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June 2015 - Birdfoot Violet, Spotted Turtle

WELCOME TO GREEN FUTURES !
JUNE, 2015

“As Maimonides points out, land which is over exploited is eventually eroded and loses its fertility. The Israelites were therefore commanded to conserve the soil by giving it periodic fallow years and not pursue short-term gain at the cost of long-term desolation. The second, no less significant, is theological: ‘The land’, says God, ‘is Mine; you are but strangers resident with Me’ (Leviticus 25:23). We are guests on the earth.”

-Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

 

 

“A Christian who does not protect creation, who does not let it grow, is a Christian who does not care about the work of God; that work that was born from the love of God for us. We must respond with the responsibility that the Lord gives us.” 

-Pope Francis

 

 

“As it says in the Quran, 'Do not send corruption to the land.' God has given man laws in order to protect the earth, but whoever corrupts and spoils the land is man, man himself. Because the laws of God are against any damage to the environment.”

-Imam Wisam Barhum

 

 

“Many of the earth's habitats, animals, plants, insects and even microorganisms that we know as rare may not be known at all by future generations. We have the capability and the responsibility. We must act now before it is too late.”

-Dalai Lama

 

 

“By destroying plants and forests we become agents for increasing the deadly carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We pollute the air by burning oil for all sorts of machines. We produce unhealthy sounds through our various machinery and instruments which cause sound pollution. By building towns and cities on the banks of rivers we pollute the water. The Hindu religion holds all rivers as holy. Polluting them is a big sin.”

-Swami Vibudhesha Teertha

 

ENVIRONMENTAL UNANIMITY AMONG MAJOR WORLD RELEGIONS – A theological imperative? Are the faithful listening?

Major world religions, according to Wikipedia, have the following number of followers:

Christian  2.2 billion    

Islam  1.6 billion

Hinduism  1.5 billion

Buddhism  376 million

Judaism  14 million

 

Looking at the above numbers and reading the quotes from religious leaders, and then looking at the state of our shared environment, might lead one to conclude that our world environment should be in better shape than it is. What is wrong?

 

Could it be “original sin?” Personal “sin?” Lack of “enlightenment?” “Satan running amok?” “Wrong thoughts?” “Season of the witch?” 

 

Whatever the reason, apparently the religious among us are not heeding the words of their spiritual leaders. Divine intervention desperately needed. 

 

Morning has broken like the first morning.

 

 

RANDOM ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS FROM OUR READERS  - Some interesting and some not so much

From Eco RI comes news of a local tree-sitting activist protesting natural gas and the present New England mania fueling pipeline expansion plans. Here it is. http://www.ecori.org/green-groups/2015/5/19/activist-climbs-into-tree-to-protest-pipeline-expansion

 

Harvard Study shows Massachusetts ecosystems disappearing. Sad news here: http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/press-resources-ecosystem-hotspots-513

 

Texas communities have gas pains. No relief from Governor Abbott and BIG OIL and Gas. http://www.wsj.com/articles/texas-moves-to-prohibit-local-fracking-bans-1431967882

 

Perhaps more gas in Rockland, Maine. They're taking a look at the gas fired power plant right here in Dartmouth.http://knox.villagesoup.com/p/what-a-proposed-natural-gas-power-plant-would-mean-for-rockland/1349417

 

Out of state and local elver poachers were in the news again this spring. Volunteer vigilante elver protectors are watching some of our local coastal rivers and streams. Taking of elvers should be banned in all coastal states. Here's a recent article from Maine, one of only two states where it is still legal to catch and sell elvers. http://bangordailynews.com/2015/05/13/news/state/affidavit-spells-out-allegations-against-maine-elver-dealer/

 

Interesting report from the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration (DER). We are eagerly awaiting the freeing of Rattlesnake Brook and the return of anadromous fish species to the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve. Read DER's report here:http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dfg/der/pdf/phase-iii-benefits-from-stream-barrier-removal-projects.pdf

 

Ideas to save what remains of the Amazon rain forest.http://www.ted.com/talks/tasso_azevedo_hopeful_lessons_from_the_battle_to_save_rainforests?utm_campaign=ios-share&utm_medium=social&source=email&utm_source=email

 

More gas pipeline madness. Umass, Amherst report on Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company proposal.http://ag.umass.edu/sites/ag.umass.edu/files/research-reports/pipeline_natural_resources_assessment_mainline_april_2015.pdf

 

BIORESERVE FLORA OF THE MONTH – Birdfoot Violet (Viola pedata)

 

One of the showiest wildflowers in the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve is the birdfoot violet. These large and showy violets thrive in full sun and grow best in the dry, rocky/sandy acidic soil found in many areas of the Bioreserve thanks to the last glacier that visited the area.

 

Birdfoot Violet has a wide, though spotty, range from the Mississippi Valley east to the Atlantic and from southern Maine to Georgia and east Texas.

 

Birdfoot violet blooms throughout the month of May. This violet grows in small groups from rhizomes to a height of 2 to 5 inches. Unlike typical heart-shaped violet leaves the birdfoot violet has leaves deeply divided into 3 to 5 oval lobes. These narrow and extended lobes roughly resemble a bird's feet, hence the common name of this wildflower.

 

The flowers have 5 light blue-violet to dark blue-violet petals, 5 green sepals and yellow stamens. Flowers are a half-inch to an inch in width. Some varieties have the lower 3 petals a different shade than the upper two petals or with color streaks and patterns that resemble the colors of miniature pansies or johnny-jump-ups, both close violet family relatives. A rare form of birdfoot violet has white flowers.

 

Birdfoot violets have abundant nectar and attract many species of butterflies and bees. Once pollinated small seed capsules form. When mature these capsules split open releasing many tiny seeds. Numerous species of mice and voles as well as seed-eating birds, from tiny sparrows to huge wild turkeys, seek out these seeds. 

 

Caterpillars of the spring azure, various skipper butterflies and many butterflies of the fritillary group feed on birdfoot violet. 

BIORESERVE FAUNA OF THE MONTH – Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata)

The shy and petite spotted turtle is one of the most inoffensive creature in the Bioreserve. Spotted turtles are an aquatic species usually staying close to water, but at certain times of the year spend a considerable amount of time on land.

 

Along with the musk turtle, these black and yellow-spotted turtles are the smallest turtles found in the Bioreserve with a carapace (top shell) length of 3 to 5 inches. That carapace is black with small yellow spots scattered about, sometimes many on each scute (horny plate on the carapace) and sometime only one and very rarely none. The yellow spotting also usually extends to head, legs and tail. There is a large orange spot on each side of the turtle's head and the skin of the legs and inside edges of the shell usually also show some orange coloring. The underside shell (plastron) may be tan, light orange or yellow with a black splotch on each scute. With age these black areas expand. Some very old spotted turtles may have an almost completely black plastron.

 

Female spotted turtles are larger than males, have a convex plastron and normally have more spots on their carapace. They also have shorter tails than males, light red-orange eyes and yellow chins. Males have a concave plastron, long tail, brown eyes and a tan chin.

 

Spotted turtles avoid big water rivers and lakes. They live in small, quiet meadow streams, bogs, freshwater marshes and vernal pools thick with aquatic vegetation. Along the coast they frequent the upper reaches of brackish saltmarsh creeks and pools.

 

Their range is limited to the east coast of the United States, from southern Maine to mid-Florida and from the eastern slope of the Appalachian Mountains to the coast. Also, the Great Lakes area east from lower Michigan, Indiana and southern Ontario to western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania.

 

In early spring, March in our neck of the woods, spotted turtles emerge from the mud and tangles of aquatic vegetation where they had brumated during the winter. Brumation is the cold-blooded reptilian equivalent to warm-blooded mammalian hibernation. 

 

During the hottest days of summer spotted turtles may also have a period of inactivity called estivation where the turtle burrows into the mud or leaf litter until cooler weather or rain reactivates it.

 

The spotted turtles first meal of the spring season is often newly deposited wood frog and salamander eggs. They also eat algae and other aquatic vegetation, insects and other invertebrates and carrion. Like most other mostly aquatic turtle species spotted turtles only eat in the water with head submerged..

 

Spotted turtles mate shortly after emerging in the spring and lay their eggs in May and June. Females lay their 3 to 4 eggs in a shallow hole dug in a sandy location in full sunlight. The sex of hatchlings is determined by soil temperature during incubation. Warm sunny days and the embryos within the eggs will develop as females. Cloudy, cool days and males will result. 

The eggs hatch by late August or September. The tiny, nickel-sized hatchlings are usually born with only one yellow spot on each scute. As they grow more spots develop.

 

Hatchlings immediately head for the lowest spot on the horizon which normally leads them to the nearest wetland area where they walk and swim about until they find the required spotted turtle habitat mix of water, sunlight, mud, vegetative cover and food. 

 

Due to their small size and docile nature spotted turtles are preyed upon by many species of turtle eating birds, mammals and fish. Raccoons with their sharp teeth and long digits, ending in sharp claws, can scoop them out of their shells. “Bet you can't eat just one” bullfrogs are a major baby turtle predator. 

 

Like most of our other turtle species spotted turtles are in slow decline. Development of areas adjacent to wetlands, pollution from agricultural pesticides/herbicides, out of control “mosquito control,” road kills, illegal collection sadly mean this turtle may be heading toward extinction.

 

Spotted Turtle - Creative Commons, Buffalo Zoo

 

 

SWEET, SWEET JUNE - Babies in the woods and fields

June usually brings perfect weather for a walk in the woods. Many animal and bird babies will be out and about in June too. If you see any, please remember that their parent or parents are somewhere nearby worriedly watching you. Take a look ...maybe take a photo ...and move on. 

 

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