Horizon Scan for Conservation Issues

 By Richard B. Primack

 

“Almost all of our improvements, so called, tend to convert the country into the town.” Henry David Thoreau in his Journal.

 

Horizon scanning is a well-established method for identifying emerging threats and opportunities that allows sufficient lead time to develop actionable solutions. The 15^th Horizon Scan for conservation issues was published this year in the high-profile journal, Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 

 

Figure 1: Artificial intelligence (AI) was used to generate some of this year’s issues.

For this year’s horizon scan, Willow Primack and I joined the team to use three AI models-- GPT-3.5 (Open AI), GPT-4 (Open AI), and Claude (Anthropic)-- to generate novel topics in ecology, conservation, and environmental science. After screening them with respect to accuracy, novelty and interest, we forwarded the best 20 issues to the team leaders. They judged five of the 20 to be of sufficient interest for consideration by the larger group. In the end, none of our AI-generated issues made the final list of 15 issues. 

 

Figure 2.  Many of the issues chosen address the climate change crisis. 

Many of the final topics were related to the use of technology to reduce the environmental impact of human activities, including to address the climate change crisis. Some examples include new methods for producing hydrogen fuel for energy; and producing high-protein food from air, potentially decreasing the area of land needed for food production. Other topics are more specific, such as positive benefits that may come from the use of benchtop DNA printers and the need to monitor changes in deep-sea currents which may have profound impacts on marine and terrestrial ecosystems.

 

The full article is available using this LINK. 

 

 

Plant Poster Day

 By Richard B. Primack

 

“I should keep some book of natural history always by me as a sort of elixir – the reading of which would restore the tone of my system and secure me true and cheerful views of life.” Henry David Thoreau in his Journal.

In the closing days of my BI 305 Plant Biology course, we had a poster session in which each student presented some aspect of botany that they wanted to learn more about and share with the class. 

Photo 1: Class photo with Prof. Kaufman, who came to view the posters. 

Photo 2: Akiva and poster

Photo 3: Allison and poster (with TF Emily)

Photo 4: Anjali and poster

Photo 5: Ashley and poster

Photo 6: Brooke and poster

Photo 7: Eric and poster

Photo 8: Isabel and poster

Photo 9: Jana and poster

Photo 10: Jessica and poster

Photo 11: Nina and poster

Photo 12: Olivia and poster

Photo 13: Ryan and poster

Photo 14: Sofia and poster

Photo 15: Tsion and poster

During a break from poster presentations, we had a durian party.

Photo 16: Durian party

New USDA Winter Hardiness Map

 By Richard B. Primack

 

“How little there is on an ordinary map! How little, I mean, that concerns the walker and the lover of nature… The wavering woods, the dells and glades and green banks and smiling fields, the huge boulders, etc., etc., are not on the map, nor to be inferred from the map.” Henry David Thoreau in his Journal.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “plant hardiness zone map” was updated several weeks ago for the first time in a decade, providing guidance to gardeners and other plant growers about which flowers, vegetables, and shrubs are most likely to thrive in a particular region.

Figure 1: New Plant Hardiness Zone Map

The key information on the map is the lowest likely winter temperature in the various regions, which is important for determining which plants are likely to survive the season. Across the lower 48 states, the lowest likely winter temperature overall is now 2.5 degrees (1.4 degrees Celsius) warmer than when the last map was published in 2012, with over half of the regions having shifted to a warmer plant hardiness zone. 

Figure 2: In coming years, Camellias will be growing in Boston as the climate continues to warm. 

This surprisingly rapid shift in just 10 years is due to temperatures in the winter and at night rising faster than those in the summer and during the day.

As demonstrated by this shift in the hardiness zones, climate change is already having strong impacts on plants and the people growing them in the United States. As the climate continues to shift, it can be tricky for plants — and growers — to keep up. Warmer temperatures may mean that some plants will now die during summer heat waves, and that insect pest outbreaks may become more severe as milder temperatures make it easier for them to survive through the winter. 

For more info on the changes made to the map, see this article: LINK

 

A Plant Experiment in Class

 By Richard B. Primack

 

“I enjoy more drinking water at a clear spring than out of a goblet at a gentleman’s table.” Henry David Thoreau in his Journal.

 

Over the decades, I have envied professors of Chemistry and Physics who carry out dramatic experiments right in front of students during lecture time. Why can’t Biology professors do this too? So, this semester I attempted to do an experiment in class.  

To illustrate the function of the waxy cuticle of leaves to prevent water loss, I collected six large living Hydrangea leaves. At the start of class, the leaves were labeled with a Sharpie pen, weighed, and then randomly assigned to one of three treatments: control leaves; leaves with a few tears in the leaf surface; leaves with many tears in the leaf surface. No leaf fragments came off during the treatments, which student volunteers carried out.

The hypothesis was that leaves with damage to the leaf cuticle would lose more water than control leaves. 

Photo 1: Students carrying out leaf treatments in class.

Photo 2: Leaves illustrating the three treatments, with one being weighed. A heavily torn leaf is on the left and a lightly torn leaf is on the right. 

Following treatment, leaves were left on a table in front of the class and then weighed after 45 minutes. Not much weight loss had occurred, so leaves were placed on a grill above a warm radiator with the expectation that it would cause greater water loss. 

Photo 3: A control leaf and lightly torn leaf on a radiator.  

After 75 minutes, the leaves were weighed again. Now there was a clear difference among the treatments. While the control leaves had lost 7.5 % of their weight, the heavily torn leaves had lost 15 % of their weight. The lightly torn leaves were intermediate in weight loss.

Figure 1: Results showing a greater loss of water in heavily damaged leaves in comparison with control leaves. 

Photo 4. During the experiment, the results were written on the blackboard, so the students could see the progress. 

Considering that this is the first time this experiment had been tried, it was surprising how clear the results were. Was it worthwhile? Could other experiments be developed for use during botanical lectures?