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Old 09-19-2012, 06:47 PM
 
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow in "OZ "
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Panamanian golden frog - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Old 09-19-2012, 09:18 PM
bjh
 
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Those introduced species. We need to let some parts of nature remain strangers.
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Old 09-19-2012, 11:00 PM
 
Location: deafened by howls of 'racism!!!'
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bjh View Post
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.

Invasive species in Australia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Old 09-20-2012, 02:38 AM
 
Location: Pennsylvania
30,229 posts, read 15,988,536 times
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and then there's Hawaii.... sigh



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?
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Old 09-20-2012, 12:57 PM
 
Location: In a happy, quieter home now! :)
16,881 posts, read 15,997,735 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dallas Kitty View Post
Pics, please! What feature tells you it's female?


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!
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Old 09-20-2012, 02:59 PM
 
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow in "OZ "
24,767 posts, read 28,349,447 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by uggabugga View Post
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.

Invasive species in Australia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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..
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Old 09-20-2012, 03:26 PM
 
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Originally Posted by TN Tin Man View Post
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.
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Old 09-20-2012, 06:06 PM
 
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow in "OZ "
24,767 posts, read 28,349,447 times
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Originally Posted by LookinForMayberry View Post
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.
Climate Change And The Red-Cheeked Salamander - Great Smoky Mountains National Park
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Old 09-20-2012, 06:19 PM
 
9,229 posts, read 8,492,547 times
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Originally Posted by TN Tin Man View Post
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.
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Old 09-20-2012, 06:50 PM
bjh
 
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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.
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