DNAinfo: Uptown Neighborhoods Infested With Rats, City Data Says

As a Washington Heights resident this news is both sad and concerning. I know from experience that the less maintenance  in the building (garbage is found inside and within the premises, food is left in the open, lack of prevention and treatment) the more likely and big the rat problem becomes. There are buildings uptown in which maintance is not an issue but rats may come from adjacent buildings for instance. I think the rat problem in NYC is an issue that can me alleviated (not completely resolved) with a collective effort. Full news article below:

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A recent report from the city’s Department of Health revealed that Upper Manhattan’s Community Board 12 has the highest reported rate of rat infestation in the borough — with 306 verified during an inspection of 2,616 sites in Inwood and Washington Heights in 2011.  

However, the district did experience a 4 percent drop in its reported rat population between 2010 and 2011, according to Department of Mental Health and Hygiene records. 

Upper Manhattan has the highest reported rate of rat infestation in Manhattan. (Health Department)

The Lower East Side and East Village come in second in Manhattan with an 11.4 percent rat infestation rate in 2011, based on 492 reported rat infestations verified out of 4,279 inspections. 

Murray Hill and Gramercy had the fewest reported rats in 2011, with a 0.3 percent infestation rate, based on 95 reported rat infestations verified out of 2,798 inspections. 

“Part of the reduction in active rat signs we’re seeing in Washington Heights and Inwood can be attributed to our proactive indexing program, which inspects every property in the community,” a DOH spokeswoman told DNAInfo, noting that the department has also increased rat baiting in the past year. 

Despite the reported decrease uptown, Becky O’Hannigan, 36, said rats continue to be an issue near her home on West 175th Street and Fort Washington Avenue. 

“I’ve had rats run across the sidewalk next to me when I’m walking my dog, and they’re always rattling the garbage cans outside my building,” the Washington Heights resident, 23, told DNAinfo.

“It’s disgusting.”

The teeming rat population in Upper Manhattan spurred Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer to call on the city to better fund its rat-fighting program last year, as it moved to cut 63 inspectors from the DOH’s rolls in early 2011. 

But Mayor Michael Bloomberg dismissed the concerns, saying "the city is doing a great job" combating the pests.

According to the Health Department, efforts to track and reduce the population have been ramped up over the past several years. 

Inspectors respond to complaints from business owners and residents, and visit designated areas in order to look for signs of rats — like gnawed garbage bags, droppings and burrows. They inspect “most properties even if no complaint has been received,” according to its website. 

The department notes where rats live in Manhattan and The Bronx on its “rat indexing” electronic mapping system and identifies rat “hot spots and return[s] to areas with high failure rates multiple times.” 

But Community Board 12 chairwoman Pamela Palanque-North said more needs to be done. 

She said the board is “deeply concerned and outraged” that "one of the most densely populated districts in the borough [that] has a very high number of school-age children and youth has the highest number of reported rats in the borough." 

In response, Palanque-North said the board plans to partner with the DOH and others to offer a series of rat-control workshops for building managers and supervisors this spring, as it has in the past.

“This rat infestation is a public health emergency,” she said, “which demands immediate and sustained resources and action by the [Department of Health], our elected officials and residents.”

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20120326/washington-heights-inwood/rats-run-wild-uptown-despite-reported-drop-infestations#ixzz1qeqTbHs1

Ecuador is Wild, Beautiful, Pure Nature

Bird view of Los Banos 

I would like to share some nature photos of Ecuador from my last trip there. It was certainly an experience and if you like nature, bird watching, and adventures this is a great place to visit. I have many amazing memories from all the different areas that I visited, from the shy Cholas to the  playful parrots in the mountains oblivious to anything happening around them.

Banos Mountains 

The "snake" Orchid 

Indigenous reserve 

Cotopaxi

Beautiful Orchid 

Beautiful mountains of the Cotopaxi area

BBC: Study Sheds Light on Plants 'Spring Switch'

Photo: Marlyn Duarte

Researchers have identified the genetic "switch" that triggers the flowering process in plants as they respond to warmer temperatures.

They found that a gene, known as PIF4, activated the flowering pathway when a certain temperature was achieved.

The team added that the findings could be used in future research to improve crops' resilience to projected changes in the climate.

Details of the study have been published in the journal Nature.

"We have known for hundreds of years that when it gets warmer, plants come into flower," said co-author Philip Wigge from the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK.

"The question then is... how is it possible that plants are able to control this process with such accuracy and sensitivity."

Dr Wigge said that there were two mechanisms that allowed plants to respond to the arrival of spring: measuring day-length and changes in temperature.

"The switch we discovered is to do with the second one, and helps shed light on how plants know when it is getting warmer," he told BBC News.

"This gene is remarkable because it is only active when it is warm. If you cool the plant down, it has no effect. The gene works in such a way that it is only on in the warm.

"When there are higher temperatures, it activates the target genes and switches on the flowering process."

For their study, the researchers used Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering plant native to Europe, Asia and northern parts of Africa.

It was the first plant species to have its genome sequenced, Dr Wigge said, making it a "terrific tool" for molecular biologists.

Out of synch

Dr Wigge explained that plants appeared to use a combination of the two trigger mechanisms but to varying degrees, which affects the characteristics of plants' flowering behaviour.

"Research carried out by a team in the US has shown that plants that use warmer temperatures to control when they flower are out-competing other plants to a considerable degree."Some plants will flower at the same time each spring, whereas other plants will flower earlier if it is warmer. Those are the plants that have an active PIF4 pathway," he said.

"In the past 100 years or so, many plants that have just used day-length have become locally extinct.

"Yet plants that have used temperature to control when they flower have increased their range considerably and now much more common.

"That makes a lot of sense because those plants will be able to out-compete other species in a climate change scenario."

Phenological studies have shown that plants are flowering and producing fruit earlier than in the past.

Experts warn that the changes will lead to a breakdown in symbiotic relationships within ecosystems, such as plants' dependence on pollinators.

Protecting crop yields

"We have know for some time that wild plant populations are changing, and they are responding in different ways to changes to the climate," Dr Wigge observed.

"But what we have not understood is the underlying mechanism. So now we know some of the genes that are important in the (flowering) process, we can start to make predictions.

"We can look at ecosystems, and based on whether or not the plants use temperature-based signalling, we can start to make predictions about how ecosystems are likely to change in the future."

The findings can also help crop research, allowing scientists to consider possible ways to ensure yields are not adversely affected by projected climate change.

Dr Wigge said it has been estimated that for every 1C (1.8F) rise in mean global temperatures, crop yields would decline by about 10%.

"Many crops are already been grown near the top of their optimal temperature range," he said.

"Temperature basically has a very large and complex effect on yields. We think that the same process that works in Arabidopsis also works in wheat and barley."

This understanding could allow researchers to modify the plants' responses to temperature changes, either genetically or through breeding programmes.

"Identifying these genes gives you a very powerful tool to modify crops to make them more resilient to climate change," he suggested.