Snakes are the perfect topic for Nature’s Archive. They are often over-generalized to fit a worst-case stereotype, but they are critically important to our food webs and ecosystems. And like so much of what we discuss, once you start learning just a bit about them, you see how amazing and diverse they are. And there are few better suited to guide us through the world of snakes than Dr. Emily Taylor. Dr. Taylor is a professor of biological sciences at California Poly San Luis Obispo and has...

2024 is going to be another year of the cicada, with the emergence of two periodical cicada groups, or broods (Brood XIII and Brood XIX), at the same time, roughly in late April to early May. Now, throughout much of the world, cicadas serenade us in summer afternoons - you might be familiar with that, and wonder “what’s the big deal”. But in a few special locations, periodical cicadas emerge on a specific cycle, every 13 or 17 years. These emergences are like clockwork - somehow these...

When it comes to understanding nature, it often seems like the ocean surface - that undulating reflective layer of water - is more like an impenetrable curtain than just a layer of water. There is just so much we don’t know about, and are too quick to dismiss, all because we can’t easily observe what’s going on down there. Thankfully, octopuses are having a renaissance in popular culture, and as a result, serve as sort of an ambassador to the oceans. And this is in no small part due to the...

My guest today is Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant. Dr. Wynn-Grant is the co-host of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, is a wildlife ecologist and affiliated researcher at the UC Santa Barbara Bren School of Environmental and Science Management. She’s also an author, with her new memoir entitled “Wild Life” coming out on April 2. Today we discuss Dr. Wynn-Grant’s unique and inspiring personal journey into wildlife ecology, her awakening to the world of environmental justice, triggered by Hurricane...

Have you ever seen a fuzzy looking ant? Maybe it looked like a little pipe cleaner with fuzzy red or yellow hair? If so, you probably saw a velvet ant. And here’s the thing - it’s not even an ant at all. They’re wingless wasps, and they often turn up along hiking trails, roadsides, and sometimes even in your backyard! And if you haven’t seen one, hit pause and check out the show notes on naturesarchive.com for a few photos. What’s more, these wasps have quite the reputation and an amazing...

In nature, tree physiology is like the engine that keeps forests running smoothly, similar to how human physiology keeps our bodies going. Just as we study how our bodies' metabolism, respiratory systems, and other systems work to keep us healthy, biologists can look at tree physiology to understand how trees grow, use energy, and cope with challenges in their environment. Today’s guest, Dr. Lucy Kerhoulas, is an Associate Professor of Forest Ecophysiology at Cal-Poly Humboldt. She...

You’re in for a treat today - it’s like two episodes in one. My guest today is Allasandra Valdez, a botanist working on her PhD in plant physiology in  Cornell University’s Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department. Allasandra also has a background studying invasive species, and is the creator and host of The Happy Botanist podcast. Today’s wide-ranging discussion touches on everything from studying plants' response to climate change through looking at carbon 13 isotopes, to invasive...

Many of you might recall the dramatic 2020 fire season in the western USA. In California alone, close to 4 million acres burned. Cities were clouded with smoke and unhealthy air for many weeks. I had ash fall at my home in San Jose, CA on several occasions. But did you know that based on pre-colonial historical estimates, 4 million acres burned would be considered “below average”. How can that be? Does that mean that every summer in the 1700’s had smoke filled air and devastating fires?...

I bet you’ve heard of the National Park Service. Or the US Forest Service which manages all of our National Forests. But did you know that there is another land management agency that manages more public land than either the National Parks or National Forests? This overlooked agency is the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM. Josh Jackson has become one of the BLM’s top enthusiasts, with a huge following on his forgottenlandscalifornia instagram. He’s also a writer and conservationist, and...

Today’s episode is all about California Condors with Tiana Williams-Claussen, the director of the Yurok Tribe’s wildlife department. This episode is actually from my friend Michelle Fullner of the Golden State Naturalist podcast. If you don’t know Golden State Naturalist, I think this episode is pretty indicative of Michelle’s work. She travels around California to meet and interview interesting people in the field. There is a definite advantage to in-person interviews, and I wish I could do...

Double the nature content in the same amount of time as a typical Nature's Archive? Well, I think we've come close today, and no, we're not playing an interview at double speed. Here's your chance to hear two episodes of the Jumpstart Nature podcast from our pilot season, covering the topics of treating your yard like a habitat  (The Yard of the Future Full Show Notes), and how shifting baseline syndrome affects our perception of the health of the environment (We Live in a 10% World Full...

Let’s dive into the enchanting world of hidden wonders that come to life after dark! Our guests today are Charles Hood and José Martínez-Fonseca, authors of the new book “Nocturnalia: Nighttime Life of the Western USA" from Heyday Books. Charles is an author, poet, birder, and world traveler, and as you’ll hear, an exceptional naturalist, too. Jose has a PhD in Bat Ecology, and as a result, has extensive experienced studying animals of the night. Today we uncover the intriguing behaviors...

Weather is like your mood, and climate is like your personality. Those are the words of today’s guest, Dr. Marshall Shepherd (Twitter,  Facebook and Instagram). Despite the clear differences between these two concepts, there are many topics of confusion that persist. For example, is El Nino, which we discussed a few weeks ago on this podcast, a climate condition or a weather condition? And how can forecasters be confident in their long term climate predictions when it is so hard to predict...

There are living trees in the United States that are approaching 5000 years old - and I’m not talking about trees that clone (I’m looking at you, aspen). Imagine if those trees could talk! Well, in a way, they can! That’s where dendrochronologists like Dr. Grant Harley come in. And it turns out that the science of dendrochronology is so much more far reaching than I ever imagined. Dr. Harley tells us how he reads the trees, inferring things like climate patterns, wildfire history, and...

As you all know, I find wildfire to be fascinating. It’s complex, simultaneously necessary and at times devastating, and wildly misunderstood. And the landscape of fire is rapidly changing - literally and figuratively. So, I hope to continue to bring a variety of voices and perspectives on wildfire - including today. Have you ever wondered what it is like to be on the fire lines with a wildfire crew? Or what it takes to join a crew? Or the differences between crews, such as engine crews,...

Dr. Emma Greig is a behavioral ecologist who has been leading Project FeederWatch, a multi-decade community science effort led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Birds Canada. Today's discussion could be broadly characterized as "how to take care of the birds that visit your yard" - and you might be surprised at some of the recommendations. Our discussion begins in Australia, where Dr. Greig did her dissertation. Her work studied the amazing behavior of the splendid fairywren, a small...

Have you heard of El Niño? Some people call it the single biggest influence on winter weather in North America. But what is it, and how does it work? And we're in an El Niño event this year, and it's going to affect our weather (and ecology!) There is always much confusion about El Niño, what it is, why it occurs, and how it might alter our weather in the coming seasons. Today's episode looks at El Niño, which is one part of the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. Consider this a primer...

Subscribe to the Jumpstart Nature Podcast! I started Nature’s Archive podcast in an effort to understand the stories of people making a difference for the environment. I needed to be inspired, wanted to learn how they did it, and share that inspiration and knowledge with anyone willing to listen. While we haven’t strayed too far from those initial aspirations, I do have many more topic-centric episodes than I did at the start. So today’s episode is a “back to my roots” episode. My guest is...

Ever wondered how scientists unravel the ecological mysteries of bygone eras, long before systematic record-keeping? Believe it or not, one part of the answer is in pirate journals. And no, I'm not joking. Today, I have the privilege of hosting Dr. Loren McClenachan, an Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and History, and a Canada Research Chair in Ocean History and Sustainability at the University of Victoria. Throughout her career, Dr. McClenachan has been delving deep into...

It's hard to imagine a time without roads that connect us, facilitate commerce, allow us to reach hospital schools, family, and friends. And in plain sight, they grow in width, link density and traffic volume slowly and continually. Amidst to the sprawling network that shapes our lives. There's a realm often overlooked, but equally profound. A domain where the intersection between humanity and nature takes an unforeseen twist. Our guest today has Ben Goldfarb, author of the new book...

Griff Griffith is former host of Animal Planet’s Wild Jobs, current spokesperson for Redwoods Rising, and he’s a volunteer for Jumpstart Nature. Griff has dedicated his career to honing his expertise in effectively communicating and motivating people to care about the environment. From the youth he led in the California Conservation Corps, to people he engaged with at State Parks, to the 4 million people that watch his videos on TikTok. He’s also been on CNN, NBC Nightly News, Kelly...

Today we hear from Dorian Anderson, who you might recognize from episode #1 of Nature’s Archive. Dorian has been a prominent figure in the birding world since 2014, when he bicycled nearly 18000 miles across the USA in what is known as a Big Year - an attempt to see as many bird species as possible. Dorian loves a challenge, so his Big Year was much more than just trying to find lots of birds. His was a bicycle powered trip that didn’t use fossil fuels. He maintained a strict budget, built...

Have you heard about the Anthropocene? Well, we're living in it right now, but that's not necessarily a good thing. Joining us is paleoethnobotanist, Dr. Anya Gruber, whose expertise uniquely positions her to guide us through the human relationship with the environment. We begin by learning about Dr. Gruber's world, where she skillfully utilizes plant remains to reconstruct the environments of bygone eras and decipher human interactions with nature. Building on this foundation, our...

I’ve been really lucky to have some amazing guests on Nature’s Archive. Guests who open my eyes, and hopefully yours as well, to new ways of seeing nature. Today’s guest opens our eyes to agricultural practices that work in harmony with our ecosystems. Why is this important? Well, by some estimates, as much as 44% of the land in the United States is used for some form of agriculture. And the principles of regenerative agriculture serve as a great primer for understanding important aspects of...