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Fitzroya
''Fitzroya'' is a monotypic genus in the cypress family. The single living species, ''Fitzroya cupressoides'', is a tall, long-lived conifer native to the Andes mountains and coastal regions of southern Chile, and only to the Argentine Andes, where it is an important member of the Valdivian temperate forests. Common names include ''lawal'' (in Mapudungun, Hispanicized as ''lahual''), ''alerce'' (, " larch" in Spanish), and Patagonian cypress. The genus was named in honour of Robert FitzRoy. The genus is ancient with it dating back to the Cretaceous of South America. Fossils are also known from the Paleogene of Tasmania, Australia (particularly from the now extinct ''Fitzroya tasmanensis''). Description ''Fitzroya cupressoides'' is the largest tree species in South America, normally growing to 40–60 m (130–200 ft) but occasionally more than 70 m (230 ft), and up to 5 m (16 ft) in trunk diameter. Its rough pyramidal canopy provides cover for the southern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alerce Costero National Park
Alerce Costero National Park (, ) is a protected wild area in the Cordillera Pelada about from Valdivia and from La Unión. '' Fitzroya'' trees grow inside the protected area and give the area its name, with ''Alerce Costero'' translating as ''Coastal Fitzroya''. The Natural Monument has a total area of . History Alerce Costero National Park has its origins in the National Monument Alerce Costero, created on January 3, 1987, by the Chilean government. In 2010 the area was elevated to national park status and was renamed Alerce Costero National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Alerce Costero). The new national park is the result of a public-private collaboration that united the state-owned Alerce Costero National Monument, Valdivia National Reserve and Quitaluto estate with land donated by The Nature Conservancy, which also owns the adjacent Valdivian Coastal Reserve. Details The park is administered by CONAF (the Chilean National Forest Corporation), has a total surface are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valdivian Temperate Forests
The Valdivian temperate forests (NT0404) is an ecoregion on the west coast of southern South America, in Chile and Argentina. It is part of the Neotropical realm. The forests are named after the city of Valdivia. The Valdivian temperate rainforests are characterized by their dense understories of bamboos, ferns, and for being mostly dominated by evergreen angiosperm trees with some deciduous specimens, though conifer trees are also common. Setting Temperate rain forests comprise a relatively narrow Chilean coastal strip, between the Pacific Ocean to the west and the southern Andes Mountains to the east, from roughly 37° to 48° south latitude. North of 42°, the Chilean Coast Range stretches on, with just the north–south running Chilean Central Valley between it and the Andes. South of 42°, the coast range continues as a chain of offshore islands (including Chiloé Island and the Chonos Archipelago), while the "Central Valley" is submerged and continues as the Gulf of Corc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cupressaceae
Cupressaceae or the cypress family is a family of conifers. The family includes 27–30 genera (17 monotypic), which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130–140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdioecious or (rarely) dioecious trees and shrubs up to tall. The bark of mature trees is commonly orange- to red-brown and of stringy texture, often flaking or peeling in vertical strips, but smooth, scaly or hard and square-cracked in some species. The family reached its peak of diversity during the Mesozoic era. Description The leaves are arranged either spirally, in decussate pairs (opposite pairs, each pair at 90° to the previous pair) or in decussate whorls of three or four, depending on the genus. On young plants, the leaves are needle-like, becoming small and scale-like on mature plants of many genera; some genera and species retain needle-like leaves throughout their lives. Old leaves are mostly not shed individually, but in small sprays of foliage ( clad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert FitzRoy
Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy, politician and scientist who served as the second governor of New Zealand between 1843 and 1845. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of during Charles Darwin's famous Second voyage of HMS Beagle, voyage, FitzRoy's second expedition to Tierra del Fuego and the Southern Cone. FitzRoy was a pioneering meteorologist who made accurate weather forecasting, daily weather predictions, which he called by a new name of his own invention: "forecasts". In 1854 he established what would later be called the Met Office, and created systems to get weather information to sailors and fishermen for their safety. He was an able surveyor and hydrography, hydrographer. As Governor of New Zealand, serving from 1843 to 1845, he tried to protect the Māori people, Māori from illegal land sales claimed by British settlers. Early life and career Robert FitzRoy was born at Ampton Hall, Ampton, Suf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alerce Milenario
Alerce Milenario () or Gran Abuelo, also known in English as Great-Grandfather, is the largest tree in Chile's Alerce Costero National Park. While it has been on the list of oldest trees, this Alerce tree (''Fitzroya cupressoides)'' is now rivalling others to be possibly the oldest tree in the world. In 2020, Jonathan Barichivich and Antonio Lara, of the Austral University of Chile, used an increment borer to carefully retrieve a partial sample. Geography The Alerce Milenario Tree is located in a ravine, in the Alerce Coster National Park. The park is , and up to above sea level. It has a rainy temperate climate with rains all year round. Its average temperature is 12°C (53°F). The park receives about 10,000 visitors a year who visit the tree. Description and condition of the tree At more than across much of the crown fell away and part of the trunk died. Alerce Milenario is covered with lichens and mosses. It is estimated to have over 5000 rings. If accurate, that wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monotypic Taxon
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of Genus, genera, the term "unispecific" or "monospecific" is sometimes preferred. In botanical nomenclature, a monotypic genus is a genus in the special case where a genus and a single species are simultaneously described. Theoretical implications Monotypic taxa present several important theoretical challenges in biological classification. One key issue is known as "Gregg's Paradox": if a single species is the only member of multiple hierarchical levels (for example, being the only species in its genus, which is the only genus in its family), then each level needs a distinct definition to maintain logical structure. Otherwise, the different taxonomic ranks become effectively identical, which creates problems for organizing biological diversity in a hierarchical o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deforestation
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. About 31% of Earth's land surface is covered by forests at present. This is one-third less than the forest cover before the expansion of agriculture, with half of that loss occurring in the last century. Between 15 million to 18 million hectares of forest, an area the size of Bangladesh, are destroyed every year. On average 2,400 trees are cut down each minute. Estimates vary widely as to the extent of deforestation in the tropics. In 2019, nearly a third of the overall tree cover loss, or 3.8 million hectares, occurred within humid tropical primary forests. These are areas of mature rainforest that are especially important for biodiversity and carbon storage. The direct cause of most deforestation is agriculture by far. More than ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a Common descent, common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental scientific concept. In a joint presentation with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this Phylogenetics, branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by Burials and memorials in Westminster Abbey, burial in Westminster Abbey. Darwin's early interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education at the University of Edinburgh Medical Schoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decussation
Decussation is used in biological contexts to describe a crossing (due to the shape of the Roman numeral for ten, an uppercase 'X' (), ). In Latin anatomical terms, the form is used, e.g. . Similarly, the anatomical term Chiasm (anatomy), chiasma is named after the Greek uppercase 'Χ' (Chi (letter), chi). Whereas a decussation refers to a crossing within the central nervous system, various kinds of crossings in the peripheral nervous system are called chiasma. Examples include: * In the brain, where nerve fibers obliquely cross from one lateral side of the brain to the other, that is to say they cross at a level other than their origin. See for examples decussation of pyramids and sensory decussation. In neuroanatomy, the term ''chiasma'' is reserved for crossing of- or within nerves such as in the optic chiasm. * In Botany, botanical phyllotaxis, leaf taxology, the word ''decussate'' describes an opposite leaves, opposite pattern of leaves which has successive pairs at right ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seedling
A seedling is a young sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle (embryonic root), the hypocotyl (embryonic Shoot (botany), shoot), and the cotyledons (seed leaves). The two classes of flowering plants (angiosperms) are distinguished by their numbers of seed leaves: monocotyledons (monocots) have one blade-shaped cotyledon, whereas dicotyledons (dicots) possess two round cotyledons. Gymnosperms are more varied. For example, pine seedlings have up to eight cotyledons. The seedlings of some flowering plants have no cotyledons at all. These are said to be acotyledons. The plumule is the part of a seed embryo that develops into the shoot bearing the first true leaves of a plant. In most seeds, for example the sunflower, the plumule is a small conical structure without any leaf structure. Growth of the plumule does not occur until the cotyledon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ninth and longest geological period of the entire Phanerozoic. The name is derived from the Latin , 'chalk', which is abundant in the latter half of the period. It is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation . The Cretaceous was a period with a relatively warm climate, resulting in high Sea level#Local and eustatic, eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow Inland sea (geology), inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now-extinct marine reptiles, ammonites, and rudists, while dinosaurs continued to dominate on land. The world was largely ice-free, although there is some evidence of brief periods of glaciation during the cooler first half, and forests extended to the poles. Many of the dominant taxonomic gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stoma
In botany, a stoma (: stomata, from Greek language, Greek ''στόμα'', "mouth"), also called a stomate (: stomates), is a pore found in the Epidermis (botany), epidermis of leaves, stems, and other organs, that controls the rate of gas exchange between the internal air spaces of the leaf and the atmosphere. The pore is bordered by a pair of specialized Ground tissue#Parenchyma, parenchyma cells known as guard cells that regulate the size of the stomatal opening. The term is usually used collectively to refer to the entire stomatal complex, consisting of the paired guard cells and the pore itself, which is referred to as the stomatal aperture. Air, containing oxygen, which is used in cellular respiration, respiration, and carbon dioxide, which is used in photosynthesis, passes through stomata by gaseous diffusion. Water vapour diffuses through the stomata into the atmosphere as part of a process called transpiration. Stomata are present in the sporophyte generation of the v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
