FINE Things 42

 

    1. Bald Eagles were dying of a mysterious disease. Now the cause is identified by a team led by a UGA scientist. Here are two versions, one from The Scientist, the other from The Atlantic (may be behind a paywall).  

     2. Whiteflies can disable a plant toxin because they have a gene that does the job. But it didn’t come from another whitefly. Called horizontal transfer, it is not uncommon between insects and microbes, but this is the first time it has been detected from a plant to an insect. (link) 

    3. A webinar from Doug Tallamy, talking about Oaks, based on his latest book: The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees. Well worth the hour spent watching! (link)

    4. Ohio State Plants and Pollinators symposium. Five speakers, including Doug Tallamy. The others are less well known but real authorities. (link)
5. How a hidden world of fungi was discovered inside the world's biggest seed bank. (link)

    6. Why do flowers smell? A curious kid's explanation for kids of all ages. (link)

    7. I like to read book reviews to see if a book is of interest. Then I can look for it in a library or even purchase it (if I trust the reviewer's judgement). Here's a review of a book about the origin of wheat. What do you think? Would you read it? (link)

    8. Bob Ambrose brought my attention to this essay by Margaret Renkl: What You May Not Know About Those April Flowers. Americans have cultivated nonnative plants and flowers for so long, it has skewed our experience of spring. (link)

   9. Speaking of Bob Ambrose and poems, you should visit his website, Reflections in Poetry, (link)
      

FINE Things 41

1. Disturbing finds in the Greenland ice sheet. (link)

2. A blogger discovers why wooden shoes are practical after all. (link)

3. The definitive article about periodical cicadas, especially brood X. (link)

4. Jan Coyne recommends this thread on animals interrupting wildlife photographers. (link)

5. There's a movement to make the Ocmulgee river corridor area into a national park and preserve. If you're unfamiliar with the area read this article by Janisse Ray.
(link). The national park service has a page for public comment: (link). The public comment period ends March 26.

 A Rambler sent me the following comments: 

    There are over 400 NPS sites of various types, seven regional offices, HQ in D.C., and every entity wants more staff and money to fulfill it's mission. When a new park is established, e.g. Flight 93 National Memorial, Congress may or may not provide additional staffing and funding, but require the NPS to "do more with less."

    We are coming up on the 250th of the American Revolution. Kettle Creek battlefield is now an "affiliated" are of the NPS.  It is a nice little spot, good wildflowers, good county park. Many congressmen has his/her little site to add to the NPS so they can tell the home folks about the great park they have established.

    There are billions of dollars of current infrastructure needs in existing parks. Visitation will be incredible after the Covid crisis is over. We can spend fifty billion or so a year in A'stan, but the NPS gets less than three billion.

    The NPS has not had a permanent director in over four years, just a series of temporaries. No way to run an organization.

    I could rant on, but from my view the current organization is in desperate need of cash for annual operations, as well as special projects such as infrastructure. Also a sore need for more high quality personnel.

6. A Guardian article that summarizes recent research: sperm whales in 19th century shared ship attack information. Whalers' logbooks show rapid drop in strike rate in north Pacific due to changes in cetacean behavior. (link) Here's a link to the free research publication. (link)

7. Green bridges in Germany are keeping a growing gray wolf population - and their prey - safe. Road accidents account for over 75 percent of all known wolf mortality in Germany (link)

8. How did the bear cross the road? Wildlife corridor's success caught on video. The important project allows safe movement for even some of the largest mammals in North America. (link)

9. Painting the blades of wind turbines helps birds avoid them A Norwegian study found avian fatalities fell 70 percent after painting one blade black. (link)

10. The next two articles are related: A weird underground plant has been rediscovered after 151 years. (link) 

11. Fairy lantern flower has a gaping 'mouth' and saps energy from fungi. (link)

 

12. Some frogs have noise-cancelling lungs to dampen other species' calls. (link)

13. Planting a tree? Choose a native species and save some insects. (Be sure to read the comment by DeLisa). (link)

14. Tardigrades, natures great survivors. (link)

15. As climate changes, so does life in the planet's soils. To understand what might be lost, ecologist Janet K. Jansson taps molecular methods to explore Earth's underground microbes, from the permafrost to the grasslands. (link)

16. How is a frog's tongue like a bottle of ketchup? First, read about the ketchup (link). Then listen to a podcast about frog saliva. (link)

FINE Things No. 40

1. My pick of the week: Talkative Bacteria and Eavesdropping Viruses. The molecular biologist Bonnie Bassler is deciphering the chemical languages that bacteria use to coordinate their assaults on a host. Don't shy away from this - it's not about chemistry. It's a down-to-earth discussion with a passionate researcher who can simply explain what she does and why. It's available as a podcast or a transcript, your choice. (link)

2. A BBC podcast: The Life Scientific. Inside the mind of a forensic botanist, Mark Spencer tells Jim Al-Khalili how plant evidence can help to solve crimes. (link)

3. How a plant in Mexico's tropical forests revolutionized life for women. (link)

4. Pandemic reports for Georgia. Medical microbiologist Amber Schmidtke, Ph.D., has been posting very informative pieces on the progress of the pandemic in Georgia. You can see the current report at this link. They are lengthy, but informed and informative. If you want accurate explanations of everything related to the pandemic, her posts are the way to find it.

5. Earth is in the midst of an insect apocalypse, with thousands of species dwindling over the past several decades. Scientists have often blamed habitat loss or pesticide use. But a new study of butterflies in the western United States has found that warmer fall weather may be taking as big, if not a bigger, toll. (link)

6. This sea slug cut off its own head-and lived to tell the tale. (link)

7. Technological advances offer new ways to investigate the contribution that changing climate and genes have made in shaping past migrations by peregrine falcons. Can this help to predict the fate of future migrations? (link)

8. How science wiped out the invasive pink bollworm in the u.s. (link)

9. Richard Saunders recommends this NYT Sunday Review article: The Secret Life of a Coronavirus. It's by Carl Zimmer, an outstanding science journalist and author of 13 books. (link)

10. In case you missed this: Is this the end of forests as we've known them? 'Now's a good time to go visit national parks with big trees.' Trees lost to drought and wildfires are not returning. Climate change is taking a toll on the world's forests - and radically changing the environment before our eyes. (link)

FINE Things No. 39

1 January warm spells, March freezes: How plants manage the shift from winter to spring. (link)

2 This Guardian article is a must-read: Is this the end of forests as we've known them? Trees lost to drought and wildfires are not returning. Climate change is taking a toll on the world's forests - and radically changing the environment before our eyes. (link)

3 If you read the piece in FINE Things 38 about the "marshmallow test" you'll be interested in this interview with the researcher. (If you didn't read it, this is a better read.) Cuttlefish delay gratification, a sign of smarts. The cephalopods resisted temptation for up to 130 seconds to earn their favorite food, hinting at sophisticated cognitive abilities such as planning for the future. (link)

4 The essential fly. Think before you swat: The much-maligned fly could be the key to ensuring future supplies of many of the world's favorite foods. (link)

5 Recommended by Lili Ouzts: Yaupon: The rebirth of America's forgotten tea. It is North America's only known native caffeinated plant and once threatened the British East India Company. So why has the world forgotten about it? (link)

6 Pokeweed (AKA Poke sallet) is a green that's toxic if prepared incorrectly. This forgotten food of the American South was a dietary staple throughout Appalachia and the US South for generations. (link)

7 Recommended by Rosemary Woodel: Optical illusion; ship hovering above the sea. (link)

8 If you're confused about vaccine efficacy read this New York Times explanation. (link)

9 Here's a NYT podcast (and a transcript) with science journalist Carl Zimmer. It's about the pandemic and what awaits us this spring and summer. (link)

10 How the Silverswords of Hawaii evolved from a single seed, carried by a Golden Plover from California. Plus, what it means to be a "native" plant. (link)

11 2021 is a year when 17-yr. cicadas emerge in N. Georgia. This website has a lot of cicada information, great photos and even information about preventing damage to your trees. Return of periodical cicadas in 2021: Biology, Plant Injury and Management by Michael J. Raupp, Ph.D. (link)

12 Another great site for exploring information about cicadas. (link)

13 Rosemary Woodel recommends: How goats (and perhaps people) make up their minds. (link)

FINE Things No 38

Zoological Society of London Podcast: Habitat loss and human health – understanding the links between ecosystem degradation and infectious disease outbreaks. Look for podcast ZSL #31. The second speaker was born and raised in Athens, GA. She's the daughter of Rambler Lynn Faust. (link)

How do geese know how to fly south for the winter? A combination of landscapes, stars, and experience guide the geese & gander migrations. (link)

Concerns that captive breeding affects the ability of monarch butterflies to migrate. (link)

Peregrine falcon migration, is it genetic? (link)

The search for animals that harbor Corona virus and why it is important. (link)

What's Blooming March 4 2020

 Hi Ramblers!

It's been almost a year since out last Ramble and I wanted to encourage you to come out to the Garden. Today Emily and I walked the Orange Trail and the Dunson Garden just to see what what was flowering.

 

You can find the flowers that are likely to be blooming by using the blog archives and looking at previous Ramble Reports. All the photos in this post were taken by Don Hunter in early March on a previous Ramble. See if you can find when they were taken. (Hint: use the Blog Archive feature on the right hand side of this page.)

 

FINE Things No 37

Some moths have aquatic caterpillars. And some of these caterpillars are parasitized by wasps that dive underwater to find them. (link)

European starlings in North America went from less than 100 birds released in Central Park to almost 200 million in 150 years. How was that possible? (link)

Is climate change a ticking time-bomb for great tits? Birds that depend upon an abundance of particular food sources at specific times of the year may not be able to adapt fast enough to climate change. (link)