Mosquito control vital to isles' native birds - Hawaii News

Global warming threatens to push endangered native Hawaiian honeycreepers closer to extinction unless the likely resulting increase in mosquitos that carry avian malaria and the pox virus is curtailed, federal scientists warn.

[Hanbusa]

Better to think and work on the economy than on a bunch of birds.

[anon]

Hanbusa wrote:

Better to think and work on the economy than on a bunch of birds.

Right, because we shouldn't leave anything left alive on the planet for our children. What a very shortsighted thing to say.

Did you even take a second to think that saving these species will require people to do work which does in fact stimulate the local economy?

[alice]

I disagree with mosquito control. Even though they harm a few native birds, lots of mosquitos help keep millions of non-native birds under control by eliminating them with viruses........thus, we need to get rid of non-native birds before they cause further harm to our environment!!!!

[stanislous]

Globel warming? I thought the temperatures have been cooling for the last 10 years. Do you really trust these weather guessers? How can they predict globel warming over the next 40 years when they can't even tell you if it's going to rain or shine next week?
LOL LOL LOL

[CMK]

Birds need trees. Native birds need native trees. Where are the trees? Funny, most of the remaining native trees are at the 4,000+ elevation.

My God, you're right, stanislous. It's the coming ice age, the coming ice age, the coming ice age. If the temperature changes at the rate it's doing now, with proper application of accepted exponential decreases in temperature, Hawaii may be covered in ice by 2063. The ice age, the ice age, the ice age, lol, lol, lol.

[Parasites]

From Wikipedia on line encyclopedia.

Malaria is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Each year, there are approximately 350–500 million cases of malaria,[1] killing between one and three million people, the majority of whom are young children in Sub-Saharan Africa.[2] Ninety percent of malaria-related deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is commonly associated with poverty, but is also a cause of poverty[3] and a major hindrance to economic development.

[Envrionment]

CMK wrote:

Birds need trees. Native birds need native trees. Where are the trees? Funny, most of the remaining native trees are at the 4,000+ elevation.
My God, you're right, stanislous. It's the coming ice age, the coming ice age, the coming ice age. If the temperature changes at the rate it's doing now, with proper application of accepted exponential decreases in temperature, Hawaii may be covered in ice by 2063. The ice age, the ice age, the ice age, lol, lol, lol.

You're right on the disappearing of native habitat due to human encroachment and over population demands that outstrip the Earth's natural ability to sustain itself. So, the biggest negative impact is done by humans, building massive cities that pollute the ground water, the air and oceans.

About the ice age, Hawaii will not be covered with ice, its located to close to the equator, probably only the higher elevations, the oceans will recede to about 250-300 feet. Maybe its a good thing for the ice age, Earth's natural response of "curing" itself from the negative effects of human over population.

[CMK]

In WWII, US soldiers were protected from malarial infection in the tropics with DDT. In the '60s malaria was almost wiped out. In 1962, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was published. It caused the US to ban the use of DDT. Malaria came back with a vengeance. The previous post shows who and what people are being hit hardest by this disease.

DDT did not cause birds to fall dead out of the sky.

And, Silent Spring gave rise to environmentalism.

[alice]

Protect the birds!

[Kalani]

Forest restoration and ungulate control is very much needed, but will only be effective if the public (followed by policy makers) understand the importance and intrinsic value of our unique Hawaiian ecosystems. Thank yo for this article!

[alice]

alice wrote:

Protect the birds!

Feed the birds to the cats!!!!!

[setterplace]

these pseudo-environmentalist, know little about the mosquito that transmits those specific diseases. They are not the mosquito often found around our houses or areas. They don't specify the type of standing water that these particular mosquito need to lay and develop eggs.
They continue the lies about hoof prints, pigs, and water standing in hapu'u.
Mosquito contol begins with out home areas and agriculture, including the lo'i and other agriculture water uses and practices.
Get the story straight. It is tiring, and shows ignorance by just copying other people's un-truths.

[Yeah]

setterplace wrote:

these pseudo-environmentalist, know little about the mosquito that transmits those specific diseases. They are not the mosquito often found around our houses or areas. They don't specify the type of standing water that these particular mosquito need to lay and develop eggs.
They continue the lies about hoof prints, pigs, and water standing in hapu'u.
Mosquito contol begins with out home areas and agriculture, including the lo'i and other agriculture water uses and practices.
Get the story straight. It is tiring, and shows ignorance by just copying other people's un-truths.

What particular mosquito are you referring to?

[Beetlejuice]

Too bad the WWII sick brought Dengue Fever back with them. Its kind of endemic to those Maui jungles

[Kaimukirich]

CMK wrote:

DDT did not cause birds to fall dead out of the sky.

well, technically you're right. DDT caused a lot of birds, especially top level predators like eagles and hawks to have eggs that were thin-shelled and easily crushed, causing near extinction of these species.

so yeah, DDT didn't cause birds to fall dead out of the sky...it just caused them to not be able to reproduce and continue on.

[CMK]

Kaimukirich wrote:

<quoted text>
well, technically you're right. DDT caused a lot of birds, especially top level predators like eagles and hawks to have eggs that were thin-shelled and easily crushed, causing near extinction of these species.
so yeah, DDT didn't cause birds to fall dead out of the sky...it just caused them to not be able to reproduce and continue on.

I know that DDT caused the eggs of some birds to be thin-shelled but I could not find any evidence that this was bringing on the near extinction of some, or any, species. There was a threat to the environment that might have been mitigated by proper management of the use of this chemical but the ban made any management, judicious use or control in that direction impossible. We still have PCBs in the environment. I think that 1 to 3 million children dying each year in sub-Saharan Africa is a bad thing that could have been prevented by the judicious use of a chemical to exterminate the vector for malaria. My curiosity has led me to read and review the records of decision for some species that were put on the threatened or endangered species list of the ESA and I think that many of those decisions were made on very scant science. If a decision was made using science then that decision should stand up to rigorous scientific review. If it was made politically then the politics of the decision should stand up to public review. In any case, if a claim is made on some basis that in review is not true, then what is the hidden agenda that that action masks?

[Mr Hyde]

Can we burn him at the stake huh-huh-huh? Long lasting poisons are a EPA no-no.

Of course radiation sources like plutonium only poison for a few centuries; if you don't mind killing or mutating everything.