Showing posts with label Sea Turtles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sea Turtles. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
VIEQUES WILL SOON BE GREEN WITH TORTUGAS
The Green sea turtle nesting season is about to begin here in their number one nesting locale in the whole of the archipelago of Puerto Rico. Females are expected to be climbing ashore in June, with September being their peak nesting month.
Keeping a watch out for the Green turtle nests are a core group of volunteers with Ticatove—a community-based non-profit conservation group here. Last season, they helped track 275 nests on Vieques shores.
Known as graceful and powerful swimmers, Green females —that’s hembras de verdes en Español —migrate as much as 1500 miles—swimming at more than a mile an hour—to return to our shores.
Greens can’t crawl backwards and this has led to dramatic rescues by volunteers who have to help these hembras de verde. Also, unlike fresh water turtles and tortoises, sea turtles can’t retract their legs or head into their shells. Because of this, they can easily dehydrate in the sun and die, necessitating an assisted return to the sea.
La Tortuga Verde is the second largest native sea turtle species en Vieques—and has a top shell that is oval and heart or corazón shaped that is mottled brown/olive. Their whitish underside gives it the Puerto Rican nickname of “Peje Blanco.”
Talk to Refuge biologist Francheska Ruiz-Canino about how to recognize a Green sea turtle and she’ll tell you to look at the face & head. If it has a pointy or beak-like shape, that’s a Hawksbill. The Greens are distinguished by a round face. Greens & Hawksbills juveniles are the mostly commonly seen sea turtles when snorkeling.
Green Tortugas live 80+ years on average and are the only sea turtle to eat sólo las plantas. They graze in underwater meadows of sea grass and algae. Their diet, high in fiber and low in protein, contributes to their slow growth and slow sexual maturation, which can take 20-35 years.
Remaining loyal to their breeding, nesting, feeding and sleeping sites, they return to these specific spots year after year. Mating takes place, perhaps, nine times in a season, at about two-week intervals, but not every year. The females usually dig nests on the same beach they hatched from, where the eggs will incubate for about 2 months. Nests vary from 75 to 200 eggs, depending on the age and health of the mamá Verde.
If you noticed stakes & yellow tape protecting nests on Sunbay, Caracas and La Chiva during early June, those are protecting Leatherback eggs.
Greens are one of the siete sea turtle species who predated and outlasted the dinosaur. So if you want to support these ancient creatures who live around us, consider getting involved in sea turtle conservation.
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Friday, April 16, 2010
Flora Portrait: Botanical Artist Volunteers at Refuge
“It’s great every day to be able to walk out into a sun filled landscape that holds new flowering plants for me to learn to identify, draw and paint,” said botanical artist Donald Davidson from his perch in the sand.
After ten years of volunteering in national parks and wildlife refuges across the American southwest, Donald Davidson arrived at the Vieques Refuge to do a month’s work—the beginning of what he hopes will be a long-term relationship with the island’s flora and its residents.
“My focus is on those plants which are of ecological importance,” he says. “It helps to understand the botanical history of Vieques.”
There are many different vegetation types on Vieques, in part because just 11,000 years ago it was physically connected to the islands that surround it. This was during glacial periods when the climate was thought to be drier and cooler, and sea levels fluctuated drastically.
During the 19th century, most of Vieques was tragically cleared of its dense forest under the direction of the colonial Spanish. The ruin of the native forest was so extensive, that by 1851 timber had to be imported. This clear cutting profoundly disturbed the native ecosystem, reduced the natural habitat for both flora and fauna, and caused the rivers in Vieques to dry up. Sugarcane came to dominate the entire island, and as that industry died out, the drier eastern side where grasslands came to dominate was then used for grazing cattle. As both the plantation and ranching eras came to an end, the island thickened with invasive species. People introduced Mesquite, Acacia, Tam-tam, Brazilian Jazmine and other trees, which in turn was spread by the remaining livestock. This was followed by 60 years of military use, including severe bombing impacts by the U.S. Navy.
“Conserving biological diversity and restoring the natural equilibrium of the plants and animals on Vieques is a long term commitment,” said Mike Barandarian, Refuge biologist. “After two centuries of disturbance, it only makes sense that it will take decades to return this island to its natural balance, based on the available scientific data.”
As part of a mid- to long-term coastal forest restoration project on the Refuge, masters’ degree biology student, Franchesca Ruiz, a member of Ticatove (a local community based conservation group) and a Farjado native, commutes daily from the mainland to lead a work crew eradicating invasive species along Playa La Chiva.
To find and identify native plants, Donald has worked closely with biologist, and Vieques Conservation & Historic Trust (VCHT) and Ticatove member, Erick Bermudez, who has helped many understand the island’s flora and fauna, while guiding local school groups, Girl Scouts, and visiting academics, as well as during his six years with the PR Dept. of Natural Resources.
Other ongoing plant conservation projects at the Refuge, include the cataloguing and building of an actual and digital herbarium (samples of dried plants and seeds) collection as a reference resource by botanist Dr. Breckon of University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez.
Vieques, at the center of an archipelago, is considered a land bridge between the Greater and the Lesser Antilles, and has many plants that originated in Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean that have naturalized over many decades. In addition to those introduced by humans, birds continuously carry seeds from one island to another and excrete them, as do imported animals. Seeds also arrive on the wind and in storms.
Eighty percent of the 830 plant species on Vieques are now considered native. These cluster into 109 families—meaning they share genetic traits, just as in humans. There are 27 rare plant species on the island, five of which are listed as endangered because there are few living examples left. During a series of volunteer trips, Donald will draw the endangered species, as well as the ones to be propagated in the new Refuge greenhouses being built later this year as a partially sustainable community project.
Donald’s has so far created twenty botanical illustrations of plants from several of the six ecological zones here on the island—sub-tropical dry forest to subtropical moist forest. From the Mangrove forest he drew one of the four mangrove species, Mangle Botón, whose crimson flower is accented with a yellow stamen. Mangroves are one of Puerto Rico’s most endangered ecosystems, and are critical to migratory birds and the bioluminescent bay. From the beach vegetation, he drew the orchid-like low shrub with succulent leaves and olive-like fruit of the Borbón, as well as several others species commonly found in this zone.
Donald’s botanical images will be used for interpretive display at the Refuge’s new greenhouses that will propagate endangered and native plants so they be used in restoration of the land, as well as to sell to the public to encourage the planting of native species. Donald’s artwork will also be used in interpretive displays for the public at strategic points in the Refuge including along the boardwalk, to be rebuilt. An art exhibit of Vieques Flora has been mentioned for the VCHT museum, and at Ticatove’s new offices opening in 2011.
Workshops with children and adults are in the plans for his next volunteer assignment on Vieques; to show simple ways to depict what defines one flower or plant from another. “Art is an activity that anyone can do regardless of their experience level,” he says. “Teaching art as a way to teach conservation offers essential messages to all participants.” These include:
• Take pride in your natural heritage;
• Be inspired by your surrounds; and
• Understand that some plants are more important to Vieques’ future than others.
“Because forest is so important here, I look forward to drawing more flowering and fruit trees, and to document the importance of edible plants here,” says Donald. “Of course all the rare plants, too.”
“Discovering and drawing a plant I have not seen before is like the thrill of the hunt, but with the benefit of not taking something away. I draw on location not from photos or picked plants. The term is ‘en plein air,’” he says. “Art always gives focus to beauty.”
# # #
After ten years of volunteering in national parks and wildlife refuges across the American southwest, Donald Davidson arrived at the Vieques Refuge to do a month’s work—the beginning of what he hopes will be a long-term relationship with the island’s flora and its residents.
“My focus is on those plants which are of ecological importance,” he says. “It helps to understand the botanical history of Vieques.”
There are many different vegetation types on Vieques, in part because just 11,000 years ago it was physically connected to the islands that surround it. This was during glacial periods when the climate was thought to be drier and cooler, and sea levels fluctuated drastically.
During the 19th century, most of Vieques was tragically cleared of its dense forest under the direction of the colonial Spanish. The ruin of the native forest was so extensive, that by 1851 timber had to be imported. This clear cutting profoundly disturbed the native ecosystem, reduced the natural habitat for both flora and fauna, and caused the rivers in Vieques to dry up. Sugarcane came to dominate the entire island, and as that industry died out, the drier eastern side where grasslands came to dominate was then used for grazing cattle. As both the plantation and ranching eras came to an end, the island thickened with invasive species. People introduced Mesquite, Acacia, Tam-tam, Brazilian Jazmine and other trees, which in turn was spread by the remaining livestock. This was followed by 60 years of military use, including severe bombing impacts by the U.S. Navy.
“Conserving biological diversity and restoring the natural equilibrium of the plants and animals on Vieques is a long term commitment,” said Mike Barandarian, Refuge biologist. “After two centuries of disturbance, it only makes sense that it will take decades to return this island to its natural balance, based on the available scientific data.”
As part of a mid- to long-term coastal forest restoration project on the Refuge, masters’ degree biology student, Franchesca Ruiz, a member of Ticatove (a local community based conservation group) and a Farjado native, commutes daily from the mainland to lead a work crew eradicating invasive species along Playa La Chiva.
To find and identify native plants, Donald has worked closely with biologist, and Vieques Conservation & Historic Trust (VCHT) and Ticatove member, Erick Bermudez, who has helped many understand the island’s flora and fauna, while guiding local school groups, Girl Scouts, and visiting academics, as well as during his six years with the PR Dept. of Natural Resources.
Other ongoing plant conservation projects at the Refuge, include the cataloguing and building of an actual and digital herbarium (samples of dried plants and seeds) collection as a reference resource by botanist Dr. Breckon of University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez.
Vieques, at the center of an archipelago, is considered a land bridge between the Greater and the Lesser Antilles, and has many plants that originated in Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean that have naturalized over many decades. In addition to those introduced by humans, birds continuously carry seeds from one island to another and excrete them, as do imported animals. Seeds also arrive on the wind and in storms.
Eighty percent of the 830 plant species on Vieques are now considered native. These cluster into 109 families—meaning they share genetic traits, just as in humans. There are 27 rare plant species on the island, five of which are listed as endangered because there are few living examples left. During a series of volunteer trips, Donald will draw the endangered species, as well as the ones to be propagated in the new Refuge greenhouses being built later this year as a partially sustainable community project.
Donald’s has so far created twenty botanical illustrations of plants from several of the six ecological zones here on the island—sub-tropical dry forest to subtropical moist forest. From the Mangrove forest he drew one of the four mangrove species, Mangle Botón, whose crimson flower is accented with a yellow stamen. Mangroves are one of Puerto Rico’s most endangered ecosystems, and are critical to migratory birds and the bioluminescent bay. From the beach vegetation, he drew the orchid-like low shrub with succulent leaves and olive-like fruit of the Borbón, as well as several others species commonly found in this zone.
Donald’s botanical images will be used for interpretive display at the Refuge’s new greenhouses that will propagate endangered and native plants so they be used in restoration of the land, as well as to sell to the public to encourage the planting of native species. Donald’s artwork will also be used in interpretive displays for the public at strategic points in the Refuge including along the boardwalk, to be rebuilt. An art exhibit of Vieques Flora has been mentioned for the VCHT museum, and at Ticatove’s new offices opening in 2011.
Workshops with children and adults are in the plans for his next volunteer assignment on Vieques; to show simple ways to depict what defines one flower or plant from another. “Art is an activity that anyone can do regardless of their experience level,” he says. “Teaching art as a way to teach conservation offers essential messages to all participants.” These include:
• Take pride in your natural heritage;
• Be inspired by your surrounds; and
• Understand that some plants are more important to Vieques’ future than others.
“Because forest is so important here, I look forward to drawing more flowering and fruit trees, and to document the importance of edible plants here,” says Donald. “Of course all the rare plants, too.”
“Discovering and drawing a plant I have not seen before is like the thrill of the hunt, but with the benefit of not taking something away. I draw on location not from photos or picked plants. The term is ‘en plein air,’” he says. “Art always gives focus to beauty.”
# # #
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