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Vachellia Collinsii
''Vachellia collinsii'', previously ''Acacia collinsii'', is a species of flowering plant native to Central America and parts of Africa. Distribution ''Vachellia collinsii'' is native to Central America and parts of Africa. In southern Central America, where there are seasonally dry ecosystems, this tree grows in secondary succession, preferring Savanna-like climates. Acacias like full sun and are rarely found in the trophic understory of many jungles. Acacias can thrive in climates with higher humidity, above 70% humidity. The ''Vachellia collinsii'' has a wide distribution across the world compared to other acacias, as well as a wide ecological distribution, considering it can grow from sea level to 1000 meters elevation. Description The ''Vachellia collinsii'' can grow upwards of 40 feet tall. The tree grows relatively straight with thorns generously distributed across the branches. The small, pinnate leaves grow opposite from each other similar to a Mimosa. Since this s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guanacaste Province
Guanacaste () is a Provinces of Costa Rica, province of Costa Rica located in the northwestern region of the country, along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Alajuela Province to the east, and Puntarenas Province to the southeast. It is the most sparsely populated of all the provinces of Costa Rica. The province covers an area of and as of 2010, had a population of 354,154, with annual revenue of $2 billion. Guanacaste's capital is Liberia, Costa Rica, Liberia. Other important cities include Cañas District, Cañas and Nicoya. Etymology The province is named for the Enterolobium cyclocarpum, guanacaste tree, also known as the ear pod tree, which is the national tree of Costa Rica. History Before the Spanish colonization of the Americas, Spanish arrived, this territory was inhabited by Chorotega people, Chorotega Indians from the towns of Zapati, Nacaome, Paro, Cangel, Nicopasaya, Pocosí, Diriá, Papagayo, Namiapí and Orosí. The Corobi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petiole (botany)
In botany, the petiole () is the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the Plant stem, stem. It is able to twist the leaf to face the sun, producing a characteristic foliage arrangement (spacing of blades), and also optimizing its exposure to sunlight. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole in some species are called stipules. The terms wikt:petiolate, petiolate and wikt:apetiolate, apetiolate are applied respectively to leaves with and without petioles. Description The petiole is a stalk that attaches a leaf to the plant stem. In petiolate leaves the leaf stalk may be long (as in the leaves of celery and rhubarb), or short (for example basil). When completely absent, the blade attaches directly to the stem and is said to be Sessility (botany), sessile or apetiolate. Subpetiolate leaves have an extremely short petiole, and may appear sessile. The broomrape family Orobanchaceae is an example of a family in which the leaves are always sessile. In some other plant group ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palo Verde National Park
Palo Verde National Park (), is a national park of Costa Rica, part of the Arenal Tempisque Conservation Area, that contains much of the area of the valley of the Tempisque River and covers an area of in Guanacaste Province, 30 km west of Canas. Environment The park protects one of the most endangered ecosystems. It is one of the last remaining tropical dry rainforests that once covered most of Central America. Tropical dry rainforests now exist in less than 0.1% of their original size and are considered to be the most endangered ecosystems in the tropics. The surrounding region is mostly tropical dry forests, and the park concentrates on conserving vital floodplain, marshes, limestone ridges, and seasonal pools from the encroachment of civilization which was putting the ecology of the area at risk. Birds A major feature of the park is the density and variety of bird species, a major factor in the creation of the reserve, due in part to its diverse ecology, with 15 topogr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daniel Janzen
Daniel Hunt Janzen (born January 18, 1939, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American evolutionary ecologist and conservationist. He divides his time between his professorship in biology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is the DiMaura Professor of Conservation Biology, and his research and field work in Costa Rica. Janzen and his wife Winifred Hallwachs have catalogued the biodiversity of Costa Rica. Through a DNA barcoding initiative, Janzen and geneticist Paul Hebert have registered over 500,000 specimens representing more than 45,000 species, which has led to the identification of cryptic species of near-identical appearance that differ in terms of genetics and ecological niche. Janzen and Hallwachs developed some of the most influential hypotheses in ecology that continue to influence research more than 50 years later. Janzen and Hallwachs helped to establish the Area de Conservación Guanacaste World Heritage Site, one of the oldest, largest and most succes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudomyrmex Ferruginea
The acacia ant (''Pseudomyrmex ferruginea'') is a species of ant of the genus ''Pseudomyrmex''. These arboreal, wasp-like ants have an orange-brown body around 3 mm in length and very large eyes. The acacia ant is best known and named for living in symbiosis with the bullhorn acacia (''Acacia cornigera'') throughout Central America. The ant and the acacia exemplify a coevolution of a Mutualism (biology), mutualistic system, as described by Evolutionary ecology, evolutionary ecologist Daniel Janzen. Description ''P. ferruginea'' is an obligate plant ant that occupies at least five species of acacia (''Acacia chiapensis, A. chiapensis'', ''Acacia collinsii, A. collinsii'', ''Acacia cornigera, A. cornigera'', ''Acacia hindsii, A. hindsii'' and ''Acacia sphaerocephala, A. sphaerocephala''). Its life cycle conforms to the claustral pattern of ants in general. Mutualistic symbiosis To repel herbivorous animals, various acacias protect their succulent leave ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudomyrmex Spinicola
''Pseudomyrmex spinicola'' is a species of red myrmecophyte-inhabiting neotropical ants which are found only in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. They live in the thorns of tropical trees like ''Acacia collinsii'' or ''Acacia allenii'', feeding on nectaries along with the protein and lipid-rich beltian bodies. These bodies are named for Thomas Belt, a naturalist who first described the interactions between acacias and ants in his 1874 book ''Naturalist in Nicaragua.'' Belt's book in fact described ants of this species, then unknown. ''P. spinicola'' are the more aggressive among a number of ''A. collinsii''-inhabiting species that engage in a classic case of mutualism. The ants receive colony space in ''A. collinsii'' to support their population structure. In return, the ants actively defend the tree from herbivory and often from competing plants nearby, clearing the forest floor of other seedlings. Sometimes, a large ''P. spinicola'' colony may be spread between two or more trees, prot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beltian Body
A Beltian body is a detachable tip found on the pinnules of some species of ''Acacia'' and closely related genera. Beltian bodies, named after Thomas Belt, are rich in lipids, sugars and proteins and often red in colour. They are believed to have evolved in a symbiotic relationship with ants. The ants live inside special plant structures (domatia) or near the plant and keep away herbivores. Other ant- mutualism related plant structures include Beccarian, Mullerian and pearl bodies. Unique among spiders for its predominantly herbivorous diet, ''Bagheera kiplingi'' feeds almost exclusively on Beltian bodies. See also * Plant defence against herbivory * Elaiosome Elaiosomes ( ''élaion'' "oil" + ''sóma'' "body") are fleshy structures that are attached to the seeds of many plant species. The elaiosome is rich in lipids and proteins, and may be variously shaped. Many plants have elaiosomes that attract ... References External links * Plant physiology Plant morpholo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apical Meristem
In cell biology, the meristem is a structure composed of specialized tissue found in plants, consisting of stem cells, known as meristematic cells, which are undifferentiated cells capable of continuous cellular division. These meristematic cells play a fundamental role in plant growth, regeneration, and acclimatization, as they serve as the source of all differentiated plant tissues and organs. They contribute to the formation of structures such as fruits, leaves, and seeds, as well as supportive tissues like stems and roots. Meristematic cells are totipotent, meaning they have the ability to differentiate into any plant cell type. As they divide, they generate new cells, some of which remain meristematic cells while others differentiate into specialized cells that typically lose the ability to divide or produce new cell types. Due to their active division and undifferentiated nature, meristematic cells form the foundation for the formation of new plant organs and the cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auxin
Auxins (plural of auxin ) are a class of plant hormones (or plant-growth regulators) with some morphogen-like characteristics. Auxins play a cardinal role in coordination of many growth and behavioral processes in plant life cycles and are essential for plant body development. The Dutch biologist Frits Warmolt Went first described auxins and their role in plant growth in the 1920s. Kenneth V. Thimann became the first to isolate one of these phytohormones and to determine its chemical structure as indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). Went and Thimann co-authored a book on plant hormones, ''Phytohormones'', in 1937. Overview Auxins were the first of the major plant hormones to be discovered. They derive their name from the Greek word ( – 'to grow/increase'). Auxin is present in all parts of a plant, although in very different concentrations. The concentration in each position is crucial developmental information, so it is subject to tight regulation through both metabolism and transp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only plants that are usable as lumber, or only plants above a specified height. But wider definitions include taller palms, tree ferns, bananas, and bamboos. Trees are not a monophyletic taxonomic group but consist of a wide variety of plant species that have independently evolved a trunk and branches as a way to tower above other plants to compete for sunlight. The majority of tree species are angiosperms or hardwoods; of the rest, many are gymnosperms or softwoods. Trees tend to be long-lived, some trees reaching several thousand years old. Trees evolved around 400 million years ago, and it is estimated that there are around three trillion mature trees in the world currently. A tree typically has many secondary branches supported cle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symbiosis
Symbiosis (Ancient Greek : living with, companionship < : together; and ''bíōsis'': living) is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction, between two organisms of different species. The two organisms, termed symbionts, can for example be in Mutualism (biology), mutualistic, commensalism, commensalistic, or parasitism, parasitic relationships. In 1879, Heinrich Anton de Bary defined symbiosis as "the living together of unlike organisms". The term is sometimes more exclusively used in a restricted, mutualistic sense, where both symbionts contribute to each other's subsistence. This means that they benefit each other in some way. Symbiosis can be ''obligate'' (or ''obligative''), which means that one, or both of the organisms depend on each other for survival, or ''facultative'' (optional), when they can also subsist independently. Symbiosis is also classified by physical attachment. Symbionts forming a single body live ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nectar
Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal Mutualism (biology), mutualists, which in turn provide plant defense against herbivory#Indirect defenses, herbivore protection. Common nectar-consuming pollinators include mosquitoes, hoverfly, hoverflies, wasps, bees, butterfly, butterflies and moths, hummingbirds, honeyeaters and Bat#Fruit and nectar, bats. Nectar is an economically important substance as it is the sugar source for honey. It is also useful in agriculture and horticulture because the adult stages of some predatory insects feed on nectar. For example, a number of predacious or Parasitoid wasp, parasitoid wasps (e.g., the social wasp species ''Apoica flavissima'') rely on nectar as a primary food source. In turn, these wasps then hunt agricultural pest insects as food ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
