Life and the Planet

I’m off to England next week to attend this meeting on the science of Gaia at the Geological Society of London. The program includes many new voices offering (hopefully) some fresh perspectives on the biological and ecological feedbacks in the earth system. Veteran Gaian scientists James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis are the featured speakers. I plan to write up the notes and post them on my blog after my return.

Acid rain in Big Sur – March 2011

Quadruple rainbow over Black Rock desert in Nevada, 2010. Photo by Valerie Velardi.

Update: After a bit of searching I have found that the photo above actually depicts a supernumerary rainbow, not a true quadruple rainbow.

March was a particularly wet month in Big Sur with 8.81” of rain measured at my home, compared to the March average of 5.60” over the past 10 years measured at Big Sur station, just a mile or so away. The wet March triggered landslips and mudslides that closed Highway 1 and prevented me from getting home to record the pH during the height of the rains. (As of this writing, Highway 1 is still closed between Big Sur and Carmel with a projected opening date of early May.) However, I was able to record the pH of four rainfall events and the data are shown below.

Sudden Oak Life workshop resources

Thanks to all the interested homeowners and tree professionals who attended my workshop today at Marin Waldorf School. As promised, here are the links to some of the papers and books discussed in my talk. Enjoy!

Forest vegetation and soil succession
A 2009 scientific paper by L. Klinger   Read On>>

A holistic approach to mitigating pathogenic effects on trees
A 2008 scientific paper by L. Klinger   Read On >>

Bryophytes and soil acidification effects on trees: the case of Sudden Oak Death
A 2005 scientific paper by L. Klinger   Read On >>

Examining the relationship between fire history and sudden oak death patterns
A scientific paper by M. Moritz and D. Odion   Read On >>

Ecological evidence for large-scale silviculture by California Indians (Chapter 6)
by L. Klinger; in Unlearning the Language of Conquest edited by Four Arrows   Read On >>

Tending the wild
An excellent book by M Kat Anderson  Read On>>