This is a collection of articles dealing with organic gardening, ecology, environmental restoration, news items of interest, travel and just about anything else I find of interest and willing to share with others around the globe. - ENJOY!
On that note regarding nature, first of all you need to know that for successful detailed observation of Nature it does NOT require a Scientific Lens. You do NOT need to be Credentialed. You do NOT need Alphabet Soup Intitials behind your name on some business card. Same thing when it comes to making judgements about people, you don't need to be a psychologist. The old saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover," is a metaphorical phrase that means one shouldn't prejudge the worth or value of something (or persons) by its outward appearance alone. In other words people will often not take the time to open a book to find out it's true contents if the cover & title do not have that eye candy appeal. Humans have done this for centuries and the result has brought us our present world of disunity & intense hatred which has further resulted unintended consequences of our present planet's degraded natural world. Yup, we are at a crossroads of where our planet's natural world is collapsing at an ever increasing rate because living things are being judged for the same reasons that people throughout history judged by other people from the very beginning. As imperfect human beings we all do it. We can't help it. We're predominantly visual creatures. Much like the advertisement on any product's wrapper in which consumables are packaged, this appeal to the eye not only powerfully affects what interests us, but also how we react when we open and view the contents we find inside. Scary isn't it ? 😟
Here's where often Nature falls Flat in the Eye Candy Appeal Department
Years ago in the early 1970s while in High School, I became intrigued with how various plant ecosystems functioned aside from all those narratives stated in all the science-based textbooks in my Ornamental Horticulture class. What I noticed was that people basically chose plants based on looks, colour, fragrance, food source, money making ventures, etc. Still there were 1000s of others out there that I reasoned must serve some type of useful function & purpose within the environment. Below here I stumbled upon a list somebody jotted down about important qualities for people to cultivate which they considered necessary for getting at the truth about how the natural world really works. Mainly it takes a lot of patience and careful observation in arriving at the truth which may even may lead one to alter their previous worldview on matters regarding Nature.
Illustration - Keri Smith
The one thing you have to appreciate is that Nature has basically been successful for countless 10s of 1000s of years, long before the 1950s Green Revolution where scientists insisted mankind could be saved from itself if they only gave unquestioning obedience and allegience to the prevailing Scientific Orthodoxy. Most of my Agricultural & Ornamental Horticultual textbooks back in the early 1970s were heavily influenced and inspired by the well known agro-chemical 1950s green revolution introduced by the former industrial munitions manufacturing corporate giants of World War II (both Allies & Axis Powers), now using those same bomb making chemicals for peace time agricultural business interests who claimed they only wanted to feed the world. Think I'm kidding ??? Look at this memory lane video from this 1977 Chevron commercial where they reminded us of just how harsh and unforgiving nature really was and without the help if industrial science to save us from an unforgiving planet, we had no chance.
Most of that technology was based on gross ignorance of how Nature actually works out in the wild. Pause and consider, for countless 10s of 1000s of years our planet's natural world operated like a well oiled finely tuned machine. What happened later was a little thing called human ignorance & arrogance (you can also throw in greed). Amazingly what Chevron did was use a soft warm reassuring voice of a well known actor & voice-over artist named, Mason Adams. You may remember Mason Adams was the Character Actor that starred on the TV Show "Lou Grant'. He was also the famous voice of those Smuckers Jams and Jelly TV commercials. Remember, "With a name like Smuckers, it has to taste good" ??? And people believed it and responded by throwing their hard earned money at what was advertised. He was also the famous voice behind that 73 AMC Matador Dealer Film or 64 Buick Wildcat Commercial. Indeed, so comfortable and reassuring was Mason Adams' voice, that back in the 1950s/60s that same warm Mason Adams' voice could get you to believe that Chesterfield Cigarettes were good for you and millions followed that lead much to the unintended consequences of bad health and early death. It's all marketing folks and Science has been good at marketing junk for decades and now we have Climate Change as a result. Most of the green people won't admit that of course, but it's true. Bad Science led us all here. Let's fast forward and visit another subject known as "Plant Blindness."
Back in September of 2018 of last year, the Memoria Press published an article by Martin Cothran dealing with the subject of plant blindness. The article was interesting in that it revealed far too many college students taking plant science courses are incapable of actual identification of plants (trees, shrubs, etc). But instead these students are studying plants from a commercialized applications perspective. Nobody, really seems interested in the plants and how they function and what purpose they serve within any ecosystem anymore. Like the illustration on the right, today's average student has those racehorse blinkers on which prevent them from having a peripheral view. One of the best quotes in that article was this one below:
"Not only are there fewer university botany programs, but those who graduate from them may not be well versed in plant identification. The cutting edge of plant science, which has commercial applications, is molecular. Students and universities are following the significant money."
One of the most demonized Chaparral Plants in California - Chamise (Adenostoma fasticulatum)
Photo - Gabi McLean (Eaton Canyon)
In the historic past, many ancient peoples were very familiar with a great variety of plants. Many Native Americans for example well knew which plants they could derive potions, pultices, and/or poisons, and eventually most European would have learned and recognised these same plants for food, medicine, etc. By comparison, research has shown that most modern day people can’t even name more than a few wild flowers. This is sad because it means people no longer take the time and patience to find out what good and beneficial qualities many plants serve either for us or their value and purpose within any ecosystem. Of course there’s a name which has been created for this inability to notice or recognise plants in one’s own environment, it's called “plant blindness.” Most of Earth's population resides in major large cities and urban centers, so generally speaking most city dwellers over time have been separated from nature. So there is very strong disconnect between humans and the environment, and we’re basically blind to the natural world around us. This is further exacerbated by the fact that humans spend less time outdoors in favour of their addiction to electronic devices.
Fathers are supposed to take the lead
Without giving a long list of the so-called ugly plant examples where people have judged certain plants worthless based solely on outward appearances, let's just take one classic example from California where I am from, Adenostoma fasciculatum (Chamise or Greasewood). This plant is often admittedly rugged and rangy looking, hence not even on a choice list of garden ornamentals. The second common name given to this plant, "Greasewood," is meant as a derogatory term describing it's explosive flare up in the event of wildfires because of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present within it's woody stems. Of course what many people forget is that most all plants do burn ferociously under the right insanely windy weather conditions. Look at the tropical Amazon rainforests. Who would have thought wet humid tropical plants would easily go up in smoke so ferociously ??? Many also consider Chamise to be competitive towards other more desirable plants even considering it invasive in it's own native habitat, often because it dominates the wild landscape where it is native. In other words none of the desirable plants can get a foothold because of Greasewood's presence. This is totally false of course and I have my own personal experience with the plant to testify to that.
Image - Mine 2015
First, from a purely observational viewpoint, I've seen California Holly, Parry Pinyon, Coulter & Jeffrey Pines including both Cuyamaca & Tecate Cypress on steep southern slope exposures in direct sunlight exposure thrive where the plant community is dominated by Chamise. I found that curious and odd decades ago when I first noticed this in the San Jacinto Mountains above Palm Springs, California, because I also at one time viewed Chamise as an aggressor. But apparently it's not an aggressor as much as a facilitator of other plants ability to survive. One other remarkable thing about Chamise is that it will grow where most other plants will not. It has an incredibly deep root system (several meters deep). This is important for erosion control. Chamise's deep root systems will penetrate fractured rock and facilitate hydraulic life & redistristribution of water to other plants during the summer hot months and pump excess water into subsoils during the rainy season to be used later and shared with other plants if conditions are right. AND during acceptionally wet period events, this normally Endo-Mycorhizal host plant will become Ecto-Mycorrhizal by sending out chemical messages through it's root exudates to alert ectomycorrhizal fungi to colonize it's roots which will in turn help all oak and pine seedlings to pioneer and colonize into chaparral plant communities where they did not exist previously. The seeds themselves being incredibly heavy were placed there by the common ScrubJay. Same with it's relative the Redshank or Ribbonwood (Adenostoma sparsifolium) chaparral shrub. Major changes in one's worldview is drastically needed here.
A little thing called "Plant Blindness" all begins with Man's judgement of fellow Man
The majority of mankind are traveling on a broad and spaceous motorway where fast paced lifestyle, impatience and lack of being content dominate. Like literal motorways or freeways, these expressways were purposefully created to replace what was viewed as slow, outdated & old fashioned. Yet the old curvey and twisting two lane highway never offended the land. Rather they moved with the landscape, around obstacles rather than blasting through them. Yes, it was slower and took more time, but you got more out of the travel through adventure. Mankind in general needs to slow waaaay down and ditch the broad and spaceous Motorway and opt for the narrow and curving cramped one. We hear today about all these paradigm shifts and progressive movements, but in actuality these are nothing more than the same old recycling of failed ideas dressed up to look enlightened and sophisticated. Our world continues on a sharp decline. Getting back to that laundry list above on how to be a better explorer, let's just look at that first jotted down point.
#1 Always be looking (notice the ground beneath your feet)
Photo is mine from 2013 (south of Julian, CA)
I love this first suggestion of always be looking at the ground beneath your feet as you walk or hike. It took some years before I really started doing this more and more. A lot of that habit came from slowing down, observing and later doing more research about things that interested me. The photo above is of a Pisolithus tinctorius truffle or mushroom I saw on a small game trail in the Chaparral brush habitat off Hwy 79 south of the town of Julian at the Desert Viewpoint Overlook. Had I not slowed down decades ago and taken time to gain experience and do research, the intuitiveness to spot what was hidden in plain sight, this truffle would have gone unnoticed. Like the average person on a hike, I probably would have passed over this truffle thinking it was nothing more than another stone. But lo & behold I was able collect a large sack of dried curred PT Mycorrhizal truffles whose chocolate spore powder I would use for injection into my landscape on host trees back down in El Cajon. Below here in the 2nd photo of the same truffle, but I've cleared away the debris from the truffle to reveal it's true nature in the second photograph as compared to image above where it's almost camoflaged.
Photo is mine from 2013 (south of Julian, CA)
image - Wikipedia
It took me a long time to develop deep appreciation for what some call the Dog Turd Fungus (Pisolithus tinctorius) you see above. I mean it's not the most photogenic of Mushrooms or truffles. Not as popular as the Christmas mushroom icon & Mario Bros Game energy mushroom known as Amanita muscaria or more commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita pictured to the right. This popular forest mushroom is known for it's distinctive eye candy appearance, known for bright bright red (sometimes bright yellow) with white spots, and for their hallucinogenic properties. Here in Sandinavia where I now live, the Saami & Siberian Shamans originally dressed up in Santa Claus type outfits & used this drug trip inducing mushroom to get in touch with the spirit world. Hence the reason for so many ancient myths continuing to live on.
But getting back to the uglier Pisolithus tinctorius truffle, it too has some remarkable qualities. Although not being as pretty as other mushrooms, it has amazing purpose and function in forested ecosystems where they are found. In the High Desert Mountain ranges and Chaparral plant communities of California where I come from, a healthy plant community and forested ecosystem thrives where these fungi are present. Why ???
Image - UGA Pecan Extension (Lenny Wells)
Image - Mike's Fab Shop
Shouldn't take a genius to see the advantages of a symbiotic fungi colonized on the root system of a specific host. PT Mycorrhizae will increase water and nutrient uptake for it's host tree by anywhere from 200% to 1000% depending on the health of the system. Of course in turn the tree feeds if sugars manufactured through photosynthesis. I've provided in the past when writing about this very subject with an illustration of the performance enhancing qualities of exhaust headers on a 1960s muscle car compared to the plain old stock factory exhaust system. Take the example of exhaust headers on this racing dragster in the photo on the right. They eliminate backpressure and increase horsepower with the industry’s finest selection of air-pushing, muscle-pumping performance exhaust headers compared to common factory showroom stock engine exhaust system. That's what the lowly Dog Turd fungus does for a Pine, Oak, Cottonwood, Eucalyptus or Pecan tree. Like our own gut bacteria, they can process and refine mineral nutrients from the surrounding soil which are locked up in a physical form not available to a tree on it's own. They can also send chemical messages into the tree to boost the immune system. I save money when installing an urban landscape or in habitat restoration by rejecting science-based synthetic chemicals for this natural option which has worked for countless 1000s of years. This is the same PT Mycorrhize I mentioned above which will colonize Chamise roots in exceptionally wet periods allowing forest trees to increase by pioneering into dense chaparral cover. When the fungal grid is present and pine nut or oak acorn germinates, it's taproot will immediately connect to the fungal grid establishing the trees and eventually replacing the chaparral 100s of years later. This understanding did not come over night and it certainly was not enhanced by the truffle's rather drab appearance. But seriously, if you saw at first glance this basket of Pisolithus tinctorius (dog turd) truffles, what would be your first impression minus all the knowledge we now possess as to their real worth ??? 😐
Pisolithus tinctorius photo by Tanya Riedel
Without all that knowledge of all these trees, shrubs and fungi you lose so much value for practical application in restoration work, landscape installation, etc. What is even more amazing is that even the credentialed people who champion the cause for Chaparral plant ecosystems don't even discuss this phenomena. Mainly it's mostly politics which offers no value in understanding our natural world. And yet researchers have written about it for decades, but to be fair, most environmental organizations push politics over education and that too is killing this planet. This very same thing works when it comes to judging people for their real worth by taking time and getting to know them, irrespective of their race, colour, ethicity, tribe, clan, culture, language, economic social background, etc.
Let's take some simple Illustrations from Familiar Situations that can actually Teach
Image - Pebble Shore Lake, Glacier National Park, Montana
Think back when you were a kid out on a camping trip or on a day picnic outing with family and friends along a lake or seashore. What was it that motivated you to chose the rocks you collected ? Was it the rock's colour, shape, size or pattern ? 😍 Whatever it was, it start with the natural eye candy visual of outward appearance. And as in the case of the photo above, there are so many options to choose from.
Image - The Rock Shed
But what about these stones in the photo above ??? Based on outward appearance, would any of you chosen any of these ??? You and I both know almost no one would ever collect such rocks when out on a hiking adventure, unless of course they had acquired knowledge of the true value of such rocks. And right there is the biggest problem. Actually taking the time and effort needed in getting to know the truth about any subject is looked upon as laborious and boring.
Animation - WikiHow
These rocks of course are called Geodes. Here is the Wikipedia explanation of what Geodes are.
"Geodes (derived from the Greek word "γεώδης" meaning "Earth like") are geological secondary formation within sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Geodes are hollow, vaguely circular rocks, in which masses of mineral matter (which may include crystals) are secluded."
Since I come from the desert (volcanic) regions of the Southwestern USA, I learned about Geodes and hunted for them since I was a kid in the middle 1960s. That's because somebody older took the patience and time to teach my friends and I such things. I am very familiar with many different types, but only because I learned from someone else who was experienced and taught me about them. Of course when it comes to collecting nothing is certain, so you need to be patient by taking a rock hammer and chisel or rock saw and very carefully opening and looking inside to reveal the true contents of the rock or stone.
Image - kabeeragate.com
So what is inside ? Could be a number of beautiful colours and patterns. Every geode is unique and different. Many are hollow while others solid. But in most cases beautiful patterns and colours emerge. Hollow geodes have various beautiful crystal formations known as Amethyst. You may even recognize many of these types of rocks from your past when you saw beautiful bookends on someone's bookshelf, although you may not have known at that time they were called geodes or where they came from.
Photo - Marie Douce
The whole point of this post is to illustrate how all things can have real value and worth though not immediately revealed by it's outward appearance. Mankind's mistreatment of each other has also been a reflection on why they fail miserably to hold value on all things in the wild. Many things in Nature have suffered because they were not immediately eye pleasing or perhaps no monetary value could be found in them, hence this is where biodiversity suffers and monocultures are desired. The effects on the planet have been devestating as a result. So who's responsible for a young person's appreciation of nature and fellow human beings ??? Environmentalists ??? Social Justice Warriors ??? Churches ??? Government or Public Schools ???
It's a Parent's responsibility to instill appreciation for Nature at an early age. Not the State's, not the Public School's, not some militant non-profit radical environmentalist group. It's all on Parents.
Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew (Credit: Getty)
It is important to get children involved with plants early, such as on nature walks, like the one shown here at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew in the United Kingdom. There is a biblical example which illustrates this beautifully. You don't have to believe in the bible to get the point here. The nation of Israel wanted a King so that they could be like all the other nations around them. They in effect wanted to reject theocracy (God rule) in favour of democracy or human rule. The almost impossible task of choosing was given to the Prophet Samuel. Notice how that went at 1 Samuel 16:6-7:
6 As they came in and he saw E·liʹab, he said: “Surely here before Jehovah stands his anointed one.” 7 But Jehovah said to Samuel: “Do not pay attention to his appearance and how tall he is, for I have rejected him. For the way man sees is not the way God sees, because mere man sees what appears to the eyes, but Jehovah sees into the heart.”
Humans of course do not possess supernatural abilities when it comes to sizing up another person and determining who and what they are as far as worth as to character. We have to work harder at that, but that's the point, it takes time and energy on our part to get to know what qualities another person posesses as to their true value and worth or whether association with them should be rejected altogether. Ponder over this info the next time you make a judgement call towards another human being or something else out there in the natural world. 😉
This post isn't exactly about the selfie obsessed or where to go to view the best hottest 2019 SoCal wildflower superbloom. The Media and almost every cheezy social media site on the net has put a glaring spotlight on this subject already. But unfortunately I have to use the selfie superbloom fiasco as a lead in or this post may not get noticed at all. This post is about something I noticed in photographs some other folks have posted about the superbloom which has inadvertantly exposed some common poor land management practices prevalent today and how all types of plant ecosystems have suffered which has resulted in a change of the underground soil microbiota from a mycorrhizal one to a predominantly bacterial one. The problem being that it's the bacterial one which favours the ruderal non-native type of weeds. The result has been major declines in the more desired native plant community. Okay, let's deal with the selfie obsessed and get it all out of the way.
(AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Image - Steven Kostoff
Inapropriate behaviour of the shameful selfie obsessed has shown up all over social media venues like Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, GooglePlus, Tumblr, etc. In our modern social media times it's common to see these sick scenarios where people photo themselves in selfies at funerals, car crashes or worse. Even the supposedly responsible professional people of our society like police officers, firemen, etc have gotten in on the act and been busted by other people with their own selfie cameras while they engaged in inappropriate behaviour. And true enough, nature has taken a very hard hit from these selfish selfies. Perhaps you may remember over the recent past where people obsessed with selfies even killed poor harmless animals like that baby dolphin down in Argentina which was killed after being mobbed by tourists looking for that perfect selfie. Modern human society as a culture has really gone downhill.
Walker Canyon, Lake Elsinore
Remember all those selfish selfies back in the wildflower superboom of 2017 ??? I even saw many non-profit environmental group leaders even leading the way in posting a plethora of photographs in hopes of conning their followers into believing how resilient Nature was after that 4+ years of mega-drought in California. Sure, in the past we could say nature has been resilient. Unfortunately, scientific advancement has reverse engineered so many of the major components which allowed this resilience restoration mechanism to move forward, that it's doubtful just how much if any of it is still really intact. In some areas the Earth is at the point of no return. Think I'm kidding ??? Look all around you at how many people there are out there practically celebrating the six extinction. Now here we are with the Spring of 2019 in Southern California and the superbloom has hit again with the conventionl news media and social media exploiting it for all it's click-bait ratings worth. Unfortunately the Media's extra attention has made things worse for many of the well known wildflower viewing areas where people flat out refuse to obey rules and physical barriers. This is all too common in today's enlightened progressive society, where the average person resents being told what they can and cannot do.
But I did read however about one responsible photographer, Stephen Kim, who visited the Lake Elsinore site (Walker Canyon) early on a Sunday morning, where he said he saw “so much garbage”, it made him disgusted and he made a personal effort to pick up water bottles on his walk. The garbage was not surprising since others photos out on the net exposed several entrepreneurial food wagons taking advantage of the circus atmosphere to sell their junk food wares. Mr Kim said:
“You see this beautiful pristine photo of nature but then you look to the left and there’s plastic Starbucks cups and water bottles on the trail and selfie sticks and people having road rage because some people were walking slower.”
Google
Okay now, let's leave all that nonsense news behind, because there were other people (photographers) out there who had taken photos and had written posts in their blogs about their visits to lesser known areas away from general public view. Like this location in the same Estelle Mountain Preserve region, but higher up & south of Lake Matthews in the Gavilan Hills area. This one blogger I stumbled upon is a CSU Fullerton Communications student named Daniel Coats who took some beautiful photographs in an isolated area. Now aside from all those pretty wildflowers, I saw some other interesting things in his photos which fortunately highlighted & documented something profound from an ecological point of view. This region he photographed in is within the Lake Matthews Estelle Mountain Reserve and the popular Walker Canyon area which is also part of that preserved area. The photos below were taken south of Lake Matthews Drive
How Bulldozers and general raw land stripping by land owners of native vegetation destroys the underground mycorrhizal fungal internet network or grid & facilitates invasive weeds
Photo by Daniel Coats
This area in the photos above and below are south of the Cajalco Expressway Road (further east turns into Ramona Expressway) and just off Lake Mathews Drive. Note the bulldozed brush piles lined up in neat rows ? Much of this is not only interior sagescrub, but also the rare native California Juniper for which many small woodland pockets or groves are now under threat of disappearance because of land development boom since the 1980s in western Riverside County. I say rare because such presence of very large specimens of California Juniper are disappearing in western Riverside County, though they are numerous elsewhere. What should catch everyone's eye is the abrupt change in vegetation type at the edge of this land clearance area from the native sagescrub with abundant wildflowers to the non-native invasive weeds like the Black Mustard, Wild Mediterranean Oats, Wild Radish, Cheatgrass, Yellow Star Thistle, etc. Underground, both types thrive on two totally different microbiological ecosystem communities. The native sagescrub (California Buckwheat, California Sagebrush, Brittlebrush, wildflowers, etc) require mycorrhizal fungi, while the invasive non-native weeds are non-mycorrhizal and thrive in a bacterial soil profile. The weeds (especially the black mustard, wild radish, tumbleweeds, etc) also send out alleopathic chemical signatures through their root exudates into the soil which hinders mycorrhizal symbiosis associations with native plants allowing themselves full reign dominion over the area.
Google Earth
You can see a real difference from a much closer photograph here below of poppies and sagescrub in contrast to the land area purposely cleared of all native flora. Once the native plants, which are the living host to the mycorrhizal fungi are removed, the fungi will die out. They need these hosts to continue on living. Any beneficial mycorrhizal spores in the soil will stay dormant and may eventually may lose their viability to germinate even if a host becomes present again. At that point the non-native invasives become the dominant species of plants. In fact where mycorrhizal fungi are present with large healthy populations in the soil, any non-native invasive weed has a tough time thriving because the mycorrhizal presence will out-compete the weeds for precious phosporus along with other nutrients and water. At best if they do geminate, they will be incredibly stunted in their growth. Take a close look next time you're out on a hike. Also take closer note of this contrast below.
Photo by Daniel Coats
In the close up photo above, take note of the striking contrast of the perfect border of native vegetation at the bulldozer line above and the non-native weedy scenario below the same line. But, have you also noticed how the massive presence of weedy invasives below have been unable to make any inroads or encroachment into the natural healthy native plant ecosystem above. Why is that ???Because the underground abundant healthy mycorrhizal grid network won't allow any germinated weed seed to thrive and it simply whithers. But there is even more here. Now take note of the poppy encroachment below this same line into the weedy invasive held territory. This is because mycorrhizal fungi can move underground into new areas slowly but surely. Take a close look below at how this is beautifully illustrated in the mycorrhizal corn experiment.
Image - University of Florida
David Read/University of Sheffield
The photograph above is a drought experiment on Corn down in Florida in sandy soil which is water stressed under a controlled environment condition replicating industrial Ag conventional farm practices on the right in contrast with Corn inoculated with Mycorrhizal Fungi on the left which is not water stressed. Why ? Because mycorrhizal fungi increases water and nutrient uptake by mimicking an incredibly extensive root system as seen in the photo of pine seedling on the right. The fungi presence allows an increase of water and nutrient uptake by anywhere from 200% to 800% depending on soil conditions. But there is something else and it relates to the poppy encroachment below the bulldozed line in the previous photograph. Note here also in the corn photo, that the controlled corn plot has healthiest plants near the edge closest to the mycorrhizal plot. This is because the endo-mycorrhizal fungi has moved underground and come into contact with host plants not infected with any fungi. Same thing is illustrated with these two pine seedlings. The pine seedling on the left has it's roots infected with the mycorrhizal fungi which is noticeable moving to the right to colonize pine roots of the seedling without fungi. I'm using the pine example which is colonized by ecto-mycorrhizal fungi, because it is more easily seen to the naked eye and because it forms truffles or mushrooms familiar to most folks. It's easier to illustrate because shrubs & wildflowers are colonized by endo-mycorrhizal fungi which requires magnification to be seen. But the principle and behaviour of movement underground are identical. Here is another poor land management example below in Santee California.
Image by Lynda Marrokal
Western Santee, California, area known as Dove Hill
Notice the same land disruption in this Santee photo above ? Santee has been expanding since the 1950s baby boom era. In the beginning of it's agricultural history prior to baby boom development of bedroom districts, this land was overgrazed and later plowed by farmers and later bulldozed by land developers whose actions destroyed what network grid may have still existed. Suddenly the soil scenario was ripe for non-mycorrhizal invasive ruderal weeds like Black Mustard to move in. But again, notice the contrast and the fact that the mass of invasives do not easily cross the line upslope into Dove Hill. The Black Mustard is only held in check because of the healthy though isolated mycorrhizal grid on that hill. That's not to say the tiny wind blown mustard seeds haven't made contact onto the land above, but it's just that they haven't been successful in germination and establishment. And another example below in Santee is at Sky Ranch Development on Rattlesnake Mountain.
Photo is mine from 2011
Prior to the Sky Ranch housing development, this area in the photo above was not encroached upon by Black Mustard, Yellow Star Thistle or African Fountain Grass like it clearly is now. Now it's everywhere. One of the conditions of development was the creation of a conservation area to protect one of the last beautiful examples of Coastal Sage Scrub habitats complete with endangered species like California Gnatcatcher. Hence the threatening signage against trespass into the land surrounding the Sky Ranch Housing Tract. Funny, the signage didn't deter the residents in that photo above from taking a chainsaw to the group of several 35+ year old Torrey Pine Trees which were up there like the one in the photo above. No matter, what's done in ignorance is done. Take a look below at some research links which explain how the Black Mustard (& other Mustards) effect soil conditioning and inhibit mycorrhizal colonization with host plants.
Some interesting facts you may never have known about Wild Mustard 😲
Photo by Tom Moyer
Remember all those stories blaming the evil Spanish Explorers bringing Mustards seeds over in pottery shards and oxen cart wheels etc to North America ??? Forget it! While it could be possible, it really exploded in the early 1900s, when farmers used to plant Mustard in orchards, vineyards, etc because most Brassica species release chemical compounds that may be toxic to soil borne pathogens and pests, such as nematodes, fungi and some weeds. This practice is still used in most California Vineyards today for the same reasons like the photo above of a vineyard in Sonoma County. Seriously, Google the images yourself. The concept of pursuing a biological control approach was/is a noble one, but it's had horrible side effects. This is what happens when no one takes a holistic view which only means looking at the bigger picture down the road. Down in SoCal it was planted in orange groves for the same reasons. Here is a blog article asking the question and explaining the why Mustard plants were used. Some seed companies for agriculture still sell great quantities of seed for this same method organic method today, although they recommend farmers mow Mustard plants at the flower stage before seed sets and till mowed plants under the soil.
Image - Naomi's Organic Garden
Incredible image showing Mustard in Vineyard being used as a winter cover crop for biofumigation to deal with soil nematodes and pathogens before the ground warms up. Notice also the hills in the background of native Oak woodlands being invaded by the same plant. Below is mustard being used in Central california for biofumigation in Almond Orchards. I think invasive spread is more the fault of early 20th Century Agriculture, no matter how well intentioned, than by early Spanish explorers to California.
Berkeley Labs & Hopland Researchers Extension Center findings
(Credit: Javier Ceja-Navarro)
Microbes that flourish in the area around plant roots take up specific organic acids from the root exudates.
The researchers set out to determine the relationship between microbes that consistently bloomed near the grass roots and the metabolites released by the plant. They found that the microbes that flourished in the area around plant roots preferred a diet more rich in organic acids than the less successful microbes in the community. Here are some quotes about their conclusions:
“Early in its growth cycle, the plant is putting out a lot of sugars, ‘candy’, which we find many of the microbes like,” Northen said. “As the plant matures, it releases a more diverse mixture of metabolites, including phenolic acids. What we discovered is that the microbes that become more abundant in the rhizosphere are those that can use these aromatic metabolites.”
“We’ve thought for a long time that plants are establishing the rhizosphere best suited to their growth and development,” said Brodie. “Because there are so many different types of microbes in soil, if the plants release just any chemical it could be detrimental to their health.
“By controlling the types of microbes that thrive around their roots, plants could be trying to protect themselves from less friendly pathogens while promoting other microbes that stimulate nutrient supply.
Below here are some other good links on the effects of Mustard in soil conditioning and mycorrhizal signaling disruption. Scroll down to two important subheadings: "Evidence for Allelopathic Effects From Soil Conditioning and Field Studies" and "Allelochemical Effects of Alliaria on Mycorrhizal Fungi"
More Important Reading References - Don't get bored. This is too important.
The High Cost to Nature when saving our Homes from Wildfire
Image from New York Times (2015)
The year after the Fourth of July fire on Mount Jumbo, in Montana a long green line of cheatgrass is visible where fire retardant was dropped. The red slurry retardant allows some exotic weeds to replace native grasslands, according to preliminary results of a study by Salish Kootenai College and the University of Montana. It seems that every few years another issue about the use of aerial fire retardant appears. The latest is that the nitrogen and phosphorous in the retardant formulation produce a condition that encourages cheatgrass, Tumbleweeds, Black Mustard spread, etc while having little effect on native shrubs, perennials and grasses. But in actual fact over time if this is repeated often enough, the synthetic fertilizers will cause the mycorrhizal fungi to disconnect from these native plants and the non-native invasives will change the chemical signature underground which signals for tree, shrub, perennial mycorrhizal root mutualism to take place. Thus pure hillsides, valley and mountains can be taken over, which has already ocurred in many California places and future wildfire threats are increased.
Photo by Jed Little (Missoulian 2015)
Below I've created a deeper post explaining the process.
Below is a link from PubMed.gov about the dire effects of Fire retardant on the landscape and microbial changes which eventually favour invasives over mycorrhizal natives.
Okay, here's another example up in Antelope Valley California where the well known poppy preserve had yet another widlflower explosion this year (2019) too. With all the lucrative Grants and other government money giveaways out there, unscrupulous solar farm speculators land grab at accelerated rates. Of course they choose land deemed worthless for anything else. But that's clearly not the case. The establishment of a massive solar farm will eventually change the underground soil biota which will eventually crowd out native plants and offer a welcome mat for weeds.
Image - Johnathan Huddleston - (NorthStar Solar)
This photograph below shows how massive Solar farms have crept right up to the border edges of the California Poppy Preserve. I've tried to look up and research it, but it may be too early and eventually too late, but Solar Farms generate regional heat islands. This means these black panels absorb and generate more heat into the surrounding area than existed in an area previously. So I've been curious as to what effect higher temperatures might have on surrounding wild native vegetation. These alternative energy schemes and technologies are creating what they were supposedly designed to eliminate, Global Warming. Same with Wind Farms.
image from change.org
That other negative that comes with installation of the Industrial Solar Farms ->>>>>> TUMBLEWEEDS
Photo from WWS - Wind & Solar Maintenance
The images above and here on the right are of maintenance crews from the Wind & Solar maintence company WorldWideSolar (WWS). Tumble weeds are a bane on the landscape for a number of negative reasons. Most importantly wildfire hazard. Hence they require removal or the solar farm is at risk. But the whole reason these often exist at solar farms is because of human land mismanagement in the first place which disrupted the mycorrhizal soil biota to construct the solar farm. Antelope Valley has a huge problem with tumbleweeds because of numerous abandoned farmlands which were allowed to go fallow and the Tumbleweeds took advantage. The introduction of solar farms has exacerbated the problem. Indeed, bad agricultural practices, railroads, highway construction & maintenance and massive development in general have all help spread this aggressive invader. But interestingly, according to a 1991 Scientific American article ("Tumbleweeds") by a researcher named James Young, he stated that without human ignorance with their land management intervention the tumbleweed would probably have remained an innocuous plant. Actually this is true of most hated weeds like the Black Mustard and believe it or not, for the very same underground changes in soil microbiology caused by human ignorance of proper land management, even when developing the land for seemingly positive purposes.
Researcher David A. Bainbridge of the Soil Ecology and Restoration Group Biology Department SDSU, wrote about the tumbleweed problem occuring in the Antelope Valley, the reasons for it's spread and potential for eliminating it. Here's just one small quote which gets to the heart of the matter. But read it's entirety.
"It's non-mycorrhizal and in fact attempted mycorrhizal infection proved pathogenic rather than symbiotic (Allen and Allen 1988; Allen et al. 1989). This explains why sites that are only slightly disturbed will often fight off the infection of tumbleweed within a few years as soil health recovers. Like many other weeds, it will disappear if it is left alone and the land is not overgrazed, tilled, or degraded."
The Very Thing That Could Eliminate Weeds is the Very Thing That Was Missing to Begin With ->>>Arbuscular mycorrhizal Fungi
Simply weeding is not enough when it comes to native plant restoration, you have to replace the host plants for which mycorrhizal fungi will thrive. Certainly inoculating the soil is important, but you need the right kind of fungal species and from a reputable company. Hence I've always gone with Mycorrhizal Applications Inc from Grant Pass Oregon. There is a plethora of companies out there farmimg Biostimulants, beware. Not all are desirable inoculums. Do your homework first.
Back to photography. I photograph things most others overlook when I'm out in the bush. For example what the heck is that up above ??? 😕 Oh yeah, I brushed the soil and plant dander away and lo & behold it's an ecto-mycorrhizal truffle. I also take photos of root systems from washouts in the bank of a wash which has been cut away by a flashflood exposing extensive rootsystems of several meters deep of native chaparral shrubs. I like nature networks, hence the name Earth's Internet. But I also noticed the same clues when viewing other folks photos. I did it with several photographers who took pics of Torrey Pines State Reserve between La Jolla & Del Mar near San Diego California. Once iconic photo locations are now gone because of environmental degradation. I wrote about that here with this post Major decline in Torrey Pines & SoCal Forests in general
It's ironic that the Park's website and brochures still will not update their photos reflect todays reality. So tourists hopefully will still flock to the park in hopes of experiencing the nature as they viewed it in those photos which drew them there in the first place. Same with those wildflower photos taken by others. There is a plethora of things to learn if you are able to immediately decern and recognize what you're looking at. You know, the same way people will look at things like clouds and see some abstract image that reminds them of something. Except my viewing of the photo images is not about the abstract, it's about reality 😉
"When I would recreate myself, I seek the darkest wood, the thickest and most interminable, and to the citizen, most dismal swamp… The wildwood covers the virgin mould, and the same soil is good for men and for trees."
Thoreau
And finally in the interests of encouraging responsible photography. There are commercials and there is this commercial
The Escondido Creek Conservancy had a similar observation as myself back in April 10, 2019. Good for them for revealing and exposing the danger of being ignorant as to what is causing the downswing in general ecosystem health in California.
The majority of mankind are traveling on a broad and spaceous motorway where fast paced lifestyle, impatience and lack of being content dominate. Like literal motorways or freeways, these expressways were purposefully created to replace what was viewed as slow, outdated & old fashioned. Yet the old curvey and twisting two lane highway never offended the land. Rather they moved with the landscape, around obstacles rather than blasting through them. Yes, it was slower and took more time, but you got more out of the travel through adventure. Mankind in general needs to slow waaaay down and ditch the broad and spaceous Motorway and opt for the narrow and curving cramped one. We hear today about all these paradigm shifts and progressive movements, but in actuality these are nothing more than the same old recycling of failed ideas dressed up to look enlightened and sophisticated. Our world continues on a sharp decline. Getting back to that laundry list above on how to be a better explorer, let's just look at that first jotted down point. 
