Janet Marinelli: When is a Plant Native?→

Yale Environment 360:

“Among the plants that survive on the family property where [Emily] Dickinson confined herself for much of her adult life are picturesque old trees called umbrella magnolias (Magnolia tripetala) — so named because their leaves, which can reach two feet long, radiate out from the ends of branches like the spokes of an umbrella.

The trees, believed to have been planted by Emily’s brother Austin, have jumped the garden gate in recent decades and established wild populations not far from the poet’s home. This new location is a couple of hundred miles north of the tree’s native range, centered in the sheltered woods and ravines of the Appalachian Mountains, and is the first evidence that native plant horticulture in the United States “is giving some species a head-start on climate change,” according to Smith College biologist Jesse Bellemare.

Ironically, the denizen of the Dickinson homestead is also challenging basic precepts of conservation practice, such as what is the definition of “native”? Are climate refugees that hitchhike north via horticulture less worthy of protection than plants that arrive on their own? Do they pose a threat to existing native species? Should native plant gardening, the domestic form of assisted migration, be used to help plants stranded in inhospitable habitat? ”

Who are you to judge the merits of a new arrival? Remember species are judged based on our values -- the ecosystem does not care. See ‘My Science Articles’ for an article on non-native species management that is just creating environmental wrecks.

For more information on Emily Dickinson's gardens see this recent New York Times article.

Samantha Oliver: Altered Nutrient Flows into Lakes→

UW-Madison Center of Limnology:

“Humans have drastically changed the distribution of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) across the landscape through urbanization, food production and burning fossil fuels. This has come at a cost to water quality; excess nutrients are transported to surface waters where they can fuel toxic algal blooms, foul drinking water and disrupt the ecosystem. We’ve made progress on point source pollution like sewage discharge since the Clean Water Act was established in 1972. But diffuse nutrient sources like runoff from agricultural areas are difficult to manage and still plague surface waters.”

Jake Vander Zanden: Lake Dead Zones→

Reporting from New Zealand:

“UW-Madison’s Limnology Center: Earlier this year, Jake Vander Zanden rented his house out in Madison, packed his things, and headed with his family for a sabbatical in New Zealand. Under the auspices of a Fulbright scholarship, Jake is at the University of Waikato, studying ‘dead zones’ in lakes, where pollution reduces oxygen making it impossible for parts of lakes to support life.

Tell us about your research here in New Zealand
I’m looking at the phenomenon of lake ‘dead zones’. Lakes that in the past had a lot of oxygen in the bottom waters can lose that oxygen due to nutrient pollution – often from human activity – then they become an environment that can’t support life. You lose a lot of the value that would come from a lake, such as fisheries, when you have dead zones.

It seems like once you create dead zones they are difficult to turn back. Even if you remove nutrients and improve conditions, the healthy ecosystem never returns. That’s really worrisome because it is so difficult to fix the problem. Another consideration is that when you create a dead zone, the plant nutrient phosphorus is released from the lake sediments, which further contributes to the pollution problem.”

Tom Neil: Minneapolis Parks -- Priority for Repair→

MinnPost:

“The map below shows the 106 Minneapolis parks that were recently given priority rankings (out of 157 total neighborhood parks in the city) for maintenance and improvement under the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s new capital and rehabilitation plan. The parks in the darker shade of green are slated for improvements to be made in the next five years; parks in lighter green will be included in future plans. Click on a park to see its overall ranking and the projects that are planned for the park, if known. To search for an address, use the box in the upper-right corner. For more information on how the rankings were determined, see the table...”

Good organization of the data on the city parks.

Julienne Isaacs: The Benefits and Limits of Buffers→

Manitoba Co-operator:

“Sandi Riemersma, an environmental biologist with Palliser Environmental Services, says the effectiveness of buffers depends on several factors, including the slope of land, soil characteristics, buffer width, vegetation, season and management.

“A riparian buffer strip is a good tool to reduce sediment transport and often can reduce particulate phosphorus mobility,” she says. “But buffers are not effective in winter and early spring when vegetation is dormant, soils are frozen and microbial activity is low or absent,” she says.

Riemersma emphasizes nutrient application management as an essential aspect of protecting waterways from nutrient run-off. In addition, she says permanent cover should be maintained near waterways, steep slopes and on erodible and saline soils. “Riparian buffers help to maintain stable stream banks, thereby reducing soil erosion and associated sediment and nutrient transport in waterways,” she says.”

Kurt Chandler: Who Gets to Drink From the Great Lakes?→

Atlantic:

“Water has become the 21st-century equivalent of oil, and a plan to divert water from the Great Lakes to surrounding areas is raising questions about the possibility of future water grabs from far-flung water-sparse regions.

While plans to divert water from the Great Lakes basin date back to the early 1900s, modern-day attempts have become increasingly extravagant. In 1982, Congress directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study the feasibility of using Great Lakes water to irrigate farmland on the Great Plains. (Not so feasible, said the Corps.) Fifteen years later, a businessman in Canada secured a permit from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment to transport 158 million gallons of water each year from Lake Superior to Asia in tanker ships. (He withdrew his proposal in 1998 under pressure from Canadian officials.) And in 2007, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, in his presidential bid, suggested piping Great Lakes water to the arid Southwest. (Richardson’s campaign foundered and his trial balloon burst.)

But it was the proposal put forth by the Canadian businessman that especially rattled citizens and set off alarms among officials in the eight states and two provinces that border the Great Lakes, propelling them to devise once and for all a binding binational system that would manage and regulate the largest source of surface freshwater in the world. Over the course of seven years, policy makers, lawyers, and elected officials from each of the Great Lakes states and provinces crafted the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact. Passed by Congress and signed into law in 2008 by President George W. Bush, it was lauded as a model agreement by industries and environmentalists alike.”

Minnehaha Watershed District: Zebra Mussels Improve Water Clarity in Lake Minnetonka→

“Zebra mussels have caused significant changes in Lake Minnetonka’s water quality, according to findings of a study by Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD). The District has been monitoring the lake’s zebra mussel population since they were first detected there in 2010. Five years into the study, which was developed in partnership with Blue Water Science, MCWD released its findings on Thursdsay, April 21 at its AIS Spotlight, a gathering of community leaders at Minnetonka Community Center.

The District has discovered the biggest water quality changes are occurring among bays with the highest number of zebra mussels. In Wayzata Bay, which the population topped out at an estimated 200,000 zebra mussels per square meter in 2014, there has been an increase in water clarity and a decrease in algae (Chlorophyll) and Phosphorus. Those changes are not as prevalent in bays with lower zebra mussel populations. In Halsted Bay, which has 28 zebra mussels per square meter, there has been little change in water clarity, Chlorophyll and Phosphorus.”

One suspects that some bays with improved water clarity may see an increase in aquatic plant habitat.

Marie Orttenburger: Heavy Metal Turtles→

Capitol News Service:

“You likely won’t find any painted and snapping turtles headbanging to Metallica in Lake Michigan wetlands. But heavy metal runs in their veins.

These turtles accumulate heavy metals in their tissues, according to a recent study in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. Some of those metals come from local industries such as smelters, refineries and foundries, as well as landfills, storm sewers and farm runoff.

“There’s reason to believe the levels of metals like cadmium, chromium, copper and lead are impacted by anthropogenic sources,” said Matt Cooper, a research scientist at Northland College’s Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation in Ashland, Wisconsin, and co-author of the study. “They are much higher than would occur naturally, and the geology in the areas they were studying wasn’t known to have high levels of those contaminants.””

Interesting results. I wonder if the amounts from the results of this study compare to fish and human heavy metal loads.

J. Patrick Coolican: Buffer Bill Passes→

Star Tribune:

“For Dayton, the passage of the bill caps off a week of lobbying that he hopes will galvanize Minnesotans on clean water, which has become one of his signature issues.

“More and more citizens and communities throughout Minnesota are being threatened by water that is unsafe for their drinking, washing and recreation,” he said in his statement last week. “These water quality problems must be addressed by all of us recognizing our shared need for safe and clean water, and our by shared willingness to protect this priceless resource.””

The politics of shoreline buffers is hard. 

Lee Bergquist: Little Plover River Groundwater Study→

Journal Sentinel:

“A long-awaited study that examines how irrigation is affecting the closely watched Little Plover River in central Wisconsin could help prevent the river from running dry again.

The results of the state-funded research also may provide clues on how large-scale groundwater withdrawals are affecting streams, rivers and lakes elsewhere, according to scientists.

Groundwater issues have become increasingly contentious in Wisconsin, especially in the 1.75 million-acre Central Sands region — home to a large potato and vegetable growing industry. The region relies on more than 3,000 high-capacity wells to grow crops.

The Little Plover, a Class 1 trout stream, flows for about 6 miles near Stevens Point before it enters the Wisconsin River. But more than its reputation for fishing, the river is infamously known for stretches that run dry, as they did in 2005 and 2009.”

Good groundwater science was done years ago by Dr. Kraft, who was quoted in this article. However, farmers and civic leaders apparently did not want to hear about how farm irrigation was the main reason for lower river flows. So the science and the predictions are now better and yet some farmers and civic leaders apparently still will not be convinced. When you start with a given pre-set belief or dogma and then search for any argument to rationalize, defend or justify the overexploiting of a pubic resource, then you are corrupt and your actions self-servicing. 

Wisconsin Public Radio's Route 51 broadcast a program discussing the newly released scientific study of the effects of high capacity wells on groundwater and the Little Plover River in the central sands region of Wisconsin. It included a panel discussion with George Kraft, hydrologist with UW Extension in Stevens Point; Tamas Houlihan, executive director of the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association; Scott Krug, Republican Party Assemblyman from the Town of Rome; and Katrina Shankland, Democratic Party Assemblywoman from Stevens Point. 

If you would like to listen to the podcast of this program, click this link

Beth Mole: Antibacterial Soaps Do More Harm Than Good→

Ars Technica:

“Whether you’re coming home from an airport fluttering with international germs, a daycare full of sticky-fingered toddlers, or just a grimy office building, scrubbing your hands with bacteria-busting soap seems like a great idea. But the data that have washed up on the cleansers in recent years suggest that they actually do more harm than good—for you, those around you, and the environment.

Scientists report that common antibacterial compounds found in those soaps, namely triclosan and triclocarban, may increase the risk of infections, alter the gut microbiome, and spur bacteria to become resistant to prescription antibiotics. Meanwhile, proof of the soaps’ benefits is slim.

There are specific circumstances in which those antimicrobials can be useful, civil engineer Patrick McNamara of Marquette University in Milwaukee told Ars. Triclosan, for instance, may be useful to doctors scrubbing for minutes at a time before a surgery or for hospital patients who can’t necessarily scrub with soap but could soak in a chemical bath. Triclosan and triclocarban do kill off bacteria during long washes. But most people only clean their hands for a few seconds. “There’s evidence that there is no improvement with using soaps that have these chemicals relative to washing your hands under warm water for 30 seconds with soaps without these chemicals,” he said.”

Jonathan Kaiman: Groundwater Pollution Crisis in China→

The Guardian:

“Nearly 60% of China’s underground water is polluted, state media has reported, underscoring the severity of the country’s environmental woes.

The country’s land and resources ministry found that among 4,778 testing spots in 203 cities, 44% had “relatively poor” underground water quality; the groundwater in another 15.7% tested as “very poor”.

Water quality improved year-on-year at 647 spots, and worsened in 754 spots, the ministry said.

“According to China’s underground water standards, water of relatively poor quality can only be used for drinking after proper treatment. Water of very poor quality cannot be used as source of drinking water,” said an article in the official newswire Xinhua...”

Sarah DeWeerdt: Bird Deaths From Window Collisions →

Conservation Magazine:

“Collisions with windows are one of the biggest human-related causes of bird deaths in the United States, responsible for up to one billion avian fatalities every year. That’s as much as 9 percent of the country’s entire bird population.

In general, the more windows and the bigger windows a building has, the more dangerous it is for birds. Many green buildings are designed with lots of windows to reduce the need for artificial light and heating. So there can be a tension between saving energy and saving birds.

Glass with etched patterns, mullions, or UV-reflective films can help birds recognize windows as a barrier and avoid flying into them. But scientists have incomplete knowledge of how well these measures work, as well as what aspects of buildings and biology make birds more vulnerable to window strikes in the first place.

Two recent studies conducted on opposite sides of the country fill in some of these details...”

Some alternations of our buildings and bird-friendly designs appear reasonable and responsible. Now if we can reduce mortality due to our domesticated cats...

Thompson and Rogers: Global Warming Threatens Lake Trout→

Thunder Bay News:

“Warming water from climate change is beginning to encroach on the habitat of Northwestern Ontario’s cold water fish. Research conducted at the Experimental Lakes Area shows the region’s temperature has warmed 0.4 C over each of the last five decades. Shorter winters are heating surface water and delaying lake trout spawning.

The runoff from increasing summer rain is causing a tea-like discolouration, affecting the water’s heat distribution and compounding the change. Added together, fish biologist Lee Hrenchuk can see consequences for aquatic ecosystems beginning to show.

“The average size of an adult fish has been decreasing over time and we’re seeing this mostly in the cold water fish species that are really dependent on having good spring periods and good fall periods where they can do a lot of eating,” Hrenchuk said.”

Jim Erickson: Voluntary Actions May Not Solve Lake Erie's Pollution Problem→

University of Michigan:

“Large-scale changes to agricultural practices will be required to meet the goal of reducing levels of algae-promoting phosphorus in Lake Erie by 40 percent, a new University of Michigan-led, multi-institution computer modeling study concludes.

The main driver of the harmful algal blooms is elevated phosphorus from watersheds draining to Lake Erie’s western basin, particularly from the heavily agricultural Maumee River watershed. About 85 percent of the phosphorus entering Lake Erie from the Maumee River comes from farm fertilizers and manure.

The new study, which integrates results from six modeling teams, was released today by the U-M Water Center. It concludes that meeting the 40-percent reduction target will require widespread use of strong fertilizer-management practices, significant conversion of cropland to grassland and more targeted conservation efforts.

”Our results suggest that for most of the scenarios we tested, it will not be possible to achieve the new target nutrient loads without very significant, large-scale implementation of these agricultural practices,” said U-M aquatic ecologist Don Scavia, lead author of the new study and director of the Graham Sustainability Institute.”

You can ask farmers to help, you can pay farmers to help, you can tell farmers to help, or is there another way? 

Scott Johnson: Monarchs at Peril→

ArsTechnica:

“Monarch butterflies could disappear from Eastern US within 20 years. As population declines, the prognosis is not encouraging.

In colder climes, signs of spring can lift a heavy weight from a tired, frozen spirit. Trees bud, flowers bloom, and migratory species trickle in to announce the approach of summer. In the US, one of those species is a floppy orange gem: the monarch butterfly. These insects winter in amazingly dense clusters in Mexican forests before making a staggeringly long journey (one that spans multiple generations, in fact) to summer homes to the north.

But in recent years, the population of monarchs that stay east of the Rockies has dropped like a rock. Precise population numbers are difficult to come by, but estimates kept by the US Fish and Wildlife Service show about an 80 percent decline over the last decade.”

Ross Andersen: Insight from Lake Sediment→

Atlantic:

“On a spring morning in New Hampshire, 2,000 years ago, sunlight struck a black cherry tree, opening its white-and-yellow blossoms. As the tree swayed gently in breeze, spiky, spherical pollen grains spilled out of its flowers, and floated up through the limbs and leaves of the canopy, before drifting down to the still surface of a nearby lake. Cool water stalled the pollen’s descent, but still, it kept falling, riding the currents all the way to the lake’s bottom, where it mixed with silt and slowly hardened into sediment.

Time piled new layers of mud and soil atop the pollen, pushing it deeper into the Earth. For two millennia, it continued to sink at that geologic pace, until suddenly, and with some violence, it was slurped up to the surface, through an aluminum tube.

Sitting on a floating platform, a small team of scientists pulled the pollen up as part of a cylinder of sediment, a core bored out of the lake bottom. A core looks like nothing more than a cross-section of muck, but each of its sedimentary slices is an archive, packed with fragments of sticks and leaves, charred remains of wood—and enough pollen grains to census the trees that once surrounded the lake.”

Another Enbridge Oil Pipeline Of Concern→

Great Lakes Echo

“The Enbridge pipelines beneath the Straits of Mackinac have been in the crosshairs of environmental groups for years. Concerns about the pipelines in the wake of the 2011 Kalamazoo River spill prompted Governor Rick Snyder to create the Michigan Pipeline Safety Advisory Board. This summer, Attorney General Bill Schuette said that the pipelines’ days were numbered.

But some environmentalists are now worried about another pair of pipelines a little farther south.

Two pipelines laid in 1918 currently run underneath the St. Clair River in Southeast Michigan. The Texas based company that owns them applied in 2012 for a permit that allows liquid hydrocarbons including crude oil to flow through the pipelines. The company says it has no intention of shipping crude oil through the pipes, but environmentalists say they want more information.

Current State discusses the concerns of environmentalists with Liz Kirkwood, an attorney with the advocacy group For Love of Water (FLOW).”

Kevin Duffy: Rare Orchid Threatened with Global Warming→

Great Lakes Echo:

“As climate change threatens wet landscapes with persistent and intense droughts, natural resource managers look for ways to preserve the remaining habitats of the rare species that dwell in them.

It’s not easy. “There’s a big problem with managing climate sensitive species,” said Sue Galatowitsch, professor of fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology at the University of Minnesota.

That problem – the uncertainty of the future climate – was the focus of a recent study of how best to protect a rare orchid in Minnesota called the small white lady’s slipper.

“Management of very specific, local sites is important because conservation is really a boots on the ground effort,” Galatowitsch said. State plans guide policy, but day-to-day decision-making usually happens one place or person at a time.”

The World's Nuclear Power Plants Mapped→

Carbon Brief:

“To help provide a global overview of the nuclear power sector both today and throughout its history, Carbon Brief has produced this interactive map.

It shows the location, operating status and generating capacity of all 667 reactors that have been built, or are under construction, around the world, ever since Russia’s tiny Obninsk plant became the first to supply power to the grid in 1954.”

Go to the site and view the interactive map and associated data.