1.
El Grande (tree)
–
El Grande was a massive Eucalyptus in Tasmania and Australias largest tree. It was located on a ridge in the upper Derwent valley, adjacent to the World Heritage Area of the Florentine Valley, the tree stood 79 metres in height, had a girth of 19 metres, and a volume of 439 cubic metres. While it was not the tallest tree in Australia, it was considered to be the largest in terms of volume, australian forestry officials admitted responsibility for killing the tree. Its hollow trunk acted like a furnace so that it was cooked from the inside, the death of the tree, which had already been used as a symbol in the Wilderness Societys campaign against logging, brought national and international media attention. The destruction of El Grande became a symbol for the destruction of Tasmanian forests, scrutiny intensified the use of Tasmanias forests for wood chip exportation, and the processes involved. In the later half of 2003, Forestry Tasmania decided to remove names from the states giant trees. Other giant trees in the area of El Grande which are protected by Forestry Tasmania’s Giant Trees Policy, have since been named Centurion, which was discovered in 2008. Trees in the vicinity that had named previously by the Wilderness Society include the Chapel tree
El Grande (tree)
–
Named El Grande by the Wilderness Society.
2.
Styx Valley
–
The Styx Valley is a valley located adjacent to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site on the island of Tasmania, Australia. The Styx River is the drainage system of the valley that lies about 100 kilometres northwest of Hobart. Temperate wet eucalypt forests in the region are home to the worlds tallest flowering plants, in 2002, Australias most massive tree, nicknamed El Grande, was discovered. It died in a burn in 2003. The valley has been the site of a conflict between environmentalists, who have proposed the protection of the site as a national park. One of the arguments, as well as the environmental benefits, was that a tourism-based economy would be more beneficial for the local economy than logging the area. Community blockades including tree sits have been supported by Greenpeace and the Tasmanian Wilderness Society, gandalfs Staff, an 85-metre tall eucalypt, holds the world record for supporting the highest tree sit platform. List of valleys of Tasmania Upper Florentine Valley
Styx Valley
–
Eucalyptus regnans surrounding the
Styx River on the valley floor.
Styx Valley
–
Clear-felled forest in the Styx Valley. Old-growth trees to the right and pine plantations in the distance.
3.
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Taxonomy is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups. The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the remains, the conception, naming. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy, the broadest meaning of taxonomy is used here. The word taxonomy was introduced in 1813 by Candolle, in his Théorie élémentaire de la botanique, the term alpha taxonomy is primarily used today to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa, particularly species. In earlier literature, the term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, ideals can, it may be said, never be completely realized. They have, however, a value of acting as permanent stimulants. Some of us please ourselves by thinking we are now groping in a beta taxonomy, turrill thus explicitly excludes from alpha taxonomy various areas of study that he includes within taxonomy as a whole, such as ecology, physiology, genetics, and cytology. He further excludes phylogenetic reconstruction from alpha taxonomy, thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined beta taxonomy as the classification of ranks higher than species. This activity is what the term denotes, it is also referred to as beta taxonomy. How species should be defined in a group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as the species problem. The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy, by extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at higher taxonomic ranks, from subgenus and above only, than species. While some descriptions of taxonomic history attempt to date taxonomy to ancient civilizations, earlier works were primarily descriptive, and focused on plants that were useful in agriculture or medicine. There are a number of stages in scientific thinking. Early taxonomy was based on criteria, the so-called artificial systems. Later came systems based on a complete consideration of the characteristics of taxa, referred to as natural systems, such as those of de Jussieu, de Candolle and Bentham. The publication of Charles Darwins Origin of Species led to new ways of thinking about classification based on evolutionary relationships and this was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. This approach was typified by those of Eichler and Engler, the advent of molecular genetics and statistical methodology allowed the creation of the modern era of phylogenetic systems based on cladistics, rather than morphology alone. Taxonomy has been called the worlds oldest profession, and naming and classifying our surroundings has likely been taking place as long as mankind has been able to communicate
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Title page of
Systema Naturae, Leiden, 1735
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Evolution of the
vertebrates at class level, width of spindles indicating number of families. Spindle diagrams are typical for
Evolutionary taxonomy
Taxonomy (biology)
–
The same relationship, expressed as a
cladogram typical for
cladistics
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Type specimen for
Nepenthes smilesii, a tropical
pitcher plant.
4.
Plantae
–
Plants are mainly multicellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. The term is generally limited to the green plants, which form an unranked clade Viridiplantae. This includes the plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns, clubmosses, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and the green algae. Green plants have cell walls containing cellulose and obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts and their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic and have lost the ability to produce amounts of chlorophyll or to photosynthesize. Plants are characterized by sexual reproduction and alternation of generations, although reproduction is also common. There are about 300–315 thousand species of plants, of which the great majority, green plants provide most of the worlds molecular oxygen and are the basis of most of Earths ecologies, especially on land. Plants that produce grains, fruits and vegetables form humankinds basic foodstuffs, Plants play many roles in culture. They are used as ornaments and, until recently and in variety, they have served as the source of most medicines. The scientific study of plants is known as botany, a branch of biology, Plants are one of the two groups into which all living things were traditionally divided, the other is animals. The division goes back at least as far as Aristotle, who distinguished between plants, which generally do not move, and animals, which often are mobile to catch their food. Much later, when Linnaeus created the basis of the system of scientific classification. Since then, it has become clear that the plant kingdom as originally defined included several unrelated groups, however, these organisms are still often considered plants, particularly in popular contexts. When the name Plantae or plant is applied to a group of organisms or taxon. The evolutionary history of plants is not yet settled. Those which have been called plants are in bold, the way in which the groups of green algae are combined and named varies considerably between authors. Algae comprise several different groups of organisms which produce energy through photosynthesis, most conspicuous among the algae are the seaweeds, multicellular algae that may roughly resemble land plants, but are classified among the brown, red and green algae. Each of these groups also includes various microscopic and single-celled organisms
Plantae
–
Green algae from
Ernst Haeckel 's
Kunstformen der Natur, 1904.
Plantae
–
Had'n
Plantae
–
Dicksonia antarctica, a species of
tree fern
Plantae
–
A petrified log in
Petrified Forest National Park.
5.
Angiosperm
–
The flowering plants, also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants, with 416 families, approx. 13,164 known genera and a total of c.295,383 known species, etymologically, angiosperm means a plant that produces seeds within an enclosure, in other words, a fruiting plant. The term angiosperm comes from the Greek composite word meaning enclosed seeds, the ancestors of flowering plants diverged from gymnosperms in the Triassic Period, during the range 245 to 202 million years ago, and the first flowering plants are known from 160 mya. They diversified extensively during the Lower Cretaceous, became widespread by 120 mya, angiosperms differ from other seed plants in several ways, described in the table. These distinguishing characteristics taken together have made the angiosperms the most diverse and numerous land plants, the amount and complexity of tissue-formation in flowering plants exceeds that of gymnosperms. The vascular bundles of the stem are arranged such that the xylem and phloem form concentric rings, in the dicotyledons, the bundles in the very young stem are arranged in an open ring, separating a central pith from an outer cortex. In each bundle, separating the xylem and phloem, is a layer of meristem or active formative tissue known as cambium, the soft phloem becomes crushed, but the hard wood persists and forms the bulk of the stem and branches of the woody perennial. Among the monocotyledons, the bundles are more numerous in the stem and are scattered through the ground tissue. They contain no cambium and once formed the stem increases in diameter only in exceptional cases, the characteristic feature of angiosperms is the flower. Flowers show remarkable variation in form and elaboration, and provide the most trustworthy external characteristics for establishing relationships among angiosperm species, the function of the flower is to ensure fertilization of the ovule and development of fruit containing seeds. The floral apparatus may arise terminally on a shoot or from the axil of a leaf, occasionally, as in violets, a flower arises singly in the axil of an ordinary foliage-leaf. There are two kinds of cells produced by flowers. Microspores, which divide to become pollen grains, are the male cells and are borne in the stamens. The female cells called megaspores, which divide to become the egg cell, are contained in the ovule. The flower may consist only of parts, as in willow. Usually, other structures are present and serve to protect the sporophylls, the individual members of these surrounding structures are known as sepals and petals. The outer series is usually green and leaf-like, and functions to protect the rest of the flower, the inner series is, in general, white or brightly colored, and is more delicate in structure. It functions to attract insect or bird pollinators, attraction is effected by color, scent, and nectar, which may be secreted in some part of the flower
Angiosperm
Angiosperm
–
Bud of a pink
rose
Angiosperm
–
Flowers of
Malus sylvestris (crab apple)
Angiosperm
–
Flowers and leaves of
Oxalis pes-caprae (Bermuda buttercup)
6.
Eudicot
–
The eudicots, Eudicotidae or eudicotyledons are a monophyletic clade of flowering plants that had been called tricolpates or non-magnoliid dicots by previous authors. The close relationships among flowering plants with tricolpate pollen grains was initially seen in studies of shared derived characters. These plants have a trait in their pollen grains of exhibiting three colpi or grooves paralleling the polar axis. Later molecular evidence confirmed the basis for the evolutionary relationships among flowering plants with tricolpate pollen grains. The term means true dicotyledons, as it contains the majority of plants that have been considered dicots and have characteristics of the dicots, the term eudicots has subsequently been widely adopted in botany to refer to one of the two largest clades of angiosperms, monocots being the other. The remaining angiosperms are sometimes referred to as basal angiosperms or paleodicots, the other name for the eudicots is tricolpates, a name which refers to the grooved structure of the pollen. Members of the group have tricolpate pollen, or forms derived from it and these pollens have three or more pores set in furrows called colpi. In contrast, most of the seed plants produce monosulcate pollen. The name tricolpates is preferred by some botanists to avoid confusion with the dicots, numerous familiar plants are eudicots, including many common food plants, trees, and ornamentals. Most leafy trees of midlatitudes also belong to eudicots, with exceptions being magnolias and tulip trees which belong to magnoliids, and Ginkgo biloba. The name eudicots is used in the APG system, of 1998 and it is applied to a clade, a monophyletic group, which includes most of the dicots. The eudicots can be divided into two groups, the basal eudicots and the core eudicots, basal eudicot is an informal name for a paraphyletic group. The core eudicots are a monophyletic group, a 2010 study suggested the core eudicots can be divided into two clades, Gunnerales and a clade called Pentapetalae, comprising all the remaining core eudicots
Eudicot
–
Eudicots Temporal range:
Early Cretaceous - recent
Eudicot
–
Arabis pollen has three colpi.
7.
Rosid
–
The rosids are members of a large clade of flowering plants, containing about 70,000 species, more than a quarter of all angiosperms. The clade is divided into 16 to 20 orders, depending upon circumscription and classification and these orders, in turn, together comprise about 140 families. Fossil rosids are known from the Cretaceous period, molecular clock estimates indicate that the rosids originated in the Aptian or Albian stages of the Cretaceous, between 125 and 99.6 million years ago. The name is based upon the name Rosidae, which had usually been understood to be a subclass, in 1967, Armen Takhtajan showed that the correct basis for the name Rosidae is a description of a group of plants published in 1830 by Friedrich Gottlieb Bartling. The clade was later renamed Rosidae and has been variously delimited by different authors, the name rosids is informal and not assumed to have any particular taxonomic rank like the names authorized by the ICBN. The rosids are monophyletic based upon evidence found by molecular phylogenetic analysis, three different definitions of the rosids were used. Some authors included the orders Saxifragales and Vitales in the rosids, others excluded both of these orders. The circumscription used in this article is that of the APG IV classification, which includes Vitales, the rosids and Saxifragales form the superrosids clade. This is one of three groups compose the Pentapetalae, the others being Dilleniales and the superasterids. The rosids consist of two groups, the order Vitales and the eurosids, the eurosids, in turn, are divided into two groups, fabids and malvids. The rosids consist of 17 orders, in addition to Vitales, there are 8 orders in fabids and 8 orders in malvids. Some of the orders have only recently been recognized and these are Vitales, Zygophyllales, Crossosomatales, Picramniales, and Huerteales. The phylogeny of Rosids shown below is adapted from the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group website, the nitrogen-fixing clade contains a high number of actinorhizal plants. Not all plants in this clade are actinorhizal, however, media related to Rosids at Wikimedia Commons
Rosid
–
Rosids
8.
Myrtales
–
The Myrtales are an order of flowering plants placed as a sister to the eurosids II clade as of the publishing of the Eucalyptus grandis genome in June 2014. The APG III system of classification for angiosperms still places it within the eurosids, the following families are included as of APG III, Alzateaceae S. A. Graham Combretaceae R. Br. The Cronquist system gives essentially the composition, except the Vochysiaceae are removed to the order Polygalales. The families Sonneratiaceae, Trapaceae, and Punicaceae are removed from the Lythraceae, in the classification system of Dahlgren the Myrtales were in the superorder Myrtiflorae. The APG III system agrees with the older Cronquist circumscriptions of treating Psiloxylaceae and Heteropyxidaceae within Myrtaceae, ellagitannins are reported in dicotyledoneous angiospermes, and notably in species in the order Myrtales. Myrtales is dated to have begun 89-99 million years ago in Australasia, there is some contention as to that date however, which was obtained using nuclear DNA. When looking at chloroplast DNA, the ancestor is instead considered to have evolved in the mid-cretaceous period in Southeast Africa. Although the APG system classifies myrtales as within the eurosids, the published genome of Eucalyptus grandis places the order myrtales as a sister to the eurosids rather than inside them. The discrepancy is thought to have due to the difference between using a large number of taxa versus using a large number of genes for constructing a phylogeny. Conti, E. Erikkson, T. Schonenberger, J. Sytsma, K. J. Baum, early Tertiary Out-of-India Dispersal of Crypteroniaceae, Evidence from Phylogeny and Molecular Dating. Schönenberger, J. Conti, E. Molecular phylogeny and floral evolution of Penaeaceae, Oliniaceae, Rhynchocalycaceae, and Alzateaceae
Myrtales
–
Myrtales
Myrtales
–
Blue Eyes
Fuchsia flower and buds, from order Myrtales and family
Onagraceae
9.
Myrtaceae
–
Myrtaceae is the myrtle family, a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pohutukawa, the bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca, allspice, all species are woody, with essential oils, and flower parts in multiples of four or five. One notable character of the family is that the phloem is located on both sides of the xylem, not just outside as in most other plants, the leaves are evergreen, alternate to mostly opposite, simple, and usually with an entire margin. The flowers have a number of five petals, though in several genera the petals are minute or absent. The stamens are usually conspicuous, brightly coloured and numerous. Recent estimates suggest the Myrtaceae include approximately 5950 species in ca 132 genera, the family has a wide distribution in tropical and warm-temperate regions of the world, and are typically common in many of the worlds biodiversity hotspots. Genera with capsular fruits such as Eucalyptus, Corymbia, Angophora, Leptospermum, genera with fleshy fruits have their greatest concentrations in eastern Australia and Malesia and the Neotropics. Eucalyptus is a dominant, nearly ubiquitous genus in the more parts of Australia. Eucalyptus regnans is the tallest flowering plant in the world, other important Australian genera are Callistemon, Syzygium, and Melaleuca. Species of the genus Osbornia, native to Australasia, are mangroves, eugenia, Myrcia, and Calyptranthes are among the larger genera in the neotropics. Historically, the Myrtaceae were divided into two subfamilies, subfamily Myrtoideae was recognized as having fleshy fruits and opposite, entire leaves. Most genera in this subfamily have one of three recognized types of embryos. The genera of Myrtoideae can be difficult to distinguish in the absence of mature fruits. Myrtoideae are found worldwide in subtropical and tropical regions, with centers of diversity in the Neotropics, northeastern Australia, in contrast, subfamily Leptospermoideae was recognized as having dry, dehiscent fruits and leaves arranged spirally or alternate. The Leptospermoideae are found mostly in Australasia, with a centre of diversity in Australia, many genera in Western Australia have greatly reduced leaves and flowers typical of more xeric habitats. Thus, many workers are now using a recent analysis by Wilson et al. as a point to test further analyses of the family. The genera Heteropyxis and Psiloxylon have been separated as separate families by many authors in the past as Heteropyxidaceae and Psiloxylaceae, however, Wilson et al. included them in Myrtaceae. These two genera are believed to be the earliest arising and surviving lineages of Myrtaceae
Myrtaceae
–
Myrtle family
Myrtaceae
–
Pimenta dioica
10.
Eucalyptus
–
Eucalyptus /ˌjuːkəˈlɪptəs/ LHeritier 1789 is a diverse genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the flora of Australia. There are more than 700 species of eucalyptus and most are native to Australia, one species, Eucalyptus deglupta, ranges as far north as the Philippines. Of the 15 species found outside Australia, just nine are exclusively non-Australian, species of eucalyptus are cultivated widely in the tropical and temperate world, including the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East, China, and the Indian subcontinent. However, the range over which many eucalypts can be planted in the zone is constrained by their limited cold tolerance. Australia is covered by 92,000,000 hectares of eucalypt forest, Eucalyptus is one of three similar genera that are commonly referred to as eucalypts, the others being Corymbia and Angophora. Many species, though by no means all, are known as gum trees because they exude copious kino from any break in the bark. The generic name is derived from the Greek words ευ well and καλύπτω to cover, Eucalyptus oil finds many uses like in aromatherapy, as a cure for joint pains. Eucalyptus trees show allelopathic effects, they release compounds which inhibit other plant species from growing nearby, on warm days, eucalyptus forests are sometimes shrouded in a smog-like mist of vaporised volatile organic compounds, the Australian Blue Mountains take their name from the haze. A mature eucalyptus may take the form of a low shrub or a large tree. The species can be divided into three main habits and four size categories, as a generalisation forest trees are single-stemmed and have a crown forming a minor proportion of the whole tree height. Woodland trees are single-stemmed, although they may branch at a distance above ground level. Many mallee trees may be so low-growing as to be considered a shrub, two other tree forms are notable in Western Australia and described using the native names mallet and marlock. The mallet is a small to medium-sized tree that does not produce lignotubers and has a long trunk. This is the habit of mature healthy specimens of Eucalyptus occidentalis, E. astringens, E. spathulata, E. gardneri, E. dielsii, E. forrestiana, E. salubris, E. clivicola. The smooth bark of mallets often has a satiny sheen and may be white, cream, grey, green, or copper. The term marlock has been used, in Forest Trees of Australia, it is defined as a small tree without lignotubers. They usually grow in more or less pure stands, clearly recognisable examples are stands of E. platypus, E. vesiculosa, and the unrelated E. stoatei
Eucalyptus
–
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus
–
Eucalyptus regnans, a forest tree, showing crown dimension,
Tasmania
Eucalyptus
–
Eucalyptus camaldulensis, immature woodland trees, showing collective crown habit,
Murray River,
Tocumwal,
New South Wales
Eucalyptus
–
Eucalyptus cretata, juvenile, showing low branching 'mallee' form,
Melbourne,
Victoria
11.
Binomial nomenclature
–
Such a name is called a binomial name, a binomen, binominal name or a scientific name, more informally it is also called a Latin name. The first part of the name identifies the genus to which the species belongs, for example, humans belong to the genus Homo and within this genus to the species Homo sapiens. The formal introduction of system of naming species is credited to Carl Linnaeus. But Gaspard Bauhin, in as early as 1623, had introduced in his book Pinax theatri botanici many names of genera that were adopted by Linnaeus. Although the general principles underlying binomial nomenclature are common to these two codes, there are differences, both in the terminology they use and in their precise rules. Similarly, both parts are italicized when a binomial name occurs in normal text, thus the binomial name of the annual phlox is now written as Phlox drummondii. In scientific works, the authority for a name is usually given, at least when it is first mentioned. In zoology Patella vulgata Linnaeus,1758, the original name given by Linnaeus was Fringilla domestica, the parentheses indicate that the species is now considered to belong in a different genus. The ICZN does not require that the name of the person who changed the genus be given, nor the date on which the change was made, in botany Amaranthus retroflexus L. – L. is the standard abbreviation used in botany for Linnaeus. – Linnaeus first named this bluebell species Scilla italica, Rothmaler transferred it to the genus Hyacinthoides, the ICN does not require that the dates of either publication be specified. Prior to the adoption of the binomial system of naming species. Together they formed a system of polynomial nomenclature and these names had two separate functions. First, to designate or label the species, and second, to be a diagnosis or description, such polynomial names may sometimes look like binomials, but are significantly different. For example, Gerards herbal describes various kinds of spiderwort, The first is called Phalangium ramosum, Branched Spiderwort, is aptly termed Phalangium Ephemerum Virginianum, Soon-Fading Spiderwort of Virginia. The Latin phrases are short descriptions, rather than identifying labels, the Bauhins, in particular Caspar Bauhin, took some important steps towards the binomial system, by pruning the Latin descriptions, in many cases to two words. The adoption by biologists of a system of binomial nomenclature is due to Swedish botanist and physician Carl von Linné. It was in his 1753 Species Plantarum that he first began using a one-word trivial name together with a generic name in a system of binomial nomenclature. This trivial name is what is now known as an epithet or specific name
Binomial nomenclature
–
Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), a Swedish botanist, invented the modern system of binomial nomenclature.
12.
Ferdinand von Mueller
–
Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the colony of Victoria by Governor Charles La Trobe in 1853. He also founded the National Herbarium of Victoria, Mueller was born at Rostock, in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. After the early death of his parents, Frederick and Louisa, his grandparents gave him an education in Tönning. Apprenticed to a chemist at the age of 15, he passed his pharmaceutical examinations, in 1847, he received his degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Kiel for a thesis on the plants of the southern regions of Schleswig. While still on the ship, he reportedly fished his first plants out of the water to analyse them and he arrived at Adelaide on 18 December 1847 and found employment as a chemist with Moritz J. Heuzenroeder, in Rundle Street. He was an explorer, walking alone to Mount Arden. Shortly afterwards, he obtained 20 acres of land not far from Adelaide in the Bugle Ranges and he moved there with his sister Clara, intending to start a farm, but after a few months, he returned to his former employment. Mueller thought to open a shop in the gold diggings, so in 1851, he moved to Melbourne. Mueller was appointed government botanist for Victoria by Governor Charles La Trobe in 1853 and he examined its flora, especially the Alpine vegetation of Australia, which was previously unknown. He explored the Buffalo Ranges, then went to the reaches of the Goulburn River. It has many plants from Australia and abroad, many of which were collected by Mueller, also, his large private library was transferred to the government of Victoria in 1865 and is incorporated into the library of the herbarium in Melbourne. Then, as a phytographic naturalist, he joined the expedition sent out under Augustus Gregory by the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State for the colonies. He explored the Victoria River and other portions of North Australia, was one of the four who reached Termination Lake in 1856, Mueller, for his part, found nearly 800 species in Australia new to science. He published in this year his Definitions of Rare or Hitherto Undescribed Australian Plants, from 1854 to 1872, Mueller was a member of the Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science, which later became the Philosophical Institute of Victoria. He was president of the Philosophical Institute in 1859 when it received a royal charter and he was an active member of the societys Exploration Committee which established the Burke and Wills expedition of 1860. Mueller promoted the exploration of Australia, and as one of two members of the Exploration Committee with any experience of exploration, he made several speeches to the society on the topic. He did not favour the selection of Burke as leader, but due to factionalism in the committee, he had little say in the establishment, provisioning, Mueller was decorated by many foreign countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Denmark, and Portugal
Ferdinand von Mueller
–
Ferdinand von Mueller
Ferdinand von Mueller
13.
Synonym (taxonomy)
–
For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies. This name is no longer in use, it is now a synonym of the current scientific name which is Picea abies, unlike synonyms in other contexts, in taxonomy a synonym is not interchangeable with the name of which it is a synonym. In taxonomy, synonyms are not equals, but have a different status, for any taxon with a particular circumscription, position, and rank, only one scientific name is considered to be the correct one at any given time. A synonym cannot exist in isolation, it is always an alternative to a different scientific name, given that the correct name of a taxon depends on the taxonomic viewpoint used a name that is one taxonomists synonym may be another taxonomists correct name. Synonyms may arise whenever the same taxon is described and named more than once, independently. They may also arise when existing taxa are changed, as when two taxa are joined to one, a species is moved to a different genus. To the general user of scientific names, in such as agriculture, horticulture, ecology, general science. A synonym is a name that was used as the correct scientific name but which has been displaced by another scientific name. Thus Oxford Dictionaries Online defines the term as a name which has the same application as another. In handbooks and general texts, it is useful to have mentioned as such after the current scientific name. Synonyms used in this way may not always meet the strict definitions of the synonym in the formal rules of nomenclature which govern scientific names. Changes of scientific name have two causes, they may be taxonomic or nomenclatural, a name change may be caused by changes in the circumscription, position or rank of a taxon, representing a change in taxonomic, scientific insight. A name change may be due to purely nomenclatural reasons, that is, based on the rules of nomenclature, the earliest such name is called the senior synonym, while the later name is the junior synonym. One basic principle of zoological nomenclature is that the earliest correctly published name, synonyms are important because if the earliest name cannot be used, then the next available junior synonym must be used for the taxon. Objective synonyms refer to taxa with the type and same rank. For example, John Edward Gray published the name Antilocapra anteflexa in 1855 for a species of pronghorn, however, it is now commonly accepted that his specimen was an unusual individual of the species Antilocapra americana published by George Ord in 1815. Ords name thus takes precedence, with Antilocapra anteflexa being a subjective synonym. Objective synonyms are common at the level of genera, because for various reasons two genera may contain the type species, these are objective synonyms
Synonym (taxonomy)
–
The
Latin Caudata and
Greek Urodela both mean "tailed" and have been used as a scientific name at the rank of order for the
salamanders (as opposed to the tail-less
frogs). Thus they are synonyms.
Synonym (taxonomy)
–
The common dandelion
Taraxacum officinale sensu lato is an extremely widespread group of
apomictic lineages, and some scientists apply the "biological species concept" to divide it into many distinct species; other scientists regard all the names for those independent species as synonyms.
14.
Tasmania
–
Tasmania is an island state of the Commonwealth of Australia. It is located 240 km to the south of the Australian mainland, the state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the 26th-largest island in the world, and the surrounding 334 islands. The state has a population of around 519,100, just over forty percent of which resides in the Greater Hobart precinct, Tasmanias area is 68,401 km2, of which the main island covers 64,519 km2. Though an island state, due to an error the state shares a land border with Victoria at its northernmost terrestrial point, Boundary Islet. The Bishop and Clerk Islets, about 37 km south of Macquarie Island, are the southernmost terrestrial point of the state of Tasmania, the island is believed to have been occupied by Aboriginals for 40,000 years before British colonisation. It is thought Tasmanian Aboriginals were separated from the mainland Aboriginal groups about 10,000 years ago when the sea rose to form Bass Strait. The conflict, which peaked between 1825 and 1831 and led to more than three years of law, cost the lives of almost 1100 Aboriginals and settlers. The near-destruction of Tasmanias Aboriginal population has been described by historians as an act of genocide by the British. The island was part of the Colony of New South Wales. In 1854 the present Constitution of Tasmania was passed and the year the state received permission to change its name to Tasmania. In 1901 it became a state through the process of the Federation of Australia, the state is named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who made the first reported European sighting of the island on 24 November 1642. Tasman named the island Anthony van Diemens Land after his sponsor Anthony van Diemen, the name was later shortened to Van Diemens Land by the British. It was officially renamed Tasmania in honour of its first European discoverer on 1 January 1856, Tasmania was sometimes referred to as Dervon, as mentioned in the Jerilderie Letter written by the notorious Australian bushranger Ned Kelly in 1879. The colloquial expression for the state is Tassie, Tasmania is also colloquially shortened to Tas, especially when used in business names and website addresses. TAS is also the Australia Post abbreviation for the state, the reconstructed Palawa kani language name for Tasmania is Lutriwita. The island was adjoined to the mainland of Australia until the end of the last glacial period about 10,000 years ago, much of the island is composed of Jurassic dolerite intrusions through other rock types, sometimes forming large columnar joints. Tasmania has the worlds largest areas of dolerite, with many distinctive mountains, the central plateau and the southeast portions of the island are mostly dolerite. Mount Wellington above Hobart is an example, showing distinct columns known as the Organ Pipes
Tasmania
–
Tasmania from space
Tasmania
–
Flag
Tasmania
–
Tessellated pavement, a rare rock formation on the
Tasman Peninsula
Tasmania
–
Autumn on the
Derwent River in Tasmania
15.
Victoria (Australia)
–
Victoria is a state in southeast Australia. Victoria is Australias most densely populated state and its second-most populous state overall, most of its population is concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Melbourne, Australias second-largest city. Prior to British European settlement, the area now constituting Victoria was inhabited by a number of Aboriginal peoples. With Great Britain having claimed the entire Australian continent east of the 135th meridian east in 1788, Victoria was included in the wider colony of New South Wales. The first settlement in the area occurred in 1803 at Sullivan Bay, and much of what is now Victoria was included in the Port Phillip District in 1836, Victoria was officially created as a separate colony in 1851, and achieved self-government in 1855. Politically, Victoria has 37 seats in the Australian House of Representatives and 12 seats in the Australian Senate, at state level, the Parliament of Victoria consists of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. Victoria is currently governed by the Labor Party, with Daniel Andrews the current Premier, the personal representative of the Queen of Australia in the state is the Governor of Victoria, currently Linda Dessau. Local government is concentrated in 79 municipal districts, including 33 cities, although a number of unincorporated areas still exist, Victorias total gross state product is ranked second in Australia, although Victoria is ranked fourth in terms of GSP per capita because of its limited mining activity. Culturally, Melbourne is home to a number of museums, art galleries and theatres and is described as the sporting capital of Australia. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is the largest stadium in Australia, and the host of the 1956 Summer Olympics, Victoria has eight public universities, with the oldest, the University of Melbourne, having been founded in 1853. Victoria, like Queensland, was named after Queen Victoria, who had been on the British throne for 14 years when the colony was established in 1851. The first British settlement in the later known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay on Port Phillip. In the year 1826 Colonel Stewart, Captain S. Wright, fly and the brigs Dragon and Amity, took a number of convicts and a small force composed of detachments of the 3rd and 93rd regiments. Victorias next settlement was at Portland, on the south west coast of what is now Victoria, edward Henty settled Portland Bay in 1834. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman, who set up a base in Indented Head, from settlement the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales. Shortly after the now known as Geelong was surveyed by Assistant Surveyor W. H. Smythe. And in 1838 Geelong was officially declared a town, despite earlier white settlements dating back to 1826, days later, still in 1851 gold was discovered near Ballarat, and subsequently at Bendigo. Later discoveries occurred at sites across Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
–
Swearing Allegiance to the Southern Cross at the
Eureka Stockade on 1 December 1854 – watercolour by
Charles Doudiet
Victoria (Australia)
–
Flag
Victoria (Australia)
–
The Victorian
Parliament House, built in 1856, stands in
Spring Street, Melbourne. The building was intended to be finished with a
dome, but was not completed due to budget constraints.
Victoria (Australia)
–
The
Legislative Council Chamber, as photographed in 1878
16.
Australia
–
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
Australia
–
Aboriginal rock art in the
Kimberley region of Western Australia
Australia
Australia
–
Portrait of Captain
James Cook, the first European to map the eastern coastline of Australia in 1770
Australia
–
Tasmania's
Port Arthur penal settlement is one of eleven UNESCO World Heritage-listed
Australian Convict Sites.
17.
Flowering plant
–
The flowering plants, also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants, with 416 families, approx. 13,164 known genera and a total of c.295,383 known species, etymologically, angiosperm means a plant that produces seeds within an enclosure, in other words, a fruiting plant. The term angiosperm comes from the Greek composite word meaning enclosed seeds, the ancestors of flowering plants diverged from gymnosperms in the Triassic Period, during the range 245 to 202 million years ago, and the first flowering plants are known from 160 mya. They diversified extensively during the Lower Cretaceous, became widespread by 120 mya, angiosperms differ from other seed plants in several ways, described in the table. These distinguishing characteristics taken together have made the angiosperms the most diverse and numerous land plants, the amount and complexity of tissue-formation in flowering plants exceeds that of gymnosperms. The vascular bundles of the stem are arranged such that the xylem and phloem form concentric rings, in the dicotyledons, the bundles in the very young stem are arranged in an open ring, separating a central pith from an outer cortex. In each bundle, separating the xylem and phloem, is a layer of meristem or active formative tissue known as cambium, the soft phloem becomes crushed, but the hard wood persists and forms the bulk of the stem and branches of the woody perennial. Among the monocotyledons, the bundles are more numerous in the stem and are scattered through the ground tissue. They contain no cambium and once formed the stem increases in diameter only in exceptional cases, the characteristic feature of angiosperms is the flower. Flowers show remarkable variation in form and elaboration, and provide the most trustworthy external characteristics for establishing relationships among angiosperm species, the function of the flower is to ensure fertilization of the ovule and development of fruit containing seeds. The floral apparatus may arise terminally on a shoot or from the axil of a leaf, occasionally, as in violets, a flower arises singly in the axil of an ordinary foliage-leaf. There are two kinds of cells produced by flowers. Microspores, which divide to become pollen grains, are the male cells and are borne in the stamens. The female cells called megaspores, which divide to become the egg cell, are contained in the ovule. The flower may consist only of parts, as in willow. Usually, other structures are present and serve to protect the sporophylls, the individual members of these surrounding structures are known as sepals and petals. The outer series is usually green and leaf-like, and functions to protect the rest of the flower, the inner series is, in general, white or brightly colored, and is more delicate in structure. It functions to attract insect or bird pollinators, attraction is effected by color, scent, and nectar, which may be secreted in some part of the flower
Flowering plant
Flowering plant
–
Bud of a pink
rose
Flowering plant
–
Flowers of
Malus sylvestris (crab apple)
Flowering plant
–
Flowers and leaves of
Oxalis pes-caprae (Bermuda buttercup)
18.
Sequoia sempervirens
–
Sequoia sempervirens /sᵻˈkɔɪ. ə sɛmpərˈvaɪrənz/ is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae. Common names include coast redwood, coastal redwood and California redwood and it is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living 1, 200–1,800 years or more. This species includes the tallest living trees on Earth, reaching up to 379 feet in height and these trees are also among the oldest living things on Earth. The name sequoia sometimes refers to the subfamily Sequoioideae, which includes S. sempervirens along with Sequoiadendron, here, the term redwood on its own refers to the species covered in this article, and not to the other two species. Scottish botanist David Don described the redwood as the evergreen taxodium in his colleague Aylmer Bourke Lamberts 1824 work A description of the genus Pinus, austrian botanist Stephan Endlicher erected the genus Sequoia in his 1847 work Synopsis coniferarum, giving the redwood its current binomial name of Sequoia sempervirens. The redwood is one of three living species, each in its own genus, in the subfamily Sequoioideae, molecular studies have shown the three to be each others closest relatives, generally with the redwood and giant sequoia as each others closest relatives. However, Yang and colleagues in 2010 queried the polyploid state of the redwood, further analysis strongly supported the hypothesis that Sequoia was the result of a hybridization event involving Metasequoia and Sequoiadendron. Thus, Yang and colleagues hypothesize that the inconsistent relationships among Metasequoia, Sequoia, the coast redwood can reach 115 m tall with a trunk diameter of 9 m. It has a crown, with horizontal to slightly drooping branches. The bark can be thick, up to 1-foot, and quite soft and fibrous, with a bright red-brown color when freshly exposed. The root system is composed of shallow, wide-spreading lateral roots, the leaves are variable, being 15–25 mm long and flat on young trees and shaded shoots in the lower crown of old trees. On the other hand, they are scale-like, 5–10 mm long on shoots in full sun in the crown of older trees. They are dark green above and have two blue-white stomatal bands below, leaf arrangement is spiral, but the larger shade leaves are twisted at the base to lie in a flat plane for maximum light capture. The species is monoecious, with pollen and seed cones on the same plant, the seed cones are ovoid, 15–32 millimetres long, with 15–25 spirally arranged scales, pollination is in late winter with maturation about 8–9 months after. Each cone scale bears three to seven seeds, each seed 3–4 millimetres long and 0.5 millimetres broad, the seeds are released when the cone scales dry out and open at maturity. The pollen cones are ovular and 4–6 millimetres long and its genetic makeup is unusual among conifers, being a hexaploid and possibly allopolyploid. Both the mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of the redwood are paternally inherited, the prevailing elevation range is 98–2,460 ft above sea level, occasionally down to 0 and up to 3,000 ft. They usually grow in the mountains where precipitation from the incoming moisture off the ocean is greater, the tallest and oldest trees are found in deep valleys and gullies, where year-round streams can flow, and fog drip is regular
Sequoia sempervirens
–
Sequoia sempervirens
Sequoia sempervirens
–
Trunk in sectional view
Sequoia sempervirens
–
Sequoia sempervirens -
MHNT
Sequoia sempervirens
–
Bark detail
19.
Understory
–
In forestry and ecology, understory comprises plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but above the forest floor. Only a small percentage of light penetrates the canopy so understory vegetation is generally shade tolerant, the understory typically consists of trees stunted through lack of light, other small trees with low light requirements, saplings, shrubs, vines and undergrowth. Small trees such as holly and dogwood are understory specialists, in temperate deciduous forests, many understory plants start into growth earlier than the canopy trees to make use of the greater availability of light at this time of year. A gap in the canopy caused by the death of a tree stimulates the potential emergent trees into competitive growth as they grow upwards to fill the gap and these trees tend to have straight trunks and few lower branches. At the same time, the bushes, undergrowth and plant life on the forest floor become more dense, the understory experiences greater humidity than the canopy, and the shaded ground does not vary in temperature as much as open ground. This causes a proliferation of ferns, mosses and fungi and encourages nutrient recycling, the understory is the underlying layer of vegetation in a forest or wooded area, especially the trees and shrubs growing between the forest canopy and the forest floor. Plants in the understory comprise an assortment of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with specialist understory shrubs and herbs, young canopy trees often persist in the understory for decades as suppressed juveniles until an opening in the forest overstory permits their growth into the canopy. In contrast understory shrubs complete their cycles in the shade of the forest canopy. Some smaller tree species, such as dogwood and holly, rarely grow tall, the canopy of a rainforest is typically about 10m thick, and intercepts around 95% of the sunlight. The understory receive less light than plants in the canopy. Understory plants therefore must be shade tolerant—they must be able to photosynthesize adequately using such light as does reach their leaves and they often are able to use wavelengths that canopy plants cannot. In temperate deciduous forests towards the end of the leafless season and this is important because it provides the understory plants with a window in which to photosynthesize without the canopy shading them. This brief period is often a period in which the plant can maintain a net positive carbon balance over the course of the year. As a rule forest understories also experience higher humidity than exposed areas, the forest canopy reduces solar radiation, so the ground does not heat up or cool down as rapidly as open ground. Consequently, the understory dries out more slowly than more exposed areas do, the greater humidity encourages epiphytes such as ferns and mosses, and allows fungi and other decomposers to flourish. This drives nutrient cycling, and provides favorable microclimates for many animals and plants, such as the pygmy marmoset
Understory
–
Lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) woodland understory in early spring.
Understory
–
Tree base showing
moss understory limit.
Understory
–
Understory in the
boreal forest near
Prince Albert, Canada. The red colour on the
trembling aspen, (Populus tremuloides), is a fire suppressant released from the air to put out a
forest fire.
20.
Systematic Census of Australian Plants
–
Pl. is a survey of the vascular flora of Australia prepared by Government botanist for the state of Victoria Ferdinand von Mueller and published in 1882. Von Mueller describes the development of the census in the preface of the volume as an extension of the seven volumes of the Flora Australiensis written by George Bentham. A new flora was necessary since as more areas of Australia were explored and settled, the first census increased the number of described species from the 8125 in Flora Australiensis to 8646. The book records all the species indigenous to Australia and Norfolk Island. In 1889 an updated edition of the census was published, the Second Systematic Census increased the number of described species to 8839, von Mueller dedicated both works to Joseph Dalton Hooker and A. P. de Candolle. The work is of significance as the first Australian flora written in Australia. Following its publication, research and writing on the flora of Australia has largely been carried out in Australia, Australian Bird Count Flora of Australia Full text of the Systematic Census of Australian Plants from the Internet Archive
Systematic Census of Australian Plants
–
The title page of the census
21.
Dandenong Ranges
–
The Dandenong Ranges are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately 35 km east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ranges consist mostly of rolling hills, steeply weathered valleys and gullies covered in temperate rainforest, predominantly of tall Mountain Ash trees. After European settlement in the region, the range was used as a source of timber for Melbourne. The ranges were popular with day-trippers from the 1870s onwards, much of the Dandenongs were protected by parklands as early as 1882 and by 1987 these parklands were amalgamated to form the Dandenong Ranges National Park, which was added to again in 1997. The range experiences light to moderate snow falls a few times most years, today, the Dandenongs are home to over 100,000 residents and the area is popular amongst visitors, many of which stay for the weekend at the various Bed & Breakfasts through the region. The popular Puffing Billy Railway, a steam railway, runs through the southern parts of the Dandenongs. The etymology of the Dandenongs is a complicated one, two names have been used to refer to the ranges, Corhanwarrabul and Dandenong, both derived from the Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri people. It is suspected that the name Dandenong was applied to the ranges because Dandenong Creek originates there, however and it is not known where the name Dandenong came from nor what it means, or even its correct spelling, other variations include, Tanjenong, Tangynon and Bangeong. In any case, both names relate at least to watercourses in general, and not to mountains or ranges, so as the name Dandenong may not actually apply to anything in the immediate area, the relevance of the name Corhanwarrabul becomes apparent. Carhanwarrabul was the name for one of the two main summits, perhaps both or perhaps the entire range. The name applied to the summits and was in continued use up until around 1900. At any rate, Corhanwarrabul remains the most relevant name for the ranges to date, the range is the remains of an extinct volcano last active 373 million years ago. It consists predominantly of Devonian dacite and rhyodacite, the topography consists of a series of ridges dissected by deeply cut streams. Rainfall is fairly uniform through the year, tending to peak between April and October with lower rainfall during the months of January and February, the mean annual rainfall is between 1000 and 1500 mm, increasing with elevation and from west to east. Due to the elevation, fog is common in winter months, as a result of its elevation snow typically falls one or two times a year at higher elevations, mostly between the months of June and October. A rare summer snow occurred on Christmas Day 2006, the local region has experienced substantial warming in recent decades and heavy snowfalls which were once common have become rare. The last significant snowfall to affect the Dandenongs Ranges was on August 10,2008, a Bureau of Meteorology weather station sits at an elevation of 513 m in the Ferny Creek Reserve in the southern part of the Dandenongs Ranges. This weather station replaced one that was located on the summit of Dunns Hill
Dandenong Ranges
–
Left -
Mount Dandenong and right - Mount Corhanwarrabul, viewed from
Mooroolbark
Dandenong Ranges
Dandenong Ranges
–
Mount Corhanwarrabul summit from the northern face of One Tree Hill
22.
Chloroplast DNA
–
Chloroplasts have their own DNA, often abbreviated as cpDNA. It is also known as the plastome when referring to genomes of other plastids and its existence was first proved in 1962, and first sequenced in 1986—when two Japanese research teams sequenced the chloroplast DNA of liverwort and tobacco. Chloroplast DNAs are circular, and are typically 120, 000–170,000 base pairs long and they can have a contour length of around 30–60 micrometers, and have a mass of about 80–130 million daltons. Each minicircle contains one to three genes, but blank plasmids, with no coding DNA, have also been found, many chloroplast DNAs contain two inverted repeats, which separate a long single copy section from a short single copy section. The inverted repeats vary wildly in length, ranging from 4,000 to 25,000 base pairs long each, inverted repeats in plants tend to be at the upper end of this range, each being 20, 000–25,000 base pairs long. The inverted repeat regions usually contain three ribosomal RNA and two genes, but they can be expanded or reduced to contain as few as four or as many as over 150 genes. While a given pair of inverted repeats are rarely identical, they are always very similar to each other. The inverted repeat regions are conserved among land plants. Others, like the red alga Porphyra flipped one of its inverted repeats and it is possible that the inverted repeats help stabilize the rest of the chloroplast genome, as chloroplast DNAs which have lost some of the inverted repeat segments tend to get rearranged more. Chloroplast DNAs have long thought to have a circular structure. Over 95% of the chloroplast DNA in corn chloroplasts has been observed to be in branched linear form rather than individual circles, new chloroplasts may contain up to 100 copies of their DNA, though the number of chloroplast DNA copies decreases to about 15–20 as the chloroplasts age. They are usually packed into nucleoids which can contain several identical chloroplast DNA rings, many nucleoids can be found in each chloroplast. In primitive red algae, the chloroplast DNA nucleoids are clustered in the center of a chloroplast, while in plants and green algae. The mechanism for chloroplast DNA replication has not been conclusively determined, scientists have attempted to observe chloroplast replication via electron microscopy since the 1970s. The results of the experiments led to the idea that chloroplast DNA replicates using a double displacement loop. As the D-loop moves through the circular DNA, it adopts a theta intermediary form, also known as a Cairns replication intermediate, transcription starts at specific points of origin. Multiple replication forks open up, allowing replication machinery to transcribe the DNA, as replication continues, the forks grow and eventually converge. The new cpDNA structures separate, creating daughter cpDNA chromosomes, in addition to the early microscopy experiments, this model is also supported by the amounts of deamination seen in cpDNA
Chloroplast DNA
23.
Haplotype
–
A haplotype is a group of genes in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent. A haplogroup is a group of similar haplotypes that share an ancestor with a single-nucleotide polymorphism mutation. Mitochondrial DNA passes along a lineage that can date back thousands of years. There are, however, several definitions of the term being used in genetics. A second specific meaning of the haplotype, a set of single-nucleotide polymorphisms on one chromosome that tend to always occur together. Such information is critical for investigating the genetics of common diseases, another specific definition of haplotype, Many human genetic testing companies use the term haplotype to refer to an individual collection of specific mutations within a given genetic segment. The term haplogroup refers to the SNP/unique-event polymorphism mutations that represent the clade to which a collection of particular human haplotypes belong, an organisms genotype may not define its haplotype uniquely. For example, consider a diploid organism and two bi-allelic loci on the same chromosome, assume the first locus has alleles A or T and the second locus G or C. Both loci, then, have three genotypes, and, respectively. For a given individual, there are nine possible configurations at these two loci, for individuals heterozygous at both loci, the gametic phase is ambiguous - in these cases, you dont know which haplotype you have, e. g. TA vs AT. The only unequivocal method of resolving phase ambiguity is by sequencing, however, it is possible to estimate the probability of a particular haplotype when phase is ambiguous using a sample of individuals. Given the genotypes for a number of individuals, the haplotypes can be inferred by haplotype resolution or haplotype phasing techniques and these methods work by applying the observation that certain haplotypes are common in certain genomic regions. Therefore, given a set of possible resolutions, these methods choose those that use fewer different haplotypes overall. The parameters in these models are estimated using algorithms such as the expectation-maximization algorithm, Markov chain Monte Carlo. Microfluidic whole genome haplotyping is a technique for the separation of individual chromosomes from a metaphase cell followed by direct resolution of the haplotype for each allele. Unlike other chromosomes, Y chromosomes generally do not come in pairs, every human male has only one copy of that chromosome. In particular, the Y-DNA represented as the results of a Y-DNA genealogical DNA test should match. Unique-event polymorphisms such as SNPs represent haplogroups, the UEP results represent the inheritance of events it is believed can be assumed to have happened only once in all human history
Haplotype
–
DNA molecule 1 differs from DNA molecule 2 at a single base-pair location (a C/A polymorphism).
24.
East Gippsland
–
East Gippsland is the eastern region of Gippsland, Australia covering 31,740 square kilometres of Victoria. It has a population of 80,114, the Shire of East Gippsland, also called Far East Gippsland, covers two-thirds of East Gippslands area and holds half of its population. The Shire of East Gippsland is confusingly referred to simply as East Gippsland. It excludes the Shire of Wellington and this article refers mainly to Far East Gippsland. East Gippslands major towns include, from west to east, Bairnsdale, Paynesville, Lakes Entrance, Orbost, smaller, but significant, towns in the more mountainous northern areas include Ensay, Swifts Creek, Omeo, and Buchan. East Gippsland extends from the watershed of the Mitchell and Thomson River catchments east. Rugged terrain makes farming difficult, even with fertilisers, the major industry is often considered to be forestry, which provides less than 1 percent of employment for the region. The East Gippsland Regional Forest Agreement was signed by Commonwealth and Victorian governments on 3 February 1997 and it covers a region similar, but not identical to the East Gippsland Shire. It sets aside 5,811 km² from logging, an increase of 1. 3% over pre-RFA reserves, central Gippsland is covered by the Gippsland RFA, which covers an area similar to the Shire of Wellington, and places 7,805 km² in reserves. This is despite managed forest having an effect in climate change. The major river basins of the Mitchell, Tambo and Nicholson drain into the Gippsland Lakes, the area is a major tourist destination, especially for watersports, and is noted for its mild climate. The Great Alpine Road leads north from Bairnsdale into the Australian Alps via Swifts Creek and Omeo and this area is also very popular for bushwalking in the summer. The Buchan district is popular with tourists for its limestone caves, further east, the Snowy River and several smaller stream catchments, including the Thurra, Wingan, Genoa, Bemm River and Cann River, enter the Tasman Sea. More than 17,000 km² of East Gippsland is public land with 2,680 km² being national parks, both are remote and inaccessible, but they are otherwise entirely different. Snowy River National Park features dramatic gorges and powerful rapids formed by the descent of the Snowy River, apart from gorges and southern slopes, this park is in a rain-shadow area forming the southern border of the Monaro Tableland. Consequently, many species more typical of inland New South Wales, croajingolong National Park between Marlo and Mallacoota features extensive coastal heathlands and tea tree scrub, as well as the only major area of warm temperate rainforest in Victoria. The 4,193 km² of privately owned land is mainly red gum plains, coastal plains, mountain plateaux, East Gippsland Catchment Management Authority Electoral district of Gippsland East Shire of East Gippsland Forests of Australia Official East Gippsland tourism website
East Gippsland
–
Old growth forest in
Brown Mountain, near
Errinundra National Park. Logging in 2008 cleared this area.
East Gippsland
–
Bonang River
East Gippsland
–
Thurra River in
Croajingolong National Park
25.
Last Glacial Maximum
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The Last Glacial Maximum was the last period in the Earths climate history during the last glacial period when ice sheets were at their greatest extension. Growth of the ice sheets reached their positions in about 24,500 BCE. Vast ice sheets covered much of North America, northern Europe, the ice sheets profoundly affected Earths climate by causing drought, desertification, and a dramatic drop in sea levels. It was followed by the Late Glacial, the formation of an ice sheet or ice cap requires both prolonged cold and precipitation. Hence, despite having temperatures similar to those of glaciated areas in North America and Europe and this difference was because the ice sheets in Europe produced extensive anticyclones above them. These anticyclones generated air masses that were so dry on reaching Siberia and Manchuria that precipitation sufficient for the formation of glaciers could never occur, all over the world, climates at the Last Glacial Maximum were cooler and almost everywhere drier. Even in less affected regions, rainforest cover was greatly diminished, only in Central America and the Chocó region of Colombia did tropical rainforests remain substantially intact – probably due to the extraordinarily heavy rainfall of these regions. Most of the worlds deserts expanded and this also occurred in Afghanistan and Iran, where a major lake formed in the Dasht-e Kavir. In Australia, shifting sand dunes covered half the continent, whilst the Chaco, in northern China – unglaciated despite its cold climate – a mixture of grassland and tundra prevailed, and even here, the northern limit of tree growth was at least 20° farther south than today. During the Last Glacial Maximum, much of the world was cold, dry, and inhospitable, with frequent storms, the dustiness of the atmosphere is a prominent feature in ice cores, dust levels were as much as 20 to 25 times greater than now. This was probably due to a number of factors, reduced vegetation, stronger global winds, the massive sheets of ice locked away water, lowering the sea level, exposing continental shelves, joining land masses together, and creating extensive coastal plains. During the last glacial maximum,21,000 years ago, Northern Europe was largely covered by ice, the southern boundary of the ice sheets passing through Germany and Poland. This ice extended northward to cover Svalbard and Franz Josef Land and northeastward to occupy the Barents Sea, permafrost covered Europe south of the ice sheet down to present-day Szeged in Southern Hungary. Ice covered the whole of Iceland and almost all of the British Isles, britain was no more than a peninsula of Europe, its north capped in ice, and its south a polar desert. There were ice sheets in modern Tibet as well as in Baltistan, in Southeast Asia, many smaller mountain glaciers formed, and permafrost covered Asia as far south as Beijing. Palawan was also part of Sundaland, while the rest of the Philippine Islands formed one large island separated from the continent only by the Sibutu Passage and the Mindoro Strait. In Africa and the Middle East, many mountain glaciers formed. The Persian Gulf averages about 35 metres in depth and the seabed between Abu Dhabi and Qatar is even shallower, being less than 15 metres deep
Last Glacial Maximum
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Map of sea surface temperature changes and glacial extent during the last glacial maximum according to the
CLIMAP project
Last Glacial Maximum
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Extent of the Last Glacial Maximum, Mangerud et al. 2004 (fig 4)
26.
Otway Ranges
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The Great Otway National Park, located in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia. The 103, 185-hectare national park is situated approximately 162 kilometres southwest of Melbourne and it contains a diverse range of landscapes and vegetation types and is situated within the Otway Ranges. The parks were combined after a campaign by the local community, the park is a popular area for interstate and international tourists, with companies operating tours in the region. It contains three camping areas at Johanna, Aire River and Blanket Bay, the park is accessed from the east via Apollo Bay, from the north via Forrest or Beech Forest, or from the west via Princetown. The park covers both coastline and hinterland in the Otway Ranges and so includes both beaches and forest, accessible via walking trails, the park and the Aire River campground are home to a significant koala population. The Cape Otway Lighthouse is adjacent to the park and is open to tourists throughout the week, migrating whales and dolphins such as southern right and southern humpback, and bottlenose dolphins can be observed from the coasts. The Great Otway National Park is extremely rich in fungal diversity, although hundreds of species of flora and fauna are listed in the Great Otway National Park Management Plan, there is only a single reference to fungi. The reference is to the pathogen, Chalara australis that affects myrtle beech. However, the majority of fungi in the Park perform beneficial ecological roles. In fact, most fungi perform positive rather than negative roles, even parasitic fungi – often regarded only negatively – are a vital part of healthy ecosystems, regulating ecosystem functions. As primary recyclers of organic matter, saprobic fungi break down fallen branches and leaf litter, other fungi form symbiotic relationships with other organisms. Although rarely acknowledged, the majority of plants in the Great Otway National Park form mutually beneficial mycorrhizal relationships with fungi. Given the great diversity of plants, specialist habitats and micro-climates in the park, two hundred and seventy-eight species of fungi are listed in the Atlas of Living Australia. This is likely to be only a fraction of the number of fungal species that grow in the Park. Despite their essential roles in underpinning terrestrial ecosystems, fungi are barely recognised as a part of Australias biodiversity. Although Australia has national and state level biodiversity conservation strategies and has ratified international conventions, there is currently no statewide biodiversity strategy for managing biodiversity in Victoria and the Colac Otway Shire Environment Strategy makes no reference to fungi. There is however, a deal of interest in fungi among the local community. The Australian citizen-science organisation, Fungimap is also documenting and mapping the distribution of fungi including those that occur in the Great Otway National Park, one of the tiniest yet conspicuous species found in the wetter parts of the park is the ruby bonnet
Otway Ranges
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Lake Elizabeth, formed from a landslide in August 1953, it broke its banks allowing the West
Barwon River to flow.
Otway Ranges
Otway Ranges
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Clavaria miniata
27.
Fraxinus
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Fraxinus /ˈfræksᵻnəs/, English name ash, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The genus is widespread across much of Europe, Asia and North America, the trees common English name, ash, traces back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name originated in Latin. Both words also mean spear in their respective languages, the leaves are opposite, and mostly pinnately compound, simple in a few species. The seeds, popularly known as keys or helicopter seeds, are a type of known as a samara. Rowans or mountain ashes have leaves and buds superficially similar to those of true ashes, species are organized according to phylogenetic analysis. – California ash or two-petal ash Fraxinus anomala Torr, ex S. Watson – singleleaf ash Fraxinus quadrangulata Michx. – blue ash Fraxinus lowellii – Lowell ash Fraxinus trifoliata Section Melioides sensu lato Fraxinus chiisanensis Fraxinus cuspidata Torr. – fragrant ash Fraxinus platypoda Fraxinus spaethiana Lingelsh, – Späths ash Section Melioides sensu stricto Fraxinus uhdei Lingelsh. – Shamel ash or tropical ash Fraxinus latifolia Benth, – Oregon ash Fraxinus papillosa Lingelsh. – Chihuahua ash Fraxinus americana L. – white ash or American ash Fraxinus profunda Bush – pumpkin ash Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marshall – green ash Fraxinus velutina Torr, – velvet ash or Arizona ash Fraxinus berlandieriana DC. – Mexican ash Fraxinus caroliniana Mill, – Carolina ash Fraxinus texensis Sarg. – Texas ash Section Pauciflorae Fraxinus greggii A. ex DC, – Afghan ash Fraxinus dimorpha Section Fraxinus Fraxinus nigra Marshall – black ash Fraxinus mandschurica Rupr. – Manchurian ash Fraxinus holotricha Koehne Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl – narrow-leafed ash Fraxinus angustifolia subsp, oxycarpa – Caucasian ash Claret ash or raywood ash Fraxinus angustifolia subsp. – European ash Fraxinus pallisiae Wilmott – Pallis ash Fraxinus sogdiana Bge Section Ornus Fraxinus griffithii C. B. Clarke – Griffiths ash Fraxinus micrantha Lingelsh, – Chinese ash or Korean ash Fraxinus japonica – Japanese ash Fraxinus longicuspis Fraxinus floribunda Wall. – Himalayan manna ash Fraxinus ornus L. – manna ash or flowering ash Fraxinus bungeana DC, – Bunges ash Fraxinus paxiana Lingelsh. The emerald ash borer is a wood-boring beetle accidentally introduced to North America from eastern Asia via solid wood packing material in the late 1980s to early 1990s and it has killed tens of millions of trees in 15 states in the United States and adjacent Ontario in Canada. It threatens some seven billion ash trees in North America, the public is being cautioned not to transport unfinished wood products, such as firewood, to slow the spread of this insect pest. The disease has infected about 90% of Denmarks ash trees, in 2016, the ash tree was reported as in danger of extinction in Europe
Fraxinus
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Fraxinus
Fraxinus
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European Ash in flower
Fraxinus
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Narrow-leafed Ash (Fraxinus angustifolia) shoot with leaves
Fraxinus
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Closeup of European ash seeds
28.
Quercus robur
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Quercus robur, commonly known as pedunculate oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family Fagaceae. It is native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus, the tree is widely cultivated in temperate regions and has escaped into the wild in scattered parts of China and North America. Quercus robur is the species of the genus, and a member of the white oak section Quercus section Quercus. The populations in Italy, southeast Europe, and Asia Minor, a close relative is the sessile oak, which shares much of its range. Q. robur is distinguished from this species by its leaves having only a short stalk 3–8 mm long. The two often hybridise in the wild, the hybrid being known as Quercus × rosacea, Q. robur should not be confused with Q. rubra, the red oak, which is a native of North America and only distantly related. Quercus robur is a deciduous tree, with circumference of grand oaks from 4 m to exceptional 12 m. The Majesty Oak with a circumference of 12.2 m is the thickest tree in Great Britain, Quercus robur has lobed and nearly sessile leaves 7–14 cm long. Flowering takes place in mid spring, and their fruit, called acorns, the acorns are 2–2.5 cm long, pedunculate with one to four acorns on each peduncle. Q. robur is very tolerant to soil conditions and the climate but it prefers fertile. It is a tree, with a large wide spreading crown of rugged branches. While it may live to an age of a few centuries, many of the oldest trees are pollarded or coppiced. Yet another can be found in Kvilleken, Sweden, that is over 1,000 years old and 14 metres around, of maiden specimens, one of the oldest is the great oak of Ivenack, Germany. Tree-ring research of this tree and other oaks nearby gives an age of 700 to 800 years. Also the Bowthorpe Oak in Lincolnshire, England is estimated to be 1,000 years old, making it the oldest in the UK, highest density of the grand oak trees Q. robur with a circumference 4 metres and more is in Latvia. Within its native range Q. robur is valued for its importance to insects, numerous insects live on the leaves, buds, and in the acorns. Q. robur supports the highest biodiversity of insect herbivores of any British plant, the acorns form a valuable food resource for several small mammals and some birds, notably Eurasian jays Garrulus glandarius. Mammals, notably squirrels who tend to hoard acorns and other nuts most often leave them too abused to grow in the action of moving or storing them
Quercus robur
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Quercus robur
Quercus robur
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Ancient pedunculate oaks at
Wistman's Wood in Devon, England
Quercus robur
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An old English oak in
Baginton, England
Quercus robur
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Seedling sprouting from its acorn
29.
Eucalyptus fastigata
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Eucalyptus fastigata, commonly known as brown barrel or cut-tail, is a common eucalyptus tree of south eastern Australia. It can grow in excess of 60 metres in height, though is seen between 30 and 45 metres tall. Brown barrel grows in areas of high rainfall with fertile soils. They can be seen growing at Mount Tomah Botanic Garden in the Blue Mountains, the timber is well regarded, used for building construction. Brown barrel has creamy smooth upper branches and a rough bark on the trunk. Similar to the Mountain Ash, inflorescences are often paired
Eucalyptus fastigata
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Brown Barrel
Eucalyptus fastigata
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Paired gumnuts of the Brown Barrel
. PMID 19553199. doi:10.1073/pnas.0901970106.
