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In the Canadian Arctic, Musk Oxen endure the long winters and short summers that characterize one of Earth’s most extreme environments. The animals have spent millennia adapting to the brutal cold, but now increases in temperature are presenting new problems. A parasitic species of nematode dwells in the musk oxen lungs and too many nematodes [...]

Lyme disease, the most common vector-borne disease in the United States, is mainly confined to the habitat of the deer tick (the disease’s most common transmission source), which is concentrated in the Northeast. In the Northeast since the 1970’s, average spring rainfall has been increasing at a rate of about 0.5 inches per decade, and [...]

Over the last 40 years in the eastern U.S., there has been an increase in the frequency during warm months of 30-day periods when there is no rain. These dry spells now occur about twice as often as they did in the 1960’s. Rainfall events push water through municipal sewer and storm water systems. During [...]

A common cotton disease in the southeast, hardlock, is caused by fungus that is sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity. The disease does better during years when humidity and rainfall levels are above average, especially during the months of July to September, when cotton plants flower and bolls (pods containing 32 seeds from which the cotton [...]

From the time of its discovery in the 1940’s until about 1990, a single-celled marine parasite (Perkinsus marinus), which can cause massive die-offs of the commercially important Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica), was rarely spotted north of the Chesapeake Bay. Since 1992, however, outbreaks have been occurring as far as 310 miles north of the bay. [...]

Chikungunya fever, which has traditionally been confined to Africa and Southern India, is now present in northern Italy. A relative of dengue fever, Chikungunya, which comes from a Makonde (an ethnic group in Southeast Africa) word that means “to become contorted,” causes fever, rashes, and severe bone pain. Europe’s recent warming trend, especially the trend [...]

Sixty-seven (67) percent of the 110 known species of Harlequin Frog are now extinct and 80 percent of the species that have disappeared were last spotted in years following abnormally warm events. It is known that the Chytrid Fungus, which kills amphibians, thrives between the temperatures of 17 and 25 degrees Celsius, and grows best [...]

Just seaward of the Florida keys lies a 130 mile long coral reef that extends from Miami to the Dry Tortugas. This reef provides habitat for over 5,500 marine species and buffers Florida and the Keys from storm surges. A combination of rising ocean temperatures, increases in ocean acidity, and runoff from farms and developments, [...]

In the United States, the leading cause of seafood related stomach illness is a bacterium known as Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which can only survive in waters that are warmer than 59 degrees Fahrenheit. Sea surface temperatures are now the highest that they have been since at least the 1870’s, a phenomenon that has enabled the bacteria [...]

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels have doubled since pre-industrial times. When CO2 levels are high, poison ivy plants grow faster and produce more urushiol – the chemical notorious for causing rashes and other allergic reactions. Every year, more than 350,000 American develop rashes from contact with this plant.
Seasons: Spring, Summer
(Source: Mohan et al. 2006. Proc. [...]

In addition to causing a swelling of the mouth that can make the tongue appear blue, the livestock virus commonly known as Bluetongue either kills or weakens the animals that it infects. This virus was traditionally considered an African disease and outbreaks in Europe’s southern fringes were only occasional. Since 1998, rising temperatures in Europe [...]