Climate research: Hawaii, Louisiana researchers reconcile ancientland-sea carbon differences

In the incredibly complex business of trying to understand past climate change by studying rocks and sediment cores, researchers keep fine-tuning.

That’s important because it helps understand how climate change will impact us in the future. 

(Image: University of Hawai`i-Manoa greenhouse where carbon uptake research was performed y varying atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels.  Credit: UH-Manoa.)

In an important piece of work, much of it done at University of Hawai`i greenhouses, researchers have helped understand why carbon isotope ratios seem to be laid down differently in land environments than in marine environments.

When science compares the amount of standard carbon, or carbon-12, to an isotope of carbon like carbon-13, a change the ratio is called an “excursion.”

When the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere changes, the ratio of C12 to C13 changes as well.

There are bigger excursions in terrestrial rocks than marine rocks of the same age.

University of Hawai`i-Manoa geology professor A. Hope Jahren and University of Louisiana-Lafayette geologist Brian Schubert studied the issue and published their results  in an April 3 article in the scientific journal Nature Communications.  

Jahren grew plants in a Manoa greenhouse, where she varied the atmosphere to study them at different carbon-dioxide levels. She found that when carbon-dioxide is higher, the plants incorporate more C12 and a lower proportion of C13. In the ancient past, when plants died and became part of sedimentary rocks, that ratio was preserved—helping researchers calculate ancient carbon dioxide levels.

Carbon behaves differently in the oceans. When atmospheric carbon dioxide goes up, some of it is dissolved in the oceans, and impacts the carbon cycle there. But marine carbon use is complex and quite different from that on land.

“Our new model reconciles the differences based on the fundamentally different nature of carbon cycling on land compared to the ocean, injecting a more sophisticated view of ecology into current paleoclimatology,” Jahren said.

It means that science can now use the marine and terrestrial geologic records together as they study ancient climate and reconstruct ancient carbon dioxide levels. 

Here is a press release on the work.

One of the scary pieces they draw out of the data: Schubert said that during a very warm climate period 55 million years ago, carbon dioxide levels were far lower than what we expect in the next couple of hundred years.

What could that mean? One presumes it could mean that climate will be hotter than anticipated in coming decades, that storm systems will change more dramatically, that sea levels will rise faster, that climate zones (think dust bowls) will move, and all the rest.

© 2013 Jan TenBruggencate

Citation: Schubert, B.A. and A.H. Jahren. Reconciliation of marine and terrestrial carbon isotope excursions based on changing atmospheric CO2 levels. Nat. Commun. doi: 10.1038/ncomms2659 (2013)

Hawai`i newborn hypothyroid cases linked to Fukushima radiation

There has been a lot of Hawai`i concern about radioactivity of marine debris from Japan’s March 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown, but the first actual physical impacts of the disaster have likely come from the sky.

The short version: Radiation in Hawai`i and the western states increased dramatically following  Fukushima, and shortly afterward, children born in these states displayed a statistically significant increase--16 percent-- in the rate of hypothyroidism, a disease that is associated with radiation.

Very soon after the radiation release, the radioactive particles were on their way across the Pacific on the winds, and very soon after that, newborns in Hawai`i and the western Mainland states began displaying possibly radiation-related thyroid disease.

A just-published, peer reviewed study shows that cases of hypothyroidism increased immediately following the Fukushima radiation release—in association with a dramatic increase in radioactivity levels.  

“There were increased concentrations of all beta-emitting radionuclides in the air during the six weeks following the beginning of Fukushima fallout. Compared to the same period a year earlier, the fallout increases were more than seven times greater in the five Pacific/West Coast States, compared to just over two times in the remainder of the US,” the paper says.

Of particular interest in this study was the isotope Iodine 131. Iodine is naturally drawn to the thyroid gland, and so is radioactive iodine. I-131 was virtually unknown in humans until the 1950s nuclear tests, at which time it was first isolated from adult thyroid glands. But the situation is far more serious for babies in utero.

“For decades radioactiveiodine has been recognized to cause adverse effects (including hypothyroidism) to the thyroid gland. The fetal thyroid, the first glandular structure to appear in the human embryo, begins to concentrate iodine and produce thyroid hormones by the 70th day of gestation,” wrote the authors of the paper, “Elevated airborne beta levels in Pacific/West Coast US States and trends in hypothyroidism among newborns after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown.”

The authors are Joseph J. Mangano and Janette D. Sherman of the Radiation and Public Health Project in New York. As they describe it, infants get the radioactive iodine from dairy products, and the cows get it “due to radioactive fallout deposition on forage.”

The Fukushima crisis created a pulse of radiation over the western U.S: “The largest amounts of radioactive fallout in the US environment from Fukushima occurred in late March and all of April 2011, before declining to levels typically recorded in 2010.”

The authors considered a number of other possible factors, including random variance in congential hypothyroidism numbers, but ultimately rejected them. “The statistical significance of the findings  make random yearly fluctuation unlikely as an explanation for the observed differences,” they wrote.

The authors are cautious with their data, and make the point that it’s early in the study of these connections: “The data presented in this paper, including both exposure levels and CH incidence, should be considered as preliminary. They require confirmation and expansion, including long-term follow-up of infants and other children. However, the current findings should be noted, and encourage the conduct of future analyses of health effects from exposures to Fukushima fallout.”

That said, their preliminary data seems compelling:

“Just days after the meltdowns, I-131 concentrations in US precipitation was measured up to 211 times above normal. Highest levels of I-131 and airborne gross beta were documented in the five US States on the Pacific Ocean. The number of congenital hypothyroid cases in these five states from March 17-December 31, 2011 was 16% greater than for the same period in 2010, compared to a 3% decline in 36 other US States. The greatest divergence in these two groups (+28%) occurred in the period March 17-June 30.”

While the American numbers are alarming, they are not nearly as serious as the impacts on Japanese children living near Fukushima, there, large proportions of children have displayed growths on their thyroid glands.  Here is one report on that phenomenon.

© Jan TenBruggencate 2013

This is the paper: J. Mangano, J. and D. Sherman, J. (2013) Elevated airborne beta levels in Pacific/West Coast US States and trends in hypothyroidism among newborns after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. Open Journal of Pediatrics, 3, 1-9. doi: 10.4236/ojped.2013.31001.

Ebook "CyberStorm" a scary warning about disasters and preparedness

For Hawai`i residents, the next disaster is overdue--and there's a new book out that could just scare you into readiness.

It’s been a couple of generations since a significant tsunami, more than 20 years since a major hurricane, and the issue, of course, is not whether we have another big disaster, but when. 

Author Matthew Mather  explores the issue in a new ebook, CyberStorm, which combines a major storm with a pulse of hacking and cyberterrorism events. Mather frighteningly and convincingly outlines how vulnerable we are, and how quickly societal order can collapse.

When food supplies are short, and security is gone, and power supplies and communications are out, individuals react in different ways. Some band together in supportive communities, but others may band together as outlaws.

On Kaua`i during the weeks following Hurricanes Iwa and Iniki, we saw mostly the former. But we are a small community where most folks know each other. What might have happened if Honolulu had been hit, and help hadn’t been only hours and days away? That’s one nightmare scenario. And what might have happened in a big city where you don’t know, and perhaps can’t trust your neighbors?

I won’t reveal Mather’s secrets, other than to say that it’s a compelling read, which is being sold at a compelling price. Here’s the Amazon Kindle link.

The ebook will also provide you with a new appreciation for having a cache of emergency supplies for a crisis. You know, the Family Disaster Kit that’s outlined in the front pages of every phone book.

Matthew Mather’s previous book is “Atopia Chronicles.” His specialties in cybersecurity, weather prediction systems, and nanotechnology are on  display in CyberStorm.

© Jan TenBruggencate 2013

A case for Hawaiian native bee conservation: save the plants!

Hawai`i in the 1800s had abundant natural pollinators in its native yellow-faced bees.

So common were these members of the genus Hylaeus that the great British naturalist Robert C.L. Perkins called them the “most ubiquitous of Hawaiian insects.” Perkins was author of the three-volume “Fauna Hawaiiensis” or “Zoology of the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Isles.”

(Image: Hawaiian yellow-faced bee on  `ilima blossom at Kilauea lighthouse on Kaua`i. Credit: Forest and Kim Starr.)

Perkins identified 52 species of closely related Hawaiian bees. Many of those are now rare and some may be extinct.  Most of us don’t have a clue what they look like: they tend to look waspier than honey bees, tend to be black, with white or yellow markings on the faces. They are solitary and not hiving bees, nesting in the ground or in hollow branches.

Causes of their decline? Probably habitat loss, predation by ants (no ants are native to Hawai`i) and wasps like the Western yellow jacket, and competition with species like honey bees. 

As they declined, their pollination role was partially filled by the imported honey bee. 

Today, modern scientists are arguing that wild pollinators must be protected to assist the pollination by honey bees, which are themselves are under such an onslaught from pests, pesticides and other threats. 

Indeed, in many cases, the original native wild pollinators are more effective pollinators than honey bees, the authors say. 

The paper, “Wild Pollinators Enhance Fruit Set of Crops Regardless of Honey Bee Abundance,” has an exceedingly long list of co-authors, from North and South America, Europe, Africa, and the Pacific. It argues that there are “universally positive associations of fruit set with wild-insect visits to flowers in 41 crop systems worldwide.”

Indeed, the authors report that wild insects produce fruit set at a significantly higher rate than honey bees do. 

“Overall, wild insects pollinated crops more effectively, because increase in their visitation enhanced fruit set by twice as much as an equivalent increase in honey bee visitation,” they wrote.

That argues, they say, to support the health of both honey bee and wild insects to further agricultural goals.

“Our results suggest that new practices for integrated management of both honey bees and diverse wild-insect assemblages will enhance global crop yields,” they wrote.

That will take some work in Hawai`i.

Native bees are so rare today that if you go to modern Hawaiian dictionaries, the only name for bee is related to the honey bee: nalo meli, literally honey fly.  

The Xerces Society, which supports invertebrate conservation, has urged greater attention to the plight of the native bees, and has petitioned the federal government to list several Hylaeus species as endangered.  

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2011 determined that endangered species listing is warranted for seven species of Hawaiian bees and that the agency plans to get around to it, but that there are higher priorities now. 

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has also been studying Hawaiian bees. 

© Jan TenBruggencate 2013

Nature Conservancy restores Moloka`i dune habitat

Fragile sand dunes of Moʻomomi on Molokaʻi, once overrun with alien kiawe thickets, are blooming with new native growth.

(Image: Native vegetation restored to a Mo`omomi, Moloka`i sand dune. Credit: The Nature Conservancy of Hawai`i.) 

A 14-year passive restoration program by The Nature Conservancy and the Molokaʻi Land Trust  is letting the blue blossoms of paʻu o Hiʻiaka and the yellow flowers of  ʻilima bloom amid the spiky native ʻaki ʻaki and shimmering hinahina.

That’s on dunes that once held single-species thickets of the introduced legume, kiawe (Prosopis pallida), which was brought to Hawai`i to support cattle ranching.

“Kiawe transforms the ecosystem. It forms dense thickets. If there’s a fire, it burns hot and hard. Since it’s a legume and fixes nitrogen, it changes the soil,”said Russell Kallstrom, graphical information system coordinator for the Conservancy's Molokaʻi Program.

Kiawe removal combined with predator and weed control benefits not only native plants, some of them rare, but also the uaʻu kani or wedge-tailed shearwater. The number of wedge-tailed shearwater burrows has increased from 3 nests in 1999 to 704 nests in 2012.

“It seems like the shearwaters were trying to recolonize before 1999, but feral cats used the safety of kiawe thickets as staging areas for raids on the nests,”said Wailana Moses, the Conservancy's Moloka'i weed coordinator. “When we removed some of the kiawe clumps near the bird colony, we would find piles of shearwater wings.”

The shearwaters face a three-pronged mammal threat: mongooses would prey primarily on eggs, cats would take birds one at a time, and dogs would occasionallywipe out dozens at a time. In 2009, a single dog killed 60 shearwaters in one night.

The Nature Conservancy began kiawe control at its 921-acre Moʻomomi Preserve in 1998, under the direction of its Molokaʻi Program manager, Ed Misaki.

“The idea of passive restoration was to focus on removing invasive species and let the natives naturally regenerate—removing the threats and allowing thenative system to heal itself, basically,” Misaki said.

The conservation crews learned as they went along. One key strategy was to remove kiawe next to intact native sand dune habitat so the natives could reclaimthe open area naturally.

Another technique was to quickly paint a small amount of herbicide on the cut kiawe stump, to prevent it from re-sprouting. Still another was to use a chipper to grind up kiawe branches,

creating mulch that helped the native crawling plants and inhibited weeds.

“We learned that if we took out too much kiawe, we would have a hard time keeping up with removing weeds coming into the area—primarily buffel grass, foxtail, golden crownbeard,

Australian saltbush and a non-native goosefoot,” Moses said.

The ʻakiʻaki grass was generally the first species to move in after kiawe removal. “The chips slowed the weeds down a little and helped the ʻakiʻaki grow into the area,” she said.“Little by little, the other species came in like ʻenaʻena, kaunaoa and ʻakoko, even the rare Solanum nelsonii (popolo),” Moses said.

Kallstrom said the native plants do better on some of the land you’d think was the worst habitat for them—the northeast sides of dunes, which are blasted by the trade winds and regularly doused with salt spray. Most of the weeds can’t handle the salt; the coastal natives by contrast are adapted to it.

“It’s really an amazing thing to see. After the kiawe is removed and the chips cover the open area, the natives just crawl in from the outside. The ʻakiʻaki turns fluorescent green when it hits the nitrogen left by the kiawe chips," he said.

The kiawe occurs in patches across the Moʻomomi dunes, and the removal process, since increments must be small, has cleared a little over 9 acres in the program’s 14 years. For most of that period, it was done by Conservancy staff and volunteers, but since 2010, some of the work has been contracted to the Molokaʻi Land Trust, which also does weed control.

The results are remarkable. Some of the cleared areas, originally bare sand, now support dense mats of Hawaiian coastal species.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people.

The Conservancy and its more than 1 million members have protected nearly 120 million acres worldwide. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.