“ Of these three essential factors, space might be said to be one with which biogeography is primarily concerned. However, space necessarily interplays with time and form, therefore the three factors are as one of biogeographic concern.” — Leon Croizat By DR. CAMERON BARROWS Biogeography is a science aimed at understanding how life is distributed...
“ If a god or divine being had created all living organisms on Earth, then that creator must have an inordinate fondness for beetles.” — J.B.S. Haldane By DR. CAMERON BARROWS The context for this quote was at a meeting attended by a diverse array of intellectuals. J.B.S. Haldane, a British geneticist and evolutionary biologist...
“ Don't let the tall weeds cast a shadow on the beautiful flowers in your garden.” — Steve Maraboli I am typing this at 7,000 feet, at the foot of the 12,637’ San Francisco Peaks in northern Arizona near the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau. The “Peaks” are collectively the rim of a dormant...
“ The Horned Toad represents longevity and self-reliance . He also represents the conservation of native bounty. He is believed to empower a person or group with self-sufficiency.” — Perry Null Trading By DR. CAMERON BARROWS Hopi, Navajo, Tohono O'odham, Pima, Tarahumara, and Zuni cultures portray horned lizards in their ceremonies and stories as symbols...
“ What's in a name ? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet” — William Shakespeare By DR. CAMERON BARROWS Proper identification and attributing correct names to what we see in nature are keys to natural history, and indeed all science. Prior to 1735, there were no standards...
“ There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.” — Margaret J. Wheatley By DR. CAMERON BARROWS There was a time not long ago, roughly the Victorian period (1700s-1800s), when those who had free time often spent that time “naturalizing,” exploring and studying nature. Charles Darwin and Alfred...
“There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don't know we don't know.” – Donald Rumsfeld By CAMERON BARROWS Over the...
“ The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” — Robert Swan By CAMERON BARROWS Dramatic climate shifts in the past, most recently during the Pleistocene, catalyzed ecological changes, including extinctions. Without those extinctions we would currently be sharing North America with mammoths, mastodons, dire wolves, and dozens...
" I hold no preference among flowers, so long as they are wild, free, spontaneous." — Edward Abbey By CAMERON BARROWS Desert wildflowers illustrate the often-hidden biodiversity of deserts. For months, sometimes years on end, deserts are bathed in a subtle yet beautiful kaleidoscope of beige, tan, gray, and brown. Then, when the rain finally...
“ The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.” — Peter Drucker By CAMERON BARROWS Birds sing using a specialized organ called the syrinx. The syrinx is similar to our larynx, but while our larynx consists of a single air passage, a bird’s syrinx branches into two tubes like an...
“ The lizard brain is hungry, scared, angry, and horny ... the lizard brain only wants to eat and be safe ... the lizard brain will fight (to the death) if it has to, but would rather run away ...” — Seth Godin By CAMERON BARROWS True, and yet a lizard’s brain is capable of...
“ The diversity of lifeforms, so numerous that we have yet to identify most of them, is the greatest wonder of this planet.” — E.O. Wilson By CAMERON BARROWS The origin and accumulation of the species that make up the warm North American deserts are processes that have been occurring for tens of millions of...
"Lizards of every temper, style, and color dwell here, seemingly as happy and companionable as the birds and squirrels." — John Muir By CAMERON BARROWS Across the deserts of the Earth, reptiles are more numerous and diverse than any other group of vertebrates. During the day, that richness and diversity is dominated by lizards (snakes...
“ Biologically a species is the accumulation of the experiments of all its successful individuals since the beginning.” — H.G. Wells By CAMERON BARROWS There are several definitions of “what is a species,” but all of them are filled with exceptions. The most common definition, the Biological Species Concept, focuses on sexual reproduction: if two...
“ No one will protect what they don’t care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced.” — David Attenborough By Dr. Cameron Barrows In 1898, C. Hart Merriam published a hypothesis, describing the “life zones of the United States." In essence, he described life zones within which similar plants and...
“In conclusion, it appears that nothing can be more improving to a young naturalist, than a journey in distant countries.” — Charles Darwin By DR. CAMERON BARROWS Deserts are found on every continent (yes, even Antarctica). Europe has Cabo de Gata in Almería, Spain's south-east corner, where annual rainfall is just 200 mm – the...
“ The desert tells a different story every time one ventures on it.” — Robert Edison Fulton, Jr Areas with high biodiversity, many unique species within a given geographic area, must have at least two ingredients, high primary productivity and isolation. High primary productivity requires warm temperatures and sufficient moisture to foster plant growth. Both...
“ Ravens taught me to pay attention. The desert taught me to see. Art and artists taught me to see more … and better … and to appreciate, savor, and protect.” — Linda Durham Ravens are members of the family Corvidae, a family that includes Clark’s nutcrackers, jays, crows, magpies, choughs, jackdaws, and rooks (the...
“The desert floras shame us with their cheerful adaptations to the seasonal limitations. Their whole duty is to flower and fruit, and they do it hardly, or with tropical luxuriance, as the rain admits. ... One hopes the land may breed like qualities in her human offspring, not tritely to 'try,' but to do.” —...
“ The natural world is the larger sacred community to which we belong. To be alienated from this community is to become destitute in all that makes us human. To damage this community is to diminish our own existence.” Thomas Berry Bacteria, plants, fungi, animals, along with we humans, are all connected. None can live...