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Toads and newts in ponds across Britain to be tested to map spread of killer fungus
Thousands of toads and newts across the UK are to be tested to map the spread of a killer fungus. Volunteers will swab more than 6,000 animals to detect the presence of the chytrid fungus, which is driving large-scale declines in amphibians around the world.
The tests, led by scientists from the Zoological Society of London, aim to build up a picture of where in the country the fungus is found.
They will be carried out with the help of 400 volunteers recruited by Amphibian and Reptile Groups of the UK, who will wade into ponds after dark between April and June to swab the creatures.
Chytrid causes a fatal disease which thickens amphibian skin and prevents the transfer of vital salts across it.
Honeybees 'Entomb' Hives to Protect Against Pesticides, say ScientistsHoneybees are taking emergency measures to protect their hives from pesticides, in an extraordinary example of the natural world adapting swiftly to our depredations, according to a prominent bee expert.
Scientists have found numerous examples of a new phenomenon – bees "entombing" or sealing up hive cells full of pollen to put them out of use, and protect the rest of the hive from their contents. The pollen stored in the sealed-up cells has been found to contain dramatically higher levels of pesticides and other potentially harmful chemicals than the pollen stored in neighbouring cells, which is used to feed growing young bees.
"This is a novel finding, and very striking. The implication is that the bees are sensing [pesticides] and actually sealing it off. They are recognising that something is wrong with the pollen and encapsulating it," said Jeff Pettis, an entomologist with the US Department of Agriculture. "Bees would not normally seal off pollen."
Bird Brains Tell Tale of Radiation Damage
You can learn a lot from a bird brain — especially if that bird brain spends half the year nesting in the forests and abandoned farmlands surrounding Chernobyl.
For the past several years, USC biology professor Timothy Mousseau and his colleague Anders Møller have been doing just that: studying migratory and non-migratory birds (plus a wide range of insect and plant species) across swaths of the Ukraine and Belarus affected by the 1986 nuclear disaster in an effort to better understand the effects of low-dose radioactive contaminants on living organisms, including humans.
And what Mousseau and Møller have found so far is less than encouraging, as their research contradicts some of the more optimistic findings that have circulated through the mainstream media in recent years.
OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
- Beheaded bald eagle found in La. parish ditch [Winnsboro, Louisiana, USA - Map It
] - All Coral Bleaching Is Not Bad
- Boulder installs bat gate at Mallory Cave [Boulder, Colorado, USA]
- Rare Alpine Insect May Disappear With Glaciers
- Sea turtles chalk up good nesting figures
