LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Authorities on Saturday continued their search for a man who went missing in Clear Lake after an early morning boating accident.
The man, whose name so far hasn’t been released, was in a boat with four other people offshore of Clearlake Oaks when the boat capsized shortly before 12:30 a.m. Saturday, as Lake County News has reported.
Radio reports described the missing man as a Black male in his 50s.
The man was reported to have been trying to rescue someone shortly before he disappeared.
The boat was recovered near the Clearlake Oaks boat launch and removed from the scene early Saturday morning.
Lt. Corey Paulich of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office told Lake County News that the sheriff’s Marine Patrol had searched for the man throughout the day on Saturday but hadn’t located him.
Paulich said the search will continue on Sunday morning.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
What's up for June? A partial solar eclipse, the scorpion's sting and June is for Juno!
Following last month's total lunar eclipse, June brings us a solar eclipse. On June 10, the moon will slip briefly between Earth and the sun, partially obscuring our local star from view.
Whereas May's lunar eclipse was best viewed around the Pacific, this month's solar eclipse will be a treat for those in the northeast U.S., eastern Canada and Northern Europe.
For U.S. viewers, this is a sunrise event, with the moon already appearing to have taken a bite out of the sun as it's rising. So you'll want to find a clear view toward the eastern horizon to observe it.
Those farther to the north and east will see more of the sun obscured by the moon. For those in northern Europe, it's more of a lunchtime eclipse.
Wherever you are, please review eclipse safety practices, and never look at the sun without proper protection for your eyes.
On summer evenings, you may notice a curved grouping of stars crawling across the southern sky, among them a brilliant red beacon. This is the constellation Scorpius, the scorpion, and beginning in June, it's the prime time to look for it.
This grouping of stars has been thought of as having the shape of a scorpion going back to ancient times in the Mediterranean and Middle East.
In the Greek myth, the scorpion's deadly sting brought down the great hunter Orion, and that's why — the story goes — we find them on opposite sides of the sky today.
This pattern of stars also been seen as part of a great dragon, in China, and the fish hook of the demigod Maui in Hawaii. That fish hook shape also forms the tail of the scorpion.
At the beginning of June, if you're in the northern hemisphere, the scorpion's tail might still be below the horizon for you, early in the evening. It rises over the first few hours after dark. But by the end of the month, the scorpion's tail will be above the horizon after sunset for most stargazers.
That bright, beacon-like star in Scorpius is Antares, which is a huge red giant star, and one of the brightest in the sky. It forms the blazing heart of the scorpion. So look toward the south and use Antares as your guide to find the constellation Scorpius.
Finally, this month, you'll remember back in December, when Jupiter and Saturn had their incredibly close meetup in the sky.
In the run-up to that "Great Conjunction," Jupiter led Saturn across the sky all through 2020.
Well, six months later, the pair continue to move farther apart, and now Saturn has the lead position as the two planets rise and set. Look for them in the east after midnight, or toward the south at dawn.
And for more Jupiter excitement in June, NASA's Juno spacecraft is making its next close flyby over Jupiter on June 8, and this time it will also make a low-altitude flyby over the planet-sized, icy moon Ganymede on June 7.
This is the first of several planned flybys of the Jovian moons by Juno, over the next couple of years, that include encounters with icy Europa and volcanic Io!
You can catch up on all of NASA's missions to explore the solar system and beyond at nasa.gov.
Preston Dyches works for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom selected the first 15 lucky Californians to be awarded $50,000 for doing their part in getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
The $750,000 awarded in Friday’s randomized drawing is part of California’s new $116.5 million Vax for the Win program — the largest vaccine incentive program in the nation — which includes $50 incentive cards to newly vaccinated residents and cash prize drawings for all who have received at least one dose.
This historic program is designed to motivate Californians to get vaccinated leading up to the state’s reopening on June 15.
"California has made incredible progress in the fight against COVID-19, with the lowest case rates in the entire country and millions more vaccines administered than any other state. But we aren't stopping there, we're doing everything it takes to get Californians vaccinated as we approach June 15 to help us safely reopen and bring the state roaring back,” said Gov. Newsom.
Since Vax for the Win launched, roughly a million vaccine doses have been recorded, including roughly 350,000 Californians newly starting their vaccination process.
In total, California has administered more than 38 million vaccines, ranked No. 8 in the world.
California has administered 15.4 million more doses than any other state and more than 70 percent of the adult population has received at least one dose.
“We are making another push to get more Californians vaccinated against COVID-19,” said Dr. Tomás J. Aragón, CDPH director and state Public Health officer. “With more than 70 percent of adults having already received at least one dose, the Vax for the Win program is the creative approach we need to make that final push for those who remain unvaccinated.”
More than 21 million Californians aged 12 and older are at least partially vaccinated and automatically entered to win in the cash prize drawings.
The second $50,000 drawing will take place on Friday, June 11, when an additional 15 Californians will be selected.
On June 15, when California safely reopens, 10 winners will be selected to receive $1.5 million each — adding up to a total of $15 million in cash prizes.
On top of that, the two million newly-vaccinated Californians who get their dose since Vax for the Win launched will be eligible to receive $50 prepaid and grocery cards.
Winners from Friday’s drawing live throughout the state in the following counties: Mendocino, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Alameda, San Diego, San Francisco, Orange and San Luis Obispo.
They start being notified directly by the California Department of Public Health within hours of the drawing and over the next four days by telephone, text, email or other contact information associated with the person’s record in the state’s vaccine registry.
To protect their privacy, all winners will have the option to accept their cash prize while remaining anonymous or decline it altogether.
Winners must complete their vaccination in order to claim their prize. If someone under 18 wins, the cash will be put in a savings account for them until they turn 18.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — As temperatures heat up in the mid to late spring and summer begins to draws near, vibrant pink to fuchsia to violet wildflowers, some with highlights of red to white, begin to show up in profusion and bid a “farewell to spring,” which is the name of one aptly-name species of clarkia that graces us in Lake County.
There are 18 different species of clarkia identified as growing in Lake County, according to CalFlora, with different blooming periods that can last from January through September and each with their slightly different bloom times, colors, petal shapes, and soil/sun preferences.
If you’re looking for a native wildflower to add to your gardens that doesn’t require a lot of water, clarkia is a great choice and with a little irrigation, bloom times can be extended to early summer, with elegant clarkia blooming into the fall.
Most species of Clarkia thrive in well-drained clay soils or any dry soil that doesn't retain a lot of water and can grow well in sandy soils as long as they have full sun to partial shade.
All of the clarkia species play important roles in their local ecosystems as they provide habitat for native pollinators so are a good choice for your home gardens in Lake County.
Some pollinators even rely on clarkia exclusively, such as the “clarkia bee,” according to Wikipedia. They’re also used as host plants by some species as caterpillars, such as Sphingidae moths.
Seeds of the clarkia germinate easily when sown at the beginning of the rainy season and make a wonderful addition to your home gardens with gorgeous flowers and attractive reddish hued stems that require little to no water; ideal for our summer dry climate.
More information can be found here on the 18 species of clarkia in Lake County.
To see and learn more about the species of clarkia in Lake County, visit CalFlora.
Terre Logsdon is an environmentalist, certified master composter, and advocate for agroecology solutions to farming. An avid fan and protector of California wildflowers, plants, natural resources, and the environment, she seeks collaborative solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change. Kim Riley is retired, an avid hiker at Highland Springs, and has lived in Lake County since 1985. After 15 years of trail recovery and maintenance on the Highland Springs trails, she is now focused on native plants, including a native plant and pollinator garden on her property as well as promoting and preserving the beauty of the Highland Springs Recreation Area. Karen Sullivan has operated two nurseries to propagate and cultivate native plants and wildflowers, has lived in Kelseyville for the past 30 years, rides horses far and wide to see as many flowers as possible, and offers native plants and wildflowers for sale to the public. You can check her nursery stock here. They are collaborating on a book, Highland Springs Recreation Area: A Field Guide, which will be published in the future. In the meanwhile, please visit https://www.facebook.com/HighlandSpringsNaturalists and https://www.facebook.com/HighlandSpringsRecreationArea.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Firefighters and deputies searched overnight for a man reported missing after the boat he and several other people were riding in early Saturday overturned near Clearlake Oaks.
Firefighters were first dispatched to the boating accident shortly before 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
The initial call that reported the incident said that the boat overturned about 500 yards offshore of Island Drive.
Dispatch directed firefighters and deputies to respond to the Clearlake Oaks boat launch at 12684 Island Drive for the water rescue, according to radio traffic.
The sheriff’s Marine Patrol responded and the Northshore Dive Team was requested. A REACH helicopter also came to help search from the air.
Incident command reported over the air that five people had been in the boat and that three people had gotten to shore.
It was later reported that four people were accounted for, but that they were still searching for the fifth.
The missing person was described as a Black male in his 50s who was reported to have been trying to pull someone from the water when he was last seen.
Shortly after 2 a.m., incident command reported that they had still not located the missing man and that they needed a tow truck to help pull the overturned boat to shore because the Marine Patrol boats were having difficulty navigating in the shallow water.
About a half-hour later, incident command said that all rescue personnel were out of the water and they were planning to switch from a search to a recovery mission.
Additional information will be published as it becomes available.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
This is the first assignment I give students in my public health classes, filled with do-gooders passionate about saving the world. Their homework is to play a game called Plague, in which they pretend to be pathogens bent on infecting everyone on the globe before humans can develop a cure or a vaccine.
With COVID-19, thinking like a pathogen leads to an inevitable conclusion: Getting the vaccine out to everyone in the world as quickly as possible is not just an ethical imperative, but also a selfish one.
In the interim, SARS-CoV-2 will take advantage of this opening.
In reality, pathogens don’t actually want to kill all of their human hosts, because they would eventually have nowhere to live. Their goal is to pass on their genetic material to the next generation. They will do what they can to answer their evolutionary call.
A virus to-do list
Of course, viruses and bacteria don’t have brains so they don’t “think,” per se. But like all life forms, these particular living creatures are trying to maximize their chances of reproducing and having their offspring survive and reproduce.
As a single virus particle, you have two key items on the to-do list. First, you need a place to propagate. You need to reproduce yourself in large numbers, to increase the chances that one of your kids will do the right thing and provide you with some grandchildren. As a virus you are very good at this bit. No need to visit Tinder and find the perfect match, as you reproduce asexually. Instead you use the cellular machinery of your host – the human you infect – to reproduce yourself.
Second, you need a way to get from your current host to the next host that you will infect, otherwise known as transmission. For that you need both a portal of exit – the way to get out of your current host – and a portal of entry – the way to get into your next host. You need a susceptible host. And you need a way to travel to your next host.
Susceptible hosts? That was easy for SARS-CoV-2 when it first came on the scene. Because it was a novel pathogen, the entire global population was susceptible. No humans had full immunity to this particular virus from previous exposure, because it didn’t exist in human populations before 2019. Now, with each person who gets exposed or vaccinated, the number of susceptible hosts dwindles.
For a portal of exit, SARS-CoV-2 has a few options – mostly exhalation through breathing, but also through pooping and expelling other bodily fluids. For a portal of entry it has inhalation – the new host breathes it in – and to a lesser extent ingestion – the new host consumes it orally.
This means that transmission of this virus is relatively easy, involving an activity that people of all ages do all day: breathing. Other viruses require more specific activities or conditions, such as sexual intercourse or needle-sharing for HIV, or being bitten by a particular species of mosquito for Zika.
SARS-CoV-2 is one smart virus
SARS-CoV-2 has had a lot of things playing in its favor, aside from having a global population naïve to it. Several other characteristics make it particularly successful.
First, while it does kill, it can also cause mild or asymptomatic infections in others. When pathogens kill most of their hosts, they are not so successful in spreading, because humans change their behavior in response to the perceived threat of the disease.
Ebola is a perfect example. College students would have been more likely to cancel their spring break plans to Florida in 2020 if they had expected that it might cause them to bleed out of their eyeballs, as happens in some people infected with the Ebola virus.
SARS-CoV-2 also has a long incubation period – the time between its infection of a new host and the start of the host’s symptoms. Yet it can be transmitted during the time before symptoms occur, which allows it to spread unnoticed.
More transmission, more new variants
If you’re thinking like the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen now, you’re furiously searching for a way around current vaccine formulations. The more cases you cause, the more chances you have for new variants that can break through the vaccines. You don’t care whether these cases occur in Montana or Mumbai. This is why no human is safe from the pandemic until transmission is controlled everywhere.
Thinking like a pathogen requires thinking over an evolutionary time scale, which for a virus is very short, sometimes the course of a single human infection. SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses have astonishing powers to adapt to changing conditions.
One of their survival strategies is the built-in mistakes in their reproduction machinery that cause mutations. Occasionally, a mutation occurs that improves the ability of a virus to survive and spread.
This leads to new variants, like those we have seen emerge recently. So far, available vaccines appear effective against the variants. But new variants may reduce vaccine effectiveness, or lead to a need for booster shots. The increased transmissibility of the new variants has already likely made chances of reaching herd immunity through vaccination out of reach.
We watch in horror as the virus ravages India, and to some it may seem like a distant threat. But every new case offers another opportunity for a new variant to emerge and spread worldwide.
To outsmart the virus, we need shots in arms everywhere
That is why global access to vaccines is not only a moral imperative but also the only way to outsmart the virus. The U.S. can do a lot right now to ensure global access to vaccines even as we step up vaccination here.
The U.S. has already made substantial commitments to COVAX, a global collaboration to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines and guarantee equitable distribution.
The U.S. could channel additional funds now and pressure other countries to do the same. Funding commitments to COVAX may be hollow without a concurrent plan to quickly distribute the vaccine stockpile the U.S. has amassed as we raced to buy up the first available doses.
In addition to vaccination, the U.S. and other well-resourced countries can help increase the availability of testing in all countries. These countries can also provide technical and logistics assistance to improve vaccine rollout efforts and work to coordinate and improve global genomic surveillance so new variants are quickly identified.
If this all seems expensive, think of the crushing economic costs of going back into lockdown. This is no time to be cheap.
To avoid jeopardizing the effectiveness of the millions of shots going into arms in rich countries, we must get shots into the arms of people in all countries.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has a big and varied group of dogs waiting for new homes this week.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Airedale terrier, Belgian malinois, German shepherd, Great Pyrenees, husky, Labrador retriever, McNab, pit bull, Rottweiler and shepherd.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control website not listed are still “on hold”).
This male Airedale terrier has a curly tan and red coat.
He is estimated to be 10 years old.
He is in kennel No. 7, ID No. LCAC-A-889.
Male German shepherd
This male German shepherd has a medium-length black and tan coat.
He is 8 years old and 101 pounds.
He is in kennel No. 11, ID No. LCAC-A-879.
Female Rottweiler-shepherd
This female Rottweiler-shepherd mix has a medium-length black and red coat.
She is in kennel No. 12, ID No. 14575.
‘Indie’
“Indie” is a female German shepherd mix with a short black and tan coat.
She weighs 51 pounds and is estimated to be less than 1 year old.
She is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-768.
‘Stimpy’
“Stimpy” is a young female McNab mix with a medium-length white and brindle coat.
She is in kennel No. 14, ID No. 14570.
‘Ren’
“Ren” is a young male McNab mix with a short brindle and white coat.
He has been neutered.
He is in kennel No. 15, ID No. 14571.
Female Labrador retriever mix
This female Labrador retriever mix has a short black coat with white markings.
She is 3 years old and weighs 53 pounds.
She is in kennel No. 16, ID No. LCAC-A-850.
Female Belgian malinois
This young female Belgian malinois mix has a short brown brindle coat.
She is under 1-year-old and weighs 35 pounds.
She is in kennel No. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-842.
Female Great Pyrenees
This female Great Pyrenees has a medium-length white coat.
She is estimated to be 2 years old and 84 pounds.
She is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-892.
Female pit bull terrier
This female pit bull terrier has a short blue and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 22, ID No. 14486.
Rottweiler-pit bull mix
This female Rottweiler-pit bull mix has a short black coat.
She has been spayed.
She is in kennel No. 27, ID No. 14551.
‘Brutus’
“Brutus” is a male pit bull terrier with a short gray and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. 14507.
‘Apollo’
“Apollo” is a male husky mix with a medium-length red and white coat and blue eyes.
He is in kennel No. 31, ID No. 14569.
German shepherd mix puppy
This female German shepherd mix puppy has a short tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 34a, ID No. LCAC-A-839.
German shepherd mix puppy
This female German shepherd mix puppy has a short tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 34a, ID No. LCAC-A-840.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Mendocino College graduates enjoyed a free dinner and virtual commencement ceremony this year.
In April, a survey was sent to all graduating students to gather input about how best to celebrate their accomplishments this year. The response from the majority of students was that they preferred a virtual ceremony.
“This past year has forever changed our world. Despite all the adversities, our graduates exemplified the resiliency the world needs,” said Mendocino College Superintendent/President Tim Karas. “Our graduates are strong and will make the world a better place for everyone. We are very proud of our graduates! They will forever be an alumnus of Mendocino College and part of our family.”
Thanks to the Mendocino College Foundation, students were given a $50 dinner voucher to be used at a select group of participating local restaurants throughout the district. This allowed students to celebrate the actual day of graduation with a meal at home with their families while at the same time supporting local restaurants.
There will also be a listing of all 2021 graduates in a special magazine that will be circulated in both Lake and Mendocino counties.
Amy Adams, who received two AS degrees, one in business management and the other in business accounting, said, “Although I was sad not to be able to walk the stage for my very first time, I felt the college did their best to celebrate my accomplishments, even in the midst of a pandemic. To top it off, they provided a graduation dinner in partnership with various local vendors. I chose Taqueria Bravo in Willits, which was delicious and the manager was so sweet and congratulated me on my graduation.”
“The foundation is honored to provide financial support towards this year’s commencement activities. Now more than ever, it’s important that we sufficiently honor and recognize our 2021 Mendocino College graduates,” said Mendocino College Foundation Board President Tom Dow.
Mendocino College hopes to have a traditional in person commencement ceremony next year and will invite all 2020 and 2021 graduates to participate if they wish.
The recording of the 2021 virtual commencement ceremony can be viewed above.
The first of the gas-giant orbiter’s back-to-back flybys will provide a close encounter with the massive moon after over 20 years.
On Monday, June 7, at 10:35 a.m. Pacific Time, NASA’s Juno spacecraft will come within 645 miles of the surface of Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede.
The flyby will be the closest a spacecraft has come to the solar system’s largest natural satellite since NASA’s Galileo spacecraft made its penultimate close approach back on May 20, 2000.
Along with striking imagery, the solar-powered spacecraft’s flyby will yield insights into the moon’s composition, ionosphere, magnetosphere, and ice shell. Juno’s measurements of the radiation environment near the moon will also benefit future missions to the Jovian system.
Ganymede is bigger than the planet Mercury and is the only moon in the solar system with its own magnetosphere — a bubble-shaped region of charged particles surrounding the celestial body.
“Juno carries a suite of sensitive instruments capable of seeing Ganymede in ways never before possible,” said Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “By flying so close, we will bring the exploration of Ganymede into the 21st century, both complementing future missions with our unique sensors and helping prepare for the next generation of missions to the Jovian system — NASA’s Europa Clipper and ESA’s [European Space Agency’s] JUpiter ICy moons Explorer [JUICE] mission.”
Juno’s science instruments will begin collecting data about three hours before the spacecraft’s closest approach. Along with the Ultraviolet Spectrograph and Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper instruments, Juno’s Microwave Radiometer’s, or MWR, will peer into Ganymede’s water-ice crust, obtaining data on its composition and temperature.
“Ganymede’s ice shell has some light and dark regions, suggesting that some areas may be pure ice while other areas contain dirty ice,” said Bolton. “MWR will provide the first in-depth investigation of how the composition and structure of the ice varies with depth, leading to a better understanding of how the ice shell forms and the ongoing processes that resurface the ice over time.”
The results will complement those from ESA’s forthcoming JUICE mission, which will look at the ice using radar at different wavelengths when it becomes the first spacecraft to orbit a moon other than Earth’s Moon in 2032.
Signals from Juno’s X-band and Ka-band radio wavelengths will be used to perform a radio occultation experiment to probe the moon’s tenuous ionosphere (the outer layer of an atmosphere where gases are excited by solar radiation to form ions, which have an electrical charge).
“As Juno passes behind Ganymede, radio signals will pass through Ganymede’s ionosphere, causing small changes in the frequency that should be picked up by two antennas at the Deep Space Network’s Canberra complex in Australia,” said Dustin Buccino, a signal analysis engineer for the Juno mission at JPL. “If we can measure this change, we might be able to understand the connection between Ganymede’s ionosphere, its intrinsic magnetic field, and Jupiter’s magnetosphere.”
Three cameras, two jobs
Normally, Juno’s Stellar Reference Unit, or SRU, navigation camera is tasked with helping keep the Jupiter orbiter on course, but during the flyby it will do double duty.
Along with its navigation duties, the camera — which is well shielded against radiation that could otherwise adversely affect it — will gather information on the high-energy radiation environment in the region near Ganymede by collecting a special set of images.
“The signatures from penetrating high-energy particles in Jupiter’s extreme radiation environment appear as dots, squiggles, and streaks in the images — like static on a television screen. We extract these radiation-induced noise signatures from SRU images to obtain diagnostic snapshots of the radiation levels encountered by Juno,” said Heidi Becker, Juno’s radiation monitoring lead at JPL.
Meanwhile, the Advanced Stellar Compass camera, built at the Technical University of Denmark, will count very energetic electrons that penetrate its shielding with a measurement every quarter of a second.
Also being enlisted is the JunoCam imager. Conceived to bring the excitement and beauty of Jupiter exploration to the public, the camera has provided an abundance of useful science as well during the mission’s almost five-year tenure at Jupiter.
For the Ganymede flyby, JunoCam will collect images at a resolution equivalent to the best from Voyager and Galileo. The Juno science team will scour the images, comparing them to those from previous missions, looking for changes in surface features that might have occurred over four-plus decades.
Any changes to crater distribution on the surface could help astronomers better understand the current population of objects that impact moons in the outer solar system.
Due to the speed of the flyby, the icy moon will – from JunoCam’s viewpoint – go from being a point of light to a viewable disk then back to a point of light in about 25 minutes. So that’s just enough time for five images.
“Things usually happen pretty quick in the world of flybys, and we have two back-to-back next week. So literally every second counts,” said Juno Mission Manager Matt Johnson of JPL. “On Monday, we are going to race past Ganymede at almost 12 miles per second (19 kilometers per second). Less than 24 hours later we’re performing our 33rd science pass of Jupiter – screaming low over the cloud tops, at about 36 miles per second (58 kilometers per second). It is going to be a wild ride.”
BERKELEY — Global land-use changes — including forest fragmentation, agricultural expansion and concentrated livestock production — are creating “hot spots” favorable for bats that carry coronaviruses and where conditions are ripe for the diseases to jump from bats to humans, finds an analysis published this week by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, the Politecnico di Milano (Polytechnic University of Milan) and Massey University of New Zealand.
While the exact origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus remain unclear, scientists believe that the disease likely emerged when a virus that infects horseshoe bats was able to jump to humans, either directly through wildlife-to-human contact, or indirectly by first infecting an intermediate animal host, such as the pangolin, sometimes known as the scaly anteater.
Horseshoe bats are known to carry a variety of coronaviruses, including strains that are genetically similar to ones that cause COVID-19 and severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.
The new study used remote sensing to analyze land use patterns throughout the horseshoe bat’s range, which extends from Western Europe through Southeast Asia.
By identifying areas of forest fragmentation, human settlement and agricultural and livestock production, and comparing these to known horseshoe bat habitats, they identified potential hot spots where habitat is favorable for these bat species, and where these so-called zoonotic viruses could potentially jump from bats to humans.
The analysis also identified locations that could easily become hot spots with changes in land use.
“Land use changes can have an important impact on human health, both because we are modifying the environment, but also because they can increase our exposure to zoonotic disease,” said study co-author Paolo D’Odorico, a professor of environmental science, policy and management at UC Berkeley. “Every formal land use change should be evaluated not only for the environmental and social impacts on resources such as carbon stocks, microclimate and water availability, but also for the potential chain reactions that could impact human health.”
Most of the current hot spots are clustered in China, where a growing demand for meat products has driven the expansion of large-scale, industrial livestock farming.
Concentrated livestock production is particularly concerning because the practice brings together large populations of genetically similar, often immune-suppressed animals that are highly vulnerable to disease outbreaks, the researchers said.
The analysis also found that parts of Japan, the north Philippines and China south of Shanghai are at risk of becoming hot spots with further forest fragmentation, while parts of Indochina and Thailand may transition into hot spots with increases in livestock production.
The analyses aimed to identify the possible emergence of new hot spots in response to an increase in one of three land use attributes, highlighting both the areas that could become suitable for spillover and the type of land use change that could induce hot spot activation,” said study co-author Maria Cristina Rulli, a professor in hydrology and water and food security at the Politecnico di Milano in Italy. “We hope these results could be useful for identifying region-specific targeted interventions needed to increase resilience to coronavirus spillovers.”
Human encroachment into natural habitat can also indirectly increase exposure to zoonotic disease by reducing valuable biodiversity. When forest lands become fragmented and natural habitats are destroyed, species that require very specific habitat to survive, called “specialists,” may dwindle or even go extinct. Without competition from specialists, “generalist” species, which are less picky about their habitat, can take over.
Horseshoe bats are a generalist species and have often been observed in areas characterized by human disturbance. Earlier work by Rulli, D’Odorico and study co-author David Hayman has also linked forest fragmentation and habitat destruction in Africa to outbreaks of the Ebola virus.
“By creating conditions that are disadvantageous to specialist species, generalist species are able to thrive,” D’Odorico said. “While we are unable to directly trace the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from wildlife to humans, we do know that the type of land use change that brings humans into the picture is typically associated with the presence of these bats who are known to carry the virus.”
While China has been a leader in tree planting and other greening efforts over the past two decades, many of the trees have been planted in discontinuous land areas or forest fragments. To tilt the ecological balance back in favor of specialist species, creating continuous areas of forest cover and wildlife corridors are more important than increasing total tree cover.
“Human health is intertwined with environmental health and also animal health,” D’Odorico said. “Our study is one of the first to connect the dots and really drill down into the geographic data on land use to see how humans are coming into contact with species that might be carriers.”
Co-authors of the paper also include Nikolas Galli of the Politecnico di Milano and David Hayman of Massey University
This research was supported by the Eni Enrico Mattei Foundation (FEEM), the Cariplo Foundation (SusFeed project 0737 CUP D49H170000300007), Regione Lombardia (RUD0CONV01/ASSO project D44I20002000002), a Royal Society Te Apārangi Rutherford Discovery Fellowship RDF-MAU1701 MAU1701, and the Massey University Foundation.
Kara Manke writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has half a dozen dogs waiting for new homes this week.
The following dogs are ready for adoption or foster. The newest dog is listed at the beginning of the list.
‘Princess’
Is a female American pit bull terrier mix with a short fawn and white coat.
She is dog No. 4840.
‘Bear’
“Bear” is a male American Staffordshire terrier mix with a short brown coat.
He has been neutered.
He is dog No. 3476.
‘Cleo’
“Cleo” is a female Doberman pinscher mix with a short gray coat who is new to the shelter.
She has been spayed.
She is dog No. 4865.
‘Dusty’
“Dusty” is a male American Pit Bull Terrier with a tan and white coat.
He is dog No. 4750.
‘Sassy’
“Sassy” is a female Labrador retriever and pit bull mix with a short black with white markings.
She is house-trained.
She is dog No. 4602.
‘Toby’
“Toby” is a friendly senior male boxer mix.
He has a short tan and white coat.
Toby is house trained and neutered.
He is dog No. 4389.
Call the Clearlake Animal Control shelter at 707-273-9440, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to inquire about adoptions and schedule a visit to the shelter.
Visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County’s poet laureate is among 23 nationwide who have been chosen by the Academy of American Poets as 2021 Poets Laureate Fellows.
The academy announced Thursday that Lake County Poet Laureate Georgina Marie Guardado of Lakeport has been selected as a member of this year’s fellows class.
“These 23 Poets Laureate Fellows will lead an extraordinary range of public poetry programs,” said Elizabeth Alexander, poet and president of the Mellon Foundation. “We are delighted to support them as they create their own poems, collaborate with other artists, and center poetry in their engagement with communities across our vast country — from urban to rural counties — while we collectively begin to process and reflect on the exceptional crises of the past year.”
The news came on the same day that the group of past Lake County poets emeriti announced that Guardado has been offered, and has accepted, a second term.
“I am honored and so moved by both the offer to extend my poet laureate role by two more years and by being awarded a Poets Laureate Fellowship by the Academy of American Poets,” Guardado told Lake County News. “The AAP fellowship is the largest financial supporter of poets in the nation and I have been following the academy for years, reading their poems on poets.org and on social media. I feel incredibly pleased to have my efforts and hard work recognized by such a prestigious organization and on a national scale. This will undoubtedly further my literary career as a poet and open so many doors for me. Not to mention, this is an amazing opportunity for poetry and the poetry community of Lake County.”
The academy is awarding a combined total of $1.1 million to the poets selected as fellows this year.
More than $100,000 also will be provided to 14 nonprofit organizations that have agreed to support the fellows’ proposed projects.
Guardado was selected as Lake County poet laureate in April of 2020, at the onset of the pandemic and shelter-in-place order.
She will receive $50,000 from the Academy of American Poets to install poetry boxes, poetry display cases, tiny poetry libraries and poetry murals in all 18 communities in Lake County.
She also plans to expand the project — with the permission and input of local tribal officials and peoples — the six Native American reservations in Lake County.
To complete the project, Guardado said she will engage government leaders, local poets, artists and youth.
“During the pandemic, I have strived to keep the literary momentum going in Lake County and both of these opportunities will allow me to continue doing so with time and financial support,” Guardado said. “For poets in our county of all ages and backgrounds, I hope this offers hope and inspiration that you can do anything you dream of even from a small, rural county as our own.”
Guardado will be able to carry out the project while she serves a second consecutive two-year term as Lake County poet laureate.
“Georgina has done a tremendous job promoting online poetry workshops and events during the pandemic,” said Lake County Poet Laureate Emeritus Carolyn Wing Greenlee. “The poets laureate feel that she deserves the experience of live events, including poet laureate events in California, as communities begin to reunite in the near future.”
The role of a poet laureate is to promote poetry, writing and literacy in the community they represent.
In Lake County, the poet laureate role began in 1998 with the installation of the first Lake County poet laureate, Jim Lyle, by the Board of Supervisors.
The Lake County poet laureate role is a volunteer one, with the selection process taking place every two years and conducted by the poets who previously held the post.
The next Lake County poet laureate search will take place in April of 2024.
In addition to Guardado, the 2021 Poets Laureate Fellows and the communities they serve are Marcus Amaker (Charleston, South Carolina), Semaj Brown (Flint, Michigan), Roscoe Burnems (Richmond, Virginia), Aileen Cassinetto (San Mateo County, California), Leslie Contreras Schwartz (Houston, Texas), Magdalena Gómez (Springfield, Massachusetts), Chasity Gunn (Elgin, Illinois), Kari Gunter-Seymour (Ohio), Luisa A. Igloria (Virginia), Angela Jackson (Illinois), Dasha Kelly Hamilton (Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Wisconsin state), Melissa Kwasny and M.L. Smoker (Montana), Bobby LeFebre (Colorado), Debra Marquart (Iowa), Trapeta B. Mayson (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Anis Mojgani (Oregon), Chelsea Rathburn (Georgia), Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson (San Antonio, Texas), Lloyd Schwartz (Somerville, Massachusetts), M. Bartley Seigel (Upper Peninsula, Michigan) and Brian Sonia-Wallace (West Hollywood, California).
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.