Category Archives: Natural Phenomena

I Listen to the Trees

Posted on by
Reply
Populus tremuloides

The author and his niece listening to an Aspen

The January-June, 2015 issue of The Michigan Botanist is a tribute to Burt Barnes who died in 2014. Dr. Barnes co-authored Michigan Trees with the late Herb Wagner. This is my go to book for information on Michigan trees. Dr. Barnes was a forest ecologist and an expert on Aspens and Birches. One photograph caught my eye. It shows Dr. Barnes with his ear pressed against a small Aspen. Its caption reads, “Burt Barnes listens for ‘the sound of bells’ along the trunk of a young aspen tree as the wind blows its leaves” (page 77). The article does not state if they heard anything. It even says, “someone had jokingly told him” this. I needed to find out what they heard.

A few days later, my niece and I spent an evening listening to tree trunks. Pressing one ear against a Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) trunk and blocking the other ear so I would not hear the wind through the leaves I listened. Whenever the wind rustled the leaves, the trunk sounded similar to a light gentle rain. We listened to Quaking Aspens of different sizes from 2 inches [5cm] to 18 inches [45cm] hearing the sound from every tree. We heard the same sound from Bigtooth Aspen (Populus grandidentata) and their hybrid (Populus xsmithii).

Populus grandidentataPopulus tremuloides

Bigtooth Aspen leaves (L) and Quaking Aspen leaves (R)

We then wondered what sounds other trees made. We listened to Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), Red Oak (Quercus rubra), and Red Maple (Acer rubrum) and heard no sounds. We visited a stand of Balsam Poplar (Populus balsamifera) and heard no sounds from the trunk of this Aspen relative.

Why is the rain sound heard only in Aspens? Does the density and structure of the wood transmit sound better? Do Aspen leaves vibrate at a unique frequency? The sound was produced regardless of the wind speed so perhaps frequency is irrelevant. Or perhaps, as my mentor tells me, this is one of those things we do not understand and we need to embrace the mystery.

Get out and listen to the trees. Enjoy the mystery. And you will probably find something else fascinating in Nature.
Copyright 2016 by Donald Drife

Webpage Michigan Nature Guy
Follow MichiganNatureGuy on Facebook

Weeping Fungus

Posted on by
Reply
Fomitopsis pinicola

Red-banded Polypore weeping September 2014

After a rainy day last September, on a standing dead Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana) trunk, I notice a cream colored blob that looks as if someone has rolled a chunk of modeling clay and stuck it to the tree. Droplets of crystal clear, tasteless, non-sticky liquid are collected in slight recesses on the surface of the fruiting body. It looks as if the fungus is weeping but I observe no liquid falling. Ten blobs, probably connected by mycelium, grow on this tree but only the four largest weep. Maybe they are the most developed. They vary in color from cream to tan to a faint reddish-brown. A few hours later, the droplets are gone and I can see the surface covered with dry pits. On the following day they are weeping again.

Fomitopsis pinicola

Red-banded Polypore not weeping, showing pits in surface September 2014

I learned that some fungi regulate their moisture content by secreting liquid via a process called guttation. Several heavy rains had fallen resulting in puddles of water on the Grayling Sand (a rare occurrence). Ample water was in this ecosystem.

Fomitopsis pinicola

Red-banded Polypore developing red coloring October 2014

I could not identify the fungus until I saw it the following April after it had further developed during the winter. It proved to be a common northern fungi, the Red-banded Polypore (Fomitopsis pinicola).  Open pores for sporing on the underside of the fungus were visible.This is a perennial fungi and should continue developing. I hope to make further observations and will report if I do.

Fomitopsis pinicola

Red-banded Polypore April 2015

Note: These photographs are of the same fruiting body taken in September 2014, October 2014, and April 2015.
Copyright 2015 by Donald Drife

Webpage Michigan Nature Guy
Follow MichiganNatureGuy on Facebook

Ice Flowers

Posted on by
1
Ice Flowers - L Needle Ice - R

Ice Flowers – L Needle Ice – R

The formation of Ice Flowers or Frost Flowers is an interesting phenomenon that I observe around Grayling, Michigan around the first week of November. I did not know how they formed until I found a website by Dr. James R. Carter from Illinois State University. Dr. Carter explains, “In a process called ice segregation cold water moves through a medium toward the presence of ice, freezes at the interface and adds to the ice.” I find them in the early morning, after a rainy evening or night. Grayling sand drains and dries quickly, leaving little water in the sand, so my formations are smaller than the photos on Carter’s website.

Ice Flowers

Ice Flowers

Ice Flowers in Grayling “grow” around a hollow, dried, plant stem. Dr. Carter has photographs of Ice Flowers on living plants, but plant life in the Jack Pine Plains has mostly finished its growing season by November and few live stems remain. The action of the freezing water damages the plant stem. Once an Ice Flower forms on a given stem it is unlikely that that stem will produce another.

Ice Flowers

Ice Flowers

Needle Ice develops directly out of the sand and I see it more often than Ice Flowers. The surface of the ground must freeze but the soil below remains warm enough to allow the water to flow. Needle Ice forms in a wide variety of soils and is found throughout the winter.

Needle Ice

Needle Ice

I watched the Ice Flowers disappear. Instead of melting they sublimated, meaning they changed directly from ice into water vapor. It was 20 degrees F when I started photographing and by the time it reached 35 degrees F, the Ice Flowers were gone.

It is fun to discover the answer to a personal mystery. I read, study, and seek explanations for the phenomena that I observe. As I get older, I can enjoy the beauty of Nature without necessarily classifying everything. However, I still desire to understand and name what she reveals to me.

 

Copyright 2014 by Donald Drife

Webpage Michigan Nature Guy
Follow MichiganNatureGuy on Facebook