Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Those introduced species. We need to let some parts of nature remain strangers.
globalization makes that nearly impossible. we've already lost 99.99% of our native chestnut trees after accidentally bringing in chestnut blight; now most of the ash trees are being killed off by a rather attractive beetle - the emerald ash borer -that came in on chinese packing crates. as if that weren't bad enought, we now have the asian longhorn beetle that has even greater potential to decimate our native trees - likewise brought in on chinese packing crates
poor australia, though, is a classic case of purposely bringing in introduced species to control the introduced species that had inadvertently been brought into the country, and making everything exponentially worse.
not sure if it qualifies as a nature observation but when I looked out the window last night I saw a big white shining moon in the shape of a smile (reminded me of the cheshire cat).
When I looked out a bit later, the moon was lower in the sky, and red/orange. Air pollution?
D-Kitty ~ Oh how I wish that I got a pic of that toad! I was outside by the tailgate of my truck when it crossed the street and I knew that I'd miss seeing it entirely if I had ran inside for my camera!
I know it's a female because the females get much bigger than the males....speaking of the males, we have a new arrival on our porch at night - a little male that is smaller than any we've ever seen!
I do promise you that I will try to get a pic of the big one next time, now that I've had a chance to see it at all!
Gee, it was only less than two houses away and I first thought I was seeing a snapping turtle crossing the street! Lol! Holy cow!
globalization makes that nearly impossible. we've already lost 99.99% of our native chestnut trees after accidentally bringing in chestnut blight; now most of the ash trees are being killed off by a rather attractive beetle - the emerald ash borer -that came in on chinese packing crates. as if that weren't bad enough, we now have the asian longhorn beetle that has even greater potential to decimate our native trees - likewise brought in on chinese packing crates
poor australia, though, is a classic case of purposely bringing in introduced species to control the introduced species that had inadvertently been brought into the country, and making everything exponentially worse.
Look at the devastation in the Great Smoky Mountains everything above 2800 feet in elevation is dead or dying between acid rain and pine beetles..
Yes, those beetles are devastating. Our trip through that area was so heart-breaking. Asheville was on our "Mayberry" list, but I just could not live somewhere surrounded by dead and dying trees -- it was worse than the clearcuts here in WA.
On a more positive note, though, I later read that historians discovered (by looking over historical photographs and correlating the images with tree rings and soil drillings) that the region transitioned from pine forests to meadows to deciduous forests to pines over the last three hundred years. Just another cycle of life we are only starting to understand.
Yes, those beetles are devastating. Our trip through that area was so heart-breaking. Asheville was on our "Mayberry" list, but I just could not live somewhere surrounded by dead and dying trees -- it was worse than the clearcuts here in WA.
On a more positive note, though, I later read that historians discovered (by looking over historical photographs and correlating the images with tree rings and soil drillings) that the region transitioned from pine forests to meadows to deciduous forests to pines over the last three hundred years. Just another cycle of life we are only starting to understand.
I hope by next spring I can get over too the Smokies and take some photo's of the salamanders.
When we were girls in MI, my younger sister used to catch salamanders down in the woods and keep them as pets. When we moved from Middleville to Beaver Island (I was eleven, she was six) Mom packed their terrarium in the backseat of the car, braced on a stack of boxes. When we moved into Grandpa's hunting cabin, they had the window sill on the porch, and lasted through the Fall. I don't think they survived after Mom lowered the shutters to the porch and closed the door into the main cabin. There would not have been any heat from the wood stove reaching out there.
I saw a big ol' grasshopper on the front door as I approached earlier today. It hopped off. I'm glad it didn't hang around to try to get in the house.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.