A duck for new years eve! Most domestic ducks are a subspecies of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus), but they haven't lost their ability to live in the wilds of suburbia. Mostly they are hybrids showing bits of the usual mallard colours (mallards will breed with anything duck-like, even in a different genus) but a pure white one is not unusual. This one seems very happy with its life on the lake.
2022-10-29 Burke Lake, Fairfax Station, VA
An aggressive predator, she captures prey in flight and brings it back to her perch to eat (a seaside dragonlet in this case). Mate selection is done visually, with a powder blue male (RBD #127) staking out territory and attempting to mate with any female that flies through. It doesn't matter if she is alive: tying a dead female to a pole and floating her through his territory is good enough. A male painted like a female will also do fine, but a female with wings painted black will be ignored (though another species, the widow skimmer, may make a pass).[1]
2022-09-13 Scrub Ridge Trail, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, FL
[1] C.G. Andrew (1966). The Ohio Journal of Science. v66 n6, 613-617.
Taking a break from mosquito control. Optimal flight requires muscle temperature of around 39 °C, where the biochemistry of sugar breakdown is most efficient. This can involve several minutes of pre-flight warmup by shivering the wings, though you can decrease this to around a minute by embedding little battery powered heaters in the thorax (insect-cyborg microdrones DOI:10.1109/IEMBS.2008.4650529).
2022-09-13 Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, FL
Along the coasts from Nova Scotia to Colombia lives a dark and dusky blue dragonfly, the seaside dragonlet. A true marine dragonfly, its nymphs can grow up in the ocean, hiding under rocks in the intertidal zone. Something more to look for when playing in tide pools. DOI:10.1086/physzool.53.4.30157882
2022-09-13 Scrub Ridge Trail, Merritt Is. NWR, Titusville, FL
Tribe Minucini; perhaps Leptuca pugilator. It is hard to tell when they have built-in mood rings, changing colour from dark to light depending on time of day, illumination and temperature. Hormones control the dispersal of black and white pigments, with overall levels increasing with illumination (sun block) and pigment balance controlling colour (camouflage). They can even tell whether they are on white sand or dark soil from the amount of light hitting the top vs the bottom of the retina. DOI:10.1086/physzool.21.4.30152015
2022-09-16 Indian River Lagoon Park, New Smyrna Beach, FL
Say cheese! Adapted for brackish waters such as the Chesapeake, their gills have ion pumps to control salt intake. They can even survive fresh water but they need time to grow more pump cells. DOI:10.1007/BF00339398
2022-09-13 New Smyrna Beach, FL
Hanging out on a flower waiting for dinner to arrive. It helps if you are invisible, choosing a flower that matches your colour; even better if you can adapt your colour a bit to the flowers available.[1] The visiting bees won't even see you,[2] though they may not stay long when they discover you are there.[3]
2022-09-13 Scrub Ridge Trail, Merritt Is NWR, Titusville, FL
[1] DOI:10.1111/1365-2435.13528 [2] DOI:10.1007/s10905-018-9706-9 [3] DOI: 10.2307/2426266
One of the 300 bee species in Florida. Bee sex is determined by the number of chromosome sets per cell (ploidy): one set for males (haploid), two sets for females (diploid). However, if you have a diploid individual with a pair of identical sex chromosomes you get a sterile male. With upwards of 50% diploid males, Halictus poeyi appear to be pretty inbred despite being common. Perhaps warm, damp Florida is not the best environment for ground-dwelling bees. DOI:10.1046/j.1365-2540.2001.00952.x
2022-09-17 Gator Hook Trail, Big Cypress National Preserve, FL
Recent arrivals from Central American (1940s) these flies are now well established in Florida. The larvae are natural composters, feeding on dead plants. Every spring and fall they explode from the ground for a multi-day flying orgy, males and females sticking together for days at a time. After parting, the female may find a different partner for a second round, or she may lay her eggs in the soil and die.[0] To find a good spot for her eggs, the female scans the environment for the formaldehyde given off by decaying plants. When excited by UV from the sun this emits a specific frequency of IR to which her antennae are tuned, allowing her to "see" dead plants from far away. Unfortunately car exhaust gives off formaldehyde in spades, swamping any signal from the natural environment, and attracting lovebugs to the highways like moths to a flame.[1] Same mechanism for moths: directional thermal sensor on the antennae for picking up IR.[2]† This is swamped by the signal from a candle. And a similar result: many dead bugs coating the grill and windshield. Sadly, this means the lack of bugs outside of Florida is not due to some technical improvements in airstream efficiency that protects them from traffic fatalities, but instead suggests there are no longer enough bugs around to become fatalities.
† No follow-up work by other authors. Non-replicable?
2022-09-14 Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, FL
[0] DOI:10.1093/aesa/69.5.843
[1] DOI:10.1364/AO.24.001088
[2] Callahan, Philip S. "THE ANTENNA OF INSECTS AS AN ELECTROMAGNETIC SENSORY ORGAN." Studies on the Shootborer Hypsipyla Grandella (zeller): 31.
Probably Laphystia litoralis but need to look under the wings to be sure. Unlike the gentle (as adult) bristle flies, robber flies are armed with venom that lets them instantly paralyze larger prey. A complex injection system complete with needle, valves and pumps delivers a dozen unique neurotoxins along with chemicals to dissolve their victims from the inside. Good camouflage and high agility lets them ambush passers-by mid-flight. DOI:10.3390/toxins10010029
2022-09-15 New Smyrna Beach, FL
Parasitoid: Only a parasite for part of its lifecycle. In this case the larval stage feeds inside the host bursting forth as an adult. Think "Alien", but for caterpillars. The creature that emerges is more like a cow, browsing on pollen rather than marauding and killing people. Depending on the species, adults may lay lots of little eggs where the host will eat them, they may inject an egg into the host, or they may glue one big egg to the host, giving the newly hatched larva enough energy to burrow in. A half dozen species are used for biological pest control.
2022-09-11 DQ parking lot, Darien, GA
Sitting quietly under a leaf, believing himself invisible. When you are this small you either hide or you flee. If you flee but are still followed you can either flee further, flee sooner, or try hiding. Different species use different strategies. Without intergenerational storytelling there is no way to figure out the best strategy before being eaten, so I'm not surprised it is baked into the genome. DOI:10.1007/s00265-013-1660-0
2022-09-12 St. Francis Trail, DeLand, FL
Waiting for the siren song of ol' blue eyes. In katydids the females are the seekers. The males sit on a branch and sing at the top of their voice, "Pick me! Pick me!" Okay, more violin than voice; called stridulation, they rub their wings together to vibrate. Females want the loudest male, but the closer ones seem louder. So how to choose? Well, air attenuates higher frequencies more than lower, so the spectrum will be tilted more for a male that is further away. Females will head toward a quieter "bassy" male even if a louder treble is close at hand. DOI:10.1080/09524622.2021.1879681
2022-09-10 Occoquan Bay NWR, Woodbridge, VA
Despite the look Salicoria ambigua is more closely related to spinach than it is to asparagus, bamboo or horsetails. As an edible coastal saltmarsh plant, it is adapted to take in and store trace elements dissolved in seawater, making it an excellent source of nutrients. When it burns it leaves behind an ash rich in sodium carbonate, which is used in glass-making because it lowers the melting temperature. Hence the name "glasswort". DOI:10.1016/j.jfca.2015.12.009
2022-09-16 Indian River Lagoon Park, New Smyrna Beach, FL
Carpentaria acuminata showing its fruit. Despite copious seeds which readily germinate in the warm wet weather in south Florida these northern Australian palms do not appear to be invasive. Maybe the rare frost in Miami is enough to keep them in check. Though even in their native range they aren't particularly common, being #7 on the list of palms recorded there on iNat.
2022-09-17 Everglades city, FL
Charming 2 bedroom condo in quiet neighbourhood near the beach. The perfect hide-away for raising your family in comfort and security—83% nest survival rates! Our professionals prefer aged palm with its tough exterior for quality construction. Soft interiors keep our costs down, and provide good drainage through the worst of storms. Contact Dryocopus pileatus for details. DOI:10.1007/s11252-019-00899-x DOI:10.5735/086.046.0503
2022-09-16 Indian River Lagoon Park, New Smyrna Beach, FL
Pontederia cordata are hermaphrodites with three different "sexes". Called tristyly, there are two male anthers and one female stigma at different heights, with the pollen from each height compatible only with the stigma at the same height. With an equal mix of sexes, there will be a 2/3 chance that the next visited flower will be compatible rather than 1/2 if there were only two sexes. "A most complex marriage arrangement," says Darwin.
Pickerelweed is an aggressive near shore plant with a root system that reduces erosion and cleans excess nutrients from the water. This is great as a native plant, but in South Africa it is invasive. Fortunately only one sex came across so it is limited to spreading via root. They may even be clones.
2022-09-14 Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, FL
DOI:10.1080/15226514.2015.1045121 DOI:10.1111/nph.16026 DOI:10.1002/ece3.9366
Close-up of the Euphorbia cyathophora flowerhead showing details of the flower clusters. Each cluster has a circle of yellow male flowers with tiny grains of pollen attached. Above these are a pair of "lips" holding a little nectar for the bees to eat. The dangling pumpkins hold the ovaries of the female flowers, one per cluster. Below are the red-painted leaves that give the plant its name. If you look closely at your poinsettia this christmas you should see something very similar, including the female flower at the top of the ovaries.
2022-09-15 An empty lot in New Smyrna Beach, FL
Alysicarpus vaginalis, an Asian legume used for tropical forage, pasture and hay. Spread some on your hunting plot to attract deer, turkey and quail. Seeds are about $4/lb in bulk. [It is weedy and non-native so please don’t do this.] No idea where the name comes from---’tis neither "white" nor "moneywort".
2022-09-17 Gator Hook Trail, Big Cypress National Preserve, FL
Euphorbia cyathophora, like the related poinsettia (E. pulcherrima) has clusters of teeny flowers surrounded by colourful leaves. The leaves are highly variable, from grass-like leaves shown here to "leaf-shaped" leaves, to toothy leaves like an oak. This variation can occur within the same plant! All parts of the plants are poisonous, so not surprising there are potential medical applications, in this case using an alcohol extract to treat parkinsons in rats. DOI:10.22270/ajprd.v7i3.517
2022-09-13 Haulover Canal, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, FL
Portulaca pilosa, aka “kiss-me-quick” and “hairy pigweed”. This tropical purslane takes two months to go from seed to seed producing up to 300,000 seeds per year. It likes dry disturbed soils common in urban environments such as roadsides and abandoned lots so it has happily followed us around the world. And as a lovely drought-tolerant ornamental, it is even planted on purpose! It probably comes from South America but its rapid life cycle produced lots of variants so it's hard to know for sure. DOI:10.1079/cabicompendium.116493
2022-09-15 An empty lot in New Smyrna Beach, FL
A Centrosema virginianum flower peeking through its leaves. This is not the unrelated butterfly pea, Clitoria ternatea, used in Ayurvedic medicine as an antidepressant. Instead it is a high protein tropical forage crop which, like other legumes, can fix nitrogen into the soil.
2022-09-12 New Smyrna Beach, FL
Youngia japonica, a traditional Chinese herb used for fever and allergies. It is also a cadmium hyperaccumulator, so useful in contaminated soil remission. Cd acts somewhat like Zn, so it gets taken up but doesn't quite work right so plants and people that consume it are less healthy. Or just use it in salads to add some variety to your diet.
2022-09-15 New Smyrna Beach, FL
10.1248/cpb.57.719 10.1007/s11356-020-10853-6 10.1016/j.phytol.2021.02.004
folklore [noun]: knowledge of the people. If your grandfather tells you that they used to put the leaves of Callicarpa americana under the harnesses of the draft animals in Mississippi to keep down the mosquitos then maybe you ought to test it. The result was several plant extracts shown to be effective mosquito repellents. That's not enough to take it to market: To compete with DEET you also need to make it cheaply and show that it is safe. People in Georgia still use it against gnats when hiking. [personal comm.]
2022-09-12 New Smyrna Beach, FL
She is in the “mate refusal“ posture, having told a nearby male to flutter off. This gives a good view of the black spots and fringes on her forewing that identify her as female. Usually sulphurs perch with wings closed so I can't tell if they are male or female unless I catch them on video (see #119B).
2022-09-13 Scrub Ridge Trail, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, FL
Hamelia patens is a good food source for hummingbirds and butterflies, including this cloudless sulphur. Use it as an ornamental bush or as a hedge in south Florida. Further north it'll act as a perennial if the ground doesn't freeze. As both an antibiotic and a pain killer it is used throughout Central and South America to relieve pain and treat wounds.
2022-09-13 Haulover Canal, Titusville, FL
DOI:10.1016/j.bjp.2015.03.007 DOI:10.1016/j.bjm.2017.03.018
Gaillardia pulchella is native to Texas and northern Mexico,[1] but it is pretty and easy to grow so garden centers have spread it around the world. It is so common in Taiwan that it is considered a native suitable for biological control of nematodes (the roots exude a toxic substance that kills adults and inhibits egg hatch).[2] It has also been tested as a biological control of invasive plants.[3] Overseeding an infested area with an aggressive native in the same niche can suppress the invasive without damaging other species. In contrast, tilling or herbicides destroy everything, leaving disturbed soil that is easily reinfested.
[1] DOI:10.17348/jbrit.v14.i2.1004
[2] TT Tsay, ST Wu, YY Lin (2004). Journal of nematology.
[3] Simmons MT (2005) Bullying the bullies. Restorative Ecology 13:609–615
Tradescantia ohiensis, one of the dozens of species of spiderwort in North America. The trough shaped leaves with non-wetting surfaces redirect water from a large area down to its roots. However, as much as 50% of this "stemflow" is lost, redirected to other plants when their leaves touch. DOI:10.1002/eco.2239
I have no idea how this plays out in evolution. As colony plants, an over-aggressive strategy may serve only to kill off the entire colony while an under-aggressive strategy may leave room for other plants to sneak in. Both strategies appear in the wild, with some species more prone and others more upright. There's also variation in leaf surface, from smooth to hairy.
2022-09-11 Hutchinson Is, Savannah, GA
Helenium autumnale, named for Helen of Troy, the first plants having sprung from her tears as she was carried away by Paris. Which makes no sense since Helenium is an American genus, unless the ancient Greeks crossed the Atlantic on their way to Troy. The common name "sneezeweed" is more reasonable. It derives from its use as an herbal snuff, ground and snorted to induce sneezing. "It may be used in diseases of the head, [...]. The shocks of sneezing are often useful in these cases when other remedies hardly avail." (Bigelow, 1872)
2022-09-10 Occoquan Bay NWR, Woodbridge, VA
[1] Bigelow, J. M. (1872) AMERICAN HELENICAE, (SNEEZE WEEDS). Am. J. of Pharmacy
Sorghastrum nutans showing its flowers. One of the mainstay grasses of the tallgrass prairie, along with big bluestem, little bluestem, and switchgrass, this plant does best in full sun. Following the Mutch Hypothesis,[1] it got its air rights by evolving high flammability, with frequent burns destroying nascent trees and leaving light for other prairie grasses and forbs.* NCSU states, "This plant has an extreme flammability rating and should not be planted within the defensible space of your home."[2]
2022-10-09 Occoquan Bay NWR, Woodbridge, VA
*forb: Any non-woody flowering plant that is not grass-like. From ancient Greek for "food".
[1] DOI:10.1007/s12080-018-0366-3
[2] NCSU Plant Toolbox: Sorghum nutans
Prepping for the daily deluge.[1] Clouds are building up for the afternoon rainstorm, a fixture in Florida's summer weather (Jun-Sep) powered by off-shore sea temperatures above 28 C. This was the "mild" rainy season, without the wind, hail and waterspouts of spring. Just lots and lots of rain in a very short time, making driving impossible. Not that anyone actually stopped, but some did slow down a bit.
2022-09-13 Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, FL
[1] https://www.weather.gov/tbw/RainySeason
Back and forth.
2022-09-13 New Smyrna Beach, FL
Hanging out at the gas station, where food is plentiful and doesn't scuttle away. Amongst grackles, female feathers are distinct and males require subtle features like beak shape and tail length. With only one moult per year (Jul-Nov) they don't have breeding and "eclipse" feathers, but they still have an annual cycle with male testes swelling by 100x for the breeding season (Apr-Jun); ovaries diameter also increases. Throw in a steady supply of urban forage and these cycles get messed up, with pairs forming in fall leading to fledglings as late as Dec.
2022-09-17 Pilot Travel Center #874 - Dade Corners, Miami, FL
[1] Selander, RK; Nicholson , DJ (1962). "Autumnal breeding of Boat-tailed Grackles in Florida." The Condor 64(2) 81-91.
Wandering the DQ parking lot in search of a morsel. Not uncommon. Although they are native to coastal salt marshes it seems that urban foraging (dumpsters, bins and parking lots) have allowed them to expand to coastal towns.
2022-09-11 DQ parking lot, Darien, GA