Weekly commentaries on the environment and appreciating the natural world, by Rob Kanter from the School of Earth, Society, and Environment at the University of Illinois.
If you're interested in animal intelligence, you're in good company. This week's installment highlights some of the amazing things researchers are learning about crows. You'll never hear "bird-brain" as an insult again.
Before white-nose syndrome arrived, which was only a decade ago, I enjoyed explaining why bats are so amazing in hopes that listeners would come to love, or at least appreciate them. Today, I can only present the grim news of white-nose syndrome’s progress.
Sandhill cranes that breed in the upper Midwest and central Canada begin gathering in Indiana near the end of September, and their numbers grow until mid- to late November, when they peak at about 20,000. Imagine 20,000 of these majestic birds together in the same place less than half a day’s drive from Champaign-Urbana.
Envision a world in which sea level has risen twelve feet. Do we start building super seawalls? Or something else. Deke Weaver exhorts us to "bring back the bears."
When people think about the landscape of central Illinois prior to European settlement they tend to think “prairie,” vast expanses of flat land covered in tall grass and tall flowers. And for the most part, that image is accurate. But groves of trees intruded on the grasslands here and there, especially on the eastern edges of rivers and streams, creating natural breaks to prairie fires driven by winds from the west.
What's changed for ants in Urbana, Illinois, over the past 87 years? Tune in to find out.
Acorns are everywhere in the fall, as anyone who bicycles where there are oaks can attest. While these seeds may be a minor annoyance on the road, they’re much more interesting and important from an ecological perspective.
Have you wondered whether solar makes sense for your home or small business? Read about a program that's bringing it home in Champaign County.
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