Ocean of Hope

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Guest post: Maria Kruk of Species.com

Guest Posts
Guest post Maria Kruk of Species.com
Sea otters photo by CA Dept of Fish and Game

Climate change affects all wildlife, including marine animals. Specifically, some species have already been put on the list of the most vulnerable wildlife due to global warming. Among those listed are different species of whales and sharks. They have lived in harmony with their aquatic environment for millions of years, and in the coming decades they are going to face important milestones.

Blue whales, blue sharks, and sea turtles are among the many species that are experiencing population declines and habitat loss. The distribution of marine predators might decrease by 35%, while the habitat of some marine birds and tuna species might decrease by 10-30%, according to scientific observations of some American and Canadian biologists.

The sea turtle population is declining for several reasons. Sea turtles prefer to lay eggs on the beaches that are in danger of becoming submerged by sea level rise due to climate change. Additionally, the sex of sea turtles’ offspring depends on the local temperature. Females are born in warmer climate conditions, while male turtles appear in colder conditions. Global warming will likely cause more females to be born, and possibly cause decreased (or increased) reproduction rates.

Sea otters may actually help with climate change (See previous post “How Sea Otters Fight Global Warming). Surprisingly, these small marine mammals can save larger predators! James Estes and Chris Wilmers, professors of biology from University of California at Santa Cruz, have distinguished sea otters as possible helpers in the reduction of carbon dioxide from the air. Sea otters are keystone species, and their consumption of sea urchins keeps the kelp growing in kelp forests. The kelp then absorbs carbon dioxide 12 times more than if sea otters were not around. The scientists collected data from the last 40 years from sea otters living around Vancouver Island and up north to the Aleutian Islands.

The problem of climate change will not solely be solved by the sea otters’ help, but it is a good example of how managing one animal population might reduce carbon dioxide in an entire ecosystem.

To reach Maria Kruk, visit Species.com

Blue is the New Green: the Blue Mind Project & Book

People and the Ocean
BlueMind Blue Marbles Project
See text for more on Blue Mind and the Blue Marbles Project

Blue Mind

Blue is the new green. Growing scientific research is proving what real estate agents, restaurant owners, and hotel managers have always known; an ocean view commands a premium price. What is it about the ocean that is so magnetic (and no, not those kind of magnets…)?

Dr. Wallace J Nichols

The leading researcher on why we love the ocean is Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, who likes to be referred to as simply “J.” J is a sea turtle biologist by training. His resume is very impressive, but what I am most impressed with is how he worked with locals in coastal cities in Mexico, and got them to become stewards of the sea turtles there. Through Grupo Tortuguero, thousands of people (in over 50 coastal communities) who once poached sea turtles and their eggs are now saving the sea turtles themselves!

Community-based Conservation

The term for that is community-based conservation. I first heard that term while in college at the University of California at Berkeley. My late favorite professor, Bernard Q. Nietschmann, had traveled around the world for National Geographic. He did a lot of work in Central America (among many other places). He really opened my eyes to injustice in the world when he explained what the Miskito Indians of Central America had to endure to get “red gold” (lobster) for the American restaurant chain Red Lobster. The divers there used primitive (i.e. dangerous) diving equipment and often got the bends. Without a decompression chamber nearby, the bends often cause permanent paralysis. Many families were left without a bread winner for income.

Blue Mind

Now back to J, and the phrase he has coined, “Blue Mind.” Blue Mind is his attempt to try and describe humans’ inexplicable draw to the salty ocean by using a new branch of science (he created!) called neuroconservation. For 9 years he has put on a Blue Summit, and speakers of diverse backgrounds have come, including scientists, ocean conservationists, and real estate agents. The last one was in 2019.

Ahh, the ocean…

Simply put, J has concluded that being by the ocean (or for some being on or in it) puts you in a semi-meditative state. Imagine the sound of waves crashing onto the beach, the feel of the ocean breeze on your face, and the gentle cries of seagulls flying overhead; isn’t it relaxing?

Support J and the Blue Marbles Project

To find out more about J and Blue Mind, visit his website, and please consider becoming one of his patrons on Patreon. Since J thinks outside the box, and conventional science is lagging behind on his unique research, he has crowd-sourced his income through Patreon.
Also, read about his Blue Marbles project. Since he started it, there are over 1 million blue marbles circulating the globe, and a blue marble has landed in the hands of celebrities such as James Cameron and his Holiness the Dalai Lama!

UPDATE: Exciting news, J has published a book called, “Blue Mind” out in the U.S. on July 22, 2014! Order your copy of Blue Mind today!

Also see a documentary on one of my role models, Dr. Sylvia Earle! This is a review of “Mission Blue” about her life with breathtaking scenes of the ocean.

First Video Filmed of Giant Squid in the Ocean

Cephalopods, Squid
First giant squid filmed in deep sea: photo by Edie Widder/Discovery Channel

I have been called by many names, including sea monster, kraken, calamari, and dinner. I am a giant squid (Architeuthis spp.). I am a highly intelligent cephalopod. My cousins include the octopus, cuttlefish, and chambered nautilus.

Despite my ancestors washing up on shore or getting caught in fishing nets, we have managed to stay elusive to humans. Truthfully it hasn’t been that hard, as humans have explored less than 5 percent of the oceans. Most of the ocean is the pitch dark deep sea in which no sunlight penetrates. That is where I live.

No human had ever filmed a giant squid alive deep in the ocean until recently. They filmed one of my colleagues using a special light that neither humans nor squid can detect, and created a special lure. I’m sure my fellow squid knew that someone was around though. There are always those who love to hog the spotlight in every species!

Here are my impressive stats:

1. My eyes are the size of dinner plates, and are the largest eyes of any animal on earth.

2. Giant squid can grow to lengths of 43-55 feet (13-16.8 meters) measuring from the top of our heads to the tip of our tentacles.

3. Unlike octopus, we have 8 arms plus 2 long feeding tentacles.

4. We have razor sharp rings on all our suckers (those are what leave scars on sperm whales).

5. Giant squid actually do sometime win in epic battles with sperm whales!

6. We are found in all the world’s oceans.

7. Giant squid are quite intelligent.

My octopus cousins are considered the most intelligent invertebrate, but their benthic (living on the bottom) nature makes them easy (and fun!) to keep in captivity. My smaller squid relatives are much harder to keep alive in tanks. Squid may seem less intelligent, but we are really just studied less by humans.

The giant squid footage airs in a documentary that will be broadcast in the US on January 27 on the Discovery Channel. Check your local listings for times.

A True Act of Compassion: One Matriarch Elephant Helps Another Unrelated Matriarch

Other animals
Elephants show compassion even to non-related elephants

I don’t know why this dying matriarch’s herd abandoned her, but it must have been for good reason. I knew she needed help standing up, and I wanted to help her with her last dying wishes. She had a swollen trunk, a broken tusk, and several abrasions on her body.

I have a feeling that she wanted to show herself that she still had the inner and outer strength of a leader, even when facing imminent death. I am not related to this matriarch, but being the head of a herd myself, we have an unspoken bond.

I admired her tenacity and I used my tusks repeatedly help her up, but after standing for a short time, she collapsed again. Ironically my herd left me while I was continuing to help her, but I knew I could catch up to them later.

I stayed with her in her last remaining hours. She didn’t have to die alone, and when times are tough, I think of her strength. I still visit her remains to this day. An elephant never forgets!

Elephant social bonds are so strong that we often visit “elephant graveyards,” where we touch with our trunks the bones of long dead ancestors (or in my case, friends too). This reverence for the dead is important not only to maintain social bonds, and it also helps young elephants understand where they come from. It is also a not so subtle reminder of the constant danger we live in.

Our greatest enemies today are the humans who still hunt us for our ivory tusks. It’s such a shame that they do not use the whole elephant that they kill, but they just take the tusks.

You can help us by not buying any products containing ivory, and supporting non-profit organizations (such as Save the Elephants) that protect elephants.

This post based on this article on BBC Nature about their upcoming documentary series in January 2013 (on Discovery Channel in the US) called “Africa.”

Link to scientific paper, “Behavioral Reactions of Elephants Towards a Dying and Deceased Matriarch.”

How Seals are Affected By Climate Change

Marine Mammals, Seals
seals climate change
Ringed seals are affected by climate change photo by Brendan Kelly/NSF

Ah, polar bears get all the attention because of the ice caps melting due to climate change! But there wouldn’t be any polar bears if us ice seals weren’t around to feed them! Not that I want to be polar bear lunch anytime soon! I hope us ringed seals will get more attention soon.

That may come true as the United States has listed 6 species of ice seals (2 bearded seals and 4 ringed seals) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This is good news because it is happening before any of those species are critically endangered. It also lends support to those who believe in climate change.

My life and the sea ice

I use the sea ice to breed, molt, give birth, and nurse my pup. Climate change will bring shorter ice seasons. That means that the ice cave that I build to keep my newborn pup safe and warm will be gone before my pup is ready to explore outside our den! Although increased snowfall is predicted during the rest of this century, much of it will before the seasonal ice forms. The snow will end of falling into the ocean instead of piling up on the ice! Also, increased rainfall will melt my snow den early.

So where does that leave me? Well, I will continue to do what I do so well, which is eat, swim, and reproduce, but the odds that my pup (or myself!) will survive is greatly reduced. Life in extremely cold environments is challenging in itself, but our food supply is dwindling because of overfishing and pollution. Sigh, I’d better get back to looking for food…and remember that seals are affected by climate change, and not just polar bears!

Also see how How Sea Otters Fight Climate Change
This post is based on this article at Scientific American