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Meat has a distinct taste, texture and aroma − how do plant-based alternatives mimic the real thing?

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Monday, November 25, 2024

When you bite into a juicy hamburger, slice into the perfect medium-rare steak or gobble down a plateful of chicken nuggets, your senses are most likely responding to the food's smell, taste, texture and color. For a long time, these four attributes set meat apart from other food groups. But in recent years, food companies have started to focus on the development of meat alternatives. Many people believe that transitioning away from meat-heavy diets can help with environmental sustainability as well as improve their own health. The two main focuses of research have been on plant-based meat alternatives and lab-grown meat. Both have interesting challenges. Lab-grown meat requires growing animal cells and generating a meat product. Plant-based meat alternatives use plant materials to recreate animal-like structures and flavors. Major food companies that have generated plant-based meat alternatives that consumers seem to enjoy include Impossible, Beyond Meat, Mosa Meat and Quorn. From a scientific perspective, the development of plant-based meat alternatives is especially intriguing, because food manufacturers and researchers attempt to create products with similar textures, flavors, appearances and nutrient compositions to those juicy hamburgers or tender chicken fingers. As a biochemist who teaches students about how food fuels our bodies, I focus my research on the composition and the production of these products and how they can mimic animal meat is intriguing to me. Animal meats are composed primarily of protein, fat and water, with small amounts of carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. The animal tissue consumed is typically muscle, which has a distinctive shape made from fibers of protein that are bundled together with connective tissue. The size and shape of the protein fibers influence the texture of the meat. The amount and identity of natural lipids – fats and oils – found within a specific muscle tissue can influence the protein structure, and therefore the flavor, tenderness and juiciness, of the meat. Meat products also have a high water content. Typically, plant-based meat alternatives are made using nonanimal proteins, as well as chemical compounds that enhance the flavor, fats, coloring agents and binding agents. These products also contain more than 50% water. To produce plant-based meat alternatives, the ingredients are combined to mimic animal muscle tissue, and then supplemented with additives such as flavor enhancers. Developing a meat-like texture Most meat replacements are derived from soy protein because it is relatively cheap and easily absorbs both water and fat, binding these substances so they don't separate. Some companies will use other proteins, such as wheat gluten, legumes – lentils, chickpeas, peas, beans – and proteins from seed oils. Since most animal meats include some amount of fat, which adds flavor and texture to the product, plant-based meat alternative manufacturers will often add fats such as canola oil, coconut oil or sunflower oil to make the product softer and tastier. Proteins and fats don't easily mix with water – that's why the ingredients in salad dressings will sometimes separate into layers. When using these components, food manufacturers need to emulsify, or mix them, together. Emulsification is essential to making sure the proteins, fats and water form an integrated network with an appealing texture. Otherwise, the food product can end up greasy, spongy or just plain disgusting. Many vegan meat alternatives also use gelling agents that bind water and fat. They help with emulsification because they contain starch, which interacts strongly with water and fat. This allows for more of a mixed network of the proteins, fats and water, making them meatier and more appealing to consumers. Creating a product with a meatlike texture is not just a dump and stir process. Since animal meat is primarily muscle tissue, it has a unique spatial arrangement of the proteins, fats and water. In order to mimic this structure, manufacturers use processes such as stretching, kneading, folding, layering, 3D printing and extrusion. Right now, the most popular processing method is extrusion. Extrusion is a method by which the dry ingredients – plant proteins and fats – are fed into a machine along with a steady stream of water. The inner part of the machine rotates like a screw, combining the molecules, converting the structure of the plant material from spherical shapes to fibers. Each plant protein behaves differently in the manufacturing process, so some plant-based meat alternatives might use different ingredients, depending on their structures. Adding the savory flavor Although the texture is essential, meat also has a distinctive savory and umami flavor. A set of chemical reactions called Maillard browning helps develop the complex, rich flavor profiles of animal meats while they cook. So, additives such as yeast extracts, miso, mushrooms and spices can enhance the flavor of plant-based alternatives by allowing Maillard reactions to occur. The aroma of cooked meats typically comes from chemical reactions between sugars and amino acids. Amino acids are the basic components of proteins. Lots of research has focused on attempting to replicate some of those reactions. To promote these reactions, alternative meat developers will add browning agents, including specific amino acids such as cysteine, methionine and lysine, sugars and the vitamin thiamin. Adding natural smoke flavorings derived from hickory or mesquite can also give alternative meats a similar aroma. Eating with the eyes As the first-century Roman lover of food Apicius said, "We eat with our eyes first." That means that even if the texture is perfect and the flavors are on point, the consumer will still decide whether they want to buy and eat the vegan meat by the way it looks. For this reason, food manufacturers will usually develop plant-based meat alternatives that look like classic meat dishes – hamburgers, meatballs, sausages or nuggets. They'll also add natural coloring agents such as beetroot, annatto, caramel and vegetable juices that make plant-based alternatives look more like the color of traditional meat. Plant proteins such as soy and wheat gluten do not brown like animal meat. So, some food manufacturers will increase the proportion of pea and lentil proteins they're using, which makes the meat alternative look more brown while cooking. With some research, it's not too difficult to mimic the structure, texture, flavor and appearance of animal meats. But the question remains: Will people purchase and consume them? It seems people do want plant-based meat. Countries all around the world have increased their demand for these products. In 2023, the global market was over US$7 billion, and it is predicted to grow by almost 20% by 2030. Julie Pollock, Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Richmond This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

A biochemist explains how plant-based proteins are able to impersonate meats and other animal proteins

But in recent years, food companies have started to focus on the development of meat alternatives. Many people believe that transitioning away from meat-heavy diets can help with environmental sustainability as well as improve their own health.

The two main focuses of research have been on plant-based meat alternatives and lab-grown meat. Both have interesting challenges. Lab-grown meat requires growing animal cells and generating a meat product. Plant-based meat alternatives use plant materials to recreate animal-like structures and flavors.

Major food companies that have generated plant-based meat alternatives that consumers seem to enjoy include Impossible, Beyond Meat, Mosa Meat and Quorn.

From a scientific perspective, the development of plant-based meat alternatives is especially intriguing, because food manufacturers and researchers attempt to create products with similar textures, flavors, appearances and nutrient compositions to those juicy hamburgers or tender chicken fingers.

As a biochemist who teaches students about how food fuels our bodies, I focus my research on the composition and the production of these products and how they can mimic animal meat is intriguing to me.

Animal meats are composed primarily of protein, fat and water, with small amounts of carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. The animal tissue consumed is typically muscle, which has a distinctive shape made from fibers of protein that are bundled together with connective tissue.

The size and shape of the protein fibers influence the texture of the meat. The amount and identity of natural lipids – fats and oils – found within a specific muscle tissue can influence the protein structure, and therefore the flavor, tenderness and juiciness, of the meat. Meat products also have a high water content.

Typically, plant-based meat alternatives are made using nonanimal proteins, as well as chemical compounds that enhance the flavor, fats, coloring agents and binding agents. These products also contain more than 50% water. To produce plant-based meat alternatives, the ingredients are combined to mimic animal muscle tissue, and then supplemented with additives such as flavor enhancers.

Developing a meat-like texture

Most meat replacements are derived from soy protein because it is relatively cheap and easily absorbs both water and fat, binding these substances so they don't separate. Some companies will use other proteins, such as wheat gluten, legumes – lentils, chickpeas, peas, beans – and proteins from seed oils.

Since most animal meats include some amount of fat, which adds flavor and texture to the product, plant-based meat alternative manufacturers will often add fats such as canola oil, coconut oil or sunflower oil to make the product softer and tastier.

Proteins and fats don't easily mix with water – that's why the ingredients in salad dressings will sometimes separate into layers. When using these components, food manufacturers need to emulsify, or mix them, together. Emulsification is essential to making sure the proteins, fats and water form an integrated network with an appealing texture. Otherwise, the food product can end up greasy, spongy or just plain disgusting.

Many vegan meat alternatives also use gelling agents that bind water and fat. They help with emulsification because they contain starch, which interacts strongly with water and fat. This allows for more of a mixed network of the proteins, fats and water, making them meatier and more appealing to consumers.

Creating a product with a meatlike texture is not just a dump and stir process. Since animal meat is primarily muscle tissue, it has a unique spatial arrangement of the proteins, fats and water.

In order to mimic this structure, manufacturers use processes such as stretching, kneading, folding, layering, 3D printing and extrusion. Right now, the most popular processing method is extrusion.

Extrusion is a method by which the dry ingredients – plant proteins and fats – are fed into a machine along with a steady stream of water. The inner part of the machine rotates like a screw, combining the molecules, converting the structure of the plant material from spherical shapes to fibers.

Each plant protein behaves differently in the manufacturing process, so some plant-based meat alternatives might use different ingredients, depending on their structures.

Adding the savory flavor

Although the texture is essential, meat also has a distinctive savory and umami flavor.

A set of chemical reactions called Maillard browning helps develop the complex, rich flavor profiles of animal meats while they cook. So, additives such as yeast extracts, miso, mushrooms and spices can enhance the flavor of plant-based alternatives by allowing Maillard reactions to occur.

The aroma of cooked meats typically comes from chemical reactions between sugars and amino acids. Amino acids are the basic components of proteins. Lots of research has focused on attempting to replicate some of those reactions.

To promote these reactions, alternative meat developers will add browning agents, including specific amino acids such as cysteine, methionine and lysine, sugars and the vitamin thiamin. Adding natural smoke flavorings derived from hickory or mesquite can also give alternative meats a similar aroma.

Eating with the eyes

As the first-century Roman lover of food Apicius said, "We eat with our eyes first."

That means that even if the texture is perfect and the flavors are on point, the consumer will still decide whether they want to buy and eat the vegan meat by the way it looks.

For this reason, food manufacturers will usually develop plant-based meat alternatives that look like classic meat dishes – hamburgers, meatballs, sausages or nuggets. They'll also add natural coloring agents such as beetroot, annatto, caramel and vegetable juices that make plant-based alternatives look more like the color of traditional meat.

Plant proteins such as soy and wheat gluten do not brown like animal meat. So, some food manufacturers will increase the proportion of pea and lentil proteins they're using, which makes the meat alternative look more brown while cooking.

With some research, it's not too difficult to mimic the structure, texture, flavor and appearance of animal meats. But the question remains: Will people purchase and consume them?

It seems people do want plant-based meat. Countries all around the world have increased their demand for these products. In 2023, the global market was over US$7 billion, and it is predicted to grow by almost 20% by 2030.

Julie Pollock, Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Richmond

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Read the full story here.

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The researchers of the paper, Matthew Adeleye, University of Cambridge, and David Bowman, University of Tasmania, study a sediment core. Simon Haberle Today, the island of Tasmania lies across the Bass Strait from southern Australia, but once, the two were connected by a land bridge. When humans first reached Tasmania’s rugged coastlines and mixed forests approximately 40,000 years ago, it was the southernmost place our species had ever settled. The Palawa/Pakana communities—Tasmanian Indigenous peoples—call this island Lutruwita. Now, new evidence from charcoal and pollen provides the earliest known record of humans using fire on Tasmania. The discovery predates the previous oldest evidence of fire use on the island by about 1,700 years and demonstrates how these early Aboriginal communities shaped their environment through fire. In a new study published this month in Science Advances, researchers show these early people used fire to shape and modify Tasmania’s dense and wet forest. By analyzing sediment cores—long, cylindrical samples of dirt that capture environmental conditions across time—scientists were able to analyze the pollen and charcoal that had built up. “They both, surprisingly, went back quite a long way—longer than most other records in the region have been found to go,” says study co-author Simon Haberle, a paleoecologist at the Australian National University, to Cosmos’ Ellen Phiddian. The records also gave a glimpse into how vegetation and fire changed over the past 50,000 years or more, he adds. Researchers analyzed ancient mud from islands that would have been part of the land bridge that linked Australia and Tasmania during the last ice age. The mud showed an increase in charcoal from fires 41,600 years ago, followed by different types of pollen 40,000 years ago, revealing a major change in vegetation. This suggests Aboriginal communities were clearing the forests to create open spaces, potentially for subsistence. “Fire is an important tool, and it would have been used to promote the type of vegetation or landscape that was important to them,” says lead author Matthew Adeleye, a paleoecologist at the University of Cambridge in England, in a statement. It would have helped the early communities manage forests as they migrated. Previously, the oldest known archaeological evidence of humans in Tasmania was from sediment in a cave, where researchers had found charcoal, animal bones and stone tools dating to roughly 39,900 years ago. But the new paper extends that record deeper into the past. The findings are part of a growing body of research showing how fire moved with early human societies wherever they went, says Regan Dunn, a paleobotanist at the Natural History Museum Los Angeles County who wasn’t involved with the study, to Science’s Warren Cornwall. With this research, it’s becoming more clear that humans first leave their mark on the land through fire, followed by changes to the landscape, she tells the outlet. In this case, those landscape changes came through the expansion of fire-adapted plant species, such as eucalyptus trees, concentrated on the wetter, eastern side of the islands in the Bass Strait, Adeleye says in the statement. The burning likely served to create spaces that produce more food or attract animals that could be hunted. The study’s findings fit into the wider context of bushfires occurring across Tasmania and Australia today. As wildfires have raged through the forests, Aboriginal communities and scientists are thinking about ways to manage those disasters. One of these potential strategies includes traditional burning culture. “Cultural fire management practices are integral to our agricultural practices and are medicine for Country,” Zena Cumpston, a Barkandji researcher at the University of Melbourne, wrote in the Conversation in 2020, during the peak of the extreme Australian bushfires from 2019 to 2020, which became one of the most catastrophic fire seasons in the nation’s recent history. Cultural burning could potentially enhance the ecosystem’s health by improving soil quality and promoting growth, per the U.S. National Park Service. It enhances the habitat for plants and animals and makes it more resilient. For Haberle, the information coming from Western science, including this new study, is less of a revelation and more of an affirmation that cultural burning has been essential to the landscape for many thousands of years, he tells Cosmos. He adds that the Palawa/Pakana people “certainly know a lot of this story already.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Animals

Culture

Food

Why Are Urban Turkeys Thriving?

As many wild populations decline, some city dwellers flourish—and may become a source for reintroductions to rural areas

Wild turkeys are causing a stir in cities across the United States. Whether strutting down sidewalks, stopping traffic or foraging in yards, these once-elusive birds are no longer just creatures of the countryside. Now, they’re making themselves at home in urban environments, turning neighborhoods, parks and golf courses into their new stomping grounds. Yet, while urban wild turkeys are thriving, their rural counterparts face mounting challenges. Nationwide, rural turkey populations have declined by about 15 percent, with even steeper drops in some regions—and not because they’re moving to cities for a cushier life. This contrast between urban success and rural struggle raises questions about how to best conserve turkeys—and how urban populations might help their rural kin. Wild turkeys moving into cities is a relatively new phenomenon. 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Drugs, hormones and excrement: the polluting pig mega-farms supplying pork to the world

Mexico is a leading international pork producer, but Yucatán residents say the waste oozing from hundreds of enormous hog farms is destroying the environmentThe stink of excrement was the first thing the residents of Sitilpech noticed when the farm opened in 2017. It hung over the colourful one-storey homes and kitchen gardens in the Maya town in Yucatán, and has never left. Next, the trees stopped bearing fruit, their leaves instead covered with black spots. Then, the water from the vast, porous aquifer emerged from the well with a horrible, overwhelming stench.“Before, we used that water for everything: for cooking, for drinking, for bathing. Now we can’t even give it to animals. Today, we have to give the chickens purified water because otherwise they get diarrhoea,” says one resident. “The radishes grow thin and the coriander often turns yellow. This has always been a quiet town, where life was very good until that farm started,” they say. Continue reading...

The stink of excrement was the first thing the residents of Sitilpech noticed when the farm opened in 2017. It hung over the colourful one-storey homes and kitchen gardens in the Maya town in Yucatán, and has never left. Next, the trees stopped bearing fruit, their leaves instead covered with black spots. Then, the water from the vast, porous aquifer emerged from the well with a horrible, overwhelming stench.“Before, we used that water for everything: for cooking, for drinking, for bathing. Now we can’t even give it to animals. Today, we have to give the chickens purified water because otherwise they get diarrhoea,” says one resident. “The radishes grow thin and the coriander often turns yellow. This has always been a quiet town, where life was very good until that farm started,” they say.Sitilpech lies on the edge of the Ring of Cenotes, a vast network of sinkhole lakes and underground rivers formed by a meteorite impact 66m years ago. The pig mega-farm is just under a kilometre from the first home in the town. It is part of a network of between 500 and 800 facilities that have appeared across Yucatán peninsula in the past 20 years, often nestled in the middle of the internationally important Yucatán moist forest. A mega-farm can hold up to 50,000 pigs, packed tightly together in small pens. The urine and excrement, antibiotics and hormone treatments seep out beneath their corrals, and are then dried in open-air waste lakes in the tropical heat.Part of a pig farm run by Kekén in Chapab, Yucatán. Critics say the complexes contaminate local wells. Photograph: Hugo Borges/AFP/Getty ImagesFor those that live around them, the spread of the pig mega-farms is a human and ecological disaster. Some Maya villages in Yucatán are outnumbered by pigs 100 to one. In the rainy season, the farms pump out the pig waste through sprinkler systems; it oozes into the porous limestone watershed which connects the Ring of Cenotes. Local people say that those who drink the tap water fall sick, and there are severe consequences for the area’s biodiversity.“More than 90% of the 800 pig factories estimated to exist in Yucatán operate without any type of environmental permit,” claims Lourdes Medina Carrillo, an environmental lawyer. “These are projects without a record of prior Indigenous consultation, arising from the destruction of forests considered the second most important on the continent, without permits for changes in land use, and with impacts such as water contamination,” she claims.Pigs are transported on a Kekén farm truck in Chapab. Photograph: Hugo Borges/AFP/Getty ImagesFor many residents, the anger is directed at the Mexican pork brand Kekén, the country’s largest pork exporter. Animals supplied to the brand are sold all over the world, feeding markets in South Korea, Japan and the US. Kekén is part of the Kuo Group conglomerate, which includes companies in the automotive and chemical industry. It generated revenue of more than $1.9bn (£1.5bn) last year, with half coming from the pork division.The push into this region of Mexico started with the Nafta free trade agreement but accelerated in the early 2000s after the US health authorities declared Yucatán a zone free of classical swine fever. Export restrictions on pork were removed, and companies quickly moved to take advantage.As the impact of the mega-farms has grown, residents in Sitilpech have resisted them, forming protests in 2023 against the facilities. But in February 2023, they say they were violently repressed by police who stormed a protest camp, beating those present. Other Maya communities have launched legal disputes against Kekén. At least one of those was upheld by the supreme court, after residents of Homún brought a case detailing “grave and irreversible harm to human health and the environment” caused by a 48,000-pig farm, including “contamination of water … emission of noxious air pollution; the spread of dangerous pathogens”.Sitilpech residents join a demonstration to protest against pig farm pollution on World Water Day. Photograph: Mariana Gutierrez/Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images“When the company came to settle, we saw how it sadly began to cut down the trees that we take care of so much for beekeeping. They left large areas of devastated land,” allege members of a family from Kinchil, an hour from Yucatán’s capital Mérida. “It was very sad. They cut down trees that were more than 100 years old, which are the ones that benefit us the most when there is drought,” they claim.At the beginning of last year, the federal Mexican environment ministry found that the watershed around farms in Yucatán was saturated with concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus from the pigs’ excrement.Analysis of water sample from cenotes, springs and wells in Yucatán by scientists, the communities themselves and the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) has found contamination by E coli and other bacteria. Communities reported an increase in cases of intestinal infections in Yucatán between 2012 and 2019, a period of pig farm expansion.In response, a spokesperson for Kekén says it specialises in pork production of the highest quality and is one of the biggest employers in the Yucatán region. The company says it uses biodigesters to ensure the most efficient water uses, adding that 90% of its facilities are in protected areas for the conservation of biodiversity. They said they provided a range of benefits for local people, including supporting farming in nearby Maya communities.A pig farm in San Antonio Mulix. Industry operators say they are some of the biggest employers in the region. Photograph: Héctor Vivas/Getty Images“The medications, the hormones they give to the pigs, in addition to their excrement, end up in the water. And that water that the industry uses then travels inside the caves, the caverns, the wells through the Ring of Cenotes. This is the common water that nature and communities use for their supply. This pollution breaks all ecological balances, impacts native fauna and flora, causes loss of biodiversity and even an excess of organic matter,” says Medina Carrillo.“This is an extremely serious problem because the aquifer of the peninsula, the wells and cenotes, are interconnected,” she says.Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, said during her campaign that she would not promote the closure of mega-farms in Yucatán. “I understand that there are regulations for pig farms, there is technology to avoid contamination … the issue is that the regulations are complied with,” she declared in a press conference in March. “This idea that mega-farms must be closed because they pollute, no. There is technology.”

Animals

Waste

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Largest great white shark ever caught in Queensland control program was pregnant with four pups

Female almost the length of a shipping container was found dead on a drumline in August, primary industries department has revealedGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe largest great white shark ever caught in Queensland’s shark control program died while pregnant with four pups, the primary industries department has revealed.A female white shark was found dead on a shark-catching drumline near Gladstone in August. Queensland’s Department of Primary Industries took samples for research purposes and has been collaborating with researchers interstate, a spokesperson said.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

The largest great white shark ever caught in Queensland’s shark control program died while pregnant with four pups, the primary industries department has revealed.A female white shark was found dead on a shark-catching drumline near Gladstone in August. Queensland’s Department of Primary Industries took samples for research purposes and has been collaborating with researchers interstate, a spokesperson said.At 5.62 metres long, the shark was about a sixth larger than the average female and almost the size of a 20-foot shipping container.It’s not surprising for one to move towards warmer waters in winter months, according to Daryl McPhee, associate professor of environmental science at Bond University.“You wouldn’t expect to see a large white shark that far north in Queensland during summer,” he said.“The usual range is from about Harvey Bay, Bundaberg, southern Queensland through New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania [and] New Zealand.”About 750 adult white sharks live along Australia’s eastern shoreline but they are rarely caught on drumlines, McPhee said.Rising numbers of sharks have been caught in Queensland in 2024, with the 1,206 reported so far well above the 958 recorded in 2023. The two decades prior saw fewer than 800 sharks caught each year.The state’s shark control program has run since 1962, and aims to reduce the risk of shark bites in Queensland coastal waters.Changing environmental conditions and new equipment used by the program may be responsible for the rising catches, especially around Gladstone and the Capricorn Coast, the department said.The species targeted by the program, including bull sharks, white sharks and tiger sharks, are euthanised after being caught on drumlines, a policy that has attracted criticism from animal welfare campaigners including Leonardo Guida.“This magnificent female that was nearly six metres long, she only had to be a couple of hundred kilometres further south, and even if she was alive she would have been shot dead,” Guida, from the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said.Sharks caught within the Great Barrier Reef marine park – like the 5.62 metre female – are not killed but instead are tagged and released once they are found.However, sharks can die if they are left unfound on a drumline hook for too long, according to Guida, a shark scientist with the Australian Marine Conservations Society.It is not known how long the 5.62 metre shark had been caught on the line. Another 17 sharks also died after being caught on a drumline in the Great Barrier Reef marine park lines in August, Queensland government data showed.“If Queensland had already transitioned to fully non-lethal shark bite mitigation strategies that are backed by evidence, this shark wouldn’t be dead, pure and simple, and this beautiful giant would still be roaming our oceans,” Guida said.The state is trialling drumlines that send digital alerts, which Guida said could made a difference and ensure sharks like the pregnant female were found and released in time.“You just don’t really come across them that big very often,” he said. “It is incredibly sad.”

Animals

Conservation

Government

‘Divorce’ in songbirds: extreme weather pushes couples past breaking point

New research examines the link between extreme weather and divorce in a small monogamous tropical songbird, the Seychelles warbler. Concerningly, extreme rain and dry spells increased divorce rates.

Coulanges/ShutterstockLike humans, many animals form lasting monogamous relationships. Most birds pair up to produce and raise offspring together over many years. However, as with humans, they also commonly “divorce” – terminating the pair bond well before the death of either partner. Our new research examines the link between extreme weather events and divorce in a small monogamous tropical songbird. We found extreme events – at both ends of the spectrum, both wet and dry – increase divorce rates in these birds. With climate patterns becoming increasingly erratic, it’s vital to understand how such extreme events affect the species we share our planet with. If it’s disturbing their love lives, this may have dire consequences for the ability of species to reproduce and survive. Back from the brink of extinction The Seychelles warbler is endemic to the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean. Once on the brink of extinction, with just 26 birds left in the world, this species now has a stable population on Cousin Island. It’s a great conservation success story – to save the species, the entire island and surrounding sea was turned into a nature reserve in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Seychelles warbler pairs can stay together for up to 15 years. But somewhere between 1% and 16% of partnerships break up every year. Why? It’s thought divorcing may allow these birds to correct for a poor choice of partner. A poor match typically results in a failure to produce chicks and fledglings, which makes the birds reconsider their choice of partner and look elsewhere. But sometimes they divorce for no apparent reason. Many factors could misinform these birds, causing them to separate when it is not in their best interests. Maybe even bad weather. Using a unique dataset spanning decades, we determined the relationship status of all birds on the island over 16 years. We then related that to rainfall data from the local meteorological station. Seychelles warblers form tight-knit partnerships and constantly spend time together. Charli Davies Fair-weather friends We found the probability of divorce was closely associated with the amount of rainfall experienced in the seven months leading up to and during the breeding season. Divorce rates spiked both when rainfall was extreme: either very wet or very dry. A super El Niño event in 1997 caused exceptionally heavy rainfall that year: 1,430mm compared with the average 884mm. Many Seychelles warblers divorced that year (15.3%). More couples also broke up in drought years. It seems these birds tend to stick together when the weather is good, but separate when it turns bad. How weather affects partnership stability Divorce in many species is often directly linked to poor breeding success, when a couple fails to rear young in the prior breeding season. But in our study we found no evidence to suggest that’s an issue in Seychelles warblers. While the period of rainfall that predicted divorce also influenced the ability of these birds to produce offspring, failing to become parents did not make Seychelles warbler pairs more likely to divorce. Some birds that divorced did produce offspring successfully, and some that didn’t produce offspring stayed together. This suggests other, more complex factors may be at play. Extreme weather affects the physical environment, changing food availability, habitat and nesting conditions. Prolonged lack of rain before breeding begins can also affect the health of birds. Maintaining the right body temperature during periods of extreme rainfall is challenging for many bird species. This may increase the level of stress birds experience and increase instability in their partnerships. But it may not necessarily result in a failure to breed altogether. Two adult Seychelles warblers tending to their young offspring. Charli Davies What we can learn from this Our new research sheds light on another heartbreaking consequence of climate change: extreme events are destabilising partnerships in wild animals. Birds such as the Seychelles warbler are particularly vulnerable to these changes because, like many other species, their reproductive strategies are closely linked to environmental conditions. As we continue to face the challenges posed by climate change, studies such as this are essential. They offer vital information for conservationists working to protect species that are highly sensitive to their environment. This is especially important particularly for isolated populations that can’t move to adjust. As extreme weather is becoming more common, we will likely see more dramatic shifts in the social structures of many species, affecting not only their survival but the entire ecosystems they inhabit. Frigg Janne Daan Speelman is funded by a PhD scholarship from the University of Groningen and Macquarie University, the Lucie Burgers Foundation, and both the Ecology Fund Grant and Dobberke Grant from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. The long-term data collection was supported by Natural Environment Research Council grants.

Animals

Climate

Conservation

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Does whale watching protect or harm whales? This film explores heated controversies over whale watching, boat noise, and orca conservation in Washington State and British Columbia. Whale watching companies claim that they serve as "sentinels" protecting the orca from unwary recreational boaters, ferries, and ships. A number of local conservationists and scientists have argued that whale watching boats crowd and harass whales, while adding noise to the orcas' immediate environment that makes it difficult for the social species to survive. "Sentinels of Silence?" uses dramatic imagery, peer-reviewed science, and interviews with conservationists, scientists, and industry officials to bring a fascinating chapter in the orca conservation story to light. In December, 2020, three months after Sentinels of Silence? was released, the Washington State Fish and Wildlife Commission made an historic decision to more closely regulate whale watching companies' activities around the Southern Resident Killer Whales, citing noise and harassment as factors.

Animals

Conservation

Documentary

Jetty Cats

Jetty Cats explores contemporary animal rights issues through a focus on a feral cat colony that has survived on a rocky, seaside jetty in Southern California for decades. There is an ongoing debate over feral cat colonies involving advocates who support the trap, neuter, and return -- or "TNR" -- model of management, and those who argue that trapping and euthanizing the cats is more humane. This documentary’s point-of-view supports the TNR model and the related “no-kill” animal shelter policy, and features an exclusive interview with Richard Avanzino, the "Father" of the no-kill movement.

Animals

Government

Activism

A Whale's Worth

The Canary Islands are a whale Paradise. Their waters hold more than a third of the world’s species, making it the most important enclave in the European Union, and one of the most relevant globally.Today, this paradise is being threatened by different human pressures, such as boat collisions, plastic consumption and climate change. This struggle aggravates their mortality each year and makes us face ourselves as the ones responsible for their survival, forcing us to rethink how much we value these animals currently.How much is a whale worth? Can you put a price on the life of such a majestic animal? How can we estimate that value? How has the value that human beings give to whales changed throughout history? What are whales used and needed for?To answer all these questions, Natacha Aguilar, an eminent Canarian scientist and whale expert, backed up by a group of scientists and non-profit organizations, will guide us in a spectacular journey through time and space to discover the never-told stories of the lives of these animals.

Animals

Culture

Climate

Waterfall Birds

In a place in Egypt that is close to Cairo, however, most people do not know it. The filmmaker went on a Nile cruise to discover the waterfalls world and their islands. At this place, she started a very interesting hobby called birdwatching. This hobby makes her identify different types of birds that are not known among the public.

Animals

Education

Student

Flying With Monarchs

Flying With Monarchs is a short dance film celebrating the beauty of Monarch butterfly migration.

Dance

Music

Animals

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sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

Cookies help us run our site more efficiently.

Meat has a distinct taste, texture and aroma − how do plant-based alternatives mimic the real thing?

Developing a meat-like texture

Adding the savory flavor

Eating with the eyes

Related News

Researchers Uncover the Oldest Record of Humans Using Fire in Tasmania, Almost 2,000 Years Earlier Than Previously Known

Why Are Urban Turkeys Thriving?

Drugs, hormones and excrement: the polluting pig mega-farms supplying pork to the world

Largest great white shark ever caught in Queensland control program was pregnant with four pups

‘Divorce’ in songbirds: extreme weather pushes couples past breaking point

Suggested Viewing

Sentinels of Silence? Whale Watching, Noise, and the Orca

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Waterfall Birds

Flying With Monarchs

Join us to forgea sustainable future

sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

Join us to forge
a sustainable future