About

About the blog

There are a ton of biology blogs and a multitude of gardening blogs, but few that seem to link the two together in a way that is satisfying to me as both a biologist and gardener.  Garden Rant and the Biology Professors are on the right track, but deal mostly with horticultural science.  Your Wild Life is a great place to learn about the ecology of humans and their houses, but what about garden ecology?  The Artful Aomeba is a treasure trove of the wonders of natural history worldwide, but I want to focus more on the natural history of the little guys in our own backyards that go unnoticed.  Most of all, I want everyone to feel like biological science is for everyone, accessible to anyone with a yen to grow, observe, think critically, and discover things.   I currently envision the blog to have four main areas of focus:

1. Occupy Biology: 1% of the species in your yard get all of the glory.  Discover the amazing hidden lives of the other 99% of living things that surround you.
2. Sustain-A-What: Make the link between nutrient cycling and fertilizer use.  Learn more about who’s eating whom in your garden’s food chains.  Enjoy applied ecology for gardeners.
3. Geek Out: Are you obsessed with science, history, video games, or books?  There’s a way to geek out about that in the garden. Check back to this page for inspiration for theme gardens to match (almost) any obsession.
4. We Can Do It: Biology is for everyone! Learn how to set up experiments and participate in citizen science projects (or start your own!). Have fun doing biology in your yard.

As a full-time research associate in an agricultural entomology lab, I may be a bit slow to post during the peak of my summer research season, but I hope you will follow me on Twitter to get updates when I do.  This blog will be a fun place for biology nerds to learn more about gardening, gardening nerds to learn more about biology, and everyone to become a little of both.

About the author

Aurora Toennisson is an entomologist and avid gardener who lives and works in central North Carolina.  She has a Master’s of Science degree in Entomology from the University of Tennessee, and she has worked as an entomology lab technician, nature camp instructor, and ‘almost-organic’ vegetable farm manager. She has been gardening since she was 12 with varying degrees of success at keeping the weeds at bay.