Tag: ultraviolet light

Stronger Invasive Law on the Horizon?

Congress is considering legislation that would create national standards for fighting invasive species. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:

Transcript

Congress is considering legislation that would create national standards for fighting invasive species. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Jonathan Ahl reports:


Two Republican house members and a Democratic Senator are sponsoring the legislation. If the bill passes, it would create nationwide standards designed to keep foreign species from overrunning native plants and animals.


The legislation would extend the ballast water exchange standards currently in effect in the Great Lakes to the entire country. It would also improve screening protocols for importing plants and animals.


The bill also includes some funding to test new technologies. They include using chlorine, filters, and ultraviolet lights to kill off foreign species at some entry points to U.S. waterways.


A staff member for Michigan Senator Carl Levin says the bill is intended to be a first step toward developing international rules to stop the spread of invasive species. The lawmakers plan to introduce the bill when they return from their August recess.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Jonathan Ahl.

The Latest on Frog Deformities

An X-ray study of deformed frogs lends new support to the idea
that there are many different causes for the frog deformities found in
the
Great Lakes region and across the nation. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Mary Losure reports:

Tumors Found on Zooplankton

  • Large tumors have been found on zooplankton in Lake Michigan. Scientists don't know the cause and don't know what the growths will mean to the food chain. (Photo courtesy of University of Michigan and NOAA/ Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory)

Scientists are alarmed at the discovery of tumors on tiny animals at
the base of the food chain in one of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports… no one seems sure what this
will mean to life in the lakes:

U-V Light May Be Viral Catalyst

Ultraviolet light, which some scientists say may be the culprit behind
the Great Lake’s epidemic of mutated frogs, is now part of an
investigation into a smaller but equally important part of the
environmental web. Scientists in Duluth are looking into the viruses
that infect bacteria in the Great Lakes, and how increasing amounts of
U-V light might affect that relationship. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill reports:

Vanishing Frogs – The Possible Culprit

Frogs and toads are disappearing all over the world…and no one knows allthe reasons why. The destruction of wetlands and other places whereamphibians live is one of the major causes…but frogs and toads have alsobeen dying out in protected sites far from any human disturbance. Worldwideenvironmental problems – airborne contaminants, global climate change, orhigher than normal ultraviolet light from the earth’s thinning ozone layer -have all been linked to frog disappearances, but now there’s hard evidenceof another possible culprit. Mary Losure (low-sure) reports for the GreatLakes Radio Consortium on the worldwide vanishing of frogs. This secondreport in our series begins in the Panamanian rain forest:

Colored Plastics Threaten Recycling Industry

More and more dairies are packaging their milk products in colorful plastic containers instead of clear plastic. But some say that may be hurting the plastic recycling industry. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Steve Frenkel reports: