The Daily Bucket - Assorted Environmental News

After 5,000 years, British tree changes its sex:        British Yew Tree

After 5,000 years, the Fortingall Yew tree in Scotland finally decided it was time for a change: one of its branches is beginning to exhibit characteristics attributable to female yew trees, while the rest of the tree has remained male.

As a general rule, yew trees are dioecious, which means that they are one sex or the other. This is a biological tactic that enables yews and other dioecious trees to produce larger fruits that contain more seeds.

The tree has been observed and documented for its entire history, and it is male with small cones and no berries. Suddenly, one branch has 3 ripe berries, much to the surprise of botanist Max Coleman, while the rest of the tree remains male.

It is not entirely uncommon for trees to switch from one gender to the other, but as Dr. Coleman noted in an interview with Agence France-Presse, "It's a rare [occurrence] ... rare and unusual and not fully understood."

California is spending $1 million to protect a tailings dam in Northern California that could collapse if a big rainstorm hits.   Unsound tailings dam near Jackson

The Army Core of Engineers declared it unsound in June and there is a serious concern that it will fail and release great amounts of arsenic contaminated mine tailings should too much rain fall before it is fixed. It is in the vicinity of Jackson, in the Sierras. According to Wikipedia, the mine was the site of the worst gold mining disaster in the state’s history.

Don’t eat Dungeness Crab.  Domoic Acid

 potentially deadly levels of domoic acid have been found in Dungeness crab and rock crab caught along the coastline between Oregon and the southern border of Santa Barbara County.

They have now gone so far as to suspend the start of the crab season.

Domoic acid is a naturally occurring toxin related to the rise of a tiny plant called pseudo-nitzschia. Officials say they aren’t sure why the plant has bloomed and tainted the crabs — and they don’t know when it will subside.

Many suspect that the bloom in the toxic algae is related by the increase in local ocean temperatures of about six degrees fahrenheit on average.

My Milkweed is resurgent: My milkweed had bloomed out and dispersed most of its seed until last week’s rain hit. Suddenly it has new buds and blossoms.

What have you noted happening in your area or travels? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.

Thank you.