Killing Spreading

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Killing Spreading

Posted Fri, Jun 10, 2022 at 9:25 am ET
What black swallow-wort looks like in its flowering stage. The plant produces pods filled with seeds that disperse easily in the wind. (Shutterstock / Paul Reeves Photography)
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© 2022 Patch Media. All Rights Reserved.
MARLBOROUGH, MA — A highly aggressive and deadly plant is creeping its way across Massachusetts, and local cities and towns are enlisting property owners in stopping it.
The black swallow-wort is a perennial vine native to Europe that resembles native milkweed plants. Black swallow-wort produces pods full of seeds that spread widely in the wind — and those seeds are toxic to other plants, some animals and especially monarch butterflies.
"BSW displaces native plants and habitats, threatens butterflies and songbirds, and is toxic to deer and livestock. It is especially harmful to the monarch butterfly population because it resembles milkweed, where monarchs lay their eggs, and once the monarch larvae hatch, they die from eating the toxic BSW leaves," the city of Somerville warned in a bulletin this month.
Black swallow-wort has spread rapidly in the Boston area, and has been spotted as far west as Framingham — but state invasive plant watchers believe it's likely spread to most parts of Massachusetts. It grows in sun and partial shade in different habitats, including coastal areas and wetlands.
Plant experts advise residents to completely uproot any black swallow-wort plant and put it in a plastic bag to throw away. The plant's root system is fragile, and any root piece left in the ground can easily grow again. The town of Concord has a list of plants property owners can use to replace black swallow-wort .


Bumblebees seem to be particularly sensitive to warming as they are creatures found primarily in cool, temperate climates. Philipp Pilz via Unsplash


By
Dave Goulson ,
Truthout



Published


August 25, 2022



Ongoing habitat loss and the spread of invasive species and non-native insect diseases are also taking their toll.
Ecosystem loss from deforestation and agriculture has caused hundreds of diseases to jump from other animals to humans.
Scientists say the current pandemic is part of a larger pattern linking infectious diseases to habitat loss.



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Love them or loathe them, we need insects, yet their numbers are decreasing. From declining monarch butterflies in North America to disappearing bumblebees in Europe, there is mounting evidence that insects are in rapid decline. This should worry us all, for insects are overwhelmingly important; they are food for innumerable larger creatures such as birds and bats, they control pests, recycle nutrients, help to keep the soil healthy and they pollinate three-quarters of the crops we grow. Without insects, life as we know it would grind to a halt.
The causes of insect declines are numerous, with habitat loss and the industrialization of global farming leading the way, assisted by growing use of pesticides, the depredations of invasive species, increasing light pollution, and more. Populations of many insects are now much reduced compared to the past, and most now exist in habitat “islands” — fragments of their favored habitat surrounded by inhospitable terrain.
Sadly, climate change is likely to be the final straw for some. Of course, the climate has changed in the past, many times, and insects have survived. Indeed, insects have come through all five of the previous mass extinction events on our planet (though many individual species must have been lost). However, this time is different. In the past, climate change was usually much more gradual, and species could gradually shift their ranges in response, shifting towards the poles as the climate warmed and returning towards the equator as it cooled. Such movement used to be easy, for there were vast tracts of suitable habitat. Today, to move pole-wards, insects must somehow hop from one patch of habitat to the next, crossing roads, landscapes filled with polluting factories, arable fields sprayed with insecticides, housing estates, and other alien, human-made landscapes.
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Insects do not live in isolation, but depend upon particular plants to provide food for their larvae, or nectar and pollen for adults. If these plants haven’t travelled ahead of them — for example via seeds blown on the wild — then they cannot survive, so entire communities of organisms need to make this journey. It seems that they are failing to do so. Studies of bumblebees in North America and Europe have revealed that they are disappearing from the southern edges of their ranges as the climate becomes too warm for them, but the northern edges of their ranges have not moved northwards as we might expect. It has been described as a climate “vice,” the ranges of the bees being gradually squashed from the south. Some mountain-dwelling bumblebees in Colorado and Spain have responded to climate warming by moving higher in the mountains, but eventually they will run out of mountain and be left with nowhere else to go.
Studies of these mountain bees have also revealed that climate change may disrupt the seasons in subtle but important ways. Many insects time their life cycle carefully to ensure that times of activity coincide with availability of a vital resource. As the climate warms, different organisms may use different cues to time their life cycle, leading to mismatches. For example, some mountain plants in Colorado are now coming into flower before the bumblebees that feed on them have emerged from hibernation, meaning that the plants are not pollinated and set few seed.
Bumblebees seem to be particularly sensitive to warming as they are creatures found primarily in cool, temperate climates. Their large size and furry coats are adaptations to keeping warm in cool conditions, and they literally overheat in hot weather. Above about 30 degrees Celsius (30oC), most bumblebee species seem unable to maintain prolonged activity. The recent heat waves that afflicted much of Europe’s temperatures (even in the U.K.) exceeded 40oC, leaving bumblebees unable to gather food for extended periods.
Are bumblebees an exception? Many other insects are more “thermophilic” — warmth loving — and thrive in hot climates. For example, many butterflies are at the northern edge of their range in the U.K., so we might expect them to benefit from a warmer climate. To test this, the charity Butterfly Conservation analyzed changes in the populations of 46 butterfly species that all reach the northern edge of their range in the U.K. — the species we would expect to be enjoying warming. Between 1970 and 2000, three-quarters of these species declined significantly . The pattern differs between sedentary habitat specialists (fussy species with very specific requirements and low mobility, comprising 28 species) and the generalist, highly mobile species (18 species). Of the habitat specialists, 89 percent had declined, while only half of the generalists had declined and a few, including pest species, were thriving. This gives us a clue as to why climate warming has so far not benefited even warmth-loving butterflies. Mobile generalists can more easily move in response to warming, and are more likely to find somewhere where they can survive when they get there.
Of course, climate change is not simply a matter of slight increases in temperature. Perhaps more impactful on wildlife is the increased frequency of extreme weather events, such as droughts, heat waves, wildfires, storms and floods, all of which are likely to become more frequent and more extreme in the future. We have little idea what impact these will have on insects, but of course very few of them will be positive. Fires will obviously kill insects, although the flush of new flowers that follows fires in some ecosystems would benefit some. Summer storms are likely to batter delicate adult insects such as butterflies, and flash floods are likely to destroy underground nests of creatures such as bumblebees. Drought causes water-stressed plants to cease nectar production in their flowers, which will certainly harm pollinators. In prolonged droughts, plants wilt and become unpalatable for caterpillars — for example, in the hot British summer of 1976, many caterpillars of the Adonis blue butterfly died as their food plant, horseshoe vetch, shriveled in the heat. As a result, numbers of the adults were much lower the following year, and some populations died out. With the U.K. now experiencing the worst drought since 1976, it is a fair bet that 2023 will be an especially poor year for butterflies.
Although climate change is undoubtedly bad news for many insects, there is no doubt that some are thriving. Ironically, these tend to be undesirables, from a human perspective. Adaptable, mobile species that can thrive in urban landscapes, such as house flies and mosquitoes, are on the increase. For example, the yellow fever mosquito ( Aedes aegypti ) seems to have adapted well to urbanization and thrives in cities, breeding in blocked gutters, discarded tires, barrels, buckets, and any other human refuse that traps puddles of water. It is one of the main vectors of several nasty diseases, including dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika fever and of course yellow fever, as its name suggests.
The Anopheles mosquito, the main transmitter of malaria, is also benefiting from the spread of human activities. Cases of malaria tend to become more frequent in areas where forests are cleared for agriculture, because the mosquito likes to breed in sunlit puddles and ditches, which are hard for it to find in dense forest. Climate predictions suggest that malaria is likely to spread to higher-altitude regions of the tropics, for example in Colombia, Kenya and Ethiopia. These regions are densely populated with humans in part because, until recently, they were largely free from malaria. The southern states of the U.S., southeastern Europe, parts of China and the densely populated areas surrounding São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil are all likely to become suitable for malaria by 2050. Dengue fever is similarly predicted to become far more common throughout North America, as far north as southern Canada.
There are no simple solutions to these problems. Clearly, we need to place tackling climate change as the single most urgent priority for humankind, both for the sake of the astonishing biodiversity on our planet and for our own wellbeing. Preserving as much nature-rich habitat as possible and attempting to link habitat patches together may help insects and other wildlife to cope in the meantime.
With everything going on right now — from escalating white supremacy to the threat of nuclear war to the climate change-fueled disasters across the world — Truthout is working overtime to bring you the latest information as it happens.
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We’ve been proudly donor-supported for two decades, but our future will depend on the action our readers take today. Whether you’re able to make a $5 monthly donation, or give more — we need you. 
Please, do what you can to help us get through this trying time. 
Dave Goulson is a professor of biology at University of Sussex, specializing in bee ecology. He has published more than 300 scientific articles on the ecology and conservation of bumblebees and other insects. He is the author of Bumblebees; Their Behaviour, Ecology and Conservation (2010), and of several bestselling popular books including A Sting in the Tale (2013), A Buzz in the Meadow (2014), The Garden Jungle (2019) and Silent Earth (2021), collectively translated in 20 languages. Goulson founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in 2006, a charity that has grown to 12,000 members. He was given the Zoological Society of London’s Marsh Award for Conservation Biology in 2013; elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2013; given the British Ecological Society Public Engagement Award in 2014; given Zoological Society of London’s Clarivate Award for Communicating Zoology in 2020. In 2015 he was named number 8 in BBC Wildlife Magazine ’s list of the top 50 most influential people in conservation. In the four years 2018-2021 he was a “Highly Cited Researcher” according to Thompson ISI. He is a trustee of Pesticide Action Network, President of Pesticide Free Scotland, and an “Ambassador” for the UK Wildlife Trusts.

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Incurable, deer-killing chronic wasting disease now spreading in eastern Kansas counties
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Tim Hrenchir
 
| Topeka Capital-Journal
What is chronic wasting disease? How is it affecting deer in Kansas?
Does chronic wasting disease affect the Kansas deer hunting season?
Kansas' deer face a threat from chronic wasting disease, a progressive prion disease.
2018 file photograph/USA TODAY NETWORK
Chronic wasting disease, which infects deer and is always fatal, wasn't found until 2020 in eastern Kansas, the Kansas Fish and Game Commission was told this month.
But CWD was detected that year in eastern Kansas counties that included Osage and Franklin. In 2021, eastern counties with CWD detected included Jackson, Wabaunsee, Bourbon and Woodson.
"And now we find the sparks flaring up in the east," said presenter Shane Hesting.
Hesting, who is wildlife disease coordinator for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, showed a chart saying CWD is thought to afflict 24% to 45% of the deer population in northwest Kansas, 25% to 38% in north-central Kansas, 14% to 28% in southwest Kansas, 0.5% to 4% in south-central Kansas and 0.1% to 0.7% in eastern Kansas.
CWD is a progressive, incurable disease that affects the brain, spinal cord and many other tissues of farmed and free-ranging deer, elk and moose, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
There’s no evidence of CWD's being transmissible to people, though the CDC has discouraged the public from eating meat from infected animals.
CWD always results in death among infected animals, says one website maintained by KDWP through which it is educating the public about it .
As of June 30, 2021, CWD had been detected in Kansas in two captive elk, one captive mule deer and 547 wild, free-ranging deer, according to a separate KDWP website .
CWD has been found in 58 of the state's 105 counties, with the number of annual statewide positive tests rising from 127 in 2019 to 186 in 2020 to 195 in 2021, Hesting said .
He said the state's significant rise in positive tests in 2020 was due in part to the initiation that year of a partnership between KDWP and the University of Missouri. That caused statewide testing, which had been conducted previously, to resume.
The information Hesting shared left fish and game commission chairman Gerald Lauber feeling "overwhelmed," Lauber acknowledged at that meeting.
CWD is spread through the environment, and through saliva, feces and urine of infected animals, according to the KDWP website .
"Outside of family groups, deer do not naturally congregate in the same area, which slows the transmission of CWD," it says. "Be cautious as feed, bait, and mineral licks can unnaturally congregate animals, causing the spread of CWD." 
CWD progresses in each infected animal over an incubation period of 16 to 24 months, that site says.
"For most of that time, the infected animal does not show signs of infection," it says. "But during the final progression, symptoms like lack of coordination, poor body condition, hanging the head, drooling, wide stance and lack of fear of people begin to appear."
Hesting told the fish and game commission: "When they get clinical, they wander around. They just don't have their marbles. They'll run into fences."
Kansas saw its first CWD case in 2001, with the infected animal being a captive bull elk that had been transported from Colorado to Harper County in south-central Kansas, Hesting said.
Authorities "moved in fast and got rid of that herd," he said.
Kansas' next case was detected in 2005 in Cheyenne County in the state's northwest corner.
The state's number of positive CWD tests rose in the years that followed, first in northwest Kansas, then in north-central and southwest Kansas.
When CWD becomes present in a geographic region, it initially operates "at a low level," then rises exponentially, Hesting told the commission.
CWD appears to be relatively uncommon in eastern Kansas, he said.
But unless something is done, Hesting said, CWD over the next 20 years will become as prevalent in eastern Kansas as it is now in the western part of the state.
Brody Latham, marketing manager for KDWP, told fish and game commissioners Aug. 4 about steps that agency has been taking to share information about CWD.
KDWP has used posters, flyers, billboards, digital ads and social media to get the word out, Latham said.
The agency maintains informational websites and on the KDWP website , he said.
Digital ads have been used to draw people to those two websites, Latham said.
He said the state had seen about 150,000 page views at the two sites, with time on site ranging from 3 minutes, 47 seconds to 5 minutes, 29 seconds.
"That tells me that these people are interested in the content," Latham said. "They're willing to spend their time to read and consume that information, and that's what we would hope to see."
The KDWP website urges deer hunters concerned about the potential for CWD to "dress, test and suppress" deer they have shot.
• When possible, hunters should bone out meat and leave the carcass at the hunting site. The next best alternative is to quarter the animal, leaving the spinal column and head at the hunting site.
• All deer should be tested for CWD before processing and consuming. Deer hunters were able to get free testing for CWD during last year's deer season , though no announcement has been made regarding the upcoming season.
• If the animal is transported from the hunting site to be processed, the carcass should be returned to the hunting site or disposed of in a local landfill. The greatest cause of the spread of CWD is humans transporting infected animals in vehicles.
Tim Hrenchir can be reached at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.

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