All the World’s a Camera Trap

How do we make the most of the thousands of wildlife images generated by camera traps every day? A new service aims to provide insight and help conservation efforts.

I remember setting our first camera traps in August 1998 for what would become an 8-year tiger-monitoring program in the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in southern Sumatra. Ullas Karanth, a Wildlife Conservation Society tiger biologist in India, had recently pioneered the use of camera traps to study the big cats, and we were hoping to introduce these methods to Indonesia.

The plan worked, and we were able to produce some of the first rigorous density estimates of tigers for a Sumatran protected area. Other studies followed, and today conservationists use camera trapping to monitor tigers in almost all of the major protected areas on Sumatra.

In addition to tigers, the traps captured images of Sumatran rhinos, elephants, clouded leopards and Malaysian tapirs, as well as 45 other mammal and bird species.

With so much information on the non-target species, or bycatch, of our tiger study, I began to wonder how other programs were using camera traps and how they used the bycatch data. I soon realized that more than 70% of camera trap studies before 2008 were single-species studies, mostly targeting spotted and striped cats, and that very few researchers were using the data related to the other species accidentally caught on camera.

A dhole captured on camera. Photo: K. Ullas Karanth/WCS

Around the same time, Conservation International was initiating the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) initiative, under the leadership of Sandy Andelman. A key protocol of that program was camera trapping for terrestrial mammals and birds. Sandy asked me to evaluate the program and make recommendations for its long-term sustainability.

I recommended it narrow its focus and open up to partners. Sandy transformed TEAM into the TEAM Network, inviting WCS and Smithsonian to join the efforts. Soon standardized sampling methods were instituted at all TEAM sites around the world, along with open sharing of the data.

Meanwhile researchers were finding new uses for their own bycatch in camera trap data. Conservationists increasingly focused on wildlife communities, not just single species. Traps proved a great tool to document species richness, community structure, and the dynamics of local extinction and colonization. Bycatch data that had sat hidden away in filing cabinets and on hard drives — in many cases unexamined — suddenly became more fascinating.

A muntjac stares into a camera trap. Photo: WCS India

As interest in the biodiversity aspect of camera trap data increased, the technology improved exponentially. Inside a decade we went from using an instamatic film camera attached to a motion sensor and housed in a leaky box to a sleek, waterproof, digital camera capable of running for months and taking tens of thousands of photos at half the price.

These parallel developments created a problem in urgent need of a solution. Biologists were drowning in data as the scale of camera trap studies that had previously produced hundreds or thousands of photographs now generated hundreds of thousands of images that needed to be identified and catalogued, often with extra data about the camera’s location.

Two parallel efforts to address that problem grew up under the guidance of the TEAM Network and a collaboration between the Smithsonian and North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences called eMammal — and soon a new consortium arose, which we’ve called Wildlife Insights.

An online service, Wildlife Insights allows anyone, especially researchers or citizen scientists, to upload camera-trap photos, which will then be analyzed by the program’s artificial intelligence engines to identify wildlife in the images. So far the AI can identify 614 vertebrate species, a number we expect to grow as experts upload more images and provide their insight into what the photos contain. Images and data will be securely archived and summary information will be available to anyone visiting the platform. Meanwhile, anyone signing in to help identify images will receive even more access to the service’s tools, while their contributions further improve the AI’s abilities and accuracy.

Three sloth bears caught on camera. Photo: WCS India

Our goals are twofold. First, we hope this will encourage data sharing and collaboration among researchers and conservationists. Second, we want the public to participate though citizen science projects and their interest in camera trap photos.

To this end, the Wildlife Insights family includes Google, providing expertise in cloud technology and machine learning for image recognition; Conservation International; Yale University’s Map of Life; North Carolina Museum of Natural Science; the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute; the Wildlife Conservation Society; World Wide Fund for Nature; and Zoological Society of London.

Wildlife Insights represents the world’s largest effort to organize camera trapping into a “big data” framework — applying cutting-edge tools to streamline data entry, management and analysis and engaging the public to care more deeply about wildlife and act for its conservation.

And it’s already working. Since Wildlife Insights launched in December, almost 4.5 million images have been uploaded, representing 21 countries and 23 organizations.

That’s just the start. Through data sharing on the Wildlife Insights platform, we expect to improve monitoring of exploited wildlife populations, help evaluate progress toward the goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Sustainable Development Goals, and assist communities in managing indigenous territories.

But most fundamentally, we hope to provide a space for thousands, perhaps millions, of people to learn about and participate in science projects on biodiversity across the globe and in our own backyards.

The opinions expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Revelator, the Center for Biological Diversity or their employees.

Road to Nowhere: Highways Pose Existential Threat to Wolverines

Roads can be a danger for wildlife, but new research shows they’re particularly bad news for a species already facing declines.

This is not a good time to be a wolverine.

The infamously scrappy, snow-adapted mustelid — a relation of badgers, martens and otters — is barely hanging on in the contiguous United States, where its population has dipped to mere hundreds. Decades of habitat loss and trapping reduced the wolverine’s numbers, and now diminishing snowpack from climate change is adding insult to injury.

And we can add one more surprising threat to the list: roads.

Yes, even though wolverines (Gulo gulo) thrive in remote, snowy wildernesses, roads can still pose a problem — but perhaps not in the way you might think.

Researchers studying wolverine populations in Canada found that roads serve to diminish the animals’ genetic diversity, because females refuse to cross them, although young males still readily disperse and find new territories.

This has important consequences for U.S. wolverines, which may depend on Canadian travelers for their genetic health and future population growth.

Anthony (Tony) Clevenger, a scientist at Montana State University’s Western Transportation Institute and an expert in the field of road ecology, was one of three researchers involved in the study.

We talked to him about the challenges facing wolverines and what’s being done to boost their recovery.

What attracted you to the field of road ecology?

Pure chance. I was out of work, living in Europe where I did my Ph.D. on a small population of brown bears in northern Spain, and I heard Banff National Park was hiring a conservation biologist to study underpasses and overpasses for wildlife. I got the job [in 1996] and became fascinated with studying how roads affect nature around us. It opened up a new world for me.

Tony Clevenger is a scientist at Montana State University’s Western Transportation Institute. (Photo by T. Clevenger)

Your recent study focused on wolverines and the Trans-Canada Highway. What prompted this? What were you hoping to learn?

The final twinning [from two to four lanes] of the Trans-Canada Highway ends at the Continental Divide. This stretch of the highway enters subalpine areas home to wolverine and lynx — species that we knew very little about.

We knew in the lower 48 some 2-lane highways limited wolverine movement. Little was known about wolverines in the Canadian Rockies and much less about how a major 4-lane highway may affect movements and gene flow. So this was a unique opportunity given the number of interstate highways and expanding roads in the southern part of wolverine range.

What did you find out about how roads affect wolverines, and is it different from how roads affect other animals?

After three years of noninvasive genetic sampling within our 3,088 square-mile study area [around Banff, Kootenay and Yoho national parks], we found that the Trans-Canada Highway is not a barrier to male wolverine movement but is a strong barrier to female wolverine movement. Females are more sensitive to disturbance, particularly human activity.

This is important since females need to cross the highway, survive and breed for there to be functional connectivity.

This is the same response that others have found for grizzly bear movements and genetic structure across highways, and also jaguars in Central America. Getting breeding females to cross and connect subpopulations is key, and we hope that crossing structures can help that function.

What are the implications for wolverine populations in North America, and specifically in the United States, where numbers are low?

The prospects are not good in the lower 48 where the population is [currently] estimated at 300 — but we all believe that is far too high. Habitats are highly fragmented, unlike wolverine range in southern Canada (Alberta and British Columbia). The population in Canada is in the thousands.

Trapping still occurs in southern Canada and we published a paper recently that demonstrates that the trapping of wolverines in southeast British Columbia and southwest Alberta is not sustainable. Governments there are starting to change trapping regulations.

These populations are the lifeline for wolverine populations in the United States. We lose that and we lose everything.

What is being done or can be done to help? Are there particular kinds of crossing structures that would be most beneficial for wolverines?

wildlife crossing — An overpass for wildlife on the Trans-Canada highway in Banff National Park. (Photo by Janusz Sliwinski, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Crossing structures have been built in the Canadian Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, which will help the mountain park wolverines. The critical piece of the puzzle is located in multi-use lands between the mountain national parks and the United States border (near Glacier and Waterton Lakes national parks).

This area is still trapped for wolverines, and forest cutting and motorized recreation are extensive and in some places there is oil and gas exploration — activities that limit wolverine movement, reproductive success and survival. The provincial government of British Columbia is changing trapping regulations and we hope Alberta will follow suit — it’s a good thing and necessary.

Overpasses and underpasses are also being planned for the British Columbia section of Highway 3, a critical linkage zone in the Yellowstone-to-Yukon ecoregion. The public is more informed of the plight of wolverines in this critical area, as are trappers.

Working together we can help provide a more viable future for one of our icons of wilderness and intact ecosystems.

The Faces of Extinction: The Species We Lost in 2019

Three bird species, two frogs, a shark, a famous snail and one of the world’s largest freshwater fish were among those declared extinct this year.

We lost a lot of species in 2019.

The year started with the extinction of a tiny Hawaiian snail and ended with the loss of one of the world’s largest freshwater fishes.

Along the way we also said goodbye to three bird species, a shark, two frogs, several plants, and a whole lot more.

About two dozen species were declared extinct (or nearly so) in 2019, although the total number of species lost this year probably numbers in the thousands. Scientists typically wait years or even decades before declaring a species well and truly extinct, and even then only after conducting extensive searches.

Of course, you can only count what you know exists. Most extinctions, sadly, occur among species that have never been officially observed or named. These plants and animals often live in extremely narrow habitats, making them particularly vulnerable to habitat destruction, pollution, extreme weather events, invasive species or other threats. That doesn’t mean they’ll never be identified — several recently reported extinctions represent species that were discovered among museum samples long after the plants or animals were gone — but you can’t save what you don’t know needs saving in the first place.

Although it may take some time to truly understand this year’s effect on the world’s biodiversity, here are the species that scientists and the conservation community declared lost during 2019, culled from the IUCN Red List, scientific publications, a handful of media articles and my own reporting. Only one of these extinctions was observed in real time, when an endling (the last of its kind) died in public view. Most haven’t been seen in decades and were finally added to the list of extinct species. A few represent local extinctions where a species has disappeared from a major part of its range, an important thing to watch since habitat loss and fragmentation are often the first steps toward a species vanishing. Finally, some of these extinctions are tentative, with scientists still looking for the species — an indication that hope remains.

Achatinella apexfulva — The last individual of this Hawaiian tree snail, known as “Lonesome George,” died in captivity on New Year’s Day. Disease and invasive predators drove it to extinction. This tiny creature’s disappearance probably generated the most media attention of any lost species in 2019.

Alagoas foliage-gleaner (Philydor novaesi) — Known from just two sites in Brazil, this bird was last seen in 2011 and was declared extinct in 2019 following the destruction of its habitats by logging, charcoal production and conversion to agriculture.

Boulenger’s speckled skink (Oligosoma infrapunctatum) — A “complete enigma,” unseen for more than 130 years. Scientists hope the announcement of its possible extinction will jumpstart efforts to relocate it and conserve its endangered relatives.

Bramble Cay melomys (Melomys rubicola) — Last seen in 2009 when rising oceans lapped at its tiny islet habitat, the melomys was officially declared extinct in 2019, making it the first mammal extinction caused by climate change and sea-level rise.

Catarina pupfish (Megupsilon aporus) — This Mexican freshwater fish was known from one spring, which was destroyed by groundwater extraction. The fish was last seen in the wild in 1994, and the last captive population died out in 2012.

Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius) — One of the world’s largest freshwater fish, native to the Yangtze River, the paddlefish probably died out between 2005 and 2010 due to overfishing and habitat fragmentation. The IUCN still lists it as “critically endangered,” but a paper published Dec. 23, 2019, declared it extinct after several surveys failed to locate the species.

Corquin robber frog (Craugastor anciano) — Last seen in 1990. Native to two sites in Honduras, it was probably killed off by habitat loss and the chytrid fungus.

Cryptic treehunter (Cichlocolaptes mazarbarnetti) — A Brazilian bird species last seen alive in 2007 — seven years before scientists officially described it. Its forest habitat has been extensively logged and converted to agriculture.

Cunning silverside (Atherinella callida) — This Mexican freshwater fish hasn’t been seen since 1957. The IUCN declared it extinct in 2019.

Etlingera heyneana — A plant species collected just one time in 1921 near Jakarta, on Java, the world’s most populous island. The IUCN listed it as extinct in 2019, noting that “practically all natural land in Jakarta has been developed.”

Fissidens microstictus — This Portuguese plant species lived in what is now a highly urbanized area and was last seen in 1982. (Scientists declared it extinct back in 1992, but the IUCN didn’t list it as such until this year.)

tiger laos — 2007 photo of a tiger rescued from poachers in Laos. Photo: Reed Kennedy (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Indochinese tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) in Laos — A local extinction (known as an extirpation) and a major loss for this big cat.

Lake Oku puddle frog (Phrynobatrachus njiomock) — Known from one location in Cameroon and unseen since 2010, the IUCN this year declared the recently discovered species “critically endangered (possibly extinct).”

“Lost shark” (Carcharhinus obsolerus) — Described from museum samples in 2019, the species hasn’t been seen since the 1930s. It was probably wiped out by overfishing.

The related and endangered Zanzibar red colobus (Piliocolobus kirkii). Photo by Marc Veraart (CC BY 2.0)

Miss Waldron’s red colobus (Piliocolobus waldronae) — Unseen for more than four decades, researchers haven’t given up that the rare monkey might still exist but they’ve still declared it “possibly extinct.”

Nobregaea latinervis — A moss species last seen in Portugal in 1946 and declared extinct in 2019 (based on a 2014 survey).

Poo-uli (Melamprosops phaeosoma) — Invasive species and diseases wiped out this Hawaiian bird, which was last seen in 2004 and declared extinct in 2019.

Pycnandra micrantha — A plant species from New Caledonia collected just once in 1901. Its only home on tiny Art Island has been extensively mined and subject to brushfires.

Sierra de Omoa streamside frog (Craugastor omoaensis) — Another frog from Honduras. Unseen since 1974, it was probably a victim of habitat loss and the chytrid fungus.

Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in Malaysia — Another extirpation, although the species still exists (on tenuous footing) in Indonesia.

Vachellia bolei — A rare legume tree possibly driven extinct by sand mining and other habitat destruction.

grassland earless dragon — A related species of grassland dragon, photographed in 1991 by John Wombey/CSIRO (CC BY 3.0)

Victorian grasslands earless dragon (Tympanocryptis pinguicolla) — Last seen in 1969. Again, conservationists haven’t given up hope of finding it, but if it’s really gone it would represent Australia’s first known reptile extinction.

Villa Lopez pupfish (Cyprinodon ceciliae) — This Mexican fish’s only habitat, a 2-acre spring system, dried up in 1991 and it hasn’t been seen since. The IUCN declared it extinct in 2019.

Yangtze giant softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) — The last known female of this species died in China in April during an artificial insemination procedure, making the species effectively extinct.

In addition to these extinctions, the IUCN last year declared several species “extinct in the wild,” meaning they now only exist in captivity. They include the Spix’s Macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii), Ameca shiner (Notropis amecae), banded allotoca (Allotoca goslinei), marbled swordtail (Xiphophorus meyeri), Charo Palma pupfish (Cyprinodon veronicae), kunimasu (Oncorhynchus kawamurae) and Monterrey platyfish (Xiphophorus couchianus).

What will the future hold for these and other lost species? Some could be rediscovered (the Miss Waldron’s red colobus seems the most likely candidate), but the rest should serve as a stark reminder of what we’re losing all around us every day — and a clarion call to save what’s left.

Main image photo credits: Alagoas Foliage-gleaner © Ciro Albano, courtesy IUCN. Poo-uli © Paul E. Baker, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Public Domain). A relative of the Victorian grasslands earless dragon, photographed in 1991 by John Wombey/CSIRO (CC BY 3.0). Bramble Cay melomys via State of Queensland, Environmental Protection Agency (uncredited).

Welcome to 2020: 8 Important Environmental Stories to Follow This Year

From the extinction crisis to plastic pollution and the 2020 election, these are some of the stories we expect to dominate headlines in the year ahead.

Let’s be honest, 2019 was a rough year for the planet. Despite some environmental victories along the way, we saw the extinction crisis deepen, efforts to curtail climate change blocked at almost every turn, and the oceans continue to warm. We also heard new revelations about ways that plastics and chemicals harm our bodies, saw the political realm become even more polarized, and experienced yet another round of record-breaking temperatures.

So what should we expect for 2020? Here are eight of the big environmental topics we think will capture headlines in the year ahead.

1. The Poster Child of the Extinction Crisis

We expect to see a wide range of endangered species in the news this coming year, but few will face threats so urgently as the vaquita porpoise (Phocoena sinus).

As we’ve written here before, the vaquita is in perilous territory, with a population of as few as 10 now remaining. The good news is that scientists recently observed adult vaquitas with two newborn calves, so they’re still finding each other and breeding. The bad news is that Mexico has failed in its promises to keep fishermen and illegal gillnets off the water, so the pressures on this species continue to rise.

We anticipate that 2020 will show whether human beings will let this species go extinct in full view of the world or step up to save it.

2. The Supreme Court

The lasting impact of the Trump administration may soon be felt in the courts, especially in the Supreme Court, where Brett Kavanaugh has made clear his devotion to the “less is more” principles of government espoused by the Federalist Society.

If the Society and Kavanaugh get their way, the federal government could lose much of its ability to allow agencies like the EPA to regulate…well, anything. As Ian Millhiser wrote recently in Vox:

“It’s impossible to exaggerate the importance of this issue. Countless federal laws, from the Clean Air Act to the Affordable Care Act, lay out a broad federal policy and delegate to an agency the power to implement the details of that policy. Under Kavanaugh’s approach, many of these laws are unconstitutional, as are numerous existing regulations governing polluters, health providers, and employers.”

The conservative wing of the Supreme Court currently holds the majority, and that’s not likely to change anytime soon (thanks, Mitch McConnell), so we expect this issue to rear its ugly head sooner rather than later, and well beyond the next presidential election.

3. Climate Change: Peak or Panic?

Will we experience a true climate tipping point this year? If so, which way will it tip?

On the one hand, people are clamoring more and more loudly for climate action, with activists like Greta Thunberg leading the charge.

On the other hand, the most recent UN climate change conference (COP25) was…a bit of a disappointing failure, thanks in no small part to the fact that the fossil fuel industry sponsored much of the event.

Still, we’re going to see a lot of new data and science come out this year, and we may find out if the efforts we’ve already started making have paid off yet. One noteworthy example: The coal industry is in the process of dying a slow death, so even though total worldwide emissions are up, coal emissions are headed down.

What does that mean? According to the experts, this could be the year greenhouse gas emissions peak or flatline — or they could start climbing even more. It’s up to us.

Good thread.

Here’s my take:

Emissions are still climbing, but now climbing at a very slow rate — and it could either peak and go down, or continue to rise.

That decision is up to us. Last call. https://t.co/LjWJnBWywF

— Dr. Jonathan Foley (@GlobalEcoGuy) December 4, 2019

4. Drinking Water

After the federal government dropped the ball in 2019, we expect to see another push this year for meaningful action to limit the harm caused by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — the suite of toxic “forever chemicals” that stubbornly don’t break down in the environment or our bodies.

PFAS are found in thousands of consumer and industrial products, including nonstick pans, waterproof clothing, stain-resistant furniture, food wrappers, personal care goods and firefighting foam. They’ve been linked to cancer, liver damage, and reproductive and immune-system problems. Millions of Americans are believed to be drinking water contaminated with PFAS, including the residents of 175 military installations, and the dangerous chemicals have been found in soil and food, too.

After federal agencies did nothing substantial on the issue, it looked like there might be congressional action. But language that would have required the EPA to set a drinking-water standard for PFAS and for the federal government to aid in cleaning polluted areas was dropped from the National Defense Authorization Act in December. Democrats have vowed to take up the issue again this year, and advocates want to see a federal standard strict enough to protect public health. We expect vigorous discussions and more than a few worries along the way.

5. Ocean Action

In 2019 we got serving after serving of bad news about how climate change is warming waters, driving oxygen loss, and increasing sea level rise in the ocean — threatening biodiversity, fisheries and coastal communities.

This year we could see some steps toward solutions.

earth overshoot — Ocean Biology Processing Group at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, public domain

Drawing on language from the much-discussed Green New Deal for equitable environmental action, ocean advocates in 2019 called for a Blue New Deal — a comprehensive plan for protecting our oceans and coastal communities. Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren picked up the gauntlet before the year closed out, releasing her own Blue New Deal that would expand marine protected areas, end offshore drilling, build more offshore renewable energy, reform flood insurance, boost fisheries and invest in regenerative ocean farming.

Expect to hear more about action on ocean protection this year, not just in the United States but internationally. After years of talks, the United Nations is set to finalize a global ocean treaty in 2020, although there’s a fear it will fall far short of what’s needed to thwart the biodiversity crisis.

6. Public Lands

Many of the country’s most remote and wild public lands face big threats this year, continuing the trend we’ve seen since the last presidential election. Two will remain particularly noteworthy.

One, the Forest Service is expected to finalize a Trump administration proposal to lift the Roadless Area Conservation Rule for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The rewrite, due this summer, could open millions of acres of old-growth forest and salmon spawning habitat to timber, mining and other development.

Two, the decades-long battle over drilling continues in the wildlife-rich and culturally important Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A rider in a 2017 tax bill passed by the Republican-led Congress greenlighted two oil and gas lease sales in the refuge’s coastal plain. The Trump administration is likely to hold those in 2020. It’s unclear yet how interested oil companies will be, but a move to begin drilling in the refuge is staunchly opposed by Indigenous communities, environmental groups and the majority of U.S. voters.

7. Plastic Pollution

With pending legislation that aims to cut plastic waste 75% by 2030, California will take another run this year at passing a first-of-its-kind (in the United States) effort to hold companies that make plastic products accountable for their waste. The bill stalled last year, but proponents will renew efforts in 2020.

Plastic bag — Photo: John Platt (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

They face stiff opposition from plastic and fossil fuel companies that are busy turning cheap fracked gas into more plastics. Petrochemical companies are planning a massive buildout of infrastructure in the Gulf coast and the Ohio River Valley to facilitate the production of more plastics, both at home and abroad.

We expect to see continued efforts to inform consumers about their buying choices, but in the next year the fight against plastic pollution will be much less about straw bans and more about fighting the root causes and stopping it at the source.

8. The 2020 Election

The upcoming presidential election will dominate the conversation in the coming months, but let’s make sure to pay attention to every other race out there on the federal, state and local level. All these elections will add up — and collectively they could determine the future of just about every environmental issue listed above.

In other words: Stay tuned.

The Revelator’s Top 12 Articles of 2019

From the extinction crisis to environmental justice, these articles showcase what we have to lose and how people are working to make a brighter future.

Looking back on the environmental news of 2019, it’s hard not to feel the weight of the year that was.

But at the same time, we saw a lot of great progress and emerging solutions. These are the types of stories that keep us going.

Here at The Revelator, we try to tell stories that help inspire change — and will continue to do so long after they’re first published. Sure, a lot of the articles we publish feel bleak, but you need to examine the darkness before you can dispel it.

Here, in completely random order, are a dozen Revelator articles from the past year that we feel reflect that attitude. You’ll find interesting characters, difficult conundrums, some terrible losses, and also a few roadmaps to the future.

Dr. Robert Bullard: Lessons From 40 Years of Documenting Environmental Racism — The “father of environmental justice” looks back and offers lessons for today and the future.

We’re Just Starting to Learn How Fracking Harms Wildlife — We need to know more, quickly.

Hawaii’s Snail Extinction Crisis: ‘We’re Just Trying to Stop the Bleeding’ — A sad story from the “extinction capital of the world.”

What Laws Work Best to Cut Plastic Pollution? — Sometimes the tools we need to protect us are already in place.

Rise of the Extinction Deniers — Climate deniers don’t have a monopoly on disinformation.

Are We Ready for Shark Conservation to Succeed? — The same question needs to be asked for just about every conservation project.

Drones, Algae and Fish Ears: What We’re Learning Before the World’s Largest Dam-removal Project — and What We Could Miss — Many dams need to come down, and science will help guide how they do and what happens next.

Naomi Klein: Gearing up for the Political Fight of Our Lives — The pioneering activist and writer shares her perspective on the Green New Deal and other topics.

Why Don’t We Hear About More Species Going Extinct? — Important context for the ongoing extinction crisis.

Cigarette Butts: The Most Littered Item in the World — A fun/scary video examining something many of us might overlook.

Steal of a Deal: How Ranchers Take Advantage of Public Lands — Another entertaining video that helps illuminate a serious topic.

What Losing 1 Million Species Means for the Planet — and Humanity — It hurts.

What were your favorites? Did anything you enjoyed reading on The Revelator this year not make the list? Let us know in the comments.

And stay tuned for more great articles — good news and bad — in the New Year to come, starting with a look at the most important environmental stories we’ll be following in 2020.

The Revelator’s 12 Most Thought-provoking Essays and Op-eds of 2019

Expert contributors took us to the Arctic, the borderlands and everywhere in between.

Unique insight and deep understanding of the day’s most critical issues come from those with an ear to the ground — some quite literally.

This year expert contributors to The Revelator — scientists, advocates, teachers and other specialists — shared their knowledge of everything from mayflies to macaques and the border wall to the war of words. We learned about emerging science, international collaboration, places and species gravely at risk, and what we can do to make this world a better place for insects, whales and our fellow humans.

Of the dozens of op-eds, essays and editorials we published this year, we narrowed down our favorites. We hope they inspire action, conversation or reflection.

Trump’s Border Wall: Epitaph for an Endangered, Night-blooming Cactus? — A Trump-induced threat to endangered species.

‘We Know the End Is Coming’: The Plight and Rise of Climate Refugees — Time to protect those who are fleeing environmental crises.

The Trump Administration Pushes to Delist Wolves — and History Repeats Itself — An important history lesson.

Is Science Failing the World’s Primates? — Most primate species and habitats remain understudied, but we can change that.

The Words of Water: Why Environmentalists Are Losing the Water Wars — The language we use has real world consequences.

South Africa’s Fallen Pride: How Law and Government Fail to Protect Lions — What to do about the booming captive-lion industry.

How Social Media Supports Animal Cruelty and the Illegal Pet Trade — Here’s how to tell what’s safe to share.

Dehorning the Rhino — Desperate times and desperate measures.

The Unseen Threat: Noise in the Arctic Marine Environment — Arctic nations could lead on this crucial issue.

How Climate Change Will Affect Real Lives — Now and in the Future — A walk through the world of 2050.

A Surprising Effect of Light Pollution: It Disrupts Aquatic Insects — Time to consider the mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies.

Millions of Tokay Geckos Are Taken From the Wild Each Year. International Protection Could Help Save Them — A call for change that actually resulted in the development of international trade rules.

The new year will undoubtedly bring new discoveries and challenges. What should we be talking about? How can we broaden the conversation? And would you like to be a part of it? We’re always looking for new voices. Find out how to contribute here.

Bearing the Burden of Climate Change and Extinction

Knowing what we’re going through weighs heavily on us, but there are ways to express and alleviate that pain.

The questions come to me almost every day.

Sometimes a friend leans in toward me with a look of pain or confusion in her eyes. I’ve come to expect the question that’s about to follow.

Other times they arrive by email, direct message, or in response to a Facebook post. There’s desperation in them.

Their wording varies a bit, but many boil down to the same thing: “How are we supposed to handle the news about climate change and the extinction crisis?”

I try to answer as best I can. “We carry that burden because we have to. And we can.”

It’s up to people like me and you to take it on. Because many people, and other creatures, can’t stand up for themselves — especially those most directly threatened by the changes we’re seeing today. And the ones we’ll see tomorrow.

Another version of the question goes like this: “How do you live with the pain of knowing what we’ve lost and what’s coming?”

That’s a tougher question to answer.

We all need to develop our own survival strategies, of course, and those can be personal. But getting out into the wild world is a good idea for all of us. It helps to remind us what we’re losing — and what still urgently needs our help.

You can even start this close to home. I take daily walks around the neighborhood by myself or with my dogs and take the time to watch the birds, insects and plants that we encounter. I recommend that, too, even if you’re only outside for a few minutes. It helps to change your venue, if not your point of view. Of course, sometimes on my longer walks I find myself pacing so fast, with so much anxiety, it feels like the hounds of hell are nipping at my heels — but that in itself is a good reminder that sometimes we just need to slow…down…and…breathe.

I also stand in place and talk to people. Friends and loved ones, professional peers — some offer company and comfort, others guidance and perspective. Even brief conversations on the street or trail can be a welcome break from the pressure.

Most importantly, I talk to people directly involved in climate and conservation issues. They’re the ones doing the hard work, and their experience — even when they’re discouraged or exhausted — reminds me that people are still looking for greater understanding and answers. Their work and their stories, and often their pain, make a difference. You don’t need to be a journalist to do this; activists and experts live in almost every community and are easy to find on social media.

Take advantage of the quiet moments, as well. During my down time, I read — from the nonfiction books I review here at The Revelator, which expose me to new ideas, to fiction and comics. There’s nothing wrong with a little escapism.

And don’t forget to exercise if you’re able: As it turns out, endorphins work.

Personally, I also exorcise pain through artwork and cartooning. Creative expression works, too.

Through it all, I write and tell stories, here at The Revelator, on social media, and in person. That happens to be my job, and I can’t offer it to you at the moment, but whether or not you have a job like mine you can be deeply invested in the important stories of our time — read them, pass them along, and retell them yourself. Stories are how we make meaning.

Don’t be afraid to get upset or angry, either. Those are valid responses. Your pain and fear need an escape valve.

As a journalist covering these issues, there are also some things I can’t do.

Ethically, I can’t protest, call my elected officials, donate to political candidates, run for office, sign petitions, or generally be an activist.

But for those of you in other professions, those are great paths to action. They’ll help you fight the despair, and they’ll push progress at the same time.

No matter how many adaptive strategies you’ve been devising, let’s admit — it’s been a hell of a year.

And that’s why taking time off once in a while is also a good strategy.

We’re about to take our annual end-of-the-year break here at The Revelator. When we return the first week of January — rested and recharged, we hope — we plan to hit the ground running with some powerful, important stories and thought-provoking essays, starting once again with our predictions about some of the most pressing problems we’re likely to encounter in the year ahead.

We look forward to you joining us for what will no doubt be an eventful 2020. (Eventful may prove to be a drastic understatement. Better get some rest over the holidays, while you still can.)

We’re not disappearing completely during the next two weeks. Before the year’s up, we’ll revisit some of our most thought-provoking articles and essays from 2019. You’ll still see us on social media, although perhaps not as much (yes, that’s another strategy). And our newsletter will still come out every Thursday (subscribe here if you don’t already).

We want to keep having conversations. Even when we’re out of the office, our email inboxes stay open, and we want to hear from you. Send us story ideas. Tell us what you want to know more about or what you think needs to get done. Start writing an op-ed or essay for us. Share your thoughts and experiences about how these critical environmental issues are affecting you and the planet around you.

While you’re at it, we’d love to hear how you’ve carried the burden so far and learn more about your own coping strategies.

Because we’re all in this together, and one thing’s for sure: None of us can do it alone.

Tigers Deaths in Nepal Threaten Recovery

The country has done a remarkable job increasing its tiger population, but that’s also created problems it isn’t addressing.

Sometimes success comes at a cost.

Nepal recently announced that its tiger population had increased from 121 animals in 2009 to as estimated 235 in 2018, putting it firmly on track to fulfill its goal of doubling the number of big cats within its borders by the year 2022. The country has the largest number of Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) outside of India.

But there’s a dark side to this population increase: More tigers in Nepal are dying.

According to a letter published recently in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation, 55 adult tigers died in Nepal between 2009 and 2018. Tiger mortality was so high that the number of cats in the supposedly safe stronghold of Chitwan National Park dropped from 120 in 2013 to 93 last year.

The primary causes of the tiger deaths were deforestation, increasing human development, lack of prey and human-tiger conflict, says one of the letter’s authors, Achyut Aryal, a conservation biologist at the University of Sydney.

Humans didn’t directly cause most of these tiger deaths, though. Most of the mortalities occurred when tigers, which lead solitary lives, encroached on each other’s habitats and battled for territory or mates.

Some of these conflicts appear to have indirectly resulted from habitat degradation and other pressures from nearby human populations, which may have pushed tigers into new territories and put them in conflict with each other. This also appears to have increased human-tiger conflict.

Cub mortality was not counted in the new study — males that kill for mates also frequently eliminate cubs in order to get females to breed again — but Aryal and his collaborators calculated that adult male tigers were four times as likely to die as females, and about 60% of deaths occurred during mating season.

Aryal tells The Revelator he wasn’t surprised by this increase in tiger mortality. He actually predicted it back in 2015. A paper he co-authored that year calculated that Nepal would need to set aside an additional 2,000 square miles of tiger habitat in order to achieve and maintain its goal of 250 animals, each of which would need more than 20 square miles of dedicated territory. The authors also estimated that the amount of available prey in tiger habitats would need to nearly triple to support and feed that number of tigers. The paper called for expanding tiger territories into currently unprotected forests and establishing buffer zones to allow populations of both tigers and their prey to grow.

tiger prey nepal — Tiger art in Nepal. Photo: Greg Younger (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Unfortunately those predictions and recommendations appear to have fallen on deaf ears. “The government and donor agencies are celebrating the success of doubling the tiger population, but they are not addressing human-tiger conflict problems and tiger deaths,” Aryal says. “They did not listen to independent advice. Government programs are more directed and influenced by donor activities for tiger conservation in Nepal.”

The new letter is quite critical of that status quo. “There is no room for complacency in agencies responsible for managing tiger populations, including the Nepalese government, funding bodies and conservationists,” Aryal and his coauthors wrote. “If the tiger habitat is deteriorating and cannot sustain more tigers, pushing tiger numbers higher than is sustainable will be detrimental and result in self-regulation of their numbers.” They’ve called for more studies into what the tigers need and can expect from their current habitats before the number of tigers dying ends up reversing Nepal’s hard-earned victories.

There’s not much evidence of that yet, but it’s an issue Nepal needs to address if it truly hopes to make its 2022 goal — something it would have already achieved if those 55 tigers had survived.

Tigers Extinct in Laos

The snaring crisis in Southeast Asia appears to have claimed the lives of the country’s last wild tigers.

Are tigers extinct in Laos?

That’s the conclusion of a detailed new study that found no evidence wild tigers still exist in the country.

What researchers did find during a five-year camera survey of the biodiversity-rich Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area was evidence of snares — lots and lots of deadly snares, which are designed to trap and kill any animals that stumble across them.

It appears that tigers have now paid the ultimate price for the snaring crisis that plagues Laos and the rest of Southeast Asia.

“Snares are simple to make,” says Akchousanh Rasphone, a zoologist with the Wildlife Research Conservation Unit and lead author of the study. “One person can set hundreds or even thousands of snares, which kill indiscriminately and are inhumane for anything that is captured.” Most animals killed in snares are destined for Asia’s bushmeat markets, although tigers themselves are sought by wildlife traffickers for their valuable furs and body parts.

The loss of tigers in Laos was an avoidable, if not unexpected, tragedy. The most recent worldwide tiger population estimates, released in April 2016, put the number of tigers remaining in the country at all of two. The observation of those last two Laotian tigers came from the first year of the camera survey; they were never seen again — except, in all likelihood, by the trappers who killed them.

“Our team did what we could with our limited resources to conserve the species,” says Rasphone. “We did our best despite being defeated by the high international demand in the illegal wildlife trade for this species.”

Their deaths continue the slow decline of the Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris tigris). Today their only healthy populations remain in Thailand, which at last count had about 189 wild tigers. The Indochinese tiger (previously considered its own subspecies) also persists at unsustainable levels in China (about 7 tigers), Vietnam (fewer than 5) and Myanmar (no reliable population count).

Unfortunately, the news of tigers’ extirpation in Laos hasn’t generated much attention in the country.

tiger statue — Tiger statue in Laos. Photo: Marko Mikkonen (CC BY 2.0)

“It seemed to spark very little discussion in Laos in terms of how to move things forward with regards to preventing extirpation of more species,” says Rasphone. “It occurs to me that the only thing that our government was concerned about was that the study made the country lose face, instead of taking it as a lessons learned and thinking about how not to repeat the same mistakes again for the species of conservation importance that are left.”

And that’s a big concern, as snaring affects a lot more than just tigers. The researchers also concluded that leopards (Panthera pardus) no longer exist in Laos. The species was last officially observed in the country in 2004, but conservationists had hoped that pocket populations remained in Nam Et-Phou Louey.

In addition, the researchers identified a wide range of large and small animals in snaring hotspots in Nam Et-Phou Louey, including other predators such as dhole (Cuon alpinus) and clouded leopards (Neofelis nebulosi), and all appeared to have declining populations. “Based on our recent survey, the largest prey species, guar (Bos gaurus), has already become quite rare,” says Rasphone.

So is that it for tigers in Laos? Not necessarily. In theory, if the snaring crisis is ever resolved, the big cats could repopulate Laos from neighboring countries.

And Rasphone says her team still conducts surveys to find evidence “of what is and isn’t there.” She adds that the government wants additional surveys for both tigers and leopards, “although there isn’t funding for that at the moment.”

It should also be noted that captive tigers do still exist in Laos. Hundreds of genetically inbred big cats live in the country’s illegal and notoriously inhumane tiger farms, where they’re raised to be slaughtered and sold for their body parts. Laos has officially promised to shut down these facilities, which have been widely linked to illegal tiger trade, but appears to have made little progress toward that purported goal. In fact, evidence suggests that the Laotian government has actually allowed existing farms to expand and the number of farms to increase.

The state of the country’s wild animals remains dire, and Rasphone says her team’s study should serve to guide policy in Laos and other nations that still have tiger populations. “In my opinion,” she says, “the message of the paper needs to be carried as a lesson to other range countries and also be interpreted locally for the conservation of the remaining populations of species of conservation importance in Laos.”

With many experts calling the snaring epidemic an “extinction crisis” for Southeast Asia, the time to heed those lessons grows short.

Coming next: Tigers in Nepal face their own deadly challenge.

How Do You Save an Endangered Tree From Extinction When You Can’t Save Its Seeds?

“Recalcitrant” seeds hold the secret to saving a critically endangered Indian tree — thanks to a bit of human help.

A team of Indian conservationists working to save a critically endangered tree from extinction just achieved an important conservation success, but first they had three major stumbling blocks to overcome.

The first was, of course, numbers. The trees, known only as Madhuca insignis, are few and far between. Originally declared extinct more than a century ago, the 60-foot-tall, fruiting species was rediscovered in 2004. A year later it was added to India’s national priority list of endangered trees, but few if any actual protection efforts followed. By the time conservationists finally conducted the first major survey of the trees’ population — a three-year process between 2013 and 2015 — only 27 individuals remained.

“We were really shocked and disappointed by that number, because previous records indicated 50 individuals in the wild,” says Anurag Dhyani, one of the paper’s authors and a scientist at Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute in Kerala. “However, this is the case for most of the threatened trees in the Western Ghats and other parts of India.”

Roads, agriculture and other development have taken their toll on many of these tree species, including M. insignis, and those threats are getting worse: A planned hydroelectric plant in the Dakshina Kannada region would, if completed, wipe out 10 of the remaining M. insignis trees and harm the populations of 47 other rare plant species.

As if the tiny population and ongoing threats weren’t bad enough, the researchers encountered a second obstacle: Just 7 of those 27 trees were flowering and producing seeds.

And that led to the third challenge: The fruit-covered seeds themselves proved…difficult. A paper the researchers published in November 2019 in the Journal for Nature Conservation goes so far as to call them “recalcitrant.”

Madhuca insignis fruit with seed. Photo by Geeta Joshi. Used with permission.

“They are short-lived — maybe a few weeks,” explains Dhyani, one of the paper’s authors. “They have a high moisture content, which enhances microbial contamination and leads to rapid deterioration.”

The seeds also obstinately refused preservation methods. Dhyani says they can’t be dried to a moisture content level below 30% without injury, and they don’t tolerate freezing. “So storage in a seed bank is not feasible,” he says.

Åsmund Asdal, coordinator for the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway, who was not involved in this project, says trees like this produce what’s called “non-orthodox” seeds which defy normal preservation methods. Orthodox seeds, by contrast, “can be dried down to a very low moisture content — 3 to 5% water in the seed — and still keep the ability to germinate. This characteristic is necessary for long-term storage in below-zero conditions.” Many trees and bush species produce unorthodox seeds, which he says are more common in tropical areas such as Southeast Asia.

But from those difficulties, the first signs of success have emerged. The researchers managed to collect 300 M. insignis seeds, which they quickly planted in a nursery. Amazingly 275 of the seeds germinated — producing ten times as many seedlings as adult plants existed in the wild.

Madhuca insignis seedlings — Seedlings galore! Photo by Geeta Joshi. Used with permission.

Within a year the seedlings had grown to heights of six inches or more — big enough to transplant 100 of them into Agumbe forest, one of their original habitats, which currently contains just two adult trees. By March 2019 a full 60% of those transplanted saplings had survived, and they’d reached heights of up to two feet — possibly enough to enable their long-term survival.

That’s critical, because the trees’ own nature may provide their own stumbling block in the wild. M. insignis is a river-based tree that, the scientists observed, tends to drop about three-quarters of its seeds into the flowing water. The rivers deposit the floating seeds on banks farther downstream, where they germinate in just two weeks, but the resulting seedlings don’t yet have the deep roots of their forebears and have a tenuous hold on the future. The researchers observed many of them get washed away during the monsoon period’s heavy rains.

If M. insignis had remained a populous species, it probably could have overcome that low recruitment rate just based on the greater number of seeds it would have produced. But with so few trees remaining and even fewer producing fruit, too few seedlings currently survive naturally. That’s why it needs a helping hand, something that might benefit other species as well.

Transplanted Madhuca insignis. Photo by Geeta Joshi. Used with permission.

“Based on my 10 years of research experience with endangered plants in the temperate and tropical region of India, I strongly feel collecting seeds and raising seedlings in the nursery to a certain size — 3 to 12 months — is of immense importance for rare plants,” says Dhyani. This will provide seedlings with a greater degree of safety from weather events, predators and pest insects.” Then, once the plants are big enough to be transplanted, they can be monitored to see how well they grow and survive — and, it’s hoped, the next round of seedling growth can begin.

Of course all of this takes money, sources of which are few and far between for endangered plants.

“It took a long time to start our conservation efforts on this rare tree,” says Dhyani. “One of the major factors is that funding for conservation projects is very limited globally, and major shares flow toward big cats, bears, elephants, rhinos and sharks. Plants are less funded, despite the universal fact that we cannot live without them. It’s a big challenge for young conservationists like me.” The current study was funded by the Karnataka Forest Department, but local agencies can only handle so much.

Still, Dhyani and his colleagues are already putting their experience with the species to good use. “We have initiated a rescue operation on Buchanania barberi, an evergreen endemic tree with two mature individuals remaining in the wild, and Indian sandalwood (Santalum album), the second most expensive wood in the world,” he says.

As for the future of Madhuca insignis, Dhyani says they’ll continue to monitor the transplanted seedlings: “Our success will be defined by whether they successfully flower and fruit.”

He hopes the rediscovery and successful germination of this tree will plant the seeds for other, similar initiatives.

“I believe these small steps will help to inspire other conservationists and the public to work and support other plants in urgent need of conservation globally,” he says. “It’s really difficult to say what form it will take, but surely we could save some species with little effort.”