Month: March 2016

A Lifelong passion for Birds (and their songs)

I have been fascinated with birds ever since I can remember. I grew up in southern California, spending as much time out in nature as possible. As a child I kept pigeons, mostly racing homers and some fancy breeds. It felt right to keep birds that were permitted to fly free. Before long I spent more time looking at the wild birds in my neighborhood. I was soon an active birdwatcher and by age 13 started my ‘life list’ of birds. Now, 53 years later I’m still an active birder and my North American (north of Mexico) life list has grown to 650 species (not counting more than a thousand others seen elsewhere).

photo of Richard Bradley, age 8, holding pigeon

A young pigeon fancier, the author ca 1958.

Along with watching birds, I have always been a fan of listening to them. Any avid birder will tell you, bird-watching is actually 90% bird-listening. Most often how we locate and identify birds. My first sound recorder was an inexpensive open reel tape recorder from Radio Shack, it had 5 inch tape reels and a top recording speed of 3.5 ips (inches per second). Soon I graduated to a used Uher Report Monitor, which was a big step up in acoustical quality.

photo of Richard Bradley with tape recorder

The author with home-made parabolic reflector-mounted microphone and Uher tape recorder ca 1972

When I chose my master’s degree thesis subject in 1972, it had to be bird related. I had worked through high school and college during the summers preparing bird specimens at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. I was also a federally licensed bird bander by the age of 18. I chose to study song dialects. Many birds learn their songs and have culturally-inherited regional dialects, similar to human dialects. I worked with a distinctive salt-marsh inhabiting form of the widespread Savannah Sparrow (Belding’s Savannah Sparrow). It turned out that each of the 14 marsh populations between Santa Barbara California and El Rosario, Baja California (Mexico) had a distinctive vocal dialect (Bradley, 1977). Sixteen years later I returned to document changes in these dialects (Bradley, 1994).

photo of Belding's Savannah Sparrow at Bolsa Chica Lagoon, CA

Belding’s Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis beldingi) Bolsa Chica Lagoon, CA

photo of Richard Bradley recording at Bahía de San Quintín, Baja California Norte, Mexico in 1987

The author recording Belding’s Sparrows at Bahía de San Quintín, Baja California Norte, Mexico in 1987

Audio clip of a few songs of a Belding’s Savannah Sparrow recorded at Upper Newport Bay, CA, in 1973

 

While working for the Florida State Museum (now Florida Museum of Natural History), I conducted a research project documenting the vocal repertoires and territorial behavior of the White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus; Bradley, 1980, 1981). Individual male vireos sing up to 14 different song motifs. Neighboring birds often share a few of their song types. It appeared that young males often learned to copy the songs of their fathers and immediate neighbors.

photo of the face of a White-eyed Vireo

White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus)

Audio clip of four songs of a White-eyed Vireo, two of each of two different motifs. Note a neighboring vireo singing in the background.

Working in the bioacoustics archive I was able to do some really interesting things. One of my tasks was to document the performance of a dance troop composed of indigenous people from southern Mexico.

photo of Voladores performance Gainesville FL 1977

The Danza de los Voladores, Florida State Museum courtyard, October 1977

photo of Richard Bradley recording the performance of the Voladores

The author recording the performance of the Voladores

A short audio clip from the performance of the “Danza de los Voladores,” in the Florida State Museum courtyard, October 1977

I also worked with Steve Nesbitt of the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commision (now Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission). He was engaged in a research project to document all the vocalizations of the Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis). We eventually published a descriptive account of these amazing sounds (Nesbitt & Bradley, 1996). Below you can listen to a short segment of a “unison call” display of a mated pair of these magnificent birds. This recording was made by Lincoln Fairchild and is archived in the Borror Laboratory’s collection (BLB16115).

photo of face of a Sandhill Crane

Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis)

Audio clip from Lincoln Fairchild’s recording of a pair of Sandhill Cranes performing their unison call.

Throughout my career I made sure that my recordings would be available to other researchers and the public. My early recordings are archived at the Florida Museum of Natural History. I recently donated many of my more recent field recordings to the Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics. You can listen to them online.

About the Author: Richard Bradley is Associate Professor emeritus, The Ohio State University. He taught at the university level for over 30 years at California State University, Long Beach, the University of Sydney (Australia), and The Ohio State University at Marion. His published research includes work on bird song, behavioral ecology of birds and spiders, and population biology of scorpions. He is a research associate of the Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics and the Acarology Laboratory at the Museum of Biodiversity.  In 2013 he published the first comprehensive color guide to the Spiders of North America.

References

Bradley, R.A 1977. Geographic variation in the song of the Belding’s Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis beldingi. Bulletin Biological Sciences, Florida State Museum, 22: 57-100.

Bradley, R.A. 1980. Vocal and territorial behavior of the White-eyed Vireo Vireo griseus. Wilson Bulletin, 92: 302-311

Bradley, R.A. 1981. Song variation within a population of White-eyed Vireos (Vireo griseus). Auk, 98: 302-311.

Bradley, R.A. 1994. Cultural change and geographic variation in the songs of the Belding’s Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis beldingi). Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences, 93(3): 91-109.

Nesbitt, S.A. & R.A. Bradley. 1996. Vocalizations of Sandhill Cranes. Proceedings of the North American Crane Workshop. 7: 29-35.

A Somewhat Odd Fish Returns to Ohio

Photo by Patrycja Lawryniuk

Pirate Perch (Photo by Patrycja Lawryniuk)

The Pirate Perch’s common name, applied by naturalist Charles C. Abbot upon observation that Pirate Perch in his aquarium ate only other fish (actually they also prey on aquatic insects, annelids and crustaceans); is perhaps less accurately descriptive than its scientific nomenclature Aphredoderus sayanus.  The genus Aphredoderus translates to “excrement throat”, referring to the position of the urogenital vent.  It had been speculated that one of Charles Abbot’s naturalist contemporaries (Jacob Gilliams) named the species after the entomologist Thomas Say as a jibe resulting from some acrimony between the two friends, but evaluation of the meaning of the name reveals that “-anus” is used as a suffix that translates to “belonging to” (http://www.etyfish.org/names-of-the-week2014/).

Young Pirate Perch have their vent just in front of the anal fin, but as the fish matures the vent moves forward to just below the juncture of the gills.  Placement of the vent near the throat enables the females to more accurately place their eggs in root masses such as those extending into the water from streamside trees and other woody growth.  As recently as 20 years ago ichthyologists thought that the unusual reproductive morphology supported brooding the eggs in the gills since occasionally females were found with a few eggs therein.  Positioning of the vent is one of the characters (as well as a highly developed lateral line sensory system) shared with cavefishes that is used by ichthyologists to place them in the order Percopsiformes.

The photo below shows a Pirate Perch young-of-the-year (probably about 6 months) with the vent between the pelvic fins at this point in its development.

Pirate Perch young-of-the-year

Pirate Perch young-of-the-year

OSUM 102207 Aphredoderus sayanus showing vent under throat (photo by Marc Kibbey)

OSUM 102207 Aphredoderus sayanus adult showing vent under throat (photo by Marc Kibbey)

Pirate Perch were recorded in the Maumee River drainage of northwestern Ohio as far back as 1875 but disappeared over 60 years ago, primarily from destruction of their habitat.  Demand for productive farmland in that fertile area resulted in development of methods to drain the widespread wetlands, including the practice of channelization.  Channelization, or straightening and dredging; of streams was implemented to facilitate accelerated removal of water from areas inundated during heavy rains.  However this method cleared away aquatic plants, logs, sticks and detritus that was the preferred habitat of the Pirate Perch.  Bulldozing the bank sides removed the undercut bank structure with underhanging root masses that sheltered Pirate Perch and multitudes of other aquatic animals.  Removal of streamside riparian barriers results in siltation of stream bottoms mainly from field tillage and exposes aquatic fauna to pesticides and other chemicals; these impacts compounded to extirpate the Pirate Perch from the state.

Pirate Perch are actually rather tolerant of waters with low oxygen content, preferring low gradient, slow moving and fairly turbid oxbows in streams as well as lakes.  Their extensive distribution is not typical for a fish species with exclusive requirements.  Flourishing populations of Pirate Perch can be found just across the Indiana State line as close as the Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers, where they are frequently found in farm ditches.

Camp Creek Pirate Perch locality

Camp Creek Pirate Perch locality (photo by Marc Kibbey)

The last Pirate Perch captured in Ohio was caught in 1950.  Extensive sampling by ichthyologists and agencies in the Maumee River watershed failed to find a Pirate Perch until 2013, when the OSUM Fish Division’s sampling crew of Brian Zimmerman and Justin Baker caught one in the Auglaize River near Waynesfield, Ohio.  Imagine the excitement of the two fish enthusiasts!  At first it was thought that a refuge population had proliferated and reoccupied the former Pirate Perch locality as a result of water quality improvements and habitat re-emergence.  But it turned out that the Ohio Division of Wildlife had released up to 200 individuals near that locality as part of a reintroduction effort back in the early 2000’s.  Subsequent trips to the area found more sites with all size classes (very small young to large adults), particularly in smaller tributary streams like Camp Creek with populations that dominated the fish fauna.

Brian and Justin at Camp Creek

Brian and Justin at Camp Creek (photo by Marc Kibbey)

It appears that current conditions in northeastern Ohio, and particularly the Maumee River watershed, have improved or continue to improve to the point where populations of Pirate Perch can be supported in suitable areas.  Recent implementation of no-till and conservation tillage farming practices reduce siltation of waterways, while these combined with conservation of riparian zones help prevent runoff of pesticides into the streams.  Assuming continuation of these practices as well as sewage treatment and other water quality enhancements, the Pirate Perch should be able to reoccupy former distributions and perhaps even spread beyond their historically known range, reassuming their position among Ohio’s fish fauna.

Other interesting aspects of Pirate Perch’s biology include their color: They are fairly attractive (and make good aquarium pets) with iridescent blue (occasionally green, copper or silver) dots along their olive-to-black back and sides.  The males develop a vivid violet hue that complements their black head and sides in spawning condition.  Additionally Pirate Perch may be the only predator known to exhibit sensiochemical crypsis where they employ a range of olfactory cues to obviate avoidance by a diverse assemblage of prey animals, similar to olfactory mimicry (Resitarits and Binckley, 2013).

Photo by Michael Wolfe

Photo by Michael Wolfe

 

About the Author: Marc Kibbey is Associate Curator of the Fish Division in the Museum of Biological Diversity.

Eyes and ears in the sea

NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer berthed at the NOAA Ford Island facility located in the middle of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Image courtesy of NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.

NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer berthed at the NOAA Ford Island facility located in the middle of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Image courtesy of NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.

In spring, the naturalist’s mind turns to bird watching, wildflower exploration, and other outdoor pursuits. The importance of observation cannot be underestimated: it is by watching and listening that we begin to make connections about the players and processes of the natural world.

This week marked the end of a voyage by the Okeanos Explorer, a research vessel owned and operated by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Although the Okeanos Explorer does not collect specimens, its high-quality images, videos, and maps provide a glimpse into the biology and ecology of organisms that are often known only from museum specimens.

The videos and images from Okeanos Explorer are the eyes and ears of deep sea biologists, giving us vital information about where organisms live, how communities are structured, what organisms look like in life, and how organisms move and interact with one another.

Close up image of a glass sponge, with commensal anemones growing through its body. The anemones are as yet un-described members of the family Edwardsiidae. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2015 Hohonu Moana.

Close up image of a glass sponge, with commensal anemones growing through its body. The anemones are as yet un-described members of the family Edwardsiidae. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2015 Hohonu Moana.

My research focus is sea anemones. Footage from Okeanos Explorer shows that these are more abundant in deep sea communities than we might expect, given the number of specimens held by museums. In shallow habitats, sea anemones are important primary producers because they (like their relatives the stony corals) often harbor photosynthetic microorganisms.

Absent light in the deep sea, the biological role of sea anemones is less clear, but footage from Okeanos Explorer shows them crowding the branches of deep-sea sea fans, clinging to rocks, living in the bodies and skeletons of other animals, and dwelling in soft mud.

Benthic cnidarians are common in deep-sea canyons and seamounts. Here, octocorals, cup corals, and anemones share a rock at 1,459 meters depth in Hendrickson Canyon. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, Our Deepwater Backyard: Exploring Atlantic Canyons and Seamounts.

Benthic cnidarians are common in deep-sea canyons and seamounts. Here, octocorals, cup corals, and anemones share a rock at 1,459 meters depth in Hendrickson Canyon. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, Our Deepwater Backyard: Exploring Atlantic Canyons and Seamounts.

The Okeanos Explorer videos of anemones show subtle variation in color among specimens belonging to the same species. These kinds of insights are invaluable in filling in the blanks for animals otherwise known only from isolated, often damaged specimens. To learn more about the Okeanos Explorer and the habitats it surveys, go to http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/welcome.html

This image of a pompom anemone is a very helpful complement to our understanding of this species. The tentacles have small muscles at their base and are often shed when the animal is disturbed, so most museum specimens have no or very few tentacles. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, Our Deepwater Backyard: Exploring Atlantic Canyons and Seamounts 2014.

This image of a pompom anemone is a very helpful complement to our understanding of this species. The tentacles have small muscles at their base and are often shed when the animal is disturbed, so most museum specimens have no or very few tentacles. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, Our Deepwater Backyard: Exploring Atlantic Canyons and Seamounts 2014.

 

About the Author:  Dr. Marymegan Daly is an Associate Professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology and Director of the OSU Fish Division.

Living Colors

Mark your calendars: Saturday, April 23. The doors of the Museum of Biological Diversity will be open from 10AM to 4PM. We will also have several outdoor activities. 

 

With a little more than 30 days to go until the big day, we’re now in the thick of the preparations for our Annual Museum Open House.  The theme for the 2016 event is “Living Colors.” The collections are selecting specimens and preparing displays and activities that will illustrate the theme. We are planning a number of hands-on activities for biodiversity lovers of all ages.

Here are just a few examples of the use of color in Nature that will be showcased during the Open House.

These two jumping spiders show the extreme sexual dimorphism and the use of color for sexual advertisement.

Habronattus americanus

Habronattus americanus, male (left) and female (right). From “Common Spiders of North America”, by Richard Bradley, with illustrations by Steve Buchanan. Used with permission.

 

Male (left) and female (right) Karner Blue (Plebejus melissa samuelis) illustrate sexual dimorphism in this rare butterfly subspecies.

 

Etheostoma bellum, Orangefin Darter.

The darter family, Percidae, is found only in North America, with the largest concentration of species in the Mississippi River watershed. One example of their vivid colors is shown here: Etheostoma bellum, the Orangefin Darter. Photo from the OSU Fish Division.

 

More information for the public about the upcoming event will be available soon at the MBD website.

 

About the Author: Dr. Luciana Musetti is an Entomologist. Curator of the Triplehorn Insect Collection & one of the organizers of the 2016 Museum Open House.

 

Tree holes and their mites

Many mites are very specific for particular habitats, whether it is the inside of the lip of a bat or a flower bud of a single plant species.  We have established this for many plant, insect or vertebrate associates. But knowing where exactly the mites are on a host is fairly easy. What about mites living is less discrete situations, like the litter layer? We are fairly sure that litter mites also have fairly specific microhabitats, but this is much more difficult to demonstrate.

image of tree hole sampled for mites   In the acarology lab we have been looking at one subgroup of litter habitats, tree holes. In this case we define tree hole as any cavity in the trunk of a tree that is not directly connected with the underlying soil. Tree holes in general may provide more stable microclimates, in terms of temperature, moisture, humidity and sun exposure, than standard litter habitats. All types of tree holes contain mites, and those mites tend to be specific to tree holes. Wet tree holes, containing water or just very wet litter, have been studied quite extensively because they are breeding grounds for certain species of mosquito, but we are particularly interested in dry tree holes. Initially we became interested in this microhabitat because we wanted to know more about distribution and habitat restrictions of Uropodella, a rare genus that had been found only in tree holes.  The genus Uropodella is most diverse in Chile, with only 1-2 species in North America. These mites appear to be phoretic on Tenebrionidae, and, fitting with that association, are found in very dry tree holes, containing nothing more than pulverized wood.

Image of grey squirrel

Gray squirrel

Mites in treeholes can also tell you something about other inhabitants of that treehole. Finding Aeroglyphidae in a S. Carolina tree hole indicated that there were probably bats roosting in that hollow tree, while the numerous Glycyphagidae in a tree hole in Columbus were consistent with the squirrel nest found in that same tree hole.

Glycyphagidae, ventral view of male

Glycyphagidae, ventral view of male

But this early research was largely anecdotal.

One of us, George Keeney, followed up in a big way by systematically sampling a large number of tree holes, some several times during different seasons.  The focus for this study was a quite diverse group, the Uropodina. We found that tree holes in Central Ohio not only have a quite diverse uropodid fauna, but that the species in tree holes tend to be tree hole specialists. A few species have been associated with a wide variety of tree species, while a number of other species have only been encountered only once or twice.  The two most commonly encountered tree hole species are Allodinychus nr. cribraria and Vinicoloraobovella cf.  americana. George affectionately calls the former species the “elf hat mite”, due to its fanciful resemblance to such!  That being said, we do not have enough information yet to determine whether these tree hole uropodines are specific for a given tree species, a given tree hole inhabitant (e.g. squirrels, birds, bats), particular exposure, tree hole size, tree hole litter moisture, season, etc., etc. To find out, we are now following up on the early survey, by recording more of these details, and especially by sampling many more tree holes.

 

Some tree species are more prone to developing dry tree holes in their trunks, usually at the site of branch removal or other injury.  Silver maples, magnolias, American beeches and American sycamore are some notable examples of such trees.  In Ohio, these species can be common in urban plantings and therefore, tree hole mite sampling can be quite productive in parks, campuses, street boulevards and other urban areas as opposed the more rural areas.  Such park trees are often mature and may have had large branches removed by landscaping and maintenance, providing the initial germ of many tree holes.  Sampling tree holes involves gathering the detritus from within the hole, though the hole should be thoroughly inspected before placing ones hands inside, as one may often be intruding upon the abode of a wary raccoon or testy gray squirrel!  So if you see anybody carefully trying to get “goo” out of a tree hole, it is not just fun, it might be research.

Tree hole in boxelder containing Philodana

Tree hole in boxelder containing Philodana

Philodana johnstoni, ventral view of female

Philodana johnstoni, ventral view of female

And there is always the option of finding something that is truly unexpected. One of the most spectacular for us was a hole in a broken branch of a box elder near campus at the Olentangy River Wetland Research park.  It contained a large population of Philodana johnstoni, a very odd species of Trigynaspid mite described from Ontario and New York, with no additional published records. It appears to be associated with the tenebrionid Neatus tenebrioides.

image of Don Johnston

Don Johnston

It is a very appropriate find, given the connection of this species with Ohio State University. Philodana johnstoni was named by John Kethley in honor of the previous director of the Acarology Laboratory, Don Johnston, and is a double honorific, as Philodana combines “philos” (=loving) and Dana, Don’s wife.

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Authors: Dr. Hans Klompen is professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology and Director of the Ohio State University Acarology Collection. George Keeney is Manager of the Acarology Collection and the OSU Insectary.

More spring plants soon to be in flower

Following on my last post about some of our earliest flowering spring herbs, here are images of several more to get us warmed up for the season to some.

Asarum 1

Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) can form large masses because it reproduces via rhizomes.

Asarum 2

The flowers can be almost hidden, are inconspicuously colored, and are probably pollinated by small flies.

 

 

 

 

Showy Orchis (Galearis spectabilis)

Showy Orchis (Galearis spectabilis) inhabits rich woods and is one of our earliest flowering orchids.

Disporum

Spotted Mandarin (Prosartes maculata) is quite rare in Ohio, being found only in the southernmost counties in rich woods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cyp acaule

Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule) is at home in acidic soils and is less common in our typical wildflower woods.

Cyp_pub

Yellow Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum) prefers neutral to alkaline soils and is more frequent in rich woods.

 

 

 

 

Iris verna

Iris verna is one of our dwarf irises, standing about 8 inches tall. It is a rare species in Ohio but becomes more common in the Appalachians.

Pachysandra

Pachysandra procumbens is the native Appalachian species in this genus; P. japonica is often planted as a groundcover.

 

 

 

 

Triosteum1

Horse Gentian (Triosteum angustifolium) is somewhat inconspicuous because the flowers are borne in leaf axils.

Triosteum2

You need to look closely to appreciate the flowers of this species.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Podophyllum2

Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) is very distinctive with its large paired leaves and single white flower.

Podophyllum

The flowers are about 2 inches across; here a well-camouflaged moth rests on the flower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Silene

Scarlet Catchfly (Silene virginica) is one of the most intensely-colored flowers in our spring flora.

Wild Geranium (G. maculatum) is a common but showy species in our spring flora.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author:  Dr. John Freudenstein is a Professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology and Director of the OSU Herbarium.  All photos are by the author.

On the verge of spring in central Ohio

Symplocarpus

Skunk Cabbage inflorescences in full bloom; the small flowers are clustered on the stalk surrounded by the reddish bract.

Spring is almost here and very soon we will be in the midst of the spring floral explosion. Our Herbarium is well-represented for the spring flora of Ohio, with collections back to 1840.  The strategy for many of our spring-flowering species is to emerge early, flower, and complete their annual growth cycle by summer. They avoid the closed-canopy months when much less light penetrates to the forest floor and are already dormant and ready for next year by July. But not everything that flowers early uses this strategy. One of our earliest species to flower is Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus). This inhabitant of wet, swampy woods is a member of a family that is most diverse in the tropics, although we have a few members at this latitude (such as Jack-in-the Pulpit, Arisaema).   Skunk Cabbage inflorescences sometimes emerge when there is still snow on the ground and will melt through the snow because they generate heat to volatilize their fragrance compounds that are attractive to flies. The leaves develop after the inflorescences and are large, making the plant up to four feet across. They have a strong skunky odor, especially when crushed, giving the plant its name. The leaves persist throughout the summer.

Tnivale1

Snow Trilliums are easy to see because they are one of the first plants to flower on the forest floor.

Tnivale2

Small bees can often be seen visiting the flowers.

One of our most special native spring plants in central Ohio is the Snow Trillium (T. nivale). It is a small species, only about three inches tall, and it normally flowers at the end of March. It has a rather special niche – bluffs over the floodplains of rivers. It is an uncommon plant, but can be quite abundant when present, sometimes occurring in the thousands. The plant was named in 1835 by John Riddell and the type locality is along the Scioto River just north of Columbus. The species occurs from Pennsylvania west to Iowa and from Minnesota south to Missouri. This is one species that is by far easiest to find when in flower. As soon as taller plants overshadow it, it becomes impossible to see and by summer it is in fruit and then gone until next year.

 

Erigenia

Harbinger-of-Spring is inconspicuous because of its small size and not-very-showy flowers. The plants are about 3 inches tall.

Another of the very earliest native species to flower is Harbinger-of-Spring (Erigenia bulbosa). It might not seem like it at first glance, but this is a member of the Carrot Family (Apiaceae). The inflorescence is much reduced compared to most members of that family, but the leaves are divided as is typical and the fruits are just right. This species typically flowers in March and is found in rich woods, along with many of our other spring wildflowers, but is in bloom before most of them.

 

 

 

Sanguinaria1

In contrast to the blood-red sap in the rhizomes, the petals of Bloodroot are pure white.

Sanguinaria3

The flowers often last only 2-3 days in good condition before the petals begin to fall.

 

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is a member of the Poppy family (Papaveraceae) and gets its common name from the red sap in the rhizome. Unfortunately, the flowers do not last long. Wind or rain will make them lose their petals particularly fast – so enjoy them while you can.

 

Aplectrum1

Putty-root leaves are conspicuously green against brown leaves, or as here, snow. Last year’s fruiting stalk persists.

Aplectrum2

Putty-root inflorescences may be up to 2 feet tall, with individual flowers about 3/4 inch wide.

Two of our native species of orchids are plants that you can see right now – and throughout the winter – because their leaves are present during the winter and stand out in green contrast to the brown leaves of the forest floor. These are Putty-root (Aplectrum hyemale) and Cranefly Orchid (Tipularia discolor). They are an example of a very different way of dealing with the summer closed canopy that most of our spring natives. With both of these species, leaves emerge in autumn and are able to photosynthesize in the relatively bright light during periods of winter when there is no snow and the temperatures are milder. The leaves in both of these species whither by the beginning of summer. Puttyroot flowers typically in May in central Ohio and Cranefly Orchid in August, at which time it also stands out because few species are in flower in the forest shade at that time of year. Puttyroot leaves have fine white striping on the upper side and are green below, whereas Cranefly Orchid leaves are green above and intense purple below.

Tipluaria1

Here you can see the green upper surface and purple under surface of the Cranefly Orchid’s leaves.

Tipluaria2

Cranefly Orchid is so-named because the flowers look something like a swarm of long-legged insects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author:  Dr. John Freudenstein is a Professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology and Director of the OSU Herbarium.  All photos are by the author except for the Aplectrum leaves and Tipularia flowers, which are by Erich DeLin.

 

T-Shirt Design Contest: Award Reception

Yesterday afternoon we had a neat wrap up for the first Museum Open House T-Shirt Design Contest. Dr. Norman Johnson, Entomologist, Professor, and chair of the organization of the 2016 Museum Open House, was our emcee. He pointed out that the event T-shirt has been a tradition for 11 years now and a memento that volunteers cherish (and wear) long after the event. In fact, several of the students and staff attending the reception yesterday were wearing their preferred T-shirt. To know more about the history of the Museum Open House, check out our website.

The artist who created the winning design, Ann Faris, is a major in Art Management at Ohio State and has a strong interest in Biology. Dean Christopher Hadad congratulated Ann and presented her with the prize, an Apple Watch.

For each of the contest entrants we have certificates of participation. In addition to Dean Hadad, Associate Deans Andrea Ward-Ross and Steve Pirrell also attended. We want to thank them for their support both for the design contest as well as the Open House itself.

 

About the Author: Dr. Luciana Musetti is an Entomologist and Curator of the Triplehorn Insect Collection. She is working on the organization of the 2016 Museum Open House.