GEEcology

Patrick Dougherty Installation in Brooklyn

2010-08-09T12:58:00.000-04:00

This month at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden artist Patrick Dougherty is installing a unique sculpture made natural material. If you have seen the movie Where the Wild Things Are you may have recognized Dougherty's sculpture as the massive spheres of twigs made into their hideout (above image). For the Brooklyn Botanical Garden installation Dougherty has collected nonnative woody material, mainly Salix atrocinerea, from the Ocean Breeze Park on Staten Island. This was part of a larger effort to remove invasive species as outlined in the PlaNYC Sustainability Initiative. Dougherty started his installation last week at the garden and is scheduled to be finished by August 21st. Visit the BBG before August 21st to see the actual installation or the completed installation will remain up for the following year.

Art Goes Organic...sellouts

2010-05-05T10:40:00.001-04:00

Salad for lunch? You got a little something on your lip there...I think it's the G train.

I'm not an art guy. But even my void of artistic appreciation was drawn in by the New York Times article about recent "organic art" trends. This stuff is fantastic. Mosaics of cockroach carapaces and sardines, a bicycle made out of cow bones, and some Dutch guy with moss glued to his face. I will be honest though, when the times article mentioned Levi van Veluw using his flesh as soil, I got really excited. But he isn't. It's just glue.

Probably better for his skin in all honesty.

Pigweed for Everyone

2010-05-04T14:40:00.003-04:00

The New York Times today has an article on the spread of Roundup-resistant weeds. Those who are familiar with the issue of the evolution of resistant pest species won't find too much additional information in the article, although it does point out some evidence that despite Monsanto's claims that the problem is manageable, they apparently are concerned enough to subsidize certain farmers' purchases of other herbicides to target resistant weeds.

On a whim, I looked up one spectacular-sounding weed highlighted in the article. According to the article, Pigweed (Amaranthus palmeri) "can grow three inches a day and reach seven feet or more, choking out crops; it is so sturdy that it can damage harvesting equipment. In an attempt to kill the pest before it becomes that big, Mr. Anderson and his neighbors are plowing their fields and mixing herbicides into the soil."

It turns out that this terrifying giant pigweed actually isn't so evil, and maybe even its resistance to glyphosate could be a benefit.
Pigweed was in fact once widely cultivated and eaten by Native Americans, and much like other amaranths, valued for the high nutritious value of its seeds and greens. It is also, as one would expect from a weed, pretty vigorous and drought-tolerant (and apparently already has Roundup-resistance built in). My proposal: Start cultivating and improving pigweed now -- but call it something different.

Link to NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/business/energy-environment/04weed.html
Link to Wikipedia article on pigweed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaranthus_palmeri

Mapping Environmental Change - The Past 70 Years

2010-05-03T15:33:00.000-04:00

I find it interesting how so many people in recent days have questioned the world's track record with handling oil drilling due to the recent disaster in the Gulf. I hate to break it to you people, but we have a terrible track record of existing...

70 Years of Environmental Change

TD Bank Five Borough Bike Tour This Sunday!

2010-04-29T16:54:00.001-04:00

Can you feel the excitement?! I can't, because it's only Thursday, but it's there, lurking just beneath the subconscious.

For all your bike tour needs make sure to check out the official website here. Everyone should make an effort and get out to experience it. Especially the festival at the end of the ride in Staten Island where I hear free beef jerky samples will be available.

Follow GEE's very own Sarah Welch and Zachary Lehmann while they bike from your smart phone! Text "where are zak and sarah" to 617-512-0145 and you will get a link to a google map showing their exact position along the ride!

Hope to see everyone there!

Digi-scoping: Glimpse of a Peregrine Falcon

2010-04-29T12:26:00.002-04:00

Monday I took this shot of a female peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) on Long Island. This was my first attempt at the technique called digi-scoping. "Digi-scoping" generally refers to using a digital camera to take photos through the eyepiece of a telescope. I used my inexpensive Sony Cyber-shot 7.2 mega pixels through the eyepiece of a Kowa scope. My camera was set to auto adjustment which sometimes causes a delay in the shot. As you can see it is a bit out of focus. Next time I will try to adjust the settings to get a clearer shot.

Her feathers are ruffled from the wind and she is perched on her left foot.

Stay tuned for more digi-scoping photos and news on peregrine falcons.

Deodorant Guns

2010-04-22T16:22:00.002-04:00

China is planning to install 100 deodorant guns.

I found this interesting and disgusting info reading METRO this morning. They are going to shoot fresh air over dump sites. Machines will spray chemical fragrance and industrial fans will spread it up to 160 feet.

The amount of trash that Beijing produces is bigger than they can handle. Instead perfuming it, maybe they should clean it. Other cities have had this problem at some point too, but they did their homework and figured out how to motivate people to make less garbage. What if our government organized a little operation: "STINKY GONE." Can you imagine how awful and confusing that would be for our sense of smell?? Rotten food mixed with “clean linen” deodorant. It's similar to when you are too lazy to clean your house so you just spray some Febreze.

New York is not the cleanest city in the world, but it is trying hard to maximize recycling and minimize garbage production. Like every other city in the world, it is very important for citizens to be on the same page as the city government. Cities should develop marketing strategies to inform citizens of the importance of waste reduction and recycling on individual and community levels. This would allow city officials to create a good cleaning plan. So Beijing -- it is cleaning time!

Find out more here.

Dam!

2010-03-25T16:37:00.004-04:00

For those of you web jockeys that don't know, I have recently become an avid fly fisher. The sport brings together a number of my favorite things into an exciting and elitist format that I can really dig my teeth into. I get to be outside, which is always a good thing. I get to make intricate little flies which brings me back to my modelling days of old. It also lets me "hunt" with an option of not actually killing the animal. So as my new obsession began to take hold, I decided to do something very unlike me. I subscribed to a local chapter of a activist organization, Trout Unlimited.

Trout Unlimited (TU) is a national organization with more than 150,000 volunteers spread across approximately 400 chapters. Many of the members are dedicated conservation professionals including experts, scientist, and even lawyers. They are constantly working towards fishery restoration and widely known for their influences on policy around prominent fisheries across the country. It seems a little conceded though, saying you are saving the country's waterways when really you just want a nice place to fish. But that works for me, and more importantly they get the job done, in a big big way.

How big? Try the largest dam removal project currently being undertaken in the world at a cost of $450 million. Not bad for a grassroots fishing group.

The dams of the Klamath River flows from Oregon through over 250 miles of California. The four dams on the river were put up quickly from 1918 to 1962. The dams cut off approximately 300 miles of spawning habitat for fish species. The colder water released from the reservoirs severely inhibited smolt (bait fish) growth. Algae and agriculture runoff were also contributing to the rapid decrease in water quality along the river's length. Finally things came to a head in 2002, when low flows, warm water, and relatively high fish density caused an epidemic among migrating salmon and steelhead. At least 35,000 adult spawners died.

Only after this fishery disaster was action finally taken. TU began hosting talks with the damn operators, farmers, and regulators. Slowly progress was made and an agreement was finalized to remove all four of the major dams along the waterway by 2020. It was a huge win for the conservationists and an example of what can be done if people are brought together to work through public issues such as these.

It's exciting to be a part of an organization with this kind of dedicate and 'no fear' attitude. I am really looking forward to begin getting more involved with TU, and hopefully someday maybe fishing the Klamath myself. For anyone interested I recommend visiting their website and attending some of their chapter meetings. A lot of effort is currently being made to address the natural gas drilling in upstate New York.

Until next time, you can find me on my Croton River, not catching fish....

Everything Has an Impact

2010-03-18T11:12:00.003-04:00

There's never an easy solution.

Could Wind Turbines Actually Warm the Globe? - GOOD Blog - GOOD

(image source: GOOD)

Beekeeping in New York City

2010-03-15T10:34:00.003-04:00

Keeping bees in New York City is illegal due to concerns about public safety -- unfounded concerns, according to the many people who keep hives anyway. According to the New York Times, the city may amend the health code this week to permit beekeeping of Apis mellifera:

Bees in the City? New York May Make Hives Legal - NYTimes.com

The New York City Beekeepers Association, brazen lawbreakers that they are, offer 12-hour beginner classes for $100 on their website, as well as a bunch of community information (and puns related to beekeeping).

http://www.nyc-bees.org/index.html

(Image credit Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times)

Blood-red Waterfall of Primordial Ooze

2010-03-11T09:24:00.002-05:00

In Antarctica, there is a blood-red waterfall pouring down five stories from the Taylor Glacier. The water comes from a lake in which an ecosystem of microbes was trapped by the glacier about 2 million years ago. Since then, the organisms have evolved while sealed off from air, light, and most heat. "Primordial ooze" as Atlas Obscura says.

Earthquake Shifts Earth's Axis, Speeds Up Rotation

2010-03-03T16:08:00.001-05:00

According to NASA scientists, the Earth's axis likely moved by about 3 inches following the major earthquake in Chile on February 27th. Earthquakes can shift the distribution of mass on the planet, changing the way it rotates.

The change is very small -- the length of a day shortened by just a millionth of a second. The quake may have caused some more obvious changes, too, perhaps shifting islands and raising Santa Maria Island (off the coast of Chile) by approximately 6 feet, according to a researcher at Liverpool University.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-01/chilean-quake-likely-shifted-earth-s-axis-nasa-scientist-says.html

Bloomberg Commits to Water Quality Improvements In Jamaica Bay

2010-02-25T16:25:00.001-05:00

It's about time.

The city put out a press release today with some vague details on the new Jamaica Bay water quality improvement plan. While this is a step in the right direction I know I personally would have liked to see more details in the plan. However there is a substantial amount of money being moved into Jamaica Bay wetland restoration which as an avid birder always gets a thumbs up.

The release ran with this opening statement:

"Today marks a new beginning for Jamaica Bay - an amazing recreational and economic resource for New Yorkers," said Lawrence Levine, staff attorney for the NRDC. "The city has committed to address the biggest source of pollution that has plagued Jamaica Bay for decades. We look forward to continuing to work with Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Holloway to turn today's historic commitments into reality."

Some details of the planned improvements include the following:

Upgrade four sewage treatment plants to drastically reduce nitrogen discharges to the bay, on a schedule running through 2020
Spend at least $15 million on marsh restoration over the next five years, which could leverage nearly $30 million in additional federal funding through the Corps of Engineers
Resolve a long-running dispute over the city's Clean Water Act permits by agreeing to new, stricter permit terms that will lock in the treatment plant upgrades, and the resulting water quality improvements, in to the future
Improve water quality monitoring in the bay, which may include using new equipment to provide continuous, rel-time information on conditions in the bay

Jamaica Bay is an incredibly unique and interesting natural attraction. Dozens of interesting bird species migrate through the wetlands of this Bay every year. A snowy owl has even been spotted moving through the area four years ago (my crew made that sighting, it was awesome). I've also heard there is good fishing here, although I'm not sure if there are any special restrictions on fishing in or around the bay.

All and all I'm happy to see the city put something on paper saying they will address the long ignored degradation of the bay. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for the water quality of the entire region.

Welcome to the Jungle

2010-02-19T13:08:00.001-05:00

ESRI is a big fan of hammering you with updates about their GIS products as well as updates about the GIS community around the globe. Luckily for me a lot of their publications have environmental undertones which make them less like spam and more like...something useful. In their most recent issue of ArcWatch, I came across a very interesting article about using Lidar technology to map forests; and I don't mean where the forests are, but actually where individual plants are and how big they are.

Lidar stands for Light Detection And Ranging. Without getting into anything too technical, it basically uses pulses of light in the form of lasers to determine the distance to something. This technology has been used a lot to perform remote surveys of large areas to determine elevations and slopes of a landscape. Researchers from Forestry Tasmania have adapted the technology to measure the height of trees and to some degree the amount of foliage that tree has.

Suffice it to say that it is pretty awesome. Especially when you start seeing images of more than 1 plant at a time, you can tell very quickly that this technology will be able to measure a forest's vegetative cover to some extent. Forest managers are already drooling over the prospects.

Check out more details at the ArcWatch article here.

Plastic

2010-02-12T12:45:00.003-05:00

The last few days, some of us have been discussing the consequences of plastic bags and waste in general. I'm reading The World Without Us by Alan Weisman right now, and was terrified by his text on the pervasiveness of plastics -- that as plastics break down, they become available for consumption by smaller and smaller organisms, and therefore will eventually find their way through the entire food chain.

The blog at GOOD offers this list of ways to reduce plastic waste: http://www.good.is/post/our-10-favorite-innovations-for-reducing-plastic-consumer-waste/.

I'm most interested by the London store Unpackaged (http://beunpackaged.com), which sells all (most?) products sans packaging -- customers bring their own reusable containers. (Image from GOOD's post on Unpackaged.)

Turns Office Paper Into Toilet Paper?!

2010-02-02T16:16:00.000-05:00

Came across this cool machine that takes paper in and gives you toilet paper. This is recycling in front of you eyes. I believe that one day( I hope soon) every house will have one of those, like water filter system...
Check out the link... Happy recycling!

Cooperation

2010-01-22T12:54:00.003-05:00

Again the idea of co-evolution keeps entering my realm. This time at my Brooklyn Botanical Garden Botany course Uli, my professor, introduced us to the ant plant. Myrmecophyte plants, also commonly known as ant plants, native to south Asia are epiphytes. Epiphytes may often be considered parasitic but they only use their host for physical support. While the Myrmecophyte plant relies on trees for a home, the plant also is a host for a colony of ants.

Its swollen stem is a suitable location for ants to borrow in a claim their territory. This doesn’t have any negative effects on the plant and actually the ants provide nutrition via droppings and fend off any unwanted trespasser that may cause harm to the plant and their colony by attack. Another great example of co-evolution.

I recently heard the term cooperation used in terms of natural selection. Perhaps it is an organism’s ability to cooperate with other species to survive at a higher rate than the ones who are fighting. If so the homo genus should soon find a more harmonious way to exist on this planet if we want to survive.

Another fascinating blog to check out by the Natural History Museum Curator Susan Perkins explores a new parasite every day for a year at Parasite of the Day.

Evolutionary Weaponry -- Venom

2010-01-20T12:12:00.002-05:00

"If I spit, they will take my spit and frame it as great art." - Picasso

His modesty is commendable, but really humans are millions of years behind other animals in terms of the quality of their spit.

There are many animals in the world today that utilize a variety of venoms to incapacitate prey. Most notable of these are snakes, lizards, spiders, and jellyfish. Few people are aware of the venoms that some mammals have, such as moles and shrews. But if the evolution of venoms occurred in multiple kingdoms at different times, where did they all come from?

The answer is ever so cleverly concealed in the opening quote of this article. Primitive forms of venoms usually are found in the saliva of organisms. This is evident even today in a number of monitor species and some fish. Scientists who specialize in the application of venoms for medicinal research have been studying the make up of various venoms and have reached a few conclusions through the use of DNA analysis. Namely that many of the enzymes and proteins that are found in venoms of a particular species are also found in other organs of their digestive system. This has lead researchers to believe that venoms started out as "strong" salivas.

Venom typically is made up of one of three (or some combination of) toxin classifications: cytotoxins, hemotoxins, and neurotoxins. The makeup of the venom is usually influenced by the hunting styles of the animal in question. Sea snakes for example require incredibly powerful venoms to kill fish almost immediately, otherwise they would not be able to catch them.

INTERESTING SIDE NOTE: the king cobra has venom potent enough to kill an adult elephant. But the strength of it's venom was only increased because it hunts other snakes, which had developed a resistance to it's venom.

Cytotoxins are considered the most primitive. They initiate the digestion of tissues before being swallowed. Most salivas do something similar, for instance in humans, we have enzymes that help us break down carbohydrates and sugars before it even gets to the stomach. Venoms simply have specialized enzymes and proteins which do essentially the same thing on living tissues. Cytotoxin venoms are also utilized by a number of species for defensive purposes, which sufficiently irritate attackers to allow for a hasty escape. Cytotoxins usually don't kill the prey, but can wound it sufficiently to make it easier to catch. Some cytotoxins can be incredibly potent and lead to deformities, such as those found in the brown recluse spider (Pictures of brown recluse toxin effects on humans. WARNING: graphic content.)

A more advanced toxin are the hemotoxins. Hemotoxins attack circulatory systems, usually preventing the coagulation of blood thus preventing the victim from being able to stop bleeding after the strike. However some more advanced hemotoxins do the exact opposite, and actually rapidly clots all the blood throughout the body of the victim.

The most frightening toxin, at least to me, are the neurotoxins. These toxins work between the synapses of the nervous system. Basically the eliminate the singles being sent from the victims brain stem to the muscles. In essence the victim is still alive when it begins to be eaten.

The evolutionary history of venoms in snake species is particularly interesting. Much to the dismay of my mother, snakes have also become a small obsession of mine. DNA researchers have determined that the ability to form these venoms, in snakes, arose from a single evolutionary branch over 100 million years ago in one of the earliest ancestors of modern snakes. All of the modern snakes of today have venomous potential, however only tree taxonomic families are now considered poisonous.

And now after convincing you all that snakes are terrible animals to have around the house, I would like to encourage everyone to visit the New York Reptile Expo on Wednesday January 20th at the Westchester County Center in White Plains NY. I went last year and had an absolute blast. They have vendors there selling all sorts of reptiles. Monitors, snakes, geckos, chameleons, frogs, turtles, they literally have it all. It was that show where I bought my first corn snake, they make for great pets. Everyone should check it out, $10 to get in and see some of the craziest animals and people the greater New York area has to offer!

Living in the Future

2010-01-19T11:02:00.005-05:00

In 1972, Geoffrey Hoyle wrote a book called 2010: Living in the Future. It is sometimes spot on -- "vision phones" -- and sometimes not so much -- "in the year 2010 everyone wears a jumpsuit and shoes."

I find it interesting that so many futuristic predictions include uniformity of things like clothing and food production (here, food arrives in tubes and is automatically cooked), yet these particular items have actually trended the other way (at least, that's what I see around me in Brooklyn).

And while simplicity and sustainability are recognized with small, efficient homes and public transportation galore, electric gadgets are abundant too, and it always seems to be assumed that we will find a way to fuel all of this with clean energy.

Go compare reality with Mr. Hoyle's predictions...

From Boing Boing.

Moss Gardening

2010-01-14T18:03:00.002-05:00

I have started growing moss -- George Schenk inspired me. His wonderfully conversational book Moss Gardening: Including Lichens, Liverworts and Other Miniatures is full of quirky stories mixed with technical details and beautiful images. My edition is printed on a heavy glossy paper which gives it an enticing density and a satisfying "thunk" when being closed.

Go buy it, everyone.

But anyway -- here I'm growing an unidentified moss with delicate greenery on a slice of wood, under a thrift-store glass bowl (not shown). We'll see how long it lasts...

Open Source and Why it is Important

2010-01-14T11:17:00.021-05:00

"Open source" is a computer term that is getting thrown around more and more these days and it is important to understand excatly what this concept is and how it affects everyone on, very literally, a global scale. As the residing tech expert on the blog I am taking it upon myself to try to enlighten those of a less tech-savvy nature. So lets start with the basics. What does open source mean exactly?

Open source is a software production methodology which allows the program's source code to be viewed by the general public. Okay, so what does that mean? Basically it allows anyone in the world to look at the programming code, the raw language of the program, the stuff that makes the program work the way it does. Other third party programmers can then tailor their own programs to this code, digesting outputs from the original program to suite their individual needs. The best example of this are all of those crazy "apps" (short for application) you see on smart phones and websites these days.

Take a look at any iPhone or (even better) Droid out there today. Chances are it is loaded with applications that do all sorts of things from playing games, to updating you on the weather, to translating your texts to a different language (Guten Tag!). Apple and Google didn't program these applications. That would have taken them decades and cost them millions of dollars. Instead they provided the source code for their respective phone's operating systems to other software developers. These developers then created these programs and either sell them back to Apple or put them up for sale on a web market. The point is neither Google nor Apple want to invest the time and money into making a weather app, even though it is obviously useful and would be consumed by a large number of people. Instead they basically allow someone else who has the resources to focus on that job specifically to do it faster and cheaper.

So now that we have an idea of what open source is technically, lets talk about why it is important and why there is so much buzz around the topic.

To start off, what are the down sides of open source programming? Why doesn't everyone do it? The answer is that like many other kinds of companies, software companies are greedy, and they have good reason to be. Even simple programs that cost relatively little to produce, if done well, can generate millions and millions of dollars in revenue for a staff of potentially only a few people. Look at MySpace or Facebook. Both are absurdity simple ideas from a programming perspective. Build a website that allows people to make a personalized profile that links to other profiles. Simple! No one related to the creators of either site will have to work a day of their life now. Software development is a funny business where the usefulness of your product vastly outweighs the content in most cases.

But what happens when the source code for your simple program is leaked? Your once novel idea is now being developed by hundreds of other programmers who stole your source code, effectively giving them a head start on their programs. Not so long ago open source code was considered suicidal, because it gives your competitors a look at exactly how your programs works. It will allow them to exploit defects and capitalize on your ingenuity. Of course open source is a bad idea, you will lose all of your potential revenue to competitors! Also apparently you become a communist...

(NOTE: not actually from Microsoft, at least I'm pretty sure it isn't.)

So why would someone give up the rights to make money on all of those apps? They don't! You can't run those apps with out the phones can you? In reality open source allows you to do something even more valuable than protecting your code. In essence open source creates a community dedicated to the development of your software platform. The computer game Half Life for example is entirely open sourced, which has lead to a myriad of other games developed by other people (including the world renown Counterstrike). All of this success feeds back to the original creators, Valve, and their original game. Everyone comes back for the solid community that is dedicated to a solid gaming engine.

As the internet continues to grow in capabilities and power more and more companies are realizing the power behind open source programming. Open source programming is beginning to change the way the world collaborates on projects. A great example of this is Google's mapping software which is making incredible strides at mapping the entire globe at an incredible level of detail. Open source programming makes projects like this possible. By freely sharing information and innovation the limits of technological progress knows no bounds.

Mapping New York's Shoreline

2010-01-12T09:35:00.001-05:00

I can't wait to check out the current exhibit at the New York Public Library. Mapping New York's Shoreline, 1609-2009 is full of maps, books, atlases, journals, photographs and more that explore the original shoreline dating back 400 years ago and how it has evolved because of urbanization. Perhaps this can provide some inspirational thoughts to New Yorkers on how we can restore our intertidal zones.

Viral Ancestry

2010-01-11T17:47:00.009-05:00

The title might not make sense immediately, please bear with me...

The Matrix series may not have been as religious an experience for most of you as it was for me. A futuristic, apocalyptic, video-game like nightmare world were computers have taken over the world and harvest heat from human beings for power. Not to mention having the ability to fly, stop bullets, and take on any martial artist the world has to through at you. It's freakin' awesome, but I digress.

One of my favorite scenes in the series comes from the original film where the evil Agent Smith (picture right) has captured Morpheus, our heroic leader, and is giving him the typical villain monologue about why he wants to destroy humanity. The line he uses is classic:

"I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus."

Well as it turns out, it might be true (see I told you I would bring it around eventually). An amazing new form of viral research has arisen recently in which DNA researchers search for ancient viral DNA structures in the genomes of organisms alive today, including humans.
40 million years ago, a virus called the borna virus infected our ape-like ancestors. The genes from that virus have been passed down ever since and can now be found in the genomes of every human being on the planet. It doesn't stop there, to date over 100,000 elements of human DNA have been found to likely come from viruses.

Typically these viral remains do not affect us in any adverse way, or at least we know little enough about them that scientist aren't raising any serious concerns yet. In fact some viruses have been shown to help ward off other viral invasions. Syncytin, a protein produced by one virus is even essential for a placental tube, necessary for birth, to exist at all. It's not all good unfortunately. Not enough information exists currently on the interaction of retroviruses and human health. It has been linked by some experts to protein deficiencies as well as a number of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Regardless of the effects, the questions these new findings bring up are exciting to think about. Are humans some kind of super virus? Are our superior brains all thanks to viral infections, bending our monkey ancestors to their evolutionary will? All of this coupled with a recent talk I hear on the TED website about the brains evolution makes me wonder.

As much as I would like to talk about what retroviruses are and how they effect us, I have more work-based work I need to be doing. Not to mention I am not versed in this discipline in any way shape or form. I can however drop a series of links at the end of this blog and claim that I know what I am doing. Enjoy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrovirus

http://www.microbiologybytes.com/virology/Retroviruses.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/science/12paleo.html?pagewanted=1&ref=science

Go, go (green) gadgets!

2010-01-08T11:34:00.005-05:00

Here is another interesting story regarding ecology and green development I found in the METRO newspaper that I pick up on my way to work:

House that works like a living tree
A researcher invented a synthetic tree (shaped like a house) that also can get rid of CO2. Klaus Lackner, from Columbia University, answers our questions.

How does your invention work?
The “leaves” are made from a plastic material that absorbs CO2 when it is dry and releases it again when it is moist. Standing in the wind, the sorbent material loads up with CO2, it is then transferred into a chamber, from which the air can be removed and moisture is introduced. The plastic releases CO2 into the chamber, which is pumped out and compressed to liquid CO2.

Where exactly can we install them?
Anywhere, because the air mixes well and everywhere has the same CO2.

Also -- Self-erasable paper! Read more in the same article, here.

Ecoterrorism -- Whale Wars

2010-01-08T10:33:00.007-05:00

I wonder if they were on former President Bush's axis of evil?

"If a whale is hit by an exploding harpoon near Antarctica and the world doesn’t have a way to witness that, does it make a sound?" - ANDREW C. REVKIN

I thought that was one of the more eloquent quotes I've heard in recent years. Mr. Revkin was talking to whale activists about the recent clash over Japanese whale hunting in the antarctic, which resulted in the sinking of a $1.5 million vessel owned by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS). A video of the ordeal can be found below, taken from the deck of the Japanese whaling vessel the Shonan Maru 2.

As you can see from this footage the SSCS and the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) do not get along. Reports from the incident say that the SSCS attack whaling vessels every year, throwing acid and smoke grenades onto their decks. They also tangle propellers with long lengths of rope, and unfortunately, use their very expensive speed boats to block the whaling vessels progress. As a result the whaling ships spray down the SSCS crew with water cannons and apparently are now ramming smaller vessels. You should take note here that the SSCS vessel is flying a jolly rogers, I don't know if you can play the innocent activist card and fly a pirate flag at the same time. But what do I know, I am just a bird guy after all.

Each side of the conflict is obviously pointing fingers at the other. SSCS say that their boat was intentionally rammed by the Japanese vessel, while the ICR ship claims the SSCS parked their boat in their way with no room to maneuver around them. Interesting statement considering the following video of the same collision.

So why all the hostility anyway? Most people know that whaling is illegal. In fact almost all of the major coastal countries in the world signed onto an international agreement creating the International Whaling Commission to ban sea mammal harvesting for commercial use. Japan signed onto this agreement, but are using a loop hole to continue whale harvests. Under the commission Japan and Norway refused to give up rights to capture whales for scientific research. Meat that goes unused after the theoretical tests are run is then allowed to be sold. Effectively this allows Japan and Norway to continue to hunt whales so long as they paint a big RESEARCH sign on the side of their ships. Japan is planning to collect 1,000 whales this season. That's a pretty big sample size, I hope they find something interesting.

Urban Safari

2010-01-06T12:43:00.008-05:00

The Urban Landscape Lab at Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, & Preservation (GSAPP) has developed a do-it-yourself tour complete with downloadable podcasts that introduces no. 7 subway riders to the diverse ecology along the urban transect.
Riders listen and discover what species they share their everyday lives with and how they have adapted in order to survive. Perhaps this will open our eyes to the interconnected lives we live with our environment even in an urban context.

Find out more about the project and download the podcasts at the Safari 7 website.

Say Cheese

2010-01-05T12:47:00.005-05:00

Wonderful. I love when nature poses for the camera.

http://citynoise.org/article/9510/by/

The Good Ole Days

2010-01-04T17:00:00.005-05:00

I found it funny to run across this article at the NY Times website my first day in the office of 2010. Starting my fourth year at GEE it was interesting to read about Laura Francoeur, who has the exact same job that I was brought onto GEE for, albeit with more guns. I went to school for wildlife conservation, got my first job as an ornithologist, and still; nothing warms my heart more than knowing some portion of my tax money goes toward the killing of Canada geese every single day.

OMG STOP EATING PLANTS!!

2009-12-22T16:09:00.004-05:00

New York Times article on the sophistication of plant mechanisms:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/science/22angi.html?em

Should we still eat plants??" The article half-jokingly questions.

Yes, yes you should.

We can't photosynthesize, people. But I also do not believe there is anything morally wrong with the idea of eating animals, so some may disagree.

Parasightings

2009-12-10T13:19:00.001-05:00

This horrifying picture is of a hookworm. A microscopic parasite that lives off of a host by attaching to the intestine. Pretty scary. I have recently learned that this little guy might actually have a lot to offer humans. Since the beginning of the hookworm and human relationship they have evolved together quite literally. Not necessarily peas in a pod but there have been benefits to each.

It was Rockefeller that first noticed the effects of the hookworm in the states. Initially Rockefeller wanted to make the South a more economically viable system. After sending a committee to investigate they linked lazy, pale, anemic farmers to loamy soils. Farmers with clay soils, although non anemic, were also less productive due to soil properties. Why were the loamy soils causing the farmers to be anemic? The investigation led to unsanitary areas of defecation. An experiment proved loamy soils aided in the migration of hookworms. 4 days after a farmer did his business the hookworm had traveled 4 feet. After 6 days the worm was dead but still at 4 feet. Bam: Outhouses. Our sanitary health standards were instantly changed. Rockefeller installed government state health departments, medical and educational programs.

Once we eradicated our hook worm relation here the evolutionary partnership halted. But in places like Africa were hookworms fortunately or unfortunately still live there has evolved a more harmonious existence between the two. A man by the name of Jasper Lawrence grew up with an unfortunate case of extremely bad allergies and asthma. Jasper heard about the possibilities of hookworms decreasing allergic reactions. Determined to find a solution to his miserable conditions Jasper took a trip to Africa to "get" hookworms. Miraculously his allergies were almost completely gone when he returned to the states. In order to keep their human hosts hookworms have evolved to suppress human allergic reactions. He now has a small business dedicated to selling hookworms to those looking to reduce their pestering allergies.

If you can withstand the idea of hosting a hookworm in your stomach there could be great opportunities in the future of medicine.

Listen to WNYC radio lab to learn more about the interesting relationships of parasites.

Will My Cats Ever Really Listen to Me?

2009-12-08T11:08:00.012-05:00

My two cats, Salix and Sorrel, have a unique technique of getting onto my lap while I work at my computer (work being a debatable term). It involves a complex series of events that ends with their claws tearing away small ribbons of my upper thigh as they scale their way up my swivel chair. This dance usually starts with them placing their front two paws on my leg staring at me with their head slightly cocked to one side while I begin yelling "No, no, no, no! WAIT!! I'll pick you up!" Needless to say they either do not comprehend my pleads, or more likely, sadistically choose to ignore them.

Every evening I silently convince myself that I will develop a way to communicate with my furry companions to prevent these situations from occurring again. Of course I'm not the first one to think about animal communication. This morning I came across an article in the New York Times about a group of scientists that claim they have deciphered the Campbell's monkey vocabulary. While these scientists’ and my own motives may have been slightly (ever so slightly) different, our curiosity over one question was identical. Why can't we talk with the animals?

As I begin nursing my bleeding thighs and look into the content eyes of my attacker, I can interpret their purring as nothing less than an expression of their satisfaction. After reading the article I naturally ran over to the one place that holds all the answers to the universe, Wiki. To say I was overwhelmed was an understatement. The debate over whether animals are even capable of communication was an online war I didn't even know was being waged. It seemed strange to me that people could think animals can't communicate. When your dog dances around at the front door when you first come home, is that not a clear communication of their happiness of your safe return?

It very well could be, however the debate really isn't about inter-specie communication, but rather inter-specie language or intra-specie language for that matter. As it turns out the real heart of the debate is over whether or not animals engaged in vocal exchanges are speaking in a language or merely communicating threats or desires. The difference is subtle at first. Certainly one can communicate through language, but what defines communication as a language.

Well, according to the Animal language wiki, the following properties of the human language are what differentiate it from animal communication:

Arbitrariness: There is no rational relationship between a sound or sign and its meaning. (There is nothing intrinsically "housy" about the word "house".)
Cultural transmission: Language is passed from one language user to the next, consciously or unconsciously.
Discreteness: Language is composed of discrete units that are used in combination to create meaning.
Displacement: Language can be used to communicate ideas about things that are not in the immediate vicinity either spatially or temporally.
Duality: Language works on two levels at once, a surface level and a semantic (meaningful) level.
Meta-linguistics: Ability to discuss language itself.
Productivity: A finite number of units can be used to create an infinite number of utterances.

A host of experiments have proven that animals are able to meet any number of these requirements, however no animals examined to date (at least that wiki is aware of) have not met all of them. Chimps and apes have been observed "talking" to each other about approaching threats. Bee dances are able to describe elements of spatial displacement. Some apes have even been taught rudimentary forms of sign language. But is a bee dance saying "Hey, there is some great flowers 20 meters away North of here.", or is it merely a communication to the other bees "Flowers 20 meters North.". Is this communication or a language? Anyone present in my high school Spanish classes will inform you that I am not qualified to make that distinction.

The main criticisms of animal language studies is that most of the experiments are bad science. The majority of animal language studies lack any kind of controls to discount bias in the interpreted results. For example, a chimp that signs the word for Bill when a researcher points to Bill may be reported as understanding what the scientist said to it. More likely the chimp is simply able to associate the name Bill with Bill. Animal language scientist have been scolded for over-interpreting their results and projecting understanding and comprehension on their subjects with limited results to reinforce their claims.

Whether you are think animals have the ability to use language or lack it, the subject is undeniably fascinating. I can only hope that a human-cat dictionary is published before I go bankrupt from buying new pairs of jeans.

GEE Moon Office?

2009-11-16T16:24:00.008-05:00

In case you missed it -- NASA found "a significant amount" of water on the moon. The Lcross satellite crashed into the moon about a month ago, sending up a plume that, after later analysis, was determined to contain at least 26 gallons of water.

Sounds like a wetland impact to me.

NYTimes article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/science/14moon.html?scp=1&sq=WATER%20ON%20MOON&st=cse

(photo credit NYTimes)

Newtown Creek Nature Walk

2009-11-12T10:46:00.005-05:00

This past weekend ZL and I took a stroll on the Newtown Creek Nature Walk. It's an unlikely place for a "nature walk" -- on the shore of a heavily polluted tidal inlet, above the largest underground oil spill in the US. And there's the sewer treatment plant (see photo). But it is surprisingly -- nice. Pleasant. Designed by George Trakas, it has some great views, and some "nature" -- at least in the form of native plants.

The "get-down" into the Newtown Creek is an optimistic design choice -- only crazy people touch that water -- and the intertidal vegetation there seems to feel the same way. Most of it is dead, though there are some grasses and stray goldenrods and asters. I'm curious -- does anyone know if that area was originally planted with salt marsh plants all the way down into the creek? Even the official flyer photo looks pretty sad (upper right).

But overall -- it's worth a visit. The contrast of fall foliage and careful paving patterns surrounded by the sharp industrial colors and textures is refreshing. And the dark polluted water of the creek makes for some nice reflections. More photos here.

Defining the Line of Conservation vs. Preservation

2009-11-03T13:29:00.005-05:00

Attending school at an exclusively environmental college in Maine was an informative experience for me. With students studying every hue in the spectrum of environmental studies, from conservation law enforcement and policy to horticulture and molecular biology, debates raged all over campus on any number of issues. My personal favorite was always between conservation and preservation.

You'll be hard pressed to find someone who openly hates national parks. But you might be surprised at just how many people clash with the parks system on a regular basis. The parks by definition protect large tracts of land, and more importantly, large amounts of natural resources. To the conservationist these resources should be used for the benefit of everyone and be maintained in a sustainable manner. While the preservationists prefers by definition a more hands off approach.

As a newly enrolled student at Unity College I was a preservationist to the bones. I grew up with Captain Planet, and the Rescuers Down Under and was devoted to stopping the rampant destruction of natural resources. But after only a few classes I realized this issue was almost never so cut and dry.

For instance most people agree that everyone should have the equal opportunity to experience the natural beauty of the parks. But what about people with limited mobility such as someone in a wheel chair? Will you deny the construction of roads and paved paths for the sake of preservation or deny handicapped individuals the opportunity to experience the park? Even oyster farmers who have been in operation since before the parks establishment are affected.

It's a debate that never really seems to have a definitive answer or ending, which is probably what makes it so interesting to talk about.

Relevant articles:

Wilderness Wiki

Focus West

Farewell Lawrence Halprin

2009-10-29T11:22:00.003-04:00

This past week the landscape architecture community lost one of its most influential designers of the postwar era. Lawrence Halprin, FASLA, passed away at 93 on Sunday from natural causes. Halprin created many iconic landscapes such as Ghirardelli Square, San Fransisco, Lovejoy Park, Portland, Oregon and probably his most famous, FDR memorial in Washington D.C.

At the 2007 ASLA convention in San Fransisco I got the opportunity to hear Halprin speak at the closing general session.

I will post my photos of his work soon.

How Food Shapes Our Cities

2009-10-26T11:40:00.002-04:00

Another interesting presentation from TED about the history of city planning and how food played an essential role in the layout of pre-industrial age cities. She also talks about the future of city's relationship with food and how agriculture and food distribution systems around the world need to change.

Carolyn Steel: How Food Shapes Our Cities

Landscape Ecology on Terragrams

2009-10-22T14:41:00.004-04:00

I recently found this wonderful podcast hosted by Craig Verzone from Verzone Woods Architectes called Terragrams. They interview great designers such as Ken Smith and James Corner. My favorite episode is with Richard Forman. He is a wonderful scholar sometimes referred to as the "father of landscape ecology". I highly recommend his book Landscape Ecology Principles for Landscape Architecture and Land-Use Planning. It is simple and fundamental. In the interview he mentions his new book out Urban Regions: Ecology and Planning beyond the urban city. Within the book Forman presents a critical look at 38 different cities around the world, comparing science, planning, and society.

Listen to Terragrams at http://www.terragrams.com/Site/Terragrams/Terragrams.html

Waterbox?!

2009-10-22T13:05:00.003-04:00

I read the following article in the paper not that long ago, and wondered why someone did not do this earlier. So green!! Check this out.

http://www.uncrate.com/men/culture/drinks/boxed-water-is-better/

Project Mannahatta - Before the City

2009-10-22T12:44:00.003-04:00

For those of you who are not familiar with the TED site, it is a site about ideas. Guest speakers give short presentations which are posted online about technology, science, and art. To anyone interested in these fields I strongly suggest adding TED to your favorites folder.

A featured presentation recently posted on TED spotlighted the Mannahatta project, run by Eric Sanderson. He uses state of the art Geospatial Information System (GIS) technology to recreate Manhattan before European settlers arrived. This is a fantastic history of our favorite island from an ecological perspective.

Mind Blowing

2009-10-20T15:26:00.002-04:00

When I start thinking about who our ancestors were, where and how they might have lived, and what they may have looked like, it can really become overwhelming. It's no wonder that evolution can be such a push button issue when it can be so hard to get your head around. It's hard to believe we're figuring this stuff out!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091001-oldest-human-skeleton-ardi-missing-link-chimps-ardipithecus-ramidus.html

Animal Behavior Study: Pavlov's Fish?

2009-10-20T15:20:00.004-04:00

The New York Times posted an article today in their science section about a new animal behavior study being done in Australia. A research team led by Ulrike E. Siebeck, at the University of Queensland, trained coral reef fish species to associate specific colors and shapes with food.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/science/20creature.html?ref=science

Green Skyscraper

2009-09-25T16:21:00.002-04:00

An 82-story building, still being built in Chicago, is using materials which will help minimize birds strikes. Kudos to designer and architect Jeanne Gang! Check out the original article here:

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/theskyline/2009/09/a-skyscraper-for-the-birds-aqua-gets-an-award-from-animal-rights-group-.html

Foraging in Prospect Park

2009-09-24T15:45:00.004-04:00

A trip to Prospect Park this past Saturday with “Wildman” Steve Brill was a strange but insightful experience. Equipped with a stroller and a whistle Steve was ready for an afternoon of foraging and brilla-phone entertainment. Steve showed tasty plants and warned which should be avoided. Among the favorite treats found were Washington Hawthorn berries, Asiatic dayflower, Yellow wood sorrel, Wild Mustard seed, and Sassafras root. Sign up for a tour at http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/, but remember don’t eat the White Snake Root!

Wandering the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

2009-09-17T15:11:00.012-04:00

Last weekend I tried out my new membership at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, breezing through the "members only" entrance with a flash of my shiny green card. Nice.

I ended up in the Native Flora Garden and happily toured the masses of vegetation, looking for shade tolerant plants for a particular project involving constructed rocky stream banks adjacent to high security walls.

Some of the more interesting plants included:

Fuzzy on top, with very minty leaves (above): Mountain-mint (Pycnanthemum muticum)

Bizarre, extremely poisonous berries and a creepy, fitting name: Doll's eyes (Actaea pachypoda)

And, just for fun, this artistic conifer cultivar with curled needles: Twisted white-pine (Pinus strobus 'Contorta')

Hudson River Foundation Seminars

2009-09-16T15:22:00.001-04:00

The Hudson River Foundation is sponsoring a seminar series on scientific issues related to the environmental quality and resources management of the New York/ New Jersey Harbor Estuary. All Seminars will be held at Hudson River Foundation, 17 Battery Place, Suite 915, New York, NY 10004. RSVP to info@hudsonriver.org or call 212-483-7667 (seating is limited)

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 @ 10:30 AM
Ecological Functions of Hudson River Salt Marshes and Submerged Vegetation

Dr. Stuar Findlay, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 @ 10:30 AM
Salt Marshes: A Natural and Unnatural History

Dr. Judith Weis, Rutgers University

Friday, December 4, 2009, 10:30 AM

Historical Changes in Bathymetry in the Lower Passaic River
Dr. William Hasen, Worcester State College

2009-09-16T15:18:00.000-04:00

Welcome to GEE's blog. We hope to keep you updated on all that is ecology, the environment, green design, and natural resource technology! Check back often for new information on what's going on in YOUR community!