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Climate crisis is driving key predators from their homes and threatening an already embattled ecosystem
Sharks are deserting their coral reef homes as the climate crisis continues to heat up the oceans, scientists have discovered.
This is likely to harm the sharks, which are already endangered, and their absence could have serious consequences for the reefs, which are also struggling. The reef sharks are a key part of the highly diverse and delicate ecosystem, which could become dangerously unbalanced without them.
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Moules frites are a staple, but the majority of the shellfish eaten in the country are imported. Previous attempts to farm them have foundered – but a bumper harvest this year suggests the ‘delicate’ Belgian mussel is here to stay
It is harvest day at the Westdiep sea farm and the crew are bringing their haul on to the boat: 12-metre long ropes laden with clusters of blue mussels. Bobbing on the water just three nautical miles off the Belgian coast,the four-man crew on the little red Smart Farmer use a crane to hoist the ropes on deck. The mussels go on to a steel conveyor belt, straight into the “declumper”, a machine that will break up bunches of molluscs into smaller groups.
It may look like a typical late summer scene on the Belgian North Sea coast, but the mussel harvest is a novelty. Although Belgium is renowned for its moules frites, it has long struggled to cultivate the shellfish for its national dish on a commercial scale. Of the estimated 20,000 tonnes of mussels Belgium consumes each year, most are imported from Zeeland in the Netherlands.
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Eels use tail-first technique to back up digestive tract of fish towards oesophagus before coming out of gills
It sounds like the plot of a horror movie – a predator swallows its prey only for the creature to burst out of its captor’s body. But it seems Japanese eels do just that.
Scientists in Japan have discovered that when swallowed by a dark sleeper fish, the eels can escape.
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Group praises nearly 70% of UK adults who bought Fairtrade products in past year despite cost of living crisis
Nearly 70% of UK adults have bought Fairtrade products such as bananas, tea or coffee in the past year despite pressure on personal finances, as concern that the climate crisis could push up the price of imported food drives “conscious consumerism”, the charity said.
Against the backdrop of this year’s big spikes in the price of coffee and cocoa, a YouGov poll, commissioned by the Fairtrade Foundation, revealed that 79% of Britons were concerned that climate breakdown could affect the price of food while 69% were worried it could disrupt supply to the UK.
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Jacob Rees-Mogg criticises plans for 2.6m members to decide on increasing share of vegan and vegetarian options
National Trust members are being invited to vote on a plan to make 50% of the food in its cafes vegan and vegetarian as part of the charity’s commitment to reach net zero by 2030.
Cafe menus at the trust’s 280 historic sites are already 40% plant-based. Now, the trust’s 2.6 million members will get to vote on whether the charity should gradually increase this figure to 50% over the next two years.
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Big River Watch scheme asks general public to help monitor state of rivers after years of deregulation
Rivers will be checked for sewage and other pollution by the general public this month in an attempt to assess the health of British waterways.
Cuts to the UK regulators and a change in the law to allow water company self-monitoring of pollution in England mean there is little independent monitoring of the state of rivers in the UK.
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A pioneering mission into a mysterious and violent world may reveal ‘speed bumps’ on the way to global coastal inundation
There are stadium-sized blocks of ice crashing from the soaring face of the Kangerlussuup glacier in western Greenland. Fierce underwater currents of meltwater are shooting out from its base and visibility below the surface is virtually zero thanks to a torrent of suspended mud and sand. It’s little wonder scientists have never explored this maelstrom.
Yet today, they are sending in a multimillion-dollar remotely operated submarine, potentially to its death. As the scientists onboard the Celtic Explorer research ship repeatedly say: “It’s a high risk, high reward mission.”
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Nenthead, Cumbria: The old lead mines here revealed a complex geology, and with so little water in the burn, I’m able to get a close look
The rocky ravine, with its bluffs and tumbled boulders, is more dry desert than a slice through the green North Pennines. Its stream, shrunk to a few languid pools, has become an orange-stained barranco that we pick our way along. This is the Nent River, and the last time I was here it was to walk – and crawl – deep into the passages of the abandoned lead mine.
Nenthead was a major centre of lead mining in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the area round the mines and Smelt Mill is heaped with substantial dumps of spoil, long studied for its minerals and fossils. The upheaval from the workings also revealed a complex geology. I’ve joined the earth sciences group of the Natural History Society of Northumbria for a walk led by the geologist Karl Egeland-Eriksen and Brenda Turnbull.
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This year will more than likely end up the warmest humanity has measured, reports European climate service
Summer 2024 sweltered to Earth’s hottest on record, making it even more likely that this year will end up as the warmest humanity has measured, the European climate service Copernicus reported on Friday.
And if this sounds familiar, that’s because the records the globe shattered were set just last year as human-caused climate change, with a temporary boost from an El Niño, keeps dialing up temperatures and extreme weather, scientists said.
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Rusland, Cumbria: We’ve sadly lost some committee members in recent times, but after nearly 140 years, the show must go on
Next year, my husband will be the president of the 140th annual Rusland Valley Horticultural Show, so this year he must attend as vice-president and shadow the incumbent president to see what his duties will be. We attended the show last Saturday and, thankfully, it was a warm, dry day – not the torrential rain that we have had on recent Rusland Show days.
After reporting to the secretary’s tent, we watched the long fell race runners coming in. One had taken a wrong turning and was disappointed not to win. There were then shorter running races on the grass track, before the short fell race up the hill behind Whitestock Hall. All the while, there was a hum of activity on the field as children practised circus skills, and in the craft tent people demonstrated local crafts such as swill basket-making.
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