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!)
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!
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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
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!
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#41: Michael Kauffmann: Conifers - Extreme Survivors
Nature's Archive
03/07/22 • 57 min
You know conifers, right? They are those wonderful trees that include some of the tallest, widest, and oldest living trees on Earth. Think Giant Sequoia, Coast Redwood, and Bristlecone Pines. Conifers are also the oldest lineage of trees on earth. This is just a small taste of what conifers have to offer.
My guest today is Michael Kaufmann, a lifelong educator, ecologist and author, and also the founder of Backcountry Press. He’s also an expert in conifers.
Today we discuss the many things that make conifers such an amazing group of plants. Michael walks us through their evolutionary history, what makes them different from other trees, and gives us a special look at the amazing diversity of conifers in his area - the Klamath region of far northern California. This deep dive reveals many interesting ecological processes that likely can be generalized to other regions and other plants. It's truly fascinating.
Michael also discusses how he turned his love of conifers into two amazing projects. With the creation of his first book, Conifer Country, Michael established Backcountry Press. It has since grown to produce several wonderful natural history books, and he gives us a preview of some new ones due out soon. And the second project is his establishment of the 360 mile Bigfoot Trail. It's a playful name for a truly serious trail if you are in to backpacking or botanizing, and it boasts 32 conifer species.
You can find Michael at MichaelKauffmann.net, on Instagram, or on iNaturalist.
FULL SHOW NOTES
Links To Topics Discussed
Griff Griffith - past podcast guest that introduced Michael and I
The Miracle Mile - the species Michael documented in the famed 1 square mile of the Klamath.
Books Mentioned
California Desert Plants
Conifer Country by Michael Kauffmann
Conifers of California by Ronald Lanner
Conifers of the Pacific Slope, by Michael Kauffmann
The Klamath Knot by David Rains Wallace
The Klamath Mountains: A Natural History Tour
Field Guide to Manzanitas, by Michael Kauffmann, Tom Parker, and Michael Vasey
Northwest Trees by Stephen Arno
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!
#5: Eddie Dunbar on Getting People Excited about Insects, and Building an Online Community
Nature's Archive
08/12/20 • 48 min
Eddie Dunbar is an entomologist, the Founder and President of the Insect Sciences Museum of California and Adjunct Professor at Merritt College. With 38,000 species of insects in California alone, we need people like Eddie to help make sense of it all.
Eddie’s passion is to engage the public with insects so they can understand how they fit in our environment. Through the Insect Sciences Museum of California, Eddie promotes this engagement through numerous events such as “Bug Camps” and bioblitzes, and online through a popular Facebook group. The museum has portable displays, a large insect collection, and provides thorough field guides to parks of the Bay Area at bugpeople.org. In fact, Eddie and his volunteers have embarked on an immense project - creating an Insects of the San Francisco Bay Area virtual field guide.
Eddie’s unique background, including working with the UC Berkeley cooperative extension and researching pesticides, allows him to uniquely engage the public, who often see insects through the lens of pest control. Eddie has years of experience helping people change their views and understand the wide array of ecosystem services insects provide.
In this episode we talk about Eddie’s unique journey that led to the founding of the museum, his methods and tactics for engaging people online and in person, methods to create virtual field trips using Google Earth, ISMC’s projects, and how others can participate in ISMC or launch similar projects of their own.
Full show notes are on naturesarchive.com
Music Credits:
Opening: Fearless First by Kevin MacLoed
Closing: Beauty Flow by Kevin MacLoedhttps://incompetech.filmmusic.io/
#49: Jessica Wolff - Coexisting With Urban Wildlife
Nature's Archive
06/27/22 • 57 min
As cities grow further into wildlands and natural habitats, and as animals attempt to adapt to these urban environments, it is inevitable that people and wildlife will come into more contact.
My guest today, Jessica Wolff, works to help people and wildlife when these interactions occur. She is an Urban Wildlife Coordinator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. As an Urban Wildlife Coordinator, Jessica educates the public and fields calls from the public. These calls include questions about unexpected animals in people's yards and houses and reports of sick or injured wildlife in the city. And occasionally Jessica is dispatched to assess, capture, move, or otherwise help animals in distress.
Today we discuss the most common wildlife encounters that Jessica handles, ranging from coyotes, to bats, to raccoons, to fledgling birds. And this allowed us to get into some of the natural history and urban adaptations that these animals have..
Jessica also answers listener questions about bat boxes and fox burrows, and adds some insights into some of my own backyard wildlife.
I know that I'm coming away from this conversation with a better perspective on what it means to offer resources - intentionally or unintentionally - to wild animals.
You can find Jessica at jawolff93 on instagram, and the Nevada Department of Wildlife on Facebook or their website.
FULL SHOW NOTESLinks To Topics Discussed
The Accidental Ecosystem, People and Wildlife in American Cities, Dr. Peter Alagona. See my podcast episode with him, too.
BatCon International Bat House Resources
Bats and Insecticides from BatCon International
How do pesticides affect bats? – A brief review of recent publications, J. M. Oliveira, A. L. F. Destro, M. B. Freitas, L. L. Oliveira - from the Brazilian Journal of Biology
Merlin Tuttle's Bat Conservation
Nevada Department of Wildlife
PBS "Nature" Coywolf Infographic
Smithsonian Magazine article on "Coywolves" - Coyote and Wolf hybrids in Eastern North America
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!
#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.
10/25/21 • 89 min
This is an encore of my popular wildfire in the west interview with Rick Halsey of the California Chaparral Institute.
Don't worry, more great new episodes are coming. Do you want to learn about bird migration forecasting? I’ve got you covered. And how about maximizing your nature observations when in the field? Covered again. And I have a bunch of other episodes and new projects in the works, too, from wild memes to beavers to mycelium - that confirms it! I’m really a fungi!
Onto the encore of episode 9. And if you enjoy the topic of wildfire, also check episode #24 with Justin Angle.
Rick Halsey is the author of “Fire, Chaparral, and Survival in Southern California”, and 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.
He is the founder and director of the California Chaparral Institute, dedicated to preserving California’s chaparral through scientific research, nature education, and activism. Chaparral habitats are expansive and the most important habitat at the wildland/urban interface in California’s major cities.
In this episode we discuss the myths and realities of wildfire. There are many eye opening insights that often get lost in our desire to have single, simple answers. That’s the theme of the episode - nuance. Causes and solutions vary by habitat and condition. And while we focus a lot on California, the principles apply to much of the west.
We discuss the ecosystems of the west, their historical fire behaviors and how that history was determined through charcoal records and tree ring analysis. We discuss the fact that huge, hot fires are not necessarily unnatural, and why the “fuel build up” narrative is often untrue, and when it makes sense. And the dramatic increase in human caused ignitions, which often occur at the more unnatural and dangerous times of the season. We discuss indigenous fire management and application and simple solutions for people living in the wildland-urban interface.
We also delve into Rick’s insights as an educator. His skill and dedication led to him receiving the McAuliffe Fellowship. Over the years he’s fine-tuned his delivery and we discuss his wonderful essay on his transformation from lecturer to the engage model.
Full NotesJack Cohen
Keith Lombardo
Rick's Book
Camp Fire Paradise, CA disaster
Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park disaster
Study shows improved hospital recovery for park-facing patients
Santa Monica NRA wildfire chaparral resources
ABA Podcast Steve Maguire’s high school ornithology class
The Nature Fix – Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative – Florence Williams
WASP sprinklers
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!
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!
05/30/22 • 88 min
Warning - listen to this episode at your own risk! If you aren't careful, you may find yourself out a few hundred dollars. Why? Today we're talking field guides - the books and apps that help you identify, find and learn about all kinds of amazing creatures.
Joining me are Allen Fish, of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy as Director of the Raptor Observatory and as Associate Director of community science, and Cricket Raspet of the California Academy of Sciences.
We discuss what makes a great field guide, share some stories about our first and favorites, and start with a lively discussion of our first field guides, which transitions into all sorts of interesting guides - everything from bumblebees to fungi to plant galls to lichen to desert holes! We also discuss apps and other technology that can assist, or dare I say, replace physical field guides. That's just the start!
We didn't have time to cover everything in our stacks of favorites, so check our blog for more.
Follow Cricket on IG and iNat, and check Allen's organization, Golden Gate Raptor Observatory @goldengateraptors, or ggro.org.
LINKS - See FULL SHOW NOTES for more links
All That the Rain Promises and More: A Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms
Beached Marine Birds and Mammals of the North American West Coast
Bumblebees of North America
Crossley ID Guides
Field Guide to Desert Holes
Field Guide to Grasshoppers, Katydids, and Crickets of the United States
Field Guide to Manzanitas
Horned Lizards of North America
Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada
National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America
Natural History of Vacant Lots
Plant Galls of the Western USA
Plants of the California Desert
Sibley Field Guide to Birds
The Coasts of California
Tracks and Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates
Podcasts
Adam Kranz Plant Galls
Charley Eiseman Leafminers and more
Michael Kauffmann
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!
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FAQ
How many episodes does Nature's Archive have?
Nature's Archive currently has 116 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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