The 'Life Form Spectra' of Communities

Ideas

Thought

Reinterpreting verses of the Quran about creation of living organisms in light of the theory of evolution.

Do

Should start reading research papers (refereed to in the book, and on Google Scholar).

Digest

• Divergence
• Geographic isolation allows populations to diverge under natural selection.
• Geographic distributions of species reflects this divergence.
• All species of lemurs are found only on the island of Madagascar.
• "Gum trees occur where they do because they evolved there – not because these are the only places where they could survive and prosper."
• Biomes
• A map of biomes is not a map of the distribution of species.
• We recognize different biomes from the types of organisms that live in them.
• Life forms
• In 1934, Danish biogeographer Raunkiaer developed the idea of "life forms".
• "He then used the spectrum of life forms present in different types of vegetation as a means of describing their ecological character."
• Life forms are defined according to the ways in which buds are protected in different plants.
• Life forms:
• phanerophytes: trees exposing their buds high in the air
• chamaephytes: perennial herbs form cushions in which buds are borne above ground
• hemicryptophytes: buds are formed at or in the soil surface
• cryptophytes or geophytes: buds are protected on buried dormant storage organs; These allow the plants to make rapid growth and to flower before they die back to a dormant state.
• therophytes: "annual plants that depend wholly on dormant seeds to carry their populations through seasons of drought and cold"
• "Therophytes are the plants of deserts, sand dunes and repeatedly disturbed habitats. They also include the annual weeds of arable lands, gardens and urban wastelands."
• fauna classification
• Level 1:
• carnivores
• herbivores
• insectivores
• mixed feeders
• Level 2:
• aerial
• arboreal
• scansorial
• small ground mammals
• Species present in different geographic locations may belong to the same biome yet be very different taxonomically.

Crocus

Questions

1. How come there are various different species evolving in the same environment?
2. What's with different species complementing one another in a specific environment?

Terrestrial Biomes of the Earth

Ideas

Thoughts

1. Different biomes and permaculture (Permaculture: A Designer's Manual by Bill Mollison, 14 chapters)
2. Biomes: temperature and precipitation: Quran factors for vegetation: water, wind, ...
3. Communities: some species attract the presence of others. This concept can be used in achieving goals.
4. Holzer permaculture: growing things in cold high altitude climate (local climate)
5. Mosses: peat moss (habitat, conserve?)
6. Polar desert?
7. Underground water in Egypt's deserts, for use in agriculture, can ecology give us a clue on how to best use such resource?
8. Observation: Many things in biomes are a seasonal, transient, in migration due to changing weather.
9. Inspiring ideas from ecology to effect rich and resilient human communities.
10. Birding clues from ecology.
11. Cold desert: Mongolia (Gabi).
12. Vegetation (sporadic yet patterned) along desert roads in Egypt.
13. Tropical rainforest: my dream.
14. 3% concentration of salt in water of oceans.
15. Plants to treat water in fisheries (permaculture)
16. Ecology and the Aswan High Dam.
17. Ecological understanding of presence of roaches around households.

Interesting Facts

1. Plants germinating only after fire!
2. Epiphytes: rooted on the damp upper branches!

Digest

• Biomes: where biogeographers recognize marked differences in the flora and fauna.
• Biomes grade into one another.
• Eight terrestrial biomes:
• distribution
• relation to annual temperature and precipitation
• Eight biomes
• tundra
• occurs around the Arctic Circle, beyond the tree line
• permafrost
• taiga (northern coniferous forest)
• occupies a broad belt across North America and Eurasia
• liquid water is unavailable for much of the winter
• temperate forests
• range from the mixed conifer and broad-leaved forests of much of North America and northern central Europe to the moist dripping forests of broad-leaved evergreen trees found at the biome’s low latitude limits.
• there are periods of the year when liquid water is in short supply
• grassland
• occupies the drier parts of temperate and tropical regions
• experience seasonal drought
• chaparral (maquis)
• occurs in Mediterranean-type climates
• mild, wet winters and summer drought
• desert
• found in areas that experience extreme water shortage
• tropical rainforests
• high solar radiation throughout the year and regular and reliable rainfall
• is the most productive of the earth’s biomes
• aquatic biomes
• marine
• freshwater

Green tree frog

Questions

1. It is interesting to know about the different biomes.
2. Which biomes are better than others?