They come in all shapes and sizes, but aquatic macroinvertebrates represent an important component of the food webs in streams. Whether its damselfly nymphs, crayfish or web-spinning caddisflies, these spineless organisms are a fascinating group of animals that are easy to overlook in favor of larger, more traditionally charismatic animals like fish, salamanders and aquatic mammals.

In this episode, we plunge into the oft-overlooked world of "water bugs," from where they live and why they matter to some of our favorites to meet while working in the streams of Southern Appalachia.

Learn more about Freshwaters Illustrated's film Hidden Rivers at https://www.freshwatersillustrated.org/hidden-rivers https://www.freshwatersillustrated.org/hidden-rivers

Episode Cast

• ​Casey Phillips, host and terrestrial vertebrate
• ​Rose Segbers, senior entomologist
• ​Cody Beavers, aquarist II
• ​Helaina Gomez, watershed conservation coordinator

Plastic pollution is a beachside menace on shorelines all over our planet. With a literal garbage truck worth of this manufactured waste entering the ocean every minute, this can seem like problem with no end much less a solution.

Fifteen years ago, Oregon-based artistic collective, Washed Ashore, found a more productive way to reuse plastic trash recovered from its coastline. By feeding this erstwhile waste into the hands of talented artists, Washed Ashore gives it new life as the skin, scale, fur and feathers of animals at scales that mirror plastic's impact on aquatic ecosystems the world over.

In this episode, we chat with Brad Parks, Washed Ashore's conservation and education director, about how these amazing sculptures are created, how he hopes they're received by the public and what animals he's still waiting to see rendered as plasticized art.

Episode Cast

• Casey Phillips, host and reluctantly frequent user of plastic products
• Brad Parks, conservation/education director of Washed Ashore

Like anything humans try to do beneath the surface, underwater filmmaking poses a slew of challenges beyond those of terrestrial videography. Few people understand that as well as Tim Geers, who has decades of experience filming aquatic productions bound for the largest of screens and the smallest.

In addition to more than 20 years contributing to the Emmy Award-nominated web series, Jonathan Bird's Blue World, Geers also served as second unit director on the giant-screen film, Call of the Dolphins 3D.

In this episode, Geers joins host Casey Phillips in the studio dive cage to discuss why dolphin behavior endears them to humans, his philosophy about teaching the next generation of filmmakers and how his life goals align with those of a famous figure in the sci-fi epic Blade Runner.

Episode Cast

• Casey Phillips, host and fan of Jonathan Bird's Blue World
• Tim Geers, underwater cinematographer