4 . The number of fish caught just outside a recently expanded marine (海洋) protected area in Hawaii has risen. It is a sign that quadrupling (四倍) the size of the reserve in 2016 may have shored fish populations in the region.

When the Marine National Monument around Hawaii was enlarged to 1,510,000 square kilometers, marine conservationists around the world rejoiced.

Fishers may have felt differently, however, as fishing inside the area is not allowed. Yet by creating a space for dwindling tuna populations to recover, supporters argued, the reserve would benefit fisheries as well.

As populations inside the reserve boundaries steadily increased, they predicted, the fish would spill (溢出) over into the surrounding areas, increasing the amount of tuna available to catch.

Proving that is tricky, however, as tuna can’t be counted directly. Their numbers may rise or fall for a variety of reasons other than the expansion of a reserve. But the new study, published in Science this week, strongly suggests the number of fish caught just outside the MPA is higher now than it used to be.

Alan Friedlander, chief scientist for the National Geographic Society’s Pristine Seas project, calls the study a “very careful and strict test of spillover from marine protected areas.”

Importantly, says John Lynham, an environmental economist at the University of Hawaii and one of the study’s authors, the increase in tuna catches near the reserve held up even when looking at the average numbers caught by particular fishers. This shows the effect is not due to more effective crews now fishing local waters, he explains. To account for effort, catch numbers were divided by the ever-increasing number of fishing hooks in the area.

Lynham and colleagues found the catch per hook increased over the 10 years of the study. Fishers were catching on average six more yellowfin and five more bigeye tuna per year after the expansion than before.

“That last one, especially, was a surprise,” says Lynham, “because it is economically much more important, and there were fewer indications of an increase.”

5 .    

Endangered Species Youth Art Contest

2023 Contest Now Open!

Join us for our 6th annual Endangered Species Youth Art Contest! In celebration of Endangered Species Day (May 19, 2023), Roger Williams Park Zoo is accepting art entries from local K-12 grade students in the New England area showing threatened and endangered species. Together we hope to raise awareness about the importance of saving endangered species and their wild habitats.

Winners will be formally announced by May 2023.

Rules & Art Submission Instructions:

▲All entries are to be submitted electronically. Web form will be made available beginning February 1,2023.

▲Students’   artworks must be original. Computer-produced images will NOTbe judged.

▲All artworks must be about threatened/endangered species.

▲Each art entry must also include a short explanation (3-5 sentences) as to why saving your chosen species from extinction is important.

Deadline: Entries must be received by Sunday, April 2,2023. Late entries will not be judged.

2023 Art Contest Prizes

GRAND PRIZE(Judges Choice)

▲One Family RWPZoo membership (a S149 value; or extra year added to current Zoo membership)

▲An adopt-an-animal package of your choice

▲One $100 gift card

GRADE CATEGORY WINNERS (Grades K-2, Grades 3-12)

Each grade-winner shall receive:

★Six General daytime admission tickets to RWPZoo

★One $25 gift card

HONORABLE MENTIONS (Grades K-2,Grades 3-12)

Each grade-honorable mention shall receive:

·Four General daytime admission tickets to RWPZoo

·An award certificate

All winning artworks will be highlighted on the Zoo’s website and social media pages, and in the Zoo’s summer WILD Magazine issue.

Our planet is heating up due to something       1    (call) the greenhouse effect. This is one of the reasons why Earth is seeing more extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, forest fires and floods each year. But what exactly is the greenhouse effect, and       2    can we do to reduce it?

Let’s first think about a greenhouse – you may have one in your garden! It’s a glass structure that protects       3    (plant) against low temperatures by trapping heat inside. But, while this helps your plants grow, Earth is trapping heat in     4    same way, and it’s causing global warming. When fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, are burnt for power, carbon dioxide is released as a waste product. It     5    (enter) the atmosphere and acts like a blanket around the planet, which means heat radiation can’t escape and the temperature increases.

The impact of gases on the Earth’s climate was first investigated in the 1820s. Eunice Foote, a scientist and women’s rights activist, tested the effects of sunlight on different gases that she put into glass cylinders. Her results       6    (show) that carbon dioxide traps heat more       7    other gases. The idea of the greenhouse effect was born.

So, what can we do     8    (reduce) the greenhouse effect? The UN recommends using more energy-efficient electrical appliances at home and switching to LED lightbulbs. Also, by washing your clothes at 30° instead of a       9    (high) temperature, around 40% less electricity is used over a year, according to the Energy Saving Trust. A change in diet is also something to consider. The charity A Well-Fed World, claim that plant-based foods, as opposed to meat and dairy, need less land and water to be produced. So, switching saves energy and lowers emissions,       10     contribute to climate change.

We only have one planet, so let’s try and take care of it as much as we can.

8 . A new study led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School has found that climate-impact labeling on a sample fast food menu significantly influenced people’s food choices in favor of more climate-friendly items, such as vegetarian diet, chicken, or fish dishes.

The researchers enrolled over 5,000 online participants and presented them a sample menu resembling a fast food menu and asked them to choose a single item for a meal. While one group of participants received a menu with non-red meat items like salads or chicken sandwiches labeled “low climate impact”, another one received a menu with red meat items, such as beef burgers, labeled “high climate impact.” Finally, a third control group received a menu with QR codes on all items but no climate labels.

The analysis revealed that both the high and low climate-impact labels significantly reduced red meat selections compared to the control group. The high climate-impact labels had a strong effect, increasing non-beef choices by 23 percent compared to just 10 percent in the case of menus including low climate-impact labels.

“These results suggest that menu labeling, particularly labels warning that an item has high climate impact, can be an effective strategy for encouraging more sustainable food choices in a fast food setting,” said the study lead author Julia Wolfson, an associate professor in the Department of International Heath at the Bloomberg School.

Besides, participants were also asked to rate how healthy they believed the item they ordered was, and those who selected a more sustainable item perceived their choice to be healthier compared to those who selected a red meat item.

Since red meat consumption has been linked to a variety of health issues, including colorectal (结肠的) cancer and type 2 diabetes (糖尿病), the type of climate-impact labeling could prove highly effective in preventing illness. However, as the researchers warn, climate-impact labels may also have the unwanted side effect of making a choice seem healthier than it actually is.

“We look for labeling strategies that create ‘win-wins’ for promoting both more sustainable and healthier choices,” Wolfson concluded.

    1     (work) on building sites for over 20 years, Hua Shankui, 59, had never imagined he’d become an expert on planting grass. But this was     2     happened on a construction site he’s working on in Wuhan, Hubei Province.

The 18-hectare construction site of the Huashan section of Wuhan Metro Line 19 is situated near an ecological reserve. Efforts had to be made     3     (ensure) that the local environment would not be compromised. To reduce pollution, using dust nets to cover bare soil is a normal practice on construction sites. However, a     4     (decide) was made at the Huashan site to plant grass on the soil, a more eco-friendly method.

When Hua     5     (give) the task of leading a grass planting team, he knew nothing about gardening. The first question facing     6     team was what kind of grass they should plant. Hua turned to local gardeners,     7     recommended carpet grass, a species     8     (common) planted in urban landscaping.

However, months     9     planting the grass, few seeds of carpet grass grew roots as the soil at the site contains too many small stones. He tried different varieties of grass. After conducting     10     (repeat) experiments on a small piece of land, Hua found rye grass (黑麦草) to be the right species. Hua and his colleagues started to plant rye grass. Four months later, the piece of brown soil was covered in green grass, adding life to the construction site while cleaning the air.