Friends of Big Creek
The Cuyahoga River Remedial Action Plan (RAP), with support from the Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District, Friends of Big Creek and the Ohio Environmental Education Fund, is hosting a Forest Forum with the goal of enhancing forest cover in Big Creek watershed communities (Cleveland, Brooklyn, Linndale, Parma, Parma Heights, Brook Park, North Royalton). The event is Jan. 12 from 2 - 5 pm and 5:30 - 8:30 pm at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo administration building auditorium (next to Zoo’s main entrance) at 3900 Wildlife Way, Cleveland 44109.
Participants will:
• receive updated maps of their city’s forest cover and streams.
• help identify priority restoration sites to target funding for restoration.
• have an opportunity to send a representative from their city to Tree Commission Academy.
• receive and inventory of their city’s forest, tree protection, mitigation and restoration ordinances and policies, and be eligible for ongoing assistance in updating and implementing them.
• be eligible for funding and pilot restoration projects in their community.
For more information, click here. To RSVP and ensure enough materials will be provided for your city, email Jane Goodman or call 216-241-2414 x610.
A sign indicates that glyphosate has been used on a farmer's field. Jo Zimny / Flickr
More than half the bacteria in the human gut microbiome are sensitive to glyphosate, the mostly commonly used herbicide in the world, reported scientists this month in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.
<p>Researchers from the University of Turku in Finland recently developed a novel bioinformatics tool to predict if beneficial bacteria in the human gut are affected by exposure to glyphosate.</p><p>They found that the herbicide could disturb the natural cycles of microbiome life, and potentially harm human health, through weakening the system and causing greater susceptibility to diseases.</p><p>"Glyphosate targets an enzyme ... [that] is crucial to synthesizing three essential amino acids," said Pere Puigbò, who co-developed the bioinformatics tool.</p>
<p>Glyphosate is regularly in the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/atrazine-harms-endangered-species-2648937774.html" target="_self">news</a>, viewed as a potential threat to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/22/war-of-the-weedkiller-why-environmentalists-are-concerned-about-moves-to-ban-roundup" target="_blank">health</a> and <a href="https://www.capitalpress.com/nation_world/epa-backs-arguments-against-25-million-glyphosate-verdict/article_f7ee49e0-194d-11eb-909b-bfe8072212c6.html" target="_blank">well-being</a> because of its widespread use on crops including corn, soy and canola. It is also a household weed killer, particularly the Monsanto/Bayer-owned brand <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/monsanto">Roundup</a>.</p><p>The herbicide is currently banned from many <a href="https://sustainablepulse.com/2019/05/28/glyphosate-herbicides-now-banned-or-restricted-in-17-countries-worldwide-sustainable-pulse-research/#.X7x66C2ZNE4" target="_blank">countries</a> including Germany, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam, and is heavily restricted in others. <a href="https://www.sfpublicpress.org/as-cancer-concerns-lead-cities-to-ban-herbicide-sf-scales-back-use-of-roundup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cities </a>and <a href="https://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/health/bill-would-limit-residential-use-of-glyphosate/69-ffa2b3c1-cf47-477a-ab81-81bbb4615257" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">states</a> across the U.S. are starting to reduce use or pushing for a ban, due to mounting health concerns. Other cities, such as Los Angeles and Miami, have already banned use.</p><p>"We need experimental research to study the effects of glyphosate on microbial communities in variable environments," said researcher Marjo Helander in a statement about the findings.</p><p>"This groundbreaking study provides tools for further studies to determine the actual impact of glyphosate on human and animal gut microbiota and thus to their health."</p>
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Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is seen on October 19, 2015 in Madrid, Spain. Denis Doyle / Getty Images
President-elect Joe Biden announced Monday that former Secretary of State John Kerry will sit on his National Security Council (NSC) as Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.
<p>Kerry's appointment was announced alongside other key foreign policy and national security roles and signals that the Biden administration plans to make fighting the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> an integral part of its foreign policy.</p><p>"This marks the first time that the NSC will include an official dedicated to climate change, reflecting the president-elect's commitment to addressing climate change as an urgent national security issue," the transition team said in a statement.</p>
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<div id="7aab6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4bff71c40172c15736f73fe73ed18078"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1330967606585593857" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Today, I’m announcing the first members of my national security and foreign policy team. They will rally the world… https://t.co/bAisIQk5P6</div> — Joe Biden (@Joe Biden)<a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/statuses/1330967606585593857">1606162380.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Kerry has a long history of engaging in climate diplomacy, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/11/23/kerry-climate-change/" target="_blank">The Washington Post reported</a>. He has represented the U.S. at every major climate conference for the past 30 years and, as Secretary of State under President Barack Obama, played a key role in negotiating the 2015 <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" target="_self">Paris agreement</a>. More recently, he started the organization <a href="https://worldwarzero.com/" target="_blank">World War Zero</a> to unite people from all political persuasions and walks of life around the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Kerry also co-chaired the Biden campaign's climate task force with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), which was designed to make policy suggestions and bridge the gap between party moderates and supporters of Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.</p><p>"The work we began with the Paris Agreement is far from done," Kerry <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnKerry/status/1330945088080457731" target="_blank">tweeted</a> in response to his appointment. "I'm returning to government to get America back on track to address the biggest challenge of this generation and those that will follow. The climate crisis demands nothing less than all hands on deck."</p><p>Biden's choice of Kerry won wide approval from environmental groups.</p><p>"The big question has been, 'How serious is the new administration about climate change?'" senior <a href="https://www.edf.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Environmental Defense Fund</a> (EDF) vice president Nathaniel Keohane told <a href="https://grist.org/politics/with-john-kerry-envoy-biden-plans-to-tackle-climate-change-abroad/?utm_campaign=sprout&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1606165955" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Grist</a>. "This is a tremendously important signal. It says that the Biden administration is committed to making climate change front and center in terms of how we engage with the world."</p>
<p>While Kerry is seen as a moderate, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/23/john-kerry-biden-climate-envoy-appointment?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1606170161" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, his role on the campaign's climate task force has earned him the respect of the more progressive wing of the climate movement.</p><p>"He was quite the diplomat in terms of trying to make sure that all sides were represented and that we could reach compromises that we could all live with," Alabama environmental activist and panel member Catherine Coleman Flowers told The Washington Post. "He had a good understanding of the climate crisis."</p><p><a href="https://www.sunrisemovement.org/?ms=SunriseMovement" target="_blank">Sunrise Movement</a> co-founder Varshini Prakash also spoke favorably of Kerry's role on the panel.</p><p>"I served with Sec. Kerry this summer on the Biden-Sanders taskforce and one thing is clear: he really does care about stopping climate change. That's something we can work with," she <a href="https://twitter.com/VarshPrakash/status/1330948342776557568?s=20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweeted</a>. "An encouraging move from the Biden team — now I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a domestic equivalent!"</p>
<p>Biden is expected to name a White House climate policy coordinator in December who will focus on domestic climate policy, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/climate/john-kerry-climate-change.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>.</p><p>However, the effectiveness of both roles may depend on whether Republicans retain control of the Senate after the Georgia runoff elections in January. Kerry's position does not require Senate confirmation, but he may have a harder time convincing other countries to take more aggressive action if the U.S. does not seem to be pulling its weight. Diplomatically, he faces a challenge no matter what, given President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a>'s decision to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/paris-agreement-us-withdrawal-2648618695.html" target="_self">withdraw the U.S.</a> from the Paris agreement Kerry helped negotiate. While Biden intends to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/paris-climate-agreement-biden-2648649350.html" target="_self">rejoin the agreement</a> immediately upon taking office, the U.S. departure still burned the international community.</p><p>"Kerry's challenge is 'fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me,'" Rachel Kyte, dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, told The New York Times.</p>
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Susanna Pershern / Submerged Resources Center/ National Park Service / public domain
By Melissa Gaskill
Two decades ago scientists and volunteers along the Virginia coast started tossing seagrass seeds into barren seaside lagoons. Disease and an intense hurricane had wiped out the plants in the 1930s, and no nearby meadows could serve as a naturally dispersing source of seeds to bring them back.
<p>The seeding effort eventually delivered more than 70 million seeds — and it paid off, creating some 9,000 acres of the underwater plants.</p>
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</div></blockquote></div><p>Now monitoring of these restored meadows reveals multiple benefits to their restoration, including substantial increases in fish and invertebrate abundance, improved water clarity, and significant trapping of carbon and nitrogen.</p><p>"Planting adult seagrass is very labor intensive, but we started looking at using seeds in the lab and found it was quite easy," said biologist Robert "JJ" Orth, lead author on a new <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/41/eabc6434" target="_blank">paper</a> about the project. "These areas have good water quality, are shallow and are near the ocean so they get bathed in cooler water — perfect conditions. It was a surprise how quickly it happened."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDgwMzMxNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MjU4MzU3NX0.r56VbB8AxUb2Q4G3uoSDAejRc-zg8bYudl3C8kV5saQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="6c88d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5909dc34f2c554d80a1f4b0ccefb3e5f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Restored seagrass beds in Virginia now provide habitat for hundreds of thousands of scallops. Bob Orth, Virginia Institute of Marine Science / CC BY 2.0
<p>The paper is part of a growing trend of evidence suggesting seagrass meadows can be easier to restore than other coastal habitats.</p><p>Successful seagrass-restoration methods include <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304377099000078?via%3Dihub" target="_blank">transplanting shoots</a>, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1061-2971.2004.00314.x" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mechanized planting</a> and, more recently, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17438-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">biodegradable mats</a>. Removing threats, proximity to donor seagrass beds, planting techniques, project size and site selection all play roles in a restoration effort's success.</p><p>Human assistance isn't always necessary, though. In areas where some beds remain, seagrass can even recover on its own when stressors are reduced or removed. For example, seagrass began to recover when Tampa Bay improved its water quality by reducing nitrogen loads from runoff by roughly 90%.</p><p>But more and more, seagrass meadows struggle to hang on.</p><p>The marine flowering plants have declined globally since the 1930s and currently disappear at a rate equivalent to a football field every 30 minutes, according to the <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/report/out-blue-value-seagrasses-environment-and-people" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Nations Environment Programme</a>. And research published in 2018 found the rate of decline is <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2018GB005941" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">accelerating</a> in many regions.</p><p>The causes of decline vary and overlap, depending on the region. They include thermal stress from climate change; human activities such as dredging, anchoring and coastal infrastructure; and intentional removal in tourist areas. In addition, increased runoff from land carries sediment that clouds the water, blocking sunlight the plants need for photosynthesis. Runoff can also carry contaminants and nutrients from fertilizer that disrupt habitats and cause algal blooms.</p><p>All that damage comes with a cost.</p>The Value of Seagrass
<p>As with ecosystems like rainforests and <a href="https://therevelator.org/mangroves-climate-change/" target="_blank">mangroves</a>, loss of seagrass increases carbon dioxide emissions. And that spells trouble not just for certain habitats but for the whole planet.</p><p>Although seagrass covers at most 0.2% of the seabed, it <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/seagrass-secret-weapon-fight-against-global-heating" target="_blank">accounts for 10%</a> of the ocean's capacity to store carbon and soils, and these meadows store carbon dioxide an estimated 30 times faster than most terrestrial forests. Slow decomposition rates in seagrass sediments contribute to their <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238506081_Assessing_the_capacity_of_seagrass_meadows_for_carbon_burial_Current_limitations_and_future_strategies" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">high carbon burial rates</a>. In Australia, according to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.15204" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">research</a> by scientists at Edith Cowan University, loss of seagrass meadows since the 1950s has increased carbon dioxide emissions by an amount equivalent to 5 million cars a year. The United Nations Environment Programme reports that a 29% decline in seagrass in Chesapeake Bay between 1991 and 2006 resulted in an estimated loss of up to 1.8 million tons of carbon.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDgwMzMxOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDk0NDAwOX0.ILZN1S7VzsMsdiF6usSunDgL0wYRlgtFEoLb5Hinwq4/img.jpg?width=980" id="3b37c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="06cc09d311c7b9b0d90ae063f04bbb5b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Eelgrass in the river delta at Prince William Sound, Alaska. Alaska ShoreZone Program NOAA / NMFS / AKFSC; Courtesy of Mandy Lindeberg / NOAA / NMFS / AKFSC
<p>Seagrasses also protect costal habitats. A healthy meadow slows wave energy, reduces erosion and lowers the risk of flooding. In Morro Bay, California, a 90% decline in the seagrass species known as eelgrass caused extensive erosion, according to a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272771420303528?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">paper</a> from researchers at California Polytechnic State University.</p><p>"Right away, we noticed big patterns in sediment loss or erosion," said lead author Ryan Walter. "Many studies have shown this on individual eelgrass beds, but very few studies looked at it on a systemwide scale."</p><p>In the tropics, seagrass's natural protection can reduce the need for expensive and often-environmentally unfriendly <a href="https://www.nioz.nl/en/news/zeegras-spaart-stranden-en-geld" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">beach nourishments</a> regularly conducted in tourism areas.</p><p>Seagrass ecosystems improve water quality and clarity, filtering particles out of the water column and preventing resuspension of sediment. This role could be even more important in the future. By producing oxygen through photosynthesis, meadows could help offset decreased oxygen levels caused by warmer water temperatures (oxygen is less soluble in warm than in cold water).</p><p>The meadows also provide vital habitat for a wide variety of marine life, including fish, sea turtles, birds, marine mammals such as manatees, invertebrates and algae. They provide nursery habitat for <a href="https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/32636/seagrass.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">roughly 20%</a> of the world's largest fisheries — an <a href="https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/seagrass-meadows-harbor-wildlife-for-centuries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">estimated 70%</a> of fish habitats in Florida alone.</p><p>Conversely, their disappearance can contribute to die-offs of marine life. The loss of more than 20 square miles of seagrass in Florida's Biscayne Bay may have helped set the stage for a widespread <a href="https://www.wlrn.org/2020-08-14/the-seagrass-died-that-may-have-triggered-a-widespread-fish-kill-in-biscayne-bay" target="_blank">fish kill</a> in summer 2020. Lack of grasses to produce oxygen left the basin more vulnerable when temperatures rose and oxygen levels dropped as a result, says Florida International University professor Piero Gardinali.</p>Damaged Systems, a Changing Climate
<p>Governments and conservationists around the world have already put a lot of effort into coastal restoration efforts. And that's helped some seagrass populations.</p><p>Where stressors remain, though, restoration grows more complicated. <a href="https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/en/publications/the-future-of-seagrass-ecosystem-services-in-a-changing-world(3a8c56db-7bed-4c9e-ac7f-c72453e2a102).html" target="_blank">Research</a> published this September found that only 37% of seagrass restorations have survived. Newly restored meadows remain vulnerable to the original stressors that depleted them, as well as to storms — and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate change</a>.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDgwMzMyMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNzY3MTExM30.z7W72RvpB9iQMUIeVr7IA0G8dzqmtz19gLinEoTfBpA/img.jpg?width=980" id="9e386" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9d2aa1b4aba58ffe18d83acaa13f10f2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Seagrass in Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida. Alicia Wellman / Florida Fish and Wildlife / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
<p>In Chesapeake Bay a cold-water species of seagrass is currently hitting its heat limit, especially in summer, according to Alexander Challen Hyman of University of Florida's School of Natural Resources and Environment. As waters continue to warm due to climate change, the species likely will disappear there.</p><p>Climate-driven sea-level rise complicates the problem as well. Seagrasses thrive at specific depths — too shallow and they dry out or are eaten, too deep and there isn't enough light for photosynthesis.</p>But There’s Good News, Too
<p>Luckily, left to its own devices, a seagrass meadow can flourish for hundreds of years, according to a <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2019.1861" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">paper</a> published last year by Hyman and other researchers from the University of Florida. The researchers arrived at their conclusion by looking at shells of living mollusks and fossil shells to estimate the ages of meadows in Florida's Big Bend region on the Gulf Coast.</p><p>That area has extensive, relatively pristine seagrass meadows. "Our motivation was to understand the past history of these systems, and shells store a lot of history," said co-author Michal Kowalewski.</p><p>A high degree of similarity between living and dead shells indicates a stable area, while a mismatch suggests an area shifted from seagrass to barren sand. The researchers found that long-term accumulations of shells resembled living ones, suggesting that the seagrass habitats have been stable over time.</p><p>That stability allows biodiversity to thrive, creating conditions where specialist species can survive and flourish, according to Hyman.</p><p>Discovering the long-term stability of seagrass meadows has implications for choosing restoration sites, Kowalewski notes.</p><p>"There must be reasons they thrive in one place, while a mile away they don't and fossil data says they probably never did," he said. "If we remove a seagrass patch, we cannot hope to plant it somewhere else. It's not just the seagrass that is special. The location at which it's found is special, too."</p><p>A better approach is conserving these habitats in the first place, but we're not doing enough of that right now. The UN reports that marine protected areas safeguard just 26% of recorded seagrass meadows, compared with 40% of coral reefs and 43% of mangroves.</p><div id="0e43d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5dd416de57a6668bb7b310f46cb45a94"><blockquote class="instagram-media"
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</div></blockquote></div><p>In the meantime, small actions can make a big difference — such as fertilizer ordinances, for example, Gardinali suggested.</p><p>"Nitrogen and phosphorus are the problem," he said. "It's an easy first step. We can change the way we do small things, one at a time."</p><p>Everything we do at this point will help, not only seagrass but everything that depends on it.</p><p>"These habitats are so vital," Hyman says. "Putting aside erosion control and all these benefits people might not find as important, they harbor juvenile stages of all these marine species we like to eat — blue crabs, for example. From that standpoint alone, seagrass provides countless benefits to the economy."</p><p>Those benefits have mostly gone ignored in favor of more visible, charismatic land-based habitats. That needs to change, the experts say.</p><p>"What the trees in the Amazon rainforest provide for that system is what eelgrass provides in estuarine systems," said Walter. "So many ecosystem services, beyond just being a beautiful grass."</p><p>One that, if we let it, will provide those services for hundreds of years.</p><p><em><a href="https://therevelator.org/author/gaskill/" target="_blank">Melissa Gaskill</a> is a freelance science writer based in Austin whose work has appeared in Scientific American, Mental Floss, Newsweek, Alert Diver and many other publications. She is the co-author of A Worldwide Travel Guide to Sea Turtles and author of Pandas to Penguins: Ethical Encounters with Animals at Risk.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/seagrass-climate-change/" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>. </em></p>
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Fridays for Future climate activists demonstrate in Bonn, Germany on Sept. 25, 2020. Roberto Pfeil / picture alliance via Getty Images
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere hit a new record in 2019 and have continued climbing this year, despite lockdowns and other measures to curb the pandemic, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday, citing preliminary data.
<p>Levels of carbon dioxide, a product of burning fossil fuels that <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/are-international-pledges-bold-enough-to-stop-global-warming/a-41343653" target="_blank">contribute to global warming</a>, peaked at 410.5 parts per million in 2019, according to the WMO. The annual increase is larger than the previous year and surpasses the average over the last decade.</p><p>"Such a rate of increase has never been seen in the history of our records," WMO Secretary-General professor Petteri Taalas said, referring to increases since 2015 and urging for a "sustained flattening of the (emissions) curve."</p>
<h2>Lockdown Drops Just a 'Blip'</h2><p>The Geneva-based UN agency noted that shutdowns, border closures, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/to-fly-or-not-to-fly-the-environmental-cost-of-air-travel/a-42090155" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">flight groundings</a> and other restrictions had cut emissions of many pollutants and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/our-addiction-to-growth-is-harming-the-climate/a-41429203" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.</a></p><p>As pandemic measures peaked earlier this year, daily CO2 output dropped 17% below last year's mean level, preliminary results of the WMO's main annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin found.</p><p>But the WMO warned against complacency and said the global plunge in industrial activities due to the pandemic had <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/will-it-soon-be-too-late-to-save-the-climate/a-49889771" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">not restricted record concentrations of the greenhouse gases</a> that are trapping heat in the atmosphere, increasing temperatures, triggering sea levels to rise and prompting extreme weather.</p><p>"The lockdown-related fall in emissions is just a tiny blip on the long-term graph," WMO chief Petteri Taalas said.</p>
<p>The annual impact was expected to be a drop of between 4.2% and 7.5%. But according to the WMO, this will not cause concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere to decrease and warned the impact on concentrations was "no bigger than the normal year to year fluctuations."</p><p>Worldwide data is not yet available for 2020 but the trend of surging concentrations appears to be intact, the group said, citing initial readings from its Tasmania and Hawaii stations.</p>
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<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/un-greenhouse-gas-levels-hit-record-high-despite-lockdowns/a-55698828" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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The Argentine black-and-white tegu is an invasive species that can reach four-feet long. Mark Newman / Getty Images
These black-and-white lizards could be the punchline of a joke, except the situation is no laughing matter.
<p>That's because the Argentine black-and-white tegu is an <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/invasive-species" target="_self">invasive species</a> of dog-sized lizards that scientists worry could pose a threat to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> across the Southeast.</p><p>The tegus first came to the region as escaped or released pets and began to spread in South Florida more than a decade ago, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/11/tegu-lizards-invasive-spreading-southeast-united-states/" target="_blank">National Geographic reported</a>. But they are now reaching other states in the region and have been spotted in Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, Louisiana and Alabama.</p><p>"[T]he entire southeast portion of the United States is at risk," U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) biologist Amy Yackel Adams told National Geographic. "Much of this area has a climate that is suitable for tegus."</p>
<p>For scientists, the tegus' eating habits are the most concerning aspect as they spread. The lizards, which are native to South America and up to four-feet long, consume everything from eggs and small birds to low-growing fruit. In Venezuela, they are nicknamed <em>lobo pollero,</em> or "the chicken wolf," for their habit of stealing eggs from chicken coops. In the U.S., they could pose an additional hazard to the eggs of threatened or endangered species like the Eastern indigo snake.</p><p>Protecting native <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> is a major concern in Georgia, where the tegus have been spotted mostly in Tattnall and Toombs counties, <a href="https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/giant-tegu-lizards-are-moving-into-georgia-and-theyre-not-welcome" target="_blank">Discover reported</a>.</p><p>"They are very efficient predators of our native fauna that don't recognize them as predators," Georgia Southern University biology professor Lance McBrayer told Discover.</p>
<p>Of special concern are ground-nesting birds such as quails and the gopher tortoise, which is the Georgia state reptile, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-four-foot-lizards-will-eat-anything-and-theyre-invading-southeastern-us-180976350/" target="_blank">Smithsonian Magazine reported</a>.</p><p>However, the tegus' egg-stealing ways also make them easier to trap, according to Discover. Seven were captured in Georgia in 2019 and six were captured this year. Those numbers are large enough that McBrayer thinks the lizards are likely breeding in the wild.</p><p>"We suspect that they are breeding, but we have not captured a juvenile," he told Discover. "So, we can't say with absolute certainty that there are baby tegus running around."</p>
<p>McBrayer and Yackel Adams told Discover that the goal is to remove the lizards from Georgia before they can establish a population.</p><p>"We're at that early invasion," Yackel Adams told Discover. "It's the best time to deal with it."</p><p>Meanwhile, state officials are also working to stop the tegus from spreading in South Carolina, where they have been spotted at least nine times since August, <a href="https://abcnews4.com/news/local/eight-more-non-native-black-and-white-tegus-spotted-in-south-carolina" target="_blank">WCIV reported in September</a>.</p>
<p>"The number and distribution of black and white tegu reports in just a few weeks is concerning. Documented sightings come from as far north as Greenville County and as far south as Berkeley County," State Herpetologist Andrew Grosse told WCIV. </p><p>"The individuals removed measured between two and three feet long and consisted of both females and males. Necropsies show the tegus have all been scavenging native plants and animals, including toads, various insects and muscadines. This indicates these individuals are wild, free roaming and foraging opportunistically. It is important that this species does not establish in our state."</p>The climate is a key reason why tegus stand a good chance of spreading throughout the Southeast, since their native region is roughly the same latitude, McBrayer told Discover. Their range could grow even further as the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis<br></a>expands tropical and subtropical conditions to the north, National Geographic reported.
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