Post by gradysghostii on May 20, 2008 11:48:05 GMT -5
Where have the Sparrows gone?
tinyurl.com/5quwah
"The sparrow, once the exemplar of a commonplace bird, is becoming increasingly rare in France and other European countries…. French ornithologists have now charted a steep decline in Paris and other French cities. There has been an even sharper fall in urban populations in Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Finland… As in Britain, where sparrow numbers are believed to have fallen by 90 per cent in the past 15 years, continental ornithologists can find no coherent explanation for the sudden decline…"
Colony Collapse Disorder
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder
Colony Collapse Disorder (or CCD) is a poorly understood phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive or Western honey bee colony abruptly disappear. While such disappearances have occurred throughout the history of Apiculture, the term 'Colony Collapse Disorder' was first applied to a drastic rise in the number of disappearances of Western honey bee colonies in North America in late 2006.[1]
Decline in amphibian populations
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_in_amphibian_populations
Dramatic declines in amphibian populations, including population crashes and mass localized extinction, have been noted since the 1980s from locations all over the world. These declines are perceived as one of the most critical threats to global biodiversity, and several causes are believed to be involved, including habitat destruction and modification, over-exploitation, pollution, pesticide use, introduced species, climate change, increased ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B) and disease. However, many of the causes of amphibian declines are still poorly understood, and the topic is currently a subject of much ongoing research. Calculations based on extinction rates suggest that the current extinction rate of amphibians could be 211 times the background extinction rate and the estimate goes up to 25,039–45,474 times if endangered species are also included in the computation.[1]
What's Killing The Bats Of The Northeast?
tinyurl.com/26hmua
(CBS) Healthy bats, when waking from hibernation, form small clusters after emerging from months of slumber.
But when CBS News correspondent Daniel Sieberg went with Biologist Al Hicks to an abandoned underground mine near Kingston, N.Y., it looked like a bat morgue, with many of the fragile mammals already dead, or dying, in our hands.
"This is the biggest threat to bat populations I've ever seen, no question about it," said Hicks, a state wildlife biologist.
Normally, the small brown bats should respond to lights and noise.
But their bodies are so weak, they are too lethargic to move. Their fat stores have been mysteriously depleted.
Butterfly decline steepens
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1296391.stm
Although this article about the UK, it is a world wide problem.
Almost all the UK's most endangered butterfly species are continuing to decline, government advisers say.
They add that a quarter of all resident species have declined by more than 50%, and plans to protect high-priority butterflies are not working.
I could go on but you get the point.
When I was a kid we'd play out side in the yard and nearly every dandelion would have a honey bee on it, they were so plentiful, this year, in our back yard we did not see a single solitary honey bee.
tinyurl.com/5quwah
"The sparrow, once the exemplar of a commonplace bird, is becoming increasingly rare in France and other European countries…. French ornithologists have now charted a steep decline in Paris and other French cities. There has been an even sharper fall in urban populations in Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Finland… As in Britain, where sparrow numbers are believed to have fallen by 90 per cent in the past 15 years, continental ornithologists can find no coherent explanation for the sudden decline…"
Colony Collapse Disorder
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder
Colony Collapse Disorder (or CCD) is a poorly understood phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive or Western honey bee colony abruptly disappear. While such disappearances have occurred throughout the history of Apiculture, the term 'Colony Collapse Disorder' was first applied to a drastic rise in the number of disappearances of Western honey bee colonies in North America in late 2006.[1]
Decline in amphibian populations
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_in_amphibian_populations
Dramatic declines in amphibian populations, including population crashes and mass localized extinction, have been noted since the 1980s from locations all over the world. These declines are perceived as one of the most critical threats to global biodiversity, and several causes are believed to be involved, including habitat destruction and modification, over-exploitation, pollution, pesticide use, introduced species, climate change, increased ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B) and disease. However, many of the causes of amphibian declines are still poorly understood, and the topic is currently a subject of much ongoing research. Calculations based on extinction rates suggest that the current extinction rate of amphibians could be 211 times the background extinction rate and the estimate goes up to 25,039–45,474 times if endangered species are also included in the computation.[1]
What's Killing The Bats Of The Northeast?
tinyurl.com/26hmua
(CBS) Healthy bats, when waking from hibernation, form small clusters after emerging from months of slumber.
But when CBS News correspondent Daniel Sieberg went with Biologist Al Hicks to an abandoned underground mine near Kingston, N.Y., it looked like a bat morgue, with many of the fragile mammals already dead, or dying, in our hands.
"This is the biggest threat to bat populations I've ever seen, no question about it," said Hicks, a state wildlife biologist.
Normally, the small brown bats should respond to lights and noise.
But their bodies are so weak, they are too lethargic to move. Their fat stores have been mysteriously depleted.
Butterfly decline steepens
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1296391.stm
Although this article about the UK, it is a world wide problem.
Almost all the UK's most endangered butterfly species are continuing to decline, government advisers say.
They add that a quarter of all resident species have declined by more than 50%, and plans to protect high-priority butterflies are not working.
I could go on but you get the point.
When I was a kid we'd play out side in the yard and nearly every dandelion would have a honey bee on it, they were so plentiful, this year, in our back yard we did not see a single solitary honey bee.