Botanists Rediscover a Rare Hawaiian Flower Thought To Be Extinct -- Thanks To a Drone (qz.com) 43
Hibiscadelphus woodii, a relative of the hibiscus flower thought to be extinct, has been spotted by a drone on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The last known sighting of H. woodii was in 2009. Quartz reports: In 2016, Ben Nyberg, a drone specialist, began working with the National Tropical Botanical Garden on Kauai to scope out extreme spots in the verdant valleys of the island. He's found examples of several rare species over the last few years, expanding the number of their individuals known to exist in the wild by a few here and there. But on a sunny day in February 2019, the drone's camera picked up an even more exciting tuft of flora. Nyberg and [botanist Ken Wood who discovered the flower in 1991] stood on a ledge over a sheer wall of green. They'd hiked 700 ft down from the top of the Kalalau Valley cliffs to get there, but couldn't get farther down into the valley, so Nyberg flew a drone another 800 ft down to look at a particularly verdant patch. "It's probably never been looked at," he says. Wood could tell from afar that it was a patch of native vegetation. On an island plagued by invasive plant species, that is always a welcome sight.
And then they saw it on the monitor: Hibiscadelphus woodii, like a ghost from the recent past, yet very much alive. They were thrilled. "There were some high fives for sure," Nyberg says. In the drone footage, as the fluted cliffs slowly come into closer view, what first seems to be a carpet of green differentiates itself into individual plants, until eventually an unassuming little tree is in frame. To the untrained eye, it might be lost in the wash of its green surroundings but Wood knew it immediately to be the rare hibiscus relative he discovered in the 1990s. In the video here, you can see it at around the 00:58 mark. As far as Nyberg knows, it's the first time a drone has been used to rediscover a species of plant thought to be extinct.
And then they saw it on the monitor: Hibiscadelphus woodii, like a ghost from the recent past, yet very much alive. They were thrilled. "There were some high fives for sure," Nyberg says. In the drone footage, as the fluted cliffs slowly come into closer view, what first seems to be a carpet of green differentiates itself into individual plants, until eventually an unassuming little tree is in frame. To the untrained eye, it might be lost in the wash of its green surroundings but Wood knew it immediately to be the rare hibiscus relative he discovered in the 1990s. In the video here, you can see it at around the 00:58 mark. As far as Nyberg knows, it's the first time a drone has been used to rediscover a species of plant thought to be extinct.
Cool (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Don't think "kill it".
Maybe think "smoke it"!!
This might prove to be the new Maui-Wowee II !!
Re: Just looks like all of the other bushes (Score:2)
extinct vs extinct (Score:4, Insightful)
makes you wonder when people say something has gone extinct if that is really the case. after all the world is a big place and it's hard to look everywhere, so you never really know. it's not the first time extinct animals/plants are re-discovered, but that basically means they were not extinct in the first place.
still, doesn't mean we need to ignore those cries, even if they're not extinct, the population is such reduced that it looks like extinction (might be just as bad).
Re:extinct vs extinct (Score:4, Insightful)
It is true that when scientists say something has gone extinct they're really saying "We can't find any," because that's the only thing they can actually know. Sometimes it's not extinct. But usually, it is, because far and away the most likely explanation of "We can't find any, even though we're looking really hard" is "there aren't any more."
Re: (Score:3)
Population studies are an interesting statistical challenge. To determine that something has likely gone extinct, we identify its habitat and then try to sample for it within the habitat. We figure out the probability of observing a member of the species in the sample based upon what we know of its distribution (this is a good application of Bayesian stats, because the 'prior' comes from our previous knowledge of the distribution).
We can estimate a population based upon its frequency in the sample. When we
Re: (Score:3)
makes you wonder when people say something has gone extinct if that is really the case.
For plant life? Yep.
For animal life? Nope. If we effectively can't find it then there's a good chance the population if it exists at all is so small that even conservation efforts won't save it. It reminds me of the story about the soft shell turtle which died last week. One of only 3 known remaining ones from that species. So rare that we can't even tell the sex of the other two.
They aren't "extinct". However they will be soon and there is literally nothing we can do to prevent this now.
Stomp In There! (Score:1)
Now Scientists can stomp in there to investigate and explore further.
Naivete (Score:5, Insightful)
What they ought to have done was obfuscate the video a bit - fewer pan shots that show the exact surroundings, and definitely skip the zoom out 1:15, showing where on that particular wall this rare specimen is located.
This is standard practice when dealing with other rare specimens. For instance, a particularly old bristlecone pine named Methuselah is recognized as the oldest living tree in the world (~4850 yr). Its exact location is a guarded secret, because you just know that as soon as the word is out, some dumbass is going to carve his initials into it.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
This is standard practice when dealing with other rare specimens. For instance, a particularly old bristlecone pine named Methuselah is recognized as the oldest living tree in the world (~4850 yr). Its exact location is a guarded secret, because you just know that as soon as the word is out, some dumbass is going to carve his initials into it.
Second oldest, they found an older one nearby in the Patriarch Grove. Like Methuselah they also keep it a secret which specific tree it is in that grove.
Re: (Score:2)
Good point... they need to protect this thing, and the first step is hiding the location.
YEAH! \O/ (Score:2)
Interesting ... (Score:2)
And when it went for a closer look (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The lone plant was ingested by the 12000RPM blades of the drone.
"There were some high fives for sure," Nyberg says.
Now I understand why they all started high fiving!
Gotta love the grammar of the title! (Score:2, Offtopic)
Damn drones are causing plants to go extinct! We must stop all drone usage in Hawaii before more plants go extinct!
Oh, you mean botanists used a drone to rediscover a rare Hawaiian flower they believed was extinct? Why didn't you say so?
Hawaii "flowers" are often just glorified weeds (Score:1)
Very much remind me of ... (Score:2)
By mid-century, it was presumed to be extinct.
Then in 1979, a biology teacher on Rodrigues handed out copies of that 1877 drawing to a group of 12-year-olds, and one of the boys raised his hand and said, "Please, sir, I've got one near my house."
The teacher was dubious, but he took a sample branch, sent it to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, in London, where it was identified. It was wild coffee. In fact, it was th