A skeleton of a cave bear. Chris Hellier / Corbis NX / Getty Images
We may be in the midst of a major human-driven extinction crisis, but it turns out that humans may have been pushing other species to the brink long before the industrial era.
A new study published in Scientific Reports Thursday found that humans played a potentially "significant" role in the extinction of the cave bear, a giant Pleistocene relative of the brown bear that could weigh as much as 2,000 pounds and went extinct around 20,000 years ago, according to The Washington Post.
The researchers used mitochondrial DNA from cave bear bones found across Europe to track the animals' population diversity and size. They found that their population stayed stable through two cooling and warming cycles before starting to decline when modern humans arrived.
"We see this dramatic drop in the population of the cave bear starting from 40,000 years ago, which coincides with the arrival of anatomically modern humans in Europe," study leader Prof. Verena Schünemann of the University of Zurich told BBC News. "It is the clearest evidence we have so far that humans might have played a big role in the extinction of the cave bear."
A debate has long raged in the scientific community over what exactly caused large mammals like cave bears, mammoths and saber-tooth cats to go extinct. Some blame the last glacial maximum 26,500 years ago, but others point to the hunting prowess of modern humans, National Geographic explained.
At least in the case of the cave bear, it appears that humans played an important role.
"If not for our arrival in Europe, I don't see any reason why cave bears should not be around today," study coauthor and University of Tübingen paleobiologist Hervé Bocherens told National Geographic.
Axel Barlow, a biologist at the University of Potsdam, Germany who was not involved with the research, told The Washington Post that the study was "very nice" and made it clear that something "quite profound happened to the global cave bear population around 40,000 years ago."
Of course, it's possible that climate change and human activity together shaped the bears' ultimate fate, Schünemann told The Washington Post. An increase in human hunting may have coincided with a decline in food, for example. And studying that interaction can help scientists understand what is happening today.
"Looking at the impact of climate change and human impact on large mammals can tell us a lot about the general process and consequences of large mammal extinction," Bocherens told The Washington Post. "Studying the past to save the future: This is what we try to do."
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
By Michael Svoboda
The enduring pandemic will make conventional forms of travel difficult if not impossible this summer. As a result, many will consider virtual alternatives for their vacations, including one of the oldest forms of virtual reality – books.
<p>Two kinds of books meet this challenge while telling stories about climate change. The first burrows deep into a particular place, noting changes over time as human impacts, including climate change, have intensified. The second tracks a particular effect of climate change – longer droughts, melting ice sheets, rising sea levels, or raging wildfires – across different communities and landscapes.</p>
<p>Both kinds of books can be found in this month's bookshelf. And for those who hope to do some of their "reading" while on the road, socially distanced in their vehicles, each of this month's entries includes a link to a streamable audio interview with the author.</p><p>As always, the descriptions of the titles are drawn from copy provided by the publishers. When two dates of publication are provided, the second is for the release of the paperback edition.</p><p>Safe travels!</p><p><em>Editor's Note: Yale Climate Connections thanks Scott Smallwood, senior communications manager for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/">Southern Environmental Law Center</a>, for suggesting this theme. Three of the online interviews linked to below were recorded for <a target="_blank" href="https://brokengroundpodcast.org/">Broken Ground</a>, the podcast produced by Southern Environmental Law Center. A fourth Broken Ground interview, with Dr. Robert Bullard, considered the founder of the environmental justice movement, can be streamed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/270210/3620881-dr-robert-bullard-environmental-justice-is-equal-justice">here</a>.</em></p>
<p><strong>1. <a target="_blank" href="https://milkweed.org/book/the-home-place">The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature</a>, by Drew Lanham (Milkweed 2016/2017, 240 pages, $16.00 paperback) / An interview with author can be streamed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/270210/3433171-drew-lanham-call-of-the-rural-south">here</a>.</strong></p><p>From fertile soils of love, land, identity, family, and race emerges a big-hearted, unforgettable memoir by ornithologist J. Drew Lanham. Dating back to slavery, Edgefield County, South Carolina has been home to generations of Lanhams. In The Home Place, readers meet these extraordinary people, including Drew himself, who over the course of the 1970s falls in love with the natural world around him. As his passion takes flight, however, he begins to ask what it means to be "the rare bird, the oddity." By turns angry, funny, elegiac, and heartbreaking, The Home Place is a meditation on nature and belonging, at once a deeply moving memoir and riveting exploration of the contradictions of black identity in the South – and in America today.</p>
<p><strong>2. <a target="_blank" href="https://milkweed.org/book/late-migrations">Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss</a>, by Margaret Renkl (Milkweed Editions 2019, 248 pages, $24.00) / An interview with the author can be streamed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/270210/3829103-margaret-renkl-backyard-environmentalism">here</a>.</strong></p><p>Growing up in Alabama, New York Times opinion writer Margaret Renkl was a devoted reader, an explorer of riverbeds and red-dirt roads, and a fiercely loved daughter. Here, in brief essays, she traces a tender and honest portrait of her complicated parents and of the bittersweet moments that accompany a child's transition to caregiver. Ringing with rapture and heartache, these essays convey the dignity of bluebirds and rat snakes, monarch butterflies and native bees. Renkl suggests that there is astonishment to be found in common things: in what seems ordinary, in what we all share. Gorgeously illustrated by the author's brother, Billy Renkl, Late Migrations vividly portrays the cycles of joy and grief that inscribe human lives within the natural world.</p>
<p><strong>3. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062661401/chesapeake-requiem/">Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island</a>, by Earl Swift (Dey Street Books/Harper Collins 2018/2020, 448 pages, $17.99) / An interview with the author can be streamed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/270210/4004636-earl-swift-watching-waters-rise">here</a>.</strong></p><p>Tangier Island, Virginia, is a community unique on the American landscape. Mapped by John Smith in 1608, settled during the American Revolution, the tiny sliver of mud is home to 470 hardy people who live an isolated and challenging existence, with one foot in the 21st century and another in times long passed. But Tangier is disappearing. The very water that has long sustained it is erasing the island day by day, wave by wave; its shoreline retreats by fifteen feet a year. As the graves of their forebears are being sprung open by encroaching tides, the conservative and deeply religious Tangiermen ponder the end times. Chesapeake Requiem is an intimate look at Tangier by an acclaimed journalist who spent much of the past two years living among its people, crabbing and oystering with its watermen, and observing its odd ways.</p>
<p><strong>4. <a target="_blank" href="https://milkweed.org/book/rising">Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore</a>, by Elizabeth Rush (Milkweed Editions 2018/2019, 328 pages, $16.00 paperback) / An interview with the author can be streamed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2018/11/27/rising-new-american-shore">here</a>.</strong></p><p>Rising seas are transforming the coastline of the United States in irrevocable ways. In Rising, Elizabeth Rush guides readers through some of the places where this change has been most dramatic. For many of the plants, animals, and humans in these places, the options are stark: retreat or perish in place. Weaving firsthand testimonials from those facing this choice – a Staten Islander who lost her father during Sandy, the remaining holdouts of a Native American community on a drowning Isle de Jean Charles, a neighborhood in Pensacola settled by escaped slaves hundreds of years ago – with profiles of wildlife biologists, activists, and other members of these vulnerable communities, Rising privileges the voices of those often kept at the margins.</p>
<p><strong>5. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.counterpointpress.com/dd-product/trees-in-trouble/">Trees in Trouble: Wildfires, Infestations, and Climate Change</a>, by Daniel Mathews (Counterpoint Press 2020, 304 pages, $26.00) / An interview with the author can be streamed <a target="_blank" href="https://oldfirehousebooksblog.wordpress.com/2020/04/15/author-interview-dan-mathews/">here</a>.</strong></p><p>Climate change manifests in many ways across North America, but few as dramatic as the attacks on our western pine forests. In Trees in Trouble, Daniel Mathews tells the urgent story of this loss, accompanying burn crews and forest ecologists as they study the myriad risk factors and refine techniques for saving this important, limited resource. Scrupulously researched, Trees in Trouble not only explores the devastating ripple effects of climate change, but also introduces us to the people devoting their lives to saving our forests. Mathews also offers hope: a new approach to managing western pine forests is underway. Trees in Trouble explores how we might succeed in sustaining our forests through the challenging transition to a new environment.</p>
<p><strong>6. <a target="_blank" href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374280062">Erosion: Essays of Undoing</a>, by Terry Tempest Williams (Farrar, Strauss, Giroux 2019, 336 pages, $27.00) / An interview with the author can be streamed <a target="_blank" href="https://radiowest.kuer.org/post/terry-tempest-williams-erosion">here</a>.</strong></p><p>Terry Tempest Williams's fierce and spirited essays are a howl in the desert. She asks: "How do we find the strength to not look away from all that is breaking our hearts?" Here, Williams bravely and brilliantly explores the many forms of erosion we face: of democracy, science, compassion, and trust. She examines the cultural and environmental implications of the gutting of Bear Ears National Monument; of the undermining of the Endangered Species Act; of the relentless press by the fossil fuel industry that has led to "oil rigs light[ing] up the horizon." And she testifies that the climate crisis is not an abstraction, offering as evidence the drought outside her door. Erosion is a book for this moment, political and spiritual at once. Williams reminds us that beauty is its own form of resistance, and that water can crack stone.</p>
<p><strong>7. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nyrb.com/products/wilding?variant=13867544150068">Wilding: Returning Nature to Our Farm</a>, by Isabella Tree (New York Review Books 2019, 392 pages, $19.95 paperback) / An interview with the author can be streamed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.writersvoice.net/2020/02/writers-voice-isabella-tree-wilding-jeet-heer/">here</a>.</strong></p><p>For years Isabella Tree and her husband, Charlie Burrell, farmed Knepp Castle Estate and struggled to turn a profit. By 2000, with the farm facing bankruptcy, they decided to try something radical. They would restore estate's 3,500 acres to the wild. Using herds of free-roaming animals to mimic the actions of the megafauna of the past, they hoped to bring nature back to their depleted land. In the face of considerable opposition the couple persisted with their experiment and soon witnessed an extraordinary change. New life flooded into Knepp, now a breeding hotspot for rare and threatened species. At a time of looming environmental disaster, Wilding is an inspiring story of a farm, a couple, and a community transformed. Isabella Tree's book brings together science, natural history, a fair bit of drama, and – ultimately – hope.</p>
<p><strong>8. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nyrb.com/products/wilding?variant=13867544150068">Wilding: Returning Nature to Our Farm</a>, by Isabella Tree (New York Review Books 2019, 392 pages, $19.95 paperback) / An interview with the author can be streamed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.writersvoice.net/2020/02/writers-voice-isabella-tree-wilding-jeet-heer/">here</a>.</strong></p><p>For years Isabella Tree and her husband, Charlie Burrell, farmed Knepp Castle Estate and struggled to turn a profit. By 2000, with the farm facing bankruptcy, they decided to try something radical. They would restore estate's 3,500 acres to the wild. Using herds of free-roaming animals to mimic the actions of the megafauna of the past, they hoped to bring nature back to their depleted land. In the face of considerable opposition the couple persisted with their experiment and soon witnessed an extraordinary change. New life flooded into Knepp, now a breeding hotspot for rare and threatened species. At a time of looming environmental disaster, Wilding is an inspiring story of a farm, a couple, and a community transformed. Isabella Tree's book brings together science, natural history, a fair bit of drama, and – ultimately – hope.</p>
<p><strong>9. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/103569/horizon-by-barry-lopez/">Horizon</a>, by Barry Lopez (Penguin Random House 2019/2020, 592 pages, $16.99 paperback) / An interview with the author can be streamed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.opb.org/radio/programs/thinkoutloud/segment/rebroadcast-barry-lopez-on-horizon/">here</a>.</strong></p><p>From pole to pole and across decades of lived experience, National Book Award-winning author Barry Lopez delivers his most far-ranging, yet personal, work to date. Horizon moves indelibly, immersively, from Western Oregon to the High Arctic; from the Galápagos to the Kenyan desert; from Botany Bay in Australia to the ice shelves of Antarctica. Along the way, Lopez probes the long history of humanity's thirst for exploration, including prehistoric peoples, 16th & 17th century explorers, 17th and 18th century colonialist, and today's ecotourists in the tropics. And always, throughout his journeys to some of the hottest, coldest, and most desolate places on the globe, Lopez searches for meaning and purpose in a broken world.</p>
<p><strong>10. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/543135/disappointment-river-by-brian-castner/">Disappointment River: Finding and Losing the Northwest Passage</a>, by Brian Castner (Penguin Random House 2018/2019, 368 pages, $16.95 paperback) / An interview with the author can be streamed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhHejIQfx8s">here</a>.</strong></p><p>Fourteen years before Lewis and Clark, Alexander Mackenzie set off to cross the continent to find a trade route to the riches of the East. What he found was a river that he named "Disappointment." In this book, Brian Castner retraces Mackenzie's travels, taking readers to a world rarely glimpsed in the media, a world of tar sands, thawing permafrost, remote indigenous villages and, at the end, a wide open Arctic Ocean that could become a far-northern Mississippi of barges, pipelines and oil money. Disappointment River transports readers back to the heroic age of North American exploration and places them in a still rugged but increasingly fragile Arctic wilderness in the process of profound alteration by the dual forces of globalization and climate change.</p>
<p><strong>11. <a target="_blank" href="https://thenewpress.com/books/end-of-ice">The End of Ice: Bearing Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption</a>, by Dahr Jamail (The New Press 2019/2020, 288 pages, $17.99 paperback) / An interview with the author can be streamed <a target="_blank" href="https://ralphnaderradiohour.com/the-end-of-ice/">here</a>.</strong></p><p>In The End of Ice, we follow acclaimed journalist Dahr Jamail as he scales Denali, the highest peak in North America, dives in the warm crystal waters of the Pacific only to find ghostly coral reefs, and explores the tundra of St. Paul Island where he meets the last subsistence seal hunters of the Bering Sea and witnesses its melting glaciers. Accompanied by climate scientists and people whose families have fished, farmed, and lived in the areas he visits for centuries, Jamail begins to accept the fact that Earth, most likely, is in a hospice situation. Like no other book, The End of Ice offers a firsthand chronicle of the catastrophic reality of our situation and the incalculable necessity of relishing this vulnerable, fragile planet while we still can.</p>
<p><strong>12. <a target="_blank" href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374718992">Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils</a>, by David Farrier (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2020, 307 pages, $28.00) / An interview with the author can be streamed <a target="_blank" href="https://lithub.com/rekindled-david-farrier-in-conversation-with-stephen-sparks/">here</a>.</strong></p><p>Modern civilization has created objects and landscapes with the potential to endure through deep time, whether it is plastic polluting the oceans or nuclear waste sealed within the earth or the 30 million miles of roads spanning the planet. Our carbon could linger in the atmosphere for 100K years, and the remains of our cities will still exist millions of years from now as a layer in the rock. Traveling from the Baltic Sea to the Great Barrier Reef, and from an ice-core laboratory in Tasmania to Shanghai, Farrier describes a world that is changing rapidly, with consequences beyond the scope of human understanding. As much a message of hope as warning, Footprints will not only alter how you think about the future; it will change how you see the world today.</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from Yale Climate Connections.</em><em></em></p>
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Watchdog Accuses Trump's NOAA of 'Choosing Extinction' for Right Whales by Hiding Scientific Evidence
19h
Animals
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility on Thursday accused NOAA of ignoring its own scientists' findings about the endangerment of the North Atlantic right whale. Lauren Packard / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
By Julia Conley
As the North Atlantic right whale was placed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's list of critically endangered species Thursday, environmental protection groups accusing the U.S. government of bowing to fishing and fossil fuel industry pressure to downplay the threat and failing to enact common-sense restrictions to protect the animals.
<p>Only 400 right whales are left in existence, and fewer than 250 of them are mature, <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/41712/162001243#threats" target="_blank">leading the IUCN</a> to drop its "endangered" classification for the whale and add it to its "critically endangered" Red List. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.peer.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/7_8_20_emails.pdf" target="_blank">According to</a> Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), NOAA has access to extensive science showing the danger in which humans have placed the whales, but internal emails show the agency aimed to put a positive spin on the outlook for the creatures.</p><p>Emails from February 2020 show career scientific staff writing that political officials within the agency were "freaked out" at the notion of the press reporting on Dragon, a female right whale who has not been seen in months and is presumed dead. </p><p>"But they'd be all over another calf sighting," NOAA Fisheries biologist Tim Cole <a href="https://www.peer.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/7_8_20_emails.pdf" target="_blank">wrote. </a></p><p>"Ah, I see. They only want to share the good news, not the bad," replied Allison Henry, another scientist at the agency.</p><p><a href="https://www.peer.org/noaa-balks-at-steps-to-save-remaining-right-whales/" target="_blank">According to</a> PEER, 100% of North Atlantic right whale fatalities are caused by boats striking them and by entanglements in fishing gear.</p><p>"The North Atlantic right whale is the world's first large whale species nearing extinction," <a href="https://www.peer.org/noaa-balks-at-steps-to-save-remaining-right-whales/" target="_blank">said</a> PEER science policy director Kyla Bennett. "Its extinction is entirely preventable. NOAA has powerful tools to protect the North Atlantic right whale, but it is choosing not to use them. In this case, NOAA is choosing extinction."</p><p>In addition to fishing boats and 900,000 vertical lines that right whales are forced to navigate during lobster season, the whales' wellbeing is threatened by seismic airgun blasts conducted by oil and gas companies for offshore drilling. </p><p>In March, Democracy Forward <a href="https://democracyforward.org/press/democracy-forward-demands-investigations-noaa-political-appointees/" target="_blank">called on</a> the inspector general of the U.S. Commerce Department to investigate whether political appointees at NOAA had altered career scientists' proposed conservation measures regarding the blasts.</p><p>Reports that appointees modified scientists' warnings "raise troubling questions about whether political appointees at NOAA violated federal law and NOAA's own Administrative Order on Scientific Integrity, which mandates that in 'no circumstance may any NOAA official ask or direct Federal scientists or other NOAA employees to suppress or alter scientific findings,'" Democracy Forward <a href="https://democracyforward.org/press/democracy-forward-demands-investigations-noaa-political-appointees/" target="_blank">said</a>.</p>
<p>Democracy Forward demanded an investigation by the U.S. Commerce Department's inspector general.</p><p>"In reportedly bowing to political pressure and altering required scientific analysis in the policymaking process, NOAA appointees may have violated federal law and NOAA's own regulations, and jeopardized the very survival of the North Atlantic right whale," <a href="https://democracyforward.org/press/democracy-forward-demands-investigations-noaa-political-appointees/" target="_blank">said</a> Democracy Forward senior counsel Michael Martinez at the time. "The Trump administration's practice of injecting politics into the scientific decision-making process risks NOAA's credibility as a fact and science-driven agency. An investigation is warranted." </p><p>PEER <a href="https://www.peer.org/scientific-misrepresentations-sinking-north-atlantic-right-whale/" target="_blank">called for</a> a similar probe in 2019 when the National Marine Fisheries Service reportedly omitted scientific research about endangerment in its reporting on the right whale, but neither investigation has been completed. </p><p>NOAA has also failed to aggressively restrict the activities of fishing boats even when the agency is aware of right whales in a particular offshore area, PEER said Thursday.</p><p>In June, one of just 10 calves born this season was struck by a boat and killed off the coast of New Jersey, where officials had not issued a speed warning to vessels. Warnings are only issued when at least three right whales are known to be in an area.</p><p>"At the very least, NOAA must alert vessels when any right whale is in the area of shipping lanes," Bennett said.</p><p>The effects of NOAA's negligence on right whales has been compounded by President Donald Trump's June executive order permitting commercial fishing in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/right-whales-decline-deadly-entanglements-continue-iucn-finds-2020-07-09/" target="_blank">said</a> the Center for Biological Diversity on Thursday.</p>
<p>"The United States and Canada must do more to protect whales from speeding ships and slow, painful deaths in fishing gear," <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/right-whales-decline-deadly-entanglements-continue-iucn-finds-2020-07-09/" target="_blank">said</a> Kristen Monsell, legal director of the Center for Biological Diversity's oceans program. "We should be closing more right whale habitat to fishing, speeding the transition to ropeless gear and requiring large ships to slow down. These are some common-sense measures both U.S. and Canadian officials should adopt to save these beautiful whales."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/10/watchdog-accuses-trumps-noaa-choosing-extinction-critically-threatened-right-whales" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>. </em><em></em></p>From Your Site Articles
- Lemurs and Northern Right Whales Near Brink of Extinction ... ›
- Trump Administration Approves Harmful Seismic Blasting in Atlantic ... ›
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Pexels
By Beth Ann Mayer
Since even moderate-intensity workouts offer a slew of benefits, walking is a good choice for people looking to stay healthy.
<p>Just like eating the same thing every day can get stale, so can doing one type of exercise. A few small tweaks can make a world of difference.</p><p>Regular walkers, or those avoiding the monotony of daily strolls altogether, can put a spring back in their step with some simple changes.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from </em><a href="https://www.healthline.com/" target="_blank"><em>Healthline</em></a><em>. For detailed source information, please view the original article on </em><em><a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness/8-ways-to-shake-up-your-walking-routine" target="_blank">Healthline</a></em><em>.</em></p>
How to Rock Your Walk
<p>Walking isn't just fun and healthy. It's accessible.</p><p>"Walking is cheap," says Dr. John Paul H. Rue, a sports medicine doctor at <a href="https://mdmercy.com/" target="_blank">Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore</a>. "You can do it anywhere at any time; [it] requires little to no special equipment and has many of the same cardio benefits as running or other more intense workouts."</p><p>Want to up your walking game? Try the tips below.</p>Use Hand Weights
<p>Cardio and strength training can go hand-in-hand when you add weights to your walk.</p><p>A <a href="https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2019/03000/Associations_of_Resistance_Exercise_with.14.aspx" target="_blank">2019 study</a> found that weight training is good for your heart, and <a href="https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(17)30167-2/abstract" target="_blank">research</a> shows it reduces the risk of developing a <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/nutrition-metabolism-disorders" target="_blank">metabolic disorder</a> by 17 percent. People with metabolic disorders have a higher chance of being diagnosed with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes.</p><p>Rue suggests not carrying weights for your entire walk.</p><p>"Hand weights can give you an added level of energy burning, but you have to be careful with these because carrying [them] over a long period of time or while walking could actually lead to some overuse injuries," he says.</p>Make It a Circuit
<p>As another option, consider doing a circuit. First, put a pair of dumbbells on your lawn or somewhere in your home. Walk around the block once, then stop and do some bicep curls and tricep lifts before walking around the block again.</p><p>Rue recommends <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/exercise-fitness/running-with-weights" target="_blank">avoiding ankle weights</a> during cardio workouts, as they force you to use your quadriceps rather than hamstrings. They can also cause muscle imbalance, according to the <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/wearable-weights-how-they-can-help-or-hurt" target="_blank">Harvard Health Letter</a>.</p>Find a Fitness Trail
<p>Strength training isn't limited to weights. You can get stronger by <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/bodyweight-workout" target="_blank">simply using your body</a>.</p><p>Often found at parks, fitness trails are obstacle courses with equipment for pullups, pushups, rowing, and stretches to build upper and lower body strength.</p><p>Try searching "fitness trails near me" online, checking out your local parks and recreation website, or calling the municipal office to <a href="https://calisthenics-parks.com/" target="_blank">find one</a>.</p>Recruit a Friend
<p>People who workout together stay healthy together.</p><p><a href="https://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12877-017-0584-3" target="_blank">One study</a> showed that older adults who exercised with a group improved or maintained their functional health and enjoyed their lives more.</p><p>Enlist the help of a walking buddy with a regimen you aspire to have. If you don't know anyone in your area, apps like <a href="https://www.strava.com/" target="_blank">Strava</a> have social networking features so you can get support from fellow exercisers.</p>Try Meditation
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.nccih.nih.gov/research/statistics/nhis/2017" target="_blank">2017 National Health Interview Survey</a>, published by the National Institutes of Health, meditation is on the rise, and for good reason.</p><p>Researchers <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29616846/" target="_blank">found</a> that mind-body relaxation practices can regulate inflammation, <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/biological-rhythms" target="_blank">circadian rhythms</a>, and <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/glucose" target="_blank">glucose</a> metabolism, as well as lower <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/high-blood-pressure-hypertension" target="_blank">blood pressure</a>.</p><p>"Any form of exercise can be turned into a meditation of some type, either by the surroundings you are walking in, like a park or trail, or by blocking out the outside world with music on your headphones," Rue says.</p><p>You can also play a podcast or download an app like <a href="https://www.headspace.com/headspace-meditation-app" target="_blank">Headspace</a> that has a library of guided meditations to practice while you walk.</p>Do Fartlek Walks
<p>Typically used in running, fartlek intervals alternate periods of increased and decreased speed. These are <a href="https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/benefits-of-hiit" target="_blank">high-intensity interval training (HIIT)</a> workouts, which allow exercisers to accomplish more in less time.</p><p><a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0154075" target="_blank">One study</a> showed that 10-minute interval training improved <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/metabolic-syndrome" target="_blank">cardiometabolic</a> health, or lowered the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, just as well as working out at a continuous pace for 50 minutes.</p><p><a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111489" target="_blank">Research</a> also shows that HIIT workouts increase muscle <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/fast-twitch-muscles" target="_blank">oxidative</a> capacity, or the ability to use oxygen. To do a fartlek walk, try walking at an increased pace for 3 minutes, slow down for 2 minutes, and repeat.</p>Gradually Increase Pace
<p>A faster walking pace is associated with a lower risk of <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/copd" target="_blank">chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)</a> and respiratory diseases, according to a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30303933/" target="_blank">2019 study</a>.</p><p>Still, it's best not to go from a stroll to an Olympic-worthy power walk in a day. Instead, increase your pace gradually to prevent injury.</p><p>"Start by walking at a brisk pace for about 10 minutes per day, 3 to 5 days per week," Rue says. "Once you've done this for a few weeks, increase your time by 5 to 10 minutes per day until you get to 30 minutes."</p>Add Stairs
<p>You've likely heard that taking the stairs instead of an elevator is a way to add more movement into your daily routine. It's also a way to step up your walking. Stair climbing has been shown to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335519301123?via%3Dihub" target="_blank">decrease the risk of mortality</a> and can easily add a bit more challenge to your walk.</p><p>If you don't have stairs in your home, you can often find them outside a local municipal building, train station, or at a high school stadium.</p>Is Your Walk a True Cardio Workout?
<p>Not all walks are equal. A walk that's too leisurely may not provide enough burn to qualify as cardio. To see if you're getting a good workout, try to <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-check-heart-rate" target="_blank">measure your heart rate</a> using a monitor.</p><p>"A target goal for a good walking workout heart rate is about 50 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate," Rue says, adding that maximum heart rate is <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/fat-burning-heart-rate" target="_blank">typically calculated</a> by 220 beats per minute minus your age.</p><p>You can also monitor how easily you can carry on a conversation while you walk to gauge your heart rate.</p><p>"If you can walk and carry on a normal conversation, that's probably a lower intensity walk," says Rue. "If you are slightly breathless but can still have a conversation, that's probably a moderate workout. If you are out of breath and can't talk normally, that's a vigorous workout."</p>Takeaway
<p>By shaking up your routine, you can add excitement to your workout and reap even more rewards than a basic walk provides. Increasing the pace and intensity of a workout will make it more effective.</p><p>Simply pick your favorite variation to add some spice to your next walk.</p>From Your Site Articles
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In Major Win for Indigenous Rights, Supreme Court Rules Much of Eastern Oklahoma Is Still a Reservation
10 July
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Much of Eastern Oklahoma, including most of Tulsa, remains an Indian reservation, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. JustTulsa / CC BY 2.0
Much of Eastern Oklahoma, including most of Tulsa, remains an Indian reservation, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.
<p>The 5-4 decision, which <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/us/supreme-court-oklahoma-mcgirt-creek-nation.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> said was possibly the biggest legal victory for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous" target="_self">Indigenous</a> Americans in decades, affirmed that lands granted to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation by Congress in the 19th century remained theirs after Oklahoma became a state.</p><p>"This is a historic day," Principal Muscogee (Creek) Chief David Hill told The New York Times. "This is amazing. It's never too late to make things right."</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f63eb4faa6017a480e24169ba2528989"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/mmiwusa/photos/a.1020336344743907/2906138969496959/?type=3&theater"></div></div>
<p>The decision comes after a long and painful history of forced removals and broken treaties endured by Native Americans at the hands of the U.S. government. The land in what is now Oklahoma was granted to the Creek in the first place following their forced relocation from their homes in Georgia and Alabama in the 1830s. This is something that Justice Neil Gorsuch acknowledged in writing the majority opinion.</p><p>"On the far end of the Trail of Tears was a promise," he wrote.</p><p>Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joined him in the majority, while Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the minority opinion, according to the <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/07/opinion-analysis-justices-toe-hard-line-in-affirming-reservation-status-for-eastern-oklahoma/" target="_blank">SCOTUS blog</a>.</p>
<p>The case that led to the ruling, <em>McGirt v. Oklahoma</em>, involved a Seminole man named Jimcy McGirt who was convicted of sex crimes against a child on Creek land, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/07/09/889562040/supreme-court-rules-that-about-half-of-oklahoma-is-indian-land" target="_blank">NPR explained</a>. After he was convicted, he argued that his case should be retried in federal court because the state court lacked jurisdiction: Congress had never disbanded the Creek reservation, so the tribe retained sovereignty, according to NPR and The New York Times.</p><p>The Supreme Court agreed.</p><p>"When our tribes were removed west of the Mississippi, to what is now Oklahoma, we were promised that this land would be ours for as long as the grass grew and the waters ran. That commitment from the United States was more than just a promise — it was the law. For more than a century, Oklahoma ignored the law and stepped on our treaty rights. Today, the Supreme Court said no more," Cherokee Nation citizen Rebecca Nagle said in an article published by <a href="https://medium.com/@IndigenousRising/on-the-far-end-of-the-trail-of-tears-was-a-promise-4bc9cef058ce" target="_blank">Indigenous Rising Media</a>.</p>
<div id="0f5a4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2cde7da40389e37d787d22e434a5d64d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1281525996697587713" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Today the US Supreme Court effectively ruled a portion of Oklahoma is indeed Indian Territory. It is a great day to… https://t.co/HCV7gXXnTu</div> — Indigenous Environmental Network (@Indigenous Environmental Network)<a href="https://twitter.com/IENearth/statuses/1281525996697587713">1594374581.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The ruling has two main implications, according to NPR.</p><ol><li>Native Americans accused of major crimes committed on reservation land will now be tried in federal court, while those accused of minor offenses will be tried in tribal courts.</li><li>Native Americans tried and convicted by the state of Oklahoma in the past will have grounds to challenge these convictions.</li></ol><p>The decision impacts the Muscogee (Creek) and four other nations with similar treaties: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole.</p><p>In his minority opinion, Roberts worried this would lead to confusion for the state's criminal justice system.</p><p>"The state's ability to prosecute serious crimes will be hobbled and decades of past convictions could well be thrown out," Roberts wrote, according to The New York Times. "On top of that, the court has profoundly destabilized the governance of eastern Oklahoma."</p>
<p>However, United States Attorneys for the Northern, Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma said they were confident they could handle the new arrangement.</p><p>"As Oklahoma's United States Attorneys, we are confident tribal, state, local, and federal law enforcement will work together to continue providing exceptional public safety under this new ruling by the United States Supreme Court," they said in a statement reported by <a href="https://www.mvskokemedia.com/2020/07/09/scotus-opinion-upholds-tribal-treaties-promises/" target="_blank">Mvskoke Media</a>.</p><p>There is also a chance the ruling could impact <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-and-gas" target="_self">oil and gas</a> operations in Eastern Oklahoma, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1063536563" target="_blank">E&E News explained</a>. That's because those operations will now be taking place on federal land, rather than state land, and could be subject to tougher regulations.</p><p>"The status of land is a really big point in determining who has regulatory authority, and that's why it has broad implications," Elizabeth Kronk Warner, dean of the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, told E&E News. "Anytime there is oil and gas development on federal land, you have to go through the federal government to get your permitting and everything, and that's true for development in Indian Country."</p>
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The Firefly Watch project is among the options for aspiring citizen scientists to join. Mike Lewinski / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 2.0
By Tiffany Means
Summer and fall are great seasons to enjoy the outdoors. But if you're already spending extra time outside because of the COVID-19 pandemic, you may be out of ideas on how to make fresh-air activities feel special. Here are a few suggestions to keep both adults and children entertained and educated in the months ahead, many of which can be done from the comfort of one's home or backyard.
<p><a href="https://www.cocorahs.org/" target="_blank">The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network</a> (CoCoRaHS)</p><p><em>Open to U.S. and Canada residents</em></p><p>CoCoRaHS invites those with a penchant for precipitation to join its grassroots observation network. By observing, recording, and reporting daily accumulations of rain, snow, and hail in their own backyards, volunteers help fill in "holes" in the official network of precipitation gage data. Over time, these local observations will serve as a record of local climate. And climatologists will use this data to help put extreme precipitation events into historical context and to identify precipitation patterns.</p><p><a href="https://www.massaudubon.org/get-involved/citizen-science/firefly-watch" target="_blank">Firefly Watch</a></p><p><em>Open to U.S. and Canada residents</em></p><p>The Firefly Watch project seeks to answer the question of whether fireflies are disappearing from our summer evenings. Firefly enthusiasts interested in participating are asked to devote a minimum of 10 minutes weekly to observing firefly activity in their backyards or at other grassy locations. Sightings (or lack thereof) are then reported in an online database, along with basic weather conditions. In time, researchers hope the data gathered may help highlight the extent to which climate change has harmed fireflies, whether through loss of habitat or earlier peak appearance.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/penguintom79/penguin-watch" target="_blank">Penguin Watch</a></p><p><em>Open to residents worldwide</em></p><p>The Penguin Watch project aims to better understand the environmental threats responsible for the decline in penguin colonies. Volunteers will view short videos and image stills of Adélie, king, and other penguins captured by cameras around the Southern Ocean and Antarctic Peninsula, then count the number of visible adult penguins, chicks, and eggs. In summer 2020, the project is transitioning from monitoring penguin breeding patterns to monitoring foraging behavior.</p><p><a href="https://monarchwatch.org/calendar/" target="_blank">Monarch Watch</a></p><p><em>Open to U.S. residents</em></p><p>A nonprofit conservation and research program based at the University of Kansas, Monarch Watch depends on monarch butterfly and entomology enthusiasts to help investigate the decade-long decline in monarch butterfly numbers. By tracking counts of adult monarch butterflies and the timing of their north-south migrations, volunteers help researchers better predict the fall migration and overwintering population size – two characteristics that are influenced by weather and climate.</p>
<p><a href="http://amoywg.org/research-and-monitoring/" target="_blank">Re-sighting oystercatchers</a><br><em>Open to residents and tourists of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts</em></p><p>Barrier island beachgoers from Maine to Mexico can help monitor American oystercatcher populations by reporting "banded" birds to the American Oystercatcher Working Group. Upon spotting a flock of oystercatchers during the breeding, nesting, or migration seasons, volunteers are asked to note and report (or better yet, photograph) the color, code, and positioning of bracelets on the shorebirds' legs. Re-sighting assists scientists in researching environmental threats, such as sea-level rise, on the migration habits and feeding or nesting resources of these orange-beaked shorebirds, which are a species of "special concern" in some states.</p><p><a href="https://www.outdoors.org/conservation/climate-energy/citizen-science" target="_blank">Mountain Watch</a><br><em>Open to New Hampshire and Maine residents and tourists</em></p><p><span></span>The Appalachian Mountain Club encourages hikers to help scientists study climate change and its effects on the flowering and fruiting times of Appalachian flora through the Mountain Watch program. The program, which partners with the iNaturalist app, asks Appalachian Trail-goers to use their mobile devices to photograph plant life found in the White Mountain National Forest. Those images are automatically geo-tagged with date and location coordinates, which then assist researchers in learning more about the characteristics of forest and alpine vegetation.</p>
<p><a href="https://eorhawaii.org/about-eyes-of-the-reef/" target="_blank">Eyes of the Reef Hawai'i</a><br><em>Open to Hawai'i residents and tourists</em></p><p>The Eyes of the Reef is a statewide reporting network that encourages Hawai'ian Island ocean enthusiasts, fishers, and community members to assist in protecting Hawai'i's local reefs. Participants are asked to identify and report unhealthy reefs so that coral disease, coral bleaching, and invasive species spread events can be monitored by scientists as early as possible. Seventy to 90% of coral reefs will be killed off by warming oceans, ocean acidification, and pollution in the next 20 years, according to <a href="https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2020/02/24/climate-change-could-kill-coral-reefs/" target="_blank">a recent study</a> by a researcher at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. Coral reefs may be eliminated worldwide by the year 2100.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/07/7-climate-conscious-citizen-science-projects/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p><h5></h5>
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People sit at the bar of a restaurant in Austin, Texas, on June 26, 2020. Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered bars to be closed by noon on June 26 and for restaurants to be reduced to 50% occupancy. Coronavirus cases in Texas spiked after being one of the first states to begin reopening. SERGIO FLORES / AFP via Getty Images
The coronavirus may linger in the air in crowded indoor spaces, spreading from one person to the next, the World Health Organization acknowledged on Thursday, as The New York Times reported. The announcement came just days after 239 scientists wrote a letter urging the WHO to consider that the novel coronavirus is lingering in indoor spaces and infecting people, as EcoWatch reported.
<p>The <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa939/5867798" target="_blank">letter</a>, written by two scientists from Australia and the U.S. and published in the journal <em>Clinical Infectious Diseases, </em>said that studies have shown "beyond any reasonable doubt that viruses are released during exhalation, talking and coughing in microdroplets small enough to remain aloft in the air."</p><p>The WHO had previously dismissed those concerns, but that position is quickly changing.</p><p>"We have to be open to this evidence and understand its implications regarding the modes of transmission, and also regarding the precautions that need to be taken," said Benedetta Allegranzi, technical leader of the WHO task force on infection control, as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02058-1" target="_blank"><em>Nature</em></a> reported.</p>
<p>Its <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/modes-of-transmission-of-virus-causing-covid-19-implications-for-ipc-precaution-recommendations" target="_blank">new scientific report</a> released details on how the coronavirus that leads to COVID-19 can pass from one person to the next by staying in the air during medical procedures, or, for example, in crowded restaurants, choir practices and fitness classes, as <a href="https://apnews.com/648feb226473f9841920abd6ffb004c7" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported.</p><p>"In these events, short-range aerosol transmission, particularly in specific indoor locations, such as crowded and inadequately ventilated spaces over a prolonged period of time with infected persons cannot be ruled out," the United Nations health agency's new guidance said, as <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/09/airborne-transmission-of-coronavirus-in-restaurants-gyms-and-other-closed-spaces-cant-be-ruled-out-who-says.html" target="_blank">CNBC</a> reported.</p><p>And yet, the WHO said more research is "urgently needed to investigate such instances and assess their significance for transmission of COVID-19."</p>
<p>In the updated brief, the WHO also pointed out more directly than it previously had that people who do not have symptoms may spread the virus. "Infected people can transmit the virus both when they have symptoms and when they don't have symptoms," the agency said, as The New York Times reported.</p><p>Prior to the new brief, the WHO said asymptomatic transmission was probably "very rare."</p><p>As <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/09/health/airborne-transmission-coronavirus-who-brief/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported, WHO's <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-how-is-covid-19-transmitted" target="_blank">website also noted </a>that "there have been reported outbreaks of COVID-19 in some closed settings, such as restaurants, nightclubs, places of worship or places of work where people may be shouting, talking, or singing. In these outbreaks, aerosol transmission, particularly in these indoor locations where there are crowded and inadequately ventilated spaces where infected persons spend long periods of time with others, cannot be ruled out. More studies are urgently needed to investigate such instances and assess their significance for transmission of COVID-19."</p>
<p>The new guidelines continue to suggest that people avoid crowds and ensure that buildings are well-ventilated. Some experts were pleased to see the revised guidelines, but felt they were not as extensive as they could have been.</p><p>"This is a move in the right direction, albeit a small one. It is becoming clear that the pandemic is driven by super-spreading events, and that the best explanation for many of those events is aerosol transmission," said Jose Jimenez, a chemist at the University of Colorado who signed the letter in <em>Clinical Infectious Diseases</em>, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who-airborne/new-who-guidance-calls-for-more-evidence-on-airborne-transmission-idUSKBN24A2E5" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told reporters in a press briefing on Thursday that there is not a lot of evidence about airborne transmission yet, but he added, "I think it's a reasonable assumption that it does occur," as Reuters reported.</p><p>He went on to say, the evidence so far is "the fundamental basis for why we are now so intent on getting people — particularly people without symptoms — to wear masks. To be able to see if we can mitigate against that."</p>
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A never-before-documented frog species has been discovered in the Peruvian highlands and named Phrynopus remotum. Germán Chávez
By Angela Nicoletti
The eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains in central Perú are among the most remote places in the world.
<p>At elevations of 12,000 feet, some patches of cloud forest linger, blanketing the rocky ground and grasslands. Scattered across those grasslands are stones, surrounded by moss and lichens.</p><p>And hidden beneath those stones are small, brownish-grey frogs with short limbs and stout bodies. They don't live near water, so they never begin life as tadpoles. Instead, they hatch directly out of the eggs as froglets.</p><p>These unique frogs may have existed under those stones for centuries. But they were unknown to science — until now. <a href="https://case.fiu.edu/about/directory/profiles/catenazzi-alessandro.html" target="_blank">Alessandro Catenazzi</a>, a Florida International University (FIU) biologist in the <a href="https://environment.fiu.edu/" target="_blank">Institute of Environment</a>, and a collaborative team in Perú have successfully identified the never-before-documented frog species in the Peruvian highlands and named it <em>Phrynopus remotum.</em></p>
<p>"You can't do anything for a species if you don't know it exists," Catenazzi said. "As scientists, describing and naming a species is the first step in helping to save it."</p><p>Germán Chávez and Luis Alberto García Ayachi were conducting field work when they came across some of the frogs. At first glance, they didn't necessarily stand out. The frogs look much like other frogs that live at high elevations where temperatures and oxygen levels are lower.</p><p>Because of a phenomenon called convergent evolution, different species will adapt in similar ways to a particular environment. Frogs that live at lower elevations — where there are trees — have disks on their fingers and toes to help them climb and move around. At higher elevations frogs don't usually have those disks. They don't have slim bodies. They don't have eyes that are as big. Living in mosses or under stones, they don't need those particular genetic adaptations.</p>
<p>Every frog living under those stones, though, is <em>not</em> the same.</p><p>Catenazzi knows this better than most. Throughout his career, he's spent time in museums studying the world's frogs and in the field searching for places where a deadly fungal disease has not yet hit amphibian populations. Including this latest find, he's helped discover and name 33 new species.</p><p>In the lab, Catenazzi extracted and sequenced the DNA of the frog in question and confirmed it was, in fact, a completely unique and new species. He then constructed an evolutionary tree. Like a family tree that traces different relatives — grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins — the tree Catenazzi created looked at relatedness that spans hundreds of thousands to millions of years. It shows how closely the newly named species is related to other species in the same genus, <em>Phrynopus.</em></p>
<p><em>Phrynopus remotum</em> refers to the remote place the frogs are found, which can only be reached after days of traveling over roads, on horseback, along hiking trails and up the steep slopes of the mountain side.</p><p>As Catenazzi points out, though, just because this place is remote today doesn't mean it will always remain that way. The highlands and nearby areas are threatened by the rapid expansion of human activities. Even hiding under a stone won't save the little frog if a road is built or the land is used for agriculture.</p><p>But, now that scientists know these frogs exist, conservation can begin. </p><p>"With the knowledge of this species, we can convince people of the value of this area. We can say 'Here is a species and it's found nowhere else on earth,'" Catenazzi said. "That can convince people that this specific area has value and should be protected so this frog can persist."</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.fiu.edu/2020/whats-under-that-stone-oh,-just-a-never-before-seen-species-of-frog" target="_blank">Florida International University</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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