Nature's Archive

I spent several hours assembling the highlights of the 24 episodes we produced in 2024, all packaged in this nice short recap. It was a lot of work, so I hope you like it! If you want to hear any of these episodes in their entirety, simply check our feed or naturesarchive.com. And for easy reference, the full year's episodes are listed below. And I'd love your feedback on Nature's A...

I love discovering overlooked plants and animals that play outsized roles in the environment. I’m also fascinated by complex systems, especially when they’re easy to observe. And nothing ticks all three of those boxes better than ants. One estimate says that for every human on earth, there may be as many as 2.5 million ants. And these ants form complex societies with unique roles. They communicate...

Do you love spiders and insects? Or perhaps you are more apprehensive of them - or even suffer from arachnophobia. In either case, today’s discussion is for you. Join me for an enlightening journey into the world of insects and arachnids with Kevin Wiener. Kevin is an environmental educator and founder of the thriving 'All Bugs Go To Kevin' community. In this episode, Kevin shares his in...

Today we’re discussing perhaps the most important 24 armed creature you quite possibly have never heard of before. Each arm has eyes, or more accurately, eyespots on the ends, and they have thousands of tube feet that they closely coordinate to move. It’s a keystone species which used to have populations around 6 billion. And in a matter of a couple of years, about 5 billion of those vanished, mel...

Have you ever thought about how or why natural areas, like state or county parks, open space, or wildlife refuges were set aside and saved? Sometimes it seems amazingly unlikely that these places exist. And it’s too easy to assume that there is no land left to set aside. But today we’re telling the story of Coyote Valley, a land adjacent to the hustle and bustle of Silicon Valley. I don’t want to...

I’ve been looking forward to today’s episode for a really long time - and for two great reasons. One, it’s about wildlife forensics, which is an immense field that requires knowledge of everything from wildlife behavior and morphology, to DNA, to crime scene investigation, to policy and the law. I’ve always been a bit of a generalist who likes to deep dive into topics on occasion…so this is a fiel...

What do parasitic plants, 600 year old oak trees, salmon, and hoverflies have in common? Well, they are some of Griff's, Michelle Fullner’s and my favorite wild organisms! Today’s episode is a fun conversation with Michelle Fullner, Griff Griffith, and myself, Michael Hawk, where we advocate for our 10 favorite animals and plants. We each bring three species to the conversation…well, not phys...

Have you ever wondered what it takes to bring a species back from the brink of extinction? Today, we’re diving into the front lines of one of the most challenging and inspiring conservation efforts of our time, with Sophie Osborn as our guide. This episode unravels the incredible stories of the Peregrine Falcon, Hawaiian Crow, and California Condor—three iconic birds with a common thread of surviv...

Have you ever wondered how biologists figure out how plants respond to drought, heat, cold, and other environmental factors?  One way is to study phenology. That’s a fancy word that accounts for seasonal and cyclical growth patterns of plants and animals. Researchers can look at various attributes, like when a plant flowers, leafs out, drops leaves, and more, and then see how that correlates to en...

Nature's Archive has published 100 episodes now. Well, actually over 100, because I normally don't count solo episodes. This week, I wanted to share one of the most important lessons I've learned from these past four years and 100 episodes. Spoiler: it's an angle on how 'everything is connected', and a deeper, more profound understanding of ecosystem services. Regular...

Have you ever watched Planet Earth and wondered how they get that amazing footage of elusive and wild animals? Get ready to learn about that and much more. Wildlife photographer Jake Davis shares his incredible journey from a 10-year-old with a disposable camera to capturing stunning footage for Planet Earth. Jake dives into the challenges and triumphs of filming elusive snow leopards in the Gobi...

Have you seen all of the scary headlines about massive venomous Joro spiders invading the eastern USA? Well, as you might imagine, these headlines are designed to drive clicks so that individuals and media can monetize their content. Dr. Sarah Rose helps set the record straight, and also answers some questions about spider mating rituals, which turn out to be complex and fascinating! And after tha...

The ocean’s surface is a bit like the cover of a book. We have a title - the ocean - which gives us a hint about what it is. And we probably have some preconceived ideas about it based on the cover graphics or author. But we can’t see inside to truly understand the stories it wants to tell.  One of those stories is about a forest - yes, an underwater forest that serves multiple critical purposes f...

Forestry is incredibly interesting and important, and it really speaks to me personally, because it’s one of these fields that is inherently interdisciplinary. You have to understand how things relate and connect to create a healthy, sustainable system.  But traditionally, forestry was all about resource extraction, which often is done at the expense of long term sustainability. And my guest today...

Snakes are the perfect topic for Nature’s Archive. They are often over-generalized to fit a worst-case stereotype, but they are critically important to our food webs and ecosystems. And like so much of what we discuss, once you start learning just a bit about them, you see how amazing and diverse they are. And there are few better suited to guide us through the world of snakes than Dr. Emily Taylo...

2024 is going to be another year of the cicada, with the emergence of two periodical cicada groups, or broods (Brood XIII and Brood XIX), at the same time, roughly in late April to early May. Now, throughout much of the world, cicadas serenade us in summer afternoons - you might be familiar with that, and wonder “what’s the big deal”. But in a few special locations, periodical cicadas emerge on a...

When it comes to understanding nature, it often seems like the ocean surface - that undulating reflective layer of water - is more like an impenetrable curtain than just a layer of water. There is just so much we don’t know about, and are too quick to dismiss, all because we can’t easily observe what’s going on down there. Thankfully, octopuses are having a renaissance in popular culture, and as a...

My guest today is Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant. Dr. Wynn-Grant is the co-host of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom , is a wildlife ecologist and affiliated researcher at the UC Santa Barbara Bren School of Environmental and Science Management . She’s also an author, with her new memoir entitled “ Wild Life ” coming out on April 2. Today we discuss Dr. Wynn-Grant’s unique and inspiring personal journey into wil...

Have you ever seen a fuzzy looking ant? Maybe it looked like a little pipe cleaner with fuzzy red or yellow hair? If so, you probably saw a velvet ant. And here’s the thing - it’s not even an ant at all. They’re wingless wasps, and they often turn up along hiking trails, roadsides, and sometimes even in your backyard! And if you haven’t seen one, hit pause and check out the show notes on naturesar...

In nature, tree physiology is like the engine that keeps forests running smoothly, similar to how human physiology keeps our bodies going. Just as we study how our bodies' metabolism, respiratory systems, and other systems work to keep us healthy, biologists can look at tree physiology to understand how trees grow, use energy, and cope with challenges in their environment. Today’s guest, Dr....

You’re in for a treat today - it’s like two episodes in one. My guest today is Allasandra Valdez, a botanist working on her PhD in plant physiology in  Cornell University’s Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department. Allasandra also has a background studying invasive species, and is the creator and host of The Happy Botanist podcast . Today’s wide-ranging discussion touches on everything from stu...

Many of you might recall the dramatic 2020 fire season in the western USA. In California alone, close to 4 million acres burned. Cities were clouded with smoke and unhealthy air for many weeks. I had ash fall at my home in San Jose, CA on several occasions. But did you know that based on pre-colonial historical estimates, 4 million acres burned would be considered “below average”. How can that be?...

I bet you’ve heard of the National Park Service. Or the US Forest Service which manages all of our National Forests. But did you know that there is another land management agency that manages more public land than either the National Parks or National Forests? This overlooked agency is the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM. Josh Jackson has become one of the BLM’s top enthusiasts, with a huge foll...

Today’s episode is all about California Condors with Tiana Williams-Claussen , the director of the Yurok Tribe’s wildlife department. This episode is actually from my friend Michelle Fullner of the Golden State Naturalist podcast . If you don’t know Golden State Naturalist, I think this episode is pretty indicative of Michelle’s work. She travels around California to meet and interview interesting...

Double the nature content in the same amount of time as a typical Nature's Archive? Well, I think we've come close today, and no, we're not playing an interview at double speed. Here's your chance to hear two episodes of the Jumpstart Nature podcast from our pilot season, covering the topics of treating your yard like a habitat  ( The Yard of the Future Full Show Notes ), and h...