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CBS News
a day ago
- General
- CBS News
Cicada invasion begins as Brood XIV swarms parts of U.S. See photos.
This year's cicada invasion has started as Brood XIV emerges from underground and swarms parts of the U.S. The insects are expected to be concentrated in Kentucky and Tennessee, and show up in parts of Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, as well as in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, central Pennsylvania and Long Island, New York. It is a one-in-17-year event for Brood XIV, which digs its way up from the soil as it warms and descends on neighborhoods in the billions. The brood, however, is the only group emerging this spring, meaning there likely won't be as many cicadas as last year when multiple broods surfaced simultaneously. Cicada nymphs develop in the soil over a long period and surface when the ground hits 64 degrees Fahrenheit. They can be heard crunching through the grass to climb up trees, plants, people or any vertical surface, with a forceful quality about it. Experts say they're not dangerous to pets or humans, and they don't sting or bite — and aren't poisonous or venomous. Instead, cicadas are also largely beneficial to the ecosystem, serving as a source of food source for birds and other predators. They can aerate soil and provide nutrients for trees when they decompose. Photos show this year's invasion beginning. Periodical cicada nymphs climb the trunk of a maple tree to shed their nymphal skins after a heavy rain, May 16, 2025, in Cincinnati. Carolyn Kaster/AP A periodical cicada nymph climbs to the end of a fern frond, May 16, 2025, in Cincinnati. Carolyn Kaster/AP Periodical cicada nymphs and adults are seen on the underside of a begonia plant after a heavy rain, Friday, May 16, 2025, in Cincinnati. Carolyn Kaster/AP An adult periodical cicada, in the process of shedding its nymphal skin, is seen on May 20, 2025, in Cincinnati. There are two large compound eyes, which are used to visually perceive the world around them, and three small, jewel-like, simple eyes called ocelli center. Carolyn Kaster/AP A periodical cicada flies up from the grass pursued by a cardinal, May 23, 2025, in Cincinnati. Carolyn Kaster/AP A female bluebird picks a periodical cicada from the grass, May 23, 2025, in Cincinnati. Carolyn Kaster/AP and contributed to this report.
CBC
3 days ago
- General
- CBC
Gardeners call for more help, less bureaucracy in battle against invasive plants
On an overcast day in the Kilborn Allotment Gardens (KAG), Jeff Hoyle points out the garlic mustard's distinctive white flowers. He's a gardener and a former agricultural chemist with a keen eye. This plant is sprouting from a compost pile, but it can also be found across this large swath of public land, in gardeners' plots and below nearby treelines. Janet Mark Wallace, another gardener, points out dog-strangling vines a few metres away, growing under a handful of buckthorn trees. Buckthorn, dog-strangling vine and garlic mustard have one thing in common: They're all considered invasive species in Ontario because they harm the native ecosystem. "It's problematic in that it does kill off all of the plant life, or tends to choke out plant life that's indigenous," explained Hoyle. He's been gardening in the allotment for three years, and Wallace for even longer. Both have watched these species flourish. "There's much more buckthorn than when I moved in 20 years ago," Wallace said. "You can see that there's trees dying because they're surrounded by buckthorn." Invasives aren't just plaguing community gardens in the city — they're representative of a citywide problem, according to Coun. Marty Carr. "So much of our expansive green space all over Ottawa has been overrun," she said. To fight back against their spread, she wants the city to launch a more substantial effort to mobilize volunteers. "The city could make a lot of gains. We are really behind all the other municipalities," Carr said. 'Everywhere, absolutely everywhere' Under the Ontario Weed Control Act, the City of Ottawa is only responsible for taking "some action regarding the control of" only three invasive species on its property: wild parsnip, poison ivy and giant hogweed. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, many residents offered to help eradicate invasives themselves, Coun. Carr said. The City offered them legal agreements to do the work on public property. As demand grew, the city appointed a forestry stewardship co-ordinator to review the volunteers' plans and check that they had insurance, according to Carr. One of the agreements, for the land restoration committee of the Alta Vista Community Association, includes the green space around the KAG. But invasive species continue "slowly creeping in," said the chair of the committee, Michelle St-Germain, because the work is painstaking and labour-intensive. "I've seen it everywhere, absolutely everywhere," she said. City staff perform an assessment of the KAG each year at the start of the gardening season, according to a statement attributed to Dan Chenier, general manager of the city's recreation, cultural and facility services. Buckthorn was identified on the perimeter of the KAG in 2024, he wrote, but there are no plans to remove it because it does not pose a "significant issue" in garden plots. However, CBC did observe other invasive species inside garden plots during one visit. The city did not respond to a question about whether staff had identified other invasive species in the area. Groups like St-Germain's have taken up their shovels to make a difference anyway. She and the group's other members mostly focus on eliminating dog-strangling-vine, then plant and maintain native species in its place. But St-Germain said she's seen other invasives in and around the KAG, including buckthorn. "There is hope in getting something accomplished, but initially it could be very discouraging," she said. More volunteers could be contributing, Carr said, if the city wasn't holding them back. One of the existing groups sent her an email in mid-May, frustrated because they still didn't have their renewed agreement for the upcoming year. "We could have been mobilizing volunteers [in that time], removing invasive plants. It's the slow bureaucracy. We only have that one co-ordinator to do all that work," she said. "When there are people in the community who have significant amounts of expertise in identifying, removing invasive species, who can mobilize the volunteers, who can educate the public and who want to do this work, I think that we owe it to them to give them a program." 'Turning community members into experts' The model Carr suggested to city staff is used by Toronto Nature Stewards, a group run by the City of Toronto, which recruits and trains volunteers. The volunteers then work without direct supervision to monitor and remove invasives and plant native species in their place. Programs like that are a "powerful way of making change in the community," said Carleton University biology professor Joseph Bennett. He studies invasive species and the most effective ways to control them. "Having grown up near Ottawa, I have seen lots of invasive species increase over the years," he said. "Ideally, we are turning community members into experts and experts into people who are more in touch with the community." Hoyle said if the city co-ordinated a program, he thinks he and others like him would be willing to volunteer to train others in their communities. He noted it's especially important to him because some invasive species have native look-alikes. Bennett agreed that training would be an important component, to ensure people identify the right plants and also understand the best ways and times of year to remove them. "Just even learning about something for an hour can save hundreds and hundreds of hours in terms of the efficiency of removing invasive species," he said.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Relocated beavers improve River Glaven water quality
Two beavers who were moved from Scotland to Norfolk four years ago have improved the water quality where they are living, experts have and Winnie have made an area of the River Glaven, near Holt, their home after the landowner gave permission for them to live Rivers Trust said they could "possibly" now be released from their enclosure under licence after the government recently approved the reintroduction of the animals into the wild. The National Farmers' Union (NFU) has said it does not want any more released until a proper management plan is in place. Beavers' dams slow down the flow of water, trapping sediment and absorbing excess also serve as natural filtration systems and help maintain cooler stream the beavers arrived, the river was a small trickle and in need of Rivers Trust said it was thought they now had five kits [baby beavers] and have improved the water Juta, an ecologist from the trust, said: "Dam by dam almost, the water quality has improved, which is incredible, so they reduce agricultural pollutants [and] they reduce the sediment loads coming in from fields and from roads as well."These dams are so big and can hold water so well. I couldn't build this with my own hands, with a bit of mud and some sticks, so how on earth do the beavers do it? It just shows how industrious they are. "It's a shock for some people to see how the habitat changes and to see felled trees and big areas of flooding but this is how it should look; it's almost prehistoric." Four hundred years ago, beavers were hunted to February, the government approved their reintroduction into the wild under licence and in March the first wild beavers in England were released into the Dorset NFU has agreed that beavers can provide certain benefits but is also concerned about the negative impacts they can have on productive farmland. "With existing legal and illegal populations of beavers expanding across England, the government must put in place a longer-term vision and management plan for beavers – before any further wild releases are considered," a spokesman said. "This must include the ability for those involved in beaver management to use all available tools in the toolbox, including lethal control, if beavers become disruptive." Dr Jonah Tosney, technical director at the trust, said: "There are plenty of places where beavers would be very welcome and cause no trouble at all, as they are doing here, but plenty of other places where they wouldn't be quite as welcome and they are very capable of causing trouble."Possibly, we will release Eeyore and Winnie at some point but what we would also need to do would be to bring other beavers into the catchment, [so] we've got different genetics."We are also trying to work with landowners and farmers to understand what they would like to see in a management plan because it has to be carefully managed, there's no question about that." Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Specieswatch: freshwater pearl mussel is threatened by disappearing habitat
The freshwater pearl mussel, Margaritifera margaritifera, is our longest lived freshwater species, often exceeding 100 years, and sadly among the rarest. The species was almost hunted to extinction for the pearls they occasionally contained, and is now threatened because the clean, pebbly rivers they live in are disappearing. Swedish research into the much larger populations of mussels in Scandinavia show they can live to 280 years and play a vital role in moderating river flow. They stick out of the riverbed, enabling small trout to thrive by reducing river flow, and they clean the water by filtering out filth. The mussels need a good population of brown trout and salmon to survive. When they breed they release clouds of tiny larvae which are breathed in by the fish and clamp themselves on to their gills, remaining there for months without the fish noticing. When the fish swim upstream the larvae drop off hoping to find a suitable stony bed to start a new colony. The chances of this breeding strategy working are slim, so the mussels live a long time and produce more than a million larvae in a lifetime to ensure survival. Most known mussels colonies are already mostly old specimens, so a breeding programme is under way to try to revive lost populations.
CTV News
3 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Pet owners urged to avoid dumping goldfish in Ontario ponds and other waterways
Goldfish seen in a retention pond off the Spurline Trail in Waterloo Region in May 2025. (Courtesy: Harvey McLaren) Officials are asking pet owners to find new homes for unwanted goldfish after they were spotted swimming in ponds in both Kitchener, Ont. and Waterloo, Ont. 'Generally, people from the public put goldfish into stormwater management ponds, thinking they're doing them a favour by releasing them into the 'wild',' explained Jessica Kellerman, the director of stormwater management and construction with the City of Waterloo. 'It's actually not doing them a favour because they are an invasive species.' Neighbours said they've seen an 'explosion' of goldfish in a retention pond off Spurline Trail, including some koi fish, so far this year. goldfish spurline tail waterloo region water Goldfish seen in a retention pond off the Spurline Trail in Waterloo Region in May 2025. (Courtesy: Harvey McLaren) 'We know those fish do not belong there,' goldfish farmer Andrew Bridgemohan said. He owns The Fish Sempai, a goldfish and koi farm in Breslau, Ont. He said some goldfish carry a disease known as spring viraemia of carp (SVC), a contagious and potentially fatal disease affecting freshwater fish. Goldfish can also kill off the surrounding ecosystem. 'It can overtake the lake, which you don't want,' Bridgemohan said. 'And they can multiply really fast.' Another problem is they can bring uninvited guests out of their natural habitat. 'It's going to start attracting more wildlife into that area because it's a food source, especially for a species such as a raccoon,' said Bill Dowd, founder of Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control. According to Kellerman, when goldfish are dumped in stormwater management ponds, they end up wreaking havoc on city facilities and resources. 'It can create more of a cost for the city, in terms of having to go in and fish out goldfish because they are creating turbidity issues within the facilities,' she said. 'If there are too many goldfish in there, it can create issues with settlement of the material and it can lead to like malfunction of the facility in terms of the material that's moving through.' goldfish spurline tail waterloo region water Goldfish seen in a retention pond off the Spurline Trail in Waterloo Region in May 2025. (Courtesy: Harvey McLaren) For those looking to get rid of their goldfish, experts recommend rehoming or reaching out to their local pet store. 'Before you buy, think twice,' Bridgemohan said. 'It takes a lot of work. I would not say it's easy.'
