AGW=dead lizards? Maybe it's not the heat, but the handbags and herpetology aficionados?

RE: “‘Science’ Paper links warming to lizard die-offs”
The word order here seems to indicate that scientists have discovered that warming has been caused by the death of lizards…

Global Warming is and will be the cause of the disappearance of many important things, among these freedom.

Excellent research for this post. Some people never move out of their own bubble. Like the good Christian lady, years ago ,who tried to convince me that the best thing the missionaries did in the Pacific Islands during the Early Contact era was to induce the natives to wear clothes. Her mindset was unshakeable and she just smiled at me with irritatingly superior niceness when I attempted to counter her arguments. She ‘just knew’.

Like most people who grew up in a rural environment, I very much enjoy programmes about the countryside and farming. For that reason, I watch BBC’s ‘Countrywatch’ series, which is usually quite down-to-earth and rational. But in every programme, there just has to be a nod to CAGW and I find that irritating in the extreme. Most of these ‘nods’ are slipped in surreptitiously, but some are total clangers. If the BBC wish to campaign for CAGW, why do I and others have to have this fed to us on our quite large licence fee?

“”Spector says:
June 8, 2010 at 3:54 am
RE: “‘Science’ Paper links warming to lizard die-offs”
The word order here seems to indicate that scientists have discovered that warming has been caused by the death of lizards…””
That actually makes more sense. 😉

When I was a kid (30 to 40 years ago), we had quadrillions of small lizards here on our ranch in South Texas. Now we have very few. Also now have very few quail and rabbits, and wild turkeys seem to be declining. What do all of these animals have in common? They nest on or in the ground. What species has moved in and drastically multiplied over the past 30 or 40 years? Fire ants. They kill and consume all types of ground-nesting animals, sometimes including newborn calves.

Stan Buffel says:
June 7, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Perhaps the problem is not AGW but chemicals in the environment that affect the reproductive cycle….
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You have hit on the answer! It was found that the GM corn, Starlink, has jumped the border and is now found in Mexico.
“A small California biotech company, Epicyte, in 2001 announced the development of genetically engineered corn which contained a spermicide which made the semen of men who ate it sterile. At the time Epicyte had a joint venture agreement to spread its technology with DuPont and Syngenta, two of the sponsors of the Svalbard Doomsday Seed Vault. “ source
So there is your answer. Spermicidal GM corn also jumped the Mexican border and was eaten by the lizards or by the insects who are the lizards prey, thereby rendering them sterile!
Well, it makes as much sense as a 0.7C temp rise as the cause doesn’t it?

I still don’t see where they looked at both side of the temperature data. They calculate how much “active” time is reduced due to temps that are too high, but don’t consider how much active time is increased due to a reduction in temperatures that are too low. Either I’m missing something, or the reviewers did.

Russell M says:
June 8, 2010 at 7:59 am
When I was a kid (30 to 40 years ago), we had quadrillions of small lizards here on our ranch in South Texas. Now we have very few. Also now have very few quail and rabbits, and wild turkeys seem to be declining. What do all of these animals have in common? They nest on or in the ground. What species has moved in and drastically multiplied over the past 30 or 40 years? Fire ants. They kill and consume all types of ground-nesting animals, sometimes including newborn calves.
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Yes and now they are headed for Washington DC. They are already past Durham NC and on their way north by leaps and bounds (about 10-20 years to travel the length of NC)
Do you think they will do us a favor and wipe out the not so rare species of two legged snakes in Washington DC???

“But for the phenomenon to be linked to climate change, the pattern would need to be seen globally. Sites connected Sinervo with researchers in Chile and Argentina, where Sites has been working for a decade. Sinervo also worked with researchers who documented lizard declines in Africa, Australia, and Europe.”
Five continents show the exact same pattern *as predicted* by research and it’s explained away by kids selling lizards in Mexico. Interesting way to avoid the point. But hey, some guy in Texas saw some lizards outside, so there’s no issue here. BTW, it got cold again this winter, Global Warming is such a joke.
Funny here how the hypothesis (Mexican kids are decimating global lizard populations) is accepted as proved because, duh, global warming is a hoax created by those rich research scientists to pay for their Ferraris. Oh, and look at shoe prices, doesn’t that prove the Mexican Kid theory?

RoPiNi says:
June 8, 2010 at 12:53 pm
“But for the phenomenon to be linked to climate change, the pattern would need to be seen globally. Sites connected Sinervo with researchers in Chile and Argentina, where Sites has been working for a decade. Sinervo also worked with researchers who documented lizard declines in Africa, Australia, and Europe.”
Five continents show the exact same pattern *as predicted* by research and it’s explained away by kids selling lizards in Mexico. Interesting way to avoid the point.
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But you miss the point. First and foremost, one needs to know the details of each one of those lizard declines before one leaps to any conclusion that may or may not apply to all of them.
What exactly is this “exact same pattern” you refer to? Why can only climate change explain it, if it actually exists at all?
Second, the key point is that there are many potential factors which may contribute to the decline of any species but you, like these researchers (Sites et al), jumped to the climate change conclusion.
And what makes this particular case so dubious is that whatever climate changes which may have impacted this species since the baseline 1970s observations have been so insignificant relative to the long history of much more dramatic climate changes that these lizards have survived that this conclusion borders on the ridiculous.
One can selectively look at all the continents and find examples of birds whose populations have declined for a variety of known reasons other than climate change.
Following your/this logic one would jump to the conclusion that they were all caused by climate change.
No wonder people find these stories increasingly laughable. Definitely not objective science, to put it mildly.

“For all I know, the advance of fire ants (a non-native species which arrived in Texas in the 1950′s) could be due to global warming, but I’d need a few million in grant dollars to answer that definitively.”
Great, go and finish your doctorate, write up a proposal and we’ll see how it goes. Someone’s got to pay that Ferrari that all research scientists drive.
You could have just said, “I have no idea how reasearch grants are done” and saved everyone some time.
“Al Gored says: ”
Haha, you added a ‘d’ to Al Gore’s name, that’s genius. I’m expecting great things from your insights.
“First and foremost, one needs to know the details of each one of those lizard declines before one leaps to any conclusion that may or may not apply to all of them. ”
That’s what they did. “Sinervo also worked with researchers who documented lizard declines in Africa, Australia, and Europe.”
I’m pretty sure one of those other scientists would have noted all the Mexican kids running around snatching up lizards.
“What exactly is this “exact same pattern” you refer to? ”
Here in the article….you might want to read it before you next set of questions…”The researchers surveyed lizard populations, studied the effects of rising temperatures on lizards, and used their findings to *develop a predictive model of extinction risk*. Their model accurately predicted specific locations on five continents (North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Australia) where previously studied lizard populations have already gone locally extinct.”
“Why can only climate change explain it, if it actually exists at all? “”
Because outside of a few strange areas, everyone else has been noticing, and documenting, how the changing climate is affecting the world. BTW, you maight want to read the article again, “They later connected the lizards’ decline to climate records and studied the effect of rising temperatures on lizard physiology and behavior. For example, cold-blooded lizards can’t forage for food when their bodies get too hot – they must seek shade because they can’t regulate their own temperature. The researchers found that the hours per day when the temperature allowed foraging dropped significantly.”
Having a PhD in herpetology might help here. That way one can accurately gauge how changing temperatures affect cold-blooded animals. Sadly, it’s not as simple as “it’s hot, they should be going faster, durhh, durhh.”
“Second, the key point is that there are many potential factors which may contribute to the decline of any species but you, like these researchers (Sites et al), jumped to the climate change conclusion.”
Right, the Mexican Kid Theory. So where’s the data on that? Or is it the “Manolo Blahnik Great Shoe Extinctions Theory”? Have you collected any data at all? When you have a theory that accurately explains the data, a predictive algorithm, and correlates to known physiologies, you publish. When does the MKT appear in print?
“One can selectively look at all the continents and find examples of birds whose populations have declined for a variety of known reasons other than climate change.
Following your/this logic one would jump to the conclusion that they were all caused by climate change.”
One can make up any sort of fantastical study to prove their point), but that has nothing to do with science, nor logic. Unless you have a link for the one you mentioned. I’m sure with their many millions of dollars most research scientists would be more than happy to put this together for you, as it seems to be a totally relevant arm of science

Quit using weed killers and pesticides at home, then watch as the wildlife shows sudden appreciation of your cleaner enviro.