Hello Darwin, my old friend...

via youtube.com

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

Fresno Audubon's Yellowbill - October 2010 edition

Fresno Audubon's Yellowbill - October 2010 edition

via scribd.com

 

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

Lovely aerial views of how humans have shaped Britain's landscapes (desktop tourism!)

From bbc.co.uk via Gitanjali

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

Drugged to Death - a report on the struggle to bring back India's vultures

via english.aljazeera.net

A very nice, if grim, report indeed, for one broadcast on the idiot box. Refreshingly straightforward in this age of excessive hype even on staid old BBC! Of course, this comes from Al Jazeera.

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

At least 45 beautiful reasons to vote Yes on Prop 21 to save California's State Parks

via youtube.com

I hope my fellow Californians (those who can vote!) will step up to the plate where our legislators have failed, and vote to pass Proposition 21, which seeks to provide a protected independent source of funding for our State Parks. The California State Park network is an excellent example of good use of the commons in this state, for the benefit of all of us - yet it is one of the first things to get cut whenever the state budget feels a pinch. While I generally don't like this state's proposition system much at all (why bother pretending at a representative form of government if every citizen has to vote on important matters of governance? How can people busy in the daily grind of making their own ends meet have the time and resources to make informed decisions on everything?), we're stuck with it, and this is a good one to get behind come November.

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

Does the Mojave belong to the Desert Tortoise or to Thermal Solar?

via youtube.com

I too want those solar panels in my backyard in Fresno, along with knowledge that the Desert Tortoise continues to walk peacefully across the Mojave, its stately pace unperturbed by hasty human "progress".

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

Where I'd rather be this Monday...

via naturelyrics.com

... not attending another faculty senate meeting, but traipsing through this meadow in full bloom under darkly brooding skies, cooling my heels in the tranquil streams, and catching the occasional cloudburst of the late monsoon!! I wish!

This and other similarly fantastic images come from Kaas, part of the Deccan Plateau in Maharashtra, India, as captured through Ganesh's lens. Go lose yourself in the gallery, escape from your Monday afternoon blues, imagine a better world...

Here's another image, a more intimate view of a single flower and a little bug enjoying a walk along its stalk.

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

Tim Birkhead on birds and birdwatchers in human culture

via dolectures.com

 

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

A swift natural wonder in the midst of a megalopolis

If you build it, they will come - isn't that what they say about real estate? Well, sometimes they come and find real estate (habitat) in whatever it is you may have built for entirely different purposes! Most living organisms are like that - they will try to find a way to make a living in the unlikeliest of places - and if they make it, their progeny will thrive there too! Evolution is like that too - not terribly fussy about what is "natural" or "artificial" to the human eye, but rewarding innovation and flexibility in the face of adversity when any organism finds novel ways to overcome challenges. So why is it that we humans are so slow to learn from this? Why are we insistent on "protecting" biodiversity in reservations/ghettos far from human influence, and continue to ignore those bits of biodiversity that have found ways to live among us, sometimes even thrive among us? Surely, if we pay a bit more attention, and figure out what it is that allows them to do so, we may be able to change our ways, our technologies, our architecture, just a bit to accommodate more species within the human habitats that now dominate this planet, no? How about providing more habitat for biodiversity right in our neighborhoods, not just in remote mountains, jungles, oceans?

Like the Vaux's Swifts that take over a chimney in Los Angeles during their autumn migration through that megacity, as narrated in this radio story:

via media.scpr.org

And here is a video clip accompanying the story, which I first found via Audubon California's Facebook page:



Vaux's Swifts roosting in downtown LA building from 89.3 KPCC on Vimeo.

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

Andrew Jones's presentation on Socio-ecological Systems

via slideshare.net

Those are the slides Andrew used for his talk in the Biology Colloquium on Friday. I have recorded audio of his talk as well, and will try to add it here ove the next few days.

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

Socioecological systems: moving beyond the human exemptionalist paradigm

My friend, collaborator, and comrade, Andrew Jones from the dept. of Sociology on our campus will speak in the Biology Colloquium today about the conceptual framework that is helping us understand/unravel the relationships between human water use and biodiversity in the urban ecosystem, as part of our Urban Long-Term Research Area - Fresno And Clovis Ecosocial Study - i.e., the ULTRA-FACES project. And is this the first time a sociologist will be speaking in the biology seminar series? Perhaps, at least in the 6 years I've been here.

Here's a flyer with more details on the event, which are also available on the colloquium website. Please come join us if you can.

Download now or preview on posterous

Bio-seminar-09-24-2010.pdf (3067 KB)

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

You can call me... Shag?

via conservationbytes.

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

Tigers in the Land of the Dragon

BBC viewers across the pond are getting to see a new series this week, about tigers in Bhutan. Until those of us in other parts of the world get to see Lost Land of the Tiger, here's a rather overwrought/over-the-top trailer:

via bbc.co.uk

Does a documentary about Tigers in Bhutan really need such hype? Especially when it also features Alan Rabinowitz? As if that combination is not enough, the series also features first-time-ever footage of tigers at high altitudes, closer to the treeline than they've ever even been suspected of existing!



Now that footage, I'd love to see more of! But I hope the tone of the rest of the series isn't as over-the-top as in the trailer above. If you think you won't attract any particular viewer demographic with that combination of charismatic creature, enigmatic location, and charismatic biologist, do you really want those viewers? But what do I know about the marketing decisions of tv networks?! Nor do I know how long the BBC and/or National Geographic will make us wait for this series outside of the UK.
Meanwhile, here's a bonus: a great episode of Radiolab featuring Alan Rabinowitz, from 2007:

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

Majora Carter's stirring call for urban renewal and environmental justice

I just discovered this passionate speech among the archives of TED, and want to share it here because we (at least those of us enviros living and working in cities) need to embed it in our consciousness as we work on urban ecology issues:

via ted.com

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

I'm glad I didn't have to do this to defend my Ph.D.!!

Instead of giving boring dry presentations about your Ph.D. when asked what its about, what if you could dance instead? That is the premise behind this fun (now that my own is well behind me and I don't have to dance!) "Dance Your Ph.D." contest organized by Science magazine where people submitted videos of dance interpretations of their Ph.D.s. They have now picked finalists in four disciplinary categories, and you can vote on the one you like the best, as they compete for a $500 grand prize!

I haven't seen all the videos yet, but here's the biology one:

How does your brain analyze incoming visual information? - Dance Your PhD contest 2010 from Maartje C. de Jong on Vimeo.

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

How we (almost) killed the oceans!

How rapacious and unthinking a creature are we humans?

When it comes to the world's oceans, on this watery planet, our actions have been unconscionable indeed, driven apparently by two sad dimensions of our blinkered perspective. Out of sight, out of mind is a big reason why even many conservationists and environmentalists failed to realize (and some continue to underestimate) the sheer magnitude of our crimes against the marine realms. The other problem, historically, has been the perception that the ocean is so vast — and it certainly seems so to the eyes of tiny bipedal primates wading into the shallows from a beach — that it must surely be able to absorb everything we throw at it and pour into it! How can the actions of puny terrestrial humans affect such vast unfathomable realms of mystery? Our comprehension of scale — the true scale of our impact in relation to the scale of the oceans — has lagged far behind our newfound abilities to lay waste to vast stretches of land and sea. And our senses aren't catching up fast enough to arrest, let alone reverse, the damage.

Last week, NPR's Talk of the Nation hosted Sylvia Earle and Enric Sala, both National Geographic Explorers in Residence, in a wide-ranging (and often eye-opening for this landlubber) discussion of the incredible beauty of the ocean realm, as well as our impacts thereupon and how we have pushed marine ecosystems to the brink all over the world. They both tried to end with messages of hope, but its damned difficult to maintain optimism when you realize just how badly we have damaged the oceans, and how we aren't even slowing down our unbridled consumption of the sea's resources. Listen to the conversation, and tell me where you glimpse any rays of hope:



Also last week came some fresh evidence of our crimes against the oceans: an estimate of our visible impacts on that invisible realm, the deep seafloor. According to this press release from the UK's National Oceanography Center, our collective hunger for seafood, and the horrendous trawling we do to capture our prey and all else in our path by dragging massive nets across the seabed, leaves by far the biggest visible footprint on the deep seafloor. And its not a pretty picture:

IMAGE: This is a damaged cold-water coral reef off Troms county, Norway: coral debris and trawl marks.

Click here for more information.

They looked exclusively at the physical footprint rather than the consequential ecological effects of disturbance, contamination and pollution, which are harder to ascertain. One difficulty that they faced was that of accessing data on human activities that was accurate, up to date and comprehensive, and in a suitable format for analysis.

"Some governments, public organisations and private companies were far more forthcoming with information than others," explained Benn. "Significant improvements are needed in data collection and availability, and this requirement needs to be built into international conventions and treaties with a legal framework in place to ensure informed environmental management."

Despite difficulties and various uncertainties, the researchers' assessment suggests that, although now banned, previously dumped radioactive waste, munitions and chemical weapons together have the lowest physical footprint of the human activities considered, although they do not consider potential dispersal after leakage.

Non-fisheries marine scientific research also has a relatively small footprint, whereas those of fisheries marine scientific research, telecommunication cables and the oil and gas industry are moderate. However, even on the lowest estimates, the spatial extent of bottom trawling is at least ten times that for the other activities assessed, with a physical footprint greater than that of all the others combined.

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

Important Public Hearing in Clovis Tomorrow (9/21) to Protect the Giant Sequoia!

I just received the following email from the Sierra Club about a meeting that is relevant to people in the central valley neighborhood. It involves a public consultation process to decide about what the US Forest Service needs to do to manage the Giant Sequoia National Monument (GSNM).

The timing conflicts with my graduate class, so I'm deciding on whether to bring the whole class there instead as an engaged educational exercise. We shall see. Meanwhile, those reading this who have the time, should go and participate.

You can learn more about the GSNM on the FS website, and the email below.

From: Sierra Club - Resilient Habitats Natl Camp
Date: September 20, 2010 8:46:38 AM PDT
To: Sierra Club - Resilient Habitats Natl Camp
Subject: Important Public Hearing Tomorrow (Tuesday 9/21) to Protect the Giant Sequoia!
Reply-To: Sierra Club - Resilient Habitats Natl Camp

Important Public Hearing Tomorrow (Tuesday 9/21) in Clovis to Protect the Giant Sequoia!

Please come and support the "Citizens' Park Alternative" for Giant Sequoia National Monument

Dear Sierra Club Members and Friends in the Fresno area,

We are sending this out as a last reminder for the critical public hearing tomorrow (Tuesday 9/21) in Clovis for managing the Giant Sequoia National Monument. The Forest Service will be taking public comment for the newly released Giant Sequoia National Monument's management Draft EIS.

This is the second attempt by the Forest Service to create a plan to protect the Giant Sequoia. Their original plan was thrown out by the courts for placing logging interests over preservation. Unfortunately, the Forest Service is once again catering to the logging industry and has failed to provide adequate protection for the treasured Giant Sequoia ecosystem. Some favored agency proposals now call for more tree removal than before the monument was designated.

Citizen activists for the Giant Sequoia have now decided to come forward with a true alternative for managing the monument that will forever protect the Giant Sequoia ecosystem.

**Please come in support and tell the Forest Service to adopt the "Citizens' Park Alternative" for managing Giant Sequoia National Monument**

It is critical that we attend and show the Forest Service that citizens have a better plan for protecting the Giant Sequoia ecosystem.

The Giant Sequoia National Monument Public Hearing will be held this:
Tuesday, September 21st at 6:00pm-9:00pm
The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 West Shaw Ave
Clovis, CA

Here are the summarized main points of the Citizens' Park Alternative:

1) Restore the vision of President Clinton's Proclamation and protect the giant sequoia ecosystem from continued proposals for logging and other dangers, as proposed in the Forest Service's preferred alternative

2) The Monument's Giant Sequoias Groves and intertwined forest ecosystem should be managed in the same fine manner as Sequoia National Park

-- This means that fire should be used as the preferred method of ecosystem restoration and fuel reduction treatments

--The plan must prioritize the protection and restoration of healthy habitats for sensitive wildlife species, including fisher, martens, owls, and goshawks

3) Alternative C is not really a park style management alternative and goes too far by eliminating all dispersed recreation

-- Historical recreation is OK, so long as it is consistent with protecting the Monument's natural resources, including the use of trails and dispersed camping

--Park style management should focus on ecosystem restoration, not recreation management

4) Any mechanical thinning for fuel reduction should be focused in areas directly adjacent to structures

5) Tree removal from the Monument is prohibited by the Clinton Proclamation, unless absolutely necessary, and must be scientifically justified for ecosystem restoration and maintenance or public safety

--This means that any larger trees that are cut should be left in the monument because they generally are not the type of material that causes unwanted fire behavior and are needed for ecosystem restoration

--Any removal of trees, tree limbs, and slash should be focused on small diameter material, which is the type of material that could cause unwanted fire behavior

--Salvage logging should be expressly prohibited because it is only done for commercial purposes and prohibited by the Clinton Proclamation

--The Forest Service should cancel the three remaining commercial timber sales in the Monument still under contract that were held illegal by the Federal Court: Frog, Saddle, and White Mountain

6) All Roadless Areas should be managed to maintain their Wilderness potential, and the Forest Service must keep its promise from the last plan revision to recommend the Moses Roadless Area as Wilderness

Please make the effort to attend this important event and invite your friends and neighbors.

For any questions contact: marc.heileson@sierraclub.org

For additional information, go to the GSNM website at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/sequoia/gsnm_planning.html

Thanks and see you there!!

MH

Sierra Club 85 Second St., 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105

Read more...

East::West — a tale of two species, rediscovered

Living as we are through an ongoing megaextinction (thanks largely to our own species), us biophiles in the conservation business have precious little to cheer about on most days. Everywhere we look, we see holes in the fabrics of ecosystems where species used to be, empty nodes in food webs as they collapse upon themselves. Or, on good days, the fabric taut, worn thin, but not yet ripped, with species teetering on the brink of extinction. And on really good days, we get stories of species seemingly risen again from the dead. I have two such new stories of rediscovered animals to brighten your weekend. And many a tale would seem to lie behind the manner of these rediscoveries in opposite halves of the Earth, tales I can only guess at, so I won't try to explain, but merely present these stories, and let you ponder the parallels and contrasts.

East:

For the first time in more than ten years, there has been a confirmed sighting of one of the rarest and most enigmatic animals in the world, the Saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) from the Annamite Mountains of Laos and Vietnam. The Government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (also known as Laos) has announced that in late August villagers in the central province of Bolikhamxay captured a Saola and brought it back to their village.

When news of the Saola's capture reached Lao authorities, the Bolikhamxay Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office immediately sent a technical team, advised by the IUCN Saola Working Group and the Lao Programme of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), to examine the Saola and release it. Unfortunately, the animal, an adult male, weakened by the ordeal of several days in captivity, died shortly after the team reached the remote village. The animal was photographed while still alive.

"The government of Lao PDR and WCS are to be commended for their rapid response and efforts to save this animal. We hope the information gained from the incident can be used to ensure that this is not the last Saola anyone has a chance to see," says William Robichaud, Coordinator of the IUCN Saola Working Group.

This is the first confirmed record of the species since two photographs of wild Saola were taken in Laos by automatic camera traps in 1999.

West:

RENO, NEV. — Scientists are hailing the confirmed find of a Sierra Nevada red fox about 90 miles south of Reno, a native subspecies feared extinct in the range since the last verified sighting in 1990.

The fox was photographed Aug. 11 near Sonora Pass on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest by a motion-activated camera set up by U.S. Forest Service employees monitoring the activities of other wildlife.

DNA testing of saliva samples from a chicken-filled sock at the site found the fox is most likely a member of a remnant population of the subspecies in the Sierra, said Ben Sacks, an assistant professor of biology at the University of California, Davis, who conducted the tests.

"This is the most exciting animal discovery we've had in California since the discovery of a wolverine in the Sierra two years ago," Sacks said. "Only this time the unexpected critter turned out to be homegrown, which is truly big news."

Researchers determined the wolverine wandered into the Sierra from the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho.

John Perrine, a biology professor at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, said it was the first confirmed sighting of the fox subspecies (Vulpes vulpes necator) in the Sierra since 1990 near Tioga Pass in Yosemite National Park.

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

The Second Fastest Growing Hobby is... Birding? - So what's the first?!

I'm guessing the headline on this CBS newreport is based on / derived from / linked to this analysis from the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Birdwatching does seem to be a growing hobby in this country, which is great news, and has significant economic impact as well! Although I wonder how the recession plays into it.

But what I can't find, is the basis for the claim that birding is the second fastest growing hobby in the states! So what's the first then, eh? Is it really beer can collecting?

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

Women bloggers of science

I have come to know some excellent women bloggers who write eloquently about science in various fora, so I was a bit mystified by recent observations that they seem to be underrepresented in the more prominent blogging networks (which are proliferating a bit these days). Martin Robbins, who is now part of the Guardian's new network of science bloggers, has crowdsourced this excellent list of female science bloggers. The list is growing, of course, so follow the #wsb hashtag if you are on twitter, and the comments thread on Martin's post. Know any that are missing?

A recent blog post by Jenny Rohn observed that 'celebrated science bloggers are predominantly male', and points to the fact that across the various science blogging collectives – including our fledgling efforts here at the Guardian, although I can tell you we certainly tried to get a fair balance – there is a distinct over-abundance of Y chromosomes.

So like the armchair activist I am, I created a hashtag on Twitter – #wsb – and asked people to help me come up with a list. Over the next several hours, more than a hundred replies came in, and beautifully, the tag became an impromptu celebration of women in science blogging.

Here's the resulting list:

(In alphabetical order of first name. Please post any errors or people I've missed in the comments, preferably with a URL where I can find their blog.)

• 'Dr Dr A' (@drdrAatBLC) | Blue Lab Coats
• Abbie Smith | ERV
• Alice Bell (@alicebell) | Through the Looking Glass
• Alice Pawley (@alicepawley) | Science Woman
• Alice Sheppard (@penguingalaxy) | Alice in Galaxyland
• Amanda Lovell (@a_lovell) | The Underground Sky
• Amy Freitag (@bgrassbluecrab) | Southern Fried Science
• Annabel Bentley (@doctorblogs) | BMJ Group Blogs
• Anne Jefferson (@highlyanne) | Highly Allochthonous
• Athene Donald | Athene Donald's Blog
• Bec Crew (@beccrew) | Save Your Breath for Running Ponies
• Dr. Becca (@doc_becca) | On the Market
• Biochem Belle (@biochembelle) | There & (Hopefully) Back Again
• Bordado Ingles (@BordadoIngles) | Bordado Ingles
• 'Bug Girl' (@bug_girl) | Bug Girl's Blog
• Carin Bondar (@DrBondar) | Biologist with a Twist
• Carmen Drahl (@carmendrahl) | Chemical and Engineering News Blog
• Cath Ennis (@enniscath) | VWXYNot?
• C.C. Peterson (@spacewriter) | The Space Writer's Ramblings
• Christie Wilcox (@NerdyChristie) Observations of a Nerd
• Christine Ottery (@christineottery) | Christine Ottery
• Christine Pikas (@cpikas) | Christina's LIS Rant
• Claire Evans (@TheUniverse) | Universe
• Darlene Cavalier (@scicheer) | Science Cheerleader
• Deborah Blum (@deborahblum) | Speakeasy Science
• DeLene Beeland (@tdelene) | Wild Muse
• Dorothy Bishop (@deevybee) | BishopBlog
• Emily Anthes (@EmilyAnthes) | Wonderland
• Emily Lakdawalla (@elakdawalla) | The Planetary Society Blog
• Emily Willingham | Complete Idiot's Guide for College Biology
• Eva Amsen (@easternblot) | Eastern Blot
• Evie Marom (@SpaceGurlEvie) | Evie's Sci Blog
• Female Science Professor | Female Science Professor
• 'Grrlscientist' (@GrrlScientist) | GrrlScientist
• Hannah Devlin (@hannahdev) | Times Science Blogs
• Hannah King (@BabbleNan) | Naked Little Ape
• Hannah Waters (@culturingsci) | Culturing Science
• Heather Pringle (@hpringle) | Last Word on Nothing
• Holly Barnes (@hollybarnes) | Holly's Blogs
• Dr. Isis (@drisis) | Isis the Scientist
• 'Jade Ed' (@jadedbybiotech) | Jad Ed
• Janet Stemwedel (@docfreeride) | Adventures in Ethics and Science
• Jennifer Ouelette (@JenLucPiquant) | Cocktail Party Physics
• Jennifer Rohn (@JennyRohn) | Mind the Gap
• Jess Palmer (@jesspalmer) | Bioephemera
• Joanne Manaster (@sciencegoddess) | Joanne Loves Science!
• Jo Marchant (@jomarchant) | Decoding the Heavens
• Jovana Grbic (@ScriptPhD) | Script PhD
• Jules B (@geekinthegambia) | Geek in The Gambia
• 'Disgruntled Julie' (@ethidiumbromide) | Disgruntled Julie
• Karen Grepin (@KarenGrepin) | Karen Grepin's Global Health Blog
• Karen James (@kejames) | kejames.com
• Kat Arney (@harpistkat) | Cancer Research UK
• Kate Clancy (@kateclancy) | Context and Variation
• Kelly Oakes (@kahoakes) | Basic Space
• Dr. Kiki Sanford (@drkiki) | The Bird's Brain
• Krystal D'Costa (@anthinpractice) | Anthropology in Practice
• 'Lab Mom' (@Lab_Mom) | The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love
• 'Lady Scientist' (@LadyScientist) | A Lady Scientist
• Dr. Leigh (@dr_leigh) | Neurodynamics
• Leila Battison (@leilageologist) | Science in Pen and Ink
• Lily Asquith | LHCsound
• Lisa Jarvis (@lisamjarvis) | The Haystack
• Liz Borkowski (@LizBorkowski) | The Pump Handle
• Maggie Koerth-Baker (@maggiekb1) | Boing Boing
• Marianne (@noodlemaz) | Purely a Figment of Your Imagination
• Maryn McKenna (@marynmck) | Superbug
• Michelle (@physilology) | C6-H12-O6
• Miriam (@oystersgarter) | Deep Sea News
• Naomi McAuliffe (@naomimc) | A Vagina Dentata
• Nancy Atkinson (@Nancy_A) | Nancy Atkinson
• 'Dr. O' (@microdro) | Academic Aspirations
• Oana Sandu (@oanasandu) | Communicating Astronomy
• Pamela Gay (@starstryder) | Star Stryder
• Pascale Lane (@PHLane) | Stream of Thought
• 'Pesska' (@pesska) | Royal Society Group Blog
• Dr. Petra Boynton (@drpetra) | Dr Petra Boynton
• 'Psi Wavefunction' (@psiwavefunction) | Skeptic Wonder
• Rachael Dunlop (@DrRachie) | The Skeptic's Book of Pooh-Pooh
• Rachel Walden (@rachel_w) | Women's Health News
• Rebecca Higgitt (@beckyfh) | Whewell's Ghost
• Rebecca Montague (@sanitizedfor) | Sanitized for your Protection
• Sandra Porter (@digitalbio) | Discovering Biology in a Digital World
• Sarah Kendrew (@sarahkendrew) | SarahAskew
• Sarah Murray (@SarahScientist) | Chemistress
• 'Scicurious' (@scicurious) | Neurotic Physiology
• S.C. Kavassalis (@sc_k) | The Language of Bad Physics
• S.E. Gould (@labratting) | Lab Rat
• Sharon Astyk | Casaubon's Book
• Sheril Kirshenbaum (@Sheril_) | The Intersection
• 'Captain Skellett' (@CaptainSkellett) | A Schooner of Science
• Sonya (@daGreatAntidote) | The Great Antidote
• Sophie Scott (@sophiescott) | Speaking Out (UCL)
• Susan Niebur (@WomenPlanetSci) | Women in Planetary Science
• Susan Steinhardt (@scisu) | BioData Blogs
• Tara Smith (@aetiology) | Aetiology
• 'Dr. Val' (@drval) | Better Health
• Vanessa Woods (@bonobohandshake) | Bonobo Handshake

(With particular thanks to: @alicebell, @smallcasserole, @sarahkendrew, @scicurious, @biochembelle, @geekingambia, @jomarchant, @aetiology, @BecCrew, @droenn, @tdelene, @hpringle, @kateclancy, @oanasandu, @elakdawalla, @tkingdoll, @anthinpractice,@hpringle and @culturingsci.)

That's 86 women science bloggers – clearly no shortage – so why aren't they breaking through and gaining more prominence?

What do you think, and who have I missed in the list above?

via guardian.co.uk

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

Take that, you insufferable know-it-all Physicists: xkcd nails you!!

via xkcd.com

As is often (always?) the case with xkcd comics, click through to the comic's webpage and hover your mouse over the cartoon for an additional snarky remark!
[Hat-tip: Arvind]

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

Park(ing) Day 2010: civic action to reclaim/regreen paved urban space

via parkingday.org

Intriguing notion this, a sort of guerilla action to take over paved spaces (i.e., impervious cover in the parlance of landscape ecology) in our cities to stage a global demonstration of the human need for connection with nature. How about that?

I know some folks in Fresno are considering joining this movement. I just hope no one thinks to roll out more lawn into this land already overly lush with unsustainable expanses of green lawns! I mean, just look at the Fresno State Campus (click on this aerial image to make the info bubble go away so you can see the "greenspace", or on the link below the image for a larger view)!


View Larger Map

Going Green does not have to be taken literally: in many parts of the world, the truly Green thing to do is to let your lawn go brown and let the dirt, rocks, and sand show instead. This new user-generated urbanism better be prepared to reconnect with that nature as well, and learn to embrace xeriscaped parks.

So how about we go rip up some lawn somewhere around here, and party to cut down on wasteful water use?

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

David Attenborough in conversation with Richard Dawkins

via guardian.co.uk

Posted via email from Darwin's Bulldogs

Read more...

So that kid from "American Beauty" went to film school, met Werner Herzog, and created this...

... an elegaic entry into the apparently growing genre of films tracing the lives of plastic bags! Remember this one I shared here recently? Will there be an aisle for these plastic biopics, these films about Earth+Plastic, in the video stores soon? Oh wait... I forgot - there won't be any video stores soon! But the plastic bags will likely still be here, long after we are gone as well...

via vimeo.com

And in case you don't remember the youthful precursor of this poetic film, here's a reminder, from one of the classics of cinema at the turn of the last millennium: American Beauty.

via youtube.com

[Tip o' the hat to Anthroguy]

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

If you must eat biodiversity, at least try to grow it in your lawn first!

One positive development during this recession may be the rediscovery of vegetable gardening and farming by urban dwellers in the US, a country notorious for a populace that has largely lost touch with the sources of its food (no thanks to the food industry), and consequently has developed a rather unhealthy relationship with it. I've certainly noticed a growth in urban agriculture and horticulture here in Fresno, and am hoping our studies will provide more data on how people may be changing the ways they relate to the land they live on even in the midst of city and suburbia, and may be seeing it as a source of food.

And if you are still trying to figure out where your food comes from, and the biodiversity it contains, this is a good way to ease that nagging ecological consciousness: simply turn your lawn into an urban farm, harvest your own food, and participate in the community that your efforts may draw to you. We have certainly found the latter in our own modest horticultural efforts this year, which has fostered much sharing of produce among friends and neighbors who are also similarly farming, and cut down our visits to the produce aisles of the grocery stores. I know it is not easy to do everywhere—we're lucky to be in central California, which is already a major agricultural region—but I know friends in the upper midwest and even Canada who make the most of their short summers to grow and store produce for the long winters as well. Here, via the Grist blog Feeding the City, is an example of how one man is converting the urban lawnscape into an edible one in Seattle.

via grist.org

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

So just how many species of life did YOU eat today?

Stephen Hale reckons he ate 53 species in a single day recently over the course of 4 meals! And here's one way he breaks down the biodiversity he consumed that day:



Here's another way to visualize the footprint of our daily meals, in terms that should make the locavores sit up and take notice:

via grist.org

The article contains a much more detailed analysis of the biodiversity on Hale's plate, giving us insight into just how omnivorous we are. With our average modern-day meals drawing upon so many living species from all over the world, shouldn't we be more concerned about the loss of global biodivesity? Might the way to our biophilic hearts lie through our omnivorous stomachs after all? Or are we simply going to devour all we can while the going is good?

How many species have you eaten today? And what do you know about their status on this planet?

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

16,000 Diamondbacks Fans Killed On Complimentary Rattlesnake Night

via theonion.com

What would we do without The Onion to provide us with such perspective?

How curiously our biophilia manifests, in the way we name our sports teams after creatures (be they non-human or human) we destroy! If only these totems of the sporting fans could really bite back!

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

A friday salute to mothers of all species

It is curious, and reassuring, that in this week of familial heartbreak after the loss of a mother, I should come across these two videos of animal mothers that touch the heart in different ways.

First, the Jane Goodall Institute remembers Fifi, the matriarch famous all over the world ever since she entered Jane's life:

via vimeo.com

And here we have a curious tale of an orphan squirrel being adopted by a cat, and beginning to act like one, even purring when stroked! How fascinating the way evolution has wired the mammalian maternal brain to allow such wonderful associations! Ain't motherhood grand?

via youtube.com

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

What does a green-hippy community do when a cougar shows up in their midst? Shoot it, of course!

The appearance of a mountain lion Tuesday near downtown Berkeley, Calif., caused a stir in this animal-loving, environmentally conscious community, where residents may obsess about locally grown organic food but don’t expect to be on the menu.

The mountain lion, a 100-pound female, was spotted around 2 a.m. Tuesday in the city’s Gourmet Ghetto district, according to the Berkeley Police Department.

The cougar roamed within pouncing range of Alice Water’s Chez Panisse restaurant, the temple of California cuisine, where twice-cooked kid goat with cumin, ginger, eggplant, and chickpeas was the featured dish that evening. But the state’s top-level predator probably was on the hunt for venison and got lost, according to wildlife experts.

“A mountain lion traveling through an urban environment is infrequent but looking at aerial photographs of the surrounding area you can see why it chose Berkeley,” said Marc Kenyon, the statewide mountain lion program coordinator for the California Department of Fish and Game.

via green.blogs.nytimes.com

Interesting to read this debate crop up again, after yet another mountain lion got shot dead for "straying" into yet another bit of suburban sprawl blotting its former habitat in California. Living with large carnivores is a tough nut for reconciliation ecology, especially in a trigger-happy society that shoots first, asks questions later (if at all).

What would you do if one showed up near your favorite restaurant?

Posted via email from a leaf warbler's gleanings

Read more...

Hungry for a highly evolved menu? Pull up a chair to the Carnival of Evolution #27

Carnival of Evolution #27 – Feed Your Head Edition

As your server for this evening’s Carnival of Evolution, allow me to introduce the offerings from a line-up of over two dozen chefs!

For your pleasure we have these specials . . . .

1. Chicken’s teeth, whale’s legs, and the tails of humans.

via 360skeptic.com

Thus begins a most appetizing (or stomach-turning, depending upon your culinary adventurousness) menu of evolutionary blog writing pulled together by your energetic host Andrew Bernardin, who's pulled out all the stops for this 27th edition of the Carnival of Evolution. I hope you are hungry. Read your fill, for the next CoE is a whole month away!

Bon appétit!

Posted via email from Darwin's Bulldogs

Read more...