Diseases caused by unusual changes in the weather are now on the rise, Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on climate change Sunday warned. According to Legarda, there had been at least 13, 821 patients in hospitals across the country that were afflicted with dengue from January to February this year. In Metro [...]
Signal: species population growth
Antarctic grass spreading as temps rise
There are no trees on the frozen continent and only two species of flowering plant Antarctic hairgrass and Antarctic pearlwort, that grow on the western peninsula and surrounding islands.A team of UK and Australian scientists has found that the hairgrass has spread over the last 50 years due to global warming. Dr Paul Hill, of [...]
European birds faring better in northern end of ranges
… Success in the north, trouble in the south Climate change is affecting our fauna in various ways, by influencing distribution range, population size, and migration and breeding phenology. For example, recent studies have shown that European bird species living in a colder climate (that is, generally more northern bird species), are doing relatively poorly [...]
Dengue fever spreading in Asia as temps rise
Dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease with no known treatment, is spreading in Asia, with cases in India at a 20-year high as the country hosts the Commonwealth Games. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that 2.5 billion people are at risk from one of the world’s fastest-emerging infections, which has “grown dramatically in recent [...]
Clearing forest killed by beetles costing $3,500/acre
Pine beetles have also ravaged another 17.5 million acres in the western United States and have a stranglehold on massive chunks of forests in British Columbia. While bark beetles have long been part of the natural ecosystem cycle, their current numbers are overwhelming, said Joseph Duda, forest management supervisor for the Colorado State Forest Service. [...]
Forests killed by spiking beetle populations serving as fire breaks
If your summer travels have taken you across the Rocky Mountains, you’ve probably seen large swaths of reddish trees dotting otherwise green forests. While it may look like autumn has come early to the mountains, evergreen trees don’t change color with the seasons. The red trees are dying, the result of attacks by mountain pine [...]
Yellow Fever Mosquito Shows Up in Northern Europe
Scientists this month identified a colony of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which carries both yellow fever and the dengue virus, in the Netherlands. This African insect had not been seen in Europe for more than 50 years.
