Gaia and Ecology

Good news for Couch Potatoes. No more Excuses.

2010-03-15T16:00:00.006+13:00

The body can get as much benefit from a short but intensive bursts of exercise lasting ten minutes than it can from ten hours of moderate training.

The technique not only takes less time but also involves much less physical effort.

That is maybe for couch potatoes only but certainly not for serious athletes. They already do this sort of interval training but to reach peak fitness for a race an athlete or cyclist has to do hours of base training going into weeks, without which the peak would be very low indeed. I decided to try the programme and realised that before you can do the intensive bursts you have to first warm up for at least ten minutes and then also warm down for a few minutes afterwards, which brings the training time up to half an hour. Another problem with this is that it is certainly not going to control your weight.

Copenhagen and all that Jazz

2009-12-29T14:58:00.010+13:00

I am a climate change sceptic.Not a denier in the sense that I deny that Global warming is man made but a sceptic about our ability to do anything about it. I accept James Lovelock's foresight that we have passed the tipping point. Read what he says;

Most of the things we have been told to do might make us feel better, but they won't make any difference. Global warming has passed the tipping point, and catastrophe is unstoppable.
"It's just too late for it," he says. "Perhaps if we'd gone along routes like that in 1967, it might have helped. But we don't have time. All these standard green things, like sustainable development, I think these are just words that mean nothing. I get an awful lot of people coming to me saying you can't say that, because it gives us nothing to do. I say on the contrary, it gives us an immense amount to do. Just not the kinds of things you want to do.

I also see it another way. I don't think we will be prepared to lower our standard of living sufficiently to make any difference. The world's population is rushing headlong to 9 billion people,that's 9000,000,000. All these people are adding to the degradation of the planet's with limited resources.

China don't see why they should not reach the standard of living of the West and they have the ability to do it.

At Copenhagen the US climate change special envoy Todd Stern said emissions weren't about "morality or politics", they were "just maths", with China projected to emit 60% more CO2 than the US by 2030. But Stern ignored the more transparent measure of pollution per capita; the US emits 20 tonnes per person every year, compared to China's six tonnes.

and

• Mark Lynas seems to skim over a fundamental issue: justice. He points out that China's massive growth depends on cheap coal, but fails to note that other nations have depended on coal to achieve huge global power. The UK used coal to help it dominate the world, and its current wealth is due to this. With no real reparations available, it is not difficult to understand why China is scared that a climate deal will prevent it from growing to be in the UK's situation. The problem is more with the concept of unlimited economic growth. This and environmental sustainability cannot go hand in hand. To find these kinds of critiques you have to look outside the Bella Centre, at the protesters in the streets. It seems once again these views are not being heard.
Guy Mitchell

There is something else that seems to have been forgotten. China and India have become the world's factory. The US and other countries in the West have transferred all their manufacturing capacity that uses fossil fuels to these two countries and then buy the finished products back.in order to produce all these products energy is required.

Lovelock believes global warming is now irreversible, and that nothing can prevent large parts of the planet becoming too hot to inhabit, or sinking underwater, resulting in mass migration, famine and epidemics. Britain is going to become a lifeboat for refugees from mainland Europe,

Is not bad news for all countries. Some will gain by becoming warmer, like Greenland and Siberia. It seems Africa and Australia will be the big loosers, yet Australia's population could just move North. Lets look on the bright side and as Lovelock says"Enjoy life while you can. Because if you're lucky it's going to be 20 years before it hits the fan."

I'm back to growing trees for sale.Open all hours.

150th anniversary of Darwin's Publication that changed they way we Think

2009-11-21T12:29:00.011+13:00

One Hundred and fifty years ago Darwin published his famous book On the Origin of Species.. I am in the middle of reading Jerry Coyne's very good book 'Why Evolution is True". There is so much recent research and information contained in it that every one interested in evolution should read it.
On thing I learned and found really interesting is that all mammals except primates, guinea pigs and fruit eating bats are able to convert glucose into vitamin C. There are four stages in the process, but the fourth stage has been disabled through a mutation in the primates and the two other genera. However the mutation in primates is different from that of guinea pigs and fruit eating bats.It would be impossible for all the members of the primates to have exactly the same gene sequence disrupted in the same place except if it had occur ed in their common ancestor. It would be like hundreds of members of the same family getting the winning numbers in lotto on the same day .The reason put forward as to why this mutation spread so easily was that we no longer needed to manufacture vitamin C as there was sufficient in our diet. Only 75mg is needed to prevent scurvy.

I want to add my own story to this.I have been suffering from gout and discovered via theInternet that research strongly showed that high doses of Vitamin C reduced gout by reducing the uric acid. Now maybe we actually do need more Vitamin C than the 75mg and that if we could still manufacture Vitamin C there would always be sufficient to prevent gout.Vitamin C disappears very quickly, within hours, from the body so it has to be continuously replenished and if it was manufactured in the body from glucose there would always be an adequate supply and stay at a high level all the time.It seems that a mammal of the size of a human produces about 1200 gms. per day. However gout usually is associated with old age long after reproduction has taken place, so our inability to produce vitamin C would not have been selected against. There may also be many other problems associated with not being able to manufacture Vitamin C that we are at this stage unaware of.

Is there a Law that says Life will always go on Improving?

2009-07-16T16:18:00.005+12:00

Is there a law that says that human behaviour, evolution and culture will always go on advancing or improving. Are we more advanced than we were in evolutionary terms? Looking at the past it seems to me that we are certainly better off than we were in the past.During the first part of the last century we were plagued by wars,where millions were lost in battle.There was the Holocaust and genocide in Rwanda and Cambodia and millions killed in China and Russia. For most of the century a cold war existed between the communists and the West. The flu pandemic in 1918 killed millions.Yet in the nineteenth century there was just as much loss of life through war and disease.Yet gradually there seemed to be improvement in the human condition. Early wars were more local,like civil wars in the UK between what were no more than war lords and then between Scotland and England. When these were settled the were wars between countries and later between groups of countries as in the last World War.

Still now the improvement is a bit patchy as there are areas of conflict and the AIDS and TB pandemic continues in certain areas. Just go back to the nineteenth century Britain and the time of Charles Dickens and one can see how miserable life for the poor was with a short life expectancy. Health everywhere has improved. Education is much more wide spread and people are better fed housed and are warmer. We now have human rights where nearly everywhere life is more valued. We have the good old days but that's only because of amnesia.

On the material side,think of travel, improved hotels, motor vehicles , aircraft and television not thought of a little more than hundred years ago. Communication and information through the internet.

Look how sport has changed and how brilliant sportsmen and women have become,in standards not even dreamed of. We have wondered if records can go on tumbling indefinitely.

So will life go on improving? We have just had a wakeup call with the recent depression with millions losing their jobs.At the same time the world population continues to increase so that the economy has to increase at a greater rate than ever for life to improve for the vast majority of the worlds population.

What has enabled us to have and improved life.It has been our ability to use fossil fuels to produce energy which takes the drudgery out of life and gives us time to do other things.When there is an electricity outage we realise just how dependent we are on electricity. The other important development in the last hundred years has been the automobile.This has given us freedom undreamed of before.Another important development has been communication.Before electronic communication about the only way to get a message from on person to another was to take it by hand.If a criminal was on the run the only way to catch him was the chase him and not send a message ahead to stop him. So many little developments like this have improved life.

On the other hand crime murder and drugs seem to be on the increase. Drugs and alcohol abuse are devastating the youth and their families. This increase had led in many cases to increased crime.
All this has happened in my lifetime. Drugs were not an issue in my youth.

However what I have called improvement has come at a cost. A cost to the environment. A cost to the animal, plant and sea life. If we have gained the ecosystems of the world have lost.Most people have no idea where their food actually comes from. Most have never seen a cow being milked and think their milk comes from a plastic bottle.The quality of life in many ways has diminished because of their disconnect from nature. So what has improved for them? They are warm, clean,dry, well fed and can play on the computer and watch TV.For many their main interest seems to be watching football and their favourite club.They do not take part in sport themselves.

The new generation is becoming fatter and unhealthier, addicted to binge drinking. Education is being dumbed down with fewer and fewer studying science which has brought us this far.

China and India are hell bent on achieving the living standards of the West, and who can blame them?The world's resources are limited and running out and the population continues to increase. Their standard of living continues to improve though their quality of life in real terms decreases.Quality of life is its connect and enjoyment with nature and not just material benefit.

Well I don't know if there is a law that says life will continue to improve. This improvement has been because of our intellect. We have been able to overcome the limitations of limited resources that have been placed on other animal life. We have been able to manipulate these resources to our benefit.Now there is pressure being put on these resources. The soils are becoming more infertile and can only produce with the application of more and more fertilizers.The soils are eroding and being lost forever. Forests are being destroyed so that their soils soon degenerate through loss of organic matter.Fish stocks have been exhausted in the once abundant oceans.Cities have been built on flood plains after draining and destroying the ecosystems rich in bird life.

We all of course live in the present,physically anyway. We only really know what life was like during our lifetime, or the part that we can remember. Its therefore difficult to compare life in the present with the past.The best of life is really for the well off.You can use the normal curve of Bell curve to place people using IQ, achievement or wealth and there will be 50% below and 50% above average and there is a good correlation between the three traits. Of course there are always exceptions and those that disagree with this always point to the exceptions. For those above the average life has always been getting better and for those below life will always be more difficult and for those at the bottom life is always dire. For those in the top ten percent life can be very good but it may not bring happiness. That is another story.Life for the top ten percent I suppose has always been pretty good.

As the worlds resources decrease its those in the top perhaps twenty five percent that will survive and maybe this will be a sustainable level of life on earth. About two billion people.

How will this number of people be achieved. Who knows, but there are several candidates that could bring this about. Wars over scarce water resources. Famine and disease. Several diseases are having their toll. AIDS and extreme drug resistant TB, malaria on the increase and a virulent strain of swine flu for starters. We have been cute in that we produce vaccines in response to these dangers. Drought and famine may be difficult to combat in the event of a perfect storm. The main areas of food production may be hit by drought and crop disease at the same time in well off countries. They will not be able or willing to send food to the poor nations, also in the grip of a climate catastrophe. Millions could die off in a matter of months before anything could be done. Weakened plants and people are more susceptible to disease.To make the storm more potent, nations that could help may be at war or near war taking their attention away from the looming disaster. Then of course there is always the possibility of a nuclear holocaust.This is what many are thinking of at the present.Yet in spite of all the wars and the flu pandemic in the first half of the last century the population continued to escalate. What will give and where will be the tipping point?

As we have seen disease has little effect so either the perfect storm or a nuclear holocaust are the most likely candidates.The perfect storm will allow the survival of the fittest. Just as in the past humans success was because of their brain power so those most intelligent will find a way of surviving. Those remaining will build a better world,regenerating the stocks in the sea,the forests and the grasslands,thereby rescuing the animal and plant life from the brink.Ha ha just wishful thinking.If on the other hand there is a nuclear holocaust destruction may be indiscriminate and it will all depend on the way the cookie crumbles.Wars disease and famine with no time for the worlds ecosystems.

Two Hundred Years since Charles Darwin's Birth.

2009-02-12T06:08:00.006+13:00

Today is Charles Darwin's Birthday. He is considered the most influential biological scientist and had the greatest influence on how we see ourselves in this world. He wasn't the first to talk about evolution but it was his theory that was so important. Later this year it will be the 150th anniversary of publishing his book The Origin the full title is 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.’

When Darwin arrived the Scientific world had been placed on a sound foundation through the efforts of men like Galileo. Observation, measurement, and publication of findings for peer review. No sitting in an armchair just pondering. But as before, the work was to discover God's handiwork and his creation.

So we therefore have to move forward and bypass all the philosophers and thinkers that followed Galileo; Descartes, Kant Hume, Hegel, etc to Darwin. It was into the new freedom that he was born. It has been said, "with Luther the monolithic medieval Christian world had cracked. With Copernicus the medieval Christian cosmology had cracked but with Darwin the Christian world view showed signs of collapsing altogether. As the earth had been removed from its position at the centre of creation by Copernicus so now was man removed from the centre of creation by Darwin to become just another animal".

In the first few years of the nineteenth century there was already a movement towards the idea of the evolution of life. Men like Erasmus Darwin and Lemarke had supported the idea but there was no acceptable understanding of the way it could work., though Lemarke proposed the inheritance of aquired features. Virtually all naturalists considered it their place to examine and study God's handiwork and to think of any other point of view was very unpopular.

After an abortive time spent studying medicine and with Darwin's fathers blessing he started studies in Theology with the intention of becoming a priest. This entailed studying God's nature and this is where he excelled and was in his element. Studying all of God's Creation. His studies were very extensive and considering it was at the beginning of the 1800's, his studies included chemistry and geology and was tutored and taken under the wings by outstanding men in their fields. These included Sedgwick for Geology and Henslow for Biology. He did have a good education even if much was self taught. He and his brother Erasmus had their own little laboratory in a garden shed in the garden of 'The Mount' in Shrewsbury where they analyzed for minerals in rocks. They made extensive collections of beetles. Darwin even paid others to collect for him.

After he finished his studies he was invited to join Captain Fitz Roy on the Beagle as companion and Naturalist for a circumnavigation of the earth charting various parts. The voyage took five years and included South America, The Galapagos Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Mauritius,,Capetown, St Helena, and Ascension Island. He sent specimens back to England and made copious notes.A number of years after returning, he came up with the idea that Natural Selection was the cause of the great diversity in animal and plant life and that all life had descended from a few or just one. What made Darwin different from all the previous scientists and naturalists was that this theory no longer needed the hand of God, but brought in the element of chance with natural selection the architect.

Darwin's theory of the origin of species is simple and elegant. Thomas Huxley said "it is so simple,why didn't I think of it myself?" The essential aspects of this theory may be more apparent when divided two interrelated parts
1] Most species have numerous off spring, more than enough to maintain the population of the species,and they cannot all survive.
2] There is variation between the individuals of the species, those with favourable traits that are able to reproduce and survive will be successful and those that do no will die out. Later the term coined by Spencer 'Survival of the fittest' was reluctantly adopted by Darwin.
The non acceptance of Evolution by natural selection is the Church's Second denial and they argue that it is "just a theory" Some Theory.The first denial being that the earth was the centre of the Universe.

Darwin's book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life was about 500 pages long and in much of it he seemed to be trying to destroy his theory.
It was the basic picture which I call 'Darwin's Jigsaw Picture' with many parts still missing and a puzzle to him. Many of these missing parts have since been filled in.

This is a excerpt fromThe Church's Three Denials'

View Down House where Darwin wrote The Origin

Soil Erosion in South Africa

2008-07-16T11:58:00.017+12:00

I took these slides over fifty years ago. They are very faded but you can see the extent of the erosion with the African huts surrounded by deep gullies(dongas).Click it to see it more clearly.
Degradation of the grasslands is going to be one of the greatest problems in the country with increasing population and land redistribution.See the little figure of the man in the red shirt.

The causes of this erosion may be overgrazing, cattle paths which soon form gullies or cultivation without protecting the lands from excessive runoff.As the water gathers speed it removes some soil making small gullies which in turn causes the water to run even faster by concentrating it in a narrow area, and therefore a feedback loop.

Slowing the water down in early stages by building small walls of stone or even earth can do wonders. Sometimes putting stones on a contour can also help or keeping the water out of the early furrows can help. Of course preventing overgrazing is vitally important allowing strong root growth and a dense cover.

The reason these gullies are as deep as this is because of the very erodible subsoil in this area. Once formed the situation is dire. The lands nearby have their water table lowered, so much so, that crops soon fail, even with reasonable rainfall. Many do not consider filling them to be practical but I have seen the results where walls of gabian baskets have slowed the water to such an extent that if the catchment above brings sufficient silt down the dongas are filled.

In 1957 many of my photos were taken with Anscochrome with an Exposure Index (E.I.) of 32 and later 100, 32 was three times faster than existing color films.
The slides have all faded badly over the years whereas Kodak slides are still perfect.

The black and white picture shows the damage caused by cattle paths.The bottom picture shows erosion all around the houses where cattle were brought down from the mountains and concentrated during the cold winters with very little conserved fodder.Note the very badly eroded stream on the left and the very poor grass cover generally. Even during the summer this grass was unable to recover as there were horses and other cattle keeping it short. If the areas could have been fenced off and rested they would have recovered to a great extent.As a demonstration I had and area of about an acre fenced off and within a few months in summer the grass (Mostly Hyparrhenia hirta) was waist high. These were taken in 1959 in what was known as Witsieshoek, and now Qua qua.

This bottom photo of one of the mountain camps shows very little erosion. The cattle had to be removed in autumn as it became too cold for them and the herdsmen to remain at the high altitude so the grass was protected to a large extent.However large areas became invaded by Leucosidea sericea

Grasslands and Global Warming

2006-12-21T11:32:00.001+13:00

I'm not claiming to be an authority on grassland and global warming but this is my take on it based on my studies decades ago.

One of the most significant findings that science has made is that after the initial initiation of life on our planet there evolved a sort of symbiotic relationship between the earth and life. Life itself shaped the evolution of the planet and made it what it is today. It wasn't there ready for us as it is now.After the initiation of life with the first simple cell, there evolved the blue green bacteria that were able to use the carbon dioxide rich atmosphere with energy from the sun by using the process of photosynthesis to store this energy in the form of carbohydrates, giving off oxygen. This oxygen did not accumulate but oxidized the earth, or in other words, rusted it.This took billions of years. Once rusted the oxygen was able to accumulate in the atmosphere while the CO₂ eventually reached its present low level with the whole system in equilibrium.The Carbon of the once rich Co₂ atmosphere became stored in the earths surface. So it is the earth's grasslands that help maintain this equilibrium. At the beginning of the Miocene, 24 million years ago, grasses first become common. They are at the end of eons of evolution and yet are only transitional.

Native Grasslands cover about twenty five percent of the land surface so are an important part of the earth's vegetation.They are usually maintained at the grassland stage of development by rainfall or by fire. There are two classes ,temperate and tropical.They differ from cultivated pastures by their great diversity of species and have evolved and developed over millions of years.In Africa grasslands are called veld,'The Pampas'in South America ,The North American prairies,and the steppes of Central Asia. In most cases the grasslands have remained as such because they could not be cultivated.
Top Southern Tall Grassveld,South Africa in spring after burning. Note the dolerite rocks preventing ploughing.

Middle Themeda-festuca Alpine veld South Africa

Bottom. Southern Tall Grassveld Pietermaritzburg South Africa. Dominant Species Themeda triandra and is a dominant climax species in many parts of Southern Africa

Little is made of their importance by those concerned with global warming.It's all about forests,hug a tree,but why not kiss the grass?. James Lovelock never mentions them in his book 'The Ages Of Gaia' and this is not a criticism, though their importance in storing carbon is significant. The Carbon is stored mostly in the grassland soil as opposed to forests where it is in the organic matter on the surface of the soil, and in the trees and plants themselves.

Colorado prairies

Most of the worlds grasslands that could have been used for arable crops have been ploughed and what is left, is for one reason or another, not usable.The reasons may be climatic,topographic, shallow soil or just unploughable. To make things worse as much as 70 per cent of the world's 3.2 billion acres of grasslands have become degraded, usually due to overgrazing, say FAO.Also see this
report on CNN
The grasslands that have been destroyed have lost a large part of their soil organic carbon(SOC) through mineralisation and lost it to the atmosphere as CO₂. When the land is returned to grass it will gradually accumulate carbon but it would take hundreds of years to reach a point where it is unable to hold any more SOC. Work at Rothamstead in the UK showed it would reach this point in about 200 years. There is a strong correlation between Nitrogen and Carbon with a ratio roughly 10C to 1N. This is very constant and independent of soil treatment, so applying Nitrogen fertilizer may more quickly regenerate the SOC in the grassland.The advantage would be offset as the production of nitrogen fertilizer itself would use considerable energy. Old Woodland had a C/N ratio of 9.5 and old pasture also 9.5. However SOC does vary from one soil type to another and is affected by temperature and rainfall. The higher the rainfall the higher the SOC, but the higher the temperature the faster the mineralisation and the lower the SOC.

Grasslands that have been

Damaged by overgrazing erode and also lose SOC to the atmosphere as CO ₂ and such pastures do not easily recover to regenerate the SOC,see further research here

New research suggests replacing grassland with forests to combat global warming, where climate permits, may be a waste of time, especially if those trees are at high latitudes,even though it can increase the SOC. This in turn may increase the heat absorbed because of the darker colour of the vegetation.In an earlier post on this blog the same was shown when grassland was overgrazed and replaced with darker grazing resistant bushes.See also the effect of invading trees and shrubs.
and hereGrowing more forests in United States could contribute to global warming

Close up of Themeda-Festuca Alpine Veld.

In the western part of South Africa there is a type grassland which has gradually given way to arid desert because as the light reflecting grasses are overgrazed they are replaced by darker coloured desert bushes which absorb the heat. The soil heats up and as the air passes over, it in turn heats and dried the areas to the east, increasing the desertification even further.A vicious cycle.The picture below shows what happens when the grassland is badly treated. The light grasses on the left are replaced by the darker Karroo scrub.(Charles Tidmarsh

Al Gore- An Inconvenient Truth

2006-12-01T11:02:00.000+13:00

To view click Part One and then go back to the blog and click Part Two and so on.
Al Gore An Inconvenient Truth Part One
Al Gore Part Two
Al Gore Part Three
AL Gore Part Four
Al Gore Part Five
Al Gore Part Six
Al Gore Part Seven
Al Gore Part Eight
Al Gore Part Nine
AL Gore Final

Pressure Groups against Tobacco Health Risks,Global Warming and Evolution

2006-12-01T09:35:00.000+13:00

Al Gore has used a very good example of how certain groups who oppose a view and sow doubts in peoples minds when all evidence points in a certain direction. When he was young his sister died of lung cancer. He was the son of a tobacco farmer. All evidence showed that tobacco caused many deaths yet the tobacco industry sowed seeds of doubt amongst the population saying that it was not proven and that many scientists disagreed. Of all the scientific papers ever produced, all found tobacco to be a major cause of death and not one paper could be found that refuted these claims yet the industry continued to debunk the claims using massive financial muscle to squash the evidence. Now of course we know the truth but the damage has been done.

He is able to show the same thing is happening with climate change and global warming. Those with most to lose are doing the same thing by debunking all scientific evidence and saying that it is not proved and than many scientists disagree. It is a repeat of the tobacco industries tactics only this time it is the oil industry. There are no scientific papers published that offer any significant counter claims.

This made me take another step where evidence is even greater. For many decades there has been a crusade against science and evolution by creationists and Intelligent Design advocates or creationists in sheep's.clothing They say there is disagreement between scientists and that there are scientists that disagree and mention a few but there has never been an acceptable scientific paper that is able to refute evolution.The evidence for evolution is even greater than that for the dangers of smoking and global warming, the latter two based much on statistical evidence,( and I would claim common sense but I would have to be careful with that one otherwise common sense may say there must be a God) while evolution is more on hard evidence of fossils and molicular biology (DNA). The Fundamental Christian groups are financially and politically very powerful and have all to lose if Evolution was generally accepted, as the God of their Bible and Evolution are mutually exclusive.Having said that there are still some scientists like Ken Miller and Francis Collins and many other non-scientists are able to accept Christianity and evolution at the same time and see nothing odd about it.
Lloyd Geering a New Zealand Theologian calls it 'spiritual schizophrenia'

Somehow there seems to be a link between those that oppose the idea of global warming and those that oppose Evolution,'The Religious Right' as they don't believe that God will let any thing happen to the earth and that he will take care of everything as the earth and all that is here is for our use and our exploitation.

Global Warming and Gaia

2006-11-21T11:47:00.000+13:00

We like to have causes. They can be religious or secular,and we love to jump onto bandwagons and bore everyone else with our latest cause. Mine is global warming and Gaia. But I'm not jumping onto any bandwagon because I have had this interest from when I was in junior school and then spent years at university studying it. It wasn't called environmentalism or global warming then, it was called soil conservation and grassland management and ecology in the country of my birth, because grassland was mostly what our natural environment was. Grasslands,with little forest. We had sixty nine different grassland types consisting of hundreds of different species of grasses and savannah trees, each having their own niche. It was grass that held the soil together and prevented its loss, and when it was damaged and the biodiversity reduced, soil eroded leaving behind impoverished farms.Worse than that, in the west of the country grassland gradually gave way to arid desert because as the light reflecting grasses were overgrazed they were replaced by darker coloured desert bushes which absorbed the heat. The soil heated up and as the air passed over, it in turn heated and dried the areas to the east, increasing the desertfication even further.A vicious cycle.The picture below shows what happens when the grassland is badly treated. The light grasses on the left are replaced by the dark bushes.(Charles Tidmarsh)

.

When I was in junior school the worlds population was less than two billion and now it is six and a half billion, and most are under twenty five years old which means that most only have experience of a world with this massive population and perhaps don't fully appreciate the strain that is being put on the environment because for them that is how it has always been. This makes me very pessimistic about about our future on this planet,so I suppose I should be joining the end timers bandwagon.Behold the end is nigh! An article on BBC World highlights the problem. Global warming is caused by hot air and all the conferences do is generate hot air. People in New Zealand and elsewhere are made to feel good by using eco light bulbs as if that is going to solve the problem while they drive gas guzzling SUVs and humvees, refusing to use cheap public transport and generally using the earths non renewable resources without a care

Everyone wants to have an improved standard of living. China and India are hellbent on becoming wealthy like the western nations and why shouldn't they, but before they do, something will have to give.The worlds population continues to rise and will do so till it reaches about nine billion,four and a half times what it was when I was a kid.We can't reduce the population when it is already here, it would be politically incorrect but nature may have to do it for us in one way or another,or are we just too cute.

I am aghast at the amount of fossil energy being used to light up, warm up and cool down the northern hemisphere, and as soon as there is a heat wave consumption goes up with all the airconditioners. As the global warming increases so will the airconditions have to work harder. Something will have to give.

Forests are still being cut down. New Zealand cut most of its forests a century ago but now preserves what is left, yet imports native forest timber from other countries that still have dwindling reserves. When the tropical forests go the soils built up over millions of years will lose their organic component through oxidation giving off nitrogen, and carbon dioxide to the air, leaving the soil impoverished, and liable to erode, eventually becoming a desert unable to generate rainfall for other parts.

Young people don't perhaps all realise just how things have changed during the last few years of their lives because that is all they know but they are the ones that will have to deal with it.There is little time left and I haven't the slightest idea what can be done because all I see are hundred of reports on how we are increasing greenhouse gases thus increasing global warming and damageing the environment. I see little evidence of anyone changing their habits over much. I have neighbours who have been working for a newly rich couple in the UK. They won't conserve water, or energy. They keep their swimming pool at a constant warm temperature the whole year even though it is used but a few days at a cost of US$4000 a month, and the underfloor heating is left on all the time even when they are absent.The few that are really trying wouldn't have be using much anyway.

Life in Petridish

2006-11-08T13:19:00.000+13:00

Life in a petridish can be just as wild as the plains of Africa. There are numerous species in this small eco system all dependent on each other in one way or another. One small crustacean I have been unable to photograph as it moves too quickly, darting this way and that is the cyclops.It is a herbivore eating dead material on the petridish floor.There are many protozoa also not easy to photograph because of their transparency

The water beetle has gone through the larval stage,throwing off its exo skeleton several times(middle), each time leaving itself helpless for a short while, then recently the pupal stage leaving its last exo skeleton to be climbed all over by the ostracod scavengers,the equivalent of African vultures.They are only a fraction of a mm in size(see Movie) Meanwhile the now very vulnerable pupae has to hide itself amongst the duckweed and Azola roots. I had to chase it out to photograph it.(bottom)
(I no longer think it is a water beetle,looks more like a dragon fly larvae)

see movie

Predator and Prey Video

2006-10-20T13:08:00.000+13:00

Well this is new to me editing my video clips. I've now identified the prey, its a Cypris,a freshwater Ostracod crustatian."Like the copepods, the ostracods are very numerous in both freshwater and marine environments. There are 2000 living species. The larger marine species are also known as mussel shrimps or seed shrimps, but the freshwater ostracods are usually smaller than a millimetre.
There are 10,000 or so fossil species dating from the Late Cambrian period (about 500 million years ago) to recent times. Their great abundance and widespread distribution have made them useful index fossils for dating marine sediments, notably in oil exploration.

In freshwater ponds they are usually found scuttling around among the submerged plants and debris at the shallow edges, and less commonly in the open waters. They swim smoothly with appendages extended from between the two halves of their carapace. When disturbed, they withdraw their limbs and clamp the halves of their tiny shells tightly together".
read on>> Above the castoff shells of the ostracod

See Movie

Predators

2006-10-18T08:24:00.000+13:00

Predators must have started their evolution soon after life was first established in the primeval soup with the primitive bacteria devouring plastid and mitochondria carrying entities.It evolved from the minute to the gigantic extinct dinosaurs and the largest killer whales or orcas which are still with us. These water beetle larva perform just like a fox terrier or a cat foraging after a mouse. Burrowing into the debris and rootlets of the duck weed in the petri dish with considerable aggression and energy.The action is the same though there are six legs instead of four. One could almost imagine them thinking. Their prey some unidentified spherical animals.All the predators have their niches and the prey fits the size of the predators. If the predator is very small and the prey large then I suppose it becomes a parasite. That's a bit rough and derogatory.

See the video of the attack. Just like a lion grabs a wildebees by its throat and suffocates it until its dead, this predator held the prey until it was dead before eating it.

A Water Bug

2006-10-14T19:24:00.000+13:00

This little bug,possibly a water bug nymph, appeared on the surface of the water in a petri dish with water from the pond and duck weed . It is barely visible to the naked eye. Less than 1mm. It runs all over the surface of the water stopping to clean itself every now and again. It has a long, what looks like a sucking proboscis.At first I thought it was the water beetle but the larva is still there and very much bigger,7mm with other small ones now present.The pond is man made and there must be very few ponds occurring naturally in New Zealand like this one, so where does all this life come from? The pond though is 150 years old.

Water Beetle

2006-10-10T12:42:00.000+13:00

This guy looks like a water beetle larva to me. Well it looks like the one in the beautiful book 'African Insect Life"I've handled him so much I hope he survives till he pupates. It is about 5mm long at present and I have watched it since I first spotted it when it was about 2mm long. It has pretty lethal mouth parts and I have watched it attack and devour tiny as yet unitentified spherical animals that flit around in the water.

Backswimmer or Waterboatman

2006-10-08T06:12:00.000+13:00

I found this little fellow on the side of the glass container, about 2.5 cms in length. It is one of the numerous species found in the pond

Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Sub Order: Heteroptera
Family:Cryptocerata
Genera:Notonectidae

This is how I have identified it as best I can at this stage. Backswimmers are aquatic predators. Or maybe it has me fooled and its a waterboatman. It could be either because when it swims it does not seem to swim on its back.

Pigeonsence

2006-10-07T08:30:00.000+13:00

The dear doctor who lived here at the 'The Pines'in the nineteenth century,long before there were automobiles or proper roads, used pigeon post . On his journeys into the countryside the doctor would take pigeons to leave with his patients so they could let him know of their progress. The pigeon house eventually disintrigated and has been replaced by a replica. Some of the present pigeons may even be decendants. Well they are part of this artificial ecology surrounding my pond and can often be
seen sunbathing and drinking.

I have always been very fond of pigeons as when I was a boy of ten I constructed a pigeon coup and hoped one day to race them. This never happened,because later when at about sixteen my father was transferred. I was at boarding school and it was a very sad situation having to get rid of all my homing pigeons. On returning to school after the holidays I hid a baby squeeker under my jersey and boarded the train for the overnight journey.I fed it by chewing the grain and then feeding the bird from my mouth until it was able to fend for itself. I made a box for it and put it on top of the book cupboard in the house commonroom.This was its refuge for the next few months till the end of the year. I settled for the name 'choccy' because of its colour. Well as the weeks went by Choccy became stronger and was able to fly and spent most of the time outside returning at night to its box. I though nothing strange about it at the time but no matter where I was outside he was able to find me and would swoop down and come and sit on my shoulder, picking me out from the other boys. His antics amused every one, sometimes disrupting assembly by making pigeon noises while perched high up on the hall cinema screen or flying down onto the table during exams,and strutting around on one of the tables examining the pencils.

Well eventually the year ended and I travelled with the family to a holiday resort by the sea. His box was nailed to a beam under the eave near my room and that became his home for the next few weeks, flying around and returning at night. All good things come to an end and I was forced to leave the pigeon there as we were to go to live for a while in a city hotel.

The Pines Pigeons were fed every evening in their house but one evening I forgot and several of them came and sat on the roof all facing and staring at me until I got the message. They had never sat on the roof before as their house is very much higher up on a hill.

Pigeons have an intelligence and concienceness that we will never know. they know things we can never understand and it is arrogant of us to think humans are the only ones with intelligence and that animals only have instincts.

Endless Forms in my Pond

2006-09-15T09:53:00.000+12:00

This little snail obviously has a niche in my pond, but I didn't know they made them so small. I have seen others about 10mm in length but have no idea if they are all the same species.This little fellow was found in the pond water in a glass with the duck weed growing in it. There are also many other small animals darting back and forth,too fast to study them. The picture below is taken from its underside

Endless Forms Most Beautiful

2006-09-13T12:45:00.000+12:00

The Creationism/Evolution argument goes on and on.. It seems to intensify as the evidence of evolution consolidates and so the creationists become more vicious. I started off my blog with the statement that Evolution is a fact and not just a theory so I was pleasantly surprised when I read in a new book just out in 2005, and a paperback 2006 sent to me by Amazon .com. They suggested I buy it and being a sucker sent off my hard earned money. It will be a while before I get through it, as reading is interrupted by naps in front of the fire in the evenings. The book is 'Endless Forms Most Beautiful': The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom
by Sean B. Carroll.

The paragraph that caught my attention was "The discovery of the ancient genetic tool kit is irrefutable evidence of the descent and modification of animals,including humans,from a simple common ancestor" However if you want others opinions look here as well as here

Sean B . Corroll is professor of genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

If you want to read more on Darwin and Evolution this is a good site

The Water fern and Duck weed association

2006-09-06T11:49:00.000+12:00

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pteridophyta
Class: Pteridopsida
Order: Marsileales
Family: Azollaceae
Genus: Azolla
Species: A.filiconoides

Kingdom: Plantae
Division:Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Genus: Lemna
Spcies: L.minor

The Azola water fern and duck weed Lemna minor are in no way related as can be seen above. L. minor is related to the arum lilly and the water fern to the tree fern so how far apart could they be.However they have both solved their problems the same way and often live in close association, so much so that they both seem to share the same species of mycorrhiza. It appears to be an Ectomycorrhiza association with a mantel hypha sheath, a Hartig net and external hypha.I have not been able to discover any reference to the micorrhiza in any of the numerous descriptions of duck weed on the internet.None of the drawings or photos of roots show mycorrhiza.

Micorrhizas perform the task of making phosphate available to plants but it has been discovered that in fact in L. minor the roots
do not take up nutrients at all. Roots are for keeping the plant upright in the water, and by entwining with other roots as the top photo shows and keep the plants together to form a mat on the surface of the water.The nutrients are taken in through the bottom side of the leaflets. Whether this holds for the water fern as well I do not know.

L.minor is very widespread through many countries and is very invasive but not necessarily always a problem.

Another curious thing is that there are structures attached to the roots like long root hairs,these are shown in the bottom photo.

The Water Fern Azolla filiculoides

2006-08-27T10:13:00.000+12:00

I have not been able to find much on the internet about this little water fern so have had to look at it myself. The roots look like I expected them to but under higher magnification there appeared to be many little root hairs, but then each one looked like club shaped bristles covering the whole root, just like a bottle brush. I then looked at the roots of the duck weed Lemna minor
and found it strange that they should be the same even though they are not at all related. Maybe the rootlets are infected with a .The mycorrhiza would assist the plants in obtaining phosphorus and nitrogen from the water while they in turn benefit by obtaining energy from the plants.The design of these two species shows convergence,with both solving their problems the same way.

These two pictures show Azola filiculoides root at the top and duck weed at the bottom

On the surface of the water there is what looks like a of green smudge covering much of the pond. On examination under the microscope I was horrified to fine that is made up of tiny new plantlets of duck weed exactly like the adults but really minute. About the size of a pin prick. I was unable to photograph them as the camera would no focus.

Invasive plants gain an advantage by being able to reproduce rapidly, vegetatively and sexually. Sexual reproduction would would make for variety and those lines most adapted would produce vegetatively faster than their rivals.

Bottom picture shows small bunches of new plantlets next to of duck weed parent plants more on duckweed and water fern association
After a few weeks of the pond being almost clear the Azolla has completely covered it. The few green patches are the duck weed. The azolla is so thick that after the rain water can be seen as small pools on the surface.

An interesting fact is that Azola is used as a fertilizer in rice paddies. Work is being done on its use in South Africa.

The Duckweed Azolla Assocoation

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Pteridophyta
Class: Pteridopsida
Order: Marsileales
Family: Azollaceae
Genus: Azolla
Species: A.filiconoides

Kingdom: Plantae
Division:Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Genus: Lemna
Spcies: L.minor

The Azola water fern and duck weed Lemna minor are in no way related as can be seen above. L. minor is related to the arum lilly and the water fern to the tree fern so how far apart could they be.However they have both solved their problems the same way and often live in close association, so much so that they both seem to share the same species of mycorrhiza. It appears to be an Ectomycorrhiza association with a mantel hypha sheath, a Hartig net and external hypha.I have not been able to discover any reference to the micorrhiza in any of the numerous descriptions of duck weed on the internet.None of the drawings or photos of roots show mycorrhiza.

Micorrhizas perform the task of making phosphate available to plants but it has been discovered that in fact in L. minor the roots
do not take up nutrients at all. Roots are for keeping the plant upright in the water, and by entwining with other roots as the top photo shows and keep the plants together to form a mat on the surface of the water.The nutrients are taken in through the bottom side of the leaflets. Whether this holds for the water fern as well I do not know.

L.minor is very widespread through many countries and is very invasive but not necessarily always a problem.

Another curious thing is that there are structures attached to the roots like long root hairs,these are shown in the bottom photo. The photo of the glass container is of Azolla and duckweed growing together

More thoughts on Erosion

2006-08-24T09:32:00.000+12:00

I have found more pictures I took after the floods of 2004One shows even more damage than I saw in the others.It was taken with the telephoto

.

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This picture shows the subsoil which is like marble size balls. When they become wet they are very greasy and slippery and during excessive rainfall they simply roll down the slope taking the top soil and grass with them..

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This pic shows the root system of two African grasses, on the left and far right, Eragrostis curvula and centre Themeda triandra, root development is down two feet showing the tremedous ability to hold the soil together. The roots are very tough and fibrous.

This picture shows the poor root growth of ryegrass growing on a hillside.Some very weak roots do go down deeper but they are so weak and non fibrous that they cannot hold the soil.

Some thoughts on Evolution

2006-08-14T09:27:00.000+12:00

Most evolutionary scientists accept Evolution as fact. Problems only arise when deciding how it occurs. There are several theories, and perhaps all may play a part,
though surely Darwin's natural selection acts in combination with the other theories, and is the architect.

When Mendel found the mechanism for variation, it solved Darwin's dilemma of not knowing what enabled the variations. Later neo-Darwinism was born with the uniting of Mendelism and Darwinism, which accounted for the gradual evolutionary change. Yet as Darwin knew with the breeding of dogs and pigeons that there is a great amount of variation stored in each species which enabled breeders to change their shape and size,.Plants and animals can adapt to the environment by making use of the great variation stored in the genes, but this is is not in itself evolution. If the environment changed back to its original status so would the species change back too.Over many many generations this adaptation may bring about a new species if separation prevented any gene mixing. I feel that its not just the appearance of the species that will make for a new species but a fundamental change in its physiology which will prevent it breeding with the species from which it was separated. That is why pigeons breeds have never become separate species.There would have to be a change in their physiology.

Punctuated equilibrium is another theory, advocated by Stephen J.Gould. This means that after a great extinction there where many niches open to the surviving species.They were able to explode into the vacant ground and evolution and speciation was rapid eventually ending in a period of stasis. This may well be correct with natural selection playing its part. During this so called stasis period slow evolution continued to fine tune with natural selection still the architect. Invasive plants do the same, moving out of their natural environment with all the constraints of co evolved partners, parasites and competition holding them in place,they are freed to adapt or even evolve to spread unhindered into their new environment.

Lynn Margulis makes a great deal of sense with her symbiogenesis whereby plants join together for their mutual benefit as in the Azolla fern in my pond.
Genetic variation is proposed to mainly occur as a result of transfer of nuclear information between bacterial cells or viruses and eukaryotic cells.
see also
Then there is the hybridisation of two species which produce more competitive individuals, which will eventually cause the extinction of the parent species and they themselves will become a species in their own right. Up to now it sees the only examples I have,have been brought about by man.
see article on wild radish
Killer bees were the product of the African bee and the European. Neither of these species were overly aggressive. I have had experience with both of them.The hybrid now seems to have adapted pretty well and has invaded much of the territory to the north from where it escaped.
see article on fire ants
read about how hybridisation improves adaptation
So these are cases where the evolutionary branches have actually joined together again. I'm sure this is a natural process occurring all the time but we can never find it in the act.read
radish

Gaia

2006-08-11T08:15:00.000+12:00

Well James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis have written quite a bit about this.It was Lovelock's theory, ably aided a abetted by Lyn Margulis. Now I have to write and say what it means in a few lines today.

As I see it life began about 3500 million years ago plus or minus.Life started changing the environment it found itself in by gradually rusting the earth. Oxydising it until the excess Oxygen started accumulating in the atmosphere which had been mostly CO2 to begin with. Oxygen was of course toxic to many of the bacteria at the time an so made it more unfavorable for themselves but favorable for the creatures that evolved and were able to use the oxygen themselves.The earth as we know it now was created by life itself and is in a delicate balance.It seems to maintain that balance of temperature, pH,Oxygen, Co2, methane,hydrogen and a few other elements, mainly Nitrogen and the chemistry of the oceans. If the oxygen was to increase to say 30% everything from forests to grasslands would simply self ignite and combust. Below 15% we would find it difficult to exist.So our very existence depends on this balance, yet we are busy trying to change it through the distruction of the forests and life in the sea, soil erosion, pollution, burning of fossil fuels and so on.

Gaia acts as a self regulating living organism, but will it be able to self regulate if we change the environment to a point of no return or will it just shrug us off and carry on with out us. Take New Zealand as an example. Life that created the environment consisted of forests yet we have destroyed a greater part of those forests and replaced them with ryegrass and clover with little root system to hold the soil which is being lost at twenty times as fast as it was under forest. Can these pastures play as greater part in this self regulation as the forests?.

Soil Erosion in New Zealand

2006-08-09T07:48:00.008+12:00

This picture is an update of the latest damage done in Central Hawkes Bay by a water bomb. Some 600mm of rain fell in twenty four hours along the coast in May 2011. I intend to take more pics when I have the opportunity.The slips are not going to go away in a hurry.

This is how the temperate forests that once covered New Zealand looked like.Click the panoramic picture to see the full extent of the deforestation in the Hawkes Bay area.

We always associate deforestation with Third World countries and all the repercussions that go with it, but most developed countries deforestation occurred centuries ago and this is forgotten. Now with climate change and the extreme weather conditions with more frequent storms that go with it, the chickens are coming home to roost. New Zealand is a prime example. Once the whole of the two islands was covered with temperate forests, but with colonization by humans and the removal of these forests by slashing and burning, their replacement by clover and rye grass pasture gives the impression of a clean green land, and that everything is healthy.The picture above shows slips that have 'healed'. This whole area was once covered in thick temperate forest.

Erosion in New Zealand during the floods February 2004

The sheep have grazed the grass short and transformed the the hills into little terraces. The short grass means shallower root growth and less to hold the soil together.

Even though all appeared right, erosion was carrying on all the time. Before deforestation the rivers ran clear and deep, and in some cases could be navigated by small craft, but now they are wide and braided. River metal has filled the rivers which now continually change course and have to be kept in place by means of stop banks. At each heavy rain they fill up rapidly bringing down soil and stone because the water is no longer held in the catchments to be released slowly afterwards.

The rains and floods in the last few years in certain parts have been the heaviest in living memory, in one hundred years, or possibly since colonisation. Waipawa experienced in excess of 150mm in twenty four hours. It can be expected that these rains may now be of a more regular occurrence so that some thought will have to be given to deal with the problem at its source. Unfortunately this will impact on the whole country's immediate economy, namely the sheep. The sheep are dependent on the clover and rye grass, and the grass and rye grass grow mainly on the hill slopes of the hill country, from whence all the run off comes. Top Picture River in full flood carrying large amounts of soil. Below Normal flow

Bruce Levy wrote in1951 in his book '‘Grasslands of New Zealand',’ 'In a rain-forest climate, with its annual precipitation of between 35 in. and 200 in. of rain per annum, the all-important question is whether a thin veneer of grass
will stay a cycle of accelerated erosion as evidently took place in the initial sculpturing of our country's topography. There is evidence in districts where the ground consists of papa clay or mudstone that the grass sward cannot by itself hold the country together and prevent large-scale slipping and slumping to lower levels. On the other hand, there is ample world evidence to show that in most circumstances a sward of grass can preserve the earth's surface or can so slow up surface soil movement as to make the problem of soil erosion negligible. Our problem is to constitute and manage the turf so that it will serve the grazing animal and also maintain enough cover to stay soil movement. Where this is not possible, additional stabilizing factors, such as trees, concrete structures and earthworks must be provided. Much hill country is in a delicate state of slope equilibrium, and large-scale slumping occurs if this equilibrium is upset by removal of the stumps and roots, by the action of running water in cutting way of the toe of the slope, or by the degrading of the valley floor. Neither tree cover nor grass cover on the hills can avail against slope movement once the toe of the slope is undermined or the valley bottom deepens. Stability must be brought to the toe of the slope by work in the gullies'.

It can now be seen that this 'thin veneer of grass' cannot hold the country together under the increased precipitation that is likely to occur through climate change. The world evidence to show that 'A sward of grass can preserve the earth's surface or can so slow up surface soil movement as to make the problem of soil erosion negligible, has perhaps not been fully understood. The grass sward holding the earth together is usually a grass cover that has evolved through millions of years and is the natural vegetation made up of many different species with deep soil forming roots and taller top growth. This ' Sward of grass' holding the earth together is not the rye grass short enough to serve as a golf course fairway, that is supposed to hold New Zealand's hill country together.There may be a very good reason why the slips have increased in recent years. After deforestation the soil was underpinned by the roots of the forest trees which remained there for decades. It is known that the native trees are very resistant to rotting and are used for fence poles and last for decades.Once these disappeared the soil became very vulnerable to erosion.
Read More thoughts on erosion

These pictures are of the visible form of soil erosion,the invisible erosion is from the soil surface, washing off every time there is a heavy rain.
The present system of farming in New Zealand is not sustainable over the long term.

I have found more pictures I took after the floods of 2004. One shows even more damage than I saw in the others.It was taken with the telephoto

.

The bottom picture shows attemps to stabilize the soil on old slips. This whole area has slipped and revegitated but is still in danger of slipping again. Poplar poles are planted into the area and these will root and bind the soil.

Paradise Ducks

2006-08-06T10:10:00.000+12:00

The Paradise Duck

Tadorna variegata is a large gooselike duck native to New Zealand. It was discovered first by Captain Cook at Dusky Sound in 1773 during his second voyage. Cook called it the Painted Duck It was formally, before the settlement by Europeans, fairly rare but with the clearing of forests, the establishment of pastures and the construction of many thousands of small dams they have become very common indeed.

A species does not have to be alien to be invasive as the paradise duck shows, but on the other hand this increase in population has not damaged any ecosystem even though it may have become a nuisance to farmers.The alteration of the environment by man has opened up more space for the ducks to move into.The ducks may also have adapted or evolved to fit this new environment. A census in 1981 showed that there were 70000 on the North Island and 50000 on the South Island and numbers have increased considerably since then. Hundreds of pairs can sometimes be seen grazing on pastures. And will raid other crops particularly when moulting In fact, special paradise duck hunting seasons are necessary to stop large mobs damaging farm paddocks with their grazing.

They live in pars staying together for life though it is said that the male is more faithful than the female in that if the female is injured the male will remain with her but if the male is injured the female will soon find another healthy mate. They reach sexual maturity at two years, and build nests in long grass,underneath logs or sometimes in trees, lining the nests with grass and down. Chicks fledge at eight weeks. Like many other duck they will feign injury and use this guise as a decoy to protect their young, taking the danger on a ‘wild goose chase’.

Both the male and female have striking plumage, the male has a black head and barred black body with white on the wing when flying, the female a white head with a chestnut or bronze body. Their calls are diverse, a deep ‘zonk zonk’ from the male and a shrill ‘zeek zeek’ from the female.

Ecology of my Pond

2006-07-24T15:22:00.000+12:00

The pond was originally dug c1860 by the second occupier of the property to provide
water for the horses. In recent years a ten inch pipeline was put in place to take the flood water which had previously spilled over into a furrow , Being too small to take the floods it overflowed and flooded around the house,, Unfortunately the pipe line became damaged and consequently when we arrived were were regularly flooded. Last year I fixed the pipeline and have made it so the dam now fills almost to the brim during the winter.

Over the past summer the pond is building up a sort of ecosystem. Its difficult to call it an ecosystem, or is just a collection of opportunists and some that have actually been put there?.A species of introduced frog has has started breeding and I counted about ten. Couldn't get close enough to make a real identification but I am sure they were the Green and Golden Bell Frog Litoria aurea from Australia where the numbers are decreasing but seem to be well established in New Zealand.There are three introduced species in NZ. The other at the top is the Southern Bell Frog Lotoria raniformis.
Two paradise ducks have now found the pond but only visit it in the mornings and take off in fright as soon as I approach.This duck is unique to New Zealand and has increased rapidly since the forests and bush were destroyed making way for pasture. The female with is white head and bronze colouring is more attractive than the male.Also known as NZ Shelduck Tadorna variegata but perhaps more a goose than a duck

Another visitor is the New Zealand fantail, a delightful little bird about the size of a sparrow but far more sexy. It appears not to be afraid of humans as it will settle just a few feet away on a branch and do a little pirouette before darting off over the water to catch a little gnat.

Well its midwinter now and there is ice on the pond in the mornings. Its too cold for my little friends and the frogs have hibernated. They will only come out when the water warms up and I'm not sure when that will be. After the pond first filled up the duck weed took over and covered the whole water surface, but with the help of the stormwater much was washed out and I have interfered and taken out a bit more.

Maybe if if I put in some plant eating fish the problem will be sorted out.Each plantlet disc of this particular species Lemna minor has only one root which is several cms long.
The patches of green duckweed can be seen clearly on the dam surface (top Picture)

Each plantlet is made up of three or four disc and each disc is made up of small compartments of air or bags of air enabling it to float. This picture is about life size. It is amongst the smallest flowering plants in existance. Another species present and associated with the duckweed is Azolla filiculoides(below) This tiny plant is actually made up of two living symbiotically together, each benefitting the other.The arrangement is not reversable as neither can live without the other.

The two are the tiny aquatic water fern and a filimentous blue green algae which aids the photosynthetic process and the production of energy for the fern but more importantly the fixation of nitrogen. .
Another species in New Zealand is Azolla pinnata and this can be distinguished by its feathery root.This one is not present in the pond.

Spirogyra is now forming on the sides of the pond.We used to learn about it in junior school biology.So here is a picture of it close up. I managed to photograph it with the aid of my microscope and digital camera.I'm quite surprised it worked.

Invasive species

2006-07-24T10:16:00.000+12:00

My most recent interest is about the importance of invasive species and how these affect the concept of Gaia. If we consider that life actually created the earth as we know it today and we change that life we will also change Gaia, I call this invasion of the worlds ecosystems with plant and animals that are alien to the various ecosystems the 'Globalisation of fauna and flora'Many years ago I did research into how natural grassland became invaded with pioneer plants when the fertility status was changed by adding fertilizer.The pioneer plants were both broad leaved'weeds' and grasses.

This is how the grassland looked in pristine condition as it had evolved over millions of years with the dominant species (Plot 6) Themeda triandra

.

After the application of heavy dressings of nitrogen fertilizer this is what it looked like.The weeds were seeds brought in by various means, probably by wind. The climax grassland is not easily invaded unless disturbed in some way or another. Mostly climax grasses disappear through selective over grazing, This has been brought about through intensive farming with cattle and sheep with the erection of fences and the complete absence of native grazers. In the above case the climax grasses actually died out leaving bare patches before the invading plants came in so they were not out competed.

Thinking it through

2006-07-24T07:47:00.000+12:00

Ecology has been my interest from when I was very very young. It still is,but recently my interests have been enlarged to include evolution, DNA , GAIA. and Consciousness. How does it all fit together? I do not think of the Earth is a living organism in the normal sense but it is the best way to think of it. Evolution is a fact not just a theory and DNA research confirms it. Consciousness remains the real problem but my feelings are that it's evolution started when life began and has evolved with it. Anyway that's a start.