<div class="ck-content"><h3><strong>It's Hack and Squirt Time!</strong></h3><p>Yes, folks, it's that time - it's time to <a href="https://extension.psu.edu/using-hack-and-squirt-herbicide-applications-to-control-unwanted-trees">hack and squirt</a> Ailanthus (Tree of Heaven). What, you might ask, is “hack and squirt”?</p><blockquote><p>Using a hatchet or similar device, frill cuts, or downward-angled incisions, are made evenly spaced around the stem, one per inch of diameter (two cuts minimum).</p><p>Frill cuts are approximately 2 inches long and spaced 1 to 2 inches apart. The cuts must penetrate through the bark into the living tissue or sapwood (the outer area of lighter-colored wood in the stem cross-section) and produce a cupping effect to hold the herbicide. Each cut is filled with herbicide using a spray bottle or gunjet herbicide gun attached to a backpack sprayer.</p><p>Do not overfill. Herbicide that runs out is wasted and might impact nontarget plants. The herbicide solution is often mixed with colorants or dyes, thus allowing the applicator to see treated stems from a distance.</p></blockquote><p>Here's an example:</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1d2M4dxLtWCGz4w6RzAZZVG5TqAncULAc&sz=w400-h600" alt="hack and squirt"></div><p>Why, you might ask, do we hack-and-squirt, when we could instead cut-and-paint (cut down the invasive tree, paint the stump, and kill it right then and there)?</p><p>With some species, like Ailanthus, this “quick kill” causes a message to go out through the root system: “I have been killed! Redeem me! Grow, grow, grow!” Or to put it more prosaically, the tree sends up “suckers” - new trees growing off the root system. So where you had one Ailanthus, in a few years, you have dozens. </p><p>That's what cut-and-paint will do to Ailanthus. So we switch to hack-and-squirt; with this approach, we kill the tree, but more slowly. Since we do not completely sever the cambium layer, the tree is still able to function. It goes on living, but starts dying, because it pulls the poison down to its roots.</p><p>And this is the prime time for hack-and-squirt, because plants are starting to get ready for winter, so there's more “pulling down” of fluids in the trees, and less "pushing up" (compared to, say, spring and summer).</p><p>You will see the leaves of Ailanthus start to turn brown and die within a couple of weeks. Hopefully in the following year it will be completely dead. If not, repeat the process. </p><p>This technique is also good to use when an invasive tree is too big for you to cut down, but you still want to kill it.</p><p>Warning: you <i>do</i> end up with dead trees and they <i>will</i> eventually fall. Ailanthus wood, in particular, is brittle and likely to topple faster than many of our natives.</p><p><strong>If you are aware of a stand of Ailanthus (or Chinaberry or Princess Tree) that is being ignored, or if you have any of these on your property and you want to get rid of them, </strong><i><strong>LET ME KNOW!</strong></i><strong> </strong></p><p>If I can find the time, I will pay a visit and make sure they don't do any more damage ot our native ecosystems.</p><h3><strong>We know how to save biodiversity.</strong></h3><p>I subscribe To Professor Kimberly Nicholas's excellent <a href="https://wecanfixit.substack.com/">substack on climate change.</a> </p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1EKfbQLDyqbcsy7HI6nbYAjkvPr7GBYEQ&sz=w400-h275" alt="Kimberly Nicholas"></div><p style="margin-left:0px;">She recently published a <a href="https://substack.com/@wecanfixit/p-148254154 ">great column</a> on how to save biodiversity, and gave me permission to include it here in my newsletter. Enjoy!</p><p style="margin-left:auto;">A <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2705-y"><u>study led by David Leclère</u></a> found that we can stop worsening the ongoing trend of global biodiversity loss by doing three things:</p><ol><li>Increase conservation with land protection and management;</li><li>Restore degraded land; and</li><li>Plan for conservation across landscapes to connect and increase ecosystem resilience.</li></ol><p style="margin-left:auto;">These three strategies together will <strong>prevent about half of future biodiversity loss</strong> (yellow line below).</p><p><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb688c055-fd92-4b39-a37c-68d41d03243f_800x491.heic"><img class="image_resized" style="width:63.94%;" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb688c055-fd92-4b39-a37c-68d41d03243f_800x491.heic" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb688c055-fd92-4b39-a37c-68d41d03243f_800x491.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb688c055-fd92-4b39-a37c-68d41d03243f_800x491.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb688c055-fd92-4b39-a37c-68d41d03243f_800x491.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb688c055-fd92-4b39-a37c-68d41d03243f_800x491.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" width="800"></a></p><p style="margin-left:auto;">Conservation alone (yellow) can stop the further loss of biodiversity; adding sustainable food consumption and production can restore biodiversity (green). Source: <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-09-biodiversity-loss.html"><u>Leclère et al., 2020.</u></a></p><p style="margin-left:auto;">To actually <i>reverse</i> biodiversity loss (green line above), <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2705-y"><u>Leclère and colleagues</u></a> found we’ll have to do three more things:</p><ul><li>Cut food waste in half throughout the supply chain globally;</li><li>Eat more plant-based diets in areas where meat consumption is too high for health and environmental sustainability, like the US and Europe, where animal product consumption should be cut in half; and</li><li>Increase agricultural productivity per unit of land, and increase trade to get food from where it’s best produced to the people who need it.</li></ul><h3 style="margin-left:auto;">Land conservation & plant-based diets are most effective</h3><p style="margin-left:auto;">Of these six measures to restore life on Earth, by far the most effective was conservation. Better protecting and managing land (Measure #1) was about <strong>five times</strong> more effective for reversing biodiversity loss than the supply-side measures of increasing agricultural intensification plus trade (Measure #6).</p><p style="margin-left:auto;">News flash: Starting at the root to prevent problems is much more effective than treating their symptoms!</p><p style="margin-left:auto;">The typical focus is on increasing production, but demand-side solutions are far more effective. (In a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211912419301798"><u>study I coauthored</u></a> analyzing over 12,000 studies on how to feed the world, we found three-quarters of the literature focused on increasing food production, while only a quarter focused on right-sizing demand per capita).</p><p style="margin-left:auto;">Combining demand-side solutions by halving food waste (#4) + halving animal consumption with more plant-based diets (#5) was twice as effective to reverse biodiversity loss as the supply-side solutions to increase yields + trade (#6).</p><p><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5909410e-34c1-470b-b8a5-efdb3f00e416_2128x997.webp"><img class="image_resized" style="width:88.9%;" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5909410e-34c1-470b-b8a5-efdb3f00e416_2128x997.webp" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5909410e-34c1-470b-b8a5-efdb3f00e416_2128x997.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5909410e-34c1-470b-b8a5-efdb3f00e416_2128x997.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5909410e-34c1-470b-b8a5-efdb3f00e416_2128x997.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5909410e-34c1-470b-b8a5-efdb3f00e416_2128x997.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw" width="1456"></a></p><p style="margin-left:auto;">Land conservation (C, measure 1, green line) and Demand-side solutions (blue line = food waste (4) + more plant-based diets (5)) are the most effective solutions to reverse biodiversity loss. Source: <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2705-y"><u>Leclère</u></a> et al., 2020, <i>Nature</i>.</p><p style="margin-left:auto;">Overall, reversing biodiversity loss and rebuilding the ecosystems and communities where plants and animals can thrive is possible- and essential.</p><p style="margin-left:auto;"><strong>(END content from Professor Nicholas)</strong></p><h3 style="margin-left:0px;">Marmosets use specific ‘names’ for one another</h3><p style="margin-left:0px;">Gosh, a shocker. Yet another mammal species seems more than capable of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/aug/29/marmosets-behaviour-specific-names-study">having names for individuals</a> in their circle of - dare I say it? - friends and acquaintances.</p><p style="margin-left:0px;">And, yes, the way they do this is not the same as humans.</p><blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">“The phenomenon of vocal labelling that we report in marmosets is similar to human names, but there are few important differences,” said Omer. “Humans can form an infinite combination of vocalisations to form a name. Marmosets use a stereotypical call – a phee call – and modulate the fine acoustic structure of that call to form a unique label for each receiver.’”</span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">This reminds me of the never-ending “news” from scientists that yet another species seems to be sentient.</span></p><p style="margin-left:0px;"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">I'm sorry (not sorry) about the sarcasm. It's just that we now have so much evidence of sentience, consciousness, complex behaviors (e.g.., barter-based economy of </span><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/economics-in-nature/cleaner-fish-market/C14224FD80DDF63E070B6210B05AC3D3"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">cleaner fish</span></a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">), artistic expression (e.g., bowerbirds) across many, many species. </span></p><p style="margin-left:0px;"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">Seems to me that the <i>default position</i> should be: individuals of a species are conscious, are sentient, etc. unless specifically proven not to be.</span></p><p style="margin-left:0px;"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(18,18,18);">Which, I gotta say, is <i>really</i> hard to prove, since our very definitions for most of these things suck, and we don't barely even understand ourselves and how our own minds work.</span></p><p style="margin-left:0px;"> </p></div> |