Sea Otters were once abundant from the Aleutian Islands to central California, before being hunted nearly to extinction. Dr. James Bodkin of the US Fish & Wildlife Service devoted much of his career to studying these charismatic marine mammals, particularly in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker disaster. On The Ecology Hour he reunites with his old colleague Dr. Robert Spies and brings us up to date on what has been learned about sea otter ecology, populations, and some of the fascinating ways they influence ecosystems.

We talk with Dr. Marc Epstein, Senior Insect Biosystematist at the California Department of Food and Agriculture for Lepidoptera, about moths and their taxonomy. Dr. Epstein has worked for the last twenty two years at the Plant Pest Diagnostics Center in South Sacramento and is also a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. While identifying Lepidoptera of potential threat to agriculture, he researches their evolution and classification with an emphasis on the moth family Limacodidae, and the history of entomologists who were his predecessors. He is author of “Moths, Myths, and Mosquitoes: The Eccentric Life of Harrison G. Dyar, Jr.”, published in 2016 by Oxford University Press.

The Ecology Hour goes viral this week when hosts Bob Spies and Tim Bray talk with Dr. Tony Goldberg, veterinarian and pathobiologist at the University of Madison-Wisconsin. He studies viruses and the diseases they can cause in everything from mussels to humans, everywhere from the Appalachians to Africa. He particularly focuses on "zoonautic" diseases - those that can jump from one species to another. In a fascinating and surprisingly humorous conversation, we learn many amazing things about both the hosts and the viruses.

Mountain Lions are a frequent topic of conversation in Mendocino County, and there is often concern about them preying on livestock or pets. We talk with Dr. Quinton Martins, principal investigator for the Living with Lions project, a partnership between Audubon Canyon Ranch and True Wild. Dr. Martins explains why Mountain Lions are so secretive, why they hide their food (and even their scat!), and how to prevent them from preying on livestock.

Our guest is Dr. Mark Hoddle, Distinguished Professor of Extension in Biological Control at the University of California - Riverside, a renowned expert in the field of biological control of invasive insect pests. He presents the checkered history of efforts to find organisms that target damaging invasive species, including some early efforts that succeeded and some that backfired. His work is grounded in that history and follows a rigorous and demanding process to identify such organisms. A major part of his work is understanding the mechanisms limiting predation or infection to target species, so a biological agent can be released without harming non-target species. Join us for a fascinating look at the intersection of hard science and agriculture.

Eleven years ago, a mysterious disease killed most of the adult starfish off California and Oregon. The most severely affected, Sunflower Seastar, was the main predator limiting the spread of Purple Urchins. The sudden disappearance of a key predator triggered a "trophic cascade" that led to an ongoing ecological crisis, including the collapse of the kelp forests. After a decade of painstaking research, the pathogen responsible for Seastar Wasting Disease has finally been identified.

Gray Whales were once nearly wiped out by commercial whaling. Once that ceased in the late 20th century, they staged a remarkable comeback, reaching a population of around 26,000 by 2016. But since then many have died on migration, and a new estimate indicates their population has been cut in half. We talk with Dr. Aimee Lang of the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center about that estimate, and what might be causing the decline of these iconic marine mammals.

Just when you think you've got life all figured out... scientists find something that redefines the whole concept. Ecology Hour hosts Bob Spies and Tim Bray talk with Dr. Karen Lloyd, Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California, about her research into alien life forms right here on Earth - what she calls "Intraterrestrials" in her new book. Some of these organisms challenge our basic understanding of life: their metabolic processes function so slowly that individuals may live for hundreds of thousands of years. Some of them can breathe Arsenic; others eat methane and produce formaldehyde. Their discovery has created a new and wild frontier in scientific research, and Dr. Lloyd is in the vanguard.