Nature's Archive
Michael Hawk
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Nature’s Archive, hosted by Michael Hawk, delves into the beauty and complexity of the natural world through interviews with ecologists, naturalists, educators, authors, and researchers. Each episode inspires curiosity and reveals nature’s surprising nuances. Part of Jumpstart Nature, a movement empowering everyone to support the environment, this podcast invites you to connect with nature like never before.
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Top 10 Nature's Archive Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Nature's Archive episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Nature's Archive for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Nature's Archive episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
11/04/24 • 64 min
Do you love spiders and insects? Or perhaps you are more apprehensive of them - or even suffer from arachnophobia. In either case, today’s discussion is for you.
Join me for an enlightening journey into the world of insects and arachnids with Kevin Wiener. Kevin is an environmental educator and founder of the thriving 'All Bugs Go To Kevin' community. In this episode, Kevin shares his inspiring path from pest control to becoming a passionate advocate for arthropods. Explore the crucial roles insects play in our ecosystem, debunk common myths about animals like the Brown Recluse spider, and learn about sustainable pest control methods - including what you can do in your own home.
Kevin also discusses his experiences with arthropod pets, the importance of community support in overcoming fears, and the joys of integrating photography into environmental education and personal discovery. Whether you're a seasoned nature enthusiast or just curious, this episode offers fascinating insights and practical tips for fostering a balanced ecosystem in your own backyard. Don't miss this chance to transform fear into fascination and discover the often overlooked beauty of bugs.
You can find Kevin at allbugsgotokevin.com, and of course, if you’re on Facebook, consider joining the All Bugs Go to Kevin group. It’s one of the bright spots of social media.
FULL SHOW NOTES on jumpstartnature.com
LINKS
All Bugs Go To Kevin - website
All Bugs Go To Kevin - Facebook Group
Brown Recluse Spider by Richard Vetter
Travis McEnery’s Brown Recluse Documentary
Spiders of North America by Sarah Rose
Podcasts Mentioned
Kevin Wiener on the Bugs Need Heroes podcast
Jumpstart Nature's Cicada Episode (Kevin is featured)
Sarah Rose on Nature's Archive (spiders!)
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Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!
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#18: Kerry Knudsen - The Magic of Lichen
Nature's Archive
04/12/21 • 55 min
You’re gonna be liken this episode. Well, let me rephrase that - you’re going to like this episode about lichen.
What’s a lichen? If you’ve hiked just about anywhere, you’ve probably seen one. They are colorful organisms that grow on rocks, tree branches, and even fence posts. Around where I live, I see lichens growing on people’s roofs, too!
I called them organisms because they are complicated. Sometimes they are characterized as symbiotic relationships between a fungi and an algae. But it’s much more interesting than that.
And there are few people better to help us learn about lichens and how to find them than Kerry Knudsen, a lichenologist at the University of Life Sciences in Prague.
Kerry’s personal story is equally fascinating as lichens themselves. Kerry got started in lichens later in life after a health condition derailed a long career in construction. And he’s gone on to discover over 60 new lichen species that were previously undescribed, founded the lichen collection at the University of California, Riverside, and has 161 peer reviewed publications on ResearchGate and more elsewhere.
So get ready to learn about lichens, how they live, what they do, how they propagate, how wildfire impacts them, and much more.
So, as Allie Ward likes to say in her Entertaining Ologies podcast, despite my preparation and research, I had a lot of freedom to ask a smart person stupid questions, and I thank Kerry for his patience and detail in his answers.
SHOW NOTESLinks
Andre Breton - the founder of Surrealism kept a lichen collection just for the beauty and inspiration
California Lichen Society
Rick Halsey of the California Chaparral Institute. See my past interview with Rick.
Steven Levitt - University of Chicago economist who analyzed the ranching use of the Amazon rainforest. He had a podcast episode with his solution.
Theodore Payne Foundation - Kerry mentioned working here for a period
Univ. of California Riverside Herbarium
Books
A Field Guide to California Lichens - Stephen Sharnoff
Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest - Bruce McCune
Usnea is a genus with over 600 species, and is difficult to identify in the field
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Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com
Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!
1 Listener
Alison Pollack - Finding and Photographing Slime Molds
Nature's Archive
12/31/24 • 65 min
Slime molds (Myxomycetes) are beautiful, weird, and amazing organisms. Often mistaken for fungi, they are actually single celled, yet they grow and efficiently move in search of food, can start and stop their life cycle based on environmental conditions, and even change colors several times during their brief life cycle. They can be beautifully colored, frequently iridescent, and can be ornately shaped. And better still, they can be found in much of the world - maybe even in your yard.
My guest today, Alison Pollack, is a renowned slime mold photographer and unabashed enthusiast of slime molds and their habitats. If you follow nature photographers on Instagram, perhaps you count yourself as one of her nearly 60,000 followers.
Today, Alison tells us what exactly a slime mold is - and no, it is not a mold or fungi. She tells us about their fascinating lifecycle, where they grow, and how to find them.
Alison then tells us about her astonishing macro photography of slime molds - both in the field and in her home studio. She walks through her process, technique, and equipment she uses to create her acclaimed photos. If you do nothing else, follow her on Instagram @marin_mushrooms, or check the photos below to get a hint of the beauty of the slime molds, and Alison's artistic skill in capturing them.
You can also find Alison on Facebook at AlisonKPollack, and on iNaturalist at alison_pollack.
FULL SHOW NOTES
Links To Topics Discussed
From Macro to Micro: The Art of Fungi Photography with Alison Pollack
Damon Tighe - was on Episode 36 talking Fungi
Nikon Small World Master of Microscopy
Slime Mold Identification and Appreciation - Facebook Group
All the Rain Promises and More by David Arora
Laowa ultra macro lens - there are models for each major camera manufacturer.
Myxomycetes - A Handbook of Slime Molds by Steven Stephenson
Olympus Tough TG-6 - this seems to be the most recommended pocket camera by naturalists of many types
Where the Slime Mould Creeps by Sarah Lloyd
Support Us On Patreon!
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Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com
Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!
1 Listener
04/18/22 • 54 min
Eric Eaton is an entomologist and the well known author of Wasps: The Astonishing Diversity of a Misunderstood Insect, and co-author of the Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America. We discuss his most recent work, Insectpedia. Insectpedia is a fascinating and non-traditional look at insects, the people who study them, and their role in history and society.
Today, learn about Eric's non-traditional path to entomology and writing, and the lasting impact of one of his kindergarten teachers.
And soon enough we get into some amazing entomological facts. For example, do you know what the fly belt is? As a hint, I'll tell you it's not a leather strip used to keep a fly's pants from falling off. Joking aside, you will hear exactly what the fly belt is and how the tsetse fly is filling a preservationist role. You'll also learn about parasitoids - and specifically, the differences between parasites and parasitoids. You'll hear how a wasp targets yellow jacket wasps, but only indirectly through a third party caterpillar. Prepare to have your mind blown.
And Eric tells us why aphids are actually really important to our food web. And as frequent listeners know, I love aphids for that reason!
Eric also gives us some perspective on how we, as individuals, can help make societal-level shifts to help our environment. And stick around to the end - Eric has plenty of fine book recommendations, too (all listed in the full show notes).
You can find Eric on Twitter, iNaturalist, and Facebook. You can also find him on his blog.
People, Organizations, Websites
Arthro-pod Podcast
Birdability
Bird Names for Birds
Eric's Interview on the Ologies podcast with Allie Ward
Mike Houck - Portland Audubon Society
Oregon Entomological Society
senseofmisplaced.blogspot.com - Eric's social commentary blog
Books (affiliate links)
Insects Did It First, by Greg Paulson and Eric Eaton
Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler's Ninth Symphony Lewis Thomas
Lives of a Cell Lewis Thomas
Mariposa Road Robert Michael Pyle
Thunder Tree: Lessons from an Urban Wildland Robert Michael Pyle
What Are People For? by Wendell Berry
Support Us On Patreon!
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Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com
Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!
#37: Dr. Stuart Weiss - Checkerspot Butterflies, Cars, and Cows
Nature's Archive
01/10/22 • 65 min
Today, Dr. Stuart Weiss unravels an amazing and unexpected series of discoveries that connect cows, cars, and conservation, all triggered by the study of the threatened Bay Checkerspot butterfly. These discoveries have had reverberations across ecological circles and have led to amazing conservation successes, despite a senior US Air Force official calling the tiny butterfly a national security threat.
Dr. Weiss has a PhD in Biological Sciences from Stanford University, and is the Founder and Chief Scientist at Creekside Science. He has 29 peer reviewed publications and has wide-ranging research experience in conservation and population biology, microclimate characterization, and statistical analysis.
To understand the checkerspot, we must understand the uniqueness of the land, so that's where we begin. The checkerspot had been in decline for decades, first due to direct reduction of habitat due to development and invasive non-native plants. But Dr. Weiss’s systematic study showed that something else was happening, leading him to unravel the mystery, revealing an unexpected relationship between cars, cows, and the checkerspot that we discuss today.
Dr. Weiss’s work also showed that landscape and population connectivity was a critical, and missing, component. This was at a time where connectivity was not well understood - and even today policymakers and the general public is often unaware of how important it is.
Ultimately, the story of the Bay Checkerspot and the cascade of conservation discoveries and actions is an amazing success story that continues to grow.
I hope you enjoy the discussion. I promise you’ll learn a bit about not only the checkerspot, but also soil ecology, the nitrogen cycle, the nuance of land management and grazing, tule elk, and much more.
Note that there was a bit of scratchy audio at a few spots, but stick with it because we did get it worked out.
FULL SHOW NOTES
Links
Bay Checkerspot
Bay Area Conservation Lands Network (CLN)
California Native Plant Society
California Rangeland Conservation Coalition
Committee for Green Foothills (now just Green Foothills)
Cows, Cars, and Checkerspot Butterflies - Dr. Weiss' 1999 Research Publication
Edith Allen at UC-Riverside
Howard Baker and the Snail Darter Controversy - wikipedia
The Moore Foundation
Valley Habitat Agency
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Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com
Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!
12/21/21 • 87 min
Finally - a deep dive into the Fungi Kingdom thanks to Damon Tighe (instagram, iNaturalist)! Damon is a skilled naturalist, photographer, science communicator, and biotech educator. He has a biology and chemistry degree from Saint Mary’s college, and has years of professional experience in genomics and DNA sequencing, including with the Human Genome Project at the National Lab’s Joint Genome Institute.
Today, Damon describes the basics of fungi - what they are, and how they reproduce. Damon covers the three primary lifestyles that fungi take on - saprophytic, which like to eat dead stuff, parasitic, and mycorrhizal, where they team up with something else.
We discuss fungi and mushrooms that one might encounter, seasonality, how to read the landscape to find mushrooms, and how to identify them. Damon covers some common mushroom myths and whether it is OK to pick mushrooms for ID or general foraging.
He also tells us about some fascinating mushroom behaviors, such as how chicken of the woods fruit in anticipation of rain, and the story of the notorious Deathcap mushroom.
We wrap up with a discussion of DNA sequencing, which is achievable at home relatively inexpensively, and community scientists are driving new discoveries.
FULL SHOW NOTES - check for photos of species discussed today! The chanterelle is must-see!
Referenced Episodes
Magic of Lichens - Knudsen
Amazing World of Plant Galls - Kranz
Links
Entangled Life - Sheldrake
Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast - Siegel and Schwarz
Alan Rockefeller
Barcode the Lake at Lake Merritt
California Center for Natural History
How Many Fungal Spores Do We Breathe In? Source, Source2
SOMA Camp
Fungal DNA Barcoding Links
EverymanBio
Sigrid Jakob
Damon's overview of DNA sequencing
William Padilla-Brown - uses O
Support Us On Patreon!
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Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com
Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!
#38: Beth Pratt - P-22 And The Age of Wildlife Crossings
Nature's Archive
01/24/22 • 63 min
Highways, roadways, and railways isolate animals, prevent them from reaching needed food and water, causing genetic isolation, and make populations vulnerable to natural disasters. And as you’ll hear today, the impacts go much deeper, and sometimes in surprising directions.
My guest Beth Pratt of the National Wildlife Federation and Save LA Cougars tells the astonishing story of how a Los Angeles mountain lion named P-22 triggered a cascade of support leading to one of the most ambitious wildlife crossings ever conceived - the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing.
Beth tells how P-22 helped the second largest city in the USA wake up to the fact that we need to find ways to coexist with nature. We discuss some of the details of wildlife crossing design such as pros and cons of overpass crossings vs tunnels and culverts, and how design can be used to influence animals to use the crossings.
Beth also describes many surprising ways that wildlife crossings help improve ecosystems and the food web. Even plants need connectivity, and even some bird species are negatively impacted by highways.
Beth also authored the book “When Mountain Lions are Neighbors”, which was influential in my progression as a nature advocate.
You can find Beth online at bethpratt.com, Twitter, and Facebook. And of course, you can also find P-22, the talented mountain lion that he is, on Twitter and Facebook.
More links and photos in the FULL SHOW NOTES
Related Episodes and Content
#20 Dr. Yiwei Wang
#35 Ben Goldfarb
#37 Dr. Stuart Weiss
Dr. Merav Vonshak's newt roadkill awareness efforts
Books
Cougar: Ecology and Conservation by Maurice Hornocker, Sharon Negri
Heart of a Lion: A Lone Cat's Walk Across America by William Stolzenburg
When Mountain Lions are Neighbors by Beth Pratt
Other
Annenberg Foundation
Puma Profiles
SaveLACougers.org
The Badger and Coyote Video
Support Us On Patreon!
Buy our Merch!
Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com
Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.
Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!
11/10/20 • 92 min
My guest today is noted wildfire and chaparral ecologist Rick Halsey.
Rick authored the book “Fire, Chaparral, and Survival in Southern California”, and has given countless talks on the subject.
Rick has a background in Environmental Studies, Anthropology, and Education, with degrees from University of California Santa Barbara and Cal State San Diego and UC Berkeley.
In this episode we discuss the myths and realities of wildfire. There are many eye opening insights that, even today, get lost in the political rhetoric. We discuss the ecosystems of the west and their natural fire behaviors and how those were determined through charcoal records and tree ring analysis, the surprising negative impacts of fuel removal and prescribed burns, how indigenous fire management techniques fit into the discussion, simple solutions at the wildland-urban interface (WUI) such as exterior sprinkler systems, and much more.
In particular, we discuss the causes and factors leading to the Camp Fire that destroyed the town of Paradise, CA in 2018, the Yosemite Rim Fire, Oakland Hills Firestorm of 1991, and more.
While we focus extensively on California, the principles discussed apply to much of the west.
We take a few tangents in the discussion, including an insightful view of Rick’s education experience and approaches.
As an educator, Rick was the recipient of the Christa McAuliffe Fellowship. Over the years he’s fine-tuned his delivery and has a wonderful essay on his transformation from lecturer to the engage model.
Through the years, Rick has combined his educational skills and knowledge of ecology to focus on chaparral habitats - the most important habitat at the wildland/urban interface in California’s major cities.
He is the founder and director of the California Chaparral Institute, which is dedicated to preserving what remains of California’s chaparral through scientific research, nature education, and activism. One of his quotes that really reflects his approach to nature education is "Our job as educators is not to convince everyone how smart we are. Our job is to convince people how smart they are.
See Full Shows Notes at podcast.naturesarchive.com
Links to People, Events, and Resources Discussed:
Keith Lombardo, Ph. D.
Jack Cohen, Ph. D.
California Chaparral Institute
WASP exterior sprinklers
Santa Monica National Recreation Area wildfire and chaparral resources
Fire, Chaparral, and Survival in Southern California - by Rick Halsey
Santa Rosa's Coffey Park - a community burned by the Tubbs Fire
The Rim Fire at Yosemite National Park
The Nature Fix - Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative - by Florence Williams
Music
Fearless First and Beauty Flow by Kevin MacLoed, obtained from https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/
#0: Welcome to Nature's Archive!
Nature's Archive
07/07/20 • 1 min
Ever wondered how you can make a difference for nature, with or without a university degree? Or do you just want to learn about and be inspired by amazing plants, animals, people and nature in general?
I'm Michael Hawk, and I used to be a tech engineer and manager. I've always been a curious soul, asking great questions and eager to learn and share.
So, I started Nature's Archive Podcast, a journey deep into the heart of the natural world. Join me for captivating interviews featuring ecologists, renowned authors, passionate amateurs, and seasoned professionals, each sharing their remarkable stories and areas of expertise. Together, we explore the incredible complexity of nature, challenge old beliefs, and uncover unique perspectives.
From bird migration to wildfire ecology, from fungi to oak trees, and from the secret lives of spiders to the power of native plants in your backyard, we cover it all.
Visit podcast.naturesarchive.com to explore our most popular episodes and detailed show notes.
Nature's Archive is part of my lifelong commitment to nature conservation through Jumpstart Nature. I've left the tech world behind to dedicate 100% of my time to this cause.
But I can't do it alone. Join me on this journey to make a real difference for our planet. Subscribe to Nature's Archive Podcast today.
#17: Alvaro Jaramillo - Birding Your Best Life
Nature's Archive
03/23/21 • 52 min
My guest today is Alvaro Jaramillo. Alvaro is a highly regarded ornithologist and birder with a long list of authored books and published papers. Born in Chile, raised in Canada, he’s lived in California for the last several years where he operates “Alvaro’s Adventures”, a birding-centric tour company that specializes in combining birding with local cultures across the globe.
Alvaro has a BS in Zoology and a masters in Evolutionary Biology, and is an affiliated senior biologist with the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory. Alvaro has a wealth of world-wide birding knowledge, is a contributor to Bird Watcher’s Digest, and actively engages in many birding forums. He even helped to identify a new bird species, Oceanites pincoyae (Pincoya Storm-Petrel), found in Chile.
In today’s episode we discuss how Alvaro developed his interest in birds. From authoring his guide to New World Blackbirds, to a fortuitous encounter in Canada that led him to the world of arranging and guiding tours, it is clear the avian adventures were a calling for Alvaro.
We discuss the origins of Alvaro’s Adventures, and some of his amazing global trips, such as his annual journey to Bhutan. And check out his Birds and Wine trip to Chile and Argentina as another great example.
We also talk about pelagic birding - he leads numerous pelagic trips in Northern California each year. If you are unaware of pelagic voyages, they take you far offshore onto the ocean to look for bird species that are next to impossible to see from land. And if that weren’t fun enough, you’ll often encounter whales, porpoises, sunfish, and many other amazing oceanic creatures.
We discuss the groundbreaking impact his Birds of Chile guide had on accelerating Chile’s birding evolution.
After a couple decades of engaging with the public in these capacities, he also has a lot of insight into helping people interpret, enjoy, and see the value of nature - and he offers a few tips and approaches that we can all use.
And while COVID-19 has been challenging, he has turned it into an opportunity to increase his outreach. In addition to many in-depth online workshops, he’s launching a new subscription based online birding community, called “Birding Your Best Life”. Its primary goal is to help people enjoy birds more, regardless of their circumstances and goals. It will include discussion communities, equipment reviews, video tutorials, and much more. As you’ll hear, he has big plans - you can sign up here to be notified of progress.
Other Links/Mentions
Alvaro's Facebook
Birds of Chile - field guide Alvaro, Peter Burke, David Beadle created that helped accelerate Chilean birding
Birdwatchers Digest - Alvaro has written for this publications for many years
National Audubon Society
New World Blackbirds - Alvaro's distraction from his PhD
Colombian Audubon
Debi Shearwater - Alvaro was a spotter with Debi Shearwater, the well known pelagic leader
Eagle Eye Tours - Canadian tour company Alvaro helped start
Field Guides - the larger tour company Alvaro joined after Eagle Eye Tours
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FAQ
How many episodes does Nature's Archive have?
Nature's Archive currently has 120 episodes available.
What topics does Nature's Archive cover?
The podcast is about Conservation, Ecology, Climate, Environment, Natural Sciences, Nature, Wildlife, Podcasts, Naturalist, Science, Biology and Birding.
What is the most popular episode on Nature's Archive?
The episode title '#18: Kerry Knudsen - The Magic of Lichen' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Nature's Archive?
The average episode length on Nature's Archive is 60 minutes.
How often are episodes of Nature's Archive released?
Episodes of Nature's Archive are typically released every 14 days.
When was the first episode of Nature's Archive?
The first episode of Nature's Archive was released on Jul 6, 2020.
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