40 Million Years of Friendship between the Yucca Plants and Their Moths
Yucca plants (genus Yucca) and yucca moths (family Proxidae) are the classic example of desert dwelling species that rely on obligate mutualism to sustain each other. Using the mitochondrial DNA to do a phylogenetic reconstruction of the evolutionary history, they have been able to show that this unique relationship has been developing for an estimated 40 million years. This has led to a very complex relationship between the many species of Yuccasella and Proxidae. (Pellmyr, 9178) While there are an estimated 49 species of plants in the United States alone, each plant can have one or more specialized moth pollinators and even some parasitic (cheater) species lead to an approximated 98 species and subspecies of moths. The Yucca is a plant found all over the United States; however the greatest diversity resides in the southwestern desert region with an estimated 19 species. This has lead scientists to believe that the mutualism evolved somewhere in the southwest. (Pellmyr, 9178)
All of the plants and their pollinating moths have a finely evolved pollination and reproductive system that work together to ensure continuation of the reciprocal species. The female moths have evolved specialized prehensile tentacles that evaginate from the maxillary palpi. (Powell, 12) This allows the moths to purposefully gather the pollen from one flower, then move on to another where she oviposits her eggs (depending on the individual species) in to the locular cavity or the shallow pits on the perianth. (Althoff, et al 399) After ovipostion the female places the pollen on the stigma, thereby starting the pollination cycle of the yucca plant. The male moths have not developed ...
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...ers also parasitize the plant, but do it at a much later stage in the pollination actually damaging the plant in the process, destroying up to 85% of the seeds. (Pellmyr, 155) This species has actually developed a knife like appendage to oviposit the eggs deep inside the hard fruit on to the seeds avoiding the defensive mechanism the yucca has developed. One of such mechanisms is the abscission of the flowers. Every time a moth lays eggs in the ovule it damages the flower a little. With the pollinating moths it is never enough to cause permanent damage, this is largely why they only oviposit on to one flower, and move on to the next. The cheater species lay eggs many times the amount they should, causing a significant more damage to the surrounding ovules. This causes the plant to abscise the flower and ultimately aborting both flower and moth eggs. (Althoff, 302)
Wise, M. J., Abrahamson, W. G., & Cole, J. A. (2010).The role of nodding stems in the goldenrod–gall–fly interaction: A test of the “ducking” hypothesis. Manuscript submitted for publication, Available from American Journal of Botany. (0900227)Retrieved from http://www.amjbot.org/content/97/3/525.full
Humans are trying everything they can to trap the Gypsy moth and try to remove it from there eco-system, but the Gypsy moth keeps on reproducing. An annual trapping program is one method in which they place traps that attracts male Gypsy moths and gets them stuck in a sticky surface. If a substantial amount of moths are caught by the trap then more traps are set in that ecosystem. Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (BTK) is a toxic soil bacterium that is sprayed over an area to prevent defoliation. When Gypsy moths are exposed to BTK the toxic causes stomach poisoning and they would eventually die. (Government of Canada,
A population of Plantago lanceolata (ribwort plantain) on the path was found to have higher trampling tolerance than populations away from the path; this reflected the sharp differences in the conditions of the plant at these sites. Ribwort Plant had generally a higher tolerance to trampling than any other plants as more were found on the path, but there were less compared with other plants as distance increased from the path. These results suggest that the competition level found on the path was sufficient enough to impose a selection pressure for the evolution of tolerance in a sensitive species, but in some areas the distribution of Ribwort Plantain were the same. This provides that other conditions affect the tolerance of trampling for Ribwort Plantain.
Evidence has shown that the corn we know today is quite different from the first time it was domesticated in Mexico. Although researchers and the academic world acknowledge that corn began its world journey in Mexico, they are unsure as to the time and location of the earliest domestication (American Society of Plant Biologist). Through genetics, teosinte is found to be corn’s wild ancestor. Although the two do not look much alike, at a DNA level they are surprisingly alike, such as having the same number of chromosomes and a remarkably similar arrangement of genes (The University of Utah).
Petrified Forest National Park is located in the Painted Desert in northeastern Arizona taking up 93,532.57 acres of its land. Before the national park was established, it was founded as a National Monument on December 8, 1906 when President Theodore Roosevelt signed the proclamation. Years later, the Congress passed a bill and established it as a national park on December 9, 1962. Centuries before Petrified Forest National Park was preserved as a national park, the land was preoccupied by the Paleo people. At the onset of the end of the last Ice Age, hunter-gatherers, people who lived by hunting game and only gathering edible plants, roamed the Southwest from 13,500 to 8000 B.C. Although these people enjoy meals consisting of meat and vegetables, they don’t raise livestock and grow crops. During these years of hunting and gathering, the region was cooler with a grassland environment, and people gathered wild plants for food and hunted bison and other large herd of animals. The types of bison these people hunted are now extinct. Nomads used a device called an atlatl to throw their weapons, such as spears and darts, to hunt. By 4000 B.C., during the archaic culture, the climate had changed and became similar to the one of the present. This period of hunting, gathering, and farming had lasted from 8000 to 500 B.C. In contrast to the time of the Paleo people, the climate was warmer, people extended their access to different types of food, and people began to farm and grow their crops. Due to the extinction of animals of the past, people had to expand their source of food, and they had to include many different species of plants and animals into their meals. Two hundred twenty-five million years ago, trees fell and were washe...
Hawaii is such a diverse and unique area that it is said to be a biologist’s paradise. Biologists travel here to study the wide variety of species and one such species is Aleurites moluccana or the kukui tree. The kukui tree is originally from Southeast Asia, particularly the Indo-Malaysia region, and has moved its way into the Pacific. It was first introduced to the Hawaiian islands when the Polynesians navigated their way here hundreds of years ago (Elevitch, C. R., & Manner, H. I., 2006). Since then, the kukui tree’s physical adaptations have helped it to thrive in Hawaii and native Hawaiians were able to utilize this plant in a number of ways.
The communities of various native plants have been significantly minimized as a result of ...
Humans have long recognized that flowers are an indication of future fruits. Therefore it was vital for nomadic hunters to remember where in the wild they saw flowers. And further yet each type of flower produced a specific fruit. Thus fruits and flowers had something in common; the preference of one fruit meant the preference of a type of flower. Most often, as in modern times, the most healthy looking flower shows signs that it will produce quality fruit. The beauty of a flower told hunters that a nutritious fruits would ripen after the flowers bloomed. This concept explains how we have evolved toward preferring healthy looking flowers. But how does this explain the security of a plants reproduction? It is necessary to mention that plants not only produce fruits to stop herbivores from eating the plant, but in their own diabolic plan, plants found a new way to spread their seeds through fruits. Herbivores would eat the fruits an...
Others include birds, butterflies, and the wind; however, honey bees, by far, are the best at pollinating plants. Collecting pollen is their whole life’s purpose, according to Michigan State University’s article, “Native Plants and Ecosystem Services”. Over one hundred forty three million acres of plants in America are sprayed with a bee-killing insecticide that has been banned in Europe by the European Food Safety Authority (Sarich). Promote ecological farming, and ban all bee-harming pesticides.
Native American culture, according to William Youngs, A Question for Harmony, the Native American origins beginnings started with endless space. Tawa, the Sun Spirit, impregnated Mother Earth, creating the First World. The First World was inhabited by insect-like creatures. These creatures continuously argued to understand the meaning of life. These creatures then fell victim to the sorcerer's, upsetting Tawa so Tawa created ‘Spider Grandmother’. Spider Grandmother led the insect-like creatures to the Second World. The insects grew hair and fur on their bodies and took places as dogs, wolves, or bears.
Silk can be produced from other insects but moth caterpillars are the main contributor to the textile manufacturing of silk since they create a much smoother and finer fabric (Silk History, n.d.). The cocoons are raised by the farmer and are delivered to the factory, or filature, where the silk is unwound from the cocoons and the threads are collected into coils. When the filature receives the cocoons they must sort them according to color, size, shape, and texture. They then put t...
Common names for Datura are numerous, some of the most common ones being raving nightshade, thorn apple, stinkweed, Devil's apple, Jimson weed, and angel's trumpet (Heiser 1969:140 and Avery 1959:19). Datura can be found throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas as either native or adventive plants, and some have also been found in Africa and Australia (Conklin 1976:5). The epicenter of diversity of this plant is in the New World, specifically in Andean South America and in the southwestern United States/Mexico region (Lewis 1977:423-4). This data correlates with the generally agreed upon origin of Datura, although this topic was debated for some time. Researchers now believe the plant originated and evolved in Mexico and the American Southwest, followed by adaptive radiation into new desert environments (Conklin 1976:5).
This desert is in an arid area between the Andes mountain range and the Pacific Ocean. This desert also lives on an alluvial plain. Furthermore, since its distance stretches four hundred kilometers South of Lima, the Pampas of Jumana covers about four hundred fifty square feet kilometers. Throughout all this land, one theory is believed to be that extraterrestrials left confused people when they came to visit earth and that is the myth on why the Nazca lines were created. Another theory is, believed that Nazca Indians and Lines appeared only after the visitors from other stars naturally visited on earth. The reason why this land is so fascinating is because no one really knows how the Nazca Indians appeared on the Peru desert, and why these Nazca Lines were created on this land. While living in the Peru desert the Nazca Indian grew crops from underground water sources traced on the land. Another way the crops received waters was when the Pacific Ocean’s morning mist wafted to the land, and the trees would trap the water mist in their leaves, so when there was no rain to fully water the lands, the trapped water mist in the trees leaves would water the crops. The Nazca Indians grew crops that highly dependent on water and many of these crops planted back then people eat still to this day. Based on iconography, excavated remains indicate that the Nazca people had a varied diet, composed of corn, squash, sweet, potato, yucca, ginger, banana, and even small traces of various fish. In addition, Na...
Well in the spring all the males and young winged queens leave their nest and fly high in the air and mate. The few ant queens that survive this “marriage flight” cast off their wings and instinctively begin to look for a spot to start a new ant colony. After making a nest, the young queen ant seals off the entrance and begins to lay eggs. Some of the first batch are eaten by the queen for nourishment. When the surviving eggs hatch, they become like larvae. After a few weeks each larva spins a cocoon around itself and pupates.
When the industrial revolution began in the 18th century tons and tons of soot was deposited around industrial areas. The soot would then turn the rocks and trees and other objects that were lighter colors to a dark color. Be for the revolution the mouth was a much lighter color and blended in with every thin that was light. When the soot began to fall it made the moths easy to see.