Cold War Satellites Inadvertently Tracked Species Declines (sciencemag.org) 38
sciencehabit shares a report from Science Magazine: When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit in 1957, the United States responded with its own spy satellites. The espionage program, known as Corona, sought to locate Soviet missile sites, but its Google Earth-like photography captured something unintended: snapshots of animals and their habitats frozen in time. Now, by comparing these images with modern data, scientists have found a way to track the decline of biodiversity in regions that lack historic records.
The researchers tested the approach on bobak marmot (Marmota bobak) populations in the grassland region of northern Kazakhstan. There, Soviets converted millions of hectares of natural habitat into cropland in the 1960s. The scientists searched the satellites' black and white film images on a U.S. Geological Survey database for signs of the squirrel-like animal's burrows. They identified more than 5,000 historic marmot homes and compared them with contemporary digital images of the region, mapping more than 12,000 marmot burrows in all. About eight generations of marmots occupied the same burrows in the study area over more than 50 years, even when their habitats underwent major changes, the team reports in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Overall, the researchers estimate the number of marmot burrows dropped by 14% since the '60s. But the number of burrows in some of the oldest fields -- those persistently disturbed by humans plowing grassland to plant wheat -- plunged by much more -- about 60%.
The researchers tested the approach on bobak marmot (Marmota bobak) populations in the grassland region of northern Kazakhstan. There, Soviets converted millions of hectares of natural habitat into cropland in the 1960s. The scientists searched the satellites' black and white film images on a U.S. Geological Survey database for signs of the squirrel-like animal's burrows. They identified more than 5,000 historic marmot homes and compared them with contemporary digital images of the region, mapping more than 12,000 marmot burrows in all. About eight generations of marmots occupied the same burrows in the study area over more than 50 years, even when their habitats underwent major changes, the team reports in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Overall, the researchers estimate the number of marmot burrows dropped by 14% since the '60s. But the number of burrows in some of the oldest fields -- those persistently disturbed by humans plowing grassland to plant wheat -- plunged by much more -- about 60%.
Through the looking glass (Score:4, Funny)
The espionage program, known as Corona
So it's not 5G cell towers. Where is my pitchfork at?
Re:Through the looking glass (Score:4)
Cold War Satellites Inadvertently Tracked Species Decline
Better yet, BeauHD spews garbage. These satellites weren't TRACKING anything. They were taking pictures of general areas. They were using film for the longest time. They actually deorbited and captured the satellites which were full of film. No, I don't want to hear some millenial high school snot post a sensationalist headline to generate clicks.
BeauHD: if you are going to post such stories, don't use this garbage in the headline. The headline and summary are up to YOU. Only what is on the other side of the link is not under your control. Do your job, and EDIT.
Re:Through the looking glass (Score:5, Insightful)
BeauHD: if you are going to post such stories, don't use this garbage in the headline. The headline and summary are up to YOU. Only what is on the other side of the link is not under your control. Do your job, and EDIT.
Not just the headline. The sentence "when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit in 1957, the United States responded with its own spy satellites" sounds like the Sputnik was a spy satellite, which was not. Really poor editing.
Re:Through the looking glass (Score:5, Insightful)
It also sounds like our early satellites were spy satellites. They weren't either....
Re:Through the looking glass (Score:5, Insightful)
I've always wanted to ask you: why do you randomly capitalize words in your sentences? "Taking Pictures in a general area over time is indeed tracking"
Why is "pictures" capitalized? "Mostly to make sure other countries are not putting up Missiles or putting"
Why is "missles" capitalized?
"As a Red Blooded American. Yes, the United States had and has spies"
Seriously?
Re:Through the looking glass (Score:4, Informative)
They didn't deorbit the satellites. CORONA ejected the film magazines, which re-entered and were captured. The satellites stayed in orbit.
Re: Through the looking glass (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
"So it's not 5G cell towers. Where is my pitchfork at?"
Right by your torches.
Re: (Score:1)
I'm just shocked that the Pentagram is allowing someone to use their data to do something that doesn't involve wholesale destruction of people or habitats. They still won't allow biologists to access the sub-tracking hydrophone network recordings which would revolutionize the study of whales and their languages.
Re: (Score:3)
I'm waiting for the protesters to go out and start throwing Molotov cocktails at the satellites...
Marmots? (Score:2)
We don't need marmots, we only need junk food, shiny new toys and celebrity gossip.
Re: (Score:3)
"We don't need marmots, we only need junk food, shiny new toys and celebrity gossip."
We need at least ONE to tell us when spring will come.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
A breeding line could be maintained for that purpose
Nah, bag 'em and tag 'em. We aren't very far from programming DNA like computers, and kids can go buy Jr. DNA experiment kits the way they do telescopes and chemistry sets.
The screams about biodiversity will be laughed at, probably in the lives of some alive right now.
Re: (Score:1)
We don't need marmots, we only need junk food, shiny new toys and celebrity gossip.
Marmot lunch on the range? [livescience.com] Here is how it is done [youtube.com] or not well done or whatever. In some North American native cultures someone who was a poor provider was chastised as a "marmot eater" Who know the origins of the Black Plague may well very well have come from the eating of marmots in eastern Europe around the time of Marco Polo. Corona virus spread might well be happening because we have radically changed the habitat of bats and have come into greater contact with them. China is the logical place for this
Re: (Score:2)
We don't need marmots, we only need junk food, shiny new toys and celebrity gossip.
I don't trust marmots. People like Nihilists keep marmots. I mean, say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, but at least it's an ethos.
Re: (Score:3)
We don't need marmots, we only need junk food, shiny new toys and celebrity gossip.
Without Marmont, we wouldn't have had John and the Starks would never have won... Oh, wait, you said marmots... never mind...
Re: (Score:2)
At that time in history, the people of the Soviet Union needed the wheat from those fields much more than they needed marmots.
Now we finally know... (Score:5, Funny)
...why marmots like the moon. The spongemonkeys knew all along.
So what? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
The more useless unscientific bullshit we can impose on others the better we feel about ourselves - Democratic party.
Re: (Score:2)
Placing biodiverisity at a higher value than farmland isn't a good valuation, if lives are your concern. It does, however, work for political factions searching for power.
Skip the words and look to memetic transactions and spread.
Re: (Score:2)
r.e. your sig; Why do you want to get rid of electing Senators and go back to appointing them?
Re: (Score:3)
Two reasons. First the balance of power between the Federal government and the states is way wrong. One of the big reasons for it is the states no longer really enjoy anyone representing their interests. In an increasingly divided nation we'd all be happier and better off if states had a bit more independence. Rather than having endless policy arguments with one another we might just let different places experiment with different rules and see where people and business actually chose to locate.
Second ther
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe I'm being dense, but your last sentence doesn't seem clear. Who are "these people" and why do you think they wouldn't be moved by the enormous piles of cash that ordinarily would be spent on advertising and instead would be diverted to them?
Re: (Score:2)
His point would be that the Senators would be picked by the state legislature. This means the US Senator has no need for campaign cash at all so there would be zero need for them to ever raise money for themselves. You can try to influence the selection of Senators but that might involve having to get a lot of state level politicians on your side.
Re: (Score:2)
I can see why corporations would favor this, state legislators are MUCH cheaper.
Re: (Score:2)
You say that... but do you even drive an EV? Put your money where you mouth is. I did.
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
Proportion (Score:2)
Actually, 14% is much lower than I would have expected.
I'm not sure if that's good or bad....
It probably wasn't inadvertent (Score:1)
Scientists are nothing if not clever.
Less animals sucks (Score:3)
Sure, farmland is important to feed people no doubt. But us humans need to leave some forests and grasslands and all that alone to keep animals and plants doing their thing.
I read that one of the key things is leaving large portions untouched. When they get divided up into lots of small pieces of land, big animals especially have this island effect problem where they just can't survive. Think of a big cat needing 50 to 150 square miles of hunting.
https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-ha... [wa.gov]
Google Earth like? (Score:1)
something good (Score:2)
at least those satellites have been put to good use.