birth

 Some plants become weeds simply by virtue of their success rather than any other factor. You merely want less of them. - Monty Don (Gardeners world)

 

    This beautiful flower belongs to Tribulus terrestris. Humans have been protecting and nurturing this plant since before language itself was invented. We have changed the climate to make the habitat more suitable, we have eliminated its competition, and prepared the soil exactly how it likes it to be. Finally we have adapted its behavior to allow it to grow faster and be more hardy by weeding out the less preferred types. We have even toughened it by spraying it regularly with herbicides so that it can develop resistance to more spraying. This plant is the dreaded puncture vine, and we are at it's mercy.

    I heard once a gardener complaining that everyone needed to pitch in and weed their gardens to eliminate this "menace". It was an odd thing to say, given how hard we work to power this plant through evolution. The species gets gets tougher even as the cloistered red roses, and blue grasses become more and more fragile under our selective breeding practices.

The thick weeds we have right now are a boon for many insects. Some of the lesser know ones include this hairstreak species (named for the fine wires on the wings to confuse predators). Bees flock to the rich pollen of the ragweeds that so irritate human nostrils.

Tree crickets are hard to see, even if they are easy to listen to. There has been an interesting discussion regarding the use of "less preferred" males to improve their songs by "baffling" or artificially amplifying their stridulations using leaves. Basically, the evolution of the use of tools and the effect this has on insect evolution. That small brain can being pretty smart with the right motivation. This is a large, confident male, based on the position gripping the edge of a leaf with engaged in a chorus.

Chrysochus auratus, or dogbane beetle is a spectacularly colored insect that feed on the poisonous sap of milkweeds and dogbane. Both these plants are slowly spreading from the south of the Corrales Preserve into the northern reaches as the shrubs and graminoids gradually replace the canopy of trees.

Darkling beetles should be hiding in the duff formed by dead tree leaves, but when it rains, they can often be found on the stalks of tall herbs like the bee blossoms where they appear to be feeding on flower nectar. Beetles and other insects seem to prefer to congregate at this time of year on large flower heads such as sunflowers.

This beetle looks like a wood borer but actually feeds as a larva on the dead roots of the mallow and adults can often be found on the plant. Those long antenna not only taste, smell and feel, but they also have other sensilla, with up to twelve different types of receptor.

Ant-lions have tiny knobs instead of antenna. These vaguely dragonfly looking insects look very different that the fearsome larva that thrive in dusty bowls flinging projectiles at nearby ants. Once there is the hint of rain, and all those cones of dust become useless, many metamorphose into winged insects like this and migrate to mates and streetlights.

The flow to the Rio Grande has been turned off, literally as many issues with water storage upstream at El Vado dam and the Corrales Siphon has eliminated the steady water release that we use to try and turn our intermittent flows into a predictable low sediment, eastern river. The many pools, sand bars, and woody debris is a novel ecosystem that is quickly exploited by different organisms such as cockle-burrs and coyote willows.

Residents of Corrales often exploit the ditches as drainage. Often pumps are used to lower a water table locally prior to digging a below ground pool. This often leads to increased vegetation in subsequent years as dormant seeds in the soil become activated. Hopefully, this water is not contaminated, but because no one tests groundwater, this is never known.

There are many apple trees bearing fruit and there are many animals ready to exploit this sugar source for food, as well as housing. The codling moth is eaten by ants and wood peckers and likely responsible for many types of fruit evolution, such as stony pits and fuzzy fruit skins. The codling moth causes premature fruit ripening by pausing apple growth when they bore into the seeds. Many parasites change the behaviour of their hosts in what usually ends up being s symbiosis over a long enough time span.

Bullfrogs usually prefer deep pools of permanent water, so are a little less abundant when the clear ditch dries out. These huge frogs are smart and adaptable to most things and many have returned to the river's edge from the ditches around Corrales.

The saltwater tamarisk is a messy plant that had transitioned from an invasive species to a mandatory habitat because it has been so successful. At this time of year they are putting out the showy pink blooms that are loved by bees, wasps and beetles.

Molluscs are rare in New Mexico, except for these land snails which have traveled around the world hitchhiking on people's garden plants as they  move from one place to another. Local roadrunners have developed quite a taste for them. They are rarely seen except during periods of high humidity.

Common snapping turtles thrive in low water conditions and this one is hunting as it waits for fish to travel down the clear ditch into it's waiting mouth.

The young turtles are incredibly cute and delicate. This specimen has only been out of its egg for a few hours and is still covered in the sand from it's underground nest. It will be a while before it has grown big enough to dominate the flora in a local pond. Snapping turtles are a highly successful species that appears to be increasing in numbers as the local cattails help to hide them in the thick mud.