Biodiversity
Welcome to c/Biodiversity @ Mander.xyz!
A community about the variety of life on Earth at all levels; including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi.
Notice Board
This is a work in progress, please don't mind the mess.
2023-06-16: We invite our users to contribute resources for the sidebar.
2023-06-15: Looking for mods!
About
Biodiversity is a term used to describe the enormous variety of life on Earth. It can be used more specifically to refer to all of the species in one region or ecosystem. Biodiversity refers to every living thing, including plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. Scientists have estimated that there are around 8.7 million species of plants and animals in existence. However, only around 1.2 million species have been identified and described so far, most of which are insects. This means that millions of other organisms remain a complete mystery.
Over generations, all of the species that are currently alive today have evolved unique traits that make them distinct from other species. These differences are what scientists use to tell one species from another. Organisms that have evolved to be so different from one another that they can no longer reproduce with each other are considered different species. All organisms that can reproduce with each other fall into one species. Read more...
Rules
- Don't throw mud. Be kind and remember the human.
- Keep it rooted (on topic).
- No spam.
Quick Links
Resources
- The Convention on Biological Diversity (UN)
- The Biodiversity Heritage Library
- Maps of the World's Biodiversity
- Ecosystems and Human Well-Being (free e-book)
- Falling Fruit: Map of the Urban Harvest
Bypass Paywalls
- On Ethics 1 2 3 4
- WaybackMachine (archive.org)
- Behind the Overlay Browser Extension
- ladder
- Anna's Archive
- Bypass Paywalls Browser Extension (see readme for Chrome & mobile options.)
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Sister Communities
Science and Research
Biology and Life Sciences
- !anthropology@mander.xyz
- !microbiology@mander.xyz
- !biodiversity@mander.xyz
- !palaeoecology@mander.xyz
- !palaeontology@mander.xyz
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Humanities and Social Sciences
- !archaeology@mander.xyz
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Memes
Find us on Reddit!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“There’s no general consensus (among scientists) on why we see these mast years,” according to Jonathan M. Lehrer, associate professor and chair of the Department of Urban Horticulture and Design at Farmingdale State College in New York.
“There’s a lot of conjecture that it’s caused by variations in temperature and natural rainfall, but we’ve never been able to hammer out exactly why some years have greater production than others.”
Mast years help to ensure the propagation of a tree species because at least some of those acorns and nuts, which contain seeds, take root and grow into saplings.
The phenomenon also affects the wildlife population, as bumper crops during mast years provide abundant food for woodpeckers, deer, mice, wild turkeys, squirrels and other animals, resulting in more breeding.
“The production of trees has far-reaching consequences on wildlife and other organisms, and fewer rodents (during off years) affects larger animals higher on the food chain, like foxes, owls and bobcats,” Lehrer said.
Jessica Damiano writes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter and regular gardening columns for The AP.
The original article contains 478 words, the summary contains 176 words. Saved 63%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!