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Sheepshead Bay
Ten piers, ten local creatures of the sea.
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Ladybugs: Aphid-Eaters
Checker Spot ladybug (Propylea quatuordecimpunctata) munching on an aphid wing. Laval-stage lady beetles are also great aphid-devourers. This is why a number of different species of lady bugs have been introduced into North America over the years: to attack the real destruction aphids can cause. The Checker Spots were one such introduction.The Multi-colored Asian lady…
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Plant Suckers
Being only an irregular gardener, I haven’t had much experience with real aphid infestations. But now I think I understand why the little plant suckers are so loathed. Brooklyn Bridge Park has a couple of infestations right now: red aphids on sunflowers and yellow ones on milkweeds.There are more than 1,300 species of aphids (Aphididae)…
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Honeydew Economy
Aphids produce honeydew, a sugary by-product, or excreta, of all that plant sucking they do. Ants, among other creatures, love the energy-rich stuff, and so harvest it from the aphids. They will also protect the aphids from aphid-predators, as if they were shepherds watching over the herd.
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Brooklyn Bridge Park
The cattails (Typha angustifolia) are as high as an elephant’s eye. In fact, one of the gardeners was actively clearing some of these out, saying they were growing outwards and the goldenrod was growing inwards, and without care there would not be any pond after too long. Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), my favorite milkweed family…
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All praise to the pollinators!
It’s National Pollinator Week. While honeybees get most of the media attention, there are some 250 different species of bees found in New York City. Recently, a new species of sweat bee was named after being discovered in Prospect Park. Here’s yet another type of local bee. This is a genus Megachile leaf-cutter bee, so…
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Backyard and Beyond 