West Nile Virus Spreading Due to Mosquitoes in Orchards and Vineyards, Experts Warn

Jan. 30, 2013 — Washington State University researchers have linked orchards and vineyards with a greater prevalence of West Nile virus in mosquitoes and the insects' ability to spread the virus to birds, horses and people.

The finding, reported in the latest issue of the journal PLOS ONE, is the most finely scaled look at the interplay between land use and the virus's activity in key hosts. By giving a more detailed description of how the disease moves across the landscape, the study opens the door to management efforts that might bring the disease under control, says David Crowder, a WSU entomologist and the paper's lead author.

Since it was first seen in New York in 1999, West Nile virus has reached across the country and shown few signs of abating. Last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control had the highest number of reported cases -- 5,387, including 243 deaths -- since 2003.

Roughly one in five infected people experience a fever, headache, body aches and, in some cases, a skin rash and swollen lymph glands. One in 150 people can get a high fever, headache, neck stiffness, disorientation and neurological problems.

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130130184318.htm

Trout and Vineyards Compete for Water in Wine Country

California's vineyards are stealing water from the fishes in nearby rivers, a new study suggests, and the competition between farmers and fish for water is intensifying.

"Nearly all of California's salmon and trout populations are on the path to extinction and if we're going to bring these fish back to healthy levels, we have to change the way we manage our water," study researcher Theodore Grantham, of the University of California, Davis, said in a statement. "Water withdrawals for agricultural uses can reduce or eliminate the limited amount of habitat available to sustain these cold-water fish through the summer."

The findings, published today in the May issue of the journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, link higher death rates for threatened juvenile steelhead trout with low water levels in the summer and the amount of vineyard acreage upstream.

"I don't suggest we get rid of vineyards, but we do need to focus our attention on water management strategies that reduce summer water use," Grantham said. "I believe we can protect flows for fish and still have our glass of wine."

Read on:  http://www.livescience.com/20290-trout-vineyards-compete-water-wine-country.html