The Making of the Fittest

Despite the fact that I stayed home and did almost nothing for two weeks, I've been a terrible person and decided not to read anything. I mean, sure- I read plenty of bird reports, magazines, field notes, college information, facebook stuff, and books for schoolwork, but outside of that, I haven't read any literature. For this reason, I'm going to review The Making of the Fittest- a book by Sean Carroll that I'm supposed to read for AP Bio.

For a book that is supposed to teach me everything I would otherwise learn from textbook chapters, I have to say this is a good read. In The Making of The Fittest, Sean Carroll describes all the intricate genetic processes, mathematics, and mutations behind evolution. It's really quite interesting. Carroll presents the facts to his readers with a simple, down-to-earth prose-- far removed from the scientific jargon that you might expect from this type of book. This makes the book fun, somewhat fast-paced, and fairly easy to comprehend. Some of the things I particularly like about Carroll's writing style is that he's willing to provide examples, make analogies, and delve into background information. When describing how Old World Monkeys and apes evolved color vision, he first describes what exactly makes color vision, the genes responsible for our vision, how color vision evolved in birds and fish but not mice, and goes on to explain how color vision may have disappeared in early mammals.

Even though I have yet to complete the book, Carroll has taught me some fascinating things. Until now, I never fully understood how organisms lost certain traits over time. According to Carroll, the phrase "use it or lose it" applies to genes. When a gene does not face pressure from natural selection, there is nothing stopping a mutant gene from reproducing and being passed on to offspring. Where I thought organisms evolved blindness or flightlessness simply because they didnt need eyes or wings, I now know it's because mutations are allowed to accumulate in certain genes of theirs.

I must say, Carroll's writing occaisionally goes over my head when he talks about base pairs or protein codes, but I believe that his writing beats alot of scientific works in terms of readibility.

RARE BIRD ALERT

Happy New Year everyone!! Even if this blog is supposed to be a graded English "assignment", I suppose it couldnt hurt to throw in a little bit of my life every now and then.

In any case (despite the fact that there's school tommorow) I am REALLY excited. I participated in the Waukegan Christmas bird count yesterday and found an insanely rare bird.

This bird was a BOHEMIAN WAXWING- a nomadic, berry-loving creature from the Arctic. It is closely related to our familiar Cedar Waxwing and is similar in many ways. Both species have plump little bodies, short crests, brownish plumage, and waxy red blobs on several flight feathers (hence the name). They are very gregarious and will often travel in huge flocks in search of berries and small fruit. Because they occaisionally eat fermented berries, all waxwings have evolved strong, efficient livers- allowing them to recover quickly from drunkeness.

The Bohemian Waxwing is like the Cedar Waxwing in habits, but is slightly larger, grayer, and generally rarer. Unlike the Cedar Waxwing, which nests in parks and gardens across the US, Bohemians nest way up in the arctic and will wander unpredictably when food is scarce.

So in any case, I was counting cedar waxwings when I noticed one that didnt look quite right. Here's how it went:
Ari: Oh! Look! A waxwing flock.
Jason: Let's count them.
Ari: 1...2...3...4...5.....................28...29...30...31...what the?.......HOLY S#%&T!!!!! THERE'S A BOHEMIAN WAXWING!!!
Jason: Oh my God. You're right!!

Thinking it would stay for a few minutes, I ran back to the car to get my camera, but unfortunately, the whole flock was gone by then.

I still can't believe I saw that bird. Here's a photo, in case you were wondering what it looks like.

Winter Landscapes and Birds

Yes, it's wintertime. Temperatures just dropped to 5 degrees farenheit today. For many people, this is a sign to stay indoors and crank up the heating. It's also a sign for some high school kids to finally forgo the baggy shorts or miniskirt in favor of pants. But as much as frozen hair, cold hands, slippery roads, and failing car engines cause us inconvenience, nature- as it is with most things- bears the worst of the elements.

It's really amazing, actually- how some creatures manage to survive the winter. Ducks will frequent any open patch of water, no matter the temperature. Animals will take shelter under bushes and snowbanks. But it's not the temperature or state of being cold that is usually the problem. For most birds, the greatest challenge is finding food. Birds that eat seeds, berries, and rodents often have an advantage over those that eat insects and plant matter. But even for these, survival is often a matter of resourcefulness and luck.

There's an ongoing discussion as to whether humans help or hinder birds in terms of their winter survival. While on one hand, we're destroying endless swaths of habitat, we're also planting shrubs, putting out birdfeeders, and creating artificial shelter. The urban environment that we inhabit creates large rodent populations, which in turn, feed hawks and owls. As proof of this, ELEVEN Long-Eared Owls (which are usually quite hard to find) showed up in the middle of downtown Chicago last winter.

By planting ornamental trees, we have also enabled certain birds to survive much further north than they would otherwise. Robins, for instance, can now be seen throughout winter in most states (I even saw some today!). A robin's winter diet usually consists of berries so we've actually increased their food supply by planting cherry and crapapple trees.

And finally, there are birdfeeders, which provide many species (doves, cardinals, blue jays, finches, and sparrows) with an inexhaustable food source. According to the 2007 Survey of Wildlife Related Recreation, more than 55 million Americans over the age of 16 feed birds, so this definitely has an impact on bird populations.

The fact that birds depend on so many of our artificial conditions may seem a bit disturbing, but even in spite of this, I don't see a problem with helping birds in the winter. First of all, nature is nature. If people have the capacity to drive species extinct, I believe we at least ought to help the others. Save for pigeons, starlings, and house sparrows, the birds you're feeding or providing shelter for are most likely native species. Secondly- just look at Earth today. Humans have altered the environment in so many ways- it would be practically impossible to go back and restore earth to its former status. Despite our recent environmental awareness and restoration efforts, we cannot recreate the past nor bring back extinct species. We can only save those that remain.

Iran's Natural Side

Lately in school, we've been reading Reading Lolita in Tehran- a memoir of Azar Nafisi's career, battles, and struggle to educate students in the years following the Iranian Revolution. It's been a great read so far, and in order to better understand its' context, we've been reading up on Iran, Shia Islam, and a variety of related topics.

Looking at Iran from 1979 to present, few countries seem to have generated as much fear and contempt in the international community. For many years, the Islamic Republic was defined by a stern-looking man whose beard and black turban is (and forever will be) associated with theocracy, brutal executions, human rights violations, and anti-western sentiment. In more recent times (Khomeini died in 1989), Iran has been seen as a country that ignores UN rulings, promotes terrorism against Israel, continues to repress dissenting voices, and on top of it all, has a lunatic president whose name I can't even spell correctly.

Despite this, I've always wondered what Iran actually looks like from within- and I don't just mean peoplewise. I'm talking nature here. For a large country like Iran, its geography is just as diverse its people. Snow-capped mountains, desert plains, and lush green forests along the Caspian are just a few of the many habitats that shape Iran's natural ecosystem. Mountains- which are a major part of Iran's geography, are home to some of the earth's rarest creatures- namely, the Iranian Cheetah, Persian Leopard, and ibex. Wetlands, which are scattered throughout the arid country, provide major stopovers for migratory birds. Most surprisingly, I've found that Iran has a number of protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries, and environmental agency of its own.

http://presstv.com/program/152328.html

This video is something that I just recently found on Iran's environment. From what I watched of it, it seems as though Iran suffers from the same environmental issues that we do: water pollution, wetland destruction, climate change, and invasive species. Interesting!

Stolen Memories

Hello again! I hope everyone has had a fantastic Thanksgiving. I just spent mine in New York with my grandparents, where we watched James Bond movies, had a huge Thanksgiving dinner, and got to see La Cage Aux Folles performed live on Broadway. Naturally, I also went birdwatching. Two things I was very lucky to see were a Fork-Tailed Flycatcher (a crazy looking thing that somehow wandered in from South America) and a Little Gull (another rarity that I've only seen once before).

Minus the birds, pumpkin pie, and crazy New York people, I also spent a good chunk of time reading Reading Lolita in Tehran for English class. Although the book so far is a great read, one passage in particular stood out as blog material. Here, Azar Nafisi describes how the loss of basic freedoms in her country has affected each generation of people:

"My generation complained of a loss, the void in our lives that was created when our past was stolen from us...Yet we had a past to compare with the present; we had memories and images of what had been taken away. But my [students]...had no past. Their memory was of a half-articulated desire, something they never had." (76)

Now you may ask, "what does this have to do with nature and the environment?". The answer is written in the creed of each and every environmental organization. Why conserve the environment? Why save the whales, the trees, or the pandas? It's always about future generations. We want our children and great grandchildren to witness the planet's natural heritage, just as we want them to witness freedom. And when there are no more whales, trees, or pandas remaining, what are our children left with? An empty void- just like what Nafisi describes.

After learning about some majestic bygone creatures like the elephant bird, Tasmanian Tiger, Great Auk, wooly mammoth, and Dodo, I think we all feel a degree of loss and hopelessness. Like Teddy Roosevelt once said: "When I hear of the destruction of a species, I feel just as if all the works of some great writer have perished."

When you think back to what the world was like before it became despoiled by mankind, it's almost unfathomable. Less than two centuries ago- in the very region I now live in- bison swarmed across in enormous herds, and passenger pigeons literally blackened the skies. Yes- literally. According to historical accounts, a SINGLE flock of passenger pigeons could be 300 miles long, a mile wide, and take SIX DAYS to migrate overhead. A friend of mine- who happens to be writing a book on passenger pigeons- told me how the birds would strip trees of their branches just by landing in them and the beating of their wings would create downdrafts as they took off.

Even after witnessing extraordinary numbers of birds, I cannot imagine anything like this. Passenger pigeons were slaughtered by the thousands and eventually hunted to extinction. The last bird died in 1914, and like Nafisi's students, we have no tangible memories left of them- only stories from a distant past.

The Big Picture (Last Poisonwood post)

A week or two ago, I finally finished reading the Poisonwood Bible. Excellent book. Aside from possessing symbolic actions, vivid descriptions, five intriguing characters, and a well-developed plot, the story offers several vital messages near its end.

One message that struck me in particular came from Adah. As a medical student who quit her profession on moral grounds ("stealing life out of nature's jaws"), she provides an intriguing view of where humans fit into the world.

"In the world, the carrying capacity for humans is limited..." she says. "When Albert Schweitzer walked into the jungle...he meant to save every child, thinking Africa would then learn how to have fewer children. But when families have spent a million years making nine in hopes of saving one, they cannot stop making nine. Culture is a slingshot moved by the force of its past. When the strap lets go, what flies forward will not be family planning, but the small, hard head of a child. Overpopulation has deforested three quarters of Africa, yielding drought, famine, and the probable extinction of all animals most beloved by children and zoos. The competition for resources intensifies, and burgeoning tribes itch to kill each other. For every life saved by vaccination or food relief, one is lost to starvation or war." (528)

This notion that Adah speaks of (overpopulation) is nothing new- as scientists, humanitarians, and family planning services have been addressing it since the 1960's. But as the human population is expected to reach 10 billion in the next decade, this is truly a cause for concern. If you think about it- it's overpopulation that poses the greatest threat to the planet. Climate change, competition for resources, widespread starvation, pandemics, and disruption of ecosystems owe their existence to exploding human numbers.

When the population of a certain organism explodes, nature tends to react with one or more control mechanisms. A large herbivore population may be kept in check by predators, disease, or a limit in food abundance. These are, in a sense, the "laws of nature".

The overpopulation that we face today is not occuring because certain families decide to have nine children instead of one. Rather, it's happening because we lack natural control mechanisms. We've eliminated large numbers of diseases, destroyed all or most animal competition, created nearly limitless food supplies, and thus multiplied our numbers.

Another important fact to note is that we've always had, and always will have plenty of kids. This is what Adah was getting at. Our desire to reproduce is driven by an ever-present genetic instinct. Whether we like it or not, this instinct is always with us. An individual who doesn't wish to reproduce will contribute nothing to the gene pool, whereas the family with nine kids may end up with nine additional offspring for each child.

As of now, it seems as though there is little hope of solving overpopulation without taking drastic measures (ie, cannibalism). Before any action can be taken, however, one major question must be addressed: Are humans really above the laws of nature?

According to Adah, we are far from it. As proven by the Black Death, overcrowded cities and long-distance networks create perfect conditions for the spread of disease. As Adah herself said, "Air travel, roads, cities, prostitution, and the congregation of people for efficient commerce- these are gifts of godspeed to the virus". So perhaps a new strain of disease- one that does not respond to known cures- will end the human stranglehold on the planet. It's not entirely impossible. AIDS, as you know, is a very recent epidemic. And as of now, an entire order of animals may be in the process of extinction. Frogs and ampibians all over the world are believed to be dying from chytrid fungus- a disease that was discovered less than 20 years ago. "What does this have to with humanity?" you may ask. Well, my friend- WE humans could be next.

Also, please save the frogs.

Word of the Day: Anomaly

Anomaly [uh-nom-uh-lee]. A deviation from the common rule, type, arrangement, or form. An incongruity or inconsistency. It's almost as if someone took the big, chunky word "abnormality" and condensed it until it became smooth and polished.

But I believe "anomaly" describes more than just an abnormality. It describes something curious and unusual rather than an simple glitch in the world's structure. The way the syllables flow, you would think it's some kind of flower or name for a person. But it's not- and the world as we know it is filled with anomalies.

The freakish-looking fruit fly in this picture provides just one example. Its strange condition was caused by a random genetic glitch- or in other words, an anomaly.

In addition to fruit flies, siamese twins, and 4-legged ducks that make the news, nature is filled with plenty of smaller, everyday anomalies. This bird that I photographed a few summers ago is a leucistic Robin, which lacks pigment in certain feathers due to a mutation.

The character Adah from the Poisonwood Bible is also somewhat of an anomaly- not just physically- but in the way she thinks. She rarely speaks, spontaneously thinks up palindromes, and in many ways, stands out from the other members of her family.

The fact that I slept in until 8 today may have also been an anomaly (although it could have been that I just didn't set my alarm clock).