ISPECTRUM

Issue 12/March-April 2015

MAGAZINE

wi-fi from
the sky

Antibiotic
Apocalypse
Anthroposophic
Medicine
Driving on sunshine

a long and winding road to the future

CONTENTS
Features

15

25

03
Wi-Fi From The Sky
04 The Internet must be fast, fair,
and open
09 The competition in the aerospace sphere
12 Internet for everyone
15
Antibiotic
Apocalypse
18 Antibiotic resistance
20 New antibiotic
22 How to minimize the development of antibiotic resistance?
25
Driving on sunshine
a long and winding
road to the future
29 Too good to be true
32 A step forward
36
literally
integrative
Anthroposophic medicine
38 Anthroposophic therapies
39 Anthroposophic drug therapy

36

41
1

41
Phytotelmata and
other extreme habitats
of dragonfly
development:
review
43 Extreme places to live
48 Why do Odonata develop in
such harsh habitats?

editorial
Dear readers,
Here we go again with a new issue
full of amazing contents. This month we
start with our contributor Alakananda
Mookerjee and a topic that is generating
huge discussion: should the Internet be
free? What would the pros and cons be?
A conversation is now starting to bubble
over novel modes of extending connectivity to those parts of the world where
almost 4.5 million citizens remain unconnected, by beaming it down from space.
Medicine is facing one of the most challenging problems of the century and the
message of the World Health Organization
could not be more clear: antibiotic resistance will kill 300 million people by 2050
if we do not find and develop new antibiotics. Ellie Pownall has been taking the
pulse of the situation to bring some light;
what future is awaiting us?
Joe Baylis comes with a new energy
concept that has been gaining a great
deal of attention in the engineering community over the past year. Known as a
solar road, it would essentially turn our
transport infrastructure system into one
huge renewable power station. Find out
more in his article.
Anthroposophic Medicine is a holistic
therapy that treats the individual from an
integral approach. Anette Bopp, one of
the main experts in this field, has written
the article we bring you in this issue.
Finally, Olga Antczak, from the University
of Lodz, has kindly shared with our readers her latest research about the extreme
habitats of dragonfly development, a
valuable scientific paper.
Thanks for reading. And remember: comment, share and spread the word!

Mado Martinez
Editorial Director

Ispectrum
magazine

Published Bimonthly

ISSN 2053-1869

Editorial Director
Mado Martinez,
madomartinez@ispectrummagazine.com
Art Director
Rayna Petrova
raynapetrova@ispectrummagazine.com
Contributing Editors
Matt Loveday
mattloveday@ispectrummagazine.com
Ravinder Dhindsa
Bradley Terblanche
Jonathan Masters
Jennifer James
Contributing Writers
Alakananda Mookerjee
Ellie Pownall
Joe Baylis
Anette Bopp
Olga Antczak
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Cover:OneWeb.net
commons.wikimeadia.org
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www.ispectrummagazine.com
admin@ispectrummagazine.com
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Photo credit:OneWeb.net

Wi-Fi From The Sky

by
Alakananda Mookerjee

ust as its absurd for 21st century citizensat least in the

industrialized Westto read a
book in the flickering halo of
a gas lamp, its equally odd being
offline. The Internet, a seemingly
invisible tool, has become so intrinsic
to our lives that weve come to regard
it as vital as clean water and electricity.

A civilization sans
Facebook will hum
along fine. But without internet, itll
surely fall.

to be streamed more speedily into

So, when in the middle of last
our tablets or televisions. And if
year, when the American Federal
they paid more, theyd make us
Communications
Commission,
pay more. Aside from fattening our
under pressure from the internet
monthly bills, itd also put a dampservice provider lobby, proposed a
ener on innovations whose very
new set of rules wherein U.S. telebedrock is the Internet.
com giants like Verizon, Comcast,
AT&T, and Time Warner Cable would
be able to bifurcate the information
Fortunately, the crisis
highway into a so-called
was averted. Nearly
fast lane and a
4,000,000 letters
slow lane, there
from consumwas an uproar.
ers and advoProtesters
cacy groups
shrieked
the
Internet
must
be
fast,
poured into
that
thatd
fair,
and
open
the
federal
kill network
agency, cajoln e u t r a l i t y ,
ing it to save
the long-standthe Internet from
ing concept that
falling into the
internet service
hands of corporate profiproviders treat all data
teers. In response, in a statement
equally and fairly, regardless of
to WIRED, Mr. Tom Wheeler wrote,
whether its bits and bytes of The
the Internet must be fast, fair, and
New Yorker or a song on Spotify
open. And so it will remainfor
or a banter on WhatsApp. They
now and in the future. Yet, what we
shouldnt play favorites with packperceive as an indispensable utilets of datathey demanded. Under
ity, without which we find ourselves
the new arrangement, a company
isolated, lost, and bored, is a luxlike Netflix or Hulu would have to
ury that 4,400,000,000 across the
pay a toll to allow their content
4

world have no access

to. Not yet touched by
the hand of the internet
god, they dont know
what is to be connected. But a conversation
is now starting to bubble over novel modes of
extending connectivity
to them by beaming it
down from spacebut

more on that later.

When you send an

e-mail, you casually tap on the send
button. Whoosh. And
like that, its gone. You
think nothing of it after
that, secure in the certainty that itll pop up

in another inbox, near,

far, or very, very far
away. You couldnt be
sniggered at for thinking that it flew away on
the wingtips of a firedrake. After all, theres
so little of this service
that we can seenothing beyond our laptop,
router, and modem.

In reality, the Internet

has a Cyclopean physical architecture, made
of a zoo of computers
and a dense mesh of
wires that girdle around
the globe. Once your
message leaves your
desk, say, in Chicago,
its broken down into
small pieces. And then
it hops from telephone
pole to telephone pole
until it reaches lands
end.

Next, it journeys
through optical fibers
each an incredibly thin
strand of glass or plastic
that serves as a pathways for information
sealed in submarine
cables that run along
level stretches of the
seabed, carefully avoiding coral reefs, sunken
ships, marine troughs
and ridges, and fishbeds, before arriving
at its destination, say,
Beijing. The diameter
of a deep-water cable
6

is roughly that of a garden hose (0.7 inches)

while those in shallower waters are thicker,
about the cross-section
of a soda can (2.7 inches). Similarly, when
someone in Los Angles
wants to read the lifestyle section of the
leading English daily,
The Times, she keys
in its U.R.L. A request
to retrieve it goes out.
From wherever it is
presumably, London
it travels through the

cold, dark depths of the Atlantic to

her internet service providers terminal. Its a short hop from there
to her desktop. At this time, there
are 278 active cables. Together,
they loop around for some 555,000
miles under the sea, linking all the
continents, barring Antarctica and
a few island nations. (For perspective -- Mount Everest stands five
miles tall). And it is this aquatic
grid that powers the overwhelming
bulk of our internet.

While on the go, it can be reached

on a smartphone through a cell
phone tower. Reception is excellent at a Starbucks, in New Yorks
Times Square, but as you move
away from bustling urban pockets,
it tends to get sluggish and patchy,
until it dwindles to naught. Driving
along a rural section of Asias Grand
Trunk Road, your device will receive
hardly any signal at all. Worse still,
what if youre in an area in the middle of nowhere, where theres not
even a radio mast and an aerial in
the vicinity? Then, the only way to
log on is by means of telecom satellites. These are pieces of school
bus-size machinery that are placed

Cell Phone Tower

in what is known as a geostationary orbit. As Earth spins, they spin

with it, in tandem, 22,236 miles
above the surface, in a circular
path, like a hoopla hoop, along the
plane of Earths midriff.

work. Youre on a luxury liner, sailing on the Aegean Sea, and youd
like to call someone in Istanbul.
As you place your call, your phone
connects to the ships on-board,
transmitter, which then beams it
up to a receiver up on a satellite in
an uplink. The satellites transmitter, in turn, sends it back down in
a downlink to another receiver on
the Turkish coast, from where its
then routed to the recipient. The
entire process takes place within a
flash. But while it works wonderfully for a standard, voice-only phone
call, it may not if you were trying
to tweet from the deck or download
War and Peace on your e-reader
from inside your cabin.
To an observer, looking out the
window, therefore, theyd appear to
be stationary, hovering at the same
position night after night. Theyre
so placed such that ground-based
antennas, which talk to them, dont
have to keep rotating to keep track
of them. They serve as enormous
mirrors in space, capable of bouncing off telephone calls, television
and radio broadcasts, and internet
content, from one sector of the
world to another. This is how they

Presently, satellites are slowpokes

when it comes to providing entry to
the Internet. Signals from Earth
in the form of radio waves, which
travel at the same speed as light
take 0.25 seconds to make one
round-trip. While that may sound
like an infinitesimal time frame,
its not small enough to support a
real-time video call, made through
an application like Skype. As of
2006, satellites handled a surpris8

ing 1% of the volume

of all telecom traffic.
But that could change
if the vision of a couple
of Silicon Valley tech
tycoons materializes.

Elon Musk is the

founder of SpaceX, a
Hawthorne, Californiabased private space

firm. Its spacecraft,

Dragon, made history
in May, 2012, when it
became the first commercial vehicle to dock
with the International
Space Station. After
retiring the Space
Shuttle four years ago,
NASA handed it the
job of ferrying cargo to
the orbiting lab. (The

American crew, however, so far, still hitch

rides with the Russians,
aboard Soyuz). He
also has a finger in
other bleeding-edge
pies: Tesla (maker of
high-end electric cars);
SolarCity (provider of
Dragon in orbit

Photo credit:SpaceX

solar power equipment); Hyperloop (a

concept tube transport
that will hurtle passengers from Los Angeles
to San Francisco in
roughly half an hour, at
a tearing 598 m.p.h.)
And now, hes fallen
hard for the notion of

bringing
high-speed
internet (repeat: highspeed) to everyone,
everywhere, through a
swarm of 4,000 miniature Sputniks, buzzing
around in low Earth
orbitjust 750 miles up
in the sky. Greg Wyler

of OneWeb has plans

to put up a smaller
fleet of 648. His project is expected to be
up and running before
the end of the decade
and is expected to cost
$2 billion.

Keeping the satellites wheeling closer to

home will reduce the
lag by a wide margin:
to a mere 0.006 seconds. On the downside, the area covered
by each will be very
Photo credit:OneWeb

OneWeb Satellite Drawing

10

limited, about the size the New

Mexico. Their narrow reach, however, is compensated for by their
multitude. Sometimes, its hard to
put your imagination to work, if the
capital required to make it happen is
an astronomical sum (if youll pardon the pun). But both these enterprises have attracted the pocketbooks of big-name players. Searchengine titan Google and an investor, Fidelity, have plunked down $1
billion into Musks venture, which
carries a price tag of a staggering
$10 billion. Richard Bransons Virgin
Galactic and Qualcomm, on the
other hand, are backing OneWeb.
The media splash made by these
recent announcements has eclipsed
the success of 03b, which has been
in the business since before all the
hoopla began.

The Channel Islands-based company (OneWeb) was the first to

offer broadband service to a sizeable geographic belt, running 45
degrees north and south of the
equator. By placing a constellation
of a dozen satellites at 5,000 miles,
its been able to cut the delay to
11

CubeSat satellites

0.15 seconds, making connections

more energetic. The cost of putting a satellite in orbit depends
on its size and how far away from
Earth itll be deployed. They can
weigh anywhere between one kilogram (such as CubeSat) to over
1,000. O3bs products are 700 kilo-

Google Loon balloon

(Google Loon launch event , June 2013)

grams when fully fueled. To make

the technology more feasible, its
imperative that satellites be built
more compactly and lighter so that
a single rocket launch can transport
a big batch. O3b has sent up four at
a time. While Google has invested
in Musks endeavor, its also finetuning an experiment of its own to
haul service to the Internet boondocks in rural, far-flung regions.
Loon, like the orbital proposals, is about delivering connectivity
from above but while also staying
12

put
within
Earths
a t m o s p h e r e .
A
cluster
of
giant,
unmanned
balloons,
floating
in a bluish, cloudless, ozonedrenched
r e a l m ,
about
20
miles vertical, will create an aerial
Wi-Fi matrix that will offer 3G-like
speeds. In that serene near-space,
where the air is thin, dry, and nippy,
theyll have no trucking with commercial jets or weather-related turbulencebut only different layers
of winds. These dirigibles will scud
away to wherever theyre needed
by hitchhiking on the back of a cold
stream, moving north, south, east,
or west. To test the program, 30
balloons were deployed above New
Zealands South Island, in June,
2013. Each unit can provide coverage to an area with a diameter of
25 miles. Below, in an apartment
complex, subscribers will be able
tap into it, using a bowl fixed on
their rooftop.

Not to be outshone,
Facebook, too, has
ambitions to develop
yet another kind of
network: a network of
massive drones thatll
allow more people to
get online. Connectivity
Lab, unveiled in March
last year, envisions
hoisting sun-driven,
long-endurance
flying machines thatll
stay airborne uninterruptedly for months.
At a recent Mashablehosted conference, Yael
Maguire, the projects
director of engineering, said that theyd
be about the size of a
Boeing-747. Facebook
is yet to announce
when theyll roll out.

weapons of destruction but instruments

of empowerment. Not
all of it is motivated
by altruism, of course.
Some of it is driven by
greed. Theres money
to be made and lots of

Since the end of the

Cold War, we havent
seen fiercer competition in the aerospace
sphere. Only, this isnt
a race between two
nations but among corporations, all belonging
to one nation. Also, its
not a race to put up
13

it. The more the eyeballs, the more is the

advertising
moolah.
But thats not the end
of it. Mr. Musk intends
to channel that revenue into funding a
similar infrastructure

on Mars. By the time

humanity arrives on
the Red Planet and sets
up a colony there, hed
like for them to be able
to send their maiden
Instagram post from
a steep-walled valley

on Noctis Labyrinthus.
Perhaps. Close your
eyes. Can you visualize
an internet station on
the rim of the Pavonis
Mons?

14

But for the moment,

theres a mission to
accomplish on our blue
dot.

Antibiotic
Apocalypse

by
ellie pownall
website

www.ispectrummagazine.com

ince the likes of Sir Alexander

Fleming, the single greatest
contribution to medicine has
been necessary for all aspects
of health care; antibiotics. The reduction of risk in open wound surgery,
infections and cancer treatments has
15

been massive, not only prolonging the

lives of millions of people but also creating a spring board for new technology and future discoveries. However,
we can ask ourselves how much progression have we made since the original brilliance of Sir Fleming in 1928.

The most recent discovery of a new

class of antibiotics was in the 1980s1,
and there are only two companies left
(GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca) in
a shrinking field of research into new
antibiotics which are slow and expensive to develop2.
Some journalistic publications such
as Nature Magazine, were able to shed
some light on the diminishing horizons
for the future of antibiotics, suggesting that the key to the success of new
antibiotics is screening uncultured
bacteria - through which a new antibiotic, Teixobactin has been found.
Teixobactin inhibits cell wall synthesis by binding to a highly conserved
motif of lipid II (precursor of peptidoglycan) and lipid III (precursor of cell
wall teichoic acid3). This development
arguably suggests a new path for the
discovery of antibiotics and only time
will tell how far this new method will
reproduce the diminishing support
behind new antibiotic progression.

16

A recent article by the BBC

outlined that a
terrible future
could be on the
horizon4 and
this along with
warnings from
the World Health
Organization
and The US centres of disease
control, states
there will be an
emergence of
nightmare bacteria
and an apocalypse
of disease. The antibiotics we use every
day are so valuable to
life, scientists question
what we will do without them.
From
the
tinniest
scratch, to open surgery, these operations
will be increasingly
risky. It seems a grave
future for the development of antibiotic progression lies ahead;
the brilliance that was
nineteenth century scientific bacterial discov-

In 1928 Alexander Fleming (18811955) discovered

penicillin, made from the Penicillium notatum mold.

eries has simmered to

an end and, whether
the technology needed
to discover new antibiotics is simply too
advanced or there is
no existing new strains
of antibiotic to discover
is debatable.
Developing antibiotics poses problems both commercially and
economically: Dr Brad
Spellberg, one of the
authors of the 2004
17

IDSA report Bad Bugs,

No Drugs expresses:
Antibiotics, in particular, have a poor return
on investment because
they are taken for a
short period of time
and cure their target disease. In contrast, drugs that treat
chronic illness, such as
high blood pressure,
are taken daily for
the rest of a patients
life. Companies have

figured out that they

make a lot more money
selling the latter drugs
than they do selling
antibiotics, Spellberg
says, highlighting the
lack of incentive for
companies to develop
antibiotic5. The lack
of initiative to produce
new antibiotics is a
clear flaw in the plan
to revolutionise
antibiotic
medicine.
While the
lack
of
interest
in creating these
n e w
treatments is
clearly due to expense,
some companies however are still working
hard to improve this
technology.
Dr John H Rex, Head
of Infection and Global
Medicines Development
at AstraZeneca recently spoke about the dangers of antimicrobial
resistance on National

Public Radios To the

Point show6, during
which he noted that he
is terrified at the prospect of returning to a
pre-antibiotic era. This
display of the true concerns for the development of antibiotics as
they are; hard to discover, hard to develop, and the econom-

The resistance against

antibiotics is commonly
described as the situation when the concentration of antibiotic
needed to kill the bacteria cannot be achieved
at the site of infection.
However, if a bacteria is
resistant to one strain
of antibiotic this does
not mean it will be to
a new or different type. This
highlights
the need
for
new
antibiotics to pre-

ics difficult to manage;

suggests scientists are
still working increasingly hard to assist in
developing new strains
of antibiotic, even if
some corporations have
deemed it too expensive.

vent bacteria that is

resistant to multiple
types of treatment,
named
multi-resistant. There are many
works being done to
prevent the spread of
multi-resistant
bacteria for example, A
group of International
experts came together through a joint ini-

18

One form of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria known as methicillin-resistant

Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, causes a range of illnesses, from skin and
wound infections to pneumonia and bloodstream infections that can cause sepsis
and death.

19

Photo credit:National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

and PDR. These help to categorize

different antibiotics and determine
how they would be tested for each
relevant bacterium, how to define
resistance within an antimicrobial
category and be epidemiologically
meaningful. For example penicillin
using the antimicrobial agent ampicillin, the bacterium Citrobacter
koseri (C. koseri) which contributes
to initiate brain abscesss
during
meningitis,
was found to be
resistant. It is
important to
subcategorise
and organise
the findings
of
these
results
to
e n s u r e
which strains
of resistance
are increasing
and eventually, how we will
prevent them. This
new way of categoriz-

tiative by the European Centre

for Disease Prevention and Control
(ECDC) and the centres for disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), to
create a standardized international
terminology with which to describe
acquired resistance profiles in
Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococus
spp, Enterobacteria (other than
salmonella and shigella), pseudomonas aeruginosa and
Acinetobacter spp.,
all bacteria often
responsible for
healthcareassociated
infections
and prone
to
multidrug resistance7. The
result
of
this was creating three
different subcategories for
Antibiotics to be
placed: MDR, XDR,

ing antibiotics will

hopefully
decrease
the chances of an
antibiotic apocalypse by
enabling
scientists
to
find
new techniques to
develop
the antibiotics that
h e a l t h
care systems and
surgery
practices can use to prevent the
spread of disease and risk of operations.

by using specific growth factors.

Texiocbactin, as previously stated,
was discovered in a screen of uncultured bacteria. It states This molecule, which we named teixobactin,
is an unusual depsipeptide which
contains enduracididine, methylphenylalanine, and four D-amino
acids. The biosynthetic gene cluster (GenBank accession number
KP006601) was identified using a
homology search (Supplementary

An article named A new antibiotic kills pathogens without detectable resistance8 by Dr. Lewis, outlines the development of several methods to grow uncultured
organisms by cultivation in-situ or
20

ing patients from infections, and a

future of discovery will be needed
to prevent this outbreak of newly
resistant biotic strains.

Discussion). This shows the development of homology searches and

the hope that future gene clusters
will contain new antibiotic information that we can use and re-develop.
The article is optimistic, stating that
Teixobactin has excellent activity
against Gram-Positive Pathogens,
including drug-resistant strains.
This is vital for companies such as
GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca
researching a new antibiotic to
replace resistant strains. The new
antibiotic is arguably a break in the
seemingly bleak period of scientific
discovery in this field. Scientists
suggest that Inhibition of teichoic
acid synthesis by teixobactin would
help liberate autolysins, contributing to the excellent lytic and killing activity of this antibiotic, suggesting a stronger, more powerful
antibiotic will be developed and
available in the future. The development of teichoic acid synthesis
is arguably a procedure which can
be used on future new developments of bacteria and therefore
improve the strength and stability
of this medicine in killing bacteria
in patients. Of course, one antibiotic will not change the course of
a scientific apocalypse in prevent-

The new field of resistance from the

body is an ideology which scientists
hope to erase, the CDC (Centres
for Disease Control and Prevention)
are fighting to produce clearer
patient instruction to reduce the
risk of antibiotic resistance. Many
aspects of antibiotic resistance rely
on the understanding of patients,
for example, if a patient were to
not finish the prescribed amount of
antibiotic. The NHS explains that
Strains of bacteria can mutate,
over time, become resistant to a
specific antibiotic. The chance of
this increases if a person does not
finish the course of antibiotics as
some bacteria may be left to develop resistance.9 This highlights the
importance of the patient being
fully aware of the need to finish a
course of antibiotics and therefore
can prevent the urgency of the
need for new strains of antibiotics,
in some cases.
21

This poster, for example, describes the correct measures to prevent a completely
resistant future for antibiotics. The development of patient information and guidance
is deemed just as important as the development of new antibiotics and anti-resistant
science.

of anti-biotic which will be produced

in the future, is a positive change
from previous antibiotic developments. This article describes how
the new development of antibiotic will regard both the interests
of the individual patient but also
the ecological impact of different
drugs and their delivery schedules.
This will be done by controlling the
concentrations within the human
body in a series of compartments,

The Department of Microbiology,

Hospital Ramn y Cajal, Madrid,
Spain, suggest a theory of how
to minimize the development of
antibiotic resistance. Stating that
Bacterial populations harbouring
determinants of antibiotic resistance will be selected for by a
range of antibiotic concentrations
which are able to suppress or slow
the growth of susceptible populations. Suggesting the new strain
22

Photot credit: Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts

Dr. Kim Lewis (Northeastern University)

However, there is still the case of

finding these new strains of antibiotic resistance in order to prevent
the growth of resistant bacterial
populations.

where the potential selective power

will be roughly proportional to the
time of exposure of bacteria to the
drug (selective period). This will
make the antibiotic more powerful
and less likely to be resistant as
it wont be in full contact with the
bacteria for a long period of time.
The department of Microbiology
suggests these new antibiotic will
be able to fight against resistance
and therefore create a more economic and effect pool of medicine.

Overall, the existence of usable

antibiotics is slowly coming to an
end and it is up to scientists such
as Dr. Lewis and the department of
microbiology, to discover new ways
23

to find strains of antibiotic which

have not yet been discovered, in
order to restart the cycle of disease cured by antibiotics leading
to good health. The importance of
antibiotic development is seemingly overlooked by funding programmes, however scientists continue to work excessively to develop
a way for antibiotics to function at
the same level of effectiveness as
previous discoveries. The rising of
Teixobactin holds a good lead for
future development. Although the
rate of development and discovery
of antibiotics is exceedingly slow,
the outcome will prevent bacterial
resistance and eventually, continue
the effectiveness of treatments in
diseases and infections.

2.The Battle to Discover new Antibiotics

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/
newsbysector/pharmaceuticalsandchemicals/9010738/The-battle-to-discover-newantibiotics.html
3.Uncultured Bacteria-The way forward
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/
v517/n7535/full/nature14098.html
4.BBC Article
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-21702647
5.Bulletin of the World Health OrganizationRace against time to develop new antibiotics
6.Bad News Bugs and The Need for New
Antibiotics- Stephanie Fischer
7.Research into Multi-Resistant bacteria
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/
j.1469-0691.2011.03570.x/full
8.A new antibiotic kills pathogens without
detectable resistance- Losee L. Ling1 *, Tanja
Schneider2,3*, Aaron J. Peoples1 , Amy L.
Spoering1 , Ina Engels2,3, Brian P. Conlon4 ,
Anna Mueller2,3, Till F. Schaberle3,5, Dallas
E. Hughes1 , Slava Epstein6 , Michael Jones7
, Linos Lazarides7 , Victoria A. Steadman7
, Douglas R. Cohen1 , Cintia R. Felix1 , K.
Ashley Fetterman1 , William P. Millett1 ,
Anthony G. Nitti1 , Ashley M. Zullo1 , Chao
Chen4 & Kim Lewis

REFERENCES:

9.Patient Input
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Antibioticspenicillins/Pages/Introduction.aspx

1.Novel classes of antibiotics or more of the

same?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/
PMC3085877/

24

Driving on sunshine
-a long and winding
road to the future

by
JOe baylis

new concept has been

gaining a great deal of
attention in the engineering
community
over the past year or so, with
the potential to transform how
we see energy production. It
is known as a solar road and

would essentially turn our

transport infrastructure system into one huge renewable
power station that produces
excess clean energy, pays for
itself, prevents accidents and
filters run-off to create drinking water.
25

Interlocking Solar Freakin Roadway panels

Youd be forgiven for treating this

proposal with cynicism. It does
sounds like its too good to be
true. Indeed, several well-qualified
people have protested passionately
and pessimistically, proving that
this idea will never work.

And theyre off!

Back in 2006, Mr and Mrs Brusaw,
an engineering couple in Idaho,
USA, started work on the idea of
replacing roadways with hexagonal
smart solar panels strong enough
on which to drive the heaviest of
vehicles.

Worry not however! The pioneers

continue to push on, and more
recent developments late in 2014
have put things back on track.
But how bright is the future of
solar roads really? Will we ever
get the chance to literally walk on
sunshine? Lets take a look at the
complicated journey the solar road
concept has taken so far, and the
pros and cons of the technology.

They developed their idea further before, in 2014, announcing

to the world that it was time to
enter it into reality, in the form
of a boorishly attention-grabbing
YouTube video called Solar Freakin
26

dollars - thats twice

what they were aiming for. To add to this,
the American Federal
Highway Administration
had previously invested
$750,000. This big idea
was obviously capturing
the publics and states
It kick-started a crowd- attention.
funding campaign that
And frankly, why
went on for two months
and managed to raise wouldnt it? If you dont
2.2 million American have the time or the
Roadways, which has
amassed nearly 20 million views (have a look
for yourself using the
link below).
https://www.
youtube.com/
watch?v=qlTA3rnpgzU

disposition to watch the

above video in full, then
heres a brief list of the
proposed benefits:
Production
of
enough clean renewable
energy to supply the
USA with three times
its needs (assuming
the whole road network
was transformed). The
worries of global warming and our dependence

Could Solar Freakin Roadways make these images

a thing of the past?

27

Heating element snow test/LEDs on show (in

the dark)/Artists impression of Solar Freakin
Roadways

nance costs, especially

as repairs would simply
involve directly replacing each damaged tile.
The panels have
LEDs installed, meaning
that the road can light
up ahead of cars, flash
Buildings
would warning signals and
plug directly into the reconfigure at a touch
road, and electric cars of a button (great for
could be charged as car parks, playgrounds
and managing traffic
they drive.
flow).
The panels are more
durable then tarmac The panels have
and so reduce mainte- pressure sensors so
on dwindling fossil fuels
would be allayed.
The surplus energy could then be sold
so that the solar panels effectively pay for
themselves.

28

can warn drivers of

any obstructions in the
road ahead (especially
attractive for unlit roads
in regions where large
wildlife roam dangerously in the darkness).
The panels contain
heating elements so can
clear the road of ice and
snow constantly, preventing untold numbers
of accidents.
Of course, the process of transforming
the whole US road net-

work would be a slow and gradual

one with large initial expenditures.
Nonetheless, most would agree
that the ideas presented are certainly very exciting.

Too good to be true

As with any new and exciting
development, there are plenty of
people out there looking to debunk
this concept; armed with realism
(some may read pessimism), they
argue that the project is just far
too ambitious. Unfortunately for
the yea-sayers, these critics have
some valid points. The below is a
useful video:

Photo credit:homewaters-jim.blogspot.co.uk
How will LEDs be seen under conditions like this?

enough energy to power even their

own LEDs, let alone provide energy
to the grid, pay for themselves,
heat up and filter water. It is argued
that they will end up losing money.

https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=H901KdXgHs4

This primary concern is made up of

the following problems:

The main argument is that, in the

absence of real data, the maths
simply does not add up, even with
some very generous assumptions
made. The solar panels allegedly will never be able to produce

Thickness of glass. The proposed glass has to be thick enough

to withstand huge pressure and
rough enough for added traction.
This means less light can reach the
29

 Dust, dirt and organic matter

mean the roads will need regular
cleaning for the solar cells to remain
efficient. Wear, tear and scratches
will also reduce the amount of light
reaching the cells. And most roads
are lined by large objects like trees,
preventing light from reaching the
surface.

solar panels underneath, reducing

their efficiency.
The LEDs are unlikely to be visible during the day. What ramifications does this have for warning
systems and lane configurations?
There is no information available regarding stopping distances
on this new glass surface. Of particular concern is stopping in wet
conditions.

It is impossible to angle the

solar panels towards the sun as it
moves across the sky, as with other
solar panels, further reducing efficiency.

The most efficient solar panels track the movement of the sun and have very thin, clear glass. Even these
take approximately a decade to pay for themselves

30

 The
interlocking
nature of the tiles means
that varying loads will
displace each tile in different ways, creating
an uneven and dangerous road surface more
susceptible to weathering.

solar panels?

The
project
will be incredibly
expensive to get
off the ground.
Cutting-edge
technology, complex wiring and
solar panels do
How will roads get not come cheap.
the energy in the winter to melt ice when the How will such
comangle of the sun is low, high-tech
cloud cover is high and
A full car park will block sunlight at the most valusnow is covering the

able time of the day/Will the road get enough energy

to melt ice if it is already covered in snow? And lets
not forget about trees and buildings that often cast
shadows over roads

remote areas moniponents fare toring is nigh on imposin inhospitable sible.

environments
e.g. the impact Car parks will be
of frost and useless given that they
are commonly covered
heat.
in cars during the day,
What about when all the sunlight is
the problem of around for business.
theft? Valuable
pieces
of In the longer term
equipment will will the problem of
be placed in black outs and cyber
31

attacks be addressed?
This has the potential of
causing absolute havoc.

A step forward

What about light

pollution? This is already
proving to be an annoyance around the world.
Laying down roads that
light up wont exactly
help the situation.

The Brusaws refuse

to take these criticisms
lying down and have
issued answers to many
FAQs. For example, their
embossed glass design
will not only create traction but also refract light
onto the sensors below,
apparently reducing the
problem of the changing
angle of the sun. Some
of these replies are a
little generic and woolly though, so a direct
rebuttal to the critics,
with hard facts and figures, would be useful.
The FAQ section of their
website can be found in
the link below.
http://www.solarroadways.com/faq.shtml

Admittedly, it does
look like a worrying collection of set-backs and
opponents simply say,
why not just cover the
millions of empty roofs
around the world with
proven, high efficiency
solar panels?
So, does this spell the
end of solar roadways?
I wouldnt be so sure

But its not all about

the Brusaws. This idea
is also being developed
in the Netherlands, with
the building of a solar
cycle path in the north32

ern town of Krommenie.

A 70 metre stretch of
road is actually currently in use (something
that has been missing
from the Idaho campaign) and supports
around 2000 cyclists a
day, cost 3million Euros
to build (half covered
by the government)
and, an extension of
100 metres, will power
three houses.
Initially developed by
TNO (a Dutch scientific research company), the design is called
SolaRoad, and is slightly different to Solar
Freakin Roadways. One
variation for example,
is that the solar cells
are embedded in rectangular concrete slabs
rather than in a tessellating pattern.

So, maybe this is 2-1 to the pioneers

Any word from the

naysayers?

Photo credit: Solaroad

SolaRoad cells are embedded in concrete slabs,

rather than tessellating panels

It is clear that we are still in

a period of trials and testing
for these solar roads, and the
Dutch example demonstrated
this in December 2014 (a month
after opening). Cold weather
caused the top layer to become
detached from its anchor and
so a metre section was deactivated.
But, before the cynics pounce,
this is just par for the course for
any ground breaking project. It
wouldnt be a trial without a few
tribulations.

The main difference though, is

that they have put more emphasis
on green energy rather than extra
benefits. The engineers behind this
project are hopeful it could be
expanded more to the main roads
to help power traffic lights and
cars in the future, but not to the
same outrageous extent as their
American cousins. This shift in
focus renders a lot of the criticisms
more irrelevant, which opponents
have acknowledged.

The emergence of SolaRoad has

stifled protestations somewhat,
because it seems to be more of a
well thought out, sensible and realistic project. However, many are
indeed still focussing on the sheer
expense of such a project, which is
a fair point to some extent, espe33

cially if you live

in the dreamland that is
Solar Freakin
Roadways.

the total cost of Solar Freakin

Roadways is 56 trillion dollars (or
around $20 million per mile), which
is just under four times the national
debt of the USA.

The Brusaws
and others say
that starting small will
generate capital to build
more, but even that doesnt look
likely, considering how far off we
are from actually making a profit
on these things. As much as wed
all love to believe that there will
still be energy left over to sell, the
compelling maths shown by critics shows that this is very far from
reality.

On the other side of the Atlantic,

the Dutch SolaRoad, assuming it
will lengthen to 100m, will cost
around 3 million Euros (3.5 million
dollars), which seems expensive
considering that it will only produce enough energy to power three
houses. But thats neither here nor
there. It is what this 3 million represents that is important a step
towards a renewable and sustainable future.

To give some kind of perspective,

one such astronomical estimate
of the total cost of Solar Freakin
Roadways is 56 trillion dollars (or
around $20 million per mile), which
is just under four times the national
debt of the USA. This is admittedly
only an estimate, and is one of the
only ones available. The Brusaws
are yet to have offered an official
detailed quote, which is actually
quite worrying in itself.

So Whats next?
Excitingly, many institutions and
organisations are commercially interested in this concept. For
example the Mayor of London, Boris
Johnson, has been mulling over the
possibility of installing these road34

Can you
imagine
the streets
of London
replaced by
solar cells

ways in the UKs capital. There is

one caveat here though - his focus
is currently on the Brusaws campaign. I would urge him to remain
a little closer to home and look into
the Dutch offering first (especially
considering Boris obsession with
cycling).
Several critics of the solar road
concept do actually agree that it is
an attractive project and shouldnt
necessarily be cast asunder. In
this world though, profitability is
a barrier to all things; if something doesnt make money it wont
become mainstream. This rules out
the all singing all dancing Solar
Freakin Roadways at least for now,
as we simply do not have the capital. However, it is important not to
squash the idea into the ground. To
shoot down pioneering work is to
halt the progression of the human
race. Lets start at a grassroots
35

level and build from there.

Projects like the Dutch SolaRoad
are useful for smaller, more niche
applications like high-tech parks,
playgrounds, pavements and cycle
paths. And who knows, we may
see some serious developments in
the future. First, traffic lights may
be powered using this technology,
then streetlights, then cars, then
whole streets. Sooner or later whos
to say we cant end up with cities?

Research into renewable alternatives to fossil fuels is essential. With

time, breakthrough will build upon
breakthrough and we will emerge
with a sustainable energy source
that will benefit the whole planet. It
is this goal that we must focus on.

by
Anette Bopp

Literally integrative:
Anthroposophic
Medicine

ore and more patients want to be

treated not only by conventional
therapies but also in a holistic
way with complementary methods and therapies. This is for good reason: an individual is not simply a body;
there is also psyche and personality to be

36

taken into account as well. Furthermore,

every human being lives in a certain professional, personal, and social context.
Anthroposophic medicine has occupied
this subject in a holistic-integrative manner for more than 90 years.

Anthroposophic medicine is not an alternative medicine. It

doesnt seek to replace
conventional medicine.
On the contrary it is an
extension of it, dealing
not only with the physical but also with the
soul and spirit. Based
on accepted medical science, it draws
on everything useful
that modern medicine
has to offer: medical
technology, laboratory tests, medication,
operations, and intensive care. But thats
not the only benefit. In
addition, it assesses the
individual as a whole
entity, examining the
aspects that determine
a persons uniqueness
according to anthroposophical norms. For
instance, this may
include physique and
body language, physical flow, handshake,
sleeping habits, sensitivity to changes in

temperature, breathing, and biorhythms.

Anthroposophic medicine therefore attempts
to include the individuality of the patient, as
well as the accepted
features of an illness,
in the treatment process. For just as each
person is unique, so is
each treatment.

Anthroposophic medicine is not pre-determined. It avoids pure

routine. Even if the
same
disease
pictures constantly recur,
each illness manifests itself differently
in each patient a
manifestation inseparable from the uniqueness of the individual.
Anthroposophic medicine therefore aims to
form a picture of the
physical, psychological, and personal circumstances that have
37

paved the way for an

illness to take hold.
Taking such factors into
consideration during
diagnosis and therapy
and re-applying the
process to every new
patient, guided by scientific findings, medical experience, per-

sonal discernment, and

intuition, is fundamental to anthroposophic
medicine. Any medicine that ignores the
person as an individual
cannot claim to be true
human medicine.

Moreover, anthroposophic medicine supplements conventional

medicine with various
special forms of treatment. These include

Anthroposophic therapies deal with more than just the

physical body of human beings.

Photo credit: (C) Stephan Brendgen

38

naturopathic
medicines, modified physical and palliative treatments (involving baths,
compresses, bandages
and special [rhythmic]
massages) as well as
artistic forms of treatment, such as sculpture, painting, music
therapy, elocution, and eurythmy therapy. The
aim of all artistic
forms of treatment is that the
patient stimulates the internal
healing process
of body and soul
under guidance
from their therapist.

Drug therapy
within anthroposophic medicine is based on
the ancient principle: as little
as possible and

only as long as necessary. In cases

of acutely severe and life-threatening illness, the use of allopathic
or conventional drugs (like antibiotics or cortisone, etc.) is usually
unavoidable. However, whenever
possible, symptoms are not suppressed; instead the intention is to
activate powers of self-healing with
the aid of homeopathic and other
produced anthroposophic drugs and
to stimulate the body into finding
its own natural rhythm once more.
In this field, anthroposophic medicine follows a holistic and pluralistic
approach.

A well-known example of a typical anthroposophic drug therapy is

mistletoe, which is used as medicinal plant in oncology. In Europe
its the most common and most
investigated drugs in integrative
oncology. More than one hundred
clinical studies have proved the
advantages in quality of life when
patients used mistletoe in addition
to, e.g., chemotherapy, radiation,
or other conventional cancer treatments. Some studies even indicate
that there is also the possibility of
39

life extension.
With its synthesis of natural and
spiritual science anthroposophic medicine links the conventional
pathogenic approach (focusing on
the illness) to a salutogenic medical
perspective (focusing on health).
This produces a holistic appreciation of health, illness, and treatment and thats exactly what
modern humanity needs. In this
day and age, patients dont want to
be seen merely as an illness, but as
a person with an illness.

Anthroposophic medicine is
practised in more than 80 countries around the world: in Cape
Town and Helsinki, Moscow and
Los Angeles, Hamburg and Manila,
and Sao Paulo and Santiago de
Chile. The first anthroposophic hospital for acute care was
Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus
Herdecke (www.gemeinschaftskrankenhaus.de), founded in 1969.
It has a capacity of 471 beds for
all important medical departments
with 1250 employees and more than
50,000 patients a year (inpatients

Photo credit: (C) Stephan Brendgen

The Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Herdecke is one of the leading and best equipped
hospitals in Germany which offers anthroposophic therapies.

and outpatients). Moreover, there

are another two big hospitals for
acute care in Berlin and Stuttgart
and eleven specialized hospitals,
rehabilitation clinics, or medical
departments. In addition, there are
professional associations for therapists and nurses and a civil organisations like GESUNDHEIT AKTIV
Anthroposophic Medicine
(www.gesundheit-aktiv.de), which
stands for a holistic health system.

Sources:
Anthroposophic Medicine its nature, its
aims, its possibilities and Anthroposophic
Treatments principles, spectrum, application, brochures published by the Medical
Section at the Goetheanum, http://www.
medsektion-goetheanum.org/home/publikationen/.
Website Verband Anthroposophischer Kliniken
e.V.
Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Herdecke
www.gemeinschaftskrankenhaus.de
Gesundheit Aktiv
www.gesundheit-aktiv.de

40

Phytotelmata and
other extreme habitats of
dragonfly development:
a review

by
Olga Antczak
e-mail

ola.antczak10@gmail.com

Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology, University of Lodz,

Banacha st. 12/16, Pl-90-237 d, Poland

41

Abstract:

ypical biotopes inhabited

by the dragonflies larvae
are rivers, creeks, streams,
lakes, ponds, bogs, as well
as tanks in excavation pits. It turns
out, however, that there are species
of dragonflies resistant to severe
environmental conditions, capable
of living in very unusual habitats.
There are species inhabiting waterfalls, saline water or even temporary desert pools. Several tropical
species inhabit plant-held waters
- phytotelmata water bodies in
leaves, roots, tree hollows. There
are also terrestrial or semi-terrestrial
dragonflies, which are adapted to
live in moss, on wet rocks or ground
litter. The diversity of habitats and
adaptations of dragonflies related to
these harsh conditions is enormous.
These dragonflies enrich the ecosystems, as an important component of
food webs, and their presence certainly increases the aesthetic value
of the landscape. The importance
of protecting these extraordinary
developmental habitats is crucial in
context of the conservation of the
odonata fauna.

42

1.
Introduction
Dragonflies (Odonata)
are widespread hemimetabolous
insects.
They are amphibiotic their larvae are strongly associated with the
aquatic environment,
while adults are flying
insects connected with
water throughout their
lives, especially during
oviposition.
According to the type
of inhabited microhabitat, there are two
groups of dragonflies
larvae - one living on
sand or gravel as well
as decomposed organic
matter, and the second
one being phytophiles
living mainly among
macrophytes.
Those microhabitats
are mainly found in running waters, both natural
and anthropogenic, like
rivers, streams, drainage ditches or channels.

Equally preferable are

different kinds of standing waters like lakes,
ponds, bogs, swamps,
as well as tanks in gravel
pits, quarries, clay and
peat excavations. But
in some cases, tiny and
temporary water reservoirs, like phytotelmata
seem to be enough.

2. Discussion
What we call
an
extreme place to live
is relative, but for this
review the extremely
challenging habitats,
which require special
adaptations from dragonflies living there,
were selected.
The first species is semiterrestrial
Uropetala
carovei, which inhabits highland spring-fed
bogs in New Zealand
(Wolfe 1953, Corbet
1962, Silsby 2001). It
drills little burrows in the
43

seepage area, often with

two openings or several chambers on the
basis (Fig.1). However,
there was no case of
finding more than one
larva in single burrow
(Wolfe 1953). Larvae
live in the chambers
embedded in a fine silt
with their caudal plates
above. The burrows are
constructed in such a
way as to allow water
infiltration to the inside,
so that they are provided with the necessary
moisture to breathe
through their rectal gill.
Therefore, Uropetala
larvae can spend even
several months out of
the water (Wolfe 1953,
Corbet 1999). That
construction can take
various forms, dependent on several factors.
Firstly the larva lives
just below the water
level, but older instars
are found at the greater depth (Wolfe 1953).
Uropetala dragonflies

Similar burrows are

drilled by the other
Petaluridae
larvae,
for example Petalura
gigantea, which was
described by Tillyard
(1911).
In addition, a few fully
terrestrial species, like
Hawaiian Megalagrion
oahuense, are known.
Its habitat is a rhizome mat of ferns like
Dicranopteris linearis or
Gleichenia sp. growing
on the steep hillsides
(Corbet 1962, Silsby
2001).
The
larvae
breathe using atmospheric oxygen thanks
to the high humidity of
the air. Moreover, they
have a few morphological adaptations to
prevent excessive loss
of moisture - they are
stocky and hairy, their
body is strongly shortened and their caudal
Fig. 1. The burrow of Uropetala lamellae are squat and
carovei type with several thickly covered with
chambers (Wolfe 1953, modi- setae (Corbet 1962).
fied)
also use their burrows
for hunting. They show
nocturnal activity, when
the entrances of their
burrows are even less
visible. The darkness is
used to hunt for small
arthropods by taking
them by surprise (Wolfe
1953, Winstanley &
Rowe 1980).

44

Larvae,
which
inhabit reservoirs periodically drying out,
have to deal with similar problems. Australian
Synthemis eustalacta
occupies summer-dry
pools and is able to
survive in shallow, dry
sand up to 10 weeks
without being moistened. After this period
of time the larva is so
dry that in its first contact with water it floats
on the surface (Tillyard
1910, Corbet 1999). It
is probably also caused
by the structure of the
hydrophobic wax covering the body surface (Corbet 1999).
However, there are not
many drought-resistant larvae. Common
adaptation for droughts
is a modification of
voltinism (Suhling et
al. 2004, Corbet et al.
2006). Odonata often
use the strategy of
accelerating the development cycle in order

to emerge from the pool

before drying out. It is
an especially common
mechanism for the seasonal-rainfall pools in
deserts (Corbet 1999,
Suhling et al. 2004). In
contrast, some dragonflies can withhold their
development by the
egg diapause. Indian
Potamarcha congener
can have the eggs in
that state up to 80
days (Corbet 1999).
During the temporary
zone larvae often get
buried in the wet sand
and when the pond gets
refilled by water, they
continue their development (Corbet 1999,
Suhling et al. 2004).
Another species of
this genus, Megalagrion
amaurodytum (= M.
koelense) breeds in
the leaf axils of Astelia
and Freycinetia in the
wet upland forests of
Hawaii, although it is
able to survive without the water (Corbet

1962).
Studies
of
Howarth and Watson
show that M. amaurodytum, as well as
Pseudocordulia species, can even climb out
if placed in free water
(Corbet 1999). Williams
(1936) described also
other
Megalagrion
larvae crawling in a
water-film on rocks. In
many species of this
genus the reduction of
gills and tracheae is
observed (Richards &
Davies 1977).
Worldwide 47 dragonfly species are known
to use phytotelmata as
a larval habitat (Corbet
1999). Lyriothemis tricolor is an example of
development in tree
holes in India (Das et
al. 2013), whereas in
Borneo this is probably the most important habitat in the forest ecosystem (Corbet
1999). Water in these
tanks is characterized
by specific physical and
45

chemical conditions,
such as low pH, high
content of dissolved
solids and nutrients,
and oxygen deficiencies. Therefore, the
larvae have to have
high tolerance to such
conditions. In addition,
there are even such
adaptations as cannibalism. Megaloprepus
caerulatus appears to
be the best example
of this mechanism.
Only one larva can survive for 1-2 liters of
water in a tree hollow
(Fincke 1994, 2011).
In smaller habitats the
larva, which hatched
first, can patrol the
space, eating all newly
hatched larvae (Fincke
1996, 1999, 2011). In
the biggest hollows as
many as 30 larvae are
able to develop (Fincke
2011). This behavior
provides them sooner
emergence at a larger
size (Fincke 2011).

Photo credit:By USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab from Beltsville,USAl via Wikimedia Commons is licensed under CC-BY-2.0

Erythrodiplax berenice

Mecistogaster ornata larvae use a different strategy to gain

the necessary quantity of dissolved oxygen
in tree hollow tanks
some of them live in
symbiosis with algae
growing on the dorsal
surface of their body,
including caudal lamellae. They face towards
the sunlight, enabling
the photosynthesis of
the algae (de la Rosa
& Ramirez-Ulate 1995,

Corbet 1999).
Despite the most often
occupied phytotelmata by Odonata being
Bromeliaceae tanks as
well as leaf axils of
other plants and tree
cavities, there are also
species found in even
smaller water bodies,
like Hadrothemis camarensis, which is able
to develop in bamboo
stamps (Corbet 1962).
Obviously, many of
these untypical micro46

habitats
are
facultative,
occupied
in case of
lack of the
more suitable sites
(Corbet
1 9 6 2 ,
S i l s b y
2001).
There
are
also
several
dragonflies, which oviposit and develop solely
in extreme habitats.
The larvae of the only
true marine species,
Erythrodiplax berenice,
is unable to develop
in freshwater (Wright
1943, Smith & Smith
1996), however in laboratory studies they
have managed to live
in the tap water for one
month (Smith & Smith
1996). The natural
habitats of this dragonfly are rocky mangrove

flats and tidal marshes (Dunson

1980, Smith & Smith 1996, Corbet
1999). Optimal salinity for them is
around 36-38 ppt, although they
are able to live in sea water up to
260% thanks to osmoregulatory
abilities (Dunson 1980). Several
Odonata occupy brackish water of
varying salinity on San Salvador
(the Bahamas) these ecosystems
are inhabited by Erythemis simplicicollis, Orthemis ferruginea and
Pantala flavescens (Smith & Smith
1996).

Another interesting larval habitat is waterfalls. The best known
example is the African dragonfly
Zygonyx natalensis. After copulation, they fly in tandem through
the water spray and then a female
oviposits in the mats of roots, bryozoans or moss in the spray zone
along a waterfall (Corbet 1962,
Martens 1991). In Panama and
Costa Rica Thaumatoneura inopinata shows similar behavior (Calvert
1914, Silsby 1991). These larvae
are able to live on the wet vertical
rocks behind rapidly falling water
thanks to the dorsoventrally flattened body and long powerful legs
with strong claws (Silsby 1991).
In this article only part of
47

very unusual and extraordinary larval development habitats has been

described with probably plenty more
to be yet discovered.

3. conclusion

Why do Odonata develop in such
harsh habitats? One of the answers
is definitely lack of other convenient
breeding sites. What is more important, in most of such places there
are not many predators. Therefore,
the adaptations to the living in
extreme habitats, like high saline
waters and waterfalls, are
often the survival strategy (Calvert 1914, Corbet
1999). In
phyto-

Why do Odonata
develop in such
harsh habitats?

48

telmata, for example, dragonfly

and damselfly larvae are known to
be the top predators (Fincke 1994).
Furthermore, relatively large
amounts of terrestrial and semiterrestrial Megalagrion damselflies
on Hawaii are most likely the result
of adaptive radiation. Jordan et al.
(2003) pointed out that high levels of endemism and species richness can be correlated with islands
ages. The emergence of the new
island allowed the larvae to colonize the available ecological niche
by developing new adaptations

and thus, many different ecological

guilds were established (Jordan et
al. 2003). Consequently, species of
this genus inhabit equal amount of
habitats as all other damselflies in
the world combined (Simon 1987).
Moreover, the larvae had the possibility to colonize phytotelmata
and terrestrial habitats due to the
historical absence of mammals and
ants in Hawaii (Jordan et al. 2003).

Zimmerman (2001) presumes
that the terrestrial Megalagrion
oahuense larvae could, in the future,
be an ancestor for the new order
of insects, which would evolve in
49

Hawaii.
One thing is certain - the
survival of these extraordinary
Odonata depends in greater scale
on human activity. The ecosystems
inhabited by dragonflies are under
strong human pressure. It affects
mainly tropical habitats, which are
a hotspot of dragonfly biodiversity. In addition, these dragonflies
are an essential component of the
food web in many ecosystems.
Therefore, there is an urgent need
for their protection.

Acknowledgments

Hupao for checking the linguistic

correctness.

I am very grateful to Grzegorz

Toczyk for valuable comments.
I also would like to thank Kamil
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51

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