Things I am learning

So, spent some of yesterday learning what “sale in lieu” and “short sale” is.  Between job and money issues, may have to be scarce for a few days–but I’ll be back this weekend!

Don’t forget to send in your Circus of the Spineless submissions!

Caught in the Bug Net: 5.27.09

Speciation via waterbug predation? (Not Rocket Science)

“Bugging” museum specimens with insects (how dermestid beetles clean bones, from the Smithsonian)

Ugly Overload has a lot of invert related posts: Camel Spiders, Wolf Spiders, and Mantids–oh my!

The EPA bans carbofuran, a pesticide that is hightly toxic to birds.

Ed at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub has coverage of the annual spring resurgence of DDT crazy.

Arthur Evans discussses insect camouflage.

Termites have had odd gut parasites for 100 million years!

Lovely pentatomid art at Hexagonal Mandala Art Journal. Amazing art work at that site–check it out!

More pretty pictures at the Siam Insect Zoo.

SkepchickCon!

I seem to be headed to Minnesota for CONvergence.  The last time I went to a science fiction convention….well, let’s just say Reagan was President then and leave it at that, shall we?

July 2-5, 2009 at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel, Bloomington, MN.

I am also VERY geeked about seeing the MST3K folks.  The full schedule for the conference is online here; you can also see just the Skeptic events.  I will be on not one, but TWO panels with PZ. This will be very interesting…..

I got interviewed!

By the folks at Paw-Talk. They usually talk about cute fluffy vertebrates, but made an exception for me

Here’s a selection:

“You say you blog for yourself, but you say that you have deliberately chosen “to write things that try to debunk quackery around entomological topics for lay folks.” Explain what you mean and give us some examples.

Because there is a lot of fear and loathing of insects, it’s a great market opportunity. Lots of products are sold that claim to repel insects, or to kill them, and folks don’t always have the background to be able to evaluate them all individually.  Some of the products are flat out frauds, and can be expensive, to boot!

There is also a lot of hype–both positive and negative–about various insecticides and insects, and I try to translate the scientific literature to provide factual evidence for what is said in the media.  Sadly, science has evolved into a system where really interesting research is published in the most boring, incomprehensible, and complex format as possible.  It is absolutely not accessible to the general public, and frankly, sometimes not to me!  It’s a rare paper that I don’t have to read 2 or 3 times to make sure I haven’t missed something. The only group that seems to write as badly as scientists is lawyers.

The blog is practice for me to make sure I don’t forget how to write in a non-technical, non-jargony way. Or, at least, to try!”

Sign of the times

I drive past this sign several times a week as I commute across the state. Over the last two years, the price has gotten lower and lower.

This is an 8.9 acre piece of property in central Michigan, and on a lake.

And it’s now selling for $25K less than our house.

We’re doomed.

Oh, and Michigan still leads the nation…in unemployment. 12.9%.

Earthworm Research

Since we talked about earthworms last week…how about a little research?

When I was a kid I was taught that earthworms were good. Lots of worms was a sign of a healthy soil.

As I got older, I discovered that isn’t entirely true–some midwest soils didn’t have earthworms until Europeans showed up.  Some soils had a whole fauna of American worms that were displaced by the invasive, introduced earthworms.  There are at least 45 different species of non-native earthworms in the US right now.

It leaves me rather conflicted about earthworms, as a gardener.

Earthworms cause basic changes in the structure, biology, and chemistry of soil.  In gardens and (many) agricultural lands, worms are a good thing. They increase soil drainage and mix organic matter down into the soil.

But…hardwood forests in the Midwest are not used to having worms.  The last glaciation killed the native worms off.  Several different researchers have documented that as biomass of earthworms increases, the amount of forest understory growth decreases, and fewer trees had seedlings. That means the forest is less likely to regenerate itself as trees age and die. Not good.

Recently, a team of researchers wanted to see if they could find out what earthworms are doing to the chemistry of carbon cycling in forests. On clearing the floor:

“The earthworms that the team studies were brought to North America by early European colonists, probably in the ships’ ballasts or in plant soil….In some areas of the forest, more than 350 worms can be found in one square meter.  “The impact of that many worms is huge for the forest ecosystem as from spring to fall they actively consume litter and mix it into the soil, leaving only a bare surface by year’s end.” Filley said.

In contrast, sites that have no earthworms have many years of accumulated litter and organic matter above the soil. This has implications for plant seed germination, water holding capacity and infiltration of the forest floor, among other things.

Decomposition of leaves and twigs by bacteria and fungi is normally the primary source of nutrients in the forest.  Cycling of nutrients from leaves and other materials that fall to the forest floor is critical to maintaining the health of the forest.

This study concluded that part of the problem is that earth worms poop out lots of lignin–a very difficult compound for soil bacteria to break apart. Interestingly, the net effect of this could be to latch onto more carbon, (“carbon sequestration”), rather than to release it for use to plants or in the atmosphere.  So while worms are not so good for the forest, they could potentially be good for keeping carbon out of the atmosphere.

Which to choose? In some places, there is no choice. The worms are here to stay.

If you live in the Midwest, please check out the Great Lakes Worm Watch before you order worms for composting, or let that fishing worm go!

Citations:

Filley, T., McCormick, M., Crow, S., Szlavecz, K., Whigham, D., Johnston, C., & van den Heuvel, R. (2008). Comparison of the chemical alteration trajectory of leaf litter among forests with different earthworm abundance
Journal of Geophysical Research, 113 (G1) DOI: 10.1029/2007JG000542

Additional references:
Hale, C., Frelich, L., & Reich, P. (2006). CHANGES IN HARDWOOD FOREST UNDERSTORY PLANT COMMUNITIES IN RESPONSE TO EUROPEAN EARTHWORM INVASIONS Ecology, 87 (7), 1637-1649 DOI: 10.1890/0012-9658(2006)87[1637:CIHFUP]2.0.CO;2

Bee-Boy Dance

OMGOMGWTF.

This is, of course, a viral video promoted by Haagen-Dazs, but I like it none the less. No one tell them that they’re not supposed to have stingers if they’re dudes, K? (or that male bees don’t dance.)

There is also a disco version.

Circus of the Spineless is coming!

Yep, I’ll be hosting Circus of the Spineless #39 the first Monday in June (which is June 1st!). You can send your submissions to me using the email on my “about” page.

Things continue to be crazy busy–I can’t remember the last time I actually only worked 40 hours/week. (You can send tips on a new job to that same email address…..)

While I may be AWOL this week, I  WILL get the Circus up and out on time.

Also, I may need to change the CoS logo to more accurately represent the dominant invert fauna. I’m just sayin’…..

Frost!?!

Since I had the photo from yesterday…

Frustrating. I waited until the 16th to plant out anything, and we got a hard frost last night.

GRRRR. Michigan, you vex me.

It’s freaking spring already! Get with the program!

Baby’s Breath: Pretty and evil

I’m talking about the plant (Gypsophila paniculata), not actual babies, BTW.
I was recently reminded that a lot of folks don’t know that Baby’s Breath is a nasty, invasive plant in the US. Oddly enough, it was because I bought soap.  They make this statement on their package:

“our hypo-allergenic bar soap …comes in 100% post consumer recycled packaging imbedded [sic] with Baby’s Breath seeds. Plant the carton in soil, water and watch your plants grow.”

Post consumer packaging–Yay!

But the bit about planting Baby’s Breath–I think I can channel Kirk here for a minute: “NOOOOOOO!”

Please, do not do that.

This is what happens when people think about being green, but don’t think things all the way through.

Baby’s Breath is a plant originally from Siberia and Eastern Europe. It is changing Michigan’s dune ecosystem in destructive ways. Because it has a very deep taproot (up to 12 feet!!), it  stabilizes sand dunes and prevents them from the natural ebb and flow as seasons and storms pass.  This taproot also lets the plants outcompete native plants, many of which have disappeared from our dunes.

It is also invasive on grazing lands in the west, where it again outcompetes and takes over for native grasses.  You can see a map of its spread in North America here.

So: pretty and EVIL.

A wonderful resource on finding good (i.e, well-behaved native plants) for your garden is at PlantWise. They even have an “invasive translator” that provides alternative suggestions to invasive non-native garden plants. Check it out!

More info about the Great Lakes Barrens Ecosystem.

Oh, and if you’d like to contact Pure & Natural Soaps and tell them to STOP distributing invasive weed seed…they are apparently owned by Dial. Their contact phone number is listed on the package as 1-877-711-8188.