Category Archives: Plants

If it does photosynthesis or isn’t normally considered an animal, it’s put here.

The Local Color

Seeing red? In the Fall, New England certainly does. That brilliant red color is made by a mysterious pigment called anthocyanin. Only some plants produce it at this time of year, and scientists don’t agree on what it does. Some more »

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Posted in Fall, Nature by the Seasons, Plants, Trees, Videos | Comments Off

Why Leaves Leave

Autumn is a busy time for all plants as they prepare for winter, but only some plants have made the drastic decision for abscission. Biologist Kelly Rypkema gets in tune with the energetic flow of deciduous plants as their leaves more »

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Posted in Fall, Nature by the Seasons, Plants, Trees, Videos | Comments Off

Fruit Flies: The Reckoning

With fruit flies committing public acts of mating and rampant fly-bies on a daily basis, Kelly Rypkema knows it’s time to take a stand against the population setting up house in her kitchen. Armed with knowledge of fruit fly behavior more »

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Posted in Animal Behavior, Animals, Fall, Mating and Courtship, Nature by the Seasons, People and Nature, Plants, Spiders and Insects, Spring, Summer, Videos, Winter | Comments Off

Fruit Flies: Cooking Up a Habitat

Naturalist Kelly Rypkema endeavors to answer a viewer’s question and ends up with an infestation of dizzying Drosophila – melanogaster, that is – Fruit flies. Tune in to see how to make your kitchen a ripe habitat for these impish insects. more »

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Posted in Animal Behavior, Animals, Fall, Habitats of City Wildlife, Mating and Courtship, Nature by the Seasons, People and Nature, Plants, Spiders and Insects, Spring, Summer, Videos, Winter | Comments Off

The Root of the Matter

In the forest, a tree’s broad, showy crown might catch our attention, but the roots are really the long arm of the log.

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Posted in Fall, Nature by the Seasons, Plants, Spring, Summer, Trees, Videos, Winter | Comments Off

Leaf Miners

Leaf miners are on the loose in Central Park, unleashing their own kind of vandalism. Kelly Rypkema is hot on the trail of these marauding insects. They’re frass-king for it…

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Posted in Animals, Nature by the Seasons, Plants, Poop, Droppings, and other Calling Cards, Spiders and Insects, Spring, Summer, Videos | Comments Off

Catkins

Host Kelly Rypkema explains some mysterious material that has been appearing on New York City sidewalks.

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Posted in Nature by the Seasons, Plants, Spring, Trees | Comments Off