elliskalaidjian
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This is a photo I took yesterday (Feb. 26th) at my friend's house in downtown Wilmington, overlooking the Cape Fear River. The main ecological concept that I noticed in this picture was tree species' adaptations to winter (even though I find it hard to call the past couple of months "winter"). As you can see, some trees have shed their leaves (I couldn't identify the species of these), a process known as abscission, to conserve moisture and energy in their trunks and branches. Other trees, like the the palms (which appear to be either Chamaerops humilis or Rhapidophyllum hystrix), don't exhibit abscission and instead have adapted other methods of survival in the winter months (e.g. having a thick, waxy cuticle on their leaves). The palms bring up another important ecological concept: species range, which is heavily influenced by temperature. As a northerner, when I think of palm trees, my mind thinks of places like Florida, Central America or the Caribbean, where winter isn't really a season at all. However, there are a group of cold-hardy palm species, some of which are able to inhabit the winters of areas as far north as Seattle and Connecticut, and even in parts of Europe. Lastly, it can most likely be assumed that there is some degree of inter- and intraspecific competition occurring in this photo, as the lower vegetation may be outcompeted by the taller vegetation for light.
FullSizeRender
This is a photo I took yesterday (Feb. 26th) at my friend's house in downtown Wilmington, overlooking the Cape Fear River. The main ecological concept that I noticed in this picture was tree species' adaptations to winter (even though I find it hard to call the past couple of months "winter"). As you can see, some trees have shed their leaves (I couldn't identify the species of these), a process known as abscission, to conserve moisture and energy in their trunks and branches. Other trees, like the the palms (which appear to be either Chamaerops humilis or Rhapidophyllum hystrix), don't exhibit abscission and instead have adapted other methods of survival in the winter months (e.g. having a thick, waxy cuticle on their leaves). The palms bring up another important ecological concept: species range, which is heavily influenced by temperature. As a northerner, when I think of palm trees, my mind thinks of places like Florida, Central America or the Caribbean, where winter isn't really a season at all. However, there are a group of cold-hardy palm species, some of which are able to inhabit the winters of areas as far north as Seattle and Connecticut, and even in parts of Europe. Lastly, it can most likely be assumed that there is some degree of inter- and intraspecific competition occurring in this photo, as the lower vegetation may be outcompeted by the taller vegetation for light.