Leaves of three? Let it be!

Part 1: First Exposure and the facts
I have a distinct memory of summer 2012. I was riding my bike around the beautiful island of Martha's Vineyard when I pedaled up to a house with dozens of goats just hanging out and munching in the yard. I saw the lady who lived there. "Why do you have so many goats?" I asked. 

GOATS!

She responded, "They're here to eat all of the poison ivy off my lawn." Okay, well that was not the answer I was expecting, but it fascinated me nonetheless. The goats could eat poison ivy? Why would they choose that when there are hundreds of other plants and weeds around? Jon McConaughy, co-owner of Double Brook Farm and Brick Farm Market and Tavern says, "In the case of an animal that needs to eat anyway and is being raised for other purposes, then if we can achieve two things at the same time, and save on diesel fuel and save on the impact on the environment, then it works quite well." He explains that poison ivy is invasive, and the animals enjoy eating it so two birds are killed with one stone. When most think of invasive plants, they think they're coming from somewhere else. Poison ivy, however, is native to the US. There are two types of poison ivy, climbing (Toxicodendron radicans) and non-climbing (Toxicodendron rydbergii). They crossbreed frequently, so there are many different variations of the plant.  Some poison ivy plants also have berries, that birds (especially songbirds) love to eat. 

Meme

Part 2: The first-hand experience
The next summer, I woke up one morning with a red, blistering rash all around my lips and nose. I couldn't breathe. It was due to Toxicodendron radicans, or what is commonly known as poison ivy.  I could not breathe, and I went on steroids to help with the pain. If you've ever been on steroids, you would know they don't always make you feel the best. I had it pretty bad, I even passed out in a Thai restaurant while I was attempting to enjoy some curry. It was the worst.

Part 3: A misidentified hero?

But was it the worst? Now I'm not so sure. On Friday, May 25, Ms. Eckert took us to the Sandy Hook Beach through the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium. The women guiding our day mentioned that poison ivy helps keep the beach together. I was just a bit angry because.... what about my face?  What about all the hard work the goats did to un-invade the nice woman's yard? Was it all for nothing? Is poison ivy foe like I had learned to believe? Or is it friend?

Friend or Foe?

Poison ivy makes up 70% of the plants on the beach at Sandy Hook. The more hot and humid the summer is, the more poison ivy there is to look out for, and climate change is a big help in extending the number of poisonous plants. The rise in CO2 in the atmosphere positively correlates with the growth of poison ivy. 

The extensive root system of the plant traps sand blown by the wind, and it allows other plants in the area to grow (this makes it really hard to remove). It also helps to prevent erosion. By removing poison ivy, we're getting rid of a food source for wildlife, and a method of land restoration. 

Figure 4: Urushiol

So it seems poison ivy is a friend to both the beach and the lovely Martha's Vineyard goats, but it still caused the chain reaction that leads me to lie on the floor in my favorite Thai restaurant. So what exactly is it that makes it a foe to us humans?

Part 4: Urushiol (not the villain in The Little Mermaid)
Urushiol is the oil in poison ivy that causes contact dermatitis (itchy, scratchy, bumpy rash) in humans. One billionth of a gram of urushiol can cause the allergic reaction (in 85% of humans--some are not affected). The oil can cling to clothes and tools, but it cannot be contracted through the air, only skin-to-skin contact (so you can still enjoy long days at the beach). Once exposed to the oil, the rash may take up to two weeks to show up. It passes through the epidermis, and your immune response is the rash. 

Urushiol when it comes into contact with the skin

Part 5: The conclusion
There are both good and bad things about poison ivy. While it helps hold the beach together, it causes a horrible itchy rash that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Well, maybe my worst enemy but definitely nobody else.

S is for (P)sychedelic Scallops

Take a trip down to Sandy Hook and you'll find lots of cool things. There are horseshoe crabs, razor clams, oysters, and moon snails. Hidden among these creatures, in the deep blue sea, lies the best bivalve ever: the king scallop. Many of you have probably encountered this beauty on a plate seared in butter but between its two shells hides wonderful mysteries. But before we get into the magicalness of scallop anatomy just take a moment to watch how funny swimming scallops are.

They swim by taking water into their shells and then expelling it rapidly

                                                     

But the real shocker about scallops is that they can see!!!! What?!?!?!?!?!? And...... they have roughly 200 eyes each. Each eye is located on the end of a tentacle that can extend out of the shell. All the eyes are found on the mantle, the fleshy part inside the rim of the shell. Although each eye is the size of a poppy seed, they contain a lens, two retinas, and a mirror.

 Each blue dot is an eye

So how do these eyes work? Because they are so tiny it was a mystery until an Israeli team used super fancy microscopes last year to figure it out. Light passes through the lens and retina because they are pretty see-through. The light then hits the tiny mirror in the back of the eye and is reflected onto the back of the retinas. One retina focuses light to see the periphery while the other retina focuses what is immediately in front of the scallop. The periphery vision is used to find feeding grounds while the immediate vision is used to detect predators.

One of the newest breakthroughs has been to analyze the mirror used in scallop eyes. Human eyes only use a lens and retina so why use a mirror? Lenses are only good for focusing a very limited type of light while mirrors can reflect many more types, allowing the scallop to interpret more of its surroundings. The mirror is made up of guanine, one of the DNA bases. Molecules of guanine are assembled into tiny, flat squares that are arranged like tiles into a flat bottomed bowl structure. The mirror is about 30 layers thick with fluid between the layers. This structure allows the light to be redirected back to where it came from. Because of the structure these eyes are very good at interpreting blue light, the predominant light in the marine environment.

   

 A close-up of scallop eyes

The mirror technology that has been discovered in scallops could help......... space technology!! Telescopes are being designed with the same mirror idea to help scientists see into deep space. Isn't this cool? And to think these majestic beasts were in our own backyard this whole time!

A Not So Holy Insect: The Praying Mantis

I came across the lanky-looking dude below in my very own backyard. I was walking along the steps when I suddenly jumped back, noticing its long limbs and beady eyes staring up at me! Upon further research I found that it was a praying mantis, a Chinese Mantis to be more specific.

Clearly an adult; they grow to be about 9 cm!

Wowza!

These mantises were brought to this continent in the 1890's, and have made themselves at home ever since. Mantises look pretty nice--I mean they are praying, so they must be holy...right?

False.

Female mantises are ferocious. After mating with a male, she may rip his head off. Anthropologists presume it has to do with making mating more feasible, but they also know that there is no need for it to occur in the process. Wild. But they have a good side--for us at least. The praying mantis feeds on insects that are after our flowers and fruits in our gardens, so they aren't all that bad. Well, it's up to you. Are mantises ruthless cannibals or lanky human helpers?

Tasteless Tomatoes

New Jersey is the Garden State. One of my favorite summertime activities is walking down the street to the farmer's market and purchasing fresh and delicious produce, produce which almost always makes it into my meal as soon as I get home.

The Beginning of Our Tomato Garden in Rand Park

Since its very inception, genetic modification has been applied to food sources in designing a product that has a combination of the best qualities. Genetically modified tomatoes bruise less easily and can withstand longer travels, grow more uniformly and consistently than normal tomatoes, and have improved disease resistance. But why are the tomatoes I buy at the store so much bigger, but the ones at the farmers market taste better. Seriously, the ones I buy at the store taste like cardboard. To explore this, the difference between heirlooms, hybrids, and GMOs is essential to understanding.

Heirloom tomatoes got their name from the tactic of seed saving. Historically, farmers would save seeds and pass the seeds down from generation to generation, hence "heir." Seed saving, it seems, is not as easy at it might seem. The health of the "mother" plant, the maturity of the seed, and specific techniques that preserve fertility, and population size must be taken into account. Tomatoes are self-pollinating (they have both male and female reproductive organs) so an isolation distance must be implemented to ensure that cross pollination does not occur. Maintaining genetic diversity in heirlooms is incredibly important because the chances of mutations are increased if a farmer only saves seeds of a particular plant. Therefore, seed-savers must take care that negatively inherited traits are dispersed across a large population of saved plants. As farmers move away from the tactic of seed saving, genetic diversity of tomatoes has decreased, which can be dangerous in a population.

Heirloom Tomatoes Come in All Shapes And Sizes

So what are hybrid tomatoes? Come on, we know alllll about hybrids. (Thanks Mendel!) Hybrids have two different genetic parents. Hybridizers usually aren't thinking about taste when they're making their magic (hence why store-bought tomatoes are often bland), but rather factors like yields, uniformity, disease resistance, size, etc. Plus, you can't save these seeds and expect the yield to be the same. The next generation will have traits that will revert back to one of the genetic parents.

Now, onto GMOs, genetically modified organisms. GMOs have genetic material thats been altered using technology that can, like, do that. There are lots of crops that are GMO-ed, so to speak, including corn, soy, canola, and cotton. But, GMO tomatoes aren't quite as popular. There's a whole GMO debate that I won't get into, but altering plants genetics isn't a new phenomenon.

Given the choice between taste and all those other factors, I'm going to stick with taste. Thanks heirloom!

An Overgrown Shrub to a Majestic Japanese Maple

When my parents first bought our house in Montclair in August 2005, they loved every part of it except for this ugly, 12 feet tall tree that lacked curb appeal. The monstrosity looked dead and took up space in our front yard. Its long branches hung low and it looked like an overgrown bush. After a while, my parents decided they would remove it in the spring. However, little did they know, the tree would gain beautiful red orange leaves and it is worth over $25,000!

My family in 2009, loving our beautiful tree!

After our Japanese Maple gained its leaves and my parents fell in love with the tree for its beautiful color and its low branches, which were perfect for young children to climb, the tree in our front yard has become an integral part of our family. Its winding branches and leaves that cover the inside completely made it a perfect fort for my siblings and I to hide in when we were younger. As we grew out of the tree, our young next door neighbors began climbing in it and now an entire neighborhood has experienced the beauty, strength and joy of our tree. It is an amazing tree that defined my childhood and we seek to protect it, especially from last year's harsh winter (see video below). 

My father risking life during a snowstorm this year to protect our tree! 

The scientific name for our specific Japanese Maple is Acer palmatum var. dissectum. Japanese Maples grow in full sun to partial shade and grow their leaves during the spring and lose them in November. They grow in temperate forests in the Northeastern United States. 

Japanese Maple leaves up close!

Japanese Maples originate from Japan, and the first mention of them in Japan is from the 7th century! Eventually, the first specimen made its way to England in 1820, and then to America in 1860 when George Hall, an American living in Yokohama, Japan, sent back seeds for Japanese Maples. Unfortunately, the Japanese Maples suffered a setback during World War II, as an estimated 300 species were lost due to over-harvesting and garden clearing for resources during the war. 

This panda and I agree that the Japanese should have saved the trees!

This year, my family was concerned because our beautiful Japanese Maple did not lose its leaves in November like the last 13 years where we have watched its leaves gracefully fall to the ground. Although we were initially concerned that our tree was dying, my family did research and found that our tree did not lose its leaves because the cold came too quickly.

Our tree should have looked like this during the winter. 

The science behind our Japanese Maple keeping its leaves is that the quick cold interrupted our tree's biochemical pathways that prepared the tree for the winter. Specifically, our tree, like other deciduous trees, form a layer of cells between the leaves and the branches called an abscission zone when they are planning to shed their leaves. This zone seals the branch off from the leaf and allows for very little water loss when the leaf is shed. This process is caused when the tree releases auxin and ethylene, two plant hormones that cause leaves to shed. The release of auxin and ethylene begin the biochemical pathway, which must have been interrupted this year. 

A photo explaining leaf abscission. 

After learning all of these fascinating biological happenings in our tree, it continues to amaze us after 13 years! Now, go out and buy yourself a Japanese Maple, it will live up to your every expectation! 

Me with my Japanese Maple in 2018!