KZYX The Ecology Hour

Sea Otters were once abundant from the Aleutian Islands to central California, before being hunted nearly to extinction. Dr. James Bodkin of the US Fish & Wildlife Service devoted much of his career to studying these charismatic marine mammals, particularly in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker disaster. On The Ecology Hour he reunites with his old colleague Dr. Robert Spies and brin...

We talk with Dr. Marc Epstein, Senior Insect Biosystematist at the California Department of Food and Agriculture for Lepidoptera, about moths and their taxonomy. Dr. Epstein has worked for the last twenty two years at the Plant Pest Diagnostics Center in South Sacramento and is also a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. While identifying Lepidopt...

The Ecology Hour goes viral this week when hosts Bob Spies and Tim Bray talk with Dr. Tony Goldberg, veterinarian and pathobiologist at the University of Madison-Wisconsin. He studies viruses and the diseases they can cause in everything from mussels to humans, everywhere from the Appalachians to Africa. He particularly focuses on "zoonautic" diseases - those that can jump from one species to anot...

Mountain Lions are a frequent topic of conversation in Mendocino County, and there is often concern about them preying on livestock or pets. We talk with Dr. Quinton Martins, principal investigator for the Living with Lions project, a partnership between Audubon Canyon Ranch and True Wild.  Dr. Martins explains why Mountain Lions are so secretive, why they hide their food (and even their scat!), a...

Our guest is Dr. Mark Hoddle, Distinguished Professor of Extension in Biological Control at the University of California - Riverside, a renowned expert in the field of biological control of invasive insect pests. He presents the checkered history of efforts to find organisms that target damaging invasive species, including some early efforts that succeeded and some that backfired. His work is grou...

 Eleven years ago, a mysterious disease killed most of the adult starfish off California and Oregon. The most severely affected, Sunflower Seastar, was the main predator limiting the spread of Purple Urchins. The sudden disappearance of a key predator triggered a "trophic cascade" that led to an ongoing ecological crisis, including the collapse of the kelp forests. After a decade of painstaking re...

Gray Whales were once nearly wiped out by commercial whaling. Once that ceased in the late 20th century, they staged a remarkable comeback, reaching a population of around 26,000 by 2016. But since then many have died on migration, and a new estimate indicates their population has been cut in half. We talk with Dr. Aimee Lang of the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center about that estimate, and...

Just when you think you've got life all figured out... scientists find something that redefines the whole concept.  Ecology Hour hosts Bob Spies and Tim Bray talk with Dr. Karen Lloyd, Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California, about her research into alien life forms right here on Earth - what she calls "Intraterrestrials" in her new book. Some of these organisms challe...

Have you ever seen an Albatross? They are an awe-inspiring sight and there are hundreds of them off the Mendocino coast right now. Many of them are coming here to get food for their chicks, which are more than two thousand miles away, on remote islands in the Hawaiian chain. Ecology Hour hosts Bob Spies and Tim Bray get the whole story from Dr. Jonathan Plissner, Supervising Wildlife Biologist at...

We hear a lot about the immediate effects of a major oil spill, but what happens later? Our guest Dr. Jeffrey Short is a biochemist who has investigated ecosystem effects of major spills. Working with our host Dr. Robert Spies after the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, he discovered that large quantities of oil persisted in the subsurface long after the spill - a finding that was quite controversial at...

Tim Bray and Bob Spies talk with Erin Zulliger of the Institute for Wildlife Studies, who has been studying Elk in northern California. Always an impressive sight, these fascinating animals have a long history here and are currently adapting to changing conditions. Listen to find out more about their lives, their predators, and their populations. 

Robert Jamgochian and Doug Nunn talk about the SONAR program (School of Natural Resources) they created and ran at Mendocino High School for several years. Students learned how to follow scientific protocols, collect field data, analyze it and write up their findings in scientific reports. Many have gone on to pursue education and careers in environmental law, engineering, or biology. Some were ac...

We see them in cartoons as well as in our gardens, but how much do we really know about Praying Mantises? We learn a lot about them from doctoral candidate Lohit Garikipati at the American Museum of Natural History. Originally from California, Lohit became fascinated by these bizarre insects at an early age and has been studying them ever since. They display many amazing adaptations and Lohit reli...

In the last few weeks, many sick and dying California Sea Lions began showing up on central California beaches, even hauling out at Pier 39 in San Francisco. They were victims of Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning, aka Domoic Acid Toxicosis . What is domoic acid, where does it come from, and why is it affecting so many marine mammals? For answers we turn to Dr. Pádraig Duignan , Director of Pathology at...

We spoke with Dr. Eric Bjorkstedt of the NOAA Fisheries Ecosystem Science Center. He talked about some of the work being done at the Telonicher Marine Laboratory in Trinidad, Humboldt County, monitoring the offshore marine ecosystem in this little-studied region. Dr. Bjorkstedt gives us an update on current research and some recent findings, including how some key elements of the food web have res...

Birds invest considerable effort in the reproductive processes and have evolved myriad ways to improve their chances of success. The entire process of mating, nest-building, brooding, and rearing young consumes enormous amounts of energy, often leaving the parent birds nearly worn-out by the time their young reach independence. It is perhaps no wonder, then, that a few birds have developed a way t...

On the April 2024 episode, we delve into how best to support the environment through charitable giving.  We hear from Tom Wheeler, Executive Director of EPIC in Arcata, CA, and from Lawyer Paula Goodwin of Perkins Coie, as well as take a closer look at a number of nonprofits.  Check out our Primer for Giving !  The show also features music from artist and activists Diane Patterson and Alice Dimice...

Join us for a follow up on a past episode on residential decarbonization., with some state forest news starting the hour: Segment 1: Richard Gienger on the Board of Forestry: www.savejackson.org www.pomolandback.com www.mendocinotrailstewards.org To send comments to the Board of Forestry: Publiccomments.@bof.co.gov Segment 2: Sonoma Clean Power Resources for improved home efficiency: https://sonom...

We learn about Elephant Seals from Dr. Heather Liwanag, Associate Professor in the Biological Sciences at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. She studies the physiological adaptations of animals to their environment, and Elephant Seals provide her with many remarkable features to study.  The largest and deepest-diving pinnipeds in the world, Elephant Seals can be found on certain California beaches during t...

 Gray Whales have recently been spotted off Mendocino.  On The Ecology Hour this week, we replay a great discussion from June 2022 with Dr. James Harvey of the Moss Landing Marine Laboratory, who gave us a great overview of their lives and their fantastic migrations. 

Tim Bray and Dr. Robert Spies take a deep dive into the world of squid, with Dr. Sarah MacAnulty, Executive Director of Skype a Scientist. Jet-propelled and able to change color at the speed of thought, they are both predator and prey in every ocean, and the subject of the world's largest fishery. Surprisingly complex, with an evolutionary history going back hundreds of millions of years, they are...