The Best Biome

It's snowy and getting colder where we're at, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go outside. Rachel gives a compelling argument as to why winter is the best time of year for birding and gives insight into the Christmas Bird Count: a citizen science project dating back over a hundred years. Learn more about the Christmas Bird Count here. Primary Sources: Affiliate purchase link Contact: Website Facebook Twitter TikTok info@grasslandgroupies.org Support us: Bonfire Merch Store Or donate: Donorbox CashApp: $GrasslandGroupies

This episode is a little different. We celebrate spooky season with the haunting tales of feldgeist, Sinkhole Sam, and the Ohio Grassman. These stories haunt the minds of those who visit prairies and fields across the globe. Be weary, you never know what's lurking in the tall grass. Photos and more are at our site. Contact: Website Facebook Twitter TikTok info@grasslandgroupies.org Support us: Bonfire Merch Store Or donate: Donorbox

Grasshopper mice are small but fierce. They howl like wolves, stalk their prey like cats, and finish up with a quick face clean. These solitary animals like to live life dangerously and enjoy even venomous meals. Photos and more are at our site. Primary Sources: Grasshopper Mouse Hunting and HowlingAnimal Diversity WebUSDA Bulletin: Life History and Habits of Grass-hopper mice, genus OnychomysIntergeneric behavioral differences among methamphetamine treated miceOnychomys: Tiny Terror of the Western Deserts Contact: Website Facebook Twitter TikTok info@grasslandgroupies.org Support us: Bonfire Merch Store Or donate: Donorbox

Nicole talks painted dogs: a surprisingly wholesome and fun-loving animal. They are excellent hunters, take care of not just their pups but their elderly, and rarely squabble amongst themselves. Photos and more are at our site. Primary Sources: Painted Dog ConservationPainted Dog Research TrustVocal Communication in Free-Ranging African Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus)Behaviour137African Wild Dog Dispersal and Implications for ManagementThe Journal of Wildlife Management84 Contact Website Facebook Twitter TikTok info@grasslandgroupies.org Support us: Bonfire Merch Store Or donate: Donorbox

Enjoy this episode of very good facts and very good nonsense. We revisit a nice game of stump the podcast host, this time with more bug viscera and talking ourselves out of an obvious answer. Our Info: Website Facebook Twitter info@grasslandgroupies.org

In the Páramo grasslands of South America is a cloud covered land where a unique ecosystem thrives. Allan tells us all about a plant that drinks clouds plus the miraculous little hummingbirds that call this place home. Photos and more are at our site. Primary Sources: Páramos: A Checklist of Plant Diversity, Geographical Distribution, and Botanical LiteratureClay mineralogy of the soils in the south Ecuadorian paramo regionIn the land of El Dorado, clean water has become ‘blue gold’ Contact Website Facebook Twitter TikTok info@grasslandgroupies.org

Did you know meerkats are far more murderous than they seem or that their burrows can be as wide as a Purple Worm's? All this and more as we delve underground and find out why they can be so aggressive and who would win in a fight: 1000 meerkats or Nicole. Primary Sources: The phylogenetic roots of human lethal violenceIntergroup aggression in meerkatsInfanticide by subordinates influences reproductive sharing in cooperatively breeding meerkats Contact Website Facebook Twitter info@grasslandgroupies.org Merch Store!

Conservation can be DEPRESSING, so for Mental Health Month we decided to share ONLY positive news and stories (after taking a little break for our brains). Rewire those neurons everybody, because it's not all bleak. Good news so far in May: Biden-Harris Administration announced $36 millionDakota Prairie Grasslands US Department of Agriculture and the Interior announcedProposed CRP Reform Act of 20232023 JE Weaver Small Grands AwardsArizona is restoring migration routes South Dakota spending $1 mil restoring grasslandsNo-Mow-Summer in Dengibghshire County, WalesEarless Dragon burrows Saving Phu MyUN International Year of Rangelands and PastoralistsWWF Policy Actions to Save GrasslandsThere's still time to save the CerradoCargill got sued over Cerrado deforestation again. Good news deep dives: Success in the Savanna: Blue-throated Macaw Update2022 State of the Birds ReportNorth American Grasslands Conservation ActGreat Plains Ecotourism CoalitionUtah Wildlife Board approves changes to Utah prairie dog rule Contact Website Facebook Twitter info@grasslandgroupies.org

Wherein Rachel makes a definitive list of best bird nests in North American grasslands. Primary Sources: A Field Guide to Birds NestsThe Birder's HandbookMadison Audubon's Into the Nest Contact Website Facebook Twitter info@grasslandgroupies.org

Ostriches are one of the strangest birds we've ever talked about. They are the world's biggest bird and toughest survivor. They nest together, have radiators for necks, and can drink saltwater. Photos and more are at our site. Primary Sources: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-20937-7https://doi.org/10.2307/1365733 Contact Website Facebook Twitter info@grasslandgroupies.org

Soils define habitats as much as the plantlife, so let's talk about that! How do you identify a soil species, and should grassland ecosystem restorations include soil microbe transplants? Photos and more are at our site. Primary Sources: Affiliate Bookshop LinkLink Contact Website Facebook Twitter info@grasslandgroupies.org

Basic midwest feeder bird or mysterious exotic tundra sparrow? Actually, both! Harris's Sparrows, one of the most enigmatic North American sparrows, are about to travel well out of reach into the remote frigid north, so let's gossip about them before they're gone. Only a handful of studies have been done with this species, and to this day we lack pretty basic Breeding Bird Survey information about their populations. Primary Sources: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.harspa.01 Contact Website Facebook Twitter info@grasslandgroupies.org

If you haven't started thinking about your gardens yet, now is the perfect time to get started planning. Nicole walks us through gardening for native habitats, wildlife, and how to get your neighbors on board too. Photos and more are at our site. Further Reading: our websiteblogwildflower.orgGrowNative.orgFloraVeg.eu Contact Website Facebook Twitter info@grasslandgroupies.org

A wholesome episode about secure love, forming bonds under stress, and human connection through the lens of a grasslands specialist: the prairie vole. Photos and more are at our site. Primary Sources: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/01/27/1152009605/prairie-voles-oxytocin-love-hormone-bonding-studyThe Prairie Vole (Microtus ochrogaster): An Animal Model for Behavioral Neuroendocrine Research on Pair Bonding.Social Organization of the Prairie Vole (Microtus ochrogaster) Contact Website Facebook Twitter info@grasslandgroupies.org

So many monkeys that are forest dwellers, but baboons as a group are ground-dwelling grasslanders whose habitat use and social structure might help us learn about our own hominid ancestors. In this episode, Allan combines ecology and anthropology to discuss some grasslands monkeys. Photos and more are at our site. Primary Sources: Baboon perspectives on the ecology and behavior of early human ancestorsBaboon Diet: A Five-Year Study of Stability and Variability in the Plant Feeding and Habitat of the Yellow Baboons (Papio cynocephalus) of Mikumi National Park, TanzaniaThe baboon: A model for the study of language evolution. Journal of Human Evolution Contact Website Facebook Twitter info@grasslandgroupies.org

The chamois is a goat-antelope from the rolling alpine meadow scenery of European mountains, and today's episode is a straightforward peek into the idyllic life of this animal that's (for once) doing alright! Unless you count the mandatory 7 years of grizzled aging in the mountains and their shrinking body masses. (I don't!) Photos and more are at our site. Primary Sources: https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Rupicapra_rupicapra/https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Rupicapra_pyrenaica/Frontiers in Zoology11https://doi.org/10.1186/s12983-014-0069-6 Contact Website Facebook Twitter info@grasslandgroupies.org

Yank your concept of crayfish out of the water. In this episode, Nicole walks us through one of her favorite arthropod groups and makes a pretty good case for why prairie lovers should love these little crustaceans that burrow deep into the prairie. She also makes us rethink crayfish boils forever. Primary Sources: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1555413606702675https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1248811https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2018.03.015https://mdc.mo.gov/magazines/conservationist/2020-03/burrowing-crayfish Contact Website Facebook Twitter info@grasslandgroupies.org

In this episode, Rachel goes down the opposite of a rabbit hole as we discuss a single widely-cited paper from 2018. Take a look at Africa's savanna plants and what their adaptations mean for conservation, human impacts, and climate change across the continent. Photos and more are at our site. Primary Sources: New Phytologist220https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15236 Contact Website Facebook Twitter info@grasslandgroupies.org This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Have an existential crisis about the inner lives of bees with us! In this episode, Nicole attempts to teach us a few things about bumblebees while under constant antagonization to slander honeybees. This overview of bumblebees tumbles into some very specific studies on energy, cognition and learning, and even play behaviors for this big bumbly group of native social bees. Photos and more are at our site. Primary Sources: https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bumblebee-nests/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.08.013https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.22.423907https://xerces.org/blog/five-ways-to-support-queen-bumble-bees-this-spring Contact Website Facebook Twitter info@grasslandgroupies.org This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

What does the American South and the Tallgrass Prairie have in common? Their grasslands support an elusive little grassland specialist that the old timey ornithologists roast way too hard: the Henslow's Sparrow. In this episode we explore the beloved longleaf pine savannas of the southern US, and ask why a little grassland sparrow who hates trees chooses to spend its winters among the longleaf pines. Photos and more are at our site. Primary Sources: Restoring a disappearing ecosystem: the longleaf pine savannahttps://doi.org/10.2173/bow.henspa.01 Contact Website Facebook Twitter info@grasslandgroupies.org This podcast is powered by Pinecast.