This is my pet sugar glider - she's my #1 Co-pilot for late night fun.
Buddy Holly's Grave:
Poor kitty I found abandoned two nights ago, one eye covered in mucus, dehydrated, and malnourished:
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Misc.
My fat cat got hurt sometime last week and when we took him to the vet they sowed buttons onto his bottom! (he didn't have enough skin for them to sow the wound shut so they used buttons as an alternative... he looks pretty silly)
This is my pet sugar glider - she's my #1 Co-pilot for late night fun.
Buddy Holly's Grave:
Poor kitty I found abandoned two nights ago, one eye covered in mucus, dehydrated, and malnourished:
This is my pet sugar glider - she's my #1 Co-pilot for late night fun.
Buddy Holly's Grave:
Poor kitty I found abandoned two nights ago, one eye covered in mucus, dehydrated, and malnourished:
Flowers pt. 2
Blue verbina, Spiny Aster, Yellow Primrose, Feathered Dahlia (pic not included, it's on the front of our book!), Threadleaf Groundsel, and Purple Ground Cherry!
Blue Verbing:
Spiny Aster:
Yellow Primrose:
Purple Ground Cherry:
Thread-leaf Groundsel
Blue Verbing:
Spiny Aster:
Yellow Primrose:
Purple Ground Cherry:
Thread-leaf Groundsel
Flowers!
Wild flowers are varied and numerous, their classification and identification is very linked to a particular ecoregion, where guides are very region specific. Guides that are separated into color are not as useful as guides separated by family - but it requires identification of family in order to be successful. The wild flowers that we were initially set to identify were the Bladderpod, Prairie Verbina, Orange Mallow, and Scarlet Mallow - but then we were set loose to find flowers on our own, a much more challenging ordeal without Dr. Tomlinson reassuring me that such and such flower was NOT a snapdragon. The flowers I found and identified (correctly, I hope) were the Puccon, Yellow Daisy, Bitterweed, and Fleabane. My iPhone was being difficult and taking only blurry pictures so I'll post ones I found online. Also, I found an awesome website for just perusing through flowers! http://www.plants.usda.gov/
Puccon:
Yellow Daisy:
Bitterweed:
Fleabane:
Puccon:
Yellow Daisy:
Bitterweed:
Fleabane:
Milnesand
First, I'd like to indicate how lucky I really was for going on an outing as interesting and as fun as this. Milnesand may have been just 3 houses and a fire station/civic center combined but it was a very welcoming and happy community, even despite the inclement weather! Milnesand is actually located on a very large plateau, an interesting geographical location compared to the surrounding "Llano Estacado" - coined by Coronado's expedition for many potential reasons (plateau rocks looking like the palisade of a fort, or having to use stakes to navigate the unremarkable landscape). The emphasis of the lecture given in Milnesand was that "location is important" and I completely agree with the message. This location, upon on a plateau, has a particular environment that for many reasons is agreeable to Prairie Chickens.
For Prairie Chickens there are 5 common birds, Sharped-tailed grouse, Greater Sage Grouse, Guinnison's Sage Grouse, Greater Prairie chicken, and the Lesser Prairie chicken, (the differences between Greater and Lesser Prairie chickens derives from GPC being 2.5 lbs heavier with orange air sacks and orange eye-cones - while LPC have plum-colored air sacks and plum eye-cones). The normal range areas for these birds are Texas, Oklahoma, NM, Colorado, and Kansas; however, there has been a vast loss of their natural range, stemming from many different factors. One of these factors has to do with farmers using barbed wired to enclose areas, this barbed wire is difficult to see and Prairie Chickens are unable to avoid them when evading predators. The class as a whole banded together to stick easily identifiable markers on the barbed fence in an effort to increase the population. With a 50% yearly mortality rate, a 3 year old chicken being considered "old", Prairie Chickens have plenty of environmental forces, such as the Cooper Hawk, working against them for humanity to be adding anything else. Despite all the dangers of living on the plateau, Prairie Chickens do, particularly because of the flora that abides there. One such plant is the Shinnery Oak, a low tree of about shin height with acorn-seeds, which are used by Prairie Chickens for both cover and food. Another is Blue-stemmed grass in which the PC use to nest and raise their young in. Cover is also important for their courtship and mating, Prairie Chickens like a semi-clear area of low grass with and outside rim of much taller grasses or brush. This is where Prairie Chickens form a lek, or a place where males congregate to demonstrate for females.
After researching leks online, I came across an interesting piece of information regarding them, there is a paradox associated with leks.
Persistent female choice for particular male trait values should erode genetic variance in male traits and thereby remove the benefits of choice, yet choice persists. This is most obvious in lekking species where females gain no material benefits or parental care from males. This paradox can be somewhat alleviated by the occurrence of mutations introducing potential differences, as well as the possibility that traits of interest have more or less favorable recessive alleles. (Wikipedia)
The PC display of courtship were absolutely spell-binding. I would have never imagined so many different acts: stamping feet, blowing up air sacs, defending terroritorial areas, jumping, "flutter jumps", "bowing", tail feathers brushing against one another, not to mention the multitude of calls and various utterances form the birds. It was a singularly amazing experience to be able to witness that first-hand, even if other environmental conditions were not quite as amazing.
A bonus to going to Milnesand was being able to see a Golden Eagle and a professionally trained sheep/cattle dog. The Golden Eagle was absolutely breath taking and after comparing it to the Golden Eagle seen in the museum, no matter how incredible the skin was at maintaining the Golden Eagle's beauty, it was no match to seeing the creature animated. The sheep/cattle dog made me re-evaluate my stance of "cats are better than dogs", even if it was only for a moment.
For Prairie Chickens there are 5 common birds, Sharped-tailed grouse, Greater Sage Grouse, Guinnison's Sage Grouse, Greater Prairie chicken, and the Lesser Prairie chicken, (the differences between Greater and Lesser Prairie chickens derives from GPC being 2.5 lbs heavier with orange air sacks and orange eye-cones - while LPC have plum-colored air sacks and plum eye-cones). The normal range areas for these birds are Texas, Oklahoma, NM, Colorado, and Kansas; however, there has been a vast loss of their natural range, stemming from many different factors. One of these factors has to do with farmers using barbed wired to enclose areas, this barbed wire is difficult to see and Prairie Chickens are unable to avoid them when evading predators. The class as a whole banded together to stick easily identifiable markers on the barbed fence in an effort to increase the population. With a 50% yearly mortality rate, a 3 year old chicken being considered "old", Prairie Chickens have plenty of environmental forces, such as the Cooper Hawk, working against them for humanity to be adding anything else. Despite all the dangers of living on the plateau, Prairie Chickens do, particularly because of the flora that abides there. One such plant is the Shinnery Oak, a low tree of about shin height with acorn-seeds, which are used by Prairie Chickens for both cover and food. Another is Blue-stemmed grass in which the PC use to nest and raise their young in. Cover is also important for their courtship and mating, Prairie Chickens like a semi-clear area of low grass with and outside rim of much taller grasses or brush. This is where Prairie Chickens form a lek, or a place where males congregate to demonstrate for females.
After researching leks online, I came across an interesting piece of information regarding them, there is a paradox associated with leks.
Persistent female choice for particular male trait values should erode genetic variance in male traits and thereby remove the benefits of choice, yet choice persists. This is most obvious in lekking species where females gain no material benefits or parental care from males. This paradox can be somewhat alleviated by the occurrence of mutations introducing potential differences, as well as the possibility that traits of interest have more or less favorable recessive alleles. (Wikipedia)
The PC display of courtship were absolutely spell-binding. I would have never imagined so many different acts: stamping feet, blowing up air sacs, defending terroritorial areas, jumping, "flutter jumps", "bowing", tail feathers brushing against one another, not to mention the multitude of calls and various utterances form the birds. It was a singularly amazing experience to be able to witness that first-hand, even if other environmental conditions were not quite as amazing.
A bonus to going to Milnesand was being able to see a Golden Eagle and a professionally trained sheep/cattle dog. The Golden Eagle was absolutely breath taking and after comparing it to the Golden Eagle seen in the museum, no matter how incredible the skin was at maintaining the Golden Eagle's beauty, it was no match to seeing the creature animated. The sheep/cattle dog made me re-evaluate my stance of "cats are better than dogs", even if it was only for a moment.
Museum
Texas Tech Museum has the second largest bird collection in Texas (with A&M at number 1). The museum also has one of the biggest mammal collections in the nation. These collections are made possible through the actions of preservation. Preservation has the capacity to create a lasting representation of a living creature for study and presentation to the public. The methods of preservation were absolutely stunning; freezing samples that are waiting to be prepped, injecting formalin and preserving in alcohol. Formaldehyde, typically used to stop flesh from rotting, is not used for long-term preservation. One type method of preservation is skeletonization, which is the removing of soft tissue and preserving the skeletal structure. The soft tissue that is removed can be frozen and used for genetic analysis. A particularly interesting method of accomplishing the total defleshment from bone is through the use of flesh-eating beetles. Samples are placed in dixie cups and then placed into what amounts to an aquarium filled with these beetles. Eventually all that remains are gleaming white bones - this is particularly useful for skeletons that are fragile, like hummingbirds. After getting a glimpse at the flesh-eating beetles we proceeded into an area with extremely exotic large animals and prepared skins of birds. A prepared skin is a dried out husk of a bird, removed of all bodily fluids and organs, and which retains a remarkable level of detail - some of these birds looked like they may pick up and fly away at any moment. The earliest bird preservation in the museum is from 1866, an example for the durability of a prepared skin and the value of curators who protect and maintain these preservations. Curators seem to be a kind of unseen hand that are integral for the maintenance and continuation of heritages like the one seen at Texas Tech Museum. At the museum we finally were able to see a Greater and Lesser Prairie Chicken for the first time. These skins were absolutely remarkable and gave us a glimpse of what we'd be seeing in the days following. The very last thing that we were presented with was row after row of towering cabinets, all holding the preservation of mammals. This was a testament to what it requires to be considered one of the largest collections in the nation, opening up just one door revealed what must have been 30-60 bats all seeming to be alive if it were not for previous knowledge. To wrap up the day Jenny gave us a lecture on what was needed for the trip that would follow soon.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Planting Trees! (completed)
Last Wednesday we finished planting at Lubbock Lake Landmark, despite the loss of a Soapberry, an unfortunate loss due to our frenetic planting. It was fun but as my three-man digging team was going around on the mule we weren't able to listen to Dr. Tomlinson, although we could see that there were things she was indicating at the ground! Ready to see some skins next Wednesday and even more interested in the planned events for this upcoming weekend (Prairie Chicken Festival)!
I sure hope no one has a headache! The weather looks ominous today, I hope it won't infringe on our interesting weekend we have planned! And I'm remembering to bring cold weather attire, the last thing I want to do is freeze while I sit motionless in the cold and dark.
I sure hope no one has a headache! The weather looks ominous today, I hope it won't infringe on our interesting weekend we have planned! And I'm remembering to bring cold weather attire, the last thing I want to do is freeze while I sit motionless in the cold and dark.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Planting Trees
Last Wednesday, as well as the following Wednesday, the class will be planting the native trees Western Soapberry (Sapindus drumondii) and Netfleaf Hackberry (Celtis reticulata). These are two trees that I am not familiar with as far as planting goes but every summer I spend most of my time landscaping for a friend's business. Most of what I'm familiar with are desertscapes, which is interesting, because this type of landscaping is targetted at the removal of plants unable to deal with the hot summers and cold winters of Lubbock, or non-native species of plants, and replacing with drought/cold-tolerant perennials! Here is an excellent landscape website that includes many very pretty, native or drought-resistant plants to look through!
http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/HomeHort/F4Best/nTxLSPerennials.htm
There is a nursery in south Lubbock that specializes in native or drought-resistant plants (the name currently eludes me, not Sparkman's - it isn't even listed on Google maps!). All in all it was a great day! I don't think there is anything more enjoyable than working outdoors when the weather is as pretty as it was on Wednesday! Anyways, after class I went to Rosa's to pick the brain of Burr Williams after class... I had a question that has been nagging me since we first started talking about invasive species. My question was, "If evolution has "fashioned" a species better adapted to an area that it invades, am I wrong for thinking that there is a degree of hypocrisy associated with the efforts of fighting off said species?" This was presented after stating to Burr Williams that I realized some, if not most, of these plants were introduced to ecosystems in what people consider an "unnatural" way in that humans had transported them to the new ecosystem.
His response was amazingly unpredicted, "No." And then a laugh. And from here on out I'm summarizing. -It seems that we as people tend to forget that humans are as much a "disruptive species" as the invasives trying to be removed in the previous question. We are a part of the ecosystem, not excluded from it, and as such play the same roles as every other species on the planet. So I thought I'd ask anyone who reads this what your perspective is.
If an invasive species demonstrates a higher level of fitness than the native species present (species that have adapted for literally the exact ecosystem they are currently living in, sans the newly introduced invasives or tampering from humans; e.g. deforestation, nitrate removal, etc.), should humans allow nature to take the course it would ... naturally?
Trust me; I understand the point about responsibility for environmental changes attributable to human activity, human disruption within ecosystems, etc. I just want to know how you feel about the aforementioned question analogous to Bengal tigers eating or being eaten by, say, polar bears should one ever enter into the environment of the other, by whatever means.
http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/HomeHort/F4Best/nTxLSPerennials.htm
There is a nursery in south Lubbock that specializes in native or drought-resistant plants (the name currently eludes me, not Sparkman's - it isn't even listed on Google maps!). All in all it was a great day! I don't think there is anything more enjoyable than working outdoors when the weather is as pretty as it was on Wednesday! Anyways, after class I went to Rosa's to pick the brain of Burr Williams after class... I had a question that has been nagging me since we first started talking about invasive species. My question was, "If evolution has "fashioned" a species better adapted to an area that it invades, am I wrong for thinking that there is a degree of hypocrisy associated with the efforts of fighting off said species?" This was presented after stating to Burr Williams that I realized some, if not most, of these plants were introduced to ecosystems in what people consider an "unnatural" way in that humans had transported them to the new ecosystem.
His response was amazingly unpredicted, "No." And then a laugh. And from here on out I'm summarizing. -It seems that we as people tend to forget that humans are as much a "disruptive species" as the invasives trying to be removed in the previous question. We are a part of the ecosystem, not excluded from it, and as such play the same roles as every other species on the planet. So I thought I'd ask anyone who reads this what your perspective is.
If an invasive species demonstrates a higher level of fitness than the native species present (species that have adapted for literally the exact ecosystem they are currently living in, sans the newly introduced invasives or tampering from humans; e.g. deforestation, nitrate removal, etc.), should humans allow nature to take the course it would ... naturally?
Trust me; I understand the point about responsibility for environmental changes attributable to human activity, human disruption within ecosystems, etc. I just want to know how you feel about the aforementioned question analogous to Bengal tigers eating or being eaten by, say, polar bears should one ever enter into the environment of the other, by whatever means.
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