Land Development Releases Greenhouse Gases

Land use change releases stored carbon and should be counted under Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reporting.  

Example of a wildflower meadow (left) that was bulldozed to create a parking lot (right). This land use change results in direct emissions of stored soil carbon and plant biomass, as well as continuing opportunity costs: the meadow can no longer accumulate sequestered carbon. If this land is owned by the developing company, this would count as Scope 1 Emissions under GHG reporting requirements.

New GHG reporting standards for land use change are due to be finalized in 2024. According to these new standards,

"Companies shall:

-Account for land use change emissions from land carbon stock decreases across all carbon pools (biomass, soil organic carbon and dead organic matter).

-Account for and report direct land use change (dLUC) emissions or statistical land use change (sLUC) emissions in scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3."

This is important because, according to the IPCC AR6 (2023), land use change accounts for approximately 15% of anthropogenic emissions.  Interestingly, the parts of the land and ocean that have not been developed by humans still absorb 30% of our emissions.  As we degrade more and more land and water, the Earth loses this buffering capacity, in addition to the extra emissions created from land use change.

UV Florescence

 iNat has a great project dedicated to UV florescence.  

Fluorescence generally means you’re absorbing one wavelength and emitting another. most UV flashlights emit light that is mostly invisible to humans, except for maybe a little that folks would describe as purple or pale blue.

So if you shine a UV light on something and see other colors emerge, you’ve almost certainly got fluorescence. but if you see the same purple or pale blue that your flashlight emits, then it’s possible that’s just reflection.

From left to right: visible light, UVIVF, and UV reflected light.  From: https://www.wildflower.org/magazine/native-plants/a-different-light

This article with beautiful UV and visible light photos helped me understand the difference between UV reflective and UV-induced fluorescence (UVIVF) images. However, I think many people, including the author of that article, are still confused about the biological meaning of UVIVF. For example, the False Gromwell writeup implies that insects can see UVIVF to help find flowers that are otherwise inconspicuous.

But UVIVF is never normally visible…except maybe as an added glow. The best example is laundry detergent that makes whites brighter. By adding a UVIVF chemical to the detergent, clothes actually slightly glow in any UV light, making them appear brighter.  

Meme by apermar.  Veritaseum explains more on Youtube.

Photographs of UVIVF in darkness show the extra brightness we see in sunlight, but usually don’t notice.  However, UVIVF may be biologically important to some animals, such as scorpions, frogs, and flying squirrels.  Taboada et al. (2017) documented biofluorescence in response to UV light can contribute between 18 and 29% of the total light emitted from some species of tree frogs under natural, dimly lit conditions.  

Flying squirrels fluorescence is hypothesized to aid in camouflage against a backdrop of lichens emitting similar fluorescent spectra, or potentially in Batesian mimicry of co-occurring predatory owls with similar biofluorescent profiles.

Biofluorescence could be a useful tool to document amphibians where the small, cryptically colored, and/or nocturnally active species can be hard to locate among leaf litter or dense vegetation. 

The study of UV florescence is relatively new, with new discoveries being made every year.  For example, 2017 was the first documentation (published paper) of an amphibian with natural fluorescence. A 2020 paper then found fluorescence widespread among amphibians.  iNat users had documented fluorescent amphibian from frogs starting in 2018 and salamanders in 2021.

A photo I took with a 390-405 nm (just barely UV) blacklight.  Most UV photographers use a 365nm (UV-A) flashlight, sometimes with extra filters to block all of the blue and violet light. 

More discussion of florescence can be found on the iNat forum.  

Taboada, Carlos; Brunetti, Andrés E.; Pedron, Federico N.; Neto, Fausto Carnevale; Estrin, Darío A.; Bari, Sara E.; Chemes, Lucía B.; Lopes, Norberto Peporine; Lagorio, María G.; Faivovich, Julián (2017-03-13). "Naturally occurring fluorescence in frogs". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (14)

Lamb, J.Y.; M.P. Davis (2020). "Salamanders and other amphibians are aglow with biofluorescence". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 2821.