What struck me most about walking around campus while paying specific attention to the trees was how oblivious I am. I had been told that lafayette had a ton of rare and different trees across its campus. Despite knowing this, I realized that I have never really paid attention to the trees while I have walked around. While I had noticed they were different shapes and sizes, I had never taken the time to truly appreciate the variety and different types of beauty. When I walked around yesterday afternoon I was struck by how beautiful some of the trees are, and hope to continue to notice them as I walk around campus.

Joey ritter and I walked from acopian to farinon and then around behind Pardee. While we looked at many trees and tried to determine what they were from the pamphlet, we paid extra attention to three of them and tried to determine what they were from both the guide and from leafsnap.

The first tree that really caught my eye was this one on the edge of the quad. What was interesting to me was that the tops of the leaves and the ones that seemed to be exposed to more sunlight were far redder than the average leaf.

We tried to put this leaf into leafsnap to determine the tree but got no results. It seemed to be a maple potentially.

The third tree we attempted to put into leafsnap came up with a few results, but we were unable to determine which was correct. It listed White Ash, Corkscrew Willow, and English Elm as all possibilities for this leaf.

Erik and I walked towards Farinon and looked at the trees that were facing the building on the quad. We decided to choose these trees because we thought it was interesting that we walk past these trees everyday, but we do not know what they are, what purpose they serve, and their effects on the environment, whether or not they are indigenous to the region. Leafsnap informed us that the leaves come from either a white ash tree, or a corkscrew willow.

I think this app is incredible, and that it is actually an example of technology bringing us closer to nature. Having the ability to recognize a leaf right away would bring vast knowledge to any person trying to find out more about their surrounding world.

On my trip around campus at the end of class today, I set out with an idea of how the lay out of the trees on campus might work. After looking over the campus’s brochure of trees I noticed an extensive number of non-native species. But in listening to our discussion of the campuses recent revision of their masterplan and the emphasis, even if it wasn’t until the second to last page, on making sustainable decisions on new development. So I thought I’d look to see if this was evident in the foliage found on recently renovated parts of campus versus the older areas.

I began right outside of Acopian and grabbed a few samples from the surrounding trees that would have been planted during the Anderson courtyard renovation in 2012. I found on the courtyard three different examples of local species:

Alleghany Serviceberry – Amerlanchier Laevis – Found this little guy right outside Acopian in beside the retaining wall. Native to Eastern North America.

Slippery Elm – Ulmus rubra – Also on Anderson Courtyard, outside of Hugel, another native species.

American Hornbeam – Carpinus Caroliniana – Anderson courtyard, 3 for 3 on native species.

I then wandered over to a couple of older buildings, between Kunkel, Ramer and Farber to see if this older part of campus had less native species:

Little Leaf Linden – Along the side of Farber Hall, I found this species, native to Europe pretty untouched

Eastern Redbud – Cercis Canadensis – Another native to North America, I found on the edge of March Field. Old campus: 1 for 2.

I didn’t take the time to look for more species but in looking at the map and the plan on campus I think its clear the college is consciously moving towards the trend of using native species, which I’m sure Tallamy would be thrilled about.

By Ginnny, Jackie, Lori, Nicole, Alexa

After our class discussion on native and ornamental plant species, we emBARKed on a mission to identify campus tree species and observe insect relations with different species. Our group headed over to Kirby Hall to utilize Leaf Snap. We mainly found ornamental species and noticed that the ornamental leaves (of the Japanese Zelkova, Katsura, Oriental Cherry, and Japanese Snowbell) and were not eaten nearly as much as the natives. One leaf of a linden was severely infested by parasites – gall mites.

The natives we found were Littleleaf Linden, Sugar Maple, and Oak. The oak leaf particularly had been eaten by more insects. This insect-plant relationship is essential for ecosystem health, as Tallamy discusses, because insect health means more diversity in larger fauna populations. Trees that support insect populations would support other animal life on campus such as bats and birds.

http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/show/video-the-radioactive-art-exhibit-you-cant-see–dont-follow-the-wind

This is an incredibly fascinating, scary, and eye-opening video about a group of artists that made an art exhibition in the exclusion zone around the Fukushima nuclear plant that meltdown in 2011 due to the earthquake and tsunami. These artists potentially chopped years off of their lives to put art into abandoned homes that will, most likely, never be seen in person by any other humans. They describe their art pieces as, in a way, replacing the residents who so hurriedly fled their homes in 2011. Some of the artists also discussed their musings about how the natural elements of the exclusion zone will interact with their artwork as well as the destruction around these elements. One artist created a cube out of glass that was collected from broken windows surrounding the nuclear plant which contains a cube of trinitite. Trinitite is the glassy-like mineral that was created after the first atomic bomb test in New Mexico. It is the result of interaction between the sand of the desert and the new chemical event of the bomb. As the trinitite sits in the exclusion zone marinating in radioactivity, it will become even more dangerous.

I would like to talk more about big, dramatic, all-at-once destruction, in this class. We talk a lot about slow moving land alteration, habitat destruction, air pollution, etc., but I think there is a very unique way that humans interact with natural disasters which we should discuss. More specifically, natural disasters that are either caused or amplified, as is the case with Fukushima, by man-made technology. This art project is an incredible example of how these disasters can make us realize that if we mess with the natural world and create risky industries built from chemical manipulation, it can exclude us forever.

There are a ton of invasive trees on this campus! As Maggie and I were looking up the species of trees around us, I began looking more broadly and realized how disjointed our natural space looks. Once it clicks that most of the trees on this campus shouldn’t be here, the campus starts to look like a collage rather than a cohesive, logical space. I’ve always thought that the buildings were oddly placed and designed, but now I realize the trees are in kind of the same situation. Maggie and I did realize that the Japanese Cutleaf Maple and the Japanese Maple were right next to each other which had a little bit of cohesion, but then when I zoomed out to the space behind Colton Chapel, the continuity was lost again.

According to the Campus Tree Collection brochure, graduating classes established a tradition of planting a tree on their graduation day. I feel like the haphazardness of our tree selection and placement is probably partially due to this fact. If one or a few representatives from every class get to choose the type and location of tree, it is unlikely that it will follow any sort of master plan. It seems a little inefficient to dig up the invasive trees and replace them with native ones, but we should definitely put more thought into the tree selection and placement in the future.

Below are a few pictures of the trees we spotted. We definitely noticed a lack of bite marks and holes in the leaves of the invasive tree species.

#58 Japanese Cutleaf Maple; definitely invasive

Leaves of Japanese Cutleaf Maple; no bite marks/holes

#58 Japanese Cutleaf Maple

#60; Japanese Maple; definitely invasive

Eaten leaves of unidentified native tree

#49 Norwegian Spruce

While on the Quad I saw many different kinds of trees. I think its very valuable to be able to identify species of plants and trees because it gives us a greater connection to our environment. It is the same as when you don’t know another persons name and once you know their name you feel a much greater connection to them. 

I think we talk a lot about how technology disconnects from nature, but can also connect us to it. Using apps like Leaf Snap allows us to get to know more about the world around us (even if it doesn’t work very well). This tool can be used by pretty much anyone of any age. It opens the door to more knowledge about nature in the environment- which is never a bad thing.

I came across an article the other day about megaphones for mother nature. Somewhere in the forrest in Estonia there are giant funnels that are open to the public.

http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/giant-wooden-megaphones-amplify-the-sounds-of-a-forest

This reminded me of something similar. Apparently a man wants to record every sound on earth to show the ‘soundscapes’ of life on earth.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/28/6071399/scientists-are-recording-the-sound-of-the-whole-planet

“Plants are not optional on this planet. With a few exceptions, neither we, nor anything else, can live without them. We invariably take plants and the benefits they provide for granted. Who takes time to think that the oxygen in each breath we take has been produced exclusively by plants? Who is grateful for the forests when we are blessed with the rains that provide the fresh water we all require, water that is filtered clean by the tangled mass of roots it flows through en route to the nearest stream” (15)?

I am reminded of the issue of clean water, “clean” water is highly sought after today. Many water companies advertise that their water is clean and from the purest place on earth, whether it be from Fiji or from the “clearest” springs, when in reality the water in the bottles are full of chemicals and un-natural things.

“We are losing our birds because we have taken away their homes and their food and filled their world with dangerous obstacles that take a terrible toll” (30).

There is one thing that I want to highlight about this quote that may not be what Tallamy was trying to get at but I think it important nonetheless. Obviously Tallamy is referencing the loss of birds, which, as a birdwatcher, I find very important, yet he also hints at humans entering their world. As humans I think we all fall into the trap of thinking that Earth is our world, when, in reality, it is not. This goes with my next quote:

“Our impact on every square mile of the earth’s biosphere, that thin zone on the planets surface in which the conditions for life are ideal, has been so great that we must give up the old notion if preserving nature in its pristine form. That however, does not mean that we must give up in nature altogether. Nature’s living components – its 9 million or so species of plants and animals – are, for the most part, still with us, although most species are in a desperate struggle to adapt to the changes we impose on their environment daily” (32).

We impose on their environment.

Collaboration is key but in order to obtain any sliver of alliance we need to first have recognition that this world, this big hunk of life spinning through space that we call home, is not only our home. We must recognize that because we have called this place home and saw some sort of claim to the land, we have also pushed out the other beings, plants and animals alike. We have pushed them out of their home, we have caused species to go extinct. I sound pessimistic when in reality I am optimistic. Like Tallamay I think that we have to desperately adapt to the changing environment around us. And like seeking clean water, we must abandon some notions of nature we have and change our view on the Earth.