Bee Bombs: What is Guerilla Gardening?

In an increasingly concrete world, gardens and green spaces are some of the few connections people have with nature. However, not all gardens are created equal. With the EPA reporting that gardening tools like lawnmovers produce 242 million tons of pollutants every year, it seems like American yards are not as green as we would like them to be. However there is a very easy - and quite pretty - solution: native plants!

Photo of Red Columbine, a native wildflower to North America (including NJ!). 

Native plants are plants indigenous to the region they are in, and can grow without human intervention. It is well known that native plants benefit the environments they are in, from helping fight erosion to promoting biodiversity. However many are pushed off of their environment due to habitat destruction, the introduction of invasive species, or through chemical means (i.e.     pesticide). The easiest way for a local nature lover to help their neighborhood is through the planting of native species. But what about public spaces? Urban areas with no gardens? That's where bee bombs come in. 

Bee bombs, also known as seed bombs, are packages of wildflower seeds that are native to the area. They often have sand included in the packages for easier spreading. In a very unofficial capacity, seed bombs are made to throw wildflowers into the mix of city life. They are easy to make on their own, and when done correctly grow very well! And because of their reproductive strategies they will grow year after year if they seed well. Their low maintenance and high success leads us to our next point: guerilla gardening.

Photo of a California Poppy Field 

The Biophilia Hypothesis, coined by biologist Edward O. Wilson, is the idea that humans desire and have a tendency to connect with nature and other forms of life. In urban and more industrialized areas, there is difficulty in finding green places. Even the places that do have such greenery tend to require maintenance that is just not implementable for many. Guerilla gardening is the act of planting crops or plants in areas that the gardeners do not have rights to cultivate on. Bee bombs are a great tool for guerilla gardeners as they are able to spread wildflowers that will need little attention other than some good-ol-fashion watering. 

These increases in greenery can boost people's mood and mental health according to Marc Berman from the University of Chicago. Guerilla gardening also helps combat social inequalities, as access to nature has some particular barriers for lower income people. In 2018 apartments in the first couple of blocks near Central Park in NYC costed 25% more than in other neighborhoods. These spatial inequalities  in the closeness of parks are not random, and while there is variation across urban areas, the correlation between race and access to greenery is there. 

Increasing the amount of native plants in your area not only helps you, but the bees. Bees and other pollinators are incredibly important to our global ecosystem, which we are a part of. Their pollination allows us to farm food and a multiple of other necessities that we could not live without. However since 2006, bee populations have been on the decline. A large contributor to that is Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which is when a majority of worker bees abandon the hive leaving the queen and a few nurse bees to tend to the young. The causes of CCD can be attributed to many things, however at large it is pesticide, habitat loss, chemicals, disease, and climate change. A lot of which leads right back to humans. While many changes have been made to help combat CCD, you can do something too! Plant native wildflowers and plants in your garden. As stated before, native plants are a boon to their respective ecosystems. Bees have shown increased preference for native plants, as a majority them have specializations for foraging their own native plants. So in all, PLANT THEM NATIVE PLANTS!

Us AP Bio students (+ Ms. Eckert) have done our own project to make pollinator beds, that is plant beds of native wildflowers that will attract pollinators. First created 5 years ago, AP bio students have worked hard to make the bed a great place for our neighborhood bees. Here are some photos from this year (2022)!

 

The original bed (2017 AP Bio)

                                                                                Period 7 hard at work (2022)

                                                                                Me at the plant bed 

                                                                    Syd and I checking in on the plants

                                                                               For the Next Bio students

Growing your own plants may seem daunting, however if the right plants are grown you can both beautify your neighborhood and help the Earth!

Parasitism in Plants - the Vampires of the Natural World

They're pale, slightly shimmery, slender, and feed off of the living things around them. You may think I'm referring to vampires, especially those of the modern day pop culture varietal, but in fact I'm referring to Ghost Pipes or Monotropa uniflora L. Ghost Pipes are a parasitic plant native to North America. They grow in damp shaded areas of forests. With a bit of patience and a knack for exploring, Ghost Pipes can be found not far from our own backyards from June to September. 

A trio of Ghost Pipes I found growing in Pennsylvania.

Ghost Pipes are beautiful and striking, in part because of their entirely white flowers and leaves. In stark contrast to the moss and foliage of the forest floor, Ghost Pipes are white with the occasional fleck of black or blush of pink. The reason plants are thought of as so characteristically green is because of chlorophyll, the pigment necessary for photosynthesis. Without chlorophyll plants can't effectively capture energy from the sun, making it impossible for them to convert unusable energy to usable energy. This of course raises the question: How on earth do Ghost Pipes survive? The answer is just as fascinating and strange as these little plants - parasitism. The vampire jokes from earlier were not entirely out of context, but instead a reference to Ghost Pipes survival technique. A parasite is defined as an organism that gains resources from another organism in a way that negatively effects the host. This includes tapeworms, leeches, and head lice. Ghost Pipes are an elegant and unexpected addition to this group. Despite their divergences in aesthetics, Ghost Pipes meet all the scientific criteria of a parasite. Instead of photosynthesizing to produce usable energy Ghost Pipes feed off of the energy of trees through myccorhizal fungi. Ghost Pipes gain the carbohydrates and nutrients needed to survive by, in essence, hacking the systems trees use to communicate. Myccorhizal fungi use a different type of mutualism to survive, which is called symbiosis. Instead of hurting their host for their own gain like a parasite does, in a symbiotic relationship both organisms benefit. In this case, myccorhizae grow throughout the root systems of plants assisting in the absorption of phosphorous and nitrogen, compounds necessary to life. In return, myccorhizae receive carbohydrates. This symbiotic relationship provides a net gain for both parties. 

Studies have recently uncovered that myccrohizae don't just help individual plants, but instead interconnect groups. Myccorhizal system are predominantly underground, often stretching larger than the root system of any one plant. This allows plants to pass signals and resources to other plants through myccorhizae. 

Ghost Pipes in leaf litter

Entering into this fascinating interconnecting web is the Ghost Pipe. Instead of taking resources directly from the tree, the Ghost Pipe connects to the myccorhizal system. Ghost Pipes fool the fungi by acting as if they are forming a myccorhizal relationship. Once they're in the system they can gain sugar and nutrients the tree produces through the myccorhizae. 

Ghost Pipes are not alone in this habit, in fact, many different plants are parasites of myccorhizae. Although we traditionally view parasites with disdain, the presents of Ghost Pipes, and their relatives the snow plant, the broomrape family, pinesap, and American cancer root are indicators of a healthy forest and a healthy miccorhizal system. 

Should you ever come across one of these botanical draculas, be sure to keep looking because you're bound to find some fantastic fungal evidence of the myccorhizal systems they feed on, or at the very least some more Ghost Pipes!

Cancer root I found in the leaf litter of a local trail. 

Hydrangeas and their many hues

If you're familiar with hydrangeas (specifically H. macrophyllas), you probably recognize them as the nice big flowers that appear out on the lawns of Montclair, and towns alike, seasonally each year. What you might even recognize if you've paid close enough attention is that their colors change from time to time, despite remaining the same type of plant. And, if you're an AP biology student like me who's paid close attention in class, then you would know that this is an example of phenotypic plasticity! Phenotypic plasticity is the ability for change in characteristics such as appearance as a direct response to change in the environment. It occurs when individuals with the same genotype exhibit different phenotypes in different environments.

What makes hydrangea flowers susceptible to color differentiation is variation in the pH of the soil it's rooted in. The pH level is what determines how much aluminum the plant will take in, in turn affecting the color that is expressed. When soil has been found to be more acidic (lower pH), the flower color appears closer to blue. Whereas when the soil is more alkaline (higher pH), the flower color appears closer to pink. The values in between those numbers produce purple flowers with a hue closer to pink or blue depending on if its a higher or lower pH. It is also possible to see a combination of pink and blue flowers existing on a single plant at the same time. This is possible when the roots supporting a given number of stems of one plant are grown in soils with differing pH. Furthermore, some flowers of this plant species only produce white or light green petals regardless of the soil's pH. 

Visual taken from an article shows the range of flower color in relation to pH levels numbered on a scale from more acidic to more alkaline.

In addition to natural change in soil pH that causes these flowers to change color, people have been able to manipulate how acidic/alkaline the soil is through a selective breeding process of artificial selection. Artificial selection is defined as the identification by humans of desirable traits in plants and animals, and the steps taken to enhance and perpetuate those traits in future generations. 

When eighteenth-century gardeners first noticed that hydrangeas could change colors, they experimented in various ways to find out what it was that was controlling this change. These experiments included burying rusty nails, pouring tea, or even chanting spells around their plants. Now however, we are aware of the factor that controls this phenotypic change and people today control it by simply altering the pH of soil through soil additives that work to adjust the amount of aluminum present. Although this may sound like a quick process, these color changes happen to take around one to two growing seasons, and require regular watering with specific amounts of additive to be successful. 

To understand why this works, it's necessary to think at a more molecular level. In acidic soil, aluminum ions are mobile due to other readily available ions that they can react with. In this case, aluminum occurs in coordination complexes, with its ions at the center surrounded by bonded strings of other molecules, allowing the ions to migrate from the soil up into the hydrangea's bloom. In neutral to basic (alkaline) soil however, the ions combine with hydroxide ions to form immobile aluminum hydroxide, which does not get taken up by the plant. Accordingly, in order for a hydrangea to change color from pink to blue, both aluminum ions and acidic soil are needed, which can be implemented by adding aluminum sulfate. On the other hand, to change color from blue to pink, adding lime (calcium hydroxide) is what results in the necessary basic soil. 

The composition of hydrangeas are further unique in that their colors come from just one pigment, rather than several as in most flowers that can produce different colors. This sole pigment is known as delphinidin-3-glucoside, and comes from the anthocyanin family (the same group that turns leaves red in autumn). The color of the pigment, is a function of its molecular structure, which determines what wavelengths of lights are absorbed. The structure of these molecules consist of a central three-ring carbon chain with one oxygen substitution, called a flavylium cation at low pH, where various sugars are connected. As the environmental pH changes, the anthocyanin pigment loses one or more hydrogen ions, which causes change to its absorbance spectra.

Image of soil additive product sold  
by Gardener's Supply Company

    Image of blue Hydrangea macrophylla plant 

Now, although I have been referring to these extraordinary plants as flowers, most of the ones we see today are actually flowerless. This was pretty surprising to me, as I had not been aware of the fact and thought what I'm sure most of you reading are thinking, "How could plants that appear exactly as flowers not be flowers?" Well, this is because of a lack of reproductive parts. These appealing hydrangeas are merely sterile clusters of colorful 'petals', which for correct terminology, are really sepals. Without the reproductive parts of a flower, there is no pollen or nectar made available for pollinators, and this inhibits natural form of plant reproduction. This is why you won't regularly see bees attracted to these plants! 

There are however, several other hydrangea species that are fertile and attract bees frequently. In the scientific tree of life, Hydrangea is classified as a genus with over 75 species of flowering plants. The wide variety of these plants are found native to Asia and the Americas. As the primary focus of this post, the most common specie of Hydrangea are Hydrangea macrophylla, which are also referred to as big leaf hydrangeas, mophead hydrangeas, and hortensia. Plants that share the scientific name, but have fertile flowers, are usually known as lacecaps. These types of hydrangeas can come in many beautiful varieties and have the added benefit of being great for pollinators. They grow with similar sepals as the mopheads, but instead of their sepals being all clustered together, they are spread out around clusters of tiny, fragrant, fertile buds.   

Pictured are lacecap hydrangeas

An additional fact about hydrangeas is that they are very admirable to deer who enjoy snacking on them. I was reminded of this by an adorable deer that came to my yard recently, searching for some of these plants to munch on (which I happened to catch on camera)!

A local deer looking for some delicious hydrangeas to eat along with other tasteful shrubs.

Fine and Dandy! (Dandelions 101)

Dandelions! We see them everywhere we go; why not learn a bit about them? Read on for some biology, history, and fun facts about the orange-yellow puff ball of a plant.

A bright and sunny dandelion in full bloom. Image from Wikipedia

Dandelions get their name from the French word for "lion's tooth," because of the serrated leaves on dandelions in full bloom (check out the image on the left). Dandelions, with the scientific name, Taraxacum officinale, have the longest flowering season of any plant -- the flowering season being only one stage of their unique, fascinating reproductive cycle. Dandelions reproduce via apomixis, the formation of seeds through asexual fertilization. After dandelions flower, they become gray puff-balls as they enter the seed-dispersal phase (the second image displays this stage). Each seed has a parachute-like quality, allowing the wind to blow them off of the weed's stem, and be planted all over (if your lawn has dandelions, chances are they're not just in one spot!).

Dandelions are just like any other plant, in that they use sunlight for energy to grow (this is called photosynthesis!) Sunlight absorption is key -- in fact, the greater the surface area of the dandelion leaves, the more sunlight they can absorb, and most often, the taller they get. This is particularly easy for humans to see/measure because dandelions are weeds, so by definition, they spread and grow at rapid speeds.

Unfortunately, in Montclair and in countless other grass-heavy locations, pesticide is used to kill dandelions because they grow in such large quantities on lawns. I say "unfortunately" because pesticides have been shown not only to be detrimental to the plants they are sprayed on (that's kind of the point in this case) and the animals that inhale them, but may be linked to many human diseases such as Alzheimers, ADHD, and even birth defects. Just something to think about.

An interesting fact to end this post: Dandelions were brought to North America by the early colonists, and were actually used as a healing herb because of their nutritious consistency. In fact, some herbalists consider the dandelion to be an effective treatment for liver disease, given its ability to clean the bloodstream and increase bile production -- the more you know!

In fact, just last night I had dandelion leaves in a salad last night -- they're a bit bitter but mixed with other greens added a fun and healthy flavor to my dinner!

A dandelion that has gone to seed. Image from Wikipedia.

Blowing dandelion seeds has universal appeal, unless you are someone who is obsessed with a perfectly manicured, green lawn. Can you see any adaptions when looking at the image above? I marvel at these perfect little reproductive parachutes.     

More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Grass

I sat in the grass in Rand Park. Whatever would I write my blog post about? What was important enough to demand a full post on the MHS Biology Blog? The grass had recently been cut (after months of overgrowing) and I was inspired by it's freshly chopped smell.

This is a pretty familiar sight, right? Grass is so common in our everyday lives. Go grass.

Grass covers over 20% of the earth’s land surface. It’s everywhere. And as it turns out, grass has a semi-interesting history.

Here’s how it goes:

Grass began to evolve in South America and Africa 60 million years ago, as is evidenced by the pollen fossils found from around that time. Grasses are classified by their unique pod shapes and their age of maturation - far earlier than other plants of the time. Soon after, the grasses evolved the ability to thrive in dry and open areas. This began their takeover of the earth.

Soon, grasses covered the plains of the world. (Soon being a relative term, I’m talking in terms of 10s of millions of years). Animals evolved to eat the grass - the ancestors of cows, sheep, zebras and the like. Grasses outputted a different form of carbon gas that was easily digestable by the animals -- but not humans. Don't worry though, soon, own ancestors began to creep onto the grass-covered plains, intrigued by the food source the herbivores themselves might provide.

Of course, there was one problem. ¡Predators! Grass had not evolved to be incredibly tall, and those crossing the grasslands were at risk of being attacked by the ancestors of lions and other big cats. Only some could survive in these conditions. Only the bipedal ones, who could run much faster through the plains. Early humans thus evolved their current stance.

Look at how the sun shines on it. So majestic. And with such a rich history. 

So it turns out grass and us go way back. Nowadays it’s pretty comfortable to lie on and decorates the ground here in Rand Park, and I think we take it for granted. So here's a quick thank you: Thanks Grass!

The Monster in Your Garden

Most people have seen it. It surrounds brooks, rivers, streams, and houses. It will take over your land, one square inch at a time, preventing organisms from surviving. Once it comes, it almost never leaves. This demon is your worst nightmare. It will prevent you from selling your house, it will destroy your land, it is Japanese Knotweed also known as Fallopia japonica.

Japanese knotweed is native to East Asia in Japan, China, and Korea. This plant grows rapidly and spreads quickly as well with up to 2 meters in one season. Its underground root system can even stretch for 7 meters! 

Japanese knotweed roots

It frequently grows in ecosystems where temperatures are relatively moderate, rather than extremely hot or cold. Commonly found on roadsides, waste places, and near small bodies of water, it forms thick, dense colonies that crowd out any other plant species. Today, it is considered one of the top worst invasive species in the world. Its success is thanks to its tolerance of a very wide range of soil types, pH, and salinity.

Japanese knotweed is listed by the World Conservation Union as one of the world’s most invasive species. It was first introduced to Britain by the Victorians in the 100s as an ornamental garden plant, but now England spends over 2.8 billion dollars a year attempting to fight it annually. It increased the construction of the 2012 Olympic Stadium by over 70 million dollars! Japanese knotweed has invaded countries such as New England, Australia, and Tasmania. So far, the monster has been found in 39 out of 50 states in the US and 6 Canadian provinces. Japanese knotweed was subsequently introduced to the U.S. for use in ornamental hedges and for erosion control. The Japanese knotweed spreads is entirely through the deliberate or accidental movement of rhizome fragments or cut stems. It has an extraordinary ability to spread vegetatively, a process by which new organisms arise without production of seeds or spores, from crown, stem and rhizome (underground root).

Montclair is one of the sad towns that has been attacked by the monster. Japanese knotweed is located in our very own High School Amphitheater!! Montclair's own STEM department and a professor from MSU worked together to measure rates of photosynthesis, transpiration, and how the Japanese knotweed affected fresh water levels.

Toney's Brook in the amphitheater. The knotweed gets cut back every year for graduation but of course it grows back.

How do you know if you have the monster in your garden? Well that’s what we are here for! Japanese knotweed has hollow stems with distinct raised nodes giving the plant the appearance of bamboo, despite the plants not being closely related. The stem reaches a height of 3-4 meters each year, however smaller plants are everywhere too. The leaves are a broad oval shape with a base that is 7-14 cm long and 5-12 cm wide. The flowers are small, cream/white in color and are produced in late summer/early fall.

One of the most common ways to get rid of the monster is to eat it. A favorite recipe is Japanese Knotweed bread. This recipe was brought to us by Herbalpedia. In order to create this fabulous recipe you will need:

Materials

2 cups unbleached flour
½ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg
2 Tbsp salad oil
¾ cup orange juice
¾ cup chopped hazelnuts
1 cup sweetened Japanese Knotweed Purée

Process

Preheat oven to 350F. Sift dry ingredients together into a large bowl. Beat the egg white with the oil and orange juice. Add along with hazelnuts and purée to dry ingredients. Do not mix until all ingredients are added, and blend only enough to moisten. Do not over mix. Spoon gently into buttered 91/2-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan. Bake about 1 hour or until a straw or cake tester inserted in the center comes out dry. Cool by removing from pan and placing it on a rack. For muffins, spoon into buttered muffin tins and bake about 25 minutes.

By Brigie Coughlin and Samantha Chee

Biggest species extinction since dinosaurs

Right now more species are becoming extinct since the mass elimination of dinosaurs 65 million years ago. And it's all because of human activity.



The Earth naturally goes through environmental cycles and species extinctions, yet the rate at which that occurs is generally one to five species a year, where as right now around a dozen are becoming extinct everyday! If this continues to happen, we could be looking at around 30-50% of all species becoming extinct by the mid-century.

Humans account for 99% of all activity threatening animals on this Earth, from habitat destruction, introduction of invasive species, and global warming. And because of the complex nature of ecosystems, one individual species could be a keystone species, causing a snowball affect of destruction on an area. Keystone species are organisms that greatly affect and are depended on in an ecosystem, where if removed cause dramatic change.

Species diversity is crucial towards successful ecosystems, and while certain terrains such as coral reefs and rain forests need genetic and species diversity,  less inhabited lands such as tundras, grasslands, etc could be completely devastated if a handful of species becomes extinct.

As humans, we must realize that we do not own this Earth, we are merely one species out of the millions of others. This human supremacy must be taken down and the realization that if actions aren't taken to preserve the multitude of living things, there will be a time with no elephants, red wood trees, killer whales, or the diversity that makes up our amazing Earth.

Phototropism in our Plants

Over the course of the year, there have been a few attempts by our biology classes to grow plants within our crowded classroom. First we worked with fast plants, which grew extremely quickly as the name suggests, then pansies, and we have now moved on to plant an assortment of morning glories and moonflowers. As the morning glories and moonflowers are beginning to develop however, it is plain to see that as their stems shoot up they don’t grow straight, but in a curved line. What is especially fascinating about this pattern of growth is that although the other plants we have grown were placed in similar conditions, except those being used in experimental groups, none of the other groups of plants seemed to have such an intense tendency to slant as they matured. The fast plants we grew did tilt slightly, but not to the same degree as the morning glories and moonflowers being grown now. Below are two images, on the left are fast plants and on the right are some of our moonflowers and morning glories:

Fast Plants Moonflowers and Morning Glories

The phenomenon we are noticing is not unprecedented, in fact we learned about it during our studies this year, and it is called phototropism. Phototropism is the potential of a plant to elongate to move towards or away from light. This process works because plants produce a hormone called auxin, which promotes the elongation of coleoptiles, in their tips and then spread it to their other cells. When there is only one light source the hormone spreads unevenly throughout the plant, accumulating on the dark side and causing it to grow more quickly, resulting in the curve of the plant.

The direction that our plants are leaning is consistent with the explanation of what phototropism is since our plants are growing towards the window, which has a greater source of light than what can be found in the classroom. Still, it is peculiar that these plants are sitting under grow lights, which are artificial lights designed to stimulate plant growth by emitting wavelengths of light sufficient for photosynthesis, and surrounded by light from the windows and the classroom, yet they arch to one of these three light sources that surround them. An even more peculiar question to pose is why did the other plants we grow not arch to the window when they were subject to the same conditions? Do we keep the classroom lights off more than we did during other times of the year because the temperature is so high and we want to remain cooler? Is the fact that it is summer in our part of the world and we have a more direct angle towards the sun changing our results? Are the grow lights not on as consistently as they were during other times of the year? Or maybe the shorter amounts of daylight that we experienced earlier in the year caused the plants to rely more on the artificial lights than the current plants do, resulting in straight as opposed to curved growth.

All of these questions can be overwhelming, but it is the nature of scientists to be curious and pose questions from their observations. As Albert Einstein once said "The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence." If scientists were not able to formulate questions and quandaries from the information they gathered, then no new theories or hypothesis would ever arise, and there would be no need for experiments to support or disprove new ideas. Essentially, science would not exist as it does today because there would be a halt in the flow of ideas and experimentation. Scientific discoveries would stop. And although so many unknowns is a lot to process and analyze, forcing oneself to answer them allows a person to realize details that they might have otherwise overlooked. In the case of explaining the phototropism in the morning glories and moonflowers for example, after asking all of these questions I remembered that the grow lights were lower when the fast plants were growing, which could account for the fast plants not having as extreme of a slant. Moonflowers and morning glories also grow on vines, which means that the slant the plants have exhibited thus far could represent the tendency vines have to bend and twist. 

Hopefully more investigation will be able to yield a definitive answer to the cause of phototropism in our plants before the end of the year, but whatever the cause it is remarkable that we are able to see some of the information we learned about in our biology class develop on its own before our eyes.