Botany of Desire

 



Are plants more evolved than humans?
Plants have been evolving for thousands of years and performing more complicated chemical processes such as photosynthesis.
http://mattercreative.org/ideas-are-like-plants/





Who is the subject? Who is the object?
In coevolution the subject is also an object and an object is also a subject. Both benefit from the relationship and help maintain the species.
http://www.gardenideaspicture.biz/2013/10/gardener.html

Example of coevolution, the bee takes nectar to its hive and the flower benefit by having its pollen spread to other areas.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2013/03/07/caffeine-improves-bees-memory-and-pollination-efficiency/

 



Domestication
People might believe that wolves are more evolved than domesticated dogs. But in fact dogs are more evolved by coexisting with humans that is why there is more domestic dogs than there are wolves.
http://www.differencebetween.net/science/nature/difference-between-wolf-and-dog/

 

Predator vs. Prey Lab: Analysis of Graphs

 

 

 

 

These graphs show the dependency of the predators on their prey and the availability of the prey.  The predator population (wolves) will increase if their is enough prey(rabbits) available to feed them. Even if there were enough rabbits for each wolf, the rabbits ill adapt to the hunting techniques to maintain and increase their population . The number of wolves will then decline and they will have to adapt new hunting techniques to be able to survive and reproduce.

In both of the graphs above, the number of wolves (predator) increases when they catch or kill the rabbits, as the amount of wolves increases the number of rabbits decrease. And as he amount of rabbits decrease the number of wolves decline, allowing the rabbits to repopulate.

Nuclear Spill in the Tropical Rainforest (hypothetical situation)

At 8:34 a.m. on April 28, 1978, 3 of the 6 nuclear reactors at a nuclear power plant melted down near the Daintree forest. This lead to a spill of radioactive waste to go into several of bodies of water that went to the Daintree forest.

Nuclear Power Plant
http://inhabitat.com/japans-nuclear-reactor-springs-a-leak-engineers-try-to-plug-with-sawdust/

Since this water feeds all plants and animals, it had a devastating effect on the ecosystem. The nuclear spill effected the ecosystem in various ways. Directly, since animals and plants use this water regularly, they were not killed upon exposure to the radioactivity, the animals began developing various illnesses such as blood and bone cancers. Plants stopped growing and died off. Also, animals who survived the initial impact of the spill, and began reproducing had offspring with birth defects and gene mutations such as extra limbs or missing limbs. The nuclear spill led to a great biomagnification. First the small fish will contain little levels of radioactivity, then bigger fish will eat them and then birds will eat those fish and will the highest amount of radioactivity which will lead to reproductive problems. Throughout this process the radioactivity increases. This can also be applied to plants, first the plants contain small amounts of radioactivity then the plants are eaten by herbivores who are later eaten by carnivores like a jaguar. The jaguar would contain the highest amount of radioactivity.



Deformed Green Frogs
http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2009/08/studies-offer-new-insights-causes-deformed-frogs

Biomagnification
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/D/DDTandTrophicLevels.html

Overall, most animals will not survive the impact of the nuclear spill except for the cockroach which can resist any catastrophe. The rainforest ecosystem as we know it will cease to exist, it will become a barren land ruled by cockroaches and organisms will similar characteristics.

Giant Cockroach
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaberidae

 

Tropical Rainfroest Biome Blog

While I was visiting Australia, I had a chance to visit the Daintree Rainforest, near Cairns in Queensland, Australia. I was lucky enough to trek through the forest with local experts who provided me with the following facts of the rainforest.

Daintree Rainforest
http://jennifermarohasy.com/2007/11/conservation-values-in-the-daintree/

The Daintree rainforest is characterized by heavy rainfall, between 98- 180 inches of rainfall a year.  The mean monthly temperature exceeds 64 degrees Fahrenheit in all months of the year. The average humidity exceeds 77%. The soil quality is poor in spite of the growth of vegetation because bacterial decay. The concentration of minerals like iron and aluminum oxides contribute to the poor quality of soil. Most tree roots are close to the surface because there are not enough nutrients in the soil. The sunlight rarely penetrates through heavy layers of vegetation to reach the rainforest floor.

Annual Rainfall/ Temperature
http://daintree-and-amazon-comparison.wikispaces.com/file/view/eco_013.gif/344882848/637x422/eco_013.gif

While hiking through the rainforest, my guides pointed out different consumers, producers, and decomposers.

The main producers of the Daintree rainforest are plants. Due to the lack of sunlight at the rainforest flower, plants compete to get sunlight in order to survive. An example of a producer is the wait-a-while plant that has a series of barbs that they use for climbing up other vegetation as well as snaring unsuspecting bush walkers, it can be difficult to untangle yourself once caught. Another example is the Fish Tail Palm which evolved with leaf tips to look like they've been eaten by insects. The theory being that it appears less appetizing if it looks as though something else has nibbled on it.

Fish Tail Palm
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3006/

Wait-a while Plant
http://mollysaussieadventure.blogspot.com/2010/09/lamington-rainforest.html

The consumers of forest are animals like the green tree frog, Boyd’s rainforest dragons, and giant cockroaches. The Boyd’s rainforest dragons have evolved to camouflage with trees and stay motionless, until it strikes its prey.

Green Tree Frog
http://www.alsipnursery.com/green-tree-frog-care

Boyd's Rainforest Dragons
http://www.wettropics.gov.au/rainforest_explorer/Library/ImageLibrary/animals/Reptiles/reptilesindex.htm

 

The decomposers consist of fungi which feeds on decomposing remains of plants and animals. Some decomposers are Gilled Fungi, Coral Fungi, and stinkhorn mushrooms. An example of evolutionary adaptation, is the stinkhorn which developed the smell of rotting flesh to avoid being eaten.

Stinkhorn Mushroom
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Stinkhorn_Springbrook.jpg

 

Humans have had a negative impact on the Daintree Rainforest through heavy logging, agricultural clearance, and mining. The mining extracts minerals from the rainforest. As a consequence of human impact over 120 local animal and plant species are threatened. The Cassowary is a threatened species and there are only 2,000 left.

 Cassowary

http://mstmh.tripod.com/

Symbiotic relationships are relationships that exist between different organisms. This relationship can be mutual like in mutualism, such as the relationship between monkeys that feed on flowering trees and at the same time help it pollinate. Another kind of relationship is commenalism  such as between ants and ant birds that feed on the remains of the ant food. The last relationship is parasitism such as the dependence of a phorid fly on the leaf-cutter ants.

 





Tropical Rainforest Main Locations
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/rainforest/animals/Sampling.shtml



 

 





Tropical Rainforest Biome Food Web
https://endangeredspeciesbiomesprojects.wikispaces.com/file/view/TropicalRainforestFoodWeb.jpg/411469158/640x506/TropicalRainforestFoodWeb.jpg