"Earth's Internet" attempts to document, reference as much of the natural world networking abilities and strategies as possible. Such Scientific findings are at odds with industrial scientific approaches maintaining our planet. Be warned. If your learning approach it based on Memes with short clever quips, you may be disappointed here.
There was an article on BBC online which highlighted research which seems to support the importance of bees having access to a variety of flowering plants. This was also the subject of another article earlier this year which mentioned the benefits of wildflowers near agricultural fields because Bees receive better nutrition from such Wild flower variety. But now there is this theory of "doctor bees" within Bee Colonies who may be directing their peers to plants which can help "sick bees" to recover may further show their organisational and social skills. However if these coworkers of Hive Doctor Bees fall ill and are too weak, then these Doctor Bees will go over & find just the right type of honey in their hive which was made from the pollen of a particular plant and get the sick bees to feed on it. This should prove logical to most gardeners, landscapers and even Farmers planting for more biodiversity or variety of flowering plants not only for the bees, but all the other beneficial insects as well. There has also been some recent research work done on specifically selected honey being used by some medical professionals to fight infection in wounds of their patients. Here are some of the important points from that article:
"Now it seems honeybees may have a way of helping to keep their workforce healthy - by employing bees that feed "medicinal honey" to other members of the hive."
"A group of worker bees called "nurse bees", if they are infected with a parasite, selectively eat honey that has a high antibiotic activity, according to Silvio Erler of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Halle, Germany and his colleagues."
"These bees are also responsible for feeding honey to the larvae and distributing it to other members of the colony. So it's possible they are the hive's doctors, prescribing different types of honey to other bees depending on their infection. If that is true, it could be a big part of how bees fight disease."
Early in 2014, my wife and I watched a documentary on the global issue of colony collapse disorder on just how and why Bees are so important to Agriculture all around the globe. There were a couple of interesting points mentioned, aside from the usual controversy of GMOs and Chemical Insecticides. One important clue was revealed in the California's Central Valley agricultural areas whose orchards are extremely dependent on the services of Bee Keepers. These Bee Keepers move their hives around to provide pollinating services to various Almond, Peach, Cherry and other orchard Farmers. The fact is that these bees being used in this way are over worked and under stress. They also are being forced to pollinate and feed on a monoculture diet with little else in the way of additional dietary supplements in the form of natural dietary variety which comes from a community of plant life. Hence they have to artificially provide these Commercial Bees with synthetic anti-biotics which would be present in a normal healthy diet involving great variety of pollen food choices such as countless wildflowers for which they have zero access under a sterile industrial Ag environment. Above right you can see one example of something which is mixed with water and laid out close to the hive for the honeybees to access. Of course, bees are not the only self medicating creatures. You can bookmark this video and watch it from the link below here later which came from the Animal Planet program about the importance of biodiversity of grasslands for herbivores who also find a treasure trove of pharmaceuticals in such pristine habitats called "Most Extreme Animal Medics - Using Plants To Self-Medicate". This is actually one of Joel Salatin's of Polyface Farm's talking points with what he calls "Salad Bar Beef"
UMass Amherst: ‘Nature’s Medicine Cabinet’ Helps Bees Reduce Disease Load
AMHERST, Mass. – "Researchers studying the interaction between plants, pollinators and parasites report that in recent experiments, bees infected with a common intestinal parasite had reduced parasite levels in their guts after seven days if the bees also consumed natural toxins present in plant nectar."
They found that toxic chemicals in nectar reduced infection levels of the common bumblebee parasite by as much as 81 percent by seven days after infection. UMass Amherst evolutionary ecologist Lynn Adler says, “We found that eating some of these compounds reduced pathogen load in the bumblebee’s gut, which not only may help the individual bees, but likely reduced the pathogen Crithidia spore load in their feces, which in turn should lead to a lower likelihood of transmitting the disease to other bees.”
The eight chemicals studied were nicotine and anabasine found in nectar of flowers in the tobacco family, caffeine from coffee and citrus nectar, amygdalin from almond nectar, aucubin and catalpol from turtlehead flowers, gallic acid from buckwheat nectar and thymol from basswood tree nectar.
Adler notes, “A lot of our spices and medicines come from plant secondary metabolites. Think of aspirin and chili powder. Because we’re big, we can eat a little chili powder on our food and it’s just a taste sensation. But for an insect the same dose might be fatal. That’s what the plant is counting on.”
One thing I found interesting, is that the Evolutionary Ecologist, Lynn Adler, found it puzzling as to just how the bees know or found out which flowers contain the correct chemicals to deal with specific illnesses, diseases or parasites. Ultimately who can know where such instinctive programming originated without assuming some sort of metaphysical or religious bias. What does matter in the immediate present is looking into studying & researching ecosystems as a whole. One should ask themselves, "What mechanical components exist in nature and how do they mutualistically interact and perform with one another for the perfect function of a healthy ecosystem ?" These researchers should be spending more valuable time So here is million dollar question Lynn Alder asks as to how things came about:
As for whether bees know about the benefits of plants’ chemical medicine cabinets and can treat themselves when they are sick, she adds, “That is the million dollar question, the one most often asked when I give talks about these ideas. Unfortunately, it’s too early to tell. We just don’t know yet.”
Ultimately there is no way to know without inserting various person metaphysical assumptions and or biased religious beliefs. It is curious however, that Lynn Alder has no problem about how plants knew what they had to do in order to survive. Apparently, the origin of these compounds for which she makes metaphysical assumptions about how the plants displayed almost sentient being consciousness behaviour in that that somehow they just knew what they needed to do in order to survive, replicate themselves and save themselves from obliteration by diseases & insects. As she put it, they needed to evolve themselves into becoming 'amazing chemists' by experimenting with various chemical algorithms to ward off countless enemies ? Take a look below:
“Because plants just sit there and can’t run away from things that want to eat them, they have evolved to be amazing chemists. They make biological compounds called secondary metabolites, which are chemicals not involved in growth or reproduction, to protect themselves. They are amazing in the diversity of what they can produce for protecting themselves or for attracting pollinators.”
For me, much of these debates about origins is a waste of time and counter productive to finding real world solutions NOW on how humans need to better manage the Earth. But I guess we're kidding ourselves now aren't we. That's not how these various ideological-religious factions work is it ? This obsession with control of worldview is further and further disuniting this planet, and frankly, NEITHER SIDE seems to care. What fascinates me is that quite often it is the developing world farmers who are more open to such Biomimicry or working with Nature, than their industrial farming counterparts in the rich nations. Industrial Nation Farmers are shackled ideologically and psychologically to what the Industrial Ag corporations and the governmental advisors are feeding them. Add to that all those US Farm Subsidy entitlement programs for which ONLY conventional farmers are entitled to and not organic, they have exacerbated the problem of educating and weaning Industrial Farmers off the welfare state programs. In the mean time, the Earth's health continues to downgrade because basically the ongoing degradation of the natural world is actually financed by the very Officials in positions of responsibility and care. Something radical has got to happen soon or the damage will be irreversible. Does everyone get this ? Or is obsession with worldview still more important ? Somehow I have a spooky feeling it's still the later.
Another quick note from the Japan Times
Courtesy: Leif Richardson
Bumblebee on a flower in Saint-Malo, France
Several interesting paragraphs in their article were relevant as to why Farmers should be changing their agricultural practices to a more holistic approach away from the monopolized chemical practices encouraged by industrial corporations with a vested interest in keeping the status quo. This article's interview dealt more with the head researcher of the study, Leif Richardson, who is credited with the two photos, above and at the right here. He actually explains a bit further, deeper and specifically on the importance of this research as far as practical application on the Farm.
“The results suggest that growing plants high in these compounds around farm fields could create a natural ‘medicine cabinet’ that improves survival of diseased bees and pollination of crops,” Dartmouth College in New Hampshire said in a statement.
He also hits on something else extremely important and that is just where the problem with Colony Collapse Disorder is found to be the worst around the globe. While many documentaries on CCD have mentioned it being a global problem, it is at it's worst in North Americas, Europe, China and Australia. Why ? Doesn't take a genius to figure out who leads the way through profiteering in the conventional industrial agriculture business model and which corporations within those Nations stand to gain big time with the status quo and wish to monopolize the world's food supply.
Further experiments will show whether the compounds also benefit honeybees, which have been hit in North America and Europe by a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder, said Leif Richardson, who headed the study. Parasites have been fingered, but insecticides and intensive monoculture, which destroys the bees’ habitat, have also been cited as possible causes."
In any event, the developing world farmers do not reside in wealthy nations with generous welfare entitlements. They are also closer to the land than most industrial nation farmers. Even still, count on a major fight by giant Ag corporations who have some of the largest war chest bank accounts to get what they want and with the blessing of the governments which back them. For people with a clue, this should be a wake up call as to who and what you are putting your faith and trust into.
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Update: September 1, 2015 - Darmouth
Parasitized bees are self-medicating in the wild, Dartmouth-led study finds
I love this article. Do I hear "Let's promote Monoculture" anyone ??? Bees need a great healthy variety in their diet, not some limited genetically modified junk foods. Look at what junk food has done to human beings. This is why a great variety of beneficial pollen producing plants [shrubs, perennials, etc] need to be planted around the fringes and margins of farms and their fields. This is why agricultural fields need to be smaller with chaparral and other shrub barrier mounds as safe food and home habitat havens for beneficial pollinator/predatory insects.
"Bumblebees infected with a common intestinal parasite are drawn to flowers whose nectar and pollen have a medicinal effect, a Dartmouth-led study shows. The findings suggest that plant chemistry could help combat the decline of bee species."
"The researchers studied the effects of a group of plant secondary metabolites found naturally in floral nectar -- iridoid glycosides -- on bumblebee foraging and plant reproduction. Iridoid glycosides can deter deer and other herbivores, but the researchers' earlier studies showed the compounds have a medicinal effect on parasitized bees by reducing their parasite load."
"In the new study, the researchers looked at concentrations of two iridoid glycoside compounds, aucubin and catalpol, in nectar and pollen in four populations of turtlehead, a bee-pollinated wetland plant found throughout eastern North America. They then manipulated concentrations of the chemicals in those flowers to study their effects on bee foraging."
One really fascinating thing was that the parasites also seem to have a beneficial effect on making the bees pollinate these specialized iridoid glycoside concentrated nectar flowers more and that these flowers responded by donating more of their pollen to other flowers which brought about higher reproductive success rates of their own. So are the parasites evil ? Clearly humans are going to have to rethink their view of the complex mechanisms found in Nature and how disrupting the balance of Nature is what creates problems. Accepting blame and personal responsibility is not a natural imperfect human thing to do. However, such responsible admissions are going to be necessary if people are going to learn from their mistakes and make the needed corrections to put the natural world right. Allowing giant corporate business entities carte blanche to do whatever they wish to increase their precious corporate bottom lines is no longer going to cut it anymore.
"The results showed that relative to healthy bees, those infected with the intestinal parasite greatly preferred visiting flowers with the highest iridoid glycoside concentrations. Bees attacked by a second antagonist, a parasitoid fly, did not respond in this way to nectar chemistry. The researchers also found that flowers with the highest concentrations of nectar iridoid glycosides donated significantly more pollen to other flowers following bee visits, showing that nectar chemistry can affect plant reproductive success.
Now switching some gears here and moving over towards a different direction away from Honey Bees for the moment. Most conversation when it comes to the subject of pollination is always about the European Honey Bee and after that of course follows Bumble Bees. Nothing wrong with that of course, but rarely are all the other more important Pollinators like various flies, mosquitos, wasps, etc, etc ever focused upon and they should be. One of my goals this past summer's visit to California was to drive back up to my former long time residence in Anza and photograph a plant which I always found important to my property's landscape ecosystem and Garden's environment. It's a plant that most folks in and around Riverside County probably don't really pay much attention to unless they actually see it growing en masse in some field which is highlighted by the richness of the cobalt blue flowers when they bloom. The plant is called Woolly Stars (Eriastrum densifolium). Perhaps a better known variety isSanta Ana River Woolly Stars because it has had some controversy surrounding it's protection from developers between the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside. While the flowers are strikingly spectacular, the foliage is somewhat dull grey and sparse in appearance and probably that way most of the year except for those two hottest summer months of the year when it is in full bloom. Try looking up info on this plant and you won't find very much other than the usual out of touch intellectual descriptive dry data which serves mostly to document the plant's existence. And that is really a shame because there is so much more to this plant other than a handful of dry dull stats only a Botanist could love.
photo mine
Woolly Stars Eriastrum densifolium
For residents of Anza and Terwilliger Valleys, this plant to the right here in the photo next to a friend's horse corral is one you have often seen, but perhaps ignored other than when in full bloom and never gave it any credit of worth beyond that short showy display of blue flowers in the summertime. It's only a foot or more tall shrub which has beautiful flowering blooms for those two hottest months, but as far as landscape value, not nearly as impressive as perhaps other larger chaparral ornamental species. But believe it or not, it's also an important wildlife magnet for not only pollinators, but also beneficial insect predators. When I lived up in Anza and opened up some spaces in my wild landscape within my property's acreage, this little shrub spread. It loved the openness, the direct sunlight and decomposed granite sandy soils. This is probably why it is more often found naturally in washes and especially floodplains like bajadas or alluvial fans in and around Riverside county. This one in the photo at right was taken at a friend's place in Terwilliger on Yucca Road. In fact what was surprising to me was the mass display of these blue flowers in the open fields east of this shot. I say surprising because this particular area has been very hard hit by the past three year's drought which has effected all of California. And yet still, it was found together in large groups in full bloom this past June/July when I was there for visit. Below is the picture of the field at the end of bloom which surely others in Anza have also seen but never thought much about the plant. Now it's not overly spectacular at this point, but still impressive given the drought extremes.
photo mine
Now take another look at a photo below here taken back during a wetter rainy season in 2011 along the Hwy 243 from Beaumont to Idyllwild where a far more brilliant display was recorded and posted on Palomar's Wayne's Word Botany pages. Notice the potential ? I'll post the link below it as other beautiful pics of other flowers along Hwy 243 are posted for folks enjoyment. You might also take special note of the Chaparral in the background behind this field which also shows a deeper green healthy colour, probably the last time this region experience a good soaking rainy season.
Of course the main reason for my bringing up the subject of this plant was certainly not for it's Horticultural value in the landscape. I highly doubt anyone would put up with the dry dull grey rangy looking foliage which is common most of the year. But once again for me it was it's incredible ability as a beneficial insect magnet for my wildscape and garden in Anza. On very hot days when these plants were in full bloom, the first thing you first hear is the intense high pitched humming of what turned out to be hundreds of Hover Flies and Bee Flies. I first noticed Bee Flies on my property back in 1985 when I planted a Mediterranean type plant from Asia called Blue Mist (caryopteris x clandonensis) which was given to me by a friend. These mini-helicopters do their amazing and incredible acrobatic tricks with regards their flight. Aside from the high pitch of their humming, it was these entertaining maneuvers that captured my attention. I could sit for the longest time watching these Bee Flies moving from Woolly Star flower bundle to another Woolly Star. The info on these flies is that they also thrive in hot dry sandy or gravely locations, which would account for their abundance throughout the Anza area. The other interesting similar types of pollinating critters which visit this Woolly Star shrub are the Hover Flies as seen here in the photo collage below left here.
image: Alvesgaspar (Wiki-commons)
A poster of hoverflies (Syrphidae)
When you research both groups of Bee Flies & Hover Flies, the info on them reveals that there are many 1000s of species or varieties and that there are most likely many more 1000s yet to be discovered and identified. The other interesting service these critters provide aside from their incredible importance to pollinating numerous plants worldwide, is when they are in their youth where they are described in larval stages as predators or parasitoids of the eggs and larvae of other insects. Hence both Fly groups are beneficial as biological controls for your gardens, landscapes and if respected enough, could well have extremely positive benefits on a larger scale farming operations if Farmers were open-minded enough to break away from the Industrial Ag sector and attempt going more the organic farming route. In the Wiki entry on the Hover Flies, there is a nice summary on what some people are doing with certain species of Hover Fly.
"Unlike adults, the maggots of hoverflies feed on a variety of foods; some are saprotrophs, eating decaying plant or animal matter, while others are insectivores, eating aphids, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects. This is beneficial to gardens, as aphids destroy crops, and hoverfly maggots are often used in biological control. Certain species, such as Lampetia equestris or Eumerus tuberculatus, are responsible for pollination."
"Many species of hoverfly larvae prey upon pest insects, including aphids and the leafhoppers, which spread some diseases such as curly top. Therefore, they are seen in biocontrol as a natural means of reducing the levels of pests. Gardeners, therefore, will sometimes use companion plants to attract hoverflies. Those reputed to do so include alyssum, Iberis umbellata, statice, buckwheat, chamomile, parsley, and yarrow."
Many folks will recognize many of the flowering companion plants listed in the above description for attracting garden predators for biological control agents in the garden. However, there are countless varieties of natives in any ecosystem area around the globe which will work equally well as a beneficial insect magnet. All a person has to do is some personal research and if that fails, then take personal responsibility and start observing things for yourself. For example, this picture to the right is of a native California Coffeeberry. The beautiful bright evergreen foliage and multi-coloured berries are the reasons people choose them from their Native plant nurseries for the landscape.
image: James Soe Nyun California Coffeeberry 'Eve-Case' in bloom
But I guarantee you, positively nobody ever intendson planting them for their flowers. So why is that ? Well, take a close look at the photo to the left. Dull ? Mundane ? Drab olive green ? Yes of course, according to the flawed viewpoint of some Governmental land managers, they are probably just too dull and mundane to be bothered with by the average gardener. Yes, all those words could be used to describe the average person's taste in what a garden's flowering plants should like like when in bloom. The photographer of that photo above left, James Soe Nyun, said Coffeeberry flowers are mostly nondescript to most humans. He got that right. I'm different on the other hand. The California Coffeeberry behind my old place in Anza I found to be an amazing magnet for every kind of insect winged creature available. For me it was the presence of all these critters which gives these flowers their beauty. Every type of Fly, Mosquito, Gnat, Bee, Wasp, Beetle, Moth, etc, etc, etc which normally never hang out with each other, were in fact crawling over each other on these blooms to get a taste of what ever invisible pheromones this plant with inconspicuous flower clusters was giving off. But especially those tiny little predatory wasps which prey after the bad garden insects. They were most abundant. There were Bumble Bees hovering above all this insect party chaos, but they were too intimidated to come down and take their chance at a sip of the brew. As far as I've known, I'm the only one who has written about this until now. The photographer I mentioned above where I found that picture also had a description of why he took it and the words of a unhappy camper of a gardener who described the exact same phenomena I did, but with a rather negative slant.
"The coffeeberry’s flowers are much more nondescript to humans. On the recent garden tour I spoke to a homeowner who was wishing that she hadn’t planted her coffeeberries so close to paths because the bugs seem to go crazy over its blooms, more so than just about any other native plant. Here we have the humble blooms of Frangula (Rhamnus) californica ‘Eve Case.’ "
image by Dr. Alistair Dove Systematic & Ecological Parasitologist
While I totally and adamantly disagree with that lady Gardener's take on the California Coffeeberry flowering phenomena, I am also at the very same time overjoyed by the fact someone else describes exactly what I have been saying all along about the native California Coffeeberry chaparral plant for landscape use. In fact she said it draws "bugs" insects more than any other California native plant. Yup, sure enough, that's what I've been saying all along. Nice to be verified, even if in a rather unusual sort of way. The ultimate goal for any Gardener, Landscaper or commercial Farmer should be to attract those very critters such as the tiny parasitoid wasp in the above right photo which scouts out your garden and preys upon the very things you don't want taking up residence there. Like the numerous caterpillars which chew up all manner of leaves and fruits from your vegetable garden or fruit orchard.
This is the exact thing people pass over when out and about in Nature looking to photograph some magnificent scene for which to publish on a Google Plus or Facebook page. What a waste. Not that I don't enjot pretty scenery, I do, but if you do actually see such unusual phenomena happening, don't discount it, document it and send it to those who study these things for purposes of Biomimicry or Biomimetics. In the descriptive pages I referenced regarding hoverflies and beeflies, the experts admit they don't know what exact role most of those critters play within most ecosystems. No kidding, it would be a challenge. They are just so tiny and elusive. Go beyond getting that perfect shot of a common honeybee pollinating a flower. Document other things like the mass display of insects on a shrub like California Coffeeberry. It is also imperative you know the time of year differing plants bloom and what they attract, especially if you are laying out strategic plans for organically maintained landscape. I can really only speak from my own experience in Southern California in the chaparral backcountry. The Coffeeberry for example is one of the earliest bloomers and with what looks to be this year's heavier than normal rainfall in California, this would be a golden opportunity to document this chaparral shrub which attracts more beneficial "bugs" insects than any other California Native. Other Natives like California Holly (Toyon) is an early summer bloomer and Redshank or Ribbonwood are late Summer bloomers. Keep in mind also, the same shrub or other flowering plant will bloom at different times depending on elevation. I have observed both of these shrubs having similar beneficial insect attracting abilities. Find out as much as you can in and around whatever environment you live in and plan accordingly your garden and landscape which will allow you to pursue a course of a more organic nature. But you first need to deprogram yourself and break away from all those glittering labeled chemical goodies you see at those commercial Garden Center or Home Improvement stores. Forget their illustrations and the easy to use instructions. Realize that when you use that industrial junk to kill the supposedly bad insects, you also kill the good ones, even if you don't see any of them.
When I first worked as a representative and field tester for many of the products put out by one of my former employer, Coors-Biotech, back in the late 1980s, there was so much promise about even the idea behind Biotechnology. The idea was of course that these people and their companies were going to learn from Nature and replicate what nature does for solutions to our problems. How was I to ever know that most of today's corporate industrial biotechs actually view nature as flawed and poorly designed ? That Human scientific genius would one day view themselves above nature and take it upon themselves to correct what they view as Nature's flaws and poor designs. And as a result our natural world in general would go so far down hill that many other experts would be saying life on Earth is on the brink of extinction ? This is why the average person's view of a Biotech Scientist is more that of a mad scientist. Not that they are truly insane, but the results of much of what they have done have hurt rather than help the natural world. Biotechs were supposed to practice what we call biomimicry or biomimetics which is ultimately copying what Nature does and hw it functions. Not this obsession of obscene profiteering through patent lawsuit filing thugs we have today. That was never what biotechnology was supposed to be about. But nevertheless, we are assured Science will just find a way, except when it doesn't.
From Raw Materials into Electronic Mind Numbing Gadgets
The Corporate and Governmental entities are going to pursue whatever their heart's desire for wealth and power. It should be acknowledge that the planet will suffer no matter what. Others will have religious and ideological motives for defending these entities. Aside from some Divine or other extraterrestrial intervention, it seems highly unlikely that humans will find real solutions for saving this planet. Seriously people, look at the daily News Reports as to what is going down all across the globe. Does it look like true peace and security is just on the horizon or around the corner ? Now, you'd think that the experts would be interested in safer organic approach solutions inspired through Biomimicry, but the problem is, these things I've mentioned above have zero profit value for most corporate Entities and their share holders. If they cannot patent it and monopolize an industry, they are not interested in an organic natural approach to custodianship of our planet Earth. For those with families who do care and want their children to have a deeper appreciation of our natural world, then understand it starts with proper parenting to educate your own children. Don't expect the public school system to do that job for you. Thus far they've failed because what is taught is only the textbook solution provided by an industrial mandate. In the mean time, there are some folks who have come up with some tools to help parents teach their children more about the Outdoors which seems to be foreign to most people living in the Industrial Nations today. Take a look at this documentary below when you find the time.
Would you have ever in your life considered parasites as “tiny, hidden architects” of biodiversity that run a service business for a sustainable global ecology ? The biggest problem for the Earth's natural world is that ever since human beings arrived on the earthly scene, as caretakers of the natural world, they've mucked things up so horribly by introducing parasites where they can & will cause not only the most harm to other living organisms within any and all ecosystems, but where they will cause pain and suffering to other human beings. Let's be totally honest here, as environmental stewards Humans stink at it. There are a number of fascinating studies which have been published recently over the past couple of years which shed light on the positive as opposed to the usual negative aspects of various parasites and their healthy function in the natural world when that world is in a stable balance. I'll simply list a few and you can follow the articles. A parasitologist name Tommy Leung, suggests that parasites don’t just rob and steal; they usually do good as functional players in an ecosystem.
“Parasites are thought of as free-loaders, but many contribute as much as they take,” - “They service the ecosystem. From an ecological perspective, they are more like tiny, hidden architects that are overlooked by most people.” - “Some parasites do have a negative impact on an ecosystem, especially when they are introduced to a new and unfamiliar environment.” (source)
"But the very act of forcing crickets to their watery grave actually functions as a kind of fast food delivery service for the fish living in those streams. Cricket do not normally jump into streams and a drowning cricket is usually a rare treat for any fish. But thanks to the hairworm, these fish get to feast regularly on these large insects and it has been calculated that this straight-to-your-stream food delivery service accounts for more than half of the trout population’s energy intake in some watersheds."
Watch this creepy but very kool video below here of what happens when the cricket is forced by it's parasitic hitchhiker to jump into water and drown itself.
"Usually the enemy of an enemy is a friend, but that is of no consequence for a zombified ant. To these fungi the ant is but a stage upon which they play out their lives and conflicts, as they have been doing for millions of years."
Can you imagine the possibilities in dealing a blow to the out of control Argentine Ant Super Colony over-population of California and other areas of the west ? BTW, Mycologist Paul Stamets has brought this up before.
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Photo:Andrew DunnEuropean Mistletoe (Viscum album) attached to a silver birch (Betula pendula)
"Plant parasites can also affect ecosystem processes. While most people associate mistletoe with Christmas, it is actually a parasitic plant that has special root-like structures called haustoria that burrow into the host tree to suck out water and other nutrients. But for all that it draws from the host, this parasite returns it to the ecosystem in the form of enriched leaf litter."
"A study published in the Proceeding of the Royal Society B shows that when mistletoes are removed from a forest, more than a quarter of the birds species also disappear. The enriched leaf litter allows the forest to support a richer community of insects, which in turn bring in more birds."
I previously wrote about Mistletoe on January 3, 2013, but so did many other people. It was the same link above, but it was worth bringing up the subject again as a great reminder.
There was a story of a parasitic fluke that infects shellfish helps deposit them on seashores where birds can eat them, and barnacles and limpets and live in the shells – increasing the biodiversity of a shore that would normally have only sand. To the right here in the photo image you can see the Cysts of Curtuteria australis (tagged with fluorescent dye) in the foot of a New Zealand cockle. As more and more parasites accumulate, the presence of those cysts causes the cockle’s foot muscle to degenerate. With a mangled foot, the clam loses its ability to dig and is left stranded on the surface of the mudflat, exposed to hungry shorebirds – just what the parasite Curtuteria australis wanted. The nature of the seashore changes from one covered mostly with mud and sand, to one paved with hard shells. This actually increases the overall level of biodiversity in the area since the shells of the stranded clams provide habitats for other animals like limpets and barncles.
Grassopper of Acrididae family: Anacridium aegyptium
"Scientists have known for some time that P. locustae infections in individual locusts leads to less swarming in locusts around them. What was not known was how it happened."
"The researchers are still puzzled as to why P. locustae would "want" to cause less swarming, as doing so would seem to lead to more difficulty in spreading from one of the insects to another." (No Kidding, why ????)
A carrion Crow brood parasitized by a great spotted Cuckoo
"Most everyone knows that cuckoo birds are the ultimate free-loaders. Mothers lay their eggs in the nests of birds of different species, leaving them to raise their young for them. What many may not realize however, is that different kinds of cuckoo birds behave differently when they hatch. Some famously push all the other eggs out of the nest, leaving themselves as the sole survivor and beneficiary. Other's however, don't do that, instead, they leave the other chicks alone and share in food the mother brings, acting as an adopted sibling, of sorts. At first glance it would appear that the host birds gain no benefit from this arrangement, but upon closer inspection, that assumption has been proved wrong."
"The researchers in Spain were studying the relationship between cuckoos and host carrion crows. In so doing, they were surprised to find that survival rates for crow chicks in nests shared by a cuckoo, were actually higher than for cuckoo-less nests. Looking even closer they discovered that the cuckoos had a survival mechanism that crows did not—they gave off a stink when threatened that caused predators such as feral cats to stay away. The stink, the researchers found, was caused by a chemical mix of repulsive compounds that included indoles, acids, sulfur and phenols. Taken together it proved too much for cats and birds of prey which typically find chicks in a nest easy pickings when the mother is away gathering food."
The major sad thing here is that in most of the television documentaries (where the majority of people get their science education) which reference the Cuckoo or Cow Bird as a parasite that robs and steals from others, we almost never see this side of the story.
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Wasp parasitizing Gypsy Moth Carepiller
So once again, how does it go ? Parasitism is bad. Parasitism is evil. Parasites wage war against innocent hosts. This is normal human mindset. But what if parasites can actually do good ? If they are only suppose to be doing harm to the host, why do some biologists find that there are “positive benefits” which seem to be maintaining their hosts ? Ignorance has caused us to create an imbalance in nature by means of our horrible science-based agricultural practices which destroys both beneficial parasitic insects along with the bad. Our mind's naturally have a tendency to classify what we consider bizarre phenomena out in nature into moral categories: good kitty, bad doggie, so forth & so on. We do that with parasites all the time because we know how often some of them annoy, harm or kill us. I certainly don't want to suggest from these above articles that there is anything good about Mosquitos, Ticks, Fleas, Leeches, Roundworms or Malaria. But who knows how even these things behave when in a balanced system ? The majority of us have no clue as to what such a system would be like. I have found over the years that many things considered by humans to be plagues, cause famines and/or Pestilences are most often times the results of human ignorance, environmental sloppiness, lack of hygiene, etc.
"Survival of the Fittest"
What’s instructive about many of these stories is that many of these research teams start with an assumption that parasites are bad. They are at war with the host, using the host’s resources for their own good. The evidence gathered above suggests the opposite; they might really be beneficial after all. Another organism we often demonize & insert into the “bad” category are Viruses. After all, they do invade a host cell, hijack and use its replication machinery to make copies of themselves. Why, then, do only a small fraction of viruses cause disease ? What are the others out there doing ? Interestingly, many of them kill bacteria; that could be a good thing, couldn't it ? Maybe we should take a fresh look at what we consider the creepy icky things of our natural World. In biology there are many pushes and pulls. But these pushes and pulls are not necessarily good or bad; they are simply opposite forces that maintain any ecosystem's homeostasis. Maybe by learning how nature really operates in a complete context, we can come to some conclusions of how to better deal with what has come to be termed invasive. These so-called invasive plants, insects, animals, birds, fish, etc are only a problem of ecosystem imbalance which resulted from some historical stupid decision made by humans which created the problem in the first place. Nature had zero to do with it. Such findings by these researchers, do lend themselves to new ways of thinking about our natural world's parasites as designed mechanisms originally intended for health of the entire global ecosystem, a few of which have subsequently gone bad. For readers who cannot accept that, the story is a lesson about not trusting metaphors as reliable guides to understanding our natural world. You know many of these metaphors, some good and instructive, but some of these are horrible like "Survival of the Fittest". Okay, everybody for the most part completely understands how the best & healthiest seeds out perform sickly seeds and so forth. But people like Prof Suzanne Simard have revealed how bad and outdated that metaphor is from her research about "Mother Trees" in a forested Ecosystem where all the biological components have been observed working together to help each other survive as opposed to selfish competing individuals. This goes a long way in explaining the inept reforestation practices where the chaparral plant community is viewed as an enemy as opposed to an ally which actually insures a forest's natural rebuilding program. The reality is, this terrible religious metaphor has actually hindered our understanding as opposed to educating mankind by instilling respect for the natural world. A little over a decade ago, there was a great article I have never forgotten which puts things into perspective. It was called, Natural Enemies: Metaphor or Misconception ?( in other words, is that a reality, or just another metaphor ?), by Matthew K. Chew and Manfred D. Laubichler in the July 4, 2003 issue of Sciencemag.org , an online journal which discussed the usefulness and dangers of metaphors in the language of science. You know, like, "Survival of the Fittest" ? Please click and read the link below, but here are the two concluding paragraphs which I'll post here:
"What troubles us is that biology's metaphorical abstractions all too easily become concrete objects and substitute for specific, describable processes. Maximal diversity becomes evolution's telos instead of its tendency. Biogeographical frontiers become prescriptive and enforceable, rather than descriptive and conceptual. Seasonal “disturbances” such as floods interrupt normal ecological processes, instead of exemplifying them. Biological “productivity” and “diversity” become not only measurable, but virtuous."
Matt Chew's & Manfred Laubichler's essay provides many excellent metaphor examples like; ecology speaks of predator and prey, but these suggest one is good and the other evil. Hence we have Wolf versus Elk, Mountain Lion versus Big Horn Sheep, etc. You may also remember that metaphors have been used for describing the signalling and machinery that are used in cell biology, as well as being used to explain what goes on within DNA such as “coding” and "development". But for me personally, I find that bad metaphors associated with parasites have hindered us from viewing them in a way that helps us to better understand their roles in the Natural World. In conclusion, Chew & Laubichler warned:
"Perhaps we cannot avoid metaphors altogether in scientific language. But scientists must be aware of the potential problems inherent in invoking the familiar as a convenient way for describing their ideas. At the very least, we should be concerned about what the frequent use of “natural enemies” (and the notable absence of “natural allies,” describing an equally familiar set of ecological interactions) reveals about the ways in which we interpret nature through metaphorical lenses, especially in the current historical situation."
Well, we've all heard of the classic fairytale 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' which tells us the story of a young fair golden haired Girl who wanders into a strange house in the woods. She finds one bowl of porridge too hot, another too cold and the third just right. Many Scientists sometimes apply the tale to a planet's ability to sustain life as we know it. In our own star system for example, Venus is too hot and Mars is too cold, but Earth is just right. But there's far more here on the Earth itself which is loaded with the Goldilocks Principles. Hence even the subject of parasites. These ideas haven't always been very popular, because it smacks of fine-tuning and the Earth being special and unique among other known planets and so forth. Broadly speaking, the Goldilocks Principle applies to any situation where only a particular range of conditions is acceptable or agreeable for a healthy ecosystem. The Earth's ability to perfectly recycle and maintain itself is now seriously being called into question. Here was an interesting read from just last week on this very subject:
After my last Crappy Attempt at a Post , I realized there was so much more to reveal about all manner of Nature's use of nutrient (poop) recyclers that play a part in the environment, and I'm not just referring to those ancient Megafauna guys. As with any ecosystem, for all the larger animals that exist within, there are literally hundreds or thousands of smaller biological recycling machines which break down even further what the big guys leave behind. On the subject though of Mountain Beavers, I had never really known about them until I read a post by the guy who runs the Nature of Man blog with the article Boomer the Bulldozer where he posted a few great videos of the Mountain Beaver movements in it's natural habitat. The behavior looks very much like a large gopher from the video I watched, but clearly there are differences and their appearance does resemble that of a small beaver. But unlike mostly underground dwelling Gophers, these guys climbs trees and accomplish other interesting feats in what is mostly moist habitat. The best info on them I found was from the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. On their website, they have a section, "Living with Wildlife". with a page dedicated to the Mountain Beaver story.
Mountain beavers, also called 'boomers', are 12 to 14 inches long and resemble large, overgrown hamsters or tailless muskrats. They have small ears and eyes, short, rudimentary tails, and large curved front claws that are used for digging, grasping, and climbing. Mountain beavers live in moist forests, on ferny slopes, and are occasionally found in damp ravines in urban areas. Their worldwide range is the coastal lowlands and coastal mountains of southern British Columbia (from the Fraser Valley to the Cascade mountains), western Washington, western Oregon, and south into California. Most people , which includes me, don't know mountain beavers exist. The Mountain beavers are herbivores and eat a wide variety of plants which includes all above and below-ground parts of ferns, salal, nettles, fireweed, bleeding heart, salmonberry, brambles, dogwoods, vine maples, willows, alders, and conifers. Mountain beavers also eat rhododendrons and other ornamental perennials, shrubs, and trees. They eat all of their food at the location found, temporarily stored outside burrow entrances, or placed in caches inside burrow systems like the one below in the illustration.
(Drawing by Jenifer Rees.)
A cross section of a portion of a mountain beaver's burrow. Over time, their old nests, partially filled food pantries, and toilets are buried well below the surface, where the vegetation and droppings become fertilizer. Their burrow systems are most evident during the late spring and summer months when most of the digging and repairing is done. Usually there is newly excavated soil (sometimes called a "kick out") or freshly cut vegetation next to or within the entrance of a 6- to 8-inch diameter hole. The pile of vegetation of sticks also has the appearance of a Beaver Lodge. The presence of a mountain beaver (or other mammals using its tunnel system) can be recognized by the worn appearance of the tunnel floor and a lack or scarcity of spiderwebs at tunnel entrances. These Mountain beavers also serve an important function in nature owing to the amount of soil they move and the number of vacant burrows they leave behind for other wildlife. Over time, their old nests, partially filled food pantries and toilets, are buried well below the surface, where the vegetation and droppings become fertilizer. Now we come to the subject of Poop. Mountain beaver poop is seldom seen because they are normally deposited inside the burrow's tunnel system. Looking back up at that illustration, you'll see they have a special room for dropping deposits. If you find droppings, they are probably from another animal using the burrow. This ultimately adds to the underground fertilization of the forests and a healthy balanced Mountain Beaver population provides a measure of forest floor maintenance by weeding out too many tree or shrub seedlings. They themselves are also eaten by bobcats, coyotes, large owls, fishers, and occasionally cougars and bears. Weasels and mink eat young mountain beavers. So they play other roles in the food chain.
Rue Forest Contracting Inc.
Unfortunately, not all is well in Mountain Beaver world. The commercial Timber Industry of the Pacific Northwest absolutely hates them because they tend to go after the young delicate seedlings they just planted after raping the landscape by clear cutting. The Mountain Beavers are considered one of the biggest pests reforestation contractors and land owners have to deal with them by use of poisons which are labeled for use with the mountain beaver. However where poisoning isn't used trapping is the main way they control them. Like any other creature in any ecosystem, Mountain Beavers just do what they do. The major land disruption or disturbance by humans for the Earth's raw materials will also come ahead of most conservation efforts anyway. The average home owner as well has issues with the Mountain Beaver and like the Mtn Beaver's much maligned cousin, the Gopher, their important roles are often overlooked when an imbalance in the system created by Human's who may have dealt a heavy blow to the predatory population. Snakes, Bobcats, Coyotes etc. Even still, what an amazing animal for a healthy forested system maintenance.
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Shifting some gears to another subject within this same area
"Nine volunteers along with four Sound Salmon Solutions AmeriCorps Interns had fun chuckin’ chum in the Pilchuck Creek Basin! The Stillaguamish Tribe Hatchery provided the salmon after they were spawned out to be raised in the hatchery and released in Harvey Creek. Volunteers then got to do the fun and dirty work of flinging 120 chum salmon in the creek and surrounding forest. These carcasses will provide nutrients to keep the forest and ecosystem healthy, where there is no longer a chum run. Studies have found that not only do trees take in the marine derived nutrients salmon bring back from the ocean, but they are also essential to keeping a healthy forest ecosystem. The event was a lot of fun, and Sound Salmon Solution’s was glad to spend time with volunteers flinging fish. Thank you to our brave volunteers! For more information on the importance of carcass distribution check out our previous post, Flingin’ Fish in the Stilly."
The article above came out from the Sound Salmon Solutions volunteers to fling dead rotted Salmon carcasses up mountainsides and hills on both sides of river banks. The idea was to bring back from the Pacific Oceans nutrients that at one time were hauled up into forests by large Bears who caught and ate the Salmon's choice parts, but left most of the carcasses deep within the forest to break down and provide nutrients for the trees. Of course, along comes that human interference and all such recycling comes to an abrupt halt. Hence the Salmon Flingers volunteers do what the Bears once did. Hauling dead fish carcasses up a hillside in large raincoats is the latest in weekend Eco-Activities. Well, good for them and I'm glad somebody is pointing these ecosystem nutrient deficiency problems out. But seriously, do people really want an artificial world where they are responsible for doing what numerous components of natural organisms once accomplished for maintaining a healthy Earth ? I know the Hollywood gang rolls out a lot of morbid entertainment sci-fi flicks which depict a bunch of post doomsday holocaust survivors in a bizarre environment trying to scratch out a living, but who really wants that ? I don't. But that's where things are heading. It's as crazy as some of the crackpot Climate Change schemes, which demand no real change in the Human behavioral issues that have messed things up in the first place. Rather, they provide a solution for counteracting the bad effects of flawed science-based human technology. There is a great documentary called, "The Magic Forest", and it hits hard on this nutrient recycling issue and how our Natural World is more mutualistically tied together as opposed to the old archaic ideologically driven belief of a "Survival of the Fittest" scenario. And yet, more and more findings are revealing otherwise. Especially is this evident as whole entire ecosystems are being gradually stripped down and dismantled of their necessary components one by one in a sort of perverted reverse engineering exercise. Suddenly, things which were held as of little value are found to be extremely important. The only survival of the fittest game I've ever witnessed is the way human beings treat each other. This video documentary is almost an hour long, but well worth the time to view if you can bookmark it for later.
Here are some research paper references for those more inclined at reading and studying, though I realize this to is a dying trend as well. Nevertheless, here they are.
Just some concluding comments about where this system is headed
Well, other than presenting time and again some interesting facts of what the real Science of wonder and discovery[Industrial Corporate Science not included] are revealing to us about our natural world and dismantling of old outdated paradigms, how do you reach the hearts of an otherwise disconnected and out of touch Public on the dire situation facing this planet's ability to continue to function for the benefit of all living things on it ? For me illustrations from familiar situations seem to always be the best method. Most ecosystems around the planet have seriously over time had their various mechanical components disrupted in one way or another. In some cases, major components have been completely obliterated. This has been exceptionally accelerated in the past one hundred years as we approach 2014. I use this date counting backwards as it was also used by Austrian Forester, Viktor Schauberger, who before his death and looking back, made an emphatic statement of how the Earth's environmental ruin beginning with World War I onward. He said it was a turning point in history and he was absolutely correct in more ways than he ever have possibly known back at that time.
So perhaps I can illustrate the extreme severity of the situation by comparing the Earth to a top of the line best engineered Automobile ever designed. At least most people in the Industrial Nations will relate to this. How far and how long would it take such a well put together automobile to come to an abrupt stop after being gradually dismantled bit by bit and piece by piece ? You could start out small with miscellaneous nuts and bolts here and there, nothing major and certainly no noticeable effect on the performance of the vehicle. Removing things that have mostly to do with comfort [seats, windows, etc] and decor [trim, ornamentation, hub caps, etc] would not necessarily hinder engine performance, but it would take away that aesthetic appeal it once originally had that made it so attractive. Gradually you could remove things like mirrors, bumpers, emergency hand parking brake, etc and even though the actual performance of the engine has in no way been hindered, there are now clearly some safety concerns for all occupants. And it's these safety features that are now missing in Nature that have really accelerated more so in the past 100 years. But now that the doors are completely missing, windshield is busted out, no hood nor trunk lids remain, we can now focus attention on the dismantling of the engine compartment itself. How much could you remove from this compartment before all function is compromised ? Well, you could start by removing altogether the climate control apparatus like the Air Conditioner and Heater components, but you've further compromised your comfort zone, especially is this serious since the destination is so long as far as travel goes. This clearing could endanger the health of the driver and passengers since at times the journey does travel through extreme weather events. No matter though, at least the engine still functions. I know, it sounds crazy, but that is where we are today.
Unfortunately, the unscientific & illogical solutions being presented don't actually offer any reversal of the irresponsible behavior that has brought us thus far. The totally irresponsible incompetence of our automobile's maintenance record on this journey is now almost like us being out in a remote middle of nowhere scenario. We now find we have a few mechanical issues that need taking care of and we are unfortunately at the mercy of the mechanical expertise found only at Ralph's Garage. This fly by night pseudo-mechanic tells us we don't need that inline electrical fuel pump which feeds the engine the needed petrol for continued forwards motion. He bypasses the manufacturer's instruction manual which explains how things should actually function and how to replace those worn out parts with genuine Factory parts. He ignores the chapter on how to rebuild the system as the system was originally designed and tells us he can Jerry-rig a contraption from old bicycle parts and how the person in the passenger seat can run the new pump manually which will also feed fuel into the system and run the car's engine. I know this sounds ludicrous, but that's exactly where we are now with some of the idiocy being presented for reversing climate change and ecological ruin. Some of the solutions being fed to the public by the very leadership that is supposed to be the specialists in their respective fields are just as insane as my automobile scenario. Seriously, look at some of their Eco-Solutions
Google the Video Clip on your own
One of the best movies scenes of all time that describes the thinking and reasoning of this world's leadership regarding how dire things really are here for the Earth is the movie scene where John Candy tries explaining the melted speedometer to the police officer and why the fact that the Car still moves and barely operates is no problem in the movie - "Plains, Trains and Automobiles" - Seriously, if nothing else, you need to watch just that one entire scene. It's hilarious, unlike the true life situation regarding our planet Earth. I can't find a good link here in Sweden for you as it won't play for me here, so you'll have to Google it for yourself. You'll know exactly what I'm talking about as you watch and compare it to the topic of climate change and those who find no real sense of urgency as to where the Earth is headed. If you really want to live in a futuristic Sci-Fi world where artificial nutrient recycling like fish flopping in the Woods and genetically modifying organisms to eat CO2s get released into the environment to counteract irresponsible behavior, then follow the present world leadership. If you'd rather be educated through the instruction manual on how Nature actually works and how human behavior needs to change, then the change has to begin with you, then your family, then friends, neighbours, community and so forth. This is not an endorsement to angry violent activism, it's just some common sense wake up call advice. Again, just for added emphasis, the first thing you need to do is get yourself educated. Getting a great education also requires generous amounts of time spent in outdoor experience. Reading books by others and wearing a white coat in an otherwise disconnected Lab won't cut it here. Then from that education and personal hands on experience make the practical applications necessary from what you've learned in rebuilding Nature's various complex mechanical components within your own garden, landscape or Habitat Restoration Project. Help reboot the Earth's natural maintenance mechanisms as opposed to sitting back and accepting the science fictional proposals by Industrial Science and the world's inept though perhaps well meaning political leadership which offer nothing but keep the Earth on Artificial Life Support. How you personally proceed from this point forward of course is your business.
