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The Field Guides

The Field Guides

著者： The Field Guides
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Nature nerds rejoice! The Field Guides is a monthly podcast that will bring you out on the trail, focusing on the science of our North American wildlife. 博物学 科学 自然・生態学
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  • Ep. 83 - Fall Webworms: Not As Bad As They Look

    Ep. 83 - Fall Webworms: Not As Bad As They Look
    2026/09/30
    Every summer, large sacks of caterpillar silk appear in trees across much of North America. They’re the communal home of Fall Webworms, and they’re not pretty - full of caterpillars, their poop (frass), and dead leaves. But, y’know, those sacks are full of something else - fascinating nature facts! And in this episode, Bill and Steve dive into the messy but engrossing world of Fall Webworms (they put the gross into engrossing).This episode was recorded at Taylor Road Park in Hamburg, NY on September 28, 2026. LinksWild Ideas: The Podcast ArchiveEpisode NotesDo fall webworms prefer the canopy, forest edge, or forest interior?During the episode Steve wondered about where fall webworms hang out most often. Bill didn’t come across the info in his research prior to recording, but, afterwards, he found that since their webs are usually built near the end of branches, they seem to do better along forest edges, roadsides, river corridors, and other more open areas. One reason may be sunlight. Research has shown that fall webworm webs can become a whole lot warmer than the surrounding air when they are in the sun. So, living on an exposed branch or along a forest edge could give the caterpillars a useful heat boost. There is less evidence that they specifically prefer the very top of the canopy, so “outer branches and edge habitats” is probably the best way to describe it. How long do fall webworm moths live?Not very long. Adult fall webworm moths usually live for just about a week, with studies generally finding lifespans in the range of ~5–8 days. And the adults are strictly mating, egg-laying machines. They don’t even feed, living instead on energy stored during the caterpillar stage. Is “polyvoltine” an acceptable term for having multiple generations per year?When the guys were discussing voltinism (how many generations an insect has in a year) Steve guessed that the term for more than two generations a year was “polyvoltine”, and Bill shot back that, no, it was “multivoltine”. But then he looked into it after recording, and it turns out that Steve was not wrong. Both “multivoltine” and “polyvoltine” are used in entomology, although “multivoltine” seems to be more common in the fall webworm literature. So, Steve was correct, but people saying polyvoltine probably bugs the hell out of fall webworm researchers. Is permethrin related to beta-cypermethrin?Yes. They are closely related insecticides. Both belong to a group called synthetic pyrethroids, chemicals that interfere with the insect nervous system. Is the fall webworm’s web hydrophobic?Maybe, but Bill couldn’t find a study that directly tested whether fall webworm silk itself is water-repellent.Looking through the research, the safest answer seems to be: the web clearly helps protect the colony from weather (like rain), but whether the silk itself is truly hydrophobic has not been clearly demonstrated. Sponsors and Ways to Support UsThank you to Always Wandering Art (Website and Etsy Shop) for providing the artwork for many of our episodes.Support us on Patreon.Works CitedCannon, W.N. Jr. (1985) ‘Social feeding behavior of Hyphantria cunea larvae (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) in multiple choice experiments’, The Great Lakes Entomologist, 18(2).Cao, L.M., Wang, X.Y., Petrice, T.R. and Poland, T.M. (2024) ‘A checklist of the predators and parasitoids of the fall webworm Hyphantria cunea (Drury) (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) from around the world’, ZooKeys, 1211, pp. 251–348.Chen, Q., Zhao, H., Wen, M., Li, J., Zhou, H., Wang, J., Zhou, Y., Liu, Y., Du, L., Kang, H., Zhang, J., Cao, R., Xu, X., Zhou, J.-J., Ren, B. and Wang, Y. (2020) ‘Genome of the webworm Hyphantria cunea unveils genetic adaptations supporting its rapid invasion and spread’, BMC Genomics, 21, 242.Fitzgerald, T.D. (2015) ‘Temporal and spatial foraging behavior of the larvae of the fall webworm Hyphantria cunea’, Psyche: A Journal of Entomology, 2015, 359765.Ge, X., He, S., Zhu, C., Wang, T., Xu, Z. and Zong, S. (2019) ‘Projecting the current and future potential global distribution of Hyphantria cunea (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) using CLIMEX’, Pest Management Science, 75(1), pp. 160–169.Gomi, T. (2007) ‘Seasonal adaptations of the fall webworm Hyphantria cunea (Drury) (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) following its invasion of Japan’, Ecological Research, 22(6), pp. 855–861.Jiang, H., Zhang, A.-Y., Tan, M.-T., Jiang, D. and Yan, S.-C. (2025) ‘The physical shelter constructed by the silk web of Hyphantria cunea: an important strategy to cope with high-temperature and pesticide stress’, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 73(46), pp. 29435–29447.Li, H.-Y., Wei, K., Dang, Y.-Q. and Wang, X.-Y. (2026) ‘Climate warming and host plant species influence the potential voltinism of the invasive fall webworm Hyphantria cunea in China’, Pest Management Science, advance online publication.Liu, B., Zhang, W., Li, J., Sun, J....
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  • Ep. 82 - Wild Ideas: Resurrected! (feat. Gordon Maupin)

    Ep. 82 - Wild Ideas: Resurrected! (feat. Gordon Maupin)
    2026/06/30
    This episode, we’re stepping back to the golden age of natural history podcasting by resurrecting the format of the classic show Wild Ideas: The Podcast. Joining us on the trail is one of the OG hosts: the man himself, Gordon Maupin. It’s a 3-way team-up where each of us brings a heavy-hitting seasonal mystery to the table.First, Steve unravels the rule-breaking world of the Ambystoma polyploid salamander complex, where unisexual lineages are mixing up DNA from different species and blurring the lines of what makes a species a species. Then, Gordon shrinks things down to look at the world of duckweed ecology, a group that includes the smallest flowering plants in the world. Finally, Bill turns our eyes to the skies over the marsh to pull back the curtain on dragonfly migration, looking into the recent science that shows some dragonfly species are multi-generational continental travelers (as well as badass predators).Come listen in as Gordon and the guys answer the question, “What’s going on outside?” (Wild Ideas fans, that’s for you)This episode was reecorded at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge in Alabama, NY on May 13, 2026.Episode LinksCheck out the Iroquois National Wildlife Refige and their Bald Eagle Cam.Here’s the New York Times article about 7 Podcasts About the Joys of Bird Watching that includes a mention of our show.Episode NotesGetting The Great Egret’s Latin Name RightDuring a quick aside this episode, Gordon spotted a Great Egret and Steve tried to recall its scientific name, tentatively going with Erodea alba. He wasn't entirely wrong! The correct name is Ardea alba.While alba means "white," Ardea is Latin for "heron." It also ties back to the ancient myth by everyone’s favorite Roman poet Ovid, who wrote about a bird rising directly from the ashes of the burned city of Ardea. What’s the Deal With Axolotls?We wondered if the axolotl is in the same genus as the Jefferson and blue spotted salamander (Ambystoma) and yes they are!Species: A. mexicanum (Axolotl) Unlike most members of Ambystomatidae—which typically metamorphose into terrestrial adults—the axolotl exhibits a trait called neoteny (or paedomorphosis). This is where an organism retains juvenile or larval traits into adulthood. Axolotls retains its aquatic, larval features (like its signature feathery external gills) into adulthood and spends its entire life in the water Bill’s Hard Claim on ID’ing Jefferson Salamanders Bill said there is no way we could tell if it was a Jefferson salamander: is that true? Bill was basically right if we’re talking about visually confirming a female-looking salamander in a blue-spotted/Jefferson overlap zone. Many unisexual individuals cannot be confidently identified by sight, and genetic testing is the clean answer. But during the breeding season, a male with a swollen cloaca is not part of the all-female unisexual lineage, so that can help narrow things down. So, a male in breeding condition can sometimes be identified much more confidently than a female/unisexual-looking animal, but you need to have serious knowledge about species location, morphology, and breeding-season characteristics. The Jefferson Complex vs. the Bigger Unisexual Salamander SituationDuring the episode, Bill had a “wait, what are we even talking about?” moment while Steve was explaining the huge all-female/unisexual Ambystoma salamander lineage.Steve was talking about the big-picture version: a bizarre evolutionary group that can involve genomes from several mole salamander species, including Blue-spotted, Jefferson, Small-mouthed, Streamside, and Tiger Salamanders.Bill, though, was thinking what we hear more about in the Northeast and Great Lakes region: the “Jefferson complex,” or the Blue-spotted/Jefferson Salamander mess. Around here, that usually means you can’t usually ID a Jefferson Salamanders or a Blue-spotted Salamander down to species because the sally in front of you may belong to the all-female, polyploid lineage that can’t be confidently sorted out just by looking at them.So Bill’s question was basically: “Hold on. Is this identification nightmare only a Jefferson/Blue-spotted thing, or does it happen with the other species too?”And the answer is: yep. It can happen with the others too.The narrower Jefferson complex usually refers to the Blue-spotted/Jefferson part of the story, especially in places where those are the main overlapping species. But when scientists zoom out and include the other players (Small-mouthed, Streamside, and Eastern Tiger Salamanders) they usually refer to the whole thing as the unisexual Ambystoma lineage.So the practical field takeaway is this: in places where these species overlap, a female-looking Ambystoma salamander may be impossible to identify with confidence by appearance alone. Even experts may only be making an educated guess unless they use genetic testing. Measuring red blood cell size can help estimate ploidy (...
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    1 時間 30 分
  • Ep. 81 - Keepin' Wetlands Wet: The Western NY Land Conservancy's Mission to Save Bear Lake

    Ep. 81 - Keepin' Wetlands Wet: The Western NY Land Conservancy's Mission to Save Bear Lake
    2026/06/01
    Every now and then, a conservation opportunity comes along that you can't pass up. The Western NY Land Conservancy (WNYLC) is currently in a race to permanently protect the Bear Lake Preserve, 311 acres of undeveloped shoreline, mature forest, and an array of critical wetland habitats linked to the Lake.To break down what makes this property so special, the guys hit the trail with WNYLC Stewardship Director Josh Balisteri. He gives them a tour of the property, discussing the history and ecology of Bear Lake, the historical and global crisis of wetland loss, and why we need to start viewing the Great Lakes ecosystem through the lens of crucial "inland coasts."Head over to wnylc.org/bearlake to check out maps of the new preserve and support their work!This episode was recorded at Bear Lake in Stockton, NY (and Pomfret, NY) on May 18, 2026.Episode Notes and LinksLucy and Bear Lake:During the episode, Bill boldly threw out a bit of local lore suggesting that WNY’s favorite daughter, Lucille Ball, once stayed at a cottage on Bear Lake. He diligently searched online for any evidence that this was true, but came up empty. Lucy did grow up on the shores of nearby Chautauqua Lake in Celoron and spent many summers during the peak of her popularity escaping to Chenango Lake in eastern NY, but there is no official record of her hiding out at Bear Lake. Sorting Out Our Flight Paths: Later in the conversation, Bill referenced Darryl McGrath’s excellent book Flight Paths: A Field Journal of Hope, Heartbreak, and Miracles with New York's Bird People and misidentified Hemlock Lake as one of the state's first eagle hacking (establishment) sites. While Bill was correct in remembering that Hemlock Lake was mentioned in the book, he was confused about the context. In reality, Hemlock Lake played a far more poignant role: it was the home of the very last known native nesting pair of bald eagles in New York State. By the late 1970s, chemical contamination from DDT had devastated the population, and that lonely Hemlock Lake pair was all that remained of our national bird in the entire state. (The pioneering hacking program Bill was thinking of launched nearby at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge).Why the South Shore of Bear Lake Stayed Wild: A major piece of that puzzle comes down to local history: from the 1920s through the 1970s, the land was home to a vibrant YMCA camp, and local authors Bob and Anne Deming (who Josh mentioned as key people in aiding the effort to save Bear Lake) published a book mapping out the camp’s history. Originally inspired by a single chapter in their debut book, A History of Bear Lake (recently updated and re-released), they dove deeper into the archives to publish Camp in the Woods, a collection of photos and first-hand accounts from nearly 500 former campers and staff members. Find their books on Amazon: Bob and Anne Deming's Author & Book PageRead more about the project: New Book Recounts Stories from Y Camp in the WoodsSpecial thanks to Andrew Gaerte, the Western New York Land Conservancy’s Director of Development and Communications, for sharing this history with us!Find out more about the Western NY Land Conservancy, including the Bear Lake Project and their Western NY Wildway.Sponsors and Ways to Support UsThank you to Always Wandering Art (Website and Etsy Shop) for providing the artwork for many of our episodes.Support us on Patreon.Works CitedPeterjohn, W.T. and Correll, D.L., 1984. Nutrient dynamics in an agricultural watershed: the role of a riparian forest. Ecology, 65(5), pp.1466-1475.Radomski, P. and Goeman, T.J., 2001. Consequences of human lakeshore development on emergent and floating-leaf vegetation abundance. North American Journal of Fisheries Management, 21(1), pp.46-61.Schindler, D.E., Geib, S.I. and Williams, M.R., 2000. Patterns of fish growth along a gradient of shoreline development. Nature, 407(6801), pp.202-205.This episode’s photo is from the WNYLC’s Bear Lake Project page!
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    1 時間 4 分
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