Bear Tracks: Stories of the Natural World

Episode 3: The two-sided coin of global ecology: Endemic and Invasive Species

As evolution tinkered with the animal and plant kingdoms and drove the development of the world’s incredible diversity of flora and fauna, many species developed in isolation and gradually became their own unique species found nowhere else in the world. These endemic organisms now often live in small communities, inhabiting localized environments over a confined geographic range. With the globalization of the world in the modern era came a new group of organisms that exist as opposites of endemic animals — generalist creatures that have advanced from their original range and taken hold in diverse regions across the globe. We know these species as invasive species. With recent travel to the Neotropics and Greater Antilles acting as inspiration, we discuss the differences between endemic and invasive species, the difficulties that pock the relationships of these organisms, threats faced by endemic species, the negative impacts of many invasive organisms, and the ethical challenges of navigating the control of non-native creatures in their extended range.

Episode 2: The Wonder of Coral Reefs

Coral reefs are some of the most important ocean ecosystems, directly supporting 25% of all marine life while covering less than 1% of the earth’s surface. Despite their significance to both marine fauna and human communities, coral reefs are at risk of destruction from a variety of factors, including unnatural climate activity, rapid coastal industrialization, and plastic pollution. This solo Roger episode highlights the importance of coral reefs on a global scale, discussing the biology and reproduction of coral, the distribution of reefs around the world, threats to their survival, and current work focussed on the preservation of coral reefs in the face of those threats.

Episode 1: All About Birding

In our inaugural episode we decided to talk about birding! A passion for both of us, birding is a great way for anyone to start engaging with wildlife. In this episode, we introduce ourselves, talk about our birding journeys, what birding means to us, a few of the ways that anyone can get involved birding, what birds you can see in Maine during the winter, highlight a few cool things about these birds, and more!