Nature Snippets

Perhaps you are a teacher, a student in an entomology class, or just plain interested in cool things biological. Regardless of your particular motivations, some large, black and orange beetles may be of interest to you and this episode explains how to attract them. I also get into nature's recyclers large and small. Joni Mitchell hit the nail on the head when she wrote "we are billion-yea...

Biodiversity loss is not just a crisis in Borneo or some other tropical spot, it is happening in all localities. And because it is happening in our own towns and back yards, we have the power and responsibility to do something about it. We can plant native trees and vegetation to feed the base of our local food webs. You can learn more about this process by attending a set of St. Michael's col...

Our largest native North American rodent dramatically improves habitats by eliminating the simple structure of streams and replacing that structure with a series of new habitats. Felled trees open canopy gaps allowing light to reach the forest floor. New beaver dams create ponds that favor standing water invertebrates, fish, and birds. Older ponds infill with silt and result in beaver meadows. And...

Little wooden spheres attached to dry stalks in meadows are homes to the larvae of a certain fly. You can see them in patches of meadow where ever goldenrod grows. As the plant grows, a fly lays an egg into the growing tip.  The hatchling larva releases chemicals that compel the plant to produce a golf-ball size growth called a "gall".  If you lived in a house lined entirely with edible...

When a new invasive species sweeps across a region, it can leave destruction in its wake. Sometimes it's a matter of an occasional defoliation as is the case with the spongy moth. In other cases the new species can take out an entire species such as the American elm or the American chestnut. Unfortunately, the emerald ash borer is in the latter category, except that there are three species at risk...

Good afternoon. An earlier video version failed to launch.  Those interested in the video can view it here .  We are currently immersed in a biodiversity crisis. Extinction is  happening at an alarming rate. While none of us expects to return to a  time where passenger pigeons nested in trees over saber-toothed tiger  dens, we can slow extinction rates and even improve bio...

Winter flying moths show up in November and sometimes later.  This essay describes their unusual lack of flight abilities and the alternative ways that they disperse.  I also explore insect collections and the scientific value of collecting specimens and how entomologists are trained. For good measure, I explain how these particular moths earned the moniker "flunker moths".

There are many caddisfly species feeding under the ice in our ponds, streams, and wetlands. Most aquatic insect growth happens in winter when the stream bed food supply is at its peak. The base of the stream food web is not provided by plants growing in the stream but instead drops in in the form of falling leaves. You might expect the peak to therefore happen in fall, but the leaves must first so...

Western conifer seed bugs are among the many insect visitors that may make your home theirs for the winter. They seek hibernation spots in fall and even the best kept homes provides all sorts of prime real estate for six-legged critters. We tend to see them coming or going in fall and spring, but moving decoration boxes from attic or basement tends to wake sleeping guests at this time of year. So...

Duckweed can entirely coat summer ponds, but have you ever wondered what happens to them in winter when the ponds ice over? This episode gets into exactly where duckweeds go when the snow flies, and how they make it back from their wintering grounds.

What can each of us do to reduce eutrophication and harmful algal blooms? Reducing runoff from our properties, neighborhoods, and campuses is an excellent first step. And picking up after your pet does no harm either. Reducing water flow from properties can reduce soil erosion and movement of phosphorus to our favorite water bodies. Simply redirecting your downspouts to the lawn instead of the dri...

Perhaps in your childhood, you may have made paper doilies? Folded paper with delicately cut holes that when unfolded revealed a symmetrical pattern? Imagine for moment that your skill level at this particular pass time was so great, that you could produce a spectacular piece of art in miniature - perhaps as small as a quarter inch long. If you have such fine motor skills, then you are well on you...

For several years, Saint Michael's college students have used trail cameras to answer interesting research questions and to get amazing photographs of mammals right on campus in the process. So I thought I'd share some of my experiences in setting these up to get the best results. Click here for a sample of the photographs we get on cameras on campus. Episode art was photographed by student resear...

Many of our garden plants have "perfect" unblemished leaves lacking any evidence of nibbles taken by hungry herbivores, or dwelling places of leaf miners and other native insects. This artificial state of perfection is because many of our garden plants are from other continents and our native insects have zero chance of eking out a living from their foliage. But native plants have co-evolved with...

Who doesn't love a daddy long legs? But which one do you really love? The cellar spiders that some people call "daddy long legs", or the larger cranefly that may well crash into your porch lights, or what I call "daddy long legs": the spider-like harvestmen common in shaded woods, gardens, or sometimes in your house.  These amazing arachnids are the subjects of an urban legend regarding venom...

As the name suggests, drain flies may well emerge from floor drains.  They are not a sign of poor house keeping....rather they are a sign that you have drains.  The larvae inhabit your plumbing in places like shower drains and floor drains.  You may well see them at any time of year and so September is a perfect time to release this episode and kick off a new season.

Whirligig beetles are wonderful little creatures of the summer that zoom about on water surfaces.  This episode get into some of their amazing adaptations to life on water surfaces.

Opossums are moving north in response to human-caused climate change, but the current journey builds upon a far longer and more ancient journey from South America. One advantage of having them about is their talent for eating ticks, many of which have also moved north. Finally we will get into their most famous behavior: playing possum.

Natural wetlands accumulate nutrient-rich sediment carried in by rising floods. The sediments feed the wetland foodweb and are not carried downstream where they can cause algal blooms in lakes.  By providing places for flood water to go, wetlands reduce the potentially damaging impacts of floods.

Have you ever had the urge to send a potentially dangerous centipede  through the mail? Suppress that urge! But at least one person has sent a  fast-moving myriapod through the US Mail, and here is that story.

Spring flowers bloom before tree canopies fill out taking advantage of both accessible light, and early-year pollinators.  This little beetle is one of the earliest and is well protected by a toxic payload.

The leaves that provide breath-taking views in New England Falls are far from ecologically finished when they drop from trees. Many leaves end up fueling food webs in freshwater habitats. This episode covers some of the complex processes that occur under water before a leaf ever feeds a trout. 

Plankton are generally small plant-like and animal-like organisms that  live in the water column of our oceans, lakes, and ponds. Ecologists  have known that they plankton grow actively in lakes all summer and  often produce blooms in warm weather. Until recently, ecologists  considered that plankton died back in winter and were not an important  source of food under ice....

In winter, a small black caddisfly emerges from streams to complete its life cycle. The females don't bother with wings, unless, that is, they happen to emerge in summer.  These beautiful little caddisflies spend their larval lives filtering minute particles of organic matter from the water and cleaning the water in the process. 

A phenomenon called "the density anomaly of water" makes it possible for folks to drive trucks out on to Lake Champlain most years.  This episode explains why ice is less dense than water and why this allowed life as we know it to evolve.