Nature

Nature Nugget – Seed Dispersal Methods

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An important function of seeds is dispersal, a method of establishing new plants in suitable places away from the parent plant so as to avoid competition with it. There are three main methods of seed dispersal: hitchhiking with animals and humans, drifting on ocean or fresh water, and being carried by the wind.

Some common hitchhiking seeds include the cocklebur and the seeds of the burdock plant which attach like Velcro to fur and clothing. Other hitchhikers go by such names as beggar-ticks, sand-burs, stick-tights, and grappling-hooks. Some seeds hitchhike on the inside of animals and humans by being eaten and passed unharmed through their digestive tracts and finally being deposited on the outside with fertilizer a day or two later. A good example of this is the persimmon seed which is commonly seen in the droppings of raccoons and opossums. Some seeds even require the scarification they receive when passing through the gizzard of birds, before they will germinate and grow. An example of this is the tough seeds of the American lotus, a type of lily pad, which is eaten by waterfowl and carried from one lake to another. The seed coat of this plant is so tough that it actually has to be eaten several times before it is scarified enough to germinate.

Drift seeds can drift on ocean currents for thousands of miles before being deposited on the shores of a distant continent or remote tropical island. Their thick shells protect them from saltwater, allowing them to survive months and even years at sea. Some common drift seeds are the coconut, nickernut, sea bean, sea heart, box fruit, and beach morning glory. The acorn of the burr oak is an example of a freshwater drift seed. A thick, corky cap covers most of the acorn, which gives it good flotation. Rising floodwaters carry it downstream and across floodplains to be deposited when the waters recede. Back currents on the floodplain can even carry it upstream from the parent tree.

Hundreds of seed species in many plant families use the remarkable method of wind dispersal, including many we know as weeds. A lot of weedy composites, such as the European dandelion, have worldwide distributions, because their seeds can be carried vast distances by the wind. Some adaptations for the wind dispersal method include seeds that resemble parachutes, helicopters, and gliders. Parachute type seeds have a plumose crown of hairs, some shaped like an umbrella, above the slender seeds. They are so fragile that they can become airborne with the slightest breeze and can literally soar over mountains. Common examples of this method of seed dispersal include salsify, dandelions, milkweeds, thistles, and many types of sunflowers. Helicopter type seeds have a single, rigid wing at one end. The wing has a slight pitch, causing the seed to spin as it falls. Depending on height above ground and wind velocity, helicopter seeds can be carried a considerable distance. Common examples of plants with helicopter seeds are maples, ashes, pines, spruces, firs, and hemlocks. Glider type seeds have two papery lateral wings that resemble an airplane. When released from the tree they sail through the air like a glider. An excellent example of this method is the seed of the tropical Asian climbing gourd. The seed has a five-inch wingspan that resembles a “flying wing” aircraft, such as the Stealth Bomber, and glides through the air of the rain forest in wide circles.

Just as these seeds are carried and dispersed all over by wind, water, and hitchhiking, so should the gospel seed be dispersed and scattered all over the world by Christ’s followers. “Present truth should be scattered among the people like the leaves of autumn.” Evangelism, 36. “Now is the time to sow the gospel seed. . . . We have no time to lose.” Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 250.

David Arbour writes from his home in DeQueen, Arkansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: landmarks@stepstolife.org.

Nature Nugget – Freshwater Mussels

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Freshwater mussels, a type of mollusk, are benthic (bottom-dwelling) animals. Nearly 300 species occur in the United States, mainly in the Mississippi River drainage. Seventy percent of the United States species are either extinct, endangered, or in need of special protection because of habitat loss and degradation. Most freshwater mussels live with 30–100 percent of their shells buried in sand and gravel on the bottom of rivers and streams. Only a few are adapted to the still, deep, and often muddy waters of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. Freshwater mussels are long-lived, some acquiring ages of 60 years or more. Large species, like the washboard mussel, can weigh as much as 4 pounds and measure nearly 12 inches in length.

Being bivalves, mussels feed by taking water into their shells through a siphon valve, filtering out algae, plankton, bacteria, and organic particles with their gills. The filtered water, along with waste and rejected particles, leave the mussel through a second valve. Mussels have a large muscular foot which they use for burrowing and moving around. This foot also helps anchor them in strong currents. Their main protection against predators is their shell, which consists of two halves joined by a hinge. The shell consists of four layers of non-living material made primarily of calcium carbonate. The outside shell layer, called the periostracum, contains the color, pattern, and other markings that help distinguish one species from another. Unique names like “monkeyface,” “threehorn wartyback,” and “pink heelsplitter” refer to the wide range of shell size, color, pattern, shape, and texture found among mussel shells. The innermost shell layer that comes in contact with the soft body of the animal is called the nacre.

In Arkansas, where there are 70 different species, the mussel shell industry is fairly big business. Previous to the late 1940s and the invention of plastic, mussels were harvested for the button industry. Now they are collected to be shipped to Japan for the cultured pearl industry. There they are processed into mother-of-pearl nuclei, which are round seed pearls or pellets that are inserted into pearl oysters. The oysters respond to this irritating foreign object placed in their shell by coating it with its own mother-of-pearl secretion, thus producing a pearl. This process takes six months to three years, depending on the size and quality of pearl desired. Freshwater mussels occasionally produce pearls, but they are rarely of any value.

Mussels have an unusual reproductive process. At certain times of the year, males release sperm into the water, which are then siphoned in by the females to fertilize their eggs. The female’s gills are then used as a brood pouch for the young until they develop into larvae called glochidia. When the tiny glochidia, just microns in diameter, reach a certain stage, they are expelled into the water to become parasites on fish. This stage lasts one to six weeks, depending on species; then, the now juvenile mussels drop loose to the bottom of the water to begin life as a free-living mussel.

Just as the mussel shell pellet is transformed into a pearl by being placed in contact with the oyster, where it is covered with its mother-of-pearl secretions, so the person who comes in constant contact with Christ and His redeeming love is covered with His righteousness and transformed into a goodly pearl. “Christ, the heavenly merchantman seeking goodly pearls, saw in lost humanity the pearl of price. In man, defiled and ruined by sin, He saw the possibilities of redemption. . . . God looked upon humanity, not as vile and worthless; He looked upon it in Christ, saw it as it might become through redeeming love.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 118.

David Arbour writes from his home in DeQueen, Arkansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: landmarks@stepstolife.org.

Nature Nugget – The American Eel

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The life of the American Eel is very complex and involves the broadest diversity of habitats of any fish species in the world. Also known as the Freshwater Eel, it occurs in freshwater rivers and lakes, estuaries, coastal areas, and open ocean from Greenland south along the Atlantic coast of North America, throughout the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, and inland throughout the eastern half of North and Central America and parts of northern South America.

American Eels are nocturnal carnivores, feeding on insects, mollusks, crustaceans, worms, and other fish. They hunt their prey by smell, since they have very poor eyesight. During the day, they hide in rock crevices or dig under the mud or sand to avoid predators. In the more northern latitudes, they spend the winter buried in the mud in a state of dormancy. They are well-known for their ability to maneuver around and over seemingly impassable obstacles such as spillways, dams, and waterfalls. They are even capable of leaving the water and traveling overland for short distances. Their slippery, slimy bodies make it difficult for predators to grasp them.

American Eels are catadromous, spending most of their lives in freshwater and estuaries and migrating to the ocean to spawn. This is the opposite of anadromous species such as the Pacific salmons, which spend most of their lives in the ocean and migrate to freshwater rivers and streams to spawn. American Eels begin and end their lives in an area of the Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda called the Sargasso Sea. After hatching, the pelagic larvae, called leptocephalus, drift with the ocean currents for 9 to 12 months before entering coastal waters. When they reach approximately 2.4 inches in length, the larvae metamorphoses into a transparent “glass” eel. In autumn, the glass eels migrate into estuaries where they become pigmented and are then known as elvers. Some elvers, mainly males, remain in the estuaries and lower river stretches while the females migrate upstream, often for several hundred miles.

The eels, now in their “yellow” color phase, will remain in these fresh and brackish water habitats for the next 5 to 20 years. During this time, the females may reach a length of four to five feet and weigh up to 15 pounds, while the males attain a length of only about two feet.

Before beginning their migration back to the Sargasso Sea to spawn and die, the eels must undergo profound physical changes. Just prior to beginning their journey, the eels stop feeding, their eyes and pectoral fins enlarge, and their body color and pattern changes. The now sexually mature eels have a gray back, a pure white belly, and a silvery bronze sheen on their flanks. The migration occurs on autumn nights with the now transformed adults descending rivers and streams for a mid-winter to spring spawning in the warm Sargasso Sea. Females lay between two to four million eggs, depending on their size, and the eggs soon hatch to start the cycle over again.

Just as the American Eel must undergo a transformation before it can begin its final migration home to the Sargasso Sea, so Christians must undergo a transformation into the image of Christ before they can travel home to heaven. “Christ is sitting for His portrait in every disciple. Every one God has predestinated to be ‘conformed to the image of His Son.’ Romans 8:29. In every one Christ’s long-suffering love, His holiness, meekness, mercy, and truth are to be manifested to the world.” The Desire of Ages, 827. “If this transformation has not been experienced by you, rest not. Seek the Lord with all your hearts. Make this the all-important business of your lives.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 179.

David Arbour writes from his home in DeQueen, Arkansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: landmarks@stepstolife.org.

Nature Nugget – The Fat Sleeper

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Sleepers are goby-type fishes that are members of the family Eleotridae, but they differ from most gobies by having widely spaced pelvic fins that are never joined or modified into a sucking disk. Sleepers are named such because most have eyes that tend to have a “glassy” look, as if the fish is unconscious, and because the behavior of many is to lie still on the bottom or in vegetation waiting to ambush prey.

Sleepers are found in habitats varying from pure freshwater to seawater (marine) and in numerous brackish habitats in-between. They can move or be moved between these varying degrees of salinity without showing any indications of stress. This ability of sleepers to live in and move between freshwater, brackish, and marine water is linked to an enzyme in the fishes’ gill epithelium called “sodium-potassium-activated ATPase,” the activity of which is triggered by immersion in salt-containing water. The enzyme promotes the discharge of sodium ions from the gills, allowing the fish to maintain osmotic balance in seawater. The enzyme activity turns off when the fish moves into freshwater.

There are several species of sleepers in the United States coastal areas, the most common one being the Fat Sleeper (Dormitator maculatus). Fat Sleepers are common in vegetated fresh, brackish, and occasionally marine habitats along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from North Carolina to Brazil and including the Bahamas and West Indies. Their preferred habitats are freshwater ponds, fresh and brackish marshes, low salinity tide pools, and coastal mangrove swamps. Adaptation to variations in coastal habitats has made this fish very resistant to low oxygen and changing water quality. The Fat Sleeper is large—up to 12 inches—and stocky (hence its name). It is mostly benthic (bottom dwelling) where it occurs in weed beds and areas of debris where it feeds on aquatic invertebrates such as copepods, ostracods, and insects.

Fat Sleepers will only breed in freshwater. When it comes time to breed, they undergo a change in body color, and after a complex mating “dance,” they spawn and lay eggs on a flat surface such as a rock. Both parents guard the eggs until they hatch. The eggs hatch within 24 hours and the young travel to saltwater to spend the first stage of their lives.

Does the name Fat Sleeper describe many of us today who claim to be a part of God’s last day church? The first part of this name certainly describes many of us. What about the second part of this name? Are we asleep? “Many have been altogether too long in a sleepy condition.” Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 206. “Men and women are in the last hours of probation, and yet are careless and stupid, and ministers have no power to arouse them; they are asleep themselves. Sleeping preachers preaching to a sleeping people.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 337. Fortunately, there is hope for us that are in this condition. “Yet the case of even this class is not utterly hopeless. With those who have slighted God’s mercy and abused His grace, the heart of long-suffering love yet pleads. Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” The Great Controversy, 601, 602. “We are living in the closing scenes of this earth’s history. Prophecy is fast fulfilling. The hours of probation are fast passing. We have no time—not a moment—to lose. Let us not be found sleeping on guard. Let no one say in his heart or by his works: ‘My Lord delayeth his coming.’ [Matthew 24:48.] Let the message of Christ’s soon return sound forth in earnest words of warning.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 252.

David Arbour writes from his home in DeQueen, Arkansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: landmarks@stepstolife.org.

Nature Nugget – The Strangler Fig

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Although most people are familiar with the Old World edible fig (Ficus carica), the vast majority of fig species grow wild in exotic tropical regions of the world. The Ficus genus consists of close to a thousand different species that are found in every major rainforest and other tropical habitats. In some forests, up to 70 percent of its wildlife depend on the fruit of the fig trees for survival. Several different species of fig trees often grow side by side in the same forest, each producing fruit at a different time of the year so that there is always a supply of food for fruit-eating animals. Hundreds of birds and animals, such as pigeons, parrots, hornbills, toucans, monkeys, and fruit-eating bats, feed on the sweet fruit of the fig tree. Each species of fig tree has a symbiotic relationship with its own species of tiny pollinator wasps. This enables the different species of fig trees to co-exist without hybridization.

A certain group of fig trees are known as “stranglers” because of their unusual way of growth. Strangler figs start life as epiphytes on other tree species—their sticky seeds being deposited there after passing unharmed through the digestive tracts of birds and mammals. This is advantageous, because the floor of the tropical forests has little light and there is great competition for water and nutrients. The epiphytic seedlings grow slowly at first, getting their nutrients from the sun, rain, and leaf litter that has collected on the host trees. The young stranglers, as they grow, send down many thin roots that snake along the trunks of the host trees or dangle as aerial roots from their branches.

When the roots reach the ground, they dig in, and the stranglers put on a growth spurt, competing with the host trees for nutrients and water. They then send out an additional network of roots that encircle the host trees, forming a latticework that slowly fuses together. As the roots grow thicker around the host trees’ trunks, they squeeze them, cutting off their flow of nutrients. At the same time, up in the canopies, the stranglers’ crowns are growing foliage that soon overshadows the host trees, robbing them of sunlight. Eventually the host trees die from a combination of strangulation, insufficient sunlight, and root competition, leaving the strangler figs standing on their own.

The host tree soon rots, leaving a hollow center to the strangler fig’s trunk, providing an important home for thousands of invertebrates, rodents, bats, reptiles, amphibians, and birds. Some strangler figs grow aerial roots from their branches that, when they reach the ground, dig in to form another trunk on the same tree. One particular strangler fig in India is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records (1985) as the world’s largest tree, having 1,000 prop roots and covering an area of four acres!

In order for the strangler fig to grow into a giant so it can produce fruit, it must put down roots to reach the ground where the soil will nourish it, and it must reach its branches up into the sunlight. Likewise, the Christian, in order to grow into a spiritual giant and bear spiritual fruit, must be rooted in Christ and receive spiritual light from His Word. “Let everyone who would reveal Christ by being a doer of His Word, become rooted in Christ Jesus, rooted and grounded in the truth. Put away all self-assertion. Let living and acting the lessons of Christ Jesus speak of your perfect obedience to Jesus Christ. . . .

“The formation of the character must go on day by day, hour by hour. The inward working of the Holy Spirit is revealed outwardly in the appearance of fruit, ripening and perfecting to the glory of God.” That I May Know Him, 133.

David Arbour writes from his home in DeQueen, Arkansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: landmarks@stepstolife.org.

Nature Nugget – The Lowly Tomato

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The tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is a fruit that is most often used and eaten as a vegetable. The ancestors of the modern tomatoes were first domesticated in Central America and were small cherry types. Tomatoes first reached Europe shortly after the Spanish explorer Cortez conquered the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, later to be renamed Mexico City, in 1521. The earliest mention of the tomato in European literature was found in an herbal written in 1544 about a yellow variety that was being eaten in Italy. The first tomatoes undoubtedly were first received in Spain where they were known as pome dei Moro (Moor’s Apple). Over the next few decades, several varieties were developed in the Mediterranean countries under the name of pomme d’amour (Love Apple), a probable corruption of the original Spanish name.

The tomato was not accepted well in northern Europe, especially England, where it was considered poisonous because it was a member of the nightshade family. In 1578, English authors referred to the tomato as a horticultural ornamental, and, by 1623, four color types were known. In 1692, the first cookbook to mention tomatoes was published in Naples. By 1700, seven types of tomatoes were mentioned in one article, including a large red type. In the 1700s, English cooks used tomatoes sparingly in the flavoring of soups, and a tomato recipe showed up in a popular British cookbook.

Colonists from Britain brought the tomato to North America as an ornamental that was most valued for its pustule removing properties. Early efforts by American merchants to peddle tomatoes were not very successful. Lingering doubts about the safety of the tomato were supposedly put to rest in 1820 when Colonel Robert Johnson announced that he would eat a bushel of tomatoes at noon on September 26 in front of the Boston Courthouse. Thousands of people showed up to watch him eat the tomatoes, expecting him to die, and they were shocked when he lived. Thereafter, tomatoes began to grow steadily in popularity in the Western World. By 1835, tomatoes were being sold by the dozen in Boston’s Quincy market. Tomatoes were first offered in a seed catalogue in 1847 by Thomas Bridgeman, who listed four varieties. By the late 1880s, several hundred cultivars had been named, and it was clear that the tomato had firmly implanted itself in western culture. Today, there are thousands of varieties in various shapes, sizes, and colors.

Recent news concerning tomatoes deals with the presence of lycopene, the major carotenoid found in red tomatoes. Similar to beta-carotene, lycopene is a potent antioxidant, which is a molecule that snuffs out cancer-causing free radicals. Studies show that people who eat a lot of tomato products show a marked reduction in cancer risk. The tiny current tomato (L. pimpinellifolium), a wild relative of the domestic tomato, contains over 40 times more lycopene than the domestic tomato and is being crossed with it to produce high lycopene cultivars. Tomatoes also rank sixteenth as a source of vitamin A and thirteenth as a source of vitamin C, among all fruits and vegetables, and are considered the most important provider of these two vitamins in the western diet. Tomatoes also contain significant amounts of beta-carotene, magnesium, niacin, iron, phosphorus, potassium, riboflavin, sodium and thiamine. A recent university survey ranked the tomato as the single most important fruit or vegetable of western diets in terms of overall source of vitamins and minerals.

The Lord has truly blessed us with giving us the tomato, not only for our nourishment, but also for health maintenance. “If people only knew the value of the products of the ground, which the earth brings forth in their season, more diligent efforts would be made to cultivate the soil. All should be acquainted with the special value of fruits and vegetables fresh from the orchard and garden.” Counsels on Diet and Foods, 312.

Nature Nugget – Poison Dart Frogs

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In the warm, humid rainforests of tropical Central and South America lives a group of small, colorful frogs known as poison dart frogs. These frogs are some of the most poisonous creatures on earth. The origin of their name comes from the fact that the Choco Indians of the Pacific lowlands of Columbia use the frog’s poisonous skin secretions to dip their blowgun darts in. They hunt monkeys and other animals with these blowguns, the poison causing instant paralysis and a quick death.

The secretion of the most poisonous species, the golden poison dart frog, is a nerve poison called Batrachotoxin, which is a steroidal alkaloid. Its poison blocks neuromuscular transmission, resulting in muscle and respiratory paralysis and death. Only 136 micrograms of this alkaloid, which is equivalent to 2 or 3 grains of table salt, is enough to kill a 150 pound person. Other species produce poisons that are not as deadly. It is rumored that just touching one of the golden poison dart frogs will result in death. The truth of the matter is that the poison cannot penetrate the skin unless there is a cut or abrasion, which then will result in a quick death.

More than 100 toxins have been identified in the skin secretions of poison dart frogs. The source of the poison is the frogs’ diet. They feed on worms and small arthropods, especially ants, many of which feed on plants that contain these toxins. Captive specimens lose their toxicity because they are no longer able to feed on these toxic sources.

Poison dart frogs come in an assortment of bright colors and combinations of these colors such as reds, oranges, yellows, blues, and greens. Their bright coloration is a warning to would-be predators that they are poisonous. They are also diurnal so that their colors will show up and warn off predators. Poison dart frogs have a life span of 10 to 15 years and have few enemies. Only a few snakes and large spiders can cope with the noxious poisons of the adult frogs. The young (tadpoles) have more enemies, as they lack, because of a different diet, the poisons of the adults.

During the breeding season, poison dart frogs lay their eggs on wet leaves on the forest floor or in the canopy. Many species carry their hatched young on their backs to a source of water such as a puddle or stream, and some carry their young high into the canopy to deposit them in isolated pools in tree cavities, bromeliads, or other water holding plants. Only one tadpole is deposited per pool, as the young will cannibalize each other. If a parent frog carrying young approaches a plant with a tadpole already occupying it, the resident tadpole will warn the frog off by aiming its head at the center of the plant, holding itself rigid, and rapidly vibrating its tail. If the parent frog does not heed this warning and deposits a tadpole there, the larger resident tadpole will eat the younger tadpole. The strawberry poison dart frog is remarkable in that the females give parental care by periodically visiting the bromeliads where they deposited their young and laying nutritious unfertilized eggs called “nurse” eggs for the young to eat.

Just as deadly as the poison of the poison dart frogs is the sin we harbor in our lives. “The poison of sin is at work at the heart of society, and God calls for reformers to stand in defense of the law which he has established to govern the physical system.” Testimonies, vol. 6, 136.

Nature Nugget – Lichen Intimacy

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Lichens are composed of two organisms living beneficially together and forming a new life form. The dominant partner in the relationship is a fungus. Fungi, of themselves, are incapable of making their own food and survive by being parasites and decomposers. The lichen fungi cultivate partners that manufacture food by photosynthesis, such as algae (Kingdom Protista) and cyanobacteria (Kingdom Monera), formerly called blue-green algae. The relationship is symbiotic, with both organisms benefiting from the arrangement.

The fungi part breaks down rock, wood, and other organic matter to provide minerals and nutrients to the relationship. The algae part has chlorophyll and is able to supply the relationship with energy through photosynthesis. Thus, by living together, they can utilize a wide variety of habitats in which, alone, they could not survive, such as deserts and the Arctic. In many cases, a lichen’s fungi and algae can be found living in nature separately, but many lichens consist of fungi that have become dependant on their algae partner and cannot survive on their own.

Growing in spots that are too harsh or limited for most other organisms—such as bare rock, desert sand, cleared soil, dead wood, animal bones, and living bark—lichens can survive extremes of heat, cold, and drought and are able to shut down metabolically during these periods of unfavorable conditions. One species, the vagrant lichen, is even mobile, moving from place to place by the wind. Lichens can colonize almost any undisturbed surface if given appropriate amounts of light and moisture, clean air, and lack of competition. It is estimated that lichens are the dominant vegetation on eight percent of the earth’s terrestrial surface.

Lichens are highly diverse in looks, varying from gray and green rosettes on trees, green to orange crusts on rocks, tangled brown to green hair hanging from branches, to tiny green goblets on the ground. They are very slow growers, often growing less than a millimeter per year, and are believed to be among the oldest living things on earth.

Lichens produce an arsenal of more than 500 unique biochemical compounds that serve to control light exposure, repel herbivores, kill attacking microbes, and discourage competition from plants. Among these are many pigments and antibiotics that are very useful to man. Half of all lichen species have antibiotic properties. Worldwide, lichens have been used for making dyes, medicines, poisons, clothes, soups, jellies, breads, and fine perfumes. Lichens with cyanobacteria contribute to soil fertility in a major way by taking nitrogen gas from the air and turning it into biologically usable compounds. Lichens are also valuable as food and nesting material for a multitude of wildlife, from the tiny hummingbird that camouflages its nest with it to the large caribous of the far north, which depend on it for food during the long winters.

Just as lichens are composed of two organisms living together and forming a new life form, so the person who cultivates a relationship with Christ and unites his or her life with Him becomes a new creature. “Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 11 Corinthians 5:17. “Our life is to be bound up with the life of Christ; we are to draw constantly from Him, partaking of Him, the living Bread that came down from heaven, drawing from a fountain ever fresh, ever giving forth its abundant treasures.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 129. “The Christian’s life is not a modification or improvement of the old, but a transformation of nature. There is a death to self and sin, and a new life altogether.” The Desire of Ages, 172.

Nature Nugget – Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vents

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Due to plate shifting, fissures open up in the earth’s surface, allowing water to be sucked down toward the center of the earth, where it comes in contact with hot molten magma. This super heats the water to as high as 760 degrees Fahrenheit and forces it back up into the environment through the ocean floor. These hot springs are called hydrothermal vents, and many are located at very deep depths where it is pitch black and the seawater is frigid cold.

Not only is the water from these vents boiling hot, it is also a toxic mix of heavy metals and poisonous gases of which, foremost among them, is hydrogen sulfide. Besides these toxic chemicals and boiling temperatures, most vent water is extremely acid, with pH values as low as 2.8, which is more acid than vinegar.

In spite of these harsh conditions and the enormous pressure from the great depth, life thrives here. Amazing communities of life consisting of fish, crabs, shrimps, clams, tubeworms, and snails, to name a few, exist here. Many of these creatures are blind and lack pigment, and some are giants. More than 300 species of vent life have been identified by biologists, of which over 95 percent were new to science.

All other life ever identified on land or in the sea derives its energy either directly or indirectly from the sun. Since sunlight cannot penetrate this depth, there is no plant life and, hence, no photosynthesis, which is the basis of all other known life on the planet. Heat vent species rely not on photons from the sun, but on thermal and chemical energy derived from the heat and chemicals coming from the earth’s interior.

Tiny microbes (bacteria) oxidize the hydrogen sulfide that diffuses out of the vents, through a process called chemosynthesis, providing nutrients for animals higher up the food chain. Some creatures, like gastropod snails, feed directly on the bacteria which form mats on the sea floor around the vents. Other creatures, such as fish, dine on animals that eat or make use of the bacteria. Still others, such as tubeworms, host the microbes in their tissues in exchange for organic compounds that they produce from the vent chemicals and seawater.

While vent microbes thrive on hydrogen sulfide, it is lethal to other vent creatures that have to keep their distance from the source. The boiling water is also lethal to all the vent creatures except for the microbes which flourish in it. The other creatures live in the lower temperature zones produced by the boiling vent water mixing with the frigid deep-sea water. The only element from above that these heat vent creatures require is oxygen, which is abundant in seawater and was originally produced by plants, so ultimately this ecosystem relies on sunlight also.

Just as these deep-sea vent creatures, located far from the sunlight, still depend on the sun for life-giving oxygen, so the human race, which has been separated from God by their sins, is still dependant on Him for their every breath and, ultimately, on Him for eternal life. “Nature and revelation alike testify of God’s love. Our Father in heaven is the source of life, of wisdom, and of joy. Look at the wonderful and beautiful things of nature. Think of their marvelous adaptation to the needs and happiness, not only of man, but of all living creatures. The sunshine and the rain, that gladden and refresh the earth, the hills and seas and plains, all speak to us of the Creator’s love. It is God who supplies the daily needs of all His creatures.” Steps to Christ, 5.

Nature Nugget – New Champion in Avian Migration

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The sooty shearwater is a pelagic seabird that spends its whole life at sea, only coming ashore once a year to breed. It belongs to a group of birds known as tubenoses, named for tubular nostrils on top of their bills used to drain excess salt from their bodies. Sooty shearwaters are dark grayish-brown and are around 16 inches in length with a 43-inch wingspan. They are one of the most abundant birds in the world with an estimated population of 20 million. They are expert gliders, riding the winds inches above the water’s surface in search of food. Their diet consists mainly of fish, squid, and krill which they pick off the surface of the water or occasionally dive under for. There are two populations in the world—an Atlantic population which breeds on islands off southern South America and winters in the north Atlantic, and a Pacific population which breeds in New Zealand and winters in three distinct areas of the north Pacific.

Recently, scientists fitted 33 sooty shearwaters with electronic tags to record data such as position, air temperature, and diving depth while feeding. The 6-gram (about 22-ounce) electronic tags were placed on the shearwaters after they were captured in their breeding burrows in New Zealand. A year later, 20 of the tags were recovered with 19 providing a full record of the distances traveled. The data from these tags showed that the sooty shearwaters travel the Pacific Ocean in a massive figure-of-eight pattern during their migration every year. Their migration paths covered the whole of the Pacific region and took about 200 days to complete. The shearwaters’ journeys took them from their breeding colonies in New Zealand to winter feeding grounds off Japan, Alaska, or California. Some even stopped off on the western coast of South America on the way. During this migration, the sooty shearwaters traveled a maximum distance of up to 40,000 miles and up to 565 miles per day, setting a new record for the longest animal migration known. This record was formerly held by the Arctic Tern, which travels 22,000 miles annually during its migration between the polar ice caps. The data from the tags also showed that the shearwaters dived to an average depth of 46 feet while feeding and could dive as deep as 225 feet.

Someday soon, if we are faithful, we will be long distance travelers also, but on a universal scale. “Many seem to have the idea that this world and the heavenly mansions constitute the universe of God. Not so. The redeemed throng will range from world to world, and much of their time will be employed in searching out the mysteries of redemption.”

“Ellen G. White Comments,” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 990. “All the treasures of the universe will be open to the study of God’s redeemed. Unfettered by mortality, they wing their tireless flights to worlds afar—worlds that thrilled with sorrow at the spectacle of human woe and rang with songs of gladness at the tidings of a ransomed soul. With unutterable delight the children of earth enter into the joy and the wisdom of unfallen beings. They share the treasures of knowledge and understanding gained through ages upon ages in contemplation of God’s handiwork. With undimmed vision they gaze upon the glory of creation—suns and stars and systems, all in their appointed order circling the throne of Deity. Upon all things, from least to greatest, the Creator’s name is written, and in all are the riches of His power displayed.” The Great Controversy, 677, 678.