Category: Silent Spring Continued: A World without Insects?
In Conservative Bavaria, Citizens Force Bold Action on Protecting Nature
*This post was originally published on the Yale Environment 360 site in April 2019 and has been reproduced here with permission. The featured image shows activists gathering in Munich to show support for Bavaria’s biodiversity referendum in January 2019. Photo: Georg Kurz By Christian Schwägerl Christian Schwägerl…
The Schaus Swallowtail
*Previously published in Wild Life: The Institution of Nature, by Irus Braverman. © 2015 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Published by Stanford University Press. Used by permission of the publisher. **The featured image (courtesy of Thomas C. Emmel), taken…
Insect Profile: The Schaus Swallowtail
By Irus Braverman. *The follwong text is taken from the book Wild Life: The Institution of Nature, by Irus Braverman. © 2015 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Published by Stanford University Press. Used here with the permission of the publisher….
Make Meadows, Not Lawns
“The Heart of the Ecosystem: Taking Responsibility for the Extinction of Bees” By Rosamund Portus *Featured image: A roundabout in Mössingen, the “City of Flowers.” Photo: UnreifeKirsche [CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons. When we think of extinction, we tend to think of a…
The Bellflower Specialists
Read the first part of this post, Insect Profile: Chelostoma rapunculi. (*Featured image: Campanula cochleariifolia, by Jerzy Opioła [CC BY-SA 4.0], from Wikimedia Commons) “Bees of Öland, Sweden: An Interview with Heidi Dobson” By Eunice Blavascunas and Alie J. Zagata Professor Heidi Dobson is…
Insect Profile: Chelostoma rapunculi
By Eunice Blavascunas and Alie J. Zagata On the Swedish island of Öland in the Baltic Sea, a fascinating little creature is rapidly disappearing. Chelostoma rapunculi, also known as the scissor bee, is a European solitary bee species. What makes it so interesting is…
The Last Kindred Spirit of Moths and Butterflies
Check out the first installment of this post, Insect Profile: The Apollo. “An interview with Andreas Segerer” by Susanne Schmitt and Birgit Müller We are standing in a hallway across from a hidden treasure: the world’s largest collection of butterflies and moths, holding about…
Insect Profile: The Apollo
*Featured image: Specimens of Parnassius Apollo in a collection case at the Zoologische Staatssammlung München. Photo: Susanne Schmitt. By Susanne Schmitt and Birgit Müller Classified as moderately endangered, Parnassius apollo is a species of butterfly that inhabits mountain meadows and rocky alpine sites. These creatures’…
Fifty Years Ago, Cockchafers Belonged to Spring…
“The Cockchafer, Part 2” (In case you missed it, read part 1, Insect Profile: The Cockchafer here! *(Featured image by dbgg1979 [CC By 2.0], via Flickr) By Birgit Müller and Susanne Schmitt We met Ernst-Gerhard Burmeister at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology where he has dedicated most of his…
Insect Profile: The Cockchafer
“The Cockchafer, Part 1” *(Featured image: Common Cockchafer (Maybug). Copyright Zoonar/Frank Hecker) By Birgit Müller and Susanne Schmitt On a warm night in May, the cockchafer crawls out of the earth for the first time to take flight into the bushes and trees. It has…
