Last Ditch Effort to Save A Dying Species

Humans, unfortunately, do not have the best history when it comes to maintaining our relationships with the unique species that make up Earth’s wildlife. Many human factors contribute to the decline of a species, including habitat loss and degradation, urban sprawl, and ill-fit regulations to protect endangered populations. 

The vaquita are a charismatic species that has become one of the world's most endangered species. Their populations have declined over the past half-century. Estimates suggest only ten adult individuals are left in Mexico’s Northern Gulf of California. If nothing is done to prevent further decline, they will be erased from Earth’s oceans forever. 

Vaquita are extremely small and agile cetaceans that are incredibly elusive in the wild, making them all the more difficult to see as their population numbers continue to decline. They often inhabit nearshore waters where they come into contact with fishers, illegal gillnets, boats, and humans. The northern region of the Gulf of California has been designated a marine protected area, restricting fishing and banning illegal gillnets, often the culprit of vaquita deaths. However, illicit management tactics and a lack of supervisory resources have allowed continued illegal fishing activities that pose risks to the remaining vaquita. 

Studies suggest 1 in 5 vaquita get entangled and drown in gillnets intended for other species like the totoaba fish. The high price commodity of the totoaba, also a native species to these waters, is the driving force behind continued fishing. Totoaba fish were heavily overfished in the 1970s, even listed as endangered by the late 1970s. There is an international trade ban on totoaba products, but the demand is still thriving in Chinese markets, which has fueled an increase in illegal fishing efforts over the last decade. Many Chinese clients purchase the totoaba’s swim bladder for holistic medicinal purposes. Illegal fishing is incredibly lucrative to local fishers, who can receive up to $4,000 USD per pound of totoaba swim bladder they supply, making them almost half a year’s income. 

Governmental efforts have interceded to support the tiny porpoise, beginning with U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s collaborative efforts like installing an international committee to focus on developing vaquita safe fishing technologies for local fishermen. This committee has worked diligently to improve fishing techniques, avoiding any bycatch complications and contributing to scientific studies on specimens they find in the wild. 

All is not lost for the vaquita, as recent studies extrapolated DNA data collected on individuals over the last 40 years to suggest their species will not suffer extinction due to inbreeding. The remaining individuals are still genetically unique enough to prevent those population complications. Experts suggest their population could rebound over the next 50 years if complete protection is provided and their numbers do not suffer any further exponential declines. 

Saving the vaquita will continue to face challenges from tense relationships between conservationists and local fishermen, foreign market demand for illegal products, and continued use of damaging fishing technologies. The installed committees, scientists, and government officials work to provide every available resource to aid the vaquita’s recovery and future protection. 

How an Invasive Species Turned Into a Delicacy

A new entree has recently expanded across many restaurant menus in the southeastern United States, hoping to aid management efforts and reduce environmental destruction caused by invasive lionfish in the Caribbean. 

Invasive species are organisms not native to an ecosystem that causes harm to other species, habitats, or human health. Species are more likely to become invasive if they reproduce quickly, spread aggressively, and take advantage of new habitats. There are many examples of invasive species throughout history, and most are the unfortunate result of human expansion and global connectivity. Animals are often introduced purposefully or by accident from travel, shipping, and as a means of population control. 

Introduced species outcompete native populations for vital resources and habitat, restructuring food webs that result in cascading ecosystem effects. The success of an invasive species in a foreign environment relies on the lack of natural predators in the new ecosystem, allowing that species to dominate the native organisms. Invasive species also contribute to diseases preventing successful reproduction and altering entire ecosystems. 

There are invasive species worldwide, and many environmental scientists are working diligently to eradicate them out of native ecosystems, but doing so is a monumental task. Many invasive species are small, fast reproducing organisms that rapidly spread over large areas. Tactics used to mitigate their potential spread include using traps, reward incentives, and repurposing their use for consumption purposes. Trapping and reward incentives have proven useful solutions in island nations and small land areas, but larger invasions are harder to mitigate adequately. An interesting tactic for combating the invasive lionfish is developing a productive fishery for their commercial use as a product in restaurants and consumption. 

Lionfish are reef fish native to the Indo-Pacific ocean characterized by colorful red and white striped bodies, featherlike fins, and venomous spines. The species is incredibly damaging to the Caribbean ecosystems because they are incredibly aggressive predatory fish that prey on anything they can catch. Without natural predators outside their native habitat, they have been able to dominate the top of the food chain quickly. Lionfish are a particularly popular aquarium fish with a large market in the United States. 

The behavior of the lionfish in the Atlantic changed with their new habitat, and they act more aggressively than their counterparts in the Indo-Pacific. They are responsible for massive tolls on reef species like grouper and snapper. They can spawn every four days and release eggs that travel through the Caribbean currents. Atlantic populations are estimated to be up to 1,000 individuals per 1 acre at their highest densities, changing management goals. 

Dealing with lionfish can be difficult due to venomous spines that require medical attention. Divers must use extreme caution to avoid stings and use protective gear and fishing poles to collect lionfish. Tactics for removal from local waters have resulted in some success. Rapid repopulation of the fish incited a new management avenue to convert the species into a fishery commodity for restaurants to market as a local delicacy. 

Fishermen first realized you could eat the lionfish during culling events in south Florida, and they were delicious too. Modifying management efforts into a sustainable fishery means creating employment opportunities for small-scale fishermen, volunteer culling opportunities, fishing competitions, and a constant resource for consumer lionfish products. This method of invasive management is slowly gaining traction in the southeastern United States, and maybe one day, you will get to taste your very own lionfish. 

Did You Know The Black Plague is Still Around?

Amidst the global pandemic and coronavirus outbreak these last few years, something not discussed often in the media is the continued presence of the black plague. Many people think the bubonic plague is a thing of the distant past, but that is not true, and there are reported cases every year. If you did not know it was still around, do not worry because it is unlikely to be the cause of any future pandemics due to advances in medical technology and our understanding of disease transmission. 

The bubonic plague, also known as the black death, originated in central Asia, where climate change forced many rodents out of grasslands into more populated areas. These rodents carried fleas infected with the Yersinia pestis bacteria responsible for the disease. The disease was spread through flea bites or exposure to an infected person’s open wounds. In the incredibly overcrowded cities across Europe, frequent exposure was widespread and aided the rapid spread of the disease. After being infected with the bubonic plague, a person could expect an 80 percent probability of mortality within eight days. 

The disease killed millions of Europeans during the middle ages of the mid-1300s. This disease spread rapidly through crowded cities of Europe, which were often extraordinarily unclean and full of rodents that quickly transmitted it to people. In the 1300s, very little was known about how diseases were transmitted, and there were few treatment options available to compromised people. This plague is responsible for the most significant death toll compared to any other epidemic throughout human history, killing between 75 to 200 million people worldwide. Those numbers are significant because the world population was around 370 million people and faced constant reductions by other factors like natural disasters, famines, and war. The people of Europe did not recover to their former status until almost 200 years later, in the 16th century. 

Symptoms from the bubonic plague caused a person to grow tumors around lymphatic systems in the neck, groin, and armpit. The tumors continued to spread, resulting in large blackening spots across a person’s body accompanied by fevers, vomiting blood, and ultimately death. Less common forms of the plague also appeared in pneumonic and septicaemic variations, killing their host even quicker with 90 to 100 percent mortality rates. Pneumonic plague symptoms infected the lungs leading to respiratory problems, fever, and cough. Septicaemic plague symptoms had a mortality rate close to 100 percent, progressing so rapidly the infected person may not have enough time even to develop the characteristic lymphatic tumors before death. 

Most people consider the black death to be an eradicated disease, but did you know it is still active, with hundreds of cases per year and isolated flare-ups around the world. The disease is still carried by prairie dogs, chipmunks, moles, squirrels, rabbits, and mice. Most modern cases of the bubonic plague occur in central Asia and Africa, but yearly cases are also reported from states across the southwestern United States. Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado have the highest reported cases in the US, with most deaths only occurring after complications from the disease or lack of treatment. 

The black death is best treated with antibiotics after 24 hours of exposure, but infected people can still make a complete recovery as long as they receive treatment. Fatalities usually only occur when the disease is left untreated. It can run its course carrying a 30 to 90 percent fatality rate compared to less than 10 percent with treatment. 

Understanding past pandemics and epidemics are vital for preparing for and treating future events. If the coronavirus mortality rates were similar to the bubonic plague, the world’s population would have been irreversibly damaged. For comparison, covid19’s case fatality rate is approximately 1.2 percent for the 497 million people that have contracted the disease, an almost minuscule statistic among the global population now totaling more than 7.9 billion people.

New Environmental Frontiers in China’s First Vertical Home

Global populations have risen exponentially over the last two centuries, with numbers expected to increase past 9.8 billion in 2050 and more than 11 billion by 2100! The enormous global population has taken significant tolls on the Earth and its vital resources, expediting global warming and environmental stress. One of the most significant contributors to global warming is the occupied space and pollution generated by megacities dispersed worldwide in countries like China, India, USA, and more. Scientists have been working to develop strategies to better support growing urban populations, preventing further degradation of the environment. Vertical cities are a solution to those issues, and environmental sectors have been discussing their implementation for a long time. 

Vertical cities are a specific and purposeful redesign of how humans have lived throughout history. Instead of traditional outward expansion of cities by connecting additional infrastructure, these cities utilize the space for development above existing frameworks. Vertical cities are key to managing overpopulation and habitat degradation by confining large populations into sustainable units. By designing vertical developments, skyward cities will be able to preserve natural resources outside the city, protect critical wildlife habitats, and contribute to global environmental status. An ideal vertical city would allow people to live, work, go to school, recycle waste, and produce their food inside a single building.

Let us break down the pros and cons of designing, implementing, and operating one of these massive infrastructure projects because there are reasons why they are not popping up in every major city. The first notable benefit of establishing vertical cities is reducing natural resource acquisition based on land space and urban development. These cities can be installed within current urban boundaries and move many businesses and residential areas off the ground. Unfortunately, because these cities do not exist yet, and we do not have any current data to assess their success, designs receive large amounts of skepticism from funders.

Vertical cities are meant to host hundreds if not thousands of people, so establishing the necessary resources is vital to the building’s survival. These buildings need to be explicitly designed to deal with environmental hazards, evacuation procedures, and plans for any emergency. The biggest hurdle facing these cities is funding because there is no evidence to outweigh their costs with benefits, so installing the first of its kind in China is vital to supply research necessary for future vertical developments. 

China’s staggering 1.4 billion people have put immense stress on the country's space and resources. Most Chinese live and work inside urban developments that significantly lack the space necessary to accommodate large daily influxes of people adequately. That is why China is the first home to one of these vertical cities, designed to support 500 residents and more than 5,000 trees and shrubs on its various levels. This initial development is not meant to be an ideal vertical city but a trial into the environmental benefits of increasing urban greenery and attempting to reduce the spread of people throughout the city. 

The plants were chosen to contribute the most benefits to the region by introducing native, non-invasive species aiding atmospheric recycling of greenhouse gasses. The design is estimated to absorb more than 20 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and emit more than 10 tons of oxygen. These buildings are of paramount importance because their location inside urban settings will directly contribute to the city’s clean air. Either way, the first test of this new way of living will indicate if they are a viable and profitable solution to many of the climate changes Earth is currently facing. If successful, this type of architecture can be expected to show up in every major city around the world and reinvent how we design urban areas.

India’s New Internet Frontier

India is embarking on a new frontier as a digital revolution is sweeping across the country, seeking to provide internet access to half of the country. More than 50 percent of India’s population only recently received access to electricity due to its massive population, rural areas, and lack of modern infrastructure preventing India’s expansion in the modern world. The lack of electricity and internet has seriously impeded the country’s economic growth, but its global market is rapidly changing and will likely become one of the world’s largest consumer nations in the next five years. 

Over half of the world’s population is on the internet, leaving about 3.5 billion people without access and more than a third in India. India is restricted because significant portions of its geography are extremely rural, off the grid, and virtually stagnant in regards to modern data access. Foreign investments, outside funding, and young people's popularity have become catalysts for India’s rapid internet revolution. Silicon Valley businesses in the United States like Google and Facebook have begun funding digital infrastructure development across India. The inundation of wifi services, hotspots, and digital literacy programs are some of the investments large American businesses have contributed to India. Initial projects have supplied free wifi services at major train stations and initiatives to provide low-cost broadband to large percentages of the unconnected population. 

A major ignition to India’s rapid growth was the COVID-19 pandemic which saw the world relying on internet services more than ever before. Global shutdowns substantially boosted consumer use of services, increasing from 21 percent of households in 2017 to 61 percent during 2021. Internet access became a necessity as the world shifted toward remote learning, e-commerce, and communications. Other plights increasing India’s transition to a digital economy are the attraction from young consumer demographics under 30. In fact, most Indian internet consumers fall within that age bracket in both rural and urban areas. 

There is a massive gender gap in the percentage of young users, as women in most rural areas lack opportunities to utilize any digital means. These gender gaps are consistent in rural and urban regions however, low-cost options and literacy programs specifically designed for these women are slowly decreasing the gaps. The digital access rapidly changing India’s markets and daily life must overcome these divides to embrace its digital era fully. 

Future growth will require further systematic and societal developments to inspire needed implementations of a digital India. India's number of active users is expected to continue increasing more than 45 percent within the next five years, providing access to approximately 900 million people and changing global connectivity forever.