precisely that, as scientists (from U.C. Berkeley and
England) have fashioned man-made meta-materials that
can interact with light (albeit not yet in the visible
spectrum) in novel ways. Nevertheless, man’s camouflage
technology is laughable compared to Mother Nature’s
sleight of hand.
___________
I have walked the trails in our cloud forest preserve
hundreds of times over the years. I would begin my walk
often in a reflective mood, thinking about the daily tasks I
had just left behind. A few feet into the forest, the
enveloping mist and greenery transport me into a different
world. The mundane thoughts evaporate. My attention
shifts in spite of myself. I merge with the serenity of the
place. My eyes sweep around, scanning and cherrypicking the bewildering number of possible objects I can
focus on for the moment—the plants, the flowers, insects,
change in the scenery since my last walk. This could go on
for minutes or much longer, but frequently, my visual
plane would suddenly jump unpredictably. My eyes
suddenly freeze. A bizarre apparition of a familiar subject
pops into view. My brain goes wild trying to pin down the
object and my body goes on a high alert. A leaf with
antennae! Or a clump of moss with eyes! That instant, that
flash in our brain, when the human mind discovers that it
has been tricked (or challenged by a new discovery) is
indescribable. This is the sensation that gets my juice
flowing and is the “high” that I want to share with the
visitors on their walks through Nectandra, even though I
am very aware of their other, much more pressing,
underlying interest—how soon they would get to see those
photogenic mammals advertised on the travel brochures.
January 2012, Vol. 12 No. 1
The Eyes Have It
The photo made me burst out laughing. It was a picture of a
coast guard vessel posted on SINA, the People’s Republic
Chinese news website in English. The topic was not
particularly funny, nor was the quality of the photo unusual.
It was rather my own state of mind. My brain was in a
critical mood at the moment and couldn’t believe the
ludicrous cost and effort that went into producing an
“invisible” boat and the pride in showing it.
The news item was the public unveiling of the country’s
military maritime equipment, proudly displaying a late
model motorboat, brightly painted in splashes of ocean blue,
black and white camouflage. The boat, pictured moving in
hot pursuit, was practically invisible in the wake of the
foaming blue and white trail left by the pursued (Fig. 1).
Wait a minute, my brain reminded me, what happens on
cloudy days, when the ocean is dull gray and the water
surface smooth? The bright blue would be ineffective except
under perfectly matched lighting and viewing angle.
Wouldn’t the boat become a visually enhanced target with
its bright paint scheme? Why, the coloration may even turn
deadly under the right conditions! I suspect the Chinese
commanders have performance criteria different than mine.
Think of the cloud forest as a three dimensional space
within a fixed volume. The higher the biodiversity, such as
that in the cloud forest, the closer proximity each species
must live with each other. The forest is packed with
vegetation and foliage of thousands of plant species alone.
Some animals can simply blend in (e.g., the sloths. I had
no idea that their fur did not look like moss until I saw my
first wild newborn sloth). Most of the tens of thousands of
prey and predators, however, are eternally in a hide-andseek mode within that space, in plain daylight or in the
darkness of the night. The more mobile animals can
simply hide or move out at will. That is why our visitors
are unlikely to see them during their very short visit.
Other animals need only to keep still to escape attention.
Once, Arturo Jarquin and I were inspecting the trails. He
was walking a couple of steps ahead on a narrow path
when I spotted in my peripheral vision a shape on the
ground less than 8 inches from his bare calf. It was a fat
jumping pit viper, the thickness of my arm. Arturo was in
mid-stride and the viper was in mid-striking pose. My
blood went cold. Should I yell, should I keep quiet, should
I do something to the snake? In a split second decision, I
Granted, humans have had only a couple hundred years to
develop the technology involved with camouflage, mainly
for warfare. In the old days, enemies dealt with each other
in hand combat with two requirements. First, they have to be
able to tell friends from foes and second, they have to be
within arms length to kill. Hence combatants had to wear
distinctive and distinguishable clothing. As the weapons
became more powerful, enemies could now kill from their
hiding places. Crypsis, the ability to hide and blend into the
environment, became increasingly important. Today, modern
warfare is carried out with the two sides and their remote
sensors separated by vast distance. Camouflage is incorporated not just in the fighters’ clothing, but also their
weapons, equipment, electronic signals, and other intended
targets. “Camo” wear has spread into civilian fashion and
digitalized. Pixilated patterns designed to match all kinds of
activities and terrains, including human beds, are available in
all sorts of colors and textiles. If we humans want to become
invisible to each other, there will soon be clothing to do
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thought best to first, keep quiet to let Arturo continue
moving away and second, keep still myself to not stir the
viper’s ire. The snake did not move the whole time
(probably frozen in terror of Arturo’s leg). I saw the nearperfectly camouflaged viper only because my eyes chanced
on it while working to avoid stepping on Arturo. I eventually
walked around it at a safer, greater distance.
different conditions developed into individuals with
differently sized and distributed eyespots. At the same time,
the coloration of the eyespots was regulated by yet different
development pressures, which can differ among Lepidoptera.
Only with modern molecular tools had we been able to get a
glimpse of which genes control eyespot colors and patterns,
what variables regulate their development, and how these are
the results of evolutionary genetic divergence and
convergence both. That is, eyespots have evolved
independently among organisms. In addition, they have
come, gone and returned within some individual
evolutionary genetic branches.
Most of the forest fauna, dominated by insects, must depend
on guile for survival. Natural crypsis, after millions of years
of trial and error, comes in bewildering forms and degree of
sophistication. Their cleverness and beauty are plainly,
wonderfully, simply awesome.
Morpho butterfly wings, when magnified 50-200 times, look
like shingled roof-tops, with rows and rows of overlapping
minute scales (Fig. 10). Brown and black scales are
pigmented, but the striking iridescence of Lepidoptera are
created by an enormous number of arrays of microstructures
on each scale. These Christmas-tree shaped microstructures,
in turn have angled planar branches that scatter coherent
light. The end results are the striking blue, green and red
iridescent scales that have different appearances depending
on the angle of the incident and reflected light.
The most common form of faunal camouflage is cryptic
coloration and patterning. Most animals produce these, all
exquisitely customized and optimized for correct
prey/predator pairing. Some animals incorporate surrounding
materials, as do the sloths covered by moss/algae. Scientific
research has only begun to scratch the surface of the
complexity and forces driving the design and outcome of
these defensive and counter defensive mechanisms. Take for
example, the striking wing eyespots motif among tropical
Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) (Fig 3, 4). As anyone
who has seen the exquisite, showy blue morpho butterfly in
flight, the butterfly has only to fold its wings to become lost
in the foliage to almost all beholders (Fig. 3 vs 9). Its wing
eyespots are conspicuous and glaring only to some eyes.
The question is to whose eyes? Last year, after twenty-eight
years of research in Costa Rica, Dr. Daniel Janzen and coauthors postulated the evolution of the “counterfeit eyes” in
moths and butterflies thus:
So far, I have only briefly mentioned camouflage among the
adult Lepidoptera. Crypsis is just as common, only different,
among the stages of the caterpillar, pupae and chrysalis as
well.
I have not yet mentioned the clever Tettigoniidae (katydids)
(Figs 5 & 6) nor the very large family of natural magicians
with the very apt name of Phasmatodea (ghost insects,
walking sticks) (Figs 7 & 8). Or the reptiles, the
amphibia….. These are only a handful among millions. The
list is endless and not yet knowable. The painful truth is,
every organism in nature is a model of wonderment. We
have much to learn from each one.
“You are a 12-gram, insectivorous, tropical rainforest bird,
foraging in shady, tangled, dappled, rustling foliage where
edible caterpillars and other insects are likely to shelter. You
want to live 10–20 years. You are peering under leaves,
poking into rolled ones, searching around stems, exploring
bark crevices and other insect hiding places. Abruptly an eye
appears, 1–5 centimeters from your bill. The eye or a portion
of it is half seen, obstructed, shadowed, partly out of focus,
more or less round, multicolored, and perhaps moving. If you
pause a millisecond to ask whether that eye belongs to
acceptable prey or to a predator, you are likely to be—and it
takes only once—someone’s breakfast. Your innate reaction to
the eye must be instant flight, that is, a “startle” coupled with
distancing. The bird that must learn to avoid what appears to
be a predator’s eye is not long for this world. Now, a safe few
meters away, are you going to go back to see whether that was
food? No.” (from ProcNatAcadSci, 2010,107:11659-11665)
*** The Editor ***
PS. For the engineering-minded readers, I invite them to go
back to the Chinese coast-guard vessel and imagine what
might become of it with a few more learned lessons from
natural crypsis and tools at their disposal.
At the same time, the research of Paul M Brakefield of the
University of Cambridge, England, on the developmental At
biology of a butterfly (Bycyclus anynana), using laboratory
selection, indicates that the story of eyespots is very complex.
For example, genetically identical sister butterflies reared in
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Painting for Conservation
Fig. 1 Chinese coast guard vessel,
(SINA, 2 Sept 2011).
Fig. 2
Fig. 3 Butterfly (Morpho peleides)
Walking stick on branch
Fig. 9 Caterpillar infested by cocoons
of parasitoid wasps
Fig. 11 Morpho peleides
(photo by Arturo Jarquin).
Moth resting on leaf.
Fig 4. Moth (Automeris sp)
Fig. 5 Green leaf katydid (left) resting
on real leaf (right).
Fig. 7
Nectandra Institute was the recipient of an extraordinary
donation-in-kind in 2011 from our director Dr. E. Ann
Gallie. For some years now, Dr. Gallie has traveled
almost annually from Sudbury, Canada to Costa Rica for
multiple causes. Among her many cherished projects, she
introduced her students in Environmental Sciences at
Laurentian University to tropical biology, oversaw the
installation of a solar energy system for the Sirena research
station in Corcovado National Park (for which she raised
funds and contributed personally), attended our Nectandra
Institute board meetings, initiated the Benthic Organism
Monitoring Program for our Balsa Watershed. In between
all these tasks, she found time to paint in watercolor her
favorite scenery and flora of places she visited, capturing
her love for her subjects on paper.
Fig. 6
Red leaf katydid resting
on dried leaves.
Shown on the left is the painting (9 x 9 in) of the picapica
(Spanish for itchyitchy) pods of Dioclea sp. Many
privileged viewers of her striking water colors wanted to
own them. To meet the requests for purchase, she had a
dozen of her paintings reproduced as limited edition giclé
prints, then donated to Nectandra Institute the prints, as
well as the proceeds of paintings sold. We are honored and
moved by Ann’s generosity with her time, talent and
counsel. These small paintings, ranging from 4 x 6 to 12 x
16 inches, are particularly suitable for close up appreciation. They are white-bordered and can be framed without
matting. Readers interested in purchasing Ann’s paintings,
please visit our website to view the paintings and to order–
or contact the Editor directly for details.
Fig. 8 Walking stick on finger
(Photo by Diane Lucas)
Fig 10. Caterpillar covered by fake
and all empty cocoons
Call for used binoculars: We need several pairs of
binoculars for use by volunteer bird counters throughout
the year at ELF sites. If you have a pair to donate, please
contact us.
Fig. 12 Magnified (100X) morpho
butterfly (M. rhetenor) wing scales,
scanning micrograph (Vukusic et al,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/51670
All photos by E Lennette unless otherwise noted.
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Oct –
Approximately 85% of the canton of Zarcero is
located within the Institute’s priority program area, the Balsa
River Watershed. The newly formed environmental
commission of Zarcero Municipality is made up of seven
members, including one NI staff member. To develop a
recycling program for the canton, the commission distributed
in October a questionnaire to survey the recycling habits of
230 households in the canton. Subsequently, the returned
information was supplemented with analysis of physical
garbage samples to determine what kinds of materials were
discarded and the extent of separation for recyclables. The
commission will use its findings for a publicity campaign to
promote better recycling habits by residents and businesses.
News & Activities, July to December 2011
July – Residents from four communities (Angeles Norte,
Alto Villegas, La Brisa, San Luis, and Tapezco) in the Balsa
River Watershed invested this month 180 person-hours in
watershed restoration to protect their sources of water.
Activities included tree planting, fence reinforcement to
protect the saplings from hungry cattle in neighboring
properties, and clearing tall grass around young trees.
Nectandra Institute (NI) staff trained youths from Tapezco
on analytical methods to determine water quality in local
creeks and rivers. They learned to sample for aquatic insects
and other macro-invertebrates and to use standardized
procedures to analyze their diversity. The presence and
absence of specific organisms can then be used as indicators
for contamination level present in the water.
Nov –
For the second year, a group of international
students from Costa Rica’s Tropical Agricultural Research
and Higher Education Center (CATIE), paid a three-day
visit to the Balsa River Watershed for an in-depth look at the
coordinated watershed protection efforts of NI and our
partner communities. The group interviewed Nectandra
Institute staff, the representatives from local water
management boards, the local association of organic
growers, and members of the Zarcero’s environmental
commission, among others. They also visited the restoration
property purchased with eco-loan to the water management
association serving the communities of La Brisa, La Legua
and Angeles de Tapezco.
Aug – Nectandra Institute made its ninth eco-loan. The
water management association for the community of San
Antonio used an NI loan, supplemented by the association’s
own money, to buy 2 acres surrounding one of its intake
springs. The new property is down-slope from an adjacent
property previously purchased and planted with native
species trees by the community. Residents will now expand
restoration and conservation work to both locations. This
brings a total of 490 acres purchased through assistance of
Nectandra’s eco-loans.
Dec – Nectandra Institute co-sponsored the second annual
“Conteo Navideño del Bosque Nuboso de Occidente”
(Christmas Bird Count in the Western Cloud Forests). This
bird count is officially recognized by the American National
Audubon Society. The 2011 Costa Rican birdcount included
16 routes, one of which passed through Nectandra Cloud
Forest Preserve and also the Angeles Norte-AltoVillegas
ELF restoration property. About 70 birdwatchers from
different parts of Costa Rica participated. Last year, 5393
birds belonging to 346 species were tabulated by 59 bird
counters.
Sept – Septembers are special months for NI and our
partner communities. Since 2008, our new tradition in the
Balsa River Watershed dedicated a whole month to
celebrating “A New Culture of Water” – the movement by
the same name that began in Spain and has spread to other
parts of Europe. The proponents maintain that a river is an
ecosystem, not a mere conduit for H20. It is a complex and
dynamic biological community. It supports diverse fauna
and flora, in addition to the valuable environmental services
to humans.
Friends and Trustees of the US National Tropical Botanical
Garden visited Nectandra Cloud Forest Garden this month.
Headquartered in Kaua’i by congressional charter, NTBG
encompasses 2000 acres in 6 gardens on Hawaii and one in
Florida. Our two organizations’ mission in conservation,
education and scientific research have much in common.
NTGB’s multifaceted programs should serve as a good
institutional model for NI to develop its future programs.
This year, San Luis, one of our most recent eco-loan
beneficiaries, hosted the festivities, which included the
inaugural event, the Water Soccer Championship, the New
Culture of Water Queen Pageant, and many more. Not only
was the celebration a social event, it was also a very
successful fundraiser for the hosting organization.
Attendance broke all previous records for Water-month
Celebration.
*** News reported by Luis Villa ***
Visit us at www.nectandra.org
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