"WARM SPRINGS, Ore. — The sky was not exactly dark in a blotting-out-the-sun sense, but the salmon flies were certainly thick above central Oregon’s Lower Deschutes River. Thousands of female specimens circled 30 feet above the water’s surface, preparing to descend and drop their eggs. Occasionally, a bug would spiral slowly down to the river, flutter awkwardly on the surface, then disappear in a sudden splash."
"PARIS -- Will Brussels try to give bees a break? In a case closely watched on both sides of the Atlantic, European officials plan to vote Friday on a proposal to sharply restrict the use of pesticides that had been implicated in the decline of global bee populations."
"The decline of wild bees and other pollinators may be an even more alarming threat to crop yields than the loss of honeybees, a worldwide study suggests, revealing the irreplaceable contribution of wild insects to global food production."
A French scientist has published a study indicating that plastic additives called phthalates, thought to be endocrine disruptors, are widely found in one species of ants -- presumeably because they have become widespread in the environment.
"SONOMA, Calif. — Under rows of old chicken sheds, Jack Chambers has built an empire of huge metal boxes filled with cattle manure and millions of wriggling red worms."
"U.S. farmers are using more hazardous pesticides to fight weeds and insects due largely to heavy adoption of genetically modified crop technologies that are sparking a rise of 'superweeds' and hard-to-kill insects, according to a newly released study."
"A team of biologists has just announced the first documented case of bird-to-bird malaria transmission in Alaska. Writing in the journal PLOS ONE, they've shown that this frequently fatal avian illness, which is normally associated with the tropics and temperate areas, may be expanding its range. Fortunately, avian malaria doesn't affect humans, co-author Ravinder Sehgal of San Francisco State University said, but the findings are particularly significant from a bird conservation as well as a climate change standpoint."
"WHITEHORSE, Yukon Territory — In February 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the Army Corps of Engineers an assignment: Build a road from British Columbia across the Yukon to Alaska — in eight months, before winter sets in."
"UK company wants to unleash genetically modified insects in the Keys, but residents fear not enough is known about the insects"
Spraying for mosquitoes has begun in Florida, as in many other places. Some of the sprays can be harmful to the environment. Is the cure worse than the problem?
