Drive by a local wetland on an early spring evening, and if
you're lucky you'll hear a harbinger of the changing season -
the clear chirping chorus of tiny frogs known as spring peepers,
classified by biologists as Pseudacris crucifer. Few themes in
literature are more alluring than the lost world. Places such as
Atlantis, Shangri-La, Conan Doyle's "Lost World", and now the
bestselling "The Lost City of Z" conjure up images of strange
landscapes, exotic civilizations and hidden treasures.
Ecologists study phenology, which is the orderly progression of
seasonal events in nature, such as the springtime arrival of
migrating birds, the first chorus of spring peepers in vernal
pools, and the development of tree colors each autumn Despite
the fact 60 percent of us in Dutchess County drink groundwater
every day, and all of us eat food irrigated by ground water,
very few people know where it comes from, where it goes, or that
groundwater is full of life Thankfully, the argument about the
reality of global climate cha