Lyle Lewis

Some ecological changes are easy to see. Wolves returned to Yellowstone and became an international story. Lake trout arrived in Yellowstone Lake and quietly reorganized an ecosystem. One became a symbol. The other remained largely invisible. My latest for Mongabay:

@KidinaSandbox @lightsout4bird All of them.

@lightsout4bird To which Western North American forests is he referring?

@GenericMage_ @lightsout4bird It really is analogous to importing camels into North America, releasing them, and calling them wild because the continent had camels in the Pleistocene.

@lightsout4bird @LyleLewis__Real It's easy to forget horses aren't native to the Americas.

The American West isn’t managed according to ecology alone. It’s managed according to mythology. Wolves and horses are simply the mirrors in which those myths are reflected. New Essay—Myth and Mirrors

@LyleLewis__Real open.substack.com/pub/lylel/p/my…

Through political appointments and incentives, reality becomes distortion.

@PacNorthWest We’re clueless.

@LyleLewis__Real We need to understand the complex and dynamic relationships between the parts, but unfortunately, we don't even know the parts 😿

Every species on Earth is a unique evolutionary solution. The IUCN has assessed about 176,000 species. Earth likely contains 8–10 million. Most will never be fully understood.

@normalusernamei You and me both.

@LyleLewis__Real I hate that so many will likely be gone before we can even learn about them. We have probably caused the extinctions of many that we no longer remember or never knew about already. It makes me so sad.

The American West isn’t just managed by ecology and politics. It’s also managed by mythology. New essay: Myth and Mirrors — Sunday.

@BowieFan2024 @frankdpi 🙏

@frankdpi fyi @LyleLewis__Real

The Bird Singing Competitions Pushing Wild Songbirds Toward Extinction - VICE apple.news/ApfbAoSjITmCRk…

@KurtEClothier @ArtForCC Truth……and in many places the animals that eat them.

@ArtForCC @LyleLewis__Real not just insects, all of the small animals that eat those insects also get smashed by cars.

Feel-good conservation can be dangerous. It’s easy to celebrate flowers blooming along roadsides. It’s harder to ask whether those flowers are leading pollinators into one of the most hazardous environments humans have created.

The Department of Obvious Conclusions Today’s Bulletin: Scientists are investigating whether the hottest July on record may be associated with unusually high temperatures. Additional funding has been requested to determine whether the sun was involved.

@HegerRichard If looks like somewhere insects and birds can prosper!

@LyleLewis__Real We have acres in central Iowa featuring various species of milkweed. To maintain biodiversity in these closed-loop systems, we must consistently create disturbances to prevent stagnation. These ecosystems are no longer self-sustaining.

@151Call In your yard it’s not feel good…….it’s good.

@LyleLewis__Real I have it in my yard. Non issue there.

@Oxygen_Token Most people can no longer tell the difference between abstraction and reality.

@LyleLewis__Real Conservation should be measured by outcomes, not intentions. Nature doesn’t care whether an idea feels good. It only responds to what actually works.

@KidinaSandbox Many, many, many.

@LyleLewis__Real This has always worried me, somewhat, wrt monarchs. One of the best habitats nearby for common (Kansas) milkweed is the grass embankment next to controlled access highways. I often wonder how many newly emerged butterflies get smacked by vehicles doing 120 kph.