Every Breath You Take

I thought that as we walk down the next part of the gully we’d have a look at air – there’s some, look, right in front of your nose. You can’t see, smell, taste or touch it so what exactly is it? Mainly it’s a mixture of two elements (not a compound – they don’t combine together). The two elements are Nitrogen (78%) and Oxygen (21%). The other 1% contains other elements, primarily Argon.

Rosularia serrata

Every breath you take (don’t worry – I’m not going to start singing again) is for the most part Nitrogen, a vital element for us but the problem is; we can’t use it directly. We need plants to do a bit of work for us like this Rosularia serrata here. It can’t use Nitrogen from the air either, it needs help from special bacteria in the soil that use enzymes to convert the nitrogen into organic compounds that it takes up through its roots. We, and other animals, can then take the nitrogen that we need to produce things like essential amino acids from the plants that we eat. When it, and we, die we pass the nitrogen back into the soil for reprocessing by bacteria. 

Ferns and Mosses

Air hasn’t always been air as we know it today and if we go grubbing about down there in the dark and damp bits we should find a couple of the major players in the events that led to the breathable stuff that we enjoy today. About four hundred million years ago, when these ferns and later these mosses, were the pioneering land plants oxygen was only running at about 15% but plants, as we know, give off oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis and over the next hundred million years levels built up to about 35%, an abundance that gave rise to giant dragonflies and things. The rise of oxygen breathing animal life brought the levels back down to a range which we’ve evolved to function in which is about 19-24%. 

Darkling and Rosemary Beetles

We seem to have come out into the open air as it were and it looks as if we’re at the head of the oleander highway (see Into The Woods) so we should be able to find some nice insect life in there. We have beetles in abundance. This beefy, black job is the brother of the one we found a couple of weeks back up the valley. That one was Raiboscelis coelestinus with the blue sheen and this one is Raiboscelis corvinus. The other two are Rosemary Beetles, Chrysolina Americana, and they seem to be thinking about expending a bit of energy to make more Rosemary beetles. Which brings me back to oxygen. The reason why it so important to us and all other animals is that we need it to convert glucose into energy in a complex process called catabolism^[1]. Simply put, we couldn’t move a muscle without it.

Ant nursery

Apart from the composition of air there are two other aspects of it that are important and those are its temperature and humidity, a delightful illustration of which you can see by looking under this rock that I’ve just turned over. The little white cocoons that the ants are fussing over are the larvae.  These, along with the eggs, they constantly move from one place to another within and just outside of the nest to regulate their conditions as the temperature and humidity fluctuate throughout the day and night. They really are the most dedicated of nursemaids. But now it seems we have reached a defile through which we cannot pass, not without ropes and crampons anyway. I suggest that we walk back over the hill, down through the village of Agios Ioannis and pick up our route again a couple of hundred feet lower down.

Cumulus and Cirrus clouds

Just look at that wonderful cloudscape above us. The large, fluffy one is a cumulus cloud (from Latin, meaning heap) while the streaky ones above are cirrus (from Latin, meaning a ringlet of hair). There are sixteen major cloud types in total, all of which contain water vapour in varying amounts evaporated from the Earth’s surface. You may be wondering; if air is 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen how come your hygrometer says that its 60% water? Firstly it’s because those percentages are for perfectly dry air and secondly that your hygrometer is measuring relative humidity; the partial pressure of water in the air compared to what it could be if it was fully saturated, and not the actual amount of water in the air. Which is a good indicator of whether it is likely to rain or not and thus of far more practical use as a measurement.

So that’s air, in a nutshell. Meanwhile I think I can see the village below us so we’ll explore that next week.

The Extra Bit

Last week’s marmalade recipe seems to have gone down well so I may well do another in the New Year. Meanwhile if you want to know more about how we convert the sugars in the marmalade into energy then you can read all about it here: ^[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catabolism

I've just started a magazine called The Nature of Crete on Flipboard. Eventually it will not only contain links to the latest blog but other articles and blog posts about the flora and fauna of the island. If you'd like to read it and maybe even contribute a link then this is the web address: The Nature of Crete 

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LINKS:

Naturalists (the facebook page that accompanies this blog)

See detailed pictures at http://www.inaturalist.org/login  (search - people-stevedaniels-observations)

Cretan Flora

The Nature of Crete  (Flipboard Magazine)

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Crete Birding

Greek Butterflies and Moths

Aquaworld Aquarium

Visit Greece (National Government Tourist Office)

We’ll Tak’ The High Road

After last week’s debacle I thought about entitling this week’s adventure “Won’t Get Fooled Again” after the old Who song but decided upon a slightly modified line from the Scottish standard instead. The high track on which we finished may have meant a long walk home but it does provide us with access to the next part of the valley which we wish to explore and saves us having to cover old ground each week. So hop in the car and we’ll motor up to where we left off and start from there.

Crocus laevigatus

It seems that the track runs out soon after this point and leads us around a small side valley which should prove interesting, especially as the first flowers we come across are these delightful little crocuses. The bright stigmas of the crocus, in particular the species Crocus sativa, you’ll find in your kitchen cabinet in the jar marked Saffron of course but did you know that saffron was first harvested here on Crete thousands of years ago? Crocus sativa was developed from an endemic Cretan plant similar to this one (which is also a Cretan endemic) and saffron gathering is depicted in frescoes at the Minoan Palace of Knossos.

 

Ravens, Corvus corax corax

Last week, when we were down in the valley, we had the delightful company of blackbirds and robins. Up here with the gods I’ve heard the call of a buzzard and a definite kronking of ravens. We met some up on Katharo plain a few weeks back but I’ve only ever seen one down here on the south east coast. There they go look, a pair just disappearing over that ridge. As everybody knows ravens used to be white. No, honestly, they did – if you take Greek mythology as your ornithological reference guide. Apparently Apollo asked a raven to spy on his lover Coronis and when his faithful avian agent reported back that she was indeed being unfaithful he scorched his feathers. Now all ravens are black and refuse to work for EYP, the Greek Intelligence Service. You don’t believe me? Have a look at the EYP shield some time, it’s got a scorched raven hanging from a map of the world.

Rosemary Beetle, Chrysolina americana

It seems we’ve reached a bit of a gully. Let’s scramble up and see what’s lurking in the sage and cistus bushes. Ah, another Leaf beetle, that makes three different species we’ve found in recent weeks. This one, very shiny with green and purple stripes, is Chrysolina americana and despite its name is native to the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe. It wandered into England in the 1990s (I presume it wandered as its wings are short and it cannot fly) and I believe it is now quite common around London. This particular species has a predilection for aromatic plants such as sage and rosemary and is commonly known as the Rosemary Beetle. Oh, he seems to have tumbled off his leaf, presumably no-one told him that he couldn’t fly. Ah well, he knows now.

Arachnids and Silver Y, Autographa gamma

I don’t know about you but I think I’ve reached the limit of my scrabbling capabilities. That rock face looks both sheer and crumbly. Let’s prod about at the base and see who’s about. A couple of arachnids which we’ve met before; the Thomasid Crab Spider you’ll remember from Black Witches Butter and Pixie Cups back in March and the Small Wood Scorpion from The Misty Thripti Mountains in October but the moth is a new one which I’d like to introduce to you. He’s one of the noctuid family called the Silver Y in English or scientifically, Autographa gamma. Very easy to recognise as he has his name etched on his wings, a policy I’d urge all moths to adopt as some of them can be a devil of a job to tell apart.  There are also an Autographa ni and an Autographa jota that are similarly helpful.

Slippery Jack, Suillus collinitus

Well, that’s our route back down into the valley, a mere two hundred and fifty metre descent over ankle twisting rocks, but I think we’ll leave that until next week. Meanwhile we have some Slippery Jack mushrooms at our feet and I think I’ll take some back with us as I’ve got a brilliant white cap at home that needs toning down a bit. Hmm? Oh, there’s more to mushrooms than whether they are edible or not – some, such as these, make excellent dyes. You can either extract the dye using a weak ammonia solution or simply leave them in the sun in a jar of water until it changes colour to the shade you want. These will probably give me a nicely camouflaged pale fawn which will be much more practical.

Until next week then – happy hunting.

See all the pictures including insets in detail on Flickr

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LINKS:

Naturalists (the facebook page that accompanies this blog)

Cretan Flora

Flowers of Crete;

BIRDS OF CRETE

Crete Birding

Greek Butterflies and Moths

Aquaworld Aquarium