The Essential Rhythm | WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode describes the familiar marine invertebrate Lacy Crust Bryozoan, explaining its colonial growth form and feeding structure, as well as its status as an introduced and potentially ecologically damaging marine species. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepening her listeners&#821...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode describes the process of DNA Barcoding: extracting DNA from a cell and using it to identify the species of the organism. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepening her listeners’ experiences with the natural world. She teaches biology and sustainability at Maine Maritime...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode describes some of the animals that make up the meiofauna on a sandy beach, tiny animals that live between grains of sand. Groups include nematodes (round worms), copepods (tiny crustaceans) and tardigrades (water bears). About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepening her listeners...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode introduces ‘interstitial space’, which is the space between grains of sand, as the primary habitat found on a sandy beach. This habitat is largely occupied by tiny animals known collectively as meiofauna, and they form an ecological connection between the macrofauna and microbial communities in benthic and beach environments. About the h...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode recounts walking the sandy beaches of Martha’s Vineyard and seeing slipper shells (Crepidula fornicata) as the primary herbivore in the ecosystem. Slipper shells are sessile, leading to the question of where they find places to settle in a dynamic sandy environment. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science c...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode describes a recent trip to Machias Seal Island. The island hosts the largest population of nesting puffins on the coast of Maine. Elements of their land based breeding behavior include vocalizations and near constant motion, as well as feeding their young. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator pass...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode is a public service announcement reminding beach goers that sand dollars are living creatures just like snails and mussels, and should be left at the beach! Attributes of living sand dollars are described (presence of minute spines, colored dark red or purple) to help beach combers discern living animals from empty shells acceptable for collecting....

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode details finding a mass of long fin squid eggs washed up on the shore at a local Maine beach. Squid life history and mating behavior are also discussed. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepening her listeners’ experiences with the natural world. She teaches biology and s...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode describes Ensis directus, otherwise known as razor or jack knife clams. These clams are known for being very active, rapidly burrowing into the sand using their large and powerful foot. Some sources report they can even swim in the water! About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepe...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode describes the complex phenomenon of self/non-self recognition in otherwise simple asexually reproducing animals, the anemones. Certain anemones are able to differentiate between their own clones and unrelated individuals in order to defend their territory. This research is featured in Adam Nicolson’s Life Between the Tides. About the host: Sar...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode describes research completed in the Gulf of Maine in the 1980’s by Robin Hadlock Seeley, exploring the changes of smooth periwinkle shell shape in response to predation pressure from green crabs. The research was featured in Adam Nicolson’s book Life Between the Tides. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode features insights from Adam Nicolson’s Life Between the Tides and describes dynamics between common periwinkles and their predators, green crabs. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepening her listeners’ experiences with the natural world. She teaches biology and sustain...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode features insights from Adam Nicolson’s Life Between the Tides and describes the parallels between the nervous systems of shrimp and humans. Both animal lineages have fast reacting, non brain linked neural pathways that drive life saving behaviors (sometimes called a “startle response” or reflex). About the host: Sarah O’Malle...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode describes the water retaining properties of the exoskeleton of sand fleas as well as research into their unexpectedly complex navigational systems. Together these allow them to forage in the intertidal zone, breaking down organic matter and recycling nutrients. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode introduces the book Life Between the Tides by Adam Nicolson and highlights sand fleas, the organisms covered in the first chapter of the book. It also discusses protean flight, the adaptive anti predator behavior exhibited by sand fleas and many other prey animals. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communic...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode recounts the signs of spring related to the onset of the alewife migration. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepening her listeners’ experiences with the natural world. She teaches biology and sustainability at Maine Maritime Academy and is currently collaborating on a...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode describes an early spring trip to a typical Maine gravel flat beach, and the many organisms that can be found, including razor and surf clams, ribbon and terebellid worms, sea stars and sand dollars, and rough nudibranchs and their eggs. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepen...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode describes the blood vascular circulatory system both humans and marine worms share. Many marine worms in the phylum Annalida have external gills that oxygenate blood that is then circulated through vessels to various tissues. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepening her list...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode details how members of the phylum Mollusca utilize ventilation of their gill tissue for dual purposes. Bivalves suspension feed, pulling food out of the water they “inhale” and Cephalopods use the water for jet propulsion. This adaptive efficiency has lead to broad biodiversity in this phylum. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an e...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode introduces the basics of specialized gas exchange structures in marine invertebrates. Disadvantageous diffusion rates are overcome by high surface area, achieved through folding or filaments of tissue known collectively as gills. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepening her...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode elaborates on the simple gas exchange mechanisms of sponges, cnidarians and flatworms. These organisms lack specialized gas exchange organs, instead relying on simple diffusion across the body wall. This limits their body shape and structure as a trade off for reducing the diffusion distance gasses pass through. About the host: Sarah O’Malley...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode introduces the concept of metabolic gas exchange and discusses simple gas exchange mechanisms used by marine invertebrates, including manipulation of surface area to volume ratios. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepening her listeners’ experiences with the natural wor...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode describes a study where researchers discovered that grazing herbivores like limpets and periwinkles help stabilize intertidal community structure and thus provide resilience in the face of climate change. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepening her listeners’ experien...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode describes the misconception that animals physically suction themselves to rock surfaces in the intertidal zone, and discusses new research that demonstrates that organisms generate a mucus with temporary adhesive properties (aka reversible glue) to navigate life in a wave impacted environment. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, na...

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley This episode discusses the local (to Maine) limpet Tectura testudinalis and its important ecological relationship with encrusting coralline algae. About the host: Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepening her listeners’ experiences with the natural world. She teaches biology and sustainability at M...