Tom Wessels: The Ecology of Coevolved Species 

Please note: you are encouraged to comment and welcome to ask questions, but Tom does not monitor these posts and probably will not personally respond. -Ray

If someone told me a few years ago that when you're 20 you will be sitting in your dorm watching ecology videos for fun I would never believe it... here I am

I can’t say enough about Tom’s knowledge and his teaching capabilities. He is a natural I could listen to him all day. Kinda wish he was my neighbor so we could hang out and have a beer. The New England forests series has become one of my favorites!

The amount of knowledge in 30 minutes was more than most podcasters manage to communicate in the entire life of their podcast. I feel like I just got an undergraduate class for free. Incredible.

Love Professor Wessels he should be Secretary of the Interior..Notice; why would anyone give a thumbs down to this?$$$

that virginia creeper turning red was done beautifully this show is masterfully shot and edited

I stumbled across this video series recently and am so glad that I did. I figured when I started the first one I’d be bored and wouldn’t make it five minutes. I was dead wrong and watched them all with my full attention. It’s clear Tom is a master in his field and has forgotten more than I will ever learn. He’s a great teacher and is very easy to listen and pay attention to. Thank you for producing this series and sharing Tom with us!

One of the most interesting and informative talks about ecology and mutualism I have listened to. Thank you.

We need guys like you in our forestry department. I'm surrounded by replanted forest and it's quite a shame what they've done with forests like you've shown here. The ones here are just future profits waiting to mature, no birds really to speak of, a few species I guess, some squirrels, thick mat of pine and spruce needles, very peaceful and not in a good way, nice straight rows as far as the eye can see. You only need to look at private lands and they are quite small in comparison and you see a line drawn out where the natural forest starts and finishes.

This really is the best natural history channel on RU-vid. The bits on lichens in particular were facinating. It has occured to me that the species we see in our New England forest date their origins back into the Pleistocene. They emerged in the shadows of, and coevolved with megafauna like mammoths, mastodons, ground sloths etc. Might delving into the nature of these coevolutionary relationships give ideas about how to conserve nature today?

I'm not sure how I ended up here, but I'm loving every minute of it. Tom is a great teacher. Thanks Tom and Ray for these videos.

I don't know why I am watching this purely for fun on a Saturday night. But I love it. Our world is so beautiful.

Biology from Red Green. This was great, I'm a fan. Thanks!

What a delight to listen to someone who *really* know what ecology is. Add eloquent speech, deep knowledge and passion and you get fascinating experience.

What an amazing and inspiring person. Tom seems so genuine and content with himself and his positive attitude rubs off just by hearing him teach. Thank you:)

Happy Earth day, Tom. Thank you for this important video I come back to watch year after year.

This is awesome. I thought it was gonna be long winded and boring at first. But this guy fires his knowledge like a tommy-gun. He goes over so many plants and the shots are super beautiful

I knew a tiny bit about these interactions but my eyes have really been opened and my mind blown away, Thank you all that worked on informing us about the vast abilities and needed of the forest. Thanks You Mother Nature, God, The Great Creator for the life on our planet.

Not sure how I came across this channel but its a absolute gold mine I enjoy these episodes tremendously

Very happy to have found this channel.

So glad I found this very nice channel. Not a budding ecologist but an outdoorsman in love with the natural world. Thank you Tom

One of the best videos I've watched in a long time.

I was just re-watching old videos the other day and thinking, "I wonder when a new one will be coming out." I'm back in New England so I get to experience the forests again! I love that you highlighted Oriental Bittersweet, it's started expanding into my yard in just the last 10 years climbing up my Eastern White Pines, White Oaks and Sugar Maples. Been quite the battle since it's usually growing next to Poison Ivy and I don't really have a lot of money for herbicides to keep them at bay. I've also found Cleary and Garlic Mustard in the last 5 years after my neighbor had truckloads of fill soil dumped into his yard and have had Glossy Buckthorn growing in my yard for as long as I can remember. A yard of invasive species. Been trying to promote the growth of several types of ferns, which has worked in some areas, as well as Jack in the Pulpits. Thanks for all the info Tom! Great work everyone!

I had just sold my house and property in Northwest NJ less than 2 years ago, moved south. We lived there 30 years. There are so many things I had noticed while living there, questions now answered. Tom is a treasure trove of info, and affection for our neighboring plant kingdom. Thanks.

This is a richly informational video. Thank you!!!

Thank you Tom Wessels! We are all in debt with you, this is by far the best nature ecology channel in RU-vid. Keep the good work! Knowledge about how ecological interactions shape our ecosystems is fundamental for the efforts in conservation. Thank you!

It’s great to see modern scientific knowledge be applied to understand real world ecosystems on such a practical level without unnecessary reductionism. Science has the potential to vastly deepen our connection with our environment when it isn’t just applied to exploiting natural resources as efficiently as possible.

Phenomenal video on an amazing subject. Very well said and great examples. I will say that the black flies definitely dined on the camera person.. so that was some sort of meta combining of species. Benefiting the host..

Thanks New England Forests and Tom Wessel. I learned so much from this fascinating documentary. The complexity of our our natural world is truly mind boggling!

This Man is incredible in his breadth of knowledge, incredibly interesting.

I am glad I found this channel

Wonderful video! Very educational and forward thinking. Thank you for sharing!

I just discovered this wonderful man and fascinating videos Thank you...I needed this

This is such a good video. Such an eye opening real world look at mutually beneficial species, and the effects of foreign invasive species entering a stable ecosystem. Humans are pretty amazing with our intelligence and industrialism, but this video is such a perfect example as to why we need to be working towards becoming more harmonious with our environment. Thank you, Tom.

Finally, a RU-vid channel that is actually educational. Thank you for this great information!

What an excellent video and teacher. Only just discovering Tom and I'm enthralled by his gentle nature and ease in explaining these ideas. Can't wait to read his books. New England represent!

This is so fun. Keep watching and pick up new eyes for your next forest adventure.

Great video and info! Loved hearing the depth and detail of our evolving understanding of these relationships, thank you so much for a beautiful film!

The information he has and the way he shares it is great. Love his “how to read” the forest videos. Plus, I always hope at any moment a little finch will fly out of that badass beard.

Tom ... you’re amazing .. thank you for sharing!

As always, very informative and fascinating. Thanks for posting!

This has become my new favorite youtube channel.

Can I encourage Dr. Tom Wessel to come out here to the Pacific Northwest and do a co-evolution ecology talk?!!!It could be valuable for our puny efforts to save a few old growth systems

I am really enjoying these. A reminder of my ecology classes and what new things we have learned since then. Now I have to see if there are limnology channels

The only quality content on youtube

Beautifully done! Thanks!

Your delightful videos just started appearing in my RU-vid feed, not long after I was wondering what you were up to. Though I believe in an indifferent universe, the pesky thing keeps throwing curves. Putney '88.

Excellent video. Highly informative and educational. Thank you.

Really glad I found this channel!

i could watch you talk about coevolution for hours. thanks for the wonderful video

Fascinating! I've noticed over the years that Sapsuckers aggressively defend their sap wells against Downy Woodpeckers and Red Squirrels (for example) but are much more casual about it with Chickadees and Hummingbirds. It always sort of made sense that the Sapsucker would be less bothered by smaller friends who will take less; and now to discover there is mutualism in the Sapsucker-Hummingbird relationship, it all makes sense!

Thank you for this ecology lesson. It was very informative and interesting!!

A brilliant lecture. Thank you, Tom.

Thankyou. I've always felt when walking through woodland etc. That it was like visiting someones home and now I think I know why. Excellent.

That final statement. Wow. I feel like we as a species have become very divergent from the processes of co-evolution. Some things we do efficiently, but so many others we do not and the biodiversity of our environments suffer as a result. FASCINATING VIDEO! I observed the phenomena of aphid agriculture with ants on some short plants growing between flagstone at my parents house a few years back before I knew of that kind of relationship. At first I thought wow these ants are really sticking it to these aphids but I waited just a few moments longer and realized the ants were not only tending to the aphids but protecting them. Thank you for nurturing my wonder and curiosity.

The photography and videography is absolutely spectacular not to mention the actually content, brilliant video :)

Very interesting! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!🙂

Thanks Tom for explaining the resiliency of forest .

Absolutely fascinating!

Absolutely fascinating stuff! Great video!

Just found this channel, very interesting information here. In fact I don’t think there are very many channels out there with so much information coming from such a knowledgeable person.

Just another voice saying thank you for these videos! Really excited to take what I've learned and observe it in the forests I hike in the Appalachians and North Eastern woods.

Wish everyone would see this, Thanks

Thank you ..learnt so much n just one watch but going to be watching again for sure

Your videos are incredible. You need to turn this in to something like the "Heartland Series with Bill Landry." I'm blown away by the knowledge of downed trees, stone walls, and other geographical features. You clearly have a deep knowledge of the area and culture that should be shared. The insights that you provide are something that the majority of people are never going to experience on their own.

That was Epic! What a terrific and informative presentation... and the pictures and video footage were great as well. Thank you so much for this information. ✌🏽

this is insane way more respect for the forests i grew up in

Thank you to both Tom and this channel! Can't believe how much information was in just 30 minutes lol.

Brilliant stuff!!!! Thank you!

this is incredible, so full of insight- thank you both!

Thabk you for explaining things better than I've heard it before

What a wonderful video and amazing channel, so informative and fascinating! Keep it up please!

Excellent lecture, Tom Wessels only forgets to say that Chesnut trees were not just big but grew very fast, faster than any hardwood tree which explains their success, notwithstanding the wood was great too (but not as dense as most hardwoods) for furniture.

Beautiful. Thanks Tom.

Thanks for sharing this knowledge, I will treat and view my property differently now knowing how certain things help each other.

An excellent film, I learned a lot. Many thanks......DA

This is so amazing! thank you !

Excellent, accessible explanation

Very well done, interesting and informative.

thank you sir, this was spectacularly interesting.

I enjoyed this video. Thank you!

Really well done video. I learned a lot.

Really informative lecture, thanks.

no matter the subject, I really appreciate a good lecturer.

This man is brilliant.

Incredible work well done

Thanks, awesome video

You are a wealth of knowledge Tom. What's happening today on our beautiful planet concerns me to no end, especially the rapid deforestation of the Amazon.

Hi! Thank you for this educational video. Its easy to understand.

Fascinating insights

Great video

Awesome video

Just want to say I really appreciate all the 4k footage (bittage?). The close ups of some of the insects and fungal bodies and lichens were fascinating.

Thank you 🌳🌳🌳

Thank you.

My god, this is amazing! 😍

Thank you!!!

WOW. I pretty much have a full transcript written out from all the notes I took while listening to this.

You are amazing !

Very interesting!