Greg Torres and Bob discuss one of the most important trees in Florida. The Red Mangrove is the protector from storms and provides safe harbor to many living things.

Congratulations to Greg who won the 2021 Go Wild for Jeopar-Ding fund raiser that premiered virtually on Wednesday, March 31, 2021 to support the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. Check out related episodes on our Wildlife Refuges page.

Watch Greg’s YouTube video on red mangroves.

Our sources for this episode include:

• Florida’s Extraordinary Mangroves
• Essential Facts about Mangroves
• Florida’s Mangroves

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Bob chats with Doug Tallamy about his latest book The Nature of Oaks. The book shows you what to look for on and near oak trees every month of the year. Hear a few of the amazing stories of oaks. If you have or want oaks in your yard or just want to appreciate their irreplaceable role in the health of our environment this podcast will inspire you to learn more about this magnificent tree.

Books by Doug Tallamy are published by Timber Press:

• The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees
• Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard
• Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants
• The Living Landscape: Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden with Rick Darke

Click here to learn more about Little Seed Libraries.

Related episodes: Northern Red Oak and Blue Jays are Not Blue

Special thanks to Cincinnati realtors Molly and Sara at Haven Home Group (Coldwell Banker Realty) for sponsoring this episode.

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Gia and Bob discuss one amazing woodpecker. If you live or travel to the west make sure you check this woodpecker out. This episode is part of our Keystone Species series. Thanks to Christina Zorn for the great research!

Related woodpecker episodes: Wow it’s a Pileated Woodpecker, Downy Woodpeckers Support Their Mates, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers Slurp Sap

Keystone Species series: All About Alligators, Firefighting Beavers

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Our sources for this episode include:

• All About Birds
• USDA Fire effects Information Systems
• Wikipedia
• Animalia
  

Charles and Bob discuss the Hooded Merganser. It is a duck that has some very un-duck like qualities.

Related episodes: Mallards Mate with Other Ducks, Firefighting Beavers, What It’s Like to be a Bird with David Sibley, Erin Brockovich

Our sources for this episode include:

• 10 Interesting Facts about the Hooded Mergansers
• The Cornell Lab All About Birds
• Hooded Merganser

Thanks to the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for allowing us to display this excellent photo of a pair of hooded mergansers.

Chris Clements of Imago joins Bob to talk about the Japanese concept of 72 seasons. Chris challenges us to go out and visit nature regularly in our own neck of the woods. See how it changes every few days. Try to come up with your own micro-season and give it an evocative name.

Our sources for this episode include:

• Micro-seasons – Headspace YouTube video
• Japan’s 72 Microseasons
  

Seeds have many ways to get out into the world. Greg shares fascinating strategies plants use to disburse seeds.

Related episodes: Hedge Apples, Down Yonder in the Paw Paw Patch

Our sources for this episode include:

• Falling Far from the Tree: 7 Brilliant Ways Seeds and Fruits Are Dispersed
• Daniel Janzen – Bio and Research
• The Ghosts Of Evolution: Nonsensical Fruit, Missing Partners, and Other Ecological Anachronisms by Connie Barlow
• Lengyel, S.; et al. (2009). Chave, Jerome (ed.). “Ants Sow the Seeds of Global Diversification in Flowering Plants”
• Howe, H. F. & Smallwood J. (1982). “Ecology of Seed Dispersal” (PDF). Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 13: 201–228.
• The Ant Dance – YouTube video with Greg Torres
• The Bird Dance– YouTube video with Greg Torres

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Gia and Bob are in Bob’s backyard on a cold winter afternoon talking all about alligators. Alligators are a great American success story. Thanks to Christina Zorn for the great research! This episode is part of our Keystone Species series.

Keystone Species series episodes: Firefighting Beavers

Our sources for this episode include:

• Definition of Alligator
• Alligator Biology and Behavior
• JW Lang and HV Andrews, J Exp Zoology (1994) Temperature-dependent sex determination in crocodilians.
• Cramp Meyer Sparks and Franklin. (2008) Functional and morphological plasticity of crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) salt glands. Journal of Experimental Biology 2008 211: 1482-1489; doi: 10.1242/jeb.015636. https://jeb.biologists.org/content/ 211/9/1482
• American Alligator from National Geographic
• Crocodilian Biology Database

Recently I ran across a title of a new book that peaked my interest. Curious to know more I did an Internet search and found out that this book is written by someone I think you may recognize. Erin Brockovich has become a household word thanks to a movie by the same name released in the year 2000. I got a hold of a copy of the book and after reading it realized it would be the perfect end to the water series. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the first two parts I encourage you to do so. Charles does a great job giving us a deeper understanding of why water is so important to all life on earth. I hope Erin will inspire you to pick up a copy of her book, Superman’s not Coming: Our National Water Crisis What We The People Can Do About It. As Erin so passionately says no one is going to solve our water problems for us. It is up to we the people and Erin’s book shows you how.

Related Episodes: What the Heck is Water, Freshwater Life

Our sources for this episode include:
Superman’s not Coming: Our National Water Crisis What We The People Can Do About It by Erin Brockovich

Charles Van Rees joins Bob to discuss the importance of freshwater and its relationship to biodiversity. This is part two of a three part series.

Related episodes:

• What the Heck is Water
• Firefighting Beavers
• Salmon are a Gift
• Sit Spot

Our sources for this episode include:

• WWF Living Planet Report 2018
• Van Rees et al., 2020 – Safeguarding freshwater life beyond 2020
• United Nations Water Development Report 2020
• Global Water Partnership: Water and Ecosystems

Charles Van Rees joins Bob to discuss something we can take for granted. Water is an amazing substance and Charles has some insights as to why it is essential to all life on earth. This is part one of a three part series on water and its importance to all living things on earth.

Related episodes: So You Want to Be a Naturalist, Sycamores Can Be Huge Trees, Freshwater Life

Our sources for this episode include:

• Water: The Science of Nature’s Most Important Nutrient by Len Kravitz
• Vandas et al., 2002: Water and the Environment