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Damage assessment is extremely
important at MBC and all data are entered into the database; here,
Christina Dupuy and Barb Bohnsack
assess a fallen tree.
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Emergency procedures are also
critical if the greatest number of plants are to be saved. Here, palm
curator, Laurie
Danielson, trims leaves from a Chambeyronia macrocarpa palm
that suffered from a bent crownshaft.
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Early salvage efforts also
include covering root balls of trees (left) and palms (right)
that can later be righted and staked.
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Additional "emergency" efforts
include whitewashing the trunks of downed trees to prevent them from
being sunburned. Above, Christina (L) participates and solicits help
from assistant curator Ericka Witcher (R) to protect the trunk of this
fallen avocado tree.
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Abbey, Ericka, and Patrick
remove a large oak tree that fell into one of our Asian cycad beds.
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This structure
was built to protect the rare cycad below while the tree was cut up and
removed.
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Mario and Orlando clear
debris.
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Sergio applies fungicide
to
impacted palms.
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MBC was without power for more
than a week; generators came in handy.
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Thanks to Kelly Tractor for
donating two large generators that powered the well pump and the main
office until electricity was restored.
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Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma
removed nearly all of the shade in the this tropical Zamia bed.
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Hostilio augured holes for the
2" X 4" posts that we installed to support a new temporary shade
structure.
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The completed shade structure
will protect the shade-loving
zamias until new trees can be planted.
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One of the few
good things to come out of this hurricane was the use, by researchers,
of
some of the downed plant material. Here are two examples:
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The above
left photo shows a slice of palm trunk cut by Dr. Jack Fisher and Dr.
Scott Zona for
studies on palm "wood" at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.
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In the photo
on the right, Dr. Ron Cave and his assistant (from the University of
Florida's Indian River Research & Education Center in Ft.
Pierce) loaded up a truck with native Tillandsia bromeliads
that fell out of the trees at MBC during the storm. Dr. Cave is
conducting research on biological control of an imported weevil species
that is feeding
on the native bromeliads. These plants will be used to feed the
weevils during various biocontrol experiments.
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