Quaking Aspen
November 23, 2020
There are two species of aspen in North America and both of them live in eastern Iowa. The two are... Read More →
Aversive Conditioning in Conservation
November 14, 2020
Field observations, similar to those examples mentioned in my last blog, show that aversive conditioning is pervasive throughout the natural... Read More →
Aversive Conditioning in the Natural World
November 2, 2020
Everyone knows that monarch butterflies are protected from birds to some extent by the toxic chemistry they inherit from caterpillars... Read More →
Sassafras: A Unique Native
October 23, 2020
Back on Dec. 1, 2016, I offered you a story about the historical medicinal aspects of sassafras and its role... Read More →
Drug Wars In Nature: The Ephedra Gang
October 16, 2020
In the arid American West, there resides a genus of bushes, which by Midwestern standards appear hardly alive. The half-dozen... Read More →
Hummingbird Heaven, Hummingbird Hell
October 12, 2020
Longtime readers may recall that five years ago I built a 1 1/2 story trellis which runs 50 feet, the... Read More →
Coumarin – A Pleasant Plant Poison
October 1, 2020
This is a story about our love affair with coumarin, a chemical produced by many members of the plant kingdom.... Read More →
Plants are the Master Chemists
September 24, 2020
Rhododendrons in bloom on a mountaintop along the Blue Ridge Parkway, western Virginia and North Carolina. Photo from Encyclopedia Britannica.... Read More →
Milk Sickness
September 17, 2020
As the calendar rolled over from the 1700s to the 1800s, pioneers from the Eastern Seaboard states were moving westward... Read More →
Contemplative Peregrination as Nature Walk
September 12, 2020
There are many ways to take a hike, especially with camera in hand. A time-honored way of experiencing a foray... Read More →
