On this episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast, we explore the innovative use of sea lions to map benthic habitats in Australian waters. Traditional methods of mapping underwater areas can be costly and challenging, but leveraging animals like sea lions offers a unique solution. Join host Andrew Lewin as we delve into the importance of mapping the ocean to better protect marine habitats and species. Tune in to learn more about this fascinating approach to ocean conservation!
Link to article: https://phys.org/news/2024-08-scientists-equip-australian-sea-lions.html
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Using animals, such as sea lions, to map benthic habitats can be an effective and cost-efficient method for conservation and exploration. In a podcast episode, researchers in Australia discussed their successful use of camera tags on endangered sea lions to map benthic habitats in Southern Australia. By equipping the sea lions with small, lightweight cameras, researchers were able to track their movements and visually document the diverse benthic habitats they encountered.
The data obtained from the animal-borne video and movement data provided critical information for mapping previously unmapped benthic habitats on the continental shelf. This method allowed researchers to cover over 5,000 square kilometers of seabed, offering valuable insights into the habitats used by the sea lions. The resulting videos from the camera tags enabled researchers to identify various benthic habitats, including macroalgae reef, macroalgae meadow, bare sand, sponge and sand habitats, invertebrate reefs, and invertebrate boulders.
By leveraging the natural movements of these sea lions, researchers were able to gather data on a large scale without the need for expensive equipment like remotely operated vehicles or drones. This approach not only helped in mapping critical habitats for the endangered Australian sea lions but also had broader implications for surveying other marine species of interest. The cost-effectiveness and efficiency of using animals for mapping benthic habitats highlight the potential for this method to be a valuable tool in conservation and exploration efforts.
The successful use of sea lions to map benthic habitats demonstrates an innovative and sustainable approach to gathering crucial data for conservation purposes. This method not only benefits the protection of endangered species but also contributes to a better understanding of marine ecosystems and habitats, paving the way for more effective conservation strategies in the future.
Camera tags on animals, such as sea lions, have proven to be invaluable tools in gathering data on habitat use and movement patterns. In the podcast episode, researchers in Australia utilized camera tags on endangered sea lions to map benthic habitats in Southern Australia. By equipping the sea lions with small, lightweight cameras, researchers were able to track their movements and visually observe the different habitats they encountered. This innovative approach allowed for the mapping of over 5,000 square kilometers of seabed, providing critical information for the protection of the endangered Australian sea lions.
The use of camera tags on animals not only aids in the conservation of specific species but also contributes to broader marine conservation efforts. By studying the habitat use and movement patterns of marine mammals like sea lions, researchers can gain insights into the diversity and distribution of benthic habitats. This information is essential for effective marine conservation planning, as it helps identify critical habitats for protection and informs management strategies for endangered species.
The success of using camera tags on sea lions highlights the potential of this technology in advancing marine conservation efforts. By leveraging the natural movements of animals to gather data on underwater habitats, researchers can overcome the challenges associated with traditional mapping methods, such as the high cost of remotely operated vehicles and limited coverage of survey areas. The ability to visually observe and document habitat use through animal-borne cameras opens up new possibilities for studying and protecting marine ecosystems.
Overall, the use of camera tags on animals like sea lions represents a promising approach to conservation biology. By harnessing the power of animal movements to collect data on benthic habitats, researchers can enhance their understanding of marine environments and contribute to the preservation of endangered species and marine biodiversity.
Proper protocols and care must be followed when using camera tags on animals to ensure their safety and well-being during the research process. In the podcast episode, researchers equipped eight endangered Australian sea lions with small, lightweight cameras to track their movements and map benthic habitats. The cameras and tracking instruments were carefully attached to the sea lions using small pieces of neoprene glued onto their fur, weighing less than one percent of the sea lion's body weight to prevent any negative effects on their swimming abilities.
Furthermore, the researchers took precautions to ensure the camera tags did not hinder the sea lions' movements or cause any harm. They monitored the animals closely and recorded over 89 hours of footage over two to three days. Additionally, the researchers sedated the sea lions when retrieving the cameras to prevent any stress or harm to the animals during the process.
This approach demonstrates the importance of following proper protocols and care when using camera tags on animals for research purposes. By prioritizing the safety and well-being of the animals, researchers can gather valuable data while minimizing any potential negative impacts on the study subjects. This ethical and responsible approach is essential in wildlife research to ensure the welfare of the animals involved and maintain the integrity of the research findings.
If you like sharks, then you're going to want to see climate change reduced before 2100 because there is a new study out that says that if we, in the worst case scenario, if we continue to develop fossil fuels the way we are now, that sharks will only hatch at an 11% success rate. That means newborn sharks will only have an 11% success rate of actually hatching. We're going to talk about why that's important on today's episode of the How to Protect the Ocean Podcast. Let's start the show. Hey everybody. Welcome back to another exciting episode of the How to Protect the Ocean Podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Lewin, and this is the podcast where you find out what's happening with the ocean, how you can speak up for the ocean, what you can do to live for a better ocean by taking action. And on today's episode, we're going to be talking about sharks and why we love sharks so much. We love sharks so much because they're interesting, they're mysterious. They kind of scare us a little bit, but there's a lot of different species of sharks out there. There's over 1,200 species of sharks, skates, chimeras, stingrays, whatever you want to call your different types of sharks. They're out there. There's over 1,200. We talk a lot about sharks over on the Beyond Jaws podcast that I co-host with Dr. David Ebert, aka the Lost Shark guy. So if you ever want to hear more about sharks, check out that podcast. But really when it comes down to it, we love sharks and sharks are important to the ecosystem. They're essentially a predator and they pretty much have a good formation and inform what a food web looks like because they, a lot of times, are apex predators. And we need to protect sharks as much as possible. We make sure that not only are they surviving in adulthood, but they're getting to adulthood. And to get to adulthood, you have to be able to hatch from their, from their egg cases. Right? That's what, that's what a lot of sharks do. They hatch from egg cases and there's a study that came out that says, hey, you know what, the worst temperature gets and the more acidic the oceans get, the less we're going to have of sharks because they're not going to be able to hatch properly. And so that's a problem that we're going to talk about today. Before we do that though, if you're interested in news and you want to know more about the ocean news, this is your resource. As this podcast, I hope that this is your resource you come to to learn about the new studies that are coming out, people that are doing them, and just overall how you can protect the oceans, the name of this podcast. But if you aren't getting enough of that and you want more information, you can sign up to our newsletter where you get an, you get an email every single day of the week during the weekday, of course, Monday to Friday, we send an email out at eight AM Eastern and you get to learn more about what's happening in the ocean. You can see what jobs are available and you get to hear about what the latest podcast is and you get to listen to it right in your email. So if you want to sign up for that newsletter, you can do so at speakupforblue.com/newsletter. All right, let's get back into this. Now this original story was found on fizz.org. I found this on the cool down, cool down's a great website to learn more about climate change. Got to love that. So you get to learn about the studies that are happening, what people are doing all about the all about climate change and so forth, so it's always interesting to learn about that. But this study was from a French PhD student named Naomi Coulomb. She is at Francis Labbore-Twal, it's been a while since I spoke French, Labbore-Twal the Biola Biologie, sorry, the Ergana-Zim, the ecosystem Aquatic. And her team has found some disturbing data involving oceanic warming and acidification that are affecting small spotted cat sharks. So these are just one species that they've found and that they did some experiments on and they looked at some scenarios. And so what the whole thing is, is we know that extreme weather is here, we're seeing spikes in ocean temperature, we're seeing increases in pH, meaning if you know the pH scale from 1 to about 15, I guess, somewhere around there, normal pH of an ocean is about 8.2, 8.3, normally 8.3. As it gets less of pH, as the pH decreases, we're actually seeing more acidification, so it's getting more acidic. So 7 is about neutral, anything under that is more acidic. And so when you see, when you start to see acidic water, you start to see the dissolving of anything that's made from calcareous material. So you'll see coral start to decay. You'll see mollus like clams and oysters start to decay, mussels start to decay, scallops start to decay, anything that has a shell crustacean such as shrimp and such as crabs and lobster, you won't see them grow as well because of the acidity in the water. The higher the temperature in the atmosphere, the more carbon dioxide that comes into the ocean, that carbon dioxide reacts with the calcium in the ocean, and there's less free calcium for those organisms to pick up. And so it becomes hydrocarbon acid, I think, and so it becomes more acidic, and then you get acid water and you get less crustaceans, you get less mollus that have shells on them, and that is not good because those are habitats, right? You get less coral reefs as well, anything that has a calcium-based shell, you get less up because it'll slowly start to weather away, it won't be as strong. And so what they're saying here is as temperatures increase and as acidity increases as well, you are going to get less of these types of organisms, including apparently small spotted cat sharks, and that's what this essentially study was about, that they said here, the hatching success of embryos is crucial factor for population dynamics. In the case of skates and sharks which have a slow pace of life, low hatching rates could be critical for population renewal. This is Coulomb, the PhD student, who shared this article. So luckily we've gotten advanced notice about how environmental changes due to heat and pollution can affect not just ocean life, but every creature on the planet. So why is this information important? Studies have shown that warmer ocean temperatures impair cognitive function in fish and abnormally high spikes in North Atlantic seas could lead to high mortality rates. The lowest projections for the year 2100 showed up to pH and carbonate levels that could begin dissolving the shells of crustaceans, so this is like lobster, shrimp, crabs, and so forth. So those team created several tiered scenarios for the future, and so they basically went from less impact to most impacts, so SSP2, or middle of the road model, which describes a future where progress towards reducing pollution is underway. This is what we're hoping to see, but net zero isn't achieved just yet. They offered an 83% survival rate of the sharks, but if you go to the other extreme, the SSP5 or the fossil fueled development scenario was quite dire. They were shocked to see the low survival rate observed in the SSP5 scenario with only 11% of embryos hatching. So what is the problem with that? Is it we're going to have less sharks, we're going to have a small spotted cat sharks, which also could mean less sharks of other species of sharks and skates and stingrays that have these egg cases. There's something in the water when this acidic, that these egg cases don't do well, the development is not as good, and so we're going to start to see a low development, low survival rates, and that's going to kill off a lot of sharks in the future. Now what can we do? It's really take action against climate change. That is the big thing. More research needed on figuring out which species will be affected, but other than that, you want to find out how we can reduce climate change. Improving climate change should be the biggest movement that we've ever seen, and we're starting to see governments work on that too slow, in my opinion, but slowly starting to work on that, but they need to do better. They need to start focusing on more advanced policies, stricter rules for emissions, getting back into policies that are positive for the environment, that are positive for the atmosphere, looking at equality and equity, and within action, giving back local communities with help, just it's everything. We need to throw the book at it. We need to throw everything we have and say, hey, you know what? We're going to reduce climate change. We're going to reduce climate change as much as possible, as fast as we can, and more governments have to act more aggressively. Now, it sounds easy to do, but it's not, right? You know this. We've been talking about this for a long time. Climate change is a complex problem, because there's money tied to it. There's businesses. There's industries that are tied to it that contribute to climate change. Unfortunately, a lot of those businesses have the backs of a lot of politicians who are in power now and will be in power later on. We have two major elections coming up in Canada and North America, or in Canada and the US, in the US, in November 2024, this year, there's a huge election for president, as well as for congresspeople and some senators. And then, of course, in Canada in 2025, we have a big election, federal election, of who will be the new prime minister, or will Trudeau stay prime minister now? When you look at what we're looking at in terms of action for these different groups, one party is better than the other in terms of taking action. One party doesn't take action at all. So it really comes down to do you want to see a future where you have seen less change in the environment or do you want to see a future where you're going to see a ton of change in the environment and it's not going to be good, it's going to be more expensive, more weather related events, more natural disasters, and a lot of money going towards fixing that. And I don't know how we're all going to pay for that. We're going to get less services so that we can put our tax money towards that no matter what country you live in, it's going to be bad. It's not going to be good. So the way that you can help, according to this article, you can get involved in climate issues, talk about climate issues, you can support forward thinking policy. So support the people who want to put forward forward thinking policies and do your part in transitioning to cleaner tech such as EVs, solar panels and whatnot. I didn't even think now they have heat exchangers and coolers, there's geothermal that can work as well. They're expensive. This tech is really expensive. It's very difficult to get if you're not in a position to get that. Do what you can, get involved with your government, get involved with nonprofit organizations that are working towards changing climate and making changes towards reducing climate change is what I really meant there. But that's really what it comes down to is if you want to save these sharks, if you want to make sure that we are going to see sharks and other species continue to persist within the environment. We're also not just talking about sharks that sort of form or have influence over a food web, but you're also looking at organisms that create habitats. Some of the most diverse habitats in the world, you're going to have coral reefs, you're going to have oyster reefs, you're going to have mussels and clams and scallops, all that have shells that can form these complex systems, these complex habitats that provide hiding places for fish, that provide food, that clean up the water through filter feeding. There's a lot of benefits in keeping these organisms intact and reducing climate change to do that. The ocean can only take a certain amount of carbon dioxide before it starts to change and it's already changing. We're already seeing huge spikes in temperature that we haven't seen before and it continues to get hotter and hotter in that ocean. You can only do it so much where you're going to get a change where you just can't change back. So, let's do our part, let's talk about more climate issues, let's start to talk about it with our government representatives or future government representatives and become a government representative, especially if you're into changing climate. And I think just in the previous episode, we talked to Janelle Kellman, who is someone who is very forward thinking, she's an environmental lawyer, she's also was the mayor of Sausalito City in California, she now sits on the council, she's running for the lieutenant governor of California in 2026, where she will have influence over policies and programs that have to do with the environment, including the ocean. This is how you can get in, the lieutenant governor may not be the spotlight position that you'd want in government, but it's something that she can be most effective at in the background that she has and the motivation that she has to help save our planet one city at a time, one state at a time. I think that's a valuable lesson, if you want to listen to that episode, you can go back to the last episode, listen to that interview, it was a great interview, she has such great energy, loves the ocean, loves the environment, and she wants to protect it. And I think that's great, that's what we need more political leaders who do that kind of stuff, and who want to be motivated to do that kind of stuff, or who are motivated to do that kind of stuff. So check that out, and of course, that's it for today's episode. If you want to have a conversation about this, you want to talk about this, please feel free to visit us on YouTube, because I'm starting to put out these YouTube channel YouTube video podcasts. I'm also putting the video on Spotify, where you can actually comment and/or answer polls when they're there. It's a great platform, it's really turning into such a great platform for podcasting and interaction. I love the interaction, because this is the start of a conversation that I want to continue with hearing from you, and what you think. When you think of, when you agree with me or don't agree with me, that's fine, I don't really mind. I'd love to just chat with you, and hear your thoughts on all these items, especially sharks being affected by climate change, even before they're born, that's the crazy part, it's even before they're born. So something that you can chat about, you can hit me up also on Instagram @how to protect the ocean, and you can just DM me there, but there's so many ways to get ahold of me. You can use any which one you want, love to hear from you, and thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of the How to Protect the Ocean Podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Loon. Have a great day, we'll talk to you next time, and happy conservation.
