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Leaf study

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by Pit Gutzmann

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Outdoor dripstone cave

2022 on the west coast of Thailand: “The limestone towers around Krabi and Ao Nang have to be understood as ‘outdoor dripstone caves’. The stone is dissolved by rainwater. The plants that cover the upper part of the towers help with this. The calcareous water then runs down the outside of the tower. The water evaporates, the lime precipitates and builds up the spectacular dripstone balconies.” “The process is as follows: 1) At the beginning, the towers are not yet overgrown. Rain washes out the stone. Below, the sea water erodes the stone. 2) The plant growth produces acid, which accelerates the decomposition of the rock. The dissolved limestone runs down with the water. In the lower part of the towers, dripstones are formed. 3) The dripstones grow into mighty columns that can even reach the ground or the sea. Unanswered questions: The water washes out many caves on the outside, but these disappear after a few metres into narrow crevices. The question is wh...

Cicada of Japan

The noise in Japan during summer time is earsplitting. There is this constant high-pitched buzz of thousands of cicadas. They sit on the trees and sing all day long. This speciman I found in the National Museum of Nature and Science of Tokyo. It has a beautiful black and white pattern on its head and back. by Atlant Bieri

Bunkers for wasps

In spring and early summer you find lots of strange looking objects on the leaves of many trees. They are galls of so called gall wasps. The wasps lay an egg onto a leaf. The egg induces the growth of the gall. How it does this, is unkown to science. The gall serves as a tiny bunker for the developing larvae. Here, I've cut one open with a pocket knife and measured its dimensions. By Atlant Bieri

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