Soil Sponge - Biodiversity for a Livable Climate

Featured Creature: Wild Boar

Anastasiya Dalenka via Unsplash

What creature has a nose like a bloodhound, locks or releases carbon into the soil based on where it lives, and was caught on camera freeing one of its own from a trap?

**The wild boar! (Sus scrofa)**

Featured Creature: Wild Boar — Anastasiya Dalenka via Unsplash

This week, Bio4Climate intern Eleanor Downey, a student at Bennington College in Vermont, takes us on a deeper dive to meet the ancestors of a creature she’s been fascinated with since she was little. Her love of pigs led her to investigate the wild boar and its relationship to the ecosystems where it lives.

Smart, Social, and Sympathetic

Wild boars live in sounders, tight-knit groups that are built around a sow and her litter. The adult males are usually solitary, except during breeding seasons. As nocturnal creatures, scientists have had a harder time studying them in the wild, but what they have learned is pretty cool!

In 2021, researchers recorded what is probably the first documented case of same-species rescue behavior by a wild boar. An adult female worked the wooden locking mechanism of a cage trap to free two juveniles caught inside. This kind of rescue behavior has only been documented in a few species. The female reportedly showed signs of distress while she worked, which has researchers wondering if empathy was part of what drove her.

Boars communicate through vocalizations, body gestures, and snout nudges. They learn quickly and have adapted to living near humans by shifting their schedules to avoid them, settling into smaller territories, and not reacting to nearby disturbances.

Powerful Sense of Smell

The wild boar’s nose is built for detection. It carries a number of olfactory receptor genes, traits that haven’t been bred out even in their domesticated pig descendants. Boars depend on their strong sense of smell for almost everything they do, whether it’s finding food, recognizing family members, or sensing potential mates. It’s also what makes them so good at finding truffles buried up to three feet underground, fungi that no other creature except a few dog breeds can find. Because the truffles are buried at that depth, boars are an important way that their spores travel through a forest at all, carried off in droppings after a good night of foraging.

The Dirt on Wild Boars

In their native habitat across Europe and Asia, wild boars shape grasslands like bison. As they root in the ground for food, they disturb topsoil, aerate it, and open up microhabitats where new seeds can take hold.

Their rooting impacts carbon in the soil, but in different ways depending on whether they’re in their native ranges or not. As they dig, boars mix organic matter from the forest floor with the mineral soil underneath. One 2021 study found this activity functions to redistribute carbon within the soil instead of releasing it, making the buried carbon more stable over time. Another study showed that boars living and rooting outside their native ranges disturb tens of thousands of square kilometers of soil and release millions of metric tonnes of CO2 a year. Regardless of location, it is clear that wild boars intentionally mix forest soils at scale. If it happens in their native landscapes, the soil has evolved to benefit from the disturbance. In other places, the impact is very different.

Are Boars an Invasive Species or Not? It Depends

Outside their native area, wild boars can cause problems. They have big appetites and their numbers grow quickly, making them invasive in a lot of places they’ve expanded to. One study using trail camera surveys found 26 percent less biodiversity in areas with wild boars than in areas without them. They eat just about anything that fits in their mouths. Add that to all the digging they do, and they can cause real damage. They can reshape wetlands, changing the natural topography, damaging flood plains, and altering how water flows and pools.

One of the most interesting outcomes of my exploration into boars is that the same traits that make wild boars important for climate resilience in their native habitats make them destructive elsewhere. The same animals showing the same behaviors have a completely different climate impact depending upon where they live.

Ellie Downey is a college student studying Literature and visual arts at Bennington College. She has worked primarily in the visual art sphere in the past, and is currently interning with a nearby city’s Public Arts and Culture department. In working with Biodiversity for a Liveable Climate writing Featured Creature articles, Ellie endeavours to combine her lifelong love of animals with her interest in writing.

Sources

Masilkova, M., Ježek, M., Silovský, V., Faltusová, M., Rohla, J., Kušta, T., & Burda, H. “Observation of rescue behaviour in wild boar (Sus scrofa).” Scientific Reports, 11, 16217 (2021)
Allwin, B., Swaminathan, R., Mohanraj, A., Suhas, G. N., Vedaminckam, S., & Kumar, M. “The Wild Pig (Sus scrofa) Behavior – A Retrospective Study.” Journal of Veterinary Science & Technology 7:333 (2016)
“Wild boar in the city: Phenotypic responses to urbanisation.” Science of the Total Environment (2021)
Podgórski, T., et al. “Spatiotemporal behavioral plasticity of wild boar (Sus scrofa) under contrasting conditions of human pressure: primeval forest and metropolitan area.” Journal of Mammalogy, 94, 109–119 (2013)
“Wild Boar Proves High Tolerance to Human-Caused Disruptions: Management Implications in African Swine Fever Outbreaks” (2024)
Groenen, M. A. M., et al. “Analyses of pig genomes provide insight into porcine demography and evolution.” Nature, 491 (2012)
Piattoni, F., et al. “Interrelationships between wild boars (Sus scrofa) and truffles.” True Truffle (Tuber spp.) in the World: Soil Ecology, Systematics and Biochemistry. Cham: Springer International Publishing (2016)
“Mycophagy by invasive wild boar (Sus scrofa) facilitates dispersal of native and introduced mycorrhizal fungi in Patagonia, Argentina.” Fungal Ecology, 26, 51–58 (2017)
Don, A., Hagen, C., Grüneberg, E., & Vos, C. “Bioturbation by wild boar increases the stability of forest soil carbon.” Biogeosciences, 16, 4145–4155 (2019)
O’Bryan, C. J., Patton, N. R., Hone, J., Lewis, J. S., Berdejo-Espinola, V., Risch, D. R., Holden, M. H., & McDonald-Madden, E. “Unrecognized threat to global soil carbon by a widespread invasive species.” Global Change Biology, 27(14), 3195–3196 (2021)
Grunwald, S., et al. “Wild boar (Sus scrofa) has minor effects on soil nutrient and carbon dynamics” (2023)
Ivey, M. R., Colvin, M., Strickland, B. K., & Lashley, M. A. “Reduced vertebrate diversity independent of spatial scale following feral swine invasions.” Ecology and Evolution (2019)
Risch, D. R., Ringma, J., & Price, M. R. “The global impact of wild pigs (Sus scrofa) on terrestrial biodiversity.” Scientific Reports, 11(1) (2021)

Featured Creature: Mycorrhizal Fungi

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported via Wikimedia Commons

What thread is longer than the galaxy is wide but is hidden six inches underground, holds soil together, and has been in a successful relationship for close to 500 million years?

The Mycorrhizal Fungi!

Featured Creature: Mycorrhizal Fungi — Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported via Wikimedia Commons

My adventure with planting rose bushes has activated a learning path I didn’t know I needed! As I learn more about the ways my foliage does or doesn’t survive, I’m learning more and more about soil. I never really gave much thought to the significant activity happening below the surface and the massive impact it has on the world above.

Threads, Not Roots

Mycorrhizal fungi aren’t one species, or even a single fungus. They’re a whole group of fungi that form symbiotic partnerships with most land-based plant and tree roots. The threads wrap around roots and spread out into the dirt like an underground spider web. Some of the fungi wrap around the outside of the roots and some grow into root cells and branch out from there. In exchange for the sugar the plant provides to the fungi, the fungi help the plants get water and nutrients.

The Fungal Version of a Meet-Cute

Like any good relationship, it’s all about the meet up and the underground version of “how YOU doin’?” The hyphae (the tips of the fungal threads) sense chemicals coming from a nearby plant root. The hyphae then curl toward the root and wrap around it and may even grow into the root cells. Inside the cell, the fungi form bushy, branching structures called arbuscules, which is where the magic happens. In the arbuscules, the plant sends sugars made in its leaves down to the roots and into the fungi and the fungi use their long network of threads to forage for water and nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium in pockets of soil the root can’t reach. They then share those resources back into the plant through the same connection. Like any healthy relationship, the give-and-take isn’t fixed; both partners adjust how much they give based on what they’re getting. If the plant sends more sugar, the fungi typically send more nutrients back. If nutrients are scarce, the fungi may hold onto more of them. Over time, the fungi develops into extended arms for the plant’s root system, letting the plant access resources it could never reach alone.

The Hidden Carbon Bonanza

Worldwide, plants and trees send an enormous amount of carbon underground to mycorrhizal fungi every year. Researchers estimate that, globally, roughly 13 billion tons of carbon dioxide are sent underground to mycorrhizal fungi every year. Sometimes the carbon returns immediately through respiration. Other times, it gets folded into fungal biomass and soil processes instead.

Regardless, the scale is significant. Soil stores far more carbon than the atmosphere, and the fungi help move, shape, and stabilize that carbon in ways climate models are still working to capture properly. The fungi also help bind soil into stable clumps. The clumps, called aggregates, create pockets for air and water to move freely, supporting plant roots and soil organisms. They hold onto carbon and nutrients, making them a vital indicator of soil fertility. They are also far less prone to washing or blowing away compared to loose, unstructured soil. Scientists are still exploring this function, but put simply, mycorrhiza fungi do not just live in the soil. They actively build soil fertility.

How Ecosystems Hold Together

Ecosystems are not just a collection of separate plants or trees. They are networks whose stability depends on strong root systems and good soil structure that helps keep water in the ground. Mycorrhiza fungi are critical to keeping the networks connected. They improve nutrient uptake, especially for phosphorus and other hard-to-access resources, which help plants and trees grow more strongly and establish more reliably in poor or disturbed soils. They also help plants and trees handle drought, disease, and other stress, which is why they are so important in places where conditions are changing fast.

When plants do better, the insects, birds, mammals (including humans), and microbes that depend on them do better too. So, while the fungus may be hidden underground, the ripple effect of its benefits extend far and wide.

Diversity Matters

Different species create different root environments, leak different kinds of carbon into the soil, and support different fungal partners. Mixed ecosystems usually build a more varied underground community than a simple one. The resulting fungal diversity improves nutrient cycling efficiency by spreading the work across multiple species and strategies.

Some fungi are better at breaking down organic matter, some are better at moving phosphorus or nitrogen, and some are better at functioning under different moisture or soil conditions. When all of these species coexist, the soil can more richly capture, transform, and recycle nutrients through more pathways. For example, a forest with richer tree diversity will usually have richer fungal diversity, with the relationships described above reinforcing one another.

Underground diversity is especially important in drought. Mycorrhizal networks increase the effective reach of roots, so plants and trees can keep accessing water and mineral nutrients from soil pockets that roots alone would miss. In some cases, fungi may also help move water through shared underground connections, giving stressed plants and seedlings a better chance of hanging on when the surface soil dries out.

Once we understand these relationships, we can see that forest resilience isn’t as abstract as it may seem. A forest with a mix of species and mycorrhizal types will likely handle drought better simply because the trees are not all relying on the same pathway for survival. Fungi don’t “solve” drought issues, but they can help soften the impact and make recovery faster once hydration returns.

Underground ecosystems are hard to map and the risk of fungal depletion in degraded ecosystems is significant. Depleted soils are less stable, slow plant recovery, increase erosion, and are harder to restore. The microbial balance is also disturbed, raising the possibility of disease. (View a map showing the predicted density of underground networks created by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi).

Mycorrhizal fungi have been shaping plant life for hundreds of millions of years and likely helped early species make the jump from the ocean onto land. That kind of staying power matters. An organism this old, this widespread, and this essential is worth our attention.

Every time I water or trim my rose bushes, I’m reminded that so much more is happening than I will ever see, and it makes having these living ecosystems right out my front window so much more special.

Sources

Featured Creature: Bison

A male plains bison (B. b. bison) at Yellowstone National Park. Image credit: Sienna Weinstein

What creature is the largest terrestrial animal in North America, an icon of the American prairie, and has one of the great conservation success stories of modern times?

**The American Bison (Bison bison)**

Featured Creature: Bison — A male plains bison (B. b. bison) at Yellowstone National Park. Image credit: Sienna Weinstein

In August of 2021, friends and I explored Yellowstone National Park, visiting iconic landmarks such as Old Faithful, the Grand Prismatic Spring, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and Yellowstone Falls. While there, we saw numerous wildlife species, including the true icon of the American plains: the bison. In March 2026, while vacationing in the Silicon Valley area of California, I discovered a paddock with a small herd of plains bison open to visitors. I was surprised to discover a park 20% larger than New York’s Central Park filled with bison. I just had to take a look for myself.

Big, Burly, and Bushy Bovid

Quite simply, the bison is an impressive creature. Even its basic facts are astonishing. Bison are the largest terrestrial animal in North America. Mature bulls can be 5.5–6.5 feet high at the hump, and 9 to 12.5 feet in length. Cows (females) are typically smaller, at 5.0 feet high at their humps, and 7–10 feet. Their short, curved, black horns can grow up to 2 feet long, and they can weigh between 1,800–2,400 pounds.

Their formidable appearance is enhanced by several unique traits that make them easily identifiable. Their deep brown fur creates a long mane that covers their distinct hump and gives them a long beard. Their large heads contain a thick skull used not only for digging through snow to reach vegetation underneath, but to fight with one another by crashing their head or horns together.

Thanks in large part (pun intended!) to their size, Bison live between 15–20 years. Their massive presence makes them relatively safe from natural predators, but like most creatures, the weak, old, and young of the species can fall prey to large predators such as mountain lions, bears, or wolves.

A male plains bison at Yellowstone National Park. Image credit: Sienna Weinstein

The Bison Playbook: Life, Love, and Lunch on the Prairie

Bisons are communicators, especially during the breeding season (the rut). Grunts, snorts, and bellows advertise dominance and challenge rivals. Body language, including head tossing, ground pawing, and wallowing conveys aggression or social status. In breeding season, females release scents that indicate reproductive willingness.

Breeding typically occurs in mid- to late summer, with intense competition for female attention. Like humans, bison breed for approximately 9 months; spring is birthing season. Cows typically give birth to a single calf; twins, while extremely rare, are possible. Within hours, calves are mobile. Females are the primary caregivers, nursing for several months and protecting and guiding their young.

Herd animals, bison live in groups that facilitate social structure and provide protection from predators. They are typically composed of females, calves, and young males. They have relatively long lifespans for large mammals—often 10–20 years in the wild—and delayed maturity, with females breeding at around two to three years, and males competing successfully only when older and larger. Outside the breeding season, the older bulls may be solitary or form small bachelor groups. The herd structure provides protection from predators and facilitates social learning.

Bison exhibit seasonal movements rather than strict migrations, tracking food resources across the landscape. They are herbivores that primarily graze on grasses and sedges, though they will also consume forbs and shrubs when available, especially in winter or drought conditions. Their diet shifts seasonally depending on plant availability, and their grazing plays a key ecological role in shaping grassland ecosystems.

As a keystone, “ecosystem engineer” species for North American grasslands, bison play an important role in shaping landscapes. Their behavior and habits disproportionately influence their ecosystem by promoting plant diversity, aerating soil, and creating habitat for various plant and animal species.

Bison are selective grazers, favoring grasses over flowering plants (forbs), which increases plant diversity and stimulates new growth. They create shallow depressions in the dirt known as wallows for dust bathing, which later fill with water, creating small, temporary wetlands for insects and amphibians. Their massive hooves also help break up the soil, while their dung acts as a seed spreader and nitrogen-rich fertilizer, boosting soil health.

Their dung also incubates the eggs and larvae of numerous insects, and many bird species, including endangered species, in turn, feed on these insects and use fallen bison fur for nesting.

A historic photograph (c. 1892) of a massive pile of bison skulls at the Michigan Carbon Works facility, where massive quantities of bison bones were processed for commercial uses, like fertilizer and bone char. Image credit: Unknown photographer (Public Domain)

A Cultural Legend and an Epic Comeback Story

Long before the bison were scientifically studied, Indigenous peoples across North America recognized the ecological, spiritual, and practical purpose of the bison. For millennia, Native communities used every part of the animal: meat for food, hides for clothing and shelter, bones for tools, sinew for bindings, and the bison itself as a centerpiece of ceremony and prayer.

Even today, more than 60 tribes continue to weave their sacred “Brother Buffalo” into family life, spiritual practice, and food traditions.

Despite their significant cultural impact in Native American history, the bison were the victims of one of the most catastrophic wildlife collapses in recorded history.

In the nineteenth century as European settlers pushed westward, they brought with them railways, repeating rifles, and a booming international market for hides and bones. What followed was a slaughter of almost incomprehensible scale.

Bison populations once estimated at 30 to 60 million animals crashed to fewer than 1,000 by the 1890s. Some accounts suggest only 300 survived. The U.S. military actively encouraged the killing, recognizing that eliminating bison meant undermining the food supply, and resistance, of Plains tribes. Disease from cattle and competition with domestic livestock piled on. The species was, for all practical purposes, moments from extinction.

But at core, the bison’s survival story is a human story too. In the late 1860s, a handful of private citizens—ranchers, conservationists, and animal lovers acting largely without government support—began capturing and sheltering bison. These rescued animals became the foundational stock for nearly every herd alive today.

Today, about 31,000 bison are managed as wildlife across public lands in the United States and Canada, with another 360,000 in private herds. In 2016, the American bison was named the national mammal of the United States, a long overdue recognition.

Despite their incredible comeback, the story of the bison isn’t finished. They are still listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, and many scientists use the sobering phrase “ecologically extinct” to describe its status across most of its former range. The populations that remain are often too small, too fragmented, and too genetically isolated to play the full ecological role bison once performed.

Hybridization with cattle, disease, habitat loss, and inconsistent policy support all continue to cast long shadows. The work ahead of us is to expand connected habitats, support Indigenous-led conservation, protect genetically intact herds, and build the kind of durable policy commitment a national mammal deserves. Although humans previously pulled the bison back from the verge of extinction once, we must make sure we don’t leave it stranded on the edge.

Sienna Weinstein is a wildlife photographer, zoologist, and lifelong advocate for the conservation of wildlife across the globe. She earned her B.S. in Zoology from the University of Vermont, followed by a M.S. degree in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England. While earning her Bachelor’s degree, Sienna participated in a study abroad program in South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), taking part in fieldwork involving species abundance and diversity in the southern African ecosystem. She is also an official member of the Upsilon Tau chapter of the Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society.

Deciding at the end of her academic career that she wanted to grow her natural creativity and hobby of photography into something more, Sienna dedicated herself to the field of wildlife conservation communication as a means to promote the conservation of wildlife. Her photography has been credited by organizations including The Nature Conservancy, Zoo New England, and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. She was also an invited reviewer of an elephant ethology lesson plan for Picture Perfect STEM Lessons (May 2017) by NSTA Press. Along with writing for Bio4Climate, she is also a volunteer writer for the New England Primate Conservancy. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games, watching wildlife documentaries, photographing nature and wildlife, and posting her work on her LinkedIn profile. She hopes to create a more professional portfolio in the near future.

References

Featured Creature: Palm Tree

Coconut palms in Key West, FL. Image open source.

What tree isn’t really a tree at all, has no annual growth rings, no taproot, and no branches — yet can outlast almost everything around it in hurricane-force winds?

The Palm Tree!

Featured Creature: Palm Tree — Coconut palms in Key West, FL. Image open source.

This week’s Featured Creature is written by Lori Pierelli, Bio4Climate’s Director of Communications and Strategic Engagement. A transplant from Maryland to Florida, Lori now lives in the land of palm trees . . . and hurricanes. After removing the stump of a palm tree that did not survive Hurricane Helene floodwaters, Lori discovered an extraordinary network of roots that needed to be removed. It was then she realized how these trees nearly always survive storms that take down almost everything else around them. . .

When you imagine a palm tree, you almost always picture them in a setting of sunny weather, tropical breezes, and turquoise waters. And you’re not wrong. But palm trees are much more than scenery for beachy dreams or a background for vacation memories. Their resiliency and ecological engineering help stabilize and restore storm-damaged areas like those along the Florida Gulf Coast.

Globally, there are more than 2,500 species of palms spread across tropical and subtropical regions. Part of the Arecaceae family, palm trees are monocots (a type of flowering plant characterized by seeds that contain only one embryonic leaf) and are more closely related to grasses than what we typically picture as a “tree.” Palms don’t have annual growth rings, they don’t branch out in the same way, and their root systems are completely different.

While most trees have a single taproot from which their roots spread, palm trees have a dense, fairly shallow network of fibrous roots that emerge from a small area around the base of the trunk. The roots maintain a generally uniform thickness as they grow outward, forming a flexible network that grips into sandy or saturated soil.

The flexible network of roots is how the trees stay standing in hurricane winds. As the winds push against the palm, the trunk bends and sways. The root system shifts but holds. In loose coastal sands or flood-soaked ground, the root system distributes the force instead of concentrating it in a single, rigid point. Even after a palm dies, those roots continue to matter. As they decay, they leave channels in the soil that allow water to infiltrate more easily, air to move downward, and microbes and invertebrates to travel. Even after the tree is gone, the root structure doesn’t simply disappear.

Spotlighting Florida Natives

Palm trees are ancient “grasses” that build living architecture above and below ground. In Florida, two types of palm tree showcase the resiliency of these monocots: the cabbage palm (Sabal palmetto; the Florida state tree), and the low-growing saw palmetto (Serenoa repens). These cousins thrive in hurricane country, from coastal dunes to inland hammocks, stitching together sandy soils and storm-battered landscapes.

Cabbage palms grow anywhere from 30 to 80 feet, their fan-like fronds fanning out from a fibrous trunk that sways without snapping. They anchor marshes, barrier islands, and urban edges, tolerating salt spray, poor drainage, and fire. Their fruits — sweet, black drupes — are a feast for northern cardinals, mockingbirds, raccoons, black bears, and Keys deer, while nectar-rich flowers draw bees, butterflies, and wasps. Epiphytes like Spanish moss and resurrection ferns drape the trunks, sheltering treefrogs, anoles, and nesting cavity birds such as screech owls and pileated woodpeckers.

Saw palmettos hug the ground in dense thickets, their fan leaves edged with tiny saw-teeth. They bind dunes against erosion, shelter quail, gopher tortoises, rabbits, and marsh rabbits from predators and storms, and resprout after fires or floods.
(Note: the saw palmetto shown in the author’s image below sprouted after Hurricane Helene. There was no indication of any sort of palm in that spot prior to the flood, and the author did not plant it.)

Saw palmetto berries nourish black bears, Florida panthers, scrub jays, and white-tailed deer, while small white flowers lure sweat bees, native solitary bees, and hoverflies. The shaded understory becomes a safe haven for cotton rats, skinks, grasshoppers, and even bobwhite quail chicks hiding from hawks. (So far, the author hasn’t seen any bears, deer, or panthers in her yard.)

Saw palmetto. Courtesy Lori Pierelli, from her side yard.

Cold Limits

Palm trees are synonymous with tropical weather for a simple reason. They’re adapted to warm climates but not cold. Most species struggle when the temperature drops below freezing because their cells lack “antifreeze” proteins (thickened cell walls) that prevent ice crystal damage. Freezes cause fronds to yellow and drop, meristems (the growing tips) to blacken and die, and vascular tissues to rupture as water expands into ice.

Sabal palmettos tend to be hardier and can survive brief temperature drops to as low as 15°F (-9°C), but prolonged cold or wet freezes can still kill young palms or stress mature ones.

Saw palmettos handle the cold similarly. While their lower profile offers some ground-level protection, sharp frosts can brown their fans and slow berry production.

Temperature vulnerabilities are what define the range of palm trees, and prove that even resilient creatures have limits built on millennia of equatorial evolution.

Spikes. Spikes? Spikes!

Palm Spikes; Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Many palms, including varieties common in Florida yards, sport sharp spines along their stalks.
(And yes, they hurt when you try to trim the fronds, even if you’re wearing thick gardening gloves.)

The spikes do serve a purpose, however. They are a defense mechanism against hungry herbivores, making tender leaves and growing tips harder to reach. In wilder settings, they thwart feral pigs and overbrowsing from invasive species. They also create safe nooks for smaller creatures like fence lizards, Carolina wrens, and juvenile snakes. They are a perfect example of the dichotomy of nature: repelling some species while welcoming others.

Ecosystem Engineers

Palm trees aren’t just survivors. They are active “ecosystem engineers,” creating conditions that support a range of life systems. Below ground, their fibrous roots form a living net that traps nutrients washed from sandy soils, slows floodwater runoff to recharge aquifers, and feeds mycorrhizal fungi, nematodes, springtails, and earthworms that churn and enrich the earth. Even as roots turn over, they support carbon and nitrogen cycles by maintaining pore spaces that boost infiltration, cut erosion, and let oxygen reach deeper microbes.

Above ground, the support systems multiply. Fallen palm fronds create a thick layer of mulch that suppresses weeds, retains moisture through dry spells, and decomposes into humus that feeds ground-nesters like ants and beetles. The rough bark of palm trunks hosts orchids, tillandsias, and bromeliads whose tiny tanks shelter frogs, springtails, and fairy shrimp, while older frond “skirts” offer roost sites for bats, owls, and insects. Flowers provide pulsed nectar for bees and butterflies, and fruits sustain hungry animals, such as cardinals who strip seeds, or bears who raid fallen drupes.

Palms are also carbon sinks, locking CO₂ into persistent fibers and fruits, bolstering coastal “blue carbon” in marshes and mangroves against sea rise and waves. They moderate microclimates by shading and cooling burrows for tortoises and rabbits, creating windbreaks that protect seedlings, and humdifying dry air for understory herbs as their fronds evaporate.

After significant events such as floods or gale force wind storms, palms jump-start habitat recovery because they resprout quickly and rapidly provide structures where animals can hide and forage while full habitats rebuild.

Palm tree survivors among Hurricane Melissa (2025) devastation in Black River, Jamaica. Copyright @Traceyathorne, Instagram.

Enjoying the Beach Vibes with a New Level of Understanding

Next time you’re dreaming of lounging by the sea with a cold drink in your hand, remember that the warm tropical breeze blowing through your hair is being created by much more than just another type of tree. The quintessential vacation backdrop has been adapted over millenia into one of nature’s most sophisticated living infrastructures, sheltering native species, pulling carbon from the air, recharging aquifers, and anchoring shorelines against storms. Experiencing these wonders of nature are one more reason to book that tropical vacation!

Sources

Sabal palmetto facts: hort.ifas.ufl.edu/database/documents/pdf/tree_fact_sheets/sabpala.pdf
USDA on Sabal palmetto: srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654/volume_2/sabal/palmetto.htm
Florida Native Plant Society: fnps.org/plant/sabal-palmetto
Saw palmetto: sccf.org/2025/04/10/meet-the-natives-saw-palmetto/
Palm spines defense: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8046181/
Hurricane resistance: atlantapalms.com/blogs/blog/hurricanes-and-palm-trees
Pygmy date palm thorns: theshrubqueen.com/2014/12/09/pygmy-date-palm-friend-or-foe/
Lethal bronzing disease: gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/care/pests-and-diseases/diseases/lethal-bronzing-disease/

Featured Creature: Pangolin

A Temminck’s ground pangolin photographed in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique
Image credit: Bart Wursten via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC)

What animal is covered in scales made from the same material as our hair and nails, can extend its tongue as much as 16 inches (40 cm), and is sadly, the most trafficked in the world?

The pangolin (Order Pholidota)!

Featured Creature: Pangolin — A Temminck’s ground pangolin photographed in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique
Image credit: Bart Wursten via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC)

After recently attending an interactive webinar entitled “Back from the Brink: How the Giant Pangolin is Catalysing Forest Recovery” hosted by The Pangolin Project (TPP), this week’s author Sienna Weinstein felt it was a sacred duty of sorts to create a Featured Creature profile on this iconic symbol of endangered species. I send my thanks to speaker Ebony Ellen Escalona and TPP for allowing me to attend such an informative, incredible event, featuring phenomenal photographs, as well as data relating to the impact of conservation actions aimed at protecting the giant pangolin on the biodiversity and recovery of Kenya’s Nyekweri Forest.

An Armor-Plated, Awkward-Gaited, Awe-Inspiring Animal

Eight species found in Africa and Asia make up the members of a truly unique-looking mammal known as the pangolin. Also known as “scaly anteaters,” “walking pinecones,” and “artichokes with tails,” pangolins are the only mammal covered in tough, overlapping scales made of keratin—the same material that makes up rhino horns, and our hair and nails. Making up about 20 percent of a pangolin’s body weight, their scales become a defense shield when they curl into a ball of protection against predators such as lions, leopards, and tigers. As another predatory defense mechanism, Pangolins can emit a noxious-smelling chemical from anal glands, similar to a skunk’s spray.

Pangolins have short legs with sharp claws, which they use not only for climbing, but for digging into ant and termite mounds. They lack teeth, but like anteaters, they possess a long, sticky tongue which in larger species, can extend up to 16 inches (40 cm) in order to lap up their favorite foodstuffs: termites, ants, and their larvae. Despite some similarities to anteaters, and possessing traits which may remind an observer of armadillos, one of the closest living relatives of pangolins is actually the mongoose!

8 Species With Wildly Different Habits

Most pangolins are nocturnal, with the only exception being the long-tailed pangolin, also known as the African black-bellied pangolin. There are also differences regarding where exactly certain species of pangolins live and sleep. All pangolin species search for food and water at ground level, but some species are arboreal, living in tree hollows. Ground-dwelling pangolin species dig tunnels to a depth of 11 feet (3.5 m) for shelter. Some species of pangolin, such as the tree pangolin (also known as the white-bellied pangolin), are rather acrobatic–using their strong prehensile tails to hang from branches and strip away bark from the trunk, exposing the insect nests inside.

Pangolin species even differ in their appearance while walking! Some walk with their front claws bent under the foot pad (although they use the entire foot pad on their rear limbs). Ground-based pangolins stand on their hind legs for some behaviors, such as surveying their surroundings or reaching higher objects, and may walk a few steps bipedally. Arboreal pangolins use bipedal movement less frequently, in comparison, and typically, in brief and unstable strides on the ground when moving between trees. Truly, after all of these fascinating facts, you could think pangolins are an alien species!

A Keystone Species

Pangolins are considered a keystone species–one that plays a crucial role in maintaining the health and diversity of their native ecosystems, as their actions significantly impact the environment and other species. Through their consumption of ants, termites, and their larvae, pangolins prevent these insects from overwhelming local vegetation, protecting both forests and human crops. Their digging abilities help to turn over the soil, aerating it and cycling nutrients, which is vital for plant growth and ecosystem regeneration, especially after fires. Abandoned pangolin burrows also provide homes for other species. Overall, pangolins physically reshape their environment which supports overall biodiversity, impacting both plant and animal communities.

A pair of endangered white-bellied pangolins rescued at a fish market in Epe, Nigeria by St. Mark, a veterinarian and conservationist
Image credit: Adedotun Ajibade via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC)

A Tragic Tale of Trafficking

Pangolins are one of the, if not the, most trafficked animals in the world despite international bans on the trade. While their plated armor protects them from natural predators, it doesn’t protect against their biggest threat: humans. Pangolins are in high demand in China and Vietnam, as their scales are believed to have medicinal properties (such as curing cancer or asthma) in traditional medicine.

For scale (no pun intended), one study found that between August 2000 and July 2019, [the equivalent of] at least 895,000 pangolins were trafficked internationally.^[1]

Pangolin meat is also considered a delicacy in these countries, and a sought-after bushmeat in West and Central Africa. Spiritual beliefs regarding the power of pangolins are not just limited to East Asia, however. Pangolins and their body parts are used for a wide variety of medicinal and “fortunetelling” purposes in parts of Africa as well, promising wealth and a suitable partner, along with other tempting promises.^[2]^[3] Finally, habitat change through deforestation, land conversion for agriculture, and urbanization, all pose ongoing risks to pangolin survival.

What Can be Done?

In July 2014, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) Pangolin Specialist Group launched a global action plan to conserve pangolins, dubbed “Scaling up Pangolin Conservation”. This action plan aims to improve all aspects of pangolin conservation, with an added emphasis on combating pangolin poaching and trafficking while educating communities on the species’ importance. Another potential approach to fighting not only pangolin trafficking, but general wildlife trafficking as well, consists of the strategy of “following the money” rather than “the animal”, which aims to disrupt smugglers’ profits by interrupting money flows. Combatting deforestation is also a must in order to ensure the pangolin’s survival. These are just a few mentions, but there are plenty of conservation actions needed should these truly unique and endearing little animals shape ecosystems, slurp up insects, and ultimately, survive, for decades to come.

References:

• https://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/pangolin

• https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/pangolins-decline-deadly-poaching-continues-red-list-experts-find-2019-12-10/

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangolin

• https://www.instagram.com/p/DMBAmugKCdU/

• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1746-4269-10-76

• https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/three-pangolin-species-closer-to-extinction-iucn/

• https://planetwild.com/blog/pangolins

• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4300090/

• https://www.savepangolins.org/what-is-a-pangolin

• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/chapter/edited-volume/abs/pii/B9780128155073000162

• https://wildaid.org/wildaids-pangolin-priority-saving-the-most-trafficked-wild-mammal-in-the-world/

• https://www.worldwildlife.org/resources/facts/what-is-a-pangolin/

• https://www.zsl.org/what-we-do/species/pangolins

Images:

• https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/80983346

• https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/81231209

Featured Creature: Camel

A dromedary camel photographed in Varamin, Iran
Image credit: Houman Doroudi via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC)

What animal is the “Superhero of the Desert,” reshaping entire ecosystems simply by eating, roaming, and . . . pooping?

Meet the Desert Superhero!

Desert wanderer
Curved as the dunes he walks on
Splat! Anger expressed

A close family friend asked me to cover camels as one of my Featured Creatures. Ask, and ye shall receive! Despite the majority of camels today being domesticated species, they still play important roles in their local ecosystem, and contribute to the biodiversity of the habitats in which they live.

Dominating the Desert, and De-bunking Assumptions

Camels are far more than the four-legged, desert pack animals typically shown in movies—their presence shapes the health, stability, and biodiversity of their ecosystems. Their grazing patterns, movement, digestion, and remarkable resilience collectively engineer the landscapes they inhabit.

Camels haven’t just adapted to desert life, their entire bodies are designed for endurance in some of the most unforgiving climates on Earth. Did you know they can go up to 10 days without drinking, even in extreme heat! Their long legs help keep them cool, elevating their bodies away from ground temperatures that can reach 158ºF (70°C), and their thick coat insulates them against radiant heat. In the summer, their coats lighten to reflect the sunlight.

Long eyelashes, ear hairs, and sealable nostrils protect against the blowing sand, while their wide, padded feet keep them from sinking into the desert sand or snow. Bactrian camels grow heavy winter coats that enable survival in winter temperatures (-20ºF [-29ºC]), then shed them to adapt to the hot summer temperatures. Their mouths have a thick, leathery lining that allows them to chew thorny, salty vegetation, with split, mobile upper lips that help them grasp sparse grasses . . . and spit. Well, sorta. . .

Desert Engineers and Seed Dispersers

These “ships of the desert” feed on thorny, salty, dry plants that most herbivores avoid, keeping dominant species in check and promoting plant diversity. Their nomadic lifestyle prevents overgrazing, spreading this balancing effect across vast ranges and reducing the risk of desertification. As they move, they disperse seeds in their dung, enriching poor soils with nutrients and enabling new vegetation to take hold where it otherwise could not.

Even their hydration strategy—relying heavily on moisture from plants and drinking only occasionally—protects scarce water sources that smaller species depend on. Trails they create become pathways for other wildlife, while their presence attracts predators and scavengers, helping sustain food webs in seemingly barren terrain.

People often assume that camels carry water in their humps and spit when they are annoyed. But those humps aren’t sloshing with water. They are fat-storage structures that provide a slow-burning energy reserve when food is scarce. And that spitting? It’s actually a warning system composed of both saliva and partially digested stomach contents.

Helping People and Ecosystems Endure

Even though they may look goofy at first, the ecological and cultural value of the camel is extraordinary.

They have supported human survival in harsh environments for thousands of years. Domesticated camels provide wool, meat, milk, transportation, and labor. Their endurance and strength have made them central to trade routes, cultural traditions, and economic activity across regions where few other animals could thrive.

Camels shape vegetation patterns, support biodiversity, stabilize fragile ecosystems, and enable life in regions that would otherwise be nearly uninhabitable. Without camels, many desert landscapes would lose the very processes that sustain them.

So next time you see a camel, in a movie, at a zoo, or on your travels, remember that these are no ordinary creatures. They are survival specialists and a cornerstone of some of the world’s harshest and most remarkable environments.

The wild bactrian camel (of which there are only 950 remaining)
photographed in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert.
Image credit: Chris Scharf, a client of Royle Safaris via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC)

Dig Deeper

• https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/camel

• https://arkbiodiv.com/2022/05/18/the-camels-play-important-role-in-ecosystem-management-important-actor-of-the-desert/

• https://dairynews.today/global/news/odnogorbyy1-verblyud-klyuchevoy-vid-dlya-vozrozhdeniya-pustyni-i-ustoychivogo-razvitiya.html

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bactrian_camel

• https://kimd.org/the-role-of-camels-in-desert-ecosystems/

• https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/how-many-types-of-camels-live-in-the-world-today.html

• https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/what-do-camels-store-in-their-humps-and-other-camel-superpowers

• https://www.zsl.org/news-and-events/news/wild-bactrian-camel-research

Featured Creature: Macrotermes Termites

What is the second most consumed insect group in the world (by humans) that can build nests with heights up to 9 meters (29.5 feet) and has a symbiotic relationship with fungi?

Macrotermes carbonarius (Image Credit: Soh Kam Yung via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC))

As a featured creature writer for Bio4Climate, I try to read through as many of our published pieces as possible, even those that pre-date my tenure. It’s a tall order, there are so many! Hidden alongside the grand humpback whale, the impressionable Pando, and the beautiful luna moth, I found Fred Jennings’ piece on the zombie ant fungus: an unpleasant looking insect-pathogenic fungus that attaches to ants’ exoskeletons and takes over their bodies from the inside out. It was a little grotesque, a little unsettling, and completely and utterly fascinating.

I’ve been wanting to write about a creature that doesn’t usually make the highlight reel…something easy to overlook, but essential in its own way. My hope is to inspire curiosity (and appreciation) for the parts of nature that don’t always fit our ideas of beauty.

More Than Just Pests

When I think of termites I think about how people, especially homeowners, consider them pests. One of the first links that pops up in an online search for the word termites is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s guide for how to identify and control them. But just as it’s unfair to call sloths lazy simply because they move slowly, it’s unfair to define termites only by their “pest” status. They weren’t ever “pests” until we made them so.

Macrotermes vitrialatus (Image Credit: Craig Peter via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC))

Macrotermes are fungus-growing termites that reside in tropical regions of Africa and Asia. These insects are larger than other common termites, the largest of all 330 species being the Macrotermes bellicosus, with queens reaching over four inches in length! Most of these bugs are dark brown, with some exceptions like the Macrotermes carbonarius, which are entirely black, and the Macrotermes gilvus, which have orange/red-brown heads.

Termites are a valuable part of many ecosystems. Like fungi, bacteria, and detritivores like millipedes, they decompose dead plant material, modifying the physical and chemical distribution of the soil. Creatures like termites restore soil that’s been degraded and play a key role in cellulose recycling, breaking down plants, wood, and paper into smaller molecules other organisms can use, and returning nutrients to the ecosystem. But, these termites are pretty special for a reason other than their role as ecosystem engineers.

Teamwork Makes the Colony Work

Macrotermes thrive thanks to teamwork, and a symbiotic partnership with a fungus that shares their life cycle. It’s remarkable that these termites (just like other creature populations) cooperate so well in such large numbers. Macrotermes colonies have a highly organized social system in which each insect has a role that makes life efficient and successful: workers gather food and build and maintain the nest/mound, soldiers use their strong jaws to protect the colony from predators like ants, and the queen and king reproduce. This social complexity is mirrored by the colony’s architecture.

*Macrotermes carbonarius* (Image Credit: Dirk Mezger via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC))

Termite mounds aren’t just shelters, they’re marvels of natural engineering. Built with purpose, these architectural feats regulate temperature and humidity to create the ideal environment for the termite’s fungal partner, Termitomyces, to grow. After foraging for wood or dead plant material, Macrotermes workers masticate and deposit it in chambers inside their nest, producing the perfect substrate for fungus to grow into a comb. Macrotermes cultivate these fungus gardens and feed on them while the fungus degrades plant material, resulting in a continuous supply of food for the termites. To stimulate the right conditions for Termitomyces to grow, macrotermes build their nests with air ducts and ventilation systems. As the fungus produces heat in the nest, workers can open or block individual tunnels that lead to the surface to regulate temperature and humidity. These structures are built to various heights, with some only one foot tall while exceptional ones can rise more than 30 feet.

Tall *Macrotermes bellicosus* nest
(Image Credit: Gabriel Leite via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC))

Macrotermes and Humans

Macrotermes termites are an important edible insect widely consumed throughout Africa, along with their fungus gardens. People use the bugs, mushrooms, and termite soil in medicinal practices. The soil can be used as fertilizer or as building material to make bricks and plaster houses. These insects are also used as bait and feed for livestock. Alongside these uses, macrotermes termites have a role in superstitious beliefs, their nests serving as burying places associated with the spiritual world.

Outside their habitat in urban environments, most macrotermes are unable to survive, so they aren’t considered pests like other termites because they don’t cause as much damage to wood structures like homes and buildings. In contrast, macrotermes can pose threats to agriculture by directly consuming crops, roots, and stems of plants. But, like nearly every other creature in the natural world, these bugs don’t live without some challenges of their own.

The largest threat to termites is changes in land use; particularly transitions to organized orchards and more intensified agricultural practices. As ecosystem engineers that contribute directly to the nutrient makeup of the soil in their ecosystem, the changes in land use can have damaging effects on the landscape and organisms throughout the food cycle.

*Macrotermes* carbonarius (Image Credit: budak via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC))

Nature deserves to be seen in its full complexity, not just through the lens of what we find beautiful, helpful, scary, or annoying. When we only celebrate the vibrant colors, graceful shapes, or soothing sounds, we risk overlooking the strange, the hidden, and the essential.

Abigail Gipson is an environmental advocate with a bachelor’s degree in humanitarian studies from Fordham University. Working to protect the natural world and its inhabitants, Abigail is specifically interested in environmental protection, ecosystem-based adaptation, and the intersection of climate change with human rights and animal welfare. She loves autumn, reading, and gardening.

Dig Deeper

Featured Creature: ‘Ōhi’a Lehua

What tree has adapted to grow directly in lava rock and is a keystone species of the Hawaiian watershed?

‘Ōhi’a Lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha)!

The first time I saw the vibrant blossoms of the ‘ōhi’a lehua tree, I was walking on a dirt path in Kauai’s Waimea Canyon State Park, gaping down at the most colorful red and green gorges I had ever seen. Needing a breather from the steep visual plunge, I looked up from the canyon and noticed bright red flowers on the side of the path. As I got closer and could see the plant more clearly, the first thought that popped into my head was how similar the flowers looked to those fiber optic light toys I had played with as a kid. (If you don’t know what fiber optic light toys look like, look them up. You’ll see exactly what I mean.)

After my trip to Waimea Canyon, I saw ‘ōhi’a lehua everywhere. When I drove along the coast between the beach and the sloping mountains, when I hiked the volcanic craters of Haleakala, and when I visited parks and gardens across the islands that protect native plants and animals. ‘Ōhi’a lehua is the most common native tree in Hawaii, so seeing its fiery red, orange, or yellow blossoms every day felt so very ordinary. But ‘ōhi’a lehua is far from ordinary.

Image Credit: Ed Sharron via iNaturalist

Let Me Introduce You to My New Friend, ‘Ōhia Lehua

Endemic to the six largest islands of Hawaii, ‘ōhi’a lehua is the dominant tree species in native forests, present in approximately 80% of the total area of these ecosystems and covering close to one million acres of land across the state. Depending on where exactly it grows, its size can vary widely, from a small shrub to a large tree. Found only in the Hawaiian archipelago, ‘ōhi’a lehua grows at elevations from sea level to higher than 9000 feet, and in a variety of habitats like shrublands, mesic forests (forests that receive a moderate amount of moisture throughout the year), and more wet, or hydric, forests.

You can easily identify the ‘ōhi’a lehua blossoms by their mass of stamens – the part of the flower that produces pollen – which are slender stalks with pollen-bearing anthers on the end. It’s what made me think the ‘ōhi’a lehua looked exactly like those fiber optic light toys. These powder puff-like flowers are most often brilliant shades of red and orange, but yellow, pink, and sometimes even white ones can be found.

‘Ōhi’a lehua grows slowly, reaching up to 20-25 meters (66-82 feet) in certain conditions.

With a little help from the wind, the seeds of ‘ōhi’a lehua travel from the tree and settle in cracks in the ground of young lava rock. It is, in every sense, a true pioneer plant. As one of the earliest plants to colonize and grow in fresh lava fields, ‘ōhi’a lehua stabilizes the soil and makes it more habitable for other species.

Even though ‘ōhi’a lehua can blanket Hawaii’s native forests, this flowering tree also grows alone, as you can see in the photograph below. Plants like ‘ōhi’a lehua fill me with happiness because they are able to grow in the most harsh, barren, and disrupted places, and they make it possible for other species to do the same. Plants like ‘ōhi’a lehua fill me with surety that even though sometimes poorly treated, the natural world will continue to be strong. Plants like ‘ōhi’a lehua make me believe in the resilience of nature.

Arid, rocky, Mediterranean coast. (Via Pexels)

How ‘Ōhi’a Lehua Cares for the Hawaiian People

Biodiversity forms the web of life we depend on for so many things – food, water, medicine, a stable climate, and more. But this connection between human beings and natural life is not always clear, understood, or appreciated. But there is a concept in Hawaiian culture called aloha ‘āina, or love of the land, which teaches that if you take care of the land, it will take care of you. The ‘ōhi’a lehua in particular takes care of the Hawaiian people in a pretty special way.

One of the most important characteristics of this flowering evergreen tree is that it’s a keystone species, protecting the Hawaiian watershed and conserving a great amount of water. The way I see it, ‘Ōhi’a lehua is an essential glue that holds Hawaii’s native ecosystems together. The leaves of ‘ōhi’a lehua are excellent at catching fog, mist, and rain, replenishing the islands’ aquifers and providing drinking and irrigation water for Hawaiian communities. ‘Ōhi’a lehua’s ability to retain water, particularly after storms, not only makes that water accessible for other plants, but it helps mitigate erosion and flooding. The tree provides food and shelter for native insects, rare native tree snails (kāhuli), and native and endangered birds like the Hawaiian honeycreepers (‘i’iwi, ‘apapane, and ‘ākepa). ‘Ōhi’a lehua trunks protect native seedlings and act as nurse logs, providing new plants with nutrients and a growing environment.

‘I’iwi, the Scarlet Hawaiian Honeycreeper, perched on an ‘ohi’a tree (Image Credit: Nick Volpe)

The Myth of ‘Ōhi’a Lehua

‘Ōhi’a lehua may have a disproportionately large effect on Hawaii’s ecosystems as a keystone species, but its presence as a meaningful part of Hawaiian culture could be even larger. There are many versions of mo’olelo (story) about the origin of the ‘ōhi’a lehua tree, but the most common one is about young lovers named Ōhi’a and Lehua. Pele, the goddess of the volcano, changed herself into a human woman and tried to entice ‘Ōhi’a. When he denied her, Pele became enraged and transformed ‘Ōhi’a into a tree. When Lehua found out, she was so heartbroken that she prayed to the gods to somehow help her reunite with him. Answering her prayers, the gods transformed Lehua into a flower and placed her on the ‘ōhi’a tree’s limbs. To this day, it’s believed that whenever a lehua flower is picked, the skies will open up and rain will fall, because the lovers have been separated.

‘Ōhi’a Lehua as a Cultural Symbol

In Hawaiian culture, the ‘ōhi’a lehua is a symbol of love, resilience, and ecological harmony. The transformation of Ohia and Lehua into tree and flower represents the inseparable bond between two people who love each other, and between the tree and its flowers. The term pua lehua, or lehua flowers, is often used to describe people who express the same grace, strength, and resilience of the ‘ōhi’a lehua. Pilina, a Hawaiian word that means “connection” or “relationship,” is an important value in Hawaiian culture because it is a critical way for people to connect with and understand the world around them. The ‘ōhi’a lehua tree is a symbol of pilina, and embodies this relationship between the Hawaiian landscape and its people.

Hula dancers performing at the Merrie Monarch Festival
Thomas Tunsch (**CC BY-SA** )

The ‘ōhi’a lehua is also incredibly important to hula. Hula is the narrative dance of the Hawaiian Islands, and it is an embodiment of one’s surroundings. Dancers use fluid and graceful movements to manifest what they see around them and tell stories about the plants, animals, elements, and stars. ‘Ōhi’a lehua trees and forests are considered sacred to both Pele, the goddess of the volcano as you may recall, and Laka, goddess of hula. To enhance their storytelling and evoke the gods, dancers traditionally wear lehua blossoms or buds in lei, headbands, and around their wrists and ankles.

The Dependability of ‘Ōhi’a Lehua

‘Ōhi’a lehua has long been a part of daily life. Historically, the hardwood of the tree was used for kapa (cloth) beaters, papa ku’i ‘ai (poi pounding boards), dancing sticks and ki’i (statues), weapons, canoes, and in the construction of houses and temples. Today, the tree’s wood is used for flooring, furniture, fencing, decoration, carving, and firewood. ‘Ōhi’a lehua blossoms decorate altars for cultural ceremonies and practices. Flowers, buds, seeds, and leaves form the base of medicinal teas that can stimulate appetite and treat childbirth pain.

Threats to ‘Ōhi’a Lehua

As a native tree, ‘ōhi’a lehua competes with invasive species for moisture, nutrients, light, and space. Plants like the strawberry guava plant (Psidium cattleyanum) grow in dense thickets and block the growth of ‘ōhi’a seedlings. The invasive fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum) can dominate barren lava flows, making it difficult for ‘ōhi’a to compete. ‘Ōhi’a lehua is also threatened by non-native animals. Hooved animals like pigs, cattle, goats, and deer disturb the soil, eat sensitive native plants, and trample the roots of ‘ōhi’a lehua trees.

The most dangerous threat to ‘ōhi’a lehua is a virulent fungus called Ceratocystis fimbriate, which attacks the tree’s sapwood, preventing it from uptaking water and nutrients, and killing the tree within weeks. It’s been given the name Rapid Ohia Death (ROD) because of how quickly it suffocates the tree, turning the leaves yellow and brown and the sapwood black with fungus. Infections spread through a wound in the bark, which can be caused by animals trampling roots, lawn mowing, or even pruning, and can be present in the tree for up to a year before showing symptoms. ROD is spread by an invasive species of wood boring Ambrosia beetle that infests the tree and feeds off the fungus. When colonizing trees, the beetle produces a sawdust-like substance made of excrement and wood particles called frass, which can contain living fungal spores that get carried in wind currents and spread by sticking to animals and human clothes, tools, and vehicles.

Since its discovery in 2014, ROD has killed more than one million ‘ōhi’a lehua trees across 270,000 acres of land, making it a significant threat to biodiversity and cultural heritage. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies ‘ōhi’a lehua’s conservation status as vulnerable, and has recorded a decline in mature trees since 2020. Because ROD can spread long distances, it has the potential to wipe out ‘ōhi’a lehua across the entire state. If ‘ōhi’a lehua disappears, it will lead to a collapse of the Hawaiian watershed and radically change the ecosystem.

How the Hawaiian People Care for ‘Ōhi’a Lehua

Scientists, researchers, and native Hawaiians are working together to ensure the long-term health and resilience of ‘ōhi’a and Hawaii’s native forests by mitigating the spread of Rapid Ohia Death. Hawaii’s Forest Service monitors the land to track the spread of ROD and mortality of trees, has developed sanitation and wound-sealing treatments, and collaborates with hunters and game managers to reduce disease transmission. Scientists rigorously test ‘ōhi’a trees to understand the disease cycle, find out how it can be broken, and to identify trees resistant to the infection that could be used in potential reforestation efforts.

To prevent the spread, Hawaii has announced quarantine restrictions, travel alerts, and sanitation rules. If you are shipping vehicles between islands, you should clean the entire understory with strong soap to remove all mud and dirt from the tires and wheel wells. People who go into ‘ōhi’a forests are advised to avoid breaking branches or moving wood around, to clean their shoes and clothes, and to decontaminate any tools used with alcohol or bleach to kill the fungus. Even hula practitioners are forgoing the use of ‘ōhi’a lehua.

Orange ‘ōhi’a lehua blossom (Image Credit: Joan Wasser via National Park Service)

Mālama the ‘āina

Mālama the ‘āina is a phrase that means to care for and honor the land. ‘Ōhi’a lehua is a wonderful representation of the interconnection between people and nature and I hope learning about this beautiful tree has encouraged you to appreciate the relationship we have with the Earth and what the natural world does for us.

Remember, if you take care of the land, it will take care of you.

Abigail

Abigail Gipson is an environmental advocate with a bachelor’s degree in humanitarian studies from Fordham University. Working to protect the natural world and its inhabitants, Abigail is specifically interested in environmental protection, ecosystem-based adaptation, and the intersection of climate change with human rights and animal welfare. She loves autumn, reading, and gardening.

Sources and Further Reading:

Featured Creature: Sphagnum moss

What bog-builder can hold 15-20 times its dry weight in water?
Sphagnum moss!

by David McNicholas

As an ecologist working on Ireland’s peatland restoration, I’ve seen firsthand the profound transformation of re-wetting former industrial peatlands, and its capacity to enhance biodiversity and carbon storage. Working as a member of the Bord na Móna Ecology Team with funding provided by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility as part of Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, I’ve have seen more than 60 peatland sites undergo this incredible transformation. Following extensive ecological, hydrological and engineering studies to create the optimal conditions for Sphagnum moss establishment, it is exciting to now move towards the active planting of Sphagnum moss back onto these peatlands. This will accelerate the establishment of Sphagnum-rich bog vegetation that will have greater biodiversity and climate benefits at scale.

Raised bog formation

Sphagnum moss species are key plants in the development and existence of bog habitats. Some species can hold 15 to 20 times their dry weight in absorbed water and tolerate very harsh conditions such as nutrient deficiency, high acidity and waterlogged environments. This ability of Sphagnum to hold water creates the quaky surface conditions that are characteristic of raised bogs in good condition. Bogs simply would not exist as we know them without Sphagnum.

Raised bogs begin to develop in wet shallow depressions, often shallow lakes. Over time, wetland vegetation such as reeds, rushes and other plants leave dead matter behind in the substrate. As the amount of dead vegetation accumulates, the layer of growing vegetation on top is eventually lifted above the influence of the local groundwater. At this point, this layer has become ombrotrophic (exclusively rain fed). The result, in wetter climates, is the development of a wet, nutrient poor and acidic environment in which Sphagnum species thrive. Sphagnum is known as an “ecosystem engineer”. This moss can change its environment, making it wetter and more acidic, suiting these mosses and creating perfect peat-forming raised bog. As the living plants grow upward, the Sphagnum tissue beneath the living surface of the bog is submerged beneath the weight of the growing layer above. This dead material does not completely decay in the anoxic, waterlogged conditions. Instead, it will become peat over time, while the living material will continue to grow, driving the formation of a raised bog dome.

*Sphagnum cuspidatum* occurring within a bog pool. This species occurs in pools and the wettest parts of peatlands. (Photo courtesy David McNicholas)

Sphagnum’s role in carbon sequestration

The growth habit of Sphagnum is directly responsible for the development of one of nature’s most efficient carbon traps. A metre squared of intact, good quality raised bog sequesters a small amount of carbon annually, but over time these peatlands can accumulate and store much more carbon than the same area of other ecosystems like tropical rainforest. As such, Sphagnum moss is very important to help tackle climate change by taking in carbon and by creating peat-forming conditions to secure this carbon in the ground within healthy peatlands.

The ability of Sphagnum to store water also plays an important role in regulating heavy rainfall events within a catchment. Healthy peatlands can store water in Sphagnum moss, then slowly release this water over time, thereby helping to mitigate potential downstream impacts associated with sudden heavy rainfall.

*Sphagnum* papillosum, with round leaved sundew growing on top. (Photo courtesy David McNicholas)

Sphagnum as an indicator species

Different Sphagnum species can be used as valuable indicators of peatland type and their overall condition. However, Sphagnum mosses are widely believed to be tricky to identify and so many ecologists simply aggregate them, classifying them as “Sphagnum species”. In doing so, ecologists are forfeiting valuable information on nutrient availability, hydrology and habitat condition that these species provide. Like any other plant group, there are generalist and specialist Sphagnum species. For example, Sphagnum rubellum can be found on nearly any bog habitat in Ireland. Small red cushions and hummocks can be found from relatively dry cutover bog to the wettest parts of an active raised bog.

Sphagnum beothuk has a very characteristic chocolate brown colouring and is one of the prettiest raised bog species. While S. austinii has a range of colours, the large size of the individual capitulums (the top of the plant) and the relative compactness of the hummocks as a whole can be used to reliably identify the species. Both species generally inhabit the wetter parts of a bog and if abundant and healthy, can be used as an indicator of raised bogs in good condition. Sphagnum cuspidatum is one of the most aquatic species and is generally found in the acidic bog pools in the wettest parts of the bog. Interestingly, it can be found within the drainage ditches of industrially harvested bogs where no other Sphagnum species may be present. There are some Sphagnum mosses that are found in less acidic and more nutrient rich, fen conditions. To get to know Sphagnum species is to open a large encyclopaedia on the various natural history processes and conditions of our peatlands. However, don’t be put off getting to know the more readily identifiable species and build on this. Knowing just a few species can really add to the satisfaction of exploring our unique peatlands.

**Use of Sphagnum moss in peatland restoration**

Planting Sphagnum moss across re-wetted cutaway bog as a rehabilitation technique is a key objective of the Peatlands and People LIFE Integrated Project (IP). We’re on track to plant one million Sphagnum plugs across over 270 hectares of rehabilitated peatland by November 2024, with ambitious plans for further planting in 2025 and beyond.

Revegetating these areas provides new and more resilient habitat over the longer term. Sphagnum moss will recolonise these sites naturally in time; however, the work we’re doing aims to speed up this trajectory, and we’re establishing a network of peatland sites to develop best practices in restoration and rehabilitation. This involves the design of robust methodologies to monitor and analyse Sphagnum and carbon storage.

While monitoring is ongoing and we have a lot of research ahead of us, initial evaluations of the planted Sphagnum material is already showing positive survival and growth rates.

As I continue my work with Bord na Móna, we’re grateful for the support provided by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility as part of Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, a key instrument at the heart of NextGenerationEU. The primary aim of this scheme is to optimize climate action benefits of rewetting the former industrial peat production areas by creating soggy peatland conditions that will allow compatible peatland habitats to redevelop.

David McNicholas is an Ecologist at Bord na Móna where he works with a multidisciplinary team to deliver an ambitious peatland restoration programme, post-industrial peat production. As a member of the Bord na Móna Ecology Team, David is involved in rehabilitation planning and implementation, while also planning and undertaking monitoring and protected species surveys.

Sources and Further Reading:

Featured Creature: Aardvark

What unique animal could be a cross between a rabbit, a pig, an opossum, and an anteater?

The aardvark!

Featured Creature: Aardvark — Photo by Kelly Abram from iNaturalist

Meet the aardvark – a one-of-a-kind mammal native only to sub-Saharan Africa.

The aardvark has an unusual hodge-podge mix of features including rabbit-like ears, a pig-like snout, an opossum-like tail, and a long, sticky anteater-like tongue. This creature has large and formidable claws used for digging and defense. Weighing in at 115 – 180 pounds, the aardvark is much heftier than it looks.

Aardvarks inhabit the savannas, arid grasslands, and bushlands of sub-Saharan Africa where there is plenty of their favorite prey, ants and termites. They are solitary and do not socialize with others unless for mating or raising young. They live for about 18 years in the wild and approximately 25 years in captivity.

The aardvark is famous for being the first noun in the English dictionary. The animal goes by many names including Cape anteater and ant bear, but its colloquial moniker, aardvark, is Afrikaans for “earth pig”.

Photo by Louise Joubert from Wikimedia Commons

Odd Relatives

Although the aardvark is an eater of ants, it is not an anteater. Understandably, the comparison comes from its similar appearance and nearly identical diet to the anteater, which leads people to assume they are the same animal. However, the aardvark is its own species entirely, and in fact, it is more closely related to elephants than to anteaters.

Unique Diet

Aardvarks are insectivores that eat ants and termites. They use their keen sense of smell to locate ant nests and termite mounds over great distances. Aardvarks have the highest number of olfactory turbinate bones of any mammal on the planet. An aardvark has about 9 -11 of these specialized bones which help support the olfactory bulb in the brain, where smells are processed. This larger-than-average olfactory system allows the aardvark to track such tiny creatures like ants and termites from far away. They have been observed swinging their heads back and forth close to the ground, much like a metal detector, to pick up a scent.

Once an aardvark locates a termite mound, it uses its claws to break open the cement-hard structure. Its tongue, coated in sticky saliva, slurps up the exposed insects in seconds. The highly adapted tongue of an aardvark can be up to 1 foot long. Over the course of a night, a single aardvark eats over 45,000 termites. Amazingly, all of this is done without chewing.

While aardvarks are classified as insectivores, they make one exception in their diet for a very unique fruit, the aardvark cucumber. This African melon looks similar to a cantaloupe but is grown completely underground. Aardvarks easily dig up the fruit and eat its watery, seed-filled interior. Once the fruit is digested, the seeds are dispersed by the aardvarks that cover their dung in dirt, effectively planting these seeds in the soil with a natural fertilizer. This symbiotic relationship helps propagate the aardvark cucumber, whose existence is entirely dependent upon the aardvark.

Photo by Nick Helme from Wikimedia Commons

Cultural Significance

The aardvark is regarded as a symbol of resilience in some African cultures due to its unrelenting bravery in tearing down termite mounds. The aardvark has very thick skin which helps avoid injury from hundreds of termite and ant bites. Because of their nocturnal habits and solitary nature, aardvarks are not a common sight during the day. It is said that anyone who is lucky enough to see one is blessed.

Earth Engineer

Aardvarks are adept earth-movers known to create specialized burrows to live in. These burrows provide shelter away from the sun and from predators. Its powerful claws are specially adapted to move massive amounts of dirt in minutes, which helps the aardvark excavate multiple chambers within the den.

Some burrows can be up to 10 feet deep and over 20 feet long. There are multiple entrances to the same burrow so the aardvark has a chance to escape if a predator poses a threat. Aardvarks have been observed to be very cautious creatures and practice an unusual ritual before exiting their abode. The aardvark stands at the edge of its burrow and uses its excellent sense of smell to detect any nearby predators. It listens for danger and emerges slowly. The aardvark then jumps a few times, pauses, and heads out for the night. Because aardvarks are primarily nocturnal, they don’t have much need for vivid sight and are colorblind. Their long ears and nose do the seeing for them.

The physiology of these soil architects may strike some as strange, but it serves a purpose. The odd, arched silhouette of the aardvark is caused by its hind legs being longer than its front, which gives them a stronger stance when digging. This adaptation, combined with their formidable claws and muscular forelimbs, allows the aardvark to dig a hole 2-feet deep in just 30 seconds – much faster than a human with a shovel.

Photo by Louise Jobert from Wikimedia Commons

Ecological Importance

When aardvarks have depleted most of their territory’s termite mounds or ant nests, they must move on to new hunting grounds. Their abandoned burrows don’t stay empty for long and are occupied by a variety of species. Hyenas, wilddogs, warthogs, civets, and porcupines make their homes in aardvark burrows. The aardvark has an incredible impact on its environment by sculpting the very landscape itself and providing shelter for other creatures.

If you want to learn more about how aardvark burrows support other animals, check out this article documenting the one of the first observations of predators and prey cohabitating in the same burrow.

Burrowing away now,
Joely

Joely Hart is a wildlife enthusiast writing to inspire curiosity about Earth’s creatures. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Central Florida and has a special interest in obscure, lesser-known species.

Sources and Further Reading:
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article274890346.html
https://www.thoughtco.com/10-facts-about-aardvarks-4129429
https://a-z-animals.com/animals/aardvark/
https://animalia.bio/aardvark#facts
https://www.britannica.com/animal/aardvark
https://carnegiemnh.org/a-is-for-aardvark/
https://nationalmuseumpublications.co.za/aardvarks-orycteropus-afer-and-their-symbolism-in-african-culture/

Featured Creature: Prairie Dog

Have you ever heard of a squirrel that barks?

Let me introduce you to the Prairie Dog.

Featured Creature: Prairie Dog — Cephas (Wikimedia Commons)

Sometimes, when walking alone in the high grasslands of the Western United States, you may feel as if you are being watched.

My first encounter with prairie dogs in the wild occurred as I stood in an empty prairie just outside of Badlands National Park in South Dakota. As I meandered along, minding my own business, dozens of furry creatures with beady little eyes appeared, propped themselves up on their hind legs, and began to follow my every step. Prairie dogs are adorable, it is true, but when you see a dozen spread out, standing upright, watching you intently, it can be a bit disconcerting.

They were, however, no threat, and weren’t eyeballing me just to judge me. A prairie dog standing on his hind legs – “periscoping” as it is known – is simply keeping watch for predators. And their distinctive bark? It may sound like “yip,” but it is actually a sophisticated language developed over thousands of years that is still not fully understood by scientists.

Prairie dog barks convey everything about a predator’s size, speed, and location. According to a study at the University of Northern Arizona led by Con Slobodchikoff, Ph.D (see video linked below) pitch, speed, and timbre were all altered in a consistent manner corresponding to the species of predator and the characteristics of each. Certain “yips” could even be interpreted to represent nouns (the threat is “human”), verbs (the “human” is moving toward us), and adjectives (the “human” is wearing an ugly yellow shirt). So now that I think about it, I guess they were judging me, and I am not sure how I feel about that. But still, those are some impressive squirrels.

Wait, did you say squirrels?

Yes.

Squirrels. From the Sciuridae family. Prairie dogs are marmots (or ground squirrels) that bark like a dog, prompting Lewis and Clark to label them “barking squirrels,” which may lack points for creativity but is at least more accurate than calling them “dogs.” Prairie dogs, in fact, have no connection to dogs whatsoever.

Amaury Laporte (CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

There are five major species of prairie dog, who all live in North America at elevations between 2,000 and 10,000 feet. The Black-Tailed prairie dog covers the largest territory, filling an extensive region from Montana to Texas. Gunnison’s prairie dogs occupy the southwest near the Four Corners region. White-Tailed prairie dogs reside in Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Mexican and Utah prairie dogs belong to Mexico and Utah, respectively, and both are considered endangered.

As you may have observed, prairie dogs live in areas prone to harsh extremes of weather. To protect themselves, they dig extensive burrow networks with multiple entrances, designed to create ventilation, route flood water into empty chambers deep underground, and keep watch for predators. Their burrows connect underground, organized into sections called “coteries,” each of which contains a single-family unit responsible for the maintenance and protection of their area. Multiple coteries become “towns” of startling size and complexity. According to the National Park Service, the largest prairie dog town on record covered 25,000 square miles, bigger than the state of West Virginia!

That IS an impressive squirrel.

Indeed.

Over the years, however, the prairie dog’s range has shrunk, scientists estimate, by as much as 99%, largely because of agriculture. Farmers and ranchers tend to regard prairie dogs as a nuisance, as they sometimes eat crops (they are mostly herbivores) and their holes create a hazard for livestock. They will bulldoze their towns or conduct contest kills to remove them, which has had devastating impacts.

Experts consider prairie dogs to be a keystone species. Their loss affects hundreds of other species who rely on them for food or use their burrows for shelter. They are instrumental in recharging groundwater, regulating soil erosion, and maintaining the soil’s level of production. Prairie dog decline, in fact, eventually leads to desertification of grassland environments.

So, an impressive AND important squirrel?

Yes, and the restoration of prairie dog habitats could be a crucial step in mitigating the effects of climate change.

If you’ve caught prairie dog fever, dive deeper into the resources below. And to learn more about Prairie Dog language, check out this fascinating video:

Hoping one day to converse with my personal prairie dog army,

Mike

Mike Conway is a part-time freelance writer who lives with his wife, kids, and dog Smudge (pictured) in Northern Virginia.

Sources:
https://animals.net/prairie-dog/
Prairie dog – Wikipedia
https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/what-do-about-prairie-dogs
Prairie Dog Decline Reduces the Supply of Ecosystem Services and Leads to Desertification of Semiarid Grasslands | PLOS ONE
Prairie Dogs | National Geographic
Prairie Dogs: Pipsqueaks of the Prairie (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

Featured Creature: Bamboo

Photo by kazuend on Unsplash

What organism can grow up to 35 inches in a day, conduct electricity, and survive an atomic bomb?

Bamboo!

With over 1,600 species of bamboo worldwide, this subfamily (Bambusidae) has a great deal of diversity, and well-earned acclaim. These plants are actually the largest grasses, or members of the family Poaceae.

This talented family boasts a remarkable diversity, with bamboo species native to every continent besides Antarctica and Europe. People and cultures across the world have come to prize bamboo for its amazing growth rates, its extraordinary flexibility and strength, and its ecological contributions to clean air, soil, and water. Whether as a symbol of luck and fortune, a provider of adaptable materials, or an ecosystem restoration MVP, bamboo reminds us of nature’s incredible ability to captivate and nurture.

The word “bamboo” is thought to originate in the Malay word “mambu.” During the late 16th century, the Dutch adopted the term and coined their own version, “bamboes,” which eventually became the “bamboo” we know and love today.

One Great Grower

Bamboo holds the crown for being the fastest-growing plant on Earth. Some species can achieve astonishing growth rates of up to 90 centimeters (35 inches) in just 24 hours. While giant sea kelp (actually an algae) can surpass bamboo’s growth rates in ideal conditions, the rapid growth of bamboo remains unparalleled among vegetation and land-based photosynthesizers.

Another of bamboo’s most notable qualities is its ability to be harvested without uprooting the plant. This feature allows for comparatively sustainable manufacturing processes, as bamboo regenerates quickly from its robust root system and does not require its rhizomes to be replanted.

A Pretty Prolific Plant

Over centuries, people have found uses for bamboo in various industries, such as construction, furniture, textiles, and paper, and in the present day many are looking to bamboo for greener alternatives to traditional materials. You might see this trend taking off in the latest utensils, toothbrushes, or toilet papers hitting the market, but experiments using these plants are no new fad.

One of the most famous examples of bamboo taking a central stage in innovation came in 1880, when Thomas Edison used carbonized bamboo fiber to conduct electrical current through a lightbulb. After testing a wide variety of materials, he found the bamboo fiber to perform the best, lasting 1,200 hours as the conductor.

Bamboo harvested at Murshidabad, India (Photo by Biswarup Ganguly, CC by 3.0)

Bamboo is particularly renowned for its unique combination of flexibility and strength. This exceptional quality has made it a popular choice in construction. Notably, in Sichuan, China, a thousand-year-old bridge made of bamboo stands as a testament to the plant’s durability. The bridge is still in use today with ongoing maintenance, showcasing the long-lasting potential of bamboo.

People have naturally turned to bamboo for some of our most fundamental activities, like creating shelter, harvesting firewood, making clothing and home goods, and of course, eating. Bamboo shoots are featured in dishes across Asia, while its sap, seeds, leaves, and even the hollow stalks can be used in cooking or fermentation processes. Bamboo textiles offer durability, hypoallergenic properties, natural cooling, and moisture-wicking capabilities, making them ideal for bedding and clothing. Bamboo has also been used to create paper, writing implements, musical instruments, weapons, fishing and aquaculture equipment, baskets, firecrackers, medicine, and more. Truly, what can’t this plant do?

Bamboo trays used in mussel farming in Abucay, Bataan, Philippines
(Photo by Ramon F. Velasquez, CC by 3.0)

An Asset to the Ecosystem

While humans have found many ways to work with harvested bamboo, I think these amazing grasses are most impressive as living organisms in their environment. Bamboo plays a vital ecological role in its surroundings, working to regulate intact ecosystems and repair degraded ones.

Bamboo’s extensive root system helps control soil erosion, preventing the loss of vital topsoil and providing stability to sloped areas and river systems. Some bamboo species are able to stabilize and hold in place up to six cubic meters of soil with their long roots. Additionally, bamboo can be extremely effective at absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere. In particular, “clumping” types of bamboo that grow thickly in dense clusters can filter air up to 30% more effectively than other plants.

Park signage in New Delhi featuring good filtering plants, including bamboo
(Photo by Maya Dutta)

Bamboo thrives in diverse environments, from tropical to high-altitude regions. It demonstrates exceptional resilience, withstanding extreme cold below -20°C (-4°F) in the Andes and Himalayas and heat up to 50°C (122°F). Notably, bamboo groves were the only plant life to survive the atomic bombings in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945, and were among the first to resprout after the devastation.

Some species of bamboo are able to survive and thrive even in areas of high pollution, making them an extremely important ally in remediation efforts to remove heavy metals or other toxic substances from soil or wastewater. As a result of these advantages, many people have introduced bamboo species outside of their native areas. In doing so, it is essential to be aware of the potential for displacing vegetation important to local wildlife.

Some bamboo that clusters densely can easily crowd out competition, while other bamboo species can produce allelopathic compounds (natural herbicides) that prevent other plants from growing. In any interventions we make, especially for the good of our environments, a comprehensive systems approach is key. Understanding the elements of an ecosystem and the dynamics that make it function, as well as what outcomes you want to bring about, can help prevent single-minded solutions and unintended consequences that harm biodiversity and ecosystem function in the long run.

Bamboo under Spring Rain by Xia Chang (Image from Wikimedia Commons)

Strength in Symbolism

Given its history of cultivation that dates back around 6000 years, it is unsurprising that Bamboo holds deep symbolic significance in cultures around the world. In China, it represents various values, including fairness, beauty, virtue, and strength. Its tall, upright growth is associated with integrity and the ability to adapt to challenging circumstances. In India, bamboo is considered a symbol of friendship and enlightenment, embodying qualities of unity and harmony.

One myth with several variants around Asia tells us that humanity emerged from a bamboo stem. If that is the case, then we are coming back to our roots. Let us embrace all this might mean for us — flexibility, fairness, adaptability, strength, and, of course, our interdependence with the biodiverse wonders of this world.

Rooted in admiration,

Maya

Maya Dutta is a dedicated environmental advocate and ecosystem restorer with a focus on the crucial role of biodiversity in shaping our climate and natural cycles. With extensive training from SUGI and collaborative work with experts like Ethan Bryson and Hannah Lewis, Maya brings specialized expertise in coastal New England region species and Miyawaki projects, from community engagement and plant selection to ongoing evaluation. Notably, she played a key role in planting the first Miyawaki forest in the Northeast US. Her work aims to fight global climate change while improving human livelihoods and community equity.

Sources

Featured Creature: Beaver

Photo by Derek Otway on Unsplash

Which creature fights fires, creates wetlands, recharges groundwater, alters landscapes, and is a climate hero?

Beavers!

At Bio4Climate, we LOVE beavers. We’re borderline obsessed with them (or maybe not so borderline) because they do SO much for Earth’s ecosystems, natural cycles, and biodiversity. These furry, water-loving creatures are finally beginning to receive the recognition they deserve in mainstream media now that more people see how their existence and behaviors lead to numerous benefits for everyone’s climate resilience.

We are one of the many organizations advocating for their reintroduction across North America and some places in Europe. For this reason, when I spotted one on a hike during my time in Tennessee, I did what any Bio4Climate team member would do: jump in excitement, yell out “Oh my gosh it’s a BEAVER!” and take a picture that I’ll treasure forever.

The rockin’ rodent

Beavers live in family groups of up to eight members. Offspring stay with their parents for up to two years, meanwhile helping with newborns, food gathering, and dam building. To create dams, beavers use their large teeth to cut down trees and lug over branches, rocks, and mud until they successfully slow down the flow of water. These dams include lodges that beavers use as bedrooms and to escape from predators. Dams are designed according to the water’s speed: in steady water, the dam is built straight across, and in rushing water the dam is built with a curve. These engineers build their dams in a way that makes them nearly indestructible against storms, fires, and floods.

Look at those bright orange teeth! The color is thanks to an iron-rich protective coating. Beaver teeth grow continuously, and require gnawing on trees for trimming.

Furry firefighters

Beaver dams are what make these rodents, the largest ones in North America, so special. When dams alter the flow of water, they create ponds that stretch out a river into a wide wetland. These ponds filter pollutants and store nutrients that then attract a variety of wildlife including fish seeking nurseries, amphibians looking for shelter, and mammals and birds searching for food and water sources.

The abundance of wildlife and the storage of necessary nutrients in beaver ponds classifies these places as biodiversity hotspots, meaning they are “biogeographic regions with significant levels of biodiversity that are threatened by human habitation” (Wikipedia). Beaver ponds also store sediment, and this helps recharge groundwater. Due to the sheer wetness of these ponds, and how deep the water filters into the soil, fires are often extinguished as soon as they reach a beaver pond. In this way, beavers are nature’s firefighters, of which we need many more in areas where extreme heat is increasing.

“There’s a beaver for that”
— Ben Goldfarb

Wetland Creation
Biodiversity Support
Water Filtration
Erosion Control
Wildlife Habitat

Flood Management
Drought Resilience
Forest Fire Prevention
Carbon Sequestration
They’re Cool (pun intended)

Beavers are considered ‘ecosystem engineers’ because they actively shift the landscape by fluctuating the flow of water and the placement of plants and trees. Muskrats, minks, and river otters also find refuge in beaver lodges. When beavers take down trees, they create pockets of refuge for insects. Using their constructive talents, beavers significantly modify the region and, in turn, create much-needed habitat for many. Numerous creatures rely on beaver dams for survival, and the local ecosystem dramatically changes when a beaver family is exterminated; for these reasons, we also consider them ‘keystone species.’

Disliked dam builders

Despite the positive impact beavers have on biodiversity and ecosystems, we humans have viewed them as fur, pests, and perfume. By 1900, beavers went nearly extinct across Europe and North America. We hunted them for their fur in response to fashion trends, and trapped them for their anal musk glands, or castors, which produce castoreum, a secretion that beavers use to mark their homes and that humans use to make perfume. When beaver populations plummeted, so did the number of dams and ponds, meaning vast swaths of land were drastically altered during this time – and not for the better. To this day, we kill beavers when they wander into military bases or near urban areas since we see their dam-building behaviors as potentially damaging to man-made properties.

Thankfully, as more ‘Beaver Believers’ speak out against these practices and more authorities recognize the importance of beaver benefits, these rodents are beginning to return to their original homes. California recently passed a program specifically for beaver reintroduction efforts across the state. Washington, Utah, and Massachusetts are other states witnessing the return of beavers. People like Skip Lisle of Beaver Deceivers are designing culverts that prevent beaver dams from damaging infrastructure, but allow the beavers to create their biodiverse-filled ponds. These are just a few examples of the ways we can coexist with beavers, and in turn heal our communities.

Beaver Dam on Gurnsey Creek commons.wikimedia.org

Climate heroes

There are places in North America where water sources are decreasing for all living things, and in other regions the amount of rainfall is increasing while the amount of snow is decreasing. These weather conditions are detrimental to all of our health, unless we welcome back beavers.

As the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss increase, storing water, preventing runoff and erosion, and protecting biodiverse hotspots become more important by the hour. By restoring local water cycles, beaver ponds provide a source of life. By spreading water channels and creating new ones, beaver dams prevent flooding and stave off wildfires. By encouraging the cycling and storage of nutrients, beaver ponds nurture soil health and that leads to carbon sequestration. We all have something to gain from beavers as long as we allow them to do what they do best: build those dams.

To learn more about beavers, watch the video below and the two in the ‘Sources’ section. We also highly recommend Ben Goldfarb’s Eager: The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter for further reading.

For all creatures that deserve a feature,

By Tania Roa

Sources:
Why BEAVERS Are The Smartest Thing In Fur Pants
Why beavers matter as the planet heats up
9 Amazing Beaver Facts
Environmental Benefits of Beavers – King County
8 Facts to Celebrate International Beaver Day | Smithsonian’s National Zoo

Featured Creature: Lichen

Image by Jerzy Górecki from Pixabay

Which creature is a combination of two other organisms, comes in bright colors, and helps us measure air quality?

Lichen!

Master of Symbiosis

Though we know lichens as creatures in and of themselves, lichens are actually a result of symbiosis, a mutually beneficial relationship between two or more species. In the lichen’s case, algae and fungi come together to form a new creature. No two lichens are alike. They vary in form, color, and which type of algae they have – either green, blue-green, or both.

The fungus gives the lichen a majority of its traits, including shape and anatomy. The algae determines the color, from orange to yellow to neon green. The fungus partners with the algae out of necessity for food. Since the algae, or cyanobacteria, can photosynthesize, they provide food for the fungus in exchange for shelter. Therefore, each party relies on the other for survival.

Bright orange-yellow lichen growing alongside pale gray-white lichen on a bare tree branch — Image by Emmi Nummela from Pixabay

Abundant yet Unique

From hot deserts and windy coastlines to the arctic tundra, lichen are found around the world. In North America alone, there are thought to be 3600 different species! They grow on trees, rocks, and soil. They can even grow on things made out of one of the above, such as a house made out of wood. If a sand dune remains stable for long enough, soil crusts will form and lichens will begin to appear along the crusts. Essentially, all lichens need is something solid to hang onto.

Lichens require a stable habitat because they take a long time to grow. Every year, they only grow 1-2 mm. To promote their growth cycle, lichens will often partner with moss, adding yet another organism to the party. Mosses are simple plants (meaning they lack roots, stems, and leaves) that retain water, and since lichens have two creatures to sustain (the algae and fungi), this water source is a welcomed one. This partnership is so common that if you look up ‘lichen’ on the internet, a majority of pictures will contain both lichen and moss. They are truly geniuses of cooperation!

Bright yellow-green, shrubby wolf lichen (Letharia vulpina) growing on a weathered branch — The lichen *Letharia vulpina* at Mt. Gleason, CA (Photo by Jason Hollinger from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Welcomed by All

At first glance, it may look like lichens harm trees. (After all, if you or I had something bright green or orange growing on our limbs, we should call the doctor). But fear not – lichens don’t harm any plants they attach themselves to. On the contrary, they benefit many other species, such as birds that use lichen as nesting material. Numerous invertebrates see lichen as a source for food and shelter and, as a result, the more lichen in a forest, the more organisms the ecosystem can sustain.

Humans have reaped the benefits of lichen, too. We have used them for clothing, decorations, and food. They are also highly valued for their antibiotic properties. Today, we use them in toothpastes, salves, deodorants, and other products. So you can thank lichens for helping us stay clean and healthy!

Close-up of pale green cup lichen with small trumpet-shaped stalks tipped with dew drops — Cup Lichen (Image by Jürgen from Pixabay)

A Climate Helper

Since the algae in lichen photosynthesize, lichens contribute to the important function of converting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to oxygen. The fungus in lichen contribute to this function, too, by allowing algae to live in places they wouldn’t be able to on their own. By providing a form of shelter, the fungus gives an opportunity for more algae to exist and thrive, and that means we have more creatures sequestering carbon and stabilizing the climate.

Lichens also play a vital role in soil formation and development by helping to break down solid minerals like rock. This process creates pockets in the soil – perfect for larger organisms to thrive in. It also creates pathways for nutrients to sink deep into the Earth, where they will later benefit plants and other creatures. As we like to say at Bio4Climate, healthy soil makes for a healthy planet.

Last but not least, lichens give us an insight on the amount of pollution in their respective area. Lichens absorb everything around them – including air, nutrients, water, and pollutants. Scientists study lichens in order to understand the type of toxins present in the environment and their levels. This information gives us insights on the root causes of disease and environmental degradation. With that knowledge, we can address issues affecting human and wildlife communities – creating a cleaner environment for us all.

That’s all for now, but I hope you’re lichen this series!
Tania

Former Communications Manager for Bio4Climate, Tania graduated from Tufts University with a Master of Science in Animals and Public Policy. As a writer and activist, Tania emphasizes the connections between planet, human, and animal health. She is a co-founder of the podcast Closing the Gap.

Sources

Featured Creature: Donkey

Photo by Steve Perry

What creatures with iconic ears have allowed humans to expand their horizons, yet are often misunderstood and underappreciated?

Donkeys!

Misunderstood

Donkeys are often expected to act like their larger equid cousins, horses, but donkeys have their own abilities and attributes. Unlike horses, donkeys have evolved to live in desert environments. Their secret lies in their digestive tracts, which are built to get 95% of nutrients from inedible plants, meaning donkeys can survive where many other species can’t.

Their other secret lies in those iconic ears. In the still, mostly quiet desert, donkey ears can hear a fellow donkey call from 60 miles away. To raise the volume, donkeys move their ears towards a particular sound to amplify it. If I’m ever in trouble, I would certainly want a donkey by my side!

On top of their telephone-like capabilities, donkey ears work as a cooling system. Due to the close proximity of the ear’s blood vessels to the surrounding skin, heat that travels through the body gets released once it reaches the ear’s vessels – creating a personal air conditioner.

Featured Creature: Donkey — Photo by Steve Perry

Misattributed

Donkeys have a reputation for being stubborn, and this trait often comes with a negative connotation, but it’s more accurate to say that donkeys are keen observers. Unlike other herbivores, donkeys are more likely to stand their ground rather than run away in the face of danger. They carefully examine situations and will refuse to move if they sense something wrong. Whether they are domesticated or wild, donkeys make decisions for themselves, and they require time to gather information before they make up their mind. On days I’m feeling impulsive, I’ll have to ask myself, “What would a donkey do?”

Underappreciated

Through activities such as grooming, donkeys demonstrate affection for the members of their herd. They are extremely social, even with other species. Donkeys are often used as guard animals for cattle, sheep, and goats. They enjoy being with horses, too, and have been seen adopting orphaned foals.

For centuries, donkeys have accompanied human families through migration routes and daily household chores. To this day, millions of people rely on donkeys to help with water, wood fuel collection, and transportation. From Europe to Africa to Australia, rural communities view their donkey helpers as part of the family. Sadly, we don’t always treat them as such.

Mistreated: Wild Donkeys in Western Australia

In a region of northwest Australia called the Kimberley, a wild donkey herd lives on a holistically managed landscape called Kachana Station. The owners of Kachana Station have conducted research demonstrating how the wild donkeys have improved the health of the land in the past 20 years. Where the donkeys graze, the soil has improved, plants have returned, and wildfire intensity and frequency have decreased. A major study documented that wild donkeys dig wells, which provide water to many wild animals such as marsupials and birds, and create nurseries for plants.

Unfortunately, the Western Australian government is demanding that the owners of Kachana Station shoot the donkeys in their care, or risk facing major fines. Donkeys are non-native to Australia, so the government sees them as nothing but ‘pests.’ However, it is clear that other wildlife, including native species and plants, benefit from the donkey’s presence.

Bio4Climate has been working with people in Australia to spread awareness for Kachana Station’s valuable ecosystem restoration research. To help us with our campaign, please sign our petition and share with family and friends!

By Tania Roa