in that case climate change, deforestation, intensive agriculture And urban invasion they were small Critically endangered Bornean orangutans face another additional danger: smoke from wildfiresboth natural and man-made, causing them serious health problems.
This tropical peat bogs They are the points where the biggest fires in the world were recorded. greenhouse gasestoxic smoke and particulate-rich fog.
The risks to human health from wildfire smoke are well known, but the effects on wildlife living in these ecosystems have not been adequately studied.
in 2015, Swamp fires in Borneo they created a thick fog of smoke that covered the area. A team of scientists investigated the effects of smoke on the long speech vocalizations of four adult male Borneo orangutans.Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii) in a peat swamp forest. The results were published in the journal ‘iScience’.
During the smoky period, orangutans searched less and reduced sound quality (lower pitch, higher roughness and distortions, and more nonlinear phenomena), similar to changes reported in human smokersaccording to researchers.
Most of these changes persisted for two months after the smoke cleared. Scientists believe this fact shows. great harm to animal health.
Soil tests show that Wildfires have occurred in Borneo for millennia, but in recent years they have become more frequent and intense due to deforestation and peatland drainage..
Smoker-like noises
During fires and when there is smoke, “animals move less to save energy.” They travel less, rest more, and consume more calories, according to the study’s lead author, Wendy Erb, of Cornell University’s Lisa Yang Center for Ornithology.
When there is smoke in the environment, “orangutans do not make as much noise as they used to and their voice is equivalent to the voice of a smoker. Their voices are deeper, rougher, and more tremulous. These sound traits have been associated with inflammation, stress, and diseases, including covid, in human and non-human animals.Erb adds.
Increased frequency and severity of forest fires In Indonesia, as in other parts of the world, often related to climate change.
The occurrence of forest fires in Indonesia is also closely related to forest fires. El Niño warm-up cycles in the Pacific Ocean. But unlike other types of wildfires, peat fires can burn underground for weeks. extremely high hazardous gas and particulate emissions.
Erb worked with a team from the Tuanan Orangutan Research Program to collect data on adult males in Borneo. During the fire season, the area experienced the highest concentrations of particulate matter: the daily average increased by nearly 12 times the amount classified as harmful to human health by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The orangutan is well known to scientists as ‘.indicator types‘, Because your health and behavior reflect the quality of your environment. “Increasingly frequent and prolonged exposure to toxic fumes can have serious consequences for orangutans and other animals,” the researchers say.
dangerous particles
Erb says the study results support the “urgent need” to understand the long-term and indirect effects of Indonesian peatland fires “beyond the sudden loss of forests and forest inhabitants.”
“Uncovering links between acoustic, behavioral and energetic changes in orangutans, this research could help scientists and wildlife managers safely monitor the health of these orangutans.” critically endangered species using non-invasive acoustic methods,” he says.
I see great potential for it. passive acoustic monitoring Deepening our understanding of the effects of wildfire smoke on wildlife populations around the world.”
Peat fires destroy forest habitats, release greenhouse gases and produce dangerous particulate matter, the world’s leading cause of pollution-related deaths..
In 2015, Indonesia experienced the most severe combustion and smoke pollution activity since then. Catastrophic wildfires during the 1997 El Niño droughtsWhen 24,000 square kilometers of peatland are burned, 12% of the total area. It is a surface similar to that of the Commonwealth of Valencia (23,255 square kilometers).
Two studies estimated five years ago Toxic smog in 2015 caused between 12,000 and 100,000 premature human deathshowever, little research has been done on the effects on wildlife populations living in these habitats.
The unexpected loss to scientists of around 100,000 Borneo orangutans from pristine forests in Kalimantan between 1999 and 2015 shows that: habitat loss alone does not explain species decline. And toxic fumes may have a lot to do with these deaths: It’s suffocating the species.
Reference report: https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(23)01165-3
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