Where to see wildflowers in Southern California

Desert Dandelion and Phacelia, Mojave National Preserve

Here's a list of some of my favorite places, however, there are many more areas to explore!

Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve

Peak bloom is usually late March, you can see California poppies, goldfields, owl’s clover and others.

Anza Borrego State Park

Desert lilies, sand verbena, desert primroses and more

Bloom is happening right now!

Carrizo Plain National Monument

Amazing fields of flowers in a very remote area. Lots of dirt roads.

Death Valley National Park

The peak bloom should be late this month into mid April

Yucca buds, Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree National Park

It was snowing in Joshua Tree two weeks ago. According to the ranger I talked to, peak bloom in park expected late March to Mid April.

Mojave National Preserve

Desert lilies, evening primrose, desert dandelions, Phacelia, sand verbena and more!

The Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve

Amazing! Over 8,000 acres of oak savanna, chaparral, and grasslands

39400 Clinton Keith Road is located at the southern end of the Santa Ana Mountains in southwest Riverside County, near the city of Murrieta, 92562. I just love this place!

Wildflower “ Hotlines”

Desert Wildflower Hotline

Theodore Payne Foundation

Link to other Wildflower info sites. This link will give you dozens of places to visit to see the flowers.

Click here to go to a page full of places to see wildflowers

Recommended desert wildflower books:

Mojave Desert Wildflowers by Pam Mac Kay. (2003)

Features lots of information about how the plants were used by Native Americans. Full color photos, great descriptions of plants, and interesting comments about them.

Wildflowers of the Colorado Desert by Jon Mark Stewart (1993)

The Colorado Desert is a part of the Sonoran Desert that extends into California. It includes the Anza-Borrego area as well as parts of Joshua Tree National Park

Stealing electrons from single celled algae to generate electric power

Chlamydomonas, a single celled algae

New Scientist has a report on its webpage about scientists who inserted tiny gold electrodes into single celled algae called Chlamydomonas, to syphon off some high energy electrons created during photosynthesis. The electrons were then used to generate electricity.

The process was less efficient at generation of electricity that a solar cell, and would be hard to do on a large scale, but the researchers involved believe they can make the process more efficient in the future.

You can read the whole article here

The Santa Rosa Plateau and Chocolate Lilies

I love the Santa Rosa Plateau. There are miles of trails, vernal pools, amazing wildflowers in the spring, and peace and quiet. All this only a few miles from the I-15. The Plateau is over 8,000 acres of what Southern California used to be like. It was saved from a huge housing development in the early 1990's by a local group of citizens and the Nature Conservancy, and is now part of the Riverside County Park system.

Chocolate Lilies were scattered in the grasses along the trails

Red-Tailed hawks were riding the thermals in the late morning

This Red-Shouldered Hawk was doing an aerial display, swooping up and down over the trees.

Ground pinks were along the trail near the large vernal pool.

Wild Hyacinth

Anza-Borrego State Park is in bloom!

The wildflower season in Southern California is underway. Anza Borrego State Park has blooms of these wonderful evening primrose, and desert verbena. The primroses bloom in the evening, and are pollinated by a large moth. The blooms then fade the next day.

Desert sunflower and sand verbena

Datura blossom opening. All parts of the Datura plant are poisonous.

Phacelia and chicory

Barrel cactus blossom with a pollinator

Another group of desert primrose

Barrel cactus blooms

Desert lily and sand verbena

Lupine

Joshua Tree National Park should be blooming in late March to mid-April. However, I hear chocolate lilies are in bloom at the Santa Rosa Plateau. Guess where I am headed tomorrow morning!

Identical Twin Murder Case

I have mentioned in class that identical twins have the same sequence of DNA in their cells. So if you have an identical twin it is important that he or she stays out of trouble, so that you do not become a suspect. However, until now, I had not heard of a case in which a twin was arrested for a crime the other twin allegedly committed. This case is a horrible murder case in which the suspect killed a woman for her car. You can read about it here

Bio 120 review for the second exam

Genetic Engineering

1. What are restriction enzymes?
2. What kind of cells have restriction enzymes, and what is the purpose of these enzymes in the cell?
3. What is a plasmid?
4. How are plasmids used in genetic engineering?
5. Why does human DNA work in a bacterial cell?
6. What is gene therapy?

Mitosis and Meiosis Review

1. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does mitosis, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

2. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does meiosis to make sperm cells, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

3. Mitosis creates cells which are ________, while meiosis makes cells which are _____.

4. What are homologous chromosomes?

5. What are sister chromatids?

6. What is crossing over, and during which process, (mitosis or meiosis) does it occur?

7. Why is crossing over important?

8. During __________ of mitosis sister chromatids separate.

9. During _________ of meiosis homologous pairs of chromosomes separate, but during ____________ of meiosis sister chromatids separate.

10. In meiosis, typically four sperm cells are made, but meiosis only makes one large egg cell. Why?


DNA Review Questions

1. Describe the structure of the DNA molecule

2. If the sequence of bases on one stand of the molecule is AAC TGC CCG, what is the sequence on the complemetary strand?

3. During DNA replication, what enzyme breaks the hydrogen bonds between the base pairs, and what enzyme matches up nucleotides to the existing ones on the parent strand of DNA?

4. Why is this type of replication called Semi Conservative?

5. How is RNA different from DNA?

6. The production of messenger RNA from DNA is called ________, and this happens in the __________ of the cell.

7. The parts of the mRNA molecules which are edited out before RNA reaches the cytoplasm are called __________

8. mRNA gets a cap and a tail prior to being read by the ribosome. What is the function of the cap and tail?

9. If the DNA strand being copied had this sequence: ACT GGC ATA CTA what would the sequence of the mRNA be?

10. The function of transfer RNA is ?

11. What is the name of the enzyme that produces RNA from DNA?

12. If the sequence of DNA is the same in your body cells, why are all cells not the same?

13. The DNA in you, an earthworm, and a fungus is the same. So why are you a human and not an earthworm?

14. What is an anti-codon and where is it found?

15. The protein synthesis process that occurs at the ribosome is called _____________

16. What is a stop codon?

Botany Review for the Second Exam

DNA
1. Describe the structure of the DNA molecule

2. If the sequence of bases on one stand of the molecule is AAC TGC CCG, what is the sequence on the complementary strand?

3. During DNA replication, what enzyme breaks the hydrogen bonds between the base pairs, and what enzyme matches up nucleotides to the existing ones on the parent strand of DNA?

4. Why is this type of replication called Semi Conservative?

5. How is RNA different from DNA?

6. The production of messenger RNA from DNA is called ________, and this happens in the __________ of the cell.

7. The parts of the mRNA molecules which are edited out before RNA reaches the cytoplasm are called __________

8. mRNA gets a cap and a tail prior to being read by the ribosome. What is the function of the cap and tail?

9. If the DNA strand being copied had this sequence: ACT GGC ATA CTA what would the sequence of the mRNA be?

10. The function of transfer RNA is ?

11. What is the name of the enzyme that produces RNA from DNA?

12. What is an anti-codon and where is it found?

15. The protein synthesis process that occurs at the ribosome is called _____________

16. What is a stop codon?


Mitosis and Meiosis

1. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does mitosis, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

2. If a cell has 8 chromosomes and does meiosis to make microspore cells, how many cells will be made, and how many chromosomes will each cell have?

3. Mitosis creates cells which are ________, while meiosis makes cells which are _____.

4. What are homologous chromosomes?

5. What are sister chromatids?

6. What is crossing over, and during which process, (mitosis or meiosis) does it occur?

Plant Anatomy:

1. Pick one of the ground tissues we discussed such as parenchyma or sclerenchyma, and explain how its structure and function are related.

2. What are the two types of vascular tissue in plants, and what is the function of each?

3. How is the anatomy of a monocot root, or stem or leaf different from that of a dicot?

4. What is the role of the epidermis? In woody plants the epidermis is replaced by the _______ ?

5.What are the regions called in plants where mitosis occurs to make the plant taller?

6. What is the name of the openings in the epidermis and what is the function of these openings?

7. In a dicot leaf, why is the lower layer of mesophyll more open than the upper layer?

8. What part of the root actually absorbs the water?

9. What is the difference between spring and summer wood?

10. How are compound and simple leaves different?

11. What is the function of the following stem modifications: tuber, bulb, corm, rhizome, stolon, tendril

12. What are five modifications of stems or leaves that might be found in a plant adapted to hot dry conditions?

13. Why are some plant's leaves modified to trap insects?

14. What is the role of the endodermis in the root?

15. What is the function of the pericycle?

Bolsa Chica Stewards Volunteers Plant over 300 plants on the Bolsa Chica Mesa

The Tree of Life Nursery could not deliver the plants out onto the mesa for us since the ground was so wet from all the rains, so we carried the plants out by hand or in wagons and wheelbarrows. The Bolsa Chica Stewards had wonderful weather this morning as we planted, and pulled weeds away from plants put in during the last couple of months. There was a big turn out from Cerritos College students. This was the first month we were able to use the walk-bridge instead of walking on Warner Ave. This made a huge difference in safety for our volunteers.

Tinkering with Ribosomes and Protein Production

National Public Radio had a story this week about making new kinds of proteins by altering the way the ribosomes read the DNA code. As you know, ribosomes understand mRNA in groups of three bases called codons. Listen to this short report about scientists who have discovered how to get ribosomes to recognize codons made of four bases.

El Nino and Southern California

The unusual amount of stormy weather we've been having is being caused by a condition called El Nino. El Nino is caused by a change in ocean currents. Warm ocean water is moving further north than usual. This has impacts on weather, and impacts on plants and animals.

NOAA, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines El Nino this way, "El Niño is a disruption of the ocean-atmosphere system in the Tropical Pacific having important consequences for weather and climate around the globe."

NOAA predicts this El Nino will extend into the Spring in the US. That means we may see more storms which is great for native plants and we will probably have a good wildflower season in our deserts.
Primrose, Baja California

However, if El Nino persists, and warmer ocean temperatures stay with us through the spring and summer, there could be serious consequences for endangered wildlife.
The brown pelican was just removed from the endangered species list. The population has recovered, but pelicans in Washington State and Oregon are starving right now because the storms keep them from feeding, and their food is moving deeper into the oceans to escape the warmer water temperatures.

The California least tern is an endangered species that nests at Bolsa Chica, and beaches in Southern California. It feeds small fish such as anchovies to its chicks. In El Nino years fewer eggs are laid because the tern's food moves deeper, or north to cooler waters.

El Nino also affects the wildlife off the coast of Ecuador along the Galapagos Islands. During the 97-98 El Nino large numbers of Galapagos penguins died as did the marine iguanas. The marine iguanas eat algae and when the water warms, the algae dies.

Marine iguanas feed on algae, and during times of food shortages can actually re-absorb their own bones to stay alive.

Summer Bio 120 review for first exam

Here are some review questions for you. Some may be similar to the daily review questions, but all will help you while you prepare for the exam.

1. A cell must maintain an imbalance of sodium ions on either side of the membrane for it to function. What process would it most likely use of the ones we discussed in class?
2. How are polar and non polar covalent bonds different?
3. What is a hydrogen bond, and why are these bonds important to life?
4. Oxygen has 8 electrons, with 6 in the outermost energy leve. Will this atom react?
5. How are ions formed?
6. A solution with a pH of 5 is how many times more acidic than a solution with a pH of 7?
7. What determines if an atom with react with another?
8. A plant cell in a hypertonic solution will under go _____________
9. An animal cell in a hypotonic solution may undergo _____________
10. A Paramecium can survive in fresh water without bursting. Why?
11. How are the mitochondria and chloroplasts similar?
12. Why do we think the mitochondria was once an independent organism?
13. Describe the plasma membrane. Include how a lipid membrane functions in a watery environment.
14. What role do the proteins in the plasma membrane play?
15. How is active transport different from diffusion and osmosis, and faciliated diffusion?
16. How is dialysis different from osmosis?
17. What affect would a hypertonic solution have on a cell?
18.How is a hypothesis different from a theory?
19.What are five characteristics of living things?
20.How are prokaryotic cells different from eukaryotics cells?
21.What can cyanobacteria do that the bacteria living in your mouth do not do?
22.How are archeae different from the bacteria living on your skin?
23.Describe briefly what organelles would be involved in making a protein and exporting it from the cell.
24.Give an example of two cell organelles working together to accomplish a task.
25.What organelle is found on the ER?
26.What is the function of lysosomes?
27.Where is the nucleolus, and what is its function?
28.What are the functions of the Golgi bodies?

Chapter 3
1. What are the building blocks of carbohydrates?
2. What is the difference between a saturated and unsaturated fatty acid?
3. Why is the shape of an enzyme important to the function of the enzyme?
4. At what level of complexity do proteins usually become functional?
5. What makes up a nucleotide?
6. What bond forms between amino acids as they react to form proteins?
7. How is the function of carbohydrates different in plants and animals?
8. Which of the macromolecules we discussed stores energy in the most efficient way?
9. What is the most common steroid in the body?

Just a few more questions for Botany

While there are many edible plants, humans consume only a few. What are the three most common plants in the diet, and where does each come from?

What characterizes a plant?

Between 1952 and 1992, twenty percent of all tropical and semi-tropical plants species became extinct. Why should this concern us?

What is photosynthesis?

What is a primary producer?

What elements should be part of a valid experimental design?

Botany Review Questions

Here are a host of review questions for you to prepare for the first exam
1. What are the building blocks of carbohydrates?
2. What is the difference between a saturated and unsaturated fatty acid?
3. Why is the shape of an enzyme important to the function of the enzyme?
4. What are the major functions of carbohydrates in plant cells?
5. Which of the macromolecules we discussed stores energy in the most efficient way?
6. What are the building blocks or subunits of proteins?
7. What kind of fatty acids are usually made in plant cells?

Here's some more questions for you to answer !

1. How are polar and non polar covalent bonds different?
2. What is a hydrogen bond, and why are these bonds important to life?
3. Oxygen has 8 electrons, with 6 in the outermost energy leve. Will this atom react?
4. How are ions formed?
5. A solution with a pH of 5 is how many times more acidic than a solution with a pH of 7?
6. What determines if an atom with react with another?

Plant Cells, and how substances get into and out of cells
1. How are the mitochondria and chloroplasts similar?
2. Why do we think the mitochondria and chloroplasts were once independent organisms?
3. Describe the plasma membrane. Include how a lipid membrane functions in a watery environment.
4. What role do the proteins in the plasma membrane play?
5. How is dialysis different from osmosis?
6. What affect would a 10% salt solution have on a plant cell?
7. Describe how a protein would get out of a plant cell.
8. What are the channels from one cell to another called?
9. How do plants use the central water vacuole?
10. are prokaryotic cells different from eukaryotics cells?
11.What can cyanobacteria do that the bacteria living in your mouth do not do?
12.What organelle is found on the ER?
13.Where is the nucleolus?
14What are the functions of the Golgi bodies?

A photosynthetic animal?

We have been discussing in class differences between plant and animal cells, and that one important difference between the two is that animals do not have chloroplasts. Well, that's true of most animals anyhow.

This beautiful green leafy organism is actually a sea slug. The sea slug Elysia chlorotica consumes chloroplasts when it eats the algae Vaucheria litorea. The slug feeds on the algae, but the chloroplasts are retained in the cells of the gut. The gut in this sea slug is highly branched and the chloroplasts give it the green color. The chloroplasts in the tissue of the animal's gut continue to function in the animals without an algal cell being present. The slug lives about 10 months and can survive off the food made by the chloroplasts.

The green color also provides great camouflage. While the animal has to eat an algae to get the chloroplasts, it is intriguing that the chloroplasts can continue to function without any algal cells present as genes in the nucleus of the algae are needed for photosynthesis to occur. So where are the genes to support photosynthesis? In the nucleus of the sea slug cells! The slug gets the genes from the algae, it does not have them until the animal feeds on the algae.

Interested in looking into this gene transfer further? Click here to read a paper by Mary E. Rumpho et al. on horizontal gene transfer between the algae and the slug.

Yellowstone Animals in Winter

Winter is a very hard time for the herbivores of Yellowstone. The grasses the grazing animals depend upon are dry, dormant and less nutritious than during the rest of the year. The other problem is that they may be buried under many inches, if not feet, of snow. So food is less available, and the weather is very cold,requiring the animals that stay active in the winter to turn their fat reserves into heat to stay warm.




This bison calf has a snowy nose because it has been pushing snow out of the way to find food. Bison do migrate to lower elevations in the winter, and also leave the park. This causes problems for them as they are hunted, and rounded up and often sent to slaughter since local ranchers are concerned they may transmit a disease called brucellosis to cattle. The irony of the situation is that the cattle gave the disease to the bison in the first place.

Bison, however, are well adapted for the cold Yellowstone winters. During the winter their coat of coarse hair can be as much as two inches thick. This provides excellent insulation against the cold.

The snow does not accumulate in such deep layers around the hot springs and other thermal features so the bison there do not have to move as much snow around as the ones who winter well away from the hot springs. There are dangers, however, of life around the hot springs. Bison are huge, heavy animals. They can weigh 2,000 pounds and sometimes as they walk around the thermal features they break through the thin crust of soil and fall into the hot springs and die.



I photographed this bighorn sheep ram in one of the lower elevation areas of the park. Migration to lower elevations where there is less snow is a solution to the problem of winter adopted by many of the herbivores in the park.



I was very surprised to see this squirrel active early in January. Most of the squirrels hibernate during the winter, but this one was not at all sleepy it seems. It scampered across the trail in front of me, ran up into this tree, paused for a few seconds and then was on to another tree.

These cow elk form large herds with their calves and younger elk. Here they are watching the landscape from a high point to better detect their main predator, wolves.


As winter takes its toll on elk, bison, deer and other animals in Yellowstone animals such as this coyote will benefit from feeding on the carcasses of winter killed animals. They also feed on mice and voles, animals that stay active under an insulating blanket of snow.

I was surprised by the number of birds I saw during my winter trip. Many of the ducks, and this beautiful trumpeter swan, forage in the Firehole River. Water flowing from geysers, and hot springs into the river keeps it flowing year round which provides habitat for a host of birds.

Winter in Yellowstone

I just got back from Yellowstone National Park. I took a class on wolves in winter though the Yellowstone Association and spent 3 days looking for and watching wolves. We saw at least 4 or 5 different packs of wolves. Most of the time we needed binoculars or spotting scopes to observe the wolves, but we did see one wolf that was on a hillside about 100 or so yards away. The wolf howled for 15 minutes or so before moving out of sight.



Elk are the primary prey of the wolves, and we saw large herds of cows and calves. The bull elk separate themselves from the cows and form bachelor herds. If it looks cold in this photo, it was. It was below zero when I took the photo.


Coyotes are killed by wolves, but they are often found not far from wolves while hunting for rodents. Mice and voles remain active through the winter under the snow. The snow forms an insulating blanket, and protects them from the wind. It also makes it hard for the coyotes to find them except by sound.


In the winter the hot springs create a lot of mist. The mist then condenses on the trees, coating them in an icy blanket.

The water from the thermal features in the park carve channels in the snow, creating beautiful patterns as the hot water flows away from the springs and geysers.

evolution review

1. How do biologists define evolution?

2. What is a population?

3. What islands were important to Charles Darwin's thinking on evolution?

4. Biogeography is how living things are distributed around the world. How was Darwin surprised by the the biogeography he observed on his trip around the world?

5. While fossils support the theory of evolution, we can't rely on the fossil record ever being complete. Why?

6. How does the existence of fossils support the theory of evolution?

7. How did LaMarck explain inheritance?

8. What was the hypothesis of catastrophism?

9. While the theory of evolution does not indicate humans came from chimps, it does indicate a _________________________ between chimps and humans.

10. Upon what observations did Darwin base his theory of evolution by natural selection?