Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

More than 200,000 displaced by Australian Floods

The flood area in Eastern Australia is larger than the state of Texas.

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Arrow Down

US Sees Massive Drop in Bumblebees: Study

bumblebee
© AFP
Weakened by inbreeding and disease, bumble bees have died off at an astonishing rate over the past 20 years, with some US populations diving more than 90 percent, according to a new study.

The findings are of concern because bees play a crucial role in pollinating crops such as tomatoes, peppers and berries, said the findings of a three-year study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Similar declines have also been seen in Europe and Asia, said Sydney Cameron, of the Department of Entomology and Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois, the main author of the study.

"The decline of bumble bees in the US is associated with two things we were able to study: the pathogen Nosema bombi and a decline in genetic diversity. But we are not saying Nosema is the cause. We don't know," said Cameron. "It's just an association. There may be other causes."

He added that the decline is "huge and recent," having taken place in the last two decades.

Bizarro Earth

Japan Is on High Alert as a Virus Infiltrates Bird-Heavy Regions

Japan Bird Sanctuary
© Kyodo/Reuters
Japanese bird sanctuaries, poultry farms and zoos went on high alert last month after several species of migratory birds in different regions were found dead of what appeared to be H5N1 avian influenza.

The virus frightened flu specialists when it resurfaced in Hong Kong in 2003 and quickly spread throughout Asia and along bird migratory routes to Europe and Africa. It has not mutated to spread among humans, though it still kills them occasionally - Egypt reported its 38th death last month.

According to articles in the Japanese press gathered by ProMED, which monitors disease outbreaks, a hooded crane was found dead of H5N1 on the Izumi Plain in Kagoshima Prefecture in southern Japan. The plain is Japan's largest wild crane wintering site, and the prefecture is the nation's top poultry-raising area.

Alarm Clock

US: Hundreds of dead blackbirds found in Louisiana

dead birds
© Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
Labarre - Around 500 dead blackbirds and starlings have been found in Pointe Coupee Parish, according to state wildlife officials. The birds were spotted lying in roads and ditches near Labarre Elementary School. The community is between Morganza and New Roads on Highway 10.

Scientists from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries have been sent out to collect samples, which will be sent for testing to the University of Georgia and National Wildlife Center in Wisconsin.

This comes after about 5,000 blackbirds and swallows were found dead around Beebe, Ark. on New Year's Eve. Dr. Jim LaCour with LDWF said he's not sure the two incidents are connected.

"It's not common, (but) we do see a few die-offs for various reasons," said LaCour. "Yes, we need to look into it, we need to be a little alarmed, but it's not out of the scope of things to have a die-off."

Info

Auroras and Meteors

"Wow!" exclaims Fredrik Broms of Kvaløya, Norway. "Tonight Earth's upper atmosphere got hit full force both by the solar wind, producing some amazing coronas in purple and green, and every now and then by a fragment from shattered comet 2003 EH1, source of the Quadrantid meteor shower." He took this picture using his Nikon D3:

Aurora and Meteor
© Fredrik Broms
"Bitter cold weather here in northern Norway made the photo-session a bit shorter than I hoped--indeed, my lens was completely covered in ice crystals--but I managed to catch some of the beauty of this cold night," says Broms.

Browse the links below for more snapshots of the first auroras and the first meteor shower of the New Year.

Eye 2

Australian floods: Residents facing plague of deadly snakes as waters rise

Image
© EPAAn aerial image showing properties hit by floodwaters in Emerald, Queensland
Australians whose homes have been inundated with floodwater in the state of Queensland are now facing the threat of deadly snakes as the reptiles move into dry buildings to avoid the rising waters.

Extra snakebite antivenom, including brown snake antivenom, has been airlifted into the city of Rockhampton, one of the worst-hit parts of the state.

Health officials have warned residents to be on the look out for dangerous snakes, spiders and even crocodiles that have been forced out of their natural habitats and onto higher ground by the natural disaster.

Barry Moessinger, who lives in a low-lying part of Rockhampton, said he had spotted about 15 snakes each day over the past week.

"There's heaps of them," he told the Australian newspaper.

"We had a plague of mice, a lot of frogs, so we knew the snakes would come."

Black Cat

Sensitivity to Change: Even Healthy Cats Act Sick When Their Routine Is Disrupted

Image
© UnknownTony Buffington
A cat regularly vomiting hairballs or refusing to eat probably isn't being finicky or otherwise "cat-like," despite what conventional wisdom might say. There is a good chance that the cat is acting sick because of the stress caused by changes in its environment, new research suggests.

Healthy cats were just as likely as chronically ill cats to refuse food, vomit frequently and leave waste outside their litter box in response to changes in their routine, according to the Ohio State University study. Veterinary clinicians refer to these acts as sickness behaviors.

The researchers documented sickness behaviors in healthy cats and in cats with feline interstitial cystitis, a chronic illness characterized by recurring discomfort or pain in the bladder and often both an urgent and frequent need to urinate.

Cloud Lightning

US: Tornado Season, Watches, and Warnings

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© The University of OklahomaTornado Incidence Map
In the United States, "tornado season" generally is in the spring when tornadoes are more prevalent from April through July, with May and June being the peak months. But like thunderstorms, tornadoes can form any time of the year.

The area in which tornadoes are most prevalent is known as "tornado alley," typically defined the region from Texas north to Nebraska. But, of course, tornadoes can and do occur in every state in the country.

For accurate and timely storm updates in your area, watch The Weather Channel, check for severe weather alerts, listen to NOAA Weather Radio, or get free severe weather alerts on your phone and in your email from The Weather Channel.

Bizarro Earth

India: 30 Cattle Deaths Spark Panic in Velur, Mudhur

The mysterious death of more than 30 heads of cattle in Velur and Mudhur panchayats in Arakkonam taluk in the last week has sparked panic among farmers in the locality. Though an anthrax attack rumoured to have caused the death of the animals in the two panchayats, officials attached to the department of animal husbandry have denied this.

Milch animals, including goats and cows, in Velur, Velurpettai, Mudhur and its hamlets have been dying in quick succession over the last 10-15 days. The total deaths livestock due to the mysterious disease has crossed 30, according to the villagers. Claiming that 24 cows and 11 goats had died in Velur and Mudhur panchayats in the last one-and-a-half weeks, they said 16 cows had died in Veeranarayanapuram village recently.

The animals had stopped consuming fodder and their stomachs had started to bloat two days before the death. They did not move and were found frothing at the mouth just hours before the death, said the villagers. The sudden death of the animals has left farmers, who depend on them for their livelihood, worried. With the cause of death still remaining a mystery, the farmers are clueless on how to protect their animals.

Radar

Naked Bodies and a New Messiah: Green Groups Try to Sex Up Climate Change

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© Deutsche Presse-Agentur
The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere keeps going up and up, but public interest in climate change is sinking. Environmentalists are trying to come up with new ways to make the issue sexy. But shock tactics can backfire all too easily.

Climate change used to make headlines. But these days the issue appears to have largely fallen off the radar.

World leaders recently negotiated a new climate agreement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, but public interest in the issue was limited. It was a marked contrast to the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, which had been declared of historic importance in the runup to the meeting, only to then fail spectacularly. The theft of e-mails from the University of East Anglia had badly damaged the image of climate research shortly before the summit.