Solar Powered Sea Slug
This short article in Nature combines two of my favorite things, solar power and nudibranchs (sea slugs). [Note you may need to sign up for or sign into a free account to read this article.]
This lettuce sea slug, Elysia crispata, eats algae and puts some of the alga’s chloroplasts (the solar power cells of plants) into specialized cells called kleptosomes. The kleptosomes keep the chloroplasts alive to produce food for the slug.
So, while this article doesn’t really have that much to do with climate change directly, it highlights the incredible ingenuity and adaptability of nature. My hope is that it fosters your desire to preserve these and the myriad other creatures that support our diverse and fragile ecosystem upon which humans are completely dependent.
Please continue to talk about the critical environmental crisis we’re in (and the US administration is ignoring!), support policies and programs to protect natural resources, and hold elected leaders to task to leave a livable plant to future generations of humans, sea slugs, and all other living things.
As always, please let me know your thoughts about this and previous topics. And, if you know someone who would like these emails, please share their email address with me.
Cheers, Bill
