GNOME News- December 2009

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Great Natives of Midwestern Ecotype

December 2009 Edition


© 2009

Cover Photo: Wild Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinators) on Lily Lake. Amana, Iowa– November 29, 2009


Great Natives Of Mid-western Ecotype

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GNOME N EWS THE BIG PICTURE:

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

EcoCradle™– Protecting Packages and the Planet Plant Profile

4

Native on the Net

4

Best Books

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Organization Spotlight

5

Native News

5

Planting with a Purpose

5

Canary in the River

6

Invasives!

7

Fantastic Fauna

7

Focus on the Future

7

Did you know...

In 1993 the Iowa Department of Natural Resources developed a plan to restore trumpeter swans back to the state? Prior to 1999, the last time trumpeter swans bred in Iowa was in 1883?

Imagine what future archeologists might dig up thousands of years from now… plastic bottles, individually wrapped up bags of dog poop, and Styrofoam. What a great image of modern culture. But thanks to Ecovative Design, a company devoted to implementing green initiatives into mainstream culture, there might be one less thing to worry about in our eternal landfills. The key to this truly environmental packaging substance lies in the raw materials used to create it– agricultural waste materials and mushroom root fibers. A reusable mold is created, just as in the creation of the usual synthetic foams like expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam). This mold is then packed with agricultural waste products that typically have no other use. Some examples of these materials include buckwheat hulls, rice hulls, or cotton burs. Ecovative Design also focuses on regionally available waste products, so they keep manufacturing local–

further reducing costs such as transportation. After the mold is packed with these ag. by-products, they are sprayed with special mushroom root cells. Put into the dark (again saving energy), it takes only seven days for the mushrooms to digest the hulls or burs forming miles of tiny white fibers. They literally grow the packaging instead of make it.

The product is then baked, which stops any growth and forms the finished 100% biodegradable product. It can be tossed (it will anaerobically biodegrade in landfills) or used at home in compost or as mulch without worry. It was created to be environmentally and socially responsible, yet still be competitive at consumer pricing. All this and it uses 10x less energy to make!

GNOME’S MISSION Great Natives Of Mid-western Ecotype (GNOME) is an organization focused on the preservation and expansion of native floral and faunal species. The mission is to provide a netbased forum where mem-

bers can share their passion, plans, ideas, and questions with other people having a common interest.

1. Join our facebook group at

You can participate in many different ways.

3. Visit or link to the website 4. Pass on the newsletter.

http://www.facebook.com/ group.php? gid=45643568296

2.

Submit articles, pictures, stories, or plans for publication.


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Silphium laciniatum– Compass Plant The selected plant last month was the Silphium laciniatum, also known as the Compass Plant. It got its common name from pioneers because of its tendency to align its leaves in a north/south direction. While this is often true, it is not a reliable directional indicator.

The original range of this magnificent plant was mainly between the Rocky and Appalachian mountain ranges. The Compass Plant prefers average soil, but is drought tolerant once established due to its large tap root, which can grow to depths of 15 feet or more. It reaches heights between 6-12 feet. It has very large lobed leaves and blooms for about a month in mid summer. Flowers are yellow.

Faunal associations include many different insects. Long tongued bees are the typical pollinators. This This lovely bloom was taken at a height of 9 includes bumblebees. feet with a zoom lens!

Conscience is a man's compass. ~Vincent Van Gogh

NATIVE

ON THE

Sometimes wading through sites looking for good resources on native organisms is just too time consuming. This section should help! This month’s featured site is :

Some uncommon insects are specialist feeders on this plant. The prairie cicada (Okanagana balli) feeds on the large taproot. The Silphium Beetles (Rynchites species) also feed from it. There are many amazing things that I love about this plant. Individual plants are very long lived– sometimes over 100 years. It produces a resinous sap when blooming. This was often chewed like gum by Native Americans and pioneers alike. It is a striking plant that can be used as a feature plant in smaller spaces, or en masse in larger areas. No prairie planting is complete without it!

NET It would only make sense that the North American Native Plant Society (NANPS) would have a great database on the plants to which they are devoted.

I really like this database beNANPS– Plant Database cause it has four different http://www.nanps.org/plantlist.aspx major category combinations to use to search for plants.

There are Plant Types, Habitat, Light Condition, and Soil Type in the major categories. Each category has a drop down menu to select more specific selection of what you are looking to identify or thinking about adding to a particular spot in your landscape. It is a very comprehensive source. Check it out!

BEST BOOKS– NATIVE TREES, SHRUBS,

AND

VINES Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines: A Guide to Using, Growing, and Propagating North American Woody Plants by William Cullina is a great book on the woody plants of temperate North America. There are many reasons I love this book. The first of which is that it can be read for information, or simply for enjoyment. You might not believe this, but I think that once you pick it up, you will get sucked into just reading it for fun!

There is a great balance that natives and knowing how to get your will appeal to people with little own going rather than depending on knowledge as well as those with the nursery trade is a definite plus a solid background in that this book provides! native woody plants. Since it is only available Another reason I really in hardcover, it is more like this book is that it expensive than other discusses propagation books I have highof the plants. Many lighted. I have found reference books like that is readily available this simply talk about at libraries, but would the plant characterismake a nice coffee tics. That is generally table book as well if you ok, but it is often are willing to A great place to find native difficult to find invest in it! treasures for your yard!


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O RG A N I Z AT I O N S P O T L I G H T : NORTH AMERICAN NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY Here is the goal of the NANPS“Through education and information we aim to inspire an appreciation of North America's native plants -- aiding the restoration of healthy ecosystems across the continent. Taken from their “About” page on their websitehttp://www.nanps.org/ This organization was started in 1984 as the Canadian Wildflower Society. Since that time they have expanded to include hundreds of members throughout North America and hence changed their name.

Based in Canada, it is evident from their webpage that the focus on native plant use is on their region. This being said, there are many resources and ideas to be gleaned that are equally applicable to most Midwestern states from this organization.

A logical choice for native plant info with a great database!

On the site you can find planting tips, information about setting up plant rescues (including forms), and seed sources and exchange information.

They also have several publications available to order or download. Membership is $20 and includes their quarterly publication and other benefits.

RARE NATIVE PLANT USES CAMOUFLAGE dried bracts of this rare woodland plant act to camouflage the plant from herbaceous predators.

Their findings suggest that these cryptic vegetative bracts conceal Monotropsis odorata, commore conspicuously colored floral monly known as Sweet Pinesap, and stem tissues and significantly is one such plant. In a recent reduce floral herbivory, leading to study Matthew Klooster and higher fruit set, a component of colleagues from Harvard studplant reproductive fitness. ied empirically whether the

PLANTING

WITH A

POLLINATOR PLANNING– PART I dependant on the amount of food that can be provided to feed them. When supplies are plentiful, the number of viable young are also increased.

Luckily, there are some things that can help the everimportant pollinators of the insect variety. This strategy is designed with them in mind.

To ensure that your property is helping provide for these animals, think about your species to plant number ratio.

Pollinators are the model of efficiency. Their broods are

Each to his passion; what's

This species is known as a parasitic plant. It relies exclusively in a name?” on mycorrhizal fungus, that associates with its roots. This ~Helen Hunt Jackson means that since it no longer relies on photosynthesis (think green) to produce its energy, it can adapt a broader range of coloration. This species is generally found in the Southeastern US in mature, rich woodlands.

PURPOSE:

Pollinators are in a general state of decline across the globe. Colony collapse disorder, pesticide use, and habitat loss are all factors in this decline.

blossom, moth to the flame;

NATIVE NEWS:

Camouflage has long been an efficient survival strategy documented in the animal world. But have you ever heard of a plant using it?

“Bee to the

If providing for bees and other pollinators is your goal, it is more important to have fewer species and more plants of those species. This provides more food for bees than if you have a greater diversity and fewer plants in bloom. Obviously, plant selection is very important in this case. I will revisit this as spring approaches. A strategy for pollinators


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FEMINIZING FISHT H E C A NA RY I N T H E RI V E R Water quality has long been a concern for the American conscience. I can remember seeing the “Crying Indian” ad from Keep America Beautiful (which debuted on Earth Day in 1971) as a child. The message was clear– people pollute and only people can stop pollution. It is one thing to be concerned about pollutants in our fresh water supply. It is quite another to find out that across the US, male fish swimming in that water are becoming female– or more accurately“intersex”. Are we next?

“All men are equal before fish.” ~Herbert Hoover

Even very small traces of EDCs can trigger powerful shifts in the environment. In one study, scientists added parts-per-trillion amounts of the synthetic estrogen commonly used in birth control pills (which is consistent with amounts added to rivers by treatment plants) to a closed lake. The resulting sex changes collapsed the entire fish population. Another contributing factor is agricultural run -off from livestock operations. Synthetic hormones are often given to livestock to speed up meat growth. This washes from animal waste and feed into waterways as well.

A recently published study, covering almost a decade of research conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, A USGS lab worker dissects a bass gives us the first nationwide In response to the concount of intersex fish in cern about what indusAmerican rivers. Their findings? Overall– 44 percent of the largemouth and trial chemical are doing to humans, the Center for smallmouth bass dissected turned out to me intersex. Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began conducting a national census in 2001 called the National In some areas of the nine major river basins tested (including the Columbia, Colorado, and Mississippi), Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Later this year their report called National Report on Human 91 percent of the males were intersex. Exposure to Environmental Chemicals will provide incite on the prevalence of 228 of the most common “Intersex” male fish have male organs, but those environmental toxins. organs produce immature female eggs. This renders the fish sterile. This phenomenon raises serious In September, the EPA identified nine hormones as questions about pollution levels in our water supply. possible contaminants in the water. While this is a It is surely a serious concern for certain fish populafirst and a step in the right direction, many are not tions. But a scarier implication for me is “What is comforted by this. This includes Mae Wu of the this water doing to us?” National Resources Defense Council. She says “A trace level of one chemical [might not be so bad], but The federal government began regulating environa whole soup of them? Hundreds or thousands of mental toxins with the Toxic Substances Control Act different chemicals all at trace levels-we have no of 1976. One major flaw of this act, however, is that idea what that does to humans.” it only provides a weak system for regulating and testing chemicals. It also grandfathered in any previWe do know what it does to fish and this should ously produced chemicals as permissible– approxiraise some red flags. While much research needs to mately 60,000 of them. At this point, there are over be done before legally setting regulations on source 85,000 industrial chemicals now registered with the federal government. Most are completely unstudied. chemicals, we all can take steps in reducing EDCs entering our environment. Many cosmetic and cleaning products contain these chemicals. Look One of the major factors in the feminizing fish fiasco yours up on www.ewg.com, where over 50,000 could be our standard wastewater treatment plants. products are rated on a 0(safe)-10(hazardous)scale. While traditional plants “treat” water to kill things Replace your higher rated products with lower ones. like bacteria and other living organisms, they do You can also reduce your amount of liquid consumplittle to filter out chemicals. Most plants flush tion from plastic containers. Coffee makers (plastic “cleaned” water back into rivers or streams. This flame retardants) and plastic bottles (bisphenol-a-aka water often contains endocrine-disruptive comBPA) leach into your drinks and get passed into the pounds (EDCs). These can come from sources like water via flushing as well as staying in your body. pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and hormones. The idea of drinking water that can turn male fish female should spur us into action.


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I N VA S I V E S HOUSE FINCH One may guess the origins of Carpodacus mexicanus– the common house finch. Translated as “fruit biter of Mexico, this is another example of an animal that has expanded its range due to humans– to the point of becoming invasive. They were first “introduced” via the exotic pet industry about a half century ago. Because of their song and the bright coloration of the males, they were illegally captured and sold in the Eastern US. When the US Fish and Wildlife agents finally moved to stop this trade, dealers released those on hand to avoid arrest. This was believed to have happened at Jones Beach, Long Island, NY. One estimate holds that the total population of these birds topped the one billion mark.

There have been several negative impacts from the spread of these birds. One is the reduction of other native finches like goldfinches and purple finches. House finches are highly gregarious and often form large flocks. These compete with native birds at food sources.

Red= Population Density

Another more insidious impact has been the spread of the disease Mycoplasma gallisepticum– which affects breathing and creates a swollen, crusty eyes. In 1994, this disease was first found in song birds and has spread rapidly via its primary carrier– house finches.

F A N TA S T I C F A U N A : T H E E N S I G N W A S P Ensign wasps belong to a group of insects called Evaniidae, or evaniid wasps. There are eleven species known to live in the United States. Though they are small and often go unnoticed, they are one of the most interesting insects I have ever seen– or heard of for that matter.

“Anger is

as a stone cast into a wasp's nest.” ~Pope Paul VI

is able to lift up its front legs again and walk. But now it cannot move of its own accord. The wasp takes hold of one of the roach's antennae and leads it as one would walk a dog on a leash.

The zombie roach crawls where its master leads, which turns out to be the wasp's burrow. The This family of insects are cockroach specialists roach creeps obediently into the burrow and sits (they are already moving up in popularity with you, there quietly, while the wasp plugs up the burrow right?). They are parasitic and lay their eggs in live with pebbles. Now the wasp turns to the roach once more and lays an egg on its underside. The roaches. Here is how they do it. roach does not resist. The egg hatches, and the larva chews a hole in the side of the roach. In it The wasp slips her stinger through the roach's goes. exoskeleton and directly into its brain. She apparently use sensors along the sides of the stinger to The larva grows inside the guide it through the brain, a bit like a surgeon roach, devouring the organs of snaking his way to an appendix with a laparoits host, for about eight days. It scope. She continues to probe the roach's brain until she reaches one particular spot that appears is then ready to weave itself a to control the escape reflex. She injects a second cocoon--which it makes within the roach as well. After four venom that influences these neurons in such a more weeks, the wasp grows to way that the escape reflex disappears. an adult. It breaks out of its cocoon and out of the roach as From the outside, the effect is surreal. The wasp well. Now that is fantastic!!!! This is one beneficial insect! does not paralyze the cockroach. In fact, the roach


Great Natives of Mid-western Ecotype (GNOME) is an organization focused on the preservation and expansion of native floral and faunal species. The mission is to provide a netbased forum where members can share their passion, plans, ideas, and questions with other people having a common interest in native species.

Great Natives Of Mid-western Ecotype Primary Business Address 1753 Wick Way Montgomery, IL 60538

Check out our site!!!

E-mail: GNOME.Native@gmail.com

We’re on the Web! http://gnomenative.webs.com/ There’s no place like GNOME!

GNOME

Join our facebook group! (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45643568296)

This is our primary forum location. The newsletter as well as open discussions are there and also other links to people and groups that focus on natives.

Got an article? Now accepting member submitted news and photos! Once you have something to share, send it to the email listed at left. Monthly news articles will, of course, give credit to the contributor. Everyone welcome!

Focus p.8- http://www.onslowrelay.com/images/Team%20Themes/ television_-_big_screen.gif

Fantastic Fauna p.7-http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/bi036 Fantastic Fauna p. 7- http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/ beneficials_images/1c_archives/beneficial-02BGCMGA09038_Ensign_wasp.jpg

Feminizing Fish p.6– Popular Science– December Issue

Invasives p.7- http://marciabonta.wordpress.com/category/birds/housefinch/ Invasives p.7- http://images.ebsco.com/wingscapesgallery/1fad54031940-4cd1-924f-88e8a22cc888.jpg

Invasives p.7-http://sdakotabirds.com/species/photos/house_finch.JPG

Name That Native p.4- http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/ compassx.htm

Articles

Native News p.5- http://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/2009/11/091125145825.htm Invasive Map p.7- http://www.50birds.com/images/usgs%20House% 20Finch.gif

Feminizing Fish p.6- http://gallery.usgs.gov/images/09_14_2009/ yEUg8KJwv6_09_14_2009/large/327_dissecting_fish.jpg

Big Picture Photo-http://www.ecovativedesign.com/ecocradle/

References Pictures

Big Picture-http://www.ecovativedesign.com/ecocradle/

FOCUS

ON THE FUTURE

“Dad, can I get a bigger TV in my room?” asked my 8 year old son. “Why?” was my response. “Because Grant has a 60” one in his room and it is really fun to play games on.” he replied.

The bottom line for me is experience. Simply giving young people experience in the outdoors will allow them to connect with nature, while minimizing screen time.

I was stunned. In the first place, the only reason my son has a TV in his room is that is where the cable jack happened to be. His room is maybe 12’x12’. The TV is a color 12” that weighs about as much as a car, as many old TVs do.

I saw this with students at Lorado Taft when I chaperoned a 5th grade field trip. Many kids had never even seen a real woodland. When given a chance– they entertained themselves in a lot of create ways– minus a screen.

We are not what I would call a “TV” family. Our family TV is somewhat of a joke in the neighborhood. It too is “old” and only 27”. It is not the central focus of our family life. After my son’s question, I began to wonder how the natural world can compete with 60” televisions, game systems, multi-function phones, and all of the other instant entertainment that is all too accessible to our youngest generation members. The potential answers scared me.

If you lead, they will follow Here are some research-based facts from the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity-

• •

37% of children spend less than 30 minutes a day playing outdoors after school 43% of children spend more than 2 hours per day after school in screen-related activities.

So, how can nature compete with screen-related activities?

This is a parental control issue. Adults have the power to turn off and get out. One can also pique a child’s interest with cool facts (like some from the Fantastic Fauna section). Nature is so bizarre that not even the best screen writers can compete with it. If you don’t know any facts, google them. There are millions out there. You learn what you live...


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