Amrita Krishnakumar
Author: University of Bristol
Published: October 23, 2014
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141023142312.htm
Summary: Ferns have been in existence since over 200 years ago, during the Age of the Dinosaurs. However, a type of Fern has been growing in the Andean Mountains. Dr. Patricia Sanchez-Baracaldo and Dr. Gavin Thomas have been experimenting with molecular and morphological to study the unique temperatures and weather patterns of the mountains. In the Andean Mountains the extreme temperatures do not usually grow ferns. This new ecosystem is called the páramo, and was created around 3 to 5 million years ago, when the Andes underwent a major uplifting event. This provided new ecological opportunities for plants to grow and survive in. Higher altitudes cause the temperatures to fluctuate between very cold nights and very hot days. Many plants have adapted to the temperatures by changing their leaf structure and form so that they can survive in the climate. Both Dr.'s responded to the adaptations of the ferns. "These ferns are remarkable because...they quickly evolved a new morphology as a response to new and extreme environmental conditions. It's fascinating to notice that, by a process known as convergent evolution, whereby similar features evolve independently in species of different lineages, cloud forest ferns arrived at the same 'solution' in response to the same environmental pressures." It is truly amazing how the ferns were able to adapt to their surroundings and survive in an area with extreme temperatures.
Connections: This article relates to the last unit that we covered in Biology. In our class, we learnt about the how adaptations help organisms survive in their niches. Apart from the plants and animals adapting, we learnt about competition between different species causing some to become extinct. Although, there were no species competing with the fern, the temperature caused the fern's characteristics to change and allow it to grow in conditions different from it's suggested temperature. During class we also read an article in class called, "But how could a cell evolve?" by Michael J. Behe. In this article, it talked about how evolution did not appear out of thin air, but was a slow and complex process that required intelligence to produce them. The article connected back to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Darwin had developed a theory, that natural selection can change a species in small ways, causing a population to change color or size over the course of several generations. This theory also supports the idea of adaptation. Both of these ideas together describe the phenomenon occurring in the Andes Mountains.
How does the evolved leaf structure of the plants help it to cope with the extreme temperatures of the paramo?
ReplyDeleteAre there any other adaptations the ferns were able to make?
ReplyDeleteThere is a huge difference in the plants that are located on the Páramo and beneath it. I quote from the article: "The Páramo species were found to have over 300 pairs of leaflets per frond - this is in contrast to their closest relatives in the more sheltered habitat of the cloud forest, lower down the mountains, which have no more than 12 pairs of leaflets per frond. In addition, the length of these leaflets declines rapidly with the increase in altitude." This was the answer to Neha's question and to Richard's question, as of now there is no evidence that there were other adaptations to the ferns.
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