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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

37:08

The Secret Lives of Bumble Bees: Nesting and...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/10/21

We’ve all heard the familiar buzz of a bumble bee. Their fuzzy bodies fly around looking for pollen and nectar. But where do bumble bees nest? Where do they spend the winter? And how can we support this part of their lifecycle? To talk with us about this topic is Genevieve Pugesek, Xerces Endangered Species Conservation Biologist. Jenny is one of the project managers of the Bumble Bee Atlas, a community science project aimed at tracking and conserving bumble bees. She works with Atlas program...

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44:30

The Salmonfly Project: Anglers, Insect Conservation,...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/10/07

Insects play a critical role in rivers, lakes, and streams, acting as a vital food source for many animals and maintaining the health of these freshwater ecosystems. A few of these insects include: mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies. The bad news? They are in decline. The good news? There is something we can do about it. This is a new topic for us and one that we are excited to explore. Joining us to dive into the aquatic world are Jackson Birrell and James Frakes, co-founders of the Salmo...

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42:32

Bitter Nectar, Toxic Pollen: Pollinators and Plant...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/09/16

We’ve spent some time on this podcast discussing pollinators and their life histories but today we are taking a deeper dive into plant chemistry to better understand the relationship between pollinators and their floral resources. To help us explore this fascinating topic, is Leif Richardson, Xerces Endangered Species Conservation Biologist. Leif coordinates the California Bumble Bee Atlas project. His research focuses on the ecology, distribution, and declines of North American bumble bees. ...

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33:52

Leave the Leaves or Lose the Insects

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/09/02

Leave the leaves has become something of a rallying cry and discussion topic in recent years. When the weather starts to cool and leaves begin to fall, we’re presented with a valuable wildlife and gardening resource — but also something of a headache. Do I keep them all? Can I mulch them? Won’t they kill my lawn? What about pests? How do I keep my HOA happy? Joining us to take a deeper dive into a pile of leaves, how they help insects, and how to manage them is Max Ferlauto, state entomologis...

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43:53

Monarchs & Pesticides: Understanding the Impact,...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/08/19

In this episode, we will be taking a closer look at the monarch butterfly, but we won’t be talking about milkweed or nectar plants, or the migration and overwintering sites – at least, not directly. No, our focus is on pesticides and monarchs. Are pesticides a particular concern for monarch butterflies? What are the consequences of pesticide contamination to their habitat? What can we do to provide pesticide-free habitat? To answer these questions we welcome back Emily May, Agricultural Conse...

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39:35

Understanding Native Bee Populations: The State of...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/08/05

How are native bee species in the US doing in light of the major threats they are facing? What more do we need to know to protect them? There are over 3,600 species of native bees in the United States, but we only know the conservation status (i.e., how well they are doing) of about 20% of them. This makes it difficult to make decisions about how to prioritize bee conservation. Joining us to discuss this problem is Saff Killingsworth, Xerces Endangered Species Conservation Biologist. Sa...

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31:02

The Living Fence: Hedgerows as Havens for Insects

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/07/15

Co-host Matthew Shepherd came from Britain, a country known for its hedgerows. He grew up surrounded by hedges, sometimes many centuries old, crisscrossing the countryside. Early in Matthew's career he helped plant, maintain, and restore miles of hedgerows and got to see up close the wealth of wildlife that live in them. When he moved to America, he was struck by the lack of hedgerows, their place in the landscape frequently filled by barbed wire or other types of fencing. He is very happy to...

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47:30

State of the Butterflies in the United States: A...

Bug Banter with the Xerces Society ·

2025/07/01

I’m sure it’s not surprising to hear that butterflies are in decline, but the speed at which it is happening may be. Butterflies are being lost at a rate of 1.3% per year, which means more than one-fifth have disappeared over a 20-year period. These are just a couple of the alarming statistics that emerged from the work of the State of the Butterflies in the United States working group. The group was comprised of scientists from universities, agencies, and the Xerces Society. Their findings h...

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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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53 results

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