Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

How Many Words Are There For Roly Poly?

We love Thesaurus Day. In the science world, every species has one name, so everyone knows what someone’s talking about. This one’s called Armadillidium vulgare. But in the outside world, one species can have loads of common names. This one has more than 40. Like roly poly. Or pillbug. Or monkeypig, carpetmonster or granddad gravy, some of the more fun variations our British neighbors came up with. And then there’s our personal favorite…granfy crooger.

Learn how these scavenger bugs…whatever name you want to call them…can fight climate change: http://sercblog.si.edu/?p=5924

See the 40-plus odd names they go by in the British Isles: http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2014/09/many-names-brits-woodlice/

(Photo: Walter Siegmund., under the GNU Free Documentation License)

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Jan 18, 2017

This fox really didn’t expect his New Year’s Eve photos to go online…

Meet Notch, a surprise nocturnal visitor to the beach at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. A night vision camera spotted him prowling along the shore on New Year’s Eve, at 10:28 p.m. Notch is a red fox, named for the notch in his right ear. Red foxes are most active at night or at twilight. While sometimes regarded as pests, red foxes are very good at controlling rodent populations and spreading seeds because they’re omnivores. Thanks to Karen and Nancy McDonald for setting up the night vision cameras!

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Jan 13, 2017

Wildlife Wednesday: Vampire Parasites of the Chesapeake

This grass shrimp, which marine biologists caught off our docks earlier this winter, is infected with a parasite called a bopyrid isopod. You can see it as the dark oval bulge just behind the shrimp’s head. A bopyrid parasite attaches to the shrimp’s gills and feeds off its hemolymph (the shrimp’s “blood”), sometimes causing the shrimp to die of starvation. Bopyrid parasites are also able to castrate female grass shrimp. Creepy or cool? (Photo: Carolyn Tepolt/Smithsonian Environmental Research Center)

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Jan 11, 2017

Microscope Monday: The Most Abundant Multicellular Animals You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

Meet the copepods, the marine creatures that may be the most abundant multicellular animals on Earth. Copepods are tiny, shrimp-like plankton that make up the foundation of the marine food web. Their name literally means “oar foot,” for their pair of paddle-like swimming legs. Copepods are found all over the ocean, from the icy waters of the poles to active hydrothermal vents. Insects also put up a good showing for the title “most abundant multicellular animals,” but while they have more species, copepods are estimated to beat them by sheer number of organisms. (Photo: Tim Mullady)

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Jan 09, 2017

Microscope Monday

It’s January, which means winter is in full swing! These white flower (or snowflake) patterns belong to the underwater tunicate Botryllus schlosseri, also known as the Golden Star Tunicate, for the star-shaped colonies it forms. No one knows where the Golden Star Tunicate came from, but it’s been spotted on all seven continents. It often grows on piers, dock floats, boat hulls and other manmade structures—though it’s also taken a toll on some seagrasses, by blocking off the light. It’s garnered a reputation in the #Chesapeake as a “fast-growing pernicious pest” for fouling oyster trays. (Photo: Brianna Tracy-Sawdey)

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Jan 02, 2017

Wildlife Wednesday: An Exasperating Species

This tropical tunicate goes by the name Microcosmus exasperatus. The name Microcosmus means “little world,” possibly for the vast array of life that can settle on its tunic. We’re not sure how it got stuck with “exasperatus” as its species name, but its ability to grow over all kinds of structures may have exasperated some of the people in the places it’s invaded. This tunicate is found in tropical waters all over the world. SERC marine biologist Brianna Tracy-Sawdey spotted this one off the coast of Panama, at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

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Dec 28, 2016

Microscope Monday: A Snowman Under the Scope

It’s official: We’ve reached the first full week of #winter, so we’re celebrating with this snowman-shaped group of diatoms, called Detonula pumila. Diatoms are a kind of single-celled algae, though Detonula often forms long chains connected by a set of zigzag-shaped spines and a single spine down the center (look closely and see if you can spot it). Despite these diatoms’ wintry appearance, Detonula are thought to do best in warmer, saltier waters, and they’ve been found on all seven continents!

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Dec 26, 2016

Alone, cells of the marine phytoplankton Thalassionema nitzschoides look like long thin lines. But when they join together, they create beautiful star and zigzag shapes like the ones seen above. Happy holidays to all who are celebrating festivals of light and love this December.

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Dec 24, 2016

Wildlife Wednesday: Happy Winter Solstice!

It’s the longest night of the year, and that means many birds have migrated south by now. But blue jays often stick around for the winter. Blue jays are champion hoarders: Acorns are one of their favorite foods, and they’re known to gather and stash them for feeding later on. One study tracked individual blue jays caching 3,000 to 5,000 acorns in a single autumn! But sometimes they can’t eat them all—and their acorn burying may have helped spread oak trees since the end of the last major Ice Age. (Photo: Karen McDonald)

Learn more: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Blue_Jay/lifehistory

Winter Solstice winter Wildlife Wednesday birds blue jays bird blue jay nature animals environment science ecology smithsonian smithsonian environmental research center serc

Dec 21, 2016

Last year’s Snowzilla blizzard left a carpet of ice blocks surrounding our docks. It was a beautiful parting gift, but we wouldn’t mind a less eventful winter this year. Happy Winter Solstice. (Photo: Kristen Minogue)

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