Controlled burns help prevent wildfires. Climate change is limiting their use

 The U.S. Army conducting a controlled burn of over 400 acres at Fort Ord National Monument near Monterrey, California, in 2017.
Photo Credit: Flickr/PresidioofMonterrey

Prescribed fires, sometimes called controlled burns, are one of the most common tools for preventing catastrophic wildfires in the Western United States. Lit by highly trained firefighters, they help clear away excess dry plant matter that might otherwise turn a healthy vegetation fire into a raging inferno.

To safely carry out controlled burns, firefighters must wait for specific weather conditions: not so damp as to prevent combustion, but not so dry or windy as to burn more vegetation than intended. These conditions limit the opportunities.

Now, a new study led by UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain has found that climate change is further reducing the overall number of days and changing the times of year when prescribed fires can be safely used.

Currently, scientists project warming of 2.0 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2060 — a projection Swain called “optimistic” given the current trajectory of even greater warming. Still, these temperatures would reduce the number of days when weather and vegetation conditions favor prescribed fires by 17% on average across the Western U.S.

Gut bacteria found in wild wolves may be key to improving domestic dogs’ health

Photo Credit: Nicky Pe

Gut microbes found in wild wolves may be the key to alleviating a debilitating gastrointestinal condition common to domestic dogs, according to a study led by researchers at Oregon State University – Cascades.

In a paper published in Applied Microbiology, the authors report a novel strain of Paenibacillus bacteria with characteristics of a probiotic – an organism that conveys a health benefit to the host.

In this case, the benefit would be to head off canine inflammatory bowel disease, a chronic illness characterized by vomiting, reduced appetite, weight loss, flatulence, a rumbling stomach and/or abdominal discomfort, said Bruce Seal of OSU-Cascades’ biology program.

“At present there is no known cure for this ongoing dysbiosis of the gastrointestinal tract, and there are limited options for treatment,” Seal said. “Underlying causes of the condition include an animal’s genetics, environmental factors, the immunological state of the GI tract and, maybe most importantly, an altered gut microbiome.”

Bird species changing faster than expected in protected areas

The study compared bird communities during the breeding season inside and outside protected areas in Canada between 1997 and 2019. The results indicated that protected areas remain important for the conservation of northern bird species such as the Lapland longspur, which breeds in Finland as well. However, during the 22-year period, bird communities inside the protected areas began to resemble those outside them in terms of climate requirements. This poses additional challenges for ensuring the continued vitality of species under a warming climate. Communities with similar climate requirements consist of an equal proportion of cold- and warm-dwelling species.

“Protected areas are more effective in helping cold-dwelling northern bird species, but it was surprising to discover that southern species increased faster in abundance inside than outside protected areas,” explains Doctoral Researcher Leena Hintsanen of the Finnish Museum of Natural History (Luomus) under the University of Helsinki.

DNA from discarded whale bones suggests loss of genetic diversity due to commercial whaling

Abandoned whaling stations on South Georgia Island
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Oregon State University

Commercial whaling in the 20th century decimated populations of large whales but also appears to have had a lasting impact on the genetic diversity of today’s surviving whales, new research from Oregon State University shows.

Researchers compared DNA from a collection of whale bones found on beaches near abandoned whaling stations on South Georgia Island in the south Atlantic Ocean to DNA from whales in the present-day population and found strong evidence of loss of maternal DNA lineages among blue and humpback whales.

“A maternal lineage is often associated with an animal’s cultural memories such as feeding and breeding locations that are passed from one generation to the next,” said the study’s lead author, Angela Sremba, who conducted the research as part of her doctoral studies at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute. “If a maternal lineage is lost, that knowledge is likely also lost.”

The findings were published recently in the Journal of Heredity.

Morphing robots designed at CSU can grip, climb and crawl like insects

Pulling inspiration from the natural world, researchers at Colorado State University have developed a trio of robots that can morph their bodies and legs as needed.

Video Credit: Colorado State University

Pulling inspiration from the natural world, researchers at Colorado State University have developed a trio of robots that can morph their bodies and legs as needed to better crawl, shimmy or swim over difficult terrain.  These new robotic systems are designed to mimic the way biological organisms adapt their shape depending on their life cycle or environment and were developed by a team from the Department of Mechanical Engineering. The work is described in a new paper published in Nature Communications which outlines the three robotic types and their different abilities including gripping, climbing and amphibious travel.

Associate Professor Jianguo Zhao led the research team on campus in the Department of Mechanical Engineering with recent Ph.D. graduate Jiefeng Sun serving as lead author for the paper. Zhao said these robots are made of materials that can become soft or rigid with changes in temperature and are able to move without the need for bulky power systems such as magnetic coils. That makes them more versatile and better equipped to potentially help humans search tight disaster areas for survivors in the future.

SwRI scientists use Webb, Sofia telescopes to observe metallic asteroid

Southwest Research Institute scientists are using telescopes to observe the Psyche asteroid in the infrared, providing context for the upcoming NASA spacecraft mission.
Illustration Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

Southwest Research Institute scientists are using telescopes to observe the asteroid Psyche in the infrared, providing context for NASA’s upcoming Psyche mission. Dr. Stephanie Jarmak is using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to look for water signatures on the metallic surface of Psyche, while Dr. Anicia Arredondo is using some of the last data collected by the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, to study differences in Psyche’s composition at different points on its surface. 

At about 140 miles in diameter, Psyche is one of the most massive objects in the main asteroid belt orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. Previous observations indicate that Psyche is a dense, largely metallic object thought to be the leftover core from a failed planet. On October 5, NASA is scheduled to launch the Psyche spacecraft, which will travel 2.2 billion miles and arrive at the asteroid in August 2029.

“Using telescopes at different infrared wavelengths of light, the SwRI-led research will provide different but complementary information to what the Psyche spacecraft is designed to study,” said Dr. Tracy Becker, a group leader in SwRI’s Space Science Division.

Scientists Investigate Grand Canyon's Ancient Past to Predict Future Climate Impacts

The Grand Canyon is known as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Matthew Lachniet

The Grand Canyon’s valleys and millions of years of rock layers spanning Earth’s history have earned it a designation as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. But, according to a new UNLV study, its marvels extend to vast cave systems that lie beneath the surface, which just might hold clues to better understand the future of climate change — by studying nature’s past.

A research team — led by UNLV paleoclimatologist and professor Matthew Lachniet — pulled an ancient stalagmite from the floor of an undisturbed Grand Canyon cave. By studying the mineral deposits’ geochemistry, they were able to analyze precipitation patterns during the rapidly warming period following the last Ice Age to improve understanding about the potential impact of future climate change on summer monsoon rains in the U.S. Southwest and northwestern Mexico.

‘Impossible’ Millimeter Wave Sensor Has Wide Potential

This prototype millimeter-wave radar sensor developed at UC Davis is capable of measuring extremely small vibrations and movements while being energy-efficient and cheap to produce.
Photo Credit: Omeed Momeni/University of California, Davis

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have developed a proof-of-concept sensor that may usher in a new era for millimeter wave radars. In fact, they call its design a “mission impossible” made possible.

Millimeter wave radars send fast-moving electromagnetic waves to targets to analyze their movement, position and speed from the waves bounced back. The benefits of millimeter waves are their natural sensitivity to small-scale movements and their ability to focus on and sense data from microscopic objects.

The new sensor uses an innovative millimeter wave radar design to detect vibrations a thousand times smaller, and changes in a target’s position one hundred times smaller, than a strand of human hair, making it better or on par with the world’s most accurate sensors. Yet unlike its peers, this one is the size of a sesame seed, is cheap to produce and features a long battery life.

Professor Omeed Momeni and his lab in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering led the effort. It is part of an ongoing project funded by the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, or FFAR, to develop a low-cost sensor capable of tracking the water status of individual plants. This new radar is the necessary steppingstone that proves it is possible. The work is published in the September 2023 issue of IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

Discrimination alters brain-gut ‘crosstalk,’ prompting poor food choices and increased health risks

Illustration Credit: julientromeur

People frequently exposed to racial or ethnic discrimination may be more susceptible to obesity and related health risks in part because of a stress response that changes biological processes and how we process food cues. These are findings from UCLA researchers conducting what is believed to be the first study directly examining effects of discrimination on responses to different types of food as influenced by the brain-gut-microbiome (BGM) system.

The changes appear to increase activation in regions of the brain associated with reward and self-indulgence – like seeking “feel-good” sensations from “comfort foods” – while decreasing activity in areas involved in decision making and self-control.

“We examined complex relationships between self-reported discrimination exposure and poor food choices, and we can see these processes lead to increased cravings for unhealthy foods, especially sweet foods, but also manifested as alterations in the bidirectional communication between the brain and the gut microbiome,” said Arpana Gupta, PhD, a researcher and co-director of the UCLA Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center and the UCLA G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience.

Climate and human land use both play roles in Pacific island wildfires past and present

SMU fire scientist Christopher Roos
Photo Credit: Courtesy of  Southern Methodist University

It’s long been understood that human settlement contributes to conditions that make Pacific Islands more susceptible to wildfires, such as the devastating Aug. 8 event that destroyed the Maui community of Lahaina. But a new study from SMU fire scientist Christopher Roos published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution shows that climate is an undervalued part of the equation.

Roos, SMU environmental archaeologist and professor of anthropology, traveled with his team to the Sigatoka River valley in southwestern Fiji in 2013, where they collected charcoal and stable carbon isotopes from deep soil cores to understand historic patterns of fire activity in the area. Different plants have distinct carbon isotopic signatures, which can provide information about past plant communities.

The team found fires and fire-created grassy areas that predate human settlement by millennia and actively corresponded to droughts likely driven by a regularly occurring weather pattern known as El Niño. El Niño events can alter precipitation patterns worldwide, making environmental conditions more favorable for wildfires. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued an El Niño advisory in June, announcing the latest arrival of the climate event that continues to influence weather worldwide.