Wolves hunting otters, and chemical weathering in a warming world

Science Magazine Podcast

Science Podcast

News Commentary, News, Science

4.2 • 791 Ratings

🗓️ 26 January 2023

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this week’s show: When deer are scarce these wolves turn to sea otters, and chemical weathering of silicates acts as a geological thermostat First up on this week’s show we have a story about a group of Alaskan wolves that has switched to eating sea otters as deer populations have dwindled. Science journalist Jack Tamisiea tells host Sarah Crespi about some of the recently published work on this diet shift, and wildlife biologist Gretchen Roffler weighs in on the conditions on the island where this is happening. Also on this week’s show: Chemical weathering and the global carbon cycle. Sarah speaks with Susan Brantley, Evan Pugh university professor in the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute and Department of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University, about how weathering of silicates in rocks pulls carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They talk about how this temperature-sensitive process could increase as Earth warms, as well as the potential and limitations of this effect on the global carbon budget. Take the podcast audience survey here. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast [Image: Landon Bazeley; Music: Jeffrey Cook] [alt: Wolf pup pulling a sea otter carcass up a rocky beach with podcast symbol overlay] Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Jack Tamisiea Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:36.6	Visit peak scientific.com and quote science podcast to receive special offers. Morgan State University, a Baltimore, Maryland,
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1:07.1	Carnegie R1 designation in the next five years. To learn more about Morgan and their ascension to R1, visit morgan.edu slash research.
1:22.5	This is the science podcast for January 27, 2023. I'm Sarah Cresby.
1:28.5	First up this week, wolves have been shown to turn to otters as their main meal when they no
1:33.9	longer have deer to eat.
1:35.8	I talk with freelance science writer Jack Tamasea and researcher Gretchen Roffler about
1:40.3	this unexpected behavior.
1:42.3	Next up, how rocks turning to soil over geological time takes carbon out of the air.
1:48.8	Susan Brantley joins me to discuss how this carbon capture depends on the temperature and can
1:53.7	be affected by climate change.
2:00.7	Now we have freelance science writer Jack Temasea. He wrote a story this week on wolves running out of deer to eat and turning to an otter-based diet instead. Hi, Jack. Welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, Sarah. I'm excited to talk about this. We actually have talked about wolves on islands a few
	...

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