Natural Selections

(Jul 30, 2020) Martha Foley returns to the first question she asked Curt Stager when the program (then called "Field Notes") began decades ago. Why do mosquitos bite?

(Jul 23, 2020) Martha Foley and Curt Stager continue their discussion of trout varieties in Adirondack waters. One variety that is found in streams and lakes in the region is the splake, a hybrid of the native strains of lake and brook trout. While some refer to them as "Frankenfish," fishery managers like the hybrid because it grows quickly, but does not breed well in the wild, which makes it manageable in a stocking program.

(Jul 16, 2020) Four species of trout can be found in Adirondacks waters. Of the mix, two were introduced from the outside, one from Europe and one from the western United States. The two species which are native to the area are technically not trout at all, but relatives of the arctic char.

Martha Foley and Curt Stager get into the genetic weeds with Adirondack sport fish.

(Jul 2, 2020) The first time Martha Foley went snorkeling on a coral reef, she was staggered by the abundance and diversity of marine life. Doing the same in an Adirondack lake one might see a lot of mud and a snail. She asks Dr. Curt Stager of Paul Smith's College what the difference might be.

(Jun 25, 2020) Before the last Ice Age, 100,000 year ago, the Adirondacks were a very different kind of place. The terrain was different, the climate, wildlife, and plant life bore little relationship to what we see today. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager go way back.

Lake trout require a lot of cold, oxygenated water to survive. Lakes in the Adirondacks of upstate New York are at the southern edge of their natural range. Although about 100 Adirondack lakes and ponds are still home to lake trout, even a small increase in temperature could sharply cut that number.

Martha Foley? - not a fan of bugs. And Curt Stager took a course on them to steady his own reactions. The Natural Selections team looks at the outliers on the spectrum, the largest and smallest of critters with too many legs.

New Zealand's weta makes a real handful. The fairy fly is nearly invisible. Some prehistoric dragonflies were big enough to make off with the cat.

(Apr 16, 2020) Unlike organic material, which can be dated using carbon-14, stone and fossils often contain no carbon, or may be older than the carbon method can track. Radioactive potassium dating measures the ratio between a radioactive variety of potassium and the substance it breaks down into, argon gas. That can age material back billions of years. One problem: you need the gas to have been trapped in bubbles of volcanic ash.

Martha Foley and Curt Stager discuss the problems of reading the geological clock.

(Apr 9, 2020) What happens when certain species of domesticated animals like chickens and pigs escape to live and breed in the wild? According to Curt Stager and Martha Foley, after a few generations they start to look and act like their wild ancestors again.

Bullheads are slimy and hard to clean without hurting yourself, but both those qualities help them survive. The spines protect them for being swallowed whole, and their lack of scales makes way for thousands of cells that let them "smell" the water with their whole bodies, and even identify each other in a group. They also herd their young together for protection, watching over them for an extended period. Martha Foley and Curt Stager talk trash about bullheads.