Bad at Goodbyes

Rough Transcript

Intro 00:05

Welcome to Bad at Goodbyes.

On today’s show we consider the Sociable Lapwing.

Species Information 02:05

The Sociable Lapwing is a critically endangered migratory avian, a bird, native to breeding grounds in Kazakhstan and wintering sites in Sudan, India, Pakistan, and in small pockets across the Middle East. Its scientific name is Vanellus gregarius and it was first described in 1771.

 

Description

The Sociable Lapwing is a mid-sized lapwing, weighing roughly half a pound, and measuring about a foot from beaktip to tailfeather, with a two and half foot wingspan. The Sociable Lapwing is a beautiful bird. In the breeding season they have generally dusty tan feathers, black at the crown, that’s the top of their head, with a white stripe, called a supercilium that runs from the beak, above the eye, to the back of their head. They have a black eye-stripe, and a sandy brownish-grey, neck and breast, which transitions into a darker brown/black patch on their belly with a warm chestnut patch on the lower belly that fades into white on their undersides. The ends of their wings are black and there is a black patch on their white tailfeathers.

 

In the lead up to their migration, the Sociable Lapwing moults, and its darker higher contrast feathers are replaced with a more faded plumage, the black crown and eye-stripe lightening to brown and the black and chestnut patches on the belly fading to light brown and white. This shift in plumage results in a more uniform appearance, serving as camouflage in their warmer dustier stopover and wintering sites.

 

The Sociable Lapwing has long black legs, small black eyes and a straight black bill.

 

Behavior

The Sociable Lapwing is diurnal, mainly active during the day, foraging for insects: beetles and caterpillar, as well as spiders, and other small invertebrates. They also feed on a small amount of plant material: seeds and grains.

 

They feed in groups. The Sociable Lapwing is so called because it forages, nests, and migrates in large cooperative flocks and colonies. Flocks number roughly 10-50 individuals and researchers have observed a colony, an aggregation of flocks, of over 3000 individuals, foraging and roosting together. A 2009 report describes a Sociable Lapwing colony of 1800-plus individuals at a migration stopover site in Turkey:

“We watched the birds getting ready to spend the night. Birds…congregated gradually by walking individually or flying in small flocks towards the main group. A flock of c30 individuals flew from the aggregation, passed a few metres above us, and returned [to the larger group], as though they were checking that we posed no threat. Aggregation of the Sociable Lapwings became much more noticeable after sunset. In late dusk, movements increased considerably; both walking and flying individuals came together in a field…This movement took only some five minutes, just before darkness; thereafter all the birds kept still.” (Biricik 2009)

 

Sociable Lapwing maintain their gregarious social cohesion in part through vocalization: calls, trills, songs, whistles, and chirps. And a kind of staccato communication described as a “kereck”. We have recordings of the Social Lapwing I’d love to share now. Both are from Kazakhstan, the first was recorded in 2013 by Thijs Fijen, of one or two individuals; the second, recorded by Frank Lambert in 2025, is a small flock of 8 individuals. Let’s listen: [Sound Recording]

 

As mentioned, the Sociable Lapwing migrates. Their yearly lifecycle pivots on two roughly 3000 mile journeys. In August and September flocks depart from their breeding grounds in Kazakhstan. A majority of their population migrates southwest, with stopovers in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia, eventually arriving in November and December at their wintering grounds in Sudan. A smaller portion of their population flies southeast, with stopovers in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, eventually arriving in Pakistan and India by November and December. And a very very small portion of the flock migrates south, to winter in various sites across Western Asia and the Middle East.

 

I could find no clear explanation for this dispersal, though through GPS tracking studies, we do know that flocks intermingle at their breeding grounds in Kazakhstan. Groups that congregate together in the north, may disperse to different southerly wintering grounds.

 

GPS studies have also demonstrated that the Sociable Lapwing exhibits high site fidelity in their stopover and wintering locations. They return year-after-year to the same places to rest and forage along their journey, and to the same sites to overwinter.

 

So, they spend winter in the south, then in February and March the flocks return home, along near identical routes, arriving at their breeding sites in Kazakhstan in April and May.

 

Reproduction

The Sociable Lapwing is considered monogamous, a breeding pair will persist throughout a breeding season. After mating, this is early Spring, both parents participate in nest-building. Nests are shallow dugouts on the ground, in short vegetation, sometimes lined with bits of plant matter, pebbles, and dung.

 

An average clutch of 3-4 eggs is mainly incubated by the mother, occasionally by the father. The eggs incubate for roughly 4 weeks and then the new young are born precocial: shortly after hatching they are mobile and able to forage for themselves, under the supervision and protection of both parents. The hatchlings fledge, they learn to fly, after about 40 days. Juveniles are believed to reach reproductive maturity at two years. And the Sociable Lapwing has an estimated lifespan of about 5 years in the wild.

In The Dream

————

In the dream,

 

The old and tattered dream of harmonious coexistence.

Of thriving and allowing others to thrive among us.

All others, human and plants and animal kin.

A commingling, a communalism, in a broad, grand, joyful nest

Of mutual care and flourishing.

A radical acknowledgement of the deep mysterious weave

That knits us all together safely.

 

I dream of this often in sleep and in waking,

Of simply peace.

 

In the dream.

————

Habitat

The Sociable Lapwing’s native breeding ground is in north central Kazakhstan, with a population concentrated in Korgalzhyn District, in the Akmola Region near the Korgalzhyn Nature Reserve, the Nura River and Lake Tengiz.

 

This is the Kazakh Steppe ecoregion. A landscape of arid plains, grasslands, savannas, and shrublands with gentle hills, and few trees. Vegetation is mainly drought-tolerant fescue, feather grasses, and low-growing shrubs.

 

The climate is extreme. Summer temperatures average in the upper 70s°F, though can sometimes peak above 100°s. Winter lows average in the single digits and annual precipitation averages only 13 inches.

 

Here, we find our Sociable Lapwing, perhaps surprisingly, near human habitation. Their nesting colonies are most frequently found within a mile and a quarter of human settlements. Sometimes in fallow fields, previously cleared for agriculture, often in the active grazing lands of domesticated livestock: cattle, sheep, and goats. Research suggests a synanthropic relationship between the Sociable Lapwing and humans. Synanthropic simply means an undomesticated species that through evolution has adapted to live near humans and benefits from human behaviors and ecosystem impacts. The raccoon or the pigeon are classic examples of synanthropy.

 

With our Sociable Lapwing, we find an even more complex intertwinning, as they have seemingly adapted to the presence and behavior of domesticated animals. We have archeological evidence of animal domestication in this part of the world (now Kazakhstan) from over 5000 years ago. And in the millennia since, the Sociable Lapwing has evolved specific nesting behavior which relies on the presence of nomadic domesticated grazers. Tall grasses prevent our Lapwing from nest building, and so when domesticated grazers feed they open patches where the bird can dig out their nests. Livestock also produces manure, which attracts and concentrates the insects upon which the Lapwing and their young feed. Additionally the presence of livestock herds and of humans may deter potential predators. A 2009 study found that Social Lapwing nests were most likely to be found in the most heavily grazed areas. So across the last 5000 years, Sociable Lapwing have evolved behaviors such that their reproductive success, relies on human and domesticated livestock behavior.

 

The Sociable Lapwing shares its breeding grounds in Kazakhstan with:

Domesticated Livestock, Black Henbane, Saiga, Northern Wheatear, Flowering-Rush, Black-headed Gull, Curlew Sandpiper, Hoary Ragwort, Bobak Marmot, Eurasian Whimbrel, Two-rowed Stickseed, Intermediate Grey Bush-Cricket, Little Stint, Long-legged Buzzard, Grey Heron, Red Fox, White-winged Tern, Green Toad, Small Heath, Black Medick, Mallow Skipper, Caspian Tern, Little Ringed Plover, Meadow Fleabane, Red-footed Falcon, Creeping Thistle, Great Cormorant, Brown Monkwort, Bluish Iris, Black Lark, Marsh Sandpiper, Narrow-leaved Pepperwort, Sand Lizard, Purple Wood Sage, and many, many more.

 

Threats

Historically, habitat destruction has profoundly affected the Sociable Lapwing population. Land clearing and the conversion of the native steppe for modern agriculture in the 20th century led to 70% reduction of the Sociable Lapwing population from 1930-1987.

 

Today, shifts in agricultural land management continue to have an effect. In the past, as our Lapwing was evolving its synanthropic relationship, domesticated livestock was nomadic. A herd would graze a field, setting up ideal conditions for Lapwing nesting, and then move on. Today, herds are not nomadic and highly concentrated, so larger herds repeatedly grazing the same fields where the Lapwing has laid eggs. This has led to high rates of nest trampling resulting in egg and chick mortality. Only roughly a quarter of Sociable Lapwing eggs survive to hatch and fledge.

 

Additionally, illegal hunting is affecting the Sociable Lapwing’s adult population. Researchers have identified poaching pressure along the species western migratory route as a factor in their contemporary decline.

 

Conservation

Fortunately, in the last 20-30 years the Sociable Lapwing has seen increased conservation attention.

 

The species is protected under the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). Cross-national Species Action Plans have been implemented to coordinate conservation across the range of habitats through which the birds migrate.

 

In Kazakhstan, a portion of the Lapwing’s habitat is protected in the Korgalzhyn Nature Reserve. And there are programs in place to help restore the Kazak steppe habitat.

 

In 2021, a major stopover site in Uzbekistan, was declared a sanctuary. The Saudi government is working to deter illegal hunting. And programs across the Lapwing’s range are helping educate local communities to monitor breeding colonies and reduce the impact of livestock on nesting success.

 

Nevertheless the Sociable Lapwing has been considered critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2004 and their population continues to broadly decline.

 

Our most recent counts estimate that less than 16000 Sociable Lapwing remain in the wild.

Citations 26:56

Information for today’s show about the Sociable Lapwing was compiled from:

 

Berdahl, Andrew M., Albert B. Kao, Andrea Flack, Peter A. H. Westley, Edward A. Codling, Iain D. Couzin, Anthony I. Dell, and Dora Biro. 2018. “Collective Animal Navigation and Migratory Culture: From Theoretical Models to Empirical Evidence.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 373 (1746): 20170009. – https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0009

 

Bhagwat, T., Urazaliyev, R., Nill, L. et al. Habitat suitability for Sociable Lapwing (Vanellus gregarius) increases across its global range, but populations continue to decline. Journal of Ornithology. – https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-025-02357-2

 

BirdLife International. 2019. Vanellus gregarius (amended version of 2018 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T22694053A155545788. – https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T22694053A155545788.en

 

Biricik, M. (2009). Unexpectedly large number of Sociable Lapwings, Vanellus gregarius, on autumn migration in Turkey and some remarks on the stopover site. Ornithological Society of the Middle East. n.d. Sandgrouse. Vol. 31. 15-17. – https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/44744626

 

Donald, P.F., Kamp, J., Green, R.E. et al. Migration strategy, site fidelity and population size of the globally threatened Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarius. Journal of Ornithology 162, 349–367 (2021). – https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-020-01844-y

 

Eichhorn, G. & Heinicke, T. Notable observations of the Sociable Plover Vanellus gregarius from Tengiz-Korgalzhyn area- central Kazakstan. Wader Study Group Bulletin. 93: 73-76. – https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304571137_Notable_observations_of_the_Sociable_Plover_Vanellus_gregarius_from_the_Tengiz_-_Korgalzhyn_area_central_Kazakstan

 

Fijen, Thijs. (2013). Xeno-Canto. Sound Recording. XC145086. – www.xeno-canto.org/145086

 

Gallo Orsi, Umberto, and Canan Orhun, comps. 2008. “Sociable Lapwing (Vanellus gregarius).” In Review of the Implementation and the Effectiveness of 15 Single Species Action Plans for Migratory Waterbird Species, 55–56. AEWA Technical Series No. 30. Bonn, Germany: UNEP/AEWA Secretariat. – https://www.unep-aewa.org/sites/default/files/publication/ts30_ssap_review_final_0_0.pdf

 

iNaturalist – https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=50.636602954&nelng=70.232115181&quality_grade=research&subview=map&swlat=50.336026198&swlng=69.740476998&view=species

 

Kamp, J., Sheldon, R.D., Koshkin, M.A., Donald, P.F. And Biedermann, R. (2009), Post-Soviet steppe management causes pronounced synanthropy in the globally threatened Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarius. Ibis, 151: 452-463. – https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919X.2009.00938.x

 

Keijl, Guido, Simon Delany, Jeff Kirby, and Tim Dodman. 2009. “Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarius.” In An Atlas of Wader Populations in Africa and Western Eurasia, edited by Simon Delany, Derek Scott, Tim Dodman, and David Stroud, 171–174. Wageningen, The Netherlands: Wetlands International – https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276264669_Sociable_Lapwing_Vanellus_gregarius

 

Lambert, Frank (2025). Xeno-Canto. Sound Recording. XC1030408. – www.xeno-canto.org/1030408

 

Moldován, I. & Sándor, A. (2010). “Observation of a large flock of sociable Lapwings Vanellus gregarius in southeast Egypt”. Ornithological Society of the Middle East. n.d. Sandgrouse. Vol. 32. – https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/44754785

 

Sheldon, R.D., Kamp, J., Koshkin, M.A. et al. Breeding ecology of the globally threatened Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarius and the demographic drivers of recent declines. Journal of Ornithology 154, 501–516 (2013). – https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-012-0921-4

 

Sheldon, R.D., Koshkin, M.A., Kamp, J., Dereliev, S., Donald, P.F., & Jbour, S. (Compilers). 2012. International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Sociable Lapwing (Vanellus gregarius). CMS Technical Series No. 28, AEWA Technical Series No. 47. Bonn, Germany – https://www.unep-aewa.org/publication/international-single-species-action-plan-conservation-sociable-lapwing-ts-no-47

 

Watson, M., Wilson, J.M., Koshkin, M., Sherbakov, B., Karpov, F., Gavrilov, A., Schielzeth, H., Brombacher, M., Collar, N.J. And Cresswell, W. (2006), Nest survival and productivity of the critically endangered Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarius. Ibis, 148: 489-502. – https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919X.2006.00555.x

 

Wiersma, P., G. M. Kirwan, and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Sociable Lapwing (Vanellus gregarius), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. – https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.soclap1.0

 

Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociable_lapwing

 

For more information about conservation of the Kazakhstan steppe ecosystem please see the Altyn Dala Initiative at https://altyndala.org

Music 28:55

Pledge 36:53

I honor the lives of all Sociable Lapwing. I will commit their name to my record. I am grateful to have shared time on our planet with this being. I lament the ways in which I and my species have harmed and diminished this species. I grieve.

 

And so, in the name of the Sociable Lapwing I pledge to reduce my consumption. And my carbon footprint. And curb my wastefulness. I pledge to acknowledge and attempt to address the costs of my actions and inactions. And I pledge to resist the harm of plant and animal kin and their habitat, by individuals, corporations, and governments.

 

I forever pledge my song to the witness and memory of all life, to a broad celebration of biodiversity, and to the total liberation of all beings.

Rough Transcript

Intro 00:05

Welcome to Bad at Goodbyes.

On today’s show we consider the Floating Quillwort.

Species Information 02:05

The Floating Quillwort is a critically endangered freshwater semi-aquatic plant native to South Africa, specifically to the Eastern Cape province, found roughly 25 miles from the coast. Its scientific name is Isoetes wormaldii and it was first described in 1906.

 

Description

The Floating Quillwort is semi-aquatic, they root in the soft mud and silt of fairly shallow freshwater ponds, marshes, and slow streams, with leaves that grow upward through the water, to the light and air above. Each plant grows roughly 50 very slender leaves that have a dark green, grass-like appearance. Each leaf is like a long, flexible, slightly flattened cylindrical tube, growing roughly 9 to 18 inches tall. The Floating Quillwort’s leaves and their leaf veins are low in lignin, which is a tissue that provides structural rigidity. So the leaves that crest the water line, do not poke upward, instead they lay flat on the water’s surface, appearing, as the name suggests, to float.

 

The Floating Quillwort is a lycophyte, this is a class of plant species of ancient lineage, dating from over 400 million years ago. We have fossil evidence of Quillwort from roughly 165 million years ago (the Jurassic period) that appears nearly identical to their modern counterpart. Quillwort has survived, relatively unchanged, since the age of dinosaurs.

 

But going back even farther into the lycophyte lineage, to roughly 350 million years ago, in the Carboniferous and Permian periods, we find fossil evidence of arborescent lycophytes. These quillwort ancestors are gargantuan. Reaching heights up to 160 feet, with 6 foot diameter trunks, and root systems that would spread up to 60 feet. These Lepidodendrales formed the canopies of our planet’s earliest great forests. 

 

In the millenia since, changing climatic conditions, selection pressures, resulted in a kind of miniaturization, a reductive evolution in which lycophytes adapted to new ecological niches, by no longer committing energy to producing bark, nor a spreading canopy, and by growing smaller, from hundreds of feet tall to a dozen inches, adapting to semi-aquatic ecosystems where they faced less competition. And as such their lineage has persisted for hundreds of millions of years as their larger ancestors went extinct.

 

Today, modern lycophytes, like our Floating Quillwort, retain vestigial traits from their ancient past. Specifically we find lingering structures in their rootstock that were once used to produce the woody tissue necessary for towering growth. A holdover from a few hundred million years of natural selection.

 

Reproduction

Floating Quillwort reproduction, also evidences its historic lineage and its semi-aquatic adaptations. Unlike flowering plants, Floating Quillwort does not produce flowers, seeds, pollen, nor rely on pollinators. Instead, reproducing through the production and release of two kinds of tiny spores: Megaspores and microspores, both smaller than twenty-five thousandths of inch, smaller than a grain of table salt. Megaspores, which are the larger female reproductive structure, contain the egg; the smaller Microspores become male sperm. The released spores are dispersed by hydrochory (that’s water) and perhaps by zoochory (that’s animals). The microspores become male sperm, and that sperm is motile, it is capable of spontaneous, independent, though undirected movement; it swims in the waters of the Floating Quillwort’s habitat. If it happens upon a female macrospore egg, fertilization occurs.

 

Additionally, the Floating Quillwort may rely on animals for reproductive success. The mechanism here is not entirely clear, but the South African National Biodiversity Institute reports on a conservation program which, concerned about grazing pressures, removed livestock from the habitat of a Floating Quillwort subpopulation. But after the livestock was excluded from the wetland, the Quillwort population plummeted. The report concludes that the trampling of the wetland, which may aid in spore dispersal, plays a role in successful Quillwort reproduction. This too may be a kind of holdover adaptation from a time when megafauna like waterbuffalo or hippopotamus roamed the area.

 

Additionally, and perhaps relatedly, Floating Quillwort reproduction relies on the longterm viability of their spores. Their habitat has ecosystem fluctuations in which the wetlands and ponds of their habitat will dry up. And without water, quillwort sperm cannot reach egg, so the spores, during unfavorable arid conditions, will remain dormant, building up in a stored sporebank in the dried pondbed. But remaining viable to be then activated again, when water returns, facilitating the possibility of fertilization. Studies have documented stored sporebank viability for as long as six years. 

In The Dream

————

In the dream,

 

I dream of what we keep,

What we hold close in memory,

in our bodies,

Ghost echos in our roots, of our roots,

Of the route from then to now.

 

The bits of yesterdays we cling to through tomorrows.

 

In the dream.

————

Habitat

The Floating Quillwort is native to the far southeastern tip of the African Continent, to the country of South Africa, to the Eastern Cape province, near the city of Makhanda. This region is known as the Albany hotspot, a convergence of six distinct temperate and subtropical biomes, where unique ecosystemic conditions support a rich assortment of plant and animal diversity, many species found nowhere else on earth.

 

The Floating Quillwort is restricted to a tiny sliver of this habit, occurring in 3-4 subpopulations, only in an area of about one half a square mile. This is a grassland thicket of seasonal wetland, pool and stream. In the winter months, its a dusty undulating sandy-clay landscape with patches of scrub and grass. But when the summer rains arrive, the clay soil is slow-to-drain and the lower depressions fill with water, creating the seasonal wetlands, temporary ponds, and slow waterways in which our quillwort thrives.

 

The weather here is fairly dry and mild, summer highs average in the low 80s°F, winter lows in the upper 40s°F. Annual precipitation averages 27 inches, most of which is concentrated in the summer months.

 

Floating Quillwort share their home near Makhanda with:

African Honeysuckle, Wild Pomegranate, Common Slug-Eater, African Clawed Frog, Tarwood, African Plum, Shoddy Ragwort, Cape Aloe, White-Ironwood, Plain Tiger Butterfly, Wild Peach, Sweet Thorn, Cape Four-striped Grass Mouse, Common Bracken, Sagewood, Cape Honeysuckle, Bitter-Leaf, Eastern Leopard Toad, Plains Zebra, Brown-hooded Kingfisher, White-starred Robin, Black Wattle, Cabbage Tree, Licorice Plant, Collared Sunbird, Hairy Golden Orb-weaving Spider, and many many more.

 

Threats

Both historically, and today, the Floating Quillwort’s population is threatened by human habitat destruction and encroachment. Development, urban sprawl, and agriculture has cleared, built over, drained, and filled in the temporary wetlands of the quillwort’s native habitat. Human encroachment has also displaced the megafauna that may play a role in their reproductive success.

And the Floating Quillwort’s very small population makes it vulnerable to stochastic events, say a drought or a new disease or an aggressive developer, where a single event or phenomenon could rapidly lead to extinction.

 

And human induced climate change, resulting from persistent overreliance on fossil fuels, is an imminent threat. Global warming is resulting in overall hotter temperatures and longer dry seasons in this region. And while our Quillwort is well adapted for fluctuations in wet and dry seasons, extended drought imperils their reproduction.

 

Conservation

As of 2018, the Floating Quillwort is included in the Eastern Cape Biodiversity Conservation Plan, which requires impact assessments for further habitat development. Note, this is not full legal protection though, an impact assessment may not necessarily deter future construction in the Quillwort’s habitat.

 

The Floating Quillwort has been considered critically endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2010 and their population is currently in decline.

 

Our most recent counts estimate that less than 45 Floating Quillwort remain in the wild.

Citations 19:13

Information for today’s show about the Floating Quillwort was compiled from:

 

Azzella, M. M., Vecchia, A. D., Abeli, T., Alahuhta, J., Amoroso, V. B., Ballesteros, E., Bertrin, V., Brunton, D., Bobrov, A. A., Caldeira, C., Ceschin, S., Chemeris, E. V., Čtvrtlíková, M., de Winton, M., Gacia, E., Grishutkin, O. G., Hofstra, D., Ivanova, D., Ivanova, M. O., … Bolpagni, R. (2024). Global assessment of aquatic Isoëtes species ecology. Freshwater Biology, 69, 1420–1437. – https://doi.org/10.1111/fwb.14316

 

Freund, F. D. (2022). The Genus Isoëtes L., evolution, diversification and population structure in a free-sporing heterosporous lycophyte. UC Berkeley. ProQuest ID: Freund_berkeley_0028E_21171. Merritt ID: ark:/13030/m5nx0dn2. – https://escholarship.org/uc/item/937695n1

 

iNaturalist – https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?lat=-33.33523469222247&lng=26.571899142994628&quality_grade=research&radius=1.6281024631201406

 

Larsén, E., Wikström, N., Khodabandeh, A. et al. Phylogeny of Merlin’s grass (Isoetaceae): revealing an “Amborella syndrome” and the importance of geographic distribution for understanding current and historical diversity. BMC Ecology and Evolution v 22, 32 (2022). – https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-022-01988-w

 

Larsén, E., Khodabandeh, A. & Rydin, C. (2025). Spore morphology and evolution in Isoëtes (Isoëtales). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, boaf078. –https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boaf078

 

Mucina, Ladislav, Michael C. Rutherford, Johannes L. Nel, Jan H. J. Vlok, Doug I. W. Euston-Brown, Leslie W. Powrie, Anthony P. Dold, and Robert A. Ward. 2006. “Azonal Vegetation.” In The Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, edited by Ladislav Mucina and Michael C. Rutherford, 614–648. Strelitzia 19. Pretoria: South African National Biodiversity Institute. – https://www.sanbi.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2006_Strelitzia19.pdf

 

Sim, T. R. 1915. The Ferns of South Africa, Containing Descriptions and Figures of the Ferns and Fern Allies of South Africa. Cambridge [Eng.]: University Press. – https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/51313623

 

Victor, J. E., and A. P. Dold. 2003. “Threatened Plants of the Albany Centre of Floristic Endemism, South Africa.” South African Journal of Science 99 (9/10): 437–446. – https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC97693

 

Victor, J. E., & Dold, A. P. (2007). “Isoetes wormaldii Sim”. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version 2024.1. South African National Biodiversity Institute. – http://redlist.sanbi.org/species.php?species=2184-15

 

Victor, J.E. & Dold, A.P. 2010. Isoetes wormaldii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T185429A8409995. – https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-3.RLTS.T185429A8409995.en

 

Wickell, D., Kuo, LY., Yang, HP. et al. Underwater CAM photosynthesis elucidated by Isoetes genome. Nature Communications v.12, 6348 (2021). – https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26644-7

 

Wood D, Besnard G, Beerling DJ, Osborne CP, Christin PA (2020) Phylogenomics indicates the “living fossil” Isoetes diversified in the Cenozoic. PLOS ONE 15(6): e0227525. – https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227525

 

Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoetes

Music 20:57

Pledge 27:10

I honor the lifeforce of the Floating Quillwort. I will commit its name to my record. I am grateful to have shared time on our planet with this being. I lament the ways in which I and my species have harmed and diminished this species. I grieve.

 

And so, in the name of the Floating Quillwort I pledge to reduce my consumption. And my carbon footprint. And curb my wastefulness. I pledge to acknowledge and attempt to address the costs of my actions and inactions. And I pledge to resist the harm of plant and animal kin and their habitat, by individuals, corporations, and governments.

 

I forever pledge my song to the witness and memory of all life, to a broad celebration of biodiversity, and to the total liberation of all beings.