- Saturday - Sunday
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. - Monday - Friday
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. - Phone
(773) 755-5100 - 2430 N. Cannon Dr.
Chicago, IL 60614
Contents tagged with conservation
Aldo Leopold
Published On 1/11/2013Today is the birthday of Aldo Leopold.
If you don’t know who he is, you have at least benefitted from the fruits of his work. Leopold is considered the father of modern wildlife management. Most of the principles conservationists use today to ensure that wildlife and people can share the planet together successfully were promoted, perfected, or even developed by him. He wrote prolifically for both technical audiences and the public, but even his scientific writings are pleasurable to read. One of the few books I encourage everyone to read is “A Sand County Almanac.” In this book Leopold presents complex ideas in simple stories about his time in the outdoors. These experiences were the foundation for Leopold’s “conservation ethic.” This ethic was something he arrived at both intuitively and through meticulous data collection. Many studies have later supported his conclusions and the fact that you can see wild flowers in the spring, baby birds foraging in the summer, and deer rutting in the fall is because conservationists and state wildlife agencies have applied these principles in managing the wildlife near you.
Today it is unseasonably warm so I hope you can celebrate Aldo Leopld’s birthday in style—take a walk in the woods. When it gets a little colder, I hope you’ll curl up with one of his books and take some time to learn about the beautiful interactions of nature in your neighborhood.
View CommentsWhat? We're already out of hot water?
Published On 1/8/2013It is said that plumbers get some of their biggest jobs between Thanksgiving and New Years. I don’t know if this is really true but it make sense because this is the time of year when homes are full of people using every sink, tub, and showerhead in the place.
I used water in more than a dozen homes over the holidays and saw some interesting interactions with water delivery systems. In two homes, only one or two people could shower before the hot water was gone. Then, a kid was scalded when washing his hands. Elsewhere, when filling a pitcher with water, a woman ended up soaked when the water from the tap hit the bottom of the pitcher with such force it splashed back out. Another person, scrubbing a frying pan, almost overflowed the sink before the pan was even a little clean.
There were other adventures (including dish soap in the automatic dishwasher) but these problems all have their roots in the same issue: water flow at the spigot head. High water pressure is great and we all want enough water to come out of the faucet to get the job done but sometimes there can be too much of a good thing and, instead of helping us stay clean and hydrated, we end up with messes.
In each of these cases, the problem could have been solved by simply adding an aerator to the faucet. An aerator is essentially just a piece of fine screen that the water passes though. The effect is to add air to the water as it leaves the faucet while and reducing the amount of water used but without reducing felt water pressure. With an aerator, more people will be able to shower on a tank of water and the temperature of the heater can be turned down to a safer level because less hot water is used in each shower. A pitcher will fill with water quickly but it won’t splash back (and, incidentally, chlorine and some other chemicals will leave the water more quickly making it taste better) and you will have plenty of water to scrub with, without overflowing the sink.
Many older homes were built with faucets that did not have aerators. In other cases, when the aerators became clogged or broken they were simply removed. In most cases, adding or replacing an aerator is simple. Depending on the faucet, you can simply unscrew the end of the faucet and install a screen, or you may have to screw in a whole new end that includes the screen. In showers, you can simply replace the shower head. Aerators are widely available and, especially in the shower, can provide an updated look to the faucet and a more comfortable user experience.
Sometimes good stewardship of natural resources requires sacrifice but, when it comes to your faucet, adding an aerator makes the water easier to use and you’ll be saving money and water.
View CommentsThe Challenge of Swamp Metalmarks
Published On 12/27/2012Of all the species that we work with in the butterfly conservation lab, by far the most challenging has been the species that is also the most seriously endangered, the Swamp Metalmark. This species has proven difficult at virtually every stage of the captive breeding process. The populations where we can obtain founder stock are small. The few females that we are able to collect don’t lay many eggs. We feel very lucky to get more than 90 or so out of a single female. Contrasts that to Regal Fritillary females that can each produce upwards of 800 eggs. Hatching, larval growth and survival to pupation are all modest at best. In northern Illinois, the species has but a single generation per year, which means that we are confronted with the challenge of successfully carrying caterpillars over the winter, a process that has proven difficult for many species. Despite these odds, we continue attempting to breed the species in the lab so that we can return the species to the fens of northeastern Illinois where it formerly flew.
-
Swamp Metalmark Chrysalis
-
Swamp Metalmark Caterpillars
-
Swamp Metalmark adult butterfly
Throughout September and early October we experienced the kind of gradual attrition that is typical of our experience with the species. We were faced with a dilemma: should we try moving the larvae to cages where they would spend the winter outdoors? We have never succeeded with this approach. Or should we raise them through to adulthood and try to get an additional generation with perhaps greater numbers. We have only once before succeeded in rearing the species to adulthood, but did not get any offspring. Despite the uncertainty, the latter course of action seemed less perilous, so we retained the caterpillars in the lab and continued to offer them food.
By mid October we were down to 21 caterpillars. There the numbers stabilized as the caterpillars continued to eat and grow. With few additional losses, we obtained 19 pupae. At the time of this writing we have about 10 adults, four of which are females. We have paired them in small cages where we hope that mating will occur. After a few days we will move the females into egg laying cages and hope for the best.
Mating Cages
Although this species is proving difficult to work with, I believe that it is well worth the effort. Swamp metalmarks were once part of the great species diversity that was found in the fens of Illinois. It my firm hope that they will one day fly there again.
View Comments
-
- 1