Earth ChangesS


Red Flag

Magnitude 5.6 quake jolts Philippine town

An earthquake of at least magnitude 5 jolted a central Philippine farming town where a landslide killed more than 1,000 people last year, but no casualties or damage were reported from the quake, officials said Friday.

The earthquake, which the U.S. Geological Survey said measured magnitude 5.6, struck late Thursday, sending residents of St. Bernard township in Southern Leyte hurrying from their beds.

Cloud Lightning

UK, Floods after month's rain falls in one day

The Environment Agency issued flood warnings across many parts of Britain on Friday as torrential rain swamped northern and central areas and weather forecasters warned there could be more downpours overnight.

Homes in Northamptonshire and South and West Yorkshire were hit by flooding on Friday, while train services were suspended between Birmingham and the east Midlands.

The Met Office said 88 millimetres (3.5 inches) of rain had fallen on Birmingham in 24 hours, more than it normally gets in a month at this time of year.

Battery

Study: Avoiding Predators Has Its Price

It hardly seems fair, but water creatures nimble enough to avoid being gobbled up by predators might harm their species more than help, new research suggests.

USA

Gypsy Moths Attack Mid-Atlantic Forests

Picnickers in East Coast woods may get some hungry visitors this summer. But at least they won't ask for sandwiches.

Leaf-eating gypsy moth caterpillars are out in force in parts of the mid-Atlantic following a warm, dry spring - just the kind of weather that can make the insects thrive.

Experts are predicting an especially bad year for trees, primarily oaks, which are the caterpillars' favorite snack. The moths will also munch on 475 types of foliage.

Attention

Australia: Warning from Asian bees

Four swarms of Asian bees found in Cairns have been cleared of carrying the dreaded Varroa destructor mite but the intruders themselves could pose the beginning of a serious threat to Australian honey bee populations.

Asian bees are known to have found their way into Australian ports at least half a dozen times in the last decade.

This time it's a Javanese strain of the bee and because the latest incursion had lain undiscovered for at least three months, it is unknown how many more swarms might exist and how far afield they may have flown.

Within a one kilometre radius from the first colony, disturbed in the mast of a yacht undergoing repairs after two years docked at a wharf in Cairns, three more swarms were found and the search widened.

Already operating under marginal circumstances, many of Australia's beekeepers can only afford a momentary sigh of relief.

Attention

US: With development, common birds are losing ground

The loss of millions of acres of grasslands and shrubs nationwide to suburban sprawl and agriculture -- along with a warming planet -- has dramatically reduced the numbers of common birds seen across the United States over the past 40 years, according to a National Audubon Society study released yesterday.

In Massachusetts, several birds seen regularly three or four decades ago, including the Northern bobwhite and the Eastern meadowlark, have all but disappeared, according to the study.

Human encroachment on their habitats has so vastly diminished their populations that specialists now consider it rare to see those birds, as well as several others, according to annual counts.

"It shows how suburban development really affects bird habitats," said Greg Butcher , national director of bird conservation for Audubon. "In many cases the development destroys the habitat outright or causes fragmented spaces for them."

The nationwide analysis looked at data collected by volunteer bird-watchers in the Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count , which started 107 years ago and is held over a 20-day period before and after Christmas, and the annual North American Breeding Bird Survey organized by the US Geological Survey every June. Combining the data from both surveys produced a snapshot of 550 bird species from roughly 5,000 sites in 48 states, Butcher said. Alaska and Hawaii have had fewer sites and were not included.

Monkey Wrench

Kilimanjaro not a victim of climate change, UW scientist says

The shrinking snowcap atop Mount Kilimanjaro has become an icon of global warming.

Question

Mysterious illness affects otters in Calif.

Perhaps no marine mammal is more adored than California's sleek, swift, shellfish-crunching sea otters. They dart and slither to the delight of visitors at one of Monterey Bay Aquarium's most popular exhibits.

But sea otters, an endangered species, are becoming mysteriously sick, and research biologist Tim Tinker of the University of California, Santa Cruz and others aren't sure why. They see symptoms in the disfigured faces of females and unusually aggressive mating habits in males.

Cloud Lightning

Drought hits Maui, worsens on Big Island

The Maui Department of Water Supply has declared a drought in Upcountry Maui, imposing mandatory water restrictions, while dry conditions are getting worse on the Big Island.

Maui officials Tuesday imposed 10 percent water restrictions on nonagricultural users in Haiku, Haliimaile, Kanaio, Keokea, Kula, Makawao, Olinda, Omaopio, Pukalani, Pulehu, Ulupalakua, and Waiohuli, but gave farmers 30 days grace.

Cloud Lightning

Across the U.S., stress from drought spreads

Drought, a fixture in much of the West for nearly a decade, now covers more than one-third of the continental United States. And it's spreading.

As summer starts, half the nation is either abnormally dry or in outright drought from prolonged lack of rain that could lead to water shortages, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly index of conditions.