The bats and the bees.

A year ago this week, people started to notice something.

Bees were disappearing. At an alarming rate.

Earlier this month, a tractor-trailer was in an accident, releasing millions of bees onto an interstate highway.

Those bees were being trucked to California to help pollinate the almond harvest. What's really alarming is not the people running up and down the pavement sporting bee-suits and smoke cans, but the fact that California has to truck bees IN TO the state to keep up with a natural process.

Let's examine some other species that are giving us clear and present alarms to what climate change is doing to the tiniest worlds around us.

Pine beetles are multiplying exponentially, with out a good, cold freeze in the winter to kill the population off. The result, is large expanses much like this on the West Coast:

See all that brown? Those are afflicted pine trees- but they don't turn brown until at least a year or two after they've died. For all we know, a much larger general area is afflicted with pine beetle population booms and we won't know it until it's too late. That's what climate change is doing. Does anyone remember studying food webs in grade school? They're food chains that are linked together to represent the greater scheme of nature.
This is a great example.

So, if one population increases beyond what the food webs can keep up with, other populations die- if one population dies off, every other population is affected- even if they don't eat that particular species. Do you see where I'm going with this? Now, let's focus on bats.

Bats that live in the North East, yes- even New Hampshire, are dying from a mysterious disease.

Right now, they're calling it White Nose Syndrome, since the affected bats have a white fungus on their nostrils, and pretty much every where else. This fungus is understood as a secondary symptom- it might not the cause of death. No one knows what's happening, but what really matters is that if these bats die as fast as they say they are we're in for a horrible mosquito summer. That means greater chance for West Nile Virus, Sars and other horrible diseases that are passed on through mosquito bites.

It all comes back to us- all of it. I'm just hoping that the bats deaths are not human related, though I highly doubt that. Here's a photo of a dying bat from the NY Times.

No one really knows why the bees are leaving. No one knows why this bat is covered with fungus. No one knows where pine beetles are anymore. Do you see a pattern? I do. What has changed the most in the past decade as far as the planet is concerned. Maybe temperature? How about strange weather patterns? There is no way this stuff isn't our fault. Climate change could explain all of it. I guess only time will tell. Share your thoughts, please. If you know something I don't- whether it is in favor of or counter to my argument, let me know- let other people know. We're part of the food web, too.

Love the birds and bees,
Say