The yearlong Nature Moments video series was recently featured on local ABC affiliate WMTW’s “Made in Maine” series, hosted by Steve Minich, and on Maine Public Radio’s “Maine Calling,” hosted by Jennifer Rooks.
Nathaniel T. Wheelwright
The yearlong Nature Moments video series was recently featured on local ABC affiliate WMTW’s “Made in Maine” series, hosted by Steve Minich, and on Maine Public Radio’s “Maine Calling,” hosted by Jennifer Rooks.
Those splotches on rocks, tree trunks and twigs? Lichens! Lichens are actually a symbiosis between two major divisions of life, neither of which is a plant. And you can find them everywhere, as long as the air is not polluted.
Trees provide us shelter, fuel, food, protection from climate change, and beauty. But they also have deep spiritual importance. In a treetop conversation, forest ecologist Nalini Nadkarni points out the connection between trees and religion.
If you live in an old house, you probably are acquainted with these three home invaders: long-bodied cellar spiders, western conifer seed bugs, and multicolored Asian lady beetles. Although they’re not native to the northeast, they’re completely harmless and really quite companionable.
Have you ever noticed tumor-like growths on plants? Fungi, insects, mites and bacteria are like “body snatchers,” penetrating plant cells and manipulating them to produce galls, cankers and witch’s brooms for the parasites’ benefit. Fortunately, most are benign.