VS BOTANY

Upper figure: The first global map of species richness of trees, as produced by the new model. It illustrates the number of tree species that can be expected within areas of one hectare. The highest number of tree species (orange to yellow) can be found in the hot, humid tropics. The remaining white spaces are unforested areas. Lower figure: When tree diversity is observed on the scale of larger regions, the picture changes. A particularly high number of species (orange to yellow) can now be observed in mountainous areas like southern China, Mexico, or in the Ethiopian highlands, which all have high beta diversity. The biodiversity of our planet is one of our most precious resources. However, for most places in the world, we only have a tiny picture of what this diversity actually is. Researchers at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have now succeeded in constructing, from scattered data, a world map...

Continental Drift Theory First person to think the continents fit together – mapmaker, Abraham Ortelius First to propose the idea of Continental Drift was meteorologist – Alfred Wegener – Hypothesis that continents were connected but broke apart 200 million years ago and drifted to current position Pangaea Wegener suggested the continents were once connected as one large landmass called Pangaea The Earth appears to be cracked into pieces called plate tectonics. (Like a cracked egg shell) 5. Some plates move in opposite directions (Divergent). Some plates collide (Convergent) Some plates slide past each other (transform boundary) Divergent Boundaries Two plates that are moving apart. This is seafloor spreading Hot material rises to create new lithosphere Volcanoes and earthquakes common Rift valley – the crack Deep-sea trenches Ex: Mid-Atlantic Ridge Convergent Plate Boundaries Two plates move together A: Continental plate vs. continental plate – Same densities, neither sin...

In situ and Ex situ method of conservation Conservation is the protection, preservation, management, or restoration of wildlife and natural resources such as forests and water. Through the conservation of biodiversity and the survival of many species and habitats which are threatened due to human activities can be ensured. There is an urgent need, not only to manage and conserve the biotic wealth, but also restore the degraded ecosystems. Types of Conservation: Conservation can broadly be divided into two types: 1. In-situ conservation 2. Ex-situ conservation In-situ conservation is on site conservation or the conservation of genetic resources in natural populations of plant or animal species, such as forest genetic resources in natural populations of tree species. It is the process of protecting an endangered plant or animal species in its natural habitat, either by protecting or cleaning up the habitat itself, or by defending the species from preda...

Bees ‘get’ addition and subtraction, new study suggests By  Alex Fox If math is the language of the universe, bees may have just uttered their first words. New research suggests these busybodies of the insect world are capable of addition and subtraction—using colors in the place of plus and minus symbols. In the animal kingdom, the ability to count—or at least distinguish between differing quantities— isn’t unusual : It has been seen in frogs, spiders, and even fish. But solving equations using symbols is rare air, so far only achieved by famously brainy animals such as chimpanzees and African grey parrots. Enter the honey bee ( Apis mellifera ). Building on prior research that says the social insects can count to four and  understand the concept of zero , researchers wanted to test the limits of what their tiny brains can do. Scientists trained 14 bees to link the colors blue and yellow to addition and subtraction, respectively. They placed the bees at the entr...