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The Independent
26-05-2025
- Science
- The Independent
What goes ‘bump' in the night is actually helping to ensure humanity's survival
When you're asleep, the world remains awake. Thousands of nocturnal species are crawling, flying, leaping, swimming, and dancing through forests, caves, lakes, parks, and the urban environment. Without seeing them, people may not even know they're there. Even though they're largely unseen, a new research review has found that without the contribution of the world's nocturnal pollinators, humanity would struggle to survive. "We have this idea that all the magic happens during the day, because that's when we're active, and that's when we see bees and butterflies fluttering around flowers," Liam Kendall, a postdoctoral fellow at Sweden's Lund University, said in a statement. Kendall and fellow researcher Charlie Nicholson were the authors of the first-of-its-kind meta-analysis which was published this month in the journal Ecology Letters. Most people know about daytime pollinators, including birds, bees, wasps, and butterflies. They provide critical ecosystem services, working to fertilize flowers that can create fruit and seeds. Without their services, humanity would be in dire straits. One in three bites of the food Americans eat depends on pollinators. Furthermore, nearly 80 percent of global crop plants used to make food and other plant-based products require pollination by animals. For decades, scientists have tried to determine whether plants are largely pollinated during the day or at night. But, less attention has been given to the bats, months, nocturnal butterflies, and fireflies. To understand their role compared to their daytime counterparts, Kendall and Nicholson compiled data from 135 studies, finding that 90 percent of the 139 plant species that were examined in the studies had similar reproductive success, regardless of when the plants were pollinated. "We were definitely surprised by the number of plant species where it didn't matter. We found this really fascinating because it's easy to assume that a specific plant needs a specific pollinator. The analysis actually showed almost the opposite — there's much more flexibility. A different pollinator than expected can contribute enough for a plant species to reproduce," said Kendall. So, why has their impact taken so long to widely recognize? In fact, it hasn't been totally unrecognized. Moths have been called the 'unsung heroes of pollination,' many of which are tied to apple pollination. The white-lined sphinx moth, which is also known as the hummingbird moth, is a crucial pollinator for twilight-blooming flowers, according to Mass Audubon. They are widespread in North America. Plus, hundreds of species of plants rely on U.S. bats, including bananas, mangos, and agave. Kendall theorizes that daytime pollinators are seen by humans as more 'beautiful,' and attract more attention. Furthermore, he hypothesizes that many researchers may have had a certain idea for how pollination for a particular plant may occur. Of course, it is also notable that humans are most active during the daytime. The authors also highlighted that daytime species are better protected than nighttime species. Tackling artificial light at night — or excessive or poorly placed lighting that can interrupt the natural environment — may be one way to help protect them. They also face exposure to pesticides, disease, invasive species, climate change, and habitat loss. Climate change is disrupting the relationship between all pollinators and plants, with rising temperatures affecting when plants flower and potentially getting them out of sync with their pollinators. "Actions are often taken to protect daytime pollinators, such as spraying pesticides at night. There's an oversight there — sure, you're protecting the daytime insects, but you're also, theoretically, harming the nocturnal pollinators. This means we could be doing much more, but we haven't thought enough about it so far, and more research is needed," said Kendall.
The Independent
26-05-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Alien plants and animals have cost Europe over $1.5 trillion, study finds
Alien plants and animals cost Europe over $1.5 trillion in the last six decades, according to a new study, indicating the global economic impact of such species could be several times higher than previously thought. The research, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, assessed data on 162 invasive species and their potential damage to various countries. Previous studies have shown that invasive alien species pose a threat to biodiversity, ecosystem services, and economies. By one estimate, they have contributed to 60 per cent of recorded global extinctions. However, previous estimates of the monetary impact of invasive species were based on only a few documented costs from a limited range of countries, researchers said. The latest study combines the estimated costs, including damage to agriculture, at the national level for 162 invasive species with models of where the species are distributed around the world. The analysis maps the impact of species such as the Asian tiger mosquito, the tree of heaven and the American bullfrog, and estimates monetary costs incurred by their spread in other countries, including 78 nations for which no data was previously available such as Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Cyprus, and Egypt. Invasive plant species were found to be responsible for costing national economies $926bn for the study period followed by arthropods at $830.29bn. Invasive mammals cost $263.35bn, birds about $101.36bn, molluscs $16.31bn and fish $3.47bn. On a per square kilometre basis, wild boars were estimated to be the most economically burdensome at over $121,000, followed by the Canada goose at over $62,000. The most burdensome plants were the Japanese knotweed, West Indian lantana, and the Canary Islands sorrel, the study found. Overall, there was a 17-fold discrepancy between previous estimates and the total latest calculation of the impact of alien species. 'It represents a discrepancy of the global cost of these species from $126.81bn to $2,215bn over the period 1960–2022, resulting in an annual average of $35 billion,' the study noted. 'Europe had the highest potential impacts from biological invasions, reaching $1,584bn, which is 71.45 per cent of global costs.' Among countries, the study found the UK had the highest estimated costs due to invasive species at over $1.3tn. 'Regionally, Europe, the east coast of China, and the east and west coasts of the US were highly affected,' researchers said. climate change.'
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Ghost forests are growing as sea levels rise
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Like giant bones planted in the earth, clusters of tree trunks, stripped clean of bark, are appearing along the Chesapeake Bay on the United States' mid-Atlantic coast. They are ghost forests: the haunting remains of what were once stands of cedar and pine. Since the late 19th century, an ever-widening swath of these trees have died along the shore. And they won't be growing back. These arboreal graveyards are showing up in places where the land slopes gently into the ocean and where salty water increasingly encroaches. Along the United States' east coast, in pockets of the west coast and elsewhere, saltier soils have killed hundreds of thousands of acres of trees, leaving behind woody skeletons typically surrounded by marsh. What happens next? That depends. As these dead forests transition, some will become marshes that maintain vital ecosystem services, such as buffering against storms and storing carbon. Others may become home to invasive plants or support no plant life at all — and the ecosystem services will be lost. Researchers are working to understand how this growing shift toward marshes and ghost forests will, on balance, affect coastal ecosystems. Related: 'Ghost forests' are invading the North Carolina coast Many of the ghost forests are a consequence of sea level rise, says coastal ecologist Keryn Gedan of George Washington University in Washington, DC, coauthor of an article on the salinization of coastal ecosystems in the 2025 Annual Review of Marine Science. Rising sea levels can bring more intense storm surges that flood saltwater over the top of soil. Drought and sea level rise can shift the groundwater table along the coast, allowing saltwater to journey farther inland, beneath the forest floor. Trees, deprived of fresh water, are stressed as salt accumulates. Yet the transition from living forest to marsh isn't necessarily a tragedy, Gedan says. Marshes are important features of coastal ecosystems too. And the shift from forest to marsh has happened throughout periods of sea level rise in the past, says Marcelo Ardón, an ecosystem ecologist and biogeochemist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. "You would think of these forests and marshes kind of dancing together up and down the coast," he says. Marshes provide many ecosystem benefits. They are habitat for birds and crustaceans, such as salt marsh sparrows, marsh wrens, crabs and mussels. They are also a niche for native salt-tolerant plants, like rushes and certain grasses, which provide food and shelter for animals. Marshes can also store hefty amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. The plants take in carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, while mucky sediments trap other carbon sources like dead leaves and small creatures. Along coastal rivers in southern Georgia, for example, brackish and salt marshes can sequester more carbon than the tidal forests they are replacing. Salt marshes also buffer inland ecosystems from storms along the sea, taking the brunt of heavy winds and storm surges, protecting the trees beyond. Recent research suggests that wide marshes help to prevent additional ghost forests by stopping some saltwater from sweeping into the forest. But not all salt marshes can replace a forest's aptitude for sucking up carbon. Ardón has been studying the forests of North Carolina's Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula. He found that these forests, which host rugged bald cypress, Atlantic white cedar and a mix of deciduous hardwoods, stored more carbon than the wetlands that are beginning to overtake them. And marshes don't always develop as trees die. When forests are inundated too rapidly, mudflats develop instead, and services from both trees and marshes are lost. Sometimes, invasive plant species move in before native marsh plants can take hold. "When a lot of these forests die back, instead of being replaced with a native salt marsh ... what's actually taking its place is a phragmites marsh," says forest ecologist Stephanie Stotts of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, coauthor of the Annual Review of Marine Science article. One Phragmites subspecies is an invasive reed that rapidly takes over wetland habitats. Native animals aren't adapted to eat this phragmites, so the reed's prevalence could affect other creatures, Stotts says. RELATED STORIES —'We don't have a climate crisis — we are the crisis': Environmentalist Paul Hawken on why honoring life is the best thing we can do against climate change —'Heat is the final boss. Heat is a different beast': The planetary peril no one will be able to avoid —The North Pole could shift 90 feet west by 2100 Many ghost forests are expanding; estimates suggest that since 1985, 11 percent of forest in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula has been converted to marsh; around 150 square miles of forest surrounding the Chesapeake Bay area have transitioned since the mid 1800s. The only way to slow the trend down, Geden says, would be to combat sea level rise and climate change. It still remains unclear how these coastal transitions will play out and whether, as trees succumb, they will give way to healthy marshes. It takes several decades for trees to die, says Stotts, so the full impact of these forests' becoming skeletons remains to be seen. "We're about 50 years behind." This article originally appeared in Knowable Magazine, a nonprofit publication dedicated to making scientific knowledge accessible to all. Sign up for Knowable Magazine's newsletter. This article by Knowable is published here as part of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now. This story is part of The 89 Percent Project.
