Why was Rudolph’s nose so bright? Science might have an answer. Our CFAES Stories website offers you shiny facts about reindeer. (Photo: Getty Images.)
biodiversity
Study: Artificial light harms ecosystem health
Artificial light at night isn’t just a health problem for those of us sitting in bed scrolling through Instagram instead of hitting the sack — it hurts entire outdoor ecosystems.
When the critters that live in and around streams and wetlands are settling into their nighttime routines, streetlights and other sources of illumination filter down through the trees and into their habitat, monkeying with the normal state of affairs, according to new research led by CFAES scientist Mažeika Sullivan.
Could you find a partridge in a pear tree in Ohio?
Which birds in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” are Buckeyes?How to keep urban coyotes a respectful distance
What not to do if you see a coyote? Run back into your house, says CFAES scientist Stan Gehrt, an expert on urban coyotes, in a recent article in The Atlantic. “Over time, when you do that, coyotes learn they can make people disappear,” he says.
The article features a stylin’ way to coyote proof your dog (not shown). Read the full story. Then learn about Gehrt’s coyote research.
Insect diversity in urban landscapes
CFAES’s Department of Entomology hosts talks by two of its graduate students starting at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 12: “Lady Beetles in the City: How Does Urban Habitat Management Affect the Abundance and Diversity of Native and Exotic Lady Beetles?” by Denisha Parker; and “The Impacts of Soil Legacy and Management on Biodiversity and Biocontrol Services in Urban Landscapes” by Emily Sypolt.
Giving thanks for a most interesting bird
“The great size and beauty of the Wild Turkey, its value as a delicate and highly prized article of food, and the circumstance of its being the origin of the domestic race … render it one of the most interesting of the birds indigenous to the United States of America.” — naturalist and artist John James Audubon in his classic Birds of America, published in sections between 1827 and 1838.
Read Audubon’s full entry on the turkey.
Get the inside, outsized story on how Audubon’s epic tome came to be — what’s a double-elephant folio? — in writer Erin McCarthy’s “The Book So Big It Needed Its Own Furniture” published by Mental Floss. (Image by Audubon from the book, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.)
What’s killing Ohio’s beech trees?
There’s a mystery affliction killing American beech trees in Ohio, and scientists with CFAES are on the case, hoping to find the cause. (Photo: Getty Images.)
‘What kind of world is this when a biologist needs to be scared to tell the truth?’
CFAES’s 2018 Environmental Film Series continues at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 19, with “A River Below.” It’s the story of two South American activists’ attempts to use media coverage to help save the endangered Amazon River dolphin, but who face ethical and moral issues along the way.
“What sacrifices are acceptable in the battle for this endangered animal, and what are the grander social, economical and environmental issues involved?” Cara Cusumano, Tribeca Film Festival programming director, asks in writing about the film on the festival’s website. “Mark Grieco’s surprising documentary digs into the ethics of activism in the modern media age.”
Watch the trailer above. Get full details about the screening.
Home improvement for pollinators
The next Pollinator School workshop, presented by the Mahoning County office of CFAES’s outreach arm, OSU Extension, runs from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16, in Canfield in northeast Ohio. The program’s title is “Habitats.” It’s about seeing, understanding and improving where pollinators live and feed. Registration is $10. Learn more. (Photo: Getty Images.)
A look at a bee we should see
The 2018 webinar series hosted by CFAES’s Bee Lab wraps up at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17, with “The Ohio Bee Survey: In Search of the Rusty Patched Bumble Bee” by Randy Mitchell of the University of Akron.
In early 2017, the rusty patched bumble bee, shown here, after suffering significant population declines, became the first bee placed on the endangered species list in the continental United States.
Find details. Watching the webinar is free; use the “Guest Login” at 8:55 a.m. (Photo: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab, Beltsville, Maryland (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.)