Naturalist Perspectives Challenge: AWEsomeness

Location: Wendell St and Oxford St
Date: 5/2/2017
Time: 4:30 PM
Weather: Sunny and nice. 57℉.

Most of the time when people talk about awe, they talk about things that are either extremely big or extremely small. Sometimes, though, it can happen with color.

I came across this person's backyard while I was wandering around and talking to my cousin on the phone. She is an art student and we had just been talking about her final, which involved mixing paints, and led to a discussion about the perception of color. In the midst of that discussion, I walked past this garden, and it was a literal blaze of color. This picture does not even do it justice. there were even more plants in the area off to the left. My brain felt saturated with color, in a way that does not usually happen. I stopped talking midsentence and just stared. The plants are obviously natural, in the sense that no one came by, Alice in Wonderland style to put paint on them, but they are also obviously unnatural in that they have been genetically modified to be this vibrant. In Cambridge, among all of the greens and browns, they look out of place, yet in a place like Hawaii, the colors would be normal and the flower shape would be peculiar.

The article Why Do We Feel Awe? suggests that awe pushes individuals to redefine themselves in terms of a larger collective, and stimulates wonder and curiosity. While looking at these flowers, I was struck by the way people I have never met or even imagined (and I have a very active imagination), have lived entire lives that still impact and shape my own life. The tulip craze in Holland, for instance, drove people to experiment with genetic engineering and creating 'unnatural' plants. Within the scope of my lifetime, however, this color is naturally occurring, as the plants producing the colors have grown and blossomed naturally and may themselves be entirely untouched by human hands. I find it fascinating to explore the reasons my brain picks out these particular plants as noticeably unnatural and out of place in the landscape, while being shocked that most types of ivy are equally foreign to this region. I think of things created by humans as being 'unnatural' but I can't help but wonder if there is any such thing as 'unnatural'. After all, humans are as much a part of nature as a plant. Ultimately, we are all natural extensions of early external forces.

Comments

Naturalist Perspectives Challenge: Genetics in the Landscape

Date: 4/24/2017 Time: 4:53 PM Weather: Beautiful. Sunny. 61℉ This is a classic looking English Cocker Spaniel. I did not use a specific book, but I sent the picture to my mom, who knows a lot about dog breeds. She told me what she thought it was, then I confirmed by doing a google image search. Since I am generally not good at identifying plants and specific animals, I figured this dog that I befriended on the way back from John F. Kennedy Park would be a good way to make sure I got it right and could find the information. According to wikipedia, dogs have 78 chromosomes (39 pairs). They are diploids, just like humans. There are a few different color patterns that the ECSCA identifies, including solid black, liver (which is like brown), red, and golden. There is also the possibility of a dog being 'open marked', which is when they have large patches of color, but between the large patches they are pure white. Open marked dogs cannot produce a roan dog, which is where a ...

Naturalist Perspectives: Invasive Species

Location: 29 Harrison St, Newton, MA Date: 4/23/2017 Time: 2:00 PM Weather: Sunny with some cloud cover. 54℉. If you look in the background of this picture, you will see a large yellow mass covered in flowers. This plant is called the forsythia tree and it is an invasive species that can be found here and in my hometown of Armonk, N.Y.. It can be recognized by its lack of leaves, rounded overall shape, and vibrant yellow flower. Forsythia are described as colonizing plants. They are native to Asia but will grow in almost any sunny location. It does not support insects or birds native to the Northeastern US in any way. Its roots have colonizing suckers that can push out other species of plant nearby and change the topography of a landscape. For this reason, they are often planted on hills (as pictured above). Over time, they can help level out the area. Many landscapers recommend replacing forsythia with spicebush, which can better support the other forms of life.

Naturalist Perspectives Challenge: Breaking Buds

Location: 10 Wendell St Date: 4/23/2017 Time: 3:30 PM Weather: Sunny. 54℉. Location: 10 Wendell St Date: 4/27/2017 Time: 4:00 PM Weather: Sunny. 57℉. Location: 10 Wendell St Date: 4/30/2017 Time: 3:30 PM Weather: Cloudy and gray. 50℉. This is a tulip. There are more than 3,000 naturally occurring and genetically cultivated varieties of tulip worldwide. Genetically, they are in the same family as lilies, onions, and asparagus. Tulips open and close their petals in response to heat and light. This is a fantastic example of cells being responsive to their environment. By closing, the tulip protects its reproductive organs and ensures that the pollen stays dry.

Biology Spring 2017 - Naturalist Perspectives

Search This Blog