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Erin Southerland

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City Nature Challenge: Noticing Invasive Plants 

by Rachel Reeb and Jessica Romano

This spring, thousands of people will join the City Nature Challenge, a global effort to document biodiversity safely and easily on the free iNaturalist app. Participating in the challenge is fun and rewarding – simply make observations of nature, take photos, and upload them to the app. The data collected during the challenge is shared with scientists around the world and helps them both document and better understand the diversity of species around us. This year’s challenge takes place April 25 through 28 for the observations, with a follow-up identification period from April 29 through May 1 when scientists and naturalists help observers properly identify the species they found. Participants will observe plants, insects, mammals, birds, mollusks, reptiles, amphibians, and more, right in their own neighborhoods. 

Alliaria petiolate, common name Garlic Mustard, is very commonly spotted during the City Nature Challenge and is easy to identify by its broad leaves and small white flowers. Credit: Katja Schulz from Washington, D. C., USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

To help get us ready for this year’s challenge, Rachel Reeb, postdoctoral fellow in the Section of Botany at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, created this guide to finding and understanding invasive species of plants, including species like garlic mustard that is repeatedly one of the most often observed plants during the challenge. To get started, Rachel provided helpful definitions: 

Native or Indigenous species: Species that exist within an area due to natural evolution.

Introduced species: Species that have been introduced, by humans, to an area outside of its indigenous range. Roughly 25% of plant species in our environment are introduced.

Invasive species: A subset of introduced species which cause significant harm to the environment or human well-being. 

Naturalized species: A subset of introduced species which do not have demonstrated impacts on the environment or human well-being.

Lonicera maackii, known as the Amur Honeysuckle, originated in temperate areas of eastern Asia. Credit: Jay Sturner from USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Observing Invasive Plants

When is the best time to spot invasive plants? In the early stages of spring! Since introduced invasive plants evolved in a different part of the world, they often have unique life cycles that start and end at a different time than the rest of the plant community. Invasive species like garlic mustard, lesser celandine, periwinkle, multiflora rose, and Amur honeysuckle are some of the first to start their life cycles in the spring, providing a surprising pop of greenery to an otherwise dormant forest understory. This ‘head start’ in the growing season gives invasive plants an advantage because they gain priority access to soil nutrients and sunlight, while other plants are still dormant. 

Ficaria verna, or Lesser Celandine, blankets the ground in Frick Park. Credit: Rachel Reeb.

Unfortunately, what serves as an advantage for invasive plants is often a disadvantage to their neighbors, which now have a delayed start in the race to capture limited seasonal resources. Environmental experts in Pittsburgh are especially worried about the survival of rare native wildflowers, such as large white trillium, mayapple, and yellow trout lily. These plants, which have very specific habitat conditions and cannot easily relocate to new areas, are highly sensitive to changes in the environment and often cannot survive in areas where invasive plants are present.

During this year’s City Nature Challenge, we encourage you to take note of everything in nature, including the weeds. What do you notice about invasive plants in your area, like the timing of their life cycle, or how they interact with their neighbors? Have you ever wondered how these organisms came to be here? Many unwanted invasive plants were first introduced as popular garden center products. While some invasive species are now banned from sale, many can still be found in stores, like English ivy and Periwinkle vines.

Podophyllum peltatum, common name Mayapple, is a native species in Pennsylvania and sprouts early in spring, resembling little umbrellas on the landscape. Credit: Jessica Romano.

Here are helpful lists of species you may encounter in our area:

Invasive Species

  • Garlic Mustard 
  • Lesser Celandine
  • Knotweed 
  • Multiflora Rose
  • Amur Honeysuckle
  • Periwinkle / Vinca 
  • English Ivy 
  • Japanese Barberry 
  • Tree of heaven

Naturalized Species

  • Common Dandelion
  • White Clover

Native Spring Wildflowers 

  • Mayapple
  • Large White Trillium
  • Dutchman’s Breeches
  • Virginia Bluebells
  • Common Blue Violet
  • Yellow Trout Lily

How many of these species can you spot? Get your camera/phone/device and join the City Nature Challenge, April 25 through 28!

Rachel Reeb is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Section of Botany at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Jessica Romano is Museum Education Writer at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

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Remembering Albert Kollar, Collection Manager of Invertebrate Paleontology

Albert D. Kollar, Collection Manager of Invertebrate Paleontology

Last year, when Albert Kollar, Collection Manager of Invertebrate Paleontology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, was planning for, and later recovering from, knee surgeries, it was common to hear people wish him well by saying, “You’ll be back on the outcrop soon.” In the wake of his untimely death last week, those wishes are worth examining for all they capture of Albert’s generous and long-standing sharing of geologic knowledge.

outcrop

Outcrop, as anyone who participated in one of his geology-focused hikes already knows, refers to the part of a rock layer that can be seen at the Earth’s surface. Pittsburgh’s location amid a deeply eroded Appalachian plateau assures a richness of local outcrops. In river and stream cuts, natural features that in many places acquired sharper edges through the construction of road or railway terraces, multiple sedimentary units appear stacked like layers of a cake. Albert had a deep and working understanding of each of these massive rock units. He could patiently explain how their differing composition implied dramatic past changes in climate, sea level, plant cover, and even continent position. 

Albert with the original Invertebrate Paleontology door.

For prolonged discussions of local geology, Albert introduced audiences to several rock units prominent or economically important enough to have earned names, the Birmingham Shale, the Morgantown Sandstone, the Ames Limestone, and the Pittsburgh Coal. In explaining that every rock unit, whether it held fossils or not, contained a story about its formation, Albert would frequently distribute hand samples from these units. When the audience was a middle school class, the students could take the samples home, souvenirs not just from the museum, but from the outcrop.

Albert at work in the museum.
The Invertebrate Paleontology team doing a spotlight on Bayet fossils. Fall 2023.
Albert smoking fossils.

Read Blog Posts by Albert D. Kollar

Meet the Mysterious Mr. Ernest Bayet

Smoking Fossils

Carnegie’s Water Fountains

Thank you to Joann Wilson and the Invertebrate Paleontology team for the photos.

Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: McShea, Patrick
Publication date: April 16, 2024

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Snags, Logs, and the Importance of a Fallen Tree

by Jessica Romano

As the seasons change from winter to spring here in western Pennsylvania, a common sight on a recent walk included fallen and decomposing trees. Interesting to look at and begging to be photographed, these fallen trees also hold a very important role in the ecosystem. 

This uprooted tree shows the roots still attached, along a hiking trail in Hartwood Acres Park.

Dead and fallen trees are host to many forms of wildlife, some of which are easy to spot, like squirrels, woodpeckers, and snakes, while others may require a closer look to identify, including fungi, insects, and salamanders. These organisms use the trees for food and shelter, and as the tree decomposes further, the nutrients absorb into the soil and set up favorable conditions for new growth. This cycle is crucial to the health of forests – in fact, numerous species rely on this process to thrive. According to the National Wildlife Federation, “Dead trees provide vital habitat for more than 1,000 species of wildlife nationwide. They also count as cover and places for wildlife to raise young in the requirements for Certified Wildlife Habitat designation.” 

Dead trees are identified two ways:

Snag – a dead tree that is still standing upright while decomposing

Log – the part of a snag that has fallen or partially fallen to the ground

Snags and logs each contribute to a thriving ecosystem in different ways. Snags can have cavities that house mammals, birds, and insects, and can be used for storage or look-out points. Logs on the ground can also act as hiding spots and nests, and as they decompose they provide the nutrients that recycle back into the soil. For those curious for more details about which species in PA utilize snags and logs, Penn State Extension has a thorough list.

This group of logs shows varying points of decomposition and provides lots of spaces for wildlife to shelter.

The photos used here were taken at Hartwood Acres, one of the Allegheny County Parks located in Hampton Township, north of Pittsburgh. Some trees appeared to be freshly uprooted, with the circumference of the base of the tree standing several feet high, while others had clearly been decomposing for quite some time, with the trunk completely hollowed out. 

This log is almost completely hollowed out, providing shelter for various types of wildlife. 
A close-up view shows the variety of textures from varying points of decomposition.

When a tree is uprooted from some type of disturbance event like a storm, it makes space for another topographical feature, pits and mounds. A pit forms in the space where the roots and soil are pulled up. Over time, the root mass decays and falls to the ground, creating a mound on the surface. This is called a micro-topographical feature because it forms around the base of a single tree. Pit-and-mound features create new habitats for wildlife and can often be used as breeding grounds for amphibians when water collects in the pit from runoff. The amount and frequency of mounds in forests can give clues to what caused the trees to fall, and even age of the forest as mounds form over extended periods of time.  

A close-up view of an uprooted tree shows the decaying roots and soil that form a pit underneath and will become a mound over time.

It’s not a coincidence that there are varying types of fallen trees in one park; forest experts monitor these fallen trees and follow guidelines for how many to leave in an area, at times clearing them to help control pests or other safety factors.

Keep in mind it can be dangerous to touch or climb on these fallen trees, especially if they appear rotted. The structure of the wood breaks down slowly but surely and the logs can be weaker than they appear. For that reason it’s better to admire the interesting sight from a distance or at least without touching it. As spring arrives and the tree canopy and forest understory fill in, a return trip will hopefully provide opportunity to spot some of the species benefitting from these fascinating snags and logs.

A perfect opportunity to search for fallen trees and the wildlife that utilizes the newly-created ecosystem is the City Nature Challenge. Using the free app iNaturalist, take and upload photos of nature from April 26 through 29, 2024 and help safely document biodiversity where you live! Learn more about the City Nature Challenge.

Jessica Romano is Museum Education Writer at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Sources

  1. National Wildlife Federation
  2. The Wildlife News
  3. Penn State Extension

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Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: Romano, Jessica
Publication date: April 9, 2024

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Celebrating Women in the Natural History Art Collection

by Olivia Buehler

Within the collections of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, one may be surprised to find more than the biological specimens, fossils, and extensive anthropological and archaeological materials that the museum is best known for. As a major scientific institution that collects and conducts research, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History also has its own “Natural History Art” Collection, formerly known as the M. Graham Netting Animal Portraiture Collection, named after the herpetologist, former CMNH director, and founder of the collection. Consisting mostly of mid-twentieth-century naturalist and scientific illustrations, this collection serves as a useful addition to the museum’s resources that complements its research activities. Naturalist and scientific illustration involves skills beyond image-making and can resemble scientific research in that it requires artists to closely observe, and often travel to, their subjects to fully understand them and render them accurately. 

Within the collection are several women artists and scientific illustrators who each contributed to the genres of naturalist and scientific illustration. In this post I will feature the artists Winifred Austen, Germaine A. Bernier-Boulanger, Florence Malewotkuk, and an artist only identified (for now) as “Deirdre E. L.,” who are all worth celebrating this Women’s History Month. Although greatly outnumbered in the collection by their male counterparts, the women in CMNH’s Natural History Art Collection, and their respective works, speak volumes. With some pieces dating to over one hundred years ago, these artworks are proof that women have always had important roles to play in art and science, and it is just the conditions of patriarchal societies that have limited them. Despite their existence as a minority in the field of naturalist and scientific illustration, and the associated income and opportunity disparities that came with that status, these women persevered to create the beautiful, informative, and humorous art below.

Winifred Austen

watercolor painting of two golden orioles near their nest in a tree
Winifred Austen, Golden Orioles (1909), Watercolor on board, 20 x 27 in., NHA 28.266 

One such artist is Winifred Austen, an English painter, etcher, and engraver whose work became most popular in the 1940s and 1950s with her wildlife illustrations in books and magazines. Produced as an illustration for F.B. Kirkman’s British Bird Book, Austen’s Golden Orioles (1909) is a lovely example of her expertise in wildlife painting, specifically birds. While the orioles are painted with a thoughtful hand in precise, impressive detail, their surrounding environment is rendered in a far more impressionistic style, emphasizing Austen’s utilization of her formal training in the arts, but also her choice to employ individualistic, stylistic expression and creativity. Even though these watercolors were intended to act as visual references for the texts they were accompanying, Austen still managed to contribute in a manner that was unique to her. Austen’s art can be praised for the dynamism of her subjects, and her portrayal of birds as they would appear in their natural environments, rather than in the static and perfectly poised way some other naturalist illustrators tend to favor.

Austen attended and trained formally at the London County Council School of Arts and Crafts and exhibited her work often with the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, following a similar trajectory as many of her male contemporaries. With that being said, Austen also made incredible progress despite being a minority in her practice, for example, she was the only woman to be published in the British Bird Book.

Germaine A. Bernier-Boulanger

print of a speckled trout
Germaine A. Bernier-Boulanger, Salvelinus fontinalis, female (c. 1953), Print, 14.25 x 19.25 in., NHA 29.136-23 

A prime example of a woman who knew her worth as a scientist, educator, and artist, and settled for nothing less, is Germaine A. Bernier-Boulanger (1909-1989). Salvelinus fontinalis, female (c. 1953), a highly detailed, scientific illustration of a female spotted trout, is one of three prints in the collection by Bernier-Boulanger. Unlike the more painterly quality of Austen’s watercolors, Bernier-Boulanger’s work highlights the more research-intensive, “art for science’s sake” approach to wildlife illustration that contributed greatly to the discipline of non-photographic specimen documentation. Bernier-Boulanger had formally studied embryology and invertebrate zoology and didn’t become a professional illustrator until after the age of forty. Before focusing on her art, Bernier-Boulanger was employed at the Montreal Botanical Institute, and later, the University of Montreal, where she left her post as an educator after experiencing no change in her career trajectory, despite voicing her disapproval of the discrepancies in pay and career advancement between herself and her male colleagues in the natural sciences department. During Women’s History Month, it is especially important to tell the stories of women like Bernier-Boulanger, not only because of their knowledge, skill, and contributions to their respective fields, but also because they challenged long-standing discriminatory practices against women within the institutions they worked for, acting as catalysts for change.

Florence Malewotkuk

black and white drawing of three huskies
Florence Malewotkuk, Husky Dog Team (c. 1950s-60s), Print, 16 x 10.5 in., NHA 30.115-23 

Florence Malewotkuk (1906-1971) (Yup’ik) was born in a village on St. Lawrence Island on the Bering Sea, which is part of Alaska. Malewotkuk’s Husky Dog Team (circa 1950s-60s) is one of three prints by the artist in the collection by Malewotkuk, each part of a series she titled “Bering Sea Originals.” Depicting husky dogs lined up in front of drying pelts, this print, along with the others in the collection depicting walrus and polar bears, offers unembellished images of local wildlife, and the intersection with nonhuman animals and Yup’ik communities. Showing talent from an early age, Malewotkuk began working as a professional artist in her early twenties when commissioned by Otto William Geist, an archaeologist, to capture everyday scenes of Yup’ik life. Further commissions followed for Malewotkuk later in life, and today her art is housed in collections across North America. Malewotkuk’s story indicates the opportunities that art production offers to women, and the importance of having members of Indigenous groups, especially women, depict their culture from their point of view.

Deirdre E. L.

charcoal sketch of two people in front of two sauropod dinosaur fossil skeletons
Deirdre E. L., Untitled Sketch (c. 1940s), Charcoal on paper, 8.5 x 11 in.
Deirdre E. L., Untitled Sketch (c. 1940s), Charcoal on parchment, 9 x 6.5 in.

Tucked away in a drawer of archival ephemera in the Natural History Art Collection is a folder of comedic cartoon illustrations by the artist Deirdre E. L. With the signature “Deirdre” at the bottom of the sketches being the only source of information available on the artist, it would seem that we must let her work speak where a biography is absent. Perhaps designed for the amusement of CMNH staff or for print in museum publications, Deirdre’s sketches combine silly captions and quirky caricatures with relevant information about the museum. Her sketch of CMNH chief staff artist Ottmar Von Fuehrer jokes about his going “directly to nature” (by sticking his head in a lion’s mouth) for inspiration, and is a fine example of this fun dichotomy. Her heart-warming sketch of a couple embracing under an equally affectionate pair of dinosaur fossils captures her sketchy, endearing drawing style. 

In this brief survey, I hope to have captured a glimpse of the talented women artists and scientific illustrators in CMNH’s Natural History Art collection. As a History of Art and Architecture and Museum Studies student at Pitt, I have been very interested in exploring the many intersections that exist between the disciplines of art and natural histories, including questions like: What distinguishes a scientific illustrator from an artist, if there is any distinction at all? How do women fit into and contribute to these respective disciplines historically? And how do studies of gender reveal vital information about science and art history? I look forward to discovering new artists as I continue to work with the Natural History Art Collection as an intern, especially women whose presence in the collection inspire me to learn more about those who challenged, and continue to challenge, societal expectations and make lasting contributions to the worlds of art and science. 

Olivia Buehler is an intern in the Section of Anthropology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

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Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: Buehler, Olivia
Publication date: March 19, 2024

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When Nature Meets Art: Crinoid Fossils as Cultural Beads

by Elizabeth A. Begley and Albert D. Kollar

Did you know that invertebrate fossils make up more than 50% of the specimens on exhibit in Dinosaurs in Their Time (DITT)? It’s true! But these fossils can be easy to miss among the giant dinosaurs and vertebrate reptiles. Luckily, ongoing research on the biodiversity within our gallery spaces, from locations including England, Germany, and the United States, will help visitors better understand the importance of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Invertebrate Paleontology collection research, exhibition, and education initiatives1. With few exceptions, these specimens are part of the vast Ernest de Bayet fossil collection purchased for the museum by Andrew Carnegie in 19031,2.

What are Crinoids?

Among these invertebrates are a unique group of sea bearing animals called crinoids. Crinoids are an ancient fossil group that belong to the phylum Echinodermata. Crinoids first appeared in the fossil record in the mid-Cambrian Period of the Paleozoic Era (490 – 250 million years ago) and became a significant group that formed mid-Silurian reefs in Dudley, Wales; Gotland Island, Sweden; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the Mesozoic Era, crinoids formed the famous middle Triassic reefs of Germany3. Few crinoid groups live in oceans today. Examples of crinoids are on display in the museum’s Triassic Seas, Holzmaden, and Solnhofen dioramas (all locations in Germany)1. Crinoids are also called sea lilies because they look like flowers – but don’t be fooled, they’re animals! Crinoids are related to starfish, sea urchins, and brittle stars; this relationship can be noted in the crinoids five-part radial symmetry3,4. They lived on stems (or stalks) and attached to the sea floor by roots, as in the Triassic Muschelkalk Formation, but were floating animals in the Jurassic Holzmaden seas. They relied on waves and currents to bring small food particles past their petal-like arms which opened as a mode of filter-feeding micro-organic food3,4. Today, Crinoids are few in numbers living among shallow coral reefs and in the deep sea. The Bayet Collection of crinoid fossils are represented from the Silurian, Mississippian, and Triassic rock formations1.

Fig. 1. In DITT, you may see crinoid fossils such as the specimen sketched above, CM29840. This crinoid’s scientific name is Encrinus liliiformis and comes from the famous middle Triassic Muschelkalk Formation in Brunswick, Germany. This specimen was collected by Dr. Fredrick Krantz within the Bayet Collection. Several parts make up the crinoid. Once dead, the crinoid’s muscles decompose resulting in the disarticulation of the arms, calyx, stem, and individual columnals4. Most crinoid fossils are found in separate parts for this reason. Artwork by Elizabeth Begley. 

However, crinoid fossils are more than scientific material reserved for use by paleontologists alone, in fact, this invertebrate animal is unique as it gives us the opportunity to see how humans have long interacted with nature. Specifically, fossilized crinoid stems have been used in several communities and throughout history as beads. This is due to their small size, cylindrical shape, and the usual occurrence of a hole in the center (fig. 2). So, let’s explore how crinoid fossils have been used on different continents and in different eras of human history.

Fig. 2. CM63017 consists of crinoid parts from the Vanport Limestone, Lower Pennsylvanian age (~312 million years ago), Butler Co., PA. These crinoid fragments illustrate crinoid stem cross-sections and side profiles from the Invertebrate Paleontology collection. The cross-section view offers insight into the crinoid’s bead-like build. Artwork by Elizabeth Begley.

Crinoid Beads in North America

In Kentucky, amateur fossil hunters commonly refer to crinoid stem fossils as beads5 and the Illinois Archaeological Survey has reported “crinoid stems suggested to function as beads” at a historic site in Buckman Flats6. This finding joins crinoid stems already uncovered in Kickapoo territories in 2011 and 1992 as well as a 2001 discovery at a Potawatomi settlement6. To illustrate an example of historic beadwork by North American indigenous groups, Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology has published a photograph depicting a “string of prehistoric beads made from different sizes of fossilized crinoid stem[s]” discovered in Tennessee7.

Crinoid Beads in Asia

From the lower paleolithic period in Israel, a deposit at the archaeological site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov revealed two “beadlike” crinoid fossils among stone artwork and polished wood artifacts. This collection is thought to hint at the group’s cognitive ability regarding the manipulation of nature for artistic and cultural purposes and has brought the hypothesis that lower paleolithic hominids collecting crinoid stems, among other marine objects, may be the origin of the modern bead shape8. The thought process behind this theory relies on our understanding that crinoids, and their fossilized stems, have existed for far longer than the modern bead has. Bednarik argues, “perhaps this is how the very concept came into being, and the humanly made disc beads were merely substitutes for the fossils that were in short supply”9.

Crinoid Beads in Europe

While there are several instances of crinoid stems being recognized in historic European art and culture, the cemetery at Zvejnieki in Latvia is a unique case as the stems, or “beads,” seem to be a part of funerary practice. Zvejnieki was in use during the region’s Mesolithic and Neolithic periods and rediscovered by archaeologists in the 1960s. Work at the site has continued and a re-analysis of a double burial revealed that a beaded ornament among the remains, previously believed to have been made of bird bone, is a string of fossilized crinoid stems10. This case brings us to an interesting question in assessing the use of fossils, such as crinoid stems, throughout human history, and the impact of such encounters on our current relationship with the natural world.

Fig. 3: Threaded crinoid beads. Photo credit: L. Larsson, CC BY¹⁰

So, the next time you walk through the museum, we invite you to take a closer look at the crinoids, and other invertebrate fossils on display, and imagine how else we may incorporate them in our lives!

Elizabeth A. Begley is Collection Assistant and Albert D. Kollar Collection Manger in the Section of Invertebrate Paleontology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

References: 

  1. Kollar, A.D., J. L. Wilson, and S.K. Mills. 2024. The Ernest de Bayet Fossil Collection at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History: A Century of Stewardship in Exhibition. Annals of Carnegie Museum.
  2. Wilson, J. L., A.D. Kollar, and S.K. Mills. 2024. Unraveling the 120 Year Mystery of Ernest Bayet and his Fossil Collection at Carnegie Museum. Annals of Carnegie Museum.
  3. Hess, H., W. I. Ausich, C. E. Brett, and M.J. Simms. 1999. Fossil Crinoids. Cambridge University Press.  
  1. Brezinski, D.K., and A.D. Kollar. 2008. Geology and Fossils of the Tri-State Region Learning/Activities/Coloring Book. PAlS Publication 8. 
  2. Kentucky Geological Survey. Identifying Unknown Fossils. https://www.uky.edu/KGS/fossils/fossilid.php
  3. Fishel, R. 2017. The Historic Indian Artifact Assemblage at Buckman Flats, Knox County, Illinois. Illinois Archaeology Vol. 29. 
  4. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. String of prehistoric beads made from different sizes of fossilized crinoid stem. Artstor. https://www-jstor-org.cmu.idm.oclc.org/stable/community.20420806
  5. Bednarik, R. 1994. The Pleistocene Art of Asia. Journal of World Prehistory, 8(4), 351–375. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25800655
  6. Bednarik, R. 2005 .Middle Pleistocene Beads and Symbolism. Anthropos, 100(2), 537-552. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40466555  
  7. Macāne, A. 2020. Petrified animals: Fossil beads from a Neolithic hunter-gatherer double burial at Zvejnieki in Latvia. Antiquity, 94(376), 916-931. doi:10.15184/aqy.2020.124 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/petrified-animals-fossil-beads-from-a-neolithic-huntergatherer-double-burial-at-zvejnieki-in-latvia/A325BCCE572DA6DD3AE913E7C22C18C2

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Bayet and Krantz: 16 Words (Part 1)

Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: Begley, Elizabeth A.; Kollar, Albert D.
Publication date: March 1, 2024

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Scientific Names Matter in March Mammal Madness 

by Erin Southerland

March Mammal Madness (MMM) bracket advice: look up the scientific names of species on the MMM website before you make your predictions. While MMM can be silly and ridiculous, it is an educational tool and the details matter. Let’s explore why by looking at the Pitcher Plant (7) vs. Northern Short-tailed Shrew (10) match.  

Pitcher plant isn’t a specific species of plant, rather it describes plants with a modified leaf that resembles and acts like a pitfall trap. 

Nepenthes rajah, a species of pitcher plant. © Thibaud Aronson, (CC BY-SA)

Bonnie Isaac, Collection Manager of Botany, says:

Generally, when we use the term pitcher plant, we are referring to a member of either Sarraceniaceae or Nepenthaceae. Both pitcher plant families evolved in areas where essential nutrients for plants are lacking. They needed to find a way to get their nutrients by other means. Enter carnivory.

Pitcher plants in both families primarily eat insects, but they are generalists that will catch and digest anything that comes along. However, one of these families is more likely than the other to be able to digest the Northern Short-tailed Shrew. 

Bonnie tells us:  

Sarraceniaceae are normally ground dwelling plants with trumpet-shaped leaves that are used to capture their prey. Many of these pitcher plants have hairs on the inside of the tube that point downward to keep the prey from crawling out. They may also have clear areas near the top of the tube to attract insects.  

Members of Nepenthaceae are tropical plants that frequently have a climbing stem. The modified pitcher leaves on these plants are normally of two types: one grows up in the trees that support the vine, the other grows near the ground. The trap leaves near the ground are normally larger than the aerial trap leaves and can digest larger prey. With two types of traps these plants are opportunists and ready to capture whatever may happen into the traps. 

The pitchers of Sarraceniaceae are normally not large enough to hold a Northern Short-tailed Shrew. Nepenthes on the other hand has pitchers that are large enough to hold shrews. Some Nepenthes species attract rodents by giving them a reward. The rodent in turn gives the plant nutrients either by defecating into the toilet-shaped leaf or by falling into the pitcher and being digested. Species of Nepenthes are known to trap and digest vertebrates, including rats and mice. If by chance a Northern Short-tailed Shrew happened upon a Nepenthes and fell into the trap the shrew wouldn’t stand a chance.  

Since the species of pitcher plant selected for March Mammal Madness is Nepenthes rajah, it has a chance to beat the Northern Short-tailed Shrew (Blarina brevicauda).  

Short-tailed Shrew (Blarina brevicauda)

Sue McLaren, Collection Manager of Mammals, also notes that either competitor has a chance (it is March Mammal Madness, after all):  

When I think of the short-tailed shrew, I think of a fierce temperament when confronted by something dangerous. They are good climbers (I’ve seen them climb a tree trunk to a point at least eight feet off the ground). Even though their claws seem a little puny, they are more fossorial (adapted for digging and burrowing) than any other shrew so they can dig their way through densely compacted leaves and easily move through some types of soil (probably not heavy clay).  Finally, they have salivary glands that produce a toxin that can subdue prey that are larger than themselves – salamanders, frogs, mice, and even birds!  However, their climbing ability is probably their best defensive from inside a pitcher plant. 

Anything could happen in this sure-to-be-exciting match! But if the pitcher plant was from the family Sarraceniaceae it wouldn’t be nearly as exciting.  

Want to play March Mammal Madness?  

Get started with these links: 

Get your bracket  

Look up the Latin binomials  

Learn how to play 

Fill out your bracket by March 10, 2024 to play this year. The competition kicks off March 11 with the Wild Card: Rainbow Grasshopper (Dactylotum bicolor) vs. Sparklemuffin Peacock Spider (Maratus jactatus).

Erin Southerland is Communications and Social Media Manager at Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

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Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: Southerland, Erin
Publication date: February 29, 2024

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