Information about protecting lakes, ponds, and watersheds.
The Awe of Migration
Migration happens all around us each and every year. It's an awesome thing! Let's catch up on migration science with three Vermont migrators.
Meet The Neighbors – Ochrophyte Algae
I just realized that I missed an important group in my recent posts about our algae neighbors - the Ochrophytes (formerly called Chrysophytes).
Turtles On My Mind
This time of year my thoughts often turn to turtles on Lake Champlain.
Meet The Neighbors: Introducing the Zooplankton
We’ve completed our visits with lake phytoplankton and are ready to begin with a new group – the zooplankton.
Climate Changes: Local and Global
These last few weeks I have been thinking about climate change. I am a gardener and small fruit grower as well as a bee keeper. My property is just outside Montpelier, located in a small narrow north-south running valley. Our winters have always come a little earlier and lasted a little longer t […]
Meet The Neighbors: Red Algae
There is one last group of algae that you may encounter in Vermont waters, the Rhodophyta or red algae. Red algae are most abundant in marine environments and are common seaweed along shorelines. The estimates I found noted that only 3 – 5% of all red algae species live in freshwater and most of tho […]
It’s Amphibian Time!
It’s spring and love is in the air! If you are a frog or salamander, that means you’ll be heading for the nearest water to find your special someone. Every frog and salamander has the same idea once the temperatures begin to warm. On warm nights in spring, especially rainy ones, the terrain leading […]
Spring Planting Fever!
It’s that time of year again. The time when I walk in urban areas peering into gardens and under shrubbery, looking for the first signs of snowdrops and crocus. When I pull out all the seed catalogs and circle, circle, circle all the plants I would like to fit into my yard. […]
Native Plants, Rare Plants, And Lakeshores
I recently signed up to become a plant survey volunteer for the Native Plant Trust. I am a botanist by training and identifying wildflowers was my first botanical obsession, way back when in high school and my early college yea […]
Meet the Neighbors: Dinoflagellates
Dinoflagellates are a group of microscopic mostly unicellular algae that are found in freshwater and marine environments worldwide. While we don’t hear much about them in freshwater, dinoflagellates are well known in coastal areas as ‘red tide’ and ‘brown tide’. These are b […]