A roundup of news items related to climate change and other environmental issues in Florida:
New UF report says it’s unclear if fertilizer bans stop pollution. Not everyone agrees | Tampa Bay Times
A highly anticipated new report from the University of Florida argues there isn’t enough research to determine whether seasonal fertilizer bans help stop pollution from dumping into Florida waterways.
It’s a claim that questions a tool that scores of local Florida governments, including nearly two dozen in Pinellas County, have used for years in an effort to improve water quality.
The state-commissioned report by the university’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, born from a lobbying effort by the TruGreen lawn care company, also suggests a widespread, potentially years-long study is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of fertilizer bans.
The race to breed ‘supercoral’ to save us from climate doom | Daily Beast
A brutal heat wave, intensified by accelerating global climate change, turned the shallow waters around the Florida Keys into the ecological equivalent of hot bathwater this summer — shocking, and possibly killing, entire swathes of the Keys’ fragile coral reefs.
The death toll startled marine biologists who were already struggling to protect the reefs, the countless sea creatures they shelter, and the coastal communities they support. The losses lit a fire under the small community of specialists who are racing against man-made climate change to help the reefs adapt to hotter waters.
“We need to give reefs the best chance to get over a decades-long period of climate stress,” Andrew Baker, director of the Coral Reef Futures Lab at the University of Miami, told The Daily Beast.
Rare right whales are roaming back around, right around now | Florida Today
One of the world’s most endangered whales species is off to a bright start in 2024.
At least two North Atlantic right whale calves are already spouting off in North Florida’s nearshore waters, as they and their mammas head toward the Space Coast on their typical migratory trek to southern waters.
But with fewer than 400 right whales remaining, the nine born so far this calving season are less than a fifth of what conservationists say needs to be born yearly to keep the species afloat.
If you have any news items of note that you think we should include in our next roundup, please email The Invading Sea Editor Nathan Crabbe at ncrabbe@fau.edu. Sign up for The Invading Sea newsletter by visiting here.
