Categories
Biodiversity Climate Change Conservation

Hope for Earth Day 2024

Today is Earth Day. After ten consecutive months in a row that smashed global temperature records, and in the midst of the 6th great extinction crisis, it may be hard to find reasons to celebrate Earth Day this year. Personally, I don’t believe despair is an option. So here is some hopeful news for this Earth Day.

Hope for Biodiversity

Around the world, scientists are working to understand and protect species at risk.

‘Zero plant extinction’ is possible

Writing in Trends in Plant Science, Richard Corlett notes that there is no reason for any plant to go extinct. Despite the fact that plant conservation gets less attention and money than animal conservation, we can save them all! Plants can be conserved in situ, in protected areas, and ex situ, in living collections, seed banks, or cryogenic storage. At least one option is available for all species that need it, but no single method works for all.

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Achieving zero plant extinction requires completing plant inventories, assessing the status of known species, digitizing all herbarium specimens with links to other resources in an online global metaherbarium, and developing separate recovery plans for each threatened species.

The major bottleneck is a shortage of skilled people. New technologies, machine learning, and citizen scientists can extend the reach of experts, but training and incentives are needed to increase their number.

Lawn Gone

Around the world, homeowners are challenging the convention of a “beautiful” uniform green lawn. It has become commonplace to see headlines like this one from a 2022 New York Times article: They Fought the Lawn. And the Lawn’s Done. Here in Canada, horticultural activists like Lorraine Johnson are fighting the monoculture lawn culture, and frequently winning. Even Ottawa recently changed its right of way bylaws last year to allow plantings of things other than turfgrass in these marginal areas. I’m very pleased that my councilor Theresa Kavanagh is so supportive of native plantings and community gardens.

Changing Aesthetics

A study in contrasts – traditional gardening on the left, with a more wildlife friendly garden on the right side of this semi-detached house. The intentional, mowed edge on the right creates a neat frame and is an example of “mullet” gardening. Photo by R. Last.

Mother Nature is not neat and tidy. Anyone who has looked closely at a “dead” log knows that life thrives in the midst of death. Nature recycles everything. When we embrace a neat and tidy gardening style, we often inadvertently eliminate habitat and kill small beneficial creatures. The monoculture lawn is a great example of what not to do to promote biodiversity. So I was thrilled to see that the World’s ugliest lawn competition made international headlines and is likely to become an annual event. Here’s to more “ugly” lawns!

Kathleen Murray, who won the world’s ugliest lawn competition, wears her prize T-shirt. She said people can feel pressured by neighbours into keeping their lawns well-watered.

You give me hope

As a volunteer with Master Gardeners of Ottawa-Carleton, my colleagues and I are on the front lines of the fight for home-based biodiversity. At a garden advice clinic held this past Saturday, almost all the questions were about what native plants work well in gardens and where to find them. If you’re asking yourself these questions, check resources from your local Master Gardener group, from wildlife organizations, such as the Canadian Wildlife Federation, and ask for native plants where you shop. The more of us that ask for native plants, the more the nursery trade will oblige.

From a Friends of the Farm lecture by Kelly Noel, Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

Hope for Climate Change

In 2007, I developed a talk on gardening with climate change. I update this talk almost every time I deliver it because climate science is changing so fast. Recently, I’ve been getting a lot more requests for this talk. These days, I often deliver it to senior’s groups, who feel empowered by the message that, as reliable voters, politicians listen to them. At one residence, several seniors decided to speak to the residence manager about using more recycled materials and less single use products.

Plaintiffs in the landmark climate change lawsuit arriving at the Lewis and Clark County Courthouse in Helena, Montana.

As Naomi Klein suggested in her 2014 book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate, it will take concerted action by all of us to move the status quo and save our planet. When governments fail to act, citizens can take them to court – and win! I take great hope from stories like this: Montana court rules for young people; and this: Top Europe court chides Switzerland in landmark climate ruling.

The EU decision on Switzerland is expected to set a legal precedent for other European states.

A green Fatwa

I also took a lot of hope from this NYT story by Sui-Lee Wee about Indonesia. Clerics in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, are issuing fatwas, retrofitting mosques and imploring congregants to help turn the tide against climate change.

Inspecting solar panels that provide electrical power to Istiqlal Mosque in December in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photograph by Ulet Ifansasti.

Hope for love

In a tribute to the resilience of Nature, let’s end with a story about new love for an old bird.

Wisdom, a Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) in her 70s, was spotted courting potential mates at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. (Image credit: USFWS Columbia Pacific Northwest).

Biologists on Midway Atoll in the North Pacific Ocean have spotted a septuagenarian female Laysan albatross named Wisdom flirting with potential mates months after the end of the nesting season. The female albatross, nicknamed Wisdom, is likely in her 70s. She was banded during the Eisenhower administration, and still has the band. What makes this story extra-sweet is that Wisdom’s lifelong mate apparently died recently.

Happy Earth Day!

Categories
Pollinators, Molluscs and Other Invertebrates Water

An Elephant for 2024 World Water Day

Today, I’m thrilled to welcome guest blogger Jochen Stocker, writing from Waldshut-Tiengen, Germany, to tell us about his innovative and efficient DIY watering system – the Water-Saving Elephant.

A 2023 visitor to Jochen’s balcony garden.

Hi!

My name is Jochen, I am from Germany, and I am working on how to transform my balcony into a pollinators paradise with creating a microhabitat and farming a bit. As our summers have often been hot and dry recently, especially on my sunny south-facing balcony, I also wanted to develop a low-tech, water-saving irrigation system so that I don’t have to water as much in future and use less valuable water.

2023: bee on red valerian.

Additionally, I wanted to develop a tool that’s easy to recreate, that also people who have only little space available, like balconies or streetcorners can create habitat to support their local environment, share their place with pollinators or additionally farming a bit. For this purpose I developed a tool with materials mainly from garbage and reusing what I already have on hand. This tool I would like to share with you.

It consists of a pallet garden with the plants over-hung by a watering can with drip hose for water-saving drip irrigation. The irrigation works only by the pressure of the height, without electricity. When I finished the construction, I looked at it and the construction reminded me a bit of an elephant. I also remembered the ability of desert elephants to find water and how valuable it is to them. That’s why I named my idea: “THE WATER-SAVING ELEPHANT”

Year 1: 2021

I started with 7 plants (Mealy Sage, Echinacea, Spearmint, Oregano, Catnip, Chives, Basil), which I knew from my observations that the insects in my area probably like. I am still experimenting but basically, I want something to bloom on my balcony throughout the season. Many thanks to Matthew Shepherd and Sierra Enright (Xerces Society) for the many good tips in this field of knowledge. This enabled me to take a deep dive into the world of invertebrates, their behavior, their habitats, plants, flowering phases, etc. My conclusion is that basically, even in urban space, every flower counts. Because I imagine: In the eyes of a bumblebee, even a small flower bed can be huge.

Year 1: seven plants to start.

Year 2: 2022

Already in the second year, it was a dream to see everything in bloom. Plants this year were: Echinacea, Spearmint, Oregano, Catnip, Chives, Basil, Red Valerian, and Tomato. It was and is fascinating how many different insects (to identify them, I use iNaturalist) I can now observe on my balcony: Butterflies, hoverflies, wild bees, moths and wonderful, tasty tomatoes, too! Everything blooms so beautifully — it’s like magic!

Year 2: visitor on white Echinacea.

Year 3: 2023

By year three, wonderful visitors included bees, butterflies and moths.

Since I started using this irrigation tool, I need significantly less water – 50% according to my observation. I think this is due to good “evapotranspiration” effects, mulch, drip irrigation and especially the slow percolation of the water. In this context, I received a nice and insightful feedback from an AAAS Community-Member Rajiv Angrish (Retired Professor Plant Biology, educator): “Drip irrigation is indeed interesting – your improvisation is an ingenious device for slow percolation, I must say. Here the water loss is directly proportional to the total evapotranspiration.”

Winter 2023, me at work on my snowy balcony.

Now it’s wintertime and I’m using the time to build “The water-saving Elephant 2”. This year I have grown a butterfly bush (Buddleja Davidii) & thyme for this purpose in a great pot. I would also like to plant the ‘Queen’, an Echinacea purpurea, in 2024. In the next step, I will also connect this pot to the irrigation system.

“The water-saving Elephant ” mini-garden is easy to build yourself. Anyone who wants to can use the idea and create habitat! All the best to you and of course: Let it bloom! Best regards,

Jochen Stocker, Waldshut-Tiengen, Germany

DIY in 5 Steps

1. Garden Bed Frame

  • Pallets, here small ones,from construction site waste. (Maybe you can find another container, like a tin tub, a big pot or a retro bathtub. Then you don’t need to build the bed and you’ll be done even faster ;-).
  • Bubble wrap or something similar.
  • Nails or tacks to attach the bubble wrap to the pallets.

2. Garden Bed Soil

  • Regionally sourced potting soil or self-produced compost.
  • Locally produced mulch.
  • Branches, leaves etc. to go underneath the soil.

3. Irrigation

  • Old watering can or comparable water dispenser.
  • Drip hose with end piece (some nurseries have remaining stocks, otherwise in the hardware store/garden center).
  • Duct or Tuck tape. Note, this may drip slightly after attaching the drip hose/watering can, thus watering the middle of the pallet garden. Alternatively, you lay the drip hose so that it is evenly distributed in the bed, for example, like an auger. It depends on the size and shape of your bed.
  • Metal pegs or garden staples to fix drip hose in the ground.
  • Branch or upright support to attach watering can at a height above the bed sufficient to generate water pressure using gravity, not electricity.

4. Evapotranspiration

  • It is now no longer a problem not to water for a few days. The plants remain healthy.
  • I still have to learn to understand the science behind it better.

5. Choose your plants

  • Of course, you choose your own plants.
  • Look at your local native vegetation and observe which plants attract the most visitors. (In North America, work by Douglas Tallamy may guide your choices.)
  • Chose plants appropriate to your climate zone and location: sun, partial shade, shade.
Categories
Children Citizen Science Miscellany

St Patrick’s Day Plant Stories

Here are a few stories in honour of the “greenest” holiday in our calendar.

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay.

How Clover Became Irish

Photo credit from RDNE Stock Project on Pexels.

A few years back, Rachel E. Greenspan wrote a piece for Time on how clover became the symbol for all things Irish. “It’s a national emblem,” says Mike Cronin, a historian, professor and the academic director of Boston College’s program in Dublin. The three-leaf clover, a type of trefoil plant, has been considered the unofficial national flower of Ireland for centuries. Irish legend says that Saint Patrick used the shamrock as an educational symbol to explain the Holy Trinity to nonbelievers as he converted the Irish to Christianity in the fourth century. This folklore solidified in the public conscience in the centuries after Patrick’s death (which is presumed to have happened on March 17). Around the 17th century, Cronin says, the shamrock’s importance began to converge with religious celebration of the saint’s feast day. Those living in poverty still wanted to look nice at church, and luckily for them, an appropriate adornment was growing on the ground outside their homes.

This shamrock plant’s roots go back 115 years

Shamrock plant that is an offshoot of the original, which came from bulbs, or corms, brought over by ship from Ireland and given to Isabel Murphy on her wedding day in 1906. (Hallie Cotnam/CBC)

In 2021, Hallie Cotnam reported for CBC Ottawa on a family heirloom Irish shamrock plant. Originally given as a wedding gift in 1906, this shamrock plant has been divided, pruned and nurtured by the McGee family, who live in Barrhaven, for over a hundred years. Walter McGee says it’s a nice reminder of a shared heritage. Curiously the flower shown in the article more closely resembles the flower of an Oxalis plant, rather than the classic leguminous flower of a clover plant. Descendants of the original plant have now been shared with over twenty members of the family, so the future of this genetic stock is assured.

Bringing back Ireland’s forests

Credit: AI-generated image (disclaimer).

Despite its green image, Ireland has surprisingly little forest, just 11% compared to the European average of around 35% forest cover. It was not always thus.Thousands of years ago, more than 80% of the island of Ireland was covered in trees. Over many centuries they were chopped down to make way for fields and pasture and by 1925, only 1% was forested. The only trees that remained were on land that was unsuitable for any type of agriculture. Many of the trees replanted were destined for forestry, so fast-growing, non-native species like Sitka spruce were favoured over indigenous trees. Grants to farmers have failed to achieve the Republic of Ireland’s target of 18% forest cover. Author O’Hagan Luff notes several design flaws in the grant system. For example, landowners must pledge to retain reforested in perpetuity – a “negative nudge” for those who might seek more flexibility in land management. Furthermore, the grants assume reforested areas will be harvested for timber, so they are typically only paid for 15 to 20 years. That’s way too short a time for anyone seeking to reestablish a mixed hardwood forest. O’Hagan Luff is developing a score card to attempt to value different types of woodlands, based on the ecosystem services they provide.

The goal of this research, by the Forest and FOR-ES projects at Trinity College Dublin, is to estimate the total value of trees in financial terms based on the value of all of their main benefits: carbon capture, impact on water and soil quality, value as timber, or as amenities, and their ability to support a variety of other plants and wildlife. The goal is to develop better designed subsidies for reforestation that will support a range of goals, including habitat for wildlife and carbon sequestration.

St. Patrick’s Day Inspired Science

Several sites offered a range of easy experiments to help kids learn science while enjoying St. Patrick’s Day:

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all!

Image from Unsplash+ in collaboration with Natalia Blauth.
Categories
Women in Science

2024 Women in Plant Science

Today being International Women’s Day, it’s high time we looked as some of the many women scientists who have improved our lives and gardens over the years.

Kew’s Women of the Wild

This time last year, Kew featured a story that profiled six of its women scientists. Working in South Africa, Madagascar and all over the UK, these women are saving plants on the brink, adding vital seeds to the Millennium Seed Bank and leading troops of volunteers on our community allotments, come rain or shine.

The MSBP-SANBI team: Thembeka, Ntsakisi, Naomi, Victoria, Fergy, Sibahle © SANBI

One of the six stories focused on the all-woman team from Kew partner organization, the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) who are fighting South Africa’s succulent poachers. As author Ellie Wilson writes, “Collecting seeds in South Africa is not for the faint-hearted. This all-woman team holds their nerve against police demanding bribes, strenuous mountain climbs, fieldwork far away from anywhere, and tense encounters, all in the name of conservation.”

Heidi Kühn wins 2023 World Food Prize

Image courtesy of AgriAmerica.

Heidi Kühn received the $250,000 prize for her work to replace mines with vines in post-conflict regions over more than 25 years. Kühn is a humanitarian and peace activist who has spent more than 25 years restoring agriculture in former conflict zones. Her farmer-focused development model revitalizes farmland, food security, livelihoods and resilience after devastating conflict. Kühn founded the nonprofit Roots of Peace in 1997 to replace the remnants of war with farmland. The organization also trains farmers in modern agricultural practices, from planting and harvesting to marketing through international exports.

(See also: Heidi Kühn Announced as 2023 World Food Prize Winner).

Following the footsteps of Elizabeth Kerr

The author, Juliana Soto, with a sooty ant tanager, Habia gutturalis. Soto is a graduate student in the U. of I. Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology and a Research Assistant at the Illinois Natural History Survey. (All birds were caught and manipulated in accordance with permits.). Credit: Natalia Ocampo Peñuela

In a lushly illustrated story from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Juliana Soto writes how she and her Colombian colleagues are inspired by the work of early 20th Century nauralist Elizabeth L. Kerr. In 1907, Kerr’s work helped to benchmark bird populations in Columbia, and the specimens she collected can still be found in the American Museum of Natural History. Soto’s all women team continues that work today, tracking Columbia’s natural history through the Colombia Resurvey Project. The team uncovered Kerr’s work only by happenstance, as she was referenced by famous ornithologist Frank Chapman in his 1917 monograph of birds in Colombia. Chapman was a world-famous ornithologist and collector, and the fact that he had relied on the work of a female naturalist was a revelation.

Eunice Foote & CO2

Increasing levels of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere, from the burning of fossil fuels, is heating the planet. (DrPixel/Getty Images)

Writing in Science Alert, Clare Watson notes that what we know today about atmospheric chemistry and climate change started with a 19th Century American scientist. In 1856, an American scientist that history almost forgot, Eunice Foote, discovered the extraordinary ability of a teensy, transparent molecule, carbon dioxide, to absorb heat. From a simple experiment, she rightly deduced that an atmosphere containing CO2 would “give to our Earth a higher temperature” – describing the driving force of global warming and providing a molecular mechanism to earlier musings about what keeps our planet warm.

Plant genera named for women

The principal linked resources used in the dataset creation process and the flow or push and pull of data between them. Arrowheads indicate flow of information, lines with two arrows indicate where information was both pulled from outside sources and pushed back to improve those sources during the course of the project. The main resources used for the bulk of the work are highlighted, others not pictured here are mentioned in the text or in the dataset itself. Credit: Biodiversity Data Journal (2023). DOI: 10.3897/BDJ.11.e114408.

A recent article from Missouri Botanical Garden highlights the role of women in botany. A network of scientists across the globe have identified more than 700 plant genera named for women. This is a nearly 20-fold increase in the number of genera linked to women before the group started working on the list. The project, which aimed to highlight the contribution of women to botany, was the result of social media conversations about plants named for people. What began as a simple question about how many and which plant genera were named for women evolved into a global network of scientists who built a dataset of plant genera named in honor of women. The group, which met virtually for over two years, also worked to improve data easily available about these genera that have information publicly available through the global resource Wikidata. The results included a dataset of 728 plant genera named for women and mythological female beings.

The Earth in Her Hands

Cover illustration to The Earth in Her Hands.

Back in 202, Jennifer Jewell, author of the blog Cultivating Place, published what may be the definitive book about influential women plant scientists. The Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants is described as a beautiful and empowering book. It focuses in a wholly unique way on how horticulture intersects with our every day world and on women whose work has enriched and expanded these intersections in the last 25 years. I haven’t read it yet, but after reading the reviews, this one is definitely on my “must read” list!

Categories
Ecology Invasive Species Miscellany

2024 Friends of the Farm Lecture Series

I’m honoured to be one of the Master Gardeners speaking at this year’s Friends of the Central Experimental Farm’s lecture series. The whole series this year is themed around “Garden Friends or Foes” and will include a lot of information about ecological gardening and invasive species. You can find more information, including registration details on the Friends of the Farm website. Hope to see you in the audience!

Categories
Children Citizen Science Gardening

Children, Science & Gardening

Over the years, I’ve been privileged to share my garden with many children, and I’d like to think the experience has been fun and meaningful for them also. Occasionally, I will bump into young adults I no longer recognize but they remember me and my garden. Increasingly, science is recognizing the value that gardening and contact with nature have for children and youth. Here are some examples.

Rebecca, her young garden helper and Bruce Coburn planting up a container at the Ottawa Folk Festival. Photo by Suzanne Juneau.

Junior citizen scientists

Image credit Joshua Earle (@joshuaearle) on Unsplash.

Writing in The Conversation, Dr Maria Aristeidou describes how children can be effective citizen scientists. For example, in one project, they found that children as young as five could use iNaturalist to record their observations. In fact, young people using the app contributed to quality wildlife monitoring at the same rate as adults. Young people also tend to observe and identify different species than adults, mainly smaller species, such as insects, mushrooms and spiders. Working within the school system, Aristeidou and her colleagues found that the benefits of engaging young people in citizen science tended to endure. Young people who get involved in biodiversity projects may go on to use this knowledge elsewhere, such as at university.

Benefits

Free for use under the Pixabay Content License.

Back during COVID lockdowns in 2020, Janeen Lewis listed ten benefits of gardening with kids for BC Parent magazine. She cited higher scores on science tests, stronger emotional and interpersonal skills, and problem-solving, among others. She also included better nutrition because kids are more likely to eat what they grow.

Green space = better bones?

Photo credit to Tetyana Kovyrina on Pexels.

A large cross-sectional epidemiological study in China found that children who live within walking distance of a green space, like a park, garden, or forest, are more likely to have stronger and healthier bones. Although this is the first study to focus on children, previous research found similar results for adults. These findings were confirmed in Belgium. Among 327 children aged 4 to 6, researchers at Hasselt University found that kids who live within a roughly ten-minute walk of a green space with tall trees or shrubs had bone density gains equivalent to half a year’s natural growth. The results were consistent across both sexes, even accounting for a slew of other factors, including weight, ethnicity, daily screen time, vitamin supplementation, dairy consumption, season, maternal educational level, and neighborhood median annual income – all of which have been shown to determine a child’s bone density.

Cultivating a new crop of garden lovers

Photo credit to Kindel Media on Pexels.

Writing in the Winnipeg Free Press last week, Sheldon Birnie described how the Transcona Garden Club is sowing the seeds for the next generation of green thumbs. Originally founded in 1930 as the Transcona Horticultural Society, the club is now relaunching its Little Green Thumbs program for young would-be gardeners. The Little Green Thumbs group will meet for 11 sessions on select Saturdays, starting on Feb. 24, each session featuring a different gardening related topic. Members will also be encouraged to enter their plants in the Transcona Garden Club’s spring and summer horticultural shows.

Elsewhere

If you are looking for a way to involve your kids in gardening, check out your local horticultural society, botanical gardens, community gardens and museums of nature. All these places may offer children’s gardening programs from time to time. In Canada, Canadian Organic Growers “Growing Up Organic” program helps introduce children to vegetable gardening as part of their school curricula.

Photo credit to Paige Cody on Unsplash.