Earth.com reported
It seems unthinkable that anything could live after tens of thousands of years in hibernation. The discovery of a tiny creature in the Siberian permafrost has sparked conversations about how resilient life can be.
In a recent breakthrough, researchers determined that a worm which had been frozen for about 46,000 years had survived and remained alive.
Read more Frozen worm comes back to life after 46,000 years – Earth.com
Posted in Animals | Tags: Frozen worm comes back to life
See the events calendar for the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden at Garden Events
Posted in Class/Workshop, Garden | Tags: UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Events
Xerces Society reported
Extreme fires across the west are becoming more frequent, more severe, and more extensive, as climate change and decades of fire suppression create the perfect conditions for these disasters. Extreme fires are an ever-increasing threat to human infrastructure and ecosystems across the west. However, it is important to recognize that these disasters are different from the fires that used to occur in western forests.
Wild fires, such as those started by lightning strikes, are indeed something that happens naturally in many landscapes, and historically were far less intense than modern fire disasters. In many ecosystems, plants and animals have adapted to fire and other disturbances, like floods, storms, and herds of grazing animals, as long as they aren’t too frequent or destructive. There are in fact several plants that have evolved specifically to grow in recently burned areas, leading to an ecosystem where occasional fires are actually beneficial!
Source: Burning for Butterflies: The Role of Fire in Western Forests | Xerces Society
Posted in Butterflies, Environment | Tags: Butterflies, The Role of Fire in Western Forests, Wildfires
Posted in Garden | Tags: Regional Parks Botanic Garden
California Curated reported
The creosote bush, a seemingly unassuming plant that dots the arid expanses of North American deserts, holds secrets to aging that would make Silicon Valley longevity bros green with envy. In the Mojave Desert, one creosote plant known as “King Clone” is estimated to be over 12,000 years old, making it one of the oldest living clonal organisms on Earth. This astonishing fact was highlighted in the BBC series The Green Planet, where Sir David Attenborough brought the extraordinary resilience and survival strategies of desert flora to a broad public audience. The series as a whole is excellent, but the episode on desert plants, Desert Worlds, was especially fascinating and enlightening—particularly for a dedicated succulent fan like me. Watching it inspired me to research and write this article.
Read article at Creosote Bushes Are the Mojave Desert’s Time Travelers – California Curated
Posted in Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Creosote
Anthropocene Magazine reports
Standing dead “snags” can be a boon for wildlife. But the best way to turn live trees into standing dead ones has been a mystery until now.
Sometimes, conservationists want trees to die. That’s true even for majestic icons like Douglas firs, evergreens that can grow to a towering 100 meters in the coastal mountains of the Pacific Northwest.
Which begs the question: What’s the best way to kill a tree?
Read more at What’s the best way to kill a tree? For wildlife…
Posted in Environment | Tags: Killing Trees for Wildlife
See upcoming events calendar of hikes and programs at https://www.abdnha.org/calendar1.htm.
See upcoming events calendar for the East Bay Regional Parks at https://www.ebparks.org/calendar
Posted in Park, Walks & Hikes | Tags: East Bay Regional Parks
The Guardian reported
Southern Ocean waves are growing larger and faster, threatening coastlines. But some scientists think they could help turn the tide in the climate crisis.
In his remarkable memoir of his life chasing breaks in far-flung corners of the globe, Barbarian Days, the writer William Finnegan describes the “spooky duality” of waves, the way that, “when you are absorbed in surfing they seem alive. They each have personalities, distinct and intricate, and quickly changing moods, to which you must react in the most intuitive, almost intimate way – too many people have likened riding waves to making love. And yet waves are of course not alive, not sentient, and the lover you reach to embrace may turn murderous without warning.”
Read more at Waves are getting bigger. Is the world ready? | Oceans | The Guardian
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Waves Are Growing Larger and Faster
The Natural History Museum reported
An Antarctic discovery might offer new insights into the origins of modern birds.
The skull, from an ancient relative of ducks and geese known as Vegavis iaai, suggests that the key characteristics of modern birds were already in place 69 million years ago.
Birds evolved from dinosaurs millions of years ago – but the route from these avian ancestors to now is largely mysterious.
Read more Ancient bird skull from Antarctica might be from early duck relative | Natural History Museum
Posted in Birds | Tags: Vegavis iaai
See upcoming class, talks and activities at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park at https://nativeplants.org/
Posted in Class/Workshop, Talks, Uncategorized | Tags: Regional Parks Botanic Garden Upcoming Events
See Bay Nature’s calendar of upcoming events at events
Posted in Talks, Walks & Hikes | Tags: Bay Nature Upcoming Events
The Guardian reported
Scientists are about to take part in a revolutionary mission aimed at creating detailed 3D maps of the world’s remotest, densest and darkest tropical forests – from outer space. The feat will be achieved using a special radar scanner that has been fitted to a probe, named Biomass, that will be fired into the Earth’s orbit later this month.
Read more Space probe to map carbon content of world’s remotest tropical forests | Space | The Guardian
Posted in Environment | Tags: Carbon Contest of Tropical Forests
ScienceDaily reported
Scientists discovered that the red stigmas in wind-pollinated trees accumulate anthocyanin, the same compounds that are revealed in autumn leaves after green chlorophyll production slows down and eventually stops. The anthocyanin supports pollen germination and growth by acting as an antioxidant, scavenging reactive oxygen species that might otherwise result in sun damage, scientists found.
Read on www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/02/250213144136.htm
Posted in Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Pollination
See all Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Upcoming Events at see all upcoming events
Posted in Park | Tags: Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Events
Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine reported
Perceived greenspace exposure—which represents a person’s perception of the amount and quality of access to and time spent in nearby greenspace—may have a significant positive effect on certain aspects of mental health, according to new research from an interdisciplinary University of Colorado Boulder team.
Read article at www.colorado.edu/asmagazine/2025/02/05/path-better-mental-health-walk-park
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Mental Health Benefits of Greenspace
See Bay Nature’s calendar of upcoming events at events
Posted in Talks, Walks & Hikes | Tags: Bay Nature Upcoming Events
MSN reported
It has to do with their food.
One of the largest algae blooms in Southern California has been linked to the death of two whales, a humpback whale and a minke whale, according to an April 23 news release by the Pacific Marine Mammal Center (PMMC).
Posted in Animals
Oregon Field Guide – has a YouTube video Blue Herons in Portland, creation of a wildlife preserve and Blue Herons becoming the city bird.
Mike Houck tracks the lifecycle of the great blue heron on Portland’s Willamette River while reflecting on his long career bringing green space to the built environment.
See video at
Posted in Uncategorized
See upcoming events for the Eastern Sierra Land Trust at Eastern Sierra Land Trust Events
Posted in Talks, Walks & Hikes | Tags: Upcoming Events from Eastern Sierra Land Trust Events
EarthSky reported
Aliens could detect Earth from 12,000 light-years away
Read on earthsky.org/space/aliens-detect-earth-from-12000-light-years-away/
Posted in Astronomy | Tags: Space Aliens
NPR reported
Rockalina was an adult eastern box turtle living in the wild when she was taken into a New York home in 1977. When a reptile rehabilitation center got a hold of her this February, they worried for her survival.
— Read on www.npr.org/2025/04/24/nx-s1-5369562/rockalina-eastern-box-turtle-new-jersey
SF Gate reported
A sugar pine tree deep within Yosemite is the largest pine tree in the world, researchers found.
Read on www.sfgate.com/california-parks/article/worlds-largest-pine-tree-yosemite-california-19863081.php
Posted in Environment, Park | Tags: Sugar Pines, World’s Largest Pine Tree, Yosemite
From Jepson Herbarium
Dryopteris tetrapinnata is an exceptional species, having deeply divided fronds up to three meters long! It is narrowly endemic to East Maui, Hawaii.
See photo and read more (7) Dryopteris… – University and Jepson Herbaria – UC Berkeley | Facebook
Posted in Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Dryopteris tetrapinnata, Huge Fern
Weekly plant sales, Wednesdays from 10 a.m.–12 noon, will resume starting tomorrow, April 23rd, at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden.
First Saturday plant sales will resume the first Saturday in June, on June 7th.
Plants are at the Garden Potting Shed; closest entrance is from Anza View Drive.
More info and directions: nativeplants.org
Posted in Garden | Tags: Native Plant Sales
The Guardian reported
Read more From butterflies to wind turbines, project preserves world’s sonic heritage | Wildlife | The GuardianOnline exhibition collects soundscapes from nature reserves and sites such as Machu Picchu and Taj Mahal
The sounds of wind turbines, rare whales and the Amazonian dawn chorus are among the noises being preserved as part of an exhibition of soundscapes found in world heritage sites.
Posted in Animals, Birds, Environment | Tags: nature sounds
BirdLife International reported
Climate change is making bird migration more dangerous
— Read on www.birdlife.org/news/2025/02/07/flying-into-danger-how-climate-change-threatens-migratory-birds/
Posted in Birds | Tags: Bird migration
the Guardian reported
Dozens of gopher tortoises survived a perilous sea crossing after being swept from their homes during Hurricane Helene last summer, and are enjoying a new lease of life on a remote stretch of Florida coastline.
Read more at Gopher tortoises find new home on Florida coast after astonishing journey to flee hurricane | Florida | The Guardian
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Gopher Tortoises
Join Interpreters from Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park and Samuel P Taylor Redwood State Park on their journey to uncover how the roots of this ancient Coast Redwood community reach out to each and every one of us.Posted in Talks, Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Redwoods
California Curated writes about Monterey Canyon
Monterey Canyon, often called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, is one of the largest and most fascinating submarine canyons in the world. Stretching over 95 miles from the coast of Monterey, California, and plunging to depths exceeding 3,600 meters (11,800 feet), this underwater marvel rivals its terrestrial counterpart in size and grandeur. Beneath the surface of Monterey Bay, the canyon is a hotspot of geological, biological, and scientific exploration, offering a window into Earth’s dynamic processes and the mysterious ecosystems of the deep sea.
Read story at A Deep Dive into Monterey Canyon, California’s Great Abyss – California Curated
Posted in Environment, Uncategorized | Tags: Monterey Canyon
Natural History Wanderings 