One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life

Series produced by Atlantic Public Media

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From the Encyclopedia of Life: the wonders of nature—right outside your back door and halfway around the world. In our new season of audio broadcasts, we’ll be learning about life as small as yeast and as big as a bowhead whale.

Hear people's stories about nature and hone your backyard observation skills. We’ll be exploring the diversity of life—five minutes and One Species at a Time. Hosted by Ari Daniel Shapiro and brought to you by the Encyclopedia of Life, and Atlantic Public Media.

The host and producer is Ari Daniel Shapiro. Jay Allison and Viki Merrick edit.


73 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Water Hyacinth ~ Eichhornia crassipes
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
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A beautiful green menace choking Lake Victoria

Bought by PRX Remix and HCC Radio The Dragon


  • Added: May 08, 2011
  • Length: 05:30
  • Purchases: 2
Giant Squid ~ Architeuthis dux
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
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How do you get two dead Giant Squid the size of a school bus from a fishing boat in Spain to a museum in Washington, DC, USA? Call in the Navy!

Bought by PRX Remix, HCC Radio The Dragon, and New Hampshire Public Radio


  • Added: Jun 03, 2011
  • Length: 03:33
  • Purchases: 3
Insects of Costa Rica ~ Insecta
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
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20,000 different kinds of butterflies and moths - and that's just for starters!

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 06, 2011
  • Length: 04:52
  • Purchases: 1
Sea Slugs ~ Elysia chlorotica
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
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Moves slow, doesn't think much, covered with mucus but stunning and complicated

Bought by HCC Radio The Dragon


  • Added: Jul 06, 2011
  • Length: 05:18
  • Purchases: 1
Riftia ~ Riftia pachyptila
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
Piece image
A white worm as tall as your refrigerator that breathes through bright red feathery “lips.” This is NOT a creature from outer space.

Bought by HCC Radio The Dragon and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 14, 2011
  • Length: 04:14
  • Purchases: 2
Branch Tip Spiders ~ Dictyna
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
Piece image
How a spider can change a landscape....

Bought by HCC Radio The Dragon and PRX Remix


  • Added: Aug 23, 2011
  • Length: 05:02
  • Purchases: 2
Atlantic Bluefin Tuna - Thunnus thynnus
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
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What is it like to be eyeball to eyeball with a fish the size of a Volkswagen?

Bought by WABE, HCC Radio The Dragon, and WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass.


  • Added: Mar 31, 2010
  • Length: 05:08
  • Purchases: 3
Muskox ~ Ovibos moschatus
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
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Ice Age survivors that once roamed the far north alongside the woolly mammoth, now struggling on the slopes of Norway.

Bought by HCC Radio The Dragon


  • Added: Oct 05, 2011
  • Length: 05:00
  • Purchases: 1
Pine and Stone Martens ~ Martes martes and Martes foina
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
Caption: Martes martes, Credit: SD Lund, BioPix
On the forested mountain slopes of the Basque country, two Spanish biologists track these elusive mammals

Bought by HCC Radio The Dragon


  • Added: Oct 05, 2011
  • Length: 05:48
  • Purchases: 1
Ediacaran Fossils ~ Trepassia wardae
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
Piece image
Dead life suports new life in Newfoundland

Bought by WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass. and HCC Radio The Dragon


  • Added: Oct 30, 2011
  • Length: 05:10
  • Purchases: 2
Red Knots ~ Calidris canutus rufa
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
Piece image
A tiny shorebird that undertakes a mind-boggling migration.

Bought by WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass., WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass., HowSound, HCC Radio The Dragon, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Nov 23, 2011
  • Length: 05:47
  • Purchases: 5
Greenland Shark ~ Somniosus microcephalus
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
Piece image
Surviving the Arctic ice water

Bought by HCC Radio The Dragon


  • Added: Dec 02, 2011
  • Length: 05:34
  • Purchases: 1
Sea Grapes ~ Caulerpa racemosa variety cylindracea
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
Caption: NURC/UNCW and NOAA/FGBNMS
“Sea grapes” may sound like something Poseidon would snack on, but names can be deceiving. This is a killer algae.

Bought by HCC Radio The Dragon and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jan 07, 2012
  • Length: 05:27
  • Purchases: 2
Sanibel Shells ~ Epitonium angulatum
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
Caption: Angulatum
Smaller than a grain of rice..

Bought by HCC Radio The Dragon


  • Added: Jan 25, 2012
  • Length: 05:38
  • Purchases: 1
Ugandan Butterflies ~ Pieridae
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
Piece image
Measuring change in a landscape by the span of a butterfly's wings

  • Added: Mar 11, 2012
  • Length: 05:01
Starlings ~ Sturnus vulgaris
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
Caption: Starling, Credit: Philip Heron
A story in two acts of the starling: omnivorous, gregarious, adaptable, and highly successful in its adopted land.

  • Added: Mar 11, 2012
  • Length: 06:06
Mydas Fly ~ Eremomidas arabicus
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
Caption: Eremomidas arabicus, Credit: Brigitte Howarth~Emirates Natural History Group/Zayed University
Water in the desert is not always an oasis. A cautionary tale from the United Arab Emirates

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Mar 11, 2012
  • Length: 05:25
  • Purchases: 1
Arctic Tern ~Sterna paradisaea
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
Caption: Arctic Tern, Credit: Blake Matheson, Flickr: EOL Images
A lifetime of migration: equal the distance to the moon and back, three times.

Bought by WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass., KSKA, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Apr 01, 2012
  • Length: 05:38
  • Purchases: 3
Marabou Stork ~ Leptoptilos crumeniferus
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
Piece image
The marabou stork of southern Africa isn’t much to look at—it’s large, ungainly, and bald like a vulture, with a nasty appetite for carrion.

  • Added: May 09, 2012
  • Length: 05:30
Corpse Flower ~ Amorphophallus
From: Atlantic Public Media
Series: One Species at a Time ~ The Encyclopedia of Life
Caption: Amorphophallus titanum, Credit: Paul Morris, BY-SA
When you think of charismatic megaflora, chances are you have in mind something majestic, like a towering Sequoia, or something ancient, like a Jos...

  • Added: May 09, 2012
  • Length: 05:29

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