And now there are locusts. What's next, the blood rain?

"Crops in large swathes of Ethiopia risk being destroyed by swarms of locusts coming from northern Somalia, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Tuesday.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) "reports that locust swarms have been confirmed in seven regions in the country, including in areas where there is no previous record of infestation," a statement said.
...The vast majority of Ethiopia's 77 million inhabitants depend on subsistence agriculture and have been badly hit by successive infestations of voracious locusts that destroy every plant in their path. ."
LINK

Crazy Raspberry ants on the march. Flamethrowers, anyone?

"A destructive menace is heading west on Interstate 10 toward San Antonio.
It's the crazy Raspberry ant that was first spotted in Houston in 2002. No one knows where it came from or how to control it, but it reproduces faster than any insect experts have ever seen.
"This is an alien species," says Sam Houston State University Entomologist Dr. Jerry Cook. "This is in higher densities than any other insects I've ever seen. They number in the billions and cover everything around them."
"Where you'll have 200,000 ants in a big fire ant mound, you'll have billions of crazy ants in one area, in that one group. They form a carpet of ants over acres that is several inches thick."
"It's a potential ecological disaster, displacing everything in front of it, other insects. Some people think getting rid of insects is good but it's not good for the environment. Insects play a vital role. When you destroy insects, you destroy the food for birds and other animals that depend on these insect populations. It could affect our food supply, reducing the crop yield by 30 to 40 percent." "

LINK

After the flood comes the pestilance...

"First came the floods -- now the mosquitoes.
An explosion of pesky insects is pestering clean-up crews and just about anyone venturing outside in the waterlogged Midwest.
In some parts of Iowa there are 20 times the normal number, and in Chicago up to five times more than usual.
The good news is these are mostly floodwater mosquitoes, not the kind that usually carry West Nile virus and other diseases. But they are very hungry, and sometimes attack in swarms with a stinging bite." LINK

Jellyfish taking over the oceans.

"There are about six and a half billion of us on this planet, whereas a fluther of jellyfish (collective-noun aficionados also accept a "smack") measuring just 10 square miles to a depth of 11 metres that wiped out a Northern Ireland salmon farm last year was said by marine scientists to have contained "billions" of mauve stinger jellyfish.

...Traditionally, jellyfish plagues have only been a concern once every decade or so. Many are now blaming their increasing frequency on climate change.

...Back on shore, rats, slugs and snails, foxes, mosquitoes, wasps, cockroaches, rabbits and pigeons are already enjoying our warming climate. Shrewsbury and Atcham borough council said last year that complaints about rats had doubled in just 12 months and its chief rat catcher said climate change was partly to blame." LINK

Gah! England under slug attack!

"Gardeners have been warned to expect an epidemic of slugs over the next few months.
The wet and mild weather throughout spring has made perfect conditions to create 'the stuff of nightmares' for gardeners.

Experts claim there could be up to 200 slugs per cubic metre of soil, four times the usual amount, with each capable of eating double their weight in plants each day. " LINK

I'm not dead! But I have Lyme.

Lyme is awful. And, lest ye think I'm getting all personal here, Lyme is part of the Doom. First, it might have been a US biowarfare project that rode a deer off of poorly secured labs on Plum Island, and second, climate change is leading to explosions of tick populations that spread the nasty, dangerous disease. So there.
And it's going to be a bad year for it, so look out.

"A University of Rhode Island Professor is warning that this summer may be a big one for a small, disease carrying critter.
Thomas Mather thinks this summer could be a good one for ticks, and a bad one for us.
The problem starts with acorns, Mather says, which were plentiful in 2006. More acorns, more mice. More mice, more Lyme disease, which ticks transmit between the rodents and humans.
“The result,” he said, “is that people will be more likely to encounter ticks that can transmit Lyme and other diseases.”
Mather, an entomology professor and the director of URI’s Center for Vector-Borne Disease, also thinks the tick season will begin a little early this year –– mid May instead of late May or early June.
His predictions rest on the right conditions for tick survival, “The weather could have an impact on how bad the tick season is,” he said “If we have a very dry May and June, my predictions get tossed out the window.”
But it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. Mather suggests checking for tics thoroughly every day; using a pointy tick removing tweezers to safely remove attached ticks; treating clothes with repellent containing Permathrin and wearing treated clothes; keeping yards clear of trash and other litter; hiring a professional pest controller to treat yards.
For more information, see the URI Tick Encounter Resource Center, online." LINK

Eeeeek! This is too horrible to even think about!

Warmer winters have allowed millipede populations in Germany and Scotland to explode, leading to serious problems. A town in Germany built a wall around their village, and in Scotland, affected towns are blacking out their homes for the first time since WWII!

"The local council says it cannot help so the estate owner, the John Muir Trust (JMT), has come up with a novel solution. Based on experience in Australia, where homes have suffered similar invasions, residents are being urged to black-out their homes at night so they are less of a target. European black millipedes – tachypodoiulus niger – are most active between one hour after sunset and one hour before dawn.

One resident planning to impose a blackout is postmistress Bridget Graham, who has lived in Balchrick for 37 years."I'll try anything," she said. "They could start appearing any time now and everyone is desperate to stop it. They are horrible. They start in April and last year they were still coming in in October."

All the residents tell stories of millipedes swarming across village roads and getting into baths, showers, bedrooms and cupboards. Across from the post-office, holidaymaker Fiona Young, who visits her family in Balchrick every year during the summer, found them crawling over her four-year-old son when she went to wake him in the morning.

Millipede experts believe the explosion in numbers could be attributed to a succession of milder, wetter winters which have allowed more eggs to survive to hatching time." LINK

Great actual headline: Global Swarming

FANTASTIC.

"Climate change is not the wrath of God, but one possible consequence of rising global temperatures may be almost Biblical in nature: a population explosion of bugs. " LINK

Desert shrimps. Huh.

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, right?
Damn.
LINK to photostory about Nigeria's locust problem- and solution.

Warm winter = longer allergy season, ruined crops, more ticks, disease, etc.

"In Vienna, the national weather service said it would issue daily pollen warnings starting Friday after hazel and alder trees blossomed and were close to releasing choking clouds of dust. Norway's weather service also set up pollen registering gear three months ahead of schedule.

In neighboring Romania, agriculture officials warned that rapeseed, barley and rye crops planted last autumn could be ruined because of weather stress and unusually low rainfall.

Ornithologists said that for the first time in 20 years, wild birds opted not to fly farther south because Romania's Danube River delta hasn't frozen over, and in Hungary, scientists said disease-bearing ticks could multiply out of control if it doesn't get chilly fast."
LINK