Tag archives for North America
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Part scientific endeavor, part festival and part outdoor classroom, the BioBlitz hosted last week by the U.S. National Park Service and the National Geographic Society in Louisiana’s Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve yielded hundreds of observations, including the discovery of a rare Louisiana milk snake not previously recorded in the park. “This is the first time anyone has done this level of work on a bottomland, hardwood, freshwater system like this,” said Victoria Bayless, curator at the Louisiana State Arthropod Museum.
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Whether a tiny invertebrate or a large, invasive nutria, all of the species observations collected during the BioBlitz will be mapped out and visualized on the National Geographic FieldScope tool. FieldScope is a web-based GIS for visualizing and analyzing scientific data collected by professional and citizen scientists. It is also a tool for exploring the geography of a place.
The annual BioBlitz hosted by the National Park Service and the National Geographic Society is underwritten in part by the Harold M. and Adeline S. Morrison Family Foundation, a private grant-making philanthropy based in Chicago. Every year for five years the Morrison Family Foundation helps make the event possible. And every year the foundation’s executive director, Lois Morrison, participates in the BioBlitz with her husband Justin Daab and their daughters Josephine and Addie Daab.
News Watch interviewed Lois Morrison about her passion for both nature and education, and why she sees the BioBlitz as a special opportunity to reinforce our connection with the natural world.
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Go behind the lens and above the ground with photographer Dave Showalter as he reveals the hidden meanings behind aerial images he made on LightHawk flights.
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In this guest blog post, Ed Stewart, president, and co-founder, of the Performing Animal Welfare Society, takes issue with a News Watch post by Jordan Carlton Schaul about elephants in zoos. “The reason the management of elephants in captivity is coming under such scrutiny, is not, as [Schaul] states, because zoos and sanctuaries offer different environments for elephants, but because zoos and sanctuaries have different philosophies about captivity itself,” Stewart writes. On top of that, he adds, there presently exists no state-of-the-art keeping of elephants in captivity.
California condors Sisquoc and Shatash welcomed a baby chick this week, in full view of the world watching them via webcam. “With just over 400 California condors in existence, this endangered species is still an uncommon sight, making this hatching all the more significant,” San Diego Zoo Safari Park said in a news statement about…
John-Michael Lee caught thresher sharks off Redondo Beach in California when he was a boy. “We’d float on a mat in the water, reach down with our hands and just catch them by the tail,” recalls John-Michael. “They were about three to four feet long, but most of that was tail.”
“When I go diving now,” he remarks, “I don’t see many sharks anymore.”
Where Will Cougars Show Up Next?
Posted by Douglas Chadwick on March 21, 2013 
Mountain lions are spreading east of the Rockies—a challenge for wildlife managers and communities. Some friends who live a few blocks from me in the small town of Whitefish, Montana, had a house cat named Dandelion. After it went missing for two days, the family began a search through their wooded lot. In a nearby…
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Polar bears are not souvenirs. They are an iconic, beautiful species that is rapidly disappearing. Starting this week, countries from around the world will gather at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), where protection for polar bears will be an important topic of discussion.
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‘All things must pass,’ sang George Harrison. With time, suns turn into ice, civilizations into dust, and species go extinct. And so ‘black dwarfs,’ ‘biodiversity loss,’ not to forget ‘Armageddon,’ have all become part of our daily alphabet. Strange planet… though the risk of a 6th species extinction wave is quite real (see my previous…
The Treasures of Tursujuq: one of North America’s largest national parks
Posted by Jeff Wells on February 22, 2013 With little fanfare, the Inuit people of Nunavik in northern Quebec, the Grand Council of the Cree, and the Government of Quebec announced the creation of Tursujuq National Park—a 6.5 million acre protected area along the eastern shore of Hudson Bay. Not only is this remarkable for its size—it’s the largest protected area in eastern North America and one of the top 10 largest parks on the continent—but perhaps even more incredible is that the park is several million acres larger than it had been expected to be a few years ago.
Powerful Hurricanes Such As Sandy and ‘Black Swan’ Storms Could Alter U.S. Coastline
Posted by Willie Drye on December 4, 2012 
Scientists and meteorologists examining data from Hurricane Sandy think the massive super-storm that caused widespread devastation from North Carolina to New York City in October could be a harbinger of changes for the U.S. coastline. Exactly how those changes might unfold isn’t clear. But some scientists who study hurricanes and coastal environments outlined some possibilities at…
A new species of freshwater fish found in Mexico has several interesting – and perhaps cringe-inducing – characteristics, including four hooks on the male genitalia, North Carolina State University said this week.
The panda cub born a week ago at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C., was found dead early today.
Five outstanding female scientists were granted 2012 L’Oréal USA Fellowships for Women in Science at a ceremony in New York City this week. Each Fellow receives up to U.S.$60,000 to continue post-doctoral research. The program also offers professional development workshops for the Fellows to help them build networks with accomplished female leaders in corporate, academic,…
One more reason to be nervous about climate change: Tick species are on the march. The blood-sucking, disease-spreading parasites are expanding into new territories as wildlife populations, forest habitats and weather patterns change across North America, biologists have found. “This year’s mild winter and early spring were a bonanza for tick populations in the eastern…
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Greetings, NewsWatch readers: this is Tim Binder, the Vice President of Collection Planning at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. For many years, I’ve been involved with beluga whale conservation research in the field and here at home. Today I’d like to invite you to join me on a research expedition to the shores of Alaska. Beluga…
Eighteen smooth green snakes bred in captivity were released into the northern Illinois prairie a few dozen miles from Chicago today.
Predator Dinner Party? Badgers and Coyotes Work Together on the Prairie
Posted by American Prairie Reserve on July 20, 2012 Over the last century, biologists have worked hard to document a rather odd pair of hunting buddies: the coyote and the badger. While the nature of their relationship has been debated – is it truly symbotic or merely more efficient? – it is a fascinating natural phenomenon to observe. Of course, the interaction between the…
American Prairie Reserve, a Vast Grassland to Fill Your Soul
Posted by American Prairie Reserve on July 3, 2012 Despite our different approaches, conservationists in the West can all generally agree on one thing: nature inspires people. The diversity, richness and complexities of ecosystems encourage scientists to dig deeper, farmers to innovate, artists to paint, and, perhaps most importantly, the broader public to get out and explore. As we assemble American Prairie Reserve…
Hello everyone: I’m Dr. Chuck Knapp, the Director of Conservation and Research at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois. When I started working at Shedd Aquarium as a young aquarist in 1991, I became fascinated with the world’s most endangered lizards: West Indian rock iguanas. Come along with me as I post blogs and photos of…
The cherry trees are blooming in Washington. Tuesday, March 27, 2012, marks 100 years since First Lady Helen Taft and the Japanese ambassador’s wife, Viscountess Iwa Chinda, planted the first two trees. No photographs of the event exist, and newspaper accounts were sketchy. But historical records offer a picture of what happened that day and how it came about.
Posted by As the United States considers the role of nuclear power in its national energy strategy after the Fukushima disaster, I requested policy analyst Dr. Richard Watts to share perspectives from his recent book on environmental conflicts around the license renewal of The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Guest post by Dr. Richard Watts On…
The giant invasive snakes that are thought to be breeding and munching their way through the native animals in Florida’s Everglades may have found their nemesis in the form of one of America’s most beloved pets, the Labrador retriever. “The scenario sounds like a low-budget movie from the 1970s: Humongous snakes are on the loose,…
Posted by Remarkable things can happen when key stakeholders and leaders in Washington find common ground for a common good. An excellent case in point is the congressional effort to reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, a landmark conservation measure signed into law by President George W. Bush five years ago this January. In the mid-2000s, we…
