Home / Resources and Writings / Weblog / January 2007


Battle for Protection of Giant Sequoias Continues

Category(-ies): Plant Conservation

Although a dozen groves of giant sequoias were protected through the designation of the US Giant Sequoia National Monument in 2000, pre-2000 timber sales of non-sequoias have resulted in the logging of forests surrounding the protected groves. This article tells the story of Martin Litton, a conservationist attempting to change current practices in the area.

From the article: "If we don't save them, they'll disappear from the Earth," Litton said, adamant that logging near the sequoias endangers the shallow-rooted giants by exposing them to wind as well as drying out the forest floor.

A Matter of Grove Concern by Bettina Boxall of the Los Angeles Times

Sequoia ForestKeeper, an advocacy group on the issue.

Thank you to Tom Wheeler of UBC Botanical Garden for suggesting this article.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 4:46 PM



Climate Change and Migration

Category(-ies): Climate Change

Along with human climate refugees, global warming is expected to prompt the movement of many plant populations as they struggle to survive under the new climatic regime. The role people may play in trying to reduce the number of extinctions is discussed in “When Worlds Collide”, an article by Douglas Fox for Conservation Magazine.

Thanks to Peter Wharton for suggesting this article.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:24 PM



Discoveries from the Past

Category(-ies): Plants, Food and Medicine

The study of a 252 year old text on the plants of Ambon (an Indonesian island) has resulted in the discovery of a new potential antibiotic. The (increasingly rare) atun tree (Atuna racemosa) of Indonesia contains a compound that has been shown to kill certain types of methicillin-resistant bacteria.

17th-Century Remedy; 21st-Century Potency from The New York Times

Thanks to David Brownstein for sending along the link!

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 11:06 AM



Ice Caps Not The Only Thing Heating Up

Category(-ies): Climate Change , Plant Discoveries

A recent study from UC Irvine suggests that plants with frequent generational turnover (such as annual weeds) may be more resilient to the effects of global warming than slower-growing plants. The ability to evolve rapidly to keep up with climate change is cited as the reason.

Rapid evolutionary change may help annual plants cope with global warming better than long-living species via the University of California, Irvine

Profile for Dr. Arthur Weis of the Center for Evolutionary Genetics at UC Irvine

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 9:24 AM