Just thinking about the significance of the structure of DNA and how Rosalin Franklin's X-ray diffraction patterns were so important to Watson & Crick's discovery in the 1950s!

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Scarlet Locoweed (Astragalus coccineus) Near Mountain Springs, San Diego County, CA Image taken with Nikon SLR & Kodachrome Film.

As of February 2022 I have 14,000 images on Wayne's Word. My hand-coded website occupies 2.26 GB on a 4 GB SD card, with plenty of room to spare. I must say that some of my best wildflower images were taken decades ago with my old Nikon SLR & Kodachrome film!

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Another Kodachrome transparency image taken in 1980 with Nikon film camera: Desert Beauty (Linanthus bellus). On dirt road near Boulevard, S.E. San Diego County. This species is definitely on my top 10 wildflower list for San Diego County!

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The quest for power & territory by some irrational, dictators resembles the behavior of ants. Ants definitely attack other colonies & species for food & territory; however, they exhibit swarm intelligence. They are not led by an "evil" queen. Workers & soldiers are sterile females without a permanent leader. The recognition cues for enemy ants are genetically-based odors on the surface of ant bodies called cuticular hydrocarbons. Army ants form temporary camps (bivouacs) instead of permanent nests as they move across the desert in massive raids. To counter this, some species have evolved "soldiers" (major workers) with enlarged heads & mandibles to defend their colonies. I have documented this behavior throughout our southwest desert region.

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Lichens in Palomar College Arboretum. In 1867, Swiss botanist Simon Schwendener described the symbiotic relationship between algae & fungi in lichens. Beatrix Potter, an excellent naturalist, writer & scientific illustrator, wrote a paper on lichens in 1896. It included meticulous drawings of her microscopic observations of fungal filaments intertwined with algal cells. Her paper was read at a meeting of the Linnaean Society on April 1, 1897. [Historical Note: Women were not admitted as Fellows (or members) of the Society until 1905.] Later, she turned her attention to writing the "Tales of Peter Rabbit" and numerous other stories--much to the delight of children everywhere.

Lichens In Palomar College Arboretum

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Worker ants of these 3 species were only one mm (1/25th of an inch) in length. They are at the limit of my SLR with 3 extension rings. Smaller than this ideally requires a dissection microscope and/or a stacking program that assembles multiple images for optimal depth of field.

Minute thief ant from bottlewort trail in Palomar College Arboretum. Photographed through B & L dissecting microscope with Sony W-300 digital camera.

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3 important quantitative field measurements in plant ecology are dominance, density and frequency. One year after the Palomar College Comet Fire of January 2021 there is a shrub that has the highest values by far in all 3 measurements: Bush Mallow (Malacothamnus fasiculatus). Since last year, this prolific, native fire-follower has spread by seeds and underground stems (rhizomes) into thickets of pink flowers.

Comet Fire Images From Jan. 2021   Quantitative Vegetation Definitions

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Thanks to campus horticulturist Tony Rangel, the variety of fascinating plants at Palomar College never ceases to amaze me. Here is another remarkable tree that I recently photographed! In my biology career, I must say that the coevolution of more than 800 species of figs, each with their symbiotic wasps, is the most amazing story of all my plant lectures. It is difficult to summarize because of its complexity. In fact, oversimplification by authors often contributes to errors in their publications.

Palomar College Campus Botanical Garden & Arboretum   Wayne's Word Fig Page: Coevolution Of Tree & Minute Wasp

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Agave Weevil (Scyphophorus acupunctatus) with detailed ornamentation on its exoskeleton. Unfortunately, it is a serious invasive beetle. Its larvae feed on native & cultivated century plants throughout our planet, especially the genera Agave, Furcraea & Yucca (all planted at Wayne's word & Palomar College).

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Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla) on upper slope of Palomar College Arboretum. It is quickly developing the stature of century-old Moreton Bay Figs in Balboa Park. Even more remarkable, its symbiotic fig wasp has found this tree!

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I never cease to be amazed at the fascinating insects in the hills near Palomar College. My latest discovery is a female beetle larva called the Calif. Glowworm (Microphotus angustus). Her life history is just as remarkable as insects featured on nature programs from exotic lands. Unlike most of the 350,000 beetle species on our planet, she retains her wingless larval body form through adulthood. Then her terminal abdominal segments glow to attract winged males. Unless you are hiking in the local hills after dark, you would never see this phenomenon.

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Fine mesh garden netting for plants is a hazard for snakes. We spent this Sunday morning rescueing a large gopher snake hopelessly caught in the meshwork. The more it struggled, the more entangled and constricted it became. By the time we cut it lose it was exhausted.