A bloom of ocean algae that produces a toxic acid has sickened and killed hundreds of birds, sea lions and dolphins in California, environmentalists said. Birds and animals have been washing up on shores from San Diego to San Francisco Bay.

In the past week, 40 birds have been taken to the International Bird Rescue Center in San Pedro with symptoms of domoic acid poisoning, which attacks the brain and can cause seizures. In previous seasons, the center might see seven birds a week.

The algae population increases or “blooms” every year as the ocean waters warm but this year’s bloom seems early, extensive and “very, very thick.

Read (AP via The Discovery Channel)

The Chesapeake Bay is in pitiful condition despite restoration efforts, according to two reports released Wednesday by the University of Maryland and a federal-state partnership charged with bay cleanup.

The university’s Center for Environmental Science gave the bay an overall grade of D for 2006, with a tributary closest to Baltimore getting an F for such problems as low dissolved oxygen and cloudy water.

An analysis by the Chesapeake Bay Program, also released Wednesday, showed distress in every health indicator tracked.

The report card did have a couple of bright spots, albeit small ones. The authors noted that fish passages have increased, which could give fish greater habitat, and that bay grasses are rebounding in parts of the northern bay.

However, even the predictions of future success were muted by warnings that population growth expected in the region could turn back progress. The report concluded that “actions taken to date have not yet been sufficient to restore the health of the bay.”

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Some scientists are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to why bees that pollinate crops are disappearing.

The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees’ navigation systems, preventing them from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive’s inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.

Read (The Independent)

A decline in the amount of leaves on the ground could be behind the rapid demise of frog species, a study of a rainforest in Costa Rica has suggested.

Until now, the prime suspect for the amphibians’ population crash was a deadly fungal infection. By studying data over a 35-year period, researchers found that lizards, which were not susceptible to the infection, had also declined by a similar rate.

Between 1970 and 2005, the data showed that the number of amphibians had declined by about 75%, which supported the idea that frogs were being wiped out by the chytrid fungus. However, the data also showed a similar fall in the area’s reptiles, which were not susceptible to the fungus. Over the same period, the data showed that there had been a 75% reduction in the density of leaves falling to the ground from the rainforest’s canopy.

Leaf litter provides a vital habitat, offering food and shelter, for the amphibians and lizards.

Read (BBC)

China’s farmland is becoming increasingly polluted, with coal-dependent factories and polluted waterways causing billions of dollars in damages.

Heavy metals contaminate 12 million tons of grains each year, leading to direct losses of more than 20 billion yuan ($2.6 billion). More than 24.7 million acres, or 10 percent of China’s farming land, has been ruined.

More than 70 percent of China’s waterways and 90 percent of its underground water are contaminated by pollution, according to previously released government figures, but the impact on soil has never been measured.

Read (Discovery Channel)

Scientists are planning to move Tasmanian devils to an island sanctuary to avert the animals’ threatened extinction from a mysterious cancer.
The devils are being wiped out on the island state of Tasmania by a contagious cancer that creates grotesque facial tumors.

Scientists estimate that within five years, there will be no disease-free population in Tasmania — the only place in the world where the devils exist outside zoos.

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A retired Montgomery County, MD firefighter was searching for a second career in the boat business, and after hearing about the use of baking soda to strip flaking paint from boat hulls, he hit on an idea.

The nontoxic baking soda is used to remove paint from boats in a more environmentally friendly way than sand and other harsh materials. It’s an idea that’s catching on with those worried about the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

Read (AP via WTOP)

The Chesapeake Bay Program’s aerial surveys last year showed that underwater vegetation covered 59,090 acres in the bay, down about 25 percent from 72,263 acres in 2005. Grass coverage last year was the worst since 1989.

Underwater grass beds are important because they filter pollutants and provide habitat and food for blue crabs and other species prized by watermen.

A bright spot in the 2006 survey was the Susquehanna Flats, an area at the extreme northern tip of the bay. Scientists watch that area closely because fresh water that feeds the estuary travels though the Susquehanna Flats. A thick patch of grasses is good news for water quality farther south.

Read (AP via WTOP)