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A strange green organism has spread, clogging up the world's rivers

bbc.com

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Re: A strange green organism has spread, clogging up the world's rivers

#11

Post by privong »

vosper wrote: post #9

"[...] its biggest impact seems to be aesthetic. 'The main effect of Didymo is how it changed the appearance of rivers and streams,' she says. 'It's not toxic. It really doesn't do anything really awful.' This is true, but it can cause problems for people swimming downstream: "people swimming in waters downstream from areas containing high concentrations of Didymo have complained of eye irritations, which may be caus…

Is it true? I have been told (by an ecologist) that it can use up nutrients and overwhelm a stream, killing a lot of the original inhabitants. Apparently its "invasive behavior" is an interesting response to a lack of nutrients – it undergoes explosive growth in an effort to search for nutrients. I can see where that might be an undesirable run-away process.

Re: A strange green organism has spread, clogging up the world's rivers

#12

Post by ars »

ggchappell wrote: post #7
ars wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was fine for me, although the images were much delayed on loading, so there is some javascript acting there. Are you using noscript?

> Are you using noscript? No. The only thing I explicitly block is flash. (Also, I don't recall having a problem like this before.)

What url do you have for the bad images?

A good image url is: http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/1280_720/images/live/p0/2...

Re: A strange green organism has spread, clogging up the world's rivers

#13

Post by Pwntastic »

ggchappell wrote: post #7
ars wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was fine for me, although the images were much delayed on loading, so there is some javascript acting there. Are you using noscript?

> Are you using noscript? No. The only thing I explicitly block is flash. (Also, I don't recall having a problem like this before.)

Are you using ghostery? I was seeing something similar until I allowed Brightcove to load through ghostery

Re: A strange green organism has spread, clogging up the world's rivers

#14

Post by ggchappell »

ars wrote: post #12
ggchappell wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are you using noscript? No. The only thing I explicitly block is flash. (Also, I don't recall having a problem like this before.)

What url do you have for the bad images? A good image url is: http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/1280_720/images/live/p0/2...

I get this: https://ichef.bbc.co.uk/wwfeatures/304_171/images/live/p0/27...

Probably this isn't worth a whole lot of work; I guess it thinks I'm on a phone (I'm not).

Re: A strange green organism has spread, clogging up the world's rivers

#15

Post by ggchappell »

Pwntastic wrote: post #13
ggchappell wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are you using noscript? No. The only thing I explicitly block is flash. (Also, I don't recall having a problem like this before.)

Are you using ghostery? I was seeing something similar until I allowed Brightcove to load through ghostery

Not using ghostery.

> I was seeing something similar ....

Well, then it isn't just me. Something about the BBC site's resolution handling is borked, I guess.

Re: A strange green organism has spread, clogging up the world's rivers

#16

Post by ars »

ggchappell wrote: post #14
ars wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What url do you have for the bad images? A good image url is: http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/1280_720/images/live/p0/2...

I get this: https://ichef.bbc.co.uk/wwfeatures/304_171/images/live/p0/27... Probably this isn't worth a whole lot of work; I guess it thinks I'm on a phone (I'm not).

What's your user agent? Maybe you set it funny and forgot.

http://www.useragentstring.com/

Re: A strange green organism has spread, clogging up the world's rivers

#18

Post by razster »

hcarvalhoalves wrote: post #10

Diatoms are primary producers and the fastest growers. If they are thriving it's a signal the water quality has dropped and they are doing their job, consuming the excess nutrients, so trying to kill it makes no sense. While they feed on nitrogen and phosphorus their limiting nutrient is silicates, so maybe it's tied to siltation (erosion making it's way into water bodies). I don't see this mentioned on the article.

It's stopping money from flowing down the river and those with boats from enjoying their weekend. It must die.

Re: A strange green organism has spread, clogging up the world's rivers

#19

Post by hyperbovine »

tokenadult wrote: post #3

This finding reported in the article is interesting: "Related to this discovery is an extreme irony. Governments and organisations around the world have, for a very long time, tried to stop algal blooms from strangling rivers by reducing phosphorous pollution, believing the algal feed off this nutrient boost. But in doing so, they might have encouraged the green snot that is Didymo. 'It goes against everything we’ve…

Or more fundamentally: attempts at eco-engineering are destined to fail. This is the most ironclad reason I can come up with for why conservation is the only route.

Re: A strange green organism has spread, clogging up the world's rivers

#20

Post by mcmancini »

This crap has been a PITA a for flyfishers for a while. Rock snot is an apt name for it because it is treacherous when you're wading. Personally, I prefer felt boots because they have better traction, but they're also an easy vector for didymo and it's just not responsible to use them anymore since I'm in multiple rivers. I ended up switching to rubber boots. Not nearly as nice to walk in, but far less likely to have didymo hitchhiking along when practicing proper river hygiene.
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