Friday, December 18, 2009

A Critique on the Lost Eden

 A Critique on the Lost Eden
Dr Abe V Rotor

Light in the Woods, acrylic, AVR 1994

A long list of vanished and vanishing species - even those that have not been discovered and named – haunts the human species, Homo sapiens, the most intelligent of all creatures. If this is not an evidence of the original sin which he continues to commit since his early ancestors were driven from Paradise, then we are merely being led to believe in something bound by deep faith, and in something supernatural.

Every time we destroy a forest, a coral reef, or grassland, we are repeating the fault of our ancestors. The biblical story is fiction if we fail to grasp its essence. True, exile comes in many ways. But definitely, if an ecosystem is destroyed, if it loses its capacity to provide the basic needs of its inhabitants, starvation, death, and other forms of deprivation follow. Does this not trigger exile – or exodus, which is the ultimate recourse for survival?

Here is a poem I wrote upon reaching Tagum. It is about the destruction of a forest I related in the first part of this article.

Lost Forest

Staccato of chirping meets the breeze and sunrise,
Waking the butterflies, unveiled by the rising mist;
Rush the stream where fish play with the sunbeam
And the rainforest opens, a stage no one could miss,
With every creature in a role to play without cease.

John Milton wrote his masterpiece of Paradise,
While Beethoven composed sonata with ecstasy,
Jean Fabre and Edwin Teale with lens in hand
Discovered a world Jules Verne didn’t see,
But found Aldo Leopold’s ecosystem unity.

For how long to satiate man’s greed can nature sustain?
It was not long time ago since progress became a game,
Taking the streets, marching uphill to the mountain,
Where giant machines roar, ugly men at the helm -
Folly, ignorance and greed are one and same.
                                                       AVRotor, 2001

Forest Fire, Acrylic, AVR 1995

In 1960 Philippine Dipterocarp Forests occupied almost 14 million hectares. What is left today is only three and one-half million hectares. The average rate of decline is over 2 percent annually. What is more alarming is the decline in the volume of trees in the forest which around 6 percent in the last 30 years. All over the world, annual deforestation represents an area as large as Luxemburg. This means every tick of the clock is a hectare of rainforest permanently erased from the globe.~

Monday, December 14, 2009

The Sea as Field Laboratory

Abe V Rotor
Phycology students from the University of Santo Tomas
test the water at low tide in Paraoir, Bacnotan, La Union.


Seaweeds form debris on the shoreline - a biological
indicator of biodiversity and composition.


Pollution from cement dusts emitted by a nearby cement factory.

A mat of Chaetomorpha, a green alga growing on
shallow coral reef.


Gathering and identifying specimens in situ -
a first hand experience.


Snorkling, a requirement in marine phycology.

"Don't disturb, just observe nature."

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Part 3 - Projects to boost food supply

Crop rotation is key to diversified farming, such
as planting watermelon, onion, tomato and the
like, after harvesting rice.

Drying yellow corn for food and feed on the highway.
Corn is the second staple food of Filipinos, and the third
most important cereal in the world after rice and wheat.


Abe V Rotor


Project I - Multiple Cropping
The planting of food cash crops, principally rootcrops (sweet potato, cassava, gabi, ubi and tugui), legumes (peanut, mungo and cowpea), and vegetables. These are planted as intercrops or rotation crops with rice, corn, coconut and sugarcane.

NOTE: If the second crop of rice is not profitable, rotation crops are recommended, thus allowing three cash crops a year.

Project 2 - Home Gardening, Green Revolution Style
This is the raising of vegetables on backyards, vacant lots, plots and pots, a project in line with beautification, sanitation and health. This includes herbal and orchard plants. The aim is home self-sufficiency.

Project 3 - Commercial farms
These farms specialize in the production of any, or combination of, rootcrops, legumes and vegetables, with or without being rotated with rice. These could be undertaken as intercrops of coconut or sugarcane during the early growing stage.

Project 4 - Integrated farming
This involves horizontal and vertical integration. Horizontal integration is increasing the number of commodities raised on the farm, to include among crops, fish and animals. Vertical integration pertains to food processing and preservation, and marketing where value is added to the farm produce.

NOTE: This model can also be adopted in coconut-based and corn areas.

Outlook

The question at hand is, "Can we reduce consumption of rice? The answer is definitely, “Yes, we can.” Say, ten percent (10 percent reduction would mean 1,000,000 MT which is equivalent to our annual rice importation worth at least P30 billion.)

Firstly, let us develop rice substitutes, preferably those locally produced: rootcrops, legumes, cereals other than rice and corn, like sorghum and local wheat varieties. Meantime we continue depending on wheat-based substitutes such as bread and noodles.

Secondly, if we increase our intake of various kinds of food, we correspondingly reduce our consumption of rice.

Thirdly, it is important to reduce postharvest losses, as well as food and nutritional losses.

Fourth, coordinated and well-planned and executed programs are important in the fields of multiple cropping, commercial farming of rice-substitute crops, and integrated farming.

Lastly, there is need of people's direct involvement in keeping rice a highly valuable commodity, which in aptly described in Spanish, santa gracia. ~

Living with Nature 3, AVR

Waterfall Forever

Abe V Rotor

Flow from the hills,
play on the rivulets,
laugh with the brook,
feed the river,
make it full and strong and swell,
mirror the land and sky
before you bursts into waterfall.

Delight many a wide-eyed child,
make him afraid that he will be brave,
awed to gain respect,
mystified to explore and learn,
subdued to be determined.

Flow, flow forever in his mind;
throb, throb in his heart
with the thunder of love,
the whisper of humility,
and into his soul
fill the font of eternity.


Don't Cut the Trees, Don't! AVR-UST 2010

Friday, December 11, 2009

Light trapping of insects is effective and practical.

Green Tree Frog stalks potential prey, sulfur butterfly (above).

Abe V Rotor

At the onset of the rainy season old folks trap winged termites (gamugamu or simutsimot) with a torch or a Coleman lamp placed at the center of a basin of water. The swarm may come early or late at night. In the morning the trapped insects are gathered and cooked into a delicacy. Fowls, house lizards, frogs and toads have their fill during the swarming period. The main species of termites that compose local swarms are Macrotermes gilvus and Heterotermes philippinensis, which build anthills (punso) in the field. The dry wood termites are smaller and darker in color.

IRRI recommends light trapping techniques under the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program against insects attacking the rice plant.
• Army worms (Spodoptera mauritia, S. litura) and cutworm (Mythimna separata) moths, both are highly attracted to light traps, especially during a new moon.

• Rice gall midge adults (Orseolia oryzae) are also attracted to light traps, but their numbers are highest during the full moon. So with plant hoppers (Delphacidae) and leafhoppers (Cicadellidae and Meenoplidae).

• Other insect pests attracted by light are the adult moth of the green hairy caterpillar (Rivula atimeta), green semilooper moth (Naranga aenescens), rice caseworm (Nymphula depunctalis), and rice bug (Leptocorisa acuta).

• Mole cricket (Gryllotalpha orientalis), June beetle (Leucopholis irrorata), both are also delicacies in many parts of Asia and Africa are also attracted by light.

The idea of light trapping is to capture the adult insects, especially the gravid female about to lay hundreds of eggs that hatch and cause widespread infestation. It eliminates the hazards of using pesticides so that the edible insects may serve to augment nutrition in the countryside. ~

Living with Folk Wisdom, AVR-UST Manila

Traditional methods of controlling insect pests.

Walking stick in perfect mimicry of its environment
waits for a potential prey.

Nymphalid caterpillars are favorite food of birds.

Abe V Rotor

It is worth rediscovering the traditional methods of controlling insect pests.
Try these old folks’ ways of dealing with insect pests.
Lantana (Lantana camara) is planted along field borders and fences to repel insects from destroying field crops.
Makabuhay is chopped and scattered in the rice field to control golden snail (kuhol) and insect pest.
• Ground seed cotyledon of botong (Barringtona asiatica) is used as fish poison. It is applied in fishponds to get rid of the remaining fish before stocking them with fingerlings.
• The sap of tubang bakod (Jatropha curcas) is used to control the snail vector or Schistozomiasis, known as Oncomelana quadrasi.
• Leaves of neem tree (Aziderachta) and kakawate (Gliricida) are placed under the mat to drive away bedbugs and flea. Powder made of dried leaves of these plants is effective against chicken lice and mites.
• Eucalyptus trees around the house keep off flies and mosquitoes. The menthol smell of Eucalyptus adds freshness of the air.
• Garlic and onions are planted with garden crops to repel insect pests.
• Black pepper in teabags is safer than naphthalene balls in protecting clothes and books, including piano felt linings.
• In capping (sealing) earthen jars, use clay from anthill (punso). Because the material is actually the excrement of termites, this will discourage them from attacking the cap and content of the jar. ~

Living with Folk Wisdom, AVR-UST Manila

Friendly Insects

Nest of Green Tree Ants (Oecephala smaragdina); biologist
examines colony
range and distribution.


Dell H. Grecia
Columnist, Backyard Ventures
Women’s Journal


Before you grab the fly swatter or reach for the can of Baygon or Raid, think of creepy crawlies as part of Nature’s healing system. Here, read on and learn why some insects are here to stay.

Like herbal plants, some insects possess their own medicinal value. Or so says out friend, Dr. Abe V. Rotor of the University of Santo Tomas and St. Paul University, Quezon City.

Bee sting, for example, cures arthritis and rheumatism. In fact, the number of doctors and clinics that use bee venom as an alternative medicine is increasing in the United States and other parts of the world.

The treatment is as simple as introducing the excited bee over the affected area, say, the knee or elbow. By holding the struggling bee with forceps, its posterior needle is aimed at the infected area. Once the needle is deeply embedded, the bee is removed. In the process, the sting with the attached poison sac is torn off, resulting in the insect’s death. (This is the same reason a male bee dies after mating with the potential queen during nuptial flight). The poison sac contracts rhythmically, as more poison flows into the affected muscles and nerves.

A. The Mealy Bug

The mealy bug (Dactylopius coccus), which produces cochineal, is another insect that has medicinal value. It is presently cultured commercially in the Honduras, Canary Island, Mexico, Peru and Spain.

Extensively used as dye, cochineal was later discovered to possess properties that allay pain. It is reported to be effective as well against whooping cough and neuralgia.

B. Fly Maggots vs. Deep-seated Wounds

During the First-World War, relates Dr. Rotor, a certain Dr. W. S. Baer noticed that wounds of soldiers who had been lying on the battlefield for hours did not develop infections such as osteomyelitis, as compared with wounds treated and dressed promptly after they were inflicted.

The reason: the older wounds were found to be infested with maggots. These maggots are larvae of flies; commonly houseflies and the blue bottle flies. The adult flies can detect the smell of blood. They deposit their eggs around the wound, anticipating that their larvae are assured of food provided by the injured tissues.

This led to the practice of rearing maggots under sterile conditions and introducing these surgically clean maggots into wounds to eat the microscopic particles to putrefied flesh and bone. The practice, however, ended with the introduction of modern drugs and surgery. To show how effective this practice was, a survey revealed that 92 percent of 600 physicians who had used this treatment reported favorably about it.

A renowned researcher, Dr. William Robinson, was able to isolate a substance from the secretion of the maggots which he believed to have a healing effect on infected wounds, acting like antibiotics. This material – allantoin - soon became commercially available, as its importance began to be recognized.

Allantoin is a harmless, odorless, stainless, painless, and inexpensive lotion which, when applied to chronic ulcers, burns, and similar pus-forming wounds, stimulates local- rather than general- granulation. Thus, it is of special value in treating deep wounds such as bone marrow infection, where the internal part of the wound must be healed first.

Allantoin solutions cannot be as efficient as using living maggots in the treatment of bone infections, however. This is because the maggots actually eat out the necrotic tissues and kill the pus-forming bacteria by digesting them. In the process, the maggots continuously secrete minute quantities of allantoin in their excreta to the very depth of the wound, especially where the use of surgical instrument is limited if not dangerous.

With the advent of computers and other gadgets, modern medicine (except, perhaps, in very remote situations) has finally shelved the practice of using maggots on wounds, and it is likely to remain there.

C. Cantharidin: A Cure-All Drug and Aphrodisiac

Dr. Rotor explains that Dr. Rufino Gapuz, also a professor, discussed in his class a way to harness and calm down a cow that is in heat so that she can be brought to the corral for breeding. This was in the sixties, when artificial insemination was something new in animal science.

There is an injection that comes from the blister beetle, the so-called Spanish fly or Lytta vasicatoria. This insect occurs in abundance in France and Spain, a relative of the American blister beetle.

The beetle carries in its body cantharidin. It was used as folk medicine during the 19th century for all sorts of ailments and also much as an aphrodisiac. At present, it is used in treating certain diseases of the urinogenital system and in an animal breeding.

D. Ant Secretion

With the decline in the effectiveness of antibiotics as a result of increasing resistance of pathogen, says Dr. Rotor, the search for more potent ones has widened into various fields, which today include plants, fungi, and protists - monerans notwithstanding.

One potential source of antibiotics is the green tree ant, a member of the large order of insects Hymenoptera to which bees and wasps belong. Like their relatives, the green tree ants - locally known as hantik (Oecephala smaragdina) - live in colonies. This social behavior enables them to grow in numbers of hundreds or thousands in a single colony, which can remain active for a long time. Other than its reported antibiotic property, the leaf nest of the green tree ant relieves inflammation when bandaged on the affected area.

According to Walter Linsenmaier, the green tree ant is famed as a weaver ant, not on account of its architecture that consists merely of a pile of leaves pulled together, but because of their method of working. When fastening two somewhat separated leaves together, these ants line up on the edge of one of them, holding onto it with legs stretched full length behind them and, working together, pull up the other leaf with their mandibles.

Meanwhile, other ants, with the spinning larvae in their mouths, weave the leaves together. If the distance between leaves is too great for an ant to bridge the gap, the ants form ladders; these not only make it possible to pull the leaves closer together, but also serve as a bridge of the weavers. The larvae secretion may be extended inward to strengthen earlier ties and provide lining to the brood. It is this secretion that reportedly is an effective remedy against wound infection and inflammation.

E. New Frontiers

Dr. Rotor has listed down some new frontiers in the insect world as cures to various pathogens, to wit:

• Anti-venom and poison antidotes are derived from Hymenopterans. Many victims die of insect bite every year that there is a need to develop a ready source of anti-venom vaccine and antidote. Can insect venom also apply to other kinds of poisoning?

• The secret of hibernation among insects can serve as a model for cryonics science in humans. To cross the vast space in future interplanetary travel, man will have to defy time and aging. One means is through planned hibernation.

• Parthenogenesis is an unusual reproduction of immature insects without the benefit of sexual reproduction. Could this “virgin birth” apply to higher animals and humans? When threatened by lack of food and inclement weather conditions, aphids reproduce even before reaching full maturity and without the involvement of gametes.

• Insects that are highly resistant to putrefaction such as among Dipterans may be the key to cancer prevention and treatment. Blue bottle fly maggots can survive acidity up to 10 percent. Hence, they are found to breed in vinegar and fish sauce substrate without apparent harmful effect to the process and end products.

• The burning and obnoxious secretions of certain insects, particularly Hemipterans, have yet to be developed as repellant against other pests.

• In the case fireflies and glow worms, the substance luciferin emits virtually 100-percent light without emission of heat. This substance has many possible uses in industry and medicine as tracer.

• The high protein content of certain insects like termites, silk worm larvae, and grasshoppers (three to four times higher than beef, milk and eggs) has great promise in the development of high-value food. Protein capsules, for example, can be made convenient for those who lead busy lives.

• Chitin of insects is the envy of plastic manufacturers. It is much stronger, yet very much lighter. Its many uses include the control of nematodes using chitin preparations. Chinese doctors recommend insect exoskeleton as a remedy for a hundred and one ailments.

Dr. Rotor concludes that insects, the most numerous and oldest of all animals on earth, have reasons for their existence. Although they are generally regarded as notorious destroyers, the truth is that our well-being hinges much on their presence and persistence. They are part of Nature’s healing system. ~