Category Archives: Plants

Elderberries, Salmon, or Both?

Bears are omnivores, and on Kodiak, they eat a large buffet of food items, including elderberries and salmon, two of their favorite foods. What happens, though, if a bear has a choice between elderberries or salmon? Which will he choose, or will he choose both? More importantly, why does it matter?

I’m sure you have controversies in your neighborhood. It may be a fight over a bill to fund a new school, a fight over a tougher crime initiative, or something as simple as whether or not to put a stop sign at the end of your street. In my neighborhood here in the wilderness, the recent research I’ll discuss in this post is what we call controversy. I’ve avoided writing about this scientific article until now because I know I will irritate several people, some of them friends. I finally decided, though, I couldn’t continue to avoid voicing my opinion on something this significant. I have invited some of the biologists involved in this study, other biologists, and local guides to read my blog, and I hope they will weigh in on the issue by leaving comments. I am sorry this post is long, but I didn’t want to break it into two parts.

The study I will discuss is titled, “Phenological synchronization disrupts trophic interactions between Kodiak brown bears and salmon.” It was published in the July 18th edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. I think it is an excellent study, and more importantly, other biologists must think it is an excellent study. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is a prestigious scientific journal, and to be accepted by this journal, a research paper must be peer-reviewed at the highest level. I do not disagree with the methods or the results of the study. What I do have a problem with are the broad, far-reaching conclusions drawn from what is, in my opinion, a preliminary field study.

Let me do my best to explain the focus and significance of this study. A large body of research concerns what happens due to global warming when coevolved species shift out of synch with each other. For example, consider a plant that is only pollinated by one bee species, and these two species co-evolved so the plant flowers at the exact same time the bee is ready to gather its nectar and pollinate it. What happens, if the bees hatch earlier each year due to a warming environment, but the flowers bloom at the same time because their cue for blooming is based on the amount of daylight, not temperature. The two species will slowly grow out of synch with each other, and the plant species may go extinct when the bees are no longer available to spread its pollen.

In this study, though, lead researcher William Deacy and his colleagues set out to investigate the opposite situation: what happens when warming temperatures cause climate-induced synchronization? In this case, when elderberries fruit several weeks earlier than usual on Kodiak Island during the middle of the sockeye salmon run, will bears choose to eat salmon or berries?

The Karluk River on Kodiak Island, where this research was done, supports a large sockeye salmon run lasting from June to early August. On a normal year, bears on the Karluk River feast on sockeye and other salmon until late August, when they begin eating elderberries and salmonberries which are just then ripening. Once the berries are gone, bears return to the river and side streams to eat other species of salmon.

When William Deacy worked on another research project in the Karluk area in 2013, he noted typical bear behavior. Throughout July, bears ate their fill of salmon and left the scraps for birds and other animals to scavenge. In 2014, after a warm spring, elderberries ripened two weeks earlier than usual, and plants produced ripe berries longer than normal. Deacy noted that bears in late July were eating berries instead of fish. Why, he wondered, would bears opt for elderberries over sockeye salmon? The winter and spring of 2015 were also warm, and Deacy again observed bears ignoring sockeye salmon while they ate berries.

Deacy and Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge biologist Bill Leacock gathered a team of scientists from several universities and organizations, including Oregon State University, the University of Montana, Washing State University, and the National Park Service, to examine this surprising bear behavior.

From meteorological records, the biologists determined the temperature on Kodiak is slowly getting warmer, and 2014 was the warmest year on record. When the winter and the spring are relatively warm, elderberries ripen earlier than normal, and when elderberries ripen earlier, bears seem to eat berries instead of salmon. What, they wondered, will happen when temperatures continue to warm? If the berries are ripe all summer, will bears only eat berries and ignore salmon? If this happens, what will the birds and small animals eat? They depend on bears to leave them scraps of salmon on the banks of streams. Not only do animals depend on bears for leftover salmon, but salmon carcasses provide fertilization for riparian vegetation. Another point of concern is if bears only eat berries and avoid salmon, will bears get enough nutrition?

Deacy and his colleagues headed for the lab to determine if elderberries are nutritious enough to sustain bears, and why bears like berries better than salmon. Fortunately, elderberries are protein-rich compared to other berries. They don’t have as much protein as a salmon, but a bear would do fine if he ate elderberries instead of salmon. I won’t discuss the part of the study suggesting why bears prefer elderberries over salmon because I believe this conclusion is based on a very shaky assumption.

Do bears prefer elderberries over salmon, and if provided with both, would they choose the berries? I don’t know the answer to this question, and neither does William Deacy or any other biologist. As I said earlier, I think this is a well-done, interesting, thought-provoking study, but let ’s not get carried away. This is a preliminary study consisting of three years of data taken over a fairly small geographical area. It is unprofessional for any biologist to draw sweeping conclusions from a limited, preliminary study.

I would like to believe the media is responsible for jumping to wild conclusions regarding this research. I corresponded with Dr. Deacy after the research was published and asked him if he was trying to say bears are now eating berries instead of salmon. I may have misunderstood him, but I thought he said he was only suggesting what might happen as our climate warms. Then I found articles titled, “Alaskan grizzly bears choose berries over salmon—thanks to climate change,” “Kodiak bears found to switch to eating elderberries instead of salmon,” “Grizzly bears go vegetarian due to climate change, “Climate change is luring Kodiak bears away from their iconic salmon streams,” and “As a warming climate changes Kodiak bears’ diets, impacts could ripple through ecosystems.” Deacy, himself, wrote this last article. In it, he claims, “climate change dramatically altered bear behavior.”

The researchers state the ecosystem on Kodiak Island has been disrupted. I have lived in the Kodiak wilderness and have helped my husband guide bear viewers for 35 years. My husband has lived in the Kodiak wilderness all his life. Warm springs and big berry crops are not unusual, and when the berries, especially salmon berries and elderberries, ripen, we know we will see fewer bears on the rivers feeding on salmon where we can show them to our eager bear viewers. The bears will instead be in the bushes eating berries. I seriously doubt bears prefer berries to salmon, though! Berries are an easier food source than salmon because all the bear has to do is sit on his rear end and eat them. He is required to expend energy to chase down a salmon.

I believe either from instinct or learned behavior, bears know that when berries ripen, they are usually only available for a short period. Salmon, though, can be eaten from June into November. One fact I feel these researchers did not stress enough is that five species of Pacific salmon return to spawn each year in the streams and rivers on Kodiak Island. Pink salmon, not sockeye salmon, are by far the most prevalent of these species, and I have thousands of photos to prove how much bears love to eat pink salmon. Pinks are in the rivers until late September, and Coho salmon remain in the rivers until November.

Yes, the spring and summer of both 2014 and 2015 were warmer than usual, and the berries were plentiful. Once the berries began to decline, though, bears were back on the rivers eating their fill of salmon and leaving scraps for the birds and other animals. I suspect when these warm springs and summers become the norm, bears will learn they have a longer period to eat berries and will split their time between berries and salmon. I may be wrong, and bears may choose berries, but I know it should take more than a two-year study before biologists begin telling reporters that Kodiak bears have abandoned salmon for berries.

The spring and summer of 2017 were cool. The berry crop was poor, and the salmon run on Kodiak was better than it has been in several years. Bears packed the salmon streams, and we wondered whether they would eat enough berries to gain the necessary calories they need to carry them through hibernation. A biologist arriving at Karluk Lake last summer observing abundant salmon and few berries might have designed a very different research study from the one I’ve been discussing in this post.

What worries me, is that as the planet warms, salmon populations will drastically decline because salmon are sensitive to even a small increase in water temperature. As this research suggests, though, when salmon are no longer available, perhaps bears will maintain a healthy diet by eating berries.

I would like to make one more comment before I get off my soapbox. Why must biologists live in a bubble? Why didn’t the researchers in this project talk to guides who have been watching bears for decades? I realize they can’t use anecdotal evidence in their study, but perhaps we could have offered possibilities in addition to the conclusions Dr. Deacy made.

___________________________________________________________________________

Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.

Mystery Newsletter

Sign Up for my free, monthly Mystery Newsletter about true crime in Alaska.

 

 

Monkshood

 

Witches smear monkshood root on their bodies and broomsticks, swallow a few drops of delirium-producing belladonna, and go flying.

Monkshood includes several species of plants belonging to the family Ranunculaceae. It ranges throughout Alaska and can be found in meadows, thickets, on rocky slopes, and along stream banks. It is common on Kodiak Island.

Monkshood plants grow two-to-six-feet tall, depending on the species and the habitat. The dark green leaves are palmate and lobed, and the vivid blue-purple flowers have five sepals, with one resembling a cylindrical helmet, or a “monk’s hood.”

All parts of the monkshood plant contain aconite, a deadly poison, and just three grains of the root will kill a hefty adult. Signs of aconite poisoning appear within less than an hour. Death occurs immediately if large doses of aconite are ingested, while smaller doses are usually fatal within two-to-six hours. Initial signs of aconite poisoning include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea; followed by tingling, burning, and numbness in the mouth and face and burning in the abdomen. If the poisoning is severe, the numbness and tingling will spread to the arms and legs, followed by motor weakness in the limbs. Other symptoms include an irregular heartbeat, sweating dizziness, difficulty breathing, a headache, and confusion. Death is usually caused by ventricular arrhythmia or paralysis of the heart or respiratory center.

No definitive treatment for aconite poisoning exists, but if the poisoned individual can be rushed to a medical center, drugs such as atropine can be used to treat bradycardia, and activated charcoal can be given within one hour of ingestion to decontaminate the intestines. In the field, an individual who has ingested monkshood should immediately be given Syrup of Ipecac to induce vomiting and then evacuated to more advanced medical care. The ancient cure for aconite poisoning was, “brandy blended with flies that had suppered on monkshood.” Unfortunately, this cure is not practical for most of us.

As I mentioned, all parts of the monkshood plant are poisonous. The roots are the most toxic, and ingestion of the roots or any part of the plant is extremely dangerous, but poisoning can also occur just by picking the leaves without wearing gloves. Aconitine toxin is easily absorbed through the skin, and when this happens, there are no gastrointestinal symptoms. Tingling starts at the point where the toxin was absorbed and spreads to the arm and shoulder before affecting the heart.

Probably the most common cause of monkshood poisoning is accidental ingestion of some part of the plant. It looks much like and grows next to edible wild geraniums, and the root of the monkshood plant has been mistaken for a parsnip. In 2000, a medical examiner listed aconite poisoning as the cause of a suicide. On July 30th, 2004, Canadian actor Andre Noble died after a camping trip when he was believed to have accidentally eaten monkshood, and in 2008, an individual died four hours after eating a few monkshood flowers.

Various cultures have used monkshood as a medicine. It has been given as a heart and nerve sedative, a pain reliever, and a fever reducer, but the problem with using monkshood as a medication is that safe doses of aconite are rarely effective, and effective doses are lethal.

Many cultures used monkshood as arrow poisons. The Alutiiq (Sugpiaq) people, the first inhabitants of Kodiak Island, concocted a poison made from the roots of monkshood to tip the darts and spears they used to hunt humpback and fin whales.

I explored the toxic effects of Monkshood in my novel, Murder Over Kodiak, but I am hardly the first author to use this plant as a murder weapon. Monkshood is mentioned in Greek mythology, and Shakespeare refers to it in Henry IV Part II. In James Joyce’s Ulysses, Rudolph Bloom commits suicide with an overdose of aconite, and monkshood has been used as a murder weapon in TV shows such as Rizzoli and Isles, NCIS, Dexter, and American Horror story. In episode seven of the second season of the Game of Thrones, an assassin applies monkshood (or wolf’s bane) to his dart.

Next week, I will explore the poisonous attributes of water hemlock, a plant common along streams on Kodiak Island.

Sign up for my free newsletter about true crime stories from Alaska, and I will send  you my latest edition about a woman who was living with her three fiances and was accused of killing one of them.

Mystery Newsletter

Sign Up for my free, monthly Mystery Newsletter about true crime in Alaska.

Baneberry

A baneberry is a perfect, beautiful, little berry but it is also deadly poisonous. “Bane” is defined as a thing that harms, interferes with, or destroys the welfare of something, and bane can also mean poison. It takes only six baneberries to kill an adult human.

Baneberries grow in moist, shady areas, and on dry slopes. On Kodiak, they are mostly found in the woods, often growing near salmonberry bushes. Baneberry plants grow 2 to 3 ½ ft. high and have large, lobed, coarsely toothed leaves. In the early summer, small, white flowers bloom on the plant, and then later in the summer, the plants produce round, red or white berries. Each berry is attached to a separate, short, thick stalk. The berries are either round or oblong and are very glossy. The plants are beautiful and are sometimes used for landscaping.

All parts of the baneberry plant are poisonous. According to old folklore, it is safe to eat any berry birds can eat, but baneberries prove this saying false. Birds can safely consume baneberries while we cannot. Luckily, baneberries taste extremely bitter, so if you do pop one in your mouth, you will probably spit it out in seconds, and you would be very unlikely to eat enough berries to do you serious harm. We once had a guest eat a baneberry, and several minutes later, he asked what the shiny, red berries were and said they tasted terrible. We kept a close eye on him, but he suffered no ill effects from his baneberry experience.

The first symptoms of baneberry toxicity include blistering and burning of the mouth and throat. These are followed by dizziness, sharp stomach pains, diarrhea, vomiting, and death by cardiac arrest or respiratory paralysis. The toxicity of the baneberry is caused by the chemical ranunculin. Ranunculin releases protoanemonin whenever the plant is damaged, such as by chewing. Protoanemonin is a skin irritant and causes blistering of the skin. If the berry is ingested, it has a similar effect on the mucous membranes of the esophagus, stomach, and intestines as it did on the skin. Eventually, it affects the respiratory system and the heart.

Native Americans used the baneberry as a medicinal but were well aware of its toxic properties. Various tribes used the baneberry root to treat menstrual cramps, postpartum pain, and menopausal symptoms. Cheyenne Indians used an infusion of baneberry leaves to increase a mother’s milk supply, and they used the berry itself to induce vomiting. Some tribes applied the juice of the baneberry to the tips of their arrows to make their arrowheads even more deadly.

I could find no reports of baneberries being used to murder someone, either in the real world or in literature. They would make a great murder weapon in one of my novels, but they would have to be sweetened and perhaps added to other berries to convince one of my characters to eat them.

Next week, I’ll investigate the properties of beautiful monkshood.

If you would like to sign up for my free, monthly newsletter, you can do that on the below form. Sign up soon, and I will send you my latest newsletter, “The Seductress.” I have had many positive comments on this newsletter, and most can be boiled down to what one reader said, “Wow!” “The Seductress” is the true tale of a woman with three fiancés who was arrested and tried for killing one of them. I should also mention that at the time of the murder, the woman was a stripper, but by the time she was arrested, she had earned her masters degree, married a doctor, and started a family. This is a story you don’t want to miss!

Mystery Newsletter

Sign Up for my free, monthly Mystery Newsletter about true crime in Alaska.

Poisonous Plants

Deadly Baneberries

I have always been fascinated by poisonous plants. I write murder mysteries, and what better murder weapon than a toxin from a naturally occurring plant? We have several poisonous plants here on Kodiak Island, and over the next few weeks, I will describe a few of them.

In the summer, most of Kodiak Island is covered by a dense jungle-like growth. We have beautiful wildflowers and plants bearing delicious berries, including salmonberries, blueberries, raspberries, cranberries, crowberries, watermelon berries, and others. Rhubarb and raspberries planted by early settlers remain abundant in some areas.

Cow Parsnip (Wild Celery)

There are a few plants here, though, that are not so innocent. The sap and outer hairs of cow parsnip, locally called pushki and one of the most prolific plants on the island, contains the chemical furanocoumarin which causes an extreme sensitivity to light. If a person comes into contact with the sap of a cow parsnip plant, within a few days, he will likely develop a red, itchy rash and blisters on the area the sap touched. These blistering sores last for days or weeks. I often use a weed eater to clear vegetation around the house, and I’ve learned the hard way not to cut cow parsnip with a weed eater because when the sap flies from the plant and splatters my hands and face, I know I will have painful, ugly, red welts in a few days. Some people are not allergic to cow parsnip, and others are so allergic they will react if they merely touch the stems or leaves of the plant.

Nettles

Nettles are another troublesome plant on Kodiak. Fine, stinging hairs cover the leaves of a nettle. Some researchers believe formic acid causes the hairs to sting, while others attribute the sting to a histamine compound. If you touch the leaves of a mature plant, you will feel a prick, much like a wasp’s sting. The pain may last for a few hours but will eventually subside. Nettles lose their sting when cooked and taste delicious, much like spinach. Nettles also have many medicinal applications and may be used to ease sore muscles and joint inflammation

While these plants can be irritating and painful and make walking through the dense vegetation on Kodiak a challenge, neither cow parsnip nor nettles will kill a human. Over the next few weeks, I will cover the deadly toxic plants we have in our area and give accounts of cases where they have been used both in literature and in the real world.