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PODCAST

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society

The Xerces Society

Join us as we explore the fascinating world of invertebrates and discover how to help these extraordinary animals.The Xerces Society is a nationwide non-profit organization that works to conserve invertebrates and their habitats.For more information go to xerces.org.

science nature

All Episodes

54:04

Bug Banter Live! Building Pollinator Habitat

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/06/20

One of the most effective ways to contribute to pollinator conservation is to provide the essential components of pollinator habitat. To celebrate Pollinator Week, we invited a panel of Xerces experts to help us answer audience questions in this special Bug Banter Live episode. Bernardo Niño is a pollinator conservation specialist with Xerces Food Systems and Living Farms Project in California. Steve Armstead is a pollinator conservation and nature-based climate solutions specialist in ...

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41:51

Pollinator Check-Up: Bee Health and Novel Monitoring...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/06/17

In the face of insect decline, it is critical for us to understand pollinator health both in terms of influencing factors and how to monitor those impacts. Today we are specifically focusing on bees. To talk about some exciting research in this field is Dr. Laura (la-u-ra) Figueroa (fig-eh-row-ah). Laura is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Conservation Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was previously a National Science Foundation post-doctoral research fel...

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34:43

How Habitat Kits Are Helping Save Pollinators

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/06/03

Creating habitats with native plants is one of the most impactful ways to help invertebrates. One of the programs at Xerces is helping people do just that by providing free Habitat Kits to communities in several regions of the US. Joining us to discuss our Habitat Kit Program is Giovanni Di Franco, Xerces Endangered Species Conservation Biologist and Pollinator Habitat Specialist. Gio is working to develop the habitat kit program in southern California, especially in the greater Los Angeles a...

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46:36

Stories from the Prairie: Life in a Resilient Ecosystem

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/05/20

Prairies are an ecosystem that historically spanned the center of this continent from the Rocky Mountains to east of the Mississippi and from Texas north to Saskatchewan. Although less than 5% of that prairie remains today, it is critical habitat for a number of invertebrates. Prairies are incredibly diverse and hold many exciting stories. To help us explore prairies and their critters is prairie ecologist Chris Helzer. Chris works for the Nature Conservancy as the Director of Science and Ste...

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46:35

Greenroofs, Solar Arrays, And Urban Farms: Insect...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/05/06

Most of the natural world has been altered by humans in some way. Ecosystems that are dominated by humans or man-made structures, such as cities, can still provide meaningful and essential habitat for insects. Today, we are going to discuss research being done in various human-dominated landscapes to answer the question: how do we restore and conserve insects in these ecosystems? We are joined by Dr. Chelse Prather, Associate Professor and Environmental Biology Coordinator at the University o...

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45:08

For the Love of Flies: The Unsung Heroes of the...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/04/15

Flies are amazing insects that play critical roles in our environment including pollination, waste disposal, pest control, and as a link in the food web. Flies are greatly diverse in colors, shape, size, and where they live. Butterflies and bees probably generate more enthusiasm, but it’s time to change that. To talk about flies with us, we are joined by Dr. Erica McAlister, who works at the Natural History Museum in London, where she is the principal curator for Diptera and Siphonapter...

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39:47

Plastic Bands, Pesticides, and Deadly Drift: A Study...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/04/01

Who doesn’t know the high-pitched whine of a nearby mosquito? We know they can be a nuisance, and in many regions, a health risk because of their ability to spread diseases. Some communities do public control campaigns, and increasingly, companies are offering home spraying of yards. But, the insecticides used in these sprays are broadly toxic to insects, and the risk they pose to pollinators isn't fully understood. In the summer of 2023, Xerces did a study looking at how these insecticides s...

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45:17

The Underground Heroes: Earthworms

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/03/18

Earthworms. They may elicit memories of digging through the dirt, probably as a child, and picking them up to discover what they are. But what do they do other than slink around and bury themselves in the soil? To help us explore this fascinating invertebrate are Jennifer Hopwood and Stephanie Frischie. Regular listeners will remember Jennifer — she’s been on Bug Banter before to talk about beetles and wasps. She is a Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist with Xerces, providing resources...

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39:02

Social and Emotional Learning: Making Science Accessible

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/03/04

More than ever, communicating scientific information effectively is critical to conservation efforts. But how exactly do we do that? To explore this topic is award-winning science communicator and entomologist, Gwen Pearson. In addition to her work writing for WIRED Magazine, Highlights For Kids, and other science news outlets, she's run an insect zoo and worked as an Extension Entomologist in various roles. She's now retired and is an Outreach Ambassador for the Xerces Society. Thank y...

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42:06

Protecting Bees from Pesticides: Why EPA Regulations...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/02/18

The United States Environmental Protection Agency, also known as the EPA, is tasked with regulating pesticides to protect people and the environment from their impacts. To test these impacts, the EPA uses honey bees. This might seem reasonable, but the honey bee is not native to North America and its social colony structure is unique and not representative of the thousands of native species of bees in the United States. The reliance on the honey bee for testing has profound implications for t...

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40:58

Monarch Conservation: Tracking Migration with...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/02/04

The monarch butterfly is popular and currently in the news a lot. You might think that we know all there is to know about it, but there are many mysteries remaining, particularly about their migration and how they use their habitat. This may be more so for the western population that overwinters in California. Radio tracking has long been used for studying the movement and habitat use of bigger animals. Advances in this technology mean it is emerging as a tool that can provide scientists with...

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42:25

Insects in the Balance: Why Monitoring Matters

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/01/21

Bees, butterflies, beetles — populations of almost any group of insects you can name seem to be falling. But how do we know they are falling, how can we find out how well insects are doing? Monitoring is an essential tool for understanding the abundance and distribution of species, as well as how they respond to conservation efforts.To explore this further, we are talking with Matt Forister, professor of biology and insect ecology in the Biology Department at the University of Nevada, Reno. H...

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35:50

The Power of Policy: Insect Protection Through State...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/01/07

In one of our first episodes we spoke with Sarina Jepsen, the director of our Endangered Species team, about what it means for a species to be federally listed, specifically through the Endangered Species Act. However, species can also be listed through individual states, but not all states are the same, and some states don’t have legislation to protect insects. It is an interesting story!Joining us to talk about the importance of a state’s authority to protect insects are Kevin Burls and Ros...

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42:13

The Secret Lives of San Diego Zoo Insects

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2024/12/17

Many of us likely have childhood memories of a zoo visit: gibbons swinging above us, lions pacing, a polar bear taking a plunge. Zoos also can play an important role in conservation, particularly for insects. One example is the work done at the San Diego Zoo to help invertebrates by solving mysteries about their habitat and life cycle needs, in some cases bringing back species on the brink of extinction.Joining us to talk about this work is Paige Howorth. Paige leads the Entomology Department...

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31:29

Buzzing Together: The Bumble Bee Atlas and the Power...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2024/12/03

Community science is critical to conservation efforts and the Bumble Bee Atlas is no exception. Volunteers across the country have contributed to the Atlas program through bumble bee surveys, providing crucial information on bumble bee abundance and distribution. This information informs conservation efforts and makes a real difference.To tell us more about the Bumble Bee Atlas are two of our newest Atlas coordinators, Amy Dolan and Michelle Toshack. Between them they cover much of the Rocky ...

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45:20

Dragonflies and Damselflies: A Life's Journey from...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2024/11/19

When we see a dragonfly, we normally see adults, which are capable of impressive aerobatics and have astonishing eyesight. Yet these fearsome aerial predators began life underwater, and when they undergo the transformation from nymph to adult they also change from water to air. Dragonflies truly are amazing! Joining us to talk about these incredible animals is Dr. Jessica Ware from the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where she is an Associate Curator and the current Divis...

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45:40

Revival of the Fender's Blue Butterfly: A...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2024/11/05

We all love a success story and what better tale to tell than the one about the Fender’s blue? Once thought extinct, this butterfly was rediscovered 35 years ago, since when it has made a comeback thanks to hard work by dedicated scientists, land owners, agency staff, and many others.To tell us this story of hope, we are joined today by two people whose long-time collaboration has been central to this success. Cheryl Schultz is a Professor at Washington State University in Vancouver, where sh...

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43:49

Mysteries of the Moth: More Than Meets the Eye

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2024/10/15

Moths are largely creatures of the night, which means they may not get as much publicity as their day-flying relative, butterflies. Moths are more diverse than butterflies, probably more abundant, and most certainly play a key role in the natural world. Honestly, moths are some of the coolest insects and we are excited to highlight them in today’s episode.Joining us to talk about moths is Dr. David Wagner, an entomologist and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of ...

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34:14

Bugs and Birds: Celebrating National Migratory Bird Day

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2024/10/01

October 12th is World Migratory Bird Day, a global campaign that aims to raise awareness of migratory birds and the need for international cooperation to conserve them. This year's theme for the campaign is “Protect Insects, Protect Birds,” underscoring the importance of invertebrates to migratory birds. Xerces is also, for the first time, an official partner in World Migratory Bird Day, so we are focusing this episode on the intersection between birds and bugs.To talk about this incredibly i...

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43:51

Spider Sense Part 2: Unraveling the Secrets of Arachnids

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2024/09/17

Join us for part two of our exciting conversation on spiders with Sebastian Echeverri, Communications Specialist in Science & Digital Media for the Xerces Society. Sebastian completed his PhD, studying why and how paradise jumping spiders get their audience's attention when pulling off their fanciest dance moves. He has also written a field guide for spiders and has a collection of pet arachnids.Thank you for listening! For more information go to xerces.org/bugbanter.

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