FIRE-EARTH Alert: ‘Thunderstorm Asthma’

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Death Toll Rising as Thunderstorm Asthma Hits Melbourne, Australia

• Details of the Alert are available from FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

Vast swarms of locusts sweep across Australia

After years of drought, Australia’s harvest faces a different threat

As farmers prepare to harvest their crops, large swarms of locusts plague Australia

Vast swarms, some measuring up to seven km long, have been observed at Condobolin, Gundagai, Narrandera and Wagga Wagga.

The NSW State Government has reportedly dispatched pesticides to farmers to spray about 100,000 hectares of locust bands and has a fleet of nine crop spraying aircraft on standby-the only way they know how to fight the locusts!

Desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria. Male (on top) and female. Credit: Christiaan Kooyman

Locust is the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acrididae, some of which reached 15 cm in length. These species can breed rapidly under suitable conditions and subsequently become gregarious and migratory. They form bands as nymphs and swarms as adults — both of which can travel great distances, rapidly stripping fields and greatly damaging crops. [Wikipedia]

Related Links:

• Coping with crowds: Density-dependent disease resistance in desert locusts

Related News and Video Links:

• Locust swarms plague Australia
• Swarms of locusts spread across Australia