OKLAHOMA CLIMATE/EVOLUTION NEWS–MAY 2020

1.  Anti-science education legislation in Oklahoma

2.  Longer overlap for modern humans and Neanderthals

3.  Daily global CO2 emissions dropped dramatically as COVID-19 kept people home

4.  Bumblebees’ ‘clever trick’ fools plants into flowering

5.  A deep dive into climate change education

6.  Ancient Mass Extinction Tied To Ozone Loss, Warming Climate

7.  New dragonfly subspecies named after Oklahoma biologist

8.  U.S. renewable energy consumption surpasses coal for the first time in over 130 years

9.  May video

ANTI-SCIENCE EDUCATION LEGISLATION IN OKLAHOMA
The Oklahoma legislature adjourned sine die on Friday, May 29 at 5:00 p.m.  No anti-science education bills were passed in Oklahoma in 2020.  For the second time in three years, no anti-science education bills were introduced.  New science standards that included improved evolution and climate change standards were approved by the Oklahoma Department of Education and not challenged by the legislature. The trend across the country is for more pro-science education legislation to be introduced, rather than anti-science bills. A bill bringing the procedures for the State Textbook Committee up to best practices was passed by the legislature.  More on the state science standards at NCSE and at Diane Ravitch’s blog.

LONGER OVERLAP FOR MODERN HUMANS AND NEANDERTHALS

Modern humans began to edge out the Neanderthals in Europe earlier than previously thought, a new study shows.
Tests on remains from a caBumblebees’ ‘clever trick’ fools plants into floweringve in northern Bulgaria suggest Homo sapiens was there as early as 46,000 years ago.
This is up to 2,000 years older than evidence from Italy and the UK.
Around this time, Europe was populated by sparse groups of Neanderthals – a distinct type of human that vanished shortly after modern humans appeared on the scene.
There’s considerable debate about the length of time that modern humans overlapped with Neanderthals in Europe and other parts of Eurasia.
This has implications for the nature of contact between the two groups – and perhaps clues to why Neanderthals went extinct.  More at BBC and Science News.  Original papers in Nature here and here.

DAILY GLOBAL CO2 EMISSIONS DROPPED DRAMATICALLY AS COVID-19 KEPT PEOPLE HOME
Stay-at-home orders haven’t just curbed the spread of COVID-19. They’ve briefly cleared the air.
Daily global carbon dioxide emissions dropped 17 percent, from about 100 million metric tons to about 83 million metric tons, in early April compared with average daily emissions in 2019, researchers report May 19 in Nature Climate Change. Among other changes, the lock-downs grounded planes, reduced traffic and changed peoples’ patterns of energy consumption. 
More at Science News and Wired.  Original paper at Nature Climate Change

BUMBLEBEES’ ‘CLEVER TRICK’ FOOLS PLANTS INTO FLOWERING
Here’s a bumblebee tip that might get a slowpoke plant to bloom early. Just bite its leaves.
At least three species of bumblebees use their mouthparts to snip little confetti bits out of plant foliage, researchers report in the May 22 Science. This foliage biting gets more common when there’s a pollen shortage, says Consuelo De Moraes, a chemical ecologist and entomologist at ETH Zurich.
Experiments show that mustard and tomato plants nibbled by Bombus terrestris bees bloomed earlier than unbitten plants by days, or even weeks, say De Moraes and her colleagues. So for the bumblebees, accelerating bloom times could be a lifesaver. When trying to found colonies in early spring, the bees rely on flower pollen as a protein source for raising their young.  More at Science News, Slashdot, and BBC.  Original paper in Science.

A DEEP DIVE INTO CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION
A review of thirty-two science textbooks used across the country discovered “muddled and misleading” descriptions of climate change, according to “Are we ready? How we are teaching — and not teaching — kids about climate change,” a lengthy investigation published by The Hechinger Report and HuffPost.
“[A]t least 12 included descriptions of climate change that were superficial or contained errors. Another four of the science books did not discuss the topic at all. And some downplayed the scientific consensus that human activities are causing the current climate crisis. according to the four experts who reviewed the passages.”  More at NCSE.  Original report at Hechinger Report.

ANCIENT MASS EXTINCTION TIED TO OZONE LOSS, WARMING CLIMATE
The end of the Devonian period, 359 million years ago, was an eventful time: Fish were inching out of the ocean, and fernlike forests were advancing on land. The world was recovering from a mass extinction 12 million years earlier, but the climate was still chaotic, swinging between hothouse conditions and freezes so deep that glaciers formed in the tropics. And then, just as the planet was warming from one of these ice ages, another extinction struck, seemingly without reason. Now, spores from fernlike plants, preserved in ancient lake sediments from eastern Greenland, suggest a culprit: The planet’s protective ozone layer was suddenly stripped away, exposing surface life to a blast of mutation-causing ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
Just as the extinction set in, the spores became misshapen and dark, indicating DNA damage, John Marshall, a palynologist at the University of Southampton, and his co-authors say in a paper published in Science Advances. It’s evidence, he says, that “all of the ozone protection is gone.”  More at Slashdot.  Original paper at Science Advances.

NEW DRAGONFLY SUBSPECIES NAMED AFTER OKLAHOMA BIOLOGIST
Wildlife Department biologist Mark Howery was recently honored by Oklahoma Biological Survey staff with their announcement of a newly recognized dragonfly subspecies, the Howery’s clubtail. This isolated population of the Ozark clubtail was discovered in 2011 by Victor W. Fazio III along Salt Creek, a tributary of the Arkansas River, in western Osage County. It was later investigated by the Oklahoma Biological Survey’s conservation biologists Michael A. Patten and Brenda D. Smith.
“We’re pleased to name this new subspecies in honor of Mark Howery, for his decades of dedication and important contributions to conservation of nongame wildlife in the state of Oklahoma,” said Smith.
Howery has been a part of the Wildlife Department’s conservation efforts for the past 28 years, focusing on our state’s rare, declining and endangered species along with common species that aren’t hunted or fished.  Coverage at Claremore Daily Progress, KFOR, and Tulsa World.  ODWC press release here.

U.S. RENEWABLE ENERGY CONSUMPTION SURPASSES COAL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER 130 YEARS

In 2019, U.S. annual energy consumption from renewable sources exceeded coal consumption for the first time since before 1885, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Monthly Energy Review. This outcome mainly reflects the continued decline in the amount of coal used for electricity generation over the past decade as well as growth in renewable energy, mostly from wind and solar. Compared with 2018, coal consumption in the United States decreased nearly 15%, and total renewable energy consumption grew by 1%.  More at U.S. Energy Information Administration.

MAY VIDEO
Can Mike Pence Smile