What is a Citizen Naturalist? Citizen naturalists are people concerned about the environment who choose to become involved to help on both a local and national level. Anyone can be a citizen naturalist. You just have to have a passion for nature and an interest in helping your community. These can be simple tasks like cleaning up water sources, educating
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Each year DANTA offers a number of training courses in various aspects of tropical biology. Typically, the courses are one month long but shorter courses are also offered through our organization. The courses are intended for undergraduates or early graduate level students who have a keen interest in tropical biology and conservation, but have little or no experience of working
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These days there are so many types of travel, especially as we become more involved in trying to sustain the environment. I’m providing information here to help you be an educated traveler. This first one is the big one: ECO-TOURISM. The International Ecotourism Society defines it as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of
Read moreOn this day throughout history lots of powerful things have happened. In 1947, Jackie Robinson, broke the color barrier, by becoming the first African-American player in Major League Baseball. The sport had been segregated for more then 50 years. On a related manner, on this day in 1865 Abraham Lincoln died from his assassins attempt from the previous day. He
Read moreSpring has sprung. Birds are migrating back to WNY, trees are waking up and the refreshing spring rain is coming down to push up those May flowers. Of course, this means that allergens are at an all time high and kitchen floors have so much mud from (human) children’s boots and our (canine) children’s paws that some time you wonder
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Though the drawn specimen of Tillandsia bergeri shows a small plant, T. bergeri tends to allocate much of its energy into growing into large clusters, as seen in the photograph above. This native Brazilian species grows epiphytically (growing upon other plants) or lithophytically (growing upon rocks), and therefore do not require soil for growth. Plants that grow in this manner
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Various media sources are full of “global warming” references, while some prefer “climate change”. Global warming seems to have a much bigger impact in our minds as images of a scorching-hot Earth filters through our conscience. So what is the difference? According to NASA global warming is “a gradual increase in the average temperature of Earth’s surface” (NASA, accessed 2015).
Read moreAs promised here are some more summer reads that just came out that are all about our critter companions. Both books were released mid June 2014, and although they are quite different from one another, both would be a valuable asset for your in-house library. The first book is a reference book titled, “The Cat Encyclopedia: The Definitive Visual Guide”
Read moreI’m ready for summer and I bet many of you with seasonal jobs (such as teachers and students) are ready too! When I had written the above title, I didn’t know that I wasn’t the first person to say those words in that order. Frank Zappa, the American musician, bandleader, songwriter, composer, recording engineer, record producer, and film director, beat
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Some of my fondest childhood memories are from playing in the dirt with my mother while she gardened. She would designate a special area where I was allowed to play, so I would not damage any plants. Due to my mother’s green thumb, I do not remember a single summer that we did not have a garden. My mother did
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