Click to subscribe to the WFSU Ecology Blog On an overcast day in late February, I set off with my husband and our two dogs to hike the Bluffs of St. Teresa, a 7,700-acre tract of land recently acquired by the state park system. About an hour’s drive from Tallahassee, the Bluffs are located just past Ochlocknee Bay, right where the tip of Alligator Point snakes back towards Florida’s mainland. Right before we reached the turnoff for the trailhead, we drove over the massive bridge that crosses the bay—dark blue water sparkling beneath us.   The Bluffs are a tract of land that has been ..read more

Click to subscribe to the WFSU Ecology Blog How does one attempt to find the rare and specialized sandhills cellophane bee? It’s the kind of story our Ecology Producer always hopes for. This segment was produced in collaboration with NOVA | PBS. All photos by Rob Diaz de Villegas unless otherwise specified. A couple months ago, I decided to undertake a mission. It started with a curiosity: I wanted to know how researchers use iNaturalist data. This wasn’t the mission – it was a segment idea, but it led me there. I talked to biologists to identify species of interest to them, things I could fi ..read more

Click to subscribe to the WFSU Ecology Blog The last time I was here for an indigo snake release, it was the largest group they’d ever set free. In 2022, The Nature Conservancy of Florida and its partners released 26 eastern indigos into gopher tortoise burrows at the Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve. The Preserve is full of burrows: shelter from cold, heat, or fire. One day, the young snakes will hopefully find a mate and nest in one. Wild breeding is a major goal of the reintroduction project. This year, they released 41 snakes and surpassed 150 total snakes over seven years of reint ..read more

Click to subscribe to the WFSU Ecology Blog In January 2026, we might see oyster boats working in Apalachicola Bay for the first time in five years. Might. Oyster bars will have had five years to reestablish themselves, to build reef structures without oyster tongs tugging at them. Will that be enough time for the reefs to fully regrow, and once more sustain a fishery? And, if not, will the harvest resume anyway? During the closure, researchers, government agency representatives, nonprofits, and community members have been working to ensure that when the bay opens, it can stay open and product ..read more

Click to subscribe to the WFSU Ecology Blog Your mission over the next few weeks: roam Florida’s sandhills and scrub, and photograph everything that blooms or flies. The researchers who need these photos are looking for specific species, but while you’re out there, why not get it all? The sandhills and ridges in our state are biodiversity hotspots. They are ancient coastlines and one-time beach dunes, home to more than a few specialized and endemic species. I’m often surprised by which of my iNaturalist observations turn out to be “species of interest.” Seminole skipper (Hesperia attalus ssp ..read more

Click to subscribe to the WFSU Ecology Blog A moment long awaited has come for The Nature Conservancy and its partners: at least two eastern indigo snakes were born at the Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve this year. After seven years of releasing captive-bred indigos here, there is, for the first time, evidence the snakes are reproducing. It’s a major milestone for a snake that had all but disappeared from the Florida panhandle. The Preserve, owned by The Nature Conservancy, covers 6430 acres. It’s a landscape dominated by longleaf pine and wiregrass, and maintained with regular fire ..read more

Click to subscribe to the WFSU Ecology Blog It is ten weeks until the Tallahassee Marathon and so I’ve been hitting the trails…on my bike. For the past two years, my husband has run our city’s half marathon—a race that starts at the capitol building and wraps around Lake Ella, then Cascades, then Doak, before it dumps runners in College Town. This year, he’s leveling up to a full marathon, an undertaking that means that most of his Saturdays are spent running up to fifteen miles.   Before my husband became a runner, we’d spend our weekends walking. With our long-haired dachshund lead ..read more

Click to subscribe to the WFSU Ecology Blog As I write this, frogs from the Caribbean are colonizing Florida. The two most common are the Cuban tree frog and the greenhouse frog; each has become widespread and each takes resources from native frogs and other insectivores. Try as we might to eradicate them, they are numerous and small. Unfortunately, like many invasive species, they may well become a permanent part of our ecosystems. According to newly published research, this isn’t the first time Florida has been invaded by Caribbean frogs. One of Florida’s first frogs, in fact, migrated from ..read more

We look at a tool that tells you which plants host the most caterpillar species in your area and break down the top north Florida natives ..read more

Tall Timbers Research Station studies the family choices of a charismatic cooperative breeding bird– the brown-headed nuthatch ..read more