Spring is known to us as a time of awakening and blossoming, a time when we pass from the gray winter to sunny days. These changes are also deeply embedded in the biological mechanisms of animals and plants.
The transition from complete dormancy to awakening occurs with genetic strictness in plant species that come to us from regions where the winter is cold and snowy. Many species such as the Eretz Israelite, the Atlantic and the worm oak, which are typical of the Mediterranean forest, shed all their leaves in the fall and prepare for the snowy winter.
"With the coming of spring, the plants sprout and put out new, fresh and soft leaves, for example evergreen plants such as the common oak and the gum tree," explains Dotan Rotem, open areas ecologist at the Nature and Gardens Authority. "These special trees can be found on walks around Carmel, in the Galilee region and in the Judean Mountains, where the common oak, the goddess of the land of Israel, and the goddess of chewing gum grow side by side."
"In the Upper Galilee and in the north of the Golan, you can also see the worm oak and the Atlantic oak more prominently. You can also see greenish Atlantic oaks on hikes in the Negev Mountains in the Lotz pits area and in other streams, where they are considered to be remnants of times when the climate was cooler and more humid in our region."
Spring is also a period of peak flowering for the nature lovers among us, in a variety of colors, shades and shapes. The diversity in plant and animal species can be divided according to the complexity of the ecosystem we visit. For example, in an area where there is a dense forest and the forest canopy is dense, there is very little light that penetrates the forest floor, so the flower garden and the trees will be particularly high, and various climbers will climb them trying to reach the forest canopy in order to bloom and carry out assimilation (photosynthesis).
The species of trees in the grove that make their presence known during the blooming season are the white-blossomed alder, the pink-blossomed holly and the cream-blossomed noble wood. All of them can be seen on a trip to Nahal Kalach in Carmel and other streams in the High Carmel. In other areas of the Yehud Mountains and the Lower Galilee, this season you can see the prickly hawthorn, the Syrian pear and the medical white. They all bloom in white and wake up from their hibernation.
To see a greater variety of flowers we will travel in areas where the forest is less dense. There the space between the trees allows the rays of light to enter the ground and a multitude of annual species develops in a variety of shapes, colors and smells.
The record is obtained in Park Forest and its daughter ecosystems. In the forest of the park the space between the trees is large, while in Bata there are almost no trees at all. In Gilboa, in Ramat Sirin, in the Nahal Tabor area and in the Golan, you can stroll through houses rich in plant and animal species and enjoy the panoramic view. In the Yehudiya Forest in the Golan, as well as on the trails in the Lower Galilee, you can tour the park forests of Tabor oaks and enjoy an abundance of spring blossoms.
How is a butterfly born?
The animals also take part in the changes of the season, and react according to what is happening. While in Israel there are no species that go into hibernation as we know from northern and snowy regions, some of the species still preserve these features. For example, the common badger has a feature of delaying pregnancy. The female fertilizes at the end of summer, while the pregnancy is delayed until mid-winter, so that the relatively short pregnancy will end right in the spring, the time when the amount of food is greater.
"The most prominent around us are the nesting birds in the spring season. The males put on a new plumage and burst into song and various courtship gestures. These actions are essential for creating a hormonal response in the females, and allow the maturation of the reproductive organs in preparation for laying the eggs and caring for the chicks or chicks," explains Rotem. "Many arthropods also emerge in the spring, when flowering is at its peak and temperatures rise. Many butterfly species go through the dry summer and autumn periods and the cold winter period in a long dormancy called diapause.
"Actually, a butterfly has a full incarnation – egg, caterpillar, pupa and finally an adult that is the butterfly. The egg and pupa stages are stages in which a long hibernation can occur, in desert species even more than a year until the rain arrives. In this state the pupa or egg carries out minimal metabolism and thus succeeds in periods Prolonged dryness and cold. With the arrival of spring, the butterfly larvae hatch and devour each mouth, go through several stages from a young caterpillar to an adult caterpillar, and finally weave around their body the famous cocoon from which a mature and impressive butterfly will hatch."
Many wild bee species emerge in the spring. In many cases the males hatch before the females. This situation is exploited by species of orchids, which mimic female wild bees. These are the bumblebee flowers that give the males a sexual thrill, and in return they pollinate the flower. Some of the wild bees nest in the ground, and in the spring, when we walk along dirt roads and see small mounds, these are probably the places from which bees emerged.
The male and female meet and the female bee begins to establish the next generation. She collects pollen and lays single eggs in nests in the ground or in a hollow tree, and sometimes also cuts leaves and rolls an egg inside them. Israel has a very large variety of wild bees, which are very important for pollinating the various wild plants.
I'll sit here in the dark (and quietly)
In the spring season, the night also wakes up and swarms with many species of nocturnal arthropods. Communication between them is based on voices and light signals. We all know the fireflies from Disney movies, but have you seen them lately? The firefly is a beetle whose larvae eat snails during the winter, morph (yes, like the butterfly) and turn into adult, flying beetles. The communication between the female and the male is by creating a light at the end of the abdomen.
Each species has its own signal frequency and this is how they locate each other in the dark. That is why it is of great importance to keep places where darkness is complete. In many places we are witnessing the phenomenon of human artificial light pollution, which damages the communication between the emerging fireflies and therefore their number in nature is small. You are invited to meet them in the dark forests and national parks.
Another communication at night is voice communication. Even in this case, the natural environment is not always as quiet as it was in the past, therefore it is important to establish nature reserves with a large area, so that at least their center will remain quiet relative to their edges and species that rely on vocal communication can live and reproduce there safely. Grasshopper and cricket species are nocturnal and create sounds by rubbing their hind legs against their bodies or against each other. Different species have different frequencies, and within the species individuals know how to synchronize their chirps, so that the noise they create will not become meaningless and will not allow orientation for the females attracted to the source of the noise.
Spring of half a year
We define the spring season according to the peaks of nature's blossoming and flourishing, but in practice, in the transition from the desert region in the south of the country to the Mediterranean region in the north, spring lasts for quite a long time.
In the desert area, birds nest as early as January and February, larks, larks and sandpipers reacting to the rains that fall there and the relative wealth of flora and fauna that provide their food, as well as some of the species that precede the return from the period of migration to the Bata areas in the east of the country. In contrast, as you go north, the flowering peak also depends on the topographical height, so that the peak of spring at the peak of Mount Miron arrives in May, while at the peak of Hermon only in June.
For the spring chasers among us, with proper planning, it is possible to experience spring for six months, through desert trips in the Judean Mountains, the Galilee, and up to the summit of Mount Hermon. It's time to wake up… and go out into nature.
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