Didn't read the whole article, but the whole thing reads as very anthropocentric to me. It seems that the entire discussion is around human/Native relationships to trees and whether we've grieved/learned our lesson enough. Which put humans entirely at the center of the narrative, when the narrative should primarily be around the tree's ecological relationships to all of nature. Hell, the article even mentions moth species that have gone extinct due to the downfall of the tree but fails to recognize that maybe humans shouldn't be the center or the universe in this narrative.
I haven't tested/verified this myself but I've heard that mycelium grows particularly well on millet and rye berries. Might be a couple to add into your experimenting.
What Biden has done is to cut the issuance of drilling leases to the minimum required by law, pass the Inflation Reduction Act, enact a regulation to force vehicle electrification, and similarly force fossil fuels out of most power plants....
Where I'm at, we're actually getting a decent amount of solar, but unfortunately the power district is building the solar fields over some remnant tallgrass prairie, probably since it's cheaper than buying agricultural or residential land. This sucks since we've destroyed 98% of all the tallgrass prairie in the US, which makes it one of the most endangered biomes in the world, which is extra sucky since tallgrass prairie is one the most effective biomes at sequestering carbon, much more than even forests/woodlands.
Yes, most wasp species are good pollinators since adults are generally nectar feeders. They're not as efficient as bees since they're not as hairy, but they pollinate a lot nonetheless. Some wasps are actually specialist pollinators for certain plants (see figs and fig wasps). Wasps also serve other important roles, including population control for other arthropods since they hunt and parasitize them.
Wasps are also generally very non-aggressive. Hornets, yellowjackets, and paper wasps give the rest of the wasps a bad name, but a large amount of wasps can't even sting, and another very large amount can sting but are very non-aggresive (solitary hunting wasps are a good example of this). I'd say even paper wasps are really non-aggressive unless you get too close to the nest, and they just tend to make their nests close to where people often go near.
Especially ironic when suburbanites rave about how houses are infinitely better than apartments because they’re “closer to nature.” You want to be closer to nature? Let natural processes work and have a lawn of whatever grows in your area naturally (even an “invasive” species is better than lawn grasses, unironically,...
Yes, you would have to densely broadcast seed/plant plugs with native prairie species or noxious and invasive stuff will take over initially. And you would have to kill all the grass, either with a spray (which helps keep the existing invasive seed bank down), or till or sod cut or solarize or smother the grass.
If you replant relatively quickly, erosion won't be too much of a concern as the natives will establish fast enough to stabilize the soil. Long term, the natives will actually reduce erosion compared to lawn grass. You don't need to burn in an urban setting, mowing once or twice a year (once in earlier spring and maybe again in early summer to help natives out compete invasives) is gonna be enough generally.
A major overlooked ecological value of parasites and the diseases they carry is population control. We all hate them and the off chance of getting a serious disease from them, but they do help keep populations of mammals in control. Also, some mosquitoes are pollinators.
Generally, if the question is "Should we eradicate native species?", my answer would be no regardless of species because ecology is extremely complex and we likely will never exactly understand the impact of voluntary species eradication until after we do it.
There are non-native mosquitoes and ticks though, eradication of those should be okay unless maybe if they've been naturalized for a long time. Less severe population control near urban areas is probably the most reasonable compromise between not disturbing native ecology and human comfort.
We've got a vegetable garden going with tomatoes, pepper, kale, cabbage, onions, and eggplants.
Also got a new pollinator garden bed started this year with Butterfly milkweed, a few different species of aster, sunflowers, blanket flower, rattlesnake master, goldenrod, purple prairie clover, Mexican hat coneflower, and some blazing star. Also scattered some sage and prairie clover seeds in a few other spots on our property. I've been sitting out documenting the various wasps and bees that visit us. We're also planning on harvesting seeds from stuff and giving them away/starting plants from them next spring to give away.
Got some logs from our neighbors that I'll drill some holes in for the mason bees.
We've got some old furniture that we don't want anymore that I'm trying to touch up a bit before giving it away to a local charity that gives people coming out of the foster system stuff like furniture and appliances to help them land on their feet.
Over the past one and a half years, Stack Overflow has lost around 50% of its traffic. This decline is similarly reflected in site usage, with approximately a 50% decrease in the number of questions and answers, as well as the number of votes these posts receive....
In my experience, with both coding and natural sciences, a slightly incorrect answer that you attempt to apply, realize is wrong in some way during initial testing/analysis, then you tweak until it's correct, is very useful, especially compared to not receiving any answer or being ridiculed by internet randos.
Found it in Northeast Nebraska hanging out on a plant on the edge of a tallgrass prairie and woodland while surveying for mycorhizal fungi. Thankfully I like taking pictures of wasps since I 100% thought this was a Polistes, otherwise I might have just walked on.
If anyone has any idea on an ID, it'd be much appreciated.
Nearest tree was a spruce of some sort, with a blue spruce and a couple linden trees also relatively nearby. Thinking Hortiboletus rubellus or Boletus harrisonii, but very unsure.
The American chestnut tree is coming back. Who is it for? (grist.org)
Mycelium has a grain preference, it seems. (Brown rice, Popcorn mix) (lemmy.ca)
I had a bit of grain left during my last run, so I mixed the bits I had left....
Biden says global warming topping 1.5 degrees in the next 10 to 20 years is scarier than nuclear war (www.cnbc.com)
What Biden has done is to cut the issuance of drilling leases to the minimum required by law, pass the Inflation Reduction Act, enact a regulation to force vehicle electrification, and similarly force fossil fuels out of most power plants....
OC Eumenes fraternus on Allium flowers, Eastern Nebraska
OC Cordyceps tenuipes and its host insect, Southeast Nebraska
Nightmare fuel from today's bugging: a fully funginated ex-cicada (mander.xyz)
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/16ef440b-b095-4f89-8aa3-8858ff9c6685.jpeg...
Reminder: Your lawn isn't "being invaded by weeds," it's undergoing natural selection.
Especially ironic when suburbanites rave about how houses are infinitely better than apartments because they’re “closer to nature.” You want to be closer to nature? Let natural processes work and have a lawn of whatever grows in your area naturally (even an “invasive” species is better than lawn grasses, unironically,...
OC Amanita amerivirosa, Southeastern Nebraska, USA
OC We've got monarchs on our A. tuberosa!
What Are You Working On?
In this thread, post what you’re working on! Guerilla gardening? eBiking? planting/pruning? Let us know!
"1 bed 1 bath" is a generous description for a garage (lemmy.ca)
The Fall of Stack Overflow (observablehq.com)
Over the past one and a half years, Stack Overflow has lost around 50% of its traffic. This decline is similarly reflected in site usage, with approximately a 50% decrease in the number of questions and answers, as well as the number of votes these posts receive....
OC Cuckoo Bee, Eastern Nebraska
OC Amanita populiphila at three stages of development, Buffalo County, Nebraska
OC A very tricky wasp mimic moth
OC Photogenic Bolete, Eastern Nebraska