Wings of Change
You may have noticed a small white butterfly flittering through your garden, bouncing across your path while on your bike or spiraling around the side [...]
NC State University Found to be the Most Bio-Diverse College Campus in North America
Several years ago, we started paying more attention in our lab to what was going on biologically near at hand. This transition would eventually lead [...]
Looking at the Past to Understand the Future
No question, our planet is heating up. So what impact will global climate change have on biodiversity and ecosystems? This BIG question, as you’ve undoubtedly [...]
Pikas on Ice
Adorable and fuzzy, American pikas (Ochotona princeps) have become the spokes-critter for the consequences of climate change in alpine areas. These little fuzzballs, more closely [...]
The Effects of Urbanization on Biodiversity: Interview with Myla Aronson
Our blog and social media feeds have been overcome by urban sprawl this week. Yesterday, Rob wrote about the rise of a new mega-city: Charlanta. [...]
The Rise of CHARLANTA
Very occasionally, the opportunity arises for a group of people to decide where and how to build a city. In 1792 the legislators of North [...]
Hot in the ‘Hood
When we build our cities with cement and asphalt, they trap heat. This trapped heat warms our cities, as much, in some cases, as global [...]
Behind the Science: Sorting out the murky affair between scale insects, ants, red maples and climate change
This week I followed researcher Elsa Youngsteadt and her undergrad assistant Danielle Schmidt, members of Steve Frank's lab in the NC State Entomology Department, into [...]
Behind the Science: Collecting Carpenter Ant Colonies
This week, armed with hatchets, plastic containers and tweezers, Your Wild Life post docs MJ Epps and De Anna Beasley set out to collect carpenter [...]
Big City Social Life
As urbanization spreads and city structures replace many social insect colonies' natural habitats, these insects still manage to survive—and even thrive. The secret to their [...]
How to Beat Flooding, Ant-style
With unpredictable weather patterns resulting in monsoon-like storms and as warming seas swell, swallowing shorelines, more and more folks find themselves underwater or sinking fast. [...]
Why Western Tanzania Might Feel Something Like Home
Does your living room floor have more in common with a prairie grassland or a desert? Are our basements really just urban versions of caves? [...]
Why your local fungus farmer might not be your friend
My fiancé Joe and I planted a mushroom garden last year, which is to say, we drilled hundreds of holes in logs, hammered spore plugs [...]
How Staying Social Can Save You in Winter
Winter can be deadly for many of our insect friends, yet, rarely for honeybees. How do they survive winter's perilously cold temperatures? By staying social!