From be5b4b19ffdbffb6cecc60f9ea96e1d23084f2f6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Navan Chauhan Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2024 12:42:42 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Added daily report --- archive-covid-19/05 March, 2024.html | 171 ++++++++ archive-daily-dose/05 March, 2024.html | 577 +++++++++++++++++++++++++ index.html | 4 +- 3 files changed, 750 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) create mode 100644 archive-covid-19/05 March, 2024.html create mode 100644 archive-daily-dose/05 March, 2024.html diff --git a/archive-covid-19/05 March, 2024.html b/archive-covid-19/05 March, 2024.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5be8927 --- /dev/null +++ b/archive-covid-19/05 March, 2024.html @@ -0,0 +1,171 @@ + + + + + + 05 March, 2024 + +Covid-19 Sentry + +

Covid-19 Sentry

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Contents

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From Preprints

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From Clinical Trials

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From PubMed

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From Patent Search

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Daily-Dose

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Contents

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From New Yorker

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From Vox

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+The queen conch is one of several dozen conch species worldwide, all of which are moderately large to very large marine snails. They’re found in and around the Caribbean, where they play a valuable role in the ecosystem: Conchs eat algae that can otherwise smother coral. (They tend to hang out in groups, which is why Delgado, an associate researcher at FWC, sometimes describes them as “marine cows.”) Queen conchs also provide homes for critters including a small fish, known as the conchfish, that lives within their shells. +

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+Queen conchs are also prized by humans. These snails not only have attractive shells that tourists love to buy but also protein-rich flesh that people love to eat. (It’s not uncommon to find conch on the menu in seafood restaurants across the country.) Plus, these animals are easy to collect: Conchs live in shallow water, and they can’t really put up a fight. +

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+These traits helped turn queen conch into the second-largest fishery in the Caribbean — and ultimately led to their woes. +

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+Overfishing is a problem, but it’s not the only one +

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+Decades of fishing for conch in the Caribbean — much of which is exported to the US for restaurants — has massively depleted the ocean of these animals. “Overfishing has caused population collapses throughout the range of the conch, leaving adult densities below that which would indicate successful reproduction,” according to a 2022 assessment by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). +

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+In Florida, however, overfishing is largely a problem of the past. Before 1985, fishing queen conch caused the population to crash until it was “threatened with extermination,” as newspapers wrote at the time. But that year, in light of these declines, all conch fishing was banned. In the four decades since, the queen has been well protected. +

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+ Courtesy of Shedd Aquarium +
+Young conchs in a bed of seagrass. +
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+Nonetheless, these animals haven’t recovered. The most recent estimate, from 2022, suggests there are roughly 126,000 adult conchs in the Keys, Delgado said. That’s below an estimate from the 1990s. Three populations in Florida have disappeared altogether, according to NOAA. On average, the density of the animals is too low “for successful reproduction to be maintained throughout the region and for Florida to have a healthy self-recruiting population,” NOAA says. +

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+Absent fishing, the barrier to recovery is largely linked to climate: Superstorms bury the mollusks alive and ocean warming can mess with their physical development. Before Hurricane Irma struck the Keys, in the fall of 2017, FWC measured roughly 700,000 adult queen conchs across the island chain. That’s well above the number of animals when the fishing ban went into effect. After the storm, however, researchers counted half as many; they believe the hurricane buried conchs under sand, killing them. Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida in 2022, also knocked the population back, Delgado said. +

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+Then there’s the breeding problem. Many of the conchs that hang out in shallow waters near shore in the Keys, and especially the females, are incapable of reproducing. They’re not properly developing gonads, organs that produce eggs and sperm, Delgado’s research shows. The current theory, Delgado said, is that the temperatures there are just too extreme. Because the water is so shallow, it gets very cold in the winter and increasingly hot in the summer (climate change is exacerbating marine heat waves). Scientists are still untangling just how that could be impairing their development. +

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+This means that, near the shoreline, there are very few conchs that can successfully reproduce. Those that can have trouble finding a mate. Delgado says it’s as though there were an apocalypse and only a few people survived, each on a different continent. “They’re going to have a hard time finding each other,” he said. +

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+ Courtesy of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission +
+A queen conch out of the water. +
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+If humans have caused this conch apocalypse, humans can also help. +

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+A solution to help conchs mingle +

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+While conchs near shore are reproductively challenged, those farther offshore — close to the coral reef — are doing much better. In some regions, there are dozens of conchs in close proximity. They’re able to find each other, breed, and make babies, Delgado said. +

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+In the coming weeks, Delgado’s team plans to search for conchs in shallow waters in the central Florida Keys, with funding from the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida, an environmental nonprofit. The scientists will tag those they find and relocate them to a healthier group offshore. It’s essentially like dropping individuals who are alone and isolated in the country into a big city. Deeper water offshore is also less prone to temperature extremes, Delgado said, which means the relocated conchs should not have trouble developing the gonads needed for reproduction. +

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+ Courtesy of Shed Aquarium +
+Queen conch with its eyes pointing out. +
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+Delgado wants to find at least 200 conchs to relocate. If all goes to plan, each of those animals will find their match (or more likely matches) in their new home. The researchers will then monitor the reproduction of those snails. +

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+This intervention is not, by itself, going to save Florida’s conchs. It’s more of a pilot project that will help scientists understand the value of relocation services in helping a species recover. If these efforts do grow the offshore conch community, the state may continue to help conch mate in the years to come, perhaps on a much larger scale — especially if climate change continues to disrupt their sex lives. +

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From The Hindu: Sports

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From The Hindu: National News

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From BBC: Europe

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From Ars Technica

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From Jokes Subreddit

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