EcoLocalizer

Aspergillus fumigatus - a common but sometimes lethal soil fungus

Aspergillus fumigatus is a fungus found commonly in ordinary garden soil. When the spores of the fungus are inhaled, It can also cause disease–sometimes fatally in those with already compromised immune systems and respiratory disease such as COPD. Doctors who treat the illness have long-recognized that in some patients, the fungus is resistant to standard treatment with chemicals called azoles. The problem becomes potentially worse as azoles are also heavily used as farm fungicides. A team of Dutch researchers (Verweij and Kema), reporting in last December’s edition of the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases suggest that over-use of the farm fungicide may be contributing to the growing resistance of this fungus to the disease-fighting chemicals.

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Officials from 13 nations are meeting to discuss conservation efforts to save the endangered tiger.   Officials from countries where tigers still roam - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam -  are taking part in the Asia Ministerial Conference (AMC) on Tiger Conservation. The conference runs from January 27 to January 30, 2010,  in Thailand. Read the rest of this entry »

The Clodius Parnassian butterfly is more common at the top of its elevation range in the California mountains than in the past.

Climate change is making things rough for many vertebrate and invertebrate species. But add to this a steady loss of habitat, and many species just can’t adapt successfully to the combined stresses.

From the coastal lowlands to the coniferous tree lines of Northern California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, scores of species of butterfly are in an existential fight for their evolutionary futures. The survival challenge seems to be most impacting those species whose preferred habitats lay in the lower elevations, but the effects are being felt further up as well, as more butterfly species are moving into higher-elevated habitats. This evolutionary struggle might have gone unnoticed but for the diligent work of one research team, lead by butterfly expert Arthur Shapiro of the University of California at Davis. Read the rest of this entry »

As people around the world watch the unimaginable images being streamed out of Haiti, humanitarian aid is finally reaching the people that have been devastated by the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck on January 12, 2010.   Food, water, medical provisions, shelter and supplies are slowly reaching those affected by the catastrophe.  Read the rest of this entry »

While Brisbane’s waste removal system battles to discard perfectly good mangos, this contrasts starkly with the difficulties and opportunities associated with agricultural produce gluts in poor communities in rural Africa.

Brisbane Mangoes

So good is the mango harvest this year, that residents of Brisbane’s suburbs are battling to get rid of their excess mangos.

Apparently some trees are dropping up to 60 mangoes overnight. If these are simply placed in rubbish bins they are too heavy for the mechanical garbage trucks and get left on the street. Normally there would be a $24 fee to get a garbage truck to come back and empty the bin, but the City Council has agreed to waive this cost so long as residents first remove the mangoes. The Council has also removed the charge for dumping mangoes at the city’s transfer stations.

So in Australia the fuss is about getting the mangoes to the dump and not about the waste of food or the loss of income opportunities, that bother the African. Read the rest of this entry »