There are many similarities and differences between species within our diverse ecosystem. There are many different types of plants and animals, some more similar than others. Not surprisingly, these similarities also give light to a large amount of differences between kingdoms and even species. Analyzing these species and their differences and similarities helps to give understanding to our incredibly diverse ecosystem. Plants make up a large portion of life on Earth. There are four major groups of plants; bryophytes, ferns, gymnosperms, and angiosperms. The most notable differences between these plants are their appearances. Bryophytes include mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. All bryophytes are small, without vascular tissue, true leaves, and roots. Ferns include true ferns, club mosses, whisk ferns, and horsetails. Ferns have vascular tissue, but are seedless. They are significantly larger than the bryophytes, but are smaller than gymnosperms and angiosperms. Ferns, unlike bryophytes, have leaves, also like angiosperms and gymnosperms. Another trait that ferns share with gymnosperms and angiosperms is vascular tissues. Gymnosperms have four main groups; conifers, ginkgos, gnetophytes, and cycads. These plants grow to be quite large. Gymnosperms have cones as one of their unique identifying factors. Gymnosperms are also unique in their leaf types, which can greatly vary from species to species. Angiosperms, being the most common plant, have a distinct appearance. Where bryophytes and ferns are low-lying and generally small, gymnosperms and angiosperms are both large in comparison. The largest difference between gymnosperms and angiosperms are that angiosperms produce fruits and flowers, gymnos... ... middle of paper ... ...ther factors. For instance, if the bilaterally symmetrical animals have a body cavity which has formed completely within the mesoderm, also known as a coelom, it may be filed in a separate category than an individual who does not have a coelom. A digestive tract may also cause a differing classification. For example, sponges do not have digestive tracts, other animals have incomplete digestive tracts, and others still have complete digestive tracts. If an animal has a segmented body, it may also be considered for a differing classification. The final special classification factor is reproduction and development. Most animals participate in sexual reproduction. Animals may then take one of two paths for development. Direct development has no larval stage. Indirect development has a larval stage and usually undergoes metamorphosis to become mature adults.
Many variations and species of plants can be found all around the world and in different habitats. These variations and characteristics are due to their adaptations to the natural habitat surrounding them. In three of many climatic zones, the arid, tropical and temperate zone, plants that vary greatly from each other are found in these locations. In this experiment, we’ll be observing the connection between the adaptations of the plants to their environment at the Fullerton Arboretum. The arboretum is a space containing numerous plants from different environments. The plants are carefully looked after and organized into their specific habitat. Therefore, we’ll be able to take a look at the plants within multiple
In wild type culture of C-ferns, it is expected that there will be a high concentration of antheridiogen since the hermaphrodites are producing antheridiogen. The greater the population density of C-ferns, the higher the concentration of antheridiogen; hence a high percentage of male gametophytes in the wild type cultures.
Photosynthesis happens in leaves so this experiment was conducted with foliage. Foliage is just another way of saying leaves. These leaves have been group together and they also have roots in the soil. The height of the plant above the soil was about 4 inches tall. All of the plants weighed 3 oz. the five plants had differences on their leaves. Plant A had solid green leaves. Plant B was green but it was lighter in the middle of the leaf. Plant C had a red stem and there was a red thick band on the edge.
As a result of these factors, the flora has adapted to these conditions in a variety of ways including their shape, leaf type, root system, and color. One of the most prominent adapt...
...le would be more than that of American beech because sugar maple produce more seeds than American beech. Furthermore, we study whether the two species co-exist via reciprocal replacement, habitat preference or merely by chance. We believe that habitat preference may be the mechanism of coexistence here and therefore we hypothesize that there will be more American beech tree neighbors as they may represent the most biomass as per our third hypothesis. Thereafter, root sprouting is effective in American beech to give them a greater horizontal growth than sugar maple. Hence, we hypothesize that sugar maple canopies will be less asymmetrical than American beech. Finally, because a nearby canopy may restrict a tree canopy growth in the same direction, we hypothesize that a tree will grow its respective canopy away from its neighboring canopy to receive maximum sunlight.
Ecosystems are the basic biological units of ecology, and consist of biotic organisms and their interactions amongst other living organisms, as well as the surrounding abiotic environment (Putman and Wratten 1984). One facet of ecosystems that is less-often mentioned is the process of decomposition, as it many may view it as an unclean, unpleasant process that occurs after an organism has ceased to exist. To those with an ecological framework, however, decomposition is viewed as the opposite – an interesting, intricate process teeming with biological activity and life (Swan and Kominoski 2012). What is decomposition? Formally, decomposition is defined as the process to which complex organic matter is broken down to its basic constituents (i.e.
Discerning the spatial patterns of biodiversity and understanding their ultimate (why) and proximate (how) causes is very dear to biogeography and is one of the key concepts of Macro ecology. Some places on earth contain more species as compared to others. All species occurring at a given space and time either originated (speciated) there or dispersed and arrived from another place and settled there. Biogeographers try to understand the past and current distributions of species by incorporating historical, evolutionary and ecological factors. Earlier biogeographers or the ‘naturalists’ in their sacred quest to serve ‘the creator’, travelled to various parts of the world and imparted valuable knowledge about the diverse patterns and processes of nature. Linnaeus (1743), on the one hand, hypothesized that early Earth was filled with water except for it’s highest mountain top i.e., Mount Ararat which was known to be the site of paradise and as the sea level dropped the exposed land was colonized by plants and animals that migrated down from high elevational zones of Mount Ararat whereas Willdenow (1805) hypothesized that within each geographical region of the earth, plants and animals were first placed and later survived the great flood on many mountain ranges (Lomolino,2001). Von Humboldt and Darwin in the South American Andes and Wallace Southeast Asian islands noticed the decreasing trend in elevational species richness patterns (McCain and Grytnes, 2010). Later work done by Grinnell (1917), Whittaker (1952), Terborgh (1977, 1985) on elevational species richness became accepted and set a established pattern for all species for more than two decades (McCain and Grytnes, 2010). However current researches on elevational gradients are...
... but similar areas. They put some in isolation and some went into a mixture of other species. It was discovered that the species in the mixture evolved more diversely than those that were in isolation. They also discovered that the mixture of species changed the way they used resources. This showed that the species that evolved together were more productive than the species in isolation. The final conclusion was that “species interactions can have a major effect on evolutionary dynamics, which can in turn influence ecosystems functioning” (Timothy G Barraclough).
Mills, Scott L., Daniel F. Doak, and Michael E. Soule. "The Keystone-species Concept in Ecology and Conservation." BioScience 43.4 (1993): 219-25. Apr. 1993. Web. 30 Oct. 2011.
own roots (not just the plant kind), this meant they needed a structure that was different than
Thesis: Forests provide the earth with a regulated climate, strong biodiversity, and good nutrient rich soil for plants to strive on.
The Nymphaeaceae Family (Water Lily Family) is an aquatic family and is also one of the smaller families in the Plant Kingdom. It belongs in the Nymphaeales Order, which is composed of three families, nine genera, and roughly 74 species. The other two families that are included in the Nymphaeales order are Cambombaceae and Hymphaeaceae. The Nymphaeaceae Family itself only contains six of the nine genera and roughly 60 species. This family is rather small compared to other families that contain thousands and hundreds of species. Although this family is small in number, visually they are large because of their big leaves or “lily pads” These aquatic plants can be found around the world. They are can
In general, species diversity is a measure of the number ofcomponent species and their abundance at a defined point in space and time (Tews et al., 2004). The presence of different species in community arise the difficulties to assign the individual species in particular size. In order to reduce the problem arising, diversity measure will be applied to measure species diversity for a community. Diversity measures may lead different the ordering in a community into ecological organization Even species diversity is related to each other but the functional role are equally different According to Boulangeat et al.(2012) The difference of functional role among species can be identified using diversity measures. Basically there are two different approach involve in diversity measures such as number of species (species richness) and the relative abundance of individuals within each species (species abundance).Combination information between both measures are used in method using mathematical indices or also known as diversity indices (Kreb,
The branch of science that deals with how living things, including humans, are related to their surroundings is called ecology . The Earth supports some 5 million species of plants, animals, and microorganisms. These interact and influence their surroundings, forming a vast network of interrelated environmental systems called ecosystems. The arctic tundra is an ecosystem and so is a Brazilian rain forest. The islands of Hawaii are a relatively isolated ecosystem. If left undisturbed, natural environmental systems tend to achieve balance or stability among the various species of plants and animals. Complex ecosystems are able to compensate for changes caused by weather or intrusions from migrating animals and are therefore usually said to be more stable than simple ecosystems. A field of corn has only one dominant species, the corn plant, and is a very simple ecosystem. It is easily destroyed by drought, insects, disease, or overuse. A forest may remain relatively unchanged by weather that would destroy a nearby field of corn, because the forest is characterized by greater diversity of plants and animals. Its complexity gives it stability.
The degradation of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity is increasing at an alarming rate every year. Humans are certainly not the only reason for this, but they are the main contributors. The well-being of ecosystems affects our everyday lives - consumption and consumerism depend on natural resources. Everything humans use is derived from them, in seemingly indirect and direct ways. Yet despite the fact that humans are destroying the environment, many continue to and neglect to take important measures to protect it.