When Nature Speaks, Who Are You Hearing?→

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Adam Frank, writing for NPR:

“I walked through the network of Olmsted-designed parks that thread through Rochester. It was raining lightly but that only made the world — now slowly waking up from winter — that much lovelier. I walked up some hills. I walked down some hills. I passed through a wooded ravine. I crossed over into a 150-year-old cemetery. Then, on the crest of a drumlin lined with Civil War era headstones, it happened: I met the sacred.

I am not a poet and can not come close to evoking the character of the experience in words. It was the mist and the rainfall and the birdsong and the scent of spring to be. It was all that and something more — much more — while also being fundamentally less — empty, poised, waiting.”

Adam captures nature experiences in poetic fashion. You too can live in awe of nature. Perhaps first you must unlearn what you have learned in your studies of a deity. 

Riparian restoration mitigates impacts of climate change→

Chrystal Mantyka-Pringle, writing for the Conservation Decisions Team:

“Freshwater habitats occupy less than one percent of the Earth’s surface, yet they contribute disproportionately to global biodiversity, supporting approximately ten percent of all known species, and one third of all vertebrates....

By identifying the mechanisms behind predicted biodiversity loss, Mantyka-Pringle et al. (2014) were able to identify management strategies that can simultaneously tackle both climate change and land-use change. The good news story that came out of this study was that they identified riparian vegetation restoration as an important adaptation tool that can mitigate the negative effects of climate change and land-use change on freshwater biota. ”

Around the survivors a perimeter create.

The Fight for Wisconsin’s Soul→

Dan Kaufman, writing for the New York Times:

“WISCONSIN has been an environmental leader since 1910, when the state’s voters approved a constitutional amendment promoting forest and water conservation. Decades later, pioneering local environmentalists like Aldo Leopold and Senator Gaylord Nelson, who founded Earth Day in 1970, helped forge the nation’s ecological conscience.

But now, after the recent passage of a bill that would allow for the construction of what could be the world’s largest open-pit iron ore mine, Wisconsin’s admirable history of environmental stewardship is under attack.”

 Credit: Azael Meza

Once you start down the dark path of discounting environmental standards, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will.

Animals see power lines as glowing, flashing bands→

Damian Carrington, reporting for The Guardian:

“Study suggests pylons and wires that stretch across many landscapes are having a worldwide impact on wildlife.

Scientists knew many creatures avoid power lines but the reason why was mysterious as they are not impassable physical barriers. Now, a new understanding of just how many species can see the ultraviolet light – which is invisible to humans – has revealed the major visual impact of the power lines.”

Joseph Younis

Sometimes we don't understand because we can relate to how others see the world.

Shrink to Fit→

David Malakoff, writing for Conservation (a good read pick):

“Around the planet, relatively large species are in big trouble—from lions and tigers and bears to cod, condors, and conifers. Even some heftier snails and salamanders are struggling. “Size matters,” says biologist Chris Darimont of the University of California, Santa Cruz, who notes that the assaults are coming from several angles. On one front, “a larger body size makes a species more vulnerable to all kinds of problems, from getting hunted by humans to habitat change.” One result: Nearly half of the world’s large “megafaunal” mammals—and more than half of the largest marine fish—are now considered vulnerable to imminent extinction.”

Natural selection at work.

Illustration by Philip Nagle

MPCA issues early analysis of study on sulfates and wild rice→

Stephanie Hemphill, reporting for MinnPost:

“Minnesota’s current standard to protect the iconic grain is ten milligrams of sulfate per liter. But industry has attacked that standard as unscientific. Mines, wastewater treatment plants, and other industries dispose of sulfate in rivers, and native groups have long complained the stands they rely on have been declining.

The research shows that bacteria convert sulfate into sulfide in the sediments in which wild rice typically grows. Researchers found strong correlations between the amount of sulfide in the porewater (water that flows in and around the sediments) and the amount of sulfate in surface water.

The agency concluded that the range at which sulfide limits the plants’ ability to grow corresponds to a range of sulfate in the surface water of 4 to 16 milligrams per liter – neatly bracketing the current standard.”

Watch the Great Lakes Freeze Over→

Time lapse satellite imagery shows the Great Lakes icing over in one of the coldest winters in memory

Byran Walsh, reporting for Time:

“You can measure a winter in many ways: temperature records, snow cover, even travel delays. But to truly see how frigid this winter has been—at least for the eastern half of the U.S.—you need to go way up. Satellite imagery shows that an incredible 88% of the Great Lakes—Superior, Michigan, Huron, Ontario and Erie—are now frozen over. That’s the largest ice cover the Great Lakes have experienced since 1994, and it means that there is an astounding 82,940 sq. miles (214,814 sq. km) of ice covering the biggest collection of fresh water in the world.”

As we've changed the system, things that were once normal are now seen as abnormal. 

Science Takes on a Silent Invader→

Robert Boyle, reporting for the New York Times:

“Since they arrived in the Great Lakes in the 1980s, two species of mussels the size of pistachios have spread to hundreds of lakes and rivers in 34 states and have done vast economic and ecological damage.

These silent invaders, the quagga and zebra mussels, have disrupted ecosystems by devouring phytoplankton, the foundation of the aquatic food web, and have clogged the water intakes and pipes of cities and towns, power plants, factories and even irrigated golf courses.

Now the mussels may have met their match: Daniel P. Molloy, an emeritus biologist at the New York State Museum in Albany and a self-described “Bronx boy who became fascinated by things living in water.””

Muir and Plato Go for a Stroll→

Evan Edwards, writing at The Center for Humans & Nature Blog:

“But this is all, in a sense, beside the point. I’m pulled back to the reason for which I bent these pages of Muir’s essay in the first place. Somewhere in these hundred or so pages is a very particular passage which, at least in my own impression of the essay, seems to form its essence. Inasmuch as it has remained in my memory over the course of the last few years, the passage reads something like this: “When traveling through Yellowstone, what is of utmost importance is to give oneself time to visit its wonders with appropriate duration.”

Of course, this seems like the height of banality. If we want to really experience something fully, we can’t rush through. The idea isn’t new. The critique of speed, the antediluvian stance against technology, this isn’t what makes up the heart of Muir’s call. The importance of this injunction is clarified in what is (or at least what I remember to be) the illuminating sense of the appeal: “Spend time walking through the park. You can’t really experience the park if you are traveling at forty miles per day.” Again, I haven’t yet found the exact quote. I’m just recalling. For some reason or another, however, the idea has stuck with me in a way that not many have since.”

You can see things clearly, smell the ground, hear the fine sounds of nature if you are traveling too fast. We are built for walking and walking is the best way to connect to the rest of nature.

If Biodiversity Rose, Would Anybody Notice?→

Conservation Magazine:

“Many people say they’d like to see more biodiversity in their city parks and gardens. But a study suggests that when new species do appear, urbanites remain oblivious to the improvements.

The researchers conducted their experiments at 14 public gardens in Paris, each roughly 1 hectare. In some of the gardens, the team took steps to increase biodiversity such as turning lawns into flowerbeds, sowing seeds, planting starflower to draw pollinators, encouraging the growth of plants that support butterflies, and adding nest boxes for birds.

The researchers then surveyed the gardens to see if biodiversity had actually improved. They recorded bird sightings and sounds, captured butterflies, and took pictures of flowers. The team also interviewed 1,116 people who regularly visited the gardens to find out whether they valued biodiversity and had noticed the changes.”

If one person benefits, then the cost-benefit is worth it.

Urban Nature: How to Foster Biodiversity in World’s Cities→

Richard Conniff, writing for Yale environment 360:

“As the world becomes more urbanized, researchers and city managers from Baltimore to Britain are recognizing the importance of providing urban habitat that can support biodiversity. It just may be the start of an urban wildlife movement.”

Great use of oaks is advocated, as this taxa is important for many insects and birds.

Is Conservation Extinct? A new look at preserving biodiversity→

Hillary Rosner, reporting for ENSIA:

“WWF’s Hoekstra likes to talk about “the pivot.”

Reactive and defensive almost by definition, conservation has long made its living by explicitly looking backward. It’s an approach that made perfect sense, for a time. “We wanted to restore a species so that it spanned the breadth of its historic range,” says Hoekstra. “We would look to the past and say, ‘We should have this much of this habitat back again, or it should look this way.’” But while this strategy may still work in certain specific cases, as an overarching vision it no longer fits. You can’t “dial back time” in a world of 9 billion people demanding water, food and energy.”

Interesting perspective that ecologists should stop using the 'past' to guide conservation, but rather look to the future or predict that future to direct today's conservation efforts. In a rapidly changing world, this approach makes sense.

What Chickadees Have That I Want. Badly→

Robert Krulwich, reporting for NPR:

“According to professor Diane Lee at Cal State University, Long Beach, every fall the part of the chickadee’s brain responsible for remembering where things are expands in volume by approximately 30 percent, stays big during the winter, and then shrinks back in the spring.”

When you study nature one finds all kind of interesting things.

What Do We Mean By “Clean?”→

Emily Hilts, writing at 'The Life Aquatic' blog:

“Let’s say we could clean Mendota in an instant. What would it look like? Far clearer water, healthy stands of plants, no floating garbage… we can all agree on this vision, right? But what if we drift closer to shore – what does it look like then? Not everyone has the same idea of what a “clean” shoreline looks like.”

Nice story weaving recent lake science and what make place. 

Are We Thinking About Invasives All Wrong?→

Center for Limnology article:

““Invasive species are often thought of as species that take over wherever they get in,” says Jake Vander Zanden, a UW limnology professor who directed the research. “But, in our experience studying lakes and rivers, in most places they weren’t all that abundant. It was only in a few places where they got out of hand.” If that pattern held true, the researchers realized, then invasives were acting a lot like their native counterparts.”

A species place of origin does not determine whether if it is inherently nefarious in a new area.

Rescue of Isle Royale wolves still under discussion, but with lessened urgency→

Ron Meador, reporting for MinnPost:

“About 20 people interested in the fate of Isle Royale’s wolves gathered for an informational update from the National Park Service in St. Paul on Tuesday, and heard that the program consists, for now, of more talking and thinking about the right thing to do — if it becomes necessary to do anything at all.”

The mental model of 'the balance of nature' is insufficient. Nature does not care if there are wolfs on Isle Royale. Second, humans are always tinkering with the rest of nature, as it is in our nature. The questions are: do humans prefer wolves on the island and should we add species that were extirpated due to our actions?

What is the Single Greatest Virtue of Our Species?→

Brian Doyle, essay on 'What does the Earth Ask of Us?' for the Center for Humans & Nature:

“We thought it was a vast farm, from which we could draw fish and deer and corn and petroleum and silver and coal, and the farm had no end, we invented a god to give it to us as a garden of endless delights, but it does have an end, it is not infinite, the soil will disappear in sixty years and the fresh water go foul, cities will drown and toddlers die by the millions from diseases that have been waiting ravenously to return and scythe us down like we sliced down the vast seething lungs of the forests....

Do other species have standing in the courts of the human beings? Can osprey testify about their near-death experience, when they were poisoned en masse, and parents were forced to watch as their babies hatched too soon, inside their translucent useless eggshells, and died sobbing for breath, their bones unknit, unable even to mew, unable to see even a shard of the light hatched in the furnaces of the stars? What about trees? ”

Powerful and thoughtful prose.

Why Is The Monarch Butterfly Population Shrinking?→

Margaret Roach, reporting for Latina Lista:

““Where are the monarch butterflies this year?” One of many recent emails on the topic asked me. Headlines about monarch decline seem to confirm gardeners’ observations: Populations of the once-familiar orange-and-black creatures are not what they were. What’s going on, and how bad is it? Is there anything we can do?”

Some good links to other information on Monarch Butterflies at end of article. 

Why rabbits have white tails→

Daniel Cressey, reporting for Nature News Blog: 

“Dirk Semmann, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Göttingen in Germany, thinks he has the answer to this puzzle — and the evidence to back it up. Other theories hold that rump patches are warning to other animals, are sexually selected, or serve to show a predator that they have been spotted.

Semmann’s research suggests that these spots actually confuse predators because of their very noticeable nature. By focusing on the bright spot, the would-be predator ignores the larger body of the animal. Then, when the rabbit executes a sharp turn, the spot disappears and the predator has to readjust to focus on the camouflaged coat, losing vital seconds.”