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Mariana Campagnoli: What characteristics make frugivores good seed dispersers in a diverse neotropical savanna?

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In our latest post, Mariana Campagnoli gives us a bite of the fascinating fruit to seed dispersal system of the Cerrado ecosystem in Brazil. Through their latest paper “Plant and frugivore species characteristics drive frugivore contributions to seed dispersal effectiveness in a hyperdiverse community”, Mariana describes the delicate relationship between fruit and frugivore, and reminds us of how important seed dispersal services are for many …

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Mariana Campagnoli: Quais características tornam animais frugívoros bons dispersores em uma diversa savana Neotropical? (Portuguese) 

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Em nosso último post, Mariana Campagnoli nos dá uma mordida no fascinante sistema de dispersão de frutas para sementes do ecossistema do Cerrado no Brasil. Por meio de seu último artigo “Características de espécies de plantas e frugívoros impulsionam contribuições de frugívoros para a eficácia da dispersão de sementes em uma comunidade hiperdiversa”, Mariana descreve o delicado relacionamento entre frutas e frugívoros e nos lembra …

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How I’m planting bare root trees in the high desert (gopher protected).

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Here are some pics of planting a netleaf hackberry and a western soapberry.

Yes, this involves plastic, but I believe it is a reasonable compromise for growing a healthy tree.

I plant bare root trees from localy collected seed. I grow some, and I buy some from flora fauna farm (florafauna.farm).

Pocket gopher protection:

Pocket gophers are relentless in the sandy alluvial soil. A few years ago I lost 20 1st year seedling pines in 1 winter to gophers. I now only plant out larger trees and cage the root ball.

The roots are caged with 1/2″ hardware mesh on sides and 1″ chicken wire.

Deep watering pipe:

An 18″ pipe is drilled every 2 inches. The holes face the tree’s root ball. For establishment, I ball up some plastic bag and stuff it to the bottom to slow / stop the water going out the bottom. This plug is removed as the tree establishes.

Establishment wick:

A nylon wick is placed in the center and sunken into the soil a couple inches beneath the cage. The wick will be continuously wet and the roots / taproot will follow it down. This site also has excessive drainage, so the wick also makes deeper water available to shallow roots when the surface dries out. The top end of the wick is placed in a container of water during establishment. The wick is left in place after establishment, but the reservoir of water on top is no longer needed.

Soil added:

Fill with soil and tamp a bit to the level of the bottom of the root ball. The rest of the soil is added around the roots, and topped with compost and mulch.

Irrigation & reservoirs:

A bottle or container of water feeds the wick (a used plastic jar is shown). 4gpm emmiters are added (one feeds the deep pipe). The other emitters water on the surface and fill the depression around the tree (most things here are planted in round, 4″ deep zai pits (same idea as half moon zai pits).

Trees planted away from irrigation get a wick, a larger zai pit to collect rainwater, and a bigger reservoir.

Tree is then caged above ground. This is primarily rabbit and jackrabbit protection. Since they have plenty of other forage nearby, they don’t bother trying to tunnel under.

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Growing lettuce in moving cultivation towers: smaller greenhouse, lower CAPEX, lower crop costs

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Growing the same amount of lettuce on 20 m² as on 200 m² can be done by using growing towers. Dutch Lion developed a growing system for this purpose, which is currently being validated at the World Horti Center in Naaldwijk. Meanwhile, an anthurium grower is also getting acquainted with the system for…

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Trump orders likely to drive species’ extinction, wildlife advocates warn

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In addition to layoffs and hiring freezes, a ‘God squad’ can effectively veto ESA protections for endangered species

Donald Trump’s administration, backed by House Republicans and Elon Musk’s Doge agency, are carrying out an attack on the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and federal wildlife agencies that, if successful, will almost certainly drive numerous species into extinction, environmental advocates warn.

The three-pronged attack is designed to freeze endangered wildlife protections to more quickly push through oil, gas and development projects, opponents say.

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