I'm pleased to present "Restoring Eden" for the Durham Garden Forum on Tuesday evening September 16. I'll be discussing how to support pollinators at home. 🐝🦋 Link to the event in first comment.

Join us next week on #LandEthicLive for an inspiring talk with Paula about stewardship, restoration, and self-discovery! 💚 The program is free, virtual, and recorded for later access. #Stewardship #BadNaturalist #Conservation #FreeEvent

Sockman reports over 20 years of monitoring in remote Colorado mountain meadows. He found that flying insects declined over a cumulative 72%. Decline was associated with each previous year's heat and a 0.8 degree C (daily low) temperature rise per decade. 🧪 🌍 🐝 Open access: doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

It's a race every year to secure some beech nuts before the squirrels strip them from the trees. I'm watching closely. The husks will open any day now. Foodforest#

Bad news indeed. Foodborne disease outbreaks that I investigated during the 1990s used CDC's newly-developed molecular methods developed with FoodNet funding. The tools allowed us to specifically ID foods and to intervene, preventing ongoing exposures and infections. 🧪🥚🍔🥗 tinyurl.com/2p9kt5mr

New report shows that bees choose to visit flowers to meet specific nutritional requirements, and those requirements change over the bees' life-cycle. Another reason to keep/plant a wide diversity of native, pesticide-free flowering plants to support pollinators. 🧪 🌍 🌱 🐝 tinyurl.com/3fj2wkst

Chytrid fungal infections among frogs thrived in shady areas, but not among frogs living near boulders. "The researchers hypothesized that the boulders acted as natural refuges that absorbed heat during the day and slowly released it at night." 1/N

A pickerel frog decided to use one of our livestock water buckets today. I added supports for them to climb out and removed livestock near the bucket. Pickerel frogs (Rana palustris) can secrete toxins when they feel threatened. #farmlife

As an environmental health scientist, I see this reporting by the NY Times as a game-changer for awareness of harmful exposures associated with firefighting in the US. Well worth a look. The article is paywalled, but a summary video can be viewed for free. 🧪 www.nytimes.com/2025/08/17/u...

Sweet (and hot) summer. I give my Anaheim peppers time to color up for a sweeter flavor with a bit more heat. 🌱

Removing predators from the landscape alters plant communities because of the unchecked grazing/browsing of expanding populations of hungry herbivores. Here's an example with wolves and aspen trees from western mountains in the US. 🧪🌍🌱

Hundreds of monarch butterflies died in a winter 2024 event. Investigation implicated multiple pyrethroid insecticides: tinyurl.com/3h3y7wuf From The Guardian: "Combinations of pesticides can have a synergistic effect that makes them even more toxic. The solution...less pesticides." 🧪🌍🦋

Cranefly orchid flowers (Tipularia discolor) emerging after heavy rains these few past weeks. They rely upon moths for pollination. Ephemeral mid-summer treat! 🌍🦋🌱

Recent evaluation of kid's biological concentrations of triclosan, a common antimicrobial used in consumer products, shows an association with a higher risk of allergic disease through age 12. Overuse of antimicrobials has again been implicated in adverse health impacts. 🧪 tinyurl.com/52cubsd9

Joanna Macy's passing is a great loss. But before she left us, she built a foundation of community that endures. She reminded us: “Of all the dangers we face, from climate chaos to nuclear war, none is so great as the deadening of our response.” tinyurl.com/3dvur3j6 Thank you for hope Joanna 💖

PFAS-contaminated treated wastewater is also used to recharge aquifers which may then be used for drinking water and irrigation. 🧪 🌍 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Unusually early ripening of North Carolina antique variety Summer King this year in central NC. Summer King has been a heavy annual bearer for me and is the earliest apple variety to ripen in my orchards. 🌱 🍎

We need more funding to support research into the extent and nature of PFAS contamination, not less! Because of known adverse impacts on human and non-human health, we can't afford to ignore PFAS contamination of soil, water, and food crops. 🧪🌱🌍 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Bumble bees choose to play! Young bees and male bees are more likely to choose to play. European scientists conduct experiments that reveal that play is the preferred activity (compared to foraging) for young bees. 🧪🌍🌱🐝 Link in first comment.

Predictable outcome of targeting workers. www.reuters.com/business/imm...

This male Spot-winged glider stayed still long enough for me to capture him with my phone!

Southern magnolias (Magnolia grandiflora) evolved about 100 million years ago, before bees and moths emerged. The tumbling flower beetle in the Mordellidae family remains one of the magnolia's most important pollinators. #nativeplants #pollinators 🧪🌍🌱

Cope's gray treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis)

What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders? In the United States and Canada, there are more than 4600 species of native bees, but only one species of imported honey bee.

What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders? A majority of the world’s insect species have no living expert who can identify them.

Peto and colleagues report that founding bumblebee queens (Bombus impatiens) building their first nest, pause egg-laying while larvae are present and resume when their brood enters the pupal stage 1/2 #nativebees 🧪🌍🐝 phys.org/news/2025-06...

It feels like summer seeing this two-spotted bumble bee nectaring on purple coneflower 💕🐝💚🌍🌱 #nativebees #nativeplants

Barbero and colleagues report increased flow and sugar content of snapdragon flower nectar in response to the sound of a familiar bee pollinator. www.popsci.com/environment/... #bees #pollinators 🧪 🌍 🌱 🐝

#ThereisNoPlanetB! While actions we take in our yards & in our communities may seem insignificant, there are many millions of us, and together, we are powerful. Read this for ideas & links to resources for some of the most significant actions. greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2024/12/its-...

Many thanks to these amazing animals who maintain our green planet and keep our families fed. Happy World Bee Day! 🐝💚 #worldbeeday #bees #gratitude

In praise of Eastern carpenter bees, important pollinators of crops and wild plants in the Eastern US. #pollinators #bees #nativebees maineaudubon.org/news/small-w...

Tulip trees are in bloom! Tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera) are premier wildlife plants. They support pollinators, browsing mammals, and are larval host plants for swallowtail and viceroy butterflies. 🌍 🌱 🐝

This tropical frog loves nectar. But is he pollinating the plants he visits? 🧪🌍🌱 www.science.org/content/arti...

Networks in Aquatic Communities Collapse Upon Neonicotinoid-Induced Stress doi.org/10.1111/ele.... This is our reality 8 years after contamination of a nearby wetland. Much wildlife is missing compared to the abundance we enjoyed before. Even upland animals are harmed by contaminated water. 🧪 🌍

All about sunflowers! Nutritional and medicinal support for bees. Open access: doi.org/10.3389/fpls... 🧪 🌍 🌱 🐝 #beekeepers

Imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid insecticide, is used in US poultry house bedding/floors to control insect pests. Tsao and colleagues report that chickens exposed to imidacloprid had concentrations of concern in their organs, meat, and eggs. 🧪 Open access pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Bee pesticide exposure was characterized in cherry orchards. Wild bees were primarily exposed to pesticides via wild flowering plants/weeds among and adjacent to crops. Pesticide aerial drift and off-site water contamination are threats to wild bees near agricultural areas. tiny.cc/h7wh001 🧪🌍🌱🐝

Zebra swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus) extending and drying their wings after emerging from their chrysalis. The North American native pawpaw tree (Asimina triloba) is their larval host plant. 🌍🌱

In a virtual event at the GetLit! Literary festival, Michelle Nijhaus and I discuss wildlife conservation and our award winning books, Restoring Eden and Beloved Beasts. View at: In Defense of Animals: Conservation as a Life’s Work youtu.be/4Rlbqy5Ua8w 🌍 🐝 💙📚

Wang and colleagues studied honey bee foraging in a field study and reported impaired pollen collection after neonicotinoid exposure. This second modeling study confirms their findings: phys.org/news/2025-04... 🧪🌍🌱🐝

Native animal pollinators in northern North America are threatened by extinction. Insects such as bees are at highest risk. We can support pollinators by providing uncontaminated habitat: natural areas for nesting, pesticide-free flowers, and clean water are a good start. 🧪🌍🌱🐝 tinyurl.com/6x6ekvvx

Pesticides are driving biodiversity loss. They harm non-target life forms including mammals, birds, amphibians, invertebrates, bacteria, fungi and more. We're running out of time to transform our global dependence upon them 🧪🌍🌱🐝 phys.org/news/2025-02... Open access report: doi.org/10.1038/s414...

A native dogwood (Cornus florida) in bloom! The white 'petals' are showy bracts, modified leaves. The entire yellow flower is in the center. If successfully pollinated by native bees, red drupes will form and are a favored food for birds to fuel their fall migration. #nativebees #birds 🌍🌱

So humbled. Thank you Phoebe Weston! 🌍 🐝 @theguardian.com

Climate change is harming bees, both wild and domestic. Phoebe Weston, biodiversity writer for @theguardian.com interviewed me to highlight the plight of the bees. 🧪 🌍 🐝 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The genetic heritage of our food system is conserved by US federal employees who are at risk of losing their ability to protect collections of plants and germplasm we require as we face the triple threat of crop disease, climate change, and species extinction. 🧪 🌍 🌱 www.nytimes.com/2025/03/22/o...

Bumble bees were exposed to three different systemic insecticides for short and for longer time periods. The length of exposure determined the spectrum of harmful effects more than the type of insecticide tested. bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... 🧪🌍 🐝 #nativebees #bees

Toxic flowers have been implicated in insect pollinator decline. Yet most plants sold (including native plants) in the US are treated with pollinator-toxic, persistent insecticides pre-sale. 🌍 🌱 🐝 #bees Learn about selecting pollinator-safe plants here: tinyurl.com/2kxdsk6j

Could overwinter colony losses be reduced by optimizing Varroa treatment timing? O’Shea-Wheller's new open access report on bee outcomes in the UK suggests so: tinyurl.com/3xpjj3ut. Reducing the prevalence of Varroa mites among honey bee colonies benefits all bees. #addbeekeeper #bees 🧪 🌍 🐝