Still Life

Kevin Hernandez - UNT Social Science Major

Today seems to be our world’s spring awakenings from its winter sleep. It’s warm and sunny, so unlike Monday when it was rainy and even this morning when there was thick fog. Now, the weeds of my spot are yellowing and drooping despite the better conditions. The largest weed in my spot, who stands a good two feet tall, has now begun its hunched over walk towards brown, dry death. In all likelihood, he’ll be reincarnated soon. My post oak is showing green but only in patches. I survey the area and come up with nothing. There’s no renewed abundance of life reveling in the new sun. There’s a few new dandelions but that’s all that I find today. Or is it? Life sometimes seems to crawl or even stand still. I notice it here today. But there’s one thing that’s always still happening without people ever really noticing. The wind. Wind governs a great deal about the environment. Wind shapes the land through erosion and creates climates with its global circulations. Winds carries seeds, spreading life’s largest layer of the energy pyramid. It even plays a part in the survivability of animals and their behavior.

Wind has long been a source of movement for humans. We harnessed it to sail the oceans. Once, trade routes were only accessible at specific times of the year because the winds were favorable on a schedule. The winds are highly affected by the temperature of the ocean and as the water warms and cools so does the wind and it sweeps in from the coasts in a circular convection movement much like the ocean’s currents. The winds can further be divided into a few very large sections. The tropic trades blow east from the Northeast and Southeast and steer many tropical storms. The trades also influence the long rainy monsoon periods in Asia. The Westerlies couple with the trades to create the cyclical trade routes, blowing ships from port to port. Wind is increasingly valuable as a power source. It’s nearly limitless provided the sun, our most renewable energy source, does not go out. Germany, Spain and Denmark are leading the way in clean electric energy from the wind. In 2012, 70,000 megawatts were generated and only one is required to power 250 homes. Still, it’s underutilized by the energy world. 

So on this nice day when the wind is providing a nice breeze, it just seems relaxing. You never really think about the other things the wind is continually doing year in and year out. It turns out life is not so still after all.

The Possibilities of Pollinators

Syrphid fly: wikipedia.org

Preston LaFarge - UNT Anthropology Major

After a late February ice storm I am sure that the snow and ice will be mentioned in every one’s blog post. In northern regions snow is a part of daily life but in Texas it stops life as we know it.
Despite the snow the mandala smells sweet. The plums are blossoming. There are bees pollinating the flowers. I also see large flies on the blossoms and wonder if they are also pollinating the flowers?

According to the USDA Forest Service certain blossoms have adapted putrid smells to attract flies for pollination as well as male mosquitoes. The natural selection of traits to aid in pollination is called the pollination syndrome. As far as biotic pollinators are concerned there is bee, wasp, butterfly, moth, fly, bird, bat and beetle pollination.

Ecologist Alison Parker at the University of Toronto has stated that in some instances flies are superior to bees when it comes to pollinating. Bees do not always visit the same species after collecting pollen and what they collect is often less than is needed to pollinate flowers. So-called pollen-hoarding species are not always the pollinating work horse they are made out to be.

Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan have outlined the unique requirements that hybrid plums require for adequate pollination and the role of wild plums in commercial plum growing. What they found was hybrid plums need wild plums nearby in order to adequately pollinate the hybrid varieties. For the farmers in the Canadian prairie region, pure wild plums for sale (either seeds or seedlings) are rare but are the best at being pollinizers.

These facts have really showed me the depth of the process of pollination and how bees are not the end of a conversation on pollination.

Optimal Foraging in the Mandala

Dandelion root tea (dailyhit.com).

Preston LaFarge - UNT Anthropology Major

The group theme for this mandala observation was nutrition. We as a class had just read a chapter on the fundamentals of human nutrition as well as a section on optimal foraging strategies.
In previous observations I had noticed wild edible plants in my mandala but with the theme of nutrition I was curious what was available and how would I actually eat these plants. I know from previous experience that wild edible plants have comparable and often superior nutritional make-ups compared to their cultivated relatives, but domestication was may have been more about quantity than quality of food. Maybe cultivated plants are lacking nutrients comparatively but they have certain characteristics that have been selected for that allows faster more uniform harvest.

Wild plants also have characteristics that influence decision making in a forager. That is what an optimal foraging strategy is all about. Plant’s characteristics and how they relate to time of gathering, nutrients spent, nutrients gained, seasonality, and depletion are important considerations.

In my mandala I observed 7 wild edible plants, they are:

1. Dandelions
2. Wild Plum
3. Yucca
4. Henbit
5. Clover
6. Acorn
7. Mesquite

Dandelions are a highly nutritious weed with tender leaves, edible flowers, and tap roots.

Pros: dandelions are weedy. They grow everywhere, so they have abundance on their side. They are high in vitamins and minerals, so they are nutritious. Multiple parts of the plant are edible, so harvesting does not necessarily kill the entire plant. The leaves are edible raw so processing time is minimal. Their seasonality is long. Dandelions will grow until there is snow on the ground.
Cons: the distribution can be variable. Patches of dandelion can be random. Harvesting leaves is somewhat intensive; it requires bending down and picking individual leaves. There is also a chance for depletion. There needs to be a system of harvesting limits of leaves so that the plant does not die. The plant is also low in calories so it cannot be a staple.

A Snowy, Marshy Mess

Jacob Korte - UNT History Major

It had snowed for several hours early this morning, and even though the sun is out and the weather has been pretty warm, somewhere around 50⁰F or so, the remnants of the few inches of snow we got can still be seen clinging to the last few patches of shade. In these locations the snow refuses to melt, slowly giving way to the rise in temperature and in one area I stuck my pen through the snow and noticed that it was just under two inches in that location.

Considering how cold it has been since Sunday and how much snow, ice and freezing rain we have received these last few days very little has changed in my Mandala since last week. None of the budding flowers have died and none of the Mexican Plum or Spanish Daggers look any worse than they had in previous weeks, which surprised me; I wouldn’t have thought Texas and southern plants would be able to hold up against the frost so well. Not only that, but it looks like there is more mistletoe pushing out of the cottonwood.

The warming of the weather and melting snow have brought out an influx of bugs, including a good number of mosquitos flying around in a pitted area that has become a marshy mess due to stagnant water caused by the melting snow. I am also noticing an increase in surface bug activity, ants and small beetle looking bugs are crawling around over the mulch and woodchips looking for food, these bugs drift in and out of view. Some of the snow appears to have shrunk in more open locations by this point, but the snow continues to fight on clinging to the last, never completely giving out to the sun.

Nerve Endings

Ross Krouse - UNT Geography Major

Today was the first time all week we had seen the sunshine in this part of Texas. For the past three days we have been experiencing winter weather here in North Texas, and as the ice accumulations began to melt and the sun beamed down on the ground, signs of life started to become more prevalent once again. I started my observation by trying to relocate the two dandelions from my last mandala exercise just to touch base with them, as expected, due to the harsh winter weather conditions both dandelions where reaching out for their last breath and were withering out of existence. I turned my attention to find a new source of life that was striving in the area and came across two new species of plants that I have yet to notice in the area. The two plants were located where the landscapers had put pollinator plants species in, but they didn’t resemble powerhouse pollinator plants that I have seen before. I started to feel each plant with my hands, thinking about what Professor Wolverton had said about raccoons and the many nerve endings in their hands, and how they use their sense of touch to become more familiar with objects often over other senses. As I grabbed each plant and caressed their stems and petals/branches, I closed my eyes and tried to turn off my other senses. The first plant felt very soft and moss like, almost as if you could pick all the stems off of it and fill a pillow case with them. The plant had no sharp points or edges to ward me off and had a familiar feel to it. The second plant had more of a rubber like texture almost like a fishing lure once the grease wears off. The plant had a sticky texture like it was grabbing me back, I wondered if that was in favor of the plants survival and if it was one of its adaptations. Even colder weather is on its way soon to this part of north Texas, we are expected to see up to three inches of snow/ice in the next few days. I wonder if these plant species will be doing as well as they are today by this time next week.

Extremes

Skip Warren - UNT History Major

Two weeks have lapsed since my last observation of the minnows. In typical north Texas fashion the weather has had its extremes since then, most recently ending in a 40+ hour stretch of freezing weather, ice, rain and snow. Today the sky is completely clear, however. The temperature is still cold with a light northwest wind. Tonight’s lack of cloud cover will cause even colder temperatures, which otherwise would have held in terrestrial heat radiation.
The water in the pond is cloudy from silt caused by the precipitation. Ice covers ¼ of the minnow’s calm area behind the rock where they have usually spent their time this winter. It’s fortunate that nature has allowed ice to float. In sinking it would instead cover the floor of any body of water killing all life. However today the only life appears to be the algae. There is not a single minnow in sight dead or alive. Their disappearance is a mystery. It may be weather related. The only living thing observed besides plant life is a single squirrel burying a nut by a bare tree. 

Weather in north Texas is volatile. It is the section of the country where air masses collide. Winter typically holds a grip through mid-March. On March 8, 1989 north Texas had one of its worst ice storms in history shutting down I-35 from Denton to Oklahoma City. In late February to early March in 1836 the defenders of the Alamo not only had to contend with 2000 Mexicans but also an “Alberta Clipper” pushing south through San Antonio causing intolerable cold on their final night. All of nature is effected by weather. It drives the decision making process of much of the animal world. Humans, however, have the power of observation over time to give us clues of what’s coming. Years of flying aircraft have made me especially interested in weather. 

For instance in the northern hemisphere, when one stands with their back to the wind, low pressure is always on the left. Low pressure is where fronts are born and fronts are then driven by the jet steam. Today for example the wind is from the north putting low pressure to the east represented by a passing snow storm (low pressure) that dropped one to two inches of snow in some places. In the summer, strong southerly winds signify a strong low pressure zone to the west. During the summer this is usually caused by a dry line in west Texas that separates high dry desert air from the moist gulf air of east Texas. Also called a “Marfa front” (due to its proximity to the west Texas town of the same name), this dry line oscillates back and forth across the west Texas prairie during summer….a sort of permanent low pressure system. It can move far enough east to effect Dallas and cause violent thunderstorms as the heavier dry air forces moist gulf air aloft. Texas for the most part has no orographic lifting (mountains) to cause this lift but a dry line is just as effective. If a Marfa front is combined with a rare summer cold front passing through the area tornadic activity is likely.

We are approaching a transition in Texas weather. The earth is starting to get further away from the sun while the earth’s tilt is pushing Texas more directly into the sun’s rays. Though farther away, the Sun’s rays bearing down directly overhead will soon heat up the Texas countryside. Initially this will cause violent spring thunderstorms due to unstable air masses colliding. Later in the summer, storms will usually be of the single air-mass variety if any develop. For now cold fronts still have the power to reach Texas. A fast moving cold front smashing into warm moist air can cause barometric pressure gradients to resemble a contour map of the Rocky Mountains. Steep! The steeper the more violent. Sometimes the collision is so violent the cold front shocks the air ahead of it into a pre-frontal squall line with green roiling clouds and very large hail. An observer on the ground might think the worst is over when it passes only to be hit even harder when the front actually arrives. All of these things will affect the mandala and its observer in the coming weeks.

A sketch of Spanish yucca by the pond this week. It’s dagger like leaves from a lattice for tall dead grass.

The American Desert Hare

Chris Buchanan - UNT Integrative Studies Major

It is rather chilly this afternoon, in the last week of February. I am sitting in my Mandala, listening to the loud dripping sound of melting snow as it continuously runs down the brick walls of the Environmental Science building at the University of North Texas. It has been raining and snowing for over three days but finally came to a stop this afternoon. The temperature has risen dramatically over the last few hours and most of the snow and ice melted away. Most of the trees in my Mandala have lost all of their leaves and the soil is thoroughly soaked from melted snow.

Photo from Wikipedia.org.

I look around in order to identify more animals that are native to my Mandala and the first species that I notice is a statue of a black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus Californicus). The black-tailed jackrabbit is also known as the American desert hare and is commonly found in the western United States and Mexico. And their habitats often include open prairies, shrub lands, and deserts. The black-tailed jackrabbit is the third largest North American hare, behind the antelope jackrabbit and the white-tailed jackrabbit. It does not migrate or hibernate during the winter and uses the same habitat, of about 0.5-1 square miles, year-round. The black-tail has very long ears, powerful hind legs, and can grow up to two feet in length. Their diet consists of green vegetation, including shrubs, small trees, grasses, and forbs. Rabbits are an important food source for many of the larger carnivores that share the environment like hawks, owls, dogs, coyotes, foxes, and bobcats. The young rabbits are preyed upon by mink, skunks, long-tailed weasels, gopher snakes, and domestic cats.