Flowers, Food + Forage


A tumblelog about gardening,
gathering and the occasional garnish.
Location: Milwaukee [zone 5b].

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Posts tagged biology
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wallacegardens: Botanical Chart: Pollination and Pollinators, University of Wisconsin.  Flowering plants are intimately tied to wind, water, and especially animals to make seeds and complete their life cycles. Showy flowers, big and small, owe their size, shape, perfume and color to the preferences of critters; insects especially may share any number of blooms from different plant species. This poster illustrates the kaleidoscopic diversity of both the flowers and their pollinators (the astute observer will note that bumblebees love blue). (Available for purchase from the University of Wisconsin.)

wallacegardens:

Botanical Chart: Pollination and Pollinators, University of Wisconsin. 

Flowering plants are intimately tied to wind, water, and especially animals to make seeds and complete their life cycles. Showy flowers, big and small, owe their size, shape, perfume and color to the preferences of critters; insects especially may share any number of blooms from different plant species. This poster illustrates the kaleidoscopic diversity of both the flowers and their pollinators (the astute observer will note that bumblebees love blue).

(Available for purchase from the University of Wisconsin.)

shedsumlight: Phytoplankton are the foundation of the oceanic food chain. Phytoplankton are photosynthesizing microscopic organisms that inhabit the upper sunlit layer of almost all oceans and bodies of fresh water. They are agents for “primary production,” the creation of organic compounds from carbon dioxide dissolved in the water, a process that sustains the aquatic food web. Phytoplankton account for half of all photosynthetic activity on Earth. Thus phytoplankton are responsible for much of the oxygen present in the Earth’s  atmosphere – half of the total amount produced by all plant life.

shedsumlight:

Phytoplankton are the foundation of the oceanic food chain.

Phytoplankton are photosynthesizing microscopic organisms that inhabit the upper sunlit layer of almost all oceans and bodies of fresh water. They are agents for “primary production,” the creation of organic compounds from carbon dioxide dissolved in the water, a process that sustains the aquatic food web.

Phytoplankton account for half of all photosynthetic activity on Earth. Thus phytoplankton are responsible for much of the oxygen present in the Earth’s  atmosphere – half of the total amount produced by all plant life.

Bacteria Divide People Into 3 Types, Scientists Say

“In the early 1900s, scientists discovered that each person belonged to one of four blood types. Now they have discovered a new way to classify humanity: by bacteria. Each human being is host to thousands of different species of microbes. Yet a group of scientists now report <a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/science/21gut.html”>just three distinct ecosystems in the guts of people they have studied</a>.

“The researchers, led by Peer Bork of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, found no link between what they called enterotypes and the ethnic background of the European, American and Japanese subjects they studied.

“Nor could they find a connection to sex, weight, health or age. They are now exploring other explanations. One possibility is that the guts, or intestines, of infants are randomly colonized by different pioneering species of microbes.

“The microbes alter the gut so that only certain species can follow them.

“The discovery of the blood types A, B, AB and O had a major effect on how doctors practice medicine. They could limit the chances that a patient’s body would reject a blood transfusion by making sure the donated blood was of a matching type. The discovery of enterotypes could someday lead to medical applications of its own, but they would be far down the road.

“‘Some things are pretty obvious already,’ Dr. Bork said. Doctors might be able to tailor diets or drug prescriptions to suit people’s enterotypes, for example.

“Or, he speculated, doctors might be able to use enterotypes to find alternatives to antibiotics, which are becoming increasingly ineffective. Instead of trying to wipe out disease-causing bacteria that have disrupted the ecological balance of the gut, they could try to provide reinforcements for the good bacteria. ‘You’d try to restore the type you had before,’ he said.”

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