Will Global Warming Bring Southern Species North?

It's entirely possible that the warming trends of the past decade have encouraged southern species of plants and animals to increase their range. This would be a mixed blessing, since some beautiful and unusual species may soon be in your backyard -- but it could also be a problem, as the growing range of pests like fire ants demonstrate. 

So with recent studies showing that global warming has the potential to spread species farther north than ever before, we have to keep our eyes open for new and potentially dangerous insects and arachnids in our garden. One of these animals is the Black Widow, Latrodectus mactans, a large and venomous spider that until recently was confined to southern areas of the United States.

In order to get to know this spider, it pays to investigate sites like this one on Black Widow Identification. These spiders are big and easy to identify, but they do like to hide in dark and out-of-the-way corners, so you may well have them in your house or garage without knowing it. Keep your eyes open and be careful before you go poking around in dark corners of your basement or garage!