biodiversity

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Why Biodiversity is Important to Solving Climate Chaos: Top 10 Reasons

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On September 13th, 2013
Having jump-started my career as a conservation biologist riding the 1980s explosion of scientific and public interest in biodiversity, I have progressively witnessed how biophilia has given way to climate change concerns with the public, decision makers, scientists, and philanthropists (who have increasingly moved funding out of biodiversity and into climate change). In the meantime, we have lost sight of why biodiversity is critical to solving climate chaos.
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The Corpse Flower and the Honeysuckle

By Eric Dinerstein / On July 23rd, 2013
Considering the lines stretching around the block ten years ago to witness one of nature’s masterpieces, you might want to arrive early when the National Botanic Garden opens its doors. Trained botanists, tropical ecologists, and naturalists must queue patiently alongside curious visitors from Toledo. All eagerly await a chance to pay homage to the world’s largest flowering plant, the titan arum, now opening (literally) at the Garden.
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A New Perspective on Plant Pests

By Darrin Nordahl / On July 16th, 2013
Author Darrin Nordahl's food blog Today is...Fava Beans highlights a different food everyday along with a creative way to easily add it to our everyday diet. Today's food changed the way I think about food, nutrition, and the environment. It is my epiphany food. And it is a pernicious, detestable weed. Today is purslane. Purslane (also known as pigweed) is a succulent that has naturalized in almost every garden in America.
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#ForewordFriday: Grasslands Edition

By Jason Leppig / On March 15th, 2013
Did you know that pandas used to roam parts of Tennessee and feed on the bamboo  that grew there? Cool, right? Check out this week's #ForewordFriday selection from "distinguished elder of conservation biology" and "marvelous guide," Reed Noss.
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Unnatural Selection

By Emily Monosson / On November 16th, 2012
Salamanders, fish and perhaps even humans are evolving fast in response to toxic chemicals. Is that bad? In the hemlock and oak forests of northeastern Connecticut, Steve Brady stood thigh deep in black muck and scooped up a handful of spotted salamander eggs. A Yale PhD student, he had once fancied himself zipping across tropical waters in a Zodiac boat or scanning rainforest canopies in search of exotic birds.
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Taking a Bite Out of Climate Change: Predators and Carbon Storage

By Rafe Sagarin / On October 8th, 2012
Everyone knows that sea otters are adorable, and larger numbers of people are learning that they play a key role in maintaining ecosystem diversity by preventing sea urchin populations from turning into kelp-forest mowing swarms that leave “urchin barrens” in their wake.

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