WaterNotes

And the TED Prize Goes To:

If you’ve been reading WaterNotes long enough you may have noticed my love for the ideas and intellect archived at TED.com.  TED is the annual Technology, Entertainment, Design convention meant to bring together the best and brightest in major fields of inquiry for the purpose of sharing knowledge and inspiration.  I have, certainly, been deeply inspired by the brilliance regularly offered up by TEDsters and I’m grateful that the conference is made public through video posting to the website on a continuous basis throughout the year. 

In 2005 TED began awarding a yearly TED prize to deserving candidates at the forefront of their fields.  The 2009 recipients were recently named and I was excited to see my personal hero Sylvia Earle on the list. 

Besides Dr. Earle’s many contributions to deep-ocean science, she has been an unswerving advocate for marine conservation.  Dr. Earle is, in my opinion, a role model par excellence for young women interested in scientific research and has proved many times over that women can stand alongside men within the field of oceanography and deep-ocean exploration both physically and intellectually. 

As part of the TED prize winners give a talk at the annual conference - scheduled for early February of the coming year - and are asked to present one wish to the world.  In the past wishes have ranged from calls to service to our communities and to the world as the ONE campaign, calls for short films defining the viewpoint of people from across the world as with Pangea Day, an Encyclopedia of Life from EO Wilson, and the Meet The Greens campaign to sustainable lifestyles particularly through motivating children. 

I absolutely cannot wait to see what Dr. Earle proposes for her wish to the TED conference. 

Between now and the conference in February you can read more from Dr. Earle and her colleagues with the National Geographic Society in a new book set for release this month.  Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas debuts October 28th (my birthday, how appropriate!). 

Vaquita: An Endangered Little “Sea Cow”

EarthOcean is at it again.  In addition to their frontline coverage of marine conservation - particularly their focus on enigmatic species - they have recently launched a new website: WhaleTrackers.  WhaleTrackers continues their use of posting online video documentaries that highlight various expeditions around the world searching for cetaceans.

The current expedition is drifting off of San Felipe, Mexico searching for the vaquita, the smallest species of true porpoise.  Vaquita (or “little cow”) are considered the most endangered species of marine mammal in the world.  The world population is estimated at 100 - 200 individuals with regular drownings of the tiny mammals as bycatch in nets for fisheries off the Mexican coastline. 

Unfortunately not much is known about the biology of the vaquita.  The species was described from skull material in 1958 and scientific sightings and specimens were not obtained for a full description until 1985!  Its hard to believe that a new marine mammal was described when I was three years of age!  They are similar in size to the Commerson’s dolphin, achieving an average weight of 90 - 110 pounds and a full length of nearly five feet for mature females. 

Their known distribution is a frighteningly tiny area within the Sea of Cortez (also known as the Gulf of California) in a biologically rich but restricted zone that is currently set aside as a refuge tied into the larger Biosphere reserve.  While the population was thought to be in the thousands just twenty years ago we are now faced with the very real potential for their extinction inside of two to five years without intervention.  (Read more at Vaquita.org.)

What can we do?  Public support for the vaquita as well as awareness are expected to become the key for long term success for this species.  The Sea of Cortez is affected by the loss of freshwater influx via the Colorado River, which is now being heavily diverted for water resources in the arid American southwest. 

While we cannot perhaps drink less water there is a more pressing need for action from the American public: Eat Ocean-Friendly Seafood!!  Our power to change the world in a global economy and a global food market is strongly tied to our wallets.  Make the commitment to eat only sustainable seafood choices and prevent animals like the vaquita, seals, sea lions, sharks, stingrays, and other whale and dolphin species from ending up as bycatch in irresponsible fisheries. 

Up Close and Personal With Giraffes

There has always been, and perhaps will always be, debate on the ethics involved with keeping wildlife contained in institutions for the purpose of display, entertainment, and education.  Are visitors truly motivated by the connections they form at zoos and public aquariums to alter their lifestyles after they exit the gates?

I sincerely hope so.  Studies conducted by the Association for Zoos and Aquariums in the United States did suggest that visitors are changed by their days in our institions and that our existence has a place in the wider scope of wildlife conservation and sustainable living.  (Why Zoos and Aquariums Matter: Assessing the Impact of a Visit to a Zoo or Aquarium)

I recently had the opportunity to get up close and personal on a safari at Busch Gardens in Tampa.  Its strange; I wouldn’t get excited about meeting a bottlenose dolphin but the reticulated giraffes at Busch stole my heart with their romaine-munching ways.  If I weren’t already championing wildlife as much as possible everyday and striving towards a green lifestyle I think I would be motivated by the type of interaction during my visit.

Here are some photos from the trip:

Globe Challenged

I tried to draw the planet today.  I actually took a marker to whiteboard and attempted to freehand a globe with the continents.  Its not as easy as you might expect.  And it was sort of hilarious the points where I became impossibly confused. 

The familiar coastlines of the US didnt give me one moments worth of grief.  But, the outcroppings of Indonesia and everything that lies between Australia and mainland Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the relative outline of Canada and Greenland and Iceland, and the complete unknown (to me) that is Norway and Sweden made my head hurt.  I almost entirely forgot the Philippines and I’m half filipina!  Even worse, I nearly wiped New Zealand off the map entirely. 

I was actually proud that I remembered the blocky peninsula that includes Portugal and Spain and the general architecture of Greece and Italy as they sweep into the Med.  Thats sort of pathetic. 

Whatever happened to geography?  Have I forgotten all of social studies all those years in school?  Was I right when I warned Mr. Tinney in eleventh grade that I would never need to know the capital of Tanzania?   What is the capital of Tanzania?  Clearly his strategy to teach the relative layout of the world by requiring us to color in paper maps of continents didn’t leave an indelible inner map of borders and coastlines in my mind! 

At least my knowledge of biogeography runs a bit deeper.  Maybe I can channel Jeff Corwin and figure out where I am in the world based on the kind of wildlife I find in the area.  Penguins living alongside sea lions and iguanas?  I must be in the Galapagos. 

Seriously though, can you draw the planet?  Its an incredibly taxing exercise; perhaps something you can do to either a) stave off boredom b) amuse yourself or c) challenge your brain to guard against Alzheimer’s.  (Or at least I hear you can prevent some types of mental disease by consistently using your brain.) 

You can earn bonus points if you remember to tilt your depiction of the planet a bit on the axis and fail to draw a perfect circle.  Remember, Earth is a bit pudgy about the equator. 

Calling All Greenies: 10^100 by Google

Google is digging deeper into philanthropy.  They recently announced a contest, called 10^100, which will award $10 million for an idea that can literally change the world.  The idea must benefit as many people as possible. 

Of course I have to wonder, does it have to just benefit people?  Can it be an idea that supports conservation or wildlife projects that will tangentially benefit people and human habitats?  Hmmm.  Well, there is certainly an environment category.  Perhaps green projects have a place in this afterall!  Greenies, wildlife lovers, and the environmentally obsessed alike: now is the time to get those neurons firing and to think big!

I know, we already have the SmartGear contest hosted by the World Wildlife Federation.  I suppose I’m just curious to know if there are any other opportunities out there for people to get their high flying green ideas up off the ground and into the hands of people who can help the inventor turn the dream into a reality.  We could definitely use a Project Greenlight that actually is green!

There are criteria for submitted proposals to address, including:  how many people will this project assist, how long will the impact last, how much will the project cost and can it get off the ground in two years or less, and how urgent is the need for the issue to be addressed. 

Submissions are due October 20th of this year.  Are you going to submit a project?  What will it be?  I can think of a handful of really dire conservation oriented problems that could easily use ten million thrown at them, including the need for school children everywhere to be able to connect with the natural resources outside their classrooms and to learn about the wildlife that resides in their homeland.  C’mon, environmental education could even fall within two categories of 10^100!

Does An Adaptation Have to Be Logical?

For the past few weeks I’ve noticed a common thread in my approach and attempts to relate information about wildlife to the public.  In my quest to make things digestible I often resort to applying logic.  Why do some species of dolphin swim upside down?  Well, its complicated. 

We think it has a lot to do with their vertebrae.  Most cetaceans have fused neck bones, so they can’t turn their heads like we might.  If a dolphin wants to see what’s around it, both above and below, it needs to turn its body.  Thus, perhaps some dolphins swim upside down for the same reason that people - when tapped on the shoulder - will turn around to see who did the tapping.  They want to be aware of things in their environment.

Its an explanation that approaches some tenuous concept of “making sense”.  Its logical and readily acceptable.  But the thing is, do adaptations - behavioral or morphological - have to be logical?  Do they have to make sense? 

Its certainly arguable and a point that many evolutionary biologists will use as an achor for their careers.  If an adaptation doesn’t seem to serve a purpose there are two questions to ask it seems.  A) Is there a purpose served that we simply do not yet see?  Or, B) Is this adaptation simply neutral in the current environment and neither beneficial nor particularly harmful to the animal?  Maybe the neutral adaptations - those that do not impact survivorship - are prone to be illogical. 

Deep down, I think most people want to understand even the most baffling of characteristics in a species.  Typically, for the human mind, we logically organize all the experiences and information contained within a day in our minds for later perusal.  But I worry whether or not our current understanding of wildlife and science is perhaps inhibiting my ability to be an effective educator.  What do I mean? 

Well, perhaps there is nothing logical at all about dolphins swimming upside down.  Sure they may have fused neckbones and can’t tilt their heads to as easily see up and down but they sure do have echolocation and they typically live in social pods of several pairs of eyes.  I’m not proposing that echolocation is a kind of side scanning sonar - although they think beluga whales can use ricocheted surface sounds bounced off of overhead ice pack - but the fact is that we aren’t always entirely sure of the answers to simple questions.  And the answers may not always be logical. 

I once mused about the reason for an animal as large as a whale shark to wear camouflaging spot patterns on their skin especially since they only need to stalk plankton!  Perhaps there are animals large enough to eat adult whale sharks in the ocean that we havent discovered.  Perhaps they are leftover patterns from the juvenile stage that really does have predators.  Perhaps the spots are sexy to other whale sharks.  But maybe, just maybe, there is absolutely no reason for the spots at all.  Maybe they just exist. 

Trash and Turtles, On the Beach

The Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup is scheduled for September 20th this year.  Are you signed up to clean beaches?  I am!  If you’re in the relative area a cleanup will get underway at the Canaveral National Seashore in Brevard County, early in the A.M.  This page can point you towards other cleanups in your area if you’re not lucky enough to call mosquito-sunburn-tourist-gator-land your home.   

(Aside: Can I just say that I’m apalled to see Louisiana doesn’t have any cleanups scheduled??)

And if you’re a SCUBA diver or a boat owner, the Cleanup can use your special talents and resources to really attack the problem of marine debris from all sides.  

On a related field note, many of the loggerhead and green sea turtle nests laid out along sunny Floridian beaches this year should be well within hatching stage at this point in the year.  Turtle season regularly runs from May to September in gatorland.  If you find hatchlings stranded in the surf or along the beach it is probably wise to report them to either Fish and Wildlife or directly to a specialty group such as the Sea Turtle Preservation Society from within the Brevard County area.  STPS is capable of rehabilitating wash-in hatchlings that are too exhausted from battling the surf to make it out to sea and the sheltering safe haven of floating Sargassum mats. 

So, lookout for trash and tiny turtles on the beaches over the next few weeks.  If nothing else the debris you discard from the sand grains will be one less peice that could potentially deceive gullible sea turtle’s who often see floating plastic as a favored jellyfish meal. 

Robo-Shamu Can Jump Too!

I really hope that this is a publicity stunt of farcical proportions.  Apparently PETA, backed by an anonymous donor based in Norfolk, VA, has written to InBev, the new owner of Anheuser Busch’s parks SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, with an offer to buy out the parks. 

Why would PETA want to own zoological parks that “imprison” animals?  They want to set the animals free.  (Oh and replace them with animatronics!)

I have often encountered visitors in zoological parks who voice an opinion that holding animals in any enclosure is somehow unethical.  And I have yet to be converted by any of their reasons.  I also fail to comprehend the logic behind the position that zoological insitutions are simply out to make money or to entertain humans while allowing their animals to suffer. 

All the people I have ever had the pleasure to call my coworkers at zoos and aquariums have been exceedingly intelligent and passionate people who have wanted to work with animals and further the cause of conservation since they were children.  And it is never easy work.  Zoo careers require dedication and perseverance that would boggle the mind of those who enjoy a typical work week and a typical daily routine.  Would you have the fortitude to report to work at 2am every day and leave late at night?  Would you be happy to staff the institution during hurricanes?  Would you cheerfully haul 60lb buckets of fish for relatively little pay knowing that your classmates from Calculus C are now engineers pulling in $70,000 a year? 

I’m not attempting to denigrate other careers or to elevate the average zoological staffer.  Our jobs are incredibly rewarding and we do them because we love the work, not because we aspire to lasting fame or to financial heights. My point is entirely this: we wouldn’t work for an institution that allowed animals to suffer and we wouldn’t work for zoos if we didn’t believe in their ability to alter viewpoints, educate, and enlighten at the same time that they entertain. 

PETA’s targeting of SeaWorld over any other zoological institution is absolutely inane.  AB parks donate millions of dollars each year to other zoological institutions, conservation groups, grassroot outreach projects, and environmental education efforts across the globe in an effort to sustain research and education concerning wildlife.  And that says nothing of the rescue and rehabilitation efforts carried on within the park.

More than anything, the idea that animals born and raised in captivity will survive outside of captivity is disastrous.  While there are certainly animals within any zoo’s care that may survive outside of a zoological facility there are a tremendous number of factors working against them.  Questions of diseases carried by wild conspecifics and captive animal exposure, hunting skills, socialization problems, and whether or not suitable habitat exists all bear upon the survival of a mass release such as PETA proposes.  American zoos belonging to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums maintain several species that are effectively extinct in the wild and which, without zoos and aquariums, would no longer exist. 

PETA would do better to take the millions - maybe billions - required to buy out and shut down SeaWorld and other Busch parks and apply them to conservation and research for wildlife that might allow us to save habitat and repair human-impacted ecosystems around the world.  PETA probably won’t earn fame and glory for such a donation, but it would go so much farther towards the heart of their mission to save wildlife and animals that they feel are being subjugated for human greed.