Plant news from around the world
Global Forest Change
The results from a time-series analysis of 654,178 Landsat images in characterizing forest extent and change between 2000 and 2012 have now been published.
Trees are defined as all vegetation taller than 5m in height and are expressed as a percentage per output grid cell as ‘2000 Percent Tree Cover’. ‘Forest Loss’ is defined as a stand-replacement disturbance, or a change from a forest to non-forest state. ‘Forest Gain’ is defined as the inverse of loss, or a non-forest to forest change entirely within the study period. ‘Forest Loss Year’ is a disaggregation of total ‘Forest Loss’ to annual time scales.
There are some very interesting examples from around the world, like the swath of forest loss as a ressult of a tornado. In New Zealand it seems that most of the change is due to changes in extent of plantation forestry.
Follow this link for the map: http://earthenginepartners.appspot.com/science-2013-global-forest
New Species of Fuzzy Daisy and Other Furry Flora
Researchers found Coespeletia palustris during an expedition high in the páramo ecosystem of the Venezuelan Andes—at elevations above 12,450 feet (3,800 meters)—where most species of Coespeletia grow. Mauricio Diazgranados, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Botany at the Smithsonian Institution, and Gilberto Morillo, professor at the Universidad de Los Andes in Mérida, Venezuela, found the flower on expeditions partially funded by the National Geographic Society. They published a description of the new fuzzy flower in the November issue of the journal PhytoKeys.
The downward droop of the flower—known as an inflorescence—on C. palustris is termed a nodding, or dropping, capitulum. This posture, along with its unusually fuzzy coat, helps to insulate the daisy from the often harsh climate of its mountain habitat. That habitat, the páramo ecosystem, is the most diverse high-elevation environment in the world. It sits between the treeline and the snowline of the Andes, and it’s a place that’s usually wet and chilly.
The article lists several other fuzzy plant species. Which made us wonder how many species of fuzzy plant are there in New Zealand, and how many of them have nodding infloresences? Anybody keen to count them?
Follow this link to read the article (National Geographic newswatch).
Posted: 19/11/2013