Local Adaptation of Plants Essay

When humans develop land for houses and building, they cut down trees and changed animal and plant habitats. Some animals, like the raccoon and the skunk, can adapt, but other animals can’t adapt and their population is

Plants are found everywhere on earth, up high on the ridge and down low in caves and caverns. The types of plants that live in these places depends on many factors. These factors are separated into two different categories, the biotic factors and the abiotic factors. Some of the biotic factors include, predation, competition, and habitat destruction. Plants with limited competition and large amounts of resources will be in a higher abundance than plants with limited resources and higher competition rates will be confined to areas and either out competed or will be the dominant species. Certain plants adapt to these factors and thrive and others don’t do as well. Some of the abiotic factors include, sunlight, water, temperature, and wind. These

The bar chart was used to compare the number of species in each transect. In transect A, there were 5 different species. The species in this area were mostly grass, forbs, moss, bugs and beetles. Bugs and beetles made up a small population of this transect. In transect B, there were also 5 species. The species were mostly grass, shrubs, forbs, moss and bugs. In this transect, shrubs were found which makes transect B more diversed than A. In Transect C, 8 species were located in this area. The species included shrubs, grass, fobs, evergreen, trees, dirt, bugs and spiders. New species such as evergreen, trees, dirt and spiders were located in this location. Therefore the test that diversity happens through ecological succession was

This experiment, which was used to explore the Theory of Evolution created by Charles Darwin. The use of natural selection was apparent in the artificial modification of an organism's traits which aided in this investigation. Through this experiment the Wisconsin Fast Plant was used. It is a fast-growing organism developed to improve the resistance to disease in cruciferous plants. This plant aids scientist in the exploration of environmental effects on population due to the speed to which is matures and reproduces. Artificial selection was stimulated by the selection against plants with few hairs(trichomes). Trichomes create a wider variation which means it is polygenic. The plants that had only a few trichomes were

Adaptations in terrestrial environments involve the structural and functional qualities of the organism, to achieve the adequate intake of oxygen and other essential substances for the animal to survive, the evolution of more complex anatomical structures were required. Gravity is stronger on land than water, which means terrestrial organisms have to be more structural than aquatic organisms. Also, the balance of gas exchange with water loss is a key feature to survive in land. For example plants, when doing photosynthesis require carbon dioxide and water to produce oxygen, at the end of this process a lot of water is lost and terrestrial plants have to compensate the water being lost and the water taken from soil. Furthermore, the dispersal of gametes by wind or other animals have helped plants reproduce in large amounts and create varieties of species of the same kind. Short-term weather patterns as well as long-term climate conditions based on precipitations, temperature, wind, humidity as well as other factors are survival obstacles that organisms in land have to adapt to live; endothermic organisms have to maintain a constant internal

Restoration ecologists study the ecological communities before humans had any interaction with it. The importance of this study is that if the ecosystem can’t function we are able to do something about it.

The Chaparral and Coastal Sage Scrub have a variety of different plant species, from Torrey Pine to Cacti. They each contain some helpful adaptations that have resulted from directional selection over

Since organisms living in communities form interdependent relationships, a change in the abundance of one species will not only affect the physical and more direct interactions, but could indirectly affect the number of other species within the community as a consequence (Wootton 1993). These indirect affects rise because the interactions between pairs of species are not independent of other species, such as increasing the density of vegetation may increase the survival rate of the prey, reducing the intensity of the interaction between the predator and prey (Wootton 1993, 1994). An

“Dormancy is a period in an organism's life cycle when growth, development, and (in animals) physical activity are temporarily stopped” (“Dormancy”). Some native plants have learned to adapt to grow a mixture of both short and long roots, so they can absorb moisture from both depths. After the winter season, the deeper roots reach down to absorb the water that has soaked into the deeper ground. Once the water lower in the ground has been absorbed into the tree, the plant uses its shallow roots to begin absorbing the moisture at the surface (Schwinning, Susan. “Sensitivity”). Exotic plants in a new area can cause irregular forest fires, floods, and other unwanted natural disturbances. To prevent these disturbances from occurring, Exotic Plant Management teams are trying to remove unnecessary plants that are only hurting the soil. The Exotic Plants team gives the people taking care of the plants two recommendations. First, they recommended to not worry as much about the bigger exotic plants and try to eliminate the weeds and exotic grasses. Second, is to put as much effort into restoring the native plants that are struggling through the droughts (Daw). Cold season shrubs are one of the few native plants that were not affected by the change in the climate

Second, the reading states that park wildlife was affected as well. In contrast, the professor in the lecture averts that the small plants that grow create ideal

In our experiment of field ecology at A-mountain, the purpose were to understand the specific factors that affect the distribution and abundance of plant species at north facing slope and south facing slope. The availability of plants in certain area depends on temperature, availability of water, sunlight and nutrients. A-mountain which is in Arizona has different desert plant that includes; grass, brittlebush, bursage, creosote bush, mesquite, palo verde, fishhook barrel, hedgehog, pincushion, teddy bear cholla, staghorn cholla, chain fruit cholla, prickly pear and others.. and some are specifically found on either north or south side of the mountain. The fact that the south slope receive more direct sunlight than the north facing slope, soil moisture will evaporate faster in south side of the mountain than in the north side thus the availability of different drought resisting plant whereas in north side where there is a slower evaporation due to lack of direct sunlight hence few drought resistant plants compared to south side (Wyant, unpublished data). We predicted that to the south side of the mountain there be will more diversity, evenness and drought tolerant plants species than the north side.

Ecology is defined as the scientific study of the interaction of individuals in a population of different species given it is at the same time and location. It is composed of many species whose interactions are influence by biotic and abiotic factors. These factors play a key role on the abundance and distribution which contributes to the structure of an ecological community (Kerb 2009). Having a better understanding of these ecological disciplines can provide insight to understanding a Permaculture Living Lab and its

Our lab investigated the morphological characteristics of leaves found in the sun and shade on various species of maple and oak trees around campus. Our null hypothesis was Acer and Quercus acclimate similarly with regards to SLW (specific leaf weight), size, and sinuosity. Our hypothesis was Quercus acclimation is greater than Acer SLW, size, and sinuosity. We tested these hypotheses by picking small sections of a branches from both maple and oak trees. A group was assigned either a maple or an oak tree, and needed a total of three different trees per group. Once three different trees were chosen, groups needed three shade leaves and three sun leaves of off each different tree. In total, each group should then end up with 18 leaves for testing. After collecting the leaves, we ran them through the LiCor 3100 leaf area meter to identify the area of each leaf. Major results found by the classes’ mutual data was each one of our p-values were greater than .05. This means that we failed to reject the null hypothesis. Thus, the lab results do not support our hypothesis that Quercus acclimation is greater than Acer SLW, size, and sinuosity.

Humans depend on plants in numerous ways. One reason we depend on plants is for consumption. Plants have the unique ability of producing their own food through a process called photosynthesis. In this process, plants are able to produce macromolecules such as carbohydrates that cannot be produced in animals or humans. In humans, the only to gain these macromolecules is to consume plant matter, or consume plant-eating animals (herbivores).

All plants are subjected to a multitude of stresses throughout their life cycle. Depending on the species of plant and the source of the stress, the plant will respond in different ways. When a certain tolerance level is reached, the plant will eventually die. When the plants in question are crop plants, then a problem arises. The two major environmental factors that currently reduce plant productivity are drought and salinity (Serrano, 1999), and these stresses cause similar reactions in plants due to water stress. These environmental concerns affect plants more than is commonly thought. For example, disease and insect loss typically decrease crop yields by less than ten percent, but severe