I've been on sick leave/sabbatical for a long time again, but things have been moving along slowly within those constraints... my friend Rozina and I collaborated on a scientific art piece for a show last week, which I'd like to include some information about.
From the ART|PLAY|SCIENCE exhibition 18-22 September 2009, put on by the Environmental Art Collective, and curated by Rozina Suliman, our Lost Bees in the Biosphere installation (Rozina Suliman and Anna Cooke)
for more pictures go to my flight paths blog post .
the following is the text and pictures of the
booklet we included with the piece.
Colony collapse disorder
Millions of bees, particularly bees in colonies used for
pollinating food crops around the world, have been affected by Colony Collapse
Disorder (CCD), where bee colonies suddenly die out after all adult bees leave
the colony over a few days and don’t come back, dying away from the colony.
While there is much confusion and many theories about the cause
of CCD, recent research has tentatively concluded that many factors contribute,
either directly, by killing or paralysing the bees, or indirectly, by
cumulatively stressing the immune systems of the bees. The factors that may contribute
include poor nutrition (which can be due to the bees being used to pollinate
crops with low nutritional value, or from not having access to a variety of
food sources), drought and other environmental condition changes, migratory
stress (when bees are transported long distances so they can pollinate many
crops), viruses, mites, and pesticide build-up in colonies.
Honeybees are the primary pollinator of food producing plants,
and as such are incredibly important for agriculture. All bees, and all
pollinators including birds and bats as well, are vital for biodiversity, as
they allow plants to reproduce, and spread genetic material between plants,
preserving the gene pool. Bees alone are essential for the pollination of
130,000 plants, and so CCD has implications for many species.
“A few species were locked together in forms of symbiosis so
intricate that to pull one out would bring others spiralling to extinction.
Eliminate just one tree out of hundreds…and some of its pollinators,
leafeaters, and woodborers will disappear with it, then various of their
parasites and key predators, and perhaps a species of bird or bat that depends
on its fruit – and when will the reverberations end?” -Edward O Wilson
Biodiversity
Biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth, from the
diversity of species of all kingdoms including all plants, animals and
microorganisms, to the genetic diversity within this multitude of species, and
to the vastly varying ecosystems all over the planet.
Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health and
resilience of an ecosystem. One example of the value of biodiversity is that a
larger range of species, and larger numbers of individuals within those
species, will mean it is more likely that some species or some individuals will
have genetic adaptations to meet threats to and stressors on their ecosystem,
such as disease or drought.
Biosphere: The sum of
all life, in all ecosystems on Earth
Biospheric awareness: An awareness that all life is connected and that actions can have
far reaching, sometimes unintentional and unknowable consequences.
Connectedness
The connectedness of ecosystems means that damage to one species
will most likely damage other species, and the ecosystem itself. But
connectedness is also where the strength and resilience of the systems come
from, as the co-evolution of species has resulted in ecosystems perfectly
suited for their environmental conditions.
However, no environment is resilient enough to deal with the
rapid changes to environments that are occurring due to human impacts, most
pervasively from climate change.
Through an awareness of the connectedness of life and our reliance
on natural ecosystems, and by making an emotional connection to the natural
environment and the plants and animals around us, we can develop ways of living
which minimize harm, and build our personal resilience by seeking experiences
of nature to restore us.
Connectedness is a fundamental human need, and through building
strong connections within our own species we build resilience and competence
for action. With the knowledge that all of our actions have consequences, and
can set off chains of events long past our knowledge or direct influence, we
have the opportunity and choice to set positive events in motion.
“and when will the reverberations end?”
