If you think "I can't study nature where I live.
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This is a great question. This summer I have started learning my trees. I'm not so good with plants yet.
I'd suggest maybe getting an urban field guide and posting really clear photos in the right place to ask for help. I do know with plants seeing seeds, flowers, and how stems are aligned are important for getting the right ID.
Simply getting the genus right is a big accomplishment. Try to do that and celebrate when you nail it!
@futurebird thank you ma'am
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@futurebird @twizzt One thing I keep thinking about, living in the middle of a city, is how absolutely surrounded by birds we are here. And they're mostly invisible to us - we pay them no attention, unless a rare bird individual for some reason brings attention to itself.
And what is striking to me is that this is a near-total inversion of what life on this planet was like some 70 million years ago. Large diapsids ruled the roost and were surrounded by little synapsids they didn't pay much attention to - and now, large synapsids are in charge, surrounded by little diapsids we don't pay much attention to.
I tend to think the hymenopterans are "in charge" but not enough people listen to me when I explain this.
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@futurebird @twizzt I was thinking in the sense of "back when the dinosaurs ruled", which was always a silly simplification.
There's quite a lot more hymenopterans than there are of us, and the regional distribution is about the same. But they can live just fine without us, whereas we're doomed without them.
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This is a great question. This summer I have started learning my trees. I'm not so good with plants yet.
I'd suggest maybe getting an urban field guide and posting really clear photos in the right place to ask for help. I do know with plants seeing seeds, flowers, and how stems are aligned are important for getting the right ID.
Simply getting the genus right is a big accomplishment. Try to do that and celebrate when you nail it!
@futurebird @loathsome_dongeater I've had decent luck using a mobile app called Seek, which draws on the iNaturalist database to give suggested species IDs by pointing my phone camera at things. It's certainly far from infallible, but often it at least helps give me clues that I can use to check against websites and guidebooks.
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@futurebird @loathsome_dongeater I've had decent luck using a mobile app called Seek, which draws on the iNaturalist database to give suggested species IDs by pointing my phone camera at things. It's certainly far from infallible, but often it at least helps give me clues that I can use to check against websites and guidebooks.
@paralithode @loathsome_dongeater
The apps are fine, I have mixed feelings about them but they can give you a starting place.
If a bug is very common and you really want to know what it is you may need to commit a murder since getting it under a microscope can be the only way to really know.
The next best things are excellent photos.
I use my iPhone in a pinch but the SLR with the big lens is better.
But really just noticing what creatures are most common is the first step.
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@futurebird @twizzt One thing I keep thinking about, living in the middle of a city, is how absolutely surrounded by birds we are here. And they're mostly invisible to us - we pay them no attention, unless a rare bird individual for some reason brings attention to itself.
And what is striking to me is that this is a near-total inversion of what life on this planet was like some 70 million years ago. Large diapsids ruled the roost and were surrounded by little synapsids they didn't pay much attention to - and now, large synapsids are in charge, surrounded by little diapsids we don't pay much attention to.
@datarama @futurebird @twizzt "in charge"
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@futurebird how can I go about identifying plants without asking someone who knows? Are there books or resources that can help with this? These aren't obscure plants. They are common. I just don't know their names.
@loathsome_dongeater There are apps like @FloraIncognita (for Europe) or #inaturalist, working with photos.
There's also an old offline system, where you go through a flow diagram, watching the colour of flowers, the form of a leaf, the fixing of leaves on the stem etc. and at the end you get one or more results. These methods exist in form of books, ask perhaps at your library? -
@loathsome_dongeater There are apps like @FloraIncognita (for Europe) or #inaturalist, working with photos.
There's also an old offline system, where you go through a flow diagram, watching the colour of flowers, the form of a leaf, the fixing of leaves on the stem etc. and at the end you get one or more results. These methods exist in form of books, ask perhaps at your library? -
@datarama @futurebird @twizzt "in charge"
@wyatt_h_knott @futurebird @twizzt That mammals are now the dominant large animals is no more or less absurd than that dinosaurs used to be.
(obviously, "rule" and "in charge" or even "dominant" are somewhat silly terms, the planetary ecosystem is not an authoritarian chain of command.)
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@wyatt_h_knott @futurebird @twizzt That mammals are now the dominant large animals is no more or less absurd than that dinosaurs used to be.
(obviously, "rule" and "in charge" or even "dominant" are somewhat silly terms, the planetary ecosystem is not an authoritarian chain of command.)
@datarama @wyatt_h_knott @twizzt
Everyone is so impressed with animals being big. It ain't all that. hmph
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@wyatt_h_knott @futurebird @twizzt That mammals are now the dominant large animals is no more or less absurd than that dinosaurs used to be.
(obviously, "rule" and "in charge" or even "dominant" are somewhat silly terms, the planetary ecosystem is not an authoritarian chain of command.)
@datarama yep. well said.
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@datarama @wyatt_h_knott @twizzt
Everyone is so impressed with animals being big. It ain't all that. hmph
@futurebird @wyatt_h_knott @twizzt Being big means you're a lot more likely to leave lots of cool fossils when you die!
It also means you're extra screwed when the asteroid hits.
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@futurebird @wyatt_h_knott @twizzt Being big means you're a lot more likely to leave lots of cool fossils when you die!
It also means you're extra screwed when the asteroid hits.
@datarama Being little means you can leave complete specimens encased in amber for future study! There's no giant reptiles completely encased in preservatives. All we get from them is rotten old bones.
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@datarama @wyatt_h_knott @twizzt
Everyone is so impressed with animals being big. It ain't all that. hmph
@futurebird @datarama @wyatt_h_knott @twizzt
When you start as single-celled animals, demonstrating that you can scale up with roughly the same design is impressive.
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@futurebird @datarama @wyatt_h_knott @twizzt
When you start as single-celled animals, demonstrating that you can scale up with roughly the same design is impressive.
@david_chisnall @futurebird @wyatt_h_knott @twizzt One of the things that impresses me most is "design longevity".
For example, if you met a Calsoyasuchus from 200 million years ago, you would *immediately* recognize it as a type of crocodile.
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If you think "I can't study nature where I live. There is no nature here." there is another way to look at this.
First you are wrong. There is nature everywhere.
But you can think of your anthropocene environment as "easy mode" you won't be overwhelmed with species, you just need to start by learning the big players.
Just last week @twizzt told me about Evania appendigaster which is a wasp that lays it's eggs in the eggs of roaches. I spot it by the rail-road overpass the next day!
@Fragglemuppet @twizzt @futurebird start with ants, they are everywhere. they are facinatle little doods.
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If you think "I can't study nature where I live. There is no nature here." there is another way to look at this.
First you are wrong. There is nature everywhere.
But you can think of your anthropocene environment as "easy mode" you won't be overwhelmed with species, you just need to start by learning the big players.
Just last week @twizzt told me about Evania appendigaster which is a wasp that lays it's eggs in the eggs of roaches. I spot it by the rail-road overpass the next day!
@futurebird you will see it everywhere now. It's a bit of a curse... You can't unsee it.
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@futurebird @datarama this could be a fascinating lecture or even full semester seminar. God may have had an inordinate fondness for beetles, but for every species, he gave it its own parasitic wasp to keep it in check. I would say god hated beetles.... And all other arthropods for that matter.
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Now... I am glad that I have seen the wasp, but I have so many questions. Roaches don't just lay their eggs and leave them laying around. No, they make a little packet called an ootheca and to keep it safe a female roach will drag this around with her (it contains 15-60 eggs!) until it's just ready to hatch. So these wasps must land on the female roaches? How does it all go down?
You see? Nature is everywhere!
@futurebird I was actually trying to find info on this the other day. The only tool I had at hand was Google so I came up empty. These walls are huge for egg parasitoids too so do they eat most of all the eggs?
Being in a country that doesn't care about copyright, I have a hard time not just stealing papers so I can read about these things.
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Urban ecology can be a little gross, but all ecologies are gross when you look into it. There is also heroism, great battles and wars are all around you. But you need to tune in to the most common living things in your area first and learn their names and how they live.
By the way this parasitoid wasp? It's a lovely creature. It has dark blue eyes and a waist that'd make a fashion house jealous.
Someone should make a dress based on this wasp. It would win awards.
@futurebird I love one of it's common names too. The ensign wasp. It's like a flag girl. Their search flights and mannerisms are very interesting and unique too. Jet black, dazzling blue eyes... Such an important and beautiful creature.
