Transcript

8.21.25 · Science Show KY

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Radioized Diary of Science and Nature. Your reader's
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Kelly Taylor. I'll have some articles related to the topics
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of science and nature. But first a reminder that RADIOI
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is a reading service intended for people who are blind
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or have other disabilities that make it difficult to reprint
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in material. First up today we'll go to BBC Science
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Focus magazine and this article is headlined Hope is not
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Lost for the humble honeybee. When I started studying honeybees
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in nineteen ninety eight, I quickly noticed just how much
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people love them. I also realized that people's knowledge rarely
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extended beyond bees make honey and they live in hives.
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Sometimes there would be mentioned of bees wax or queen bees,
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but in general love for these insects was based on
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surface knowledge and cultural links, very often Winnie the Pooh.
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Over the next ten years or so, I know, notice
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things changed. Pollination became something people started to recognize and
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care about. Suddenly bees were essential for our food production.
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Then disaster struck around two thousand and seven. The first
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reports of mysterious mass disappearances of honeybees, especially in the US,
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started to appear in the world's news Colony collapse Disorder
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CCD was at the forefront of people's minds, and doom
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mongers everywhere predicted a world without honeybees. The BBC's long
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running sci fi show Doctor Who even did a story
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about it. We would The headlines seemed to scream all
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starved to death. It seems the pattern is destined to
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repeat itself. Almost two decades on from CCD, the headlines
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are full of honeybees quote. Millions of honeybees are dying
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and no one is sure why, said the UK's Independent
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in April, reporting on sixty seventy percent losses to US
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beekeepers the year and fifty five percent losses last year.
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Top beekeepers in the US are warning of a death spiral,
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according to The Guardian, and the Trump administration's withdrawal of
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funding for research programs is only adding to concerns. But
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here's the thing. Most of the panic simply doesn't hold up.
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Top insect experts agree the issue is overblown and often misunderstood.
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To understand the current problem, we have to revisit the
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mid two thousands and CCD. During this time, beekeepers witnessed
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the majority of worker bees disappearing from hives, leaving the
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queen her eggs and larvae and just a few remaining
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bees to care for them. Although colony collapses in the
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US attracted the most press attention, the phenomenon was reported
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throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia. We still don't know for
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sure what caused CCD. It was likely a combination of factors,
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with disease, habitat loss, pesticide use, and intensive management by
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beekeepers all potentially playing their part. What we do know, though,
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is that disappearances like this aren't new. Beekeepers have documented
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numerous similar events in the past, referring to them by
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various names such as may disease and fall duint built disease,
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among others. This time around, the cause of the problem
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is less mysterious than CCD. Early research strongly suggests that
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honeybees are dying of a virus transmitted by the varroa
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mite it lives on honeybees. The mites are known to
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cause harm and transmit disease, but they can usually be
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controlled with chemicals. What appears to have happened recently is
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that the mites have evolved resistance to these chemicals. This
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scenario probably sounds familiar. The evolution of resistance is almost inevitable,
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whether we're killing off plant and insect pests in crop fields,
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using antibiotics against bacteria, or treating cancer. When we use
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a particular agent like a pesticide time and time again,
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genetic differences in the pests mean that eventually some of
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them may be able to resist that agent better than others.
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If these individuals survive and reproduce, then their offspring can
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inherit their parents' resistance. Pesticide and herbicide resistance has become
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a defining feature of modern farming, and it's the farming itself,
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not just the chemicals, that's central to understanding what's happening
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to honeybees. Globally, the overwhelming majority of honeybees live in
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hives artificial nest cavities we provide for them. This way,
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the bees live under semi natural conditions, allowing us to
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easily relocate them and harvest the honey they produce. In
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the UK, we tend to think of honey bee keeping
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as a hobby, but around the world there are bee
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keeping operations, may managing thousands or even tens of thousands
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of hives. Commercial beekeeping is a highly technical and intensive
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farming process involving artificial insemination, requeening of hives, feeding, moving
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to nectar sources, artificial hibernation, conditions, and disease prevention and treatment,
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often on an epic scale. There are some wild colonies,
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but in the modern world the honeybe is very much
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a farmed species. Headlines might shout about honeybee dieoffs, but
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the numbers show otherwise. In twenty twenty three, the Food
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and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimated that honeybee
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colonies had increased globally by forty five percent since nineteen ninety,
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despite the effects of CCD. Another study showed an eighty
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five percent increase since nineteen sixty. It's probably true to
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say that there have never been more honeybee in the
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world than there are today, and that's likely to be
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true tomorrow too. Despite the challenges, beekeepers can recover numbers
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and build up colonies, just like crop farmers recover from
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bad harvests. Our deep cultural association with the honey bee
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makes them one of the few popular insects. People care
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about them, and stories of their decline resonate. Hearing the headlines,
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people have naturally asked what can I do to help?
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For many, the obvious answer is I'll become a beekeeper.
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But to paraphrase well known bee expert Professor Dave Gulsen,
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if you hear about declines in songbirds, do you think
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about becoming a chicken farmer. These declines won't be addressed
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by amateurs keeping honey bees. In fact, if you are
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successful in keeping honey bees and it's harder than you imagine,
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then they'll out compete wild species for nectar and potentially
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infect wild bees with diseases. By trying to save the bees,
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you might well do the opposite. So honeybees aren't the
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problem here. They're having a few health problems, as is
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common in farmed species, but they don't need your help.
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Recent media attention around CCD has had a knock on effect.
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It's led to a growing narrative that other pollinators are
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declining too. Solitary bees, hoverflies, wasps, and butterflies have started
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to gain popularity as people realize that they are also
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essential pollinators. As these stories get more widely reported, they
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become entwined with a growing bigger picture of more general
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insect decline. In the UK, forty two percent of pollinator
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species have become less widespread since the nineteen eighties. Despite
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some insects faring better and local and short term variation,
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the overall trend for pollinators is downwards. How can you
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help these wild pollinators? If you have a garden or
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any land you have some stewardship over, perhaps even a
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patch at work, then you can make it an insect haven.
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Growing plants that provide nectar and pollen is one of
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the best things you can do. There are so many
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species to choose from fruit trees, lavender, and more. Nectar
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plant lists are widely available online from wildlife trusts, the
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Royal Horticultural Society and others. You can also resist the
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temptation to mow your lawn too often. Make sure you
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avoid pesticides and leave some areas untamed. Bug hotels can
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be effective, but it's just as good to leave dead wood,
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clippings and other garden mess in a corner somewhere to
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provide shelter and potential nesting sites. Another great thing to
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do is to dig upon lay some sticks down the
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sides so that thirsty insects can drink safely on warm days.
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Honey bees get all the attention but it isn't them
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that need our help. If you really want to save
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the bees, then don't become a beekeeper, become an insect cheerleader.
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And now we're going to turn to the Washington Post.
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This article from August nineteenth is city food forests offer
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a chance to experience nature and eat it. Dawn Taft
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reached into a tangle of leafy branches, the top half
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of her body largely disappearing from view. Oh my god,
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pau Paus Taft explained, exclaimed, holding back large canoe shaped
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leaves to reveal a cluster of smooth, light green fruit.
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The tree bearing North America's largest native fruit, is one
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of more than a dozen edible plants flourishing in a
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roughly eighty six hundred square foot plot sandwiched between homes
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and an auto repair shop. The space in Hyattsville, Maryland,
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was converted from two empty residential lots about a decade ago.
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It's now a well established food forest, like a community garden,
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but featuring food bearing trees and shrubs, and intended to
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to mimic the natural ecosystem. It provides residents with a
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chance to harvest fresh, free produce and to connect with nature,
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said Taft, the city's environmental programs manager and arborist. Quote,
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when you live in a city, you sometimes don't get
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to experience the forest or appreciate that the things you
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buy from a grocery store were grown somewhere else. She says,
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that's a really cool piece of what this place offers.
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Food forest projects have been taking root in multiple US
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cities in Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Philadelphia, Seattle, and elsewhere. Groups
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have partnered with local communities to cultivate layers of edible
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plants on public parkland, in empty lots, and along road sides.
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They're champions say that in addition to food, these forests
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offer a host of climate and environmental benefits. Quote it's
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the most hopeful form of land management that I've heard about,
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said Lincoln Smith, founder of Forested. A ten acre experimental
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forest garden in Buie, Maryland, just down the road from
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a private golf course. Beyond a gate made of rough
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hewn branches and chicken wire lies a dense thicket of trees.
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A rustic fence obscured by greenery keeps deer from gorging
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on the smorgus board of nuts, berries and other fruits.
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And edible plants growing in Smith's forest garden. Quote it
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is pretty wild, but it's actually pretty organized, too, said Smith,
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a landscape architect by training who has designed urban food
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forests for neighboring cities, including the one on Emerson Street
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in Hyattsville, Maryland. Quote your targeting different crops and trying
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to balance ecosystem restoration and food production, which I think
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we can do in the same piece of ground. He added.
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The property, which used to be a cornfield, is bursting
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with native food bearing trees and shrubs, as well as
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non native species that shouldn't count compete them. Some selections
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attract pollinators or help put more nitrogen back into the soil.
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Smith said he focuses on planting what naturally flourishes in
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the area instead of trying to grow apple trees, which
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don't always thrive in Maryland. He opted for per simons quote.
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If it grows wildly without any help, you know it's
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going to produce well for you. He said. He also
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make sure to plant in multi layered arrangements, mimicking a
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natural forest, but he cautioned creating a food forest isn't
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just about the plants. Quote. Some of my early mistakes
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in designing these spaces were just getting really excited about
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all the plants and then forgetting to leave any access
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for people, he said. Now grassy pathways, snake passed, leafy oaks,
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per semon pau paul and native chickasaw, plum trees, and
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mulberry and blueberry plants. While the vegetation is dense, there
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are intentional sight lines that allow people roaming the forest
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to see through the lush trees and shrubs. Similar principles
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can be used to design food forests in more urban areas.
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In Hyattsville, Smith designed in open space with wide paths,
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creating clear sightlines and multiple ways to enter. Visitors can
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take a break on benches scattered around the garden or
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seek shade under a pavilion. Much of the food forests
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offerings are widely recognizable pears, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, figs, pomegranates, walnuts,
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and pecans. Quote. I have a bit of a bias
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toward things that can be enjoyed raw for the urban
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food forests, he said, adding that he tends to choose
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plants bearing fruits and nuts that people generally know are
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safe to eat. On a recent August morning, Alden Kendall
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and his two year old son explored the Emerson Street
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food Forest together, sampling beach plums and seed kale. Quote.
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We're going to come back pretty regularly, said Kendall, forty
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years old, a resident of New Carrollton, who hadn't been
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to the edible forest before his son. He said, can
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get to see things change over the seasons and can
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gather things that were not able to grow outside ourselves.
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Lisa Nelson, sixty one, who lives in Green Belt, stopped
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by looking for figs and was excited to see that
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trees and bushes were identified with small metal signs. QR
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codes provide access to additional information about the plants, including
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wind and want to harvest. Quote. I'm not seeing rotten
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fruit on the ground, So there's evidence right there that
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people are actually utilizing the space and it's getting better
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and better, says Taft. The food forest's benefits can also
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be gauged by the number of non human visitors. Small
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butterflies and moths fluttered among the greenery, while birds chirped
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from inside thick tree tops. Bumble bees and honey bees swarmed,
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and anie hissop crawling all over the plants lavender stalks.
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Beyond increasing people's access to fresh food and nature and
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serving as wildlife habitats, these forest ecosystems can sequester carbon
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and help improve water quality. According to the Forest Service quote,
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you can see photos of this place from where it
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was as a cornfield and know that runoff has been
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drastically reduced and carbon is being accumulated in the soil.
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Smith said of the Buoy food forest, there's been but
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to start a food forest and keep it going requires
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sustained attention. Smith said there's been a certain amount of
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people online claiming zero maintenance, which is totally wrong. He said.
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Even harvesting is a lot of work. Sometimes ten or
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twelve people will spend a couple of hours processing acorns.
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He said. Most recently, it took several people more than
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an hour to pluck fox grapes off their stems. In Hyattsville.
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Taff said cruise mow and weed the food forest every
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two weeks for each piece of fruit. She took pleasure
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in finding on that August morning there was an overgrown
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plant aiming to be pruned or pulled that caught her eye.
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Oh here's a weed, she said, bending down to pluck
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the errant plant. I could spend a whole day here
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and not be done. Now we have an article from
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the Naples, Florida Daily News and the headline is who
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is Taylor Stanbury Meet, the first woman to win Florida
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Python Challenge. This is from August fourteenth, For the first time,
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a woman won the Florida Python Challenge in July and
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collected her ten thousand dollars reward this week. Where the
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nine hundred people from thirty different states and even some
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from Canada participated in the twenty twenty five Florida Python
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Challenge last month, removing a record breaking number of two
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hundred and ninety four invasive Burmese pythons in just ten days.
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But there was one Florida native python hunter who removed
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more of the gigantic snakes than anyone else who participated,
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securing a ten thousand dollars prize that was awarded to
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her by the FWC this week. Taylor Stanbury, who stands
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at least at less than half the height of most
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of the snakes she catches, pulled in a whopping sixty
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pythons during the challenge. Here's what we know about Taylor
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and what the Python Challenge is. If you aren't familiar,
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we have a Q and A with the Florida Python
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Challenge winner. How does the Florida Python Challenge work? The
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Florida Python Challenge is one of many efforts the FWC
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has in place to keep the python population in the
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state as low as possible. It offers a cash prize
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to the python hunter who removes the most pythons over
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a ten day period. Although the event is usually held
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in August, it was held in July this year and
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included a broader range of hunting grounds this year. The
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challenge began on Friday, July eleventh at twelve one am
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and lasted through Sunday, July twentieth at five pm. Quote.
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The event, hosted by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
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and the South Florida Water Management District, features an ultimate
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grand prize of ten thousand dollars for the registered participant
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who removes the most pythons. It's what it says on
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the fwc's website. Quote. An exciting addition to this year's
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event is the inclusion of Everglades National Park as one
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of the eight official Florida Python Challenge competition locations quote
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throughout the year Python Challenges more than a eleven hundred
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Throughout the yearly Python Challenges, more than eleven hundred of
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the invasive snakes have been removed. Last year's challenge alone
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removed one hundred and ninety five invasive Burmese pythons. This year,
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two hundred and ninety four snakes were removed. Taylor Stanbury,
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a Naples native, was the twenty twenty five Florida Python
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Challenge winner. She captured sixty of the invasive snakes, finding
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thirty of those hatchlings in a single nest during one
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night of the challenge. Stanbury told the Naples Daily News
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that although she's been python hunting with her husband Rhett
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for years, she has more than a decade of experience.
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This was her first time participating in the challenge. The
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biggest python Stanbury caught in this year's challenge was between
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nine and a half and ten feet long, more than
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double her height of four feet eleven inches. Don't worry,
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She's aware that her height is one of the most
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recognizable things about her. She's known to her almost sixty
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nine thousand Instagram followers as Taylor Too Short. Stanbury said
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that she also caught a twelve foot of the day
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before the challenge kicked off, which obviously did not count
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toward her to total of sixty since it was before
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the official start of the challenge. Quote. I've been catching
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pythons for over ten years. It's all about knowing what
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areas to hunt, what habitat to look for, and just
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putting in the time, Stanbury said. Some nights I go
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out and won't find a single python. Then other nights
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I find a nest of sixty babies. I would tell
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newby hunters to just put in the time. I've heard
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from some of them that they hunted for a few
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hours and caught nothing. Stanbury is twenty nine years old
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from Naples and the first woman to win the Florida
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Python Challenge Grand Prize. She works at a Canon Canine
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Physical Therapy Rehab Center, is a python contractor with the
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FWC shown's a small Exotic Animal rescue, and posts online
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about her adventures with her husband. It's the tune of
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almost sixty nine thousand Instagram followers and two hundred twenty
20:56
seven thousand YouTube subscribers. I've been looking for wildlife since
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I was a little kid, I used to go fishing
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with my dad and we would catch toads and I
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would bring them home and play with them. Stanbury said,
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As I've gotten older, I've started traveling around the world
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looking for wildlife, especially snakes, to video and photograph. She
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told The Daily News that she plans to use the
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prize money to expand her animals, enclosures, and pay for
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gas to do more of what she does best, which
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is python hunt. Since pythons are invasive and plentiful, you
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don't need a license or permit to hunt them in Florida.
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Hunting them in Florida is encouraged because Burmese pythons have
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very few predators. That's why the f w C runs
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the statewide Python Challenge to get the public involved in
21:44
the hunt for the massive invasive snakes. Although the chances
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of completely eradicating pythons from South Florida are low, the
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hunt helps control their numbers. Quote. Hunters, anglers, and outdoor
21:56
recreationists with experience removing pythons or other large constrictors from
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the wild are encouraged to apply, with preference given to
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Florida residents and military veterans. That is a quote from
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the Fort Myers News Press last year. The FWC also
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has a Python action team that hires contractors to kill
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the invasive snakes. And now we'll turn to a story
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from CBS News. Abrupt Antarctic climate shifts could lead to
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catastrophic consequences for generations, experts warn this is Augustinia. Abrupt
22:36
and potentially irreversible changes in Antarctica driven by climate change
22:41
could lift global oceans by meters and lead to quote,
22:45
catastrophic consequences for generations in scientists warned on Wednesday. More broadly,
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a state of knowledge review by a score of top
22:56
experts revealed accelerating shifts across the region that are often
23:00
both a cause and effect of global warming, according to
23:04
a study published in Nature, a peer reviewed international scientific journal.
23:09
The studies authors suggest that limiting CO two emissions and
23:14
in turn preventing global warming from exceeding at least one
23:17
point five degrees celsius quote will be imperative in quote
23:22
to reduce and prepare for the broad effects of abrupt
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Antarctic and southern ocean changes. Quote. Antarctica is showing worrying
23:33
signs of rapid change across its ice, ocean and ecosystems,
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says lead author and Australia National University professor Narrow Abram
23:44
told The Agent's France press quote, some of these abrupt
23:49
changes will be difficult to stop. Shifts in different facets
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of Antarctica's climate system amplify each other and have accelerated
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the pace of warming globally as well. Abram said. The
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study looked at evidence of abrupt change or regime shifts
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in sea ice, regional ocean currents, the continent's ice sheet
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and ice shelves, and marine life that also examined how
24:16
they interact. Floating sea ice does not significantly add to
24:20
sea level when it melts, but its retreat does replace
24:23
white surfaces that reflect almost all of the Sun's energy
24:26
back into space with deep blue water, which absorbs the
24:31
same amount instead. Ninety percent of the heat generated by
24:35
man made global warming is soaked up by the oceans.
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After increasing slightly during the first thirty five years that
24:43
satellite data was available, Antarctic sea ice cover plunged dramatically
24:47
over the last decade. Since twenty fourteen, sea ice has
24:51
retreated on average one hundred and twenty kilometers or roughly
24:55
seventy five miles from the continent's shoreline. That contraction has
25:00
happened about three times faster in ten years than the
25:04
decline in sea ice over nearly fifty By July twenty
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twenty five, daily sea ice extent in both hemispheres was
25:12
at its third lowest in the forty seven year satellite record.
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Data from NASA released in twenty twenty indicated that Antarctica
25:22
and Greenland had lost thousands of gigatons of ice between
25:25
two thousand three and twenty nineteen, indirectly contributing to more
25:31
than half an inch of overall sea level rise around
25:33
the world. Last September, scientists warned that the Antarctic ice sheet,
25:40
officially called the Thwayts Glacier, would deteriorate further and faster,
25:45
with the increased melting expected to trigger rising sea levels.
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Research conducted by the International Thwats Glacier Collaboration, a collective
25:53
of more than one hundred scientists, found that the volume
25:56
of water flowing into the sea from the Thwaytes Glacier
25:59
and others nearby had doubled from the nineteen nineties to
26:04
the twenty tens. The overall evidence of a regime shift
26:08
in sea ice means that on current trends, Antarctica could
26:13
essentially become ice free in summer sooner than the Arctic.
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The recent study published Wednesday in Nature found this will
26:21
speed up warming in the region and beyond, and could
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push some marine species toward extinction. Experts worn over the
26:28
last two years. For example, helpless Emperor penguin chicks perished
26:33
at multiple breeding grounds, drowning or freezing to death when
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sea ice gave way earlier than usual under their tiny feet.
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Of five sites monitored in the Bellingshausen Sea in twenty
26:47
twenty three, all but one experienced a one hundred percent
26:51
loss of chicks. Earlier research reported unlike sea ice, ice
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sheets and the ice shelves to which they are connected.
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Of course, unlike sea ice excuse me, ice sheets and
27:05
ice shelves to which they are connected on are supported
27:08
by land. The world would need to heat up by
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five degrees celsius compared with pre industrial levels to melt
27:16
the entire Antarctic ice sheet, which would lift global oceans
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and almost unimaginable fifty eight meters or nearly two hundred feet.
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Global warming to date on average about one point three
27:28
degrees celsius is fast approaching a threshold that would cause
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part of the ice sheet to generate at least three
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meters of sea level rise, flooding coastal areas inhabited today
27:39
by hundreds of millions. The study said, Well, that's offered
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today's Diary of Science and Nature. Your reader was Kelly Taylor.
27:48
Now stay tuned for further programming on RADIOI