🌻 wildflower.org. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

🌻 Wildflowers of Texas (A Timber Press Field Guide) by Michael Eason

🌻 https://www.flickr.com/photos/162482904@N06/. Michael Eason's TexasFlora Flickr feed.

So many prickly pears! Here are resource that might help me tell them apart. I guess I have to start photographing them again.

🌵 Cacti of the Trans-Pecos & Adjacent Areas by A. Michael Powell and James F. Weedin has lots of information on various Opuntia spp.

🌵 Opuntiads.com website (descriptions with herbarium scans and images of live plants, etc.). It also does the chollas, which recently split out of genus Opuntia.

🌵 Texas opuntia species: https://www.opuntiads.com/category/texas-opuntias/

🌵 The Opuntiads group on FB is another great resource, plenty of knowledgeable people there.

🌵 "Texas Cacti" by Brian Loflin and Shirley Loflin. Some species have variability within a species and there are sub species.

We end Week 17 of the iNaturalist World Tour back in the Neotropics where we started - in Suriname. Suriname sits above Brazil with French Guiana to the East and Guyana to the West. And while these countries have respective Portuguese, French, and British colonial pasts, Suriname has a Dutch colonial legacy.

The top observer is @gerryvantonder who remotely from Zimbabwe is working with his brother based in Suriname near the border with French Guiana to document local wildlife. @gerryvantonder's brother sends him photographs which he works to identify and posts to iNaturalist. The second top observer is @djhiker with observations clustered around the capital of Paramaribo along with other top observers such as @nicovr and @bjsmit. The third top observer, @karsten_s has observations from all around Suriname as does @paulcools, the 4th top observer. But on the map, @paulcools appears near Brownsberg Nature Park. This is where the highest concentration of top observers are clustered, perhaps second to only to Paramaribo. They include @mark185, @remco, @mikegrutherford, and @andrewrodrigues.

The number of observations per month ramped up suddenly in 2019 when @gerryvantonder joined the site. Over 500 observations were posted in September of this year, a new high for the country.

The top identifier is @matthewcock who is interested in Lepidoptera of nearby Trinidad and Tobago. @matthewcock also leads in insect IDs along with @rstlaurent (a PhD candidate at the University of Florida studying Lepidoptera) and @johnascher (an entomologist based in Singapore). @ozzhernandez from nearby Venezuela leads in bird IDs and @anabela2 leads in Mollusk IDs.

What can we do to get more people in Suriname using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.

@gerryvantonder @djhiker @karsten_s @paulcools @mark185 @matthewcock @ozzhernandez @rstlaurent @johnascher @anabela2

We’ll be back tomorrow in Ghana!

One of the filtering options that is not currently available on the "Explore" page is the option to remove the obscured observations from the Map view. This means that the map view of populated areas can sometimes look cluttered with obscured observations making it difficult to see the pins for observations with public locations. The below URL can be used to return a page where the obscured observations have been removed from the map view. Keep in mind this will remove not only the observations users have chosen to obscure, but also those obscured automatically for conservation reasons.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_geoprivacy=open&geoprivacy=open

We have two weeks left of our Canterbury Chilean Mayten Hunt.
Thank you to everyone's reports, we have 188 sightings for Canterbury in iNaturalist!

Jason Butt is currently in the lead to have his name engraved on the BRAND NEW Biosecurity 'Eagle Eye Shield' awarded by Environment Canterbury to the person with the most sightings of Chilean mayten in Canterbury for this event. Zipporah is not far behind though! Anything is still possible, and anyone of us reporting is in the draw for spot prizes!

Here's the link for any newbies who would like see key ID features of Chilean mayten against some common 'look alikes' https://spark.adobe.com/page/fifOueJci2ick/

In February, 2014 I traveled to Hawai'i for 2 weeks and 4 days. I arrived to the Kona International airport on The Big Island and could not help but immediately start exploring! It was 12 days of amazing discovery, not only of natural wonders but also of the rich history of Hawai'i and her people. I also did as much as I could with what little time I had. From swimming with Manta Rays to politely asking Dolphins to do tricks for me. From driving the 11/19/190 circuit around The Big Island to flying over Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park!

During this time I photographed as much of the Natural wonders as I possibly could. But my time in the most tropical of all States was not over and I was soon on a very short flight to Honolulu on an ATR 42-500 turboprop aircraft, my very first Island Hopping adventure! I spent 4 days exploring the beautiful island of Oahu but not before paying my respects to the heroes we lost at Pearl Harbor! What an incredible memorial with so much history and information readily available to visitors. I even managed to get a photo with a living WW2 hero and survivor who just happened to be visiting at the same time!

At any rate this is the first time I am sharing these photos, obviously only the ones my fellow naturalists would like to see. I hope you enjoy seeing as much as I enjoyed taking them!!

Nigeria is the 118th stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. Despite having relatively few observations compared to other nearby countries like Benin
Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there appears to be a lot going on with iNaturalist in Nigeria. The top observer, @dotun55, is naturalist in Nigeria with observations clustered around the capital of Lagos in the southwestern part of the country along with other top observers such as @petersoroye. The second top observer, @agboola, runs an Nigerian NGO called the Environmental Resources Conservation Initiative and has observations clustered around the city of Jos in the center of the country. @agboola is working on a masters at University of Ibadan which is located just to the north of Lagos. Several other top observers such as @taiyeadeyanju, @restlessspaces, and @ddk_photos have observations clustered near the University of Ibadan. In the northern part of the country @abumuazu has observations clustered near Malumphashi and Katsina. @abumuazu was involved in the Kastani Flora project administered by @abubello associated with a Systematic Biology class at Umaru Musa Yardua University in Katsina. You can see the cluster of students participating in this project around Katsina near the northern border with Niger. Also in the northern part of the country, @a_s_ringim has observations clusterd around Dutse and @umarsalehgwani clustered around Bauchi. In the southeastern part of the country, @also_sprach_susscrofa has observations clustered around the Iko Esai Community Forests and you can see the cluster around Port Harcourt associated with the 2019 City Nature Challenge Port Harcourt organized by @epsi.

The number of observations per month ticked up in mid-2017 and has been relatively steady since then. The peak in October 2017 was from the Kastani Flora project mentioned above.

The top identifiers are the usual identifier champions for most of the African countries we've examined so far. @jakob leads overall and in all categories except plants, birds, and fungi. @cabintom is the second top insect identifier (along with @jakob), @marcoschmidtffm and @abumuazu lead in plants (check out @marcoschmidtffm's Flora of Africa project here and @johnnybirder leads in birds.

What can we do to get more people in Nigeria using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.

@dotun55 @agboola @taiyeadeyanju @abumuazu @petersoroye @a_s_ringim @jakob @marcoschmidtffm @johnnybirder @cabintom

We’ll be back tomorrow in Suriname!

Принимаются предложения по оформлению заглавной страницы проекта, смело предлагайте свои фотоработы!

For this nature walk I walked around the neighborhood of Brighton and looked at some of the different types of trees and bushes that grow around the area. I went with one of my roommates who knows a lot about trees as he is a landscaper, which was really interesting because he would point out and identify types of trees I had never even heard of before. The weather was absolutely gorgeous (a little overcast, but the temperature was amazing). Also, finding a burning bush was probably my favorite part. At my old home in Philadelphia, we had tons of burning bushes around our property and they were some of my favorite plants. When it finally becomes fall and the bushes turn bright red, they are absolutely beautiful. The one that I found was starting to turn red in some areas of the bush - I will upload another observation when the plant fully changes colors!

Although Austin's Camp Mabry had another record high of 96 deg F, and it was still warm when we started our monthly amphibian monitoring, a couple of cold fronts and a little bit of rain over the last two weeks have eased the drought conditions somewhat. The middle slough springhead was dry, and the artesian well was not flowing, but the main ponds still had water.
A dozen folks pitched in by stopping to look and listen, shining flashlights, spotting frogs, catching toads, carrying equipment, and doing bucket lid duty. We observed four amphibian species - Blanchard's Cricket Frog (Call Index = 0), Gulf Coast Toad (CI = 0), Rio Grande Leopard Frog (CI = 2), and American Bullfrog (CI = 0). The latter was observed in the slough between the playground and the main pond, but it escaped capture and getting its picture taken.
The monitoring period was 18:55 - 20:40.
Participants were Kathy, Amy & Mike, Christie, Carolyn & Susan (welcome !) & Gary (welcome !), Jim, Keri, Mark & Tracy, and Lynne.
Environmental conditions at the main pond 1.5 hours after sunset:
- Air temperature = 68.4 deg F
- Water temperature = 71.5 deg F
- Sky = No/few clouds
- Water level = below average
- Relative humidity = 41 %

This is just a guide meant to help distinguish betweeen the three species of Mutinus in NA, which doesn't have any other ones. The three species are M. elegans, M. caninus, and M. ravenelii. Basic information comes from MushroomExpert's species page and key to NA phallaleceae.

elegans:

Smoothly tapered, not swollen towards the tip. It has a smooth/bumpy/minutely pitted surface that's slightly curved, with gleba going down fairly far. Examples:
Example with a very smooth surface Color is a reddish orange (I mention it because Phallus impudicus is often a bit yellower, although there's variation).
Example with some pores).
Extreme version of the gleba going down really far.

M. elegans is almost always slightly curved, has no distinct area for the gleba in the stem, and usually has an opening at the end (size varies). Not always, but it is far more common in elegans than in the others. As far as Mutinus spp go, elegans is the easiest and less ambiguous one to ID.

caninus and ravenelii

These are more difficult to distinguish. What both of them have in common is that they tend to have naturally straighter fruiting bodies and a distinct head region. That is NOT a distinct, skirt-like cap (that'd be P. rubicundus), I mean that the stipe under the gleba is just a different color (darker) and has a different texture. The texture is pretty much identical to that of the entire M. elegans fruiting body (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Dog_Stinkhorn_-_Mutinus_caninus_%2838152881936%29.jpg>Example). I also think (don't quote me on this) that they don't have an opening at the tip. Below is how they differ from each other.

ravenelii:

It is a reddish pink color near the top (particularly in the glebar area), not orange at all. Near the bottom it is often a light pink or even white. It is often somewhat stout, and has prominently large pores.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/31727756@N05/3144980147/

caninus:

there seems to be two kinds of Mutinus that are called caninus. The proper, european M. caninus is pretty distinct. It is very long and slender, the gleba is found only at the very tip, and the glebar region is either smaller or larger. Mushroomexpert says it's swollen, but I find that a lot of the things people call caninus actualy have a SMALLER "head"
Example with a swollen head
Example with a smaller head
another one with a small head.
These examples also show the typical coloration and texture, although there is a completely white caninus variety, and sometimes they have smaller pores. However, I have never seen a caninus with a smooth/bumpy texture in the shaft like in elegans.

The other type of "caninus" is the North American one. NA caninus tend to be far more similar to ravenelii, and some authors treat the two species as different varieties of the same species (I am biased towards that view, at least when it comes to the North American ones). They seem to be a mishmash of shorter/stouter individuals, with different amounts of glebar covering, and differing coliorations. Honestly, I just can't really tell them apart, so here's some examples:

This one is slender and has the gleba only at the tip like caninus, but the coloration is like ravenelii

This one is long/slender but the glebar area is larger and the coloration is like ravenelii

This photo shows variation within a single individual, the one on the left looks like caninus except for the coloration, the one on the right looks like ravenelii because it's a lot stouter and the gleba covers more of the head.

This other one has gleba only at the tip (which is not swollen) and orange coloration, but it's very stout with quite large pores.

Turn This one red and you'd swear it's the paragon of ravenelii (this one's actually European though).

Turn this one orange and you'd swear it's the paragon of caninus.

Final thoughts

Of course, I should say that these are general rules and like with anything in biology, you will find exceptions. Looking through images, I found a decidedly pink elegans that is colored exactly like ravenelii should be, although the shape, lack of a distinct tip region, and texture are clearly elegans.

And lastly, just remember that other than the mention of caninus in eurasia, all of this relates to the contiguous US/Canada. It may apply more broadly in North America, but I'm not totally sure. It DEFINITELY doesn't apply in other parts of the world, where there are other Mutinus spp. As an example, here is M. bambusinus

Sat., Oct. 19: Right at 5:00 PDT, I walked into St. John's Cemetery, San Mateo. Weather: mostly sunny with some high clouds as well as high fog visible to the north and west; west winds 4-7 mph; approx. 60 deg. F. (at 4:56 SFO reported 62 deg., 73% humidity, WSW 11 mph). My goal was to see and photograph birds; I stayed in the southern two acres of the cemetery, which tends to see a fair amount of bird activity in the hour or two before sundown. I had to wait 10 minutes for a dogwalker to leave, then had the cemetery to myself.

As usual, there were quite a few American Robins. I counted approx. 20, but but was difficult to count accurately because they were in almost constant motion. The Am. Robins moved back and forth from the trees around the edge of the cemetery to the lawns, sometimes taking shelter in the few trees that grow in the middle of the cemetery; I did not see any birds feeding. Also as usual, there were a number of American Crows; I counted approx. 8, though I heard others in the area.

A female Northern Flicker was kind enough to land on the lawn where I could photograph her. 2 Black Phoebes were active, one perching on a funerary sculpture, and the other working from the Coast Live Oaks near the caretaker's cottage. A small flock of about 6 Yellow-rumped Warblers were active in these same oak trees. 3 House Finches perched in the top of the linden tree next to the parking lot.

2 Dark-eyed Juncos were active along the edge of the gravel drive through the cemetery; it looked like they were getting something from the weeds along the edge of the drive (seeds?). I saw perhaps 6-8 other Dark-eyed Juncos in the trees along the edges of the cemetery.

Since I was primarily photographing, I did not keep an accurate list or count of birds. In addition to the species mentioned above, I also heard: Chestnut-backed Chickadee; Steller's Jay.

At about 5:45, high fog to the west began blocking the sun. Bird activity also dropped at this time (except for the robins and crows). I left by 5:55.

Do you have what it takes to be the best citizen scientist? Don't worry, you don't need a science degree to contribute to our ever-growing database of wildlife on campus (and in the world). All you need is a camera phone and the iNaturalist mobile app 😉 Imagine playing Pokémon GO but you're capturing (photos) of real-life plants and animals!

It's a win for everyone. We get to learn how rich the biodiversity is in UP Diliman, have fun beating each other out in the iNaturalist leaderboard for most number of observations, and contribute in The UP Wild's biodiversity project on campus!

When: October 21, 2019 (3pm to 5pm)
Where: Campus Maintenance Office, Community Affairs Complex, Emilio Jacinto Street, UP Diliman

Program:
3:15pm - 3:45pm Introduction to UP biodiversity
3:45pm - 4:00pm Orientation and instructions
4:00pm - 4:30pm Outdoor field activity (Bioblitz)
4:30pm - 5:00pm Synthesis (simple snacks will be provided)

Reminders:
1. Download iNaturalist app (available in Playstore) in your smart phones prior to the event
2. Make sure you have enough cellphone battery charge for the activity
3. Bring water, cap/umbrella, and insect repellent

I'm surprised as they've never stayed this long.

October 13, 2019: Pair of Trumpeter Swans left the beaver ponds north of Bear River MN. Their route appeared to be Northeast. They had been nesting here all summer, but have not been back since.

Test

Sunday October 20 is the first day of the week-long Continental MycoBlitz 2019.

It's an online, continent-scale mushroom foray that's part of the MycoFlora Project's efforts to document all of the macrofungi in North America. It ends on Sunday October 27.

The basic idea is that the MycoFlora Project will be doing DNA analysis on 2000 fungi collected across North America, contributed by individuals (not clubs). Everybody who registers can contribute up to 10 samples and they'll pick the most interesting 2000 collections from those contributions. No slime molds, FYI.

It's open to anyone and it's relatively easy to participate:

1. Register here http://mycoflora.org/index.php/participate/continental-mycoblitz-2019

2. Join the Mycoblitz iNaturalist project and add your finds to it https://www.inaturalist.org/proj…/continental-mycoblitz-2019

2. Download, print and fill out field slips for the species you want to submit https://mycomap.com/calendar/event-slips?event=123

4. Collect interesting specimens and dry them (this requires a dryer/dehydrator - or get in touch if you want me to dry your collections)

5. Send dried specimens with field slips to their lab at
Purdue Kriebel Herbarium
Lilly Hall of Life Sciences
915 West State St. Room G-447
West Lafayette, IN 47907

The full protocol is here http://mycoflora.org/index.php/participate/continental-mycoblitz-2019

DM me with any questions

Sunday October 20 is the first day of the week-long Continental MycoBlitz 2019.

It's an online, continent-scale mushroom foray that's part of the MycoFlora Project's efforts to document all of the macrofungi in North America. It ends on Sunday October 27.

The basic idea is that the MycoFlora Project will be doing DNA analysis on 2000 fungi collected across North America, contributed by individuals (not clubs). Everybody who registers can contribute up to 10 samples and they'll pick the most interesting 2000 collections from those contributions. No slime molds, FYI.

It's open to anyone and it's relatively easy to participate:

1. Register here http://mycoflora.org/index.php/participate/continental-mycoblitz-2019

2. Join the Mycoblitz iNaturalist project and add your finds to it https://www.inaturalist.org/proj…/continental-mycoblitz-2019

2. Download, print and fill out field slips for the species you want to submit https://mycomap.com/calendar/event-slips?event=123

4. Collect interesting specimens and dry them (this requires a dryer/dehydrator - or get in touch if you want me to dry your collections)

5. Send dried specimens with field slips to their lab at
Purdue Kriebel Herbarium
Lilly Hall of Life Sciences
915 West State St. Room G-447
West Lafayette, IN 47907

The full protocol is here http://mycoflora.org/index.php/participate/continental-mycoblitz-2019

DM me with any questions

Добрый день!

Концепция немного сменилась - для охраняемых территорий теперь отображаются находки не только уровня Research Grade, но и еще без подтверждения определения, но собранные по всем правилам. Сделано так потому, чтобы отображать всю активность на охраняемых территориях и предоставить возможность видеть неопределенные находки, собственно для их определения. Кроме того, в проекте много фотографий находок высокого качества, которые могут содержать дополнительную информацию.

А отсчёт показателей будет вестись по двум наборам значений:
Наблюдения Research Grade, которых теперь 5126, которые сделаны 107 натуралистами и определены 601 экспертом, всего видов - 1733.
Всего наблюдений 7001, сделанных 118 натуралистами и определенных 656 экспертами.

One of the marine mammals released Saturday, named Cringle, was taken in by the Pacific Marine Mammal Center with a broken flipper. Another, named Buzz, had an injured face, while one named Zion was wrapped in monofilament and tangled in fishing lines.

https://ktla.com/2019/10/19/seven-rehabilitated-marine-mammals-released-into-pacific-ocean/amp/

Comme vous pouvez le remarquer pour les observations placées sur le site depuis le début de septembre, j’ai ajouté des photos concernant les caractéristiques de l’espèce et l’habitat.
Pour les premières, c’est de vous inciter à examiner la ou les parties importantes de l’insecte car l’identification de l’espèce sur le terrain est impossible à confirmer. Souvent, il faut voir le dessous du corps.
Au sujet du second, le but est de vous donner une aperçu écologique de l’endroit. Depuis quelques années, j’ai photographié presque tous les habitats de capture.
Pour le première fois depuis 2010, j’ai eu la chance de capturer des Hébridés en 2017 et 2018 dans une seule localité : Saint-Félix-de-Valois. Ce sont deux espèces que je vous présente.
Le Québec en compte trois espèces.

HEBRUS BUENOI
J’ai été heureux et très surpris d’avoir récolté 5 exemplaires le 21 octobre 2017 par tamisage parmi des petits saules dans une emprise à environ 30 m d’un étang. Habituellement, cette punaise se rencontre dans les étangs et les marais stagnants.
Une question se pose : pourquoi les spécimens étaient éloignés de l’étang? Il est fort probable qu’ils cherchaient un lieu pour hiberner.
Voici une liste des caractéristiques de l’espèce :
-les antennes ont 5 segments
-le vertex a un sillon
-l’apex du scutellum est échancré
Selon ma base de données, cette punaise est présente au Québec dans les régions administratives suivantes : Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Centre-du-Québec, Estrie, Lanaudière, Laval, Les Laurentides, Montérégie, Montréal et Outaouais.

MERRAGATA HEBROIDES
L’unique spécimen a été trouvé dans l’étang le 18 mai 2018 près du lieu de capture d’H. buenoi.
Le genre Merragata se caractérise par des antennes composées de 4 segments et il n’y a qu’une seule espèce dans la province qui se reconnaît par les quatre taches pâles sur la membrane.
Cette punaise est rare et partage le même habitat que H. buenoi.
Selon ma base de données, cette espèce a été prise au Québec dans 6 régions administratives : Estrie, Lanaudière, Laval, Montérégie, Montréal et Outaouais.

Hymenoptera are Holometabolous, their life cycle consists of four phases: egg, multiple instars, pupa, and adult. "Complete metamorphosis" is the common term for this life cycle. Insect orders with this life cycle are grouped under the term Endopterygota because immatures never have visible wing buds.

Principi e metodi di Museologia Naturalistica
Preparazione, conservazione e ostensione di esemplari di Vertebrati con finalità di ricerca

seminari e attività di laboratorio nella sede della
Società Romana di Scienze Naturali
1, 2, 3 novembre 2019

In considerazione dell’interesse suscitato tra gli affiliati alla SRSN si estende l’informativa a tutti gli interessati, precisando che le attività di laboratorio sono limitate ai soli soci mentre il seminario-conferenza è aperto al pubblico; tuttavia, nei giorni suddetti, le collezioni della SRSN saranno accessibili anche al pubblico.

Sulle giornate di venerdì 1, sabato 2 e domenica 3 novembre si puntualizza quanto segue: l’orario delle attività nei laboratori della sede sociale prevede due turni giornalieri, ore 9,00-13,00 e ore 15,00-19,00; i soci possono scegliere giorno e turno a piacere e volendo anche due turni dello stesso giorno o di giorni diversi.

Venerdì 1 novembre, il turno pomeridiano includerà (ore 15,00-16,30) la conferenza

LA CONSERVAZIONE DEI VERTEBRATI CON FINALITÀ DI RICERCA

a cura di
Pierangelo Crucitti

Società Romana di Scienze Naturali SRSN
Via Fratelli Maristi 43 - 00137 Roma
Tel. 0641400494 - 3913885175
info@srsn.it

Its the middle of October and the rainy season is going strong. I will try to do more observations when the weather seems better. Meanwhile I can do more research and preparation. There are a whole bunch of things that can make me a better citizen scientist.

My summer of rediscovering Texas flora was interrupted in June by an injury requiring foot surgery. In early October, I was cleared to put full weight on my foot (in a surgical boot) and walk on uneven surfaces, but today (4 months later) was the first day since then that walking outside has been an option. We’ve either had slip-and-fall-risk terrain from rain or heat-stroke weather with temperatures approaching 100F and high humidity. Because the idea of walking around my neighborhood on concrete in a surgical boot was unappealing, my husband, a friend, and I went to a nearby greenbelt, Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve on Loop 360 in Austin, TX. Its accessible trail, the half mile Arroyo Vista Loop, was a challenge for my wobbly ankle and stiff arch. I remember that when my dad visited years ago, the path was smooth, flat, and well mulched. Apparently when I walk with more sure-footed people, I pay much less attention to the trail’s maintenance, so I was surprised to see that the years had not been kind to the trail footing. But I survived.

A birthday party of elementary school girls thundered past us throughout our walk, but I was unable to work up any outrage for the noise. Mostly I enjoyed the clean smell of nature, admired and photographed the plants, watched the occasional butterfly flit by, and glimpsed a few insects and spiders before they disappeared. Butterflies were small yellow Sulfurs (?) and a few Monarchs passing through on their way to their wintering grounds. Boot-encumbered old ladies with cell phone cameras aren’t going to photograph butterflies on a rocky hillside, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

My favorite observation today was a fine textured twining vine with small, narrow leaves and minuscule flowers. I could see it had tiny white flowers but I needed the zoom screen on my phone to have a clue about their shape and I had to see it on my tablet to really see its features. I've tentatively IDed it as an Edwards Plateau native,
Bearded Swallow-Wort, Metastelma barbigerum. It’s easy to see, with extreme magnification, why it’s called "bearded." Don’t know about the swallow-wort part. Maybe it’s something to do with sore throats...
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/34568932

Looking up this plant led me down a dark path. Two European species of swallow-worts have become a well-researched, invasive scourge on wildlands and fields in the eastern US 🍁🍂. Both Black Swallow-wort and Pale Swallow-wort are aggressive vines that can form a solid canopy or fill up a field by twining up itself, which isn’t good for the plants they compete with for light, water, and nutrients. Their roots give off allelopathic compounds that prevent or reduce the germination and growth of other plants, including native milkweed species that are the “proper” larval hosts of Monarchs and many related butterflies. They’re also larval trap plants, meaning that the adults will lay their eggs on the invaders but the larvae die because their host plant doesn't nourish them. Talk about three strikes for the Monarchs!

I didn’t learn whether M. barbigerum is a good, bad, or indifferent host for Monarchs, although other native Metastelma species are acceptable hosts for other butterflies. But I did learn something about climate change and the milkweed/Monarch relationship 🐼. It’s fairly well-known that Monarch larvae accumulate toxins from their host plants for defense against predators and parasites 🍃 🍁 🍂. But it was news to me that when the plants grow in warmer temperatures, they produce too much of the toxin, which reduces the vigor of the larvae and adult butterflies. Plus, when CO2 levels rise, the toxins become less effective at protecting against parasites 🌿. This is bad news about climate change that I had somehow overlooked.

Taxonomically, swallow-worts are milkweeds. You probably figured that out for yourself because they’re Monarch hosts. They’re in the Milkweed subfamily (Asclepiadoideae) of the Dogbane family (Apocynaceae). Wait, you hadn’t heard about the dogbanes absorbing the milkweeds? That’s OK. Except in botanical circles, it didn’t make headlines. In the taxon scheme iNaturalist uses, the European invaders are in a different genus than “my” swallow-wort: Cynanchum versus Metastelma. But in other schemes, the Bearded Swallow-wort is lumped in with them as Cynanchum barbigerum. I’m glad iNat keeps up with taxon juggling for me and Google makes it easy to look up obsolete names.

If you feel like exploring or IDing, here are my observations:

I’d be overjoyed if someone who knows Harvestmen, bees, or mites would look at my arthropods

References

• 🍃 https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/monarchs-use-milkweed-preventive-medicine-climate-change-may-wreck-pharmacy/li>
• 🌿 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180403120004.htm
• 🍁 http://nyis.info/invasive_species/swallow-wort
• 🍂 https://www.massaudubon.org/learn/nature-wildlife/invasive-plants/swallow-wort
• 🐼 https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/monarch-butterflies-and-climate-change

The tiny Cayman Islands are the 117th stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. Located south of Cuba in the Caribbean Sea, the three islands Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are technically British Overseas Territories. Of the top 10 observers, only @zahnerphoto has observations not centered on Grand Cayman (ie Little Cayman). Everyone else (e.g. @blazeclaw, @sea-kangaroo, @mlodinow, @ehicks1054, @ehjalmarson, @maractwin, @marique, @wyattherp, and @the_little_elephant) is clustered on Grand Cayman itself. @caymannature is a nature guide based in the Cayman Islands.

There was a peak driven by @sea-kangaroo in June 2016. Observations ramped up in the winter of 2018/2019.

@maractwin is the top identifier and leads in fish IDs. @mreith leads in plants from the nearby Dominican Republic. @joshuagsmith leads in birds. @birdnerdnariman and @kemper are also top identifiers

What can we do to get more people in the Cayman Islands using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.

@blazeclaw @sea-kangaroo @mlodinow @ehicks1054 @ehjalmarson @maractwin @mreith @joshuagsmith @birdnerdnariman @kemper

We’ll be back tomorrow in Nigeria!

Im a shift worker, and until i started working night shifts out on the road i never truly understood that the world is a different place at night.
People are mostly tucked up in bed, the roads are empty, streets are silent and the noises are totally different. The world is actually a beautiful place at night!
If you sit quietly you will also notice how many animals are out and about after dark.
This is absolutely true of our underwater world.
I dive mostly shore dives and during the day the marine life is often hiding from swimmers, boats, fishermen etc etc. At night they are 'protected' by the darkness and come out for all to see. Our torch beams will also attract some marine life, so we get an up close look of an otherwise very shy animal. They come to check out the light, feed on the smaller animals that are attracted to our light or just dont mind and go about their business un-deterred.
It is very easy to get spooked on a night dive, with shadows playing tricks on your mind, the darkness beyond your torch often being totally black and things like to bump into you as you swim along, almost as if to test your nerve. But, if you can relax and move past that fear you will be hooked.
If you have never tried a night dive, get yourself a buddy, have an afternoon siesta and plan your next dive. I promise you will not be disappointed.

En raison d'absence d'inscriptions et/ou de confirmation, l'activité est reportée au printemps 2020.

Surveillez le journal du projet vers le mois d'avril 2020.

I went to the Chestnut Hill Reservoir for the first time for my nature walk. I went in between my classes on Thursday in the mid-morning. The reservoir was very nice to walk around, and there were people walking their dogs or just going for a walk around it as well. The only downside was it was pretty chilly and the wind was pretty strong, making it feel even colder. As for the plants, there were a bunch of different types of plants on the side of the water, along with lots of trees and plants on the outside part of the path. The trees were starting to change colors which made for a scenic walk, and more interesting than the usual green. Overall, my walk was enjoyable and I saw many interesting plants, and even some geese/swans.

http://hdoa.hawaii.gov/blog/main/nr19-17waipioiguana/