Surviving intensifying heat waves

Green frogs hide from the sun under duckweed in a frog pond at the Sharon Audubon Center.
Photo by Alison Robey
When I tell people that I study ecological modeling for a living, the typical response is a wide-eyed stare and some variation of the question, “What on earth is that?”
Assuming most people don’t want to hear about differential equations and population dynamics, I’ve developed an abbreviated response: “Math about plants.”
“Math about plants” is a bit of an oversimplification — I also do math about animals —but it’s an accurate enough description of the research I do as a graduate student in ecology.
My daily work revolves around using equations to understand what is happening in the natural world and why. The questions we ask with those equations are key to the management and use of the environment around us; they range from predicting outbreaks of invasive insects (like the spongy moth) or infectious diseases (like COVID-19), to determining how much carbon is stored in a tree or how many black bears live in Connecticut.
Ecological modeling covers all that and more, but a childhood of canoeing on the Housatonic River and exploring the stonewall-studded forests of Kent has provided my specific equations with a clear central goal: figuring out how to best support these natural places as they face the novel challenges of a changing world.
Right now, we are all recovering from one of those challenges: heat waves.
Long stretches of unusually warm weather can be very disruptive to wildlife. Heat-induced worries for our songbirds and garden toads have real urgency, because while most humans are focused on issues of comfort, like sweaty skin or body odor, these creatures face a real risk of dying.
Most species have spent thousands of years carefully adapting to the very specific temperature ranges in which they usually live. When their internal temperature increases too far above the range they’ve adapted to, their cells become less efficient and more error-prone — problems that are exacerbated by other stressors, like water scarcity, as caused by this summer’s persistent drought.
Luckily, most species have a few tools to deal with uncomfortable heat. Some simply change their behavior, reducing their temperatures by hunting at dusk instead of midday or moving into “temperature refuges” of shady forest canopies and cooling bird baths. Those that cannot capitalize on such refuges rely on much smaller helpers: proteins.
The tiny proteins found in every living organism are both the problem and the solution of overheating. At the microscopic level, our cells build new proteins all the time. However, as cells heat up, they get much worse at making proteins that are the right shape. Misshapen proteins cannot perform their vital functions of building, regulating, and maintaining our anatomy — meaning that, left unchecked, flawed proteins eventually render their cells useless and their overheated organism dead.
Given the prevalence of this problem, cells experiencing heat stress evolved a defense. They produce a new kind of proteins — called “heat shock proteins” — that specialize in fixing or removing the misshapen proteins before they make a mess.
Here’s where the math comes back in. A key goal of climate scientists is predicting how changing conditions on our planet will affect future temperature patterns. For many places around the world, including our corner of Connecticut, those predictions indicate more intense and frequent heat waves in our future.
If we want to know how those predicted heat waves will impact the ecosystems that experience them, then we must know how likely that ecosystem’s organisms are to survive the higher temperatures. To make this prediction, we need to know how high temperatures can get — and how long they can stay there — before heat shock proteins are no longer a match for the heat’s devastating impact on an organism’s cells.
Better foresight about how future temperatures will impact different species helps us make informed decisions about which species to plant while restoring natural areas or as street trees. It also tells us when and where creating and maintaining temperature refuges, like cooling forest canopies or shady ponds, will be most important for protecting plants and animals from the hottest weather.
So as heat waves roll through, provide some shade and water in your greenspaces; your local wildlife appreciates it!
Alison Robey is a volunteer at the Sharon Audubon Center and a second-year PhD student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University.
LAKEVILLE — Rhys V. Bowen, 65, of Foxboro, Massachusetts, died unexpectedly in his sleep on Sept. 15, 2025. Rhys was born in Sharon, Connecticut, on April 9, 1960 to Anne H. Bowen and the late John G. Bowen. His brother, David, died in 1979.
Rhys grew up at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, where his father taught English. Attending Hotchkiss, Rhys excelled in academics and played soccer, basketball, and baseball. During these years, he also learned the challenges and joys of running, and continued to run at least 50 miles a week, until the day he died.
In 1982 after graduating summa cum laude from Harvard College, Rhys returned to Hotchkiss to teach biology, where he met his wife of 35 years, Rebecca (Becky) Snow. After two years of teaching, he worked at a research field site in Borneo, then went on to the University of California, Davis where he earned a PhD in Animal Behavior in 1995.
Rather than follow an academic tenure track, Rhys preferred the solitary focus of field ornithology, and he spent several decades researching the ecology of bird species in California and on Cape Cod and the Islands. Rhys believed passionately in supporting biodiversity through habitat preservation. His proudest achievements, therefore, came through his work for the Lakes Region Conservation Trust, in New Hampshire, where he served on committees and the Board of Trustees for twenty years, including three years as Chair.
Deeply intellectual and curious, Rhys learned Homeric Greek so he could read The Odyssey and The Iliad in their original language. An amateur Melville scholar, he would wax poetic about reading Moby-Dick for the umpteenth time.Rhys’s spirit was filled by the performing arts. Concerts by the Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Early Music Festival often brought tears to his eyes, while Boston Bluegrass Union shows delivered toe-tapping fidgetiness.
Rhys will be missed by his wife, Becky Snow, his mother, Anne Bowen, extended family, friends, and anyone who had the pleasure of knowing him.
A service will be held at The Hotchkiss School chapel on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025 at 1 p.m..
In honor of Rhys’s memory, donations can be made to the Lakes Region Conservation Trust.
LAKEVILLE — Kelsey K. Horton, 43, a lifelong area resident, died peacefully on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut, following a courageous battle with cancer. Kelsey worked as a certified nursing assistant and administrative assistant at Noble Horizons in Salisbury, from 1999 until 2024, where she was a very respected and loved member of their nursing and administrative staff.
Born Oct. 4, 1981, in Sharon, she was the daughter of W. Craig Kellogg of Southern Pines, North Carolina, and JoAnne (Lukens) Tuncy and her husband Donald of Millerton, New York. Kelsey graduated with the class of 1999 from Webutuck High School in Amenia and from BOCES in 1999 with a certificate from the CNA program as well. She was a longtime member of the Lakeville United Methodist Church in Lakeville. On Oct. 11, 2003, in Poughkeepsie, New York, she married James Horton. Jimmy survives at home in Lakeville. Kelsey loved camping every summer at Waubeeka Family Campground in Copake, and she volunteered as a cheer coach for A.R.C. Cheerleading for many years. Kelsey also enjoyed hiking and gardening in her spare time and spending time with her loving family and many dear friends.
In addition to her husband and parents, Kelsey is survived by her two beloved children, Hunter Horton and Aryanna Horton, both of Lakeville; a step-brother, Jason Tuncy of East Hartford, Connecticut; her mother-in-law, Frances “Fran” Horton and her brother-in-law, Benjamin D. Horton III and his wife Penny of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, and their son, Alec, and several aunts, uncles, cousins and many dear friends. She was predeceased by her father-in-law, Benjamin D. Horton, Jr. in 2017.
There are no calling hours. A Celebration of Life will take place on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, from 11 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Millerton American Legion Post # 178, Route 44, Millerton, NY 12546. A time to celebrate Kelsey and share stories and memories. Memorial contributions may be made to The Jane Lloyd Fund. Please make checks payable to Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation (please note in memo line, The Jane Lloyd Fund) and mail to: Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, 800 N. Main Street, Sheffield, MA 01257.
To send an online condolence to the family, flowers to the service or to plant a tree in Kelsey’s memory, please visit www.conklinfuneralhome.com
Arrangements have been entrusted to the Scott D. Conklin Funeral Home, 37 Park Avenue, Millerton, NY 12546.
SHARON — On Sept. 27, Eliot Warren Brown was shot and killed at age 47 at his home in New Orleans, Louisiana, in a random act of violence by a young man in need of mental health services. Eliot was born and raised in Sharon, Connecticut, and attended Indian Mountain School and Concord Academy in Massachusetts. He graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He and his wife Brooke moved to New Orleans to answer the call for help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and fell in love with the city.
In addition to his wife Brooke, Eliot leaves behind his parents Malcolm and Louise Brown, his sisters Lucia (Thaddeus) and Carla (Ruairi), three nephews, and extended family and friends spread far and wide.
Normally at this point one might list some interests, but in Eliot’s case, it’s easier to list what he wasn’t interested in: watching sports.
Eliot made a living as a fine craftsman and carpenter, but at heart he was an artist. He was well versed in music, painting, literature, biking, travel, Mardi Gras costumes, poker, pranks, street performance and on and on and on.Having previously hiked the entire Camino de Santiago in Spain and Portugal, he recently achieved another dream of summiting the highest stratovolcano in North America.
Eliot’s creative ability was astounding. His creations were designed to bring joy to others. He didn’t seek recognition or praise, and a large part of his work was anonymous. Pieces of art would appear in the community, encouraging people to think, connect and enjoy.
From the precociously funny and determinedly defiant boy that grew up in the Northwest corner of Connecticut, Eliot grew into a brilliant, gentle souled, boundlessly creative, ever mischievous, perpetually scraggly, and astoundingly wise and caring man who made an indelible impact on those who were lucky to have him in their lives.
In honor of Eliot, please consider making donations to organizations that work to end gun violence, support the arts, or provide mental health services. A service will be held at the Congregational Church in Salisbury on Sunday Oct. 26 at 2 p.m.
SHARON — Randall “Randy” Osolin passed away on Sept. 25, 2025, at the age of 74. He was born on Feb. 6, 1951, in Sharon, Connecticut to the late Ramon (Sonny) and Barbara (Sandmeyer) Osolin.
He was a dedicated social worker, a natural athlete, a gentle friend of animals, an abiding parish verger, an inveterate reader, and an estimable friend and neighbor. He was a kind-hearted person whose greatest joy was in helping someone in need and sharing his time with his family and good friends.
He was the beloved husband of Karen LaChance Osolin; the loving brother of Bruce Osolin and the late Gail Osolin Leo; the devoted uncle of Kyle and Andrew Osolin and Taylor LaChance; the brother-in-law of Debra LaChance; and the cousin of Brenda Curran, Jay Pickering and Audra Salazar.
To honor Randy’s memory, do a good deed for another or send a donation to the Little Guild, 258 Sharon-Goshen Road, West Cornwall, CT 06796. The Kenny Funeral Home has care of arrangements.