ENVIRONMENT
Disease and old age afflict Charlotte’s tree canopy
Lurking silently beneath the beauty of Charlotte’s tree canopy is a persistent problem with ailing trees. The issue significantly affects the city’s efforts to preserve and replenish its most treasured amenity. Major challenges include: Tree diseases The stresses of an urban, high-rise environment on uptown street trees The age of the tree canopy, particularly in […]
A pair of swallowtails
The trout lilies and trilliums are in full bloom, the turkeys are strutting, the smallmouth are biting, and the butterflies are flitting about in our fields and woodlands. One of the most common butterflies seen in our area is the Eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). Male Eastern tiger swallowtails are yellow with four black tiger […]
Designing for indoor air quality: Talking with Jefferson Ellinger
Just as trees can improve the air quality in our communities, plants can make the air in our homes and buildings cleaner. UNC Charlotte Associate Professor of Architecture Jefferson Ellinger and his partners at Fresh Air Building Systems have been working for years to develop the AMPS (Active Modular Phytoremediation System), a “probiotic” plant wall […]
A city of trees, but for how long? Canopy is loved but threatened
[highlightrule]Trees reduce air pollution, improve water quality, save energy costs, reduce storm water runoff and enhance property values. And some would say Charlotte’s tree canopy also shapes the soul of the city.[/highlightrule] In Charlotte, a widespread passion about trees inspires a special sort of community activism, marked by a keen admiration of the beauty of […]
These trees are the champions
[highlightrule]A little-known registry of Champion Trees includes 15 of Charlotte’s most magnificent trees, bringing more than a title to the Queen City’s crown.[/highlightrule] While civic pride reached heightened levels in Charlotte when the Carolina Panthers made it to Super Bowl 50 as NFC champions, it turns out there is another group of extra large, equally […]
A ‘winning strategy’ for air quality? Better city design
Local air quality, says Brian Magi, is “a resource we should cherish and protect.” And it’s the subject of some of the more wide-ranging research he has underway. Magi is assistant professor of atmospheric sciences at UNC Charlotte in the Geography and Earth Sciences Department. He spoke about what he has learned so far about […]
Today’s backyard pests were once tasty prey
In neighborhoods like mine in Charlotte, squirrels are generally considered a nuisance. A dearth of predators and an abundance of acorns sustain an unnaturally large population. The scoundrels raid our birdfeeders and pilfer fruits and vegetables from our tiny food plots. (I know a woman who pops them with an airsoft rifle when they perch […]
At 80, biologist Matthews still stalks the threatened landscapes
By Amber Veverka
The addictive allure of bird-watching
From mid-December through early-January, tens of thousands of citizen scientists across the Americas will participate in an Audubon Christmas Bird Count. This wildlife census effort began in 1900 as an alternative to the traditional Christmas “Side Hunt,” a competition that entailed killing as many birds and mammals as possible. The only formal count in the […]
Banding sparrows and warblers, while assessing habitat health
The song sparrow was tangled in a mist net stretched between a stand of big bluestem and a blackberry thicket. It flapped and flailed, but settled a bit as Alicia Bachman’s nimble fingers worked to extract it – first the tiny claws and legs, then the wings and finally the head. A volunteer and experienced […]