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.
biodiversity
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.)
‘To provide value to society gets me fired up’
Meet CFAES’s Eugene Braig, who does good things for water, for what lives in water, for Ohioans who take care of water, and for classical guitar to boot. It’s the latest on our CFAES Stories website.
Bird walk in Wooster; or, check out this tweet
CFAES’s Secrest Arboretum hosts a Guided Bird Walk from 9-11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, in Wooster, led by members of the Greater Mohican Audubon Society. Meet at the Seaman Orientation Plaza. Free admission.
Find out more. (Photo: Blue jay, Getty Images.)
Further fungi, a lotta lichens
The series called A Day in the Woods, co-sponsored by CFAES’s Ohio State University Extension outreach arm, continues from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12, with “Fall Treasures from Your Woodland.” It’s in Vinton Furnace State Forest in McArthur in southeast Ohio.
The focus of the event will be on organisms such as fungi and lichens that grow in, work in and brighten a woods in autumn.
Registration is $12. Get more details (scroll down). (Photo: Getty Images.)
Come study woodland fungus amongus
CFAES’s Ohio Woodland Stewards Program holds a workshop called Fascinating Woodland Fungi on Friday, Oct. 12, on Ohio State’s Mansfield campus. Registration is $35 and includes lunch and handouts. The deadline to register is Friday, Oct. 5.
Unearth more details and register online. (Photo: Jack-o’-lantern mushrooms, beautiful but definitely not to be eaten, Getty Images.)