location: Florida

location: Florida

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Florida growers eye agroecology solution to devastating citrus disease
- Virtually all of Florida’s citrus groves have been infected with citrus greening disease, also known by its Chinese name Huanglongbing, since the early 2000s.
- Despite billions of US dollars put toward rescue efforts, citrus production numbers are the lowest they have been since the Great Depression.
- Scientists from Argentina are now testing the agroecological method of push-pull pest management using an organic plant-hormone solution to lure pests away from citrus crops and toward “trap crops” instead.
- Proponents hope push-pull management, first developed in East Africa, could be part of the solution and lessen dependence on pesticides.

Find the manatee: New AI model spots sea cows from images
- A new computer model developed by engineers at the Florida Atlantic University uses deep learning to count manatees in images captured by cameras.
- The model has been trained to identify manatees in shallow waters, and can be used to identify where they aggregate, which can, in turn, be helpful to plan conservation actions and design rules for boaters and divers.
- However, the model can’t yet distinguish between adults and calves, or between males and females, both of which are details that are vital for conservation and research purposes.
- The engineering team says it plans to continue training the model in the months ahead, while also working with biologists to get their feedback on how to improve it further.

Will FTX’s demise shift sinking Miami’s crypto embrace? (commentary)
- Encouraged by a Bitcoin-friendly mayor, Miami has become a cryptocurrency capital, of sorts.
- This seems ironic because low-lying city is extremely vulnerable to sea level rise, and the crypto industry has one of the heaviest carbon footprints, thereby hastening that rise due to climate change.
- Before FTX imploded recently, the crypto investor Sam Bankman-Fried hoped to turn Miami into a hub for global cryptocurrency. “Hopefully, the demise of FTX will derail such vainglorious fantasies,” a new op-ed argues.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily Mongabay.

Why are Florida manatees showing up in Cuba and Mexico?
- Over the last 15 years, Florida manatees have started appearing in distant parts of Cuba and Mexico, surprising researchers who have long believed the animals wouldn’t cross large bodies of water to reach other suitable habitats.
- The sightings have several still-unproven explanations, including that degraded habitats on the Florida coast are forcing the animals to move elsewhere in the region.
- Others say cell phone technology is allowing people to capture manatee behavior that has always existed.

Manatee deaths in Florida point to a global decline in seagrass ecosystems
- This year the U.S. state of Florida saw a record number of manatee deaths, and though investigations are still ongoing, experts attribute most of the deaths to the dieback of seagrass, a primary food source.
- The manatee deaths are part of a larger trend: around the world, seagrasses are on the decline, mainly because of increasingly clouded waters due to coastal development.
- Other drivers of this die-off include algal blooms, destructive fishing and boating practices, and the warmer, more acidic waters of climate change.
- There are spots of hope, yet seagrass scientists warn that we are on the brink of losing many of these important wildlife habitats and global carbon sinks.

Building back Miami’s Biscayne Bay: Do natural solutions hold hope?
- A massive fish kill in August 2020 was a red flag that historically troubled Biscayne Bay in Miami had passed a biodiversity health tipping point.
- Years of scattered efforts and mixed results of various conservation actors working toward the bay’s recovery have begun to fade in favor of more collaborative, inclusive efforts.
- Scientists and citizens are now focusing their efforts on creative ways to restore biodiversity in Biscayne Bay.

An Amazonian arapaima washed up in a Florida river. It didn’t swim there
- In February, Florida officials identified the body of an arapaima (Arapaima gigas) that had washed ashore from the Caloosahatchee River.
- An expert said the arapaima, a fish species endemic to the Amazon lowlands, had likely come from the pet trade.
- Live arapaimas are mainly brought into the U.S. for aquaculture, although a small number are also imported for the pet trade, another expert said.
- While arapaimas are not currently considered to be an invasive species, there are concerns they could become problematic in the future if enough end up in Florida’s waterways.

As Bahamas offshore project falls flat, oil driller island-hops across Caribbean
- Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC), which started oil exploration in Bahamian waters last December despite opposition from environmental groups, has failed to find commercially viable reserves.
- An exploratory well the company drilled between Dec. 20 and Feb. 7, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) from the Florida coast, will now be sealed and abandoned.
- It is not clear if BPC has stopped its drilling activities for good, but activists are calling for a permanent ban on oil drilling in Bahamian waters.
- BPC said it would now focus its activities on Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname, where heavyweights like ExxonMobil and Total already have a presence.

Fewer than 100 of these giant whales make up a newly described species
- In January scientists announced the designation of a new whale species in the Gulf of Mexico they named Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei).
- The team previously collected genetic samples of the whales but didn’t confirm the new species until they had a complete skeleton.
- Only between 33 and 100 individual members of the species exist, researchers estimate. The species is listed as endangered in the U.S.
- The Gulf of Mexico is fraught with many human-made threats to the whales’ survival, including dense ship traffic, oil and gas exploration, and marine trash.

Sharks nearby? A bottle of seawater can hold the answer, study says
- A new study has been able to identify the presence of blacktip sharks in the waters of Terra Ceia Bay in Florida through eDNA detection in water samples.
- The water samples contained more blacktip eDNA in the spring and summer months, which is when the species uses the bay as a nursery, and less eDNA in the fall, which is when the sharks start to leave the area.
- While the current technique indicates if sharks are present in the water, it isn’t sensitive enough to provide an accurate population count.

Shark fin stories by major media ‘misleading’: Q&A with David Shiffman
- “There are many threats facing sharks, but [finning] gets the most attention,” says David Shiffman.
- Overfishing presents the greatest threat to sharks, not the practice of finning, he says, yet finning gets the most media coverage and that consequently skews popular opinion, and policy.
- An analysis of 10 years of media reports recently published by Shiffman et al in the journal iScience shows that 2/3 of all articles in the media about threats to sharks focused on finning, and the trade in shark fins.
- “The solution overwhelmingly supported by surveyed scientific experts is not banning fishing for sharks and trade in shark products, but making fishing more sustainable,” he says in this conversation with Mongabay.

Slow and steady: Sea turtles mount a long-term recovery
- In many locations around the world, various sea turtle species are building more nests, which could result in more eggs and hatchlings.
- Lockdowns prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic could provide some short-term benefits to nesting turtles and hatchlings by keeping people off the beaches, but experts don’t expect there to be any long-term effects.
- Experts believe that increased turtle nesting is mainly due to conservation efforts, better fishery management practices, and laws and regulations that forbid the hunting and trade of sea turtles and their eggs.
- Data show that the endangered green turtle is rebounding, but the leatherback turtle is continuing to decline.

Decade after BP Deepwater Horizon spill, oil drilling is as dangerous as ever
- Ten years ago, the BP Deepwater Horizon exploratory rig exploded, killing 11 people and initiating the largest oil spill in the history of the United States.
- Nearly 5 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, causing catastrophic damage to the ecosystem and economy of the region.
- A newly published report by the nonprofit Oceana looks back at how this spill happened, the resulting ecological and economic impacts, and if this catastrophe has changed government or oil industry approaches to offshore drilling.
- Poor government oversight and inadequate safety culture paved the way for the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion. Now, a decade later, it appears these conditions, the prerequisites for disaster, have not improved.

New detection devices could record microplastic pollution levels in real time
- Microplastic pollution is a threat to marine life and is found in the bodies of animals all along the food chain.
- Detecting microplastic pollution levels in the oceans is becoming increasingly important, in part so that sources can be found and vulnerable species protected if possible.
- Traditional testing via tow nets and lab analysis is slow and expensive, but a new generation of sensors is being developed to measure microplastics faster and at various depths.
- Mongabay spoke with Sheila Hemami, Director of Strategic Technical Opportunities for Massachusetts-based R&D laboratory Draper, which is developing new tools to record microplastic pollution levels in real time.

Meet the first gene-edited reptile: An albino lizard
- A team from the University of Georgia, U.S., reported successfully creating an albino lizard through gene-editing, a first for reptiles.
- The mutation introduced in the unfertilized eggs of female brown anole (Anolis sagrei) lizards led to the birth of albino offspring.
- Gene editing in reptiles is considered difficult because of features like internal fertilization and sperm storage, which make it hard to predict when fertilization will take place.
- The researchers say they hope that exploring different gene functions in Anolis lizards will aid in the study of genetic defects in humans.

Volunteers find bones of new species of extinct heron at Florida fossil site
- Two volunteers assisting researchers of the Florida Museum of Natural History have found bones that belong to a previously undescribed species of extinct heron, according to a new study.
- The Montbrook site, a large fossil excavation site located a 45-minute drive south of Gainesville, Florida, where the volunteers were working, is estimated to be 5 million to 5.5 million years old.
- Researchers have named the now-extinct heron species Taphophoyx hodgei or Hodge’s tiger heron, after property owner Eddie Hodge, who contacted the Florida Museum of Natural History and allowed them to excavate the site after his granddaughter discovered fossils there in 2015.
- Based on their examination of the bones, the researchers say the extinct species is likely closely related to today’s tiger herons (Tigrisoma spp.), which live in Mexico and Central and South America.

‘Judas’ snakes lead scientists on a high-tech Easter egg hunt for pythons
- Scientists are exploring various technologies to address the spread of highly invasive Burmese pythons, which have devastated native mammal and bird populations across much of southern Florida.
- Researchers who recently captured a large pregnant Burmese python did so using the “Judas” technique: the radio-tagging of adult pythons that will approach others of the opposite sex during the breeding season, “betraying” them to the research teams.
- More recently, separate research teams have trialed the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) to determine the spatial distribution, range limits, and expansion rates of Burmese pythons in the region. They found python eDNA within a wildlife refuge, indicating that the invaded area extends further north than previously thought and that pythons are likely resident there.

Tiny bits of ocean plastic threaten the survival of sea turtle hatchlings
- Smaller and smaller pieces of single-use plastic are ending up in the stomachs of juvenile sea turtles off the coast of Florida.
- Of 96 stranded sea turtle hatchlings collected in a study, more than half died, while all the survivors passed plastic fragments through their bodies.
- Increasing amounts of plastic entering the ocean and disintegrating into microscopic bits have increased the risk that sea turtles will choke on or struggle to pass plastic debris, making it harder for them to reach adulthood.

Tagging and tracking the Tour de Turtles
- The Sea Turtle Conservancy’s Tour de Turtles kicked off last month, tagging and tracking 17 sea turtles during a marathon migration.
- Turtles wear small transmitters during the annual event as they travel thousands of miles to from their nesting beaches to feeding grounds.
- Data collected from satellite telemetry help scientists gain a clearer understanding of how four species of turtles behave at sea, furthering efforts to protect endangered species.

Drink beer, help the ocean?
- Saltwater Brewery has launched a prototype of biodegradable six-pack rings made from wheat and barley left over from the brewing process, which are non-toxic and disintegrate comparatively quickly in the ocean.
- The innovation could significantly reduce marine plastic pollution and protect hundreds of thousands of sea creatures harmed or killed annually by plastic rings.
- The brewery is perfecting the edible rings design, plans to eventually package all its cans using the technology and hopes investors and other breweries will support, adopt and popularize it.

Preservatives from cosmetics build up in the bodies of far-flung marine mammals
- Scientists have detected parabens, a common cosmetic preservative, in marine mammals from coastal areas of the United States.
- The chemical concentrations were highest in coastal animals like dolphins and sea otters, but also showed up in polar bears in remote regions.
- Researchers don’t yet know how toxic these chemicals are, but parabens can disrupt hormones in the body.

Coastal dune lakes: the threatened ‘jewels’ of Florida
- Coastal dune lakes are shallow, freshwater lakes located within two miles of a coastline and found only in small numbers in New Zealand, Australia, Madagascar, the United States.
- The film Coastal Dune Lakes: Jewels of Florida’s Emerald Coast, produced by Florida resident and Emmy award-winning filmmaker Elam Stoltzfus, reveals what makes this complex marine environment so special, as well as, some of the conservation challenges the Florida panhandle is currently facing.
- The documentary will have its World Premiere at the upcoming Wildlife Conservation Film Festival in New York City on Sunday, October 25th.

Fracas over Costa Rican shark-fin exports leads American Airlines to stop shipping fins

Shipments of hammerhead shark fins were approved by the Costa Rican government in violation of an international treaty, conservation groups allege. A school of hammerhead sharks swim near the Galapagos Islands. Costa Rica has been exporting two species of hammerheads whose trade is limited under Appendix II of CITES. Photo: Alex Hearn. On December 24, […]
Scientists discover that fish larvae make sounds

Photograph of Grey snapper (Lutjanus griseus) in a school of adults on the reef. Photo by: E. D’Alessandro. For the first time, marine biologists in Florida have recorded evidence of fish larvae in the ocean producing sounds. The study was performed by researchers from the University of Miami and focused on the grey snapper (Lutjanus […]
Journey to the Edge of Eden: the struggle to preserve Southwest Florida

Gary Schmelz, in a Journey to the Edge of Eden, takes us through a wonderful personal account of the conservation history of Southwest Florida. Journey to the Edge of Eden is one part personal memoir similar to the English naturalist Gerald Durrell and one part Florida conservation history. With hilarious stories of unintended naturalist misadventures […]
Florida declares two butterfly species extinct as pollinator crisis worsens

Conservationist’s faced a crushing blow last month as two butterfly species native to Florida were declared extinct. “Occasionally, these types of butterflies disappear for long periods of time but are rediscovered in another location,” said Larry Williams, U.S. Fish and Wildlife state supervisor for ecological services. We think it’s apparent now these two species are […]

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