Clueless Research For The Day

Climate change may give America’s venomous brown recluse spiders a choice: Move to a more northern state or face dramatic losses in range and possible extinction, a new theoretical study suggests.

Currently, brown recluse spiders are found in the interior of roughly the southeastern quarter of the continental United States. Researcher Erin Saupe used two ecological models to predict the extent of the spider’s range in 2020, 2050 and 2080 given the effects of global warming.

http://www.foxnews.com/

She probably should have actually checked the temperature records at some point, since she is doing a dissertation based on changes in temperature. Then she would have known that the premise was fatally flawed.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/cag3/ga.html

About Tony Heller

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13 Responses to Clueless Research For The Day

  1. It's the Sun, Stupid! says:

    In Australia we have the Red-back spider which, famously and traditionally, lurks under the seats of dunnies waiting to bite the backsides of the unwary.

    http://www.csiro.au/resources/Redback-Spiders.html
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunny

    Perhaps this is an opportunity to get lots of funding for a research paper examining the projected changes in the numbers of backsides bitten in a potentially changing range of habitable dunnies where those changes are due (of course) to anthropogenic climate change.

    And the two links will provide a little bit of insight into the culture of Australia!

  2. Sandy Rham says:

    All those States show a step change downward in the 50s. WUWT??

  3. Michael D Smith says:

    Wow, classic sinusoidal pattern. I have a curve fitter for that. I’ll bet the trend is actually strongly down, once de-cycled, I’ll let you know later.

  4. Andy Weiss says:

    Does anyone give a royal rat’s behind about where the brown spiders go?

    • glacierman says:

      We have them in Michigan and have for as long as I can remember. I think the spiders made a decision long ago, or maybe someone’s data is flawed.

      • glacierman says:

        So if a couple of years they will get paid to expand their study and “find” some in Michigan, then they will claim “see we were right and it is happening faster than predicted by our models. Things are WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.

    • Paul H says:

      Talking of royal rats, the wedding will generate –

      6,765 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e), 12 times the annual emissions from the London palace or 1,230 times the annual emissions of the average UK household.

      http://www.climatechangedispatch.com/home/8940-global-warming-hoax-weekly-round-up-apr-28-2011

    • thechuckr says:

      Well, yes, not that I believe such BS “research.” Several years ago, my wife got bitten on her ankle (in TX) by one those spiders and had to have surgery to remove the ulcer caused by its venom. They are nasty little fu**ers!

  5. Paul H says:

    According to Ohio State University –

    These spiders are very adaptable and may be active in temperatures ranging from 45 to 110 deg F.

    I don’t think they will have to pack up their bags and leave Dixie yet.

  6. Sundance says:

    Can I pretend to be Mike Mann and read these graphs upside down?

  7. Squidly says:

    Currently, brown recluse spiders are found in the interior of roughly the southeastern quarter of the continental United States.

    Really? … try telling that to the people around Fargo, North Dakota that have been bitten by brown relcuse spiders. Sure, they aren’t as previlent, but they DO exist there.

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