BEACON TRANSCRIPT – A new study from the Washington State University has taken a closer look at one of the largest volcanic eruptions known to have taken place on our planet.

This occurred some 16.5 million years ago, during the Miocene Climatic Optimum or the MCO. Previous research has shown that, during this period, our planet was passing through a period of cooling. This was estimated to have lasted for some 50 million years and then to have been followed by a small increase in temperature.

The Wapshilla Ridge, a Result of this Massive Volcanic Eruption

Volcanic eruptions are some of history’s most important events as scientists point out their close links to many events over the course of our planetary evolution.

Now, the latest research took a closer look at one of the most massive volcanic eruptions known to have taken place on Earth. The scientists approximate that this might have occurred some 16.5 million years ago. Its vents were detected to have been located in what is now present-day Washington as well as in Northwest Oregon.

Its flow of basalt is estimated to have reached from the Pacific Ocean all the way to Canada. In turn, this is believed to have led to the formation of what is now known as the Wapshilla Ridge Member, part of the Grande Ronde Basalt, a kilometer-thick block. It is also the currently largest known basalt flood map.

According to the new study, this massive basalt unit also points to the presence of giant sulfur clouds that must have engulfed the Earth after the eruption. The basalt flood of this gigantic outbreak was approximated to have released somewhere between 242 billion to 305 billion tons of Sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere.

This latest research suggests that one of the consequences of this sulfur cloud was a food shortage all across the planet’s northern hemisphere. The eruption that created the Wapshilla Ridge coincides, according to research, to another drop in temperature during the MCO.

The team believes that better understanding this period, an important frame of reference in our planet’s history, might help shed new light on the current climate trends.

Detailed study findings of the current research are available in the journal Geology.

Image Source: Flickr

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – The largest yet study of the plants preserved and protected in botanical gardens around the world has shown the level of work needed to ensure the different endangered species of plants will still exist in the future.

Dr. Paul Smith, Secretary General of Botanic Gardens Conservation International, believes this global survey of inventory will aid the gardens of the world in adding to their stocks and increasing the plants’ chance for the future.

Endangered Plants Can be Protected For Future Generations in Botanical Gardens

The global study of the several catalogs of botanical gardens has revealed the important role they are already playing. These plant inventories are considered as being among the best chances of survival for future generations. Around 100,000 plants were recorded to provide a detailed view of the state of the gardens across the planet in terms of the level of preservation already in place.

In total, Dr. Smith said that the number of plants already preserved in gardens had hit approximately one-third of all known species. Although the numbers may sound impressive, there still are causes of concern for those involved in the conservation of endangered plants. These are hoping to further add to the collection of tropical species and also ancient varieties of plants, for example, mosses.

Dr. Smith praised the work already being conducted and in some cases, completed, by gardens across the planet. But he also advised for a touch of caution with the reveal of only 10 percent of such facilities focusing their efforts on endangered varieties. A further issue was identified in the lack of representation of such installations in the Southern Hemisphere. This means that the diverse range of plant life in tropical regions is still rarely preserved and grown in the cooler climes of the Northern Hemisphere.

Dr. Smith praised the work of botanical gardens around the world but stated the most important area of work for the future would be the expansion of the efforts in protecting the endangered plant. He maintains that this offer many species the best chances of survival for the future.

Image Source: Wikimedia

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – A recently captured video gave rise to its fair share of questions and wonder as scientists spotted a Cassiopea jellyfish enter a sleep-like state. This was quite an unexpected find, as research has yet to determine if sleep is common among invertebrates. It is also the first time that a creature without a brain was noted to be sleeping.

Cassiopea Jellyfish, Odd Not Only Because of Their Upside-Down Nature

Scientists agree and are aware that all of the vertebrate animals studied as of yet sleep. However, they are less certain if invertebrates or creatures without a brain or central nervous system are also doing it. So a team of Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Caltech researchers set out to solve this mystery.

To do so, they studied an unusual jellyfish, known for its being upside-down, the Cassiopea, the only member of the Cassiopeidae family. Such specimens can usually be found in mangrove swamps, mudflats, or other warm shallow waters, and are mostly stationary.

The research team sought to determine if the Cassiopea jellyfish moves continuously, or if they just pulsate at a steady rate, so they filmed them at night. Several specimens of the genus were followed over a period of six days and nights.

This revealed that the jellyfish seemed to enter a sleep-like state at night. The team explained that the specimens’ constant pulsing slowed down at night. However, this also became alert and steady once again as the scientists dropped bits of food in their tanks.

Further observations of the jellyfish as they were standing on a suspended mesh floor revealed that, as the mesh dropped out from under them during the day, the invertebrates were quick to swim to the bottom of the tank.

The same could not be said about their nighttime reaction, which was reportedly much more sluggish in nature. Also, the team noted that, after a night of disrupted “sleep”, the Cassiopea jellyfish pulsated less often.

According to the team, this proves that the species slumber at night, and can feel the effects of a night of disturbed rest.

New Questions Arise About Sleep

The research team considers that their having demonstrated that jellyfish do, in fact, “sleep”, only helped raise more questions.

“Do you need neurons to sleep? Do you need more than one cell to sleep?”, asks Paul Sternberg, a study co-author.

Their findings seem to indicate that the origin of sleep goes even further back and before the emergence of a centralized nervous system.

“It’s the first example of sleep in animals without a brain,” as Sternberg accentuates. He reportedly intends to study sponges, and see if perhaps these are also capable and enter a sleep-like state as well.

Study results are available in a paper in the journal Current Biology.

Image Source: Flickr

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – According to a recently released study, the coffee production of Latin American, one of the world’s largest producers, might be put at risk by two of the elements on which it also relies the most. Namely, the production rates of this good are likely to be affected by both the warming weather and the slow reduction in the number of bees, its primary pollinators.

The Coffee Production of Latin America to Decrease Significantly by 2050?

University of Vermont (UVM) Gund Institute for Environment researchers conducted this new study. This was presented as being the first one to show how the pollinators and weather will be altered because of climate change, and how this might affect the national and continental coffee production rates.

Based on the study findings, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Honduras will likely experience a greater loss in their coffee regions than previously estimated. Nonetheless, the researchers projected a slight increase in the coffee growing of countries such as Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Colombia.

Their growing and production rates are expected to rise in mountainous areas whose temperatures can support a robust bee population and coffee growing.

“If there are bees in the coffee plots, they are very efficient and very good at pollinating, so productivity increases and also berry weight,” explained Pablo Imbach, part of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture.

He then continued by pointing out that the study looked to establish if, in areas “projected to lose coffee suitability”, this decrease might be tied to bees.

This latest research also determined some strategies that might help improve both the coffee growth and the bee pollination processes. For example, increasing the number of bee habitats near a coffee farm where the pollinators’ diversity is decreasing.

Or protecting main shade trees, forests, native plants, live fences, and windbreakers as part of their farming practices. This could help reduce the climate impact of the coffee production.
If measures are not taken, the study estimates that the coffee growing areas of Latin America might decrease by even as much as 88 percent by 2050.

Study findings were released in a paper in the journal PNAS.

Image Source: Wikimedia

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – The Ochonta princeps or as it is most commonly known, the American pika, is a diurnal species of this animal mostly found in the mountain range of the western North America. However, this tiny animal, almost unanimously seen as cute, might under threat from climate change.

The American Pika, Once Considered of Least Concern, Now Under Threat?

This tiny animal, once known as the “little chief hare”, are herbivores and mostly feeds on grass and wildflowers. They are the smaller relatives of hares and rabbits.

A team of researchers searched and monitored pikas in the northern Sierra Nevada mountains in California in between 2011 to 2016. In these mountains, the tiny animals usually live in their lower elevations.

As the temperatures start increasing, they move up the mountains to colder environments.

However, according to the new report, this might no longer be an option. As the temperatures start increasing, even higher altitude regions seem to be becoming too hot for this colder-weather
loving animal. Their becoming over-heated can seemingly lead to the death of pikas.

The study team states that they found numerous pika pellets buried in the ground. However, the region seemed to no longer be holding any alive American pika.

The report states that pikas can still be found in their other locations, including in areas around Lake Tahoe and even as far north as the Pacific Northwest.

Nonetheless, the impact of their disappearance in the Sierra Nevada should not be undervalued, warn the researchers.

“If we allow pikas to disappear, we are depriving future generations of the opportunity to enjoy their presence. Pikas are also part of the food chain. They are prey to species like owls, weasels, coyotes, and hawks,” tells Joseph Stewart.

He is the lead author of the study and a UC Santa Cruz Ph.D. candidate. This research also suggests that, should the current trends continue, the changing climate could lead to a 97 percent reduction of the habitat of the American pika by as soon as 2050.

Study results are available in a paper in the journal PLOS One.

Image Source: Flickr