What's in a rose? Nectar, pollen, anthers... and a lifetime of beauty and discovery

“Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time - like to have a friend takes time.”  ~Georgia O’Keefe

A search for quotes about flowers produces no small number of results. Their beauty has inspired painters, poets, presidents and preachers. Do the scientific revelations about flowers rob them of their mystery and inspiration? I’ll let you be the judge.

A flower’s true purpose is making seeds. Every kind of flower produces pollen that is normally “exchanged” between other blooms of their species.

Since plants can’t walk so well—or buy a drink for the lovely snapdragon at the end of the hedgerow—they employ vast and sundry strategies for getting their pollen to neighboring blooms. Some plants use wind or water but most tap the locomotive abilities of some organism.

Attracting said mobile critter can be done with fragrance, shape, warmth and other tempting luxuries but their colors are what inspire preschoolers to scribble them on scrap paper and pick them by the fist-full.

   

The color of any flower is no accident. If you want to attract a hummingbird, it’s well known that red makes them, well, see red.  The compound eyes of bees, however, are more sensitive to yellows, blues, purples and even ultraviolet hues so these are more likely get their attention. Flowers that depend upon bats, moths and other nocturnal animals are well served by bright white flowers. Please note, however, that scientific hypotheses are made for breaking and casual observers find many rule-breakers; call 'em rogue pollinators.  

Ever noticed a flower that almost looks like a bull’s-eye? That’s no coincidence. Circular patterns, lines and “landing strips” can literally point to the sweet treats within.   The bluebonnet, state flower of Texas, has a little spot that turns from white to purple when its pollen has gone “stale” so bees don’t waste time carrying around pollen that’s past its “best-by date.” 

A small number of animals, like bees, can make use of pollen but most cannot. Thus we have nectar, a sugary, energy-rich treat  with which flowers bribe critters like casinos offering free buffets. 

‘A rose by any other name might smell as sweet” but why does it have that fragrance at all? Scents can attract animals from a distance, even in the dark.  Some frangrances mimic a pollinator’s “love pheromone” or the aroma of some tasty food. If that preferred food  happens to be a decaying monkey, well, there are flowers that smell like rotting meat to attract flies. Methinks Shakespeare knoweth not about the corpse flower. 

How much richer is our world because of the desperation of plants to bribe, trick or other wise enslave those of us with mobility? The science of biology, as I see it, adds to my awe and appreciation for the life with which we share this earth. Hopefully my little treatise on the adaptations of flowers will inspire you to get to know a flower a little better.

How do frogs celebrate Valentine's Day?

Just as winter ebbs you’ll begin to hear the various belches, peeps, trills, snorts and myriad other sounds of frogs and toads. If you think they all go “ribbit,” then think again.  As Florida’s great zoologist and author Archie Carr wrote, “Frogs do for the night what birds do for the day; they give it a voice.  And the voice is varied and stirring; one that ought to be better known.”

While female frogs make some sounds that roughly translate as “Keep your feet to yourself, bub,” the cacophony that kept you up on that camping trip was created by lovelorn males. They woo the ladies with lyrics go something like, “Hey, good lookin’, I’m available…and I’m a hunk-a-hunk-a-burnin’ frog!” Which, when you stop to think about it, is remarkably similar to the lyrics of every boy band hit.

You can hear the full diversity of North America’s anurans—“frogs and toads” for those who don’t speak zoology—in the book/CD The Frogs and Toads of North America, by Lang Elliott. With stunning photographs and recordings of over 100 species, this is a herpetologist’s holy book and the star of many a coffee table. Mr. Elliott travels the globe recording nature’s symphonies and his YouTube channel, “TheMusicOfNature,” and website, www.musicofnature.com will leave you wiser and, most likely, a lot more relaxed. My video here is a fun guide to frog calls, too.

Perhaps, like me, you have some tadpoles of your own. You want them to metamorphose right and you’ve probably heard about the research that shows that playing in nature makes them healthier, happier and smarter.

Well, here’s an idea for you: some moonlit night this month, grab some flashlights and head down to the nearest bubbling brook or slimy green pond. Have a seat and spend at least 60 seconds in complete silence. How many sounds can you you hear? Do you recognize any of those sounds? What else you hear? Perhaps you can even record it with your smart phone to help you identify the sounds back home.

Try shining your flashlight across the surface of the water. You may be able to see the tiny reflections of frog eyeballs shining back at you.  Did you hear sounds coming from the trees? Try directing your beam into the trees and see if you can spot the singer. At the very least, it’ll make you can do your best Jedi warrior imitation with your “light saber.”  

This is bound to create a lasting memory and you might even open a wider world of nature exploration for your child. If you’ve got a budding biologist on your hands, consider taking time for a regular frog survey. Frogs are declining around the world and regular folks are participating in a citizen science initiative called a Frog Watch at www.nwf.org/frogwatchusa/.   

All that’s involved is choosing a soggy spot near you and visiting on  a regular basis to listen for frogs. You’ll take note of what you heard, the weather and a few other details and that’s all there is to it. Yes, you can be a part of scientific research in all its glory. And repetition.   

So get out there and get muddy. Oh, and don’t forget the bug sprary.

Frog-sicles? Antifreeze made from turtle pee?

Click to see a frozen frog thaw out and spring to life!

My college zoology teacher once started off a class by putting what was, by all appearances, a frozen turtle on his lab bench.  He had just pulled it out of the freezer, he said, and assured us that it would be active again by the end of our 90-minute class.  As I recall, he admitted sheepishly that it was still inert as we filed out at the end of our lesson in ectothermy, or “cold-bloodedness,” but he invited us to return after our next class to see it unharmed and shuffling with vigor. I took his word for it and now I really with I’d gone back to see it for myself.

To be sure, animals have some amazing weapons in their battles with winter. Obviously the low temperatures are challenging but, for endotherms like mammals and birds, it’s really the lack of food and dehydrating conditions that are hardest. Food becomes scarce because it’s hard for plants to photosynthesize in the cold, dry air and shortened, winter days.

Many birds, for example, aren't really migrating to leave the cold behind. They just came up from the tropics to fatten themselves and their chicks on the springtime explosions of insect populations.  When these birds head south, they’re really heading back home. 

Even if a frog or turtle had the stamina to hop or lumber to the tropics, it’d be spring again by the time they got there so they have to face winter’s challenges head-on. Many adult turtles burrow into the mud at the bottom of their ponds where it’s at least a little above freezing. Breathing may cease, heart rates all but stop and everything slows so much that they can survive for months in a true suspended animation.  Other turtles stay at the surface and, with natural “antifreeze”(perhaps derived from their urine), remain unfrozen at temperatures well below 32°F. Some can even survive small amounts of ice in their systems. 

Some frogs, like the land-dwelling wood frog, can tolerate quite a bit of freezing.  They survive the experience by dehydrating their vital organs and moving water into the spaces between cells and organs where it can freeze and expand without causing injury. Breathing and circulation stop completely and, essentially, they've become frog-sicles.  When things warm up in, say, February, they’ll thaw out and start calling for a mate. I will pass on the opportunity to make a joke about her being cold-hearted or giving them the cold shoulder.  Wait, I think I failed to pass on that opportunity. 

Strictly speaking, none of this is truly hibernation which involves a form of thermoregulation that only mammals can do (there’s some debate about a bird or two). Still, the word has been so abused by public and scientists alike that you need not trouble yourself with the differences between hibernation, torpor, dormancy, diapause, aestivation or brumation. 

Suffice it to say that animals have amazing ways to shut themselves down when times get tough. Bat hearts beat at near-freezing temperatures. Bears sleep for six months without peeing. At least one rodent is really only active for four months out of twelve. Nature’s just full of surprises, isn’t it?

Why is any of this important? Scientists hope that some of their discoveries might be of use in medicine.  Perhaps bears can show us how to help preserve bone strength and muscle mass in bed-ridden people.  Maybe we can use amphibians’ natural antifreezes to help us in organ transplants or even interstellar travel.  For now, it’s just plain interesting and that’s enough for me. 

Know THIS Christmas tradition?

There was a time when Americans celebrated Christmas with what was called a “side hunt.” Groups of men got together, chose sides and then marched into the woods to take aim at absolutely any animal that moved.  Whichever team returned with the greatest number of pelts and feathers earned bragging rights. 

It’s not hard to imagine the results of such attitudes and endeavors.  At the turn of the 20^th century, American wildlife was in a wide scale decline.  Even whitetail deer, so numerous today, were down to an estimated 300,000, a sliver of their former numbers.  Conservationists and, yes, hunters decried the loss of wildlife and a number of regulations, fees and laws were put into effect that have had profound benefits for wildlife, ecosystems and Americans.

In 1900, Frank Chapman, an officer of the then-new Audubon Society, turned the Christmas tradition on its ear and proposed that outdoors men gather to count, rather than shoot, birds on Christmas day. It must have been mocked by many at the time but his idea took hold has grown into the world’s largest “citizen science” survey. Well over 60,000 people are expected to participate in the Audubon Society’s 2012-2013 Christmas Bird Count, or “CBC” as it’s known to insiders.

Novices and experts alike will gather at chosen locations and dates (any time from December 14 to January 5 in case you want to spend Christmas day indoors) and count every bird they see and hear for a 24-hour period. If you live within one of the designated survey areas, you can just tally the birds that visit your feeder from the warmth of your home but, really, getting outside with your friends and family is part of the experience.    

Frank Chapman (click image for more)

Don’t underestimate its importance either; the project is of immeasurable value as a scientific study.  The data collected over the past 111 years are “at the heart of hundreds peer-reviewed scientific studies,” according to Audubon’s chief scientist Gary Langham.  “Because birds are early indicators of environmental threats to habitats we share, this is a vital survey of North America and, increasingly, the Western Hemisphere.”

The information has, among other things, documented northward range expansion of 177 bird species in response to climate change and has helped identify changes in species’ populations, such as the bobwhite quail’s recent decline and the recoveries of bald eagles and peregrine falcons.    

 So this holiday season, why not give a little gift to the earth and spend a day counting our feathered friends? Novices are most welcome and will benefit from working with the experienced birders that will lead each census.  Visit www.Audubon.org to find a chapter near you and see when and where the nearest count is.

Here’s to the foresight and audacity of Frank Chapman! Because of him, thousands head into the woods with binoculars instead of firearms in their Christmas “hunt” for birds. Ho! Ho! Ho!

A-oooooo, Where wolves in Yellowstone?

Back in 2005, I wrote a tune called “A Deer In My Cadillac” about the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone Park (join my mail list and get it free in 11/2012!). This effort was, to say the least, controversial.  How would you feel if someone released a couple packs of large predators into a park near you?  On the other side of the issue, if wolves can’t live in Yellowstone where can they live? In the end, pro-wolf forces prevailed and, in the winters of 1995 and 1996, a total of 66 wolves left tracks in the Yellowstone snows that hadn't been seen in decades.

 Why did they disappear in the first place? The early 1900s saw deer and many other “game” animals in steep declines due to unregulated hunting.  Wildlife officials decided that controlling predators was part of the solution and promoted indiscriminate hunting of wolves until 1926. Some unknown time thereafter, the last Yellowstone wolf disappeared. 

In the wolves’ absence, elk populations exploded and, being especially fond of the tender shoots of aspen,willow and cottonwood trees, elk grazed upon them to the point that these forests were failing to regenerate.  

For scientists, reintroducing wolves was about much more than the thrill of seeing a dominant predator surveying  its kingdom again. They hoped the predators would restore balance to the Yellowstone ecosystem and foster the return of other species that had declined or disappeared in the wake of the ravenous elk. 

Within ten years, scientists were noting signs of recovery in aspen forests and the wildlife they support. With the return of cottonwoods and willows, the slap of a beaver’s tail, once nearly unheard in the park's 3742 square miles, echoes again with renewed vigor and frequency.

In  a 2010 study, however, scientists found that, despite the fact that wolves had reduced elk populations by dramatically, elk were still gobbling up aspen shoots and preventing forest regeneration.  A greater population of wolves would be required, they felt, to bring the restoration so many had hoped for.

Unfortunately, wolves are now battling microscopic nemeses in addition to local ranchers: parvovirus, canine distemper, mange and more. Their population, once up to 170, has dropped to  about 100.    

The story of Yellowstone continues to unfold and wildlife managers are now working tirelessly to make sure that wolves are a part of it. Scientists, for their part, are documenting the cascade of effects that ripple through the Yellowstone ecosystems that will inform other efforts to reintroduce top predators.  

With continued time and support I, for one, hope that Yellowstone can support wolves, aspen, beavers, eagles, foxes and all the other species that have called it home for countless years.

Bats? I say "Yahoo!" not "Boo!"

Photo by John Abbott, used by permission

Halloween makes me shudder but it’s not the goblins, ghosts, and zombies thumping on my door. It’s the rubber bats on elastic strings with painted-red mouths agape and fangs bared.

The singing zoologist afraid of bats? Nope. It’s that I can’t stand the way SOME people use images of bats to creep folks out! In an effort to counter the season's bad bat PR, here are some bat FACTS  that might change your perspective. 

Bat fact #1: Bats are the second largest group of mammals. Of the 5,700 mammalian species, about 1,240 of them are bats--nearly 22%!  Rodents are the biggest group with nearly 2,300 species.

Bat fact #2: A bat’s wing amounts to a webbed hand with super-long finger bones.  Many bats can manuever better than birds and have specialized sensory cells in their wings that can feel when they’ve trapped an insect. 

Bat fact #3: Bats are divided into the fruit bats (usually bigger) and insectivorous bats (usually smaller). We have mostly the latter in the US but we do have some fruit bats in the deserts of the southwest.

Bat fact # 4: Fruits bats are thought to be primary pollinators and seed distributors in many tropical rainforests.  If we lose fruit bats, we’ll lose huge numbers of rainforest trees and other plants!

Bat fact # 5: The large flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus), from southeast Asie, boasts the greatest wingspan: nearly 5 feet!

Bat fact #6: San Antonio, Texas, is home to the world’s largest colony of bats: up to twenty million in the summer!  That’s also thought to be the largest colony of mammals anywhere in the world! While more famous, Austin’s Congress Avenue bats number “only” about one and a half-million. They're the largest urban colony of bats. 

Bat fact #7: Some bats can eat more than their own weight in bugs each night. Thus, the mass of bugs those 20 million bats in San Antonio consume would be equivalent to the weight of 93 elephants. Thanks, bats!

Bat fact #8: bats are NOT blind. Many do, however, depend primarily on their hearing to find their ways through the dark. Note, however, that most fruit bats do not echolocate; hence those big-eyed, fox-like faces. 

Bat fact #9: Bats will NOT get caught in your hair. Insectivorous bats navigate by echolocation and the system is so precise that they can easily detect even the poofiest of hairdos.  When a bat flies close to me I like to assume that it’s snagging a bug that was about to feast on ME!

Bat fact #10: You should NEVER handle a bat. Rabies is truly scary and bats, like all mammals, can carry the virus. Skunks and racoons actually carry the virus and transmit it to us more commonly than bats but, still, there’s a risk.

I once had a student show me a bat that they had found on the ground, put in a shoebox and passed around their kindergarten class! Fortunately, no one was harmed but, my goodness, this shows the importance of educating folks about wildlife!

Ready to host a monarch?

I saw a few monarch butterflies on the move this weekend so it seems their southern migrations have begun. Monarchs east of the Rockies head to forested mountains in south central Mexico and those west of the Rockies journey to a number of locations along the California coast. The monarchs that start in eastern Canada migrate nearly 3000 miles--pretty amazing for an animal with a brain the size of a pinhead!

A tagged monarch--hope it gets found!

With this year’s record-breaking heat and dry conditions across much of North America, monarch watchers will be taking a keen interest in their population. While it’s always tempting to make your judgment based on your individual experience (“I saw a lot fewer monarchs in my garden this year”), collecting hard numbers from a large number of people across their range is much more helpful. This is the way science works and monarch specialists invite everyone into the process!

In one of the world’s biggest “citizen science” initiatives, scientists,students and monarch enthusiasts of all ilks have been counting and tagging monarch butterflies for decades now. Want to get involved? JourneyNorth.org is a phenomenal monarch resource and provides lots of monarch information, the latest findings, and ways to report the monarchs you've seen. They even have an app to make submitting your sightings as easy (and COOL) as possible!  

Ready for the next step? Order monarch tags from another great site, www.monarchwatch.org. “How does one tag a butterfly?” you ask. First, catch a butterfly (HINT:nets come in very handy) and then put the little tag, which is basically a round sticker, on the butterfly’s hind wing (in about the middle). While you need to get your catching and handling skills down, it’s pretty much as simple as that.

I know what you’re wondering: “Doesn’t it slow them down or make them fly in circles?” Scientists love monarchs at least as much as you do and they’ve made sure that the little sticker doesn’t harm or slow the insects down. As long as you handle your little insect friend gently they’ll be just fine. 

Children as young as four year olds are known to participate. As a matter of fact, they say that children’s little digits may better suited to the task than big, grown-up fingers. Something like 2,000 schools and 100,000 children participate in this effort every year but the more the merrier.

Fewer than 1 in a thousand tagged monarchs are recovered so finding one is like winning a science lottery. If you’re the lucky one, make sure you contact the scientists with the date, location, weather conditions and any other information you think is important or interesting.

One more easy way to help is to create a “monarch way station,” a collection of plants the monarchs need during their life cycle. Native flowers will provide them with nectar, the sugary fuel adults need to energize their flights and some milkweed plants where mamas can lay their eggs. I hear mixed things about what they’re SUPPOSED to do in the fall but I have personally seen a lot of eggs left on my milkweeds in the fall so I say go ahead and put some out for them!

I know we’re all looking forward to the cool fall days ahead after the summer heat so get out there and look for those monarchs. If you’d like to try your hand at tagging them with me, I’m at Balcones Canyonlands Nat’l Wildlife Refuge between Austin and Marble Falls on October 13. I’ll play some tunes and help folks catch and tag monarchs. Come on out!

Workshop on curriculum-based stories

Tomorrow I present at Tejas Storytelling Association's state conference at St. Edward's University in Austin.  My topic is creating stories (and songs) that tie in directly with school curricula and I'm posting a few links here for the attendees and anyone else who might stumble across this. 

First of all, for a good idea of what's required to be in Texas school curricula visit: Tx Education Agency's site and scroll down to find a list of of Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills by Chapter.  There you can see a list of the different required disciplines and open each one to see the items required by grade.  I opened the science chapter as an MS Word document and just DELETED the ones I didn't feel like my programs fulfilled.  That, obviously, left me with an impressive list of what my programs DID fulfill that I could post on my website and send to principals, librarians, etc.  Educators LOVE this. 

Next, review a list of storytellers and kids' musicians on the Texas Commission on the Arts' Touring Artist Roster.  See if you notice any openings in disciplines that you might be able to fill.  There are many folks who specialize in tales and tunes from various cultures (Hispanic, Native American, African American, old west/Texas are well represented) and I know there are many stories that focus on communicating morals or ethics.  It's a big world with a lot to learn.  Stories are probably the BEST teaching tool out there so see what you can think up...

Bluebonnets revisited

One last look at bluebonnets for the year.  My neighbor had a nice stand in their yard now they look like this:

Not such a pretty backdrop for a photo anymore, huh?  The pods, green and tender when we last viewed them are now dried out and opening.  I haven't witnessed it yet but, apparently, the seeds actually pop out. 

I got a good shot of a pod that was beginning to open:

And another of a pod that had opened but one seed, apparently didn't get "ejected."

The parent plants are dying and the seeds will nestle down in the soil.  If the weather's right, they will germinate late in the fall and grow over the winter.  They'll really grow tall in the spring and, hopefully, we'll have another great bluebonnet show next spring.  This year has been great.  Lots of other beautiful flowers out there now to enjoy.  Texas springtime is something special isn't it?

 

Looking REALLY closely at a bluebonnet

I've been talking (and singing) about bluebonnets quite a bit this spring.  I'm trying to learn as much about them as I can so I dissected a couple florets and a bluebonnet pea pod today.  Let's take a closer look, shall we? 

A single bluebonnet has many, individual "florets" like this one

This is called a floret and a single bluebonnet is made of many of these arranged in "stacks.    Some flowers are laid out in a circle (such as a dandilion) but bluebonnets have petals of very different shapes and functions. 

You'll see, at left, the petal with the white spot called the banner. It looks like two petals but it's really just one with a crease through the middle. A white spot on the banner means the pollen is new; it turns magenta/purple after a few days to discourage bees from visiting this floret which has probably already been pollinated. 

Below the banner petal are two petals clasped together to make a sort of cup.  These are called the "wings" and, inside, is the "keel," the black structure you see protruding in the picture to the right.  Normally a bee lands here and will use her weight and rear legs to push open the wing petals.  You can pull it down yourself the next time you see a bluebonnet!  Do it gently and you won't hurt it.

There will be some orange pollen at the tip of the keel (you can see a tiny bit in the photo).  As far as I know, bluebonnets do not make nectar--bees only get pollen from bluebonnets (pollen's the primary source of protein for growing larvae back in the hive). 

The keel is actually made of two flower petals that make a sheath for the stamens (which produce the pollent) and pistil (which receives the pollen and creates the seeds).

Keel petals, in background, pulled aside to reveal pistil & stamens 

At left, you can see what's inside the keel.  Lots of orange pollen.  It's produced by the anthers which are on the ends of stem-like filaments (anther + filament = stamen).

The white thing protruding out somewhat further is the pistil.  The stigma is the little bulb at the end--once the pollen gets there, the flower has been officially pollinated and seeds can begin to grow!

Pistil, isolated.  The stigma at the tip, the "stalk" is properly called the style, and the thickness at the right is the ovary, which is where the seeds will develop.

It's early May and most of the bluebonnets are now producing seeds inside little pods--yep, bluebonnets are  in the same plant family as peas. 

I looked inside one of these, too, and here's what I saw: 

Those are seeds inside, of course (I think the knife I was using cut the edges of the seeds inside).  The outer layer is the covering and the part that will actually sprout is within.  Layer upon layer upon layer!

 

I squeezed the outer covering and the actual seed came out!

The seed within--looks like a cartoon quote bubble, no?

More changes to come.  I'll be keeping an eye on the bluebonnets in my neighborhood and showing you the changes in the pods and seeds.  Stay tuned!!