Eleven Amazing Things About The Haleakala Silversword

I don't know if botanists keep "life lists" like birders do; but if they do, seeing the plant above would be like spotting an ivory-billed woodpecker. (Not exactly, since plants don't fly away as you try to find them, but you get the idea.)

We saw this plant on a trip to Hawaii. Here's why the Haleakala Silversword is so special:

1. It is found only within a 250 acre area on Mount Haleakala, on the island of Maui in Hawaii.


2. Its habitat is at an elevation of 7000 - 10,000 ft, in soil composed of volcanic cinders.


3. The weather at this height is very dry, sunny, windy and cold. We drove through the cloud layer on our way up the mountain, and looked down on the clouds as if we were in an airplane. We started the day swimming in the warm ocean, and ended it wearing long pants and jackets.


4. Silverswords live for about 10 to 50 years as a low, round bush like the one in the left edge of the photo above. At the end of their life, they send up a flowering stalk that can grow over 6 feet tall within a few weeks, and produce up to 600 flower heads.


5. Silverswords have adapted to their dry environment by storing a large amount of water in their thick leaves. As the flowering stalk grows, it pulls water from the leaves and they begin to droop, like the one above.


6. They have adapted to their cold environment by building themselves a reflector oven. Their leaves are covered with shiny silver hairs, and are curved into a parabolic shape that focuses the warm sunlight on the plant's growing point. This can raise the temperature of the growing point by up to 40 degrees F. Below is a closeup of these curved leaves from Wikimedia.
   
   


7. The Haleakala Silversword is a member of the Silversword Alliance. The Three Musketeers were also members of the Silversword Alliance. Actually, the Silversword Alliance is a group of about 30 plant species throughout Hawaii, which are believed to have evolved millions of years ago from tarweed plants in California. These tarweed seeds floated over 2000 miles on the open ocean to colonize the Hawaiian islands. Both silverswords and tarweeds are members of the sunflower family.


8. Although some members of the Silversword Alliance look very similar to the Haleakala Silversword, others look nothing like it. Each is adapted to one of the wide variety of habitats in Hawaii. This is a classic example of "adaptive radiation", where a single ancestor evolves into very different species adapted to their local environments. Darwin helped develop this idea when he studied the adaptive radiation of finches in the Galapagos Islands.


9. The Haleakala Silversword is a threatened species. It used to be threatened by overzealous tourists and grazing cattle. Now that Haleakala is a National Park, the tourists and cattle are kept under control. What threatens the silverswords today is an invasive species of ant from Argentina, which is preying on the native insects that pollinate the silverswords. Since silverswords flower only once in their long life, this small window for pollination is critical to their survival.


10. After being pollinated, and spreading its seeds to the Hawaiian winds, the silversword dies. In the photo below, you can finally see why they call this plant "silver sword". A new silversword is growing directly behind the old, shriveled leaves and sword.


11. The Hawaiian name for this plant is 'āhinahina, which translates to "very gray". Or maybe silver, it's hard to say.

Coyotes in Manhattan

I've heard of the wolves on Wall Street, but the coyotes at Columbia were a new one.

It's hard to believe, but at least 3 coyotes have been spotted recently in Manhattan. They were seen in Central Park, and on the nearby campus of Columbia University.

The theory is that they walked along the Amtrak right-of-way, which goes along the Hudson River from the northern suburbs, through the Bronx, and over a railroad bridge onto the island of Manhattan.

From there, Amtrak continues along the Hudson, next to a series of parks. Then the tracks go underground, near Grant's Tomb in Riverside Park. The wandering coyotes would want to leave the right-of-way there rather than entering the tunnel, putting them only a couple of blocks from Columbia's campus.

After scaring a few students as they cut through campus, it is across the street to Morningside Park. From there, it is just 1 block cater-corner to Central Park. Finally, 843 acres of nature. I hope they have roadrunners!

For more about the coyotes, and links to photos, check out the New York City wildlife blog Out Walking the Dog. For even more, including an earlier visit in 2006, check out the blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Here's a comment on the Gothamist blog from someone who spotted one of the coyotes as late as this past Friday (2/19/10). The best photo is here, at the NY Times.

The photo above, by the way, is not from Manhattan. It is from Wikimedia.

The Ponderous Borer

This beetle is a Ponderous Borer. No, I am not criticizing its social skills, although it didn't have much to say as I took its picture. It is "ponderous" as in "huge". You can't tell from the photo (I should have put a coin next to it), but it is about 2 inches long not including the antennae. The "boring" part refers to the larvae of this beetle, which bore through the wood of dead and dying trees.

These beetles like pine trees, so they are sometimes called Pine Sawyers. But I would call what their larvae do "boring" more than "sawing", so "sawyer" is misleading. Coincidentally, they especially like Ponderosa Pines. "Ponderosa" is Spanish for "ponderous", as in "that is a ponderosa steak", or "that is a ponderosa ranch".

This particular beetle was crawling on the sidewalk in a small strip mall in Lake Tahoe. That is not normally where you would find a beetle that loves trees, so I think this one was ill. He had two types of growths or abnormalities on his exoskeleton, the yellow and white pus in the middle of the photo below, and the shiny spot surrounded by white pus at the bottom right.


Here is another closeup that is not so gross. This is his tarsus (foot), showing the hooks that allow him to climb tree bark very well.


If you are into really gross insects, you will want to check out this photo of a Ponderous Borer larva being held in a man's hand. It is a 3 inch long grub as thick as your finger. If Thomas Jefferson had known about the Ponderous Borer, he could have used it as further evidence of the superior vitality of New World species.

Scientia Pro Publica Needs YOU!

Last year, the well-respected Pew Research Center took a poll of scientists and of the general public. Here are a few of their findings:

84% of scientists say human activity is causing global warming. Only 49% of the general public agrees with this view.

87% of scientists say living things have evolved over time due to natural processes. Only 32% of the public agrees.

Only 10% of the general public could correctly answer all 12 of the questions on a basic science quiz.

If you think there is something wrong with this, Scientia Pro Publica needs YOU!

"Scientia Pro Publica" means "Science for the People". Scientia Pro Publica is a blog carnival with the mission of communicating science to the general public. Considering that many of the most important issues of our time require an understanding of basic science, this mission is critical. We need to understand science in order to elect leaders who will make informed decisions on behalf of us, our society and our planet.

That's where YOU come in! Please submit your blog posts on science, medicine and the environment to Scientia Pro Publica. Submit them by clicking on this link. Submissions for the next edition of Scientia Pro Publica are due by this Friday, 2/12/10. Scientia is published every other Monday, with submissions due the preceding Friday. By the way, if you come across a blog post written by someone else that you feel deserves some publicity, submit that as well.

As if that weren't a good enough way to save the world, here's something even better - you can HOST Scientia Pro Publica! This means that you take all of the submissions, write some introductory text to whet the reader's appetite, and post the whole thing on your blog. Then, hundreds of people come stampeding to your blog to read your summary and follow the links to the submitted posts. To volunteer as a host, send an email to Grrl Scientist at ScientiaBlogCarnival@gmail.com.

So, if you want to help improve scientific literacy, introduce new readers to your blog, or just have some fun, submit your posts now!

Scientia Pro Publica needs you. THE PEOPLE need you!

PS - To take the 12 question science quiz and read more about Pew's research on science literacy, click here. For links to previous editions of Scientia Pro Publica, click here.

My Proboscid Is Bigger Than Your Proboscid

The gross-sounding statement in the title of this post was uttered by one of our Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson (OK, I'm paraphrasing). It's not as bad as it sounds - proboscids are an order of animals that includes modern-day elephants, and extinct elephant-like creatures like mastodons and mammoths. Proboscid is short for Proboscidea, which is the actual name of the taxonomic order. As you can guess, these animals all have long proboscises (noses/trunks).

The photo above is from a visit to the Rutgers University Geology Museum. My wife and I visited their annual Open House last weekend. We met at Rutgers, so the trip was nostalgic as well as geologic. The photo is of a mastodon unearthed by a farmer in southern New Jersey in 1869.

But back to Thomas Jefferson ...

Jefferson's fit of proboscid envy was prompted by a man with the pretentious name of Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. "Comte" is a French title of nobility, similar in rank to an English earl. He is generally referred to as Buffon, although that is the town he was comte of and not his name.

Buffon was a well-known naturalist in the late 18th century, and made many observations including some that presaged Darwin's theory of evolution. But his observation that got Jefferson's wig twisted was what became known as the Theory of American Degeneracy. The idea was that due to a colder, more humid climate in the New World, the animals there (including humans) were smaller and weaker than those in the Old World.

It's not hard to see that Americans would be upset by this theory, especially being a new country that would not benefit from being seen as weak in the eyes of European powers. Jefferson, being somewhat of a naturalist himself, took on the task of refuting Buffon.

It turned out this was not very difficult to do. Buffon had never been to the New World, and his theories were based on incomplete and misleading information provided by others. Jefferson put together a list of several species that are larger in the New World than in the Old. Exhibit A was the mastodon, which not only was larger than the elephant, but was the largest known terrestrial animal in the ENTIRE world!

Never mind that the mastodon was extinct. At the time, which was before the expedition of Lewis and Clark, many believed that mastodons might still be roaming the interior of the American continent.

To make a long story short, the Americans got over their inferiority complex.

The End (the back end, that is):

Scientia Pro Publica Blog Carnival #20

Welcome to the Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) blog carnival #20! This carnival celebrates the best science, nature and medical writing published in the blogosphere within the past 60 days.

I am just pleased as punch to be hosting this edition at Kind Of Curious. This is the very first carnival I have hosted. I was really excited by the high turnout of 33 submissions. The publicity that Grrl Scientist has been doing for the carnival has certainly paid off. I enjoyed reading all of the posts, and as a new blogger, I learned a lot from the experience. I hope you enjoy the carnival, and don't get any cotton candy on your good shirt!

Space Science Posts

I am starting off with space science because this category contains "the post I love the most". I am not alone here. One of the commenters on this post opined, "an early contender for 'best post of 2010' methinks". Another commenter seconded that motion. Stephen Curry of Reciprocal Space has discovered Jupiter. In the process, he has re-discovered his inner child.

Alyssa Gilbert summarizes a discussion that took place with the readers of her blog Way Oort West, on the topic of the pros and cons of manned space missions. Whenever I think about this subject my opinion bounces back and forth, and this time was no exception.

Ecology/Conservation Posts

Eric Johnson at The Primate Diaries discusses how land use policies in Haiti have been unsuccessful in halting deforestation and soil erosion, and offers some alternatives.

Neil Kelley at Microecos provides a fascinating comparison between the Swahili concept of zamani and sasha (dead vs living dead) and the conservation biologist’s concept of extinct vs. functionally extinct.

The "fry-entists" at Southern Fried Science have been busy. First, David pans an Australian plan to tag great white sharks with satellite transmitters, so the sharks can send text messages to lifeguards as they approach their beach. Then, David picks a fight with fellow fry-entist Andrew about whether scientists should be advocates for conservation. David says yes, and Andrew argues no. Fry-entist Amy did not submit her views to Scientia, but I invoked editorial privilege and decided to include them anyway. Amy provides a more nuanced answer, saying that "the answer depends on many factors".

Lab Rat suggests we head over to Thomas’ Plant-Related Blog, where Thomas Kluyver explains some recent research which disputes the common notion that the ancient Mayans caused their own extinction through deforestation.

Jeremy at The Voltage Gate reminds us that the Taco Bell spokesman is not the only dog from Chihuahua that provides a vital service. Human agriculture has disturbed a major architect of the grasslands of Chihuahua - the black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus).

John at Kind Of Curious (yours truly) submits a blog about the work being done at The Wetlands Institute in southern New Jersey to prevent terrapins from becoming road pizza.

Evolution Posts

Dr. Jim at Mental Indigestion also has an intriguing question for us - since "the number of bacterial cells on your body out number your own cells 10 to one, … to what degree [do] you consider yourself to be human?" Learn more in his post Your Microbiome and You (Part I): Gut.

Henry Gee at iEditor explains three recent papers in Nature. These summaries are from what I would call a "reputable source" - Henry is the Senior Editor at Nature who shepherded these papers into the journal. The first paper is about footprints left by ancient tetrapods (four-legged land vertebrates). As Henry explains, "a fairly complete picture of tetrapod evolution, built up over the past twenty years, has been replaced by a blank canvas overnight".

The other two papers summarized by Henry were widely reported in the mainstream news media. One explains how humans are better-suited for running barefoot (notwithstanding the broken glass and bottle caps they are running through), and the other describes a method for discovering the color of dinosaur feathers through fossilized color-bearing organelles.

Grrl Scientist asks, "what do migratory monarch butterflies and jet-lag in humans have in common?" We share a photoreceptor with monarch butterflies that they use to read the earth's magnetic field while they migrate, and to help maintain their circadian clock function. Read more about this research and its applications in improving human health at Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted).

Climate Science Posts

Kelsey at Mauka to Makai describes a dystopian future in which Nemo's dad Marlin, from the Disney film Finding Nemo, would never have been able to survive his epic search for his son. Nemo's future may be filled with predators made more aggressive by global warming, aided by Nemo's decreasing ability to avoid the predators due to changes in his own body induced by ocean acidification.

Denis DuBay at This View of Earth explains research on ancient foraminifera shells, whose composition can indicate the concentration of carbon dioxide when they formed. These shells have enabled scientists at UCLA to extend the correlation between carbon dioxide and global temperature back to 20 million years, farther than ever before.

Plant Science Posts

Chris Clarke at Coyote Crossing explains why Joshua trees are shaped the way they are. The descriptive imagery combined with the supporting science explains why Coyote Crossing often leads the Blog Toplist at Nature Blog Network.

Eric Aldrich writes the blog Making Owls Cool (Since 1986). He has now succeeded in making cacti cool, by interviewing cactus expert Peter Breslin. One of the things you will learn is that not all cacti live in deserts - some spend 10 months of the year under snow, and some live in rainforests!

DNLee at Urban Science Adventures brings us on an adventure to find beauty at an abandoned factory site. This commenter on the post says it best … "Love how nature butts up against our industrial encroachment and prevails in the end".

Neuroscience/psychology posts

Since my wife is an aide in an autistic classroom, I am attuned to news about developmental disorders. I found Livia Blackburne’s post at Reading and Word Recognition Research to be very hopeful. She explains recent research indicating that color and object naming speed in pre-readers helps predict their future risk for dyslexia. Livia has another, eponymous blog, where she has written a very interesting summary of three ways neuroscientists learn about the brain.

Grrl Scientist advises a visit to the Neuronarrative blog of David DiSalvo. Here, David explains a recent study suggesting that common methods of motivating people to succeed may backfire if the method is not matched to the subject’s personality. What motivates one personality type may discourage another.

Ifat Glassman writes a blog with the intriguing name Psychology of Selfishness. She explains that envy, which is rooted in self-doubt, is a result of an irrational standard of judging one's worth. The article discusses this subject and how such a mistaken standard is formed.

Medical Posts

Andrew Bernardin provides a thought-provoking piece at The Evolving Mind, reminding us that despite what we may hear during the health care debates, Big Pharma is not always Bad Pharma.

Eva Amsen at Expression Patterns gives us a short but inspiring post about medical writing on the internet, which educated a young mother to seek out an H1N1 vaccination for her child.

Cath Ennis at "rENNISance woman" provides a post about the joys of being behind the scenes in a department doing some really cool work on cancer genomics.

Mary Jones recommends we head over to the Forensic Scientist Blog and learn about 8 Body Parts Forensic Scientists Use to ID a Body. You better not read this right after lunch.

Baily Hayden directs us to the blog of the Medical Career Database, to check out their 50 Free .Gov Resources for Health, Fitness and Medicine. As the post points out, "getting up off that couch never hurts" ... they have obviously never met my bum knee!

Miscellaneous Posts

Henry Gee at iEditor provokes two heated discussions. The first has generated 144 comments so far by asking whether ground rules regarding language in science forums are inherently discriminatory (e.g. you must write in English, you must be civil, etc.). The second one is bringing in the comments almost as quickly. The title alone tells you there will be controversy - Science, Faith, Scepticism, Belief and The Great Unknown.

Julie at Mama Joules provides an inspiring post on the importance of getting everyday citizens involved with science. As she entreats, "please come back to the table of science. We need you here. All of our futures depend upon it".

Lisa Taylor submits for our approval The 100 Coolest Science Experiments on YouTube, located on The X-Ray Vision-aries Blog.


Thank you for coming to the carnival! I hope the Tilt-A-Whirl wasn't too much after all that cotton candy.

Please come back in 2 weeks!