What did you learn about nature this week? I was tickled to realize I had learned to recognize Euphorbia dioeca ! Such a small plant but it feels like a tremendous accomplishment since there are four different native species of Euphorbia in my new garden. Immense thanks to @nathantaylor . (Also somet…

Oak trees will delay opening their spring leaves, by up to three days, if they were heavily fed on by caterpillars the previous year. https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/oak-trees-will-delay-sprouting-leaves-to-avoid-hungry-caterpillars-that-ate-the-trees-last-year-study/

Interesting! I guess this counts as me learning something this week. While the paper doesn’t pinpoint the exact mechanism, maybe the tree monitors daylength and temperature to determine the timing, and uses hormones (based on caterpillar herbivory) to delay budburst.

This week I learned in depth how the kelp reproductive cycle works. I didn’t know that spores do not become the adult plant, they only have half of the adult chromosomes and the spores job is to create the eggs/sperm.

I just learned that ice worms exist. Tim posted: [image] Your best photos of the week! I’m not really sure what it is, but I guess some species of potworm ( https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/277832126 ) Potworms are in the family Enchytraeidae , which contains the genus Mesenchytraeus , wh…

Background: I was reading about this fascinating fluke (trematode): [image] Quest for Leucochloridium Paradoxum (snail parasites) https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/123944-Leucochloridium-paradoxum#articles-tab After this fluke gets eaten by a snail, it makes its way into the snail’s eyestalks.…

[image] Who is your favourite nature host, in a video format? https://www.youtube.com/@EntoExplorer TIL that male scorpions have a PP measuring contest (PediPalps) for mating access !

Im not as strong on scorpions as I am other arachnids, but I do find trimorphism in several of NZs harvestmens interesting. https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2023/06/27/arachnid-males.html Im not in the right island for the species mentioned in the article, but one species which I see it in quite e…

[image] AdamWargon: exposed to temperatures as modest as 5 °C (41 °F), their membrane structures disassociate and fall apart Sounds like me, I can’t stand warm weather. :joy:

There is a class of plants called metallophytes that thrive in soils contaminated with lead, zinc, and other metals. https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/ecosystem-of-pansies-thrives-on-soil-contaminated-by-lead-mining-turning-it-into-clean-organic-compounds/

You wouldn’t like Arkansas!! It’s consistently 90º here since May, and very humid!

Lifelong learning: what did you learn this week?

Nature Talk

AdamWargon June 2, 2026, 7:31pm 162

TIL that male scorpions have a PP measuring contest (PediPalps) for mating access!

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Lifelong learning: what did you learn this week?

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