tagged w/ Invasive Species
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TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Foreign species that slipped into the Great Lakes in ballast tanks of oceangoing cargo ships cost the regional economy at least $200 million a year, according to a University of Notre Dame study released Wednesday.
Sport fishing has taken the biggest hit: $123.5 million in 2006, the year on which the data are based, the report said. Participation is 11 to 35 percent lower on the lakes than it would have been if fish populations hadn't fallen because of the invasive species.
Other damaged sectors of the economy include wildlife viewing ($47.6 million loss); raw water use by municipalities, power plants and industry ($27 million); and commercial fishing ($2.1 million).
A separate report issued by the National Research Council rejects calls to stem the species invasion by closing the St. Lawrence Seaway or declaring it off-limits to oceangoing freighters.
Instead, the U.S. and Canada should work together to make sure that saltwater ships exchange their ballast water _ or rinse their tanks if empty _ while still at sea, the council's report said.
Both reports come as environmentalists are prodding the U.S. Senate to approve a bill ordering ships to install systems for killing invasive fish, mussels and other critters that can disrupt the Great Lakes' ecosystem. The measure has cleared the House but supporters say its prospects will be dim unless the Senate acts before its August recess.
Of the 185 exotic animals and plants that have established populations in the lakes, 84 have arrived since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, providing a navigational link between the lakes and the Atlantic.
Fifty-seven of the newcomers likely caught a ride in ballast water scooped up in foreign ports and dumped into the lakes when ships took on cargo, the Notre Dame report said. Among them: the round goby, the spiny water flea and the Eurasian ruffe.
They also include zebra and quagga mussels, which have been especially damaging to the regional economy by clogging water intake pipes and gobbling algae at the base of the aquatic food chain.
Estimates of their cost to the economy have varied widely. The Notre Dame scientists suggested losses of $300 million last spring. But their latest report, using a different analytical method, pegged the loss at $200 million.
The total refers only to costs for the eight U.S. states on the Great Lakes. Canada also has suffered from the species invasion, said David Lodge, director of the university's Center for Aquatic Conservation.
"The distributions of losses we found with invasions from shipping may be the tip of the iceberg," Lodge said.
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Foreign species that slipped into the Great Lakes in... more
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Climate change is "significantly amplifying" the threats facing the world's bird populations, a global assessment has concluded.
The 2008 IUCN Bird Red List warns that long-term droughts and extreme weather puts additional stress on key habitats.
The assessment lists 1,226 species as threatened with extinction - one-in-eight of all bird species.
The list, reviewed every four years, is compiled by conservation charity BirdLife International.
"It is very hard to precisely attribute particular changes in specific species to climate change," said Stuart Butchart, BirdLife's global research and indicators co-ordinator.
"But there is now a whole suite of species that are clearly becoming threatened by extreme weather events and droughts."
In the revised Red List, eight species have been added to the "critically endangered" category.
CRITICALLY ENDANGERED - NEW ADDITIONS
Tristan albatross
Spoon-billed sandpiper
Tachira antpitta
Reunion cuckooshrike
Mariana crow
Floreana mockingbird
Akekee
Gough bunting
(Source: Bird Red List 2008 update)
One of these was the Floreana mockingbird (Nesomimus trifasciatus), which is confined to two islets in the Galapagos Islands.
From an estimated maximum of 150 in the mid-1960s, the population has fallen to fewer than 60.
Conservationists listed the mockingbird as Critically Endangered because it experienced a high rate of adult mortality during dry years that have been linked to La Nina events.
Dry years have become more frequent in recent years, and have been blamed as the main driver of the current decline.
"Another threat for small island species, such as the Floreana mockingbird, is the threat from invasive species, in particular mammals and plants," Dr Butchart told BBC News.
"They are having a devastating effect on habitats. For example, goats and donkeys on Floreana are changing the ecological structure.
"Eliminating or controlling invasive species is a very tractable conservation action that can help these birds hang on in the face of these additional pressures from climate change.
Climate change is "significantly amplifying" the threats facing the... more
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The fingerprints of man-made climate change are evident in seasonal timing changes for thousands of species on Earth, according to dozens of studies and last year's authoritative report by the Nobel Prize-winning international climate scientists. More than 30 scientists told The Associated Press how global warming is affecting plants and animals at springtime across the country, in nearly every state.
What's happening is so noticeable that scientists can track it from space. Satellites measuring when land turns green found that spring "green-up" is arriving eight hours earlier every year on average since 1982 north of the Mason-Dixon line. In much of Florida and southern Texas and Louisiana, the satellites show spring coming a tad later, and bizarrely, in a complicated way, global warming can explain that too, the scientists said.
Biological timing is called phenology. Biological spring, which this year begins at 1:48 a.m. EDT Thursday, is based on the tilt of the Earth as it circles the sun. The federal government and some university scientists are so alarmed by the changes that last fall they created a National Phenology Network at the U.S. Geological Survey to monitor these changes.
The idea, said biologist and network director Jake Weltzin, is "to better understand the changes, and more important what do they mean? How does it affect humankind?"
There are winners, losers and lots of unknowns when global warming messes with natural timing. People may appreciate the smaller heating bills from shorter winters, the longer growing season and maybe even better tasting wines from some early grape harvests. But biologists also foresee big problems.
The changes could push some species to extinction. That's because certain plants and animals are dependent on each other for food and shelter. If the plants bloom or bear fruit before animals return or surface from hibernation, the critters could starve. Also, plants that bud too early can still be whacked by a late freeze.
The young of tree swallows — which in upstate New York are laying eggs nine days earlier than in the 1960s — often starve in those last gasp cold snaps because insects stop flying in the cold, ornithologists said. University of Maryland biology professor David Inouye noticed an unusually early February robin in his neighborhood this year and noted, "Sometimes the early bird is the one that's killed by the winter storm."
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When is the media going to understand that is is not just global warming but climate change? No wonder people still think there is nothing urgent about this crisis. Any early changes near you?The fingerprints of man-made climate change are evident in seasonal timing changes for... more
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A SAVAGE fish that eats everything it comes across, including people, has been hooked by a British fisherman — sparking fears of a deadly invasion.A SAVAGE fish that eats everything it comes across, including people, has been hooked... more
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Over fifty years ago Emperor Akihito was given several bluegill fish by the mayor of Chicago at the Chicago Aquarium. He brought them to a research facility, but it became clear that the fishies had escaped. They have spread throughout Japan's waterways, eradicating native species.
The emperor is distressed and has urged marine experts to make sure that no further extinctions would occur as the result of the bluegill's success.
(It is true that the word 'fishies' appeared in this clip. So.)Over fifty years ago Emperor Akihito was given several bluegill fish by the mayor of... more
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