APES Current Events

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/11/mount-agung-bali-indonesia-eruption-mudflow-spd/       Mount Agung volcano on the island of Bali has been having small eruptions over the past two months as its residents are being forced to relocate. Larger eruptions are feared and predicted  yet to come for the Indonesian island. Eruptions are hard to predict when they are coming so the Bali government is forcing nearly 100,000 residents to move out of the threatened areas. The Northeastern Bali area is mainly affected when Agung erupts, covering the land with lava, ash, and mudflows. As the lava flows across the island, gases released from the lava can cause a number of respiratory problems for Bali's citizens.

This article is about a Chinese and an Italian surgeon who plan to do the worlds first head transplant in China. This is crazy to think about and there is a lot of debate on whether this should happen. Also, it seems that a lot of the motivation for the Chinese to do this is to surpass the US as the world leader in all fields. Is this valid reason to do the procedure that will cost $100 million and put lives at risk? Link

After believing that the species Dryococelus australis, also known as the tree lobster, went extinct after rats had been accidentally released onto Australia's Lord Howe Island after a steamship capsized researchers have found a second variation of the tree lobster on Ball's Pyramid. They now hope that the can reintroduce the tree lobster to Lord Howe Island once the rat problem on the island has been dealt with. They plan to deal with the rats by dropping cereal with rat poison onto the island sometime in 2018. My concern with this is that they are taking a risk by placing poisoned cereal on the island because there is a chance that not just rats will eat the cereal, native animals such as the birds that inhabit the island might become tempted to eat the cereal. It would be great to see a once native species reintroduced to the island, but I just hope they know what they are doing. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/science/lord-howe-stick-insect-tree-lobster.html

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/much-worlds-honey-now-contains-pesticides-harm-bees?mode=topic&context=60 Neonicotinoid pesticides is showing up lately in are honeybees honey. there was a honey survey that started testing  these controversial nicotine-derived pesticides. this testing is showing how widely are honeybees are being exposed to chemicals. Three out of the Four honey being tested was effected.   They  contained measurable levels of at least one of five common neonicotinoids.    86 percent of the North American samples contained at least one of the five commonly used neonicotinoids. Almost half of the samples that they had taken cantains  more than one type of the pesticides. 

 Lion Fish were dumped into the Pacific most likely by people who had them as pets or by researchers not thinking and just getting rid pf them, they were never on those reefs before and are taking over due to them being a predator. They are killing all smaller fish that they can eat, they are putting Goby species on the endangered species list and are causing issues. In years to come the environment will be changed and it will maybe not have some species which will alter the ocean which will cause even more issues. https://www.livescience.com/59365-lionfish-prey-on-unknown-fish-species.html

Bat Feces shows not only what the bat ate but this may actually show records of climate change. The isotopes found in the guano change in the nitrogen cycle and difference in precipitation during the winter months. This is a good source because there has been a big debate about whether or not the equipment from 25-30 years ago will give the same accuracy of information as equipment today. This then calls into question the reliability of the data and then if we can even begin to compare the information accurately.   Article

This article is very interesting because it explains how these bacteria could be crucial for carbon levels and health within the ocean due to the majority of the ocean being too dark or underpopulated to support itself. It allows the readers to understand how without these bacteria we may have much lower carbon levels in our ecosystems. Here's the Article