There is a non-profit group called the All Species Foundation that is attempting to catalog all species on the earth during the next 25 years. Just reviewing their information in a few areas can give some insight that this is a serious quest and how diverse our outdoors might be.
Larry Page of the Florida Museum of Natural History and colleagues will inventory and describe the world's catfishes, which are diverse, ecologically significant and commercially important.
Currently, 2,743 species of catfish are recognized, or one of every four species of freshwater fish, but the actual number is probably between 3,600 and 4,500. A group of 201 participants from 31 countries will discover and describe at least 1,000 new species of catfishes, including fossil catfishes.
Recently, a 646-pound record catfish was caught down south. Apparently there are lots more catfish variations out there. Brown bullheads are a tasty local catfish that are a deep-fried specialty menu item at area restaurants every spring.
A home remedy for reducing weed beds at the end of your dock enlisting these fish was recently suggested. If you spread enough shelled corn throughout the target weedbeds that catfish or carp would aggressively root around while trying to eat the corn and uproot the weeds. Presto! The weeds would float harmlessly away for a few dollars worth of corn.
I'll try it in front of my dock and let you know. However with the huge weed beds it's hard to reasonably expect the carp to do the trick even in a small area. If they didn't first cut their snouts on the millions of sharp Zebra mussels covering every rock.
Randall Schuh at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and his team will conduct a global study of plant-feeding insects in the family Miridae, a worldwide group of insects important in agriculture and as indicators of biodiversity.
The scientists will study approximately 5,300 species represented by 550,000 specimens housed in the world's natural history museums, and they will collect an additional 100,000 specimens, primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. More than 1,000 species new to science will be described.
We have introduced plant-eating beneficial beetles into Central New York to eat just the invasive plant Purple Loosestrife. If you travel anywhere this time of year you'll see vast areas of this scourge our watersheds and wildlife. Loosestrife wrecks the filter and wildlife habitat potential for thousands of acres of wetlands. The plant's rootbase rises above the water and the tall stiff stems filter little or nothing.
This aggressive invader crowds out the absorbent beneficial cattails. Waterfowl trying to reproduce and raise their young are at a huge disadvantage with loosestrife because they can neither hide nor escape from predators effectively. Also, the loosestrife fills in open water and is otherwise unstoppable and impossible to eradicate. It might look pretty but it's very bad stuff.
Another group will study an estimated 1,300 species of microscopic organisms called eumycetozoa. Also known as slime molds, they have two different life stages: an amoeba-like stage that feeds on bacteria and fungi and a spore-dispersing body stage that resembles fungus.
Eumycetozoans are important predators of bacteria and fungi in terrestrial ecosystems, and they provide excellent model systems for developmental biologists to study how different kinds of cells develop in closely related organisms.
This stuff helps rot up the forest floor and is part of composting. The City of Auburn wouldn't be harvesting hundreds of thousands of dollars of free methane if it were not for small stuff like slime molds breaking down tons of garbage every day. Have fun and be careful out there.
Kozlowski, a local sportsman who is the president of the Owasco
Watershed Lake Association,
is The Citizen's outdoors columnist.
He can be reached at
alkoz@baldcom.net
Currently, 2,743 species of catfish are recognized, or one of every four species of freshwater fish, but the actual number is probably between 3,600 and 4,500. A group of 201 participants from 31 countries will discover and describe at least 1,000 new species of catfishes, including fossil catfishes.
Recently, a 646-pound record catfish was caught down south. Apparently there are lots more catfish variations out there. Brown bullheads are a tasty local catfish that are a deep-fried specialty menu item at area restaurants every spring.
A home remedy for reducing weed beds at the end of your dock enlisting these fish was recently suggested. If you spread enough shelled corn throughout the target weedbeds that catfish or carp would aggressively root around while trying to eat the corn and uproot the weeds. Presto! The weeds would float harmlessly away for a few dollars worth of corn.
I'll try it in front of my dock and let you know. However with the huge weed beds it's hard to reasonably expect the carp to do the trick even in a small area. If they didn't first cut their snouts on the millions of sharp Zebra mussels covering every rock.
Randall Schuh at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and his team will conduct a global study of plant-feeding insects in the family Miridae, a worldwide group of insects important in agriculture and as indicators of biodiversity.
The scientists will study approximately 5,300 species represented by 550,000 specimens housed in the world's natural history museums, and they will collect an additional 100,000 specimens, primarily in the Southern Hemisphere. More than 1,000 species new to science will be described.
We have introduced plant-eating beneficial beetles into Central New York to eat just the invasive plant Purple Loosestrife. If you travel anywhere this time of year you'll see vast areas of this scourge our watersheds and wildlife. Loosestrife wrecks the filter and wildlife habitat potential for thousands of acres of wetlands. The plant's rootbase rises above the water and the tall stiff stems filter little or nothing.
This aggressive invader crowds out the absorbent beneficial cattails. Waterfowl trying to reproduce and raise their young are at a huge disadvantage with loosestrife because they can neither hide nor escape from predators effectively. Also, the loosestrife fills in open water and is otherwise unstoppable and impossible to eradicate. It might look pretty but it's very bad stuff.
Another group will study an estimated 1,300 species of microscopic organisms called eumycetozoa. Also known as slime molds, they have two different life stages: an amoeba-like stage that feeds on bacteria and fungi and a spore-dispersing body stage that resembles fungus.
Eumycetozoans are important predators of bacteria and fungi in terrestrial ecosystems, and they provide excellent model systems for developmental biologists to study how different kinds of cells develop in closely related organisms.
This stuff helps rot up the forest floor and is part of composting. The City of Auburn wouldn't be harvesting hundreds of thousands of dollars of free methane if it were not for small stuff like slime molds breaking down tons of garbage every day. Have fun and be careful out there.
Kozlowski, a local sportsman who is the president of the Owasco
Watershed Lake Association,
is The Citizen's outdoors columnist.
He can be reached at
alkoz@baldcom.net
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