BBC Wildlife - UK (2020-04)

TheExplainer

P

ipsinspace– thatwasthenameofan

unusualjointprojectbetweentheUK

SpaceAgency,NationalTrustandRoyalBotanic

Gardens,Kew.Onhis2015–16missiontothe

InternationalSpaceStation,astronautSirTim

Peaketooksomeseedsfromanappletreeat

WoolsthorpeManor,Lincolnshire,intoorbitwith

him.Thestatelyhomeis appropriately,according

tolegend,wherea youthfulIsaacNewtonwatched

anapplefalloffa tree,sparkingthelightbulb

momentthatledhimtoestablishtheprinciples

ofgravity.Aftersixmonthsinspace,Peake’s

miniaturehorticulturalcargowastakentoKew

andgerminated,producingeighthealthyapple

treesthatweresoondubbed‘spacesaplings’.

It remainstobeseenwhetherthesetreeswill

inspire thescientistsofthefuture.BH

WhatonEarthare

space saplings?

Doshlookaertheiryoung?

BOTANY

F

ishmightnotspring

tomindwhenyou

thinkofdotingparents

• manyneverevenmeet
  theiroffspring– butsome
  investa lotofcareinthe
  nextgeneration.Species
  suchasriverchub(just
  onehighlightof
  BBCOne’sSeven
  Worlds,OnePlanet)
  buildandguardelaborate
  nests,whilea few,suchas
  largemouthbass,continue
  protectingtheiryoungeven
  afterthey’vehatched.In
  Africa’sLakeTanganyika,
  cichlids take this to the

extreme,usingtheirown

mouthsasnurseries.A

femalemouth-brooding

cichlidholdshereggsfor

abouttwoweeksuntilthey

hatch,thenfollowsherfry

forseveralmoreweeks,

suckingthemintoherjaws

attheearliestsignofdanger.

Thecaringmothersavoid

eatingthroughout.Butother

fishexploitthisbehaviour.

Theyoungofcuckoocatfish

(anotherSevenWorlds,One

Planetstar)devourmouth-

broodingcichlidyoungand

trickthecichlidmumsinto

tending them.Alix Harvey

MARINE LIFE

Ourunderstandingof

fossils is ever evolving.

Fossilsprovidea seriesof

snapshotsofevolutionrather

thana continuousrecord.Thiscan

makethingstrickytointerpret.

If somethingdisappearsfromthe

fossilrecord,forexample,one

mightassumethatit wentextinct,

whenit reallyjustevolvedinto

somethingelse.Dinosaursare

a classiccaseofso-called

pseudo-extinction.They

apparentlydisappeared

completely 65 millionyears

ago,untilpainstakinganalysis

offossilbonesrevealedthatone

lineagesurvivedthemeteorstrike

andgaverisetothebirds.

Stuart Blackman

Pseudo-extinction

Cichlid: H.Schmidbauer/blickwinkel/Alamy; fossil: Millard H Sharp/Science Photo Library; space shuttle: Kirill Kudryavtsev/Getty; apple: getty; fungus: Chien Lee/Minden/FLPA

Chichlidfrytend

tobea littledown

in the mouth.

Boldlygoing

wherenoapple

piphasgone

before...

84 BBC Wildlife