Ep. 14 - Vases and Candles and Spikes! Oh My!

Ep. 14 - Vases and Candles and Spikes! Oh My!

This week Steve leads the discussion on "ice spikes." This is a rare winter phenomenon that Bill and Steve stumbled across at Stiglmeier Park (Cheektowaga, NY) during January, 2016. Join the guys as they run through two (presumably) incorrect hypotheses on how ice spikes form, and one well-documented method for their formation within freezers. We also explore the conditions that increase the chance of ice spikes forming in natural areas. While the episode mainly focuses on the "spike" form, "vase," "candle," and "tower" forms are also possible.

Ep. 13 - What the Flock is a Murmuration of Starlings?

Ep. 13 - What the Flock is a Murmuration of Starlings?

What the flock is up with murmurations? And what's the difference between a swarm, a herd, a school, and a flock? In this first of a two-part episode, Bill and Steve explore the world of collective behavior, and take a specific look at murmurations of the European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). This species gathers in large flocks (sometimes numbering into the tens of thousands!) that dive and swoop across the sky, creating beautiful, shifting forms that delight, amaze, and mystify. Researchers from numerous fields study these formations, and this month, the Field Guides share the latest research into this stunning natural phenomenon.

Ep. 11 - Spruce Grouse in the House

Ep. 11 - Spruce Grouse in the House

Have you ever heard of a Fool's Hen? It’s just one of the many nicknames of the Spruce Grouse (Falcipennis canadensis), a bird of extremes and paradoxical behaviors. It often allows people to come within just a few feet before taking flight (hence the “fool” part of its nickname), but it can also be notoriously difficult to find. In addition, this species is adapted to survive on food that few other animals eat. Join Steve and Bill (and their friend, Rich) as they head into the wilds of Ontario Canada to search for this elusive critter, share the fascinating stories of its natural history, and shed light on some recent Spruce Grouse research. This episode was recorded in March of 2016 in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. 

Ep. 10 - Witch Hazel: An Explosive Late Bloomer

Ep. 10 - Witch Hazel: An Explosive Late Bloomer

Exploding seed pods?!? Flowers in the winter?! Many species have evolved unusual strategies for reproduction, and this month’s target species is no exception. Witch Hazel (Hamemelis virginiana) is a small tree of the eastern forest understory that is easy to miss. It’s small and unassuming, but closer inspection reveals an array of fascinating adaptations that make it unique among our woodland species. Join Steve and Bill as they hunt for this wonder of the woods and share what they learned about it.

Ep. 09 - Two Guys and a Calcareous Outcropping

Ep. 09 - Two Guys and a Calcareous Outcropping

Have you ever heard of Valcour Island? Bill and Steve heard tantalizing rumors about it and journeyed to Lake Champlain to check it out. Champlain borders both New York and Vermont, and one of its largest islands is Valcour, home to a number of rare plants and the largest Great Blue Heron rookery in New York. The Field Guides camped out on this special place, exploring, botanizing, and demonstrating why they are the slowest hikers on the planet. Come along for the ride and experience the fascinating finds Bill and Steve discovered.

Ep. 08 - Meat Schmeat, or Bill & Steve Commit Marketing Suicide: The Vegan Episode

Ep. 08 - Meat Schmeat, or Bill & Steve Commit Marketing Suicide: The Vegan Episode

OK, Field Guides listeners - *Bill and Steve crack their knuckles* - this one's a touchy subject for some people, but it's an important one. Just how much DO our food choices impact the environment? There's ample rhetoric on both sides, but what does the research say? In this episode, Steve and Bill tell you what they discovered, all while trying their best not to get too preachy. (As an added bonus, they fill you in on what they thought of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World). This episode was recorded in the Letchworth Woods area of the University at Buffalo's north campus in western NY.

Ep. 07 - Stalking the Redback Salamander

Ep. 07 - Stalking the Redback Salamander

It may be "the most numerous forest vertebrate" in many areas of the northeast, but the Redback Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) is rarely seen unless you're looking for it. In this episode, Steve and Bill hunt for some Redbacks while sharing recent research on its ecology. Give a listen, and hear the fascinating life history of this abundant but seldom seen forest denizen - and find out why Steve and Bill haven't posted an episode in three months!

Ep. 05 - Multiflora Blows

Episode Notes:

The hippest plant we know...

Mistakes:

The pun in the episode notes...

Work Cited:

Alan, Rebecca R., Scott R. McWilliams, and Kevin J. McGraw. "The importance of antioxidants for avian fruit selection during autumn migration."The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 125.3 (2013): 513-525.

Bolser, Jessica A., et al. "Birds select fruits with more anthocyanins and phenolic compounds during autumn migration." The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 125.1 (2013): 97-108.

Bonilla, N. Omar, and Elizabeth G. Pringle. "Contagious seed dispersal and the spread of avian-dispersed exotic plants." Biological Invasions 17.12 (2015): 3409-3418.

Dlugos, Daniel M., et al. "The non-native plant Rosa multiflora expresses shade avoidance traits under low light availability." American journal of botany 102.8 (2015): 1323-1331.

Eastman, John Andrew. The Book of Field and Roadside: Open-Country Weeds, Trees, and Wildflowers of Eastern North America. Stackpole Books, 2003.

Eastman, John Andrew. The book of forest and thicket: trees, shrubs, and wildflowers of eastern North America. Stackpole Books, 1992.

Eastman, John Andrew. The book of swamp and bog: trees, shrubs, and wildflowers of the eastern freshwater wetlands. Stackpole Books, 1995.

Elpel, Thomas J. Botany in a day: the patterns method of plant identification. Hops Press, 2004.

Foster, S and James A. Duke. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America. Second edition. Houghton Mifflin company, 2000.

Hayes, Stephanie J., and Eric J. Holzmueller. "Relationship between invasive plant species and forest fauna in eastern North America." Forests 3.3 (2012): 840-852.

Harlow, William Morehouse. Fruit Key and Twig Key to Trees and Shrubs: Fruit Key to Northeastern Trees and Twig Key to the Desiduous [sic] Woody Plants of Eastern North America. Courier Corporation, 1959.

Harris, James G., and Melinda Woolf Harris. Plant identification terminology: an illustrated glossary. No. QK9 H37 2001. Spring Lake, Utah: Spring Lake Publishing, 1994.

Hindal, Dale F., and Sek Man Wong. "Potential biocontrol of multiflora rose, Rosa multiflora." Weed Technology (1988): 122-131.

Janice, Glimn Lacy and Peter B. Kaufman. ."Botany illustrated: introduction to plants, major groups, flowering plant families." (1984).

Jesse, Laura, et al. "Distribution of Megastigmus aculeatus (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) and the levels of seed predation of Rosa multiflora (Rosaceae)."Weed Biology and Management 13.3 (2013): 79-88.

Jesse, Laura C., Kirk A. Moloney, and John J. Obrycki. "Insect pollinators of the invasive plant, Rosa multiflora (Rosaceae), in Iowa, USA." Weed Biology and Management 6.4 (2006): 235-240. 

Jesse, Laura C., et al. "Quantifying the levels of sexual reproduction and clonal spread in the invasive plant, Rosa multiflora." Biological invasions 12.6 (2010): 1847-1854.

Jones et al. Variation in Plumage Coloration of Northern Cardinals in Urbanizing Landscapes. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 2010; 122 (2): 326 DOI: 10.1676/09-082.1

Lydia M. Meyer, Kenneth A. Schmidt, and Bruce A. Robertson.Evaluating exotic plants as evolutionary traps for nesting Veeries.The Condor: Ornithological Advances, June 2015 DOI:10.1650/CONDOR-14-101.1

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Little, Brown and Company, New York, New York. 1977. 

Peterson, Roger Tory, and Margaret McKenny. A field guide to wildflowers: northeastern and north-central North America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1996.

Petrides, George A., and Roger Tory Peterson. A field guide to trees and shrubs: northeastern and north-central United States and southeastern and south-central Canada. Vol. 11. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1986.

 Plug, C. 2014. S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science. Thunberg, Dr Carl Pehr. Accessed 01/07/2015.  <http://www.s2a3.org.za/bio/Biograph_final.php?serial=2843>

Schlossberg, S., and D. I. King. "Effects of invasive woody plants on avian nest site selection and nesting success in shrublands." Animal Conservation13.3 (2010): 286-293.

Schneider, Sarah C., and James R. Miller. "Response of avian communities to invasive vegetation in urban forest fragments." The Condor 116.3 (2014): 459-471.

Shelton, Angela L., et al. "Effects of abundant white-tailed deer on vegetation, animals, mycorrhizal fungi, and soils." Forest Ecology and Management 320 (2014): 39-49.

Smith, Susan B., Samantha A. DeSando, and Todd Pagano. "The value of native and invasive fruit-bearing shrubs for migrating songbirds."Northeastern Naturalist 20.1 (2013): 171-184.

Stiles, Edmund W. "Expansions of mockingbird and multiflora rose in the northeastern United States and Canada." American Birds 36 (1982): 358-364.

Thompson, John N., and Mary F. Willson. “Evolution of Temperate Fruit/bird Interactions: Phenological Strategies”. Evolution 33.3 (1979): 973–982.

USDA. 2015. United States Department of Agriculture National Resources Conservation Service. Rosa multiflora Thunb. Accessed 01/07/2016. <http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=ROMU>

“An Assessment of Multiflora Rose in Northern U.S. Forests”, Research Note NRS-182. Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture Northern Research Station. http://www.fs.fed.us/nrs/pubs/rn/rn_nrs182.pdf?

Ep. 04 - Brrrrrds in Winter

Episode notes:

At one point we wonder if a bird we see is a grebe. We know that there aren't any grebes that have winter ranges in Western New York, but this has been a strange winter and less likely things have happened.

Questions that came up during the episode:

Although it was cut during editing, Bill and Steve wondered during recording, “Why do flamingos stand on one leg?” Bill thought he had come across the answer in the past, but had forgotten it. Steve just plain didn’t know. 

The answer? No one knows! While many theories are out there, no one has found a definitive answer (yet). The folks at How Stuff Works have done their usual great job of collecting solid information, and they present the reigning theories here: http://animals.howstuffworks.com/birds/flamingos-stand-on-one-leg.htm

And for a relatively recent study on one researcher’s efforts to get to the bottom of the flamingo-on-one-leg mystery, check out this article: http://www.livescience.com/5732-flamingos-stand-leg.html

Mistakes:

While Steve was correct about the Red Knot (Calidris canutus), Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis), Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos), American Robin (Turdus migratorius), and House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), he was incorrect about the scientific name for the White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) which he thought was Sitta canadensis (Red-breasted Nuthatch); idiot!

Additionally, Steve said "hyperthermia" instead of "hypothermia" when talking about swimming in winter; double idiot!

Surprise surprise, Steve also explained phenotypes and genotypes rather poorly. In his excitement, he described both in terms of "changes in" observable characteristics and genes, respectively. What he should have said was that a genotype is an individual's gene for a trait, and that a phenotype is the observable expression of a gene; triple idiot!

But the quadruple idiot award for this episode goes to Bill, who insisted emphatically that House Sparrows were not Sparrows at all, but Weaver Finches. This is incorrect. Following the release of this episode, Steve researched Bill's claim, and being a great guy, he didn't call Bill a moron, but sent him a few Wikipedia links with the kind message, "I think you might be wrong about House Sparrows..." After just a few minutes of internet searching, Bill found out why he thought what he did. Old editions of the Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds places House Sparrows in the Weaver Finch family, but all recent references (within the past 30 years) Bill could find to their taxonomy refer to them as "Old World Sparrows," the family Passeridae. National Geographic Complete Birds of North America states, "Old World Sparrows are not closley related to New World sparrows in the family Emberizidae. Instead their closest alliance is with the family Ploceidae, in which they were formerly placed." Ploceidae is the Weaver Finch family. So, basically, House Sparrows used to be considered Weaver Finches but research has revealed that they are only closely related to them.

Work Cited:

Björklund, Mats, et al. "Increase in body size is correlated to warmer winters in a passerine bird as inferred from time series data." Ecology and evolution 5.1 (2015): 59-72.

Brittingham, Margaret C., and Stanley A. Temple. "Use of winter bird feeders by black-capped chickadees." The Journal of wildlife management (1992): 103-110.

Brodin, Anders. "Why do hoarding birds gain fat in winter in the wrong way? Suggestions from a dynamic model." Behavioral Ecology 11.1 (2000): 27-39.

Carr, Jennie M., and Steven L. Lima. "Wintering birds avoid warm sunshine: predation and the costs of foraging in sunlight." Oecologia 174.3 (2014): 713-721.

R. R. J. Chaffee, et al. “Studies on thermogenesis in cold acclimated birds.” Canadian Journal of Biochemistry and Physiology, 41 (1963): 2215-2220

Coughlan, Neil E., et al. "Humid microclimates within the plumage of mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) can potentially facilitate long distance dispersal of propagules." Acta Oecologica 65 (2015): 17-23.

Ederstrom, H. E., and S. J. Brumleve. "Temperature gradients in the legs of cold-acclimatized pheasants." American Journal of Physiology--Legacy Content 207.2 (1964): 457-459. 

Houston, Alasdair I., and John M. McNamara. “A Theoretical Investigation of the Fat Reserves and Mortality Levels of Small Birds in Winter”. Ornis Scandinavica 24.3 (1993): 205–219. 

Klaassen, Raymond HG, et al. "When and where does mortality occur in migratory birds? Direct evidence from long‐term satellite tracking of raptors."Journal of Animal Ecology 83.1 (2014): 176-184. 

Koskenpato, Katja, et al. "Is the denser contour feather structure in pale grey than in pheomelanic brown tawny owls Strix aluco an adaptation to cold environments?." Journal of Avian Biology (2015).

Macdonald, Christie A., et al. "Cold tolerance, and not earlier arrival on breeding grounds, explains why males winter further north in an Arctic‐breeding songbird." Journal of Avian Biology (2015).

Martinson, Tammie J., and David J. Flaspohler. "Winter bird feeding and localized predation on simulated bark-dwelling arthropods." Wildlife Society Bulletin (2003): 510-516.

Mori, Emiliano, and Sandro Bertolino. "Feeding ecology of Long-eared Owls in winter: an urban perspective." Bird Study 62.2 (2015): 257-261.

Murray, Molly. "Did You Know? Nature's Winter Survival Strategies." www.delawareonline.com. 20 Jan. 2015. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.


Petit, Daniel R., Lisa J. Petit, and Kenneth E. Petit. "Winter caching ecology of deciduous woodland birds and adaptations for protection of stored food." Condor (1989): 766-776.

Reinertsen, Randi Eidsmo, and Svein Haftorn. "Different metabolic strategies of northern birds for nocturnal survival." Journal of Comparative Physiology B156.5 (1986): 655-663.


Robb, Gillian N., et al. "Winter feeding of birds increases productivity in the subsequent breeding season." Biology letters 4.2 (2008): 220-223.

Roth, Timothy C., and Steven L. Lima. "Hunting behavior and diet of Cooper's hawks: an urban view of the small-bird-in-winter paradigm." The Condor 105.3 (2003): 474-483.

Sibley, David. Sibley field guide to birds of eastern North America. Alfred A. Knopf, 2003.

Smit, Ben, and Andrew E. McKechnie. "Avian seasonal metabolic variation in a subtropical desert: basal metabolic rates are lower in winter than in summer." Functional Ecology 24.2 (2010): 330-339.

Swanson, David, et al. "Relative roles of temperature and photoperiod as drivers of metabolic flexibility in dark-eyed juncos." The Journal of experimental biology 217.6 (2014): 866-875.

Thompson, John N., and Mary F. Willson. “Evolution of Temperate Fruit/bird Interactions: Phenological Strategies”. Evolution 33.3 (1979): 973–982.

Ep. 03 - Hi-BEAR-nation

Episode Notes:

I think the title speaks for itself...

Questions that came up in the episode:

Flying Squirrels More Populous than Reds and Grays?

During this episode, Bill mentioned a statistic he’d heard, claiming that Flying Squirrels outnumbered Red and Gray Squirrels in the Northeast. After recording episode 3, Bill tried to track down any credible sources, but he found not a single reference to this claim on any website, blog, or scientific paper. Unless someone out there has a reliable source to back up this statistic, we’ll have to conclude that Bill just made this up.*

*UPDATE - BILL WAS RIGHT! At least in Ohio, that is. A big thank you to Randy from Bowling Green who sent us a link to Ohio's Department of Natural Resources and their page on the Southern Flying Squirrel. It states, "The flying squirrel is the most common squirrel in Ohio. Because they are nocturnal and seldom seen, most people don't recognize that they live with flying squirrels." While we wish that this info was linked to the research, we're going to trust that Ohio's DNR know what they're talking about because Bill's ego is fragile and he really wants to to be right. http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/species-and-habitats/species-guide-index/mammals/southern-flying-squirrel

Mistakes:

I'm sure we will find out.

Work Cited: 

Barboza, Perry S., Sean D. Farley, and Charles T. Robbins. "Whole-body urea cycling and protein turnover during hyperphagia and dormancy in growing bears (Ursus americanus and U. arctos)." Canadian Journal of Zoology 75.12 (1997): 2129-2136.

Breukelen, Frank van, and Sandra L. Martin. "The hibernation continuum: physiological and molecular aspects of metabolic plasticity in mammals."Physiology 30.4 (2015): 273-281.

Burt, William Henry. A field guide to the mammals: North America north of Mexico. Vol. 5. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1980.

Daan, Serge, Brain M. Barnes, and Arjen M. Strijkstra. "Warming up for sleep?—ground squirrels sleep during arousals from hibernation." Neuroscience letters 128.2 (1991): 265-268.

Ditmer, Mark A., Thomas E. Burk, and David L. Garshelis. "Do innate food preferences and learning affect crop raiding by American black bears?." Ursus 26.1 (2015): 40-52.

Donahue, Seth W., et al. "Serum markers of bone metabolism show bone loss in hibernating bears." Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 408 (2003): 295-301.

Donahue, Seth W., et al. "Parathyroid hormone may maintain bone formation in hibernating black bears (Ursus americanus) to prevent disuse osteoporosis." Journal of Experimental Biology 209.9 (2006): 1630-1638.

Fuster, Gemma, et al. "Antiproteolytic effects of plasma from hibernating bears: a new approach for muscle wasting therapy?." Clinical Nutrition 26.5 (2007): 658-661.

Goodrich, John M., and Joel Berger. "Winter recreation and hibernating black bears Ursus americanus." Biological Conservation 67.2 (1994): 105-110.

Heldmaier, Gerhard. "Life on low flame in hibernation." Science 331.6019 (2011): 866-867.

Herrero, Stephen. "Aspects of evolution and adaptation in American black bears (Ursus americanus Pallas) and brown and grizzly bears (U. arctos Linne.) of North America." Bears: Their biology and management (1972): 221-231.

Jani, Alkesh, et al. "Renal adaptation during hibernation." American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology 305.11 (2013): F1521-F1532.

Laske, Timothy G., David L. Garshelis, and Paul A. Iaizzo. "Monitoring the wild black bear's reaction to human and environmental stressors." BMC Physiology11.1 (2011): 13.

McGee-Lawrence, Meghan E., et al. "Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) and black bears (Ursus americanus) prevent trabecular bone loss during disuse (hibernation)." Bone 45.6 (2009): 1186-1191.

McGee-Lawrence, Meghan, et al. "Suppressed bone remodeling in black bears conserves energy and bone mass during hibernation." The Journal of Experimental Biology 218.13 (2015): 2067-2074.

Spector, David A., et al. "The urothelium of a hibernator: the American black bear." Physiological Reports 3.6 (2015): e12429.

Tøien, Øivind, et al. "Hibernation in black bears: independence of metabolic suppression from body temperature." Science 331.6019 (2011): 906-909.

Vaughan, Terry A., James M. Ryan, and Nicholas J. Czaplewski. Mammalogy. Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2013.

Ep. 02 - Fall Colors

Episode Notes:

When discussing branching, Steve and Bill wondered whether Horsechestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) was native. While some members of this genus are native to North America, the Horsechestnut (AKA Horse-chestnut or Conker Tree) is an imported species native to the Balkans.

Mistakes: 

     Steve had mentioned that there was only one genus in the Aceraceae, or maple family. This is wrong. That fool neglected the two species within the genus Dipteronia that are endemic to mainland China.

      Additionally, Steve also said, “we’ve slowly been knocking out all these different genes that code for all these different hormones”, which may have been misleading. Plant hormones are not transcribed directly from DNA; instead they are later synthesized by the products of specific genes. If the genes responsible for the synthesis of a particular hormone are “knocked out,” the plant will no longer be able to synthesize that hormone.             

         Also when Bill was describing how the abcisssion layer forms, he said that the separation layer gets thicker and pushes against the separation layer. What he meant to say was that the protection layer (the layer closer to the twig) gets thicker and pushes against the separation layer (the layer closer to the leaf). Here is a more complete description of the process: 

Abcission cells start to collect where the stem meets the branch. Two layers form – the separation layer and a protection layer. In the separation layer, the cells are short with thin walls. So, this area becomes weak and a tear starts to form. The protection layer is closer to the tree – a kind of nodule starts to grow. It cuts off all water and nutrients to the leaf, and, as the nodule grows, it pushes the leaf farther and farther from the branch until the separation layer is so brittle, it breaks. 


Work Cited: 

Anderson, Rachel, and Peter Ryser. "Early Autumn Senescence in Red Maple (Acer rubrum L.) Is Associated with High Leaf Anthocyanin Content." Plants 4.3 (2015): 505-522.

Archetti, Marco, et al. "Unravelling the evolution of autumn colours: an interdisciplinary approach." Trends in Ecology & Evolution 24.3 (2009): 166-173.

Archetti, Marco. "Phylogenetic analysis reveals a scattered distribution of autumn colours." Annals of botany (2009). 

Archetti, Marco. "Classification of hypotheses on the evolution of autumn colours." Oikos 118.3 (2009): 328-333.

Bolser, Jessica A., et al. "Birds select fruits with more anthocyanins and phenolic compounds during autumn migration." The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 125.1 (2013): 97-108.

Döring, Thomas F., Marco Archetti, and Jim Hardie. "Autumn leaves seen through herbivore eyes." Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 276.1654 (2009): 121-127.

Estiarte, Marc, and Josep Peñuelas. "Alteration of the phenology of leaf senescence and fall in winter deciduous species by climate change: effects on nutrient proficiency." Global change biology 21.3 (2015): 1005-1017.

Habineck, E. M. "Correlation of soil development and landscape position with fall leaf colors." 2007 GSA Denver Annual Meeting. 2007.

Hamilton, William D., and S. P. Brown. "Autumn tree colours as a handicap signal." Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences268.1475 (2001): 1489-1493.

Hüner, Norman PA, and William G. Hopkins. "Introduction to plant physiology." (2008).

Killingbeck, Keith T. "Nutrients in senesced leaves: keys to the search for potential resorption and resorption proficiency." Ecology 77.6 (1996): 1716-1727.

Landi, M., M. Tattini, and Kevin S. Gould. "Multiple functional roles of anthocyanins in plant-environment interactions." Environmental and Experimental Botany 119 (2015): 4-17.

Lee, David W., et al. "Pigment dynamics and autumn leaf senescence in a New England deciduous forest, eastern USA." Ecological Research 18.6 (2003): 677-694.

LevYadun, Simcha, and Jarmo K. Holopainen. "Why reddominated autumn leaves in America and yellowdominated autumn leaves in Northern Europe?."New Phytologist 183.3 (2009): 506-512.

Schaefer, H. Martin, and David M. Wilkinson. "Red leaves, insects and coevolution: a red herring?." Trends in ecology & evolution 19.12 (2004): 616-618. 

Schippers, Jos HM, et al. "Living to die and dying to live: The survival strategy behind leaf senescence." Plant physiology 169.2 (2015): 914-930.

Taylor, Gail, et al. "Future atmospheric CO2 leads to delayed autumnal senescence." Global Change Biology 14.2 (2008): 264-275.

Ep. 01 - Goldenrod Galls

Answers to Questions That Arose During the Podcast:

 

1. Is an inquiline the same thing as a parasite?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no, and, sometimes, we can’t be sure. An inquiline is an animal that lives habitually in the nest or abode of some other species. When an inquiline harms the other species in any way, it is a parasite. If, however, its presence does not have a detrimental effect on the other species, the relationship would be commensalistic (a symbiotic relationship in which one species is benefited while the other is unaffected), not parasitic. At times, this distinction can be difficult to determine; in may instances, it can be hard to say if, and to what degree, an inquiline’s presence is harming the other species.

 

2. What is the life cycle of the Goldenrod Bunch Gall midge, Rhopalomyia solidaginis?

            During my initial research for this episode, I could find only vague references to the life cycle of the insect responsible for the Goldenrod Bunch Gall. When I finally did track down a source that shed some light, I was left wondering if those other authors left out the details for the sake of simplicity. While the Eurosta fly that makes the Goldenrod Ball Gall has an elegant, year-long life cycle that is easy to wrap your head around, the Rhopalomyia midge leads a life that’s tougher to follow. I had to reread the account several times before it started to make sense. Here’s how it appears to break down:

            The first thing to keep in mind is that the Rhopalomyia midge is bivoltine, which means that it produces two broods in one year, and each brood produces different galls on Goldenrod. Larvae hatch from eggs in the fall and burrow into rhizomes (underground stems), where they overwinter. In the spring, these larvae produce small bunch galls on emerging stems that are difficult to tell apart from stems without galls. This generation pupates in mid-spring. Then, the adults emerge, mate, and lay eggs on more Goldenrod plants.

This second generation creates the larger bunch galls that are seen on Goldenrod starting in mid-June. The larvae live in the base of the gall, within a chamber surrounded by very short and narrow leaves, and those leaves are surrounded by longer and wider leaves. Pupation takes place in early September, and adults emerge in September and early October to mate, lay eggs, and start the process all over again.   

Source: http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2009/f/zt02152p035.pdf, pg. 30-31

 

Links

This episode just scratches the surface of the world that is goldenrod galls. Check out goldenrod gall enthusiast Daniel McClosky’s effort to catalog all the gall-making insects on goldenrods.

Work Cited:

Cunan, Ellery T., Thomas HQ Powell, and Arthur E. Weis. "Evidence For Plant-mediated Competition Between Defoliating and Gall-forming Specialists Attacking Solidago altissima." The American Midland Naturalist 173.2 (2015): 208-217.

 

Hartnett, David C., and Warren G. Abrahamson. "The effects of stem gall insects on life history patterns in Solidago canadensis." Ecology (1979): 910-917.

 

Mapes, Carol C., and Peter J. Davies. "Cytokinins in the ball gall of Solidago altissima and in the gall forming larvae of Eurosta solidaginis." New Phytologist 151.1 (2001): 203-212.

 

Eastman, John Andrew. The Book of Field and Roadside: Open-Country Weeds, Trees, and Wildflowers of Eastern North America. Stackpole Books, 2003.

 

Messina, Frank J. "Plant protection as a consequence of an ant-membracid mutualism: interactions on goldenrod (Solidago sp.)." Ecology (1981): 1433-1440.

 

Newcomb, Lawrence. "Newcomb’s wildflower guide." Little, Brown, and Company, Boston. xxii (1977).

Peterson, Roger Tory, and Margaret McKenny. A field guide to wildflowers: northeastern and north-central North America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1996.

 

Stokes, Donald. “A Guide to Nature in Winter.” Little, Brown and Company, 1976.

 

Wise, Michael J., Warren G. Abrahamson, and Julia A. Cole. "The role of nodding stems in the goldenrod–gall–fly interaction: A test of the “ducking” hypothesis." American journal of botany 97.3 (2010): 525-529.