Archbold Biological Station

Archbold Biological Station soars to new heights with a generous $2 million dollar gift from philanthropist K. Lisa Yang, establishing the John W. Fitzpatrick Director of Avian Ecology. The gift was announced to the Board of Directors and staff along with the appointment of Dr. Bowman, who recently celebrated 30-years of service to Archbold, as its first recipient. The endowment will enhance bird research at Archbold, with a focus on the threatened Florida Scrub-Jay.

“Our staff, board, and supporters are deeply touched by Lisa Yang’s generous gift, which establishes the first endowed position at Archbold,” said Dr. Hilary Swain, Archbold’s Executive Director. “Her gift builds on Archbold’s 50-year investment in Florida Scrub-Jay research, which has advanced studies of animal behavior and ecology around the world. It will generate annual funding that will enhance bird research at Archbold and propel our science into the future. Long-term studies of animals constantly transform, drawing from legacy data and new technologies across generations of scientists. Lisa Yang’s enduring gift will facilitate this evolution of knowledge and bear future scientific fruits we cannot possibly foresee today.”

The endowment honors Archbold’s former Executive Director, current Board member, and Research Associate Dr. John W. Fitzpatrick, who recently retired after 26 years as Director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. His lifetime vision, passion for ornithology and conservation science, and inspired leadership have earned him global recognition and countless awards and accolades. Since 1972, a significant part of Fitzpatrick’s work has been studying the behavior, ecology, and conservation genetics of the threatened Florida Scrub-Jay together with colleagues at Archbold. He continues actively studying scrub-jays with Dr. Bowman.

“I am thrilled and honored beyond words to have this program directorship bear my name. Archbold Biological Station is among the most important places in the world for me and my entire family,” said Dr. Fitzpatrick.

Yang visited Archbold with Fitzpatrick in 2019. Witnessing the charismatic Florida Scrub-Jays first-hand gave her a front-row seat to Archbold’s commitment to conservation and science and inspired her gift. She was fascinated by the enduring nature of this work, the longest continuous study of marked (banded) birds in North America.

“Traditional methods such as bird banding, combined with new technology and techniques, such as DNA sequencing and habitat mapping using drones, allow our research group to study changes over decades, enhancing conservation of this threatened species,” said Dr. Bowman. “Lisa’s generous gift will allow us to continue our cutting-edge efforts.”

Lisa Yang holds an M.B.A. from Columbia University and a B.S. from Cornell University, where she serves on the board of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is a Life Member of the Cornell University Trustee Council, and member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for Cornell’s Industrial and Labor Relations School. Yang serves on the boards of Autism Speaks, The McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, The Devereux Foundation, the Stanford Neurodiversity Project Advisory Board at Stanford University School of Medicine, is an active ambassador of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, and also sits on the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows. A native of Singapore, Yang worked primarily in finance and Wall Street before retiring in 2001 and now is a full-time private investor and active philanthropist.

Investing in science, research, neurodiversity in the workplace initiatives, and conservation is not new to Yang. Yang founded the K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Employment and Disability Institute at Cornell University (2015). She is the co-founder of the Hock E. Tan and K. Lisa Yang Center for Autism Research at MIT (2017) and a sister center at Harvard (2019), and K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Molecular Therapeutics Center at MIT (2020). She also founded the K. Lisa Yang Bionics Center at MIT (2021) and the K. Lisa Yang Integrative Computational Neuroscience Center (ICoN Center) at MIT (2021). This year, Yang made a transformational gift of $24 million to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, establishing the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics and its John W. Fitzpatrick Directorship.

“Today, we celebrate Lisa Yang for tying together the threads of her philanthropic generosity in such a remarkable fashion,” said Dr. Swain. “She loves birds. She holds Dr. John Fitzpatrick in the highest esteem. She is committed to science and technology. And she has a burgeoning interest in the work conducted by Archbold. We offer Lisa our eternal gratitude, and we are excited that her generosity will inspire others worldwide to support and sustain Archbold’s work. Truly her gift to Archbold is a gift that will keep on giving: she couldn’t be more inspirational.”

Archbold Biological Station is an independent, not-for-profit research facility whose mission is to build and share the scientific knowledge needed to protect the life, lands, and waters of the heart of Florida and beyond. Lying within the Headwaters of the Everglades, Archbold is one of the most renowned resources for field study of the natural environments in the world. For more information, visit our website, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

Author: Mark Deyrup

Big-Headed Ants probably live in almost every backyard in Florida; however, their strange appearance and interesting behavior are seldom noticed. This is because they are small (usually no more than 1/8 inch long) and spend most of their time below ground. Unlike some small ants, they don’t get our attention by biting or stinging.

Most people are happy to ignore these ants, but at Archbold Biological Station there are few kinds of animals, even small innocuous ones, that are beneath the attention of curious researchers. The ten species of Big-Headed Ants living on the Station have been studied by both resident and visiting biologists. According to Archbold entomologist Dr. Mark Deyrup, “Biologists can easily find the ants because the ants (and often the biologists) are strongly attracted to rich cookies, such as pecan sandies, which provide the tempting trifecta of sugar, fat, and protein.” Deyrup continued, “One of the discoveries resulting from baiting with cookie crumbs is that Big-Headed Ants are amazingly common in all natural terrestrial habitats, but different species are usually confined to particular habitats such as open sandy areas or dense scrub oak thickets.”

Big-Headed Ants belong to the ant genus Pheidole (pronounced Fie doh’ ly), a huge group of more than 900 species, most of them tropical. The name Pheidole means ‘thrifty’ in Greek, referring to the many species in the genus that harvest and store seeds. The entomologist who first named Pheidole ants in 1835 was impressed by a colony whose members were hauling damp seeds out of an anthill after a rain, laying the seeds in the sun to dry, then carrying them back down, showing “a perseverance offering a useful lesson to humanity.”

The diligence of Pheidole ants can be easily observed by setting out tiny piles of cookie crumbs on a warm day in almost any upland habitat in Florida. The speedy discovery of the crumbs by wandering scout ants is quickly followed by trails of ants recruited to retrieve the treats. This suggests that every inch of most Florida habitats is patrolled by ants.

An unusual feature of Big-Headed Ants is that their workers come in two sizes, one much bigger than the other and with a disproportionately massive head. These larger workers have specialized tasks such as seed milling or colony defense, while smaller workers tend to larvae in their nest and scout for food in the surrounding area. When he was making drawings for an identification guide to Florida ants, Dr. Deyrup had to draw both the big workers and the small ones of each species because they look so different.

The common little Big-Headed Ants working in their efficient teams at the l Station and throughout Florida must have an outsized effect reducing numbers of small insects and seeds that are gathered and consumed. These ants are just part of a menagerie of little creatures that manage the world beneath our feet. Just as a huge diversity of bacteria helps balance our digestive systems a huge diversity of tiny insects helps balance the natural world upon which we live.

Author: Tori Bakley

Among the wall of green oak leaves and palmetto fronds, a silver shimmer catches the eye of Tori Bakley, a research assistant at Archbold Biological Station. Torn and tangled in the scrub oak branches, a deflated balloon still manages to shine in the afternoon sun—the third released balloon she’s found in the field that week.

As the saying goes, what goes up must come down, and this has become clear to Bakley during her time working outdoors. She says, “I’ve worked at research sites around the world and no matter how far I get from a city it seems like I can never escape the litter.” While balloons can drift miles through the air, other debris can travel surprising distances in wind or water if not disposed of properly.

Earlier this year while traveling through the scrub to collect data on Florida Scrub-Jay nests, Bakley stumbled across Gopher Tortoise droppings that appeared peculiar. Upon a closer look, the droppings contained pieces of mylar balloon. A wild tortoise had eaten a balloon that had floated into the scrub. Although the tortoise was able to pass pieces of the balloon, Archbold researchers don’t yet know if the tortoise will suffer from related complications, such as reduced nutritional intake or internal injuries. It is difficult to process findings like this since habitat is diligently managed for these endangered species and something as small as a single balloon can still threaten their lives. While Bakley is the first to document evidence of Gopher Tortoise plastic consumption, there are several reports of other species of turtles and tortoises consuming debris found in their habitat.

Greg Thompson, Archbold’s Red-Cockaded Woodpecker researcher based at Avon Park Air Force Range, was traveling through Longleaf Pine habitat when he, too, came across something unexpected. Attached to a lifeless balloon was a note written by a family from Plant City, Florida, roughly 50 miles away. They were hopeful their letter would travel to somewhere interesting, so they included their contact information in hopes of hearing back about the fate of their balloon. Unfortunately, its final destination happened to be one of the last remaining stands of Longleaf Pines, which the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker calls home.

Thompson took this opportunity to educate the family on the dangers of intentional balloon releases. He wrote back to update them on their balloon’s journey and to bring them into the conversation of humans’ direct impact on wildlife. He said, “It’s discouraging how often I come across mylar balloons and other plastic debris while out doing fieldwork. I don’t think people fully realize how much litter is created just by releasing balloons.”

Intentionally releasing balloons is illegal in several states, including Florida. Similar to littering, releasing 10 or more helium balloons is punishable by law and should be avoided. As we learn more about the hazards of balloon releases, their popularity in celebrations and memorials should diminish all together. Being mindful of the impacts our actions have on the world around us will help protect the threatened species and natural spaces we love so dearly.

Authors: Katie Caldwell and Dustin Angell

Last month, Dustin Angell, Archbold Biological Station’s Director of Education, and Katie Caldwell, the Jill Abrahamson Memorial Environmental Education Intern, were invited to present on Archbold’s virtual education projects for the Florida Association of Science Teachers (FAST) conference by the Florida Department of Education’s STEAM team (science, technology, education, art, and math).

“This was our first time attending and presenting at FAST,” explains Angell. “We have always focused on serving local schools, but virtual programing is bringing us new audiences and partners. The STEAM Team is helping us find our niche in the Florida classroom, which looks to be sharing how the practice of science works with examples from Archbold research.”

Prior to 2020, the vast majority of environmental education at field stations across North America was occurring onsite. In Angell’s presentation, ‘The Virtual Field: Remote Learning at Field Stations in Florida and Beyond,’ he explained how some of these institutions reinvented their education programs during the pandemic and come together to create The Virtual Field (www.thevirtualfield.org), a website where students can remotely visit biological field stations around the world to develop their field skills and environmental literacy. Archbold’s Executive Director, Dr. Hilary Swain, is a project leader for this growing initiative. 

In addition to the field station collaboration, Angell outlined what Archbold is providing for Florida elementary school classrooms. Private virtual classroom visits bring Archbold to the schools with two class options available: the ‘Snakes and Skulls’ classroom visit introduces students to a live Florida snake and a variety of animal skulls.

“The snake seems to be a favorite,” Caldwell notes. “Some students are a bit wary, but some are just so excited. It’s great to see that the students are still engaged and curious even over a Zoom call. They’re in the chat asking questions and giving us fun facts that they already know about Florida wildlife. It’s really fun for us as educators and for the students.”

The other virtual classroom visit is a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ style presentation. This format allows students autonomy to pick where they go on the trail, the questions they ask the scientists, and what to look at in greater detail.

Nature Wonder Alive with Mr. Dustin is a monthly interactive livestream show that takes viewers into various Florida habitats throughout Archbold’s 20,000 acres—from hiking in the endangered scrub to kayaking on Lake Annie. Since the program is live, the audience is able to participate and ask questions by typing in the chat box. Each episode features a guest scientist who showcases their research at Archbold.

Caldwell, who started in October and is the third consecutive education intern to work during the pandemic, is excited about the rest of the school year. “The virtual programs are game-changers for Archbold, but now we are scheduling in-person field trips again, too. This is exciting, because during my internship we are promoting both formats with the local schools. Dustin and I will be able to meet students virtually and take them for in-person tours,” Caldwell states.

Archbold Biological Station, located in Venus, Florida, is still closed to the public, but in-person guided tours are available for groups of 10 or more. To learn more about Archbold’s education programs, visit: www.archbold-education.com or call (863)465-2571.