By Reeve Gutsell
In recent years, many New Englanders have noticed an abundance of ladybugs congregating near the walls and windows of their homes during the end of autumn and re-emerging during spring. These non-native harlequin ladybugs (Harmonia axyridis: actually a beetle, not a “bug”) are an invasive species that were introduced to North America in 1916 to control scale insects and aphids, both of which are major crop pests. Although they did successfully control aphids, harlequin ladybug populations didn’t establish in the wild until 1988, when one wild population was noticed near New Orleans. Since then, they have spread throughout much of North America, as well as into Europe, South Africa and South America.
By David Spector
By mid-winter many of the smaller, more colorful birds have gone south for the season, and now is a good time to pay attention to gulls. With their black, white and gray plumage, these engaging birds are a match to the winter landscape. As ecological generalists, gleaning gulls can make a living on our leavings as they pick over the corn left in farm fields, fries in fast-food parking lots and discarded bits of food in and around rivers.
By Reeve Gutsell
As readers of this column may be aware, a recent article in the Gazette highlighted Project Stream and the wetland restoration work at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley. This project is a wonderful example of restoration ecology — the recovery of ecosystems that have been degraded, damaged or destroyed. In recent years, significant amounts of time, money and effort have been invested in projects like these around the country.
By Ted Watt
Recently I’ve been thinking about plants that stay green during the freezing temperatures of our winters. What function does that green serve in the plants’ annual cycle?
As a naturalist I have become accustomed to thinking that there is a reason for every structure and behavior we observe in the natural world. And if what we observe seems nonsensical to us, it just means that we need to observe more carefully, and gather further information about the creature or habitat we are learning about, in order to make sense of what we are seeing.
By David Spector
Confronted with the task of traveling up and down a tree or ladder, most humans approach both the ascent and the descent with legs down and head up. Most birds with a scansorial (climbing) lifestyle similarly move along the trunk of a tree with their tail down and head up.
By Michael Dover
Amazed as I am to say it, this is the 200th Earth Matters column. Something about having 10 fingers and 10 toes seems to make us like numbers ending in zero — the more the merrier. And somehow, reaching 200 feels more significant than the fact that in March we’ll be celebrating eight years of publishing this column every two weeks, under the aegis of the Hitchcock Center for the Environment. Both of these are especially remarkable to me, as I’ve been coordinating and co-editing it since we began in 2009.
By Elizabeth Farnsworth For the Gazette
Recently, I had a startling close encounter with a turkey. One morning, I woke up to a loud crash like a gun shot. I leapt to my feet and looked around. Not detecting anything amiss, I was just about to return to bed when I was startled again, by the doorbell. A neighbor informed me that a turkey had just flown into my front window!
By Joshua Rose For the Gazette
When we move to a new house, we want to know who are neighbors are. On Oct. 1, the Hitchcock Center held the grand opening for its new home at Hampshire College in Amherst. But Hitchcock naturalist Ted Watt couldn’t wait to start exploring the new site. So, back on June 18, 3½ months before the grand opening, Ted invited other nature lovers to join him for a “bioblitz” of Hitchcock’s home-to-be.
By David Spector For the Gazette
Each animal needs information about the world to help regulate both its internal environment and its relationships with the external environment. The various senses, different for each species, provide this information.
By Katie Koerten
In 2012, I attended a conference at which Oberlin College professor David Orr spoke of “life in a greenhouse world.” One thing we’ll need to do, he said, was to “neighbor as a verb.” The concept of neighborliness as a response to climate change has stuck with me ever since. It made a lot of sense to me that being good neighbors will strengthen us and make us more resilient in an uncertain future.
Hitchcock Center for the Environment
at Hampshire College
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