Nicole Piot’s Post

🔥Indigenous peoples have shaped landscapes with burning practices for generations, seeing fire as more than combustion — it's about deep human-land connections and, at times, agents of change that deeply impact all who engage with them.  Indigenous land management strongly shaped Canada's pre-settlement landscape to boost productivity, primarily through extensive use of fire. Early anthropological research, initially centered on fire as a tool, documented Indigenous fire practices in the boreal region, showcasing some of their purposes: "Fire was used for campfires, signaling as a form of communication, for aiding in the application of spruce gum to repair birchbark canoes, to open dense understories to improve chances of a clear shot when hunting, to force game, including birds, to expose themselves as they moved away from the advancing fire front, for use in warfare, and a multitude of other reasons". All information and quotations were taken from 'Centering Indigenous Voices: The Role of Fire in the Boreal Forest of North America' by Amy Cardinal Christianson; Colin Sutherland, PhD; Faisal Moola, PhD; Noémie Gonzalez Bautista; David Young; and Heather MacDonald. To learn more about Indigenous fire practices and their pivotal role in shaping the boreal landscape, check the full article at: https://lnkd.in/dWqASMcP #IndegenousKnowladge #FNWEP #WildfireManagement #ResearchInsights

Kayakers and snorkelers exploring the Southern California coast spotted an extremely rare oarfish, nicknamed a "doomsday fish" since they are seen in some parts of the world as harbingers of imminent disasters. It's one of less than two dozen confirmed sightings of an oarfish in the state in over 120 years, according to UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The oarfish is a "strikingly large, odd-looking fish" with a long, silvery, ribbon-shaped body, according to the Ocean Conservatory. The fish can grow to more than 30 feet long, and have large eyes and "foreboding" red spines in a crown-like cluster. Typically, these fish are deep-sea dwellers and thrive in waters that are the least explored by scientists. The fish have their alarming nickname due to a reputation as harbingers of earthquakes or other bad news, according to the Ocean Conservancy. Twenty such fish reportedly washed up on the shores of Japan right before the catastrophic 2011 earthquake. The California oarfish was indeed found just two days before a 4.4 earthquake struck the region and rattled Los Angeles. https://lnkd.in/g9indGW5

Really looking forward to following this monthly insight into invertebrates from our team! We’re excited to launch our brand new #SpeciesInTheSpotlight series! Each month, our benthic lab will take a closer look 🔍 at the weird and wonderful world of marine invertebrates. First up: the flame 🔥 shell (𝘓𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘩𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴). 📍 Westcoast of Scotland. These beautiful bivalves get their name from the flame-like orange tentacles emerging from the shell. They produce tough threads which weave together sediment and debris to form protective ‘nests’. Despite flame shells being only 3-4 cm in size, adjoining nests can create beds covering many hectares of the seabed!💦 These beds are considered important, and are often protected, as they increase #Biodiversity by providing a habitat for hundreds of other plants and animals. #MarineBiodiversity #EnvironmentalServices #SafeAndLiveableWorld #Fugro

What is #Zebra #Mussel? Zebra mussel, an invasive species capable of wiping out entire aquatic ecosystems, has been found for the first time in the Colorado River, the most important river in the American Southwest. About Zebra Mussel: Zebra mussels are an invasive, fingernail-sized mollusk. Scientific Name: Dreissena polymorpha Distribution: They are native to the Caspian and Black Seas, south of Russia and Ukraine. They entered the Great Lakes of North America in the late 1980s through ballast water discharged from ships. Since then, they have spread through much of eastern Canada and the United States. Habitat: They live underwater, attached to natural and manmade substrates such as rocks, wood, plants, native mussels, pipes, docks, boat lifts, swim rafts, moored watercraft, and other debris. Source : https://lnkd.in/g6E_icFt

With our seagrass restoration project up and running, it important to remember how fundamental they are to the health of the oceans and to the organisms that get something from the ecosystem. For example, Green Turtles have been using the same seagrass meadows as their primary feeding ground for approximately 3,000 years. Approximations also tell us that before the Europeans in the 1400s settled in the Americas, seagrass meadows supported 15 to 20 times the number of Green Turtles today. This is not a one-way relationship though. The seagrass gets cut nicely and kept in shape with the green turtles grazing them. To be fair though by doing this, the Green Turtles get a new stock of freshly grown seagrass again and again. With 92% of seagrass disappearing in the world over the last 100 years, green turtles are also at risk and has people have been blaming green turtles for “overgrazing” the meadows to destruction, which isn’t true, it is now time to protect them; especially since today is Green Turtle Day. 🌊🐢 #seaturtleweek2024 #greenturtle

Common reef octopus (Octopus cyanea) that uses voluntary #camouflage as a form of #defence and #predation tactic, blending in with its surroundings thanks to the presence of #chromatophores on its mantle. This species of octopus inhabits #tropical and #temperate waters and prefers shallow rocky bottoms or coastal coral reefs at depths less than 200m.

-Sea lily- The sea lily colonizes beaches and contributes to the formation of coastal dunes, typically located within 50 meters of the shoreline (it is a characteristic species of habitats protected by European directives). It grows easily in sheltered, extremely hot and sunny positions and in well-drained soils. In winter, it can survive temperatures as low as -5°C: the aerial part withers and dies, while the bulb remains dormant under the sand. The flowers appear from July to September, with a fragrance that becomes particularly noticeable during the evening and nighttime hours. The dispersal of this species is usually carried out by ocean currents (hydrochory), facilitated by the spongy portion of the seeds that allows them to float. Seed maturation and dispersal occur in the autumn, coinciding with the first seasonal storms that allow the seeds to travel long distances across the dune expanses where the species thrives.

Collisions with vehicles are one of the biggest threats that Sonoran Desert Tortoises face, according to the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy... Watch the video here! https://lnkd.in/eZxuugG8

IMPACTS OF WILDFIRES - Calgary hasn't seen such a long spell of hot temperatures like this since 1917! Coming from a powerful ridge of high pressure over Western Canada, this historic stretch of heat is estimated to hit 9 days which would be Calgary's new record. The heat mixed with poor air quality from nearby fires make for a less than pleasant time outside especially for those that are in higher risk populations. Extreme heat and lack of precipitation like we are currently experiencing creates perfect conditions for fires to start and currently, there are 176 active wildfires in Alberta. These fires are appearing with more frequency and burning more land, with 2023 having 10 times more land burned in wildfires than the previous five year average. Did you know? Almost 60% of the wildfires last year were shown to have been caused by human activity! TELUS Spark Science Centre wants to extend an invitation to those displaced from recent fire evacuations in Jasper. Spark recognizes the stress to all affected and displaced by these terrible fires. Spark would like to invite you to come and experience a free day of fun and science. TELUS Spark has great ventilation which provides relief from the smokiness outside and a climate-controlled building to stay out of the blazing sun. You can still enjoy a nice summer's day... but from the comfort and safety of inside. Grab some icy cold treats at Astronaut Ice Cream café or cool down in the Infinity Dome theatre while watching about ancient Antarctic dinosaurs or learning about the ice on different planets. The Brainasium Outdoor Park will remain open for those who want to venture outside at your own risk. All science demos and activities will be moved indoors so catch our crazy, cool experiments at the Inspiration Stage in the Atrium! Stay cool and safe out there! 🫶 To learn more about wildfires please see the Government of Alberta’s website on wildfires: https://bit.ly/4cS7nTz To learn more about the impacts of climate change please see the Government of Canada’s website dedicated to that topic here: https://bit.ly/4dfJ0Pj

Perched atop blackened trees, howler monkeys survey the ashes around them. A flock of rheas treads, disoriented, in search of water. The skeletons of alligators lie lifeless and charred. The Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland and one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, is on fire. Huge stretches of land resemble the aftermath of a battle, with thick green shrubbery now a carpet of white ash, and chunks of debris falling from the sky. More than 760,000 hectares (1.8m acres) have already burned across the Brazilian Pantanal in 2024, as fires surge to the highest levels since 2020, the worst year on record. From January to July, blazes increased by 1,500% compared with the same period last year, according to the country’s Institute for Space Research.