Picture this: You have just received a phone call you had been hoping for—the new sales manager you have been recruiting accepted your offer. You kick back in your chair and put your feet up.
Cicadas (order Hemiptera; family Cicadidae) are medium to large-sized insects that occur worldwide (Dietrich, 2009). Ohio is home to both “annual” and “periodical” cicadas. Periodical cicadas emerge as adults in the spring, 13 or 17 years after completing their development underground. Annual cicadas also develop underground but emerge each year in the summer.
Each landowner has their own goals for owning woodlands. Some desire habitat for a variety of wildlife while others desire recreation such as hiking, hunting, and bird watching. Still others want to harvest timber and non-timber products from their woods for home and farm use or to provide periodic income. Most aspire to maintain or improve the health, vigor, and attractiveness of their woodland.
The term ‘mast’ was probably first used to describe a food source for domestic livestock. Webster defines mast as “fruits, seeds, or nuts (such as berries, pine seeds, or acorns) of trees or shrubs that serve as food for wildlife or domestic animals and typically accumulate on the ground” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). When foresters and wildlife biologists use the term, they are referring to the woody plant (trees, shrubs, or vines) fruit used by wildlife for food. All woody plants produce some type of fruit.
The use of cover crops in Ohio has been an important focus of existing and newly created conservation efforts to improve water quality in both the Lake Erie and Ohio River watersheds. One of the more popular cover crop species is cereal rye. This fact sheet reviews cereal rye characteristics, such as the growth habit of the species, differences between cereal rye and other small grains, ideal growing conditions and tolerance for poor conditions, and how to identify the species and avoid its potential negative consequences.
Consuming the toxin of the bacteria Clostridium botulinum (C. bot) can cause botulism. The toxin is lethal in minuscule amounts. Botulism is a rare but serious foodborne disease that can be fatal. Two types of botulism poisoning are associated with foods—adult and infant botulism.
Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) is a perennial crop native to North America and closely related to sunflower (Helianthus annuus). This species originates from the Great Lakes region, Ohio River, and the Mississippi River Valleys (Swanton et al., 1992) and was cultivated by Native Americans. Jerusalem artichoke, also named sunchoke (used hereafter) or topinambour, possesses low agronomic requirements and is currently cultivated for its diverse industrial applications.
The European hornet (Vespa crabro) is the largest wasp species found in Ohio. Their size often leads to fear and misidentification. However, these hornets are beneficial predators found across Ohio.
Warm-season grasses are generally thought to be of lower quality than cool-season grasses. However, tropical or subtropical climate regions have highly productive grazing systems based primarily or solely on warm-season grasses. This brings up the question—can targeted grazing management increase the quality of warm-season grasses in temperate regions?
