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Algae foam killing thousands of sea birds
Long Beach, Wash. (UPI) Oct 23, 2009 Foam from an unusual algae bloom has killed thousands of birds along the Oregon and Washington coasts in recent weeks, marine biologists said. Akashiwo sanguinea, a single-cell algae or phytoplankton, strips the birds of their natural waterproofing, said Julia Parrish, a marine biologist and professor at Washington State University. "It's the largest mortality event of its kind on the West Coast that we know of," Parrish told The (Portland) Oregonian in a story published Friday. "We're getting counts of up to a million cells per liter of water," she said. "Think about that. That's pretty dense." Storms have whipped the algae into a substance similar to a sticky soap, which washes off the birds' protective waterproofing oils and causes them to die of hypothermia, said Greg Schirato, a manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The bloom, which poses no threat to people or pets, has killed thousands of birds since mid-September from northern Oregon to Washington's Olympic Peninsula, Schirato said. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Maldives cabinet meets under sea in climate campaignMale (AFP) Oct 17, 2009 The Maldives' government held an underwater cabinet meeting Saturday in a bid to focus global attention on rising sea levels that threaten to submerge the low-lying atoll nation. President Mohamed Nasheed plunged first into the Indian Ocean followed by his ministers, all clad in scuba gear, for the nationally televised meeting in this archipelago known as an idyllic holiday getaway for the ... read more |
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