Lake Mead, Nevada - It took some of America's best engineers, thousands of laborers and two years of around-the-clock concrete pouring to build the 726-foot-high Hoover Dam back in the 1930s. It took less time than that for the tiny, brainless quagga mussel to bring operators of this modern wonder of the world to their knees.
While federal lawmakers continue to squabble over how to stop overseas ships from dumping unwanted organisms into the world's largest freshwater system, the Great Lakes' most vexing invasive-species problem has gone national.
Animals
© Unknown
A U.S. researcher has used historic photographs as evidence of fishing's impact on marine ecosystems and the decline of "trophy fish."
Graduate student researcher Loren McClenachan of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California-San Diego accessed archival photographs spanning more than five decades to describe an 88 percent decline in the estimated weight of large predatory fish imaged in black-and-white 1950s sport fishing photos compared with the relatively diminutive catches photographed in modern pictures.
"These results provide evidence of major changes over the last half century and a window into an earlier, less disturbed fish community ..." she said.
In November 2007, hundreds of dead and bedraggled seabirds washed up on the shores of Monterey Bay in California. There were no cuts on their bodies and no signs of a struggle. Now it appears that that it was killer foam that sent them to their deaths.
The birds, washed ashore in three distinct incidents, were covered in a slimy, pale yellow-green material. The material, whose pungent smell reminded researchers of linseed oil, dried out to leave a pale yellow crust. Cleaning the feathers of the survivors, feeding them and placing them in warm water helped them recover within 10 days.
The suspicion initially was that the mysterious deaths might be related to the Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay the same month, or to controversial aerial insecticide spraying on the Central Coast to control the light brown apple moth.
The birds, washed ashore in three distinct incidents, were covered in a slimy, pale yellow-green material. The material, whose pungent smell reminded researchers of linseed oil, dried out to leave a pale yellow crust. Cleaning the feathers of the survivors, feeding them and placing them in warm water helped them recover within 10 days.
The suspicion initially was that the mysterious deaths might be related to the Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay the same month, or to controversial aerial insecticide spraying on the Central Coast to control the light brown apple moth.
Hundreds of sparrows littered New Plymouth's main street yesterday, shocking business owners arriving at work and baffling a bird expert.
The drenched birds were dropping like flies from two trees on the Hill on Devon St West after a deluge of rain.
Autopsies will be done on some of the dead birds to see if foul play was involved.
The Shampoo Shop and Salon owners Jane Moodie and Jan Bocock said waterlogged birds lined their shop front as they arrived at work about 8.15am.
© MARK DWYER/Taranaki Daily News
BIRD IN THE HAND: SPCA field officer Jackie Poles-Smith said she could not believe it when the birds arrived.
BIRD IN THE HAND: SPCA field officer Jackie Poles-Smith said she could not believe it when the birds arrived.
Autopsies will be done on some of the dead birds to see if foul play was involved.
The Shampoo Shop and Salon owners Jane Moodie and Jan Bocock said waterlogged birds lined their shop front as they arrived at work about 8.15am.
© Morris Grover/Oregon State Parks ranger
A rare sea otter floats in the water below the U.S. 101 bridge in Depoe Bay.
A rare sea otter floats in the water below the U.S. 101 bridge in Depoe Bay.
A federally protected endangered species, sea otters went extinct off the Oregon coast in 1906 when the last one was confirmed killed. A reintroduction attempt failed in the early 1970s.
Since then, solo sea otters have been confirmed at Yaquina Head in the 1990s and at Cape Arago in February 2003.
© Natural History Museum, London
The Splendeuptychia ackeryi butterfly, or Magdalena valley ringlet, whose distinguishing feature is unusually hairy mouthparts.
The Splendeuptychia ackeryi butterfly, or Magdalena valley ringlet, whose distinguishing feature is unusually hairy mouthparts.
A curator found the disguised insect, initially collected from the dry Magdalena valleys of Colombia, among the 3 million butterfly specimens at the museum where it had lain undiscovered.
Blanca Huertas compared the mustachioed specimen with a recently found wild specimen, allowing her to identify the older specimen as Splendeuptychia ackeryi, or Magdalena valley ringlet, whose distinguishing feature is unusually hairy mouthparts. (The name ackeryi is dedicated to Phil Ackery, the former collection manager of the butterfly collections at the museum.)
The quick decline of a tiny shrimp-like species, known scientifically as Diporeia, is related to the aggressive population growth of non-native quagga mussels in the Great Lakes, say NOAA scientists.
As invasive mussel numbers increase, food sources for Diporeia and many aquatic species have steadily and unilaterally declined.
A recent research study from NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Laboratory published this week in Freshwater Biology documents the recent decline of Diporeia and the explosive growth of quagga mussels in Lake Michigan. Over the past five years quagga mussels have displaced native Diporeia as the dominant bottom dwelling organism, leading to a major disruption in the lake's food web.
"Quagga mussels have displaced other more energy-rich food sources and leave fish and other aquatic species with fewer food options," said Tom Nalepa, NOAA research biologist. "The invasive mussels are low in calories and their shell has no nutritional value. Fish feeding on quagga mussels expend considerable energy crushing and passing the indigestible shell."
As invasive mussel numbers increase, food sources for Diporeia and many aquatic species have steadily and unilaterally declined.
A recent research study from NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Laboratory published this week in Freshwater Biology documents the recent decline of Diporeia and the explosive growth of quagga mussels in Lake Michigan. Over the past five years quagga mussels have displaced native Diporeia as the dominant bottom dwelling organism, leading to a major disruption in the lake's food web.
"Quagga mussels have displaced other more energy-rich food sources and leave fish and other aquatic species with fewer food options," said Tom Nalepa, NOAA research biologist. "The invasive mussels are low in calories and their shell has no nutritional value. Fish feeding on quagga mussels expend considerable energy crushing and passing the indigestible shell."
Santa Paula - Police have shot and killed a mountain lion in a Santa Paula neighborhood, and they believe five more could be in the area.
A family called police this morning after spotting a mountain lion in their yard in the community 50 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
Police Chief Steve MacKinnon says officers attempted to set up a perimeter and capture one mountain lion when a second smaller lion came out of the bushes.
A family called police this morning after spotting a mountain lion in their yard in the community 50 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
Police Chief Steve MacKinnon says officers attempted to set up a perimeter and capture one mountain lion when a second smaller lion came out of the bushes.
© Heikki Kotilainen/Helsingin Sanomat
Our numbers are growing... The number of lynx in Finnish forests is said to be at the highest level for a hundred years.
Our numbers are growing... The number of lynx in Finnish forests is said to be at the highest level for a hundred years.
"The bigger the amount of lynxes, the sooner they get used to people, and the animal begins to trust humans", says special researcher Ilpo Kojola from the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute.
"The number of lynxes in Finland is about 1,500 individuals", Kojola adds.
A lynx can appear in a backyard when the day grows dimmer.
"There it may be seen sitting and observing its surroundings in a seemingly carefree manner, even if the garden lights are switched on", Kojola notes.
© Jim Schubitzke
Jim Schubitzke shot this image of a cougar using a trail camera triggered by movement in August 2007 near Floodwood, Minn. The Minnesota DNR said it is one of only a half dozen confirmed wild cougar sightings in the state over the past 20 or 30 years, despite hundreds of reports.
Jim Schubitzke shot this image of a cougar using a trail camera triggered by movement in August 2007 near Floodwood, Minn. The Minnesota DNR said it is one of only a half dozen confirmed wild cougar sightings in the state over the past 20 or 30 years, despite hundreds of reports.
Call it a feline frenzy.
Reports of mountain lions in Minnesota keep rolling in.
Just last month several mountain lions, also called cougars, were reported roaming the woods and fields near Elk River. Last fall came the report that a pair of big cats munched a deer shot by hunters in northern Minnesota.
And this winter, via the Internet, came an eye-popping photo of a huge 190-pound cougar reportedly killed in December in southeastern Minnesota.
