🌉 Like a Chakana, a flower acts as a bridge between the layers of the world. It connects nature with our inner reality.

🌺 They grow in meadows and front gardens and invite us to enter into a dialogue. Whether we take a moment to soak in the beauty around us, or whether we engage with their aesthetics to bring joy to others, their appearance is a compliment to open our minds.

🐝 As soon as our eyes land on a flower, we hum the gift of being in this world.

🧠 Not only are they aesthetically pleasing, they also promote mindfulness and a positive attitude.

🌸 The genus Cosmos was given its name in 1791 and translated from Greek means harmoniously ordered universe. Therefore, the garden cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) symbolizes a universal truth in an enchanting way.

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🌸 A few pink poppies grow here every year. But it's rare that I spot one with all its petals. So beautiful and delicate! 😊

📸✨️ I avoid leaving the path for my photos. But if I do, I always check beforehand whether and how I can do it without trampling too much. My pictures are an expression of my love of nature and are therefore almost exclusively taken from the side of the path. Love is based on mutual respect and understanding, not possessiveness.

🐁🪰🚜🌾 The meadows and fields belong to both the farmers and nature. They serve as a basis for life for all of us. Leaving the path can have many negative consequences: dead, injured, displaced or disrupted animals; destruction of vegetation; soil compaction; copycats; financial damage to farmers and foresters; loss of biodiversity.

🪱 Please remember this and stay on the paths to preserve the beauty and health of our natural environment.

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What I see ✨️

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A picnic beetle! 🪲 They are called picnic beetles because they often fly at you outdoors. After the end of the Second World War, Glischrochilus quadrisignatus spread from Berlin to almost all of Europe. They originally come from North America, where they already played a role as a plant pest, and were then probably introduced to Germany via supplies from the Western Allied airlift. While in America the damage to corn, tomatoes and various types of fruit (apples, pears, apricots, peaches, raspberries) can be quite high, in Europe the species has so far only appeared as a corn pest to a much lesser extent. The beetle bites into the young, still milky grains and eats them. Well, then fly on, little conqueror!

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This green shield bug (Palomena prasina) has strayed into the stairwell... 🦸🪲

☠️ There was a risk of spiders, dehydration or drowning from the neighbor's dog's saliva.

🕸🕷🏜🐶💦

These and numerous other dangers lurk in the everyday life of this urban insect. 🚗🏡🌳

It lives in trees and bushes and sucks their sap.Actually, everyone in Germany should know it, with its bright green color and smelly secretion.

🛩🪂 It often just crashes into somewhere. Its flying abilities can certainly be described as enduring, but it lacks speed, precision and maneuverability.

☝️🔒My fingerprint has been manipulated.

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🌤🌸🦗🪻 A fragrant summer sun spot for a tiny bush-cricket (Phaneroptera species) 😊

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🪻The gradual flowering of the garden lupine allows for extended pollination periods, maximizing resource utilization. As the plant blooms over time, it attracts pollinators and ensures continuous reproduction.

Additionally, the symbiotic relationship with Rhizobium bacteria enriches the soil with nitrogen, enhancing its fertility. The chemical signals from the plant's roots attract Rhizobium bacteria, which transform into bacteroids within root nodules. These bacteroids receive nutrients from the plant and, in return, convert atmospheric nitrogen into nutrients such as ammonia, benefiting both the plant and the soil ecosystem. This symbiosis contributes to the productivity of the garden lupine and its surrounding environment.

However, this popular neophyte tends to become wild and its rapid and widespread growth can alter native ecosystems and lead to a loss of biodiversity. It can displace native species as it takes up space and water. Its ability to make nutrient-poor soils more fertile can contribute to the loss of habitats that depend on nutrient-poor soils.

Habitats that are low in nutrients include dry and poor grasslands, dunes and heathlands. These biotopes are home to unique species that only live there. Non-native species contribute to their loss and over-fertilization is one of the biggest problems.

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Drop it like it's hot 💩

A mirid bug (Deraeocoris ruber) defecates on a hemp leaf. In fact, insect excrement is about as warm as its surroundings.

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The last days of May were marked by a mix of sunshine and rain showers. Sparkling pearls dance on the leaves of the garden lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus). A beautiful spectacle that inspires admiration and reflection. The plant not only lets the drops roll off, but also collects them. All the light and water flows together and forms a large whole. These radiant pearls clean the leaf surface and are then passed on to the roots. It is native to the oceanic mountain meadows of North America, where the weather is very changeable, including fog and dry periods, so this adaptation could be an advantage. However, its abilities (which go far beyond this) are so good that it is now an invasive species not only in other regions of North America, but worldwide. In Germany, the plant is often used for greening, as here at a road junction. However, it tends to become wild and is already listed as an invasive species. We live in a world that is constantly changing. I can only admire and revere nature, but I also feel so humble in the face of its unforeseeable development. Life is a constant coming and going. However, I am optimistic that we will find our center and return to our roots together: Earth.

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Seeing in the Dark and the Green: How Eyes and Leaves Share a Lighty Secret

The world of biology reveals surprising connections, and the human eye and a seemingly ordinary leaf share a fascinating one. Both organs rely on sophisticated light-sensing mechanisms to function effectively in their environments, despite their vastly different purposes.

Within the human eye, the retina houses two crucial photoreceptor cell types: rods and cones. Rods, responsible for low-light vision, utilize rhodopsin, a specialized protein, to capture even the faintest light signals. Cones, responsible for color vision, rely on various forms of iodopsin to differentiate colors in bright light conditions. Both rhodopsin and iodopsin function by undergoing a shape change upon encountering light, triggering a biochemical cascade that ultimately translates light energy into electrical signals the brain interprets as vision.

Plants exhibit a similar strategy. Nestled within their leaves lies phytochrome, a remarkable molecule that, like its counterparts in the eye, acts as a light receptor. Phytochrome exists in several states depending on the specific wavelengths of light it absorbs. By sensing variations in light intensity and spectrum, phytochrome provides the plant with vital information about its surrounding environment. This information plays a critical role in processes like photosynthesis, where plants utilize sunlight as an energy source, and regulates growth patterns based on light availability.

In both the eye and the plant, the photosensors function together with chromophores: retinal in the eye and phytochromobilin in the plant.

This unexpected parallel between the human eye and the leaf underscores a fundamental principle in biology – the ability to detect light is a powerful evolutionary advantage. By harnessing the power of light, both humans and plants gain the ability to navigate their environments, grow, and thrive.

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