Restoration Regulation officially came into force on August 18, 2024, marking a significant milestone in Europe’s commitment to restoring degraded ecosystems.” The regulation set legally binding targets for restoring nature, combating biodiversity loss and enhancing climate resilience. “A key provision of the Regulation is the restoration of at least 25000 km of rivers to a free-flowing state by 2030, making it a game-changer for freshwater ecosystems and barrier removal efforts across Europe,” the report said.

[mcr-as-mugs]

Here's Frank as this pretty mug.

[the-faultofdaedalus]

i’ve been rotating a specific idea in my head for a while and that’s the idea that vampires as they exist in most fiction are not fulfilling their original environmental niche, that as the “haha mosquitos” jokes go vampires are parasites that were fulfilling the same niche as mosquitos, namely, redistributing biomass down the tropic levels.

taking small amounts of Stuff from very large animals that get fed back into the environment without those large animals needing to die.

the reason vampires are the way they are — harmed by sunlight, restricted by water, always hungry — is because they’re consuming food (mortal blood) that they weren’t really made to consume, like urban animals getting sick off garbage due to habitat disruption.

what, then, are vampires supposed to be eating then?

well, gods, of course.

[amnhnyc]

By studying calcifying organisms, Leanne aims to better understand the impacts of human activity on marine ecosystems. Through her research, she hopes to influence policy that helps protect marine calcifiers in the future.

“Why is this important? The idea is that the more porous the shell, the weaker it is. Mussels need strong, robust shells to protect their inner soft organs—and that strong 3D structure is important for ecosystem function as habitat formers and storm defenses.

Currently, the changes seen in shell porosity are not large enough to influence the material properties, so we aren’t seeing weaker shells just yet. But with further warming in our oceans being predicted, this could potentially lead to even more porous shells, potentially impacting mussels’ function as habitat formers and storm defenses, as well as their ability to protect themselves from predation,” Melbourne explains.

Learn more about her research here.

[nando161mando]

While we struggle to stop the climate change and the ecological catastrophe, the Turkish state actively destroys the ecosystems in one of the most fertile regions on the planet, the crescent fertile, in the center of the Middle East. That's why we need to #StopTurkeysEcocide

https://x.com/GreenRojava/status/1828453103177207911?t=_n4vF0dTs-WGSX77CIGPmg&s=09

[reasonsforhope]

The Klamath River’s salmon population has declined due to myriad factors, but the biggest culprit is believed to be a series of dams built along the river from 1918 to 1962, cutting off fish migration routes.

Now, after decades of Indigenous advocacy, four of the structures are being demolished as part of the largest dam removal project in United States history. In November, crews finished removing the first of the four dams as part of a push to restore 644 kilometres (400 miles) of fish habitat.

“Dam removal is the largest single step that we can take to restore the Klamath River ecosystem,” [Barry McCovey, a member of the Yurok Tribe and director of tribal fisheries,] told Al Jazeera. “We’re going to see benefits to the ecosystem and then, in turn, to the fishery for decades and decades to come.” ...

A ‘watershed moment’

Four years later, [after a catastrophic fish die-off in 2002,] in 2006, the licence for the hydroelectric dams expired. That created an opportunity, according to Mark Bransom, CEO of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC), a nonprofit founded to oversee the dam removals.

Standards for protecting fisheries had increased since the initial license was issued, and the utility company responsible for the dams faced a choice. It could either upgrade the dams at an economic loss or enter into a settlement agreement that would allow it to operate the dams until they could be demolished.

“A big driver was the economics — knowing that they would have to modify these facilities to bring them up to modern environmental standards,” Bransom explained. “And the economics just didn’t pencil out.”

The utility company chose the settlement. In 2016, the KRRC was created to work with the state governments of California and Oregon to demolish the dams.

Final approval for the deal came in 2022, in what Bransom remembers as a “watershed moment”.

Regulators at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) voted unanimously to tear down the dams, citing the benefit to the environment as well as to Indigenous tribes...

Tears of joy

Destruction of the first dam — the smallest, known as Copco 2 — began in June, with heavy machinery like excavators tearing down its concrete walls.

[Amy Cordalis, a Yurok Tribe member, fisherwoman and lawyer for the tribe,] was present for the start of the destruction. Bransom had invited her and fellow KRRC board members to visit the bend in the Klamath River where Copco 2 was being removed. She remembers taking his hand as they walked along a gravel ridge towards the water, a vein of blue nestled amid rolling hills.

“And then, there it was,” Cordalis said. “Or there it wasn’t. The dam was gone.”

For the first time in a century, water flowed freely through that area of the river. Cordalis felt like she was seeing her homelands restored.

Tears of joy began to roll down her cheeks. “I just cried so hard because it was so beautiful.”

The experience was also “profound” for Bransom. “It really was literally a jolt of energy that flowed through us,” he said, calling the visit “perhaps one of the most touching, most moving moments in my entire life”.

Demolition on Copco 2 was completed in November, with work starting on the other three dams. The entire project is scheduled to wrap in late 2024.

[A resilient river]

But experts like McCovey say major hurdles remain to restoring the river’s historic salmon population.

Climate change is warming the water. Wildfires and flash floods are contaminating the river with debris. And tiny particles from rubber vehicle tires are washing off roadways and into waterways, where their chemicals can kill fish within hours.

McCovey, however, is optimistic that the dam demolitions will help the river become more resilient.

“Dam removal is one of the best things we can do to help the Klamath basin be ready to handle climate change,” McCovey explained. He added that the river’s uninterrupted flow will also help flush out sediment and improve water quality.

The removal project is not the solution to all the river’s woes, but McCovey believes it’s a start — a step towards rebuilding the reciprocal relationship between the waterway and the Indigenous people who rely on it.

“We do a little bit of work, and then we start to see more salmon, and then maybe we get to eat more salmon, and that starts to help our people heal a little bit,” McCovey said. “And once we start healing, then we’re in a place where we can start to help the ecosystem a little bit more.”"

-via Al Jazeera, December 4, 2023

[capricioussun]

Style shift pt 2: everyone else

ft @decafguy00 ‘s Twig, @owl-bones ‘s Boss, @bonetrousledbones ‘s Edge, @alsojnpie ‘s Horrortale Papyrus, @save-star ‘s Duke, and a silly Undersell Papyrus for @phenom-lemon

[darkwood-sleddog]

things that the united states could do to prevent the spread of rabies & other diseases in canines that is not resorting to restricting dog importation to dogs above 6 months of age:

fund more low cost vaccination clinics across the country. this alone would do more than anything else on this list.

require that all municipalities/states require dog registration where a rabies vaccine is required (this is already the case in a majority of the united states). Additionally require additional vaccinations like dog influenza, and distemper (diseases that have been confirmed brought to the united states by dogs imported by rescue organizations). In my State part of the cost of dog registration goes to funding low cost veterinary services for those in need. Increased registration would provide increased resources for those needing low cost vaccination.

Fund and provide more resources for municipalities to enforce dog registration. Currently this is entirely on the budget of municipalities and in small communities enforcement officers are untrained volunteers with a small stipend because that's what we can afford. this needs to change.

set up a pet passport program with land bordering countries like Canada and Mexico for easier land traveling for PERSONAL, PRIVATELY OWNED pets with a well documented history.

I would also accept an actual veterinary check at border crossings over the 6 month rule seeing as whenever I have imported dogs whoever checks my documentation has been very blaise about looking at the actual dog. A veterinary check could prevent (some, but likely not all) untruthful situations and try to ensure the dog's age and health match any passport documentation. Note that I don't feel this is ideal, but would 1.) create jobs at crossings and import points and 2.) may prevent some of falsified paperwork dogs from crossing if that truly is such a concern.

Forgive student loans of veterinary students and provide resources and funding for veterinary scholarships. Veterinarians in the United States are at high risk of suicide and the industry is at a breaking point with many vets not taking new clients due to lack of resources. This prevents vaccination for many people. Forgiving existing loans and providing increased scholarships will ensure an influx of people new to the industry are not struggling and will also be more likely to stay in the industry.

Have clearly laid out containment agreement and importation exceptions from rabies free countries and not rely on a chat bot to answer people's importation questions with any nuance.

[fall-out-dolls]

Patrick Stump is MyScene's Mall Maniacs Chelsea (2006)!

[hippolotamus]

Inspiration Saturday/Several Sentence Sunday

It’s still Saturday somewhere right??? For the fabulous @daffi-990 who conspired to bring this idea about. And also because I’ve maybe been torturing her hinting I’ve had a surprise for the last several days…

The Players:

Robert “Bobby” Nash - Asset Management (officially). Unofficially, a former banker who got tied up in a bad investment, causing him and dozens of others to lose everything. Bobby more than most. He’s a recovering alcoholic on a mission to steal from the rich and corrupt, and give back to their victims.

Athena Grant - LAPD sergeant who’s had her eye on Bobby for years, unable to catch a break in the case. He may be good at covering his tracks but she’s better. And Sgt Grant always gets her man.

Evan “Buck” Buckley - Associate. A young kid who steals for the thrill, but also to payoff his brother-in-law to ensure Maddie’s safety. Buck eventually winds up in Bobby’s company, sticking to his own agenda. Until the day that Doug’s asking price becomes too high and Buck finds himself needing a much bigger mark. Someone like…

Edmundo “Eddie” Diaz - war vet with a silver star and LA’s most eligible bachelor, who also happens to be pretty as sin. Oh, and has more money than god.

The Gig

Team up with Bobby to get the money Buck needs to save his sister, and hopefully get rid of Doug for good. Also, not allowing aesthetics to distract him from all the zeros in Diaz’s accounts. A target like this guy isn’t going to miss the amount Buck needs. Besides, it’s for a good cause. He’ll be in and out before anyone notices anything’s amiss.

What could possibly go wrong?

np tagging @actuallyitsellie @epicbuddieficrecs @loveyouanyway @a-noble-dragon @tizniz @diazheartsbuckley @saybiwithme mi amor @bidisasterevankinard @spotsandsocks @dangerpronebuddie @theotherbuckley @stereopticons @kitteneddiediaz @diazsdimples @your-catfish-friend @thekristen999 @filet-o-feelings loml @lizzie-bennetdarcy @wikiangela @steadfastsaturnsrings @rewritetheending

@jesuisici33 @rmd-writes @dr-shortsighted-owl @dorkydiaz @bi-buckrights @elvensorceress @bucksbiawakening @giddyupbuck @beyourownanchor6 @indestructibleheart @ladydorian05 @eowon @lemonzestywrites @monsterrae1 @statueinthestone @slightlyobsessedwitheverything @the-likesofus @thewolvesof1998 @watchyourbuck @welcometololaland @wildlife4life

and anyone else who wants to 😘