In an urgent call to the media by the Union of Concerned Scientists (composed primarily of "citizen scientists", i.e., political activists dedicated to promoting the Obama agenda on energy and nuclear disarmament) it was breathlessly announced that spring has arrived ten days earlier this year due to global warming.  This was a stunning revelation to me, as I thought the seasons were caused by the Earth's tilt toward the Sun.  I was intrigued by the premise that this group of obviously qualified authorities might believe that global warming has caused the Earth's axis to shift to the point that spring comes ten days early.

Ecological mismatches can be fatal when some species adapt to early warmth and others don't, according to Jake Weltzin of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Weltzin described a series of mysterious miscarriages by mares in the U.S. southeast that were caused by caterpillars that contained a chemical that made the pregnant horses miscarry.

Normally, the caterpillars would have been consumed by migrating birds, leaving none to fall from trees into the mares' grassy pastures. But the birds' migration was late, letting the caterpillars fall from trees and into the grass the mares were eating, Weltzin said.

The birds used to arrive in Europe and nest in time for their chicks to take advantage of a seasonal caterpillar explosion. But the caterpillars now peak 16 days earlier. As a result, chicks are starving and some flycatcher populations have plummeted 90 percent.

"These mismatches in timing could be happening all over," said Jake Weltzin...