Urban Habitat: Cataloging Species | KCET
Urban Habitat: Cataloging Species
As urbanization creates a variety of vectors for non-native species to find their way into Los Angeles, scientists work to catalog the city's evolving biodiversity.
The Los Angeles Aqueduct made the region more attractive non-native species introduced by human activity. Species now common in the city include animals from tropical places, including anoles, geckos and the infamous coqui frog. Biologists are finding the best way to research biodiversity in urban areas and to gain access to the species living on private property throughout the city, is to enlist he help of citizen scientists.
Related
-
Urban Habitat
E6: Urban Habitat
Episode 6
Los Angeles is one of the biggest biodiversity hotspots in the world, despite its smog, urban sprawl and snarling freeways.
Related
-
Urban Habitat
E6: Urban Habitat
Episode 6
Los Angeles is one of the biggest biodiversity hotspots in the world, despite its smog, urban sprawl and snarling freeways.
-
Urban Habitat
Understanding How Species Adapt in Urban Habitats
As urbanization creates a variety of vectors for non-native species to find their way into Los Angeles, scientists work to catalog the city's evolving biodiversity.
-
Urban Habitat
Urban Habitat: Coyotes and P-22
Often assumed to reside in mountains and state parks, coyotes and mountain lions have adapted to survive in habitats that may be much closer to us that we think.
- 1 of 2
- next ›
Full Episodes
-
Earth Focus
Earth Focus
E1: Sea Level Rising - Living With Water
Episode 1
Forecasts are dire for Louisiana to experience the second-highest sea level rise in the world. How is the region adapting?
-
Earth Focus
Climate Migration
E2: Climate Migration
Episode 2
Droughts and floods are driving many people away from their rural, farming communities into big cities.
-
Earth Focus
city planning
E3: City Planning
Episode 3
Two cities, San Francisco and Freetown, brace for climate change using vastly different methodologies.
-
Earth Focus
Adaptation to Water Shortages
E4: Adaptation to Global Water Shortages
Episode 4
Anticipating future water needs, two regions on opposite sides of the world turn to technology for answers.
-
Earth Focus
Future of Food
E5: Future of Food
Episode 5
Communities and innovators all over the world are creating new sustainable food sources that are resilient to climate change and growing populations.
- 1 of 8
- next ›
Clips & Segments
-
Earth Focus
A documentary exploring human-created urban ecosystems through the raucous call of the beloved red-crowned parrot in Pasadena.
-
Earth Focus
As urbanization creates a variety of vectors for non-native species to find their way into Los Angeles, scientists work to catalog the city's evolving biodiversity.
-
Earth Focus
Often assumed to reside in mountains and state parks, coyotes and mountain lions have adapted to survive in habitats that may be much closer to us that we think.
-
Earth Focus
Located in Westlake, one of the highest density neighborhoods of downtown Los Angeles, Esperanza Elementary School encourages students to reconnect with nature.
- 1 of 10
- next ›
Upcoming Airdates
Mining Battles: Uranium, Coal and Gold
Episode 67
An impoverished former mining community in Colorado hopes that a proposed uranium mill will bring jobs and prosperity until environmentalists step in to try to stop it. Who gets to decide? Filmmaker Suzan Beraza documents the debate in her new film Uranium Drive In.
-
2018-10-21T09:30:00-07:00KCET-HD
-
2018-10-21T11:30:00-07:00KCET-HD
-
2018-10-24T00:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-10-24T18:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-10-26T00:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-10-26T04:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-10-29T00:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-10-29T04:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
Maritime Pollution Exposed
Episode 46
(Earth Focus: Episode 46) Between 70-210 million gallons of waste oil are illegally dumped at sea by commercial ships each year. In fish, marine oil pollution is linked to cancers, tumors, reduced growth rates, genetic side effects, and death. It is also toxic to seabirds and marine mammals including whales, sea otters, and dolphins. The new film "Oil in Our Waters" exposes this practice. Film director Micah Fink shares his findings with "Earth Focus" and explains new ways citizens can now help stop illegal oil dumping.
-
2018-10-22T00:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-10-22T04:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
Nuclear Power: America Goes Naked
Episode 55
"Going naked" is how the insurance industry describes not having insurance. And when it comes to the worst hazards of nuclear power — America is going naked. Correspondent Miles Benson investigates why the U.S. nuclear power industry is underinsured by hundreds of billions of dollars. He also speaks with Australian physician, author and nuclear industry critic Dr. Helen Caldicott on the health effects of nuclear radiation including cancers, fetal damage and genetic mutation.
-
2018-10-23T00:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-10-23T04:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-10-25T00:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-10-27T00:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-10-27T04:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
Can Religion Save The Environment?
Led by Buddhist monks, Cambodia's indigenous Chong people protest the construction of a hydroelectric dam. The dam, to be built by the Chinese company Sinohydro, would displace the Chong and destroy their ancestral forest home. Kalyanne Mam documents their plight in her film "Fight For Areng Valley." China is beginning to draw on its religious traditions — Tibetan Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism — to help address serious environmental challenges as profiled in Gary Marcuse and Shi Lihong's film "Searching for Sacred Mountain."
-
2018-10-24T13:30:00-07:00KCET-HD
-
2018-10-24T22:30:00-07:00KCET-HD
-
2018-10-25T05:30:00-07:00KCET-HD
-
2018-10-27T17:30:00-07:00KCET-HD
-
2018-10-28T09:30:00-07:00KCET-HD
-
2018-10-28T11:30:00-07:00KCET-HD
-
2018-10-28T18:30:00-07:00KCET-HD
-
2018-10-31T00:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-10-31T18:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-02T00:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-02T04:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-04T23:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-05T03:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
Shades of Gray: Living with Wolves
Episode 51
Gray wolves once ranged across North America. But by the 1930s, they were nearly extinct — trapped, poisoned and hunted by ranchers, farmers, and government agents. With protection under the 1973 Endangered Species Act, the wolf population rebounded. But wolves lost federal protection in 2011. Now, with hunting permitted in many Western states, the future of this once endangered species may again be in question. Can we live with wolves? "Earth Focus" travels to Montana and Wyoming to find out.
-
2018-10-30T00:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-10-30T04:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-01T00:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-03T00:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-03T04:30:00-07:00KCETLINK
Climate Change: The Rising Cost
Episode 70
(Earth Focus: Episode 70) The cost of climate change is rising and its consequences are increasingly threatening our national security. Droughts, floods, wildfires, and severe weather cost lives and livelihoods when they damage property, crops, and infrastructure. Communities in Texas, Iowa, Colorado, Alaska are already struggling with the impact of climate change and coastal cities face expensive consequences within a couple of decades. The high price we are paying today is a harbinger of what the future may hold. How will the US economy and national security be affected?
-
2018-10-31T13:30:00-07:00KCET-HD
-
2018-11-03T17:30:00-07:00KCET-HD
-
2018-11-04T08:30:00-08:00KCET-HD
-
2018-11-04T17:30:00-08:00KCET-HD
-
2018-11-06T23:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-07T17:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-08T23:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-09T03:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-11T23:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-12T03:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
Tackling Ocean Challenges
Episode 66
Oceans support life, yet they are overfished, polluted, and, with global climate change, are becoming increasingly acidic.
-
2018-11-05T23:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-07T23:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-10T03:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
America’s Dirty Secret: Coal Ash
Episode 64
In Juliette, Georgia radioactive water flows from the tap. In Pennsylvania, three adjoining counties battle a rare form of cancer. One thing these communities have in common is their exposure coal ash. Coal combustion powers 40 percent of America’s electricity but generates 130 million tons of coal ash each year. Though it is known to contain carcinogens, coal ash is often dumped in unlined ponds where it leaches into groundwater. There is no federal coal ash regulation on the books—only a patchwork of state level standards.
-
2018-11-10T16:30:00-08:00KCET-HD
-
2018-11-11T08:30:00-08:00KCET-HD
-
2018-11-11T10:30:00-08:00KCET-HD
-
2018-11-11T17:30:00-08:00KCET-HD
-
2018-11-13T23:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-14T17:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-15T23:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-16T03:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-18T23:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-19T03:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
Arise: Women Protecting The Environment
Episode 42
(Earth Focus: Episode 42) A look at the award-winning film "Arise!" and its documentation of the intellectual and spiritual insights that women from around the world bring to solving today's environmental challenges. Mother/daughter filmmakers Lori Joyce, Candace Orlando, and executive producer Molly Ross reflect on the making of the film.
-
2018-11-12T23:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-13T03:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-14T23:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-17T03:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
Toxic Futures: Untold Stories of Chemical Pollution
(Earth Focus: Episode 56) Exposure to toxic chemicals affects people in both the industrialized and developing world. Earth Focus looks at how Toms River, a New Jersey town, fought back to save its drinking water from toxic waste dumping by dye manufacturer Ciba Geigy and by Union Carbide. Then, a look at the new film Amazon Gold, which addresses illegal gold mining in Peru and its tragic impact on human health and the environment.
-
2018-11-17T16:30:00-08:00KCET-HD
-
2018-11-18T08:30:00-08:00KCET-HD
-
2018-11-18T10:30:00-08:00KCET-HD
-
2018-11-18T17:30:00-08:00KCET-HD
Biodiversity and Health
(Earth Focus: Episode 41) What do plants, snakes, molds, marine sponges, and cone snails have in common? They have helped develop medicines that save human lives. Biodiversity -- the variety of life on Earth -- is key to human survival. But plants, animals, and microorganisms are disappearing at unprecedented rates. What impact will this have on human health? Find out in this Earth Focus special report produced in collaboration with the Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School.
-
2018-11-19T23:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
-
2018-11-20T03:30:00-08:00KCETLINK
Articles
-
Earth Focus
After wildlife agencies eradicated the voracious, 20-pound rodents in California in the 1970s, the invasive species has been spotted in the San Joaquin Valley again.
-
Earth Focus
The Cadiz project has been one of the most controversial and hardest-fought environmental battles the Mojave Desert.
-
Earth Focus
As climate-driven drought takes hold, Mongolia's nomads are retreating to the city — and facing choking pollution.
-
Earth Focus
Los Angeles has the potential to become a sanctuary for other endangered species – even those who are not native to Southern California.
-
Earth Focus
A community science program is helping both researchers and citizens understand how vibrant of a nature sanctuary Los Angeles really is.
-
Earth Focus
Designing cities that consider both animal and human habitats requires time and money but most of all, it requires a desire to imagine a city where we can enjoy reconnecting with the natural world.
- 1 of 75
- next ›
Popular Videos
-
One of the nation's top high school athletes was on a path to the NFL, but instead became the poster child for what's wrong with L.A.'s mental Health system.
KCET Original -
This episode explores how Yosemite has changed over time: from a land maintained by indigenous peoples; to its emergence as a tourist attraction; to the site of conflict over humanity’s relationship with nature.
KCET Original -
California’s deserts have sparked imaginations around the world. This episode explores the creation of the Salton Sea; the effort to preserve Joshua Tree National Park; and how commercial interests created desert utopias like Palm Springs.
KCET Original -
The LA Times may have found its savior in Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, but how will the other local newsrooms in LA be rescued?
KCET Original -
Proposition 1 has been supported by Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook's foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Advocacy.
KCET Original
Expiring Soon
-
Ground zero for climate change and literally at risk of being wiped off the map, George is in Bangladesh during monsoon season to see how resilient and creative locals are adapting to their increasingly hostile environment.
-
George heads to the iceberg capital of the world—Newfoundland, Canada.
-
Inspector Ayala has no choice but to arrest Alicia after finding Diego wounded alongside her holding a gun.
Comments