Anonymous - 12-10-2003 at 09:40 PM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/morgan/20031210-999...
by Neil Morgan
December 10, 2003
This was as near as we come, in these parts, to an expedition of discovery. For a week, about 40 natural scientists from both sides of the Mexican
border rode mules and camped out in the Sierra la Giganta wilderness south of Loreto, a long day's drive down to the gulf coast of Baja.
Their missions served both science and conservation. The fun surprise: They found specimens of plant and insect life that have never been reported.
Strong support has risen in both nations for a conservation corridor in southern Baja California, and for good reason: Parts of the region are among
the least accessible and least explored lands in the Americas.
Mexican researchers came from campuses as close as Ensenada and La Paz and as distant as Guadalajara and Mexico City; most Americans were from San
Diego's Museum of Natural History. Bearing nets, jars, trowels and magnifiers, they came away, elated, after discovering several specimens never
reported in natural science annals.
From sheer cliffs on the 3,500-foot peak of Mount Mechudo, San Diego botanist Jon Rebman returned with a prize that Charles Darwin would have
cherished.
Hanging from these cliffs were two dissimilar species of Eucnide tenella, a small clumping plant. Rebman can find no botanical record of either
species. With flowering, the plant's stalk begins to elongate. Soon it curves back over itself toward the cliff wall. Instead of dropping its seeds to
the rocks 600 feet below, it plants them in its own front yard ? in the crevices on its own ledge, for the next generation.
David K - 12-10-2003 at 10:02 PM
TOO COOL!!!
Mike Humfreville - 12-10-2003 at 10:12 PM
Some of us have been following their progress on a web site for several weeks. It was an expedition to kill for. Thanks for the information.
Anonymous - 12-15-2003 at 09:57 AM
Now, anyone who wants to follow their progress online will be able to.
http://www.sdnhm.org/research/aguaverde/index.html