Thanks for another terrific video. It’s great that at least a tiny remnant of the tens of millions of acres of middle-america’s savanna ecosystem is being restored and preserved. Man’s transformation of this area in the last 3 hundred years is astonishing. To think that huge herds of grazers, bison, elk, deer, etc., roamed free accompanied by immense flocks of a wide variety of birds. Standing in a mall parking lot in Indianapolis today this phenomenon would require a vivid imagination to picture. For those of your viewers seeking more information, oaksavannas.org is a good place to start.
Very interesting ecosystem. When peering into the nuance of ecological succession, fascinating things tend to become more apparent. A hobby of mine is to accelerate the succession using wood-coal (aka biochar) as a main 'tool'. Find a barren rocky spot (typically on top of a hill/mountain), dump coal + misc. biomass, and see how different plants start settling in or out of the coal-soil zone, often with a clear distinction where the water runs off with the nutrients. I like to look at it as making 'latters'. These lill' seams of new plants reaching the vegetation further down, facilitating for their own ascension.
This is amazing Matt!! Such an awesome video. You are the first person ever for me that can be righteous sucxesor of Sir Attenborough!! Just keep on going strong and I hope one day you would be able to treat us with full lenght documentaries.
Why has lupine been maligned? Perhaps it's regional thing but here, western Montana, lupine is just another common wild flower--although it doesn't seem to be the same as you show, the ones around here are lighter blue/periwinkle/purple. I always have to look twice to distinguish it from the other similar blue wildflowers like larkspur.
Apparently when early settlers were setting up homesteads, they were quick to recognize that wherever lupine grew, the soils were poor. They incorrectly assumed that it was the lupine that was degrading the soil. I have even heard speculation that the genus name Lupinus was given because people also thought wolves were bad for the environment and that these two organisms should share similar names.
It does like the rocky hillsides which even trees won't grow on so they were probably right about the first part. Some of my favorite flowers grow in those conditions though, especially bitterroots.
@@InDefenseofPlants Matt, your videos are informative, entertaining and fascinating. They are superior to most I have come across. Thank you!!! Bryan Humphreys, as it is with Lupines, so it is with Cottonwood. In this video, Matt correctly stated the species deserves more respect than it gets. As it is, Cottonwoods do have their proponents, like felines or cult classic films. Those who "get them" can be almost Druid-like in their fascination of the tree. Those who don't, usually fueled by subjective opinions, abhor the tree...often with thoughtless, profanity laced speech. However, these Poplars are, objectively, a desirable species for an array of reasons. I have actually titled a (growing) text document, "In Defense of Cottonwoods", and it includes some of those reasons. I'd like to share a few entries here, which challenge the "short-lived" appellation the tree seems cursed with: ~Landscaping With Native Trees (Sternberg & Wilson): "...(Cottonwood trees) are so resilient that some live to take their place among the largest of our deciduous trees. A few of the venerable Cottonwoods that shaded Lewis and Clark on their Journey of Discovery in 1804 are still growing along the Missouri River." ~"A majestic 300-year-old cottonwood tree greets visitors crossing the Granite Creek Bridge entrance into Prescott Mile High Middle School in Prescott, Arizona. This great tree symbolizes growth, tradition, and adaptation. In 1867, a small log cabin, the first school in Arizona, was built in the shade of this great cottonwood..." -Prescott Mile High site. ~Chicago Sun-Times, April 28 2018: "An eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides) growing in the Byron Forest Preserve District’s new Bald Hill Prairie Preserve is the Illinois Big Tree Champion. It’s estimated to be 200 years old, making it a bicentennial tree, which probably started growing when Illinois became the 21st state in 1818." (This replaced the 175-year-old specimen at Gebhard Woods.) ~Knowing Your Trees (Collingwood and Brush) approximates the lifespan of Cottonwood at about 150-years. ~"Located at the west end of Harriet Island Regional Park...stands one of the largest trees in the city, a beautiful eastern cottonwood. Many of the trees in Harriet Island’s flood plain are cottonwoods which are well-adapted to this flood-prone area. When Harriet Island became a park in 1900, the tree had already established itself as a stately shade tree. It’s estimated the tree dates back to the 1620’s. Growing in ideal conditions, cottonwoods have a maximum life span of 200-400 years." We call these older specimens "exceptions"; instead, we might consider increasing the average estimated lifespan to perhaps 75-120 years, and more when favorable genetics and environs come into play. I've quoted a few sources on this, but will now share the stirring words of Charles S Sargent, first director of Harvard's Arnold Arboretum: "With its massive pale stem, its great spreading limbs and broad head of pendulous branches covered with fluttering leaves of the most brilliant green, Populus deltoides is one of the stateliest and most beautiful inhabitants of the forests of North America." Indeed. This species (often disheveled in some older specimens) can rival more "aristocratic" trees in terms of beauty and luxuriant foliage. Author Kathleen Cain rightly calls the Cottonwood an "American Champion". I realize life on the dunes is harsh (like life for us humans in society, hahaha), and I know the tough pioneer trees that subsist there may not even see fifty years, let alone 150. But under optimum conditions, most life forms profit. Dunes are not the only place they grow.
Recently found you, love your videos. I have heard you mention that you are from NY, what part? I spend a lot of time exploring the Tug Hill and Finger Lakes regions.
Hard to say for sure but in this case I think the very act of walking out there and installing the fences would cause more disturbance to these plants and their dune habitats than simply letting them be free to do what they need to do.
Hey, can you try not touching the plants? Especially the ones you say are endangered. It makes me distressed for the herbaceous sensitive things. Please consider taking a hands off approach. It's scientifically proven plants dont respond well to being handled, you know..
Interesting perspective. I will say that with over a decade of growing a wide variety of plants from all over the world - both rare and common - I have never seen any signs of ill health simply from touching a plant. Sure, you should never rough house with them but careful examination does not do any serious harm. The bigger issue would be trampling and I agree that giving plants their space and avoiding stomping on them is a great thing to keep in mind, especially in sensitive habitats.
@@InDefenseofPlants Whenever I approach a rare plant I try to keep in mind weather I might be stepping on immature plants or basal rosettes that could be important next year. It's tricky, but I've seen trained botanists stomp towards interesting plants because they were excited. Touching them? I try to keep colony size in mind and do my best not to touch lone individuals. Seems like you keep some of these same things in mind.
Great video. You upped your game with this one.
Thanks for the kind words!
I appreciate all the hard work that gets put into these videos. Everything always looks so good, the editing is great, and I always learn things!
Thank you! 🙏
Thanks for another terrific video. It’s great that at least a tiny remnant of the tens of millions of acres of middle-america’s savanna ecosystem is being restored and preserved. Man’s transformation of this area in the last 3 hundred years is astonishing. To think that huge herds of grazers, bison, elk, deer, etc., roamed free accompanied by immense flocks of a wide variety of birds. Standing in a mall parking lot in Indianapolis today this phenomenon would require a vivid imagination to picture. For those of your viewers seeking more information, oaksavannas.org is a good place to start.
Very interesting ecosystem. When peering into the nuance of ecological succession, fascinating things tend to become more apparent. A hobby of mine is to accelerate the succession using wood-coal (aka biochar) as a main 'tool'. Find a barren rocky spot (typically on top of a hill/mountain), dump coal + misc. biomass, and see how different plants start settling in or out of the coal-soil zone, often with a clear distinction where the water runs off with the nutrients.
I like to look at it as making 'latters'. These lill' seams of new plants reaching the vegetation further down, facilitating for their own ascension.
Beautiful beautiful video
This is amazing Matt!! Such an awesome video. You are the first person ever for me that can be righteous sucxesor of Sir Attenborough!! Just keep on going strong and I hope one day you would be able to treat us with full lenght documentaries.
Wow, that is mighty generous of you to say :)
In time......💖
So beautiful, and so informative. Thank you so much, and please make more. What about an episode just on grasses?
Thanks and we love the idea! Will keep it in mind for the future :)
Cant believe you saw a wild lupine!
Very professional! Well done!
Wow this is awesome. Love the podcast man! Keep it up!
Great video.
Still waiting for a documentary about an alpine region!
Oh wow, this was wonderful! Beautifully made in every way. Can you in any way write down the names of the plants? They are a little tricky :D
We have updated the show notes with a list of all of the plant species discussed in this episode :)
Thank you so much
Why has lupine been maligned? Perhaps it's regional thing but here, western Montana, lupine is just another common wild flower--although it doesn't seem to be the same as you show, the ones around here are lighter blue/periwinkle/purple. I always have to look twice to distinguish it from the other similar blue wildflowers like larkspur.
Apparently when early settlers were setting up homesteads, they were quick to recognize that wherever lupine grew, the soils were poor. They incorrectly assumed that it was the lupine that was degrading the soil. I have even heard speculation that the genus name Lupinus was given because people also thought wolves were bad for the environment and that these two organisms should share similar names.
It does like the rocky hillsides which even trees won't grow on so they were probably right about the first part. Some of my favorite flowers grow in those conditions though, especially bitterroots.
@@InDefenseofPlants Matt, your videos are informative, entertaining and fascinating. They are superior to most I have come across. Thank you!!!
Bryan Humphreys, as it is with Lupines, so it is with Cottonwood.
In this video, Matt correctly stated the species deserves more respect than it gets. As it is, Cottonwoods do have their proponents, like felines or cult classic films. Those who "get them" can be almost Druid-like in their fascination of the tree. Those who don't, usually fueled by subjective opinions, abhor the tree...often with thoughtless, profanity laced speech.
However, these Poplars are, objectively, a desirable species for an array of reasons. I have actually titled a (growing) text document, "In Defense of Cottonwoods", and it includes some of those reasons. I'd like to share a few entries here, which challenge the "short-lived" appellation the tree seems cursed with:
~Landscaping With Native Trees (Sternberg & Wilson): "...(Cottonwood trees) are so resilient that some live to take their place among the largest of our deciduous trees. A few of the venerable Cottonwoods that shaded Lewis and Clark on their Journey of Discovery in 1804 are still growing along the Missouri River."
~"A majestic 300-year-old cottonwood tree greets visitors crossing the Granite Creek Bridge entrance into Prescott Mile High Middle School in Prescott, Arizona. This great tree symbolizes growth, tradition, and adaptation. In 1867, a small log cabin, the first school in Arizona, was built in the shade of this great cottonwood..." -Prescott Mile High site.
~Chicago Sun-Times, April 28 2018: "An eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides) growing in the Byron Forest Preserve District’s new Bald Hill Prairie Preserve is the Illinois Big Tree Champion. It’s estimated to be 200 years old, making it a bicentennial tree, which probably started growing when Illinois became the 21st state in 1818." (This replaced the 175-year-old specimen at Gebhard Woods.)
~Knowing Your Trees (Collingwood and Brush) approximates the lifespan of Cottonwood at about 150-years.
~"Located at the west end of Harriet Island Regional Park...stands one of the largest trees in the city, a beautiful eastern cottonwood. Many of the trees in Harriet Island’s flood plain are cottonwoods which are well-adapted to this flood-prone area. When Harriet Island became a park in 1900, the tree had already established itself as a stately shade tree. It’s estimated the tree dates back to the 1620’s. Growing in ideal conditions, cottonwoods have a maximum life span of 200-400 years."
We call these older specimens "exceptions"; instead, we might consider increasing the average estimated lifespan to perhaps 75-120 years, and more when favorable genetics and environs come into play. I've quoted a few sources on this, but will now share the stirring words of Charles S Sargent, first director of Harvard's Arnold Arboretum:
"With its massive pale stem, its great spreading limbs and broad head of pendulous branches covered with fluttering leaves of the most brilliant green, Populus deltoides is one of the stateliest and most beautiful inhabitants of the forests of North America."
Indeed. This species (often disheveled in some older specimens) can rival more "aristocratic" trees in terms of beauty and luxuriant foliage. Author Kathleen Cain rightly calls the Cottonwood an "American Champion".
I realize life on the dunes is harsh (like life for us humans in society, hahaha), and I know the tough pioneer trees that subsist there may not even see fifty years, let alone 150. But under optimum conditions, most life forms profit. Dunes are not the only place they grow.
...and Wafer Ash is one of my personal favorites, too.:-)
Please visit Pinhook and Cowles Bogs
Recently found you, love your videos. I have heard you mention that you are from NY, what part? I spend a lot of time exploring the Tug Hill and Finger Lakes regions.
keep up the awesome content. Any plans for international locations?
Thank you! We would love to do some international locations, however, funding is limited and we are doing this all out of pocket :P
Why aren’t those endangered plants not being protected with little fences?
Hard to say for sure but in this case I think the very act of walking out there and installing the fences would cause more disturbance to these plants and their dune habitats than simply letting them be free to do what they need to do.
:D add timelapse because... you know, they're plants
Uneti Tree I wish we could do more of them. We never have time :(
@Grant Czadzeck You're the person who filmed this, right?
Yes
@Grant Czadzeck Awesome, great work!
Thank you!
Ok
Hey, can you try not touching the plants? Especially the ones you say are endangered. It makes me distressed for the herbaceous sensitive things. Please consider taking a hands off approach. It's scientifically proven plants dont respond well to being handled, you know..
Interesting perspective. I will say that with over a decade of growing a wide variety of plants from all over the world - both rare and common - I have never seen any signs of ill health simply from touching a plant. Sure, you should never rough house with them but careful examination does not do any serious harm. The bigger issue would be trampling and I agree that giving plants their space and avoiding stomping on them is a great thing to keep in mind, especially in sensitive habitats.
@@InDefenseofPlants Whenever I approach a rare plant I try to keep in mind weather I might be stepping on immature plants or basal rosettes that could be important next year. It's tricky, but I've seen trained botanists stomp towards interesting plants because they were excited.
Touching them? I try to keep colony size in mind and do my best not to touch lone individuals. Seems like you keep some of these same things in mind.