Little Squirts. Big Damage.

Puget Sound's got troubles, we all know that. But often we assume that its mostly pollution and shoreline alteration. Just like the land above, though, the Sound has its own invasive species problems. Where we battle Himalayan blackberry and Japanese knotweed aboveground, harmless sounding sea squirts are spreading, squeezing out native marine vegetation.

There's troubling news about bat populations coming from the East Coast. According the New York Times, massive bat die-offs are alarming researchers, who, as of yet, have not been able to pinpoint the cause.

Aside from ecological disaster, the bat deaths cary a significant economic cost.

The die-offs are big enough that they may have economic effects. A study of Brazilian free-tailed bats in southwestern Texas found that their presence saved cotton farmers a sixth to an eighth of the cash value of their crops by consuming insect pests.

“Logic dictates when you are potentially losing as many as a half a million bats in this region, there are going to be ramifications for insect abundance in the coming summer,” Mr. Darling, the Vermont wildlife biologist, said.

In the six hours in the cave taking samples, nose counts and photographs, Mr. Hicks said that for him trying for the perfect picture was a form of therapy. “It’s just that I know I’m never going to see these guys again,” he said. “We’re the last to see this concentration of bats in our lifetime.”

that's a sad enough statement...