THE ADDICTED GARDENER: Environmental tidbits from around the world – Wicked Local Wareham

Those of us who are concerned with the environment do not isolate that concern to the United States because we know this is a worldwide concern. Animals, birds and insects are as important to us as are the plants, shrubs and trees that provide habitat for these creatures.

Over the past week or so, Ive read many articles Id like to share from local to other areas of the globe as well as a few tidbits of information you may or may not know.

For example, did you know that the Farm Bill is the largest source of federal funding for conservation on private land? The Environmental Quality Incentives Program is a Farm Bill conservation program that partners with farmers, ranchers and private forest landowners to improve water quality, air quality, healthy soils and wildlife habitat on the lands they manage.

Katherine J. Wu of Smithsonian Magazine reported that A recent, preliminary census of the chinstrap penguins on the islands along the Antarctic Peninsula has revealed a sharp and alarming decline in the birds numbers, with some colonies experiencing as much as 77 percent drop since the 1970s. Though the findings have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, they fall in line with the results of several other studies documenting similar drops in other polar species. A 2014 study by Stephanie Jenouvrier, a penguin expert at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, projected that because of climate change the global population of emperor penguins (a different species) will probably fall by at least 19% by 2100.

According to a discovery in Patagonia, modern bees have been around for at least 100 million years. The ancient nests look like the nests of modern-day sweat bees. According to National Geographics Michael Greshko, the find helps confirm that bees and some of the first flowering plants diversified in tandem around 110 to 120 million years ago.

The Harvard Gazette reported that last month two graduate students from the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University traveled to a remote 20-square-mile strip of a species-rich tropical rainforest in Panama. Organized by Ph.D. candidate Ben Goulet-Scott in 2017, the Mamoni Valley Preserve Natural History Project is an ongoing series of student-led field expeditions designed to establish a baseline understanding of how the different land-use conditions within the preserve affect patterns of diversity. This is the third expedition to the area.

This years team investigated ferns the second-most diverse lineage of vascular plants. [Flowering plants is the most diverse.] Jacob Suissa, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Ph.D. candidate who studies the evolution of the water transport system in ferns (which is the building block for the downstream analysis of climate change) joined Gouet-Scott along with several others. Their hope is that their research will increase understanding of how biodiversity can persevere in the face of climate change, deforestation and human disturbance.

Statistics have been published about the loss of human lives (33), homes (thousands), animals (close to a billion), and acres of land (millions), but no statistics were available for how many trees shrubs and plants were lost to the Australian bushfires. This was frustrating to Georgina Reid, writer and founding editor of The Planthunter, who interviewed Brett Summerall, director of research and chief botanist at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, in hopes of getting some answers. The interview was quite interesting. One of Summeralls observations is that ...the fire may stimulate species we havent seen for a long time to germinate, grow and produce seed, which well then be able to collect and put in the seed bank. He speaks about seed banks and the botanic gardens community playing a more active role in plant conservation. To read the complete interview which is not all gloom and doom, go to https://theplanthunter.com.au/botanica/seven-billion-burnt-trees/

In depressing news, several recent articles by the Associated Press and Reuters report on the biblical swarms of locusts that have plagued the Italian farmlands of Sardinia in the worst infestation since WWII. Locusts are common in Sardinia during the summer, but farmers told Reuters this was the largest swarm theyve experienced in 70 years and that the drought in 2017 followed by significant rainfall in 2018 created the ideal climate for the locusts.

And in Africa, a locust invasion is spreading which the United Nations warns may become the most devastating plague in living memory. The desert locusts have been destroying crops in Kenya in the worst infestation to hit the nation in 70 years. The insects invaded Kenya last month from neighboring Somalia and Ethiopia, which have not seen an outbreak on this level for 25 years. A changing climate has contributed to exceptional breeding conditions, said Nairobi-based climate scientist Abubakr Salih Babiker. A single swarm can contain up to 150 million locusts per square kilometer of farmland thats an area the size of almost 250 football fields. According to the U.N., a small swarm can consume enough food for 35,000 people in a single day. This region is already suffering from extreme hunger, and it appears that chemicals are the only way to manage the invasion if indeed it is manageable.

And, on a much lighter note, garden writer Allen Bush posted the winners of his I-Must-Have-Plant-Contest on Garden Rant. Apparently, he asked readers for their favorite plant and written justification for the choice. The winner was Anne who said: I cant walk past my spearmint without stroking his copious emerald, spear-headed leaves to inhale his refreshing, rejuvenating fragrance He propagates wantonly, spreading his roots wherever he goes I share a piece of him wherever friends are willing to take him into their beds. Its hard to imagine a garden without him.

Donna Lane owns Lane Interiors & Gardens, is a master gardener, past president of the Norwood Evening Garden Club, and an active member of many other horticultural organizations. You can reach Donna at LaneInteriors@verizon.net.

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THE ADDICTED GARDENER: Environmental tidbits from around the world - Wicked Local Wareham