Situation Report

A bald eagle prepares to take off from a pine tree in Pembroke Pines, Fla. The eagle population rebounded after protections put in place under the Endangered Species Act.  Wilfredo Lee/AP

npr.org - by Nathan Rott - August 12, 2019

In a move that critics say will hurt plants, animals and other species as they face mounting threats, the Trump administration is making major changes to how the Endangered Species Act is implemented. The U.S. Department of Interior on Monday announced a suite of long-anticipated revisions to the nation's premier wildlife conservation law, which is credited with bringing back the bald eagle and grizzly bears, among other species.

Republican lawmakers and industry groups celebrated the revisions, some of the broadest changes in the way the act is applied in its nearly 50-year history.

They come at a moment of crisis for many of the world's plant and animal species. As many as 1 million species are at risk of extinction — many within decades — according to a recent U.N. report.

CLICK HERE - Fourth National Climate Assessment

washingtonpost.com - by Kayla Epstein - August 9, 2019

. . . Last year’s National Climate Assessment, compiled by the Trump administration, warned that heat-related deaths would continue to increase. Climate change would cause illnesses such as asthma and hay fever to become more severe, while wildfires and pollution also posed a risk to respiratory health. Rising temperatures would alter the geographic distribution of disease-carrying insects and pests, endangering new populations.

“Climate change is a public health crisis,” Vijay Limaye told The Post. “The science is really strong in telling us that with climate change accelerating, we expect heat waves to be more frequent, more intense and longer.”

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A manatee swims in blue-green algae, which has invaded Florida's waterways and put freshwater species at risk. PHOTOGRAPH BY PAUL NICKLEN, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

CLICK HERE - STUDY - The global decline of freshwater megafauna

nationalgeographic.com - by Stefan Lovgren - August 8, 2019

SOME HAVE SURVIVED for hundreds of millions of years, but many of the world’s freshwater megafauna—including sumo-sized stingrays, colossal catfish, giant turtles, and gargantuan salamanders—may soon find themselves on the brink of extinction, according to a new study published.

For the first time, researchers have quantified the global decline of freshwater megafauna—including fish, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals—and the results paint a grim picture. In four decades since 1970, the global populations of these freshwater giants have declined by almost 90 percent—twice as much as the loss of vertebrate populations on land or in the oceans.

CLICK HERE - STUDY - mBio - On the Emergence of Candida auris: Climate Change, Azoles, Swamps, and Birds

cnn.com - by Jen Christensen - July 23, 2019

The climate crisis may be to blame for the mysterious spread of a multidrug-resistant superbug, Candida auris, according to a study published Tuesday.

Until recently, scientists considered it a mystery how C. auris popped up in more than 30 countries around the globe a decade after it was first discovered in 2009. It emerged simultaneously on three continents -- in India, Venezuela and South Africa -- between 2012 and 2015, each strain being genetically distinct.

The new study, published in the journal mBio, says this serious public health threat may be the first example of a new fungal disease emerging because of the climate crisis.

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