Category: Invertebrates

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Stromatolites

Stromatolites in Hamlin Pool
Shark Bay, Austalia
Courtesy Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh

Exposed stromatolites in the
Great Salt Lake
Courtesy
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program

Stromatolites in Shark Bay
(Hamlin Pool) during low tide.
Courtesy Linda L’Ai

Hi I’m Holly Strand.

Shark Bay in Northwest Australia is on my “places to see before I die” list. In a section of the bay called Hamelin Pond, colonies of microbes form hard, dome-shaped, deposits. Called stromatolites, these structures embody one of the oldest forms of life on earth. The fossil record of microbes in older stromatolites date back 3.5 billion years. Their antiquity, abundance, and persistence to modern times make stromatolites a fascinating subject for scientific inquiry.

Basically, stromatolites are layered structures formed primarily by cyanobacteria. This photosynthesizing bacteria changes the pH of the water causing calcium carbonate to precipitate over a mat of bacterial filaments. The minerals, along with grains of sediment in the water, are trapped in a layer of goo that surrounds the bacterial colonies. Then the lower layer bacteria grows upward and penetrates the most recent mineral and sediment layer. When this process is repeated over and over, a stromatolite is formed.

For over 2 billion years stromatolites dominated the shallow seas and formed extensive reef tracts rivaling those of modern coral reefs. However, today, stromatolites are relatively rare. You will usually find them growing in extreme environments, such as hypersaline water or thermal springs.

While Shark Bay boasts a stunning example of a modern stromatolite colony, you don’t have to go all the way to Australia. When lake levels are low, you can easily see them in the Great Salt Lake. They span hundreds of square kilometers in shallow shoreline waters. Some say that the Great Salt Lake contains some of the most extensive areal coverage of living stromatolites in the world.

One of the best places to view them is from the shore near Buffalo Point on Antelope Island. When conditions are clear, you can see them underwater at the mouth of the Great Salt Lake Marina.

More than just memorials to ancient life, the stromatolites also play a vital role in Great Salt Lake ecology. They are the principal habitat for the brine fly larvae and pupae. In turn, brine flies are a critical diet for goldeneye ducks, American avocets and many other water birds.

Thanks to Wayne Wurtsbaugh, from Utah State University’s College of Natural Resources for his support in developing this Wild About Utah episode.

For Wild About Utah, I’m Holly Strand.

Credits:

Photos: Courtesy Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh and Linda L’Ai
Text: Holly Strand

Sources & Additional Reading:

National Park Service. Stomatolite Fossils. https://www.nps.gov/care/naturescience/stromatolite.htm [Accessed August 16, 2011]

Schopf, J.William. Anatoliy B Kudryavtsev; Andrew D Czaja; Abhishek B Tripathi. 2007. Evidence of Archean life: Stromatolites and microfossils. Precambian Research, 158. No. 3-4 pp. 141-155.

UNESCO Shark Bay Western Australia https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/578 [Accessed August 16, 2011]

University of California Museum of Paleontology. Cyanobacteria: Fossil Record https://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/cyanofr.html [Accessed August 16, 2011]

Walter, M R. 1983. Archean stromatolites – Evidence of the earth’s earliest benthos
Earth’s earliest biosphere: Its origin and evolution. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press.

Wurtsbaugh, W.A. 2009. Biostromes, brine flies, birds and the bioaccumulation of selenium in Great Salt Lake, Utah. Pp. 1-15 In: A. Oren, D. Naftz, P. Palacios & W.A. Wurtsbaugh (eds). Saline Lakes Around the World:Unique Systems with Unique Values. Natural Resources and Environmental Issues, volume XV. S.J. and Jessie Quinney Natural Resources Research Library, Logan , Utah. URL: https://www.cnr.usu.edu/quinney/files/uploads/NREI2009online.pdf

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Dragonflies

Audio:  mp3 Listen to WildAboutUtah

Western Pondhawk
Erythemis collocata
Copyright © 2006 Nicky Davis

Eight-spotted Skimmer, Female
Libellulidae Libellula forensis
Copyright © 2006 Nicky Davis
Carboniferous ancestor of dragonflies,
fossil Meganeuridae indet.
from Commentry in France,
Museum des Sciences Naturelles,
Brussels, Belgium. The griffenfly belonged to the genus Meganeura.
Courtesy WikiMedia
Ghedoghedo, Contributor
Available under the GNU Free Documentation License
Twelve spot skimmer, Courtesy US FWS, Rick L. Hansen, Photographer Twelve spot skimmer, Courtesy US FWS, Rick L. Hansen, Photographer

Hi I’m Holly Strand.

Have you noticed there are a lot more dragonflies this year? It’s a banner year for them. The combination of a rainy spring and plentiful snowmelt created excellent nursery conditions for dragonfly eggs and emerging larvae. Any kind of freshwater habitat will do—streams, rivers, lakes, canals, and farm ponds, and– this year– temporary wetlands left by floodwaters.

After the final molt by larvae, newly minted adult dragonflies leave the water to go forage. Depending upon the species, they may fly several miles in search of food. That’s why we’re seeing these colorful aviators aloft in forests and fields far from water.

Dragonflies are among the most ancient of winged insects. The fossil record shows evidence of ancestors in the carboniferous period –over 300 million years ago! That’s way before the dinosaurs came to be.

By the end of the Paleaozoic, a dragonfly relative called the griffenfly patrolled the airways. The griffenfly –like the modern dragonfly–was a voracious predator with enormous compound eyes, large toothed mandibles and superb flight cabilities. The wingspan of this insect behemoth was 28 inches! In fact there were lots of giant insects during this period. Nowadays, the oxygen delivery system in insects prevents them from getting very large. But back then, expansion of land plants produced huge volumes of oxygen through photosynthesis. Levels greatly exceeded the amount in the atmosphere today. Because of their unique physiology—insects could take advantage of this oxygen surplus –and grew extremley large.

But once the oxygen levels dropped, the griffenfly and other giants disappeared. I’m seriously glad they aren’t still around. Imagine having to swat at a pesky 2 ½ foot wide dragonfly!

True dragonflies (not just relatives) made their first appearance in the late Paleozoic. The number of species soared quickly. Today, we know of approximately 3000 dragonfly species worldwide.

Thus the dragonfly is a premier example of evolutionary success. Many other living creatures that date back 100s of millions of years aren’t doing so well now. Take, for example, gingkos, horseshoe crabs, or coelacanths. They are mere relicts of past lifeforms –evolutionary stubs if you will. But dragonflies were successful in the past and remain highly competitive in the present. You can bet they will be here for a long time to come.

For pictures and sources go to www.wildaboututah.org

For Wild About Utah, I’m Holly Strand.

Credits:

Photos: Courtesy & copyright © 2006 Nicky Davis,
Courtesy WikiMedia, Ghedoghedo, contributor
Courtesy US FWS, Rick L. Hansen, Photographer
Text: Holly Strand

Sources & Additional Reading:

Corbet, Philip S. 1999. Dragonflies : behavior and ecology of Odonata. Cornell University Press.

Grimaldi, David, A and Michael S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the insects. Cambridge University Press.

Harrison, Jon F., Alexander Kaiser and John M. VandenBrooks. 2010. Atmospheric oxygen level and the evolution of insect body size in Proc. R. Soc. B (2010) 277, 1937–1946.

Links:

OdonataCentral, Texas Natural Science Center, The University of Texas at Austin, https://www.odonatacentral.org/

Slater Museum of Natural History (Puget Sound) https://www.pugetsound.edu/academics/academic-resources/slater-museum/biodiversity-resources/dragonflies/

Digital Atlas of Idaho. Dragonflies and Damselflies https://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/bio/insects/drgnfly/dragfrm.htm

Go to the Wild Utah website for more amazing images of Utah Dragonflies & Damselflies by Nicky Davis:
https://www.wildutah.us/index_dragon.html

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Trilobites

Asaphiscus wheeleri
Cambrian Period
House Range, Millard Co., Utah.
Copyright 2001 Val & Glade Gunther

Athabaskia bithus
Ordovician Period
House Range, Millard Co., Utah.
Copyright 2001 Val & Glade Gunther

Modocia typicalis
Cambrian Period
Wellsville Mountains, Box Elder Co., Utah.
Copyright 2001 Val & Glade Gunther

Pseudocybele altinasuta
Cambrian Period
House Range, Millard Co., Utah.
Copyright 2001 Val & Glade Gunther

Five hundred million years ago life began to flourish and change in ways not seen before on Earth. Long before people and even before the dinosaurs was the Paleozoic Era, when much of the United States, including most of Utah, could be found at the bottom of a warm, shallow sea.

One of those changes was the arrival of a class of animals called trilobites. The word ‘tri-lob-ite’ means ‘one who has three-lobes’ and refers to the way the animal can be organized into three sections, both lengthwise and widthwise. Trilobites were marine animals that occupied various niches in the sea’s shallow waters. These fascinating creatures were incredibly diverse, with individuals from more than 20,000 different species ranging in size from less than half an inch to more than two feet in length. Some species swam free in the open water, either as predators or filter-feeders, while others were restricted to crawling along the sea floor or burrowing down in the mud. Some trilobites could curl up for protection like the modern-day pill bug, with a few even exhibiting skeletal spines and bumps for added defense. Our region seems to have been a hotbed of trilobite development – the Utah Geological Survey reports that more than 500 species of trilobites have been identified from fossils found in Utah alone!

Trilobites were one of the first creatures to exhibit two important traits that eventually became standard for most animal life on earth: complex eyes and multiple appendages for the purpose of locomotion. Although trilobites went extinct around 250 million years ago, their legacy has lasted, not only in fossils, but also through a genetic link to some of their modern-day relatives, including insects, spiders, ticks, crabs and lobsters. Just like these critters, trilobites have been classified as arthropods, due to their segmented bodies, jointed legs, and hard exoskeletons. And like the arthropods we know today, trilobites went through regular molting periods, during which they grew a new exoskeleton and shed their old one. In fact, most trilobite fossils we have today are actually the fossils of molted exoskeletons and not of the animal itself.

For more information and photos of ancient Utah trilobites, visit our website at www.wildaboututah.org. Thank you to the Utah Geological Survey for content assistance, and to the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation for supporting the research and development of this Wild About Utah topic.

For the Stokes Nature Center and Wild About Utah, this is Andrea Liberatore.

Credits:

Photos: Courtesy & Copyright 2001 Val & Glade Guntherwww.geo-tools.com

Text:    Andrea Liberatore, Stokes Nature Center, logannature.org
Additional Reading:

Fortey, Richard. 2000. Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution. New York: Random House https://www.amazon.com/Trilobite-Eyewitness-Evolution-Richard-Fortey/dp/0375706216

Alles, David L., 2009. Trilobites (web paper). Western Washington University. Retrieved online from: https://www.biol.wwu.edu/trent/alles/Trilobites.pdf

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The Native Bees of Utah

Male Melissodes Bees
Sleeping on Sunflower
Courtesy and
Copyright © 2010 Jim Cane

The industry and cooperation of honeybees have inspired many a philosopher and society, including the Mormons who settled along the Wasatch front. The hive, or more specifically a skep, was later chosen as the emblem for the new state of Utah. But the honeybee, like it’s pioneer admirers, is a recent European immigrant, brought over for the wax and honey that colonies produce.

Utah did not lack for pollinators, however, prior to European settlement. More than 1000 species of native bees inhabit Utah, with several hundred species in any given county. A few of these bees — bumblebees and sweat bees — are social. They produce annual colonies headed by a queen. However, the vast majority of our bees are not social. For these, each adult female makes her own nest with no help from her sisters or mate.

Most solitary bee species nest underground; others use old beetle burrows in deadwood. The resident female subdivides her tunnel into bee-sized cavities. Each cavity receives a cache of pollen moistened with nectar and a single egg. There each grub-like larva will feed and develop in solitude. Most solitary bees will spend the winter here in their natal home.

Bombus griseocollis Queen
Foraging on Hedysarum
Courtesy and
Copyright © 2008 Jamie Strange

Native bees pollinate many of Utah’s wildflowers, doing so inadvertently as they busily gather pollen for their progeny. Many solitary bee species are taxonomic specialists, focusing all of their pollen foraging efforts on one or a few related genera of flowering plants. Some common hosts for specialist bees in Utah include squashes, sunflowers, globemallows and penstemons. Sweet honey does not result from the labors of solitary bees, but fruits and seeds do. The industry of Utah’s native bees merits our attention and admiration.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:

Text: Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Additional Reading:

USDA-ARS Pollinating Insects – Biology, Management and Systematics Laboratory, https://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=54-28-05-00

Crop domestication facilitated rapid geographical expansion of a specialist pollinator, the squash bee Peponapis pruinosa, Margarita M. López-Uribe, James H. Cane, Robert L. Minckley, Bryan N. Danforth
Proc. R. Soc. B 2016 283 20160443; DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.0443. Published 22 June 2016https://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/283/1833/20160443.abstract

Hager, Rachel, Bees, Bees And More Bees! Researchers Find Over 650 Bee Species In Grand Staircase-Escalante, UPR-Utah Public Radio, Nov 20, 2018, https://www.upr.org/post/bees-bees-and-more-bees-researchers-find-over-650-bee-species-grand-staircase-escalante

Bumblebee Watch, https://www.bumblebeewatch.org/
Bumble Bee Watch is a citizen science project through the partnership of The Xerces Society, the University of Ottawa, Wildlife Preservation Canada, BeeSpotter, The Natural History Museum, London, and the Montreal Insectarium.