Natural Playscapes

Last year I was approached by a friend for my permission to use one of my pictures on an interpretive sign as part of a nature playground in Clark's Reservation State Park in New York. This was the first time I had ever been approached to use my pictures professionally, so it was truly exciting and a great honor.

The sign that used my picture of a sub-alpine fir
immature pine cone (top right). Photo by: Elisabeth Holmes

That natural playground is now complete and the interpretive signs are up and all I have to say is that they are beautiful. My friend and past classmate, Elisabeth Holmes, did an amazing job with designing the plaques and sculpting fossils within the cement walkway.  I can't wait to make it back to see them in person.

The playground itself is chock-full of awesome interpretive signs and nature-based play structures. Nature playscapes are a great alternative to the mundane, over-used plastic and metal playground equipment. The idea of playgrounds is a sound foundation, for children of all ages need to be active outside. Plus, with the rise of electronics, there is a growing culture concern about young generations losing touch with nature. Natural playgrounds and playscapes meld the desire to have designated play areas in a natural setting. They aren't as good as playing in the woods, but they are far better than a cookie-cutter slide and swings from The Home Depot.

Below you will find more pictures of the Clark's Reservation State Park modified natural playground. It isn't a full-blown naturescape, but it is a brilliant attempt step to connect younger generations with nature.

The natural playground at Clark's Reservation State Park.
Photo by: Elisabeth Holmes

Fossil imprints. Photo by: Elisabeth Holmes

Friend otter. Photo by: Elisabeth Holmes

A climbing course/tunnel with one of the interpretive poles.
Photo by: Elisabeth Holmes

One of the interpretive poles. Photo by: Elisabeth Holmes

A climbing wall with a interpretive pole. Photo by: Elisabeth Holmes

Tumbleweed: Supplemental Videos

After writing about tumbleweed last week... this brilliant video was posted on YouTube.

When something like this happens, communities usually rely on heavy machinery to move everything out of the way. Such a simple plant can cause a giant headache.

Tumbleweed: A Symbol of the American West... or is it?

You know what tumbleweed is. It is that brown ball that crosses the barren expanse between a dueling outlaw and the sheriff in Western films. It is a symbol of emptiness and the desolate that was, and sometimes still is, of the American West. Without it, how could Hollywood state that there is absolutely nothing anywhere! See that tumbleweed? That means this town is abandoned! See that tumbleweed? Someone is going to die in this pistol fight!

The funny thing is... the tumbleweed we know here in the US isn't actually suppose to be here... because it is an invasive species! On windy days it crosses your path constantly while driving down I-25 in Colorado. It just keeps rolling and rolling and rolling.... until it hits a fence. Tumbleweed didn't show up in America till the late 1800s. Its true name? Russian thistle. It is believed that some stowaway seeds found their way into a shipment of flax seeds to South Dakota from Russia.

Fences... a tumbleweed's un-natural enemy. Photo by: Matt Brincka

Now Russia thistle is considered a noxious weed, out-competing native species for the scarce amount of water these ecosystems provide. Essentially, this invasive is turning the habitat it lives in into a mono-culture, effectively producing large plots of land unavailable for grazing animals, both livestock and wildlife.

This pile of tumbleweed is roughly 6-8 feet high... that is a lot of tumbleweed.
Photo by: Matt Brincka

Surviving the Cold, Part 2: Plants

While living in a temperate climate, when the temperature starts to plunge amazing behavioral changes occur in all forms of life. Winter is often seen as a bare, lifeless landscape... when in reality, life still surrounds us!

This is part two of multi-part series that look into adaptation and coping mechanisms plants and animals use to survive cold weather. Last time we looked at some brilliant survival techniques birds use during the frigid winter months. Today, however, we are focusing on...

PLANTS!

Plants... they truly are life-giving organisms. The spring and summer months are full of color. Greens of grasses and trees mix with the vibrant colors of flowers. Not only do they bring us visual joy, but they also provide the oxygen we need to survive.

Plants are natural survivors. All they really need are some nutrients from the soil, water, and sun and they do pretty well OK on their own. In the winter, however, many plants have a rough life. The days are too short to provide them with enough sunlight and the cold air makes growth nearly non-existent. Sometimes the weather gets so cold water freezes. Roots are great tools to absorb liquid water... but ice? Forget about it. These harsh conditions would kill any plant if they didn't have special adaptations for surviving those long, cold, dark winter months.

Many perennial plants, including scrubs and trees, drop their leaves in the winter.
Photo by: Matt Brincka

How cold kills
Before we get into adaptations, we should first figure out how cold weather actually kills plants.

Picture this for me... Imagine if you had to stand outside all winter long, couldn't move, and were completely naked. Think you could last long? I sure couldn't. This is essentially what perennial plants (plants that live more than two years) go through in the colder areas of our globe. Annuals are a whole different picture... which we will cover later.

There are a few ways cold weather can kill a plant. First, the water inside a plant's cells could freeze. Ice takes up more space than water. Ever put a can of soda in your refrigerator for too long and it explodes? That is kind of what happens to a plant's cells when they freeze. Ouch.

Another way cold can kill a plant is when water in intercellular spaces (area outside and between plant cells) freezes. This process actually leads the plant to dehydrate, a similar effect of a plant that is experiencing a drought.

Both of those conditions can kill plants very quickly. Cold-temperatures do have other effects on plants besides the freezing of water. If an extremely warm area, like Florida, experiences unnaturally long periods of cold weather but remains about freezing could see many of their plants start to wilt and die. That is because the cold weather is doing one or both of two things: 1) the fluidity between cell membranes change preventing nutrients from entering and exiting the cells at a normal rate, or 2) the cold weather decreases the enzyme activity in the plant, effectively reducing the metabolism of the plant, meaning the plant isn't receiving the energy it normally needs to survive and, thus, is causing a lot of harm... both of which can lead to the demise of our leafy friends.

On to the adaptations!

Dropping leaves
Believe it or not, but the changing of colors and dropping of leave of deciduous trees and shrubs is a winter weather survival technique! Not to mention they look rather pretty. When a tree drops all its leaves, it does so to prevent water loss from inside the plant.

Most conifers keep their needles year-round, only developing their cones
once warmer weather arrives. Photo by: Matt Brincka

The solution is the solution (cell solute levels)
When we salt our front walk in the winter, the salt dissolves with the ice forming a solution and effectively lowers its freezing point... which means it could be 30 degrees outside but ice won't form on your walkway. Plants essentially do that say thing... but normally with sucrose (sugar) and other organic compounds. By increasing the solute levels in the water found in their cells, plants can actually depress the freezing point of water and stabilize their membranes. The only problem is if it gets too cold that sugar water will ultimately freeze itself.

Antifreeze
Some plants are masters at surviving subzero environments. These plants typically develop a type of protein that acts like antifreeze. The proteins are normally excreted by the cells that make them into the cell walls, preventing the freezing of intercellular and extracellular spaces.

Dehydrins
Dehydrins are found in a lot of drought tolerant plants, but they are also found to help plants in the cold as well. Dehydrins act as a cryoprotectant, meaning they help protect biological tissues from freezing. Cryoprotectants are very coming is arctic and antarctic insects, fish, and amphibians. Many cold-weather plants (i.e., alpine plants) also have to deal with extreme dryness as well, so the dehydrins help not only with the cold weather, but they make the plant more drought tolerant as well.

Lipids
Some plants' cells can actually change their cellular membrane lipid (fats, waxes, etc) composition. This alteration allows for the adjustment of fluidity in colder temperatures.

Storage organs
Tree and shrubs are noticeable perennials. The reminder that spring will be here soon. Some perennials are less noticeable because their shoots and leave we know die back every winter. Below ground, it is a different story. Some plants utilize underground storage organs where they store food reserves through the growing season. When spring comes, those reserves are used to grown fresh shoots and leaves. There are a few different storage organs, namely tubers (i.e., potatoes), tap roots (i.e., carrots), and bulbs (i.e., onions). Many trees are also known to send their energy supply (sap) to their roots during the winter for storage until spring comes again.

Annuals
Not all plants survive the winter months. Plants that live for one growing season or shorter and die when winter comes-a-calling are called annuals. Annuals rely on their progeny (seeds) to carry on their legacy! Seeds are fairly hardy. When planting annuals there is typically a warning to plant the seeds after any danger of frost. That warning typically isn't for the fear of seeds dying, but rather for the fear of seedlings dying! Often annual plants just have to wait for the right conditions for their seeds to sprout, which can be a combination of soil temperature and texture, soil moisture level, and enough light. Sometimes seeds can lay dormant for years before sprouting! Annual plants are shown to distributed in that have predictable habitats with regular cycles. Annual plants that live in unpredictable habitats, such as deserts, have been shown to have seed adaptations with complex dormancy cycles in which they are ready to sprout in a variety of different conditions instead of just the perfect scenario.

Alpine plants have not only developed adaptations for extreme cold, but for
ultraviolet radiation, dryness and an extra short growing season.
Photo by: Matt Brincka

Is that all?
These are just a few common cold weather survival techniques plants use. There are countless studies focusing in on survival techniques of plants in extreme weather. Do be afraid to read up on some of them yourself!

What can we do?
Humans are notorious for bringing non-native plants to their gardens and patios. Many native plants already have the adaptations in place to survive the winter your area naturally experiences. However, if you are worried about your plants... here are a few things to consider.

1. Bringing your plant pots inside during the winter
2. Overwintering your fragile and tender bulbs
3. Take cuttings of specific plants
4. Winter mulching (an interesting way to keep the ground frozen in the winter... which can be important)

Nerdy Naturalist's Flickr

Many people have said they want to see more photos! I'm very humbled that you've enjoyed the pictures. Photography is still so new to me. I've only had my camera for 7 months so in no way do I think my pictures deserve such grand complements, but thank you all for your support.

The problem is... it take a while to generate blog posts that I can use photos with. Many times it takes me 2-3 photo trips to get the amount of pictures needed for a single blog post (especially if I am writing about a specific species).

Since so many have requested more photos to see, I have set up a Flickr photostream. I'll be posting just pictures here more often between blog posts. I will also load old pictures this week... so make sure you come check the photostream out again come Friday.

Thank you again for your support! I hope you enjoy a photographic journey with me!

Feel free to find it here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdy_naturalist/

Surviving the Cold, Part 1: Birds

Brrrrrrr. The United States is experiences some extremely cold weather this winter. It is easy for humans to cope with cold weather. Outside? Layer up with thermals and jackets! Inside? Flip a little switch or build a fire and your home is mmmm toasty varm.

That is us. That is humans. Ingenuity is with us... well, most of us. How do other living things cope with the cold? That is the real question.

This is part one of multiple that look into adaptation and coping mechanisms plants and animals use to survive cold weather. Today, we are focusing on...

BIRDS!

A curious Steller's jay looking for a free handout.
Photo by: Matt Brincka

The twit twittering of birds usually can be heard during the spring and summer months. Once falls comes around and cold weather sets in, the skies and trees become almost mute. When walking through a forest during the dead of winter the lack of sound is almost a surreal experience. You're enjoying the solitude, minding your own business, and all of a sudden you hear a sweet song followed by a raspy chatter. You spin your head around to see a flash of black and white moving from branch to branch. To your surprise, it is a teeny tiny chickadee, seemingly unharmed and not caring that the temperature is frigid, making all the noise.

Why are you here chickadee when all the other birds are gone? Where HAVE all the other birds gone?

Just like you and I, birds are warm blooded; they need to maintain a constant body temperature close to 106 degrees fahrenheit. If they don't maintain a relative constant body temperature, they risk extreme bodily harm and even death. To thwart death, birds have evolved multiple behaviors and adaptations that allow them to live in, or run away, from the cold.

Migration
The most well known form of birds adapting to cold weather is escape. Birds are one of the few species on earth that participate in long-distance migration. Now, not all birds migrate and not all bird migrate because of the cold. Winter typically brings a depleted food supply for all animals. Bird that rely of insects really need to scoot town when cold weather hits, because their food source also disappears or is severely depleted.

Surface Area Management
Many smaller birds have a few tricks to reduce their overall surface area, which helps reduce heat loss. On cold days, morning and evenings, you often find birds cuddled together on a branch or within a bush. This huddling not only reduced an individual bird's surface area exposed to the elements, but they are also able to share body heat! When there is no group to huddle with, some birds will fluff and puff up their feathers till they look like a little, fuzzy ball of joy, ultimately reducing their surface area to minimize heat loss.

Shelter
It might not seem it to us, but dense foliage is a life saver (literally) for many bird. Sparrows, chickadees, and even larger birds like jays and owls will search for cavities in trees, dense bushes, or even a covered porch. These shelters keeps the elements at bay, or at least make them more tolerable. Staying out of the cold wind, freezing rain and snow is a good first line of defense when trying to keep warm.

A house finch seeking shelter on our covered porch
during the Colorado floods (cellphone picture).
Photo by: Matt Brincka

Insulation
Birds also fatten up for the winter... just like us humans! Fat is both a great insulator and energy source. In some species, fat can make up over a tenth of a bird's winter body weight. To keep the pounds on, birds need to eat a lot of fatty foods. Make sure you keep on reading to find out how you can help!

Body Circulation
Ever see a gull or goose standing on a frozen lake or pond? Ever say to yourself "geez, how can they stand the cold?" Surprisingly enough, that is a winter weather adaptation as well! Some bird species will actually regulate their body circulation, keeping the nice, warm blood circulating near their vial organs and allowing their extremities to cool down.

Shivering
Do you shiver in the cold? I know I do. When humans shiver, all of our joints, skin, muscles and fat jiggle and contract to help generate heat. Some birds, like chickadees, go through a similar process that doesn't involved the intense shaking humans experience. Birds will actually contract opposing muscle group to generate and retain heat.

Regulated Hypothermia
As you've noticed, most of the above survival techniques involve ways to keep warm. Keeping warm in the bright sunshine is one thing, but what do birds do when the lights go out and the temperatures plummet at night? Some birds go through a process called called regulated hypothermia, where they drop their body temperature as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit from their sunshine/daylight temperature. This decrease in body temperature allows birds to lower their metabolism, meaning they consume less energy while sleeping.

A grey jay soaking in the sunshine on a bright winter day.
Photo by: Matt Brincka

How can we help?

1. Provide your feathered friends ample amount of fatty, high energy foods, such as black oil sunflower seeds, safflower seeds, fine meat scraps, peanut butter, mealworms, and suet (fat). You can buy pre-made suet feeders with seeds and nuts worked in, or you can go to your local butcher and ask for their leftover suet. They'll gladly give it to your for pennies, if not free.
2. When weather gets particularly bad, put out 1-2 extra feeders. The increase in food supply will help birds spend less energy forging.
3. Mark sure seed is dry and accessible. Instead of putting out open seed troughs, think about using hopper or tube feeders. Also, removing snow from platform feeds and clearing an area on the ground by your feeder to spread seed will help keep the food dry.
4. Making a windbreak by your feeders will help with the cold wind. You can do this most effectively by planting bushes and trees. If you can't do that, using this year's christmas tree or a make-shift snow fence will do wonders.
5. If you're having problems with your bird bath freezing, you can 1) use a water heater/heated dog bowl or 2) if there is snow on the ground, don't worry about it! Birds will use snow for a water source! Warning: be careful when using a heater to warm a bird bath. On extremely cold days, water is known to freeze on a bird's feathers, which can be fatal. Instead of leaving a large, open bird bath... put raised surfaces such as wood and rocks so birds can access it for water to drink, but won't be tempted to bath.

NASA Report: 60 Years of a Warming Earth

Last week NASA posted a short (15 sec) animation of the aggregation of analyzed data from 1,000 meteorological stations collected over the past 63 years (see below to watch). The animation is part of an updated report released by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, which analyzes global surface temperatures on a constant basis, to include 2013 temperatures.

According to the updated report, the average global temperature in 2013 was 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the mid-1900s (57.2 degrees vs 58.3 degrees).

Climate change and global warming is a very touchy subject in today's political theater, particularly on whether or not it is human driven (or human aided). It will be interesting to see if this report is used, or forgotten, in the coming year.

If you'd like to learn more on what you are seeing, check out NASA's website.