08/1/14

Tadpoles in Maine Pond Die from Ranavirus

An estimated 200,000 Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) Tadpoles in a local pond in Maine died within a few days (in 2013) from most-likely a ranavirus. A paper was recently published in Herpetological Review that is co-authored by Nathaniel Wheelwright, a biologist at Bowdoin College, along with the University of Tennessee.

“The dead tadpoles had signs of hemorrhaging in their legs and around their throats, and many had skin that was sloughing off their bodies”, Wheelwright said.

Wheelwright has monitored the pond for close to 30 years and said it was quite surprising. Usually there are 50-100,000 tadpoles and only 1000 may live to become adult frogs. But for all to die, very unusual. They did notice there were no leeches present.

There are other species who can carry the ranavirus, such as green frogs, bullfrogs, painted turtles and spotted salamanders* (*who were found in the pond and showed signs of suffering from the virus also.)

Here’s a video from Bowdoin College with biology professor, Nat Wheelwright talking about the tadpoles:

The good news is that this past Spring showed healthy tadpoles and frogs and no sign of any issues.

Do you think this was caused by pesticides and/or climate change? Too many tadpoles crowded together?
___________________________________________________________________

The differences between Chyrid Fungus and Ranavirus are:

Chyrid is a fungus and infects individual frogs who suffer damage to their skin. Once infected it impairs respiration and the frog dies. It has been devastating amphibian populations around the world.

Ranaviruses infect insects, fish, amphibians and turtles and infect larvae or recently metamorphosed individuals.

07/21/14

Frogs Are Green in Times Square for #SeeMeTakeover

#SeeMeTakeover (SeeMe) is taking over illuminated billboards in Times Square to showcase international artwork! These five Frogs Are Green posters will be displayed among the work of other artists! Congrats to all… So head to New York City at Broadway and 46th Street on Thursday, July 24 8-9 pm! Artists featured are Paul Zwolak, Kerry Kriger, Sherry Neidigh, Sylvie Daigneault and Wes Deyton and the Frogs Are Green founder and designer, Susan Newman. See.Me will be photographing the show, but I will make a point of heading into NYC and recording it myself, if I can catch the imagery at night. Here’s a link to see what it’s about: https://www.see.me/

Below are the five posters to be featured:

Don't just Leap, Fly! - Illustrated by Sylvie Daigneault, Designed by Susan Newman

Bask in the Glow - Photo by Wes Deyton, Designed by Susan Newman

We Cannot Do This Alone - Photo by Kerry Kriger, Designed by Susan Newman

It is easy being green - Illustrated by Paul Zwolak, designed by Susan Newman

A Frog's Dream - Illustrated by Sherry Neidigh, Designed by Susan Newman

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07/9/14

Eco-Interview: Allison Green, Painting Nature – Jersey City Artist

Frogs Are Green founder, Susan Newman interviews Allison Green about her large-scale, exquisite paintings of nature. Here’s what Allison shares with us:

It’s hard to say exactly why I paint nature – but I am sure that it roots from my childhood life in Pennsylvania, where I grew up in a house on the perimeter of a lush forest. Memories of a childhood which revolved around nature are deep within me, especially today, as I have been living in the city for the last 20 years. Sometimes I wonder if I paint nature because I long for those lush forests of my childhood, or if it is the stories in those trees which still resonate so deep with in that I feel the need to let them out. Or, maybe it’s a combination of both.

April Roses, 2013 – Oil on Canvas, 48″ x 48″

These days, while I still love exploring vast forest and other pristine terrain, I have become most inspired by urban nature – from cultivated gardens like the High Line and the New York Botanical Garden, to the wildest of plant life that seems to sprout everywhere throughout the city and streets.

My inspiration often comes from the smallest details of a plant, such as the complex anatomy of a tiny, overlooked weed, the gnarled bark on an old, giant tree in the park, or those resilient vines growing up the sides of buildings in the summertime.

Eve, 2010 – Oil on Canvas, 30″ x 24″

In my most recent paintings, I’ve also become fascinated with the delicate and complex reproductive relationships between plants and insects. A swarm of bees pollinating a pair of desirable lotus flowers, while mating snails hide within an ever-evolving rose bush are examples of new imagery in which I seek to capture the magical and surreal natural world.

In addition, I’ve become fascinated by the way all life forms change, evolve and become something very different along the way. “Everything Changes”, my latest series, documents different phases in a plant’s life cycle, along with depicting insect/plant relationships.

Pollinate Me (lotus flowers with pollinating bees) 2014, Oil on Canvas, 60″x72″

Nature is such an amazing, endless source of inspiration. And as humans are putting it in jeopardy in so many different ways, it has become an even more important subject in my mind. Whether it be to find beauty in a simple weed, cherish a neighborhood tree, or to realize the perfection of most common little bug, I hope that my work can inspire someone to look at plant life and all of nature in a new way every day.

— Allison Green, Jersey City Artist

Lovers, 2010 – Oil on Canvas, 60″ x 48″

Currently Allison resides and works in downtown Jersey City, where she creates large-scale oil paintings. Her first solo exhibition, “Deeply Rooted”, opened in March 2011 at Susan Eley Fine Art in New York City. A second solo show at SEFA, “Entwined”, opened in September 2012 and features a fully illustrated catalog with an essay by Lilly Wei. Green’s work is now included in the Brooklyn Museum Elizabeth Sackler Feminist Art Base, and her paintings were recently exhibited at PULSE NY in spring 2013.

Green holds a BA from the University of Maryland with a concentration in Fine Art and Women’s Studies. She also studied at Studio Art Centers International (SACI) in Florence, Italy in 1995.

Sienna Thicket (Thicket #4) 2011, – Oil on Canvas, 48″ x 48″

07/7/14

Pond Maintenance: Tips for Keeping Wildlife At Your Pond

Ponds are an incredible edition to any garden and are perfect for attracting a whole range of wildlife; from the fish you may have purchased to the frogs, toads and newts you hope might come and visit. Ponds are a delicate ecosystem; the perfect blend of fish, oxygenating marginal plants and natural wildlife is sometimes hard to get right, but one of the things that can definitely help is maintaining your pond properly.

All ponds need regular maintenance to prevent them from turning into glorified bogs. Regular cleaning is a good idea to prevent silting up. Autumn is generally the best time for cleaning as much of the wildlife is less active or beginning to hibernate. Firstly, it is important to create a holding tank for your fish and other creatures and also your deep water plants using some of the pond water. Marginal plants should be alright as long as they are kept moist. The pond needs to be drained and the fish and creatures removed carefully and put into the tank as they become visible. Any decaying plant material may contain smaller creatures so place to the side of the pond so they can make their way back.

Remove any silt from the bottom of the pond. Most of this can be added to the garden to improve soil structure for your plants but do keep some in hand for replacing at the bottom of the pond. This is important for maintaining an ecosystem for smaller organisms which are beneficial for the pond.

The next step is to clean the liner with a brush and then refill the pond, preferably using rainwater collected from a water butt. Finally return the fish and other creatures and also the deep water plants to the pond.

After cleaning it can take a while for the pond to recover, which is the reason an autumn cleaning is generally preferred.

Another good practice to get into is maintaining your pond pump efficiently. If your pond does not have a pump they are readily available from retailers such as Swell UK in the UK. If you notice the pump is going slower or has stopped completely it might be that the pump is just clogged or suffering from a build-up of blanket weed. Alternatively there may be a problem with the electrics and cabling. The first thing to check is the electricity. Ideally you should have a circuit breaker and a switchbox. The circuit breaker will trip if there is a problem with the electrics; and the switchbox will isolate the different cables on the off chance you have accidently cut through a wire. If you have both of these you can diagnose the problem at the pump.

This problem is relatively easy to remedy; you can usually remove things easily enough from a pump. Pumps are relatively easy to take apart and put together again. If the pump looks green, then you have a problem with blanket weed, otherwise you need to look for the impeller (which is where the water from the pond is sucked in). This is where the blockages will be – use a screwdriver to clear out the cavity. Pond pumps need regular maintenance if you do not look after your pond properly.

And there you have it; a happy clean pond and a suitable working pond pump make for the perfect habitat for fish, frogs and other wildlife.

– Guest post by Chris Plum, pond and garden products advisor

07/4/14

Monet’s Garden and Frogs

Ever since I can remember having an appreciation for art, I was a fan of Claude Monet. A few weeks ago I was watching the PBS program NYC Arts and one of the reports was about Monet’s Waterlilies at MOMA. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve seen those magnificent paintings. But it wasn’t until that evening that I made the Frog Connection. All of a sudden I thought, with all those 100s of paintings created in Giverny Garden, did Monet ever paint a frog?

After the program was over, I went on the internet and searched “Did Monet ever paint a frog?” What came up mesmerized me. Pages and links to children’s books on this very topic. After reading and studying many pages it’s hard to know the truth, especially given that Monet was an impressionist painter and so a green dab of paint might be misconstrued as a frog.

I read three of the children’s books and I’d like to share them with you:

Philippe in Monet’s Garden
by Lisa Jobe Carmack and illustrated by Lisa Canney Chesaux

A charming story about a frog named Philippe, who just happens to live in France and just happens to have very large and long legs. As frog lovers, I’m sure you can imagine his potentially scary destiny to a local restaurant with all the frog hunters out there. Two of his frog friends get nabbed and so he hops away and away until he comes upon Giverny Garden where a sign is posted: No Frog Hunting! He’s safe! In he hops and Monet welcomes him, admires his large and beautiful legs and Philippe lives his life in that beautiful place with lots of bugs to eat and no fear. He may even be seen in one of the pictures?

The Magical Garden of Claude Monet
by Laurence Anholt

This is more of an adventure story. A young girl and her pet dog are feeling antsy in their family’s urban dwelling, while the mother is busy painting a picture. But the mother reassures Julie that as soon as she’s finished, they will go on an exciting adventure to a magical place. They board the train to travel to Monet’s garden at Giverny and it’s an afternoon of marvel and discovery. Beautiful watercolor illustrations throughout the book. Unfortunately, no mention of frogs.

Where is the Frog?
by Geraldine Elschner and Stephanie Girel

A children’s book inspired by Claude Monet

As you might imagine, this one was my favorite! The illustrations throughout are styled after Monet and the story is adorable. In this story we have a little female frog named Antoinette who only wants to be the subject of Monet’s efforts. She moves and poses and when he walks away, she hops up to have a look at the painting and realizes that she was a green frog sitting on a green lily pad. Oh no, that’s why there is no frog in the picture. So the next day she poses hanging from a vine or within some flowers, and hooray, she’s depicted in the picture. She gets so excited she knocks the painting, easel, materials and herself into the water. Alas, still no picture with a frog in it!

— Susan Newman, founder Frogs Are Green

Water Lilies, 1919, by Claude Monet – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

About Claude Monet’s Garden at Giverny (Wikipedia):

Claude Monet noticed the village of Giverny while looking out of a train window. He made up his mind to move there and rented a house and the area surrounding it. In 1890 he had enough money to buy the house and land outright and set out to create the magnificent gardens he wanted to paint. Some of his most famous paintings were of his garden in Giverny, famous for its rectangular Clos normand, with archways of climbing plants entwined around colored shrubs, and the water garden, formed by a tributary to the Epte, with the Japanese bridge, the pond with the water lily, the wisterias and the azaleas.

Monet lived in the house with its famous pink crushed brick façade from 1883 until his death in 1926. He and many members of his family are interred in the village cemetery.

Water Lilies (or Nymphéas) is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840–1926). The paintings depict Monet’s flower garden at Giverny and were the main focus of Monet’s artistic production during the last thirty years of his life. Many of the works were painted while Monet suffered from cataracts.^[1]

06/27/14

Learning About Zero Waste in Jersey City

Did you know that each person produces 4.4 lbs of waste per day? Can Jersey City move towards “Zero Waste?”

Yesterday, I attended the “Jersey City Moving Towards Zero Waste Conference” in City Hall and I have to say it was an eye-opening experience. The speakers and panel discussions were informative and I learned about what some of my fellow citizens are doing right here in Jersey City, as well as what is being done elsewhere.

Mayor Steven Fulop started off the conference by talking about how important this topic is and his commitment to doing what he can and I will say that the food and beverages provided for the event were accompanied by a composting bucket and two separate clearly marked waste barrels.

The Mayor introduced Judith Enck, the Regional Administrator of Region 2 of the U.S. EPA, and we learned about initiatives around the country and the world in comparison to what we aren’t yet doing here. I know that the trash is a problem across this city and something has to be done to change people’s behavior. It’s not enough for a few people to care, but we have to change the way people think about trashing their own neighborhoods, as if there’s someone behind them ready to pick it up. There isn’t.

Did you know that the Jersey City trash is picked up and shipped out of state by rail cars? What a waste of time, effort and fuel.

Here’s a current tv commercial playing about recycling from the “Keep America Beautiful” campaign:

Maybe we need a “Keep Jersey City Beautiful” or “Jersey City Proud” brand campaign?

The speakers were: Debra Italiano, Founder and Chair of SustainableJC; PJ Wasinger, Upcycle Jersey City Artist; April Buther Wennestrom, Director, Affiliate Services, Keep America Beautiful; Dennis Whittinghill, Urban Farm Expert, and DamagedWear; Albe Zakes, VP of Communications, TerraCycle; Eric Silverman, Principle, Silverman; Aaron Klein, CEO, Greener Corners; Dale J. Carpenter, Chief Sustainable Materials Management, EPA Section 2; Gary Sondermeyer, VP of Operations, Bayshore Recycling Corp.; Sondra Flite, Environmental Specialist III, Bureau of Recycling and Planning, Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste; and Norman M. Guerra, CEO, Hudson County Improvement Authority.

The big topics of the day were recycling (what and how), what some of these companies are doing to spread awareness and get people involved, and composting.

Until yesterday, I had never heard of “Black Soldier Flies.” It’s not the flies themselves that eat the waste, but the larvae. Pretty interesting!

From Wikipedia:

Black Soldier Fly Larvae Composting

BSFL composting quickly converts manure or kitchen waste into an organic compost. In a compost bin, it can take only twenty days to start to compost. The resulting compost can be used for soil and fertilizers. After the conclusion of the compost process, the larvae can also be harvested as feed for poultry, chickens, and possibly dogs. On average a household will produce a little under a kg of food waste per day. This food waste can be composted at home using black soldier fly larvae much much faster than worms can do it. The BSFL will eat kilograms of scrap food a night in small composting units, eliminating your food waste before it can even begin to rot. This is probably the fastest composting technique. BSFL often appear naturally in worm bins, composting toilets, or compost bins. They can also be bought online. Without much added cost, these devices could be designed to also harvest BSFL.

About Composting from Wikipedia:

Compost is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. Compost is a key ingredient in organic farming. At the simplest level, the process of composting simply requires making a heap of wetted organic matter known as green waste (leaves, food waste) and waiting for the materials to break down into humus after a period of weeks or months. Modern, methodical composting is a multi-step, closely monitored process with measured inputs of water, air, and carbon- and nitrogen-rich materials. The decomposition process is aided by shredding the plant matter, adding water and ensuring proper aeration by regularly turning the mixture. Worms and fungi further break up the material. Aerobic bacteria and fungi manage the chemical process by converting the inputs into heat, carbon dioxide and ammonium. The ammonium is the form of nitrogen (NH₄) used by plants. When available ammonium is not used by plants it is further converted by bacteria into nitrates (NO₃) through the process of nitrification.

Compost can be rich in nutrients. It is used in gardens, landscaping, horticulture, and agriculture. The compost itself is beneficial for the land in many ways, including as a soil conditioner, a fertilizer, addition of vital humus or humic acids, and as a natural pesticide for soil. In ecosystems, compost is useful for erosion control, land and stream reclamation, wetland construction, and as landfill cover (see compost uses). Organic ingredients intended for composting can alternatively be used to generate biogas through anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion is fast overtaking composting in some parts of the world (especially central Europe) as a primary means of downcycling waste organic matter.

— Susan Newman, founder, Frogs Are Green

Are you recycling and composting? Please share what you are doing to keep your neighborhood beautiful.

Frogs Are Green

Environmental Organization Helping to Bring Awareness About Frog Decline Around The World

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