On Pollination and Bees

   A great aspect of the wondrous complexity of God’s creation is symbiotic relationships, ‘when two organisms of different species "work together," each benefiting from the relationship’[1], often times in such a way that they depend on the other creature to live. Not only are these relationships complex in nature, can you imagine this happening through evolution? Both creatures would have to evolve this “relationship” at the same time, and in such a way that both could live. Anyways, how did the creature live before it evolved? There are just too many questions posed that evolution can’t answer.

   A great example of a symbiotic relationship is flowers and bees. We all know that bees pollinate flowers, but have you ever stopped to think about how wonderful of a design this system is?

   Almost all flowers produce nectar to attract bees. The bees will come and gather the nectar, but in doing so, they also get pollen on them. When they come to the next flower, that pollen will “pollinate” the flower, which allows the flower to then ripen and produce seeds. So without this pollination process, the plants would never be able to reproduce, and thus would die out. Without bees, flowering plants would cease to exist.

   But if we look at it the other way, the relationship is just as amazing. You see, bees depend upon flowers and the nectar that they provide. Without nectar, bees would be left without a source of food, and would end up starving.

   The flowers provide the bees with a source of food, and the bees provide a way for the flowering plants to reproduce. Without one, the other would cease to exist. So how could evolution result in such a relationship? You would have to have both evolve to their current state at the same time. If not, the bees would starve and the flowers wouldn’t be able to reproduce. We can’t give credit to anyone but God; and it’s an amazing system that God has designed.

   But God’s wonders don’t stop there.

   Once a bee has already visited a flower, all the nectar has been taken. Can you imagine how much time and energy bees would waste if they kept on visiting flowers that had already been visited by another bee? Most of the times, bees would find the flower they visited has no nectar left.

   God solved this problem in a rather simple, but ingenious way. Many flowers have marks on them that change color when the flower is pollinated. One such example is the desert lupine, which has small yellow spots that tell the bee that “there’s nectar here”. But when the bee pollinates the plant, those spots will turn black or reddish. This tells any other bees that the nectar has already been taken, so it would be a waste of time to visit that flower.

   If you look to evolution to explain this, it makes no sense. How, or even why would the flowers evolve that way? It helps them in no way. And also, how do the bees know that yellow means nectar and black means no nectar? But it’s not even that simple, because different flowers have different marks that tell the bees whether there is nectar or not in the flower. How would the bees learn every single combination? The only answer is that God designed certain flowers that way, and that he “programmed” all the information the bees needed to know about the markings.

   Truly God has designed a wonderful system that glorifies Him. All of this declares the glory of God, and defies evolution. None of this could have resulted from random chance but, like all of creation, shows us that God has created all things.

“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

~Proverbs 25:2

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[1] New England Complex Systems Institute. “Mutualistic Relationships”. NECSI. No Date Given; Accessed March 19^th, 2014. http://www.necsi.edu/projects/evolution/co-evolution/mutualistic/co-evolution_mutualistic.html [AID]

Grigs

Hump-Backed Grigs:

 

Cyphoderris buckelli. Buckell’s Grig. Drawing of male by Susan A. Wineriter, University of Florida.

 

Cyphoderris monstrosa. Great Grig. Drawing of male, by Mary Foley Benson. Fig. from Gurney 1939.

   Hump-Backed Grigs come from the family Prophalangopsidae, and there are three species that are found in North America, all of which are in the genus Cyphoderris. They can be found in coniferous forests, or in high altitude sagebrush in the north western part of the United States, and extending up into Canada.

   Hump-Backed Grigs are nocturnal insects, and are rarely found during the day. They hide in burrows, but come out at night. The males are found chirping away on tree trunks or anything else that protrudes from the ground. They always sit head down when chirping, and through the night will climb higher and higher until they are out of reach.

   It’s easy to tell whether an adult grig is a male or a female. If the grig’s wings cover half or more of its abdomen, then it’s a male. But if its wings are miniscule, then it is either a female, or if it is small, then it is a nymph.

   One interesting thing is that it’s also pretty simple to figure out whether a male has mated yet or not. You just lift up the upper wings to uncover the hind wings, and if the hind wings are damaged at all, the male has mated before, but if the hind wings are undamaged, then the male is a virgin. The reason for this is because when grigs mate, the female will chew on the hind wings of the male.

   The chirping is a high pitched trill that lasts several seconds, stops for a moment, then starts again. “Eeeeeeeeeeee! Eeeeeeeeee! Eeeeeeee!” The sound can be a little unnerving, as it sounds anything but nice, and even the sight of these creatures aren’t that friendly, but they really are quite harmless.

   You can hunt them at night by following their sound, but if you flash them with a light, they will stop their song, and will not start up again for a few minutes. The way I hunt them is I either shine the light on the ground in front of me or don’t have my light on until I pinpoint what tree the grig is on. Once you have pinpointed the tree the grig resides on, you can search the trunk with your light.

   Again, though they look quite fierce, they are quite harmless, and will only bite if grabbed the wrong way. The bite doesn’t even hurt, but is merely a little surprising, and may cause you to drop the grig. Just grab it by its thorax with its legs held against its body, and drop into an awaiting container.

   The succession of trills produced by the male are made at wing stroke rates of 50-75 (at 77 ºF) a second. The forewings have both a “file” and “scraper” which produce the sound, and will amplify and broadcast the trills; the right and left forewings both have equally developed files and scrapers. They will alternate between which wing is on top at rest. To what extent the grig will switch between the left and right files is not established. This action is called “switch wing stridulation”.

   Though scientists have separated the genus Cyphoderris into three species, it is most likely that all came from the same created kind. There are only very minor differences between the three different species, but it is still interesting to examine these, and to see what diversity God has put in his creation.

   The species of grig that will be found in the Cascades of Oregon and Washington, and specifically Paulina Lake, will most likely be the Great Grig (Cyphoderris monstosa). But just in case of undocumented biogeography, here’s a key that shows some subtle, but interesting differences:

Lateral view of male subgenital plates of Cyphoderris. Fig. from Morris & Gwynne 1978.

   Not only are the back ends of the three species different, but their songs too. The songs of C. strepitans and C. buckelli are nearly indistinguishable, but there is a difference between the song of C. monstrosa. At any temperature, C. monstrosa has the higher pulse rate. Though a grig’s song is not as reliable as the Snowy Tree Cricket’s chirp is, it does follow a pattern. The warmer it is, the more pulses per second.

Relation of pulse rate and temperature in the calling songs of hump-winged grigs. (S is from Spooner 1973.) Fig. from Morris & Gwynne 1978 (slightly modified). Converted to Fahrenheit.

  

   Truly God has blessed us with a diverse and abundant amount of creatures. Everywhere we go we find different kinds of insects. In some places you might find field crickets, other places tree crickets, or katydids, or even cicadas. And last, in the Cascades and elsewhere, you find the Hump-Backed Grigs. God has created a symphony for us to enjoy at night, and to lull us to sleep. God is wonderful!

Water Boatmen

Though this blog still isn't officially up and running, (meaning I'm not promising more posts any time soon) I feel compelled to publish my findings somewhere, so here's what astonished me last night while looking in my back yard:

  Water Boatmen:




Yes, though I have no pond or small body of water anywhere close you my yard, there were at least twenty of these guys hopping around in a little patch of grass. This is a total mystery, as these little insects are aquatic. I have no idea as to how they got their, or how they survived several "dry days" without dying, but I will research this matter, and hopefully find something.