Pacific’s Long Beach aquarium has launched a new project aimed at highlighting conservation on the stars of flora and fauna, the stars of marine ecosystems, to build stronger connections with the masses.
“People don’t really care about biodiversity,” said Peter Kaleiba, president and CEO of the Pacific Aquarium. “They care about the species they know. They care about real animals, real birds, real fish.”
Baby sunflower star in a lab aquarium behind the scenes in the Pacific Ocean.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
To that end, the aquarium on Thursday released its first Marine Species Report Card, a joint effort to assess the population status of 30 species found on California coasts.
Report cards range from marine mammals, fish, birds, kelp and invertebrates. It includes lesser known cast members such as ocean celebrities like the Gray Whale, owl rimepets and sea snails “often mistaken for rocks.”
Scientists and researchers from over 20 institutions and organizations have contributed to report cards that can be viewed online. The plan is to update every 3-4 years.
Although letter grades are not assigned to species, each one has an arrow that indicates whether its rank is increasing, decreasing, or remains intact. The accompanying stories provide a more detailed overview of how they do it.
There are plans to update the report cards regularly and eventually include additional seeds. The above is a thorny lobster in a tank at a Pacific aquarium.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
Kareiva believes the conservation movement has shifted its focus to what he described as more abstract concepts such as biodiversity. But he said it’s wrong to underestimate how much people care about the species.
Equipping a species spotlight promotes connection with the public and reveals subtle pictures of ecosystems in climate change.
“When you stand up to biodiversity and ecosystem questions, it’s hard to say, ‘Is there any success here?’,” says Brett Long, vice president of animal care at the aquarium. I did. He added that establishing connections through digestible information serves as a broader conversational channel.
The white avalons on display at aquariums in the Pacific have remained rare since the federal government was listed as extinct in 2001.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
The report card contains several tragic stories, including the story of a white Avalon at risk in the 1970s and 80s. According to the report card, the endangered marine snail with its coveted rainbow-colored shells remains threatened by a disease called dead syndrome.
But there are even more encouraging stories. And while giant ocean bass have only been offlowited in danger of extinction, Jeremy Clisse, professor of biological sciences at Cal Poly Pomona, has been a result of the ban on commercial nets in recent decades. I started rebounding. I worked on the report card.
Then there is a conservation story that is difficult to summarise whether it’s good or bad. The southern otter, once thought to have been extinct, has recovered, but has stagnated with around 3,000 animals within its existing range.
“Telling these individual stories gives us a lot to learn about how different management efforts work, or how climate change affects one species and another species. “We’ll do that,” Kraise said.
More than dozens of certain types can be found at Long Beach Aquarium. The smooth otter jumps into the tank before he can be woefully adored. The raised white abalone is a star under the radar of another exhibit that introduces their habitat to raise their light-like awareness.
One of the two unreleasable otters sees visitors from inside the otter habitat at the Long Beach Aquarium.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
Kareiva described the project as a response to what he said was an evolution of the main concerns of large conservation nonprofits.
He said that while these groups once focused on the “biology” aspects of conservation, they focused on concepts that focused on broader ecological and policy for good reason, and zoos and aquariums. He said he essentially made a plant and animal spokesperson.
“They are very interested in being successful on a large scale,” he said of the organization. Kareiva previously served as vice president of science at Nature Conservancy.
Toddlers are watching California sea lions at a Pacific aquarium. According to the report card, sea lion populations are rebounded in protection and are currently considered to be in “capacity.”
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
“Political and strategically, if you were active at the national level, it was probably a familiar move,” he said of the conservation movement. He said the result was that when data was collected, there was not enough attention to the species.
The goal of the report card is “to reactivate the species and the biological parts of conservation,” he said.
The nonprofit has not changed its “ultimate focus from wildlife and wild places,” but the rationale behind advocacy advocacy, executive vice president of Wildlife Conservation Society Global, in a statement. explained.
He said addressing threats like hunting, illegal fishing and deforestation is no longer sufficient to protect wildlife.
“Extraordinary pressures from climate change need to expand influence and ensure that we are focusing on ‘overall health’. The ability to maintain the resilience of these ecosystems, not only protecting wildlife from local threats, but also ensuring the maintenance of their ecosystems.[s] It’s robust and resilient in the face of greater pressure,” he said.
Jonathan Casey, a curator of fish and invertebrates at aquariums in the Pacific Ocean, watches Baby Burkelp growing up in the aquarium behind the scenes lab.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
Sophie Parker, interim science director for the California chapter of Nature Conservancy, said the nonprofit has a long history of working with the zoo and aquarium, including current collaborations involving aquariums in the Pacific. “We also need to ensure that the broader habitats and systems are healthy and connected, and that they can thrive when species are reintroduced,” she said in a statement.
Many, including Kareiva, do not view conservation approaches that are centred around ecosystems and organisms as mutually exclusive but complementary.
Brendan Cummings, director of the Biodiversity Center’s Conservation Department, said the threat of extinction, thousands of species, is a disastrous phenomenon worthy of prioritization. At the same time, losses are not just percentages, they are real creatures.
Cummings said it was a separate issue from what resonates with the public, and a way to achieve conservation goals. For several years he has worked to protect the trees in West Joshua, but said its iconic and beloved status helped state law pass to protect it. However, these protections also extend to the wider ecosystem, such as Yucca Moth.
Garibaldi is the official California fish in the aquarium. Bright orange fish is one of the species found in the report card.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
“If we had campaigned on behalf of Yucca Moss, we would not have had as many public attention as Joshua’s Trees. But we would protect one, protect the other, and we would have seen the desert. It serves as an umbrella to protect the entire ecosystem,” he said. “So there are many pathways to the common goal of protecting biodiversity, preventing extinction and protecting nature on a wider landscape scale.”
In addition to prioritizing plants and animals, report cards are also intended to be a practical resource for public and policy makers. Kareiva said he imagines students tapping it for a paper and supporting conceptual efforts to use the data to create biodiversity credits.
Others involved in the project said they emphasized the power of long-term surveillance efforts and the need to continue to fund them.
The list of species under consideration for report cards was nearly twice the current 30, and one narrowed-down method was whether there was available data.
Photos from May 2024 show that after months of care by the Pacific Veterinary Team aquarium, a rescued endangered green sea turtle has returned to the sea. Green sea turtles spent time in Southern California, and community science projects found an increasing population.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
One species they were interested in but dropped for this reason was the leopard shark. It was an impressive fish with spots and dark eggs stretching into a neat row across their back. She said, “It would be great” if sustained surveillance of the elongated sharks would be happening in the future and revealed how they were doing.
Without monitoring, results may occur. For example, data points 10 years apart can leave a large knowledge gap.
“There is a good chance that something important can happen that it’s too late for the party and we’ll deal with it,” she said.
Source link
