The Chesapeake Bay’s blue crab population increased 60 percent in a year and is at its highest level since 1997. The 2009-2010 baywide, winter dredge survey estimates the population rose to 658 million crabs. The survey is the primary one that the states use assess the condition of the Chesapeake Bay blue crab population. The [...]
McDonnell’s proposed budget calls for the temporary closure of: Caledon Natural Area in King George County Mason Neck State Park in Fairfax County False Cape State Park in Virginia Beach Twin Lakes State Park in Prince Edward County Staunton River Battlefield Park in Halifax and Charlotte counties. Caledon encompasses 2,579 acres along the Potomac, with [...]
Of all the oceans’ predators, jellyfish have the least … of everything: With no teeth, fins or brains, they catch only whatever unlucky animals drift into their path, but to the animals they hunt, jellyfish are a menace. Their venom often kill creatures hundreds of times their size, including, in rare cases, humans. As scientists [...]
A year after Hurricane Ike devastated Galveston Bay’s oyster beds, the oystermen who have been harvesting seafood from the bay’s fertile waters for generations are barely hanging on, and many fear that this could be their last oyster season. The boats that fan out over the bay every morning are harvesting only a third of what [...]
The wood stork, an ungainly duckling among the Everglades’ elegant wading birds, has been breeding in numbers unseen in decades. Rain in the last crucial month of nesting season took a toll, leaving half the weakened fledglings prey for waiting gators. But even with that loss, preliminary surveys estimate that 3,500 will leave South Florida [...]
After an outbreak of the bird flu, most carcasses end up in landfills. There, according to a new study, the virus can survive for up to two years. Landfills are designed to contain waste for far longer than that, so the practice is probably safe. Still, the new study suggests that waste managers might want [...]
Since January, cows at 15 farms across Vermont have had their grain feed adjusted to include more plants like alfalfa and flaxseed — substances that, unlike corn or soy, mimic the spring grasses that the animals evolved long ago to eat. As of the last reading in mid-May, the methane output of one herd had [...]
A community garden in Madison County is bringing people together and giving the local economy a jumpstart at the same time. The garden, located along Route 29, just opened to the community a week ago. The garden is giving the people of Madison a chance to take the locally grown food movement to a whole [...]
The number of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay has increased significantly over the past year, indicating that harvest limits designed to combat steep declines in the population appear to be working. Results of the 2008-2009 winter dredge survey show that the number of female crabs in the bay doubled in the past year. Catch [...]
Scientists estimate that more than 100,000 crab pots are abandoned — most are accidentally cut lose by boat propellers — annually off the shores of Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay. The traps, also known as “ghost” or “derelict” crab pots, fall to the bottom of the bay, where they attract crab and fish for a [...]
The removal of cats in 2000 caused “catastrophic” damage to the ecology of a sub-Antarctic island. Since cats were removed from Macquarie Island, rabbit numbers have soared, and they are now devastating plants. The rabbits have now caused so much damage to the island’s flora that the changes can be seen from space. Cats previously [...]
Children living in areas of high precipitation may be more likely to have autism, according to a new study, but the researchers caution that the finding of a rainfall-autism link is preliminary. The finding may have nothing to do with the rainfall or snow itself, they say, but rather factors associated with the precipitation, such [...]
Take 10,000 tons of concrete – in fist-sized and car-sized chunks – slather it with a layer of old shells and garnish with 500,000 baby oysters. What do you have? A recipe for Chesapeake Bay success, environmentalists and anglers hope. For the first time, a Maryland group building artificial reefs has seeded one of its [...]
When a 1991 cholera outbreak that killed thousands in Peru was traced to plankton blooms fueled by warmer-than-usual coastal waters, linking disease outbreaks to epidemics was a new idea. Now, scientists say, it is a near-certainty that global warming will drive significant increases in waterborne diseases around the world. Rainfalls will be heavier, triggering sewage [...]
Seeding the Chesapeake Bay with disease-resistant Asian oysters could significantly boost the bay’s depleted population of the water-cleaning shellfish, according to a federal study. But the study also warns that the foreign species also could harm what’s left of the bay’s native oyster population – and perhaps spread to threaten ecosystems all along the East [...]
Arrows and abandoned camps found in remote western Brazil are fresh evidence of isolated Amazon tribes fleeing Peru to escape the encroachment of illegal loggers, indigenous rights groups say. London-based Survival International said the arrows were recovered by Brazilian authorities near a site where photos were taken earlier this year of tribal people apparently shooting [...]
Newly evolved superworms that feast on toxic waste could help cleanse polluted industrial land, a new study says. They have been unearthed at disused mining sites in England and Wales, and they devour lead, zinc, arsenic, and copper. The worms seem to be able to tolerate incredibly high concentrations of heavy metals, and the metals [...]
In recent months, chains including Wal-Mart Stores, Kohl’s, Safeway and Whole Foods Market have installed solar panels on roofs of their stores to generate electricity on a large scale. One reason they are racing is to beat a Dec. 31 deadline to gain tax advantages for these projects. So far, most chains have outfitted fewer [...]
For decades nations in the Mideast and North Africa have drained aquifers, sucked the salt from seawater and diverted the Nile to make the deserts bloom. But those projects were so costly and used so much water that it remained far more practical to import food than to produce it. Today, some countries import 90 [...]
Eating locally raised food is a growing trend. But who has time to get to the farmer’s market, let alone plant a garden? That is where an entrepreneur in San Francisco comes in. For a fee, he will build an organic garden in your backyard, weed it weekly and even harvest the bounty, gently placing [...]