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Alarming Invasion Of Round Goby Into Great Lakes Tributaries: Impact On Endangered Fishes 'Serious'


Science Daily
Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:34 UTC
Image
© Yavno
This is a round goby.
A team of scientists from the University of Toronto, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the University of Guelph has identified a drastic invasion of round goby into many Great Lakes tributaries, including several areas of the Thames, Sydenham, Ausable and Grand Rivers. A number of the affected areas are known as "species-at-risk" hot spots.

"This invasion poses many potential threats for native species of fish and mussels," says Mark Poos, a PhD Candidate in U of T's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Poos is lead author of the study published recently in the international journal Biological Invasions. Up to 89 per cent of fish species and 17 per cent of mussel species are either known or suspected to be affected by the goby invasion. Of particular concern is the impact on species that have a conservation designation, including such endangered species as the small eastern sand darter fish and mussels such as the wavy rayed lampmussel.
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Red Flag

Poison Plants?


Scientific American
Mon, 05 Jul 1999 22:18 UTC
Image
© World Wildlife Fund, Canada Endangered Monarchs
Scientists say the larvae of these butterflies die when they eat milkweed leaves onto which pollen from genetically modified corn has drifted.
Genetically modified crops, grown over much of the U.S., remain controversial

It looks just like a midwestern corn field is supposed to look this time of year; lush and richly green, stretching to the horizon. Maybe even a little bit better--there seems to be less pest damage to the leaves, and fewer weeds grow between the rows. The same is true for the fields of soybeans and the potatoes growing in Idaho.

Yet appearances can be deceiving. Indeed, there are quite a few people who would like to rip these super-ordinary looking plants out by their roots. These crops, being embraced by big agriculture in the U.S., carry genes that imbue them with resistance to herbicides and lace their tissues with a bacterial toxin harmless to humans but fatal to pests that may try to feed on them. For corporate farmers, the promise of such genetically modified crops seems clear--higher yields, superior quality, better nutrition and less need for spraying highly toxic and expensive pesticides.
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Radar

Mobile towers threatening honey bees in Kerala, India

N Muraleedharan
Press Trust of India
Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:05 UTC
Image
© Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Thiruvananthapuram-- Mobile towers are posing a threat to honey bees in Kerala with electromagnetic radiation from mobile towers and cell phones having the potential to kill worker bees that go out to collect nectar from flowers, says a study.
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Cow

Police baffled as dozens of 'suicidal' cows throw themselves off cliff in the Alps

Mail Foreign Service
dailymail.co.uk
Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:16 UTC
Dozen of dead cows body
© dailymail.co.uk
Dozens of cows bodies litter the valley floor
In the picturesque Swiss village of Lauterbrunnen, the locals are worried.

Dozens of alpine cows appear to be committing suicide by throwing themselves off a cliff near the small village in the Alps.

In the space of just three days, 28 cows and bulls have mysteriously died after they plunged hundreds of metres to rocks below where they were killed instantly.

In each case, local mountain rescue services using a helicopter had to be called in to remove the bodies because of the danger to the local groundwater of pollution.

A police spokesman said: 'There are no large carnivores living in the Alps anymore who would once have disposed of the bodies so they have to be moved.
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Fish

Study: No fish can escape mercury pollution

Dina Cappiello
The Alaska Journal of Commerce
Fri, 28 Aug 2009 05:32 UTC
No fish can escape mercury pollution.

That's the take-home message from a federal study of mercury contamination released Aug. 26 that tested fish from nearly 300 streams across the country. The toxic substance was found in every fish sampled, a finding that underscores how widespread mercury pollution has become.

But while all fish had traces of contamination, only about a quarter had mercury levels exceeding what the Environmental Protection Agency says is safe for people eating average amounts of fish.

The study by the U.S. Geological Survey is the most comprehensive look to date at mercury in the nation's streams. From 1998 to 2005, scientists collected and tested more than a thousand fish, including bass, trout and catfish, from 291 streams nationwide.
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Bizarro Earth

Horse dies, France faces reality of toxic beaches

Elaine Ganley
Associated Press
Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:19 UTC
Beach in Brittany
© AP
This Aug. 20, 2009 photo shows people walking on the beach of Hillion, near Saint Michel en Greve, Brittany
Saint-Michel-en-Greve - It should have been a perfect day for Vincent Petit, finishing up an afternoon gallop on a wide expanse of beach along a pastel-colored bay. Instead, he and his mount were sucked into a hole of noxious black sludge.

The horse died within seconds, the rider lost consciousness and a dirty secret on the Brittany coast reverberated across France - decaying green algae was fouling some of its best beaches.

A report ordered by the government after the accident found concentrations of hydrogen sulfide gas emitted by the rotting algae were as high as 1,000 parts per million on the beach where the horse died - an amount that "can be fatal in several minutes."
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Fish

Death rate spikes among migrating whooping cranes

Maria Sudekum Fisher
Yahoo! News
Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:00 UTC
dying cranes
© AP
In this Sunday, Jan. 15, 2006 file photo, a whooping crane eats a crab at the Aransas National …
A federal official says the world's only naturally migrating whooping cranes died at about twice their normal rate last year and will likely see an overall drop in numbers this year.

Tom Stehn, who oversees whooping crane conservation efforts for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says 21 percent of a flock of whooping cranes that migrates between northern Canada and the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas each year died off last year. Typically about 10 percent of the flock dies off.
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Cow

UK: Farmers issue warning after fatal cow attacks

Alexander Monro
Reuters
Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:30 UTC
The deaths of no fewer than four people after being trampled by cows in the past two months has prompted Britain's main farming union to issue a warning about the dangers of provoking the normally docile animals.

Cows can become aggressive and charge, especially when calves are present and walkers are accompanied by dogs, said the National Farmers Union (NFU).

The union and the Ramblers' Association both advise that walkers release dogs from their leads when passing through a field of cows.
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Cow Skull

US: Wyoming drought thins cattle herds

Matt Joyce
Star Tribune
Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:07 UTC
Cheyenne - Wyoming's cattle population dropped 21 percent during the past decade as ranchers struggled through a persistent drought that gripped much of the state from 1999 until last year.

The cattle count in Wyoming fell from 1.66 million in 1998 to 1.3 million in 2008, according to the newly released 2009 Wyoming Agricultural Statistics report. January's count was up 3 percent from the year before.

The United States Department of Agriculture, the Wyoming Business Council and the University of Wyoming produce the annual report.

Wyoming is particularly sensitive to drought cycles because ranchers in the state rely heavily on grazing forage rather than irrigated pastures or croplands, agriculture officials said.

"When we have drought, we just don't have the carrying capacity out on the range, you can't put as many out there," said Jason Fearneyhough, Wyoming Department of Agriculture director. "So people have got to sell off cattle to maintain the range and also to maintain the economic viability of their place."

A drought ranging from moderate to severe gripped Wyoming -- the nation's fifth driest state -- starting in 1999 until conditions eased in mid-2008, according to the State Climate Office. Last year saw improved but spotty moisture around the state, while 2009 has been a plentiful year for mountain snowpack as well as spring and summer rains.
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Bug

West Nile Virus Found in British Columbia Mosquitoes


CBC News
Sun, 23 Aug 2009 21:00 UTC
The West Nile virus has been found in B.C. for the first time, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

Mosquitoes collected in a trap in B.C's south Okanagan have tested positive for the virus, officials said. The centre is also investigating possible cases of the virus in two Kelowna residents who had traveled in the south Okanagan region.

"These cases are unusual. We have had 40 people in B.C. so far who have tested positive for the West Nile virus, but all of them had traveled outside the province, so this is the first time that we have confirmed activity actually in B.C." said Dr. Bonnie Henry.

The people undergoing testing are members of the same family and both are in their 40s. Officials expect final test results early next week.
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