Dr. Lowman’s latest Nature’s Secrets column in newsobserver.com:

Did you know that over 70 species of ants live in Raleigh?

A survey of urban insects, recently conducted by the Museum of Natural Sciences and the biology department at N.C. State University, represents the first effort that engaged citizens to count the wealth of unknown critters who share our cities. The results of this citizen science effort will likely double or triple when the treetop habitats are included. One of the least explored regions of the planet, forest canopies are home to millions of species (predominantly insects), and North Carolina’s treetops are relatively unexplored to date.

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Below is an article written by Dr. Lowman in newsobserver.com:

A biological inventory project, called the Encyclopedia of Life (EoL), was recently launched to catalog information about Earth’s 1.8million scientific species classified during the past several centuries. Currently, information on some species is only available piecemeal in different museums, collections, websites or roughly scribbled in the field notebooks of individual biologists. This first-ever global inventory will compile all facts about every species and make it available via computer. Thousands of taxonomists (scientists who classify and name organisms) are contributing information to create the first large-scale assessment of life on our planet (www.eol.org).

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Below is an article written by Dr. Lowman in newsobserver.com:

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” John Muir

Like a baby’s soft skin, the new foliage of spring is delicate and breathtaking as it unfolds to signify a rebirth of the natural world.

A leaf lover for many decades, I can vouch for the existence of thousands of green hues in the botanical world, each unique.

The sun-drenched lime greens of live oak catkins indicate subtle signs of a Florida spring. The cinnamon greens of unfurling magnolia leaves announce spring in Georgia. The dazzling array of dogwood, hornbeam, beech and oak greenery – interspersed with the electric pinks and reds of budding maples and redbud – signify spring in North Carolina.

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Author, Mary Lowd, fondly recognizes CanopyMeg’s book, “Life in the Treetops,” as an inspiration for her science-fiction story. Ms. Lowd had been researching information about trees and forests when she discovered CanopyMeg’s amazing story about life as a woman scientist in Australia in “the Nineteen Seventies.” The story Ms. Lowd ended up writing is called, “Life with the Tumblers,” and is about a woman anthropologist who lives on an alien planet and studies the indigenous alien lifeforms. Although the stories differ, Ms. Lowd contributes her ideas to the valuable knowledge gained in CanopyMeg’s book.

If you would like to read, “Life with the Tumblers,” it’s available at
the following link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/23665

Book Launch in Bangalore, India

An article in DNA India about the launch of Krishnamurthy’s new book, The Fragile Forest: Inside Brazilian Amazonia (which includes a chapter written by Meg Lowman):

The Amazon rain forest is contrary to the way it was represented in Hollywood movie Anaconda. If explorer, writer and photographer Bhaskar D Krishnamurthy is to be believed, it is nice and not dangerous.

Anacondas, said he, were docile and when full and resting, people can even touch them. “It is very different from Nagarhole and Bandipur tiger reserves,” said Krishnamurthy, the author of The Fragile Forest: Inside Brazilian Amazonia, speaking at the launch of his book on Wednesday at Strand Book stall in Manipal Centre.

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PDF of an article written by Dr. Lowman in The Explorers Journal titled, “Finding Sanctuary – Saving the biodiversity of Ethiopia, one church forest at a time”:

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Dr. Lowman will be speaking at the Bethlehem United Holy Church in Durham, NC on Martin Luther King Day (1/17/2011).  Details are in the flyer below. (Click to enlarge.)

There is one important difference between ecology and many other fascinating sciences and games: unsolved problems of chess, astronomy, or mathematics will not change if we ignore them. Our activity or lack of activity can alter the state of ecology. [Lawrence Slobodkin, 2003 in A Citizen’s Guide to Ecology]

From November 29 to December 10, delegates from approximately 194 countries are meeting in Cancun, Mexico, attempting to produce a climate agreement. It is ironic that this location was underwater during Earth’s last warming period just over 100,000 years ago. And even more amazing is the fact that the entire Cancun coastline at that time was swamped by an 8 foot sea-level rise which occurred in only a few decades of relatively rapid warming. Will history repeat itself? Or will our governments agree on an international plan to reduce carbon emissions as a means of addressing global warming?

Last year, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was held in Copenhagen, with a mission to cut greenhouse gases by 50 percent by the year 2050. That conference failed to achieve any consensus on a legally binding treaty. This year’s meeting, (chronologically referred to as COP 16), is expected to attract about half the attendees, in part due to the disappointment of not achieving any outcomes at COP 15 in Copenhagen. Many are wondering if the methodology of bringing together 194 countries is sound; can such a large and diverse group achieve consensus? This year, the sights have been lowered, and most countries hope to focus on pieces of the bigger framework, including REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation), “climate finance” which involves money administered to poor countries to combat early signs of climate change, and how to structure the economics of funding forest conservation as important carbon storage systems. Most delegates feel that Cancun could serve to restore confidence in the UNFCCC process, and hopefully an overall action plan will be more likely in South Africa in 2011, or at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 2012.

According to almost all scientific models, the time is running out to reverse our planet’s warming trends. Some of the most serious changes recorded in the past few decades of climate change monitoring include increased acidification of our oceans, significant melting of Arctic and Greenland ice, and accelerating sea level rise along coastlines. These phenomena are not easily reversed. Although the earth has been warm before in its geological past, millions of human beings were not living in valuable real estate along coastlines or concentrated in large urban areas that tend to act as heat islands.

The international panel of scientists who evaluate climate change, otherwise known as the IPCC, is also scrambling to revise and refine their communication about their results. One serious issue for this panel is how to translate the term “uncertainty” to policy-makers, to the public, and also to the scientific community. Similar to warfare, when governments need to predict the likelihood of military invasions, the IPCC uses a vocabulary of terms that estimate probability. But these terms are not necessarily translated with any mathematical certainty by the media. For example, their term “very likely” means a greater than 90% chance of happening; but to the average layperson, “very likely” sounds pretty vague. And when “very likely” is written up by a sensational tabloid article, its meaning may change altogether. The inclusion of more precise language is on the drawing board, as the IPCC reviews its own process, and attempts to improve its science communication skills. Otherwise, the continued uncertainty of the jargon may continue to cloud the certainty of our changing climate. And our great grand-children will someday wonder why we never understood the significance of the science.

Meg Lowman, longtime Florida scientist/educator, is now establishing the nationally acclaimed Nature Research Center at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, with its mission “to engage the public.” Her column appears monthly in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (RSS).

In the September 2010 issue of Popular Science, Dr. Lowman’s Peruvian Amazon Field Course at New College (and field courses through the Nature Research Center at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences) was listed as one of the “30 Awesome College Labs“.

From the Herald-Tribune:

Although it is tempting for residents around the Gulf Coast to limit their conversations to complaints about the oil spill, it is even more important to talk about solutions, and educate ourselves about the scientific process of “ecosystem restoration.”

Employing the best solutions is critical to the future of jobs, economy, ecology, tourism and quality of life in Florida and throughout the Gulf states. Insisting on the best solutions to this catastrophe will require citizens with a sound education of restoration ecology. This science is defined as “restoring the natural cycles to a disturbed or damaged landscape.”

In a nutshell, here are 10 ways to clean up oil from water bodies. While each has potential benefits, most restoration processes also involve drawbacks:

1.Manual shoreline cleanup — Although time-consuming and requires training, this is a great way to utilize large teams of volunteers.

2.High-pressure washing — Pressure-cleaning can actually damage more delicate organisms, but may be effective for sea walls, boats and other surfaces.

3.Natural recovery — Eventually Mother Nature will do the best job of any restoration actions, but she requires a relatively long timeline, perhaps beyond our lifetimes.

4.Dispersants — Chemicals break down surface oil effectively, but they actually break the oil into smaller particles which can enter the food chains and contaminate ecosystems for generations.

5.Burning — If oil slicks are collected into thick mats, burning reduces the chance of onshore oil, but the resulting black smoke and particulates produce a different type of pollution.

6.Booms and skimmers — This labor-intensive equipment is very effective with few side effects, but is best used near the source before the oil disperses. Booms can be effective in keeping oil away from delicate areas such as bird rookeries, public beaches, or harbors; but placement is tricky and uncertain.

7.Absorbent materials — Pads, bark-chip mats or other large sponge-like substances can absorb oil, but then require removal themselves as toxic waste.

8.Vegetation cutting — Removing marsh grass or other oily vegetation usually does more harm to the integrity of the ecosystem than the benefits of a relatively small amount of oil removal.

9.Mechanical removal — Bull-dozing and hauling away oily sediments such as blackened beach sand are appropriate for heavily soiled areas, but usually does more harm to the ecosystem over time than the short-term aesthetic benefits.

10.Use less oil — The most powerful action for cleaning oil spills is to avoid them altogether. One important solution is embarrassingly missing from most regional, and even national, conversations: conservation of fuel.

Americans may be missing the biggest educational solution or teaching moment of the Gulf catastrophe if parents and policymakers overlook these three important words: Use less oil.

Margaret Lowman is director of Environmental Initiatives at New College of Florida.