What’s killing the great forests of the American West?

By Jim Robbins For many years, Diana Six, an entomologist at the University of Montana, planned her field season for the same two to three weeks in July. That’s when her quarry — tiny, black, mountain pine beetles — hatched from the tree they had just killed and swarmed to a new one to start […]

Lush vegetation brings locusts to Eastern Australia

For central Australia, the late summer and early fall of 2010 was eventful, starting with rain, and leading to floods, plants, and finally insects. Between the end of February and early March, unusually heavy rain fell across Australia’s dry interior. Parts of central Australia received more rain in 11 days than they usually do in […]

Invasive species accelerate PCBs up the food chain

By Steve Carmody (2010-04-12) ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) – New University of Michigan research finds invasive species are accelerating PCBs up the food chain. Recent dredging of the Saginaw River was intended to remove PCB contaminated soil. U of M fishery biologist David Jude says tests indicate the dredging worked. But he says walleyes […]

Humboldt squid thriving, thanks to ocean dead zones

Human-size jumbo squid are growing thick along the U.S. west coast. Is climate change aiding their expansion? By Katherine Harmon    April 8, 2010 Although many of the Pacific Ocean’s big species are floundering, one large creature of the deep seems to be flourishing. The Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas, also known as jumbo squid, owing to […]

Swarms of venomous jellyfish move toward British waters

Published: 10:15AM BST 07 Apr 2010 The lethal mauve stingers – Pelagia noctiluca in Latin – are tiny but can cover hundreds of thousands of square miles in one “bloom”. They are normally found in the Mediterranean and Caribbean. But billions of them are swarming far more frequently into waters in the north east Atlantic […]

Pests, poison ivy, kudzu will move north as Earth heats up

By Anne Paine • THE TENNESSEAN • April 2, 2010 Sure, some species benefit from a warming planet, but they can be the annoying ones that sting, bite, or make you itch. Tennessee is among areas that are expected to see fire ants and other ills spread as the climate changes, according to the National […]

Polynesia coral reefs wiped out by cyclone Oli

ScienceDaily (Mar. 27, 2010) — On 3-4 February 2010, tropical cyclone Oli hit western French Polynesia. From 7 February 2010, the Coral Observation Department at CNRS’s National Institute of Earth Sciences and Astronomy (INSU), based at the Centre de recherches insulaires et observatoire de l’environnement (CRIOBE, CNRS/EPHE) in Moorea, rapidly undertook an inventory of the […]

Invasive plant strangling Nepal ecosystem

By Navin Singh KhadkaEnvironment reporter, BBC News An invasive plant is emerging as a major problem in a Nepalese national park renowned for protecting endangered wildlife species, say scientists. The Chitwan National Park is listed as a Unesco world heritage site and is a major tourist attraction. It has been a huge conservation success story, […]

Unusually heavy rains in U.S. South force paper company to ship moth-infested wood

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Months of heavy rains throughout the South are forcing International Paper Co. to look beyond its usual suppliers for wood for its central South Carolina mill and turn to places that are known to have tree-destroying gypsy moths. The extensive steps federal regulators are requiring the company to take to make sure […]

A year’s worth of Desdemona traffic

As you know, Desdemona loves data, of all sorts, and this makes Google Analytics especially fun to use. So here are all the visits to Desdemona Despair for the last year. Here are some statistics to go with that graph. Looks like the trend is generally upward, which pleases Desdemona.   Here are the top ten […]

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