Bug Banter with the Xerces Society
Join us as we explore the fascinating world of invertebrates and discover how to help these extraordinary animals.
The Xerces Society is a nationwide non-profit organization that works to conserve invertebrates and their habitats.
For more information go to xerces.org.
Episodes
40 episodes
For the Love of Flies: The Unsung Heroes of the Insect World
Flies are amazing insects that play critical roles in our environment including pollination, waste disposal, pest control, and as a link in the food web. Flies are greatly diverse in colors, shape, size, and where they live. Butterflies and bee...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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45:08
Plastic Bands, Pesticides, and Deadly Drift: A Study on Mosquito Spray
Who doesn’t know the high-pitched whine of a nearby mosquito? We know they can be a nuisance, and in many regions, a health risk because of their ability to spread diseases. Some communities do public control campaigns, and increasingly, compan...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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39:47
The Underground Heroes: Earthworms
Earthworms. They may elicit memories of digging through the dirt, probably as a child, and picking them up to discover what they are. But what do they do other than slink around and bury themselves in the soil?To help us explore this fa...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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45:17
Social and Emotional Learning: Making Science Accessible
More than ever, communicating scientific information effectively is critical to conservation efforts. But how exactly do we do that? To explore this topic is award-winning science communicator and entomologist, Gwen Pearson. In addi...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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39:02
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Protecting Bees from Pesticides: Why EPA Regulations Need to Change
The United States Environmental Protection Agency, also known as the EPA, is tasked with regulating pesticides to protect people and the environment from their impacts. To test these impacts, the EPA uses honey bees. This might seem reasonable,...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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42:06
Monarch Conservation: Tracking Migration with Rice-Sized Technology
The monarch butterfly is popular and currently in the news a lot. You might think that we know all there is to know about it, but there are many mysteries remaining, particularly about their migration and how they use their habitat. This may be...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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40:58
Insects in the Balance: Why Monitoring Matters
Bees, butterflies, beetles — populations of almost any group of insects you can name seem to be falling. But how do we know they are falling, how can we find out how well insects are doing? Monitoring is an essential tool for understanding the ...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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42:25
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The Power of Policy: Insect Protection Through State Authority
In one of our first episodes we spoke with Sarina Jepsen, the director of our Endangered Species team, about what it means for a species to be federally listed, specifically through the Endangered Species Act. However, species can also be liste...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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35:50
The Secret Lives of San Diego Zoo Insects
Many of us likely have childhood memories of a zoo visit: gibbons swinging above us, lions pacing, a polar bear taking a plunge. Zoos also can play an important role in conservation, particularly for insects. One example is the work done at the...
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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42:13
Buzzing Together: The Bumble Bee Atlas and the Power of Community Science
Community science is critical to conservation efforts and the Bumble Bee Atlas is no exception. Volunteers across the country have contributed to the Atlas program through bumble bee surveys, providing crucial information on bumble bee abundanc...
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Season 1
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Episode 31
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31:29
Dragonflies and Damselflies: A Life's Journey from Water to the Sky
When we see a dragonfly, we normally see adults, which are capable of impressive aerobatics and have astonishing eyesight. Yet these fearsome aerial predators began life underwater, and when they undergo the transformation from nymph to adult t...
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Season 1
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Episode 30
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45:20
Revival of the Fender's Blue Butterfly: A Conservation Story
We all love a success story and what better tale to tell than the one about the Fender’s blue? Once thought extinct, this butterfly was rediscovered 35 years ago, since when it has made a comeback thanks to hard work by dedicated scientists, la...
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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45:40
Mysteries of the Moth: More Than Meets the Eye
Moths are largely creatures of the night, which means they may not get as much publicity as their day-flying relative, butterflies. Moths are more diverse than butterflies, probably more abundant, and most certainly play a key role in the natur...
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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43:49
Bugs and Birds: Celebrating World Migratory Bird Day
October 12th is World Migratory Bird Day, a global campaign that aims to raise awareness of migratory birds and the need for international cooperation to conserve them. This year's theme for the campaign is “Protect Insects, Protect Birds,” und...
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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34:14
Spider Sense Part 2: Unraveling the Secrets of Arachnids
Join us for part two of our exciting conversation on spiders with Sebastian Echeverri, Communications Specialist in Science & Digital Media for the Xerces Society. Sebastian completed his PhD, studying why and how paradise jump...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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43:51
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Spider Sense Part 1: Unraveling the Secrets of Arachnids
Spiders. There is a lot that people don't know about these interesting creatures. What makes them unique and what role do they play in our environment? Joining us today to talk about spiders, is Sebastian Echeverri, Communications ...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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32:30
Bee City and Bee Campus USA: Protecting Pollinators One Community at a Time
An important element in the success of pollinator conservation efforts is communities of passionate people taking action. Today we will highlight one Xerces Society program that is helping people to do just that, Bee City USA. Established in 20...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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35:32
Exploring Wasps: Myths, Facts, and Fascinations
Wasps. That word alone may make you squirm. They aren’t fluffy and cute like their close relatives bees and don’t have the best reputation, but they do play an important role in our environment. It seems like they need a PR makeover. <...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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42:55
Pollinators in a Changing Climate: Threats and Solutions
We’ve all heard about climate change. It’s a rather complicated issue. One that has come up several times in this podcast as we discuss the threats facing invertebrates. So in this episode, we will focus on what we can expect as our climate cha...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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33:17
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Wings of the Rockies: Exploring Butterfly Life Histories
In this episode of Bug Banter, we are closing out our series on butterflies by exploring those found in the Rockies. From prairies to mountain tops, the Rockies are made up of a diversity of ecosystems varying in altitude and temperature. ...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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43:24
All About Bees: Celebrating Pollinator Week
Happy Pollinator Week! In this episode, we are joined by Kass Urban-Mead, Rich Hatfield, and Mace Vaughan for this special Q&A session on bees. You might recognize Kass and Rich from previous podcast episodes, but they are joined by a new f...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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58:57
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Wings of the East: Exploring Butterfly Life Histories
Continuing with our series on butterflies, we are highlighting the butterflies east of the Rockies, which is a huge area and encompasses so many different environments — prairies in the Great Plains and the Midwest; forests of New England and t...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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35:30
Wings of the West: Exploring Butterfly Life Histories
We often hear about monarch butterflies, but there are many other species of butterflies in North America. So we are kicking off a series of three podcasts to highlight butterflies in different regions of the US and today we are focusing on but...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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37:58
Mosquitoes Matter: Untangling Myths & Mastering Management
It was Jimmie Durante who first came up with the rhyme, “spring is sprung, the grass is riz; I wonder where them boidies is?” Of course, spring also means the return of insects — bees, butterflies, dragonflies, and yes, mosquitoes — and here at...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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35:38
Midnight Entomology: Unveiling the Secrets of Nocturnal Insects
As humans, we often think of the world through the lens of daylight - when we are most active. But at night, an entire world of insects comes to life and we are missing out!To help us explore these nocturnal creatures is Emily ...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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36:50
