What comes to your mind when you hear “Salt Lake”? If you’re like many people, perhaps you think of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Or perhaps the Dead Sea or the Caspian Sea.

But there are over 100 perennial salt lakes around the globe, and hundreds of seasonal ones.

Each of these lakes have amazing histories and support unique ecosystems, making them a precious resource for biodiversity.

My guest today is Caroline Tracey, author of the new book “Salt Lakes - An Unnatural History”. Caroline’s book weaves a fascinating ecological story with her own personal narrative, unveiling one of Earth’s most overlooked ecosystems.

Today we discuss a few of these amazing stories, and look at the unique life that these lakes support. We also reveal the threats these salt lakes face, and how diminishing water levels not only put many species in peril, but threaten the health of people in nearby communities.

But there are success stories, in flight or emerging, for many of these imperiled lakes. You can find Caroline on her website, cetracey.com, on instagram @ce_tracey, and read more of her writing on her substack.

FULL SHOW NOTES

LINKS

Salt Lakes - An Unnatural History - publisher | bookshop.org | amazon

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Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com

Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.

Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!

Some of the most consistent feedback I get about the podcast is the message of hope that rings through. Today’s episode takes the message of hope up a level by revisiting the folks at the Sunflower Star Lab.

Sunflower sea stars are amazing creatures - not your typical sea star. They can reach over three feet, live for decades, they are highly mobile, and function as keystone species in kelp forest systems. Just a little over a decade ago, there were 6 billion of these animals along the pacific coast of North America. Then, they vanished. And the consequences to kelp systems has been dire.

But thanks to innovative work at the Sunflower Star Lab, and the numerous partners that they’ve cultivated, things are looking up - and much more quickly than I ever imagined.

So last December I made the short trip down to Moss Landing, California, and today I’m sharing my conversation with Reuven Bank and Andrew Kim from the Sunflower Star Lab. They’re here to tell us the full story of the Seastar and why things have taken this turn for the better. You might remember them from episode 104 - even if you listened to that one, I promise you today’s episode is well worth a listen.

Check out the Sunflower Star Lab at sunflowerstarlab.org and on Facebook and Instagram.

FULL SHOWS NOTES

Links

Friday Harbor Laboratories

Jason Hodin

Kelp Watch

Support Us On Patreon!
Buy our Merch!

Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com

Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.

Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!

Imagine a creature that is born already pregnant with its own grandchildren. No mating, no waiting—just a continuous, telescopic unfolding of life. It sounds like something out of a sci-fi novel, but it’s likely happening on the underside of a leaf in your backyard. Today, we’re looking past the 'pest' label to discover the mind-bending biology of the aphid.

Our guest today is aphidologist Natalie Hernandez. If you are on iNaturalist, you might recognize her as one of the most prolific identifiers of aphids.

Today we learn about these incredible insects, including why ants tend to aphids like livestock, how telescopic reproduction works, and we investigate why aphids are incredibly important to ecosystems. While a few aphid species can be pests to agriculture, most are critical parts of the food web.

I’ve grown to love finding new aphid species when I’m out exploring, and I hope today’s episode will help inspire you to look under a few more leaves this spring and summer.

Find Natalie on iNaturalist and instagram!

FULL SHOW NOTES

LINKS

Aphids on the World's Plants - excellent online resource for identifying aphids

Thanks to Brook Neely for editing this episode.

Support Us On Patreon!
Buy our Merch!

Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com

Discover the Jumpstart Nature Podcast - entertaining and immersive, it's the nature fix we all need.

Check past Nature's Archive episodes for amazing guests like Doug Tallamy, Elaine Ingham, and Rae Wynn-Grant, covering topics from bird migration to fungi to frogs and bats!