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Western Canada glaciers melting twice as fast as in previous decade, research says
Western Canada glaciers melting twice as fast as in previous decade, research says

CTV News

time25-06-2025

  • Science
  • CTV News

Western Canada glaciers melting twice as fast as in previous decade, research says

Robson Glacier is shown in this handout photo provided by the Hakai Institute. A research letter published in a peer-reviewed journal this week shows glaciers in Western Canada and the United States, excluding Alaska and Yukon, lost 12 per cent of their mass from 2021 to 2024, while the rate of loss increased twofold. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Hakai Institute Researchers say some glaciers in Western Canada and the United States lost 12 per cent of their mass from 2021 to 2024, doubling melt rates compared to the previous decade in a continuation of a concerning global trend. The research led by University of Northern British Columbia professor Brian Menounos says low snow accumulation over winter, early-season heat waves, and prolonged warm and dry spells were contributing factors. It says impurities such as ash from severe wildfire seasons have also 'darkened' glaciers, causing them to absorb more heat and triggering a feedback loop that will lead to continued loss unless the ice is covered by fresh snow. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters this week, examined glaciers in Western Canada and the United States, excluding Alaska and Yukon, as well as Switzerland, where glaciers lost 13 per cent of their mass over the same period. The research letter says glaciers in both regions lost mass twice as fast as they did between 2010 and 2020. Menounos says climate change and its effects, including heat waves and changing snow patterns, are draining the 'bank account' of fresh water that glaciers contain. 'Doubling the amount of water that's lost from those glaciers, we're sort of stealing from the future,' says Menounos, the Canada Research Chair in glacier change. 'We are just pulling and pulling away and making that bank account closer to zero and perhaps even negative. We're not replenishing these glaciers,' he says. The research letter published Wednesday follows a 2021 study published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature that found glaciers outside the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets lost mass between 2010 and 2019 at double the rate they did in the first decade of this century. Menounos contributed to that study. The latest research combined aerial surveys with ground-based observations of three glaciers in Western Canada, four glaciers in the United States and 20 in Switzerland. The analysis shows that between 2021 and 2024, those glaciers experienced their highest rates of loss since monitoring began 60 years ago, Menounos says. The study says that in Western Canada and the United States, black carbon doubled after about 2010, reaching the highest level of deposition in 2023 -- coinciding with a severe wildfire season across B.C. and Canada. The study did not include specific data relating to wildfire ash on each glacier, but Menounos says any darker material will absorb more heat and enhance melting. The researchers did zero in on the Haig Glacier in the Canadian Rockies, finding the low reflectivity of the ice contributed to 17 per cent of an unprecedented loss of mass in 2022 and 2023. Summer heat had the greatest effect, responsible for 46 per cent of the loss, the letter says. Current modelling for glaciers often doesn't include wildfire ash and other processes that could accelerate rates of loss in the future, Menounos added. 'We think that wildfire will continue to play an important role and certainly we need better physical models to project how these glaciers are likely to change.' Glaciers across the study area are projected to mostly disappear by the end of the century, even under moderate climate change scenarios. Only some of the largest glaciers and icefields are expected to exist beyond 2100, the research letter says. Swiss glaciers represent about 55 per cent of the total volume of central European glaciers, and findings there may be applied across the Alps, the letter notes. From 2000 to 2023, the letter says Earth's glaciers collectively lost mass at a rate of about 273 gigatonnes per year, accounting for about one-fifth of observed sea-level rise. One gigatonne represents one cubic kilometre of water, Menounos says. 'The way to perhaps bring some of the smallest glaciers back is, sometime in the future, with reduced greenhouse gas emissions,' he says. 'It's a global problem, but it does require input from all countries.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2025.

Researchers aim to fill data gaps about Dungeness crab amid concerns of declining population
Researchers aim to fill data gaps about Dungeness crab amid concerns of declining population

CBC

time22-06-2025

  • Science
  • CBC

Researchers aim to fill data gaps about Dungeness crab amid concerns of declining population

If you've spent much time wandering along B.C.'s coast, chances are you've seen a Dungeness crab crawling sideways across the shoreline — or at least one of its colourful carcasses leftover in the sand. The cold water crustaceans are the second-most valuable invertebrate fishery on the West Coast of Canada and an important food source for coastal First Nations, but researchers warn they may now be facing some threats. Lauren Krzus, a research technician at the Hakai Institute, says they're hearing anecdotally that Dungeness crab stocks are declining, and says climate change is poised to further impact them. She's three years into a 10-year research project with Hakai coastal ecologist Heather Earle, studying the crab's populations from Prince Rupert down to the southern point of B.C.'s coastline. This year, they've recruited 300 data collection volunteers to help monitor 30 specialized traps that float at the surface of the water and use LED strips to draw young crabs in. In their last stage as larva, before they stop swimming and start crawling on the seabed, the creatures are attracted to the light. "When you haul the trap out of the water, everything drains into the bottom, you can unscrew that part and empty out your catch and take a look at what you've got," Earle told CBC's On The Island. Kruzus says they're catching the crabs in their larval stage because that's where one of their biggest knowledge gaps about the crustaceans exists. She says the project is interested in understanding what drives larval patterns and abundance from year to year, and that this data can be used to determine the health of fisheries along with potential future closures. One goal they're working toward is creating a harvesting forecasting tool. This has been researched south of the border, where University of Oregon biology professor Alan Shanks has used a single light trap to determine that an abundance of Dungeness crabs one year is a very good predictor of another abundance four years later. "It's been like a very powerful tool ... where that one light trap can predict the entire coast wide commercial catch for Oregon and even into Northern California," Earle said. "It's not something that we've done here yet in B.C. and it's a very different system, but it still holds a lot of potential. So it's something that we're looking into doing here as well." According to the Government of Canada, Dungeness crabs are the most important crab species harvested in B.C. and the second most valuable invertebrate fishery on the West Coast of Canada. Crabs accounts for approximately 34 per cent of the total wild shellfish landed value in B.C., and 12 per cent of the total landed value of all of B.C.'s wild fish species, according to Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Although Dungeness crabs are not on Canada's endangered list, Earle says people who live along the Salish Sea are saying similar things — that the abundance of crabs that were once there are slowly diminishing. It's an issue coastal First Nations in particular have raised. In 2014, the Heiltsuk, Kitasoo/Xai'Xais, Nuxalk and Wuikinuxv First Nations in B.C. launched a research project after noticing years of declining catch rates. They temporarily closed half of their commercial and recreational fisheries and found both the number and size of Dungeness crabs caught in those areas increased. More recently, in 2022, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, alongside tribal and state managers, closed a fishery in South Puget Sound because of a large decline in Dungeness crab populations. According to a study conducted by University of Toronto in 2023, climate change is causing Dungeness crab to lose their sense of smell, which they need to survive. The study found that the crabs are impacted by ocean acidification, which is the result of the Earth's oceans becoming more acidic as they absorb increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Krzus says that "ultimately, we just want to learn more about Dungeness crab." "We're hearing anecdotally that stocks are declining throughout Puget Sound and the Salish Sea. They're impacted by climate change. So we want to gather as much information as we can about them in this larval stage, to fill in those knowledge gaps that we don't currently have." The project began in 2022, and data collection will be ongoing until 2032.

BC's sunflower sea stars are now endangered, but rays of hope remain
BC's sunflower sea stars are now endangered, but rays of hope remain

Hamilton Spectator

time13-06-2025

  • Science
  • Hamilton Spectator

BC's sunflower sea stars are now endangered, but rays of hope remain

Sunflower sea stars clinging to life in BC's cold-water fjords are officially on the edge of extinction, a scientific advisory panel is warning. A once-abundant predator of the sea floor along the Pacific coast, stretching from Alaska to Baja California, Pycnopodia helianthoides, has been assessed as endangered by the federal Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). While disheartening, the decision isn't unexpected and could offer a margin of hope for the survival of the massive, vibrant sea star, said Alyssa Gehman, marine ecologist with the Hakai Institute. The only type of its genus, an adult sunflower star Pycnopodia (which comes in a variety of purple, orange or pinks) is one of the largest, fastest sea stars in the ocean, often reaching a metre wide with 16 to 24 arms. It has 15,000 tube feet that suspend it off the seafloor and allow it to move more than a metre per minute when on the prowl for prey, Gehman said. 'They kind of look like a hovercraft moving towards their food.' The species has suffered catastrophic population declines of 80 to 90 per cent in the last decade due to a marine epidemic known as sea star wasting disease that causes white lesions on the many-armed creatures before rapidly reducing them to mush. The wasting syndrome surfaced in 2013 along with spiking ocean temperatures caused by climate change, Gehman said. The disease attacks other types of sea stars as well, but it's decimated the sunflower variety, pushing them into virtual extinction in California and Mexican waters. Pockets of sunflower sea stars have found some refuge from the disease tucked away in the deep, cold inlets of the BC central coast, Gehman said. However, those remaining populations aren't immune to outbreaks and their chances of survival remain fragile. 'While [being endangered] is clearly bad news, the silver lining is that COSEWIC's acknowledgment might finally generate momentum to save Pycnopodia — whether that's in the form of funding, policy changes, or conservation programs,' Gehman said. The federal ministry of the environment and climate change will examine the committee's report in the fall to consider protecting the sunflower sea star under Canada's Species at Risk Act (SARA). It's illegal to kill, harm or capture wildlife listed under the act. Identifying critical habitat and devising a recovery strategy, complete with timelines and outcomes, is also required for a protected species. 'I hope it's a speedy process because there's real urgency,' Gehman said. 'From a conservation perspective, even though we have these really amazing refuge populations that give us a lot of hope, they're not stable … So, the more we can learn about what is happening with them, the more that can help us to try and conserve the species.' The sunflower sea stars are carnivores that play an important role in ocean health, said Gehman. Their primary prey is sea urchins which, if left unchecked by predators, can mow down kelp forests that offer food and shelter for lots of different marine life. Gehman and other researchers are monitoring between six and 12 fjords to pinpoint the conditions that offer sunflower sea stars the most protection against the disease. Water chilled and churned up by Arctic winter winds channelled into the inlets seems to buffer the impacts, she said. In warmer weather, glacial melt creates a freshwater surface layer in the fjords. Since Pycnopodia don't like fresh water, the sea stars move deeper into saltier, colder water layers, which appears to slow but not completely prevent outbreaks, Gehman said. Typically, sunflower stars in other areas of the coast prefer water temperatures around 16 C. But now it appears that water temperatures must be less than 12 C to limit the spread of the pathogen. 'The disease is actually changing what temperature would be best for them,' Gehman said. The sea stars haven't adapted quickly enough to the disease to consistently avoid warmer waters, which makes understanding the factors at play in their cold-water hideouts critical for their survival, she said. Research is taking place south of the border to breed sunflower sea stars that are more resistant to the wasting disease, so they can potentially be released into the wild to repopulate marine areas. In future, Gehman wants to study other kinds of sea stars — like the purple or orange ochre sea stars on the West Coast— that have better withstood the withering disease in a bid for clues scientists could use to help out their much larger cousins. Identifying and protecting coastal fjords that offer the best conditions for sunflower sea stars is also an important step. Although the Pycnopodia situation is grave, Gehman says she recently experienced a rare and magical moment when the research team witnessed a massive spawning event involving 20 to 30 sea stars, while surveying one of the fjords. 'It's absolutely wild,' Gehman said, The sunflower sea stars have pores that circle the centre of their body. The marine creatures stretch upward on extended arms and arch their bodies, with females releasing masses of pinkish eggs while males emit white clouds of sperm. 'Only the tips of their arms are on the bottom with their middle body tented up into the water column,' she said. 'There were some absolutely giant animals. It kind of looks like there's a halo of pores on them, and everything is pouring out into the water — it's really surreal.' The spawning event is a hopeful sign these cold-water strongholds can offer the endangered species some measure of resiliency from climate change and disease, she said. But the situation remains tenuous and variable, said Gehman, noting on the same trip researchers found sunflower sea stars had been wiped out in one inlet but had bounced back in another. 'So, scientifically, we're learning a lot while also being sad,' she said. Rochelle Baker/Local Journalism Initiative/Canada's National Observer Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .

BC's sunflower sea stars are now endangered, but rays of hope remain
BC's sunflower sea stars are now endangered, but rays of hope remain

National Observer

time10-06-2025

  • Science
  • National Observer

BC's sunflower sea stars are now endangered, but rays of hope remain

Sunflower sea stars clinging to life in BC's cold-water fjords are officially on the edge of extinction, a scientific advisory panel is warning. A once-abundant predator of the sea floor along the Pacific coast, stretching from Alaska to Baja California, Pycnopodia helianthoides, has been assessed as endangered by the federal Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). While disheartening, the decision isn't unexpected and could offer a margin of hope for the survival of the massive, vibrant sea star, said Alyssa Gehman, marine ecologist with the Hakai Institute. The only type of its genus, an adult sunflower star Pycnopodia (which comes in a variety of purple, orange or pinks) is one of the largest, fastest sea stars in the ocean, often reaching a metre wide with 16 to 24 arms. It has 15,000 tube feet that suspend it off the seafloor and allow it to move more than a metre per minute when on the prowl for prey, Gehman said. 'They kind of look like a hovercraft moving towards their food.' The species has suffered catastrophic population declines of 80 to 90 per cent in the last decade due to a marine epidemic known as sea star wasting disease that causes white lesions on the many-armed creatures before rapidly reducing them to mush. Sunflower sea stars clinging to life in BC's cold-water fjords are officially on the edge of extinction, a Canadian scientific advisory panel warns. The wasting syndrome surfaced in 2013 along with spiking ocean temperatures caused by climate change, Gehman said. The disease attacks other types of sea stars as well, but it's decimated the sunflower variety, pushing them into virtual extinction in California and Mexican waters. Pockets of sunflower sea stars have found some refuge from the disease tucked away in the deep, cold inlets of the BC central coast, Gehman said. However, those remaining populations aren't immune to outbreaks and their chances of survival remain fragile. 'While [being endangered] is clearly bad news, the silver lining is that COSEWIC's acknowledgment might finally generate momentum to save Pycnopodia — whether that's in the form of funding, policy changes, or conservation programs,' Gehman said. The federal ministry of the environment and climate change will examine the committee's report in the fall to consider protecting the sunflower sea star under Canada's Species at Risk Act (SARA). It's illegal to kill, harm or capture wildlife listed under the act. Identifying critical habitat and devising a recovery strategy, complete with timelines and outcomes, is also required for a protected species. 'I hope it's a speedy process because there's real urgency,' Gehman said. 'From a conservation perspective, even though we have these really amazing refuge populations that give us a lot of hope, they're not stable … So, the more we can learn about what is happening with them, the more that can help us to try and conserve the species.' The sunflower sea stars are carnivores that play an important role in ocean health, said Gehman. Their primary prey is sea urchins which, if left unchecked by predators, can mow down kelp forests that offer food and shelter for lots of different marine life. Gehman and other researchers are monitoring between six and 12 fjords to pinpoint the conditions that offer sunflower sea stars the most protection against the disease. Water chilled and churned up by Arctic winter winds channelled into the inlets seems to buffer the impacts, she said. In warmer weather, glacial melt creates a freshwater surface layer in the fjords. Since Pycnopodia don't like fresh water, the sea stars move deeper into saltier, colder water layers, which appears to slow but not completely prevent outbreaks, Gehman said. Typically, sunflower stars in other areas of the coast prefer water temperatures around 16 C. But now it appears that water temperatures must be less than 12 C to limit the spread of the pathogen. 'The disease is actually changing what temperature would be best for them,' Gehman said. The sea stars haven't adapted quickly enough to the disease to consistently avoid warmer waters, which makes understanding the factors at play in their cold-water hideouts critical for their survival, she said. Research is taking place south of the border to breed sunflower sea stars that are more resistant to the wasting disease, so they can potentially be released into the wild to repopulate marine areas. In future, Gehman wants to study other kinds of sea stars — like the purple or orange ochre sea stars on the West Coast— that have better withstood the withering disease in a bid for clues scientists could use to help out their much larger cousins. Identifying and protecting coastal fjords that offer the best conditions for sunflower sea stars is also an important step. Although the Pycnopodia situation is grave, Gehman says she recently experienced a rare and magical moment when the research team witnessed a massive spawning event involving 20 to 30 sea stars, while surveying one of the fjords. 'It's absolutely wild,' Gehman said, The sunflower sea stars have pores that circle the centre of their body. The marine creatures stretch upward on extended arms and arch their bodies, with females releasing masses of pinkish eggs while males emit white clouds of sperm. 'Only the tips of their arms are on the bottom with their middle body tented up into the water column,' she said. 'There were some absolutely giant animals. It kind of looks like there's a halo of pores on them, and everything is pouring out into the water — it's really surreal.' The spawning event is a hopeful sign these cold-water strongholds can offer the endangered species some measure of resiliency from climate change and disease, she said. But the situation remains tenuous and variable, said Gehman, noting on the same trip researchers found sunflower sea stars had been wiped out in one inlet but had bounced back in another. 'So, scientifically, we're learning a lot while also being sad,' she said.

These sea stars were nearly wiped out — but B.C. researchers say fiords provided refuge
These sea stars were nearly wiped out — but B.C. researchers say fiords provided refuge

CBC

time03-04-2025

  • Science
  • CBC

These sea stars were nearly wiped out — but B.C. researchers say fiords provided refuge

Social Sharing B.C. researchers have found that the fiords of the Central Coast may be providing refuge for the critically endangered sunflower sea star, a discovery that could have implications for wider ecosystems at risk due to warming seas. Nine out of 10 sea stars have been wiped out since 2013 due to sea star wasting disease, which has led to a mass death of the animals along North America's West Coast, from Alaska to Mexico. The sunflower sea star is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. While the exact cause of the disease is unknown, scientists say it's had major ripple effects, as sunflower sea stars eat sea urchins and perform an important role in keeping those populations in check. Without them, urchins have flourished and been able to eat kelp forests, which further destabilizes marine ecosystems. Now, after years of diving along B.C.'s Central Coast, researchers have found many healthy adult colonies of sunflower sea stars in the fiords there. Alyssa Gehman, a scientist with the Hakai Institute and an adjunct professor at the University of B.C., co-authored a paper on the findings. What they found, she said, is that while sea star wasting disease has been found in fiords and sea stars have died there, the mortality rate is far lower than elsewhere in the ocean. Researchers suspect the difference has something to do with water temperature. In fiords — long, narrow, and deep inlets often found between high cliffs along the central and north coasts — the ocean tends to be cooler than elsewhere. Gehman said the research team was first alerted to the large number of sunflower sea stars in fiords by Central Coast Indigenous Resource Alliance divers who were looking for rockfish — and the two groups ended up collaborating on the final research paper. "When we looked at the oceanography ... we found that where the sea stars are, it's colder," Gehman told Darius Mahdavi, CBC's science specialist. "That's our next thing, is trying to figure out exactly what that temperature relationship is, and how that's working." Changes in seasons Jeff Sha, an aquarium biologist at the Vancouver Aquarium who wasn't involved in the study, said scientists have evidence that sea star wasting disease thrives in warmer water. "The higher the temperature, the more likely the onset of the disease, and the harder it is for an infected sea star to come back from that," he said. "As temperatures are rising along our coastlines ... we've had a couple of heat domes in the last decade, each of those events basically was another round of devastation for the population." Gehman said in the fiords, Arctic outflow conditions create cold winds in the winters, cooling the water and making the environment higher in oxygen, which is good for sea stars. "In the summer, when it's hot, there's glacial runoff that comes through," she said. "And it's so fascinating, but it creates essentially a little freshwater river on the surface of the fiord." Sha said sea stars don't like fresh water, which means they'll go deeper and into the colder water. "The researchers are hypothesizing that that's kind of what's giving them a little bit of a refuge away from the warmer temperature zone, and keeping them healthy from the wasting disease," he said. Implications for recovery efforts Sha said sunflower sea stars, in particular, are a ferocious predator for sea urchins — and without them, there's been devastating effects for other species. "Sea urchin populations have boomed on our coast, causing a decline in our algae and our kelp forest, which then removes habitats for rockfish and all these beautiful animals that we have," the biologist said. WATCH | Some sea stars released into the wild: Sunflower sea stars released into the wild after disease stunted population 7 months ago Duration 4:13 Over the past decade, disease has killed off around five billion sunflower sea stars, disrupting underwater ecosystems from Alaska to California. Now, the starfish are being released back into the wild around the San Juan Islands in Washington State. They're the first of their kind to have been bred in captivity by researchers at the University of Washington. Jason Hosin, a University of Washington marine biologist, shares more about his research. Gehman said some kelp forests along B.C.'s coast have been reduced to "urchin barrens," where all of the leafy portions of the kelp have been consumed by sea urchins. The scientist said that, as researchers look to raise sunflower sea stars in the laboratory and put them back in the ocean, their work in the fiords could be important — though she acknowledged that climate change will continue to affect whether fiords can remain a "refuge habitat" for the species. "There's hope that we could potentially raise stars that would be resistant to the disease," she said. "And this suggests that we need to pay attention to temperature when we're doing that work as well."

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