voltagegate

I finally had a chance to get out to Sweetwater Creek State Park last week, and we picked a perfect day for it. It was warm and slightly muggy, just the type of weather to bring out some of the Georgia wildlife I've been looking forward to seeing. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to film them,…

Ian had some RL issues come up, so this months Oekologie will be a little late.

Yet another great Monday morning read from Wayne (even if it was posted over the weekend): an explanation of the thigmonastic response, leaf folding in plants, and the differences between movement in animals and movement in plants.

Critterthink, the blog of the Center for Native Ecosystems in Denver, CO has posted a guide to the 2008 Farm Bill from a conservation perspective, highlighting what they call the good, the bad and the ugly. If you haven't had time to review the bill yourself, take advantage of the hard work these…

Wayne found a neat little site the other day and was kind enough to share it with us. Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature is a site of the strange and notable names given to organisms over the years. It's definitely worth a look.

I finally got around to blogging about this study published in PLoS One a few weeks ago, regarding geophagy in tropical species of bats. The study provides a nice overview of the literature and some of the potential reasons why they (and we) do it. We all eat dirt, in a sense, through mineral…

Well, not really. But I'm surprised that I've racked up over 66k views and 86 comments from this video of a peculiar lion roar at the Pittsburgh Zoo, so I thought I'd share it here. I think someone could start a series of blog posts/videos called "Stupid Things People Say at Zoos". You could…

This weekend, should I visit: Panola Mountain or Sweetwater Creek? I want to do some hiking/photography.

Cash has a fresh Oekologie for us, nestled in the Scientific Blogging community, at his blog, Science and Supermodels.

The May edition of Oekologie will be hosted at one of the lovely blogs at Scientific Blogging (though I'm not sure which...). It's not too late to get your entries in.

Do we have something against David Attenborough in this country? First his narration for Planet Earth was overdubbed by Sigourney Weaver, and now I've heard that Life in Cold Blood is not even going to be televised in the States. I got this email from Herpdigest this morning: Animal Planet just…

In one week exactly, I will be attending a scientific conference in a hot vacation spot for people across the world. Millions flock there every day to relax, socialize and wtfpwn your face with their Night Elf Mohawk. It ain't Belize, baby; it's the World of Warcraft. "Convergence of the Real and…

As if coral in the world didn't have enough trouble, increased storm activity/strength is interrupting the reproductive/colonization process in southern Belize: The team measured the size of more than 520 non-branching corals in two major coral reef areas in southern Belize: the Sapodilla Cayes…

If I was given three wishes, I have always said that one of them would be to watch the evolution of life at my leisure, being able speeding things up and slowing them down at will. Of all the time periods we've designated, the Ediacaran and the Cambrian periods would be a frame by frame analysis.…

Two waterways meet in a surreal junction at Vale Summit, a small low streambed in the Appalachian forests of Maryland, surrounded by high sandy banks and the faint sound of passing traffic. Bright orange coal mine drainage from the Hoffman tunnel washes iron oxides and sulfates over rocks and…

Ed has a great review of a recent paper in Nature presenting new research that describes just how extensive the damage done by the mountain pine beetle in British Columbia. The culprit of the outbreak is most likely climate change since sudden drops in temperature common in northern areas like BC…

That was the posted price of premium gas in downtown Atlanta this morning.

A comparison of carbon/oxygen isotope ratios from the tooth enamel of two early proboscideans, Moeritherium and Barytherium to other animals of the same era (circa 37 mya) revealed to researchers the possibility of a ancient, semi-aquatic animal, linking the speculated split of dugong and elephant…

It's been a bit nuts at work this week so far (or was it last week?) so pardon the lack of blogging. We had a user conference for the past few days and it's been off a bit. I've been working on a couple posts about acid mine drainage which I hope to have up in the next couple of days. I also have a…

Don hasn't posted Oekologie #16 yet, but give him a break; he's in Florida visiting family. It will be up shortly.

NWF is once again urging people to explore their natural areas with Wildlife Watch, to be held during National Wildlife Week, April 19 - 27. So if you're rusty on Blitzin' from last year, check out their website, take some photos and get some practice in for the Blogger Bioblitz in June.

It's coming tomorrow at the Evangelical Ecologist. Use the BC form or just send them by email. We are looking for Oekologie hosts for August 15th on, so if you feel like putting together a carnival (and drawing some traffic to your blog), just shoot me an email and I'll sign you up.

Tara has a great post up about infectious diseases and landscape ecology, and being able to reconcile, if you will, very big picture (landscape ecology) with the very small (microbiology).

It has been claimed in the past that birdfeeders were bad for the environment, and now a couple of researchers are looking into published literature on whether or not birdfeeders significantly disrupt the ecology and future evolution of birds. The PR from SD is basically highlights of the…

This is a beautiful snapshot of Providence Canyon, right here in Georgia, believe it or not. The state parks down here seem to be a bit different from the fare up north. Can't wait to poke around a bit. Here's another interesting park I found, Panola Mountain, which contains a 100-acre granite…

When I was traveling around the country for media conferences in college, the very first thing I did upon arrival was find the aquarium, the zoo and the natural history museum, find how to get there via public transportation and go. I've been living in Atlanta for about a month now, and I haven't…

So Saturday was Earth Hour, and as if anyone reading this blog didn't know, lights were supposed to be cut off from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. to send a message to mysterious world power that the world was ready to cut down on energy use. Sort of. I didn't honor the Earth Hour. We rarely have more than one…

"The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth ... the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need -- if only we had the eyes to see." -Edward Abbey

Okay, not really. But Jen did just get back from a hiking trip in Utah and has some fantastic photos, including examples of rock art, which she promises to write about in the near future. I'm holding you to that Jen.

The black caiman is just one of the endangered species that inhabits the Guiana Shield. Back in November, the president of Guyana, one of the poorest countries in Latin America, offered the entirety of his country's rainforest to a British-led international body in return for help with development…