Boating and lightning don't 

 mix. If you are caught in a storm, 

 follow a few important rules to 

 help ensure your safety. 



• Make sure all of your passengers 

 are out of the water. 



• Put away all objects that can 

 attract lightning, such as fishing 

 rods. 



• Set course for shore. 



• Have passengers lie low and 

 separate from one other in the 

 center of the cabin or boat. 

 Protect and insulate them with 

 cushions. Remove all metal 

 jewelry, eyeglasses and clothing 

 containing metal. 



• Do not touch wet objects, metal 

 or electronic equipment such as 

 the radio. 



• Do not "bridge" metal objects by 

 having, for example, one hand 

 on a gear lever and the other on a 

 control knob. 



• If you are caught out in a small, 

 open boat, lie down as low as 

 possible. 



• Learn cardiopulmonary 

 resuscitation (CPR). A lightning 

 strike, or even a near miss, can 

 inteimpt a person's heartbeat or 

 affect respiration. 



The above tips were taken 

 from Lightning and Boats, a 

 publication of the Michigan Sea 

 Grant College Program. To order 

 a free copy, write to North 

 Carolina Sea Grant, Box 8605. 

 North Carolina State University, 

 Raleigh. NC 27695-8605. Or call 

 9 19/5 1 5-9 101. Ask for publication 

 UNC-SG-95-05. B 



Meanwhile, a host of other plants - 

 such as the carnivorous Venus' flytrap, 

 butterworts and sundews - can survive 

 only in a longleaf pine savanna where the 

 underbrush is regularly cleared out by fires. 



New growth emerges from the scorched land. 



Here, many species of lilies and 

 orchids thrive, and the diversity of plant 

 life results from the equalizing force of 

 lightning, which sparks fires that do not 

 allow one plant to dominate another. The 

 longleaf pine savannas may well offer 

 more plant diversity on a small scale than 

 even tropical rain forests, Ward says, 

 noting that scientists have found as many 

 as 50 plant species in just 1 square meter of 

 the savannas. 



"The fire puts a damper on any one 

 species being able to take over and 

 dominate a particular piece of land," he 

 says. "It sets it all back. And then, 

 everybody is sort of fighting for existence 

 again, and fire comes along and knocks 

 everybody back. So it's harder for one 

 particular species to gain the upper hand." 



Before human settlement, lightning 

 fires naturally occurred on coastal plains 

 sandhills and pine savannas every two to 

 seven years. Without such barriers as 

 roads, they had free reign to cover vast 

 spaces. Nowa- 

 days, they have 

 fewer chances of 

 burning as 

 people move into 

 previously 

 uninhabited 

 areas. As a result, 

 plant diversity is 

 expected to keep 

 dropping in fire- 

 prone land- 

 scapes. 



"Without 

 fire, a few of the 

 plants may really 

 prosper, but 

 many of them 

 will eventually 

 succumb 

 because, in 

 general, they are 

 all adapted to this 

 frequent fire 

 cycle," Ward 

 says. "Even the 

 big plants like 

 longleaf pine 

 are eventually going to suffer because 

 their seeds need to drop in a soil that 

 sunlight hits and that has a high mineral 

 content. And without fires, the ground gets 

 shaded and begins to accumulate humus 

 and has a higher organic mix so that it 

 can't regenerate itself without fire." 



Lightning's life-giving forces may 

 appear surprising in view of its reputation 

 as a killer. But scientists have long thought 

 that we may be indebted to lightning for 

 the presence of life on Earth. 



Billions of years ago, they theorize, 

 lightning's bombardment of the primordial 

 atmosphere helped turn it into organic 

 molecules, which rained into the oceans. 

 Over time, these molecules became 

 increasingly complex, eventually develop- 

 ing into the earliest forms of life. □ 



COASTWATCH 1 



