March 6, 2011, Singapore (AFP) — The unbridled manufacture and use of pesticides in Asia is raising the spectre of “pest storms” devastating the region’s rice farms and threatening food security, scientists have warned. Increased production of cheap pesticides in China and India, lax regulation and inadequate farmer education are destroying ecosystems around paddies, allowing […]
By Matt Walker, Editor, Earth News 5 February 2011 Birds living around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear accident have 5% smaller brains, an effect directly linked to lingering background radiation. The finding comes from a study of 550 birds belonging to 48 different species living in the region, published in the journal PLoS One. […]
For years researchers have watched plants and animals migrate to cooler quarters in response to global warming. But a new study suggests some plants are moving downhill, drawn by increased precipitation. By Pete Spotts, Staff writerJanuary 21, 2011 For years, scientists have recorded the gradual march of plants and animals up mountain slopes and toward […]
By Alok Jha, science correspondent, www.guardian.co.uk Monday 3 January 2011 20.02 GMT The abundance of four common species of bumblebee in the US has dropped by 96% in just the past few decades, according to the most comprehensive national census of the insects. Scientists said the alarming decline, which could have devastating implications for the […]
By Tom Philpott10 Dec 2010 8:36 AM It’s not just the State and Defense departments that are reeling this month from leaked documents. The Environmental Protection Agency now has some explaining to do, too. In place of dodgy dealings with foreign leaders, this case involves the German agrichemical giant Bayer; a pesticide with an unpronounceable […]
By John Laumer, Philadelphia 14 December 2010 Common sense tells us that, following corn harvest, fragments of corn cobs, leaves, stalks, silk, and pollen may be blown by the wind or carried across the land surface by runoff. Corn plant residues will end up in the sediments of streams lakes and reservoirs. Scientists call the […]
Drop in 17 species’ populations indicates a catastrophic loss of flower-rich meadows in many European countries Once there were swarms of butterflies in our skies By Patrick Barkham, www.guardian.co.uk Thursday 9 December 2010 16.57 GMT Butterflies that flourish on grassland across Europe are in steep decline, indicating a catastrophic loss of flower-rich meadows in many […]
By Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA 12.10.2010 The puzzle of the red bees of Brooklyn may now be solved, but conclusive answers regarding the larger honeybee mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder remain elusive. Nevertheless, in my roundup post about the epic fight to save the bees, I noted that the British Beekeepers Association had […]
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent27 Oct 2010 Butterflies and bees are declining because of the loss of wild flowers in the countryside, according to a major Government report. A team of researcher from the Centre for Hydrology and Ecology (CEH) monitored 500 plots of ‘semiwild’ land across the UK between 1990 and 2007 on the […]
New Delhi, Oct 10, (PTI): Vegetable production in India is shrinking over the years due to a decline in the population of pollinating insects like bees and butterflies, a new study has claimed. The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Calcutta, found a disturbing trend in the growth of yields of several […]
