The Worlds Around Us

This week’s Nature Minute is out of this world! Nature isn’t just limited to Earth. Head outside after sunset and check out our neighbors in the solar system. Venus is the brightest object in the night sky and you can find it in the constellation Aquarius, in the southwestern sky. If you happen to have a telescope handy, look for distant Neptune just above and to the left of Venus. Higher above Venus and more the left but still close by is Mars, which appears to be a bright red non-twinkling star. Jupiter is the brightest object (other than the moon) after midnight. Again, if your telescope is handy and you are still awake, check out Jupiter. You may be able to see some of its moons. Jupiter, the largest planet, is almost like a mini solar system within our solar system. If you are an early riser, or maybe just can’t sleep, Saturn and Mercury rise just before the sun. Mercury is hard to see because it is close to the sun and therefore always low on the horizon. In my area, trees to the west or Cascade Mountains to the east make viewing Mercury impossible. Saturn is a treat to view through the telescope. Its rings are not visible to the naked eye, but they pop when viewed through the telescope. I’ve seen them a few times before and I never get over it. It’s very surreal. It looks fake.

Lunar eclipse

Venus (bottom) and Jupiter (top) in conjunction

To check out the planets and stars, get out of town. The darker the sky, the better. Up in the mountains, in the desert, or along the beach are great places for stargazing. The full moon is your worst enemy, unless you are checking out the moon. If you want to check out Saturn or Mercury, use caution not to get your telescope caught in the rising sun, unless you happen to have a solar filter. In that case, you really don’t need to be reading this blog. You probably know more about space than I do. This week’s planetary positions are courtesy of the good folks at EarthSky.org.

Species of the Month: Wolverine

January’s Species of the Month is a tough little critter we associate with winter weather. It’s small but mighty, a ferocious little beast that gives its name to a comic book hero- the wolverine. Information this month once again comes from University of Michigan’s Animal Diversity Web.

Wolverine at Northwest Trek, Eatonville, WA

Scientific name: Gulo gulo

Kingdom: Animalia (animals)

Class: Mammalia (mammals)

Order: Carnivora (carnivores)

Range: Alaska and northern Canada, Sierras and Cascades of western US, Russia, and Scandanavia

Habitat: Alpine forests, tundra, open grasslands, above timberline.

Lifespan: 5-7 years

Diet: eggs, birds, scavenged carrion, mammals (including large mammals such as deer or elk that become stranded in snow)

Predators: wolves, cougars, bears, golden eagles

Conservation Status: No special protection despite very low populations

Other Information: Wolverines live in the cold north and are not bothered by heavy snow. Snow works to their advantage as it traps animals many times their size, making them an easy kill. They can move quickly, climb trees, and swim well. They are nature’s ultimate predator in a little package. The predators listed about are not likely to mess with a wolverine, usually only attacking a young one. Wolverines are hunted because they prey on fur-bearers and eat those caught in traps. They are also vandals- they will get into cabins, bite through canned food, and spray the inside.

Here is a link to a story from a Seattle news station about wolverine monitoring.

Nature Minute Book Club

It’s January. The most wonderful time of the year is behind us and we have nothing to look forward to but cold and dark for the next few months. Here in the Northwest it’s colder and snowier than usual, which is good news for the mountain snowpack. Mountain trails are closed and the cold, rain, and snow make for miserable hiking conditions. Since we’ve no place to go, grab a book from the Nature Minute book shelf and cozy with some of these titles.

“A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold

Leopold was a Nature Guy like me, working for the US Forest Service where he germinated the idea for roadless and wilderness areas which culminated in the Wilderness Act of 1964. His “Sand County Almanac” is a poetic observation of the natural world through changing seasons plus arguments in favor conservation, responsible land use, and the role of ethics in ecology. It’s an easy read and might inspire you to go outside and do some journaling of your own.

Multiple titles by Rachel Carson

Carson began her writing career working on publications for the US Fish and Wildlife Service as a biologist, at a time when few women worked in science. Her earliest books, including “Under the Sea-Wind” and “The Sea Around Us” established her reputation as a talented writer who could translate scientific studies into the language of the lay person. Her controversial “Silent Spring”, warning of the dangers of the overuse of pesticides and other chemicals and written as she was dying of cancer, helped ignite the environmental movement of the 1970s.

“Crow Planet” by Lyanda Lynn Haupt

Seattle-based urban ecologist Haupt gives us a glimpse into the world of an otherwise overlooked piece of our landscape, the common crow. The American crow, an incredibly intelligent bird, is so conspicuous as to escape our attention but Haupt manages to transform this bird from a nuisance to fascinating subject.

“Wesley the Owl” by Stacey O’Brien

Wesley is an owl who breaks all the rules of what researchers thought it meant to be an owl. Born with a defective wing that prevented him from being able to survive in the wild, Wesley went to live with researcher O’Brien. The two spent nearly a decade together, teaching each other about life and love.

“The Secret Life of Bats” by Melvin Tuttle

Who likes bats? Tuttle does, and after reading this book you will too. A career of researching one the most misunderstood critters on the planet has led to a remarkable conservation success story. Discover how one conversation can save not just a species, but an entire order of mammals.

In the zone

Nature loves order. A place for everything, and everything in its place. This week we take a look at zones, nature’s sorting bins.

Every species has its habitat, which is where it lives and what it consumes. It also has a range, which is the geographical limits of where it and its habitat exist. On a more local scale, the habitat and range occur in a zone of an ecosystem.

Even though it’s bitter cold outside (at least where I sit), let’s revisit the beach we explored at Labor Day. We examined the sea creatures one several different rocks. There were many species there: mussels, starfish, anemones, and barnacles just to name a few. They all share the same habitat (beach) and while they may have different ranges (British Columbia to northern California vs Alaska to Baja for instance), at this location their ranges overlap.

Soft-bodies sea life at the lowest exposed rocks at low tide

Hard-shelled sea life in the highest exposed rocks at low tide

But notice that the species on one rock are totally different from those on another, even though they are separated by a distance of just a few dozen feet. The rocks are in different zones. Starfish and anemones are on rocks that are farther away from the high tide line, and those species are more sensitive to the drastic changes in tide. Closer to the high tide line you’ll see the mussels, snails, and barnacles. They are hardier and can withstand exposure to dry conditions much better. Also, notice that those three all have a hard outer shell, while the starfish and anemones don’t. Think there might be a connection between zones and defensive adaptations?

Not all zones are at the beach. Take a drive up to Mount Rainier with me this summer and I’ll show you how the forest changes as we go up in elevation. The dense western red cedar, Douglas fir, and western hemlock give way to mountain hemlock, pines, and Pacific silver fir right on up to subalpine fir scattered throughout mountain meadows. The taller trees are at lower elevations, while higher up the trees are stunted and warped by the short growing season and heavy snow cover. Even the air smells different in the different zones. Marine and aquatic environments also have different zones according to depth and the amount of light that reaches them.

Western red cedar, western hemlocks, and Douglas fir at about 3500 ft above sea level

Subalpine fir at about 5500 feet above sea level

Ocean zones from Marine Biodiversity wiki
http://www.marbef.org/wiki/open_oceans

Zones can change by elevation, depth, and latitude, or a combination. Douglas fir can be found at higher elevations in the southern Cascades than in the northern Cascades. Zones can also change over time, not just space. Forest zones change as trees grow and die, or in the case of disturbances such as fire. Next time you are out and about, look around for changing zones around you!