Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Plants and Animals

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

Famous Koala Dies

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SAM the Koala was euthanized last Thursday. 

When bushfires were raging the state of Victoria earlier this year, the koala became famous after video footage was released showing her drinking water from a fire fighter’s bottle.

But the four-year-old never recovered from surgery last Thursday to remove cysts associated with Urogenital chlamydiosis, a disease which affects about 50 percent of Australia’s koala population.

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

Poachers Exploit Chaos in Zimbabwe

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Zimbabwe’s wildlife conservation reputation has taken a knock in the past few years and there are fears the recent surge in the poaching of the black rhino will lead to the animal’s extinction in the country…   Part of the problem is obviously the national situation in Zimbabwe where there is reduced law enforcement and part of it is the growing demand for rhino horn, the growing Chinese foot print in Africa…  Read more here.