Two weeks ago I got the chance to test a new smartphone app designed to increase your understanding of the services natural ecosystems can provide and why we need to protect certain areas. The app was created by Sarah Taigel, a PhD student at UEA, as part of her research. You can read more about her project here.
We walked around the UEA broad, half the trip using old school maps and half using the app. Whilst the app was fun, I’m the sort of person who likes to see the bigger picture and therefore the map, where I could read ahead, was my preferred technique.
Before I went on the walk I thought that viewing the world through a phone screen would make us one step removed from the natural world. It seemed a shame to look at things through pixels instead of taking in nature with all your senses in 360 degrees. However, apart from the constant threat of tripping over any stray logs/dogs/small children when you’re too busy looking at the phone, I enjoyed using the app. Something that gives pop up information on the area you’re in would certainly be fun, and possibly useful for wowing friends/winning pub quizzes.
I’ve talked before (here, here and here) about my love of sculpture. For me, sculptures, especially those found outside, are about this great mix of art and nature. Sometimes the sculptures are made of natural materials, sometimes they’re enhanced by an amazing backdrop or sometimes they enhance the nature around them by encouraging you to look at it in a new light. You can never fully keep nature out, you see it start to grow on or around outdoor art. And anything robust enough to stand the Great Outdoors is usually amenable to climbing, sitting or general human interaction.
So the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle was first on my list of tourist destinations (after the chocolate factory, of course). The Sculpture Park is set pretty much in town, in a landscaped area between main roads and the sea. On a Saturday morning it was clearly a mix of a practical (runners, dog walkers, cyclists and a slightly bizarre fashion photo shoot) and tourist location, what a perfect use of space.
I’d wandered round the park a couple of times and was just about to leave when I saw the sign for a vivarium. Still determined to leave I stopped via the shop for the obligatory postcard, and there it was again, “Field guide to the wildlife of Mark Dion’s Seattle Vivarium”. Buying the booklet mainly for the beautiful botanical drawings I headed off to find this installation.
The Seattle Art Museum, who manage the sculpture park, describe the ‘Neukom Vivarium’ as a “hybrid work of sculpture, architecture, environmental education and horticulture that connects art and science” (you can read their description here. In practical terms the vivarium is centred around a 60 foot long tree ( a ‘nurse log’) that fell naturally in a nearby forest and is now housed in a purpose-built greenhouse. In a forest ecosystem the death of a tree provides a home and energy source for many more life forms; as insects, fungi, lichens and other organisms all start to inhabit the fallen tree. At first the tree will provide shelter for insects, some of which will tunnel their way into the trunk, and support for small plants and lichens. As life grows on and in the tree this speeds up the decay process, mobilising nutrients for larger plants. The branches and hollows in the tree trap material falling or blown in from elsewhere, which then rot down and create rich organic matter to support this thriving new ecosystem. This tree lay on the forest floor for sometime before its transfer to the greenhouse, and so had naturally become seeded with the beginnings of this mini ecosystem, all of which can now be viewed within the greenhouse. The odd pruning aside the system is left to run as nature intended. Temperatures are controlled but natural, so seasonal cycles occur, and ‘rainfall’ is applied as needed. The greenhouse provides both a scientific experience (field guides and magnifying glasses are provided to help identify plants and insects) as well as an artistic one (several artists provided beautiful botanical drawings of species found within the nurse log, which have been transferred to blue and white tiles covering the walls of the vivarium).
One of the visions of the artist, Mark Dion, was for people to visit the log over time, perhaps popping in yearly or bringing their children to see the log they once saw ten years before, noticing the changes with time. Speaking to the volunteer on duty in the greenhouse it seems this wish has become a reality, with some locals popping in monthly and commenting on changes, both large and small.
I’m sure some people will ask “is this art?” but I agree with Dion in the video below (and here) – does it matter? It’s attractive, informative and engaging. It’s everything I like about the thin line between science and art. And one of the best things I’ve seen in a gallery, ever.
Another favourite from the Sculpture Park, this walkway was covered by translucent pictures of a cloudy Seattle sky. It allowed views of the surroundings through the art, with the picture modifying the surroundings and the surroundings modifying the picture depending on the light or where you stood.
(Seattle Cloud Cover, Teresita Fernández 2006)
And as I walked back into Seattle I stumbled upon these steps leading to a small garden with the photosynthetic equation inlaid as part of a mosaic.
Did anyone else come down the stairs on their bum when they were little? One step at a time?
Turns out that’s totally a valid research tool…if you happen to work on sand dune sounds.
Objects that are higher (sand grains on the top of a sand dune in this case) have gravitational potential energy. If the sand is disturbed and begins to move down the slope this potential energy transforms into movement (kinetic) energy. Given the right location (sand grains have to be similarly shaped to all produce a similar sound) and weather conditions (to produce a surface layer of sand that will begin to move in the correct manner) some of this kinetic energy can transform to acoustic energy – sound waves that make the dunes sing.
South African black rhinos are critically endangered; in some parts of the world their horns are thought to be powerful medicines or aphrodisiacs.
A WWF project aimed to combat rhino poaching is moving rhinos to secret locations, extending their range and hopefully keeping them away from poachers.
But moving the rhinos isn’t easy. Many are found in areas that are difficult to access and so, once sedated, they face a long journey over rough tracks. To reduce the impact of sedation and transportation on the rhinos a new technique was trialled in 2011. This method involved sedating the creatures before airlifting them out of the area to waiting vehicles. It may seem drastic, but the method was supported by vets involved in the project and reduced the time the animals had to remain sedated.
And, wow, does it make some amazing pictures! These pictures were shot by Green Renaissance and you can see more pictures and a video on their website. For a news report of the airlift project see this Huffington Post article.
After last year’s Christmas gift list rather generically described as ‘presents for scientists and the scientifically inclined’ this year I’ve gone with ‘gifts for nature lovers’. Yes, it is far too late to be doing your Christmas shopping! What have you been doing for the past few months when the shops were quiet and wrapping paper wasn’t in short supply? Stuck in the lab? OK, I forgive you – now quick – bag a few of these gifts before it’s too late.
1. Nature notebooks from The Paperie. In fact they have so many beautiful notebooks perfect for lists, plans and important scientific plots to take over the world…sorry your next experiment or bird watching trip.
2. Nature t-shirts from Nonfiction tees. So many to browse through, from lichenometry (oh yes!) to mineralogy.
3. And if that’s not enough t-shirts you could also check out Critter Jitters for their tshirts displaying everything from Darwinian evolution trees to mushroom species and, my favourite, bird diagrams.
4. Wildlife identification postcards (and posters), everything from bats to trees from Wildforms.
5. A few days ago the BBC listed “‘non-stuff’ Christmas gifts for nature lovers’: a top 10 list that ranged from society membership to seashore foraging and butchery classes. Check out the full list here.
6. Everyone loves chocolates and British chocolatiers of the moment Paul Young has some really cute chocolate mice, a less tooth-achingly sweet version of old school sugar mice. For a high-street approach Thorntons do a range of animal-themed chocolates. My favourites are the little pigs.
7. The latest Attenborough offering, Frozen Planet is now available on DVD.
8. A year’s subscription to the BBC’s Wildlife magazine. guarantees a year of interesting articles and beautiful pictures, plus a free book is currently on offer with any subscription.
