weird biological news / Unforeseen Consequences

[dogmatize]

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Hello Terry, I think the problem is that you may appear to be overwhelming the forum somewhat. 163 posts in two weeks membership does seem a lot. 

 

[leashedForLife]

U missed the poll, @dogmatize - 
how interested are U in this thread's topic, on a scale of 0 / no interest to 5 / deeply interested?  

- t

 

[eingana]

I'm interested in potentially some of the topics in this thread, but it's too much information in one great lump which is likely to swamp the size of the forum.  This is a small forum, mostly based in England, and mostly about sighthound racing.  If you dump too much information in one go then it's likely that people will stop opening your threads at all, which is counterproductive for everybody.

 

[gypsysmum2]

0

 

[JoanneF]

0. If I want to read about things like this, I can source it for myself. I prefer to come here for canine matters. I realise it is in off topic chat but my preferred way of accessing this forum is through the new content menu so this material, especially when there is a lot, takes time to work through until I get to what I want to see.

 

[leashedForLife]

Drat! - 
i know this won't affect those outside the U-S, but it's not good news for those here:
the Lone Star tick is increasing its range;  the species is moving north & west with warming temps from its 'home' in the SE states & mid-Atlantic.  

Also, the red-meat allergy which this tick can cause, is becoming problematic; eating red meat [beef, lamb, pork, etc] hours or days after being bitten can cause serious illness, from hives to anaphylactic shock. It's actually caused by a sugar molecule found in meat — galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, hence the nickname alpha-gal allergy.

Rocky Mt spotted-fever, Erlichia, & Lyme are a few of the well-known diseases transmitted by ticks, but they are treatable; there are 2 new viruses on the list, Bourbon & Heartland, & neither can be treated per se -- antibiotics don't knock down viruses, so patients ill with Bourbon or Heartland virus can only be given supportive care [like giving a person with diarrhea, fluids with electrolytes to replace what they've lost - such care combats symptoms, not causes].

mosquito  Aedes aegypti
West Nile virus / WNV is now known to shorten the lives of survivors: years after being ill & recovering from the mosquito-borne virus, survivors die earlier than their age cohorts, often with kidney problems. In most such deaths, the person was sufficiently ill that they were hospitalized; 3/4 of those infected have no symptoms, or only mild cold- or flu-like symptoms & seek no treatment / Dx.

Question -
if releasing sterile males would wipe-out Aedes aegypti permanently, would U approve that as a public health measure? - it's not a native species, & is the vector for many serious diseases [Zika, yellow fever, dengue, WNV, chikungunya, Mayaro, etc.] 

We did something similar after WW-2, releasing male screw-flies sterilized by irradiation, & thus wiped-out screwworm as a livestock plague in the 48-states. I don't think we could get E.P.A. or USDA approval for such a drastic step, nowadays.

 - t
 

 

[leashedForLife]

uh-oh.
An Asian carp (specifically the hard-headed SILVER carp infamous for leaping from the water like popcorn from a hot pan, when a boat-motor or prop startles them)  was caught "near" Lake Michigan - actually less than 9-miles from the lake.  This 2-ft long adult made it past 3 electronic barriers that are meant to keep them away from the lakes, & trapped in the Illinois River; they've already taken over the Mississippi drainage... lest U think i exaggerate, in some sections of river, the 4 invasive species of Asian carp make-up 97% of the river's biomass. A mere 3% is 'everything that's not an Asian carp', from dragonfly larvae to crawfish or newt.  

collectively, the Great Lakes hold 20% of all the drinkable fresh-water in the world, so they are not only critical for shipping & a vacation / tourist destination, they are reservoirs for a vast number of residents. Drinking, cooking, planting crops, bathing, plumbing, all depend on water.
The Great Lakes are also a fishery - & Asian carp are fast-breeding, voracious, & fast-growing.    This alien species was introduced in the 1970s to "eat weed" in southern states' ponds, escaped predictably, & began its march across the country. 

Trumpling cut funding for the control of invasive species, as part of his "Make America Great!" campaign.
I fail to see how letting the equivalent of cockroaches in many diverse forms overrun our native species is "great" - the Great Lakes were not improved by zebra mussels, & Asian carp won't 'improve' the fishery. //  Over 5.5 MILLION pounds of Asian carp have been pulled from the Illinois River over the past 7 years, paid for by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
Trumpster wants to gut the GLRI & de-fund it.

more info -
https://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Threats-to-Wildlife/Invasive-Species/Asian-Carp.aspx

 

[leashedForLife]

 A Japanese woman died of an emerging tickborne virus - but was never bitten by a tick.  She was bitten by a cat, who was already infected by the virus, & thus was infected secondarily.

Oddly enuf, this particular virus has yet to be recorded in the U-S, it's an emerging Asian disease, but a number of species in the U-S midwest already have ANTIBODIES to this Asian virus, courtesy of an emerging virus here - "Heartland virus" is genetically related to the Asian SFTSV [Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus].
"Thrombocytopenia" is a dearth of platelets, essential for clotting - & the virus can also cause a collapse in the number of white blood cells, essential for resisting infection. The combo of fever, loss of platelets, lack of white cells, causes multiple organ failure & death.
Up to 30% of SFTSV patients die.

 

[leashedForLife]

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Hammerhead worms, native to warm tropical regions, have invaded large areas of France - yet the French environmental authorities have not investigated to see what the impact of these enormous aliens has been, nor have they taken steps to determine where they are, or how many there are, let alone to control or reduce them.


these critters aren't garden-sized earthworms - they grow to be a foot long, & they EAT earthworms as snacks, along with most other soil-dwelling invertebrates. So collectively, they could have enormous impacts on such critical details as soil fertility, permeability, soil health, tilth, air- & water-permeability, & the ease with which plants can extract moisture -- or how well soil retains water without collapsing down a 10% slope.

Giant Hammerhead Worms Have Been Invading France for Decades

the 5 different alien hammerhead species so far found, lurking in the soil of mainland France & multiple French colonies, all reproduce asexually - a single individual produces loads of progeny. They also secrete chemicals that give them a horrid taste, so that predators won't eat them. Blecch.
Loads of babies, & no natural enemies? - Yikes.

.

 

[leashedForLife]

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like unhappy Florida, the island of Puerto Rico has recently been invaded by Boa constrictors - these are not a few stray pets, they're breeding in the wild, & colonizing new areas when ppl unwittingly move them.

Boa Constrictors Invade Puerto Rico

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[leashedForLife]

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invasive lionfish in the Caribbean, Florida, & off Virginia [transported to wreck-sites off Va's coast by eejits] have been put on restaurant menus -
sadly, we cannot do the same with Burmese pythons in the Everglades. They're loaded with toxic mercury.


Mercury Keeps Invasive Pythons Off the Menu

I still want the state of Florida to put a bounty on B-pythons, as well as African rock-pythons & Boa constrictors - a bounty won't encourage ppl to eat the doggone things, it only encourages them to kill 'em, which - IMno-doubt-biasedO -- isn't a bad thing.

maybe we can use the Burmese pythons as biological sinks for mercury, & collect them as toxic waste? - that gets it out of the environment, at least.

- t

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[leashedForLife]

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coming soon to yer neighborhood in the good ol' USA... Asian Tiger mosquitoes.

the dam*ed things were already in VA when i arrived there, but they're arriving in new places, & they're bringing chikungunya along as a housewarming gift - plus dengue fever, West Nile fever, yellow fever, and two types of encephalitis... in all, over 20 diseases, per the Cornell Chronicle.

Get Ready for Invading Asian Tiger Mosquitoes

they're exceptionally aggressive biters, & they also bite morning, noon, & night - no time is too dark, too bright, too hot, or too cool for tiger mozzies.
The sole upside is that every mating of a male Tiger with a F Aedes aegypti renders the F sterile. Whoopee - it'll take a lot of cross-species mating to knock down A. aegypti, they're very-well established.
The really bad news about Tigers? - the buggers can overwinter their eggs, the clever gits. Frost won't kill 'em.

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[leashedForLife]

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411 ppm - & no end in sight.

Scientists find a "whole lot of bad news" in latest report on rising CO2 levels

Trumpster's vowed desire to repeal long-standing air quality & other pollution limits, given the large recent increases in global CO2 output [over 2% per year for over 10-years] is deeply worrying.

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[leashedForLife]

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INTENSIVE LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION has finally hit the Mongolian steppe - & it's a disaster.
Over 70% of the grassland is seriously damaged, & desertification is accelerating massively.

Native wild-horses, rare indigenous antelope, & other native grazers, plus many grassland birds & raptors, Bactrian camels, & other native spp are being pushed to the wall; some individual owners have flocks numbering 10-K animals & more, just in sheep & goats, plus of course the horses required to make working such large flocks possible over this vast landscape.
The original subsistence-farming model, where a shepherd & his family reared animals to feed themselves, providing milk, meat, yogurt, fiber, & skins for clothing, leather goods, & yurt making, is shrinking fast, & the profit model of rapacious capitalism is taking over.

A taxation policy was suggested where the bigger the flock, the more U pay, but of course the big herdsmen have the money & the ears of legislators; they fight even the possibility of a tax, while small shepherds have no money & no political power, & watch the grass disappear, the water table recede, & the advancing sands cover more & more acres.

Mongolian Steppe munched into desert by goats and sheep

From 1985 to 2015, over 25% of the entire steppe became desert; the Gobi is advancing north swiftly, & this alters local climate permanently, destroying the carbon-sink of grassland. Vegetation cools the soil surface, helps retain moisture & replenish groundwater, & prevents erosion.
Between 1990 & 2013, goat & sheep numbers doubled from 22M to 45-million head; at the same time, rainfall decreased.

very sad.


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[arealhuman]

Time is running out for our planet.

 

[leashedForLife]

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A virus 1st discovered in 1964, & found in nonhumans living along the coast from TX to the Chesapeake Bay, has made the cross-species jump to infect humans.

Keystone Virus Makes First Known Jump From Mosquitoes To Humans

in 2016, at the height of the Zika outbreak in the U-S, a teenager presented at a Florida E-R with a severe rash & sudden fever; b/c Keystone virus had never been known in humans, it took 18-mos to Dx him. It's tough to be Patient #1.
Drs suspect there are many unDx'ed cases, as symptoms could be attributed to many other, common illnesses.
ADDENDUM: the spp transmitting Keystone is Aedes atlanticus.

The primary concern is that Keystone is one of a family of viruses that include highly-pathogenic relatives, who can cause encephalitis [brain & spinal-cord inflammation] which can be very dangerous; encephalitis requires hospital care, & can be lethal, or cause lifelong damage.
No one knows as yet whether Keystone has the potential to shorten lifespan, as West Nile does, in apparently-recovered patients.

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[leashedForLife]

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a whitetail-deer was shot by a hunter's arrow & the arrow shaft & head penetrated 5 ribs, punching from the rear toward the front of the body, diagonally thru the rib-bones. // The injury healed, & the arrow was almost fully-encased by living bone. Amazing photo -
Deer Survived for Years After Bone Grew Over This Arrow in Its Ribs

Ribs are very interesting bones - a section of rib can be taken out, or even an entire rib, to repair bone elsewhere, & as long as the "wrapper" of thin tough membrane around the rib is left intact, & new section or new rib will re-grow, inside the wrapper.
The massive trauma to 5 adjacent ribs would have bled enormously, it's a wonder the deer survived the initial injury, & the arrow itself plus the open wound where it punched into the body would have been a big risk for infection. The amount of bleeding may have helped save his life, by 1st, washing bacteria out of the body, & 2nd, forcing the deer to lay-up, simply due to weakness after blood loss, & begin healing.
That contiguous injury to 5 ribs, side by side, would also have punctured their individual membranes, & the massive clot would have bridged them - enabling the bone to grow from rib to rib, over the shaft & head. Incredible.

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[leashedForLife]

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a plant-eating dinosaur had an ill-starred life, but survived an amazing series of injuries.
He wasn't yet full-grown, had 3 broken ribs, a break in one hand, & another in one foot.

Clumsy Dinosaur or Attack Survivor? Injuries Plagued Ancient Beast

OTOH, he not only survived them, but healed - all 3 ribs healed, which in humans would have taken about 6-weeks, but his foot & hand were both infected, & may have indirectly caused his death - he couldn't move effectively to hunt, flee predators, gain wt, & grow. He'd have been limping, whether on 2 feet or 4.

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[leashedForLife]

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giant hogweed is invading the U-S -
This Towering Plant Is Invading the US, and It’s Causing Serious Sunburns

Why is that a problem? - 'cuz it can grow 14-ft tall, & has toxic sap, which can cause severe burns.
This sap makes skin photosensitive, & any sun will burn it. Moisture such as sweat or dew, makes the burns worse. If U think U've seen one, U're advised NOT to try to remove it... don't touch it, & no weedwhackers, either. Contact the state Conservation Dept, or a local Ag-Extension office, & they will identify it, & remove it.
If U think U may have brushed one, wash immediately with soap & water, stay out of the SUN for 48-hours, & consult a Dr urgently.

In NY state alone, there are over 200 plants in 400 known sites; other New England, mid-Atlantic, & Northwestern states are also infested. // Virginia is the new addition to the list.

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[arealhuman]

I've never understood the US fascination with going out into the wilds and murdering animals