A white-crowned sparrow affixed with a lightweight digitally-coded radio transmitter that broadcasts signals that relay the bird’s whereabouts.
Credit: Margaret Eng
One of the most widely used agricultural insecticides causes severe weight loss in white-crowned sparrows and delays the migration of these common North American songbirds, according to a new study published Thursday in Science. The finding suggests exposure to the pesticide could be contributing to declines in certain bird species over the past half-century, experts say.
The study examined the effects of imidacloprid, part of a class of neurological toxins called neonicotinoids used to target insect pests in farm fields. These chemicals, which can be directly applied to seeds and are absorbed into plant tissue as crops grow, were thought to be less toxic to vertebrates than other pesticides. When a neonicotinoid is applied to a seed, however, less than 20 percent of it will end up in the plant—and these pesticides are turning up in the environment. The chemicals have increasingly come under fire in recent years because their presence in the wild […]
Only an evolved consciousness can save humanity from the exponential science data that is fast breathing down our necks. It’s not like the human species has not gone ‘nearly’ extinct before. This time we may well take down all of life with us. No one knows.
The Canuck writer, Ronald Wright who penned: A Short History of Progress [2005], states categorically in the final chapter, that what all civilizations have in common, is that they have all collapsed. His Ideas lectures were the most popular on CBC [ repeated several times] which is our signature week night radio series, similar to the stateside NPR.
Stephan, thanks for all that you are and all that you do with your report!!!
I agree with you, John; Stephan gives us news we need every day to inform us so we can know the deep truth and be able to use that information to change our voting habits and do other things to change our society so that we can stop the stupidity and become intelligent beings who want to save our planet and all that lives upon it.