While their kin are declining worldwide, Canada’s largest amphibian, the bullfrog, is multiplying out of control in British Columbia — with some human help
After a bat was found near Seattle with deadly White Nose Syndrome, a conservation group has teamed up with cave explorers to find out if B.C.'s bats are also affected. The White Nose fungus can kill 99 or even 100 percent of a population it infects.
Reports that the sea star population was rebounding appear to have been overly optimistic, says the Coastal Ocean Research Institute.
Some B.C.-farmed salmon is reaching store shelves with a parasite that can liquefy the fish’s flesh into an unappetizing goop.
Biologist Jackie Hilderling says four years of decline in B.C.'s sea star population is due to climate change warming local waters and making the animals susceptible to sea star-associated densovirus.
Voracious predator could be big threat to native aquatic populations
Asian giant hornets are known to feed on honeybees and other large insects and are capable of destroying a beehive in a short time, according to the province.
Invasive species are a more important issue as increasingly warm winters and wetter summers help grasslands and forests in the North grow like never before, changing the very fabric of the North’s ecosystem.
A 2008 report by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said there were at least 486 invasive alien plant species alone in Canada.
The American Bullfrog is native to the Eastern United States and southern maritime provinces of Canada. It has famously spread west and now north in recent decades.