Lost Forests — haiku

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Shimmering heat glare,
Mirage of cooling water,
Lost forests’ dry tears.
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Bear…08.01.2015
ⓒBearspawprint2015
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Not just bats and frogs: snake fungal disease hits U.S.

Not just bats and frogs: snake fungal disease hits U.S.
A fungal outbreak in the eastern and Midwestern United States is infecting some populations of wild snakes. Snake Fungal Disease (SFD), a fungal dermatitis consistently associated with the fungus Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola, is showing recent spikes in occurrence according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) and other diagnostic laboratories.

So far, the diseased snakes submitted by Wildlife Monitors to the NWHC are attributed to wild populations from nine states, including Florida, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Tennessee, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Northern water snake (Nerodia sipedon) with crusty and thickened scales overlaying raised blisters as a result of a fungal skin infection, captured from island in western Lake Erie, Ohio, in August 2009 (case 22747). Photograph by D.E. Green, USGS National Wildlife Health Center.

You can see the mongabay news as it is posted at http://news.mongabay.com/

Monsanto’s Roundup Herbicide – GLYPHOSATE

Jun7

GLYPHOSATE

Monsanto’s Roundup Herbicide—Featuring the Darth Vader Chemical

Published on May 10, 2013

It was “supposed” to be harmless to humans and animals—the perfect weed killer. Now a groundbreaking article just published in the journal Entropy points to Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, and more specifically its active ingredient glyphosate, as devastating—possibly “the most important factor in the development of multiple chronic diseases and conditions that have become prevalent in Westernized societies.”
That’s right. The herbicide sprayed on most of the world’s genetically engineered crops—and which gets soaked into the food portion—is now linked to “autism … gastrointestinal issues such as inflammatory bowel disease, chronic diarrhea, colitis and Crohn’s disease, obesity, cardiovascular disease, depression, cancer, cachexia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and ALS, among others.”
Enjoy this videotaped guided tour of Jeffrey Smith interviewing co-author Stephanie Seneff, PhD, a Senior Research Scientist at MIT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=h_AHLDXF5aw

Monsanto’s Roundup Herbicide—Featuring the Darth Vader Chemical

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP1I0cAsE2E&feature=player_detailpage

GMO Autism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTx2TTBeGL0&feature=player_detailpage

GMO MS Leaky Gut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ICCCXMvHek&feature=player_detailpage

GMO Parkinson’s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAfG_UC2IsA&feature=player_detailpage

GMO – Alzheimer’s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB4GFyjewHQ&feature=player_detailpage

GMO Obesity

Google Time-lapse

May16

Google Time-lapse offers view of Earth over 3 decades

(05/10/2013) Google has released a series of time-lapse images showing global change between 1984 and 2012. The images are sourced from NASA’s Landsat mission, a series of Earth-observation satellites that have orbited the planet since 1972, providing scientists, policymakers, and the general public with a wealth of data and imagery used for a wide range of applications.

Tar Sands Is Worse Than You Imagined

Apr17

Tar Sands Is Worse Than You Can Imagine: Incredible Images You Have to See: AlterNet is teaming up with the Post Carbon Institute to bring you mind-blowing images and stories that will inspire you to take action.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/tar-sands-worse-you-can-imagine-incredible-images-you-have-see?akid=10333.220654.UNYCgW&rd=1&src=newsletter825861&t=17

Feb 20—Hummers Migrating Earlier—If you have feeders, do keep up with them!!

Feb20

I haven’t seen our annual influx of Hummers, here in NE Florida, yet. It was 20F, night before last, killed lost of new growth and blossoms, but there will be more. The Hummers and other migratory birds seem to be hanging out a couple of hundred or so miles south of here (I am north- west of Jacksonville) until some inner swareness of the exterior weather tells them OK GO!

If I put feeders out too soon, then the yellow-jackets (wasps) and ants and mold and fungi find them before the birds do. The insects and have no trouble finding feeders that are moved regularly, or even irregularly.

It is a daily bother to keep up with feeders, but if you create dependent birds, then you must. So don’t start what you can’t keep up. To not feed dependent birds is the same as starving them. Not just the hummers, but the birds you feed other foods, as well. —-Granny Bear

Earlier hummingbird migration: A male ruby-throated hummingbird feeds at a honeysuckle plant, in Brandon, SD. IMAGE

AP Photo: Terry Sohl. Earlier hummingbird migration: A male ruby-throated hummingbird feeds at a honeysuckle plant, in Brandon, SD. IMAGE

By Bruce Smith

http://news.msn.com/science-technology/study-hummingbirds-migrating-earlier-in-spring

Researchers say warmer weather may be encouraging hummingbirds to migrate to North America 12 to 18 days earlier than in years past.Johnson said. extremely early arrivals, he said.

Invasive Burmese Pythons are not only in Florida, they have already migrated to Georgia …

Nov17

Burmese Pythons have already invaded Florida’s Everglades, and have now been found in south Georgia Swamps.

Even without a warming planet, this invasive predator can live comfortably in a third of the southern United States.

Pythons have been documented in two states, and may have invaded more areas, but have just not been officialy

recognized yet. These snakes are a dangerous constrictor that grows up to twenty feet in lenth, making them capable

of eating fairly large animals, such as dogs, calves, ‘coons, ‘possums, and human children, or even small adults. Though

not fanged like rattlers they do have lots of back pointing teeth which they use to secure prey while constricting. These

are teeth that don’t get brushed or flossed and leave a nasty septic wound that needs treatment… if the prey (us) manages to get loose.

I don’t know if there is an open season on hunting and/or trapping/killing pythons, or if there may even be a bounty. Hunting and Fishing laws are different in each state, so before you decide to eradicate pythons, you best see what is legal and what is recommended. ‘Cause I don’t know.

Granny

Areas of the continental United States with current climate matching that of the pythons’ native range in Asia. By 2100 the yellow “maybe” area is expected to extend north substantially, due to projected climate change. (Credit: USGS)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080223111456.htm

Science News

… from universities, journals, and other research organizations

Python Snakes, An Invasive Species In Florida, Could Spread To One Third Of US

ScienceDaily (Feb. 24, 2008) — Burmese pythons—an invasive species in south Florida—could find comfortable climatic conditions in roughly a third of the United States according to new “climate maps” developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Although other factors such as type of food available and suitable shelter also play a role, Burmese pythons and other giant constrictor snakes have shown themselves to be highly adaptable to new environments.

See Also:

Plants & Animals

Earth & Climate

Reference

The just-released USGS maps can help natural resource agencies manage and possibly control the spread of non-native giant constrictor snakes, such as the Burmese python, now spreading from Everglades National Park in Florida. These “climate match” maps show where climate in the U.S. is similar to places in which Burmese pythons live naturally (from Pakistan to Indonesia).

A look at the map shows why biologists are concerned.

The maps show where climate alone would not limit these snakes. One map shows areas in the U.S. with current climatic conditions similar to those of the snakes’ native ranges. A second map projects these “climate matches” at the end of this century based on global warming models, which significantly expands the potential habitat for these snakes.

Biologists with Everglades National Park confirmed a breeding population of Burmese python in the Florida Everglades in 2003, presumably the result of released pets. Python populations have since been discovered in Big Cypress National Preserve to the north, Miami’s water management areas to the northeast, Key Largo to the southeast, and many state parks, municipalities, and public and private lands in the region.

“Wildlife managers are concerned that these snakes, which can grow to over 20 feet long and more than 250 pounds, pose a danger to state- and federally listed threatened and endangered species as well as to humans,” said Bob Reed, a USGS wildlife biologist at the Fort Collins Science Center in Colorado, who helped develop the maps. “Several endangered species,” he noted, “have already been found in the snakes’ stomachs. Pythons could have even more significant environmental and economic consequences if they were to spread from Florida to other states.”

Control of exotic species is often prohibitively expensive once they have become established. Therefore, prevention through screening and risk assessment is of great importance, especially when protecting continental areas from invasive reptiles, said USGS invasive snake expert Gordon Rodda, also of the Fort Collins center. USGS scientists and their partners are seeking to compile the scientific data necessary to guide management efforts to prevent further introductions, control existing populations of snakes, and contain their spread.

Burmese pythons have been found to eat endangered Key Largo woodrats and rare round-tailed muskrats. “This makes it that much more difficult to recover these dwindling populations and restore the Everglades,” said park biologist Skip Snow, “and all the more important that pet owners be responsible in their choice of pet and dispose of it properly should they need to. Releasing them into the environment is bad for that pet, bad for native species, and also illegal.”

Currently, scientists with the USGS and Everglades National Park are investigating the behavior and biology of these snakes – that is, what are their requirements for survival? This information will help refine predictions of where the snakes might go next and their likelihood of survival. USGS researchers are also conducting a risk assessment for nine species of giant constrictors (including boa constrictors and yellow anacondas) that are prevalent in the pet trade and as such, potential invaders in the United States.

Due to be completed by early 2009, the assessment evaluates the risk of invasion for these species and the potential for social, economic, and environmental impacts. The two agencies are also developing and testing tools to control invasive snake populations and prevent their spread, especially to the Florida Keys where several listed species would be threatened by the presence of pythons or other constrictors.

http://www.gainvasives.org/index.html

View All Images at Invasive.org

http://www.invasive.org/browse/subthumb.cfm?sub=20461&Start=1&display=60&sort=2

Burmese python