51. Nature's Emissaries of Misfortune - and Death
When a black cat crosses your way, don't proceed. Pause for sometime to break the spell. Or go back home and postpone your trip.
Dr Abe V Rotor
Death-watch Beetle (Xestobium rufovillosum) enlarged; tunnels showing powder and frass (excrement) around their openings. (Acknowledgement: Photos from Internet).
1. You can actually hear death knocking in the night.
It’s like an Edgar Allan Poe’s story of death tapping on “a night dark and dreary”, but in this case it is not a raven. It is the Death-watch Beetle (Xestobium rufovillosum) that we allude to death. It is an insect with an unsavory habit all right. Its name was derived from the scary tapping sound it produces, which is frequently heard during mating period, usually in April or May.
The beetle simply jerks its body forward in rapid succession, and strikes each time with the lower front part of its head against the surface on which it happens to be standing. It gives eight taps in slightly less than a second; and almost before it stops another beetle of its kind that is within hearing distance will respond by tapping back in the same quick manner. In woodworks and furniture that have been attacked by the Death-watch Beetle, the worm holes are large and distinguished by the presence of frass and powder around the openings.
The beetles are from one-fourth to one-third of an inch in length, dark brown in color, spotted and banded irregularly with thick patches of short yellow gray hairs. Pairing takes place after the beetles have made their exit from the wood, and they die a few weeks later, the female in the meantime having laid some 70 eggs. The tapping is of the nature a sexual call, and may be repeated over and over for quite a long time. Grating sound may also be heard as the larvae gnaw on wood inside its tunnel. It takes three years to complete the insect’s life cycle. A more familiar beetle, Anobium punctatum, is called powder post or furniture beetle, named after the dust it scatters at the mouth of its tunnel on furniture.
2. The kingfisher’s throaty voice is a call of death, so the old folks say.
Well, when ponds and rivers dry up because of drought, this fish eater will scour for alternative food outside its niche, poaching around farms and homes. They are the emissary of El Niño.
Common kingfisher (Alcedines sp). Kingfishers are a group of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found outside of the Americas. (Wikipedia)
3. Bats swoop on unwary people at night.
Bats, the only true flying mammals are perhaps the most misunderstood creatures because of their ugly looks and enigmatic life embellished with superstitious beliefs and associated with fiction such as the story of Dracula, a bloodthirsty count-vampire in the world of the undead. Movies, cartoons, and children’s stories have projected a bad image of bats, giving us the impression they are enemies of mankind.
Fruit bat closeup; morsels of guava from night feeding at the author's backyard in QC. Photos by the author.
The truth is that bats are harmless, except for three known species called vampire bats that feed on the blood of animals. Seventy percent of the one thousand species of bats live on insects as their daily diet. One bat can devour 1000 mosquitoes in one hour. The bigger species eat on fruits (fruit bats). Insectivorous bats swoop down on flying insects in the dark which they detect by means of echolocation (natural radar) making it appear that they are attacking people when they get too close to them.
Bats are nature’s biological agents in controlling destructive insects. They pollinate plants that bloom only in the night, and they are very efficient in disseminating seeds of many plants. By carrying out these functions bats are crucial in maintaining the ecological balance of fragile ecosystems like the desert and chaparral. Their droppings accumulated for years in their cave dwellings make the best and safest organic fertilizer (guano). Let us protect the bats instead; they are indeed man’s valuable friends.
4. Someone dies if the
It sounds more of a premeditated action rather than prediction. In olden days there were tribes that go headhunting when the fire tree (Delonix regia) was in full bloom. In the Philippines the early Ilongots of the Cordillera Mountain used to descend to claim their victims from among the lowlanders. The sacrifice was part of a ritual to win a woman’s heart. How true is the story, we do not know. But among the Aztecs and Mayans, sacrificing human beings to their gods was a common practice before they were converted into Christianity.
One explanation of this belief is that the fire tree blooms to its fullest in the face of extreme drought, most likely due to El Niño, a condition that causes untold death and misery. It is the upland dwellers that are worse affected, forcing them to go to the lowlands in search for food or seek refuge, inevitably causing trouble.
5. Black butterfly that enters the house tells that a close relative is going to die.
There is no scientific explanation to this, except that butterflies are attracted by flower-like scents which perfumeries have been trying to copy. Check the brand of your perfume and call the company.
Beware though of certain perfumes, they attract bees.
6. “Flowers” on fingernails means a relative is going to die.
White maps on fingernails are a sign of malnutrition, mainly calcium. It means the skeletal system is also weak. Unless corrected, this condition may lead to poor physical condition, health problems – and death.
There are freaks in nature all around us. Some are common, others occur only in a million chances. It is the latter that people who find them feel they are favored by some kind of luck.
But we also fancy on common ones like an elephant shaped papaya fruit, twin bunches of banana, ginseng root forked like beautiful legs, squash fruit with a face, and the like. These are deviations that appear suddenly and unexpectedly. Nature after all is not perfect. It also commits errors, and these errors may occur only temporarily in the organism concerned, or it is passed on to its offspring – which is the key to speciation, a progressive deviation of traits that ultimately leads to the making of a new species.
Try your luck again if you can’t find a real clover leaf representing the logo of the Boy Scout. Steal a leaf of makahiya, one that does not droop, and your wish – any wish – will be granted.
8. When a black cat crosses your way, don't proceed. Pause for sometime to break the spell. Or go back home and postpone your trip.
It's just superstition. Proceed...
52. Insects as Nature's Emissaries and Forecasters
How do you know rain is coming? Here are signs.
Dr Abe V Rotor
Hovering dragonflies indicates a coming rain.
Old folks can tell if it’s going to rain early or late in the day just by observing the dragonflies. Dragonflies or tutubing kalabaw (Odonata) come in horde and hover over our heads in the meadow, farms, football field, or any place where they swoop upon their prey – small insects such as leafhoppers, gnats and midges (gamugamu) that escape from their abode to find shelter elsewhere. But how do they sense an oncoming rain? These insects are endowed with sensitive antennae and tactile body hairs, and can detect the changes of temperature and relative humidity that characterize an approaching rain.
The more dragonflies hovering, and the closer they get to the ground, the heavier is the coming rain, the old folks warn. By the way, it is the dragonfly’s predatory habit that has earned them a place in the heart of farmers.
Ants on the move means that a strong rain, if not a typhoon, is coming. Cockroaches come out of their abode and seek for shelter outside.
The biological clock of these creatures responds to invisible signals, which comprise decreased atmospheric pressure, high relative humidity and air temperature. Their sensitive antennae and tactile hairs covering their body pick these up these changes of the environment. Thus we find ants in exodus, they move as a colony carrying their eggs and
young indoors. Cockroaches become unusually active, flying about in frenzy, in search for a new place. There is a common message, that is, to escape to safer ground, an archetype ingrained in their genes passed on to them by their ancestors through evolution. Common dragonfly (Order Odonata); fire ants (Solenopsis geminata); American cockroach (Periplaneta americana)
53. Watch Out for Organisms Gone Wild
Dr Abe V Rotor
Progeny of African wild bee with domestic bee poses danger for their aggressive nature and poisonous sting.
The house sparrow (Passer), now cosmopolitan in distribution, invades homes, parks, farms, including high rise buildings. While it is pest in farms and gardens, it is also nature's housekeeper being predator and scavenger.
Organisms even when domesticated still carry their wild genes. What is the implication of this scientific fact?
I have known pets that bite their masters. There are wild animals even if they were taken cared of the movement they were born, turn out to be killers. The killer instinct is dictated by their genes that enabled them to survive in the wild. That is why it is not advisable to pet cubs of tigers and lions.
Certain plants exhibit wild traits, too. The white bean, bred to become bushy to facilitate cultivation and harvesting, may revert into its viny character to evade ground grazers. Patani or Lima bean when left uncultivated grows wild and fends itself from feeders by producing high tannin.
Here are specific cases to warn us of the dangers of animals becoming out of our control.
• The janitor fish, loved for its ability to clean the aquarium, for which it got its name, is now a pest in Laguna Bay, competing with the edible fish species, such as tilapia and carp.
• Golden kohol or golden snail, imported in the seventies to support the government’s food production program, has turned into a maverick, now the number one pest of rice. More than half of our total riceland (3.5 million hectares) is attacked by this mollusk every planting season.
• The deadly African bees continue to invade and hybridize with domestic bees in the US as well as in other places, transmitting in their genes of high aggressiveness and venom.
• Toad (Bufo marinus), imported for it its predatory habit useful in the biological control of insects has become a pest itself. Because of their poison glands, animals, such as snakes and eagles that feed on them die. They directly compete with other predatory animals. In Australia the toad introduced to control of sugarcane insect pests, has turned into a pest itself.
• Plant lice (Psyla) that wiped out the local ipil-ipil industry was actually introduced into the Philippines with foreign species (Hawaiian and Peruvian ) which we imported in the sixties.
• Erythrina or Dapdap gall wasp has virtually wiped out all over the country this beautiful indigenous tree that bears bright red flowers in summer. The wasp was introduced with the coral tree, a dwarf Erythrina introduced some years ago by local ornamental enthusiasts.
• There are reports of animals escaping from their confines and threatening our safety. At one time when I was accompanying my students on a field trip on Mt. Makiling, a plant nursery technician warned us to keep watch for cobra which allegedly escaped from the laboratory and reproduced with the local species.
• The tree ant, Oecephala smaragdina, allegedly a hybrid of an introduced species with our native hantik (ammimisay Ilk.), has become a nuisance. They build their nests in trees and bite when disturbed, making pruning, harvesting and other farm operations difficult.
. The thorny Opuntia which was introduced in Australia by plant enthusiasts, became a widespread problem of ranchers. It took another insect, a scale insects, to destroy the maverick cactus.
. A species of Caulerpa, similar to our lato or ar-arusip Ilk), has spread extensively on the ocean floor of the Mediterranean. Caulerpa produces caulerpin, for which its genus was named, which causes the death of fish and other marine organisms.
Next time you plan to introduce an animal or plant not native to the place, get the expert's advice. Get in touch with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and other research institutions. ~
54. Ecological Sanctuary Garden is a Microcosm of the Biosphere
Dr Abe V Rotor
The garden is Nature's laboratory. Students learn more by appreciating nature.
A pond such as this is required to keep the garden green throughout the year.
Passion flower is named after the three nail like stigma of the flower.
“To see a world in a grain of sand
And heaven in a wild flower’
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”
- William Blake
This verse captures the essence of the title of this article. It condenses the universe into its elemental symbols from which we take a full view of the world we live in. It reduces the complexities and vastness of both the non-living and the living world into a microcosm that is complete in itself- a plantilla of creation all contained in the hand, and experienced within a lifetime.
Lucky is the person who realizes this singular gift. Through this microcosm he can traverse the breadth of time and space, live with the myriad of life forms, and most important, he is blessed by the Great Maker to be part of the wonders and mysteries of creation.
So deep is the faith of the poet, William Blake, who wrote this verse more than two hundred years ago. Then, there were no computers, no television, no spacecraft and satellites. Could it be that in the absence of these modern tools the mind could penetrate deeper, imagination soar higher, and faith stronger?
Garden as a Microcosm
The pocket garden of SPCQ could possibly be a place where Newton formulated the laws of gravity and magnetism when an apple fell on his head, where Darwin developed his theory of evolution through natural selection, Henry Fabre discovered organizational intelligence among insects over and above their instinctive behavior. Claude Monet’s masterpieces were painted in a garden, capturing the essence of the natural beauty of wild flowers, such as the Nymphaea and the lotus.
We may not expect inventions and discoveries and master’s arts to creep into the mind of whoever spends time in a garden, or any similar microcosm of nature for that matter. But we are most certain that he finds enlightenment through the knowledge and experience he gains, and with these he develops in himself the discipline to discover new things, acquire values that help him live at peace with nature and himself. It is in keeping close to nature that we better understand the ways of the world in which we live.
When I conducted a lecture-demonstration at the SPUQC Botanical Garden before my students in ecology, I was in effect simulating the scenario. Here I showed them the different parts of the garden, starting with the basics such as, “What makes a Garden?” I explained the composition of a typical rainforest biome, which the Philippines is a part. The garden is precisely a pocket representation of this ecosystem, and, by dissecting it, we are in effect looking into its profile.
Deciduous Nature of Trees in Tropical Rainforest
I gathered my students under a narra tree - Pterocarpus indicus. Trees belonging to the Dipterocarp group of family Leguminosae dominate the canopy of the tropical rainforest. Their leaves fall off completely at certain seasons so that the trees are bare for some time, thus allowing sunlight to penetrate and nourish the understory trees, ground plants, lianas and epiphytes. The floor becomes covered with litter that nourishes insect, earthworms, fungi and bacteria. These decompose the leaves into humus that ultimately becomes soil while supplying nutrients to different plants in the forest. Because the high precipitation throughout the year, the forest becomes lush and dense. The multi-story nature of the tropical rainforest makes it the richest biome in both diversity of species and number of inhabitants.
Gymnosperms and angiosperms
These are cone-bearing and flowering plants, respectively. Gymnosperms are exemplified by pine cypress, and arios. I allowed my student to touch and examine these plants. Then they turned to examine the angiosperms that predominate the campus. Phylogeny shows that flowering plants are more “ modern," which means that through evolution, the gymnosperms are older, and later gave way to the evolving angiosperms. Except in colder countries and in the taiga biome, the natural vegetation is made up of flowering plants.
False flowers
Nature’s sweet lies have a purpose. The brightly colored leaves of poinsettia and bougainvillea attract insect pollinators and enhance fertilization and subsequent fruit setting and seed formation, thus ensuring the perpetuation of the species. How many plants are benefited by this special make-up?
The truth is that most flowering plants have designed attraction mechanisms. In general, flowers are made attractive, although the attraction that we know may not be the same as how insects perceive it. We know red as red, yellow as yellow, and so forth. But insects have a different perception of colors. Nonetheless, the basic purpose is what counts - and is almost always achieved. Other means guarantee pollination-fertilization are sometimes needed. For example, insects are attracted by obnoxious odor like Lantana camara. This is also in the case of the kalumpang or bangar tree- and, of course, the Rafflesia, the world largest flower that emits putrefying odor. They have one thing in common: they attract flies to pollinate their flowers.
Flowering Bamboo- Prophet of doom
The old folks used to tell us, “Beware if the bamboo flowers”.
What is the connection of a flowering bamboo to a force majeure, such as drought? Climatologists around the globe have predicted that this year is El nino year. The last time phenomenon struck was in 1991 and 1992. The cycle is ten years, but is could closer. El nino is accompanied by poor harvest, forest fires, death of livestock, spread of certain diseases that effect man, animals and plants.
Biological, organisms subjected to stress tend to reach the reproductive stage earlier than usual. In fact, certain insects even skip molting just to be able to metamorphose into an adult and carry out reproduction, while the environment allows. It is nature’s way of insuring the perpetuation of the species at the expense of the organism, so to speak.
So, when a bamboo flowers it ultimately dies. This is why the panda, which exclusively derives its because of the death of bamboo’s once they have flowered!
There are other plants that signal the coming of drought. One is kapok. A fruit-laden kapok tree means poor against harvest ahead. Even the sturdy kamagong or mabolo is stressed by drought. While it stops producing new leaves, the crown remains intact. This could be the reason why this produces the hardest wood. In the case of the narra, and mango, they show no apparent stress signal. It is because they have sturdy, long taproots that penetrate deep into the ground and into the bedrock. Old folks, however, warm us that no plant is spared in the worst kind of drought. Many of them still remember.
Trees as sound and wind barriers
With the construction of the MRT tracks. Seedlings of molave and mahogany have been recently planted to augment the defense line.
In other countries windbreaks help reduces wind pressure. I saw the 10- row windbreak along the highway to the Beijing airport, the windbreak made agoho or Casuarina in Taiwan situated along the coastline to buffer winter wind. Woodlands along field boundaries in European countries serve the same purpose. These man-made forests are a source of many valuable products and serve as a natural habitat of wildlife. It is no wonder why the Hanging Garden of Babylon was one of the Wonders of the ancient World.
The Indian tree is an effective sound breaker because of its thick, cone- shaped crown. It has also another advantage, that is, it grows tall and straight so that several trees can be planted close to each other. Unfortunately city ordinance prohibit the planting of trees on the side walk outside of the school wall, other wise a thicker buffer zone of trees could be built between the MRT tracks and SPCQ.
Hantik Ants- Biological Control Agents
We saw five nests of the giant green tree ants or hantik. The older nests were built on the upper branches of alagao, while a newly built nest was on Ficus pseudopalma. It is not easy to trace which nest an ant belongs to, but each colony has a specific chemical signal called pheromone. This prevents them from fighting, and allows the colonies to co-exist with defined territories assigned to each colony. Scientist calls this territory a niche.
Dr. Sel Cabigan introduced a hantik colony many years ago, and since then the SCQ garden has not been without this predators. The hantik ant is a notorious killer of other insects this could be the reason why I have not seen any need to spray chemicals in the botanical garden. Hantik ant feed on grubs, caterpillar aphids, scale insects, and many others. They carry of morsels to their nest to feed their larvae. They scare organisms several times bigger than they. In fact, one who happens to get close to their domain is likely to get a bite or two, which is warning enough. But they do not hesitate to attack once they are threatened- or disturbed.
I demonstrated the ferocity of the hantik by crushing an ant. Sooner than expected other members came to the rescue and pheromone was immediately put to use in the coordination and division of work, and in the strategy of war.
Common Medicinal Plants
A botanical garden is not complete without a good collection of medicinal plants. Here I showed to my students some examples of medicinal plants with their uses, as follows:
1. Lagundi - fever and flu
2. Pandakaki - minor wound or cuts
3. 3.Oregano - sore throat and cough
4. Ikmo - mouth wash
5. Mountain tea - health drink
6. Guava - body odor and skin diseases
7. Pandan - beverage and food additive
8. Alagao - fever and cold
9. Avocado - diarrhea
10.Banana - kidney ailment
These are important things to know about medicinal plants, which I explained. These are:
1. There is no cure-all formula.
2. Do not follow self-medication
3. Consult a doctor before taking herbal medicine.
4. Herbal medicine should be independent of superstitious beliefs.
Poisonous plants
I showed my students poisonous plants growing in the garden. But why do we have poisonous plants around? I read in their faces.
First, there are plants, which, by the poisonous substance they contain are valuable as pesticides. Examples are neem tree, derris and makabuhay. These have been proved effective in controlling certain pests and disease of plants.
Studies have shown that neem, a native of India, has long been used as insecticide. It is widely used on field crops and against domestic pest like cockroaches, mosquitoes and bedbugs in many countries including the Philippines. Makabuhay has been determined to be effective against a wide range of rice pests and the application is very simple. Fresh stems and leaves are finely chopped and directly broadcast in lowland ricefields. The active principle is also very effective on golden kohol, a major pest of rice of the Philippines.
Derris is the source of commercial rotenone insecticide. Because it is botanical in origin, it is relatively safer than the chemical pesticides. The concentration of its poison is in its enlarged roots.
Two poisonous plants grow in the garden. In fact they grow wild and have been persistent for a number of years now. Castor bean contains refine, a very poisonous substance known to have been the cause of death of children prescribed to take castor oil as laxative. The other plant is Jatorpha curcas or tubang bakod. A few years ago are student from a Quezon City High School ate the seeds that taste like peanut. They were taken to the hospital for treatment.
Conclusion
The microcosm is far from complete. But it is the framework that is important, like the building replica of a dinosaur from pieces of recovered fossil. Knowledge is like that. It starts with principles, but, before that, one must be inspired and motivated to learn. There is no true learning unless one labors for it in some degree. Even frustration that may threaten learning itself, could be, at the end, a motivating factor, a challenge and test of what one is really made of. The Great Maker just gave us the Plantilla form which we follow the cause of learning and understanding.~
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