Wild Tobago

From burping lakes to sequestering whales, Anjani Ganase highlights some of the year’s recent environmental discoveries.   Humpback whale tail, Reunion Island. Credit:  François Baelen / Ocean Image Bank Bad breath from lakes Around the world, there has been an increase in the number of small lakes, observed between the 1980s and 2019. The total area of lakes around the world has increased by about 46,000 km 2 (roughly the area of Denmark).   This increase in lakes around the world, especially in the higher latitudes, is due to the melting permafrost and glaciers resulting in the formation of glacial lakes because of global warming, as well as the development of artificial reservoirs inland. Scientists were able to use remote sensing to map 3.4 million lakes and reservoirs around the world to determine their surface area and determine the changes over the last four decades. But why is this increase in lakes a concern for scientists? Lakes are known to emit gree...

The traditional 12 days of Christmas run from December 25 to January 6. Instead of dancing lords and ladies, and the partridge, or cornbird in the coconut tree, we bring you twelve views around Tobago with text and photos by Joanne Husain   For many of us, transitioning the threshold from the old year into the new year is marked with celebration and reflection. The coast is also a threshold; one we can engage every day of the year. Terrestrial and marine life converge in this liminal space where change is the only constant. As 2022 ebbs, let us appreciate and consider our coastlines as we prepare to flow into 2023, cleansed and revitalized!   Little Tobago and Goat Island on the horizon from Starwood Bay   Starwood Bay Untouched and untamed on the upper Atlantic coast is Starwood Bay. It is a 200 metre stretch of sand that mostly disappears at high tide. The sea here is often rough with dangerous currents. Exploring the beach for seashell treasu...

Far too often, we feel that uninhabited land is of no importance to anyone and its “use” displaces no one. Faraaz Abdool makes a plea for the visible and invisible creatures of Tobago’s Rocky Point peninsula. All photos by Faraaz Abdool. From space, it is a rough peninsula dotted with vegetation between two notable beaches – Mt Irvine and Stonehaven - on Tobago’s Caribbean coast. From a vehicle coasting along the contours of the smoothly surfaced Shirvan Road, Rocky Point’s largely undisturbed secrets pass by in seconds. A closer look reveals aspects of this easily ignored spit that can teach us about the significance of this location. If we aren’t careful, we could easily lose the habitat of some special Tobago birds. The dry forest at the side of the road is the typical near-coastal vegetation of southwest Tobago. Dominated by medium-height trees, only the loudest birds can be heard over the pounding surf. But the wind carries songs of the endearing Barred Ants...

Anjani Ganase considers space exploration and what it would take to colonise Mars   We have been fascinated with the exploration of space, but our ability to explore is only made possible by the comforts that planet Earth has afforded us.     Most astronauts that go out to space become even more appreciative of the world that has evolved to one rich in life in the vast and barren endlessness of space. While conversations of colonising another planet may seem glamorous and visionary, the reality of harsh foreign environments not made for earthlings and zero resources implies a life dedicated to survival and still completely dependent on Earth’s resources.   What do we need to survive on any planet? Here are the main ingredients for life – essential elements carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur and of course water as the major solvent and medium for transport. Everything from us to trees to corals are built on carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. We use c...

Anjani Ganase brings the latest biodiversity news: warning that systems are collapsing from the poles to the tropics; and that human intervention can make a difference.   The Maldives is an archipelagic state in the Indian Ocean. At the projected rate of sea level rise, these islands could disappear in the next 100 years.  Aerial view of the Maldives. Credit:  Ishan Hassan / Ocean Image Bank   The tale of vanishing snow crabs   In Alaska, the snow crab harvest in October was cancelled suddenly over fears of a crash in the snow crab population in the Bering Strait. The sudden drop in population came as a surprise to both fisherfolk and scientists alike after the booming population of over 11 billion crabs surveyed in 2018 as part of the annual shellfish assessment program me done by the Alaska Fisheries Science Centre, NOAA.   The snow crab population in 2018 - was this the first warning? - was way above average but by 2019, th...