Nature Snippets

Why do we fish and should we fish at all? When I fish, it is usually for recreation or education. I encourage others to fish because I believe that familiarity with the fascinating organisms in the natural world fosters appreciation for the environment. When a person catches a fish in a nondescript pond, dots are connected. A previously boring water body becomes a habitat. Certainly it was habitat before anyone caught a fish, but an appreciation for the pond as habitat is built. And when we appreciate organisms and habitats, we are more likely to value and protect that habitat.

In this episode, several St. Michael's College Environmental Science tell us why they fish and what they caught.

Update 12/29/2023: episode art is from Wikimedia Commons and found here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Lepomis_macrochirus_photo.jpg

I can't think of a better way to learn about the coastal biology of a country than to visit. And so we did! Thirteen Saint Michael's College students joined three professors and we crisscrossed the Dingle Peninsula for two weeks. We learned a lot of biology and also hiked to spectacular locations and even visited a pub or two. This episode gets into some of the cultural as well as biological details of our adventure.

Kingfishers are incredible fliers, divers, and of course fishers. A lamp mussel at first blush seem to present all of the complex behaviors .... of a rock. But there is far more fascinating biology happening than meets the eye. This episode documents the interactions between at least one individual each of these two species. Life is interesting, strange, and there is unimaginable complexity if we care to investigate even just a little bit. This essay and now podcast was inspired by a photograph posted on social media. Here's a link to Adelaide Tyrol Murphy's incredible art to go with the story. And the story I presented at a conference a while back inspired Chris Maynard to create more incredible art linked here. I'd like to give a shout out to J Drew Lanham's "Writers of Fox Run Veranda" ....you know who you are! Thank you for inspiration to keep putting words out there; please keep sharing your wonderful words on paper or in the ether!

Update 12/30/2023: I'm back filling episode art because I just noticed how they present on various platforms. Wikimedia commons is my favorite source where people share art seeking only attribution. This image came from here.

In addition to flood impacts on humans there are human impacts on floods. And of course there are flood impacts on other organisms. Among other things, this impromptu episode will get into being safe around flood waters and the risks associated with flooded sewage plants.

An earlier version of this had some audio issues that have been improved.

Episode art is the Winooski River hydrograph downloaded from the USGS site

Imagine for a moment that a grey squirrel grabbed hold of your arm or even your tongue and refused to let go until you transported it to your home. That's roughly the experience that many bumble bees endure when accosted by certain beetle species. This episode describes the strange relationships between beetles and their involuntary Uber drivers. This will be the last episode of the current season...although I may record one or two from about 3,000 miles east of Vermont for summer release. In the mean time....have a great summer.

Episode art is from my cell phone and shows a beetle clamped onto a bumble bee antenna,

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-year-old carbon".....everything recycles!

Episode art added 12/30/2023 is from here.

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 college events happening about a week from the release data of this podcast. Other events will be live-streamed and recorded so there are multiple ways to attend. Please join me and the St. Mike's community to protect our planet's biological diversity.

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 of course flowing water streams exist between these structures so the overall impact of beavers at the ecosystem scale is to diversify habitats. This episode focuses on the North American species but I briefly get into their European cousins also. I hope this brief chat helps foster an appreciation for these amazing animals.

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 plant material, you'd have an approximation of a gall.  This episode describes the biology of goldenrod galls and suggests ways to use them for educational purposes.

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. This saddens me for many reasons. Ash trees are beautiful and serve important biological roles at the base of forest food webs.  They underpin important cultural traditions both for the Abenaki and for the Irish. Vermonters are well aware that black ash provides the raw materials for traditional Abenaki baskets. You may well wonder Irish tradition is fostered by Vermont ash? When I first moved to Vermont I learned at the Champlain Valley Fair, that ash root stock with a little trunk still attached was being shipped to Ireland to manufacture our traditional hurley sticks for one of our national sports: hurling (which has nothing to do with the after effects of beer consumption). The wood grain sweeping through the wood down into the root provides the necessary grain curvature to make these sticks. With our ash now infested, I sincerely hope we are not exporting it anywhere.

As we lose our ash, I encourage people to plant a diverse selection of native tree species so that when the next invasive species comes, your plantings eill not be decimated.