Arianna James
MHC200–Environmental Science and Technology
Professor Alexandratos
Bio-Blitz Essay
BioBlitz: Alien Plants
As our guide struggled to be heard above the ceaseless din of the bus and its chattering students, I was altogether too busy yanking my socks up, and tucking my pants down over them tightly. Our guide was warning us about the dangers of the park, undoubtedly extremely vital information, but my mind was still stuck on the revelation that apparently, “ticks like ankles.” Up to that point in my life, I generally avoided places wherein the mantra of “check for ticks!” was echoed at the end of every visit. I had been pretty successful up to this point, and was wholly emotionally unprepared to find a parasite latched onto my skin, and with my luck, to contract Lyme disease.
Interestingly enough, despite my extreme worry and yes, fear, about getting swarmed by ticks, our group did not even leave the main road. While I pictured us trekking into the wilderness of the unknown, categorizing a multitude of plants species, off “to boldly go where no man has gone before,” the truth was far less glamorous, much more interesting, and thankfully, tick-free. However, that is when the truth struck me. There was no place that was unexplored in the Fresh Kills, no secret hideaway that waited to be discovered, because every hill and every trail was manmade, crafted to hide the enormous amounts of garbage that lay beneath. I couldn’t help but wonder if this was the summation of mankind, and if so, what it meant. Do the Fresh Kills show how humanity is capable of making something beautiful out of something ugly? Or do the Fresh Kills simply display humanity’s ability to hide its mistakes under a guise of beauty, while its mistakes continue to fester underground? I do not know the answer.
As mentioned earlier, our group set out that Saturday to categorize different plant species. We were taught a myriad of ways to differentiate the plants, from their color, shape, and texture, to the scent of their leaves, and the color or consistency of their sap, should they have any at all. Despite the fact that most of my grand Star Trek preconceptions of this trip went unfounded, I realized that the plants we found were largely alien to me. While we stuck to the entrance and walked along the road, our group categorized nearly fourty different plant types, identifying not only their names but also the signifying markers that were unique to them. I was responsible for taking pictures of the vegetation and uploading them to the website, therefore I had a unique perspective in trying to capture each plant’s unique markers. The Tree of Heaven, or the Ailanthus altissima for instance, has bright pink flowers with yellow buds that droop from its branches. However, it not its outward appearance that makes it unique, but in fact, it’s peanut-butter-like sap that lines the insides of its stem. The Autumn Olive on the other hand, can be identified solely from its silver gilded texture on the back of its leaves, while the root of the Virginia Pepper Weed smelled like particularly potent radishes.
In the past, I academically understood the wide array of plants in the world, yet this BioBlitz experience truly showed me how many minute variations between plants species existed. Our guides themselves often had to debate the precise species of a plant, usually ending with their unanimous agreement. The biodiversity present at Fresh Kills is just a taste of what can be seen in nature, especially when one remembers that Fresh Kills is entirely manmade. In fact, there are even invasive species present in the manmade environment, like the Callery Pear and Oriental Bittersweet.
The Fresh Kills seemed like a regular park that I would visit, and had I not been told that it was manmade, I probably would not have noticed. I would have attributed the miscellaneous detritus lying around as the usual litter that can be found in parks, left by rude patrons, rather than the very foundations of the park itself. However, I am fully aware that my superficial examination of the park, and our categorization of various types of plants, could not hold a candle to the true diversity present in natural environments. The Fresh Kills is not an ecosystem that evolved over millions of years, instead, it was artificially constructed by humankind, and must be recognized as such. Perhaps with time, the Fresh Kills could evolve into a wholly natural ecosystem, rather than something that has been curated by humans. This, perhaps more than anything else, would try display the resilience of nature.
