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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from
View By Scenario:
Species Collapse:(5)
Plague/Virus:(6)
Climate Chaos:(11)
Resource Depletion: (3)
Biology Breach:(9)
Recovery:(8)
This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
global warming  ~ climate impacts  ~ contamination  ~ pandemic  ~ rising sea level  ~ carbon emissions  ~ water issues  ~ alternative energy  ~ airborne pollutants  ~ stupid humans  ~ plastic problems  



ApocaDocuments (5) for the "Species Collapse" scenario from this week
[see full week] ~ [see full Species Collapse scenario and stories]
Sun, May 3, 2009
from New York Times:
As Bats Die, Closing Caves to Control a Fungus
The federal Forest Service is preparing to close thousands of caves and former mines in national forests in 33 states in an effort to control a fungus that has already killed an estimated 500,000 bats. A Forest Service biologist, Becky Ewing, said an emergency order was issued last week for caves in 20 states from Minnesota to Maine. A second order covering the Forest Service’s 13-state Southern region should be issued this month. The sites will be closed for up to a year, Ms. Ewing said.... Bats play a important role in keeping insects like mosquitoes under control. Bats eat from April to October, usually consuming their body weight in bugs each night. Ms. Ewing said the loss of 500,000 bats meant 2.4 million pounds of bugs not eaten in a year. ...


I'm afraid this is closing the bat-barn doors after the bat-cows have fled.

ApocaDoc
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Wed, Apr 29, 2009
from U.S. News and World Report:
The Truth Behind Global Jellyfish Swarms
Large swarms of jellyfish and other gelatinous animals -- sometimes covering hundreds of square miles of ocean -- have recently been reported in many of the world's prime vacation and fishing destinations.... Are human-caused environmental problems promoting population explosions of jellies? Various types of environmental problems may promote the formation of jelly swarms. These problems include pollution, the overharvesting of fish, the introduction of non-native jelly species into new habitats, the addition of artificial substrate (like fishing reefs, and various offshore platforms) in the ocean and climate change. ...


Let's not float to conclusions. There's not really proof that we're to blame.

ApocaDoc
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Mon, Apr 27, 2009
from Bloomberg News:
Galapagos Penguins Need 'Condos' With Global Warming
The Galapagos Islands, renowned for rare animals that inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, may have to create special shelters to save species from global warming and rising sea levels. Scientists who met there last week decided the indigenous penguin needs "condos" built in cooler, higher areas to nest more safely, Giuseppe Di Carlo, marine climate-change manager at Conservation International, said in an interview. Shadier bushes would protect plants and animals such as birds and tortoises that produce too many of the same sex in hotter weather. ...


These condos better be carbon neutral!

ApocaDoc
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Mon, Apr 27, 2009
from London Guardian:
Call for 20-year fishing ban in a third of oceans
One third of the world's oceans must be closed to fishing for 20 years if depleted stocks are to recover, scientists and conservation groups have warned. Callum Roberts, professor of marine conservation at the University of York, has reviewed 100 scientific papers identifying the scale of closure needed. "All are leaning in a similar direction," he said, "which is that 20-40 percent of the sea should be protected." Friends of the Earth, the Marine Conservation Society and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds all support the idea of a 30 percent closure. ...


Can't you just see it? Giant No Fishin' signs placed all over the planet!

ApocaDoc
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Mon, Apr 27, 2009
from London Guardian:
Once there were swarms of butterflies in our skies
...Swarms of butterflies have long disappeared. And a relentless decline may now become terminal for some of our best-loved species. Following the wet summer of 2007, last year was a disaster for butterflies: the lowest number was recorded for 27 years. Of Britain's precious 59 resident species, 12 experienced their worst ever year since the scientific monitoring of butterfly numbers began in 1976....Butterflies find it difficult to fly, feed and mate in bad weather but these figures are not just a seasonal blip caused by freakishly soggy summers. The collecting of British butterflies has ceased to be acceptable and yet butterfly populations have still plummeted. Far more devastating than unscrupulous collectors of old has been industrial agriculture and the loss of 97 percent of England's natural grassland and wildflower meadows; planting conifers or letting our broadleaved woodlands become too overgrown for woodland flowers; and the sprawl of motorways and urban development. To this deadly cocktail has been added a new poison: climate change. ...


From butterfly ... to butterdie.

ApocaDoc
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