Why Is Earth So Biologically Diverse? Mountains Hold the Answer (sciencedaily.com) 42
omfglearntoplay shares a report from ScienceDaily: What determines global patterns of biodiversity has been a puzzle for scientists since the days of von Humboldt, Darwin, and Wallace. Yet, despite two centuries of research, this question remains unanswered. The global pattern of mountain biodiversity, and the extraordinarily high richness in tropical mountains in particular, is documented in two companion Science review papers this week [1, 2]. The papers focus on the fact that the high level of biodiversity found on mountains is far beyond what would be expected from prevailing hypotheses.
To confront the question of why mountains are so biologically diverse, scientists at the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate (CMEC) at the GLOBE Institute of the University of Copenhagen work to synthesize understanding and data from the disparate fields of macroecology, evolutionary biology, earth sciences, and geology. Part of the answer, these studies find, lies in understanding that the climate of rugged tropical mountain regions is fundamentally different in complexity and diversity compared to adjacent lowland regions. Uniquely heterogeneous mountain climates likely play a key role in generating and maintaining high diversity. Another part of the explanation of the high biodiversity of certain mountains is linked to the geological dynamics of mountain building. These geological processes, interacting with complex climate changes through time, provide ample opportunities for evolutionary processes to act.
Another explanation of mountain richness, says the study, may lie in the interaction between geology and biology. The scientists report a novel and surprising finding: the high diversity is in most tropical mountains tightly linked to bedrock geology -- especially mountain regions with obducted, ancient oceanic crust. To explain this relationship between geology and biodiversity, the scientists propose, as a working hypothesis, that mountains in the tropics with soil originating from oceanic bedrock provide exceptional environmental conditions that drive localized adaptive change in plants. Special adaptations that allow plants to tolerate these unusual soils, in turn, may drive speciation cascades (the speciation of one group leading to speciation in other groups), all the way to animals, and ultimately contribute to the shape of global patterns of biodiversity.
To confront the question of why mountains are so biologically diverse, scientists at the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate (CMEC) at the GLOBE Institute of the University of Copenhagen work to synthesize understanding and data from the disparate fields of macroecology, evolutionary biology, earth sciences, and geology. Part of the answer, these studies find, lies in understanding that the climate of rugged tropical mountain regions is fundamentally different in complexity and diversity compared to adjacent lowland regions. Uniquely heterogeneous mountain climates likely play a key role in generating and maintaining high diversity. Another part of the explanation of the high biodiversity of certain mountains is linked to the geological dynamics of mountain building. These geological processes, interacting with complex climate changes through time, provide ample opportunities for evolutionary processes to act.
Another explanation of mountain richness, says the study, may lie in the interaction between geology and biology. The scientists report a novel and surprising finding: the high diversity is in most tropical mountains tightly linked to bedrock geology -- especially mountain regions with obducted, ancient oceanic crust. To explain this relationship between geology and biodiversity, the scientists propose, as a working hypothesis, that mountains in the tropics with soil originating from oceanic bedrock provide exceptional environmental conditions that drive localized adaptive change in plants. Special adaptations that allow plants to tolerate these unusual soils, in turn, may drive speciation cascades (the speciation of one group leading to speciation in other groups), all the way to animals, and ultimately contribute to the shape of global patterns of biodiversity.
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Prediction: Trump scores big time from this, his ratings go even higher
Even higher than record lows? Wow.
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He hasn't even looked at a poll that wasn't on Fox, the original fake news.
Re: Welcome back (Score:2)
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You know nothing about me. You have added zero content. All noise. Thanks you bringing down the level of discourse.
I know your writing style suggests that you're posting from a troll farm, and that you've done nothing to convince me otherwise. I know you've provided a grand total of zero citations for your opinions so far, because your posting history is so short. Thanks you too.
Re: Welcome back (Score:2)
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I read the transcript. There is nothing in it that rises to a "high crime or misdemeanor". There is an insult for a certain Democrat whose son profited off of the corruption in the Ukraine, but that is nothing new- Democrats blaming Trump for their own Slovakian Collusion.
Re: Welcome back (Score:2)
Re: Thank you (Score:1)
Do we still need to save the rainforest? :) (Score:5, Funny)
So much for the biodiversity in the Amazon rain forest and South America. To maintain Earth's biodiversity we just need to save the rugged mountains.
Done!
Re:Do we still need to save the rainforest? :) (Score:5, Funny)
Not done. The frack water trucks run 24/7 in the Rockies, amphibians are disappearing, et cetera. Also, winter sucks so no one should come here. :D
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Navigating across the amazon basin is not much different compared to traversing a mountain range. It is difficult. As a result you end up with speciation from populations which do not intermix/interbreed.
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This is the same stuff the put on the brochures at the entrance to the park.
Right next to the bear warning signs. [hamous.org]
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Yes we still need to save the entire environment.
Mountains help create the diversity, however humans are changing the environment faster than the ecosystems can adapt to it.
It is old news that a mountain range can block rain so one side of a mountain range is topical and wet, while the other side is a desert. However with humans cutting down or burning trees in a rain forest, will change the ecosystem as well, as it is still a part of it.
However the point is mountains account for a lot of our diversity on e
Alife (Score:5, Insightful)
Artificial life simulations could benefit from such diversity in their virtual environment. For example, part of the world could be harsh and uninhabitable. But with enough competition for resources, would the organisms find a way?
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For example, part of the world could be harsh and uninhabitable. But with enough competition for resources, would the organisms find a way?
Yes, they would.
See, for example highly acidic, boiling hot volcanic rock pools. They are full of life.
This one for example. [wikipedia.org]
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I've been to that lake. It's a truly amazing place. In the same park there is a boiling stream that hosts a species of blue-green algae that has adapted to the heat. At the top of the stream there is a lake of hydrochloric acid - looks like a swimming pool from a distance, because it's a stronger version of the same thing. About every two weeks, the acidic lake burps a large slug of its waters into the stream, killing all the algae in it. But swiftly, the algae grows back, replenished from remnant populatio
In other words (Score:2)
Re:Alife (Score:5, Insightful)
Artificial life simulations could benefit from such diversity in their virtual environment. For example, part of the world could be harsh and uninhabitable. But with enough competition for resources, would the organisms find a way?
Life finding a way in harsh environments is basically what life on Earth is all about.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong but all life of earth is genetically related. Meaning we all share the same DNA, the same code.
People like to point out that we are descendants of apes, but they rarely mention that trees are our cousins.
The level of adaptation is mind blowing.
If you think the arctic, or the desert, or the bottom of the ocean as harsh then yes, I think they would find a way.
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parent probably meant proto-apes and not modern Hominoidea
it's a passing internet remark on the understated branching of life, not a published taxanomy paper
Thank you sir.
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Need a summary for the summary (Score:2)
This is simple, no research needed (Score:2)
Just my 2 cents
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Mountains speed up evolution... (Score:5, Insightful)
... the different compositions and levels of access to nutrients and sunlight would mean there would be parts of the terrain that would be evolutionary "buffets" and "deserts". Basically given different levels of harshness and not-so harsh environment in constant flux, the constant flux would push diversity. AKA the environment doesn't stay 'good' long enough for organisms to reach a kind of stasis. Since quit ea lot of the fossil record is organisms that reach an evolutionary stasis which is then disrupted by the environment. I'd imagine there's something about being near mountains that increases the flux so that stasis means death.
Problem statement (Score:2)
I really want to take this seriously and perhaps learn something new, but it would be nice to explain the bit about "biodiversity has been a puzzle". Neither the summary nor the article explains why it's a puzzle - I've heard plenty of explanations of specialization, niche construction, and stable versus unstable environments. Maybe there's some new quantatitve data, which is valuable for backing up conclusions no matter how obvious.
The only reference to someone surprised by biodiversity was von Humboldt
Another theory - Centrifugal Force (Score:1)
I thought we covered this... (Score:2)
The world is complex. Different environments (flora, fauna, competitors, temperatures, humidities, nutrients, etc.) provide different stressors.
Spontaneous genetic variation in reproduction creates slightly different versions of the previous generation. Those differences may better equip newer generations to survive those stressors and are thus more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass one similar survival traits. Less beneficial variations are less likely to reproduce and those traits are thus more likel
Urdu Novel Read Online (Score:1)