1. Coastal Erosion Forum March 27 in Pacifica
2. Count the costs: Nature is underpriced
3. Program about the Bay Area's premier wildflower display: Thursday April 1
4. "Shrink Knowland Park?" update. Public hearing TONIGHT
5. Boaters: watch out for whales/seal pups on beaches--leave them alone
6. Voyage of the Plastiki. A painful reminder of The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
7. The greater sage grouse may get federal protection under the Endangered Species Act--if we have time to deal with it
8. George W Bush and Randolph Churchill have benign polyps removed, unnecessarily
9. Want to buy Albion Castle? It's on the market again
10. Cecil Day Lewis asks "Is it far to go?"
11. Santa Clara Valley and peninsula Going Native Garden Tour April 18/San Francisco April 25
12. Feedback: Among other items--Tipper Gore now working for Microsoft?
13. FUF's Citizen Forester Training program starts April 14
14. Schlage Lock site workshop April 3
15. Full Moon walk March 28
16. Sutro Baths graffito offers a healing perspective on life
17. Scientific American says critters need space to live. (You read it here first)/dark roast coffee prevents stomach acidity/quell appetite
18. Chemical warfare in the plant world: protects from predators and seasons our food
19. Six legs good--Bugs in the System: Insects and Their Impact on Human Affairs
For those of you who knew Mel Baker, his wife just informed me that he died yesterday, after a long battle with illness. Mel was in managerial positions with SF Rec-Park and DPW. I will publish my own tribute next newsletter.
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1. Coastal Erosion Forum Announcement
In Pacifica, as elsewhere along the 1,100 mile coast of California, cliffs crumble and beaches wash away and return. Almost every year we are reminded that here along the San Mateo coast erosion averages two feet a year. But the process is not orderly, and dramatic events often occur during El Nino years like the one we have experienced this winter. Again, we watched with horror and fascination, sympathy and disbelief the efforts to safeguard properties along Esplanade.
On Saturday, March 27, join Pacificans for an exploration of the natural processes and history of the creation and erosion of our section of the magnificent California coast. At this informative forum, USGS emeritus geologist Monty Hampton will present images of the coast as experienced and documented in Pacifica and other local communities. A coast resident and specialist in environmental marine geology, Hampton surveyed local coastal cliff retreat for many years as chief scientist for the United States Geological Survey. He was also involved in preparedness workshops with other scientists and the San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services prior to the 1998 El Nino.
The second part of the forum will highlight recent studies undertaken by Philip Williams and Associates, Ltd for the Pacific Institute. Pacifican Bob Battalio will consider from the viewpoint of a surfer, environmental hydrologist and civil engineer how our beaches and cliffs may be affected in the future by the same physical processes operating today.
After a short break, Charles Lester, Senior Deputy Director from the Coastal Commission will discuss the Coastal Act.
The afternoon will close with questions and discussion moderated by Brenda Goeden from BCDC.
Many Pacificans and other coastal residents chose to live beside the ocean in order to regularly experience and admire its beauty and power. That power has shaped and will continue to shape all our communities along the coast in varying ways. Our understanding and appreciation of the forces that created the coast can better inform all of us as we make decisions about our future next to the beautiful Pacific Ocean.
What: Coastal Erosion Forum
When: 2:00 to 5:00 PM, Saturday, March 27
Where: Pacifica Library, downstairs room, 140 Hilton Way
Parking: on the street during library hours
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2. What to do: Count the costs
Nature is underpriced, says economist Partha Dasgupta. No one pays the mountainside for the trees it grows or the sea for the fish it provides.
Figuring out the economic values of nature’s services and incorporating them into such indicators may be one way to curb destruction of biodiversity. For without a fair accounting, nature looks like a free lunch, and, Dasgupta says, “If you don’t pay for something, you overuse it.”
To highlight the economic value of nature on a big scale, Dasgupta, of the University of Cambridge in England, is pushing for a nature-inclusive alternative to the Gross Domestic Product as an economic indicator. The GDP reports the total value of human-made goods and services without deductions to reflect losses of capital, especially natural capital. Gross, as opposed to net, is “the rogue word” in Gross Domestic Product, he says.
Dasgupta is now urging nations and the World Bank to monitor another measure that he and others have been refining in recent years. “Comprehensive wealth per capita” adds human and natural assets to tallies of capital, and should provide a much-needed way to see whether growth is sustainable, he argues in the January 12 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
Dasgupta compared GDP to his new measure of wealth per capita for five countries and for sub-Saharan Africa from 1970 to 2000 (table omitted here). All the nations averaged annual increases in GDP, and sub-Saharan Africa was slipping only 0.1 percent a year. But when Dasgupta used his wealth indicator, the figures looked different. He incorporated natural resources and human resources. With this measure, sub-Saharan Africa looked even worse than it had based on GDP, and the nations, except China, slipped from the positive into the negative column.
What’s still missing from the new indicator, Dasgupta says, is a calculation for the complete range of services that ecosystems perform. Many more ecosystems need assessment before there’s enough data to include these factors in a wealth analysis.
Edward Barbier of the University of Wyoming in Laramie, who has studied Thailand’s coastal mangroves, is building up some of the information on ecosystem damage and services. Since 1975 an estimated 50 percent or more of the country’s mangroves have been destroyed to make way for shrimp farms along the coast. The tsunami that bashed the coast in December 2004 raised interest in one of the mangroves’ previously underappreciated services — their ability to soften the wallop of incoming waves.
Barbier factored storm protection into a 2007 economic analysis that speaks to land use and restoration choices. He estimated the net returns for shrimp farms at $1,078 to $1,220 per hectare (in 1996 dollars, based on investing for five years and then abandoning the farm). If farmers were required to restore the farms with their acidified, compacted soil so that the mangrove ecosystem could thrive again, shrimp farming wouldn’t be worthwhile. Restoration costs at least $8,812 per hectare, the researchers calculate.
But, Barbier found, a fully functioning mangrove ecosystem would be worth the restoration cost. The value of the mangroves — including the protection they give to larvae in fisheries, products harvested directly from the mangroves and storm protection — added up to at least $10,158 per hectare.
Science News 13 March 2010
Nature is underpriced, says economist Partha Dasgupta. No one pays the mountainside for the trees it grows or the sea for the fish it provides.
Figuring out the economic values of nature’s services and incorporating them into such indicators may be one way to curb destruction of biodiversity. For without a fair accounting, nature looks like a free lunch, and, Dasgupta says, “If you don’t pay for something, you overuse it.”
To highlight the economic value of nature on a big scale, Dasgupta, of the University of Cambridge in England, is pushing for a nature-inclusive alternative to the Gross Domestic Product as an economic indicator. The GDP reports the total value of human-made goods and services without deductions to reflect losses of capital, especially natural capital. Gross, as opposed to net, is “the rogue word” in Gross Domestic Product, he says.
Dasgupta is now urging nations and the World Bank to monitor another measure that he and others have been refining in recent years. “Comprehensive wealth per capita” adds human and natural assets to tallies of capital, and should provide a much-needed way to see whether growth is sustainable, he argues in the January 12 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
Dasgupta compared GDP to his new measure of wealth per capita for five countries and for sub-Saharan Africa from 1970 to 2000 (table omitted here). All the nations averaged annual increases in GDP, and sub-Saharan Africa was slipping only 0.1 percent a year. But when Dasgupta used his wealth indicator, the figures looked different. He incorporated natural resources and human resources. With this measure, sub-Saharan Africa looked even worse than it had based on GDP, and the nations, except China, slipped from the positive into the negative column.
What’s still missing from the new indicator, Dasgupta says, is a calculation for the complete range of services that ecosystems perform. Many more ecosystems need assessment before there’s enough data to include these factors in a wealth analysis.
Edward Barbier of the University of Wyoming in Laramie, who has studied Thailand’s coastal mangroves, is building up some of the information on ecosystem damage and services. Since 1975 an estimated 50 percent or more of the country’s mangroves have been destroyed to make way for shrimp farms along the coast. The tsunami that bashed the coast in December 2004 raised interest in one of the mangroves’ previously underappreciated services — their ability to soften the wallop of incoming waves.
Barbier factored storm protection into a 2007 economic analysis that speaks to land use and restoration choices. He estimated the net returns for shrimp farms at $1,078 to $1,220 per hectare (in 1996 dollars, based on investing for five years and then abandoning the farm). If farmers were required to restore the farms with their acidified, compacted soil so that the mangrove ecosystem could thrive again, shrimp farming wouldn’t be worthwhile. Restoration costs at least $8,812 per hectare, the researchers calculate.
But, Barbier found, a fully functioning mangrove ecosystem would be worth the restoration cost. The value of the mangroves — including the protection they give to larvae in fisheries, products harvested directly from the mangroves and storm protection — added up to at least $10,158 per hectare.
Science News 13 March 2010
“Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question.”
Alexis de Tocqueville
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3.
California Native Plant Society program - free and open to the public
Thursday 1 April 7.30 pm
San Francisco County Fair Bldg
9th Av & Lincoln Way in Golden Gate Park
Edgewood, A Park For All Seasons and For All Times
Speakers: Ken Himes and Paul Heiple
Edgewood County Park and Preserve is a bit of California that has some of the best wildflowers available locally. It is all a place with interest and beauty all times of the year. It has woodlands as well as grasslands and chaparral. The restoration program is active year around to remove non-native plants and restore natives, making it an improving park and a place of beauty for all time.
Ken Himes and Paul Heiple will present Edgewood through the seasons and through time to show the treasures and changes that are and have occurred in a park. It is a trip that is pure California at its finest as well as the Bay Area's premier wildflower spot.
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4. "SHRINK KNOWLAND PARK?" UPDATE
Jake, if by any chance you are sending out another letter on or before Thursday, the 25th, please remind your readers that there will be a public hearing at the Oakland Zoo in Knowland Park at 6:30 p.m. regarding the zoo's plan to take over an additional 50 acres of the city park for expanded animal exhibits and other attractions. You did a great piece about it a few weeks ago, called "Shrink Knowland Park?"
There's still time to tell the Oakland Zoo what you think about it's plans to expand by usurping 50 acres of intact open space, including excellent hiking, birding, and viewpoints, in Knowland Park. The zoo is accepting public comments until March 28th at <www.oaklandzoo.org>. For additional information about the development proposal, which includes a multistory visitor center, a restaurant, and an aerial gondola ride from the existing zoo up to the ridge line, please visit <www.saveknowland.org>.
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Gulf of The Farallones National Marine Sanctuary advises boaters to watch out for and steer clear of whales, which migrate into the San Francisco Bay Area in large numbers during the spring. Gray whales are at a particularly high risk of collisions with vessels, as they often travel near shore and may even wander into the bay itself. San Francisco Bay and Tomales Bay always have a few springtime gray whale visitors.
Whales are in the area year-round, but springtime sees most nearshore gray whales, including females with newborn calves slowly making their way back north from Baja calving grounds. Watch for their blow as they surface, which looks like a puff of smoke, low and bushy. Maintain at least 300 feet distance while paralleling them. Never cut across their path of travel, or separate a whale cow from her calf. For information contact maryjane.schramm@noaa.gov
Springtime Brings Newborn Seal Pups to Farallones Sanctuary
It's spring, and harbor seal pups are being born on Bay Area beaches and sand bars. Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary advises beachgoers against interacting with seal pups they may find. Newborn seal pups could suffer permanent harm if they re mistaken for orphans and accidentally separated from their mothers. Mother harbor seals will sometimes leave their pups on the beach while they forage at sea, and will return to reclaim and nurse their pups if left alone. Each year healthy seal pups are separated from their mothers by people who mistake them for orphans. The Farallones sanctuary advises beachgoers to report suspected orphaned pups to a park ranger, or to call The Marine Mammal Center, 415-289-SEAL (7325). Seals are also federally protected animals under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and to interfere with one could incur penalties. For information contact maryjane.schramm@noaa.gov.
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6. Voyage of the Plastiki - From Ian Wilson:
| On Saturday March 20 the Plastiki, a catamaran made from plastic drink bottles, set sail from San Francisco. The Plastiki is heading for Sydney, Australia, and the crew is hoping to draw media attention to The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the 100 million ton plastic stew in the North Pacific Gyre that is twice the size of Texas. At the same time of course they are also drawing attention to the insanity of the bottled water industry. They are also in Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=54617173526 For what it's worth, I gave a speech for my speech class on the bottled water business yesterday -- one thing I was surprised to discover was that while SFPUC charges us only 1/3 cent per gallon for our extremely high quality tap water here in San Francisco, the Pepsico corporation is charging $1.50 for a 20 oz. bottle of Aquafina ("purified tap water" from the Fresno reservoir,) which works out to be $9.60 per gallon. In other words three times the price of gas. No wonder Pepsico loves selling bottled water! |
(Oooooooh! Thank you, Ian.
This Pacific Gyre thing is so embarrassing to me as a member of the human race that I can't believe we a) allowed it to happen, b) aren't doing anything about it, and c) are continuing to add to it, as if we can't do anything about it.
Is this the same species that created the Athenian and Roman empires, created grand systems of justice, the plays of Shakespeare, science and the technology and explored the farthest reaches of the universe, and, and....? Tell me it isn't really happening.)
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7. From High Country News:
Will the greater sage grouse get federal protection under the Endangered Species Act or not?
In a March 5 press conference, Interior Secretary Salazar said that the bird -- whose numbers have declined by 90 percent over the past century -- will not get federal protection. That's in spite of the fact that the feds believe the bird needs protection. Extensive scientific research over the past few years, said Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife Tom Strickland, has demonstrated that the grouse "does warrant protection. But we are proposing to not list, because of the need to address higher priority species."
In other words: The sage grouse needs protection, we just don't have time to deal with it right now.
Will the greater sage grouse get federal protection under the Endangered Species Act or not?
In a March 5 press conference, Interior Secretary Salazar said that the bird -- whose numbers have declined by 90 percent over the past century -- will not get federal protection. That's in spite of the fact that the feds believe the bird needs protection. Extensive scientific research over the past few years, said Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife Tom Strickland, has demonstrated that the grouse "does warrant protection. But we are proposing to not list, because of the need to address higher priority species."
In other words: The sage grouse needs protection, we just don't have time to deal with it right now.
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8.
"You can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you have to concentrate on,"
-- George W Bush, at Washington's Gridiron dinner, 2001
News of President Bush's weekend colonoscopy and the successful removal of five benign, non-cancerous polyps put me in mind of Evelyn Waugh's comment after the disagreeable Randolph Churchill, son of Winston, underwent a somewhat similar procedure. Leave it to medical science, the novelist said, to remove the only part of Randolph that wasn't malignant.
(I lost the source for this squib, so the "put me in mind" doesn't refer to me. JS)
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9. Want to buy Albion Castle? It's on the market again: http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Francisco/881-Innes-Ave-94124/home/21925213
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10. Is it far to go?
Shall I be gone long?
For ever and a day.
To whom there belong?
Ask the stone to say,
Ask my song.
Cecil Day Lewis
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11. Going Native Garden Tour - April 18
Are you interested in gardens that are water-wise and low maintenance, attractive to humans as well as birds and butterflies? Visit them on the Bay Area’s 8th annual Going Native Garden Tour on Sunday, April 18, 2010, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This is a free, self-guided tour of home gardens landscaped with California native plants.
This year's tour offers over 65 gardens for viewing - from townhome lots to 1-acre plots, from newly planted gardens to established ones. You won’t have to go far to see one: the gardens are located throughout the Santa Clara Valley and the Peninsula. Visit as many gardens as you like - for inspiration and ideas and for pictures (with owner’s permission). Native plants will be available for purchase at select gardens. Many gardens will feature talks on native plant gardening.
What’s special about California native plants? They are adapted to our soil and climate, and are easy to care for. Many of our native plants are naturally water-wise and drought tolerant. They support a wide variety of wildlife that has co-evolved with them, and their distinctive look and elegant beauty gives your garden a sense of place that is uniquely Californian.
The self-guided tour is open to all. Admission is free; registration is required at www.gngt.org before April 18, 12 noon, or until the tour reaches capacity. Space is limited; register early to ensure a place. For more information, email info@gngt.org.
The tour is organized entirely by volunteers. Volunteers receive a t-shirt with original art and invitations to visit native gardens throughout the year. To volunteer, visit www.gngt.org and click on “Volunteer Registration”. Knowledge of native plant gardening is a plus but not required to volunteer.
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Save the date
The Yerba Buena Chapter of the California Native Plant Society’s 6th annual Native Plant Garden Tour is Sunday April 25 from 11am to 3pm.
A map, descriptions and list of addresses can be found at www.cnps-yerbabuena.org.
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12, Feedback
Gray Brechin:
You are probably right that the crosstown subway is really more to accommodate and encourage more vertical growth than it is to move passengers to Chinatown. Mass transit systems have traditionally been planned and built more to raise real estate values rather than to serve existing customers; those who built the cable cars and streetcars also owned the land into which they headed and used the appreciated values of those lands to pay for infrastructure construction with a lot left over for their own lordly mansions and art. See, e.g., the Huntington Museum in San Marino.
Of course it is silly to think that it's safe to build high rises of 1000 feet and more in a place as seismically nervous as SF but for more reasons than you might imagine. Despite the lessons of 1906 and 1989, few people consider the likelihood of fires in the increasingly dense downtown area. But the buried creeks and marshes South of Market make liquefaction inevitable there and with it the breakup of the fire mains (again.) I wrote about this in the following article:
I REALLY do not want to be there the next time!
Jeanne Koelling:
I am appalled by the news that UCSF is apparently reneging on their committment to the community and volunteers regarding the Sutro open space. However, it doesn't surprise me that they apparently have turned their energies and resources elsewhere. As a glaring example of their inattention to the surrounding Mt. Sutro area, about six or seven years ago they failed to repair a leaking water tank (located by one of the trailheads to the Mt. Sutro open space area). According to the gardeners, this was an acknowledged, long-standing leak but nothing was ever done about it. As a result, a really humongous landslide eventually happened across from where the stem cell building is currently being constructed, shutting off Medical Center Way for three or four months, and costing thousands to repair. (Half of the hillside slid onto the road.)
I know the site, and I mentioned it in the article I wrote about the Tasmanian blue gum. I made the point that you needn't be a geotechnical person to understand the angle of repose--and see that MCW above the stem cell research bldgs is ripe for a land slump. No leaky hydrant necessary; nature takes care of that.
When I first became aware of the Open Space Management program, I had hopes that UCSF had learned their lesson and would help to maintain and restore this wonderful preserve. I guess my hopes may be in vain.
To a degree I am sympathetic to large institutions who have large, complex commitments and a concomitant complex bureaucratic structure to enable it to function, albeit slowly and inefficiently. UCSF must labor under another disability: Its mission is medical research, so expecting it to know how to manage natural resources is unreasonable. Fair enough. But it's had >ten years to start coming to grips with its problems. It has been presented with a priceless gift of the Sutro Stewards, who donated >20,000 hours of skill and energy. And how does it treat us? By kicking us in the teeth.
Chris Darling:
Dear Jake, I was a member of the ACLU. I have let it lapse because they supported the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court which opens the floodgates to unlimited corporate money to support or oppose any candidacy.I had a problem with my membership money. I looked up the phone number of the home office in NYC, called it, asked to speak to a membership person, was connected with them, and got the problem solved. They do not show the phone number on their website but I got it through a Google search.
On a related note, there is a website called gethuman.com that lists phone numbers for large corporations that will bypass their electronic systems and get you a person. Does not include nonprofits.
Bruce Grosjean:
Jake - Thanks for posting the Palace of Fine Arts Blue Heron alert. I waited nearly two hours hoping to see the mate to not avail. Without your posting I'm sure I would have missed this spectacularly well camouflaged urban stalwart. I did witness what I thought could be egg rolling but nothing that resembled feeding. I plan to check back periodically.
James Osborne:
Dear Jake, I have a strong feeling about civility and appropriate language in communication, & I was amused that MS Word 2007 suggested an alternative toa crude phrase used here was "Chickens hit"!
Maybe Tipper Gore is now working for Microsoft?
Doug Allshouse:
Jake: I applaud your annoyance of words that are misused, but I'm not surprised at all. It's why you're a great editor. The two words that annoy me are 'less' and 'fewer'. Most people use 'less' when they should use 'fewer'.Now if you're less interested in this, that's OK with me.
its, it's; your, you're; there, their; to, too. I'll stop!
No, No--keep going! You've vaulted to the top of my list, Doug! Someone who cares about language and pays attention to what it says. And you've also singled out so many of my favorites.
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13. Friends of the Urban Forest will start its 3rd annual Citizen Forester Training program Wednesday, April 14th. Citizen Foresters are FUF's elite "Tree Corps". With their experience in the field, and premier training in many areas of San Francisco urban forestry, Citizen Foresters are leaders in the FUF volunteer community. Taught by expert guest speakers and our own FUF staff members, the program consists of six Wednesday night lectures, each followed by a Saturday morning field day. Topics will include: urban forestry in San Francisco; planting; tree biology and introduction to pruning; pest and disease management; tree identification; and advanced pruning. The cost to attend the entire series is $200, but FUF will entirely sponsor any volunteer who commits to spending 50 hours (about a half-day per month for a year) volunteering in a leadership position with FUF; we want you to put your new skills to work! For more information, or to sign up for the series, please go to www.fuf.net/otherProjects/citizenForestry.html.
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14. SCHLAGE LOCK STREETSCAPE, OPEN SPACE + SITE DESIGN - April 3
The purpose of this event is to help Visitacion Valley residents and businesses share ideas and provide input to the design of public spaces, community character, and building form and design at the former Schlage Lock factory site. In addition to housing, retail, and community facilities, the site will include three major public park areas and green walkways that will increase walkability and improve the quality of life for everyone in the community.
The workshop will be a 3 hour event, on Saturday, April 3, from 10 am – 1 pm. It will be held at the Visitacion Valley Elementary School Auditorium (55 Schwerin Street at Leland Avenue). Children are welcome and refreshments will be provided. Translations into Cantonese and Spanish will be provided.
Information about this event, as well as past and future events, will be posted at http://www.renewvisvalley.com.
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15. Full moon time again, and we'll be taking our walk Sunday, March 28, starting at 6:00.
As always, the walk will start at the Quarry Road Entrance Park by the Brisbane Post Office and Community Garden. The Brisbane Post Office is at 280 Old County Road, Brisbane. These quarry walks are fun, a companionable walk with friends and neighbors. Come join us. Children and dogs are most welcome.
Round trip distance is about two miles on a nearly flat road. Dress in layers. It can be cold and/or windy. Heavy rain cancels, but a bit of fog or a few clouds won't stop us. Right now, they're predicting partly cloudy skies in Brisbane on Sunday.
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16. PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
“It may be helpful to remember that
Things have not always been as they are;
This may be, obvious as it sounds, easy to forget while
Walking concrete paths and percieving (sic) streams of
Traffic and rectangular shelters.
“It may be helpful to keep in mind that at one time
These constructions were non-existant (sic).
“It may be of some use to look over
All that you can see right now, the expance (sic) and boundries (sic)
Of your environment, and think how all of this will be gone
One day
Eaten
And reapplied.”
“It may be helpful to see beauty in decomposition; because like
The leaves of trees turn brigt (sic) and fall to the ground to
replenish
Their mother, it is also our inescapable privilidge (sic) to rot.
“So it now becomes necessary to view all items
In the world as reflections,
All objects as mirrors,
And then move upon this basis.”
—Anonymous
(Scrawled on concrete retaining wall on Pt Lobos Drive between Louie’s Restaurant and the Cliff House. Sighted in 1970. Is it still there?)
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17. Scientific American
EXTINCTION COUNTDOWN: Bugs off: Habitat loss killing Europe's butterflies, beetles and dragonflies
With fewer places left to breed and live, European butterflies, beetles, dragonflies and damselflies are dying in droves
(Who woulda thunk it? Creatures need places to live and breed? What will they think of next?)
60-SECOND SCIENCE PODCAST: Stomach Cells Happier with Dark Roast Coffee
Dark roasting coffee produces a chemical compound that keeps stomach cells from producing the excess acid often caused by coffee drinking
and from archives:
NEWS: Sating the Ravenous Brain: Researchers Quell Hunger Neurons in Fruit Flies
Researchers pinpoint an area in the drosophila brain that can trick hungry insects into believing they are full, offering hope for new weight-loss remedies in humans
NEWS: Lard Lesson: Why Fat Lubricates Your Appetite
Saturated fat dulls the brain's response to key appetite hormones, an effect useful in our evolutionary past during times of scarcity, but not so much in a well-fed society
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18. Chemical warfare
Plants defend themselves from being eaten to death by producing chemical compounds that repel predators, either killing them, making them sick, or being distasteful. Usually at least one predator is successful at finding its way around the toxic chemistry of a particular plant, and that plant then becomes the larval host for the predator. The predator then has often exclusive access to the plant’s chemistry, and all other creatures avoid it. This is very common in the plant world and accounts for the way nature balances things—the balance of nature.
Some predators have carried the process a step further and, instead of disposing or neutralizing the toxin, it will incorporate it into its own body, thus protecting it from being eaten by other predators. A very well-known example is the monarch butterfly and its relation to the very toxic milkweeds, the genus Asclepius. The monarch caterpillars have been very well protected by these toxins.
I just learned from Liam O’Brien that scrub jays have caught on to the fact that when the caterpillar becomes a butterfly, the toxins are sequestered only in the wings, not its body. The jay rips the wings off and eats the body!
(An amusing sidelight to this: When I first started to work in Strybing Arboretum in 1970, the Strybing Arboretum Society's director of education, John Kipping [Ted's brother] had a thriving patch of milkweed in the native garden and excitedly brought a kids class to show them the newly-emerged monarch caterpillars, which were busily chewing holes in the leaves--only to discover that the uninformed but assiduous gardener had sprayed them!
Well, it seems amusing now, anyway. Not to John at the time.)
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How plants protect us
Unmasking the secret power of phytochemicals
Rosemary, the fragrant herb that enlivens roast chicken and other favorites, and turmeric, the mainstay spice of curry dishes, contain powerful natural compounds that, in test tubes, can kill cells of a childhood cancer.
What’s more, grapes, strawberries, and other familiar fruits—and some vegetables—also have chemicals that can destroy the cells of the cancer, known as “acute lymphoblastic leukemia.”
What’s more, grapes, strawberries, and other familiar fruits—and some vegetables—also have chemicals that can destroy the cells of the cancer, known as “acute lymphoblastic leukemia.”
(A researcher) leads the nutrition-focused research that has resulted in these first-ever findings…which reveal the previously unknown ability of about a half-dozen phytochemicals to stop growth of this type of leukemia. The findings are of interest to cancer researchers and to nutrition researchers exploring the health benefits of compounds in the world’s edible fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices.
In related research (a researcher) determined for the first time that some component of table grapes prevented the progression of type 1 diabetes in mice and increased their survival. That was in contrast to diabetic mice that were not fed grapes.
Agricultural Research March 2008
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19. Six Legs Good
Bugs in the System: Insects and Their Impact on Human Affairs, by May R. Berenbaum
Found everywhere from the poles to the equator, from sea level to the highest peaks and from deserts to rain forests, insects are all around us. They are extremely abundant: at any time, there are somewhere around 10 quintillIon individual insects on the earth. And they are persistent, having been around for more than 400 million years. It can be argued that insects are the most successful life-form that has ever arisen on this planet. The modem urban dweller might prefer to stay cocooned from direct contact with six-legged creatures, but it would be foolish to ignore them. For every human being alive today, there are more than one billion insects, and we need them more than they need us.
More than half of all known species, and three quarters of all known animal species, are insects. Small size, a water-proof cuticle, phenomenal powers of reproduction and the power of flight all combine to give “bugs” (a term that, more strictly, refers specifically to insects of the suborder Heteroptera) a considerable edge over other animals. And there are, of course, many more insect species than those to which we have given names. By various reckonings there are anywhere from three to 30 or more unknown species for every one known. So it is with ample justification that May Berenbaum takes a good, hard look at the negative and positive impact of insects on human affairs and demonstrates just how important insects are to our continued existence.
Bugs In the System begins, not unreasonably, with classification. No, read on—some of this stuff really is fun. Things need names, after all. Thousands of new insect species are described every year; the sheer abundance inevitably makes for a few good stories. While I was aware that romantically inclined entomologists have named new species in honor of sweethearts (a lasting and less embarrassing tribute than a tattoo), I had no idea that a small fly had been given the specific name thanatogratus after the Grateful Dead. I need not explain the etymology of Heerz lukenatcha.
Chapter after chapter reveals astonishing facts and striking interrelationships between our world and that of insects. Berenbaum skillfully imparts her wide-ranging knowledge and infectious enthusiasm for bugs on every page. When it comes to sex, insects show off some of the more startling instances of political incorrectness in the natural world. Male bedbugs, for instance, have dispensed with the niceties of arthropod foreplay and simply stab their intended through the cuticle with a spike-like penis. And let us not forget the intriguing story of the predatory female firefly who has learned to lure the males of other closely related species to their death by imitating the sexual flashing signal of that species and not her own. It’s a jungle out there.
Insects contribute to our lives in surprising ways. Even silk aficionados might he startled to learn that what feels so exquisite against the skin is nothing more than insect saliva. Chocoholics can discover how tiny midges play a vital role in the production of their preferred foodstuff. Honey lovers will be pleasantly disgusted to learn that they spread the regurgitated stomach contents of thousands of bees on their breakfast toast. The amount of effort involved in the process is quite remarkable: in order to create one kilogram of honey, worker bees have to visit flowers 10 million times and fly a distance equal to 10 times the earth’s circumference.
Those hard-working bees are a big part of human business, Berenbaum reminds us. They pollinate just about all the world’s species of flowering plant; without their labors we would lose one third of all we eat. For their part, insects eat almost anything: detritus, carrion, dung, fungi, blood, other insects and, of course, plants, dead or alive. Probably a little under half of all insects are herbivores. Actually, plants are not particularly easy or rich sources of sustenance, but insects have evolved numerous ways of overcoming plant defenses and poor food quality.
As part-time herbivores ourselves, we often run into a conflict of interests. The way we grow our food only exacerbates the problem; insects have not been slow to cash in on the seemingly endless acres of uniform crops we plant every year. On average, we probably lose around one fifth of all that we grow to munching insect mandibles. Why not get some of our own back and eat them? For those inclined to take the question seriously, Bugs in the System gives us the lowdown on rustling up some grubs. Insect bodies contain decent concentrations of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. The food value of certain species compares more than favorably with—dare I say it?—hamburgers. More than 500 kinds of insect are regularly eaten by people all around the world, so there is no reason not to get your wok down off the shelf and start cooking. After all, most animals on the earth include some insects in their diets. If insects were to vanish, countless thousands of other animal species would go with them.
No matter how you look at it, insects make ecosystems work. Besides the vital job of pollination, they recycle nutrients, enrich soils and dispose of carcasses and dung. And insects are inextricably wound into human society. In addition to silk and honey, they provide us with waxes, medicines, dyes and other useful products. We use them to convict murderers, to catch fish, to rid us of pest insect species and weeds. We use them as model systems to help us understand the many complexities of biology, from behavior to genetics.
There is also the all-too-familiar downside to our buggy companions. Insects are major vectors of animal and plant diseases. Berenbaum shows only too clearly how the ravages of insects have changed the short course of recorded human history. Diseases such as louse-borne typhus have influenced the outcome of wars much more decisively than have weapons. The world has seen three pandemics of plague, the second of which killed one third of the population of Europe.
We are well aware now that plague is caused by a species of bacterium carried by fleas that live on black rats and that bite, among other things, humans. But it was not always so; enlightenment was a long time coming. The first pandemic struck in A.D. 541, and it was not until the early 1900s that the whole picture of plague finally came together. Berenbaum’s text brings history to life. The war against insect-borne diseases is, of course, far from over; several million human beings still die every year as a result.
In short, this book is a tremendously good read, packed with information that will appeal equally to biologists and laypersons, students and teachers. Each chapter, on such broad topics as insect physiology, behavior and sociality (there is even a chapter entitled “Appreciating insects”), takes the reader on a voyage of discovery and ends with a carefully arranged list of references, inviting further exploration. At the department of zoology here at Oxford, we hold a popular, annual bio-trivia quiz. I have already extracted numerous excellent questions with which to test this year’s participants.
Another entomology book? Yes, but one with a difference. If you really don’t like bugs, pick the book up anyway—it might bite you. Newcomers will be fascinated and intrigued. For old hands at the game, this kind of book reminds us why we took up entomology in the first place and still find the subject so engrossing. GEORGE C. MCGAVIN is assislant curator of entomology at the Oxford University Museum and lecturer In zoology at Trinity College, Oxford.
From Scientific American, August 1995
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