These species are introduced species. They have spread with the deliberate or unwitting help of humans.
At least in Europe, the introduced species have legally a different status than the new species that have spread without human aid. For example here, introduced potentially harmful predators do not usually have legal protection but the most recent newcomer golden jackal is included within the legal protection of native species because the jackals have arrived by walking from their earlier natural range.
Velvet ant, AKA “cow killer”. So named as its sting is said to be so painful it would kill a cow. Actually, it is a wingless wasp. The males evidently have wings, and do not sting.
I imagine in nations they are not native too they are highly invasive. They are edible and so if no chemicals in play many can eat them. They are colony plants here in America and colony plants outside of their native range get very invasive.
In plants, there seems to be (at least) three important factors involved in the phenomenon:
competition of light may exclude species that become overshadowed and do not get sufficient amounts of light.
natural enemies have a potentially strong effect. If there are no (significant) natural enemies, then interspecific competition between plants becomes the key factor that may limit the growth (assuming that the plant can grow in the physical conditions).
chemical warfare (allelopathy) seems to play an important role.
In a small research project, we studied plant and animal life in patches of alien invasive plants and comparable patches of native plants. Our conclusion was that the toxic chemicals within and released by the invasive plants could explain much of the success of the alien plants, better than the other explanations. Because of the toxic chemicals, few native herbivores could eat the alien plants and the chemicals released to the soil inhibited the sprouting and establishment of the seedlings of the competing native herbs and grasses.
Baby jackrabbit on our porch. I worry that it is too young to be on its own, but from past experience as a kid, keeping one captive and trying to raise it is pretty futile.
Hares may leave their young for several hours or even the whole day before visiting shortly the young, possibly to protect the young from predators. Every spring people carry such young to animal shelters, telling that the young must be an orphan because they did not see the mother come to the young despite hours of watching. Sad because the young gets human scent and therefore cannot be returned to where it was found - the mother might abandon the young because of the human scent.
There’s another factor at work: plants whose genus is already represented tend not to be problems; they are generally similar enough to others of that genus that they are held in check by the same forces.
And knotweed just does not die. It’s pretty much impossible to eliminate without using a herbicide. A small nuclear weapon would probably do the trick, too.
I have been exploring some of the Lansing River Walk in Lansing Michigan on my bike. It’s incredible miles of natural beauty you can’t see from the road. How limited our view of a place can be if we are never off the beaten path.
Last weekend I was in Alpena Michigan for work and had some time to explore on my own.
On the way to the Misery Bay Nature Preserve, after I passed the cement factory, I ran across this gorgeous view. Good thing there is little traffic, so it’s rarely a problem just to stop and take photos.
Late summer and early fall is one of my favorite times. I think I’ll like it more now. For my entire life I’ve worked from like 6am-6pm. So I always loved summer because I could hike every day since it was still fairly bright until 9pm. But now I work 3/5am until 130pm most days. So even in fall when it’s dark at 530pm I still have 3-4 hours of hiking / day. So I care slightly less about long days. Especially since I to sleep around 630/730pm.
My schedule is now wake up at 2am. Go to the gym. I get finished around 315am. Go on a short walk for about 30 minutes. Get back home about 4am. Shower and grab my already prepared breakfast and lunch. My breakfast alternates between a slice of tofu sandwiched between two pieces of sweet potato. Like a tofu biscuit with sweet potatoes as the bread. It’s light but I eat light at work. My snack 2 hours later is often just a handful of pecans, walnuts, dates and dark chocolate chips. My lunch is normally just a can of soup. Then at home I eat a heavier dinner around 4pm and then make a smoothie with 1lb of frozen fruit and a teaspoon of chia seeds and grounded flax. A tablespoon of apple
Cider vinegar.
Tonight it’s 1lb of frozen strawberries, blueberries and raspberries with 20 ounces of sparkling water. I blend it first with 16 ounces and then add a teaspoon of chia seeds and grounded flax, teaspoon of cacao powder and cap of baking vanilla extract and the vinegar. Blend in with 4 more ounces of water. Drink it about 2 hours before sleeping and then just sip on water as needed. I’ve also successfully removed all soda from my diet sunday-thirsday. and have just a can of root beer on Friday and saturday. I mostly drink water. I chopped up six lemons and added them tonan2 gallon thing of water with 30 ounces of sparking orange water and two caps of vanilla extract. Tomorrow I’ll make some with a few handfuls of basil or mint with sliced cucumber. I add a pinch of baking soda to my lemon drink about 10 minutes before drinking it to help counter the acidic nature of it. Watching 1/3-1/2 of the horror movie werewolves on Hulu while I was eating.
Now need to do an hour of classes on my computer for work. Though I don’t particularly like Charlie Kirk I’ve been listening to 2-3 episodes of his podcast a week while at work and one of Newsom’a to stay a bit more attentive to politics. I tend to focus predominantly on political discussions around nature and the environment and less so on social stuff. Still do but carving out time for it nonetheless.
A very rainy week supposedly and so unfortunately won’t get much hiking in. I’ve been hiking around 9-12 miles each Saturday and Sunday. Then about 1-3 miles at a much slower pace most other days.
Ive changed my workout routine from the “bro split” which is just a routine where each muscle group gets hit really hard once a week to the “pull and push upper and lower” split where each muscle group gets hit 2-3 times a week but less intense each time. Going to try it out for a few months. On a three split cardio routine now too. Cardio A is just running 2-3 miles. Cardio B is sprinting 1/4 mile 4 times. Cardio C is 2x1/8th a mile of side shuffling, side grapevine running and jogging backwards. When I get to summer I’ll see how I like it and if I need to I’ll switch back to the “bro splits” and leaner. At some point I’m stuffing kickboxing practicing back into my workouts.
Sea lampreys are native to North America; they just hadn’t been able to get past Niagara Falls until we built canals to let them through. But the faucet snails, Bithynia, are invasive from Europe, complete with a waterfowl-killing parasitic worm, while Pseudosuccinea, Physella, and Ferrisia travelled the other way.
