Objective conclusions depend on the tree records being anaccurate representation of town vegetation.
Is it possible that tree records could be kept inaccurately or that they were lost or altered in the time since they were originally taken? Could this create a lot of sample error that could skew the data or create outliers?
Native Americans used fi re to increase landscape het-erogeneity,
Super interesting that Native Americans 500+ years ago used methods that are still used in some cases today
Clonal propagation has been used for millennia as a means of preserving and promoting selected phenotypes ( McKey et al., 2010 )
"Clonal Propogation - Multiplication of genetically identical copies of a cultivar by asexual reproduction." Is clonal propagation a way people create GMO's? Also, are these organisms altered genetically in any way or they completely identical?
The vision of the Millennium EcosystemAssessment is a world in which people andinstitutions appreciate natural systems and thebiodiversity that constitutes their principalworking parts as vital assets, recognize thecentral roles these assets play in supportinghuman well‐being, and routinely incorporatetheir material and intangible values intodecision‐making.
This sort of seems like it's a little far fetched. In todays world our society is too capitalistic for us to really place that much importance on natural systems and biodiversity and the benefits they have for us. How can we expect people to place more importance on nature when money runs our lives?
“Hishuk ishtswalk,”which means,“Everything is one and allis interconnected”). This worldview asserts thatthe actions humans take have consequences innature.
This seems to be true in regard to almost every aspect of the human way of life. Our actions every single day, especially in developed countries, have negative impacts on the environment around us. How many people can really say they can spend a whole day without doing something that's contributing to the climate change crisis?
Before the advent of high- throughput sequencing technology, genetic data were sparse and therefore most often used simply to corroborate or contradict morphology- based phylogenetic hypotheses.
Before DNA sequencing was developed was taxonomy solely based upon physical characteristics of plants and animals?
For example, it has been suggested thata high disparity might allow taxa to overcome extinction eventsmore easily, as they have a broader spectrum of possibilities foradaptation to changing environments
So, when taxa in an environment have high disparity they're more likely to to survive and overcome changes to their environment or habitat? Is this because high disparity could mean theres less competition for essential resources?
The most common measure of irreplaceabilityis plant endemism, used by four of the templates,with afifth (Stattersfieldet al.1998) using birdendemism.
It's very interesting that there are endemic birds. It would seem logically that the ability to fly would mean birds no matter the species would be able to live in a wide variety of places. Do endemic birds have adaptations that only allow them to live in one place, such as losing the ability to fly?
Across allsampled populations, genetic diversity decreased and genetic differentiation increased with declining population size
That seems like this would make sense. The smaller the population size the less diverse the population would be because there aren't at many individuals to help boost the diversity.
Currently, there are a range of tools available forundertaking cophylogenetic analysis, and these methodscan mainly be sorted into event-based and global-fitmethods.
This is talking about tools that allow scientists to put species or groups of organisms into groups or to create phylogenetic trees. Are scientists still able to easily do this for animals that have gone extinct long ago that they don't have DNA samples for?
With more climate change, the impacts uponand response of biological diversity will changequalitatively and become more complex andharder to manage.
Can this be observed at the arctic more so than it can be at the equator? It seems like the equator isn't addressed as much when it comes to climate change talk. There is obviously biodiversity loss in the arctic when it comes to climate change because there is so much more habitat loss possible. I'm really curious to know if any species have been observed moving away from the equator because of the increase in temperature.
This research includes pollination records from the northeastern US, includ-ing 6 states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
If this research included the rest of the US would it change significantly or would it be at least somewhat similar?
Another apomorphy for the angiosperms is a reduced, three-celled male gametophyte (Figure 6.8). No other plant group has a male gametophyte so reduced in cell number.
From what i've read having a reduced gametophyte means they develop into food sources for baby sporophytes, which allows the plant to have seeds so they're better at dispersal. Are there any disadvantages of reduced gametophytes?
ound that Nuphar and Persea tepals are genetically most similar to each other, within their respective flowers, and collectively are more process homologous with eudicot sepals than with any other floral organs. Deeper in the cluster hierarchy, the sepals/tepals transcriptional program was closest to that operating in stamens, whereas eudicot petals were more similar to carpels. Thi
It this common in other types of plants as well where structures that look different are genetically the same?
Refugia are geographical areas of sheltered topography thatprovided suitable stable microclimates allowing species to persistthroughout climatic oscillations
What adaptations do plants have that allow them to survive in these areas with harsh conditions?
Many predators have been deliberately intro-duced for“biological control”of previously in-troduced species (see below), and a number ofthese have succeeded in keeping populations ofthe target species at greatly reduced levels.
Is this a common thing? Do people sometimes try to eradicate one bad invasive species with one that people think will be less harmful to their community or environment? It seems as though this could go wrong very easily if a species doesn't interact with the environment it's put into the way it was planned.
As indicated in the previous community de- scriptions, small and rather isolated communities of Diapensia lapponica, Vaccinium uliginosum var. alpinumn, Juncus trifidus, and Potentilla tridentata occur in well-drained, winter-exposed sites at nearly all elevations and exposures. These sites typically contain active to partially stabilized soil polygon
How do soil polygons occur? Is it something rare that only occurs when a particular set of conditions arise? Also, are soil polygons what allow these species to thrive in nearly all elevations and exposures?
In sum, game harvest studies throughout thetropics have shown that most unregulated, com-mercial hunting for wild meat is unsustainable(Robinson and Bennett 2000; Nasiet al.2008),and that even subsistence hunting driven bylocal demand can severely threaten many medi-um to large-bodied vertebrate populations, withpotentially far-reaching consequences to otherspecies
If this is true why aren't regulations much more strict and why aren't there more limits on hunting and fishing both commercially and recreationally? It seems as though we know it's having a negative impact and ding harm but just not doing anything to stop it.
A 10 to 15 year lifespan for arborescent lycopsids would require 3 to4 m of growth per year in the largest taxa. Where such rapid rates of ex-tension do exist, they are typically associated with climbers freed fromthe need to provide their own structural support. Greater than 2 m ofgrowth per year is known among living self-supporting plants, butrapid growth is typically accommodated by extensive internode elonga-tion, e.g. bamboo, the bolting reproductive axes of rosette plants, thelong shoots ofGinkgorelative to the short shoots.
What is the benefit of this shorter lifespan with rapid growth? Does it have something to do with competition? If there is less competition around would it allow them to live longer and grow more slowly? Also, is there a limit of how tall they can grow?
. The two major driversof boreal disturbance dynamics (fire and insectinfestation) are closely associated with weatherconditions (Sojaetal.2007) and predicted to beboth more frequent and intense over the nextcentury (Kurzetal.2008); more human‐ignitedfires are also predicted as access to the forestexpands (Achardetal.2008). Increased harvest,fire and insect infestations will raise the rates ofcarbon loss to the atmosphere, but climatemodels also suggest that changes to albedo andevapotranspiration due to these disturbanceswill offset the lost carbon stores (Balaetal.2007)
This seems like a big cycle. The warming of the Earth causes drought and fires. Fires release more carbon into the atmosphere. Increased carbon in the atmosphere increases the rate of warming of Earth. Is there any real way to reverse this then? It seems like no matter what we do, because it was already set in motion, this cycle would be very difficult to reverse or stop.
Fourth, the vascular cylinder of roots is surrounded by an endodermiswithCasparian strips
Casparian strips are chemically different from the rest of the cell wall, but what are their specific function? Could they be used for diffusion?
A cuticle is a protective layer that is secreted to the outside of the cells of the epider-mis (Gr. epi, upon+derma, skin ), the outermost layer of land plant organs.
Is the cuticle what allows plants to survive through extreme temperature and weather? If they didn't have the cuticle would they die a lot quicker? Also does every plant have one even big trees with thick bark?
In some unicellular para-sites, the mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) hasbeen lost entirely, with far-reaching consequencesfor the physiology of the organism
Does this mean that parasitic relationships for single celled organisms can result in the DNA of the organism thats being preyed upon being destroyed completely? If so, does that complicate reproduction of those organisms, or are they able to at all?
Habitat fragmentation is another process thatcan disrupt mutualistic interactions by reducingthe diversity and abundance of pollinators andseed dispersal agents, and creating barriers topollen and seed dispersal
I'm a little confused by this. If the habitat of one of the species in the mutualistic relationship is fragmented by the other species, wouldn't that sort shift the relationship from mutualism to parasitism? Can habitat fragmentation happen from another source or does it only happen from species that live in the same area?
Phototropins are blue-light photoreceptors that regulate shoot phototropism, chloroplast movement, stomatal open-ing, and leaf expansion; they also contribute to rapid de-etiolation
It seems odd that phototropins only recognize blue light. It seems like it would be more beneficial to be able to recognize every color light. What happens to plants that are below the tree canopy where less light shines through? Will they adapt and start to recognize other light so they survive?