The Eco-Update #10

Dispatches from the planet.

Photo by Ben Lockwood

What's driving the global decline of seed dispersers? And what are the consequences?

• Plant pollinators get a lot of conservation attention, but we need to pay more attention to seed dispersal.

• Seed dispersers are animals that distribute plant seeds, either by their consumption and excretion or by other means. The majority of plant species rely on seed dispersers in some way, which highlights the interconnected nature of ecosystems. These dispersers influence plant biodiversity, gene flow, and ecosystem function.

• Though they're vital to ecological communities, seed-dispersing species are in decline globally. A new study in Nature Reviews Biodiversity explored the causes and effects of this decline.

• The researchers found that many of the same factors driving biodiversity loss in general are contributing to the loss of seed dispersers. Land-use changes are reducing their habitats, climate change is shifting many geographic ranges, and worsening disturbances are causing widespread mortality events.

• The team also identified disruptions to plant-animal mutualistic relationships as a result of declining seed dispersers. In contrast to the short term impacts of pollinator decline, seed disperser decline reduces ecosystem function, and resilience to changes, over the long term.

• If the trend continues, future ecosystems may store less carbon, produce fewer products we rely on, provide less freshwater, contain lower levels of biodiversity, and ultimately degrade further in ongoing feedback loops.

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The greenhouse gas inventory report

• Under the Trump administration's current attack on science, the EPA did not publish its annual report on greenhouse gas emissions. This is despite the fact that the US is legally obligated to do so, as a member of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

• After missing the April 15th report deadline, the non-profit Environmental Defense Fund filed a Freedom of Information Act request and subsequently published it.

• One of the major highlights of the report is that US greenhouse gas emissions are not falling fast enough to reach basic climate change mitigation goals. Worse, the Trump administration is poised to eliminate the policies contributing to what limited progress that has been made so far.

• The report contained several other important findings. Carbon dioxide remains the most abundant pollutant of US greenhouse gas emissions. The transportation sector was responsible for 39% of all CO2 emissions, followed by the electric power sector at 31%.

• There is some good news. The share of electricity generated from renewable sources like wind and solar continues to grow. However, this progress is under increasing pressure from the Trump administration, which uses a cultural nostalgia for coal as a political wedge issue to attack clean energy with.

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Amazon forest dieback risk if global warming exceeds 1.5C

• A new study in Nature Climate Change assessed the risks that overshooting 1.5C of warming would pose to the Amazon and Siberian forests.

• Scientists used several different potential global warming pathways to examine the corresponding changes to local climates, and the effects it would have on these forest regions.

• They found that nearly 40% of their simulations showed dieback in the Amazon when warming exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial levels by 2100, and 55% showed dieback by 2300. The dieback was also severe in some places, indicating as much as 20% reductions in net primary productivity due to increasing heat and drought stress.

• Interestingly, models suggested that the Siberian forest may expand, however the transition from the current grassy ecosystems of this area to forest would likely negatively impact the regions carbon stores.

• Most importantly, the simulations reveal the high sensitivity of these ecosystems to even short term overshoots of the 1.5C goal. The study underscores the need to limit warming as much and as quickly as we can to avoid costly losses to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

Something you can do: The Sunrise Movement

• What it is: A movement. The Sunrise Movement is a campaign to force the government to do what the people want–namely, to act on climate change. End the era of fossil fuels, create good union jobs, invest in Black, brown, and working class communities, and build a better world for the people.

• What they do: Take direct action. The Sunrise Movement builds its strength by disrupting business as usual, and will continue until we get the changes we need. They take to the streets and advocate for Green New Deal policies

• Why you should join: They're successful. They're increasingly mobilizing the next generation to become climate activists. They've substantially moved the Democratic Party to the left on key issues. They've forced many Democratic candidates to endorse the Green New Deal. And most importantly, joining them is a highly effective way to take back agency and build working class power.

Eco-fiction Review: Lumberjack by Anthony Engebretson

I recently read Anthony Engebretson's weird eco-fiction novella, Lumberjack. It was a strange ride. The book's prose didn't immediately grip me, but as more and more strangeness crept into the story, I got hooked.

Lumberjack takes place in the early 1900s, as a historical fiction narrative that follows a mysterious and deeply flawed character named Neville Gibbons. Neville desires to be a lumberjack, but more than that, he desires to be a "real" man, a man worthy of other men's respect. He carries an axe with him everywhere, which he names and which serves as a mocking symbol of his internalized inadequacy, a projection of the kind of man he desperately wants to be.

Neville haphazardly finds himself employed by J. Sterling Morton, progenitor to the Morton Salt Company. More relevantly, Morton was also the founder of Arbor Day, and his son, Joy, founded the Morton Arboretum (irrelevant side note: I almost worked at The Morton Arboretum before taking my current job at Penn State).

Unfortunately, Morton's estate, Arbor Lodge, has become plagued by some kind of supernatural creature that he wants to eliminate, and he thinks Neville is the man for the job. Although the plot details are almost secondary to the novella's themes.

Throughout the narrative, Engebretson explores how ideas about nature get mixed in with racism, masculinity, and religious crusading. The Indigenous nature of the American West is "savage" to Neville, and can only be "tamed" by Great Men like Morton. His psychosexual needs–to cut down trees, to gain Morton's approval, and to prove his father wrong–ultimately fuel his manic delusions of grandeur, driving him to commit some truly horrific acts.

Lumberjack is imaginative, weird, and at times, darkly humorous. If you're looking for a quick read that creatively blends historical fiction, eco-fiction, and weird fiction, it's worth picking up.