Efforts to save the Topeka shiner have restored hundreds of oxbow lakes across Iowa. Now, those wetlands are helping to improve the state’s water quality.By Anika Jane BeamerThe minnow U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ecologists pulled from the shallow moat was a puny thing, with a flare of orange rimming its fins and a dark band of scales running the full length of its inch-and-a-half body.
Observations from the Little Bunker
Last updated: January 08, 2026 12:23 PM
Atmospheric CO₂
428.3 ppm
+17.4
ppm/year
Atmospheric CH₄
1940.59 ppb
+-0.24
ppb/year
Global Temperature
+1.48 °C
Peak: +1.73°C
World Population
8.1 billion
+67
million/year