Project Upland Podcast
Project Upland presents the Project Upland Podcast, a cinematic and science-based production that delivers on the independent storytelling you have come to love.
Cohosts AJ DeRosa and Gabby Zaldumbide learn from researchers, biologists, and subject matter experts about birds, nature, conservation, dogs, and more. This podcast is a glimpse into the minds of the curious, obsessive, and hard-working folks who work at Project Upland and an exploration of all the things we find that we can't always include in print.
Join us as we travel into the deepest, most obscure, and nerdiest realms of the uplands. After all, these are your stories.
Project Upland Podcast
A 140-year-old Woodcock Exposed an Eco Villain
How an 1885 dissection unraveled a hidden story about invasive worms and the migration routes of the American woodcock in North America.
In 1887, Frederick Webster, a taxidermist from Washington, D.C., wrote a short article in a scientific journal. In it, he described dissecting a woodcock from Martha’s Vineyard that had a crop filled entirely with ferns. Why did this woodcock stray from its usual diet of invertebrates? A.J. and Gabby, hosts of the Project Upland Podcast, search for the answer—only to uncover the surprising story of invasive worms in North America.
Together with woodcock researcher Dr. Amber Roth and soil ecologist Dr. Peter Groffman, we learn how eco-engineering has destroyed native landscapes, contributed to the spread of ticks and invasive plants, and more. From woodcock migration during the Ice Age to the tobacco trade, this investigation is full of twists and turns.
Listen to past episodes here: Project Upland Podcast
If you want to support independent journalism, check out the Project Upland Podcast Patreon.
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