Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Larry Fields

White Bark Pine Trees (Part 2): A Note from James Mayeau

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James Mayeu_White Bark Pine_one tree cut “THE trail we were on is at the treeline, 8 or 9 thousand feet.  Most of the time it’s buried under 6 to 10 feet of snow, so not too many people get up their until late spring or early summer…   First people in are rangers who maintain the trail by removing tree falls or routing around avalanches.”

So began a recent email from James Mayeau telling me about a hike up to Round Top Lake with Larry Fields.  They were returning to get some photographs of the White Bark Pine Trees… remember Mr Fields told us about them in the Sierra Nevada Range of California along with that lesson on climate change?  

Anyway following is the official account from Mr Mayeau:

“GUIDED by an experienced hiker with an encyclopaedic familiarity of the trails of the central Sierra Nevada, we made the assent to the headwater of the American River.  [Read more…] about White Bark Pine Trees (Part 2): A Note from James Mayeau

On ‘Saving the World’ (Part 1)

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“Not all environmental causes are sucker-proof. If one wants to fill up the inner void, by making the world a better place to live, then one should do one’s bloody homework first. And that includes becoming scientifically literate. If one is not willing to take that first step, then one should get a life, and forget about saving the world!”   Larry Fields, August 2009

for some context …  https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/2009/08/clean-up-just-stirs-up/

White Bark Pine Trees: A Note on Climate Change from Larry Fields

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THE last Ice Age killed off all of the coniferous trees in Finland. After the ice sheet retreated, trees from elsewhere – like the Scots Pine – gradually colonized the vacant niche. On a smaller scale, the same thing happened in many high mountains of the Earth’s temperate regions, including the Sierra Nevada Range of California. We can learn a thing or two about climate history from Alpine dendrology.

In the Sierra Nevada the White Bark Pine is typically the highest-elevation pine tree marking the tree line.

Round Top Lake, at 9,340 feet elevation in the Northern Sierras near Carson Pass is my favorite place for informal climate history research.   Here White Bark Pine trees grow in tight clumps around half of the lake; as shown in this photograph from Kevin Gong’s website. http://kevingong.com/Photography/RoundTopTrees.html

[Read more…] about White Bark Pine Trees: A Note on Climate Change from Larry Fields

Gurr the Toy Maker: A Note from Larry

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Gurr 2BEFORE Jane Goodall’s pioneering study of wild chimpanzees, most of us believed that tool-use and especially tool-making were exclusively human activities. Goodall was intrigued when she first observed a chimp poking a stick into a termite mound, waiting a minute, pulling out the stick, and then licking off the termites.

But a Border Collie named Gurr and his toy-making is one notch above chimp termite-fishing.

On 13th August 2005 I set out for a hike with a friend, Kanako, and the large handsome Border Collie mix.   

We set out from Sacramento County to hike the little-known Bassi Cabin loop trail. The hike is a symphony of coniferous forest, running water, and glacier-polished granite. [Read more…] about Gurr the Toy Maker: A Note from Larry

All-Red Snow Plants – Nourished by Fungi

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IT emerges from the soil like a mini-plastic Christmas tree in the image of a red Mexican succulent.   But it’s not a succulent or even an entire plant and it’s not from Mexico.  Rather it’s the flowering stalk of a species closely related to the cranberry, blueberry, azalea and rhododendron and it grows in the Sierra Nevada of California.  Apparently called snow plants because they emerge as the snow melts, these stalks were photographed in June along the Sliver Fork Trail in the Sierra Nevada by Aom, a hiking buddy of Larry – a regular commentator at this blog.

The species, Sarcodes sanguinea, has no chlorophyll and so, like most plants, can’t obtain its energy directly from the sun. Instead it is parasitic on fungi that also colonise the roots of pine trees.  Experiments with radioactive carbon 14 show that the sugars from the conifer roots enter the fungi and then are transferred into the roots of the snow plant.

So we have a true vascular plants with flowers and seed-bearing capsules, that can’t photosynthesis, instead getting its energy from pine trees via fungi.

Does this all have something to do with being perfectly red?

[Read more…] about All-Red Snow Plants – Nourished by Fungi