Mossy Earth

📺 New video: We created a coral reef and the results are fascinating! 🐠 https://lnkd.in/dpePAFvy We have deployed 2,000 structures to patch up a reef in Indonesia and the results have been immediate! To build this project from the ground up, we needed the stability of the constant support that our members give us. Nothing we do is possible without you. We hope you will consider joining us in creating more coral reefs! 🪸 To support our work, you can become a member at mossy.earth 🙌 And if you are already a member you can pay for an extra structure (or more!) to be deployed here: https://lnkd.in/dcri-48y

🗻New update on our Mountain Birch Project! https://lnkd.in/dCMNDe7k There’s been some great progress collecting new seeds of rare high-altitude birch trees to use in trials and restoration work across the Highlands. This is a really nice and relaxing meditative mountain walk with Gus, our project-lead from Reforesting Scotland. We hope you enjoy it! For a recap of this project, see: https://lnkd.in/dBvJrGqR 📸 Credit: Gus Routledge #reforestingscotland #scottishhighlands #scotlandnature

🐿️ 🐿️ Ground squirrel population more than doubled! Exciting numbers have come in from our partner BROZ | Conservation Association who estimated this autumn around 47,500 ground squirrels settled down for winter sleep (or torpor) in Slovakia. This means the population of this species, threatened with extinction, have more than doubled in the span of just 4 years! BROZ kicked-off a project to save this species in 2020 and two years later we joined in, helping to cover the expenses for the ground squirrel translocations which take place twice a year until summer 2027. 🕵️♀️ The ground squirrel conservation puzzle This is an extremely positive development for the ground squirrels, not just in Slovakia but in the whole of Europe as it shows that the species reacts quickly to conservation efforts. This is the first time the translocations of ground squirrels is being done at this scale and time-span, and combined with habitat restoration, they are proving an important part of the puzzle. 💪 Bigger colonies are more resilient Importantly, the population growth has happened mainly in colonies that numbered just 10-50 individuals before the start of the project. This year, the population estimates of these colonies numbered in the hundreds. This is great for the ground squirrels because the bigger the colony, the more resilient it is, not just genetically but also against predation. Ground squirrels are social animals, and much like meerkats they signal using whistles to warn each other of predators. Interestingly, they use different kinds of whistles depending on whether the threat is coming from the air or the ground. In ideal conditions, the colonies can grow to several thousand members and will gradually populate the surrounding landscape if they find suitable habitat - grasslands and pastures with low vegetation cover. Individuals often venture as far as 8 km from their home colony looking for new suitable territories. These early explorers often occupy abandoned burrows of hamsters and other rodents similar in size. If their venture is successful, their activity, smells and sounds will attract other ground squirrels from their original or neighbouring colonies. It’s amazing to see more and more ground squirrels settling for their sleep year after year. We look forward to seeing what the next season brings! Cheers Adriana Conservation Biologist Image credit: Brano Molnar

80 truck tires removed from a canyon in Portugal 🛞💪🚤♻️ Last month, more than 50 volunteers got together to finish a cleanup operation at Praia da Baleeira in Cabo Espichel, the area where we are working with the climbing community to restore cliff ecosystems and protect endangered plants. This was the final stage of an operation led by the local climbing association SEA-GDUA . It started with the complex task of getting these heavy tires out of a steep and narrow canyon and down to the beach. After more than 5 days of work, they were transferred to a safe location near the beach using a 150m long zip line. The work involved around 20 people, including members of and Vertical Splendor and SEA-GDUA, who have all made this incredible effort voluntarily. The volunteer event last month had the goal of transferring all of these tires from this remote and beautiful beach to a recycling station. More than 50 volunteers were involved in carrying the tires, loading and offloading them from the boats in a great team effort and the mission was a success! Mossy Earth helped support the cost of transporting the tires by boat and to cover volunteer insurance. The activity also counted on the permission of local park authorities and the support of the Municipality of Sesimbra, the Parish of Castelo, the Portuguese Climbing and Mountaineering Federation and Decathlon and it was only made possible by the members of the local community, who volunteered their boats and their time to support the effort (Mestre André, amigos da Doca, Mestre Jaques and Mestre Mário). It’s incredible how a seemingly impossible missions like this can be accomplished when people come together. A big thank you to everyone who put some sweat into making this happen 🙌 We like to think that the late local climber João Gaspar, who started this whole process, would be proud. There are still more tires to be removed from the upper part of the canyon but these will likely exit upwards by land. More news on that to come. Cheers Tiago Head of Sciene and Impact @ Mossy Earth

🌊 It's kelp time! Here is a long overdue update about this exciting project! https://lnkd.in/dzdvZrzJ In this update on our ‪Mossy Earth Field Notes‬ channel on YouTube, Flora updates you on the latest work on the green gravel kelp restoration project we have with SeaForester, our long term partners in Portugal. There have been great moments and some defeats as well, but this is all part of the process. The work continues! Cheers, Duarte 

🌱 New seagrass & oyster project update on our Field Notes channel! https://lnkd.in/gdEQz8qB In this monthly update, we wrap up our seagrass fieldwork out in the muddy meadows where our Cromarty Seascape team has been collecting baseline data and teaming up with SPUN | Society for the Protection of Underground Networks. They’ve been looking to see whether fungal symbionts could be present within the seagrass meadows in the project area. We’ve also been working with a drone operator to assess the extent of seagrass meadows and how we can use machine learning in this process. This is all really exciting work as it will importantly inform restoration efforts going forward. Hope you enjoy this update! Cheers Isla This project is supported by the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund, managed by NatureScot. #seagrass #seagrassrestoration

🎙 New monthly field report podcast is live! We will be doing this every month to cover some of the updates that don't make it into videos in our main YouTube channel. In this edition we talk about the new land we bought in the Amazon, the progress at our coral project, the seagrass surveys we have been undertaking and much more. We hope you enjoy! YouTube: https://lnkd.in/geUiNbGg Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gEpfpef7 Apple podcasts: https://lnkd.in/evrWPEDA RSS feed: https://lnkd.in/gns-vfZ3

🪸 Our latest coral project vlog is all about zip ties! 🎥 We received a lot of questions and useful suggestions about how to tie the corals in our restoration project and in this latest update on our ‪Mossy Earth Field Notes channel on YouTube, our project manager, Yudi, discusses why we chose to use plastic and how we designed an experiment using new materials (hemp rope, cord, steel zip-ties etc). PS if you haven't seen our coral video on our main YouTube channel yet, please do! We think it's one of the best stories we've told so far! https://lnkd.in/dAQ-2mNZ

🎥 New video out now: We created a lake - now it grew carnivorous plants!? 🪷 We’ve been helping rewild a quarry with Rewilding Portugal for a few years now and the transformation has been wonderful to witness! 🌾 To support our work you can become a member at https://www.mossy.earth/ This project falls within Paul de Toirões, one of the key areas where Rewilding Portugal is carrying out ecological restoration actions and improving landscape connectivity in the Greater Coa Valley. #rewilding #restorenature #rewildingportugal https://lnkd.in/gE5-3iw7

☀️ New project update from the Mira River on our ‪Field Notes‬ channel! https://lnkd.in/dCUKTx7T This is an ambitious project we are starting that we are yet to introduce properly on a video on our main YouTube channel. However, if you want to sneak a peak on some of the early work we are doing then be sure to check out this vlog! In this update Teresa also spent some time answering some of the questions you left in the last vlog so we hope you will find it useful! Remember, for regular behind the scenes update be sure to subscribe to ‪Mossy Earth Field Notes‬! https://lnkd.in/dSFyWjUr And if you are more looking for the bigger stories we post on our main channel then be sure to keep an eye out, we have a new one coming this week!