Category: Environmental Education

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CREW Trails in Southwest Spotlight Magazine

spotlight logoCheck out the article on Florida Black Bears by CREW’s environmental education specialist, Deb Hanson, in the current issue of Southwest Florida Spotlight magazine (p. 43) – on shelves and online now. Deb is writing this monthly column for Spotlight to highlight interesting wildlife and plants that can be seen at CREW.

What topics would you like to see covered in future columns?

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Florida Black Bear Seminar and Resources

Kathleen Smith leads a black bear seminar in 2011
Kathleen Smith leads a black bear seminar in 2011

On Friday, November 15, 2013, Kathleen Smith, biologist with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), will lead a CREW Strolling Science Seminar at the CREW Marsh Trails. In this strolling session, she shares the natural history of Florida’s black bears, information about human-bear interactions, and how you can help protect the species here in SWFL. You can register for this seminar here.

In addition, Kathleen has shared the following additional resources to help us all learn more about Florida’s ursine inhabitants:

Book: Living With Bears: A Practical Guide to Bear Country by Linda Masterson

 

Online resources:
FWC Bear Management Website

15 minute You Tube Video created by FWC about http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf0cL6gUuXI

 Defenders of Wildlife – Black Bear Website http://www.defenders.org/florida-black-bear/florida-black-bears-101

Living with Bears http://www.livingwithbears.org/

 SFWMD Black Bear Website
http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/education/interactive/springscoast/blackbear.shtml

 

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Announcing 2013-14 CREW Strolling Science Seminars

Alligator at Bird RookeryThe CREW Trust is pleased to announce an exciting schedule of 2013-2014 CREW Strolling Science Seminars. These seminars are scholarly walks for adults through the CREW trails, led by experts who engage participants in in-depth discussions about specific topics related to the CREW watershed. This is the third season for these scholarly walks at CREW. The past two years of seminars have been funded partially by CHNEP Public Outreach grants.

This year’s seminars include:

  • November 15, 2013 – Florida Black Bears: The Bear Essentials w/ Kathleen Smith, FFWCC Biologist (9 AM – noon)
  • December 14, 2013 – The Lives of Fungi at CREW w/ Dr. William Sanders, FGCU (9 AM – noon)
  • January 11, 2014 – Strolling Science in a Day w/ Dr. Billy Gunnels, FGCU (9 AM – 3 PM)
  • January 31, 2014 – Hydrology; How It Directly and Indirectly Controls the Distribution and Characteristics of Southwest Florida Plant Communities w/ Mike Duever, Natural Ecosystems, LLC (9 AM – noon)
  • February 22, 2014 – Paleo-Plants that the Dinosaurs Ate: Ferns of SWFL w/ Jack Berninger (9 AM – noon)
  • March 29, 2014 – American Alligators: Ecological Engineers of the Everglades Ecosystem w/ Ian Bartoszek of the Conservancy of SWFL (9 AM – noon)

For details about each seminar and to register, go to the CREWTrust page on Eventbrite and scroll to the title of the seminar you want to know more about.

 

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Panther Resources

Panther at CREW - 2012 (Photo credit: Bob Melin)
Panther at CREW – 2012 (Photo credit: Bob Melin)

Below are additional resources and information related to panthers for our Strolling Science Seminar participants.

  • Florida Panther Identification Guide – a 20-page identification guide by Florida Defenders of Wildlife
  • Statement on Estimating Panther Population Size  – written by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission panther team
  • Panther Safety Tips – what to do if you encounter a Florida panther
  • Panthernet.org – Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s “multidisciplinary interactive website on the Florida panther and its southwest Florida environment, designed for everyone interested in learning more about the state’s official animal. It includes the latest information and activities on the natural history of the Florida panther, its habitat, threats to its survival, and history and conservation efforts.” Lots of research papers here…
  • Panther Sighting Registry – use this page to report a panther sighting, especially any sightings north of the Caloosahatchee River.
  • Mountain Lions in Arizona – 10 minute video by Arizona Game and Fish – talks about population estimates – mentioned by Marc Criffield during the panther seminar.
  • Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge – US Fish & Wildlife Service Panther Refuge website
  • Friends of Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge – website for the non-profit friends groups for the Panther Refuge
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Butterfly – Dragonfly Resources

Daggerwing by GELThe following are resources related to butterflies and dragonflies that were mentioned during or suggested by participants or the leader of the Dancing Colors and Tigers of the Sky Strolling Science Seminar held on March 8, 2013 at Bird Rookery Swamp. Enjoy.

If you have other to add, please do so in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Books/Field Guides:

Butterflies Through Binoculars by J. Glassberg

Dragonflies Through Binoculars by S. Dunkle

Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East by D. Paulson

Scholarly papers:

Sexual Selection and the Evolution of Butterfly Mating Behavior by R. Rutowski

Odonata Listservs:

“CalOdes Sightings CalOdes” <CalOdes@yahoogroups.com>

“TexOdes Odes” <TexOdes@yahoogroups.com>

“Southeast Odonata” <se-odonata@yahoogroups.com>

“dragonfly listserve” <SoWestOdes@yahoogroups.com>

“great lakes odes” <gl_odonata@yahoogroups.com>

“NE Odonata” <neodes@yahoogroups.com>

“Odonata-l” <odonata-l@listhost.ups.edu>

 

Return to Strolling Science Seminar page here.

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Evolution by Natural Selection Resources

hm_tree

Below are additional resources and information related to evolution by natural selection for participants of Strolling Science Seminar series. All resources below were recommended by Dr. billY Gunnels of FGCU.

  •  The PBS series “Evolution” is wonderful. On a bonus, the series highlights a research project on a newt-snake evolutionary arms race that I worked on
  • Beak of the Finch by Jonathon Weiner is a wonderful book for people outside of evolution that does a lovely job describing the culture of scientific research and evolutionary biology. You can find it cheap at Amazon.com
  • Why we get Sick: The Science of Darwinian Medicine by Neese and Willams introduces the role of evolutionary biology in modern medical science. You can find it cheap at Amazon.com
  • The University of California at Berkeley provides a great websites with wonderful flash animations that walks you through the process of evolutionary biology.
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Snake Resources

Below are additional resources and information related to snakes for our Strolling Science Seminar participants.

The CREW Strolling Science Seminars are supported in part by a Public Outreach Grant from the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program (CHNEP). The Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program is a partnership to protect estuaries in southwest Florida from Venice to Estero Bay.

Return to 2012-2013 Strolling Science Seminar page.

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Bat Resources

Rafenesque’s bat (Photo credit: FFWCC)

Below are additional resources and information related to bats for our Strolling Science Seminar participants.

Bat Conservation International – http://www.batcon.org/

Florida Bat Conservancy – http://www.floridabats.org/

Books you may like:

Bats of Florida – by Cyndi and George Marks

Walker’s Bats of the World

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Go back to 2012-2013 Strolling Science Seminar page

The CREW Strolling Science Seminars are supported in part by a Public Outreach Grant from the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program (CHNEP). The Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program is a partnership to protect estuaries in southwest Florida from Venice to Estero Bay.