Natives and Invaders

Although this plant is interesting and has a beautiful purple bloom, it is invasive and not native to California. Wild Artichoke or Wild Thistle came to North America from the areas around the Mediterranean Sea. It survives very well here because it makes more than ten flowers and each of these flowers will produce well over a hundred seeds. So, if we do the math, we find that each plant has the potential of creating over a thousand new plants. We can see a bee pollinating this purple flower. Below each line of purple, a seed will form. It competes with native southern California plants and wins. The big leaves create lots of shade and the roots form a tight network under the soil. So this plant robs sunlight, nourishment, and rain from other native plants. Also, because it is so spiny, animals find it difficult to live under or around the Wild Artichoke. This plant originally was grown because it produced an edible artichoke; however, it was so good at spreading its seeds, it gradually escaped the boundaries of vegetable gardens. It is not surprising to see entire hillsides covered with the purple blooms in the spring.
Government agencies are trying to eradicate this “invader” so that it does not take over local plants and ecosystems.



This is the state flower of California, the California Poppy. The poppy survives well in this climate because it requires only winter and spring rains to survive. These rains will make grow the seeds from last year's flowers. In Lancaster, California, there is a California State Park Poppy Preserve. In the spring, the hills of the reserve look as though they are covered with orange carpet.

It is important that we keep plants like Wild Artichoke under control. If Wild Artichoke is allowed to spread, it will choke out all other plants and there will only be Wild Artichoke. If Wild Artichoke is kept under control, many different types of plants can flourish in this area. When there are many different kinds of plants and animals in one environment, it is called BIODIVERSITY (bi-oh-dy-vers-it-ee). Biodiversity is necessary for healthy ecosystems.

What would you do if there was only one kind of fruit to eat at the market? Are you glad that there are different kinds from which to choose?

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Pond Turtles

I was visiting a different ecosystem today. I was above a fresh water pond. Plants and animals that survive here are different than those on a hillside covered with chaparral. There is a baby to the left and a Mom or Dad to the right. These turtles are called Red Eared Sliders. Originally, they were found in the southeast United States, but pet stores began selling them and now they are all over the world. Turtles are reptiles so they like to get warm by basking on logs around this pond. Turtles have been around for millions and millions of years. What protects them? Their shells, of course. They can pull their heads, arms, and legs into their shell and escape predators. Also, they can swim away very quickly when startled. If they are caught from behind, they can push very hard with their rear clawed feet. Are these turtles fluorescent purple? No, mostly they are green and brown and they blend in with their surroundings. Turtles are omnivores and will eat pretty much any plant or animal that will fit in their mouths. In the autumn, when it starts to get cold, they will hibernate. That means they will stay on the bottom of the pond or they will find a hole in the woods and not do much of anything until it gets warm again. Their bodily functions…breathing, digestion, and blood flow…slow way, way, down. How bizarre is that? Do you wish you could hibernate sometimes? Why? Where would you hibernate and for how long?

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Deer Bones

These are the bones of a deer. As you can see, nothing has gone to waste. The deer
probably provided food for a mountain lion first. Mountain Lions are carnivores and they eat only meat. The Mountain Lion got fed; then, other animals consumed the remaining carrion (flesh of a dead animal). You might be saying, “Ooooooooooooooh, yuck!” But, friends, what would be laying around all over the place if there were no carrion eaters in nature? Right, a bunch of dead animals would be laying around and that would be very unpleasant. So, carrion is eaten by the coyote, opossum, and the turkey vulture. These animals are omnivores which means that they eat meat AND plants. After these animals have eaten smaller pieces off of the bones, the FIBs come along and take care of the rest. Who are the FIBs? Do you remember? Fungi, Insects, and Bacteria are the FIBs. The FIBs decompose the remaining bits into soil. The soil provides a place for plants to take root. Plants grow, and who eats the plants? Deer eat the plants. Deer are called herbivores because they eat only plants. They are part of the food chain. This food chain is an efficient machine that provides food for every living creature on the planet.

Have you ever seen the bones of an animal?

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Two Helpful Plants

These look like corn nuts don’t they? Actually, they are the berries of the Lemonade Berry plant. These little berries become sticky and sour this time of year. The tribal people in this area would crush the berries, mix them with water, strain them, add honey, and make lemonade! (ALWAYS ASK AN ADULT IF A PLANT IS EDIBLE AND ALWAYS ASK AN ADULT FOR PERMISSION TO EAT A PLANT!!!!) The tribal people also used the branches of this plant to make baskets. Trunks of this shrub would be cut up for firewood. Tribal people would turn the leaves and berries into black dye. In the autumn, the leaves would be crushed and used as incense.



What are these crazy looking things? They are dried up Wild Cucumbers. Earlier in the year, these things looked like little green spiky aliens dangling from vines. When they dry, they pop open and expel large brown shiny seeds. You can see the four empty chambers in the one on the right. The seeds were strung by tribal people and used as jewelry. The seeds and also the roots of this plant were crushed and then thrown into ponds. A chemical in the plant would stun the fish. The stunned fish would float to the top resulting in easy fishing. Pretty smart, eh? Have you ever seen a loofah “sponge?” They are not sponges, but the inside layer of a plant much like this Wild Cucumber. See how the spikes are separating from the inside layer of netting on the left? Much like a loofah, the inside layer was used as a scrubber by local tribes. Tribal people also used the Wild Cucumber for several medicinal purposes.

Look up "digitalis." What is it? What is it used for?

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The Ground Squirrel

Ground Squirrels survive very well in this environment. They dig many holes into the dirt. These holes are connected by a series of underground tunnels. These tunnels are called burrows. If a squirrel is in danger, it can jump down into its burrow and stay there until danger has passed. It can scurry through a tunnel to a surface hole several yards away. At the bottom right portion of this picture, you can see another burrow hole.

The squirrel’s fur is brown and gray. This camouflage makes the squirrel difficult to be seen by predators such as hawks, coyotes, and bobcats. I saw this squirrel near several pine trees. The squirrel must be enjoying the pine nuts from the trees. It also enjoys the seeds from these wild oat plants that have been cut down around its burrow hole. It also will eat small insects, grass, berries, and underground bulbs. Squirrels will chirp out a piercing alarm if they feel that they are being threatened. They have very sensitive ears and eyesight similar to humans.

Squirrels have babies usually twice a year. The babies are called "kittens." How charming is that? The kittens are only an inch long! The babies are protected by living underground. The kittens will leave the burrow when they are about 10 weeks old.

Many factors have helped the Ground Squirrel thrive all the way from Washington to Baja California. What factors have helped YOU survive in California? How old do you think you will be when you leave your home?

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The Power of Water

This boulder measures about three feet thick and about four feet aross. The tree trunk next to it measures about 2 feet wide and ten feet long. That iron pipe measures about 5 inches across and about six feet long. What force in nature could have moved all of these objects? I will give you a hint. I took this picture while standing in a dry creek bed. When the rains come in the winter, many tiny drops of
water come together to make rivulets. These rivulets join together, rush down mountains, and become creeks. The creeks flow further down the slope, and grow into a rushing river. Have you ever seen a news story about someone who thought it might be fun to float down the Los Angeles River during a big storm and they wound up having to be rescued by a helicopter? It is hard to imagine how much energy is possessed by a flooding river. Imagine that a raindrop weighs the same as a popcorn
kernel. That’s pretty light. Now think about holding a bag or jar of popcorn kernels. Now imagine the weight of 1,000,000 jars of popcorn. That would be enough to push or transport this boulder, tree trunk, and pipe across the land. The objects move and then are deposited or placed in different areas. This process is called deposition. Deposition and other processes change the surface of the Earth. Some of
these changes are relatively slow, and some happen very quickly. Do you think it took minutes, days, years or centuries to move this boulder down the mountain?

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The Summer Solstice

Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. Would you believe that each year, you travel 584 million miles?! It’s true because you are on the Earth and the Earth goes in a circular orbit around the Sun. This trip around the sun is 584 million miles! During this trip, the Earth stays in a fixed tilt. On the day of the solstice, the northern hemisphere of the Earth is tilted as close as it will be towards the sun. So, we see the sun for the longest period of time on this day.
The sun was visible from 5:41a.m. to 8:07 p.m.. That’s about 14 hours of sunlight. Six months from now, the northern hemisphere of the Earth will be tilted AWAY from the Sun in December. We will see the sun from 6:54 a.m. until 4:47 p.m., and we’ll have 10 hours of sunlight. Why is sunlight so important to us? Sunlight provides energy for every living thing on the planet. Plants use sunlight for energy to change carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and sugar. A plant is like a little factory. It takes up water in the roots and carbon dioxide through its leaves and uses the Sun to make PHOTOSYNTHESIS occur. Photosynthesis is the process that the plant uses to convert sunlight and oxygen and water into oxygen for us to breathe (hooray!) and sugars for us to eat (hooray!). Apples are sweet because of the Sun! The Sun allows our bodies to make Vitamin D. We need Vitamin D to live. So, on this day of the summer solstice, let’s give a shout out to the Sun, the flaming orb in the sky that provides us with the energy we need to survive!

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The Food Chain

To you, this is just a snail. But to many, many animals, this is a steak and lobster dinner. Snails provide protein for animals such as ducks, raccoons, and humans. Humans? Yes, humans enjoy snails, too. The French word for snails is escargot (ess-car-go). Many people eat the snails cooked in garlic and butter. Do you see the little posts sticking up from the head? The snail’s eyes are at the top of these posts.
The snail has a radula in its mouth. A radula is like a file and the snail uses this to scrape off pieces of plants for food. Because it only eats plants, the snail is called an herbivore (erb-i-vor). Herbivores are part of the food chain. The food chain is made of connected links in nature. It starts with plants. Plants are eaten by herbivores. Herbivores are eaten by omnivores and carnivores. Omnivores eat both plants and animals, and carnivores eat only meat. Omnivores and carnivores are eaten by the decomposers and turned into soil. Then plants grow in the soil. And then the food chain starts all over again.

If you are a vegetarian, you eat plant products and maybe eggs and milk. If you are an omnivore, you eat meat and vegetables and milk products. If you eat meat, what is your favorite kind? Chicken? Beef? Fish? What does that animal eat? Probably plant products. So you are in a food chain... you-meat-plant-soil. What other things are you "chained" with in your life?

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The F.I.B.s: Can't Live With'em, Can't Live Without'em

May 29—Somehow, this lizard died and now decomposers are breaking it down into soil. You can remember decomposers by the acronym F.I.B. which stands for Fungi, Insects, and Bacteria. Yeasts, mildews, molds, and that kind of thing make up the fungi group. What insects have you seen crawling or flying around dead animals? Did you say flies, beetles, and ants? Those creatures are decomposing insects. You cannot see bacteria because they are microorganisms, organisms too tiny to be seen by the human eye.

A batch of fungi (the plural of fungus) can be bad or good for humans. Bad fungi are responsible for "Athlete's Foot." But, you might actually enjoy fungi on pizza. What?!! It's true. Do you know anyone who likes mushrooms on pizza? Mushrooms are fungi.

Insects can be bad or good for humans. Several insects spread disease. But bees and butterflies are responsible for all the fruit we eat. Ladybugs eat crop-destroying aphids. And spiders get rid of mosquitoes.

Bacteria can be bad for humans or good. Bacteria causes illnesses like sore throats. But bacteria also are beneficial to us. Do you enjoy yogurt? Believe it or not, good bacteria changes milk into yogurt.

We need the FIBs. Use a computer at school or a public library to find out what other FIBs are helpful and what FIBs are harmful.

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The Crayfish Who is Not a Fish

Who is this funny looking little fellow? This is a Crayfish which is also called a Crawfish or Crawdad. Although it has “fish” in its name, it is not a fish at all. It is a crustacean and has an exoskeleton. That means it has a hard shell on the outside giving structure and protection to its body. When the crayfish grows, the exoskeleton gets too tight. So the crayfish has to wiggle out of it. Underneath the old exoskeleton is a bigger exoskeleton that allows the crayfish to grow. Have you ever eaten crab or shrimp or lobster? Well, the crayfish is a relative of these animals. Yes, crayfish are edible, as raccoons know this very well. This crayfish looks kind of big, but it is only about 4” long. Open up your hand. Now close it very fast! That is how the crayfish’s tail works. It curls up very quickly and scoots the crayfish away from danger. An omnivore is an animal that eats both plants and animals. Crayfish are omnivores. They eat frog eggs, tiny fish, water bugs, worms, and water plants. They are also decomposers. Remember the dead snake?
Decomposers were breaking it down into smaller and smaller pieces that finally turned the snake into soil. Crayfish do the same thing. They will also eat dead plants and animals. You might think, “Oooooooo, yuck!” But what would ecosystems be like if we did not have decomposers? That’s right, there would be a bunch of stinky, slimy dead plants and animals laying around. So thank goodness for decomposers, like the Crayfish, who clean up everything for us!

Who cleans up inside your home? Who cleans up around the outside of your home? What would happen if no one cleaned up your house?

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Poison Oak

I have traveled over the hill to a different ecosystem. An ecosystem is a place where certain plants and animals live in a specific place. This place has air, sun, water, and soil. In this place, there is an average amount of rain and an average temperature range. For example, maybe in the desert, the average air temperature is 92 degrees and there is 1 inch of rainfall per year. In the mountains, maybe the average air temperature is 55 degrees and as much as 14 inches of rain falls per year. So certain plants and animals that live in the desert cannot live in the mountains while plants and animals that live in the mountains cannot live in the desert. In this photo, we see Poison Oak living near a stream. Poison Oak lives in a riparian ecosystem. A riparian ecosystem has a stream or river touching land with plants and animals living in it. Poison Oak needs a lot of water to survive, so it grows near streams and rivers. It could NOT survive in the desert.

You need to know what Poison Oak looks like. Remember…leaves of three, let them be!!! If you hike near a stream or a river, stay away from Poison Oak. If the
sap gets on your skin, it causes itchy blisters that take about ten days to heal. Know that this Poison Oak is green, but it can be red at any time of the year. Incredibly, the people in some California tribes, like the Pomo, were not affected by Poison Oak. They even made baskets from Poison Oak vines! The Pomo were very adapted to their ecosystem.

In what ecosystem do you live? Do you live in a desert, in the mountains, in coastal sage scrub, or in California chaparral? How adapted are you for living in that ecosystem? When do you have to wear a jacket and when do you have to wear a bathing suit?

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Black Sage: A Grocery Store and Apartments

Here is a Black Sage plant. Why is this California native plant important?
Like many plants, it provides food and shelter for several animals. Would it surprise you if I told you that I have seen ten animals in or on this plant? Guess what some of them might have been. There is one animal in this picture. Yes, it is the honey bee sitting on the purple flower. Honey bees, hummingbirds, big black bumble bees, and butterflies all get nectar from this plant. My camera could not capture the image, but there is a spider and web inside the plant below the honey bee. I don’t mind spiders because they catch annoying bugs like mosquitoes and flies. I see flies around this plant during the day sometimes and mosquitoes around it at night. Remember the Western Fence Lizard? Well, I have seen a lizard scurrying around under the sage, trying to catch a bug to eat. Those purple flowers turn into seeds after the honey bee pollinates them. The Gabrielino and Juaneno people would roast these seeds and grind them into flour. Who else would like these seeds? I have seen little yellow and gray birds hopping around inside the plant and pecking at the dirt. Called Bushtits or Bushies, these tiny birds eat fallen seeds on the ground. The sage keeps the Bushies hidden from predators. And finally, I have seen my big, fat cat taking naps in the shade under this plant. So this busy plant is like a small grocery store with apartments. What other animals might have stopped by that I have not seen? An opossum? A mouse? A beetle?

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Swallow Tail Butterfly Attracted by Plant

This gorgeous Western Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly landed on the lantana plant in my backyard. The lantana plant is not a native California plant, but it attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. That is why I planted it. I also planted a willow bush because butterflies like to lay their eggs on willow branches. You can put plant around your home that will attract birds and butterflies.

The swallowtail pollinates flowers like as the hummingbird does. It drinks nectar from the flower. When it does this, pollen grains stick to its feet and face. Then when the butterfly flies to another flower, the pollen grains fall off into the new flower and make a seed grow.

The butterfly has on its head an amazing device called a proboscis (pro-bahs-kiss). It acts like a curled up drinking straw. The proboscis uncurls into the flower. Sweet nectar gets sucked up into it the proboscis. The swallowtail needs the plant for food, and the plant needs the swallowtail for pollination.

What butterflies have you seen around your school or around your home? Maybe you could buy one or two plants that attract butterflies and hummingbirds. You can put them in a pot, or plant them in soil. Ask the garden center salesperson what would be good to plant. You might have some new little friends at your front door every morning!

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Camouflaged Mourning Dove

In the field where this Mourning Dove is walking, there are freshly cut wild oats. The bird is on the ground trying to find the oat seeds that have fallen off of the plant. It eats the Wild Oats. Mourning Doves survive well because they are camouflaged. They are difficult to see because they are brownish gray like the dirt upon which they walk. What would happen to Mourning Doves if they were bright pink? Would they be easier to see or more difficult to see?

Mourning Doves also survive well because they make so many babies. They can have up to twelve babies in one season. Two eggs are laid at a time. The parents take care of the two eggs. The eggs hatch and the parents still take care of the young doves. The babies grow and then fly off to live their own lives. The parents can have two more babies. They do this about six times in a season.

There is a common sight and sound in southern California this time of year. During these foggy "June gloom" gray days, you can hear Mourning Doves calling, "Coo-eeeee coooo cooooooo coooooooo." When you wake up tomorrow morning, listen near your window and maybe you'll hear a Mourning Dove cooing to its mate.

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