Corn update!

I'll post the picture later, but the corn is finally starting to bloom fruit. One of them even has silk now! :D The others are just budding. THIS IS SO EXCITING AKFJKAHFASKFJ

Petition to stop building incinerators

I signed up. Apparently there are going to be 8 or 9 more to be built in/around Boston to burn materials that could be recycled instead. Building incinerators promote pollution.

acacia trees

Some quick facts:

Have you ever heard of a plant that strongly relies on a bug to live, and vice versa? A strong symbiotic relationship such as this is the swollen/whistling thorn acacia tree (Acacia drepanolobium) and the acacia ant (there are a few species that protect, but the best bodyguard is Crematogaster mimosae).

Unlike the other acacia trees, "swollen" thorns have no alkaloids, which is what deters herbivores from eating the plant. As a result, this tree has no form of a self defense mechanism.

Instead, it provides protein lipids and nectars filled with carbohydrates that feed the acacia ants. The ants need the tree for this in order for its colony to thrive up to 100,000 times stronger, which is a LOT to be thankful about. The ants in turn support the tree by being its defense mechanism, aggressively chasing off destructive insects and animals who want to stop by for a bite. Maybe they give off pheromones that the animals can detect within a safe distance, I'm not really sure.

In the zoology section of Science News, it reported that efforts had been made to save the acacia trees for about.. I think, a decade? The trees were being tested by reducing the amount of ants and seeing if it would thrive better in order to provide more feed to the larger animals that are declining in Africa. I understand the intention, but what I don't understand is the method used for saving the trees.

I don't really care about the fact that the -importance- of this relationship was "recently discovered" after ten years. It was already noticed that the relationship between the two species is a key trait to its survival. You can even figure that out yourself within a year (with simple tests like comparing the chemicals that make up the leaves in this tree compared to other acacias that have no ants.) Fencing off animals from a tree defeats the purpose of the ants, so the ants turn to other acacia trees for their needs. As a result, the tree would adjust itself to producing LESS food in order to accomodate a smaller colony. The trees actually shrivel up and look pretty unhealthy quickly cause of this. Yeah, duh. Couldn't there have been a better strategy to this problem?

Or maybe I'm over simplifying this when it's really harder than it looks. Afterall, not all experiments are free of errors..