ACES may be too late for many wildlife species, but killer insects thrive

July 2, 10:01 PMSeattle Environmental Policy ExaminerJean Williams

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Temperature and climate variations have already started to impact the globe’s wildlife and natural ecosystems. But not all life is being adversely affected. Insects, like mosquitoes and tree-ravaging beetles, have been multiplying in alarming numbers.

Recently, the house passed the American Climate, Energy, and Security Act (ACES), but it still has to get past Republican road blocks in the Senate.

Will human help arrive in time to save species that are already in trouble?

World wide, the news is not good for birds, wildlife, plants, and amphibians; as global warming turns up the heat on their fragile environments. All the while, some insect species that thrive in hotter temperatures and can negatively impact human health and the natural world---are experiencing massive population explosions.

Frogs are considered to be the Earth’s coal-mine-canary for other life forms.

So, why are they disappearing so rapidly? According Seattle biologist Kerry Kriger, frogs are declining in an avalanche of disappearing amphibian species that includes newts, salamanders, toads, and caecitians. Dr. Kriger estimates that one third of the 6, 418 amphibian species world wide have disappeared and temperature fluctuations and man made pollution are among the suspects.

Contrast that with the shocking news that previous extinctions have happened on average of 1 every 250 years. The demise of these fragile creatures have been attributed to every thing from fungus, habitat loss, diseases, climate change; to aviation fuel, over harvesting, invasive species, and immune inefficiency. There appears to be no corner of the planet where frogs can be shielded from air borne pollutants. If the path of extinction isn’t reversed, Kriger predicts it could be very damaging for the world’s natural ecosystems. Due to the fact that frogs are thin-skinned creatures, who live in water and on land; they are considered true barometers of the planet’s health.

“Frogs have been around 250 million years,” said, Dr. Kriger in a recent interview in Grist Magazine. “They’ve outlived the dinosaurs ... But in the last 30, 40, 50 years, they’re rapidly going extinct.”

Climate change is already impacting global bird migration

According to research drawn from four decades of the Audubon’s annual bird migration numbers, North American birds, like the American Goldfinch, are having to migrate further north every year in response to changing temperature. They are spending winter 35 miles further north than they were 40 years ago. The report says changes in migration coincide with variations in temperature over time, suggesting that many birds are responding to climate change by moving into new ranges. The average January temperature, for example, climbed by about 5 degrees Fahrenheit in the United States.

“This is as close as science at this scale gets to proof,” said Greg Butcher, the lead scientist on the study and the director of bird conservation at the Audubon Society. “It is not what each of these individual birds did. It is the wide diversity of birds that suggests it has something to do with temperature, rather than ecology.”

The audubon research indicates that some areas of California stand to lose up to 50% of the desert bird species, as a result of increased temperature. Flocks of black-throated sparrows have been seen flying into Native American caves for shelter from the sun, only to have several birds expire from the trapped heat. It would be a bit like flying from the frying pan into the oven.

Polar bears are not the only wildlife species in danger

Polar bears are high profile species that face servere consequences from climate change. But there are thousands of other low profile species just as deserving of climate protection, like the American Pika. The pika is a small alpine cousin to the rabbit and they cannot tolerate warm tempertures.

A report from the Center for Biological Diversity tells us that increasing temperatures have already caused drastic losses of lower-elevation pika populations. More than a third of documented pika populations in the Great Basin Mountains of Nevada and Oregon have gone extinct in the past century as temperatures warmed. In California, pikas have moved upslope in Yosemite National Park over the past century, and they have largely disappeared from the Bodie Hills in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in recent decades. Many scientists project that global warming will virtually eliminate suitable habitat for the pika in this century if greenhouse gas emissions are not drastically reduced.

The National Wildlife Federation reports on a similar problem with sea turtles facing adversity due to climate change. Research shows there has been an imbalance in the natural birth rate of the species. Temperature at the nesting sight is what determines gender of the turtles. Warming temperatures have already started dooming the future of the species, by reducing the number of male turtles, which hinders the ability to reproduce. Once hatchlings are born, they surge toward the water, instinctively trying to avoid predation. Under normal conditions only 1 in 1000 will make it to the sea, where they face a whole new set of challenges. Due to rising temperatures and human activity, sea turtles, a species that has been around since the dinosaurs, may face extinction in just a few decades.

Mosquitoes and pine beetles are just a few bug species that are thriving in the heat

Mosquitoes are one of the most prolific vectors for spreading human disease on the planet, while not ignoring the bane of fleas, flies, and ticks. US and Australian researchers have found that climate change could expand the range of disease-spreading insects, like Australian dengue mosquitoes, as they adapt in the coming years.

"Where would a species with a particular set of properties best survive and function on our planet?" asked University of Wisconsin zoologist Warren Porter.

"By answering this question, we are able not only to calculate what the current distributions are, but even identify places where they might flourish where they don't currently exist."

The Centers for Disease Control reported that while the current study focuses on the Australian population of the dengue mosquito, this type of mosquito lives around the world and could present a global threat similar in scope to malaria. The Nile Virus is also spread by mosquitoes.

Tree-killer pine beetles may not pose a direct threat to human health, but they have been happily devouring millions of acreas of forests from Canada to Washington State for the past dozen years, with no signs of slowing. Warming climate temperatures are to blame, because winters have stopped being long enough or cold enough, (with extended periods of 20 degree weather) to kill off the vast population of the beetles every year. The insect is blamed for killing more trees than wildfires or logging. The bugs bore into the core of the tree in great numbers, as the females lay their eggs. The larvaes hatch and start munching through the bark, which provides a winter food source. The result is massive swaths of gray skeletal dead trees, which are useless to every one--even the beetles. They lay eggs, feed, drain the tree of life, then migrate on to other healthy forests to repeat the process.

A week ago, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) spoke at a Natural Resources Committee meeting on how to combat the invasive beetle. He met resistence from individuals on the floor, who were reluctant to admit that climate change is responsible for the increasing invasion of tree-killer beetles.

Disappearing frogs and other species is the alarm call to humanity, but will we listen? Can we overcome the objections of people, who believe that global warming is a hoax and that climate disruption is God’s design. Can we find a way to do the responsible thing for Earth’s biodiversity, ourselves, and our children--before it’s too late?

 Other Articles that may be of interest:

Zoos and captive breeding to save wildlife?

Rare frogs get a leg up in life

Global warming increases human misery

How bad will the Northwest get clobbered by climate change?

Eight Republicans refused to drink the conservative kool aid on climate change

Sarah Palin worse than Bush on wildlife and environment

 For photo credit run cursor over photograph * Copyright Jean Williams 2009 * contact creatinggreenpiece@juno.com