Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogebon here. But when the Wright
Speaker 1: Brothers gave us the engine powered airplane in the early
Speaker 1: twentieth century, they didn't just give us a new way
Speaker 1: to get around. A flight also gave us an entirely
Speaker 1: different perspective on the things around us, or specifically, the
Speaker 1: things below us. From above, people became tiny specks, and
Speaker 1: fields looked like the tiled squares of a quilt, And
Speaker 1: before long, on the East coast of the United States,
Speaker 1: pilots began noticing something even more interesting. What we once
Speaker 1: thought were just simple, isolated ponds and wetlands along the
Speaker 1: Atlantic coast began to be seen as a pattern of
Speaker 1: thousands of egg shaped depressions that were all oriented exactly
Speaker 1: the same way. From above, it almost looks like a
Speaker 1: giant from outer space sneezed all the way from Florida
Speaker 1: to New Jersey, leaving a series of shallow depressions in
Speaker 1: his wake. Their origins are still a scientific mystery today,
Speaker 1: but these ponds are as important to the landscape now
Speaker 1: as they were millions of years ago. Today, they're most
Speaker 1: commonly referred to as Carolina bays, A large number of
Speaker 1: them occur along the coast of North and South Carolina.
Speaker 1: For the article, this episode is based on how Stuff
Speaker 1: Work spoke with Kyle Barrett, Associate Professor of Wildlife Conservation
Speaker 1: at Clemson University in South Carolina. He said, Carolina Bay
Speaker 1: is the name given to most any wetland along the
Speaker 1: eastern coastal plain that has an elliptical shape and is
Speaker 1: often isolated from other bodies of water, such as small
Speaker 1: streams or rivers. Carolina bays occur in low spots in
Speaker 1: the landscape, and because they typically only fill up from precipitation,
Speaker 1: they may dry out during the hot and dry portions
Speaker 1: of the year. These elliptical pockets in the landscape are
Speaker 1: almost always laid out with their long axis pointing northwest
Speaker 1: to southeast, and it's common for many to cluster together,
Speaker 1: so researchers in the nineteen fifties hypothesized that they were
Speaker 1: the result of an ancient meteor shower. They've used carbon
Speaker 1: dating and other techniques to determine their ages, but it
Speaker 1: turns out the Carolina Bays were not all formed at
Speaker 1: the same time. Some were formed tens of thousands of
Speaker 1: years apart. Barrett said some wetlands are estimated to be
Speaker 1: over a hundred thousand years old, whereas others may only
Speaker 1: be fifteen thousand years old or less. There isn't any
Speaker 1: support for this meteor shower idea since they don't have
Speaker 1: the same origin date and no material has been found
Speaker 1: in the soil to suggest extraterrestrial formation. The next best hypothesis,
Speaker 1: while plus other worldly, is the most likely answer the wind.
Speaker 1: It suggested that during the late Pleistocene period about two
Speaker 1: and a half million years ago, very strong southwesterly winds
Speaker 1: on ponds caused currents. Those currents washed against the southwest
Speaker 1: and northwest sides of ponds and resulted in sediment deposits
Speaker 1: on the northeast and southeast sides. Over time, they formed
Speaker 1: what we now know as the Carolina Bays. At one
Speaker 1: point there may have been as many as two hundred
Speaker 1: thousand Carolina Bays, but researchers say that nearly of Carolina
Speaker 1: Bays have been impacted by agriculture and logging. A human
Speaker 1: impact hasn't just erased a piece of our geological past,
Speaker 1: it's also disrupted a delicate ecosystem of marshes that are
Speaker 1: important to many wetlands species like salamanders and frogs in
Speaker 1: North America. Barrett explained, Carolina bays, along with other types
Speaker 1: of isolated wetlands, offer a wide range of environmental benefits.
Speaker 1: Many insects and amphibians are particularly abundant in these wetlands,
Speaker 1: since Carolina bays are without fish most of the time.
Speaker 1: Even terrestrial species such as birds and bats are more
Speaker 1: abundant in patches of forest containing a Carolina bay than
Speaker 1: equal sized forested areas without one. A Wetlands like the
Speaker 1: Carolina Bays are also essential in preventing flooding and improving
Speaker 1: water quality too. Unfortunately, many bays have been repurposed for
Speaker 1: human use, like farmlands, the development of homes or businesses,
Speaker 1: or expanded into ponds. Any wetlands that aren't near a
Speaker 1: permanent stream or river, Barrett says, are not protected by
Speaker 1: the Clean Water Act. Barrett said for this reason, if
Speaker 1: you look at aerial imagery on Google Maps, for example,
Speaker 1: you'll see loads of elliptical shapes along the coast of
Speaker 1: the Carolinas that used to be wetlands but are now
Speaker 1: filled in for agriculture. The result is that wildlife takes
Speaker 1: on the burden of wetland loss. However, Barrett suggests an
Speaker 1: expanded interpretation of the Clean Water Act could protect important
Speaker 1: wetland locations, and he said, I don't know that every
Speaker 1: isolated wetland needs to be federally protected. That seems like
Speaker 1: it could create an unreasonable burden for many landowners. But
Speaker 1: I do think a broader interpretation of the Clean Water
Speaker 1: Act would help save many important isolated wetlands. The States
Speaker 1: could also enact protections that better address local issues related
Speaker 1: to wetland loss. Carolina Bays are just one exam bull
Speaker 1: of Earth's natural mysteries that are important elements of our
Speaker 1: North American ecosystem. When land is filled in for pasture
Speaker 1: or crops, it doesn't just take away important habitats wetland species.
Speaker 1: It also disrupts the balance of water flux and natural
Speaker 1: flooding protections, which is bad for our homes and livelihoods too. Furthermore,
Speaker 1: without these wetland habitats, we miss out on some of
Speaker 1: the most biologically varied ecosystems in North America. Barrett said,
Speaker 1: many people don't have an opportunity to see the incredible
Speaker 1: amphibian and reptile diversity we have in the southeast, but
Speaker 1: these wetlands, along with others in the region, are an
Speaker 1: incredibly important home to these species. Visiting these wetlands can
Speaker 1: open your eyes and ears when the frogs are calling
Speaker 1: to some of the underappreciated gems of the Eastern Us.
Speaker 1: One rare species, just for example, that inhabits the Carolina
Speaker 1: Bays is twenty five different types of carnivorous plants. The
Speaker 1: Carolinas are the only places where these insect eating plants,
Speaker 1: like the sund and picture plant grow naturally. Today's episode
Speaker 1: is based on the article what Caused the Mysterious Carolina
Speaker 1: Bays on how stuff Works dot Com written by Allison Troutner.
Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership
Speaker 1: with how stuff Works dot Com, and it is produced
Speaker 1: by Tyler Playing. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio.
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