Dickcissel - a grassland bird. Photo Credit: Amy Larson

In an effort to improve the sustainability and health of their land, farmers are increasingly interested in taking a systems approach to farmland management. A systems approach acknowledges the key connections between ecological, economic, and social components. Given the ensuing complexity, measuring the health of a farm system requires good diagnostic tools. In addition, these tools need to be clear and straightforward.

Our current effort at the University of Nebraska Lincoln to develop a set of such indicators for farmers, the Healthy Farm Index, focuses on biodiversity and ecosystem services at the farm scale. One indicator in the index is the presences of a given set of birds on the farm. Birds are a popular indicator because they are sensitive to change in farm practices, found broadly in the environment, and are easy to detect by sight and sound.

The ability to detect birds by sound has spurred our research group to develop resources to aid farmers and other people interested in the songs and calls of farmland birds. As researchers, we use auditory detections of birds as one of our primary monitoring tools. With acoustic recorders, we have recorded the songs and calls of our local bird communities. Back in the lab, we use software to identify and isolate the best songs and calls. These vocalizations have been posted to our website, Farmland Birds of Nebraska, and distributed back to farmers and others interested on CDs. With the acoustic recordings, farmers can select a group of indicator species suitable for their area, learn its call, and listen for the bird while working in the field. This information can be used by the farmer in assessing their own farm or can be shared more broadly with researchers.

The recordings also allow farmers to share with consumers (many of whom are birders) an added environmental benefit of their farm. This spring we were able to take these recorded vocalizations back to one of our participating farms. In partnership with Common Good Farm, we hosted a “Birding on the Farm” tour. Local residents and other farmers spent the morning listening for and identifying the community of birds at the farm. New and experienced birders alike were surprised at the diversity found on the single farm.

In the coming months, we are expanding our network of recorders. This winter we will be monitoring winter bird communities on participating farms and testing the influences that road noise may have on bird vocalization and communication.

The earth at night as viewed from a space, in a composite image from NASA.

The world is not as dark as it used to be. Streetlights, parking lot security lights, office building lights, and neon signs shine all through the night. Light pollution can come directly from light bulbs, or it can bounce off of dust and water droplets in the air, creating a bright haze called skyglow. This 24-7 illumination can be seen from space, and it has negative effects on humans and wildlife. But there are ways to dim the lights and reduce their effects—and save energy in the process.

Astronomers have long aware of the problems associated with nighttime illumination—it makes stars disappear. Big telescopes are built away from big cities for this reason, although bright lights have a way of encroaching. QUEST blogger Ben Burress talks about light pollution and astronomy here and here.

Non-astronomers are affected by nighttime lighting, too; exposure to light at night affects our circadian rhythm, the 24-hour cycle deep inside our bodies. Seeing light at night can cause sleep disorders. And long-term exposure to light at night has been linked to breast cancer, because light inhibits the production of melatonin, which slows the growth of cancer cells.

Exposure to light affects animals, too. Anyone who has sat next to a porch light on a summer evening knows that moths are drawn to light—along with a multitude of other insects. Outdoor lights disturb insects’ nighttime navigation, and affect their feeding and mating. Lizards are often found feeding on the tasty insect snacks that gather around lights. Often, these lizards are not normally nocturnal—staying up at night gives them access to a “night-light niche” and an abundant food source. It also creates the opportunity for interactions between animals that would never meet in the dark conditions of previous centuries. Some lizards get a double benefit, basking in the warmth given off by artificial lights (incandescent lights are really inefficient; most of the energy they use goes to producing heat, not light).

Night lights make birds sing at odd hours, and mess with their mating and migration schedules. During migration, birds are drawn to the light from tall buildings and towers, resulting in deadly collisions.

Sea turtles are perhaps the most famous example of animals affected by light. Hatchlings swim towards the light—historically the horizon above the ocean. But now that beaches are backed by well-lit condos and hotels, baby turtles crawl further onshore instead of out to sea. There is evidence that sea turtles are drawn to light with short wavelengths, and using bulbs with longer wavelengths or using filters that cut out short light wavelengths reduces the number of baby turtles crawling in the wrong direction.

Simple fixes, like different bulbs or shades that focus light on the ground, can do a lot to re-darken the night sky, as does turning off unnecessary lighting. Dimmer, more efficient bulbs that provide enough light for human needs—but not too much—are a step in the right direction, and can save on energy costs. Dark sky conservation and stricter lighting ordinances will help.

I was surprised by the negative health effects of exposure to nighttime lighting—something to keep in mind as I work late into the night, basking like a lizard in the glow of my computer screen.

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Wildfire ripped through this area of forest, which was infested with Sudden Oak Death. Does infestation with SOD make wildfires burn with more intensity? Photo: Kerri Frangioso.

From Oregon to Big Sur, potentially millions of trees have been killed by Sudden Oak Death, or SOD. In 2006 and 2007, researchers from UC Davis set up a large-scale study in the coastal forests near Big Sur to examine the spread of the disease and its impact on forest dynamics. The area was one of the first to be affected by SOD. Members of the Rizzo Lab at UC Davis had established 280 plots across the region, carefully counting and measuring each tree and checking for SOD infection. Then, in June 2008, the Basin Complex Fire ripped through Big Sur, burning over 95,000 hectares of forest. By the time the fire was contained, over a month after it began, one third of the team’s plots were crisp and blackened.

While the fire burned, news media and firefighters assumed that areas of the forest infested with SOD would burn more intensely—all the dead oak trees would fuel the fire. But the natural experiment created by the overlap of the Basin Complex Fire and the UC Davis study allowed researchers to test whether SOD did in fact make wildfire worse. Their study will soon be published in the journal Ecological Applications; a preprint of their paper is available here. What they found was not what the news media or the firefighters predicted.

Andrew Molera State Park, the same plot as the top photo, before the Basin Complex Fire. Photo: Kerri Frangioso.

Invasion of the water molds
Sudden Oak Death came to California in the 1990s, probably on the leaves of a rhododendron shipped in for the nursery industry. The disease is caused by a water mold, called Phytophthora ramorum. It can spread short distances in splashes of water, and can potentially travel longer distances when water is blown about in storms.

Not all trees that are infected with the pathogen will die. Some species, like California Bay Laurel, do just fine. But California Bay is like Typhoid Mary—it serves as a host to the pathogen and allows it to spread to other, more susceptible species. The pathogen is fatal to tanoak and several species of oak trees. These species develop cankers on their trunks, which bleed out a thick, red liquid. Slowly, the bark around the entire circumference of the tree is affected; all tissue above this girdle dies, leading to the death of the tree.

A natural experiment
In 2008, Margaret Metz had just begun a new post-doc in Dave Rizzo’s lab. She was to work on the Big Sur project and analyze the data from the 280 plots to understand SOD impacts in the region. Her colleagues had spent months setting up the plots for their SOD study. They knew the size and location of every tree, whether it was standing upright and healthy (or newly infested with SOD), or whether it was dead and decomposing on the ground. When Metz found out her study site was burning, she was devastated. All that hard work—and all those trees—was going up in flames.

However, the dismay was short-lived. The team had a perfect pre-fire dataset. They just needed to census the plots after the fire, to get a rare comparison of the severity of fire in areas with and without SOD. This was an experiment they didn’t intend on doing—but drought and a dry lightning strike had made it possible. Dave Rizzo was able to quickly procure funding for the researchers to re-census the plots. “You could never do a controlled burn on that scale,” says Metz.

Where there’s SOD, there’s more intense fire?
News articles about the Basin Complex fire linked SOD to fire intensity, and firefighters reported that fires were burning more fiercely in areas with evidence of SOD. So when Metz and her colleagues analyzed their data, they thought they’d see that fires were more severe in plots infested with SOD. But that is not what they found. Their data showed that plots with and without SOD showed no difference in fire severity. They quantified fire severity using something called the Composite Burn Index. It takes into account the effects of fire on the ground, as well as in the shrubs and trees. Composite Burn Index did not differ between plots infested with SOD and plots without SOD. The popular assumption, that SOD makes wildfires burn more intensely, was wrong.

Dead tanoak along the Big Sur Highway. Photo: Karl Buermeyer, COMTF.

However, Metz and the team could dig deeper into their data. From their pre-fire data, they knew whether SOD had infested the plots recently, or whether SOD had been there for some time. It can take several years for a tree to die from SOD. When trees are first infected with SOD and die, their leaves turn dry and brown, and they remain on the tree for a year or more. Later, the branches fall to the ground, and eventually the whole trunk falls over. The fuel created by newly infected trees and trees that have been infected for several years is quite different. Metz and her colleagues found that in plots that were newly infested, plots with more dead biomass (or fuel) burned more intensely. In plots that were infested some time ago, the amount of biomass was not related to the intensity of the fire. They suspect that crisp brown leaves on newly infected trees allow the fire to burn high in the canopy. In plots infested long ago, the dead trees are on the ground; in this case, the fire damages the soil and the tree roots, which makes slopes vulnerable to erosion from mudslides. The conventional wisdom about SOD and fire was not quite right, but there was some truth to it—it just depends on when the forest was infested with SOD. Newly infested forests burn with more intensity than un-infested forests or forests that were infested some time ago.

Future forests
It has been almost three years since the Basin Complex Fire burned up Metz’s plots. Now, she and her colleagues are looking to see how the forest recovers—from the fire, and from SOD. Maia Beh, a grad student in the Rizzo Lab, found that of the plots that had SOD in the pre-fire surveys, only 20% still have it today. They’re not sure whether it’s because of the fire, or because there have been two years of drought. The pathogen, P. ramorum, is dependent on water, and doesn’t do well in drought conditions. They’re looking at plots that did not burn up in the fire to see whether the decline in the pathogen is due to drought, fire, or some combination of the two.

Though the incidence of the pathogen has declined on land, it is still present in almost all the watersheds in the area. And, last year we had late rains, extending through spring into the early summer. Late rains with warm temperatures create conditions that are ideal for the pathogen, says Metz.

With continued careful sampling of those 280 plots—and maybe a few more unintended natural experiments—Metz and her colleagues will learn how forests recover from both fire and SOD.

Learn more about SOD
To prevent the spread of the pathogen P. ramorum, take steps make sure it isn’t hitchhiking on your boots. Clean your boots into the buckets of diluted bleach that you might find at trailheads, or spray your boots down with Lysol.

Take part in a SOD-blitz, a citizen science project. Learn more about SOD and help figure out where the pathogen has spread, with UC Berkeley plant pathologist Matteo Garbolotto. You can see Garbolotto on the QUEST video Plant Plague: Sudden Oak Death.

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Backyard chickens (credit: Meredith Hall)

The recent salmonella outbreak has led to a recall of half a billion eggs, and has sickened thousands of people. (Check this FDA page to see if the eggs in your fridge are safe to eat.) Many of the contaminated eggs have been traced to two giant farms in Iowa. It is not entirely clear what caused the outbreak—and there may have been multiple sources. But at least some of the contaminated eggs were laid by hens that ate contaminated chicken feed. Rodents carrying salmonella had gotten into the feed. In large-scale egg farms, salmonella can spread easily. Backyard chickens can still be subject to salmonella, but at least if you’re in charge of the coop, you can be sure to take precautions to keep your birds healthy.

These precautions include keeping the habitat clean, making sure the food isn’t contaminated by rodents or other animals (reptiles carry salmonella too), and maybe even vaccinating your chickens. Vaccination is common in the UK and other parts of Europe (though in this country, the FDA has deemed it unnecessary). I have no idea if vaccines are available for backyard birds—but it might be a good idea.

Not being a bird owner myself, I wondered how a first-time chicken raiser could learn about keeping birds healthy. I read Oakland urban farmer Novella Carpenter’s book Farm City, and I couldn’t remember if her mail-order poultry had come with instructions. Then, I found out that the USDA recently started a public education campaign on backyard bird health. And, urban homesteaders swap chicken husbandry tips thanks to internet sites like Meetup. There are whole communities out there, dedicated to raising healthy birds.

Still, I am not ready build a coop on my back porch and fill it with chickens. But the salmonella outbreak and the poultry experts at the Eat Real Festival reminded me that farmers, with their great knowledge of how animals and diseases and the environment are all entwined, are the world’s original ecologists.

To learn more about eggs and the differences between supermarket eggs or farm fresh eggs, watch City Egg, Country Egg on QUEST.

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Tamalpais Manzanita, Mount Tamalpais State Park. Photo: randomtruth.

Serpentine, California’s state rock, is feeling some pressure—and not just because it’s a metamorphic rock! The California Legislature is considering a bill that would strip serpentine of its state rock status; geology blogger Brian Romans explained the details in this recent QUEST blog. Basically, proponents of the bill say that because asbestos is made from serpentine rock, and asbestos causes cancer, serpentine should not be the state rock. Never mind that serpentine does not cause cancer. In fact, many organisms thrive on serpentine soils. And that is what today’s post is about—the unique plants and animals that call serpentine soil home.

Serpentine soil is a tough environment: the soil is coarse, so water runs right through it, making it very dry. It is often dark in color, so it heats up in the sun. And its chemical makeup is challenging to plant life, to say the least. The soil has high concentrations of heavy metals, like nickel, iron, and chromium, and low concentrations of nutrients, like nitrogen and phosphorus. It is also really high in magnesium, which makes it hard for plants’ roots to take up those already-scarce nutrients. And it is low in calcium, which causes ion balance problems for plants.

With nutrients scarce, serpentine inhabitants tend to be small in stature—it’s hard to grow big without much food. And, with low water availability, serpentine plants are drought-tolerant. They often have tough little leaves, which don’t lose much water. Some examples are the Tamalpais manzanita (Arctostaphylos montana), and the Leather Oak (Quercus durata).

Plants on serpentine soils also have to deal with those heavy metals, which can interfere with metabolic processes. Some plants, like the Milkwort Jewelflower (Strepthanus polygaloides), have a really high tolerance for heavy metals. Milkwort Jelweflower is a nickel hyperaccumulator—it can take up lots of nickel from the soil, with no ill effects. In fact, some serpentine plants are used in bioremediation; people plant them in contaminated soil, where they pull the heavy metals out of the ground and sequester them in their tissues.

Serpentine soils are home to many endemic species—species that live in a particular habitat type, and nowhere else. Sometimes plants or animals are limited to one habitat because they can’t survive the physical conditions of other habitat types. But in the case of serpentine endemics, many can live in other habitats’ nutrient-rich soils, but are total weaklings when it comes to competition with other plants. They can’t live in other habitats simply because they are out-competed.

Serpentine soils are home to more than just plants—there are butterflies, too, like the beautiful California White (Pontia sisymbrii). Some, like a rare variant of the Edith’s checkerspot butterfly, Euphydryas editha luestherae, are serpentine endemics, because they lay their eggs exclusively on plants living on serpentine soils.

The Geoblogosphere is buzzing with commentary about California’s serpentine bill. If you feel passionate about keeping serpentine as the state rock, by all means write your state representative—but also visit some serpentine habitat! There are lots of places in the Bay Area where you can check out serpentine soils and their inhabitants. There are serpentine outcroppings on Mount Tamalpais, Mount Diablo (be sure to check out QUEST’s Mount Diablo State Park Exploration!), and in the Berkeley and Oakland hills.

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Oil on the surface of the San Francisco Bay in November 2007. Photo: NOAA.

We have no idea how much oil gushed out of BP’s Deepwater Horizon well into the Gulf of Mexico—estimates vary from 92 million gallons to over 320 million gallons, according to the NewsHour’s widget. By comparison, a much smaller amount of oil—53,000 gallons—was spilled into San Francisco Bay when the container ship Cosco Busan ripped its hull open on the Bay Bridge in November 2007. The volume of oil spilled in the Gulf is several thousand times what was spilled in San Francisco Bay, and obviously the environmental consequences of the Gulf spill will far exceed what we’ve seen here. But the ecological studies conducted in the wake of the Cosco Busan spill give us an idea of what we can expect in the Gulf.

After the Cosco Busan spill, scientists looked at the effects of oil on different coastal habitats, and on individual species. A year after the spill, the QUEST radio story Oil Spill Anniversary discussed a study that revealed the negative effects of oil on Herring embryo development. Other studies looked at the impact of oil on intertidal areas, eelgrass beds, native oysters, Brown Pelicans, Marbled Murrelets, and more—a full list of studies that assessed damage to natural resources is at this NOAA site (click on “Case Documents” on the right to download the list as a PDF). Not all organisms fared poorly; the snowy plover, a bird that lives on beaches and is already a threatened species, was fine. They build their nests far enough from the water to be buffered from oil contamination.

Research about impacts and restoration in the Gulf is just getting started. The official US government website about the oil spill switched from a mindset of emergency response to one of restoration, reflecting the huge challenge that lies ahead—provided the oil doesn’t start flowing again. Some government agencies, like the EPA, are sharing the data that is being collected as you read this. My hope is that these research efforts will involve extensive long-term monitoring; the effects of oil spills can last for decades, and we need to understand how ecosystems function over time, with and without oil. We have the opportunity to learn a lot from this disaster, and hopefully we’ll have the money to fund it. The company that operated the Cosco Busan was fined $10 million, $2 million of which is slated for environmental efforts. If BP is fined in proportion to the volume of oil spilled, billions could go towards ecological research.

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This is a LEED-certified building on Columbus Circle
in New York City. Anything wrong with this picture?

But there is some question as to whether LEED buildings actually save energy. Henry Gifford, an engineer and mechanical system designer in New York City, "…the best data available shows that on average, they (LEED-certified buildings) use more energy than comparable buildings." His view is controversial, but I have seen the data he used and have studied his analysis and it seems reasonable to me, though I am not a statistician and have done a limited amount of number crunching in my short career as an engineer before becoming a writer.

I have heard the arguments from the other side and haven't been convinced. Even from a common sense perspective, it seams unrealistic that LEED buildings are built to save energy. I've seen too many LEED certified buildings with a large percentage of windows as exterior walls–that is like trying to build an energy efficient building without walls. Also, LEED certification does not require performance testing of buildings. A building can achieve points for energy efficiency from modeling alone. In my role as editor of Home Energy Magazine, I have wanted to publish in-depth articles about LEED-certified homes, but I have been unable to find a LEED-certified building owner or designer who is willing to publish a full year of performance data, post-occupancy.

The LEED program has made green building a common term and a sought after designation among architects, builders, and developers across the nation. LEED buildings may use more environmentally friendly materials and be healthier for their occupants. But it is not yet clear to me that they save energy compared to business as usual. If we want to achieve energy independence, combat the worst effects of global warming, and grow a green economy, we can't afford to build–and celebrate–buildings built as usual.

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Some happy bike commuters from the 2008 Bike to Work Day
Credit: Len Gilbert

On Thursday, May 14th, expect a jump in the number of bikes on the road in San Francisco. The reason for the inflation? Bike to Work Day. This will be the 15th Annual Bike to Work Day in San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area, and this year nine Bay Area counties will participate in the festivities. The event seeks to promote a healthy way of commuting by featuring commute convoys, energizer stations, prizes for costumes and decorated bikes and downtown bike valet parking. Many organizations like the California Academy of Sciences have put together bike-commute teams to support the event.

The Bay Area is not the only city promoting bicycle advocacy. The best known community bike program was started in the 1960s in Amsterdam. Known as a bicycle sharing system, bicycles were available on a large scale, allowing people to have ready access to these public bikes rather than owning personal ones. This allowed people to shift from transit to bicycle and back again. These programs have not only been successful in Europe but the United States as well.

One of the first community bicycle projects in the United States started in Portland, Oregon in 1994 by several civic and environmental activists. A number of bicycles were available on the streets for use. Since then many other communities have set up similar projects. One was set up at Burning Man in 2007, following the example of the Portland Yellow Bike program.

150,000 commuters are expected to forgo their car commute and bike into work on May 14th. Nationally, many more will commute by bike during the entire month of May to support National Bike Month.

There are some great perks to commuting by bike to work: Bikes are much cheaper than cars. Typically, a bike will cost around $700 per year; compare that to the cost of a car (which includes insurance, repairs and gas), around $8000 per year (according to the American Automobile Association). Not only is it cheaper, the carbon footprint of commuting by bike is drastically lower as well. A gallon of gas releases about 20 lbs of CO2 into the air; a bicycle creates no CO2 emissions. Bicycling is also a great way to stay healthy and active without having to make a trip to the gym.

All in all, Bike to Work Day is an individually and environmentally healthy way to get to and from work. For more information on Bike to Work Day, bike routes, and services offered for bicyclists visit http://btwd.bayareabikes.org/.

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Dave Robinson is the "anti-flipper." Credit: Tom White

The cab driver is a renter, and when I told him that the conference he was driving me to was about residential energy efficiency, health, sustainability, and affordability, he complained that his landlord is not interested in making his rental home energy efficient, since the landlord doesn't pay the energy bills. We call this a split incentive. The split incentive facing the imaginary bankers in the back seat of my driver's cab-he wants to keep the bailout money for himself but he's supposed to use it to help people struggling in a down economy-may not end up putting a fat wallet in the cabbies back seat.

I met a man here who can handle a split incentive pretty well. David Robinson is a retired contractor who recently started doing what he calls Energy-Wise Renovations of foreclosed homes. He is buying clusters of homes in rundown neighborhoods in the South Bay, and retrofitting them with measures such as R-50 insulation in the attics, air sealing, and Energy Star appliances. But he is also creating some pretty stylish kitchens, redoing hardwood floors, and installing granite countertops, crown molding, and wainscoting in these homes. "You can't sell a home on energy efficiency alone," says Robinson.

Robinson is having no problem selling these houses for 20% above market prices, and he's still giving the homebuyers, and the neighborhood, a very good deal. "I believe that there is a wonderful and huge opportunity in bank-owned foreclosures-millions of them-and we must rescue all those wonderful opportunities from the normal house flippers who would turn them into a rental and lower the values and miss the opportunity for deep energy reduction. I buy all foreclosed homes and don't feel bad about beating up the bank to get the really good deals."

Robinson is looking for former or current realtors, and financial backers. He wants to teach them his method and therefore accelerate the process of converting our housing stock to affordable, efficient, and sustainable housing, and to make a good living doing so. If you want to know more, call him at (605) 475-4800.

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But even though it's in our own backyard, this place remains mostly unknown… probably due to its chilly temperatures. Let's face it, most of us are not donning our masks and snorkels and swimming in the hypothermic Pacific Ocean off our coast.

Lucky for us, some intrepid scientists and students are diving into this amazing place. Their job is to monitor how the ecosystems are responding to the new restrictions and protections taking place in the Marine Protected Areas. They gave us an amazing opportunity to see the natural world beneath the surface. And the world they shared with QUEST is truly inspiring. Playful harbor seals tease the divers while they weave through the gently swaying kelp forests. Fish dart through the rays of sunshine that cascades down to where starfish slowly go about their day. Through the eyes of these scientists, we witness the undersea life in bloom. They clearly have one of the best offices to go to work to each day.

Watch the Underwater Wilderness: Creating Marine Protected Areas television story report online.

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