12 May 2011
Posted in NatureWorks

National Geographic reports that exotic plants may make your yard look beautiful but in the long run they will cause harm to our ecosystems. Dr. Doug Tallamy an entomologist (insect expert) at the University of Delaware explains why having only plants native to your area is so important.

Ever since non-native people started to arrive on America's shores, they've carried along with them trees, flowers, and vegetables from other places. Now there are so many of those outside plant species that they are crowding out the native plants that have lived here since before settlers arrived. This may not seem like too much of an issue until you consider the fact that the type of plants has an impact on other living things in the environment, like insects and animals.

Think of it as a web, which starts with the plants, goes to the insects, and ends with birds. Almost all the plant-eating insects in the United States—90% of them—are specialized, which means they eat only certain plants. When those certain plants aren’t available for the bugs to eat anymore the insects die off. In turn, insects are the food source of birds and when the insect population drops so does the bird population.

Dr. Tallamy points out that, "we cannot let the plants and animals around us disappear," and, "the way to preserve them is to give them food to eat. But when we plant non-native plants, we are clobbering the food web, because then we don't have the insects the birds need to live."

What can you do to help this situation? It’s simple! "Just Google 'native plants' and your location, and you can find out which plants really belong where you live," says Tallamy. He also suggests getting your children involved with the planting process or even having them, “adopt a bird species in trouble and see if [they] can't plant some things that will attract the insects they need."

Photo Above: Milkweed is a flower native to Central Florida. Monarch butterfly caterpillars dine on Milkweed. A small milkweed patch planted in Spring can produce beautiful Monarch butterflies in the Summer!

21 April 2011
Posted in Science Park

National Geographic reported that radioactive material from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, disabled by the March 11^th earthquake and tsunami in Japan, continues to enter the ocean and endanger marine animal life. In the beginning of the month, seawater samples taken near the nuclear power plant, on Japan's eastern coast, showed elevated levels of radioactive isotopes. The presence of radioactive isotopes alone is not bad since all life on Earth, and in the oceans, lives with exposure to natural levels of ionizing radiation. Although we are all in contact with high frequency radiation strong enough to change DNA most genetic damage heals because the damage is coming from a natural source of radiation. However, the addition of human-made radiation can make it harder for the body of humans or animals to repair broken genes.

Radiation concentrations in the Japanese seawater samples have peaked at around 3,355 times the legal limit for seawater, which shows that this radiation exposure is far beyond any natural radiation marine life comes in contact with. Once the radiation enters the seawater it can hurt marine life, either killing, creating genetic mutations in offspring, or passing along the radiation up the food chain. Joseph Rachlin, director of Lehman College's Laboratory for Marine and Estuarine Research in New York City, feels that, "there will be a potential for a certain amount of lethality of living organisms, but that's less of a concern than the possible effects on the genetics of the animals that become exposed,” and that the main problem is the radiation, “altering the genetics of the animal and interfering with reproduction.” However, according to chemical oceanographer Bill Burnett, “The good news is the half life [of iodine, one of the radioactive isotopes] is only eight days,” and, “if they stop the source of the radioactive leakage, this is going to be a short-term problem."

20 April 2011
Posted in DinoDigs

Discovery channel put together a series called Prehistoric. It is a graphics intensive series that takes you on a backwards timeline to see the dinosaurs that lived, fought and died in your backyard hundreds, thousands, even millions of years ago. The focus of this series is to show the amazing extinct creatures that once called our cities home.

While many people know that ferocious dinosaurs and large mammals once roamed America, very few realize that these creatures stalked the exact sites where we've built our major cities and most famous landmarks. We are literally walking in the footsteps of these extinct animals every day, without even realizing it.

Here's a link to Prehistoric New York to get you started!