Word: asianness
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...certain that Asian carp have made it into the Great Lakes. The Mississippi River system and the Great Lakes are connected only through the man-made Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which leads from Lake Michigan to the Illinois River. (It's not uncommon for invasions to occur when humans connect ecosystems that have naturally been kept separate.) The Army Corps of Engineers put an electric barrier in the canal to prevent the carp from infiltrating Lake Michigan, but it may not have been enough - although no live fish have been found yet, last month a team of scientists discovered...
That's what makes them so dangerous to the lakes. Asian carp aren't direct predators, but they eat plankton, which knocks out the bottom layers of the food chain. If they were to successfully establish themselves in the Great Lakes and start breeding, they could utterly disrupt the existing ecosystem, potentially starving out the trout and other native fish that make the Great Lakes a tourism hot spot. (See 10 species nearing extinction...
Scientists don't know how large the Asian carp population would need to get before it becomes self-sustaining and morphs from nuisance into true threat. And some doubt the fish will ever make it into the lakes, given their need to spawn in long, fast-flowing rivers like the Illinois. "It might be 20 to 25 years before they really establish themselves," says Duane Chapman, a research fish biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. "We don't know for sure that we'll have any problems to speak...
...White House has taken action as well. On Monday, federal officials announced $78.5 million in funding to prevent the spread of Asian carp; plans include building new barriers between the Chicago canal and the Des Plaines River. (The carp may be able to bypass the existing electric barrier in the canal when water levels are high and the two waterways mix.) "We see the threat and potential impact of the Asian carp establishing themselves in the Great Lakes," says Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. "We believe we have the chance to work together...
...Lankans] don't want anarchy. They don't want dictatorship. So they rejected Fonseka." - Basil Rajapaksa, younger brother and adviser to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in the aftermath of Fonseka's defeat at the polls on Jan. 28. Rajapaksa hinted at Fonseka's rumored plans to overthrow the government (Indo-Asian News Service...