Great Natives of Midwestern Ecotype
April 2010 Edition
Cover Photo: Prairie Smoke (Geum trilorum) April 2009 Š 2010
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Great Natives Of Mid-western Ecotype
April 7, 2010
GNOME N EWS THE BIG PICTURE:
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Climate Change and Carbon Storage Plant Profile
4
Native on the Net
4
Best Books
4
Organization Spotlight
5
Native News
5
Planting with a Purpose
5
Butterfly Gardening
6
Invasives!
7
Fantastic Fauna
7
Focus on the Future
7
Did you know... •
•
That the roots of the cup plant can be as long as the plant is tall? That there are almost 4,000 types of bees native to the United States?
Trees in the United States are growing at a faster rate than they used to be. Initially that might sound like a good thing– that is until you find out why. Scientists from the HSBC Climate Partnership program site increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and longer growing seasons due to temperature increases as the main contributors to this issue. How climate change affects the ecological services that a forest ecosystem provides is poorly understood. This is especially true when it comes to carbon storage.
Rapid increases in tree growth found in US
Carbon dioxide levels have increased from 280 parts per “Trees take up carbon as they million in the 1850s to about grow. As trees die and decom385 ppm currently. This inpose, they release carbon. The crease is directly related to balance of carbon flows in and human activities such as burnout of the forest determines ing fossil fuels and deforestawhether the total forest carbon tion. "Dangerous and irreversistock increases or decreases ble changes that threaten lifeover time," states Smithsonian support systems are likely when Tropical Research Institute (STRI) atmospheric carbon levels staff scientist Helene Mullerreach 550 ppm, if not sooner," Landau. says Yavinder Malhi, an Oxford University scientist.
Carbon budgets are of increasing importance in today’s world. Commercial carbon offsets are now being utilized to attempt to balance emissions. But as stated in the article by Malhi “forests, as living systems, may be really complicated, taking up carbon under some conditions and giving off carbon under other conditions." Until we have more information from studies such as this one, we won’t fully understand our impact.
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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Aquilegia Canadensis– Wild Columbine Last week’s flower in Name That Native was an easy one. 100 % of the voters identified it correctly. It was the wild columbine also known as Aquilegia Canadensis.
“Grass is the cheapest plant to install and the most expensive to maintain.” ~Pat Howell
the Great Plains east to the Atlantic.
Faunal associations for this plant include bumblebees and rubythroated humming birds for the nectar, and bumblebees and It prefers light shade to partial short-tongued bees for pollen. sun and traditionally lives in This plant is also a larval host for open, rocky woodlands, wooded several insects. Many of these slopes, shaded sides of bluffs, larval forms are leaf mining. This 1-3 foot tall perennial sandy savannas, and in openWhile it make the foliage less could originally be found from ings created by disturbances attractive, it does not affect plant such as logging. growth or other plants. Leaves are toxic to mammals and are usually not bothered, making this Leaves of this plant are obovate and are divided into a good choice in rabbit or deer three rounded lobes. Flowers infested areas. of this plant are almost always made up of 5 petals that are I have found that this plant will pale red to red/purple degrow in about any moisture or pending on ecotype. Internal light condition. If planted in full parts of the flower are yellow. sun, they become almost aggresThe ends of the petals contain sive and larger than normal. It is small beads of nectar that a nice early flower with solid wildThese mid– to late spring blooms are have a honey-like taste. life benefits.
great for bumblebees and hummingbirds!
NATIVE
ON THE
NET
Sometimes wading through sites looking for good resources on native information is just too time consuming. This section should help!
Plain and simple– this site is a gem! Their slogan is “Shrink your lawn and grow your pleasure!”
This month’s featured site is :
I have visited this site for a couple of years and don’t really know why it hasn’t made it into the feature before. It is not a site that is trying to sell you anything. It is a DIY-based site to get you
LessLawn http://www.lesslawn.com
to find inspiration and information to become more ecologically friendly. It is on a pretty broad spectrum and not just focused on native plants, though they are a part of the overall picture. This is one you will want to bookmark!!!
BEST BOOKS– THE BUMBLEBEE QUEEN The Bumblebee Queen by April Pulley Sayre and illustrated by Patricia J. Wynne is not the type of book I have been featuring in this section. It is a children’s picture book, but definitely has appeal for adults as well. It is the story of the life cycle of a queen bumblebee, and thus the colony of bumblebees. Told in narrative prose, the story fittingly begins with the queen in winter. It tells her
story in great detail and I would page. These are circled with illustrabet that every casual reader will tions of a bee flying around them. learn something new about this important and It also has a focus on interesting things (bees especially) animal. native to the United States, which I feel is an Along with the added bonus. narrative of the bumbleRead it and share it with bee life cycle, others! You will never see facts about a bumblebee without bumblebees thinking of this book are interagain! spersed on A great book for both young nearly every and older readers!
G N O M E N ew s
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O RG A N I Z AT I O N S P O T L I G H T : THE TRUST
FOR
“Connecting People With Nature” is the goal of the National Audubon Society. Their mission is “to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity.” www.audubon.org John James Audubon lived from 1785 to 1851. Not only was he an avid woodsman, but one of the dominant wildlife artists for nearly fifty years in early American history. His enduring spirit and triumph over adversity is still reflected today in the organization that shares his name.
PUBLIC LAND This organization is composed of 24 state chapters that are voluntarily affiliated with the national chapter. While the primary focus is the avifauna of the Americas, this organization reaches a much broader scope of wildlife and environmental issues.
“Connecting People With Nature”
Their website contains a wealth of news, information, programs, and resources. Their “Birds & Science” section includes many useful links including those focused on citizen help with things like bird counts and other research.
Annual tax-deductable membership starts at $20 and includes their amazing Audubon magazine.
“Bee to the blossom, moth to the flame: Each to his passion: what’s in a name?”
NATIVE NEWS:
CUP PLANT– BIOMASS AND CARBON SINK For researchers exploring the use of Silphium perfoliatum a.k.a. the cup plant, it is all about the niche. The cup plant is usually found in low, moist prairies. It is these areas that are often uncultivated as farmland because of difficulty of year round access due to water.
PLANTING
A study funded by the US Department of Energy and based out of South Dakota State University is pursuing the use of cup plant as a potential biomass crop and carbon sink. The rationale behind this study is to assess the cup plant’s potential to increase biodiversity, plant a plant with high biomass yield, utilize areas that are not currently
WITH A
being farmed, and to look at carbon storage potential. Native grasses are currently considered the base for biomass production. Cup plant would be a complementary species. An added benefit is that cup plants have large and extensive root systems allowing them to store a lot of carbon underground.
~Helen Hunt Jackson
PURPOSE:
POLLINATOR PLANNING– PART II In Volume 15 of GNOME News, I discussed a few things that you can do to help those ever important pollinators. Here are some other things to consider when trying to attract native pollinators. The focus of the first part was plant-based. While pollen and nectar are sure draws for the native bees you are trying to attract, but to keep them there, you will need something else— nest sites. This aspect is often overlooked.
Dead trees are hubs of activity for all types of animals in nature. Traditionally, smaller solitary bees have nested in holes made my other insect larva or similarly sized holes. Humans have a knack for eliminating this essential nest areas. If you are lucky enough to have dead trees on your property, leave them up a while (as long as is safe).
various nest sites suited to the bees you are trying to attract. There are many commercial native bee nest boxes, tubes, and houses available. You can also make your own. By searching resources like the internet you can find houses as easy as drilling holes in wood for mason bees, to more complex houses made for bumblebees.
If you don’t have something like a dead tree around, or don’t want one left up, you can create
If you really want to provide necessary elements for native bees, nest site are essential!
Bumblebees are just one type of native pollinator you can attract to your yard by adding nest sites
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WILE E. COYOTE THE CUNNING CARNIVORE’S HISTORY AND HY STERIA The high prolife coyote attack on Taylor Mitchell resulting in her death last fall has caused scientists and biologists to take a closer look at Canis latrans, more commonly called the coyote. From 1988 -1997 there were only 41 attacks on people. But from 1998-2003 that number had already reached 48 and has increased in frequency since. What is behind these attacks? How have the human/animal relationships changed over time and has this altered coyote behavior? New research has started to shed some light on these questions. Throughout much of its natural history the coyote has been a secondary predator. Other mammals like wolves, cougars, and bears were the primary North American carnivores– that is until large populations of humans moved in. While indigenous peoples living on the continent would hunt and kill predators of many types, their impact on populations paled to the extermi- Pre Settlement Map nation policies of European Americans. With the extirpation of the apex predators from traditional ranges, two key events began to take place. The first of these is evident by the distribution maps above: Coyotes began to fill the niches that the larger mammals had filled. European American populations killed these larger predators for food, to protect livestock, for sport, and out of fear. In addition to being smaller that more obvious predators, the coyote is highly intelligent and was much more secretive. This enabled it to survive where other predators were hunted out. The second, and more recently discovered event that occurred at this time is that the western coyote began to breed with remnant wolf populations. The scientific world has known about this for decades, but did not believe it to be very wide spread. "We are finding repeatedly that hybridization is more common than we used to think," states Curator of Mammals at the New York State Museum Roland Kays. He is the lead author of a study highlighted in the publication Biology Letters last year. He and his team took mitochondrial DNA from 686 “eastern” coyotes housed in museum collections, donated from hunters and fur trappers, and collected by government agencies. They found that some of the largest specimens were coyote/wolf hybrids. They were even able to tell that it was a few female coyotes that mated with male wolves somewhere north of the Great Lakes.
It is that last fact that has many people concerned. Coyotes have become well established in suburban and urban environments. Stanley Gerht of Ohio State University has authored a publication called Urban Coyote Ecology and Management. It focuses on one of the most populated areas of the United States called Cook County. That’s right– coyote populations in the Chicago area have been part of the Cook County Coyote Project for years.
Current Distribution
While most coyotes are never seen by residents, be assured that they are not uncommon even in the most populated areas. They will defend their home territories against other coyotes, but generally people have little to fear from them. These home ranges can be large or small. One radio-collared individual coyote’s territory consisted of the flowerbeds and landscaping in front of an IKEA and a few scattered trees behind it.
This study showed that small rodents were the main food source of urban coyotes. They also had a large impact on Canadian geese populations, taking up to 90% of eggs in certain areas. But what about coyotes attacking pets? This study found that only 1% of their diet consisted of domestic cats. Attacks on pets are well documented throughout the US, but media may make it seem like a larger problem than it really is. Generally, the coyotes in this urban study were ecologically beneficial. The largest number of conflicts between people and coyotes seems to be occurring in suburban settings. There are several factors for this. An obvious one is that human habitat overlaps that of the coyote. Proximal encounters are sure to rise when two different species live in the same place. Another factor is intentional and unintentional feeding of coyotes. With few predators in populated areas, animals like squirrels, voles, and mice can thrive. This provides coyotes with plenty of reason to hunt in towns, subdivisions, and local parks. Pet food left outside also provides coyotes with an easy meal. Believe it or not, some people actually feed them on purpose and that is the most dangerous and potentially disastrous thing we can do. A coyote that is fed by people associates food with us. It then eventually becomes habituated– this means it loses it fear of us. When this occurs, they become more aggressive, are seen more frequently, and are far more likely to attack humans.
These new hybrids are larger and heavier than pure coyotes, but smaller than wolves. Jaw size Coyotes have adapted to populated areas is another determining factor that can be used to Regardless of our opinions of them, coyoidentify hybrids. “Their skulls are especially wide compared with their length,” adds Kays. There is also sexual dimor- tes and people are sure to continue crossing paths. Through more studies such as these and increased education and awareness, phism with these coywolves that is not found in coyotes. They frequently go after larger prey, such as deer and hunt in larger “packs” this cohabitation can become less stressful for both species. rather than singly or in pairs as typical coyotes do.
G N O M E N ew s
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I N VA S I V E S PALE SWALLOW-WORT Cynanchum rossicum (previously Vincetoxicum rossicum) is commonly known as pale or European swallow-wort. This plant is believed to have been introduced around 1897 in two counties in New York as an ornamental and had escaped cultivation by the early 1900s into roadsides and natural areas. This invasive is a perennial non -woody vine usually reaching between 3-6 feet in length. Its leaves are oval shaped and about 2 inches wide by 4 inches long. It blooms from June to July with five petal, starshaped flowers ranging in color from creamy pink to reddish brown. Since it is in the milkweed family, the fruit known as pods share many of this family’s characteristics. They are 2 -3 inches long.
The ecological threat comes in the form of extensive patches that form a monoculture. These can occur on disturbed sites like ditches and riverbanks, in fields, in woodlands, and especially in areas that have shallow soil over limestone bedrock. Despite the amount of time it has been present in the US, it is not yet widespread in the Midwest. Where it is present, it is decimating native flora and habitats.
Green= Areas Identified
There are several native Cynanchum species including honeyvine. This plant has white flowers. Any suspected infestations should be reported.
F A N TA S T I C F A U N A : T H E B U M B L E B E E There are about 250 species of Bombus identified world wide. In North America, there are about 45 different species found from the arctic to the equator.
Unlike many other members of the Hymenoptera family (bees, wasps, ants, and sawflies), these animals are very gentle. They will even allow you to handle them without stinging.
Bumblebees are efficient and amazing pollinators. They have several adaptations that make them special. The first special adaptation is the hair that covers their body. It acts as an insulator allowing them to fly at low temperatures. It is also branched which makes it very good at picking up and carrying pollen.
They benefit from Mullerian mimicry. Their yellow and black coloration serve as a warning to potential predators. A bird or a mammal only needs to be stung once to learn that this coloration pattern is not to be messed with, which is why so many insects utilize this coloration pattern.
Another special adaptation is the bumblebee’s tongue. It is very long and feathery and allows it to reach nectar that other bees can’t. In fact, some plants are entirely dependent on the bumblebee for pollination. One of these is the bottle gentian (Gentiana andrewsii). Thermoregulation is another very interesting topic when it comes to bumblebees. They are able to fluctuate their body temperatures for flight, to keep eggs warm, and even heat their nest cavity to a constant temperature!
There are three types of bumblebees in a colony; the queen, the worker, and the drone. The first two are female, though only the queen is fertile. These are also the only bumblebees with stingers, which are smooth and not barbed like the honeybee. This allows them to sting multiple times without harm. Male drones emerge in summer. Only the new queens live to create new colonies next year.
“Being a genius certainly has its advantages.” ~Wile E. Coyote
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
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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 on Future p.8- http://www.terrierman.com/earthworm.jpg
Invasives p.7- http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/cyro1.htm
Coyote feature p.6– Urban Coyote Ecology and Management
Fantastic Fauna p.7-http://www.bumblebee.org/faq.htm#adaptations
Invasives p.7- http://sleloinvasives.org/wp-content/themes/thesis_16/ custom/images/swallowwort_fcg/SW_Flwr.jpg and http://www.nps.gov/ plants/alien/fact/cyro1.htm
Coyote Feature Map p.6– Urban Coyote Ecology and Management
Invasive Map p.7- http://www.threatsummary.forestthreats.org/images/ maps/Pale_Swallow-wort_Map_272.png
Native News p.5- http://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/2010/03/100322091419.htm
Coyote feature p.6- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32976657/ns/ technology_and_science-science/
Coyote feature p.6- http://www.peopleandwildlife.org.uk/newsimages/ CoyoteInPlayground.jpg
Articles
Name That Native p.4- http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/woodland/ plants/wild_columbine.htm
Planting with a Purpose p.5- http://ssnds.uwo.ca/ sscnetworkupdate/2006winter/images/gis.jpg
Big Picture Photo- http://onbeingboth.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/oaktree-ii.jpg
Pictures
References
Big Picture- http://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/2010/03/100318132500.htm
FOCUS
ON THE FUTURE
I love spring. I can’t tell you how much I have been looking forward to it this year.
sonal changes when we keep them locked in a false tropical environment?
One of my favorite things about the spring is how it awakens your senses. This time, more than any other in the year, dominates your physical input with things that cannot and will not be ignored.
The multitude of lawn care flyers stuck on my mail box and in my front door hold promises of fewer “weeds” and fewer bugs (might as well include worms too). Without the bugs and with poisoned water, what will happen to our audible amphibians?
The smell of spring rain complete with earthworms on the pavement, the sounds of birds greeting the dawn with their song. The chorus of frogs and toads from ditches and ponds begin to creep into the evening air. The popping color of spring bulbs again the newly greening landscape holds your gaze and refreshes winter blahs. The feel of cold raindrops on your shoulders and head remind you that a day’s warmth might be temporary. These are just a few of the many sensory experiences that we can associate with this time of the year. But for how many more generations?
I ask this question because there are telling signs that we have disconnected not only from our senses, but from our world. Already this year I have added the hum of central air conditioning units to my spring audio inventory. How can we expect future generations to understand sea-
If we are to preserve the future of bio-sensory experiences like those that present themselves in spring, we must also consider biodiversity. This year, let some grass go unmowed. Plant a native plant, even if it is only one. Consider the dandelion springing up in the middle of your yard a flower and not a weed. Build or buy a bee, bird, or bat house. Do something to benefit biodiversity.