Ecological Evolution of Art. " Shh... listen to the birds in the trees."

                                   Ecological Evolution of Art

Dr Abe V Rotor

“Art will never be able to exist without nature.” ~ Pierre Bonnard

Part 1 - Silent Spring Encore

Parrots prepare to roost at twilight

Shh... listen to the birds in the trees -

But where have all the birds gone?

Carson in her Silent Spring warns 

of the indifference of man. - avr

“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.” Rachel Louise Carson

   

Fossilized balot egg  

No translation in words, this tragedy,

balot, a unique, gruesome delicacy;

unknowingly taking place in nature, too,

         as the wildlife is losing its diversity. - avr

“For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it. “ ~ Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Part 2 - Trophies of Nature

Barbed wire trophy

Self explanatory is a barbed wire's analogy:

     suffering and death beyond its boundary. - avr 

“Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. “ ~ Albert Einstein

 

  

Empire State, Burj Azizi in imaginary minuscule ruins

Tower of Babel - short cut to heaven;

in our own time, loftier, taller

than the sequoia trees of nature,

rise in ruins to warn of the Fall. - avr

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." — William Shakespeare

   

Driftwood once part of a post used to culture oysters.

From the forest down to the sea, 

drifted this tree trunk long ago;

lost in the deep unknown, forgotten,

retrieved by chance for show. - avr

"The earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth." — Chief Seattle

Part 3 - Apparition in the Woods 

Iconic image of Our Lady among remnants of deforestation.

When faith turns to call for help,
ironic for man's greedy power;
failed guardian of God's creation,
repentant at the end in prayer.

There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story.” ~ Linda Hogan ~

El Niño Triggers Flowering of Plants

 El Niño 2026 

El Niño Triggers Flowering of Plants

El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon, in which surface waters of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean become unusually warm and cause changes in weather patterns around the world. On average, it re-occurs every 2 to 7 years and typically lasts 9-12 months. Since El Niño can often be predicted months in advance, has a slow onset and a regular pattern, it is possible to design anticipatory actions and prepare emergency responses well ahead of time. - UN-FAO

Dr Abe V Rotor

Retired Professor UST, SPU-QC, DLSU-D

 Profuse flowering of kapok (Ceiba pentandra) predicts extreme drought condition. 

 Flowering of bamboo is another indication of El Niño, which comes in a cycle of 7 years, hence the biblical dream  of the Pharaoh of Egypt which Joseph interpreted as 7 years of plenty, followed by 7 years of famine. The Pharaoh appointed Joseph governor of Egypt.  He introduced the concept and practice of maintaining buffer stock, the mainstay of food security today.

"The chestnut has a flower!” My friend Dr. Sel Cabigan called, his words breaking out into the dry and warm morning air.

There I saw a single bud, the size and shape of a pencil, off-white, shy, peeping from under the tree’s palm shaped leaves, and bearing a glistening dewdrop. Frankly, it was the first time I had seen a chestnut, and flowering at that, on Philippine soil - and blooming at a very early age. Dr. Cabigan and I, who are both agriculturists, just stood beside the breast-high tree, silent as we pondered.

That year was an El Niño year,* El Niño starts on the equator west of Peru when warm water accumulates on the surface and sets the current to move down south along the edge of Peru, only to be blocked by the El Niño current moving up from the south pole. The standstill exacerbates warming, causing heavy precipitation in the region, depriving the other half of the globe of sufficient rainfall, and setting aberrations in climatic patterns in different parts of the world. This phenomenon - together its counterpart, La Niña (opposite pattern)- arises from geographic patterns of land masses. The Atlantic and Pacific oceans are blocked by the Isthmus of Panama down the tip of South America. It is only near the Antarctic where they exchange warm and cool water before flowing back to the equator. But for other reasons heretofore unknown, this "bridge" is blocked. This phenomenon occurs in cycle and each time it does, it is on Christmas eve, for which it got its name, Child Jesus.

This climatic phenomenon was approaching its main stage which spans two to three years, then comes back after seven years normal years. That’s why some people call it the seven-year itch, and science summed up the cycle into a ten-year period, with sub-cycles in between. 

El Niño is characterized by extreme dry and hot weather conditions, the rains coming late and very little, thus farmers fail to plant on time or harvest so little, sending the economy to its knees. It precipitated the declaration of Martial Law in the country in 1971 plagued by acute food shortage and widespread unrest. El Niño had another episode in the early eighties which caused a loss of billions of dollars worldwide. The nineties were equally bad, and now came the twenties which caused the highest deficit in rice production forcing the country to import rice, ten percent of its annual consumption, translated into one million metric tons.

El Niño triggers a number of botanical phenomena. The red Passiflora (Passiflora edulis) vine carpeting the Grotto in a garden at St. Paul University QC bore a full-grown fruit. Although it is a relative of the edible passion fruit, this species has sterile flowers, but stress must have stimulated the plant to produce fruit and ultimately seeds, a way of preserving the species. There was a rare species of Pandanus (Pandanus tinctorius)that produced curious fruits resembling breadfruit. I suppose that in the wild, the fruits split open upon maturity in order to disseminate the seeds. Animals feed on them and scatter the seeds in the process.

The climbing Derris (Derris elliptica) does not normally flower, but here it displayed a bouquet of bright pink flowers arranged like a huge lei. In many respects, the flowers resemble those of legume including madre de cacao (Gliricida sepium)  and katuray (Sesbania grandiflora). Derris is a legume that contains a toxic principle, rotenone, which makes it useful to farmers as natural insecticide.

One of the five rambutan seedlings now three years ago suddenly bloomed, indeed too young to reproduce. Just like any maiden flower, it did not develop into fruit. Neither did the flowers of the lone pili standing near the pond and the Chico. In the case of the two, being monoecious plants, their flowers settle only in the presence of a male counterpart. “But who knows, some busy bees can bring in the pollen from a far place?”  Sel said, short of betting for his hypothesis. There’s no doubt pollinators cross kilometers to deliver their goods, riding of wind and water, the nocturnal ones like moths and skippers navigate accurately in the night to reach their destination by dawn, and by morning the receptive female flowers get their prize.

To an observant eye and sensitive olfactory sense, the garden had a cinnamon whose flowers exude the characteristic condiment odor. Alagao, lagundi, dita, molave – and of course, ilang-ilang, make the morning air naturally scented. The only date palm then in this garden flowered for the first time, mocked by a much taller and older neighboring fishtail palm in having profuse flowers, littering the surrounding grounds. Mature nuts that fell to the ground germinated into numerous seedlings.

 Kalumpang blooms full in extreme dry summer, QC

Gardens at the onset of El Niño seemingly are in their best looking form, brandishing varied colors, not only of their flowers but leaves, young and old, and other parts. Let me cite the red palm (bright red leaf sheaths), bunga de Jolo (bright red ripe nuts in clusters), croton or San Francisco (variegated and multicolored leaves), bougainvillea (false flowers, actually specialized leaves, are white, red, pink, and shades of different combination). The talisay or umbrella tree demonstrates a classical example of deciduousness, its leaves turning to yellow, orange, red and purple before dropping to the ground.

Even the champagne palm, betel nut, McArthur palm respond to the dry spell with forced inflorescences. The shingle tree, relative of nangka and other relatives – the figs (Ficus spp) are abloom.

Pond plants respond to El Niño, especially on shallow area, dried mudflats and along the banks. Cattails (Typha) and Papyrus bend to the weight of their flowers. Waterlines – Nymphaea and Eichornia may appear to have more flowers than leaves. So with the lotus. There are many annual plants that are also full of flowers.

But the most classical of the El Niño phenomenon is the flowering of the bamboo. Yes, bamboos do bear flowers. Since it is a grass its inflorescence is similar to that of rice, corn and grass weeds. According to the old folks, and validated by science, a bamboo flowers only in hard times. Extreme drought triggers the plants to save its own species. As predicted by its flowering, surely the economic crisis is with us.

During the peak of El Niño in China, panda bears faced food shortage because the bamboos either remain dormant or die, so that supplemental feed coming from areas not affected by drought becomes necessary, otherwise, the bears starve and die, or migrate to other areas where they become vulnerable to various danger.

These are mainly indigenous, but how about the exotic ones which have yet to adjust to their new environment? Dr. Cabigan and I could not agree on what a tree was, claimed to have been brought from Rome by a religious sister. I said it is similar to that of a locquat, which I had seen in China. Some say it is fig, others, nut – like chestnut.

One morning, Dr. Cabigan called me again, this time to tell me that the mystery tree had flowered. Every morning we visited the buds to see if they had opened. One by one the buds shrank and fell to the ground, leaving a mystery to us. By its buds, we concluded it is neither Smyrna nor locquat. Both of us just told any inquirer it is a St. Agnes tree, the name of the religious sister who introduced the plant.

Indeed, El Niño holds many mysteries, the botanical garden the arena of awe and respect to the One who make all these possible. More than anything in difficult times, the preparation for death is also a preparation for rebirth and resurrection. And this is what makes the garden truly beautiful.~

Occurring between July 2011 and mid-2012, a severe drought affected the entire East African region. Said to be "the worst in 60 years", the drought caused a severe food crisis across Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya that threatened the livelihood of 9.5 million people.

El Niño, part of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, typically occurs irregularly every 2 to 7 years, characterized by warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific. These events usually last 9-12 months, developing between March and June, and peaking in winter. Wikipedia ~

Lichens: Nature's Indicator of Fresh Clean Air

  Lichens: Nature's Indicator of Fresh Clean Air

Dr Abe V Rotor

 Living with Nature - School on Blog

Lesson: How do we know if we are living in a pristine environment? Consult the lichens in your area.

Squamous lichen, an intermediate of crustose and foliose types. La Mesa Eco Park, QC

Lichen*

You are a landscape artist, you paint

      and mold life at its barest,

On weathered rocks and ancient trunks,

      or some forgotten crests,

And cliffs that would through seasons howl

      or sleep or cry like the eagle,

Or the chameleon that mimics sunrise

      and sunset in colors divine.

Bless you, pioneer of protolife,

      pathfinder of the moss and vine:

You who guide the lost in the darkness

      of the forest with compass,

Where towards the declining North side

      calmly lays your biomass;

Where rise the trees, roost the eagle

      and fireflies, the seasons endless.

Here you lie in peace under boughs

      once bare and lifeless. - avr

                * Sunshine on Raindrops by AV Rotor, p 29, Megabooks 2000 

Foliose lichen in summer. Note large composite mass. Lipa Batangas

Foliose lichen, Parks and Wildlife Nature Center QC. Note the smaller size of this specimen as compared to the foliose lichen in Lipa (above). Lichens may differ not only in structure but by the component members - a lichen being a community of alga and fungus living in mutualism. Generally, as the air becomes polluted the size of a lichen decreases - or may totally disappear.

Fruticose lichen appears like beard. This presence and condition of the fruticose lichen is perhaps the ultimate assurance of good air quality. Tagaytay (Angels Hills Retreat Center)

Community of green algae, lichen and moss (UP Diliman). During the summer months the moss in its sporophytic phase dries up but grows back the following rainy season. This is not the case of lichens.

If you find lichens growing in the area where you live, you are very lucky. You are away from the black cloud of smog, the confines of "maddening" crowd, smoke belching vehicles, and spewing factory chimneys. And you have all the reasons to be happy - so with your family. This is luxury today.

The air your breath is fresh and clean, cool and soothing. Your lungs are clear, your skin glistens clean and robust, you walk with stride and gait, and you wear a smile even if you are not aware of it. It is because the air that surrounds us is a natural blanket that enwraps our body physically and physiologically, outside and inside, through respiration and circulation.

Thank the lowly lichen - nature's biological indicator.

What is the lichen made of? How long does it live? Read more about Lichens

Treetops - Aerial Ecosystem

              Treetops - Aerial Ecosystem 

"Love is like a tree, it grows of its own accord, it puts down deep roots into our whole being." ― Victor Hugo

Dr Abe V Rotor

Trees for Peace: Aerial Ecosystem on a Maze of Treetops -  painting in acrylic (30" x 48") by Dr AV Rotor 2021 for  the late Congressman Deogracias Victor "DV" B Savellano, Deputy Speaker and District Representative Ilocos Sur, 1st District

 

 

Details of the painting showing the interlocking branches that form the canopy and emergent layers, the massive trunks of century old trees prop the aerial ecosystem like pillars of a Parthenon.  The foliage is differentially deciduous in continuous cycle,  falling off to form thick litter on the ground which makes the ecosystem self regenerating. Altogether different organisms make a community, but occupy specific niches, or territories. 

Flocks of birds make the treetops their abode, build nests at the interlacing branches, rearing their young until they are weaned and independent to fly. Many come back the next nesting season, with the  generation born earlier - and with transients, specially those on their migratory route, make a rich biodiversity of feathered species. 

Fowls find the lower branches to roost at night, sparrows freely roaming during the day, settle down come nighttime, kingfishers visit from nearby rivers and ponds, so with the crow (uwak), maya, perperroca, panal, pandangera, pipit and other birds that old folks in the place will attest, these birds make the treetops a stage of circus, concert, cum confetti.

Food, mate, comfortable home, among other elements and amenities of Nature like shelter from wind and rain, coolness of shade, elevated oxygen level, security from ground enemies, safety through anonymity by camouflage and mimicry, notwithstanding - these make the treetops a perfect place for many organisms to form an ecological system.

A hole in the sky like a tunnel speaks of spirituality, not in the religious sense but of interconnectedness of the ecosystem with a divine design and purpose, the primordial source of energy, the sun, and elements that contribute to homeostasis or dynamic balance, symbolized by white doves, emissary of peace and unity, and the aurora like fragments of rainbow.

The treetops have many eyes in the dark - nocturnal creatures on the move, fireflies mingling with the stars peeping through, phosphorescent fungi and protists, reflections of the surrounding world, or in one's imagination a fairy tale, a fantasy land, or simply a dream of a naturalist's world - and in the dark echo magical sounds of fiddling, croaking, calling, singing, and deep stillness in between. 

The treetops demonstrate the workings of the four major components of an ecosystem - food chain, food web, food pyramid and organic-inorganic cycle -  in a built-in pattern and interrelationship that insure the integrity of the ecosystem, and the perpetual cycle of living and non-living matters that makes the earth a living planet.  

Food chains link predator-prey relationships like birds feeding on insects, so with reptiles and rodents, and on top of the ladder lords the hawk and eagle; while a food web constitutes interacting food chains, in the imaginary model of a spider web where all parts are interconnected, each organism playing a particular role. 

Hierarchy on the treetops is further shown in a pyramid whereby organisms are classified according to "pecking order", in ascending dominance; the ones at the apex are superior, yet vulnerable to collapse if the pyramid loses stability at its base occupied by a host of organisms constituting various food chains and food webs.

Survival though is not in competition alone, in Darwinian law of survival of the fittest, but cooperation is equally important particularly where colonies and populations are involved, such as termites, ants and bees; or the symbiosis of red ants and aphids, alga and fungus forming lichen communities - these being a vital part of the treetops' ecosystem.

Symbiosis or mutualism is give-and-take relationship, but sharing may not be equitable such as orchids, ferns, and bryophytes clinging on trunks and branches, while its opposite, parasitism is exemplified by bark borers, caterpillars, scale insects, mealybugs, mistletoes, twig borers, and the classical  balete that strangles and kills a whole tree, for which it is named strangler's fig.

The crown of this parasitic giant, balete becomes a part of the treetops, often rising as emergent, taller than the canopy layer and remaining evergreen throughout the year - even after its host tree has decayed leaving a continuous hollow described in Johann David Wyss' novel Swiss Family Robinson, which became as beautiful towering treehouse of the stranded family. 

The treetops follow the seasons in the tropics, which are generally wet and dry, but also show semblance of the four seasons: autumn or fall at the onset of the cold wind or Siberian High called amihan, when deciduous trees shed their leaves, and spring at the onset of the rainy season when plants resume growth after the dry season, popularly known as summer.   

When typhoon strikes the treetops serve as windbreak, save very strong winds which prune old and weak branches, thinning the crowns to regrow into fresh and thicker ones, inviting the return of the tenant-organisms and arrival of new ones, while the lifecycle of many is cut off temporarily - but soon regeneration puts back the integrity of the disturbed ecosystem.

Lianas and epiphytes add to the dense cover from trunk to treetops simulating that of a jungle: bromeliads, ferns and orchids add to the diversity and aesthetics of the scene, help create a miniclimate, and aerial gardens and ponds for midges, frogs, guppies, and help fertilize the trees and other plants with dead leaves and other materials they trap to become compost.  

On the ground, litters of organic matter are built layer after layer, year after year where countless organisms live - earthworm, rodents, herbivores like goats; termites convert wood into soil, so with fungi and Rhizobia; ground plants and shrubs though overshadowed, momentarily grow abundant during deciduous period, they indeed are part of the scenario of multi-storied vegetation similar to the rainforest, the richest biome. ~

Requiem to a Forest: "It's a dirge I hear, once your cheerful call."

Requiem to a Forest

Art Works and Verses by Dr Abe V Rotor

"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness." 

-  John Muir, Naturalist

The Last of the Hornbills, wall mural at the author's residence

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

"It's a dirge I hear, once your cheerful call,

its refrain drowned in silence in eerie air;

in the like of Vivaldi's music, if I recall,

seeing you on screen in an easy chair." - avr

"He who plants a tree loves others beside himself."

- Thomas Fuller

Sentry Eyes in the Woods, palette knife painting in acrylic AVR 

"We are not alone, all eyes are upon us,

     spirits of Nature that we can't see;

with respect and humility, we must,

     and say, bari-bari, tabi-tabi." - avr

 "Time spent amongst trees is never wasted time." — Anonymous Walk My World

Soil Erosion Aftermath, mounted tree saplings remains 

and rocks on nature painting as background AVR 

On display at the Living with Nature Center, SVIS

"What Nature built for thousands of years,

from rocks onto a beautiful garden;

man's folly and lust reversed the process,

           the garden today's but a lost Eden." - avr  

"Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky." — Kahlil Gibran

Remains of a Forest Wildfire, glass painting AVR

"Remnants all - trees and their dependents;

  land now bare, exposed to the elements;

  wonder how Nature heals herself abandoned,

  now avowed by greedy man to be his own." - avr

"In the woods we return to reason and faith." — Ralph Waldo Emerson Walk My World

Burnt Forest in Darkness, in acrylic AVR 

"Nothing's left but ash and memories

     of a once beautiful, lush forest;

 where have all the creatures gone,

     deprived of their abode and rest?" - avr

"Learn character from trees, values from roots, and change from leaves." 

— Tasneem Hameed

Charred Earth, art work in acrylic and cardboard AVR

"Requiem to our planet, a pessimist's view,

      a prophesy in its own time come true;

  indifference in the midst of the Good Life,

      its epilogue in suffering and strife." - avr

 "When the last living thing has died on account of us, how poetical it would be if Earth could say... 'It is done.' People did not like it here." — Kurt Vonnegut

 Rainforest in its Glory, acrylic AVR

Courtesy of Pasalubong Center, LGU-SVIS

"Goodbye, dear forest,

 home of my ancestors,

 epitome of Creation;

 we'll meet again, I pray,

 in my new generation." - avr

 

“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, Auguries of Innocence

 "The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn," - American poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson. ~

Planned Obsolescence: Technology's Paradox

Planned Obsolescence: Technology's Paradox

On display at the Living with Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur

"Our whole economy is based on planned obsolescence...we make good products, we induce people to buy them, and then the next year we deliberately introduce something that will make these products old-fashioned, out of date, obsolete." - Brooks Stevens, Years, People, Next Year

Dr Abe V Rotor

1. Plumbing Obsolescence

 Unserviceable plumbing items is "big money and waste." 

 

"Waste, waste, waste everywhere!"

  once useful, handy in our home

  likened to "Water, water, everywhere, 

  but not a drop to drink"* syndrome. - avr

*From Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

2. Keys and Locks - security turned oblivion

Closeup of obsolete locks and keys 

   "The stronger your lock, the richer is your hold;

     but Pandora's Box had never one, I'm told;

for evil is open to whoever is folly and bold,

and to all foolish seekers of gold." - avr

3. Aborted Pens and Pencils

Aborted and spent ball pens, marker pens and pencil stubs constitute

a major waste in offices, homes and schools. 

" 'The pen is more powerful than the sword,' is fallacy,

  demeaned by our use-and-throwaway society." - avr

4. We are living in a plastic world

   

"Plastic, Plastics - and more, Plastics." 

"What is the analogy of plastic to character today,

     when we are virtually living in a plastic society?" - avr

-------------------------------

* Planned obsolescence is a business strategy where products are intentionally designed with a limited, functional lifespan or rendered unfashionable, forcing consumers to purchase replacements sooner.

Art Work: Bird's Nest

Art Work 

Bird's Nest

Dr Abe V Rotor

Bird's Nest by AV Rotor (Nest diameter 10")  

On display at the Living with Nature Center.  

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 2026

"Imagery takes us into the sky

 and rejoice in seeing birds fly.

 Where are the others, and why?

 Lo! their nests are silent and dry."

* Root network of a dead Anahaw (Livistona rotundifolia) ensconced in a clay flower pot, mounted on a circular cake pad, with a pair of empty chicken eggs. Wall mural provides   imaginary background.  Art work may be displayed on a sala table or hanged on a wall. ~