Alex Palmer's Natural History Notes and Thoughts

Please note:  This blog post is in a draft stage and is intended to outline my thoughts and feelings on an important environmental issue in a certain region.  I have yet to include proper citations or to double-check my facts.  Please feel free to comment if you feel I have made some extra-erroneous remarks or overly belligerence errors, and I will work promptly to correct them.   Introduction Norfolk, Virginia is located in a region referred to as the "Tidewater area" and upon first glance of a satellite image of the region (see Figure 1) the name readily becomes apparent.  Long and narrow stretches of tidal "rivers" are woven throughout an otherwise highly urbanized area.   Figure 1:  Satellite image of Norfolk, VA and surrounding areas.            Imagery ©2013 TerraMetrics    Those tidal waters are directly connected to the  Chesapeake Bay,  America's largest marine estuary.  This off-shoot of the Atlantic Ocean is one of the most ecologic

In a previous blog post , I mentioned that I was starting a natural resource management project at a local wildlife preserve.   Natural resource management involves the deliberate manipulation of natural ecosystems in order to enhance it's ecological function.  On of the most common activities of natural resource managers today is that of invasive species management.   My project falls within this category, and as you can see from Photos A and B, European privet ( Ligustrum vulgare L.) can quickly dominate the understory of a wooded area eliminating valuable food resources that a diverse array of native plants could provide. Photo A:  A monoculture of privet chokes out the understory of a forest near the trail center at the Hoffler Creek Wildlife  Preserve in Portsmouth, VA.  January 6, 2012. Photo B:  Large privet bushes.  Same location as Photo A.   Originally, I had intended to create three test plots, in which I would perform different control methods (see my