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We're going to do a group project this week!
Earth Day is a celebration of teamwork and collaboration - one voice working together for the greater good. It’s also about a shared love and appreciation for nature.
We want to know what you love about the great outdoors. For this collaborative event, we’re asking you to express your love for nature through a medium of your choice. Get creative!
Some examples:
A drawing of your favorite creature
Create a mini-nature documentary of your backyard
Write a poem
Sculpt something
Compose a song in honor of nature
Submit your creations to us at info@sanibelseaschool.org by Thursday, April 23rd. Submissions will be posted in Friday’s issue of Nature Near You and some lucky participants will receive a special prize in the mail.
On Wednesday, the world will celebrate its 50th Earth Day! In the decades leading up to the first Earth Day, people weren’t too concerned about the environment. Cars puffed out gasses and factories belched out smoke with little fear of the consequences.
Something had to change… someone had to act. Rachel Carson set the tone when she released her book Silent Spring in 1962. She warned about the dangers of chemical pesticides and initiated the environmental movement. Her book swept the nation into action!
The first Earth Day in 1970 would come to provide one voice for the environmental movement. Groups that had been fighting individually against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness and the extinction of wildlife united on Earth Day around these shared common values. By the end of 1970, the first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.
We are shaking things up a bit this week in honor of Earth Day! Instead of an activity, we will share a conservation success story with you today, Wednesday and Friday. We’ve also come up with a special group project; be sure to read through the details below. Let’s focus on the positive and take a moment to celebrate nature and those who protect it! These stories are proof that we can make a difference and hope is not lost.
Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) are large, beautiful North American raptors. They’re often seen perched on a tall tree or a towering rooftop. Ospreys have a white head with a bold brown streak starting from their golden eyes, a white body, and brown wings. Known as the seahawk, Ospreys have perfected diving into the water and catching fish with their talons. If you live near the coast or any body of water, we bet you can spot an Osprey soaring over your backyard.
Osprey - a symbol of hope
By: Shannon Stainken
The Crash
In the 1950’s Osprey populations crashed. Scientists and environmentalists were on a race against time to figure out what was happening before it was too late. It turned out that around the same time, the use of a pesticide called DDT had increased across the nation. A pesticide is a chemical designed to kill insects.
DDT?
DDT was initially used to control malaria, typhus, and body lice. Malaria and typhus are both diseases that spread through insects. Malaria is transmitted through mosquitoes and typhus through lice, ticks, mites, or fleas. By limiting insect populations with DDT, the spread of these illnesses was also limited. Cases of malaria in the United States fell from 400,000 in 1946 to virtually none in 1950. Malaria is still a very real problem in South America, Africa, and Asia today.
Why DDT
After World War II, DDT was commonly used by farmers on crops globally. It was also used in buildings for pest control. It was effective and relatively inexpensive to make.
What’s the Big Deal?
And how did this affect birds? Well, it turns out that DDT is a pretty tough chemical. It doesn’t break down easily and it moves through food chains rapidly. Whenever it rained, DDT was washed off the plants on land and ended up in aquatic ecosystems. This is a process called run-off. Once in the water, DDT combined with other particles, sunk down to the bottom, and was buried in the sediment. Sediments are the solid particles that settle on the bottom of a liquid.
Bio-accumulation
Okay, so it’s now on the ground and underwater - so what? The story doesn’t stop there. Tiny (microscopic) plants, called phytoplankton, started to absorb DDT into their tissues. What’s next in the food web? Zooplankton! These are microscopic animals in the water. After zooplankton, come small fish. Now both zooplankton and small fish had DDT in their tissues. Any creature that fed on them also ingested DDT and the chemical continued to move through the food web. Each time it transferred from one creature to an-other, it’s concentration increased too! This is called bio-accumulation.
A Fun Riddle
Let’s imagine for a second that each zooplankton has 10mg of DDT. If each small fish eats 100 zooplankton, it would have 1,000mg of DDT in its body! That’s ten times the DDT concentration of zooplankton. Next, a medium fish eats 10 small fish, a large fish eats 20 medium fish, and an Osprey eats 15 large fish. How much DDT is in the Osprey?
*The answer and explanation is at the end*
But How Did They Get Sick?
Now, we know what you’re thinking - Osprey ate the fish with DDT and then they got sick… but not quite. Osprey fed on these fish, but it didn’t affect their health. Instead, it affected their egg shells by making them thinner. After Osprey lay their eggs, they must incubate them to keep them at the right temperature. Osprey sit on the eggs and use their chest to heat, or cool them. But because the egg shells were too thin, when incubating the eggs, the parents unintentionally crushed them.
Where Did All the Chicks Go?
For over a decade, there were barely any Osprey
chicks hatching. The population crashed.
Along the coast from New York to Boston, for
example, nearly 90% of breeding pairs disappeared. Something had to be done… someone had to act.
The Solution
Rachel Carson wrote a book, Silent Spring, and exposed what was happening because of the misuse of DDT. Osprey studies by scientists provided additional support for legal arguments to outlaw dangerous pesticides like DDT; there was widespread public concern over the improper use and the need to control them. People were angry!
Luckily, the government listened and the use of DDT was banned in 1972. Osprey populations rebounded and continued to rise! Today, their global breeding population is estimated to be almost 500,000. A jump from 25,000 breeding pairs estimated in 1989. Banning DDT also helped other birds like the Bald Eagle, Peregrine
Falcon, and Brown Pelican who were facing the same threat.
Here on Sanibel
We love spotting Osprey all over Sanibel. We’re nearing the end of their nesting season, which started in January, so we can sometimes see chicks too! Osprey are a symbol of conservation success. Next time you spot one of these soaring beauties let it ignite a feeling of hope and happiness.
*Answer to the Bio-accumulation Riddle*
If zooplankton have 10mg of DDT and a small fish eats 100 zooplankton, you must multiply 10 times 100 to get 1,000 mg of DDT in the small fish. Every time the fish eats a zooplankton, it gets an additional 10mg of DDT. So if it eats 1 zooplankton it gets 10mg, if it eats 2 it gets 20mg, and 3 it gets 30mg, and so on until it’s eaten 100 zooplankton.
10mg X 100 zooplankton = 1,000 mg of DDT in small fish
Now we know that each small fish has 1,000mg of DDT. If a medium fish eats 10 small fish, you must multiply 10 times 1,000 to get the total concentration of DDT in the medium fish.
1,000mg X 10 small fish = 10,000mg of DDT in medium fish
Repeat the steps for the large fish and the osprey:
10,000mg X 20 medium fish = 200,000mg of DDT in large fish
200,000mg X 15 large fish = 3,000,000mg of DDT in the Osprey
The Osprey ended up with 3 million milligrams of DDT in its body! That’s a huge jump (300,000 times) from 10mg in zooplankton. Imagine if there were additional links in this food chain, the concentration of DDT would be even higher!
additional cool resources
Earth Day Digital Events - Going Live on April 22nd
Learn more about Earth Day’s History
The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson
The Cornell Ornithology Lab - Osprey Information
IUCN Red List - Osprey
More about Osprey
Nifty Fifty - 50 Activities to learn about our planet and how to protect it
Osprey Live Cam
Osprey Nest Live Cam