Love, Elizabeth @love-elizabeth - Tumblr Blog

I almost didn’t make it to the Bug Fair because I made a quick last-minute trip to Atlanta for an impromptu sibling reunion, but I got home late Saturday night and managed to attend part of day 2 at the #bugfair !

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The book is A Year of Garden Bees & Bugs by Dominic Couzens and Gail Ashton @batsfordbooks

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P.S. Pretty sure the invasive honeybees were outcompeting our native bees in the garden. Just a reminder that when we talk about saving the bees in the US, we do NOT mean honeybees! 💛

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#nhmla #museum #bugs #insects #nativeplants #entomology #entomologist #books #la #losangeles #california #socal #visitcalifornia #visitlosangelescity

@nhmla @visitcalifornia @visitlosangelescity

8 months after a burn, and this site is a dream come true 😍

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📸Cover photo is a Key deer, which is an endangered subspecies of the white-tailed deer in the video.

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#wildlife #explorida #roamflorida #prescribedfire #lakelouisastatepark #clermontfl #ecology #circleoflife #fireecology #clermontflorida #orlando #visitorlando #thisisorlando #aroundorlando #hiking #deer #pureflorida #florida #lovefl #nature @fl.stateparks @floridastateparksfoundation @lake.louisa.state.park

Can you show me how you use your prehensile hands to like this post? 👀

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📸Footage collected in the last few years around @bluespringstatepark_ , @conservancyswf , and @cincinnatizoo

👗And I know it’s hard to see in the cover photo, but my skirt has elephants all over it 🥰 (outfit thrifted from @goodwillmanasota of course)

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#manatee #explorida #roamflorida #florida #flstofmind #floridaliving #orlando #manatees #flstateparks #floridastateparks #saveoursprings #fun_in_florida

#LoveFL #springs #mangroves #gulfcoast #floridasprings #nature #naturelovers #getoutdoorsfl @fl.stateparks @lovefl @floridastateparksfoundation @visitflorida

@bluespringfl

Corkscrew Swamp Bug Hunt pt 2/3

The genus name translates to spiny head. Can you see why? 👀

🔎Acanthocephala declivis / Giant leaf-footed bug

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#bugs #entomology #entomologist #leaffootedbug #giantleaffootedbug #southflorida #naples #corkscrewswamp #audubon #florida #insects #naplesfl #paradisecoast

@corkscrewswamp @paradisecoast

Corkscrew Swamp Bug Hunt pt 1/3

I was here with my pal @geraldsavesflorida on a cold February morning at the end of a big storm, and although we spent a lot of time marveling at all the rare plants and gorgeous views, you know my favorite parts were the bugs we found along the way!

🔎Hyphantria cunea / fall webworm moth

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#bugs #entomology #entomologist #caterpillar #moths #fallwebworm #southflorida #naples #corkscrewswamp #audubon #florida #insects #naplesfl #paradisecoast

@corkscrewswamp @paradisecoast

Did you guess correctly?

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📸Footage collected from various spots around Florida over the past year, including @bluespringstatepark_ , Disney’s The Living Seas at Epcot, and @conservancyswf

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#manatee #explorida #roamflorida #florida #flstofmind #floridaliving #orlando #manatees #flstateparks #floridastateparks #saveoursprings #fun_in_florida #LoveFL #springs #disney #epcot #floridasprings #nature #naturelovers #getoutdoorsfl @fl.stateparks @lovefl @floridastateparksfoundation @visitflorida @bluespringfl @waltdisneyworld @disneyconservation

Manatee Monday #4

Have you been to the @manateeviewingcenter at @tampa_electric ?

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#manatee #explorida #roamflorida #florida #flstofmind #floridaliving #tampa #manatees #tampabay #fun_in_florida #LoveFL #nature #naturelovers #getoutdoorsfl #outsideisfree #manateeviewingcenter #apollobeach @lovefl @visitflorida @visittampabay

If you saw my video on Tuesday, then you know that there’s an evolutionary reason that beetles are attracted to coontie. Furthermore, this plant is the larval host for the atala butterfly and echo moth. But what about all these other insects I saw on the coontie?!

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Weirdly enough, I couldn’t find many sources talking about that. UF IFAS had a brief mention of the fact that it attracts birds and the atala butterfly, but nothing about any other insects. 🐝 A Berkeley blog post mentioned that cycads evolved to be pollinated by beetles and small bees, but it didn’t make mention of the larger bees, wasps, and flies that I saw all over this small stretch of coontie.

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So here’s what I’d say is happening: although coontie doesn’t produce flowers, the pollen it produces must be enough to entice a large and varied collection of pollinators—especially this time of year when fewer flowering plants are in bloom.

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Something I love about ecology is that the natural world is SO VAST, and there is SO MUCH information that is either undiscovered or undocumented. It’s so exciting to be making these observations, knowing that the bees are buzzing around whether or not we humans understand why.

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#entomology #entomologist #wasp #wasps #bees #honeybees #savethebees #insects #cycad #coontie #pollination #pollinators #ecology #wildlife #bugs #florida #orlando #disneyworld #rivieraresort

It’s estimated that between the year 1900 and the mid 1960s, 360,000 blue whales were killed for their meat and blubber.

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Today, as few as 5000 blue whales still roam the ocean, with populations increasing by only small numbers since they don’t reproduce very quickly.

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And that’s just one of many whale species that are struggling to survive in the oceans we’ve altered. They need all the help they can get, and it’s important to do what we can to protect them and their habitat, so that oceans full of whales are not only part of this planet’s past, but also its future.

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📸Cover photo is a digital art imagining of what I want the oceans to look like for this little angel.

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#secondhand #secondhandfirst #imadethis #buckethat #ecology #marinebiology #ocean #sewing #sustainablefashion #shiftingbaselines #whale #whales #bluewhale #naturalhistory #pool #wildlife #dolphins

I spent about 10 minutes just marveling at all the bugs on a small section of coontie at Disney World’s Riviera Resort!

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The coontie plant is a cycad, which is a super primitive plant that evolved before flowers existed, which is why they rely on luring beetles to their cones in order to spread pollen.

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#entomology #entomologist #beetle #beetles #cycad #coontie #ladybug #insects #pollination #pollinators #ecology #wildlife #bugs #florida #orlando #disneyworld #rivieraresort

Manatee Monday #3

To adopt Gator, you can search “adopt a manatee” and find him listed on savethemanatee.org.

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Next week, we’ll talk about one of the few natural threats to manatees’ survival! I’ve mentioned it several times before, so comment if you know it! (Threats caused by humans will be in future videos, but that’s not what I’m talking about for next week!)

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#manatee #explorida #roamflorida #florida #flstofmind #floridaliving #orlando #manatees #gator #alligator #flstateparks #floridastateparks #saveoursprings #fun_in_florida #LoveFL #springs #floridasprings #nature #naturelovers #getoutdoorsfl @fl.stateparks @lovefl @floridastateparksfoundation @visitflorida @friends_of_blue_spring @savethemanateeclub

If your New Year’s Resolution is to get outdoors more (and you’re in Central Florida), I always recommend Bok Tower Gardens.

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The garden itself is beautiful with a gorgeous carillon tower (you can check ahead of time to see what upcoming carillon concerts they have), and the welcome center has a great exhibit about the fascinating history of the property and its founder, Edward Bok.

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Plus the children’s section of the garden is so cute, and it always makes me want to bring the kiddos in my life here!

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#wildlife #explorida #roamflorida #conservation #botanicalgardens #boktower #boktowergardens #carillon #carillontower #pureflorida #florida #lovefl #nature #nature_perfection #naturelovers #bok #nature_brilliance #rsa_nature #polkproud #garden @visitflorida @visitcentralfl @boktowergardens

A few cool things I saw on my adventure in Volusia County on Thursday.

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Very excited about the spring fishfly and that spider, which were both new species to me! The spider is either a Mecaphesa asperata (Northern crab spider) or a species that isn’t in any of my spider guides. Check out the pic with my hand to see a different part of the plant that spider was on—the spider seems perfectly adapted to just look like a dead section of the false rosemary!

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Also pictured: earthstar fungus, a cactus Hidden Mickey, ghost pipes past their prime, a southern 2-striped walkingstick (Anisomorpha buprestoides), fluffy Garberia, a carpet of deer lichen that looks soft enough to take a nap in, and sunlight streaming through a leaf with impeccable TEXTURE 😍

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#florida #bug #insect #spider #fungus #wetlands #earthstar #mushroom #macro #nature #naturelovers #outsideisfree #cactus #nature_brilliance #fiftyshades_of_nature #scarab #springfishfly @visitwestvolusia @countyofvolusia

I love saw palmetto / serenoa repens so much, and there’s something about it that is just begging to be photographed in black and white.

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#explorida #roamflorida #florida #flstofmind #floridaliving #florida_greatshots #fun_in_florida #LoveFL #orangecounty #sawpalmetto #serenoarepens #palmtree #centralflorida #nature #naturelovers #getoutdoorsfl #blackandwhite #bnwlovers

8-month prescribed fire update!

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#wildlife #explorida #roamflorida #prescribedfire #lakelouisastatepark #clermontfl #ecology #fireecology #clermontflorida #orlando #visitorlando #thisisorlando #aroundorlando #hiking #naturepreserve #pureflorida #florida #lovefl #nature @fl.stateparks @floridastateparksfoundation @lake.louisa.state.park

Honeybees aren’t native to Florida and actually outcompete many of our Florida bees, but the point I’m making is that Disney World isn’t (yet) the most magical place on earth for wildlife, including our beneficial native species.

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I’m hopeful that new research and technology will bring forth less harmful ways of controlling pests like disease-carrying mosquitoes in theme parks without harming beneficial wildlife, and that starts with bringing awareness to the flaws in our current system.

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#entomology #entomologist #bees #honeybees #savethebees #vintagefashionnotvintagevalues #ecoprincess #pollinators #ecology #wildlife #bugs #florida #orlando #disneyworld #hollywoodstudios #insects

This rescued sulcata tortoise at Tibet-Butler Preserve was pretty hyperfocused on the football in its enclosure. (The audio I chose for this vid was bc I recently rewatched The Room and its DVD extras 😅)

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I sped up this 5minute video to 8.5x speed so I could share the whole thing. I don’t know for sure why the tortoise was behaving this way (mating instinct??), so do comment if you have any ideas!

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#tortoise #nature #sulcata #sulcatatortoise #herpetology #football #theroom #tommywiseau #orlando #florida

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Love, Elizabeth