Earth ChangesS


Butterfly

Caterpillar invasion so bad Yandaran residents can't stand still

Robyn Ironside
news.com.au
Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:16 UTC
Caterpillars
© news.com.auCreep ... a caterpillar plague has hit a small town, and it's so bad people can't stand still for fear of being covered in the crawlies.

Millions of hairy caterpillars are making life an itchy misery for residents of a small town north of Bundaberg in Queensland.
The as yet unidentified sub-species of the "processionary" caterpillar has been steadily multiplying since the start of the year to the point where residents of Yandaran cannot stand still without being covered in the creepy crawlies.

"It's like something is out of whack somewhere in the environment for them to be like this, munching through everything," said resident Dallas Boothey, who wears a protective suit to shield herself from the caterpillar's itchy little hairs.

"During winter it wasn't too bad but they've come back with a vengeance," she said

"They can travel up to a kilometre in the air and they create a very itchy allergic reaction in some people, including me.

"I get itchy red welts and a tightness of the chest. That's why I wear the suit which is really hot in summer. At the moment it's like living in a horror movie that never ends."
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Better Earth

Deadly vanilla fungus hits Madagascar

Billy Head
Associated Press
Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:16 UTC
An incurable crop disease has spread widely in Madagascar's vanilla-producing region, government scientists said Monday. The scientists' initial assessment released Monday said the world's main vanilla exporter needs to radically change farming methods to fight the disease, carried by an underground fungus.

Most of Madagascar's vanilla is exported to the United States, where it is used in candy, soft drinks and ice cream.
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Info

Climate Change Wiped Out Cave Bears 13,000 Years Earlier Than Thought


Science Daily
Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:24 UTC
Skeleton of extinct cave bear
© Wikimedia CommonsSkeleton of extinct cave bear from Warsaw Museum.
Enormous cave bears, Ursus spelaeus, that once inhabited a large swathe of Europe, from Spain to the Urals, died out 27,800 years ago, around 13 millennia earlier than was previously believed, scientists have reported.

The new date coincides with a period of significant climate change, known as the Last Glacial Maximum, when a marked cooling in temperature resulted in the reduction or loss of vegetation forming the main component of the cave bears' diet.

In a study published in Boreas, researchers suggest it was this deterioration in food supply that led to the extinction of the cave bear, one of a group of 'megafauna' - including woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, giant deer and cave lion - to disappear during the last Ice Age.

They found no convincing evidence of human involvement in the disappearance of these bears. The team used both new data and existing records of radiocarbon dating on cave bear remains to construct their chronology for cave bear extinction.
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Info

Decline Of Roman And Byzantine Empires 1,400 Years Ago May Have Been Driven By Climate Change


Science Daily
Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:00 UTC
polished cross-section stalagmite from Soreq Cave near Jerusalem
© University of Wisconsin-MadisonGrowth bands are visible in a polished cross-section of a stalagmite from Soreq Cave near Jerusalem, Israel. Stalagmites form from calcite and other minerals deposited by water in caves and contain chemical signatures of the climate and other physical conditions that existed as the formation grew. Geochemical analysis of a similar stalagmite from the same cave has revealed that large climate changes in the Eastern Mediterranean 1,400 years ago, including increasingly dry weather from 100 A.D. to 700 A.D., may have contributed to the downfall of the Roman and Byzantine Empires in the region.
The decline of the Roman and Byzantine Empires in the Eastern Mediterranean more than 1,400 years ago may have been driven by unfavorable climate changes.

Based on chemical signatures in a piece of calcite from a cave near Jerusalem, a team of American and Israeli geologists pieced together a detailed record of the area's climate from roughly 200 B.C. to 1100 A.D. Their analysis, to be reported in an upcoming issue of the journal Quaternary Research, reveals increasingly dry weather from 100 A.D. to 700 A.D. that coincided with the fall of both Roman and Byzantine rule in the region.

The researchers, led by University of Wisconsin-Madison geology graduate student Ian Orland and professor John Valley, reconstructed the high-resolution climate record based on geochemical analysis of a stalagmite from Soreq Cave, located in the Stalactite Cave Nature Reserve near Jerusalem.
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Fish

California's Deep Sea Secrets: New Species Found, Human Impact Revealed


Science Daily
Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:48 UTC
whale shark
© University of California - San DiegoA whale shark photographed by Octavio Aburto-Oropeza during 2008 expedition to Gulf of California aboard DeepSee submersible.
Scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego returning from research expeditions in Mexico have captured unprecedented details of vibrant sea life and ecosystems in the Gulf of California, including documentations of new species and marine animals previously never seen alive.

Yet the expeditions, which included surveys at unexplored depths, have revealed disturbing declines in sea-life populations and evidence that human impacts have stretched down deeply in the gulf.

In one expedition, researchers Exequiel Ezcurra (adjunct professor at Scripps Oceanography and former provost of the San Diego Natural History Museum), Brad Erisman (Scripps postdoctoral researcher) and Octavio Aburto-Oropeza (graduate student researcher) traveled on a three-person submarine to explore marine life in the Gulf of California's deep-sea reefs and around undersea mountains called seamounts.
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Satellite

Hunt for oil slicks boosted by free satellite images

Catherine Brahic
New Scientist
Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:31 UTC
Natural oil slicks in the Gulf of Mexico can be seen in satellite
© HuNatural oil slicks in the Gulf of Mexico can be seen in satellite (MODIS) pictures when the Sun is highlighting the polluted waters.
Natural oil oozing out from the seabed makes up nearly half of the oil that spills into the oceans. Now, a new technique that uses freely available satellite imagery can precisely locate and monitor every natural seep on Earth.

Detecting natural oil slicks is useful for several reasons. For starters, geologists use them as starting points for finding marine stores of fossil fuels. In addition, the seeps give rise to unique seafloor ecosystems that live off the hydrocarbons. The specially adapted plants and animals could inspire new ways of controlling the damage caused by oil spills.

It is important to track seeps because the oil can eventually disintegrate, causing carbon to enter the atmosphere - possibly influencing climate change, says John Amos, director of environmental awareness organisation SkyTruth and former NASA scientist.
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Info

Canadian tar plan threatens millions of birds


New Scientist
Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:29 UTC
Continued development could kill 100 million migratory birds

Canada's plans to mine more of its oil sands have just sunk deeper into the political mire. A new report saying that millions of migratory birds are at risk adds to a mass of criticism of the damage caused by exploiting the oil sands.

The thick tarry deposit in northern Alberta is the world's second-largest oil reserve after Saudi Arabia, but separating the useable oil from the gunk takes three times as much energy as pumping conventional oil. This alone makes it some of the "dirtiest" oil on the planet.

This week, a report by the US Natural Resources Defense Council says that continued development of the area could kill 100 million migratory birds over the next 50 years, mainly by destroying their habitat.
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Info

Jealous dogs don't play ball

Nora Schultz
New Scientist
Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:09 UTC
A sulky dog
© stock.xchngA sulky dog might just feel unfairly.
A dog might be a man's best friend, but only if it is being treated fairly. When a dog thinks it's getting a raw deal in comparison to other dogs, it doesn't shy away from expressing its envy.

Until now, such overt dislike of unfairness had only been demonstrated in primates, but some scientists have suspected that other species that live cooperatively could also be sensitive to fair play - or a lack of one.

To test this theory, Friederike Range and her colleagues at the University of Vienna, Austria, asked 43 trained dogs to extend their paw to a human in various situations.

The animals performed the trick almost at every request, regardless of whether they were given a reward or not; as well as when working alone or alongside another dog.
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Bizarro Earth

Powerful earthquake rocks Timor Leste


United States Geological Survey
Mon, 08 Dec 2008 03:12 UTC
An earthquake of 6.2 magnitude hit off Timor Leste's coast Saturday, with no reports of injuries or damage, the U.S. geological agency said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake struck 160 km northwest of the capital, Dili at a depth of 408.3 km beneath the Banda Sea at 6:55 pm (1055 GMT).
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Telephone

Noisy oceans 'threaten sea life'


BBC News
Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:54 UTC
Increasing noise pollution in the world's oceans is threatening the survival of whales
whale
Some whales show damage suggesting they surfaced too quickly, experts say
and dolphins, a UN-backed conference has heard.

Experts say the noises sea creatures use to communicate are being drowned out by noises from commercial shipping, new military sonar and climate change.

They become disoriented, cannot find mates or food and behave differently, scientists say.
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