Gallery: Biodiversity outside quarantine
By Lauren Man, Amy Dixon, Daniel Leibowitz, Sakshi Joglekar, Anika Chakrabarti, Jake Greenberg-Bell
May 20, 2020 9:11 p.m.
LOS ANGELES — Southern California beaches are undergoing a display of neon blue bioluminescent waves. This phenomenon is caused by a bloom of dinoflagellates, microscopic organisms that can emit a bioluminescent flash when agitated. Right now, there is no way to predict when these blooms will happen or how long they will last.
(Amy Dixon/Daily Bruin)
SAN DIEGO — Turtles swim through an algal bloom in a section of a stream close to the edge of a gated community in Del Mar, California. This particular algal bloom is likely part of the red tide currently hitting stretches of the California coast. That same red tide is responsible for the bioluminescent waves that have been seen over the past few weeks.
(Daniel Leibowitz/Daily Bruin)
SAN DIEGO — A group of ducklings follow their mother into a stream that runs through a nine-hole golf course located within the gated community.
(Daniel Leibowitz/Daily Bruin)
HONG KONG — Insects lurk inside the flowers of the Hainan galangal, which flowers from April to June.
(Lauren Man/Daily Bruin)
HONG KONG — I discovered these carnivorous plants in the middle of a dried-up stream. These are the rosette-like leaves of the spoon-leaved sundew. Although vicious-looking, they are only the size of a dollar coin.
(Lauren Man/Daily Bruin)
HONG KONG — The Rangoon creeper vine blooms over the fences by the roads near my home, giving off a peachlike fragrance. It blossoms from June to September and is slowly taking over the city like the pervasive heat of summer.
(Lauren Man/Daily Bruin)
SOUTH CAROLINA — Spring in upstate South Carolina means frogs. My backyard contains a forest and a creek, so nights are characterized by a steady and pervasive groan of hundreds of frogs. During the day, however, they are harder to find.
(Sakshi Joglekar/Daily Bruin)
SOUTH CAROLINA — Coming back from a drive one day, I saw this baby bird sitting in my driveway. It would not move despite its mother chirping at it from the grass. Eventually, the mother flew away. My sister and I quickly Googled what to do. Picking it up with a cloth, we moved it to a low branch of a nearby tree and stepped away. Within minutes, its mother had returned. By the end of the night, we could hear it happily chirping high up in the tree.
(Sakshi Joglekar/Daily Bruin)
SOUTH CAROLINA — Commonly found in South Carolina, green anole lizards are able to change color from shades of brown to bright green.
(Sakshi Joglekar/Daily Bruin)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In Northern California, it is common to see poppies bloom in parks, neighbors’ front yards and along the side of the highway. These flowers thrive in the bright sun and dry weather of the early summer months, and their striking orange color helps make them recognizable as a symbol of California.
(Anika Chakrabarti/Daily Bruin)
BERKELEY — The bold white flowers of Queen Anne’s lace strike a sharp contrast against the greens and browns that are characteristic of the outdoors.
(Jake Greenberg-Bell/Daily Bruin)
BERKELEY — Despite the quarantine causing many people to stay inside, some take to the trails as they reopen. Along this trail in the hills of Berkeley, wildflowers were blooming.
(Jake Greenberg-Bell/Daily Bruin)
