Ecology Matters by Duke Vasey

I will teach in crisp bites. I’d like to incorporate photos of problems and develop email comments for evaluation or clarification, and inform our residents about what they are observing and why or why it isn’t a problem. My material is also online as Gazetteer author at: http://www.collierswcd.org/ and as a Daily News contributor Member: The Ecological Society of America Twitter@dennisvasey

• Mother's Day Posted 5/12/2012 at 11:18 a.m. 0 comments

  Mother's Day flowers can be traced back to the annual spring festival the Greeks dedicated to Rhea, the mother of deities, and to the offerings of ancient Romans made to their Great Mother of Gods, Cybele.

• A powerful combination that is useless when not complementary! Posted 5/6/2012 at 12:33 p.m. 1 comment

  No Data Found for any of the requested GIS Analyses.

• Old-stone savage Posted 4/29/2012 at 10:47 a.m. 0 comments

  As a youth, I was required to memorize an early Robert Frost poem named the "Mending Wall." Reading it now, as an adult, the poem is steeped in levels of meaning implied by its well-wrought metaphoric suggestions.

• Earth Day Posted 4/22/2012 at 6:36 a.m. 0 comments

  By the time you read about Earth Day 2012 many of the activities will have come and gone. That seems to be the way of things in our Internet-connected, Tablet and smart phone-dominated lives. Why is Earth Day only one day a year?

• USA National Phenology Network Posted 4/15/2012 at 5:41 a.m. 0 comments

  The USA National Phenology Network brings together citizen scientists, government agencies, non-profit groups, educators and students of all ages to monitor the impacts of climate change on plants and animals in the United States. The network harnesses the power of people and the Internet to collect and share information, providing researchers with far more data than they could collect alone.

• Ecotour Expedition Posted 4/7/2012 at 10:41 a.m. 0 comments

  Port of the Islands says they have the largest population of manatees in all of Collier County and was one of the only places in Florida where manatees are found year round.

• Sakura Posted 3/31/2012 at 4:55 p.m. 1 comment

  This week the U.S. Postal Service issued the cherry blossoms stamp which commemorates Tokyo's gift of cherry blossom trees to the city of Washington D.C. as a sign of growing friendship between Japan and the United States of America.

• Carpe diem Posted 3/25/2012 at 5:57 a.m. 2 comments

  There are unfinished ecological tasks nagging at the back of my mind (the dreadful Zeigarnik Effect). One solution may be to ditch the to-do list altogether and instead use critical path method (CPM).

• Live Oak Posted 3/18/2012 at 11:09 a.m. 1 comment

  Some contend that the live oak is a symbol of the Southland. But is it a friendly symbol? This tree spreads tremendously. Its leaves are somewhat like those of the laurel and willow oak, but are more elliptical, blunt-tipped, and leathery, and are green throughout the year. The wood of the oak is valued for hardness, strength, and durability.

• Bug Time Posted 3/11/2012 at 11:10 a.m. 0 comments

  “USA Today” reported that "in some places, the onslaught has already begun:
  bugs survive the cold with strategies such as slowing down their metabolism and respiration. With the warmer temperatures, many are forced out of their hibernation-like states early in search of food.”