Tardigrades: pioneers in creating a new Earth ?

I've always thought that if ever I got hold of some land again for home & plant ecosystem development, I'd choose a blank canvas one!

 images and content © by Shuwen Lisa Wu

http://www.shuwenwu.com - Borrego Badlands - San Diego County

The view above is a photograph taken by Shuwen Lisa Wu who has a passion for taking beautiful photograph landscapes. Her husband Alexander Kunz is likewise a very talented landscape photographer. I really like this one because it's a scene I've admired from many angles most of my adult life when exploring Anza Borrego. The view is from the Borrego Badlands towards what looks to be the Fish Creek Mountains with Whale Peak to the right. This is also where the Plaster City Gypsum Mine is located along the canyon bottom of Fish Creek (which no longer has fish). Beyond here is Imperial Valley farmland with Salton Sea on the left hand side in the distance. Then just in the distance on the lower horizon before the farmland are the low rise of sandy mesquite dunes of Superstition hills if you know here to look. Still, this landscape looks to be a challenge not only for humans, but even for nature to reclaim and rebuild with regards whole plant ecosystems. What intrigues me about this area is that much of the signage and literature describing the origins of these corrugated hills is that the material is not native soil from the Mountains that tower over them from the west, nor coastal California, but rather material scoured from the Grand Canyon itself. Even the tops of these mountains north of the town of Ococtillo have a plethora of different sea shell. Thiis is clearly something that ancient freshwater Lake Cahuilla never put there. But that's for another story. I mainly posted the photo for the challenge it would take to encourage and create a combination native desert-subtropical landscape which could transform such a bare geological pattern into something all other  life could thrive in. But then suddenly the other day, I saw this article in the online journal VOX in the news feed about a cute little microscopic critter called the Tadigrade

VOX: Tardigrades — the microscopic, oddly cute toughest animals on Earth — explained

Credit: Eye of Science/SPL)

A tardigrade (Macrobiotus sapiens)

They are also known by a common name of Water Bears. Here are some of the main points (there are six main points), which I'll list, but mostly expand on point #3. Here is the first one.

1) First things first: Tardigrades are uncannily cute

My comment, 'Yes they are' now lets move on. You can read the further details from the link above.

2) Tardigrades can transform into tuns — allowing them to survive just about anywhere

Definitely an interesting section. Found absolutely everywhere through the Earth in every ecosystem. Tough buggers to kill, but that's a good thing as they are important to our planet's health. They have been burned, frozen, drowned, starved, subjected to lack of water and even nuked in outspace and they still survived.

animation - wallippo.com

Yes, tough buggers to Nuke even in Outerspace

#3) Tardigrades are often the first to pioneer new ecosystems

Source VOX: Tardigrades — the microscopic, oddly cute toughest animals on Earth

"Byron Adams, a Brigham Young University biologist, explains that tardigrades often are the first to colonize new, harsh environments. They act as the founding links in food chains."   

An example: "When a volcano erupts, and molten lava pours over everything in the ecosystem, everything in that ecosystem is dead," he writes in an email. "Tardigrades are among the very first multicellular animals to colonize. The tardigrades feed on the microbes that live in this environment. The tardigrades, in turn, accumulate the essential elements for life — such as nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus -- that then allowplants and other life forms to move in." 

And that's always fascinated me. How does life moved back into areas which have been totally obliterated ? I think it's safe to say that after a massive volcanic eruption, pretty much all life including microbes are toast. And yet life moves back in stages. But which comes first ? The last thing I ever thought of were Tadigrades or Water Bears. Yet from the VOX article's description they can withstand almost everything. Even a sanitized landscape created by volcanoes.

image - expedia.com

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

"Adams has conducted fieldwork in Antarctica, studying how melting permafrost will impact the microscopic ecosystem there. Because tardigrades are ubiquitous, they're likely to play a role in how the Antarctic continent changes with a warming climate."   

"They set the stage for other organisms," Adams tells me on a static-filled phone call from Antarctica. "They created the niches in which other more complex organisms . . "

Yes they sure do set the stage for other life forms to move in. Even harsh desert climates like the one below in northern Sonora Mexico and Southwestern Arizona east of Yuma. Funny, I'm now picturing these guys laying dormant within the desert's biological soil crusts, just waiting for the right moment to do their job. But biological soil crusts are another one of those ecosystems which get no respect.

(Foto por Leonora Torres)

El Pinacate Biosphere Reserve - Sonora, Mexico

Not long ago I wrote an article about this area above called El Pinacate which is located southeast of Yuma Arizona and just across the border in Sonora, Mexico. The region is a National Park or Reserve in Mexico. It is a former explosive volcanic field where at one time the landscape was remolded into a sterile sanitized state. But things came back and do live here and more abundant things thrived here back in history as evidenced from Packrat middens found here. Things like Pinyon and Juniper trees. They are extinct from here today. But then there was a climate change and the Water Bears just have to wait. Here was that post that dealt with how Saguaros also benefit from Volcanic explosions which originate from clear around the other side of the globe.

Distant Volcano eruptions help Saguaro Nursery baby booms ?

image - greenme.it

What's left of Krakatoa Volcano whoch blew it's top  in 1883

One of the most spectacular displays of destruction and obliteration of all life came in 1883 on the larger island of Krakatoa in Indonesia. The island had the appearance of true sterility and yet life came back. No doubt Tadigrades or Water Bears went to work immediately in the restoration process before the obvious physical appearance of plants into the new ecosystem.

4) Tardigrades may be "stealing" survival secrets from other bacteria

Interesting quote here from the article in Vox. This goes a long way in explaining how these creatures engineer themselves to adapt into any environmental circumstances. This is hardly dumb luck based on copying errors, but rather brilliant programming:

"One of the most tantalizing possibilities is that tardigrades may take DNA from bacteria and other organisms — perhaps even acquiring new abilities in the process."   

"When tardigrades go into tun mode, Bartels explains, a bit of their DNA gets damaged. When they wake up, that DNA is stitched back together. What biologists are now investigating is whether foreign DNA from bacteria or other organisms can hitch along as the tardigrade DNA gets repaired."   

"If so, this may explain how tardigrades developed their remarkable survival skills —they essentially steal them from bacteria."

Again, this stuff is fascinating. (epigenetics) Viewing Nature from a engineered biological perspective makes it far easier the replicate as opposed to dumb luck and happenstance. Much of the present day technological innovation and land management practices have been based on grossly erroneous dogmatic beliefs such as "Survival of the Fittest." If this were untrue, our planet would not look the way it does presently. Science now knows (possibly too late) that various components (plants, animals, birds, fish, microbes, etc) are in reality mutualistic in survival cooperation with each other. Man's inhumanity to fellow man centuries prior to this discipline called "Science" actually coloured how the natural world was viewed 100+ years ago. I really don't think most people understand how degenerative flawed human thinking and conduct was when creating the institution of Science and Academia. Over a century of this so-called enlightenment and look where our planet is today. Can you imagine the different turn out of events if real biomimicry was undertaken back before the industrial revolution ? 

4) Just about anyone can discover new tardigrade species

Yes, apparently anyone can do this. Their common habitat is mosses and lichens. Hmmm, this makes me think of Desert Biological Soil Crusts and dormant Tadigrades just waiting to go to work.             

 (See: Biological Soil Crusts: What Are They and Why Should I Care ?)                  

Carleton College has a handy field guide to help greenhorns find tardigrades. Just six easy steps!

1. Collect a clump of moss or lichen (dry or wet) and place in a shallow dish, such as a Petri dish.   

2. Soak in water (preferably rainwater or distilled water) for 3-24 hours.   

3. Remove and discard excess water from the dish.   

4. Shake or squeeze the moss/lichen clumps over another transparent dish to collect trapped water.   

5. Starting on a low objective lens, examine the water using a stereo microscope.   

6. Use a micropipette to transfer tardigrades to a slide, which can be observed with a higher power under a compound microscope.

(Source & Very Kool Link)

6) Did we mention they're oddly cute?

Yes you did. Now let's move along.

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Some concluding reflection & various other Comments

photo by Terry Weiner - Desert Protective Council

 Slot Canyons in Calcite Mine Area of the Desert Cahuilla Area

See this photo above ? I once made a comment under the post on the Desert Protective Council's Facebook page about creating a green living desert landscape in such places which are usually nothing more than sand rock & mud. I got hammered by the Admin of that page and her followers who took offense to what they believed was my attempt at interfering with Nature. That was never my point at all. On most social media sites, people don't often read another person's entire response or even ask you to clarify what you meant. Sometimes I think people on social media are looking for an excuse to display self-righteous indignation or some sort of emotional outrage. But seriously, below here is the exact conversation which took place in 2012 and you can google it on the Desert Protective Council Facebook page. 

"Some people see a wasteland. I see potential . . "

 Admin Response:

"Timeless, we should talk off-line! TW"

Other member response:

"Timeless, that attitude worries me. Raw nature doesn't need 'improvement'. They ARE wildlife paradises for the organisms that live there."

Once again, I did attempt to give a further explanation of what I actually meant. I assumed they thought I was talking human development. I wasn't. Unfortunately the explanation was ignored as there were no further comments. This is a common attitude and behaviour these days with many in the environmental movement who view being eccentric and easily offended as a badge of honor. I seriously don't get this behaviour. Being overly sensitive over every little thing said and taking offense over trivial viewponts are the new abnormal in our world now. This narrow minded tunnel vision reminds me of something Paul Newman's character, "Butch Cassidy," said to Robert Redford's character, "Sundance Kid." Remember this line & the scene where they were riding back to their hide out, "Hole in the Wall" ???:

image - pinterest.com

That always was an awesome line. If you recall, Newman's character Butch wasn’t exactly the toughest guy in the 'Hole in the Wall Gang" [think Logan], and he wasn't even the fastest gun either [think Sundance], but like Robert Redford (Sundance) responded, “You just keep thinkin’, Butch. That’s what you’re good at.” And he was right, Butch always seemed to manage to out-think almost everyone else around him, and that was what gave him the edge in his keeping his leadership. Frankly, I'm not an owner of a much coveted credentialed title before my name, nor do I have alphabet soup initials (PhD, BS, MS, etc) after my name on some business card. Nope, I'm not credentialed and I'm proud of that. But I've been intrigued most of my life since the early 1960s on how nature really works and what biological mechanisms make nature succeed against sseemingly impossible  odds. That's my answer to the conventional science promoting critics. My response to critics is similar to how Butch took care of Logan by outsmarting him by not playing on his level. Well, figuratively speaking of course..

image: Arizona Geologist, Wayne Ranne

The photograph above was taken in India by Northern Arizona Geologist, Wayne Ranne. The trees are many species of Acacia and one species of native Mesquite tree from India. I even referenced this Sand Dune Acacia woodland in my post on my biomimicry concept of replacing non-native and invasive Tamarisk Windbreaks with real world right in front of you (bite you if it were a rattlesnake) natural barriers commonly found in the Imperial County deserts. The post was about (Mesquite Dune Project) in which physical soil and rock structures could be built and planted with countless varieties of southwestern native desert trees like Palo Verde, Desert Ironwood, Mesquite, pockets of California Fan Palms here and there. Can you imagine the mile after mile windbreak baarriers comprised of living native desert whole plant ecosystems not only helping keep nature intact, but acting as real world physical barriers which prevent agricultural field desiccation on a massive scale which would save water ? Not to mention these deeply rooted (meters deep) native desert trees would never need irrigation.

Update March 26, 2017 TED Ed

Can you imagine if I were to suggest rebuilding desert plant ecosystems on the backs of the eastern Imperial Valley, Algodone Dunes ? The Desert Protective Council would hold a public hanging in Glamis. Okay, just kidding! The only thing I could figure was that they were thinking I wanted to develop something like the Palm Springs type of construction setting below. Puleeeze, that would be the last thing I'd want or ever do. There's way too much of that now.

Image - Conestoga Golf Club 

But the dream of having a landscape as a blank canvas is still so appealing to me. The idea of starting from scratch and building slowly along with just enough knowledge and information on various step by step biological mechanisms and just enough tweaking here and there to reasonably speed things along responsibly. I've never pointed this out before, but the theme of this blog, "Earth's Internet," is not exactly the internet address I chose. Notice what the address bar says up above here ? "Creating a New Earth" followed by blogspot.com. That is taken from a biblical text at Isaiah 65:17 which I always found refreshing:

"I’m creating new heavens and a new earth. All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain are things of the past, to be forgotten."

Most people who claim to be Christian do not even believe in the above text. From talking to many, they believe their creator of the Earth is going to destroy it in a firey apocalypse. Apparently their hope is some other deminsion of space and time called Heaven. I've never really had a desire to go to such a place. No offesnse. I've always loved the Earth and the natural things in it. The idea of living on such a wonderful planet [minus all the insaneness of human leadership and social unrrest at present], has always appealed to me far more. Now on an interesting nore, there are many other famous well known biblical texts which are not respected either by those who claim to believe in the Bible's content. Take another example from Isaiah 2:4. Seriously, how many of you reading here actually knew that this very well known text is on a monument wall outside the United Nations building under a very famous statue:

"Then they will beat their swords into iron plows     and their spears into pruning tools. Nation will not take up sword against nation; they will no longer learn how to make war."

Image - Lotus Edtions

Image - un.org

You should know that this, "Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares" statue was sculpted by Yevgeny Vuchetich. It was donated to the UN by of all ideologies, the USSR in 1959. The sculpture stands in the garden of the UN headquarters.   Now, you all know I'm right on this. Can anyone reading actually name one single country on Earth that does follow this biblical admonition ? Not only are there no religious countries who do, but also not one single secular atheistic country who practices this other than the proverbial lip service. Seriously folks, don't tell me about how both Switzerland or Sweden have always been on the neutral sidelines. Nobody historically has ever been truly neutral. Now let's fast forward to the present. Does anybody really want to actually remember and embrace the year 2016, let alone the coming year 2017 ??? In all my 60 years of life I've never seen such an insane crazy year as this on every conceivable level. Socially, politically, religiously, economically, and environmentally things are headed towards ruin by human beings from every single culture, not God.

FreakingNews.com

So has anybody seen one single mighty nation take even one of their Aircraft Carriers and turn it into a Golf Course ??? Yeah, me neither. In 1982 I moved from the San Diego area to a high mountain valley called Anza which is just north of this Borrego Badlands area. I loved this rugged area of beauty. It use to be more beautiful. Not only from a standpoint of my research of historical first hand accounts written in journals 100s of years ago, but even in my own lifetime experience. Over time I've particularly watch entire whole plant ecosystems completely disappear from Borrego. I suppose the other appeal was the lack of other humans in such areas. Can you imagine what Juan Bautista de Anza and Fray Pedro Font would say if they could eyewitness the dramatic changes of today in contrast to the pristine wild landscape they both described back in 1775-76 ?

image by Arno Gourdol (Dec 22, 2008)
Borrego badlands from Font's Point

Yeah, I still want my blank Canvas. Tardigrades are clearly  just another piece of the puzzle in accomplishing an earthwide rebuild. But I think I'll take my time in making changes ever so gradually. After all, that's what makes the idea and promise of living forever so appealing. I will admit one additional construct on my blank canvas. Remember the Faux Van Damme house in that Alfred Hitchcock film "North By Northwest" ? I'd somehow incorporate that into my landscaped setting. Seriously, I've always loved that house's design even though the place was never real and only part of a movie set. Maybe Frank Lloyd Wright would help me when he comes back ? *smile*

Image - hookedonhouses.net

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Further reference reading on Tadigrades

VOX: Tardigrades — the microscopic, oddly cute toughest animals on Earth — explained

http://tardigrade.weebly.com/facts.html

Articles I've written on the area above called San Felipe Creek which has slowly crept towards balnds status

Anyone Really into Using Google Earth ? San Felipe Creek (2013) 

Scissors Crossing & San Felipe Creek Revisited (2014)

List of posts about the Spanish Expedition as authored by Juan Bautista de Anza & Fray Pedro Font

I'll ponder posting these. But for now there is plenty of material to read 

Distant Volcano eruptions help Saguaro Nursery baby booms ?

The Ideal Baby Saguaro Cacti Tree Nursery

Image - Kathleen Ferris - City of Phoenix, Arizona

John & Heidi @ StatusGo

The prime nursery habitat for growth and development of a baby Saguaro is supposed to be under a Palo Verde or Mesquite tree. Although as you can see here in the photo at right, a small saguaro can be found nestled under a bursage nursery plant. This one here is supposed to be 25 years old, though it's certainly small for that age. There appears to be a number of ecological & climatic variables which can either help  or hinder in the development of a baby Saguaro. I miss the deserts southwest and yes, I still freak people out here in Scandinavia when I mention missing deserts. Their opinion of deserts is that nothing if anything good lives there, it's hot & hostile with a plethora of things which will stick you, stab you and bite you. Nurse Tree facilitation is an important ecological process whereby these woody plant protégé species (mentors like Palo Verde & Mesquite) enhance the growth and survival of their understory apprentice species. Without this relationship, the Saguaros would almost never exist on their own in many areas. But then this is true of most life on Earth which thrives by means of mutualism. And yet there appear to be acceptions to this rule as a new study references volcanes with extremely huge eruption events which can trigger a temporary global cooling trend coupled with heavier than normal rainfall years. More on that later. First let's understand how those baby Saguaros [which at germination look like helpless miniature succulents] make a go of it under harsh desert conditions. 

Image - Mine (June 2016)

Image - Mine (June 2016)

My wife and I visited the Tucson-Sonora Desert Museum this past June 2016. We were fortunate enough to see all of the Saguaros in most of Arizona actually in bloom. Not only still blooming, but also ripening fruits which were split open and being fed upon by Doves, Cactus Wrens, Sparrows, etc. Even Arizona Cardinals. Now after all that dining and given the usual rapid digestion birds have, it is clear they would be flying from shrub to shrub and desert tree to desert tree and as they do, they'd take a poop. That poop would contain all the Saguaro seeds which would hit the ground and later be triggered to germinate once the first monsoonal thunderstorms move in north from Mexico. 100s, maybe 1000s of seed germinate with only a handful of them being able to survive. Take note below of the many different bird species which love the Saguaro Cacti fruits. Also take note that many of them also love the Saguaro flowers as did many insects we saw at the Museum. Apparently it's not only the Mexican Fruit Bat that pollenize them. Another etched in stone paradigm regarding insistence of how some plants replicate and spread themselves bites the dust. The scientific consensus as approved by the prevailing Orthodoxy won't like this.

Image - Margarethe Brummermann (June 2014)

http://arizonabeetlesbugsbirdsandmore.blogspot.se

The obvious result would be years later a few of the Saguaros seedlings would be successful enough to make it on their own, eventually to outlive the mother tree Blue Palo Verde which may only live 50 or 60 years. Easy for a 150+ year old Saguaro to outlast.

Image - Saguaro National Park

Image - James Brooks

Of course the obvious conclusion here is that not long after all manner of desert birds dine on the juicy ripe and luscious Saguaro fruits, they need to go poop later. They generally do so within a tree or shrub's canopy. As is evident from the Palo Verde Nurse tree example above, a couple decades back some bird or birds used this tree as a roost and did their business. The immediate result was these little tiny ice plant looking things popped up by the 100s all over the place and then it was a simple numbers game for survival after that. Incredibly, it takes only a couple of days for germination to occur. I have also found this to be the same thing with regards other desert trees of the pea family like Palo Verde, Mesquite, Ironwood etc which often germinate during the wet monsoon season and develop rapidly thereafter. This is important that their genetic programming has such instructions for rapid development because in their preferred harsh environment there is only a small window of time before conditions change to one in which they could otherwise become toast. Below is a link to Southwest Cactus LLC live feed of a Cactus shade house nursery where various cacti seed are germinated.

https://www.facebook.com/HomeOfTheDreamDesertscapeDesign/videos/247746623154354/

Animation by KanyonKris

Facilitation or Competition - Which ?

Image - Gila Bend Shell Station

I've used this same animated illustration above many time before to illustrates the play of Hydraulic Lift & Redistribution. So it's logical that given desert trees like Mesquite, Paloverde & Ironwood perform the task of hydraulic life and redistribution of deep underground water to shallower rooted shrubs and perennial plants, it would be easy to assert the same benefit would apply to these young newly emerged Saguaro seedlings. This same pattern would also clearly help many to establish themselves over a period of years. Like one of my latest posts on Biomimicry on replication of companion planting found in nature, these trees are programmed to mutually cooperate for each other's success. Ignorance of this behavior or phenomena has done major harm in land management over the past 100+ years. The package at right I picked up at a Gila Bend Shell Truck Stop to plant back home here in Sweden. I'll keep things up to date on that. I've used this same long time Souvenir gift pack brand before and their seeds  germinate extremely well in the vermiculite mix provided. But on the fact about shaded light, when I first planted some of these back in the late 1980s, they looked identical to the seedling emergence you see a couple photo up on the right. After a month I thought that  perhaps desert plants instead of being in the shade and protection of my livingroom, just might enjoy life on the porch railing for about an hour in sunshine. It was morning and not at all hot. After an hour I brought them back inside and the next day I saw they had all been fried. Lost every single one of them. So I understood the Nurse plant protection thingy concept, but not out in far western Arizona where I saw Saguaros along Interstate 8 growing straight up out of bare desert varnish rock and lava fields. No mother trees or nurse plants, just barren high intense heat environment. So how does that work ? Take a look at the gallery landscape below of what I'm talking about.

Image - World Heritage Commitee - NordEnergiThe 37th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee made the decision to make the El Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve in Mexico the latest site to achieve World Heritage Status.

Image - Feargus Cooney

See, I can understand and relate to Nurse Plants or Mother Trees. Aside from the obvious shade factor provided for such a tender delicate Nursery for baby Saguaros from intense Summer heat, there is also the mechanisms of  "Hydraulic Lift and Redistribution" which provides valuable moisture brought up from subterranean sources, redistributes it through lateral roots further connected to an elaborate mycorrhial grid network no doubt plugged into the lateral root systems of young Saguaros. But in clearly moonscaped surface environments like the Pinacate Volcanic Lava fields which mostly lack pronounced Nurse Trees/Shrubs, how does establishment take place here ? I get the fact that seed germination happens anywhere  under good monsoonal rainfall events, germination is a matter of two days. But it's that critical three years of good luck and beyond that is the puzzle. This far western Arizona landscape is not the vibrant green living desert of of Tucson which is also strategically located right smack in the middle of the Monsoonal moisture superhighway. Look below at a few other examples of large Saguaro Cacti in areas far removed from the ideal Tucson Mesquite and Palo Verde forests and see that they actually thrive there. 

Photo by Leonora Torres

Saguaros in Lava fields of the Gila-Pinacate Biosphere Reserve

Image - Taly Drezner

Kofa National Wildlife Refuge - Yuma county, Arizona

Saguaro cacti are the tallest things standing at Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, near Yuma, Arizona. The cultural icon is a keystone species of the Sonoran Desert, serving as perch, nesting site, shelter, thermal refuge, and food for the birds and other animals in the desert ecosystem. So how do they establish themselves beyond the germination period ?

Image by Geologist Dan Lynch

Tecolote Volcano - Pinacate Volcanic Field

How Saguaro seed germination and establishment take place in areas where very little Nurse Trees & Shrubs are found and in a landscape that is basically volcanic fields with Desert Varnish. Remember, they start out life as an Iceplant mimic!

US Fish & Wildlife Serivce - Kofa National Wildlife Refuge

Here is a paragraph from the research done by Taly Drezner about the perfect location for the study of Saguaro seed germination and establishment within the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. It was the perfect place to study Saguaro survival under extreme conditions.

"To investigate her hunch, Drezner went to Kofa National Wildlife Refuge near Yuma, Arizona, where limited water pushes the physiological limits of the saguaro, to sample the age structure of the local cacti. Rainfall at Kofa is a third of other locations in the Sonoran. Cacti do not have rings, like trees, that make age simple to gauge. Drezner estimated the ages of 250 cacti based on meticulous calculations of local growth rates using a model she pioneered. She added data from 30 locations in the Northern Sonoran Desert and compared the generational cohorts of the cacti to climate datasets for the region and the annual Weighted Historical Dust Veil Index, an indicator of volcanism."

So the idea here is that volcanic events, like the eruption of the Mexican volcano, El Chichón in 1982, have a major impact on global climate cooling. Hences delicate Saguaro seedling survival in hotter areas without nurse plants or trees like western Arizona's Kofa Wildlife Refuge require something uniquely different as far as climatic circumstances. 

===========================

Now think in terms of  large  historical Volcanic eruption events ? 

Photo by 

So these volcanic eruption events tie in to Saguaro establishment successes ? Remember the 1982 eruption of El Chichón, the largest volcanic disaster in modern Mexican history. ? That powerful 1982 explosive eruption of high-sulfur and other particulates high into the upper atmosphere effected the global climate. The total volume of material from the El Chichón eruption was much smaller than the other infamous eruption of Pinatubo of the Philippines in 1991. That powerful eruption pumped enormous volumes of ash injecting significant quantities of aerosols and dust into the stratosphere. Sulfur dioxide oxidized in the atmosphere to produce a haze of sulfuric acid droplets, which gradually spread throughout the stratosphere over the year following the eruption. I remember how you could see these high atmospheric ring anomalies around both the sun and moon for two or three years. The effect was a cooling trend, hence references today by global leaders on geo-engineering projects to replicate what these volcanoes did to climate past, instead of actually stopping what cause the climate change. The Mexican Volcanic eruption coincided with an El Nino weather pattern we had in the early 1980s in the southwest which gave massive amounts of rainfall and flooding. I also remember the monsoonal thunderstorm events where stronger and more completely widespread as opposed to the usual isolated incidents common with Southwestern monsoons in Summer. So it's not under the realm of possibility that Saguaro establishment success was positive during a two or three year window period. Too bad this info was not available back then to research those years in the Kofa Mountain area. Here is what Taly Drezner further says on the subject:

"In the year after Krakatoa, summer temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere fell 1.2⁰C below average. The eruption violently disgorged tons of ash and sulfur dioxide gas into the stratosphere. Dust particles and sulfuric acid droplets rode winds through the upper atmosphere, conspiring in a haze that reflected sunshine and lowered global temperatures. Though not as disruptive as the “year without a summer” that followed the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815, Krakatoa’s influence was seen and felt around the globe in vivid sunsets and stormy weather.  Southern California experienced a “water year” of record rainfall. Sulfate aerosols in particular can hang out in the atmosphere for years, and Krakatoa released an unusual abundance of sulfur. Typical temperature and weather patterns did not recover for years. For the saguaro, the perturbations appear to have amounted to a collection of “just right” conditions for new growth."   

"I started noticing that these saguaro age cohorts followed notable volcanic eruptions,” said Drezner. “I knew that volcanoes drive milder summers and winters, and typically more rainfall for an extended period—two to three years after the event, which is a perfect window of time for the saguaro to get established and have a chance to survive."  

(Source)

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 My own personal concluding comments

Image - Mine (2011)

Image - Mine (2012)

I enjoyed the article on possible potential for notable large volcanic events spewing tonnes of ash, aerosols, etc into the upper Stratosphere and effecting global climate by means of a cooling trend over a period of three years. It certainly seems logical. My own experience with a 12" tall Saguaro brought to me by friends in Tucson from a Nursery (complete with offical Arizona State legal paperwork of ownership) I planted on Rattlesnake Mountain in El Cajon would seem to confirm the idea that Saguaro baby booms come with more favourable weather. The weather in El Cajon just a little ways east from San Diego & the Pacific Ocean definitely is a radical change from Arizona. I planted the little Saguaro on a south facing slope which was remote and where no one ever ventured. I never once watered it. Planting a Saguaro and watering can lead to root rot. Just place it in the soil and leave it alone. There is enough energy & water within the cacti to trigger root growth into the soil without the need for any extra outside water. Once the root system infrastructure is established, they will quickly suck up any water and refill the plant's lost storage capacity. From my own observation every year for seven years after planting, the plant grew a little over a six more inches that first year after rains came and over a foot a year thereafter. At it largest height, the Saguaro was almost seven foot tall. Then some idiots with guns decided to target practice. The cactus died back to the ground and formed a large healed scab even with the soil. Much to my surprise the cacti resprouted with two new competing central leaders the following year and the above picture my friend took of me standing next to it in 2011. I haven't been back there since, so I am not even sure it is still there given the fact that below that point the Sky Ranch Housing development people used chainsaws and destroyed some 30' tall Torrey Pines which were planted at the same time as the Saguaro. Still, the change in climate proved beneficial to Saguaro growth and it's later development. Aisde from more target practice, it's real danger now is fire. I mean it is located in coastal sage-scrub. But Saguaros are not the only mystery of Cacti establishment in full blown baking desert Sun without Nurse plants. This Anza Borrego Desert barrel cactus in the photo at right  is yet another example of success under extreme southern exposure conditions down in the Anza Borrego Desert where Summertime Temps are often 110+ Fahrenheit (40+ celsius).

Animated Illustration - Rockland Saguaros

The illustration above is a good guesstimate of probably how the average Saguaro grows under normal growing conditions in the Sonoran Desert. But there are clearly variables which break that rule. Some smaller Saguaros in the Kofa Wildlife Refuge in far western Arizona under less favourable growing conditions may well be as old as some towering 45' giants around Tucson. Still, as the National Park Service photo below reveals, there are clearly strategies for successes where no Nurse Tree is available.

Image - Saguaro National Monument

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Interesting Reading References:

ESA.com: Distant volcanic eruptions foster saguaro cacti baby booms

James Brooks: Arizona Saguaro Cactus - Sustainable, Seed-Grown Plants 

 AZGeology: Pinacate in stereo by Dan Lynch

Perhaps something else could have factored in the changes in the Southwest - maybe local Volcanism around the year 1000 C.E. - give or take a few hundred years or so either way ??? Okay, that's another post.

Time out for some Saguaro Cactus Humor!

Photo - Saguaro National Monument

Prickly Pear Cactus emerges from the top of a Saguaro Cactus

Anyone remember the comedy Sci-Fi film, "Men in Black" ? There was a scene in the Cafe where an alien contact was killed by this enemy Cockroach Alien and his body mistakenly went to the City Morgue before the MIB guys could clean up the incident. Field agent 'J' (Will Smith) and Forensics Lab Laurel (Linda Fiorentino) watch as the dead corpse's head opens to reveals a tiny alien creature with a dire warning, and 'K' (Tommy Lee Jones) has to erase Laurel's memory. Remeber "Orion's Belt" ??? This is the first thing I thought of when I saw this over at the Saguaro National Monument pages. Clearly this is another bird pooping incident out there in the wild somewhere, only this time Prickly Pear tunas.